Dear Sir,

Someone forwarded your Teaparty Newsletter to me.  I appreciate you including a link to my article "A Party in the Dark".  I tossed off that article in frustration, but it seems to have resonated with Republicans across the district.  I have had replies about it from a number of people who were there.

My belief is that we as a party are going to have to get more inclusive.  We must hear many points of view.  It is true the majority rules, and should, but — and it is a strong but — the majority should not make its decision until it has heard from virtually everyone who wants to be heard.  Our leadership should encourage debate and discussion and not try to cut it off to get their own way.

The way it is done now only the minority of a minority get their say and way.  You will admit that the delegates to a district convention are already a tiny fraction of all the Republicans in the district.  Now five or six people, more or less, appoint themselves the officers (I certainly didn't have any say in that.  Did you?), and they decide what they want to do, and keep everyone else in the dark!  That means far from majority rule, it is not even rule by the minority.  The Greeks called it Oligarchy:  rule by a few.  And those few, by refusing to listen to what the rest of us have to say are not at all well informed.  That means idiots are ruling, and you know that is a recipe for revolution.

Let the Revolution begin.  Here we call it the Teaparty, and that is why so much of the Republican establishment try to act like we are creatures they don't want anything to do with.  We are  pure-bred registered Republicans, and full blooded Americans, so we aren't going to let a handful of self-appointed guardians of the sacred flame of Republican compromise, which has been worshipped for at least fifty years, stop us from turning the country around.

I guess I had better stop now, I don't even have a soap-box!

With all best wishes for a better America, and God bless the Teaparty.

James


James Duvall, M. A.
Big Bone University
Nec ossa solum, sed etiam sanguinem.
Big Bone, Kentucky

Beast Feast: The FDA Chows Down!

I thought you might be interested in pictures of the Annual Beast Feast held by a church in Anderson County, just to the south of Frankfort.


It seems that Kentucky Hunters know so little about what they hunt and whether it is safe that the FDA had to get into the picture. The Beast Feast which serves wild game shot by Kentucky hunters is now regulated.

Here are some pictures from the feast:

Beast Feast

Isn't is a shame our pioneer forebears did not realize that we needed the government to tell us what we can eat, and what is safe? Do you think they might be a little shocked that they would only approve wild boar with their stamp for this year's feast? I wonder what they might have done if someone had confiscated their deer or turkey? Do you really think the FDA knows more about the safety of wild game than the people who actually eat it?

Do you think this has gone a little too far? Enough is enough!


Defund the FDA!


James Duvall, M. A.
Big Bone University
Nec ossa solum, sed etiam sanguinem.
Big Bone, Kentucky


Let's say the whole list:

Defund the FDA! EPA! and ATF!

and Hellcare, among others!

On Library Science

Deference 2 Reference

Library Research

How Much Work Really Gets Done?

Library Scientists Ply Trade

http://deference2reference.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-library-work-and-library-workers.html

Kentucky Senate Bill 153

I looked at Senate Bill 153. This is not at all the bill we wanted. This is a rerun of the bill Kenny Brown tried to get through and did not succeed.

Kentucky Senate Bill 153

This bill might be better than nothing, but it is not really worth fighting for. All it really does is throw a little more responsibility on the Fiscal Court, and we have enough problems with them. In the end it turns any question about raising taxes into a political ballgame, and avoids the problem of forcing the boards to face responsibility for their actions.

We want NO taxation without representation. Only our elected officials should be able to tax us. This bill does not do that. I think we should push hard to get this bill rewritten to state that:

No unelected board can levy taxes.

If Library and Fire Departments want to fight that then they are fighting a Teaparty principle by demanding the right to tax without responsibility to the people. This directly contradicts our cherished principle of responsible and limited government, not to mention fiscal responsibility.

If we insist on this we can win. If we allow the lame excuse of passing the buck to Fiscal Court they will beat us again! Can we afford to keep losing on a cardinal principle like this?


James Duvall, M. A.
Director, Archivist, and Chief Firefighter
Big Bone University
Nec ossa solum, sed etiam sanguinem.
Big Bone, Kentucky

Expenses of Commonwealth Legislators

The Legislature has come clean (we hope), and decided to open itself to the public.

Check out this searchable webpage:
Expenses of Commonwealth Legislators


This is an excellent start.  Now let's demand our Libraries, Fire Boards, Conservation Districts, and Boards of Health, etc., do the same!

We have only just begun!  The Legislature of Kentucky is now leading the way!  Good work.

Big Bone University
a small division of BigBoneUniverse.com

Hume on Taxes

David Hume, the great moral philosopher wrote:

"The best taxes are such as are levied upon consumptions, especially those of luxury, because such taxes are least felt by the people. They seem in some measure voluntary, since a man may choose how far he will use the commodity which is taxed. They are paid gradually and insensibly; they naturally produce sobriety and frugality, if judiciously imposed; and being confounded with the natural price of the commodity, they are scarcely perceived by the consumers. Their only disadvantage is, that they are expensive in the levying.


"Taxes upon possessions are levied without expense, but have every other disadvantage. Most states, however, are obliged to have recourse to them, in order to supply the deficiencies of the other.


"But the most pernicious of all taxes are the arbitrary. They are commonly converted, by their management, into punishments on industry; and also, by their unavoidable inequality, are more grievous, than by the real burden which they impose. It is surprising, therefore, to see them have place among any civilized people."

David Hume, Essays Moral, Political, and Literary. The Philosophical Works of David Hume.Vol. 3 Edinburgh, 1827. Part II. Essay 8.  "Of Taxes", p. 387.

Big Bone University:  Think Tank & Public Policy Center

P.I.G. in action

Introducing P.I.G.

Public Information Gathering (P.I.G.) is one of the most important aspects of controlling tax waste. You have to get to where the money is being spent, and stop the waste before it happens.