As our government continues to find new ways to squander taxpayer money, the federal government provided to the states funds for incentives for energy efficient home improvements. Here in Texas that has taken the form of the Texas Powerful Smart Appliance Rebate, which has thus far been a fiasco of Texas-sized proportions. The program seems [...]
Here in Texas there are only two certainties in life: death and property taxes (and probably mosquitos). Property taxes out here are ridiculous (for my home, I pay a rate of about 2.5% of the taxable value of the property every year), so there is a lot of incentive to protest your assessment. I did [...]
The wife and kids are out of town visiting family this week, so I decided it was time to let loose and get a little crazy. Yes, I and thousands of other rightwing extremists attended the Houston Tea Party protest yesterday! Unless you are watching Fox News or reading some blogs, you may not have [...]
While browsing the internet this past weekend, I came across a little known tidbit that could hold the key to stopping the agenda of President Obama. As shown during the stimulus debate, the Democrats have near complete control of both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. While they do not have the [...]
Here’s one for you that is just kind of funny. I went out the other night to my local 99¢ Only Store looking for a real plunger to help fix a clog in our kitchen sink (the plunger we had is one of those fancy plastic ones with a small mouth that wouldn’t fit over [...]
Here in Texas, we have this crazy thing referred to as a deregulated electrcity market. Unlike most other areas of the country where electric rates are heavily regulated by the state public service commission, here multiple providers are allowed to market electricity directly to consumers at whatever price they like, with a third party maintaining the [...]
I posted previously about my decision to protest my property tax assessment, and my time to present my case to the appraisal district finally came this past week. Being the obsessive-compulsive accountant type, I diligently put together my protest and evidence for my meeting with the appraiser. My protest for a lower appraisal was based [...]