Sen. Mike Jorgenson

Senator Mike Jorgenson, of Hayden, introduced a new bill in Boise today.  It’s aimed at stopping employers from hiring people who are not US citizens.  Sen. Jorgenson said Idaho prisons now house 487 non-citizens and out of those,  425 are from Mexico. He estimated the cost to our state for housing these inmates at about $10 million a year.

The bill would work by refusing, suspending or revoking business licenses for companies that hire illegal aliens.   Any thoughts, comments, ideas?

You can read more here:  http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/boise/

There’s a new LCDC web site now. (thanks for the heads up, Bill)  Here’s the link: http://www.lcdc.org

And here’s what the left margin says: 

LCDC is a public entity

LCDC is not a taxing entity, and thus does not levy property taxes

LCDC uses a portion of property taxes collected by taxing entities within certain “district areas to fund projects benefiting the public

LCDC does not raise property taxes; LCDC’s impact are “neutral” to the property tax payer

Comments?

A Chicago taxpayer made an appointment with his elected city Alderman, to protest the use of TAX INCREMENT FINANCING, which is the way LCDC gets their money here in our town.  The Chicago citizen brought a petition with 200 signatures.  He was physically shoved out of the office by the Alderman and told to get the **** out.  There’s a video of the confrontation, you can watch it here:  http://conservativexpress.blogspot.com/2009/03/video-chicago-politician-shoves-voter.html

Wow.  That’s even a few steps beyond what we have seen here.

NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd is not one of my favorites, but every once in awhile she comes out with something I like.  Such was the case with her March 3rd  Op/Ed piece titled “Stage of Fools”.   Ms. Dowd addresses the pork-filled congressional Omnibus spending bill with these words:

“In one of his disturbing spells of passivity, President Obama decided not to fight Congress and live up to his own no-earmark pledge from the campaign…Team Obama sounds hollow, chanting that “the status quo is not acceptable”, even while conceding that the presidnet is accepting the status quo by signing a budget festooned with pork.”

Ms. Dowd goes on to bullet point many of the  outlandish earmarks in the bill.  Your can read her column here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/opinion/04dowd.html?em

Sandy Bloem

What SHOULD the mayor and city council have done, last Tuesday night?    What would “success” have looked like?  Perhaps they’ve gotten into such a defensive mode that they don’t remember how to treat citizens in a responsive, gracious manner. What would you have wanted to see?

Mr. Jim Brannon testified at city council last night, asking them to use their oversight of LCDC to help rebuild public trust in that agency and in city government.  He was very polite and professional.  After several other citizens made public comments, I got up to give my presentation.  I asked the city council  to do their job of supervising LCDC and I also asked them to request Charlie Nipp’s resignation.  Here’s the full text of my comments to the council, and my description of their reaction:

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I must have missed this part of History class, or it was never included in the textbooks, because this is bizarre.  In our own nation, during FDR’s “New Deal” of 1933, we had price controls, work hour restraints and enforcement patrols.  Companies were not allowed to sell their goods for less than the set price, so as to eliminate “dangerous competition”.   The Supreme Court finally struck down the NRA (National Recovery Act) as unconstitutional in 1935.  (more…)

And proud of it.  My wonderful husband of 30 years, 4 kids and a 25 year old business and I are both Parrotheads, which means we enjoy Jimmy Buffett’s music.  Why do I tell you this?—it has nothing to do with local issues.  Well, apparently business is slow over at the Spokesman Review’s gossip blog, so they ran a photo of us, similar to this one, from the Buffett concert down in Vegas last October.  Who knows where they got it, and I don’t care.  It’s important to have fun and it balances out our lives.  Cheers!  Or as Parrotheads would say, “Phins Up!”

This morning’s headline in the CdA Press reads, “Buidler asks LCDC for overrun funds”.  I love the first line: “A vacationing Coeur d’Alene condo builder is asking Lake City Development Corp. to help cover the costs on an an already completed condo project.”  The article goes on to say there were cost overruns to the tune of $13,000 or $26,250 for which the owners & builder want to be paid.  Well, which is it?  Half as much or twice the price?  Oh, but “it’s not a bailout” the builder said, in his phone interview from Mexico.  Are you kidding me?  You can read the full article here: http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2009/02/21/news/news01.txt

Worried about our leap into blatant socialism?  Here’s a spontaneous, fascinating rant by a CNBC reporter on the floor of the stock exchange, talking about the bailout and individual responsibility and rights.  A big group of traders join in to express their anger–the silent majority may not stay silent much longer! Here’s the link to the short video, and then click on “more” to see a great pie chart that puts the bailout in historic perspective.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1039849853    (more…)