Tea Party Net Radio Tonight

Join us tonight from 9 to 10PM for the Arkansas Unite Tea Party Call-in Radio Program for all the latest in Arkansas politics and government.

Lottery Jackpot

Far left and far right converge when it comes to our lofty state lottery. The Sheriff of Grant County gets hired as "Security Director" at a salary far in excess of the Chief of the State police. I don't have to complain about it, our friends on the far left at ArkTimes are doing an admirable job of it.

Test Results: Less Than Meets the Eye

Scores on several state-mandated tests rose over scores from previous years. While an increase in scores is better than a decline, there is less progress there than meets the eye. When the state department of education is the one in charge of evaluating the results of its own program, it is prudent to probe a little deeper. Developing.

Primary Opponent for Boozman?

Word in the NWA Tea Party movement is that Republican Congressman John Boozman will draw a Republican Primary opponent, and that this opponent is only weeks away from a formal announcement.

Conservatives have gone from frustrated to angry with Boozman over his strong support for the banker's bailout. The previous frustration came from his lack of accomplishments for conservative values- failing even to speak up for them effectively, much less get them into law. A district as conservative as the 3rd could certainly get a representative that would push their issues harder. Boozman's unflinching support of Bush policies, even big-government ones, have now back-lashed as loyalists watch their party both go left and lose ground.

I have never met the mystery candidate, but sources assure me that he has a very credible resume and for a non-corporate candidate, would be fairly well funded.

Retreat! Democrat-Gazette NWA Site Goes Subscription

It appears the Democrat-Gazette will now charge for access to its online NWA site. It makes me feel a little better when not even THEY can make internet writing turn a profit. What do you think of their retreat from the free digital field?

Palin Hints at Independent Conservative Movement

Sarah Palin was quoted in the Washington Times as saying, " “I will go around the country on behalf of candidates who believe in the right things, regardless of their party label or affiliation,” …

“People are so tired of the partisan stuff — even my own son is not a Republican,” said Mrs. Palin, who stunned the political world earlier this month with her decision to step down as governor July 26 with 18 months left in her term.

Hints of a Palin/Tea Party nexus? Time will tell.

On Highways

A blue ribbon committee on highways has decided their job is to drum up support for a tax increase.
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Rep. Mark Martin disagrees with the commission, and a synopsis of his points can be found here. I believe he is right as far as he goes, but I have a few minor comments on the issue of my own.

The Arkansas Highway Commission itself should be scrapped. It has served Arkansans very poorly. It mostly rewards big contributors with a chance to put highways where they think they should go rather than where the people really need them. In other words, politicos can reward those who backed them with determining how a billion dollars a year of public money is spent.

I remember when I lived in El Dorado many years ago. We all wanted a four lane to Little Rock. What we got was a new highway to Warren, because that was where the Commissioner from our area lived. That road does not get two percent of the traffic of the highway to Little Rock, and that road gets less traffic than many of the roads in NWA.

Governor Mike Beebe talked a good talk about how "the money should follow the cars" when he was a candidate, but he has done nothing to back up his words. The State Highway Commission regionalizes the revenue. It drives over-building of highways because every region of the state will demand a new highway in order for ANY region to get one. So an area with great needs has to agree to help build under-used highways in other areas of the state before it can get its own highway built under the current system.

Martin spoke of voters giving up on the current process and going to regional transit authorities. That is, they would vote for funding mechanisms for regional transit authorities but vote against any new schemes to pour more of their dollars into the wasteful ways of the State Highway Commission. That presumes people are educated enough to see what is going on. I want to make it part of my mission to inform them.

We should vote against ANY increase in taxes or change in taxes to increase revenues to the state until the structure of the commission itself is changed to one that does not encourage waste. If we need roads, use regional authorities and build our own. I know that violates what Frederic Bastiat called "the great fiction of government" where everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else. Too bad, that fiction is just that- a fiction. We don't get people from other parts of the state to pay for our roads unless we also build theirs, so no one comes out ahead under the current system and everyone loses because we over-build (except for the highest traffic areas where we under-build).

Our state is something like 9th in the nation in terms of state "highway" miles. That is ridiculous. Many of those highways are about as seldom traveled as a county road- which is what they should be classed as and how they should be funded. We give too big a proportion of our fuel tax dollar to the state and build too many of our road miles as "state" highways.

Hooray for the Volunteer State Again

I continue to be impressed by our neighbors to the east. I believe that many of our legislators could benefit from the "profiles in courage" of the Tennessee legislature. As I reported earlier, they overwhelmingly approved a sovereignty resolution which reprimanded the federal government for over-reach and usurpation of authority which rightfully belongs to the states. Then they defunded Planned Parenthood.

Now it appears that the Davidson County Sheriff's Office will continue to jail illegal aliens caught driving without a license even though the Feds are refusing to deport most of them.

A lot of us have been hit by illegal aliens. Typically, they don't have a license, and don't have insurance. Sometimes they just run. At any rate, they don't pay for damages. If you get hit by one, you have to eat it. And since they have no license, no one has even determined if they understand our signage and traffic laws well enough to even safely operate a motor vehicle.

The Federal government, while trying to control every other area of our life, is derelict in its duty to protect our border and keep us safe from illegal aliens who routinely operate outside of our laws. I am glad that many state and local governments are not waiting for federal permission before they perform the first duty of government (protection of innocent life and property). I just wish Arkansans could find it in their hearts to elect some more folks like that.

Tea Party Net Radio Tonight

A Panelists of Tea Party Activists from around the state discuss the latest issues and ideas with an emphasis on "Fix Arkansas First". Part of the mix- your calls.

Click here to catch the program from 9-10 PM tonight (archive available)

Why Wal-Mart Came Out For Government Health Care

Thomas Jefferson once said that the merchant has no country, that their loyalty is not so much to the ground on which their feet are standing as it is to their means of gain. Artificial legal persons, AKA "corporations", don't even have literal feet to place on the soil of a nation. Whatever the marketing hype, it is unrealistic and unwise to expect a corporation to stand up for the interests of a nation over and above their own interests.

Many people have expressed surprise that Wal-Mart has come out in support of government health care. I for one am not and I would like to explain why. Global corporations with significant assets in the United States of America (the term "American Corporations" is an inaccurate for such entities for the reason noted above) would love to off-load their health care costs unto the backs of American taxpayers. They would love to be able to cut back on the HR department staff that messes with health insurance. And they would love to be able to reduce compensation to their employees. That is why they have joined with socialists in our government to push for a further government takeover of health care.

Right now, if your company offers you health insurance they are paying for at least half of it, at least for the employee themselves. They also have costs associated with support staff for the paperwork involved. What if all that went away because "the government" was now providing health care? Would they take all of that money that they were using to pay for your health care and turn it into a huge wage or salary increase for you, or will they simply eliminate the benefit and pocket the money? You already know they will pocket every penny the can. This is nothing more than a back-door wage cut.

They want the costs to be born by forcing healthy people to buy insurance they don't need (under threat of a fine) and by making slaves of people in the medical profession by dictating what their compensation will be rather than letting the market decide. That latter move will insure a massive shortage of health care availability in years to come, but our crazed corporate and political rulers seem unable to see beyond the next election cycle/annual report to stockholders.

Is the United States a Christian Nation?

A portion of a photograph from page four of the U.S. Constitution
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John Brummett wrote another article about "is the U.S. a Christian nation?" His answer is an emphatic "no" and he demands honor for the rightness of his answer. Now when Brummett is right about something, its news. It is especially news when the subject is Christianity and Government, two subjects on which he demonstrates consistent ignorance.

In his latest, Brummett comes perilously close to being right and blowing a perfect record of obtuse cluelessness on the issue of God and Government. He may be no farther from the truth on it than some of his detractors who say we are a "Christian Nation". The root of that error is that our Founders were far more steeped in the knowledge of the scriptures and immersed more deeply in a Christian world-view than even most fundamentalist pastors today.

In the truest sense, you cannot have a "Christian Nation". Christianity is not strictly a religion, but a relationship with God based on faith and trust in Him. Right standing comes from His mercy rather than your own goodness. A Christian trusts what they understand His way to be rather than willfully insisting on their own way. A political structure can’t do that. Only individual people can have a personal relationship with a personal God. In that literal sense, our government is not a "Christian" government, nor can it be.

Many have tried to build an institution or government that is "Christian". Those institutions and governments invariably wind up being no closer or further from God than the hearts of the people who control them. The Founding Fathers were doubtless familiar with the words of Christ Himself on this issue. Luke 17:20 "Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’[d] For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

A sage once noted that Utopians dream in vain of "building a system so perfect that people will no longer have to be good". The God of the Bible is not so interested in building a top-down a governmental framework so perfect that no one will have to be good. His interest appears to be in individual hearts, that they might be so perfect that they don't need any outward government. He wants to build His Kingdom from the individual up. In the meantime, we must struggle as best we can to work out arrangements where we might peaceably and prosperously deal with one another.

While there cannot be, in the truest since of the word, a "Christian Nation", there most definitely can be a "Nation of Christians". And our nation was founded as such. Even though the signers of the Constitution were too wise to try to institutionalize Christianity into the highest rules of the government, they did record in that space where their hearts stood. On the final page of that document, just above where they affixed their own signatures, they testify that it was signed "In the year of our Lord one-thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven". They did not write into the text that this was to be a Christian nation, but they did write into the text that it was founded as a nation of Christians.

George Washington said that it was impossible to rightly govern a country without God and the Bible. History has proven him correct, free societies are mostly a Judeo-Christian by-product. The best governments in history have come from cultures that were steeped in Christianity. The loss in respect for our governments in recent times has coincided with the culture's drift away from Christianity.

John Adams noted "Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." The Constitution was not meant to impose Christianity on the populace. The Constitution instead was meant by the Christian men who signed it to provide freedom from government coercion. They did this in the fervent hope that the population would continue to choose Christianity, and in the certain belief that should they ever fail to do so they would lose their freedoms to an ever more tyrannical government.

Socialized Health Care Prompts a Trip to England

I had a very interesting conversation with my brother-in-law over the dinner table tonight. It seems that his company is paying a huge pile of money to send him to England later this month. He said they need someone to train new workers because, "the ones they originally hired are all out with swine flu and still have not even been able to see a doctor." When we expressed concern that HE might get swine flu if he went to an area where there was an epidemic he assured us that he would be all right. "I already went to see my doctor, and he gave me a vaccine".

I have heard of people coming hear for medical care because they can't wait for the rationing that always occurs under the socialized medicine. This was the first time I had heard of where healthy workers were called in from countries with relatively free-enterprise medical care because the original workers in a country with socialized medicine are still ill and unable to receive care.

How ironic that some people in this country fantastically believe that further socializing our medical system will result in something better than what we now have. My brother-in-law got to a doctor when he was still healthy, those poor guys in England can't get to one even though they are sick.