Please pass along and help as you are able

This blog entry starts with very disturbing news. A homeless man was stabbed outside the Arlington Heights Memorial Library. Read the story:Man stabbed in Arlington Heights - Chicago Breaking News; and then note the following comment (quoted here in its entirety, though without permission. I hope no one minds...) I would appreciate anyone who can verify (or refute) any of the details and/or provide additional information.

An AH resident who knows the truth on December 28, 2008 9:08 AM

There is an agency called Journeys from PADS to HOPE that has a very good and safe system of emergency and temporary shelter offered in the coldest months of the year. Many do not know that they also place people in permanent housing...currently, 6 people are housed in some of their units, those were previously on the streets. Journeys also has a day center that is open 9A-4P Monday through Friday. They would live the day center to be able to expand its hours but A) The Village of Palatine restricted their hours with Special Use and even if they could change that limitation with the Village and B) they can't currently afford to hire more staff to man the additional hours. Journeys has tried the road of expanding it's shelter system and service area in to Park Ridge when asked by the City officials and religious leaders to do so but the comunity responded with negative and hateful attacks at an agency that tries to pick away at the homeless issue with dedication and skill. Volunteering at Journeys allows me to know that their wish is to have a fixed site year round shelter but there isn't a community out there that is jumping to partner with them. In fact, are you aware that Journeys is the one that asked the Village of Arlington Heights to police their public locations with less passiveness so that those who loiter and drink that are homeless might be forced to cme to the center for help with their issues instad of causing problems with the Village and thus the cameras went up in the train station. However, the Village likes to claim that the decision was solely due to a formed Task Force. The Task Force met with Journeys to get their advice - funny how they don't gve the credit where due. Also, are you aware that the Village of Arlington Heights is funding Journeys less than the surrounding Towns are funding Journeys in order to address a population no one else wants to support. Arlington Heights tells Journeys they don't have more than a couple thousand dollars yearly to support their efforts but yet they can put millions in to their "Emerald City" Village Hall? You ask...can the Village of AH pull off a year round shelter system? The answer is No but Journeys can if supported...

Thanks to @HarvardAvenue for pointing me to the story on his blog.

Seriously, I Wish Someone Could Convince Me

This morning at the grocery store I spotted a friend of the family. Since I don't know her too well I considered avoiding her completely but for some reason decided to stop her and say howdy. After brief chit-chat she asked about my job search. When I told her that there has not been any progress she immediately responded, "Well Obama's coming soon. He will turn it all around."
I probably should have just smiled at her, said goodbye, and hauled ass to the car. But that's not like me. Of course I wasn't going to engage her in a full-on political debate either so I reached for something I thought would be factual and mostly non-confrontational: I said, "We can't afford to wait that long."
I was completely shocked by her response, "We're just going to have to. What choice do we have, right?" She continued to try to get me to agree with her, but how could I? I mean I know being a retired grandmother, she and I are in very different places in our lives. But could she really be that fatalistic? Do people really think we are that powerless? What do they think we are supposed to do in the meantime?
I can't help but feel really bad for her. Sure, financially she is much better off than I, but I wouldn't trade places with her if I could.
If this is the attitude of the country, things are definitely going to get much worse. Please, please, please convince me I am wrong...

Candidate for Sale?

Well I haven't chosen an office to pursue or filed any paperwork yet, but today on Facebook I announced my candidacy for office. Check out the group link here if you have an account.

You may notice the announcement seems a little juvenile and ridiculous. But so is the state of politics in Illinois these days.

Folks, as long as we allow government to have so much influence over our daily lives we will have corrupt politicians. Until we admit the causal relationship between the two we are going to continue to be disappointed in our public officials.

And even if you don't agree ideologically, wouldn't it make sense to at least follow the Constitution? Whatever else we do, let's at least abolish the unconstitutional policies, programs, and practices that have been implemented over the last century or so. They either do more harm than good or just don't work at all.

Keeping it Bite-Sized Today

There are some great lines in the post: Socialized Medicine In The US Could Cost Me My life. « Storm Warning!

If you think healthcare is expensive now… just wait 'til it's free!
Get a GRIP, America! There is NO FREE LUNCH! There never has been! If you want it… you must be prepared to pay for it.

Another great line I heard this morning is: "The Constitution may not be perfect, but it's better than what we have now."

A classic liberal out of water

The reason it has been so long since I wrote anything here is mainly because I have been too angry (frustrated, maybe?) to write. It's not getting better but I cannot keep it inside any longer. It feels like the election of Barack Obama has emboldened the liberals* to grow increasingly more outrageous day by day.

Again, I am so frustrated I am not sure where to start. The first thing that pops into my head is what I heard on the radio** Tuesday afternoon. The host was hyping the typical "tax the rich" rhetoric which always makes my blood boil. However he actually made what I thought was a well-reasoned argument. He said that by raising personal income tax rate on the wealthy it would spur an increase in the money invested in businesses; both in capital improvements and human resources. Despite my resistance I thought there might be some logic to this. His argument was based on the idea that a business has a couple of options with what to do with profits. They can take the profits out as personal income or they can reinvest them in the business.*** By raising the personal income tax he postulates that business owners would be less likely to take the distributions out of the company. I admit he had me fooled for a minute until what came next: by reinvesting the money in the company they can avoid taxes altogether. That's right, when a company spends money (in most cases) it comes out of their pre-tax dollars. This is one of the reasons you hear all the time how the "wealthy avoid paying taxes" - because they instead spend the money legally on their businesses. So I was quickly awakened from this hazy dreamworld by the logical contradictions:

1. If the business owners really are encouraged to spend profits in this manner, then the additional taxes will raise NO ADDITIONAL tax revenue. The politicians say they do this to raise the money they need for all of their elaborate new social programs, but the fact is the money would never actually get taxed. In fact you could argue that tax revenue would really drop for this very reason. This is the effect the Laffer Curve illustrated. This is the argument of Reaganomics. This is what sane, intelligent people have been trying to make you understand for decades.
2. I would be shocked if there were gaggles of business owners out there who are really so dumb as to neglect the long range success of their companies by not making these capital investments when needed. After all it is hard to get where they are without proper long range strategies. Who are we to tell them when such expenditures are necessary. This radio host claimed he was once a business owner and this is how he did it. Well, so what? He should know that all businesses are different. You cannot adopt a one-size-fits-all strategy. Even if 99.9% of businesses needed that push, we have to respect the 0.1% that doesn't. Yes I made those numbers up.
   Going slightly off-topic: Democrats seem to be lacking the gene that allows for long-term planning. They always present programs that sound good in theory at first glance but don't hold up down the line. They can always point to the one life they will make better; they completely ignore the countless others who will be harmed. It sounds good for us all to have health care. You can go find a family without healthcare and demonstrate how their lives will improve. They don't show the countless others who would have to go without common treatments because the waiting lists are too long. They don't show the numerous drugs and treatments that won't be discovered because they've eliminated the profit motive for research. They don't show the countless other things that I don't even know about because following an immoral course of action always has unintended negative consequences. But the Dems seem to be unwilling or unable to consider the long term. And I guess they think that's what the American public wants. Or they think you are too stupid to see through it. After this past election I am afraid to answer which...
3. Actually more related to item #2. If the incentive is to spend the money on the company tax free instead of taking the taxed personal income, then the incentive exists regardless of the personal income rate. Whether the personal income rate is "high" or "low" it is still cheaper to pay zero.
4. Taxation, especially income tax, is 100% immoral. Taking property without permission is theft by any definition. No matter what else you say there is nothing that can change this fundamental fact. It does not matter if you think the victim deserves it. It doesn't matter if you give to billions of homeless starving African children with AIDS. Wrong is wrong. You cannot achieve moral ends through immoral means.
   

So I beg of you to keep a critical eye open. You don't have to be wealthy to denounce Robin Hood. Just as you don't have to be black to oppose slavery; you don't have to be gay to oppose "Prop 8"; you don't have to be Jewish to see the evil in the holocaust. It might help to be human to fight for human rights.

*By "liberals" I am referring of course to today's "Robin Hood" liberals like the President-elect and others in the Democratic Party. Their "ideals" are a far cry from the classic liberalism which founded this country and to which any rational, freedom-loving human should subscribe.

**92.7 FM for the curious

***There are probably other options, but having never owned a profitable business what do I know?

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