Friday, May 22, 2009
GITMO and Motivating Terrorists
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
The Union Way
The housed are accused, among other things, of sexual contact with students, harassment, theft or drug possession. Nearly all are being paid. All told, they collect about $10 million in salaries per year -- even as the district is contemplating widespread layoffs of teachers because of a financial shortfall.This is the insanity that is liberal policy. This is what unions do.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Republican Stronghold? The Plano Firefighters Association
Many times when I'm writing comments on news stories or after writing a new article on this blog, I get this kind of response, "This is Texas, not California. That couldn't happen here."
One of the problems California has is the unions control the state. I once read that California could save $15 billion with their budget if they just paid their government employees what they get in the private sector. They get paid more than the private sector and their benefits are superior. But the employees have a strong union, and Democrats are bought and paid for by the unions, so nothing changes.
Even the Obama administration is exhibiting this behavior by demanding, and even forcing, everyone to "sacrifice" when restructuring banks or car companies or firing CEOs...except for the unions. The unions haven't made any sacrifices under Obama so far. While executives of AIG get a busload of an angry mob on their front doorstep at their house, organized by the Service Employees International Union, and are vilified and even encouraged to commit suicide by a U.S. Senator, the United Auto Workers management continues to play golf on the $6.4 million dollar golf course the UAW owns.
I don't care much for unions.
Anyway, this all leads to the Plano Firefighters Association. The Dallas Morning News has a story about the growing political clout this union has in Plano politics with their practice of giving money to candidates they endorse so they can advertise.
The turnout at local elections outside of major national elections is usually pitiful in Collin County. I think it's around 4%. So with such a small number of people voting, having just a couple thousand dollars to mail out postcards or buy road signs is a huge advantage.
According to the DMN, the Plano Firefighters Association has spent over $75,000 on local elections, more than any other entity. That's a huge amount at this level in just a few years.
I went to the Plano Firefighters Association's Web site and I was shocked when I clicked on their "Political Links" button. I found a long list of Leftist political Web sites including:
Monday, May 4, 2009
Blaming America - Mexico's Drug Cartels
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Local Elections Matter
Early voting for the local municipal elections began on April 27th and runs through May 5th. Election day is May 9th, Saturday.
I've been asked what my views are in regards to the candidates for Allen, Frisco, McKinney and Plano. I'm not knowledgeable enough on the candidates in Allen, Frisco and McKinney to have an opinion, but here is what I look for.
What I'm looking for are candidates who do not support new taxes for rail, do not want to increase the density of housing, are willing to make cuts in budgets outside of public safety and understand that it's important to attract companies to the suburbs.
The Arts of Collin County is also a local issue candidates are weighing in on. This $80 million dollar theatre they want to build at Custer and 121 will cost the Plano, Frisco and Allen taxpayers at least $1.5 million per year, of which Plano will be responsible for $900,000 because it's split based on population. Last year, the Richardson taxpayers picked up a $1,000,000 tab for the Eisemann Center. These theaters don't make a profit, they run a large budget deficit every single year. The taxpayers will have to pick up that bill, every single year, forever.
Would a 2,100-seat theatre be cool to have off of 121? Of course! Can we afford it right now? No, we can't. We have a multimillion dollar deficit. How can you call yourself a fiscal conservative and want to add at least $900,000 to the Plano budget when we have a deficit?
So here is how I'm voting in this election in Plano:
Plano mayor - David W. Fincannon or Phil Dyer
This one is a no-brainer, I'm voting for David. David is a free-market, less government kind of guy. He is against the new mobility taxes for rail. Phil Dyer is a true believer of rail and wants more taxes for it. David questions the spending on the Plano Centre and the ACC. Phil supports ACC. David wants more transparency from the government and questions the effectiveness of the economic incentive program. Transparency is always good. The city has raised our property taxes to create an economic incentive fund. How effective has it been at what cost?
The only viewpoint of David's that I disagree with is he seems to be more strict than me on water use.
Place 2 - Susan Plonka or Ben Harris
I'm voting for Susan. Both candidates are for ACC and regional rail taxes, but I read a quote from Ben Harris that promoted high density "nodes".
Place 8 - Greg Myer or Lee Dunlap
This is another no-brainer, I'm voting for Greg. Lee Dunlap is the only incumbent running. Lee voted to give $1 million in taxpayer money to Fehmi Karahan to help pay for a private fountain in the Shops At Legacy, despite a vocal opposition by his constituents. Lee supports raising taxes to pay for rail. Greg Myer is against it. Grey Myer said he supports more cuts to city services, citing Live Green Plano and the Plano Television Network programs as examples.
PISD Trustee Place 7 - Robert Canright or Missy Bender
I'm voting for Robert. Robert is critical of Plano's curriculum and cronyism and I agree with him. PISD is rated as Acceptable versus Frisco/Allen/Richardson's Recognized rating while Plano is spending the most per pupil out of those four. There are big questions about Plano's math curriculum where they don't teach 3rd graders math facts. There needs to be a change in PISD.
PISD Trustee Place 6 - Steve Navarre or Marilyn Hinton or Nathan Barbera or Rama Lavu
To be honest, I'm not as knowledgeable about these candidates as I would like to be, but I have read everything I can get my hands on and I'm voting for Steve because of his emphasis on transparency and accountability.
Plano City, Proposition 1 - No
Plano City, Proposition 2 - No
Plano City, Proposition 3 - No
Plano City, Proposition 4 - No
Plano City, Proposition 5 - No
Plano City, Proposition 6 - No
Plano City, Proposition 7 - YES
UPDATE - I initially stated I was going to vote NO on Prop. 7. There is misinformation about Prop. 7 and I'm guilty of forwarding that. Here is what the actual ballot says:
"The revocation of $3,500,000 general obligation bonds for an overpass project to provide grade separation at Preston Road and Legacy Drive."
The Plano Star Courier reports that this bond "...totals $3,500,000 for the renovation...", mistakingly replacing revocation for renovation. Indeed, a lot of people think this proposition is for a new bond when it actually repeals a previous bond. So I'm voting YES on it. Thanks for readers informing me on this!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Theocracy of the United States of America
Don't pour your motor oil into the sewer. That's common sense. When you change your car's oil, don't pour the old oil into the sewer. That's bad for our environment.
Don't throw used tires into the creek. I get that. We don't want to see old tires sitting in our creeks. It's bad for the environment, and it's ugly.
Don't throw your trash out your car window onto the side of the road. That makes Native Americans cry. It's common sense.
Don't buy fruits and vegetables at my store that aren't grown locally?
Don't buy fruits and vegetables that are out of season locally?
Don't use my clothes dryer, but use a clothes line outside to dry my clothes?
Don't purchase prepared dinners at the supermarket?
Only go shopping one day a week and map out the most efficient route?
Have fewer activities outside the home and stay home more often?
Create a compost in my backyard?
Wash my clothes in cold water only?
Don't buy bottled water?
Don't use my oven?
Don't use the Sleep mode on my computer, but shut it down?
When shopping for a home, don't buy a new home that creates "sprawl" and get a small house?
Buy clothes made locally?
Buy used clothes?
Environmentalism has become a new religion where some people are drastically changing their lifestyles for a cause that is based on faith and not proof. I don't have a problem with that when people make personal choices that affect only them. More power to you. The problem is this religion has become so widespread and so intertwined with our government, we are now living under a Theocracy. It won't be long before we have a new Inquisition where I will be put on the rack for heresy.
These fanatics believe that the Earth is warming and that man is the cause of this warming. They think that this warming is going to melt the ice caps, which will flood millions of square miles of land, create mass starvation as droughts occur across the globe, dogs and cats will be sleeping together - mass hysteria.
They believe that carbon emissions into the atmosphere are creating a "greenhouse gas" that warms the Earth. They believe there is a direct correlation between the amount of carbon emissions going into the air and the average temperature of the Earth.
What creates carbon emissions? Any engine that uses fossil fuels. That would be planes, trains and automobiles which all use gas that is created with oil. What about electricity? Well, electricity is created with power plants. Coal power plants burn coal, a fossil fuel, and that puts a lot of carbon emissions into the air. The same is true about oil power plants.
So these religious fanatics believe that the more you drive your car, the more you are warming the planet. The more electricity you use, the more emissions from power plants go into the air, the more you warm the planet.
The problem with this religion is the average temperature on Earth peaked in 1998 and has been going down since. It dropped dramatically in 2007 and in 2008, the temperatures reached 1980 levels. At last December's U.N. Global Warming conference in Poznan, Poland, 650 of the world's top climatologists stood up and said man-made global warming is a media generated myth without basis. Climatologist Dr. David Gee, Chairman of the International Geological Congress said, "For how many years must the planet cool before we begin to understand that the planet is not warming?"
The University of Illinois' Arctic Climate Research Center released conclusive satellite photos showing that Arctic ice is back to 1979 levels. On top of that, measurements of Antarctic ice now show that its accumulation is up 5 percent since 1980.
A recent massive Russian study states that we are beginning a new Ice Age. Based on the core samples from Russia's Vostok Station in Antarctica, we know the earth's atmosphere and temperature for the last 420,000 years. This evidence suggests that the 12,000 years of warmth we call the Holocene period is over.
So if an increase in carbon emissions is supposed to warm the planet, why has the temperature dropped since 1998 at the same time carbon emissions have increased?
When confronted with this inconvenient truth about the temperatures going down since 1998, the Global Warming believers have changed the name of their religion from "Global Warming" to "Climate Change", which the rest of us refer to as "Seasons".
The fact is carbon emissions follow the rise in temperatures, not lead it. So this whole idea that we need to cut back on carbon emissions is based on a fiction. This is more about an agenda from people on the Left who want to dictate their lifestyle choice to the rest of us. No big SUVs. No cars, take public transportation. No big shopping malls. No "sprawl". No electronics. No "Big Oil". No water parks. None of that. That is all "destroying the planet" and you need to wear hemp clothes and buy organic foods and live in green communes while singing Kumbaya, or we will all peril.
Plano is going right along with the new religion and spends hundreds of thousands of dollars of our money indoctrinating the public to "save the planet".
We have politicians who are creating legislation that will lead to a rail system in North Texas that will cost billions of dollars so it can carry a tiny number of people to take a tiny number of cars off of the roads "to save the planet".
Common sense. Don't throw tires into the creek. Don't throw your motor oil into the sewer. Buy strawberries from Australia, if you want.
So in honor of Earth Day 2008, which was yesterday, I post these quotes from the very first Earth Day in 1970:
“The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years,” he declared. “If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age.” — Kenneth Watt, Ecologist, April 19, 1970
Because of increased dust, cloud cover and water vapor "...the planet will cool, the water vapor will fall and freeze, and a new Ice Age will be born," Newsweek magazine, January 26, 1970.
By 1995, "...somewhere between 75 and 85 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct." Sen. Gaylord Nelson, quoting Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, Look magazine, April 1970.
“By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate…that there won’t be any more crude oil. You’ll drive up to the pump and say, `Fill ‘er up, buddy,’ and he’ll say, `I am very sorry, there isn’t any.’” — Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
"Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.” — George Wald, Harvard Biologist
“Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.” — Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist
“By…[1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s.” — Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist
“It is already too late to avoid mass starvation,” — Denis Hayes, chief organizer for Earth Day
“Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions….By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine.” — Peter Gunter, professor, North Texas State University
“Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support…the following predictions: In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution…by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half….” — Life Magazine, January 1970
“At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it’s only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable.” — Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
“Air pollution…is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone.” — Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist
















