After the Show - 7/11/09 - Granite Grok

After the Show – 7/11/09

A couple of links on the subjects we talked about on the show:

Cap and Tax:

Your Green House, Cont’d

Jimmie Bise at the American Issues Project has a great follow-up on the cap-and-trade bill’s onerous home-retrofit mandates, which Kevin Williamson and I wrote about last week. Get this:

Pay close attention to (iii), (iv), and (vi) because those hit you right where you live. What that’s saying is the state will be empowered to inspect your home if you want to 1) renovate your house in any way that requires a building permit, 2) sell your house, or 3) change the name of the person responsible for any utility bill.

The bill enforces compliance by withholding tradable emissions allowances and other goodies from state governments until they crack down on the slackers. And once you comply with the directive to retrofit your home, the government reimburses you for no more than half of your expenses. Of course, the bill’s authors could make the argument that the nation’s biggest energy hogs don’t need the money.

I urge you to follow the second link (A Garden of Piggish Delights) – remember, this is NOT just about being the most costliest tax hike EVAH – it is also Statist believing they should easily be able to take your freedom of choice away from you – thousands of new regulations and mandates galore!

And they’ll be right if you don’t start getting mad and doing something about it!

Franklin Politicos rule for themselves and against Tax Payers:

You want to know why taxpayers hate government?  Get this line that we read on the air today from a Letter to the Editor from Gerry LeBlanc (Franklin City Councilor)

There is no one person responsible for this error.

And it goes on to say why he voted "to not allow this error go uncorrected." This is the problem – there never really seems to be anyone responsible for screw-ups like this – blame it on everyone!  While this is on the local level, the consequences of mistakes and the level of CYA only magnifies as you go up the level of government.  Councilor Andreozzi also has a Letter that shows the arrogance:

Instead of counting themselves fortunate for having escaped paying the missing portion in the previous tax year, they preferred to not have to pay it ever.

Got that?  She wants YOU to thank HER!  What a freakin’ attitude towards the taxpayer!  Problem is, government never suffers from its mistakes – only the taxpayers end up paying for them.  Ask yourself – why NOT have the politicians in charge be responsible instead?  These councilors have lost sight that Government is there for the benefit of the taxpayers and not Government itself.

One other Letter writer, Jeff Whitney, seems to have summed it up well:

Last night, I witnessed unadulterated politics without regard to the thoughts and opinions of the electorate. Make no mistake, I fully understand that this decision was not based on the needs of the city, but rather a move to break, what some see as the shackles of the tax cap. Not a single councilor gave one compelling argument for the over ride. It was a purely principled argument with a thinly veiled attempt to convince the voters, it was in the best interest of Franklin, and Councilors Rabinowitz and Andreozzi led the charge. Unfortunately the other councilors that voted for the override did not have the fortitude to fight for the right decision.

Lastly, although I am disappointed in the vote, I am particularly concerned with the contempt that Councilor Andreozzi showed to the public. She was not only condescending and haughty, but she insulted the intelligence of her constituency.

>