Monthly Archives: January 2009

Fantastic Letter

If you can ignore the subtle jabs at today’s political issues, this letter will make you feel better.  Or it should.

Well said President Obama.

Dear Malia and Sasha,

I know that you’ve both had a lot of fun these last two years on the campaign trail, going to picnics and parades and state fairs, eating all sorts of junk food your mother and I probably shouldn’t have let you have. But I also know that it hasn’t always been easy for you and Mom, and that as excited as you both are about that new puppy, it doesn’t make up for all the time we’ve been apart. I know how much I’ve missed these past two years, and today I want to tell you a little more about why I decided to take our family on this journey.

When I was a young man, I thought life was all about me—about how I’d make my way in the world, become successful, and get the things I want. But then the two of you came into my world with all your curiosity and mischief and those smiles that never fail to fill my heart and light up my day. And suddenly, all my big plans for myself didn’t seem so important anymore. I soon found that the greatest joy in my life was the joy I saw in yours. And I realized that my own life wouldn’t count for much unless I was able to ensure that you had every opportunity for happiness and fulfillment in yours. In the end, girls, that’s why I ran for President: because of what I want for you and for every child in this nation.

I want all our children to go to schools worthy of their potential—schools that challenge them, inspire them, and instill in them a sense of wonder about the world around them. I want them to have the chance to go to college—even if their parents aren’t rich. And I want them to get good jobs: jobs that pay well and give them benefits like health care, jobs that let them spend time with their own kids and retire with dignity.

I want us to push the boundaries of discovery so that you’ll live to see new technologies and inventions that improve our lives and make our planet cleaner and safer. And I want us to push our own human boundaries to reach beyond the divides of race and region, gender and religion that keep us from seeing the best in each other.

Sometimes we have to send our young men and women into war and other dangerous situations to protect our country—but when we do, I want to make sure that it is only for a very good reason, that we try our best to settle our differences with others peacefully, and that we do everything possible to keep our servicemen and women safe. And I want every child to understand that the blessings these brave Americans fight for are not free—that with the great privilege of being a citizen of this nation comes great responsibility.

That was the lesson your grandmother tried to teach me when I was your age, reading me the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence and telling me about the men and women who marched for equality because they believed those words put to paper two centuries ago should mean something.

She helped me understand that America is great not because it is perfect but because it can always be made better—and that the unfinished work of perfecting our union falls to each of us. It’s a charge we pass on to our children, coming closer with each new generation to what we know America should be.

I hope both of you will take up that work, righting the wrongs that you see and working to give others the chances you’ve had. Not just because you have an obligation to give something back to this country that has given our family so much—although you do have that obligation. But because you have an obligation to yourself. Because it is only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you will realize your true potential.

These are the things I want for you—to grow up in a world with no limits on your dreams and no achievements beyond your reach, and to grow into compassionate, committed women who will help build that world. And I want every child to have the same chances to learn and dream and grow and thrive that you girls have. That’s why I’ve taken our family on this great adventure.

I am so proud of both of you. I love you more than you can ever know. And I am grateful every day for your patience, poise, grace, and humor as we prepare to start our new life together in the White House.

Love, Dad

The State’s Budget

Having been recently sworn in, the Govna is faced with a budget shortfall of nearly 3 billion bucks.  This on a total nut of 21.5 billion.  We are currently budgeted to be just about 10% short.  Now, to be sure, tax revenue is down, how could it not be?  With unemployment at a rate we haven’t seen in quite some time, the state is simply pulling in less money from fewer people.  Understandable.  Same could be said for corporate and sales tax.  I get it, tax revenue is down.

But serious, 3 billion down?  Where else did we go wrong?  Where are we spending the money that we didn’t have.

The News and Observer reported on this here.  They do a fair job showing the loss of revenue, but come up short on the whole “spending side”.  How are we going to manage our way out of this?

Congrats Senator Burr

Probably a minor news topic, but hey, we’ll take what we can get.

Sen. John Kyle of Arizona, the Senate Republican whip, appointed Burr to serve as his chief deputy whip. Kyle cited Burr’s “outstanding leadership skills.”

All Aboard!

amtrak1So, while this is not light rail and that whole boondoggle, this may come close?  Or not.  I’m not sure.  But while reading this I was struck by two key facts:

Local leaders drew encouragement last year from an economic study by Amtrak and the state Department of Transportation. A Hillsborough stop would boost ticket revenue enough to trim the state’s Amtrak subsidy by a projected $56,000 a year.

Now, first of all, any study done by either Amtrak or the State Department of Transportation should sound the alarms in any neutral observer.  But, okay, for the sake of the article, lets go with it.  Let’s go with 56k a year.  Then this:

To protect one potential site for a train station, the Hillsborough town board agreed last summer to pay $600,000 for 20 acres known as the Collins property, just south of downtown.

So, let me get this straight.  In order to save $56,000 year, the town of Hillsborough spent 600 large to buy the land!.  Before this is over, with building costs creating the side line for the actual railroad and the rest of what I am sure is non-trivial costs, this station is going to cost several million dollars.

To save 56k a year.  You could invest 1 million dollars and pull back 56k a year.

Am I missing something?

Maybe Not That Big a Deal

I was reading through the News and Observer article describing the Govna’s first day in office.  Now, I have switched jobs, taken responsibility over from someone else and even given responsibility to someone who is taking over my role.  Changes happen.  People think that they have better ideas, or fresh ideas or just, I don’t know, ideas.  I have no issue with that.  But what struck was this her quote on the Board of Transportation.  The article sets it up this way

Perdue ordered that the state Board of Transportation, criticized over the years for approving projects based on patronage and parochialism instead of need, cede its authority to approve road projects to the secretary of transportation. Such decisions would be made by the professional planners and engineers at the department, while the board acts as a planning group.

State law, however, requires that the board be consulted on any spending in districts represented by board members. Perdue acknowledged the statutory obstacle, but said the board will shift gears voluntarily.

Okay, okay, s she has some “politicking to do”.  Or, then again, maybe not:

“Because the governor of this state appoints the DOT board, we will be able to convince them very easily to delegate that authority,” she said.

Hmmm, color me naive, but that doesn’t sound right.

Government Employees: The Important Ones

So, this week the State’s Chiefs of Police are meeting in Durham.  They are here to discuss, among other things, how to attract and retain police officers.  I imagine that this is a dilemma that is not unique to police forces.  If asked, I am sure that Fire Chiefs would also list this problem at or near the top of their priority list.  So too would nearly every government agency.  And to make matters worse, we have elected or government appointed people running the show; this alone would cause me to hit the door.

As I was considering this today, I came across this awesome thought from TJIC.  While I have  never been able to express it quite this way, I have always thought that government always seem to lose their best due to circumstances like this.  Exposing your employees to competitive forces does not hurt the staff but rather increases the strength of the organization.  And, by the way, why would we want to protect our worst staff in this case?  I would seem that the top job of any supervisor to identify and remove the bottom 10% of the force?

Another way:  When you have an organization that only protects those who are not the top performers you should not be surprised when only the “not top performers” remain.

Weather Not Climate: Part 1

I know, Global Warming is all about trends, not day to day anomalies.  But this sure doesn’t FEEL like Global Warming:

Sharp cold wave shocks upper Midwest, temps to –36

I am from this part of the world, lemme put into perspective how cold -37 is.  Your fridge is 77 degrees warmer than it is outside for these folks!

This Should Actually NOT Surprise You

This should not surprise you.  Make you mad?  Sure.  Surprise you?  No.  And if it does, then you haven’t been paying attention to how the whole thing works.

Quoting in pieces:

General Motors Corp.’s chief operating officer said Monday that the automaker has presented a worst-case scenario to Congress in which it would need more money than the $13.4 billion already allocated by the Treasury Department

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger has said the union will approach President-elect Barack Obama’s administration to end what he called unfair requirements in the loan terms for concessions from the union.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has proposed getting rid of a requirement that GM and Chrysler negotiate labor cost parity with foreign-owned automakers that have U.S. factories.

First, our Government gave these companies money out of the TARP fund.  Still not sure how in the hell that works.  I thought the TARP money was meant to be lended to banks and financial institutions; not private car companies.

Before you ask, the reason banks and financial institutions get money and not car companies is that our economy is a Capitalist one, not a Automobilist one.

Then,  when we began to consider giving these failed companies money, everyone knew, just KNEW, that their model was not going to support business as usual, even with all of this money.  But, in the end, we gave it to ’em anyway.  And now looks what has happened.  We are into them for all these billions of dollars and now we have to keep going; keep doublin’ down.  Why?  Cause we are suckers.

So now, this is not surprising.  Sure makes me mad though!

Oh, and for a good read on the most maddening of those that are maddening, read this.

Quid Pro [Not] Quo

Serious!  Stones the size of cookie jars!

This from the American Bankers Association:

As part of an agreement reached Thursday with key Senate and House Democrats, Citigroup has agreed not to oppose legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges the authority to modify mortgages that were set up prior to the enactment of the bill. “The ABA has consistently opposed proposals that would give bankruptcy judges broad authority to unilaterally modify the terms of mortgages,” the bank lobby wrote in a statement. The majority of ABA’s members are banks with less than $125 million in assets.

Now for the quiz.  Who should be ashamed here?

pssst…..key sponsors, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., are hopeful the measure will be included as part of President Elect Barack Obama’s stimulus bill

If it’s Bad When it’s Bad — It’s Bad When it’s Good

So, the Govna has said that she will not be able to push through her campaign goals of free community college and a higher minimum wage.  Her reasoning?  The economy, of course.  When I read this I laughed my ass off.  Of COURSE it’s the economy!  Of course we can’t afford this!  No one thinks that we can afford this.  Even when you were on the campai—-WAIT a flippin minute!  Wait one blessed second.  Is it possible that ol’ Bev Perdue knew that such grandiose ideas as free college tuition and a hike in the minimum wage were actually BAD from an economic standpoint?

We’ll never know, of course.  But the good news is that she has decided to shelve these things for now; at least until 2012.  But, it is interesting to note that the Govna didn’t raise either issue until Richard Moore introduced them.  Possible election strategery?

I came across an interesting discussion regarding higher education the other day.  While I don’t think that I agree with Coyote, I also don’t think that the State should be offering free tuition either.  Higher education trends exceptionally well with wealth and all things responsible.  But, it is something that has to be earned, not given.  For it to have any value at all, it can NOT be given.  Now, this is not to say that we shouldn’t help otherwise responsible kids have a shot.  Trade years of service for tuition.  Make them earn it by maintaining grades throughout.  Something-anything, just not free.

And the minimum wage?  Well, lets just say that I said it here.  In it’s most simple form, labor is a commodity, a resource.  And like any other resource or raw material, when it becomes more expensive, companies buy less of it.  And by purchasing less of it, they either lay off current staff or the don’t hire potential staff.  In either case, companies are going to retain or attract only the most qualified of employees.  They are not going to take a flier on the marginal.  And so it is, that the silly foolish liberal has just fired the VERY person she was trying to help.

Anyway, I digress.  The question is:

  1. Did our honorable Govna use free tuition and increased minimum wage as an election season ploy?  Or….
  2. Does she really understand that both of these ideas are bad bad ideas?  Even in a GOOD economy?