Very seldom do I agree with these two, but....

Here Thomoas Suddes suggests that Ohio Constitutional changes might be in order. While I don't agree with change just for change's sake, Suddes has one good argument.

Rid ourselves of our self imposed term limits on House and Senate members. He says: "First and foremost would be repeal of General Assembly term limits, which curse Ohio with a legislature always looking for its next job rather than finishing the job at hand." I think the larger reason would be that the voters can't vote for who they want. The voters should decide a term limit on the elected member's merits by voting intelligently. However, since the voters know they can't / don't / won't vote intelligently, they limited themselves with term limits. Seems rather childish to me.

Here's an idea for the voters that don't trust themselves to make the correct choices when voting.........don't vote!

Here, Jim Phillips thinks it is a big deal for law enforcement to fake evidence. I do too. I'm not sure why Sheriff Kelley insists on employing this individual.

Previous post on this subject

You can't melt paper dollars

The US government (Federal Reserve) is really smart.

OK, They are really devious and dishonest.

Here is a story of the Indian Government arresting a smart man. His crime? Melting some of his own currency, yes, he owned it....even if it was issued by his government.

The reason he was melting it is because it is worth more as pure silver than the face value of the coin.

Back to the comment about our government being dishonest and devious. They quit making coins with silver in 1964 (90%) and 1969 (40%).

So, our money is absolutely worthless. It's made of nothing. Our coins are made of junk metals that are worth much less than the face value of the coin. How is this honest?

See Coinflation's website to see just what a dime is really worth.

But, we have went one step further, we have issued paper money. Nothing backs it up!

This is the same government that is going to borrow itself out of debt. This ponzi scheme will come to and end.

The Federal Reserve is the legal mafia. Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson were right in being afraid of a central bank. Ron Paul is right to try to abolish it.

The reason the budget will never be balanced

It doesn't matter if the GOP or the Socialists control congress. There is always a "good" program or
"needy" people who are "hurting" that need your money more than you. (Find that in the Constitution, BTW)

Fox News story on the difficulty in cutting ONE tank out of the military budget.

Europe starts confiscating private pension funds

How long do you think it will take the federal government to start thinking the same way here?

Washington Examiner story here

You wonder why gas is $3.19 / gal?

Obama can't even issue permits to drill in the gulf.......even after his "ban" has been lifted.

Obama is intentionally manipulating oil prices by limiting supply, deliberately hurting the oil business and the price of oil if spiking.

Wall Street Journal Story here

Where's the outrage now? Apparently outrage is only in vogue when a Republican is in the White House.

Ohio Chamber of Commerce advocates raising taxes

The Ohio Chamber of Commerce has released a report on how Ohio can start digging it's way out of it's budget mess.

One item I disagree with is the suggestion of the elimination of the real estate rollback. This was implemented in the early 70's to help "sell" the income tax. (never trust your government).

(The Chamber is playing a Chameleon again. Depending on the subject............they either say we are massively overtaxed (which I agree with) or now, we are "giving money to taxpayers", propaganda Lenin would be proud of)

Now the Chamber thinks it's a costly entitlement given to tax payers! This sounds just like a press release from the obama administration.

They also float the idea of "means testing" the real estate rollback based on the value of the property. Again, never trust your government. They know that over time inflation will make whatever number they come up with meaningless.

Previous posts on not trusting what the government says when they try to sell a new tax: here and here

The part of the report I do agree with is consolidation of local governments. They talk all around the idea but they get there. I wish they'd be even more bold and suggest the elimination of Townships. It doesn't matter if the cost only equals whatever percentage of the upcoming shortfall. If Townships are wasteful and not needed, they need to go!

Previous posts on eliminating Townships here and here.

Only burn your tires at night

We've really turned into a police state, if all we are worried about is burning a tire.

I thought I'd never say this, but I agree with a Public Defender.

Athens New Story here

Sheriff Pat Kelly hired a felon as an "Environmental Officer".

The need for an "environmental officer" is dubious anyway. That's what the OEPA and Mike Cooper at the Athens County Health Department's job is already.

So, 2 issues:

1. Our top law enforcement officer should not be hiring felons, no matter if it's a law enforcement job or not. There are many law abiding folks that don't have felonies that could use a job.
2. It certainly looks like this fellow was impersonating an officer. When will he be charged with that crime? He's wearing a shirt that says "Deputy Jay Barrett". He signs official paperwork "Deputy Jay Barrett". Yet he is not a police officer. Looks like an open and shut case. That is, if someone chooses to enforce the law.
3. Don't we have more important things to worry about than a private citizen burning a tire on his own private property?

Looks like a position that is funded via some grant. We really get ourselves into dumb positions by agreeing to take grant money.

Our Sheriff needs to worry about real crimes in this county, like theft and robbery, rather than someone using a tire to burn brush with.