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It seems that a federal court out in Indiana upheld a law that requires people to show a government issued photo I.D. before they are allowed to vote in an election. Sounds like a pretty good idea and a good way to prevent voter fraud but the Democratic Party out there does not agree with this law and in fact took the issue to the courts...
It is time to make the recent tax cuts by President Bush permanent for they are the reason that the economy has been and continues to be strong. The Democrats and much of the mainstream media has done a great job as to making these taxcuts out to as only being good for the "Rich". The facts show that we all benefit from the lower taxes for the economy has grown and continues to grow at a very good rate. We have had 17 consecutive quarters of economic expansion and enjoy a unemployment rate of 4.7%. Just like back in the 1980's with the Reagan taxcuts it was said that these cuts would decrease the amount of tax revenue going into the Federal Treasury. The facts show that the treasury took in $783 billion in 2003, and after the taxcuts took full effect revenue rose to $809 billion in 2004, $927 billion in 2005 and estimated $997 billion for 2006. If we make the cuts permanent we are looking at $1 Trillion in 2007... Tax Cuts increase investment, creates jobs, increases number of people working and paying taxes, Tax Cuts Stimulates the Economy....
Unfortunately with a great economy from the taxcuts it seems the guys up in D.C. have not held back on the spending and that is why we have the defecits which the media loves to point out. If the Congress had limited federal spending to just a 4% increase each year we would be looking at a surplus of about $58 billion next year instead of a projected defecit of $354 billion... Making the money is not the problem, how we spend it is the problem...
Here in Virginia we have a special session going on in Richmond because our new Democrat Governor Tim Kaine is pushing for another $1 billion tax increase when we presently have a $1.4 billion surplus. His old boss, Democrat Governor Mark Warner pushed thru a tax increase last time around claiming that the Virginia economy was in danger and will not be able to pay for "Core" services. What Warner did not look at was that the economy was on the rebound after President Bush's Taxcuts and that there was only a "Made-Up" fear of Virginia running out of revenues. Instead of being happy with overtaxing the citizens of Virginia and having a surplus of $1.4 billion, Kaine is looking to raise taxes again for the "Good" of Virginia... He claims that this money will only be used for transportation projects which are needed. My problem with that is what are we going to do with the surplus we have now and as the economy continues to grow what about that money also? To increase taxes again by another billion how will all this money be spent. The Virginia Delegates are in Richmond fighting this now and more power to them !!!
If Virginia needs $$$ to fix roads, maintain "Core" programs, etc. then use the surplus or increase taxes if you spend our money properly. Otherwise send back the tax revenues (surplus) that are only going to be spent on special interest projects to the taxpayers and let us spend that money as we see fit....
I had the privlege to attend the Senator George Allen rally in Harrisonburg with several Republican friends from Augusta County including my new friend Rhonda Winfield from Stuarts Draft, VA.
Rhonda is the mother of Marine Lance Cpl. Jason C. Redifer who was killed in action while serving in Iraq on January31, 2005. I have met her several times but only for short periods and never had the opportunity for an extended conversation. I have had the opportunity to hear much of her story from a mutual friend and have learned that Rhonda is a very powerful and special person when it comes to the sacrifice her Son made to our country.
At the completion of the Senators remarks I was taking photo's of the Senator when I noticed Rhonda standing in line to meet and talk with Senator Allen. Knowing that she was coming up in
line I was sure to get in a good position to get some photos for her and maybe one for the blog. I had noticed earlier that Rhonda was wearing Jason's dog-tags and I knew she had been wearing them ever since getting them returned to her with other personal effects of Jason. But when Rhonda got to meet with Senator Allen she had the dog-tags clenched in her hands. As she talked with the Senator I was able to frame some nice shots but at a distance so as not to intrude into the conversation. I could tell by the Senators face that she was telling him of Jason and his sacrifice for our country and his beliefs. I then saw Rhonda give the dog-tags to the Senator and this had a very profound affect on the Senator and his wife Susan.
Later in the day I was able to have that extended conversation with Rhonda who told me that the dog-tags were Jason's extra pair for the originals were lost when he was killed in action. She has been wearing them ever since receiving them and she did not plan on giving them to the Senator. She said that the Senators speech had a very moving affect on her and that she knew he should have the dog-tags for she knew he believed in Jason's mission and truly understood her loss.
Rhonda also told me of the numerous letters of condolences she received from many people and some from elected officials. She told me that Senator Allen's letter was different from the "form" letters she received and there was a hand written note from the Senator telling her that "Susan and I pray for you"...
She also told me that Jason and Senator Allen shared the same values and beliefs in our country and she recalls talking with Jason about the Senator that he admired. She also admires Senator Allen for she sees the same values and morals that he shares with President Bush. She knows that they hate to have to make the decision to send troops into harms way but they understand that "Freedom isn't Free"...
Rhonda then told me that she feels Senator Allen is not just doing this to get re-elected as Senator or possibly as part of a campaign to be the next President. He is doing what he believes is right for the country...
I am very glad that I was able to have that "extended" conversation with my new friend...
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This week Iran announced that they have reached the 2nd of four steps in developing the nuclear material needed to make a nuclear bomb. Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has already stated that once they have these bombs they will use them against Israel...
Here is a good one for you... It's cheaper to get the one from Peru...
A few years back I lived in Key West Florida and worked on a Sportfishing Charter boat that took people out fishing in the Florida Straits for day trips. The photo above is of a female Dolphin fish that is also known as Mahi-mahi, Dorado, and numerous other names depending on your location and what ocean you were in... Dolphin is a very fast growing fish and is also very good eating. The Florida Keys has become a popular place for tourist to escape to and get in some fishing and great dining in town. Key West has some incredible restaurants with all the "fresh" seafood you could ever want...
An interesting fact was that times during the year I could fish during the day catching all of the Dolphin we want and then stop by the supermarket on the way home only to find foreign caught fish for sale. Many times I would catch an outstanding fish like the one above only to find Dolphin in the fish section that was from Peru or some other country thousands of miles away.
One of the main factors to this was that a charterboat had to maintain the proper licenses and permits to be able to catch and sell the fish caught during the trip. There were days where I saw the price of fresh Dolphin as low as $.40 a pound and many commercial boats could not pay fuel to go out fishing. The fish caught also had to be maintained at a cold temperature and was inspected at the fish house before sale. The Charterboat also had to report catche's for there were also quota's that once reached the season would be closed. All of these restrictions made it possible for the local supermarket in Key West, surrounded by water and some of the best fishing in the Atlantic, offer Dolphin from Peru cheaper then that caught 5 miles offshore...
It was interesting to see that there were so many restrictions on American fishermen who abided by the rules only to be undersold by countries that operated under very few restrictions let alone few inspections.
Last week the news came out that GM General Motors has offered up to 130,000 employees to “Buy” them out of their jobs for $140,000 each. Now the calculator on my desk will not calculate the total dollar amount of that buyout without giving me an “error” message on the screen, but I am sure one of you visitors will post the correct amount in a reply. The guys over at IBD (Investors Business Daily) did provide some other information as to how GM has gotten themselves into this situation. Great paper, you need to start getting this paper just for the facts that are not provided by many “Media outlets”.
It seems that GM has been losing a good amount of money over the years and in fact it is reported that they lost $10.6 Billion last year alone. Now this has been a long time coming and in fact GM has lost market share from 50% in the 1950’s to just barely 24% now. There have been many factors to this decline and it is interesting to look at them. Remember back during the 1970’s energy shortage and there was a mass move to smaller vehicles made in Japan and the likes for their MPG was much greater? GM and many of the U.S. Automakers responded somewhat but they still lost market share over the years. The problem is not totally the selection of vehicles they produced, it is the deals they made over the years with the Auto Worker’s unions. It is also estimated that GM is losing over $25 million dollars a day at it’s present rate. Now over the years GM made benefit deals with the union that are now coming due and pretty much puts the company in “Dire Straits”. Many of these deals were made for the “bills would be due later” and worry about it then. Well its time. GM is currently paying out almost $800 million a year to workers the company has laid off and this is almost at full pay and including full benefits for no work produced. GM is also operating under health care liabilities totaling almost $75 billion dollars and that does not include the pension plans.
Now Unions were needed in the past but there is a reason why the membership has dropped off to almost only 12% of the workforce now and most of those are government workers. Many companies have moved their operations to the southern U.S. where there are less unions and also out of the country to avoid unions altogether. GM once employed 520,000+ employees in the 1970’s and now just a fraction of that number. GM is not the only U.S. automaker with this problem, look at Ford, the company stock is now at $6 a share…
It is not always the evil top management people who takes the lion’s share of the profits. It appears everybody had their hands in the pot on this one…
