I read about something like this in reason this month. It appears that Florida is trying to one up Georgia in Stupid Government Tricks:

Metal replicas of bull testicles have become trendy bumper ornaments in some parts of the Sunshine State, but state Sen. Carey Baker is campaigning to ban the orbs.

Baker acknowledged that Florida lawmakers have more pressing issues, including huge revenue shortfalls, but said the state needs to draw a line on what's obscene before more objectionable adornments appear.

State Sen. Steve Geller argued against Baker's bill.

"I find it shocking that we should be telling people that have the metallic bull testicles ... you're now going to have points on your license for this," said Geller.

Geller was in the minority. Baker's bill to fine drivers $60 for displaying the ornaments passed the Senate. It's now up to the House, but there's only a slim chance that members of that chamber would pass the measure before the session ends this coming Friday.

Posted by Jason at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Democrats in the US Senate want an investigation over an earmark requested by Rep. Don Young (R-AK), a unapologetic defender of his pork:

The Senate may seek a federal investigation into a 2005 earmark on a highway funding bill that was mysteriously altered after Congress approved the measure but before President Bush signed it.

The $10 million earmark, originally designated for improvements to Interstate 75 in Lee and Collier Counties in Florida, was changed to direct the money to build an interchange in Lee County, an apparently violation of congressional rules.

"This wasn't an ordinary earmark," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said, defending the decision by Democratic leaders to invite the Justice Department to probe internal congressional practices. "It was the specific circumstances here that are highly unusual."
[...]
Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who was then the chairman of the transportation committee and chief author of the bill, says he asked for the initial project money during the 2005 congressional session for "widening and improvements for I-75 in Collier and Lee counties."

But before the bill got to the President's desk for his signature, the wording of the earmark was changed and the $10 million was redirected to build the "Coconut Road interchange I-75, Lee County."

Democrats widely believe Young directed someone to change the language. They note that as the bill was moving through Congress, Young received $40,000 in campaign contributions from local business leaders who stood to gain from a new highway interchange at that location.

If Senate leaders want the DoJ to investigate Young, they should go ahead and investigate nearly $30,000 in campaign contributions to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is headed by Chuck Schumer, and Hillary Clinton by Alan Gerry, who was seeking a $1 million earmark for the hippie museum at Woodstock.

My point is that there is plenty of this type of questionable behavior going on in Congress and those pointing fingers in this case are just as guilty. And I'm not defending Don Young. He is corrupt and I hope the people of Alaska boot him from office, but he only an example of the corruption.

Posted by Jason at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Jacob Sullum over at Reason has information on a new study that deals with smoking bans:

A new study reported in the Journal of Public Economics finds that smoking bans are associated with increases in alcohol-related traffic deaths. "We observe an increase in fatal accidents involving alcohol following bans on smoking in bars that is not observed in places without bans," the researchers report. They surmise that drinkers respond to bans by driving further to find bars where they're allowed to light up, either because the bars are in a different jurisdiction or because they have outdoor seating

[UPDATE] There is more on this story over at Fox News.

Posted by Jason at 04:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I'm sure a few Georgia lawmakers just got an idea:

Kentucky Representative Tim Couch filed a bill this week to make anonymous posting online illegal.

The bill would require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that site.
[...]
If the bill becomes law, the website operator would have to pay if someone was allowed to post anonymously on their site. The fine would be five-hundred dollars for a first offense and one-thousand dollars for each offense after that.

Posted by Jason at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The cash advance on a future tax increase rebate checks are just a couple of months from being mailed out, and the federal government is spending $42 million to tell you:

At a cost of nearly $42 million, the IRS wants you to know: Your check is almost in the mail.

The Internal Revenue Service is spending the money on letters to alert taxpayers to expect rebate checks as part of the economic stimulus plan.

The notices are going out this month to an estimated 130 million households who filed returns for the 2006 tax year, at a cost $41.8 million, IRS spokesman John Lipold confirmed.

That works out to about 32 cents to print, process and mail each letter. It doesn't include the tab for another round of mailings planned for those who didn't file tax returns last year but may still qualify for a rebate.

Posted by Jason at 06:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Iowa bureaucrats are now taxing pumpkins:

The Iowa Department of Revenue is taxing jack-o'-lanterns this Halloween. The new department policy was implemented after officials decided that pumpkins are used primarily for Halloween decorations, not food, and should be taxed, said Renee Mulvey, the department's spokeswoman.

"We made the change because we wanted the sales tax law to match what we thought the predominant use was," Mulvey said. "We thought the predominant use was for decorations or jack-o'-lanterns."

Previously, pumpkins had been considered an edible squash and exempted from the tax. The department ruled this year that pumpkins are taxable — with some exceptions — if they are advertised for use as jack-'o-lanterns or decorations.

Iowans planning to eat pumpkins can still get a tax exemption if they fill out a form.

The new policy, published in the department's September newsletter, has some pumpkin farmers feeling tricked this Halloween.

Posted by Jason at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The United States Senate has defunded the Woodstock (NY) Museum:

Hippies used to say if you remember Woodstock, you weren't really there. Republicans say presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton can forget about getting $1 million in taxpayer funds for a Woodstock museum.

Clinton and Charles Schumer, Democratic senators from New York, want to earmark the federal money for a museum that would commemorate the 1969 music festival in their state.

"Woodstock Museum is a shining example of what's wrong with Washington on pork-barrel, out-of-control spending," said John McCain, Arizona senator and Republican presidential hopeful. An example, he said, of "the earmark pork-barrel spending which has made the American people disenchanted and angry."

Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., were trying Thursday to strip the Woodstock earmark from a massive health and education spending bill on the Senate floor. Democrats moved to kill their effort, but Republicans won a key 52-42 vote — seeping with presidential politics — signaling the Clinton-Schumer earmark would soon be gone.

Five Democrats voted against the Woodstock provision. So did old-school GOP members of the Appropriations Committee who had on prior occasions voted against conservative criticism of senators' earmarks.
[...]
Billionaire Alan Gerry is the force behind the project. He and his family have contributed almost $30,000 to Clinton and a committee headed by Schumer dedicated to electing Democrats to the Senate.

Gerry is a longtime major political donor. The contributions — $20,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $9,200 to Clinton's presidential campaign — came just days after the earmark was inserted into the legislation.

By the way, the title of the Fox News article is hilarious...Hippie Museum Funding Proposed by Hillary Clinton Shot Down in Senate. Relax...the CNN article called it a "Hippie Museum" too (both articles are from the AP).

H/T: Club for Growth

Posted by Jason at 06:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Club for Growth shares their list of the ten dumbest votes in the House of Representatives:

MOHAIR SUBSIDIES (Roll Call 383, 2000) - Offered by then-Rep. Mark Sanford, this vote sought to defund all mohair subsidies. Pray tell, what exactly is mohair? Webster's dictionary says it's, "a fabric or yarn made wholly or in part of the long silky hair of the Angora goat." From 1995 to 2005, taxpayers have been on the hook for $40 million on mohair subsidies. For more information, don't ask the Mohair Council of America, the leading special interest group defending and receiving the subsidies. Their website has all the friendliness of a tumor. But the House still sided with them. The vote failed, 166-255.
[...]
VIAGRA SUBSIDIES (Roll Call 312, 2005) - Did you know that Viagra used to be subsidized through Medicaid and Medicare? Rep. Steve King (R-IA) offered an amendment to remove the subsidy in 2005. According to the New York Times, "Mr. King said it was wrong to tell taxpayers that "we're going to take the money you earned on overtime to pay for Grandpa's Viagra." Thankfully, the House sided with King, but 121 members still wanted to keep it up (the subsidies, that is).

Posted by Jason at 04:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Put this in the "WTF?" file:

In December 2004, The Sunshine Project, a watchdog group based in Austin, Tex., and Hamburg, Germany, that opposes biological weapons, uncovered a "U.S. military proposal to create a hormone bomb that could purportedly turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting." The story got some press in early 2005, but quickly vanished into that great internet junkyard of forgotten URLs, the only memory being a lonely wikipedia entry.
[...]
The proposal came from the Air Force's Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, which requested $7.5 million to develop a so-called "gay-bomb." Using the Freedom of Information Act, Edward Hammond, director of the U.S. office of the Sunshine Project, obtained a copy which was "part of a military effort to develop non-lethal weapons." If completed, the bomb would release a chemical aphrodisiac "and by virtue of either breathing or having their skin exposed to this chemical... soldiers would become gay." This would cause their units to break down as the troops "became irresistibly attractive to one another." In addition to a "gay bomb" the proposal also mentions using chemicals which could make bees angry so that enemy forces would be attacked not only by our troops but also swarms of stinging insects.

Posted by Jason at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Throw this one in the What the #$%*? file, it seems that Michigan House Democrats have passed an earmark that would provide every school aged child with an iPod:

Facing a budget deficit that has passed the $1 billion mark, House Democrats Thursday offered a spending plan that would buy a MP3 player or iPod for every school child in Michigan.

No cost estimate was attached to their hare-brained idea to "invest" in education. Details, we are promised, will follow.

NTU has more:

They want taxpayers to pay for an iPod for every school child in the state. Did you hear a record-scratching noise when you read that? Did your jaw drop to the floor? Did you explode with vulgar swear words? If you didn't, let me repeat that one more time, this time I'll yell it...

THEY WANT TAXPAYERS TO PAY FOR AN IPOD FOR EVERY SCHOOL CHILD IN THE STATE!!!

Michigan, a state that already spends more than $10,000 per pupil to educate its children, wants to fund the extravagance of an iPod as well. Because, you know, it would improve their, uhh, education...or something. Knowing government inefficiency, they'd probably spend an average of $1,000 a piece and only half the kids would get them.

Posted by Jason at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Hugo Chavez has apparently been following the Sunday sales issue here in Georgia and has decided to take a page out of Sonny and Sadie's book:

For beer and whisky-loving Venezuelans, Easter this year won't be an alcohol-soaked drinking fest.

President Hugo Chavez has imposed a ban on alcohol sales during Holy Week in an attempt to reduce accidents and crimes, prompting a run on liquor stores.

The decree prohibits alcohol sales on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday next week.

A more limited ban, restricting sales to between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., including at restaurants and bars, went into effect Friday and will last through April 9.

The sudden, unprecedented measure confused many Venezuelans who raced to stash up before Friday, thinking that would be their last chance to buy for more than a week.

H/T: Brad @ The Liberty Papers

Posted by Jason at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Are Democrats going to create a budget surplus in four years?:

Senate Democrats unveiled a spending blueprint yesterday that envisions a massive expansion of the nation's health-insurance program for children, as well as billions of additional dollars for other domestic priorities such as public education, veterans' health care and local police.

Despite the additional spending, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said the proposal would virtually erase the federal deficit within four years without raising taxes and produce a surplus of $132 billion by 2012.

Under that scenario, Conrad said, Congress could extend President Bush's signature tax cuts past their 2010 expiration date and halt the expansion of the alternative minimum tax, but only if sufficient revenue is raised elsewhere to cover the cost of about $800 billion over five years.

[UPDATE] The Club for Growth is slamming the proposed budget:

While the chairman of the Budget Committee, Kent Conrad (D-ND), claims that that the proposal does not increase taxes, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts will effectively raise taxes on all Americans by a whopping $2.1 trillion from 2008 to 2017. At the same time, Senator Conrad is proposing increasing government spending, including $18 billion in new discretionary spending for 2008 alone and $150 billion over the next five years.

At the time, the Clinton Tax Hike of 1993 was the largest tax increase in American history. It was $241 billion over 5 years.

But that is just a fraction of what Senate Democrats, led by Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad, are now proposing. They want to increase taxes by over $900 billion over that same time period.

Posted by Jason at 06:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This has got to be one of the dumbest and pointless laws on the books:

More than 100 people packed a city council meeting to voice their opposition to a city law that bans karaoke, dancing, cards and trivia contests at restaurants that also serve alcohol.

[...]

The law has been on the books but gained attention when the police chief visited 17 businesses in February to enforce it, telling them that entertainment had to be limited to passive forms such as watching television or listening to music.

On Monday, the city council did amend its liquor law to allow arcade games in restaurants where alcohol is sold. The members said they may revisit changing the law to allow karaoke and trivia in the coming weeks, but only one council member, Ken Swain, came out in support for allowing those activities.

Posted by Jason at 09:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Chris previously posted on this, but I wanted to add my two cents on State Senator Don Balfour's proposal to mandate HPV vaccinations for females entering the sixth grade (SB 155). Unfortunately, this cleared the Senate Health and Human Services Committee yesterday.

I cannot begin to explain what a horrible idea this is.

Over at Peach Pundit, Erick lists the different organizations that are against this legislation, which includes the American Medical Association, American College of Pediatricians and the CDC.

Let the parents be the parents. Government needs to stop intervening in the lives and decisions that should and could be made by individuals families. This is very similar to the mandatory mental health screenings in schools that were proposed in Congress a couple of years ago.

I have absolutely had it with these Republicans that claim to be for small government and more personal responsibility coming up with more ways to increase the size and scope of government. All we are getting from Republicans on the state and national level is more of the nanny state.

Posted by Jason at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I received the information pertaining to my open records request yesterday, which included BOC meeting minutes, court exhibits from the condemnation hearings, court transcripts, maps and a copy of the $8,077,000 check used to pay Maxie Price.

In my request I asked for, "all documentation related to the source of the funds paid to acquire the property; by this I do not intend to ask for tax records etc. Rather if special sources such as grants, loans or other financing were used..."

There was no specific mention of where the money came from in the 450 pages I received from the county. So I sent an e-mail to the county employee that put together the request basically asking where the money came from and that was the purpose of my request.

Here is her reply, "Please be advised that we have provided you with all of the financial documents responsive to your request. The $8 million payment came from the County’s General Reserve Fund. It is virtually impossible to determine the source of this fund because it is comprised of various revenue generating sources such as property taxes, sales taxes, etc."

So, I was right. However, that is not nearly the end of the story. Included in 450 pages were the minutes to the July 25, 2005 (pages 4 & 5). There are some very interesting things in these minutes.

The first thing is that the BOC pretty much sacrificed the YMCA for Nash Farm. Here is a relevant portion:

Commissioner Adams directed his question to Mr. Magnaghi, “how are we going to finance this?”

Mr. Magnaghi replied, “it will be financed by impact fees. The figures we reviewed were based upon $11 million; $6 million for this particular project, $5 million for the Y.M.C.A., and a debt incurred over ten (10) years would be approximately $1.3 million. The two (2) combined would be about $1.3 million a year for ten (10) years. That would constitute about 65% of the projected impact fees for the next ten (10) years. This would leave approximately $500,000 a year for additional projects from impact fees.”

Commissioner Stamey asked, “only if we use the Y.M.C.A. money, correct?”

Mr. Magnaghi said, “I keep saying that because the figures have been run on both of these projects, and if we back that out, we said that would constitute about 55% of the $11 million, so the $1.3 million would probably go down to $650,000 for just this project as debt service.”

This is an illegal use of impact fees. The county can pay it's self back for "system improvements intended to be funded by such impact fee." But the uses for impact fees and what a system improvement is are clearly defined in county code.

Now we come to an even more interesting part and I wonder how my friends at the Henry Council for Quality Growth feel about this:

Commissioner Stamey added, “we also talked about on the next SPLOST fund, we could put something in there concerning parks and recreation, and maybe we could create a resolution to allow us for an expansion of parks and recreation and use a portion of the SPLOST money to pay off this early.”

Chairman Harper said he thinks the next SPLOST should have greenspace and park money; he said DeKalb County just developed a SPLOST for that purpose. He said DeKalb is leading the whole State in their Arabia Mountain Project, which is huge with the trail system. “On capital, if we built a new Administration Building today, and in two (2) years pass a SPLOST, we could put on the SPLOST we could retire the debt by putting it on there. I do not know if you can do that on land; I know you can on capital. Also, there is other land we have been considering, and it is a perfect place for a Y.M.C.A.

And I hear that the county is looking to take some sort of legal action against Maxie Price because they feel they overpaid on the original settlement. I've got two highly credible sources on this.

This $8 million should have gone to the real needs of the county. I looked the other way on Nash Farm because I like BJ Mathis but the cost, the violation of private property rights and the continued examples of what is nothing short of stupidity from Mathis and company (Basler and Bowman excluded).

Mathis is up for re-election next year. Voters and taxpayers of District 2, please...for the sake of the county, do not re-elect her. It doesn't stop with Mathis, but it sure as hell starts with her.

Posted by Jason at 08:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

This story is a great example of stupidity in government. The owner of a Chicago restaurant has received a $500 fine for serving foie gras, which was banned by the city last year.

This has to be one of the dumbest laws in the country.

Hap tip to the Mises Institute.

Posted by Jason at 07:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The Senate has approved the a minimum wage hike to $7.25. The vote was 94 to 3. I'm disappointed in Isakson and Chambliss for voting it.

Jim DeMint, Jon Kyl and Tom Coburn were the only Senators to vote against. These three deserve a lot of praise for standing up to small business and not awarding mediocrity and as Kevin says over at The Liberty Papers, they may be the only members of the Senate that still believe in limited government and fiscal conservatism.

Posted by Jason at 07:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here is an interesting fact from the National Taxpayers Union...the United States has a higher corporate tax rate than Cuba, China, the UK, Russia and a few other socialist nations.

As the NTU notes, "Something is very, very wrong when the U.S. has higher tax rates than two Communist countries and a host of Socialist nations."

I agree. But such is the myth of corporate income tax. Corporations do not pay taxes, only individuals pay taxes. The "tax" is passed along all the way to the consumer.

Posted by Jason at 05:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

George Will has written an excellent column on the minimum wage:

A federal minimum wage is an idea whose time came in 1938, when public confidence in markets was at a nadir and the federal government's confidence in itself was at an apogee. This, in spite of the fact that with 19 percent unemployment and the economy contracting by 6.2 percent in 1938, the New Deal's frenetic attempts had failed to end, and perhaps had prolonged, the Depression.

Today, raising the federal minimum wage is a bad idea whose time has come, for two reasons, the first of which is that some Democrats have an evidently incurable disease -- New Deal Nostalgia. Witness Nancy Pelosi's "100 hours" agenda, a genuflection to FDR's 100 Days. Perhaps this nostalgia resonates with the 5 percent of Americans who remember the 1930s.

The problem is that demand for almost everything is elastic: When the price of something goes up, demand for it goes down. Obviously were the minimum wage to jump to, say, $15 an hour, that would cause significant unemployment among persons just reaching for the bottom rung of the ladder of upward mobility. But suppose those scholars are correct who say that when the minimum wage is low and is increased slowly -- proposed legislation would take it to $7.25 in three steps -- the negative impact on employment is negligible. Still, because there are large differences among states' costs of living and the nature of their economies, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) sensibly suggests that each state be allowed to set a lower minimum.

But the minimum wage should be the same everywhere: $0. Labor is a commodity; governments make messes when they decree commodities' prices. Washington, which has its hands full delivering the mail and defending the shores, should let the market do well what Washington does poorly. But that is a good idea whose time will never come again.

Posted by Jason at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Georgians for Better Transportation is pitching a proposal to raise the state sales tax by a penny to pay for transportation improvements:

One of the proposals headed for the legislature would hike the state sales tax by one cent to net about $700 billion a year, the plan trumpeted by lobbying group Georgians for Better Transportation.

The other proposal would allow any two or more adjoining metro Atlanta counties to hold referendums on levying a special local option sales tax of one cent for transportation needs. That also would raise about $700 million a year, according to reports.

The numbers driving this big tax-hike campaign by GBT, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and metro county chambers show a huge gap - call it a chasm - between the funds purportedly needed and the expected revenues.

The Political Insider names a few people that attended the meeting:

We’re told that top legislative leaders — House Speaker Glenn Richardson, Lt. Gov.-elect Casey Cagle, various committee chairmen, state DOT officials, plus U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Sharpsburg) — were there listening to a pitch from Georgians For Better Transportation, the road-building interest group headed by Mike Kenn.

Posted by Jason at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This would be a very smart move:

On Thursday, the City Council spent more than an hour in a closed-door executive session, a portion of which generated questions on the study for ARC staffers. The questions were not shared during the open portion of the meeting and the ARC staff left before the Council returned.

The Council is expected to take it up again Monday.

In August, the ARC presented McDonough with recommendations that included cutting the $145,157 salary of the City Administrator James Lee, and the salaries of the city’s staff attorney, code enforcement officer and media relations specialist.

While we're at it, another smart move would be not to put a $40 million park in the backyard of a sitting city council member. Another smart move would be for the voters of this city to not re-elect these hacks when their terms expire.

Posted by Jason at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is from Jim Wooten's column today:

The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority is designing a $93 million bus terminal on I-75, just inside I-285. Two points: With projects like this, nobody in state government can be accused of failing to boldly consider “alternatives” to more road capacity. Some alternatives make dollar sense; some don’t. Commuter rail is in the “don’t make sense” category. And two: Don’t use up all that space above the expressways. At some point soon the private sector needs to double-deck the Downtown Connector.

Posted by Jason at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Six hundred and fifty economists have signed a letter supporting a "modest increase" in the minimum wage.

Russell Roberts at Cafe Hayek responds:

What were they thinking? Little or no effect on employment? How can you sign your name to something like that and call yourself an economist? I guess you could argue that there's little effect on TOTAL employment. That effect is very hard to find empirically because so few workers are affected by the minimum wage and its impact gets swamped by other factors. But among low-skilled workers, the ones we want to help? Maybe the people who signed believe that "modest" increases in the federal minimum wage (to $7.25) would effect so few people (many of whom are already covered by state minimum wage laws), that the effect is mainly symbolic. So signing a petition is more of a political statement than a statement about economic reality.

It wouldn't bother me if they petitioned for social programs that would help workers who lose their jobs due to an increase in the minimum wage. You can be in favor of that and still be a first-rate economist—you believe that the benefits of increasing the minimum outweigh the harm and you'd like to mitigate the harm. But to argue that there's no harm, that there's a free lunch because the demand curve for low-skilled labor is vertical? How do you defend that?

Hat tip to the Club for Growth.

Posted by Jason at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Cato @ Liberty looks at the war on poverty 40 years and $9 trillion later 40 years after the war on poverty began:

[L]ast year, the federal government spent more than $477 billion on some 50 different programs to fight poverty. That amounts to $12,892 for every poor man, woman, and child in this country. And, it does not even begin to count welfare spending by state and local governments. For all the talk about Republican budget cuts, spending on these social programs has increased an inflation-adjusted 22 percent since President Bush took office.

Despite this government largesse, 37 million Americans continue to live in poverty. In fact, despite nearly $9 trillion in total welfare spending since Lyndon Johnson declared War on Poverty in 1964, the poverty rate is perilously close to where we began more than 40 years ago.

Posted by Jason at 04:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The City of Morrow has passed anti-smoking restrictions that are tougher than the laws passed by the state last year:

In this Clayton County municipality of 5,200, smoking is no longer permitted in bars.

And workers who stand outside their office building for a smoke break should be careful. The ordinance prohibits smoking within five feet of a smoke-free office building.

Smokers can be fined up to $50. Business owners who fail to comply can be fined up to $500. The ordinance doesn't apply to homes or hotel rooms where smoking is allowed.

Posted by Jason at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Meanwhile, the people are thinking, "Look, the fact that you subject all passengers to the same humiliating searching and restrictions says that you have no idea who is dangerous and who is not. If you are that incompetent, then don't expect us to trust you when you tell us that a plane is safe." (source)

Keeping passengers from taking nail clippers, toothpaste, and hair gel with them causes an inconvenience disproportionate to the infinitesimal gain in safety provided. Likewise, forcing people to arrive at the airport three hours early so they may stand in line to have their shoes checked for explosives is plainly silly. It makes far more sense to harden targets and screen for likely terrorists than to treat all citizens as potential terrorists.(source)

I think that is what irritates me so much about the way we are fighting the war on terror. Gone are the days of innocent till proven guilty. Now the government assumes everyone is a terrorist and treats us all with the same distain they show for Al Qaeda.

Yet the record, since about 9:30 am on 9/11/2001, shows that the British and Americans are capable and willing to prevent air hijackings. Flight 93, that wacky shoe-bomber, and this flight and just the examples that spring immediately to mind.

Yet, it seems pretty clear that the mentality of the Bush Administration and the Department of Homeland Security is that the people are too dumb to take care of themselves and thus the government must step in to take care of the job. While I understand watching about 10 minutes of primetime reality TV might give them that impression, the record is clear: When faced with challenges the American people cannot rely on the government and instead must take initiave and act themselves. The first bus to depart for Houston wasn't operated by FEMA or the City of New Orleans. It was diven by an 18 year old kid who stole it, loaded it full of people, and drive it to the Astrodome. An eighteen year old kid from the ghetto managed to do what all the elite beaurocrats in the federal government couldn't: get people out of New Orleans.

Posted by Chris at 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As I complete my morning routine, getting ready for the office, CNBC is touting a segment on Arizona holding a million dollar lottery for those people that vote in the general election. Is it bribery?

The money comes from unclaimed lottery money, but should we use greed a factor to get people to perform their civic duty?

A candidate could just push the fact that the odds of winning the voter lottery would be 1 in 2 million (in Arizona, Georgia 1 in 8 million) why not vote for me odds are I’ll be better than the other candidate.

If this is a good idea, which I think it is not, should we get Steve Davis to do this in Georgia?

Posted by ngreenbaum at 08:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Clayton County Sheriff Victor "Walking Small" Hill has asked the DA's office for an investigation of county Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell:

The two men, once friends, have engaged in a battle of wills and words since both took office in January 2005. Hill now accuses Bell of malfeasance of duty and improper use of office, specifically because the commission allegedly canceled two gasoline credit cards used by Hill's office.

Clayton District Attorney Jewel Scott said she's taking Hill's request seriously.

"He's asked about doing this before, but this seems more substantial than the others," Scott said. "We have to weigh everything if there are criminal overtones."

Scott didn't know when the matter might be presented to the grand jury.

Bell and his attorney would have the right to attend the presentation.

"It's very serious when you make allegations against a public official," Scott said. "I'd never advocate rushing the process because it's so serious."

Posted by Jason at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Porkbusters and the Examiner have come up with a pork database for the 2007 Labor-HHS appropriations legislation.

Georgia Congressman are bringing home $10.5 million in pork for their districts.

Here is a look at some of what they are bringing home...
- $300,000 for Clayton College and State University for development of a Master of Arts in Archive degree program, which may include student scholarships and community outreach.
- $300,000 for the Fulton County Department of Mental Health for a Jail Diversion Program
- $225,000 for Georgia Projects, Inc., for initiatives to assist English language learners.
- $100,000 for Communities in Schools of Glynn County, for computers, curriculum, and training in an effort to reduce school dropouts.
- $100,000 for the SCLC/Women's Organizational Movement for Equality Now, Inc. for education, employment and supports services at its Empowerment Training Center.
- $100,000 for the National Science Center, for the DLP STEP-UP program to improve student achievement in underserved populations.
- $100,000 for Union Mission, Inc. for its culinary arts training program, in collaboration with Savannah Technical College.
- $75,000 for the Youth Becoming Healthy Project for programs to improve nutrition and increase physical activity among middle school systems
- $450,000 for the Tubman African American Museum for museum and education services.
- $500,000 for the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum for exhibits and curriculum.
- $350,000 for the University of Georgia for facilities and equipment for the Georgia Center for the Prevention of Obesity and Related Disorders.
- $350,000 for the Georgia Chapter of the American Lung Association to study the relationship of residential floor coverings and distributive patterns of airborne particulates.
- $400,000 for the Georgia Southern University for its Southeastern Technology Education Program(STEP) workforce training initiative.
- $950,000 for the Massie Heritage Center for restoration of exhibits and equipment upgrades.

Thanks for wasting our money, guys.

Posted by Jason at 09:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Keith, I promised you a response to your question on why I think the USA Patriot Act needs to be scrapped. I am attempting to keep this short and sweet, so as to invite some good discussion. So rather than go section by section, I’ll give a particular title number and explain why I disagree with certain aspects of that title:

Continue reading "The USA PATRIOT Act Revisited" »

Posted by Jace Walden at 03:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today is 71st anniversary of Social[ist] [In]Security. Cato @ Liberty has a great post on Social Security:

Overall, the system’s unfunded liabilities—the amount it has promised more than it can actually pay—now totals $15.3 trillion. Yes, that’s trillion with a “T.” Setting aside some technical changes in how future obligations are calculated, that’s $550 billion worse than last year. In other words, because Congress failed to act last year, our children and grandchildren were handed a bill for another $550 billion.

Moreover, Social Security taxes are already so high, relative to benefits, that Social Security has quite simply become a bad deal for younger workers, providing a low, below-market rate-of-return. In fact, many young workers will end up paying more in taxes than they receive in benefits. They will actually lose money under the program.

Vinson: Your insurance company [Travelers] would not think for a split second of passing on to 1965 or 1980 a burnden such as contemplated here. In other words you watch your step in and month in and year in.
Williamson: An insurance company must maintain its reserves to meet its current liabilities.
Vinson: That is sound economic policy, is it not?
Williamson: That is right.
Vinson: You would not suggest that we pass the buck on to 1965 or 1980, or even think about doing it, because there will be 22 Congresses between now and then that could upset that apple cart.
WIlliamson: I think it should be well understood that that is exactly what is being done.

Posted by Jason at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Yes, my friends...I believe that "asphalt and gasoline are free." I also believe that aliens exist, that George Bush eats small children and that Elvis is still alive. Not only that...I drive a Jeep, not exactly a fuel efficent vehicle.

At least I'm not shooting up with the heroine of big government.

I don't really believe that crap, but you get the point. I don't recall ever making a statement like that. Isn't it great when people put words into your mouth? I believe in private solutions to everyday problems. We are over taxed and our government already spends far too much money. We can't keep up anymore. We are facing a fiscal disaster. If Congress raised the debt ceiling by another $3 trillion, you'd be screaming at the top of your lungs. But, let's drop a couple billion dollars for some commuter rail projects that under one out of every ten people will ride.

Posted by Jason at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some Georgia lawmakers are moving to regulate practice times for high football teams:

The Georgia High School Association's stance against adopting a statewide heat-related policy since the death of a 15-year-old football player is wavering in the midst of growing criticism from state lawmakers.

Rockdale County High School football player Tyler Davis collapsed July 31 after practice and died the next morning. The cause of death was heatstroke, which has sparked debate about what role high school athletics' governing body should play in determining when it's safe to practice.

It's tragic that this kid died from a heat stroke, but don't let it open the door for more government regulations. It's football...there are always risks.

[UPDATE] Erick at Peach Pundit has a great take on this:

Sure, it’s well intentioned. But mandates? You know what the road to hell is paved with. What’s next? Mandatory 2 ply toilet paper in high school bathrooms so butts don’t chafe when wiping?

Posted by Jason at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don't go to Washington, D.C. anytime soon.

Posted by Jace Walden at 03:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you think this is anything more than incumbent protection, well...then I'd like some of what you are smoking:

The Henry County Board of Commissioners is lowering the County government’s portion of property taxes for 2006. The new millage rate for unincorporated Henry County will be 11.199, down .041 from 2005 when it was 11.24. The decrease helps slightly to offset an increase in the Henry County Board of Education’s portion of the taxes, which results in a total millage rate for unincorporated Henry County of 37.509, up just .559 from 2005.

Posted by Jason at 04:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

The House has passed an increase in the minimum wage. It passed by a vote of 230 to 180.

However, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says he will work to kill the bill in the Senate because cuts on the "death" or inheritance tax were included.

I still have problems with the any wage increase by government but this is politics at it's best. By getting this passed more moderate Republicans, who may be in some trouble, can go home to their districts and talk about how they got a wage increased passed for the first time in a decade but the Democrats killed it in the Senate.

But this also made more moderate to conservative Democrats, like Georgia's John Barrow and Jim Marshall, get on record as supporting a tax cut as well as rasing the minimum wage.

Like I said though I still dont' agree with a wage hike. I want to see the minimum wage killed. But it was smart politics on the part of Republicans.

Here is how the Georgia delegation voted...
Yea: Barrow, Gingrey, Marshall, Price, Westmoreland
No: Bishop, Kingston, Scott
Not Voting: Deal, Lewis, Linder, McKinney

Posted by Jason at 09:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

House Republicans are considering an increase in the minimum wage.

That being said, I offer three articles. You can read them here, here and here.

Posted by Jason at 05:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Human Events Online has listed the Top 10 Corporate Welfare Queens.

Posted by Jason at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)

Almost eight months ago I wrote about the federal government spending up to $1.5 billion to give American consumers $40 coupons to get digital converter boxes for their television sets.

I ran across this article yesterday and it just rekindled the anger.

Posted by Jason at 12:15 PM | Permalink

The City of Chicago just guaranteed a cut in jobs by passing a living wage of $10:

The measure requires mega-retailers with over $1 billion in annual sales and stores of at least 90,000 square feet to pay workers at least $10 an hour in wages plus $3 in fringe benefits by mid-2010. The current minimum wage in Illinois is $6.50 an hour and the federal minimum is $5.15.

Mayor Richard M. Daley and others warned the living wage proposal would drive jobs and desperately needed development from some of the city's poorest neighborhoods and lead giants like Wal-Mart to abandon the city.

[UPDATE] Cato @ Liberty is has weighed in on the passing of this ordinance in Chicago:

By prohibiting job-seekers from accepting terms of employment to the mutual benefit of aspiring workers and potential employers, the City Council has effectively requested that major employers like Wal-Mart and Target open fewer new stores in Chicago, and to make available fewer (and possibly no) new jobs. Additionally, the Council has asked Chicago’s low-income consumers, who would benefit most from more discount retail outlets, to forgo significant increases in their quality of life.

Posted by Jason at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)

How dare I believe that Congress would actually focus on such unimportant issues while they are dealing with the real threat to our Republic...on-line gambling.

I know I'm a bit late on commenting this issue, but I was listening to a Cato Daily Podcast (I believe it will be out tomorrow on their website, but if you have iTunes you can get it today) on this legislation and I was thinking to myself that this is a complete waste of time, money and energy for Congress to focus on such an issue.

If a person consentually engages in any activity that does no harm to anyone, why must they be punished?

Posted by Jason at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)