Ever wonder why it’s so hard to get meaningful legislation passed?

It seems that it is a head butting contest between Republicans and Democrats when it come to passing effective legislation, but is it really? I think not. Take a look and decide for yourselves.

But visit http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?order=A and see who from and how Washington takes its orders.

1.    Senator John McCain: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?id=N00006424&cycle2=2008

2.    Senator Jon Kyle: http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00006406#cont     

3.    President Barack Obama: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?id=N00009638&cycle2=2008&goButt2.x=5&goButt2.y=7

 

Just a little fodder for the cannon. Same games go on at the State level.

Education, public safety are excuses to cover up for brash spending.

Another day and we are bombarded from all sides to approve Proposition 100 “so that our children can get the quality education that they deserve”. One only has to read Sen. Ron Gould’s column on today’s Editorial Page in the AZ Daily Star to understand just how baseless this assertion is. He starts out with the question that do we ever wonder why every tax increase is needed for education and public safety. In short he states that it is no accident that the question is posed the way it is. “Think about it - if you were asked to raise your taxes to continue to fund wasteful spending, how would you vote? You and I both know how we would vote; we would vote no. In reality, you ARE being asked to raise your taxes to continue wasteful spending.”

Sen. Gould hits the nail right on the head when he chronologizes the governments spending spree during the past 5 years. He summarizes by stating that “during the last five years government spending increased, outpacing inflation and population growth by well over 100 percent.”

One only has to look at the national statistics on education within the state to realize that throwing more money at the problem is definitely not the solution. A previous article clearly show that we either have the “dumbest kids in the country or the worst teachers, or possibly a combination of the two”, and I leave that up to you to decide. But for my 2¢ worth, I have yet to find a child that didn’t thirst for knowledge. Their brains are like sponges and they soak up everything that comes along. Presentation with passion is what we appear to be lacking; instead we get higher taxes so that we can throw more money at the problem.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, I happened to be watching TV last evening and happened upon the movie, “Stand and Deliver”, a hyped up bio about Jaime Escalante, the charismatic former East Los Angeles high school teacher who taught the nation that inner-city students could master subjects as demanding as calculus. Perhaps we need more teachers like this?

He wraps it up with: “Please join me in voting NO on Proposition 100.”

Incumbents, now is the time to “throw them all out”.

2010 provides us an opportunity to change the way we allow our representatives to govern. Am I the only one that is concerned with the “professional politician” concept of government? I have no doubt, as well as most of you, that most of the newly elected officials go there with a firm belief that they will make a difference. But it just doesn’t happen that way. They get there and some good ole boy/girl takes them under their wing and they are quickly led down the primrose lane. They are indoctrinated into the tax and spend syndrome and before long they are convinced that it is the duty of every elected official to get their fair share of wealth for the folks back home. All supposedly under the guise of solving America’s problems. And the next thing you know it is time to run for re-election and they parade out the tally sheet to show how they have benefitted their constituency.

Well, they have brought us to the brink of disaster and we need to push back. They point fingers at every thing except themselves. Senators and Representatives alike are responsible for the financial mess because of legislation that they wrote in the 90’s and now the same buffoons are in charge of writing new legislation to correct the problem.

The day of reckoning has come: Election Year 2010. The Constitution should have clearly delineated that “we, the People” meant “we, the Voters” and stuck with it.

I ran across a website recently, VOID and was impressed with where they seemed to be headed. They start with the premise that we need to throw every incumbent out of office and start anew. It is an interesting concept and has been bouncing around for a month or so. They expound that:

The power of the vote is to remove persons from power. Without the vote, those in power will elect to remain in power, without any help from us,

The vote is the power our Constitution provides the people to direct their elected representatives and shape the results of government. A vote for an incumbent seeking reelection is a vote in support of the government that politician has participated in, and results of that participation. A vote against an incumbent, and for a challenger, is a vote for change in government, and the results that came from it, thus

Their goal is to force politicians to earn the anti-incumbent voter's vote through responsible action in government reflecting the best interests of the American people and the nation's future.

They go on to say that “One of our greatest challenges is the assumption held by more than 50 million American voters that someone else will fix this for them, or worse, that their representatives will. However, unless “YOU” take an active role, little to nothing will change in how our government operates, and our growing national problems will only worsen. And yes, things can get very much worse than they are already are. If you don't participate and volunteer to change things for the better, how can you logically expect others to?

So what is wrong with throwing them all out? Think about that but you must also be objective with your analysis. I guess that the first thing that comes up is the fear of a bunch of political novices running the country. Do you really think it could be any worse than what we have in there now. “Pandering and Philandering” is what we appear to have now, so maybe naivety would be a blessing. Business people, including accountants, might serve us better than attorneys. Laws would then be written in English instead of legalese. No more “Yes” is really “No” and “No” is really “Yes” propositions. I could go on and on, but if you are truly interested in helping solve the problems of this country you need to do the work yourself. And no, you don’t have to agree with me or anyone else, you just have to think it through and go VOTE.

For my southern Arizona constituents, Rep. Raul Grijalva, Dem.(representing Arizona’s 27th District)27 called for a boycott of all Arizona business today to demonstrate his displeasure with the State legislation on illegal immigration reform. And yes, both he and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Dem.(representing Arizona’s 8th District) voted for the healthcare legislation that will raise the taxes on every American.

Voters in 2008 turned out at a record rate of 61.7% across the US; while Arizona voters turned out at a dismal 56.2%. There were only 4 other states with a lower turnout than us and that my friends is pathetic given the importance of governing. For you 43.8% who failed to show, I can only surmise that you had something very important to do or were dreadfully ill.

If you can’t figure it out for yourself, take the easy road and vote for the “newbie” and let’s get started on a new path.

AZ House looking for things to do.

The Star ran a headline this morning that shows just how desperate the State legislature is to find things to do. They are passing reform legislation that requires the secretary of state to verify that federal nominees for office are in fact, US born. As if there weren’t more important issues to fret about.

Front page, big, bold letters depicting how they need to revisit their budget decisions on AHCCCS. It appears that if we carry through on our threat to reduce funding this program we will lose out on our “fair share” of federal funds. So the legislature is revisiting the issue and will try to come up with a plan that preserves our federal handout while still maintaining our option to drop the program. They are definitely catching on to Washingtonian politics.

We all know about the picketing recently over the new immigration measure, SB 1070. The “hue and cry” from the opponents seems to take up most of the medias time over the past few days. However, buried on page A7 in the Star today, I see that a recent poll tends to support the legislation. And yesterday, his holiness, Roger Mahoney, the cardinal of Los Angeles was front page in his denouncement of SB 1070’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Today, also buried on page A7, is the rebuttal from the bills architect, Sen. Russell Pierce, R-Mesa. Senator Pierce states that the cardinal has little room to criticize us in light of his involvement in the protection of child molesters.

Why is it the small majority seems to get all of the publicity while the silent majority is relegated to the back page?

Now for all of you out there that think now is the time to do something; “you are right”. Write your representative and let them know that you support or object to what they are doing. And most important of all, the ballot box is your way to express your inner most feelings.

I support SB 1070 and will VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 100.

Is Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva (Dem) anti Arizona?

Our local Congressman, Raul Grijalva, has called for an economic boycott of Arizona in response to the state legislature passage of SB 1070. Why would our elected representative ask anyone to punish the citizens of the state that elected him. We are in a terrible economic situation as it is without having Mr. Grijalva request that the rest of the world, “pile on the punishment”. One can only guess what his motivation is as it obviously has nothing to do with the good of his district.

And to make matters worse, our local newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star, writes nary a word of this mockery. Go figure.

Dateline Tucson Sunday, April 18, 2010

Front page headlines of the Arizona Daily Star captions “City tapping off-limit funds. While the City pleads for passage of Prop 100 and has their own sales tax increase waiting in the wings we now are starting to get a feel for the here and now. You read and you decide. VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 100.

Front page of today’s Star has United Way reneging in their promise to make public an audit of their funding irregularities. You read and you decide. VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 100.

Just received the Ballot Proposition Guide from Ken Bennett, Arizona Secretary of State. Amazing how they seem to grab money out of the air to print and get this in the voters hands. There are 24 pages of “FOR” and 7 pages of “AGAINST”. Of note is that the United Way and Arizona Education Network” are prime spenders in the “FOR” category. Most of the “for” supporters are state, city, county, healthcare, DPS and education; all recipients of the projected funds. VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 100.

We cannot allow government, of the people, by the people and for the people to be overrun by a tax and spend philosophy. Rein in the spending and cut the deficits. VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 100.

Remember, if we give them an inch, they will take a mile.

Arizona’s illegal immigrants in for a “bad day”.

Today’s front page of the Arizona Daily Star headlines the arrest of 68 individuals involved in the smuggling of illegal immigrants into the country. It also appears to have been picked up by the Associated Press and went out across the country. As one follows along the events as they emerge you abruptly run into the never ending barrage of criticism from civil rights groups, advocates and defenders. Sooner or later the ACLU will drop by to put in their two cents worth. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seized about $10 million worth of assets including several weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle. Noted comments were that the raid was “an intimidating tactic” meant to “put fear into the Hispanic community”. One observer called the raid a disgusting “perp walk” and was quoted as saying “ I hope they are ashamed of themselves”. I confess, I had to look up the definition of a perp walk and found that it refers to the police practice of parading arrested suspects. Join with me and lets go back over the past few years and briefly recall all of the incidents involving crimes of illegal immigrants. I will name a few and you can take it from there. Most recently of course is the murder of Cochise County rancher Robert Krentz. Surely your recall the almost weekly stories of vehicle rollovers involving the smuggling of illegals. I could go on and on, but you get the message, right?

I congratulate the ICE people for their actions yesterday and hope that the tactic did, in fact, put fear into those who watched. Maybe seeing more “perp walks” and the confiscation of the vehicles and weapons will start to have an effect on the depredation of innocent people. However, I note in the editorial section that “Our View”, meaning the newspaper, is opposed to the new legislation that allows law enforcement officers the right to verify an individuals immigration documents. There are pros and cons on this issue just like everything else. So weigh in and let both the Star and your legislators know what you think. For what it’s worth, I like Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, need I say more?

Moving right along I see that Arizona’s unemployment rate crept up to 9.6% for March. Interesting note is the fact that government and education/healthcare were the only categories of the 11 listed to rise or remain level. Same old story folks, “raise taxes and grow the government” and we’re not alone.

In looking at statistics from the Arizona Commerce Department I note that as of April 1^st 2010, there were 1,356,424 Arizona residents enrolled in AHCCCS programs. This is an increase of 159,751 (or 13.3%) over a year ago and a 25.6% increase since the beginning of the economic downturn in December 2007. With the current population hovering around 6.6 million it would appear that approximately 21%, or 1 out of 5 residents are on taxpayer provided healthcare. Wonder how many are illegal immigrants?

Alright all you complainers, bitchers and procrastinators, take the offense(the “verb”) or offense(the “noun”) and at least write your legislators and either support “em or trash em”.

Is Prop 100 the “Hail Mary” for liberals?

Been away from my desk for a day and just getting back to reviewing the local news. In reading the Wednesday edition of the Arizona Daily Star I note that most of the news focuses on Prop 100 and the salvation it will provide toward “stabilizing the economy by keeping people employed and stemming cuts to public education”. There is way too much to cover here so I will get right to the crux of the matter. My take on the “pros” for Prop 100 goes something like this: “although we are in the throes of a moderate recession the only way that we will be able to overcome it is to raise taxes”. So here we are again, back to the “spend our way” out of it philosophy. I’ll just leave it at that and you can take it from there.

There was one really interesting discourse involving Ann-Eve Pedersen, the president of the Arizona Education Network, at a forum sponsored by the Leagues of Women Voters. In response to a statement by former Pima County Supervisor Paul Marsh where he said that “the last thing we want to do is raise taxes in the middle of a recession” she countered that now is precisely when the state needs to provide a bridge to stability. Could someone tell me just how in hell does raising taxes on the public create any better “bridge to stability” than a reduction in spending? Obviously everyone at the forum was so focused on the pros and cons of Prop 100 as a means to salvation that they forgot about the spending side of the coin. Oh well, that in itself is another article.

Now here is where it really gets interesting. Ms. Pedersen’s response to Marsh’s statement was that “in the middle of a recession, the idea of losing one more job is unacceptable.” She goes on to say that “without strong schools businesses won’t want to remain or locate here. If the measure loses and education sustains more losses, she predicted, “it is going to put a closed-for-business sign in front of Arizona for years to come”. Understanding of course that Ms. Pedersen’s background appears to be steeped in education I went looking for some statistics on the relationship between “strong schools and business”. Well guess what? If the data that I found has anything to do with retaining businesses then we are in for an exodus of jobs. Using Google, MSN and Yahoo search engines I ended up at The National Center for Education Statistics and found a wealth of knowledge. Unfortunately I was not able to bring support to the table for Ms. Pedersen’s comments about Arizona having strong schools for businesses to surround itself with. The sad news is that Arizona’s education system is rated in the bottom 5 percentile in 2 categories: 48th in reading and 48th in Mathematics and places 44th in Writing and 43rd in Science for students in Grade 4. I did find that for Grade 8 students there was a marked improvement to 37th-42nd place. So much for the argument that we need to pass Prop 100 to continue on a course for “strong schools”.

It would appear that the backers of Prop 100 are using the “education funding” issue as their trump card by seizing on it as a means to brow beat the voters into submission. Don’t be mislead by the heart throb approach that we are depriving our most precious assets, our children, of a quality education. What is wrong with this picture? Rated as the 48th worse state for reading and math education is not due to lack of funds. Maybe we need to devote more effort exploring merit pay and revising the tenure rules.

In my opinion, Prop 100 doesn’t do anything except burden the taxpayer with continued run away government spending. We need to put an end to frivolous spending, we need to cut waste and we need to demand that we balance our state budget. And that goes for cities, counties and school systems.

I leave you with a short verse for thought: “A fool, a fool, a fool, my coxcomb for a fool.”

VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 100.

 

Protect our citizens.

A little geography lesson this morning shows that the Mexico-US border is 1,969 miles long and runs from San Diego, CA in the west to Brownsville, Texas in the east. Each year we are blessed with about 750,000 illegal immigrants crossing this lengthy border and most recently have had one of our citizen ranchers murdered by an unknown individual suspected of traveling back into Mexico after committing the crime. Politicians pop out of the woodwork like flies to crap and call for action while in reality they are doing nothing more than pandering for votes. Think about it for a moment. Do you really think that they are interested in anything other than seizing the moment for a little limelight? Think hard now, don’t just casually reflect on my rants and musings. We are the greatest power on earth, yet our elected officials fail to do one of the very things that the Constitution empowers them to do for and on our behalf; “provide for the common defense”. Is there any confusion as to what “provide for the common defense” actually entails? I think not.

My take on the solution is quite simple. We are currently spending, depending on who or what you listen to, about $150 billion a year on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Some say the total cost will approximate $1-2 trillion, but those are just estimates. But on with my solution. The most recent data show that there are approximately 100,000 servicemen/women stationed in Iraq and rising to about the same in Afghanistan, along with maybe 40-50,000 civilian contractors(soldiers of fortune might be a better description for these). That my friends is a lot of money and a lot of people. Statistics show that there are approximately 31 million people residing in Iraq and approximately 28 million in Afghanistan. My study shows that there are approximately 309 million residing in the USA which means that we have more than 5 times the population of Iraq and Afghanistan combined. So if we apply simple math it would suggest that “the government of the people, by the people and for the people” should send 5 times more troops and spend 5 times more money on defending it’s citizens from illegal border crossings than it does in defending us from the perils within Iraq and Afghanistan. But obviously that is frivolous and I will be the first to confess to that. But what I will argue for is the need to send full combat troops to our borders and do so in sufficient strength to stop the inflow of illegal immigrants along with the criminal elements.

Yes, I know what you are thinking. We have done this in the past and it does not appear to have been a deterrent. Yes, we all know that the troops abandoned there post and retreated when they were confronted by armed banditos. But “no mas”, as so aptly put by Roberto Duran. Sending real troops, with real objectives will put an end to this once and for all. Just give us 10% of those troops in Iraq and Afghanistan along with the support contractors and the current Border Patrol contingency and we can monitor the border the way it should be done. Border protection should be a commitment by our government and it should be done before we start another amnesty program. On the home front we need to have meaningful legislation that hold employers accountable for hiring illegal immigrants and an ability to stop frivolous law suits to prevent enforcement. We can’t have our cake and eat it unless we are prepared to walk the talk. One could literally write books on this subject, both pro and con, but I will leave that to others as I am just here today to point out the problem and provide simple insight for a solution.

I see that the national news continues to follow the murder of Arizona border rancher Robert Krentz, and this in itself shows support for a renewed enforcement policy. Usually we see these things die down quickly and the politically motivated news agencies drop off their coverage. However we are fortunate that this is an election year and the politicians are grabbing for every straw that they can get their hands on. It also offers the incumbents an opportunity to turn the voters attention away from the newly passed healthcare bill while affording the wannabes a chance for headlines. And yes, I will support the candidate that stands up for our rights, be they politically correct or not.

Arizona sales tax increase, Proposition 100, must be defeated

The morning newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star, reports that “voter defeat of the proposed sales tax increase will result in a loss of 20,500 jobs”. Yes, that is probably true and they are all related to growing the government in one way or the other. At some point in our lives we have to decide if we are a free enterprise society or are we alive strictly to provide a tax base for others to use as a means governing our lives. The article goes on to state that city, county and state governments everywhere are devising means to increase taxes in order to maintain there “level of services”. Well, quite frankly, we don’t need their “level of services” as we are quite capable of taking care of ourselves; or am I wrong? The founding fathers of this great nation determined in 1775 that the current administration, the British Empire under the reign of King George, was unfairly taxing the goods and wealth of the colonies and thus it was time that the colonies put their foot down. Hence, the American Revolution and the drafting of our Declaration of Independence” and the "Constitution of the United States”.

No one is suggesting that we start another revolution, at least not one where conflict is a waging of war. What I am getting at is the Constitution states that they; in this case we the people, wanted to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessing of liberty. Nowhere within the confines of this document does it say that we are to get back to the ways of King George and tax the hell out of us. Taxation has become symbolic with more government and more government related employment. Our problems are directly related to growing government and that is in direct conflict with the Constitution. Statistics now show that not only is government the largest single employer in the country, actually the world, they show that government employees on average are the highest paid employees. All of the monies needed to feed this beast comes from taxation and now every form of government is proposing to raise taxes again. The new proposal to raise Arizona’s sales tax would effectively increase the total sales tax in Tucson to 9.1%. Just think for a moment on that number; almost 10% would be added to your purchases and why? To feed the beast, that’s why. We can look at it from any and every way and it all adds up to “feeding the beast”. State, county and city officials all say that without the increase they will have to cut back on services. Well what’s wrong with that? That is what businesses do when things get tough but with government there is relatively little thought of cutting back. Quite the contrary, they just find ways to raise taxes and fees. The federal government currently has debt equal to approximately 83% of the Gross Domestic Product at year ending 2009 and is projected to be 94% by FY 2011.

Just exactly what did the founders have in mind when they wrote this Constitution? Well folks, your guess is as good as the next person’s but I damn well know that raising taxes to grow the government was the farthest thing from their minds and to prove the point they were willing to put their lives on the line.

Before we raise sales taxes, as proposed, let’s just cut back on all non-essential services in all branches of government. What you may ask are non-essential services? Well, I will leave that up to you to decide and I am sure you can come up with more answers collectively than I can independently. I would wager that if there is a continued need for a “non-essential service” private enterprise will jump in and pick up the slack, and yes, it is better that they do it rather than government. Why you ask? To start with private enterprise can smell profit a mile away and when the need dies down, private enterprise will cut back since they cannot just go out and take money from the citizens to continue supporting of a glutted payroll.

In closing I urge each and every one of you to research this and hopefully you will come to the same conclusion that I did: VOTE NO on Proposition 100 in May.