Big Dogs House

Speed/Red Light Cameras Are About Revenue

Dec 13, 2012 Political

The claim is that they are about safety. Yes, those cameras set up to capture people who are speeding or running red lights. Instead of having a police officer see you commit a wrongful act and ticket you, a camera snaps a photo and you get a ticket a few months later.

Most people get the ticket and pay the fine. They can’t remember the incident or don’t want to deal with the hassle. You see, there are no points assessed and there is no need to go to court to face an accuser because the violation is a civil one.

The system is bad and open to lots and lots of corruption. The very fact that it takes months and most people will not contest the fine can lead to more people being ticketed even if they do not deserve to be. Couple this with incentives (more money for more tickets) to the companies running these things and the table is set.

A lawyer in Baltimore received a ticket for going 38 in a 25 mph zone. That is above the 12 mph required to be issued a ticket. I am willing to bet that in most cases, say 99 out of a 100, the person would pay the fine. This lawyer did not. You see, the picture taken clearly shows that his vehicle was NOT moving at the time the infraction allegedly took place. His brake lights are on and a short video of the incident shows he was not moving. It is also obvious that there is traffic crossing in front of him from a crossing.

How did this happen? Was it a mistake? How many others have been ticketed when they were not moving and how many paid the fines? This was not isolated as at least 7 other cameras in Baltimore have been shown to be issuing incorrect tickets. Millions of dollars in fines have been collected by the city and one must wonder how much of the money was obtained because of a mistake, or worse yet, fraud.

These cameras are only there to generate revenue so it is not beyond reason that they could be manipulated to increase revenue even more. If this was about safety, as those who support the placement of cameras claim, then why are there no points for the infraction? Why are there no other punishments? Why are speed cameras in work zones set to capture people driving at speeds that will most assuredly result in the death of a struck worker as the regular speed limit? I saw one camera placed where the speed limit allowed was the normal speed limit of 65 mph. This means a person could go 77 mph and NOT get a ticket. How is that speed in any way, shape, or form safe for workers?

I remember a red light camera being placed in an area I go through regularly and the newspaper said it was there for safety. They took it down and the reason was that it did not produce enough revenue.

Safety?

I think not. The fact is they use these things to increase revenue. They don’t have to do much and they get a huge return on investment because most people do not contest the tickets.

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: baltimore, corruption, lies, red light cameras, speed cameras

What You Won’t Find In Romney’s Tax Returns

Aug 10, 2012 Political

Harry Reid has made the claim that Mitt Romney did not pay taxes for the past ten years. This is a matter of public record even though Obama followers will tell you that Reid only said he was told that Romney paid no taxes. Reid though, went on the Senate floor and said it was known that Romney paid no taxes. Reid made this allegation and then said it was up to Romney to prove otherwise by releasing his tax returns.

Though it does not surprise me that a Democrat would lie I am amazed that a guy like Reid would make such accusations considering that Reid was not wealthy when he entered the Senate and is now worth millions of dollars. Reid has been involved in shady real estate deals and involved in legislative actions that were designed solely to enrich HIM. Harry Reid will tell you he has released his financial disclosure forms but he has not released his taxes. I would like to see those for the time he has been in the Senate so we can see exactly how he got rich. I believe he got rich by breaking the law and it is up to him to prove otherwise.

Now Barack Obama has an ad out that implies Romney paid no taxes. This is an act of desperation. The Obama regime has no dirt on Romney and there are no divorce records or criminal records for him to have his cronies unseal. Romney is pretty clean when it comes to those things so the Obama regime must get into Romney’s tax records so it can manufacture a myth about Romney not paying taxes.

Romney has paid more in taxes than most of these people have earned in their lives but this will matter not to the Obama throng.

I have never seen Romney’s tax returns but he has released those for the last two years. We can only imagine that all his others are like these. They have complicated dealings with all kinds of calculations and additions and deductions for more transactions that most of us will ever deal with in our lives. They are very complicated and it would be quite easy to manipulate the numbers to give the impression that Romney did something wrong. This is what the left wants to do.

As an aside, I looked at Barack Obama’s tax returns and they are quite complicated as well. He has income from his book deals and he had money he transferred to his children as gifts. These gifts were then written off his taxes. How would the left feel if people went through those tax forms and said Obama gave those gifts to reduce his tax burden (he is rich so why did he do it)? Keep in mind that anyone could go through Obama’s complicated taxes and make things appear bad just as they could do for Romney.

Romney’s tax returns, like those of Obama and countless other wealthy people, are complicated and those who dig deep enough can find things that could be spun to appear questionable.

But there is absolutely one thing that cannot be found in Romney’s tax returns and that is:

Nowhere in Romney’s tax returns will anyone find the reason that Obama has performed so terribly over the last four years.

That’s right. The reason Obama has done a terrible job is not in Romney’s tax returns.

The only thing that the left will find is another set of distractions to keep people from focusing on how bad Obama has done and how terrible our economy is.

Period.

Quit looking at the shiny stuff and pay closer attention to what is going on.

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: corruption, Democrats, failure, Harry Reid, illegal land deals, lies, Obama, romney's taxes

Maryland Gambling With Our Money

Aug 8, 2012 Commentary, Political

The People’s Republik of Maryland has slot machine gambling authorized in five locations and running at three of those. The state is well behind where it would have been but Democrats played games and now the entire web of obstruction is crumbling around them. So those very Democrats, led by Governor Martin O’Moron, called a special session of the legislature to discuss adding another gambling venue.

A brief history goes like this. Robert Ehrlich was elected governor in 2002 (taking office in 2003) and he worked on getting slots gambling in the state. The Democrats opposed this. Many, including then Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Moron, claimed that gambling was not a responsible way to raise revenue or meet budget needs. They said this knowing full well that the state runs a lottery with countless games designed to bring big money into the coffers.

In any event, Democrats opposed Ehrlich at every turn and gambling did not come to Maryland. He was defeated in 2006 by the aforementioned O’Moron who promptly worked with Democrats to get slots machines in the state. Suddenly, those Democrats who were opposed to gambling as a means to raise revenue were all for the idea because a Democrat wanted it. As an aside, Peter Franchot is the only politician I am aware of who has opposed gaming since the very beginning.

The Democrats had a problem. How on Earth could they convince voters that they did not block progress for four years simply because the Governor was a Republican. To do so would mean they put their political games ahead of the state and its people (they always do but want people to think otherwise). They decided that instead of passing legislation authorizing gaming they would put the matter on the 2008 ballot via referendum. This would allow the people of the state to decide and would take politicians off the hook for the decision that was reached. The referendum was very specific as to where the venues could be placed and how many slots machines would be authorized. The only thing allowed was slots machines. No table games were considered.

The problem with this approach is that the matter, if it passed, would become part of the state Constitution and any changes would have to go through the referendum process. I knew it was moronic to do this (gambling does not belong in the Constitution) and voted against the measure. In reality, I would have voted against it anyway because of the way Democrats played games with Ehrlich.

The measure passed and casinos started being built. They were doing fairly well (but are now not producing as expected) and now the state wants another one. It also wants to consider table games. This was not addressed in the regular session as it should have been so the Governor called for a special session to address this. This violates the reason for special sessions but the rules have never stopped Democrats. This process is going on because the next election is this November and if they do not get the issue on the ballot then they will have to wait two years to get it done. See how stupid it was to do it this way?

There is no urgency for another casino. After strong starts, two of the three already running are not doing as well as they were expected to and an additional one would likely siphon money from the others. Keep in mind, there are still two that need to be built.

There are also shenanigans going on (say it isn’t so). The Democrats are having closed meetings to decide how to handle things. The casino folks want better tax rates and a better deal than the other casinos got. This would certainly cause the other casinos to want a new deal. The Democrats are working on back room deals to leave the tax issue off the table and to get the additional casino on the ballot. They will address the tax issue after the next election (during the next regular session of the legislature).

This is just plain wrong. The Democrats in Maryland led by their inept Governor have increased the taxes on the hard working citizens of this state a number of times. The sales tax, the income tax, taxes on services, taxes on practically everything including the air we breathe have been raised over the last six years to feed their hunger for our money.

Now, after screwing the taxpayers with ever increasing tax hikes the Democrats want to cut a special tax deal with the people who want to run the new casino. The mega wealthy folks in the gaming industry will be given what amounts to a tax cut while the people who live in this state have their taxes increased.

How does that strike you? If you live in Maryland it will likely not surprise you (OK, the leeches who live off government handouts might not know nor would they likely care) because the Democrats screw us all the time.

You know it is underhanded because they are deliberately hiding it until after the election. They know that voters would likely reject any referendum that gave tax breaks to the casinos at a time when their taxes have been raised (and more than once). So the cretins on the left will play nice and try to get it passed. If voters approve it then they will get out the Vaseline and bend us all over.

I recommend that the legislature reject this plan and keep it off the ballot. Since that is not likely to happen (Democrats need their palms greased) I implore all Maryland voters to reject this referendum at the ballot box.

Say no to tax breaks for casino operators.

A word of caution on the referendum. Know what you are voting for. Those weasels have a way of wording it so when you think you are voting no you are really voting yes.

Say no to being raped by the Democrats of Maryland and their sugar daddies in the gaming industry.

Say no to slots gaming expansion in Maryland.

[Disclosure: I have never (nor will I ever) gambled in a casino in Maryland. I take my business to Delaware]

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: casinos, corruption, Democrats, lies, malfeasance, martin o'moron, Maryland, referendum, special session, tax breaks for rich, tax hikes

Democrat Politicians Bully TEA Party In Richmond

Nov 29, 2011 Political

The Occupy crowd in Richmond has been there sucking up resources and causing trouble. The group has not paid for permits and the city has provided extra police, portable toilets, and trash clean up for these people. In other words, taxpayers have had to foot the bill for them.

The TEA Party in the area has paid about $10,000 for three events that it held. It paid for its own toilets, the extra police and it cleaned up its own trash. In other words, the taxpayer did not foot the bill.

That TEA Party group sent a bill to the city of Richmond claiming that the city owed them the money because the Occupy folks did not have to pay. The TEA Party was demanding a refund because it should not have to pay for the things that the Occupy crowd does not pay for.

Instead of the city rectifying this situation it has done what governments do when challenged, it issued a threat. The city has notified the TEA Party that it is being audited and that it needs to provide information or the auditor will pick an arbitrary number (they claim it is based on the best information available) and taxes will be levied based on that.

The TEA Party has provided all necessary paperwork every month as required by law and the numbers have always been zero, zilch, nada. It is obvious that the audit is a retaliatory action because the TEA Party dared to demand that it be treated equally under the law.

No worries though. The TEA Party is filing an FOIA request for everything dealing with the issue so there might be some embarrassing disclosures of how this was done as a political move. The ACLU is involved and though I rarely agree with that organization I can commend them on getting involved in an issue that is against a bunch of liberals and not in favor of them.

The city of Richmond is full of corrupt Democrats who belong in jail. Perhaps this effort will land some of them there.

At the least let us hope it shows the voters how crooked these people are and how they are wasting tax dollars. Perhaps this will inspire the voters to throw these cretins out of office.

It seems to me that the Chicago Way is alive and well. It also seems that one day real soon these politicians are going to get pushback they won’t like.

Sources:
Big Government
Gateway Pundit

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: abuse of power, bullying, corruption, Democrats, lies, occupy movement, tax audit, tea party

The “I Know Nothing” Regime

Sep 20, 2011 Political

The Obama Regime has a bunch of know nothings in it. I don’t mean they are not educated or that they are not smart people (just not as smart as they or their worshippers think), I mean they conveniently know nothing when scandal hits. Since scandal, wrongdoing and corruption hits each and every day, there are a lot of people who suddenly “know nothing.”

The Chicago Tribune has an article about the growing green energy scandal where Obama and his regime doled out a half a billion dollars to Solyndra as a good investment in green energy (a loan the Bush administration decided against because it was too risky) only to watch as the company went bankrupt and billions in taxpayer dollars were whizzed down the drain. The Trib calls this nothing more than the Chicago Way, something they are used to in Obama’s stomping grounds.

The cover up begins as Obama and those in his regime try to counter claims of political favor for people who contributed to little Barry. There will be investigations as communications are uncovered daily. These show that Obama and his people worked to streamline the process while ignoring all the warnings. The major concern was not over whether taxpayer dollars would be wasted (they were) but that it would hit during the 2012 campaign and damage Obama.

Rahm Emanuel, former Obama chief of staff and part of the Chicago political machine, says he does not remember anything about Solyndra. Yep, twinkle toes Emanuel is claiming that he can’t remember anything about the shady deal involving the company that went belly up costing taxpayers half a billion dollars.

The guy who remembers all political infractions and wages war against opponents based on his long memory now can’t recall a single thing about Solyndra. Funny, there are emails from his assistants regarding the issue. How is it that Rahm can’t remember?

Please liberals don’t tell me that the assistants did this without his knowledge. If that is the case he should have never been in a leadership position and he should not be the mayor of Chicago.

This is nothing more than Emanuel distancing himself from a scandal he was involved in. He did that with the Blagojevich pay to play scandal that involved Obama’s vacated US Senate seat. Emanuel was involved in that just as he is involved in the Solyndra scandal but he claims he can’t remember anything.

That is the typical Chicago political response:

“I know nothing!” SGT Schultz would be proud.

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: corruption, cover up, fraud, lies, Obama, rahm emanuel, solyndra, taxpayer money, waste