- Monday Show BLOG...

Tax plan may fund police, homes

Once again, faced with growing public pressure to fix a REAL problem in this town, what does our City Council propose?  Raising taxes, of course!  Could they look at their current spending patterns, and find places that may not be entirely necessary where they can make spending cuts?  No!  That would take real effort, and nobody on this council has the courage to stand up and say to some special interest group - hey, times are tough and you have to go find your own funding.  Public safety in this town is in crisis mode, and if we had real leadership around here, they would put every non-essential program on hold till they fix the real problems.

Mayor and Council Citizen Comment Line: (520) 791-4700

Mayor Bob Walkup - mcweb@tucsonaz.gov
City Manager Mike Hein - mike.hein@tucsonaz.gov
Ward One Regina Romero - ward1@tucsonaz.gov
Ward Two Rodney Glassman - ward2@tucsonaz.gov
Ward Three Karin Uhlich - ward3@tucsonaz.gov
Ward Four Shirley Scott - ward4@tucsonaz.gov
Ward Five Steve Leal - steve.leal@tucsonaz.gov
Ward Six Nina J. Trasoff, Vice Mayor - ward6@tucsonaz.gov

Taxpayers paying for officials' guzzlers

So I read this and my first question is, if you drive your own car and get a $200.00 reimbursement per pay period, do you still get free gas from the city/taxpayers? If Councilman Carroll is paying for his own gas, for example, than it really doesn't matter what car he drives. If Carroll drives his own car that gets 15mpg and council member Glassman drives his own car that gets 35mpg and each gets $200.00 per paycheck, then Carroll simply uses more taxpayer dollars on gas than Glassman and Glassman gets to either pocket the cash or use it for wear and tear. So I will give you that under that senerio it is better for Carroll to drive a more economical car for himself, but it doesn't really matter to the taxpayer - the same amount of tax dollars is still being spent on both. But this isn't all about tax dollars, no - since when does the AZ Star care about fiscal responsibility from our government??  What this is really about is the evil gas guzzler vs the eco-friendly Prius. They just want to shame Carroll for not driving an ugly car.  The truth is the Prius and other hybrids actually require way more energy and production output and costs to build than most every other vehicle. So while they may be great money savers for the buyer they do little to nothing to help the environment if you believe in global warming. If you don't think global warming is real, then really the milage is your only benefit as that car is ugly as hell.
Getting back to the article. Now if they are getting the free gas and $200.00 per check it is a whole new world. I am currently trying to find the answer and no one seems to know. You would have thought the article would be clear about that?
One last point I want to make. Say you're council member Rodney Glassman and you decide to bike to work or events and still take that $200.00 per pay period then what benefit is the taxpayer getting from their tax dollars? The bottom line is there should be no flat reimbursement. The City Council should be forced to keep track of every dime they spend of our tax dollars.

- Anti Illegal Immigration - T-Shirts?


I have shirt that displays the NASCAR logo but replaces the word with NO LIBS. I also have a shirt that I got from local Pro-United States War protester Gen. Pat that simply has the words INFIDEL in big bold white letters. I wear these mainly because they make me laugh. While they may also make a liberal mad, they might also make someone think. Would you wear a t-shirt with any of the prints above? Who would you want to be reading it? Would you wear it in hopes of reaching out to people of like mind? Or would you wearing in hopes of addressing the very people you are targeting on your shirts. Regardless of the reason and while I do agree with the sentiments behind these shirts, I feel this might be more damaging in the long run. We need to move beyond this stereotype that says everyone who opposes illegal immigration is just anti-Hispanic.  I'm afraid these shirts just give those who would perpetuate this stereotype more ammunition.

 Saturday Night Live nails it:

Andrew's random video for Monday:  How about we start this week with something a little uplifting?  If you're not moved, or don't get a little choked up watching this, then you obviously need to lighten up.

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