Issue 2
Issue 2 is a run-around to take power out of the voter’s hands.
We don't need a constitutional amendment that takes power out of the voters and their elected representative's hands and puts it in the hands of an appointed board -- no matter who is doing the appointing.
Does anyone think that a board appointed by a governor advised by a farm bureau that is indebted to and in the pockets of Big-Ag is going to approve things like "truth in labeling” that help people know where their food comes from and how it is processed?
If you don't care to know where your food comes from, and you don't care what added ingredients are in it, or what processing standards are applied, then this amendment, and the resulting loss of personal control and responsibility is for you.
Big-Ag and the money (follow the money -- look at who's spending like the dickens on TV and Radio) are trying to make this a Liberal vs. Conservative thing. The PETA, Humane Society thing is a totally fake scare tactic being broadcast by the Farm Bureau, and paid for by Big-Ag.
Now here's the real scare: If you want several gigantic messes like The Croton Egg Farm polluting the air, water and soil, run-off from giant hog and chicken farms ruining water supplies and beautiful Ohio streams and creeks, and large, single crop farms damaging soil with nitrate accumulation and leaching it into your water supply and NOT be able to stop the damage because you foolishly gave away your right to vote on it, then this amendment is for you.
Here is a message from Snowville Creamery's Warren Taylor:
http://snowvillecreamery.wordpress.com/
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Vote NO on Issue 3...
This is an amendment to the state Constitution. Once done, we can't change it.
If we don't get it right this time, we are screwed worse than we are now.
This is a BAD proposal. It also creates a monopoly that is anti-free trade/anti-Capitalism. It buys our future and doesn't pay us enough for the deal. We are screwing ourselves if this is approved.
One of the really bad things is that the police unions, groups supposedly interested in the welfare of Ohioans, are supporting their own little slice of the pie, while knowing that this is a bad deal.
From BallotPedia:
The Columbus Dispatch is opposed, saying, "The Ohio Constitution is no place for such detailed, self-interested amendments. If Ohioans wish to bring casino gambling to the state, the proper way would be to approve a succinct amendment granting the governor and General Assembly the authority to draft statutes, rules and regulations for such enterprises. In this way, the state would retain leverage to properly license, govern and tax casinos. As times and circumstances changed, the state would be able to respond. If State Issue 3 is approved by voters, the amendment would be unalterable by any action of this or future governors and legislatures. Only another statewide vote could change the amendment."[15]
The Toledo Blade is opposed, saying that a gambling casino monopoly should not be enshrined in Ohio's Constitution. "Voters should also remember that the reason it is difficult to amend the state constitution is to avoid having short-term concerns or passions result in wholesale changes that harm the state in the long run. What is given away in haste, such as control over gambling, may be regretted at leisure."[16]
The Youngstown Vindicator is opposed to Issue 3, saying, "We have said before when commenting on other casino gambling issues in Ohio: Gambling is the most successful scheme for the redistribution of wealth ever devised. It takes from the poor and gives to the rich. That’s because, as any gambler can tell you, the house never loses. Don’t be taken in by the promises of easy money being made by Issue 3 proponents. Vote no on Issue 3"[17]
The Akron Beacon Journal is opposed to Issue 3. In an editorial, the board said, "The state estimates the casinos would generate $643 million in annual tax revenue, slightly less than the $651 million claimed by Issue 3 proponents. But studies of gambling's economic impact on communities show that most of the money wagered comes from local residents who quit spending on nearby bars, restaurants and the like. Studies also show an overall negative impact, once the social costs of gambling are included, among them, increased crime, broken homes, bankruptcies and addiction treatment. In other words, casinos are not an engine of economic growth."[18]
In an opinion column published by the Toledo Free Press, Tim Higgins writes that his opposition to the measure is not related to immorality, amount of revenue brought in, or the jobs that may or may not be created for Ohioans. However, Higgins writes: “My objection to Issue 3 is much like it was to Issue 6 before it from the 2008 ballot. It is that both proposed Amendments limit gambling in Ohio by creating a casino monopoly, something that should never be considered in Constitutional politics. As we would never place such a monopoly in the hands of a utility company or a corporate media outlet, neither should we do so for a group operating casinos. Penn National may be a great corporation, but so was the group who failed to get Issue 6 last year; and it does not make them more deserving of such a monopoly.”[19]
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Buckeyes vs. Purdue...
"Giving Tressel Pryor is like giving me a helicopter. I don't know what to do with it, and it's going to end in a fiery crash."
This is indefensible. Sick. Unpardonable.
Blow the whole thing up and start over.
Bad O-Line, bad QB and very, very bad coaching.
This makes USC's loss to WA look like a minor upset.
Tressel needs a new O-Line coach and an offensive coordinator NOW. Those should be the requirements to keep his job.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner...
[Pause for Applause] “I am so humbled.” [Look lovingly at wife - DO NOT make Eye Contact with SecState Clinton]...
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Vote NO on Issue 2, the Livestock Care Standards Board...
I am opposed to Issue 2.
First of all, it's a Constitutional Amendment to create a Board -- and no one seems to be sure what this Board's powers will be, or what limits will be set.
Secondly and more importantly to me, this Amendment is supported by the Farm Bureau -- which means that it is in the best interests of Agra-giants like ADM, Tyson, Cargill and other food manufacturers and buyers -- not necessarily the small, LOCO-producer/seller that I prefer to buy stuff I EAT from.
The Farm Bureau is heart-and-soul in the pocket of these big, corporate interests. Seems to me that they don't need help.
They are trying to cast it as an anti-"Peta"/Humane Society legislation, which their lobby hopes is supposed to strike a chord with conservatives, but from what I have heard, it's the big, corporate owned farms that already treat their product badly who are supporting it -- not the small, free-range, organic farmers.
Right now, I think that it is a vaguely worded attempt to put all farms under the same State bureaucratic control -- a bureaucracy that is already owned, lock/stock/barrel by somebody other than the voters/taxpayers.
Because it’s designed to favour large factory farms, not family farmers, Issue 2 is opposed by the Ohio Farmers Union, the Ohio Environmental Stewardship Alliance, and the Ohio Sierra Club. The editorial boards of Ohio’s major newspapers—including the Columbus Dispatch, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Akron Beacon Journal, and Dayton Daily News—all oppose this effort to enshrine the agribusiness lobby’s favoured oversight system in the state’s constitution.
Folks, Issue 2 are more important than people realize.
The proposed oversight board would strip the Ohio Legislature of its ability to act as the defacto oversight agency that represents the people of Ohio and gives that responsibility to a group of 13 individuals that have no accountability to the citizens of Ohio. Based on this observation, I have decided that I do not want another government agency in this state that cannot be held accountable to the wishes of its residents through their vote.
I will be voting NO on Issue 2. Not because I support the Human Society or Peta, as the Pro-2 Lobby would have you believe, BUT because the people behind the Pro-2 Lobby (The Ohio Farm Bureau and large farms backed by industry giants like Cargill, Tyson and ADM) are trying to modify the Constitution to suit their needs, not ours. If this passes expect all kinds of political pressure to stack this board by people who want to put independent co-ops and family farms out of business.
Please vote NO on Issue 2.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Health Care -- Selfishness Is Good...
The Bottom Line:
It would be wonderful if we had a Single-Payer Health Care System that worked for everyone, with no waiting, no rationing and no decisions made that are not in the best interest of THE PATIENT.
But the reality is that we all see "Health Care" through our particular lens.
Our opinions and preferences are grown from our reactions to our experiences, driving the resulting decisions affecting both our lives and the lives of others. In the end we all want what is best for our loved ones and ourselves and everyone else is secondary. This is why "Capitalism" is true and at least partially works, and why the tyranny of the few manifested in any form of "Collectivism" is false and never works well enough to sustain for any appreciable time.
In relation to all of the so-called "facts" flowing from those supporting a single National Health Care System: I think the statistics are skewed. The EU/UK/UN way of keeping stats doesn't match up with the way health stats are kept in the US (see the easy example in natal care), so the comparisons are difficult.
I don't want my loved one to wait 2-3-4 months for a test my Doctor says my loved one needs to have. And I don't want my loved one to wait for a test because my loved one is not in the particular cohort segment deemed eligible for that test.
Heck, I want to be able to go to the doctor I choose -- If the one in my locale or town is not up to my standards, I want to have the choice to go elsewhere -- and, I want to do so immediately, without waiting for some government entity to give me clearance.
Driving this reasoning is that I believe hospitals in the US are better at emergency, high-risk, and extreme trauma care than anywhere else in the world. And that belief causes me to doubt the stories I hear, especially those put forth by supporters of "National Health Care" that tell me how much better other health care systems are, especially when their claims don't in the least jive with my personal experience.
If a health care system is not at its best when I need it most, then everything else, including cost, is secondary and possibly irrelevant.
It would be wonderful if we had a Single-Payer Health Care System that worked for everyone, with no waiting, no rationing and no decisions made that are not in the best interest of THE PATIENT.
But the reality is that we all see "Health Care" through our particular lens.
Our opinions and preferences are grown from our reactions to our experiences, driving the resulting decisions affecting both our lives and the lives of others. In the end we all want what is best for our loved ones and ourselves and everyone else is secondary. This is why "Capitalism" is true and at least partially works, and why the tyranny of the few manifested in any form of "Collectivism" is false and never works well enough to sustain for any appreciable time.
In relation to all of the so-called "facts" flowing from those supporting a single National Health Care System: I think the statistics are skewed. The EU/UK/UN way of keeping stats doesn't match up with the way health stats are kept in the US (see the easy example in natal care), so the comparisons are difficult.
I don't want my loved one to wait 2-3-4 months for a test my Doctor says my loved one needs to have. And I don't want my loved one to wait for a test because my loved one is not in the particular cohort segment deemed eligible for that test.
Heck, I want to be able to go to the doctor I choose -- If the one in my locale or town is not up to my standards, I want to have the choice to go elsewhere -- and, I want to do so immediately, without waiting for some government entity to give me clearance.
Driving this reasoning is that I believe hospitals in the US are better at emergency, high-risk, and extreme trauma care than anywhere else in the world. And that belief causes me to doubt the stories I hear, especially those put forth by supporters of "National Health Care" that tell me how much better other health care systems are, especially when their claims don't in the least jive with my personal experience.
If a health care system is not at its best when I need it most, then everything else, including cost, is secondary and possibly irrelevant.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The "My Favorite Band Sucks And I'm A Lemming" T-Shirt...
"My Favorite Band Sucks" or Crap Seeks It's Own Level.
It should be a T-Shirt. And I am convinced that the majority of you lemmings should be wearing it. Send me my money now.
If you listen to pop/country radio and worship at the feet of mega-record company made and marketed "stars" created in studios then you should be wearing that shirt.
Here's a test: go to the credits of your favorite "musician's" latest cd and check to see how many songs they "co-wrote".
Some of these "stars" never see the songs they supposedly wrote until time to rehearse for the recording.
It's a common practice for the publishing company for these created "stars" to buy songs outright - then list the "star" as the writer. An even more common practice is for the publisher for these "stars" to mine available pitched songs and then offer the real songwriter a conditional deal to get the song published: add the "star" as co-writer. Adding the "star" as co-writer often cuts the take of the publishing rights in half, effectively giving the real writer half what he or she deserves.
Most people listen to what the mainstream media and record companies provide -- although that is slowly getting better. In short, they listen to what they know, which is crap (most popular culture), and without "enlightenment" their taste stays at the level of crap. And, for some strange reason, people who will put up with JW's and Mormans calling at the door don't like it when you are honest about something as personal as their taste in music. It's like you called their baby butt-ugly.
You call 'em like you see 'em.
Your music is crap and your baby's butt-ugly.
One of those you can fix through the enlightenment of education.
Call me an elitist, I guess. Been called worse.
Friday, September 11, 2009
LEAP
Leap, by Brian Doyle
A couple leaped from the south tower, hand in hand. They reached for each other and their hands met and they jumped.
Jennifer Brickhouse saw them falling, hand in hand.
Many people jumped. Perhaps hundreds. No one knows. They struck the pavement with such force that there was a pink mist in the air.
The mayor reported the mist.
A kindergarten boy who saw people falling in flames told his teacher that the birds were on fire. She ran with him on her shoulders out of the ashes.
Tiffany Keeling saw fireballs falling that she later realized were people. Jennifer Griffin saw people falling and wept as she told the story. Niko Winstral saw people free-falling backwards with their hands out, like they were parachuting. Joe Duncan on his roof on Duane Street looked up and saw people jumping. Henry Weintraub saw people "leaping as they flew out." John Carson saw six people fall, "falling over themselves, falling, they were somersaulting." Steve Miller saw people jumping from a thousand feet in the air. Kirk Kjeldsen saw people flailing on the way down, people lining up and jumping, "too many people falling." Jane Tedder saw people leaping and the sight haunts her at night. Steve Tamas counted fourteen people jumping and then he stopped counting. Stuart DeHann saw one woman's dress billowing as she fell, and he saw a shirtless man falling end over end, and he too saw the couple leaping hand in hand.
Several pedestrians were killed by people falling from the sky. A fireman was killed by a body falling from the sky.
But he reached for her hand and she reached for his hand and they leaped out the window holding hands.
I try to whisper prayers for the sudden dead and the harrowed families of the dead and the screaming souls of the murderers but I keep coming back to his hand and her hand nestled in each other with such extraordinary ordinary succinct ancient naked stunning perfect simple ferocious love.
Their hands reaching and joining are the most powerful prayer I can imagine, the most eloquent, the most graceful. It is everything that we are capable of against horror and loss and death. It is what makes me believe that we are not craven fools and charlatans to believe in God, to believe that human beings have greatness and holiness within them like seeds that open only under great fires, to believe that some unimaginable essence of who we are persists past the dissolution of what we were, to believe against such evil hourly evidence that love is why we are here.
No one knows who they were: husband and wife, lovers, dear friends, colleagues, strangers thrown together at the window there at the lip of hell. Maybe they didn't even reach for each other consciously, maybe it was instinctive, a reflex, as they both decided at the same time to take two running steps and jump out the shattered window, but they did reach for each other, and they held on tight, and leaped, and fell endlessly into the smoking canyon, at two hundred miles an hour, falling so far and so fast that they would have blacked out before they hit the pavement near Liberty Street so hard that there was a pink mist in the air.
Jennifer Brickhouse saw them holding hands, and Stuart DeHann saw them holding hands, and I hold onto that.
Copyright 2002 by Brian Doyle.
Brian Doyle is the editor of Portland Magazine at the University of Portland in Oregon. He is the author of three collections of essays: Credo, Saints Passionate & Peculiar, and (with his father Jim Doyle) Two Voices. Doyle's essays have been reprinted in the Best American Essays anthologies for 1998 and 1999.
A couple leaped from the south tower, hand in hand. They reached for each other and their hands met and they jumped.
Jennifer Brickhouse saw them falling, hand in hand.
Many people jumped. Perhaps hundreds. No one knows. They struck the pavement with such force that there was a pink mist in the air.
The mayor reported the mist.
A kindergarten boy who saw people falling in flames told his teacher that the birds were on fire. She ran with him on her shoulders out of the ashes.
Tiffany Keeling saw fireballs falling that she later realized were people. Jennifer Griffin saw people falling and wept as she told the story. Niko Winstral saw people free-falling backwards with their hands out, like they were parachuting. Joe Duncan on his roof on Duane Street looked up and saw people jumping. Henry Weintraub saw people "leaping as they flew out." John Carson saw six people fall, "falling over themselves, falling, they were somersaulting." Steve Miller saw people jumping from a thousand feet in the air. Kirk Kjeldsen saw people flailing on the way down, people lining up and jumping, "too many people falling." Jane Tedder saw people leaping and the sight haunts her at night. Steve Tamas counted fourteen people jumping and then he stopped counting. Stuart DeHann saw one woman's dress billowing as she fell, and he saw a shirtless man falling end over end, and he too saw the couple leaping hand in hand.
Several pedestrians were killed by people falling from the sky. A fireman was killed by a body falling from the sky.
But he reached for her hand and she reached for his hand and they leaped out the window holding hands.
I try to whisper prayers for the sudden dead and the harrowed families of the dead and the screaming souls of the murderers but I keep coming back to his hand and her hand nestled in each other with such extraordinary ordinary succinct ancient naked stunning perfect simple ferocious love.
Their hands reaching and joining are the most powerful prayer I can imagine, the most eloquent, the most graceful. It is everything that we are capable of against horror and loss and death. It is what makes me believe that we are not craven fools and charlatans to believe in God, to believe that human beings have greatness and holiness within them like seeds that open only under great fires, to believe that some unimaginable essence of who we are persists past the dissolution of what we were, to believe against such evil hourly evidence that love is why we are here.
No one knows who they were: husband and wife, lovers, dear friends, colleagues, strangers thrown together at the window there at the lip of hell. Maybe they didn't even reach for each other consciously, maybe it was instinctive, a reflex, as they both decided at the same time to take two running steps and jump out the shattered window, but they did reach for each other, and they held on tight, and leaped, and fell endlessly into the smoking canyon, at two hundred miles an hour, falling so far and so fast that they would have blacked out before they hit the pavement near Liberty Street so hard that there was a pink mist in the air.
Jennifer Brickhouse saw them holding hands, and Stuart DeHann saw them holding hands, and I hold onto that.
Copyright 2002 by Brian Doyle.
Brian Doyle is the editor of Portland Magazine at the University of Portland in Oregon. He is the author of three collections of essays: Credo, Saints Passionate & Peculiar, and (with his father Jim Doyle) Two Voices. Doyle's essays have been reprinted in the Best American Essays anthologies for 1998 and 1999.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
"Inglourious Basterds" reviewed. Sort of...
Quentin Tarantino seems to be a not-so-unusual combination of 12yr.old boy, 23yr.old Master's student, and 40-something Director.
Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems obvious that outside the film-buff references and spaghetti western theme he used this baseball bat of a movie to show - in this case, not necessarily to the audience - that the leap from movie patron to Nazi really IS just a dose of Pepsi, popcorn, pigotry and politics away...
The movie patrons at the Athena Grand in the supposedly the enlightened educational rose of Diversity that is
I get what he's trying to do, I think. I hope. He's pointing out the "They did it, so if we do it back, it's ok." mob-mentality that creates Nazis out of ordinary movie-goers, while still playing to those popcorn peons by glorifying the violence he uses to make his point. I do believe that there is a time and place for violence, but what he is doing is the movie equivalent of people taking turns blowing up each others school buses.
Is it okay to out-Nazi the Nazis, as long as it's on the silver screen, to show how easily it will happen again?
Christoph Waltz was fantastic, probably an Emmy nomination performance, although his part makes you wonder just how good a German accent James Woods could have pulled off. The French farmer at the beginning of the film was great. The rest of the individual performances were weak - probably because the writing was weak, even for someone trying to imitate spaghetti western dialog.
I’m not a fan of either, but I would have replaced Brad Pitt with George Clooney. Pitt's role seemed written for Clooney.
The older I get...
"The older I get, the more I see politics as nothing more than theater intended to cover up a good old-fashioned smash-and-grab."
Monday, August 24, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
The Guy on the Corner with the Offensive T-Shirt....
The guy on the corner with the offensive t-shirt….
This is a very interesting debate. When does “free speech” become a public nuisance? When does personal and public safety come into play?
A person was observed, on a street corner in Athens, wearing a t-shirt that said something that I cannot bring myself to say here, or anywhere.
Someone complained, with these results:
"...Discussion with the local police revealed that in Athens people and animals like that one can say, parade on a sign, or wear any words they choose without limits...."
I'm pretty sure that is not true that there are no limits to “free speech” in Athens. I can think of several religious or non-religious slogans that would have the wearer arrested as a nuisance or threat to public safety.
It really depends on WHO you are offending....
When is "hate speech" mislabeled as "free speech", and who gets to do the labeling?
Are there any lines left to cross? Is all speech "free speech", or can some speech be considered assault?
For instance: that guy on the corner of Court Street can get away with wearing the t-shirt that says "Jesus is a ----", and probably gets quite a few - unfortunate - snickers of approval from some of our populace.
But put the same guy in a "Mohammed is a ----" t-shirt, and he probably gets physically assaulted. Say his shirt is saying "All ---- go to ----", or "Kill all the (whoever)". He would definately be confronted.
Is one part of the populace so cowed that they won't stand up for their beliefs, while another group feels empowered by the fact that minority status can be a pass to say literally anything? Is this to be considered a double-standard, or just desserts - the 21st century version of "Stickin' it to The Man"?
You can boldly wear a shirt that proclaims "Police LIE". I've seen it, and I don't disagree with the statement... BUT, if you put on a shirt that accuses a popular politician/public figure of the same offense, and do it in Athens, you are gonna get your --- kicked.
I could go on with even more obnoxious examples, but it's pretty clear that in Athens, as in many other and diverse communities, you can get away with certain publically expressed opinions - in fact, they kinda blend in... - BUT, reverse those opinions and they not only draw a crowd, it would become both a personal and public safety issue.
Proof abounds that we, as a nation and a culture(s) have lost any sense of common decency - and we have lost it to the point that we really can't find it, or even know when we have crossed any line.
When did we begin to believe that in order to make a "point" we have to shock and offend? It seems we don't enough command over our language to express ourselves without resorting to intellectual shortcuts.
These shortcuts continue to work their effect on any public discourse.
Right now we're reduced to TV spouting one-line sound bites that totally disregard truth. Indeed, our elite, educational tribe views truth as pretty much subjective in all contexts. So much so that a large portion of our "intelligencia" regard the oaf on the corner with the offensive t-shirt as enlightened, and his vile statement a wonderfully insightful observation. Not, the sick, twisted offront to civilization that it actually is....
This is a very interesting debate. When does “free speech” become a public nuisance? When does personal and public safety come into play?
A person was observed, on a street corner in Athens, wearing a t-shirt that said something that I cannot bring myself to say here, or anywhere.
Someone complained, with these results:
"...Discussion with the local police revealed that in Athens people and animals like that one can say, parade on a sign, or wear any words they choose without limits...."
I'm pretty sure that is not true that there are no limits to “free speech” in Athens. I can think of several religious or non-religious slogans that would have the wearer arrested as a nuisance or threat to public safety.
It really depends on WHO you are offending....
When is "hate speech" mislabeled as "free speech", and who gets to do the labeling?
Are there any lines left to cross? Is all speech "free speech", or can some speech be considered assault?
For instance: that guy on the corner of Court Street can get away with wearing the t-shirt that says "Jesus is a ----", and probably gets quite a few - unfortunate - snickers of approval from some of our populace.
But put the same guy in a "Mohammed is a ----" t-shirt, and he probably gets physically assaulted. Say his shirt is saying "All ---- go to ----", or "Kill all the (whoever)". He would definately be confronted.
Is one part of the populace so cowed that they won't stand up for their beliefs, while another group feels empowered by the fact that minority status can be a pass to say literally anything? Is this to be considered a double-standard, or just desserts - the 21st century version of "Stickin' it to The Man"?
You can boldly wear a shirt that proclaims "Police LIE". I've seen it, and I don't disagree with the statement... BUT, if you put on a shirt that accuses a popular politician/public figure of the same offense, and do it in Athens, you are gonna get your --- kicked.
I could go on with even more obnoxious examples, but it's pretty clear that in Athens, as in many other and diverse communities, you can get away with certain publically expressed opinions - in fact, they kinda blend in... - BUT, reverse those opinions and they not only draw a crowd, it would become both a personal and public safety issue.
Proof abounds that we, as a nation and a culture(s) have lost any sense of common decency - and we have lost it to the point that we really can't find it, or even know when we have crossed any line.
When did we begin to believe that in order to make a "point" we have to shock and offend? It seems we don't enough command over our language to express ourselves without resorting to intellectual shortcuts.
These shortcuts continue to work their effect on any public discourse.
Right now we're reduced to TV spouting one-line sound bites that totally disregard truth. Indeed, our elite, educational tribe views truth as pretty much subjective in all contexts. So much so that a large portion of our "intelligencia" regard the oaf on the corner with the offensive t-shirt as enlightened, and his vile statement a wonderfully insightful observation. Not, the sick, twisted offront to civilization that it actually is....
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Budget troubles will mean more Cops on the road...
The worse the budget situation gets, the more patrols there will be. For a while this will be both traffic enforcement and DUI/OMVI patrols.
As the economy moves more toward total break-down, the police will move more toward their original purpose: to protect the State's interests, which government refers to as "keeping the peace".
No matter how bad the situation gets, be it for revenue purposes or just to control the populace, there will be more patrols of all kinds in the future.
And anybody who has done the math knows that there is a whole culture of jobs and dependent economy built on both Traffic and OMVI tickets. Just look at the cost of your speeding fine on your ticket and compare that to the add-on of court costs that you pay even when admitting guilt and mailing in your payment. Look at the fines, court costs, schooling/rehab and long-term insurance costs associated with just a first-time OMVI offense.
Ohio is ranked the forth worst state for speed traps in the US. To reiterate, it will get worse as the times do...
I drove to WVa the other day, spent 35 miles on 33 in Ohio and saw 10 troopers and 2 sheriffs. That's one every 2.9 miles. In 145 miles through WVa on Rt.77, I saw one trooper and one sheriff.
As the economy moves more toward total break-down, the police will move more toward their original purpose: to protect the State's interests, which government refers to as "keeping the peace".
No matter how bad the situation gets, be it for revenue purposes or just to control the populace, there will be more patrols of all kinds in the future.
And anybody who has done the math knows that there is a whole culture of jobs and dependent economy built on both Traffic and OMVI tickets. Just look at the cost of your speeding fine on your ticket and compare that to the add-on of court costs that you pay even when admitting guilt and mailing in your payment. Look at the fines, court costs, schooling/rehab and long-term insurance costs associated with just a first-time OMVI offense.
Ohio is ranked the forth worst state for speed traps in the US. To reiterate, it will get worse as the times do...
I drove to WVa the other day, spent 35 miles on 33 in Ohio and saw 10 troopers and 2 sheriffs. That's one every 2.9 miles. In 145 miles through WVa on Rt.77, I saw one trooper and one sheriff.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Mikey (I'm a man!) Coleman, Users vs. Suppliers, and the C-bus Tax Increase....
Mayor Mikey (I’m a man!) Coleman threatened his city with chaos if his 25% income tax increase was not approved in the sneak election yesterday-- a sneak election where the minority gets to decide for the majority, again.
Yep, we the minority in numbers, are actually the majority of tax dollars for the wunnerfull city of C-bus.
Whose police and fire “protection” are we paying for? Yessiree, it’s the guy or gal who tries to panhandle us downtown or in the Short North, or the thousands of non-citizens and welfare junkies living in the too-numerous tax supported projects.
And why are we the ones paying? A city estimate of 55% of C-bus income tax is paid by non-residents. And since that is the number supplied by the city Auditor’s office, I am betting that the reality is much higher; probably 65% or more.
Those people who work in the restaurants and shops we frequent and where we frequently get hasseled by said panhandlers? Why, they don't live in C-bus either! More and more of the people who work in C-bus are commuters; the result being that those on the teat and with the resident vote decide things, not the reluctant suppliers.
With fewer people working and paying the problem is fast reaching the critical mass of users overbalancing producers.
More people on the teat. Suckling piggies. On The Dole.
While the welfare junkie that is C-bus is trying to hold the dealer up, that works only once, and then the supply is gone. The junkie doesn’t have the wherewithal to do his own supplying. If more and more jobs and taxpayers move out of the city limits, bye-bye city. And maybe that’s a good thing...? Then mebbe Mayor Mikey I’m-a-man! will get a look at real chaos – not the pretend stuff he threatens us with.
Mikey told you that the gangs and panhandling problems will spin out of control if he didn't get his money. Rrriiiiiiight. Like they've been in control, while he adds more "Freeway Police" and tries to convince us that writing speeding tickets and helping set up DUI checkpoints is really fighting crime.
As for we Worker-Bees, we are paying city income tax and a separate school tax where we live, and now another tax increase on top of the C-bus tax we now pay, and the chunk of state and federal taxes with which we supply more public services and one form or another of government assistance for said non-citizens and welfare junkies.
Mayor Mikey I'm-a-man! scheduled the vote for August. Not November. August. Even though it costs more than twice as much to hold a special election than to put the rape…errrrr issue on the general ballot. That’s so he can get his bunch of “users” out while any city-dwelling “producers” are at work. It wouldn't surprise me if the “get out da vote” effort was just Free Cigs and 40s fer everbuddy.
As it stands right now, I might be bending over, but it is so Mikey (I’m a man!) Coleman and his scum-sucking scam artist pan handling welfare grubbing constituency can kiss my ***.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
It is a day for whining....
I hate my 178 mile commute. And, I very much dislike Columbus. It has no soul - at least to this country boy. I doubt I could live here. And I hate being away from my beautiful home and my much-much better half.
I dislike my job, not necessarily the mechanics of it, but I hate having to interact with shallow and insincere people to whom office politics, gossip and rumor is the only spice of the day. I wonder if their souls look and act like rats in a sinking ship?
It is my own fault, as a chronic underachiever, that I am only qualified for the job I do. I am very good at it, but the company where I work is the only place within 150 miles of where I want to be that has a job for me...
Yep, it is a day for whining.
I dislike my job, not necessarily the mechanics of it, but I hate having to interact with shallow and insincere people to whom office politics, gossip and rumor is the only spice of the day. I wonder if their souls look and act like rats in a sinking ship?
It is my own fault, as a chronic underachiever, that I am only qualified for the job I do. I am very good at it, but the company where I work is the only place within 150 miles of where I want to be that has a job for me...
Yep, it is a day for whining.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
The Beer Summit: Oh, the Beers that should have been....
The final word on the beers that should have been served at the historic but meaningless "Beer Summit".
Sergeant Crowley could have been drinking a number of beers, from Carling “Black Label” to Saranac “Black Forest”, to Boston’s own Sam Adams “Black Lager”.
Only one Cerveza fits Professor Gates: Mexico’s own "Carta Blanca". That way he can be drinking the “White Card” in lieu of playing the Race Card.
There are many beers suggested for our President, from “Arrogant Bastard”, which is only half true, to “Blithering Idiot”, which really should have been Joe (Plugs) Biden's beer of choice in lieu of Buckler.
Only one American made beer REALLY FITS, though:
LOST NATION PALE ALE
The Beer for people who have Lost Their Nation, NOT Their Taste.
LOST NATION PALE ALE from Willoughby Brewing Company, 4057 Erie Street Willoughby Ohio.
http://www.willoughbybrewing.com/beer.htm
Sergeant Crowley could have been drinking a number of beers, from Carling “Black Label” to Saranac “Black Forest”, to Boston’s own Sam Adams “Black Lager”.
Only one Cerveza fits Professor Gates: Mexico’s own "Carta Blanca". That way he can be drinking the “White Card” in lieu of playing the Race Card.
There are many beers suggested for our President, from “Arrogant Bastard”, which is only half true, to “Blithering Idiot”, which really should have been Joe (Plugs) Biden's beer of choice in lieu of Buckler.
Only one American made beer REALLY FITS, though:
LOST NATION PALE ALE
The Beer for people who have Lost Their Nation, NOT Their Taste.
LOST NATION PALE ALE from Willoughby Brewing Company, 4057 Erie Street Willoughby Ohio.
http://www.willoughbybrewing.com/beer.htm
Friday, July 31, 2009
Amateurism and Incompetence....
Amateurism and incompetence spell disaster.
And when it's from the person holding the most important job in the world...?
Then the disaster moves on up the Richter scale.
And when it's from the person holding the most important job in the world...?
Then the disaster moves on up the Richter scale.
The Peasant Plan....
(From "Shot In The Dark" Blog)
The Peasant Plan
July 31st, 2009 by Mitch Berg
John Edwards, in a line that may well top off his political epitaph one day, famously said that there are “Two Americas”. He was referring to the literal and metaphorical gulf between America’s “Haves” and “Have Nots”. He didn’t note that there are also two Indias, two Phillipines, two Frances and two Argentinas, but Edwards has never been one to let eternal truths of the human condition get in the way of a sound bite.
Conservatives accept these gulfs, recognizing that talent, innate applied intelligence, hard work and just-plain-luck and the lack of them will put people in one America or the other. At the same time, most see a moral obligation to cut down the hurdles and obstacles between the two - especially the (creating more) exits from “Have Not” America.
The left, on the other hand, has always sought to make life in “Have Not” America at least superficially less onerous, all the while making “Have” America a refreshing oasis for those who spend their days dwelling on the plight of the “Have Nots”. Their rationale isn’t much different from the one that royalty accepted in years past; the responsibilities of taking care of ones’ inferiors justified life’s little luxuries, and the big ones as well. In big ways (the USSR’s kommissars shopped at special stores and lived in special housing while the proles waited in line for bread and crammed entire families into studio apartments) and little (count the number of anti-Second-Amendment celebs who’ve used their connections to get themselves and/or their bodyguards concealed carry permits), the left constantly squirrels away perks for their fellow “haves”.
Since the bloom is finally coming off Obama’s electoral rose, it’s time to catalog the Administration’s, and the Democrats’, attempts to make “Have” America a nicer place for those who take care of all of us peasants....
(Read the rest at "Shot In The Dark")
The Peasant Plan
July 31st, 2009 by Mitch Berg
John Edwards, in a line that may well top off his political epitaph one day, famously said that there are “Two Americas”. He was referring to the literal and metaphorical gulf between America’s “Haves” and “Have Nots”. He didn’t note that there are also two Indias, two Phillipines, two Frances and two Argentinas, but Edwards has never been one to let eternal truths of the human condition get in the way of a sound bite.
Conservatives accept these gulfs, recognizing that talent, innate applied intelligence, hard work and just-plain-luck and the lack of them will put people in one America or the other. At the same time, most see a moral obligation to cut down the hurdles and obstacles between the two - especially the (creating more) exits from “Have Not” America.
The left, on the other hand, has always sought to make life in “Have Not” America at least superficially less onerous, all the while making “Have” America a refreshing oasis for those who spend their days dwelling on the plight of the “Have Nots”. Their rationale isn’t much different from the one that royalty accepted in years past; the responsibilities of taking care of ones’ inferiors justified life’s little luxuries, and the big ones as well. In big ways (the USSR’s kommissars shopped at special stores and lived in special housing while the proles waited in line for bread and crammed entire families into studio apartments) and little (count the number of anti-Second-Amendment celebs who’ve used their connections to get themselves and/or their bodyguards concealed carry permits), the left constantly squirrels away perks for their fellow “haves”.
Since the bloom is finally coming off Obama’s electoral rose, it’s time to catalog the Administration’s, and the Democrats’, attempts to make “Have” America a nicer place for those who take care of all of us peasants....
(Read the rest at "Shot In The Dark")
State Run Media Lies On Severity of Recession (Depression)....
All the news outlets were Obamatized today with stories that said the "recession" was "lessening in severity" or "the economy is recovering" or "economic indicators" are improving.
Notice how most of them are all on the same page when it comes to the The 0-Man's press releases, errrrr... "news"?
The economic data (You know, the actual math involved?) says different.
Notice how most of them are all on the same page when it comes to the The 0-Man's press releases, errrrr... "news"?
The economic data (You know, the actual math involved?) says different.
My Beer and My Civil Rights....
So, we're all agreed then:
All cops drink.
And... all black men break and enter.
Cool. The national referendum on that is over.
Long as we got it straight.
Btw, the Cerveza should have been Carta Blanca.
That way the Beer Summiters could drink the "white card" in lieu of playing the race card.
Think I'll go stand on my front porch and yell at cops for a while. It's fun, but not very profitable.
But I'm well within my rights....
All cops drink.
And... all black men break and enter.
Cool. The national referendum on that is over.
Long as we got it straight.
Btw, the Cerveza should have been Carta Blanca.
That way the Beer Summiters could drink the "white card" in lieu of playing the race card.
Think I'll go stand on my front porch and yell at cops for a while. It's fun, but not very profitable.
But I'm well within my rights....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)