Getting It Right with Sid Riley

Capitol Offenses are Offensive

2011-03-10T12:13:00.000-06:00

As state after state struggles with budget deficits which have been created by decades of generous spending combined with sudden and significant declines in state revenues created by the current depression or recession (depending on how much you and your family has been impacted thus far), the hapless Governors are running directly into the massive power of the public unions. After millions of private sector employees have been laid off or fired as their companies went out of business or had to go through great sessions of cost cutting, after these destitute workers have suffered month after month of unemployment, …. the pain has finally reached the public sector. The “Time of the Crat” is upon us. It is their turn to feel some of the pain and reality of the recession.

Prior to the 1980’s there was an unwritten understanding between those who chose to work for government and those who chose to work for business and industry. If you worked for government, your pay and benefits might not equal those enjoyed by those working in the private arena, but you had a reasonable retirement and job security. You were almost promised to never be laid off, as government workers were protected from the ups and downs of cycles in industry.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

Alive and Doing Well!

2011-03-04T11:31:00.000-06:00

I find it somewhat ironic that the government is struggling with the problems related to dealing with greedy, aggressive unions. For the past fifty years governments have enacted pro union laws which tilted the scales of justice, and the field of fair play, strongly in the favor of unions. After all, the situation was only dealing with industries and companies, and they were expendable.

Consequently for decades the labor laws, actions of the NLRB, and court rulings were strongly biased on the side of the unions and the poor oppressed workers they represented. (Even if they were auto workers, steel workers, miners, boilermakers, machinist, and other trades which were making hourly rates approaching that of a doctor, dentist, or engineer.) Now those same laws and that same system of bias is working against state and federal officials as they attempt to deal with the unions which now represent the government worker instead of the industrial worker.

I would be silently pleased with this paradox except for one thing …. It is my and your tax dollars that they are negotiating with. In industry it is only the revenues of the involved company that they are greedily squabbling about. However, when it comes to a public union, it is the money the government garnered from poor struggling families that is being delivered to satiate the greed of the public union membership.

For that reason, I do not feel government workers should be allowed to unionize, strike, and collective bargain. The dues they pay goes to support the campaigns of pro union political candidates who enact legislation which favors more payments and benefits for the union members, often promising benefit levels which are unsustainable, which causes taxpayers to pay more and this cycle of greed and corruption continues until the system fails. That is the condition we are approaching today. It must be stopped. Government unions must be curtailed.

They have created a situation where the public servant is making more and has more luxurious benefits than the hard working taxpayers. Their practices have allowed our school systems to become impregnated with underperforming teachers which can not be terminated. Their practices make wasteful, unproductive elements within the bureaucracies become more and more commonplace. We can no longer afford their presence and actions.

It is paradoxical that the unions played a major role in pushing labor costs and regulatory actions against U.S. industry upward in an unchecked manner for some sixty years, until we finally created a cost model which could not compete on the world market.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

Life is Good!!

2011-02-17T11:27:00.000-06:00

They’re starving in Haiti and Africa, rioting in Egypt and Iran, going broke in Europe and America…. And I can barely pay my utility bills…. But Life is Good! Spring is upon us, the flowers of the season will soon be here, bream and bass will begin to bite, golf rounds will be warm and pleasant, and another rebirth in nature will occur. It is easy to get too focused on the bad news, worries, and unpleasant possibilities and ignore the beauty around us. It is important to also take time to smell the flowers.

This is truly a wonderful, beautiful, and magnificent world in which we reside. The boundless beauties and pleasures of nature are truly astounding.

Another astounding aspect of life is the nature of man. True, there are some who dwell in darkness and evil, and live a life filled with peril, threat, conflict, hate, greed, and despair. But thankfully, those are the minority. In general, our population is loving, caring, helpful, cheerful, industrious, and a pleasure to share one’s life with.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

Can You Believe They Are Out Of Money?

2011-02-10T11:05:00.000-06:00

Now, on to the subject of the week:

Can You Believe

They Are Out of Money??

Tax his land,

Tax his bed,

Tax the table

At which he’s fed.

Tax his work,

Tax his pay,

He works for peanuts

Anyway!

Tax his cow,

Tax his goat,

Tax his pants,

Tax his coat.

Tax his tobacco,

Tax his drink,

Tax him if he

Tries to think.

Tax his car,

Tax his gas,

Find other ways

To tax his a##.

Tax all he has

Then let him know

That you won’t be done

Till he has no dough.

When he screams & hollers;

Then tax him some more,

Tax him till

He’s good and sore.

Then tax his coffin,

Tax his grave,

Tax the sod in

Which he’s laid.

When he’s gone,

Do not relax,

It’s time to apply

The inheritance tax.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

The Story Behind Our Shocking Power Bills

2011-02-03T12:21:00.001-06:00

The extreme cold weather has once again delivered “sticker shock” to many Jackson County Citizens as they remorsefully opened their monthly envelopes containing their electric bills. This is especially true of those residents and businesses which are located within the service area of Florida Public Utilities. The bills for those customers are some 30% higher than those in areas served by Gulf Power or West Florida Electric. This service area includes all of Marianna and the surrounding area.

These citizens are suffering under electric rates that rank among the highest in the state. The history of how this situation evolved, who is responsible for it, and what can be done to begin to restore a more equitable condition for our citizens is the subject of this column.

In the years before 2008 area customers of Florida Public Utilities enjoyed electric rates which ranked among the lowest in the State. This condition existed because FPU had entered into a very favorable long term contract with its power supplier, Gulf Power. Then fuel costs began to rise dramatically, and Gulf Power was not able to raise its prices to FPU because of the exiting contract arrangement. It is my understanding that they attempted to reopen the contract for renegotiation, but FPU refused. About this time Gulf power was also required by the EPA to install emission reduction scrubbers at their power plants which cost them millions of dollars in added investment.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

“Free Trade” Does Not Mean “Fair Trade”

2011-01-28T12:19:00.000-06:00

The U.S. Economy is Suffering From a Policy which allows “Unfair” Free Trade – During the 1990’s the political bandwagon of the moment was total endorsement of the concepts of “global marketing”, “free trade”, and “the global marketplace”. Political leaders of both parties were quick to accept these concepts, and consequently during the era of Bill Clinton’s presidency world changing trade agreements were consummated. Among these were NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), and the granting of ‘Most Favored Trading Status for China”. In reality, our astute politicians of that day gave away the farm. Locally, Senator Bob Graham and Representative Earl Hutto both voted for the measures. It remains uncertain how our politicians supported these trade deals for personal gain and how many rendered their support out of ignorance. That era was when Ross Perot accurately forecasted a “giant sucking sound” as jobs left America.

During the fifteen years which have passed since those unfortunate trade deals were consummated, thousands of U.S. companies have closed their domestic factories, and have begun sourcing their production needs in Mexico and Asia. In the process, the industrial foundations which have been the bulwark of America’s economy have been removed, and millions of industrial jobs have been lost. We are left with a weak, inadequate, service and technology based economy which does not begin to provide the needed number of jobs for full employment of the American labor force.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

The Cost of Living In Our Amoral Society

2011-01-20T11:50:00.001-06:00

The horrendous attempt by the husband of a disgruntled Bay County school system worker to kill members of the School Board caused us all to watch in dismay as the scene was repeatedly shown on national television. It was a stupid, evil, and fortunately, unsuccessful act.

However, the occurrence of that incident has apparently now caused many school systems to feel the need to employ security to attend future school board meetings. That is now the case here in Jackson County. This is just another unfortunate cost which the citizens will ultimately pay for. These and many other costs have been created because we live in an amoral society.

In 1987 at the court house in Port St. Joe an irate husband shot and killed Judge W.L. Bailey …. As a result, every court house in the state is not filled with deputies working as personal body guards for every judge. This is a huge cost to taxpayers.

In 1993 a gang of young thugs attempted to rob some sleeping British tourists at a rest stop near Monticello. After terrorizing the family, they ended up killing the husband, Gary Colley. Since that event, the tax payers of Florida have paid millions of dollars for providing 24 hour security at every rest stop in the state. Another huge public cost created out of reaction to violence.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

Speaker “Wow’s Them” At Tea Party Meeting

2011-01-13T13:12:00.002-06:00

On Tuesday evening the Concerned American Patriots local Tea Party organization held its January meeting. The featured speaker for the event was a nationally recognized, black, conservative, dedicated American patriot named Frantz Kebreau. He delivered a message which astounded those in attendance.

Kebreau is an astounding individual himself. His grandfather was once President of Haiti. Frantz is a native born American, an honors college graduate, a highly decorated naval aviator who flew off the carrier “Independence”, a commercial airlines pilot, a father of five, and a dedicated American. He has put his lucrative flying career on hold in order to tour the nation and tell his inspiring and informative story. He is a “Great American”. He is also President of the NAACPC (National Association for the Advancement of Conservative People of all Colors) organization.

His story was essentially a close examination of the history of slavery in America. However, his presentation included many astounding facts which are normally not included in school studies of the subject. He believes this exclusion is a planned part of the liberal, progressive, movement within our nation. He states that their intent is to create as much racial division as possible within the American social structure. The irony of the situation is the fact that the organizations to which most blacks and Hispanics hold their allegiance are the same organizations which historically have most enslaved the black population and restricted progress within the black culture.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

100 New Faces Arrive In Washington

2011-01-06T11:41:00.001-06:00

This week 100 new faces arrived in Washington. Most of these new faces are attached to a highly motivated rookie legislator with a conservative mindset, intent on changing the way government is conducted in the hallowed halls of our national capitol.

The question to be settled is, “Will they be able to ‘change’ Washington…or will Washington change them?” Will they be consumed by the firmly established “system” which prevails within our monster system of government, as it has consumed so many before them? Will they be swayed and wooed from their pure intent by the temptress sirens of the lobbyists? Will they allow themselves to be hobbled, castrated, and nose led by the party leadership? Hopefully not… our nation’s future depends on them.

On the home front, we must be careful to not expect the impossible. We must not become disillusioned at the pace and degree of change they are able to enact. Two more elections must transpire before the new wave of conservatism can truly take charge of the processes and systems which are so deeply entrenched within our government. At present, we can only hope to alter and slow the march of the Liberal Progressive Socialists movement which remains in control of the Senate, the Executive functions, and most of the massive federal bureaucracies.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

2011 Here We Come!

2010-12-30T10:53:00.001-06:00

I must say that I am glad to see 2010 come to an end. I feel it has been a rotten year for our nation, our economy, and for most families here in Jackson County. Let us all join in our hope for a much better 2011.

There are many new groundswell forces coming to the surface on the political scene, as a wave of conservatism prepares to sweep across state and national landscapes which are currently entrenched with dominant liberals. It sets the stage for a year filled with political conflicts as politicians dedicated to high social ideals are faced with harsh economic realities.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

“They’re Still Not Listening”

2010-12-17T12:30:00.001-06:00

The November elections should have sent all elected officials and members of the bureaucracy a loud and clear message. “It is time to change our way of doing business in government. We need to reduce the cost of government, restore balanced budgeting, begin to repay our debts, and we need to restore the basic freedoms and rights promised in the Constitution.” It appears that most of those in positions of control have not yet heeded that message……Oh well, we knew they were slow learners.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

The New Normal…Are You Willing To Accept It?

2010-12-10T13:50:00.001-06:00

The national media has begun using a term which I find very bothersome. They are beginning to frequently use the term “New Normal” as they present statistics on our economy and national condition. To me this represents a trend toward acceptance of deteriorated, substandard conditions which have been caused by years of bad management, political corruption, and vote buying by self serving lobbyist groups. They now want the American public to accept this as the new “status quo” of expectation for out society. It represents acceptance of a worsened standard of living and a weaker America. I am not yet ready to cede that as necessary and agreeable.

In order to shine a brighter light on what appears to be the “New Normal” for our national situation, I have attempted to prepare a listing of what this means.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

The New Normal…Are You Willing To Accept It?

2010-12-10T13:50:00.000-06:00

In order to shine a brighter light on what appears to be the “New Normal” for our national situation, I have attempted to prepare a listing of what this means.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

A Near and Growing Danger

2010-12-02T11:03:00.000-06:00

A Near and Growing Danger:

Within the U.S. economic-social framework a new danger to our future is rapidly growing and building strength. In fact, it may already be so powerful that correction is not possible.

I am speaking of the tremendous change in organization, focus, and effect within the national union movement which has been taking place over the past fifteen years. The potential dangers associated with this shift were revealed to me a few days ago when I read a report that the SEIU, the government service employees union, is now the most powerful union in the nation, with over 2.2 million members representing a major percentage of the county employees, state employees, school employees, firemen, policemen, city services workers, and hundreds of other government jobs across the entire nation. Their power is awesome…politically and physically.

The potential for misuse of this power is a real and present danger. This is a new danger for our democracy which did not exist until the last ten years. A quick examination of many of the revolutions, national upheavals, and government coups which have occurred around the world will reveal that in many instances the core instigating power of these revolutions was the prevalent labor union in those nations. When the elected leaders of the nation lost favor with the powerful labor leaders….. those labor leaders had them physically ousted. In reality, the unions were in charge of the government. Do we want that condition in our country?

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

Thanksgivings Are Special

2010-11-28T12:58:00.000-06:00

Holidays are those special days full of special times and events which create lasting memories for all of us. Of all of the holidays, Christmas would have to take first place for creating the most memories…but Thanksgiving would run a close second place.

What makes Christmas and Thanksgiving both so special is the fact that both holidays involve pulling the family together for a sharing of love, caring, spending quality time together…and of course enjoying a delicious feast style meal together. Most families have at least three generations gathered for the special event.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

“Stop The Presses!!”

2010-11-18T17:01:00.000-06:00

Our secretive, powerful, and unrestrained Federal Reserve has decided to devalue the U.S. Dollar by cranking up the printing presses and arbitrarily printing and putting into circulation $600,000,000,000 (Over half at trillion dollars), without that money being backed up by anything of value, such as gold reserves. This action devalues the dollar on the world market, makes that money you have stashed away in the ice box lose some of its purchasing power, makes oil and other imported products cost more, creates inflationary pressures, reduces our ability to borrow money on the world market, makes our creditors such as China very angry and jittery, and may cause other nations to also devalue their money in order to maintain a status quo as they export to the U.S. . In short, this action disturbs a lot of things at a time when the world economy is teetering dangerously over an economic chasm.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

Tales of Government Abuses and Government Waste

2010-11-11T12:23:00.000-06:00

Highway 231 Speed Trap Gauntlet
I was disgusted, repulsed, and appalled by the recently released information on the revenues being collected from the new camera system which is now being used to rip off travelers as they navigate through Campbellton. It appears this latest revenue generating program will reap around $200,000 per year from the pockets of tourist trying to make it to the Florida beaches.
They stated they might use this new income being realized by the city of Campbellton to create a city police force. Why not put in another light and double the revenues?

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

Getting It Right - Well, It is Over…What Do We Do Now?

2010-11-04T13:07:00.000-05:00

Well, the election is over, all of the mud has been slung, all of the lies have been told, all of the promises have been made…..so what do we do now? Well all of the losers will begin calling in all of those favors they are owed for pulling political strings for their backers and friends. From these they will get the plush job as a bureaucrat, lobbyist, or consultant they were promised for the dirty deed they performed. Don’t worry about the losers. The system provides that they will be well cared for in the event they should ever suffer an election loss.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

A Glimpse Into Our Future

2010-10-28T13:11:00.000-05:00

A BIT OF TAX FOOD FOR THOUGHT. THESE ARE THE CURRENT RATES IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES…..WILL THE U.S. BE NEXT?

Denmark.. Income Tax: 58%...
VAT (Value Added Tax): 25% TOTAL: 83%

Sweden.. Income Tax: 55%...
VAT: 25% TOTAL: 80%

Norway.. Income Tax: 54.3%...
VAT: 25% TOTAL: 79.3%

Finland.. Income Tax: 53%...
VAT: 22% TOTAL: 75%

Netherlands.. Income Tax: 52%...
VAT: 19% TOTAL: 71%

United Kingdom .. Income Tax: 50%...
VAT: 17.5% TOTAL: 67.5%

Greece.. Income Tax: 40%...
VAT: 25% TOTAL: 65%

Portugal.. Income Tax: 42%...
VAT: 20% TOTAL: 62%

Spain.. Income Tax: 45%...
VAT: 16% TOTAL: 61%

France.. Income Tax: 40%...
VAT: 19.6% TOTAL: 59.6%

(And to these renderings for Cesar you can add the cost of licenses, fees, permits, fines, penalties, and assessments. Why bother to work if you have to pay it all to the bureaucracy?)

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

It is Time To Turn the Ship!

2010-10-22T12:13:00.000-05:00

“It is time to turn the ship around and chart another course. Rough weather and rocky reefs lie ahead on the current heading.” Hopefully that is the message voters will deliver to our current Captain and Crew on November 2. If not, the USS America is in peril.

At best, the return voyage to smooth, safe waters will be long and slow. After five decades of foundering, misdirection and neglected maintenance, our “ship of state” is far off course and may never again enjoy the smooth sailing and high water line we once took for granted.

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

Some New Initiatives For Our Elected Representatives To Sponsor

2010-10-14T11:23:00.002-05:00

If you have occasion to speak with any of our elected State representatives in the State House or State Senate, you might want to take advantage of the occasion to recommend that they begin an initiative in support of one or more of the issues which will be discussed in this column. In creating a new initiative the Legislator normally solicits agreement and support from other legislators, and collectively they create and sponsor a bill for consideration by the body.

Issue One – Septic Tank Requirements Removal from Springs Bill:
Issue Two – Modification of Procedures For Selection of Public Service Commission Members:
Issue Three – Campaign Finance Reform

To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

Abusing the Amendment Process

2010-10-10T13:14:00.000-05:00

Abusing Florida’s Ragged Old Constitution:

The U. S. Constitution has only been amended 19 times in the last 235 years, while the Florida Constitution has been amended 15 times in the last three election cycles. I think this demonstrates that there is a flaw in the process within our state. We have six proposed amendments on the ballot which is currently being utilized by early voters across the state, and will be on the ballots completed in the voting booths on November 2.

The reason for this marked difference is simply that it is difficult to comply with the requirements for amending the U. S. Constitution, while it is easy to amend the Florida Constitution. In fact, if Amendment 4 is enacted, it will be almost the same procedure for amending the constitution as it is to modify the zoning on a comprehensive plan. In my opinion, our legislators should take a critical look at this situation and then enact an amendment to amend the amendment process.
To read the rest of the story visit our virtual paper by clicking on this link!

The Era of the “Crats”

2010-09-30T13:21:00.002-05:00

Where Have All the Jobs Gone?

2010-09-23T14:39:00.002-05:00

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:

Mostly to China.

That is the answer to the question posed in the title of this week’s column. China has consumed a major portion of all of the industries which once flourished in America and made our nation great. They also took our jobs.

We are left with empty or converted factory buildings, a sagging economy punctuated with huge unemployment statistics, foreclosed homes, failing businesses, unfunded government programs, and a growing segment of the population living in poverty. Meanwhile things are booming in China with entire huge cities being built at an unbelievable pace, new factories filling buildings as quickly as they can be built, and a fast growing middle class emerging out of poverty into prosperity.

How did this happen?

It was allowed to occur because of our bad management, stupidity, and greed.

In my opinion, those were the characteristics which were demonstrated by our leaders over the past five decades. It all cumulated during the Clinton era when the “elite leadership” endorsed the concept of a global economy and free trade among nations. It might have sounded good on the surface, but it also sounded the death knell for American industrial production. Passage of this legislation is a perfect example of how the system often works. Congress enacts a body of laws and it then takes a decade of so before the public can realize the full impact of what was passed. By then, the guilty politicians are no longer in office...and everyone has forgotten who really is to blame.

It will be the same story for the Health Care Bill and Cap and Trade if it is passed. At the state level, the Land Use Comprehensive Plans will eventually become a real issue for property owners years from now.

In order to accomplish the ruination of our once booming and dominant role as an industrialized society, our leaders took the following steps to create an industrial environment which could not compete on a global scale:

● Tax industries at the highest tax rate in the world.

● Pass laws which encourage unionization of industries. This leads to unreasonably high labor costs, generous retirement programs, luxurious health benefits, plentiful vacations and holidays, and plant rules which prohibit full utilization of productivity enhancing equipment and procedures. These elements are enabled by politicians purchased with union funds and collective voting power.

● Increase government regulation of all industries and place expensive administrative costs on businesses in order to comply.

● Place ever tightening environmental and social responsibilities on industry.

● Once this ‘High Cost” production environment has been created, suddenly adopt a policy of “free trade”, remove all protective tariffs and quotas, and allow full access to America’s markets for goods made in China, where their industries enjoy low labor costs, high productivity, little government internal regulation, very low taxes, and government subsidies to encourage exportation.

American industries quickly found that goods made in their U.S. plants had such a high total production cost that the Chinese made goods were 40-50% less expensive on the shelves of American retail stores…even after the Chinese goods have been transported half way around the globe.

Then we wait ten to fifteen years as American industries either closed their domestic plants and transitioned into sourcing arrangements from Chinese makers….or went out of business. In the process, millions and millions of jobs were transferred out of the United States to those shiny new Chinese factories.

Just as each payroll dollar is multiplied by five or six in its total impact on the local economy when a plant opens, the reverse is true when those dollars are lost. The negative impact is similarly multiplied as retailers, suppliers, and other infrastructure components to industries also fail.

That is where we are as a nation. The government imposed economic policies of the last fifty years combined with the foolish trade deals made in the 1990’s, have changed our world for the worse….In fact, they destroyed the backbone of our economy.

Those jobs will never come back….no matter how much “stimulus” we try to give industry. As a nation, we are most likely facing a future of continuing decline in our standard of living and a diminished ability to support those in need within our society.

Some restoration might be possible if we instituted new rules of trade which began to somewhat “level the playing field” for American made products. We should not be totally focused on exporting, and should attempt to once again make American made products attractive on a cost basis to the American consumer.

This would involve reinstalling some selective tariffs, using subsidies to help American made products compete, and use of aggressive programs to assist in the rebuilding of factories and industries.

We should remember that wealth is only created when we add labor and functional capability to raw materials which add to its value to an end user. Companies which produce durable and consumable goods create wealth. Wealth creating jobs include mining, farming, construction and manufacturing.

This newly created wealth is then shared with governments at all levels which then consume this wealth to provide infrastructure and services to societies. Service functions such as doctors, lawyers, retailers, media, retailers, banks, and others simply redistribute wealth…they do not create it.

Schools and federal, state, and local governments are the major consumers of wealth.

When the wealth creating elements of this formula are removed or decreased, the cycle of wealth begins to fail. When our leaders foolishly traded away the wealth creating industries which once produced items across almost every town in America, they began a negative cycle which may now be uncorrectable.

We need to elect new leadership which understands the mechanics of what has transpired, and who will dedicate themselves into restoring wealth creation within our economic system. We need leaders who can “Get it Right”. This November is the time to start.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

● The Tea Party Message, plain and simple:

♦ Quit Taxing!

♦ Quit Borrowing!

♦ Quit Printing!

♦ Quit Spending!

♦ Reduce Government and give us our Constitutional personal and property rights back!

Your Tax Dollars At Work!

The following was posted on the internet by NY Conservative on 9/15 from an article in Cybercast News Service in a feature written by Matt Cover:

“The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), spent $823,200 of economic stimulus funds in 2009 on a study by a UCLA research team to teach uncircumcised African men how to wash their genitals after having sex. The genitalia-washing program is part of a larger $12-million UCLA study examining how to better encourage Africans to undergo voluntary HIV testing and counseling – however, only the penis-washing study received money from the 2009 economic stimulus law. The washing portion of the study is set to end in 2011. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/75198

● “If America dies…it will be a suicide, death by dry rot from the inside. We dare not let that happen. It is time to be involved.”

~ Dr. Tom Kitchen, Baptist Bible College of Florida

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Some Issues For Your Representatives

2010-09-16T11:47:00.000-05:00

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

If you want to become active in the processes in government which often have very significant impact on your life and your finances, I am going to offer some suggestions on issues which you can discuss with your political representatives when the opportunity is present.

Your Utility Bill –

The terrible situation which has developed for many residents in Jackson County, especially those around Marianna who must buy electricity from Florida Public Utilities, cannot be resolved by any local action. Our Commissioners have no authority or voice in the determination of electric rates.

As I see the situation, the high electric rates suffered by too many across the State of Florida are the result of a corrupted process which involves excessive control over the activities of the Public Service Commission being exerted by the large utility companies in the state. Through buying political influence with funding from the utilities being distributed to “buyable” politicians via the powerful lobbying organization, “Associated Industries of Florida”, they have gained control of the nominating committee which selects PSC Board members.

As has recently been demonstrated, any PSC Board member who dares vote against the wishes of the powerful utilities soon finds themselves booted off of the Commission by the nominating committee. Ultimately this process shows up in your mailbox in the form of a “sky high” utility bill.

How can this deplorable situation be corrected? The only way I see to instill a degree of fairness into this system is to move as much control as possible back to the local level where citizens can have more influence. The PSC members were once elected positions, but the system was not properly designed and the combination of politics with money soon became a serious problem….as it is today.

I recommend returning to a nine member PSC Board, each elected from nine local districts which are carefully designated on a geographic and population based formula. The elected positions would be non-partisan, with each candidate only allowed to raise campaign funding up to a reasonable limit (Example: $70,000), with full sunshine disclosure of all contributors. Utilities, their employees, and family members of employees would not be allowed to contribute. Voting would be on a District by District basis.

We can encourage our elected State legislators to organize support for a bill which would create this new system for selection of the members of the Public Service Commission. This is the only way I see to ever restore any real protection to the public from these greedy monopolies.

Increased Oversight of the FDEP –

The unregulated, unabated, continual string of expensive regulations, decisions, and over exuberant legislation emitting from the bureaucracy within the federal EPA and the FDEP are consuming property rights, reducing personal liberties, and costing businesses and individuals billions of dollars….all in the sacred name of the environment. The problem is these are accepted and implemented with little or no attention to proof of justification, realization of consequences, or concern for those who the rules impact. Too often our legislators have taken the approach “If it has a ‘green’ label…I’ll vote for it.”

While scientists argue over the validity of global warming, or the proof that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are destructive for the atmosphere…the radical environmental loonies which seem to fill the bureaucracy of the EPA and FDEP are busy enacting rules, laws, and departmental edicts which are seriously impacting our economy, our lives, and our pocket books… with little or no oversight from our elected officials.

It is from this existing weak system of departmental control that costly regulation after costly regulation is bombarding the economy and the public. These are implemented in a harsh, authoritative manner, causing businesses to close, projects to be abandoned, and pocketbooks to be drained. If you don’t think these things are costing you money, or are impacting your property rights, let me list a few examples.

● The incoming septic tank regulations which will cost rural property owners thousands of dollars.

● The retention pond requirements which are applied on a universal basis whether the location justifies it or not. These ugly mosquito larvae infested ponds often are in areas where they will never catch any water or perform any useful task. The construction of these unsightly ponds and the cost of land which is put into a useless condition are increasing the cost of every project by thousands and are costing millions across the state and billions across the nation. Much of it is unnecessary.

● The regulations regarding handling of asbestos border on ridiculous. Through their codes and regulations they have made many simple, miniscule situations into expensive major problems for many home and business owners. The regulators make handling an asbestos tile seem more dangerous than catching rattle snakes. I feel that unless you work in an asbestos mine, or in a factory that creates asbestos dust every day, your chances of suffering medically from handling a few shingles or pipe wrappings are miniscule….excluding those who might falsify a medical claim to use our lucrative legal processes for personal gain through fraudulent claims.

● The same goes for the fear they try to generate over ever encountering any old paint that might have a taint of mercury in its composition. From this they recently enacted a costly procedure for any project done on a structure built before 1978 in which all dust from the project must be contained by placing plastic sheeting over the work area, and only using certified construction people wearing elaborate protective gear. And certainly all of the materials must be carefully bagged and taken to a specially designed land fill for disposal. So, property owners, the next time you get ready to paint your old house, or rebuild that old shed….hold on to your pocket book!

● They forced over 1500 businesses out of business on January 1 because of the unreasonable manner in which they implemented new regulations on gasoline storage tanks for thousands of filling stations and mini-markets across the state. They caused the loss of over 15,000 jobs in Florida, and not a single legislator made a public, negative remark about it. These small businesses had to replace their existing tanks immediately….whether they were leaking or not. As a result, the small, independent gasoline station is squeezed out of existence. Do you suppose the big retailers of gasoline might have been pushing for these rules?

● Remember Freon in air conditioners? It was outlawed because it supposedly hurt the ozone layer…then later they decided there was no problem with the ozone hole and it occurred and varied naturally.

● Every drop of dreaded oil or gas which any business allows to touch sacred mother earth is quickly punished, fined, penalized, and quarantined by the envirocrats, no matter how small or insignificant. Remember the millions spent on the “dirt burners” at the airport because of the small crop spraying business that once operated there. Of course some was spilt and ran off the tarmac onto the ground. It had to immediately be scooped up and burned at great costs. Isn’t it funny that those same chemicals were flown to the fields, sprayed, allowed to run down into nearby ditches which were undoubtedly then as contaminated as the ground at the airport?

● The justification used by the electric utilities for raising your electric rates is to recover the cost of the “scrubbers” they were forced to spend many millions for under the regulation of EPA.

● Every time you fill up your vehicle you pay extra because these regulators won’t allow drilling in Alaska, off shore, and won’t allow mining of oil shale, won’t allow building of nuclear plants, and won’t allow construction of new refineries.

● Just around the corner here in Florida are new bodies of regulations from these loonies which will deal with establishing unreasonable water quality requirements for every Florida river, lake and stream. Then they plan to force expensive recycling laws for all trash from every source.

● Just wait until they finally push through “Cap and Trade” that will surely help our suffering economy.

Ideally, these environmental loonies envision a planet devoid of destructive humanity, and filled with lush vegetation and healthy earthworms. Tell your legislators to get involved in creating a system of oversight and increased pre-implementation justification procedures before the FDEP and the EPA can shove this crap down our throats.

Communicate with your legislators….and you will be “Getting it Right”.

Rudiments – Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning

● I see a lot of political signs still on display from the losers in the August 24 primary. They and their supporters need to pick them up.

● (Say something good)…..Boy! All of this road and sidewalk work really has me stimulated!!

● I congratulate Willie Earl Paramore for being appointed to the County Value Adjustment Board which hears property evaluation complaints before the tax roll is finalized. However, the last time that Board ever adjusted an appraisal for the benefit of a taxpayer was when the Yankees burned the Episcopal Church!

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Labor Day!.....Bah! Humbug!!

2010-09-09T11:02:00.000-05:00

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

It is always great to see families out on outings enjoying each other and having a good time. This holiday weekend was a good example of that happening. However, I would like to have the holiday renamed to something like, “End of Summer Day”, and remove the idea that those who celebrate the day are recognizing the accomplishments of the U.S. Union movement.

I just can’t bring myself to celebrate the U.S. Organized Labor movement and the
horrible, ruinous contributions it has introduced into our nation’s economy. In my opinion, the actions of our industrial unions are one of the primary reasons the U. S. economy has been brought to its knees as industries flee our high taxation, over regulation, and escalating labor costs.

It is undisputable that during the early phases of the industrial revolution, which covered the first three or four decades after the turn of the century, many abuses of employees by unscrupulous owners of businesses existed in industry. The impact of organized labor did much to correct and reverse these situations. As a result many jobs were made much safer, child labor was eliminated, overtime pay was recognized, and wages and benefits were improved.

However, during the last half of the century most of these needed components were covered by labor laws, and the government had assumed the role of enforcement. The unions were really no longer needed. Yet they remained a powerful political force which used their might to steadily push for more, more, more, satisfying the greed of the membership. Unions also greatly restricted introduction of new technology, and multiplied operational costs through foolish restrictions on in-plant practices. Eventually, this constant escalation of costs resulted in the demise of the industry, the loss of the jobs, and reduced membership for industrial unions. Their greed killed the “golden goose”.

Their unbridled power fostered by millions they collected in union dues bought them political influence which then resulted in liberal, unfair labor legislation. These one sided laws weakened the ability of companies to resist their cost increasing practices. This finally all ended in the early 1990’s when our foolish, inept politicians adopted the emerging concepts of an emerging “global economy” and “free trade”. Without properly evaluating the potential impact these concepts would have on our own economy, in a bipartisan movement they enacted a series of disastrous legislation which during the ensuing fifteen years resulted in the decimation of the once great United States industrial sector.

This disabling legislation included NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), Redesigning GATT (Generalized Accord on Tariffs and Trade) under the WTO (World Trade Organization), and voting to give China “Most Favored Nation” trade status. This legislation was passed during the Clinton years, but was generally supported by foolish members of both parties. These changes opened the doorway for unhindered access to the U.S. markets by foreign made goods, with little or no restrictions or tariffs. Since these countries had not experienced the seventy years of escalation of their manufacturing costs which had occurred in the U.S., their products could be bought, delivered, and sold in America at prices which rendered U.S. made products non competitive. During the next fifteen years U.S. companies were forced to begin closing their domestic plants while they opened new plants in other parts of the world, or reached purchase agreements with industrialists in other nations, mostly China and other parts of Asia.

Consequently, millions of high paying, industrial manufacturing jobs were lost forever. No matter how much “stimulus” money is thrown into the economy, no matter how many tax breaks are given, no matter what meager efforts our desperate politicians attempt to implement….those jobs will never return. As a result, the national tax base has been reduced, governments are experiencing revenue shortfalls, unemployment and underemployment has soared, and the standard of living for the average American is falling. Our future generations face an even bleaker situation.

Meanwhile, as industry after industry failed, declined, and left the country, and the union movement suffered high membership losses. As a means of survival they turned their attention to the public sector. They began aggressive organizing programs in the areas of schools, hospitals, city workers, county workers, state workers, federal workers, police, firemen, nurses and teachers. As a result, union membership and union dues collections soared. As they destroyed our industry and once powerful unions such as the Auto Workers, Steel Workers, Boilermakers, Machinist Union, Plumbers Union, Carpenters Union, and others became shells of their former selves…new, powerful unions emerged.

While the unemployed steel workers in Pennsylvania and Ohio sat in their aging Union Halls wondering what happened to their $30 per hour job….new unions were forming. Among these are the now politically powerful SEIU (Service Employees International Union), NEA (National Education Association), AFT (American Federation of Teachers), AFSCME (American Federation of State County and Municipal Workers), and the mafia controlled Teamsters Union which ironically represents a large portion of the policemen in the country.

These unions are now busy escalating the cost of government to the American tax payer. These unions have a lot to do with the unreasonable salaries and benefits which many bureaucrats and politicians are enjoying while the public sector suffers.

No, I can not celebrate LABOR DAY! I see unions as terrible, negative, disastrous elements for our society.

I hope you and your family enjoyed a great “End of Summer” holiday. If you did, you were “Getting it Right”.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

● (Always include something nice) I congratulate Chuck Hatcher and the Jackson County Parks Department for another great season at Blue Springs Park. The swimming area has become a significant attraction for our area.

● Don Moore, popular radio commentator with WJAQ is recovering from a serious heart attack. We wish Don a speedy recovery.

● I applaud Richard Harrison for his continuing work on making the public aware of what the terrible new septic tank legislation will do to our rural resident. He encourages everyone to contact involved legislators on the issue.

● Our Washingtonians are planning to throw another barrel of “stimulus money” at the suffering economy in a desperate attempt to buy time and perhaps create a few jobs. They plan a massive rebuilding program for roads, airports, and railroads. This will make contractors, engineering firms, and architects richer…but when the projects are over these jobs will again fade away. They are only investing in the public, government sector and ignoring the business sector which would create permanent jobs.

● I noticed that on this holiday most of the shops and businesses which have to work every possible day to survive, pay their bills, and pay their taxes, were open and did not get to enjoy the day. Meanwhile, all of the bureaucrats, politicians, and companies which survive by suckling from the public teat were enjoying another of their many paid holidays.

● The unions in France are demonstrating today because the Government is planning to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 in a desperate attempt to reduce their soaring national debts. These unions would rather see the nation fail than give up any of their benefits.

● All of the losing candidates in the primaries and their supporters need to get busy and remove all of their signs from the streets and yards.

I have often wondered why it is that the conservatives are called the “right” and the liberals are called the “left.”
Then by chance stumbled upon this verse in the Bible:

Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)
“The heart of the wise inclines to the right,
but the heart of the fool to the left.”
(Sent to me by Coach Phillip Clikas.)

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

“Heed the Call…or America Will Fall”

2010-09-02T11:14:00.002-05:00

“Public Servants” or “Lords and Overseers”?

2010-08-26T11:00:00.002-05:00

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

I am convinced that somehow the American public has been a victim of a role reversal with the political bureaucracy which has grown steadily over the past fifty years. When I was a young man I often heard such terms as “Public Servant”, “Servant of the People”, and “Public Service” when describing the role of the bureaucracy within the American system of government. It seems that those terms have migrated in meaning as the power of the bureaucracy has grown, until today they have become oxymorons.

I believe we have evolved into a system which closely parallels the medieval system which existed between the rulers of that day and the poor serfs which lived and managed to scrape out their survival in the boundaries of their kingdoms. Government was closely managed and controlled by an “elitist” group which consisted of the extended royal family, their friends, and the politically connected part of their society. Entry into this select group was difficult to accomplish, and those Counts, Countesses, Dukes, Duchesses, Earls and Earlettes, Knights and Knightesses, and other members of the royal establishment enjoyed lives of lavish riches enabled by the power of their positions.

They lived from the plunder garnered from the poor, hard working serfs who toiled the fields and as the harvest was gathered had to yield a significant portion of their gains to the King, leaving them with less than was needed for the survival of them and their families. They were servants to the government, living lives of torment and misery at the pleasure of the governing elite. For their sacrifices they were afforded the pleasure of living on the land, protection from enemies, and management of the affairs of government. Their liberties, choices, and opportunities for gain were yielded to the needs of the decadent ruling class.

As I hear news stories relating to the abuses of today’s all knowing, all consuming, bureaucracy I can not help but draw comparisons to the medieval system of government. It appears they are no longer the “servants of the public”, and have instead become “Overlords of the Public”. The people of America are now working to serve the needs of the bureaucracy.

For their wonderful services our governments are taking over 50% of our earnings, restricting and regulating our every move, and controlling all of our properties. We see them boarding their government aircraft, riding in their chauffeured limousines, dining at great banquets, riding in their yachts, and living their lives of luxury as they rule our lives. All of this extravagance is bought through their power over our lives. Our bureaucracy has become the elitist ruling class.

Today the average federal worker earns over $120,000 per year, while the average non-government worker earns just over $65,000. These figures do not include the lavish government benefit packages which include generous vacation and sick leave programs, generous health plans, and retirement programs which offer almost full wages and benefits after retirement, often garnished with huge accrued benefit “buy outs” and retirement “drop” double dipping programs. They have steadily increased their spoonfuls from the public till, loosened the eligibility requirements, and increased their annual “take” from the public coffers, as their numbers multiply by exponential leaps.

It sickens us all to hear of the extravagance, corruption, and waste of our tax monies as the inept herd of bureaucrats and protective politicians continue to enact laws and rules which reduce our rights, restrict our freedoms, and generally make our lives unnecessarily more miserable. Add to this the stories of corruption involving bribery, trading government jobs for favoritism, and the passage of huge salary and benefit packages for themselves.

Simultaneously the plight of the serfdom general public has steadily worsened as costs have risen, industries have waned and died, regulations increased as freedoms have been lost, and our standard of living has declined. We are merely “slaves” to the political elite of today’s “American System”.

Personally, I hold our leaders totally responsible for the plight of our nation, and the possible plight of the world. Their system of organized corruption, self serving decision making, and placing retention of position and power ahead of national needs has created a system which is so huge, so mismanaged, so corrupt, and so entrenched that correction may be impossible. I see the elections of the next decade as the last opportunities for reversal of our negative downslide as a nation. Unless we can find, support, and elect true patriots instead of mere politicians…we are destined for failure.

As patriotic, caring Americans we must muster all of our available resources, strengths, and time to regaining control of our nation. We must return to basic beliefs, concepts, and ways of running our nation. Only then can we begin to “Get It Right”. We are certainly “Getting It Wrong” right now.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –

● (Always include something nice) I applaud Richard Harrison for his personal effort to inform and arouse the public over the future impact of the ill conceived Septic Tank Laws which were passed during the last legislative session. He is a good example of an individual citizen taking action on his own for a good cause. We all need to support his efforts. (See story on front page.)

● In regards to this terrible new law which will take away more of your property rights, add to the bureaucracy, and cost all rural property owners thousands of dollars…. It appears to me that once again the general public is sitting back and being stupidly quiet while this new law takes effect. Just as no one attended the Public Service Meetings on electric rate increases the year before the rates were approved, (only about ten local citizens took time to attend the meeting) and then hundreds became outraged months later when they got their outlandish power bills…they are again not coming to the meetings on this septic tank law. “Speak now or forever pay through the nose.”

● Shame on all of you who did not take the time to vote on Tuesday or during the early voting period, or by getting an absentee ballot and simply mailing it in. If you are one of the lazy 18,919 Jackson County citizens who did not vote, then you are in effect saying you are happy with the way our nation, state, and local governments are operating. You have no right to complain over your taxes, utility bills, school system, bureaucratic rules and regulations which control your life, fees required, permits required, inspections required, fines, or anything else the “system” does to you. Just keep your mouth shut until you finally get up off your duff and take part in our nation’s processes.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Our Economic Engine Has Been Choked Too Much

2010-08-20T10:08:00.000-05:00

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

The funding and financial support provided to hundreds of thousands of small businesses across the nation has historically been provided by the thousands of banks spread across the land. Many of these banks are not the “too large to fail” New York variety, but are instead the small “hometown” banks which are an integral part of the financial health of their local communities.

The Washington elites tout the need for jobs creation, and with each unemployment report they seem to be desperately seeking good news on jobs creation in the private sector of the economy. Jobs creation will never occur under the existing banking climate.

This “economic engine” for our economy has been choked into an inoperative condition by federal overregulation since the housing crisis nearly bankrupted the nation two years ago. It seems that government can never find the range of “common sense” in its regulatory processes. They always seem to have the pendulum of control swung too far to the left….or too far to the right. This has certainly been the case in their approach to banking regulation.

During the “Boom” period of highly speculative investing and easy credit which prevailed during the ten years or so prior to the bursting of the “housing bubble”, the liberal “federalcrats” decided to convert the entire banking system into one huge “Habitat” program by forcing banks across the nation to make high risk home loans to people who had little chance of paying off a mortgage. Owning a home was made into another expensive and ultimately disastrous, “social entitlement” for America’s poor. Banks were harshly criticized and even penalized if they did not introduce into their loan portfolio’s the required number of minority and low income loans. Credit was easy to get, and loans were often knowingly made for more than the property was worth.

Then the financial system fell apart…bailouts…fear of depression and complete failure of the banking system… Wall Street plunges…banks and brokerages fail…our world changes.

Today those same Federal Bank Regulators who “forced fed” bad loans into every bank have introduced a set of operating rules and standards for these hometown banks which has effectively shut down the system. As a result, small businesses are unable to expand, and in many instances are unable to maintain the needed cash flow for continuation of operations. The lack of available financing is causing many small businesses to close, thus costing our nation jobs instead of creating those jobs the administration is seeking.

One aspect of the lending process in which new, strict regulations appear to be regulating in an especially “bureaucratically stupid” manner is the property appraisal process. They have forced appraisers to use ultra, ultra conservative measurements, have forced borrowers to have multiple appraisals performed, and have prohibited appraisers from living near the area where the property is located….thus increasing the inaccuracy of the appraisal due to lack of knowledge of local conditions.

Regulators are also requiring banks to have many properties with existing mortgages reappraised even if the loan is current and the borrower has never had a late payment. When these reappraisals demonstrate that the property value is deemed to be inadequate to cover the outstanding balance of the mortgage in effect, the bank is then forced to demand an immediate payment for reduction of the loan principal to a satisfactory balance….or the loan is “called”. This action often results in failure and forfeiture, even though the borrower was properly paying the debt. Bureaucratic idiocy.

The ability of local bankers to make business decisions based on their knowledge of the individuals, the nature and potential of the business, or any other personalized aspect of the evaluation is gone. It is purely a “numbers game”, with the rules dictated by federal banking authorities. Bank owners can no longer run their own business… big brother is in charge.

This is the environment in which Jeff Kindelspire has been desperately trying to get needed financing to complete his project at Kindel Lanes for the past two years. His creditor, Bank of Jackson County, resisted the pressures exerted by federal bank authorities for as long as possible, but the bank was finally forced to take foreclosure action against that popular local business. They had little choice in the matter. Thus, another small business was caused to fail.

Banks need to make loans for survival. That is their primary source of income. Because these restrictive regulatory practices have almost shut down the lending processes, many banks are in trouble. Bailout funding has only been available to banks deemed too large to fail by the Administration, or those “special” banks who have relatives of politicians on their bank boards, or have strong union or politically powerful investors.

What should be done to resolve this desperate situation?

In my opinion, more control should be returned to local owners and managers of banks. The overdone restrictions on appraisals should be relaxed somewhat, recognizing the decline in marketability of many properties in today’s market. Loan security and initial payments on equity should be set at the levels which were required in the 1970’s, around 20%. All loan considerations should be made on an ability to repay basis with no regard given to minority status or low income condition.

Special “stimulus” programs should be made available to banks in conjunction with the Small Business Administration loan guarantee programs to increase funding availability to small businesses. This will increase employment, stop business failures, and enhance local economies. Even if some of these loans fail….it is better than spending money on sidewalks no one will ever use.

Those risky low income loans which the government previously forced banks to make as part of their national “housing entitlement plan” in which they turned the entire banking system into a welfare program, should not be counted against the bank’s financial condition today. Those government imposed loans should be pulled off the bank’s portfolio of loans and transferred to a government account. This will help struggling banks improve their ratings, and properly place responsibility on the shoulders of the government where the blame should rest.

If they will focus on revitalization of the local banking systems across the nation they will be “Getting It Right”.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

● (Always Say Something Nice)...I am very pleased to discover funding is available for the repair and remodeling of our County Court House. In its present condition it is a scar on the face of Marianna.

● The Administration just passed a $27 Billion bailout of state funding for the School Systems. Many are saying it is primarily a “Gift” to the teachers union and SEIU. Proof that campaign donations do pay returns.

● The foreclosure action against Kindel Lanes is a sad event. If you want evidence of the recession and hard times in our community, this is an example. Other recent examples would be the closing of Cornerstone Restaurant, Jema’s, Century Lighting, Angie’s Kitchen, Habana, and the changes at Peoples First Community Bank, and the Bank of Bonifay are all examples.

● Our nation is still sinking…..When I listen to the news each day I think I have the same sensations that passengers on the Titanic must have experienced. I can hear the band playing on the upper deck from Washington. They are trying to calm my nerves and telling me all is well, while I continue to hear deep rumbling sounds around me, and feel the deck tilting as our economy tries to remain upright. I know it can not continue to remain afloat under the overwhelming weight of government, over regulation, horrendous wasteful spending, and continuing corruption. All they seem to be doing to try to save the day is…. rearrange the deck chairs.

● Another local horse has that mosquito borne equine virus. Health officials are telling us to stay indoors during the evenings, and to clean out our gutters. ….Why don’t they tell business owners to fill in those EPA mosquito ponds they had to build behind their buildings? They have created a public health danger and are ignoring it.

America’s School System is a Miserable Failure

2010-08-13T10:21:00.000-05:00

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

In my opinion the national approach to educating the youth of our country is a terrible failure. The remarks I will make in this column are not pointed at our local school system, because I feel we in our community are blessed with a system which is functioning at a level far above the miserable performance levels which predominate across the land. Admittedly, there are hundreds of thousands of dedicated, hard working, qualified educators working to educate our nation’s children. Unfortunately, there are also hundreds of thousands of unqualified, uninspired, lazy, and uninspiring people with the title of “teacher” working in a unionized system which provides them tenure and protection.

Across the nation, the graduating product of the existing education process is a young adult which can barely read and do basic math. They have little knowledge of history, geography, government, physics, biology, social skills, health, proper English, writing skills, science, and other needed areas of personal development. Their main skills are the ability to text on a cell phone, operate a play station….and be “cool”. We are suffering from a general “Dumbing of America”.

The problem is NOT lack of expenditures. The United States spends more money per student than any other nation, yet our comparative student scoring reveals that we rank near the bottom of all industrialized nations. Throwing more money at this problem is not the solution. In fact, in areas which invest the most per student, such as Washington D.C., the scoring is lowest. The problems lie with our basic approaches and philosophies.

This tragic situation exists from our Primary Education Schools through our High Schools. How has this situation been allowed to develop in a nation steeped in a rich history of technological and social development? What negative factors have entered the involved processes? What should we do to correct this national disgrace?

It is interesting to note that this same deplorable condition does not exist in our national schools of “higher learning”. The colleges of America are institutions which are revered throughout the world, and hundreds of thousands of foreign students travel to our country for the privilege of going to college here. What are the differences in our approach to college level teaching and primary and high school teaching?

It appears to me that the situation in our public schools has evolved over the past forty years because of the influence of several negative factors working in concert to diminish the effectiveness of our educational systems. In my opinion, the principal negative components are:

● The unionization of the school system teachers and employees. The presence of unions within the educational process introduces an influence which is focused on serving its membership instead of serving the students. This is a diversion of focus. Unionization has led to a system of tenure in most schools which protects teachers who are unqualified, non performing, and are a costly “drag” on the system. For example in the New York school system there are over 1000 teachers who are paid full salary and benefits, but are so bad in performance, work habits, and behavior that no principal within the system wants them on their staff. They are thus paid to not teach….just because of their union protection. This represents millions of dollars which are needed in the classrooms but must be paid to these incompetent, worthless teachers.

● The introduction of bureaucratic and political influences via the funding processes. School systems are no longer controlled by local opinions, philosophies, and desires. Instead, they are now regulated by politically motivated oversight which emanates from the federal Department of Education, and the state departments of education. In order to qualify for the myriad of grants, funds, and programs from the federal and state agencies, the local school board and Superintendents must fully comply with every bureaucratic edict, regulation, rule, and wish the herd of overseers at those upper levels spew out. They can only ask “How high?” when ordered to “jump”. This situation has led to the removal of God from education, removal of corporal punishment, adherence to rules of “political correctness”, excessive administration and overhead, and involvement with a long list of social welfare programs which have been imbedded within the educational system. These place emphasis on teaching those students who have refused to participate and learn throughout their student history, while often neglecting the needs of those exceptional students who wish to progress and learn.

● The development of a “sue, sue, sue,” society led by a horde of hungry lawyers. Just as our doctors are forced to practice defensive medicine out of a fear of being sued in today’s lawyer dominated society, our school boards live in an environment of fear of being sued because of some school program, philosophy, or action. Because of this they constantly practice “defensive education”. This fear has led to removal of corporal punishment, the idiotic rule of a teacher never, never touching a student, removal of all prayer or semblance of a prayer from all school functions, the involvement of the courts and police to handle many discipline problems which should be handled by school authorities as routine incidents. This fear has also multiplied the cost of record keeping and detailed documentation of every action taken in enforcement of school rules. This fear has led to every school needing a costly full time police staff on site.

● The continuing disintegration of the family structure within our society which leads to lowering of moral standards, drug use among youth, an absence of religious influence, and a general decline in personal character and values. This is exhibited by a society in which over 50% of the children are born out of wedlock, thus leaving the child with no father influence. The evolution of values and beliefs based on a social philosophy in which we should rely on government to provide us with all needs instead if stressing the need for self reliance, hard work, and providing for oneself an your family. As our reliance on government is increased from generation to generation of entitlement minded citizens, the emphasis and need for a good educational foundation for survival is rendered unnecessary. Consequently educational requirements and standards have been lowered, in some instances enabling a student who can not read to graduate.

What can we do to begin the process of correction and change which must occur if we ever hope to create an educational system which will “do the job” for our children? What should we do?

#1. I feel we must return control of the educational processes for primary and high school student development to local control. We must enact legislation which prohibits supervision, regulation, and attaching of “funding strings’ by state and federal agencies.

#2. All tenure protections should be eliminated.

#3. School funding, teacher pay and staff pay should be based on a fairly conceived and designed system of performance measurement. If a staff of administrators and/or educators are not capable of teaching our children, the system should identify their shortfall and enable their replacement. Competition should prevail between schools. Good schools should be rewarded and incompetent schools should be penalized and replaced.

#4. Schools should be no larger than 200 students. This will keep schools more closely tied to community involvement and bonding, enhance parental involvement, enable more students to participate in school activities (which I feel are an essential element of the process), and will strengthen the level of individualized attention the teachers and administrators are able to give each student. I realize this will increase costs of facilities and services, but why create huge, impersonal schools which produce an uninvolved, uninspired student.

If we can regain control of our local schools….we will be “Getting It Right”. Choose your elected officials carefully.
Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

● (Say Something Nice) I am very pleased with the decisions made by the County Commissioners and many City Commissions in regards to taxes this year. They voted to keep the millage rate we had last year, which when applied in many instances to a reduced property valuation will give the overburdened property owners a small iota of tax relief. Only the School Board raised their millage, and that was due to those “strings” attached to funding measures as described in this week’s column.

● Kindel Lanes will be sold on the court house steps on Thursday…a sad state of affairs. We can all walk down our new million dollar stimulus sidewalk and think about how it came to pass as we stroll along. This is an example of the recession impacting our community.

● Football season will be beginning very shortly. That should divert our attention from our national misery.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Opinions and Comments On Current Issues

2010-08-06T22:23:00.002-05:00

Taxpayer Alert…Hold On To Your Billfolds!

2010-07-30T11:32:00.000-05:00

A Tale of Greed and Corruption In State Politics

2010-07-22T14:33:00.002-05:00

Political Influence Buying, the Florida PSC, and Your Electric Bill

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

If you are one of those citizens who has been amazed, dismayed, and angered by the doubling or tripling of your home or business electric bills over the past three years, then you should read this article. It describes how and why this has been allowed to happen to you. It is, “The rest of the story”.

There was a story released a few days ago relating to the Nominating Council for the Florida Public Service Commission. The release was generally buried on some back section of many publications, even though it is of great future importance to the public.

The story described some of the strategies currently taken by the nominating processes for seats on the Florida Public Service Commission, which regulates utility rates and supposedly provides protection from monopolistic abuses for the public. During the past year, all five of the then existing commissioners resisted a move by Florida Light and Power and Progress Energy to gain a large rate increase. Instead of merely “rubber stamping” the approval for the increase (as has historically been the case), this group of commissioners denied the increase. Now we see that four of the five are being removed from the Commission as a flagrant political reprisal for daring to defend the needs of the public instead of feeding the profits of the giant utilities.

My direct involvement with the PSC began about three years ago when the Commission came to Marianna to conduct a public hearing on a proposed huge rate increase for our local utility, Florida Public Utilities. During that hearing I addressed the panel, speaking of the assertions that the commission was “too cozy” with the utilities, and the fact that nine of the past fourteen Commissioners who left the PSC had subsequently gone to work for a utility as a lawyer, accountant, or consultant, thus reinforcing the assertions.

I specifically addressed Commissioner Nancy Argenziano who was newly appointed to the PSC after a distinguished career as a State Senator. While in the Senate she had been openly critical of the PSC and the way it functioned. I reminded her of her previous statements about the unfairness of the PSC, and asked if she intended to work to correct these improprieties. She stated that she did intend to work to create a more fair, citizen responsive PSC while she served.

Well, the huge rate increase went through anyway, but apparently Senator Argenziano was true to her word. Her honesty and opposition to the “old way” of doing business on the PSC eventually resulted in her removal by the nominating council, even after she had served as the distinguished Chairperson of the group. Because of these events, I began a quest to determine how the utilities are able to control the composition and actions of the PSC which is intended to regulate them.

A member of the PSC is nominated by the Governor and approved by the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee. The Governor must select the nominee from an eight candidate listing provided to him by the PSC Nominating Council. Thus, it is the Florida Senate which actually controls this part of the process.

The PSC Nominating Council is a 12 member panel comprised of three Senators, three Representatives, and six other members. They are selected equally by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House. The current composition of this panel is: Senator Michel Bennett (Chairman) of Bradenton, Representative Dave Murzin (Vice Chair) of Pensacola, Bevin Beaudet of W. Palm Beach, Tracy Chapman of Orlando, Mike Hightower of Jacksonville, Senator Arethenia Joyner of Tampa, Representative Mark Pafford of W. Palm Beach, Gerri McPherson of Vero Beach, Senator Steve Oelrich of Gainesville, Representative Stephen Precourt of Orlando, Scott Thomas of Jacksonville, and John Vogt of Tallahassee. I researched their backgrounds and major campaign supporters, but could find little linkage to the powerful utilities which mysteriously seems to control their decisions.

As I read numerous articles about the shenanigans of the Nominating Council and the PSC, I ran across a remark made by Senator Nancy Argenziano after she was ousted from her PSC seat for voting against the powerful utilities. She stated in an interview, “It is really the Associated Industries of Florida which pulls the strings on the Nominating Council.” This triggered research on this organization.

It seems the AIF is perhaps the most powerful and influential lobbying organization in Florida. Its mission is to foster the interest of the business community in government. The board of directors for the AIF is comprised of Jeb Bush, and a panel of educators, businessmen, artists, and other seemingly non political people. Again I searched for a strong link to the utilities, but found nothing.

Then I noticed that there was an allied organization, the Associated Industries of Florida Foundation. “Aha!” I thought…. “The foundation is probably the controlling element of their funding. Let’s see who is on the Board of Directors of the AIF Foundation”.

The computer screen switched to the listing of the members of the Board of Directors for the Associated Industries of Florida Foundation ……and the first name to appear was the Board Chairman, Mr. Ed Tancer. It listed Mr. Tancer’s credentials as being Senior V.P. and Vice Chairman for Government Affairs for Florida Power and Light!! The connection I had been seeking was now before me.

The system appears to work this way… (1) The Florida Power and Light Board of Directors of which Mr. Tancer is a member decides which politicians are supportive of their desires. (2) Mr. Tancer directs the Board of the AIF Foundation as to which politicians to fund with AIF monies. (3) The funds are used to buy seats on the PSC 12 member Nominating Council. (4) The Nominating Council only nominates candidates which are aligned with supporting the wishes of the utilities. (5) The Senate committee only approves nominees which have the “correct” outlook. (6) The PSC is thus ready to approve all requested utility rate increases….and (7) Your electric bill skyrockets!

We are describing a dirty, politically corrupt system involving billions of dollars in utility revenues and millions of dollars in political influence buying - all at the expense of Florida residents.

As part of this journey I was privileged to have a telephone conversation with former Senator and PSC Chairperson, Nancy Argenziano. She quickly confirmed that the “chain of political influence” which I had defined, with Mr. Tancer as a key link, is the way the system works. “It was my public disclosure of that fact which led to me being ousted from the PSC,” she explained. “It is a terrible, politically corrupt system filled with hidden funding, payoffs, money laundering, reprisals, and influence buying. It is sad to say, but in most instances, unless you are willing to sell your soul and become part of the corrupt system, you will never rise to a position of authority within the Florida political system. Those elected officials who remain honest and pure are relegated to positions of low importance, rendering them ineffective within the political environment. In my opinion…the Florida Legislative process has been bought,” she stated openly.

“We are talking about billions of dollars,” she continued. “I am encouraged by many of my friends and supporters to again run for office, but I am not sure I still have the energy for it. I may try to form an organization to expose and fight corruption and waste within our government. I feel I could do some good in that effort.”

She went on to describe the intricate system of shuffling funding between 527’s, EOC’s, CCE’s, and Leadership Funds. She described how these organizations operate under names designed to hide their real purpose, such as “The Committee for the Greening Of Florida”, or “Social Interaction Committee”, or some other harmless sounding title. Funding is shuffled between these numerous organizations until they finally are properly distributed between intended political entities. It is a system of money laundering and secretive political financing. It is the way political influence is bought. It explains how our politicians are dirt poor when first elected, earn a paltry salary as a politician, yet are worth millions when they leave their post.

Thus the system has chewed up and spit out another honest politician. The PSC is again being loaded with new members who are hand picked by the corrupt system which I have described. We can all expect higher utility rates in Florida’s future.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –

● I applaud the Marianna City Commission for listening to their business community and responding to their requests. (That satisfies the requirement that I always say one nice thing in this part of my comumn.)

● Historians have stated that a Democracy begins to fail when all citizens can vote, and the non-productive elements of the society become the majority. When they discover they can thus gain access to the public treasury and thus loot for their own betterment, the democracy will soon fall. I wonder if accruing a $13,000,000,000,000 (trillions) deficit could be a clue that this is occurring?

● Our health officials are warning of an outbreak of mosquito borne diseases in our area. They are asking folks to be sure no standing water is around their home. They seem to ignore the mosquitoes which are busy breeding behind every commercial building in town in the EPA required retention pond. Because of their foolish requirements we have brought the swamp to the city, and created a public health danger.

● Let me be sure I have things correct. We have 15 million workers unemployed and are continually extending their welfare unemployment benefits…..while we have 15 million illegal immigrants in our country who came here to work and enjoy our welfare benefits. There must be a better solution, can you see what it is?

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

State “Springs Protection Bill” Needs Flushing

2010-07-15T08:35:00.002-05:00

Unfair, Unreasonable, and Unrealistic for rural areas.

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

I love the outdoors, our rivers and lakes, our ocean, the blue sky, our abundant wildlife, and our lifestyle here in good ole Jackson County. I also am pledged to defend my personal and property rights, to resist efforts of others in government to legislate their way into my life, my values, and my pocket book. I feel that common ground does exist between these two goals which will reasonably meet the needs of both.

As has been made abundantly clear in previous columns, I feel that the EPA, their state counterpart, the FDEP, and many extreme environmental groups are out of control. They are being allowed to enact rules, policies, and new legislation at the expense of the property rights, personal liberties, and pocket books of private citizens and businesses by an inept, liberal, misguided group of politicians. There is little or no oversight of these agencies, and they wield tremendous, unfettered power.

The latest example of their continuing intrusion on property owners is the “Springs Protection Bill” which was passed during the last legislative session and became law July 1. This was initially a “stand alone” bill which never made it out of committee, and was then cleverly attached to a springs protection bill which then enabled it to get through the law making system.

If this bill is fully implemented as written and intended, it will have a disastrous impact on hundreds of thousands of rural property owners across the state. Additionally, it will require the addition of hundreds of “Craptacrats” across the state, thus growing the size and cost of government as new regulations are enforced.

This bill requires that every septic tank in the state be pumped out and inspected every five years…..whether it needs it or not. If these inspections reveal any divergence from the stringent requirements for septic systems, which already have been enacted, the owner will be forced to upgrade, replace or retrofit, whether it needs it or not. Almost 100% of the systems installed before 1983 would not meet today’s requirements. The cost of permitting and inspecting will amount to hundreds of dollars for each property owner, and the cost of replacement quickly expands into thousands of dollars.

I contacted Representatives Marti Coley and Brad Drake about this new law. I was pleased to find out that Representative Coley voted against the bill. “It is a bad bill, and I did not support it,” Coley stated. “ It might be appropriate for some densely populated areas in other parts of Florida, but it places an unreasonable, unnecessary burden on sparsely populated rural areas such as much of North Florida.” Coley went on to state that she is the Chairperson of a joint Administrative Procedures committee which oversees how agencies are enacting legislation. She hopes that through that oversight she can help influence the application of these new regulations in a manner which creates more reasonable requirements for rural households.

When I spoke with Brad Drake, he was quick to inform me that he also voted against the bill. “It is a bill which is bad for the citizens of North Florida, and I opposed it from the beginning. However, the environmental crowds in the center and southern part of the state pushed it through, and it was signed into law by Governor Crist.” Drake stated that he hoped that during the next session he can form a coalition of North Florida legislators who can push for exemptions for sparsely populated counties.

This issue could cost Jackson County residents hundreds of thousands of dollars if they are forced to fully comply with the legislation as written. The Department of Health will administer the implementation of the new law during the coming months. Property owners with septic systems should remain active and alert on this matter.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

● Only 112 days until the mid term elections. It should be interesting.

● If you happen to have a copy of our paper from last week lying around the house, please take time to note the look of pure love and adoration the little girl’s face demonstrated as she nestled in the arms of her Dad who had just returned with the 144th. It was a rare picture.

● (Say Something Nice) If you are in a retail store somewhere in the county and see a canister asking for donations to the “Pennies for Pencils” fund, please drop some change into the jar. The money will go to buy necessary school supplies for grade school students whose families can not buy the items, in all county schools…public and private. Often the teachers fill this need by taking money out of their own pockets, and this fund will ease that burden.

● They are getting ready to tear up the streets around the Court House as they put all utilities underground, and landscape a new center median in the street. More misery for local automobiles and drivers…All this Stimulus is hell!

“We were guaranteed by our founders, ‘Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness’….many today have interpreted that as a Promise of happiness, a car in every garage and a flat screen in every living room!

Personally, I can see the need for tighter regulations in specifically identified sensitive springs areas, such as the “Blue Springs Basin”, but I feel it is over environmental radicalism which is pushing for a state wide application.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

“What a Great 4th!”

2010-07-09T11:46:00.000-05:00

County Commission Has Several Alternatives On Issue of Need For Additional Space

2010-07-02T12:36:00.000-05:00

Eeenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe..Which way does the political wind blow?

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

Why do we need to change the existing arrangement for county offices?

The primary reason for needing more space is the simple fact that our county government has grown steadily during the past four decades, and as new requirements, programs, laws, and systems were added …additional bureaucrats had to also be added to support these changes. Our local government has been growing steadily at around a 3% rate each year for many years. Similarly, the level of county employment and our level of taxation have also grown. Even though they have leased and in some cases purchased additional space during these years, the growth has reached a point to where more space is needed. Additionally, it is better for the county to be paying for additional space than to be merely paying rent to some fortunate property owner.

There are several options which have been suggested to remedy this condition. These include:

Option #1. Build a new County Administration Building on Old Jail Site

This was the original plan brought forth by County Administrator Ted Lakey and several of the Commissioners. They paid several thousands of dollars for preparation of architectural plans and preliminary construction plans. Donofro and Associates did the design and Ajax Builders out of Tallahassee did the cost estimates. The original cost was for around $14 million for 15,000 sq. ft. and $20 million for 20,000 sq. ft. After the economy entered the current recession, the cost estimate for the $15,000 sq. ft. was reduced to $10,000,000.

Advantages:

● This approach provides new construction instead of remodeled construction.

● This approach leaves county admin functions near the court house where county court activities would occur. Tax Collection, Property Appraisal, Admin, and Planning, would be in the new space.

● This approach consolidates all county functions for customer convenience and enhanced management control.

Disadvantages:

● This approach does not provide for the needed additional parking. It would worsen an already bad situation for parking in the court house area.

● This approach only provides the space which is needed at this time. After a few years of additional growth, the space problem would be duplicated.

● This approach involves building expensive new space while less expensive empty space is a short distance away.

Option #2. Add additional floors to the existing court house.

Advantages:

● This approach provides a completely consolidated facility which maximizes customer convenience. (Only the jail, sheriff, and roads and bridges would be separated from the other functions.)

● This approach provides an opportunity to repair, redesign, and refurbish the existing court house, which many consider an eyesore. Also, a pitched roof could be built to replace the existing, troublesome flat roof.

● New construction would be used instead of reconditioned older construction.

Disadvantages:

● Multi-story construction is very expensive. This approach would carry the highest cost for completion.

● This approach does not solve the parking problem in the court house area. However, the planned relocation of the farmers market will provide some additional parking spaces. Also, if the old jail is torn down, the site could provide parking.

● This approach does not provide space for future growth, other than building more additional floors onto the courthouse, at great expense. Also, there may be limits to what can be added from a structural standpoint.

● Some feel this would only be making a bad situation become worse.

Option #3. Purchase and Recondition the Old Wal Mart Building.

Advantages:

● This approach provides 100,000 sq. ft. at the lowest cost per foot. (Estimated Cost = $5.5 million.)

● This approach provides space for consolidation of all court related functions in this space (with admin moved into court house) , or all consolidation of all administrative functions (with all court functions moved into court house).

● This approach provides space for all future growth.

● This approach has more existing parking space than would be needed.

● This approach solves the problem at the lowest cost to the taxpayers.

Disadvantages:

● This approach utilizes reconditioned space instead of new construction.

● This approach separates administrative functions from the other, court related functions by several blocks.

Option #4. Build Facility at Jail Site.

Another proposal which has been offered is to build a facility on the properties adjacent to the Jackson County Jail. This facility would house all court related functions, thus freeing space for relocating all administrative functions back into the Court House.

Advantages:

● This approach consolidates functions for customer convenience and management control.

● This approach provides newly constructed space for court functions.

● This approach relieves parking problems in Court House area.

● This approach utilizes property already owned by County.

● This approach reduces risks and costs related to transporting prisoners from jail to court house for processing.

Disadvantages:

● This approach involves construction of new square footage while existing space is available.

● This approach separates court functions from other county functions by approximately two miles.

Option #5. Utilize old Marianna High School Facilities.

Another proposal which has been offered is to remodel the now idled MHS buildings, and to use the old gym for civic activities and the Commission meeting room.

Advantages:

● This approach consolidates functions for customer convenience and management control.

● This approach accomplishes preservation of a historic community facility.

● This approach relieves parking problems in Court House area.

● This approach utilizes property already owned by government.

Disadvantages:

● This approach involves significant renovation costs, which at this time are unknown.

● This approach separates court functions from other county functions.

● This approach leaves the workers in a renovated building instead of new construction.

● This approach provides space for future growth.

Option #6. Stay in existing arrangement and purchase adjoining properties when available.

The county recently purchased the satellite building which is occupied by the Supervisor of Elections. This eliminates the cost of renting the building and when the debt is retired in a few years will result in a net savings for the county. Another building which is adjacent to the existing Commission room is under consideration for purchase.

Advantages:

● This approach involves the least disruption to operations.

● This approach involves the least risks for newly incurred indebtedness.

● This approach eases space requirements somewhat, although complete consolidation is not accomplished. Planning Dept. will remain separated.

● As other buildings adjacent to the Court House Square become available for purchase, individual decisions can be made by the Commission.

● This is the most conservative approach.

Disadvantages:

● Operations remain somewhat fragmented, although in same general area.

● Parking will remain a problem, although relocation of Farmers Market will help.

● County will be utilizing renovated space instead of new construction.

Option #7. Do Nothing

The Commission can elect to wait until the problems worsen, and meanwhile evaluate the general economic conditions before making any commitments on expenditures.

Advantages:

● This approach allows Commissioners to ignore the problems.

● This approach involves no investment, no risks.

Disadvantages:

● This approach does not solve the problem of crowding.

● This approach does not solve the problem of management control of separated functions.

● This approach does not take advantage of existing purchase opportunities.

Conclusion:

Personally, I would like to see the Commission resolve the crowding problems by getting rid of some bureaucrats. I feel that we have too many rules, codes, comprehensive plans, regulations, requirements, systems, precautions, programs, and services. I do not need to have “Big Brother” tell me how to do everything I do. I can patch my roof, repair my buildings, maintain my car, raise my children, and live my life without their help or involvement.

If they would cut the size of government back to only essential services….there would be plenty of room for them all. Of the other options, I personally feel using the old high school or the Wal Mart building are best because they provide plenty of space and parking at the lowest cost to the taxpayers, and they put empty space into use.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

● More bureaucratic stupidity has been displayed in the fight to save the shoreline against the oil spill. Today they showed a giant mass of oil floating toward Grand Isle, some as close as one mile. They wanted to fight it with oil disbursement chemicals, but the bureaucracy has a rule that the chemicals can’t be used within three miles of shore. …so the totally destructive oil chemicals will instead hit the island. Smart thinking there, “crats”.

● (Always include something nice) I think the fact that our community turned out and supported a Hospice organization by raising $60,000 for their work demonstrates the spirit and character of the people of Jackson County.

Our founding fathers had a deep rooted fear of the potential power of a central government. They wrote: “A constitution should be structured to permanently protect the People from the human frailties of their rulers.”

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Logic and the Oil Spill

2010-06-25T13:32:00.000-05:00

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

I was raised around oil wells. My father was a production foreman for Sun Oil Company for over twenty five years, I grew up in an oil company house located on an oil lease, and I worked in the oil fields as a roustabout during summers while I was in college. I have a good perspective of how wells are drilled, how they function, and what oil smells and tastes like. This background doesn’t qualify me as an expert…but it makes my perspective better than many.

My first observation is that this entire affair has become politicized…as are most things of any importance these days. That is unfortunate because political motives cloud judgment, slow decision making, and create unnecessary discord.

To me, the entire problem should be approached logically on a step-by-step basis. These steps should include:

1. Elimination of the Bureaucracy Factor – This can only be accomplished at the direction of the President. He should execute executive orders which give absolute authority over decisions on the oil spill to one overall director. This director should be able to override the interference from all bureaucracies….including the all powerful, all knowing…EPA.

2. Stopping the leak as quickly as possible – This process must be left to the judgment and execution by the oil industry experts. Drilling relief wells seems to be the only real solution, so we should be sure they have all the assistance they need, and do anything possible to expedite the creation of these wells.

3. Reducing the flow and capturing the outflow at the wellhead- Again, these processes involve industry technology, and should be controlled and executed by experts from the petroleum industry.

4. Recovering or capturing oil at the well site on the ocean surface – When the oil first surfaces it is concentrated in one general area. It is here that it would appear that giant skimmers, tankers, and clean up technology should come into play. We should assure utilization of as many resources as possible from outside sources. All of these processes should be under the direction of a person qualified in these actions.

5. Recovering and capturing oil as it disperses away from the well site – As the oil flows away from the well site it becomes scattered and dispersed in streams of surface contamination. It is here that the boats with the skimmers, burning, and chemical treatment options come into use. All of these activities should be controlled and coordinated under the direction of an expert in these processes.

6. Containment at the shore line - As the oil nears the marsh lands and the beaches, use of sand barriers, containment booms, absorbent materials, beach cleaning crews, and all other reasonable approaches to hold the impact of these contaminants to a minimum should be implemented under the direction of a capable manager.

7. Determining the blame – Once the situation is under control, a complete investigation to determine the exact cause of the well blow out should be conducted. The goal of this investigation should be to determine if British Petroleum took any inappropriate risks, procedures, or actions which contributed to the incident. If they did take short cuts and did not follow all prescribed safeguards for deep water drilling, then they should be held responsible to the ultimate degree. However, if this was merely an unfortunate accident, and they
did follow all prescribed measures, then their degree of responsibility is greatly reduced in the affair.
8. Administering recovery payments for damages- Again, a single specialist should be appointed to assure proper administration of this process. Claims should be broken down into classifications by type, ie,, fishermen, oystermen, shrimpers, restaurants, vendors, lodging, etc. A formula for payment of verified, legitimate claims should be developed for each claim classification grouping. The creation of the slush fund by BP is a good demonstration of their willingness to recognize responsibility in this matter, and to do the morally correct thing. The main effort should be to assure that these funds get to people whose businesses have actually been injured by what has transpired.

9. Improving drilling technology – It is important to learn from your mistakes in life. This blowout demonstrates that additional safeguards are needed in the well drilling technology, especially at these depths. As a final part of this process steps must be taken to carefully review all aspects of the event, and to then implement all possible additional safeguards in order to prevent a reoccurrence.

If they will follow all of these steps…….they will be “Getting It Right”!
Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –

● This oil spill and the inability of industry, government, or individuals to properly react to it is a vivid demonstration of how the bureaucracy impedes progress, creates inappropriate delays, adds unnecessary costs, and generally makes everything difficult. This is the terrible situation which businesses encounter every day as they struggle for existence. This over regulation, over involvement of government, is part of what must be corrected in our economy if our nation is to ever again prosper.

● (Always say at least one nice thing…) The crepe myrtles all over Marianna are beautiful right now. They really make the city look nicer….their beauty is almost enough to make up for the ugly court house and the billboards.

● When I went into the Dept. of Revenue office on West Lafayette last week to pay our monthly sales taxes the realization hit me as to how efficiently they had designed their offices. The tax payers go in the right hand door to drop in their tax payments, while over in the waiting area on the front left part of the facility is the waiting area for the welfare recipients. They only have to take the money in on one side and dish it out on the other.

● If things continue on the street projects in Marianna, the City will soon have as many miles of dirt roads as the county does. …I hope this company doing the work does really own a paving machine!

● Several people have asked why gasoline prices are over fifteen cents per gallon higher in Jackson County than they are in Tallahassee. Normally we are lower than they are. People want to know if it is possible our local distributors might be gouging us a little.

● I find it peculiar that the commission used AJAX Builders to analyze the cost of renovation of the old Wal Mart building instead of the local M&W Construction who has renovated many buildings for the school system. Could it be because some in county administration were seeking the highest quote possible in order to steer the commission away from the purchase?

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

It is Time To Lead From the Pulpit

2010-06-18T09:53:00.000-05:00

All concerned preachers should get involved in the defense of our values.

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

I challenge all preachers and clerical leaders who profess to cherish basic Christian values to use their position of leadership and begin to take an active role in promoting those values and the candidates who demonstrate a suitable corresponding belief system. This is a critical time in the destiny of our nation.

Over the past five decades the advocates of the secular progressive philosophy have steadily eroded the Christian ethic of our society. Because of their growing influence, the role of religion as defined and expressed by our founding fathers in our Constitution have been distorted and redefined to reshape our society. Through these actions they have fostered a situation where the word Christmas is being excluded from that wonderful December holiday. They have caused the removal of all religious statues and plaques from public buildings, including the ten commandments.

Their influence has removed all prayer from schools. Prayers can no longer be said before school events, including ball games. Benediction is no longer a part of the graduation process. Students can not even say a blessing out loud before they eat. Our forefathers would be outraged and ashamed of our desecration of their original grand design for our nation.

The nation is almost evenly split on the issue of legalization of abortions. I blame our religious establishment for the fact that half of our citizens accept this practice. If they were actively and regularly dealing with this issue from their pulpits, many of those with positive or neutral attitudes on this subject would be following Christian guidance. They must share in the blame because of their fearful silence.

A strong family structure has always been one of the foundation blocks for our society. We have allowed that critical element to be eroded and almost destroyed during the past fifty years of progressive influence. We have reached a disgraceful point in our disintegration to where over 50% of our new babies are born without a named father. Even the most religious elements have become so brainwashed that they quietly condone “living together”, babies out of wedlock, co-ed dorms in college, shared apartments, open sexual behavior in movies and on television, vulgar music, beautiful young girls with tattooed bodies, sloppy, inappropriate dress, and a lowering of standards in our school systems. All of these are issues which our clergy should be shouting about every Sunday, Wednesday, and the days in between. Instead, too many church leaders meekly sing old religious standards, quote from the bible, and conduct weddings and funerals.

I believe they have a social obligation to
become activists. The real venue for fighting and changing these negatives within our society is through changing the composition of government at all levels. Church leaders should demand that all candidates be given a social litmus test to determine their core values and beliefs. Once the worthwhile are sorted from the worthless, those candidates should be given as much support as possible from the pulpit. If the churches really feel the anti-Christian direction of our nation is a serious problem…then they must become part of the political process. They must become activist.

Many preachers are afraid to speak out. They fear their church might lose its “tax free” status if it becomes politically active. Meanwhile Reverend Wright, the czar of the secular progressive church movement yells out “God Damn America!!” from his pulpit to a throng of excited, chanting, followers.

Congregations should encourage their religious leadership to be proactive during this time of trial and tribulation for our weakening Christian nation. If we idly sit back, we may be enabling these negative elements to shape the beliefs of our children, grandchildren and the generations to follow. We have a responsibility to our heritage to insure necessary values are part of our legacy within our families and within our society.

It was the inactivity of the moral, good elements of the German society that allowed Hitler’s “National Socialist German Worker’s Party” to take control of their government and their society. Inactivity repeated by the Christian elements within our society will enable the progressive philosophy to also misdirect and destroy our America. I challenge all church leadership to rise up, to become leaders from the pulpit, and perform their intended and expected role within our society. They need to become “do-ers” instead of merely being “say-ers”. If they will accept this challenge and begin to identify and defy all negatives within our society….they will be “Getting It Right”.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-
● The terrible oil spill in the Gulf could impact us here in Jackson County. If the black, smelly oil reaches the beautiful sugar beaches of Panama City, and tourist no longer flocked to the area from cities north of here there would be a local effect. If the constant string of vehicles running our speed trap gauntlets on Highway 231 was reduced, the city budgets in Campbellton, Cottondale, and Alford would suffer serious shortfalls.
● (Always say something nice requirement) The 144th is coming home! Let’s all band together to make these heroes feel special when they get here. Help the Chamber in its fund drive for this purpose, and be a face in the crowd when they arrive.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

“How I Became So Conservative, Opinionated, and Anti-Government”

2010-06-11T12:29:00.000-05:00

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

I thought some of our readers might be interested in how I evolved into an ultra conservative, government hating, activist who spews venom at the bureaucracy and political elite at every opportunity. People with attitudes like mine are not born that way….they are formed after decades of pain and suffering at the hands of the SYSTEM.
I am not a product of my home and childhood political environment. My father was a staunch Roosevelt Democrat. He and mom had struggled through the depression, and never forgot their experiences of that era. While my sister was a baby, they lived in a tent with a dirt floor in the back yard of a friend’s house. Dad finally got a job with Sun Oil Company, became a district foreman, and later enjoyed a typical middle class lifestyle.
Dad always wanted me to be an engineer, so I ended up going to college at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. I chose Industrial Engineering as a field of study. After all, there would always be “industry” which needed those skills. (Today I can see that I should have instead taken City Planning, or Government Management, or at least Civil Engineering.)
After college I entered the Air Force, did my duty, tried to become an air force pilot, had a slight vision defect and never qualified, so I finally separated from the service. I then went to work for a small consulting engineering firm near Atlanta. The year was 1965, and my starting salary was an astounding $8500 per year…my wife Judy and I were suddenly rich.
Up to this point I had little or no interest in politics, government activities, or anything else which was going on. The Viet Nam War had the country split into hawks and doves, the “hippies” were a weird group of dope smoking young tramps, and I was totally focused on family, career, and getting ahead.
During this era I do remember that I was a hawk, favoring an aggressive approach in Viet Nam…until the end neared and it became obvious that the entire affair was political, and our leadership was not really serious about the effort.
Also during this time, my work frequently caused me to deal with industrial unions in client plants. I was sickened by the level of corruption, arrogance, and incompetence of their leaders, which caused me to begin to develop a disdain for what they were doing as they pretended to be looking out for their members, while in reality they were really only interested in sucking monthly dues out of their pay checks. I also remember my fears of the impact on companies from the unions and their “bought” politicians as they pushed the minimum wage to $ .90 / hr., $1.25/ hr., $3.35 / hr., and upward. I could see that it caused all prices to go up correspondingly and the workers really were no better off. It was about the unions fooling their members into thinking they were helping them, and the politicians going along in order to get union member votes and union campaign donations. We had protective tariffs, so prices went up and the businesses were not really hurt by the increased cost of labor.
By the time 1972 arrived I was the #2 man in the consulting company, and had a posh corner office on the 23rd floor of a downtown Atlanta skyscraper, looking down on Peachtree Street. For some reason I had always had a strong entrepreneurial drive, so when an opportunity came along to put together a financial package with a couple of partners and start an apparel factory somewhere in the Southeast, I decided to take the chance. I was 32 years old, and I felt that if the venture failed, I could still put a meaningful career together somewhere. The economy was booming and opportunities were plentiful.
I visited numerous towns in Georgia and Florida seeking a suitable building, a good labor force, and the best deal I could find. I finally visited Jackson County, at the request of a young, aggressive chamber executive in Marianna, Bill Stanton. That visit resulted in me deciding to start a small, 100 employee factory in the old Liddon Mercantile building in Sneads. (A couple of years later we acquired the Warnaco factory in Marianna which had announced its closure, and began operating two plants.) At that time factories were already in operation in Marianna, Cottondale, Graceville, Donalsonville, Chipley, Bonifay, Quincy, Havana, Malone, and Cottonwood, Alabama….thus leaving only the Sneads-Chattahoochee area as a possibility. (Remember all of those plants, all of those jobs and payrolls?)
It was at this time I began to encounter government for the first time. Codes, “inspectorcrats”, bureaucratic generated delays, government forms, government reports, state licenses, city license, permit fees, monthly reports, quarterly reports, annual reports, weekly tax deposits, audits, property taxes, intangible taxes, unemployment compensation taxes, more audits, and on…and on….and on. All of this because you were willing to risk your life’s savings to create two factories which produced products, put three hundred people to work and create a local payroll of over $40,000 per week (In 1970 dollars).
After ten years or so of this unnecessary government intrusion into our business, I was ready to sell to a larger company when the opportunity came along.
I next resumed my engineering consulting work, and teamed up with an old college roommate and we formed an international consulting company. We worked with hundreds of other manufacturing companies as they struggled to survive amidst a hostile industrial climate. At one point I was President of a national manufacturing association, the American Apparel Manufacturers Association. I was in this position when debates were raging about NAFTA, GATT, and Favored Nation Trade Status for China. Clinton was President, but both political parties were in favor of these trade deals and the concept of “free trade” and “global markets”. The legislation passed, and by just a few signatures being signed, the industrial future of our nation was doomed.
Over the next ten years, 1995 to 2005, I watched helplessly as the huge apparel, textile, and other labor intensive industries which employed over two million people and included almost 20,000 factories across our nation packed up and moved to other parts of the world. I saw fine, well managed, professional, humanitarian, businesses forced into closure as a flood of imports conquered our market. I saw China capture a major portion of these lost jobs and factories and read of the tremendous growth as their new industrial revolution began.
Today I see our economy in near depression, with no real hope of ever creating enough jobs to employ our actual labor force. I find myself an Industrial Engineer in a nation with no Industry. It was by accident I happened to become involved with the TIMES.
The income here is certainly no match for what I experienced when we had a need for Industrial Engineers in America…but the TIMES does give me a chance to vent my anger, frustration, and the wisdom I acquired by seeing all of this occur. My perspective helps me “Get It Right”. I have seen thirty years of mismanagement of our nation, and I want to hold those who were involved accountable for the results. “I’m Mad As Hell…And I’m Not Going To Take It Any More!!”
Some of the lessons I learned include:
●    No matter how smart or professional you are in running your business…you are never in full control of your affairs. A bureaucrat or a politician somewhere afar can enact new rules, requirements, or conditions which will forever destroy what you have built.
●    Always be careful when you jump on a “bandwagon” and become part of some new movement…..it may be driving towards a cliff.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-
●    (Something Nice) I want to express my sympathy to the Superintendent of Schools, Lee Miller and his family for the loss of his Father, Dr. Frank Miller last week. The death occurred while Lee was handling the Sneads commencement, then he had visitation the afternoon before the Graceville and Cottondale evening commencement exercises, then the funeral was the afternoon before the Marianna graduation exercises. I can imagine the strain as he dealt with the trauma of his family situation while looking after the needs of all of the graduates in the county and his busiest work week of the year. Lee said he lost eleven pounds during the week.

“As government at any level grows….liberties, rights and freedoms are diminished.”
(It was announced this week that 20% of the labor U.S. force now is comprised of government employees.)

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

“Much Ado About Anything & Everything

2010-06-04T11:02:00.002-05:00

“The Greatest Generation” Sets A Standard of Excellence

2010-05-26T16:05:00.000-05:00

The WWII generation, demonstrates what our society has lost

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

It has been stated repeatedly that the generation of those who fought and served in World War II was the “greatest generation” of modern US History. I can not refute that statement.
For in my experiences of knowing those of that era, who living and dead, are now turning eighty years of age or more, a significant majority of them reflect those characteristics of humanity which demonstrate the best of mankind. I have found them to be of high moral character, sincere in their faith, devout in their patriotism, loving in their family relationships, caring in their friendships, sincere in their word, honest, hard working, and life-long contributors to the benefit of our American society.
The truth of this statement at our local community level was demonstrated vividly last week by the magnanimous acts of two local citizens who are part of that generation of greatness. In fact, they were school mates here in Jackson County, back in the 1930’s and 1940’s. In separate, totally unconnected actions, each based on personal beliefs and desires, these two aging heroes of another era, made contributions which will serve many future generations of Jackson County citizens.
I am referring to the participation of Dick Hinson, with the support of his family, in making their family estate of 150 beautiful acres on the Chipola River, available for at least another hundred years as a city park. Dick has always had a deep love for the natural beauty of our area, especially the Chipola River. He has now preserved what he has enjoyed so much. The other, equally significant act of caring, was the donation of the new “Chapel at Chipola” by Creshull Harrison, with the support of his family. Because of his demonstration of goodness, thousands of future students will enjoy this beautiful site of refuge and cohabitation with God amidst the pressures of college.
Both of these wonderful men have taken part of the worth accumulated from their lifetime accomplishments, worth garnered through hard work and productivity, and have left behind treasures for all to enjoy and use. This is a demonstration of the best in man, what our society should and can be made of. It is another instance where this generation of men (and women) have set standards of morality and goodness which we should all accept as personal goals.
The attributes of this generation of people stands in sharp contrast to many in our society of today, where Godless secular progressivism, corruption, self destructive behavior, acceptance of immoral acts as necessary, lack of concern for society and the common good, belief that they are “entitled” to unearned government handouts from systems designed for redistribution of wealth, lack of regard or caring for fellow man, and absolute focus on greed, are common human attributes.
Take a moment and reflect on whether you are a ‘giver’ or a ‘taker’ in our society. What significant contribution will you leave behind for future generations? Inventory your personal attributes and objectively sort them by “good” and “bad”.
This comparison of the inherent qualities of our society marks what is really wrong with our government. Government is a mirror of society, and what we are seeing most of the time today is very ugly. If we truly hope and wish to create a good, moral, workable government in Washington and Tallahassee, we must also create a better society in the day to day world we live in. We can not condone, accept, and rationalize socially destructive behavior and beliefs. We must change the world we live in, and the change in government will occur automatically.
If we stand up for what is right, and speak out against the things which are wrong….we will all be “Getting it Right”.

Rudiments:
Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-
● I think I now understand the concept of “law enforcement” in the United States. A Hispanic family can violate our international borders by illegally sneaking the father and his family into the United States, and law enforcement officials will look the other way. However, if while they are on the way to sign everyone up for our welfare programs….they had damned well better have their seat belts fastened, or the law will be all over them!
● I don’t have to say anything nice in the rudiments section this week because my entire column was so nice.
● I almost decided to enter the “Drop” program here at the paper this week….until I realized that in private business, when you “Drop” you fall all the way to the bottom!
● Did you know that if you make less than $20,000 per year you may be eligible for food stamps?
● It makes me feel good to see all of those “stimulus” created jobs out there on Caverns Road as they build that new $1,000,000 sidewalk to MHS. I can just picture the empty school parking lot after the walk is finished, when all of those students stop driving to school and begin using that wonderful sidewalk!
● Have a good week!
Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Marianna City Commission

2010-05-19T15:39:00.002-05:00

Legislating With An Anti-Business Approach?

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

The ongoing problems with the Marianna Sign Ordinance, and the repeated denials for any latitude of reasonable leniency or consideration of unusual circumstances which might alter the intent and application of all standing codes, has prompted repeated accusations that the Marianna City Commission is “anti-business”. It is also claimed that this history of refusing to recognize any degree of cooperation with businesses when construction, safety, or sign codes are at issue has over time caused many businesses to locate or relocate outside of the city’s boundaries. At best, this history of rigidity has created many hostile attitudes toward the City among many of the Marianna businesses.

In my opinion, this situation has been created, and is perpetuated by, three long time City Commissioners, Paul Donofro, Jr., Howard Milton, and Roger Clay. These three individuals have been in office without interruption for over fourteen years, and through their votes acting in concert, they have effectively denied almost all requests for variances on any code issues, when the request was generated by a private business or a private citizen. The only variances which they have historically viewed favorably are those which are needed by the City itself as projects are conducted, or by other government and government related entities. Requests from the private sector have been denied in every instance I can recall.

The reason repeatedly given by this “trio of negative votes” on the Commission is that since they have previously denied requests for variances from private individuals or businesses, so they must now deny all requests in order to not appear to be engaged in any degree of favoritism. Thus, by this logic, all variance requests must be denied…regardless of any extenuating circumstances.

This approach thus leads to the following question…Why have a variance request procedure if all requests are to be denied? It becomes a waste of time if this “trio of negative votes” will surly vote as a majority bloc on the decision making panel. They have been engaging in this approach for many, many years….and in my opinion through this process they have hurt the city of Marianna. The appeal process was created because it was realized that no code is ever written so perfectly that it meets the requirement of fairness and justice in every possible instance. Thus, a provision for intervention of human judgment is an essential ingredient in the process. That ingredient is missing in Marianna.

Another result realized by these Commissioners always voting ‘No”, is that this approach enables them to avoid the uncomfortable role of making a decision. The Southern Building Codes and the Life and Safety Codes, which are used by the City, have a preamble which states that these codes are to be used as “guidelines” and should be administered with common sense and good judgment. Apparently that portion of the code books was never read by our “trio of negative votes”.

My criticism of these Commissioners only relates to their approach to handling requests from private citizens and businesses for consideration on code matters. The Marianna City Commission is to be commended for their ability to create a new waste water treatment system for the city at no cost to the taxpayers. This step forward has removed pollution from the Chipola River, and has provided the city with a state of the art waste system. Also, the aggressive approach the Commissioners are taking to replace and repair the aging infrastructure systems of city water and sewage denotes good management on their part. I also applaud their efforts to increase the land area of the city through an ongoing annexation program.

One reason this situation on variance requests has been perpetuated for over a decade is the general lack of interest and or participation from other eligible citizens. I can only say this to any residents who feel we have problems in Marianna’s leadership….. “ If you are unhappy with the way codes, ordinances, and interpretations of law are being administered, or if you disagree with decisions such as the Commission granting the Florida Public Utilities franchise renewal…then you need to run for a seat on the Commission, or you need to encourage some other qualified citizen to run.” If you only stand back and complain….you are not solving the problem. You are not “Getting It Right”.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –
● The Marianna City Commission has scheduled a workshop for hearing recommendations for changes in codes related to the City Sign Ordinance. The meeting is at 3:30 PM on Thursday, May 27, in the Commission Meeting Room. You are encouraged to take part.
● (Always Saying Something Nice) I want to commend Richard Hinson and his family for their magnanimous role in creating the ‘Hinson Conservation and Environmental Park”. This treasure will be enjoyed by many future generations of Jackson County residents.
● In the same breath I want to commend Creshull Harrison, Jr. and his family for donating the funding for the beautiful new chapel on the Chipola College campus. Both of these families deserve a big “Thank You” from the residents of Jackson County.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

“Sign of Our Times”

2010-05-14T17:31:00.000-05:00

An Assortment of Subjects and Perceptions

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

Economic Perceptions from Trip To Branson, Missouri

After completing processing of last week’s paper, my wife Judy and I rushed out of town on our way to a five day trip to Branson with friends who live in Bremen, Georgia. It was part of our tribute to Judy’s ability to endure living with me for fifty years.
As we traveled those seemingly endless miles across six states, I could not avoid noticing the visible impact the prolonged and severe economic recession is having on communities across our nation. It is obvious many businesses and citizens are suffering.
Our first leg was to go due North up to Bremen, Georgia to join our friends. There are a total of twenty one buildings along that 240 mile route which once housed apparel/textile factories, and employed approximately 10,000 workers. They now sit with empty parking lots and un-kept grounds. Most of those jobs were women who were working to supplement their family income. When those jobs were traded away by our Federal Government during the 1990’s, most of those women eventually dropped out of the labor force, and are not included in the economic statistics we look at every month. However, the lost earnings are felt each month as those families struggle to pay their family household bills.
As we traveled along the interstates heading west, I noticed that approximately 30% of the billboards along the highways were vacant. Many had now been empty so long the stands themselves were in need of repair. These blank billboards stand as stark reminders of reduced advertising budgets, struggling businesses, and in some cases, businesses which no longer exist.
Also along the highways were vacant filling stations and mini-market buildings, with concrete forms which once held gasoline pumps. These represent thousands of lost small businesses and lost jobs which were all victims of the new EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) regulations which took effect January 1, 2010. These new, rigorously enforced regulations required ALL stations to install the latest design of storage tanks, at an average cost of $250,000, even if the existing tanks were in good condition. In a few instances the ground may be cleaner around these new tanks, but in the process our nation lost thousands of businesses, ten of thousands of jobs, and millions of dollars in property was rendered unsalable. All at the arbitrary, unsupervised whelm of a federal bureaucratic agency.
Then we arrived in Memphis where Judy finally got to visit Graceland, and see the grave of her idol when she was a teenager, Elvis. I’ll have to admit, it was well done and I also enjoyed the tour.
The next day we crossed the flooded Mississippi River, crossed the flat, fertile delta land where farmers were busy planting this year’s corn crop, and finally began to climb into the foothills of the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas.
The economy of the Ozark area has always been poor and depressed. However, it seemed even worse as we passed small communities with vacant industrial parks and decaying large buildings begging for a renter. Dead or dying shopping centers were commonplace…except for those few where a Wal Mart Supercenter was housed, ..they had full parking lots.
We topped one hill on the winding mountain highway to find both sides of the road lined with cars. After traveling a little further we came upon a small family farm where an auctioneer was busy selling the farmer’s possessions. I couldn’t help but feel a deep sadness as we passed the scene.
During the entire trip I saw two houses under construction, and no commercial buildings. However, it seemed that every city, county, and state was busy spending stimulus money building or improving roadways and sidewalks. It seemed more of the miles we traveled were classified as highway construction zones than not. Along the fringes of many of these construction zones, herds of policemen lurked, hoping to catch a negligent driver and enjoy the fruits of a doubled fine.
These roads and sidewalk projects are creating many jobs in every area. These jobs will probably last for many months, based on the speed at which most of them were working. However, what will happen to all of these workers when all of the sidewalks have been built??
We stopped for gas at one small Arkansas town. While there I couldn’t help but read the front page of the local newspaper which was displayed through a sales rack. “City Commission Refuses $50,000 Grant” was one story banner. This made me feel good, since it gave hope that some government groups around the country are putting the benefit of the greater good ahead of self serving local, unnecessary projects.
Finally we arrived in Branson, Missouri. We enjoyed three great shows and had a great time. Judy has a high school classmate named Jim Owen, who has been entertaining in Branson for eighteen years. His show was not scheduled to begin until two days after our departure, so we felt we would not get to visit with him. However, we happened to catch him during rehearsal, watched some of his upcoming show, and after they finished he came out and sat and talked with us. He said that the economy has had a disastrous impact on Branson.
He said that attendance is down by over 30%, and around forty shows have closed due to the slow business. “Branson was good to me for sixteen years”, Jim Owen stated, “but these last two years have been hell!” Most of the shows we went to had around five hundred attending, and the theaters would hold around two thousand people. It wasn’t hard to get a great seat.
There were two areas I saw during the trip where economic growth and activity seemed to be flourishing. The first was a huge transfer-loading terminal we passed in Memphis. A steady line of trucks moved under giant frames which were picking up shipping containers and placing them upon the truck beds for highway delivery. The containers were being offloaded from barges positioned in a canal, and moved to a truck. The barges were coming up the river from Louisiana terminals where they had been delivered from Asia via ocean freighters. These containers were full of the merchandise which had once been made in all of those now empty American factories. After being placed on a truck, the container was sped away to be delivered to an inland distribution center at some convenient location.
The only other economic “plus” I saw on the trip was the giant KIA assembly plant located on I-85 a few miles south of LaGrange Georgia, in Alabama. The huge buildings and parking lots full of worker’s automobiles were testaments to the jobs which existed there. The last time I traveled by that road, this plant did not exist. It helped make up for the large empty West Point Pepperill – Stephens plant which faced the expressway a few miles away.
So, it was a great trip…but it is always wonderful to get back to good ole Jackson County. After seeing many other areas of the country and going by other towns, I can honestly say that we seem to be doing better here than most others. I just pray we do not have a “double dip” recession, or things are worsened by some international calamity.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –
● (Always Say Something Nice) …I applaud the County Commissioners for making the decision to purchase the building now housing the Supervisor of Elections. This decision will result in savings for the county.
● In my opinion our Governor, Charlie Crist has demonstrated the fact that he is a professional politician who is only interested in self preservation, even if it requires violation of pledges and integrity. We must rid the nest of those who want to keep on “doing business as usual” in government. If we can accomplish that goal…we will be GETTING IT RIGHT.
“When life starts giving you lemons…..

It is time to stop and make a margarita!”

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Let’s Get Serious About Solving the Immigration Problem

2010-05-06T15:24:00.000-05:00

This column presents a non-partisan, conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

Be Honest, Playing Politics is keeping our Politicians from doing the right things to resolve the problem…
Solving the Immigration Problem:
I applaud the Governor of Arizona for taking a dramatic stand against the deplorable conditions which the ineptness of the Federal government has created in that state and other border states with Mexico. The enactment of this law has, of course, ignited a reaction from those who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. This group consists of the illegal aliens who broke our laws by sneaking across our border and are now living here and reaping the rewards of our generous and easy to get welfare entitlements, the liberal loonies who will take up any cause which has a social implication, and the drug dealers who are enjoying the easy systems of running drugs into our nation and into the hands of our youth.
While these millions of Mexicans were allowed to pour across our border, the Hispanic voting population has become a major player in the political scene of America. This has compounded the solution of the problem, since successive administrations have been too politically sensitive to stand up and do what is needed and correct. As a result, we have a situation where we have millions of illegal immigrants working in our country, while we pay millions of others who are unwilling to work, billions of tax dollars in welfare and unemployment benefits. Talk about a stupid, politically generated situation!
The reason I applaud Arizona’s action is that it has finally focused a bright, undeniable spotlight on the severity of the problem. This problem has been created by the inability and unwillingness of the Federal government to enforce existing immigration laws. This inaction has been caused by the political implications related to the growing impact of the Hispanic voting block within our system.
The growing threat and costs related to our “open” border with Mexico has been ignored by the Clinton, Bush, and now Obama administrations. Meanwhile, each week thousands more sneak into our country and worsen the problems. The resulting costs on social programs is bankrupting border states, the drug problems result in a lawlessness which endangers their law abiding citizens by creating within those states a living condition which is unsafe for their families. Finally the State Government decided to take action in the absence of any support from Federal law enforcement.
I hope that this new focus of attention will finally force our “Federal fools” into action. It is a classic States Rights vs. Federal Control situation.

I would propose the following course of action:
Phase 1 – Immediately get serious about sealing the border. Use National Guard troops, build the fence, use electronic surveillance, and increase the border patrol staffing….get serious. Simultaneously establish a “Special Resident Visa” system which would give every illegal person living here one year in which to sign up and obtain the easy to get five year visa. This would get everyone registered. Use county government as the registration points at local court houses in the Court Clerk or Supervisor of Election offices.
Phase II – Establish a five year “Road to Citizenship” program for every registered “Special Resident”. This would be administered by special instruction courses provided by evening programs in the Adult Education systems across the nation. At the end of successfully completing one of these courses, testing would be administered by an Immigration official, and citizenship would be granted.
If five years passed and an illegal had refused to participate in this program, they would be considered fugitives from justice, and would be apprehended and prosecuted. In the interim, any person involved in this process who is convicted of a felony for any other violation would also be prosecuted for illegal entry.
Through this process, at the end of six years we would have control of the situation. To wait another six years will enable millions more to enter our country and thus further strain our welfare systems, our school systems, our medical systems, and our society. If we can finally stop all of the political bull crap in Washington over solving this problem, maybe they can “Get It Right”.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-
● The Marianna sign ordinance continues to create discord between the business community and the City Officials. It is time to write a degree of common sense and flexibility into this group of codes, and thus stop the appearance of being “anti business” in Marianna. The action taken at Tuesday’s meeting which involved causing a local Church to waste $6,000 because their new sign was too large is a great example of autocratic, inconsiderate, and ill directed action by some of the City Commissioners.
● It was a blessing to interview 10 year old Noah McArthur and his family for the story on the front page of this issue. To see a boy his age already sensitive to the needs of other children is wonderful. Maybe there is hope for our society after all.
● Politicians and dirty diapers should both be changed regularly….and for the same reason.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

We Need To Remember the 3R’s

2010-04-29T16:09:00.000-05:00

The formula for getting our nation back on course involves the three R’s

This column presents a concerned, conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

Last week I heard a commentator spelling out a blueprint for our nation’s voters and leaders to follow in a quest to return our nation to a moral nation, with humanitarian principles and wise economic management. The commentator emphasized that as a nation we must first get back to “basics”. Just as sound educational systems are founded in the basic three R’s, the commentator proposed that the blueprint for us to follow involves use of the “Three R’s”, …Replace, Repeal, & Restore.
Step One – Replace:
The first step which must be accomplished is to replace the people, systems, philosophies, and culture in governments which has led our nation to the brink of destruction. Those politicians and leading bureaucrats who have entrenched themselves in the halls of Washington and State legislatures across the land must first be routed out. They all share in the responsibility of decades of poor, corrupt, self serving management philosophies which now threaten the future of our nation. They exist in both parties, and must all be held accountable. The process of purging the government of these responsible, irresponsible leaders must begin this fall in the 2010 November elections, and must continue in the 2012 elections. We must clean the way for a new generation of patriotic, fiscally conservative leaders who will put the needs of the nation ahead of the desires of their own interest, their parties, or their local area and its constituents. We must have leaders who can see past the narrow vein of self serving interest, and are willing to put the good of the good old USA before anything else. We must gain control of the legislative process. The ballot is about the only constitutional right we have left….we need to use it before it too is lost.

Step Two – Repeal:
Once the transformation of our elected leadership has occurred, the roadway will be open to begin to identify and repeal all legislation which serves special interests at the expense of others, all legislation which infringes on basic constitutional rights and freedoms, all legislation which invalidates the basic concepts upon which our founding fathers designed our government, and all legislation which creates waste and unnecessary bureaucracies. This transformation should occur at both the federal and state levels. Included in this transformation would be a meaningful return to state and local rights and a diminishing of federal influences. Our national work ethic and moral character must be restored. Personal worth, contribution to the total good, and acceptance of personal responsibilities within our society must replace the “entitlement” philosophy. These new, fresh leaders must lead the way in removing all of the years of accumulated legislation which has pulled our economic and social worth into the gutter. The list of legislative acts which need removal and or rewriting goes far beyond the current issues related to the Obama administration. This purging must include all of the special deals, vote influencing programs, unnecessary regulations, unnecessary programs, and the entire structure which has steadily infringed on personal and property rights in the name of some liberal cause.

Step Three- Restore:
The final portion of this “Three R” program involves restoring America. It involves rebuilding our national framework on a new body of law rooted in the principles proclaimed in our constitution. It involves restoring our nation’s moral structure, free capitalistic economic system, belief in the rule of the majority, expectation of personal responsibility for actions, removal of a culture of welfare and entitlements instead of a culture of productivity and contribution to national worth, restoration of states rights authority over federal demands, immediately developing solutions to the illegal immigration situation and restoring the security of our borders, removal of the influences of lobbyist from the political processes, enforcement of fiscal policies that begins to reduce our national debt, install “government in the sunshine” legislation which prevents the “back room” political deals, force reinterpretation of the “interstate commerce” clause in the constitution, repeal of the costly Davis-Bacon Act and thousands of other special interest serving pieces of legislation, enacting a body of law which reaches a reasonable definition of the real needs for environmental protection, redesign of our oppressive and politically conceived income tax legislation, and many, many more elements of existing law which is restricting our industry’s ability to compete, our people to live freely and enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Once we have Washington and state governments staffed with right minded representatives they will then have the arduous task of rewriting a huge body of law which has accumulated as a product of the corruption and mismanagement of the past forty years. It will take time and hard work…but it must be done if we are to really change and revitalize our nation. The morality of a nation is reflected by the morality of its government. The reduction of the role of family, the acceptance of the fact that almost half of our nation’s children are born out of wedlock, without a father or a family to help shape their values marks the destruction of a cornerstone element of society which must be restored. We must all discontinue the practice of casually accepting this situation. We must restore a presence of religion in our government. The process must afford ALL religions equal access and presence within our governments, but should not allow the exclusion of all religions. That was not the intent of our founding fathers. They wanted to be sure our nation did not follow the course taken by England in creating a national religion, (ie. the Church of England), but they in no way intended for our nation and its leaders to ignore the presence of God.

Rudiments- Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning:
● For your information, Rep. Gene Taylor of Mississippi has introduced a bill into Congress (H.R. 4759) which would give Mexico and Canada a 60 day notice that NAFTA is null and void. The bill already has 27 sponsors. NAFTA was one of the original free trade bills passed in 1993 and marked driving the first nail into the coffin of U.S. industry.
● “Beginning in two years, 78 million people will retire, discontinue paying into social security, stop paying into retirement programs, and will begin to draw social security benefits. The problem is neither Social Security nor Medicare is ready for them. The government has made explicit and implicit promises to millions of people, but has put no money aside to keep those promises. Bernie Madoff must have been studying the federal entitlement policy when he developed his infamous Ponzi scheme.” - John Goodman speaking at Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar.
● Those two young lads I interviewed about their experiences of being legislative pages for a week are testament to the fact that the youth of our nation are still bright, studious, and wonderful. They and the millions like them are the real future of our nation. (This meets my requirements for saying something nice each week.)
● However, I can not pass up the opportunity to make the statement that since they have now worked for the State a full week, they are well on their way to qualifying for the DROP program.

“An act of bravery is taking the first step when you can not see the entire staircase” – Martin Luther King

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Zapppppppp...There Goes Another Freedom!

2010-04-21T17:53:00.002-05:00

The EPA Is Out of Control!

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

It has come to my attention that the EPA has just enacted another arbitrary, costly requirement which will have serious impact on almost everyone’s pocket book, and will significantly increase the cost of any renovation projects which might be needed by the home owner or business owner. It will thus reduce the occasion of these renovations, thus removing work opportunities for construction tradesmen at a time when that segment of our economy is suffering very high unemployment.

The EPA can institute these new costly, repressive requirements without any legislative oversight or prior approvals being needed. It only takes the penned signature of some high ranking, ultra liberal, green minded and empty headed EPA bureaucrat. Woe be the fate of any politician who dares speak against any of the EPA edicts, who among us would want to be branded as being against the needs of the environment, no matter how trivial, costly, or silly.

Effective April 22, the EPA autocrats have ruled that all homes, barns, and commercial buildings constructed prior to 1978, will be deemed to be “lead paint contaminated”, and when any construction materials are removed from these structures the materials must be handled and disposed in the same manner as is currently required for asbestos.

First, a fully certified, lead removal trained contractor must be used. Inspections must be conducted which are designed to detect the most minute presence of lead….even if it happens to be a natural element of the soil upon which the structure is built. The workers will be required to wear masks and protective clothing while removing and handling these terrible materials. The entire work area will have to be encased in plastic sheeting to prevent dust from escaping during the renovation. The materials must then be bagged in appropriate contamination containers for transport to a certified hazardous materials land fill. Who will pay for all of this largely unnecessary extra cost? Guess!

If a contractor does not fully comply with these requirements, the first offense fine is $35,000! So, with little fanfare or advance warning, these powerful “environ-a-crats” have again made new rules which will seriously slow our economic recovery, worsen unemployment, and unnecessarily add billions of dollars in costs for thousands of demolition or remodeling projects.

The worse part is there is no legislative oversight of these all knowing, all seeing herds of misdirected bureaucrats. They are free to enact and enforce their mission on us all, regardless of costs or impact. ZAP! There goes some more of your property rights.

Home owners, if you have a house built before 1978, and you put on new siding, repair overhangs, work on the roof, even decide to repaint an area larger than six square feet.…..big brother EPA is now in your way. In order to accomplish this work you will have to pay much more than before. Mr. Farmer, do you have an old barn or sheds which need reworking, demolition, repair? You must now be sure you are following the new rules set down by the EPA “crats” and are ready to pay for it. Mr. Businessman, does your store, factory building, or warehouse need some repairs…..watch out or Mr. Big Brother EPA will get you!

These ridiculous rules are not the pending EPA rules which are contained in the “Cap and Trade” legislation. Those rules will require you to have your home certified as up to energy efficiency standards and a license purchased stating it has been certified by Big Brother as being eligible for being sold. Otherwise, you will be prohibited by the government from selling your home unless these energy upgrades are accomplished. Another property right gone…zapped by the government.

Where are those legislators we elected to defend our property rights? It probably will not be worth the time it takes, but writing a letter of protest to Mr. Nelson or Mr. Boyd might make you feel as if you did your part and tried to “Get It Right”.

For a full printing of the new regulations, go to: epa.gov.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –

● Our legislators have now extended unemployment payments to 99 weeks. That is almost two years of free money for not working. My heart goes out to those who might really not have been able to find work for two entire years of looking, but I am suspicious that the free money is encouraging many to merely stay unemployed and enjoy the money and the leisure time. I heard of one unemployed family that went to South America on vacation after they found out about the extension. It is only your tax money…so don’t worry about it.

● It appears to me that Governor Crist sold out to the power (and money) of the teachers union. I feel a fair method of judging teaching ability can be developed, and I am very much against the concept of tenure which protects those who should be terminated because of their inabilities to teach our children, or unwillingness to work.

● (Always Say Something Nice)….I applaud all of those volunteers who helped make our Spring festival a big success.

“ You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it…”

Adrian Rogers, 1931

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Who Says the World is Fair?

2010-04-14T15:41:00.002-05:00

“Might Makes Right” in the world of government

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, let’s get to the subject of the week.

The unfettered, all knowing, all omniscient, all powerful federal EPA, and its state lapdog, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, are wielding their mighty swords of power against our county government in the name of protecting ‘Mother Earth’. They are ordering our county and its residents to spend what ever money is necessary to stop the old East Jackson Landfill which was sealed many years ago, from dripping any contamination into the underground water system.

I have no problem with that. First we must decide what is the least expensive, yet effective method of cleaning up the problem, and then it should be done. Left unattended it will probably continue to contaminate for another century, and will probably worsen.

My problem comes with the placing of all blame and thus all liability on Jackson County by an oppressive element of a higher government, the EPA. They appear to be punitive and unfair in their approach to rectification of the problem.

You see, the original permit the county received for the operation of the East Jackson Landfill was granted by the DEP. The county followed every procedure then prescribed by the EPA and DEP for the creation and subsequent operation of the landfill. They were regularly inspected by these authorities and were always found to be in compliance with the rules and regulations of that day. When the dump was closed, the county spent all required monies to close and seal the site in the exact manner specified by those authorities. We were always in compliance with their demands……Then they changed the rules.

It is a situation similar to that if a football team won a game, celebrated the victory and began preparing for the next contest. Then, at a later date they were notified that the win could not be counted, since they had scored two touchdowns by passing, and the league had just outlawed passing. They were thus penalized at a later date, even though they had complied with the rules which existed when the game was played.

Since the landfill was properly closed in 1991, the environmental movement has continued to gain power, and has thus continually expanded the scope and costs of environmental requirements on industries and on local governments. They have widened the application of rules, and have strengthened their degree of enforcement. What was once acceptable has been made unacceptable in today’s world. And, most unfairly, they are unwilling to accept any responsibility for their role in the past.

Since the DEP made all of the rules back in 1979 when the landfill was built, since the DEP performed all of the inspections, gave all of the approvals, and sanctioned all of the operations during the thirteen years the site was operated, they were complicit in any problems which might exist today. However, they have conveniently legislated immunity for themselves….thus leaving Jackson County holding the bag and shouldering the guilt….and cost of correction. This is grossly unfair! It isn’t the American Way…or what used to be the “American Way”.

The American spirit will not accept gross unfairness. It goes against our basic concepts and principles. Some of our local officials seem to be willing to merely “roll over” and let the big, bad EPA and FDEP place all of the liability on Jackson County….because that is “just the way it is”.

I can not accept that. If they have created laws for the purpose of evading any punitive damages for their bureaucratic stupidity, they have violated the constitution. If this issue comes down to huge expenses and burdens for the citizens and taxpayers of Jackson County, we should fight the process. These responsible agencies must also be held accountable. If we resist enough, and sound our protests loud enough, fairness will prevail…..and we will be “Getting it Right”!

Rudiments, Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning:

● I applaud the County Commission for carefully evaluating the fiscally responsible approach of purchasing properties which border the court house square. In the long run these purchases will prove to be wise, and at this time in this market, also frugal.

● I also applaud the volunteer committee which helped develop the new protocols for training and administering the Inmate Work Release Program. This approach saves thousands of dollars for local governments, and helps prisoners earn early release credits. It is a good concept.

● I applaud the Optimist Club for all they have done for Jackson County over the past forty five years. I do not applaud those whose decisions led to the club no longer being able to operate the concessions at MERE. The Optimist used all profits from the concessions to help our kids. Now the money will go to the private concessionaire, and into the City’s General Fund. The kids are the ones who lost in this unnecessary and unjustified change.

● I applaud the County Commission for considering modification of the existing ordinances at Spring Creek Park. I feel more reasonable approaches can be developed for keeping that beautiful creek clean of litter.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

This “Double Dip” Will Have a Sour Taste

2010-04-08T10:13:00.000-05:00

A double dip recession is still a definite possibility
This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

Some of the economic activity indicators which the government uses to monitor what is occurring within the nation’s economy have recently shown signs of improvement. In order to bolster public attitudes and confidence, these have been widely heralded by the media as proof the economy is “turning the corner” towards recovery. I certainly hope so….but do not think so.

I have several reasons for this critical evaluation as to the ‘state of our union’. First, in my opinion what benefits the economy realized from the huge “Stimulus” influx of borrowed future tax dollars was felt among government contractors who were temporarily employed to complete the thousands of “pork” projects the bill contained, (note the word “temporarily”). Also, a major portion of these funds went into the bureaucracy to shore up budget shortfalls in most of the states, thus enabling those states to get through the year without being forced to lay off any of their “crats”. Those jobs they bragged about “saving” with stimulus money were primarily government bureaucrats.

Well, that year is almost past, and another budget year looms ahead. Unless another flush of borrowed monies are given to these states….the day of the lay-off of the sacred “crats” will be at hand, just as it was a reality during last year for private businesses and industries. Also, the current employment statistics are being buoyed by the addition of many government jobs, including census workers.

When the stimulus projects end and those contractors are forced to lay off their construction crews; when the state governments are forced to “bite the bullet” and reduce or discontinue questionable, unessential programs and thus reduce their bureaucracies, and when the census is over….there is a good chance our national unemployment levels will worsen.

Concurrent with this mounting problem, the previously discussed vulnerability of our economy because of the potential impact of sudden increases in the price we pay for gasoline which would occur if any major disruption or armed conflict exploded in the volatile Middle East. Another high potential, economy ruining, danger for the US is the international currency market. If China, Japan, or OPEC decided to discontinue using the U.S. Dollar as the international currency standard, and instead switched to the EURO, the negative impact on our situation would be immense. Also, if our banker, China, decided to discontinue issuing credit to our government, we would suddenly be overdrawn with no where to turn for capital…sound familiar?

Thus the potential for a “Double Dip” recession (or depression, depending on your personal situation) is very real. If this does occur, the resulting impact on all Americans will be severe and long lasting. For these reasons, it is very important that we vote wisely and carefully in elections during the coming decade. If we allow the policies and politicians of the past to determine our future….I fear for our nation. Now is the time to get concerned and react. Do this and you will be “Getting It Right”.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

● Amendment 4 has become a topic of concern since the ramifications of the proposed legislation was presented to the County commissioners at their last session. Several organizations are working to inform the public of the impact of this proposed amendment. As is often done, the title of the amendment makes it appear it is doing one thing…while it actually is doing something else. This amendment is titled to make you think that if you vote “yes” you will be increasing your ability to impact changes in your local comprehensive plan because all changes must be decided by a referendum. This rule was cleverly derived by environmental activists who want to make it very, very difficult and time consuming for any changes in the comprehensive plan to occur. This will effectively stop all new development, slow the involved processes to a near standstill, and will increase the cost of government by increasing the number and scope of balloting. I agree, We should all vote NO to Amendment 4.

● Another controversial action is the pending legislation which would alter the criteria through which teachers are graded, given step raises, and their level of job protection. Currently, the system follows the traditional union type of administrative program in which seniority is the most important element of criteria. After a very short time the teacher is now granted “tenure” which makes it virtually impossible for administrators to terminate them, no matter how inept they are as teachers or workers. This policy has created a presence of over 170 teachers within the New York City school system who no principal wants on their staff because they are such bad teachers. As a result, they can not be terminated, so they are paid their full salaries and benefits, even though they have no duties. I know there are a few similar examples within the Jackson County School System. The existing system gives 90% of the teachers an “excellent” rating, even though 50% of our state’s children are failing. Something apparently needs to be changed, even if the unions don’t like it.

● (“Say Something Nice New Years Resolution”) Aren’t the azaleas and dogwoods Beautiful! I love the spring, even if the pollen is bad.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

How We Got in This Mess...and What We Need to Do NOW!

2010-04-01T16:36:00.002-05:00

A presentation to the Marianna Optimist Club, Tuesday March 30

Gentlemen, I speak to you today not as a Democrat, nor a Republican. I speak as a fellow American citizen who is very concerned about the future of our beloved United States of America.

Situations currently exist concerning our nation which create the potential for conditions to develop which could mark the end of life in the United States, as we know it. This situation has evolved over the past twenty-five years as a result of many, many decisions made by our leaders which were bad for the country, but were personally or politically expedient. Too many of them have repeatedly put their personal or political party desires and benefits ahead of what was good for the United States of America. This has occurred at the Federal, State, and even local levels of government. It has been a practice of both Democrats and the Republicans. It Has To Stop!

Remember the “Sucking Sound” predicted by Ross Perot? Remember his flip charts depicting the terrible prospects for economic doom which was being created by our national debt and imbalance in international trade? Remember his blasting of the pork creating, influential lobbyist in Washington and at State levels which were enticing weak politicians to do bad things? Well, ole Ross didn’t get elected….but he was certainly a wise soothsayer. The doomsdays he predicted are within clear view at the moment.

These undesirable national situations include:

● National Peril #1 : An accumulated national debt which threatens to consume a huge portion of our Gross National Product and any hope for sustained growth and improvement of our standard of living. The weight of this debt can lead us into a state of depression if not corrected.

● National Peril #2: A total dependence on the Middle East for oil, while our politicians have discussed programs for obtaining energy independence for over 25 years.

 Meanwhile they have responded to the liberal environmental extremists and blocked all attempts to increase drilling in perceived environmentally places, all increases in refinery capacity, all new nuclear power development, and mining of oil shale in the Rockies.

 If a Middle East war develops, or if those nations act as an anti-American block, they can force our weakened economy into a depression. This is a dangerous vulnerability which we should all force our politicians to eliminate immediately by utilizing ALL available energy resources and overriding the politics of the issue.

● National Peril #3: A critical U.S. dependence now exists on China for funding of our debt This is a condition which can force us into decisions which further weaken our nation. Since China has become our primary “banker” we must now always assure they are happy with the relationship between our nations. This can impact decisions on foreign policy, trade regulations and restrictions, internal economic decisions, and many other critical aspects of managing the nation. We are very vulnerable in this regard, since China could take economic action which could force our nation into bankruptcy, ….and depression. We must restore a firm belief and conviction within our leaders for fiscal responsibility….even if it means replacing most of them.

● National Peril #4: The ever widening gap in our international trade balance has an effect similar to leaches slowly weakening the host animal to which they are attached. This constant, growing outflow of U.S. funds results in a weakening of the US dollar on the international market. This weakening in value of our dollar causes us to have to pay more for things we must buy from other countries…..such as OIL!

The imbalance in trade causes you to pay more for gas at the pump. This leaves you less disposable income for other purchases for yourself and your family. These lessened purchases weakens local and national businesses which you would have purchased from if you had not been forced to pay extra for gasoline and electricity….and thus our national economy is pushed towards recession or worse…..Everything is inter-connected, and it all is working against our national interest, and our standard of living.

● National Peril #5: Another critical aspect of the situation in the US today is the fact that we have evolved into a dysfunctional form of government. At one time, both parties were comprised of a healthy mix of liberals, moderates, and conservatives. This then led to opportunity for compromise and negotiation between the parties….and led to reasonable, non-radical legislation and management decisions. This is not the condition of our nation today. Our society and the political parties have evolved toward extremism in opposite poles of the spectrum on almost every issue. The nation is almost evenly split between liberal-ism and conservative-ism. This has led to extreme, unhealthy actions when either group gains total power over the politics of the nation. When neither party has total control, gridlock prohibits any progress. Our government has thus degraded into an ineffective failure at a time when we most need good government.

In my opinion, all of the current focus over health care is very, very unfortunate. I agree it is a social and economic problem which should be attended to and corrected….however, it has totally consumed our national attention for almost a year, while these other, more critical problems have only worsened.

Immigration policies, the drug problems, abortion legislation, health care, cap and trade, environmentalism, union issues, and even expansion of entitlements seem to have been placed ahead of the REAL issues which threaten to destroy our nation. We can not afford another year of inattention to our real problems.

We must immediately force our leaders to focus on:

● A REAL quest for energy independence. This must include developing all available sources of supply, while setting aside politically inspired, foolish environmental protection barriers. The needed resources can be reaped with a deep appreciation for the environment, which is the area of needed compromise.

● Forcing fiscal responsibility on all governments. We as a citizenry must no longer casually accept inappropriate and wasteful actions by any government agency, at any level. We must force Washington to only spend within the limits of revenues, and only work under a balanced budget format. No further growth in the national debt can be tolerated. This will mean elimination of uncountable unnecessary expenditures for pork projects and programs, unnecessary regulations, unnecessary agencies, questionable entitlements and “hidden welfare” programs.

● We should modify our “free trade” policies and encourage enactment of fairly developed restrictions to trade with nations who are not competing with us on a fair and equitable basis. If their government has special subsidy programs to encourage their industries to ship overseas, if their government ignores reasonable labor laws, if their government ignores environmental regulations on their industries, if their governments provide special financial assistance for international trade, ….then the amount of these advantages at the retail level in the US should be determined, and that amount added as an import tariff. If their industries are essentially working under the same constraints as their US competitors, then no tariff would be rendered on their products. This level of fairly conceived protectionism will help bring back some of our lost jobs, reopen closed factories, and restore some industrial support to our sagging economy. At the same time, for US goods being shipped abroad to these “unfair trade partners”, the government should enact special subsidies to our exporting companies with actions which pay a portion of the shipping costs and any tariffs rendered against our products as they enter their markets. This will lessen our sickening balance of trade deficits.

● We must force our leaders to enact legislation which will loosen credit for our small businesses. As is normal with the “knee-jerk” reaction of government to a problem, they have over-reacted to a problem of not enough banking regulation, into a set of rules which are over regulatory and are choking the banks and preventing normal loans from being made to qualified and cash hungry businesses and individuals. Reason and intelligence needs to be applied to lending rules, appraisal procedures, and definition of qualifications. They have been shoved from the area of foolish looseness to suicidal tightness.

As a voting, tax paying population we must demand more for our money. In my opinion, those politicians and party leaders who have been in their positions of authority for over eight to ten years must be held accountable for our current state of the state. They must share in the blame, and should be held accountable.

● I feel that almost every politician with tenure should be voted out as soon as possible. We should then only elect qualified candidates, Republican or Democrat, who recognize the problems, understand how they came to exist, and are willing to make the hard choices before us which must be made.

I firmly believe that the American spirit is still glowing as a bright ember, ready to be inspired into a burning torch. If the American population felt that our government was impregnated with true patriots and wise, unselfish leadership, the citizens would rally to the needs of our nation. Through this sort of motivation, our people would be willing to make the necessary sacrifices to eliminate our national debts, restore the vitality of our economy and thus assure a better life here for our future generations. We would all be willing to double our taxation for a defined period of time if we knew the funds were only going to save the nation instead of into a system of corruption, favoritism, foolish pork spending, vote buying, and self serving political actions. We must sweep all who condone and participate in those actions of the past and present into oblivion, and bring forth a new form of inspired politician and a new era for our nation.

With good leadership and focus on what has to be done, our population could be moved to make the sacrifices which must occur in order to save our economy and our nation. Without that leadership, future sacrifices will also occur, but they will be involuntary and much, much worse for us all. It will be the “Economic Armageddon” for America.

We must all answer this call to action NOW. To hesitate or remain inactive will lead our nation to doomsday. It is time to “Get It Right”!

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

My one rudiment this week is to keep my resolution to always say something nice….We should all appreciate the actions of Al Lawson, Marti Coley and Brad Drake in Tallahassee as they work to keep ACI open and operating in Jackson County.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

“Job Creation”, A False Concept in the USA?

2010-03-24T16:26:00.004-05:00

Is the task of creating significant numbers of jobs an impossibility for the United States economy in the “Global Market’?

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

We are hearing a lot of political rhetoric about “Jobs Creation”, “Jobs Bills”, “Jobs Saved”, “Jobs Stimulus”, “Jobs-Jobs-Jobs”. But just as the old lady said in the hamburger commercial as she looked for the meat…..”Where’s the Jobs?” Well, if you really want to find them you will have to go to China, that is where you will find those millions of jobs we have lost since we adopted the concept of free trade, the “global” economy, and obediently dropped all of the tariffs, quotas, and duties which afforded some level of equality in our marketplace for domestic products.

Sure, we may be buying those “made in China” products at a good price at Wal Mart, but it is difficult to even pay those low prices when you are out of a job and have no income except for government assistance. And the growing social burdens created by the declining markets, growing unemployment, and general decline of the economy are creating insurmountable debts which may eventually destroy the U.S. economy. Good idea?...I think not.

It appears to me that the only arena in which our national leadership can create jobs is in the industry of “Government”. New jobs are plentiful in Washington as huge new bureaucracies are being formed to administer absolute control over our lives and our environment. Meanwhile, they pour borrowed funds into the unquenchable, gaping budgets of federal, state, and local government agencies…and brag about “saving” jobs. At the same time they are serving out more unnecessary, wasteful “Pork” than Sonny’s Bar-B-Q!

These inept, ill conceived trade “deals” which were passed during the Clinton administration with bi-partisan support, have today eroded the basic structure of our industrial sector to a point where there no longer exists any hope of real jobs creation. It is a political spoof which will not happen. Those jobs, those factories, those industries, those companies….are forever lost. They have been lost because of poor business decisions made for political reasons by our elected leaders. They should now pay the price, since there is rampant proof of the results of their folly.

Under the overregulated, over taxed, over labor priced environment in which our nation’s industries must struggle, there is no hope for successfully competing in the marketplace on a long term basis. The only way we can hope to regain any of these life threatening losses is through a national program of common sense reductions of these impairments to our industries, combined with sensibly applied international protections from products entering the US markets from countries which do not compete on a fair, equitable basis. We must level the playing field, or our team will never win.

The real tragedy in this matter is the continuing ineptness of our national leadership in these matters. They continue to “pile on” new, costly environmental regulations over our remaining industrial sector, higher taxation, higher labor costs requirements such as mandatory health care, and reduced industrial assistance programs in operational financing, …all of which further widen the cost gap favoring imported products. They have a pro-union, anti-business mentality which makes any real hope for “Jobs Creation” an impossible dream, except for government jobs.

“God Bless America”….cause they ain’t “Getting it Right!”

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

● I applaud the Chipola Baptist Association for their “Buckets for Haiti” program. It is a clever concept and will help thousands of suffering people in that politically ruined nation. (Please Note, I began by saying something nice this week.)

● Some area newspapers have dug out the story about Marti Coley receiving a salary increase some three years ago, and her role in helping Chipola obtain funding for the Arts Center which is currently under construction. This is old news, and I feel it is playing “dirty pool” for the media to dig the story out of the past and present it as new news. I wrote a story reporting this occurrence many months ago entitled “Dirty Games Junior Colleges Have to Play”. It is wrong to give rebirth to this as we enter the 2010 campaign period. Their intent is obvious, and I do not agree with their tactics.

● While we are discussing politics and Marti Coley, it has come to my attention that a group of liberal minded “reform-a-crats” in Tallahassee want to close Dozier and place those thugs in private “halfway houses” around the state. We need Marti’s presence in Tallahassee to defend this valuable employer in our community, and the social purpose it performs.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

For Those In Peril on the Sea

2010-03-24T16:26:00.001-05:00

Eternal Father, strong to save; whose arm doth bind the restless wave, who bidst the mighty ocean deep, its own appointed limits keep. Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee for those in peril on the sea. (Whiting)

The USS TWEEDY, a destroyer escort, was serving for one year’s active duty with the Atlantic fleet out of Norfolk, Virginia. By midyear of 1962 she had played cat and mouse games with our own and with Soviet submarines. She had patrolled sea lanes from the harbor at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Ash Wednesday Storm, the ninth worst storm for the United States in the Twentieth Century, had tried her seams and power plants and the nerves and strengths of her officers and men.

Pensacola was ready to celebrate its annual Fiesta of Five Flags, and had requested a U. S. Navy warship to attend as guest of the City. The Navy sent TWEEDY for a three day visit. This was great! Pensacola was our Reserve home port and almost all of us were from those environs. We arrived, moored our ship to Allegheny Pier near the LEXINGTON, held open house and declared liberty for three fourths of the officers and men. For many of us this was our first time home since our activation the previous September.

I set up my department’s watch bill and departed by bus for my parent’s home in Chattahoochee. Upon arrival I said hello to my folks and borrowed my dad’s automobile for the evening. Before being activated I had dated a very charming young lady, and she had been much on my mind while I was at sea. I called her folk’s home and found that she was working in Pensacola for the summer. I called her and made a date for the coming Sunday evening, the day before we were to get underway for the Atlantic Ocean. She was scheduled to work until midnight, but that could not be helped.

On Sunday evening I caught a ride to her place of employment, and we got into her sports car and began looking for excitement in Pensacola. There was none, so we went out to the ship. The Officer of the Deck saluted me, ogled my girl friend and we began touring the main deck. Gun mounts, K guns, depth charges and torpedoes seemed to intrigue her. Then we got to the dark and silent pilot house, or bridge, and she was even more intrigued. I have never spent a more enjoyable time on a ship’s bridge. Soon it was time for her to leave me, and I walked her to her car and kissed her good bye. For a fleeting moment I considered going with her, but I knew the admiral would frown on that move.

At 8:00 the next morning we took in all lines, backed the good ship TWEEDY down and turned and departed Pensacola Bay. I am certain that almost everyone on her felt as I did. There was almost no talking as we sank deep into thought and perhaps some despair. We knew we were getting closer to a showdown with Castro’s Cuba and possibly with the Soviet Union. We felt the uncertainty that all service folk feel in times like these.

Our ship turned her bow to the east and soon we were transiting the Florida Straits. We stood out into the broad Atlantic Ocean and reached that river of water known as the Gulf Stream. The Stream comes out of the Gulf of Mexico, warm and swift, and moves northward, bearing away from our eastern shore. Almost all ships northbound seek to enter its waters to take advantage of its force so that their speeds can increase. We had done the same.

As we steamed along, with most of us thinking of those we left behind, a lookout on the starboard (right) side sighted an object low in the water. We were well out of range of land. Our radar had not picked it up and we soon discovered why. As we turned to investigate we saw a small open fishing boat, made entirely of wood, drifting about on the swells. We approached and saw two men and one woman in nondescript garments in it. Across the forward part of the boat was a square of canvas. When the man at the tiller recognized us as American he began waving and calling out.

The Captain sent me aft to be certain that the boat was no danger to us, and to secure it to our side. When we took the painter the woman pulled the canvas to one side and revealed two small children, one only a baby. We had no one aboard that could speak Spanish and the refugees did not understand English very well. We secured the boat and assisted them onto our deck and into the shade.

This is what we found: the boat had departed Cuba several days earlier, bound for the Keys. The engine quit and the Gulf Stream had swept them away from land. All their food had been eaten, and their water would have been gone that day if we had not arrived. A couple of days’ delay would probably have meant death for the infants, followed soon for all three of the adults.

The sailors took the refugees in and gave them clean clothes. They were fed and allowed to shower. Our captain gave orders to turn and make for Miami. The owner of the boat had begged me, with signs, to hoist his boat aboard. We did so, because it was all he had left in the world. I did not tell him, though, that he would not be able to use it in American waters because of its condition. A Coast Guard boat met us at the harbor entrance and we transferred them, with the boat, to its deck. They waved to us and cried, and I am certain that there were tears in our eyes, too.

Our spirits changed and we felt renewed. We realized that our country must be something special for a mother to take her two children to sea in a boat that was unsafe in any waters, just for the possibility of an opportunity for freedom.

On occasion I will be watching a television show from the Miami area, and I will spot a couple of old men sitting in a park playing a spirited game of checkers, or I will see some fifty-somethings, obviously Cubans, working or talking and enjoying life. And sometimes I ask myself, could this be the folks that brought the officers and crew back on course to reality, to an understanding of our purpose? And I answer, quietly, “Yes, they may well be”.

Oh Trinity of Love and Power, our brethren shield in danger’s hour; from rock and tempest, fire and foe, Protect them whereso’ere they go; Thus evermore shall rise to Thee, glad hymns of praise on land and sea. (from “Eternal Father, Strong to Save“ also known as “The Navy Hymn“, by William Whiting)

“The Rest of the Story” On Immigration and Health Care

2010-03-18T15:18:00.002-05:00

The real politics of political positions on these issues

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now - the subject of the week.

As we all know, during numerous recent elections, the margin of victory has been by only a few percentage points of the voters taking part in the process. The nation is obviously almost evenly divided between liberals and conservatives, those favoring increased government control and influence vs. those who wish to reduce the size and scope of governments.

In this situation, the addition of a few million voters to one side or the other can assure victory for the party realizing the gain. I would suspect that the group promoting amnesty for the estimated 15,000,000 illegal aliens living in the U.S. are not really promoting this move out of a humanitarian, sympathetic motivation. They are promoting this approach because they see this group as a potential impetus of millions of additional voters who favor their side, and this addition would assure continuation of their power over our government and its coffers of money.

In my opinion, the same condition is true when they talk of expansion of entitlements, especially health care. They see those 30,000,000 uninsured people as future voters, if they can only win their favor by giving them free health care. Again, the move is not motivated out of a zeal for humanity, a caring spirit, a liberal love for fellow man…..the move is inspired because those added votes would expand their power base and assure future control of the course of the nation.

Although the speeches and rhetoric may sound noble of cause and may engender feelings of sympathy and response to need…..it is best to remember the underlying motivation and probable results if the majority of voters align with the pleas to help those poor, uninsured masses.

In reality, no one in America has to go without needed health care. They may not be able to go to the exact doctor they wish, but free care is available. Personally, I would be for increasing the scope and services of the Public Health Departments across the nation. They could provide 24-7 medical services to the qualified patients, and thus provide those people somewhere to go for routine care on weekends and evenings instead of the Hospital Emergency Rooms. This would save millions of dollars, and would put the costs where they should be.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

● Keeping my new year’s resolution to always say something nice….I applaud Main Street Marianna for organizing and sponsoring the St. Pats Day festival in downtown Marianna this weekend. They “Got it Right!” These events help bond the community together……and they are fun!

● I feel that if a group of concerned Marianna business owners got together and made a united appeal to the City Commission, we could get the Board to revisit the existing sign ordinance. As it is written it obviously has shortcomings which need to be improved.

● I also applaud the Jackson County School Board for exploring alternatives to their health benefit programs in an effort to lower costs. I hope they are successful in this effort. (Oops! I accidently said TWO nice things this week.)

● If in these “greenway” programs being created by the City of Marianna and the County Government, they build public boat ramps with tax payer money to increase access to the Chipola River, and make these ramps exclusive to the launching of canoes and kayaks, I feel they would be doing an injustice to the small motorized boat fisherman who would also wish to gain this easier river access. I question the legality of favoring one population segment of river users to the detriment of another, while using public funding. I would urge all of our Chipola River bream fishermen to get involved in this issue. We need to be sure they “Get This Right”.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Bureaucracy...Stop the Wasteful Concepts and Save a Fellow “Crat’s” Job

2010-03-12T15:53:00.002-06:00

By “cleaning up their act” the bureaucracies can prevent the eventual layoffs and cutbacks which will reduce their ranks.

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

Bureaucratic leaders and Politicians…would you like to save a teacher’s job? Would you like to keep from being forced to lay-off road crews, reduce library operations, cut back on parks services, cut administrative staff, eliminate unessential social programs and services, and perform other unpleasant reduction actions dictated by budget shortfalls? If you do not want to be faced with these difficult duties, please take heed to the following paragraphs. They will provide other courses of action which you can take to help avert the need for these drastic actions which possibly will be in your future.

First, you must recognize the fact that the “Crat” is not immune from job eliminations and lay-offs. Although government employment is certainly much better protected from these actions than are jobs in industry and the private sector….they are not immune. If the money isn’t there and there are no other remedies….the cuts will occur.

How can the millions of dollars in funding be created which will be needed to avoid cuts in a time of severe budget shortfall, reduced revenues for state, county, and municipal operations? The answer is relatively simple…..merely stop engaging in wasteful, illogical money management practices relating to expenditures.

There are two openly endorsed procedures used within the bureaucracy which waste millions of taxpayer dollars in Florida each year, and billions across the USA. If these two practices could be exposed for being unnecessary, wasteful, (and dumb), and the public would loudly voice their disgust and despair when the practices are exposed, these monies could be saved. These wasted funds would then be available in the General Fund to make up the budget shortfalls and thus preserve the “crat” jobs.

Specifically I am revering to the “Bureaucratic Management Concept of Inept Money Management” which states “Once monies have been allocated for a purpose it is essential that ALL of that money be spent. Never, never, fail to spend all the money provided to you and return unused funds back to the funding source.”

In filling my role as a newspaper flunky, I am forced to continually attend official meetings of the County Commission, School Board, and numerous municipal commissions. I watch as they administer and spend the millions of tax dollars which have been reaped, raped, and coerced from the Citizens and Businesses of Jackson County, Florida, and the nation. Each year, at the local level, I observe millions being spent in what I see as a wasteful manner….just because of the concept described in the preceding paragraph.

When funding is allocated for a specific project, the officials are very careful to follow prescribed procedures to obtain bids from qualified vendors, to evaluate the bids and to formally select and approve the bid award. Then, when the project is over and they find they have saved thousands of dollars by these good management practices, they quickly look for some way to spend these “excess” dollars….never considering turning this funding back to the granting source. As a result, these monies are spent in a careless, wasteful manner on unnecessary things.

Recent examples would be the approval of creating a four lane entrance road to the Marianna Industrial Park with money not used on the road changes for the new Ice Springs plant. When thousands were unspent on the new Marianna water treatment plant, they spent the money on expanding the design to add back-up pumps and other features originally not deemed as necessary. A commonly uttered statement from one of these selfish officials is “If we don’t spend it we lose it”.

The other, equally wasteful practice is the “Zero Based Budgeting” concept which forces the managers of each bureaucratic element to be sure and spend all of the money in the budget each year. Again, they are told they should “Never, Never” fail to spend all of their money. This leads to computers, cars, and millions of dollars in perfectly good government equipment being scrapped and sold at auctions because new, replacement equipment has been bought in order to “spend” everything in the budget. We have all heard the stories of these wasteful practices. As a result, billions of taxpayer dollars are unnecessarily spent each year.

When I see the various government commissions working on their annual budgets, I am amazed at how it just happens that in almost every instance the department’s expenditures were exactly what had been budgeted. In reality, they found some way to throw any excess funds away on some unneeded items. There is no motivation to ever manage their departments so efficiently that a surplus would be present at the end of the year.

I would suggest a system where a manager earns “funding priority points” for future funding requests when they are able to return funds to the funding source. Those with the most funding priority points would be at the front of the line when the next round of funding takes place. This would reward them for their management skills and ability to save money within the system.

These improper, wasteful, (and dumb) practices are so ingrained in governmental fiscal policies, it seems to be impossible to convince those involved that they should do what is right, and return unneeded funding back into the system for future use… for the common good of the community, the state, and the nation. We need to be publically critical when our elected and appointed officials selfishly “keep and spend” public money just because it is in their grasp. This goes for sidewalks to nowhere, building new buildings when existing buildings are setting empty, reworking and landscaping road right of ways when it is not really necessary, and many, many other wasteful projects and programs. Just take time to notice the waste.

The old concept used as a measure of the ability of an elected official was their skills at “Bringing Home the Bacon, for the folks back home”. It is time to throw this short sighted, selfish concept aside and replace it with electing those with a nationally patriotic view which places the common national good ahead of local, party, or personal gains.

Perhaps if they can be made to realize that through the discontinuance of these wasteful (and dumb) practices they are not merely easing the tax burden on the public, they can also save the job of a fellow “crat”, because future budget shortfalls will be lessened, and more funds will be available at all levels. Perhaps then they will be motivated because of a desire to preserve the “bureaucratic brotherhood”, even if they won’t do it merely to lessen the burden on the poor taxpaying citizens.

In either instance, we as taxpayers should not tolerate continuation of these wasteful (and dumb) examples of mismanagement. We must stop allowing implied public permission through our silence when they take these actions.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

● Isn’t it interesting that there are over 600 federal “crats” in Washington that are failing to pay their federal income taxes…..and the IRS is hesitant to take action against them?

● Isn’t it interesting that the average wages and benefits for a federal employee totals $108,000/ Yr., while the average for a private sector worker is $69,000?

● Isn’t it interesting that the largest area of jobs creation and growth in our existing economy is government jobs?

- (Keeping my resolution to always say something nice), I award a big bouquet of flowers to the Marianna Probation and Parole and Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society of Chipola for sponsoring a fund raising fun run last weekend for the Special Olympics Program. Also flowers to those who participated.

● A bouquet of kudzu is awarded to Marianna Commissioners Howard Milton, Paul Donofro, and Roger Clay for voting to enforce the city’s ill conceived sign ordinance and force a local small business to waste $1400 on another sign for their building. We can see what causes those “anti-business attitude” remarks toward this Commission to be made.

● Downtown Marianna has just lost another business as Jema Boutique has announced the closing of their enterprise.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Government Employees Unions, Have We Allowed Creation of a Monster?

2010-03-04T15:58:00.002-06:00

These unions may prevent the nation from enacting changes which are necessary to save our economy.

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

Unions in Business vs. Unions in Government-

In the business world there is a self correcting element which does not exist in the government sector. If a company becomes too inefficient, competition from more efficient companies will put them out of business. If a business or industry allows unions to form, become too powerful, and significantly drive up cost of operations, …in a free market, foreign competitors will eventually enter the field and take away their sales. This is evident if one looks at the history of the U.S. Automotive Industry, the U. S. Steel Industry, the U. S. Textile Industry, and many other once flourishing industries of our nation. Along with their demise we also lost millions of jobs which are now being happily performed in China and other far away lands. This happened because of weak, permissive corporate management, the domination of greedy, politically potent unions, and foolish, self perpetuating politicians who enacted legislation first in support of strengthening the stranglehold of the unions, and finally the endorsement of ‘free trade”.

Thus, because of these influences we became non-competitive and were booted from the game. Perhaps that is as it should be.

Now let’s examine what happens when strong unions organize the millions of federal, state, county, and municipal workers across our nation. When the unions realized they had killed their “golden goose”, the industrial sector, they began to aggressively move into the public sector. During the past twenty years unions have realized unprecedented growth in membership….all in the government arena. Unions such as SEIU (Service Employees International Union), The Teamsters, AFGE (American Federation of Government Employees), AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees) and other unions have enrolled a huge majority of all government workers, and are reaping huge stacks of money paid to them as dues. A portion of this money is used to purchase political influence at all levels of government.

This creates a constant upward pressure on the cost of government as they use their power to gain increased salaries and benefits for their membership…..at the expense of the taxpaying public. The problem with this situation is that unlike what happens in business, in the public sector there is no competitive, corrective factor. As government grows it bites deeper and deeper into the disposable income of the general public, reducing purchasing power and quality of life. Potentially, the only corrective measure is the eventual failure of the entire economic system…and thus the failure of government.

Have We Allowed a New, Destructive Monster to Form?

This offers a basic question for debate. If the electorate does put a body of fiscally conservative legislators into power as concerns over the rising cost of governments, will these new officials be able to enact the needed corrective legislation in the face of resistance from the government employees unions? These unions now have the power to completely shut down our nation. They can shut down transportation, public safety, schools, hospitals, maintenance of all public properties, and many other critical functions in every county and city of the United States.

An example of the result of government control by unions can be found in the current crisis in Greece, who is a member of the European Union. The country is in bankruptcy, with their annual deficits running over 12%, and their problems are threatening the European Common Market. When the government has tried to institute the necessary reforms, the powerful government unions in Greece have risen in protest and created chaos in the country. As a result, government officials have been slow to make moves which are direly needed. Other nations in Europe are threatening reprisals against Greece if their government does not take action to cut costs.

These government unions are so powerful within the Greek nation that it may require a complete failure of the nation before they can be rooted out or forced to loosen their grip on the Greek Government, Greek Economy, and Greek People. I hope we are not in the process of repeating this story in the USA.

It appears that severe cuts will be needed to make up for budget shortfalls in the upcoming budgets for many states and counties across the nation this year. It will be interesting to see what role these powerful US government employee unions play in solving these problems.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –

● Marianna has lost another business…Century Lighting on Jackson Street has closed.

● I was surprised to see that the mini-market in the center of Greenwood has closed. Another victim of the unfettered power of the EPA and FDEP. As you drive around the county note how many of these markets/filling stations have closed in the past year. I would estimate at least fifteen for Jackson County. If each employed five people, that represents 75 jobs which have been lost, as well as the businesses. Across the state it would amount to thousands of jobs. This is done with no public comment, little or no oversight, and little or no resistance. In the name of the “Green God”, the bureaucrats within the EPA can do whatever they can dream up. To “Get it Right” we need to force our legislators to create more oversight and supervision of their actions. We can’t afford them!

● At Tuesday’s Marianna City Commission meeting local businessman Van Kunde of Florida Land and Title made a final appeal to the Commission for a sign variance. His $1400 sign was mistakenly installed six feet too long. Commissioners Roberts and Wise made eloquent appeals for granting the request, but Commissioners Donofro, Milton, and Clay voted to deny the local businesses request. Comments were made during discussion about the need to revise this over-restrictive, ill conceived code. Meanwhile, this local business just wasted $1400 because of our inflexible municipal bureaucracy.

● (Keep my New Years Resolution to say something nice) …Spring will soon be upon us. I look forward to our world changing into a garden of flowering azaleas and dogwoods.

Wisdom from Dick Kranker:
“It is useless for sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while wolves remain of a different opinion.” William Ralph Inge 1860-1954

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Stimulating The Bureaucracy While Ignoring Small Businesses

2010-02-24T15:41:00.002-06:00

A Short Sighted Approach to our National Crisis This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

We are now far enough along in the government’s “stimulus plan” to see how it works and what results are being achieved. During the past fourteen months over $787 billion tax payer dollars were frantically shoveled into the economic sink hole which was about to consume our entire national economic framework and thrust us into the chaos of a deep depression. I fear this remedy would compare to an AIDS victim taking an aspirin and expecting to be cured. It might relieve the symptoms for a few hours, but the actual disease would still be consuming the patient.

The first problem which had to be addressed in this effort was to find a way to desperately “thrust” $787

billion dollars into the economy as quickly as possible, following the age old proven political strategy.... “If you have a problem, solve it by throwing money at it”. They quickly realized there was only one entity in our nation which had the capability of spending that much money in a very short time period …and that was GOVERNMENT. So they decided to flow the stimulus billions through the State Governments, who would take what they needed and then flow the remaining money through their State Agencies, who would take what they needed and then flow the money down to county and city governments, who would take what they needed and then flow the remaining money to their various agencies….and by then the entire bounty should be spent.

In reality, difficulty has been experienced even in this wasteful approach, since the entire government process at all levels has become so encumbered with regulations, processes, approvals, reviews, multiple bureaucratic jurisdictions, extra steps created by extra codes, rules, policies, laws, and regulations…that nothing can be done quickly anymore….not even spending free money.

The very processes they created as a means of harassing and over-regulating businesses and individuals has come back to haunt them in this effort. Thus, trying as hard as they can, being as wasteful as possible, the entire bureaucracy involved has only been able to spend about 40% of the stimulus funding during the first fourteen months of trying. Meanwhile, in the private sector, small businesses and family economic units continue to deteriorate and struggle in the midst of a severe recession.

For a struggling small business the sensation of watching all of this loose money flow through all government levels on porkish projects that are not really justified while they are unable to borrow the money they need to sustain their business….is similar to the feeling of a man dying of thirst standing on the bank of a flooding river and not being allowed to drink. Unfair! Foolish! Suicidal!...these are some of the words which come to mind.

Virtually every state was experiencing severe revenue shortfalls as a result of the recession and the diminished revenues from taxes, permits, and fees. They were faced with the prospect of doing the unthinkable…laying off bureaucrats! Then the answer to their prayers came in the form of the stimulus funding. Suddenly the system was again funded to the gills, and the crisis was averted.. at least for one budget year.

So those millions of jobs which were “saved” or created by the stimulus funding were primarily government jobs, or jobs in the thousands of architectural, engineering, or governmental contractors organizations which “nurse” from the government teats. These are responsible for every government project being over designed, over engineered, over coded, over priced, and grossly overdone in order to make every job as expensive as possible. This creates more fees for the designers and more sales for the suppliers and more work for the union tradesmen who do the project. Everyone benefits except the poor tax payer who is paying for all of this unnecessary cost.

The stimulus money has thus primarily gone to “stimulate and preserve” the bureaucracies at all levels of government and has done little to help in the private sector. It has completely ignored small businesses which are the real key to permanent jobs creation.

What will the bureaucracy do to create funding for the next budget year? Will another foolish stimulus program be initiated….or will next year finally be the year that the persistent “veil of bureaucratic protection” is lifted, and they too begin to feel the same pains of layoff and unemployment too many in the private sector have experienced this year. Time will tell!

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –

● At the Marianna Zoning and Planning meeting on Monday, a variance request from Florida Land and Title was denied by the board. Their beautiful new sign atop their newly renovated building on Madison Street has a sign which is some six feet too long…..It Has To Come Down! Meanwhile across the street a building with a tattered and torn awning is well within allowable codes, and can remain as an ugly blight on our city center. Someone please explain bureaucratic logic to me!

● At the Legislative Delegation meeting on Monday night, a large group of desperate citizens pleaded for help in dealing with their enormous electric bills. Although our legislators have little power over the root causes of the problem, their input can help in Tallahassee, especially with the Governor. I think they got the message from those desperate citizens who spoke to them at the meeting.

● (Keeping my resolution to say something nice each week)- At the County Commission meeting Chairman Branch and the Commissioners agreed to draft a letter about the utility problem for transmission to the Governor, they encouraged every City Commission in the County to also send letters, and they ordered a review of the possibility of the County reducing its 6% franchise fee to at least give a little relief to those FPU customers who live outside the Marianna city limits. All good ideas, coupled with a demonstration of caring for the plight of these people. I think the Commissioners “Got it Right”!

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Corruption in Tallahassee...And Your Electric Bil

2010-02-18T16:02:00.002-06:00

How the system “Really” works This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:

“How a corrupt oversight process for Florida’s utilities through the P.S.C. has caused us to be faced with unreasonable costs for our electricity.”

A revealing column was written last Sunday by a columnist for the St. Pete Times, Howard Troxler. In his column he revealed some of the corrupt processes which are related to the operation and control of the PSC. As you read excerpts from his writing, remember that the utilities are huge contributors to virtually every legislator in Tallahassee.

His column was titled:

“Legislature goes after PSC members who sided with consumers over electric companies”

Troxler pointed out that the Public Service Commission recently made a historic ruling by denying a huge rate increase for Florida’s two biggest electric companies. (These did not include Gulf Power, which supplies much of the power to Jackson County.)

The columnist then pointed out the fact that the Florida Legislature has reacted to that action by the PSC by exerting legislative pressures to get the PSC back into line, approving requests for increases instead of representing the consumers. They began by threatening the job of Public Counsel, J.R. Kelly, who is the staff lawyer on the PSC who is supposed to represent the customers in opposition to the lawyers from the utilities when hearings are conducted as part of their decision making processes.

Troxler then notes that this action which was designed to exert pressure on the PSC by the legislature caused a public outcry which then gained the support of the Governor. The move by the Legislature to remove Kelly for doing a good job of representing the customers is still pending. We should watch to see the outcome of this tactic.

The article also pointed out that the Legislature is also putting pressure on the two new appointees to the PSC, since they voted to deny the increased rates. These two new appointees are Ben Stevens and David Klement, and they still have to be confirmed by the Florida Senate. Thus, the threat to deny the conformation unless they show they will vote the way the legislators want them to vote in the future.

The column identified a Senate leader, Mike Haridopolos, for publically making disparaging remarks about these two new appointees.

“All I know is what I read in the newspaper,” Haridopolos said, “that one guy was a columnist and another guy was a bar owner.”

The “columnist” is David Klement, the editorial page editor of the Bradenton Herald for 30 years and then becoming the Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Leadership at the University of South Florida’s Sarasota campus.

The “bar owner” is Ben Stevens, who has invested in a bar in Pensacola. However, he is the former President of the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants and former Finance Director of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. Both would appear to be solid citizens of our fair state.

The article then pointed out other “pressure tactics” being used by the legislature as a means of exerting pressure on the PSC members.

The Senate also is “concerned” that members of the PSC do not have the proper “qualifications.” So there’s a proposal to change the law to require a college degree — which the PSC chairman, Nancy Argenziano, lacks. Her term expires next year, along with that a fourth commissioner, Nathan Skop. Troxler pointed out that the utilities who had their increases denied, Florida Power & Light and Progress Energy Florida, will file new requests for rate increases — hoping for a more friendly PSC to grant their wishes after being worked over by the Florida legislators.

Troxler stated “The current President of the Senate is Jeff Atwater, a Republican from North Palm Beach. He is running to become Florida’s chief financial officer. Atwater’s people were not happy when I said he was ultimately responsible for the attack on the public counsel. But as President of the Senate, he is.”

Will he also be known as the Senate President whose chamber fired the Public Service Commission — for siding with consumers?”

One of the primary problems is that the PSC is currently under the control of the Legislature, part of the legislative branch. This includes the Office of Public Counsel. This situation thus allows the Legislature to put this kind of political pressure on the Commission. Remember the fact that the utilities are huge donators to the campaigns of most of these elected officials. They are thus obligated to the utilities.

Troxler feels the Public Counsel should be moved to the control of the State Attorney General. The PSC itself should be constitutionally independent. I personally feel the PSC members should again be elected on a district basis, and their real supervisors should be the voting public.

I agree with Troxler when he stated that for now, the public should hold the entire Legislature accountable, in this election year, for whatever happens.

Troxler ended his revealing column with the statement “Not a single legislator will be able to say, ‘It wasn’t me who did this.’ They all are responsible, every one.”

It is interesting to note that in 2008 Florida Power and Light donated $1,327,383 to the Political Parties in the State and $72,000 to legislators, Teco Energy donated $943,000 to parties, and $121,500 to candidates as do all of the utilities. They either donate directly or through their state associations and Political action committees. Through this flow on money they exert influence on our elected officials. All of our local legislators take donations from their respective parties, so part of that money is money donated by the utilities.

This article did not deal with the series of rate increases which were previously granted to our local Florida Public Utilities, but you can rest assured the same tactics were in play. Too many Florida legislators have received too much money from the utilities. These legislators then pull the strings of power to be sure the PSC votes to favor the utilities when the time comes. It is a dirty, corrupt system…..and we are all suffering from the results. (P.S. My FPU electric bill was $1142.00 this month, what was yours?)

This is representative of the many blogs which followed the article in the St. Pete Times-

Chuckwillswidow wrote:

“I am beginning to wonder if government of, by and for the people really exists anymore. It certainly does not appear to exist in the Florida legislature. These actions by the Florida Legislature to squelch good government and support big business tells us much about the greed, lack of character and dishonesty of those who deceptively claim to represent the best interests of the people.”

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning

• Perhaps all struggling businesses in the area should begin to add a new charge on their bills to customers. After we have added the sales taxes, the bed tax (if you are an inn), then we should sub-total those amounts and then multiply by an additional 10% and label it “Electrical surcharge and municipal franchise add-on”

• As you drive around the county and the state, take note of all of the empty, closed, and abandoned junior store-filling station businesses. All of those lost jobs, all of that lost investment, and all of that worthless real estate, is a testimonial to the unfettered power of our state Department of Environmental Protection.

• New Years Resolution (Always include something nice) – I worked in a factory in the Dominican Republic all of last week, doing some management consulting/engineering work. I saw hundreds of people working very hard to earn $56.00 per week….and being very happy to be employed. Even though our standard of living may be starting to decline at this time….it still has a long way to fall before we reach the bottom.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Reversing the Flow Would Solve Many Problems

2010-02-18T15:45:00.002-06:00

Reversing the flow of public revenues would be a great idea!

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

Just Who Got Stimulated? – I don’t think it was the private sector. The Federal Government used the State Governments as the disbursing agents for the billions and billions of Recovery Act funds we call the Stimulus Funds. As a result, the states siphoned off a major portion of these funds to alleviate budget short falls which were created by the revenue declines associated with the recession.

As a result, most of the states were able to “save” the jobs of most of the state bureaucrats, using the stimulus monies to avoid laying off the “crats” which fill those thousands of State offices in every capitol city….Tallahassee included. Meanwhile, the private sector was forced to endure massive layoffs of personnel and reductions in expenditures at the same moment in history. Only a small percentage of these “jobs creating” funds actually reached the private sector. Certainly none of it went to help small businesses remain in business, or to stimulate local economies.

Thus, when the federal government brags about the jobs it “saved” through the stimulus plan…most of those jobs were “crat” jobs. However, in this next round of budgeting, unless they can get a second massive “stimulus program” funded, the states will be forced to finally endure the same pain and suffering that is being experienced within the private sector this year.

Since much of our local economy here in Jackson County is based on local, state, and federal employment, we have not yet experienced the real pain and suffering which most of the nation has endured. In some areas of the US, unemployment exceeds 20%, businesses have been forced to close, and the streets are empty. If we do have to actually cut the employment of the sacred “crat” next year, we may experience some of that nightmare here.

Let us all pray that is not the case.

Reversing the Flow…A Good Idea!- The relative relationships between the newly created Federal government and the State governments envisioned by the founders of our nation was the exact reversal of what we have evolved into. They desired a central government with a minimum of influence, function, and funding. As they penned the Constitution they did all they could to assure State’s Rights would be retained and nurtured. They would be saddened and appalled at what we have today.

Through the power of the federal income taxing authority over individuals and businesses, the federal government has been able to “suck” a major portion of all public revenues up to the federal level. This money is the source of the federal government’s power.

In order to regain the rightful position of State governments in the U.S. social, political, and economic structure of our nation, States must regain control of funding.. This could best be accomplished through forcing reduction of the Federal taxing authority and increasing the State level taxing authority. This could be accomplished one functional area at a time.

I would suggest beginning with the national educational systems. I feel that we would be much better off if our Federal government was out of the educational process. The U.S. Department of Education should be eliminated. The funding for education should be collected by the state governments, and then appropriated to the counties within the state for the operation of the schools….no federal funding….no federal guidelines, requirements, policies or rules.

This same process of elimination could then be expanded to include social programs, industrial controls, environmental controls, and many, many other areas where the federal government overrides state and local control. The role of the federal government in our society should be limited to only those areas where it is absolutely necessary that a central authority be in control. This would include inter-state transportation systems, international trade, national military, diplomatic corps, the coining of money, international banking, Wall Street, veterans affairs, federal prisons, and other international and interstate requirements.

The central Federal government has become too powerful, too domineering, too huge to manage, and too incompetent to properly perform. They have become the monster which was most feared by our founding fathers as they penned the Constitution. We must act to reverse this situation if our nation is to ever achieve any level of reform.

As Conservatives we should move enhancement of “States Rights” to the forefront of our goals and objectives.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –

● As you read this I am in the Dominican Republic, performing some engineering-management consulting there for an American Company. This is what I did in my previous life, B.N. … (before newspaper). When I return to good ole Marianna next Saturday I hope to hear that our Commissioners were wise enough to put the prospect of a new $10 million tax dollar funded Admin Building aside until our economy stabilizes.

● (Say something Nice…My New Years Resolution) I was especially touched by the events of the Marianna City Commission last week. Over 100 desperate residents pleaded to their elected representatives to do something to help them cope with electric bills which were consuming almost all of their incomes. Some are in danger of losing their subsidized housing because of their electricity being cut off. Some say their electric bill is more than their social security check…making it impossible for them to pay the bill and survive. They were truly desperate….and pleading for a solution. The desperate tone in their voices still haunts me. For the sake of all of us…I hope there is a remedy.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Showdown Time on County Admin Building

2010-02-04T17:51:00.000-06:00

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:

Vote will probably be taken at February 9 meeting.
“Should the Jackson County Commissioners agree to spend over $10 million in public money at this time for the construction of a new administration building near the court house for county operational departments? Yes or No?

That question will most probably be decided at the next meeting of our county commission, which is scheduled for Tuesday, February 9, at 9:00 AM in the Commission meeting room on Madison Street in Marianna. If they decide to build themselves this new, three story, 59,000 sq. ft. building on the site of the old county jail, they will be committing themselves (and all citizens of Jackson County) to a new debt which will apparently total somewhere between $10,000,000 and $15,000,000.

A low interest USDA loan of $8,000,000 is currently available for the project, and the sources for the balance of the needed funds is uncertain. Some Commissioners feel the new debt can be serviced through the savings of $100,000 per year currently being paid to local property owners for space used to house some of the county functions, combined with approximately $350,000 per year the county receives from Waste Management in tipping fees for the landfill operations. Others argue that to spend this money on the building would be inappropriate since that money could be used for other county needs which could potentially relieve the need for future increases in county taxes and fees to be imposed on county residents. Ted Lakey, County Administrator, states that now would be a good time to initiate this project, since interest rates are low, the loan is available, and construction costs have fallen since the initial cost estimate for the building which was over $15,000,000.

Support for the construction of this new building is coming from downtown merchants who feel their business traffic would be enhanced if more people had to come to the court house-admin building area. They are represented by Main Street Marianna and the Executive Committee of the Jackson County Chamber. Most county employees also favor the project.

Opposition is coming from the general taxpaying public of the county which has no vested interest in the building being built downtown….or anywhere else. Some argue that the plans for the facility do not provide adequate parking, and the construction would only worsen the already terrible parking problems in the Court House area. Some feel the lack of downtown parking would hurt downtown business activity and their situation would be worsened by the new facility. Some feel that by promoting a more expensive option, the downtown retailers are pushing for their own interest at the expense of the rest of the citizens of the county.

The Commissioners requested that Ajax Building Corp., with the assistance of Paul Donofro Associates, prepare a revised cost estimate for the project, along with a comparative analysis of the cost of purchasing and renovating the old Wal Mart building in the Crossroads Shopping Center. That report was presented at a workshop meeting on January 26. It presented four options, with the new building cost at $9,000,000 (not including site preparation and parking), while the purchase and remodeling of the existing building was estimated at $8,400,000.

I feel this is a flawed approach to making a fair evaluation. First, the two firms who prepared the analysis have a vested interest in the project. Their profits would be significantly increased if the new facility is built instead of renovating the existing building…..so why are we surprised when they show such a high cost for the renovation? The analysis should have been prepared by a qualified, uninvolved third party. Also, to my knowledge the Commissioners have done little investigation of the costs and level of satisfaction from other counties in Florida and adjoining states who have faced the same issue, ….and chose the less expensive renovation option. They should gather cost per square foot data from these other projects, as well as the general level of satisfaction from the employees using the renovated facilities in other counties.

The outcome of the vote which is about to be taken is uncertain at this point. Commissioner Spires has openly expressed his desire to spend the money and start the project. The other four Commissioners are in a “wait and evaluate” mode, and have not yet made an open commitment one way or the other. If you have an opinion on this issue, you should NOW contact your Commissioner and tell him how you feel. Also, it might be worth your time to attend the next meeting.

If you set back and watch television instead of getting involved at this time…..you will have no right to complain about higher taxes or fees from the County in the coming years.

Personally, I am against doing either project in this uncertain economy. The location of the building is secondary to the issue of whether or not it is wise for the county to enter into such a large debt when there is no guarantee of continued revenues for other operations. State assistance for county needs will certainly be reduced for several years to come, and local revenue flows are also uncertain. Until we know the U.S. economy is well on the way to recovery, I feel our Commissioners should not create a new debt for the citizens of Jackson County to bear.

If the Commissioners will decide to do nothing at this time…….they will be “Getting it

Right”!

Rudiments, Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning:

- Keeping my New Years Resolution…Say something nice! - My congratulations to this years winners of the Chamber awards. The winners were, Lanet James as Citizen of the Year, Chuck Hatcher for the Excellence in Leadership Award, and David Melvin Engineering for the Wayne Mixson Economic Leadership Award. Congratulations to all!

- Burrrr - Hundreds of local residents are shocked and outraged over their unreasonably high December electric bills from Florida Public Utilities. Many families are really struggling to survive while paying for electricity. Most of these people have already turned their thermostats down to the low 60’s and are wearing coats around their homes. This situation is becoming critical, as displayed by the protest which occurred at the City Commission meeting in Marianna on Tuesday evening. (P.S. Most of these bills did not include the latest 13% increase granted by the Public Service Commission in November. I hate to think of what charges the January bills will contain.)

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

If You Think We Have Problems...Go To Haiti

2010-02-04T17:25:00.002-06:00

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subjects of the week:

A profound example of what corrupt governments can do to a nation’s citizens.
Revisiting Budgeting Issues

Based on several comments I have received, I apparently did not express myself clearly last week as I described what I perceive as problems with the procedures used by governments as they use the budget process to control money allocations and spending.

I feel that the concept of “zero based budgeting” in which every department must be sure to spend all of the monies allocated to it each year creates enormous amounts of waste across our nation each year as every federal, state, county, and municipal department and agency struggles to spend their funding. As the end of the budget year approaches they traditionally engage in a spending frenzy to bring their year end balance to zero. This spending is often on unnecessary replacement of items, long before their useful life has come. There is no motivation to manage the departmental expenditures below the budgeted amount through increasing productivity by working harder or smarter. In fact they are openly encouraged to “never” turn any budgeted funds back to the budgeting authority.

If a department head does return money at the end of the year, that department is then assuredly subsequently punished by the budgeting authority by a severe cut in the next year’s budget. This creates a “negative incentive to save” which costs taxpayers billions each year. Industry does not apply budgets in this foolish manner.

A commonly used approach in the world of industry where productivity and profits are key factors for success, is the concept of “GAIN SHARING”. In this approach, if a department is able to perform its assigned functions successfully, under a properly conceived budget, and is able to demonstrate that through adept management techniques, motivation of staff, and hard work performed by the department team they were able to SAVE the company money instead of merely spending it…they are then rewarded by allowing them to SHARE in the gain which was realized.

For example, assume a department is normally staffed with 20 people, but five positions are unfilled. If the remaining 15 people in the department perform the work which would have normally been performed by 20, they have increased their productivity and have generated a savings. If those 5 unfilled positions would have cost the company $30,000 each, or $150,000 total, then that amount was saved through the efforts of the 15 who did the work. A sharing plan would be designed to thus reward these employees. For instance, under a 50-50 plan, the company would take back $75,000, and the other $75,000 would be split among those 15 workers as a reward for their work. This creates meaningful motivation and recognition.

The budget would not be cut the subsequent year, as long as the workload remained the same. A gradual decline in the savings split over a three or four year period is not uncommon. This is much better than throwing the money away on unnecessary expenditures, and it creates healthy elements of improved morale, teamwork, and productivity enhancement.

Another element of waste in money management within the bureaucracies is the attaching of too many “strings” or restrictions on grants made to lower levels of government. These restrictions often force waste to occur, since the higher authority does not know all of the local conditions and opportunities for options which would create savings.

This is often the case when a grant is given for a new building, and disallows consideration of renovation and use of other vacant, less expensive buildings which would serve the need of the agency which is involved. A local example in my opinion was the grant funding for the million dollar JCARC building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Marianna. If they had instead been allowed to buy the old High School from the school board and renovate those facilities, the gymnasium, cafeteria, acreage, auditorium, and many rooms would have made a great facility for the JCARC mission. Because of the restrictions attached to the grant, consideration of this less expensive and more beneficial option could not even be considered. Bad money administration procedures from the granting agency thus created waste of taxpayer dollars.

To Build or Not To Build…

That tis the Question:

Our county “Crats” are still pushing as hard as they can to get a new castle built for them to play in. The issue of constructing a new County Administration Building was the primary topic during the Commission workshop session on Tuesday. A comparative analysis of new construction vs. renovation of the old Wal Mart facility was presented by representatives from Ajax Building Corp. and Donofro Associates. Surprisingly their study somehow demonstrated that there was little to gain by not building a shiny, new facility….ha! If you do not want public monies to be spent on this building you had better get involved privately and publically with these Commissioners. Otherwise, they stand a good chance of going ahead with the project…..even if the sky is falling in our world. I personally feel the prudent course of action is to do nothing in this uncertain time.

New Years Resolution- Always Say Something Nice!

My heart goes out to the long suffering people of Haiti. They were already living in terrible, agonizing poverty which was created by a long line of corrupt, inept political leaders and Dictators. They are a perfect example of what horrors bad leadership can create for the citizens of a nation.

No public infrastructure was ever built to create a comfortable condition for the people of Haiti. No water systems were built, thus 60% of the population does not have access to drinkable water. Women carry huge jugs of water on their heads for miles every day to provide water for their family. The lack of bathing and hygiene fosters horrible sickness and diseases.

I worked in Haiti as a consulting engineer for many years. I found the people to be hard working, warm, generous and gracious. There is no place to get into a line and get a free government check down there. “Entitlements” is a missing word in their dictionary. Yet their attitude is positive and cooperative. Crime is not a problem. It tears at your heart to see toddlers with their hair turned orange and their bellies swollen by malnutrition and starvation. They did nothing to deserve their condition.

My Haitian partners there were Rosemary and Thomas Price. Rosemary’s father had been a Doctor. Apparently when she was fifteen he made some public remarks relating to medical actions taken by ‘Papa Doc’ the long time Dictator of Haiti in the 50’s and 60’s. One night there was a knock at their door and the feared “Tontonmacouts, the cruel secret police of the Dictator came into their house, took her father, and she never saw or heard from him again.

I am gladdened to see our nation and the wonderful folks of Jackson County respond to the current crisis there. The work underway by our local civic clubs, churches, students, and individuals is heart warming. It is my hope that this international attention will lead to a rebuilding of that nation into something much better than they have ever realized. They deserve it.

● Attaboy! Commissioner Chuck Lockey gets a big “Attaboy” for his action at the last Commission meeting. The Planning Department Director, Mrs. Schairer, presented a list of proposed hefty fee increases for permits issued by her department. Mr. Lockey quickly squashed the effort by stating that in today’s economy with the financial stress on our county population, he could not support any fee increases at this time. In my opinion, he definitely “
Got It Right!”

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

The Fallacy of Government Funding System

2010-02-04T16:34:00.002-06:00

This is a Time of “Survival Mode” For Many Citizens

2010-01-13T17:10:00.002-06:00

“Now is Not The Time”

2010-01-08T17:23:00.000-06:00

In this time when the national economy is experiencing threats of failure which rival the times preceding the Great Depression, our County Commissioners should take the “Path of Caution”.

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

Local Issues:

Next Tuesday morning (January 12, 2010) at 9AM, our County Commissioners will once again approach the issue of whether or not to enter into millions of dollars in debt to finance construction of a new “County Administration Building” on the site of the old jail and the existing Farmers Market.

Some feel that this choice is inappropriate, involves spending millions in extra costs over options of renovating other existing facilities, compounds an already untenable parking problem in the Court House area, and involves the Commission spending money for offices for themselves and the bureaucracy instead of spending money on roads and other needs which benefit the taxpaying citizens of the county.

Others argue that the downtown area businesses would be hurt if these administrative county functions were moved out of the downtown area to an existing vacant building in a nearby shopping center. They feel the downtown area needs this activity. Some of those in Administration argue that being in close proximity to the Court functions is advantageous.

The Commissioners will hear the report of comparative costs between renovation of existing space and construction of new space which is being prepared by Ajax Engineering, the company which would build the proposed new building. Some feel this data should have been prepared by another, uninvolved engineering firm instead of the firm which stands to make higher profits if the new building option is chosen.

Personally, in previous columns I have made it clear that I feel new construction is wasteful and unnecessary when other, suitable space is sitting vacant. However, another issue has risen while these old arguments are being voiced…….The Sky Is Falling!!

Until we know that our national banking system, our monetary system, our national economy, and our national survival is assured…….I feel we should not enter into any significant long term debts….personally or as a local government! It is time to be ultra conservative. It is not a time for risk taking.

It is easy for career bureaucrats and politicians to believe that the flow of tax revenues and grant funding from the state are eternal and enduring. However, this is not the case. If our economy fails, these funds will cease to flow into the county’s bank account. The debt load caused by an ill conceived and ill timed construction project based on the presence of many millions of future taxpayer dollars, could be a decision which would place terrible hardships on the county and its residents.

Other debt laden counties around the nation have already experienced the inability to meet their obligations and have been forced to severely cut back on services and lay off county workers. Birmingham’s Jefferson County in Alabama is an example. Incurring this huge debt could endanger the job security of the very bureaucrats which it was built to house.

So to the Commissioners I say, “Let us fight this battle on another day. This is not the time!”

If you do not want the Commissioners to proceed with this construction project, please take time to voice your opinion to them. You can do this directly, or by being at the next meeting on Tuesday, January 12. Those who want to proceed will be there.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning -

● I recently read the results of a $1.3 million dollar scientific study funded by stimulus funds which provided irrefutable data proving that the immoral behavior of Tiger Woods, Charlie Sheen, the Governor of South Carolina, David Letterman, John Edwards, Bill Clinton, and others is being caused by an over abundance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. These emissions were found to stimulate the primitive animal instincts in a man. Thus, it wasn’t their fault… it was global warming!

● FPU customers! That whirring noise you hear when you go outside of your house is your electric meter…. It is trying to calculate your next bill with the combined impact of the cold weather and their new rate structure which was just approved by the Public Services Commission.

● “Say Something Nice” 2010 New Year’s Resolution – I want to commend Chief Bagget and his MPD staff for the work they have been doing to detect, stop, and apprehend vehicles in Marianna in which the occupants are using and carrying illegal drugs. They have made several significant arrests during the past few weeks. This is REAL police work, much better than spending all of their time giving citizens tickets for minor traffic violations.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Building Castles in the Sky...A Bureaucrat’s Dream

2009-12-31T13:31:00.002-06:00

Our Commissioners are again seriously considering funding themselves a new Administration Building.

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

If you are a Jackson County Taxpayer and you consider yourself a fiscal conservative, then you need to join in an effort to stop a proposal which will come to the forefront at the next County Commission meeting, which is set for January 12. We have some “home grown pork” which the commissioners are considering for enactment. The costs for this example of local pork legislation will be paid by you and your children, if the Commission approves funding for the proposed new county administration building project. The actual cost of the structure is currently being reevaluated, but I feel it will cost between $15,000,000 and $20,000,000 to build in its current location and design. In my opinion, this action would be excessive, unnecessary, wasteful, and inappropriate, especially at this time in this uncertain economy.

I view this project as a self serving, “porkish” proposal being made by some of our county’s leaders at a time when many of the citizens of Jackson County are struggling to pay power bills and put food on the table. Of course, if you have always been in some secure, “fat cat’ bureaucratic position living from government checks, and have never had to worry about really earning a living in the real world….you would not appreciate the reality of the struggles some families are facing.

There is a group organizing to appear at the January 12 meeting to voice “support” for building the new facility. They are the bureaucrats who wish to sit in a shiny, new, expensive office and look out their windows over downtown Marianna. These “crats” are being joined by a few merchants organized by “Main Street Marianna” who fear that their businesses would be somehow injured if the administration building was located a few blocks away at one of the existing vacant shopping center buildings. In my opinion they, too, are self serving, and have no regard for the wastefulness of the venture or the burden it would impose on all others who reside in Jackson County.

I feel the relocation of the county admin functions to a location a few blocks away would have a negligible impact on downtown commerce. In fact, the lessening of strain on available parking in the downtown area could result in more people deciding to venture there for lunch and perhaps shopping there instead of rushing out to Malloyville, where there is plenty of parking space. These downtown merchants may be working against their own best interest by backing an action which would worsen the downtown parking situation.

The commissioners are currently going through the “smoke and mirrors” routine of having an “unbiased comparison” of the options of building the new downtown three story structure, vs. remodeling of the old Wal Mart facility prepared by Ajax Construction, the company which would do the work, in either case. I feel this comparison should be made by a totally uninvolved third party, not the company which has more to gain by the more expensive project. It is like asking a car dealer to do a study to see what you should buy from him, a $30,000 new car or a $10,000 used car.

Other county and municipal governments in Florida and neighboring states have renovated existing empty retail space for government buildings. The costs of these renovations, the satisfaction of the involved employees and the public, and the suitability of the renovated spaces should be included in any meaningful study which is made to help our Commission evaluate this decision. You can bet a representative sampling of these comparisons will not be included in this study. They will most likely paint a “worse possible” scenario to enhance the option to build new space.

Personally, my advice to the Commissioners at this time is….WAIT! I feel the best course of action at this time is no action at all. Those who want the building and those who oppose the building can argue the issues at another moment in time. Other financing opportunities will come along, so the existing loan proposal should not be pursued now. To undertake a new major project for the county,…during the middle of the most severe recession since the depression combined with the uncertainties which exist within our nation’s sputtering, sagging economy, and the potential for international economic melt down,…would be an ill conceived decision. Now is no time to be considering encumbering our citizens with a new long term debt.

If you feel this project is a bad idea, and the Commissioners should not proceed with a new admin building construction project….then you need to come to the Commission meeting and be prepared to take part in the dialogue. In the meantime, you can be contacting your commissioner and voicing your feelings prior to the public meeting on January 12 at 9:00 AM.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

● In this time of national economic peril we need Patriots, not Politicians. The methods which were used to pass the Health Plan in the Senate was a great example of the dirty politics and self serving tactics which are commonplace in Washington, and to a lesser degree at the State and local levels. I say it is time to oust them all, and regain control of both parties by filling their spaces with patriotic, conservative, ethical, and moral citizens who will put the good of the nation ahead of actions which only favor them personally or only benefit their constituencies. ‘Bringing home the pork for the folks back home”, is a wasteful, worn philosophy which has no place in today’s struggle for national economic survival. Patriotic citizens should neither support nor encourage this type of political thinking.

● I wish you all a wonderful 2010, and a great new decade. I resolve during the coming year to say at least one nice thing in my column each week, no matter how hard it is to find.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

A Conservative Battle Plan For 2010 & 2012

2009-12-28T12:04:00.002-06:00

The Conservative Tea Party Effort Needs a Focused Plan of Action
This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

The “Tea Party Movement” has become a national political force which is continuing to grow as more and more Americans become very concerned about our faltering economy and the direction our nation is taking on many issues. This party is non denominational, containing both Republicans and Democrats. The common bond is a belief in a conservative, constitutionally based government….and patriotism before personal gain.

In my opinion, the current declining, depressing situation which has evolved and enveloped our nation is the result of some twenty-five years of corrupt, ill conceived, inept management. The finger of blame can be pointed in many directions, involving both parties and many, many of the leaders who comprise these organizations. I believe the tea party movement should embark on a concerted effort to remove these individuals from office during the next two national elections.

Formation of a third party is not a good solution. Instead, this new political force should muster its resources, both money and manpower, to identify a slate of good, conservative candidates in both parties, at all levels. They should then work helping these candidates defeat the standing liberal loonies which now occupy positions of power, and to thus force both parties to evolve into conservative led entities. With this accomplished, those like minded newly elected officials can begin in a bi-partisan effort to reverse the course of our nation, to begin to restore constitutional principals, to begin wise, frugal fiscal policies, and to reduce the size and level of intrusion of government into our lives and our professions.

The blame for our current economic, social, educational, political, health system, banking, environmental, energy dependence, international, and religious problems lies with those career politicians and the herd of bureaucrats who cling to their coat tails. We see this group of incompetents regularly on television news. They should all be held accountable for our national problems. They created this situation and It is time to get rid of them! If the Tea Party Movement can be the force which accomplishes that much needed result….They will be “Getting It Right”!

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –

● God must be taking a position on the “Global Warming” issue. Copenhagen has not had a white Christmas in thirteen years. This week that host city to the Global Warming Conference was blanketed with a heavy snowfall.

• Our County Commissioners and Administrators have resurrected the proposal to construct a shiny, new, expensive County Administration Building on the old jail site and existing Farmers Market lot. The original cost estimates for 55,000 sq. ft. multi-story building were between $15,000,000 and $20,000,000 tax dollars. An already severe parking problem would be worsened, and this structure leaves little opportunity for future expansion. County Administrator, Ted Lakey and Commissioner Willie Spires are strong advocates for the project, while other Commissioners are waiting for cost estimates to be finalized. A comparison of the cost of the new building vs. renovation of the old Wal-Mart building are being made. In my opinion, for the Commission to spend this kind of money in today’s economy would be an example of local officials emulating the destructive spending frenzy which is underway in Washington.

Main Street Marianna has sent a letter to selected members, asking them to contact Commissioners urging them to vote “for” the construction and to not move the Admin offices away from downtown. If you have an opinion on this issue, I urge to also contact your commissioner. Unless we react now they may push this project forward. Personally, I do not feel a single downtown restaurant or retail store would be impacted if these people were located a few blocks away. The impacted workers will still get in their cars and discuss where to go for lunch….just as they do now.

• Even though times are rough for many families in our community I am amazed at the community spirit which is so well demonstrated during the Christmas season. The numerous civic organizations and churches, combined with hundreds of volunteer workers, and thousands of donators demonstrates what a great County we live in. I hope those who benefited from these efforts are truly grateful. Even better, these people give of themselves because of a caring, Christian spirit. They give because they want to…..not because some bureaucracy says they must give. That is the real American Spirit!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

The Longer We Go...The Worse It Seems to Get!

2009-12-17T16:58:00.002-06:00

Washington just doesn’t seem to realize what is happening out here in the REAL world!
This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subjects of the week:

 There’s Something Rotten in Copenhagen

The delegations from the undeveloped nations walked out of the Copenhagen Global Warming Conference on Tuesday in protest, voicing their feelings that the developed nations are not doing enough to repay these nations for the damages they have done to the planet. They want billions. Of course most of these nations are led by corrupt, greedy governments and dictators, so very little of that money would go to eliminate pollutants in those nations even if we gave it to them as they wish. None would go to ease the human miseries which exist in those nations from extreme poverty, disease, and malnutrition. It is all a greedy scam, using the green movement and concerns about global warming as a means to exhort monies from developed nations through use of the UN.

 Watch Out!....The EPA Is Coming!

The gigantic, powerful, and unregulated bureaucracy known as the “EPA”, has become so powerful it functions apart from the scrutiny of the congress. This federal agency is comprised of a huge tribe of ultra-liberal, single purposed, environmentalist who have little regard for the impact their actions has on the national economy, on personal and property rights, or anything else which might be unfortunate enough to incur the all consuming power of this bureaucracy. It is a personification of a “bureaucratic monster” which has been unleashed upon the private sector by our government.

 Cap and Trade

The current administration, as part of the appeasement process for the “Green Wing” of their constituency, has devised another scheme for getting their “Cap and Trade” requirements into effect. They are openly stating, if we can’t “legislate”, then we will “regulate” the system of carbon emissions controls into being. On the very day of the beginning of the Copenhagen Conference, the US Environmental Protection Agency proclaimed that it had jurisdiction over national regulation of carbon emissions, stating that they were an “endangerment” to human health. This statement is not based on proven scientific data. It is instead based on the quest for bureaucratic power and financial gains special interests hope to realize.

If the Cap and Trade Bill, which has already passed the House of Representatives, can not be passed in the Senate, then it is purported that the administration plans to use the powers granted under the “Clean Air Act” to allow the EPA to put into place the emissions controls that would have been created by the Cap and Trade Act. The EPA has identified five “pollutants” which now fall under their realm of control and Carbon Dioxide is included in that list. I would not be surprised if they eventually regulate how many breaths per day we are allowed to exhale, since what we breathe out contains carbon dioxide. Do your part as a citizen….hold your breath!

 Another Shipment of Juicy Washington Pork:

Our astute crowd of representatives in Washington just passed another huge $447 billion Omnibus bill to fund government activities in the coming months. Of course they had to also load it up with mounds and mounds of “political pork”. They attached over 5000 special interest amendments to the bill costing $7.7 billion, along with granting all federal workers a 2% raise, and giving hefty increases in the budgets of every federal function. Some of these increases were in excess of 15%.

In their cloistered environment of corruption, greed, and extravagance in Washington, they just do not get the real picture of the sacrifices which common citizens are making in order to survive. Some of the wasteful spending attached to this bill included:

 $665,000 for a study on “Irritable Bowel Syndrome”

 $400,000 for maintenance of pot and liquor abusers journals.

 $220,000 for study on rats and birds sex drives

 $2,200,000 for a golf course in San Francisco

 $950,000 for convention center in Myrtle Beach

 $190,00 for Buffalo Bill Museum in Wyoming

 $143,000 for Las Vegas Museum of Natural History

 $238,000 for Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii

 $381,000 for Jazz at Lincoln Center

 And on, and on, and on……Your tax dollars at work!

So, while you are struggling to buy your children a Christmas present, or are sitting wrapped in a blanket because you don’t want to use electricity to heat your house, or while you are eating left over’s of left over’s….remember, in Washington Big Brother is “looking out for you”.

It is time we “Got it Right” and put a stop to this kind of bull crap. Let’s start in 2010!

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

 ACORN found a liberal judge in New York who ruled that Congress could not single out ACORN for non funding. Our legal system at work!

 Unemployment is expected to go down further in early 2010. Of course they aren’t saying it is primarily because of 790,000 temporary federal census worker jobs which will be created for a few months.

 A recently published study revealed that the average income in the private sector is just over $40,000 per year, and for federal workers it is $71,000 per year….and that doesn’t count all of their beautiful benefits and the double dipping they are allowed to do.

 The same study stated that 19% of the federal employees make over $100,000 per year.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Do We Still Meet the Necessary Qualifications to be Free?

2009-12-10T15:41:00.002-06:00

Our forefathers decided our populous met the necessary requirements. History shows how governments can intentionally mislead and misdirect their national population’s attitudes and direction.

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:

Requirements For Self Government

As our new nation was about to win its independence from the oppressive rule of the British Monarchy in 1775, our nations leaders of the day pondered over what form of government should be created for the new nation. They had all experienced the ills and benefits of living under a Monarchy in Europe prior to their migration to the new America, and they were also familiar with the many Dictatorships which prevailed in other nations. But what kind of government should be created for this fledgling nation and the thirteen colonial governments which were previously managed by Governors appointed by the British Royalty?

The climate and spirit of freedom which prevailed among the leaders and the citizenry created a desire for a Democracy based on self rule of the citizens. But could this approach work? What conditions must exist if this approach to government was to succeed? Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, and many other statesmen corresponded and met to ponder this decision prior to the convening of the Constitutional Convention.

Collectively they determined that the general population had to have three prominent characteristics to successfully be able to perpetuate a self governing Democracy. The population had to be; (1) Well Educated, (2) Virtuous, and (3) Moral.

Education-A significant portion of the population had to be educated well enough to understand the principles and operation of the various elements of the government, to properly represent the new nation in the world community, and to be able to make wise operational, monetary, and legal decisions.

Virtuous – The population had to be will able to demonstrate an appreciation for personal virtues. This valuable personal attribute is the willingness to subrogate personal or local interest and gain to the benefit of the common good. This is the element of national patriotism which is required in order to be a good leader or citizen.

Moral - The general population had to be of good moral character which followed the philosophies of social behavior prescribed by the bible.

After deliberation they finally determined that in general, the population of the new nation did indeed have these qualities, and should be able to successfully launch and maintain the new government. There should always be an adequate supply of candidates for positions of power within all levels of government which had these needed attributes. The population could thus always elect representatives who had these needed qualifications.

This leads us to the obvious question of the moment for the reader to ponder…….Does our population, and do our elected officials, still have these attributes? Personally, I question the significant presence of virtue and morality.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning

● Examples of A Lack of Virtue: There is a prevailing philosophy which exists at every level of government which creates billions of dollars in wasteful spending and mismanagement every year throughout the nation. This philosophy negates most of the benefits which management should realize through good budgeting practices and through the competitive bidding concept for public expenditures. This is the idea that once monies have been authorized for a department, project, or purchase…all of those authorized funds MUST be spent and should never, never be returned to the authorizing body.

As a result of this management practice, every federal, state, county, and city department is forced to waste valuable taxpayer dollars. Why try to manage your department under budget if you are going to come up with an excuse to spend up to the budgeted amount anyway? Why go through an elaborate smoke and mirrors bidding process for a project if you plan to throw away any left over funds on unnecessary add-on’s or unjustified additional projects?

I see this happening over and over at all levels of government. The action approved by the Marianna City Commissioners to not turn back the left over $340,000 in funds from improvements in the airpark roads as needed by the new industry, Ice River Springs. Instead the staff decided it would be “nice” to four-lane the entrance road to the park with the $340,000. This was presented to the Commissioners as a suggestion to prevent turning the funds back to the state, and the Commission approved it.

In my opinion, this is an unnecessary, unjustified, wasteful expenditure. It is an example of a NON VIRTUIOUS action by government officials. I see this type of self serving, non-patriotic, decision making occurring regularly at all levels of government spending. Taken in total throughout the nation it amounts to billions and billions of wasteful spending and bad management because of a flawed concept.

Their argument is always, “If we don’t spend it…someone else will”. To me, that is no excuse for waste and inappropriate action. If all of our officials were virtuous and DID always turn in monies they had saved through astute management, then our national financial deficit would not be as deep.

● Example of Level of Ethics in Congress - It is my understanding that as the Senate struggled with the health care bill this weekend, an amendment which limited the pay for executive salaries for insurance executives to $400,000 was passed……yet another amendment which would have limited legal fees on malpractice suits to $150,000 failed. Could it be because most of them are lawyers? Another proof that we must oust all of those in Washington who have been part of this corrupt process for far too long.

“The potential loss of our freedoms is always only one generation away,”- Ronald Reagan.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

“Un-Truth” in Government

2009-12-03T15:17:00.000-06:00

History shows how governments can intentionally mislead and misdirect their national population’s attitudes and direction.

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.

To Believe or to Not Believe-

A nation’s population has a natural tenancy to believe their leadership, to accept as truth the news and views the national media feeds them (no matter how tainted), and to become motivated and inspired for movements which offer promises of improved conditions for all. By exploitation of this approach, through recorded history, individuals and governments have led their populations of followers into unbelievable, inhuman, and often self destructive actions.

In some instances these actions were created by misdirected religious influences, in others by acting on behalf of the ‘collective good’, and in others because of the quest for power and wealth. In all instances the public obediently followed their leaders, forming a powerful, unstoppable movement against which individual protest is easily swept away.

Kill the Witches! :

In New England, here in the good ole North America, in the early days of our new land, the Salem witch trials of 1692 demonstrated how misdirected religious leadership can inspire a local government and a population into believing that illegal witchcraft practices by some non-conforming citizen warrants public execution. At the time, those who followed their leaders felt they were engaging in rightful and justified actions.

Kill Your Children!

I am God. I command you to join our entire congregation in a display of unity and belief in our religious principles by collectively drinking poisoned kool-aid as we all move into the next dimension together. This includes all women, men, and children of our flock. And upon the command in 1978 of cult leader Jim Jones, 912 loyal, unquestioning, believers of the Peoples Temple congregation committed suicide.

Kill the Jews! :

During the 1930’s and into the 1940’s Hitler had the entire population of Germany brainwashed. He had them believing they were part of an Arian master race that deserved to rule the world. He convinced them that the Jewish element of their society was evil, dirty, and was restricting the development of their economy. He convinced them that they should seize the personal properties of the Jews and ship them all off to “camps”. Then these were changed into “death camps” to exterminate the Jewish vermin. Simultaneously they supported a program of invading Poland, France, and other European nations. At the time, these things were done with the full support and faith of the German population…….and they almost succeeded.

The land of the Rising Sun!:

During the same era the Japanese government convinced a docile Japanese population that their Emperor, who was revered as a deity, had instructed the nation to conquer all of Asia since Japan was the “Rising Sun” of Asia. In reality, they were seeking new sources of raw materials and energy for their island population. This thrust them into the midst of WW II with enough conviction to devise a surprise attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The loyal, obedient, believing Japanese citizens were willing to follow their government leaders to death.

Kill the Infidels!:

“All who do not believe in the teachings of Mohammed and are followers of Allah are infidels, and should be killed.” That is the portion of the Moslem teachings which incites radical Muslims to engage in Jihad, a religious war against all infidels. To kill infidels and simultaneously achieve martyrdom through self sacrifice is the ultimate achievement. These beliefs and the cradle to grave brainwashing from multitudes of revered religious leaders incites an element of this population to engage in acts of cruelty and self destruction which our society can not understand. They are convinced they are doing something which is necessary and correct, because their leaders have told them so.

Are You a Believer? :

At the present time our population is being told many “truths” by our leadership. Each of these “truths” has a constituency of believers who are dedicated to the enhancement of their belief. Among these “Truths” are:

● Socialism is good and fair. Redistribution of all wealth is needed.

● Capitalism is bad. Employers and industry exploit the workers.

● Government has a responsibility to provide housing, food, safety, medicine, health care, repairs of homes after storms or floods, weatherproofing of old homes, parks and entertainment, education, transportation, and even cell phones.

● Man is destroying the planet. Become a believer in the “Green Movement”. Man is causing our planet to overheat through carbon emissions. Carbon emissions must be eliminated regardless of costs or impact on the population.

Are we going to allow our nation to blindly, obediently accept and follow the leadership these elements of our society and governments are providing? I say NO!! We must all stand united against these “changes”! If we are sincere, and all devote our resources to the effort….hopefully there is still time to “Get it Right!”

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Thank God We Live in Jackson County (It may not be as good as it once was….but it is better than a lot of other places.)

2009-11-27T13:44:00.002-06:00

Rudiments, Rudiments, More Rudiments

2009-11-19T15:41:00.002-06:00

Unproven Theories Cost US Billions

2009-11-12T15:25:00.000-06:00

Global Warming, Climate Change, Greenhouse Emissions, Carbon Emissions, Holes in Ozone Layers, The Abominable Snowman, and UFO’s…All Unproven Theories

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Subject of the day…..

“The extreme stupidity of the ‘Green’ Movement ideology”.

Take This Nuclear Rod and Store It Where The Sun Doesn’t Shine -

Is our President really throwing away a 13 billion dollar facility which is about to be opened for use for disposal of spent rods from nuclear power plants? Are we really shutting down our nuclear power industry (as small as it is), while plants are under construction with funds from private industries?

For several years an elaborate $13,000,000,000 underground storage facility has been under construction on federal properties deep under a huge mountain in Nevada, Yucca Mountain. While this needed facility has been under construction, nuclear power plants across the nation have been stockpiling spent nuclear rods, waiting for this site to open.

Recently President Obama spoke at a political rally in Nevada. During his speech the President promised the citizens of Nevada that no nuclear rods would be stored underground in Nevada. This announcement shocked all of the nuclear power industry, and left many important questions unanswered. We will have to wait to see the outcome of this one.

The Dirty Americans -

Last week there was a UN meeting in Barcelona to decide how much developed nations, mainly the US, must pay third world governments for the damages we have done to the planet as a result of our industrialized economies. This is a form of that familiar concept of reparations in which those without resources attempt to place blame on those who have succeeded in order to stimulate enough guilt to cause them to give money as atonement.

The biggest danger to the concept of the sovereign governments of nations following the edicts of the governing panels within that great, corrupt bureaucracy of the United Nations, is that it could mark the beginning of a world government with authority over all countries and their governments. Just imagine the level of corruption and mismanagement that concept could foster!

Income redistribution on an international scale! Worldwide Socialism, what grand concepts! All founded on false planetary fears created intentionally by those who would gain financially from this “mother of all green movements”.

The part of this which I can not understand is why nations throughout Europe and North America have accepted the concepts pushed by the environmental zealots without question or examination. Since their guru leader, Al Gore, presented his dialogue “Inconvenient Truth”, the concepts of global warming, and the dangers created by carbon emissions which thus make industrialized man the cause of this change, have been solidly accepted as truths by a huge part of the political establishment. They seem to ignore the other half of the scientific community which offers proof of the errors in the supporting statistics, and those who present other, natural causes for the warming trend.

It is this same group of “Chicken Little” scientists who twenty-five years ago were proclaiming to the world that a “cooling trend” was underway, and we would all soon be freezing to death. Personally, I believe global warming is occurring at the present time, primarily due to changes in the sun’s activities and volcanic action on earth. One volcano eruption puts more hydrocarbons into the atmosphere than man has since Adam and Eve.

Also, that cooling period occurred between 1930 and 1970, was a period in which our carbon emissions were at all time high levels. This directly contradicts the data in Gore’s presentation. If carbon emissions cause heating of the atmosphere, there should have been significant warming trends underway at that time….instead of a fearful cooling trend. I feel the green movement has now become so entrenched it has become an industry unto itself. It is an industry based on scare tactics and distorted data, which costs our national economy uncountable dollars each year. And the citizens end up paying for all of this unnecessary foolishness in the end.

County Things-

At the county commission meeting on Tuesday our commission approved a new ordinance which takes away your ability to choose what ambulance service you might want to use if you are ever sick and need to be moved from a hospital to another location. The new ordinance has so many bureaucratic restrictions that no outside service will attempt to comply for the little bit of business involved in Jackson County. You now are forced to use Jackson County Fire and Rescue, which has what amounts to a monopoly here….and we know how monopolies work from our experiences with our electric utilities.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –

● Remember, Socialized Medicine is another huge welfare program. Instead of just having a “Great Society” as envisioned by Lyndon Johnson, we will now have a “Healthy Great Society”!

● The problem which has arisen with the budgeting practices in our Property Appraiser’s office has reportedly been going on for many years in that office as well as in several other constitutional officer functions. I was recently asked if falsifying payroll figures constituted an act of fraud. I did not have a good answer. I do know this has occurred through the process of “lump budgeting” for payroll figures as defended by the Tallahassee based lobbying groups for constitutional officers. This hides the real data from the County Commissioners who are charged with approval of the county budget each year.

● Our nation is a little better now. On Tuesday they executed the DC Sniper who killed ten innocent people with sniper fire. Of course there were some liberal loons at the site protesting killing this fine human being.

WALK NAKED IN AMERICA DAY (Provided by Richard Kranker)

Don’t forget to mark your calendars. As you may already know, it is a sin for a Muslim male to see any woman other than his wife naked. He must commit suicide if he does. So next Saturday at 4 PM Eastern Time, all American women are asked to walk out of their house completely naked to help weed out any neighborhood terrorists. Circling your block for one hour is recommended for this anti-terrorist effort. All patriotic men are to position themselves in lawn chairs in front of their house to prove they are not Muslims and to demonstrate they think its okay to see nude women other than their wife and to show support for all American women. Since Islam also does not approve of alcohol, a cold 6-pack at your side is further proof of your anti-Muslim sentiment. The American government appreciates your efforts to root out terrorists and applauds your participation in this anti-terrorist activity.

God bless America!

● Bumper Sticker Snickers:

o If you think health care is expensive now…….just wait until it is free!

o The problem with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money!

o Please! Don’t tell those guys in Washington what comes after a Trillion!

Unemployment is now 10.2% in the USA. The real, effective unemployment is around 17.5%. If you have a job, be thankful, and you will be “Getting It Right”.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Enough is Enough: It is time for us to begin reclaiming our nation!

2009-11-05T16:51:00.002-06:00

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:

“I am tired of being Politically Correct!”

I vow to not use the term “African American” to describe a person of color. You are either African, or American. If I want to use racial description, I will use “person of color” for the Negroid race, “Asian” for the Mongoloid race, “White” for the Caucasoid race, and “Indian”, for the Capoid race.

If a person is mentally retarded, I am going to use the term “mentally handicapped”, and if they are somehow crippled, I will use the term “physically handicapped”. Those working for a company and being paid for their work are employees, not “associates”. Welfare is “social welfare”, not entitlements, benefits, social obligations, or reparations. “Welfare” includes all social programs which GIVE public tax dollars to individuals who give nothing in return for the payment (except a misdirected vote). This includes food stamps, subsidized housing, child care benefits, earned income credits from the IRS, and hundreds of other programs for “qualified” low income citizens. And I do not want to add full health care insurance to this list.

I favor giving of social welfare only for those who have handicaps which prevent them from earning a living, or temporary assistance for those who have some problem for which they need time to recover. If you are capable of learning or working, you should not receive permanent social welfare. We need to enact laws which prohibit politicians from using Social Welfare programs as a means of buying votes and creating a “bribed” constituency which perpetually keeps them in office.

Enough is Enough!!

`I was motivated to write a column on this subject because of something I read recently relating to the “Weatherproofing Program”, which is a nation wide “green movement/ social welfare” combination program designed to use tax monies to pay for adding new, energy saving windows and weather stripping to existing homes of “qualified” homeowners. The article said that the program is spending millions across the United States at a rate of $4000 to $10,000 per home, and the average savings in utility bills for the “qualified” low income residents is only $300 per year! Just compute the return on investment on that brilliant program. No industry would engage in such a stupid program….only our liberal, vote buying politicians. The ROI is averaging over 25 years, if the old house lasts that long. Jackson County is administering this program, and many of these homes are among us.

We need to eliminate this greed driven environment where half of the population is working as hard as it can to get something for nothing from the government through qualifying for some liberal “give away and vote for me” program. This creates a divided nation in which those who are greedily trying to beat the system are resented by those who earned some wealth and resent having it taken from them. We need to forget all of this bull crap and begin to focus on being productive, patriotic Americans. Welfare should only be for those with a real reason for the assistance.

The liberals who promote these social welfare programs tout the “social responsibility of our nation” as the justification. I propose we begin to include some new terms in conversations about welfare. These terms would be “personal responsibility” and “personal accountability”. Somehow these concepts have been lost in the rush to shovel public money into the pockets of a vote eligible horde of underachievers.

Most of those on welfare are in that condition because of their own lack of willingness to improve themselves. They were all given the opportunity for education, in fact, for most that opportunity still exist through retraining and adult education programs. They can learn some craft or administrative-computer skills which will enable them to earn for themselves. The problem is that the existing social welfare systems enable them to live comfortably without working. Our poverty level in the US is above the average earnings level for over 80% of the nations in the world.

Receiving social welfare should be a temporary condition…not a permanent, lifelong gift. Even worse, in many, many instances welfare existence is passed on from generation to generation, with the social burden growing as the family tree expands. We are doing those families caught up in this lifestyle no favors. They would be much better off if they were forced to develop their abilities and become self-sufficient.

Those caught cheating on any social welfare program should automatically be sentenced to one year in prison and should then forever lose eligibility of all social welfare for the rest of their life.

Question:

When the white, Anglo Saxon portion of our population is no longer the largest group within our national, social and genetic make-up, will they then be referred to as “a minority”? Will we then be eligible for all of the “minority” social welfare programs which our liberal government has been creating over the past forty years? …or will they merely change the name and qualifications of these programs to be “majority programs” for the “majority” only? Also, should we then refer to ourselves as “Anglo-Saxon Americans?” We are approaching these decisions.

Another liberal, politically inspired law is the immigration law which automatically gives any child born within our national boundaries American Citizenship. This only encourages abuse, such as the motivation of pregnant Mexican women to sneak across the border to “create” another citizen. Citizenship to children should only be bestowed when at least one of the parents is a legal citizen of the USA. Conservative politicians should work to repeal the existing law. This law was enacted in order to increase the numbers of future low income citizens who can go onto welfare and thus vote for the liberal politicians who promote and protect these programs. It is wrong!

It is time to move away from these concepts which are destroying the work ethic and the economy of our nation. It will take huge “Changes” to the right to recover from the huge push to the left the existing “Change” programs are instilling into our faltering economy. If and when conservatives regain control, we must show them what “CHANGE” really means!

We should make the motto “We’re Mad As Hell, And We Are Not Going To Take It Anymore!!” our standard. It will be a step towards our nation finally “Getting It Right.”

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

• Corruption seems to be so rampant in Washington they can’t form investigative committees fast enough. And these are just the cases where they did not have enough power to keep the stealing from becoming public. Those with power are protected by those around them….like Charlie Rangel.

• Our Commissioners are busy building a system which provides a monopoly for the County Ambulance system. I am not sure whether our Commissioners are working for the betterment of the citizens of the county or for the betterment of the bureaucrats who work for Fire and Rescue as they deal with this situation.

• Who has the ear of the Administration in Washington? Data recently released showed that the President of the SEIU (Service Employees Union) leads in visits with 22 private sessions.

• I recently read where over $92 million in Medicare claims were processed from claims entered by doctors who had been deceased for several years. This is the same government management that wants to take over the entire medical system.

• Swine flu vaccine was promised to be ready by the time the flu season arrived this month. They first promised to have 200 million doses ready, then this was cut to 160 million, then 80 million was the number, and now they are saying the actual number is 16 million. Undoubtedly thousands of unnecessary deaths will occur across the USA because of this mismanagement. Again, this is the same government system that wants to take over all of our national health processes.

• As the House vote nears on the proposed health bill, pressure is mounting from Pelosi and the liberals on our Allen Boyd. Let’s all watch carefully to see how he votes when the time comes.

“The virtues of men are of more consequence to society than their abilities....In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate - look to his character.” ~ Noah Webster

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

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2009-10-29T16:17:00.002-05:00