Tea Party Signage
Category Archives: Politics
Some Tea Party Slogans
I have a couple of slogans for people to show off at their next Tea Party:
What part of “Me the People” do you not understand?
and
Down with Representative Democracy!
Catchy, huh? I have another one that I need to represent graphically, so that will have to wait.
WWCD
Cries of protest, censorship greet news of cybersecurity bill
The sweeping legislation included a provision to give the president the power to “order the disconnection of any Federal government or United States critical infrastructure information systems or networks in the interest of national security.”
Critics of the measure said the provision needed to be more clearly defined, but expected the Internet, along with telecommunications and banking systems, to fall under “critical infrastructure.”
Some people get a little too upset, too quickly. Just put it in perspective. Is this the sort of power you would want Dick Cheney to have wielded?
U.S. Is Said to Agree to Raise Stake in Citigroup
News Alert: U.S. Is Said to Agree to Raise Stake in Citigroup From the NYT.
Why? Why? Why?
Why can’t we just let these ‘big’ banks die? Are the Treasury officials afraid that their friends won’t talk to them any more if their friends lose their shirts and pants and West Side condos? There are a lot of fiscally sound banks out there that can pick up the credit load and remove the credit crunch problem, especially with several hundred billions of support from the Fed. Problem is that they are more ‘Main Street’ banks than ‘Wall Street’ banks.
Providing Citigroup with an additional influx of cash won’t help the credit crunch. All they are going to do is pay off their losses which won’t leave enough for lending to anyone.
Let Them Die!
Free Lunch?
How to replace a Senator
Much has been made recently of Governors replacing Senators who have been asked to serve the new administration. And Feingold has proposed an amendment that would require a special election to fill a vacant Senate seat as soon as possible. (read the rest of the article I linked to at 538. It talks about what methods the various states use today)
Why not go back to the original Senatorial appointment method and let the state legislature fill the vacant seat and let the citizens elect a replacement in the next general election. This reduces the chance for ‘pay to play’ corruption, allows the new Senator to be a consensus choice of the people’s representatives, and saves some taxpayer money by eliminating the need for a special election.
Of course this might make horse-trading Senate replacements more difficult since it can’t be guaranteed that the replacement will be of the party or persuasion you might want.
What to Photograph
The very idea that the police may come up to me and take away my camera, or otherwise impede my taking photos in a public place, fills me with concern and a sense of dread. Given the actions of Transit Police in NY to someone taking photos for an Amtrak Photo Contest and other recent police transgressions there is cause to worry. And it all comes down to a someone thinking that they are authorized to harass and harangue a citizen acting in a manner they think is inappropriate. What do they call them now? “Mall Cops?”
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has developed a CompactFlash card that can transmit data to a nearby card/flash disk – using bluetooth or something similar – rather than storing the data on the CF card itself. (My camera uses a CF card for memory.) Thus if someone takes my camera (police or thief) the pictures I have been taking will be stored safely somewhere else.
I suppose if a travelling companion had a receiver card as well, we could have redundant backup storage. Probably want to protect the transmission so I don’t recieve someone else’s photos in addition to mine or vice versa.
A quick google of ‘Compact Flash bluetooth’ indicates that there is something out there. Whether it does what I want needs to be seen.
Who does What?
Why do legislators keep getting tapped for running departments and agencies? Aside from the fact that the legislator was elected by their fellow citizens to represent them or their state in the legislature; the legislator doesn’t have executive or administrative skills by virtue of being a legislator. A legislator says “This is WHAT we want to happen.” An executive says “This is HOW we will make it happen.”
(This is what I perceive as the problem with the parliamentary system.)
Look at Daschle, in the legislature for umpteen years and doesn’t know how to track taxable income. Because he thinks WHAT and not HOW.
Why doesn’t the incoming Executive go after executives to run his departments – Governors, administrators, CEOs, people who think of HOW they can make something happen. He’s got a few, I hope they do well.
One last thought, The President is not King, The President is not King. The People are King, The People are King.
Unions – Good or Bad?
Think of a corporation as a union of capitalists.
Think of a union as a corporation of workers.
There are some benefits in members combining to promote the greater good.
Capital Gains
Capital Gains Tax.
I would like to see the Capital Gains Tax, as applied to stocks and bonds, modified a bit. Specifically, I would like to address investment profits derived from securities subject to regulation/control by the SEC.
If you invest in a stock/bond/security and later sell it for a profit you pay a tax on the difference between your purchase price and your selling price – your Capital Gain. In and of itself, that’s fine. But, if you are selling one stock in order to buy or invest in another stock, you pay the Capital Gain tax on your profit and only have the remainder to invest in the new stock. You haven’t taken the profits and used them in the non-security world and you have less to invest in a new security. I would like to remove the Capital Gains Tax on security sales where the proceeds are directly applied to the purchase of another security. You are only taxed on the proceeds you take out of the security marketplace.
I think this would encourage, indeed stimulate, investment in new potential industries and encourage people to move their investments around. I find it sometimes isn’t worth contemplating moving investment money around when you know you will be paying a 15% – 20% – 30% tax on the proceeds. So it sits, slowly not growing. I may take other money and invest it in the new industry I think will be growing but the older money stays where it is, stuck until it is needed. The newer industry doesn’t get the boost it might with more capital investment and then good things don’t happen.