Bring back the stigma

I’ve been a bit lax on the blog front lately … I’ve had some great things come to mind, but never seemed to get the energy up to write them out. This is one of those ideas … and I may combine in one of the others here as well, since the two go together pretty well.

What set me off this time was a person calling into a radio show that said “We need to do more to remove the stigma of welfare.” I think you can see from the title I choose what my opinion of that sentiment is. What the caller was basically saying is that we should make sure that people don’t feel bad about leeching off the hard work of others, and that is NOT a sentiment that I can agree with.

But wait a minute, they’ll say, not ALL people on welfare are leeching off the system.

That’s true … there are those people who use welfare as a temporary means of support to get themselves back on their feet … and that’s what the system is for. The astute reader will realize that I didn’t say ‘Abolish Welfare’ as my title. The problem with the reasoning that we should abolish the stigma of welfare because ‘not all people are leaching off the system’ is that you are also removing the stigma from those that ARE leeching off the system.

When the welfare system was introduced it worked, and it helped a lot of people turn their lives around. One of the main reasons it worked was that people were ashamed to be on it and would work extra hard to get off of it. People still had enough pride to want to make it on their own and not need the hand outs of others.

Over the years, however, there have been those that, in their attempt to be more humanitarian, have tried harder and harder to relieve people of that ‘shame’ helping them to feel better about a situation that they didn’t have control over. The theory being that by making them feel better about themselves they would see their greater potential and strive for something greater.

The fact of the matter is, however, that in most cases that isn’t how the human mind works. Generally speaking, by making them feel better about their situation you decrease their desire to change their situation. By removing the stigma of welfare you may, in fact increase the self opinion and esteem of those on welfare, but you also remove the majority of the drive for them to remove themselves from that system.

A large percentage of the people who use the welfare system properly likely do so because of their pride in their abilities … they aren’t ‘offended’ by the stigma, they are encouraged by the stigma to get back on their feet and off ‘the system’.

Too many people are on welfare, not because they can’t find a job, but because they can’t find a job that they are willing to do, or that pays what they want, or that has the benefits that they want to have. These people CHOOSE to remain unemployed and the welfare system as it currently stands allows them to make that choice … it allows them to continue leeching off the fact that other people are working to earn the money for them to live.

‘Why should I work, I can just live of the people in the country that do work … after all they’re just lucky that they got their jobs anyway, why shouldn’t I get something out of that luck?’

To help support my point I put before you the case of Farrah Gray. For those that haven’t heard the story, the man is a true American success story. Raised in the Detroit projects, his family on welfare, Mr. Gray pulled himself up and became a millionaire by the age of 14. I recently heard an interview with him where he was talking about his new book Reallionaire, and said that it all started because he felt that there had to be something more to their situation. In essence, he was uncomfortable being on welfare, and so he worked and came up with things to do to get off of that system.

Sure, he had his setbacks, and his failures. He had people that wouldn’t take him seriously and people that told him ‘it can’t be done’. He had people that thought he was a prank caller. What made him different than the ones that failed, why did he manage? Did he know someone? Did he get lucky? No … he just didn’t give up. He didn’t think ‘why me’ he thought ‘why NOT me.’

The problem is that there are too many people in this country that don’t want to believe that hard work can pay off … they don’t want to believe that someone can work hard and get ahead. Why don’t they want to believe that? Because they don’t want to work hard … they want everything handed to them … and if someone has something that they don’t it’s because ‘they got lucky’ or ‘they knew someone’ or ‘they cheated’. They can’t believe that ANYONE can make an honest living, working hard, and get ahead, because if they believe that then the only reason that they aren’t getting ahead is their own failure to work hard for it.

Fight for your right ... to smoke?

Okay … to start with … I’m not a smoker … I’ve smoked a couple cigars, sure, but I’ve never smoked a cigarette and I don’t regularly smoke anything. My wife used to be a smoker but gave up that habit some … oh it’s been more than 6 years, and probably closer to 10 since she gave it up. In general I don’t think that smokers are the brightest bulbs in the light string, but I have to say it’s their right to kill themselves if they so desire.

‘What the heck are you rambling on about Klik?’ is what you’re probably asking right about now…. Georgia’s Governor, Sonny Perdue, signed a bill into law this week that Bans smoking in all public areas … and I believe within a certain distance of any public building. (By public building I mean any building into which the public can enter ... so stores, malls, restaurants, bars, etc.)

Am I dead set against this law? No, but I can’t say that I agree with it either, because I don’t believe that it is an appropriate use of the powers of government. If it is a building that the public HAS to visit (court houses, driver’s license office, things of that nature) then I think that it is fine to pass a law banning smoking in those areas. However, I believe that, in any establishment that the public has the option of entering, the choice of rather to allow smoking or not allow smoking should be the option of the owners of the establishment.

If the owners of an establishment that I frequent choose to allow smoking within their establishment, then I, as a non-smoker, have to decide if I want to continue going there or not. I should not, however, have the right to put a gun to the owners head and say “No … you won’t allow smoking in here.” … which is, in essence, what passing such legislation is. It is Non-smokers trying to force smokers and business owners to cater to them and treat smokers as second class citizens.

If you want to pass a law stating that business that allow smoking must put up big red signs at all entry ways that state that they allow smoking, that’s fine. I don’t have a problem with requiring that the public be informed so that they can make their decisions to enter or not on all the relevant information. Heck, you can even require the sign to state the dangers of second hand smoke if you want, but I don’t think that the government should be able to tell a business owner what they can or can’t do in their business with regards to smoking.

To be completely fair to the law it does provide an exemption for bars and restaurants that do not employ or serve anyone under 18 years of age. Still though, if a business wants to cater to smokers, and can operate a profitable business doing so, why should the government tell them that they can’t do that? Oh … that’s right … they want to protect us … they want to make sure that we don’t get injured in some way … soon they’ll be rolling out the padding for the walls and doors and putting fences up dividing the sidewalk from the road so that pedestrians don’t accidentally step out in front of moving cars …..

I’m sorry … it is not the government’s job to hold my hand and make sure that nothing bad happens to me. If you want that from the government then there are places that I believe that you can go to be committed.

There’s another issue in Georgia with smokers, however, where I DO agree with the way that it’s being handled. Georgia state employees that smoke are having their health insurance premiums raised by $40 a month more than non-smokers. (They are doing the smoker/non-smoker thing on the honor system, but if you are caught lying about your smoking status then you loose ALL health coverage for a year.)

In general, smokers get sick more often, need more frequent and more expensive medical treatment, and have other workplace related issues. In short having one smoker on a company health insurance policy can raise the premiums of every employee by quite a bit. It is their choice to smoke … if they don’t want to pay $40 more a month for health care then guess what … they can stop smoking. Hell … chances are pretty good with most smokers that they can save enough to cover that $40 a month just by cutting their cigarette use back.

Is it their right to smoke if they want? Sure it is. But there is nothing that is forcing them to smoke … it is a choice … if they make the choice to smoke, then they can pay the price. Everyone is responsible for the choices they make … and everyone has to face the consequences of those choices, be they good or bad.

Personally I believe that any employer should not only have the right to put more of the cost of the health coverage on those in the company who choose to make that coverage cost more. I will even go so far as to say that it should be the employers right to refuse to employ someone that smokes or refuse to include them in the company health coverage …. As long as such a rule is employed fairly in all cases (meaning that smoker_a and smoker_b are both denied employment due to their smoking habit and if the rule is put into place in a work place that has a mix of smokers and non-smokers then the smokers should be given a reasonable deadline to quit the habit.)

Some people are concerned that this would be used as a precedent to raise the rates or deny coverage to others with existing conditions. My answer to that is … if the existing conditions are the result of a choice and are ‘quitable’ then I don’t see where the problem is.

My choices are my responsibility … nobody else’s … Your choices are YOUR responsibility … nobody else’s.

It's about responsibility

Okay there are a couple of stories that have prompted this particular entry and I’ll discuss them individually.

First … the case of the local ‘runaway bride’ … for those that don’t know the story: A local woman, Jennifer, was supposed to be married to her fiancé on Saturday April 30th. On Tuesday, April 26th, Jennifer went for her nightly run and never returned. State and Local police (and eventually federal police) looked for her and on Saturday she called ‘911’ in New Mexico claiming to have been abducted. After about 4 hours she changed her story and said that she had just ‘snapped’ and hopped on a greyhound bus to run away from it all. It has since been reported that the bus ticket was purchased roughly a week in advance of her disappearance.

The search cost the county an estimated $60,000, plus I believe that there were state funds used in addition to that amount. Local and State Law Enforcement officers were diverted from other duties in this effort. The District Attorney is looking at criminal charges and there’s a big debate as to what to do with the ‘runaway bride’. (Her family has forgiven her and her fiancé says he still wants to marry her.)

Some people say that she should be prosecuted and repay the full cost of the search as well as other penalties. Others say that she should get a ‘pass’ because she wasn’t in her rational mind and didn’t intend for all this to happen.

I think the answer here lies somewhere in the middle … as answers often do. We can’t just give her a pass because she didn’t ‘intend’ for this to happen … certainly she shouldn’t be punished as harshly as someone who intentionally caused these problems … but there are a lot of times where actions have un-intended results that can result in criminal prosecution. That she wasn’t in a rational state of mind and didn’t think of the possible consequences is, likewise, no reason to ‘give her a pass’ …. No … she has to take responsibility for the consequences of her actions, un-intended though they may have been. To do otherwise is to say that the actions are acceptable.

I believe that the only actual law that she broke was in lying to law enforcement officials so any criminal prosecution could carry a 5 year jail sentence. Now I believe that is a ‘maximum sentence’ and thus not likely what she would face in this instance. But I have to say that I don’t believe that jail time is necessary for this case … I would honestly rather have her have to put in some time at a crisis center or other similar community service. The money is another issue … I’d like to see her pay back that cost to the county … enforcing that, however, is likely an issue. Technically the money was spent at the request of the family and at a point when nothing that Jennifer had done was against the law.

To me … the best resolution for this case would be for Jennifer to come forward and workout an agreement with the DA in the case and take responsibility for her actions of her own accord.

The other case is a different side of things. At Dacula High in northern Georgia, a science teacher know to the students as ‘Doc’ (I’m too lazy to look up the story and actually get his name at the moment) has a long standing policy that students caught sleeping or otherwise not paying attention in class receive either a zero or half credit depending on the assignment. Well … Football Jock_01 fell asleep in class and *gasp* got a zero on the days assignment.

Well Mr. Jock apparently didn’t like being held responsible for falling asleep in class and complained to his father … Jock Sr. then marched down to the School Principal’s office and complained that Jock Jr. shouldn’t be given a zero for falling asleep in class and the principal agreed, and told ‘Doc’ to change the grade. Doc, however, felt that there was a principle at stake here and said that the student knew the rule and that the zero would not be changed.

Doc has been suspended for using grades to discipline students. (Okay … hold on a second … teachers can’t use grades to discipline students … they can’t physically discipline students and they can’t remove students from their classes … how exactly IS a teacher supposed to discipline their students? Harsh Language? Oh wait … no … that’s not allowed either.)

It’s a simple matter … you break the rules, you pay the price … Doc’s rule was (in essence) no sleeping in class … the price was a zero. Get off the teacher’s case and let him do his job.

It seems though that the students aren’t taking this quietly …. They have begun protesting the suspension of Doc with posters, T-Shirts, buttons and petitions aimed at getting Doc back in the classroom. At one speaking engagement when the Principal got up to the podium to speak students began loudly chanting “Doc! Doc! Doc!”

Wow … students that want a teacher that holds to his rules and applies them to everyone. Who don’t want one student to avoid his responsibility just because he’s a Jock…

Maybe there’s hope in the world after all…..

Economics of Fair Tax

Okay … before I go onto the rant about the weak criminal justice system in this country and how it got that way, I want to take a moment to bring up some points of the Fair Tax plan.

I’ll be excepting most of these points from an email sent to me by the Fair Tax Organization (http://www.fairtax.org/) as it contains several points that I had not considered and I think it very well shows some of the many normally unconsidered benefits of the plan.

Now … before I go onto that … The Fair Tax plan wasn’t just created by a single congressman … it was developed by a panel of researchers and economists that were tasked with the job of coming up with the simplest method of changing the current tax system while maintaining the current federal government budget requirements. This isn’t something that a couple of politicians threw together on a napkin over a cup of coffee at 2am …

“The FairTax bill currently in Congress (House Resolution 25/Senate Resolution 25) proposes completely eliminating the income tax and replacing it with a national sales tax (consumption tax). This non-partisan bill, developed after eight years of study by the country’s leading economists and co-sponsored by 32 legislators, proposes a progressive national sales tax of 23 cents out of every dollar spent on personal consumption in order to raise the amount currently raised through corporate and personal income taxes.”

This 23 cents on the dollar tax always makes people go ‘OMG things will cost 23% more!!1!” But research studies and leading economists disagree:

“THE FAIR TAX WILL BE A TREMENDOUS BOOST TO OUR ECONOMY! The cost of tax compliance and payroll taxes is built into the price of every good or service we currently purchase. Eliminating these costs will reduce production costs of U.S. products by an estimated 22%; therefore, prices will not go up. Foreign goods for sale in the U.S. will also be taxed, making American products 20% to 30% more competitive at home and abroad. Dr. Laurence Kotlikoff, chair of the economics department at Boston University, estimated that the move to a broad-based consumption tax would add a 7% to 14% increase in GDP.”

Studies actually show that through market place competition pre-tax prices will drop 20-22% on most goods … so an item that currently costs $100 (pre local tax) a 20% price drop would make it an $80 pre-tax … add the 23% tax and you have a final out of pocket cost of $98.40 … if you say a 7% state and local sales tax as well then you’re looking at 30% sales tax so the new $80 pre-tax price becomes $104 after all taxes are paid (keeping in mind that the after tax price with a 7% tax is currently $107). (Note of course that the Fair Tax proposal is a federal matter so does nothing to change any state tax systems currently in place – nor does it account for such systems in its calculations.) This would take a little time for the market to adjust of course depending on how the Fair Tax system is implemented there would likely be an adjustment period were prices were higher as both retail stores and manufacturers soaked in a little extra profit.

“BUSINESSES AND INDIVIDUALS WILL NO LONGER HAVE TO SPEND OVER $250 BILLION EACH YEAR IN COMPLIANCE COSTS. By not having to pay the costs of tax planning and filing, businesses will have more money to invest in expansion and modernization for global competitiveness. Individuals – wage earners – will be able to buy more, save more and invest more.”

Keep in mind also that less tax prep and compliance costs for businesses also means that they have more cash available to put into employee wages. While I doubt that any of us wage earners would see immediate raises there would be a greater likelihood of such over time. In the mean time we would have the advantage of taking home most or all of our paycheck (State withholdings would still apply.) so that would seem like a raise.

To that point – “With the FairTax, there will be no Federal payroll deductions of any kind – no income tax, no Social Security tax, no Medicare tax and no self-employment tax. FairTax provisions will provide monthly “prebate” reimbursements on essential living expenses and prebate all taxes to those spending under the poverty line.”

This ‘prebate’ would be provided to all households. A married couple with no children (family of 2) would receive a monthly check for about $357 so in addition to taking home most or all of your paycheck, you’d receive an extra $357 a month to cover all or some of your tax expenditure. A family of 4 would receive an estimated $479 a month.

“Our current income tax exports our jobs, rather than our products, but the FairTax allows U.S. exports to sell overseas for prices 22% lower, on average, than they do now – with similar profit margins. Lower prices sharply increase demand for U.S. exports, thereby increasing job creation in our country’s manufacturing sectors. America will be virtually the only country selling products abroad at prices that do not include a tax component in the price. As a result, multinational companies will flock to setup shop in the U.S.”

Again, not something that would happen over night by any means, but certainly a good thing for the American worker and economy.

“Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan recently testified to the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform that, ‘A consumption tax would be the best from the perspective of promoting economic growth …’”

One of the things that opponents to a consumption tax (a tax on spending rather than income) frequently fail to take into account is the simple fact that with the economic growth that would be stimulated would result in job growth, increased pay, and better economic long term stability.

Now a few rebuttals to some of the things that I’ve heard –

People will start using the barter system to buy things

That’s going to be a fun trick … how many people in this country create a good or service that they could reliably trade to the grocery store for their food? Or the clothing store for the cloths that they need? Am I going to cut out the stores and go offer the farmer, what, my TV in exchange for some meat and vegetables? The fact of the matter is that a Sales Tax is not easily gotten around … with the current income tax system you only need one person conspiring to evade it (by lying on their return, not filing, etc) … with a sales tax you need at least two people (buyer and seller). Will it happen? To a degree, yes. But realistically the rate of such things is going to be low, and will likely be even lower than the evasion rate under the current tax system.

(for the National Retail Federation) People will SAVE their money and that will hurt the economy!

Um … no. First off unless people are stuffing their money into their mattress then they are probably saving it in a bank or other investment (IRA, Stock, Bond, etc) which means that money is directly helping the economy grow. (What … you don’t think that the bank pays you interest out of the goodness of their hearts do you? They invest the money in your savings account.) Secondly while people may save some or even most of the ‘additional’ money that they get from their paychecks very few people spend less when they have more … meaning that on the whole people will tend to spend the same amount that they are now and will most likely spend more than they do now.

Yes they will also likely save more than they do now … but if they receive $100 more a week in their paycheck from the removal of the federal withholdings and they save $80 and spend $20 of it, that’s a $20 a week INCREASE in spending. (And that $80 a week increase in savings makes them more financially stable and helps the economy.)

The fact of the matter is that currently the US has anemic savings rates and that is one of the MAJOR factors hurting our overall economy.

The government will know everything we spend our money on!

Okay, blatant paranoia aside. They actually won’t know anymore than they do currently. In fact technically they’ll know less. Under the current system the government gets an annual report on our income, family size, financial situation (if you itemize), Marital status, and everyone in your family’s social security number. Under the Fair Tax plan … all they would get is your family’s social security numbers (as that would be used to register for the ‘prebate’) the tax collection is a ‘blind tax’ (meaning it’s collected anonymously) just as state/local sales taxes are now … you don’t show an ID or have the sales tax amount logged in your name currently.

Those are the only ones that I can remember off the top of my head … I’m sure I’ll think of more later and I’ll put them into another entry when I do. (I can think of one more, the ‘additional tax on the poor’ but I think I covered that in the last entry where I discussed the Fair Tax Legislation. I’m serious about this folks … we need to do something with the tax system in this country, but the only way it’s going to happen is if we the people stand up and make our representatives in federal government do what we want … regardless of the special interest groups …

Stand together and don’t back down.

Parents, Kids, and Death

With all the news stories of kids going missing and getting killed I sometimes wonder how any survive to adulthood these days. The other side of that is, how can parents today see these stories on the news and then turn around and have it happen to them?

Some of you likely heard the story from East Georgia this past weekend where two children, ages 2 and 3 years, went missing on Saturday prompting a police search, etc. The kids were found on Monday morning in a sewage pond a mile and a half from their home, dead. Currently there are no signs of abduction or violence and the cause of death appears to be accidental drowning as of Tuesday’s coroner’s report.

So it appears that the two children wandered out of their home on Saturday, wandered a mile and a half where they both fell into this algae covered sewage pond and drowned. But let’s look at this tragic story a bit more … not only did the two children wander out of the house … it was the second time that day that the kids had wandered out, the first time a neighbor found the kids wandering in the neighborhood and brought them home. Reportedly one of the two kids was known to have figured out how to unlock and open the front door (I’ve heard it was the 3 year old and that it was the 2 year old so I’m leaving it at ‘one of the two’).

Let me get this straight … you have a kid 2 or 3 years old that you KNOW has figured out how to unlock and open the front door … your neighbor has already brought the kids back to the house once because you obviously weren’t paying attention to where they were or what they were doing … and you do nothing to prevent the situation from happening again, either by watching them more closely or taking steps to make sure that they can’t just unlock the door and wander out again, or both? ARE YOU BRAIN DEAD?

Now cases like the guy in Florida earlier this month that raped and killed the little girl are one issue … though parents should be aware that these nutcases are out there and should be responsible enough to keep a close watch on their kids and protect them from such predators there is a failing in the jail system in this country that gives these people entirely too many chances. The man in that case had something along the lines of 25 prior arrests and had reportedly BEGGED to be kept locked up because he said that if he was released that he WOULD do it again. That, however, is a rant for another day.

How is it that parents … in a world where there is some story about kids being killed, abducted, or otherwise separated from their parents long enough to make it on the news on a weekly basis … can be so mindless and negligent as to let their own kids walk out the front door, wander a mile and a half from the house, and drown. Last time I checked the average 2 and 3 year old weren’t exactly doing 15min miles … When I was 2 or 3 years old … if I’d walked out the front door … at MOST I would have got to the edge of the yard before one of my parents picked me up and took me back inside … and trust me … when I was 2 or 3 our yard wasn’t what most people would call large.

Is the world really more dangerous today? Or are more parents simply extra negligent … or am I’m just more aware of it than I was in the past?

OMG they might SAVE!

Okay … to an extent this is old news … It’s a rant that I’ve been meaning to write for several weeks now, but haven’t had the time, energy, or motivation to put fingers to keyboard. I expect, however, that I’ll get around to firing up the old blog for a few entries over the next couple of weeks.

At this point April 15th has come and gone. Americans across the country have spent a horrendous amount of combined man-hours and money laboring under an archaic tax system that needs revision. Many of you that know me already know that I support a new tax law proposed by Congressman John Linder (R-GA) commonly known at the Fair Tax Plan (Details can be found at http://www.fairtax.org/ including a rebuttal section that explores some of the more common arguments against the plan) which would make April 15th ‘just another day’ by doing away with income tax and replacing it with a consumption tax (thus taxing DISPOSABLE income as opposed to all income).

I almost regret that both my US Senators and my Congressman already support this legislation as it means that I can’t call/mail/etc them to urge them to support the proposal. (I do email them to thank them for supporting it though.) The Fair Tax movement has grown substantially over the last couple of years and with the coverage that it gained over the last election period it gained the ear of President Bush … it also gained it’s first ‘organized’ opposition.

Now there has, of course, been opposition to the Fair Tax plan before this, but it was individuals or small groups of people that were largely unfamiliar with the bill and made blanket statements such as ‘it will just be an additional tax on the poor!’ (Since it repeals the current income tax completely it can hardly be considered an ‘additional tax’ … second off the poor, along with everyone else, would get their ENTIRE paycheck (no withholding payroll taxes) AND they would get a check for the amount that they would be expected to pay in tax for the ‘essentials’ (food, clothing, shelter) so that in essence they would pay zero tax.)

Now, however, a major organization has stepped forward and made a stance against the Fair Tax plan. The National Retail Federation is opposed to the fair tax and has apparently urged their member organizations (mostly major retail stores such as Home Depot and others) to oppose the legislation.

But why is it that this particular special interest group has stepped forward to combat this Tax Legislation? Because they’re afraid that people, once given their entire paycheck, might choose to save some of their money. OMG the HORROR! Americans, in particular the poor and middle class, might actually SAVE their own money for retirement or *gasp* for a rainy day.

What it boils down to is that the National Retail Federation wants every American to spend 100% of their Net income … or even better spend 150%. Don’t save any of it! SPEND SPEND SPEND! Never mind that part of the problem with the economy is a low savings rate … never mind that people in this country could live better longer with a little more money in their pockets … never mind that it might mean that there are less bankruptcy cases as people have more net income due to the removal of federal withholding taxes.

This same organization supports and fights for the Bush tax cuts, and states that the tax cuts are directly responsible for increased spending and economic growth because the cuts put more money in the hands of the American people to spend. Never mind that with the Fair Tax plan I (and most Americans) would receive most of the 28% or more that is withheld from their paychecks … never mind the myriad of economic studies that show that the Fair Tax would result in enormous economic growth for this country. Never mind any of that … people might SAVE!

Do you remember the first real paycheck you got? If you’re like most Americans, when you looked at that paycheck stub your jaw dropped as you realized how much was being withheld for tax purposes. I want you to relive that … look at those withholdings every time you get a paycheck and realize that there is an alternative. You and every American could be receiving all of those federal withholdings (Federal, Social Security, Medicare) yourself AND receiving a check from the federal government in compensation for your estimated tax on essential items.

I urge you ALL to become informed about the Fair Tax proposal, and if you support it, to lend your voice to the cause. Individually there’s not much we can do …. Together, there is nothing that we can’t.

The Courts and Death

As I’m sure most of you by now know Terry Schiavo died today. Yes my last entry I stated that I believed that the tube should remain removed and that Terry should be allowed to die. She should have been allowed to die in 2001 the first time the tube was removed. Even so I give my sympathy to her parents, and hope that now that it is final that they will be able to move on with their lives and continue to live their lives with happy memories of Terry rather than the years of legal battles and television interviews that they forced themselves to go through. It is my hope that they can come to see the this final answer is what was best for Terry, even if it’s not what they wanted.

However, I keep hearing certain things repeated over and over … and I’m tired of it.

The courts killed Terry.

No, they didn’t. That is simply the rhetoric of the ‘right to life’ crowd … the courts did not order that Terry be killed, nor did they order that anyone kill her. The court’s ruling was simple … that Michael Schiavo was Terry’s legal guardian and, as such, he had the legal right to have the tube removed. The court also ruled that it would be ‘unlawful’ for anyone to prevent him from removing the tube or otherwise interfere without Michael’s consent.

Given the fact that Michael wanted the tube removed did that ruling mean that Terry would likely die because Michael would remove the tube? Yes. But although it may seem cold and heartless, that isn’t the concern of the court … the concern of the court was … who in the eyes of the law has the authority to make that decision in the case of Terry Schiavo?

If she’d had a living will we wouldn’t be having this fight.

More than likely this is incorrect. First off, living wills aren’t quite so cut and dry and they ultimately rely on an executor that is willing to carry them out. Secondly, just like a normal ‘last will and testament’, they can be contested by family members that disagree with the situation. From what I’ve seen of the parents they would likely have contested any living will bringing us right back to the court battle that we’ve had over the last several years.

This creates a precedent that could lead to the court condemning handicapped people to death.

No, not at all. First there is the point I made above, the court ruling did not order Terry’s death. It ruled that Michael, as her legal guardian, had sole authority to make that choice and no one could interfere with it. Second off, because of the previous statement, there would have to be a legal guardian that was trying to kill the handicapped person through removal of a feeding tube or other form of life support …

The court ignored the law passed by congress and the President.

Well … there are a whole slew of issues there. Ignoring the issues with passing a law for a specific person and the questions of whether congress or the president should be involved at all, there is a very dangerous precedent in that. The ‘law’ that congress passed stated that the Court HAD to review the case as if it was a brand new case and had never before been heard by the court. … What’s the danger in that you ask? Simple … it opens the door to congress forcing ANY ruling that they don’t agree with to be reheard by the court as a new case. If the result of that review wasn’t to their liking they could just bounce it back to the court again … and again … and again … until they get a ruling they like and clogging up the judicial system in the mean time. (Or until they just couldn’t get enough votes to pass the ‘law’)

I don’t always agree with the courts, but I believe that in this case they did their job.

Time to Let Go

I’m sure by now that you have all heard about the Terry Schiavo case in Florida. The woman is brain damaged and some doctors say that she is in a ‘persistent vegetative state.’ She has been this way for 15 years. Her husband says that she had told him that she did not want her life artificially extended through life support, her parents deny that.

But her parents are in denial about a lot of things. Not the least of which is the fact that their daughter is already gone. I challenge just about anyone that reads this to watch the video of Terry that the family has released and tell me that you would WANT to live that way. What quality of life does Terry have … they say that her husband is trying to murder her … it looks to me more like they are trying to torture her.

The good news is that if Terry DOES somehow … against the best projections of doctors … ‘wake up’ she’ll have completely missed the Clinton presidency and all of the insanity that went with it.

They say that the courts and the doctors are ‘playing God’ in forcing the removal of the feeding tube … the only way that Terry is able to get the nutrition that she needs to keep her alive. I would say that the people ‘playing God’ are the people keeping her alive through artificial means. If you want to bring God into this then take the feeding tube out and let God decide if Terry lives or dies … if God wants her to live then she’ll recover enough to eat and drink in order to get the nutrition that she needs to continue to survive.

Terry’s parents say that her husband, Michael Schiavo, is just trying to get her life insurance money … but Michael has turned down offers of millions of dollars to let her live … they also say that he just wants her dead so that he can marry his girlfriend and have begged him to divorce their daughter and let them care for her.

That would have been the easy way out for Michael. This battle has been raging since 2001 … the first time that the courts ordered the tube removed … it was then ordered re-inserted when a new witness surfaced. The tube was ordered removed again in 2003 but 6 days later Gov Jeb Bush of Florida passed a law called “Terry’s Law” that effectively made Terry a ward of the state and took away Michael’s rights to her care and had the tube re-inserted again. The Florida Supreme Court later ruled that the Governor had overstepped his authority and declared “Terry’s Law” unconstitutional leading to the Feb 2005 court ruling to remove the tube for a third time.

So why would someone turn down millions of dollars to continue the legal fight to let his wife die naturally? Why would he refuse the easy ‘uncontested’ divorce in favor of long drawn out court battles? Money? Not likely … the trust fund from her malpractice suit has been emptied and I find it unlikely that her ‘life insurance’ would match the offers of millions. To marry another? I’m sure that Michael will likely re-marry after Terry dies … he has children and has been involved with this other woman for several years now … but it would have been much easier to do that if he’d just given in and divorced Terry. The only answer that truly makes sense is that he really believes that it is what Terry wants … and that he could not, in clear conscious, let her parents have their way against Terry’s wishes.

There are plenty of you that read this and know me personally … to all of you I say publicly don’t let that happen to me. I do not want to be kept alive through artificial means … I don’t want to be a lump in a hospital bed with machines keeping me alive. If it is me there in Terry’s place … pull the plug … and if the government tells you that you can’t pull the plug … put a bullet in my head instead.

To Terry’s parents I say … your daughter is gone … you are not helping her with this fight … you are not giving her a better life … you are not saving her. It’s time to let her go.

Garage Jumping

Okay … The lawsuit mentality in this country is flat out of hand. No matter how stupid, or illegal, an act you commit it seems that you are not only able to sue someone else for it, but WIN.

Two cases I’ve heard about recently have really got my blood boiling … its ridiculous and it needs to be stopped. The problem, however, goes beyond just the courts system … it goes all the way down to the juries themselves. The juries have it in their power to STOP the nonsense but they continue to encourage it instead.

This isn’t a small problem either … it has MANY implications on things that too many people just don’t consider.

First let’s look at a case out of Orlando, FL. Just a bit of background … Some of the younger population of the Orlando area have taken to the trend of “Garage Jumping” … the art of jumping from the top of one parking garage to the top of another.

Well in the recent case, reported originally on Feb 28th 2005, one local teen was following his friends when he failed to reach the other side and fell 6 stories where he was knocked unconscious. So what is the father’s answer to his son’s stupidity? SUE THE GARAGE OWNER! Get me some phat cash for this one!!

Never mind the fact that they were trespassing … never mind that they entered the garage illegally … never mind that they chose of their own free will to try and jump between these garages. They knew the risk when they jumped … it was 6 stories to the ground … chances were pretty good that it would be a fatal fall. So the kid gets lucky and survives a failed attempt … and they are going to sue the city and the garage owner for not stopping him.

Okay … so now it is the responsibility of the city and private property owners to make sure that YOU don’t do something completely STUPID. Screw it … lets just make it so that everyone is completely safe no matter what stupid thing they try … lets gate all the sidewalks in cities so that people can’t stupidly step out in front of a car or truck. Require padding on all the walls and doors so people don’t accidentally run into them and hurt themselves.

How about this … lets lock the kid up for trespassing and reckless endangerment (of himself and anyone he might accidentally land on) … lets teach the kid a friggin lesson in personal responsibility because it’s obvious that his dad doesn’t have a clue.

The other case that I heard about in conjunction with this was a reported case (I haven’t been able to find specifics) in which a thief broke into a house, and in the process of robbing it fell down the stairs and broke his leg. After his arrest the thief sued the homeowner for personal injury and won the case…. I didn’t hear what the jury awarded the thief … but it was apparently a good sized sum of money.

Yes … that’s right … if someone BREAKS INTO YOUR HOUSE and gets injured robbing you they can SUE YOU … so make sure it’s safe glass and put safety equipment around to make sure that potential robbers don’t slip and fall or anything.

These lawsuits fail to teach people the lessons of personal responsibility that they need to be learning, but they have other detrimental effects as well. Namely and most importantly they drive up EVERYONE’S insurance premiums. Because, you see, they juries look at it as “well it’s just those rich insurance companies that have to pay … give them the money” … they always seem to conveniently forget that the insurance companies GET the money in the form of Insurance Premiums … as more of these suits go through and the awards get higher the Insurance companies have to raise premiums in order to cover possible law suits.

In other words … EVERYONE ends up paying for this crap. Do you know how much the imbedded liability cost is on everything you buy? Well … about 20% of what you pay at the store is sales tax and other imbedded taxes … about 40% is imbedded liability costs both the Liability Insurance that the companies have to carry AND the cost of the lawyers that the company must retain to help protect itself …. In other words … that parking garage has liability insurance … that cost makes up about 40% of the cost of parking there … if the suit is successful their insurance is going to go up … therefore the cost of parking is going to go up … plus they will tack on a portion of the cost associated with preventing other idiots from doing the same thing.

Not to mention that crap like this fills up the courts and is the result of about half our legal problems.

Let’s get a grip on this folks … charge the kid as I mentioned above, and slap the father with about a $500,000 fine for a frivolous lawsuit.

On Diplomacy

Okay … I was listening to the news on the way into work this morning. They were reporting on President Bush’s current trip to Europe where they have been discussing Iran and nuclear weapons. Germany, France, Britain, and just about everyone else agrees that Iran ‘must not get nuclear weapons’ but the reporter continued to say that several of the European leaders are disturbed that President Bush had ‘not ruled out the military option.’

Well “DUH!”

Let me give you a little hint … ‘the military option’ is what makes diplomacy work. If there is no threat of military retaliation then there is absolutely NO reason for anyone not to do just whatever it is that they want to do. Economic sanctions DON’T WORK … they never have. The only people such sanctions are going to hurt are the average people … the leaders of the country won’t be effected in the least and frankly could care less if the people under them suffer as a result of the sanctions … it’s too easy to take that and turn it into hatred of the ‘western demons.’

So no, he hasn’t ruled out the ‘military option’ because to do so would be to weaken the diplomatic effort to the point of being pointless.

I’m not saying that the leaders of Iran are ‘savages that only understand force’ I am saying that ANY people or even any individual will only react to the threat behind diplomacy. Yes, I know that you like to think that you are above all that … better than that … but face it … if you KNEW that there would be absolutely NO consequence to your actions … or no consequence that would effect you at least … there would be almost nothing that you wouldn’t do.

Paying taxes … why do you do it? Because if you don’t the government will come arrest you and throw you in prison … if you resist that then they will use their guns to make you comply … if you resist forcefully enough they will use deadly force to enforce the law. So ultimately it is the ‘military threat’ that makes you pay your taxes or obey the laws … why would we expect any other county to respect our wishes or the wishes of the ‘global community’ any more than that?

President Bush is playing the game the way that it must be played … military force is the strength behind diplomacy it is ALWAYS ‘in the folder’ he’s just not hiding it under pretty flowers.

Communication and other thoughts

I started thinking about this after reading my friend Quadrazu’s article The Two Barriers over on The Vertex, and was originally going to leave it at just my comment there. However, I was listening to the radio on my way home last night and heard something that clicked that magic lever and got my writing wheels turning as it picked up nicely on that theme.

I was listening to Sean Hannity’s show as he spoke to Paris Anderson, the NAACP’s Media Coordinator who was presenting Sean with the NAACP Excellence in Media Award. During the course of their conversation about the award Mr. Anderson said to Sean ‘more people in this country are separated by communication than by color or race.’

The quote may not be exact as I was driving at the time and didn’t have time to jot it down until I arrived at home, but that is reasonably close. He continued to express his opinion that a majority of the problems in this country, and the world, are a result of communication failures.

He went on to discuss how one of the biggest communication issues was in communicating the conservative ideals to the black community. That the black community has predominately embraced the liberal in part because they are direct, immediate, and easy to see and understand, where the conservative ideals are more difficult to understand because they are, generally indirect and occur over a period of time. (Not to mention that they involve the un-popular ideas of work and responsibility.)

Of course it is not that the black community is stupid, rather that there is a problem in the communication … part of that problem is that the conservative movement has done a poor job of communicating the benefits of conservative economics, and in part because there are others interfering with that communication. For a generation or so the ‘civil rights leaders’ have told the community ‘don’t worry, we’ll take care of you’ and it’s been all too easy to scare the community with the ‘loss’ of these programs … much as the liberals are now trying to scare the senior citizens with the ‘loss’ of Social Security … but that’s another rant.

Now the communication problem itself is multifaceted … it comes in part from poor education (not just of the black community but of children in general) … education hampered by ‘political correctness’ and grade inflation among other things. We have an education system that, in many cases, no longer requires that a student learn the basic functioning of government … a system that, much like our government, discourages individual achievement … a system that often labels bright, creative, and intelligent students as ‘problems’ and recommends that their parents get drugs prescribed to eliminate the ‘problem’. We have a system that is largely staffed by people who believe and expound the ‘liberal’ agenda … not always the teachers themselves … but the textbook writers and planners … and the administration as well.

Almost every year the burden of the cost of government falls on fewer people … the system relies on the ‘achievers’ of society pulling up everyone else on their shoulders … As this burden gets heavier there are fewer achievers … as some give up, discouraged by the punishment society places on achievement, and others move their wealth out of the country or decide that they have reached a point where they no longer need to achieve and cease to collect ‘income’ at all. At the same time, more and more hungry mouths turn to the government …. If this trend is not reversed, or at least stopped it could itself destroy this country.

A quick note

A coworker of mine handed me this today and I thought I'd share it here real quick.

It was an opinion article from WSJ.com last January written by Pete Du Pont and can be found here.

Death

What is death? Why do we, in America at least, make such a big production of it? In short, why do we dwell on it?

Why do we mourn and carry on … in some cases for weeks or longer … over someone that has died? Certainly it is a loss, and particularly painful when it is the loss of someone that you’ve loved very closely over the years. To be saddened by the loss is understandable … to miss the individual is to be expected … but why do we, on the whole, feel the need to remember the Death more than the Person? Why do so many of us grasp onto that pain and wrap it around ourselves dwelling on the loss rather than the memories of the life?

Does it help the departed love one? Do we feel that in so torturing ourselves that we some how make it easier on them? Do we think it makes them feel better? Do we think that by wrapping ourselves in that pain and loss that we somehow love them more, or remember them better?

Death is a part of life. It is as natural as breathing and it is inevitable for all of us. Those of us left behind to live our lives should not dwell on the Death, but remember with gladness the memories that we have of the loved one. Celebrate their life and cherish their place in yours, but do not dwell on their passing or your loss … for that route … though often ‘romanticized’ … does neither them, nor you, any good.

Certainly this is easier to do when the person dies of natural causes such as age or disease … but those whom we loose to accident, disaster, or to the acts of others, either negligent or malicious, need to be treated the same. The dead are beyond our reach …. The living must continue to live.

Valentine's Day

Well … it’s Valentine’s Day … probably the absolute worst of the ‘made-up’ holidays. To be certain I know that there is some history to the holiday … but it, like so many holidays, ceased to hold any real meaning long ago and became a way to sell cards, flowers, and candy in large quantities.

However, it does serve, if nothing else, as a means of getting us to step back and think about the ones that we love. We don’t love them MORE on that day, or less on any other day, but it reminds us of those that we care about … whose love is sometimes taken for granted.

I myself am blessed to have a wonderful wife; smart, funny, and caring, who shares the same hobbies and interests as I, and who shares many of the same opinions. A wife who supports the man I am and urges me to become better. Through all the years together and all the arguments, misunderstandings, miscommunications, and trials of life, she is still as beautiful and cherished to me as ever she was. And if I could take my knowledge today back in time to the day we met, I’d only marry her sooner if I could.

To my wife – I Love you.

Vacations

As most of you probably already knew or guessed, I was away on vacation last week. As usual I returned not so much refreshed and rejuvenated, but exhausted. To be certain I did have a lot of fun and got to see friends and family that I have not seen in quite a while … it was a ‘good’ vacation. So, why do I feel like I need a vacation after my vacation?

Simple really, I over planned. Since I get so little vacation time I try to do ‘everything’ at once. The result is either I don’t get everything I want to do done (unfulfilled expectations … the number one cause of stress), or I rush and hurry everything not enjoying it nearly as much as I should (Time management worries … IE Stress). Usually it ends up being some combination of both. Once you add in the additional stress and expectations of visiting family, well, in the end a ‘fun’ vacation usually ends up draining energy more than it recharges a person.

I also know that I’m not alone in this feeling; I hear it all the time from friends and co-workers that come back from vacation, and I’d be willing to bet that if most of them analyzed it they would come to much the same realization. In general, Americans at least, tend to put ‘fun’ over ‘rest and relaxation’ or to put it another way … we just try to do too much with the limited time we have.

I tend to believe that this comes from a couple different factors … first, as a society, we tend to value productivity over almost everything. Don’t get me wrong, productivity is certainly important, but more than a few people have taken it above and beyond … to the point that they feel guilty taking a vacation, or, when on vacation, they feel ‘guilty’ if they aren’t doing something … rather than sit back and read a book, or just relax they feel like they have to go ‘do something’. Second is the fact that Americans, on average, get the least amount of vacation time of any country … as a result people try to cram more ‘fun’ into their limited time off, they try to do everything that they don’t have time to do normally.

On the one hand many employers could help themselves and their employees by realizing that workers with 4-6 weeks vacation a year are usually healthier, happier, and more productive overall than those with 3 or less weeks of vacation a year. On the other hand people (myself included) need to remember that it is important to rest and relax on a vacation, plan a few days of ‘nothing’ this will not only give you time to recharge, but it will also help with ‘over planning’ by giving you more flex time and maybe give you that time to really enjoy and savor the company of friends and/or family.

State of the Union

Last night President George W. Bush stood before a join session of the US Congress and delivered his annual State of the Union Address. In my estimation quite likely the best state of the union speech that he has delivered and certainly one of the better ones that I’ve heard.

The President spoke last night of what he intends to try and accomplish in the coming year and in his second and final term as president. However, he made a very important distinction in his speech … he is focusing on the long term stability and growth of this country. We have here a man that is taking the responsible approach to government and doing, not what needs to be done to meet current needs, but what must be done to ensure that those needs are met for generations to come.

Too often our leaders seek only to guide us through the waters of the here and now, with little or no regard to positioning us into calm and steady waters for the future. Too often they only worry about what needs to be done to ensure that they get re-elected in 4 or 6 years, concerned more with maintaining their power than doing what is right for this country and its citizenry.

Do not mistake me here. Both parties share an equal blame in that short coming. Just as most of our problems are the results of short sightedness of both parties. The state of the Social Security system is a prime example of this. It’s not just one party that has been spending the surplus income to the Social Security system … both parties have willingly borrowed that money from the future of the country in order to fund their little projects here and there. ‘Republicans’ are not saints, and ‘Democrats’ are not demons … they are ALL something much worse … they are politicians.

The President spoke at some length about the need for the congress to reform the Social Security system, and provided some landmark dates where certain problems are projected to arise. He did a very good job in explaining WHY we need reform, and why that reform should come sooner (now) rather than later (after the system collapses). The American people heard him and, largely agreed. Polls run just after the State of the Union showed a 10% or more increase in the number of people that agreed with the President that reform was needed and that he had made a convincing case of it … moving the percentage of people that agree with the President into the 60-70+% range … a clear majority of those polled.

He is receiving a lot a ‘flak’ today in that he did not detail a specific reform plan, but it should be remembered that while the President can SUGGEST a plan, it would be just that … a suggestion. Congress has to write the law … ultimately it is THEIR responsibility to come up with a plan. Certainly the President should present them with a plan, but to speak of specifics in the State of the Union would be somewhat irresponsible in that he can’t say “I am going to do this” and then have Congress do something else entirely … the American people would feel lied to and betrayed.

The President also spoke of the need to reform the “archaic, incoherent federal tax code.” Something I’ve already mentioned here that I believe is one of the most important things that need to be done for the future of this country. I have more to say about the specifics of tax code reform but for now I will simply say that I support the Fair Tax Plan (Currently proposed as HR25 and S25 in the House and Senate respectively) as the plan that I feel provides the best tax reform.

Of course he also spoke of the War on Terror on going in Afghanistan and Iraq, honoring the sacrifice of our soldiers and the courage of the Iraqi people. Many of those present showed their support for the President and the Iraqi people by dipping their index finger in purple ink as the Iraqi’s did to ‘sign’ their ballots last Sunday. One of the most touching moments in the televised coverage and for those present was when Safia Taleb al-Suhail, an Iraqi human rights advocate present at the speech who lost her father to Saddam, turned and hugged Janet Norwood who had lost her son, a Marine corporal, in the assault on Fallujah.

The President, however, brought up several points that I disagree with and I did want to take some time to talk about those as well, and explain why I disagree with the policy.

First, the President spoke of the need for the government to make it easier for more Americans to afford college. I don’t believe that is what the country needs … First off you are, in essence, talking about increasing a government spending program, but more than that, I believe that in this country we place too much ‘value’ in a college diploma and too little on apprenticeships and work training programs. Too often colleges do not really prepare people for the ‘real world’ that they are going to have to work in, and the common nature of the diploma ultimately devaluates the degree in the end.

There was a time in this country where anyone could get a job in a mail room and with hard work move up in the company … learning the skills needed through immersion and practical application. Now … if you want to be a mail room or shipping clerk you need at least an associate degree … and the pay rate can’t cover the student loan payments.

No … I don’t think we need to make it easier to pay for college … we need to get back to college is required less. The government needs to get AWAY from the income re-distribution plans, not add to them. We need to strengthen the education so that a High School diploma is a valid starting point and prepares our children to start work.

While I will agree that the government needs to stay out of the realm of teaching morals, I also believe that the government needs to stay out of defining marriage as well. I do not support a constitutional amendment that DENIES people rights. If a religion wishes to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, then that is the right of the religion, and the government should have no say in the matter. I do not believe that government should prevent the union two adults on the basis of sex.

The right to be joined in a legal union should not be denied to a group of people solely on the basis that they wish to be joined to a member of the same sex. It is discrimination, pure and simple. Now, if religions do not want to ‘wed’ the two individuals due to the beliefs and teachings of the religion, then that is the right of the religion … but the legal status of two individuals should not be dictated by religion.

Basically, if two people … be they man and woman, man and man, or woman and woman … go to the courthouse to be legally joined they should be able to do so. If you want to call what is done at the legal level ‘civil unions’ instead of ‘marriage’, fine do it that way. The legal ‘rights’ of such should be the same in the eyes of the government, courts, and law to ensure that ALL groups have EQUAL protection under the law, and are not discriminated against.

The President also spoke about reform to the outdated and highly ineffective immigration system. I agree that something needs to be done to immigration, I don’t, however, believe that the temporary worker program is the proper answer to the situation. Boarders and immigration are a huge issue though with many levels of complications and no easy answers. I believe, however, that for any serious and meaningful reform in this area can be achieved that the government must work to better secure our borders to better manage illegal immigration.

People have begun to take offense to the term ‘illegal alien’ but, lets face it …. That is EXACTLY what they are. They did not come to the country by legal means and are, therefore here illegally, and they are from a foreign country which makes them aliens … so illegal aliens. Maybe it would be preferable to call them criminal foreigners? I’m sorry … they don’t respect the laws of this country enough to come here through the established legal channels then I don’t CARE if I offend them when I call them illegal aliens.

The problem I perceive with the Temporary Worker program is that it seems to reward those who have entered the country illegally while sticking those who have used the legal channels into an archaic system that is hopelessly backlogged. Meanwhile illegal aliens continue to come to the country and many send money back ‘home’ to take care of their families … money that is siphoned from our economy … money that is earned largely without tax paid on it (also a reason I support the Fair Tax legislation) … by people who often draw from government social programs as well.

Despite my disagreement with some of the President’s plans, I believe that he has an optimistic view for the future. He has set himself and this country on more responsible course trying to steer us into the calmer, safer, waters in the future. Trying to build a stronger country not for us, but for our children, for our future.

Professor called to task

Okay … some of you may have stumbled across this, some may not have. I’ll start with a brief synopsis of the situation and current developments in the ‘case’.

Professor Ward Churchill of the University of Colorado wrote an essay entitled “Some People Push Back: On the justice of Roosting Chickens” in which he describes the victims of the World Trade Center attacks of September 11^th as “little Eichmanns” (A reference to Adolf Eichmann, who executed Adolph Hitler's plan to exterminate Jews during World War II.) and refers to the attackers as “combat teams” who gave a “gallant sacrifice”

The essay, written shortly after the attacks of September 11^th, was largely ignored until recently when Professor Churchill was scheduled to speak at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. The essay received national attention when the students and several members of the faculty at Hamilton College protested the scheduled speech. Amid the flap created over the last week, however, Professor Churchill has stepped down as the head of his department, Hamilton College has canceled the speech (due to death threats and security concerns), and the Governor of Colorado has written a letter requesting the professor’s full resignation from the college, and this week the school’s board of reagents will vote on the tenured professor’s fate.

Now certainly some would argue that this is a violation of his right to free speech … to which I direct them to my previous topic on free speech. His speech on the Hamilton College campus was canceled because of security concerns, and while I’d like to think that people could cope with the discussion of differing viewpoints in a more civil manor I have to admit that there was a possibility of violence. As such it is better that the speech be canceled ‘for the public safety’ than have people get injured or killed as a result. (Keep in mind that the College originally simply changed to a larger venue to accommodate the increased number of people, and tried to do all they could to hold the speech, they didn’t just up and cancel it.) He stepped down from the department head position of his own free will because he felt that he was not properly representing the school. And if the University’s Board of Reagents votes to ‘fire’ the professor they are within their rights as an employer to do so.

If I were the one making the final decision, however, I would have to look, not at this essay, but instead at what he was teaching in his classes. What a professor chooses to write outside of the classroom, whether it be published, webloged, or spoken, are the choice of the professor. As long as he is teaching his subject properly and within the guidelines of the school I don’t see that it should be grounds for removal. (Now if he chooses to resign that’s a different matter.)

I don’t recall who I once heard say this but “Freedom means that some people are going to do things that I don’t like or agree with, and that’s okay.”

He is a professor of Ethnic Studies; there is nothing that says that someone who has this, in my opinion, distorted view of the world can’t be a perfectly good Ethnic Studies professor. This is why I think that Colleges and Universities should keep a close eye on their professors and how they choose to teach their classes so that if a situation like this comes up they know whether the professor is teaching his subject appropriately despite his political views, or if their political views are interfering with their ability to properly present the material.

Personally I think that he should resign his position and, with his obvious dislike of American freedom and capitalistic economy, pack his bags and move to a country better suited to his world view.

They essay itself … there’s not a whole lot to say about it. It is a vehicle to spread his anti-capitalist views and dislike for American policy. His disagreement with President Bush’s statement that the attacks of 9/11 were the first shots of a war is technically accurate. The war with Islam started back with the crusades and to a degree even earlier than that. His facts are skewed and often at odds with history, but that is not his concern.

He refers to the US imposed sanctions on Iraq … except the sanctions were UN sanctions ….. Enforced by the US, but UN ‘imposed’ … as the cause of 9/11 … and yet almost all the terrorists in those attacks came from Saudi Arabia, not Iraq. He refers to the actions of Desert Storm and Desert Shield with tones of disgust and so obviously believes that the US (actually it was the UN again) should not have protected Kuwait when Saddam invaded … we should not have protected their rights as a country against a foreign aggressor. I suppose we should have sat back and let Saddam take it over much as the world governments sat back and let Hitler start taking over Europe before the start of WWII.

He says that the ‘combat teams’ were not Islamic Fundamentalists, yet they were members of Al-Qaeda … a group that claims to be Islamic Fundamentalists waging a Jihad on the infidels. (Basically he prefers to say that “they were secular activists – soldiers, really – who, while undoubtedly enjoying cordial relations with the clerics of their countries.” Sounds a lot like Radical (or fanatic) Islamic Fundamentalists to me.)

So what, in the end, is his answer? Remove the sanctions and hang Kissinger, Madeline Albright, Colin Powell, Bill Clinton and George the Elder as war criminals. Never mind that the sanctions were put in place by the ‘global body politic’ in the form of the UN, never mind that they were put in place by the UN in retaliation to Iraq’s leader’s overt hostility and disregard for human life. Iraq who had launched chemical attacks on Iran and Kuwait, and killed several hundred thousand of its own people. And never mind the fact that the attackers were not from Iraq, were not born in Iraq, and aside from some training had nothing to DO with Iraq.

His answer is basically ‘just do what they say and no one will get hurt’ … the problem is the proven result of that method of foreign relations is that they keep putting the gun to your head and demanding more, until eventually they ask for something that you aren’t willing to give up … putting our heads in the sand may have worked when the country was founded, but the world is much too small for such a policy today … it is too easy for our enemies to get here, to move about the globe and come at us again.

Recently our enemies have made it clear that they are not after us for our foreign policy … they are after us because of our freedom … our freedom represents a threat to their power, to their influence, to their rule. They will not be happy until all such threats are removed from the world and they remain unchallenged.

No … 9/11 was not the start of the war … it was a reminder to the free countries of the world that the war is ongoing.

Elections and Freedom

Well, it is done and the votes in Iraq are being counted. Counting the votes and the independent certification of the election may still take a few days, but the vote is in, and I can already tell you who won.

The Iraqi people.

Current estimates are that 60-70% of eligible voters turned up at the polls to cast their votes. With many of them walking miles to reach the polls. One elderly Iraqi reportedly traveled 3 miles in a wheelchair so that he could vote.

Very good news indeed … this shows that, despite ‘naysayers’ the Iraqi people ARE interested in freedom and in choosing their leaders. Despite reports that predicted widespread violence, the Iraqi people chose to exercise their freedom and vote. Despite media report depicting the mission in Iraq as a failure, the elections of Jan 30, 2005 were a success.

Now … let’s take a step back and look at something. We just elected a new president back in November. Americans went to the polls just as the Iraqi people did on Sunday and voted on who would be our new leader. However, in the US, less than 60% of American voters actually went to the polls. In the 2000 presidential election only 51% of voters bothered to cast their ballot.

Yes. Here in the US where we are safe and secure, where we are not threatened by terrorists, where we are protected and free. Here almost half of us can’t be bothered to go to the polls. And too many of those that do, couldn’t pass a simple civics test if you were to require it to vote (as I think there should be … if you can’t take a test and show that you at least understand the basics of how the government functions I don’t believe that you need to be voting).

Now there are allegations here in the US that voters were ‘disenfranchised’ in the November elections. That their right to vote was taken away because they didn’t want to wait in long lines, or because a police car passing by ‘intimidated’ them into leaving, or that they had to show picture ID to vote.

To vote in the US you HAVE to do 3 things – Be a legal citizen of the US, register to vote, and show up to vote (or if circumstances make that impossible request and cast an absentee ballot within the appropriate timeframe as described by law). If you are not willing to wait in a long line, you have not been disenfranchised … you’re just too lazy to vote. If a police car passing by ‘intimidates’ you then I have to wonder what you’re hiding from police, but unless the officers physically keep you from voting you have not been disenfranchised. And I’m sorry, but a picture ID is how we prove that you are who you say you are, and that you’ve met the first two requirements … if you are unwilling to do that then I’m sorry but you can’t vote because we can’t confirm that you’re a citizen or that you’re a registered voter.

I have yet to see ANY evidence of people not being ALLOWED to vote. Yes, there is some evidence that for various reasons some people CHOSE not to vote, but they are free people … they are allowed to make that choice for themselves.

If the Iraqi people can vote under threat of death by terrorists and in some cases by their own countrymen, then the American people need to take notice. Our freedom is a wonderful thing; we shouldn’t allow anything to keep us from legally voting. And if you do CHOOSE not to vote … don’t blame it on something else … take responsibility for the choice, don’t complain because you don’t like the outcome.

Just over 40 Iraqi people died because of Election Day violence; these are some of the true heroes of Iraq … the people that went out to cast their vote for freedom and gave their lives in that effort. But it is a statement to the success of the efforts in Iraq that the violence was as limited as it was. Iraq is entering a dangerous stage in its democratic development, and I believe that it is in the interests of all free people in the world to help this new government emerge and flourish, to shelter this new flame so that it may be a new light in the darkness.

The Will to Fight

Has the US lost the will to fight? Have we lost the will to stand up for what we believe in? Some have … I call them the ‘peace at any price’ crowd.

They are willing to throw our hands in the air and come home in defeat rather than fight a difficult battle to achieve victory. They are willing to encourage our enemies with their words even as our troops struggle to bring order and peace to another people. They are willing to sell out the sovereignty of this county and its people out to the anti-capitalist UN.

You have Senator Ted Kennedy calling for US Troops to be removed from Iraq because “There will be more serious violence” if we don’t. Leaving aside the fact that without a crystal ball no one can KNOW what’s going to happen if we stay, there is only ONE way that troops should be removed from Iraq – with their job completed and the new Iraq government established and secure.

Anything else is tucking our tail between our legs and retreating … not for military or strategic reasons, but because of caving to political pressure and fear.

Never mind the fact that a US withdraw from the region is strategically BAD. Never mind the fact that it would leave Iraq in a situation of vulnerability and the region more unstable than it was. Never mind the fact that it would equate to a victory for the terrorists which would embolden them further and endanger American lives around the world.

Most of that is, after all, based on a projection of the current situation … Just as Senator Kennedy’s statement is.

Let us take a look back at some of the other conflicts that we have pulled out of for political reasons. Specifically, let’s look at Vietnam and Somalia. Many veterans of these two conflicts hold some bitter resentment, not because they didn’t feel that they should be there, not because they didn’t agree with the mission, but because they were pulled out and kept from completing their mission because of politicians that didn’t have the spinal fortitude to let them complete the job.

But Senator Kennedy isn’t interested in the well being of our troops … he doesn’t care that a significant majority of US Military personnel in Iraq agree with the mission and feel that they are helping to appreciably improve the living conditions of the Iraqi people. He doesn’t care about any of the strategic analysis that I mentioned before.

He has one goal in mind - A US Military failure. He WANTS Iraq to be another Vietnam … he WANTS the troops to come home defeated, not by the enemy, but by political pressure. He wants it because it would hurt Bush and the Republican Party and he is willing to encourage terrorists around the world to do that.

To be fair, Senator Kennedy is not alone in his goals, Senator Kerry, Senator Boxer, and an American Mainstream Media that refuses to show the successes in Iraq all support the cause, as do many special interest and protest organizations in the US and abroad.

Kennedy is entitled to his opinion, and is certainly free to say it, but I believe that people in leadership positions have a responsibility to take care in what they say. What is said by Senator Kennedy, or any of the others, is reported around the world … to our allies, to our enemies, and to our troops. Statements like that embolden the enemy and lower the moral of our troops … they BECOME self-fulfilling prophesy.

This is not going to be an easy fight. I didn’t think it was going to be easy when we initially invaded … these types of things are never easy. US troops occupied Germany for about seven years, fighting hold outs of Nazi forces and SS after WWII. Will things get harder for our troops in Iraq? I expect that they will, especially with the media breathing down their neck, questioning everything they do and ignoring success. With reports of an Al-Qaeda member trying to buy nuclear material in Germany of late, I dare say that the terrorists are looking to ‘up the ante’ so to speak.

An animal fights the hardest when it is cornered, as the attacks increase it is likely because the enemy is getting desperate and wants us to withdraw … hoping that we don’t have the strength, the guts, the will, to fight it through and achieve our goals. Now is not the time to withdraw, it is the time to press for victory and show that we have the strength to stand up to our enemy and defeat it … to show that will stand against their attacks and that we will not falter.

Now is the time for victory.

Emanate Domain

Emanate Domain – the power of government to condemn and seize privately owned property in order to use it for government purposes.

While this will be my first rant on the subject here, those who know me know that this is not the first time I’ve been fired up on this particular subject. Over the last several years there has been a dramatic increase in the use of ‘emanate domain’ … with MANY of the cases involving city councils condemning private property under emanate domain and selling that property to private developers for the development of private businesses.

The ABUSE of emanate domain is on the rise in this country and the American citizens need to WAKE UP and smell the coffee while we still have some private property rights.

The state government in Florida tried to pass a bill last year that would have given any state, county, or city government in Florida the right to seize any land through emanate domain if they could show increased tax revenue. So if the government (city, county, or state) can show that it could get more tax revenue from a new BMW dealership than it can from your house it can seize your house and sell that land to the BMW dealership. Now they do have to provide ‘reasonable compensation’ to the private property owner for the property seized. But it is the government that is seizing the land that determines what ‘reasonable compensation’ is, and it does NOT have to be ‘fair market value’.

Of course … the government maintained its right to use emanate domain for the traditional ‘public use’ as well. So if the Florida government needed a new police station, some new government sponsored housing, or a new road, they could still seize the needed land as normal.

In other words … they could seize your property for virtually ANY use.

Thankfully the word about the bill got out to the people of Florida and the bill was withdrawn without a vote by the state legislature. I can only HOPE that the name of the sponsoring politicians got out as well and that they will find themselves out of a job next election.

Well, now it seems its Georgia’s turn.

It seems that State Senator Eric Johnson has written up a lengthy piece of legislation currently referred to as SB5. The brief given by Senator Johnson seems innocent enough at first glance:

“The New Georgia Infrastructure Act (SB 5) proposes a sensible way to meet the needs of the citizens of Georgia in coming years without having to implement tax increases at the state and local levels. It would encourage the use of future anticipated fees and revenue to leverage construction costs by private companies today. This is the same mechanism used by business to finance their projects and developments”

But, as always, the devil is in the details. In and of itself, the bill doesn’t increase emanate domain specifically. It doesn’t give that power to private developers. Rather it gives private developers a way to specifically ask the government to use its police power to seize private property that they can not buy or are unwilling to pay the price that the owners are asking.

Unlike normal government projects where the government would have to propose the project, hold a vote, and go through a bid process to find a contractor. Here, the contractor comes to the government and proposes a project and part of that proposal is:

(C)A statement setting forth the method by which the operator proposes to secure any necessary property interests required for the qualifying project. The statement shall include:

(i) The names and addresses, if known, of the current owners of the property needed for the qualifying project;
(ii) The nature of the property interests to be acquired; and
(iii) Any property that the responsible public entity will be asked to condemn;

Replace the words ‘responsible public entity’ with ‘government’ and remember that ‘condemn’ is effectively ‘seize’. Now … what can they use this to build? “Any property which any public entity is authorized to construct, erect, acquire, own, repair, remodel, maintain, add to, extend, improve, equip, operate or manage under the laws of Georgia.” Oh … nice broad terms, and given Georgia law that equates to roughly anything from Apartments to Strip Clubs to Schools to Office Buildings.

So this effectively boils down to “Private developers can submit a project to build anything and let us know what property that they want seized to complete the project, and they can do so with a streamlined process that avoids public notification.”

Come ON people … Personal Property Rights are one of the main pillars of our freedoms. What GOOD is freedom of speech if the government can walk up and seize your house … well I guess it means that they can’t put you in jail for all the things you say when they do it.

This is an issue that EVERY American needs to be aware of and pay close attention to because it CAN happen to you, and there’s a pretty good chance that if you don’t stand up NOW and do something to prevent it, sooner or later the government will come knocking on your door.

Government abuse of ANY of its powers should not be tolerated … we have to remember that the government exists to serve us, NOT the other way around. The ONLY powers government has are what WE give it.

Eternal Vigilance……