Great Britain Banned Guns But Violent Crime Higher Than U.S.

Today I heard someone tout the British and how their gun ban reduced the gun crime in Britain.  Let’s take a look; Britons suffer 1,158,957 violent crimes per year, which works out at 2,034 per 100,000 residents. By contrast the U.S. has a rate of 466 per 100,000 residents, which would not even be in the top ten in the European Union according to the U.K. Daily Mail.  Maybe it is because criminals know the British are unarmed? 

Would you put a sign in your window or yard advertising that your home is a gun free zone?  Guns are not the problem; it is the people using guns in ways they are not meant to be used that’s the problem.  Was there a push to get rid of planes after September 11, 2001?

Sparks Fly: Bill O'Reilly vs Bob Beckel

Sparks fly when Bill O'Reilly faces off with Bob Beckel regarding a Marine in Mexican prison and the Pakistani Doctor who helped us get Bin Laden in a Pakistani prison. 

O'Reilly said Obama has shown no leadership while the two are "rotting in prison" and he points out there is no evidence of any progress by the Obama administration in securing the release of either prisoner.  Beckel tries to defend the Administration, but with no evidence of success despite the many months in captivity, O'Reilly gets the better of Beckel IMHO.

Tax Increases: For the Rich or For Me?

A friend recently said, “If it is between tax increases for the rich or tax increases on me, I’ll take tax increases for the rich every time.”  I agree if the only two choices we have are tax increases for the rich or tax increases for me.  If tax increases on the rich would solve our debt problem, help the economy grow and/or reduce unemployment, I am all for it. 

Unfortunately, as explained in my blog post “Will Taxing the Wealthy Bring Back Prosperity?” taxing the wealthy will not do any of these things, in fact, it will make the problems worst.   President Obama wants us to believe that it was tax increases early in President Clinton's first term that led to the 90’s boom, when in fact it wasn't until welfare reform, and especially the capital gains tax rate reduction that the economy boomed.

President Obama said not raising taxes on the wealthy violates core principals he campaigned on, while Republicans have “ideological positions that don’t make much sense”.    I agree the current Republican leaders don’t make much sense, considering their proposals will do as little as Obama’s proposal to solve our Countries problems, but it is Obama’s position that is ideological.  He blindly insists on raising taxes when the evidence shows raising taxes will hurt, not help the economy. 

Another problem during the current fiscal cliff negotiations is both Republicans and Democrats talk like tax cuts are a cost to the Government when in fact Tax cuts will not necessarily “cost” the Government anything as explained in my post “Tax Cuts Don't"Cost" the Government”.  In fact, tax revenues went up when tax rates went down, as far back as the Coolidge administration.

As long both parties continue to promote the false argument that tax increases are necessary, and the only disagreement is how much of an increase is required and who will pay that increase, we will be left with an unnecessary choice of tax increases for the rich or tax increases for the rest of us.

Gerard Depardieu Leaving France Because of High Taxes?

Gerard Depardieu wrote to the French Prime Minister stating his reasons for moving from France.  

Gerard Depardieu

Highlights of the letter include:

"I am leaving because you consider that success, creation, talent, anything different, must be punished.” 

“I paid $190 million in income taxes over 45 years,”

“leaving after paying, in 2012, an 85 percent tax-rate on my income”.

“80 people are working thanks to me, in companies that were created for them and are managed by them.”

Depardieu declared to the French Prime Minister, “I give you back my passport and my social security that I never used,”

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, responded to Depardieu's moving by calling him a “pathetic” character; the minister of labor, Michel Sapin, said he went into “personal degeneration;” the minister of culture, Aurélie Filippetti, was “totally scandalized;” the minister of the relations with the parliament, Alain Vitalies, was “shocked;” and the head of the Socialist Party, Harlem Désir, was “saddened.”

They all expected French citizens would join in the public shaming, but to their shock, it did not happen. 

An online poll conducted by the popular Le Parisien tabloid showed almost 70 per cent supporting Depardieu!  Will miracles never cease?   

If even the French can finally start to get it, it gives me hope!

BOEHNER ADOPTS PELOSI PLAN...

Pelosi Backed Boehner's Tax Cut Proposal

Speaker of the House John Boehner's "Plan B" to avert the fiscal cliff would cut taxes for incomes under $1 million — a higher threshold than the White House demands, but one that had a powerful backer, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

In May, Pelosi sent Boehner a letter calling for the immediate passage of a middle class tax cuts up to that level, "Democrats believe that tax cuts for those earning over a million dollars a year should expire and that we should use the resulting revenues to pay down the deficit," Pelosi said in the letter.

Fox News Co-Host Gretchen Carlson Breaks Down Over Sandy Hook Shooting

Fox News Co-Host Gretchen Carlson was brought to tears Asking If Sandy Hook Children will Remember Shooting in Heaven

Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon appeared this morning on “Fox & Friends,” where he discussed his trip to the spiritual realm, while attempting to provide solace for those families who lost loved ones in last Friday’s tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The discussion, moved co-host Gretchen Carlson to tears when asking ”Will these children forget, when [they're] in heaven, what happened to them?”.