Archive for September, 2005
Support Senator Zien!!!!!!!!
Posted by: | Comments Senator Dave Zien is introducing another personal protection act.I urge all the Borderline faithfull to support it.I urge you to contact committe rhoads and Our Sheila for their support also.It goes without saying that lil jimmy and peg “i only had 2″ will be as against this as tracts at a planned parenthood meeting so you know we are in for a fight. If you believe in the Constitution,please read “Unintended Consequences” by Jon Ross.Take care, Dr.conn
PS, as an aside,I had the pleasure of meeting in person a local great living American named Tom Irwin. What a down to earth ,full of common sense good guy!
Katherine Lampher leaving AirAmerica
Posted by: | CommentsIn case you missed it in the St Paul PP, Katherine Lampher is leaving AirAmerica. She says she is leaving to write a book. Ahh-hahhh.
In her heyday she was a liberal columnist in the SPPP then moved into talk radio on KSTP and subbed for Jason Lewis. St Paul PP forgot to mention that. Conservate callers chewed her up and she found refuge in public radio.
We all know that AirAmerica is down-sizing and George Soros has pulled support from the organization. Soros said he would spend whatever it took to defeat George Bush in 2004. Since that didn’t work, why not throw bad money after bad money in 2008. Oh yes, this is Bush’s second term. Well its only money.
At the peak AirAmerica had 6000 employees and now it’s down to 28. Pretty soon Al Franken will be talking to himself if he isn’t already.
Today in History
Posted by: | Comments1846 Ether, an experimental anesthetic at the time, was used for the first time by Dr. William Morton at Massachusetts General Hospital.
1861 Chewing gum tycoon, William Wrigley, Jr., was born.
1927 George Herman “Babe” Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season. He broke his own record with the homerun. The record stood until 1961, when Roger Maris broke the record.
1947 The World Series was televised for the first time. The sponsors only paid $65,000 for the entire series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees.
1954 Julie Andrews made her first Broadway appearance in “The Boy Friend”.
1955 James Dean was killed in a car accident at the age of 24 near Cholame, CA. Dean’s mechanic was also killed in the head-on collision.
1976 California enacted the Natural Death Act of California. The law was the first example of right-to-die legislation in the U.S.
1982 “Cheers” began an 11-year run on NBC-TV. The show ended on August 19, 1993.
1997 France’s Roman Catholic Church apologized for its silence during the persecution and deportation of Jews the pro-Nazi Vichy regime.
1998 Gov. Pete Wilson of California signed a bill into law that defined “invasion of privacy as trespassing with the intent to capture audio or video images of a celebrity or crime victim engaging in a personal or family activity.” The law went into effect January 1, 1999.
1999 The San Francisco Giants played the Los Angeles Dodgers in the last baseball game to be played at Candlestick Park. The Dodgers won 9-4.
1999 In Tokaimura, Japan, radiation escaped a nuclear facility after workers accidentally set off an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction.
Frank Lasee On Hidden Taxes
Posted by: | CommentsLasee’s Notes
September 29, 2005
Governor Doyle’s Stealth Tax
Medicaid – health care for the poor. It basically works like this: the doctor or dentist or pharmacist supplies the service and is reimbursed by the government.
But the rate at which the state reimburses the doctor is usually – no, always – below the actual cost. The provider loses money on the transaction, and has to make up for it by charging other customers – those with private insurance or who pay themselves – more.
So: when Governor Doyle submitted his budget with a $222 million cut to MA (including federal matching funds), we knew: this was his way of raising taxes, without raising taxes. More on that later.
The result of the cut is even lower reimbursement rates for providers. For pharmacists, reimbursements were already 13% under the average wholesale price (AWP). Thanks to the Governor’s budget, they’ll fall to 16% under. The Legislature tried to change it – Governor Doyle vetoed our changes. On Tuesday, the Assembly tried to override Governor Doyle’s veto. Democrats voted as a block to stop us.
They had to. It was either that, or make our government actually live on a budget.
This is Governor Doyle’s way of continuing our habit of spending beyond our means. We’ve been doing it for years. The Governor wanted to spend more on K-12 education, and he did – he took $400 million from the transportation fund to do it, while allowing this hole in Medicaid reimbursements to grow.
The end result: we all pay more. Governor Doyle promised no tax increases. What he meant was none we could see.
Wisconsin is a generous state when it comes to Medicaid services. We’ve chosen to find ways to get lots of people onto MA and BadgerCare, and then we’ve turned around and lowered reimbursements below cost.
This causes a cost shift onto private payers and those with private insurance – they pay more to make up the difference between what the providers need and what they’re getting from the government.
When Governor Doyle’s policies cause a greater gap in reimbursement rates, it amounts to a hidden tax increase on all of us.
Couple that with higher physician costs: remember the story about how much higher doctor charges are in Wisconsin than in other states? Do you think lower MA reimbursement rates might have anything to do with it?
The money has to come from somewhere. Governor Doyle and legislative Democrats have decided it will come from you.
Recipe for Tyranny
Posted by: | CommentsIn today’s edition of the HSO there was an excellent letter by Tim Krenz of Osceola concerning the legacy of government education. I would encourage Mr. Krenz to continue espousing his views and that he would be most welcomed to join the debate here “Ontheborderline”. Perhaps it was due to the word limitations imposed by the HSO or the fact that many who walk down the path of truth, like Mr. Krenz, are unable to utter the words which are at the end of the journey when discussing government control of education.
The terminating point of the journey is to conclude that government control of education is wrought with danger for a society based on the principles of individual liberty. We can certainly find flaw with a system whose achievement is failing and cost is ever increasing. We can talk about economic choice and parental involvement. All these discussions are relevant; at the core, which is seldom discussed at all, is the premise that government control of education is the pathway to the destruction of a free society.
The process of education is to seek and learn facts and principles upon which future knowledge is based upon. In gaining the ability to read an individual learns the alphabet and sounds of individual letters; then learns sound combinations and so forth; the same for math skills which builds upon knowledge of numbers and simple counting. Allowing government to control this function means government becomes the purveyor of facts.
Truth is always at the mercy of politics. Knowledge is no longer the means by which individuals intellectually grow and become self-sufficient; in the hands of the state it is a tool of manipulation and political mischief. History shows us that education is one of the first parts of society that despots control. The tyrant state decides who is to be educated and on what “truths” education is to based upon. Jefferson viewed an educated public as a defense against tyranny; he would have never dreamed of having that which an education is a defense against being the gatekeeper to learning.
In the last few days there have appeared several stories concerning government control of education that should alarm all citizens. We now have the courts deciding whether the theory of evolution may come under scrutiny in the classroom (see trial). Just as in the Scope’s Monkey Trial it was wrong for the courts to deny the introduction of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution; it is wrong to deny critical evaluation of its flaws. States are now involved in the teaching of history. Legislation is deciding on what facts of history are to be learned (see story). Interest groups who wish to promote their agendas now are now the determinants of facts. Alarm bells over the dangers of the state controlling education should have been ringing loudly long ago when in 1897 the Indiana Legislature narrowly defeated a bill which would have rounded the mathematical ratio Pi [ 3.14159= circumference of a circle/ diameter of a circle] to 3.2. The state nearly altered a mathematical fact and the principles of geometry.
It should be clear by now that the problems we now see rising in government education is a result of the system itself. The recipe for failure or what Mr. Krenz alluded to as disturbing trends has always been present from the first day government control of education started. The question is not how we fix such a system, but why we are in denial of its inherent dangers [as history shows us] and why would we ever allow such a system to continue?
Mayhem in the Middle
Posted by: | CommentsFrom the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
American middle schools have become the places “where academic achievement goes to die.” So says Cheri Yecke, K-12 Education Chancellor of Florida and author of the new Fordham report Mayhem in the Middle: How middle schools have failed America, and how to make them work. Today’s middle schools have succumbed to a concept of “middle schoolism” in which a strong academic curriculum is traded for one that focuses more on emotional and social development, and less on learning the basics. And the achievement data reflects “middle schoolism’s” results. In 1999, U.S. eighth graders scored nine points below average on the TIMSS assessment of math. What’s more, these same eighth graders had outperformed the average by 28 points as fourth graders in 1995! According to Fordham President Chester E. Finn, Jr., “Trying to fix high schools while ignoring middle schools is like bandaging a wound before treating it for infection.”
School Enrollment Increases!
Posted by: | CommentsLast week an astute letter writer to the HSO said that the paper would save money by having the school district just issue a press release for the district’s annual meeting because you can’t tell the difference between a press release and an article from Meg Heaton.
Well this week is even better! We are treated to a brief article by Meg about the tremendous increase in the district, especially at the high school which had an increase of 89 students. Did she notice that the 2005 graduating class had 81 fewer kids than the incoming freshman class?
And what about that picture of the hallway! I can hear Meg and the new superintendent now. “O.K., let’s wait for the bell to ring and make sure we get a picture of that crowded hallway so that we can sell a new referendum! Let’s do it between 1st and 2nd hour so that most of the students are in the building!”
How many of you reading this blog had crowded hallways in your high school 30 years ago? (my hand just went up) Do you notice that they never talk about class sizes? Last time I heard they were in the low 20′s, certainly an acceptable number for high school. How about a picture of 15 kids in an art class, huh? Or maybe 8 kids in a study hall?
There you have it. Another fabulous story from Meg “Press Release” Heaton and her accomplices- photographer Margaret A. Ontl and the new superintendent hiding in the background. By the way, are you still on the school’s payroll Meg?
Welcome HSO Readers
Posted by: | CommentsWelcome HSO Readers once again. Thanks to NR Socialist for mentioning www.OnTheborderLine.net again in his HSO editorial. I thought he had rid himself of his compulsive obsession and preoccupation with those of us who frequent here and the stories found here. His facts about this blog are somewhat skewed on many levels. He also is outright wrong on others. He was originally banned from this blog because of his vulgarity and lewd commenting. He had been a welcome contributor up to that point. He did help attract many visitors and I guess, continues to do so today, be it in a round about way. Read More→
Today in History
Posted by: | Comments1781 During the Revolutionary War, American forces began the siege on Yorktown Heights, VA.
1787 The U.S. Congress voted to send the new Constitution of the United States to the state legislatures for their approval.
1924 The first around-the-world flight was completed by two U.S. Army planes when they landed in Seattle, WA. The trip took 175 days.
1939 During World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed upon a plan to divide Poland.
1955 The World Series was televised in color for the first time. The game was between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
1974 First Lady Betty Ford underwent a mastectomy to remove a lump in her breast.
1989 Ferdinand E. Marcos died in Hawaii, in exile, at the age of 72.
1991 Marion Barry, former mayor of the District of Columbia, was sentenced to six months in prison for possession of crack cocaine.
1991 In response to U.S. President Bush’s reduction of U.S. nuclear arms, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev promised to reciprocate.
1997 The 103rd convention of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) was held in New York City, NY. The official debut of the DVD format was featured.
2000 The U.S. Federal Drug Administration approved the use of RU-486 in the United States. The pill is used to induce an abortion.
Lesson of the Rest Area
Posted by: | CommentsAs I traveled westbound on I-94 towards Minneapolis I passed the rest area just over the border and started thinking about those couple of weeks that it was closed due to the government shutdown in Minnesota. It was then I remembered the phrase, “essential services”. For during the shutdown, the state government in Minnesota vowed to only fund those services which are essential in protecting life and property; certainly a rest area did not fit that category. As a matter of fact there were a lot of services which contribute to billions upon billions of government spending that did not meet the criteria of “essential service”.
How amazing that in literally a second, government had been pulled back to its roots as the protector of life and property. Government was transformed from a behemoth bureaucracy with seemingly no constraint to its thirst for more and more tax dollars to a mere fraction of its former self into the original intent of limited government as envisioned by our Founding Fathers. We were able to witness the purpose of government in a country formed under republican principles. And it appeared for the vast majority of citizens in the state of Minnesota the only effect to be felt was a lot less traffic on the road. The non-essential public employee was the one whose lives were probably disrupted the greatest.
If during the moment of decision a service is evaluated as non-essential, then why would it ever be funded in future budgets. Remember the example of the broken window, funding these non-essential services unnecessarily drains capital from the private markets where real wealth creation and in turn real jobs producing real products are created. These non-essential services truly cost us the opportunity to satisfy more of our own immediate or future wants.
This experience in government essential services should be the roadmap for budget resolutions. The legislature should pretend that a government shutdown is imminent and start by funding only those essential services; then eliminate everything else, return any excess funds to the taxpayers; and turn the lights out as they leave the Capital. Not only would we keep more of our wealth to fund our own essential needs, but the ride to and from work would be noticeably less congested which would make life a lot more pleasant.
Hannity Finally Gets It!
Posted by: | CommentsYou know, I really like listening to Sean Hannity when I get the time. I originally learned about, and have now participated as a donor to for several years, The Freedom Alliance. He, along with Oliver North and some others, he did a great job and I highly recommend it – in fact, it is one of my favorite charities. Anyway, I have been somewhat dismayed as of late with Hannity because of his ceaseless drum beat of “compassion” regarding spending money on these Hurricane disasters, until today. He finally reved up the fiscal conservative side of his brain and is realizing what many of us here have been fortelling….the givernment knows no end and is destroying this country.
Today he started firing back with some heavy artillery against both the RINO’s and the Demosocialists. In both camps, there are many who simply want to tax and spend their way to that shining city in the Gulf. The most aggregious suggestion so far comes from LA Senator Mary Landrieu who is asking for, gulp, $250 billion additional tax dollars to rectify matters (story here).
I did a little quick math and if you were to take $250,000,000,000 and divide it into the total population of both Louisianna and Mississippi combined , which is approximately 7.5 million people, you end up with $33,333 per citizen – whether they sustained loses or not.
This is simply insane on its face, but it gets increadibly irritating when even so-called Republicans cannot seem to understand that there must be offsetting cuts in other budget areas in order to spend this increadible sum….apparently, being a fiscal conservative is only useful at campaign time….
Ace Reporter Questions Citizens About New Superintendent
Posted by: | CommentsBorderline: Thanks for taking this assignment again Ronald. I know it must be tough going into the Taxpayers Tavern and asking the average hardworking taxpayer what they think about the state of things in Hudson.
Ronald McBernald: Well the last time in the tavern was a little rough. I hope those guys are nicer this time.
Borderline: Well unfortunately the new superintendent in the district is off to a shaky start. Good luck!
Ronald McBernald: Thanks. I think I’m going to need it.
Read More→
Spirit’s Corner
Posted by: | CommentsThere has been quite a discussion here lately “Ontheborderline” pertaining to the Constitution and the visions of our Founding Fathers. These discussions have been quite enlightening and I will echo what has been stated before; these recent posts and discussions should be required reading for our students who I doubt are exposed to such critical thought in the classroom. I read the following article recently which walks one through a discussion of the “Commerce Clause” of the Constitution see article here. This is a must read to fully comprehend the over-reach by Congress and the Courts.
Why do they do it?
Posted by: | CommentsWhat is it specifically about the high-brow academicians and intelligentsia of the Hudson School Board, and the attraction which they feel for socialism and similar ideologies? This includes the social democracy, the welfare state, and the ‘social models’ now who threaten us with big and patronizing government, high regulations, and large-scale income redistribution.
I think Intellectuals are drawn to visions and ideas, as well as to systems which accord them a greater share of influence and power. Intellectuals feel ‘under-valued’ by the market, in that it puts a value on them less than they think appropriate. Intellectuals are attracted to this type of thinking because it elevates their importance and the chance to impose their ideas on a world which would otherwise reject them.
Modern day manifestations of these phenomena include ambitious social engineering, radical human rightsism, and the enforcement of the perceived good, environmentalism, and international or one world government. All of which are being taught to indoctrinate our children, in the public schools as we speak.
My Red Lawnmower
Posted by: | CommentsHave you ever installed a ceiling fan yourself? Have you ever replaced your own car brakes? Ever install a toilet? Ever glazed a window? The art of fixing it yourself is disappearing. Would you believe that there are those who don’t even know how to change a tire? These simple skills can also transfer over into other areas. Take restoration for example. How many times have you heard where someone picked up an old car that the owner basically thought useless? The new owner simply changed a radiator, put in a new battery, and had himself a new vehicle. One man’s garbage is another’s treasure. There are many examples. Cars, furniture, electronics, you name it. I even know a 10 year old that builds computers out of thrown out parts and pieces. Read More→
The Future of your privacy?
Posted by: | CommentsHere is an example that was passed on to me by an astute reader of this blog of what could someday become available to subscribers or government. There is an industry out there that is collecting information. Be aware of what you offer anyone. It takes about 1 minute to play. To watch it press MORE Read More→
Task Force History …
Posted by: | CommentsToday marks the the one year anniversary of one of my first posts about the ill fated “Hudson Facilities Planning Task Force”. I had read what the Hudson School Board considered to be a charter for the “Task Force”, that was posted on their web site. It has since been removed. But as you all know, many of us here are very thorough and it was contained in the story. This is just an example of the how vague and tergiversated the material we see from the Hudson School District. What it did was to raise a few questions.
See Long-Range Facilities Planning Process Work Group
This was one of many posts that outlined the flaws of the Task Force. For a little historical perspective visit this post called “Tax(Task) Force(Farce) Summaries and Perspectives” which is required reading for all Hudson taxpayers.
The Spending Parable
Posted by: | CommentsThere was a man who had a son. The son was very successful in his career. He made lots of money. His wife also made lots of money. The only problem was that the son and his wife spent lots of money. They vacationed in Europe and the Caribbean. They bought expensive automobiles and only the best clothes. They paid enormous rent for a penthouse apartment overlooking the city skyline.
Then one day the son came to the father. He explained that he and his wife were looking to buy a home as they were expecting their first child and needed more room. The son went on the explain that although he and his wife made a lot of money, they had nothing in the bank. They had spent everything that they had made and had even run-up large amounts on their credit cards. In short they had no money to put down as a deposit on a new home. Of course they wanted to buy only the best, a $1 million mansion in the suburbs.
The father was perplexed by this situation. He made far less than his son, but was a good steward of his money. He spent less than he made and saved for many years. He pondered the situation for many days. Finally he met with his son. He explained that he would not be giving his son any money as his son and daughter-in-law had squandered a vast fortune. He did not believe it proper to reward their spending habits even though he knew that they needed a little more space for their growing family. You see, it wasn’t about the space, it was about the spending.
Will you vote for a new building in Hudson and reward a school board that knows no limits on spending with your hard-earned money?
Poland’s Conservatives Sweep Into Power
Posted by: | CommentsThe conservative Law and Justice Party had 26.8 percent of the vote in Sunday’s parliamentary election with 90 percent of ballots counted. The free-market Civic Platform had 24.2 percent. The two parties, made up of former activists in the Solidarity movement, say they will form a coalition enabling them to claim more than 270 seats in parliament’s 460-member lower house.
It looks as as if the Conservative Clean Government types won.
Law and Justice favors cutting income tax, but would keep high earners paying a greater portion of their income, and enact tax breaks for large families. It has vowed to tackle Polish unemployment, which stands at 17.8 percent despite strong growth.
The party also favors the death penalty – prohibited by Poland’s EU membership – and promises to crack down on corruption and purge ex-communists from top positions in government.
It will be interesting to see what the future of Poland brings forth with a direction that will include tax cuts and cleaning up government corruption. Looks like the people want free markets and self determination. I also question that the EU is hoping things don’t go so well.
Pocket Constitution
Posted by: | Comments
Here is where you can get a copy of the Constitution, (The Real One) with its quaint guarantees of the right to “keep and bear arms,” and the right to “life, liberty, or property.” It’s not your “living, evolving” constitution, the one that outlaws marriage and guarantees free abortions, or whatever it does now. I’m not sure where you can get a copy of that one.
Get one for free at The Rutherford Institute. You will get a 64-page Pocket Constitution, and their own 20-question quiz.