'MY VIEW' BY DON SORCHYCH | JULY 13, 2011
• Homing in
• Taxes on Internet purchases?
• Handgun news
I am pleased to report we have now received a few dozen of the illegal letters sent to advertisers and we have not lost a single ad. Everyone we have talked to is furious that anyone would feel they have the right to tell them where to advertise. One advertiser was so incensed that he took the letter and envelope to the post office and demanded an investigation of what he considered a threat received in the mail. He was promised a full investigation and was told his letter had been sent from Carefree.
This is just the beginning with our meeting with MCSO scheduled for this week. We have specimens of the letters and envelopes for the post office as well.
Thank you so much for your support. There will be further reports.
Fulfillment and taxes
Arizona is trying to run uphill and downhill at the same time. On one hand they are strengthening an existing law which requires tax payment on goods bought in other locations than Arizona or purchased through Internet companies. On the other hand, they predict companies like Amazon who say they are leaving California, because they refuse to be a tax collector for the state, will settle here.
Arizona now has four “fulfillment” centers which, according to Amazon are merely warehouses that do not establish a retail presence requiring them to collect and pay taxes.
Although law already exists to tax Internet and out of state purchases, legislators want to “simplify” the reporting of the taxes. Probably large, impossible-to-ignore boxes will dominate the forms. I wonder if the lawmakers ever consider the huge costs and frustrations involved in all tax laws. Can you imagine retaining and storing receipts for purchases? It would be more costly in time than the purchase itself.
What the legislature should do is eliminate this tax and become attractive to Internet businesses. They are growing exponentially.
The new handgun news?
I imagine Alan Korwin, the gun champion and author, is burning up his keyboard in response to the July 10 Arizona Republic series of articles concerning guns. They aren’t done yet Alan, and it will get worse.
The authors are an interesting collection of souls. Dennis Wagner is an old and savvy reporter. As far as I can see he has maintained his independence.
Next is Dan Nowicki, another old hand at the Republic. His byline, unlike Wagner’s, appears on articles where I wouldn’t expect to see him. But he has to eat.
Last, Richard Ruelas, is the second worst reporter behind Daniel Gonzales, both of whom generally are praising illegal aliens in one way or another.
Starting there, Ruelas wrote about freshman Sen. Lori Klein (R.-Dist.6), who carries a handgun into senate chambers. In a left-handed slap at Klein, Ruelas had to quote Sen. Robert Meza (D.-Dist.16), saying, “Me personally, I don’t live in fear.” Ruelas also said Meza thought Klein’s behavior was “weird.”
According to Ruelas, Klein showed the laser sight on her pistol by training it on a reporter’s chest but reportedly said not to worry because her hand was not on the trigger. I would expect if she said that she said finger and not hand. However, Klein also allegedly said her father taught her gun safety. If that is true she desperately needs more training. A gun is never pointed at anything you don’t plan to shoot! NEVER.
Ruelas did the best he could from his prejudiced base. If Klein was Hispanic, it would have been a friendlier piece.
The front page article by Nowicki and Wagner was complete and even extensive. Generally speaking it was fair, informative and favorable to gun owners in the state.
Dan Nowicki penned an article titled, “Gun-control support often politically risky.” He goes into the old assault weapon controversy. There is not really such a thing; guns can be made to look menacing without being any more lethal than hunting rifles. Many gun owners, including me, believe any prohibition is just the beginning of a march to denial of gun ownership, despite the Second Amendment.
The article is replete with way left warriors like former U.S. Democrat Senator Dennis DeConcini, Rep. Ed Pastor (D.-Ariz.) and RINO Sen. John McCain. Fortunately, their anti-gun leftists have been ineffective in stealing our guns.
And last, there was a fairly decent article by John Faherty titled, “A fatal flash alters lives forever.” Although the mother of the shooting victim started out as a gun hater she segued into associating with and helping people with similar losses.
The sad part of this story is the murder was absolutely cold blooded and premeditated and the trigger man of the three who held up the boy got only seven years on a plea bargain, seven years on another plea bargain while a robber who went for a trial got 12 years.
And this is a deterrent for snuffing out the life of a young man?
This morning a friend came by to comment on Linda Bentley’s article about Justin Lundsford. He wanted to know if people were marching on the courthouse and were people as angry as he. I told him sadly, we had only received one relevant letter and that concerned Lundsford’s mother. He couldn’t believe it and was clearly angry. I asked him to write a letter to the editor. He promised he would.
That murder was sadistic. The woman Lundsford murdered was nearly decapitated. He is 29 and must serve only 20 more years, so he will be out at the relatively young age of 49. This is the result of another plea bargain while it should have been tried as murder one while seeking the death penalty.