
 |
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon With its colorful cache of purples and oranges and reds, COLLARD GREEN SLAW is a marvelous mood booster --- not to mention just downright delish
April 18, 2014
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Clarifying one of the greatest philosophical conundrums in theology
John Ericson: Trying hard to be 'positive' but never succeeding? Blame Your Brain
The Kosher Gourmet by Julie Rothman Almondy, flourless torta del re (Italian king's cake), has royal roots, is simple to make, . . . but devour it because it's simply delicious
April 14, 2014
Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer: Passover frees us from the tyranny of time
Eric Schulzke: First degree: How America really recovered from a murder epidemic
Georgia Lee: When love is not enough: Teaching your kids about the realities of adult relationships
Gordon Pape: How you can tell if your financial adviser is setting you up for potential ruin
Dana Dovey: Up to 500,000 people die each year from hepatitis C-related liver disease. New Treatment Has Over 90% Success Rate
Justin Caba: Eating Watermelon Can Help Control High Blood Pressure
April 11, 2014
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Silence is much more than golden
Susan Swann: How to value a child for who he is, not just what he does
Susan Scutti: A Simple Blood Test Might Soon Diagnose Cancer
Chris Weller: Have A Slow Metabolism? Let Science Speed It Up For You
April 9, 2014
Jonathan Tobin: Why Did Kerry Lie About Israeli Blame?
Samuel G. Freedman: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Jessica Ivins: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Matthew Mientka: How Beans, Peas, And Chickpeas Cleanse Bad Cholesterol and Lowers Risk of Heart Disease
April 8, 2014
Dana Dovey: Coffee Drinkers Rejoice! Your Cup Of Joe Can Prevent Death From Liver Disease
Chris Weller: Electric 'Thinking Cap' Puts Your Brain Power Into High Gear
April 4, 2014
Amy Peterson: A life of love: How to build lasting relationships with your children
John Ericson: Older Women: Save Your Heart, Prevent Stroke Don't Drink Diet
John Ericson: Why 50 million Americans will still have spring allergies after taking meds
Sarah Boesveld: Teacher keeps promise to mail thousands of former students letters written by their past selves
April 2, 2014
Dan Barry: Should South Carolina Jews be forced to maintain this chimney built by Germans serving the Nazis?
Frank Clayton: Get happy: 20 scientifically proven happiness activities
Susan Scutti: It's Genetic! Obesity and the 'Carb Breakdown' Gene
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Dec. 16, 2008
/ 19 Kislev 5769
Santa Claus government
By
Cal Thomas
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Most children have probably finished their Christmas lists to Santa Claus. Some elected officials, however, are still compiling theirs.
Close behind Detroit's wish list comes a long one from America's mayors.
Last Monday, the U.S. Conference of Mayors sent its list of wishes to the political equivalent of Santa Claus: Congress. The mayors apparently figure with all the talk from President-elect Obama about infrastructure repair and job creation, they might as well try to pile onto Santa's lap, too.
The mayors claim the economy will be stimulated if their wishes are granted. What do they want? The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) has analyzed the 72-page list. Here are some of the lowlights.
-
$1.102 billion in projects involving sidewalks;
$1 million for annual sewer rehabilitation in Casper, Wyo. (emphasis mine);
-
$6.1 million for corporate hangars, parking lots, and a business apron at the Fayetteville, Ark., airport.
-
15 projects with the term "stadium" in them, including a $150 million Metromover extension to the Florida Marlins' baseball stadium; and
-
81 projects mentioning "landscaping" and/or beautification efforts.
Kristina Rasmussen, NTU's director of government affairs, offers more analysis of the mayors' report on NTU's blog: "Total cost of the wish list is $73,163,299,303. They claim this will create an estimated 847,641 jobs in 2009 and 2010. Divide that out, and you get a cost to taxpayers of $86,314 per job. Not exactly a great deal."
| FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO INFLUENTIAL NEWSLETTER |
| Every weekday NewsAndOpinion.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonists regularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here. |
|
No, it is not a great deal in that sense, but it is a great deal ... of money, not that this matters these days with hundreds of billions being tossed around as if it were confetti. But who's counting? Certainly not Congress; Congress has opened the purse strings faster than a bank teller faced with Willie Sutton's stick-up gun.
Here's one proposal I especially like: $1,500,000 for an initiative in Dayton, Ohio for the "Reduce Prostitution-Off the Streets Program." The proposed spending would "connect individuals involved in prostitution with resources to leave a life of prostitution." I guess Ronald Reagan was right when he observed, "It has been said that politics is the second-oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first."
The Beach Boys might like this one: "$6,000,000: Ventura, Calif., Water Surfers Point Improvements." "This project is to protect the beach with natural buried cobble stone, create sand dunes over the buried cobble, relocate, and rebuild the State Owned Omer Rains beach front bike path, and construct parking lot and drainage."
Where in the Constitution is there authorization for such spending?
Government can always find new ways to spend our money. That's because it's not government's money. Does government ever ask if the public approves of such pork barrel spending? Does it ever ask us if we have enough money? No, government tells us how much of our money it intends to let us keep. Instead, shouldn't we be telling government how much of our money we will allow government to spend?
Democrats, especially, used to talk about "mortgaging our future" by irresponsible spending. Now the Congress is behaving like a bank gone wild, handing out money to almost anyone that asks for it with few strings and no sense attached.
The so-called "jobs" the mayors claim will be created will only last for a brief time. Then what? Those who take them are likely to be back where they were when the projects are finished: out of work and waiting for the next government rescue.
Read the entire wish list here.
Congress should say "no" to the mayors. Given the attitude in Washington these days and a Democratic president about to take office with a bigger Democratic congressional majority that is unlikely to happen.
The question ought not to be how we get prostitutes off the streets in Dayton, but how we retire them in Congress.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
| BUY THE BOOK |
| Click HERE to purchase it at a discount. (Sales help fund JWR.). |
|
Cal Thomas Archives JWR contributor Cal Thomas is co-author with Bob Beckel, a liberal Democratic Party strategist, of "Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America". Comment by clicking here.
© 2006, Tribune Media Services, Inc.
|
|
Columnists
Toons
Lifestyles
|