Kevin Hassett’s article is funny and sad. Sad becuse it’s true; funny because of his observations. Sample of funny:
The federal picture is so bleak because the Obama administration is the most fiscally irresponsible in the history of the U.S. I would imagine that he would be the intergalactic champion as well, if we could gather the data on deficits on other worlds. Obama has taken George W. Bush’s inattention to deficits and elevated it to an art form.
Sample of sad:
It takes years and years to make a mess as terrible as the California debacle, but the recipe is simple. All that you need is two political parties that are always willing to offer easy government solutions for every need of the voters, but never willing to make the tough decisions necessary to finance the government largess that results. Voters will occasionally change their allegiance from one party to the other, but the bacchanal will continue regardless of the names on the office doors.
To get into our current financial mess, we started with the idea that banks should loan money to people who couldn’t afford to pay them back. When banks balked, the US government bought the worthless loans. Now banks are happy, they can loan money to everybody.
This system flourished under George Bush, and collectively we happily spent our children’s future. When the system started to collapse in 2008, we spent more money to try and make it through the election cycle. It didn’t work.
Now our children are broke. Obama’s solution, then, is to also spend our grandchildren’s future. This is also unsustainable. We are spending money we have not earned, and selling IOU’s to China to pay for it. Eventually, China will not want to buy our IOU’s, and the value of the dollar will collapse. The Fed will be forced to raise interest rates to try to entice people to buy our IOUs.
Do we want the US to become a third world country? Is that our goal? At this point, I don’t care what the government wants to spend money on, I’m against it. I don’t want to pay for abortions in Africa or studying the drinking behavior of Chinese prostitutes. And I don’t want to spend so-called “Stimulus Package” money or pay for universal healthcare or credits to by housing or cars or energy efficient appliances. I don’t want the US government to suck money from our wallets via cap-and-trade or “taxing the wealthy.” I would be happy if Washington would just put the pens down and sat on their thumbs for a few years and did absolutely nothing.
Remember this: government does not grant freedom. Liberty is given to us by our Creator. Government can only pass laws which limit freedom.
I want to be free.Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )
A plague of frogs is coming, funded by the US Government: the Wyoming Toad Recovery Program.
I’m hoping for a Locusts Recovery Program next.Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 7 so far )
US Agency for International Development has distributed 10 billion US-made condoms around the world. To save money, they can switch to Chinese-made condoms. They’re less than half the price. But that will eliminate jobs in Alabama. Should the US government insert a “buy American” provision back into the stimulus bill, even though it’s known that protectionist trade policies hurt long term GDP? To save US jobs, it’ll cost more money and extend the recession.
What the *&#% is the US Government doing paying for 10 billion condoms?Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 8 so far )
Ok, “B” asked me to talk about something besides the political landscape. I’ll try, but somehow just saying I’m not talking about it makes me want to talk about it.
There are a lot of topics that are a possibility. There’s the Study that sexually explicit lyrics lead to teen sex. I’m actually encouraged so many teens are still abstaining. It also leads me to question again whether sex education in our schools makes sense. Teaching them responsibility for their actions makes more sense to me.
The number of people in America that say they have no religion at all has doubled since 1990 to 15%. Where should the blame lie? Media? Education? Government?
Illegal immigrants looking for work are causing traffic accidents in front of Home Depot. They admit they are in the country illegally. Seems to me a simple solution would be to call INS and say, “hey, there are a bunch of illegal immigrants here.” Our US government is responsibile for protecting our borders. Why don’t they do their job?
What do you want to talk about?Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )
Congress is sapping any possibility of US productivity for generations to come. Only a fraction of this so-called “stimulus” bill actually stimulates the economy. The vast majority of it is increased government oversight and additional government programs. By taking such a whopping amount from the American people, the US government is stifling productivity of the American people and small business where any chance of economic recovery must begin. By printing such a whopping amount of money to cover the spending that cannot be sold overseas as IOUs, the government will cause massive inflation for years and years to come.
The best and simple economic “stimulus” plan I’ve seen is to simly refund all individual taxes collected in 2008. It costs about the same and gives all the people’s money back to the people who would happily spend such a windfall.
Please, Congress, stop helping us now. Just put the checkbook down and back away.Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )
The “separation of church and state,” such as it is, should keep the government from imposing a religion upon the people of this country.
But regulations that squelch the speech of pastors? Can the US Government tell pastors what they can and cannot talk about?
There is no law that I’m aware of that restricts the speech of pastors, but IRS regulations in place for over 50 years threaten to withdraw the tax-exempt status of churches that speak on politics. I am convinced this is a contributing factor to the decline of morality in the USA. The churches are the center of what we consider moral in the country, and if the pulpits are silent, immorality blossoms.
Some pastors have begun specifically defying this regulation by specifically mentioning candidates by name. Their goal is to overturn the IRS regulation through the court system. Listen: all rules and regulations in this country should follow the US Constitution, right? Here’s the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution -
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
That tells me that the government can’t pass any laws on what churches can and cannot say, anymore than they can tell newspapers what they can and cannot print. Read that amendment and explain to me how it could be interpreted otherwise.
If you’d like to read more, the Alliance Defense Fund is spearheading this project.
â€œPastors have a right to speak about Biblical truths from the pulpit without fear of punishment. No one should be able to use the government to intimidate pastors into giving up their constitutional rights,â€ said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley.
It’s a government restriction on the freedom of speech and the expression of religion. I cant see how anyone could interpret the Constitution any other way.Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )
When the US Government funds anything remotely Christian in nature, all sorts of “separation of church and state” groups get upset. The ACLU files a lawsuit and the “offensive” Christian material is removed.
So why is it ok for US tax dollars to be used to oppose Christianity? Shouldn’t the same standard be used? PBS, a government funded liberal and atheist propoganda tool (not that I’m opinionated on the subject) is funded by the US government and is producing a show that attacks the underlying tenets of the bible.
Among other things, this show says -
- Abraham, Sarah and their offspring didn’t exist.
- There is no archaeological evidence of the Exodus.
- Monotheism was a process that took hundreds of years.
- The Israelites were actually Canaanites.
- The Israelites believed that God had a wife.
For me as a Christian, it’s bad enough when free speech is exercised to attack my beliefs; my right to free speech also belongs to others to say the opposite. Will my tax dollars also be used to fund a show friendly to my beliefs? Probably not; the ACLU will sue to prevent the use of tax dollars for Christian-friendly projects. So why is the government allowed to fund an attack on Christianity?Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 8 so far )
Name one thing the US Government does exceptionally well.
Pass legislation? Pork barrel politics, anyone?
Hurricane Katrina recovery?
Issue passports in time for your vacation?
Assess property values?
Oversee accounting irregularities like Enron?
Prosecute O.J Simpson and keep him in jail?
Then why oh why would anybody possibly think the latest revision of HillaryCare, US health industry regulated by the US Government, could possibility be an improvement over our current situation? And speaking of border security, why doesn’t HillaryCare address how illegal aliens are to receive their free mandated emergency room care?
This is like asking the US government to be your dentist.
Here’s a discussion question for today (and totally unrelated to Boo Boo the chicken). Does government have the right to enforce morality?
In Black Jack, Missouri, population 6800, a local ordinance says three people or more people may not live together in a single family home unless they are related by “blood, marriage or adoption”. Olivia Shelltrack and Fondray Loving, unmarried for 13 years and with two children, purchased a single family home and then denied an occupancy permit.
Local officials told the couple that the fact they were not married and had three children, one from Shelltrack’s previous relationship, did not fit the town’s definition of “family”.
The couple were then left with the option of getting married, packing their bags and leaving town, or putting up a fight, which is what they decided to do.
“I think the city wants to send a clear message that they don’t want children born out of wedlock,” Shelltrack told AFP in a phone interview. “It has become a moral issue for them.
After 13 years and two children, they probably ought to just get married, but that’s not the discussion question. Here are discussion questions for today:
- Should governments enforce morality laws?
- Does it matter if it’s a small town like Black Jack or a big city like New York?
- Can the US government enforce moraility?
- Should other governments like Saudi Arabia or France enforce morality?
- All laws are basically enforced morality, like murder, theft, embezzlement, trash collection, hazing, slander, etc. How do you choose which laws are permissible to enforce and which ones should not?
I chuckled at thsi story. Isn’t it prohibited for the US Government to prohibit freedom of religion? They succeed often, but not this time. The graduating students stood up and prayed The Lord’s Prayer and the crowd gave them a standing ovation.
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Earlier in the day, a federal judge had banned prayers from the ceremony in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. But during the principal’s opening remarks, about 200 students prayed aloud, drawing thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the crowd.
Associated Press reports the “revival-like atmosphere” continued when graduate Megan Chapman shared during her opening remarks that God had guided her since childhood. Chapman, who said the challenge by the ACLU unified the entire senior class, was interrupted several times by cheering as she urged her classmates to trust in God as they go through life, says the report.
“More glory went to God because of something like that than if I had just simply said a prayer like I was supposed to,” she said.
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