Heal the earth, insure the homeless, pay your mortgage and put food on your table. The Obamassiah has made a lot of promises. “Pass the stimulus and unemployment won’t go over 8%” said Obama earlier this year. It’s now about to hit 10%. ACORN/Census workers are plotting the GPS coordinates of your front door, and soon, you may be required to have a GPS in your car.
A federal commission concluded a GPS-based mileage tax to offset the revenue decline by newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles was the “best path forward”, and now University of Iowa researchers are tweaking a GPS system that will track your vehicles every move. With the current by-the-gallon fuel tax is not generating enough revenue, many are proposing a pay-by-the-mile tax. The only way to accomplish this would be to equip all vehicles with a device to track your mileage.
I think the concept of a pay-as-you go fuel tax may have merit, but using GPS is not the answer as it will allow a further breach of our civil liberties. With the technological advances in the last decade, far less intrusive technology could be used. How about a device that doesn’t track your vehicle, but records your mileage since your last fill up at the gas station and charges you at the pump?
Proponents of the project claim the GPS devices could also be used to as a tool to help manage traffic and relieve congestion. Bullshit. There are other ways to monitor traffic including below pavement ground sensors, cameras, etc.
As one blogger put it, “I’m also paranoid enough that I’d prefer not being harassed or suspected of a crime because I’m one of 200 other cars listed as “near” a crime scene.” Or another who said:
I’m a pretty good shade tree mechanic, even on newer cars.
You’d better believe that the transponder on my next car is going to get removed and will be emitting a nice, regular signal from the corner of the garage, while it gathers dust. It will keep company with the restrictive catalytic converter, intake manifold, and exhaust system that I removed from my sports car.
A new Gallup Poll finds a booming increase in the number of Americans that think the democratic party is too liberal. Who’da thunk?
PRINCETON, NJ — A Gallup Poll finds a statistically significant increase since last year in the percentage of Americans who describe the Democratic Party’s views as being “too liberal,” from 39% to 46%. This is the largest percentage saying so since November 1994, after the party’s losses in that year’s midterm elections.
[...]
Notably, there has been no change over the past year in the percentage of Americans who say the Republican Party is “too conservative,” though the 43% who say the party leans too far to the right matches the historical high mark set last year.
Equipment repaired, landlines unaffected during outage
Fort Wayne, Ind. – 911 emergency service has been restored for cell phone users in the City of Fort Wayne and Allen County.
Earlier today an equipment failure in Indigital Telecom’s Indiana Fiber Network prevented 911 calls from cell phones from going through. The equipment was repaired and service has been restored. Cell phone users needed to use an alternate 7-digit number to reach the City or County’s emergency communications center.
Landlines unaffected, will update when service is restored
Fort Wayne, Ind. – People using cellular phones to reach the City of Fort Wayne or Allen County Communications’ 911 service need to use an alternate number until further notice. Landlines are unaffected by this outage.
For cell phone users only, they should call 427-1222 to reach the City or 449-3000 to reach the County. The problem is expected to be resolved later this evening.
Indigital Telecom identified an equipment failure in the Indiana Fiber Network’s 911 system for cellular calls and is working to resolve the problem.
It took 175 days, a special session, numerous newspaper editorials,
and the threat of a government shutdown, but Speaker Pat Bauer has
finally freed his fellow Democrats and allowed them to vote on a state
budget. After finally passing both the Democrat-controlled House and
the Republican-led Senate, the result is a responsible budget that
protects taxpayers.
You may remember that prior to the start of the special session,
Governor Daniels gave a televised statewide address in which he
outlined five simple conditions he needed met in order to sign a
budget: No tax increases; at least $1 billion left in state reserves;
that legislators cut $1 for every $1 they spent beyond his proposed
budget; that one time funds be spent for one time purposes; and that
no gimmicks were used.
After weeks of grandstanding and foot dragging, House Democrats have
finally joined with legislative Republicans to ensure those conditions
were met.
This budget is good for Hoosiers for a variety of other reasons.
Foremost, when you look around the country, you’ll see most states are
looking at tax increases or massive cuts, including education. Indiana
is doing neither, and that’s a credit to our governor and our
Republican legislators. In fact, not only are we increasing education
funding, but the governor’s ‘education trigger’ has been preserved to
drive more money to our schools if revenues are better than projected.
The budget also addresses many other issues that are important to
Hoosier families, especially as far as the education of our children
is concerned. For instance, there are no caps on the growth of
charter schools; money is provided for a scholarship tax credit that
could help many low-income families send their children to non-public
schools; and for the first time ever, Indiana is exploring the
possibility of online schools that extend learning beyond the
traditional walls of the classroom. These are the kinds of reforms
that will aid Dr. Tony Bennett and his work on behalf of Hoosier kids.
None of this would have been possible without you. We know that
legislators heard your phone calls, read your letters to the editor,
and saw your support for the Republicans’ responsible budget. Thanks
for all that you do, and for supporting our party.
The economy is in the tank. Nationally the the jobless rate is approaching 10%, and closer to home the unemployment rate for May in Kokomo jumped to 18.8 percent, up 11.7 percentage points from a year ago. The Elkhart-Goshen unemployment rate rose to 17.5 percent. That’s up 11.4 percentage points from last year.
As we continue to pull-out early from Iraq, violence is on the upswing. All the while Obama is continuing his romance with fascist dictators like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad to the point of even sending Ambassadors to each country.
But the big news from the White House – the Obamassiah is pounding his chest over new efficiency standards he’s going to cram down our throats on light bulbs. He claims that between 2012 and 2042 it will save us up to $4 billion annually and that’s enough to power every U.S. home for 10 months.
Bullshit.
Maine governor John Baldacci signed a first-in-the-nation law requiring manufacturers of compact fluorescent light bulbs containing toxic mercury to share in the cost of proper disposal.
Legislative Directive 973 goes into effect September 12 and requires manufacturers to pay for the collection and recycling of bulbs, rather than taxpayers. Manufacturers must submit recycling plans by 2010 and begin collection by 2011.
California, Vermont and Massachusetts all have similar bills pending and are expected to follow Maine’s lead.
Want to guess who’s really going to pay for this? You, because the manufacturers will pass along the cost to the consumer.
And if you break one, be careful who you call.
WASHINGTON – Brandy Bridges heard the claims of government officials, environmentalists and retailers like Wal-Mart all pushing the idea of replacing incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving and money-saving compact fluorescent lamps.
So, last month, the Prospect, Maine, resident went out and bought two dozen CFLs and began installing them in her home. One broke. A month later, her daughter’s bedroom remains sealed off with plastic like the site of a hazardous materials accident, while Bridges works on a way to pay off a $2,000 estimate by a company specializing in environmentally sound cleanups of the mercury inside the bulb. Complete story is [here].
It’s no wonder Obama’s approval ratings keep dropping.
Hardball Capital and Barry Real Estate responded to Fort Wayne’s request to find out just what the hell was going on with the never-to-be-seen downtown condominiums. Normally you would hop on a plane and go sit down with your business partner when a multi-million dollar development hangs in the balance. Or, at the very least send a nice letter in the mail, and maybe even follow it up with a phone call. Instead Hardball/Barry sent a couple of emails.
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