October 06, 2005

Retroactive Tax Increases Okay

According to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, the North Carolina Legislature CAN pass laws that are applied retroactively. Their logic? Who knows?!?

At issue is a tax increase that the legislature passed in 2001 that raised the income tax rate, but the law was applied to a time period BEFORE the law was passed (for example, the law was passed in March, but the increase was applied to January and February).

As a side note, this higher income tax rate (8.25%, highest in the southeast) was supposed to be temporary for 2001 and 2002 during the "recession." It's been passed again and again since these Democrats are absolutely addicted to spending money, so that the most recent "extension" of the "temporary" income tax now extends to 2007.

The Appeals Court ruled that this was fine. The decision will be heard before the North Carolina Supreme Court. If the decision is left this way, the state has found an incredible new sources of utterly unlimited funds.

The legislature could simply raise everyone's income tax rate by 0.1% -- but apply it retroactively back to 1980. Suddenly everyone would owe and absolute TON of taxes with no way to pay it. But hey, the state will have all the money they need, so it's just fine, isn't it? I'm sure it's for the children.

This is what you get when you elect Democrats to run the state. Don't like it? Get the Democrats out of office at the state level.

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October 05, 2005

Muppet Quiz

I saw this quiz over at Bou's. I think this one is right on the nose...

statler jpegYou are Statler or Waldorf.

You have a high opinion of yourself, as do others.
But only because you are in the balcony seats.

ALSO KNOWN AS:
Those two old guys in the box.
SPECIAL TALENTS:
Heckling, complaining, being cantankerous

QUOTE:
"Get off the stage, you bum!"

LAST BOOKS READ:
"The Art of Insult" and "How To Insult Art"

NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT:
Their pacemakers.
What Muppet are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

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The Miers nomination

I haven't weighed in yet with my views on President Bush's nomination for the supreme court. I've had my opinions (naturally), I just haven't voiced them here. I didn't want to jump the gun or post information without supporting data and more information, and I just didn't have the information.

However, this week's Christian Views Symposium is going to force my hand. The questions this week are:

1. Are you dissappointed in this selection? Why or why not?
2. Was this selection a brilliant move or a gutless capitulation to the Democrats? Why or why not?
3. Does this appear to be a lack of leadership on the part of President Bush?
4. If you are not happy with the Miers pick, who would have been your choice?

Each week, the Christian Views Symposium posts a question for readers to answer. You can answer on your own blog or in the comments section of the question posting. The questions are open to everyone, not just Christians. Feel free to join in!

Also, Lennie is looking for future hosts for the Symposium. If you're interested in hosting, head on over and let him know.

Well, here goes nothing.
more...

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Silver Lining in New Orleans

I'm an optimist. No, really. I am a complete and total optimist. I really do seek out the good in things, wherever it can be found. I do it probably more often than I should, especially when it comes to trusting people, but that's the way I am.

Now hurricane Katrina was bad. Really bad. But there's almost always some good that can come from bad things. I read this morning something really good that's a direct result of the hurricane.

3,000 New Orleans City Workers will be laid off.

Hooray! This is great news! In fact, it may be the ONLY time government at any level has gotten smaller in the last 100 years! I certainly cannot remember ever reading any report of any reduction of any sort at ANY level of government in my lifetime! Have any of you?

Even stranger, the employees laid off are "non-essential." Well, idiots, if they're not essential, why in the heck were they employed? "Gee, we don't really need anyone here to do this job, but we've got all this tax money and we need to spend it, so I'll hire you to stand there and hold the wall up."

There's a silver lining to every cloud.

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But Charlotte's Getting One...

Marge_vs_the_Monorail.jpgYesterday, William Teach mentioned the Triangle Transit System and pointed out some of the problems with it.

Now I read an article in the News Observer that actually complains about the train system! Someone needs to get over to the News Observer and let them know they're not toeing the line! If Raleigh wants a train system, they're going to have to learn from Charlotte - lie big, and lie often.

When the "Transit Authority" (Note: NEVER create or trust any "authority" as they are completely unelected and completely irresponsible with ZERO responsibility) sold the people on the train, the cost was "no more than" $100 million. That was 10+ years ago.

The cost now? AT LEAST $750 million...with reduced service. And they haven't started building yet, so construction prices WILL go up more. Oh, and the land purchased for the train? The Transit Authority appraised the land for $9 million. What did they pay? $24.5 million. Yes, government at it's finest.

Why should you care? If you're in the U.S., you're paying for it. The federal government keeps getting its fingers in the way. Trains do not work without MASSIVE density -- which does not exist anywhere in North Carolina.

That won't stop government from wasting literally billions of dollars -- and it will continue to cost tens to hundreds of millions every year it's in operation. And that's just wrong.

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October 04, 2005

Miers' Gay Sensationalism

Drudge is reporting in giant headlines a link to Time article that claims

she supported full civil rights for gays and lesbians

This is being spun as the idea that she is pro-gay and anti-family by various sources. However, if you look at the actual questionnaire, a completely different picture appears.

The questionnaire specifically asks,

Do you believe that gay men and lesbians should have the same civil rights as non-gay men and women?

Miers' answer: Yes.

Therefore, she's pro-gay and anti-family, according to the spin. However, take a peek at the very next question:

Do you...support repeal of...code which criminalizes the private sexual behavior of consenting adult lesbians and gay men?

Miers' answer: No.

The answer to the first question depends on your meaning of "civil rights." I support civil rights for anyone and special rights for no one. So I would answer "yes" to the first question as well.

However, if you ask me if I support gay marriage or any other special rights for some, I'd say no, as it appears Ms. Miers would as well.

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Federal Troop Mission Creep

This week, the Homespun Bloggers want to know:

What are your thoughts about this mission creep for our military, especially in a time when we're at war with a major portion of our forces engaged?

This is Homespun Blogger Symposium number XXXV -- that's 35 for those who are Roman-Numeral impaired. Each week the Homespun Bloggers ask a question for members to answer (or not answer) on their blogs. Feel free to read about them and join the group.

My answer, as usual, is in the extended entry below: more...

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New London, Part II

Welcome to America, post-Kelo v. New London. In this, new America, property rights do not exist. And if you don't have rights to property, what rights can you possibly have? Your guns can be taken if you don't have a right to property. Your church can be taken. Your printing press can be taken. Is there anywhere left on this planet where men can be free?

In this case, the Florida city of Rivera Beach has decided that they want to build a yacht club. The fact that the land they want to use is currently occupied by private citizens only slows them down a little.

The 6,000 mostly black people who live in that area are going to be tossed out on the street so the city can have a billion-dollar yacht club. Over 2,000 homes will be simply confiscated by the government so that the government can GIVE the land to a private individual.

Nice country, huh? Oh, how I yearn to be free.

Unrepentent Individual has more.

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Useless Spending in NC

Governor Easley let a bill become a law this past weekend while giving the usual insane reasons behind it. He had the choice to sign the bill and make it become law right away; veto the law, in which case it would go away; or ignore the law and it would become a law without his signature. He chose the last option.

The law shows again the insanity of the people running North Carolina. The law was created to fund cleaning up contamination at an industrial site in Transylvania County. It was done to attempt to bring in a Japanese company. The company has since decided that it's not going to relocate to that county. Therefore, there's no reason for the state to pay for the cleanup, right?

Wrong. Instead of vetoing the extra expenditure by the state government that will net zero cash, zero jobs, and zero benefit, Easley let the bill become law so that government could continue to spend money as fast as they can confiscate it from you.

This is your North Carolina Democrat Party in action.

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October 03, 2005

Carnival, carnival!

Pointing out a few carnivals:

The Tarheel Tavern is up at Captivated by Mandie this week. Short and sweet.

The New Blog Showcase Carnival is supposed to be up at Steve the Pirate. Hey Steve, wherefore art thou?

Finally, a new carnival this week, the Carnival of True Liberties is up. It's brand new, so head on over and take a peek.

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Christianity = Hate Speech

Well it's been on it's way, but it's finally happened here in America. In Canada, Christianity has been outlawed and people are being fined and put in jail for being Christians, under the auspices of "hate speech." Now America can join the anti-Christians of the world since now there's been a high-profile firing for being Christian.

At issue is an outfielder from the Washington Nationals and a volunteer chaplain. They were discussing Christianity. Since they did, the volunteer was fired, and the outfielder was forced to apologize for being Christian.

No, neither person has been arrested, at least not yet. And if the outfielder were not a good player (apparently), he would likely be released by the team because it's not politically correct today to be a Christian.

The team president, Tony Tavares, is investigating the "preaching of hatred." It turns out the volunteer chaplain who was fired is also an FBI agent. I'd be willing to be that agent's career is over -- there's no room for Christians in government, according to the ACLU and others.

Tavares said that he can have his beliefs, he just cannot express them. After all, he's a chaplain, and chaplains shouldn't be expressing any religious beliefs. Tavares also said that while he doesn't want to change anyone's religious beliefs, he just doesn't want any chaplains to have any in his organization.

There's no word on the punishment for bringing a Bible into the Washington Nationals locker room.

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Liberals dislike Minutemen

John Longenecker wrote an article last June about the Texas Minutemen. He hits the nail on the head in so many areas - not just the fact that "illegal immigration is bad", but the reasons why liberals don't understand our need to protect the borders.

Where liberals fail is, in part, in their refusal to see the consequences of their own acts of interference, but will hold others accountable for something as small as announcing their resisting. The Liberal mind-set cannot allow them to see how they are the cause of the problem they complain about, and their immaturity won't permit them to see how righteous the resistance to their interference is.

He likens the liberals to children, and I agree.
The double standard of the liberals is that conservatives are held to answer because liberals think of non-liberals as adults, while liberals are not held to answer because they perceive themselves as kids. What they fail to comprehend in their teenager mentalities is that the response they object to (such as the Minutemen) is a perfectly healthy and normal adult answer to their unending intrusion, provocation and the injustice of their interference when people have had enough.

Exactly.

Do a Google search for "texas minutemen", and the top response is this article by Reuters, entitled "Minutemen step up US border patrol; violence feared". Of course, the first paragraph immediately slams home their point and belief that having Americans defending the border is a potentially violent thing, even though the last Minutemen vigil in Arizona was notoriously non-violent. let's not even take into account that there is precious little media coverage of the Minutemen at all.

The California-based Brown Berets, a Mexican-American group that was allied with the revolutionary U.S. Black Panther Party in the 1960s, has vowed to confront the Minuteman volunteers during their October vigil.

An Arizona rights group, the Border Action Network, distributed posters to stores in Naco, Douglas and Nogales on the Mexican border this week, declaring the communities "hate-free zones" and saying "racist vigilantes" are unwelcome.

In Texas earlier this year, 11 state senators urged Gov. Rick Perry to oppose the Minuteman patrols, saying they could "negatively affect tourism and trade along the border" and make law enforcement "more dangerous and difficult."


There is not a mention of the number of illegals that the Minutemen stopped. There is not much of a mention of anything positive in the article, actually. But Longenecker addresses that too - it's the simple fact that liberals think they're the only ones who are allowed to resist or protest. They don't think their own Communist, idiotic mentality should be questioned, and they can't stand to stay out of affairs they're ill-equipped to run.
The Democrats bully and push to the point of resistance from the objects of their hatred (adults and adult values, such as being free from interference), and then characterize that resistance and objection as racism, incendiary and potentially violent.

So what should they do, now that the Minutemen are on the border?
Not only can you not win every fight, but you should not even fight every fight. Fighting everything is a dead giveaway that itÂ’s not really about any given issue, but only about fighting. And I have my own theory on that.

Liberals need to grow up and back down, and begin to live with the consequences of their own making or help fix them. Liberals need to back down. Not compromise, not cave in, but back down and cooperate, taking that chip off their collective shoulder, adjust their rotten attitude, and stop picking fights with everything they see.

An adult would do that.


Then again, we are dealing with children. Spoiled, bratty, immature kids who should really get out of the way and let us get the job done. G-d knows they're not capable of doing anything besides whining and holding up signs.

This has been part of the Guard the Borders blogburst. GTB hits Euphoric Reality every Monday, and seeks to promote awareness about the illegal immigration epidemic that our country is facing and the desperate need to curb the problem before it's too late. If you'd like to join the blogburst, send an email to kit.jarrell@gmail.com with your blog's name and URL.

Blogs already on board:

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Exporting Insurance

What a surprise. It seems that even medical insurance is going south of the border. And of course, there's complaining about it.

In this case, it seems a business near the Mexican border (southern California), couldn't continue to afford the outrageous fees of $100,000+ per year to insure their 50 employees. So they decided to pay closer to $50,000 to insure more employees...in Mexico.

The employees of Sam Ellis department store now head over the border to see doctors and the employees seem to be rather happy about the lower costs and friendly doctors.

Of course, some people complain about the quality of medical care -- not the employees who are GETTING the medical care, others who are apparently official overseers of the correct type and quality of medical care for everyone else on the planet. Idiots.

It's called a free market, those of you who are complaining. If people want to see a doctor in Mexico, of what business is it of yours to tell them not to? Talk about controlling other people's lives!

And of course, there's always the question of why? Why are people doing this? Because insurance costs too much. Why does it cost too much? Because the states are absolutely interfering with the free market. The states prohibit me from entering into a contract for insurance that will allow me to buy what I need.

Instead, each state decides what insurance I MUST buy if I want insurance. In other words, if I don't want insurance against mental health, aids, smoking-related illness, aromatherapy, acupuncture, drug abuse, and literally hundreds of other conditions and treatments, I simply cannot buy it.

Why? Because all those other conditions and treatments would NOT make it in a free market, so the government FORCES those who do not want that coverage to pay for those who do. Folks, we might not have national health care yet, but we are well on the way -- there is NOT a free market in insurance today, and there should be.

If we had a true free market in insurance, the prices would drop overnight a huge amount for 90% of Americans. The other 10%, who want exotic coverage and coverage for expensive treatments, well, they'd have to pay more -- and they should if there is any economic freedom.

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NC Legislature Back in Session!

Hold on to your wallets! Once again, after the legislature adjourned for the year, they will meet once again soon. They claim that they will be meeting only to override Easley's veto, but once they're in session, quite literally anything goes -- they may consider ANY legislation they want.

For this session, Governor Easley has vetoed a bill that was passed by the legislature that would allow North Carolina to work with other states. However, Easley has determined that North Carolina is better than any other state. Therefore, if you're a schoolteacher and you're rated "highly qualified" by your state, you are not welcome in North Carolina.

The law that was passed would have allowed highly qualified teachers in one state to come to North Carolina and teach. Governor Easley didn't like that. He thinks North Carolina is the only state qualified to determine who is smart enough to teach it's students.

For once, he's actually doing something that he is permitted to do -- states are supposed to be different. But in this case, it's not such a great idea -- since the state cannot find enough people to teach it's students already.

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October 01, 2005

Stem Cell Breakthrough!

There has been an incredible breakthrough in stem-cell research. For the first time, stem cells have been successfully used to cure a woman of being a paraplegic. This has never happened before -- all uses of stem cells were all theoretical -- no actual use had ever been found.

But you won't find this is the news many places. You won't find out that a woman who was paralyzed for 19 years suddenly was able to feel and move her legs, due to stem cells. Why? Because it was done with adult stem cells, and not stem cells obtained from killing a baby.

Recent activity in the news has suggested that we NEED baby stem cells, to cure everything from cancer to blindness. Since we can only get those cures from killing babies, we need to continue abortions on demand. Seriously, that's the argument.

But now we've actually used stem cells to heal someone, but these stem cells are adult stem cells that were obtained without killing a human. That doesn't fit with the agenda of the pro-abortion left (including Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, the news media, and the Democrat Party), so you won't hear it reported.

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