Sunday, February 10, 2013

If You Come to Sarasota, Florida, Please Note....

The City of Sarasota is cash strapped as are most cities. So council member voted to install "red light' violations electronic signals at all major intersections. The fines are so lucrative that the plan to expand these signals to all traffic lighted intersections. The money goes to a company in
Cincinnati, Ohio who returns about $100,000 a month to the City.

Most victims are out-of-towners,  (snowbirds) and the fines are hefty. I received an $162 fine for failing to stop for 3 seconds before making a right hand turn on a red light even though there were no pedestrians or vehicles present.

What was present? Three, yes, three panhandlers working the intersection of University and Rt. 41. Panhandlers abound all over Sarasota without city interference.

Most studies indicate more accidents by vehicles travelling at posted speeds. As their vehicle is close to entering an intersection when the light turns yellow,  they erroneously slam on their brakes when the vehicle following believes they will proceed and instead rear-ends them. But if hotel-motel taxes aren't high enough, these traffic signal cameras and resulting fines plus auto body repair and hospitals visits help get more of the snowbirder's money.

Traffic on weekends, starting fairly early, is discouraging. Parking downtown is almost all pay parking and difficult to find openings and difficult to get in and out of downtown parking decks. Sarasota also has a few confusing round-a-bouts causing both motorist and pedestrian irritation. They haven't yet installed yellow flashing lights as Peoria has. Peoria paid Bradley University $150,000 to study a system already proven effective in many cities for many years. Has the study been released as yet. And publicized?

So why am I here? Drop in tennis where I could play everyday of the week outside on clay courts. Also, suite motels can be had at reasonable costs and then there are the heated pools and beaches. Siesta Key is rated one of the best beaches in the country. And of course, the weather, where outside tennis can be played 99% of the time, rain or shine with sometimes only an hour of so delay after rainfall.

Also, some of the best tennis tournaments are held in the area. I play in one starting on Monday at Payne Park, a well run city-owned facility, where I also am a member.



Economic Freedom? U.S.A. is Surely at the Top?

Nope. The 2013 index is out and the U.S.A. ranks a lucky 10th. To read how a country is indexed, read "Economic Freedom on the Wane, Limited Government not so Limited Anymore,"  written by Ed Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation in a article in the Wall Street Journal on January 15, 2013.

Most business people don't need to read this article. They already know that the Obama regime is practicing socialism on business owners who still believe economic freedom got them and this country to where it was at the turn of the century. Even many business owners who should have known better and who twice voted for Obama are becoming doubters. Problem is they didn't see many Republicans who don't like to expand governments power and tax and spend even though they often talk a good opposition game. They closely follow where the money came from to get them elected and how they can return the favor with taxpayer dollars.

We live in a "more government if it benefits me first" era or haven't we noticed?

"Pinkos" at Wall Street Journal Correctly Peg Ray LaHood


"Pinkos" as the Peoria Journal Star calls the editors and columnists of the WSJ wrote on February 2 the following, 'Planes, Trains and Bike Paths', about departing Transportation Secretary Peoriaian Ray LaHood:

"Ray LaHood had no particular qualifications  to be President Obama's Transportation Secretary apart from his 14-years as a Republican Congressman who specialized in pork-barrel spending, and it showed. He's the politician who found a way to lose $6.50 selling a $9.50 hamburger to diners with no other options.

Sixteen dollars is how much it costs Amtrack to prepare a burger amid $80 million in annual loses for its subsidized food service operations. Mr. LaHood, who announced this week he is leaving the Cabinet after four years, is likely to be remembered for similar achievements, such as presiding over a transportation policy to be the best 19th century had to offer: railroads and bicycles.

"This is the favorite motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized", Mr. LaHood wrote in 2010 about a funding rule "sea change" meant to promote bike paths instead of highways. He also doled out $8 billion in grants for High-Speed rail projects that were stapled onto the 2009 stimulus because Mr. Obama "was aggravated when he was told that none of the money from the stimulus would be spent on a signature project, a modern-day Hoover Dam or Interstate Highway System," as Ryan Lizza reported in the New Yorker magazine.

The President, according to the New York Times, thought that simply building new futuristic trains....could lift the spirits of a recession-battered nation." Mr. LaHood's political maneuvering ensured one signature boondoggle-the $100 billion San Francisco-to Anaheim bullet train---would be built, despite growing opposition and the fact that California had NO money. The first leg, which Mr. LaHood's department is financing, will connect Merced to Bakersfield in the sparsely populated Central Valley.

"President Obama's legacy will be high-speed rail," Mr. LaHood told Congress in December. As a just reward for his tenure, Mr. LaHood's next job should be managing the books for the California choo-choo."

End of the WSJ article. In Illinois, Mr. LaHood should be be remembered for his futile efforts to build a highway from Peoria to Chicago that was doomed from the beginning by the department he eventually headed. He is one of the"drivers" of a high-speed rail between Peoria and Bloomington, a boondoggle greater than the mainly taxpayer funded new museum, heavily taxpayer funded new Big Al's and taxpayer backed new Marriott Courtyard combined. Now he can continue to throw his weight behind local projects, of which his service in politics leaves him poorly prepared.

I have followed Mr. LaHood's career over many years. As a leading Republican, he, like Republican Illinois politician Dave Leitch,  never saw a tax-payer funded project they didn't like.

I believe a lot of Republicans are beginning to realize that the Democrats alone did not put us in the "pickle" we are in.






Friday, February 08, 2013

More Government Largess For the Millions of 'Americans' on the Dole

Forwarded to me by a friend.
 
Merle
 Modern Living On The Dole....
 
Recently, our good friend Michael (a local realtor) shared his
experience with Leisa and I about an "Obama supporter" he encountered
> while showing homes to a low income, working family in Pontiac, MI.
> We asked him to please write it down so we could share it with you.
>
> As a Realtor for the past 28 years I thought I'd seen or heard it all.
> Until now.
>
> I was showing homes in Pontiac, MI. one afternoon recently and showed
> up at a home at the 4:00 pm time my appointment was scheduled for.
> After I woke up the homeowner, she let us in and then proceeded to
> tell my buyers and I that she has already entered into a contract to
> sell the home on a short-sale. (A short-sale is a sale where the banks
> accepts less money than is owed on the home). After some chit-chat,
> she proceeded to tell us that she and her sister (who also lived in
> the area) were buying each other's homes via the short-sale process. I
> mentioned to her that I thought relatives could not be involved in
> those transactions. She smiled and said "We have two different last
> names so no one knows the difference".
>
> She went on to tell us that each of them owed over 100K on their homes
> and were in the process of buying each other's homes for about 10-15K
> cash. To top it off, they were each receiving $3,000.00 in government
> provided relocation assistance at the closing.
>
> My buyers and I were amazed that she was outright admitting to fraud
> and yet, she continued. She began to tell us that the best part of her
> scheme was that because they currently were not working that they
> (both) are now receiving Section 8 Vouchers. I said I thought those
> were for renters and she said "That's the best part; me and my sister
> are going to be renting each other's homes so we don't even have to
> move, and Obama is going to give us each $800.00 a month to pay the
> rent!" She then picked up a picture she had framed of Obama and did a
> little happy dance around her living room and while she kissed the
> picture she was singing "Thank you Obama.... thank you Obama."
>
> So here is the bottom line. Both of these scammers got at least
> $80,000.00 in debt forgiven, $3,000.00 in cash for relocation (when in
> fact they did not relocate) and to boot, you and I will now be paying
> (through our taxes) $1,600.00 in rent for each them each and every
> month.... perhaps forever!
>
> And I also would not be at all surprised if they are receiving food
> stamps and whatever other programs are available for anyone who is
> willing to lie to get assistance.
>
> These women went from working and paying about $900.00 each in
> mortgage payments to staying home and getting paid $800.00 each per
> month to live in the same home they had been living in and all they
> had to do was lie on a few papers. This craziness has to stop! I'm
> sure this kind of fraud is going on each and every day all across the
> country and no one wants to touch the subject of entitlements because
> they might OFFEND someone or lose a vote or two.
>
> By the way ... she had an almost new SUV in the driveway, three flat
> screen TV's and a very nice computer set up in her living room which
> was furnished entirely with nice leather furniture.
>
>
> 'TIS THE NEW 'AMERICAN WAY'

=







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Thursday, February 07, 2013

Progressive Insurance - Interesting Affiliations??




> The "Harley Owners Group", the biggest motorcycle club in America,
> maybe even the world, hasn't found any members that have
> Progressive Insurance since the word got out about Progressives
> communist affiliations. Just being associated with George Soros
> should bring chills up your back. Oh, you don't know who George
> Soros is? He's finances the Obama progressive affiliations.
>
>
> Progressive Insurance....Who are they? You've seen and probably
> smiled at the clever Progressive Insurance TV commercials. Well,
> as Paul Harvey would say, "You're about to learn the rest of the
> story".
>

image001.jpg
> PROGRESSIVE AUTO INSURANCE
> You know their TV commercials, the ones featuring the ditsy
> actress all dressed in white. What you might not know is that the
> Chairman of Progressive is Peter Lewis, one of the major funders
> of leftist causes in America ..
>
>
> Between 2001 and 2003, Lewis funneled $15 million to the ACLU, the
> group most responsible for destroying what's left of Americas
> Judeo-Christian heritage.
>
> Lewis also gave $12.5 million to MoveOn.org and America Coming
> Together, two key propaganda arms of the socialist left.
> His funding for these groups was conditional on matching
> contributions from George Soros, the America-hating socialist who
> is the chief financier of the Obama political machine.
>
> Lewis made a fortune as a result of capitalism, but now finances a
> progressive movement that threatens to destroy the American free
> enterprise system that is targeting television shows on Fox News.
> Peter Lewis is making a fortune off of conservative Americans (who
> buy his auto insurance) that he then applies to dismantle the very
> system that made him wealthy. He's banking on no one finding out
> who he is, so STOP buying Progressive Insurance and pass this
> information on to all your friends. Chairman Lewis' gift helps
> the ACLU promote their anti-Christmas agenda such as:
>
>
> § Removing nativity scenes from public property
>
>
> § Banning songs such as Silent Night from schools
>
>
> § Refusing to allow students to write about the Christian aspect
> of Christmas in school projects
>
>
> § Renaming Christmas break Winter break
>
>
> § Refusing to allow a city sponsored Christmas parade to be
> called a Christmas parade
>
>
> § Not allowing a Christmas tree in a public school
>
>
> § Renaming a Christmas tree displayed on public property a
> Holiday tree In addition to their war on Christmas, the ACLU uses
> gifts like that from Chairman Lewis to:
>
>
> § Sue states to force them to legalize homosexual marriage
>
>
> § Force libraries to remove porn filters from their computers
>
>
> § Sue the Boy Scouts to force them to accept homosexuals as scout
> leaders
>
>
> § Help legalize child pornography
>
>
> § Legalize live sex acts in bars in Oregon
>
>
> § Protect the North American Man Boy Love Association whose motto
> is "sex by eight or it is too late"
>
>
> § Censor student led prayer at graduation
>
>
> § Remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance
>
>
> § Remove "In God We Trust" on our currency
>
>
> Verify at:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/peterlewis.asp
>
> or:
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/aclu-lewis.htm
>
> All of a sudden I don't care for their "funny commercials".
>
>
> PS: IGNORANCE CAN BE TERMINAL SO, SAVE A FRIEND & SHARE THIS
> MAIL WITH OTHERS.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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