Wasn't it just Friday when I was worrying about government wanting to start charging us for services such as police and fire protection on a per-use basis? Shows how little imagination I have:
Wasn't it just Friday when I was worrying about government wanting to start charging us for services such as police and fire protection on a per-use basis? Shows how little imagination I have:
The top 10 reasons to scrap the tax code. They're all valid, but I think this is the most important:
10. Laws Should Rest on Principles of Justice
It must be meaningful when even the Internal Revenue Service's national taxpayer advocate says the tax code is too complicated. She offers six core principles to guide reform efforts:
In all the stories about Somalian pirates seizing (however briefly) the first U.S.-flagged ship in a couple of centuries, there is a lot about the drama of the piracy itself, and what the ship's mission was usually just gets a line or two, if that. It was carrying tons of food relief on behalf of the World Food Program. The cargo was destined for Uganda and Kenya and, ironically, Somalia. And the untold story is that many ships wouldn't be endangered and crews in jeopardy if we rethought our aid-to-Africa concepts a little.
Some South Bend politicians say the city shouldn't have to foot the bill for police overtime for protecting visiting big shots and handling such things as crowd control and traffic messes. So they have a proposal:
It would require any person or group who hosts a dignitary, like the President of the United States, to foot the bill for extra police protection.
This is disheartening:
Only a slight majority of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
The tea parties that are springing up across the country are a good sign that the spirit of protest is alive and well. March in protest, even carry a sign. But that should probably be the end of it. Don't do something silly:
Is this headline just a clever play on words, or could it be true?
House passes bill too gross to talk about
It could, indeed, be true, so click on the link if you want details other than the fact that this is "not the same thing as throwing a coke at someone."
President Obama is going for the economy-wrecking hat trick. He's already determined to give us cap-and-trade and nationalized health care. Now he's adding immigration "reform," which will include some kind of amnesty plan, into the mix:
From cracked.com, the five most popular public safety laws that don't work: speed limits, three strikes, amber alerts, zero tolerance at schools, and sex-offender registries:
Really, is it ever possible to be too safe? Especially when it's our children at stake?
Ethanol, a costly plan of the federal government:
CBO estimates that the increased use of ethanol accounted for about 10 percent to 15 percent of the rise in food prices between April 2007 and April 2008.
There must be plenty of puppets in the General Assembly and city and county councils throughout Indiana. But at least Hoosier puppet masters are smart enough to stay in the background and keep the strings hidden:
Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead! Oh, wait. Never mind:
Governor to General Assembly: Please cut every state budget you can to save millions and get the state through this recession responsibly.
Senate Repblicans to governor: Nyah, nyah, nyah. We're going to use the federal stimulus money and keep spending and make everybody happy!
Republican Sen. Luke Kenley, acknowledging that the governor is "not fully on board with his own party's budget":
"While he applauds our effort, he wants us to do better," Kenley said.
Next Thursday is the home opener for the TinCaps at Harrison Square, and I might gently suggest that if you're not going to the game, you stay as far away from downtown as possible:
Pay attention, slackers. A survey says 30 percent of your are late for work at least once a week, and 12 percent at least twice a week. You mostly blame traffic (33 percent), lack of sleep (24 percent) or having to deal with the kids (10 percent). But some excuses are just brilliant, such as "My heat was off so I had to stay home to keep my snake warm" and "a groundhog bit my bike tire." My personal favorite, though:
What a strange, strange magazine Newsweek is becoming. First, it told us we are all socialists now. Then, it told us to just accept radical Islam as a fact of life. Now, it trumpets "the end of Christian America":
To the surprise of liberals who fear the advent of an evangelical theocracy and to the dismay of religious conservatives who long to see their faith more fully expressed in public life, Christians are now making up a declining percentage of the American population.
I've always thought it would be interesting to visit Vietnam as a tourist. Strange and unsettling, maybe, but interesting. I can't imagine what it took for John McCain to go back to the Hanoi Hilton:
He pointed to another tiny cell -- about 6 feet by 3 feet (1.8 meters by 0.9 meters) -- with nothing more than a bed frame with no mattress, just a straw mat. He told his colleagues it looked much like the one in which he was held.
I know it might seem alarmist to bring this up, since it's a Canadian court. But, really, would you be surprised if it happened here?
A Quebec father who was taken to court by his 12-year-old daughter after he grounded her in June 2008 has lost his appeal.
Quebec Superior Court rejected the Gatineau father's appeal of a lower court ruling that said his punishment was too severe for the wrongs he said his daughter committed.
This probably doesn't fit in with what professional educators have called "reinventing schools for the 21st century," but it's still a good idea -- make the kids memorize poetry:
