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Bristol, Rhode Island
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Save the Bay Bristol LNG Match
Don't forget about this important Town of Bristol - Save the Bay Match! Click on image once to enlarge image.
6 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Given that this is a political cause - where Bristol tax payers are most certainly NOT in total agreement, what form do we have to file to get our share of these taxes refunded?
Mr. Anonymous, if such a form did exist, the postage would cost more than your refund.
Now I ask you: Given that our trillion dollar wars are political issues, where Bristol tax payers are not even close to total agreement, what form do we have to file to get our share of those taxes refunded? I want to use my refund check to get completely off the grid via renewable energy... Then I won't need LNG or any other dirty fossil fuel.
Your Point 1: Use of my tax dollars for purposes outside of the city charter is OK because it is only a small theft.
Answer: Good point, and I assume it is also OK if one takes a police car for one's own use - since it would only be a 1 dollar theft from each tax payer.
Your point 2: The U.S. government spends money on things you do not agree with politically.
Answer: If you disagree with how your federal taxes are being spent, run for office, or support a candidate, or form a militia for all I care. While a reasonable argument can be made that the current war dollars are spent to "provide for the common defense" which happens to actually be in the constitution, an equally reasonable argument can be made that these wars do not meet the threshold for "defense" While that threshold definition makes it political, anybody can agree that if you believe the threshold is met, then the expenditure is legal.
Theft? I imagine it would be difficult to prove in a court of law that the Bristol LNG Match is outside of the charter, since it is that very document which gives the Town Council the powers to enact legislation.
But I can tell you what is definitely illegal: Extraordinary rendition, torture, an undeclared war on Pakistan, etc.
I suppose there's no way I can convince you to stop trying to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic (or LNG tanker as the case may be) and help fix the biggest problem in our sinking economy, namely the perpetual war on terror?
I wish I had just ignored your off-topic tangent re: war and federal taxes.
I tried to address it because you thought it was somehow related. So I tried to make the point that, while there is some logical sequence that could lead to a case for spending federal taxes on these wars, it does not therefore follow that there is a logical sequence that leads from:
If somebody wants to have an LNG terminal in Fall River ... then Bristol should spend my money on a political movement to fight the LNG port. The ellipses are meant to be placeholders for the intermediate sequences that lead the the final conclusion, BTW. Maybe you can fill them in for me, but the justification cannot assume that the city charter grants broad powers to the town council to pass legislation that is not directly related to the management and welfare of Bristol. I admittedly have not read the charter, but I'll find it soon. I just have to assume it has some logical restrictions on the use of tax dollars for boutique causes.
If somebody wants to have an LNG terminal in Fall River... and the town council deems it will have a negative impact on the management and welfare of Bristol and a political movement to fight the LNG port will help prevent that negative impact ...then Bristol should spend my money on a political movement to fight the LNG port.
If we then substitute the phrase "should spend my money" with "may spend my money", then I think the statement becomes valid even if one disagrees with the reasoning of the council or the conclusion to spend the money in that way. That's not to say you shouldn't protest the decision if you feel so inclined, but I just feel like there's way bigger fish to fry.
6 comments:
Given that this is a political cause - where Bristol tax payers are most certainly NOT in total agreement, what form do we have to file to get our share of these taxes refunded?
Mr. Anonymous, if such a form did exist, the postage would cost more than your refund.
Now I ask you: Given that our trillion dollar wars are political issues, where Bristol tax payers are not even close to total agreement, what form do we have to file to get our share of those taxes refunded? I want to use my refund check to get completely off the grid via renewable energy... Then I won't need LNG or any other dirty fossil fuel.
I'll try to address your points...
Your Point 1: Use of my tax dollars for purposes outside of the city charter is OK because it is only a small theft.
Answer: Good point, and I assume it is also OK if one takes a police car for one's own use - since it would only be a 1 dollar theft from each tax payer.
Your point 2: The U.S. government spends money on things you do not agree with politically.
Answer: If you disagree with how your federal taxes are being spent, run for office, or support a candidate, or form a militia for all I care. While a reasonable argument can be made that the current war dollars are spent to "provide for the common defense" which happens to actually be in the constitution, an equally reasonable argument can be made that these wars do not meet the threshold for "defense" While that threshold definition makes it political, anybody can agree that if you believe the threshold is met, then the expenditure is legal.
Point 3: you want to get off the grid.
Answer: Good - more for me.
Theft? I imagine it would be difficult to prove in a court of law that the Bristol LNG Match is outside of the charter, since it is that very document which gives the Town Council the powers to enact legislation.
But I can tell you what is definitely illegal: Extraordinary rendition, torture, an undeclared war on Pakistan, etc.
I suppose there's no way I can convince you to stop trying to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic (or LNG tanker as the case may be) and help fix the biggest problem in our sinking economy, namely the perpetual war on terror?
I wish I had just ignored your off-topic tangent re: war and federal taxes.
I tried to address it because you thought it was somehow related. So I tried to make the point that, while there is some logical sequence that could lead to a case for spending federal taxes on these wars, it does not therefore follow that there is a logical sequence that leads from:
If somebody wants to have an LNG terminal in Fall River ... then Bristol should spend my money on a political movement to fight the LNG port. The ellipses are meant to be placeholders for the intermediate sequences that lead the the final conclusion, BTW. Maybe you can fill them in for me, but the justification cannot assume that the city charter grants broad powers to the town council to pass legislation that is not directly related to the management and welfare of Bristol. I admittedly have not read the charter, but I'll find it soon. I just have to assume it has some logical restrictions on the use of tax dollars for boutique causes.
I can try to fill in the blanks:
If somebody wants to have an LNG terminal in Fall River... and the town council deems it will have a negative impact on the management and welfare of Bristol and a political movement to fight the LNG port will help prevent that negative impact ...then Bristol should spend my money on a political movement to fight the LNG port.
If we then substitute the phrase "should spend my money" with "may spend my money", then I think the statement becomes valid even if one disagrees with the reasoning of the council or the conclusion to spend the money in that way. That's not to say you shouldn't protest the decision if you feel so inclined, but I just feel like there's way bigger fish to fry.
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