Out With the Old, In With the New

Like a kidney stone, 2010 has finally passed.  I wish everyone all the best for 2011!  And in keeping with the season:

Merry Christmas!

In or Out?

Just when ya thought it was safe to go back into the water...

....comes the news that our very favorite shark hasn't really left. (Well, he left December 6th, but he didn't actually leave.  Isn't that all clear now?)

That's right - Der Robber (shown below at a City Council meeting) is still around, helping our "proven Financial Manager" perform his annual Holiday juke-and-jive act (also known as the annual City Audit).

It's gonna be hard to top last year's trained pony show (which I've been told got to #2 on the New York Times' best-selling fiction list).  It was all the more memorable, since both gentlemen are most commonly referred to as the posterior section of the horse...how did they get the front part to work?

But the best part is that he still gets to take a couple of parting pulls from our Fair City's financial breasts.  Word is, he's being paid $75.00 per hour for his wizardry (on nights & weekends, of course...he took on a job in Norwalk, trying to save that City from the brink of financial stability ruin). Ya gotta wonder what Tom Hamilton, who constantly clashed with our boy, thinks of this.

Maybe the Bobster simply needs the  extra pin money...after all, how many towns have the financial cojones to pay him $140,000 per year?  Besides West Haven, that is. 

And Another One Leaves the Boat

 

The recent news that Robert ("der Robber") Barron has resigned as our Finance Director could be seen as good  news, as he was one of my favorite people.  

But, this vacancy in our Financial Department should raise some eyebrows, as it gives rise to some interesting speculations while at the same time poses critical problems for our "proven financial manager":

• WHY did he choose to leave when he did?  The City's AUDIT should be in the last stages of preparation (yeah, RIGHT!)...is it possible that even he couldn't hide the gaping wounds caused by the "Friends of Picard Contracting & Employment Agency"?

• What will this vacancy mean for our near-term financial future?  Remember, the main function of the Finance Office is to spend our tax dollars (whether those dollars come from the City, from the State, or from Washington...they still come from US).  Who is working to lock down state and federal monies...and who is putting the brakes on City spending?

 To sum this up, "Papa John" can't ask his rich aunt Jodie or her Daddy Sam for any more money; he's on his own.  This means he will have to cut out many of the goodies he's been doling out to his political allies (goodies paid for by taxpayers).

This will make the next year verrrrrry eenterestink! (apologies to the late great Arte Johnson)   MY BAD... I've been advised that Mr. Johnson is still very much alive..now that the gravy train is running out of juice, will john-boy come back for another season?  Stay tuned.....

Let's Let'em KNOW!

UPDATE (12/15/2010 8:00 PM EST) - The Senate has passed the Obama Tax Compromise.  Both our Senators voted for passage.

OK...here are the facts behind the Obama Tax Cut Deal (now known as H.R. 4853).  I'll let you decide if this is worth your money (or your kids' future).

First of all, here is what I'm basing this on:  the Congressional Budget Office has published its Report on how much this will cost us.   In short, this bill has a price tag of:

$892,852,000,000.00 

over the next five years.

This means that, as soon as the President signs this bill, every living American - man, woman, baby - will owe $2,908.00...money that has to be eventually repaid.  This comes to a cost of just under $600.00 every year through 2015. A family of 4 incurs $2,400.00 every year.

So, what is each of us paying for?  Here is the breakdown in the costs for every individual American over each of the next 5 years:

 Now, bear in mind that this is the cost for every American, whether working or not...better put that 2 year old to work!

Now, for this extra debt, a person making $60,000 per year gets nothing over what was received for the past ten years.  Had the Bush tax cuts (which should now be labelled the OBAMA tax cuts) expired, that $60,000 income would have resulted in about $600.00 in higher taxes.

If you think this is a bad deal, you have only one option: LET YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS KNOW!  Here are the ways for West Haven residents to contact our Senators, Representative DeLauro...and the President:

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-3) (Click Link for email)

      59 Elm Street, New Haven, CT  06510                                  Tel 203-562-3718

     2413 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC  20515                           Tel 202-225-3661

Sen. Chris Dodd (D - CT) (Click Link for email)

      30 Lewis Street, Suite 30, Hartford, CT  06103                     Tel 800-258-6940

     448 Russell Bldg, Washington, DC  20510                              Tel 202-334-5341

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I - CT)  (Click Link for email)

      One Constitution Plaza, 7th Floor, Hartford, CT  06103         Tel 800-225-5605

     706 Hart Office Bldg, Washington, DC  20510                       Tel 202-224-4041

President Barack Obama (D?)  (Click Link for email)

     The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW                 Tel  202-456-6213
      Washington, DC 20500 

These are the emails, phone numbers and addresses for voter comments only.

Make your voice HEARD NOW...or pay for your silence later.

 

Time to Rant

NOTE:  I'll be posting shortly about our lately-departed Finance Director (who was - as everyone knows - one of my greatest admirers)...stayed tuned for that.  But in the meantime, I gotta let this one out.

Way back in December of 2007,  I made it known to my political associates that I favored the junior Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama.  Well, I got my innards ripped out that night by the Hillary supporters.  As it turned out, I had the last laugh....or so I thought.

I am extremely liberal on social issues...but at the same time I am conservative on fiscal matters.  I believed (or dare I say that I had the Audacity to HOPE) that Obama was the ideal I had always wanted.

But, the deal recently struck to extend the 2001 George W. Bush tax cuts fails on both of my personal standards:

• By extending these tax cuts for the wealthiest 2%, Mr Obama agreed to unnecessarily add to our childrens' debt, without any material public benefit.  We should only put a mortgage on our house if there is good reason to do so; and for too long - 40 years, in fact - we have been mortgaging ourselves without a second's thought to the possible consequences.  It is far overdue for us to put our finances in order...and this agreement does more to de-stabilize our financial situation (albeit with a "promise" of future benefit - which has been vehemently refuted almost unanimously by reputable financial experts and economists).

• This agreement does nothing to provide for those who in my judgment are those in greatest need of government assistance: the long-term unemployed.  The so-called "extension" of benefits serves only those who are currently receiving unemployment benefits.  There are millions who - because of this prolonged and severe recession - have lost their unemployment benefits, even as economic conditions have kept most from getting new jobs.  And yet, the tax money given to the richest 2% among us could pay for 2 years' worth of benefits to these long-term unemployed.

This agreement, then, is a "lose-lose" proposition no matter how you come at it or how you look at it going forth.  It adds to our country's debt, without solving any of our major national needs.  Advocates of this plan can only ask for our faith that this deal will eventually help in some undefined way in the hope that it will benefit us in some equally-undefined future time.

The time for hope and faith has passed.  It is now the time for decisive leadership.  Mr. Obama has proven himself incapable of providing that direction.

It is a milksop argument to say that the opposition to his presidency has prevented him from providing that leadership.  He has become the caricature of Gandhi's famous put-down of the British government's point of view.  He said that the leaders' philosophy was: "There goes my people. I must follow them, for I am their leader."

Sixty years ago, Gandhi was spot-on with his analysis; and we know how glorious the British Empire is today, right?

Are we now going to make the same mistakes in the name of political expediency?  Are we REALLY willing to take that risk?

More to the point:

Should we mortgage every American child's future so that our richest need not have to pay back to the Country which allowed them to become so rich in the first place? 

We the people, it was we who voted Obama into office as a  reflection of our sincere desire to change the path of our Country.  

The "Tea Party" movement has a similar desire, though (because it was born by partisan political operatives) with seemingly divergent aims.  But the (apparently opposite) goals of both movements are the the same:  to take back our Government back to "We the people" from "We the Special Interests". 

We haven't gotten anything like that (as yet) from Mr. Obama's administration, or from him personally.

Maybe, just maybe, this "Tea Party" movement is ahead of the wave: a wave we could add to, a wave that could overwhelm and cleanse our federal government.

We'll have the shared luxury of arguing about the next step once our mutual goals are attained. 

D-Day at Last for the G-Man?

It appears that today might be "der Tag" for one of West Haven's "best citizens" (as once described by our Mayor.)

Gene Sullivan is scheduled to appear in court today to answer the charges for his part in connection with the burglary of a Police Commissioner's home.  (I originally posted on this sorry episode waaaaaaay back in March).

What hasn't been fully investigated, though, is the other issues surrounding Mr. S.

As I have repeatedly reported, our boy has steadfastly refused to pay his fair share of car taxes (his cars are registered out-of-state).  Of course, there's a reason:

Apparently, Golden Boy was caught by a contractor hired by the previous assessor (who was promptly fired).  Said case is now tied up in, um, "negotiations" between the City and said contractor.  Apparently, the City can't prosecute this case until this issue is settled...and it seems the City is in no rush to settle.

Hmmmmmm.

UPDATE   According to the State website, the case has been rescheduled for December 16th.  This is now the 18th time the case has been rescheduled.  For crying out loud, the Hayes death penalty murder trial didn't take this long!