No Cheering, No Complacency

Attention Conservatives, Republicans, Libertarians, TEA Party Activists, 912 Activists: Do Not Get Over-Exuberant, Do Not Get Complacent

According to Larry J Sabato’s Crystal Ball, Republicans stand to make major inroads in the Senatorial and HoR elections this year, with a gain of 7 and 20-30 seats, respectively. Republicans also stand to pick up a handful of Gubernatorial seats. And there is still a possibility of even greater gains in all three groups of races.

But now is not a time to cheer or to get complacent. Like some football coaches say, “when you score a touchdown, act like you’ve been there.” Switching to basketball, if you’re the Boston Celtics, there’s no reason to cheer just because you made the play-offs.

Rhodes Cook said it’s not a big deal for a sitting President to lose ground in various elections, but to lose ground like President Obama has is, indeed, a big deal.

It is no embarrassment for the president’s party to lose the off-year gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey. Over the last decade or two it has become the norm. But the falloff last fall in the Democratic vote in the two states, plus Massachusetts, the site of this month’s special Senate election, has been eye-catching.

The chart he gave regarding vote-change is very eye-opening.

Scott Roeder Guilty

From the New York Times:

WICHITA, Kan. —It took jurors 37 minutes on Friday to convict Scott Roeder, an abortion opponent, of first-degree murder in the death of George R. Tiller, one of the few doctors in the country to perform late-term abortions.

For the record, Roeder got the verdict he earned.

John Kasich Responds To The State Of The State Address

I endorsed Mr Kasich already. I support all he says in this video.

We Are Grossly Over-Taxed

I’m trying to figure out all the taxes that the citizenry has to pay. I’m sure I’ll miss most of the taxes so help is appreciated.

There’s the FICA/Medicare tax, which is over 15 percent of income. If you work for an employer, you pay half and the employer pays half (which means you make more money than you think you do, but that extra money is all federal tax).

There’s the federal income tax, which is anywhere from 0 to 35 percent of income. Actually that is inaccurate on multiple levels. If you’re a part-time minimum-wage employee (or likely even a full-time minimum-wage employee), you will get more back than you put in, so your tax is in the negative range (you get money from your neighbor and the person living 5000 miles away from you just for working). But you are still giving the federal government an interest-free loan; money that could gain you interest if you just stuck it in the bank. While the FICA/Medicare tax has a top limit on income taxed, it is above the bottom limit of the top federal income tax bracket.

There’s the state income tax, which varies state to state (and several states don’t have income taxes).

Mt Vernon, OH has a city income tax of 1.5 percent while Columbus, OH has a city income tax of 2 percent (and it’s not a sliding scale). I’ve had jobs in both locales. And my state income taxes have always been higher than my city income taxes (I’ve never had greater than 36k income in a single year, and usually under 28k).

Using a conservative estimate of 5 percent state income tax, so far this means those lowest of the top federal bracket working in Columbus, OH are paying a whopping 57 percent of their income in taxes!

Let’s not forget that those living in certain school districts pay an additional 1 percent income tax for the schools, whether they have children in school or not.

Then we have the 46-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax. That means someone living in Mt Vernon and working in Columbus and driving a 33 mpg car pays $1.40 in taxes just to commute to work every day. If that person only works 200 days a year (and it’s likely much closer to 250 days), that adds up to $280 in taxes just to be able to work, on top of the other income taxes.

Add to that the 6 percent sales tax on any non-food item bought in Ohio (and carbonated beverages are not considered food). And some states tax food as well.

And there are the railroad taxes tied to phone bills. And other “temporary” taxes tied to phone bills that have never expired, after 100 years. And there are special taxes tied to electric bills and natural gas bills and garbage-collection bills and city-water bills.

Then we have corporate profits taxes, which not only affect corporations (where they add the tax burden to the price of their goods) but also anyone who has an IRA or 401(k) or any other stocks in their retirement investment plans.

Then we have corporate inventory taxes. (See corporate profits taxes for impact.)

Then we have corporate property taxes on buildings and land. (See corporate profits taxes for impact.)

Then we have personal property taxes on homes and land.

Then we have corporate property taxes on machinery bought many years prior where the corporations paid the taxes on buying the machinery. (See corporate profits taxes for impact.)

Then we have the death tax, which can be as much as 60 percent of a decedent’s worth, already taxed multiple times. (The Bush moratorium on the death tax is about to expire, thanks to the Democrats who refused to make it permanent.)

We also have tobacco and alcohol taxes on top of the sales tax (but not everyone buys either of these items).

Understand if a corporation has to pay a total of 20 percent of its gross profits in taxes (profits tax, inventory tax, and both property taxes), the price of their goods must be increased enough to cover those taxes, which could increase the cost of a good by 2 or 3 percent. And you get to pay sales tax on the tax-inflated cost of the item.

And if you’re a renter, don’t think you don’t have to pay property taxes for the home you’re living in. It’s figured into the price of rent.

With all these taxes, hidden or otherwise, I cannot come up with a way for someone in middle-class income levels to pay less than half of their income in taxes.

(Oh, I worked for a PA company while never leaving the Columbus, OH metroplex. But I had to pay the PA tax of $15 a year for the, get this, for the privilege of working in PA!)

Liberal Prostitutes For Sale (Cheap)

I told you about Ellie Light earlier. More info about Ellie Light: The latest count is at least 62 publications in 29 states and the District of Columbia; national publications and a Yahoo link; and 2 foreign publications. For an extremely wealthy woman (she lives in homes all across the country, and in places the uber-wealthy do not live) to send email from Saudi Arabia (212.24.236.50) to Ed Morissey defending her uber-rich self is, well, rich. Everyone who believes she is a real person who lives everywhere, say “aye.” Those who say Ellie Light is a leftist, pro-Obama astroturfer (or group of astroturfers), say “nay.”

In the opinion of the Chair, the Nays have it.

But wait, there’s more!

Mark Spivey doesn’t appear to be quite as wealthy as Ellie Light. He appears in fewer newspapers with fewer addresses, but with the same pro-Obama letters. But you cannot deny his prodigious letter-writing campaign from his various homes.

Or he’s another astroturf pro-Obama name.

Don’t buy just yet! We have even more to make this deal even sweeter!

Gloria Elle and Jan Chen wrote identical pro-Obama, anti-Republican articles while on opposite sides of the country.

But that’s not all!

Jen Park and Lars Deerman wrote identical, word-for-word pro-Obama articles in diferent news outlets.

Not only that but you get them all interconnected by their various different letters being published at the same time in different news outlets!

How much would you pay for this astroturf? You don’t have to water it! Unlike grass, which needs watering for its roots to spread and create more grass, this astroturf is very low maintenance! And since it is fake grass, it won’t fade, guaranteed!

([Cass] Sunstein advocates that the Government’s stealth infiltration should be accomplished by sending covert agents into “chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups.” He also proposes that the Government make secret payments to so-called “independent” credible voices to bolster the Government’s messaging (on the ground that those who don’t believe government sources will be more inclined to listen to those who appear independent while secretly acting on behalf of the Government.)

Those of you who thought Glenn Beck was wrong about Cass Sunstein, are you ready to change your minds yet? Those of you who want to blast Conservatives, are you yet ready to admit there is an agenda of corruption and lies in the Obama/liberal/socialist/Marxist crowd in the US?

Everybody Is A Prostitute

What’s your price? Would you be sexually involved with a person of your preferred gender, someone you didn’t know, someone you would never see again under any circumstances, if nobody else would ever know, if it was only fifteen minutes of your life, on the condition you received one billion dollars tax-free?

If you would do that under those circumstances, you are indeed a prostitute. What is left is to negotiate the price.

The same can be stated for political, societal, personal, religious, or any other frameworks. If you’ll do it provided your gain is high enough, you’re a prostitute. Only the price is important. And all relativists are prostitutes. Every single last one of them.

I am not a prostitute. What I gain is irrelevant to Truth. The ends does not justify the means (and SEER training is not torture, just so you know). And Truth is an absolute, not to be sold like a mess of pottage for your birthright.

Where’s Waldo 2.0: The Anti-Competitive Version

Where’s Ellie Light? She’s everywhere. Chances are she lives in your hometown. Chances are she lives in your out-of-state relatives’ hometowns as well. Perhaps you’ve met her already.

…

Or maybe not.

Ellie Light has been published all across the US and even as far away as Thailand. You do know about Thailand, don’t you? With all of Ellie Light’s residences, it is obvious Ellie Light is uber-wealthy. How else could she own so many residences? Well, to be fair, maybe she just rents some of her residences. And Mansfield, Ohio is the place to live if you’re a billionaire. And while you’re selecting homes in my home state, you absolutely must own a home in Chillicothe or you’re not living in the right billionaire places.

Where’s Waldo 2.0, the anti-competitive version is a search for Ellie Light. And that search is easy. She lives in your town. She lives in every town. And she loves her some Obama. Michelle should be concerned about this stalker woman who loves her Obama and lives everywhere. Ellie Light, the stalker woman has huge money and could easily pull Barack away from Michelle with the lure of an easy life and easy money.

Okay, maybe not.

Ellie Light is an out-and-out fraud. Ellie Light is astroturf, plain and simple. Ellie Light is the personification of Cass Sunstein’s idea.

Sunstein advocates that the Government’s stealth infiltration should be accomplished by sending covert agents into “chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups.” He also proposes that the Government make secret payments to so-called “independent” credible voices to bolster the Government’s messaging (on the ground that those who don’t believe government sources will be more inclined to listen to those who appear independent while secretly acting on behalf of the Government).

So, clearly, Cass Sunstein, regulatory czar under Obama, is all for fraudulent and insipid attacks, misrepresentations, and flat out lies in order to achieve an agenda. What’s more, Cass Sunstein wants to provide lawyers to the rats in your house.

For all of you gamers who love to download cheats to the game, download the cheats at Patterico’s Pontifications for Where’s Waldo 2.0: The Anti-Competitive Version. In the comment thread there, you’ll learn that Ellie means “light” and that Cass’s daughter is Ellyn Ruddick-Sunstein.

It is very clear there is plenty of fraud, misrepresentation, outright lies, whatever else going on here with the Ellie Light postings world-wide. What is not clear is whether it’s coming straight out of the Obama administration, ACORN, SEIU, or someone following Cass’s plan of infiltration to spread a pro-Obama message through fraud, misrepresentation and outright lies.

“(T)ry to recruit bloggers who aren’t completely deranged”

The title is a suggestion to Charles Johnson.

Sadly, it’s not a suggestion on how to improve LGF– it’s meant to insult to the guys over a Pajamas Media. You know, back when they had really crazy folks, like The Anchoress— a really classy lady, as much as she’d demure– rather than someone described here?

…posted slurs, rumors, innuendo, material taken out of context, and outright falsehoods about Sverigedemokraterna and Vlaams Belang. He presented the material in a nasty, divisive, and vitriolic manner. And then he refused to back down and publicly withdraw any of his gross errors and misrepresentations when they were pointed out.

He and some other guy want to launch a “two-pronged campaign by which we hope to increase both the reach and efficiency of the blogosphere, as well as to bring pressure to bear on the media at large.” (…Apparently, they’re big on going to OPEN the barn door after the horse is gone, has found the neighbor’s mare and the foal is being saddle-broke….)

Alright, let me back up. You may be going, “who?” LGF looks more like a mis-typing of LFG than anything else. (A very good read, you might try it. Richard is evil.)

You might know of “Little Green Footballs”– it’s a blog. Got famous with that Dan Rather forged documents kerfluffle.

If you’re focused in on blogs, especially if you read my sidebar of linked stories, you might know of Gates of Vienna— they’re a really good anti-jihad site. That’s the first inkling I had that LGF’s guy was going nuts, about three years ago. I’ve never been a big reader of LGF, since there were always so many comments that it exhausted the time I could spend.

About that time, I started to notice a lot of the leftie and off-libertarian blogs I read linking to LGF, approvingly. I can’t remember reading really in depth, just filed stuff away in the “huh, I don’t agree with that, and it’s kind of important…” dump file. Not on the same level where I don’t agree with VC or LMA on what’s called “social issues”; those two worthies don’t go on the attack for it. They’ll defend their beliefs, promote their views, sure, but they don’t go psycho at the notion that folks might disagree with them on homosexuality or birth control.

Far cry from someone described by the NY Times Magazine as “a blog version of Animal Farm.”

Johnson seems obsessed with what others think of him, posting much more often than he used to about references to himself elsewhere on the Internet and breaking into comment threads (a recent one was about the relative merits of top- versus front-loaded washing machines) to call commenters’ attention to yet another attack on him that was posted at some other site.

If you’re curious about the evidence that the guy has gone Sullivan on us, try the comments here— Patterico found out he’d been banned when he tried to log in to defend himself from some accusations. When he posted on the topic, it triggered a long list of “I was banned from LFG for…” stories. A lot of the folks there, I recognize from around the blogosphere– they’re NOT crazy trolls who need banning. And that’s from ME! (I am a bit more authoritarian than most. I sure wouldn’t put up with a lot of the ‘just trying to start stuff’ folks that Granny Grump allows, for example.)

The Gateway link above has some links to other folks who put more time into watching him go nuts.  It’s sad, honestly– I can think of at least three big bloggers who have gone pretty nuts on at least one topic range, and two of the three I greatly enjoyed.  (Yeah, I remember loving Andrew Sullivan’s stuff…now he’s obcessed with funky alien-abduction style beliefs about Trig?)

Senator Scott Brown, A Historic Event?

Many pundits have said a Republican winning the Senate seat in Massachusetts is a historical event. After all, Massachusetts is the bluest of the blue states (strongest Democrat stronghold (the links I use below make Democrats red and Republicans blue so don’t get confused)). So I decided to test that statement out based on Presidential election cycles dating back to 1960. And the results proved quite interesting (to me, anyway).

The 1960 elections
Overall 49.72 percent Kennedy (D) (won)
Rhode Island 63.63
Georgia 62.54
Massachusetts 60.22
No other state broke the 60 percent mark.

The 1964 election
Overall 61.05 percent Johnson (D) (won)
DC 85.50 (The first year DC had electors)
Rhode Island 80.87
Hawaii 78.76
Massachusetts 76.19
No other state broke the 70 percent mark.

The 1968 election (the Dixiecrat election year)
Overall 42.72 percent Humphrey (D) (lost)
DC 81.82
Rhode Island 64.03
Massachusetts 63.01
No other state broke the 60 percent mark.

The 1972 election
Overall 37.52 percent McGovern (D) (lost)
DC 78.10
Massachusetts 54.20
No other state broke the 50 percent mark.

The 1976 election
Overall 50.08 percent Carter (D) (won) Side note: Carter won all the formerly Dixiecrat states.
DC 81.63
Georgia 66.74
Arkansas 64.94
West Virginia 58.07
South Carolina 56.17
Massachusetts 56.11
Tennessee 55.94
Alabama 55.73
Rhode Island 55.36
North Carolina 55.27
Minnesota 54.90
Maryland 53.04
Kentucky 52.75
Delaware 51.98
New York 51.95
Florida 51.93
Louisiana 51.73
Texas 51.14
Missouri 51.10
Hawaii 50.59
Pennsylvania 50.40
The rest of the states broke under 50 percent.

The 1980 elections
Overall 41.01 percent Carter (D) (lost)
DC 74.89
Georgia 55.76
No other state broke the 50 percent mark.
Massachusetts was very tight, going 41.90 Reagan, 41.75 Carter. But Massachusetts was John Anderson’s (I) strongest showing at 15.15.

The 1984 elections
Overall 40.56 percent Mondale (D) (lost)
DC 85.38
No state broke the 50 percent mark.
Massachusetts’ 48.43 mark came in second only to Minnesota’s 49.72 mark.

The 1988 elections
Overall 45.65 percent Dukakis (D) (lost)
DC 82.65
Rhode Island 55.64
Iowa 54.71
Hawaii 54.27
Massachusetts 53.23
Minnesota 52.91
West Virginia 52.20
New York 51.62
Wisconsin 51.41
Oregon 51.28
Washington 50.05
No other state broke the 50 percent mark.

The 1992 elections
Overall 43.01 percent Clinton (D) (won) Note: Perot (I) had a major impact as Clinton and the elder Bush each won four states with less than 40 percent of the vote.
DC 84.64
Arkansas 53.21
No other state broke the 50 percent mark.
Massachusetts was 47.54 (compared to only 29.03 for Bush)

The 1996 elections
Overall 49.23 percent Clinton (D) (won)
DC 85.19
Massachusetts 61.47
No other state broke the 60 percent mark.

The 2000 elections
Overall 48.38 percent Gore (D) (lost)
DC 85.16
Rhode Island 60.99
New York 60.21
Massachusetts 59.80
Maryland 56.57
New Jersey 56.13
Connecticut 55.91
Hawaii 55.79
Delaware 54.96
Illinois 54.60
California 53.45
Michigan 51.28
Vermont 50.63
Pennsylvania 50.60
Washington 50.13
The rest of the states were under the 50 percent mark.

The 2004 elections
Overall 48.27 percent Kerry (D) (lost)
DC 89.18
Massachusetts 61.94
No other state broke the 60 percent mark.

The 2008 elections
Overall 52.87 percent Obama (D) (won)
DC 92.46
Hawaii 71.85
Vermont 67.46 (Note: Vermont has the only openly Socialist US Senator and he caucuses with the Democrats)
New York 62.88
Rhode Island 62.86
Maryland 61.92
Delaware 61.91
Illinois 61.85
Massachusetts 61.80
California 60.94
Connecticut 60.59
The rest of the states were under the 60 percent mark.

When Massachusetts wasn’t the strongest of Democrat strongholds, it was among the strongest. Even when Massachusetts swung Republican in the Presidential election, the Democrat votes were higher than the national average. Overall, I have to say Massachusetts is one of the strongest Democrat strongholds from the evidence I’ve seen.

Massachusetts has definitely upset the apple cart here. With a long history of voting heavily Democrat, sometimes second only to DC, the switch was indeed historic. Massachusetts voters gave Obama nearly 62 percent of the vote in 2008, but 14 months later gave a Republican who vowed to stop Obama in his tracks 52 percent of the vote. In my mind, this is indeed a wake-up call to all Democrats nationwide. If a Republican can win a statewide election in Massachusetts, a Republican can win nearly anywhere. And that should scare the Democrats but good.

Sidenote: Notice how heavily Democrat DC is? Is there any wonder Republicans that stay in DC too long lose touch with, and become clearly more liberal than, the base?

Fixing Healthcare

Top down fixing stuff hardly ever works. Organic systems just don’t work like models– “close enough” works when the wiggle room is, say, the wear of calibrated parts that are changed every 1000 working hours, but people vary from day to day, let alone different people.

Even if folks really, really give their all to trying to fix a system, there’s something off– I think it’s best explained as they focus on the theory. Folks trying to make a living in the system will focus on their bottom line; folks trying to use the service provided by the system will focus on getting the best for the buck. This is over simplified, and there’s levels to it– for example, the folks managing the providers will use strategies to bring in more users, sometimes the users look at intangibles rather than raw services….

Anyways:

A major consideration for the HSA patient is the fact that medical fees are grossly inflated by Medicare and insurance companies that draw up contracts with physicians including “discounts” from imaginary retail prices. When I retired from private practice, I had 176 contracts with various insurance companies and HMOs. Medicare will punish a physican who provides a cash discount to a patient. Balance billing is also prohibited.

The result has been reluctance on the part of physicians to see Medicare patents or HMO patients, both of which have poor reimbursement schedules.

Solution: go to cash services, bypassing the various legal and paper complications involved accepting Medicare, or insurance that’s too much paperwork.

I think this is a good start.

John Kasich Told Me “NO”

And I’m glad he did. That has had a major impact on my stance.

Back in the 1990s, when “welfare” was the issue of the day, I was pushing 30 or had just recently crossed that rubicon. I wrote a two-page letter to then-Congressman Kasich, who represented a district near my own, regarding the “welfare” issue. In my letter, I posited what I considered a well-reasoned and pragmatic approach to the “welfare” issue. I was trying for the “half a loaf” idea. I never actually expected Mr Kasich to write me back, especially since I wasn’t in his district.

I was surprised when I got a two-page letter back from him. While it did seem to be a form-letter format (and who can write a personal letter to 5000 people a week?), it was a definite “no” letter. In the letter was an entire list of reasons why my idea was bad for the country and all the things Mr Kasich was working on, which would be much better for the country. Mr Kasich showed me that my “half a loaf” was, in actuality, a sell-out. I was selling the farm for a promise of a bushel of beans to be received at a later date. And I was impressed with the thoroughness of the information and reasoning.

And I was surprised at how much was accomplished with the “welfare” reform that passed. It was indeed a great day for the country when that “welfare” reform was finally signed into law.

From that point on, I decided I was not going to sell the farm for a wink and a promise. I was not going to settle for “half a loaf” which amounted to the two butt-ends of the loaf, while giving up the rest of the loaf (and my principles to boot) to those who were destroying this great nation.

Mr Kasich is now in private life, having left the US House of Representatives several years ago. But he is running for Governor of Ohio. I have already endorsed him for this job (see my upper-right sidebar and find his link in my left sidebar). And he is still very much a fiscal conservative. Understand, fiscal conservatism is what allows the country (or, in this case, the state I have called my own for 44 years) the greatest opportunity for growth and success. Fiscal conservatism allows for the greatest financial growth possible, benefiting everyone from the small-business owner to the hourly employee. We need only look to California and Detroit to see what fiscal liberalism does.

On Mr Kasich’s blogsite, he shows deleterious tax information for Ohio and requests input. First, the deleterious tax information (which, I might add, is incomplete as it doesn’t show the corporate side (but I do believe that was covered in a different post there)).

Today, Ohio has the 7th highest state and local combined tax burden in the nation with taxes consuming 10.4 percent of the state’s income. As Chart 3 shows, this was not always the case. Forty years ago, Ohio had the 5th lowest state/local tax burden in the nation, with taxes consuming 8.7 percent of the state’s income. In just the past 10 years alone, the state has dropped 10 places in the rankings as the population flight accelerated.

From a regional competitiveness standpoint, Ohio is surrounded by states that, generally speaking, have much lower tax burdens. Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia are all clustered in the middle of the national rankings (27th, 28th, 25th and 29th respectively), while Pennsylvania’s tax burden is 11th highest in the nation, but still lower than Ohio’s.

And now my response for fixes in the tax scheme.

1) Inventory tax.
I have no idea why a business should have to pay taxes on its inventory. But I know businesses have to do a year-end audit of all its inventory for tax purposes. The corporation paid taxes on everything it bought. The corporation will again pay taxes on everything it sells. That is double-dip taxation, which is necessarily passed on to the consumer, as no corporation actually pays any taxes; the consumer pays all the taxes in higher prices for goods. And, in current circumstances, the corporation pays taxes on all the inventory in stock that hasn’t been sent out yet. This is triple-dip taxation, which again impacts the consumer in higher prices.

A great many manufacturing businesses have a peak time during the summer and a lag time during the winter. A financially responsible business will lay off employees in the winter and run down its inventory to the bare bones prior to tax day, and then in the summer mandate heavy overtime. This is another burden on corporations as they have to pay 150 percent of the wage during overtime hours. It is also a burden on the state as the slack time is spent printing unemployment checks. And that means more state employees getting paychecks out of tax dollars to write all those unemployment checks. Which means a greater need for tax dollars.

If the inventory tax were eliminated completely, not only would the triple-dip tax (that consumers must pay) be eliminated but the heavy cost of overtime would be reduced as well. And unemployment, which is likely half or less-than-half of employment checks, would be reduced. And we would need fewer government employees to handle the unemployment checks. And that would mean less state money needed, and lower taxes needed.

2) Business property tax.
I’m sure I got the name wrong. Sue me (blood-turnip?). Why should a business pay a tax on every piece of 1940-era machinery it owns every year? The tax was paid when the business bought the machinery. And, like I said, no business actually pays any tax. It is all added to the price of the product. So the end-user pays this ridiculous tax without even knowing it. This tax just adds to the hidden cost of doing business and harms the competitivity of any business that must pay this tax. Eliminate it altogether, and the loss of tax dollars will be more than made up in the increased business activity.

3)Corporate Profits tax.
As I said, this is double-dip taxation. This money has already been taxed on the purchase and sales of the product. And the employees’ income has already been taxed. Eliminate this entirely. The loss of this tax will be more than made up in an increased revenue pool of income. A business-friendly environment will by necessity increase business activity and will necessarily increase total revenue and income flow. Secondary businesses will be created to fill the needs of the primary businesses and the people surrounding those primary businesses. And government employment (and the tax dollars needed for that government employment) will shrink, putting in place a multiplier effect.

If you create a 3000-employee manufacturing plant, those 3000 employees need to buy groceries and clothes, which will improve the grocery store and department store employment. Those 3000 employees will have families which will need more groceries and food. They will also need transportation and entertainment. And they will need household items. And they will want “pretty” things. And they will desire services, such as repairs or in-home entertainment, or merely garbage removal services.

The elimination of corporate profit tax itself will cause a massive explosion in business as the cost of doing business becomes much less than in surrounding areas.

But let’s not stop at taxes. Let’s tackle true TORT reform. It is far too beneficial for trial lawyers to throw spaghetti at a wall to find out what sticks because too much of that spaghetti sticks and too much of that money goes to the lawyers. If all the ambulance chasers were run out of the state, the cost of doing business would plummet. And more people would earn a much higher living. And the secondary and tertiary business opportunities would increase geometrically.

I Hate My Cell Phone Service

I pay for every minute I use on my cell phone. When I hang up and look at the time used and see 1:05 used, I know I just paid for 2 minutes. (Maybe not, but let me know what I know anyway.) It isn’t fair that I have to pay for time I didn’t actually use. The cell phone service providers are huge cheats. (Ignore the fact I have a pre-paid cell phone and if I don’t actually use it, I can get away with phone service for 2 months for a mere 10 dollars every 2 months.) (And ignore the fact I don’t usually make phone calls and I almost never receive phone calls since I talk to my daughter online and I have no life.) It’s just not fair that I have to pay for 2 minutes on the phone when I used only 65 seconds!

There Are No Absolutes

Are you absolutely sure about that?

There is no right or wrong.
Is that right?

Nobody can be certain about anything.
Are you certain?

Everything is relative.
Absolutely everything?

You have your truth and I have mine.
Then why should I believe anything you say?

I Hate USMC Boot Camp

When going through Boot and you have 10 minutes for the triple-S at night (Something, Shower and Shave) and you have 10 shower heads, 5 sinks, 3 stalls for 70+ men, and you get quarter-decked for unsat shave, dirt, odor, you learn to do all of that very fast and very precisely.

24 years later, when I decide to take a nice, leisurely 15 minute shower, I lather up and rinse off, and try to stand there, bored with nothing to do for the other 14 minutes. And I can’t do it. A nice, long, hot 15 minute shower sounds oh so nice until I get in it. Then it is oh so boring just standing there after cleaning up.

I hate Boot. It ruined my pleasurable long showers.

Class Envy Is A Sin

Complain the rich aren’t paying enough? You’re living in sin.
Complain the rich get an unfair tax break? You’re living in sin.
Want to soak the rich? You’re living in sin.

Them’s the facts. For anyone who chooses to wear the mantle of Christian to claim otherwise is to show a deep lacking in the understanding of Christian doctrine. And no, Christian doctrine does not have anything to do with “rich worship”.

Proverbs 14:30 “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”
Proverbs 14:34 “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”

Very clearly, envy is a sin. And, very clearly, this sin is a disgrace to our nation.

UPDATE: I asked for, and received, input from another and that person said “perhaps you should include reference to the Ten Commandments, and the prohibition on covetousness.” So here it is.

Exodus 20:17

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or his maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

This is the tenth of the Ten Commandments. And my reading of the Ten Commandments says to me this is the only Commandment that focuses directly on thought instead of actual action. To covet what another has is a thought-sin, as declared by Providence. Jesus did tie thought-sin to other action-sin Commandments, but that is a different discussion.

Covet (from dictionary.reference.com)

to desire wrongfully, inordinately, or without due regard for the rights of others: to covet another’s property.
…
To feel blameworthy desire for (that which is another’s). See Synonyms at envy.

Envy (from dictionary.reference.com)

a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another’s advantages, success, possessions, etc.
…
A feeling of discontent and resentment aroused by and in conjunction with desire for the possessions or qualities of another.

Backing up to the Eighth Commandment, Exodus 20:15 says “You shall not steal.” I see this as the action-sin tied to the “covet” thought-sin. If you do not covet it, you will not steal it. And you will not write laws that make stealing it legal.

(end update)

Mark 7:20-23

He [Jesus] went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.'”

Very clearly, Jesus said envying what another has is sinful. As an aside, Jesus very clearly declared the liberals’ current dysphemism of TEA Party activists sinful.

Romans 1:28-32

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Envy is a sign of a depraved mind. Class envy is a subset of envy. Those who are envious are deserving of death. But they delight in others who also are envious.

There are many more passages about envy. It is not good to envy what others have (and that is a severe understatement).

Matthew 25:14-30 (Jesus speaking)

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. [A talent was worth more than a thousand dollars (in 1985).] Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at one and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

“After a long time the master of those serants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

“‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have in an abundance. Whoever does not have, even that what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'”

It is very clear those who have greater ability (industriousness, ingenuity) will be given more. And they will produce, and keep, more. Those who have lesser ability will be given less. And they will produce, and keep, less. Those who produce nothing out of what they have will have what they have taken from them.

This is Jesus speaking.

Those who want to “soak the rich”, those who complain about how “the rich aren’t paying their fair share”, those who want to redistribute the wealth from the wealthy to the poor are in direct contradiction to Providence. They are practicing class envy, which is a wholly-owned subset of envy. And envy is worthy of death, according to Providence.

Republicans, Conservatives, and, more strongly, Christian Conservatives are against the class envy system of taxation. Democrats and Liberals are heavily for the class envy system of taxation, and in direct confrontation with Providence. The Democrats and Liberals are also in direct confrontation with scientific and historical economic truths in their class envy.

President Obama has made a deal with SEIU such that those who buy the best health insurance and who are in unions do not pay the 40 percent tax (40 percent!) on their plans, but the rest have to pay the tax because their plans are too good. That is clearly a play on envy and punishing those who have better (except for those who are in unions (which support Democrats almost exclusively)). There is no other way to read that.

If you claim to be a Christian and you practice class envy, I strongly suggest you re-evaluate your position and your heart because you are in direct opposition to Providence’s commands.