Hi Everyone,
I recently read a newspaper article that absolutely stunned me. Then the more I thought about it, the more infuriated I became. The article was about a new report from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The report showed that in New York state---- only 73.9% of military and overseas ballots were counted last November. The national average is 93.2% which also gets my goat. Do the math, that means that 26.1% of the legitimate ballots are not counted. I am especially upset that NYS troops, in harms way, may not have their ballots counted.
Besides the fact that all legitimate votes must be counted, there is no common sense reason for not counting them. This is an outrage and should not be tolerated ever! All legitimate votes in all 50 states must be counted, period, end of story!
Til next week.
Peter
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Could This Be A Way to Help?
Hi Everyone,
Back in 1920, congress passed the 18th Amendment which prohibited the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale and consumption of alcohol. More then a decade and a ton of money was spent trying to stop the flow and sale of alcohol after 1920. We all know that prohibition was a complete and utter failure. It was such a failure that on 12/5/33, congress passed the 21st Amendment that repealed the 18th Amendment and made alcohol legal again.
Fast forward to 2011. More then 5 decades and how many countless billions of dollars have been spent trying to stop the flow, sale and use of marijuana? It does appear that history has repeated itself. So after a half century, nothing much has changed. Why continue spending all the money and manpower to a losing cause that can't seem to be won?
So here is a common sense approach to stop the bleeding of money that the federal, state and local police agencies spend. Why not legalize pot? But no other drugs. The feds and states could regulate and tax it. I read somewhere that between 30 to 40 million Americans regularly use pot. Imagine the enormous amount of new tax revenue that would be generated. Police agencies would also be able to save taxpayers a lot of money, since they would not be chasing the pot chain. The new revenue stream could be used to reduce our debt, lower our taxes and improve our schools etc. The possiblities are endless and the increased taxes should be considered. It's a new world and new and different thinking is desperately needed to get us out of this financial mess.
Just a thought to think about.
Til next week.
Peter
Back in 1920, congress passed the 18th Amendment which prohibited the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale and consumption of alcohol. More then a decade and a ton of money was spent trying to stop the flow and sale of alcohol after 1920. We all know that prohibition was a complete and utter failure. It was such a failure that on 12/5/33, congress passed the 21st Amendment that repealed the 18th Amendment and made alcohol legal again.
Fast forward to 2011. More then 5 decades and how many countless billions of dollars have been spent trying to stop the flow, sale and use of marijuana? It does appear that history has repeated itself. So after a half century, nothing much has changed. Why continue spending all the money and manpower to a losing cause that can't seem to be won?
So here is a common sense approach to stop the bleeding of money that the federal, state and local police agencies spend. Why not legalize pot? But no other drugs. The feds and states could regulate and tax it. I read somewhere that between 30 to 40 million Americans regularly use pot. Imagine the enormous amount of new tax revenue that would be generated. Police agencies would also be able to save taxpayers a lot of money, since they would not be chasing the pot chain. The new revenue stream could be used to reduce our debt, lower our taxes and improve our schools etc. The possiblities are endless and the increased taxes should be considered. It's a new world and new and different thinking is desperately needed to get us out of this financial mess.
Just a thought to think about.
Til next week.
Peter
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Unbelieveable and Unfortunately True
Hi Everyone,
Just when I think that I can write about a topic other than politics, a newspaper article caught my attention. Today's blog will tell you what is wrong with politicians and their extremely greedy ways.
My hat is off to South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a republican, who has decided to fight the status quo in her state. Unbelieveably, it is legal in South Carolina for legislators to collect a legislative pension while still in office. What? It is also legal in South Carolina for legislators to double their pensions by including their expense reimbursements and per diem allowances in their salaries. Double What? Haley wants legislators pensions based only on their $10,400 salary and not their $12,000 expense reimburements. Haley's judgement is sound and obviously has a lot of common sense behind it. Want to eliminate waste and excesses? This is an excellent first step.
USA TODAY researched this issue and found that 13, yes, 13 states allow the same things. On what planet do these politicians live on? Expense reimbursements and per diem allowances are NEVER included in anyone's salary base in the real world in which you and I live. That is tantamount to highway robbery. In passing laws that legalized such a rip-off, common sense was never on any of those politicians radar, only their own personal greed. I wonder how much money the American taxpayer would save if laws like these and others were eliminated?
Politicians are not CEO's or owners of some big business, they are elected by the people, to work for the people and not to line their pockets with ill gotten and outrageous, off the wall gains.
Common sense rules and greed is always wrong on any level.
Til next week.
Peter
Just when I think that I can write about a topic other than politics, a newspaper article caught my attention. Today's blog will tell you what is wrong with politicians and their extremely greedy ways.
My hat is off to South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a republican, who has decided to fight the status quo in her state. Unbelieveably, it is legal in South Carolina for legislators to collect a legislative pension while still in office. What? It is also legal in South Carolina for legislators to double their pensions by including their expense reimbursements and per diem allowances in their salaries. Double What? Haley wants legislators pensions based only on their $10,400 salary and not their $12,000 expense reimburements. Haley's judgement is sound and obviously has a lot of common sense behind it. Want to eliminate waste and excesses? This is an excellent first step.
USA TODAY researched this issue and found that 13, yes, 13 states allow the same things. On what planet do these politicians live on? Expense reimbursements and per diem allowances are NEVER included in anyone's salary base in the real world in which you and I live. That is tantamount to highway robbery. In passing laws that legalized such a rip-off, common sense was never on any of those politicians radar, only their own personal greed. I wonder how much money the American taxpayer would save if laws like these and others were eliminated?
Politicians are not CEO's or owners of some big business, they are elected by the people, to work for the people and not to line their pockets with ill gotten and outrageous, off the wall gains.
Common sense rules and greed is always wrong on any level.
Til next week.
Peter
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