Moving In The Right Direction

The Virginia Assembly joined with the Virginia Senate in denying welfare recipients using their EBT cards in strip clubs, tattoo parlor s, casinos.

Amazingly, both Senate and Assembly votes were Unanimous!

Perhaps reality is getting through. (O.k. I don’t think so, either.)

Not QUITE The Inquisition — But Close Enough!

Let me admit that I had not heard of the Magdalene Laundry problem, but in its own way it is just as much a PR problem for the Catholic Church as the Priest sex abuse of boys — although not quite so damaging to the victims.

I would not have known of the problem had not the Prime Minister of Ireland not publically apologized yesterday .

It seems that from 1922 until 1996, some 10,000 girls and women were placed in virtual slavery under Catholic Nuns in laundries across Ireland, working long hours without pay. Some of the girls and women were placed there by courts, and some were just homeless waifs — and some even credit the laundries for turning their lives around — but the system was admittedly severe. One described life as “work and pray.”

That life was so severe as to cause the Prime Minister to call the system a stain on the national honor, but actually the Irish priests abused boys also, so the Irish Priests were equal opportunity abusers.

I guess the international abusers do not rise to the level of the Inquisition, but too close for me.

Overreaching. (Again!)

Overreaching is the politicians’ ever present problem and threat, and the politicians in Olympia, Washington are no different.

One of those politicians offered a gun control bill that had many expecting a common-sense effort, until it was discovered that contained a provision for police to inspect the homes of every gun owner, every year.

Even gun control advocates are screaming, because they have tried so hard to deny the admittedly overreaching claims that the government is coming for your guns…and this intrusion goes a long way toward that aim of admittedly very few.

But it is just another case of overreaching – politicians do that regularly because they always have so much hubris that they believe their way, whatever it is, is the right thing to do.

Not Guilty, Your Honor!

The “Blade Runner” is apparently going to claim the he killed his model girlfriend either by accident (he committed the same “accident” four times, once in the bedroom and three times as she cowered in the bathroom), or that he took her for a burglar. (In high crime prone South Africa, burglars are apparently, slight blondes who are dressed in nightgowns.)

Of course defense attorneys are of a different makeup than those of more rational genetics. I remember the defense attorney who argued that his client had no knowledge of the murder two years previously of his wife, whose body was found in a freezer in a motor home in his driveway. The motor home had an extension cord powering the freezer, and the extension cord went through his window FOR TWO YEARS!

On the seamy subject of defense attorneys, we have this woman, Arias in Arizona and her defense to stabbing her boyfriend 27 times IN THE SHOWER, then shooting him and slashing his throat. Her current defense is “self defense,” after first saying she was not there, then it was two masked intruders, candidates finally “self defense.”

Ahhh…defense attorneys are similar to Ambrose Bierce’s definition of Diplomacy, “DIPLOMACY, n. The patriotic art of lying for one’s country.”  Defense Attorneys lie for their clients, who are, as even Alan Dershowitz admits, 98% guilty. (Dershowitz also noted that he was glad that those charged are 98% guilty because he would not like to live in a nation where most charged were NOT GUILTY!)

Back in another life I learned that if you wanted to assassinate someone, their two most vulnerable places was in the shower, or sitting on the John. (Of course, as Cosa Nostra has so well demonstrated, sitting in a barber chair ain’t so safe either!)

 

 

Yes We Can!

“I have a million ideas. The country can’t afford them all.”
[Reply to a question whether her proposals can be implemented without increasing the national debt, October 11, 2007. [9] – Presidential campaign (January 20, 2007 — 2008)]
―Hillary Clinton

Read more at http://izquotes.com/quote/220060

At least Hillary understood the limits of federal power — there are things, good things, that we simply cannot afford.

Back in Herbert Hoover’s day, “A chicken in every pot” was an unfulfilled promise, and a country that can’t afford chickens now believes it can give pre-school to every child — and a college education to every illegal alien who graduates high school!

This president dreams much bigger than his wallet. That is a sure road to bankruptcy.

Quick Hits

I am having a bit of problem with Jesse Jackson Jr. facing five years jail time for embezzling $750,000, while former San Diego Mayor Susan Golding is apparently getting a sweetheart deal and just having to repay the $2,000,000 she embezzled.

Something is not right here.

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I enjoyed the only cruise I took on Carnival Cruise Line many years ago, so I am not going to condemn them for this last episode.

I once was designated as an emergency Engineer for a submarine that was being towed into San Diego harbor because of a similar engine failure. Just as cars break down on the road, and an occasional airplane has an engine failure, so too do ships break down.

It happens.

Of course you would never hear about a submarine being towed into port — the movement of submarines is always secret, and of course there is a matter of scale.

And submarines were not exactly luxurious. When we went out for extended periods we stored canned goods on the decks of passageways and ate our way through them — we stored potatoes in the Emergency Escape Capsules. (They were useless anyway because they only worked in less than 300 feet, and you get to more than 300 feet when you leave San Diego Harbor.)

As to the cruise ships’ stinky sanitation – on my submarines, officers were permitted a shower every 11 days, and you don’t even want to hear about how fecal matter was handled!

I have to say that if you have not taken a cruise to Alaska, you owe it to yourself to do that — and take the train to Denali, and Fairbanks. It is hard to get this old sailor to sea, but for Alaska? I would do it again.

You can read of my Alaska experience, the greats and the lows at http://www.allenhemphill.com/Alaska.pdf.

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Have you seen the results of the recent payroll tax increase? The CEO of Wal-Mart asks, “Where are the people? And where is their money?”

The answer is that the government is getting their grubby hands on more of the working man’s (and woman’s) money!

Wal-Mart sales show that February started off as the worst start of a month in recent memory!

Someone needs to explain to the president that when the folks have less, they spend less.

Duh!

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Watching Rachel Maddow last night, I learned that in the Massachusetts Senatorial race they polled the NRA, and, to no one’s surprise, in Massachusetts, the NRA has  a 13% greater unfavorable than a favorable rating.

Rachel is all atwitter that pension funds, like the huge CALPERS, is divesting their gun manufacturer stocks.

Rachel is so happy to play the You Tube video of the front runner in the Democratic district where Jesse Jackson Jr. Is about to go to jail. The front runner once bragged she got an A+ rating from the NRA. Rachel is pumping for another candidate who is firmly Second Amendment averse.

“Hold Still While I Hit You Again” (Part Two)

My friend Richard Rider, who was a Financial Manager before becoming the head of San Diego Tax Fighters, has an excellent Letter to the Editor in a recent Wall Street Journal.

(Just as an aside, he sued the State of California a few years back, won, and saved the California taxpayers BILLIONS in taxes!)

• LETTERS
• February 7, 2013

State Taxes Provide Big Incentives, One Way or Another

Regarding your editorial “The State Tax Reformers” (Jan. 30): Here’s what everyone has missed concerning state income taxes. For the really rich (people with over $2 million income), in 2013 the deductibility of state and local taxes (income, property and other taxes) is 80% disallowed. The effect can be dramatic.

Consider the recent flap concerning the hapless Phil Mickelson who spoke out about the new, higher taxes. Between the 29% California income-tax increase on millionaires (to 13.3%) and the loss of the deductibility on federal returns, his 2013 net California income tax rate will be 12.3%. In 2011, it was 6.7%. That’s an astonishing 83.6% increase.

When you make that much income and have relatively few deductions (even when deductions were allowed before 2013), you seldom if ever trigger the Alternative Minimum Tax. Mr. Mickelson earns income with relatively few deductions, tax credits, etc., so he’s probably been paying the full rate for many years. It’s only the returns where special income (some municipal-bond income, for instance) or massive deductions are used that the AMT is triggered—ironically, mostly for incomes below $1 million.

In 2005, the maximum California tax went up from 9.3% to 10.3% for those with over a million-dollar income. At the time, the state income tax was fully deductible. With a 35% maximum federal tax bracket, that meant that the increase cost the rich a net 0.65%.

With the changes I’ve discussed, the 2013 net California income-tax increase is 5.6 percentage points—8.6 times higher than the 2005 increase. Only a fool would think that such a massive increase would not motivate many of the wealthy to depart California.

Richard Rider

Chairman

San Diego Tax Fighters

San Diego

Too Much “Foreign Relations”

I note that the New York Times has called for Harry Reid to take the gavel of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from the inept hands of New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, because of, well foreign relations.

O.K. the Times does not mention the claims that Menendez had sex in the Dominican Republic with underage girls – I just could not help the “foreign relations” tie-in.

The Times does mention that Menendez is hardly competent for the post anyway and only gained it through seniority, and that Menemdez is under investigation for using his influence unduly to help a BIG donor both to the Democratic Party in general, and Bob Menendez in particular.

The Times suggests that in view of the kerfuffle, Menendez should step down temporarily. The FBI is investigation, and they seldom waste time when there is not a serious suspicion of wrongdoing, particularly when a US Senator is involved.

Stealth Advantages and Disadvantages

The Chris Dorner case continues cat and mouse – assuming he is still alive and not dead from a self-inflicted wound.

I doubt that. He knows the longer he is alive and uncaught, the more angst he causes to those whom he hunts, and the more assets he ties up. He gets his revenge by waiting.

As a Submariner, it is a beautiful thing to be in a submarine and know that all of the surface ships live in constant fear. That is a huge ocean, and only a few dotted submarines, but no one sleeps well on a surface ship because they never know when the Sonarman will shout over his sound-powered phones those dreaded words, “Torpedo in the water!” (That is seldom said twice, as the Sonarman rips off his phones and heads topside.)

Dorner has the advantages of submarines – stealth – but he also has the disadvantages. So long as he does not strike, he causes fear – but when he strikes he identifies himself and his exact location. In submarines we called this a “Flaming Datum” – The flaming wreck marked our last absolutely known time and location, and there is a limited distance from that “Flaming Datum” that we can physically get in any given response time.

Submarines have the added advantage of being difficult to recognize – they can make themselves look and sound like whales, or schools of shrimp, or other objects. Dorner is a six foot, muscular Black man who weighs 270 pounds – you can put him in a Burka and he is still a six foot, muscular Black man who weighs 270 pounds!

But he is also well-trained, so he knows that he cannot operate from crowds, his best operational capabilities are from places like the Big Bear area, and while that particular spot is too hot there are hundreds of similar places in Southern California.  Eventually, he runs out of food or gasoline – unless he has well-placed stashes – and that may eventually be his undoing.

He knows that the problem he faces in attaining food and gas is habit – I was once told that whatever identity I had, if my general geographical location was known I could be found by staking out the best Hamburgers.

Dorner crossed the line when he killed the young couple – the daughter of a policeman and her boyfriend.

I do not understand the Facebook support he has. Killing unarmed non-combatants has always been over the line.  He needs to be brought to justice quickly – and not necessarily neatly.

Case Closed

It was cold and rainy last night.

The homeless shivered outside in the cold rain.

The churches were warm, dry — and VACANT!

Case closed.