It’s not over yet

Obama won the presidency and that’s remarkable.  But who knew that it might come down to Georgia to decide what happens in Washington and the country as a whole?  The democrats are possibly 1 away from having 60 seats in the house.  That makes them filibuster proof.  Which puts little in the way to stop legislation that conservatives aren’t in favor of.

Saxby Chambliss did not have quite enough votes to win his seat.  Thanks to a third party candidate he was a hair below 50%.  That forces the senate race here into a run-off.  His opponent is Jim Martin.

Now I’ll admit I wasn’t heavily following the senate race here as far as campaigns go.  I knew it was important but had no idea it might be this important.  Here is what it comes down to for me:

Jim Martin is one of two things: a) incredibly stupid (which I doubt) or b) will say anything to get elected.  I am pretty sure it’s (b).  Why?  One word; FairTax (OK that’s two words put together but whatever).

Why FairTax?  I saw Jim Martin’s ad about FairTax and I was speechless.  If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time you’ll have seen my mentions of the FairTax.  I understand for the very most part how it works and how it would work to be a boon to our country as a whole.  Jim Martin does not understand this or at least his campaign advisers don’t.  Perhaps they do but they no one thing that motivates people and that is FEAR.

One of the first things you’ll ever read about FairTax is 23% tax rate.  If people are smart they keep reading and get the whole story.  Jim Martin assumes people are too stupid to investigate on their own?  His ad says FairTax would ADD 23% to everything we buy.  I’ll be blunt here; he’s out of his frapping mind.  Saxby Chambliss supports the FairTax.  Now tell me, what politician in his right mind would support an additional 23% tax on everything?  Answer? Zero.

Martin is not telling the whole story.  He throws 23% out there and scares the hell out of people.  Red Foreman says it best but “He’s a dumb-ass.”  23% is NOT added on to everything.  In a nutshell the IRS is gone, federal with-holdings end and you get your entire paycheck.  You fund the federal government through a progressive sales tax.  So it does not come out of your paycheck.  Period.  It just restructures the way the governement is funded.  Shifts things around so to speak.  This “additional 23%” garbage is bullcrap.

If you’ve never heard of FairTax let me elaborate a tad on FairTax.  I’ll take straight from the website as they’re better at wording this stuff than I am so here we go:

• Enables workers to keep their entire paychecks
• Enables retirees to keep their entire pensions
• Refunds in advance the tax on purchases of basic necessities
• Allows American products to compete fairly
• Brings transparency and accountability to tax policy
• Ensures Social Security and Medicare funding
• Closes all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation
• Abolishes the IRS

I whole-heartedly encourage anyone to visit the FairTax website and educate themselves.  So in short, Jim Martin is lying and it’s not a matter of saying he’s lying just to say it.  He is actually 100% legitamately lying in that campaign ad.  FairTax is non-partisan but people like Martin choose to make it partisan and divide people on it.  IT IS NON-PARTISAN, JIM.  Leave it alone and run on the issues.  Or perhaps you could support it and tell people how it really works and possibly win that seat?

Come on, Jim.  Look at this long list of supporters. Why would they all support an additional 23% tax?  Oh right because it isn’t one.  Duh!  Scroll to the bottom for the list of economists.  Yes, economists!  People that actually know things about the economy!

So, if Martin wins the run-off it’s a blow to conservatives in the Senate and a blow to the FairTax.  Gee, who am I voting for?

oh and p.s.

I don’t really appreciate the random comments on my political postings.  Come on people, speak english or write something other than gibberish?  Thanks! (and thanks for reading

IamreallymadsoIwillmakeawebsiteaboutit.org

Apparently that’s what you do when you want to get a grassroots effort together to get something done or noticed.  Yes, you make a .org site.  There are a bajillion out there it seems!  There are plenty of legit ones and good ones.  It’s when the name gets crazy that bugs me.

That’s pretty much the blog for today.  Too busy to go into a rant.

STS-126

Yes!  Well I don’t think you can get tickets to this particular launch but there is viewing all up and down the Indian River.  Even though I’ve never SEEN one go up I can assure you that if you’re anywhere in the area; you’ll know one is going up.  This launch will be shortly after nightfall and those are particularly dazzling.  I like day launches as you can see the vehicle a lot better but any successful launch is a good one.

That’s right, one week from today! W00t! I love launch day preparation.

Stickers and Signs, Winners and Losers!

Ok, woo, it’s over, now what?!

This:

Take your stickers off your vehicles. Regardless of who your candidate was.  If your guy won then it’s just tacky and/or you prove you’re forgetfulness.  No one likes gloating.  After the 2004 election was over I immediately removed our stickers from our vehicles.  If you want to be proud, just be proud.  Don’t wear the flag so to speak.  If your guy lost then you’re just making a pointless… point.  He lost, it’s over.  Get a new sticker in 2012 and hope he/she is a good candidate.  At which point if they are and they win then you’ll refer BACK to the first sentence.  Repeat as necessary.

Take the signs down. Again, why keep them up?  Tacky!  You know those people that keep their Christmas lights up all year?  Yes, if you keep your signs up you’re not different.  Be proud on the inside.

I don’t like sore losers and I don’t like people that insist on rubbing things in. Fuck both of those kinds of people.  If you won then Grats!  If you lost (sigh) then you figure out what you did wrong and fix it and try again.  If you won then hope your guy lives up to the expectations you have of him.  If you lost then respect the winner and hope you can at least compromise on things.  If you won, be proud, don’t be an asshole.  If you lost, suck it up and don’t be an asshole either.

I suppose I take after my dad on this kind of stuff.  The only time you’ll ever see my dad visibly emotional is if the Bulldogs lose a big game.  Then he’s just pissed off.  Other than that, win or lose he maintains just about the same composure.  That’s a fantastic skill for poker by the way.

So take the stickers off, the signs down and keep your poker faces. We elect human beings to be office.   If you put a man too high on a pedestal and he falls down then all the kings men will just have little pieces to pick up.  So be hopeful for your leaders but you must put the majority of your destiny if YOUR own hands.  If you can’t do that, then I’m so sorry.

Godspeed!