Big Dogs Weblog

The Reason for the Season

Dec 22, 2007 General

The season of joy and goodwill is upon us, a time where Christians the world over celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Though we don’t know when Jesus was really born, December 25th is the day we celebrate the birth of a man who was the lamb sacrificed for our sins. Unfortunately, too many in our society have done a lot to remove the reason for this season from the equation and have, instead, focused on other religions, no religion or on the almighty dollar. People worry more about buying the right gift and merchants worry more about making a profit, all in the name of a man they fail to recognize.

Christmas is a time of renewed hope. A time where people can reflect and realize that while we are born as sinners, our sins were forgiven because of the selfless act of Jesus Christ. While we mark this as his birth, we also realize that his birth was the beginning of a journey that ended in suffering and pain, all out of the love God has for mankind. It is unfortunate that this message is lost in the desire of some to remove all reference of Christmas from the season. Happy Holidays fills the ads, the cards, and the greetings as Merry Christmas is shunned and those who utter it looked upon as some type of Christian boob with little regard for the other religions of the world.

No such war has been declared on any other religious celebration as Muslims celebrate Ramadan and Eid and Jews celebrate Hanukkah. Only Christmas gets a bum rap as organizations such as the ACLU try to remove every reference to Christianity from our culture. Those religions recognize Christ, not as the son of God but as a prophet and they celebrate the beliefs they hold dear. Christians celebrate Christmas as the birth of the son of God and are scorned. Christians are held to a different standard by a population that wants to remove crosses, and other symbols from every facet of life in America.

Jesus is the reason for the season and no amount of opposition will ever change that. The oppressed have a way of showing their faith and will never allow this to continue. I believe that one needs not be a Christian to understand that Jesus was a great man who lived in peace, something that would make Christianity the true religion of peace.

As for me, I have never been politically correct.

Merry Christmas. There I wrote it and I say it no matter what greeting I get. Everyone else should try it as well. They might just find it uplifting and trend setting…

Tags: Christmas, holiday, jesus, meaning and purpose

Barry Rascovar Gives an A for Failure

Dec 22, 2007 Political

Barry Rascovar of the Gazette in Maryland has given his annual grade to our new Governor Martin O’Malley (MOM). The grade is an A – minus, a little better than the B he awarded Governor Ehrlich in his first term. The major difference in the grade seems to be that Rascovar is happy that MOM raised taxes, in fact the largest in the state’s history, and that MOM did this in an effort to tackle a tough budget deficit. Rascovar indicated that Ehrlich did not do this and he was a bit less mature in his first year. I can’t imagine this is true given MOM’s propensity to cry and whine about everything but let us look at what he did to earn that A.

MOM blew a 2 billion dollar surplus left to him by Ehrlich, mostly to pay off his political backers, and then he called a special session of the legislature to address the budget problem. Rather than reduce spending and cutting waste, the Democratically controlled legislature voted to raise taxes so high they will burden everyone in the state regardless of income. The issue of slots, one that was dead for Ehrlich so as to deny him the success, is now going to go before voters and many of the tax issues are tied to the slots bill being implemented. The legislature left this to the people because they were too cowardly to tackle it themselves. I wonder why we were not allowed to vote on whether our taxes should be raised as well.

Barry Rascovar probably would have given a higher grade but, to him, MOM did not go deep enough into our pockets. He, according to Rascovar, should have raised gas taxes and indexed that to inflation. Of course, the tax would never go down, it would stay the same or increase. There is fairness for you. Rascovar thinks this would have raised more money for social programs, as if we do not waste enough money on them now.

MOM raised taxes when we are getting ready for a down turn and when the values of homes are declining. He raised taxes during a period when home foreclosures are at an all time high due to people lacking the intelligence or experience to make good decisions. Barry Rascovar seems to think that these taxes are going to be wonderful and fix everything when, in fact, they will actually stifle growth and will cause people who can afford to, to leave the state for more friendly neighboring states.

The tax increases, on top of the 75% electric rate increase (one MOM promised to stop) will mean hard times for many families. This earns an A from Rascovar who must have some sadistic desire to see people suffer. However, this is typical liberalism. Cause as much pain as possible and then allow the government to swoop in and promise to fix it. Get reelected and cause more pain. It is a viscous cycle that keeps repeating because people are not smart enough to see how badly the Democrats are hurting them.

Of course, MOM comes from Baltimore City where the schools were the lowest performing in the state. He is used to leading unintelligent people who do not have the knowledge to change their circumstances. As long as these people exist there will be people like MOM in charge.

Barry Rascovar might just be in line to head the school board. His grading system, one that rewards for failure, is right in line with MOM’s philosophical views. What this state does not need is a bunch of unthinking, unintelligent dimwits running around making decisions about the future of the state.

We already have that in our legislature, in MOM, and in the toady reporters who lick their boots.

How does shoe leather taste Barry?

Remember those who voted to increase your taxes when they ask for your vote…

Tags: gazette, O'Malley, rascovar, report card, taxes

The AMT, a Congressional Tax Scam

Dec 22, 2007 Political

The Alternative Minimum Tax, or AMT, was enacted in 1969 to force millionaires to pay a “minimum” amount of taxes. The law was specifically aimed at the fewer than 200 millionaires in this country. I am sure Congress did not consider that there would be many more millionaires over the years with a few billionaires sprinkled in. They also never figured what would happen to this archaic law over the years. Since Congress failed to index the AMT for inflation, this law has been affecting people who are no where near being millionaires and it has done so for years. People who make a little as $150,000 can be hit by the AMT (and some with lower incomes depending on circumstances). There are people who would argue that $150,000 is a very good salary, and it is, but that in no way makes a person a millionaire.

Nearly 40 years after the AMT was enacted Congress has decided to do something about the way that it is affecting non-millionaires. But this comes with great concerns to our esteemed members of the criminal club in Congress because they are trying to figure out how to make up the revenue that will be lost by fixing the AMT. They want to do this by raising taxes on the rich (who else) but the AMT was a tax that was designed to only affect the rich in the first place. Charlie Rangel is beside himself because of all the money the government will lose if they fix the AMT without replacing the revenue source. Rangel says this as if the money belongs to the government instead of the people.

What I want Rangel and others to do is abolish the AMT completely. It is antiquated and has no place in our system. There are a lot of rich people and they pay a great deal in taxes. Then, I want Rangel and the other members of Congress to find a way to refund the money that they have received illegally over the years. The AMT was designed to impact millionaires. It has resulted in non-millionaires paying a fortune in extra taxes over the years so Congress owes people money back. Their law affected people it was not supposed to touch so the reality of the situation is, Congress will not be losing money, as Rangel claims but rather it will be no longer getting money to which it is not entitled.

My opinion is that Congress has never been entitled to the money the AMT has raised from non-millionaires because this is contrary to the law they enacted in 1969. Congress has been ignoring this for nearly four decades because they liked taking in extra money that they had not planned on getting. This allows them to waste even more. The problem is, the AMT has not reached down to the middle class of America and the middle class is not too happy. Congress might kiss the rears of lobbyists and rich people for campaign money but the middle class is a larger voting block and they do not want to tick everyone off. So they put up a little patch to keep the AMT from getting even more people this year while they work on a way to make the rich pay for a mistake that was only supposed to affect the rich in the first place.

The desire of the Democrats in Congress to always tax the hell out of the rich is one of the reasons many businesses decide to move their efforts out of the country. It is why many rich people have investments that are not subject to the US tax system and it is why rich people hire armies of lawyers to keep them from being raked over the coals. Next time one of you bleeding heart liberals cries about some big company (like Heinz) outsourcing to another country don’t cry about the company and how evil and greedy it is. Instead, focus your anger toward a body that thinks it is OK to rape people because they are successful. The actions of Congress cause people to react.

People who have paid the AMT over the years (and who are not millionaires) should write a letter to their members of Congress demanding their money back. They should assert it was taken by fraud and should be returned.

The AMT does not make millionaires pay a minimum tax. It forces ordinary wage earners to find ways to reduce the burden of taxes by getting higher cost health insurance and making larger contributions to retirement plans. These reduce the amount of income that is actually taxed. Of course, there are plenty of ways to avoid taxes, as the rich in this country (like members of Congress) have found out.

We need a tax code that is no more than 10 pages long. It should include a flat tax that cannot be raised above a certain number without the vote of the people. The flat tax will eliminate the need for the pithy class warfare Democrats love to play and it will eliminate the need for many other tax schemes such as the AMT. It should also reduce the need for an IRS (the Gestapo of the Congress) and it will reduce the cost associated with running the tax scheme of this country.

One thing we should make sure of is that Rangel and the rest of his bandits are not allowed to rape the rich to fix a problem that should never have happened and only happened due the the incompetence of the Congress.

Others with similar items:
Outside the Beltway, Stop the ACLU, The Midnight Sun, Rosemary’s Thoughts, guerrilla radio, 123beta, Adam’s Blog, Right Truth, Stix Blog, Shadowscope, Leaning Straight Up, Cao’s Blog, The Amboy Times, Chuck Adkins, Conservative Cat, Nuke’s, Faultline USA, Allie is Wired, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Walls of the City, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate’s Cove, Celebrity Smack, The Pink Flamingo, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Tags: amt, Congress, crimes, Democrats, incompetence, tax and spend, tax the rich, taxes

Tancredo Trades Principle for Politics, Blows Immigration Stance

Dec 20, 2007 Immigration, Political

Tom Tancredo officially dropped out of the GOP race today and he threw his support behind Mitt Romney. Tancredo has great positions on immigration but he is a one trick pony. All he ever talked about was immigration. I am sure there are other issues he has positions on but he failed to come across as anything more than an advocate for tough immigration law enforcement. The one trick got old fast for a number of people who realize that there are many issues in addition to immigration. In dropping out Tancredo had the chance to show how principled he was with regard to his signature issue. Unfortunately, he failed miserably.

Tom Tancredo threw his support behind Mitt Romney who Tancredo met with to receive assurances that Romney would be tough on the issue of immigration. In throwing his support behind Romney Tancredo stated that he was “the best hope for our cause.” This is where I have problems and where it appears to me that he abandoned his principles and went for the politics of the issue. Romney is not as bad as Giuliani or Huckabee when it comes to immigration but he has had his issues with it. I don’t believe that Romney should be held accountable if the company he hired employed illegals. It is the responsibility of the company to do that. However, the company in question had been caught using ILLEGALS before and Romney failed to keep an eye on them or to replace them all together. It took a news report showing admitted ILLEGALS working on his property for him before he fired the company. This man is running for the presidency. He is under much higher scrutiny than the guy next door and he should have been on top of this. He says he is tough on immigration but it does not appear that way.

Fred Thompson, Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul are the only remaining GOP candidates with records that reflect tough immigration policies. If Tancredo wanted to show that he was absolutely concerned about the issue he should have selected one of these candidates to throw his support behind. Ron Paul has a very good plan with regard to immigration and while I am not in favor of many of his other policies I like his stance on immigration and our borders. Fred Thompson has an equally good plan at his site as does Duncan Hunter. Any of these guys would have been a better choice to be “the best hope for our cause.” Yet, Tancredo neglected each of these people, people who have stands and would not need to provide reassurance, in order to support Romney, a man with questionable views on Immigration. Before the Romney crowd beats me up, remember, Tancredo needed to get reassurance. That is usually not necessary if you have been clear and consistent.

It is unfortunate but Tancredo traded his principles. It gives the impression that Tancredo was not all that serious about immigration because he could not back one of the people who is actually tough on the issue. Since that was his only issue he could have at least picked someone who held the same beliefs. If Romney gets elected and he ends up signing an amnesty bill Tancredo and his efforts will go to the ash heap of history. He will be viewed as a man who backed the guy who gave the country away.

It is unfortunate that Tancredo could not get this right but at least it shows that he would not have been a good president. If he blew this easy choice this badly think about how terribly he would do with judges, justices, and just about any other appointee.

Source:
Des Moines Register

Tags: fred thompson, Immigration, mike huckabee, mitt romney, ron paul, rudy giuliani, tom tancredo

Gore Wants Another Recount

Dec 20, 2007 Political

Pat Sajak wrote a piece for Human Events where he reports that Al Gore’s people have filed several lawsuits alleging that the voting for the Time Person of the Year was tampered with and that people who were going to vote for Gore were told they could not vote. I do not like the idea that Putin won the thing but I would rather see him get it than Gore.

My question is why does this buffoon need to be named Time Person of the Year? He has already won an Emmy, an Oscar, and the Nobel Peace prize, none of which he deserved. He won all these things for the junk science he passes off to the less informed so that he can make millions of dollars. Regardless, why is this so important? Does he need his ego stroked so badly he will sue over a meaningless award? If his ego has not been stroked enough from winning the other awards, especially since he did not deserve them, then he needs mental health counseling. Maybe though, winning those awards made Al believe he is entitled to win everything. He still believes he won in 2000 and his people have even indicated they think President Bush might be behind the Time issue:

Some Gore supporters have accused Republicans of using dirty tricks to manipulate the results. One close advisor, requesting anonymity, claimed, “Putin is just the kind of civil-rights-trampling dictator the GOP loves to see in power. It would be interesting to sit down with those who voted and find out just how many have been subjected to Guantanamo-like coercion. Republicans knew Bush wouldn’t win, so this was the next best thing.”

Isn’t it nice the advisor was so repugnant with regard to views about the GOP? Isn’t it also convenient how the coward spoke on the condition of anonymity? This usually means that the person is not authorized to discuss an issue (usually breaking the law) or the person is a coward and does not want his name associated with the comment. I am not surprised though because any person who would support Al Gore or work for him has to be brain damaged and the kind of person that makes one wish birth control was retroactive. There also seems to be this belief that anyone actually gives a damn about the Person of the Year.

I was Time’s Person of the Year in 2003 and I don’t think it was a big deal.

Al wants another recount. How did that work out last time?

Maybe he needs to win everything to cover up feelings of inadequacy caused by being a LOSER.

Tags: gore, person of the year, recount, time