Archive for December, 2006

Smoking Taxes

Thursday, December 28th, 2006

Dave Heny belly aches today about smokers having to pay taxes.  As most people tend to do no solution to this “unfair” taxation problem is offered with the only hint to a solution is simply:

 “Texas, as do many states, cities and communities, continues to restrict and prohibit places where people can smoke, but at the same time doesn’t hesitate to slap hefty tariffs on smokers in order to pay the bills. In a strange way, Texas depends heavily on tobacco taxes, but yet publicly proclaims it doesn’t want people to smoke.”

As you  may recall Amarillo put a smoking ban on the ballot in 2005, I think it was.  The ban failed and rightly so.  I don’t think restricting property owner’s rights is the right thing to do.  If people want to boycott an entire restaurant where a small smoking section is that is their choice.  Business owners should not be forced to conform to government’s demands when patrons have a choice when deciding on their nightly entertainment.  Enough opining on that.

Now then, I might be biased when it comes to this issue because I don’t smoke and will never have to pay these taxes.  However, I will agree that paying an increasing amount of taxes is not a favorable predicament for some people.  Given that people choose to smoke, though, I am less inclined to care if smokers have to pay more taxes than I do.

Dave makes the point that Texas depends on tobacco taxes a great deal and that because of this dependence and when people quit purchasing cigarettes tax revenues will go down.  As far as this point goes I think that is a good thing.  Thanks to Texas’ balanced budget laws decreased revenues will mean decreases in government spending.  I guess the only reservation I have about this is what programs the legislature might have to cut.  We’ll have to wait until this happens to debate about that because I have no idea what could be on the table should this arise.

So if taxes are bad and forcing people only to smoke in their own homes (potentially, that actually happened in on California town) is bad what is the solution?  I am fine with taxes because I don’t smoke.  I am not fine with forcing business owners to capitulate because that’s unconscionable.  I say the best option is put it to a vote and see what the people want.  If the majority wants to tell business owners what to do that’s them, but I won’t live there.

Posted in Local, My Opinion | 1 Comment »

Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 25th, 2006

Happy birthday Jesus!

Posted in Recognition | 1 Comment »

I like Rosie

Thursday, December 21st, 2006

Not because she is a crazy, raving moonbat liberal, but because not many people provide as much quality entertainment as she does.  Be it quarreling with billionaires, being a racist, or likening evangelicals with terrorists, there is much entertainment to be had observing her shenanigans.

I think what makes her so funny is that she believes what she says.  I keep up with hotair.com on a regular basis and whenever Rosie has somethig funny to say they are sure to put a clip up on their site.  Chet it out when you get a chance.ce.

Posted in Humor, Unhinged Liberals | 2 Comments »

Some Christmas Reflections

Wednesday, December 20th, 2006

Last December, I posted an old letter of mine on the local liberal blog.  It was to the editor of a newspaper in Monterey, California.  Some of the examples are a little dated (it was published in 1990 – some 16 years ago), but if you’ve got the time, here’s a link to it (If you don’t have the time, just continue on):

http://www.haloscan.com/comments/panhandletruthsquad/113416374198343405/#225968

Lately, I’ve been reflecting a little more on why some people would rather avoid thinking about whose birth we’re celebrating.  While it’s true that Jesus had to be born of a woman, His ultimate mission was to die for your sins and for mine.

The words of the song “Start at the Manger” from the musical “The Christmas Post” sum it up well:

Start at the manger on a cold winter night.

Look for the star in the sky, then follow its light.

It leads to a Savior for a world that is lost.

Start at the manger, then go to the cross.

The whole idea of ones own personal sinfulness makes  people uncomfortable, especially at Christmas time, so we dwell on the peripherals:  Santa Claus, Ebenezer Scrooge, Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman.  We concentrate on the warm fuzzies and traditions of the season and try to sublimate our own feelings of worthlessness.  Yet it seems that more people suffer from depression at Christmas than any other time of the year.

Oswald Chambers tackled the issue striaght on:

“Very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ died.  If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is a farce, there was no need for it.  What the world needs is not ‘a little bit of love,’ but a surgical operation.”

I’ll close with the opening words of a seldom sung verse to the Christmas carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”:

Oh Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray.

Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.

I’d like to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas –  no, better make that a Holy, Blessed Christmas.

Posted in My Opinion, Personal | 3 Comments »

Martial Law in Poland – 25 Years Later

Wednesday, December 13th, 2006

When I looked at today’s date, I seemed to remember that something significant happened on December 13.  Then it struck me; on this date, 25 years ago, martial law was declared in Poland, ending the reforms brought about by the Solidarity trade union, led by Lech Walęsa .

I was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army at the time, about half way through the nine-month, intensive, intermediate Polish course at the Defense Language Institute, so the declaration of martial law was of particular of interest to me.  At the time, it seemed as if all the progress that had been made since the summer of 1980 had gone the way of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the Prague Spring of 1968.

But there were three world leaders who viewed it differently:  Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II.  Each of them refused to accept that Poland’s quest for democracy was dead.  Who would have believed that by eight short years later, the Poles would hold free elections and the Berlin Wall would come down?

Twenty five years from now, when we look back on the events of today in the Middle East, who will be the world leaders we will remember, and why?

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

This site was a Good choice

Thursday, December 7th, 2006

I have to admit that at first I was not to crazy about moving Ivorydome from blogspot. It seemed to “busy”, to me, and harder to work with. But I’ve really grown like it. One reason is that, If you watch closely, you will see that the ad’s that constantly change, and often follow what we post about. This many times leads to interesting reading. But you have to be quick as they change nearly everytime I log on.

Yesterday this link was up. Regardless of religious belief, I was surprised at how closely this described described events in the middle east. It mirror’s much of my own thought. Check it out.

http://www.fallofislam.com

Posted in Islamic Fanatacism, Promotion | 2 Comments »

The $ Doesn’t Cure Sorrow

Tuesday, December 5th, 2006

In the past I have tried to keep my personal life off of this web site however something happened to me recently that I must post about. On October 30th of this year my wife, Cara, passed away. She had a blood clot in her brain that caused her brain to swell. The swelling eventually caused brain death.

However, her death is not the subject of this post. Due to the some of the events that took place prior to her death people have approached me asking if I was going to hire a lawyer and seek damages from the hospital due to possible negligence. I agree that if someone at the hospital was negligent then they should be held responsible. At the same time, however, I am not a greedy person. Medical bills are taken care of thanks to Medicaid so there is no expense there. I do have a few of Cara’s bills that I need to take care of but they are manageable.

Given that though, I will not be party to raising healthcare costs to myself and others. I might as well shoot myself in the foot and cut a fat check to a lawyer who doesn’t need the money. No amount of cash is going to bring Cara back, either. I know I have a good head on my shoulders and will not only lead a healthy life but I will also be able to provide a great life for my stepdaughter Alli. I will NOT seek monetary compensation for Cara’s death due to possible negligence. If there was negligence then I believe the people who were careless will have to deal with what they did and answer to whatever deity they follow, if any. I will NOT make a rich lawyer even richer in a process that will garner me no satisfaction whatsoever.

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment »

False Prophecy?

Sunday, December 3rd, 2006

Next Sunday, through the miracle of Digital Video Disc, the Chief Prophet of Chicken Little’ism will be speaking at the Unitarian Church Fellowship here in Amarillo:

http://panhandletruthsquad.blogspot.com/2006/11/inconvenient-truth-inconveniently.html

As you watch his predictions concerning the impending doom caused by hurricanes of ever increasing severity, bear in mind two things:

1)  As early as last May, the jury was still out among meteorologists as to whether this was going to happen.

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20060529-124851-7254r.htm

2) Now that the 2006 hurricane season is over, those experts who predicted a milder season have been proven right.

http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBHKNBE0VE.html

Is this a mere aberration, only to be reversed next year, or perhaps something more threatening to the Inconvenient Truth?  We’ll have to wait until next hurricane season to find out.  My suggestion is to watch the rhetoric.  If the term “climate change” continues its ascendency to the exlusion of “global warming,” we can assume that the “experts” are hedging their bets.  In the meantime, watch solar temperatures and volcanic activity on the ocean floor for clues as to what’s really happening and how much control we have over it.

For more on my opinion of the religion of global warming, see my earlier post, “Global Warming and Faith in Science”:

http://www.ivorydome.us/2006/07/25/global-warming-and-faith-in-science/

P.S.  I can’t find the doomsday clock at the moment, but my best guess is that we’re down to about 9 years and one month until we’re toast.  Stay tuned!  I’ll be two months short of my 66th birthday by then.  If the Good Lord blesses me with that many years, someone will have the opportunity to say “I told you so!”.

Posted in Global Warming, Unhinged Liberals | 7 Comments »