Bill Maher Calls Pope a Pedophile and Nazi!

American Life League is calling for the immediate firing of Bill Maher, and so am I! 

Watch the video, and see if you agree…

Would this liberal nitwit have been let off the hook by the media had he called Alah or an African-American a name like that?

Comments like that literally cause wars in MANY cultures! 

We most certainly have free speech in the US, but that never absolves someone of the responsibility of what they write or say, unless of course you’re a Clinton…

Pass the banner along:

 

Get the code at www.firebillmaher.com

 

 

 

 

 

Free Lance-star attacks Stafford GOP Leaders

… for criticizing raising taxes?  Go figure.  Read it here

On the Spotsylvania tax hike

Bya vote of 4-3, Spotsylvania’s Board of Supervisors imposed a 6-cent tax hike on every property owner in the county (a 10.7% increase on average).  Those of us who tried to show the Board how it could cut spending and set the equalized rate of 56 cents were ignored.

As one would expect, the school system managed to scare more money out of the Board (Free Lance-Star): “Supervisor Emmitt Marshall got support to give an additional $2 million to the school system, which was still $6.2 million less than it requested.”  Superintendent Jerry Hill himself admitted that a hiring and salary freeze would save $12.2 million form his requested budget.  That would have left $6 million in extra savings - enough to cut the tax hike by two-thirds (from 6 cents to 2).  From there, all that would have been left to glean from the budget was $3 million, less than one percent of the total budget.

Instead, Marshall, Ben Pitts, Hap Connors, and Gary Skinner chose to make the voters pay more.  Later, on the actual budget vote, T.C. Waddy joined them.  Only Gary Jackson and Jerry Logan voted consistently with the taxpayers and limited government.

Jackson was quick to respond, too (same link):

“Considering both current and projected economic constraints, I believe we have a responsibility to curb spending and direct our limited resources to meet our essential needs as efficiently as possible,” Jackson said in explaining why he supported an equalized tax rate. “I also believe we can and should fulfill this responsibility without imposing an 11 percent increase in the local tax burden.”

One thing I must note again - for emphasis -  the only supervisors who consistently stood with the taxpayer were also the only two members nominated or endorsed by the Republican Party in last year’s election (Jackson can’t run as a GOP nominee due to the Hatch Act).  Once again, the “independents” on the board proved to be malleable and susceptible to the mob.  Sure, the mob was well-behaved, but it was a mob nonetheless.

Marshall, Pitts, and Skinner must face the voters next year.  Let’s hope residents of Berkely, Battlefield, and Lee Hiil (which includes yours truly), learn the stark lesson from this vote, and act accordingly.

Cross-posted (albeit with a different title) to the right-wing liberal

HEY GMAIL! A Plea for Standardization

There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to design an HTML email that displays the same way in all computer platforms (Mac, PC, Unix)— except for trying to have it display the same on a Windows machine across multiple browser types (Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari), only to be completely hopeless while seeing the email in any combination of browsers and various programs like Yahoo, AOL, and GMail!

Gmail, the worst offender and most random error generator, needs to improve the most.  It’s good, but it could great!

These guys say it much better than I.

 

Noun: BUDGET. Learn it Jerry Hill! Don’t be afraid to balance it.

Watch out Spotsylvania- Jerry Hill is at it again, sending out flyers to manipulate you into doing his dirty work. 

He can’t balance a budget or grasp what it means to live with any spending restraint whatsoever— you don’t have to when you make $240,000 per year personally.

Don’t we pay ENOUGH already to open a building, stock it with some teachers and teach kids a thing or two?

My taxes are going up

Barring a miracle, next week’s Spotsylvania Board of Supervisor’s meetings will end with a tax increase for all property owners (including yours truly); my plea for the equalized rate fell on deaf ears.

At least four Supervisors - all “Independents” (more on that later) - have stated they will not support the equalized rate (Free Lance Star).  They were apparently swayed by the ugly spectacle that was the “public meeting” on April Fools’ Day, which was dominated by county employees of one kind or another.  Never mind the fact that many (and perhaps most) of the county’s homeowners have commutes that made it impossible for them to attend (but for a busted minivan clockspring, I would have been in a VRE train car instead of the Courtland High School Auditorium).

The Supes heard an endless stream of voices whining about class sizes and school salaries - with no mention of the fact that this year’s enrollment will increase by one student for every nine teachers until about 8:37 (my turn to speak).  I heard a teacher insist her fellows cared more for children than their own parents.  I heard one union hack insist she could get a job managing at Pizza Hut for $60,000 a year (which would come as a shock my close friend who actually is a manager at Pizza Hut).

It went on, and on, and on, and it worked.  Four of the “independents” - whose very status gave them no political refuge and no harbor of principle, fell under the wave.

It is telling that the only Supervisors who have publicly resisted this nonsense so far are Jerry Logan (Republican from Courtland) and Gary Jackson (would-be-Republican-who-can’t-carry-the-label-due-to-the-Hatch-Act from Salem).  These gentleman are men of principle, and for them, being a Republican is simply the embodiment of that principle.  It is why they are the ones holding fast for the taxpayers, and why running as Republicans (nominated or endorsed) sends a signal that county voters should remember and cherish.

“Independents” claim to stand for no one but the voters.  In reality, however, they stand for no one at all - except the mob that masquerades as “the people.”  Luckily for the county, three of the four tax-hikers (including my Supervisor and friend, Gary Skinner) are up for election next year.  It is a perfect time for Spotsylvanians to put to use the lessons we are all learning this spring.

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal

My comments to the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors

I delivered the following remarks to the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors regarding the proposed budget and tax rates for the year.  Under the current advertised rate of 62 cents, the average county tax bil will rise 10.7% due to higher assessments.  In order to balance that out, the rate must be “equalized” to 56 cents.  That is the rate for which I advocated in my remarks.

Good evening.  My name is D.J. McGuire; for those of you who don’t know me, I live in the Hamilton’s Crossing subdivision, in Lee Hill District.  I have been a cost estimator in the defense industry for eight and a half years, and I am also an Adjunct Professor of Economics at Germanna Community College.

Our economy stands at the knife’s edge; the decisions of each city council and Board of Supervisors will determine whether their locality will fall into recession, or remain on the path to economic growth.   In the modern economy, with real estate investment trusts and collateralized debt obligations, our property values are not only of interest to homeowners, but also investors around the world.  The message you will send with the tax rate you set will determine whether we are closer to prosperity, or continuing plummeting property values.

It is with this in mind that I ask you to adopt the equalized tax rate of 56 cents.

This is a more defensible rate than it initially sounds.  In fact, the local school system has provided the best example of this with the flyer it has been distributing throughout the county.  Using their own figures, we discover that a hiring and salary freeze for one year would save $12.2 million, just over the amount required to achieve equalization – and I’d like to thank Dr. Hill for providing those numbers.

Of course, the school system does leave some things out, in particular the fact that student enrollment is projected to increase by less than 1% this year – an average of one student for every nine teachers, hardly a crisis situation.  As for savings outside the school system, I found nearly twice the remaining $5.5 million required to achieve the equalization rate in my cursory examination of the budget.  As you gentleman have been examining the numbers far longer than I have, I will leave it to you to determine the best way to achieve those savings.

The most important thing I ask you to remember as you come to your decision is the long-term economic health of the county.  By adopting the equalization rate, you will send a message that Spotsylvania is committed to stopping the slide in property values, and making this county a place to do business and raise a family.  A higher rate, by contrast, will push us closer to a future of bankruptcies, boarded homes, and blight.

I ask you to remember this, and adopt the equalized rate of 56 cents, and I thank you for time.

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal