Property Tax Hearing Tonight

Posted on | February 8, 2010 | 4 Comments

Loudoun County government offices will be closed Monday, February 8, 2010, due to the effects of the record-setting snowstorm that struck our region this weekend. However, the Loudoun County Administrator’s budget presentation and the Board of Supervisors Public Hearing will go on as scheduled.

County Administrator Tim Hemstreet is scheduled to present his proposed FY 2011 budget at 4:00 p.m., in the Board Room of the Loudoun County Government Center, 1 Harrison Street, S.E. in Leesburg. The Board’s monthly public hearing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the same location.

This is a chance for people to let the current BOS know just how popular the proposed in property taxes will be. This is a chance to let the BOS know that increasing the size of the school budget when everyone else has to face a decrease in lifestyle is unacceptable. Go and let your voice be heard.

Tag Greason Disappoints

Posted on | February 8, 2010 | 5 Comments

HOUSE BILL NO. 971 is a sales tax. This bill is most egregious in that is a plan for future spending, when the economy is back on its feet. The bill targets fuel use. It will collected as part of the sales tax and will be buried in the price of other items sold through vending machines; as such the sponsors are attempting for this new levy to be a hidden tax. The bill in its totality is here.

In addition to the sales tax imposed pursuant to § 58.1-603, there is hereby levied and imposed in each county and city embraced by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority established under § 15.2-4830, a retail sales tax at the rate of 0.50 percent.

The bill reenacts § 58.1-604.1 and § 58.1-608.3, with the former stating:

Use tax on motor vehicles, machinery, tools and equipment brought into Virginia for use in performing contracts.

with the later being the vehicle for setting aside the taxes for application to …

any public facility or to extensions or additions to any public facility

This is not even a targeted tax that will set aside money for roads. Apparently we need more firehouses with Greco-Roman columns like the one near Purceville off of RT7?

That Rust and May sponsored/wrote this mess is not a surprise. The only good thing about Rust is that he is not Stevens Miller. Kory and Watts, both of Fairfax, both Democrats, also cosponsored this bill. What is a surprise is that our freshman delegate Tag Greason voted for this bill. The vote on the committee was:

YEAS–Orrock, Lohr, Greason, Pollard, Englin, Abbott–6.
NAYS–Cline, Cole, Gear, Marshall, R.G.–4.
ABSTENTIONS–0.
NOT VOTING–Johnson–1

Of the five delegates who represent Loudoun county, three are on the wrong side of this issue, and one is not involved. This is the kind of thing that crushed Republicans in the 2006 and 2008 election cycles. Republicans start acting like Democrats and forgot that the money belongs to the people. VA is in a financial hole not because we tax too little, but because we spend too much. When growth in the budget exceeds growth in the economy, the end result is deficits.

The real trouble with our state and federal government is the spending. New taxes are not fiscally responsible as the proponents of such legislation would contend. This is akin to providing an alcoholic with a full bottle of whiskey and calling it responsible because, “Now he won’t drive as badly as he would if he were suffering from withdrawal.” I also have a bridge to sell to anyone who is willing to buy it.

Our legislators are addicted to spending. Taxes are just a means to this end. We must target the spending and reduce it; then the current taxes collected will suffice. If the legislators are able to cut the budget, current revenues will exceed our needs. The size of government relative to GDP is far too large already. People in VA are tightening their belts, so must Richmond. It has been done elsewhere, 34 states are cutting their budgets. We are raising taxes. What is wrong with this picture?

The people we elect, be they Republican or Democrat, must realize that the total size of government must be reduced. To paraphrase the politics of the 90’s, “It’s the spending, stupid.” To reduce spending takes far more courage than it does to levy a new tax that will not take effect for several years, as HB971 does …

no provision of the first enactment, except adding § 30-134.1 to the Code of Virginia, shall become effective until the first day of the third month following six consecutive months in which the unemployment rate in the Commonwealth is equal to or lower than it was in January 2008

It will be a while before this tax is enacted, but it will be a thorn in our sides when it goes into effect. Are the sponsors and supporters of this bill counting on the electorate to forget who foisted this new expense upon them? Why push a bill that is in effect a plan for future government expansion, when the size of government is too big already? Are not fiscal conservatives for smaller government? Is not Tag Greason touted as a fiscal conservative?

An argument that it is a tax that will not go into effect now, but, will wait for good times to return (thereby not harming Virginians) does not hold water. Such a tax will hurt us when it does take effect. Most importantly such a tax will be used to fuel further growth in government and allow for more spending. The end result will be an even larger financial hangover when the lean times return.

The deficits we run today were born years ago when the economy was doing well. The economy expanded and so did the size of our government. Instead of maintaining the level of services, which already were too profligate, the government took the opportunity to grow. The government grew faster than the economy and now in the lean times we are saddled with crushing debt and deficits.

Voting to increase taxes — even if they are in the far future, possibly after Tag retires from politics — is not why the people of Loudoun sent Greason to Richmond. Target the spending Mr Greason. All spending has constituencies that will protect it. It takes far more courage to slay the dragon than it does to feed it.

Tag’s platform touted fiscal conservatism and keeping VA business friendly. HB971 is not fiscal conservatism; HB971 is not business friendly legislation. Forget the lipstick folks, this bill is a pig. Tag is new to Richmond and we have great hopes for him here in Loudoun. Mistakes happen, and this vote was a mistake Tag.

Like it or not? You have got to be kidding!

Posted on | February 8, 2010 | 11 Comments

When I read this, I thought “You have got to be kidding me”. Either this guys is pure stupid, is dangerous beyond belief, or just doesn’t read what his speeches say prior to giving them (which implies incompetent, but we already knew that). The part that is most salient is:

“Like it or not, we have to have a financial system that is healthy and functioning,”

So our president thinks that we might not like having a financial system that is healthy and functioning. The connotation of the phrase “like it or not” is that even though the thing being spoken of is negative, wrong or evil, it is necessary. So our president believes a healthy and functioning financial system is not a good thing. 2012 can’t come quickly enough.

Obama supporters, are you embarrassed by him yet? I’m beyond embarrassed at this point, and I didn’t even vote for him (though he is an embarrassment to every American). I’d suggest he ought to resign, but that would put the worst succession of power chain up that anyone could imagine (Biden … yuck, Palosi … even worse). At least Obama is incapable of getting things done … the damage will be limited while he is in office.

Super Bowl commercials not overly impressive so far

Posted on | February 7, 2010 | 31 Comments

My take so far: what a colossal waste of money most of the super bowl commercials are. Anhauser Busch especially should be ashamed of their marketing department.

The game is ok. I thought the colts would win by a mile but that’s not happening.

Scenes From The Feb. 2010 Snow Storm

Posted on | February 6, 2010 | 25 Comments

Little dogs hate big snow, wish all glaciers would finally melt

More scenes from the Budzinski household this afternoon, below the fold.

Read more

Simple Series #2-Economics.

Posted on | February 4, 2010 | 10 Comments

I didn’t know how to post the picture so you don’t get to see it. I got out the crayons and paper again for those lead-headed individuals that just can’t seem to grasp reality. It doesn’t get more simple than this.

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama’s socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer..
The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama’s plan”. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A….
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

The by-product from this message has to do with competition, which is healthy and necessary for a good economy and personal drive. One thing I can tell you for sure: this professor would never be allowed to teach at Harvard!

Wonder why your mail is not being delivered?

Posted on | February 1, 2010 | 30 Comments

[Well serious journalistic style blogging is still not going to be my stock in trade this time of year folks because I just don't have the time. So let this serve as my preemptive apology to all who have been needling me to write stuff and may be saying, "Hey, how come Joe has time to write THIS silly blog post when he won't write the important one I've been asking for for months?!" Sorry about that, but as I've noted before, for $3500 a week with a written guarantee of 90 weeks I WILL be your huckleberry, I promise, but not until then. 'Kay?]

So. What has inspired us to take time out of our busy schedule to sit down and write an original blog post today?

What has inspired us is a series of events that combines a number of my pet issues; including horrific customer service, the United States Postal Service, and bad marketing which is so bad that those who perpetrate it should be stoned, by which I do NOT mean invited into your condo for some musty Hawaiian doobage, but rather tied to the lamppost and struck with bricks until dead.

Some of my commentary here will allude to the employees of the United States Postal Service which, to me, is an overly wordy allusion, so let’s just create a shorthand reference here and call them “Cocksuckers.”

Anyways back in early December I took the initiative to send Christmas cards this year, which with work and personal is a LOT of Christmas cards (and for all of you who did not get one from me, just imagine how huge my contact base must be if YOU did not even make it onto the list. I am talking LEGIONS of Christmas card recipients here.)

A couple of my cards came back, for lack of postage. This is odd, because I double check my stamps before dropping letters in the mail box the same way Rain Man double checks his socks before depositing them in the dresser drawer. There is no way I left off a stamp. Then, in a conversation with a local friend, I heard she had cards come back because the new “holiday” USPS stamps fell off. Well, that made perfect sense to me, because the glue on those stamps did seem flimsy, and as I said I never forget to include a stamp.

The cards that came back had a red ink stamped notice “Returned for lack of postage, when remailing cross out this notice or place stamps over it” where the stamp would have been. So I put on a new stamp and re-mailed. Unfortunately, the re-stamped cards came back.

Charge to Joe so far by the Cocksuckers: 88 cents each and still no delivery.

The next stage in this drama took place last week when I needed to send out the month’s bills, and was also sitting on over $30 worth of the USPS “Holiday” stamps each with an angel’s breath worth of adhesion waiting to surrender to the elements. So I wrote out all the checks and sealed the envelopes and applied my “Holiday” stamps each with a tiny piece of transparent tape holding the stamp onto the envelope by the lower portion.

Lo and behold, today the first of these bill payments came back to me, with a red ink stamp by the Cocksuckers stating “Stamps void when coated, covered, defaced or reused. Return for postage.”

Thus I can expect all of my 20 or so payments to come back, many of which will be late by the time I re-package and resend, and some of which may never be received since I don’t have much faith in the Cocksuckers to really care about whether these are returned in a timely manner. The first which I received back today was to a charity, and some of them were specifically for Haiti, so there you go: The US Government refusing to accept posted instruments which each displayed completely verifiably paid transit costs, returned for the good old government excuse: I shall screw you over because I can, because I work for the government.

Note it should make no difference to the Cocksuckers at USPS. Obviously the stamps have been paid for, and obviously the only reason for putting a piece of tape is because they have been falling off. I get nothing out of having to add extra adhesion. These people are simply looking for a reason to refuse to deliver my letters. Letters arrive wet, they arrive spindled or mutilated, and the USPS ostensibly tries to deliver each. But with their crappy Holiday stamps they take the opportunity to use the little piece of tape as a reason to send it back.

Thanks a lot, Cocksuckers.

The key takeaway from this is, in my view: Never buy anything from the US Government that you don’t absolutely HAVE to buy. Holiday stamps are a total waste of money, and I will end up trashing over $30 in stamps because I was stupid enough to buy them from the Cocksuckers at the USPS.

Also, DO NOT SEND ANYTHING VIA THE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE IF YOU CAN SEND IT ANOTHER WAY.

This is like Obama Motors, friends. Just like you should never, ever buy a car from Chrysler or GM ever again, you should make a full scale effort to avoid doing business with the Cocksuckers at USPS.

Here is a useful vignette for those of you who live in Sterling Park: Go to Costco. On the wall between the food court and the employee cafeteria is a whiteboard listing the sheer efficiency ratings of Costco employees. It’s purely numbers: How many customers was each Costco employee able to check out. Some of them are amazing, and you experience this when you go through the line at Costco, Their job is to do their job and they are very, very good at it.

Compare this to the Sterling Post Office, where more often than not the employee mission seems to be to make each transaction last as long as possible so as to ensure the minimum number of potential customers are served during the course of a day. These are the Cocksuckers whose salary you are paying, and who go out of their way to make your life difficult and, if you were stupid enough to purchase their Holiday stamps, to keep your letters from arriving at the intended destinations. They find ways to avoid delivering your mail, costing you money and costing the people you want to pay money, while also skimming money from your pocketbook the whole time.

Pay your bills online, spend a little more to send your packages with Fed Ex or UPS, and help put the Cocksuckers at USPS out of business.

And throw away those Holiday stamps, they are useless and you have been had.

Expanding on 0bama’s Idea

Posted on | February 1, 2010 | 20 Comments

President 0bama did present a very interesting idea in his State of the Union speech, that all earmarks should be posted online by the requestion congresscritter before it is voted on. That is fine as far as it goes, but it should go farther. The requesting congresscritter should also be required to quote the section of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the earmark says.

Candace Strother Addresses Loudoun County Republican Committee

Posted on | January 30, 2010 | 7 Comments

Candace Strother, candidate for LCRC chair, addresses the committee on January 26, 2010.

Documents re: the March 6, 2010 mass meeting can be found here. It does not cost anything to show up and vote, but apparently there is a $30 fee if you want to join the committee.

UPDATE: Please click here to read Ric James’ excellent overview of the choice facing the LCRC.

Click here to read Loudoun Insider’s report on the most recent LCRC meeting.

And click here to read Greg Stone’s and Glen Caroline’s views on what transpired last Tuesday.

Health Care and Our Republic

Posted on | January 29, 2010 | 26 Comments

It appears Nancy Pelosi is still not ready to give up the good ship Obamacare. Granted, the ship has not sunk yet. The ship is listing, there is fire on the poop deck. The crew is leaping into the water. The keel has broken on the rock and shoals of reality. But, Nancy has just begun to fight!

“We will go through the gate. If the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. If that doesn’t work, we will parachute in. But we are going to get health care reform passed for the American people…”

Red Nancy knows what is good for us, better than we do. I read the above and the following words run through my mind.

we shall defend our Republic, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the blogs, we shall fight in the congress, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender

The American views the current 2700+ page health care as an invasion. An invasion that will give the government the power over our bank accounts, our end of life decisions, and most importantly, our bodies. This is the subjugation of America in a single legal stroke.

Nancy knows this. The progressives know this. Be afraid. There are still 59 Democrat Senators. That is far too many to feel comfortable, let alone complacent. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. It is time for the American people to awaken from this seventy year slumber.

Glen Caroline Sets the Record Straight

Posted on | January 29, 2010 | 82 Comments

Much has been written and discussed these past several days regarding this weeks LCRC meeting. With that discussion, comes a fair amount of misinformation, spin and curiosity from those who were not there, as well as those who were there, yet lacking the required background information to put  the events of that meeting in the proper context.  My friend, colleague and current LCRC Chair Glen Caroline, having chaired this meeting, has authored the following fair and accurate summation of this event.

G.Stone

There has been much back and forth on numerous blogs concerning what I believe to be some unfortunate events that occurred at our Jan. 26 Loudoun County Republican Committee (LCRC) meeting.  As LCRC Chair, allow me to offer some thoughts.

First, keep in mind, the story line out of the Loudoun County Republican Committee is a strong one.  We thumped our opponents in last year’s elections, and swept every statewide race and House of Delegate race in, or encompassing parts of, Loudoun County.  Our Jan. 26 meeting started off where it should have—focusing on our successes and recognizing some truly outstanding volunteers for their efforts.  I thank all who were involved in our efforts last year and feel we are strongly positioned for future victory.

Unfortunately, some in attendance—some LCRC members, some non-members who held proxies, and even one who is seeking to succeed me as Chair—decided that, rather than helping to make a difference, they were going to try and make a point.  Though, for the life of me and scores of others in attendance, I do not know what that point was.

I commend Mark Sell and the others who took hours of their time a year ago to review proposed revisions to our LCRC Bylaws.  Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our Committee’s control (weather, lack of super-quorum), our best attempts to vote on these revisions in 2009 did not materialize.  I was very pleased walking into to our Jan. 26 meeting that we had sufficient attendance to finally vote on these revisions, and finish the hard work that Mark and the others on the sub-committee started.

When the time came to vote on these revisions, Mark Sell, offered an obscure motion to, rather than vote on the bylaws revisions he himself supported and help draft as a whole, vote on them section-by-section.  Why a supporter of the changes who was integral in drafting them would call for such a motion, only Mark Sell knows. Clearly his motion was going to cause what could and should have been a three minute procedure, to devolve into a 90 minute procedure, replete with parliamentary torture, unnecessary roll call votes, and at times, less than courteous behavior.

I offered Mark the chance to withdraw his motion because I thought it appropriate to afford him that opportunity.  He declined.  Others offered Mark the opportunity to explain what his concerns were that led him to offer his motion how to proceed.  He declined.  Similarly, at a later time, I as Chair ruled a motion out of order, and was subjected to boos and catcalls.  Those of you who know me know that I could not have cared less about such reactions, as my skin is very thick.   However, for the sake of fairness, hearing that a few attendees disagreed with my ruling, I invited a motion to over-rule the Chair.  The motion made and was voted down—as was virtually every other motion made by these same individuals, thus sustaining my original ruling by a majority of the body.

As we went through the bylaws, section-by-section, under the steady hand of our Parliamentarian  John Millhiser (who, earlier and prior to Mark’s motion being made, had informed the Committee of the proposed revisions to the bylaws and their effect), the maker of the motion, Mark Sell, never once participated in the debate; the very debate he asked for.  Numerous motions were made for division, requiring a count of the “yeas” and “nays” and on every occasion less one, I accommodated the request.  While every one of the revisions to the bylaws passed by majority vote, two failed because they failed to achieve the required super-majority.  Perhaps these two failed because some in attendance decided to leave once they began witnessing the time-consuming and arduous process that was afoot.  Could that have been part of the strategy?

Dimitri Kesari, who is not an LCRC member, but held a valid proxy, was the primary architect calling for the numerous division votes.  I have seen Dimitri at very few LCRC meetings, as again, he is not a current member.  Nonetheless, he apparently chose to attend this meeting, to call for vote by division on nearly every vote pertaining to revisions of the bylaws that govern a Committee that he is not a member of.

As I noted earlier, not only was Mark Sell part of the sub-committee that reviewed and approved the revisions to our bylaws, but exactly two weeks earlier at our LCRC Executive Committee meeting at the Rust Library in Leesburg, I mentioned to the ExCom and to Mark that we would be voting to review the bylaws and asked him directly, as a member of the subcommittee responsible for the revisions, if he himself had or knew of any potential concerns with the proposed revisions to the bylaws.  He answered he had not.  Similarly, at multiple times during the previous year when I was hopeful the LCRC would have the opportunity to vote on the revisions to the bylaws, I asked Mark in person at our mutual place of employment that, if he had concerns, knew of concerns, or wanted to discuss these or similar matters, to simply let me know, so we could chat and address them in advance.  He did not take me up on my offer.

As the LCRC Chair, above is the factual recount of what occurred at the Jan. 26 LCRC meeting with a bit of historical background.   All I ask of those who were in attendance, or are inquiring as to what happened, is that you look at the facts, and draw your own conclusions as our Committee moves forward.

The only reason I recount this is because I and others are receiving numerous queries, every day from many, many attendees, who are concerned and very frustrated over the manner in which Mark Sell, Suzanne Volpe, and Dimitri Kesari chose to proceed, and who don’t fully understand what happened.  The only reason I am specifically referencing certain names herein is because people are asking me who these individuals were.

As I have always tried to do in my near two years as LCRC Chair, my preference would have been not to have been forced to engage in this type of fruitless exercise and instead focus on areas of commonality and mutual goals.  I did not seek, nor did I relish the manner in which this debate was conducted, and feel it was handled fairly and openly.  For me and the LCRC, these issues are resolved and the matter is now closed, allowing us to continue our work moving forward to expand and grow our Republican base of support so we can continue to elect Republicans to office in Loudoun County.

I remain humbled and honored to be the LCRC Chair.
Glen Caroline

Free Markets V. Government Spending

Posted on | January 29, 2010 | 12 Comments

The argument between free and planned economies is not new …

The trouble is that Keynes was a libertarian when compared to any the socialists, from Mao to Mussolini. Hippies want to eliminate differences in wealth. Keynes just sought a solution to the boom-bust cycle.

Two quotes by Hayek that I find to be spot on given today’s political fads…

“A claim for equality of material position can be met only by a government with totalitarian powers.”

“‘Emergencies’ have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.”
Friedrich August von Hayek

Never waste a good crises either. Remember Obama’s little quip when talking to some bald plumber dude?

Spread the wealth around!! Obama is gonna make us all equal, miserably so.

Site running slow – thank you Hannah Giles

Posted on | January 27, 2010 | No Comments

We are getting a ton of “hannah giles photos” related search engine hits tonight. Thanks Hannah, and thank YOU, Stacy McCain.

The traffic spike does not seem to be affecting mobile browser access, because I can get to the site from my Blackberry just fine. Must have to do with scripts or something. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Anybody going to watch the Teleprompter tonight?

Posted on | January 27, 2010 | 39 Comments

I was really inclined to finish reading the second installment of the Devil’s Guard trilogy – Recall To Inferno – because it is just such a cool book. (Want to know how cool it is to be reading this book? Try searching for it on Amazon.)

But I suppose for the sake of historical awareness it will be necessary to tune into the Teleprompter and see what he has to say for himself. Not drinking tonight, most unfortunately, because I really wanted to play the game where you drink every time he implies he is still relevant.

There may be some observations in the comments, unless I have gone back to reading my book.

AIG – Goldman Sachs – MSM – Scandal

Posted on | January 27, 2010 | 13 Comments

This is truly remarkable. Three amazing things happened in a period of 6 minutes.

1. A Democrat is not closing ranks with his fellow Democrat
2. A Democrat from MA recognizes that the money the Federal Government is spending belongs to the American Taxpayer. You know, the American Taxpayer the one who pays the bills a.k.a “those rich people”. He states this repeatedly as well.
3. The Democrat from MA recognizes that the folks at Bear Sterns got a crew cut, but the folks at Goldman Sachs got 100 cents on the dollar. This is typically called “picking winners and losers.” Behavior that any resident of a banana republic would recognize.

The Democrat on the hot seat looks typically impatient and shameless. Remember what ol’ Alinsky said, “The ends justify the means.”

The really amazing thing is that, it took a year for this scandal to finally start coming out. Where was our vaunted fourth estate all this time? The NYT’s is very good at broadcasting documents marked TOP SECRET and in doing so providing aid and comfort to the likes of Al-Qaeda. This whole mess with Goldman Sachs occurred in the New York Time’s back yard. Wall Street is near the Battery, the NYT’s HQ is in Midtown. I guess this story about Geithner: Democrat, Obama minion, former Goldman Sachs employee — is just not fit to print.

Where are the geniuses from MSNBC, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post etc? This is billions of dollars that belong to the taxpayers of the United States. Where did all these journalists spend their time? The answer is they spent their time trying to push the Obama agenda or dumpster diving in Alaska looking to write one more hit piece on Sarah Palin. Then there was the time spent reporting on the non-existent racist attitudes of the Tea Party movement.

MSM has been carrying the water of the Democrat party for a long time now. It would serve the nation, and the Democrat party if MSM would acknowledge its awe inspiring bias. A bias MSM denies; a denial the tax payer laughs at — while they go elsewhere to get their information regarding the state of our media, political parties, economy, nation, and the rest of the world we live in.