Rick Scott for Governor

Now, before all ye Alex Stink . . . er Sink . . . fans get all upset with me, let me assure you this was the toughest pick to make this election cycle. That's why it's the last one I'm featuring in a post in the dryer.

Mostly, because there was so much mud slinging.

By both candidates, admittedly.

At the end of the day, though, more mud sticks to Sink.

The most effective ad of the season were the ones showing old tape of Stink . . . I mean Sink . . . endorsing the ObamaNation's economic policies and stealth scare plans.

In light of her record as a typical Tallahassee politician who is constantly trying to find scapegoats for her own missteps and failures, I have to go with the anti-politician. It's just that type of year . . .

I hope ye socks will join me in voting for Rick Scott for Governor of Florida.

Teresa Jacobs for Orange County Mayor

Ye socks will recall how frustrated yours truly was with the very crowded field of candidates that assembled to succeed Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty earlier this year.

But, after the August primary, the field was narrowed to just two: current commissioner Bill Segal and former commissioner Teresa Jacobs.

It has been quite easy to compare and contrast these two candidates.

Both have well-documented histories in this little corner of heaven.

If the decision had to be made on demeanor alone, however, I don't see how anyone could vote for Mr. Segal.

In a recent public forum, he sat with arms crossed in what could only be interpreted as a defensive posture. Answering voters' questions, he was more than happy to rattle off how many boards and task forces he belongs to or has belonged to in the past. But, his own ideas are half-baked--particularly when it comes to cutting county employees' healthcare costs and property taxes.

When it comes to jobs, Segal made it clear that his approach as county mayor would be to act as the area's chief salesman. He would pimp out our great natural resources and public amenities to draw new businesses to the area.

At the same forum, Jacobs actively engaged each voter's question. She was leaning forward, looking each person in the eye. And, believe it or not, she actually remembered to use their names as she detailed both her experience and her vision.

Beyond body language, I really liked her answer to the question of improving the local jobs market. Rather than following the tired old formula of selling-out to outsiders, she put more emphasis on utilizing the tremendous resources we already have on hand and encouraging the LOCAL entrepreneurial spirit.

After mulling over this race for the last several months, I can now whole-heartedly endorse Teresa Jacobs for Orange County Mayor.

Time's up on that tax extension!

A reminder to ye socks who filed for an extension on your personal federal income tax returns:

Time to pay the piper!

After all, we have stimulus plans to pay for and bail-outs to cover.

And, if that ticks you off, remember in November!

Vote Yes on 8!

In all the recent excitement about circuit court judge retention, it seems yours truly overlooked one of the state constitutional amendments that will appear on the November ballot in this little corner of heaven.

Amendment 8 seeks to eliminate the hard caps on class sizes that were imposed on our public schools this year.

The proponents of the caps had a noble intent of improving teacher-to-student ratios. But, as is so often the case, good intentions have led us down a road to . . . well, you know.

No one likes these caps. Students are being denied elective courses. Teachers are being shuffled like so many cards in a deck. Administrators can't balance their budgets for this new house of cards. And, property owners are being asked to pay more taxes to make up the deficits for all of this.

Even the two major candidates running to become our next governor agree on this one.

The hard caps are bad.

Vote YES ON 8 to get rid of them. Give educators the flexibility to structure their classrooms to best serve our children. And, give taxpayers a break in the process.

We tighten our belts . . .

. . . and the gutless wonders keep trying to reach into our pockets!

It seems to me they should do some more belt tightening of their own.

I know making budget cuts isn't fun, but the public sector shouldn't consider themselves immune to the economic ills that are hitting the private sector.

In this case, the ranting applies to the Orange County School District and the "Special Referendum" they have placed on our ballots in this little corner of heaven.

They want to raise our millage rate to supplement their income to the tune of about $400 million dollars.

This will cost the average household approximately $125 MORE than what they already pay in county school taxes every year.

The demand comes at a very unfortunate time.

Yours truly would suggest Superintendent Ron Blocker and his board are shirking their duty to live within the people's means.

They need to go back to the drawing board.

All about the Benjamins?!

Some strange things are afoot in this little corner of heaven today, ye socks!

I suppose it's to be expected given the big tax deadline.

Driving home this afternoon, I actually spotted some folks in the vicinity of Lake Eola who apparently chose to mark the occasion by playing dress-up.

The lady dressed up like the Statue of Liberty cut a fine figure.

But, I think what I liked best were the three . . . yep, THREE . . . dudes who were portraying Benjamin Franklin.

I regret to report that none of them were engaged in kite flying . . .

I suppose I should feel SOME relief . . .

I didn't wait until the very last minute to mail off my tax return for 2009.

It got stamped and posted this afternoon.

I suppose I should be kicking myself in the rump for not filing sooner, as it looks like I should get a pretty decent refund this year.

Still, it's hard to get overly-excited.

I mean, yeah, I'm getting SOME of what DC swiped from my paycheck all year.

But, they're still holding on to the lion's share of that money pile.

And, it just feels like it's all being flushed down one big toilet bowl . . .

I suppose this is hope and change?!

Time to pay the piper . . .

In this case, for ye local socks anway, that means Earl K. Wood.

That's right, it's that time of year again.

Unless you escrow your property taxes, it's time to stroke a check to our illustrious Orange County Tax Collector.

Oops, that was probably in bad taste to use the word "stroke," wasn't it?!

Get ready to get scrooged.

In case ye socks ever doubted the fact that The ObamaNation is completely out-of-step with the real concerns of the American people, I offer you the following poll results.

53% of the American people put the economy & jobs at the top of the national priority list.

Yet, the current occupant of the White House is spending most of his time pimping his global redistribution of wealth plan as THE answer to global warming (an issue only 2% of us put atop said priority list).

And, his minions in Congress are ramming thru their stealth scare legislation in the middle of a blizzard, thumbing their noses at the typical holiday recess.

Only 10% of us put health care reform atop the national agenda. Even that is a misnomer. Health care in this country is the best to be found anywhere in the world. Access to it, and affordability are the things that really need to be reformed. And, you don't accomplish that by socializing the delivery mechanisms.

Yet, this is the path we are on. Printing up more greenbacks to hand out to developing countries so they will halt development in the Quixotic pursuit of global cooling. And, the double-whammy, we're poised to hand over 1/6 of our national economy to the DC beltway brain trust.

Yeah, those things will kickstart the economy and put people back to work.

Hope and change?!

While you were sleeping . . .

Sneaker . . . er Speaker . . . of the House Nancy Pelosi pulled a fast one on you, America.

Borrowing a page out of the Mussolini and Hitler play book on national socialism, she rammed an unconstitutional piece of tripe disguised as healthcare reform legislation through Congress in the middle of the night.

You know, if it won't bear the light of day, then vote on it when the public is fast asleep.

And, I suppose that's the problem, isn't it? We all need to wake up and stop the madness.

Pelosi and her goose-stepping goon squad, with a FIVE VOTE MARGIN, rushed-thru roughly 2,000 pages of incomprehensible gobbledy-gook with a price tage of $1.2 trillion.

Mark my words, ye socks, unless cooler heads prevail in the Senate, this assault on America's fragile economy will:

1. sink small business

2. cause our already astronomical deficit to soar to dizzying new heights

3. force us all to buy insurance policies from Washington

4. cut Medicare spending by $400 billion.

Hope and change = dope and deranged.

Is it slightly less crowded around here, or what?

So, it seems.

According to ye olde statisticians, Florida's population actually declined by about 58,000 in 2008.

And, that wasn't a function of the death rate exceeding the birth rate. That's always been a constant down here!

What has changed is fewer people are moving here from other places to find work.

Makes sense since there are so many fewer jobs to be had.

Fewer people isn't always a bad thing. Just ask the folks over at Universal Studios. They have reported a substantial drop in attendance, but a nice increase in actual revenue at the same time. Turns out, when people don't feel crowded together and herded like cattle, they loosen-up ye old purse strings.

So, let the whole quality vs. quantity debate ensue.

As a student of local history, however, I have to point out that we have experienced blips like this in the past. Most recently, our population dropped in 1946, as military men and women went back home after serving in Florida during World War II.

And, back in 1894/5, the Great Freeze killed off so much of our citrus crop that many, many people simply abandoned their blighted groves to return to their old stomping grounds up north.

In both of those cases, the population decline was quickly followed by a boom.

I'm not saying that's going to happen again this time around. Frankly, I'm not sure I'd want it to happen. But, in the long-term Florida has so many powerful population magnets: fun, sun, and low (or no) taxes.

So, don't get used to all the extra elbow room in this little corner of heaven . . .

200 days of mob rule . . . and counting

Boy, did one unsuspecting pollster get an earful when she placed a call to this little corner of heaven and asked yours truly for an opinion on the first 200 days of TheObamaNation!

Could I identify three of his greatest successes since taking office?

Well, to paraphrase an over-used campaign slogan, "Yes, I can!"

1. He and his minions in Congress successfully printed trillions of "stimulus" dollars, thereby saddling our children and grandchildren--and THEIR children and grandchildren--with a mountain of debt.

2. He did the Bush administration one better by not only continuing to hijack Wall Street, but also putting the federal government in the business of manufacturing and marketing automobiles.

3. Well . . . um . . . oh, yeah, it happened today. He succeeded in replacing one lackluster Supreme Court justice with another who issues rulings based on empathy rather than the letter of the law.

I suppose on this momentous 200th day of near-divine rule, we should remind ourselves the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue cannot claim sole credit for these "successes." He had plenty of help on the other end of the mall on Capitol Hill--including some spineless RINO's. (In the case of "success" #3, we can heap particular gratitude on our own illustrious senator Mel Martinez.)

Thomas Jefferson, ironically the founder of the Democratic Party, once warned that democracy has the dangerous propensity to descend into mob rule. Sadly, we are there.

Satisfied, Madame Pollster?!

A suggestion to Anheuser Busch

Is it just yours truly, or is there electricity in the air on this Beer Summit Eve?

Now, I know a lot of ye socks have criticized The ObamaNation for hosting this event at all. And, I understand the reasons for believing it is beneath the dignity of the White House to get involved in a petty issue like the scrap between Professor Henry Gates and Officer James Crowley--much less propose to act as referee over adult beverages.

I don't know why folks are getting upset now, since we now have a pretty good explanation why we've seen such interesting behavior in and around the executive mansion in recent months: beer!

Is that whole multi-trillion dollar deficit thing beginning to make sense to you now?

And, you thought they were just drunk on their own power as they went about shackling us and future generations with staggering debt and concocted schemes to hijack Wall Street, Detroit, and the nation's healthcare system!

It was just the beer talking, all along!

But, here's my thought. The problem here isn't too much drinking in the West Wing. Rather, there's not been enough!

If we could just convince a patriotic distributor to commit to delivering a keg or two to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue every day, maybe these jackasses* would get plowed and pass out before they could do any more damage!

(* The term jackasses was not used here to offend, but rather as a reference to the reigning party's mascot. And, no, that's not Ted Kennedy . . . though, he does know a little bit about drinking to excess . . . )

And, while they're at it, maybe they could drop a couple off at the other end of The Mall to keep our illustrious legislators busy, too . . .

Getting the property tax run-around

Let me preface this rant by accepting a portion of the blame for my latest headache. I suppose I should have noticed that my property tax bill hadn't arrived. But, I didn't.

Fortunately, my mortgage company was kind enough to inform me of the situation.

The Orange County Tax Collector certainly made no such effort, though I believe Florida statutes include that responsibility in their job description.

Of course, this may be due to the fact that the guy in charge of that particular looney bin is pushing 100 years of age . . . . literally. I mean, this guy has been taking our hard-earned money in this little corner of heaven since before Disney World was a twinkle in Walt's eye.

That probably explains why he mailed my tax bill to the wrong address. But, even though it was promptly returned to his minions by the post office as undeliverable, no one over there bothered to make any attempt to get the bill to me. If they had simply mailed it to the address they were taxing, I would have had it in a matter of a couple of days.

Anyway, I talked to the kind folks at the ASSESSOR's office (who, by contrast couldn't do enough to help me and were very kind on the phone), explained the situation, and got things straightened out so this won't happen again next year. And, they told me to call Mr. Wood's office and ask them to waive the late fees that have accrued.

But, when I called over there, I had the displeasure of dealing with a nameless "customer relations specialist" who could barely speak English and her manager Cathy, neither of whom gave two whits that their incompetence (coupled with my obliviousness, admittedly) was the root of the problem. In fact, they gave me the added good news that they wouldn't accept my personal check or credit card to pay the bill. Now they expect me to trot down to the bank and get a cashier's check!!!!

And, bureaucrats wonder why they are so loathed . . .

ARRRRGGHHHHH!

I need to find a good tea party this afternoon . . .

Orlando Tea Party rehashed

Wow, I was really surprised to see the news of all the tea parties around the country yesterday.

I thought it was just a Central Florida phenomenon.

Nice to see ye socks beyond this little corner of heaven are as happy about all the taxing and spending going on in the ObamaNation.

Our little tea party in downtown Orlando had quite a turn-out.

In case you missed it, there was a whole lot more to see and appreciate thant cool t-shirts with cooler slogans.

I think my favorite was the dude who looked like Colonel Sanders and had a bunch of Tetley tea bags dangling from the brim of his hat . . .

Tax Day!

Yes, ye socks, it's that magical date on the calendar.

Once again, those of us who are fortunate enough to actually be earning wages or salaries are obliged to settle up with our friends over at the IRS.

I don't know why yours truly procrastinates so. With all the interest I'm paying on two mortgages, I quickly calculated a nice refund was due.

Anyway, I hope all of you out there in the blogosphere are finding similarly positive results if, like me, you waited til the last minute to work on your return.

And, remember what Oliver Wendell Holmes said if you have to write out a check instead, this is the price we have to pay to live in a polite society.

Polite?!?

It's been a long time since Mr. Holmes was in this society, no?!

Of taxes and protests

Well, ye socks, today is the day those of us fortunate to live in the "polite society" in this little corner of heaven have to pay for the right to do so, according to Oliver Wendell Holmes . . . not to mention Earl K. Wood.

While it's always more than a bit discouraging to write out your check for property taxes when you don't feel like you're getting the most bang for the buck, yours truly has been inspired recently by the peaceful protests that have been sprouting up around here.

It'll never make the national headlines, nor even be a blip on the world's 24-hour news cycle. But, nearly 5,000 tax protesters flooded Lake Eola Park in downtown Orlando to express their grievances against socialism run amok. Even more such modern "tea parties," as the protests have been termed, are planned.

If you felt the pain of writing out a check to Mr. Wood today, think about circling the 15th of April on your calendar. That's more than just the due date for your federal income tax return. That's also the next big local tea party. It will be at Orlando City Hall at 6pm.

Let your voices be heard!

Stop the madness!

ObamaNation discourages charitable donations

I just got done watching the president explain how he's going to tax us back into prosperity by soaking the rich.

His new "plan" employs the typical old Democratic hyperbole and class warfare by promising to "soak the rich."

This time around, they want to disallow deductions for the top 3% of earners in this country--you know, the people who make roughly HALF of the charitable contributions. At least, they do now.

They estimate this will put $10 billion into the hands of federal bureaucrats to dole out in their oh-so-efficient manner.

What they don't like to mention is where that money would have been sent if it wasn't going to Washington:

* churches
* universities
* medical research
* hospitals
* food programs
* cultural institutions
* international relief organizations

But, I suppose that's in the best interest of the ObamaNation. Why should folks look to the private sector when they can be dependant on Big Brother?

Stop the madness!

ObamaNation's first big constitutional crisis

Well, ye socks, yesterday the red herring throwers that yours truly mentioned in earlier posts succeeded in ramrodding a resolution thru the House of Representatives to retroactively impose a 90% tax on AIG bonus recipients.

The vote on HR1586 was overwhelming, 328-93. Shame on members of the loyal opposition who marched in lock-step behind the "democratic" majority!

If anything like this resolution reaches the oval office and is signed into law by El Presidente, it will be nothing short of unconstitutional and will demand an appeal to the US Supreme Court.

Thank God that George W. Bush got Justices Roberts and Alito on the bench before he left office. They may be the last line of defense against the irrational socialist juggernaut.

I maintain that all of this political theater is disingenuous in the extreme, meant to distract the public's attention from the fact that the bailout bonuses were approved by the ObamaNation's Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. The legislation that ok'd them was shepherded thru Congress by one of the administration's most capable minions, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut. And, the bill with that provision was signed into law by El Presidente himself! So, why all the outrage?!

I guess the lesson here is what the ObamaNation gives you today can and will be arbitrarily taken back tomorrow.

If we open the door to retroactive and punitive taxes to satisfy every outrage these socialists can gin-up with their herring tossing hi-jinks, just how far back will they go?!

I'm afraid the sky's the limit with these folks. And, that's why they've got to be stopped.

Hope and change . . .

The War on Prosperity

Most of ye socks are too young to remember when Lyndon Johnson became president and declared a "War on Poverty."

Heck, I'm too young to remember that myself. But, I do crack a book every once in a while . . . something that has evidently fallen out of fashion lately . . .

Anyway, Johnson used his declaration (which, by the way, was unconstitutional since Congress is the branch of government that declares war) to justify the twin ideals of the modern Democratic Party: increasing taxes and growing the size and scope of government.

The ObamaNation is even more "idealistic" than old LBJ ever dreamed of being, waging the new undeclared War on Prosperity.

The tactics are simple yet effective:

* Hike the top tax rate to nearly 40%.

* Disallow top earners from deducting things like state & local taxes, charitable contributions, and mortgage interest from their federal tax bill.

* Hike the payroll tax.

* Raise the capital gains tax to 20%.

These tactics will not only dampen investment in an already-soaked marketplace, they will also continue the slide in consumer spending.

Clearly, the ObamaNation's goal is to dream up more methods of redistributing the shrinking wealth rather than reversing the shrinkage.

Increasing bureaucracies and tax burdens are far more fashionable these days than, say, fighting inflation.

In waging this war to shrink the pie before it is even cut, the ObamaNation stands on the principles that were articulated so well on the campaign trail last year.

Unfortunately, the principles are bad ones.

Hope and change!