Short Term Employee Wanted:

Position: US Senator from New York

Qualifications: Must have star power and a name like Clinton or Cuomo. Willingness to retire in January 2010 is a must.

Skill Set: Candidate must have proven bloviating abilites. Experience at triangulation is a plus, as is truth twisting. Candidate must also promise to support the 2010 campaign of New York’s unelected governor.

Benefits: Full salary no matter how dismal the performance. Retirement benefits better than even the UAW offers along with full medical coverage for life.

Application: Apply in person at the New York governor’s mansion.

This position is only open to New York residents, however, Delaware has a similar opening.

Update: New York Governor David Paterson is no longer accepting applications for this position. Coronation of the lady Caroline Kennedy is expected.

A new poll shows that 60% of New Yorkers are opposed to Governor Paterson’s proposed obesity tax on sugary sodas. That would be good news, but New Yorkers are fickle when it comes to tax hikes.

Many New Yorkers are elated that the governor is considering a tax increase on the wealthy. They’re even rejoicing. The Working Families party believes “It’s economically and morally sound to require wealthy New Yorkers to pay more in order to prevent even deeper cuts to schoolchildren, the elderly and the disabled.”

It’s too bad the Post Standard didn’t include comments from anyone who finds increasing taxes on one person to pay for benefits of another person is economically and morally unsound.

But neither proposal may be necessary because Senator Chuck Schumer has come to the rescue! He came to Albany today promising $18 billion in pork for New York from Obama’s planned stimulus package. These liberal Democrats are so generous with other people’s money!

I’m sure all of you who live in states with sound budgets and controlled spending are thrilled to be part of a union where you have the privlege of paying for states like mine, with no fiscal discipline. But at least we New Yorkers can say California’s worse.

Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, liberals and moderates can all agree that 2008 was an interesting year, to say the least. Who would have thought the New York Football Giants would have bested the New England Patriots in the Superbowl? If you thought that would be the strangest thing to happen this year you don’t follow politics too closely.

2008 kicked off in the midst of the Presidential primary season. Democrats bickered over who cared more about the impoverished and who wanted our troops out of Iraq sooner. Republicans went back and forth, each claiming to be the most conservative, while Republican voters kept wondering how they could channel Ronald Reagan. Read the rest of this entry »

Despite all the evidence that stimulus spending doesn’t stimulate the Fed continues to print money and the politicians continue to spend it. Have the Republicans forgotten the lessons of Ronald Reagan and supply side economics? Perhaps they should use the Christmas break to bone up on economics and come out with a strategy to put the brakes on Obama’s new economic plan. (Not that it will be easy, since George Bush did such a great job of setting the table for him.)

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, despite being renounced by his own corrupt party, refuses to resign. I can almost understand why. Wasn’t he just doing what they do in Illinois, and New York for that matter? And speaking of New York, Kathleen Parker simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bash Sarah Palin, even while mildly criticizing Princess Caroline. Maybe Ms. Parker doesn’t have a grasp of the havoc US senators are capable of causing.

It’s reported that Oprah Winfrey can’t stand to be away from Barack Obama, so she’s looking to purchase a $50 million Georgetown mansion. Not that I begrudge anyone being able to purchase such a home, but when those people support a candidate who wants to “spread the wealth” it’s a bit offensive.

Big spending and high taxes haven’t done anything good for the state of New York. Businesses have shut down and children grow up and leave the state because it’s unaffordable. Which makes it puzzling that Governor Paterson would propose increasing an average New York family’s taxes by almost $4000 per year. After the state government’s driven all the producers and tax payers out of New York, who will be left to pay the tab for the welfare recipients left behind?

One has to wonder what the heck happened to the Republican party. They used to stand for low taxes and small government. These days they’re nearly indistinguishable from the democrats. Even if they do manage a miraculous comeback, what sort of mess will they be coming back to?

Governor David Paterson may come to be known as the Grinch who stole Christmas. The best quote of the day regarding Governor Paterson’s plans to raise taxes came from Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) via the New York Post:

“The pain in this budget seems to be strictly for the middle class. You name it, [Paterson] taxes it. If anybody’s contemplating leaving the state of New York, this should push them over the top.”

Amen to that. It’s very sad. My husband and I love our jobs and our home. But I don’t know how much more of this we can, or are willing to, take. Taxes in New York are already out of control. Does Paterson really think this plan is going to attract business to our state?

At this point we are going to refrain from making any purchases in New York that aren’t absolutely necessary. Enough is enough. I would urge my fellow New Yorkers to follow suit. Any economic activity that isn’t essential to your survival should be avoided. Sure, it will be a sacrifice but they’re already asking for sacrifice. This just forces them to learn to live with less like the rest of us.

H/T to reader Andrew W.

Are you as irked as I am by Caroline Kennedy presuming she should be New York’s next US Senator? The woman has no relevant experience, hasn’t had a full time job in years and the only reason she’s under consideration is her name. If you voted against John McCain because you thought a former mayor and sitting governor was unqualified to be Vice President, I can’t imagine how you can think Caroline Kennedy is qualified to be a US Senator.

I thought this past election was supposed to be about change! If you don’t want Caroline Kennedy to be a US Senator I urge you to contact Governor Paterson.

To Write To The Governor:
David A. Paterson
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

518-474-8390

To Email The Governor:
Click here to email the Governor.

PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR MAILING ADDRESS.
Responses may be sent via the U.S. Mail.

For Information on Legislation:
Please access the New York State Legislative
Session Information page at
http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us

Governor Paterson is taking drastic action in his attempts to balance the New York State budget. He’s proposing new or higher taxes on gasoline, clothing, luxury goods and insurance policies. Big Nanny’s also proposing a new ‘obesity tax’ - a tax on non-diet sodas. The Tax Foundation calls it a ridiculous nanny-state cash grab.

But this doesn’t even get to the core issue at hand, which is why are non-diet soft drinks bad? They aren’t bad in themselves. I assume that one consequence of non-diet soft drinks (obesity) is what he is claiming to be concerned with. But if obesity is what he’s concerned with, then he needs to show the relationship between soft drinks and obesity and then the negative costs imposed on society from that soda-induced obesity. He doesn’t have such evidence. Again, he’s just looking for a money in any way he can get it. Furthermore, why stop at soda? Why not tax ice cream? Or better yet, why not have people weigh-in every year at a DMV and have their weights recorded? Then we can levy a true tax on obesity. Michael Jacobson would be so proud.

My recommendation: In lieu of a bailout, Gov. Patterson should request that the federal government give his state control of the Statue of Liberty. Then he could raise some revenue by selling it, which would be appropriate because after what he is proposing and what Mr. Nanny Bloomberg has done as mayor, it no longer belongs in New York. Read full story.

Amen to that!

And if the new taxes aren’t enough, the governor also plans to INCREASE spending. Yes, you read that right! He wants to increase welfare spending, make it easier to receive welfare, increase Family Health Plus coverage plus lots of other goodies.

In summary, New York State is projecting a huge budget deficit. They are spending more than they take in. To remedy the problem New York plans to spend more money and tax items that people can easily choose not to purchase, thereby avoiding the tax. So in the end, the state will spend more money, force citizens to reduce consumption thereby reducing tax revenues.

Brilliant!

Okay, there is one qualification for the job of junior Senator from New York: last name.

The Kennedy’s are lobbying hard for Governor Paterson to appoint Caroline Kennedy to Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. Rumor has it that Ted Kennedy contacted Paterson and told him Caroline would be the natural selection because “Ms. Kennedy - backed by the Kennedy family’s extensive fund-raising network - would have the wherewithal to run back-to-back costly statewide races…”

Is this New York or Illinois? Regardless, I don’t see how another Senator Kennedy would bring about change we can believe in.

H/T Hot Air

I’m not sure where you live, but where I live (Upstate New York) property taxes are out of control. Which is why I was happy to see this article in the Wall Street Journal. Not that I was happy to be reminded of the high tax burden here in New York. I was only thankful that someone noticed.

The article was about the Buffalo area in particular, but Syracuse, Rochester and all Upstate cities are facing the same problems. This is such a beautiful area, but the cities are in decline. One quarter of Buffalo’s housing is vacant. Is there a better solution to the foreclosure problem than bailouts?  Read the rest of this entry »

I think Deepak Chopra should stick to aromatherapy and enemas and leave the war on terror to the experts. Heal thyself, Deepak!

The Dow dropped almost 700 points today. Will George Stephanopoulos attribute it to Barack Obama’s press conference this morning? Oh come on, you know that’s funny!

Is it just me, or does it make anyone else nervous that Barney Frank will have a role in the Fannie/Freddie makeover? As a mom, I’m all for cleaning up our own messes, but come on!

If we close Gitmo, where will wounded terrorists go for treatment after trying to kill members of the US military?

When Hillary spoke earlier at Barack Obama’s news conference, she expressed that the decision to leave her job as a NY Senator was a tough one. I found that odd, since she’s been trying to leave her job for several years now.

While Americans line up at food pantries, Barack Obama ordered a $30,000 ring for wife, Michelle. I wonder why he couldn’t find an American jeweler from which to make such a grand purchase.

Yesterday the New York State Legislature signed a bill relating to medical malpractice.  When I first saw the little headline, I thought “good for them, someone has to reign in the malpractice attorneys.” Read the rest of this entry »

After Governor Paterson called on New York state lawmakers to cut spending, the special interest groups almost immediately started airing doom and gloom, the-sky-is-falling commercials. The Syracuse Post Standard joined the chorus today with their top-of-the-fold, front page headline warning “How Governor’s Cuts Hit CNY.”

They say hospitals will lose funding, nursing homes will close leaving seniors with nowhere to go and workers unemployed. Kids will go hungry at school, we’ll all come down with West Nile virus after they stop spraying for mosquitos and crime rates will rise. It all sounds pretty scary.

To find out where our tax dollars are going I visited SunlightNY.com and clicked on “Member Items” for Onondaga County. It’s like the menu from the biggest pork barbeque joint in the world. The first few items add up to almost $2 million dollars.

MDA (”job creation”) - $600,000, MDA (festival funding) -  $300,000, Syracuse Symphony Orchestra -$200,000, Syracuse Model Neihborhood - $187,000, Syracuse Chargers Rowing Club - $125,000 (I’m not making this up), Syacuse University - $125,000, Syracuse University Renaissance Internship Program - $100,000.

I could go on but I’m sure you get the point. It’s a bi-partisan pork-fest! This is just one county! Don’t these people get it? If they stop taxing and spending so much we won’t need any economic development or job creation programs. That will take care of itself!

Take a look at this one little county in Upstate NY, then imagine the spending of the Federal Government.