Liberal Definition of "Tax Relief"

If you have an understanding of economics, and government, and need a laugh, read this editorial from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called "Yes, it is property tax relief ".

In it, the editorial board of the newpaper explains that a 0.5% sales tax enacted 17 years ago was in fact, property tax relief. By their logic, since the money raised was spent, and didn't come from property taxes, it was "property tax relief". The flip side of the argument; if they hadn't collected the money, it wouldn't have been spent; isn't raised. The editorial board at that paper has issues with the idea of not taking and spending money.

The source of the argument is an advisory referendum slated for November to ask the voters to raise the sales tax again, so that property taxes won't have to go up to fund transportation and parks.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, who's vetoed just about every tax hike is against it, looking instead for spending cuts, including jobs, to keep both systems running. Walker is a conservative who took office after the board was caught in a pension scandal a while back. He keeps getting reelected because he keeps swimming upstream against a liberal board, and it's media backers to keep taxes low. He looks for efficiency, not another money grab.

Now, as far as the actual subjects of the tax, transit and parks, there is of course another solution to their funding issues, charge the people who use them more money. Add a quarter to bus fares, add a buck to the charges for park usage, like golf, swimming etc. The arguement against this is that having low cost parks and transit attracts people to a city.

While this is somewhat true having high taxes drives them away just as fast. The county already has high property taxes, and a higher than average sales tax because of it's 0.5% addition from 1991, plus another sales tax add-on that's paying for Miller Park. Oh yeah, and it's losing population.

Good luck to Walker and his allies in defeating this come November. Maybe a ballot box ass kicking will wake the rest of the Milwaukee County Board up to the fact that the residents there are sick of being taxed.

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George's Head May Explode.

I'm not talking about George Bush's head exploding (sorry Kosites). No, I'm referring to George Steinbrenner, well, actually Hank, since he's running the show with the Yankee's now. He's got to be sick right about now, getting up, and reading in the morning paper that the biggest trade deadline prize in Major League Baseball, C.C. Sabathia got traded to MILWAUKEE!

The reigning Cy Young winner does not go to Milwaukee. Somewhere in the fine print in MLB rules it's gotta say that, doesn't it?

Jeff Passan at Yahoo! Sports points out that money doesn't always get the talent around the trade deadline. Sometimes you need talented prospects to trade for talented players. The Yankees, Cubs, BoSox and Dodgers have all burned up a lot of their minor league system over the years to get "the guy" that's going to put them over the top. Sometimes it's worked, sometimes it hasn't. Right now they are all thin on the farm.

Milwaukee built a top notch farm system, and a team through it that's 10 games above .500 right now. The AA Huntsville team has 10 minor league all-stars on it. So when Cleveland wanted to reload their system with talent, some ready for the majors others needing a little work, they found someone with that talent not in Chicago, New York or LA, but Milwaukee.

Everyone in Milwaukee understands that this is a "rent a player" deal, Sabathia has already turned down a 4 year, 72 million dollar deal to stay in Cleveland. Milwaukee, even after unloading Eric Gagne's 10 million dollar contract won't be able to go to $20 million to keep Sabathia. They also realize that odds are Ben Sheets will be leaving, too. He's having a great year, (10-2, 2.77 ERA) and will get Sabathia type money after the season. So this is the year to make a deal, and try and get to the play-offs instead of waiting for talent from the minors to take them in 2 or 3.

I hope it works out, I'd love to see the Brewers in the World Series again, I went to the last (and only) one they've ever been to and it was a great experience.

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Illinois, There Is a Lot of Work To Do

So, I'm doing the morning news thing, and see a headline on Comcast's home page for the "Best Places to Raise a Family". It links to a Forbes Real Estate article that used various criteria to determine the 20 best counties in the US to raise your kids. Crime, school performance, etc. were all considered.

Two things stood out to me, the county I was raised in, Waukesha, Wi. is number 8 on the list. I always thought it was a good place to live, evidently Forbes agrees. The second thing was not one county in Illinois came in the top 20.

Hamilton County Indiana was number 1, and Ozaukee County, Wi. came in number 2, and Johnson County Kansas was number 3. So the folks from downstate can't really say that it was an "urban type list"; though many of the counties outlie larger urban areas.

Why wasn't Illinois on the list, part of it has to do with our consistently poor school funding. Forbes dropped out "at risk" districts based on Tax Foundation information about taxes and school expenditures.

They also used commute time as a large factor, and that pretty much killed any chance for Cook or the "collar counties" to get on the list. They gave the example of a New York suburb with a 31 minute commute time that knocked them off the list. Greater Chicago I believe is closer to an hour than 30 minutes.

Finally, property tax rates as a percentage of home costs was used as a factor. This is the nail in pretty much every county in Illinois' coffin for this list. While 50%+ school funding based on property taxes was actually a good thing, taxes as a percentage of home value was a bad thing, and those numbers are just too high in Illinois.

Consider that housing cost was also a factor, and Marin County, Ca. with a median home price of $901,000 was on the list. That was offset by the generally low property taxes, since they only get adjusted when a home is sold thanks to Proposition 13.

So how does Illinois get a county into this top 20 list? First, we have to redo the school funding formulas. This is actually a much less popular idea downstate, where districts have lower costs than in the urban areas, but it's necessary for the whole state. Raising the income tax a percentage point, but requiring that the extra state funding be rebated on property taxes is a start. The problem is getting that rebate thing in there before the tax hike. Otherwise politicans will do as they always have, find a way to spend the money, and not give any back.

Second, we have to increase acheivement in our schools. One of the criteria was average ACT scores. Only one of the collar counties (DuPage) has an average ACT (corrected, thanks to my kid) of over 22, which was a requirement to be on the list.

Third, commute time is being worked on in two ways. The first, that we all see (and hate) is the amount of road construction with the I-294, Edens, etc. projects that are going on. The completion of those will help commute times. The second we have little control over, gas prices. More and more folks are moving to public transportation as gas gets more expensive. Those of us who can't are happy for the reduced traffic, though, and keep hoping more folks take the train.

Fourth, another unpopular idea, but one that would reduce taxes is government consolidation. School districts need to get unified in Illinois. The fact that my taxes to to pay two school boards, superintendents, etc, is crazy. Especially since one of those boards and supers are responsible for exactly 1 school. Secondly, we need to get rid of the park districts, etc. as separate taxing bodies and either roll them into the county or municipalities where they are located. Elimination of township governing bodies and moving that to the county or city (which ever is appropriate) would also reduce taxes by eliminating duplicate jobs.

DuPage, McHenry and Lake counties could all make this list at some point, and probably should, IF and only if, the state starts getting it's priorities straight and works out a reasonable change in school funding methods, and the counties figure out ways to streamline spending so taxes can be brought down.

Until this stuff happens, Illinois will get to watch while South Dakota, Wisconsin and Indiana continue to have places on the "Best Places To Raise a Family" lists.

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Sports Babe of the Day

I probably won't post a "Sports Babe of the Day" every day, but occasionally one catches my eye. Actually, in the case of Trenni Kusnierek (pronounced just like it's spelled) of Fox Sports Net Wisconsin, she caught my ear first.

Trenni does the "Extra Innings" radio show after Milwaukee Brewers games, and the reason she caught my ear is she knows baseball in general, and the Brewers specifically, very well.

For some reason, a lot of Brewers fans love to hate manager Ned Yost, according to many of the callers on today's show I'd have to guess that Ned is the reason for the Iraq war, global warming, 3rd world poverty, and rickets making a comeback. This type of wrath for a guy who's team is 8 games above .500 and playing the best ball in the majors since the end of May.

When one of the callers today told Trenni that he hates Yost because he's always getting "out managed" in 1 run games. She pointed out that his team is 18-8 in such games this year, the best record in baseball. Then proceeded to dress the caller down in such a way that I almost felt sorry for the guy, except he was in idiot and deserved to have his testicles served to him.

You can catch Trenni on www.620wtmj.com after any Brewers game, and a 7:15am on Friday mornings with the morning show.

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Happy Birthday America

I've got the day off, as do many but not all people, to celebrate America's birthday, 232 years old. Damn that's a long time.

I also get a little joy out of the fact that the folks at our British unit don't get today off, and every time they call the US offices they'll be reminded we are out celebrating kicking their asses!

Have a happy, safe, and fun July Fourth. If you are inclined to play with fireworks, please make sure you keep your fingers attached to your hands while doing so.

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OUCH!!!!

So, I'm reading the recap of last nights Milwaukee Brewers v. Arizona Diamondbacks game, when I come across this gem in the notes sections on Yahoo Sports:

"With Chris Snyder on the 15-day DL with a left testicular fracture, Montero will take over as Arizona’s everyday catcher"

TESTICULAR FRACTURE!!!!!!! Break my leg, my arm, wrist, neck, whatever, but a TESTICULAR FRACTURE!! No thanks!

OUCH!!!!

Just wondering though, did his mother in law visit recently? They are usually ball busters.

Seriously, though, was the guy wearing his cup when this happened? Was it just a freak collision at the plate, or does Paris Hilton's movie producer need to get a hold of him? How the hell do you fracture a testicle? Do you get a cast for that, or just a tighter jock strap? Will the scar tissue.. never mind.

And, as a corollary, why not have the news services call it a "groin injury", instead of a testicular fracture. This poor guys going to be getting his balls busted about getting his ball busted for the rest of his life thanks to the news folks.

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Keep Your Guns

The opinions on yesterday's Supreme Court ruling in the Heller case are all over the map. Politicians are freaking out, especially on the local level in places like Chicago, where Mayor Daley went on a rant about the ruling. Mostly because it will probably lead to a challenge, and dismissal of Chicago's own handgun ban.

Liberal columnist Eugene Robinson from the Washington Post hates the idea that he believes the court got it right. His convoluted logic on the law that was struck down is laughable though;

"...Given all the handgun killings in the city, was the ban really having any beneficial impact?

But come on, it's not as if the law was making gun violence in the city any worse -- and it's not as if striking down the law, and perhaps adding hundreds or thousands of weapons to the city, will make things any better. The law was flawed, but it was a lot better than nothing."

Unknowingly, Eugene got to the heart of the problem with the gun law. The thugs, gangbangers, pimps and crooks have been ignoring it for years. As the court pointed out, the only people disarmed by the law are those who follow the law. They become defenseless against those who don't follow the law.

If you ask a politician who is in favor of such bans as Chicago, San Fransciso or DC's the question "what percentage of gun crime is committed by lawful gun owners?" they'll dodge you like a deer in the road. The don't want to answer that question because the percentage is so horribly low.

Instead, they point to the convoluted logic of 'Johnny buys a gun, leaves it at home, and his house is robbed while he's on vacation, and the robber gets the gun. Then the robber uses it to commit another crime. Therefore, we should restrict legal gun purchases to keep them from being stolen and used illegally'.

Considering that there are more people killed by drunk drivers than guns every year, and over 100 times as many injured by autos, maybe we should apply that logic to the purchase of a new car. If we don't let folks buy cars, they can't drink and drive, right?

Here's a novel idea. Instead of abridging the rights of the law abiding, to reduce the temptation for criminals, build bigger jails, and keep the criminals locked up. It's much harder to steal a gun and kill someone while you are in prison.

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Gore's Huge Feet

Al Gore must have huge feet. He must. There is no way to have a carbon footprint the size of his without huge feet to leave them, right?

Gore is using enough energy per month to power over 19 "average" households, and according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, his footprint has gotten bigger, not smaller, since the "green renovations" caused by his last public shaming happened.

The hypocracy of Gore, and others who live in huge mansions, fly all over the place in private planes, and then tell me to get rid of my vehicle of choice kills me. Evidently it's us minions who are the problem, not the fat cat Oscar winners.

I'm sure Al probably bought (from his company) a huge number of carbon offsetting credits to mitigate his use.

Al, until you can live with the amount of electricity I use per month, quit telling me to not drive my SUV or pickup, and not to burn my charcoal grill.

BTW, I smoked pork chops on that grill last night, 5+ lbs of coal and wood chips all releasing CO2 with a wonderful pork aroma as they burned! Saturday I plan a long evening campfire, probably started with some petroleum based product so I don't have to waste so much time gathering kindling.
H/T to Charlie Sykes for pointing this out.

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McCain's Flip-Flop on Drilling

John McCain finally came to his senses (flip-flopped) on the issue of off shore drilling on the continental shelf for oil. Maybe gas at $4 bucks a gallon finally got him to realize that no matter how much we claim we want to be environmentally friendly, oil will still be running our economy for 50 or so years. Maybe he realized, finally that energy independence won't consist of the sun, and wind alone, and that producing our own oil AND developing alternatives aren't mutually exclusive.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, is sticking to the same, very old, line from the environmentalists "that oil won't reach the market for 5 years"; last week it was 10 years. Maybe he should acknowledge that if we'd been drilling since the first moratorium on shelf drilling was passed 27 years ago, we would have stopped hundreds of millions of barrels of oil per year from be bought from tyrants, despots, and unstable countries.

Will the McCain, (or Bush) plan for the shelf bring pump relief immediately? No, it won't. But it will show up sooner than 5 years. Simply put oil is sky high based on speculation that supplies are going to get tighter and tighter. If you open up reserves holding 20-30 billion barrels of oil, (a 1960's estimate), suddenly that supply doesn't look as tight as it did. The market starts seeing more supply being available, and suddenly the futures position on oil isn't as tempting as it was.

For those who say "but we need to develop alternatives" consider the best alternative most folks site is hydrogen. To get enough hydrogen to replace oil, cost effectively and as a net energy gain, the only way to do it is cracking natural gas. We are currently a net importer of that resource also. (Thanks Congress!!!)

The Eastern Continental Shelf reserve holds hundreds of TRILLIONS of cubic feet of natural gas, which also could be used in cleaner burning electric generation, to reduce the use of heating oil in the North east, etc. But unless we drill there, we don't get to use it. We get to buy it from Canada, Trinidad, and Egypt.

Consider a few other thing about getting off of oil. Aircraft aren't going to fly on solar power or fuel cells anytime soon. Trains aren't going to run on either efficiently, nor are large trucks. Steel isn't going to be produced (cost effectively) using electricity as the sole heater of the metals. And thousands of daily items from sandwich and garbage bags to baby bottles require petroleum products to produce. In other words, Oil is going to stick around for a long time. The question is where do we get it, here, or from Hugo Chavez?

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Obama and the Detainees

Jack Tapper has a good piece up at Political Punch about Barack Obama's support for terrorist detainees rights to petition US Courts.

In case he didn't figure it out, this isn't a winner for Obama. You can toss out all the facts about previous wars, military tribunals, etc. Just the constant swirling rumors of his closet Islamic leanings should make Obama nervous about standing on the side that defends radical islamic terrorists and jihadists right to petition US courts about their detention.

While I don't believe the rumors, that's beside the point. I still get many of them e-mailed to me every week, warning why Obama is dangerous because of his background. That means that there are more than a few folks out there who do believe them. Those folks will continue to make hay with his latest stand about detainees.

Tapper does a nice job of equating the difference between Obama and McCain on this issue to the scene from "A Few Good Men", where Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson go at it about who we want "on that wall". While he points out McCain isn't a whack job like Col. Jessup, when people put it into the context of, is it the pretty boy lawyer, or the tough as nails Marine they want defending them the answer is pretty obvious; at least to anyone not carrying an ACLU membership card.

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At Least He's Honest, About Taxes

Barack Obama has to be given credit for being honest about raising taxes, since he makes no bones about it.

In Wisconsin this week he brought up his idea to put a "hole" in the Social Security payroll tax, and keep the 102,000 limit, then kick it back in at $250k. I don't totally disagree with this idea, IF the formula for payments is kept the same, and there is some kind of cap on what income level you quit paying the tax at.

Currently the more you pay in, the more you get back. If with his new plan he wants to hoist a huge tax hike on a bunch of people, then "means test" it and not give them more in benefits for paying more in taxes, he should means test the whole Social Security program. He should require that any retirement income, pensions, 401 investments, etc, be counted against what anyone gets from Social Security.

On a historic note, he might want to look back to the 1980's and see what happened to Congressmen who suggested such an idea for Medicare.

He also took shots at John McCain over wanting private accounts for Social Security, claiming the stock market is too volatile for such investment. Then why does the government basically force it's employees to pick from stock plans with their retirement funds? Why don't they ban unions from investing in anything but T-Bills with their pension funds? Because the stock market is where those pension funds get their biggest returns.

Here's why politicians, like Obama, don't like the idea of you controlling any of your Social Security money. If you control it, they can't spend it. Right now that's exactly what they do. If you took McCain's plan, and put a quarter of your Payroll Tax into the market, that would be a huge; like hundreds of billions a year huge; chunk of money congress couldn't fritter away.

As far as his "safety" concerns, if the good Senator could show me a 10, 20, 30 or 40 year period where the special government bonds (actually, IOU's) the Social Security surplus is invested have outperformed the market, I'll gladly concede to his idea. He knows he can't, because it's never happened.

Keep in mind the next time Barack Obama tells you John McCain is for the "status quo" that his ideas for social security are exactly the status quo. It's just keeping the money as a piggy bank for Congress.

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The Court Gets It Wrong

Left leaning tree huggers, ACLU activists and peaceniks in general are all happy today. They've "preserved the rights" of folks trying to kill Americans overseas so they can get their day in US civil courts.

Thank GOD these morons weren't around in WWI, WWII, Korea or Viet Nam. We'd have had the country sued out of existence by foreign nationals, trying to kill us on battlefields, then in our courts.

As a reminder to Kennedy, Souter, Ginsberg, Jones and Breyer, here is the preamble to our Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

In case you five have forgotten, and I believe you have, the Constitution is the Constitution of the United States. In fact, I think that your decision yesterday goes against most of that preamble. Giving terrorists rights in our courts insures tranquility how? How does it provide for the Common Defense, when it undercuts the defense of the country, how does it promote the general welfare, when folks now have to worry about terrorists having the same rights as them?
How does it secure the Blessings of Liberty, when you've just given equal rights to those who want to destroy us, and remove our liberty? Kennedy made sure to say in his opinion how they'd upheld the constitution's vision of liberty, for the terrorists. Thanks.

Colonel Morris Davis, former Chief Prosecutor at Gitmo summed it up in an AP interview, "I believe the drafters of the Constitution would be turning over in their graves to find out that people intent on destroying our society have constitutional rights."

Since these folks now have rights, and many will probably be released. I'd like to suggest that we find out the towns that the five justices families reside in. Set up half way houses in those towns for the detainees, and see how comfortable the Justices are with their decisions then.

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Dear Senator Obama

Dear Readers, there is some rather rough language in the article below, sorry, but I'm a working class guy, from a working class family. I grew up learning early, and often, that when someone is full of shit, you call them on it. I'm calling Senator Obama on that fact.

Dear Senator Obama,

Out of curiosity, I thought I'd write this and ask; in all seriousness; has anyone ever told you that you are full of shit? Not in a joking, two guys in the bar telling stories sort of way, but instead in a serious, you can't believe that I'd believe that crap sort of way.

First, you want us to believe that those questionnaires, with your notes on them from your Illinois Senate days don't mean anything, because your staffers answered them for you. Come on, you've got to be full of shit if you think any sane person believes that.

Reverend Wright, who married you, baptized your children, and was proclaimed your spiritual mentor in one of your books turns out to be a flaming bigot. First, you say in 20 years in the pews you never heard anything like what was on You Tube. Oprah did, she left the church. Then, when cornered again by his ranting, you make a speech where you contradict yourself and say you did, in fact hear him say such things, and were appalled. Hello.... Didn't you listen to yourself when you said you hadn't heard it? Again, to believe anything you'd say on the subject of Reverend Wright, I'd have to have fallen off of a turnip truck, recently.

The Tony Rezko who was recently convicted of trying to buy the state government isn't the guy you knew who threw parties for you and had dinner with you. There was nothing goofy about the real estate deals, and at that time, you didn't "really know him" that well. The dinner parties, etc. didn't come out until the trial got into full swing. Again, either you think everyone who votes is an idiot, or you'd have to be one. I'm not sure which would be sadder.

Father Pfleger got up in your church, mocked Hillary Clinton, (who needs it occasionally, but not like that) and goes on a tirade about "whitey". Suddenly, the Priest in charge of your Catholic outreach, whom you've gotten hundreds of thousands of dollars in earmarks for isn't the guy you knew? I've only lived in the Chicago area nine years, but when I heard Father Pfleger was speaking at Trinity, I knew what would come out of his mouth. You've been here much longer, and to claim you were shocked would once again show how full of shit you must be.

Finally, this Jim Johnson fiasco. I'm glad he resigned from the job he didn't have with you to find a Vice Presidential nominee. How exactly does that work, when someone is telling you who should and shouldn't be on the short list, but doesn't work for you? BULLSHIT!

If George Bush tried to make such a claim you'd be on him like cold on ice, like white on rice, and like stink on shit. The media would laugh him out of the Oval Office. Yet we're supposed to not only believe such crap from you, but just quit asking questions?

Senator, sorry, but I don't buy any of your lines of crap. You are, at best, a 3rd rate hack of a Chicago politician, who's done nothing of consequence in your life, not just your political career. Your career was handed to you by Emil Jones and the Chicago Tribune, not by your actual accomplishments. If the papers hadn't sued to get divorce records opened, and Jones hadn't handed you the work of others to claim as your own, you'd still be rotting in Springfield.

Yet you think we should make you president? How about writing some real legislation, get some real nads and disagree with Harry Reid once or twice, publicly, and actually do something other than miss votes. Then come talk to us about being President. Until then, just shut up and go away.

Bob,
Zion, IL

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Good for the GOP

The Republicans in the US Senate today blocked the Democrat's windfall profits gimmick, oops, tax from getting a vote on the floor. The bill needed 60 votes to get past a GOP filibuster, and only got 51, signalling it's death, for now.

While Barack Obama and others have claimed the GOP sold out the working class, that's simply class warfare rhetoric that wouldn't pass a basic economics test. How exactly does increasing taxes on oil companies help the working class? For those who failed to take, or just plain failed Econ in their sophomore year of High School, here's a hint, it wouldn't lower prices, it would raise them. Raising costs on producers has never lowered prices to consumers.

Some features of the bill sounded good, as campaign year sound bites but also fail the basic econ test. For instance, the idea that part of that tax could be abated by investing the money in refinery expansion. The problem, there is nothing in the bill to reduce the regulatory and legal hurdles that keep refinery expansion from happening quickly. It takes years to get approval, and past the judges, to do such expansion. Since the taxes aren't abated until the money is spent, it doesn't seem like a "win win" for the refiners.

Second, the idea that congress can somehow help lower the price of oil by "curbing speculation" is a folly. The solution was to require more collateral for oil trading on the market, and regulating US investments in energy in foreign mercantile exchanges. The first would just drive trading out of the US. The second would likely lead to a pull of foreign money from our markets, as other countries "regulated" their people trading across borders. Then suddenly this wouldn't look like such a good idea.

The final folly of the bill was the reduction of tax breaks to oil companies. Now, I'm not necessarily in favor of them. But let's think about this logically. The 10 billion or so they are talking about are tax breaks given to oil companies who invest in domestic production, and alternative fuels. Congress would like to take those breaks back, and give them to other people to............ find ways to produce more domestic energy, and look at alternative fuels! ARGHHHH!

Here's a few things to keep in mind about the profits of energy companies. The numbers are big, but the percentage isn't that great. For example, Exxon Mobile and Chevron had profit margins of 10.85% and 8.61% respectively according to Capital IQ. Bank of America on the other hand, had a 21.03% margin, Baxter Health Care, 15.12%, Apple Computer 15.13%, Yahoo!, 14.89%.
Will Congress decide that the profit margins of Apple and Yahoo, being 33% higher than Exxon have to have a "windfall" tax on them, also?

Good for the GOP, it takes balls to stand up in an election year, with high fuel prices, to the demagoguery of the Democrats. If you are one of the (evidently) millions of stooges who think anything in Congress's bill would have actually lowered your price at the pump, I've got a Lake in Central Wisconsin for sale, come see me.

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Sorry For The Absence

Sorry about the absence. Last week got a little crazy with work and family obligations. So, for a nice relaxing weekend we went to the trailer in the woods, to enjoy a little quiet, a charity event, and just unwind. Unfortunately the winds twisted things up. They ended up ending the auction early and getting everyone to shelter due to storms and tornado warnings. Flooding actually destroyed one of the lakes in the area.

To top it off, since we've been having a little rain lately (6 or 7 inches), my basement flooded, and I spent 30 solid hours with 2 submersible pumps and a shop vac trying to dry it out. In over 8 years here we've never had so much water that the shop vac and a mop wouldn't clean it up. Luckily it never got over about 3 inches deep, but that still wrecks stuff.

Saturday I'll be spending quality time with a wheel barrow and 20 yard dumpster cleaning out what can't be salvaged. No, not enough in the basement to fill the dumpster, but since it's here, I've got some stuff in the yard that could go, and the shed. I'd rather have one too big than have to pay for a second trip.

I'll write something witty tonight about Barack Obama or John McCain.

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On the Democratic Nominee

William J. Bennett, who's been a member of both political parties, held cabinet level posts in the Reagan and H.W. Bush White Houses' and is now a political pundit, and author had this to say today in Nation Review Online's "The Corner":

My Old Party

This is an astounding moment in American politics. You cannot credibly say the Clintons are a political dynasty the way, say, the Kennedys or Bushs are. But I think one has to say the Clinton rule of the Democratic party has been dynastic. Bill Clinton is the only Democrat to have served two terms as president in two generations, the only Democrat to twice beat Republican nominees for president and his wife is a two term U.S. senator who will likely be in the Senate for years to come. Bill Clinton has been rated one of — if not THE — most popular person in the world, and yet Clinton rule in American politics ends tonight. Whatever it was the Republicans and so many independents did not like about the Clintons, we’ve learned the Democrats have had enough as well.

And thus the Democratic party is about to nominate a far left candidate in the tradition of George McGovern, albeit without McGovern’s military and political record. The Democratic party is about to nominate a far-left candidate in the tradition of Michael Dukakis, albeit without Dukakis’s executive experience as governor. The Democratic party is about to nominate a far left candidate in the tradition of John Kerry, albeit without Kerry’s record of years of service in the Senate. The Democratic party is about to nominate an unvetted candidate in the tradition of Jimmy Carter, albeit without Jimmy Carter’s religious integrity as he spoke about it in 1976. Questions about all these attributes (from foreign policy expertise to executive experience to senatorial experience to judgment about foreign leaders to the instructors he has had in his cultural values) surround Barack Obama. And the Democratic party has chosen him.

Most of the main reasons for Hillary staying in this race this long are listed there by Bennett. Like it or not, (and many of his supporters don't) Barack Obama is probably the least vetted candidate for President either party has tossed out there since Carter.

For those not from Illinois, who think that Obama took the state by storm when he won his Senate race a few years ago, the truth is he was getting kicked like a lame dog until the Chicago Tribune and a few others rescued him, twice.

In the primaries in 2004 he was all but sure to lose, until the papers and a few other folks started filing tons of court requests to unseal Blair Hull's divorce record. Messy divorce, and Hull is out of the primary.

Jump to the general election, when, again, Obama was getting ready to go down to a guy with a real story of helping in the inner city. A millionaire trader and partner at Goldman Sach's, who quit trading and started teaching high school. Again, the Tribune and others got Jack Ryan's divorce (From uber-hottie Jeri Ryan) unsealed, and it seems Jack had some skeletons. And BOOM! You get Obama as a Senator.

Thomas Sowell, also writing at NRO, urges voters to get past the election year rhetoric of Barack Obama, and look at his actual legislative record. Again, his handlers will tell you things like "he didn't read the questionaire", or "you're misinterpretting what he meant", to get around the fact that he has the most liberal record in the Senate.

Sowell is correct, you have to look at the record as a whole, not the promises made in an election year. I've urged people for years to get rid of the one issue mentality, and to get away from buying politicians from used car salesmen. Yet, you discover while reading what people write in defense of Obama and his record, that many people are driving used cars. In fact, it seems the entire leadership of the Democratic Party is happy as hell with that 81 Cutlass they got for a steal.

Finally, over at "The Page" Mark Halperin writes about What Obama and Clinton underestimate
and points out a number of things that he doesn't feel Obama is ready for. The main one's being how unready Obama is for the media focus he will get, and how ready the GOP is to help sharpen that focus.

While many in Democratic circles have fretted over the long, drawn out primary season, the truth is, it will be nothing compared to what happens in the next five months. While there were a few unladylike outbursts from Hillary, the truth is Obama's record will now get the vetting she refused to give it, but warned was coming.

While Hillary stayed off the Tony Rezko and Bill Ayers connetions (for the most part) the GOP won't. Expect to see ads about Obama's connection to unrepentent domestic terrorists, convicted (soon) political sleeze, and racist ministers of multiple colors and faiths regularly for the next few months.

Hillary didn't bring up Obama's views on partial birth abortion (doesn't see the problem), gun laws (we shouldn't have guns, then we wouldn't need laws), taxes, Iran, etc. The GOP, McCain, and their surrogates will, loudly.

One of the things that general elections do that primaries don't, since you generally don't trash your own party too badly in them, is focus on what you've done. McCain has a long list he can point to, and even use to move across party lines. Yes, some of it has angered Republicans, but the truth is, he can say he's always done what he thought was best. Not always a trait you find in politicians.

Obama, on the other hand, has a thin record at best, and little of it appeals to anyone who considers themselves a centerist, or slightly right leaning person. While "Hope and Change" sound great, so would an answer to the question "What have you done in the Senate?".

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Climate Security Act, Part Deux

Last week I wrote about the impending disaster that is the Climate Security Act as introduced by Joe Lieberman and John Warner.

Two editorials on the subject were recently written, one in the Chicago Tribune, one in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Both beat the drum for passage of the legislation, though at least the Trib is realistic in it's assessment that it won't pass this year. The Journal-Sentinel chose the title "The consequences are too dire to remain a bystander ", which should give you an idea of the slant of the writing.

Neither of the two papers editorial boards spelled out fully the EPA concerns over the amount of tax hiking the bill contains, or the warnings on GDP consequences. To the Trib's credit, they mentioned the tax hikes, and gave some idea where they should go. The Journal, on the other hand, chose to use cherry picked data to back up their title.

The Journal also points to a new federal report that lists the dire consequences. One of the notable, and to them noble, parts of the report is (as they put it) "Scientists produced the report by analyzing research from more than 1,000 publications, rather than conducting new research."

They evidently don't realize that's one of the reports biggest short comings. More, new research is needed, instead of a report that cherry picks evidence from old information. The problem is, new research would show what's been reported, by dozens of climatologists (and ignored by the environmental movement) over the last few years; the world hasn't gotten warmer in the last six years. That data can't be included in report on the "dire consequences" of global warming, because it shoots to hell the theory that CO2 and other greenhouse gases are turning the earth into an ever hotter oven.

If the Gore/IPCC theories on warming are right, six years of steady temperatures can't happen. Yet, they have, and the government report chose to ignore that fact.

While the Tribune was honest in the fact that the EPA calculated a 1.2 trillion dollar tax increase, they forgot the part about the .9-3.8% drop in GDP over the same period. Anyone who's looked at an economics course, even in passing, knows that raising taxes and dropping productivity is a great recipe for creating a recession. The Journal Sentinel, in parrotting the alarmist mantra, ignores any economic consequences of the legislation. Damn the economy, cure the planet's fever!!

To read the Journal's editorial, you would be convinced that if this legislation doesn't pass in the next 20 minutes, it may well be too late. I doubt it. The Tribune is a little more realistic, knowing it won't pass this year, and even if it does, the majority won't be big enough to override the certain veto.

Next year, as they put it, it has a better chance. That would be assuming that Barack Obama can win the election, and drag enough Democrats along to get 61 seats in the Senate. While McCain supports parts of the bill, I'm not convinced he'd sign it. I'm sure that if he signaled he would, that the fillibuster to keep it from his desk would be nearly historic.

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Outing McClellan

Scott McClellan's book "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception." has been all the rage in liberal circles for the last week or so. They are eating up the fact that McClellan spent lots of words on the Valerie Plame case, and wishing Karl Rove had been fired over it.

They guy who printed Plame's name, Robert Novak, has his take on the book in today's column, and calls out McClellan for his lack of facts about the Plame affair.

Novak points out the inconsistencies between the former White House Press Secretary's book, and the reality of the leak, and the Grand Jury investigation into it.

While at the White House podium, McClellan never knew the facts about the CIA leak, and his memoir reads as though he has tried to maintain his ignorance. He omits the fact that Armitage identified Mrs. Wilson to The Post's Bob Woodward weeks before he talked to me. He does not mention that Armitage turned himself in to the Justice Department even before Patrick Fitzgerald was named as special prosecutor.

In case the liberals out there have forgotten, Rove, and Scooter Libby, weren't the leakers of Plame's name. It was Richard Armitage, a guy who didn't like the Iraq war or Dick Cheney. Novak also points out another fact McClellan omits, no one was convicted of outing Plame, even though the Justice Department had a confession from Armitage that he'd been the guy to mention her name.

When you start reading the facts; instead of McClellan, and his publisher's wishful thinking; you realize more and more that the book wasn't a "tell all" about the White House, but instead a smear job without much basis in reality, written by a disgruntled guy who was fired.

It becomes more clear when you follow the trail of the publisher, who McClellan told Ari Fleischer (his predecessor) had "tweaked" the book. The publishing house, Public Affairs Books, is largely owned by Democratic activist George Soros!

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Obama Jumps Church

So, Senator and Presidential wannabe Barack Obama has decided to leave the Trinity United Church of Christ. He's clarified remarks about it, and decided it wasn't "a political manuever". Sure, and the 465 foot shot Russel Branyan hit in Milwaukee last night wasn't a home run.

Over at the Chicago Tribune, The Seeker blog asked the question "What do you think? Can a political figure join a congregation without putting it and its spiritual leader under the microscope?"

The answer of course, is yes. It happens all the time. In fact, Dick Cheney, one of the most despised politicians in the country goes to church regularly, can anyone name his pastor? How about George Bush's? Hillary Clinton?

The problem with "The Seeker" question was that it should have been "Can Obama pick a pastor that won't put himself under the microscope." Keep in mind, Oprah Winfrey left that church years ago because of Rev. Wright. So it's not like he just recently went off the deep end.

The Swamp has more insight from Obama on his decision, but the more he talks, the more it appears that he made a calculated political decision. While he says that he doesn't want the church coming under more scrutiny because of his candidacy, I think that the opposite is true, he's tiring of the scrutiny he's receiving for his choice in associates.

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The Problem of Identity Politics

One of the biggest problems with the big tent of the Democratic party is that everyone wants what's best for their group. This year, they have battling groups, women and minorities.

This lady wasn't too happy with the fact that the party big wigs decided that Michigan and Florida will only get 1/2 of their delegations seated. She was unhappier that the rules committee tossed her (and many others) out of the room.




When you play identity politics, as the Democrats have for decades, you can't help but run into problems when the identities clash. Truthfully, this should have been banner year for the Democrats, hoisting the identity of the first black nominee with a chance onto their mantle. The problem is that eight months ago the party thought it would be a banner year when they did that with the first serious female nominee.

Now the women are pissed off at the black guy, the black guys are pissed off at the woman, and the party of unity is a fractured group of individuals, pissed that their identity isn't the one being recognized.

Here's an idea for their party to try in 2012, run on ideas, not identities, and see if it works out better.

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Climate Security Act

Next week our Senate will be debating the "Climate Security Act", which in some circles is becoming known as the Economic Insecurity Act.

What the Act does is mandate reduced carbon emissions, by allocating every dwindling numbers of carbon credits to industry, then setting up a "cap and trade" scheme, in which your industry, if it's good, will have extra credits, and can sell them to those that don't.

Exceed what you are given and you either buy excess credits from someone else, or pay hefty fines to the new government bureaucracy set up to administer the system. Here's the Chamber of Commerce's depiction of the bill's regulatory set up. Go ahead, try and figure it out without getting a migraine.

A lot of focus is spent in the bill, and in editorials and other opinions on the problems this is going to create for the electric generation business. The only (viable) option to meet the reduction goals mandated is going to be replacement of coal plants. Since oil fired plants wouldn't reduce emissions enough to meet goals, that leaves "Green Power", nuclear, or Natural Gas as the fuels of choice.

Green is the least cost effective, and effective period, option. For a newer generation coal plant to be replaced would take between 25 and 50 square miles of windmills packed as tightly as possible. Solar isn't an economically sound option due to cost, and area required. In the areas where coal is most prevalent, the upper Midwest and North East, solar isn't viable due to sun availability.

Natural Gas would use many less carbon credits, but again, to fire a large enough plant to replace a coal generation facility, you'd need a much larger NG infrastructure. The bill contains no provisions to increase the supply of that cleaner burning fuel, or make it easier to transport. You end up with residential customers fighting utilities for a dwindling supply.

That brings it to nuclear. The problem is we'd need to more than double our current number of nuclear plants to replace our coal fired plants. The bill again contains no provision to make that happen, and the electric industry says while 150 new plants would be needed by 2020, the realistic number that could be built is closer to 30.

While cost is the initial barrier to nuclear plants, over their lifetime they end up costing less than coal plants because of reduced staff needed, lower maintenance costs, and obviously, not having to buy fuel daily.

The bigger problem, which again, the bill doesn't address, is the legal maze that pops up every time someone says "I want to build a nuke plant". Start planning now and you MIGHT be able to break ground in 12-15 years on a new plant.

Max Epstein, writing in the Washington Post points out other flaws in the bill, specifically how the "free credits" to power companies actually increase the cost to consumers of reducing carbon emissions.

The Wall Street Journal points out that the EPA has estimated a drop in GDP growth of between .9 and 3.8% by 2030, and 2.4-6.9% by 2050. That's somewhere between 1 and 3 TRILLION dollars of economic growth stiffled by the legislation.

They also point out that there are a lot of more transparent tax increases that could be used to try to adjust behavior. However, cap and trade lets the legislators decided who are the winners and losers, other tax hikes leave that to the people taxed. Congress just can't have that happening.

I will be writing both of my Senators this weekend (Durbin and Obama) and letting them know that this bill seems to be the worst possible option to try and drop the growth of carbon emissions, and that they should vote against it. I know those letters will be ignored, but at least I' can say I tried.

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Where's The Revenue?

The Wall Street Journal has a great piece up on how well raising taxes raises revenues. Governor Jennifer Granholm's package of income and gross receipts tax hikes, and new real estate transaction fees were supposed to fill the coffers for the state, raising $1.3 billion. Instead, it's going into the next budget cycle with a $350-550 million hole in the budget.

As is always demonstrated, and contrary to those who sell tax hikes, the folks who pay those taxes don't keep their behavior the same as the taxes go up. More companies are leaving Michigan, more residents are leaving that arriving, by a 2:1 margin, and consequently less revenue is being generated.

Home prices in Michigan, according to the article, are falling the fourth fastest in the country, and Granholm blames that crisis for her budget issue. Here's the problem, when prices rose Michigan wasn't in the top 4, or even top 10. Arizon, Nevada, California and Florida; the speculator heavens; were the top four in home price increases. They make up four of the top 5 in declines, with Michigan tossed in.

At some point Michigan might have to look south to Indiana, or worse, Ohio, and figure out how they are growing, when Michigan isn't. The common thread, both lowered taxes, and removed regulatory hurdles for businesses that wanted to move in. Both have much lower unemployment than Michigan, and net gains in residence. No doubt many of them moving from the Wolverine State.

Who's moving to Michigan? Retirees. Yeah, it's cold, but guess what, pensions aren't taxed there, and property taxes can get capped for older residents. Wow, low taxes attract people to move to the state. Maybe the governor should look at that during the budget battle that is looming.

Hopefully, the GOP on both state and national levels will remind voters of just how well such tax increases have worked.