My View

Random thoughts from a warped and fevered mind...


One of the little discussed but very interesting aspects of the mid-term elections earlier this month is the confirmation that the out-migration from high tax states to states with a much more favorable tax structure
has accelerated. Eight states will gain Congressional seats under the mandated reapportionment after the 2010 census. Those states are: Texas (four seats); Florida (two seats); and South Carolina, Georgia, Arizona,
Nevada, Utah, and Washington (one seat each). According to a study by Americans for Tax Reform, the top average personal income tax rate in those states is 2.8%. Compare that to New York and Ohio, which will lose two seats each; and Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Missouri, Michigan, Massachusetts Illinois, Louisiana , and Iowa, which will lose one seat each. The average top personal tax rate in these states? 6.05%.Government at all levels has failed to realize that people- and businesses- will act in their own economic self interest. These states have attempted to confiscate higher and higher levels of income from
their citizens, and those that can are moving out. The other interesting characteristic of these states that have experienced net population outflows is that in 7 of the eight states, workers can be forced to join
a union as a condition of their job. High taxes and  union coercion have fundamentally changed the demographics of these states and they are changing the political landscape of our nation for years to come.


A mime can walk the walk, but they never talk the talk.

If you travel by air, there is the distinct possibility that you will encounter the "junkture" of a TSA agent's hands and, uh..., well, ...your "junk". The absurdity of the TSA pat down process is beyond words and defies any form of logic. This demeaning procedure is causing great consternation among travelers, not to mention the threat of lawsuits for the invasion of privacy of the individual. The disruption of normal travel and the angst experienced by fliers is ostensibly in the name of making air travel more secure. I disagree. It is designed to
keep an ineffective TSA work force employed. Want to really secure air travel? Then take a look at what Israel  does. No one will deny that Israel is surrounded by nations that are hostile to them and would like
to see them cease to exist. With this kind of threat environment, how does El_Al, the Israeli airline, maintain their superb safety record and reduce the threat of terrorism? There are a number of reasons, but two
distinctly stand out. First, they have admitted there are people that would like to do them harm, and those people are a constant threat.Israel's militant Arab neighbors have been identified as a credible threat that wants to do them harm. Contrary to the political ideology now prevalent among our leaders in Washington, Israel  acknowledges that they have enemies and those enemies are not nice and would rather see
them destroyed. If our leaders fundamentally acknowledged that there are enemies of the United States that wanted to do us harm, and those enemies for the most are radical Islamists, then we would go far toward
securing our nation and its public transportation. Hand in glove is the fact that using this knowledge that they have enemies, Israel eschews any form of political correctness and profiles those coming through their public transportation system. I know that is  not acceptable here in the United States, but terrorism doesn't give a flying fig about political correctness. It's time our leaders and our law enforcement officials started doing the same.

The closest I ever got to a 4.0 in college was my blood alcohol content.

The "nanny state" mentality of Washington is simply amazing in its pomposity and overreach. Think I'm exaggerating? Take a look at Senate Bill 510, which is scheduled to come to the floor of the Senate any day.
This bill, introduced by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin is the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010.Supposedly, this bill is designed to make our food supply system safer and was crafted after several e-coli and salmonella incidents last year. In reality, and in typical Congressional fashion, this bill does nothing to address any deficiencies in the chain of food supply in this country; instead, it give the Food and Drug
Administration broad regulatory powers over the entire food produce and consume. Under this proposal, not only can the FDA regulate the food supply, but also any nutritional supplements like vitamins or herbal
supplements. This law will govern the food that you grow in your garden and require a hazard analysis of any chemicals or fertilizers that may have been used. This will affect the small farmer that grows crops for
re-sale at farmer's markets and makes the individual gardener a legal target should someone get sick. And it does all of this (a probably a lot more that we don't know about) without any oversight or checks on
the power of the FDA. This bill is an abomination and an unnecessary invasion of our privacy by our legislators. Tennessee's Lamar Alexander is a co-sponsor of this bill. Just thought any of my readers in the
Tennessee area might want to know.

Some mornings I wake up grumpy. Other mornings, I just let her sleep.


And that, my friends, is my view.