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Getting Deeper in Issue 2

Oct 12th, 2009
by Dan.
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I am frankly surprised and dismayed about my surrounding rural community’s support of Ohio Issue 2, which creates the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board.

One reason I hear that people are for it is because if we don’t pass this, then the Humane Society will come in and legislate for stricter rules. Even though this is an amendment to the constitution, there is no safeguard that the Humane Society can’t come in through this door and make price-raising, farm-crushing changes anyway.

You can’t win an argument by conceding half of it.

Wondering if I may have misread the issue, let’s go through the proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution.

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Ohio Statewide Ballot Issues Preview

Sep 22nd, 2009
by Dan.
1 comment

The website for Ohio’s Secretary of State is a little light in state issues this year. There are just three issues: bonds for Persian Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan vets; the creation of a state Livestock Care Standards Board, and permission to build casinos and distribute tax revenue statewide.

State Issue 1: “TO PROVIDE COMPENSATION TO VETERANS OF THE PERSIAN GULF, AFGHANISTAN, AND IRAQ CONFLICTS”

I love the military. My dad and father-in-law fulfilled their draft obligations, and my uncle is a Master Sergeant in the Kansas National Guard.

The issue here is how the compensation is paid for.  The state wants to sell bonds to pay these obligations. Bonds are essentially loans, and they are fiscally wise if they are paying for equipment, buildings, or other capital items which are used for at least the life of the loan. Bonds buy time, to give an entity something now rather than wait and get it after the money has been saved up.

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Ohio Legislature Considers More Discrimination Legislation

Sep 12th, 2009
by Dan.
2 comments

The Newark Advocate reports that since Democrats have taken over the Ohio House, gay rights legislation has been moving forward. There seems to be the exemption for “religious organizations,” but the debates over conscience clauses for abortion show that that’s a very tight window.

I oppose any and all “anti-discrimination” legislation on freedom grounds. If a boss wants to be stupid and not pick the best person for the job, that’s his or her own fault.

A relative of mine works for a company that just released several women and no men in one firing. Sexual discrimination?

Considering that these women tend to be waning in their child-bearing years, the risk of paying for maternity leave is dwarfed by the regular revenue these collection agents were pulling in. Bad publicity alone would be another major hit. There is significant disincentive to discriminate before any courts are involved.

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Tiberi on Right Side of Health Care Issue

Aug 13th, 2009
by Dan.
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I had a nice call from a Democratic pollster yesterday evening. I think she thought we were going to get along just fine when I told her that I didn’t like many actions by Senator George Voinovich. The questions were half about general issues such as health care, environment, etc., but much of the latter half centered on Rep. Pat Tiberi, whose name the pollster couldn’t pronounce even after I pronounced it for her correctly several times.  Tiberi is pronounced “tea-berry”, not “tib-boor-ee”. :)

{{w|Patrick Tiberi}}, member of the United Sta...

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I said that Tiberi and I wouldn’t agree on everything; I recall that he likes to vote for farm aid. He was in the right in voting against the stimulus and the climate change bills that nobody read, and he is in the right on fighting “public options” and “single-payer” health care. The pollster asked several questions about whether Tiberi sided with businesses over average people, and I happily informed the pollster that in many cases the interests of businesses and “average people” coincided, such as in the area of taxes and regulation. She was a professional, but there were a couple of times she sighed like Al Gore in his second debate with George W. Bush.

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Your Kids’ Tax Dollars At Work

Aug 2nd, 2009
by Dan.
4 comments

This is the sound of a Pelosi-Obama-Reid economy. The CARS program (Cash for Clunkers) allows people to get a $3500 or $4500 subsidy to trade in their old car and buy or lease a new one. I’d be surprised the car lasted this long, except that it’s a Volvo. The engines are filled with a sodium silicate solution and then run until they fail.

Where are they going to put all of these disabled cars? That can’t be good for the environment either.

More info from Newsbusters.

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Letter to Senators Regarding HSAs

Jul 16th, 2009
by Dan.
1 comment

Dear Senator:

President Obama, speaking on Health Care Reform, promised that if it passes, “you’ll save money.” According to Investors.com, Congress is looking to use health care reform legislation to kill Health Savings Accounts.  If this happens, President Obama’s statement will be factually incorrect for a couple of reasons:

HSAs are money that is saved before taxes are applied, for the use of medical care. If HSAs are gone, that income is now taxed, and every HSA owner will lose 1/3rd or more of what he has chosen to put towards HSA. This can mean thousands in losses for families with HSAs.

HSAs give people much needed choice in bringing down health care costs. People maximize the benefit of their HSAs by choosing the lowest cost medical services. With this incentive gone, there is no reason for people to self-ration their health care. Costs will go up, and the taxpayers will foot the bill.

I appreciate the intent on making health care more affordable for everybody. This is not the way.

Thank you for your time.

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