Our Editorial Opinions on Current events

"Time" magazine's July 4th cover claims that the Constitution is irrelevant. That's frightening. But it also makes my blood boil. It's so typical of how the liberal media is doing everything possible to join the efforts of those who want to destroy America's foundations.

Time lists as it's reasons, for the irresponsible claim, a dozen products of modern society inconceivable to the framers, including antibiotics, "sexting", and Medicare. Time simply chooses to ignore a few things the framers did know something about: Religious Freedom, Education, Tyranny, Friendship, Happiness, Sovereignty of the People, Virtue.

The Constitution does not allow us to do whatever we want to do. In the words of James Madison, the Constitution was framed out of the belief that "it is the reason, alone, of the public, that ought to control and regulate the government. The passions ought to be controlled and regulated by the government".

The genius of the Constitution lies in its having a definite meaning on the fundamentals- that every individual has rights, that the people are sovereign, and that the governmental powers must remain separated - while leaving latitude to local government, or the people themselves, on issues not specifically addressed in the Constitution.

No constitution in history has proven itself more deeply committed to the principles of Liberty, Equality, and Self-government than the American Constitution, and no nation has been more richly blessed in return. The basic truth within our Constitution is that the government cannot have limitless power, for the simple reason that government is made up of people. A Constitution with meaning honored and obeyed becomes a guardian of all people as it sustains a government that is strong within its defined powers but limited in order to protect the liberty and equality of its people. A Constitution with no definite meaning gives free reign to the passions of people within and without the government. Therein lies the problem with the do-gooders of the likes of Time magazine who want no limits, but would change the meaning of our precious Constitution to satisfy their own whims, and passions.

It is important that the clear voice of President Calvin Coolidge be heard, who on the 150th anniversary of July 4th, 1776 made this profound statement: "It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to defy their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers."

Wake up Time, and all who follow your direction. You are not so smart as you think you are!

Two important things on my mind today. First; If you get a chance to read this column today you still have a chance to take advantage of a great opportunity in the area tonight. The very special guest speaker at the Wake County Taxpayers Association meeting will be one of the few remaining survivors of the Holocaust. Morris Glass was born in Poland in 1928. He and his family spent horrible times in the Nazi concentration camps where 6 million Jews were tortured and killed. Glass managed to escape 66 years ago. He came to America and settled down here in our area, raised a family and has a huge story to tell. At 83 years of age he still is a great speaker with a strong voice and challenging message in his determination that the devastation of the Holocaust will never be forgotten.

The meeting is tonight at the Bar B Cue Lodge on Capitol Blvd in Raleigh is free and open to the public. Those desiring to eat (Dutch Style from the menu) need to arrive no later than 5:30. The program begins at 6:30 pm.

Secondly, in just days now until we celebrate July Fourth, the nation's Independence Day on Monday. As starling as it seems Congress has never yet passed legislation declaring July 4th a recurring national holiday. North Carolina, on the other hand, was the first state to officially observe the date as a national holiday. Bob Allen, Publisher Emeritus of this paper, last June wrote a column addressing the issue. Some more facts on the subject are worthwhile.

The first official observance of July 4 in the Nation as Independence Day was initiated by the Moravians in 1783 in the Town of Salem, now Winston Salem. It was pursuant to a resolution of the General Assembly of the State and a resulting proclamation of the Governor. It read: "Resolved, That the fourth Day of July be and is hereby appointed a day of General Thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God for the gracious Interposition of Devine Providence in behalf of this nation: that it haft pleased Him to deliver us from the calamities of War; and crown our wishes with the blessings of Peace: and that his Excellency the Governor notify the same by Proclamation.

Governor Alexander Martin's Proclamation proclaimed ( in part ), the day as a "Day of Solemn Thanksgiving to Almighty God, for the many most gracious interpositions manifested in a great and signal manner in behalf of These United States, during their conflict with one of the first powers of Europe: For rescuing them in the Day of Distress from Tyranny and oppression ...". It went on to implore citizens to observe the day in devout and religious exercises, and to "require all Ministers of the Gospel of every denomination to convene their congregations to emphasize the Practice of Virtue and true Religion as the great foundation of private Blessings as well as National Happiness and prosperity".

I heard of two area churches, which last July fourth, held very focused observances emphasizing the early history in line with the above factual information. It would be indeed fitting and proper if all churches would use this Sunday, July Third, to inform their congregations and urge that the observance be in keeping with the original intent.

I'm thankful that North Carolina led the way in officially proclaiming every July 4th as a holiday of true remembrance. I fear that very few citizens pause to consider the real history. It's sad that even yet the U.S. Congress has not declared the date as a recurring Holiday despite resolutions being introduced on at least two occasions in the 70's by the then Late Senator Jesse Helms.

Use of government owned aircraft has been big news in a number of situations recently - most recently when New Jersey Governor Christie flew by helicopter to his son's ball game. But the news media has conveniently ignored such mountainous costs as that the Obama family has run up using Air Force One.

Mark Knoller of CBS news , to his credit, has now has exposed the figures on Obama's use of Air Force One. His information was gained from the pilots and crew who report that they are "flying more hours that a rookie on a beer run". That's their way of emphasizing that they now are faced with adding more crew and requiring the training of more crew to handle the vast number of flights at a cost of "are you ready?". of $181,787 an hour.

As the Federal budget crisis looms without firm signs of agreement, we find that last year Obama flew Air Force One 172 times, almost every other day in the year. But that's not the worst. White House officials say Obama won't be hanging around quite so much in 2011. With about 600 days remaining in Obama's never ending presidential campaign, the travel pace will be quickened. Here's some tallies from last year's travels by Obama: 65 domestic trips over 104 days; six trips to eight countries over 22 days; six vacation trips over 32 days. And in addition, he took 198 helicopter trips squeezing in 29 rounds of left-handed golf. Aides indicate the "Real Good Talker" believes we need more.

Obama who spends nearly half of his presidency outside Washington, plans to travel more. "The Vacationer-In-Chief spends $1.75 million to visit Hawaiian chumsâ", Knoller reports. He adds, "Obama has spent over $100 million taxpayers dollars flying around in Air Force One, and another estimated $100 million on his entourage". So why should he worry about trimming the Federal budget and cutting the deficit? After all, It's our money not his he's spending.

On top of his travel, the spender-in-chief now proposes to increase the business payroll tax by 2.5%. That means the total tax rate would be raised to 47% making America the highest taxed country in the world. The payroll tax affects every single American who gets up to go to work each day (business costs are passed on to you). As smart as the liberal elite think they are, raising taxes when the economy is in ruins and jobs are so scarce is beyond idiotic. Yet polls report Obama's being favored for re-election. It just illustrates how uninformed the nation's voters are on the issues so vital to our well being.

Sadly, Obama is not the only liberal government official willing to ignore the problem and go about taking more money from the taxpayers' pockets in a time like this. They think you are dumb enough to believe that raising fees is not raising taxes. Since they need to resist raising taxes, they just call it a fee and believe voters will be deceived.

Well, will you be so deceived? The answer is yes - unless you raise your voices AND educate your neighbors and friends to what's going on. I hear so many say they don't keep up with the news because it's so depressing and they can't do anything about it. Therein lies the problem. If America is going to survive the economic mess we are in EVERY concerned citizen must be vigilant and make his/her voice heard.

It is happening in our State - in Charlotte. Such absurdity and so egregious that Drudge had to put it on his site. It seems the City of Charlotte is now telling private property owners whether, when, and how much they can trim their trees and shrubs on their own private property. Failure to get permission and follow prescribed rules results in large fines - even to fines per branch cut.

Apparently Charlotte has people who are paid to go around snooping on PRIVATE property and fining private folks for pruning a shrub? A Crepe Myrtle tree is a shrub? Believe it or not, Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church has been fined $100 per branch for "excessive tree pruning". The church reportedly was fined a total of $4,000 after Eddie Sales trimmed and pruned the crepe myrtles at his church.

Sales says every two or three years the trees at his church need shaping up. He said, "We always keep our trees trimmed back because you don't want to worry about them hanging down in your way (or blocking driver's view)". He found it hard to believe that the City had that kind of unwanted encroachment power on their private property.

What do they do about the fine? Well the Charlotte's senior urban forester, Tom Johnson, has been so gracious as to say that the fines will be waved IF the church REPLACES each of the "improperly pruned" trees. It sounds like Johnson's job is a public job we could live without, so pined Charlotte Observer Correspondent, Brittnay Penland. Penland said in fact, "Sounds like a whole darn division we could all live without".

Funny thing, Johnson says the city's tree ordinance has been in existence since 1978. If so, he seems to be carrying that ordinance far beyond it's intended boundaries, which as we understand it, was only to apply to trees on commercial property or street trees, not trees on a private property residence. Yet until the City figures out it's revenue stream are they counting on such fines for all properties?

Get this. On private property, fines are based on the size of the tree improperly pruned. For small trees such as cherry trees or crepe myrtles, the fine is $75 per tree. Excessive cutting (in the eye of the City's tree detective) can increase the fine to $100 PER BRANCH. Larger trees, even more. Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church was given to October to cut down and replace the trees with new trees (Sales dosen't know how much that would cost), so the Church plans to appeal.

Johnson, the City tree inspector, says about six private residents are found in violation of improper topping or pruning in a typical year. Surely, there are hundreds more folks who trim and prune, but evidently escape the eagle eye of the City's snooper.

I think we have had enough of such shenanigans. We'd better start defending our rights against such foolishness. Hopefully the Church's appeal of their case will fall on Judges with sound minds.

Last week we spoke of the dangers hidden in what is known as Agenda 21. Very few people are acquainted with this United Nations sponsored program. Agenda 21 is a global-to-local initiative. Its intent is to bypass our U.S. legislative processes and quickly transfer restrictive, repressive global governing policies directly from the U.N. to the local level.

Agenda 21 stands for the 21st Century. The United Nations program is based on the process to "Think globally and act locally." At the local level it is called Local Agenda 21 and Local means your city or town, your county, your neighborhood and your home.

Why should these Agenda promoted policies cause us concern? First, it promotes policies of a philosophy called "Sustainable Development". Until recently you seldom heard the term because it was meant to stay below the radar screen. The term "Sustainable" or "Sustainable Development" is now being used everywhere. Its philosophy opposes our constitutional, free market system. How is it evident in our community? "Sustainable Development" is the belief that humans are depleting the earth of its natural resources and, therefore, must give up their freedoms, such as the right to own and manage private property. Do you not hear, almost every day, of some new way you are losing your rights to manage your own private property?

The most common definition of Sustainable Development given by its proponents is a statement found in the Bruntland Report, Our Common Future, released during the 1987 United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development. It reads, "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." What is striking about that is that very similar wording regarding the needs of future generations is found in the 1977 Soviet Constitution.

For all these years since these documents Planning and Development "experts" have been moving ever more to compliance with United Nations proposals aimed and controlling everything by invoking government power to enforce views of environmentalism aimed at replacing farmers, ranchers, and other landowners concept of stewardship with governmental centric control. As we pointed out in last week's column it merges environmentalism and socialism to expand government into every aspect of ourlives, including land use, food production, housing, transportation, manufacturing, energy, rationing, and even health care. Agenda 21 is an attack on capitalism and an attack on America's middle-class lifestyle.

Now, some of you may be thinking, "Who is this nut?" He's just raising concerns that we could do without. However, keep your ears tuned and watch for those key words - sustainability, and the three big "Es": economy, environment, and equity (or equal, re-distribution) and see if you are not beginning to see and hear them more and more when someone wants to do something with their own property, property which they have worked so hard to own and preserve for their families. There'll be many new reasons why you can't do it your way anymore - your freedom is being taken away!

Far too few people are aware of a very dangerous movement known as "Agenda 21". It is sponsored by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), a front group launched by the United Nations to carry out the provisions of its huge very liberal movement.

Last November, in what is believed to be the first such action of its kind in the entire nation, the five-member Board of County Commissioners in Carroll County Maryland, voted to abolish that County's Office of Sustainability They speedily followed that move with a vote to quit the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives. Their action sets a pattern that other local governments need to quickly follow. Foreign influences such as the United Nations have far too much say already in what this nation and its government can and cannot do.

Agenda 21 is a global to local initiative. Its intent is to by-pass our U.S. legislative processes and quietly transfers restrictive, repressive global governing policies directly from the U.N. to the local level. Until now, in North Carolina, the focus of the U.N. has been the local level (cities and counties); but now the focus is on the State. "Sustainability" is a key word to watch for as are the three "Es" - Economy, Environment, and Equity (or re-distribution; does that sound familiar?).

The Wake County Commissioners, a number of months back, established a "Sustainability Study Task Force". Fortunately, a member of our Wake County Taxpayers Association was appointed to that Task Force and has been a voice for us, although she seems to be a lone voice on the Task Force who is even aware of the dangers of Agenda 21. The City of Raleigh has for several years been pushing "Sustainability" concepts including a big to-do on "Smart Growth", "Traffic Calming", and the three big "Es".

A recent report in the Washington Examiner indicated that approximately 600 local governments in the United States have already signed on to what the Examiner termed "this Trojan Horse." Many believe, and I agree, that ICLEI is ultimately an attack on private property rights and that versions of "sustainability" and "Smart Growth" have less to do with the environment and everything to do with economics. It's an attack on capitalism, and an attack on America's middle-class life-style.

The Carroll County Maryland Commissioner who led the stand to dis-associate Carroll County from the Agenda 21 program, said "Sustainability invokes government power to enforce activists views of environmentalism. They want to replace farmers, ranchers, and other landowners' concept of stewardship with government-centric control. It merges environmentalism and socialism to expand government into every aspect of our lives, including land use, food production, housing, transportation, manufacturing, energy rationing, and even health-care." And he labeled ICLEI, "an organization with extreme beliefs on global warming that promotes United Nations - big government socio-economic policies".

There so much more - and so little known by most good citizens about it. Our space is limited. We'll continue to point out the facts about Agenda 21 and its dangers next week's column.

Last week on this page Liberal columnist Chris Fitzsimon opined that support for the new majority (NC House and Senate Republicans) was falling. I know Chris from way back. His column was based on wishful thinking. Facts are, support for the new majority have held steady over the past three months while the poll results show support for the democrats has dropped. The just released Civitas poll indicates strong support for republican efforts on the issues. Voters' main concern seems to be that the bills addressing major issues are not being passed fast enough. Caution is the key as conservatives prepare for override of any vetoes on needed bills.

Among the major issues before the Session this year is that of Medical Tort Reform. Legislation is working it's way through that would place a reasonable cap on the amount that could be awarded on mostly frivolous lawsuits which drive up medical costs. Overly generous juries have awarded excessive amounts in non-economical cases, causing doctors to incur excessively high costs for medical liability insurance. In turn, medical costs for all patients are adversely affected.

The original bill was on target and called for a reasonable cap of half million dollars. A cap is needed as to how much can be awarded in punitive damages. However, opposition has arisen with a number of amendments being tossed about, causing delay and the possibility a medical tort reform bill may not survive. A friend of mine, in-the-know, shared that lawyers who specialize in these cases claim 33% of whatever is awarded, a figure that can be huge. So you've perhaps heard numerous radio spots aired by the lawyers associations who want to kill the bill because it would decrease the size of their wallets.

The State of Texas passed medical tort reform legislation a few years ago after earning the moniker given it by commentators and organizations as "lawsuit mecca and a judicial hell hole". The state was losing huge numbers of doctors. The state ranked in he bottom of a handful of states on evaluations used by companies , the medical providers, and insurers to decide in which state to do business. The battle to pass medical liability reform was bitter. Governor Rick Perry declared medical malpractice a statewide problem. Eighty five percent of all medical malpractice suits proved frivolous and failed, but costs averaged $50,000 for doctors and insurance companies to pay.

As result of the medical malpractice reform legislation which was passed, the number of medical malpractice insurance companies in Texas dropped from 17 in 2000 to four by 2003. Texas has 254 counties. Over 150 counties had few to no medical specialist before the reform measure passed. Four years later the results were remarkable. Some doctors who were ready to move, stayed. Doctors and Specialists from other States, more than 7000 of them, have moved into Texas and medical care has become far more readily available. It is also widely regarded that passage of the legislation has kept open 30,000 nursing home beds, providing comfort and care to the elderly. Over 30 insurers are now competing for the medical malpractice insurance business from Texas doctors. To date, the physicians have saved over $217 million in reduced malpractice insurance - a sizable portion of which has enabled lower costs to patients for medical services. and much better care opportunities.

North Carolina needs good medical malpractice reform The issue has been considered for years in our State Legislature. It would be nice if this could be the year reasonable Tort Reform becomes law.

It's time to get the correct answer: Is Barrack Obama eligible to serve as President of the United States? The Constitution is very clear. The lack of response from Obama is anything but clear. If he is not eligible to be President, the dangerous scam has gone on much too long with a rogue criminal organization running the country. Until this President took office, America was certainly the most powerful nation in the world. Now we have become the laughing stock of many in positions of leadership around the world. As the nation leading another new war effort we can't afford more waiting.

The most recent national figure calling Obama's eligibility into question is the flamboyant billionaire Donald Trump. Trump's name has been surging among candidates for the GOP 2012 presidential nomination. On several occasions in recent days he has explained his questions about Obama's qualifications under the U.S. Constitution's requirement that a president has to be a "Natural born Citizen" of the nation. Trump says his doubts about Obama stem from the fact that so little information about his background is available. "He grew up and nobody knew him," Trump said. He expanded his comment by adding, "You know! - if I run for office - When you interview people ... they'll know me from my kindergarten. Nobody ever comes forward (about Obama). Nobody knows who he is until later in his life. It's very strange. The whole thing is strange".

Trump is among numerous well-known persons who have questioned why there are no records available for Obama when there are all kinds of records available for all other political leaders, kindergarten records, high school records, college records, passport records, medical records, and certainly records from previous offices held. But not for Obama. Not even his files for the years he served as an Illinois State Senator have revealed such important records

Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie promised sometime ago when he took office to investigate Obama's birth records and release information to prove his eligibility status.

We're still waiting! What's been offered so far simply adds to the questions. A scientific poll conducted in mid-March revealed that only 9% of the people believe Obama has documented eligibility ... just 9%. Why should we be concerned? Straight to the point, it is because if anyone (whoever) was not eligible to be President, every act they perform is ILLEGAL and thus criminal. If Mr. Obama is not eligible think of the horrendous list of acts he has performed which are thus illegal. Not a day goes by that he fails to issue another executive order with destructive elements with resultant effect of destroying America's status with regard to the economy, the military, the rule of law, even the very moral fabric of the nation.

The Congress should pass a Resolution demanding that Mr. Obama reveal all his hidden records, including his birth certificate. Failure by him to respond would be unquestioned evidence that a criminal organization is running the country. It's a question that demands an answer. Let's hear it.

The events of this week evolving out of the middle east and what amounts to America at war again has clearly brought out what most consider the ineptness of President Obama as a Commander and Chief. We all recall that back when President George W. Bush was in control and Hussein Barrack was slaughtering his own people, President Bush exhibited real leadership. He took charge without delay declaring, "This will not stand". He wasted no time swinging into action. He had a plan that he stood firm on and he moved to carry out that plan. The world recognized that Bush meant business and viewed America as the world's leader.

Oh how different things are now. President Obama, surely was well aware of the eminent threat as Gaddafi began use of military power against his own people, gallant Libyan protesters who sought freedom from the dictator's destruction. Yet, Obama responded by turning away from facing the threat and went on another of his political junkets ... to Brazil. The world watched as the emperor played golf while the battlefront became a boiling point. His response when he finally acknowledged there was a problem showed anything but an ability to guide our nation in time of military crisis. He failed to even make a rapid return to Washington and his role as other leaders have done. His explanation of what the role was and is to be is pitifully lacking. Now, he is saying that he's going to turn things over to "others" (no one knows who) to carry out whatever is to be the so far unrevealed plan to bring about decisive action.

Oh how we miss the kind of leadership in the past that has made us as Americans feel security and comfort when major challenges require a firm, and well planned response. A question banded about every day from people discussing our lack of leadership is, "How can we endure two more years of the current administration". It's a question that I ask myself every day. Observing the weakness of our lack of leadership could well cause other despots to take advantage of our weakness in leadership of the moment. We can only be encouraged and thankful that we have the strongest military leadership in our Generals in our military, and in the great training of our brave young men and women who serve to protect us. Had it not been for well qualified military urging there would still be no response to Gaddafi's threat to the region and the world. We must pray for them and for Godly wisdom as they carry out the needed operations.

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Congress still has not showed the backbone to address the growing deficit problem. The weak continuing resolution put forth to keep government operational while facing the task of approving a budget is disheartening. The small figure pushed as "budget cuts" is like a dripping faucet. Despite all the overwhelming evidence of the misuse of funds by Planned Parenthood nothing has moved so far about cutting the $ 360 million federal tax dollars going to that outfit. Planned Parenthood officials want you to believe that their primary purpose is things like cancer screening. That's a good thing. But that's not the main thing that the nation's abortion provider does. The main thing they provide is the vast number of abortion mills across America.

Star Parker put it well; "There is nothing more repugnant and flagrantly misplaced in the federal budget than using taxpayer funds to subsidize three sins ... lies, theft, and murder". Planned Parenthood is a poster child for what is wrong with the federal budget and the best place for Congress to start chopping down the deficit is by moving now to stop the $360 million federal subsidy for Planned Parenthood. I'd cherish the job of using that axe, and all the polls show the vast number of taxpayers agree.

Congress faces the huge task of balancing the budget against many odds. First and foremost is the outlandish opposition of liberal democrats and a few mislead republicans,. Currently being considered is another short term budget to keep government operating until agreement is reached on the full year funding bill.

The stop gap measure calls for $61 billion in cuts. That sounds like a lot until you consider the massive $14 trillion deficit. But what is $61 billion cut when the monthly spending is $223 billion. Astonishing is the fact America is witnessing one of the grossest spectacles of denial ever perpetrated by a political party. That's the Republicans who know that many billions more in cuts should be in the carry over budget and they seem settled to comprise with just $61 billion against the massive deficit, and the continual spending of $223 billion each month.

President Obama and the Democrats have made it clear they will accept nothing less than the destruction of the republic if that's what it takes to prove progressivism is "successful". Now get the picture. The highest cut in the federal budget proposed by Republicans is $61 billion. The Democrats say such a cut is way over the top. The $223 billion spent over the last 30 days is nearly four times more than the cuts proposed.

A good question is at what point does this wide- open effort to bankrupt America have to reach before the American public says enough is enough? If my calculation is correct, to raise the $223 billion current monthly spending is like the government knocking on the door of every American taxpayer and saying give me $700 more of your hard earned dollars. How many taxpayers would still set back and make no noise?

Freshman Senator Rand Paul has proposed making $500 billion worth of spending cuts in one year. His responsible proposal that both parties have readily dismissed and the liberal media has referred to as "off- the- dial" has gotten no where. But just suppose Rand's proposal were accepted. One financial expert calculates that America would still be $1.1 trillion in the hole for the 2012 fiscal year and that's another $3,333 of debt piled onto every man, woman, and child in the nation. He calls these figures are "irrefutable". Yet such astounding figures still do not resonate with people who think the biggest story of the week is the protesting union workers who have resorted to the threat of mob rule to demand their selfish goals.

Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn) referred to the Obama administration as a "gangster government". It seems that she was far too kind as she left half of the problem out of equation ... the members of congress who lack the backbone to stand for what they know is required to even begin to attack the deficit problem.

Will Americans speak up loudly enough to demand better of those we elect because they promised to voters they would stand tough, address the real problem, and force the spending cuts that must be taken? Many of the freshmen legislators are showing they are eager to meet the challenge. The whole of Congress must have their feet held to the fire to do what must be done.

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On a more inspiring topic, may I highly recommend a remarkable little book that is currently #1 on the NY Times best sellers list. It is titled "Heaven is for Real". It's a little boy's astounding story of his trip to Heaven and back. The book is written by his father, Todd Burpo, a Pastor who relates in an unforgettable manner what his son has revealed about the happenings when young Colton experienced an emergency appendectomy and miraculous survival. With disarming innocence and the plain spoken boldness of a child, Colton tells of meeting long-departed family members, describes Jesus, the angels, and much more. It's a book you'll have a tough time putting down until you've read it through. If you've heard of other "after death" experiences , this little book verifies it can happen. I recommend it as a real eye opener.

As a former member in the North Carolina House I was saddened, and peeved, by the constant use of the race card by fellow colleagues who wanted to be known by the hyphenated title "African-American". They were free to form a "Black Caucus" but they were offended if we referred to them as black instead of African-American. Another reference that upset them was when some member used the term "your people" in referring to something that was usually unique to those of the black race. We made every effort to avoid terms that might offend them and did our best to make sure not to use the "race card":

However, What's good for the goose should be good for the gander. When U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was testifying before a Congressional Committee last week he used the term "my people" meaning those of his black race Holder was properly challenged for playing the "race card" by the popular journalist, Michelle Malkin, herself of a different race. Her response to Holder's use of the term "my people" is well stated in her column this week. Michele plowed into Eric's play of the race card.

She began it by asking who are "your people"? She did that because U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who is black, used the phrase "my people" in congressional testimony this week. It was what she called "an unmistakably color-coded and exclusionary reference". Clearly Holder was pandering to skin color by politics bringing his race bias to the fore front. Those of us who desire an end to racial play in decision making would much prefer "our people" mean all those who love our country and desire to see our national values restored to what they were from the founding. Post-racialism would be a goal for all racial backgrounds and that surely must have been what Martin Luther King was striving for.

Michele cited some non-white Americans as "our people". Examples she pointed out included Herman Cain who has announced his intention to run for President.. Here's what she said about Cain. "Herman Cain is my people. He's my brother-in-arms. I've never met him. But we are family. We are kin because we are unhyphenated Americans who are comfortable in the black, brown and yellow skin we are in. We are growing in numbers -- on college campuses, in elected office, on the Internet, on public airwaves, everywhere. And that drives liberals mouth-frothing crazy.

Cain is the successful Georgia businessman who has wowed audiences across the country with his passion for free markets, free minds and the American Dream. The former president of Godfather's Pizza and forceful tea party speaker happens to be black. "

Val Prieto. of Cuban desent, is another whom Michele spoke of as "my people." Prieto she noted is "A fierce, freedom-loving American blogger who rejects race-card games and refuses to be lumped in with Hispanic ethnic grievance-mongers" In response to pro-illegal immigration marchers who infamously desecrated the American flag, Prieto recently wrote, "I have never and will never, despite having many issues with the government of the United States throughout the years, burn a flag of the United States of America. I am Cuban by birth, American by the grace of God. And a darned proud, dignified, thankful and respectful American. ... I refuse to be lumped together as a class or a race simply because we speak a similar language. ... I ain't Mexican, I ain't Latino and I ain't Hispanic. I am an American of Cuban descent, and very proud of it."

Katrina Pierson, was also included in Malkin's list of "my people:. She's noted as a feisty young Texas mom and Dallas tea party activist who supports limited government principles and rejects left-wing identity politics. Her activism included confronting the NAACP last year with a rousing manifesto of political independence as she rebutted the left-wing group's attacks on the tea party as racist:

Pierson pointed out that "we colored people no longer require the assistance from other Negros for advancement," She went on to point out her thoughts saying, "These groups run to the rescue of distressed brown people only when the media deems it newsworthy. Meanwhile, there are inner city black children who continue to grow up fatherless while sharing a neighborhood with stray bullets, drugs and a plethora of liquor stores on every corner. ... I don't believe that the true meaning of this nation's creed was to move black people from one form of slavery to another, Pierson added.

Pierson's observation of the NAACP was that it is " made up of "Democrats who bow to a Democrat master today as they once did over 200 years ago. Once this is realized by the forgotten society, race in this country will be as irrelevant as those who thrive off of it."

Then another one in the list Michele laid out was Allen West, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and freshman congressman from Florida who happens to be black. Malkin said of West, "Unafraid to skewer progressive sacred cows, he speaks boldly against global jihad and its Fifth Column enablers screaming "Islam-o-phobe!" West has also nailed the Congressional Black Caucus as "a monolithic voice that promotes these liberal social welfare policies and programs that are failing in the black community, that are preaching victimization and dependency; that's not the way that we should go."

Another sad deployment of the "race card", according to U.S. News and World Report's Kenneth Walsh, occurred recently when President Obama told guests at a private White House dinner that he believed the tea party movement had a "subterranean agenda" of racism against him. But Lt. Col. West, one of the brightest stars among the new Republican in Congress was up to the task in responding to that allegation. West told his accusers, "The tea party is a constitutional, conservative grassroots movement -- and that's it. The tea party stands for three things: They want to see effective, efficient constitutional government, they stand for national security, and they stand for free market, free enterprise solutions. That's it".

Our government was established to be a government of, by and for the people--all the people. Not just the ones of certain color or political party. As Malkin pointed out, " We are beholden not to our skin pigment or ethnic tribes, but to American ideals, tradition, history and faith in the individual."

It's time the play of the race card is ended. A great movie currently playing is a very thought provoking and inspiring message urging the use of the "Grace Card" instead of the "Race Card". It is well worth seeing. It's titled "Grace Card".I hope you will set aside a time to see it this week.

On the Washington scene it's exciting to see the rapid action of the new republican majority. If the House Republicans have their way, the Obama administration's "czars" will no longer be able to dictate pay at bailed-out mega-firms or negotiate new emissions standards for U.S. Vehicles.

An amendment attached to the 2011 spending package, which passed House last week, would strip funding for a select list of the so-called czars. And the author of the amendment, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, says there's more to come. Scalise says, "Hardworking American families should not be forced to pay millions of dollars to fund these czars who are implementing radical policies under the cloak of darkness."

The Bill called for effectively shutting down any Executive Office task force or office led by an official who had not received Senate confirmation. The estimate is that 39 officials would fall under that description.

On the list for funding elimination is the assistant to the president for energy and climate change (the climate czar) Carol Browner. She's the one who helped strike the deal to increase fuel economy standards and require greenhouse gas emissions standards for auto makers that would greatly increase the cost, and like the "cash for clunkers" deal, produce little results for a huge waste of tax dollars.

Also eliminated if the amendment becomes law will be the "obamacare" czar. That czar, Nancy'Ann Deparle, made many backroom deals in secret negotiations with interest groups that resulted in hundreds of companies getting exemptions from the law that everybody else was stuck with.

On and on the list goes of the elimination of misguided actions by the many czars being paid high salaries with taxpayer dollars. The bill not only eliminates the czars funding, it makes other huge cuts in spending. Planned Parenthood would lose it's $363 million in taxpayer funds as result of the amendment by Congressman Mike Pence ... a move that would effectively close down most of their abortion mills. That amendment, backed by an overwhelming majority of voters, passed the House by a vote of 240-185 with strong bi-partisan support. Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) in his argument for the passage termed the clinics run by Planned Parenthood "not only the most dangerous places on earth for a child, but also a safe haven for sexual predators" - adding that "if Congress needs to spend three hours debating the integrity of an organization, should we really be funding it in the first place".

Not only though is there great movement on the congressional level, many of the state Governors are illustrating strong leadership as they face the tasks of funding the needs at state levels. How refreshing to see Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker take on the powerful labor unions by proposing that union workers pay a share of their subsidized health benefits. Faced with a $3.6 billion budget hole and a state constitutional ban on running a deficit, Governor Walker wants public unions to pony up. He has proposed raising the public employee share of health insurance premiums from less than 5 percent to 12.4%. He is also pushing for the state workers to cover half their pension contributions. To spare taxpayers the soaring costs of Byzantine union-negotiated work rules, he would rein in Big Labor's collective bargaining power to cover only wages unless approved at the ballot box.

The Governor's modest call for shared sacrifice has triggered the wrath of the White House Big-Labor-Michael Moore axis. Moore goaded thousands of striking union protestors to "shut down" the "new Cairo" while the state's democrat legislators bailed on floor debate over the union reform package. President Obama chimed in and lamented the "assault on unions". Hoorah for Governor Walker who so far says he has no intention of backing down. The free-market Maciver Institute in Wisconsin points out that the benefits concessions Walker is asking for would still maintain the union worker health insurance contribution rates at the second-lowest among Midwest states for family coverage. Moreover, a new analysis by benefits think tank HCTrends shows that the new rate "would be less than the employee contributions required at 85% of large Milwaukee-area employers".

So the protestors, while loud and boisterous, have little leg to stand on when making their argument about how terrible it will be to have to pay even the very small share they are being asked to.

As that fine old Country lawyer, Chub Suwell used to say, "Call Your Next Case"!

Both the Obama and Purdue budget proposals were presented earlier this week. With high deficits facing government at both levels there was the call for MORE SPENDING while pretending to say they'd spend less.

The Obama budget presented would DOUBLE the national debt to $26.3 TRILLION in 10 years. Not only does Congress need to whack away at that monstrosity, it must find another $100 billion to cut from the current budget to fulfill their Pledge To America promise.

They surely don't need to use clunker math again. A professor at the University of West Virginia for the past forty years looked at the clunker program in depth. Here's what his analysis revealed. A clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year at 15 mpg uses 800 gallons of gas a year. A vehicle that travels 12,000 miles a year at 25 mpg uses 480 gallons a year. So the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year. They claim 700,000 vehicles so that's 224 million gallons saved per year. That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil. 5 million barrels is about 5 hours worth of US consumption. More importantly, 5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about $350 million . So, the government paid $3 BILLION of our tax dollars to save $350 million. We spent $8.57 for every dollar we saved. Even if we use our present cost for oil of about $90 per barrel, it comes to $450 million. We therefore still spent $6.67 for every dollar saved.

Don't you just feel really good to know that the Obama wisdom that can save money like that is now proposing new budget spending that will double the national debt over the next 10 years! It points out vividly the task that the new large number freshman congress has before them. The good news, if there is any, is that the new breed of freshmen congressmen are eager and bonded toward finding a way to cut spending and lower the deficit. We all need to wish them well and pray for them as they go about doing what they have promised to do.

As we pointed out in last week's column, there really are some easy ways to find places to cut. Among them are the massive tax dollars that go to fund Planned Parenthood, the abolishing of the Department of Energy, and we'd be much better off without a Federal Department of Education demanding things we don't need nor desire for the education of our children and grandchildren.

Closer home, Governor Perdue, following the example of former Governor Hunt when he faced a similar Republican challenge, tried to sound conservative by calling for a cut in the Corporate Income Tax. That's a great place to start, but she didn't detail any plans for cutting spending and closing the budget gap. She did, however, promote the idea of greater spending for education. Education is a priority but what's wrong with revealing places to cut programs that won't work and using those funds for better education opportunities ... like a focus on the classroom and weeding out over weighted bureaucracy.

Surely, we all can agree that we can do well with a much lower operating budget than the current one. After all, the current level is twice what it was just a few years ago. How many of us have funds to support our personal household budget that is double what it was a few years ago. Not many I am sure.

In last week's column we suggested that one of the places the new legislature needs to consider for cutting programs was non-profits... non-governmental functions. This week results of a new Civitas poll indicated strong support for ending funding for non-profits like Golden Leaf, the NC Rural Center, the Health and Wellness Fund. The poll showed 66% of North Carolina voters favor ending the programs. Hopefully legislators are on to that and will act accordingly.

I do a lot of reading as I imagine you do. Monday I came across an article to titled "Gubmint and How Gubmint Works". Here's how it reads: "Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, Someone may steal from it at night. So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job".

Then Congress said, How does the watchman do his job without instruction? So they created a planning department and hired two people, one to write the instructions and one to do time studies.

Then Congress said, How will we know the night watchman is doing his tasks correctly? So they created a Quality Control Department and hired two people, one to do the studies and one to write the reports.

Then Congress said, How are these people going to get paid? So they created two positions and hired a time keeper and a payroll officer.

Then Congress said, Who will be accountable for all these people? So they created an administrative section and hired three people. an Administrative Officer, an Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.

Then Congress said, We have had this command in operation for one year, and we are $918,000 over budget. We must cut back. So they laid off the night watchman.

NOW, slowly, let this sink in. Quietly, we go like sheep in slaughter.

Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY... during the Carter administration? Any body? Anything? No?

Don't think so!

Bottom line, we've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency the reason for which no one remembers.

The Department of Energy was instituted on 8/04/1977 TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCY ON FOREIGN OIL. Now it's 34 years later and the budget for this "NECESSARY" department is at $ 24.2 billion a year. It has 16,000 employees and approximately 100,000 contract employees. Thirty four years ago 33% of our oil consumption came from foreign imports. Today 70% is comes from foreign imports.

And now the Administration has turned the Banking System, Health Care, and the Auto Industry over to the same government. Hello! Anybody home?

Why not start by abolishing the Department of Energy and undoing the new government programs? Because, yes, there's plenty of places to cut spending if there are those willing to simply look for them.

Our drive to obtain 5,000 signatures of voters in Raleigh and Wake County is moving along well. The goal is secure that number of signatures which, in line with State Statutes, will require a special election to be called within 120 days in which voters will determine whether the City of Raleigh and Wake County officials must have voter approval before issuing any additional indebtedness. The State Constitution clearly says voters must approve the issuing of bonded indebtedness. However, that requirement has been greatly ignored as officials have used two approaches to get around that requirement in most of their spending in the past decade. Limited Obligation Bonds and Certificate of Participation bonds are approaches that have been used. These measures, we argue, were never intended to allow our elected officials to ignore the voters but were measures to handle immediate emergency type needs. We urge you to visit our web site www.WCTA.org for information on how you can easily get involved in helping us restore this right to vote which has been take away from you.

*** As you have observed, the opposition coalition trying to stop the newly elected Wake County School Board majority from carrying out their promised goal of providing better education and more parental choice in the education system is still at it. William Barber, head of the state NAACP and a few other very liberal "clergy" have been stirring up as much fuss as they can. Even after being arrested for refusal to obey orders of law enforcement officers, they are making additional threats to keep up their poor behavior by more interruptive measures including more "protests" and threatening law suits. Not to be left out, the liberal Mayor of Raleigh, Charles Meeker, has stuck his nose into the School Board's business also threatening to file suit because he wants to run the School system his way. We suggest he'd best spend his time and effort serving as he is supposed to by the rules as Mayor and not trying to lord it over everybody and everything he doesn't agree with. Mayor Meeker and his big spending City Manager, Russell Allen, are still trying to strong arm the Raleigh City Council to issue $200 million more dollars of non-voter approved indebtedness to build a monument to themselves in the name of Public Safety. The 17 story tower they want would be the most expensive building ever built in the area and would provide very little in the way of much needed space for the Police Department. It would however, provide a lot of wasted open space for a glassed-in foyer that would serve no need but artistic curbside effect to make the Mayor and his Manager cohort feel good. So far the monstrosity has been stopped thanks to four Council members who see through the folly of such excess. We pray they will stay the course.

*** On the other subject of the dangerous leadership, we strongly agree with a recent orator who said, "The real danger to America at the moment is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to an electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us." ... Time's up. More next week.

J. Russell Capps, Pres. Wake County Taxpayers Association

A Pastor friend of mine the other day shared this profound question that he said his Pastor friend uses on numerous occasions when he delivers sermons. The question is "IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING WHERE WILL YOU BE WHEN YOU GET THERE"? That is , of course, a supremely important question we each need to be sure we have the correct answer to from a spiritual standpoint. As I have pondered that profound question many times since my friend shared his comment, I have also come to strongly observe that there is hardly a more important question not just as it relates to the end of one's earthly life, but it is also vitally important for the times we are living in in the here and now. Ponder the question carefully ... is our beloved America not headed down a dangerous path? Does anyone not need to ask that question about our political and cultural posture and direction ..."If we don't know where we are going where will be when we get there?" A very strong percentage of Americans believe that we are being led by the Nation's leadership on a fast track to Socialism, if indeed we are not already poised to cross that thresh hold. Socialism bankrupts in every way and is an ideology we cannot afford. We have given up the free enterprise economy that the Founders of this nation gave us and have followed the socialists, albeit a few paces behind them, down that disastrous road. A great thinker of the past reminded us that "America will last until the populace discovers that it can vote for itself largesse (or financial benefits) out of the public treasury." We have made that discovery, and we are well on our way down the road to Socialism because of it. But our leadership continues to ignore the danger and continues to lead (push) us further in that direction everyday. They don't accept the danger of where we are going so "how will they know where they have taken us to when they get us there?" The late Russell Walton put it very well when he said that the government is not a producer; it is a taker, and a spender. Every dollar spent by the public sector is a dollar the government must take away from the private sector, from the workers, and earners, and investors." We should be concerned with helping other people," most would say. Absolutely! But not by hurting people ... not by breeding within them a welfare mentality that ultimately destroys families, children, and the value of hard work. We need to stand up and say, Enough of this. We don't want this socialistic mess of pottage that you are forcing upon us. We want the free enterprise system that the Founders of this country gave to us, which made America the strongest and the most bountiful nation the world has ever seen. We need to carefully and seriously consider where we are headed and to take a stand to stop going down the road to SOCIALISM. For as that profound question asks: "IF WE DON'T KNOW WHERE WE ARE GOING, WHERE WILL WE BE WHEN WE GET THERE?"

POINT OF VIEW
J. Russell Capps, President, Wake County Taxpayers Association

Slowly more information is getting out on the Public Safety Center Tower that Mayor Meeker and City Manager Allen are pushing. Until recently the details of the proposed structure had been know by few other than the Mayor and City officials. By way of a recent time consuming task of reviewing City Council agendas of nearly two years ago, Wake Taxpayers Association Board Member Tony Pecoraro discovered the 64 page document detailing the lavish plans.

We at the Taxpayers Association started to point out the many problems with the plan. Items that we consider to be of great concern include: 1) The very high cost ($603 per square foot when the top of the range for other similar construction is $375 sq. ft.). 2) The 8% tax increase that would be required. 3) The very unwise inclusion of the heart of the City's entire emergency response operations all in the top floors of the 17 story tower where safety is impossible event of disaster, man-made or natural. 4) The use of Certificates of Participation(in violation of the State Constitution) in order to prevent taxpayers from having a vote. 5) The folly of more massive indebtedness spending when unemployment in the state is a whopping 11.2%.. 6) The involvement of City Manager Russell Allen in persistently advocating the project when he is paid by the taxpayers and should refrain from the role of an advocate.

There is no question that Raleigh's fine police administration headquarters operations needs greater and more adequate space. It seems evident that the City Manager has come up with the grandiose idea of an extremely expensive monument rather than a sensible, well designed, adequate facility to provide for Police Administrative operations. He speaks of it as being designed for the future when the document itself indicates it would be inadequate again by 2017 (staffing chart form the document on Sheet 33).

It is beyond any common sense belief how the plan calls for placing ALL of the key emergency operations high up in the air on the 13th, 14th and 15th floors of a glass tower. The 911 Emergency Call Center, the Data processing Center, the Emergency Operations Command Center, Traffic Management Control Center would ALL be there a looming target for disaster, especially in these days when radicals seek targets to do the greatest danger in a suicide attack.

Natural disasters have also caused extensive damage to such high rise glass structures in cities such as Dallas and Atlanta. The City of New York made the mistake of believing their emergency operations would be safe atop the World Trade Center tower. All of us watched on 911 as it all came tumbling down causing thousands of deaths and injury, and leaving the city's emergency operations in shambles. New York City was forced into using an abandoned warehouse for emergency operations. Common sense has always indicated that these operations need to be preferably underground, hardened structures, without easy access to the public (remember the concrete barriers that were quickly placed surrounding Police headquarters and all such facilities after 911).

The Proposed Public Safety Tower even includes a large "public viewing gallery" around the 911 Center, a cafeteria, and even a600 seat public auditorium (larger than 90% of the worship centers in the city). Still the City Manager says the tower would be re-enforced to withstand attacks. He readily admits the greatly increased cost to (try) to re-enforce the upper floors against disaster. Such a tower cannot be protected from a single blow of a would-be terrorist. The City Manager needs to understand that he is paid by the taxpayers to work for them not to be an advocate for outlandish proposals.

As the former Emergency Management Director for Wake County and an emergency planner for the State of North Carolina, I was well aware that emergency operations need to be bunkered down. I observed such Operations Centers in many areas throughout the country and all were bunkered down. The current City/County 911 center is below ground. The State Emergency Operations Center is below ground and the new proposed State of North Carolina emergency operations center plan calls for it to be at a remote, well protected site.

Especially now, when the unemployment rate is the highest ever (11.2%), is not the time to participate in massive in-debt spending and tax increases such as that of the Federal government's huge deficit spending. The current Public Safety Center plan needs to be dumped and a new plan developed to provide adequacy and protection as needed not a let's outspend everyone else philosophy. It's time to start afresh to design an adequate, much needed facility without trying to out-do Dubai ... which, by the way, its' leaders have spent into bankruptcy by so doing. Just this past week that glass tower was closed down because of problems on the upper floors. It's time we learned a lesson from proven history.