Wednesday, December 26, 2007

The Big Dig is complete

Begun in 1982, the Big Dig, a highway project in Boston, is now complete. At a cost of $14.8 Billion dollars, it cost over $25,000 for each citizen of the city. The Big Dig is the costliest construction project in the history of our nation. It was once vetoed as too expensive by President Reagan, before Congress overrode his veto.

In comparison, the famous "bridge to nowhere" in Ketchikan, Alaska, has been touted as a famous example of government waste and pork. Serving a county of 13,000 people, the $310 million project would cost the taxpayers less than $24,000 for each citizen of the county. That makes THIS pork barrel project actually more cost effective than the "Big Dig."

The amount of spending that we are doing as a nation is staggering. Thousands of projects costing billions of dollars a year, each adding to the debt of the Nation. When the bill comes due, the citizens of Boston can stand in bread lines knowing that they have a cool tunnel under their feet.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Illegal Immigration

A whole lot of press is out there attempting to portray the people who oppose immigration as racists. They accuse the people who oppose illegals as being anti-hispanic. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a left wing activist center, maintains a website that lists supposed "hate groups" They recently have added groups to this list because of their opposition to illegal immigration.

One of the reasons that they cite for this, is that many groups are sticking to the "Aztlan Conspiracy Theory." They claim that anyone who believes this "theory" is a right wing racist.

Yet it can be easily demonstrated that a large movement among Mexican people in the United States is dedicated to returning "Aztlan" to the "rightful owners"- the descendants of the people who owned it before the people of the United States "stole" the land.

They claim that the land of the Southwestern United States was stolen from them, and they aim to take it back.

One of these groups- La MEChA, even has this in their constitution:
Chicano and Chicana students of Aztlan must take upon themselves the responsibilities to promote Chicanismo within the community, politicizing our Raza with an emphasis on indigenous consciousness to continue the struggle for the self-determination of the Chicano people for the purpose of liberating Aztlan.
Yet, a group that in its own constitution claims to favor one race, and the overthrow of legitimate government is not a hate group, according to the SPLC. Furthermore, anyone who speaks out against such a group is accusedd of being a hate group. Gotta love hypocrisy.

This MEChA group has a chapter on many College Campuses in this country. For example, click here to read this trash:

In the spirit of a new people that is conscious not only of its proud historical heritage but also of the brutal "gringo" invasion of our territories
then they go on to threaten armed rebellion.

This illegal immigration thing is going to explode.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Concealed weapons save lives

A gunman enters a school and begins shooting. He kills six students before turning the gun on himself.

A gunman enters a college, kills 32 and wounds 17 before killing himself. There were no weapons permitted on campus.

A gunman enters a school campus and kills three before being subdued by armed students.

A man enters a shopping mall, which does not allow weapons on property, and kills 6 people during a 3 hour standoff.

A man enters a shopping mall, which does not allow weapons on property, and kills 9 people before turning the gun on himself.

A man enters a church containing 7,000 worshipers. He has 2 pistols, a rifle and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition. He shoots 3 people in the parking lot before he is confronted by a woman with a concealed weapons permit. She shoots him, and he then takes his own life.

Note that when armed defenders are present, the criminal is stopped after only a few shots. When the policies of the facility ensure a safe environment for the criminal to carry out his crime, the death toll is higher.

Just as I have said all along, defenseless victim zones do not work. Armed resistance does.

Monday, December 10, 2007

People are scared of what?

A woman is arrested for illegally carrying a concealed weapon. She was caught by a routine bag check at the front gate of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Some of the people at this site point out that perhaps she had a permit, and was carrying legally.

Others begin to ask ask penetrating questions, like:
I also agree, a person has a right to keep and bear arms, as long as they do it legally. Seeing that she is from Pa., if she has a permit in Pa., it does not give her the right to cross state lines with the weapon.
Of course, if this person had the slightest idea what they were talking about, they would know that it is legal to transport firearms across state lines, and that Florida and Pennsylvania have reciprocity, which means they honor each other's permits.

Whether this woman had a permit or not is beside the point of this discussion:

How about this one:
No matter where you think it is permissible or acceptable to have a gun, Disney World is not one of those places.
Or, the question I consider to be the winner:
thing is, i dont understand why anyone needs a gun. anti trust and paranoia is ripe. never ever in my life felt the need to carry or hide any weapon.
I will give you a few reasons why:

This man is robbed in his own garage, in Disney's Celebration community
This couple was robbed at gunpoint at Downtown Disney on November first
A man robs a store at gun point just this morning in Orlando
This liquor store was robbed just a little bit later

Of course, Disney is known for keeping pedophiles on the payroll. So we know that we don't have to worry about anyone molesting our kids.

Here is the real news of the day:

Criminals operate on Disney property. The mix of large amounts of money, mixed with distracted tourists, easy get aways, and lax security make it relatively easy for the criminal element to operate there. Sure, security gets lucky and catches one woman with a weapon. I can tell you that on any given day, there are numerous weapons in that park. not all of them belong to the good guys. At least when I am there, I know that the one I have is going to be used for good, not evil.

Criminals break the law. That is why they are called criminals. Making a law prohibiting a criminal from possessing a gun will not be any more effective than the one that prohibits that same criminal from shooting up a mall, or robbing you at gunpoint. What it will do, however, is remove the ability for law abiding citizens to defend themselves.

I had a woman tell me today that she did not want to be standing in line with her two year old, and have to worry that the person behind her has a gun. I asked her why she would assume that a law would fix that. I then pointed out that she doesn't have to worry about my gun.

Her "But I hate guns! They are evil!"
Me "Guns are metal, inanimate objects. They don't do anything that their owner doesn't use them for."

People who jump through hoops and get a permit are not the ones you should be worried about.

end of rant

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

War on Poverty

A few years ago, I wrote a paper for an American Government class. The liberal teacher and I saw things differently when it came to Government giveaway programs. Because of a post that Tamara put up, I give you the conclusion from that paper:

The poverty level has remained near 12% ever since the United States abolished the gold standard in 1973, with the current level being 12.7%. It is important to note that the method the Government is using to calculate the poverty line only takes inflation into account, instead of the more accurate model which compares the percentage of the cost of living to household income. Using this method, the current cost of living has risen from 30% of individual income in 1965 to 50% of household income in 2003. Where it used to take one income to support a family, it now takes two.

This means that the effective poverty rate has more than doubled since the “War on Poverty” began, when expressed as a real percentage of household income. Despite spending trillions of dollars fighting the “war”, the “war” has been lost.

These programs, which are intended to pay low income families at the expense of the taxpayer, are only a part of the redistribution of wealth in this country. The figures for the 2003 tax year (the latest year for which I could find figures) tell the story.

According to the IRS, anyone who earns more than $57,343 a year is in the top 25% of all wage earners. Out of 128 million returns filed, over 32 million people fell into that category. Those top 25% paid $627 billion (83.88%) of the $748 billion paid in Federal income tax. The average tax bill for them was $19,512. The lowest 50% of wage earners (those making less than $29,019) only paid 3.4% of the income tax bill, or an average of $402 per taxpayer. The system of progressive taxation and government giveaway programs has gone beyond helping the needy and has progressed to a communist redistribution of wealth.

Maybe that is why the Cleavers can't make it on one income any longer.