garageman's Blog

I happened to stumble across a talk show on NPR today where the topic of discussion was funding for food pantries.  I fumed as I listened, unable to call in myself as I was driving while listening to the radio.  Caller after caller as well as the moderator, Kathleen Dunn, extolled the virtues on contacting elected officials to encourage them to fund food pantries.  Now, I'm not saying that the hungry should not be fed.  But since when is it the government's responsibility to fund food pantries??  Why isn't anyone asking people to contact members of their church for donations to food pantries?  Why aren't the food pantries themselves holding fund raisers and food drives?  When was the last time the Muscular Dystrophy Association called you and asked you to write your congressman and ask the government to fund MDA?  Really? Never?  MDA has raised billions of dollars on their own.  Why isn't Kathleen Dunn or her callers encouraging people to ask their boss or their brother or sister to make a matching donation to a local food pantry?  At some point the citizenry has to become responsible for themselves.  That includes their fellow man.  The government is not going to solve this one.  Food pantries need funding and food.  Contact your local food pantry and make a donation of food or funds today.  Call your brother, your sister, your mom and dad, your friends and ask them to do the same.  Ask your employer to start a matching donation program where you work.  Volunteer at your local food pantry and help them set up a fund raiser or a food drive.  It's up to us to take care of each other.  Not the government!

For real, check it out.  http://www.nationalblackrepublicans.com/index.cfm?fuse
action=pages.DYK-Why%20MLK%20was%20a%20Republican

Time to wake up and smell the coffee!  dansebringforcongress.com

Last night Mike Lowe reported on a town hall meeting about an advisory referendum that will be on the ballot on Nov. 4th.  Members of the Milwaukee County Board want the authority to put a one percent county sales tax in place to fund the county park system and transit and emergency medical services. It took a couple of hours to digest what I took in at that town hall meeting.

It's a tax increase!  Under the guise of property tax relief, if passed supporters of the referendum have calculated that they will take in some $130 million dollars.  Twenty seven percent of the Milwaukee County property tax levy.  How much of that $130 million goes toward property tax relief?  Less than half!

Why stop there?  If the numbers that were put out were correct and twenty seven percent of the property tax levy can be replaced with a one cent county sales tax, by my calculations the entire property tax levy can be replaced with a 3.65% county sales tax. Including the wolf in sheep's clothing tax increase they want to create. That would make the total sales tax in Milwaukee County 9.25%. Still a full point less than Chicago.  Why isn't anyone talking about that?

The most bang for your tax buck.  It's been reported that a controversial letter was sent out to at least a portion of the citizenry (I did not receive one) explaining the referendum and calling them to this town hall meeting.  The cost of the letter exceeded $20,000.  Regardless of what "fund" the money came from, it was still taxpayer money that paid for it.  So how many people showed up for the town hall meeting?  I counted ten. Was this a wise use of taxpayer's money? 

As this is an advisory referendum my fear is that, much like Congress and the bailout, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors will be in a position to ignore the will of the people and pass the tax increase anyway.  They may be able to generate a new tax revenue stream for Milwaukee County, but it's the County Executive's budget that decides what money goes where.  They can't guarantee that the revenue generated by the county sales tax will be used for the purposes being put forth.  Some other "economic emergency" will appear and the Board of Supervisors will "Doyle"  the money for other purposes. Nor can they guarantee a commensurate property tax cut.

It's a hurry up world, but this is one thing I had to stop and think about before forming my opinion.

 

The rush to bail out our financial institutions has all the lustre of a smarmy used car salesman telling me I have to buy the car I'm looking at right now!  Another guy was just looking at it and went to get his money!  If another guy went to get his money, why is the salesman pressuring me to buy?  Our Senators and Congressmen think we're stupid!

To be certain...something had to be done.  But I don't think this was it.  When the first proposal failed the stock market actually bounced back.  The second proposal passed and the stock market went down.  What does that tell you?  They could have waited.  They could have taken their time and done only what needed to be done.  They didn't. It's business as usual in Washington, D.C. and one wonders if there will ever be such a thing as "change".

I would not have voted for a bailout package that had money in it for anything other than propping up financial institutions and it would be a loan not a gift from Uncle Sam.  I have yet to speak anybody who's even remotely encouraged by the deal.  Once again our elected officials have ignored the American People and the United States Constitution.  Instead they have opted to once again get over on the taxpayers. 

From badgerblogger.com

Posted on Friday, 28th April 2006 by Patrick Dorwin

A few weeks ago, Congresswoman Gwen Moore was one of the politicians that helped to kill the plan for a Waukesha company, BuySeasons, which is listed by Inc. Magazine as the fastest growing privately held business in the state, from moving to and expanding in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley. The company has 150 full time employees that earn on average, $11.55 per hour, and last year they hired 218 central city residents and expected to hire even more after the relocation These seasonal employees earned between $9 and $16 per hour. But Congresswoman Moore and other local politicians argued that these “were not the right kinds of jobs” to bring to the area. This is an area where unemployment and poverty rate is sky high, but I guess these Liberal politicians prefer this blight and despair to the opportunity this would give people to climb out of the morass.

Today, Congresswoman Gwen Moore’s news letter came in the mail. The lead column is titled Poverty Harms The Whole Community, in which she talks about the struggle that people in poverty have, and how hard it is for lower skilled and less educated workers to find decent paying jobs in Milwaukee.

She then discusses the government programs that she is supporting that will encourage new small businesses, and federal tax dollars that she is bringing home to the district to stimulate the local economy and combat poverty.

Excuse me Congresswoman, but you killed real jobs just a few weeks ago, jobs that would really do the things that you hope these programs will do in the future. The jobs you killed were just what the lower skilled workers that you claim to want to help, need. These jobs would give the employees the experience they need to succeed in the job market, but you killed them, then a few weeks later you brag about all that you are doing for us… Bah!

You can read Moore’s column by clicking the thumbnail below.

Update

BuySeasons is reconsidering their decision to give up on the Vally site.

The Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee is now supporting the sale of the desired land to BuySeasons. Alderman Bob Bauman still opposes the sale saying that Milwaukee is “running short of land available for industrial use, and should better protect that ’scarce resource.’” He also calls BuySeasons “a fad business,” and goes on to attack this company that wants to bring a few hundred jobs to Milwaukee… as if we had an overabundance of jobs in the area… Moron.

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Elect Dan Sebring for Congress in 2010

www.dansebringforcongress.com

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The argument is not about smoking or not smoking, bars closing or not closing.  It's about what the government can and can't tell you what you can and can't do.  When smoking ban proponents, mandatory paid sick day proponents, and politicians in general talk about "The Greater Good" they're talking about, at best...socialism.  At worst...communism. This is not what America is supposed to be about.  THAT'S why feathers get ruffled when things like this come up.  The government, democrats in particular, wants all Americans to be dependant on the government for everything!  We'll tell you what to wear, where to work, what to eat, when to sleep.  What is healthy, when your sick. What car you can drive and where to drill.  So go play your XBOX and let us take care of everything for you.  Personal freedom and responsiblitiy are overrated anyway.  Why don't you just go back to sleep!  And don't forget to vote for change!!!

PAID SICK DAYS

Ask anyone who owns a business in Milwaukee...the City of Milwaukee has created a hostile business environment and continues to drive nails in the "economic suicide" coffin for small businesses located or considering locating in Milwaukee.  On the one hand city leadership cries for jobs, jobs, and more jobs.  Then they come to you and do everything in their power to dissuade you from doing business in Milwaukee.  They want to approve your business plan like they've loaned you money or something.  They want to tell you that you need a fence here and a bush there.  Now they want to require me to provide benefits to employees that I and many other business owners simply cannot afford to provide.  To quote Ross Perot, "If this passes your going to hear a giant sucking sound and that'll be your jobs leaving (Milwaukee)."  It makes my blood boil to think about it!  People who have never run a business, and have no clue what it takes to run a business, think the more they interfere with business the more business will thrive.  What's worse, even though it's only a vote to send the question to referendum, it's expected to pass and face a challenge in court.  Is this a wise use of taxpayer's money?  To pass ordinances that they know or at least suspect might be unconstitutional and will have to be defended in court at taxpayer's expense?  The last time I can remember the City of Milwaukee being hauled into court for violating constitutional rights they settled out of court for $6,000,000.00 (that's six million dollars friends).  Things weren't even this bad for local businesses when the elected mayor was a socialist!  He was also a businessman, and as a businessman knew that the running of the city was a business.  City hall needs to wake up and realize that they are driving jobs and business away from Milwaukee!

I guess they already finished their English homework!!!
Montebello High School in California


You will not see this heart-stopping photo on the front page of the NY Times, nor on the lead story of the major news networks.

The protestors at Montebello High School took the American flag off the school's flag pole and hung it upside down while putting up the Mexican flag over it.  What exactly they're protesting I couldn't tell you.  But I'm sure it would be hard for me to fathom.

 

 

Where are the school administrators?  Where's the media?  Where's the Governator??

They sleep under the blanket of freedom we provide and then pull something like this??

This is an outrage!!

300 BILLION BARREL+ OIL RESERVES DISCOVERED IN MIDWEST! 

Monday geologists announced the discovery of oil reserves stretching from Nebraska to the Dakotas that are second only to Saudi Arabia.  Enough oil to supply half of America's projected needs for the next one hundred years!  (as reported on CNN)

We can put a man on the Moon, send robotic explorers to Mars, and retrieve artifacts from the TItanic.  The techonlogy exists to safely access these reserves as well as oil reserves in the Cuban Basin where the Chinese are currently drilling with 50 year old technology and recently discovered offshore oil reserves near Lousiana while simultaniously (not instead of, hahnmeister) expanding research and development, without duress, of renewable and alternative fuels.  How long do you suppose Eco-facists and other various tree hugging entities will tie this up as the American economy swirls down the drain on the back of rising fuel costs (and the war)?

Kudos to the gentlemen on North Avenue who fought off the would be robber at their filling station and to Fox6 for reporting it!  And let's not forget the person who chased down a purse snatcher, stole his wallet and turned it over to police. It's high time the citizenry literally "fought back", and the criminal element in Milwaukee knew that we will fight back.  I cringe every time I see a police officer on the news telling people to give wanton criminals what they want.  Give them what they want?  Do you mean like an open invitation to take everything I own from me?  C'mon it's okay...no one is going to stop you!  LIKE HELL!   I'm not giving up anything without a fight and neither should anyone else.  I don't care what the so called experts have to say.  In previous police administrations I'm sure the people who have recently taken a stand against criminals would have been arrested themselves. So Kudos to the new police chief for allowing us to excercise our right to defend ourselves as well!    Now if the U.S. Supreme Court decides that the individual has the right to keep and bear arms and local government may not enact measures to overide that right, we'll be golden.