April 2009
l3wis Project TRIM = TREE TAX
I finally trimmed the CITY OWNED tree ON THEIR PROPERTY this past Friday, but the fun isn’t over yet. It only took me 20 minutes to cut down the branches, but it took me almost 2 hours just to move the branches to my backyard where I have begun breaking them down for disposal, which I estimate will take me another 3-4 hours.
So I’m still puzzled why I have to do this for the city? What do I pay taxes for? Football fields? Swimming Pools? Windows on the Pavilion? or do I pay taxes so the city can maintain WHAT THEY OWN. Besides the expense of a chainsaw I also will a lot of my own time into doing the CITY’s WORK. Ms. Stehly has coined this as a TREE TAX because if you are not being taxed by wasting your own time on trimming these trees you will be forced into paying an arborist $75-$150 an hour. That’s right, the city is in the business of promotiong tree trimmers. So now NOT only are they NOT using my tax money to do THEIR work, they are using my tax dollars to force us into using a private contractor.
As I have always said, the City of Sioux Falls motto “Special interests first – Citizens Second”
WATCH THERESA RIP THEM A NEW ONE LAST NIGHT. (April 6 Council meeting) (Also listen to the second speaker after that, Allen Unruh talks about his pet pig)
Quote of the day
I have been on the fence about a lot of Obama’s decisions lately, but I still think he a dynamic individual and has been handed a big shit sandwich – and we are only at 70 days! But he impressed me yesterday with this statement, it reminded me that it has been a very long time since a politician said something truthful;
Obama said “one of the great strengths of the United States” is that it does not consider itself “a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values. I think modern Turkey was founded with a similar set of principles.”
And I think Franklin, Washington, Jefferson and Hamilton would agree.
Johnson takes payola from pay-day loan lobbyists
One more reason why I have trouble supporting the Democratic party and their candidates. They continue to take money from lobbying groups that are bad for society. And Tim Johnson is no exception, taking money from one of the most crooked (legal) groups, Pay day loan centers;
A newer player representing Internet payday lenders — a growing segment of the market — also ramped up its lobbying and political giving efforts. The Online Lenders Alliance, formed in 2005, nearly quintupled, to $480,000, its lobbying expenditures from 2007 and 2008. It contributed $108,400 to candidates in advance of the 2008 elections compared to about $2,000 in the 2006 contests. Gutierrez was among the top House recipients, getting $4,600, and the top Senate recipient was Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., a Banking Committee member who got $6,900.
Of course, this is no surprise, but extremely disappointing considering the economy and the devasting affect these places have on lower income families, especially in South Dakota. Johnson should have known better.