Ogre's Politics & Views

January 11, 2006

Freedom

Know what I like best about the internet? It's the only place where there's still quite a bit of freedom. For example, if I post here on the internet that "She's a pretty woman," I'm pretty much ok.

If I were to say the same thing at a place of employment, I would probably be fired, and would likely be sued.

If I said the same thing at a public University that I paid for, I would likely be expelled.

And the idea that I can say things on the internet and not be punished for incorrect thought REALLY bothers some people.

Posted by: Ogre at 11:26 PM | Comments (20) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Never-Ending Flight

I know it's not a funny story, but the tagline for it is just silly:

Flying from Tennessee to Florida, aircraft carrying four aviators never lands;

Uh...what? So the plane is still flying?

But to the families of those missing aviators, my prayers certainly will include you.

Posted by: Ogre at 08:34 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Federal Water Police

In case you didn't know about it, the federal government is watching your shower. No, it's not the Patriot Act, it's the water police. As Jeffrey Tucker so eloquently outlines, the federal government actually spends time and money monitoring the amount of water you use at one time.

No, there's no restrictions on how much water you can BUY, just how much you can USE at a given moment. In this article, it's the water flow through your shower head. I'm sure many of my readers know how little water you can get through today's newer shower heads.

Mr. Tucker suggests as an academic exercise removing the restrictor plate in the shower nozzle. There's no word on when the government will start searching through your trash to arrest you for having a shower head with too high a flow.

What I really loved about his article is the way American ingenuity took over -- since the regulations were per shower head, a company came up with a 3-headed shower head! Awesome.

So the federal government is going to investigate them. Yes, they could be forced at gunpoint to pay a fine for creating a water head that allows too much water through it. Who said government isn't too big and useless?

And yes, your toilet has that problem too -- that's why it clogs up all the time. I had a post somewhere about how to overclock a toilet, but I can't find it anywhere...but what I really want to know is why are businesses allowed to have toilets with just gallons and gallons of water, but lowly peons are not?

(H/T to Michelle Malkin).

Posted by: Ogre at 02:50 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Education Money Silliness

The left is sure weird when looked at through a lens of reality and logic.

I don't know about where you live, but in Mecklenburg County, NC, every single year the government-run monopolistic education system ("public" education) "needs" more money. The school board asks for, and liberals (including the Charlotte Observer) demand more money.

And when they get their 25-50% increases in spending, all is good because the left can then spend money better than you know how -- on administrators and other non-education related things in the school budgets.

However, when it comes to higher education, where customers (the students) actually have to pay for their own education, suddenly it costs too much and tuition should be paid on a sliding scale (the rich pay more), AND prices should actually be CAPPED!

Now why is it that when the government is paying for education, it's simply not possible for it to cost too much, but when individuals have to pay, no matter what the actual cost, they shouldn't have to pay anything?

Posted by: Ogre at 01:03 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Minimum Wage in NC

The Democrat Treasurer of North Carolina wants to make goods more expensive in North Carolina. Why? Because he may be running for governor in 2008 and wants to attract some support. Oh, why does HE claim?

"the labor market improves for low-income workers. This is because businesses actually start to do better when consumers have more money in their pockets."

So, in his mind, if we force businesses to pay more to make products, people will have more money to spend on the more expensive products.

Yes, he IS a Democrat.

Minimum wage laws might have been needed at one time. They are NOT needed today. Do you really think that if $2.00 an hour were offered for working at McDonald's that anyone would accept the job?

And if you are one of those who support a minimum wage, do you also support a maximum wage? If not, that doesn't make sense. If you do, what should the maximum wage be? And why only $6.15 for a minimum wage, as Mr. Moore wants? Why not $10 an hour? Why is $6.15 better than $10?

Minimum wage laws are socialist crap, no matter how you slice them. They are wrong and violently interfere with the free market. Their only real effect is to raise the prices for EVERYONE on EVERYTHING.

Posted by: Ogre at 10:05 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

January 10, 2006

It Worked in CA...

Well, one Democrat governor got removed from office recently for misconduct -- will another?

Monday afternoon, Kat Landry, founder of the website RECALLGOVERNORBLANCO.COM announced her intentions to file a recall petition for the office of the governor.

Who knows where this one will go?

(H/T to Louisiana Libertarian.)

Posted by: Ogre at 07:01 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Planned Parenthood is Criminal

Planned Parenthood, the euphemism for killing babies, is on record this past year as being complicit in at least 290 cases of criminal activity in IL. I'm not holding my breath for the prosecutions, however.

As Part-Time Pundit outlines, Planned Parenthood is making large amounts of cash by hiding crimes from the police. The crime? Rape. That's correct, Planned Parenthood of IL knows details about 290 cases of criminal rape, but they won't report them because they're more interested in earning cash.

Don't believe me? Their own website shows it! A girl is raped at age 11 and tells Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood conceals that rape from the authorities so they can get cash from the girl.

Go ahead, try and convince me they're doing good by enabling rapists. Oh, but there's people who actually SUPPORT this continuing action:

Your attempt to slander Planned Parenthood as an organization involved in child rape may be accepted by your fellow neo-whatevers, but its hardly credible for most of the rest of us.

So, despite current, active evidence that clearly shows that PP supports child rapists, some simply choose to absolutely not see the truth. Ignoring facts does not make you right or good.

Posted by: Ogre at 05:05 PM | Comments (25) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

New Advertiser

Yes folks, time once again to introduce a new advertiser here at Ogre's Politics and Views. This week, Organized Chaos has seen the wisdom of placing an advertisement here at Ogre's -- now don't let her down, click on the link and go read. And if you want to check back later in the week, the small square over there in the left column will be there all week.

Lisa, the author there is...(deep breath)

a conservative republican with some libertarian tendencies,a sports fan(baseball/college basketball and football), web geek, XM subscriber, talk radio addict, college grad, and a fan of snow (the white, fluffy stuff and the guy who works at FNC). And I think guys in bow ties rule (love ya tucker!).

Whew.

But there is some really good reading over there. There's a post with henry david thoreau quotes -- that are just excellent. She also talks about the brewing Abramoff scandal that shows it's NOT about campaign finance reform -- it's about scummy people.

There's lots more good stuff over there, so head on over and read a little, especially if you like politics -- you might find yourself a new daily read!

Oh, and if you're interested in adding your own ad here, to get that top box, you need a free BlogExplosion account...or you can buy a BlogAd (they're cheap!).

Posted by: Ogre at 03:01 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Eddie Goodall on the Lottery Lawsuit

In case you're wondering why a group of people would sue the state for illegally passing a lottery, Eddie Goodall, Senator from Union county, outlines his case. He describes exactly why and how the lottery passed, and what's wrong with it.

First let me tell you what our purpose isn't. There is nothing in the 23 pages of the complaint and petition that says anything negative (or positive) about a lottery. The lawsuit has nothing to do with the value of a state lottery.

It has everything to do with something far more fundamental to our citizens: adherence to the law.

This lawsuit is about asking the courts to force the Democrat-run state legislature to follow the Constitution. In fact, the more I look at the facts of this case, if the judges do not rule against the legislature, then the North Carolina Constitution seriously becomes just an advisory document that the Democrats are free to ignore.

The Constitution is very clear. The Democrats violated it. If this is left stand, there is no Constitution in North Carolina, except when the Democrats want there to be one.

Posted by: Ogre at 01:09 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Eminent Domain - NC

Get ready to lose more property rights in North Carolina. A committee is meeting to discuss eminent domain. Here's some anti-freedom quotes:

I don't think there's a single person here that wants to disrupt progress with our governments.

-Wilma Sherrill, R-Buncombe

Nope, there isn't. Only because you don't have anyone at your meeting that believes there is such a thing as property rights, apparently. Government and progress in the same sentence just don't go together.

We want to be sure that whatever we do ... that we don't take away the good things that can now be accomplished in North Carolina

Lucy Allen, D-Franklin

Left off of that sentence was the implied, "at the expense of individuals and liberty." Government isn't doing good things when they steal from individuals. These people meeting clearly hate property rights and believe that government is the end-all be-all determiner of the use of all land in the state. These people suck eggs.

State law allows local governments to condemn private property that's considered a community blight because it harms the health and safety or economic well-being of those surrounding it.

-Legislative Staff

So, in other words, New London can VERY EASILY happen in North Carolina. All a government has to do is decide that a certain section of privately owned land will harm the economic well-being of those around it by not being a manufacturing facility or a building of condos -- and then the government can take it.

If you support freedom and property rights, you simply cannot support this crop of morons shysters scum of the earth freedom-haters socialists legislators running North Carolina.

Posted by: Ogre at 10:04 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

January 09, 2006

Carnivals!

The New Blog Showcase is up at Dave's Not Here. This is where you can read about new blogs in the world. Be sure to head there, visit a few, and comment on at least one of them -- new blogs really do appreciate being found!

This week's Tarheel Tavern, a weekly Tavern of blogs from North Carolina, is up over at Nothing Could be Finer. Head on over and read, people!

Posted by: Ogre at 10:04 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Earth Engineer

Your Superhero Profile

Your Superhero Name is The Earth Engineer Your Superpower is Solar Your Weakness is Ants Your Weapon is Your Radiation Bullets Your Mode of Transportation is Space Shuttle

Uh...Yay?

Posted by: Ogre at 08:04 PM | Comments (20) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

When Guns Attack!

Andrew Marra, writer at the Palm Beach Post is reporting that guns are traveling throughout the community, attacking people at will! Beware, people, guns are attacking people!

Fed-up Riviera Beach leaders, troubled by a recent spurt of assault-rifle attacks that left an innocent bystander dead last week

I have seen no pictures of these violent guns attacking people. There is no word on where these evil chunks of metal are based. It is apparently not currently known what sort of evil is causing these usually inanimate objects to shoot. There is also no word on how these things are moving about, since I've never seen any with legs or other mechanical parts for movement.

But that's ok, because the city officials have a plan. They can solve this problem of weapons assaulting people. Are you ready? Pay attention people, for if guns ever jump up and start attacking you, this may be the solution you need to save your life:

"We think we ought to be able to say we don't want handguns in this community," City Manager William Wilkins said.

Why are people this stupid allowed to breed?

Posted by: Ogre at 03:05 PM | Comments (19) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

NC Lottery to Raise Property Taxes

Oh, this is a nice little tidbit you didn't hear about as the lottery supporters were working on their illegal passing of the lottery bill:

A full 14% of the profits from the lottery will go to counties with effective property tax rates above the state average

Yes, that's profits only, not taking into account the highest paid lottery director in the country and anything else that can fit into the "expenses" category, including the 7% of every single ticket that goes to the retailer.

So get ready for this line from county commissioners: "If we raise our property tax rate above the state average, we will get more money from the state for school construction to offset the tax increase."

Holy crap. It's going to be a massive race to see who can raise property taxes higher and faster than other counties -- because for those who are a little slow on the math, the higher everyone raises their taxes, the higher the average gets, and the higher everyone has to raise their taxes to get "above the average."

I sure hope those lawsuits that clearly outline how the lottery was passed illegally get through.

Posted by: Ogre at 01:03 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Even Less Freedom in NC

In North Carolina, despite outward appearances, there is little freedom. For example, if you want to serve the sick and poor, you must ask permission. If the state denies you that permission, you may not serve and help the sick and poor, no matter your qualifications.

In this case, a hospital wanted to expand and build more beds to serve and help more people. The hospital was fully qualified and had actual real doctors, nurses, and (of course) administrators. They owned some land and wanted to build.

The state said no. The state determined that the hospital did not have a so-called "certificate of need" to build, so they would not be permitted to build. Nothing else mattered. Actual sick people who needed hospitalization? Nope, that doesn't matter to the state.

All that matters to the state of North Carolina is them retaining all power over all people all of the time. That's just incredibly wrong. There is absolutely no logical reason that a private hospital, with private funds, should not be able to build a new building. The state has NO business stopping them.

But they are.

No, this is not freedom in any sense of the word.

Posted by: Ogre at 10:05 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

January 08, 2006

New Neighbor #39

It's time again for the weekly New Neighbor feature here at Ogre's Politics and Views. Each week Ogre randomly selects a blog from the large Evangelical Blogroll over there on the right side. This week's Neighbor is:

Cowboyology

Cowboyology is written by Clint, a resident of the Great White North, in Toronto and Ontario. I was in Ontario once, a long, long time ago -- for a band competition...

The blog's purpose is to "SPUR one another on toward love and good deeds." Nicely done, Clint!

The blog layout is a standard blogger, but hey, black text on a white background works just fine, and has for a very long time. And throughout the text, there's various different pictures, including those of a barn owl. The blog appears to be updated pretty regularly -- at least a few times a week.

There's also a long post about UVA UVAM VIDENDO VARIA FIT. It's Cowboy Proverb #11, but you'll have to head over there to read what it means if you don't read Latin.

So go over there and have a read. Perhaps you'll find a new blog to add to your Blogroll -- I've added him to my list of Neighbors. And don't forget to leave a comment letting him know what you think about the place!

Posted by: Ogre at 09:13 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Biblical Truth

I've been reading a bit lately (I read quite a lot, actually), and I've read a couple things that have really stuck with me. Here's a theological question for Sunday morning for you -- some people may have seen it before, but I just can't stop thinking about it:

Is something true because the Bible says it is (Christians believe on faith that the Bible is the inspired, authoritative word of God), or does the Bible say something is true because it IS true?

Or is there another answer?

Posted by: Ogre at 12:05 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

January 07, 2006

NC Gas Tax Increase

This past week, NC Conservatives presented the government with a petition asking that the recent gas tax increase, that will not be used for roads, to be repealed.

Don't look for it to happen any time soon...or later.

In order for the gas tax to be repealed, the Democrats leading North Carolina would have to agree to it. However, Jim Black, who has a personal checkbook that draws on tax revenues, is highly unlikely to support reducing the amount in "his" account.

The petition presented had over 22,000 signatures of NC voters on it, asking for the tax to be repealed. Check out the website for more facts about that "gas" tax and where the money goes. Then thank North Carolina Democrats for ensuring that you have to pay more taxes.

Posted by: Ogre at 05:02 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Media Liars?

So...I have a question.

If President Bush, when discussing the war in Iraq, relied on sources of information that were inaccurate, but no one knew at the time were inaccurate, and said some things that may not have been correct, lied, then...

When the media announced that the miners in WV were alive, by relying on information that was incorrect at the time, even if it was not known, doesn't that mean that the media lied?

Now can we all run around repeating, "The Media Lied?"

Posted by: Ogre at 03:09 PM | Comments (17) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

NC Legislature Smoke & Mirrors

In the legislator's minds, the North Carolina Legislature exists for one reason -- to spend money. To do that, of course, they have to TAKE money from someone who earned it. The government does NOT generate ANYTHING -- they are only capable of taking.

In recent years, doubling the state expenditures is not enough -- they want MORE to spend. After raising taxes literally over $20 million, they STILL don't have enough. So the state is now playing games with money to spend even more.

One way they are doing this was a big thing in Washington, DC before the Republicans took over in the 90s -- unfunded mandates. For those who don't remember those, it was when the Congress demanded that states spend money on certain programs, but then wouldn't provide funding for it -- in effect, forcing the states to spend money.

Now they're only bribing states, but that's an issue for another day.

That was stopped years ago by Congress. It would have been better stopped by repealing the 17th Amendment (which stopped states from electing US Senators which was a GOOD thing), but that's an issue for another day.

But now the state of North Carolina is doing it to it's counties. The state tells the county how much it WILL spend on Medicaid (medical care for the alleged "poor" which is actually better care than most people get who PAY and WORK for it), but do not provide the counties with the money to pay for it.

There's an easy solution, but one that won't be taken. Counties should just send the bill to the state or simply ignore them. What will the state do, arrest the county leaders? And then what? The state will have to pay anyway! Counties of North Carolina, take control -- tell the state to pay or get lost.

But, alas, no -- what will happen instead is that the counties will raise money to pay for it the only way they can -- through raising property taxes. Then the state will say that they didn't raise taxes and the county legislators will say that THEY didn't raise taxes either. And the working person? Well sorry, you're just screwed.

Posted by: Ogre at 01:03 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

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