en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/672573 Comments by Ozark_Lee http://biggovernment.com/publius/2012/01/12/tea-party-senator-rand-paul-returns-half-million-to-the-treasury/#IDComment263151874 Is the blow-hard Warren Buffett going to match it? ...Lee Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:35:30 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2012/01/12/tea-party-senator-rand-paul-returns-half-million-to-the-treasury/#IDComment263151874 http://biggovernment.com/cstreet/2011/11/10/capitalism-and-marxism-are-headed-for-a-violent-showdown/#IDComment220174273 This really doesn't need to be violent. The country is hopelessly fractured along idealogical lines and the only real solution is for the country to break apart. Here in Kansas I can work a trade deal with California or New York better than I can trying to live under their idiotic legislation that is foisted upon all of us. The details will be tough and I'm not sure how the borders will be drawn, at the end of the day the people can vote with their feet and decide where they want to live. At the end of the day you can "Burger King" things and everyone can "have it your way". ...Lee Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:01:33 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/cstreet/2011/11/10/capitalism-and-marxism-are-headed-for-a-violent-showdown/#IDComment220174273 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/10/21/obama-all-troops-out-of-iraq-by-years-end/#IDComment210750222 At what point do we see helicopters plucking people off of the roofs at our fancy new 104 acre embassy? I've seen this show before but at least the last time Nixon declared victory before we bugged out. Say a prayer for the Kurds - they Effed on all three fronts. ...Lee Sat, 22 Oct 2011 01:28:26 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/10/21/obama-all-troops-out-of-iraq-by-years-end/#IDComment210750222 http://blog.heritage.org/2011/09/28/obamacare-has-arrived-in-the-supreme-court/#IDComment200414215 Genius, a great tactical move. Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:58:00 +0000 http://blog.heritage.org/2011/09/28/obamacare-has-arrived-in-the-supreme-court/#IDComment200414215 http://biggovernment.com/nryun/2011/09/15/barbarians-and-s-o-b-s-unite/#IDComment193883324 I'm sorry - I just don't understand the concept. The left is effective with it since much of their coalition is used to boarding buses to go chant "hey hey ho ho" about something so having a bus pick them up to go vote is no different. I have my Birkenstock wearing, Prius driving neighbor that was an MD but he gave that up to be an "Environmental Entrepreneur" - my guess is that he gets federal grant money for something. Do you really think me knocking on his door is going to change his mind about which Marxist he is going to vote for? I am hearing about "training workshops" all over the country but I am having a hard time figuring out what the real purpose is. Perhaps I am over-thinking this and there are enough weak minded people that you can sway their opinion with a phone call or a knock on the door but I know the ballot top to bottom and usually who I will vote for (or just do a protest - none of the above non vote) before I even get in my own car to drive my own self to the polls with my own gasoline. I get the phone calls but they are promptly responded to with the "click-Buzz" of the hangup and the dial tone. Perhaps this gets deeper than I think and there are actual meetings of the minds to formulate platforms, drink ale, and groom candidates but I think the last time that happened was in secret Masonic lodges and that has been a few years ago. Will someone please explain the value in this to me? ...Lee Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:07:42 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/nryun/2011/09/15/barbarians-and-s-o-b-s-unite/#IDComment193883324 http://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2011/08/15/californias-amazon-tax-already-proving-a-bust/#IDComment183381353 In Kansas there is a sales tax surcharge - in addition to being taxed by Amazon already - one of only 4 states plus DC on your state income tax return. They ask you on the tax return to list any out of state purchases where Kansas sales tax was not paid and then, even if you list zero, they ding you for $35.00 added to your tax, presumably because of the assumption that you are a not being truthful. I call it the Kitty Cat Kathleen Sebelius liars tax. My 90 year old mother in law who has no computer - and wouldn't know how to turn it on if she did have one - got dinged with that additional tax. ...Lee Mon, 15 Aug 2011 22:46:20 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2011/08/15/californias-amazon-tax-already-proving-a-bust/#IDComment183381353 http://biggovernment.com/driehl/2011/08/15/kinder-accuser-tammy-chapman-cant-keep-story-straight/#IDComment183376862 Anything that is published in or by the Kansas City Star should be immediately questioned as to its truthfulness, accuracy, and context. ...Lee Mon, 15 Aug 2011 22:27:10 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/driehl/2011/08/15/kinder-accuser-tammy-chapman-cant-keep-story-straight/#IDComment183376862 http://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2011/08/11/are-republicans-coming-to-their-senses-about-the-natural-gas-subsidies/#IDComment182239861 In pure BTU/$ terms natural gas is presently dirt cheap. 1MCF (1000 cubic feet) of natural gas has 1,020,000 BTUs - natural gas is selling (Hub price to the producer) for a fuzz under $4.10 / MMBTU (Million BTUs). Gasoline on the spot market is selling wholesale for $2.80/gallon and it has - give or take depending on what witches brew the EPA has mandated for your specific area - 114,000 BTUs / gallon. At present (Oh but give them a chance) there is no road tax on natural gas and with an appropriate compressor you can fill up in your garage but it takes time (as in overnight) and electricity to run the compressor which alters the dynamics on the calculations a bit. The tank size becomes a huge factor as well and a tank of natural gas on an average car will provide enough fuel to get around 200 to 250 miles. The modifications are usually set up as dual fuel systems that have both a gasoline tank and a compressed natural gas (CNG) tank that you can switch between on the fly but the CNG tank will eat up your entire trunk. The real dynamic here is on the demand side. Were a significant portion of motor vehicles be converted or sold as CNG vehicles the demand for natural gas would predictably soar and thus the price would soar as well. At present the summer months are "injection" months for natural gas where stockpiles are placed into storage for the heavy demand for home heating during the winter months. The summer driving season would most certainly alter the "injection" portion of the equation. In the end I think it comes down to how much you drive vs how warm you like your house in the winter to figure out if this makes any sense. ...Lee Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:23:16 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2011/08/11/are-republicans-coming-to-their-senses-about-the-natural-gas-subsidies/#IDComment182239861 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.9e214cd05d006bc55e2b5fc33bdea0f3.c41&show_article=1#IDComment181740620 God help them all - they will be stuck behind some idiot with either Iowa plates or Minnesota plates that is actually trying to figure out how to drive a car. My greatest nightmare is driving to the cabin in the Ozarks behind a minivan with a cripple plate from either one of those states. ...Lee Wed, 10 Aug 2011 02:04:33 +0000 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.9e214cd05d006bc55e2b5fc33bdea0f3.c41&show_article=1#IDComment181740620 http://biggovernment.com/dmorley/2011/08/03/st-louiss-democrat-machine/#IDComment179921115 There is nothing new here. The same crap has been going on in Kansas City since Pendergast which is why most of the Kansas City Metro population lives outside of the city limits of Kansas City proper. The plus with Pendergast is that he at least got things done - with his Redi Mix concrete of course - but concrete monuments got built. Sheesh, machine politics but now it is run by Freedom Inc which would make ACORN blush with its tactics. ...Lee Thu, 4 Aug 2011 01:27:33 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/dmorley/2011/08/03/st-louiss-democrat-machine/#IDComment179921115 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/08/01/house-passes-debt-ceiling-deal/#IDComment179241066 I see that Rep. Cleaver found that his "sugar coated satin sandwich" was quite tasty at the end of the day. Likely not quite as good as beef and a half with fries at Gates but it was obviously edible. That's OK, I think the right reverend, his holiness, Emanual Cleaver was just redistricted out of existence in the 5th congressional district. ...Lee Tue, 2 Aug 2011 02:22:08 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/08/01/house-passes-debt-ceiling-deal/#IDComment179241066 http://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2011/07/23/drill-more-to-bring-the-deficit-down/#IDComment176662802 Unfortunately that ship has already sailed - the rigs are gone and they won't be coming back anytime soon. Even if new permits were to be issued the drilling rigs are now off the coast of Africa or Venezuela. The deep water rigs have daily rates that are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and they don't just sit idle while other people try to make up their minds. ...Lee Sat, 23 Jul 2011 20:20:18 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2011/07/23/drill-more-to-bring-the-deficit-down/#IDComment176662802 http://biggovernment.com/bjacobson/2011/07/21/who-says-union-goons-are-violent/#IDComment176024238 Hmmm, sounds like a Professor Emeritus status hire for UMKC or UMSL. ...Lee Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:39:12 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/bjacobson/2011/07/21/who-says-union-goons-are-violent/#IDComment176024238 http://biggovernment.com/reasontv/2011/07/19/reason-tv-battle-for-brooklyn-eminent-domain-abuse-gone-wild/#IDComment175333167 This, as has been pointed out, is not limited to New York or Connecticut. Locally there was a case a few years ago where the City of Merriam, KS used eminent domain to take the property of a used car dealer to give it to a BMW/Volkswagen new car dealership. The same group of geniuses condemned an entire neighborhood through eminent domain for a private developer to build a new shopping center. Its one and only tenant was Circuit City which went bankrupt about a week after they announced their opening date - they never opened their doors. The shopping center remains vacant to this day. ...Lee Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:23:49 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/reasontv/2011/07/19/reason-tv-battle-for-brooklyn-eminent-domain-abuse-gone-wild/#IDComment175333167 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/07/16/saturday-open-thread-potsdam-edition-2/#IDComment174109095 Truman was a creation of Tom Pendergast that got a bit beyond his control. He was likely way in over his head as president but at least when the rubber met the road he made the right call and saved millions of both American and Japanese lives. ...Lee Sat, 16 Jul 2011 09:41:35 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/07/16/saturday-open-thread-potsdam-edition-2/#IDComment174109095 http://biggovernment.com/sberry/2011/07/15/still-keeping-the-light-on/#IDComment173891148 This was a setup from the start. Fred Upton needs to immediately lose his chairmanship of the energy committee. The bill needs to go through the normal procedures and come to the floor for a clean vote. Good luck Tim Huelskamp, enjoy your one and only term in the house. With 69 counties in the 1st (and growing) I think it will be quite easy to find a suitable replacement. ...Lee Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:03:50 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/sberry/2011/07/15/still-keeping-the-light-on/#IDComment173891148 http://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2011/07/13/michigan-next-to-cut-cigarette-tax/#IDComment173238939 I live in Kansas, and I smoke cigarettes, but after Kitty Cat Sebelius jacked the tax I have not bought a single pack in the state of Kansas even though it is much more convenient. Missouri is but a few miles away and they do "land office" business on cigarettes at the Quick Trip in Westport. One Quick Trip store in the area that more or less straddled the state line tore down its old store and built a new one, 50 or 60 feet away, on the Missouri side of the property, to avoid the Kansas gasoline and cigarette taxes. The part that sucks there is that all of the employees were now subject to the 1% Kansas City earnings tax. ...Lee Wed, 13 Jul 2011 23:58:14 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2011/07/13/michigan-next-to-cut-cigarette-tax/#IDComment173238939 http://biggovernment.com/sporter/2011/07/12/do-you-have-to-be-sexy-to-win-2012-presidential-race-or-can-you-be-tim-pawlenty/#IDComment172935241 My Black Labrador has better hair than any of them but I am getting tired of sweeping it up as it sheds in the summer. At the end of the day my puppy has a better chance of getting elected than Obama - he has really cute puppy dog eyes and wags his tail a lot. ...Lee Wed, 13 Jul 2011 04:50:57 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/sporter/2011/07/12/do-you-have-to-be-sexy-to-win-2012-presidential-race-or-can-you-be-tim-pawlenty/#IDComment172935241 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/06/28/protestors-and-riot-police-clash-in-athens/#IDComment167688764 I visited the Greek Islands and Athens in June, 2006 and this crap was going on then. It wasn't quite to the intensity that it appears to be today but then again I spent most of my time on a Seaborne Cruise Ship. As we got bused into Athens all of the banks had their windows broken out and there was graffiti everywhere. The graffiti wasn't quite as bad as it was in Rome but it was still horrible. This is what 1/2 century of socialism and fascism looks like and it isn't pretty. The most instructive portion of that trip was a trip to Delos. It was a center of commerce and from what I could see of a community that was established in roughly 500 BC it was quite wealthy, complete with indoor toilets and cisterns the size of swimming pools. It now sits in ruins but it was never defeated in war. It was a tax free port but after the Romans imposed tariffs the businesses went "John Galt" and just left. The ruins are there because all of the marble that was mined to build the city in the first place was simply stolen to build other structures on neighboring islands or in Athens. It is easier to steal already mined marble than it is to mine it yourself. It was instructive and served to reinforce my political views. ...Lee Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:53:56 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/06/28/protestors-and-riot-police-clash-in-athens/#IDComment167688764 http://bigjournalism.com/pjsalvatore/2011/06/27/monday-roundup/#IDComment167260145 After yesterday, Fox news is just as dead to me as the New York TImes always has been. ...Lee Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:19:40 +0000 http://bigjournalism.com/pjsalvatore/2011/06/27/monday-roundup/#IDComment167260145