LIGHTHOUSE BLOG

Grant Woods' Selection Is Bizarre Choice For Brewer

Perennial politician and current Governor, Jan Brewer, announced her intention today to seek a full term as governor in next year's election.

Brewer has had difficulty appealing to the fiscal hawks of her party, and, with the selection of Grant Woods as her campaign's co-chairman, probably sealed her fate as Arizona's first female Republican governor never elected to her own term.

Grant Woods garners little respect in the Republican Party, a party he has almost left on several occasions.  About being a Republican, Woods stated, "I'm trying to remember why I became a Republican in the first place."

Woods was also instrumental in making sure Matt Salmon was not elected governor, thus installing Janet Napolitano, which resulted in the major economic catastrophe Arizona finds itself in today.

Brewer made a major misstep here if she was trying to heal her party.  Instead she apparently is trying to ride the coattails of New York 23 congressional candidate Dede Scuzzafava.

County Attorney's Office Responds to Bizarre Request from County Manager Smith

From the Maricopa County Attorney's Office:

Good afternoon

County Manager David Smith is demanding disclosure of any communication between several employees at the County Attorney’s Office and a number of media outlets including , The Arizona Republic, the East Valley Tribune, The New Times, several conservative web sites “or any other internet site or address.” A letter sent to a number of County Attorney employees also demands details of communications that happened during non work hours using personal computers. A copy of the letter is attached.  Download Smith letter

 

The move comes days after the Board of Supervisors stalled a criminal probe of county government by refusing to hire outside prosecutors while at the same time demanding that the County Attorney ’s Office not prosecute potential cases.

 

Among those receiving the letter is the Public Information Officer for the County Attorney ’s Office, whose job it is to communicate with the media.

Mike Scerbo and Barnett Lotstein are available for comment   

Also available for comment are two conservative bloggers targeted by county management.  Shane Wikfors, SonoranAlliance.com 480.332.3440   David Roney, CactusAlliance.com 480.443.8500 x101

Michael Anthony Scerbo

MCAO PIO

Office 602-506-3170

Cell    602-489-6913

Dana Kennedy says she will cut nothing from Phoenix budget

I attended a meeting yesterday where Dana Kennedy, Phoenix City Council candidate, spoke to a group of small business people.  The response to the speech was quite underwhelming, and only two people had questions for her.

The first question asked how she thinks she's different from her opponent, Sal DiCiccio.  Her answer was that he was a developer, and that she worked in the non-profit sector - essentially that they had different backgrounds.  There was no mention of their policy differences and experience for the position.

The second question referred back to her speech where she said Meals On Wheels, as well as after school programs, needed to continue to be funded by the city.  The question asked, paraphrasing, given that she believes Meals On Wheels and after school programs need to be provided by government, what 2-3 programs would she cut to balance the city budget? 

Kennedy's answer was that she would cut no programs.  She then launched into a monologue about how during tough economic times, it's more important than ever to keep libraries open as long as possible so people who are struggling can read.

Kennedy doesn't seem to have any answers for the financial woes of the city, and seems unable to muster up the courage to discontinue even one city program.  A liberal philosophy is not what we need in Phoenix ever, but especially in tough economic times.  The crowd apparently agreed.

Fry's Food Stores Fund Planned Parenthood Through Komen Foundation's Race For The Cure

Fry's Food Stores continues its 5 year partnership with the Susan G. Komen Foundation's Race for the Cure this year, hoping to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the dual purpose cancer "research" and Planned Parenthood fund-raising organization.

It has long been known that the Susan G. Komen Foundation has a strong partnership with Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, which was founded in an effort to eradicate minority children, among other things (see below).  Despite pleas from cancer patients and donors year after year to direct all cancer research money to find a cure, as Komen advertises, Komen continues to donate a portion of the "research" money to Planned Parenthood.  Planned Parenthood does no cancer research.

While Komen and Planned Parenthood claim none of the money goes directly toward abortions, but instead toward post-its, pencils, and other things, none of the money Komen gives to Planned Parenthood goes toward cancer research.  Essentially, Komen is lying to its donors, many of whom are victims of cancer struggling with their diseases while hoping for a cure.

Further, anyone who's ever run a budget knows that Komen's and Planned Parenthood's claims are a bogus shell game.  By funding office supplies, Planned Parenthood is free to allocate more funds for abortions.  Think of Saddam Hussein's Oil for Food Program.

Susan Komen's Foundation is tragically but legally free to raise money for Planned Parenthood if it so pleases, however, misleading donors that their money goes to cancer research is unconscionable, immoral, and should be illegal.

Fry's Food Stores is also free to raise funds for the Komen Foundation, but we are free to not shop there.  

___________________________

Quotes from Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood:

On blacks, immigrants and indigents:
“…human weeds,’ ‘reckless breeders,’ ’spawning… human beings who never should have been born.”  Margaret Sanger, Pivot of Civilization, referring to immigrants and poor people

On sterilization & racial purification:
Sanger believed that, for the purpose of racial “purification,” couples should be rewarded who chose sterilization. Birth Control in America, The Career of Margaret Sanger, by David Kennedy, p. 117, quoting a 1923 Sanger speech.

On the right of married couples to bear children:
Couples should be required to submit applications to have a child, she wrote in her “Plan for Peace.” Birth Control Review, April 1932

On the purpose of birth control:
The purpose in promoting birth control was “to create a race of thoroughbreds,” she wrote in the Birth Control Review, Nov. 1921 (p. 2)

On the rights of the handicapped and mentally ill, and racial minorities:
“More children from the fit, less from the unfit — that is the chief aim of birth control.” Birth Control Review, May 1919, p. 12

On the extermination of blacks:
“We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population,” she said, “if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.” Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America, by Linda Gordon

On respecting the rights of the mentally ill:
In her “Plan for Peace,” Sanger outlined her strategy for eradication of those she deemed “feebleminded.” Among the steps included in her evil scheme were immigration restrictions; compulsory sterilization; segregation to a lifetime of farm work; etc. Birth Control Review, April 1932, p. 107

And finally:

“The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” Margaret Sanger, Women and the New Race (Eugenics Publ. Co., 1920, 1923)  (*Quote collection compiled and available at dianedew.com)

Most of us will never forget...

 

Republic Comments on Senator Gorman Idiotic

The Arizona Republic chastised Arizona State Senator Pamela Gorman yesterday for failed leadership when she was Senate Majority Whip.  Yet not two sentences later, they chastise her for not "being a team player."  Huh?

A person who is a leader is by definition not a team player.  Leaders lead, followers are team players.  That the Republic doesn't get this is not surprising, but to be so obviously inept is embarrassing. 

The Republic, always in favor of liberal "ideals," more likely just wanted to throw a few arrows at Gorman because its writers don't understand principled leadership. 

Lighthouse Blog applauds the leadership or Senators Gorman, Gould & Crump for leading the charge against tax increases in the face of intense pressure from political lemmings.

Is Sam Wercinski Using ADRE Mailing List to Promote SOS Campaign?

I received an email from Sam Wercinski today, former AZ Real Estate Commissioner, announcing his campaign for AZ Secretary of State.  Two things are interesting.  One is that it came to my business email address, which is on file with the Arizona Department of Real Estate.  Two, I am not on any Democrat campaign list.  Sam is a Democrat, and a former Napolitano Appointment.  Thus, the questions arise, is Mr. Wercinski using the Arizona Department of Real Estate email list to promote his campaign?  If so, is that not an ethical violation, and perhaps against the law?

Lighthouse Blog will look deeper into this story.

Hypocrisy at Basha's?

Eddie Basha is running around the state begging Arizonan's to support his homegrown company.  The company has apparently been hit with hard times due to people no longer eating during the economic downturn.  Or it could be mismanagement, we're not sure. 

Many other business leaders, including Ira Fulton, whose company also filed for bankruptcy, are helping in the drive to keep Basha's alive.  The rallying cry is essentially, help your neighbor and save one of our own by shopping at the Arizona-based supermarket.

Today the Arizona Republic reported that Basha's has hired an ILLINOIS-based real estate company to help renegotiate it's leases at its supermarkets. Are there no Arizona-based real estate consultants?  So much for supporting Arizona based businesses.  This reeks of hypocrisy.

Pamela Gorman - Arizona's Sarah Palin?

State Senator Pamela Gorman seems to be caught in a Sarah Palin conundrum regarding the state budget - follow your conscience and do what's right for your constituents, and what they elected you to do, or bow to political pressure and be a party lemming.  Admirably, Gorman is standing up to the pressure, and refusing to agree to a tax increase.  Either way though, she will be chastised.

Senator Gorman showed similar Palin-like courage by resigning her post earlier this month as the Senate Majority Whip, as a matter of principle.  Principle is so rarely seen anymore, that political critics of both women have labeled them quitters and cowards.  Yet they simply do not, or chose to not, know these women.

Gorman and Palin seem to have many similarities, and it's a compliment to both.  Both are savvy politicians, conservative, very attractive, pro-life, successful career women, wives and mothers - the exact formula for eliciting extreme hatred from the vice-ridden left, and the confused middle.  Nothing is more evil, from he perspective of the left, than a pro-life mom with a successful career.   George Bush had it easy compared to what Sarah Plain has endured.

While I have disagreed with both women on a few issues in the past, I applaud the resolve of both.  In the face of intense scrutiny and pressure, both Palin and Gorman have proven that conscience, principle and character do matter. Kudos to them, and the people they serve.

Pan Am 103...Remembering a Family Friend

I remember well when Pan Am 103 was eviscerated in the air just before Christmas, on 21 December 1988.  The brother of my brother's friend was on that flight, and his parents lived just down the street from mine.  Out of respect for their privacy, I'll call him Jack, but that's not his real name.

Jack was coming back from a business trip in Frankfurt.  Typically he'd fly straight to Detroit, but this trip was different.  It was Christmas, and he wanted to see his daughter.  So he hopped a different plane to go see his daughter, who lived in New York.    In trying to see his daughter, he was tragically and viciously prevented from ever seeing her again. Cowards stole him from his family and his precious daughter.

Here's a a description of what the passengers likely experienced, from Wikipedia:

A Scottish Fatal Accident Inquiry, which opened on 1 October 1990, heard that, when the cockpit broke off, tornado-force winds tore through the fuselage, tearing clothes off passengers and turning insecurely-fixed items like food and drink trolleys into lethal objects. Because of the sudden change in air pressure, the gases inside the passengers' bodies would have expanded to four times their normal volume, causing their lungs to swell and then collapse. People and objects not fixed down would have been blown out of the aircraft into the −46 °C (−50.8 °F) outside air, their 31,000-foot (9,400 m) fall lasting about two minutes.^{[13][page needed]} Some passengers remained attached to the fuselage by their seat belts, crashing in Lockerbie strapped to their seats.^{[citation needed]}

Although the passengers would have lost consciousness through lack of oxygen, forensic examiners believe some of them might have regained consciousness as they fell toward oxygen-rich lower altitudes. Forensic pathologist Dr William G. Eckert, director of the Milton Helpern International Center of Forensic Sciences at Wichita State University, who examined the autopsy evidence, told Scottish police he believed the flight crew, some of the flight attendants, and 147 other passengers survived the bomb blast and depressurization of the aircraft, and may have been alive on impact. None of these passengers showed signs of injury from the explosion itself, or from the decompression and disintegration of the aircraft.^{[citation needed]}

That Christmas Eve, as many in the neighborhood went to Mass to celebrate the Birth of Jesus, Jack's family sat in the front row near us in the small chapel in the Detroit suburb, the sadness on their faces indescribable.  Yet in their sadness they found the strength to carry up the gifts to the awaiting priest.  At 20 years old, that moment had a profound affect on me.  It proved that despite tragedy, faith can redeem us and fill us with grace. 

I recently met the son of another victim of that flight.  As a result of losing his dad, Billy, I'll call him, had a tough time moving forward and went through a dark period for several years.  He's doing well now, but his story reminds us all that there are many living victims of that flight, many who still suffer greatly for their losses of 21 years ago.

I can't imagine what Jack's family or Billy's family are thinking knowing one of the cowards responsible was released from prison yesterday, but I know I'm disgusted by the "compassion" received by the cowardly murderer.  Yet I can take some solace in knowing that justice will be God's, and it will be eternal.  No, Pan Am 103 will never be forgotten.

PV Mayor Vernon Parker's Federal Issues Are Not

Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker is testing the waters for a gubernatorial run in Arizona.  Quick to oppose him are some politicos who would rather crush a potentially strong candidate than learn the truth.

Mr. Parker has been accused by the Small Business Administration's Office of Inspector General for falsifying documents while applying to be a minority or disadvantaged business.  The claim is that he was still a employee, while Parker says he was not.  Yet the Arizona Republic article which many site as proof of guilt says he ceased being an employee and became a consultant on March 11, 2006.  That same article claims he was awarded the SBA certification on June 8,2006, nearly three months AFTER he ceased being an employee.  Now, it does appear he may have submitted his application while still an employee, but that hardly seems to qualify as a criminal act.  Most people I know don't quit jobs until they have a new one.  Moreover, anyone who can fill out any federal form without error should be committed somewhere. 

Mayor Parker denies the charges against him and has retained counsel.

Regarding the claims that some are making that he was not a minority or disadvantaged, well, he is obviously considered a minority by government standards.  As far as disadvantaged goes, his company had only been formed 11 days prior to his applying for certification, according to the article.  Having started several businesses, I can assure you that at the 11 day stage, a company can hardly be considered advantaged, especially when it hadn't acquired its first client yet.

Some detractors claim his company wasn't qualified for the SBA certification because Mr. Parker lives in Paradise Valley.  The assertion is ridiculous, and reeks of class envy.  It also is reveals that some people are frightened by Mr. Parker's candidacy.

There is much more to this story, and Mr. Parker is entitled to be heard, and to have his day in court.  This conservative blogger will remain open minded and will look at the facts, not make hasty judgments based on a single news story.  I for one am happy to see so many well qualified candidates testing the waters to lead our state.

Are Democrats Profiting From "Climate Change" Fear

Report: Climate Change Could Warrant U.S. Military Action

Climate change will pose profound challenges to the United States in the coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with its effects, The New York Times reported, citing military and intelligence analysts.  More...

Save the Phoenix Coyotes!!!

On the heals of a great Stanley Cup playoff, it has become apparent that Phoenix is indeed a hockey town.  More and more people are interested in hockey in Phoenix each year.

I have lived in a couple of great hockey towns - Detroit and Denver - and though Phoenix isn't quite yet in their caliber in terms of fan base, that will come with both time, and an owner who knows what he's doing.

The Coyotes have had difficulty in Phoenix due mostly to poor ownership decisions.  One major mistake was putting the arena in Glendale, far from the sports center of the metro area. 

Having the arena in Glendale cut our attendance in half, not so much because of the distance but because of the fact my kids are young and we couldn't watch a complete game AND drive home in any kind of reasonable time on a school night.  Though the arena will stay in Glendale, my kids will not stay young.  They watched the Red Wings lose last night, unfortunately, but were glued to the TV with interest in the game.  Up until the bankruptcy issue came about, we were already planning to attend more games next year.

Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the US, and can easily sustain a profitable hockey team given smart decisions from the owners.  We have lacked that heretofore.

I really hope the bankruptcy judge, and the NHL, will give Phoenix fans another chance to prove themselves, in Phoenix, under new ownership.  (Perhaps we need to do a white-out at the courthouse!?!?!)   In any case, we deserve a second chance, and so do the Coyotes!!!!!!

Jacobs fired from KFYI

In my 8 years in Phoenix, nothing has brought me greater radio joy than the firing of Bruce Jacobs from KFYI radio.

Jacobs, a poorly informed host on his best day, was a vehement anti-Catholic bigot who expressed his desire for the Church to cease to exist.

With the exception of Rush, I refused to listen to KFYI, and said so in many letters, until Jacobs was put to pasture. He's gone, and the world is a better place. Good riddance!!!

Party of Purity vs. Party of Anything Goes

Republicans have taken flak lately for being willing to lose Colin Powell as a Republican.  Good riddance, many say, since Powell supported Obama and has questionable Republican values.

Republicans are usually willing to kick fallen members from their ranks in an effort to retain a purified ideological core.  In essence, if you're not acting like a Republican, Republicans say, why should you be allowed to call yourself one and confuse the public?

Such was the case with the recent Republican Congress, who was booted from office for ignoring the principled values that got them elected in the first place.   They gave Republicans and fiscal responsibility a bad name.

On the flip side you have the Democrats, who are truly a party of anything is acceptable as long as your check clears.  There are few real lasting principles associated with the Democrat Party, save for the negative ones of high taxes, abortion on demand, weak on defense, and fiscally irresponsible government.  Sure, Democrats favor some good things, but in the end they support whatever keeps them in power.

A good example is how they took control of Congress in 2006, promising to have the troops home in mere weeks.  Three years later, liberal President Obama is putting MORE troops in harms way, and the liberal-controlled Congress lifts nary an eyebrow in opposition.

So too does it go with President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Sonya Sotomayor, who has questionable qualifications for such an important position.  Her own recorded statements about her nationality making her more qualified, and that judges make policy, should make her questionable to anyone.  Add to that her statements that the 2nd Amendment does not allow for individual gun ownership, and we should all be up in arms - Democrats and Republicans alike.

However, she is expected to win confirmation in the Senate easily - not because people thinks she's anywhere near the best candidate - but because politicians are too afraid to oppose a Hispanic woman.  That's frightening to me.  Regardless if she is the first one-armed, red-headed, albino Eskimo, she should be evaluated on her qualifications, not ethnicity.

So what we have are Republicans who strive perhaps to deep into the ideological purity pool, and perhaps lose some good men like Powell, and Democrats, who are willing to put up with anything as long as there is political gain. 

Republicans would do well to remember Reagan's line that someone who agrees with you 80% of the time is your friend.  Democrats would benefit from actually standing for something by opposing poor choices once in a while.  Sotomayor is hardly the best choice for the Supreme Court, and Democrats should, for a change, put substance above symbolism. 

Wife of Arizona Treasurer Dies After Childbirth

Please pray for the Martins. They are simply wonderful people and are very deserving of all the thoughts and prayers we can send their way during this terribly sad time. 

Click.

Andrew Thomas Takes on Planned Parenthood - Planned Parenthood Admits It Doesn't Understand Statutory Rape

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

May 20, 2009

 

For more information contact:

Mike Anthony Scerbo, Public Information Officer

(602) 506-3170 (office) or (602) 489-6913 (cell)

 

County

Attorney

Calls on Abortion Clinics to Report Sexual Abuse of Minors                       

Videotapes of Activities at Planned Parenthood Facilities at Issue

 

In response to recent events at local Planned Parenthood clinics, County Attorney Andrew Thomas is publicly calling on Planned Parenthood to report sexual abuse of minors to law enforcement and to train and instruct all staff members to do so.  Thomas has taken this action after an adult, posing as a 15-year-old impregnated by a much-older adult, visited two Planned Parenthood clinics and was offered an abortion for a fee at both facilities.  The encounters with Planned Parenthood were videotaped at two Phoenix Planned Parenthood Offices.

 

Under state law, A.R.S. § 13-3620, medical professionals, such as doctors and nurses, as well as people who are responsible for the care or treatment of a minor are required to report instances of sex crimes or abuse in which the victim is a minor.  Thomas is recommending that new legislation be passed to make clear the statute applies to nonprofessional employees and workers at medical or abortion clinics, such as clerical and triage staff, not just licensed medical professionals.

 

Thomas stated, “Medical professionals are required to notify law enforcement when they learn a child has been the victim of sexual abuse.  That obligation applies to those working at Planned Parenthood.  Planned Parenthood should honor the letter as well as the spirit of the law by plainly instructing their employees to report alleged sexual abuse of minors to the proper authorities, and by making sure these instructions are followed.”

 

Just prior to the release of these videos to the local news media, Planned Parenthood contacted the Phoenix Police Department and inquired about whether they could receive training on these matters.  The

County

Attorney

’s Office has notified Phoenix Police that prosecutors from its Sex Crime Bureau would be available and willing to fulfill this request in coordination with Phoenix Police.  However, Planned Parenthood has not responded to follow-up calls from Phoenix Police regarding this request for training.

 

 

 

AZ Republican Bloggers Killing The Party

I can't help but comment on the unnecessary destruction of the party, and people within it, as a result of petty, gotcha style politics at the hands of some perhaps well meaning, but woefully misdirected Republican bloggers.

My fellow bloggers would be wise to learn from past media mistakes that have proven that the first to post is usually the most wrong.  Just look at any major news story in the last few years.  The first news agency to jump on the air was usually wrong.  Sure, in mediums that require ratings, they have little choice.  Bloggers, on the other hand, have the ability to take the time to get stories right.

All of the bloggers I'm referring to presumably have respect for Conservative commentators such as George Will, William Buckley Sr. (RIP), Fred Barnes, and the list goes on and on.  The bloggers also have respect from radio talk show hosts such as Limbaugh, Medved and Hewitt.  Yet none of the aforementioned have websites and blogs which present breaking news.  Instead, they investigate and get the stories correct before writing stories and taking to the airwaves.

I tell my 8 and 6 year that in class, it's not the kid who raises his/her hand first who gets the highest grade, it's the kid who gets each answer right.  Thus, it's far more important to be right than it is first.

Republicans, but especially Conservatives, are supposed to be the party of ideas.  Of late, we've employed the liberal methods of personal destruction to elevate ourselves as individuals.  We need to go back to working together to elevate the party.  As Ronald Reagan said, a person who agrees with me 80% of the time is my friend.  We need to attack the liberal socialist ideas being put forth in America. For as the Republican infighting moves us backwards, socialism roles on.

Obama Nominees: Ethnics Over Ethics?

Obama has yet another nonimation scandal on his hands.  One has to wonder whether, when he proclaimed ethics would lead his administration, he didn't mean ethnics.  By ethnics, I am not referring to race, but instead the liberal culture which is so often corrupted by power, influence, and a lack of values. So many of his appointees have had problems with the law, that one can't help but wonder about the derth of scandal free liberals.   Read story...

Journalistic Fellacio

The questions asked of President Obama at last night's press conference were nothing short of journalistic fellacio.

For example, a New York Times reporter asked Mr. Obama to describe his most "enchanting moment" at the White House. That's a question befitting a sycophant trying to live vicariously more than it is a news journalist.

And today's stories about the media event were no less, well, stimulating to the President, as he was compared to Jack Kennedy and given a score of 100 by another media outlet.

Was there any substance last night? Those who didn't watch may never know for sure unless they turn to fair and balanced news sources for details.

In any event, the press fawning over President Obama continues. No doubt former President Clinton feels envious of the exercise, and Monica Lewinski like a trend setter.

Banks Ignoring Short Sale Offers, or Exhibiting Extreme Incompetence

In the last several months, I have submitted four short sale offers to Citibank and Countrywide.  Despite having fax receipts, the banks claim they never received the documents, several times.  And on another occasion, Countrywide, having waited several months to review the documents, decided the documents were too old and needed to be re-created, including the offer itself.  Huh?

Citibank, for its part, completely ignored a short sale offer for nearly five months, at which time the buyers walked.   Two more short sale offers submitted to Citibank have not been responded to by the bank.  One of those buyers is about to walk away.

Countrywide has been sitting on an offer for nearly six months.  When I called the buyer's agent the other day to check in, the agent told me that the buyer was walking becuase the buyer beleived that the home's value had dropped below his offer price. 

On one of the many calls I placed to Citibank, where the documents, though sent three times, "had not been received," I asked if the documents could be emailed in.  The response was that documents could only be faxed.  When asked if I could communicate directly with the person in charge of that particular property, I was told no.  And on that same call, when asked what was the current status of the short sale, the phone representative said she "could not interpret the notes."  I asked the same representative just how I was supposed to get information if I couldn't speak to the person in charge of the account, and the representative couldn't interpret the notes.  She didn't know.

Early last year I had an opportunity to sell a few dozen builder properties for $.85 on the dollar.  The banks, not Citi or Countrywide in this case, would not go for the deal.  They later sold the same properties for much less. 

Working with Citibank and Countrywide has been a nightmare.  Neither bank appears interested in working with their mortgagees to keep their homes, and neither is willing to sell the properties to a buyer.  Yet the federal government has dumped billions into these banks.

It seems to me that if the economic downturn started in the housing market, then that's where the government should focus its attention.  President Bush was right when he said last fall that the feds have the patience to buy up properties, as it did with the Resolution Trust Corporation back in the '80s, and wait for the market to improve.  To date, I haven't seen the government doing that, despite the enormous success of the RTC program in terms of profit for taxpayes.

It don't know the exact solution, but it seems apparent that banks are working neither in thier own best interests, nor that of the taxpayers or homeowners.  The feds, for their part, seem to be focusing on sysmptooms of the housing mess, and not on the problem itself. 

In the meantime, lives are being destroyed.

Queen Of Consumption Admonishes Brewer For Not Knowing How To Make Cuts

Jana Bommersbach, in the recent issue of Phoenix Magazine, lambastes Jan Brewer for not knowing what cuts to make to balance the budget.  It's hilarious that the personification of not knowing when to stop thinks she can give our Governor advice.  Like calories consumed and calories burned, tax revenue must balance with spending.  Being out of balance creates bloat. 

Phoenix Bishop Admonishes Notre Dame President in Letter

Dear Fr. Jenkins,

I am saddened and heavy of heart about your decision to invite President Obama to speak at Notre Dame University and even to receive an honorary degree.

It is a public act of disobedience to the Bishops of the United States.  Our USCCB June 2004 Statement "Catholics in Political Life" states: "The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles.  They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."  No one could not know of the public stands and actions of the president on key issues opposed to the most vulnderable human beings.

John Paul II said, "Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights - for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture - is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with the maximum determination."

I pray that you come to see the grave mistake of your decision, and the way that it undercuts the Church's proclamation of the Gospel of Life in our day.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted
Diocese of Phoenix

Notre Dame Petition Getting Huge Response

The petition to stop the scandal of having abortion advocate and embryo testing advocate Barack Obama from speaking at the Notre Dame graduation is averaging 1130 signatures per hour.  If you haven't signed it yet, please do so here.

It is critically important that Notre Dame, one of the nation's premier Catholic university, stay true to its faith and reject those who seek to undermine it.

University of Notre Dame Asks Pro-Abortion, Pro Embryo Killing President Obama To Give Commencement

I sit here stunned.  I am a life long Catholic, and a practicing one at that. I am also a life long Notre Dame fan, particularly football. 

Right now, I can barely put my disappointment to words that ND has invited the most pro-choice, anti child, anti embryo president in modern history to give its commencement speech.  And, right on the heals of Obama's outrageous remark about the developmentally disabled and the Special Olympics.

If it were some kind of debate, I would understand the invitation.  As it stands, having a heartless president address a crowd of Catholics at a commencement is nothing short of completely disgraceful. 

My dad, an ND '43 graduate who went straight to the Big One upon graduation, is lucky to be suffering from dementia today.