The Urban Grind

Current events, politics and life in general from the perspective of a conservative woman in New York

 

Archive for the ‘Taxes’ Category

Drug Testing For Welfare Applicants

Drug abusers from all walks of life can sign up for drug abuse programs that will help them with deal with their drug problem.

 

Under a new Florida law, people applying for welfare must take, and pass a drug test. Scott Cohen, writing for Time.com thinks this law is bad since it stigmatizes the poor.

Drug testing proponents like to argue that there are large numbers of drug users going on welfare to get money to support their habits. The claim feeds into long-standing stereotypes about the kind of people who go on welfare, but it does not appear to have much basis in fact.

Several studies, including a 1996 report from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, have found that there is no significant difference in the rate of illegal-drug use by welfare applicants and other people. Another study found that 70% of illegal-drug users between the age of 18 and 49 are employed full time.

What Mr. Cohen conveniently ignores is that this welfare money is coming from hard working, law abiding tax payers, who don’t want their money used to finance the drug use of bums. So as bad as drug use is, drug addicts who are employed full time are least flushing *their own* money down the toilet, as opposed to the money of other people, forcibly taken from them by the government.

Also, why shouldn’t welfare recipients have to undergo drug tests when many working people have to also get tested in order to get hired?

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Whole Foods CEO In Hot Water Over Anti-Obamacare Editorial

John Mackey is the CEO of Whole Foods Inc. He recently wrote an editorial in The Wall St. Journal suggesting logical, inexpensive alternatives to Obamacare.

This one benign, factual editorial was enough to set off some organic food Obamunists who are now in a snit.

Joshua has been taking the bus to his local Whole Foods in New York City every five days for the past two years. This week, he said he’ll go elsewhere to fulfill his fresh vegetable and organic produce needs.

“I will never shop there again,” vowed Joshua, a 45-year-old blogger, who asked that his last name not be published.

{snip}

Michael Lent, another Whole Foods enthusiast in Long Beach, Calif., told ABCNews.com that he, too, will turn to other organic groceries for his weekly shopping list.

“I’m boycotting [Whole Foods] because all Americans need health care,” said Lent, 33, who used to visit his local Whole Foods “several times a week.”

“While Mackey is worried about health care and stimulus spending, he doesn’t seem too worried about expensive wars and tax breaks for the wealthy and big businesses such as his own that contribute to the deficit,” said Lent.

First off, I’m glad these two are boycotting Whole Foods. That’s two less annoying people for the other customers and the Whole Foods staff to deal with.

Secondly, have either of these young men ever taken a course in economics? We all need things, such as food, clothing, and a roof over our heads. But does that mean businesses have to give it to us for free, or that other citizens have to milked like cows?

Also, how on earth does Whole Foods contribute to the deficit, whereas as women on welfare and illegal aliens popping out babies at the expense of working Americans do not?

After reading this article on the ABC site, I decided to do a search on Michael Lent. Of course he’s an Obama supporter. Here’s his MySpace page.

And here’s a YouTube video of Mr. Lent giving a speech at Google’s Irvine CA headquarters. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you all about how Google’s top brass has had their noses up Obama’s behind.

How much do you want to bet that some Obamacare supporters sent this article to flag@whitehouse.gov in order to snitch on John Mackey.

Finally, you have to go to the second page find one positive comment about Mr. Mackey’s ideas. Unbiased media, my foot!

John Mackey for President!

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New York City Tea Party

Hat tip: Mike Berman

We are having our NYC Tax Day Tea Party, Wednesday, April 15th at City Hall Park, 7pm-9pm with many high profile speakers!

Please get the word out and make sure everyone heads down after work on Tax Day.

Our speakers include:

- Former Speaker of House Newt Gingrich

- Andrew Wilkow of Sirius Radio

- KT McFarland, Security Adviser in the Reagan Administration and regular Fox News contributor

- S. E. Cupp, author and regular Fox News contributor

- Nick Rizzuto, Producer at Sirius Radio and founder of www.conservativepunk.com

- Brett Joshpe, Author, VP of Parcbench Media and General Counsel of the American Civics Exchange

- Patrick Gibson, Radio Host, WVOX-1460-AM

- Myself, President of Parcbench Media (www.parcbench.com)

Parcbench Media is an official national sponsor of www.taxdayteaparty.com.

Thanks everyone. And remember, this is New. York. City. Not DC, not Atlanta, not St. Louis or any other city that has been throwing large Tea Parties. With over 250 other Tea Parties on April 15th let’s show the country that NO ONE does it like New York. Bring as many people as you can, make banners, call your local media to cover it, write about it on blogs and let’s prep for a blowout protest. We demand fiscal responsibility, the cutting of pork out of congressional bills and the repealing of taxes and “fees.”

More updates coming soon and thanks again.

Best,
Kellen Giuda
President Parcbench Media
NYC Tea Party Organizer

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Petition To Stop Nanny State Taxes In NY

A New York based reader of mine sent me an email regarding a petition to stop Governor Paterson’s soda tax. The petition can be accessed here.

Also, here is the message that Dick Armey of Freedom Works sent along with the petition request that was forwarded to me.

Sign the Petition to Stop Nanny-State Taxes in New York
As a FreedomWorks member, you know that we’ve been closely watching the tax-hike situation in New York. Like other states across the country, New York is facing record deficits, however instead of making the sometimes politically unpopular decision to cut wasteful spending and roll back regulations, New York’s Governor Paterson wants to tax his way out of the hole.

Take Action and sign the petition.

Governor Paterson has proposed a tax hike of 18% on beverages such as soft and juice drinks along with 136 other new fees and tax hikes to bridge a $15.4 billion budget deficit. At a time when New York’s families have been hit hard by the current economic downturn and are cutting back on their expenses, Paterson has actually proposed a budget with $1.4 billion in new spending! And where does that new money come from? Cash-strapped taxpayers.

Governor Paterson cares more about his pork projects and New York’s bloated budget than families. And he intends to go after every dime he can via nanny-state taxes that limit your choices. New York has apparently done such a good job spending your money, the state should also tell you what you can eat and drink.

This is preposterous and New Yorkers should be outraged. Your elected officials think they know better than you how to live your life. Worse still, when Paterson doesn’t get the money he needs for his bigger, badder budget he’s going to go back to the taxpayers for even more, driving business and families from the state.

There is some good news. Just last week, conflicting statements began to emerge from the Governor’s office regarding the soda-tax plan. Governor Paterson and his press secretary don’t seem to be on the same page when it comes to this tax hike. That means that grassroots pressure is starting to chip away at the Governor’s plan. As the March budget deadline draws closer, this is an important time to tell the Governor you oppose his tax and spend plan.

FreedomWorks has joined with New Yorkers Against Unfair Taxes in an effort to stop this tax hike scheme. We urge you to sign their petition and add your voice opposing the Governor’s proposed tax increase. And, once you’ve done that, be sure to send it on to five more friends. Educating our neighbors is the best chance we have to stand up to big government.

Thank you for your ongoing support of FreedomWorks.
Sincerely,

Dick Armey
Chairman

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Oh Shut Up, Hussein!

Here’s a quick look at what Barky has in store for us when he becomes our next President.

First off, it looks like he’s preparing to issue an order to close the Guantanamo prison in his first week of office. (What do to with the terrorist inmates has yet to be decided.)

Furthremore, it looks like Obama will reverse several of President Bush’s executive orders regarding the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo.

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In other news, the Obama people are asking the Bush Administration about getting the second 350 billion dollars of the bailout money.
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All you business owners need to brace yourselves. Obama plans to keep the estate tax.

President-elect Barack Obama and congressional leaders plan to move soon to block the estate tax from disappearing in 2010, suggesting the levy might outlive the “Death Tax Repeal” movement that has tried mightily to kill it.

{snip}

Under the Obama plan detailed during the campaign, the estate tax would be locked in permanently at the rate and exemption levels that took effect this year. That would exempt estates of $3.5 million — $7 million for couples — from any taxation. The value of estates above that would be taxed at 45%. If the tax were returned to Clinton-era levels, it would exclude $1 million from taxation with the rest taxed at 55%.

In making their case for the restoration, Democrats contend that such a large additional tax break for the rich shouldn’t go into force halfway through Mr. Obama’s proposed economic-recovery package. They argue that the deficit is already in record territory, while their plan wouldn’t have any impact on the economy since it would merely keep the estate-tax rate at its current level. Mr. Obama and his party also say that the affluent already have benefited handsomely from the Bush tax cuts.

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How Obama Plans To Create 2.5 Million New Jobs

Of course the MSM is ecstatic about how the Messiah is going to fixed the “mess” created by big bad President Bush. Here are the details.

“We’ll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges; modernizing schools that are failing our children; and building wind farms and solar panels, fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technology that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years head,” he said.

He noted that he will need support from both Democrats and Republicans to pass such a plan and said he welcomes suggestions from both sides of the aisle.

Uh, aren’t there already people working on our roads and bridges, and our public schools? This sounds to me like more government jobs, which means higher taxes for the rest of us.

Also, according to one editorial, that 2.5 million goal is actually quite modest.

In 1988, George H.W. Bush promised 15 million new jobs. In 1992, Bill Clinton said his economic plan would create 8 million. In 2000, Al Gore promised 10 million new high-tech positions. That same campaign, George W. Bush said his tax cuts would add 5 million to payrolls. In 2004, John Kerry pledged 10 million.

Earlier this year, Hillary Clinton offered up a plan during the primaries that she said would create 3 million jobs just “through increased investments in the nation’s infrastructure.”

{snip}

Since Eisenhower’s first term, the economy has created an average of 1.5 million new jobs each year. Since Reagan’s first term, the average has been about 2.5 million a year. And Reagan, who inherited an economy as bad if not worse than the current one, saw 6.3 million new jobs created four years after he entered the White House.

If Obama just manages to hit the post-World War II average, there would be 3 million more jobs by 2011.

What’s more, Obama’s promise doesn’t keep pace with projected growth in the labor force. The BLS projects that roughly 2.6 million new workers will enter the labor pool over the next two years.

If that’s the case, Obama’s plan would leave the unemployment rate slightly higher in 2011 than it is now. Moreover, Obama’s stimulus plan could eventually total $700 billion, the Washington Post reports. So, as former Council of Economic Advisers chief Gregory Mankiw notes, each job Obama “creates” will cost $280,000.

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Debunking The Myth That Government Spending “Stimulates” The Economy

Originally, it was economist John Maynard Keynes who argued that the economy could be boosted by government borrowing, and spending money. This has become the gospel for Democrats and RINO’s. But here’s a look at why it doesn’t work.

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Get Ready For Obama’s Stealth Reparations

Us honkies will be milked like cows by this black supremacist Obama, and his goons in the Senate and House.

While he was an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama told a Chicago radio show host that he sought “major redistributive change” for the benefit of fellow blacks.

He was speaking in the context of the civil rights movement, and how it had fallen short of “economic justice.” Although John McCain and other Republicans are afraid to say it, his remarks can only be interpreted to mean one thing: economic reparations for slavery.

This is yet another example of Obama’s lack of candor and deception about his true radical agenda during this campaign, as well as the mainstream media’s failure to vet such serious issues and force them out into the open where voters can see them and have a fair chance to evaluate them before they go to the polls.

In 2001, Obama said it’s a “tragedy” the Constitution wasn’t radically interpreted to force redistribution of wealth for blacks, and it’s still an issue of concern for him today. And he suggested he wants to effect “major redistributive change” through legislation.

He complained that during the civil-rights era, “the Supreme Court never ventured into issues of redistribution of wealth” for blacks, and that the Warren Court was not “radical” enough.

“One of the tragedies of the civil-rights movement was there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change,” he said while serving as a state lawmaker and University of Chicago lecturer. “And in some ways, we still suffer from that.”

That was in 2001. Now those coalitions, led by ACORN and other radical urban community organizers, hope to deliver Obama to national power along with a legislative majority working on their behalf.

“Maybe I’m sharing my bias here as a legislator, but I’m not optimistic about bringing about major redistributive change through the courts,” he added. “The institution just isn’t structured that way.”

Obama explained that justices felt uncomfortable forcing school districts to pay the extra expense to make the necessary changes to accommodate their desegregation rulings. They would rather not get involved in issues of direct remuneration. Legislators, on the other hand, would have no such qualms about making people pay.

He said the process of redistributive change and “economic justice” is “administrative and takes a lot of time” — things that are best left to a federal administration and legislature.

In a separate interview, he said the framers of the Constitution had an “enormous blind spot” regarding slavery — no argument there. But then he said that the Constitution — in spite of its subsequent proper amendments giving blacks full citizenship and rights — still “represents the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day.”

This echoes what he wrote in his 2006 autobiography about the Constitution being “marred by the original sin of slavery.”

Question: Does Obama want to further amend the Constitution in some way? It seems he thinks something is missing, left undone. Does he want to institutionalize reparations somehow? It’s a serious question he should be compelled to answer, if he would only give reporters outside his fawning entourage a chance to ask it. (He hasn’t held a press conference in over a month.) Remember, Obama was a constitutional lawyer and would know how to get the amendment ratification process started with the right majority in Congress behind such a movement.

Back in August, Barack Obama said Washington shouldn’t just offer apologies for slavery, but also “deeds.” Don’t worry, he said, he wasn’t talking about direct reparations.

I wasn’t put at ease then, and I’m definitely not now.

“I consistently believe that when it comes to … reparations,” Obama told a gathering of minority journalists, “the most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer words, but offer deeds.”

A few days later, he clarified his remarks, saying he was not calling for direct cash payments to descendents of slaves, but rather indirect aid in the form of government programs that will “close the gap” between what he sees as white America and black America.

In other words, stealth reparations.

He says government should offer “universal” programs — such as universal health care, universal mortgage credits, college tuition, job training and even universal 401(k)s — that “disproportionately affect people of color.”

Obama’s 2006 book and Web site outline a plan calling for essentially a government bailout of the inner cities, which he describes as “repositories for all the scars of slavery and violence of Jim Crow.” Among other things, he proposes:

* Doling out federal grants “targeting ex-offenders or substance abusers”;
* Subsidizing supermarket chains that relocate to the inner city;
* Creating a “universal 401(k)” in which the government would tax private contributions and match public contributions made into new retirement accounts by low-income families;
* Imposing “goals and timetables for minority hiring” on large corporations whose work forces are deemed too white;
* Ramping up funding for the Community Development Block Grant program, Head Start and HUD public housing subsidies.
* Funding Small Business Administration loans for minority; businesses who train ex-felons, including gangbangers, for the “green jobs” of the future, such as installing extra insulation in homes;
* Doubling the funding for federal after-school programs such as midnight basketball;
* Subsidizing job training, day care, transportation for inner-city poor, as well as doubling the funding of the federal Jobs Access and Reverse Commute program;
* Expanding the eligibility of the earned income tax credit to include more poor, and indexing it to inflation;
* Adopting entire inner-city neighborhoods as wards of the federal government; and
* Spending billions on new inner-city employment programs, including prison-to-work programs.

This is just a down payment on the “economic justice” Obama has promised the NAACP — financed by “tax laws that restore some balance to the distribution of the nation’s wealth,” he says in his book.

And the indirect aid he’s proposing now could quickly turn into cash transfers once Obama is safely ensconced in the White House — with perhaps a filibuster-proof majority of Democrats at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Claiming “blacks were forced into ghettos,” Obama is certainly sympathetic to the idea of reparations. His church has actively petitioned for them for decades. And he’s strongly suggested there’s a legal case to be made for them.

“So many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow,” he said. “We still haven’t fixed them.”

He assumes the economic gap is a legacy of discrimination and largely unrelated to personal responsibility. He also makes it seem things haven’t gotten better for blacks, despite statistics showing enormous economic gains and a rising black middle class (“Better isn’t good enough,” he insists). He also assumes, like his spiritual mentor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, that America is “still run by racism.” Obama claims “institutional racism” still exists in America, without offering any evidence that legalized discrimination still remains in this country, even in its most backwater parts.

Another Obama confidante, Rev. Michael Pfleger, has asserted that white people have a moral obligation to surrender their 401(k) funds and other assets, which he suggested properly belong to blacks.

Obama himself has said more needs to be done to “cleanse America of its original sin.” He said he cannot “brush aside the magnitude of the injustice done, or erase the ghosts of generations past, or ignore the open wound, the aching spirit, that ails this country still.”

“The problems of inner-city poverty arise from our failure to face up to an often tragic past,” Obama said.

He also wrote in his recent autobiography that he sympathizes with militant black activists who fear that “white Americans will be let off the hook” for past crimes, such as “a hundred years of lynching under several dozen administrations.”

“I understand these fears,” Obama said, and agrees that the government has a “responsibility to make things right,” suggesting there is at least some legitimacy to militant demands for payback.

In calling for a “new order,” he invoked the memory of abolitionists and their “willingness to spill blood and not just words … that helped force the issue of a nation half slave and half free.”

Apparently, Obama is under the delusion such a division still exists in this country, and that radical action must be taken to unshackle blacks from whatever fetters he imagines are holding them back.

“I’m reminded that deliberation and the constitutional order may sometimes be the luxury of the powerful,” Obama said. “And that it has sometimes been the cranks, the zealots, the prophets, the agitators and the unreasonable — in other words the absolutists — that have fought for a new order.” By cranks, zealots and agitators, he is no doubt referring to all the radicals — from Wright and Pfleger to Frank Marshall Davis and Bill Ayers — with whom he has surrounded himself.

Just what is this “new order” he and all his absolutist pals have in mind for America? And why keep it such a mystery from voters?

In other words, it’s all whitey’s fault. Never mind personal responsibility and hard work. Equality of outcome is the only thing that matters to Obama. And the fact there are poor people only means that us evil white people are racist pigs that need to have our life savings raided because of the “needs” of others.

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Barack Obam On Tax Reform

Any time a conservative brings up Obama’s unsavory relationships, the Obamabots scream that we’re just avoiding the “real issues.” So here is where Obama stands on some “real issues” that conservatives care about.

From On The Issues

# FactCheck: Yes, McCain wants Bush cuts in place after 2011. (Oct 2008)
# My plan cuts taxes for most small businesses & 95% of people. (Oct 2008)
# Yes, earmarks are abused, but small compared to tax cuts. (Sep 2008)
# No $300 billion on tax cuts for those who don’t need them. (Sep 2008)
# Tax cut for 95% of all working families, not corporations. (Aug 2008)
# Tax cut for middle class and relief to struggling homeowners. (Jul 2008)
# Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit. (Jul 2008)
# Middle class tax cut helps offset rising cost of gas & food. (Jun 2008)
# I’m running against failed policy of profligate GOP spending. (May 2008)
# I will raise CEO taxes, no doubt about it. (May 2008)
# Under Bill Clinton, rich people didn’t feel oppressed. (Apr 2008)
# No tax increase if earning under $250K; tax cuts under $75K. (Apr 2008)
# Raise capital gains tax for fairness, not for revenue. (Apr 2008)
# Tax cut for seniors and those making $75,000 a year or less. (Feb 2008)
# I’m not bashful about it: wealthy will pay more taxes. (Jan 2008)
# Stimulus package: $500 tax cut, & Social Security supplement. (Jan 2008)
# Restore progressive tax; close loopholes; relief to seniors. (Oct 2007)
# Trillion dollar giveaway: the Paris Hilton Tax Break. (Oct 2007)
# Reduce Bush tax cuts to pay for health care & other programs. (Jun 2007)
# Estate tax only affects the wealthiest 1/2 of 1%. (Oct 2006)
# Specific tax relief for families making $75,000 or less now. (Jan 2006)
# Bush tax cuts help corporations but not middle class. (Jun 2004)
# Tax incentives to create jobs at home instead of offshore. (Jun 2004)
# Last thing we need now is a permanent tax cut. (Jan 2008)

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Bombshell Video – Obama On How To Redistribute Wealth

It started when Obama told Joe the Plumber flat out that he wanted to redistribute his wealth so that the people behind him could benefit. And for that, the media, the Obama campaign and the Obamabots have been savaging poor Joe the Plumber.

So now it’s my turn to savage Barack Hussein Obama. There are only eight days left until the election. So between now and then, the focus of this blog will all about how Obama is bad news for America.

So Check out this video of Obama being interviewed on Chicago Public Radio, where he discusses how people’s wealth can be redistributed. He never mentions that it’s wrong to do such a thing. And he even says that Earl Warren’s (may be he rot in hell) Supreme Court was not all that radical.

I know this is being posted all over the right wing blogs, but McCain is now on it as well.

“The American people continue to learn more about Barack Obama. Now we know that the slogans ‘change you can believe in’ and ‘change we need’ are code words for Barack Obama’s ultimate goal: ‘redistributive change.’ In a previously uncovered interview from September 6, 2001, Barack Obama expressed his regret that the Supreme Court hadn’t been more ‘radical’ and described as a ‘tragedy’ the Court’s refusal to take up ‘the issues of redistribution of wealth.’ No wonder he wants to appoint judges that legislate from the bench – as insurance in case a unified Democratic government under his control fails to meet his basic goal: taking money away from people who work for it and giving it to people who Barack Obama believes deserve it. Europeans call it socialism, Americans call it welfare, and Barack Obama calls it change,” McCain senior policy adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin said in a statement.

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