Bogieblog

Song of the Times

So I know the sopa/PIPA ado is done (for now, until Congress reworks it and hopes no one is paying attention except the PACS), but I just came across this on New Jovian Thunderbolt, and had to share.

 

Breaking News

Over at Instapundit, this gem:

REPORT: Khaddafy killed.

UPDATE: Reader Charles Katek writes: “Are all spellings of his name dead? Or just that one?”

Excuse Me?

Reid signals government jobs must take priority over private-sector jobs - The Hill's Floor Action.

I do believe Harry has been away from the private sector too long when he says things like this:

"It's very clear that private-sector jobs have been doing just fine; it's the public-sector jobs where we've lost huge numbers, and that's what this legislation is all about," Reid said on the Senate floor."

Yea, the new Teacher's contract, with new pay raises, and new steps so more teachers can get pay raises, passed. Meanwhile, in the private sector, almost no one is getting raisses at all, and most are getting anti-raises; that is if they are lucky and still have a job.

Meanwhile, via Powerline.

Yep, the private sector is doing just dandy compared to the public sector.

Drunk Politics

I try to stay out of politics on this blog for the most part (and in general conversation), but have to pass along something I saw at the Weekend Pundit's place:

Raising the debt limit solves the government's spending problem like raising the maximum legal blood alcohol content will solve the drunk driving problem.

Yea, just like that.

See, It Isn't So Hard

The Weekend Pundit features clip of a panel of ordinary citizens that worked an exercise on reducing the federal deficit. In an hour they saved 2.5 trillion dollars. Not that I agree with everything they came up with (the sacredness of the home mortgage interest deduction for one - many of us have no deductions at all, even that one), but there is sharing in the pain.

The problem with Congress is they want to please everyone (well, duh, they want to get re-elected), but that will never work.

The End of Silly Season - For Now

Went and voted last night and had the momentary thought of "WooHoo, no more political adds, debates or profiles on the news." Then I realized that there would be at least 3 weeks of "analyzing" why the elections went the way they did (for local, state and national), so my euphoria was short lived. Hopefully after all the analyzing, we will get at least a month's worth of relatively political free airwaves (TV, radio, phone surveys and web content) before the next campaign season starts.

Short Reading Assignment

Double Trouble features an essay .

That's the offer America gives its entrepreneurs. And the idiots in Washington wonder why there are no new jobs...

Seriously good read (and fairly short - will take you all of 2 minutes to read).

 

Bogosity

Just minutes ago, I was contacted by someone conducting a political "poll" with questions about someone named Tremblay running for a NH office.

The first question was about affordable health care and her position on making some sort of law in NH that guarantees affordable health care for everyone. Did that make me more much more likely to vote for her, a little more likely to vote for her, or it made no difference / I had no opinion.

I gave a response, not one I was happy with, but the best I could do under the circumstances. Then there was another question, about tax incentives to small businesses for hiring new employees. I was given the same three options for acceptable answers.

I decided I wasn't playing this game and responded. "I can't believe there is no option for a negative response." The gal on the other end said that only the 3 described answers were permissible. To which I responded, "This is a bogus poll since it is designed to elicit only favorable or benign results. there is no way that the candidate can be seen in a bad light in this poll. Since it is a bogus poll, I will not to participate."

I did not wait for a response, I just hung up. Normally, I will take the time to answer pollsters questions, but this time there was no way that I was taking this one. It is pretty bad when the system is set up so the worst result that can come out of the "poll" is that her positions either had no affect on my decision to vote for her - or I didn't know enough about the issue to give a response.

I may go by the moniker of "Bogie", but bogusness is not rewarded by me on election day.

Bridge to Nowhere Redux

Just call me the source to breaking news. In this case, I broke the news in June about Hillsboro's Bridge to Nowhere being refurbished as part of the Stimulus spending by our government.. The newsies and political beings just started getting around to it week.

I did learn thru the news that $150,000 was spent (the town did put in the rest of the money) and 190 jobs were created. Really? 190 jobs were created? I never saw more than 8-10 people at the site. And ooh boy, those jobs lasted a whole long time anyway.

Then there is the explanation of the intention of the job on the ARRA website which is to "better accommodate pedestrians and bycicles." (from The Union Leader)

As I noted on my June 20 blog post, "The old bridge was left partially standing (the far side doesn't attach to anything) . . ."

Please note, the bridge still doesn't attach to anything, in fact, a fence at the end of the bridge keeps anyone from falling (or jumping) off, so I'm guessing that pedestrians and bicyclists still won't be finding it real useful.

WMUR quotes Hillsborough's Planning Director:

"It's an historic transportation structure," O'Keefe said. "It fits soundly within the guidelines for transportation enhancement at the federal and state level, and had we lost this bridge, just imagine what we'd be talking about now." (bolding mine - bogie)

Yes, let's imagine for a moment that one of the many, many structurally deficient bridges in NH had been renovated instead. Maybe the Shaker bridge in Enfield, NH wouldn't have been closed. Maybe the money could have gone toward renovation of the heavily travelled Memorial Bridge, between NH and Maine (which recently had a chunk fall into the river). Maybe it could have gone to one of the other, functional stone arch bridges in the state that needs repair.

If that had happened, we would be talking about how at least a useful project was completed instead of what a waste of taxpayer's dollars it is!

Deductions

The Weekend Pundit posts about government looking at killing the mortgage interest deduction on personal taxes. Personally, I don't have a problem with this per se.

We haven't been able to deduct our interest for 20 years. Only the first 2 years did we get deductions, since then we have had absolutely no deductions; nada, zilch, zippo (oh, except that $90 credit we got for installing new doors last year - woohoo, we are on easy street now). We have never, ever, taken into account tax implications when buying something (or at least not positive implications). And if you talk to money experts, I'll bet they tell you that you shouldn't count on the deduction as part of what will pay for your home.

As I recall, way back when, we used to also get to deduct interest on credit cards. When that was taken away, there was much gnashing of teeth and wailing that it would kill the credit card industry. Hmm, seems the credit card industry has done okay (not from us, since we pay off every month).

As far as I am concerned, the tax code should be simplified, streamlined and leaned out - and deductions should be done away with (okay, I can see deductions for the amount of people in the family - but that is it).

However, this does seem to be just a ploy on how to raise taxes without technically raising taxes (after all, they just ended a deduction) - that is what I do have a problem with.