The rigged 2004 election

To this day we keep hearing about Bush "stealing" Ohio in the 2004 election. It gets play by the news media every single time someone mentions it.

Here's an interesting article about two poll workers in Cuyahoga County being sentenced for felony vote fraud. Yet for some reason, it has received absolutely no media play at all.

Take a guess on what party was responsible for the fraud. I'll give you a hint.... it wasn't a Bushie.

Impeachment

Elizabeth Holtman thinks Congress should impeach President Bush. Elizabeth needs to read Gordon's post.

"His impeachable offenses include using lies and deceptions to drive the country into war in Iraq, deliberately and repeatedly violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) on wiretapping in the United States, and facilitating the mistreatment of US detainees in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the War Crimes Act of 1996."

The Nation: Impeachment: The Case in Favor

Internet pandemic

As someone who works in IT, I see first hand how costly security can be for businesses. And how much damage malicious viruses, malware, etc. can cause. It's only going to get worse... but we all need to do everything we can, from a personal standpoint, to keep our computers secure.

"Criminals controlling millions of personal computers are threatening the internet's future, experts have warned.

Up to a quarter of computers on the net may be used by cyber criminals in so-called botnets, said Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the internet.

Mr Cerf, who is one of the co-developers of the TCP/IP standard that underlies all internet traffic and now works for Google, likened the spread of botnets to a "pandemic".

Of the 600 million computers currently on the internet, between 100 and 150 million were already part of these botnets, Mr Cerf said. "

BBC: Criminals 'may overwhelm the web'

Edwards

You know how I know John Edwards is always looking out for the little guy..... He comes up with projects like building a $6 million dollar home just so some poor construction guys can feed their families.

That's why this guy's going to get the Democratic nomination.

Various

A couple of items of note that I read in the Wall Street Journal this week.

First, it appears a change in the 1099 reporting for tax exempt interest is causing the big investment houses from sending out their 1099's on time and those that do are likely to have to send corrected 1099's later. My suggestion is to wait and file your tax returns if you have significant investment income.

Second, there was an article by Jonathon Clements entitled "Why You Should Think Twice About Investing In Real Estate." He lays out many of the points I mentioned on an earlier post regarding real estate investment.

Unfortunately, I can't link you to the articles (they're subscriber only) but if you would like email me at gtvcpa@yahoo.com and I will send you a pdf copy of the article(s).

On another note, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has sent out a correction stating that they will be using the $9,000 wage base instead of the increase of $9,500 as earlier reported. It was just in time for everyone to reprogram their payroll systems to the adjusted rate. Now they get to spend their productive time reprogramming back to the old rate. (reason #865 why you should relocate your business to another state)

Kelo

Right after the Kelo v City of New London decision came out, I was telling one of my dear liberal friends about how wrong it was for the court to decide that it's OK for a government to seize someone's private property and sell it to a private company.

She hadn't really followed the case so she just assumed that it was the Scalia, Thomas, Rehnquist cabal serving big business interests. When I told her it was the liberals on the court, Kennedy, Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer et al, she seemed somewhat surprised.

That's the big misconception many rank and file liberals have about liberal ideology in practice. Many liberals think they are champions of the little guy, but it's much deeper than that. Liberal ideology starts with the assumption that the state knows better and as a result should have all the resources to distribute as they see fit and this Kelo case was a perfect example of liberalism in practice.

Andrew Napolitano has a great article titled "Property Rights after the Kelo Decision" which really lays out the assault on private property rights this decision provides the state.

While I was totally outraged by the Kelo case, I really should not have been surprised. Really, why shouldn't the government be able to seize your property for whatever reason it's sees fit? It does that already. We have mandatory income taxes required to be paid... that's a property seizure. A government passes a minimum wage law.... that's a property seizure. A government says you can't develop your property because it's a wetland, that's a property seizure.... it never ends.

As Barry Goldwater once said "a government big enough to give you what you want is big enough to take it all away."

Zip Dip and Zoning

How difficult is it to run a small business? Chris Torbeck, owner of the west side ice cream icon the Zip Dip, knows all about it. He decided to add picnic tables to the area just behind his store on Harrison Ave but was told that he was violating the zoning regulations since it was a change in his business.

"As a result, Torbeck could be forced to move his business - because it's zoned only for residences - or pay as much as $300,000 for changes and a legal fight over the zoning issues."

Not even in my wildest imagination did I think we'd have to do what we have been through," Torbeck said Monday."

Cincinnati Enquirer: Zip Dip

SLUTH award follow up

Here's an article about the rash of foreclosures in Ohio.

Check out my earlier post about financing your residence.

The Weather Channel

On a day when the "white death" has reared it's ugly head in the Cincinnati tri-state area, this article from World Net Daily is appropriate. I've always been a big fan of The Weather Channel. But once again, emotions have taken over a once trusted "news" channel and the straight facts take a back seat to a political agenda.

"The move away from scientific forecasting of the weather to sensationalized leftist political advocacy is in part due to the influence of Wonya Lucas, executive vice president and general manager of The Weather Channel Networks.

Lucas admitted in a recent interview with Media Village that the reprogramming of The Weather Channel was influenced by her tenure at CNN when that network shifted from presenting straight news to personality-driven programming."

WND: Con Job at the Weather Channel

Economics of crime

What do you do when you have a neighborhood infested with vermin and you witness a murder? You can pretend you never saw anything or you can report individual criminals to the police.

Well gee Gordon, Of course you would call the police. Would, you if you knew that the thug was going to get back out on bail in a few hours and he knows you are one of the witnesses to the crime?

How do you fix the crime problem?

Now if your name is David Kennedy (photo) and you're looking to scam $100k from a city you come up with this brilliant plan where you simply walk up to criminals and tell them if they keep killing people, they're looking for problems.

If you're Gordon you do this, you arrest, prosecute and sentence thugs to a point where they can never victimize a neighborhood again.

Once residents of a neighborhood are convinced they can turn in a punk and will never have to deal with that punk again, residents will ultimately self police themselves and businesses might actually locate to that neighborhood. Businesses above and beyond check cashing operations encased in bars on the windows.

Who's the President?

Once again, certain members of Congress are trying to do everything they can to stop the US from protecting it's national interests and it's citizens.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid told the National Press Club yesterday that the President (i.e. Commander-in-Chief of the US military) needs to come to him and his colleagues for approval if he had any plans of attacking Iran.

“The president does not have the authority to launch military action in Iran without first seeking congressional authorization...”

Iranian president (and resident lunatic) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad must be smiling.

SchwarzeneggerCare

Thanks to socialistic, state health care plans like the one Gov. Terminator initiated in California, the country is a few steps closer to a federally run, universal health care program. Womb to the tomb. This is bad news. Make sure you take your vitamins because once Uncle Sam gets a hold of it, even the healthy will be sick.

"A few years down the road, January 2007 could be remembered as a turning point in American health care. A turn leftward, that is. This week, the groups best known for their stalwart opposition to Democratic universal health-care schemes in the 1990s announced two separate coalitions with former adversaries. This follows less-than-conservative health-care initiatives by Republican governors in California and Massachusetts within the past year. Viewed together, it looks like the political terrain on health care is shifting. "

The Washington Times: The changing health-care debate

SLUTH award

I'm starting an award on this blog for general stupidity, called the SLap Upside The Head (Sluth) award.

My first ever award is to each of the borrowers that hold Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) which are due to be adjusted this year. Approximately $3 TRILLION dollars of these types of mortgages will adjust year, looking to make this year the record year for home foreclosures in this country.

What in the hell were people thinking when they set up adjustable rate mortgages 3-5 years ago... at a time when mortgage rates were at an all time low?

The fact of the matter is tooooo many families bought homes they couldn't afford and ARMs were the only way to squeeze these folks into those homes.

But Gordon, if I buy a $200,000 home, the appreciation in that home is going to much higher than if I buy a $150,000 home.

Let's do the numbers...... Let's assume you buy a $200,000 home (100% financing) and you're able to get an 8% annual return on investment (generous for a home), at the end of 5 years your home is now worth 293,000 (a gain of $93,000). Now compare that to the home I bought for $150,000, assuming the same 8%, after 5 years, my home is worth roughly $220,000, a gain of about $70,000.

Ah ha!! I got you Gordon, I earned $23,000 more than you.

Except that you forgot to factor the extra $386/month I got to put in a mutual fund because I had a lower monthly mortgage payment. After 5 years, 8%, I have an extra $27,000 in actual liquid assets in the fund bringing my total increase in net worth to $97,000.

But let's assume that the increase in net worth is a push. How much more do you have to pay in real estate taxes, insurance, PMI insurance, plumbing repairs, homeowner association dues, maintenance, furnishings, roofs, water heaters etc, etc.. No one ever factors these costs in the return on their real estate and the fact is, the more expensive your home, the more these things cost.

In addition, by saving the money instead of having it locked into a mortgage payment, I have the ability to weather financial storms and the freedom to vacation, etc.

Yeah, but Gordon, what about the write offs related to owning a home? As I tell clients all the time, I'd rather have tax on income rather than the deduction for losses. If you ever want a write off to lower your tax liability, I'll give you a tax preparation bill equal to your income, that will wipe out any tax liability you might have and I'll have to pay the taxes. Yet, I'm still waiting for the first person to take me up on my offer.

My advise on homes.... buy it like you would an apartment, find the location, budget, schools, etc. Don't over buy. You wouldn't rent a four bedroom apartment for two people would you? Don't do the same for your house. You'll find that being able to sleep at night is a lot easier when you don't have bill collectors calling your home.

global warming yet again

Someone the other day questioned my assertion that Mars was, in fact, warming here's the quote from the NASA jet propulsion lab.

Money quote

"And for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress."

This is the last I'm ever going to post on this issue. As far as I'm concerned, I'm glad I haven't had to dig my butt out a bunch of snow.

While Malibu gets snow...

"The Weather Channel’s most prominent climatologist (Dr. Heidi Cullen) is advocating that broadcast meteorologists be stripped of their scientific certification if they express skepticism about predictions of manmade catastrophic global warming. This latest call to silence skeptics follows a year (2006) in which skeptics were compared to "Holocaust Deniers" and Nuremberg-style war crimes trials were advocated by several climate alarmists. "

US Senate: Weather Channel Climate Expert Calls for Decertifying Global Warming Skeptics

Rahm

Democratic Congressional leader Rahm Emanuel is bad for America. He honestly admits that he doesn't mind the situation in Iraq to worsen if it means gains for his party in 2008. This is disgraceful and Democrats should be embarrassed that this is the philosophy of their party's leadership. But I have a feeling they won't be.

"Rahm Emanuel's Democratic Party is so bereft of a sense of national responsibility that he apparently feels comfortable brazenly telling the Washington Post that his plans for his Democratic Party is to not even try to stop things from getting worse in Iraq -- so they can pick up the political pieces afterward. Mr. Emanuel is a "smart" politician. He thinks the more dire America's place in the world is in 2008, the more likely the voters are to vote Democratic. The more of our troops are left in more pieces the better for Rahm Emanuel's Democrats. "

Tony Blankley, Washinton Times: Vulture Politics

Is the Trade Deficit bad?

"Economists had taught me that the trade deficit is not a big deal. (The budget deficit may be a big one, but that's a different issue.) But with all the pundits and politicians alarmed, I began to wonder if I was out of touch.

Then I thought about my local supermarket. I buy stuff from the Food Emporium every week. I spend thousands of dollars a year there. But the supermarket never buys anything from me. Not one thing.

And yet that is no problem. It's better than no problem -- it's fantastic! Imagine if I could only buy from the store to the extent that it needed my services. I'd starve. That would be barter, and mankind dumped barter for the money economy eons ago precisely because it is so inconvenient."

John Stossel: Losing Sleep Over the Trade Deficit?

Pygmalion Effect

As a young, idealistic student looking to make a difference, I decided my life mission was to teach.

In the first quarter of the education curriculum, I took a course called "Educational Foundations". In the course, I learned about the Pygmalion Effect; the self fulfilling prophecy of believing that if students can't learn, they won't. It was taught in the context of white teachers believing that black students can't learn so the teachers will teach down to the them. It made perfect sense. I believe President Bush called it the "soft bigotry of low expectations."

Unfortunately, the very next quarter, a different professor started espousing a theory that black students could not learn in a rote environment. I challenged her position, noting the pygmalion effect we learned about in the previous quarter. After she spent the rest of the class dressing me down as a racist and an idiot, I decided the Education College was full of ding-dongs, derelicts, and douche bags.

Flash forward 25 years, we have a riot at a local basketball game, on Martin Luther King's Day no less, and one of the coaches, Walt McBride, claims that the reason for the riot was "lack of security".

Out of curiosity, when will African-Americans start raising the bar on their community? Shouldn't it be a given that you should be able to go to a high school basketball game without fear of being attacked? When can whites and blacks alike call out a community without being labeled a racist or an Uncle Tom? When will the Bill Cosby's and Thomas Sowell's finally get some traction and communities start listening to what they have to say?

Instead, we get the continued lowering of standards for African-Americans..... soft bigotry of low expectations. Who is really empowering the Pygmalion Effect?

Economic freedom

Attached is a ranking of various countries in terms of economic freedoms. Needless to say, standards of living ranking would just about mirror this ranking.

I used to believe US prosperity was due, in part, the numerous natural resources at our disposal but if that were the case how does one explain Hong Kong. Hong Kong is essentially a giant rock in the middle of the ocean, no natural resources and no easy transport to and from the island. I guess one could offer that because Hong Kong is an oasis in an otherwise communist China, it derives much of it's economic activity. Or maybe, it's economic freedom is what makes it the oasis it is.

Social Security Debacle

I would gladly give up every dime I've "donated" to Social Security if the government said I could invest it all myself from here on out. Obviously, I don't see that happening anytime soon. If a Republican president with a Republican Congress couldn't get a single change done, I doubt we'll see any major improvements anytime soon.

Mike Pence (a future presidential candidate, IMO) has a great commentary today about how the Bush Administration blew the entire social security debate last year.

"...Social Security reform must be properly understood. It is not about achieving solvency; it is about improving the system so that it offers a better deal for younger Americans through personal savings accounts. Focusing on solvency will lead inevitably to tax increases and benefit cuts. Focusing on personal retirement accounts improves the chance of enacting sound public policy that also makes the system solvent."

OpinionJournal.com: Bush is still getting Social Security wrong.