Posts Tagged ‘economy’

Cap and Trade and the Hell’s Canyon Dam

Posted: June 26, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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In 1957 Senator Lyndon Johnson had a problem. He wanted to be elected president but it was apparent that no southern candidate could win the democratic nomination without being made pure on Civil rights. Due to the use of the filibuster (these were they days before 60 vote cloture) the southern democrats were able to block any kind of vote so it was necessary to craft a bill weak enough to keep the democrats from filibustering while not gutting the bill to the point where supporters of civil rights would consider it a scam. Johnson managed in one of the most amazing balancing acts in political history managed to shepherd the Civil Rights act of 1957 through the Senate.

One of the pieces of that puzzle was a vote on the Hell’s Canyon Dam. A freshman Senator Frank Church and other senators from the northwest had been fighting for that dam for years to no effect. Johnson managed to make a deal with those senators that in exchange for the votes needed to remove parts of the Civil Rights Bill (section III) unacceptable to the south, southern senators would provide the votes to get the Hell’s Canyon bill through the senate.

What those senators didn’t realize but Johnson did was the House of Representatives would reject the dam. It would be another 7 years (under President Lyndon Johnson) before the dam would be approved and a full decade before it opened.

Something similar is going on right now with Cap & Trade. President Obama and the House Democratic leadership are looking for a win for political reasons and house democrats leaders are making deals to get the votes they need for passage. Like LBJ of old democrat leaders know they are selling a pig in a poke to their members for their own political benefit on a bill that will not actually help those who it purports to help.

The question remains will the undecided members see through it? Time will tell.

Welcome back to Taxachusetts

Posted: June 20, 2009 by datechguy in local stuff, opinion/news
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…says the headline of the Sentinel & Enterprise and they are on the money.

The state sales tax is going up.

So is the meals tax, taxes on alcohol, satellite TV and possibly hotels.

Both the House and Senate Friday, delivered an on-time budget to Gov. Deval Patrick that raises the state sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent and lifts the exemption on beer, wine and spirits.

Thea meals tax, like the sales tax, will increase statewide to 6.25 percent and cities and towns will have the local option of tacking on another .75 percent to raise additional revenue for their own budgets.

The House voted underwhelmingly (underwhelmingly?) in favor of the spending plan, passing the budget on a 110-46 vote. The Senate followed suit with a 31-8 vote.

“I think this sends a very strong message that this state has a very large fiscal deficit in front of us,” said Sen. Jennifer Flanagan, D-Leominster, who voted in favor.

I think it sends a stronger signal to shop in New Hampshire open business in New Hampshire and to avoid this state like the plague. There is a reason why we are bleeding population and stuff like this is it.

Wasn’t it only 8 months ago that we had a chance to repeal the state income tax? Well we collectively made our own bed so now we have to sleep in it or move.

Whatever the New Hampshire chamber of commerce is paying our state reps, it’s not enough.

Oh sure that makes me want to visit Bermuda again…

Posted: June 12, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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the sand, the beaches, the Gitmo terrorists free as birds:

Bermuda has been thrust into an international political firestorm by allowing four former prisoners of Guantanamo Bay to take refuge on the island. The move is likely to garner favour with President Obama, who has been desperate to find homes for former inmates after promising to close Guantanamo by January.
However, the Chinese government is furious, and says the U.S. should extradite what it calls “suspected terrorists” to China. The British Government, and Governor Sir Richard Gozney, are also less than impressed, and say Bermuda should have consulted with them before giving the four men a home.

It gets better in the Q & A:

Will the men be under any restrictions in Bermuda?

No. They will be free members of society, helped to gain employment and found housing.

So if you are a US tourist on the tiny Island of Bermuda (20.6 sq miles) with a population smaller than Fitchburg and Leominster combined you chances of sharing a town with a Gitmo terrorist are excellent.

Boy that’s exactly where I want to take my wife and kids, where they can mix with ex-gitmo inmates with no restrictions and pay for the right to do so. That makes for such a relaxing vacation.

The Bermuda sun is all over this.

If I’m Jamaica or the Virgin Islands I’m sending thank you cards to the Bermuda government for this one.

Via media blog.

Update: Hotair notes that England was kept in the dark:

They talked to them “before the Uighurs got on the plane”? Well, that was certainly sweet of them. Did they mention on which flight they’d be coming to Bermuda, or did they make the Brits guess that, too?

It’s a highly unusual move, all right. I don’t recall the last time an ally sent trained terrorists into a territory for which the other ally had responsibility for security without their permission. Why? Because it hasn’t ever happened before now.

These guys are really slick.

Endorced by Classical Values

Posted: June 9, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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Classical Values endorces my economic plan from January:

We have added at least a trillion dollars to our national debt and the accomplishments for that spending are worse than if we had done nothing. Where is the Do Nothing Congress and the Do Nothing Presidency when you need them?

Doing nothing would have allowed the business cycle to fix itself. It takes guts to sit still when everyone is panicing. This congress doesn’t have them.

Via Glenn.

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