Two years ago, I wrote Dan... What Can I Say. So I figured I'd follow up with a second one...
Back then, I complained about the $2.5 Billion and the $1.5 Billion tax increases. But I could never imagine that the deficit would reach a staggering $5 Billion. After tax increases like the ones above, you would think you'd be able to get the fiscal house in order.
But what you didn't count on was the effect such tax increases would have on the Connecticut economy. It didn't grow like it used to. I guess when you tax everything that moves, you'd have to expect that. But you didn't.
So now, we find we are in an even bigger deficit situation than any you have yet faced. And I have no doubt that you and your minions in the GA will still not learn the lesson. You'll end up closing that gap by raising taxes and fees, putting up tolls, and all kinds of other nonsense. The one thing you guys WON'T do is meaningfully cut the budget. And when I say cut the budget, what I mean is LAY PEOPLE OFF. Sure, there will be idiots who talk about how laying off government workers won't be good for the economy. But here is the issue Dan... you're not getting an economic boost by paying those people with my money! The idiot will say, look at all that money they won't be spending. I say, look at all the money I won't be spending when you raise my taxes again! And there are a lot more of me than them.
To those reading this - a desperate plea: Raising taxes will NOT solve the problem. The GA and this, or the next, governor will spend all of it and more. And we'll end up with the largest budget deficit in history yet again. And they will rub their necks, and say "Shoot... this one is BAD" and they will raise your taxes again. And that flushing sound... the sound of people leaving the state will get louder and louder... and the tax receipts will go down again. The Death Spiral as I alluded to in my original post.
Look up the Laffer Curve. The idea is that there is an optimal rate of taxation, and that as you go above that rate, increases in the rate result in LESS revenue to the government. Dan talks about how our Sales Tax is "middling" nation wide, when you take into account local sales taxes. Let's take him at face value. So. Suppose you're shopping for a new washer/dryer. It's $1,200 for the pair. At 6.35%, that is $76. Can you drive to NH cheaper than that, load up the same washer/dryer, and drive home? Probably. If you restock your liquor cabinet while you are there, you save even more. If you smoke, buy a couple of cartons of smokes too. And remember to fill up on gas up there. What a pleasant day! "Middling" might be right nationwide, but when you have a state like NH basically next door, you can't think in those terms.
I assume that the governor and the GA will do the same thing it has always done. And that will continue us on the road to ruin. So brace yourselves for it everyone. Sure, it may not hurt right away, but an analogy comes to mind...
If you boil a pot of water and throw in a frog, he'll jump right out. If you put a frog in a pot of water and bring it to a boil, well, then you got boiled frog. Don't be a boiled frog everyone!
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Sunday, January 29, 2017
Out On A Limb
The title of this post, I think, is very appropriate. If this falls into the wrong hands, if the wrong people complain, if someone has an axe to grind, then it is very possible that I could lose my job. See, this post will be accessible by some of the people that I'm writing about, and they could, but I hope they won't, take offense. I'll explain that more a little later on. Also, this could be a VERY long post, and for that I apologize for in advance. The only thing I ask is that if you have read this far, but don't think you'll read the whole thing, please just don't read this at all. Missing parts of it, or the ending, will change completely the meaning of what I'm conveying.
So first, the background. As many of you know, I work in Information Technology. I've worked for the company I'm at for the last 14 years. I started as a "Senior Software Engineer" which at this company means I was really just an experienced programmer. And so I "coded" which is what us programmers call programming. I very much liked writing code, especially the code I was there to write. At the time, it was brand new. It was "object oriented" programming. It's still the type of code we write today, although since I've moved up the ranks during those 14 years, I no longer write code and haven't written code for several years. Sometimes I miss it. I had no employees. I had one system to look after. I designed the code, wrote the code, and when it broke or didn't work, I fixed the code. There was no QA team. I was the QA team. And it worked because I knew I was gonna support the system I worked on, and that meant that I was damn sure gonna make sure it was coded right!
The second background. I've been binge watching "The West Wing" on Netflix. I've seen them all once already. I'm watching them all again. If you've never watched the show, you should. So much of the politics is still relevant today. The show came on the air 15 years ago. And the episode I just watched was, funny enough, aired about 12 years ago. Two years after I got my latest job.
This particular episode concerned a trade deal that was going to be signed in the next few days. Everything was cool until the wrinkle (there is ALWAYS a wrinkle) developed. The wrinkle was that India had suddenly decided to join the trade agreement. And then a company that sounded a lot like IBM had a leak, that 17,000 programming jobs were being moved to India. So there was a bit of a panic in the administration. They verified that this number was not only correct, but that over the next 10 years, 3.3 MILLION programming jobs would be moving to India across the entire industry!
Now, let me get to the part that is gonna get me in trouble. The show was spot on. In fact, my guess is that they underestimated the numbers. When I first started working at my company, I worked with people named Mark, Lance, Doug, Keith, Andy, Missy, Jeannie, and Jackie. None of them worked for me because I hadn't yet moved up the ladder. In fact, none of them ever would work for me. But that was the way things were. Some of them were managers, some business analysts, and some were programmers like me.
I won't go through all the specific details, but I will say that at one point, I got my first direct report, even though he worked for a consultant firm. His name was Shiva. He was the onsite coordinator for a team of offshore consultants based in India. He was working to take over support for a system that ironically I now own. At the time, I didn't work with that system at all. But it didn't matter, because I was an independent employee whose job it was to see that this transition go well. I was on loan to a newly created "resourcing" department whose job it was to lower support costs. And this was the pilot project.
The employees who did own the system (whose names I won't share) were vehemently opposed to this pilot. They didn't want it to work. They threw up roadblocks at every turn. Part of my job was tearing those roadblocks down and making sure this pilot was a success. All of the players in this game were foul, including the resourcing manager I worked for. They were all foul in distinct and varied ways, but ironically, the only person I came away trusting at the end of this engagement was Shiva. Like me, he was just trying to make the new model work.
Rolling the clock forward to today, this is the current situation. Mark, Lance, Doug, Keith, Andy, Missy, and Jackie all still work for the same company. We were the lowest people in the technology ladder at the beginning. Now we all work with large teams of people. None of us lost our jobs. Jeannie left the company of her own accord long ago. But none of us are programmers anymore. Most of us are Vice Presidents now, running these large teams. Here is my example.
I now have 4 employees that report to me. Their names are Raja, Jai, Deepak, and Gauri. None of them were born in the US. But they are employees, and in all cases are Technical Leads that generally oversee the work product of the next group of people that work for me. I have about 12 "onsite coordinators" that are all from India (I won't list all their names). They have offshore counterparts that number somewhere around 75 consultants. They all work in 3 or 4 different cities in India. I suspect none of them were born here.
Now, let me say a few things here because I know that I'm rubbing shoulders with abject racism here. And I don't think I'm being racist and will explain why. But the problem is that most racist don't think they are racists. So I'm leaving that possibility open. So disclaimer done, now you be the judge.
I love all of the people that work for me. My direct report employees, my onsite coordinators, and my offshore programmers. With out exception, they are all hard working, ethical, honest, easy going, and productive people. I don't care what color their skin is and I don't care what country they hail from. They do their best to please me, they take criticism well and act on it to change, and they own up to mistakes they make. In short, they are some of the best people to work with, and I genuinely like them.
I also like to think that I treat them well. The ones that work in my office have family half way around the world. Frequently there are deaths or sicknesses in the family. When I find out about it, I tell them to forget about work, get on the next flight, and take care of what they need to take care of. Families are everything in the Indian culture. Weddings take 4 weeks to do! So they often take no vacation time for 2 years and then burn 4 weeks all at once on their trips back. It only makes sense. When you have to take a full day to fly home, and a full day to fly back, you ought to spend some time when you are there! From a business perspective, this can be disruptive. However, this is just part of the deal. Nobody told me this. I learned it. Learned to adapt, and whole heartedly support them. I will continue to do so until someone I work for tells me I can't.
I'm hoping none of that was racist. And I hope you get that I don't have any personal animosity for the people that work for me.
Now back to the West Wing episode. It turned out that the President and his administration knew all along this was going to happen, that programming jobs were gonna move offshore. They knew American programmers were going to be thrown out of work. And while the show is fiction, it sure rings true to me.
They started the episode talking about good high paying jobs the free trade deal would create. At the end of the episode it was painfully clear that we already had good high paying jobs that were gonna go to India. A lot of them. Maybe most of them. Or in the case of my company, ALL of them.
And that's my point here. While me and Andy and Keith and the rest of us didn't lose our jobs, there were no new jobs for the next round of Americans looking for good high paying jobs. Those positions simply don't exist in my company any more. We've outsourced all the programmers. And the senior programmers. And we're losing Assistant Vice Presidents - those tech leads I talked about. Those are high paying jobs. And when the company (yes, "when" not "if") outsources those positions, the transition will be complete. Our company will "own" but have no clue about our intellectual property. No one who draws a paycheck on company checks will know how the code was written, where it's weak points are, what it's failure points will be, and how to fix it. Our "partners" will have that knowledge, not us. And so while we will own the code in name only, they will be the real owners.
I don't hold any ill will against our Indian partners. Is it bad that fewer Indian children have to scour garbage dumps for their next meal? Of course not. And so if they got some programming gigs, I have no problem with that. But do they have to own the whole industry? That feels wrong.
This situation is not their fault. And they are following a tried and true model. Witness the Television. When first invented, we made them all. The Japanese were relegated to making those clunky old radios. That's okay, we said, we make the TVs. And the Japanese used that opportunity to learn how to make TVs. But they made Black and White TVs. 'Mericans made COLOR TV! So it's okay to give them the B&W TV market.
Can you buy an American TV today?
I don't blame the Japanese. Don't hate the players, hate the game. And we've seen the same thing with phones, computers, microchips, and in the past 15 years, software and programmers. Now I'm not a protectionist at heart. I don't like protectionism. I get free trade. But I guess its easy to be for free trade when it is only the crappy jobs that get outsourced. This hits me where I live. Too close to home.
When kids and young adults ask me if they should go into technology, I tell them sure. But don't learn to program. Learn to be a business analyst or a project manager. Companies won't feel secure offshoring those jobs. But programming? That ship already sailed my friends. It's a dead art in America. Heck, I don't even really know how to code anymore. And since its so technical and business leaders don't really understand it, its easy to make the uninformed decision, save a lot of money, and outsource it. "We have to" they tell themselves. We'd be noncompetitive if we didn't. And they sleep well in their stylish homes and their comfy beds.
I tell kids today to go into the trades. Plumbing, electrical, HVAC. No way to outsource that. And we will always need it. And the pay is good. Especially when you realize that you don't have to pay $120,000 and up for a college education. Mike Rowe and Norm Abrahms have the right idea.
So cudos to the writers of the West Wing. Not many people can predict the future 15 year hence. And they nailed this one.
Finally, a warning.
You may think this doesn't affect you. To my banker friends, to my claim handling friends, to my broker friends, to my underwriting friends, to all my friends in the services industries. Be on watch. If you think programming is some special kind of skill that was easily outsourced, but that yours is not, think again. Programming is hard. Don't believe me, try it. Spend 4 hours and see how your first program turns out. If you can't get a "Hello World" application built in those 4 hours, then what makes you think your job is so special? ("Hello World" should take you about 10 minutes)
Be on guard. It's a global world out there. And someone wants to eat your lunch. And if they don't want yours, they may be aiming at your kid's lunch.
So first, the background. As many of you know, I work in Information Technology. I've worked for the company I'm at for the last 14 years. I started as a "Senior Software Engineer" which at this company means I was really just an experienced programmer. And so I "coded" which is what us programmers call programming. I very much liked writing code, especially the code I was there to write. At the time, it was brand new. It was "object oriented" programming. It's still the type of code we write today, although since I've moved up the ranks during those 14 years, I no longer write code and haven't written code for several years. Sometimes I miss it. I had no employees. I had one system to look after. I designed the code, wrote the code, and when it broke or didn't work, I fixed the code. There was no QA team. I was the QA team. And it worked because I knew I was gonna support the system I worked on, and that meant that I was damn sure gonna make sure it was coded right!
The second background. I've been binge watching "The West Wing" on Netflix. I've seen them all once already. I'm watching them all again. If you've never watched the show, you should. So much of the politics is still relevant today. The show came on the air 15 years ago. And the episode I just watched was, funny enough, aired about 12 years ago. Two years after I got my latest job.
This particular episode concerned a trade deal that was going to be signed in the next few days. Everything was cool until the wrinkle (there is ALWAYS a wrinkle) developed. The wrinkle was that India had suddenly decided to join the trade agreement. And then a company that sounded a lot like IBM had a leak, that 17,000 programming jobs were being moved to India. So there was a bit of a panic in the administration. They verified that this number was not only correct, but that over the next 10 years, 3.3 MILLION programming jobs would be moving to India across the entire industry!
Now, let me get to the part that is gonna get me in trouble. The show was spot on. In fact, my guess is that they underestimated the numbers. When I first started working at my company, I worked with people named Mark, Lance, Doug, Keith, Andy, Missy, Jeannie, and Jackie. None of them worked for me because I hadn't yet moved up the ladder. In fact, none of them ever would work for me. But that was the way things were. Some of them were managers, some business analysts, and some were programmers like me.
I won't go through all the specific details, but I will say that at one point, I got my first direct report, even though he worked for a consultant firm. His name was Shiva. He was the onsite coordinator for a team of offshore consultants based in India. He was working to take over support for a system that ironically I now own. At the time, I didn't work with that system at all. But it didn't matter, because I was an independent employee whose job it was to see that this transition go well. I was on loan to a newly created "resourcing" department whose job it was to lower support costs. And this was the pilot project.
The employees who did own the system (whose names I won't share) were vehemently opposed to this pilot. They didn't want it to work. They threw up roadblocks at every turn. Part of my job was tearing those roadblocks down and making sure this pilot was a success. All of the players in this game were foul, including the resourcing manager I worked for. They were all foul in distinct and varied ways, but ironically, the only person I came away trusting at the end of this engagement was Shiva. Like me, he was just trying to make the new model work.
Rolling the clock forward to today, this is the current situation. Mark, Lance, Doug, Keith, Andy, Missy, and Jackie all still work for the same company. We were the lowest people in the technology ladder at the beginning. Now we all work with large teams of people. None of us lost our jobs. Jeannie left the company of her own accord long ago. But none of us are programmers anymore. Most of us are Vice Presidents now, running these large teams. Here is my example.
I now have 4 employees that report to me. Their names are Raja, Jai, Deepak, and Gauri. None of them were born in the US. But they are employees, and in all cases are Technical Leads that generally oversee the work product of the next group of people that work for me. I have about 12 "onsite coordinators" that are all from India (I won't list all their names). They have offshore counterparts that number somewhere around 75 consultants. They all work in 3 or 4 different cities in India. I suspect none of them were born here.
Now, let me say a few things here because I know that I'm rubbing shoulders with abject racism here. And I don't think I'm being racist and will explain why. But the problem is that most racist don't think they are racists. So I'm leaving that possibility open. So disclaimer done, now you be the judge.
I love all of the people that work for me. My direct report employees, my onsite coordinators, and my offshore programmers. With out exception, they are all hard working, ethical, honest, easy going, and productive people. I don't care what color their skin is and I don't care what country they hail from. They do their best to please me, they take criticism well and act on it to change, and they own up to mistakes they make. In short, they are some of the best people to work with, and I genuinely like them.
I also like to think that I treat them well. The ones that work in my office have family half way around the world. Frequently there are deaths or sicknesses in the family. When I find out about it, I tell them to forget about work, get on the next flight, and take care of what they need to take care of. Families are everything in the Indian culture. Weddings take 4 weeks to do! So they often take no vacation time for 2 years and then burn 4 weeks all at once on their trips back. It only makes sense. When you have to take a full day to fly home, and a full day to fly back, you ought to spend some time when you are there! From a business perspective, this can be disruptive. However, this is just part of the deal. Nobody told me this. I learned it. Learned to adapt, and whole heartedly support them. I will continue to do so until someone I work for tells me I can't.
I'm hoping none of that was racist. And I hope you get that I don't have any personal animosity for the people that work for me.
Now back to the West Wing episode. It turned out that the President and his administration knew all along this was going to happen, that programming jobs were gonna move offshore. They knew American programmers were going to be thrown out of work. And while the show is fiction, it sure rings true to me.
They started the episode talking about good high paying jobs the free trade deal would create. At the end of the episode it was painfully clear that we already had good high paying jobs that were gonna go to India. A lot of them. Maybe most of them. Or in the case of my company, ALL of them.
And that's my point here. While me and Andy and Keith and the rest of us didn't lose our jobs, there were no new jobs for the next round of Americans looking for good high paying jobs. Those positions simply don't exist in my company any more. We've outsourced all the programmers. And the senior programmers. And we're losing Assistant Vice Presidents - those tech leads I talked about. Those are high paying jobs. And when the company (yes, "when" not "if") outsources those positions, the transition will be complete. Our company will "own" but have no clue about our intellectual property. No one who draws a paycheck on company checks will know how the code was written, where it's weak points are, what it's failure points will be, and how to fix it. Our "partners" will have that knowledge, not us. And so while we will own the code in name only, they will be the real owners.
I don't hold any ill will against our Indian partners. Is it bad that fewer Indian children have to scour garbage dumps for their next meal? Of course not. And so if they got some programming gigs, I have no problem with that. But do they have to own the whole industry? That feels wrong.
This situation is not their fault. And they are following a tried and true model. Witness the Television. When first invented, we made them all. The Japanese were relegated to making those clunky old radios. That's okay, we said, we make the TVs. And the Japanese used that opportunity to learn how to make TVs. But they made Black and White TVs. 'Mericans made COLOR TV! So it's okay to give them the B&W TV market.
Can you buy an American TV today?
I don't blame the Japanese. Don't hate the players, hate the game. And we've seen the same thing with phones, computers, microchips, and in the past 15 years, software and programmers. Now I'm not a protectionist at heart. I don't like protectionism. I get free trade. But I guess its easy to be for free trade when it is only the crappy jobs that get outsourced. This hits me where I live. Too close to home.
When kids and young adults ask me if they should go into technology, I tell them sure. But don't learn to program. Learn to be a business analyst or a project manager. Companies won't feel secure offshoring those jobs. But programming? That ship already sailed my friends. It's a dead art in America. Heck, I don't even really know how to code anymore. And since its so technical and business leaders don't really understand it, its easy to make the uninformed decision, save a lot of money, and outsource it. "We have to" they tell themselves. We'd be noncompetitive if we didn't. And they sleep well in their stylish homes and their comfy beds.
I tell kids today to go into the trades. Plumbing, electrical, HVAC. No way to outsource that. And we will always need it. And the pay is good. Especially when you realize that you don't have to pay $120,000 and up for a college education. Mike Rowe and Norm Abrahms have the right idea.
So cudos to the writers of the West Wing. Not many people can predict the future 15 year hence. And they nailed this one.
Finally, a warning.
You may think this doesn't affect you. To my banker friends, to my claim handling friends, to my broker friends, to my underwriting friends, to all my friends in the services industries. Be on watch. If you think programming is some special kind of skill that was easily outsourced, but that yours is not, think again. Programming is hard. Don't believe me, try it. Spend 4 hours and see how your first program turns out. If you can't get a "Hello World" application built in those 4 hours, then what makes you think your job is so special? ("Hello World" should take you about 10 minutes)
Be on guard. It's a global world out there. And someone wants to eat your lunch. And if they don't want yours, they may be aiming at your kid's lunch.
Friday, January 20, 2017
Inaguration Day
So just to let you know, this will be a rant.
I just watched the Inauguration speech, and I've been reading Facebook all morning. And since I live in the People's Republic of Connecticut, I've gotten a healthy dose of what has become what I call "the usual" - posts about how deplorable Trump, his appointees are, and such.
So here is my first thing: One of the posts is from a teacher who is going to be working hard to help those students who are so full of fear because of our new President. I quickly commented that he needed to get a grip, and he totally misunderstood my meaning.
Let's address this "fear" thing head on. If there are students and children out there whose teachers and parents are now trying to deal with their children's "fear" then they have no one to blame except one person. No, it's not Trump. It's that person that shows up in their mirror every morning.
Kids instinctively know what to fear in their lives. They are afraid of that dog down the street that constantly barks and bares its teeth. They are afraid of brussel sprouts. They are afraid of the bully that steals their lunch money. When I was a kid, I was afraid of killer bees, and nuclear weapons, and the bully who wanted to steal my lunch money. Never once did politics make me fearful.
If our kids are afraid of a Trump presidency, it's because we told them to be. Just like I was afraid of nukes because my dad left civil defense pamphlets lying around in his workshop. ("if a second nuclear bomb falls, it won't make more destruction, it will only make the impact crater bigger" - WHAT?) So the first thing I want to say to all the teachers and parents (and religious organizations!) is "GET A GRIP" He's been president for all of 10 minutes. Tonight he's gonna go to some inauguration balls. He won't start really doing anything until tomorrow. And tomorrow is Saturday. So can we maybe just give him until next Monday before we start judging and fearing him? And if you are worried about the children, well here's an idea - tell them to suck it up. This is how our democracy works. You can still protest. You can still speak your mind. You can still worship as you wish. You still have the right not to incriminate yourself. You still have everything you used to have - so why are you so afraid?
There are rational fears and irrational fears. When you are climbing a cliff, it is rational to have a fear of falling. However, it is irrational to be afraid that books will become sentient and take over the world, as books are inanimate objects. Now you can argue all you want about Trump's speeches giving you a rational fear. But your just rationalizing. Cool your jets. This isn't the first time we've elected someone unqualified for the office. The last one was first elected just 8 years ago!
And the latest evidence of your irrational fears? Well, it is Trump's inauguration speech. If you didn't like him in the first place and already had begun fearing him, what you heard was a divisive speech about how fearful you should really be, which is more now than before the speech.
If you listened to it with an open mind, what you basically would have heard was this: Our politicians have failed us, and today we give the power back to the people, and I pledge to do that in the oath I just took.
Trump rightly pointed out that when you chart the government in the US, be it federal, state or local, there is always one box at the very top that has these words in it: The People. He is beholden to the people, just as the judiciary is, just as the legislature is. Not just during the election but ALL THE TIME. I found that both refreshing and inspiring. For too long, we've had governments that see the people as serving the government, not the other way around.
Here is an example: When CT looks at legalizing pot, the questions that come up are things like "How much tax revenue could we get from it?" Well, that question should be easy - so easy that it need not be asked. Sales should be subject to the sales tax, and the business that grow and sell it should be subject to the business income tax. But no. Immediately our reps start trying to figure out what sort of "sin" tax can we assign to it? How is that serving the people? Well, they will say, we can spend the money on new programs! New programs because we came up with a new source of revenue? Do we even need the new program? Shouldn't the default be to leave as much money as possible in our CONSTITUENTS pockets? Naw, we serve the PEOPLE they say, when they really mean THE PEOPLE SERVE US!
This is why Trump was elected. There are far too many people in this State that just don't get it. That's why we're looking at yet ANOTHER tax increase after the last two LARGEST increases in state taxes since Malloy was elected. Trump is about what the people want, not what the government wants, or the special interest wants, or about what the unions want. It's anathema to you people. Always one more deserving program. Always a few more government jobs. Always more more more! It doesn't serve the people - it ENSLAVES them!!!
Okay, so I need to cool MY jets. Agreed. But I've had about enough of all the posts about how HORRIBLE Trump is. Go look for my posts about how horrible Obama was gonna be. There aren't any. Because though I had concerns, I never let those elevate to fears. Sure, he was gonna shove socialized medicine down my throat (I was happy with my old insurance plan and doctor) but let's wait and see what happened. And what happened was what I predicted... they didn't understand insurance, so they took away all possibility of staying clear of adverse selection, while making the insurance cheap. So people didn't sign up until they got sick. And the system died of its own weight. Worse still they went to the Supreme Court that decided that THE GOVERNMENT CAN FORCE YOU TO BUY ANYTHING THEY TELL YOU YOU HAVE TO BUY. All you people outraged by Citizen's United, do you really think that is a bigger deal than giving the government the power to tell you WHAT YOU MUST BUY??? Let me know when the next major US automaker gets into trouble again, and the government tells you that you have to buy a crappy Chrysler minivan!
Disagree with your president? Sure. You should when you disagree with him. Fear him? No. not until he starts really doing things that should make your fear rational. And is he your president? Yes. Yes he is. Obama was my president. Now Trump is YOUR president.
Can't get on board with that? By all means, sneak across the Canadian border. Or shut up. I don't care which one. But if you can't get on board with Trump being your president, then you are Unamerican and I won't be listening to you any more.
I just watched the Inauguration speech, and I've been reading Facebook all morning. And since I live in the People's Republic of Connecticut, I've gotten a healthy dose of what has become what I call "the usual" - posts about how deplorable Trump, his appointees are, and such.
So here is my first thing: One of the posts is from a teacher who is going to be working hard to help those students who are so full of fear because of our new President. I quickly commented that he needed to get a grip, and he totally misunderstood my meaning.
Let's address this "fear" thing head on. If there are students and children out there whose teachers and parents are now trying to deal with their children's "fear" then they have no one to blame except one person. No, it's not Trump. It's that person that shows up in their mirror every morning.
Kids instinctively know what to fear in their lives. They are afraid of that dog down the street that constantly barks and bares its teeth. They are afraid of brussel sprouts. They are afraid of the bully that steals their lunch money. When I was a kid, I was afraid of killer bees, and nuclear weapons, and the bully who wanted to steal my lunch money. Never once did politics make me fearful.
If our kids are afraid of a Trump presidency, it's because we told them to be. Just like I was afraid of nukes because my dad left civil defense pamphlets lying around in his workshop. ("if a second nuclear bomb falls, it won't make more destruction, it will only make the impact crater bigger" - WHAT?) So the first thing I want to say to all the teachers and parents (and religious organizations!) is "GET A GRIP" He's been president for all of 10 minutes. Tonight he's gonna go to some inauguration balls. He won't start really doing anything until tomorrow. And tomorrow is Saturday. So can we maybe just give him until next Monday before we start judging and fearing him? And if you are worried about the children, well here's an idea - tell them to suck it up. This is how our democracy works. You can still protest. You can still speak your mind. You can still worship as you wish. You still have the right not to incriminate yourself. You still have everything you used to have - so why are you so afraid?
There are rational fears and irrational fears. When you are climbing a cliff, it is rational to have a fear of falling. However, it is irrational to be afraid that books will become sentient and take over the world, as books are inanimate objects. Now you can argue all you want about Trump's speeches giving you a rational fear. But your just rationalizing. Cool your jets. This isn't the first time we've elected someone unqualified for the office. The last one was first elected just 8 years ago!
And the latest evidence of your irrational fears? Well, it is Trump's inauguration speech. If you didn't like him in the first place and already had begun fearing him, what you heard was a divisive speech about how fearful you should really be, which is more now than before the speech.
If you listened to it with an open mind, what you basically would have heard was this: Our politicians have failed us, and today we give the power back to the people, and I pledge to do that in the oath I just took.
Trump rightly pointed out that when you chart the government in the US, be it federal, state or local, there is always one box at the very top that has these words in it: The People. He is beholden to the people, just as the judiciary is, just as the legislature is. Not just during the election but ALL THE TIME. I found that both refreshing and inspiring. For too long, we've had governments that see the people as serving the government, not the other way around.
Here is an example: When CT looks at legalizing pot, the questions that come up are things like "How much tax revenue could we get from it?" Well, that question should be easy - so easy that it need not be asked. Sales should be subject to the sales tax, and the business that grow and sell it should be subject to the business income tax. But no. Immediately our reps start trying to figure out what sort of "sin" tax can we assign to it? How is that serving the people? Well, they will say, we can spend the money on new programs! New programs because we came up with a new source of revenue? Do we even need the new program? Shouldn't the default be to leave as much money as possible in our CONSTITUENTS pockets? Naw, we serve the PEOPLE they say, when they really mean THE PEOPLE SERVE US!
This is why Trump was elected. There are far too many people in this State that just don't get it. That's why we're looking at yet ANOTHER tax increase after the last two LARGEST increases in state taxes since Malloy was elected. Trump is about what the people want, not what the government wants, or the special interest wants, or about what the unions want. It's anathema to you people. Always one more deserving program. Always a few more government jobs. Always more more more! It doesn't serve the people - it ENSLAVES them!!!
Okay, so I need to cool MY jets. Agreed. But I've had about enough of all the posts about how HORRIBLE Trump is. Go look for my posts about how horrible Obama was gonna be. There aren't any. Because though I had concerns, I never let those elevate to fears. Sure, he was gonna shove socialized medicine down my throat (I was happy with my old insurance plan and doctor) but let's wait and see what happened. And what happened was what I predicted... they didn't understand insurance, so they took away all possibility of staying clear of adverse selection, while making the insurance cheap. So people didn't sign up until they got sick. And the system died of its own weight. Worse still they went to the Supreme Court that decided that THE GOVERNMENT CAN FORCE YOU TO BUY ANYTHING THEY TELL YOU YOU HAVE TO BUY. All you people outraged by Citizen's United, do you really think that is a bigger deal than giving the government the power to tell you WHAT YOU MUST BUY??? Let me know when the next major US automaker gets into trouble again, and the government tells you that you have to buy a crappy Chrysler minivan!
Disagree with your president? Sure. You should when you disagree with him. Fear him? No. not until he starts really doing things that should make your fear rational. And is he your president? Yes. Yes he is. Obama was my president. Now Trump is YOUR president.
Can't get on board with that? By all means, sneak across the Canadian border. Or shut up. I don't care which one. But if you can't get on board with Trump being your president, then you are Unamerican and I won't be listening to you any more.
Friday, July 8, 2016
Okay... so I've been weeping tonight...
Not a very mirthful post I'm afraid. Today 12 police officers were shot in Dallas, following the shootings this week of two black men caught on tape which will turn your stomach. Random thoughts...
- The outpouring of flowers and memorials on the two police cruisers in Dallas are both sad and inspirational
- Diamond Reynolds, the significant other of Philando Castile who was shot and killed by police in her car, has incredible poise. Her narration of the video showing an officer still pointing a gun at her dying boyfriend was precise, remarkably collected, and calm.
- Diamond was later interviewed and asked about the Dallas police shootings. Her response was absolutely spot on - she began to cry and she offered obviously heartfelt condolences to all the families of the officers killed in that shooting, and conveying the notion that she and they were both mourning the loss of their loved ones - in essence saying they were all in the same boat and how wrong it is that they are.
- David Brown, the Dallas police chief, made an opening statement that if you have the chance to hear in its entirety is well worth watching. He is a man with a foot in both "camps" for lack of a better word. His main message? Things must change. They cannot stay the way they are.
- Tonight, CNN is cutting between footage of the Dallas memorials, and the Black Lives Matter rally tonight in Atlanta that they didn't have the good sense to postpone.
- Talking heads on both sides of this are fueling the fire, while others are trying to dampen the tension. Cudos to the latter, and shame on the former.
- Sadly, it seems that many black men, and many police officers feel exactly the same way - they feel like they are in danger when they go out. They are afraid they will get shot - that people are out to kill them.
- One black police officer I saw was asked if he is afraid of the police when he's off duty. He said he was. That he had forgotten his wallet one day, so had no id as a police officer or his right to carry. He said he was very scared that day.
- It is all so sad and useless. I want to help. I don't want to take sides. I wish there was a Black and Blue Lives Matter movement.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Encrypted Terrorism?
The news media is all a buzz about encrypted communications in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks. I've seen multiple segments on it, and have heard about "going dark" on NPR on my ride home yesterday. Most news outlets (sans the New York Times) have been careful to note that the jury is still out on whether or not the Paris terrorists actually used any encrypted communications to plan and/or execute their attacks. However, they breathlessly listen to law enforcement or intelligence agency wonks on how they MUST have used encrypted communications in these attacks because the French and US intelligence agencies didn't hear a whisper about the attacks before they happened.
First, let's acknowledge that encryption is nothing new. PGP encryption was first published in 1991 by Phil Zimmerman. Sure, it was a bit cumbersome to use, what with all those encryption keys and digital certificates. But if you wanted to communicate securely without the government being able to listen in, you have been able to do that for the past 25 years.
Leaving the history aside, let's consider two scenarios. The first is that the terrorists have finally embraced this 25 year old technology to be able to communicate in a way that the law enforcement/intelligency agencies (LE/IA) types are now saying they are doing. The second scenario is that the LE/IA wonks fell down on the job and mucked this one up good. Now, considering the two scenarios, which do you think is more likely?
But that isn't my main point here. The bottom line is that either way, THEY DID THIS TO THEMSELVES. Either they were grossly incompetent, which proves my point above sufficiently, or they created the situation with encryption themselves!
Let's assume that the terrorists are using encryption, or at the very least, will use it going forward given how "scared" our LE/IA wonks are of it. Why is encryption so easy to use now?
Well, once upon a time, it was easy to listen in on secure communications. The feds required telecoms to help them do it. They co-located listening devices in all the switching centers the telcos had. They required the telcos to make modifications to their equipment so it would be easier to let the government listen in. When emails and IM came on the scene, the LE/IA types required the same thing of Internet Service Providers (ISP). Then they did the same thing, or at least tried to, with the cell phone service providers, AND the cell phone manufacturers.
They asked for, and got, kangaroo courts (I'm looking at you, FISA) where secret search warrants were issued to all of these players. And they had to spend more and more of their time servicing these warrants, which allowed the LE/IA types to suck up all kinds of data and metadata on who was communicating with who, and where possible, what they were saying. The CIA invented CARNIVORE and other software that would allow LE/IA to search huge databases of information instantly.
As the stories about these things broke, via Wikileaks and the various "traitors" who divulged the types of information being collected, people started demanding more and more secure communications. Worse, computer and cell phone companies began making their products encrypted as well, and even worse than that, they took themselves out of the business of having to service these warrants and such by not keeping the keys to their customer's data. It made sense... these companies were increasingly having to comply with more and more onerous demands of the LE/IA establishment, they could get out of it by not being physically able to do their bidding. This would allow them to "stick to their knitting" rather become an arm of the LE/IA cabal.
So now these whiny LE/IA types are all over the news, complaining that this "evil" encryption thingy is stopping them from preventing TERRORISM. It's all a ploy to get the government back into the business of your cell phone manufacturer, your cell phone service provider, your computer, which you pay for with YOUR money. Their target is your fear, they want you to want what they want, which is unfettered access to your private communications.
Don't fall for it.
First, let's acknowledge that encryption is nothing new. PGP encryption was first published in 1991 by Phil Zimmerman. Sure, it was a bit cumbersome to use, what with all those encryption keys and digital certificates. But if you wanted to communicate securely without the government being able to listen in, you have been able to do that for the past 25 years.
Leaving the history aside, let's consider two scenarios. The first is that the terrorists have finally embraced this 25 year old technology to be able to communicate in a way that the law enforcement/intelligency agencies (LE/IA) types are now saying they are doing. The second scenario is that the LE/IA wonks fell down on the job and mucked this one up good. Now, considering the two scenarios, which do you think is more likely?
But that isn't my main point here. The bottom line is that either way, THEY DID THIS TO THEMSELVES. Either they were grossly incompetent, which proves my point above sufficiently, or they created the situation with encryption themselves!
Let's assume that the terrorists are using encryption, or at the very least, will use it going forward given how "scared" our LE/IA wonks are of it. Why is encryption so easy to use now?
Well, once upon a time, it was easy to listen in on secure communications. The feds required telecoms to help them do it. They co-located listening devices in all the switching centers the telcos had. They required the telcos to make modifications to their equipment so it would be easier to let the government listen in. When emails and IM came on the scene, the LE/IA types required the same thing of Internet Service Providers (ISP). Then they did the same thing, or at least tried to, with the cell phone service providers, AND the cell phone manufacturers.
They asked for, and got, kangaroo courts (I'm looking at you, FISA) where secret search warrants were issued to all of these players. And they had to spend more and more of their time servicing these warrants, which allowed the LE/IA types to suck up all kinds of data and metadata on who was communicating with who, and where possible, what they were saying. The CIA invented CARNIVORE and other software that would allow LE/IA to search huge databases of information instantly.
As the stories about these things broke, via Wikileaks and the various "traitors" who divulged the types of information being collected, people started demanding more and more secure communications. Worse, computer and cell phone companies began making their products encrypted as well, and even worse than that, they took themselves out of the business of having to service these warrants and such by not keeping the keys to their customer's data. It made sense... these companies were increasingly having to comply with more and more onerous demands of the LE/IA establishment, they could get out of it by not being physically able to do their bidding. This would allow them to "stick to their knitting" rather become an arm of the LE/IA cabal.
So now these whiny LE/IA types are all over the news, complaining that this "evil" encryption thingy is stopping them from preventing TERRORISM. It's all a ploy to get the government back into the business of your cell phone manufacturer, your cell phone service provider, your computer, which you pay for with YOUR money. Their target is your fear, they want you to want what they want, which is unfettered access to your private communications.
Don't fall for it.
Friday, September 25, 2015
Rantings and Ravings
So I have a few rants and raves to share... hope you enjoy!
The Pope: The Pope seems like a good man, but frankly, I've had enough of his visit at this point. All channels seem to have changed to "The Pope" channel, all the news is about the Pope, whether he is a lefty or righty, when he arrives, when he departs, what he said here and there. I'm pooped!
Very soon is Back to the Future day. October 21, 2015 is the date that Marty McFly goes into the future, and we get to see Robert Zemenkis' promises for the future. So... where is my Hoverboard? Where are my self tying sneakers? And where is my damn FLYING CAR! I want my flying car! I was promised one from multiple people. Robert! Get me my flying car!
Donald Trump. 'Nuff said.
Yesterday I found a bunch of deleted Hillary Clinton emails in the archive folder of my email client at work. They were a good read. You should see what she says about Bill behind his back!
Speaking of my work email client... I'm only allotted 5GB of space for my work emails. That might sound like a lot, but I have lots of emails that are larger than 5MB... the biggest one is over 50MB. So I have to spend a lot of time archiving old emails and deleting them from my client. It is a total waste of time. But here is the kicker... I'm currently using about 4GB of 15GB that Google gives me FOR FREE. I've never deleted an email from my personal account because I never go above 20% used. How is it I can get 15GB free, but work gives me one third of that space???
Why are we bringing back rotaries? People don't know how to use them, are too shy in entering them, and they fail under load.
What's the deal with the new Col. Sanders? First Darryl Hammond is him. Then Norm MacDonald is him. But he talks about being the REAL Colonel, but then fails the lie detector test. Does that mean Darryl Hammond is the real Col. Sanders? Even still... it's funny.
Why is it that Big Brother ends on the same day that Survivor starts? Can I get at least a 2 week break from this nonsense... It's almost as bad as baseball.
That's it for now...
The Pope: The Pope seems like a good man, but frankly, I've had enough of his visit at this point. All channels seem to have changed to "The Pope" channel, all the news is about the Pope, whether he is a lefty or righty, when he arrives, when he departs, what he said here and there. I'm pooped!
Very soon is Back to the Future day. October 21, 2015 is the date that Marty McFly goes into the future, and we get to see Robert Zemenkis' promises for the future. So... where is my Hoverboard? Where are my self tying sneakers? And where is my damn FLYING CAR! I want my flying car! I was promised one from multiple people. Robert! Get me my flying car!
Donald Trump. 'Nuff said.
Yesterday I found a bunch of deleted Hillary Clinton emails in the archive folder of my email client at work. They were a good read. You should see what she says about Bill behind his back!
Speaking of my work email client... I'm only allotted 5GB of space for my work emails. That might sound like a lot, but I have lots of emails that are larger than 5MB... the biggest one is over 50MB. So I have to spend a lot of time archiving old emails and deleting them from my client. It is a total waste of time. But here is the kicker... I'm currently using about 4GB of 15GB that Google gives me FOR FREE. I've never deleted an email from my personal account because I never go above 20% used. How is it I can get 15GB free, but work gives me one third of that space???
Why are we bringing back rotaries? People don't know how to use them, are too shy in entering them, and they fail under load.
What's the deal with the new Col. Sanders? First Darryl Hammond is him. Then Norm MacDonald is him. But he talks about being the REAL Colonel, but then fails the lie detector test. Does that mean Darryl Hammond is the real Col. Sanders? Even still... it's funny.
Why is it that Big Brother ends on the same day that Survivor starts? Can I get at least a 2 week break from this nonsense... It's almost as bad as baseball.
That's it for now...
Friday, July 24, 2015
Everybody's Favorite Subject: Abortion
Abortion is probably the most polarizing issue in our political landscape. This was masterfully represented in a Seinfeld episode, where various characters, including pizza makers, boyfriends, and customers in a restaurant all get hot and bothered by the issue. Seinfeld himself instigated most of the consternation by bring the topic up, knowing full well that there is seemingly no middle ground on the issue.
Well, I occupy that middle ground. And I think a lot of people do, just like me. So what am I? I'm Pro Choice. I'm also Pro Life. That's the way I see myself on the issue. But the Pro-lifers would never have me, nor would the Pro-choicers either.
See, for me, I'm Pro Life, because I think that at some point, that zygote/fetus/whatever becomes a human being with human rights. Example: I find partial birth abortion abhorrent, and I have not heard of any evidence that suggests that the procedure is needed other than for the mother to be free of the baby - yes BABY - at that point. This nonsense about this being a decision between a woman and her doctor is just that - nonsense. In such a case, they are leaving the unborn baby's rights out of the picture.
On the other hand, I'm Pro Choice, because I can't agree that "life" begins at conception. I don't believe that a 4 or 8 or 4096 celled zygote is a human life, any more than a billion cell cancer tumor is. Example: a morning after pill that prevents a fertilized egg from implanting is not much different than a fertilized egg not implanting and being removed from the body by the, forgive the expression, monthly wash.
As a result, neither the Pro Life nor the Pro Choice movements would claim me as a member. No "Pro" group speaks for me.
Of course, these are the ends of the spectrum. The hard part is where to draw the line in the middle somewhere. Our courts have used "viability" as the yard stick, and I think that is a good start. However, medical advances continue to pare down the number of weeks viability "happens" and certainly, late term abortions happen with viability a receding dot in the rear view mirror. I've been told that 20 weeks is possible. 24 weeks is almost assuredly viability with the correct natal care. And none of this takes into account the mother's responsibility in this regard... is 4-5 months enough time to give the mother the chance to decide whether she wants an abortion? Is 8 months enough? How about 9?
But here is the critical point I want to speak to today. I've shown that both groups are extremists. Pro Choice people want unrestricted abortion, and would prefer to make it available on demand, and at government expense. Pro Life people want nothing to stop a pregnancy, not even an RU486 pill, and will coerce, or kill, medical providers that offer them. Rereading that, I realize I really don't want to be a part of either of those groups!
However, Pro Lifers have become much more clever. Instead of killing abortion doctors and giving public sympathy to the Pro Choice folks, they have hired actors and bought hidden cameras to expose the excesses of the Pro Choice crowd. Namely Planned Parenthood. They've show horrific video of the "behind the scenes" activities of Planned Parenthood. Public sympathy is with the Pro Lifers today.
Beware Pro Choice movement! The excesses are what will destroy you. Remember ACORN? If Planned Parenthood doesn't get its act together, and fast, they will end up in the same place.
I have been a Planned Parenthood supporter in the past. They provide contraception for young people so they DON'T get pregnant. They provide breast cancer screening. They provide STD services. I really don't want to see them go down the tubes. On the other hand, I've had to hold my nose on the abortions they perform. Partial Birth abortions are called "Late Term Abortions" by PP. Here's what a "Late Term Abortion" means: A baby is delivered vaginally until the head is outside the mother's body. The baby's head is then opened surgically and their brains are removed. This effectively kills the baby. The corpse is then delivered naturally, and discarded. I'm sorry to have to call it what it is, that that is it in a nutshell. Barbaric. The type of thing Dr. Mengle would have though of.
So I want to help because I think Planned Parenthood could continue its work and even continue to do abortions if it simply did the following:
And even with all this sound advice, I don't expect the Pro Life movement to thank me, much less invite me to join their ranks. I have no doubt I'm an apostate to them.
Well, I occupy that middle ground. And I think a lot of people do, just like me. So what am I? I'm Pro Choice. I'm also Pro Life. That's the way I see myself on the issue. But the Pro-lifers would never have me, nor would the Pro-choicers either.
See, for me, I'm Pro Life, because I think that at some point, that zygote/fetus/whatever becomes a human being with human rights. Example: I find partial birth abortion abhorrent, and I have not heard of any evidence that suggests that the procedure is needed other than for the mother to be free of the baby - yes BABY - at that point. This nonsense about this being a decision between a woman and her doctor is just that - nonsense. In such a case, they are leaving the unborn baby's rights out of the picture.
On the other hand, I'm Pro Choice, because I can't agree that "life" begins at conception. I don't believe that a 4 or 8 or 4096 celled zygote is a human life, any more than a billion cell cancer tumor is. Example: a morning after pill that prevents a fertilized egg from implanting is not much different than a fertilized egg not implanting and being removed from the body by the, forgive the expression, monthly wash.
As a result, neither the Pro Life nor the Pro Choice movements would claim me as a member. No "Pro" group speaks for me.
Of course, these are the ends of the spectrum. The hard part is where to draw the line in the middle somewhere. Our courts have used "viability" as the yard stick, and I think that is a good start. However, medical advances continue to pare down the number of weeks viability "happens" and certainly, late term abortions happen with viability a receding dot in the rear view mirror. I've been told that 20 weeks is possible. 24 weeks is almost assuredly viability with the correct natal care. And none of this takes into account the mother's responsibility in this regard... is 4-5 months enough time to give the mother the chance to decide whether she wants an abortion? Is 8 months enough? How about 9?
But here is the critical point I want to speak to today. I've shown that both groups are extremists. Pro Choice people want unrestricted abortion, and would prefer to make it available on demand, and at government expense. Pro Life people want nothing to stop a pregnancy, not even an RU486 pill, and will coerce, or kill, medical providers that offer them. Rereading that, I realize I really don't want to be a part of either of those groups!
However, Pro Lifers have become much more clever. Instead of killing abortion doctors and giving public sympathy to the Pro Choice folks, they have hired actors and bought hidden cameras to expose the excesses of the Pro Choice crowd. Namely Planned Parenthood. They've show horrific video of the "behind the scenes" activities of Planned Parenthood. Public sympathy is with the Pro Lifers today.
Beware Pro Choice movement! The excesses are what will destroy you. Remember ACORN? If Planned Parenthood doesn't get its act together, and fast, they will end up in the same place.
I have been a Planned Parenthood supporter in the past. They provide contraception for young people so they DON'T get pregnant. They provide breast cancer screening. They provide STD services. I really don't want to see them go down the tubes. On the other hand, I've had to hold my nose on the abortions they perform. Partial Birth abortions are called "Late Term Abortions" by PP. Here's what a "Late Term Abortion" means: A baby is delivered vaginally until the head is outside the mother's body. The baby's head is then opened surgically and their brains are removed. This effectively kills the baby. The corpse is then delivered naturally, and discarded. I'm sorry to have to call it what it is, that that is it in a nutshell. Barbaric. The type of thing Dr. Mengle would have though of.
So I want to help because I think Planned Parenthood could continue its work and even continue to do abortions if it simply did the following:
- Fire the people on the videos. They will find other jobs.
- Change their abortion practices to declare that they will not perform "late term abortions"
- Offer to refer patients who wish to have one to a qualified medical professional, not affiliated with Planned Parenthood
- Provide counseling services - discuss adoption, and other possible courses of action that might meet the patient's needs
- Refer them to service providers based on their feedback
- Limit political coordination with the Pro Life movement
- Limit their body parts business to early and middle term abortions, and to only donate what naturally becomes available, rather than customizing abortion procedures to recipient desires
And even with all this sound advice, I don't expect the Pro Life movement to thank me, much less invite me to join their ranks. I have no doubt I'm an apostate to them.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Dan... What Can I Say?
Where do I start? I guess I'll start with Dan Malloy himself...
Dan, when you first ran for Governor, I listened to you on NPR. My thoughts at the time were that you were saying mostly the right things, and it seemed for the right reasons. You had been Mayor of Stamford, and I thought that perhaps during your tenure there, you might have been listening to, perhaps even understanding the business community. Your priorities seemed right. The only thing you had going against you was that you were a Democrat, and that brought up the question of whether or not I could trust you.
Could I trust you to keep the well-being of Connecticut as a whole as your main priority, or would you fall into the trap of becoming a pawn of the unions, particularly the government employee unions? You seemed sincere about the former, and I had hopes that the latter would not come to pass. I didn't vote for you, I'll say that up front. But I didn't vote for your opponent either. I knew that you would win, as the Republicans had become a hollowed out shell, that could not mount a serious competitor for Governor. So I crossed my fingers, and hoped.
Those hopes were soon dashed. Leaving aside the asinine stance and process that took many of our 2nd Amendment rights from us, you went on to pass the largest tax increase in Connecticut history. Most of this money went for government employee compensation, thus cementing your base - dare I say, your constituents. Good people in the state rolled their eyes and thought of the cliche that you just validated. $2.5 BILLION. A lot of scratch.
Then you had to run for reelection. Many of my friends could not conceive of you actually being reelected after such actions. They thought that you had handed the Governorship over to the Republicans. Many were conservatives and independents. Some where Democrats. I told them all the same thing. Watch. Just wait and see.
You then promised not to raise taxes again. And this time, the Republicans put a serious candidate up against you. The race was close, and I dare say that some of the votes you got were from people who believed (or at least, wanted to believe) your campaign promise of not raising taxes again. But your base was cemented in your favor. Exactly one person knocked on my door asking me to vote for you. He was wearing a union t-shirt. I asked him if any union might support the other guy. He told me that all the unions were supporting you. So I took the literature, thanked the man for stopping by, and then threw your pamphlets in the trash.
Now here we are in 2015, and the General Assembly has passed a $1.5 BILLION tax increase. You have not yet signed the bill. However, you've said two things. One is that you'll probably sign it. The other is that you didn't break your campaign promise because you proposed a budget that would not have raised taxes. Unfortunately, if you do sign this bill, you will have raised taxes and you can't palm off that broken promise on Republicans, or a Democratically controlled General Assembly. It's crunch time, Dan. And we both know what you're going to do.
Now there is a big dust up because GE is looking at leaving the state. Aetna and Travelers are also thinking in those terms. And your comment for them is that you're not aware of any significant taxes that GE has paid to the state. Or did you word that such that it only looks at the income taxes that they paid? Either way, apparently the sales taxes they paid on data processing services, which at least doubles in this proposed budget, doesn't count. Apparently property taxes GE pays to Fairfield doesn't count either. Nor do the income taxes that the highly compensated employees of GE pay. I could go on and on... the State imposes a myriad of taxes and GE pays many of them, and has done so for years. And your response is a cynical one, essentially an argument that GE was planning on moving its headquarters anyway, and that this is all cover for that. Sure Dan, the grapes were probably sour anyway. Of course, that doesn't explain why GE wouldn't just stay silent through this process, and just move their HQ anyway... what incentive do they have for taking the shot at you? All agree that the CEO of GE typically does not make statements like these. So something motivated him. Occums Razor: The simplest answer is usually the right one.
You'll tell me that this budget is good for me. Like the half percent of sales tax revenue going to my town. Sure... that's great. Will my property taxes go down? Please. They will spend it just like the state does. And they will sell the increase as something like "boy, it would have been bigger if not for the sales tax money." You'll tell me the infrastructure improvements will benefit me. Sure. Like I hadn't been paying that all along with some of the countries largest gas taxes, most of which got swept into the general fund when politicos like you and your friends in the GA couldn't bring yourselves to lay off a single employee. Hey, I get it. You can't fire your constituents!
Dan, I'm not a CEO. I'm not a government employee and I don't pay union dues. I am a middle manager in an insurance company not named above. I make a good living. I pay more than my fair share of taxes. But I'm not rich, or at least, not by rich people's standards. I have lived in Connecticut my whole life. My late brother did as well. Our parents were transplants but made a home for themselves here. I have two girls, one who attends Uconn and is studying to be a teacher, like her mom. She doesn't intend to settle in Connecticut. My other daughter is about to start at UHart, and she doesn't intend to settle here either. I work in Hartford, and I will be continuing to do so as long as it takes to get my kids on their way. I'm paying for their education, but alas, I get nothing from either the Federal or State governments in terms of help in affording it. I've tried to be a good citizen. I am an Eagle Scout. I have volunteered my time in Scouting for over 30 years now. I served for 9 years on my local Board of Education. I raised my children to honorable adulthood. Why tell you all this?
Dan, I'm tired. I'm tired of our state deciding what I am allowed to do and what I'm not allowed to do. Every time I turn around, the GA is meddling in my affairs. I'm tired of paying higher and higher taxes. I'm tired of a state run by people who apparently laugh off major corporate flight, while giving welfare to other companies at the same time. I'm tired of watching my state's anemic growth while thumbing their nose at corporations that might help turn that around and see Connecticut become an economic powerhouse. I'm tired of watching huge tax increases, while my children's mother's pension is funded at the lowest levels in the nation. In short, I'm tired of living in this state. I want to leave, but can't do so for another 5 years. So I'm stuck here. Made my bed, so to speak.
Dan, perhaps you'll be able to convince people that you won't raise taxes during your next campaign. Me? I'm a fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me kind of guy. But it is increasingly clear to me that Connecticut either doesn't know, or doesn't care about that old adage. Either way is fine with me. The state is in a death spiral, but we won't auger in for at least 5 years. I mean, hey, it is a nice place to live. So is Hawaii. But both places are too damn expensive. So I'll endure the worker's paradise for a while longer, and then I'll sell the house, pack up my guns, and get the hell out of Dodge. Where will I go? Someplace warmer, where the politicians haven't yet gone insane. I'll probably try and spend summer in New Hampshire. Love the Live Free Or Die state. Love the notion of the guy who stamps those out, day after day, behind bars. We could be like them, you know. Nah... forget it. Your constituents wouldn't like that.
Anyway, that's the score, Dan. You can just chalk me up as someone who was gonna leave anyway (I wasn't) and that I taste just like those GE sour grapes. Connecticut will be better off without me. Who needs people like me anyway?
Dan, when you first ran for Governor, I listened to you on NPR. My thoughts at the time were that you were saying mostly the right things, and it seemed for the right reasons. You had been Mayor of Stamford, and I thought that perhaps during your tenure there, you might have been listening to, perhaps even understanding the business community. Your priorities seemed right. The only thing you had going against you was that you were a Democrat, and that brought up the question of whether or not I could trust you.
Could I trust you to keep the well-being of Connecticut as a whole as your main priority, or would you fall into the trap of becoming a pawn of the unions, particularly the government employee unions? You seemed sincere about the former, and I had hopes that the latter would not come to pass. I didn't vote for you, I'll say that up front. But I didn't vote for your opponent either. I knew that you would win, as the Republicans had become a hollowed out shell, that could not mount a serious competitor for Governor. So I crossed my fingers, and hoped.
Those hopes were soon dashed. Leaving aside the asinine stance and process that took many of our 2nd Amendment rights from us, you went on to pass the largest tax increase in Connecticut history. Most of this money went for government employee compensation, thus cementing your base - dare I say, your constituents. Good people in the state rolled their eyes and thought of the cliche that you just validated. $2.5 BILLION. A lot of scratch.
Then you had to run for reelection. Many of my friends could not conceive of you actually being reelected after such actions. They thought that you had handed the Governorship over to the Republicans. Many were conservatives and independents. Some where Democrats. I told them all the same thing. Watch. Just wait and see.
You then promised not to raise taxes again. And this time, the Republicans put a serious candidate up against you. The race was close, and I dare say that some of the votes you got were from people who believed (or at least, wanted to believe) your campaign promise of not raising taxes again. But your base was cemented in your favor. Exactly one person knocked on my door asking me to vote for you. He was wearing a union t-shirt. I asked him if any union might support the other guy. He told me that all the unions were supporting you. So I took the literature, thanked the man for stopping by, and then threw your pamphlets in the trash.
Now here we are in 2015, and the General Assembly has passed a $1.5 BILLION tax increase. You have not yet signed the bill. However, you've said two things. One is that you'll probably sign it. The other is that you didn't break your campaign promise because you proposed a budget that would not have raised taxes. Unfortunately, if you do sign this bill, you will have raised taxes and you can't palm off that broken promise on Republicans, or a Democratically controlled General Assembly. It's crunch time, Dan. And we both know what you're going to do.
Now there is a big dust up because GE is looking at leaving the state. Aetna and Travelers are also thinking in those terms. And your comment for them is that you're not aware of any significant taxes that GE has paid to the state. Or did you word that such that it only looks at the income taxes that they paid? Either way, apparently the sales taxes they paid on data processing services, which at least doubles in this proposed budget, doesn't count. Apparently property taxes GE pays to Fairfield doesn't count either. Nor do the income taxes that the highly compensated employees of GE pay. I could go on and on... the State imposes a myriad of taxes and GE pays many of them, and has done so for years. And your response is a cynical one, essentially an argument that GE was planning on moving its headquarters anyway, and that this is all cover for that. Sure Dan, the grapes were probably sour anyway. Of course, that doesn't explain why GE wouldn't just stay silent through this process, and just move their HQ anyway... what incentive do they have for taking the shot at you? All agree that the CEO of GE typically does not make statements like these. So something motivated him. Occums Razor: The simplest answer is usually the right one.
You'll tell me that this budget is good for me. Like the half percent of sales tax revenue going to my town. Sure... that's great. Will my property taxes go down? Please. They will spend it just like the state does. And they will sell the increase as something like "boy, it would have been bigger if not for the sales tax money." You'll tell me the infrastructure improvements will benefit me. Sure. Like I hadn't been paying that all along with some of the countries largest gas taxes, most of which got swept into the general fund when politicos like you and your friends in the GA couldn't bring yourselves to lay off a single employee. Hey, I get it. You can't fire your constituents!
Dan, I'm not a CEO. I'm not a government employee and I don't pay union dues. I am a middle manager in an insurance company not named above. I make a good living. I pay more than my fair share of taxes. But I'm not rich, or at least, not by rich people's standards. I have lived in Connecticut my whole life. My late brother did as well. Our parents were transplants but made a home for themselves here. I have two girls, one who attends Uconn and is studying to be a teacher, like her mom. She doesn't intend to settle in Connecticut. My other daughter is about to start at UHart, and she doesn't intend to settle here either. I work in Hartford, and I will be continuing to do so as long as it takes to get my kids on their way. I'm paying for their education, but alas, I get nothing from either the Federal or State governments in terms of help in affording it. I've tried to be a good citizen. I am an Eagle Scout. I have volunteered my time in Scouting for over 30 years now. I served for 9 years on my local Board of Education. I raised my children to honorable adulthood. Why tell you all this?
Dan, I'm tired. I'm tired of our state deciding what I am allowed to do and what I'm not allowed to do. Every time I turn around, the GA is meddling in my affairs. I'm tired of paying higher and higher taxes. I'm tired of a state run by people who apparently laugh off major corporate flight, while giving welfare to other companies at the same time. I'm tired of watching my state's anemic growth while thumbing their nose at corporations that might help turn that around and see Connecticut become an economic powerhouse. I'm tired of watching huge tax increases, while my children's mother's pension is funded at the lowest levels in the nation. In short, I'm tired of living in this state. I want to leave, but can't do so for another 5 years. So I'm stuck here. Made my bed, so to speak.
Dan, perhaps you'll be able to convince people that you won't raise taxes during your next campaign. Me? I'm a fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me kind of guy. But it is increasingly clear to me that Connecticut either doesn't know, or doesn't care about that old adage. Either way is fine with me. The state is in a death spiral, but we won't auger in for at least 5 years. I mean, hey, it is a nice place to live. So is Hawaii. But both places are too damn expensive. So I'll endure the worker's paradise for a while longer, and then I'll sell the house, pack up my guns, and get the hell out of Dodge. Where will I go? Someplace warmer, where the politicians haven't yet gone insane. I'll probably try and spend summer in New Hampshire. Love the Live Free Or Die state. Love the notion of the guy who stamps those out, day after day, behind bars. We could be like them, you know. Nah... forget it. Your constituents wouldn't like that.
Anyway, that's the score, Dan. You can just chalk me up as someone who was gonna leave anyway (I wasn't) and that I taste just like those GE sour grapes. Connecticut will be better off without me. Who needs people like me anyway?
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Comrades! The Revolution Is Won
Hello fellow comrades of the People's Democratic Republic of Connecticut! It is a good day for the People! Grand Commissar Comrade Malloy has been re-elected! Comrade Malloy will vanquish the yacht-bearing, plane-owing bourgeois of our Grand People's Republic!
The news today is outstanding! There is no more confusion about who works for whom. It is now clear to proletariat and bourgeois alike - we all now work for the Grand Commissar, and his comrades in the SEIU, AFL-CIO, CEA, and of course, his comrades who have no job other than the procreation of our next generation of revolutionaries!
Soon, those comrades working in "private industry" will see their taxes go up again, thus bringing forth the worker's paradise. Those jackals who wish to be counter-revolutionaries will see our People's and Children's Safety committee confiscate the offending firearms. There are not many left as The Grand Commissar has already invoked control which shall certainly be extended to ensure the safety and freedom of those in the People's Democratic Republic of Connecticut!
Comrades - let me be frank with you. It is a new day in the People's Republic. Opposition is melting away, and soon we will have total control to support and protect the People. This is why I have decided to go to the winning side. No longer will I resist the Grand Commissar or his party. They have shown me the light! As soon as I can, I will cast off the shackles of my bourgeois employers. I will stop making unconscionable profits and pay at the expense of my Comrades. I will become like them instead. I will become completely dependent on the People's Republic, as clearly they know what is best for me. No longer will I think like the bourgeois - I will think like my Comrades. My Comrades will take care of me, in addition to telling me how to think! What a relief!
Congratulations to all of my Comrades who have triumphed in the People's Republic this week. We count on you to continue our inexorable march to the Worker's Paradise we all know is inevitable!
The news today is outstanding! There is no more confusion about who works for whom. It is now clear to proletariat and bourgeois alike - we all now work for the Grand Commissar, and his comrades in the SEIU, AFL-CIO, CEA, and of course, his comrades who have no job other than the procreation of our next generation of revolutionaries!
Soon, those comrades working in "private industry" will see their taxes go up again, thus bringing forth the worker's paradise. Those jackals who wish to be counter-revolutionaries will see our People's and Children's Safety committee confiscate the offending firearms. There are not many left as The Grand Commissar has already invoked control which shall certainly be extended to ensure the safety and freedom of those in the People's Democratic Republic of Connecticut!
Comrades - let me be frank with you. It is a new day in the People's Republic. Opposition is melting away, and soon we will have total control to support and protect the People. This is why I have decided to go to the winning side. No longer will I resist the Grand Commissar or his party. They have shown me the light! As soon as I can, I will cast off the shackles of my bourgeois employers. I will stop making unconscionable profits and pay at the expense of my Comrades. I will become like them instead. I will become completely dependent on the People's Republic, as clearly they know what is best for me. No longer will I think like the bourgeois - I will think like my Comrades. My Comrades will take care of me, in addition to telling me how to think! What a relief!
Congratulations to all of my Comrades who have triumphed in the People's Republic this week. We count on you to continue our inexorable march to the Worker's Paradise we all know is inevitable!
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Election 2014 - "Assault Weapons Ban"
Before I get to the questions that will appear on the 2014 ballot for Manchester residents, I want to share with you what I think is a little known glitch/exception/loophole in the SB1160 "Assault" weapons ban in the State of Connecticut passed in 2013.
If you have no interest in guns or gun control, you need not read on. However, if you have coveted an evil black gun like an AR-15 since the ban, if only because someone said you can't have one now, you should read on. Likewise, if you are for grabbing guns and want to know how your GA failed you, you too should read on.
It is true that in the act cited above, many named and unnamed but described "assault" weapons are essentially banned from sale in the State of Connecticut, and had to be purchased prior to the passage of the act. These guns had to be registered with the State in order for someone to keep them, and this had to be done by the end of 2013. Since then, it has been impossible to purchase a new "assault" weapon in Connecticut.
However, there is a catch. Connecticut passed it's own "assault" weapons ban in 1994 along with the Federal government. The Federal ban expired in 2004, but the Connecticut ban soldiered on. When Connecticut passed that first ban, it exempted "assault" weapons that had been manufactured prior to September 1994 from the ban. Those weapons did not need to be registered, nor were they considered "assault" weapons... they were simply called "long guns"
When the GA passed the most recent ban, they inserted a clause that was intended to make it clear that the GA did NOT consider those exempted weapons as "assault" weapons in the newest ban. In other words, it was the GA's intent to CONTINUE to exempt these weapons from the latest "assault" weapons ban. Don't believe me? Check out the letter from the State in response to this exact question: http://ccdl.us/blog/2013/10/17/preban-assault-weapons/
So what is the upshot of this? Well, you can now go to a registered Connecticut gun dealer, and purchase one of these "pre-ban" guns. You don't need to register it. You don't have to worry about if it has too many "evil" features. In fact, you can legally ADD "illegal" features! Want an AR-15 with a front pistol grip, a bayonet lug, collapsing stock, and a grenade launcher? Have at it! Your pre-ban gun is just a "long gun" so all of that is legal.
So can you really do this? Yes you can. I know several people who have. I won't say who, and I won't say if I did myself. But I can tell you that it is currently fine to purchase one of these pre-ban weapons, and while you cannot do it at Cabelas, you certainly can at Delta Armory and at Hoffman's.
So all that was the good news. The bad news? Well, if Dan Malloy gets re-elected, you should expect the GA and the Governor to close this loophole. And when they do, your chance to buy a legal black gun in Connecticut will close, likely forever. Regardless, a friend immediately purchased one when he overheard a sales manager instruct a sales associate to raise the price of all these prebans 40% on November 5th regardless of who is elected. Sales ploy? Perhaps. But would you keep expensive stock around after the election without the prospect of high profits given the likelihood that soon they may be illegal to sell? I wouldn't either.
What does this mean to you? Well if you've been kicking yourself for missing out on the chance to buy an AR since the ban was passed, time is running out for you to fix that mistake. So get your papers in order and pays the money ($1300-$1600) while you still can. Or you'll be kicking yourself twice...
If you have no interest in guns or gun control, you need not read on. However, if you have coveted an evil black gun like an AR-15 since the ban, if only because someone said you can't have one now, you should read on. Likewise, if you are for grabbing guns and want to know how your GA failed you, you too should read on.
It is true that in the act cited above, many named and unnamed but described "assault" weapons are essentially banned from sale in the State of Connecticut, and had to be purchased prior to the passage of the act. These guns had to be registered with the State in order for someone to keep them, and this had to be done by the end of 2013. Since then, it has been impossible to purchase a new "assault" weapon in Connecticut.
However, there is a catch. Connecticut passed it's own "assault" weapons ban in 1994 along with the Federal government. The Federal ban expired in 2004, but the Connecticut ban soldiered on. When Connecticut passed that first ban, it exempted "assault" weapons that had been manufactured prior to September 1994 from the ban. Those weapons did not need to be registered, nor were they considered "assault" weapons... they were simply called "long guns"
When the GA passed the most recent ban, they inserted a clause that was intended to make it clear that the GA did NOT consider those exempted weapons as "assault" weapons in the newest ban. In other words, it was the GA's intent to CONTINUE to exempt these weapons from the latest "assault" weapons ban. Don't believe me? Check out the letter from the State in response to this exact question: http://ccdl.us/blog/2013/10/17/preban-assault-weapons/
So what is the upshot of this? Well, you can now go to a registered Connecticut gun dealer, and purchase one of these "pre-ban" guns. You don't need to register it. You don't have to worry about if it has too many "evil" features. In fact, you can legally ADD "illegal" features! Want an AR-15 with a front pistol grip, a bayonet lug, collapsing stock, and a grenade launcher? Have at it! Your pre-ban gun is just a "long gun" so all of that is legal.
So can you really do this? Yes you can. I know several people who have. I won't say who, and I won't say if I did myself. But I can tell you that it is currently fine to purchase one of these pre-ban weapons, and while you cannot do it at Cabelas, you certainly can at Delta Armory and at Hoffman's.
So all that was the good news. The bad news? Well, if Dan Malloy gets re-elected, you should expect the GA and the Governor to close this loophole. And when they do, your chance to buy a legal black gun in Connecticut will close, likely forever. Regardless, a friend immediately purchased one when he overheard a sales manager instruct a sales associate to raise the price of all these prebans 40% on November 5th regardless of who is elected. Sales ploy? Perhaps. But would you keep expensive stock around after the election without the prospect of high profits given the likelihood that soon they may be illegal to sell? I wouldn't either.
What does this mean to you? Well if you've been kicking yourself for missing out on the chance to buy an AR since the ban was passed, time is running out for you to fix that mistake. So get your papers in order and pays the money ($1300-$1600) while you still can. Or you'll be kicking yourself twice...
Election 2014 – Major State Races
There are 3 races I want to cover here… State Senator, US
Rep, and Governor. These should be
fairly straight-forward.
State Senator
Okay, so this is a 2 way race between incumbent Steve
Cassano (D) and challenger Whit Osgood (R).
So we all know Steve Cassano, who was Mayor of Manchester for, like, a
hundred years. Steve never really
understood his role here – see, Manchester is a “council/manager” type of local
government where our Board of Directors appoints a Town Manager and everyone
who works for the town (but not the schools) works for him. Steve thought somehow that because he was
Mayor, everyone, INCLUDING the Board of Directors as well as the Town Manager,
along with the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Schools worked for Steve
Cassano. I remember watching him chair
meetings, and his idea of Robert’s Rules of Order is that the Board member
speaks, and then he speaks, then another Board member speaks, and then he
speaks, etc.
Anyway, seemed like he’d be a good State Senator because he
wouldn’t be able to pull that kind of crap in the Senate. But he has managed to worm his way into the
Uconn stuff, and now he’s complicit in the scandal associated with the Uconn
Foundation and the graft and corruption that is taking place at Uconn, all
while he touts more money for the institution.
Now remember, I’m a Uconn grad, twice over, my oldest daughter currently
attends Uconn, and my sister also is alumni.
So I’m pretty pro Uconn. But a
quarter of a MILLION dollars to have Hillary Clinton talk to a few hundred
students? Really? Oh, Steve will explain that this is the
FOUNDATION, not Uconn, and that the money was given and earmarked for Hillary
and it’s all above board and all. Tell
us Steve… suppose a donor to the Uconn Foundation put up the same money to have
Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, or maybe even Sarah Palin come and give a speech? Would you be so accommodating then?
Meanwhile, there is Whit Osgood. I don’t know much about him, but I had an
Uncle Whit, and I liked him very much… And “Osgood” just reminds me of the
Wizard of Oz, and the word “good”. So… Recommendation: Whit Osgood
Congressional
Representative
This is a 3 way race between incumbent John Larson (D), and
challengers Matthew Corey (R) and Green Party candidate Jeffrey Russell. So John Larson is a reliable Obama-man. If you like Obama, you’ll love John
Larson. When gas topped $4.00 a gallon,
he and DICK Blumenthal were out there yelling about the collusion and
speculators in the oil markets. Today…
what’s that sound? Oh right…
crickets. Apparently with gas looking to
dip under $3.00 a gallon, that collusion and those speculators are all better
now. And by the way, if you want to know
why gas ISN’T below $3.00 a gallon here in CT like it is in other states like
New Jersey (hint, hint), it’s because of CT’s crazy high gas tax. But hey, that’s Democrats helping the common
man again.
So bottom line, here is the recommendation: Recommendation: Democrats who would have voted for Larson in
a 2 way race should vote for Jeffrey Russell – he totally agrees with you that
gas taxes are too low. Everyone else who
has had enough of Obama should vote for Matthew Corey. Let’s face it, this is his only way to win.
Governor
Well, the one you’ve all been waiting for… GOVERNOR. There are three candidates for the office,
incumbent Dan/Dannell/Dimwit/Dumbass/D****bag Malloy (D), and challengers Tom
Foley (R) and Joe Visconti (R – Petitioning).
So let’s run these guys down… based on the advertising, Tom Foley is a
ruthless, working man hater, uber-rich, yacht driving, man who will poison your
children and make sure everyone ends up living in the mill housing and having
to buy food at the mill store.
Meanwhile, Dan Malloy is a bungling, plan-less, tax raising, gun
grabbing, union toady liar who will tax us into oblivion, abolish common sense,
and force all your choices to be made by the government. Joe Visconti doesn’t exist as far as the
advertising world is concerned.
So where lies the truth?
Tom Foley isn’t my favorite choice.
I don’t have one in this race, but the closest guy to that would be Joe
Visconti. He opposes the gun control
legislation, but this is a moot point as the GA will never send a bill relaxing
those standards. Joe at least
acknowledges that state spending is out of control. And that pension obligations are totally
underfunded.
But Joe is a non-starter.
He can’t win. All he’s really
doing is syphoning votes away from Tom, or at least in greater measure than
from Dan. And that is not good given how
close this race is. And Dan CANNOT win
re-election. He will raise taxes again,
having survived the first round. He will
be a Governor without any responsibility to the taxpayer, and the truly hard
work of making choices will never happen.
Not until a completely Democratic state government has turned us into
Detroit. But there is one critical
difference between a city going bankrupt and a state going bankrupt. The difference is that states CANNOT go
bankrupt. All they can do is raise taxes
and cut services at the same time. They
won’t be able to borrow anymore, as the bond markets will not lend. Maybe the feds help. But probably not. So for my children, and everyone else’s…. Recommendation: Tom Foley
P.S. The last Governor who made a promise like Dan
did in 2010, “I won’t raise taxes unless I have to”, was Lowell Weicker. Lowell is counted by the JI as a Republican,
but if there ever was a RINO, it was Lowell.
This is a guy who led the charge against Richard Nixon. And after losing his Senate seat, he ran for
Governor mostly as an independent. The
first thing he did was declare that things were much worse than he knew before
the election, and then signed the Income Tax into law. Ella Grasso, a Democrat who will have my
undying respect, didn’t put in an income tax.
But we have to have one, cried the spenders… relying on the sales tax makes
state government too dependent on economic cycles! As if the income tax would fix that! How’d that work out for you all? So far, it’s cost me 10’s of thousands of
dollars since it was put in. Regardless,
the important point to remember is that Lowell was a one term Governor. We threw him out, and subsequent Governors
were much more careful about tax increases from then on. Now, we’re faced with essentially the same
situation. If we don’t throw the bum
out, what becomes of Connecticut?
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Election 2014 - The State Rep Races for Manchester
So even though I can only vote in one of them, there are actually 4 assembly districts that Manchester residents can vote on. I'll look at each of the 4 races, who the candidates are, and why you should vote for one or the other.
11th District
Mostly this is an East Hartford race, but there are some Manchester residents who get to chime in on it. The candidates are Jack Jacobs for the Republicans, and Jeffrey Currey for the Democrats. Jack has never won an election other than the one for East Hartford Republican Town Committee chairman. Jeff won a seat on the East Hartford Board of Education in 2009 and is now the Chair. His surname will be very familiar to East Hartford voters as his mom was mayor and his dad the chair of the Democratic Town Committee. In this race, you get to select between an establishment Democrat who supports the Common Core, or a "Ron Paul" Libertarian leaning Republican who opposes that. If you like Common Core, vote for Currey. Me? Well, I've got it on very good authority that the Common Core, well, sucks. Recommendation: Jack Jacobs
12th District
This is the race that I'll be voting in. It is an open seat race, sort of, as Geoff Luxemberg is not running for re-election. He said he wanted to spend more time with his family. Then, Democrats, including Mike Pohl, the chairman of the committee, focused on John Sullivan to run for the open seat. Now John is a guy I REALLY like... I know him personally... he's a reasonable man who is very bi-partisan. I was excited the Dems might pick him to run. But then he did the unthinkable. He backed a compromise on a, frankly, silly squabble about the Board of Directors. And Mr. Pohl was not amused. All of a sudden, KELLY Luxemberg, Geoff's wife, and one term Board of Education member, was now running for the seat. And Mr. Pohl enthusiastically endorsed her for the seat. So much for John Sullivan, a stand up Democrat who's been waiting his turn patiently for years for the Dems to tap him for a position. No word on why Geoff wants to spend more time with his family, but his wife has decided not to! Anyway, Rusty Meek is the Republican running against Mrs. Luxemberg. It wouldn't matter if it was Satan himself with the Republican endorsement. Tell Mrs. Luxemberg that she too should spend more time with her family. Recommendation: Rusty Meek
13th District
This is a rerun of the 2012 race for Jack Thompson's old seat. Mark Tweedie for the Republicans, Joe Dominico for the Democrats. Mark is a good guy, having served on the Board of Directors for years now, and he was on the SMARTR Committee (did I mention how much I HATE that name?) Joe is a life long Democrat, and often votes with Gov. Malloy's agenda, but did break ranks on the minimum wage legislation. That makes Mark's life harder as it is more difficult to paint Joe as a "typical" Democrat. I'm also not a big fan of what the SMARTR committee came up with for Manchester's Schools. Bottom line is that I like both of these guys, and either would be a good pick to send to the General Assembly. But alas, I must make a recommendation here, and I give Joe the edge simply because he was able to see through the blind Malloy/Obama minimum wage thing... Recommendation: Joe Dominico
14th District
This is an interesting race as the Republicans have chosen not to put up a candidate. Jason Rojas, the Democrat, is running against Richard Lion, the Libertarian! Now I've met Jason Rojas, and I liked him when I met him. He was new to his seat, and I asked a question that none of our other Reps would touch. I said "Would you like to hear an idea that would save Boards of Education money, without costing the State a dime?" Since Jason was new, he was the only one that took the bait. And when I gave the idea, the other reps jumped to his rescue and explained in great detail how my idea wouldn't save local Boards of Education any money and that "Studies have shown" this. Now, I was on the BoE, so trust me, I know what "Studies have shown" means... bupkas! But I digress. I have no doubt that Jason has learned the error of his ways, and I still like the man, this is actually no contest. You MUST vote for a Libertarian whose last name is "Lion" (If for no other reason, this is one of the best porn names I've ever heard!) Recommendation: Richard Lion
That's it... tune in later for another installment of "Moose Makes His Picks"
11th District
Mostly this is an East Hartford race, but there are some Manchester residents who get to chime in on it. The candidates are Jack Jacobs for the Republicans, and Jeffrey Currey for the Democrats. Jack has never won an election other than the one for East Hartford Republican Town Committee chairman. Jeff won a seat on the East Hartford Board of Education in 2009 and is now the Chair. His surname will be very familiar to East Hartford voters as his mom was mayor and his dad the chair of the Democratic Town Committee. In this race, you get to select between an establishment Democrat who supports the Common Core, or a "Ron Paul" Libertarian leaning Republican who opposes that. If you like Common Core, vote for Currey. Me? Well, I've got it on very good authority that the Common Core, well, sucks. Recommendation: Jack Jacobs
12th District
This is the race that I'll be voting in. It is an open seat race, sort of, as Geoff Luxemberg is not running for re-election. He said he wanted to spend more time with his family. Then, Democrats, including Mike Pohl, the chairman of the committee, focused on John Sullivan to run for the open seat. Now John is a guy I REALLY like... I know him personally... he's a reasonable man who is very bi-partisan. I was excited the Dems might pick him to run. But then he did the unthinkable. He backed a compromise on a, frankly, silly squabble about the Board of Directors. And Mr. Pohl was not amused. All of a sudden, KELLY Luxemberg, Geoff's wife, and one term Board of Education member, was now running for the seat. And Mr. Pohl enthusiastically endorsed her for the seat. So much for John Sullivan, a stand up Democrat who's been waiting his turn patiently for years for the Dems to tap him for a position. No word on why Geoff wants to spend more time with his family, but his wife has decided not to! Anyway, Rusty Meek is the Republican running against Mrs. Luxemberg. It wouldn't matter if it was Satan himself with the Republican endorsement. Tell Mrs. Luxemberg that she too should spend more time with her family. Recommendation: Rusty Meek
13th District
This is a rerun of the 2012 race for Jack Thompson's old seat. Mark Tweedie for the Republicans, Joe Dominico for the Democrats. Mark is a good guy, having served on the Board of Directors for years now, and he was on the SMARTR Committee (did I mention how much I HATE that name?) Joe is a life long Democrat, and often votes with Gov. Malloy's agenda, but did break ranks on the minimum wage legislation. That makes Mark's life harder as it is more difficult to paint Joe as a "typical" Democrat. I'm also not a big fan of what the SMARTR committee came up with for Manchester's Schools. Bottom line is that I like both of these guys, and either would be a good pick to send to the General Assembly. But alas, I must make a recommendation here, and I give Joe the edge simply because he was able to see through the blind Malloy/Obama minimum wage thing... Recommendation: Joe Dominico
14th District
This is an interesting race as the Republicans have chosen not to put up a candidate. Jason Rojas, the Democrat, is running against Richard Lion, the Libertarian! Now I've met Jason Rojas, and I liked him when I met him. He was new to his seat, and I asked a question that none of our other Reps would touch. I said "Would you like to hear an idea that would save Boards of Education money, without costing the State a dime?" Since Jason was new, he was the only one that took the bait. And when I gave the idea, the other reps jumped to his rescue and explained in great detail how my idea wouldn't save local Boards of Education any money and that "Studies have shown" this. Now, I was on the BoE, so trust me, I know what "Studies have shown" means... bupkas! But I digress. I have no doubt that Jason has learned the error of his ways, and I still like the man, this is actually no contest. You MUST vote for a Libertarian whose last name is "Lion" (If for no other reason, this is one of the best porn names I've ever heard!) Recommendation: Richard Lion
That's it... tune in later for another installment of "Moose Makes His Picks"
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Election 2014 - The Lesser State Races
Let’s get the ball rolling with some State offices that will
appear on the ballot this year.
Specifically, we’ll take a look at the races for Attorney General,
Comptroller, Treasurer, and Secretary of the State.
Attorney General
There are three candidates running, Kie Westby for the
Republicans, George Jetson Jepsen for the Democrats, and Stephen
Fournier for the Green Party. Let’s cut
to the chase here… Jepsen looks good, mainly because, well, he’s the only one I’ve
ever heard of, and after DICK Blumenthal, the single WORST A.G. the State of
Connecticut has ever seen, was promoted to the US Senate, anybody, even Jepsen
would look good. Recommendation: Jepsen
Comptroller
What does the Comptroller even do? Well, I looked it up. He’s basically the guy who provides accounting
and financial services, as well as administering employee and retiree
benefits. Got it. So who is running? Sharon McLaughlin for the Republicans, Kevin
Lembo, the incumbent Democrat and Rolf Maurer for the Greens are the
candidates. And this one is no
contest. Lembo administers the retiree
plans, which are ridiculously under funded.
Does he tell that to the public?
Nah… That would make our Governor look bad. Can’t have that. And although Sharon McLaughlin shares the
same last name as a girl I was sweet on in high school, that isn’t enough to
make me overcome the obvious answer here.
You have to vote for the Green Party candidate! His name is Rolf for crying out loud. How can you not vote for Rolf! Recommendation:
ROLF Maurer
Treasurer
This one is also easy.
The treasurer is responsible for the Teacher’s Retirement Fund. Denise Nappier has done NOTHING to close the
incredible gap that exists there. Right
now there is a HUGE i-owe-u in there from the State because they’ve pissed the
money away on things like the Colt redevelopment project and any other pet
project the General Assembly had at the time.
So Nappier is out. That leaves
the only other candidate, Timothy Herbst.
So hold your nose, vote for the Republican. After all, it’s for the CHILDREN! Recommendation:
Timothy Herbst
Secretary of State
Well this is an interesting one. Peter Lumaj for the Republicans, Denise
Merrill for the Democrats and S. Michael DeRosa for the Greens. Well, this is too important a position to
leave to the Greens so DeRosa is out.
The most important thing the Secretary of State does is elections. That makes the remaining task simple. Democrats want to make voting so easy that
illegal immigrants (Yes – they are immigrants.
They are here illegally.
Therefore they are Illegal Immigrants, not “Undocumented Workers” as
many don’t work, and documents makes it sound like there was a clerical error
or something)… as I was saying, Democrats want illegal immigrants to vote for
them. I want to make sure that Voter ID
laws are passed and enforced. There is
NOTHING more important to our democracy than ensuring that voters get to vote
once, and once ONLY per election. The
choice is clear. Recommendation: Peter Lumaj
Well, that’s it for this round. Stay tuned for updates on the higher races,
the ballot questions, and my overall prediction of how the races will go.
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