They’ll Nickel And Dime You To Death November 9, 2008
Posted by The Underground Conservative in Enviromentalist Wackos, Mayor Bloomingidiot, Uncategorized.comments closed
Looks like Mayor Bloomingidiot wants to force residents in New York City to pay an addition nickel for every plastic shopping bag they use.
It ain’t flying with the already overtaxed general populace.
The controversial charge could raise at least $16 million for the cash-strapped city while keeping tons of plastic out of landfills, city officials said Thursday – but some outraged shoppers aren’t buying it.
“Bloomberg is a piece of work,” Clemelda Gipson, 39, said outside a D’Agostino grocery store in Chelsea. “Food is expensive and now we have to pay for the bags, too? They should try to come up with ideas and solutions and not just more taxes.
All it appears to be is just another cash cow for politicians eager to find new sources of money to spend.
But there is a more chilling goal underneath: behavior modification.
New Yorkers use an estimated 1 billion plastic bags per year. City officials aren’t sure what bags they plan to tax, or how they’d collect it – though they’re considering allowing merchants to charge an extra penny per bag, giving them an incentive to track it.
“They’re charging sales taxes already. There’s not some massive new overhaul or bureaucracy that’s needed,” said Rohit Aggarwala, Bloomberg’s head of environmental affairs.
“We are hoping that at 6 cents a bag, people would change their behavior.”
The power to tax is the power to destroy. You’d have to have me at gunpoint literally before I would use those stupid cloth shopping bags. They’re expensive, they’re too small, and it simply isn’t practical to do a week or more worth of grocery shopping using those things, which by the way are being pushed on us by the same people who pushed the plastic bags they are now condemning.
Oops, we goofed. Or in the words of Emily Litella, “Never mind.”
How McCain Lost A Vote November 9, 2008
Posted by The Underground Conservative in 2008 Election, John McCain, Republican Party, Uncategorized.comments closed
An interesting look on how John McCain lost Ann Althouse’s vote. Hint: it had nothing whatsoever to do with Sarah Palin.
Here’s a summary:
How did McCain lose me?
1. He did not understand economics, the most important issue.
2. He lost the ability to make the experience argument.
3. He never defined himself as a principled conservative.
4. Erratic and incoherent, he lacked sufficient mental capacity.
Not much in there with which I disagree. Sarah Palin and the fear of electing a socialist were the only reasons I voted for the GOP ticket.
Rebuilding The GOP November 9, 2008
Posted by The Underground Conservative in Elections, Politics, Republican Party, Uncategorized.comments closed
Brilliant piece from a collection of conservative and Republican activists on how to rebuild the GOP. Hint: it isn’t a tweaking or a shift to the left.
The Republican Party is fighting battles in the 21st century using 20th century weapons. The GOP is conceding way too much turf in way too many parts of the United States to the Democrats by failing to even field candidates.
Either we can spend the next several months — or years — trying to figure out what just happened, excusing our defeat away as a temporary blip or the result of a poor environment, and waiting for Barack Obama to trip up. Or we can refuse to take this defeat lying down, and start building the future of our party now.
2008 made one thing clear: if allowed to go unchecked, the Democrats’ structural advantages, including their use of the Internet, their more than 2-to-1 advantage with young voters, their discovery of a better grassroots model — will be as big a threat to the future of the GOP as the toxic political environment we have faced the last few years.
The time is now to set in motion the changes needed to rebuild our party from the grassroots up, modernize the way we run campaigns, and attract different, energetic, and younger candidates at all levels.
We must be conservative in philosophy — but bold in our approach. We don’t need a slight tweak here or there. We need transformation. We can’t keep fighting a 21st century war with 20th century weapons.
Check it out. It analyzes what is wrong and specifically addresses what needs to be done to fix it.
Anecdotal Churchill November 9, 2008
Posted by The Underground Conservative in Humor, Winston Churchill.comments closed
There are some memorable quotes from Winston Churchill that are matters of public record. There are a few more that are anecdotal that are simply hilarious and, if they are true, show that the great man had a remarkable and biting sense of humor
Here’s one:
Lady Nancy Astor: Winston, if I were your wife, I’d poison your tea.
Churchill: Nancy, if I were your husband, I’d drink it.
Here’s another:
Elizabeth Braddock: Sir, you are drunk.
Churchill: And you, madam, are ugly. But in the morning, I shall be sober.
Again, there is no public record of these exchanges. They are anecdotal. But they are priceless anyway even if neither ever happened.
Target Sighted November 9, 2008
Posted by The Underground Conservative in Uncategorized.comments closed
Looks like the feds have the Latin Kings in their crosshairs once again.
The Latin Kings were more than a gang; it was a way of life for members who freely used violence against rivals, brought terror to neighborhoods and acted as a kind of rogue government, a federal prosecutor said this week.
“They decided who could live in which neighborhood, what colors people could wear, which way they could cock their hat,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mario Gonzales said during his opening statement Thursday in a long-awaited trial against two purported members of the south side Milwaukee street gang.
“They needed to know who is with them and who they are at war with on any given day. It was King love or no love.”
In 2005, 49 members of the gang and their associates were charged with homicide, attempted homicide, drug dealing, kidnapping, arson, witness intimidation and a string of other crimes dating to 1998. Many agreed to plead guilty and are expected to testify in the trial of Alan Anderson and Martin Martinez, which is expected to last two weeks. The trial was in recess Friday. Both are charged with racketeering. In addition, Anderson faces drug and gun charges. Both men face up to life in prison if convicted.
Once again, as we have noted time and time again, we will not get serious about gang crime until we realize street gangs for what they are: organized crime. And then treat them the same exact way Rudy Giuliani treated the Gambino, Lucchese, Genovese, Colombo and Bonanno crime familes — La Cosa Notra — in New York. Or the way the feds put away Al Capone.
Whatever it takes.
You see, the only difference between the likes of the Latin Kings, the Gangster Disciples, the Vice Lords, the Mexican Posse, the Aryan Nation, et al., and the Five Families is the ethnicity. Everything else is the same. Drugs, gambling, prostitution, murder. People get whacked just like on The Sopranos or in The Godfather movies.
Keep on them like a fly on a pile of manure.
On This Date In History November 9, 2008
Posted by The Underground Conservative in Politics, Republicans, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, Uncategorized.comments closed
In 1994, Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years and won a majority in the Senate in midterm elections.
Seems like an eternity ago, doesn’t it?
