Saturday, December 20, 2008

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."

A very smart man



Thomas Jefferson in some cases could be called a prophet.

"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe."
Thomas Jefferson


"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
Thomas Jefferson


"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."
Thomas Jefferson


"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. "
Thomas Jefferson

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. "
Thomas Jefferson


"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. "
Thomas Jefferson


"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. "
Thomas Jefferson


"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. "
Thomas Jefferson


"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. "
Thomas Jefferson

In light of the present financial crisis, it's interesting to read what Thomas
Jefferson said in 1802:

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."


Anyone who has study history knows that Great Nations in history have fallen. Will America fall in my lifetime or my children's lifetime? I will do my part to prevent America from failing. What will you do to prevent America from failing? Will you be a part of the problem or a part of the solution? Will you be a taxeater that destructs America or will you fight for the freedoms on which our Country was found? Cathy


Friday, December 19, 2008

Towns and States Across America Will Face Bankruptcy Over the Next Few Years

My prediction is that towns and states across America will face bankruptcy over the next few years. If not bankruptcy major cuts in services to balance budgets or demands of every increasing taxes to pay Ponzi scheme pensions. Jim and I started fighting for taxes and education reform in 2002. We quickly came to the conclusion that towns and states would face bankruptcy over the years after looking at school, city and state budgets. We concluded the contract demands by unionized state employees and unionized teachers were greedy and nothing more than Ponzi schemes that were doomed to bankrupt governments across America.

If President Bush and Congress stop these insane bailouts and if Obama does not do any more maybe our economy can recover. The President and Congress did not learn anything from the Great Depression, government interference just prolonged the Depression. If our Senators, Representatives and government officials at all levels of the government knew anything about economics (and not Marxist economics), history and math we would not be in this mess. Unfortunately greed, pandering, nepotism, patronage and just plain stupidity got this country in the mess we are in today.

The following piece appeared in the Wall Street Journal.

Cathy


More California Towns Face Bankruptcy
By BOBBY WHITE

RIO VISTA, Calif. -- California may soon have more bankrupt towns on its hands.

The city of Vallejo, Calif., gained national attention earlier this year by filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. Now, two neighbors are fighting to avoid the same fate, as the state's economic crisis spreads.

Isleton and Rio Vista, small towns roughly 50 miles northeast of San Francisco, say they have begun consulting with bankruptcy lawyers as they draw up plans to deal with their mounting budget crises. The towns' leaders say they hope to avoid bankruptcy, but concede the move may eventually be their only option.

"We're strapped for cash and by the end of March or early April we may not have enough money to pay for payroll," says Hector De La Rosa, Rio Vista's city manager.

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A Rio Vista, Calif., street is empty after construction was halted at a housing development last month.
California's troubled towns can't expect much help from the state. A state board voted Wednesday to shut off $3.8 billion in financing to hundreds of infrastructure projects to preserve cash, as the nation's most populous state struggles under a budget deficit that officials say could balloon to more than $40 billion over the next two years.

"California's fiscal house is burning down," State Treasurer Bill Lockyer said in a statement.

The plights of Isleton and Rio Vista highlight the difficulties small California municipalities face as revenue falls. Vallejo, just a few miles west of the two towns, filed for bankruptcy in May after its tax revenue sank with the economy, while wages and benefits for police and other services rose. Vallejo instantly became the nightmare scenario for towns across the state facing a similar toxic mix of foreclosures, debts, pension obligations and the inability to raise money on bond markets.

California also makes it hard for municipalities to quickly raise taxes to cover shortfalls: In most instances, state law requires them to place increases in utility rates and taxes before voters for their approval.

Rio Vista began to see the trouble last year, when property-tax revenue began to falter. The city lacks revenue sources such as big-box retailers and depends heavily on two auto dealerships for sales-tax revenue, Mr. De La Rosa says. But the dealerships have hit hard times.

Rio Vista has cut a third of its city workers and slashed its recreation budget to $29,000 from about $250,000. The city is looking into selling more than 100 acres of its land for revenue. Since July 2007, Rio Vista has cut $1 million from its $7 million budget but still faces an $800,000 shortfall. "The fact we are a small town makes it more difficult to handle this slide we are on," says Rio Vista Mayor Jan Vick. "We don't have that much to cut."

In September, Rio Vista contacted law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, which handled the Vallejo bankruptcy, and requested guidance, says former Mayor Eddie Woodruff.

The thought of bankruptcy doesn't sit well with some residents. "When I first heard the council was considering bankruptcy, I was all for it," says Howard Lamothe, owner of Foster's Bighorn restaurant, whose family has lived here for seven generations. "But after I learned about what it means and how it affects business and service, I changed my mind," he says. "I can't support that."

John Knox, a partner at Orrick Herrington, says he expects to see several more municipal bankruptcies in California next year. But "there is no capacity at the state level to write a check to aid our financially burdened local governments," says Marie Ann O'Malley, a policy analyst with the state's Legislative Analysts Office, a nonpartisan financial and policy-advisory agency.

The state's Pooled Money Investment Board Wednesday halted the flow of money to highway, prison and schools projects, among others, until June, so the state can pay for public safety, health care and other crucial services for as long as Sacramento lawmakers remain stalemated over how to close the budget gap.

Ms. O'Malley says that distressed cities could turn to county governments to take over some services. But with many counties also hurting financially, that option is limited. Another option: Cities could dissolve themselves, she says. But dissolution also involves county officials taking over city services and orchestrating a recovery, and lenders would still be left holding the bag for debts.

Isleton's city manager, Bruce Pope, says the town owes $950,000 for an assortment of services including trash pickup and electricity. With Isleton's operating budget of about $1 million, interest on unpaid bills could overpower the city's budget, he says.

Some county leaders are pressuring Mr. Pope to dissolve Isleton. But the town, with about 1,000 residents, doesn't have the money to cover the fees to do so, he says.

—Jim Carlton contributed to this article.
Write to Bobby White at bobby.white@wsj.com


Thursday, December 18, 2008

Power back on after six days without electricity.

What a roller coaster, the power turned on after six days at about 9:00 last night. A broken breaker caused the power outage to our home a five-minute fix for the power company. Six days without power was not too bad, my major concern was that my Mom is coming for Christmas and I was concerned there would not be power for her. After a while you kind of get the hang of things. We were plenty warm we bought an 80,000 BTU wood burning stove this summer so it kept the first and second floor warm the basement was a balmy 50 degrees during the outage.

My regrets were not turning on the dishwasher the night before (didn’t want to waste energy thought I could put four more
dishes in the next day) and not doing the laundry. Early on we retrieved water from our waterfalls to flush the toilets later on we went to the town well for water. In the future I will fill the tubs with water before bad storms. Day three we took our laundry to the laundry mat and on Monday I boiled water to do the dishes I felt much better. Those of you who can empathize with my neat freakishness understand where I am coming from.

The weather reports about the storm were not as accurate as they were in the past, only Jim’s friend Comrade Dave the Socialist from Vermont was privy to what was headed our way. Actually my sister Julie sent me an email a couple of hours before the power went out she must have heard the weather was going to be bad too.

Alexander and Anastasia were troopers during this time, much of my time was spent hauling wood, water and doing things just to survive the outage. Jim charged the DVD players at work so we could watch some movies at nighttime. During the weekend we showered at Jim’s work. Jim showered at work every morning. Jim was dealing with an eye infection throughout this ordeal (still is) so he was not too happy. It was the kind of eye infection that turns his eye bright red and the white of his eye swells up around the pupil.

A special thanks to Ron (yes you), Mary and Dan for you all gave us light throughout the six-day power outage. Ron gave me some candles and flashlights as gifts a long time ago and Mary and Dan gave Anastasia a lantern that helped her find her way in the dark. Jim and I now have to decide if we should buy a generator or not, we have been told that we should expect a power outage about once a year.


Sunday, December 14, 2008

Power Outage

Our power went out on Friday as soon as the power comes on I will update our site.