Capitol Offenses are Offensive

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.

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.

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Alive and Doing Well!

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 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.

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Life is Good!!

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.

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.

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Can You Believe They Are Out Of Money?

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.

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The Story Behind Our Shocking Power Bills

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.

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“Free Trade” Does Not Mean “Fair Trade”

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.

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The Cost of Living In Our Amoral Society

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.

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Speaker “Wow’s Them” At Tea Party Meeting

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.

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100 New Faces Arrive In Washington

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.

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2011 Here We Come!

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.

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“They’re Still Not Listening”

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.

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The New Normal…Are You Willing To Accept It?

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.

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The New Normal…Are You Willing To Accept It?

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!

A Near and Growing Danger

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?

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Thanksgivings Are Special

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.

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“Stop The Presses!!”

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.

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.

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Tales of Government Abuses and Government Waste

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?

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

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.

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A Glimpse Into Our Future

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?)



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It is Time To Turn the Ship!

“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.

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