I once broke into someone's privacy fence...

I once broke into someone's privacy fence, went to the back of the house and began breaking windows.  It all started when I left the house on the way to the printer to pick up some envelopes for the church.  I had to stop for gas, and as I was pumping the gas, I smelled something funny.  It was the same smell my GI Joe action figures made when I was younger so it caught my attention.  A few blocks away there was a brownish smoke rising, so I decided to drive over and see the obvious army of GI Joes.  What I found was a house that had just caught fire.  Now I am no hero, but being the only one there, I began to yell and pound on the door.  No one answered.  A semi-truck driver arrived and we kicked in the front door.  Again I yelled but no one answered.  I tried to go in but the smoke was thick.  I was scared.  Instead of going in, I broke into their privacy fence and went from window to window breaking them.  Yelling inside.  No answer.  The dog barked.  The fire trucks arrived, a paramedic bandaged up my bloody hands.  I left and got my printing.  As I left the print shop, I saw a car stop at the end of the road-block, a woman got out and yelled at the cop, "That is my house."  She is panicked.  Crying. She runs down the street.  I leave there shaken.  It was a Thursday.  I arrived back at about 10 that morning and my pastor tells me that I can have the rest of the day off.  I am still shaken.  Finally, around noon, I called the TV channel, because I am overwhelmed with the fear that someone was in that house, that maybe the panicked lady had a child home sick that day.  The person comes back to the phone.  The house was empty.  I am still shaken.  10 years later as I type this, I am still shaken.  I hope that I will always be shaken.

Over the last week I have been shaken.  Some would define all the virtual yelling and breaking of glass as hate.  I do not.  It is the overwhelming sense that the house is on fire.  I am on scene, and something must be done.  What is first classified as hate, ultimately will be seen as love.  And conversely, what is now seen as love, acceptance and tolerance will ultimately be seen as the greatest form of hatred.  Condoleezza Rice wrote in her biography that "Today's headlines and history's judgments are rarely the same."  Be careful how you define hate.  Be careful how you define love.  Be careful how you respond to the smell of GI Joes burning in the distance.

A tax is Attacks is A tax

A wise man once said there is no such thing as a free lunch.  Keynesian economics says to tax the rich and discourage saving so that people are encouraged to keep their money flowing.  Each time it is spent, it can be taxed and the more people spend the better it is for the poor.

 Politicians promise lower taxes and free healthcare, but the money has to come from somewhere.  When you tax Big Oil Companies to pay for your Green Energy, gas prices go up to compensate.  When gas prices go up, everything goes up.

A family making $50,000 a year spends about to $15,000 on  gas & groceries alone.  The spike in gas prices have driven up the cost of living.  On the flip side, a family making $500,000 a year spends... you guessed it, about $15,000 a year on gas and groceries.  So the impact on the middle class is 10 times more severe.  The doubling of gas prices in the last 4 years is the equivalent of a $7,500 tax increase on every middle and lower class family!

Bottom line.  There are always consequences.  For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  You cannot tax the rich without taxing the poor.  You cannot raise the poor out of poverty by raising taxes on anyone.  Taxes and regulations on big corporations are strangling our lower and middle classes.

Class warfare is smoke and mirrors.  A tax on one American is an attack on all Americans.

2012 General Election Florida Amendments

This year’s election is not simply about the White House.  There are 4 pages of items up for vote and anyone who plans on going into the voter booth without doing their homework will be shocked and amazed at the shear number of confusing amendments and options this year.  Everyone needs to vote, even if you are not in favor of a particular candidate for president.  There are many other important races and it is my hope that by going public with my ballot that you will be challenged to do some research of your own.  I realize that our vote is a private matter but I make mine public not so that you can attack me on the points where we likely will disagree, but rather to help you understand my perspective on the issues at hand.  (Initially, I put this together to help my wife sort through the mess as she has little time or stomach for politics.)

Number 1 - 100% Yes

Because it prohibits the government from forcing individuals to purchase health insurance. (Obamacare) And prohibits the government from penalizing companies to provide healthcare options that violates their conscience.

Number 2 - 75% No

Expansion of property tax discounts to injured veterans who were not residents prior to their injury.  This is one of those laws that makes for great pretense but little substance.  We already give this discount to residents, to expand it nationally sounds patriotic, but potentially puts a greater tax burden on the residents of the state.

Number 3 - 60% Yes

This law is just an update to an existing law that limits the amount of revenue our state government can collect.  Typically I would vote to keep our state from having the ability to collect greater revenue,(taxes) but in this case this amendment is just a provision to account for growth in population and inflation.

Number 4 - 60% No

For me this was not a strong no.  This is a great law if you are in the real estate development business, but what is a tax cut for some requires a tax increase for others.  To add additional homestead exemptions and slow the government’s ability to adjust property tax from 10% to 5% sound good, but someone’s got to pay and since I do not make my money flipping houses, I will vote no. 

Number 5 - 80% Yes

This is just good law.  It requires supreme court justices that are nominated from the governor to be confirmed by the legislature.  This will keep activist governors from appointing activist supreme court justices.  It will give elected officials greater power than appointed ones.  In addition, it streamlines the court system within the state to act in accordance with one another. (Rather than each court doing its own procedures)

Number 6 - 100% Yes

This law further strengthens existing laws that states that tax dollars be spent in the abortion industry.  It is one thing to say that abortion is not murder, it is another thing to require me to pay for it.

Number 8 - 60% Yes

This is another of those 60/40 in favor of votes for me.  I feel strongly in the separation of church and state, but our FL constitution prohibits support of ministries simply because they are based in religious efforts.  I am not saying that I want churches to be dependent on government aid, but I do not think a ministry such as Salvation Army should be discriminated against simply because they are associated with a church.  My vote is for Salvation Army to have the same access to public funds for their ministry as the secular ministry down the street.

Number 9 - 75% No

This is similar to amendment 2 where it sounds like a nice idea to give discounts to first responders and their spouses if they die as a result of their work.  Firemen who die in a fire are heroes and so are the policemen killed in the line of duty.  I do not argue this.  However, they all should have life insurance and this amendment even though it means well, is misguided.  We don’t need to amend our constitution and make things a constitutional right to provide breaks to our first responders.

Number 10 - 75% Yes

This bill is directed at small business owners who have “tangible property” that they are taxed on.  Real people call that “equipment.”  If a lawn care guy needs $25,000 worth of equipment, he is not rich, those are just the tools of his trade.  Releasing him on the taxes would help him better run his business.  On the other hand, this may also provide tax breaks for owners of 4 wheelers, jet skis and boats…  Not a strong yes, but I will hope that with the tax breaks the small biz guy hires someone else to work for him.

Number 11 - 80% No

More property tax breaks for specialized classes.  First veterans, then first responders and now grandma….  I know you hate me for saying it, but this is not what amendments are for.  Granny gets one homestead exemption and that should suffice.  If she has been a resident of that home for more than 25 years it is almost paid off anyway.

Number 12 - 75% No

Again, this is more of a procedural move and I am tired of making a state constitutional right for everything.  If it is necessary to make the change, we don’t need to make it a “right” to do so.  The legislature has ways of doing this and this sounds to me like someone did not get their way and so they are trying to make it a constitutional right of the government to include this position…  In conclusion, we don’t need to make procedural decisions a constitutional right.

 Stay tuned for my candidate picks and why...