This Budget Doesn't HAve Tax Hikes - Really?

Well, it looks like the lords of the democratic party are ready to give Connecticut its 2nd biggest tax hike in the last 4 years. I thought King Malloy said there would be no new taxes, but another lie has slithered past his fork tongue. Now they're trying to bronze the turd by saying there really isn't a raise in taxes, but if you're generating revenue, you're raising taxes.

The first $50 you could buy clothes with will now be taxable; bring your pet to the vet, taxable. Car wash - taxable. Our $300 deduction for property tax when we file our income tax, now cut $100!

An increase in the gas tax to fix the roads and the MASSIVE expansion projects that are planned. I get this needs to be done since it's been neglected for so long but I thought that's what the DOUBLE gas tax we're paying now was supposed to be used for.

GE, Aetna, Travelers are threatening to re-evaluate if it makes sense to stay in CT to do business. Some say that they need to pay more because of their size and they work to avoid taxes but how about the medium and small businesses? They're the ones who have the major employment here, what if they decide to re-evaluate doing business here? There are plenty of other states ready to welcome them.

That's the King and the Lords of the democratic party missing it. The more taxes get raised, the less business friendly this state becomes encouraging businesses to leave and building a wall to keep new businesses from coming in.

And what about the middle and lower class (we the serfs), how do they expect us to stay in this state when more money is taken from us? I for one am looking at my retirement and asking why should I pay more and more to this government for the money I worked hard for!

It can't be a one party rule like it has been. Both need to get together to have the discussions to have Connecticut go forward.

For now, I just hope they included Vaseline in this budget for the Connecticut residents!

The DPUC throws it on the backs of the customers!

CL&P gets approval for a $365M rate hike for the rubber stamp group DPUC. CL&P neglected to take care of the trees with regular maintenance for years and then after 3 major storms and the damaged that was caused they were now forced to clean up and correct negligence. But it is we the customer who is getting saddled with this bill.
CL&P should be picking up the cost of their years of negligence.

http://www.line-man.com/forums/index.php/topic/28441-cl-p-rate-increase-to-recover-365m-in-storm-costs/

Driver Re-Test???

Here we go again, the state is OVEREACTING and now wants to force ALL Connecticut drivers to take a mandatory test. Bill #335 states “A licensee seeking renewal of a motor vehicle operator's license shall be required to pass a comprehensive test as to knowledge of the laws concerning motor vehicles and the rules of the road.” Why ALL licensees? Why not the repeat offenders? Why not the ones that repeatedly get tickets? After going to traffic court or when the license comes up for renewal and numerous tickets appear against that driver a letter should be sent that the license cannot be renewed unless they pass a test. We have a process that works the same way regarding renewing your registration and emissions. If you haven’t had our emissions performed you can’t register your car. The same process can be set up for bad drivers.

But now we live in a socialistic or collective society where there is no individual. EVERYONE will conform. You didn’t build that, WE built that. It’s not the individual that gets punished, we all get punished. After reading the bill and listening to the reports on TV one thing hasn’t been mentioned yet, can you guess? $$$ MONEY $$$! There is no mention as to what the charge will be. Is that the bottom line, yet ANOTHER revenue stream for the state?

When are we going to tell our so called leaders enough is enough! If I wanted to live in a socialistic society I’d move to your Europe. If I wanted to be told what to do I move to Russia. But I don’t want to live that way or be told what to do. These aren’t brilliant minds we have in our government, just look at how society has been declining and now at an accelerated rate.

We should be telling them what to do. Remember, they work for us!

Harkin Proves It's Time To Retire

Senator Tom Harkin has joined the band wagon for redistributing the earnings from people who have worked hard for their money and denies we spend too much money:

"First of all, I want to disagree with those who say we have a spending problem. Everyone keeps saying we have a spending problem. And when they talk about that, it’s like there’s an assumption that somehow we as a nation are broke. We can't afford these things any longer. We’re too broke to invest in education and housing and things like that. Well look at it this way, we’re the richest nation in the history of the world. We are now the richest nation in the world. We have the highest per capita income of any major nation. That kind of begs the question, doesn’t it? If we’re so rich, why are we so broke? Is it a spending problem? No.”

Is he kidding me? First of all Tom take your damn hands out of my pocket! Let's look at our debt problem in relation to spending. Bush should have never have done the first tarp and the 2 wars he initiated drained this country. But the spending under Obama pales in comparison. In this millennium alone, we've gone from spending $1.7 trillion per year at the federal level (2000) to $2.7 trillion (2007) to $3.8 trillion (2013, projected). We now spend more than w take in. When will it end? I guess Harkin can make these stupid statements since he's worth $10.5M. We'll he put his money where his mouth is and give up 99% of his wealth?

When will Americans get smart and tell Congress to live with their means like we do!

Cowboys: Another Disappointing Season

What a joke this organization is. Mediocre at best. Hey Jerry, when are you going to admit you are not a football genius?! Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells built your 2 playoff teams. You haven't! Swallow your ego and get some football people in there.

Since you won't do that let's focus on getting some GOOD offensive linemen in front of Romo so we can get a running game established and take some pressure off of him.

Next is a coach, unfortunately there won't be a quality guy out there and Garret showed he doesn't have the smarts to have the team to do the little things right. How many games were lost because of stupid penalties, no discipline and dumb play calling.

Garrett has too much on his plate, let's get Norv back as offensive coordinator to call the plays and teach Romo. On the defensive side I thought Ryan was the answer but I'm not impressed. The antics on the sidelines culminating with him taking a penalty.

I had high hopes this year especially after beating the Giants in the first week of the season but that was not to be. Mediocrity was the norm until December hit and they actually looked like they had heart and then the final 2 games showed true Cowboy heart.

2 years in a row it was win and your in and 2 years in a row they failed. This organization needs an enema!

Frustration

I have been watching, reading, listening to everything that has been going on with our Federal, State and Local governments and we are on a runaway train to complete economic ruin. We have elected leaders in our Federal and State levels who refuse to make the hard choices to right the fiscal ship and we continue to sink. To me when our Governor calls $415 million a "shortfall" in the budget he is clueless!  Malloy was the one who enacted the LARGEST state tax increase to right the fiscal ship and we are worse now than before and why, WE CONTINUE TO SPEND!

We now have our Congressman playing games with the numbers to make things not only look better but new ways to take, no steal our money! Boehner's crew is looking to raise the social security age to 70, they now have put tax increases (I can't call it revenue!) on the table and talk very little of title reform. What happened to holding the ground??? I guess the real middle class - the ones who have to pay for all of this - doesn't count!

Meriden, my local government, is a joke. The word cut isn't even in their dictionary. How much of a joke? Here's an example: They have raised our water and sewer rates so high so fast that the changed the billing period. We now pay quarterly instead of bi-annually. From 2008 to now my water bill has nearly doubled with my usage up about 15%.

If we as citizens and a nation do not demand that our elected leaders stop this insanity and start to have an honest dialog with us to get us moving forward we will all be below the poverty line.

P90X - My Thoughts

I finished the P90X Classic program last week and I wanted to give my view. I am absolutely thrilled at what I have accomplished in this first go round. Thinner in the waist, build in my arms and chest, better cardio, more alert, sleep better at night, and most of all - drastically cut down my alcohol intake which was contributing to the big gut.

From a physical point of view I didn't get the ripped abs that the informercial keeps pushing. There were some exercises I just couldn't do. In the Ab Ripper X DVD some require serious core strength and I'm still not there. Example: Mason Twists: While seated lift your legs and bring them in half way to your chest. For about 1 minute clasp your hands together and twist to your left and right touching the floor for 50 reps (plus the bonus). That is the last one of the routine - oh, I forgot to mention you are moving as fast as you can!

I want to stress that I am not disappointed at all. I have gone from pants that were a tight 42" waist to a loose 38" waist. My shirt is down 1 full size and could probably could go down a 1/2 more but I can't button the neck. It was great going through my closet and getting rid of the clothes that are way to big. Spring will be the next clean out as I'll need new shorts and shirts.

The Diet: It may take a bit to get used to the diet. Phase 1 is the first part and is called the Fat Shredder. You're allotted so much Protein, Carbs and Fats. You can follow the "blocks" or allocations of each for every meal and snack or follow their menu. A lot of eggs, cottage cheese, lean ground beef, turkey, pork, etc.

They have a 7 day menu laying out what you should eat for your 3 main meals and 2 snacks. You also have a protein shakes twice a week for breakfast, if you follow their menu. I followed their menu to get used to it, and it's a lot of work to prep for some these meals. Thank God for my wife! She was preparing these meals and Sundays was 3-4 hours getting them ready for the week.

After the 1st month you go to Phase 2 which is more carbs and less proteins. Phase 3 ups the carbs more. For myself I was a heavy guy and I should have stayed in Phase 2 if not trade off between Phase 1 and 2 in the final 30 days.

Bottom Line: If you were thin when you started or you need the energy, go to Phase 3 diet. If not, stick with Phases 1 and 2.

Starting the routine: I started my routine on a Wednesday which was luck since the longest workout - Yoga X - is an hour and a half long. Saturday was a great day to do that since I could take the morning to do it. The CLASSIC routine is what I started with. By the end of 90 days I could feel it in my body. This workout was 6 days a week with 3 days of weights and 3 days of cardio. the 7th day is either rest or the program X-Stretch.

Bottom Line: If this is your first time in a looooong time working out, start with the LEAN program. More cardio and using light weights with more repetitions. It will be easier on your body and if you decide to do another round you'll be in shape for the Classic program.

Equipment: I bought the Beachbody Chin Up Bar. This is one of the main pieces of equipment needed for the program. I really like this, it's compact and fits in the door frame. No fuss no muss. You can also use it for push ups for a greater range of motion but I haven't tried it yet. (Funny how this was never pushed in the videos!)

I also purchased the Power block adjustable dumbells. Here is an excerpt from my October 8th posting.

I picked up the Powerblock adjustable dumbells. Great units and a lot cheaper that Bowflex. These start at 15 lbs and go to 50 and adjust in 5 lb increments. The Bowflex has 2 different sets, 1 goes up to 52.5 lbs and adjusts in 2.5 lb increments while the other set does the same and goes to 90lbs. The difference:

Powerblock: $299 for the set

Bowflex 52.5Lbs: $399

Bowflex 90Lbs: $599

(Price from Dick's Sporting Goods)

For the starter I highly recommend the Powerblock.

They also recommend a Yoga block. I used the styrofoam packaging the Powerblock was in. Just a useful. I picked up a heart rate monitor from Dick's just to keep an eye on my heart rate. It wasn't one of the necessary items to have but it is informative.

Overall: I really enjoyed the program. It is tough getting started but once you get into the routine it's not bad. I personally should have started out with the lean program first to really burn calories to lose weight and get my body used to lifting, the moves, and stretching. It would have been an easier transition to the CLASSIC round where heavier weights are involved.

I am now into the LEAN program in week number 2. I'm following the workout routine that is outlined but I will follow Phase 1 of the diet program through most of it. I plan to do 5 weeks of Phase 1 and alternate the next weeks between Phase 1 and 2.

For follow on after this program I'm going to check out some of the other P90 programs as well as Turbo Fire and Insanity. I'm not worried if I don't look like the people in those commercials after the 90 days, this is a LIFE LONG COMMITMENT, not a 3 month quick fix.