Cap and Trade vs. School Re-assignment vs. Light Rail

In an article for the August edition of The Carolina Journal, the contributor writes “Under the location-efficient mortgage standard, a borrower’s income for mortgage qualification purposes can be adjusted up or down depending on whether the home for which the loan is to be made will “re-sult in decreased transportation costs for the household.” If not, the property owner will pay more.”

I interpret that to mean that if I buy a house that is closer to work and school, then the mortgage qualifications for income will be lower than if I buy a house further away from work and school.

Ok – so what happens if I lose my job, or my kids get re-assigned to a school further away “for diversity” reasons? And is this provision a precursor to a push towards Light Rail? Sounds to me as if incentives will be given to become more densly populated and more mass transit and more taxes and more and more and more!

Does anyone else get the felling we are playing a game with a bunch of 5 year olds who constantly change the rules and make the rules so profoundly complicated that not even they can understand them so that they can win and boastfully proclaim “See! I was right!”

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Fun Stuff

On a lighter note – this weekend, my 12 year old daughter performed on guitar for the first time in front of a live audience. It was open-mic night at a local church. There were a number of youth playing and singing. She played and sang 3 cover songs in the first set, took a break while some others played, then played and sang 3 original songs. She had only played guitar for about a year and stopped lessons after about 4 months.

It’s encouraging to see her thrive musically and really be interested in performing. It is also nice to see so many other youth getting involved in music in a Christian setting. It was a nice evening to re-focus back on the things that are truly important. I look forward to the next concert!

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Do politicians care about our children and grandchildren?

Driving home from work the other night, listening to talk radio (WPTF-680) and a report on the stimulus package and the deficit and runaway government spending, it occurred to me that the argument that many conservatives use about “spending our children’s and grandchildren’s” money will never be affective. 

Here’s why: Politicians, like most of us, would like remain employed. So to perpetuate their employment, they need to be re-elected. By spending loads of money in their districts, or voting for programs that will be beneficial to a large number of their constituents, they can essentially “buy” their job for another few years.

The main concern of the politicians is votes. Our children and grandchildren DO NOT VOTE ! And by the time they are old enough, a whole new herd of politicians will be around, promising the world to people that live in the here and now, with no concern for the future or for their own children. The politicians will get their cut, and we are left holding the bag. So to answer the question – “No, politicians do not care about our children and grandchildren”.

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Sales tax on coupons ?

I went to Target yesterday to pick up a few items. Needed some shave gel, and Target is about the only place that carries it. Luckily for me, the gel came with a $1 off coupon right on the package, so I bought 3. This also happens to be a tax-free weekend in my home state of North Carolina, so I checked my receipy when I got home to see if anything I bought was subject to the tax-freedom. Much to my surprise, I discovered that not only were the items not tax-free, but taxes were collected on the $3 in coupons that were redeemed !!! Coupon sales taxI paid tax on money I didn’t spend. There were other items I purchased that were discounted. Thankfully, I didn’t have to pay tax on the regular price. Unbelievable. I did not know that coupons are treated like cash and that the coupons reduce the total owed, not the price of the item. I learned something new.

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Noggin Freebie

FREE dog sleeping bag

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Clunk for cashers

We get to spend another two billion dollars buying up perfectly good vehicles so folks can get perfectly good new ones. In the film footage, I saw a couple of “clunkers”  that look a whole lot better than what I’m driving. 

I bought a clunker for my son when he started driving. Within 2 weeks, he had caught the bumper of a parked car when he was pulling into a parking space. Given what I paid for the car, the damage to the back door and rear quarter panel would have totalled the car. But that’s why I bought a lunker. Disposable transportation.

The cash for clunkers program goes against the natural order of things.  Folks buy nice cars, drive them a few years, then pass them along to those that can’t afford a new car or that need “disposable” transportation.  Since Uncle Sam is now destroying the engines and drive trains of these “pre-owned” vehicles, there will be fewer on the market, driving up the prices of the clunkers that are left.

Maybe I should hold on to my clunker. It just might turn out to be a good investment after all! Noggin

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Healthcare plan page 58

It says 

 ‘‘(D) enable the real-time (or near real time) determination of an individual’s financial 

responsibility at the point of service and, to the extent possible, prior to service, including

whether the individual is eligible for a specific service with a specific physician at a specific facility, which may include utilization of a machine-readable health plan beneficiary identification card;

So does this mean they will have access to my bank account to verify I can pay for the services? And what about the Id card ?

Interesting, I think. The full 1018 page text can be found here.

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Noggin Freebie

Michael Jackson Album MP3 Download

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Noggin Freebies

22 Free iTunes

Free IAMS Catfood

In case you need a snack with listening to your tunes …..

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A word about my sponsors…..

I actually use all of the sponsors listed on this site. My favorite is Swanson Vitamins
. In recent years, as I’ve become more sedentary, I’ve started the struggle with Type 2 diabetes. In researching a sugar substitute, I came across information on Stevia, or Sweetleaf. I had used Splenda ever since it came out, but also found information saying that Splenda had harmful side affects. In the 2-3 years I’ve used Stevia, I’ve not had any side affects.

I ordered Stevia from Swanson Vitamins after hours of searching for the lowest price (because I’m cheap!). Currently, a box of 100 packets sells for $4.49, and a 4 oz. container sells for $3.99. These prices are close to half of most of the others. Occasionally, it goes on sale for less than $4 per box.

I use the packets at work when I brew green tea. I use 2 packets with 2 tea bags and make a quart of tea. At home, I use a tablespoon per gallon of either green tea of lemonade. I’ve tried to give up soda, and have done fairly well, but still struggle with chocolate.

Please check them out. They have a large variety of products and shipping is only $4.99 (you can get $5 off as a first time buyer. Thanks and have a great day !! Noggin

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