No. 1 (For) Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund: This will change the name of the fund and dedicate all potential federal revenues from Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas activities to coastal restoration and hurricane protection.No. 2 (For) Consolidation of Coastal Funds: The state has two funds of this type, the one in Amendment No. 1 and the Louisiana Coastal Restoration Fund. The LCRF currently has no funds. It would receive monies from any future sale of the remaining 40% of the tobacco settlement. This would combine the two funds into one.No. 3 (For) Regional Flood Protection Authorities: This is the “levee board consolidation” amendment which eliminates the Orleans Parish Levee Board and streamlines and reduces the number of levee boards in southeast Louisiana.No. 4 (Against) Hurricane Protection Liability: This amendment favors government and allows it to pay private landowners less.No. 5 (Against) Limits on Expropriation of Private Property: This could be the Trojan horse, similar to the “gambling” and “gaming” situation which would allow your property to be taken for non-governmental purposes.No. 6 (Against) Procedures to Transfer Expropriated Property: There is the possibility of over-expropriating land, making improvements and then, after declaring it excess, offering it back to the original landowner (who may not have wanted to sell) at a much higher price.No. 7 (For) Medicaid Trust Fund Investment: This would authorize the state to invest up to 35% of the Medicaid Trust Fund for the Elderly in stocks. Historically, stocks have outperformed other investments over a long period of time.No. 8 (For) Homestead Exemption and Special Assessments for Damaged Homes: To have a homestead exemption, one must occupy the home. After hurricanes Katrina and Rita, that has been impossible for some–and it will still take a long time to rebuild.No. 9 (Against) State Mandates on School Spending: There was a drafting error that complicates the amendment and may contradict its intended purpose. Tell the leges, get it right before you submit something to us.No. 10 (For) Higher Education Investments: This is similar to the issue discussed in No. 7, authorizing investment of up to 35% of endowed university funds in stocks.No. 11 (Against) Expands the Homestead Exemption to Homes in Revocable Trusts. Any time we expand the application of the Homestead Exemption, we force taxes up on the rest of us.No. 12 (For) Vacancy in Statewide Elected Offices: This would make filling vacancies uniform for statewide elected offices. Currently, if there is a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor, the governor appoints a new officeholder and he or she fills out the remainder of the term. This measure would require that an election be called if there were more than one year left in the term. For other statewide offices, an election is required at the next regularly scheduled congressional or statewide election–but there is one year out of every four where there is no such election, which would extend the term. This amendment would require an election be called in that specific year.No. 13 (For) Judges’ Qualifications: This amendment would increase minimum qualifications for specific judges. The Supreme Court and Court of Appeals would require 10 years in the practice of law. Others judgeships would require 8 years. The current law is 5 years. City and municipal courts or justices of the peace are not affected. The new requirements would take effect in 2008.
29 September 2006
19 September 2006
Patriotic Thoughts
In light of the recent appeals court ruling in California, with respect to the Pledge of Allegiance, the following recollection from Senator John McCain is very appropriate:
"The Pledge of Allegiance" - by Senator John McCain
As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.
This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans onbehalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.
One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian.
Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama. He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.
As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.
Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.
Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.
I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.
One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.
That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could.
The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept. Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the cell.
As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he
had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.
So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world.
You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
12 September 2006
This is SOOOO Scientific!!
Researchers identify "male warrior effect"
NORWICH (Reuters) - Men may have developed a psychology that makes them particularly able to engage in wars, a scientist said on Friday.
New research has shown that men bond together and cooperate well in the face of adversity to protect their interests more than women, which could explain why war is almost exclusively a male business, according to Professor Mark van Vugt of the University of Kent in southern England.
"Men respond more strongly to outward threats, we've labeled that the 'man warrior effect'," he told the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting.
"Men are more likely to support a country going to war. Men are more likely sign up for the military and men are more likely to lead groups in more autocratic, militaristic ways than women," he added.
Van Vugt said the finding is consistent with results from different behavioral science disciplines.
In experiments with 300 university men and women students, Van Vugt and his team gave the volunteers small sums of money which they could either keep or invest in a common fund that would be doubled and equally divided. None of the students knew what the others were doing.
Both sexes cooperated in investing in the fund. But when the groups were told they were competing against other universities, the males were more eager to invest rather than keep their money while the number of women contributing remained the same.
"We all know males are more aggressive than females," Van Vugt said, adding that co-operation is needed to establish institutions and governments and to wage wars."
Male co-operation is a double-edged sword," he added
==================================================
In other news, scientists not only anounce that men and women are different, but that water is wet and fire is hot.
__________________
Venison, It's What's For Dinner.
“Asking government to do things for you is like telling wishes to the genie. Each time you get what you asked for, and a 1000 things you wish you hadn’t. The only way to win with the genie is to leave him in his bottle.”
NORWICH (Reuters) - Men may have developed a psychology that makes them particularly able to engage in wars, a scientist said on Friday.
New research has shown that men bond together and cooperate well in the face of adversity to protect their interests more than women, which could explain why war is almost exclusively a male business, according to Professor Mark van Vugt of the University of Kent in southern England.
"Men respond more strongly to outward threats, we've labeled that the 'man warrior effect'," he told the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting.
"Men are more likely to support a country going to war. Men are more likely sign up for the military and men are more likely to lead groups in more autocratic, militaristic ways than women," he added.
Van Vugt said the finding is consistent with results from different behavioral science disciplines.
In experiments with 300 university men and women students, Van Vugt and his team gave the volunteers small sums of money which they could either keep or invest in a common fund that would be doubled and equally divided. None of the students knew what the others were doing.
Both sexes cooperated in investing in the fund. But when the groups were told they were competing against other universities, the males were more eager to invest rather than keep their money while the number of women contributing remained the same.
"We all know males are more aggressive than females," Van Vugt said, adding that co-operation is needed to establish institutions and governments and to wage wars."
Male co-operation is a double-edged sword," he added
==================================================
In other news, scientists not only anounce that men and women are different, but that water is wet and fire is hot.
__________________
Venison, It's What's For Dinner.
“Asking government to do things for you is like telling wishes to the genie. Each time you get what you asked for, and a 1000 things you wish you hadn’t. The only way to win with the genie is to leave him in his bottle.”
04 September 2006
Crikey!!
Ok, I know that things are going on in the world. Heck, things are happening in our local News right now. All the news channels seem to be covering right now though is Steve Erwin. So, as I think it is important to mention a movie this week, I will not be cutting into anything to big anyway. Not, that I won’t miss the crocodile hunter, but I feel he died doing what he loved to do. I think we all would like to go out enjoying life.
Back to my point, this movie I have eluded to before. I want to point blank call it by name and tell you why you need to see it. V for Vendetta. It embodies many facits of the belief system that our little chronicle believes in. It is a story of freedom and beauty. Selflessness and the God given rights of people to seek happiness and express themselves through prose.
First, I do not consider myself a ‘Conspiracy Theorist’. I would have to consider myself more as a ‘Patriot’ of my country, having served my country as a soldier and believe I am willing to serve her again, if the need should arise.
But, anyone who fails to admit that governments make closed door decisions and hide things from its people is very naïve. I do not fall into that category.
Most of you that receive the ‘Minuteman’, witnessed first hand a government sponsored exercise in martial law. Police and military units ‘patrolled’ the streets of the New Orleans area. They forced people from their homes with gestapo tactics. Brutally uncaring about the fraility of old womens bones, or the 2nd ammendment rights of the people. They seized LEGALLY OWNED firearms from LAW ABIDING citizens. This guns were hidden and denied that they existed until the NRA finally put enough spotlight and pressure on the local police that they had to produce them. Then they made it impossible for some of those legally owned firearms to be returned to the owners, by demending the owner to produce paperwork that could have been flooded or did not exist. If your daddy gives you a pistol that he bought for your 23rd birthday, do you have paperwork on it? Can you dig up your decesed father to vouch for the fact?
I am saying all this to tell you that I am surprised that V for Vendetta was even made. So many things are said and shown in that movie that are against what the government and the hollywood media outlet would have you to know. The only reason I believe it was allowed to be made is that it is set in England. And the state of things being so bad is blaimed on the USA and ‘its war’.
The story of Guy Fawkes is brushed into the story. Which gives a little history lesson that few people are told anymore. I invite you to purchase it. Rent it if you think it may just be a ‘looker’ not an ‘owner’ although, I assure you if you are subscribed to TMC and receiving this review it is an ‘owner’. If you absolutely are to cheap to rent it, I believe it is important enough that I could loan you mine.
NOW I WILL TELL YOU A LITTLE, SO BE WARNED. I AM NOT TRYING TO ‘SPOIL’ IT BUT, I AM DESCRIBING THE CHARACTERS A LITTLE.
Ultimately, it is the story of 2 people. V and Evey. V is the masked crusader, who is labeled a terrorist by his government. Terrorist because he calls the people of England to stand united, against the tyranny of the dictator. He does blow up some stuff and wreck the police when he has to.
Evey, is a young woman. She was a ‘ward of the state’ from 10 to 18 I guess because the government ‘disappeared’ her parents because they were political protestors. Her story is of a citizen in a tyranical country and what choices have to be made to turn the tide.
It is a wonderful movie. I saw it in the theatre because I hoped it would be good. I bought the DVD because I know it is good.
Back to my point, this movie I have eluded to before. I want to point blank call it by name and tell you why you need to see it. V for Vendetta. It embodies many facits of the belief system that our little chronicle believes in. It is a story of freedom and beauty. Selflessness and the God given rights of people to seek happiness and express themselves through prose.
First, I do not consider myself a ‘Conspiracy Theorist’. I would have to consider myself more as a ‘Patriot’ of my country, having served my country as a soldier and believe I am willing to serve her again, if the need should arise.
But, anyone who fails to admit that governments make closed door decisions and hide things from its people is very naïve. I do not fall into that category.
Most of you that receive the ‘Minuteman’, witnessed first hand a government sponsored exercise in martial law. Police and military units ‘patrolled’ the streets of the New Orleans area. They forced people from their homes with gestapo tactics. Brutally uncaring about the fraility of old womens bones, or the 2nd ammendment rights of the people. They seized LEGALLY OWNED firearms from LAW ABIDING citizens. This guns were hidden and denied that they existed until the NRA finally put enough spotlight and pressure on the local police that they had to produce them. Then they made it impossible for some of those legally owned firearms to be returned to the owners, by demending the owner to produce paperwork that could have been flooded or did not exist. If your daddy gives you a pistol that he bought for your 23rd birthday, do you have paperwork on it? Can you dig up your decesed father to vouch for the fact?
I am saying all this to tell you that I am surprised that V for Vendetta was even made. So many things are said and shown in that movie that are against what the government and the hollywood media outlet would have you to know. The only reason I believe it was allowed to be made is that it is set in England. And the state of things being so bad is blaimed on the USA and ‘its war’.
The story of Guy Fawkes is brushed into the story. Which gives a little history lesson that few people are told anymore. I invite you to purchase it. Rent it if you think it may just be a ‘looker’ not an ‘owner’ although, I assure you if you are subscribed to TMC and receiving this review it is an ‘owner’. If you absolutely are to cheap to rent it, I believe it is important enough that I could loan you mine.
NOW I WILL TELL YOU A LITTLE, SO BE WARNED. I AM NOT TRYING TO ‘SPOIL’ IT BUT, I AM DESCRIBING THE CHARACTERS A LITTLE.
Ultimately, it is the story of 2 people. V and Evey. V is the masked crusader, who is labeled a terrorist by his government. Terrorist because he calls the people of England to stand united, against the tyranny of the dictator. He does blow up some stuff and wreck the police when he has to.
Evey, is a young woman. She was a ‘ward of the state’ from 10 to 18 I guess because the government ‘disappeared’ her parents because they were political protestors. Her story is of a citizen in a tyranical country and what choices have to be made to turn the tide.
It is a wonderful movie. I saw it in the theatre because I hoped it would be good. I bought the DVD because I know it is good.
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