The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership releases a screed on private gun sales and, to nobody’s surprise, it contains misleading facts in it.
Sebastian comes through and compares their facts to reality.
Archive for November, 2007
Like Clockwork
November 7th, 2007Ax the Tax
November 7th, 2007I found this today on our company’s intranet: AxTheTax.com
It’s a movement to get Michigan’s new service tax repealed by referrendum if the state government doesn’t do it on their own, which is already underway.
So, I’ve signed up for a petition sheet and I’ll see if I can get a few signatures to send their way.
Lansing needs to wake up: Michigan is going into a recession. You can’t tax your way out of that. You have to cut costs just like we’re doing in the private sector. My employer just cut operating costs by about 45% in recent months. The proposed 2008 budget for Michigan is asking for $9.7 billion dollars. The shortfall is a projected $1.75 billion. That’s 18% of the budget.
That’s a tough cut to make, but it can be done. Hell “we” just did it three times over. Yes, some people lost their jobs. That’s unforunate, and I wish it wasn’t that way, but that’s what happens when you’re in a recession. I hope everybody landed safely in new positions.*
Now, here’s my proposal, and I know nobody in politics would touch with a 10′ pole. It’s things like this that I’m posting here that’ll forever keep me from elected office:
Take a look at the Health and Human Services budget. There’s $2.25 billion in there for “Income assistance” which I previously thought the amount spent in checks laid directly into the hands of people of low income, but taking a 2nd look at it a good chunk is for food stamps, child care, and things I’d hate to see people go without. But…
If we took $1.75 billion from there to cover the shortfall and used the rest for vouchers to move people into states that weren’t as fucked up as Michigan, where they could maybe get a better job, then we’d be in the clear. That solves the problem for the next year too.
Cruel? Hell yes it is, but that’s exactly what we do in the private sector. If you can’t bring enough to the table to convice Company A that you’re worth your salary they dump you and you’re off looking for Company B. Why not apply that at the state level? If you’re “overhead” for the State of Michigan maybe it’s time that you try being a citizen of Louisianna or Florida. You might actually be able to find a job there that’ll keep you off welfare. It’s a win-win-win situation if that works out. Michigan stops paying for your basic needs, you get a better job, and your new state starts using you as a revenue source! We’ll pay the moving costs too! That’s the kind of deal you won’t usually find in the private sector.
You know, the more I compare this to what happens in the private sector in my mind, the less cruel it sounds.
*: I’ve only made contact with one of the people laid off by my company and he found employment within days it seems. It was with one of our clients, working on the same project that they contracted with us to complete, and they’re directly across the street from us. He still comes over for lunch some days, so I think it’s safe to say that there aren’t any hard feelings there. Oh, and that client is still with us and kicking work our way, so that guy is still working with the same people in our company that he used to work with.
Ron Paul’s November the Fifth a Success
November 5th, 2007Well, color me slightly surprised.
As it sits right now Ron Paul has gathered up $2.75 million today. If you check the Ron Paul Graphs site you’ll see that he’s been recieving donations at a pretty steady rate of $200,000 an hour since early this morning:
Click to enlarge.
The average donation size for today is just south of $100, probably close to $98 if I’m reading the other graph right. If this holds up for the rest of the day, and I figure it will, he’ll be approaching $4 million by midnight eastern standard time.
This is nothing to sneeze at. Howard Dean was pretty well known for his ability to raise money, and his online campaign only managed to net $700,000 in a single day.
“Damn. Wow. Um, that’s pretty awesome,” said a stunned Jerome Armstrong who served as Howard Dean’s online strategist. Armstrong, the founder of the popular blog MyDD, said Dean raised as much as $700,000 in one day toward the end of the primary race. “But not a million,” Armstrong added. “What Paul is doing — or what his supporters are doing — is really impressive.”
Damn straight it’s impressive!
Ron Paul’s funding is increasing.
I’m seeing more signs for him in my area.
Going door to door on Saturday dropping off Ron Paul phamplets I find people that know who he is, and get excited seeing folks handing out his literature. It’s exciting to ask people, “Have you heard about Ron Paul?” and they light right up.
When I met up with my family on Sunday my dad asked me what I was up to lately and mentioned the literature drop off thing. When he heard “Ron Paul” he said quite simply, “Yeah, I’ve heard of that guy. He’s the only one that appears to be making any sense right now.” That’s awesome!
I am excited beyond words right now.
… and in the time it took me to write this post, Ron Paul has now gone from $2.75 million for the day to $2.9 million.
I really think we’ve got a chance here.
UPDATE: Looks like the total sits at $4.2 million. Holy shit!
Remember the Fifth of November
November 4th, 2007There’s a push out there to raise as much money as possible for Ron Paul on November the 5th.
The above link is asking you to pledge $100, but anything will do. It’s also pointless to pledge, because by the time you read this it’ll already be November the 5th, so just go ahead and donate. As of right now there are 18,201 pledges, and I’m one of them.
Count me in for $100 come tomorrow.
I wouldn’t be susprised if Ron Paul got a $2,000,000 cash injection on November the Fifth.
Looks Like a Good Deal
November 1st, 2007Local gun shop Silver Bullet Firearms has an Imbel L1A1 up for sale, used, at $400.
The listing marks it as an Imbel Liai which is a funny mistake. Seems that whoever is putting their stuff online might not have a whole lot of experience with FAL pattern weapons.
If I had the funds I’d be on that like a hobo on a ham sandwich.
Current Funds
November 1st, 2007Here’s something fun. A nice little sheet on the 2008 Presidential Campaign’s current funding levels.
Giuliani is in the lead with $16 million on hand and a meager $169,000 in debt.
Romney has a little over $9 million on hand, but he’s got $17 million in debt.
Thompson is next with over $7 milion on hand and nearly $700,000 in debt.
That brings us to my guy, Ron Paul, with $5.4 million on hand and $0 in debt. Yay for fiscal conservatives!
McCain has about $3.4 million on hand and $1.7 million in debt.
After that it tapers off quickly.
Huckabee has $650,000 on hand, $47k in debt.
Hunter has $132,000 on hand, and an even $50k in debt.
Tancredo has $110,000 on hand, $295,000 in debt.
Brownback, now out of the race, has $95,000 and $0 in debt.
Finally, we have Alan Keyes, also out of the race, with $12,000 on hand and $12,000 in debt.
[Ed: I originally posted that Keyes was out of the race. Apparently I'm mistaken. I presumed his lack of participation in the debates meant he was out of the race.]
What’s it all mean? Well, I honestly have no idea. But we do see a clear seperation between those with money and those without right now in the Republican Primary. Anybody gathering less funds that McCain is well beyond long-shot status at this point. That isn’t to say you shouldn’t vote for them in the primary. Far from it. Vote for who you think would represent you best, that’s what America is all about.
I know it probably doesn’t look like it, but right now I have no desire to start argueing with people over who they should vote for. I’m not sure I ever will again in my life. It’s usually a pointless exercise. Now, if I get the chance to engage somebody about a candidate that they’re unaware of, I’m all for that. If you want my opinion, which by default I assume you reading this do, then I’ll offer that up too, but I’m tired of the bickering.
That isn’t to say I’m tired of anything that has happened lately. Far from it. I find the comments left here on the posts I’ve made recently about the candidates to be great. When I posted about Huckabee seemingly looking good on the gun issue Thane Eichenauer drops a handy reminder in the comments that Huckabee has a history of raising taxes. That’s good! That’s the stuff I want to know about!
Reasoned discourse is good. Keep it coming!
