I've lived in Mtn Home since 1989, so that's...hold on...I'm thinking...WOW! Exactly 25 years! Boy, I think I can almost declare myself an Idahoan. But my family is British and I grew up in Louisiana around lots of other Brits so I still think I'm a little bit of a mutt. Those of you who have been around awhile may remember when I used to blog all the time. My opinions weren't very accepted and there was always an issue because I work for the county. That really wasn't fair because I NEVER blog at work! And I am still entitled to my opinions and thoughts about city and county issues, right? However, it stirred a lot of pots and those pots certainly can make a lot of noise! Since I'm a writer, I took what I wrote in my blog seriously so I spent a lot of time researching things which got exhausting to do when you're not even get a paycheck for it. So I stopped. That was a blessing to many! However, to this day, I still have people stop me and ask me why I wasn't blogging and t! hey missed it. I've missed it. Mainly because there are so many issues that come up and I have no voice except around my friends and I'm sure they are tired of it.

What would you chose?

Posted Tuesday, February 17, 2009, at 9:27 PM

A family of the 50's

Ken Kovac wrote in his blog: "Analysts have reported that the average American will see about $13.00 more in their weekly paychecks as a direct result of the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009". That's a pretty big chunk of change. What's a person going to do with ALL that extra money? That's a whopping $52.00 a month per working person. Unemployment benefits will go up $25.00 a week."

And a person called, smalltown commented (in part): "I for one am looking forward to the extra $13.00 a week this will give me, it is a lot no but that $13.00 is a couple gallons of milk, some bread,or some jeans for my kids, 2 months of school lunches for my child."

I was speechless with a profound feeling of hopelessness when I read it. So I responded so feel free to stop and read my response because the following is the rest of my comment.

What I read was...This $52 a month is just a small thing but, heck, it's a start, right? I'll take it! And the reasons that people become enslaved by tyranny is obvious. Flash the pretty lights and fancy words so the desperate people will fall into line. I'm not trying to be harsh but the reality is that man and woman are all followers for the most part. WE will cling to the surface-solutions that require very little thought so that we can just get on with the business of living. Afterall, don't we all work hard enough and didn't we elect these politicians to take care of things so we can just live on in oblivion? That is the simplest thing to do and are we not prone to taking the easy road? God warns us that the road that is right is narrow and full of potholes, obstacles and rocks so we will be less likely to travel it. Humans will take the paved, smooth road that the majority are taking. It is never easy to do the right thing or say the right thing. So let me paint you a picture.

What if that money that pacifies you now, in the long run, devastates a nation. What if that tiny bribe you took of $13 extra a week actually was the cover-up to the largest spending spree in history and you were given a penny to make you smile? Crazy, huh?

If I had a 50 dollar bill in my hand and a large binder full of documents from level-headed economist with a workable budget in the other. And I said to you, pick one. What would you take? As you reach forward, I stop you and say, Understand that if you take the 50, there is a large chance that you will never get another and it is also possible that in the coming years, you will have to pay me back 10-fold. And you hesitate! But then again...If you take this hand of money, you could buy whatever $50 gets. It's money in the hand! There it is, a crisp 50 dollar bill just waiting for you to take it. It could pay down a bill, buy a few groceries or get you a tank or two of gas. That's pretty good! And so what if you may never be given a chance to take a fifty again? You need it now! Right? It yours for the asking. You are sure that by next year, they'll figure it out anyway. So I say, take the $50 and that's all you get! You don't have to do anything to get it. Just put it in your pocket and get on with your life cause I'm gonna take care of the rest. Don't you give it a second thought!

I can see that you are considering it so it's only fair that I tell you the consequences of taking the binder. If you decide on the other hand, you are taking an active role in finding the solution and you are commanding that I follow the plan and work it. Be advised, that I will work that plan and do whatever it takes to balance the budget, and get out of debt. However, you must accept that you will not get that 50, right now, nor can you expect to be untouched by the process. You may have to change a lot about your life in order to make the plan work. You may have to give up some things; sacrifice a vacation or put off buying something you want. There are going to be some hard decisions to make that will affect a lot of people. And you will have to be a part of that. People may get hurt, lose their job or their homes. This is not an easy choice to make. But, I promise you, in the long run, there will be more opportunity for good changes to make up for those sacrifices. Pick this hand holding the workable plan and you will realize that the rewards will not come fast but I assure you that in the long run, your children and grandchildren will prosper. So choose, which hand are you gonna take?

Understand me when I say that complacency is one of the most dangerous attitudes because, if you read my blog, it leads to apathy which leads to dependence which leads to bondage. Oh, Kim, bondage! Get real! I will not become a slave to anyone! You're crazy! Nobody is going to come to my house and put me in chains! Jeeze! Okay, you right! Slavery will not occur tomorrow.

Major changes in government and people's values don't happen overnight. Case in point: Imagine that you are in the 1950's and you woke up one morning to a sunny day. And you walk into your clean kitchen, sit at your little table to have a hot breakfast with your family. Nice, huh? You pick up the newspaper and start to read. The world begins to change. You discover that over 50% of the marriages suddenly got divorced that day and that 82% of the teenage girls lost their virginity yesterday. Furthermore, sexually transmitted diseases are rapidly becoming epidemic. You're shocked, but compelled to read more. You flip the pages and see advertisements for condoms, sex toys, and abortions on demand. This is madness! Every headline screams of rape, war, molestations, and every violent crime imaginable. You throw the paper in the trash in disbelief. Your kids are sweetly eating their Rice Krispies as your spouse hums a happy tune.

Imagine then turning on your TV and instead of 3 stations, there were 100's of channels to look through. As you are looking, you see things that you can't believe. There's naked bodies, bloody violent scenes of indescribable evil; talk shows with men dressed like women, shows where women test multiple men to see who is the father of their baby. There are daughters and mothers sleeping with the same man on one channel and sex documentaries on the other. Commercials that show women's underthings and ads that promote drugs for men's erectile disfunctions. This can't be true! What happened while you slept? You keep changing the channel and there are movies showing more skin than you've ever seen. The ladies and little girls are dressing like the fallen women of the redlight district as your eyes are popping out of your head. You switch the channel and see newscast after newscast describing political bribery, protest in favor of gay marriages and assisted suicide. You turn the TV off in disgust, rushing to the calendar to check the date and it's just another day but surely something disastrous has occurred.

Suddenly, there is a knock at your door. You answer it to uniformed men who enter your house, declaring that they have a warrant to search and confiscate any weapons because that very morning the right to bear arms had been abolished from the constitution. When you scream your protest, the men throw you against the wall, handcuff you and explain that you are considered a threat to the peace of the nation. Outside, you hear the screams of other neighbors who are protesting. The men haul you outside and the street is full of people crying out their shock and anger when more uniformed men arrive in riot gear announcing that their assembly is unlawful and the words they speak are treason.

How can this be? So you think that the world would just accept this and move on? No, there would be such an outcry and the majority of the world would have revolted. Revolution would be in full swing!

But look at us today. Changes occurred a little at a time, as though we were in a long sleep. It happened so slow and disguised as noble things, that we didn't recognize it for what it was. On the surface, these things were tolerable and for the most part, we ignored it. You couldn't have done it overnight but look how easily we've gotten used to the changes over time.

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Well, if you think it's a bribe, then I suppose you will be returning your $52.00 a month because that just wouldn't be ethical, would it?

-- Posted by LongTimeListener on Tue, Feb 17, 2009, at 9:33 PM
Yes, it will all go back in taxes, plus more. I'm so glad you figured that out. Too bad that's all you got from what I wrote. Have a happy time with your 50 bucks.

-- Posted by kimkovac on Tue, Feb 17, 2009, at 10:54 PM
Welcome to the wall...begin to beat your head now. Great blog Kim. Some of us "get" it. Have a great week. I hope you and Ken had a nice Valentine's day.

-- Posted by OpinionMissy on Tue, Feb 17, 2009, at 11:18 PM
Welcome to the wall...begin to beat your head now. Great blog Kim. Some of us "get" it. Have a great week. I hope you and Ken had a nice Valentine's day.

-- Posted by OpinionMissy on Tue, Feb 17, 2009, at 11:18 PM
Evening Kim,

Found this interesting article on www.gunowners.org Since we're all getting about $50 bucks a month I wanted all the informed people out there know MILLIONS of YOUR tax dollars are going. Nice to know Obama is protecting his own in the pork bill.

Monday, February 2, 2009

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), the far left anti-gun group under investigation for voter fraud, could be eligible to receive millions, if not billions of dollars from the economic bailout bill that passed out of the House of Representatives yesterday.

ACORN was an aggressive supporter of Barack Obama -- who had served as the group's legal counsel and even trained ACORN in "community organizing" -- in the presidential election. The Obama campaign even paid the group $800,000 for "voter turnout," the very activities that came under scrutiny by the FBI.

In October 2008, ACORN's Las Vegas office was raided by law enforcement agents investigating voter registration fraud. According to the Nevada Secretary of State's office, voter information submitted by the group included nonexistent names, false addresses, duplicate filings and even the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys.

In addition to turning in massive amounts of fraudulent voter registration forms leading up to the 2008 elections, ACORN is also involved in anti-Second Amendment activism. For instance, a New Jersey ACORN chapter supported a one-gun-a-month ordinance in Jersey City, a law that was struck down last year by an appeals court for violating the State's preemption law.

This group should not be eligible to receive one penny of your tax money, yet ACORN has received over $28 million in taxpayer dollars in 2008 alone and over $53 million since 1994. Last year, some members of Congress were able to strip ACORN money from the home mortgage industry bailout bill, but it was reinserted into the current legislation.

The total amount of money for which groups like ACORN would be eligible in the bill is $4.2 billion, under a provision for "neighborhood stabilization activities." According to the bill, the money can be utilized by state and local governments and also "nonprofit entities or consortia of nonprofit entities."

ACORN can possibly collect more money under this legislation that it has over the past 15 years, and you can bet that ACORN is expert at accessing those funds.

Another group that could benefit from the bailout bill is MoveOn.org, an organization that has advocated for sweeping gun control laws.

According to Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican, "MoveOn.org's civic action committee could receive stimulus funds such as money earmarked for energy 'activities', since MoveOn.org lists one of its goals to 'reduce America's dependence on oil.'"

Pro-gun Senator David Vitter (R-LA) sees the bill as "payoff" for the liberal interest groups that helped to put Barack Obama in the White House, and that some provisions in the bill were actually written with specific interest groups in view.

Sen. Vitter told FOX News that the bill "is a payoff for that political activity in last year's election, particularly with the fraudulent voter registration drives," Sen. Vitter said.

The bottom line is that the only thing this bill will "stimulate" is attacks against your gun rights by leftist anti-gun groups. Supporters of the Second Amendment must take action now to see that such funding provisions are stripped from the misnamed stimulus package.

The bailout measure passed out of the House of Representatives by a vote of 244-188 and now heads to the Senate, where Senators have been working on their own version of the bill.

Senator [insert] plans to offer an amendment to strip provisions that would fund anti-gun groups like ACORN. Without such an amendment, GOA urges the Senate to reject the bill in its entirety.

-- Posted by mhbouncer on Wed, Feb 18, 2009, at 12:34 AM
Regardless I am still going to take that $52.00 and put it towards taking care of my family, I have also dropped down my cell phone plan, raised my deductubale on our car insurance and am going to lower my satelite service. I understand the governments plan my fail but there is a chance it will work. It took many years to get us in this trouble and it is going to take many years to get us out, some will work and some will not but all have agreed that standing by and doing nothing is the worse plan. I don't know what the correct plan but right now this is the plan they are trying so I am going to take that 13.00 a paycheck and use if for my family. If in the long run the floor caves in I will have to deal with that.

-- Posted by small town on Wed, Feb 18, 2009, at 10:39 AM
I think anyone who is so against this plan should not participate in it. Idaho is one state that voted no for this plan yet they are going to gladly take the money from it. According the channel 7 it could produce up to 18,000 jobs here. In anther state as soon as the package was signed a check was given to a contractor to start the repair of a bridge, that brought money to the contractors company and allowed him to hire 30 people, that is 30 less people on unemployment. There is always going to be waste in government spending but there is alot that could come from this plan, it is going to cost a lot to get this country back to where we should be but that is everyones fault, we spent more than we made so now we have to make it right.

-- Posted by small town on Wed, Feb 18, 2009, at 10:48 AM
It took 25 years for the country to recover from the Great Depression. Nothing happens overnight.

PS Kim,

I apologize about the snarky remark I made. There was no need for that. My $13.00 a week will go back in the taxes that will be increased on my liquor.

-- Posted by LongTimeListener on Wed, Feb 18, 2009, at 11:15 AM
small town,

I, like many others, do not believe that the government should provide for my family. Likewise, I do not believe the government should tell me what I want or need. This is the point that is being made here, we are free to determine what is right for our family and do our best to provide. I have the ability to be the provider so I do not need the 12 bucks a week that this plan will bring. I will get it because I was not given a choice, the government knows what is good for me.

On the same line, businesses should be able to provide for themselves. Those who do will survive and prosper. Those who do not will fail. It is just a fact of life, survival of the fittest. If a lousy business is floudering and the government bails them out, what do you have? A lousy business with more more of my money to waste. The weak will stay weak and continue to provide inferior/unaffordable products and services. Time will tell how this pans out.

-- Posted by jtrotter on Wed, Feb 18, 2009, at 11:15 AM
Jtrotter,

If you dont need the government to provide for your family, don't drive on the roads paid for by the government, don't accept your mortgage, or shop in any store that may have gotten a government grant, don't allow the military to keep you safe, don't call the police or the fire department when something goes wrong, don't file unemployment if you lose your job or take advantage of any of the government programs. Like it or not we do need the government to help provide for our families.

-- Posted by small town on Wed, Feb 18, 2009, at 11:24 AM
All of the things you have listed are paid for by our, mine and your, taxes. I work and I pay my fair share. I am allowed to use what I pay for. Unemployment is paid for by all employers. The program is administered by the state with our state tax dollars.

My father served in the military for 24 years, I proudly served in the military for 22 years, my son is currently serving his country with the Army. Please know your audiance before you blindly make comments.

I have what I have earned.

-- Posted by jtrotter on Wed, Feb 18, 2009, at 1:05 PM
You may have earned what you get but it was provided by the government. The government determines you military pay, determines you taxes, determines what projects get done it may be the state government but it is still government, unemployment is paid the the unemployment tax that the company pays to the government. So your right you paid into it and you earned it but it is still run by the government.

-- Posted by small town on Wed, Feb 18, 2009, at 1:13 PM
AND PAID FOR BY US---the taxpayer.

There should be a test before a person is ALLOWED to vote. If only people researched a president as much as they research coupons/sales/EBay, etc. If only...

-- Posted by OpinionMissy on Wed, Feb 18, 2009, at 6:02 PM
Your right is was paid for by the taxpayer and will continue to always be paid for by the taxpayer. We are all responsible for this mess and it is going to take all of us to fix it.

A question to everyone against President Obama, what exactly did President Bush or the Republican party do to get us out of this mess. Remember before you bash I am an independent I don't like either party. I just want someone to come up with a solution.

-- Posted by small town on Wed, Feb 18, 2009, at 6:09 PM
I may be wrong but I don't remember President Bush coming on tv when this crisis first started and presenting a plan on how it could be fixed, I do remeber him saying something about being financially sound. If the republicans have a better plan please let me know where I can read about it, I don't want to hear what is wrong with this plan I want to hear what there plan is and how it differs, please put on here a website that I can go to so that I can hear both sides and can make up my own mind.

-- Posted by small town on Wed, Feb 18, 2009, at 6:26 PM
It took 25 years to get out of the great depression? And we spent our way out? And we believe the government knows what to do with our money better than we do?

-- Posted by skeeter on Thu, Feb 19, 2009, at 7:44 AM
So...I only get an extra $13.00 a week not $400,000 or $12,000,000. I knew this was not going to work out...

Man! Change I can believe in. Can someone explain when please.

-- Posted by OpinionMissy on Thu, Feb 19, 2009, at 8:21 PM

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