A standing room only crowd of property owners packed the Lamar County commission meeting room Tuesday night and regaled commissioners again and again with demands that they cut services and not increase property taxes.
Citizen Jane Howard sounds off Tuesday night.
Start with the athletic director. Then parks and recreation.
Hell, hire the non-violent trustees out to local businesses at a discounted rate for yard work.
Apply for a federal grant and install solar panels to pay for the electricity of our government buildings. If you install enough, the city can sell the extra energy to the power company.
And it is the truth, no way around it.
The contempt for ordinary Americans displayed by the ruling class is reaching critical mass. There may never have been a time in American history when the governing, academic, cultural, and media elites have been more manifestly disdainful of the country’s values, traditions, principles, and people.
Individuals who express sincere concerns that the polices and practices of the elites are imperiling the nation’s economy and security are branded as racists and xenophobes by the anointed: A diminutive mayor who appears to conflate a talent for acquiring wealth with omniscience lectures that anyone who opposes the erection of a mosque on the site where 2,700 Americans were slaughtered by radical-Islamic terrorists must be motivated by religious intolerance; tea-party activists who protest the federal government’s insane spending spree are motivated not by horror at a $13,300,000,000,000 debt but by racial animus toward the chief fiscal incontinent residing in the White House; those who voted to maintain the central institution of civilization were actually voting for bigotry and oppression.
The same elites who lecture incessantly refuse to listen to the racist rabble populating flyover country. They have no problem listening, apologizing, and bowing obsequiously to our declared enemies, but insist on acting imperiously toward their fellow Americans.
When thousands flooded town-hall meetings to express opposition to Obamacare, they got Obamacare shoved down their throats. When twenty states sued, calling Obamacare’s dictatorial provisions unconstitutional, legal elites scoffed that the Commerce Clause permits the federal government to compel the unenlightened to eat their vegetables. And when 71 percent of Missouri voters rejected the abominable bill, Robert Gibbs proclaimed that the vote meant "nothing.”
It’s certainly evident that it was, indeed, "nothing” to the ruling class. That class will pass a 2,000-page, $800 billion spending bill without even reading it. They will "redistribute” billions from disfavored groups to favored constituencies.They will rack up ethics charges like frequent-flier miles. They will take over giant car companies and financial institutions despite never having run so much as a pop stand. They will drop missile defense and open our borders because we’ve been on the wrong side of history all these years. They will shut down oil drilling in the Gulf, thereby sacrificing the livelihoods of thousands, without any empirical justification whatsoever. They will abandon our nation’s allies and embrace our enemies for no other reason than that it’s a different policy than George W. Bush’s. They will prosecute Navy SEALs but wink at the release of convicted terrorists. They will exhibit galactic ineptitude in cleaning the Gulf but assure us they can completely reorder the economy in response to the non-debateable evidence of global warming. They will raise our taxes so that our comparatives in the federal government can be paid twice as much as we are. They will sue Arizona for doing the job they refuse to do themselves. They will grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants by bureaucratic fiat. They will tell us what light bulbs to use, how much fat we may have in our diets, and how much water we may have in our toilets . . .
They’ll do this because they’re smart. They went to the best schools. And they agree with Rep. Pete Stark that "the federal government can do anything.”
Perhaps in the recent past, with a compliant, JournoList-infected media providing cover, they could do anything. Not anymore. Americans have had enough.
Average citizens are showing remarkable levels of engagement — more than in 1994. They seem to actually like America. They will fight against spending the country into bankruptcy. They will fight against erosions of our freedom. They will fight against slow-motion surrender to our enemies. They will fight against corruption of our values. They will fight for what’s best about America.
This is a fight about first principles. I’ll bet on the great unwashed.
Republicants are hypocrites at best or insane at worst.
Deal would OK zero-based budget Law.
Republican candidate for governor Nathan Deal today reiterated his support for implementing zero-based budgeting in the state of Georgia.
"As governor, I will work with our legislative leaders to implement zero-based budgeting," Deal said. "I am disappointed that Governor Perdue vetoed the bill that was passed by the General Assembly this year. I look forward to being the governor who signs and implements the law requiring this important budgetary reform.
"l will use zero-based budgeting during these ongoing tough times to focus state spending on our priorities: public safety, education, transportation and health care. When the good times return - and they will - I'll use zero-based budgeting to hold the line on spending and stay true to our promise of smaller government. As governor, I'll work to set the standard among states in responsible conservative leadership."
Zero-based budgeting requires government agencies to start over each new budget year - start from zero - and build the budget from scratch.
"Zero-based budgeting is tough on bureaucrats, but it's good for taxpayers," Deal said. "I am confident of creating workable legislation that will allow us to start this new budget process agency by agency over the four years of my term. This is serious reform, and we'll implement it carefully and responsibly."
There comes a time when paying in enough is enough. The constitution says provide for the common welfare…. It does not say provide welfare. Go read it! There is a big difference. Those common welfare items you mention are paid for in taxes already. Those social programs such as Medicare for example are also paid for in totally individual taxes. Roads are taxed through different taxes such as the taxes on fuel. Most of the income tax goes to pay interest on the debt. Government has borrowed into so much trouble they think the people should pay for their irresponsibility. I am of the opinion that a person like you think that income tax is all government collects when in actuality they have their hand in just about everything and now they are devising a way to tax the air we breathe. King George is making an effort to come to life in the U.S. and it is up to the people to cut off his head.
Here is a suggestion. If all you liberal democrats think you need to donate more money for out of control government; by all means give them your money. Don’t try and force others to donate theirs. Some of us believe in holding government accountable and responsible. Nothing is too big to fail as most of you will see when our own government fails because of the irresponsibility they demonstrate with the blessings of irresponsible people who many are usually the noncontributory anyway and most likely screaming because they see an end to the freebies.
"By Charlie Reese"
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them..
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits..... The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Currently, Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red ..
If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power..
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees...
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
46 different taxes.....and this does not include SPLOST which have been suggested in this forum as a way to solve the county's current fiscal problems. The answer is not new taxes of any kind. Increasing the burden on taxpayers will only make the problem worse. When income in a household decreases because of a job loss or slow down in business (for those evil, rich small business owners who drive our economy), the employee/business owner cannot wave the wand and tell a merely decree they will increase their salary or take money from their customers. They make the tough choices of cutting expenses to live within their means.....maybe our local, state and federal government officials should take note!
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not one of the taxes listed above existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and a parent was able to stay home to raise the kids.
What happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'
But, the day after Deal resigned, the Office of Congressional Ethics’ (OCE) issued a report on its investigation into Rep. Deal’s misdeeds. That OCE report – initiated by CREW’s August 2009 complaint against the congressman – found that Mr. Deal had indeed violated House ethics rules by using congressional resources to influence Georgia state officials for his personal financial benefit. Most damningly, however, the OCE found that Mr. Deal provided incorrect information on his personal financial disclosure forms. Importantly, OCE issued the damning report after Deal resigned.
AND
The state Ethics Commission is investigating a complaint filed against former congressman and current gubernatorial candidate Nathan Deal over his use of campaign funds to pay legal fees to defend himself in a federal ethics probe.
The Associated Press reported in April that Deal, a Republican, had used more than $19,000 in contributions from his state campaign account to pay legal fees related to a congressional ethics investigation.
The probe ended when Deal resigned from Congress in March to run for governor.
The ethics complaint, filed by Alpharetta resident Elizabeth Ott, said Deal violated state law by using campaign funds for his legal defense.
In her complaint, obtained by AP on Wednesday, Ott said it "would defy logic as well as the letter and intent of the statute" for a candidate's state campaign account to be tapped for an investigation related to a separate, federal office.
Well duh!
Regardless, last week many more people voted in the Republican ticket than the democratic ticket, I think thats a pretty good sign of whats to come in november. Not to mention, many more people who would otherwise be inclined to vote democratic are prevented from voting for certian legal reasons, ha ha.
Mark my words, wise men say, "never hire anyone back after you've fired them. They will always have a vengance, and it will come back to bite you"
Remember that.
An ordinary citizen cannot voice his or her opinion about an out-of-control government without being accused of attacking Obama or being called a racist. If that is the case, then so be it....label me as you see fit. It is not going to change the fact that we critics have the most powerful tool of all.....our collective vote!
Most families utilizing private education do so for the positive learning environment. Most schools are christian based creating a far different environment then public schools with it's governmental intrusion. The families WANT the religous aspect of the school. The families and kids want to be there and have a VESTED interest (both financially and time) in their kids' education and the long-term success of the school.
I understand not all can take advantage of private education but that is not a reason to be critical of those who can and do. We make plenty of sacrifices to invest in our children's education in private schools and believe it is in the best interest of our kids well-being and their futures. We could choose to live in a bigger house, wear newer clothes, drive a new car, etc. but decided not to put our money in those types of things.
Where you invest your money and your time is where your heart is. Most of us choose our home, school and church......NOT government.