Washington politicians have worked themselves into a fine lather lately debating spending cuts, yet the real spending debate is being ignored. Nothing can save entitlements — at least not as they are currently configured. That’s why instead of being ignored they must be put on the table along with every other program funded by government — and cut.

Back in the early 1990s, I didn’t care much for Billy Ray Cyrus. I came down in Travis Tritt’s camp, not caring much for the “pretty boy” look and routine. But hearing about his recent regrets for a life gone sour and his daughter Miley running headlong into danger, it’s hard for a father of a daughter not to feel some sympathy for a man who now wishes very much that he’d made different choices long ago.

I received this note from our Tea Party patriot friends in Florida tonight. The good folks in Wisconsin are doing a brave thing by insisting on fiscal responsibility and an end to the free money carnival we’ve had for so many decades. As self-centered people with an entitlement mindset will do, the takers in Wisconsin are throwing a hissy fit. The Florida Tea Party is right: let’s send a note of encouragement to the courageous folks in Wisconsin to stay the course and do what’s right!

I love liberals. You never have to wait very long for them to provide proof that what they’re saying is accurate…about themselves. The ones in Wisconsin were hard at work in that regard today.

The government of Wisconsin is providing both the people of that state and of the rest of the United States a great illustration of the high level of contempt liberals have for the people who employ them (the citizens). As you may have heard by now, Wisconsin is trying to deal with the out of controls pending that plagues most state governments as well as our federal government, but they are being fought by union protesters and Democrat lawmakers who have fled the state.

Last night, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) tried to introduce an amendment to COMPLETELY DEFUND OBAMACARE, but the House of Representatives’ Rules Committee shut him down. The House Rules Committee told Rep. King “NO” when he tried to offer an amendment to completely defund Obamacare on the continuing resolution to fund the government through the end of the year. They argue that Rep. King’s amendment would be against House Rules because it attempts to mess with programs that are not strictly discretionary. Yet the Leadership has already made an exception to this rule for a Guantanamo Bay prisoner transfer. If an exception can be made for this, it should be made for blocking the implementation of ObamaCare!

If the conservative movement which has come roaring back to life in the past couple of years hopes to survive and prevail, it must be united under a solid platform, not divided by conflicting ideologies. I have written previously about what I call America’s great unbridgeable divide. It’s a division of massive proportion between lovers of God, family and American freedom and haters of God, family and American freedom. It really is that simple, and the contrast between the two sides could not be more stark.

One of the most brazen and outright examples of anti-Christian discrimination I think I’ve ever seen is going on at the University of California at Davis where the nondiscrimination policy specifically excludes Christians from anti-discrimination protection.

Senator Tom Coburn has discovered over $703 billion in unobligated federal funds in the Obama budget that ‘have not yet been committed by contract or other legally binding action by the government,’ according to the Office of Management and Budget. With a national debt over $14 trillion, it is simply inexcusable that Congress is borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars to be spent on God knows what, just to have the money sit around unused.

In January, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) released its “State Legislators Guide to Repealing ObamaCare,” which details defensive measures that could be used to slow and even stop implementation of the federal law. Thus far, lawmakers in 42 states have either introduced or announced their support for ALEC’s Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act, modeled on Arizona’s Proposition 101.

DakotaPoll.com supposedly did a poll of the Tea Party movement South Dakota and came up with some interesting findings. While some of the answers sounded typical for what you’d expect from Tea Party people, a number of others seemed very suspicious. A closer look at some of the poll questions raises further doubts, as does the uniformly liberal background of all those involved in conducting and commissioning the poll. Is this a fair representation of Tea Party sentiment in South Dakota?

No, this headline isn’t talking about churches in the Middle East, Indonesia or some other foreign location. It’s talking about right here in the United States. Many people find it hard to believe that Christians and Christian churches could be under attack in a nation founded by devout Christians who declared their firm reliance on God at the founding of this nation, but it is sadly true.

After nearly 20 years serving western South Dakota as a listing of Christian businesses and services, the Black Hills Area Christian Business Directory has a new name and new direction. Besides being distributed as the familiar printed publication, it has moved to internet distribution, and is now known as FaithBook SD, located at www.FaithBookSD.com.

When Ronald Reagan was elected to the presidency the first time in 1980, too many of the American people and our leaders had forgotten the essential truths of the American way of life. Ronald Reagan came to Washington in 1981 and reminded us in his first inaugural address. From the conduct of many of our leaders, it’s obvious that 30 years later, it’s time we re-learned these things again.

As the federal debt approaches $15 trillion in 2011, and Obama himself admits (even though his rhetoric does not match his action) that Washington can’t afford to spend money on everything it wants to do, an idea is floating around D.C. to provide Internet access across the entire nation. This is not a joke.

A retired school teacher was getting medical bills and did not understand why. One bill had already been given to a collection agency when the client came to our office for help. These kinds of problems that are too typical of government agencies can cause great anxiety to customers who deserve better, and do damage to their wallets as well.

I’ve written a couple of articles recently on President Barack Obama’s fanciful (and expensive) idea of investing billions in high speed rail. I’ve written these mainly off the cuff, based on my experiences with rail travel in Europe and travel in general here in the United States. Now Robert Samuelson at Real Clear Politics has [...]

The Contract From America folks have a 2012 Tea Party Straw Poll out. So far the results are not far off from what you’d expect from Tea Party minded folks, with conservative, fiscally responsible candidates at or near the top, with the charlatans and more Left-leaning ones near the bottom.

On Feb. 14, Barack Obama submitted his ten-year budget from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). With a straight face, he said of the proposal, “[W]e’re going to have to get serious about cutting back on those things that would be nice to have but we can do without.” But under his plan, the budget will never be balanced.

Why do we have a $15 TRILLION national debt with no way in sight of ever being able to pay it? Why do we have a $1.6 TRILLION annual budget deficit, and no one in our government seems to be willing to shave off more than a few tiny crumbs? Why have we slaughtered some 50 million innocent children in the womb in the past 40 years? Why do so many people in a nation with more affluence than in all of human history spend so much time and money on antidepressants and therapists? There is an answer, and we received it 215 years ago.

In Canada, free speech is being cast aside if it offends a “protected class” of people. Certain statements and subjects cannot be broadcast if they offend protected groups. This situation serves to illustrate how fragile our freedoms are. America is next in line for theft of our freedom of speech, and we must be vigilant against this encroaching speech fascism.

The real harm to “gay” people doesn’t come from “hate crimes.” FBI statistics show that, contrary to popular belief, such crimes are actually quite rare (and are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law when they do occur). Rather, the real harm comes from people like William being encouraged to go right on with unhealthy lifestyles that in fact could be (and often are) walked away from.

SB 138 promoting a National Popular Vote approach to presidential elections was heard in the Senate State Affairs Committee today, and it went down hard 9-0 in favor of killing it. The bill sought to bypass the Electoral College method of presidential elections that has been in place in our Constitution since 1787.

A “bullet train” is great, right? Is it still great when it goes nowhere? High speed rail sounds like a neat idea, but it the real world, there just isn’t the need or demand to make this romantic idea justifiable.

Last week, the “Republican” controlled House State Affairs committee shot down HB 1199, a bill to prevent illegal aliens from using their children born in the United States as a vehicle to escape judgment for breaking our laws and violating our national borders. Today, the same “Republican” controlled committee shot down another bill designed to deal with the problem of illegal immigration–a job our federal government has demonstrated contemptuously that it will not do.