Now, as a full disclaimer, all of the issues mentioned and specifics quoted are from the paper. I didn’t pick the issues. I wouldn’t necessarily make the stand represented here. This blog is only based on what they said. A “,” comma is used to seperate ideas with the same candidate. A “;” is a seperation between candidates.

Here goes…

Abortion- Federal government should have no authority either to legalize or ban abortion

Debt- Balanced budget, avert a default on US debt payments; eviscerate Federal government, slashing nearly half of its spending, shut five Cabinet-level agencies; cut pay of Congress; oppose the financial industry bailout

Economy- Cut regulations, lower taxes, spur jobs through energy development, repeal Obama’s healthcare law; return to the gold standard, eliminate the Federal Reserve

Education- Do away with the No Child Left Behind Act, more school choice; abolish the Education Department, end the Federal role in education

Energy- Drill offshore reserves of oil and natural gas, end restrictions on Western oil shale development; eliminate the gasoline tax, provide tax credits for alternative fuel technology

Environment- Convert EPA into something altogether different; human caused global warming is a hoax

Healthcare- Repeal Obama’s healthcare laws, generous tax credit to help buy insurance

Gay Marriage- Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage

Immigration- Path to citizenship for illegal immigrant’s children who perform military service, make English the official language; Do whatever it takes to secure the border, end right to citizenship of US-born children of illegal immigrants, no social services for illegal immigrants, aggressive deportation of illegal immigrants; more border agents; opposes education benefits to illegal immigrants

Social Security- give younger workers the option of diverting Social Security taxes to private retirement accounts

Taxes- Eliminate the Federal income tax and the Internal Revenue Service and defund close to half the government; zero corporate tax

Terrorism- Continued use of Guantanamo bay for suspected terrorists; no Constitutional rights for foreign terrorism suspects; airport screeners should employ profiling

War- reducing US involvement in conflicts

So, that’s it. That’s the best I could make from what was said by the candidates. Some of it I would offer differently. Of course, by the time I run for President in 2028, there’ll be a few new issues that I’ll have to deal with, although I’m sure some of the old mainstays will still be around.

The bridge connects a very heavily populated community with a bustling downtown area that has very limited parking options. Thus, it is more important than ever that we increase the bike traffic and decrease auto traffic. What about the carbon offset, the environmental concerns, the fitness concerns, the concern for people being responsible for themselves and allowing grown adults decide for themselves how they would like to ambulate or pedal into town?

Nah, let’s just do the government thing and decide for people that they don’t need to ride across the bridge and that if they can’t take a car, then they just don’t need to go. Pfooey!

Let people decide on their own, please.

What exactly has NASA ever done to justify billions in annual funding?

Inspire kids to be astronauts…not worth the money. Tony Stark (Iron Man) inspires the same kind of greatness.

Populate museums with moonrocks…not worth the money. I can find meteor rocks in the Arizona desert.

Burn up millions of gallons of fuel…not worth the money. I can do that in my SUV.

My ears are open. If you can think of anything helpful or relevant that NASA has ever done that’s worth the money, feel free to comment.

• Quit wearing clothes made by the so-called evil corporations
• Stop expecting dividends on the stocks they own
• End their expectation of the welfare state taking care of them
• Can clean up after themselves while they’re squatting on public property
• Sell everything they own and give it to the poor before they tell us to do it

I could go on and on, but there’s no need. It all boils down to two things…take personal responsibility for yourself before you seek to educate the world and practice what you’re preaching before you ask it of others.

The little girl is thinking…Daddy, please let me go back to school so I can get an education and not grow up to be like you!

A friend of mine remarked after walking through downtown Seattle, “These people look the same as the homeless folks who were here last week.”

At least if a storm comes through and washes it away, it will accomplish several beneficial factors…

1. Provide jobs for demolition and clean-up in the off-season
2. Provide construction jobs in the off-season
3. Get us a brand new pier and empty restaurant
4. Allow for people to grab washed up pieces of the pier for artwork, souvenirs, and sales on eBay
5. Give people something interesting to look at and photograph
6. and more…

Now, all of this is contingent on one single factor that would seem common sense, but honestly wouldn’t surprise me if the Town screwed it up. The pier has to be insured. I know. I know. But would it really surprise you if they forgot about that?

Here’s the article, so decide for yourself if you like it or not- Students Deserve Personalized Education

I heard Michelle Rhee, former DC schools goddess, speak yesterday at the Global Leadership Summit and it sounds like she had the right idea until the bureaucrats went out for blood. She had the choice of changing the system by closing 23 schools right now or by following the district policy of an infinitessimaly slow process of closing down the worst schools.

So what’s it gonna be Zais? Rhetoric that sounds good in the paper or real change? 

For more on Michelle Rhee…

The Bee Eater: Michelle Rhee Takes on the Nation’s Worst School District.

Waiting for "Superman".

I have a problem with governments from the smallest to the largest trying to make extra money off the backs of the people. Seriously, if the tax system was set up correctly and entitlements were kept to a reasonable level, then county government wouldn’t have to rape people who want to make a few copies at the clerk’s office. I am absolutely a fan of charging a reasonable cost for copies, research, etc at times, but not for charging above market cost in an attempt to fund budget shortfalls and overzealous welfare programs. For the most part, I believe government should be a zero sum game. Money in, money out with a reasonable amount for emergencies, savings, and investment in the future. It’s pretty much how most people run their businesses.

Here’s the skinny on Horry County’s latest failed brainstorm…

The cost of copies at the clerk’s office doubled this month from $.25 to $.50 per page. I pay much less than that down the street at Office Depot. I guess the thinking is that you control the information, so you can control the access to it and charge whatever you like.

Prices were lower at the Clerk’s office than at other County offices and the other offices weren’t happy with this. People walked down the hall to make copies at the cheaper price.

More records are now available online, but still at a cost. Also, with the online records you have to print the entire document, not just the relevant pages you need. Want to copy a property deed, here’s all 40 pages that you’ll pay for just to get page #12. You also have the privilege of using your own ink.

The idea is that it’ll save people time to do it at home, even if they end up killing more trees, using up their own ink, and paying the same per page cost.

 The County plans on bringing in about $650K a year in copies. Didn’t some of your tax money already pay for this?

All very stupid.

Here’s one example of how this will hurt the average County taxpayer. Say you need some help from an attorney. Instead of wasting time heading over to the clerk’s office to make copies, he’s going to print the whole thing. Now he’s going to make you pay for all of those needless copies in addition to whatever cost he charges for making copies on his machine in addition to the time it takes for the paralegal to sit there and watch copies flop out the business end of the printer. You just raised your legal bill by a few hundred bucks to much more depending on the case.

Here’s the fix…Charge a reasonable amount for copies. Charge a reasonable amount for research if it’s needed. Allow us to print off only the pages needed. Charge a reduced amount for copies made from the online records to encourage people to do it at home or in the office. This will ease the work burden on the Clerk of Court’s office and eventually allow you to cut costs as more and more people use the online sources.

It’s really simple, folks. I guess that’s why it doesn’t happen.

Let’s all make it hard on them until they make some changes. If you can spare the time, go to the Clerk’s office and make them get up and hit the big old start button on the copier. Refuse to use the online service until they make the needed changes and use technology in an efficient manner instead of the most arcane way possible.

Near the end of the article, the author penned a section on the closing and mentioned Obama’s words at Sen. Ted Kennedy’s funeral.

He said, “U.S. President Barack Obama, one of the greatest orators of our time…”

Wow!

It takes great skill to read a teleprompter. One of the greatest? No way. Clinton was a good conversational speaker and could actually speak without the prompter. Bush wasn’t a very good speaker, but could muddle his way through a sentence or two without the prompter. Reagan was excellent. That’s just the Presidents. There are many, many…many, many better speakers than B.O.

What’s next, the Nobel Peace Prize?

Somali pirates gone wild. It should be a new ride at Disney.