Show notes 11/17: Taxes for schools, Ann Roy Moore refuses to join us on the air and unfortunately Sarah Palin is BACK!…
Even though millions of dollars in interest-free federal stimulus loans for school construction were available to state school systems this year, the Madison County school system did not apply.
“We have no revenue stream to pay it back,” said Madison County Superintendent Dr. Terry Davis. “It would not have worked for us, and it’s sad because it would have saved us millions of dollars.” It was the second of two public meetings in which Madison leaders are asking residents to consider how to raise money to repay the interest-free $36 million loan offered by the federal government last month.
The two options include a half-cent sales tax hike, which would take effect Jan. 1 and immediately bring in revenue. The second option is a property-tax referendum. But it would take about two years before money would become available to start repaying the loan.
The loan must be repaid in 15 years, starting in September, with an annual payment of $2.4 million.
Finley said if the property tax is approved by residents, the measure could include a temporary sales tax increase that would be rescinded when the additional property tax collections begin.
In an interview with ABC News’ Barbara Walters , Palin, whose book, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” lands on bookshelves Tuesday, said she would give the president a mere four for his job performance on a scale of one to 10.
“There are a lot of decisions being made that I — and probably the majority of Americans — are not impressed with right now,” said Palin, the former governor of Alaska. “I think our economy is not being put on the right track, because we’re strayed too far from, fundamentally, from free enterprise principles that built our country. And I question, too, some of the dithering, and, hesitation, with some of our national security questions that have got to be answered for our country.”
New polling data appear to support such doomsday prophecies. According to an Oct. 19 Gallup Poll, the former governor of Alaska has become one of the most polarizing and unpopular politicians in the country. Since she quit the governorship to work on her book, her unfavorability rating has spiked to 50% while her favorability has sunk to 40%, according to Gallup’s figures. (The only national politician who is less popular right now, according to the poll, is John Edwards, the former two-term senator who fathered a child out of wedlock while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.)
If Palin is indeed a cancer on the GOP, why can’t the Republican establishment retire her to a life of moose hunting in the political wilderness? Why has her appeal increased in the wake of her catastrophic political expeditions?
A judge in Montgomery hasn’t set a hearing yet in a suit over a $7 million no-bid computer contract for the state Finance Department because officials can’t find the company or its CEO.State Rep. Alvin Holmes filed suit on Oct. 29 to block the contract with Paragon Source, an Oakton, Va., company that has no corporate address, business phone listing, fax number, e-mail address or Web site.
Tyrone Means, the attorney representing Holmes and the Legislature’s Contract Review Committee, said Monday the lawsuit is stalled because law enforcement officials in Virginia have been unable to locate Paragon Source and its CEO, Janet Lauderdale, to serve the complaint.
XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <pre> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Source: The Attack Machine.com