The Way I See ItBy cj pollickLocal Elections – For Sheriff it’s current Sheriff Jim Coats. He has done a good job as Sheriff and has the experience to handle any emergency. Vote for Coats. County Commissioner it’s Nancy Bostock and Neil Brickfield – experienced and prepared to help lead the County in difficult times. Karen Seel for re-election. Again, experienced and prepared to lead. Congressman Bill Young is a clear choice for re-election. Parking Garage On Clearwater Beach – Good news/bad news. The good news from Clearwater City Hall is that it could be three years if one of the several Clearwater Beach parking garage proposals are approved for construction. The bad news? If none of the beach parking garage proposals are approved, it could take several years. Big deal? Not really, all of the expensive creative plans to spur tourism on Clearwater Beach have not resulted in increased tourism. In fact, tourism is down – just ask beach business owners. Indian Rocks Beach In Turmoil – Ever since Mayor Bob DiNicola relocated and left his city IRB mayor’s office, things have gone downhill. The latest debacle in IRB is the firing of what the city commission says is “an unqualified city treasurer.” Of course there are many IRB residents that believe the city problems were a result of more than just “an unqualified treasurer.” Obama And Acorn - Most people have heard about alleged fraud at a liberal non-profit group referred to as ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.) This radical advocacy group claims to have 350,000 members and has pushed for affordable housing and other social causes since 1970, stated a recent Wall Street Journal column connecting Sen. Obama with this "militant advocacy group." According to the Wall Street Journal, this group is also connected with the ACORN Housing Corporation which received over $16 million in federal dollars from 1997-2007, in part, a time when Mr. Obama was an attorney for the group. They also pushed for more voter registration (to the Democrat Party) to the tune of 1.3 million new voters, ACORN reported. Of course, the problem with many of these new voters is voter registration fraud. How many of the registrants did, as was recently discovered in Ohio, register to vote the same person over 70 times with different addresses. (One registrant stated under oath to an attorney he got a cigarette and a dollar for each time he registered.) The Wall Street Journal report further added that "while Mr. Obama was on the board of the Woods Fund in Chicago, he funneled more than $200,000 to ACORN. Recently, Obama paid over $832,000 from his campaign to ACORN for alleged 'staging, sound, and lighting,' It later admitted the money was used to get the vote out." Thus, when it was good to have ACORN on his side, Sen. Obama supported ACORN, now that ACORN may be under investigation, Sen. Obama says he hardly knows those folks. Does that line sound familiar? Consider for a moment what Sen. Obama has done with his friendship with radical anti-American protestor Ayers and for 20 years his friend Rev. Wright (who preached anti-American sermons while Obama was in the congregation. And, of course, radical Louis Farrakhan who referred to Sen. Obama as "the Messiah." All of whom have been left on the side of the road as Sen. Obama pleads his case for election as president of the U.S. Lastly, was the recent Obama endorsement by Gen. Powell because Sen. McCain would appoint two conservatives to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Was Gen. Powell hiding his judicial and social liberal views the past years while working for a Republican administration?) Amazing discovery, but then again, the Bush family has been as naïve as Jimmy Carter. If Sen. Obama wins the presidency, there will be a liberal super-majority in Washington. The liberal President and liberal Congress will be able to pass any laws they want and appoint a new group of liberal judges to all federal courts and, at least two liberal Supreme Court justices. The result? Big government, more federal welfare, more federal government entitlements, higher federal taxes, more federal government intervention in business, fewer state rights, hands-off a failing public school system and government support of organized unions. A supermajority means no checks and balances in Washington, D.C. Yes, the problem with Sen. Obama is that his history has been “clouded” the point where some people wonder if anyone really knows the truth about this candidate. He has been quick to avoid detailed discussions about his history and quite calmly goes on the attack of his potential opponents. But, what is Sen. Obama's real history and is he prepared to lead and protect this nation??? How Safe Are Pension Plans? - The world is facing economic disaster and taxpayers across America are wondering if company pension plans are safe. The answer? No, nothing is guaranteed in a deep recession. One taxpayer said, "Pension values have been falling for years. My friend's pension at Bethlehem Steel has decreased by 50% from what was once promised by the Company." Another taxpayer said, "Yes, I think Pension Plan guarantees will be a big issue in the future. For example, I don't know how public employees are going to be able to get generous pensions as promised/negotiated without higher taxes to fund pension plan investment losses. I just don't know how taxpayers without a pension plan would accept higher taxes to fund pension guarantees for public employees." Defined benefit pension plans are designed to pay the retiree a fixed pension benefit regardless of the investment values in the pension fund. And, as we know, investment plan values have dropped by a large percent, some as much as 50%. The U.S. Pension Guarantee Corporation reportedly could not afford to handle losses that are likely to incur for businesses that go broke or file for bankruptcy protection. Experts predict that the downfall of investment funds will assuredly affect pension plan benefits. Is any investment safe? State Of Affairs - Consumer credit debt is rising and experts are talking about the next negative financial impact as being the huge amount of credit card debt. Interestingly, it is reported that the average debt of American families is $79,083. More than three-fourths of all American families have some debt and 40% of all families owe more than $50,000. (28% owe more than $100,000.) Former U.S. Federal Chairman Paul Volcker stated that "U.S. and Europe face a considerable recession. Government guarantees are distasteful, but necessary... and some large banks have essentially been nationalized." Where did all the money go? Citizens that bought homes at high prices lost their financial equity with the loss of home values. Banks that lent money to buy homes at high prices have resorted to foreclosure tactics and writing-off bad loans (bank shareholder values lost.) Folks in the stock market lost equity values due to the market crash and some investors lost 100% if a major company filed for bankruptcy. In just a few weeks Wall Street reported that trillions of investment dollars were lost in the stock exchanges. |