My Litmus Test

When voting for a president, especially the republican nominee I have really only one litmus test issue.

It's not abortion
It's not the war(s)
It's not the economy

It's ethanol subsidies. Support for the unsupportable just so you wrangle a few caucuses out of Iowa is a non starter for me. It really shows that you lack the fortitude to do what's right even when not all that popular.

Not that I was a fan of Mitt Romney to begin with (I thought his shameless campaign in Michigan where he told all those voters he could bring back the auto industry was disgusting) but this throws him out of contention for me......

On his first trip back to the nation's first voting state as a soon-to-be declared presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney reaffirmed his support for federal ethanol subsidies -- an always important campaign issue in Iowa that figures to take on an even more central role in the divided GOP field.

"I support the subsidy of ethanol," Romney told a potential voter after an event here was cut short by a fire alarm. "I believe ethanol is an important part of our energy solution in this country."

See, true conservatives have an adjective for corn; food. It's not a metal, it's not a mineral, it's not a stripper's name, it's not a surgical instrument and it's definitely not a fuel.

If Romney can get that, then he doesn't have my support.

More.......

Ghostbusters - The Private Sector

Why businesses aren't hiring

From the conversations I've had with lot's of clients and prospects, I can tell you that this is spot on.............

The man in the aisle seat is trying to tell me why he refuses to hire anybody. His business is successful, he says, as the 737 cruises smoothly eastward. Demand for his product is up. But he still won’t hire.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t know how much it will cost,” he explains. “How can I hire new workers today, when I don’t know how much they will cost me tomorrow?”

He’s referring not to wages, but to regulation: He has no way of telling what new rules will go into effect when. His business, although it covers several states, operates on low margins. He can’t afford to take the chance of losing what little profit there is to the next round of regulatory changes. And so he’s hiring nobody until he has some certainty about cost.

It's really an important read. Finish it here........

Blue state exodus - New York

Massachusetts isn't the only state beset by a talent drain from young people looking to move because of the high cost of living --- New York could face a similar challenge.

According to the latest NY1/YNN-Marist Poll of New York State, 36 percent of New Yorkers under 30 years old say they're likely to move to another state.

The survey looked at New York state residents of all ages. Of residents who expect to leave New York, 62 percent cited economic reasons such as jobs, the cost of living, or taxes, the poll found.

(This telephone survey of 941 New York State adults was conducted on April 25 through April 29, Marist said.)

"Right now, many young people do not see their future in New York State,” Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, said in a statement. “Unchecked, this threatens to drain the state of the next generation.”

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Why I will never support public employee unions

In Ohio, we're probably going to be asked to vote on union rules for government workers in our next general election.

For many of us, we'll have a story like this one to remember on voting day..........

A mail carrier who was caught using a yard as his personal toilet will not be fired.

The incident happened last month at a home in southeast Portland and a neighbor, Don Derfler, captured the man in the act with his camera.

Derfler had been waiting for his babysitter when he saw his mailman acting odd at his neighbor's house across the street. The postal worker then pulled down his pants and that's when Derfler began snapping pictures.

"We trust people like the postal service and meter readers and people of that nature," Derfler told us when we interviewed him in April. "To come on to our property and to defecate - it's just wrong."

The incident was an embarrassment to the post office and the worker was immediately placed on unpaid leave. Now, a decision has been made to keep the worker but he will be transferred to a different route.

A spokesperson said the administrative action was taken based on a postal service investigation but he did not elaborate. He also did not say which route the mail carrier has been assigned to cover.

So when a union member tells you he can shit in your yard and get away with it........he means it.

Hopefully, this guy stays in "Progress" City.

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Animal Farm II

Meet Barney Frank or in Animal Farm vernacular we'll call him "Snowball"............

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank admitted he helped his ex-lover land a lucrative post with Fannie Mae in the early 1990s while the Newton Democrat was on a committee that regulated the lending giant — but he called questions of a potential ethical conflict “nonsense.”

“If it is (a conflict of interest), then much of Washington is involved (in conflicts),” Frank told the Herald last night. “It is a common thing in Washington for members of Congress to have spouses work for the federal government. There is no rule against it at all.”

Frank said he helped his former longtime companion, Herb Moses, land a job at Fannie Mae in 1991 after Moses graduated with a master’s degree in business administration from Dartmouth College. Frank said he was approached by a Fannie Mae executive and vouched for Moses, who formerly worked as an economist in the Department of Agriculture.

Is all right because Frank's championing of Fannie and Freddie it only cost the taxpayer's a couple of trillion dollars

Animal Farm I

I never knew until a few months ago that members of congress are exempt from insider trading laws.

Oh and how that pays lots of dividends, literally................

It’s no secret that members of Congress qualify as political insiders, but a new report strongly suggests that they also may be insiders when it comes to trading stocks.

An extensive study released Wednesday in the journal Business and Politics found that the investments of members of the House of Representatives outperformed those of the average investor by 55 basis points per month, or 6 percent annually, suggesting that lawmakers are taking advantage of inside information to fatten their stock portfolios.

“We find strong evidence that members of the House have some type of non-public information which they use for personal gain,” according to four academics who authored the study, “Abnormal Returns From the Common Stock Investments of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives.”

To the frustration of open-government advocates, lawmakers and their staff members largely have immunity from laws barring trading on insider knowledge that have sent many a private corporate chieftain to prison.

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But I thought Tea Partiers were racist

This is indeed an amazing feat for the former Godfather's Pizza CEO, who many never heard of until he emerged from the South Carolina GOP debate as the Luntz poll group's winner. Mr. Cain still needs to convince the general public that he can beat President Barack Obama. Zogby reports, "Christie does best in a match-up with Obama, but trails, 45%-44%. Obama leads both Romney and Tim Pawlenty by 45%-40%. Obama is ahead of Cain, 46%-38%."

However, Mr. Cain is well on his way to show the United States he is indeed a serious candidate. The poll, in fact, shows Mr. Cain is polling outstandingly with tea party voters leading the pack and edging out Mr. Christie 25% to 18%.

How is that possible? Are these tea party folks so stupid they don't know this guy is black?

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It gets better for John Edwards

Yes there are two America's. One were you have to pay for your whores and one where someone else pays them for you..........

ABC's James Hill reports: John Edwards, while facing looming criminal indictment, spent the afternoon in Upperville, Virginia, visiting one of the key players in the alleged scheme to cover-up his affair.

Multiple sources at the estate of Rachel "Bunny" Mellon confirm to ABC News that the former North Carolina senator met Mellon today for lunch at her sprawling compound in Northern Virginia.

The purpose of the visit is unclear, but it is sure to raise eyebrows with federal investigators who have spent more than two years scrutinizing Mellon's contributions to Edwards and his presidential campaign. Attorneys for Edwards did not respond to requests for comment.

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When you stray from the liberal slave farm of thought

Pop star Adele (is she related to any one of the one named pop stars Pink, Duffy, Aisha, Ke$ha, etc.) is in trouble with the people of free speech..........

Is Adele the bravest, craziest, most downright wonderful star in the history of pop? After what she has just told Q magazine on the subject of tax, I think she might well be.

Here’s what she said: “I’m mortified to have to pay 50 per cent! [While] I use the NHS, I can’t use public transport any more. Trains are always late, most state schools are ––––, and I’ve gotta give you, like, four million quid – are you having a laugh? When I got my tax bill in from [her album] 19, I was ready to go and buy a gun and randomly open fire.”

The reaction from Guardian readers online has been typically unpleasant: “£4 million is nothing compared to the money the NHS needs for the psychological damage her painfully bad excuse for music has inflicted,” quips Ianl. “So not only a purveyor of boring mum soul, but a bloody Tory too?” says JohnnyVodka.

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Maybe he was just "born that way"

College professor, Huffington Post contributor, and Sarah Palin hater, David Epstein copped a plea for a misdemeanor count of attempted incest..... with his adult daughter.

Now for those who believe that we should stay out of people's bedrooms how do you feel about incest with consenting adults? Is that staying out of people's bedrooms? If these people love each other, shouldn't they be able to marry and procreate instead of being prosecuted?

I'm not trying to justify this guy's sexual perversions. I'm simply pointing out the complete hypocrisy of the pro gay marriage crowd. I'm guessing that many of those folks would have serious problems with this guy getting his freak on with his daughter. But why? How are your stereotypes of incestuous relationships any different from those of people who are repulsed by gay lifestyles? Yet one is considered more "evolved" than the other.

Finally, why should anyone object to anyone's sexual proclivities when we've established that people are just "born that way"?

That's about right

A divided Jerusalem

This video is for those who want to trust that a Jerusalem divided between Jews and Muslims won't be a big deal. Let's go back in history and see how sensitive Muslims have been to other faith's religious artifacts.





Yeah, I think I'll stick with the Jews on this one.

Highway Robbery In Tennessee

Welcome to America



I just drove through yesterday. Fortunately, I still have my cash.

Thanks reader Jeremy for the link.

Reader Bernie RIP

I'm currently in Florida for some R&R and frankly I haven't been of the mood to post because of some bad news over the weekend.

In 1995, I left corporate America to run my own accounting tax/practice.

When I got into business at the age of 32, I still thought I knew it all. Until I met Bernie.

Bernie was a class act all the way. He left his company about a year after I started my practice. When we met he asked me what I thought of the asking price for a company he was looking to buy. When I told him I thought it was overpriced by about $100,000, you could see the wheels turning his head and then he casually turned to me and said he could make that up in a year.

That was the kind of guy he was.

He was always looking for a way to make something work. I guess that was the engineering background.

Bernie occasionally checked out the blog and sent me stuff he thought he would be of interest. But frankly he didn't have time for blogging because he was looking to do the next interesting project.

Bernie, died of cancer last weekend and I still seem to be stunned. See, if anyone could have figured out a way to beat cancer, it would be Bernie.

Now, a good friend and mentor is gone and the world is a lessor place because of it.

I don't worry about his afterlife because if God doesn't take care of Bernie, he's not taking care of any of us.

So Bernie, rest in peace. I can only hope to see you again.