Tony Island Blog - Sane Thoughts for an Insane World

Welcome to Tony Island blog! I have been seeing articles about the concept of a Universal Basic Income, but never read them until a few weeks ago. There was a short article on MSN that I decided to read and it really got the wheels in motion. I thought I'd be against the idea, but it does seem to have some positives to it. The basic idea is that starting at age 21, the government would give each citizen a fixed yearly income (the article I read mentioned $13,000). In exchange, it was proposed that various government programs could be dismantled including Social Security. That one idea sparked other ideas in me. And so I thought I'd write them down here. First, I think that the base income should be $15,000 as I think that's about the average a Social Security recipient receives. Now, let's look at the Federal programs that can be eliminated: Social Security - with a guaranteed income starting at age 21, this is a no brainer program that can be eliminated. We ...

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Welcome to Tony Island blog! On the lighter side...do you make your bed each day before going off to work? It's rare that I do - I tend to leave it as from day to day. Usually when changing the sheets, I'll make it up but other than that...nope. How about you? Let us know, by leaving a comment below, if you make your bed religiously every day or let it go. Do you feel better climbing into a made bed or does it not matter? Thanks for reading Tony Island blog!

Welcome to Tony Island blog! Just another post in a series of occasional analyses of the 2012 Presidential election. Here, I want to highlight some things that were made evident by the final results. In no particular order - 1) There is no mandate - Every victor claims a mandate, even when there isn't one. And this is a case of "there isn't one". Obama's popular vote numbers and electoral votes were down from 2008. How could there be a mandate? The Democrats successfully demonized "the rich" and tarred and feathered Romney with that evil moniker. Since the economic meltdown was caused by Wall Street, anything touching Wall Street (however remotely) was deemed bad. In reality, it's tough to change horses mid-stream. The electorate didn't quite like the alternative enough and thus stuck with the devil they know. 2) The Republican Party isn't dead - despite grave dancing by Progressives, the Republican party is far from dead. Republi...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! Taking a short break as 2011 comes to a close. There's no need to end the year on a negative vibe! See you all in 2012! Thanks for reading Tony Island Blog!

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! Are you part of the latest craze - streaming Internet content (mainly TV series and movies and/or music) to your HDTV? If so, which streaming content provider do you subscribe to: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Pandora or some other provider? Do you subscribe to more than one provider? How do you stream your content - via a laptop/PC connected to your TV, a streaming media box or perhaps a dedicated unit like Google TV or Logitech Revue? Perhaps it's built-in to your blu-ray player or HDTV itself? I'm interested in what other services and streaming options there are. I'm currently subscribed to Netflix streaming (only, no DVD service for now) via my blu-ray player. I have purchased a dedicated streaming unit (by RCA), but haven't installed it yet. Are you a streaming "hold out" and still rent DVDs? If so, how do you do that - Redbox, Blockbuster, Netflix or some other outlet? Let us know by commenting below! Thanks for re...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! Today, October 15th, 2011, marks the 60th anniversary of the debut of the I Love Lucy show. The I Love Lucy show holds a special place in my heart. Those four characters are like old friends to me. I laughed at them and cried with them. They taught me a lot about being a friend and having a friend. I have collected the entire series on DVD but of course haven't sat down to watch it all. The DVDs are chock full of extras - I can unequivocally recommend them if you are a fan (of course, if you are a fan, then you already have the series). I've wanted to attend a Lucy Convention in Jamestown, NY but haven't had the chance yet. Of course, this year would have been ideal as it was also Lucy's 100th birthday year. Do you love Lucy? If you do - please share your thoughts with us on this special day! Have you attended a Lucy gathering in Jamestown? If so, please share your experience with us! I do hope to get there one day soon. Thanks for...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! There's lots going on out in the political world and the real world. What are you thinking about most these days? The protest on Wall Street by ultra-leftists? Racist slurs and Rick Perry? Gay soldier being booed at Republican debate with no comment by debaters? How about the Star Wars Blu-Ray discs with yet more changes to the original films by Lucas? Or the stunning implosion by the Red Sox in September? Surely there's something on your mind - share it with us to spark some solid discussion! Leave your thoughts below in the Comment box. Till next time, thanks for reading Tony Island Blog!

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! Are you in Hurricane/Tropical storm Irene's path? If so, how have you been impacted? Feel free to share what's going on with you by leaving a comment below! We'll be back to our regular postings soon. Take care and be safe! Thanks for reading Tony Island Blog!

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! I've been thinking about something lately - let's pretend that we elect a "Tea Party" Congress in 2012. Both houses are firmly in the hands of spending cutters - they take a large axe to much (if not all) of the Federal budget and manage not only to balance it, but to have a surplus that goes toward the debt. Then what happens after that? How many more Congresses will the people elect that will continue to cut and not spend? Stop wars and not start them? Stop "investing" and start saving? And my answer to that is...probably very few. It's hard to imagine sending a politician to Washington and have him/her do NOTHING! Think about it - if you sent your rep or Senator to Washington and he reported back to you that he did absolutely nothing - would you re-elect him? Would you seriously re-elect that person? And I think the answer is: NO! "We sent you there and paid you, now do something for us - send us some Federal ...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! Have you seen any good (or bad) summer blockbusters? I haven't. I'll probably end up watching them on DVD/Blu-ray/Streaming at some point. I keep forgetting to hit the cinema to see some of the movies that really should be seen on a big screen - usually those with lots of special effects (or 3D - though I can't always make out 3D and will not pay extra for it! :). I did see some current movies on DVD and streaming...quick reviews: Green Hornet - sucked. It didn't know if it was a comedy, drama, super hero flick or ... something else. It was too uneven. It's too bad, too. The producers may have had a budding franchise on their hands. I recorded the original 1960s series on my DVR but have yet to see it. It's better than this schlock though (I did see the series one time years and years ago). Check it out only if you have a need to see all the superhero flicks that come out! The Fighter - I was totally confused when I first s...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! I stole this graphic from a Wall Street Journal online article : Gee, I guess the rich do pay their taxes and basically ours. Go down to the middle class and approximately 97.1% of taxes paid are paid by these two groups. It's high time we re-balance this tax paying act and spread the tax base. And before you all post comments suggesting that I'm "rich" ... please don't bother. I'm in the yellow box all the way through. Your thoughts? Raise taxes on the rich? How high should it go - till they contribute 75% of revenues? Share your thoughts below! And click a rating button to let us know how you rate this post! Thanks for reading Tony Island Blog!

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! As you may have heard by now, Netflix, the DVD rental-by-mail company, has decided to restructure its pricing plans to separate the DVD rentals from the streaming option. Previously, for as low as $9.99/month, you were able to have unlimited DVD rental (though only one home at a time) and unlimited streaming. Now, starting in September, 2011 for current members (immediately for new members), the unlimited 1 DVD plan is $7.99/month and the unlimited streaming is $7.99/month. Together, it will be $15.98. This is a rather large jump to say the least. The increase caused thousands of subscribers to flood the Netflix blog with feedback - much of it against the pricing changes along with threats to cancel memberships. I'll take a different viewpoint though (don't I always?) - I think it makes a lot of business sense to do this. By separating the income streams for DVDs and unlimited streaming, Netflix will have the cash flow needed to bet...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! I just wanted to share a new blog I found the other day - http://www.black-and-right.com/ As you might surmise from the URL, it's a right of center web site hosted by...wait for it...a black man! And...grab onto your socks...he hails from Massachusetts! Wow - has the world ended yet? He's got some great stuff. I always find it fascinating to find off-beat conservatives out there- that is, ones other than "white racists" that the media loves to portray all conservatives as being. Of course, I'm sure Bob Parks, the owner of http://www.black-and-right.com/  , gets his fair share of hate mail from liberal black Democrats. Check out his site for a refreshing take on conservatism. Have you checked out Bob Parks' blog or a similar "non-traditional conservative" blog lately? If so, share the link with us by posting a comment! Worthy "non-traditional" Web sites/blogs will get a shout out. Thanks for reading T...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! Just a short post to wish all my readers A Happy Independence Day! How are you celebrating July 4th? Family, food and fireworks? Whatever you do - think about the reason this day exists and what would have happened had our Founding Fathers lost the war. Thanks for reading Tony Island Blog!

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! Just a short post to congratulate the Boston Bruins hockey team on a job well done! They won their sixth Stanley Cup (the last one was in 1972!) by defeating the Vancouver Canucks, 4-0 in Game 7, on the road in Vancouver, on June 15th, 2011! The Bruins accomplished at least one first - they were the first hockey team to win 3 Game 7s in the same playoff season. Boston became the first city to have all four of its major sports teams win a championship in a 7 year period. Sadly, some idiots started rioting over the loss. But, there's no need for Canadians to apologize - the world knows that the houligans that started the rioting would have done the same thing had the Canucks won it all. It was basically an excuse for them to go on a rampage and pillage, loot the city. Canuck fans be proud of your team for all it accomplished this season - don't let the loss or the rioting tarnish an otherwise great season and prou...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! You may have gotten the impression from the various political posts here that I didn't vote for President Obama...and, you'd be wrong. I wanted to let you into my thought process when I went to vote in November, 2008. But, to do that, we first have to travel back slightly further to 2004. President Bush was running for re-election. While I was never a huge fan of Bush, as a "loyal" Republican, I voted for him anyway. I actually wanted him to win so that the 2008 Presidential field, on both sides of the aisle, would be wide open. We'd have a large group of candidates from which to choose. And, so, as fate would have it, Bush won a second term and 2008 brought us a large field of Presidential candidates. As the election season wore on, the American system of primaries, caucuses and other oddities winnowed down the large field to two men: McCain and Obama. I wasn't really that happy with either choice. I didn't follow the el...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! His citizenship status, and thus his eligibility for the Presidency, has been swirling around him ever since his 2008 campaign. Is he a citizen or not? Is he a "natural born" citizen, thus fulfilling the Constitutional requirement to be President? Even the liberal New York Times weighed in with several articles, including this one . Yet, my doubts remain - was Senator McCain ever eligible (constitutionally) to be President? Oh, wait. You thought I was talking about President Obama's eligibility? Doesn't that make you a bit of a racist? I mean, surely, we can't discuss the "birther" issue without being racist? Or can we? Have we become so PC that any discussion that involves a person of color invokes the race card? It's quite funny with all the nonsense surrounding Obama's birth status that we can't discuss the issue rationally. Black Americans are up in arms calling anyone who mentions the issue a "raci...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! A few weeks ago, a furor erupted in the liberal media over GE's non-payment of income taxes. There were various reasons for this, but the main issue pounded on by the media was the non-payment of taxes. Now, does it really matter if GE or any other corporation pays income taxes? Back in the '80s, Ronald Reagan said it best - corporations don't pay taxes, people do. And there's the rub. As we scramble about looking for tax money to cut the deficit (and, of course, increase spending...err, I mean investing!), the easiest targets are the large corporations. But the problem is that corporations don't pay taxes - people do. Oh sure, corporations fill out tax forms and fork over a good chunk of change to the government (on all levels) but do they really pay taxes? Of course not - those costs are later borne by the employees (in the form of lower wages and benefits), the customers (via higher prices or stable prices with less output - think...