Gums' Editorial Section

OK, TIME FOR SOME MORE OF MY VIEWS

By Gums

FIRST OFF: DON'T FORGET TO SUPPORT OUR TROOPS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON! SEND THEM SOME CARDS TOO!

Well, the Holiday season is here once again. There will be dozens of benefits, toy runs and fund raisers coming up. Try to remember one thing, there are a lot of small organizations out there that will need your help more than some of the big hospitals. I am not going to list all their names, but some of our local hospitals get hundreds of millions of dollars from fund raisers and grants while other smaller places survive on donations and small grants only. So if your group is planing a run, try to look at and help some of the smaller and less wealthy organizations in the area. Several years ago, we who hung out at the old "SUNDANCE" lounge used to support a group home for battered children. They got no Federal funds and survived on donations. They were always happy when we would bring them two or three complete turkey dinners with all the trimmings at Christmas time. They would invite us back during the summer to play volley ball with the kids (I won't talk about how bad we got our butts kicked by a bunch of eight year olds). This is what I am talking about though----the smaller the operation, the more they could use your help and the more the kids will enjoy getting to meet and talk with "bikers." Don't get me wrong, places like All Children's Hospital are a good causes. But the fact is, their budget is larger than the income of some small countries. They get so many toys at Christmas that they don't have enough children to give them to so they hold them till later in the year. While some smaller places don't have enough to give their children anything. Besides, at some places you will be able to meet the kids in person and even give out your own toys----This will make your day! So during this holiday season, try to remember, the smaller organizations need your help too! Another thing you may want to check out before giving up your hard earned bucks is "exactly how much of the money is really going to the kids and how much is going for the cost of putting the run on." Beware of runs that say "a percentage of the proceeds will go to---." This could mean $1.00 out of every $20.00 they collect goes to the cause and the rest goes in their pocket. Later on I will post some good guide lines for those attending benefits and those planing and running them.

NOW ON TO THE ELECTION

Well, the election is all over (for now) so let's take a look and see how the voters screwed themselves this time. The voters of Pinellas County voted to increase their property tax by 50 cents per thousand dollars of property value. This money is to go towards giving all our teachers a big pay raise. On the surface this doesn't sound to bad till you start to figure it out.. The tax increase will only amount to about $65.00 or $70.00 on a house worth $100,000.00. But this isn't the whole picture---- The following agencies will also raise your tax bill every year:

1. Suncoast Transit Authority---we get to support the bus company that most of us will never ride on.
   
2. Juv. Welfare Board---This is the folks that keep turning kids with dozens of arrests back out on the streets to commit more crimes.
   
3. Pinellas County Planning Council---I have no idea what these jerks plan for and I don't think they do either.
   
4. Pinellas Anclote---I have no idea who the hell this is or what, if anything, they do. I am sure I could live without them though.
   
5. South West Florida Water Mgmt.---These are the jackasses that tell you that you are using to much water and you can only water your yard once a week.
   
6. City---This is the cut of the action that the city you live in takes to play with.
   
7. School-local board---This is more money that schools get from us just for them to play with.
   
8. School-state law---This is money the state says schools can take away from property owners by law.
   
9. County-aggregate--This is the biggest rip-off in the state! This comprises four funds in one--the general fund (anyone can spend this)--Mosquito Control (now that is a joke, when did you last see a misquoto truck spraying on your street?)--Health Dept. (I know who they help but I won't go into that here)--and the EMS (why does our property taxes have to pay for the paramedics? Did you ever ride in an ambulance and get one of their bills ?)
   

Keep in mind the above nine agencies will raise their portion of your tax bill every year just as they have done in the past. So you see, it just isn't just a $60.00 raise in your taxes to pay for teachers, it can amount to several hundred dollars when everyone takes their cut of your tax bill. The teachers should not get a raise till the school board quits wasting our tax dollars. If the teachers don't like the pay scale here, they have two choices, move somewhere else or quit teaching and get another job!
EXAMPLE: The superintendent of Hillsborough County Schools will get a bonus of $47,650.00 this year because he does such a good job. That is on top of his annual pay of $187,636.00, plus he will also get another 2.75% pay raise on top of all that. This is bullshit at the taxpayers expense!
Did you ever go by a school construction site---ten guy's standing around while one man is working

OK, NOW ON TO SOMETHING ELSE

The stupid voters of this state just raised the minimum wage by $1.00 per hour. This has got to be the stupidest thing I have seen in many years. Have you ever seen some of the people working in the fast food places trying to make change? Half of them shouldn't get $2.00 per hour much less $6.15. Don't even think about telling them you want mustard instead of ketchup on your burger--How about all the workers who worked a little harder and went that extra mile and earned their raise. Now the "goof off's" will get an undeserved raise they haven't earned. Don't think of it as a dollar raise---think of it as a high school drop out or someone who just doesn't give a shit making $246.00 per week with no education. Workers who want a raise should earn it, not have it handed to them. This one dollar per hour will make no change in their spending, saving or buying power. Who do you think is going to pay for this stupid raise----You are, through higher cost for the products you buy (I see a $6.00 burger and $3.00 fries at Mickey-D's already).To put it bluntly, if you want a raise, you have several choices---work harder and impress your boss that you care or stay in school and get an education this way you earn your raises. I see a lot of minimum wage workers either loosing their jobs or having their working hours cut back because of this. This was nothing but a "Feel Good" amendment that made a few stupid voters think they were helping people when all they did was screw the poor worker. Just remember---"everyone can't run the pickle factory---someone has to put the lids on the jars"---------But then again, these minimum wage workers will now have a little more money for the smart folks to take away from them so it may not be to bad after all!

NOW LETS SEE WHAT ELSE THERE IS

EXIT VISA'S FORTH COMING?
As in 2000 many of the radical left wing Hollywood asswipes (Alec Baldwin, Rosie O'Donnell, Leonard DiCapprio(SP)to name a few) promised again during this election if Bush won they were moving out of the country ------ Of course these lying Democrats did not keep their "campaign promises" in 2000. I for one wish them luck on their 2004 journey to their European havens of socialism where they will pay a 90% tax rate to try and keep afloat their newly adopted countries.

Also George Soros (who threw 17 million dollars of his own money down the toilet trying to smear Bush) also promised much the same thing. He said if Bush won he was giving away all his millions and was going to move into a monastery!

I hope they do leave. The truth is however these girly men do not have the "balls" to leave the security and prosperity of the good old USA. Just how the hell can they promise to leave the USA then not do so and call Bush a liar? They give new meaning to the term "human waste."

NOW ON TO SLOT MACHINES

Looks like the voters are going to believe all the bullshit that the powers that be have been shoving down our throats for the last several months. They want to put slot machines "ONLY" in a couple of counties in south Florida. Now if you believe that, I have a hell of a deal for you on some land in the everglades. How long do you think it will be before other counties will want slot machines in their counties too? I mean let's face it, they are going to want a piece of all that easy money to stuff in their pockets too. As for giving 500 million dollars to help our schools, isn't that what they said when they shoved the lottery up our asses? The asswipes in the capital told us "the lottery will take care of our schools for years to come and give the people of Florida property tax relief" (from school taxes). Now we all know that turned out to be the biggest bunch of bullshit since Clinton didn't inhale and he never had sexual relations with Monica. The voters have twice turned down gambling in Florida. Now the spin doctors come along and put a new spin on the issue telling us how it will help out schools and the jackass voters believe it all over again. The folks that voted for this item probably are the ones who voted to increase the minimum wage. Well, for all you jackasses who voted for this, I'll make you a bet-----this time next year, your property taxes (the school portion) will go up once again, not down or even stay the same. All you jerks have done is hand the politicians more money for them to stick in their pockets in the form of raises!