AFCHIEF: Samosamo, on average 80-90 people die daily due to car accidents. You going to be the first to turn in your license and get rid of your car
That's the usual argument, but a terrible one. There would probably be 200 people dying daily from car accidents if sensible improvements to automobiles weren't regulated (over the strenous objections of car manufacturers), like safety belts, airbags, crash worthiness, etc. I still have not heard ONE commentator or poster here even remotely suggest taking away guns, but of course, a certain wing of the party feels that if you give an inch... well, just never give an inch because any restrictions on me are unacceptable, regardless of how many more might have to die unnecessarily.
I expect you're okay now that your sons and daughters drive in safer cars due to regulation, but if that was the subject now, there'd be a lot of "over my dead body do they take my freedom away to drive in anything I want!" being espoused here.
MichaelFlorence/Toda- The argument to not spend money on our local airport is ludicrous. If you want to save money that way, let's stop spending money on streets around the area that you and I don't use. Let's stop spending money on making the area look better - heck, lot's of people around here don't appreciate that either. I think we could use a few less fire trucks and police cruisers - I don't need them either.
Obviously, my point is that Moore County airport is a critical part of the infrastructure of this area - you take it away, and you are on your way to destroying the fragile economy you have here, based heavily on golf and tourism. I know budgets are tight, but by that reasoning, you only build roads and bridges when times are good, and let everything go to hell when in a recession - which is probably exactly opposite of what you should really do.
Frankly, I think we have one of the best airports in the country, and it is well maintained and managed. Sorry you don't use it directly, but I think it's indirectly helping create the quality of life around here you want.
There's a lot of bad pizza in Moore County. For someone who has had high quality pizza and lived elsewhere, it's hard to get excited about anyplace in this area - the bar is pretty low. I don't know about Godfather's, but glad to try another one...
Where did JER and Hembloche say Treadlightly should keep his ideas to himself? They just expressed disappointment that he had them and disagreed with them. You then make the problem into liberals in general, and imply that JER and Hembloche should be trying to have an "adult discussion" about what Treadlightly said? I really don't think it's quite the conservative vs liberal issue you're implying it is - I think I'm conservative about a lot of issues, but I certainly don't agree that homosexual unions or marriage is tearing at the fabric of society, and I certainly don't agree with the radical view (and these days it's in the minority) that Treadlightly espouses. In fact, conservatives - and we're hearing it from the Tea Party more these days - should be working to get the government out of the bedroom, and stop worrying about sexual orientation.
Wow, really got in every Republican talking point you could there, despite the facts? I don't think Obama is against tax reform - that seems to be supported by a majority of both parties. But completely reform our tax system in two weeks?? Plans have been talked about for years - you can't do anything that wouldn't have made the problem worse in a few weeks. Yes, Obama wanted a clean debt ceiling raise - like the previous 12 or so, because a long term budget deal should be independent of a "standard" debt ceiling raise that has nothing to do with our budget processes. The two shouldn't have really been tied together, as it shouldn't be necessary to seriously fix our long term financial system with a gun to your head - particularly when it's at the head of both parties. I don't think the Tea Party or Republicans in general really got much here anyway using this strategy - a few Trillion in savings is chickenfeed to what we ultimately need to agree on. I envision a Republican President gets elected next year and all they will have done is talk the Democrats how to play the terrorist as the new minority, threatening to blow up everything they want to do and not compromising on anything either. And that's Obama's fault I'm sure you'll say when it happens...
Actually, S & P said they downgraded the US because the divided Congress and President demonstrated they can't work together and compromise to come up with a solution that didn't go down to the wire. The eventual solution they came up with at the last minute only cuts about, what, $2.5T, and doesn't include tax cuts. As I remember it, the President (and some Republicans agreed), that we should cut $4.5T, which included some entitlements but also included about $1T in new taxes on the wealthy. Thus, Republicans gave up $2T in spending cuts, some entitlement reform they wanted, and probably our AAA rating, all to save some marginal tax increases in the wealthy (excuse me, "job creators"). I don't think the country got a very good deal, and expect the majority of Americans agree (if you're not a wacko Liberal or Tea Partier anyway - neither who would be satisfied with anything but their position).
I have to agree. It's all Republican talking points, but really isn't that big a deal. I run a pretty good sized company, and can assure you, the reason I'm not hiring is lack of consumer demand and need for more workers, not government regulation. In fact, things like the Dodd-Frank bill are basically toothless - they really don't affect how we think. Obamacare? I wasn't crazy about government mandated health care, but will bet you that less than 1% of business owners or corporate executives can tell you how the bill will eventually affect their costs - or care. It's all at the margins, and the bigger issue is all the people out of work who aren't interested in spending anything. It's a vicious circle, but government can do only a few things to put more people to work - either employ them directly (ain't going to happen anymore), spend money on infrastructure and other things we need to employ them (isn't going to happen in the current political environment), or create a lot of tax incentives and encouragement to companies to employ them. The latter is preferable to us all, but the din to immediately drastically cut the debt isn't going to allow any of that to happen. Instead, the only thing left is "get out of the way" (reduce all regulations drastically), but that has only an indirect effect, and can have some really unintended consequences as well.
Diehard Republicans will see the problem to be the intransigent Dems, and diehard Democrats blame the Republicans (particularly the Tea Party). I think the majority of Independents (which represent a majority these days), are probably just pissed off at the brinksmanship and lack of compromise on either side. The brinksmanship was absolutely the fault of the Tea Party - even the rest of the Republicans in Congress were getting frustrated at them. They "won" this battle, but expect they started the process in which they'll lose the war. The Tea Party "traded" raising the debt limit and our AAA rating for some easy spending cuts and no new taxes. That shouldn't have been the traded - it should have been bigger spending cuts, entitlement and tax reform - which it seemed that saner heads wanted to accomplish but were derailed by the "No Additional Tax on the Wealthy" pledge - which I don't see a lot of widespread support for (in fact, more than 50% of Republicans are even fine with that). I think the joke will be on Congress when the "Super Committee" of 12 are unable to compromise again and across the board cuts to Defense and Medicare will occur, pissing all citizens off and causing a "throw ALL the bums out!" response - and this time, it can't be blamed on the Obama...
The argument that airplane owners need to pay 100% of the mortgage for new hangars is
akin to the argument that every driver on a tollway should pay 100% of the cost of the road construction yearly. As a country, or county, or city, we need to occasionally make
INVESTMENTS. The market rate for a hangar at Moore County airport is about $500/month - it's ludicrous to expand the hangars there, which enhances the value of the airport to the county, which brings in more fuel sales, and then say that the airport needs to charge 100%of the x year mortgage on building them to the current owner - they would all sit out there vacant generating zero income! The hangars will probably be there for 30 years, recouping their investment many times over for the county. It's basic business sense (at least for someone who is looking out long term for the value of the county), rather than submitting to the simple arguments of one political party or another, who keep telling us we need to manage the country like a family of four (which I guess when a parent loses their job for a year or two, stops sending kids to college in order to make sure that income = expenses...)
CaddieMaster 3 months, 1 week ago
Proper Safety
AFCHIEF: Samosamo, on average 80-90 people die daily due to car accidents. You going to be the first to turn in your license and get rid of your car
That's the usual argument, but a terrible one. There would probably be 200 people dying daily from car accidents if sensible improvements to automobiles weren't regulated (over the strenous objections of car manufacturers), like safety belts, airbags, crash worthiness, etc. I still have not heard ONE commentator or poster here even remotely suggest taking away guns, but of course, a certain wing of the party feels that if you give an inch... well, just never give an inch because any restrictions on me are unacceptable, regardless of how many more might have to die unnecessarily.
I expect you're okay now that your sons and daughters drive in safer cars due to regulation, but if that was the subject now, there'd be a lot of "over my dead body do they take my freedom away to drive in anything I want!" being espoused here.
CaddieMaster 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Airport Busy With Improvements, Pursues Passenger Service
MichaelFlorence/Toda- The argument to not spend money on our local airport is ludicrous. If you want to save money that way, let's stop spending money on streets around the area that you and I don't use. Let's stop spending money on making the area look better - heck, lot's of people around here don't appreciate that either. I think we could use a few less fire trucks and police cruisers - I don't need them either.
Obviously, my point is that Moore County airport is a critical part of the infrastructure of this area - you take it away, and you are on your way to destroying the fragile economy you have here, based heavily on golf and tourism. I know budgets are tight, but by that reasoning, you only build roads and bridges when times are good, and let everything go to hell when in a recession - which is probably exactly opposite of what you should really do.
Frankly, I think we have one of the best airports in the country, and it is well maintained and managed. Sorry you don't use it directly, but I think it's indirectly helping create the quality of life around here you want.
CaddieMaster 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Godfather's Pizza Coming to SP Shopping Center
There's a lot of bad pizza in Moore County. For someone who has had high quality pizza and lived elsewhere, it's hard to get excited about anyplace in this area - the bar is pretty low. I don't know about Godfather's, but glad to try another one...
CaddieMaster 1 year, 9 months ago
Let Church Decide
Where did JER and Hembloche say Treadlightly should keep his ideas to himself? They just expressed disappointment that he had them and disagreed with them. You then make the problem into liberals in general, and imply that JER and Hembloche should be trying to have an "adult discussion" about what Treadlightly said? I really don't think it's quite the conservative vs liberal issue you're implying it is - I think I'm conservative about a lot of issues, but I certainly don't agree that homosexual unions or marriage is tearing at the fabric of society, and I certainly don't agree with the radical view (and these days it's in the minority) that Treadlightly espouses. In fact, conservatives - and we're hearing it from the Tea Party more these days - should be working to get the government out of the bedroom, and stop worrying about sexual orientation.
CaddieMaster 1 year, 9 months ago
Was Standard & Poor's right to downgrade the US credit rating?
Wow, really got in every Republican talking point you could there, despite the facts? I don't think Obama is against tax reform - that seems to be supported by a majority of both parties. But completely reform our tax system in two weeks?? Plans have been talked about for years - you can't do anything that wouldn't have made the problem worse in a few weeks. Yes, Obama wanted a clean debt ceiling raise - like the previous 12 or so, because a long term budget deal should be independent of a "standard" debt ceiling raise that has nothing to do with our budget processes. The two shouldn't have really been tied together, as it shouldn't be necessary to seriously fix our long term financial system with a gun to your head - particularly when it's at the head of both parties. I don't think the Tea Party or Republicans in general really got much here anyway using this strategy - a few Trillion in savings is chickenfeed to what we ultimately need to agree on. I envision a Republican President gets elected next year and all they will have done is talk the Democrats how to play the terrorist as the new minority, threatening to blow up everything they want to do and not compromising on anything either. And that's Obama's fault I'm sure you'll say when it happens...
CaddieMaster 1 year, 9 months ago
Was Standard & Poor's right to downgrade the US credit rating?
Actually, S & P said they downgraded the US because the divided Congress and President demonstrated they can't work together and compromise to come up with a solution that didn't go down to the wire. The eventual solution they came up with at the last minute only cuts about, what, $2.5T, and doesn't include tax cuts. As I remember it, the President (and some Republicans agreed), that we should cut $4.5T, which included some entitlements but also included about $1T in new taxes on the wealthy. Thus, Republicans gave up $2T in spending cuts, some entitlement reform they wanted, and probably our AAA rating, all to save some marginal tax increases in the wealthy (excuse me, "job creators"). I don't think the country got a very good deal, and expect the majority of Americans agree (if you're not a wacko Liberal or Tea Partier anyway - neither who would be satisfied with anything but their position).
CaddieMaster 1 year, 9 months ago
An Open Letter to the President
jimt-
I have to agree. It's all Republican talking points, but really isn't that big a deal. I run a pretty good sized company, and can assure you, the reason I'm not hiring is lack of consumer demand and need for more workers, not government regulation. In fact, things like the Dodd-Frank bill are basically toothless - they really don't affect how we think. Obamacare? I wasn't crazy about government mandated health care, but will bet you that less than 1% of business owners or corporate executives can tell you how the bill will eventually affect their costs - or care. It's all at the margins, and the bigger issue is all the people out of work who aren't interested in spending anything. It's a vicious circle, but government can do only a few things to put more people to work - either employ them directly (ain't going to happen anymore), spend money on infrastructure and other things we need to employ them (isn't going to happen in the current political environment), or create a lot of tax incentives and encouragement to companies to employ them. The latter is preferable to us all, but the din to immediately drastically cut the debt isn't going to allow any of that to happen. Instead, the only thing left is "get out of the way" (reduce all regulations drastically), but that has only an indirect effect, and can have some really unintended consequences as well.
CaddieMaster 1 year, 9 months ago
America Is Worse Off
Diehard Republicans will see the problem to be the intransigent Dems, and diehard Democrats blame the Republicans (particularly the Tea Party). I think the majority of Independents (which represent a majority these days), are probably just pissed off at the brinksmanship and lack of compromise on either side. The brinksmanship was absolutely the fault of the Tea Party - even the rest of the Republicans in Congress were getting frustrated at them. They "won" this battle, but expect they started the process in which they'll lose the war. The Tea Party "traded" raising the debt limit and our AAA rating for some easy spending cuts and no new taxes. That shouldn't have been the traded - it should have been bigger spending cuts, entitlement and tax reform - which it seemed that saner heads wanted to accomplish but were derailed by the "No Additional Tax on the Wealthy" pledge - which I don't see a lot of widespread support for (in fact, more than 50% of Republicans are even fine with that). I think the joke will be on Congress when the "Super Committee" of 12 are unable to compromise again and across the board cuts to Defense and Medicare will occur, pissing all citizens off and causing a "throw ALL the bums out!" response - and this time, it can't be blamed on the Obama...
CaddieMaster 1 year, 9 months ago
Airport Not Paying Its Fair Share
The argument that airplane owners need to pay 100% of the mortgage for new hangars is akin to the argument that every driver on a tollway should pay 100% of the cost of the road construction yearly. As a country, or county, or city, we need to occasionally make INVESTMENTS. The market rate for a hangar at Moore County airport is about $500/month - it's ludicrous to expand the hangars there, which enhances the value of the airport to the county, which brings in more fuel sales, and then say that the airport needs to charge 100%of the x year mortgage on building them to the current owner - they would all sit out there vacant generating zero income! The hangars will probably be there for 30 years, recouping their investment many times over for the county. It's basic business sense (at least for someone who is looking out long term for the value of the county), rather than submitting to the simple arguments of one political party or another, who keep telling us we need to manage the country like a family of four (which I guess when a parent loses their job for a year or two, stops sending kids to college in order to make sure that income = expenses...)
CaddieMaster 1 year, 10 months ago
Making Christianity More Christian
Kevin- Beautifully said.
Treadlightly- gag me with a spoon. All dogma and no action.