Extending the Patriot Act! Here Here Mr. President.
Holy Cow. A trifecta. Good move in the House, Senate, and President Obama.
Miami-Dade Mayoral Race Goes To Runoff
The Miami-Dade mayoral election goes to a runoff election June 28, 2011. The special election was needed to replace ousted mayor Alvarez who was successfully recalled.
Unfortunately, my candidate (if I lived down there) Farid Khavari didn’t make the top two. They are former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina and former County Commissioner Carlos Gimenez.
The special election being what it was, with one month to campaign and now one more month to campaign again for a runoff, the paper summed up the special election experience this way . . .
The field included a host of political novices who shared a mutual frustration with county government. But immediate name recognition or political experience, along with a knack for quickly raising money, proved to be prerequisites in a race that provided so little time for newcomers to connect with voters.
FairTax, Something For Everyone
As the current debate over fiscal reform suggests, very few proposals for fundamental changes in tax policy have the potential to command support across the ideological spectrum. The “FairTax” is the great exception. Correctly understood, the Fair Tax Act (HR 25, S13 with 67 cosponsors), which would replace almost all federal taxes with a direct tax on consumption, should appeal to conservatives, progressives, and libertarians alike.
Miami-Dade County Mayoral Special Election
Dr. Farid Khavari, former Independent candidate for Florida governor, is taking his economic plan to the county level. It will benefit a county, especially Miami-Dade county, in the same way it will benefit the state if it was adopted statewide.
The voters in Miami-Dade county are lucky to have Khavari, the man with the economic plan, that can help cut costs for government and the citizens.
Early voting kicks off in the special election to pick a new Miami-Dade County mayor. Voters can start casting their ballots Monday. The election is scheduled for Tuesday, May 24.
Miami-Dade Gets a Chance to Be The Strongest Economy in The Country!
By John Bengston
The United States is deep down in a recession, bordering on a depression, Florida is one of the states being hit hardest and Miami Dade is the hardest hit county in Florida. Needless to say, the folks of Miami Dade are having a tough time.
Recently, voters in the county recalled their mayor after he had increased their property taxes and gave 75% to his upper staff as raises. The big question is now what?
One candidate has stepped forward and said that because of his background in economics he can make this county the prosperous economic beacon for the rest of the country to follow.
It turns out that he is not crazy, but in fact has a multiplex economic recovery plan to accomplish this task of miracle proportion and as sweet icing on the cake, he says he will also eliminate property taxes.
I must say I was very intrigued, as I am sure you are too. I will attempt to simplify and share the highlights of this plan in a small amount of space.
One major theme is to reduce costs, which makes sense, but it turns out he was referring to the cost of most everything and doing so without reducing profits. By looking into the make up of pricing for a product or service, the outgoing expenses of a household, the leading recurring costs that can be reduced are Property Taxes, Financial Interest and Energy. Dr. Khavari refers to these as PIE costs. (Property taxes, Interest and Energy.)
When you purchase a product or service PIE costs have been added to the price at every stage. Reduce or remove these costs from products & services and the cost of living is reduced. It is simple logic so far.
Whether you are paying on a home or paying rent, these PIE costs are a large portion on your outgoing expenses.
To accomplish this on a large scale such as a county of 2.4 million people, we must have a financing apparatus setup such as a publicly-owned county bank to be the financial engine. This is a closed loop banking system where the profits are re-circulated within the community and belong to the residents of the county.
Credit would be readily available for mortgages at 2%, cars at 3% and Energy conversion loans at 2%. It is obvious that money would be saved on interest payments.
Next the energy conversion loans allow equipment such as solar and wind to be installed on homes and businesses, whereas the payment would be less than the current energy costs and in a few years the equipment will be paid for and energy will be free. The same will apply to government buildings, transportation, hospitals etc….
The manufacturing, sales, installations and servicing of these systems will create jobs in every trade and profession.
And finally a portion of the profits will replace property taxes as the funding for local government.
Extra bonuses include the residents being untied from future increased energy costs, future increases in property taxes, dependence on foreign oil, environmentally cleaner, remove the risk of man made or natural disasters from such as BP in the Gulf or Nuclear plants in Japan or from having a whole city without power for an extended amount of time.
And of course over 150,000 new good paying private sector jobs that allow commerce, which creates more jobs etc…
There are many more initiatives to Dr Khavari’s plan and they are based on similar prosperity promoting concepts. This article brings you to the water’s edge, but for a big gulp of what could be the new beginning – visit www.KhavariForMayor.com.
Farid Khavari, Ph.D., is an economist who has written nine books and numerous articles dealing with economics, environment, crude oil, energy, raw materials, banking and financial issues, healthcare, outsourcing, insourcing, cost and social cost. Dr. Khavari is a candidate for Miami-Dade County Mayor.
Muslim Mobs Burn Churches
Something strange happened to that whole democracy movement in Egypt.
Muslim mobs set two Cairo churches on fire overnight during sectarian clashes that left 12 dead and more than 200 injured. The deepening religious violence in military-ruled Egypt exacerbated an already chaotic and lawless transition to democracy.
Things sure are better now that Mubarak is out. And we can credit President Obama for that. What?
These church burnings were triggered by rumors of an interfaith couple. She’s Muslim, he’s not Muslim. He’s Christian.
Link: Church burning deepens tumult of Egypt transition | Islamic Mob Burns Down Church in Egypt
bin Laden’s Parting Shot
UPDATE 5/7/2011: Here is a picture of Usama bin Laden at room temperature.
Despite President Obama’s political calculations, pictures of the dead bin Laden are starting to come out. To think that releasing the culmination of this part of the war would stir up more enemies is ridiculous. They already are our enemy because we are theirs. Not showing them will not change that nor will it change their desire to kill us all anyway.
And this, from the same guy that demanded the release of the Abu Ghraib prisoner pics. Let’s see them all Mr. President. Let our people and our enemy know what happens when the U.S. gets attacked.
After all, what is a pictorial of the bin Laden years without his parting shot?
Oh that’s right. The picture has not been released. Yet! That won’t happen until White House Press Secretary Jay Carney tells us just how transparent an administration they are. And the longer we wait, the weaker we look. In so many ways.
bin Laden Dead, Bush’s Fault?
It was president Obama’s scant reference giving credit to the CIA, Navy Seals, and other agencies that did the heavy work in closing this chapter in the War on Terror that I was compelled to give the proper credit due to them. Just filling the void left by the Commander In Chief. In his “I” “we” and “my” speech yesterday from The White House, this only mention is totally inadequate.
We give thanks for the men who carried out this operation, for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism, and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country. And they are part of a generation that has borne the heaviest share of the burden since that September day.
I also thought it odd that the previous administration was given no credit. Obama said this . . .
Over the last 10 years, thanks to the tireless and heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism professionals, we’ve made great strides in that effort. We’ve disrupted terrorist attacks and strengthened our homeland defense. In Afghanistan, we removed the Taliban government, which had given bin Laden and al Qaeda safe haven and support. And around the globe, we worked with our friends and allies to capture or kill scores of al Qaeda terrorists, including several who were a part of the 9/11 plot.+
It’s funny that President Obama missed a golden opportunity to once again blame Bush and Cheney for making it all possible. Obama gets the credit for not scrapping the plan and for supporting all the war protocols that were set-up and approved during the Bush administration including, harsh interrogation, using Gitmo, and using rendition. All of which played a role in killing Usama bin Laden. Obama gets a big Atta-Boy for that.
But that he ignored the role of his predecessor shows how “no-class” he still is.
O Happy Day!
Great job to the Navy Seals that sent bin Ladin right past his 70 virgins (with beards). That’s what I’m talking about! A bullet in his head, chest, arm, foot, knee, leg, hand, his other leg, knee, foot, arm, and hand. Next clip.
Looking back, it makes me wonder if the suicide bombing in December 2009 was part of the trail that led up to today’s news. It certainly was a good day for CIA director Leon Panetta.
On December 30, 2009 Hammam Kahlil Abu-Aulal al-Balawi detonated a bomb strapped to himself at the Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khwost, Afghanistan near the Pakistan border.
Two other CIA operatives were ambushed and killed in 2003 under then CIA director George J. Tenet.
They did not die in vain. NONE of our fighting men and women died in vain.
I’m a little more low-key than some about the news that bin Laden was brought to room temperature. It no doubt brought a sense of justice to the residents of the D.C. and New York areas to take to the streets like they did.
I’d say good. He’s dead. Wouldn’t you like to see his head held up, about 5 feet from his body? I mean, if you want to relate to this enemy, you have to learn to speak their language. I think they understand beheadings.
The E*TRADE Baby In Review
I ran into a really fun (for me anyway) place to go if you like those E-Trade baby commercials. The E-Trade website has all the commercials and some outtakes all but a click away. All on a single screen. For a pick-me-up, click HERE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owQBB6uNg64&feature=endscreen&NR=1
They have a page where you can send an E*Trade BabyMail which is also cool.
aSide Order
And for your browsing pleasure, you can listen to WDAS-FM 105.3 in Philadelphia while on The Lunch Counter.
Scroll down and hit the play button.
And take it with you. Minimize it and/or open a new window and continue listening.
It’s not what it looks like. It’s a new pre-flight “ID check” done by a specially trained TSA K-9.
This is new technology. A skin gun.
Some E-Trade Baby commercials that didn’t make the cut.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itg2nAERlII&NR=1