SUV Denounces Family’s Prop 8 Stance – Do All SUV’s Think The Same Way?

Paraphrased headline from San Jose Mercury News made me laugh.

I wonder if all SUV’s are intolerant as this SUV.

(Prop 8 is California’s marriage protection act, a proposition that does not remove any rights currently enjoyed by homosexual couples – rights that mirror those enjoyed by married couples. As is usual with the intent of the homosexual movement, it is not about rights, it’s about acceptance – and of course the teachable moments that will inevitably follow…in public schools).

‘Nother tip to Malkin, a must read.

Obama’s Tax Credit For The Middle Class Is Misleading – Part 1 (A Layman’s Common Sense Perspective)

I am not a business owner (yet), but hopefully I will be at some point in my life.

For now though, I am an employee for a business and am scraping hard to get by in the middle class. Like most, I don’t think I’m paid as I should be, but I am probably paid just enough not to quit, since my pay covers (mostly) my obligations.

So I should be excited that Obama’s plan will put more money in my pocket, thanks to folks with last names like Gates, Allen, Buffet, et. al, right?

Nope. Try to find a mainstream media article that talks about the effect of these corporate tax hikes and small business owner tax hikes on the overall picture. Context is king…as always.

For one thing, I know that the business I work for doesn’t keep a wad of cash in its safe labeled “Money Set Aside For Future Government Confiscation”. The return on investment is required to be at a certain rate in order to satisfy those who risked their capital to start this venture in the first place. As soon as Obama taxes the corporation, the cost of doing business goes up. In order for the company to continue on its growth plan, it has basically two options: 1 – raise the price of its goods and services in order to maintain the required ROI, or 2 – reduce the cost of goods sold or its capital investments in order to maintain the required ROI.

In the marketplace, both can be difficult to accomplish, but especially #2. Possibly a combination of both. Raising prices may not even be an option depending on the market. Reducing the cost of goods sold can be done a number of ways. The most important effect is the amount of earnings that get reinvested back into company growth. One of the best ways to control costs is to control payroll.

So…while Obama’s tax plan will supposedly benefit me by using the federal government to transfer corporate wealth to me, the same corporations will have less to give in terms of wage increases and bonuses. Add the economic troubles to go with the tax hikes, and any wage increases are likely to be tight in the first place.

The end around in all of this of course is that his tax plan ends up not only putting my corporation’s earnings in someone else’s pocket, rather than the owners’ or the employees’ in terms of wage increases, it puts some of my potential salary gains into someone else’s pocket as well. So whose wealth is redistributed in long run? That’s right, the middles class’s.

I do not see myself as being better off under Obama’s plan. This is only on the pragmatic side. There are other areas to look at as well. Obama’s been talking about the problem of “stagnant wages”. If his plan is enacted, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Part 2 will look at the moral implications.

Voter Fraud – Black and White, Er, Cut and Dried

Should probably be careful with that title these days.

I have hesitated to comment on all of the ACORN mess out there, wondering whether simply multiple registrations to voters was enough to actually make a difference – i.e. adding to the possibility of an outcome changer. I wondered how a person, even they had registered 30 times, could actually go and vote multiple times.

That answer has now been cleared up for me. I’m thankful we have journalists out there willing to scream from the rooftops and who are as prolific as Michelle Malkin. I don’t see how we can continue to look the other way. We now see the actual “how” of this fraud being carried out. Smart people can think of a variety of ways to “game the system”, but obviously being smart doesn’t mean that you do what’s right.

Hat tip to Michelle for featuring the video on her site. If you can’t get the whole thing to play there, try directly going to Palestra’s website.

It’s unfathomable to me that people would do this. I’m pretty sure that the Founding Fathers did not have this in mind when setting up this republic. What’s to stop me, here in a solidly democratic state, from going to a swing state and having my vote make a bigger difference? Just do a little ‘community organizing’ in say, Florida, get together with a few dozen people to rent a tiny house for an address, and voila, go vote republican. That’s equivalent to what these morally bankrupt individuals are doing. The ends appear to justify the means – and moral relativism is rearing its ugly head again. These guys should be convicted of a felony and thrown in prison.

There. Now I’m actually mad.

Record Gas Price Drop – Where is the Praise for Oil Companies’ Reduced Profit?

Who can forget all the hand-wringing by elected officials over the “record profits” of the [Big] Oil companies during the recent supply/demand crunch?

So now that gas prices are dropping dramatically and oil is less than $80 per barrel, where is the praise to the oil companies for not gouging the customer? I’ll bet I don’t even have to look too closely to find out that their margin is still pretty close to the same – a number no doubt established by the market and competition.

I have to wonder whether the liberals are still targeting the oil companies specifically for a windfall profits tax – whatever that really is.

Socialism – With Humor

If you’re in need of a chuckle…

No further comment necessary.

Another Day – Another Day Closer to the United Socialist States of America

Now, after claiming to be against government ownership stakes in banks, the Treasury Secretary has reversed course and the Feds are buying minority stakes in 9 banks – with more to come.

Once the eloquent, chosen one is ushered into office on the coattails of a misinformed increasingly American Idol type electorate, all restraints to creating the ultimate nanny-state will be removed and we will no longer be on the way to socialism – we will have arrived. We will be all set to spread the [diminishing] wealth from those who’ve taken the risk and succeeded to those who can’t or won’t. Instead of our young plumbing company growing and providing jobs, he will instead be providing for folks directly because if he makes 250K, he is “rich” and his wealth needs to be “shared”, because, after all, it benefits everybody.

If you think it’s merely an investment by the Feds, think again. These [mandatory] voluntary participating banks must agree to conditions set forth by the Feds.

In pressing the bank executives to accept partial government ownership, Paulson’s message was clear: Though officially the program was voluntary, the banks had little choice in the matter. In exchange for giving the Treasury minority stakes, the nine firms would jointly receive an investment worth $125 billion. The government would make another $125 billion available for the next 30 days to thousands of other banks and thrifts across the country.

Federal officials set conditions, telling the banks they could not raise their dividends without government permission and could not offer their executives new retirement packages, though the old packages would remain intact.

Read more here.

“From Each According to His Ability…To Each According To His Needs” – ?

Someone influential in history (hint, not in a good way) said that.

Is this how you want your success to be rewarded? Not me…

Right is Wrong and Wrong is Good

Another wonderful piece from one of my favorite bloggers, who writes it more cogently than I ever could. Welcome to the left coast LaShawn. Now that you live on this side, you’ll see it ever more clearly.

How soon will it be that someone wants to marry their sibling and force us to legitimize it? When will the polygamists start winning their cases?

Don’t judge others, you object? Sorry, but society has and should continue to judge. Without judgment, society crumbles. Of course we need to be able to judge between what our society’s foundations are now and what they may become.

I really don’t care either what two consenting adults do in private, at least in terms of legislating homosexual behavior. I believe it’s immoral of course, but no, this fundamentalist zealot has no desire for government to get into the bedrooms of adults in their consensual relationships.

Society is built on the nuclear family – and although alternate definitions can sometimes work, it does not mean that we should be forced to morally legitimize these definitions.

Quick Thoughts On The Presidential Debate

This is, as the title indicates a quick take – not much detail as I don’t tie a whole lot of importance to the debates in the first place.

While the media and bloggers everywhere look for gaffes they can turn into soundbites, I’ll let them do what they think their job is as comment mostly on content and context.

Part of that context is how each candidate presented themselves.  I thought that McCain appeared nervous at times and not totally sure of where he wanted to go with his answers.  Again, this was only at times and mostly in the beginning of the debate where I’m sure neither candidate was totally expecting the diversion into other issues.  With the economic crisis I would consider it understandable if neither candidate was comfortable with it because I don’t think either has a real answer as of yet.  I thought Obama carried himself very well, but my deepest impression was that he was not himself.  In context, I’m a fiscal and social conservative, so I don’t agree with many, if any, of Obama’s stances on the issues, but the feel of how he presents himself has always made him seem likable to me.  In this case, he appeared much more stiff than usual.  His answers appeared extremely rehearsed.

In terms of areas where the candidates could have made inroads on the other, I thought both missed some opportunities.  I think McCain missed more opportunities, however.  Especially early on when Obama tried to tie the economic crisis to the “failed policies of the last eight years.”  Since the crisis’ roots go back to the ease of credit restrictions and the desire to get more people into homes, the main policies that led to this had almost nothing to do with Bush. Further, the crisis is going to likely hide what Obama’s tax and spend policies will do. McCain should hit hard on Obama’s supposed middle class tax breaks and the “closing of corporate loopholes”, which has a nice popular feel to it, but doesn’t amount to helping the middle class at all.

McCain was much sharper on the foreign policy issues…which is what I thought this debate was supposed to be about.

Who Wanted to Regulate? Who Didn’t?

Watch for yourself.

All the while, it’s Obama’s numbers going up throughout all of this. Can someone give me an answer that is not a non-sequitor? I’m really going to have to start bringing up Economy Basics here…maybe some common sense will show…

Now we have the biggest power grab attempt in our history in which both sides of the aisle are looking to gorge themselves on…