For those of you in California, you can't help but have heard of the latest idea to suspend Prop. 98 funding for education.  The big secret, at least with legislative opponents, unions and the media, is that the funds for education that would be lost in this temporary suspension would be largely made up by the Federal stimulus funds.  The Governor knew this when he proposed the suspension. 

 

This is a smart plan for California.  The state gets to divert money to help the rest of the state budget, and the schools do not loose valuable funding in the short term, because the Federal government has already forwarded the money through the stimulus package (don't get me started on what I think about the stimulus; I am writing this post specifically as it relates to the needs of CA).

 

The other big secret about the school funding through Prop. 98 is that it is directly tied to the state's revenue, which has been FALLING dramatically the past few years.  The percentage set aside for education is not the same in dollars each year because of the decline of state income.  As California continues to become a pure welfare state and businesses and productive citizens contintue to take flight, education funding will continue to suffer.  The Governor's plan to suspend Prop. 98 funding will acutally stabilize the education budget in the short term. 

 

Of course, in the long term, as long as California continues to tax companies out of business and act as a sanctuary state for non-producers, public education here is doomed to failure. 

Is it just me, or is it not legal to murder another person?  Listening to the proponents of proposed Hate Crime legislation, I, as a white man, apparently have the opportunity to kill non-whites and not be punished under existing laws.  To the rescue, the Federal Government and Hate Crime laws.  Now, if I, as a white man, kill a non-white, I will be prosecuted for hate.  The actual crime of murder, I suppose, will still be under review.

The idiocy of this proposal smacks of racism and a lack of understanding of how existing laws and subsequent punishments have been ignored in our society.  Perhaps if we, as a free thinking society, had not allowed our criminal judicial system to be overrun with defense attorneys allowed to pervert the system in aid of guilty clients, the sheep that constitute the majority of our population would not be so easily conned into more invasive governance.  Guilty of murder?  Death or life in prison.  No extenuating circumstances.  No special priorities based on social class or race.  Did the defendant knowingly kill the victim?  If the jury decides in the affirmative, there should be one simple penalty. 

Think of the streamlining the judicial system would experience if every case were established with one simple rule - did the defendant commit the crime?  Crime and punishment should not be concerned with WHY a crime was committed; only IF a crime was committed. 

Recent examples of people forgoing their own independence in favor of relying on the government to provide to all elements of existence abound in American culture today.  The recent trend in airing idiotic 911 calls from people who have no clue about what our Founding Fathers meant to establish as a country relatively free of government regulation and daily intervention are perfect examples.  A fast food chain not having enough chicken nuggets does not constitute an emergency.  Your cows escaping your property does not constitute an emergency.  There are local law enforcement numbers, which police and sherrif departments would rather you use in all cases in which there is no immediate threat to human life.  Unfortunately, people are so brainwashed by the idea that the government should automatically provide for every service imaginable, most have no clue what does and does not constitute an emergency.

 

Another case against independent thought in America came to me while I was watching the news this weekend.  I caught a story about a man who had sold gravesites to people in cemetaries, but then turned out not to have any actual affiliation with the cemetaries in question.  Authorities had arrested the man and were working on the list of charges for which to penalize him.  At the end of the story, the anchor, a perfect example of the thoughtless types they put on television to inform the rest of us, actually comments that there should be some kind of government agency to provide oversight against these kinds of crimes.  Sure, create another government beuracracy, or, hey, how about another Czar for Obama.  The Department of Cemetary Plot Assurance.  Good plan. 

 

I have a better plan.  How about WE take care of local problems.  I bet if some townfolk got together and hung the amoral creep in the town square, there would be fewer people willing to rip people off for grave sites.  Okay, so that goes a little too far back in terms of a polite society, but surely we can allow the local law enforcement and justice system to deal with the criminal charges without creating a new power of federal government oversite.

Forget the GOP.  Most of the power-borkers in this broken party have already begun their misguided debunking of Sarah Palin.  So, under attack from the party of "Next in Line" because she isn't, the Governor should take the initiative to create a new, conservative, independent, viable third party.  I envision Governor Palin as a modern Teddy Roosevelt (sample quote from TR - "The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight."), so why not reincarnate the Bull Moose Party?

 

Okay, so maybe only Bull Moose as a catchy name, though the American Progressive Party has retained the name and hijacked the platform.  In its day, the Bull Moose Party was progressive, though today would seem mild in comparison with the status quo of goverment programs.

 

The idea is that Sarah Palin is in a perfect position to make a viable break from the GOP and create a real third party to combat the stagnancy in our political structure.  In terms of a working platform, probably she would fit in more with the current Constitution Party, which has been marginalized by regional differences.  Perhaps she can reinvigorate the national base and bring it out of the shadows.

  

Plus, for added fun with liberals, how about a Palin - Gingrich ticket for 2012.  We may actually see liberals around the country spontaneously combust with frustrated hate!

In the days after 9/11, my hopes were high.  I was, as every American, still recovering from the shock of the terrorist attacks on our country.  However, I fully expected our government to unite and take action that would not only ensure our security, but make positive advancements in American culture.

 

1.  End Dependence on ALL Foreign Energy:

 

The President proclaims we will end all imports of foreign oil and any other energy sources within the decade.  We immediately expand domestic drilling, build more refineries, more nuclear power plants, and the government steps in to push real incentives for average Americans to be able to afford new power technology vehicles.  We stop sending money to third world thugs and reinvest that money in American ingenuity.  We become energy independent by 2010 and the world is a better place for our energy technology advancements.

 

2.  End ALL Immigration:

 

The President proclaims that the American border and all foreign immigration is closed for a period of two years.  All visa applications are returned unprocessed.  No new visa or citizenship applications are accepted.  The Mexican border is reinforced, illegal aliens are deported immediately from our prisons and streets to their countries of origins, and businesses hiring illegal aliens are exposed and fined.  We take the two years of zero immigration (including an end to federal immigration of groups claiming asylum of any kind) to stabilize and relieve the pressure on our healthcare, law enforement and public education systems.  In 2003, we begin allowing applications for immigration to the United States, based on standards established that require future citizens to arrive with a viable trade skill and be free of all communicable diseases.  Visas are limited and monitored.  The world is a better place because the infrastructure of America is stronger and more stable, allowing us to share our resources with those truly in need.

 

3.  Fight Terrorism, Foreign and DOMESTIC

 

The President takes action directly against all terrorist groups, including those plaguing our inner cities, the street gangs.  Local police are aided in their efforts to eliminate the threat to our impovershed communities by federal agencies all geared toward eliminating violence against U.S. citizens.  Gang members are made persona non grata in our country.  They are arrested and processed on site, expelled from our schools, hounded into the shadows.  Citizens are empowered to take back their communities and build strong family units.

 

All three of these policies would build upon the other.  A stronger economy would increase end the demand for slave labor from illegal immigrants, which would in turn reduce drastically the number of criminals harrassing our streets, and so forth and so on.

 

Obviously, in retrospect, this all seems so simple and clear.  However, I write this as my first blog as a point of reference to my personality, since these are all things I fully expected to happen in the days following September 11th, 2001.  As we move through this presidential election season, the candidate that will get my vote will be the one that comes closest to embodying these policies.

 

More to come on  regular basis.