Balanced Budget Amendment Would Nuke National Security

A number of campaign mailers received this season indicate support for a Constitutional amendment for a federal balanced budget. One can understand the frustration when the federal government seems unable to accomplish this.

A balanced budget is an excellent goal and many point out that several states have balanced budget amendments and they have operated under them just fine.

However, if we pass a balanced budget amendment for the federal government, we might as well surrender to the Chinese immediately!

The REAL "Job Creators" Are Not the Wealthy--They're YOU!

Don't be deceived by the verbal gymnastics that refer to the rich as "Job Creators." The fact is, there is only one true creator of jobs and that is: CONSUMER DEMAND!

One writer defined "Job Creators" this way:

"In Republican/Tea Party political theory, 'Job Creators' are wealthy because they are industrious, virtuous, hard working people and can use their vast wealth to create jobs by hiring people to work for them. The idea that this euphemism is trying to convey is that taxing these people would hurt the economy because then their money would be going to the government...which will only waste tax money on things like social services." (*1)

Of course, only the rich have the money to build factories, but the only time they ever would build one is when they anticipate consumer demand for the product!

Arizona Refuses Federal Money for the Disabled

What if there was a program that equipped disabled individuals to leave the welfare rolls and enter into gainful, tax-paying employment?

In fact, there is one and it's very popular.  Many disabled people come to Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) wanting to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, get off the welfare rolls and become tax-paying citizens instead.

So successful is the program that the federal government offers to pay three-quarters of the cost.  Yet die-hard tea-partiers in the Arizona Legislature have refused this "dirty Obama money" for several years.  As a result, people who are genuinely motivated to get off of welfare have been sitting on waiting lists, still collecting government checks, for years.

The Immigration Solution: A Market Based Approach

One of the main problems with America's immigration policy is that it tries to set numbers regardless of the country's current economic condition.  There are times when our economy is soaring and we need immigrant workers.  There are also times when our economy slows down and we don't need as much immigrant help.

If the US could devise a market-based policy for immigration that would naturally ride with these ebbs and flows, it would be fair, adaptable, and could last for generations.

Following is one such plan:

ALEC FACT CHECK: Can Churches Take the Government's Place in Supporting the Poor?

Proponents of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) are trying to convince the Christian Right that it should be the church and not the federal government that should provide for the needy and the disabled, but consider this fact check:

Test Cops for Steroids! /UPDATED w Petition Information

Officer Casebolt's excuse for his horrible behavior at the pool party incident in McKinney, Tx was that he had faced a great deal of stress on two previous calls regarding suicides.

(Click Here to Read the News Story)

Although such a situation would be stressful, that story doesn't make much sense.

Exactly what is it about trying to convince someone that life is worth living that would cause someone to soon pull a gun on unarmed teenagers?

As he was putting his knee on the back of a teenage girl's head, did he think to himself, "I just had a very stressful time trying to convince someone that life is precious, so I'm going to grind your face into the dirt?"

Who does that?

Do people who answer suicide prevention lines relieve their stress in such a manner?...Ever??

The stress involved in trying to prevent a suicide would be that of anxiety, not aggression!  Suicide prevention would include trying to create a calm situation; not one of anger and aggression.

So what is it that might have caused such a seemingly unnatural aggressive reaction?

The Root of Congressional Gridlock is the "Hastert Rule"

The Rebublican Party is causing dysfunctional gridlock in Congress.  While many of the "R's" are proud to wrap themselves in the Constitution, it is, in fact, the completely contrived and unconstitutional "Hastert Rule" that is the cause of this gridlock.

The ONLY Road to Liberty is Tolerance Avenue

Some believe that tolerance is just an "excuse to promote liberal agendas". However, as Americans, we have a RESPONSIBILITY to show the rest of the world that liberty cannot exist where there is tyranny and that tyranny is born in intolerance.