Saturday, October 02, 2010
Real estate taxes
Estate Taxes
Paid
1 New Jersey $6,579
2 Connecticut $4,738
3 New Hampshire $4,636
4 New York $3,755
5 Rhode Island $3,618
6 Massachusetts $3,511
7 Illinois $3,507
8 Vermont $3,444
9 Wissconsin $3,007
10 California $2,893
-- United States $1,917
41 Tennessee $933
42 New Mexico $880
43 Kentucky $843
44 Oklahoma $796
45 South Carolina $689
46 Arkansas $532
47 Mississippi $508
48 West Virginia $464
49 Alabama $398
50 Louisiana $243
What I find interesting is how California is in the Top 10 despite the passage of prop 13 in the 70's.
It's also interesting the the states with the most underfunded pensions are in the states with the highest taxes.
More......
Friday, October 01, 2010
Liberal projection on display
For the record, I didn't know he was Cuban, I thought he was just an idiot.
What's hilarious is how he's so quick to throw out bigoted platitudes about people who he knows nothing about.
He's got a story? So what? So does 300 million other people in this country. Hell, even Snooki has a story. Should she get a damn news show?
Another obstructionist republican
That damn Landrieu, leading republican obstruction when.........The standoff between the Obama administration and Senator Mary Landrieu over an offshore drilling moratorium also is creating hurdles for White House officials putting together the next budget.
The Louisiana senator is blocking the confirmation of Jacob Lew, President Barack Obama’s choice to be White House budget director, to protest the administration’s temporary ban on deepwater oil and gas drilling, put in place after the BP Plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Office of Management and Budget has been without a director since the end of July, disrupting or at least delaying administration decisions on spending levels, taxes, budget cuts and the overall budget direction for fiscal 2012.
“This is an absolutely key time to have a very top-rate budget director in place,” said James R. Horney, a budget expert at the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities in Washington. “This is such a delicate time and so many big issues.”
Lew’s nomination was approved 22-1 last week by the Senate Budget Committee, clearing the way for a vote by the full chamber. Under rules that let any senator block a presidential nominee for any reason, Landrieu put a “hold” on Lew’s nomination Sept. 23. She said the drilling moratorium was having “such a devastating impact on working people and small businesses throughout the Gulf Coast.”
Oh......
wait......
Uh..........
Are you sure?
My apologies, I just received information from a friend that Landrieu is, in fact, a democrat.
Nevermind
More.........
Another victim of obamacare
If you don't believe me, ask one of the 1500 employees of this health insurance carrier..........
Principal Financial Group said Thursday that it will leave the medical insurance business, further reducing competition among health insurers in Iowa.
Principal will transfer the renewal rights for its health insurance customers in Iowa and 30 other states to UnitedHealthcare over the next 36 months.
The move will guarantee that all Principal health insurance customers will be able to get a quote for a new policy despite pre-existing conditions, said Iowa Insurance Commissioner Susan Voss.
The decision means the disappearance of the third-largest health insurer in Iowa at a time when half a dozen other small insurers have told the Iowa Insurance Division that they also plan to quit selling health insurance in Iowa.
Great job O. It's all coming together for you.
More......
Things aren't so bad.........
When a bunch of nannies can call the state of Ohio to complain about this.........
Even though the majority of the Tri-State is still riding high after the Cincinnati Reds won the National League Central Division championship, a group of people are upset after some players were seen smoking cigars in the team's clubhouse.More.....The Cincinnati Health Department confirmed Thursday that five people called the statewide smoking ban complaint hotline and that the team will be investigated for violations of the state smoking ban.
Numerous players could be seen on TV smoking cigars given out by Reds owner Bob Castellini Tuesday night after the team beat the Houston Astros to clinch its first playoff berth since 1995.
Obama Townhall meeting in fort myers florida Julio Osegueda
The Obama administration said Thursday that its top health official will "exercise her discretion" in enforcing a new health-law requirement, a move that could help McDonald's Corp. and other employers from disrupting their health-care policies for hourly workers.
The announcement Thursday followed a report in The Wall Street Journal that McDonald's warned federal regulators it could drop its health-insurance plan for nearly 30,000 restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the health overhaul. The requirement, known as the minimum medical loss ratio, concerns the percentage of revenue received from premiums that must be spent on benefits.
McDonald's is among the retailers and restaurant chains that offer a "mini-med" limited benefit. Most of these plans don't meet a 2011 requirement that they spend 80% to 85% of premiums on medical benefits instead of overhead expenses.
More.....
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Maybe Stephen Colbert can push a budget through
A deeply unpopular Congress is bolting for the campaign trail without finishing its most basic job - approving a budget for the government year that begins on Friday. Lawmakers also are postponing a major fight over taxes, two embarrassing ethics cases and other political hot potatoes until angry and frustrated voters render their verdict in the Nov. 2 elections.
As a last necessary task before leaving, both the Senate and House passed a temporary spending measure needed to keep federal agencies operating when the new budget year starts.
As Congress moved toward a messy end to a session fraught with partisan fire, President Barack Obama campaigned for Democrats in Iowa and Virginia, accusing Republicans of being dishonest about what needs to be done to revive the economy and restore middle-class dreams.
With their House and Senate majorities on the line, Democratic leaders called off votes and even debates on all controversial matters.
More.....
Environmental news update
First Article...........
Article ThreeThe Energy Department says its new efficiency standards for the 26 household products, including microwave ovens, incandescent reflector lamps, washing machines and dryers, will save consumers between $250 billion and $300 billion on their energy bills through 2030.
But Ben Lieberman, an environmental expert at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, says based on history, the regulations "will raise the purchase price of appliances – in some cases more than is ever likely to be earned back in the form of energy savings."
"Worse, several may adversely impact product performance and reliability," he wrote in a blog this week. "There are potentially problematic regulations on the way for virtually every room in the house."
An Energy official told FoxNews.com that the savings estimated by the department reflect the total lifetime cost of a product, not just the initial price increase
"There's little doubt that the Midwest is the Democrat's toughest region this year," Democratic pollster Tom Jensen concedes. "If the election was today, the party would almost certainly lose the governorships it holds in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania," plus a host of Midwest Senate seats.
But why? One underreported reason is the belief, widespread among Farm Belt residents, that Obama administration environmental regulators are gunning for them.
Farmers, ranchers, and foresters "are increasingly frustrated and bewildered by vague, overreaching, and unnecessarily burdensome EPA regulations," a U.S. senator charged last week. They "are facing at least a dozen new regulatory requirements, each of which will add to their costs, making it harder for them to compete.… [M]ost if not all of these regulations rely on dubious rationales."
Significantly, the protesting senator was not a farm-state Republican making partisan hay. It was Blanche Lincoln, the Arkansas Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. Facing bleak re-election prospects in her heavily rural state, Lincoln convened a September 23 hearing to assess "the impact of EPA regulation on agriculture." Her clear, if tacit, message to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson and the White House was: You people are killing our election prospects in the heartland.
Lincoln ticked off examples of onerous EPA intrusions: unworkable "spray drift" pesticide regulations; proposed ambient air-quality standards that would impose impossible dust-reduction requirements on farmers; "wetlands" regulations that put even bone-dry areas off-limits to agricultural use; an ideological bias toward environmentalists when resolving Clean Water Act lawsuits.
Who would have thunk it?
McDonald's Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul.
The move is one of the clearest indications that new rules may disrupt workers' health plans as the law ripples through the real world.
Trade groups representing restaurants and retailers say low-wage employers might halt their coverage if the government doesn't loosen a requirement for "mini-med" plans, which offer limited benefits to some 1.4 million Americans.
The requirement concerns the percentage of premiums that must be spent on benefits.
While many restaurants don't offer health coverage, McDonald's provides mini-med plans for workers at 10,500 U.S. locations, most of them franchised. A single worker can pay $14 a week for a plan that caps annual benefits at $2,000, or about $32 a week to get coverage up to $10,000 a year.
Last week, a senior McDonald's official informed the Department of Health and Human Services that the restaurant chain's insurer won't meet a 2011 requirement to spend at least 80% to 85% of its premium revenue on medical care.
McDonald's and trade groups say the percentage, called a medical loss ratio, is unrealistic for mini-med plans because of high administrative costs owing to frequent worker turnover, combined with relatively low spending on claims.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Those damn republicans
House Democrats on Wednesday barely won a 210-209 vote to adjourn the House without extending the Bush tax cuts.Thirty-nine House Democrats voted against adjournment after Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) urged opposition to the motion in a floor speech that said it would be irresponsible for Congress to leave without providing certainty on the tax issue. Dozens of Democrats in tough races voted against adjourning.
"Vote no on this adjournment resolution. Give Congress a chance to vote on extending tax rates," Boehner said.Boehner's floor speech turned the vote on adjournment into a referendum on the tax cuts, which has divided Democrats for months. President Obama wants to extend tax cuts for families making less than $250,000, while allowing taxes to rise on income above that threshold. Many centrist Democrats have joined Republicans in arguing for extending all of the tax cuts.
Fortunately for the democrats, they were able to put together a strong enough coalition to thwart the republicans repeated attempts at adjournment.
Not that I'm looking to help democrats but this is really a bad move politically. The dems could have voted on the Bush tax cuts for everyone but those "rich people over $250,000" and put the whole issue at the feet of the GOP. If the GOP voted it down because of the "rich people tax cuts" it really would have given democrats an issue to beat the GOP up with.
Nice job Nancy. Start packing your office. Keep the ash trays on the desk when you leave.
Voting conundrum
However, I'm not sure what to do about one Mike Dewine for Ohio Attorney General. Years ago, I promised that I would never vote for that scumbag as long as I live and I've lived up to that until this year where I now have a choice between two douche bags ( the dems have put up Richard Cordray) and two third party candidates I've never heard of.
It's true voting hell.
What should I do? Vote to keep the democratic a-hole out of the office and put the GOP insider in? Or vote third party which is basically a vote for Cordray?
Remember Dewine doesn't even rise to the level of "hold your nose while voting"; he's worse than that.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Whatever I do, I plan to drop my ballot off in a mailbox in "Progress" City. Why? Because I fear the postal workers in my special place in "Redville" won't hesitate to "accidentally" toss my ballot underneath a machine.
Who did he vote for? #55
Meet George Bishop. Why is George in the news?
A University of Cincinnati professor has been indicted for stalking.Now in the 2008 presidential election, did George here vote for the warm and fuzzy hope and change message of Barack Obama, or the fire and brimstone message of John McCain?
George Bishop, 68, a political science professor at UC, was indicted Sept. 22 by a Hamilton County grand jury for stalking Laurie Russo for four months starting in April.He was released on his own recognizance and ordered to remain at home and stay away from Russo and her family.
I wonder when the University is going to fire this creep, if at all.
More......
I need some Biblical guidance
Now there were lot's of parts I read (especially in Isaiah) where my eyes just glazed over.
I won't pretend to know every verse in the Bible but I'd like our Christian in Chief to point me out to the verses in the New Testament where Jesus instructs us to be our "brothers and sisters keepers".
If you know, please point it out to me.
The chronic unemployment act of 2010
THERE SHOULD BE no tolerance for gender-based discrimination in the workplace, and the Paycheck Fairness Act contains sensible provisions on the issue, including protections against retaliation for employees who challenge pay schedules. But the proposal, which builds on the existing Equal Pay Act, would allow employees and courts to intrude too far into core business decisions.
The bill, which is pending in the Senate, would allow employers to defend against equal-pay lawsuits by proving that pay disparities between men and women were based on "bona fide" factors, such as experience or education, and that these factors are "consistent with business necessity." This provision would codify the current state of the law as developed in the courts over the past 30 years. During that time, judges pressed employers to prove the need for educational requirements that had no nexus to advertised jobs. Such requirements were often used to deny employment to minority applicants.
But the bill does not stop there. It also mandates that the business necessity defense "shall not apply" when the employee "demonstrates that an alternative employment practice exists that would serve the same business purpose without producing such differential and that the employer has refused to adopt such alternative practice." But what if the employer has refused because it has concluded that the alternative is -- contrary to the employee's assertion -- more costly or less efficient? What if the employee and employer disagree on what the business purpose is or should be?
Originally I typed "Another straw on the backs of American employer" but in reality, these bills put the straws on the backs of American employees.
It won't be long until Canada becomes a job oasis compared to the US?
How regulations kill the middle class
While looking up some other things, I ran into this article from March addressing how EPA regulations hurt minorities much like liberal education policies........
Democrats generally count on African Americans and Hispanics for their support on policies related to health care, education and the economy. However, a rift has emerged over energy policy.“President Obama wants to price us out of energy, this is a war on how we live in America and don’t regard it lightly,” said Harry Alford of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, which reaches 100 thousand black-owned businesses.Alford and several minority group advocates converged on Capitol Hill on Monday to blast President Obama’s new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on greenhouse gas emissions that are likely to go into effect next year. They argue they will disproportionately affect African Americans and Hispanics nationwide.“We need to fight them, we need to fight them hard, fight them fierce,” Alford said.The new EPA regulations would, among other things, place fees on the use of fossil fuels. According to a new study commissioned by the Affordable Power Alliance, 12 millions jobs are at stake by 2030. Advocates say the job losses would be concentrated in electrical utilities, petro chemicals and the industral sector, said Roger Bezdek, who authored the study.
If you've ever wondered what an economy with excessive regulation looks like you need like no further than India, where the middle class is next to non existent. If it hadn't been for the country's reforms in the past decade they wouldn't even have those jobs.
As I've said a hundred times. I'm not a conservative for me. I'm a conservative for the people who don't have options.
Congratulations Reds
Let's see. 15 years is a long time.
15 years ago ..........
I was married.... to my first wife.
I had lots of flowing hair. My current wife tells people I looked like James Franco, whoever he is.
I was wearing 32 inch jeans
We just installed AOL on our computer to access this thing called the internet
I was working as a banker. I remember the big deal of having the company install a mobile phone in my car.
Seinfeld was the number one TV show
The top CD's that year were from radiohead, Alannis Morrisette, and Smashing Pumpkins.
Braveheart, Casino and Toy Story were the top movies
And it was the last time the Red's won a division championship.
It's been a long time for Reds fans; especially those who hate the Bengals.
When UC won their first BCS bowl bid a couple of years ago I didn't want to jump up and down celebrating, I just wanted to sit down in solitude to make sure it was real. Last night was the same feeling.
Congrats to the Reds. Let's hope it's the beginning of many championships to come.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Democrats masquerading as conservatives
In fact, Mark Penn has advice for congressional democrats..... Campaign as conservatives.......
1. Extend the tax cuts a year until global tax reform can be conceived and passed.
2. Offer to consider changes in healthcare reform. Reform continues to be unpopular.
4. Draw a line in the sand on the deficit.
Or how about this laugher......
It goes without saying that the president also has to convince the voters he will focus on jobs and unemployment.....
Now of course, Penn doesn't think liberals should actually act on any of these......... just talk them up.
But here is my question for Penn and the other advisors. Why should any voter believe the democrats are willing to change anything related to health care. Many of us remember. These were the douchebags that passed this unpopular crap in the first place.
Here's an idea. Why don't they go out and remind us how all these laws they passed will turn our country into a juggernaut. They can take full credit for all of them since the GOP had not one voter on any of them.
More......
Rahmbo comes back
It's Chicago politics at its best.
Sneed hears an effort by Chicago mayoral hopeful Rahm Emanuel to move back into his North Side home next month was axed by the man who leased it.
he kicker: Sneed also hears rumbles there was a nixed request for Rahm to move into the basement of his leased home if the tenant didn't move out.
• To wit: Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, who has been in the process of quickly building a network to run for mayor -- had been trying to move back into his leased home at 4228 N. Hermitage.
• The upshot: Sneed has learned the tenant, Robert "Rob" P. Halpin, 59, who holds the lease with his wife, Lori, until June 2011, refused to budge.
More......
Gold..............
Every night I dump my change into a 3 liter wine bottle. I filled that bottle plus a couple of two gallon milk jugs. I spent the better part of four nights rolling all that change in the hopes I might be able to buy an ounce of gold.
I am currently sitting on $678 of coins. I can't buy an ounce of gold but I guess I can buy a couple of ounces of weed.
Is this the change Obama was telling us about?
BTW $678 in change is freakin' heavy. Heavier than my crate of ammo.
Who did they vote for? #100
Now let's call this the "3 year old birthday party on a week night" demographic. In the 2008 election, did Obama carry this demographic across the country or did McCain?
Boy to think that in the Gekko family, the most excitement we can generate at a 3 year old's party is one kid whacking another in the head with his power ranger.
Ditto
The president does not conduct himself in a sober and judicious manner and neither do those around him. On any given day he can slur Arizonans as wanting to round up innocents on the way to ice cream. He can slander police as stupidly acting stereotypers. The attorney general can call us cowards and swear without reading a bill that it profiles the innocent. Legitimate worry over a Ground Zero mosque translates into anti-constitutional efforts to stifle freedom of worship. Those with money — defined by an arbitrary annual income level of $250,000 — owe the rest of us their ill-gotten gains. Surgeons transmogrify into tonsil-loppers, insurers are greedy, investors are put back at the end of the creditor line; all are worthy of a boot on their necks and a kick in the ass.
Here are the facts. If you are a taxpaying American citizen, you are part of the problem. Has he once complained about anyone on the public dole?
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Illegal Immigration Isn't a Joke
After you watch this how can you support the status quo on this?
Remember the good old days......
Monday, September 27, 2010
Waiting for Superman Official Trailer
Since both of us lived in Cincinnati Public School system, I just matter of factly assumed we would send our children to the catholic schools in the area.
Wrong.
Her response..... "you know I believe in public schools".
Me - You would send your kids to CPS schools?
Her - No, I would probably move out to Sycamore or Lakota schools.
Me - Isn't that so liberal of you. You get a choice because your affluent enough to move out to Redville and use their schools. But you have no problem blocking choice for those who don't have your affluence?
Needless to say, the relationship didn't work out. See I believe in offering poor people a choice for their kids. My liberal lady friend had no problem subjecting the least of us to generational poverty while she eats from the trough of abundance. It's the liberals way of saying "can't get ahead? Tough shit!"
Maybe she'll learn something from this movie.
Another reason to hate GE
Dave Rusk, retiring against his will, told me his job disappeared thanks to "a push from Congress." The 2007 energy bill included minimum efficiency standards for light bulbs - standards that the bulbs made in Winchester can't meet.
For now, compact fluorescents - the double-helix shaped bulbs that sell for $2 for a 100-watt equivalent - are the stand-in. GE Lighting spokeswoman Janice Fraser says light-emitting diode bulbs will be the true long-term replacement: most of GE Lighting's research and development goes into LEDs.
"When you see the enormous savings that can be achieved by more efficient lighting ... it's huge," said Fraser. But if the energy savings are big enough, and if the lifespan of the high-tech bulbs is as long as they say, then why should it take regulation to get people to buy them?
GE supported the regulations. Many Winchester workers, noting that the CFLs are made in China by lower-wage workers, say GE wanted to force the higher profit-margin bulbs on consumers, and Winchester is collateral damage.
More....
Spread the wealth..... if there's any left to share
President Obama's proposal to increase taxes on capital gains and dividends is a clear formula for a higher cost of capital, just as higher taxes on cigarettes produce a higher price for Marlboros.
A higher cost of capital means less capital will be employed and fewer jobs. The result is less output, less income and larger government deficits as fewer tax dollars flow into government coffers.
So why the push by Obama to raise taxes on dividends and capital gains when the consequence is more unemployment in the private sector and lower federal revenues to pay for his agenda of expansionist government?
"Obama is willing to trade losses in jobs and wages to advance his political ideology for tax fairness," contends J.D. Foster, Ph.D., a senior fellow in fiscal policy economics at The Heritage Foundation. "The president is intentionally sacrificing jobs in the pursuit of his own notions of fairness with little or no hope of increasing revenues in the process."
Obama's goal is to soak "the rich" in the pursuit of "fairness," even though the top 10 percent of U.S. households already provide 70 percent of the total revenues collected via the federal income tax.
The objective, as candidate Obama explained to Joe the Plumber, Joe Wurzelbacher, is economic leveling via the redistribution of income and wealth.
Who would have thunk it?
More.....
Where have you heard this before?
Yeah, apparently it's like opening a bag with a spoiled Limburger cheese and onion sandwich......
A new report from consultant and plan manager Hewitt Associates shows that out-of-pocket costs here, including premiums and co-payments, are 25 percent more than the national average, which will increase to $2,177 next year from $1,934 this year.
Hewitt said next year's health care out-of-pocket payments will increase 12.4 percent nationally, the highest level in five years, mostly because of the impending health-care reform law. In the last decade, total health-care premiums have more than doubled and the employee's share has more than tripled.
Companies are seeing similar trends, with total premium payments - both the employer and employee portions - projected to increase 8.7 percent to $10,272 next year, Hewitt said.
The accelerated increase comes from health-care reform, with many mandates taking effect last week. Some insurers have said the law could add up to 5 percent to costs next year in this region.