It Started In Church – October 19, 1962
http://www.itstartedinchurch.com
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Posted by reinkefj
http://www.centerforsmallgovernment.com/
BELIEVE 15% OF WHAT YOU SEE IN THE BOSTON GLOBE
By Carla Howell
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Our mothers told us, “Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see.” But when it comes to government spending articles in the Globe, perhaps we should only believe 15% of what we see.
Governor Patrick recklessly ratified a $2.55 billion spending increase for plush government pensions — boosting an already bloated government pension cash cow. While most private sector workers and taxpayers have NO employee pension.
But the newspapers made it look like Governor Patrick bravely vetoed a $3 billion govenrment employee pension increase.
I pride myself in spotting bias, inaccuracies and deception in news coverage that pertains to government budgets. Sadly, I find it in almost every single one I read.
Unless I read too fast — and don’t take the time to read the fine print. Which I did last week. The Boston Globe ran a story with the headline “Patrick rejects pension increase…Benefit could have cost state billions.” The second paragraph states, “Fiscal watchdogs had warned that the benefit could cost the state more than $3 billion over the next 20 years.”
I concluded from this that Governor Patrick vetoed the entire $3 billion government employee pension expansion, which he had previously supported.
A few days before this story, a Globe editorial advised the governor to veto this one – hinting that letting the bill stand could incite voter anger and affect the November election. It seemed to be a thinly veiled warning that a veto was necessary to stop Question 1 to End the Income Tax from winning.
I helped give legs to the story by mentioning in a media interview last week that Patrick’s $3B veto was a sign that Question 1 to End the Income Tax is already having an impact on government spending.
Then I saw a letter to the editor in the Globe penned by a careful reader who pointed out that Gov. Patrick did not veto the entire $3B
government employee pension increase as the Globe’s headline suggests. Rather, he vetoed only 15% of the increase – and let 85% of the increase stand.
I should know better than to ignore the fine print of a news article about government budgets. Mea culpa.
Upon rereading the article, I can’t vouch for what percentage was actually vetoed without doing research. But 15% seems to be in the
ballpark.
So it’s possible our initiative already helped to stop $450 million in new state spending, but not the $3B I’d hoped (at least not as a result
of this particular veto).
Please use my oversight as a reminder of how much care it takes to avoid falling for claims that a politician cut government spending – when he
actually increased government spending.
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Like Star Trek and their Prime Directive, the Doctor’s Hippocratic Oath, and the old Gallo ad “We serve no wine before its time”, politicians have an a similar canard. I don’t know who came up with it, but I first heard it from a troublemaker, Jim Gearhart, at the local radio station 101.5.
“Politicians are ALWAYS: feathering their own nest, rewarding their friends, or punishing their enemies.”
Carla would be well advised to remember that. In her “mistake”, she forgot that the paper was reporting on a “politician”. Vetoing a public pension bill would be that political directive. So by definition, the report was EITHER biased or just honestly wrong! Guess I’m jaundiced, it was a deliberate cover up to give the Guv good press and a handout to the trough feeders.
Argh!
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Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
Ladyjade Hulk
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ROFL!
Hey, I’m on vacation!
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Posted by reinkefj
It happened in Church – October 19, 1962
Chapter Eighty Seven – Wed done
It Started In Church – October 19, 1962
http://www.itstartedinchurch.com
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Leave a Comment » | Writing | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
Make no mistake, I love the free, and unequaled, wordpressdotcom. But, I did make a suggestion.
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Any ideas about allowing the meta data to be in the post’s body and parsed out?
For example, You Tube allows me to post to my WordPress blog. Great! BUT, there always is a big butt, it doesn’t ‘do’ all the things I need. No title, no category, no tags, … you get the idea.
HOW ABOUT:
in a post if (let’s make it easy) at the beginning, the word “TITLE:” as the first thing in post triggered a suck out up to the title block. I’d suggest it should recognize: “TAG:”, “CATEGORY:”, “DATETIME:” for delaying, and well you get the idea.
It would be nice if I could email my posts in to.
Yeah, yeah, I know, ‘beggars and choosers’,
fwiw,
fjohn
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1 Comment | Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
You have to admire the power of sarcasm! National energy policy should be imho: nukes; natural gas in cities transport, drill, defeat nimby, and empower the free market to solve the “problem”. One created by the gooferment I might add! Argh!
Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
LinkedIn is further mudding the waters with group. Without disclosure or discussion, it is making unilateral changes. It no longer passes through to the underlying Yahoo Group. And, the management tools are gone. It makes it just worthless.
Oh well. When the LinkedIn competitor comes along maybe they will treat the PAYING users as if they mattered.
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First, thank you for managing your group on LinkedIn. We sincerely appreciate the time and effort you devote to your members, and we know they value it. Together you have made Groups one of the top features on LinkedIn.
This Friday, we will be adding several much-requested features to your group:
Discussion forums: Simple discussion spaces for you and your members. (You can turn discussions off in your management control panel if you like.)
Enhanced roster: Searchable list of group members.
Digest emails: Daily or weekly digests of new discussion topics which your members may choose to receive. (We will be turning digests on for all current group members soon, and prompting them to set to their own preference.)
Group home page: A private space for your members on LinkedIn.
We’re confident that these new features will spur communication, promote collaboration, and make your group more valuable to you and your members. We hope you can come by LinkedIn on Friday morning to check out the new functionality and get a group discussion going by posting a welcome message.
Sincerely,
The LinkedIn Groups Team
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Posted by reinkefj
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/08/
obama_biden_and_the_catholic_v.html
Kyle-Anne Shiver is an independent journalist and a frequent contributor to American Thinker. She welcomes your comments at kyleanneshiver.com.
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Or, was Obama thinking that he might allay Catholic voters’ disgust with his votes to uphold infanticide in Illinois, by picking a Catholic, somewhat more moderate, pro-abortion candidate?
Biden did vote for the partial birth abortion ban, but then he roundly criticized the Supreme Court decision last year, which upheld the ban. Biden does hold a lower approval rating with NARAL (36%) than Obama’s 100%, but as any voting-age citizen already knows, the Vice President has zero, zilch, nada to say on abortion law. The only time the Vice President could even have a vote would be as a tiebreaker in the Senate on legislation, which is not going to happen in the next 4 years.
Senator Obama may have been thinking that he would help himself by putting a Catholic on the ticket, but he seems to have not taken any note of the fact that the Catholic Church is now guided by a new, very conservative Pope. There is not a single dictum emanating from this Pope, nor from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which lets a single Catholic off the hook on the matter of voting for pro-abortion candidates. If anything, the strictures against such votes have become much more important under Pope Benedict XVI than under Pope John Paul II.
It is entirely possible that Senator Joseph Biden will publicly be denied the Sacrament of Holy Communion during the course of this campaign. This, of course, will invite a siege of press attacks against the Catholic Church, but it will also signal to the Catholic laity, who make up a full 25% of the American electorate, that this Pope takes the abortion issue more seriously than any other at the moment.
Obama seems not to have paid much heed to the fact that John Kerry was the first Democrat to lose a majority of the Catholic vote to George W. Bush. He seems also not to have taken note of the new Pope’s resolve on this issue. Perhaps Obama has been persuaded to believe that Father Pfleger is more the rule than the exception, and if this is the case, then he has been squarely bamboozled.
Why in the world would Obama think Biden helps his bid for the Presidency?
In one fell swoop, Senator Obama has stated uncategorically that he is flying by the seat of his pants on foreign policy and needs a Daddy figure to guide him. And this particular Daddy figure, Biden, has stated repeatedly that Obama’s positions are wrong and McCain’s are right.
Bonus for McCain.
Also, Obama has brought a pro-abortion Catholic politician to the glaring attention of Pope Benedict XVI, while unnecessarily putting the U.S. Bishops on the spot. The Vatican has lately been reminding priests and Bishops that they are not to offer Communion to pro-abortion politicians. It’s always been a no-no, but Biden’s position on the ticket will highlight the issue once again for one quarter of the American electorate, while putting Bishops on a hotter seat with the Vatican.
So, what in the world was Obama thinking?
Not much, it would seem.
The VP choice was perhaps another thing “above” Obama’s “pay grade.”
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Will the American Catholic Bishops grow a backbone? My prediction … no. Why you say? One word …. pedopholia!
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http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/08/composer-says-b.html
Composer Says Beijing Olympic Committee Ripped Him Off
By Eliot Van Buskirk EmailAugust 22, 2008 | 10:05:10 AMCategories: Copyright and Copyfight
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Beijing Peter Breiner, who arranged more than 200 national anthems for the 2004 Olympics, has accused the Beijing Olympic Committee of stealing those works for this year’s Games. He says he is “100 percent sure” that his arrangements are being played at medal ceremonies — and the Washington Post’s culture critic couldn’t agree more.
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I don’t follow the argument. I don’t believe in imaginary property any way. But it is funny that the land of copyright infringement, celebrated by the awarding the “games”, keeps its expenses down by infringing. Love it. Guess they didn’t want to give back any of those 5T$ they have in the vault!
Argh!
When you play the imaginary property game, then don’t be surprised when you get screwed!
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Posted by reinkefj
http://www.centerforsmallgovernment.com/
3 BIG LIES: OUR OPPOSITION SUPPORTS “REASONABLE” CUTS IN GOVERNMENT SPENDING, TAXES, OR WASTE by Michael Cloud
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“I support reasonable reductions in Massachusetts government spending, but ending the income tax would decimate the state,” said several elected politicians.
“I support sensible tax cuts, but eliminating the income tax is too extreme,” said a local government official.
“Of course, we want measured and moderate reductions of unneeded government spending, but abolishing the income tax is ridiculous,” said several opponents.
They publicly empathize and sympathize with workers and taxpayers. They tell us they understand our frustration with economic conditions. They feel our financial pain.
When pressed, the opposition to ENDing the Income tax tells interviewers, reporters, and audiences… 3 Big Lies.
Big Lie Number 1: They support ‘reasonable’ reductions in government spending – but not the extreme and devastating reductions Ballot Question 1 would cause.
Big Lie Number 2: They support ‘reasonable’ tax cuts – but not the drastic step of repealing the income tax.
Big Lie Number 3: They support ‘reasonable’ efforts to reduce government waste – who doesn’t? – but they’re against using Ballot Question 1 to squeeze out waste.
How can you be sure that the opposition is lying when they say these 3 things?
“Watch what they do, not what they say,” advised Attorney General John N. Mitchell.*
“By their fruits shall ye know them,” says Scripture.
“Actions speak louder,” says the proverb.
Test what the speaker says against what he does. And has done. Look at his political actions for the last 10 years, 20 years, or 30 years.
Ask the Opposition Massachusetts Teachers Union official to show you, say, any 3 ‘reasonable’ tax reductions for the 3,400,000 workers and taxpayers that they donated to and campaigned for. Any 3.
Ask the Opposition politician to give you 3 ‘reasonable’ government spending cuts that he personally sponsored or cosponsored in the legislature in the last 10 years.
Ask the Opposition speaker to give you 3 specific examples of ‘reasonable’ waste cuts that he publicly campaigned for in the last 10 years.
Ask the Opposition organization to show you any 3 tax cuts, spending cuts, or waste cuts they lobbied the state legislature for – or lobbied their city government for.
If any of them can give you just 3 examples of actions they took on behalf of ‘reasonable cuts’, follow up with a money question: “If we added up every dollar of your 3 ‘reasonable cuts,’ how much money would your cuts give back to taxpayers?”
The Massachusetts state budget is $47.3 billion. In light of that number, how reasonable are their “reasonable cuts?”
True values are expressed in action.
Big Lies are limited to words.
Earlier this year, we asked Governor Deval Patrick and the state legislature to: “Show Us the Tax Money: Open the Government Books.”
Today, we challenge the Massachusetts Teachers Union and their allies, Governor Deval Patrick, and the other elected politicians:
“Show Us your ‘reasonable’ tax cuts, spending cuts, and waste cuts. Your deeds, not words. Your results, not rhetoric. Your actions, not intentions. Show us your Tax Cuts.”
And stop telling 3,400,000 Massachusetts workers and taxpayers the 3 Big Lies.
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* John Mitchell wanted the Nixon Administration to be judged by its actions, not its words. So he said, “Watch what we do, not what we say.”
It’s still good advice.
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Anyone who lives in Taxachusetts has a real chance to send the “tax and spend” D’s and the “borrow and spend” R’s a real message.
If Massachusetts can do it, why not New Jersey?
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Posted by reinkefj
You are currently browsing the Reinke Faces Life blog archives for August, 2008.
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FJohn Reinke
Consultant at Technology Legacies LLC
Advisor, Computer Governance Committee at Manhattan College
Editor / Publisher at Jasper Jottings
Greater New York City Area
JJ Positraction JJ Endnotes Downsize DC
Philosophy of Liberty
I have NOT received any gagged governmental information requests
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