Time to Abolish Farm Subsidies?

We're paying far too much for farm subsidies. The senate now wants to increase how much we give farmers. Hopefully President Bush will veto it. We need to stop paying for all this stuff. If it means we pay $5 for milk, 2x for cheese & eggs & can't afford some kinds of vegetables then so be it. Hello potatoes, soy beans & cotton. Subsidies are bad. We simply need to let economics drive who plants what crops. We'll import what we need to & export what is in demand by the rest of the world.

Links

• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/11/AR2007091101920.html
• http://www.neoperspectives.com/farmsubsidies.htm
• http://www.heritage.org/research/agriculture/bg2043.cfm

Our Tax Code - A Simple Fix - The Flat Tax

Everyone hates paying taxes. What I hate more is that some folks don't pay any taxes at all. Some don't file & don't get caught for years. Some falsify deducting all kinds of things that aren't really valide expenses. When someone takes their family to an NBA or MLB game & dinner it's not a deductible business expense. How much would attendance drop @ major sports events if the expense weren't deductible? Businesses would still do it for very important clients, but the abuse would get weeded out. Our tax code is a mess. All we need to do to fix this is go to a flat tax. We'd cut the size of the IRS by 90%. Tax revenues would go up. It would be very fair. Nobody could claim all kinds of expenses year over year avoiding taxes (the AMT is a feeble attempt at this). The rate simply needs to be 15% for everyone above the poverty level. If you don't pay your taxes you go to jail. Yes there would be losers in this, but overall we'd all be better off. Those folks that lost their job would take up move valuable jobs. The economy would grow & be more competitive in the world market.

Links

http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/1996/0219taxes_gale.aspx

http://www.helium.com/tm/638061/amendment-united-states-constitution

Dealer Plate Abuse

How many times have you seen someone driving around with dealer plates @ the mall, the store, school, a ball park or the post office? I'll bet that 99% of the time these people aren't testing out the car, but simply using it as their 2nd or 3rd car. Paid for by you & me when we buy a new car! Paid for by us all when the dealer deducts the expenses related to all these people driving around cars instead of selling them. Why do car dealerships incur this overhead? Maybe it's the wife of the owner of the dealer that I see. But I think I'm seeing 5-6 different ones each day. Extrapolating that out there must be 2,500 in Memphis alone. I think it's more closely tied to the number of car salesman. Maybe dealers should pay for a website where we can report abuse. Send in an email w/ the date, time, location & plate of that woman dropping off her & picking up her kids at school every dam day! Then I can send em an email every time I see her. Then they can fire her husband & lower the car prices.


Some links...
http://forums.greatfallstribune.com/viewtopic.php?t=11197&sid=64ce305588e6ae6d5a79443be19f9d5b

http://askville.amazon.com/dealer-plates-dealership-dealer's-personal/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=3861479

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F05E0D91E3AE433A25755C1A9649D946696D6CF

TicketMaster a.k.a. FeeMaster - What a Ripoff

I recently bought two tix to Hannah Montana & paid 39.6% of additional fees to Ticketmaster. I also bought two tix to the Foo Fighters & it was only 31.4% in unnecessary fees. Why does it cost $2.50 to print your tickets on your own printer & it's free if Feemaster prints them & snail mails them to you? The main fee should be called an inconvenience fee! This is a ripoff & clearly a monopoly. We should all pick a month to not buy any tickets from Ticketmaster. I declare the month to be February 2008. Don't buy any tix for events in February 2008 through Ticketmaster. Empty stadiums should send a clear message to FeeMaster!

Joe Horn is a Hero

Joe did right accidentally killing a couple of illegal aliens. If the two cronic thieves were here illegally than there's obviously no crime.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou071207_tj_burglaries.7a6aa0e4.html

If he were to be charged & convicted he'd certainly get a pardon.

OJ Pleads Not Guilty

What a surprise. I guess OJ must have been framed;-)

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/11/28/simpson.hearing/

Is the OJ rookie card I have with the word "Killer" penciled in on his forehead worth more than an autographed one? Maybe he could autograph my "Killer" card and it would be worth more than either of the other two.

The next OJ trial doesn't start till April.

Terrorists and Waterboarding are a Fine Match

When we have terrorists that don't play by the rules we should all be okay with friendly torture techniques like waterboarding, dunking of less than 3 minutes, dart board replacements & mild dismemberment. Maybe the victims of terrorism could help with some of these necessary tasks. They don't worry about this stuff much in Israel & the rest of the world.

Scumbag Teens Attack Woman on Bus

Recently a woman was attacked and beaten on a bus in Baltimore. Why weren't Jesse Jackson & Al Sharpton flying in on a moment's notice to defend this poor woman & to demand reform school for these nine dysfunctional & despicable youths? Maybe if these kids worked more on their studies instead of venting hate they wouldn't have failed a grade or two & could have been working on building a respectable existence. Maybe this lady can sue these families for everything they own?

Some links:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316101,00.html
http://baltimorecrime.blogspot.com/2007/12/teenagers-attack-woman-on-bus.html

Drivers Licenses for illegal Aliens--A Major Bowl of Stupid

Perhaps the dumbest idea anyone ever had was to issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens. As a universal form of id that can be used to get a job, obtain credit, own a house, rent an apartment, buy a car, scam another person, etc... This insanity needs to stop. All states need to require a social security number to get a driver's license. The illegals can simply ride the bus. This will make it easier to heard them up & catapult them back over the border. Any illegal alien caught w/o a license should forfeit their car & all assets upon deportation. No need for a hearing, just a bus ride & catapult. We need to follow Mexico's lead on this one. One should note that presidental hopeful Hillary Clinton wants to dish out driver's licenses to illegals. Can you say idiot?

MLG&W Comes to Their Senses

After years of tolerating folks not paying their utility bills & not cutting off service in the winter they've made a change. They will now cut off service if you don't pay your bill. What a brilliant idea;-) Hopefully the new leadership will make more sensible moves in the future making the scandals & idiocy of past a distant memory.

Hillary Clinton is the Anti-Christ

I'm sure it's written in the bible somewhere in an obscure passage with a hidden meaning....I'm convinced that Hillary Clinton is the Anti-Christ. She is a shape shifting daemon (probably runs on Unix too). She has no principles, nor morales. She want's only one thing at any & all costs. We must all hope she doesn't win the presidency as it will spell doom for us all. I'm voting for not-Hillary. We need a cool slogan. How about "The Hell with Hillary"?

Climate Change & the Decline of Skiing

Our warming climate is certainly taking a toll on skiing. Europe & the most ski areas east of the Mississippi will be among the first to go. Own stock in Ski resorts? Might want to get rid of it, although the major players are diversifying. Get your skiing in now before it becomes a thing of the past.

I found some good links on global warming & skiing here, here & here.

Why do we spend so much @ XMAS?

Each year we shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars over the holiday season. We buy people things they don't need. Those people reciprocate. Is this something GOD would advocate? Why not take all the money we spend on things we don't need & invest some, pay down your debt & donate something to a worthy charity?

No Child Left Behind is a Dumb Idea

Although NCLB is a noble thought it is something that has a negative impact on our schools. What happens is that we're dumbing down our classes to bring along a kid that will either drop out or work @ minimum wage anyway. Classes move at the speed of the least skilled student. What we need to do is go back to what we did 30 years ago. We need to classify our students into Gifted, A, B, C, D & E levels. The most talented kids are in the top level. The next strata are in the next section & so on. After each half-year students move up or down based on performance. Kind of link the English Premier league. This allows the teachers to be more effective. Students cover more material at all levels. Everyone wins. Win-win situations are rare. This is one we should seize.

Educating Illegal Aliens is Wrong

What's up with school districts and colleges these days? Why are we educating illegal aliens? Why aren't we hiring detectives to ferret them out of our schools? They drain our resources & are entitled to absolutely nothing. When we catch them we should seize all their assests, sell them & give the proceeds to the schools.

What to do with Liberty Bowl Stadium

A recent article in the Commercial Appeal discussed the issue of what to do with the Liberty Bowl. I'll avoid the direct link to the article since those morons place their content behind a tollgate after a single day. It's an old stadium & doesn't have some of the frivolous amenities that other stadiums have. There are problems. The article talks about either building a new stadium or fixing up the old stadium. Both are costly. It completely ignores the option of leaving things as they are. It is used for about 16 football games a year. With a usage of .4%/yr I think it's just fine as is.

A Great Day for the Liberty Bowl

This past Friday was a perfect day for the 2006 Liberty Bowl. Sunny & warm due to global warming. South Carolina beat Houston despite Spurior's mistakes. Twice on 4th down Spurior risked the entire game by going for it when a smarter coach would have punted. It was great to see all the offense. Defense was poor for both squads.

Furl is Way Cool

My furl stash has now grown to over 4000 public items. I use it to bookmark interests, research & fodder for future tasks. You can add comments & clippings. You can make things private & rate things. I'm clearly hooked. I also use del.icio.us, but to a lesser extent. My del.icio.us bookmarks are here. Both of these social bookmarking sites have their advantages and drawbacks. Why do you like one or the other? Do you use others? If so why?

Who Will Get in the Baseball HOF this Year?

It's just eight short days till the class of '07 is announced. Who should get in? Who will get in? Most years the answers to those two questions are different. There are two that will certainly get in. There's no doubt Cal Ripken & Tony Gwynn will garner enough votes. After that there's one more that should get in. Who is it you ask? It's Bert Blyleven. He should have got in much sooner. He pitched great for many weak teams. He's much better than many pitchers already in the hall. How does one measure a pitcher? There's really only one true measure, ERA. At 3.31 he should certainly get in. His strikeout totals, longevity, shutouts, innings pitched & especially his performance in the post season classify him as a cut above. If he played for the Yankees or Dodgers he would have easily had 325 - 335 wins. Statistically he's pretty close to Don Sutton, Phil Neikro, Robin Roberts, Jim Bunning, Steve Carlton & Fergie Jenkins.