Record Charitable Giving by Americans in 2005

According to a report released by the "Giving USA" foundation, Americans gave more than $260.28 billion to charitable causes in 2005. This is the highest total since the economic bubble based on the internet burst in 2000.

According to Richard Jolly, the chairman of Giving USA: "When there is a very significant need, when people are clearly aware of that need, they will respond"

The benficiaries of the year's charitable generosity included the victims of Hurrican Katrina, Hurricane Rita, the tsunami in Asia, and the earthquake in Pakistan, among scores of other worthy causes.

Its important to note that no government coercion was involved. The American people did this, because it was the right thing to do.

Line Item Veto Vote

According to the Club For Growth:

The House is scheduled to vote next week on the Legislative Line-Item Veto Act of 2006. Sponsored by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Line-Item Veto Act is a necessary weapon in the fight against runaway spending and earmark abuse.

Under Ryan's proposal, when Congress passes a bill, the president would suggest rescissions of selected projects in the bill to Congress. There would then be a timely up-or-down vote on each of his suggestions.

This act should also quell fears that the line-item veto excessively empowers the executive branch and remains unconstitutional. Because Congress would retain the final say, both concerns are alleviated.

Please call your representative and urge them to vote for the line item veto. Enacting this legislation would prvide powerful tools for reducing wasteful federal spending.

It would also be helpful to call your Senator, as well, as this legislation will also need to be approved in the Senate.

Conservative Legislative Priorities

Recently I've posted several things that were intended to highlight the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of liberalism. I've decided that its time to refocus on what conservatives should be doing, rather than on what's wrong with liberals, especially since that's one of the things I so heartily fault the Democratic Party for.

In service of that goal, I thought I'd take a little time to jot down some legislative priorities, as I see them. These are not necessarily listed in order of importance, but I think its useful to list them as a reference point.

I consider this list a work in progress, and I'll be adding to and editing it over time.

• Secure The Borders - Guest workers, paths to citizenship, everything other than gaining control of our own borders, needs to wait. The flow of illegal immigrants over our borders must stop, now. This can be achieved chiefly by construction of a fence along the entire border with Mexico, and additional increases in the number of border patrol agents.



• Make The Tax Cuts Permanent - The tax cuts passed by Congress during Bush's first term have demonstrably improved the economy. The debate on this is over. Its time to make the tax cuts permanent and look at other ways that the tax burden can be lessened.



• Cut Federal Spending - There are literally hundreds of federal programs and agencies that do nothing more than fight for their own existence. These money drains need to be eliminated. A step in the right direction is the proposed Sunset Commission, which would identify and recommend the elimination of unneeded federal agencies, in a process similar to that used by the BRAC (or Base Realignment and Closure Commission). Federal agencies identified by the Sunset Commission as unnecessary and wasteful would have to be explicitly re-authorized by a vote of Congress to remain. In the absence of that re-authorization, they would be dissolved. This, more than anything else, would cut wasteful spending from the budget.



• Resolve The Looming Social Security/Medicare Crisis



• Pass The FAIR/Flat Tax



• Pass the Marriage Ammendment



• More to come...

Shameful History of the Democratic Party

The next time a liberal tries to tell you that the Democratic Party is the party of Civil Rights, and that Republican are bigots, direct them to this official report produced by the state of North Carolina regarding a Democratic Party-instigated white supremacy riot in Wilmington, North Carolina, at about the turn of the last century:

http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/1898-wrrc/report/report.htm

From Bruce Bartlett's recent comments on the report:

The culmination of the Democrats' racist campaign was a riot throughout Wilmington on Election Day. Many died, and all the Republican municipal officials, whose terms didn't expire until the next election, were forced to resign at gunpoint. Democrats retook control and quickly moved to cement their power by arresting prominent Republicans and driving others out of the city permanently.

It has always been conservatives and the Republicans who promote the issues and policies that will protect civil rights and promote economic and social equality, including equality of opportunity, for all.