simple solution

A cornerstone of the right has been to remove social programs from the government and have the private sector handle them – most notably the churches. Having churches run programs that should be a part of any government is a very serious threat to our form of government. It would be hard to have a separation of church and state when the church can further deepen their claws into the fabric of our government.

Today we get a perfect example of why this is a threat:

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.

The Catholic church can now use these social programs as a tool to hold governments hostage. This is very scary. Imagine if Bush had his way and all federal social programs were taken over by outside organizations like the Catholic Church. Our Congress would hear things like “ban abortion or we are gone” or “federally ban gay marriage or we are gone”. This kind of behavior could actually be classified as a form of terrorism.

A simple solution to problems like these is removing the tax free provision given to the church. If the church feels it can optionally give back to communities based upon the legislation in that area, then there is no reason for them to remain a tax free haven. Instead it’s time for the IRS to start collecting from them. The church has been crossing the line of separation more and more recently and it’s time for them to really contribute back to our nation. The tax money collected from churches could be earmarked solely for things like social programs and health care.

A new report has been released by the EIA saying that our demand on oil is decreasing:

U.S. oil consumption is expected to level off with virtually no growth between now and 2030 because of increases in energy efficiency, greater use of renewable fuels and an expected rebound in oil prices, the government said Wednesday.

The Energy Information Administration said overall energy use will continue to increase but at a slower rate than predicted only a year ago.

The agency projected a 3 percent annual increase of renewable energy use, including solar, wind and biofuels such as ethanol.

This is good news, but we still have a lot of work to do.

This also brings me to something I have been thinking about. A lot of environmentalists were happy with gas prices over $4.00 a gallon. They argued that it dropped usage, which of course it did. The problem is that it drops usage in segments of the population it really shouldn’t. Lower income families are cutting back on trips and that. Then if you take families that live miles from anywhere, then instead of cutting back on their gas usage, they cut back on other things – like food or medical treatment.

The following is now being reported by the

Associated Press

It was billed as a conversation with U.S. troops, but the questions
President Bush asked on a teleconference call Thursday were choreographed to
match his goals for the war in Iraq and Saturday's vote on a new Iraqi
constitution.

"This is an important time," Allison Barber, deputy assistant defense
secretary, said, coaching the soldiers before Bush arrived. "The president
is looking forward to having just a conversation with you."

Barber said the president was interested in three topics: the overall
security situation in Iraq, security preparations for the weekend vote and
efforts to train Iraqi troops.

As she spoke in Washington, a live shot of 10 soldiers from the Army's
42nd Infantry Division and one Iraqi soldier was beamed into the Eisenhower
Executive Office Building from Tikrit — the birthplace of former Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein.

"I'm going to ask somebody to grab those two water bottles against the
wall and move them out of the camera shot for me," Barber said.

A brief rehearsal ensued.

"OK, so let's just walk through this," Barber said. "Captain Kennedy, you
answer the first question and you hand the mike to whom?"

View complete article

here.