I chalked up his bombastic rhetoric and incendiary speeches to show business.  Nothing more.

Now his show is losing its appeal and he seems lost.   Sharpton has painted himself into a corner and nowhere was that more evident than during last weekend’s dueling rallies on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a Dream” speech.

Sharpton’s rally “Reclaim the Dream” was attended by a few thousand while Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally  was attended by several hundred thousand.

One was respectful, reverent, prayerful as Beck, a Mormon, urged the crowd to turn back to God.  The other rally led by Sharpton, a minister with no formal religious training, was marked by hatred and revenge.  The signs held by the marchers at the Sharpton rally told the story.  Most were directed at Beck and Sarah Palin calling them “racists” and suggesting that they go and burn in a place of eternal damnation.  One that caught my eye read, “Hey Teabaggers (a pejorative term), don’t defecate on the Dream!”

Sharpton told this crowd, “They want to disgrace this day.  This is our day and we ain’t giving it away.”   Sharpton’s long run in the spotlight is largely due to his chamaeleon-like qualities.   He can turn on a dime.   Sharpton tried to walk back that damning statement when he spoke with Bill O’Reilly on Monday by explaining that he was just cautioning the crowd not to get involved should they encounter any of the angry (there weren’t any) Beck crowd.  Sure!?!

Sharpton’s unspoken message was,  “How dare they hold a rally on this date.  It belongs to me and my friends who make a living by holding onto the injustice of the past.  We are never going to admit that things have changed and that we live and go to school and work and play as one nation under God.   We want you to keep operating as oppressed people.  You can’t make it on your own.  You need the federal government to take care of you and you need us to advocate on your behalf.”

Fortunately, most people of color know Sharpton’s message is hollow.   While the Beck rally was mostly white, I think it is fair to say there was more diversity at his rally than at the Sharpton rally, even though Secretary Arne Duncan urged the more than 4,000 employees of the Department of Education in a Castroesque  e-mail to attend Sharpton’s rally.

Let’s face it.  Most people of color would rather stay home than face ad hominem attacks from those who brand anyone who refuses to play the black victim as an “Uncle Tom.”  Who wants or needs all that grief?

It would be foolish to believe that we have –  or ever will –  eliminate the last racist among us.  It would be equally foolish to believe we have eliminated all forms of discrimination against women.  Those who discriminate are little people and we have to move beyond them, not get stuck in the past as Sharpton has, no matter how lucrative it may be.

Although Beck may not be the perfect messenger, I applaud his efforts to unite us and if Sharpton is an honest man, he will see the light and do the same.

The civil rights movement belongs to no group or individual.  Our Constitution plainly states our individual rights come from the “Creator.”  It begins, “We the people” not “We the minorities.”

Has Sharpton ever come to the aid of a poor white male who failed to get into college, even though he had the grades, because he was not a member of a favored minority group?

Isn’t this what Dr. King had in mind when he said he looked forward to the day when people were not judged by “the color of their skin but by the content of their character”?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was part of Dr. King’s dream, leveled the playing field.  It outlawed all forms of discrimination in voting, education, employment and public accommodation.  It did not attempt to guarantee anyone or any group an end result.   The only way a government can ultimately achieve that is by force.  Is that what Sharpton really wants?

Our government is not perfect but it has provided the people of this country the greatest opportunities and the highest standard of living in the world.   It is time Sharpton and his friends admit this and move on.

In an interview with Glenn Beck, Rick Santorum said this about his former colleague.  “ On almost every major domestic policy issue that I dealt with over the last six years anyway when I was in leadership of the Senate, John McCain was not just on the other side . . .  (he was) condemning people who hold the position opposite to you and sort of buying into these fallacious arguments that the left would argue on and everything from . . . importation of drugs to global warming to immigration.”

Unfortunately, Arizona voters have short memories.  Maybe it’s the summer desert heat.  Maybe it’s their age.  (Arizona has a larger than average retirement community).    Maybe they are blinded by the beauty of Sarah Palin who had no choice but to endorse her former running mate.  More likely, it’s his $20 million media blitz against a worthy primary opponent, J.D. Hayworth.

There is no limit to the amount of money a powerful and rich incumbent like McCain can raise.  McCain has outspent Hayworth 10 to 1.  No surprise there.  What is surprising is that the majority of Arizona voters appear to be fooled again.

I was in Arizona a couple of weeks ago and traveling was extremely dangerous.  No matter which way I turned, there was Senator John McCain speeding backwards.

He was traveling backwards on immigration reform.

He was traveling backwards on amnesty for illegal aliens.

He was traveling backwards on the border fence.

He was traveling backwards on “enforcement first.”

When McCain wasn’t traveling backwards, he was going around in circles on issues like cap and tax and offshore oil drilling.   And, when he wasn’t traveling backwards or running around in circles, he was running away from issues like global warming, windfall profits, and his campaign finance (incumbent protection) reform bill.    It was enough to make your head spin.  That must be the problem.  Voters are so dizzy they simply can’t think straight anymore!

If you go to his web site www.johnmccain.com and look under “issues,” you won’t see any mention of the major ones he’s championed.  Frankly, I’m not sure where he stands on most of them anymore.  It’s no wonder voters are confused.  And when voters are confused or uninformed then tend to vote for the “incumbent.”

The polls show that only 20 percent of the people approve of the job that Congress is doing.  Hello!  Unfortunately, when they go to into the voting booth, they have collective amnesia.

There was a time, when McCain could impress me railing about earmarks and government waste.  Not anymore.  I’ve seen him turn around and vote for so many bills that contained the very earmarks he railed against.

During the spring, the more conservative Hayworth was overtaking McCain in the polls.  Twenty million dollars later, McCain has a lead that has made him comfortable enough to start tacking back to the left on illegal immigration.

Anybody in Arizona paying attention?

One of the biggest problems we have is the practice of granting citizenship to children born to those who break into the country.   The 14th Amendment has been twisted by liberal judges to make that the current law of the land.  One in every 12 children now born in this country have a parent who is an illegal alien.  These children are called “anchor babies.”  Billions of dollars of welfare flow through these babies to their illegal parents.    Only a handful of countries are foolish enough to allow this.  The U.S. is one of them.

Last week, the Republican leadership raised the issue of holding hearings on the original intent of the 14th Amendment.  McCain appeared to support them.    Now that he feels he has the election sewed up, he wants to keep this practice in place.

Arizona are you listening?

Still McCain is not home free and he knows it.  That is why he launched a last minute ad trying to smear Hayworth for taking campaign money from lobbyist Jack Abramoff  (Abramoff gave money to many office holders. The honest ones like Hayworth gave it back).

Does anyone remember the Keating Five?

McCain should be ashamed of himself for using this underhanded tactic.  Unfortunately, many brain-dead Arizona voters will be fooled by it.

McCain is a legitimate war hero but he has failed us a United States senator.  Let’s hope Arizona voters regain their senses and send man into retirement.

I’m generalizing, to be sure, but there is a reason that you get a knot in the pit of your stomach before dialing or visiting a branch of the federal government.  It’s not a pleasant experience.  It’s on my list of least favorite things to do, somewhere between going in for a colonoscopy and having a root canal.

The reason is quite simple.  On average, these folks are coddled, overpaid spoiled brats that enjoy
benefits and vacation time most of us can only dream about.  On top of that, all they have to do is show up for work on time and keep breathing in order to keep those cushy jobs.  Once hired, they are automatically promoted up the government ladder to the next pay scale and they are impossible to fire.  The public employee unions will rain down fire and brimstone on anyone who tries to dump some of the dead weight.

Never has the gap between the public and private sector been in a sharper focus than during the current economic recession.  A number of recent studies bear that out.    On Monday, the Commerce Department announced that personal incomes fell across the U.S. last year except in areas with a high concentration of federal government and military jobs.

The Wall Street Journal reported that, in the big metro areas with populations more than a million, only three showed a net rise in personal income.  Not surprising, Washington, D.C. tops the list.  In fact, the sprawling federal government added 250,000 workers in the past 1 ½  years.  The other two metro areas to show a net gain in personal income have a large military presence: San Antonio, Texas and Virginia Beach, Va.  In all three of these areas, the gains went to government workers, while private sector compensation fell.

Just how big is the gap in compensation between the public and private sector?  It is huge!

Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that in 2009,  the average pay for civilian government workers was $81,258, compared to an average only $50,462 for the nation’s private sector employees.  The gap is even worse when you add in the cost of benefits.  The average federal worker’s total package was a whopping $123,049, more than double the private sector average of $61,051.

Last week, President Obama tried to impress us by ordering a freeze on bonuses for his 2,900 overpaid political appointees.   At the same time, he had the gall to request a 1.4 percent across-the-board pay hike for the other two million federal workers, who are also eligible for additional seniority pay hikes.   Yikes!

The Heritage Foundation produced a new study that reveals how these seniority pay hikes are killing us.  The basic federal pay scale known as the “GS” covers roughly 70 percent of federal civilian employees.  It consists of 15 pay grades and 10 steps within those pay grades.  Employees advance through the steps by essentially staying alive, so that 1.4 percent across-the-board pay hike masks the true extent of the recommended pay increase.

We need a freeze (not an increase) on federal wages that includes the seniority hike until we get these wages in line with the private sector.

The Heritage study also found that since the start of this recession in December 2007, private sector employment has fallen by 6.8 percent, while federal government employment has actually increased by 10 percent.    Even if you factor in government job losses at the state and local level, governments have added a total of 64,000 jobs while the private sector has lost 7.8 million.

Companies have downsized.  Why not expect the government to do the same?

This week, Nancy Pelosi added insult to injury by ordering Congress back from the August recess, at great expense, in order to pass another bailout package for states that refuse to trim their payrolls and balance their budgets.

When governments grow the private sector withers.  These bloated governments suck the very life out of our economy.  Last week, I encountered a nervous friend who told me that his company had 18 employees two years ago.   Now it’s down to one, him.

Obama and the Democrats who control Congress are too out of touch to feel our pain.  Most have spent little or no time in the private sector.  They throw out a few crumbs to the unemployed and expect us to return them to power.   Fat chance!

It’s true! Bill Clinton was the first president in 50 years to preside over a balanced budget (if you don’t count a trifling $17.9 billion in red ink or the 2001 budget he left for George W. Bush). But, before you give our 42nd president too much credit, you need a little perspective.

When Clinton left office, the national debt was only $5.67 trillion. (I still find it hard to use the words “only” and “trillion” in the same sentence but bear with me.) It should have been less, a lot less. The truth is both Clinton and the Republican-controlled Congress squandered a unique opportunity to eliminate the national debt and put our country on sound financial footing.

First, a little history lesson: Clinton’s fiscal policies were a carbon copy of his predecessor, George H.W. Bush. Both men wanted to get out from under the spending restraints imposed by the previous administration. Both gave us new budget packages – Bush in 1990 and Clinton in 1993 – which they sold to the public as “$500 billion deficit reduction” plans. Both plans covered five years and featured huge tax increases and a plethora of new spending (to get everyone on board).

It was the oldest Washington flimflam. When citizens hear the words “deficit reduction” most think that it means Washington will spend less. In reality, the “cuts” are never real cuts, but cuts in the amount of money our elected representatives really wanted to spend if money were no object. In reality, those cuts in the “rate of spending” never materialize as long as one spending plan is allowed to replace another because the “cuts” are always scheduled to occur in the out years (final years) of the plan. That is the game that Bush 41 and Bill Clinton were playing.

Bottom line: we were duped, not once but twice, with the same shell game.

In 1994, the Republicans took control of both the House and the Senate after 40 years in the congressional wilderness. The newbies wanted to reduce the size of government and slash federal spending. They started out on the right foot and even passed some recisions. In other words, they refused to spend some money that had already been appropriated but had not yet gone out the door. That year everyone – Democrats and Republicans – became deficit hawks, but it was short-lived.

Bear in mind, that Mr. Clinton’s 1993 budget deal contained red ink as far as the eye could see ($1.5 trillion to be exact). Furthermore, after blaming the deficit on entitlements, Clinton added three new ones, including one to pay for the health care of illegal aliens.

When these new Republican leaders tried to get him to accept a budget that would (eventually) reach balance, Clinton shut down the government – not once but three different times and Republicans took the blame. At that point, they simply lost their nerve and begin to compromise on the amount of his overspending.

In the short term, however, the rate of spending went down and this had a positive effect on the economy. In addition, Mr. Clinton was backed into a corner and forced to sign a welfare reform bill that also paid dividends. In other words, the Republican takeover of Congress saved his bacon and got him reelected.

Mr. Clinton also benefited from four other events that had absolutely nothing to do with his economic policy. The Fed began to lower interest rates, due to the sagging economy, which meant we were spending less to service the debt. The sell off from the savings and loan debacle brought in a lot of capital, which was a one-time phenomenon. And, let us not forget the Reagan peace dividend. The end of the Cold War allowed us to draw down the size and scope of our defense force and close and sell military bases.

Finally, during Clinton’s final term, there was the dot com bubble. The tech industry matured, which allowed companies to streamline. Dividends increased and everyone wanted a piece of the action. The stock market began to soar and investors began to reap windfall profits. As a result, tax revenues went through the roof.

All this allowed Mr. Clinton and the Republican leaders of Congress to hide the true extent of their overspending.

Yes, Clinton was able to brag that he eliminated deficit spending but it was like a rooster taking credit for the sunrise. He had absolutely nothing to do with it.

That is, in effect, what happened to the Boy Scouts of America. This week, the nation’s most popular values-based youth organization was stood up by its honorary chairman, the president of the United States, for its most important event in 100 years –the Boy Scout Jamboree which commemorates its centennial anniversary.  It’s not like Barack Obama didn’t know this was coming.  Normally, the Jamboree is held every four years, but this one was delayed a year to mark this important occasion.  

To be sure, the president of the United States is a busy man.  There are many pressing issues that need his urgent attention, like the war in Afghanistan, the intelligence leaks and our economic meltdown.
One could forgive him for attending an urgent meeting with Hamid Karzai, his intelligence chiefs or even his pathetic economic team.   Better still, if he had scheduled a meeting with  a cadre of experienced economists who actually know the difference between a government giveaway and an economic stimulus, who are smart enough – and honest enough – to have paid their taxes.  Wow!  That would be a momentous event worthy of his undivided attention, but no!

The Boy Scouts were dissed just so he could appear on “The View” with a group of vacuous air heads.  Instead of encouraging a group of young, highly motivated achievers, Obama chose to discuss political issues on a program that is designed to appeal to welfare queens and other mentally-challenged ne’er-do-wells, who park themselves on couches to watch the drivel on daytime television.

Obama’s three predecessors, each found the time to address at least one Boy Scout Jamboree and President Ronald Reagan sent the first lady to the 1985 event.
At a time when the majority of our young people would rather play video games than take part in outdoor activities, wouldn’t this have been a perfect venue for Michelle Obama, who has launched a campaign to end childhood obesity?

Guess the serial vacationing first lady was too busy planning next week’s trip to Spain with daughter Sasha and friends at the Ritz-Carlton, Villa Padierna, in fashionable Marbella, to break a sweat with the 45,000 Boy Scouts who are camping out in the heat and humidity at Fort A.P. Hood near Fredericksburg, Va.
To be fair, the president never confirmed that he would be there for the address to the Scouts which was scheduled for 11:00 a.m. yesterday (they had to settle for a short recorded message).

Bob Dries, chairman of national news and media at the Boy Scouts of America Jamboree, told at least one news source, that the organization learned on Monday that the president had scheduling conflicts.  Another news source reported that the  Boy Scouts knew two months in advance that Obama would not be able to attend.  Nevertheless, the news media did not confirm that the president would bypass this historic celebration until his schedule was released on Monday afternoon.

By Tuesday afternoon, the White House was in full damage control mode announcing it was the fund raisers, not the TV appearance, that prevented the president from attending. Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told FoxNews.com. “We were always going to be out of town that day.”
So let’s get this straight: After speaking in New Jersey, the president decided to travel the short distance to New York to tape “The View” instead of traveling the short distance to Virginia to address the Boy Scouts.

Oh!  That makes everything perfectly clear.  We get it!  The Boy Scouts is not a priority.  Raising money and addressing the enamored ladies of the “The View” is a priority.

Was Obama really too busy or was he more concerned about offending his radical left base by addressing a group of youth who are committed to honoring God and keeping themselves “morally straight”?

I hope the president scored a lot of points with “The View’s” mush-brained audience.  He’s going to need it to make up for the families of the current 4 million Boy Scouts and the more than 50 million living alumni that he offended.

I can tell you that this wife of an “Order of the Arrow” Eagle Scout was personally insulted.

A bill is awaiting final floor action in the Senate that would scrap both the provision that has prevented open homosexuals from serving in the military and force military hospitals and military personnel to perform abortions, a process that many consider to be abhorrent.

Gay and abortion rights activists have admitted that these bills would never pass on their own.  Therefore, the Administration is using the Defense Authorization Bill as the vehicle to advance these two controversial issues.  Our elected representatives are cynically using our men and women in the military as pawns at a time when they are being asked to lay down their lives in order to rid Iraq and Afghanistan of the terrorists that are a threat to the world.  How low is that?

It is rare that a defense bill is filibustered, rarer still when the nation is at war.  However, we must ask our senators to do just that as they are the last line of defense.  Make no mistake, because of the current make-up of Congress, this bill will pass if it makes it to the floor.  The very best we can hope for is that a filibuster will happen and that it can be sustained.

To understand the dynamics at work here, you must first understand the budget process.  Before money can be spent on any department, there are two bills that need to be passed: an authorization bill and an appropriations bill.  The authorization bill is, in effect, permission to open the checking account.  It also contains the rules of the road.  The appropriations bills is tantamount to writing the checks for the various expenditures.

Each year, there are 12 appropriations bills that need to be passed in order to complete the budget.   In recent years, Congress has been slow to do this job.  At the end of the fiscal year, it often rolls the uncompleted appropriations bills into one giant catch-all called an omnibus appropriations bill.

Technically, the authorization bill has to come before the appropriations bill but Congress has devised many ways to get around this requirement.  If the authorization bill is filibustered over these issues you will hear that (mostly) Republicans are holding up the war funding and putting our military at risk.  Don’t be fooled!

If the Authorization bill does not pass, the military can be funded with something called a “Continuing Resolution” or CR for short.  It simply means that money can flow, but the military will operate under the same rules it is using right now.  This is the best we can hope for until a new Congress is sworn in next January.

Make no mistake, the president and the present congressional leaders are willing to lose their seats if necessary in order to usher in their radical agenda.  That is why this bill was jammed through the House of Representatives and out the door of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Who can we count on to lead the filibuster?  The most likely candidate is Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) who is the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.   McCain indicated as much when he voted against the final bill in committee.  Should McCain falter, you can count on Sen. Jim Inhofe, (R-OK) who is also a senior member of that committee.

Forty-one votes are needed to sustain a filibuster (prevent the bill from going to a final vote).   How do the votes stack up?   Scott Brown (R-MA), though socially liberal, voted against the bill in committee with his hero, McCain.  The only Democrat to vote against the bill was Jim Webb (D-VA).   There will be tremendous pressure on these two to change their votes.

Ben Nelson (D-NE), who is pro-life and socially conservative, voted with the majority of his party.  Go figure?  Susan Collins (R-ME) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) usually vote with Democrats on social issues but could be persuaded to help the party sustain the filibuster in enough pressure is applied.

The men and women of the military need our help.  While in uniform, their hands our tied.  They cannot lobby Congress.  That’s our job.

This bill could come to the floor at any time.

When Obama took over, the national debt was $10.6 trillion.  Now it’s over $13 trillion.  By the end of next year it will be closer to $16 trillion.

We have reached the danger zone, and while most American’s are concerned, they cannot begin to understand the depth of the hole we have dug for ourselves.

Most of us hear a number like $16 trillion and it doesn’t register.  The sixteen part we can get.  Sixteen is a relatively small number.  “Sweet Sixteen” marks the end of the age of innocence.  It’s the age, in most states, where you can get a beginner’s driver’s license.  At sixteen, you can, legally drop out of school and get an adult job.  But, you still can’t drink, vote or join the military.   In other words, your still technically a kid.

It’s the trillion part that is way beyond comprehension.  Most people can’t even begin to write out that number.  A trillion is a one with 12 zeroes after it.  A trillion is a thousand billion or a million, million.  Does that help?   I didn’t think so.

I asked the folks at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation to help me put it in perspective for you and here’s what they came up with:

•    If you had a stack of a trillion pennies and glued them all together, it would circle the earth about 4,000 times.

•    If you spent a dollar every second of every day, it would take 31,600 years to spend a trillion dollars.

•    If you paved a four-lane, 50-foot-wide highway with $1 bills, it would be 380,000 miles long.
•
•    It would take a workforce of 440,000, earing the current average wage, a lifetime of 50 years to earn.

It took our country 205 years, until 1981, for our national debt to reach $1 trillion.  It was $10.5 at the end of the administration of George W. Bush.  We are now burning through trillions as if it were pocket change.

What does that mean for us?  What does that mean for our children?

For many years, the Office of Management and Budget was required  to give an estimate of the level of taxation a child born each year could expect when he or she entered the workforce in order to sustain the present level of government.   President Clinton abandoned the requirement when it reached 85 percent, because it was just too scarey.

Those children born during the Clinton Administration are now between the ages of 10 and seventeen.    When Clinton left office, the national debt was $5.7 trillion.  Looking back, we could refer to those years as the good old days.

The Congressional Budget Office has projected that the federal debt could reach 87 percent of America’s gross domestic production by 2020 and surpass 100 percent of GDP by 2025.

That’s the point of no return.

Obama’s policies are backwards.  The stimulus money is a giant slush fund, much of which was used for liberal programs that would not have passed if subjected to the normal budget process.  The current fight is over whether to use some of the money that is still in that slush fund to extend unemployment benefits or run up the nation’s debt even further.  Please!

You cannot dig your way out of a recession by increasing the size of government.  Government is a drain, not a stimulus, on the economy.  We now know that most of the jobs that have been created were government jobs.

Want to stimulate the economy?   Give us two years to make investments free of the onerous capital gains tax and watch stocks and real estate go through the roof.   The best part of all, the government doesn’t have to spend one dime.  Furthermore, those investments would not be cashed in at one time.   Therefore, this would not be a big drain on tax revenue which, in this economy, is dismal.
Bottom line: we can’t afford lawmakers who can’t balance the budget!

The National Taxpayers Union issues a report card on Congress each an every year.  In the report that came out in February, of the 535 members, only 55 were deemed to be “taxpayers’ friends.”    The rest need to be dumped!  These are tough times, requiring tough action starting with you.

Remember, when we lose the ability to control a fair portion of what we earn, freedom is just an illusion.

A ballot is the most important tool a citizen has at his or her disposal, but when it is used incorrectly, the results can be disastrous.  There should be some education involved.  It is this lack of instruction that has left this country on the brink of economic collapse.

1.    Do I have to vote for every office or every ballot measure?

No.  If you are unfamiliar with the candidates for a particular office or the implications of a ballot measure just leave those boxes blank.

The majority of voters are unsure about this.  They are invested in the candidates they come to the polls to support but they know little or nothing about the rest.  However, they are afraid that if they do not check at least one box for every office, their ballot will be thrown out, so they go down the ballot and vote for any name that sounds the least bit familiar or simply check the boxes besides “incumbent.”  That is why most office holders stay in office for life, no matter how poorly those office holders perform.

2.    Who are my key representatives at the various levels of government?

There are 16 in all:

•    The U.S. Government Five: President, Vice President, (two) Senators and a Congressional Representative.
•    The State Government Five: Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, State Senator, State Assemblyman.
•    The Local Government Six:  Mayor, City Councilman, School Board Member, County Supervisor, District    Attorney and Sheriff.

Seriously, how can you possibly cast an intelligent vote on these offices, if you don’t know who the present office holders are?  We need voting machines that ask a voters to identify  their current representatives before they can go to the next step.  For example, if a voter can only name the current governor and the mayor, those are the offices that show up on his or her ballot.

3.     How can I find the names of all the people who represent me?

Call the office of your local Registrar of Voters.  It’s in the “County” listings in the front of the White Pages of your phone book.  Give the person who answers the phone your zip code.  He or she will be happy to give you a list of your key representatives.

4.      How can I contact each one?

Their offices are listed in the front of the White Pages of your phone book under Federal, State, County and City listings.  A simply way to call your representatives in Washington, D.C. is to use the Capitol Switchboard.  The number is 202-224-3121.  Ask for your congressional representative or your senators by name.

5.       Who do I hold accountable for the growing national debt?

Your congressman is primarily responsible.  Our Founding Father’s knew how import it was to keep a tight reign on the nation’s purse strings.  That’s why they gave the 435 members of the House of Representatives, who are equally divided among the people, the ability to tax and spend.  That is why they made them stand for re-election every other year, so that we could hold them accountable.

All tax and spend bills must originate in the House of Representatives.  Your senators and the president bare some degree of responsibility.  The Senate must concur with each tax or spend measure.  Then, the president can either sign or veto (send back) the bill.   However, it is important to remember that, although the president can submit a budget and suggest, he does not have the power to spend one dime that is not authorized and appropriated by Congress.

Your congressman is your closest link to Washington and is the chief culprit when it comes to the national debt.  Unfortunately, most voters do not even know his name.

6.    How can I tell if my congressman and senators are doing a good job?

There are a number of good organizations that make this task easy for you.  The non-partisan  National Taxpayer’s Union Foundation www.ntu.org issues a report card on the House of Representatives and the Senate each and every year.  If you can read down and across you will no instantly if your congressman and senators are “keepers” or should be replaced.  However, it is important to remember that NTU grades on the curve.  With the amount of our national debt, anyone who scores less than an “A” should be dumped.

As we approach the birthday of our nation, most get all teary-eyed when the flag is raised and the “Star-Spangled Banner” is played.  Unfortunately this yearly display is rarely followed by the actions necessary to keep this country “the land of the free” and “the home of the brave.” 

It is a sad fact that only about half of all those who identify themselves as Christians are registered to vote.  On election day, only about half of those who are registered show up at the polls.

When we do vote, we are as likely as any other group to be swayed by a pretty face or a cleaver speech.  Few of us bother examining a candidate’s stand on the issues and the political platform on which he or she runs.  Fewer still measure that stand against our plumb line, the Word of God.
Many of our forefathers bled and died to give us a country which has freedoms unknown in many parts of the word.   Unfortunately, most of us can’t be bothered to walk a few blocks (or drive in air conditioned comfort) to a polling place or drop a ballot in the mailbox outside our door.    How shameful!

If we live according to God’s word, we are to be salt and light in the world.  In a republic form of government that means – at the very least –  being an active, informed, registered voter.

That is why Christian Coalition has designated this Sunday, July 4, as “Citizenship Sunday.”  In addition to singing “God Bless America,” this is a perfect time to address our responsibility as citizens and conduct a voter registration drive.

Christian Coalition has a complete list of do’s and don’ts on its website as well as links to registration info for each state.  http://www.cc.org/citizenship_sunday.
While it may be too late to obtain a stack of voter registration forms, in most states voters can print one out on-line and stick it in the mail.  It’s a simple matter to set up a table with a computer and print them out one by one.  Then, give out pre-addressed, stamped envelopes.

One thing that churches can and should do is educate their members on pending legislation and policy changes.   The liberal line, “You can’t legislate morality,” is false.  It is meant to scare you out.   There is no such thing as a value-free law or a value-free piece of legislation.  Every law is based on someone’s set of values.

We now have laws protecting the wholesale slaughter of children in the womb, homosexual behavior and pornography.  We have allowed our public school clinics to hand out condoms and birth control devices to our children, even take our children for abortions without our knowledge or consent.   This has happened because we don’t vote and we don’t take part in the political process.

This Sunday, on the birthday of our nation, most churches will recognize our veterans and those on active duty in the military.  That is as far as it goes.  Most have not lifted a finger to protect the 1993 law preventing open homosexuality in the military (mislabeled “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell”).  Military life is hard enough without having the guy in the next bunk hit on you.

The Obama Administration announced plans to abolish this law but, don’t forget, Congress makes the laws that govern the military and you elect the members of Congress.  Your member of the House of Representatives and your two senators need to hear from you now.

Active duty miliary personnel are not permitted to lobby Congress.  That’s our job.  It’s the very least that we can do for our men and women in uniform.   Phone calls, letters and e-mails are urgently needed.  Remember, you silence is a permission slip.

Also, most of us will sit idly by while the Senate approves the unqualified, radical gay activist Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.  This nomination can and should be stopped.  When senators feel the heat, they see the light.

In a republic such as ours, the people who work the hardest are going to have laws that reflect their values.  It’s as simple as that.

This Sunday is a perfect time to repent and begin living out your faith.

In his Oval Office address to the nation, Obama was a cross between a slick politician and a bully.

Who is getting bullied?  We are.

Bullies never miss an opportunity to kick a person who is down.

On Tuesday night, the president seemed determined to kick the life’s blood out of our struggling economy and consumers who are doing their best to weather this storm.

Instead of addressing the crisis at hand, Obama took a page from Rahm Emanuel’s (You never want a serious crisis to go to waste) play book and used this moment to advance another of his unpopular agenda items.

In this dreadful economy,  the people of the United States are hurting.   The oil leak in the Gulf has left many in that region feeling hopeless.  They needed to hear this president say that he would wave the Jones Act, which has prevented nations with the most advanced oil cleanup rigs from coming to our aid.  They needed to hear this president say, he would lift the moratorium on offshore oil drilling, and protect thousands of jobs that are at stake in the region.

Instead, Obama hit them, and us, another dreadful blow, by vowing to shove, the cap and tax bill down our throats at a time when we can least afford it.

This does absolutely nothing to help the situation in the Gulf.   Furthermore, this bill, which will tax carbon emissions, adds to our economic woes by driving up the cost of fuel and everything that is manufactured or transported, and all in the name of combating an unproven theory called “human induced global warming.”

This is far from a crisis!  In fact, there is strong evidence to suggest that the earth may be in the beginning of a cooling trend.  Nevertheless, Obama is using the old “bait and switch,” substituting what well may be a phoney crisis for the real crisis.

Looking for alternate forms of energy is a good thing.  Pretending that there is no more oil to harvest here at home or that we have to force oil companies to drill 50 miles offshore – in the danger zone – is a bad thing.   However, taxing carbon emissions in this economy is sheer folly.
It is tantamount to telling a family, where the head of the household is out of work, that they have to leave their perfectly good home and move to a more expensive place right now!

The economy of the Gulf Cost is dependent on three things: fishing, oil drilling and tourists. The oil spill has wiped out number one.  This irresponsible president is wiping out two and three by putting a moratorium on oil drilling and adding to the cost of a vacation for already cash-strapped families who regularly visit the region.

Yes, kick em while they are down!

Obama had the nerve to brag about the credentials of Steven Chu, his Secretary of Energy, the man who has been helpless in this crisis, the man who wants gasoline to be as expensive in the U.S. as it is in Europe.

Still the most disingenuous part of the president’s speech came in his closing remarks where he sought to connect with our deep spiritual roots.  Obama, who finds time to play golf and entertain celebrities but does not attend church, invoked the name of God three times and used the word “prayer” five times.

Please spare us!

One could be charitable, and say that this president is simply inept.  After all, before being elected president of the United States, this man had never run so much as a candy store.

Nevertheless, it appears that Obama is so committed to a leftist agenda that he will stop at nothing in order to attain it.

Yes, kick em while they are down!  And, if you examine the sermons of Jeremiah Wright, the pastor of the church Obama faithfully attended before coming to Washington, D.C.,  you get the feeling that perhaps –  just perhaps –  he thinks we deserve it.