Sunday, April 30, 2006
I, STADIUM Part 3: Failed Arguments For Taxpayer Assisted Ballparks
The arguments for building a sports stadium for any professional or collegiate team may or may not have some degree of validity. What it depends on is if that stadium is being built with private money, public money, or a combination of those two funding sources.
Often, the arguments are the same, or slight variations, of previously worn out reasons promoting the building of these stadiums. The key is whether or not public money - taxes - should be included in the building of the stadiums. Further, should taxpayer money be funneled from legitimate purposes - highways, bridges, schools, infrastructure, etc. - or should revenue from new taxes be devoted to building stadiums for professional sports teams?
1) The most frequently heard argument for putting public money into a stadium is that having a professional sports franchise "adds a quality of life" to the area. Well, I've often heard this argument but no one is able to define that "quality of life"? What do proponents mean by this?
Do you mean that a city or state with a professional sports team is better than a city or state without a professional sports team? How so? This is a very subjective means to measure "the quality of life", isn't it? It is as subjective as saying any city, state or region with a natural landmark - a waterfall, the Grand Canyon, Old Faithful - is better than a city, state or region without those landmarks. Better than what and how? What tool is being used to measure the argument?
If you mean that the "quality of life" is better with publicly funded stadiums because a mentality of "if you build it they will come (and the new stadium will pay taxes"), your good intentions are misguided because no business pays taxes. The tax always is passed on to the consumer. Businesses don't pay taxes. Professional sports is a business, the taxes it pays are passed on to the consumer.
For those of you who think public money is such a good investment in helping fund stadiums, why don't you voluntarily pony up the extra money yourselves and make regular, voluntary, out-of-pocket donations to the stadium(s) of your choice rather than attempt to pass the cost onto everybody via taxation? This is the same as those who think taxes should be increased at federal, state and local levels for education, public transportation, and social causes. Why not just cut a check yourself, out-of-pocket, and make YOUR CONTRIBUTION to your special, favorite pet cause or project?
2) Another frequent argument used by supporters for public tax dollars for stadium welfare is the threat that "the owner will move the team out of state". So...you're saying all it takes is a threat to move the team for you to succumb to paying more taxes? Sounds like a threat of extortion to me.
You have a loyal public that has supported the hometown team for years and years, supporting the team during its poorer performing seasons as well as supporting the team in playoffs and, perhaps, a World Series, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup or other championship season. And the owner threatens to move the team if "the public doesn't help build a stadium"? This is the tantrum-throwing child threatening "to hold my breath unless you buy me that toy" threat. When the threat to move a team elsewhere is used by the team owner, it tells the public more about a lack of loyalty by the owner to the region, the fans and the populace in general, than anything else.
With this argument you have a team owner, who claims to want to keep the team in your city or state, but on the other hand is willing to move the team elsewhere, depending on a higher bidder. Do you really think that that team owner is a good "corporate citizen" of your city or state when they will resort to attempts to blackmail the public for taxpayer funding? Do you realize how pathetic this argument is, trying to get the public to cave to a threat of relocation blackmail? And you buy into it?
3) "Well, you know, the Team enriches the community", is another argument supporters offer for their tax-aid for new, Taj Mahal-like stadiums. Please define "enriches". Enriches how and whom? By means of what I wrote above; a "if you build it they will come" mentality? Not only is that a deeply subjective argument, it is one that is very hard to prove true. This could only be proven an accurate and legitimate argument after completing exhaustive and onerous studies that people spending money at the new stadium wouldn't spend their money somewhere else within the city or state. And those studies haven't been done. A stadium "enriching the community" is a highly speculative argument at best.
4) "Everybody benefits by the building of a stadium with public funds." Again, another very subjective argument. Tell me, how does a motel, hotel, restaurant, bar, tavern, grocery store, department store, convenience store, gas station or any other retail venture in the northeastern or southwestern part of the state in Minnesota benefit from a stadium in the Twin Cities?
Further, tell me how a motel, hotel, restaurant, bar, tavern or any of the other retail businesses I mention benefit if they are located outside the seven county metro area, let alone the immediate area surrounding a stadium?
Sure, the businesses near a stadium benefit, and good for them. They should! I'm happy that they do. But businesses out of the immediate radius of a stadium - or a shopping mall - reap no tangible benefit from that enterprise.
How does the ordinary taxpayer benefit from a stadium being built with taxpayer funds? Please explain with details. Oh, I know what's coming, it's part of the same argument as "Everybody benefits", right? You're going to answer me with "it's the revenue that the stadium puts back into the community". Well hell, it should! The taxpayer gives up "XX Dollars" of money. A publicly funded stadium should put that money back into the community because it just took it from the taxpayer!
This is nothing more than a shell game or a check-kiting scheme of an argument. If I give you $100 and you give me $100, is the result a net increase to either party. No. If the taxpayer gives me $100 and I spend that $100, does either party have a net gain? No. Have I put any more money back into the community than was given to me? No. As a matter of fact, the argument could easily be made that the $100 that I spend in the community is of less value than the $100 given to my by the taxpayer when you factor in the cost involved in giving me that $100!
There are a number of businesses that are facing some tough economic choices, not only here in Minnesota, but everywhere. Some of these businesses deserve some type of tax break. Some struggle day-to-day on very thin profit margins. Many are small, family operated businesses. Many are small businesses that employ one-hundred people or less. They do not get, nor do they ask for, the type of incentive that is being promulgated by the Twins, Vikings, and Gopher organizations, lobbyists and their fan base. The small businesses cannot afford to lobby the government year after year after year as has been done by the Twins, the Vikings and the Gophers.
What the smaller businesses do seek is a fair playing field in the business and commerce arena. Much of the time, they fight a losing battle. Ask any small business owner about their concern in meeting their payroll, paying their quarterly taxes and the multi-level bureaucracy of government regulation that they deal with every day.
Yes, there exists a few common lobby groups for small business owners. Yet there is a huge group of cohesive and organized lobbyists for sports teams and their millionaire and billionaire owners. I tip my hat to those who have had the good fortune to become millionaires and billionaires. They worked hard, took risks and excelled in a business niche amassing a fortune through their labor and hard work. And they deserve the rewards for which they've worked, make no mistake about that.
But it is no longer the time to subsidize them in growing their enterprise with taxpayer money. If anything, it's time for them to subsidize the people and the community who helped them grow over many, many years by building and paying for their own stadiums with their own money.
I've never met anyone who has said, "I don't pay enough in taxes." But if you are one of those who do feel this way, I encourage you to voluntarily write a check and pay an extra amount to the government or to the special interest, perhaps a stadium, that you hold so dear.
©2006
Previous Posts on The Stadium Issue:
I, STADIUM Part 2
I, STADIUM
Minnesota Twins Stadium: Why Should Carl Pohlad Pay His Fair Share?
Often, the arguments are the same, or slight variations, of previously worn out reasons promoting the building of these stadiums. The key is whether or not public money - taxes - should be included in the building of the stadiums. Further, should taxpayer money be funneled from legitimate purposes - highways, bridges, schools, infrastructure, etc. - or should revenue from new taxes be devoted to building stadiums for professional sports teams?
1) The most frequently heard argument for putting public money into a stadium is that having a professional sports franchise "adds a quality of life" to the area. Well, I've often heard this argument but no one is able to define that "quality of life"? What do proponents mean by this?
Do you mean that a city or state with a professional sports team is better than a city or state without a professional sports team? How so? This is a very subjective means to measure "the quality of life", isn't it? It is as subjective as saying any city, state or region with a natural landmark - a waterfall, the Grand Canyon, Old Faithful - is better than a city, state or region without those landmarks. Better than what and how? What tool is being used to measure the argument?
If you mean that the "quality of life" is better with publicly funded stadiums because a mentality of "if you build it they will come (and the new stadium will pay taxes"), your good intentions are misguided because no business pays taxes. The tax always is passed on to the consumer. Businesses don't pay taxes. Professional sports is a business, the taxes it pays are passed on to the consumer.
For those of you who think public money is such a good investment in helping fund stadiums, why don't you voluntarily pony up the extra money yourselves and make regular, voluntary, out-of-pocket donations to the stadium(s) of your choice rather than attempt to pass the cost onto everybody via taxation? This is the same as those who think taxes should be increased at federal, state and local levels for education, public transportation, and social causes. Why not just cut a check yourself, out-of-pocket, and make YOUR CONTRIBUTION to your special, favorite pet cause or project?
2) Another frequent argument used by supporters for public tax dollars for stadium welfare is the threat that "the owner will move the team out of state". So...you're saying all it takes is a threat to move the team for you to succumb to paying more taxes? Sounds like a threat of extortion to me.
You have a loyal public that has supported the hometown team for years and years, supporting the team during its poorer performing seasons as well as supporting the team in playoffs and, perhaps, a World Series, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup or other championship season. And the owner threatens to move the team if "the public doesn't help build a stadium"? This is the tantrum-throwing child threatening "to hold my breath unless you buy me that toy" threat. When the threat to move a team elsewhere is used by the team owner, it tells the public more about a lack of loyalty by the owner to the region, the fans and the populace in general, than anything else.
With this argument you have a team owner, who claims to want to keep the team in your city or state, but on the other hand is willing to move the team elsewhere, depending on a higher bidder. Do you really think that that team owner is a good "corporate citizen" of your city or state when they will resort to attempts to blackmail the public for taxpayer funding? Do you realize how pathetic this argument is, trying to get the public to cave to a threat of relocation blackmail? And you buy into it?
3) "Well, you know, the Team enriches the community", is another argument supporters offer for their tax-aid for new, Taj Mahal-like stadiums. Please define "enriches". Enriches how and whom? By means of what I wrote above; a "if you build it they will come" mentality? Not only is that a deeply subjective argument, it is one that is very hard to prove true. This could only be proven an accurate and legitimate argument after completing exhaustive and onerous studies that people spending money at the new stadium wouldn't spend their money somewhere else within the city or state. And those studies haven't been done. A stadium "enriching the community" is a highly speculative argument at best.
4) "Everybody benefits by the building of a stadium with public funds." Again, another very subjective argument. Tell me, how does a motel, hotel, restaurant, bar, tavern, grocery store, department store, convenience store, gas station or any other retail venture in the northeastern or southwestern part of the state in Minnesota benefit from a stadium in the Twin Cities?
Further, tell me how a motel, hotel, restaurant, bar, tavern or any of the other retail businesses I mention benefit if they are located outside the seven county metro area, let alone the immediate area surrounding a stadium?
Sure, the businesses near a stadium benefit, and good for them. They should! I'm happy that they do. But businesses out of the immediate radius of a stadium - or a shopping mall - reap no tangible benefit from that enterprise.
How does the ordinary taxpayer benefit from a stadium being built with taxpayer funds? Please explain with details. Oh, I know what's coming, it's part of the same argument as "Everybody benefits", right? You're going to answer me with "it's the revenue that the stadium puts back into the community". Well hell, it should! The taxpayer gives up "XX Dollars" of money. A publicly funded stadium should put that money back into the community because it just took it from the taxpayer!
This is nothing more than a shell game or a check-kiting scheme of an argument. If I give you $100 and you give me $100, is the result a net increase to either party. No. If the taxpayer gives me $100 and I spend that $100, does either party have a net gain? No. Have I put any more money back into the community than was given to me? No. As a matter of fact, the argument could easily be made that the $100 that I spend in the community is of less value than the $100 given to my by the taxpayer when you factor in the cost involved in giving me that $100!
There are a number of businesses that are facing some tough economic choices, not only here in Minnesota, but everywhere. Some of these businesses deserve some type of tax break. Some struggle day-to-day on very thin profit margins. Many are small, family operated businesses. Many are small businesses that employ one-hundred people or less. They do not get, nor do they ask for, the type of incentive that is being promulgated by the Twins, Vikings, and Gopher organizations, lobbyists and their fan base. The small businesses cannot afford to lobby the government year after year after year as has been done by the Twins, the Vikings and the Gophers.
What the smaller businesses do seek is a fair playing field in the business and commerce arena. Much of the time, they fight a losing battle. Ask any small business owner about their concern in meeting their payroll, paying their quarterly taxes and the multi-level bureaucracy of government regulation that they deal with every day.
Yes, there exists a few common lobby groups for small business owners. Yet there is a huge group of cohesive and organized lobbyists for sports teams and their millionaire and billionaire owners. I tip my hat to those who have had the good fortune to become millionaires and billionaires. They worked hard, took risks and excelled in a business niche amassing a fortune through their labor and hard work. And they deserve the rewards for which they've worked, make no mistake about that.
But it is no longer the time to subsidize them in growing their enterprise with taxpayer money. If anything, it's time for them to subsidize the people and the community who helped them grow over many, many years by building and paying for their own stadiums with their own money.
I've never met anyone who has said, "I don't pay enough in taxes." But if you are one of those who do feel this way, I encourage you to voluntarily write a check and pay an extra amount to the government or to the special interest, perhaps a stadium, that you hold so dear.
©2006
Previous Posts on The Stadium Issue:
I, STADIUM Part 2
I, STADIUM
Minnesota Twins Stadium: Why Should Carl Pohlad Pay His Fair Share?
Labels: Carl Pohlad, I Stadium, Sid Hartman, Zygi Wilf
Saturday, April 29, 2006
MrsSatan: "For The Common Good!"
Source of Quote
©2006
Two years ago the top Democrat [Hillary Clinton] explained the driving philosophy behind her economic policies, telling a San Francisco fund-raiser that when Democrats finally win back the White House, "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
©2006
Political Q&A With Cat Answers
******Mr. Snookerwookum**************Mr. Wookumsnooker
Mr. Snookerwookum and Mr. Wookumsnooker Answer Your Questions:
Q: I consider myself a Conservative but I hate most of the policies of President Bush. Does that make me a faux Conservative?
Mr. Snookerwookum: Not only does it make you a faux conservative, you are a lemming of the Left.
Mr. Wookumsnooker: You should be dipped in catnip and fed to lions.
Q: When will a real third political party take form and be a voice of the people?
Mr. Snookerwookum: I don't know what you mean by a "real" third party, but what you seek is unlikely to happen until cats rule the world.
Mr. Wookumsnooker: Agreed.
Q: Is the Iraq war, as the Left often tells us, a war simply about oil?
Mr. Snookerwookum: Not at all. It appears you have - hook, line and sinker - bough into the Propaganda spewed from the Left.
Mr. Wookumsnooker: Agreed. You should be dipped in catnip and fed to lions.
Q: Is there anything good about the Left? Do they have any redeeming qualities at all?
Mr. Snookerwookum: No, none.
Mr. Wookumsnooker: Agreed. They all should be dipped in catnip and fed to lions.
Q: What course of action would you two take to ---
Mr. Snookerwookum: Sorry to interrupt, but this Q&A session has left us exhausted. It's time for us to take a five hour nap.
Mr. Wookumsnooker: Agreed.
Disclaimer: Mr. Snookerwookum and Mr. Wookumsnooker are not available for personal appearances. Although they could be, they steadfastly refuse. No legal liability is assumed by either Mr. Snookerwookum or Mr. Wookumsnooker or this blog with regard to investment strategy or legal advice. Their comments should not be construed as advice as they are certainly not...not even remotely close. Neither Mr. Snookerwookum or Mr. Wookumsnooker, individually or together, are available for weddings, confirmations, bar mitzvahs, parties, or other celebratory occasions. In fact, getting them to answer these questions was a yeoman task. While Mr. Snookerwookum and Mr. Wookumsnooker do indeed have a pending seven-figure book deal in the works, they will likely forget all about it and instead take a nap. No assumption should be made that these cats belong to David Drake. Mr. Drake wouldn't clean out a box of cat-litter if his life depended on it. He's not that ambitious. It is more likely he found these cat pictures somewhere on the web and thought this would be a good "filler" post on a day when he had nothing of value to write. This is one of those days.
©2006
Friday, April 28, 2006
I, STADIUM Part 2: Senate Bill S.F. 2297
I wrote yesterday about the Stadium Craze, at Taxpayers Expense, that we are experiencing here in Minnesota.
The Twins want a new stadium and they want taxpayers to help pay for it. The Vikings want the same. And so do The Gophers, the University of MN football team.
Here it comes, get ready, because the Senate bill will have all seven Twin City Metro counties paying for the new stadiums for the Twins and the Vikings.
For this is one of the modifications in the bill that is now in the State Senate. The Senate version of the Stadium Bill calls for a 1/2 cent sales tax in the Twin Cities - St. Paul and Minneapolis - seven county metro area.
According to State Senator Larry Pogemiller, who's never met a tax increase that didn't put him in a state of unbridled arousal, said:
Proponents are pushing hard for a No Referendum Vote, meaning this Sales Tax Taxation Without Representation would go into effect and bypass voter approval or denial. Who do you people think you are - Julius Caesar?
Well, if this is such a great public policy, and EVERYBODY is behind you, why not put the issue to the voter? Because you know the Grandiose Stadiums will be shot down.
When in the hell are people going to vote out of office Tax Happy Lunatics like Pogemiller? People like Pogemiller never need Viagra, they just have to pass a tax in order to become excited.
The same arguments proponents use for passage of taxation for Billi-Millionaires are the same, tired, atrophied arguments used years ago for building the Metrodome:
We're told, "Both the Twins and Vikings organizations are always willing to devote time and lend their names to charitable organization." Oh, that's sooooo nice. It IS! But how many countless other people do the same and get no type of tax relief for it, let alone special favors or recognition? I donate to charities and I know plenty of other people who do the same. Do we get favorable tax breaks from doing that with respect to the state paying for some of our mortgages? Ha!
I called my State Senator, John Marty, a Democrat, and left a message that I am totally against spreading this tax over a greater geographical area. Now, I feel for the people in Hennepin County who have the tax, in the House version of the Stadium bill, applying only to them.
But sometimes you get what you deserve from the people that you elect. And a large majority of Hennepin County residents are full fledged Liberals, thus, their elected representatives are Raging, Tax Happy Liberals that represent their Raging, Tax Happy constituents.
So, Hennepin County, you got the government you deserve. You want the stadium in your county and city (Minneapolis)? Then you pay for it. You're the base that put these Tax-And-Spend Democrats into office. You live with it. Don't spread your infectious and diseased Tax Happy Liberalism into the other metropolitan counties.
Now, back to Senator John Marty. I never cared for his politics. He's a Bleeding Heart Liberal who, in the past, has voted to Tax and Spend with the rest of the Tax Happy Liberal Crowd. But...he's had moments where he broke party rank and voted against what the Usual Liberal Posse has wanted him to do and the Stadium Tax, in all its forms, may be one of those items. So I hope Senator Marty will do the right thing and vote against spreading The Stadium Tax onto the other counties.
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, has said he will sign a stadium bill. He hasn't clarified which stadium bill it is he will sign. This is a man who got elected by promising no new taxes. Currently, we can only guess he will sign whatever bill that makes its way to his desk, if one does. He's said in the past, after being elected, that he doesn't want to be known as the Governor Who Lost The Twins.
**Gov. Tim Pawlenty ****** State Sen. Larry "Taxes Are My Aphrodisiac" Pogemiller
Regarding the University of MN Gopher Football Team, you basically were offered The Metrodome as your home for free, but the University said, "no, that's not good enough." You looked a gift horse in the mouth and decided you didn't want it. Well, that tells me you can play where you currently play and if you don't like it, build and pay for your own stadium.
The argument from proponents of new stadiums love to use the argument that "it's only 'X cents' amount on 'X dollars'." I don't care if it's .01 cent on every $100,000 dollars.
In other words, if I rob, steal or embezzle from you just a little it's okay, rather than if I rob, steal or embezzle from you a lot?
Years ago, a tax was approved (again, without any voter referendum), to build the Metrodome. The tax was supposed to be removed and stopped once the Metrodome was paid for. The Metrodome has been paid in full for I don't know how may years. But that tax is still in full effect!
And you Twins, Vikings and Gophers fans are no better than the politicians and Milli-Billionaire owners, and the U of MN, in your insatiable greed, indulgence and selfishness. Your blatant disregard of taxation without representation, and your willingness to transfer "wealth" - in this case taxes - for your pet little Stadium projects makes me want to wretch.
You're the same people who scream and have tantrums like spoiled children when the cost of a gallon of gasoline increases by a dime, a quarter, or fifty cents. Yet you have the gall to think that everyone should be required, by taxation, to help pay for your stadium.
Why, Pogemiller's Committee voted this afternoon to remove the sales tax from sports memorabilia! It didn't pass, but you don't even want fans to pay a tax on their bobbleheads, sports cards, pendants and other trinkets! You want to nickel-and-dime everybody else to help pay for your stadium, but when it comes to the tax on memorabilia, you want to be exempt! Can you get more avaricious than that?
**Billionaire Carl Pohlad*****Multi-Millionaire Ziggy Wilf
Gov. Pawlenty, you approve any bill that spreads the taxation for stadiums beyond Hennepin County and I will do whatever I can in campaigning door-to-door for your opponent. I will do whatever I can with this little blog to campaign for your Democratic opponent.
Right now it looks like your challenger will be MN Attorney General Mike Hatch, a Tax Happy and Regulation-Fueled Democrat. And that's fine with me. At least I know what I'm getting when a Democrat gets elected. I no longer know what I'm going to get from you, Gov. Pawlenty.
The entire Stadium Bill proposal is so outrageously selective in who, how, and where they secure public funding that one would think it was devised by Karl Marx.
When does it end? How much longer will we be paying the tax on the paid-for Metrodome, when proponents of it lied and said that tax would be removed once the Dome was paid in full?
You Liberals love to throw out the "For The Children" phrase. Well let me ask you this; will "The Children" still be paying the Metrodome Tax ten, twenty, thirty years from now?
Will "The Children" still be paying the New Twins Stadium Tax, The New Vikings Stadium Tax, and the New Gophers Stadium Tax, long after these artifacts are paid for?
When does it end? It ends now!
Call your representatives, people. E-mail them. Talk to them. Tell them you are against tax hikes for helping Milli-Billionaire Sports Team Owners.
Tell them if the university of MN doesn't want their beloved Gopher Football Team to play in the Metrodome then they can build and pay for their own stadium.
You can find your state legislator at the below links:
Minnesota House of Representatives
Minnesota State Senate
©2006
Information Resources:
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota
St. Paul Pioneer Press: Senate Hits Wall on Stadiums
Duluth News Tribune: Stadium Plans Dealt Setback
Carl Pohlad Cartoon From 1997, Yes, it's been almost TEN YEARS of Stadium Fatigue!
Artist Rendering of Twins Stadium, Ain't it purdy?
Artist Rendering of Vikings Stadium, Ain't it purdy too?
The Twins want a new stadium and they want taxpayers to help pay for it. The Vikings want the same. And so do The Gophers, the University of MN football team.
Here it comes, get ready, because the Senate bill will have all seven Twin City Metro counties paying for the new stadiums for the Twins and the Vikings.
For this is one of the modifications in the bill that is now in the State Senate. The Senate version of the Stadium Bill calls for a 1/2 cent sales tax in the Twin Cities - St. Paul and Minneapolis - seven county metro area.
According to State Senator Larry Pogemiller, who's never met a tax increase that didn't put him in a state of unbridled arousal, said:
"It's the Minnesota Twins, not the Hennepin County Twins. It's the Minnesota Vikings, not the Anoka County Vikings."
Proponents are pushing hard for a No Referendum Vote, meaning this Sales Tax Taxation Without Representation would go into effect and bypass voter approval or denial. Who do you people think you are - Julius Caesar?
Well, if this is such a great public policy, and EVERYBODY is behind you, why not put the issue to the voter? Because you know the Grandiose Stadiums will be shot down.
When in the hell are people going to vote out of office Tax Happy Lunatics like Pogemiller? People like Pogemiller never need Viagra, they just have to pass a tax in order to become excited.
The same arguments proponents use for passage of taxation for Billi-Millionaires are the same, tired, atrophied arguments used years ago for building the Metrodome:
We're told, "Both the Twins and Vikings organizations are always willing to devote time and lend their names to charitable organization." Oh, that's sooooo nice. It IS! But how many countless other people do the same and get no type of tax relief for it, let alone special favors or recognition? I donate to charities and I know plenty of other people who do the same. Do we get favorable tax breaks from doing that with respect to the state paying for some of our mortgages? Ha!
I called my State Senator, John Marty, a Democrat, and left a message that I am totally against spreading this tax over a greater geographical area. Now, I feel for the people in Hennepin County who have the tax, in the House version of the Stadium bill, applying only to them.
But sometimes you get what you deserve from the people that you elect. And a large majority of Hennepin County residents are full fledged Liberals, thus, their elected representatives are Raging, Tax Happy Liberals that represent their Raging, Tax Happy constituents.
So, Hennepin County, you got the government you deserve. You want the stadium in your county and city (Minneapolis)? Then you pay for it. You're the base that put these Tax-And-Spend Democrats into office. You live with it. Don't spread your infectious and diseased Tax Happy Liberalism into the other metropolitan counties.
Now, back to Senator John Marty. I never cared for his politics. He's a Bleeding Heart Liberal who, in the past, has voted to Tax and Spend with the rest of the Tax Happy Liberal Crowd. But...he's had moments where he broke party rank and voted against what the Usual Liberal Posse has wanted him to do and the Stadium Tax, in all its forms, may be one of those items. So I hope Senator Marty will do the right thing and vote against spreading The Stadium Tax onto the other counties.
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, has said he will sign a stadium bill. He hasn't clarified which stadium bill it is he will sign. This is a man who got elected by promising no new taxes. Currently, we can only guess he will sign whatever bill that makes its way to his desk, if one does. He's said in the past, after being elected, that he doesn't want to be known as the Governor Who Lost The Twins.
**Gov. Tim Pawlenty ****** State Sen. Larry "Taxes Are My Aphrodisiac" Pogemiller
Regarding the University of MN Gopher Football Team, you basically were offered The Metrodome as your home for free, but the University said, "no, that's not good enough." You looked a gift horse in the mouth and decided you didn't want it. Well, that tells me you can play where you currently play and if you don't like it, build and pay for your own stadium.
The argument from proponents of new stadiums love to use the argument that "it's only 'X cents' amount on 'X dollars'." I don't care if it's .01 cent on every $100,000 dollars.
In other words, if I rob, steal or embezzle from you just a little it's okay, rather than if I rob, steal or embezzle from you a lot?
Years ago, a tax was approved (again, without any voter referendum), to build the Metrodome. The tax was supposed to be removed and stopped once the Metrodome was paid for. The Metrodome has been paid in full for I don't know how may years. But that tax is still in full effect!
And you Twins, Vikings and Gophers fans are no better than the politicians and Milli-Billionaire owners, and the U of MN, in your insatiable greed, indulgence and selfishness. Your blatant disregard of taxation without representation, and your willingness to transfer "wealth" - in this case taxes - for your pet little Stadium projects makes me want to wretch.
You're the same people who scream and have tantrums like spoiled children when the cost of a gallon of gasoline increases by a dime, a quarter, or fifty cents. Yet you have the gall to think that everyone should be required, by taxation, to help pay for your stadium.
Why, Pogemiller's Committee voted this afternoon to remove the sales tax from sports memorabilia! It didn't pass, but you don't even want fans to pay a tax on their bobbleheads, sports cards, pendants and other trinkets! You want to nickel-and-dime everybody else to help pay for your stadium, but when it comes to the tax on memorabilia, you want to be exempt! Can you get more avaricious than that?
**Billionaire Carl Pohlad*****Multi-Millionaire Ziggy Wilf
Gov. Pawlenty, you approve any bill that spreads the taxation for stadiums beyond Hennepin County and I will do whatever I can in campaigning door-to-door for your opponent. I will do whatever I can with this little blog to campaign for your Democratic opponent.
Right now it looks like your challenger will be MN Attorney General Mike Hatch, a Tax Happy and Regulation-Fueled Democrat. And that's fine with me. At least I know what I'm getting when a Democrat gets elected. I no longer know what I'm going to get from you, Gov. Pawlenty.
The entire Stadium Bill proposal is so outrageously selective in who, how, and where they secure public funding that one would think it was devised by Karl Marx.
When does it end? How much longer will we be paying the tax on the paid-for Metrodome, when proponents of it lied and said that tax would be removed once the Dome was paid in full?
You Liberals love to throw out the "For The Children" phrase. Well let me ask you this; will "The Children" still be paying the Metrodome Tax ten, twenty, thirty years from now?
Will "The Children" still be paying the New Twins Stadium Tax, The New Vikings Stadium Tax, and the New Gophers Stadium Tax, long after these artifacts are paid for?
When does it end? It ends now!
Call your representatives, people. E-mail them. Talk to them. Tell them you are against tax hikes for helping Milli-Billionaire Sports Team Owners.
Tell them if the university of MN doesn't want their beloved Gopher Football Team to play in the Metrodome then they can build and pay for their own stadium.
You can find your state legislator at the below links:
Minnesota House of Representatives
Minnesota State Senate
©2006
Information Resources:
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota
St. Paul Pioneer Press: Senate Hits Wall on Stadiums
Duluth News Tribune: Stadium Plans Dealt Setback
Carl Pohlad Cartoon From 1997, Yes, it's been almost TEN YEARS of Stadium Fatigue!
Artist Rendering of Twins Stadium, Ain't it purdy?
Artist Rendering of Vikings Stadium, Ain't it purdy too?
Labels: Carl Pohlad, I Stadium, Sid Hartman, Zygi Wilf
Thursday, April 27, 2006
I, STADIUM
The Twins Stadium passed the State House of Representatives by a vote of 76-55. The Bill now moves to the State Senate for approval, where it is believed to be approved with some changes. One of those changes may be a state-wide tax rather than the current version which only taxes residents of Hennepin County, the county that will be the home to the new stadium.
Both the Minnesota Vikings and the University of Minnesota Gopher Football team are standing in line, at the state welfare Office of Stadiums for Millionaires and Universities With Endowments In The Bank, waiting for their stadium bills to be approved with taxpayers - in some manner - contributing to the cost of building their palaces.
There was a time when people thought the Metrodome, with its Teflon roof and heated interior, was the cat's pajamas in terms of modernity. No longer did people have to sit shivering in their seat while taking in a football game during the winter months. No longer did people have to worry about getting soaked from rain while watching baseball. There was a time when the Gophers, college football players, were honored - flattered! - to be playing football in The Dome.
Was The Dome perfect? Not by any means. The seating was primarily designed for a football field and baseball fans griped about the seating pattern, but, the Twins did well financially with that seating, and managed to win two World Series in 1987 and 1991.
Somewhere along the line Billionaire Twins Owner Carl Pohlad and his henchmen decided they wanted a new stadium. They weren't willing to build and pay for it entirely on their own, they wanted - not NEEDED - the taxpayer to fund their Taj Mahal.
The Minnesota Vikings, formerly owned by Car Salesman Extraordinaire and Multi-Millionaire "Texas Red" McComb, also got the idea in their collective minds that they wanted -not NEEDED - a new Taj Mahal. And, like Pohlad, they certainly didn't want to have to pay for its construction all on their own.
Now, Vikings Owner and Real Estate Mega-Mogul Ziggy Wilf, carrying on the fine tradition of his Car Salesman Predecessor, also wants - not NEEDS - a new football stadium. And the Real Estate Mogul insists that the taxpayer kick in for the cost of their Football Mansion.
And somewhere along the line, the University of Minnesota, (an overrated university, in my opinion), decided that playing football in the Metrodome was beneath their beloved Gophers.
Not too many years ago the U of MN had, in the bank, a BILLION DOLLAR ENDOWMENT sitting in an account and investments earning interest. I checked to see if that endowment is still in place or if they had spent it. I was told by the person I spoke with on the telephone that they would have to check and call me back.
Gee, I sure would know if I had a Billion Dollar Endowment earning interest in the bank(s). You mean the U of MN isn't sure if that's still the case. Don't make me choke while I laugh.
I've seen both the Twins and the Vikings play at The Dome. I like it, it's a nice place. Is the greatest place on the face of the earth to watch professional sports? Probably not. But what stadium is? Well, the Xcel Center in St. Paul for the NHL's Minnesota Wild is a state of the art facility.
Could it be that the Twins, the Vikings, and the Gophers, after seeing Xcel Center, simply have a grand case of Stadium Envy? Hmmmm, I kinda think that's what the problem is.
One of Pohlad's henchmen, Twins 'El Presidente' Jerry Bell, clasped his hands and became ecstatic when the MN House approved the Twin's stadium bill. This guy has been lobbying year after year after year, doing the bidding of Pohlad for a new baseball park. Bell may well indeed have spent more time at the state legislature than most of the elected politicians!
Pohlad's "Igor": Jerry "As Far As We're Concerned [this stadium] is Critical" Bell
All fans of the Twins, Vikings, and Gophers are most vocal in their support of getting others to help pay for their pet project. They're not willing to take the cost on themselves. That would be wrong. Why, the quality of life in Minnesota depends on, and is so enhanced, by having these teams in Minnesota, don't-cha-know.
Forget about Pohlad's idle threat, in cahoots with Baseball Kommissar Bud Selig, a few years back of contraction, selling the Twins and moving them out of state. Forget about the threat to sell and move the Vikings by "Texas Red" a few years ago. Man, how quickly people forget.
Now we are being bullied and intimidated by billionaire and millionaire owners to help pay for their new playgrounds. Now we are being bullied and intimidated by the University of Minnesota, who - as far as I can tell - still has a BILLION Dollars in the bank that they refuse to tap.
I can't help but think how soon will the time come for the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves to lobby for a new stadium? Their home, Target Center, is approaching sixteen years old. Why, that's the Rome Coliseum in terms of age in the minds of the Twins and the Vikings!
The Twins, the Vikings, and the Gophers have the nerve to lobby that the public be forced to contribute to their new homes instead of paying out of pocket for them. And make no mistake about it, we're talking only about a game. Sure, it's a big business game and they do employ others, but not at any real LIVING WORKING WAGE, a term bandied about by the Left so often, but they fail to even mention it when talking about stadium jobs.
The Twins, the Vikings, and the Gophers aren't out there researching or curing cancer, heart disease, strokes, AIDS or the common cold. They're playing games. Games!
Huh, playing games. Imagine that.
©2006
Both the Minnesota Vikings and the University of Minnesota Gopher Football team are standing in line, at the state welfare Office of Stadiums for Millionaires and Universities With Endowments In The Bank, waiting for their stadium bills to be approved with taxpayers - in some manner - contributing to the cost of building their palaces.
There was a time when people thought the Metrodome, with its Teflon roof and heated interior, was the cat's pajamas in terms of modernity. No longer did people have to sit shivering in their seat while taking in a football game during the winter months. No longer did people have to worry about getting soaked from rain while watching baseball. There was a time when the Gophers, college football players, were honored - flattered! - to be playing football in The Dome.
Was The Dome perfect? Not by any means. The seating was primarily designed for a football field and baseball fans griped about the seating pattern, but, the Twins did well financially with that seating, and managed to win two World Series in 1987 and 1991.
Somewhere along the line Billionaire Twins Owner Carl Pohlad and his henchmen decided they wanted a new stadium. They weren't willing to build and pay for it entirely on their own, they wanted - not NEEDED - the taxpayer to fund their Taj Mahal.
The Minnesota Vikings, formerly owned by Car Salesman Extraordinaire and Multi-Millionaire "Texas Red" McComb, also got the idea in their collective minds that they wanted -not NEEDED - a new Taj Mahal. And, like Pohlad, they certainly didn't want to have to pay for its construction all on their own.
Now, Vikings Owner and Real Estate Mega-Mogul Ziggy Wilf, carrying on the fine tradition of his Car Salesman Predecessor, also wants - not NEEDS - a new football stadium. And the Real Estate Mogul insists that the taxpayer kick in for the cost of their Football Mansion.
And somewhere along the line, the University of Minnesota, (an overrated university, in my opinion), decided that playing football in the Metrodome was beneath their beloved Gophers.
Not too many years ago the U of MN had, in the bank, a BILLION DOLLAR ENDOWMENT sitting in an account and investments earning interest. I checked to see if that endowment is still in place or if they had spent it. I was told by the person I spoke with on the telephone that they would have to check and call me back.
Gee, I sure would know if I had a Billion Dollar Endowment earning interest in the bank(s). You mean the U of MN isn't sure if that's still the case. Don't make me choke while I laugh.
I've seen both the Twins and the Vikings play at The Dome. I like it, it's a nice place. Is the greatest place on the face of the earth to watch professional sports? Probably not. But what stadium is? Well, the Xcel Center in St. Paul for the NHL's Minnesota Wild is a state of the art facility.
Could it be that the Twins, the Vikings, and the Gophers, after seeing Xcel Center, simply have a grand case of Stadium Envy? Hmmmm, I kinda think that's what the problem is.
One of Pohlad's henchmen, Twins 'El Presidente' Jerry Bell, clasped his hands and became ecstatic when the MN House approved the Twin's stadium bill. This guy has been lobbying year after year after year, doing the bidding of Pohlad for a new baseball park. Bell may well indeed have spent more time at the state legislature than most of the elected politicians!
Pohlad's "Igor": Jerry "As Far As We're Concerned [this stadium] is Critical" Bell
All fans of the Twins, Vikings, and Gophers are most vocal in their support of getting others to help pay for their pet project. They're not willing to take the cost on themselves. That would be wrong. Why, the quality of life in Minnesota depends on, and is so enhanced, by having these teams in Minnesota, don't-cha-know.
Forget about Pohlad's idle threat, in cahoots with Baseball Kommissar Bud Selig, a few years back of contraction, selling the Twins and moving them out of state. Forget about the threat to sell and move the Vikings by "Texas Red" a few years ago. Man, how quickly people forget.
Now we are being bullied and intimidated by billionaire and millionaire owners to help pay for their new playgrounds. Now we are being bullied and intimidated by the University of Minnesota, who - as far as I can tell - still has a BILLION Dollars in the bank that they refuse to tap.
I can't help but think how soon will the time come for the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves to lobby for a new stadium? Their home, Target Center, is approaching sixteen years old. Why, that's the Rome Coliseum in terms of age in the minds of the Twins and the Vikings!
The Twins, the Vikings, and the Gophers have the nerve to lobby that the public be forced to contribute to their new homes instead of paying out of pocket for them. And make no mistake about it, we're talking only about a game. Sure, it's a big business game and they do employ others, but not at any real LIVING WORKING WAGE, a term bandied about by the Left so often, but they fail to even mention it when talking about stadium jobs.
The Twins, the Vikings, and the Gophers aren't out there researching or curing cancer, heart disease, strokes, AIDS or the common cold. They're playing games. Games!
Huh, playing games. Imagine that.
©2006
Labels: Carl Pohlad, I Stadium, Sid Hartman, Zygi Wilf
Blogworthy
Some very noteworthy items to Salute today, so here we go:
** Holly, of Holly's Fight For Justice Shares Her Story of Conviction and Courage in Reader's Digest:
- - -
** WHO ARE YOU? A question we should all be asking ourselves. An out of the ballpark piece by Republican Vet.
** Are you sometimes afraid To Look Stupid? Why?
** Curt examines The '60 Minutes' Hit Piece and cuts it up like a paper shredder.
- - -
** Average Gay Joe runs the video of the Westboro Baptist Cult Protesting at Walter Reed Hospital. Not to be missed!
- - -
** Iran Nukes Holland! Europe Tells U.S., "Don't overreact!
- - -
** Seems as if The Koran is only Stocked on the Top Shelf at Borders Books. H/T: New Spew!
- - -
** Find the Cheapest Gas In Your Neighborhood. H/T: Desert Cat. Thanks DC - that's a great find!
- - -
** What Kind of Dog Are You? Press the word "GAME" on the left margin once there and take the test. Thanks to Cowboy Blob!
- - -
** And last, but certainly not least by any means ...
... Put The POO In The LOO! Courtesy of...you guessed it...Sideshow.
Please flush and light a book of matches when done.
** Holly, of Holly's Fight For Justice Shares Her Story of Conviction and Courage in Reader's Digest:
HOLLY JILL DESIMONE will never silence the sound of the rapist's zipper opening behind her. "Count backward from ten!" he ordered, forcing her onto her hands and knees against a chair in her apartment in Red Deer, Alta.
- - -
** WHO ARE YOU? A question we should all be asking ourselves. An out of the ballpark piece by Republican Vet.
You may only be able to see 20 flag-draped coffins in the photo above, but you wanna know what I see? I see two guys I grew up with at school. I see five guys I served in this war with...
** Are you sometimes afraid To Look Stupid? Why?
Sometimes you take risks and part of that is risking "looking stupid". Lots of people fear loss of reputation, they fear moving out from their safe zone. This fear and, those related within "looking stupid, can hobble important tasks.
** Curt examines The '60 Minutes' Hit Piece and cuts it up like a paper shredder.
- - -
** Average Gay Joe runs the video of the Westboro Baptist Cult Protesting at Walter Reed Hospital. Not to be missed!
- - -
** Iran Nukes Holland! Europe Tells U.S., "Don't overreact!
- - -
** Seems as if The Koran is only Stocked on the Top Shelf at Borders Books. H/T: New Spew!
- - -
** Find the Cheapest Gas In Your Neighborhood. H/T: Desert Cat. Thanks DC - that's a great find!
- - -
** What Kind of Dog Are You? Press the word "GAME" on the left margin once there and take the test. Thanks to Cowboy Blob!
- - -
** And last, but certainly not least by any means ...
... Put The POO In The LOO! Courtesy of...you guessed it...Sideshow.
Please flush and light a book of matches when done.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Selling Tactical Nuclear Weapons: A Lesson In Public Relations Strategy And Marketing
What to do about Iran?
So much of public relations is in the message and not the medium. You're probably familiar with the phrase "selling the sizzle, not the steak", and this is often true of any marketed item.
So, why not apply the same to Tactical Nuclear Weapons and deploying them in Iran? Everyone likes baby carrots, baby peas and baby corn. So why not sell nuking Iran with the phrase "Baby Nukes"? Because that is what Tactical Nuclear Weapons are, Baby Nukes.
Picked early in the season, while they are at their sweetest and most powerful!
Baby Nukes are the Tactical Delight of Everyone!
"They're sure to do the job," says Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
"Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet and delicious!", exclaimed Vice President Dick Cheney.
"Mmmmmmmmm Mmmmmmmmmmm good," said President George W. Bush.
"I can't wait to see them deployed," said a well known Military General who asked not to be named.
"I fear Baby Nukes with much antipathy," says Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Baby Nukes! Now at your Department of Defense...in both the frozen and canned aisles!
©2006
Creative Collaboration Credit: T. James Edwards
So much of public relations is in the message and not the medium. You're probably familiar with the phrase "selling the sizzle, not the steak", and this is often true of any marketed item.
So, why not apply the same to Tactical Nuclear Weapons and deploying them in Iran? Everyone likes baby carrots, baby peas and baby corn. So why not sell nuking Iran with the phrase "Baby Nukes"? Because that is what Tactical Nuclear Weapons are, Baby Nukes.
Picked early in the season, while they are at their sweetest and most powerful!
Baby Nukes are the Tactical Delight of Everyone!
"They're sure to do the job," says Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
"Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet and delicious!", exclaimed Vice President Dick Cheney.
"Mmmmmmmmm Mmmmmmmmmmm good," said President George W. Bush.
"I can't wait to see them deployed," said a well known Military General who asked not to be named.
"I fear Baby Nukes with much antipathy," says Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Baby Nukes! Now at your Department of Defense...in both the frozen and canned aisles!
©2006
Creative Collaboration Credit: T. James Edwards
Minneapolis: Second-Hand Smoke=Bad; Criminals With Guns? Feh!
The current issue of Rake, a monthly magazine of St. Paul and Minneapolis, looks at who are the legal gun owners of Minneapolis. It's quite good, albeit a tad bit wordy, but it does tell us who buys guns legally, for self-defense, the instructors who conduct classes for those seeking permits for conceal/carry, and the slow demise of gun shops in the metropolitan area.
But it's the following paragraphs that jumped out at me:
It seems like the City Czars have conveniently forgotten - or deliberately choose to ignore - the fact the criminals don't purchase their hand guns legally, let alone buy them at a gun shop.
A law abiding citizen can no longer legally purchase a gun in the city limits of Minneapolis. But if you frequent the right bars you can likely hook up with someone who will sell you one in the alley.
But hey-you won't have to breathe any second-hand smoke while you're in that bar. But the trade-off is, depending on the bar, you may wind up with a .45 slug in your chest.
Kudos to the Czars of Minneapolis taking second-hand smoke out of the bars while leaving illegal guns in the hands of criminals in the street. By the way, Mr. Koscielski is the creator of the famous "Murder-apolis" T-shirts. A name befitting the city and its ruling Czars.
©2006
- - -
Additional Reading: Blue Star Chronicles
But it's the following paragraphs that jumped out at me:
The city of Minneapolis has no shops that actually sell guns. The last gun shop in Minneapolis [is] owned by Mark Koscielski and his partner Barbara Bergstrom. They don't sell guns in the store because Minneapolis zoning regulations don't permit guns to be sold at Koscielski's locations. In fact, Minneapolis zoning regulations don't permit a gun shop to operate anywhere in Minneapolis, according to Koscielski. He only sells the guns displayed at the store at gun shows.
"Minneapolis has the idea that, if they zone gun shops out of existence, there will be no more guns," [says Koscielski].
It seems like the City Czars have conveniently forgotten - or deliberately choose to ignore - the fact the criminals don't purchase their hand guns legally, let alone buy them at a gun shop.
"City people are the victims of crimes. Since the city has put me out of business, all they have done is make the prices higher at other gun shops. That just makes it harder for city people who need protection to afford guns," says Koscielski.
A law abiding citizen can no longer legally purchase a gun in the city limits of Minneapolis. But if you frequent the right bars you can likely hook up with someone who will sell you one in the alley.
But hey-you won't have to breathe any second-hand smoke while you're in that bar. But the trade-off is, depending on the bar, you may wind up with a .45 slug in your chest.
Kudos to the Czars of Minneapolis taking second-hand smoke out of the bars while leaving illegal guns in the hands of criminals in the street. By the way, Mr. Koscielski is the creator of the famous "Murder-apolis" T-shirts. A name befitting the city and its ruling Czars.
©2006
- - -
Additional Reading: Blue Star Chronicles
Ed Schultz Not Responsible For The Death of Stephanie Miller's Dog!
From Stephanie McSlut's own site:
Fellow LiberNazi, Fat Eddy Schultz, denies having anything to do with the death of her dog.
Press the > button on the audio bar to hear what Fat Eddy has to say:
*** "Fat Eddy" ***** Stephanie McSlut
(She refers to herself as a slut on her own program, so don't go off on me using the same vernacular for her as she does).
All voices are impersonated. Or...are...they?
Ed Schultz Shoots His Dog Background HERE, and HERE.
©2006
Friday, April 21, 2006
Special thanks to Harrison for filling in for Steph while she was at home taking care of things after the passing of her beloved St. Bernard, Chester. Chester is now barking at lint in heaven.....
Fellow LiberNazi, Fat Eddy Schultz, denies having anything to do with the death of her dog.
Press the > button on the audio bar to hear what Fat Eddy has to say:
*** "Fat Eddy" ***** Stephanie McSlut
(She refers to herself as a slut on her own program, so don't go off on me using the same vernacular for her as she does).
All voices are impersonated. Or...are...they?
Ed Schultz Shoots His Dog Background HERE, and HERE.
©2006
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Big, Bad Evil Oil: Part 2
Airhead America's "Global Oil Economic Guru" (snicker snicker), Mike Malloy, had the following to say on his program last night.
Click the > to listen to his words. Voice is NOT impersonated, it's him! Transcript appears below as well. (Sorry for the quality of the audio.)
Little Mikey Malloy
And let's all marvel - really MARVEL - at the "money-sound-byte" that escaped Cluck Schumer's orifice today, responding to increased gas prices:
Senator Cluck Schumer
Malloy and Schumer both typify that gas prices are nothing more than a political issue for the Democrats. Nope, they have no solution to reduce gas prices. But they're willing to use the issue of increased per gallon prices as a political device to trash the Bush Administration, "Big Oil", and, I guess, "Oil Pirates" whoever that is - if indeed they even exist outside of Malloy's wee little brain.
Could it be that increased prices in the cost of a gallon of gasoline are at all attributable to excess environmental impact from the "greenies" and the enviro-restrictions that the environmentalism movement has put upon "Big Oil"?
Could it be that both the Federal and State Government has excessively TAXED a gallon of gasoline for not highway improvements, but as their source of revenue for any state's "general fund"?
Could it be that there is no incentive for "Big Oil" to explore for domestic crude oil reserves, again due to excessive enviro-legislation and the Environmental Protection Agency (i.e. no off-shore drilling or exploration, mandatory reductions in byproducts such as sulfur content, mandatory legislation that "X" percent of a gallon of gasoline must be ethanol)?
Please remind yourselves that out of the oil rigs devastated by hurricane Katrina, that only TWO OF THEM have returned to full capacity production. If you don't think that this has an impact on the price of gasoline you are...oh, like Malloy, a TRUTH DENIER, not a truth seeker.
Why aren't we drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico? Off the coast of California? In the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)? Building more refineries? Why, that last one built was over thirty years ago.
The oil is there. But the "greenies", and certain politicians on both sides of the aisle (Yes, I mean you Senator Norm Coleman, Republican/RINO of Minnesota, who said you were for drilling in ANWR, but then caved into the "greenies") are more concerned with wildlife than they are the cost of gasoline. So none of you greenies should be complaining as you fill up the tanks on your PT Cruisers, which, is the vehicle of choice for Malloy. And the PT Cruiser is rated as: The PT Cruiser's sticker claims a city highway average of 25 miles per gallon. During AAA's drive, it got 17.5 (MPG).
The price of any commodity is driven by the supply and the demand for that commodity. I don't see any less traffic with the current price of gasoline than I did when it was .50cents or a dollar less than the current price. I'm not advocating doing less of anything as an economic protest to drive down prices. At best, that is a minor and very temporary method to deal with an increased price of any commodity.
The United States does need to drill more for domestic oil, off the coasts, in ANWR, and anywhere else that exploration indicates its existence. While this is being done, of course we have to look at alternative fuel. But right now, whether you want to believe it or not, oil is still the cheapest and most plentiful source of energy for not only our country but the world as well.
What if a magic fuel was found tomorrow that would put "Big Oil" out of business? The effect on the global economy would be a disaster. There isn't one, single item in your home that didn't spend time on a truck. And that truck used...oil to get it to you. Look around you and see how many items are a product of oil; plastics, polyurethanes, insulation, vinyl, neoprene. And for the products that don't contain oil byproducts, again, they've all spent time on a truck in getting to your homes.
It's easy to point the blame-finger at "Big Oil" and those "rich, Republican Oil Pirates." It's far less easy to take responsibility and put forth some, perhaps unpopular solutions, such as those mentioned above - drilling in areas where wildlife exists. Make your choices people.
Which do you want, increased gas prices or pretty and pristine wilderness areas? The funny part is, we can have both lower gasoline prices AND pristine wilderness areas. That is, if the "greenies" and their groupies would allow it.
Paul W. Smith, guest-hosting on the Rush Limbaugh Show today talked with Ben Stein. Now, Ben Stein has more knowledge and intelligence in half a fingernail clipping than Malloy or Schumer combined and to the 1,000th power:
Mr. Stein said:
Ben Stein
There is no Texas Oil Cabal. There is no BIG OIL Conspiracy, other than perhaps those hallucinations that exist in the acid-flashback mind of bitter and aging Commiecrats like Malloy.
Cluck Schumer, what have you offered as a realistic alternative to our so-called addiction to oil, other than for "calling for an investigation," on oil or whatever other Crisis de Jour of the moment gets your beak in front of a television camera for five seconds? N-O-T-H-I-N-G!
Yeah, the cost of a gallon of gas has increased. It's more likely than not to continue increasing as we move into summer. The Left automatically construes this as a Big Oil Conspiracy. But do they have any proof of what they allege? Of course not, but it plays to their political base.
Remember last winter, how refineries had to play catch-up to pump out enough refined crude for heating oil? Well, heating oil was a priority then and that is where the bulk of their refining was concentrated, unlike summer where they need to refine crude oil for gasoline. Guess what - we're going to be in the same predicament come this fall and winter again, because WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH REFINERIES.
With the growing population we have and the, for lack of a better term, "urban sprawl", it is completely unrealistic for us to expect a continuous and uninterrupted flow of heating oil/gasoline/heating oil/gasoline/heating oil/gasoline. Oh, throw on even MORE EPA regulations to confound the refinery imbalances. Toss on a "windfall profits tax"... that won't hurt "Big Oil". No, those costs will be passed on to...THE CONSUMER.
It's funny, so many people will pay upwards of $5.00, or more, for a gourmet ten or twelve ounce cup of coffee, every day - perhaps more than one cup per day - and think nothing of it. Yet so many of these same individuals will buy into the false propaganda spread by the Left when it comes to a gallon of gasoline increasing ten or twenty cents over a period of a week or ten days. Get real.
We can continue as a country to be dependent on imported oil and not build refineries. Not explore our domestic reserves. Hold holy all animal or aquatic life within a 100-500 mile radius of oil supplies, and talk about, but do nothing, to find alternative energy sources. After all, the Liberals looooooooooooove to hear themselves talk about alternate energy but do absolutely nothing about it - for, like Social Security Reform and a host of other issues that need fixing - it is an issue that Liberals need to keep alive, not to solve, because it's the issue that gives their party life.
And a sad life, it is for them, indeed!
©2006
Click the > to listen to his words. Voice is NOT impersonated, it's him! Transcript appears below as well. (Sorry for the quality of the audio.)
Malloy: "[Higher gas prices are] exactly what these predatory, bandit, pirate, sonsabitches are uh...ah...doing. That's precisely why they're in office. Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, George Bush, all of them. These are oil pirates.
So let, let the good times roll. Six dollars a barrel, ah, a gallon. Seven, take it on up, eight dollars, eight-fifty, eight-seventy-fi...go ahead, nine dollars, keep going. Cap my ass."
Little Mikey Malloy
And let's all marvel - really MARVEL - at the "money-sound-byte" that escaped Cluck Schumer's orifice today, responding to increased gas prices:
"It's nice the president is finally talking about gas prices. But talk is cheap. And gas isn't."
Senator Cluck Schumer
Malloy and Schumer both typify that gas prices are nothing more than a political issue for the Democrats. Nope, they have no solution to reduce gas prices. But they're willing to use the issue of increased per gallon prices as a political device to trash the Bush Administration, "Big Oil", and, I guess, "Oil Pirates" whoever that is - if indeed they even exist outside of Malloy's wee little brain.
Could it be that increased prices in the cost of a gallon of gasoline are at all attributable to excess environmental impact from the "greenies" and the enviro-restrictions that the environmentalism movement has put upon "Big Oil"?
Could it be that both the Federal and State Government has excessively TAXED a gallon of gasoline for not highway improvements, but as their source of revenue for any state's "general fund"?
Could it be that there is no incentive for "Big Oil" to explore for domestic crude oil reserves, again due to excessive enviro-legislation and the Environmental Protection Agency (i.e. no off-shore drilling or exploration, mandatory reductions in byproducts such as sulfur content, mandatory legislation that "X" percent of a gallon of gasoline must be ethanol)?
Please remind yourselves that out of the oil rigs devastated by hurricane Katrina, that only TWO OF THEM have returned to full capacity production. If you don't think that this has an impact on the price of gasoline you are...oh, like Malloy, a TRUTH DENIER, not a truth seeker.
Why aren't we drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico? Off the coast of California? In the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)? Building more refineries? Why, that last one built was over thirty years ago.
The oil is there. But the "greenies", and certain politicians on both sides of the aisle (Yes, I mean you Senator Norm Coleman, Republican/RINO of Minnesota, who said you were for drilling in ANWR, but then caved into the "greenies") are more concerned with wildlife than they are the cost of gasoline. So none of you greenies should be complaining as you fill up the tanks on your PT Cruisers, which, is the vehicle of choice for Malloy. And the PT Cruiser is rated as: The PT Cruiser's sticker claims a city highway average of 25 miles per gallon. During AAA's drive, it got 17.5 (MPG).
The price of any commodity is driven by the supply and the demand for that commodity. I don't see any less traffic with the current price of gasoline than I did when it was .50cents or a dollar less than the current price. I'm not advocating doing less of anything as an economic protest to drive down prices. At best, that is a minor and very temporary method to deal with an increased price of any commodity.
The United States does need to drill more for domestic oil, off the coasts, in ANWR, and anywhere else that exploration indicates its existence. While this is being done, of course we have to look at alternative fuel. But right now, whether you want to believe it or not, oil is still the cheapest and most plentiful source of energy for not only our country but the world as well.
What if a magic fuel was found tomorrow that would put "Big Oil" out of business? The effect on the global economy would be a disaster. There isn't one, single item in your home that didn't spend time on a truck. And that truck used...oil to get it to you. Look around you and see how many items are a product of oil; plastics, polyurethanes, insulation, vinyl, neoprene. And for the products that don't contain oil byproducts, again, they've all spent time on a truck in getting to your homes.
It's easy to point the blame-finger at "Big Oil" and those "rich, Republican Oil Pirates." It's far less easy to take responsibility and put forth some, perhaps unpopular solutions, such as those mentioned above - drilling in areas where wildlife exists. Make your choices people.
Which do you want, increased gas prices or pretty and pristine wilderness areas? The funny part is, we can have both lower gasoline prices AND pristine wilderness areas. That is, if the "greenies" and their groupies would allow it.
Paul W. Smith, guest-hosting on the Rush Limbaugh Show today talked with Ben Stein. Now, Ben Stein has more knowledge and intelligence in half a fingernail clipping than Malloy or Schumer combined and to the 1,000th power:
Mr. Stein said:
"Exxon-Mobil is a small [player] in terms of oil companies. They dispose of maybe 2-3% of the world's daily oil production."
"The people driving up the price [of oil] are the [oil] traders. There are no oil barons, anymore."
Ben Stein
There is no Texas Oil Cabal. There is no BIG OIL Conspiracy, other than perhaps those hallucinations that exist in the acid-flashback mind of bitter and aging Commiecrats like Malloy.
Cluck Schumer, what have you offered as a realistic alternative to our so-called addiction to oil, other than for "calling for an investigation," on oil or whatever other Crisis de Jour of the moment gets your beak in front of a television camera for five seconds? N-O-T-H-I-N-G!
Yeah, the cost of a gallon of gas has increased. It's more likely than not to continue increasing as we move into summer. The Left automatically construes this as a Big Oil Conspiracy. But do they have any proof of what they allege? Of course not, but it plays to their political base.
Remember last winter, how refineries had to play catch-up to pump out enough refined crude for heating oil? Well, heating oil was a priority then and that is where the bulk of their refining was concentrated, unlike summer where they need to refine crude oil for gasoline. Guess what - we're going to be in the same predicament come this fall and winter again, because WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH REFINERIES.
With the growing population we have and the, for lack of a better term, "urban sprawl", it is completely unrealistic for us to expect a continuous and uninterrupted flow of heating oil/gasoline/heating oil/gasoline/heating oil/gasoline. Oh, throw on even MORE EPA regulations to confound the refinery imbalances. Toss on a "windfall profits tax"... that won't hurt "Big Oil". No, those costs will be passed on to...THE CONSUMER.
It's funny, so many people will pay upwards of $5.00, or more, for a gourmet ten or twelve ounce cup of coffee, every day - perhaps more than one cup per day - and think nothing of it. Yet so many of these same individuals will buy into the false propaganda spread by the Left when it comes to a gallon of gasoline increasing ten or twenty cents over a period of a week or ten days. Get real.
We can continue as a country to be dependent on imported oil and not build refineries. Not explore our domestic reserves. Hold holy all animal or aquatic life within a 100-500 mile radius of oil supplies, and talk about, but do nothing, to find alternative energy sources. After all, the Liberals looooooooooooove to hear themselves talk about alternate energy but do absolutely nothing about it - for, like Social Security Reform and a host of other issues that need fixing - it is an issue that Liberals need to keep alive, not to solve, because it's the issue that gives their party life.
And a sad life, it is for them, indeed!
©2006
Labels: Malloy The Rotting Corpse
Monday, April 24, 2006
My Brain Hurts!
"My Brain Hurts!" Credit: Monty Python "Gumby's"
I first read about This Story from HERE.
An Oregon man who went to a hospital complaining of a headache was found to have 12 nails embedded in his skull from a suicide attempt with a nail gun, doctors say.
The man at first told doctors he had had a nail gun accident, but later admitted it was a suicide attempt.
The above is one X-ray of his nail filled brain.
Six more X-rays of "Nails In The Brain" await you right HERE. Bon appetit!
©2006
This Man...
Roy Clarke
A) Is a kindly, old, caretaker and custodian at a school,
B) Plays the role of "The Ghost of Christmas Past" in elementary school theater productions,
C) Is a convicted Child Molester.
The answer can be found RIGHT HERE.
Did you guess correctly?
McKINNEY MOUNTAIN
Because it's, "All About Her!", "All About Her!", "All About Her!"
- - -
- - -
SHE WAS PICKED ON ONLY BECAUSE OF HER COLOR!
THE STORY ABOUT A CONGRESSWOMAN WHO COULD DO NO WRONG!
SO SHE RETREATED...
ALL BY HERSELF...
TO THE
MOUNTAIN...
MCKINNEY MOUNTAIN
©2006
THE STORY ABOUT A CONGRESSWOMAN WHO COULD DO NO WRONG!
SO SHE RETREATED...
ALL BY HERSELF...
TO THE
MOUNTAIN...
MCKINNEY MOUNTAIN
©2006
Al O'FrankenFailure: "What we've learned."
Most days, Mr. O'FrankenFailure wraps up his little radio show telling us what we have learned. What have we learned today?
Press the > button on the below audio bar to listen to "O'FrankenFailure's What We've Learned."
Al O'FrankenFailure: The Greatest All-Time Lying Liar of LiarDom
All voices are impersonated. Or...are...they?
©2006
Press the > button on the below audio bar to listen to "O'FrankenFailure's What We've Learned."
Al O'FrankenFailure: The Greatest All-Time Lying Liar of LiarDom
All voices are impersonated. Or...are...they?
©2006
Sunday, April 23, 2006
MN Twins Stadium: Why Should Carl Pohlad Pay His Fair Share?
My friend, Baseball Bob, had the opportunity to interview Minnesota Twins Owner, BILLIONAIRE Carl Pohlad.
While you listen to the interview, scroll down in this post just a bit, and peruse the financial data that goes along with this "Great Investment" into Major League Baseball.
Click on the > to hear the interview:
Billionaire Carl Pohlad
Stadium Facts:
Estimated Cost To Date of the New Twins Stadium: $522 Million Dollars
Amount The Twins Organization (e.g. Twins Owner Carl Pohlad) Will Contribute: $130 Million Dollars
Amount Passed On To Hennepin County Taxpayers: $392 Million Dollars from a .03 cent tax on every $20.00 dollars spent in Hennepin County
Estimated Date of Ballpark Completion: 2010
Twins Current Ranking in MLB: 19th out of 30 Teams
Current Twins Payroll: $63 Million Dollars
Public Vote on the Proposed Hennepin County Tax: Denied by the House Tax Committee in a 15-13 Vote.
Estimated Cost to the Twins Lobby Winning their 'No Taxpayer Vote' on The Issue: Priceless. Because they feared, and rightly so, that the voters would never have approved this "taxation without representation" for a BILLIONAIRE owner and MILLIONAIRE players.
All voices, except Baseball Bob, are impersonated. Or...are...they?
©2006
Information Source:
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Credits:
Wheelchair: "South Park's" Timmy character doll
Image of Carl Pohlad: Public Domain
While you listen to the interview, scroll down in this post just a bit, and peruse the financial data that goes along with this "Great Investment" into Major League Baseball.
Click on the > to hear the interview:
Billionaire Carl Pohlad
Stadium Facts:
Estimated Cost To Date of the New Twins Stadium: $522 Million Dollars
Amount The Twins Organization (e.g. Twins Owner Carl Pohlad) Will Contribute: $130 Million Dollars
Amount Passed On To Hennepin County Taxpayers: $392 Million Dollars from a .03 cent tax on every $20.00 dollars spent in Hennepin County
Estimated Date of Ballpark Completion: 2010
Twins Current Ranking in MLB: 19th out of 30 Teams
Current Twins Payroll: $63 Million Dollars
Public Vote on the Proposed Hennepin County Tax: Denied by the House Tax Committee in a 15-13 Vote.
Estimated Cost to the Twins Lobby Winning their 'No Taxpayer Vote' on The Issue: Priceless. Because they feared, and rightly so, that the voters would never have approved this "taxation without representation" for a BILLIONAIRE owner and MILLIONAIRE players.
All voices, except Baseball Bob, are impersonated. Or...are...they?
©2006
Information Source:
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Credits:
Wheelchair: "South Park's" Timmy character doll
Image of Carl Pohlad: Public Domain
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Medicinal Pot: "Not!"
This past Thursday the Food and Drug Administration issued their official announcement
that marijuana has no proven medicinal or therapeutic value. Is this a surprise to anyone? The statement by the FDA is akin to Las Vegas telling you that gambling anywhere other than Vegas is wrong.
Contradicting the FDA is a 1999 study by the Institute of Medicine that found marijuana is moderately well-suited for particular conditions such as chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting, and of [body] wasting from AIDS. The Institute of Medicine's Dr. John Benson, co-chair for this study, noted that the Federal Government "loves to ignore our report." Of course, when is the last time your physician told you, "I can't help you, but I know a Witch Doctor who can."
Eleven states have legalized marijuana for medical use, but since it is classified as an illegal drug, the federal government - via a decision last year by the Supreme Court - is still permitted to arrest anyone using marijuana in those eleven states. What happened to "all powers not expressly reserved for the Federal Government fall to the State"? Feds, you have overstepped your jurisdiction. The only reason you can arrest these people is because the Supreme Court said you can. Had they not ruled that way, your ass would've been in a sling, and that's how the ruling on this issue should have gone.
Those who oppose legalization of marijuana, in any form, often use the tired and ineffective argument that it is a gateway drug, leading users to more dangerous drugs. What planet are you people from who believe this? The biggest and most abused "gateway drug" is already legal. It's liquor. And make no mistake, I'm in no way arguing for reviving prohibition. I know plenty of people who have gotten into arguments, fights, and not-for-the-better life-changing events because of alcohol abuse. I don't know of anybody who's gotten into those situations because they fired up a spleef or two.
The "but liquor is legal" group falsely believes that by setting a national age limit of 21 years old, that no one will drink until that age. Yet, every day the news reports deaths due to alcohol toxicity by college students, high school students, and others well below the age of 21. Yet there are no stories about anyone who smoked a blunt and died because of it.
To reach the conclusion, over and over again, by government studies and their subordinate arms of research facilities (i.e. The National Institute of Health, the FDA, and others) that marijuana has no medical value is nothing but pure politicking from both sides of the political aisle. Plenty of politicians on both sides of the spectrum play this issue strictly on only a political basis, that marijuana is illegal and therefore it cannot have any value in the medical world while ignoring that plenty of prescription drugs have their roots in illegal drugs. Morphine is derived from poppies. A dentist can prescribe cocaine or cocaine derivatives for oral pain. Huh, how about that.
The Drug Enforcement Agency, by its own admission, is an abysmal failure at controlling the flow of illegal drugs into this country. They are lucky - LUCKY - to stop ten percent of the flow. Considering the money spent, and the funding of the DEA, this would seem by all accounts to be a gigantic financial negative. In fact, if the DEA was a private business or enterprise, it would have filed bankruptcy long, long ago. But because "the taxpayer is an endless resource of revenue" for the government, the DEA continues to live on, like an intestinal tapeworm that is never satiated. What a waste of money and manpower.
Are we to discount and ignore Grandma or Grandpa - who never in their lives sparked up a joint - who find relief from chemotherapy induced nausea by smoking marijuana? Do we tell those suffering from cancer or AIDS that even though something in marijuana appears to be working for them, say, helping keep their food down, that they no longer can use it because the FDA says it has no proven medicinal value?
As a society do we judge our compassion for those suffering from an illness, perhaps a terminal one, by determining the availability of their treatment based solely on the legality or illegality of a substance, and then deny that form of treatment to the sufferer?
I don't care what side of the political spectrum your beliefs fall, but if you cannot, at the very least, be for the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes, you have NO place holding elected office and you should resign as an elected official for reasons of being unable to have compassion and empathy for those who find relief with medcinal marijuana.
©2006
Information Resources:
Scientific American.com
Drug Enforcement Agency (Note their Fiscal Year 2007 Budget request of $1.9 BILLION Dollars)
Medical News Today.com
Institute of Medicine
Online Pot.org
- - -
Linking Here:
Holly's Fight For Justice
Thus I Have Spoken
that marijuana has no proven medicinal or therapeutic value. Is this a surprise to anyone? The statement by the FDA is akin to Las Vegas telling you that gambling anywhere other than Vegas is wrong.
Contradicting the FDA is a 1999 study by the Institute of Medicine that found marijuana is moderately well-suited for particular conditions such as chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting, and of [body] wasting from AIDS. The Institute of Medicine's Dr. John Benson, co-chair for this study, noted that the Federal Government "loves to ignore our report." Of course, when is the last time your physician told you, "I can't help you, but I know a Witch Doctor who can."
Eleven states have legalized marijuana for medical use, but since it is classified as an illegal drug, the federal government - via a decision last year by the Supreme Court - is still permitted to arrest anyone using marijuana in those eleven states. What happened to "all powers not expressly reserved for the Federal Government fall to the State"? Feds, you have overstepped your jurisdiction. The only reason you can arrest these people is because the Supreme Court said you can. Had they not ruled that way, your ass would've been in a sling, and that's how the ruling on this issue should have gone.
Those who oppose legalization of marijuana, in any form, often use the tired and ineffective argument that it is a gateway drug, leading users to more dangerous drugs. What planet are you people from who believe this? The biggest and most abused "gateway drug" is already legal. It's liquor. And make no mistake, I'm in no way arguing for reviving prohibition. I know plenty of people who have gotten into arguments, fights, and not-for-the-better life-changing events because of alcohol abuse. I don't know of anybody who's gotten into those situations because they fired up a spleef or two.
The "but liquor is legal" group falsely believes that by setting a national age limit of 21 years old, that no one will drink until that age. Yet, every day the news reports deaths due to alcohol toxicity by college students, high school students, and others well below the age of 21. Yet there are no stories about anyone who smoked a blunt and died because of it.
To reach the conclusion, over and over again, by government studies and their subordinate arms of research facilities (i.e. The National Institute of Health, the FDA, and others) that marijuana has no medical value is nothing but pure politicking from both sides of the political aisle. Plenty of politicians on both sides of the spectrum play this issue strictly on only a political basis, that marijuana is illegal and therefore it cannot have any value in the medical world while ignoring that plenty of prescription drugs have their roots in illegal drugs. Morphine is derived from poppies. A dentist can prescribe cocaine or cocaine derivatives for oral pain. Huh, how about that.
The Drug Enforcement Agency, by its own admission, is an abysmal failure at controlling the flow of illegal drugs into this country. They are lucky - LUCKY - to stop ten percent of the flow. Considering the money spent, and the funding of the DEA, this would seem by all accounts to be a gigantic financial negative. In fact, if the DEA was a private business or enterprise, it would have filed bankruptcy long, long ago. But because "the taxpayer is an endless resource of revenue" for the government, the DEA continues to live on, like an intestinal tapeworm that is never satiated. What a waste of money and manpower.
Are we to discount and ignore Grandma or Grandpa - who never in their lives sparked up a joint - who find relief from chemotherapy induced nausea by smoking marijuana? Do we tell those suffering from cancer or AIDS that even though something in marijuana appears to be working for them, say, helping keep their food down, that they no longer can use it because the FDA says it has no proven medicinal value?
As a society do we judge our compassion for those suffering from an illness, perhaps a terminal one, by determining the availability of their treatment based solely on the legality or illegality of a substance, and then deny that form of treatment to the sufferer?
I don't care what side of the political spectrum your beliefs fall, but if you cannot, at the very least, be for the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes, you have NO place holding elected office and you should resign as an elected official for reasons of being unable to have compassion and empathy for those who find relief with medcinal marijuana.
©2006
Information Resources:
Scientific American.com
Drug Enforcement Agency (Note their Fiscal Year 2007 Budget request of $1.9 BILLION Dollars)
Medical News Today.com
Institute of Medicine
Online Pot.org
- - -
Linking Here:
Holly's Fight For Justice
Thus I Have Spoken
Labels: 420
Happy Snappy Earth Day!
Things to do to celebrate Earth Day:
Let your car idle all day long. There's plenty of gasoline, even though it may be expensive, and putting more pollutants into the ozone is always a good thing.
Don't recycle anything today. Or any other day, for that matter. Recycling takes away primary manufacturing jobs. Vow never to recycle anything ever again.
Turn on the tap water and let it run. All day long. And tomorrow too!
If you're leaving a campground, leave the campfire burning, don't bother putting it out. A good forest fire burn is always the right thing to do. Mother Earth will say "Thank You!"
Toss those old cell phone batteries and other lithium ion batteries into a landfill. They'll biodegrade over time and won't pollute the groundwater tables.
What to do with those old televisions and obsolete computers? Toss 'em in a landfill. Mother Earth feeds off items like these.
Paint thinners, old crankcase oil, and other liquid toxins can ALL be poured down the drain or into the sewer system. It's fine to do that, it doesn't hurt anything.
Litter to your heart's content. Cigarette butts, paper, plastic items, garbage, Styrofoam containers - just toss it wherever you may be at the moment. Remember, the world is your ashtray and garbage can, don't ever forget it.
If you need to relieve yourself, drop trou and go wherever you are at the moment. Like the item immediately above, the world is your urinal and toilet bowl, use it accordingly.
The Earth is your personal Trash Can! Use it as such.
Happy Snappy Earth Day!
©2006
Linking Here:
Code Red
Let your car idle all day long. There's plenty of gasoline, even though it may be expensive, and putting more pollutants into the ozone is always a good thing.
Don't recycle anything today. Or any other day, for that matter. Recycling takes away primary manufacturing jobs. Vow never to recycle anything ever again.
Turn on the tap water and let it run. All day long. And tomorrow too!
If you're leaving a campground, leave the campfire burning, don't bother putting it out. A good forest fire burn is always the right thing to do. Mother Earth will say "Thank You!"
Toss those old cell phone batteries and other lithium ion batteries into a landfill. They'll biodegrade over time and won't pollute the groundwater tables.
What to do with those old televisions and obsolete computers? Toss 'em in a landfill. Mother Earth feeds off items like these.
Paint thinners, old crankcase oil, and other liquid toxins can ALL be poured down the drain or into the sewer system. It's fine to do that, it doesn't hurt anything.
Litter to your heart's content. Cigarette butts, paper, plastic items, garbage, Styrofoam containers - just toss it wherever you may be at the moment. Remember, the world is your ashtray and garbage can, don't ever forget it.
If you need to relieve yourself, drop trou and go wherever you are at the moment. Like the item immediately above, the world is your urinal and toilet bowl, use it accordingly.
The Earth is your personal Trash Can! Use it as such.
Happy Snappy Earth Day!
©2006
Linking Here:
Code Red
Friday, April 21, 2006
Al O'FrankenFailure On The Issues!
Al O'FrankenFailure: The Greatest All-Time Lying Liar of LiarDom
Can't get enough of Al O'FrankenFailure? I know I can't! City Pages, the News and Arts weekly newspaper of the Twin Cities, interviewed The O'FrankenFailure.
Some of the more interesting facets:
O'FrankenFailure shed a tear during John Kerry's 2004 concession speech. Pardon any further typos I may make from hereon, but I can't stop laughing at that. Boo-Hoo, Al, Boo-Hoo.
Question: [Are people getting] a little tired of celebrities inserting themselves into political debates and political races?
O'FrankenFailure: Well, the Republicans didn't complain when [California Governor Arnold] Schwarzenegger jumped in. And his [prior] experience was limited to taking steroids and lifting weights.
Question: What is [your] political vision?
O'FrankenFailure: It's the vision of a more just society in all respects - certainly in economic respects. Tax justice is going to be part of this [vision]. And simple things like the living wage. Fair-trade deals. Health care for everyone. Investment in our schools. Addressing the real problem, which is global warming - that's just a common sense issue and a moral issue. Renewable energy, bio-fuels. Pension reform, making sure that people have safe retirements. Addressing the stupid bankruptcy stuff. Establishing a foreign policy where we respect the views of other countries - where we make ourselves more secure by doing that.
Question: Does part of the temptation to run [for the Senate] have to do with your sense that if you don't, no one else will - at least no one who represents that vision you described?
O'FrankenFailure: Well, yeah. In 2008, I want someone to run who's gonna beat [MN Senator] Norm [Coleman]. And I want someone to run who believes in the stuff that I believe in - believes to the degree that I do [laughs].
His political vision is nothing more than regurgitated Socialism, period. Making people more "equal" by imposing tax justice? You mean like the highest tax increase this country ever had, imposed by Bill Clinton? You mean THAT kind of tax justice?
Renewable energy, bio-fuels, blah blah blah. We've been hearing this same hackneyed alternative energy propaganda since at least the Jimmy Cah-tah Crisis Presidency. And while the Left has had their opportunities to do something with that issue, they have instead, chosen to do nothing.
"Investment in our schools." Investment is a metaphor for "Increased Taxes", and nothing more. How much is enough when comes to school funding? Year after year, cities in every state pass tax increases for education. Nobody can get a legitimate copy of a school budget that is understandable to determine if the tax hike is needed or justified. Nobody knows how and where this money is being spent or where it goes, yet taxes are increased again and again "For The Children". The last vestige of a politician, or a school board, is "The Children".
Global warming...common sense? The scientific community is more divided on global warming than they are on any other issue. Maybe global warming is happening, but maybe it isn't. Maybe it's a cycle that the earth goes through every few hundred-thousand or million years. To panic at the short term, so-called, "evidence" that proponents of global warming report is to buy into a Sky Is Falling Chicken Little Syndrome. Far more studying and research - perhaps years or decades - is needed before a conclusion of definite global warming can be made.
Funny, that the Left pooh-poohs that "Iran won't have nuclear weapons for at least five years," implying there's plenty of time to do something about it, but global warming? Why, according to the Left, global warming is here and now and real and action must be taken immediately. You mean we must act now on global warming but we can just keep postponing acting on Iran? Hypocrites!
Beating Senator Norm Coleman: You just want someone, anyone, specifically a Commiecrat, to beat Norm Coleman. Their qualifications or experience don't matter (certainly they don't if you are considering running) as long as they can beat a Republican, right? That's all that matters - to elect another Socialist to the Senate. Anyone, as long as they are a Commiecrat.
I kind of hope The O'FrankenFailure does run for Senate in 2008. I think he'd be a dandy candidate. A dandy candidate for any Conservative to handily beat.
©2006
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