Category Archives: Polls

The Weekend in Review

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A weather front came through this weekend and hit Mrs. Crucis and me. She had congestion and sinus headaches, I just ached with a side order of sinus headache as well. Consequently, we didn’t do much, Church on Sunday, Sunday dinner out and then a retreat back home.

I hate Winter. Yeah, I know, it’s not Winter yet, still a bit over a month to go. That fact doesn’t make us feel any better.

Be that as it is, the weekend news is a bit sparse. A tornado hit Illinois yesterday, killing 6. The global warming idiots blame it on ‘climate change’ because a tornado occurred in November. They ignore the announcement from Colorado that the ski resorts are opening early this year due to the heavy, early season snowfalls.

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One item from the weekend did catch my eye, a column and video by Charles Krauthammer. In the report, he contends that there is no difference between the GOP establishment and the Tea Party. He claims reports of civil war within the GOP is a liberal media myth. I wish it were.

For sake of argument, I will agree that the platform and political principles of the GOP and the Tea Party have many parallels. Many of the rank and file GOP are also Tea Party members. I disagree with Krauthammer’s statement that the parallels of the GOP and the Tea Party extend to the GOP establishment.

If his view was true, the recent unilateral debt limit increase would not have happened. Nor would the GOP establishment cave on the shutdown of last month. In those parallels were true, the GOP would have sponsored rallies across Washington to support their case. Some rallies did happen and some GOP pols attended. But—the establishment hid and did nothing.

So, no, I disagree with Krauthammer. The GOP establishment and the Tea Party do not agree. Krauthammer speaks as one of that establishment.

The view of many, including me, is that the GOP Washington establishment is nothing more than democrats lite. Instead of opposing the liberals, the dems and Obama at every point, the GOP establishment views that opposition as too difficult. It’s easier to cave than do anything. A pox on them!

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I’ve stated before that I get a lot of emails, newsletters daily on news, politics and events. One headline newsletter had a poll at the bottom, a poll asking a single questions, “Is there any point to Republicans continuing to hold repeal votes on Obamacare?” You had to choose one of four responses.

  • Yes, it’s important the administration knows how divisive this still is
  • Yes, it keeps momentum going in case Republicans some day have the numbers to repeal it
  • Nope. Republicans lost this one, they should get over it
  • I could see trying to repeal specific parts, but not the whole law. That ship has sailed

The response to the poll was not as surprising as I thought. It mirrored my opinion and apparently a majority of others.

35% Yes, it’s important the administration knows how divisive this still is

 
53% Yes, it keeps momentum going in case Republicans some day have the numbers to repeal it

 
5% Nope. Republicans lost this one, they should get over it

 
8% I could see trying to repeal specific parts, but not the whole law. That ship has sailed

 

( 124784 votes )

Interesting, is it not? I wonder, as more and more people are affected, how this poll may change, will the second choice grow larger? Or, will the first choice, an upright middle-finger salute to Obama, as his personal favorability polls continue to fall, grow? Only time will tell.

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Obamacare appears to be heading to the Supreme Court again. This time the issue is that it is unconstitutional because it is a tax bill and originated in the Senate, not the House. What Harry Reid did was to take a House bill about veterans, erase everything except the House number and dump Obamacare into it. Then in a Pelosi lead conference meeting, one where the ‘Pubs were excluded, approved the Senate Obamacare bill and sent it off for BOs signature.

That is unconstitutional say those who brought the suit. Here’s a brief report; some House ‘Pubs are supporting the suit. John Boehner and Eric Cantor aren’t with them.

Forty House Republicans side with Obamacare Origination Clause suit

By Valerie Richardson, The Washington Times, Sunday, November 17, 2013

The Constitution says revenue-raising bills must originate in the House, and since the bill that became Obamacare was written in the Senate, House Republicans say that’s a problem.

Led by Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, 40 members of the House have signed onto a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act on the grounds that it violates the Origination Clause because it failed to originate in the correct house of Congress.

The lawsuit, filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation in Sacramento, Calif., is now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. A federal judge sided in June with the Obama administration’s defense of the sweeping health-insurance law.

“Given that an Origination Clause challenge against a taxing bill of this magnitude has never before been mounted, it is imperative that this Court not sanction the lower court’s superficial analysis of the Origination Clause,” said the House Republicans’ “friend-of-the-court” brief filed Nov. 8.

Despite its round-one loss, the case, Sissel v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is gaining interest among Obamacare critics who see it as the last best chance to overturn the massive health-care program in the courts.

“This support from members of the House is especially significant because PLF’s lawsuit defends the constitutional authority of the lower chamber, the legislative body that is closest to the people,” said Paul J. Beard II, the foundation’s principal attorney on the case.

You can read more, here, at the website. I’ve heard of this suit but nothing that is recent. Now…if only we can trust Chief Justice Roberts. That is the real question.

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Revelation and Observation

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When people hear the word, Revelation, most will think of the last book of the Bible.  Their next thought is frequently the horror stories of the end of the world. Many even speak that name of that book incorrectly saying, “Revelations,” plural.

Rev 1:1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to show to his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John:

As you can see, Revelation is singular and of Jesus Christ. I could go into more theology but that isn’t the theme for this segment of today’s post.

Yesterday, the Cass County Courthouse was a site of Revelation. The outside auditor’s report was officially presented to the public by the county Commission. A representative of the auditing firm reported on the most egregious errors discovered and answered questions from the two attending Commissioner. The County Auditor was added to the discussion and between him and the outside auditor revealed a number of revelations to the public including a $2,000,000 deficit in several projects started by prior commissioners.  The only sitting commissioner who served during the time in question, 2010, was not present.

Not only were the projects overspent, but over $1,000,000 could not be properly accounted for. Money had been spent with no invoice nor receipt to indicate why the money had been spent.

The first revelation: Four hundred thousand dollars had been paid to the BioFuels project but only $50,000, expenses and assets, could be accounted for. A visit to the site found only a used tank some piping and pumps. The prototype supposedly built by the funds was a failure. Where was the remaining $350,000?

The second revelation was in the Broadband project. $1.7 million had been spent and only $700,000 can be accounted for. Timesheets, invoices and receipts only totaled $700,000. Where was the remaining $1 million?

The next revelation was the disclosure by the outside auditor of conflicts of interest in these project by all of the commissioners at the time, 2010. The planned sorgum pipeline (biofuel) for the Justice Center’s power plant was routed through property owned by a commissioner. The two other commissioners were heavily involved in the engineering company designing the Broadband project. Money was paid to that company with no supporting documentation, nor, apparently a contract!  Cass County’s former Presiding Commissioner was later employed by that company.

The final revelation should not surprise anyone. During the followup Q&A with the public, it was revealed that the Department of Justice has started an investigation since the funds not accounted for were provided by the Department of Agriculture as part one of the “stimulus” bills approved by Congress. As one member of the public later remarked, “The only thing stimulated was the Commissioners’ pockets.”

The only serving commissioner from that time was conspicuously absent. That, too, raised a number of questions about his conduct

The mood of the audience was…enraged. Several members asked why those involved were not in jail or charged with fraud.  The short answer is that the current commissioners have no authority to do so.  All they, the County Auditor and the outside auditor can do is document what happened and turn that documentation over to the proper legal authorities.  That has been done. As one retired lawyer in the audience said, “While the wheels of justice grind slowly, they do grind very fine.”

Time will tell. I do expect, at some time in the future, some or all of those commissioners will be wearing orange jumpsuits with numbers.

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The main stream media is trying to convince the nation the election is over, Obama won.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.

I’m a poll watcher. When a new poll is released, I ignore the publicly touted results and dive into the supporting data. I have found that most of the polls, with a few exceptions, are skewed in favor of the democrats.  The exceptions are Rasmussen and the Pew polls.  I’m not the only one to see the deception. The information below was mentioned by Rush Limbaugh earlier this week.

Demoralized as Hell, The poll the media isn’t talking about edition

by Datechguy | September 17th, 2012

For the last two weeks we have been treated to the narrative that Barack Obama is surging at the polls, Mitt Romney is in trouble and unless there is a massive change in direction it is all over.

Simply put this is a lie.

Of all the polls you have seen, there is one poll that has gotten no attention, it is a poll that has been taken monthly, it is a poll that Doug Ross spotted and promoted on his site. It is the Rasmussen Poll of party identification.

…

At no time during the year do the Democrats have a registration advantage vs republicans, the gap closes in July & re-separates in August. The low point for the GOP was July for 34.9 and the high August at 37.6 For democrats the high was 34.0 in June & July the low was 32.4 in Feb

What does this mean for November? It means a lot.

The Democrats won 2 election in this period 2006 & 2008 with a 6.9 advantage in 2006 & a 7.6 advantage in 2008.

There is no example of the Democrats winning since 2004 with an advantage less that 6.9.

The GOP won two elections in this period 2004 with a -1.6 disadvantage & 2010 with a 1.3 advantage. This means the GOP has proven it can win with not only a small lead but with an actual disadvantage. Additionally with an advantage of only 1.3 they pulled off the biggest house swing in my lifetime.

There is more at the website and further supporting information.  He uses similar techniques that I do. My attention is more towards MO state polls but our observations match.

The bottom line is that since 2010, the democrats have lost their numerical edge. However many of the polls still use sampling distribution between the dems and the ‘pubs from earlier years. The result is oversampling of democrats and skews the poll results in favor of the democrats.

This election is not a slam-dunk for Obama and the democrats.

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Turning Point?

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I may be premature saying this, but I really don’t think so. I believe we’ve reached a turning point in this election and it’s turning for Romney. No, it isn’t the attacks on our embassies in the middle east that is expanding to other Islamic countries today. The turning point was earlier this week.

Obama’s post-convention bounce is over. Instead of a bounce, it was more like a “Thud!” The media hyped the convention and tried to give the impression that it was all wonderful and everything was great for democrats.

It isn’t.

From the removal of God in their platform, to the non-recognition of Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel, to using photos of Russian naval ships in a video that was supposed to show support for our servicemen and veterans, the democrats have inadvertently exposed themselves to the nation—and the nation saw it all. Yes, the dems, over the loud vocal objections of their delegates, reinstated God into their party’s plank saying it was just an oversight.

Yeah. Sure. You can fool the democrat cool-aid drinkers but not all of them. The country saw the true nature of the democrat party.

They didn’t like it.

Evidence of that turning point began to emerge this week. Here in Missouri, despite the attacks of the democrats and the establishment ‘Pubs, Todd Akin may have reached a turning point in his campaign against Claire McCaskill.

On Wednesday, Rasmussen release a poll showing the Akin had narrowed his earlier 9 point gap to 6 points. That poll was conducted over the weekend.

The fallout appears to linger in the Missouri Senate race, with incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill still holding a six-point lead over Republican challenger Todd Akin. But the race is tightening.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds McCaskill will 49% support to Akin’s 43%. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate in the contest, and another four percent (4%) are undecided. — Rasmussen.

Citizens United commissioned a poll in Missouri this week that supports the turning point. Romney leads Obama by 20 pts(!) and Akin leads McCaskill by 5.  I went through the poll internals to see if it contained any rightward skew. Yes, there was some but not nearly as much as I expected given the results.

The party, gender demographics were equal. The age distribution was higher among those 50 and over—those who are more likely to vote. The geographic distribution was skewed to the regions containing St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Columbia. Those areas are not ‘Pub strongholds. You’d expect those areas to lean to the democrats.  One area of skew was the racial divisions, Only 8% of those polled were black.  That seems odd when you consider the geographic distribution. In short, I found nothing in the poll dynamics to make me believe this poll was skewed beyond the usual statistical deviation.

Yesterday, a Rasmussen poll confirmed Romney’s rise in Missouri.

Mitt Romney has edged back into the lead in Missouri.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that Romney earns the support of 48% of Likely Missouri Voters, while President Obama picks up 45% of the vote. Four percent (4%) like another candidate in the race, and three percent (3%) are undecided. — Rasmussen.

Today, new Rassmussen polls arrived in my inbox that covers those “inmportant” swing states.  Romney has risen above Obama again.

Rasmussen has a record and reputation for accuracy. In 2008, Rasmussen was the most accurate pollster, followed closely by Pew.  Consequently, I tend to believe their polls and those polls look good for ‘Pubs in November.

I’d be more confident if the ‘Pub establishment weren’t so busy stabbing conservative candidates, like Todd Akin, in the back—‘Pub establishment types like Karl Rove, Rience Priebus, and now Haley Barbour. I’d be happier and more confident in winning this election if the ‘Pub establishment wasn’t working so hard to hand it to the democrats.

There is an increase in grassroots support for Akin. One example is that pleas from the RNC for donations in Missouri is dropping. Conservatives are funneling their money to Akin instead. It appears, from the actions of our ‘Pub leadership in Washington, the ‘Pub establishment is more concerned with the rise of grassroots conservatism than they are with taking the Senate and the WH back from the dems.

What a sad state of affairs that is!

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Milestones to November

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Today’s post is late. I had my quarterly visit with the vampire. That disrupted my daily schedule.  While I was sitting in the waiting room, I scanned some items off the internet.  One, caught my attention. A new poll announced by a Columbia, MO station.

New Poll Has Akin Ahead of McCaskill

Posted: Aug 30, 2012 7:40 AM by KOMU Staff
Updated: Aug 30, 2012 10:18 AM

JEFFERSON CITY – A new poll commissioned by the Conservative Family Research Council finds Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin beating Claire McCaskill.

The poll has Akin up 45 percent to McCaskill’s 42 percent. Last week, two polls had Akin trailing and one of them was by double digits.

Columbia is a hot-bed of liberalism as is St. Louis and Kansas City.  The story has little info on the poll itself, such as was this the results of registered or likely voters. It was conducted by the Family Research Council a Pro-Life organization.

The Family Research Council poll was conducted by Wenzel Strategies from Aug. 27 to Aug. 28, testing 829 voters for a margin of error of plus or minus 3.38 percent. The sample was 32.7 percent Democrats, 34.1 percent Republicans and 33.2 percent independents. — Hot Air.

This poll was slightly weighted towards the ‘Pubs but not excessively so. I would like to see the sampling by region.  If the sampling was heavily outside the liberal bastions, the results would be skewed towards Akin.  Another poll by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has Akin down by 9 points (50 vs. 41) but Romney up by 7 (50 vs 43). I have more confidence in this poll. You can see the questions and the regional responses. There are still open questions concerning party ratios and whether those polled were registered or likely voters.

Frankly, I don’t trust either of these polls. The Family Research Council is an Akin supporting organization.  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is a liberal rag like the Kansas City Star.  Any poll sponsored by the Post-Dispatch is questionable.  Rasmussen will have another MO poll out in a few weeks and that one I’ll trust. Rasmussen has a track record of sampling likely voters and equal party ratios for all sides.

The RNC is whining that an Akin loss would prevent the ‘Pubs from taking control of the Senate.

Priebus: Akin could cost GOP chance to win Senate

The Associated Press

Republican National Party chair Reince Priebus says that Todd Akin’s insistence on staying in the Missouri Senate race could cost the party its chance to win control of the Senate.

Priebus says Akin “should put the mission of liberty and freedom ahead of himself” and leave the race.

On the other hand Priebus refused to provide any funding for Akin’s campaign. The RNC appears to be attempting to sabotage Akin’s campaign by stealing his trained staffers. If Priebus was truly concerned about losing the Senate, why did he make this public statement?

It’s pretty clear now that Akin is not going to knuckle under to the ‘Pub establishment. It’s time for the RNC to get over their hissy-fit and back Akin’s campaign. If the ‘Pubs fail to gain control of the Senate, don’t blame Akin. Blame Reince Piebus.

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Friday Follies for May 11, 2012

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This morning’s news is filled with good reports for conservatives and…a disturbing one.  One good one is a new poll taken just after Obama declared he favored homosexual marriage. He said he wouldn’t push the issue but he favored it.

This morning, Rasmussen released his latest Presidential Daily Tracking Poll:  Obama trails Romney by 7 points—Romney: 50%, Obama 43% and 7% undecided. If the spread were only a few points, that would be within the expected 3-4% variance for a close choice. Severn percent, however is significant. Especially because those new folks siding with Romney are not more hard-core conservatives. No, they are the independents, the fence-sitters coming over to join the ‘Pubs and Conservatives.

And from the reports filtering in this morning, Obama’s minions are in deep denial.

Good!

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There is also more good news for Tea Partiers and Conservatives. The grassroots organizations are collecting more and more contributions.

Tea Party Patriots: A $12.2 Million Haul

May 9, 2012, 12:18 PM

Sen. Richard Lugar, who lost his primary fight in Indiana Tuesday, doesn’t need any reminders of the tea party movement’s ongoing appeal. But for those who do, another one surfaced recently in the tax return of the tea party movement’s biggest umbrella organization.

The Woodstock, Ga.-based Tea Party Patriots reported raising  $12.2 million for the year ended May 31, 2011. That vaults them into the ranks of some of the most successful conservative activist groups, including FreedomWorks, the Club for Growth and Americans for Tax Reform.

Nonprofit organizations’ annual tax returns are lagging indicators, of course, and the political-fundraising landscape has been evolving rapidly. But the Tea Party Patriots’ success underscores the continuing – perhaps even growing – power of the tea party.

…

“The tea party movement continues to be the most influential force this election year,” Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin said in a statement on Tuesday after Indiana’s result. “Sen. Lugar betrayed the principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free markets that must be addressed this year or the American people will choose new leaders as happened today and in 2010.”

The ‘Pub establishment needs to take this lesson to heart. The Tea Party movement hasn’t faded away. They’ve just become more organized…and more powerful.

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Now some of that disturbing news.  I’ve kept out of the “birther” issue. Obama’s in office and will be booted out in January after he loses in November. I believe there are a number of acts he’s committed that are worthy of impeachment.  But there isn’t time in Obama’s remaining term and it would just be a distraction before the election.

On the other hand, when I see this article, it makes me wonder what Obama is hiding now.

New rules authorize government to destroy Obama’s draft records

Washington Times, by: Alan Jones, Monday, May 7, 2012

New rules authorize government to destroy Obama's draft recordsRecent changes to the wording of Selective Service System record-keeping requirements came soon after an investigation into the alleged forgery of President Obama’s documents was begun by Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz. Photo Credit:AP

Changes in the wording of Selective Service System record-keeping requirements, made days after the opening of an investigation into the alleged forgery of President Barack Obama’s Selective Service registration form, raise serious questions about U.S. government intentions. …

The Selective Service System’s new privacy rules were published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, September 20, 2011, four days after the September 16 announcement by World Net Daily that the Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff’s Office “Cold Case Posse” was opening an inquiry with full subpoena power into alleged forgery of several documents concerning Obama’s birth and draft registration. …

Changing the wording of the privacy rules alters the status of federal records, like the requested draft registration records, from “record copies” to “nonrecord copies.” Nonrecord copies are subject to disposal.
Read more: http://times247.com/articles/federal-document-dump-policy-changes-after-obama-probe-begins#ixzz1uZixiyQG

It’s so easy to fall into conspiracy theories. But questions do arise.  Why now?  Why this change just when there are FOI (Freedom Of Information) requests pending for this information.  Why should Obama’s Selective Service records not be released?  When I see smoke, as in blocking the FOI requests and changes to regulations that would allow those records records to “disappear,” it does make one a wee bit suspicious.

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As a last item for your end-of-week enjoyment, here’s this cartoon from Michael Ramirez on…Evolution in Action.

Cartoon

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Tidbits

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The saga of the Casa Crucis siding project continues.  Last Friday, there was an issue with the scaffolding around the house.  The decision by the crew was to replace it with a different style.  The front of Casa Crucis is not a flat, smooth wall like the north and south sides.  Down came the scaffolding and today a new one is to be erected.

There is snow and freezing rain forecasted for overnight with 1″-2″ accumulation. I’m glad I’m not working outside.

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I was surfin’ over the weekend and came across this article.  I’m not at all surprised at the results of the poll.

Gallup: Gingrich Leads Romney by 20 Points Among Conservatives; Romney Leads Gingrich by 10 Among Liberals, Moderates

December 15, 2011
(CNSNews.com) – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia is leading former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential race by 20 points—41 percent to 21 percent–among self-professed conservatives, according to a new Gallup poll released Thursday.
By contrast, Romney is leading Gingrich by 10 points—27 percent to 17 percent—among self-professed liberals and moderates in the poll.
The poll, conducted Dec. 5-11, surveyed 1,665 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who are registered voters. Among all poll respondents, Gingrich led Romney 33 percent to 23 percent, with Rep. Ron Paul of Texas at 9 percent, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota at 6 percent, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 6 percent.
Gingrich led among most sub-groups in the poll—except for self-professed liberals and moderates, those 18 to 34 years of age, and those living in the East.
Among the Republican-leaning independents, Gingrich and Romney were tied at 23 percent, with Paul at 14 percent.
Among the Republicans, Gingrich had 38 percent, Romney had 23 percent, and Paul had 7 percent.

Among the conservatives, Gingrich had 41 percent, Romney 21 percent, and Paul had 7 percent.
Among the liberals and moderates, Romney had 27 percent, Gingrich had 17 percent, and Paul had 13 percent.
You can find the complete article with more poll data here.
I’m not at all surprised that liberal and “moderates” prefer Romney.  After all, he’s one of them.
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Want to help make sure your children aren’t growing up in poverty?  Get, and stay, married.  According to a Heritage Foundation study, being in a stable, married household has a much, much better probability of staying out of poverty.  In the study, single parents were compared against married families and their income levels.  This study compared single parent white, black and hispanic families with their married counterparts using census data from 2010.

The married families at or below the poverty level comprised only 4-9% of the population.  The single parent groups varied from 40% and up.

Marriage and Poverty in the United States

 
Interesting, is it not?

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The Missouri budget is projected to be several hundred million dollars in the red this fiscal year according to forecasts.  Democrat Governor Jay Nixon has a plan. He wants to “barrow” money from the state’s universities and repay the “loan” over a seven year period at zero percent interest.

Why am I concerned about this plan.  He wants to take money from the universities’ reserve funds, money they earned through various enterprises, from alumni donations and other income sources, keep it for seven years and then give it back with no interest.  The result, since there is no compensation for inflation is that if the plan worked as stated, the universities would end up with less than they had in the beginning.

It’s the same as theft. 

Nixon considers asking 5 Missouri universities to lend money to state

BY VIRGINIA YOUNG • vyoung@post-dispatch.com > 573-635-6178  

STLtoday.com
Friday, December 16, 2011 8:30 am

JEFFERSON CITY • Gov. Jay Nixon is asking five state universities to consider lending the state more than $100 million next year to help balance the state’s budget, a proposal that is drawing fire from key legislators unhappy with both its secrecy and its impact.
Nixon’s proposal, which his budget director termed preliminary, calls for the University of Missouri to chip in $63 million and four other schools to come up with lesser amounts, for a total of $107 million. The money would come from their reserve funds.
The state would roll the money into the $850 million higher education budget that covers operating expenses at all of Missouri’s four-year institutions and community colleges. The goal: to avoid a cut that could otherwise equal at least 13 percent across the board.
Universities making the interest-free loans would look to be repaid over a seven-year period with money diverted from the state’s college loan authority, known as the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, or MOHELA.

In addition, Nixon proposes cutting the schools scholarship funds in half and telling the universities to make up the difference out of their remaining reserve funds. As you can expect, the legislature is not pleased.

House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, called the plan ridiculous. “The governor is looking for this scheme that avoids making tough decisions on cuts,” he said. “Rather than balance the state’s budget, he wants to dream up new revenue sources which happen to be interest-free loans from our universities.”
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, said the universities would have no guarantee that they would get their money back.
“If the proposal is a Bernie Madoff-type Ponzi scheme to make it look like something’s being funded that isn’t really being funded, that’s not acceptable,” Schaefer said.

Ah yes, your democrat pols at work.  If they can’t tax and spend, they’ll just steal money…and spend.  Cutting all that spending in the first place isn’t an option for them.

 
When your revenue projections are undercut by reality, sane people cut their spending to match their income.  Government, on the other hand, can’t imagine spending less.  They prefer to come up with schemes to get around our state’s balanced budget requirement.
 
Tax and spend. Steal and spend. The only difference is semantics.

Various items for Thursday, July 22, 2010

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As I drove to and from Indy this last weekend, Mrs Crucis had her nose hidden in a book.  It had a grade school type dust cover on and I thought it was something she was reading for her upcoming class this fall. She teaches in a small Kansas City seminary.

From time to time, she’d snort and snuffle. Once she may’ve even emitted a snicker and a giggle!

When we got home, she told me that she’d snuck out to our local Wally World last week before we left town and bought a copy of Laura Ingraham’s The Obama Diaries. She then proceeded to read me some passages.  It’s a hoot!  I strongly recommend y’all get a copy. Pass it around to your friends and SO’s when you’re done.  They’ll thank you!

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Yesterday’s poll released by Quinnipiac University was a shock to Obama and democrat pols.  Once you’ve read through the statistics, it says that ANY republican opponent would beat Obama in 2012.  The once-leaning independent voters have turned and their support for the democrat-socialist agenda is dropping like a rock in vacuum.

A year after President Barack Obama’s political honeymoon ended, his job approval rating has dropped to a negative 44 – 48 percent, his worst net score ever, and American voters say by a narrow 39 – 36 percent margin that they would vote for an unnamed Republican rather than President Obama in 2012, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

This compares to a 48 – 43 percent approval for Obama in a May 26 national poll by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University and a 57 – 33 percent approval last July, just before the political firestorm created by opposition to his health care plan galvanized political opponents and turned independent voters against him.

In this latest survey of more than 2,000 voters, independent voters disapprove of Obama 52 – 38 percent and say 37 – 27 percent they would vote for a Republican contender in 2012.

American voters also say 48 – 40 percent Obama does not deserve reelection in 2012.

Anti-incumbent sentiment slams both parties as voters disapprove 59 – 31 percent of the job Democrats are doing, and disapprove 59 – 29 percent of Republicans in Congress. But voters say 43 – 38 percent they would vote for a Republican in a generic Congressional race.

American voters say 42 – 32 percent that Obama has been a better president than George W. Bush, similar to the 43 – 30 percent who felt that way in January of 2010.

There is more information about the poll at the University’s website.  Most interesting is this generic summary poll data.

TREND: If the 2012 election for President were being held today, do you think you would vote for Barack Obama the Democratic candidate, or the Republican candidate? 

                     Jul 21  Mar 25
                     2010    2010
Obama                36      40
Republican           39      41
DEPENDS ON CAND(VOL) 13       9
DK/NA                12       9

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Democrat Representative Pete Stark of California has been struck with a new idea, a new tax—a currency tax.  It sounds innocuous but the impact can be extremely severe.  

Currencies are exchanged on the global market continuously.  That market determines the relative worth of one currency to another.  If you watch the news, you’ll hear comments about comparisons of the Euro or the Yen against the Dollar.  As the exchange rates vary, so does the cost of buying goods and services on the global market.


For instance, if the rate of the Dollar against the Euro goes down, that is it cost more dollars to buy or exchange an equal value of the Euro, it costs more dollars to buy goods and services from European marketers. The price of that imported Beemer, the price of cell phones made in Europe, French, German and Italian wines goes UP!


What democrat Pete Stark has proposed is a tax on every currency transaction.

Currency tax: A way to invest in our future (Rep. Pete Stark)

By Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) – 07/20/10 03:51 PM ET
Each day, $4 trillion dollars of currency are traded. For international businesses and travelers, trading dollars for other currencies serve a legitimate purpose. However, nearly 80 percent of these transactions are undertaken by a handful of major banks. Experts agree that most of these transactions are made for purely speculative purposes.
Wealthy traders and big financial institutions make huge bets on the fluctuations in currency value, and they can make massive profits if their bets are correct. This type of speculation helped to worsen the recent financial crisis and serves no purpose other than to make a few people and institutions even richer.
Today, I introduced H.R. 5783, the Investing in Our Future Act. My legislation would simply impose a small tax — of 0.005 percent — on these currency transactions. The money raised would be put toward investments in children, global health and climate change mitigation.
For the average person or business, this small tax will hardly be noticed. But, due to the extreme speculation that takes place, it would raise significant funds. Studies estimate a worldwide 0.005 percent tax on dollar transactions would raise $28 billion a year and reduce currency speculation by 14 percent.


Stark says, “For the average person or business, this small tax will hardly be noticed.”  What a crock of S***. You’d think that by now congress would learn that businesses cannot absorb these cost increases.  Their profit margin is thin and thinning all the time.  A currency tax on foreign products will be passed on to you—the end buyer.  It’s not just on transactions of goods.  It also affects large companies with overseas offices and facilities.  You can’t operate those locations, pay the employees in US Dollars.  You have to use the local currency and that monetary transaction will also be taxed.

I’m sure ol’ Pete thinks he’s punishing those EVILE corporations and rakin’ in a ton of tax money.  In reality, he punishing every one of us who buys imported goods or services or who work for large companies with overseas facilities.  When the profit margins are squeezed, companies cut cost and the easiest way is to cut their work forces.  Companies get smaller, fewer people are working, the economy shrinks and the dems then add more taxes from those who remain to prop up their statist regime.

What stupidity.  As I’ve said before, the democrat/liberal/socialist party is a clear and present danger to the survival of our republic and must be permanently removed from political power.

Remember, come November