Talking to an alien....

"Talking to someone who lives in a tax free state is like talking to an alien. They do not understand why humans want to pay state income taxes..."

Yesterday while coming home from coming from the fair, I was fired up. For many reasons. However, I always try to be nice to folks by striking up a good conversation. The couple sitting next to me on the bus were from Texas. They were vacationing all summer in Minnesota to enjoy our weather and lakes. Having lived in Austin all their lives, they found Minnesota attractive as well as fascinating.

We talked about our State Parks, our traffic, and many other subjects of interest. I then told them I had been at the fair working as a volunteer at a booth. The booth was owned by the Minnesota Taxpayer League. I explained to them what the League was all about. To fully explain our tax issues in this state, I needed to ask them a basic question. "Do you mind if I ask what your tax rate is in Texas?" They both then stared at me with a very strange look. "Taxes? We don't pay taxes. We never have."

That is when our conversation became strange. It was similar to talking to aliens. Neither the man nor his wife had any concept of what paying state tax was like. They had never paid a cent. Never. On the other hand, there has never been a year while I have been living in Minnesota that I have not paid taxes. Never. 

I continued, "But if you don't pay any taxes, isn't your state falling apart? Your roads must be in shambles." Again they looked at me strangely. "No, our roads are good. Although not perfect, many are better than some we have driven on in Minnesota. It seems like every year we come up here you folks have quite a few roads shut down for repair."

The strangest part of our conversation happened when I told him our Social Security was taxed. When I said that, the man looked at me with mouth agape. "That is just plain wrong" he said. Then he went on to say he could not imagine his or his wife's Social Security being taxed.

We went on to talk about quality of life, services and so on. It then struck me. Texas and Minnesota both seem to be good places to live. Except one pays taxes and the other does not. Oh to be fair, they do have a good size property tax. However this couple told me they would take that over paying state income tax any day of the week.

I have had this conversation before with liberals. About how if we did not have our tax rate our state would look like Alabama, Georgia or Arkansas. Funny thing is I have been to all three of those states. They looked fine to me. Then liberals will talk about the low high school graduation rates in lower taxed states. Another canard. Obviously they have not checked out the schools in North Minneapolis.

Once we got to our bus stop I said goodbye to this nice couple from Texas. I had given them some tips on some interesting things to do and see while in Minnesota. What they gave me in return was more dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction with living in a very high taxed state. 

In seems that in this state, we pay huge taxes for one reason only - to support the the largess of our government. And to keep in growing. Bottom line - that is it in a nutshell.  

Our cartoon socialist

"Question: Why is the readership of so many papers going down? Answer: Just look at their editorial boards..."

Yes, I am sure many newspapers have one. We have a hometown newspaper (which will go nameless - like Lord Voldemort) which employs a "throwback to the 60's" type of editorial cartoonist. And he is a piece of work. TOTALLY biased (surprise) towards anything left and goofy.

This guy, this throwback to Woodstock, really has a very odd world view. Plus he is not the sharpest blade in the drawer. This past week, he has been on a viscous rant. Against Donald Trump and our Second Amendment. And he understands neither. The target which should be exploited by his sardonic humor is the "Royal" Hillary. One would think for an editorial cartoonist, this woman would yield a treasure trove of good material. Nope. She is off limits. Why? She is the queen of the Loony Left, silly!

His rant against guns I find particularly interesting. In his world, there should be no more guns. Period. They are evil. Of course, he does not understand our history. Why the Second Amendment became part of our Bill of Rights. Why it remains so important today. But to be fair, it is not just goofy editorial cartoonists - it is many on the Loony Left who don't understand our Second Amendment. 

So to help out our poor misguided cartoonist (and any others who might need some help), here is an abridged explanation on we have the Second Amendment (and it shall not be infringed).

Our founders were very concerned about this new government they were forming. As good as it was (and it was exceptional), they were worried over time the government could grow into something it was not intended to. The people were the ones who owned the government, not visa versa. The Second Amendment was then created. To be clear, the Second Amendment was NEVER about the right to hunt, the right to shoot targets, or the right to go to gun shows. The Second Amendment was created and remains today for one important reason. TO PROTECT THE CITIZENRY FROM AN OVER REACHING GOVERNMENT. Our founders understood one thing very clearly - Once a society disarms, they become easy targets for a government turning tyrannical. The Second Amendment remains today as our best "check and balance" to ensure this does not happen.

So go ahead Mr. Goofy Cartoonist. Make fun of our Constitution and every Republican running for office. Your cartoons suck and only the low information crowd find them worthy. As for me, I also find them worthy - worthy of fish wrap or bird cage liner. 

Oh, one final thing to remember about the protections afforded us in our Constitution. If we remove or alter them, an old adage most likely come true - For those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.

Distinction with a difference...

"Holy smokes! It is back to the future all over again! A fire breathing liberal from the left? Is this the 60's all over again, or what?"




Yesterday was a great day at the fair. The weather was good, the food was excellent (and greasy), and the people watching at times was second to none. That being said, I decided to do something which I have never done before. I went in the DFL booth and acted like a low information voter (which for that booth was a perfect disguise).

I first went up to a nice lady sitting at an information table and asked where I could find the petition about not taxing Social Security. She gave me a dazed look and said, "Gosh, I don't know. Let me ask Sally." Well Sally did not know either, so she asked me what the petition is about. I told her it was to keep the state from taxing Social Security benefits for Minnesota seniors. I said, "That should be a DFL issue right? Many of these seniors are on fixed income and cannot afford that tax. We don't want to lose any seniors due to this issue." Both Sally and the other lady said they could not agree more - but did not know of any petition. Sally said she would look into it at party headquarters. Win # 1 for the Bird.

Then I noticed there was a rather large table set up for Bernie (Sanders). Behind the table were three young people (the kind of folks Bernie is attracting in large numbers). I addressed the two young men. "Excuse me. I saw someone from the Sanders campaign on TV get questioned about the difference between a Democrat and a Socialist. That person could not explain it. Could you guys help me out on this question?" Dead silence.

A young lady next to to table then came over to rescue her friends. Now this is funny, as this conversation took place in a DFL tent. "Well, Democrats tend to practice more corporatism in nature. Plus they are have strong ties to Wall Street. Socialists on the other hand, do not. They are strictly for the people."

Good answer I thought. Time for a follow up question. "Then what is the basic difference between Republicans and Democrats?" Once again, I was met with dead silence. And with that, I took my leave. Win # 2 for the Bird.

There was a very good teachable moment here. Not about Bernie, not about Socialism, but about our system. It is something that people on my side of the fence (conservatives and constitutionalists) have been saying for years. When asked about where you are politically, you better be able to articulate where you stand and why you stand there. When asked what the difference is between the other parties and where you stand, you better be able to explain.

For what has happened is simply this. For many people, the difference between the two major parties have blurred. Be it right or wrong, that is what happened. Both parties grow government. Both parties have progressives within their ranks. And both parties have very strong ties to Wall Street.

A conservative on the other hand, will talk to you about principles. About an abhorrence for crony capitalism. An abhorrence for corporatism or corporate welfare. And about a love for liberty. For freedom. For our Constitution. For equal opportunity, not a guarantee of equal outcomes.

Bernie Sanders is an avowed Socialist. Has been for years. He is not a Democrat - he is an Independent. He has an (I) behind his name (politically). So if he is going to run as a Democrat, the Democrats better be ready to field some tough questions. Just like if the Republicans ran a Libertarian for President.

One of the things I learned long ago while listening to Garage Logic was this - when candidates, or people representing candidates come a knocking, ask the tough questions. No soft balls, ask policy questions. Don't accept trickery, snake oil or sophism - only the truth.

Yes Mayor Joe, that is what I got into yesterday. And there will be more to come in the near future. And that is a promise.   

The New Frontier of TV

"So where are with this brave new world of TV? Truthfully - at the next door of technology. Just waiting to be opened and enjoyed!"

I will be the first to admit, I love watching good TV. Let me repeat part of what I just said - "GOOD TV". That is something many of my age grew up on, and is sorely missing today. To be fair, it is not just TV, it is movies also. We are suffering through a vapid, insipid wasteland of reruns, make-overs, do nothings - or whatever.

But fear not good folks - better times are coming. I mean a lot better. We are heading full steam into the age of Internet TV. And why is that good for us? First off, how many of us have a "package" through our cable or satellite provider and get a bunch of crap we never watch? Many, I would bet. However, with internet TV, we get only the channel(s) we want, brought to us on our laptop, tablet, smart phone or whatever. Anytime, anywhere (mostly), and any day. And much cheaper.

We have burned through the age of VCR's, DVDs, and now cable and satellite. We are now entering the age of "true demand". For example, I  remember when employed at IBM. I was going through training on this new thing called "on-demand". It was mostly for customer convenience, by downloading needed software instantaneously. Oh yes, as an a plus - there were some entertainment aspects of "on-demand" also. Well, that entertainment feature has finally arrived.

Not too many of us (dare I say none of us), watch all 300 - 400 channels. Those are all the channels which are in our cable or satellite packages. I watch maybe 6 - 12 at most. The rest I never watch. With internet TV, you can subscribe to whatever channel you like. And most have an "on-demand" feature.

For example, should I decide to watch Glenn Beck at midnight, and if I subscribe to his service - no problem. On my computer right now, I can see many shows from my cable account. Anytime, anywhere.

So if I miss the Vikings this weekend, I can watch the game anytime. If I want to watch the hated Packers, I can watch them also. With internet TV, I can watch basically anything, anywhere, anytime, on any device. This is how IBM envisioned on demand many years ago. That is how on demand is developing it right now.

So enjoy it folks. This is the new frontier. The new beginning. This the cusp of something big - very, very big. Our world will never be the same again. Smart TV, smart phones, and lap tops with incredible reach - it is here now. This is change not to fear, but to embrace. It is here and now. And the good news (and most always there is good news), it will only get better better. And stay tuned for better - it is coming soon!  

Traffic Mayhem

"Ready for a session of 'hurry up and wait'? Get in your car and get out on the freeway system. You will go nowhere fast..."

Today I am going in for a maintenance treatment for my neuropathy. The clinic is in St. Louis Park and I need to take Highway 169 to get there. And I am not look forward to it at all. Oh the treatment will be fine - it is the drive I am dreading. AND, my appointment is at 9:30, which should be after the morning rush is over. But based on my recent experience with that drive, the traffic will still be very tough.

Now I bring this up for only one reason. This morning in the paper, there was an interesting article about the horrid traffic conditions in cities all around the country. Including our Twin Cities and surrounding burbs. The article in the paper has identified the culprit(s) for this nagging problem - cheap gasoline and an improving economy. And therein lies the real problem. Why people have no time for the main stream media. Because you never get the real story.

So here is the real story. First off, prior to the Great Recession, gasoline was about $1.80/gal. Today, with the price of oil VERY depressed at less than $40/barrel, the price of gasoline is around $2.50/gal. That is not cheap - that is normal for where it should be. I would consider gasoline to be "cheap" for these days should it hang around the $2.00/gal range.

Now here is the fact which is even more twisted from the article. Improving economy? With the workforce participation rate at record lows? This past July, US News and World Report had a great article on this subject. Nothing many of us had not heard before. 62.6%. That is the percentage of Americans who are either working or looking for a job. An historic low. That leaves a whopping 94,000,000 Americans who are neither working nor looking for a job. Even though the U3 unemployment number is "low", the number of people outside of the workforce is alarmingly "high".

THIS is what the article SHOULD have addressed. Let us pretend for just a minute we had a normal workforce participation. If we did, the U3 number would be much higher. That is just the way this economic funny math works. Next (and this is the punchline), our traffic infrastructure would really have revealed itself. Revealed itself for how inadequate it has become. In many parts of our metro during rush hour, slow traffic would become even slower and grind to a stop.

Why? Simple really. Our roads have become the red headed stepchild of the Met Council. They hate our roads. Our cars. Our mobility. So new road construction is grossly underfunded, year after year. We the people, who pay all the taxes, are left with nothing but gridlock. Gridlock now, with more serious gridlock in the forecast for the future. Met Council's solution? Have everyone live downtown in vertical housing, and take the LRT to all businesses which by then will have moved into the city. Hey Met Council! Wake the "bleep" up! That ain't gonna happen! It is not how we want to live and work!

I have to wrap this up now. I need to get ready for my hour plus drive to St. Louis Park A drive which this time of day should take about half that long. Since I am retired now, I don't have to put up with much traffic. But our kids and grand kids will. And they are really getting the short end of the stick. All I can say to them is sorry - sorry we screwed this up so bad.  

Do Black Lives Really Matter?

"They are going to try and disrupt the Minnesota State Fair? Really? And for what?

Okay. I will say it up front. I am one of these odd balls (and I think there might be many of us) who think black lives matter. That white lives matter. That all lives matter. Not only that, my belief is that each death, of what ever race, should diminish us all. We should be a people who cherish life - all life. We do NOT want to be like Islamist Terrorists who have made a mockery out of the sanctity of human life.

This Saturday the Black Lives Matter (BLM) crew is set to protest something at the main entrance to the State Fair. So let us first look at some facts. According to The Guardian, the number of people killed by police this year might reach 1,000. Based on past statistics, of that number around 300 are expected to be black. What the article does NOT say however, is how many of these deaths were justified. In other words, where the police officer had no choice but to use deadly force. By the way, the number of white deaths out of this 1,000 is expected to be 500.

Now a more disturbing statistic. Using FBI numbers, the average number of black on black deaths every year in America is around 9,000. That accounts for 93% of all young black men killed. Rudy Giuliani recently used that statistic and said if the 9,000 number per year held true over the past 35 years, we would have lost a total of over 300,000 young black men to black on black violence. That is a jaw dropping number - and totally unacceptable.

Now even a worse statistic. According to statistics complied by the Center for Disease Control, every day in America there are about 3,000 abortions. The good news is the number is starting to decline over the past few years. The bad news is it is still sky high. In my opinion, one is one too many. In any event, it is also estimated that black women use abortion services at an rate which is out of proportion for their race. In other words, black woman make up about 1/3 of all abortions performed.

Therefore, out of the 3,000 daily abortions, 1,000 are young black babies. That would be 365,000 a year. Or using the 35 year number that Giuliani used, over 12,000,000 for the same time frame. Some estimates put it closer to 13,000,000. That is more deaths than all other causes in the black community (natural or unnatural) rolled into one. Margaret Sanger must be smiling in her grave.

One more word about our abortion rate before I wrap this up. Someone once said just imagine if we were invaded by aliens. And if those aliens killed 3,000 humans every day. We would think we were being exterminated. And that is exactly what we are doing to innocent babies - regardless of what color they are.

So do black lives matter? You bet they do. All lives matter. If the BLM crew was having a march to bring to light that 93% of all homicides are black on black, I would be marching with them. If the BLM crew was marching to protest 1,000 innocent black babies dying every day at the hands of abortionists, I would be marching with them. However BLM wants to inconvenience hundreds, maybe thousands of fair goers because they don't think there are enough black vendors at the fair.

Here is a news flash. I have known a couple of vendors over the years. It is very, very hard to get a booth there. And by the way, if discrimination by color, race, or whatever was proven, the State Fair would have found themselves in a courtroom, knee deep in lawsuits.

Before Martin O'Malley got "round heals" at a political rally, he had it right. When asked if black lives matter, he responded that all lives matter. Then after getting shouted down by the low information crowd, he backtracked. Well Mr. O'Malley, please let me help you out. All lives do matter. Black, white, brown, male, female, young, old and yes, even (maybe especially) the unborn.

The lure of sex in America

"Nothing can take down the rich and powerful in America like a good old fashion sexual issue..."

Back in my traveling days on one of my trips to Amsterdam, after work I found myself sitting at a watering hole in a mostly empty bar. The bartender and I were chatting about small stuff. I told him how much I liked his country, his city, and the friendly people who lived there. But I did have a question - why is sex looked upon so much differently in the Netherlands than it is in America? Not just a little different, but a whole lot different.

He replied by saying the Dutch look at sex much different than Americans do. The Dutch look at sex not as "forbidden fruit", but just a fact of life. And sex is everywhere in Amsterdam. There are girly magazines sitting on open racks right out in front of shops. They are there for everyone to look at, no matter the age. Prostitution is legal. There is a thriving "red light" district in a very nice part of town. "And yet", the bartender told me, "we Dutch have a very low incident of VD, AIDS or rape. Sex is simply a part of our lives."

I thought about that conversation this morning as I was reading about the silliness of the nationwide topless protests. Yes, there was even one yesterday in our City of Lakes (brrrr). The organizers said it was for "equal rights!" If men can go topless, so can women! Liberals thought this might be a good cause celeb. Salacious minded males thought it might be a good excuse to see some skin. People visiting from Europe might have thought this was much to do about nothing.

Over the years I have seen sex topple many people in leadership roles, ranging from in the community to yes, even people (men and women) in church leadership roles. And it is never pretty. Always pain and shame are byproducts. They seem to go hand in hand with "outed" sexual dalliances. And many people are never the same again once it is over.

Norwood Teague, Jared Fogle (the Subway guy) are two of the most recent people to fall victim to overactive or inappropriate libidos. And both are paying a hefty price for it. Teague will probably never be an AD again. Probably never make a half million a year again.

Fogle had a proclivity for younger teenage girls. He lost his $1,000,000/year gig with Subway, PLUS he is going away to do some hard time. Once released, he will be branded a sex offender the rest of his life.

One final note. On one of my many trips to Washington after finishing work, I went up to the top floor of the motel I was staying to swim some laps. Even though it was a hot summer day, the lifeguard and I were the only ones there. A short time later, a man from France (who I believe was there on vacation) came up to use the pool with his daughter who looked to be about 12. The next thing I know they are both in the pool, sans tops for their suits. The French gentleman probably did not realize in America that swimming topless is a "no-no" for girls once they start to develop. I have never seen a lifeguard move so fast. He got the girl out of the pool a threw a towel around her. The girl and her father left the pool area looking dazed and confused. 

Dazed and confused. That is exactly how Americans have become with sex. We have elevated it to be the most forbidden of fruit. We have made it so tempting, so tasty, it can cause instant ruin for families, for careers, for organizations.

There is however, one exception. If you are the President of the United States from a state like Arkansas, you may have carte blanche for sex of any type. Your extra-martial sexual adventures will then become things of legend rather than shame. Go figure.