Reinke Faces Life

As I sit and think of the mess that we are in, both here in Amerika and the People's Republic of New Jersey, perhaps it is time to propose a "solution". Now the dead old white guys were fond of what I call a "gum up the works" strategy. Maybe we need to adopt their thinking. A representative republic is a good alternative to democracy!

I never cared much for gerrymandering. 
For New Jersey, I would propose that we leave the State Assembly popularly elected for a while (more on that later). But we make the State Senator, nominated by the County Freeholders, and elected by the Township Councils in that County. Then we can hold our local governing body accountable for what goes on in and comes down from Trenton. Smart the dead old white guys they are. Take a local hostage! If one man one vote comes in play, then the state senators vote would be multiplied by the citizens in their respective counties. In NJ, then there would only be 21 State Senators, and they would be very visible. No more pass the buck and point the finger. The local guy blames the county and trenton and says there is nothing that can be done. Trenton and the county blame the local guys. Let's put the local guy in the driver's seat! Hmmm. I like that idea.

So, again, I would align the State Assembly districts to the boundaries of the various Townships. Since the State Assembly should give people a voice, I'd make it census population based. Since the population of New Jersey is 84 Million. I'd set one State Assembly seat for every million people. Unless the Township committee decides differently, the State Assembly seats would be Township based. The Township Committee could decide to apportion those by some sub-community as proposed by the Township Committee and approved by the voters.

Now I don't see much use in electing County Government. So I would replace that election with a County Committee of representatives appointed by the Township Councils. Get the idea. Representative government up the line, all focusing on the local politicians, who you can get your hands on!

Now to have some uniformity, we should stagger all of this. Just to make change a little slower. So Township Committees should be say 5 people elected annually for a staggered five year term. County Committee people should say get a 5 year term. State Senators get a 10 year term. And we elect assembly people every year.

Of course, we should allow recall of any representative on say a 80% vote.

That should suitably (1) slow down legislative change; (2) put the local politicians clearly on the hot seat.

Oh, and let's end the farce of school board elections. The socialist government school system is merely supporting an incestuous relationship of: School administrators, teachers, their support staff, their unions, their contractors, and the corrupt politicians. All sucking the local taxpayer dry for a second rate result. Again, make the local Township council responsible.

That should sum up the works and save us a few bucks. AND, when we are getting screwed we don't have to go far to find the people responsible!

Warm up the tar, pluck the chickens, get out the pitchforks, here comes the voters!

http://tinyurl.com/hnjzk

A modern touch for the pension system
By Kerry Healey  |  June 13, 2006

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The state pension system has $13 billion in unfunded liability that acts like an anchor on the budget and mortgages the state's future. Next year , taxpayers are set to pay more than $1 billion just to chip away at the pension debt. Those annual payments will rise to $2.3 billion by 2023.

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This is all about Taxachusetts. But, why do gubamint employees have pensions? Federal, government, local, skoolz, yada yada yada. In today's economy, employers don't give pensions. So why does the gubamint drones get them?

http://www.lewrockwell.com/brennan/brennan13.html

Telling Families of Dead Soldiers
by Mark G. Brennan

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The proposal has three simple steps. Step One is the easiest – abolish the position of CNO in the military. Step Two is the replacement of the CNO with the 2 Senators and 1 Congressional Representative of the deceased. Step Three is watching the ensuing riot. Imagine watching "my" senators, Hilary Clinton and Charles Schumer, along with some representative from New York, delivering the fateful news to a New York state resident who, you can bet your bottom buck, did not donate to any of their campaigns as keeping their financial heads above water was their primary preoccupation. After regaining composure, the next-of-kin might respond with several questions for the messengers like, "As my elected representatives in the Senate and Congress, why, if you don’t support this war, don’t you do something about it?" or "Since you are always so busy talking out of both sides of your mouth in an effort to win your next election, explain to me how I, my children and my country benefit from my husband’s death?" Or how about, "Ms. Clinton, why is your child not fighting in Iraq if this cause is so important?"

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I like this idea. Let's — legislate – executive decide – judical fiat — it today! As a Libertarian, I think that "our representatives" need to take responsibility for their actions!

http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28006963/posts/full/114981847688681322

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16759148&BRD=1091&PAG=461&dept_id=425716&rfi=6

Panel lists open space priorities
By: Audrey Levine, Staff Writer 06/08/2006

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Van Dyke Farm tops open space list

The 192-acre Van Dyke Farm on Davidson Mill Road tops the list of high-priority sites that the Open Space Advisory Committee wants to see preserved, according to Jane Snyder, the committee chairwoman.

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Ahh, it's that time of year again in the People's Republic of South Brunswick. Don't you just love when Mommy Government tells us what is good for us. You silly taxpayers are too stupid to figure out that "open space" is good for your property values. Unless it happens that your property is the "open space" that the Kommissars want!

Let's propose a mental experiment. The people, who think that open space is a great idea, pass around the hat. Let me be the first, I'll pledge a hundred bucks. Form a non-profit five oh whatever corporation and collect donations for open space in south brunswick. Let them sell "shares" of the "open space". Raffles, car washes, tootsie rolls, poppies, white canes, or whatever they can think of. Or just accept donations. With the voluntary donations, they can buy space and keep it undeveloped.

I can hear the lamentations now. "The public won't support it." (Like the local movie theater?) "They don't have the money. Times are tough." (Yeah, paying taxes is a drag!) "It won't happen fast enough to save the planet." (Yeah, like we are just buzzing along now.)

See the hallmark of a bad idea is when you have to force people to do "it"!

Doesn't matter what "it" is. If you have to use force to get your favorite political or social goal accomplished, then sorry it's a bad idea. I like the idea of open space as much as the next person, so let me go to my neighbor's house and steal some money form him so I can have "open space"! Sorry Joe. But you "need" open space more than a new set of tires, your daughter's braces, your son's football, your wife's new frock, food, clothing, whatever! Have to go now I see the police coming to throw me in the clink for stealing Joe's money.

So why is it different for "government" at any level — South Brunswick Township, Middlesex County, State of New Jersey, or the US Federal Government — to do the same thing? Suppose Joe doesn't prefer "open space" over other needs. You see taxes come FIRST. Off the top. Before Joe or John get to decide what is their most important need, Father State — the new  King must get his portion. (Half? Three quarters? They have to leave the serfs something!) When government at any level takes taxes from joe or john for their "own good" to do something they don't want, why do joe or john have to pay for it? Taxes are theft. The government is the only entity that can force someone to pay for services that they don't want.

Tin cup around accepting voluntary contributions peacefully is a great idea for "open space" or anything. Taking tax money from people to do "good" is evil violence.

In case you haven't guessed, I don't think that taxes should be used to "preserve open space", or any of the other myriad of "services", that government provides me. I prefer to order form the ala carte menu.

http://www.emailbattles.com/archive/battles/idtheft_aadigajjdf_j/

Crusade To Dump Social Security Numbers Picks Up Steam
Posted on 06/07/2006 @ 14:54:06
in Identity Theft. 

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Even before the disclosure of the active duty losses, Gartner VP Avivah Litan told the Committee on Veteran's Affairs that this ripoff demonstrates just how vulnerable some of the nation's most sensitive data is.

"This incident also shows that the Social Security number has become an extremely unreliable piece of information and cannot be trusted to be unique to an individual. Companies should not rely on Social Security numbers alone as proof of individual identity," Ms. Litan said. "As many as one-in-seven adult Social Security numbers in the U.S. may already have been compromised."

Nearly all the states have enacted laws restricting use of Social Security numbers, or are working on them. Universities have led the way (for once), purging the numbers from databases. Even the feds are entertaining a variety of approaches to restrict SSN use for identification… at least for Medicare. 

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OK, I agree, let's kill the ssn completely. The program was sold as "not for identification" so let's get back to that! 

http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2006/06/07/healey_to_propose_state_pension_overhaul/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Business+%2F+Personal+Finance+-+Money+Management+-+Financial+Management+-+Boston.com

Healey to propose state pension overhaul
New hires would get 401(k)-style plans instead of traditional ones
By Ross Kerber, Globe Staff
June 7, 2006

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{Massachusetts} Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey today plans to propose a sweeping overhaul of the state's fragmented public pension system that would eliminate traditional pensions for most new public-sector workers and instead give them corporate-style saving accounts like 401(k) plans.

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Now why can't we do that here in New Jersey?

It would eliminate all sort so of abuses we hear of Like pension padding by overtime, multiple "jobs, and "sweetheart" final jobs that are used to pay benefits off.

It would also completely eliminate the concept of an unfunded liability.

Right now who knows how much future taxpayers are encumbered by the pension of their current "servants"?

I don't know any business that has a defined benefit plan and wouldn't like to kill it.

Wasn't that the reason that government workers got lucrative pension plans in the first place? To compete with private industry for good people.

The taxpayers don't get a pension. Do they? Why should the "public servants"?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060605/wl_csm/ostatelet

The coming of the micro-states
By Fred Weir
Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
Mon Jun 5, 4:00 AM ET

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MOSCOW – As goes Montenegro, so goes Kosovo, Transdniestria, and South Ossetia?

As Montenegro officially declared independence this weekend, accepting the world's welcome into the community of nations, a handful of obscure "statelets" are demanding the same opportunity to choose their own destinies.

In the latest example, Transdniestria, a Russian-speaking enclave that won de facto independence in the early 1990s, declared last week that it will hold a Montenegro-style referendum in September as part of its campaign for statehood.

Experts fear that many "frozen conflicts" around the world – in which a territory has gained de facto independence through war but failed to win international recognition – could reignite as ethnic minorities demand the same right to self-determination that many former Yugoslav territories have been offered by the international community.

Even more significant than Montenegro's rise to statehood would be the international community's acceptance of Kosovo's bid for independence. The province of Serbia was seized by NATO in 1999. Ongoing talks discussing that possibility are being watched with intense interest by rebel statelets. But as tiny, newly independent states such as East Timor find themselves mired in ethnic violence, international observers are wary of the implications of such a move.

"If Kosovo becomes independent, this precedent will cause further fragmentation of the global order and lead to the creation of more unviable little states," predicts Dmitri Suslov, an analyst with the independent Council on Foreign and Defense Policy in Moscow.

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Maybe I'm just an injineer, but what is the problem? What makes these little states "unviable"? It would seem that this is the way to end ethnic violence. We saw it on a large scale when the British left India, and Pakistan was a result.

We have had "diplomats" drawing lines in the sand. That is how we wound up with Iran and Iraq. The diplomat's motivation was to deliberately create "opponents" that would "balance" each other. I guess that comes under the theory that, if they are too busy shooting at each other, then they will be too busy to shoot at me. And, of course, someone has to sell them the guns and ammo. (Is that too cynical?)

In a libertarian America, we would allow people to organize themselves as they saw fit. We have no "dog in that fight".

When we were "liberating Iraq", which I opposed, I wondered to no one in general in my scratchings, that each town should have been organized, held elections, and treated as a political entity. No need for a giant centralized entity. Let them organize "organically". If you are a "one man; one vote" fanatic, then each "municipality" could elect one elector that would go to "Congress" with a list of verifiable names. That count would be the number of "votes" he could cast. I can see it now. "I'm Jack from Isjackistan (they always have funny names) and I cast my people's 10,239 votes for passage of the "Thanks Amerika; Now leave" bill! Wouldn't that be a stich. Each town "freed" could have sent a rep to their new Congress with their proxy. The mayor could call a new election if the people didn't like what the rep did. It could be a working in nothing flat. Or perhaps, it wasn't desirable because it couldn't produce the required results.

Any way, I don't see a problem with allow people the freedom to organize and conduct their affairs in any manner that they see fit.

IMHO

Maybe now that South Brunswick more closely represents the People's Republic of China with single party rule, we should have a straw man party that they can run against. As with national and state elections, I always forget who's in charge. Is it the Democrats, the Democans, the Republicrats, or the Republicans? Is it "the small government but stuff happens and we make it big" or is the "the big government with lost of bigger ideas" party? You know there isn't a bit of difference.

So I propose that we here in South Brunswick, try a completely different party. How about one that wants freedom and liberty? It's the Libertarian party. We pop up from time to time to suggest that there might be a better way. Like the highest nail, we get pounded down by the "two" major parties, but we keep popping back up.  Testing to see if the voters would like to have a true choice.

While a single township can't change Federal, State, and County diktats, the local government can begin the process. We can NOT convert the schools from government run to free market by ourselves … YET! We can NOT end the drug war now … … YET! We can NOT end taxation as we know it … … YET! But we can start the discussion about school privatization and cut the waste and fat … … NOW! But we can direct our policing priorities to violent crime … … NOW! But we can cut taxes and fees with laser like clarity that we are their to minimize theft (that what taxes are) … NOW!

So, if you are tired of one party rule like the people in Russia, Poland, Hungary, and the rest of the old Soviet Union, perhaps you might find an outlet for your frustration! Libertarians are frustrated too.

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2006/06/skewed-priorities.html

Monday, June 05, 2006
Skewed priorities 
Hank Kalet
Managing Editor
South Brunswick Post
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The basics go like this: Cut taxes for the rich — either by cutting their income taxes, the capital gains tax or the inheritance tax — and then cut benefits for the middle class and poor through changes to Medicare and Medicaid, education and other programs.
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And the moral justification for reaching into someones grave and stealing from them is?
Seriously, a person labors all their life, makes a contribution to society (otherwise people would not have given them money), and then the political komisars come along and say "no, no, you're too rich. we need it for the children!".

Of course that means that the grave robbers take it back to Washington, where if there is anything left after expensive meals, vast staffs of richly paid yessirs, and endless studies to document the "need", that might be trickled to the serfs.

No, taxes in general, and death taxes in particular, are immoral. Death taxes take money that was already taxed many times. It's one last shot at stealing before the person finally escapes.

And, like the two wolves and sheep voting on what's for dinner, counting noses doesn't make it right.

Beside depending on politicians a la Katrina is demonstrably deadly.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/14748174.htm

Woman charged with smuggling babies arrested in Arizona
Associated Press

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LOS ANGELES – A woman who allegedly smuggled babies and young children from Mexico was arrested Monday when she attempted to cross the Arizona-Mexico border, authorities said.

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I see a similarity. We have the poor in Mexico taking the modern version of the Underground Railway past the slave masters to the promised land of freedom.

But, then I think the Statue of Liberty is one of our strongest ads.

You must remember the Underground Railway, even if you went to gubamint skoolz. It was during the War of Northern Aggression. Back when America the Republic began to become Amerika the Empire.

Surely you learned that.