Random Thoughts II

TAX FREEDOM DAY

While many Californians were faced with the April 15th deadline to file their taxes there is another significant date on the horizon.... April 20th --- TAX FREEDOM DAY. It is on this day, the 110th day of the year, that Californians will have earned enough money to cover all their respective tax obligations. We are currently ranked 4th in the nation. The residents of Connecticut hold the 1st place position working 120 days, 2nd place goes to New Jersey with residents working 115 days and 3rd place goes to New Yorkers who will have worked 115 days to cover their tax burden.

In another ranking California holds the distinction of placing 47th in the field of 50 states with respect to per pupil expenditure for education. This situation kind of begs the question --- what is the Sacramento brain trust doing with our tax money? We are billions of dollars in the red, both sales and vehicle license fees have recently gone up and property taxes remain firm.

Where are our hard earned tax dollars going? Is it time for a collective shout of "Show us the money"? With the rise in sales and VLF taxes we may beat New York and take 1st place in 2010; but only New Yorkers (and Sacramento) will be celebrating.

HARSH and IRRESPONSIBLE WORDS

In these difficult times when people are losing their jobs and homes the last thing they need to hear are harsh words of criticism. Unfortunately, that is exactly what they are hearing from President Obama’s team. In February Attorney General Eric Holder commented “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial, we have always been and we -- I believe continue to be in too many ways essentially a nation of cowards." He added that Americans are afraid to talk about race. Where the hell has he been since Brown vs. Board of Education? This is just what we need, a thoughtless and clueless Attorney General.

Next, we have Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s comments on drugs and border violence:”Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians. So, yes, I feel very strongly we have co-responsibility." I would agree that we have far too many drug dependent individuals in this country. However; it is the Federal government’s responsibility to secure our borders and they have failed miserably.

VIOLENCE

Recent events seem to indicate that we have an epidemic of violence and lawlessness in the United States. Four police officers gunned down in Oakland, CA. and three killed in Pittsburgh, PA. Small children abducted and killed by people they should have been able to trust. Far too many nightly drive by shootings and far too many youths who feel slighted and disrespected and then resolve these alleged conflicts by using a gun. Our courts, prosecutors, prisons and parole and probation system seem overwhelmed. The public having lost confidence in the ability of the police and courts to protect them have opted to arm themselves. Guns, guns and more guns …. But are we actually safer?

PIRATES

The Pirates of Somalia made the news and made a big mistake last week when they seized an American vessel and then held the Capitan hostage. For most of us the pirates’ ages, specific nationality, level of education, former occupations, and religious beliefs were secondary to the fact that they are outlaws … pirates. However; David Gergen, CNN’s senior political correspondent, chose not to refer to the aggressors as pirates; but Muslims. He said: “The natural temptation is to want to go in with military force and clean out those nests of pirates and just demolish them for even touching an American in the way they did, but there are some complications. Anderson (Anderson Cooper of CNN), in this case this is complicated by his (President Obama) diplomatic outreach to Muslims. He's done a good job laying the groundwork, reaching out in Turkey as we saw a few days ago. If he over-responds to this, if he uses force against Muslims in what seems an excessive way, it could totally undercut his own efforts.”

A pirate is a pirate … is a pirate … is a CRIMINAL regardless of religious affiliation. This country’s response to a criminal attack to one of its merchant ships must be weighed from a military point of view and only a military point of view. Whether the pirates are Catholic, Protestant, Jew or Muslim is irrelevant … they are criminals! Must we be politically correct on the high seas?

CLASS CLOWNS

Over the past month there have been many public figures who, as a result of their public comments and/or actions are a source of head shaking and laughter. To name a few: The financial shenanigans of Senators Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, San Francisco’s smarmy Mayor Newsom and his bid to be California’s next Governor, State Governors Palin, Blagoevich, Jindal and their suspension of logic and common sense, and finally there are two weasels from the Bush administration who now suffer from the dual affliction of having constipated brains and diarrhea of the mouth. Carl Rove and Dick Cheney are on a crusade to salvage the Bush legacy. As in their past being truthful is not important to Cheney and Rove … getting their way is.