October 12, 2005

Feds to Raise Taxes

Soon we shall see if this President Bush will follow in his father's footsteps and agree to raise taxes. His "tax advisory panel" is discussing which taxes to raise, and how much to raise them.

Democrat Vice Chairman John Breaux says:

We have a concept. We know where to go. We just don't have the details.

And that concept is to raise taxes.

Oh sure, they're not selling it as a tax increase. And sure, they're going with the old standby of class warfare (it only affects the rich) -- but any time the government takes more of my money, that's a tax increase, no matter what anyone else wants to call it.

Connie Mack, alleged Republican, sent mixed messages by claiming to not want a value-added tax and yet asking staff to create a proposal that includes a value-added tax.

If you see a value-added tax, RUN! Value-added tax is the most insidious tax there can be because consumers will not see the tax -- government will get increased income, prices will rise, but consumers will think businesses are raising prices for profit.

Damn, whatever happened to the Fair Tax? Unfortunately, this "panel" will not consider good ideas like that one: They rejected a fundamental overhaul of the tax code, clearly claiming that they like the current tax system.

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Charlotte City Council Continues Anti-Freedom

So, in case you're wondering what's being considered by the Charlotte city government, here's the two "big items" from Monday night's council meeting:

1. Punish people who obey the law and attempt to reduce crime.
2. Fine people who buy alarm systems for their homes.

Could the council actually do any more to support criminals? Seriously! This city council is honestly doing all they can to increase the already high crime rate in Charlotte. But of course, they simply refuse to admit there are actually any crimes committed in Charlotte.

For issue #1, the council considered banning handguns in the city, except for those who seek and receive approval from the Sheriff. The police chief sees a need to "deal with firearms." I think perhaps he's feeling threatened, and perhaps he should feel that way. I wonder if revolt can be too far away in Charlotte (although I fear it's very far away).

Democrat Warren Turner was honestly worried that people in Charlotte might find out that they can carry guns because the issue was being discussed. I couldn't make up crap that good. The councilman is actually scared that people might discover they have rights. Can someone send this moron to Cuba, please? Hey Mr. Turner, I've got rights and YOU can't have them!

On issue #2, the city wants to add a tax to be charged to anyone who dares to install an alarm system in their home. No, this is not a tax or fine for false alarms, this is a simple tax on you for DARING to install an alarm, since as the almighty council knows, there's no crime in Charlotte and you don't need an alarm.

The results of both issues? Postponed all voting until after the November 8 election where all seats are up for election. What a shocker.

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October 11, 2005

Bush attacks South America

*** BREAKING NEWS ***
Dateline: Lima, Peru.

U.S. President, warmonger, and unilateralist George Bush used his weather machine this week to begin draining the Amazon River. The 4,075-mile long river's water flow has been drastically reduced to less than 424,000 cubic feet per second by Bush's war machine.

The Amazon River flows through the countries of Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, Venezuela, and Brazil. The lower river levels are causing problems with transport and economics on the river, which is the main form of transportation in these countries.

Researcher Jean-Louis LeFrenchie postulates that Haliburton is about to go into production with a low-water-level boat that can be used to transport goods in water that is very shallow and Haliburton is already in negotiation with the various tribes of the region to start selling them these boats. Negotiations were weak until the river level started dropping.

The Brazilian government's National Institute of Meteorology said dry weather in the Amazon is linked to warmer Pacific Ocean surface temperatures, which changes rainfall patterns, which may actually be the real reason that the water levels are dropping.

Also of note is the fact that while the river's level is the lowest "on record," there are only 36 years of records that have been kept.

*** END BREAKING NEWS ***

So, how am I doing? Is this FMSM journalism material, or what?

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Carnival of Liberty

It's up at Combs Spouts Off. This is my current absolute favorite of all carnivals because it highlights freedom and liberty from all over the blogosphere. If you only read one carnival a week, this is the one you really should be reading if you like freedom (and not just because I finally remembered to enter).

Carnival of Liberty #15

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HomeSpun Blogger Symposium

Time again for the weekly feature of the Homespun Blogger Symposium... Oops. It seems Major Dad 1984 didn't have time to post a symposium this week. That's okay, as we'll just make up our own, based on his writings.

He's got a pretty good excuse, if you ask me. Something about catching the Asian Bird Flu or something, I wasn't really paying attention... I think he recovered nicely as he went for BBQ soon thereafter (and yes, I am jealous).

So, in honor of MajorDad1984's sickness, today's Homespun Symposium will be about sickness! (And there was much rejoicing):

What was the worst sickness/illness/disease YOU ever contracted?

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1,000,000 PEOPLE DEAD!

Well, did that make you read this post? I'm just in training to be a member of the FMSM (Formerly Mainstream Media). I'm noticing more and more that to "report" in the media, you must do quite literally anything to get people to read the articles, even if it means being totally misleading or lying.

For example, take this headline from the Fox News website:

Records Show Miers Owned Gun Without License

Now, what is your first reaction to reading that headline? What do you think that story will be about? I'm sorry, whatever you were thinking, you're wrong.

Clearly, the author of the headline is implying that Miers owned a gun illegally, by having a gun without a license. However, it is not until the 4th paragraph of the story that the author finally admits that there is actually no such thing as a license to own a gun!

The entire first portion of the article is clearly slanted towards making Miers sound like a bad person because she owned a gun, but didn't have a concealed carry permit (which Texas allows because Texas is evil).

Then, after the article finally admits that there is absolutely nothing wrong with owning a gun without a license that doesn't even exist, it wanders on and talks about personal correspondence between Bush and Miers when she was chairman of the Texas Lottery Commission.

Sometimes I don't know why I even bother reading any news reports -- I might as well be reading the tabloids. Then again, I guess that's why blogs are so powerful today -- it's the only media that might actually tell the truth.

UPDATE: The wonders of the web -- the story headline has been modifed. I've got a screen shot of the original, however:

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Workers Compensation for Millionaires

Nice. The minimum salary for a player in the NFL is $230,000.00. That's for rookies. The average number of years of experience for a player in the NFL is 5 years. The minimum salary for a player with 5 years of experience is $540,000. Now, which of you would say that these players need cash government help?

If you think these people do not need government cash, you are not qualified to be a judge in North or South Carolina. You see, numerous judges in those states think that the state worker compensation funds should be used to pay those players who are injured.

Yes, that's correct -- the judges are ruling that just because someone signs a contract for employment as a professional football player, they do not give up "their rights to worker compensation."

I'm sorry, I missed that right. Tell me again how and why someone is entitled to money simply because they were injured? Rolf Blizzard says it best:

"Is that what workers' comp was intended to do?" he asked. "It really is a fundamental question of what you think workers' comp should be."

Gee, is there anyone else besides myself that isn't simply entitled to government cash? Am I the ONLY person working to support everyone else?

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October 10, 2005

Words Mean Things

Want to know more about the enemy in the war on terror? Go read this post. It will let you know a little more about how the terrorists think.

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Carnival, carnival!

Time for more carnival links on this wonderful (rainy) Columbus Day.

First up, the wonderful and always exciting Tarheel Tavern. This week the host is Nothing Could Be Finer and he posts the 33rd Carnival with the "special days" theme quite well.

The Tarheel Tavern is a weekly blog carnival simply from people in North Carolina. It's really different from most carnivals, as most carnivals center around one topic. This one is based on physical location, so you read all sorts of different topics and ideas. Head on over.

Next up is the New Blog Showcase Carnival. This week's host is Dave's Not Here. He brings us the carnival and provides new blogs that didn't even submit themselves. Now that's how to host a carnival.

Keep in mind the New Blog Showcase Carnival is there to show you and introduce you to the newest blogs. Read it and visit -- these are new blogs that might be waiting for YOUR comment! (And do you like the new, silly, layout of the main site?)

Finally, there's a new carnival that might interest you, the Carnival of True Liberties. There's a big pile of links there to various blogs that point out the losses of liberties in this country today. Head on over and read that one, too.

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We Need A Fence

80% of the people of the United States, according to polls, support building a fence along the border between America and Mexico. So why isn't there a fence there? As always, follow the money (and power).

For example, here in North Carolina, you may freely vote in any election in the state if you are here illegally -- including federal elections and presidential elections. Yes, you read that correctly -- any person can enter North Carolina and vote for the President of the United States without fear of prosecution for breaking the law.

How? An unintended consequence of the Motor Voter act. North Carolina has the most relaxed rules for getting driver's licenses, and the motor voter act automatically registers anyone who gets a driver's license to vote. So enter illegally, head to North Carolina, get free stuff, and vote.

A group has proposed building a fence (or wall) along the border. To complain about the cost is silly because we're losing hundreds of billions of dollars already to illegals, so to spend a few billion to stop these criminals only makes sense.

So why won't we build one? Oh, right -- power, money, and votes. Many politicians are scared that if they support building a fence to enforce the law that they will lose the illegal alien vote. Morons (the politicians, not the aliens).

If a few conservative representatives and senators (are they any?) would stand up and demand a fence, they would receive a very large amount of support from the vast majority of American people. Then again, that would require guts, something surely lacking in large amounts in Washington these days. more...

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Whining Not Just American

It seems whining that everything be given to you on a silver platter is not just an American phenomenon. People in India have joined the chorus in demanding that the rest of the world give them whatever they feel they need because of a natural disaster.

"All the government people, the press people, they are just driving past," said one complainer. Another whined, "No one has come to help us."

What has happened to people? Why is there absolutely no responsibility for anything taken by anyone? Are there no "Real Men" left on the entire planet?

Hey Farid Khan, how about getting up off your rear and volunteering to help others yourself? You have time to talk to the press and demand help, but no time to actually help? Syad Hassan, stop taking time to block roads and force journalists to turn around and start building shelters!

Look, this might sound harsh, but hey folks, this is the real world! IT'S NOT SAFE! YOU ARE NOT GUARANTEED SAFETY IN THIS WORLD!

On the other hand, maybe it's just me. I just know that if I were in the middle of a natural disaster (and I have been), I wouldn't even be talking to the press -- I'd be too busy trying to ensure everyone was safe and had food, water, and shelter myself, without asking, much less demanding, anyone else do anything.

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Go To Space!

Have you been encouraged lately to start your career in science, technology, and mathematics? If you're in North Carolina, perhaps you just haven't been paying attention. Of course, if you're anywhere else in the country, you're just paying for that encouragement.

You see, this past year the North Carolina Legislature, with it's "cut to the bone" budget, managed to give $200,000 to the "NC Space Grant." Just last week the federal government, via NASA, gave another $353,000. The NC Space Grant agency now has over half a million dollars of taxpayer funds to spend.

Space Grant is a program created by Congress to "try to inspire students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics." That's right, without that half million dollars spent every year, no one would study science, technology, or engineering.

Have you seen your tax dollars today?

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October 08, 2005

Gone Fishin'

fishin.jpg


I'm gone for the weekend, fishing in the North Carolina Mountains. See you Sunday night or Monday morning!

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October 07, 2005

National Novel Writing Month

It's time! Well, it's almost time. Once again this year, as it has been for the past six years, November is National Novel Writing Month -- or for those who like acronyms, it's NaNoWriMo.

What's that? From the web site:

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.


Hey, it's loads of fun.

If you have ever dreamed of writing a novel -- and I know many bloggers have -- this is the time to sit down and force yourself to do it. I participated last year and wrote about a Wizard's Adventure. I won (wrote the required number of words), but the story wasn't done.

So if you follow that link above to read the story, you'll get a decent story (not much proofreading, etc.), but it ends rather suddenly. I haven't decided yet this year if I'll continue that story or start a whole new one. I'm leaning towards just starting a new story all over again.

So if you think you want to write, check that site out. Let me know if you join up, we can harass one another to ensure we all finish what we start!

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"Special Days"

This week's Tarheel Tavern is going to be featured at Nothing Could Be Finer this weekend.

That blog is operated by Stephen Burr of Charlotte (I think). Now that name sounds very familiar. I wonder if he ran for elected office in Charlotte some time in the past...

Yes, there it is. He ran on the Libertarian ticket for NC House district 103 in 2004. 1,087 votes. The Republican in that won got 18,195; while the token Democrat got 12,463. And Stephen thought that was a "good showing." I don't know -- it was a huge loss, Stephen. I guess it's a good start, but the Libertarians need a lot more than a "start" now.

I do commend you for trying, Stephen, and being willing to fight the cesspool that is the North Carolina Legislature. Please do try again, even if you have to run as a Republican to get elected and then switch your affiliation once you're in!

But the point of this post is that Stephen's 6th wedding anniversary. Congratulations, Stephen! Everyone head over to his blog and wish him a happy day! Therefore, he's made the "theme" (optional) of this week's Tarheel Tavern "Special Days." more...

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Statutory Rape

Do you vote Democrat? Do you support Democrats? As most of my regular readers know, I'm not a big fan of Democrats or Democrat-supported policies. I attempt, via this blog, to point out the problems and shortcomings of those Democrat policies. Here is yet another example.

The Democrats run the County in Mecklenburg, North Carolina. They decide what goes on in all aspects of government in the county. They decide what crimes get money for prosecution and which crimes will be ignored.

From 2001 to 2004 one hundred and eighty-three GIRLS age 16 and under got pregnant -- from men age 20 and older. In case you didn't see that the first time, that's 183 young girls in middle school or just starting high school that got pregnant by adult males.

Each and every one of those incidences was a felony. Keep in mind, of course, that the 183 there were just pregnancies that resulted in live births -- not the number of times a young girl was raped by an adult male. How many prosecutions were there? Less than 70.

Clearly there is a major problem here. In addition to the 183 live births, there are many others that have abortions, and even more that just don't report the incident. Girls aged 10 to 14 are not supposed to be having babies, much less the relations that lead up to babies! In Charlotte, they are, and they are with men much older than them.

So what do the Democrats want to do about it? Absolutely nothing. County Commissioner Norman Mitchell: "I don't want to waste the community's time on one item when we have a lot of items before us." Apparently he views stopping statutory rape as a waste of time.

County Health officials: "these girls aren't stupid." Yes, the County actually believes that 10 year old girls have sex with adults because they want children and that they're able to make that decision because they're not stupid. The officials certainly are.

Why the lack of willpower to actually enforce the law and protect 11 year old girls from being raped? It seems that the vast majority of the victims are black or Hispanic. According to government officials, this is a "cultural thing," so it should be allowed.

Hey, if we can ignore crimes if it's a cultural thing, my culture doesn't support paying taxes or driving the speed limit. Others' cultures support beheading infidels. Guess we have to ignore all those violations of law, too, don't we?

While at least 183 actual crimes have been committed and there is clear evidence of the crime, and there are likely hundreds more incidents of raping children, the Democrats on the County Council refuse to do anything about it.

Bill James, a Republican on the council, proposed a few simple steps that could help save this children from a lifetime of difficulty. He's been completely ignored by the Democrats.

So, Democrats on the County Council, while they can find time to support and build sports stadiums and raise taxes, somehow cannot find time to help poor blacks and Hispanic children who are raped. Nice job, Democrats.

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Money Can't Buy Jobs

The state legislature of North Carolina gave Dell, a privately owned company over $250 million. And for those not familiar with how governments work, the state could only give that money to the private company after they took it (by force) from the state's taxpayers.

The state claimed that they were giving all that money to the business (and not to other, smaller businesses) because it would generate jobs that would "help everyone." However, as the Dell plant opens it's doors, the "5,000 to 6,000" jobs that were being purchased by the state (that's around $45,000 per job paid by the state) have yet to materialize.

So far, there's been 135 permanent jobs at suppliers for Dell and about 350 at Dell itself. That's the state paying over $515,000 per job. What a deal.

But, don't worry, reports claim that the jobs will be created...some time in the next 20 years.

Why won't government only do things that government should do and stop trying to social engineer the entire country? It's morally wrong.

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October 06, 2005

Carnival, carnival!

Have you seen this week's Carnival of Liberty? It's up at Eric's, and it's good. Sure, it's long, but if you want news and views that are freedom and liberty-based, this is THE place to go in the Blogosphere.

Seriously, there's tons of good stuff there. You should be reading it every single week.

Oh, and the late New Blog Showcase did finally show up at Steve The Pirate's. Something about computer trouble or something, I wasn't really paying attention...

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ACLU and Suicide

This week's topic for the Stop the ACLU Blogburst is the ACLU and "assisted suicide." I've been debating how to approach this one because of the situation. It's in the news now because the case from Oregon that's at the Supreme Court.

The case that is before the Supreme court, however, has absolutely NOTHING to do with assisted suicide. Keep that in mind -- absolutely nothing.

The case that's before the Supreme Court is about the rights and freedoms of people to make laws that apply to themselves, or if one person appointed to a federal position can nullify any laws passed by a majority of people.

So the ACLU is supporting the case, but not based on it's merits -- they are supporting the case because they support assisted suicide (which has absolutely NOTHING to do with the case in front of the Supreme Court). more...

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Clinton and Greta

On October 24, 2005, Bill Clinton had an interview with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News. Once again, I know many of my good readers here at Ogre's Politics and Views do not have the time to read all the news and information that exists. So we're happy to provide a summary and translation of the transcript.

*** BEGIN TRANSLATION OF TRANSCRIPT

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Oh (swooning), oh, oh. (deep breath, pause) OH. Dear, sweet, honorable Mr. Wonderful...err, I mean, Mr. President...

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE BEST PRESIDENT THAT EVER EXISTED AND WHO SHOULD BE PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD: Please, call me Bill.

GRETA FAINTS.

*** 3-minute pause for technical difficulties more...

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