My View

Random thoughts from a warped and fevered mind...


Thanksgiving has come and gone, but it is still good to reflect on the blessings that we enjoy in this great country of ours. The recently completed elections are but one of the freedoms that we enjoy. Many people throughout the world are not free to vote and express their will at the ballot box. We had an election that was free of coercion and resulted in an orderly changeover of our government. Many nations cannot, or will not, allow this to happen. Our freedoms are enumerated in our constitution and protected by our system of laws. All of this is under girded by a strong military that protects our great nation. We live in a land of plenty and each person has the opportunity to succeed or fail based on their efforts. This is truly a great nation, and we are blessed.

I went to the store to buy a goose feather pillow, but I couldn't afford the down payment.

While we enjoy a plethora of freedoms in this country, our government continues to attempt to encroach on those freedoms. Watch the Federal Communications Commission. They will be undertaking a vote at their December 15th meeting that could have a major impact on the use of the internet. Their vote, if successful, will be a power grab of historic proportions if it is successful. Chairman Julius Genachowski is  asking the FCC commissioners to vote on a "net neutrality" amendment that will force internet providers to submit to government regulation regarding the content that is carried over their system. Specifically, the government will force carriers to not favor sites, content, and platforms when making their business decisions. If an internet service provider invests in a system and builds it out, they would have no control over the content that is carried over the system or who has access. If your internet is slowed because of the inability of your provider to limit downloads or because they have to provide free access to any entity that requests it, well too bad for you. This is overt government intrusion into private enterprise under the guise of making the internet "fair" for all. This proposal gives no regard to the investment that ISP's have made in their network or what you as a paying customer should expect from your provider. Just another example of gross government overreach.

I just poured some super glue into a non-stick pan to watch them fight it out.

Pay attention to the bi-partisan deficit commission. One of their proposals to reduce our cancerous national deficit is a national sales tax at 6.5%. This will be on top of any state and local sales taxes that are collected, and would be collected on any transaction that occurs. Additionally, the commission has proposed an elimination of mortgage interest deductions and the deduction of charitable contributions. These would be replaced by a 15% credit. There is no denying that we must reduce our deficit. However, most proposals have targeted raising taxes and other sources of revenue. Very few proposals discuss reducing expenditures. It is time to focus on the profligate spending that occurs in Washington and begin to rein that in before we start extracting more money from our pockets. No discussions of raising taxes should happen until we have serious discussions about curtailing spending. To this point, Washington has shown an unwillingness to address that side of the equation.

Last Thanksgiving, I stuffed a few turkeys. This year, the relatives ate somewhere else.

And that, my friends, is my view.