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Culture War

A Tale of Two Cities: Detroit and Houston

GOOD READ below, from from National Review. You can subscribe to National Review HERE (I do; well worth it).

Houston, We Have a Solution 
A tale of two cities 
BY MARIO LOYOLA 

On a warm Saturday evening in June 1943, crowds were relaxing on Belle Isle, a retreat slightly larger than New York’s Central Park nestled in the Detroit River, which separates Canada and the United States. Belle Isle’s landscapes and structures were a showcase of great American architecture: Frederick Law Olmsted, Albert Kahn, and Cass Gilbert all were represented. Its botanical garden, yacht club, memorial fountain, golf course, and opulent marble lighthouse offered a serene testament to the grandeur of Detroit. 

Exactly what started the riots that night, we’ll never know for sure. There seems to have been a confrontation between a white sailor’s girlfriend and a black man, which led to a brawl. As contradictory rumors raced through the city, the conflagration spread. By the time federal forces intervened to impose law and order three days later, dozens of people had been killed, mostly blacks, and millions of dollars of property destroyed, mostly in the poor, black, inner-city neighborhood of Paradise Valley. 

Detroit’s fall can be traced to the race riots of 1943, though many decades of prosperity and achievement still lay ahead. The rise and fall of Detroit is history on an epic scale: Favored by fortune at first, then plowed under its wheel, the city has had a lot of bad luck. But as Oscar Wilde lamented as he languished in Reading Gaol near the end of his life: “I must say to myself that I ruined myself, and that nobody great or small can be ruined except by his own hand. . . . Terrible as was what the world did to me, what I did to myself was far more terrible still.” 

Houston had suffered race riots, too, during World War I, but fortune would smile on it for most of the 20th century….

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IGNORING THE U.S CONSTITUTION

 “Congress seems to want to cure every ill known to man except unconstitutional government and high taxes.” ~Charley Reese

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 BillofRightsVOid.jpgFriday, August 19, The Federal Election Commission released two draft advisory opinions indicating that it might allow a naturalized, Guyana-born American citizen to file papers and raise funds for run a Presidential run in 2012.

New York City lawyer Abdul Hassan, under this ruling, could conceivably be permitted to go through the initial steps to run for president. Hassan was born in the South American country of Guyana in 1974, and asked the FEC in July whether he could legally raise funds for his presidential candidacy.

Faced with the possibility of deciding a substantial question of a constitutional nature, one would think the FEC would simply tell him to, “get lost” and petition the judicial branch for such a substantial pivotal answer. Do you think they did that? No. . The hacks at FEC readily and willingly stepped up and responded, “although the Commission can respond to the questions asked in [his] advisory opinion, the Commission cannot make any determination as to whether [Hassan] can, as a naturalized citizen, serve as President.”

FEC told Hassan in a July 18 e-mail response that he could be a candidate, may solicit funds and would be required to file disclosure reports. But opinions differ on whether he may receive federal matching funds.  In the FEC’s first draft opinion, they advise Hassan that he would not be able to receive matching funds citing the constitutional provision. Yet, in the second draft opinion, they dodge the question entirely, characterizing it as a, “hypothetical question.”

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What I Hate About Wal-Mart

It’s not one of those "angst at their humongous success" screeds, I’m just trying to figure out why it takes so damn long to get out of that place.  So this is more about fundamentals of business.  Because the retail giant, that’s how the media refers to them, has in fact added much needed efficiencies to the global distributions system.  No argument there.  They provide discounted items to hundreds of millions annually, making creature comforts and necessary every-day products attainable to a wider swath of the population than anyone. (And more efficiently than the Democrats beloved federal government, I might add.) And they employ an army larger than most armies–wage and benefit arguments aside–because when you have staggering, persistent, inflation and unemployment as we do in the Obama economy, still having a job to wake up to is like getting a raise every-single- day. Even if the government is making it worth less and less, every-single-day.

Wal-MartSo what’s my beef (about Wal-Mart)?

I work in Amherst, New Hampshire and the Wal-Mart Super Store there is, if nothing else, convenient.   It is convenient to get to, but not convenient to get out of, and there lies my "operational" complaint.  No matter what time of day I am in there, 6am, lunchtime, afternoon, evening,…there are never, EVER, enough cashiers.  Did I say never?

The average time spent standing in the check-out line at Wal-Mart is most certainly a reflection of their desire to charge less for some items, but can we possibly try to keep it under fifteen minutes?  It takes me twice as long to get out as it does to do the actual shopping, most of which is spent walking from the entrance to whatever zip code the milk cooler is in and back.  This is a problem.

Long check out lines.  High average check.  Cashier bagging everything….hope you are not in a hurry.

So what about the self-checkout? Great idea.  I love it.  Except that so does everyone else because the other lines are so damn long. 

The latest trend at self-checkout, OK it is not the latest I’m just being timely, seems to be that people with fifty items or more also feel compelled to use it, as if this will actually take less time than standing in another line.  These are of course the same people who have no idea how to use it, if that gives you some idea of where this is headed.

This is not like trying a new salad dressing at lunch, or a new look, or even a new vacation destination.  This is serious.  Other peoples lives are affected.

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THE SHRILL KATHY And Her Bill O’Brien Rant

“Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.” ~Ronald Reagan

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When one reads the Shrill Kathy’s latest diatribe in the Union Leader, there is one theme that plays like a broken record: Tax, Tax, Tax…Spend, Spend, Spend.  The Shrill Kathy complains, “a 10-cent cut in the cigarette tax, did not change prices for smokers because the tobacco companies raised their prices…” I think I missed something because the former argument of the day was that the tobacco tax reduction would increase youth smoking. So, now here’s Kathy Sullivan arguing the ill merits of a tax typically inflicted upon Granite Staters who earn the least….a tax on the poor…which of many, smoke.

Next, the Shrill Kathy complains that, “House budget writers ignored every signal that the federal government was about to impose a $35 million penalty for Medicaid errors dating back to the Benson administration…” adding that, “Their irresponsibility has caused a gaping hole in their ballyhooed ‘balanced budget’.”  How conveniently she ignores the fact that her beloved Democratic party, led by Teri “Billion-dollar deficit” Norelli had two full terms to reconcile and fix this issue, but did not do so. Instead, they created more layers of government, increased over one-hundred fees and taxes and put into motion record unsustainable budgets, creating the fiscal mess this state now faces.

The Shrill Kathy whines, “New Hampshire hospitals are laying off hundreds of employees because O’Brien and his Republican colleagues took away federal money that had paid hospital costs for the poor…” Yet it hard to ignore the countless millions of construction dollars hospitals are using to competitively outspend one-another in an unquenchable drive to be better than the next facility.  Now that the Democrats have created yet another constituency cash cow that becomes as angry as any other when bloated coffers are not being filled, The dependable Shrill Kathy is all too willing to step into the limelight and pimp their cash loss off onto the poor. Isn’t it about time we stop the demagoguing and manipulation of the less fortunate? Let’s be honest here; You don’t really care about poor people, Kathy.

Mayor Gatsas is no different than any other cash cow constituent, be it Republican or Democrat. Every entity that gets some form of funding for something from the state or federal government cries, cut theirs…but NOT MINE!  Cuts made to the at-risk juvenile program, shows no indication of any highly-paid hacks taking any pay cuts or losing their jobs. Nope! self-preservation trumps program delivery.

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THE SILENCE OF VICTIM ADVOCACY

“The trust of the innocent is the liar’s most useful tool.” ~Stephen King, American Writer

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Former Keene, NH resident 38-year-old Kerry Touzin walks free today. She walks free despite having falsely accused another of rape.  Police agencies from Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire spent more than 150 hours investigating and arresting the person she accused of rape. While in custody, the man fully cooperated with police. Charges were dropped against the man and Touzin was charged, according the the Keene Sentinel
and Union Leader.

Kerry Touzin got off light. She was sentenced to 360 days in Jail, having served 60 and the 300 remaining were suspended upon good behavior. We should not be surprised. Keen is one of those bastions of liberalism where, despite Touzin’s reprehensible act that nearly cost another his freedom, she is still treated as a victim.

Aside from professional athletes, we are seeing more frequent media accounts of false allegations of domestic violence and rape. We have finally arrived at a place in society where we are acknowledging that perhaps there are some among us who see such allegations as a means to exert power over others.

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KRISTIN RUGGIERO ATTORNEY ACCUSED OF ALTERING DOCUMENT

“A witch and a bitch always dress up for each other, because otherwise the witch would upstage the bitch, or the bitch would upstage the witch, and the result would be havoc” ~Tennessee Wiliams, American Playwright

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The Union Leader’s James A. Kimble reports this morning that convicted liar Kristin Ruggiero’s divorce attorney, Linda Theroux, is being brought before the State Attorney Discipline Office charging that Theroux changed a military release form violating state ethics rules. Theroux, who represented Kristin Ruggiero in the divorce case, stands accused of misconduct during the course of her representation.

Theroux allegedly altered a military records release form Jeffrey Ruggiero signed and handed over to her, wrote James Kruse, an attorney for the Attorney Discipline Office.

Attorney James Kruse for the Discipline Office charges that Theroux altered a Military Records release given her by Jeffrey Ruggiero. After receiving the release Theroux’s alteration expanded the scope of inquiry in adding that Ruggiero assented to disclosing his “entire military file” notwithstanding documents classified as ‘Secret’ or ‘Top Secret’ or for National Defense Purposes,” Theroux never subsequently submitted the records release for judicial review by the family court, Kruse’s complaint further charges.

Kristin Ruggiero is a story that won’t go away for a long time to come. It is the quintessential epic saga of  of lying, manipulation, skullduggery…a plot found only on scripts of daytime soaps, but with all the trappings of a Shakespearian tragedy, sans dark humor.

Union Leader’s Kimble reports that, “Jeffrey Ruggiero’s divorce lawyers at the time, Phil DesFossess and Celeste Christo, found out about the altered document when they were contacted by a U.S. Coast Guard commander.”

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545 People Are Responsible For The Mess, But They Unite In A Common Con

“Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.”~Plato, Ancient Greek Philosopher

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Charley Reese retired July 29, 2001. Who was Charley Reese? He was a columnist, serving 30 of those years at the Orlando Sentinel.  Characterized best by his plainspoken manner and conservative views,  he was with the Sentinel from 1971–2001, serving as  a writer and other such editorial capacities. King Features Syndicate distributed Charley’s column, which published up to three times a week.

 On February 3, 1984 Charley originally published the column below. This column additionally republished as his final column. Rightfully so and despite being 27 years removed from its orignal publish date, it is no less relevant. 

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

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SUPPORT LITERACY

“I know a lot of people think I’m dumb. Well, at least I ain’t no educated fool.”  ~Leon Spinks  Literacy is the vital to individual success in our modern world. The ability to read, write, and speak English enables people to get jobs, participate in children’s education, maintain family health, and participate in our society.  … Read more

Florida Adopts Drug Testing For Recipients Of Public Assistance

“One of the consequences of such notions as “entitlements” is that people who have contributed nothing to society feel that society owes them something, apparently just for being nice enough to grace us with their presence.”~Thomas Sowell

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Florida is the first state to pass a law requiring those receiving state benefits to submit to drug testing. Florida Governor Rick Scott told CNN that the law was passed to provide personal accountability of those who would receive public assistance. Governor Scott believes that taxpayers should not be subsidizing the illegal drug use of those who are on the public dole. Under this law, those seeking to receive aid would be responsible to bear the up-front cost for drug testing, but the law provides for reimbursement.

And as predictably as could be anticipated, the rank-and-file liberal establishment lined right up to fight and advocate for status quo unaccountability. The perjuring impeached former Federal Judge and current State Representative Alcee Hastings made a whole bunch of noise about this bill being, “downright unconstitutional.” There is somebody we should listen to.  

The ACLU does what it usually does and filed a suit to block the law. Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida told CNN, “What (the Governor) is doing is giving ugly legitimacy to an unfortunate stereotype that has been in this country for a couple of decades – that all welfare recipients are a bunch of drug abusers,” pure demagoguery…But okay…let us look at what Howie confabulates.

It is a fair statement to say that not all people on welfare use illegal drugs. Fact is, we don’t really know how many people on welfare use drugs. Nobody wants to talk about it for obvious political reasons. However, lets take a look at what the National Poverty Center says about drug use:

“Citing (April 2004) estimates of the extent of substance abuse among welfare recipients, the authors suggest that policymakers and analysts have likely overstated the contribution of substance dependence to welfare receipt. The authors note that while substance use, abuse, and dependence are barriers to self-sufficiency, so are poor education, lack of transportation, physical and mental health problems, and other difficulties that are more common than substance dependence among welfare recipients. The authors stress the need for comprehensive services to address the multiple barriers faced by the most disadvantaged welfare recipients.”

NPC steers clear of making any concrete determination by simply directing attention away from drug use, to the whole host of other problems endemic in the welfare community. Their underlying thesis is to modestly acknowledge drug use but redirect the focus away from it and advocate for a more broader expansion on services. In other words, “Taxpayers, don’t ask us for details, you simply must pay more…”

The NPC has a graphic on their website that would suggest only 21% of welfare recipients use illegal drugs. Lets accept that at face value for the sake of discussion. In the Granite state roughly 53,000 households or 112,000  people use food stamps. That is roughly 1% of the total state population. According to the Henry Kaiser Family foundation, New Hampshire’s per capita food stamp benefit is $121.21. That is $13,575,520. So according to the National poverty center, the Granite State pays a public benefit in the amount of $2,850,859 to people who use illegal drugs. And with our liberal friends that is just aye-okay.

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Evil Landlords Who Pick On Tenants

“I like to think of my behavior in the sixties as a ‘learning experience.’ Then again, I like to think of anything stupid I’ve done as a ‘learning experience.’ It makes me feel less stupid.“ -P.J. O’Rourke

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I was at a housing office today dropping off some “required paperwork.” As I sat waiting to review the issues that brought me there, I was forced to listen to a couple of young women talk about how they were going to hire attorneys and, “get their landlords.” Their complaints ran the gamut of being forced to get rid of pets (they were not supposed to have in the first place)… to the landlord’s refusal to repair a door broken by a boyfriend during a quarrel. Those Landlord bastards! The nerve of them! how dare they?

It is such conversations that so amuse me. For certain, being a landlord is a difficult endeavor. Take Manchvegas, for example where the city mandates Certificate Of Compliance Inspections (COC); A process that takes place every three years for those of us ‘evil bastards‘ who own multi-family residential housing. This can be an annoying process. One year’s COC inspection I was informed of a requirement to upgrade smoke detectors to the AC type with DC battery back-up. The current smoke detectors were already hard-wired so this wasn’t a difficult task. However, upon reviewing the building code, I found myself needing to call the building department for clarification. I was unable to find that specific reference. I was subsequently told the requirement had not been adopted yet.  Guess it didn’t matter, though. I had already spent the 500 bucks to purchase the AC/DC smoke detector units and install them. For me this was an object lesson in (a) waiting for the post-inspection report to arrive in the mail, and (b) verifying the very issues cited in the report.

Window screens are yet another challenge. I mean, how stupid is that? Window Screens? But, a COC inspection cannot pass muster without the proper window screens in place. I always ensure window screens are in place for COC so that is not an issue. But, despite that, there are often tenants who are fundamentally challenged by the mere existence of window screens. They break them, lose them or destroy them. After I’ve replaced a couple and receive yet another request to do so, I demand the screen-challenged tenant “pony up” 22 dollars for an entire frame and screen replacement and 12 dollars for a screen replacement. The tenant gives me a bunch of indignant static. “It wasn’t on purpose!” he or she exclaims… Standing my ground and insisting, the tenant calls the building department to report my, “refusal to replace a missing window screen.”  The building department subsequently issues a “violation of the COC:” “failure to have the window screens in place.”  A landlord keeping proper track of expenses will quickly conclude that spending $700 per year on window screens is excessive and unreasonable.

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William Jasmin The Beer Hunter

“He uses statistics like a drunk uses lamp-posts, more for support than illumination…” ~Romano Prodi

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 “(Attorney B.J. Branch) acknowledged that Jasmin had been drinking on the day of the accident but said he had only consumed one 16-ounce Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and was at or below the legal limit for intoxication. He added that because of Jasmin’s serious blood loss, the blood alcohol test may not have been accurate.” -Concord Monitor, 7/20/11

 If one reads attorney Branch’s comment to the monitor at face value, you might just have the initial reaction that I had: “I think this attorney is full of crap.” The comment on its face suggests that Jasmin’s blood alcohol concentration cannot be effectively measured because he had experienced significant blood loss immediately after his fall.

Blood Alcohol Concentration measured is always the current and existing level in the blood at the time of a serological draw. BAC refers to the percent of alcohol in a person’s blood stream. For example, a BAC of .10% means that the individual’s blood supply contains one part alcohol for every 1000 parts blood.  That is the alcohol concentration existing in the blood stream at the proximal time of the draw. If a person consumed another several alcoholic beverages only minutes prior to the draw, that alcohol content has a higher probability of not being reflected in a test.

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Nice hoax. They say it’s real…but…”not.”

This is a cool hoax going around now. It’s presumably a project done by engineers and musicians. This machine was supposedly built as a collaborative effort between the Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa. 97% of the machine’s components are said to have come from John Deere Industries and Irrigation Equipment … Read more

If You Are Not Following Me On Twitter….

Twitter inspires the opportunity to aggravate the leftists who insist on following conservatives there. Not every witticism will fit on Twitter. Sometimes you have to write a blog and post a link. And then there are the thoughts that are too short to blog and too long to tweet. (Some things can’t be said in under 140 characters.)

Obama Administration Won’t Ban Your Guns…But The U.N. Will

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“United Nations: Where America feeds the hands that bite it” – Gregory Nunn

The Second Amendment debate is a never-ending and ongoing debate that has taken the argument all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. District of Columbia v. Heller,1 held that the Second Amendment is an individual’s protected right to possess a firearm for lawful purposes in federal enclaves; Purposes such as self-defense within the personal domicile. McDonald v. Chicago,2 was also a landmark Supreme Court decision to determine whether the Second Amendment is applicable to the individual states. Summarily, the Court held an individual’s right to “keep and bear arms” is incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and does in fact apply to states.  It is without dispute that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is fundamentally, culturally, and socially a cornerstone of American life, underscoring the natural right of self-defense which is essential to liberty.

As of 1986, thirty-five states had some form of right to carry through licensure. of those thirty-five states, only eight were “shall-issue” states (meaning a license must be issued if no legal reason existed to prohibit such issuance); nineteen of those states were “may-issue” states (meaning the issuing authority could issue or deny upon his or her own discretion) and only one state (Vermont) was unrestricted (meaning no licensure required to carry a firearm concealed or openly). Fifteen states were “no-issue” states.  Meanwhile, Legislatures across the nation acted over the last 25 years.  Presently forty-eight states have some form of right to carry through licensure. Wisconsin and Illinois still do not allow citizens the right to carry guns, nor does the District of Columbia.

A whole lot of people, organizations and groups, have spent time, money and energy to advocate for second amendment issues, pass laws and pave the way for the right to keep and bear arms. Despite this, it totally confounds me why some of our citizens, despite their stated support for the second amendment, still turn around and vote for gun-grabbing liberals like Barack Obama?

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The Terrorist Next Door

Investigative reporter Erick Stakelbeck, host of the network program “Stakelbeck on Terror,” has written a book everyone needs to pay attention to. It’s called “The Terrorist Next Door, ‘How the government is deceiving you about the Islamist threat.”

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