Tag Archives: Big Government

Commentary

MUST-READ: Mark Steyn discusses how Britons inform on each other

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Mark Steyn writing in MacLean’s magazine. Apparently, the practice of informing the government about speech that is not in conformity with political correctness is widespread in the UK.

Excerpt:

A couple of years back, 14-year-old Codie Stott asked her teacher at Harrop Fold High School if she could sit with another group to do her science project as in hers the other five girls all spoke Urdu and she didn’t understand what they were saying. The teacher called the police, who took her to the station, photographed her, fingerprinted her, took DNA samples, removed her jewellery and shoelaces, put her in a cell for 3½ hours, and questioned her on suspicion of committing a Section Five “racial public order offence.” “An allegation of a serious nature was made concerning a racially motivated remark,” declared the headmaster Antony Edkins. The school would “not stand for racism in any form.” In a statement, Greater Manchester Police said they took “hate crime” very seriously, and their treatment of Miss Stott was in line with “normal procedure.”

And:

Six weeks ago, Roy Amor, a medical technician who made prosthetics for a company called Opcare, glanced out of the window at their offices at Withington Community Hospital, and saw some British immigration officials outside. “You better hide,” he said to his black colleague, a close friend of both Mr. Amor and his wife. Not the greatest joke in the world, but the pal wasn’t offended, laughed it off as a bit of office banter, and they both got on with their work. It was another colleague who overheard the jest and filed a formal complaint reporting Mr. Amor for “racism.” He was suspended from his job. Five days later, he received an email from the company notifying him of the disciplinary investigation and inviting him to expand on the initial statement he had made about the incident. Mr. Amor had worked in the prosthetics unit at Withington for 30 years until he made his career-detonating joke. That afternoon he stepped outside his house and shot himself in the head. The black “victim” of his “racism” attended the funeral, as did other friends.

The part that scares me about this is the confidence that the other side has in pushing their viewpoint using coercion.

Were did this nanny-like opposition to feeling offended, feeling excluded and feeling judged come from? Who puts elevates feelings and compassion over the risky, confrontational exchange of ideas? Who minimizes truth and debate and maximizes self-esteem and happiness? Who emphasizes victimhood?

You know what? Life is tough. Sometimes people say things that make you feel bad. And if you are a grown-up, you let it go. You don’t empower government to coerce people so that you can have happy feelings. Freedom and prosperity are more important than happy feelings. Life isn’t fair.

For the record, I am a very visible minority, and consider the secular left PC thought police to be the worst racists on the planet.

News

Obama budget proposal likely to decrease charitable giving by billions

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Story here from Newsbusters.

Excerpt:

On the April 16 broadcast of Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.,” Rick Dunham, CEO of fundraising consultant Dunham & Company, weighed in on the new budget proposal that would scale back charitable deductions for families making over $250,000.

“Do you think you’re going to take a really big hit in terms of lower donations to charities? How big a hit?” host Stuart Varney asked.

“Well the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University did a study last year to look at the impact of the rise in the marginal tax rate and the capping of charitable deductions at 28-percent and they believe that it’ll be about almost a $4 billion hit based on 2006 dollars,” Dunham said. “So we’re probably looking at about a $5 billion hit.”

“That’s a sizable chunk of money,” Varney said. “There has been some talk that the administration wants to control charitable giving, and direct where your charitable gifts should go, therefore do it through the government and not through private charities. You think there’s anything to that?”

Dunham didn’t reject the idea out of hand. “I think all the actions kind of lead that direction. Part of the challenge charities are facing right now is they’re coming off of two years of a decline in giving to charities,” Dunham stated, citing the approximate $12 billion decrease in charitable giving the last two years.

“The government has always encouraged it through the tax incentive. And I think that’s been a huge part of giving in America – that the government has stood behind private philanthropy by saying ‘we want you to invest in charitable institutions for the good they do to our society.’ And I think that’s what they’re beginning to undermine.”

This is similar to what happened in Europe. As the secular leftists welfare states grew, people paid more and more in taxes. People had no money after the high taxes to give to charity, because they had “already given” to state. It was the state’s job to take care of people, not private charities. People became very selfish and hedonistic, and religious practice and charitable giving declined.

The problem with this for Christians is that the state never uses tax money to achieve Christian goals. With a Christian charity, the goal is usually to give the person with money, but also to help the person up and out of their current situation. Christians aren’t trying to give a man a fish, they want to teach him how to fish. It also helps to feel a little humble when someone is helping you.

News

Over 10,000 Minnesota tea partiers cheer Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin

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Rep. Michele Bachmann speaks to over 10,000 supporters in Minnesota

Here’s the story from TwinCities.com.

Excerpt:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin joined Congresswoman Michele Bachmann on a Minneapolis stage Wednesday, holding a raucous campaign rally of more than 10,000 fans that exceeded the size of many presidential whistle-stops.

Bachmann, an outspoken conservative whose national profile has made her a target of Democrats, is seeking re-election in what is expected to be one of the most expensive congressional races in the country. Palin, another conservative darling who infuriates Democrats, came to Minnesota to offer her endorsement and help raise money.

Calling Bachmann a “fireball,” Palin asked the cheering crowd, “What do you say, Minnesota? Will you do the rest of the nation a favor and elect Michele Bachmann?”

Waving signs and cheering loudly, women seemed to make up a substantial part of the crowd at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

[…]The Bachmann campaign initially planned a much smaller event, but demand grew so that the Republican Party of Minnesota — which teamed with Bachmann to stage the event — eventually handed out more than 10,000 tickets.

“I’ve been to presidential campaign rallies that drew fewer people,” party Chairman Tony Sutton said.

[…]The two women overshadowed another speaker, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has been laying the groundwork for a potential presidential campaign. Bachmann and Palin are both national figures who share an appeal among followers — that their words are the unvarnished, unwavering truth.

“Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin are galvanizing the conservative movement across this nation,” Sutton said.

There’s something about hearing Michele speak that men really, really like:

Bill Birckweg, of Brooklyn Park, took a day off from work to attend the Bachmann rally.

He arrived at the convention center at 9:30 a.m. and dashed in when the doors opened at noon to stand in the front row next to the stage.

“I’m an independent conservative, and I’m here to support Michele Bachmann,” Birckweg said. “She’s being targeted by the national Democratic Party. All she has done is stand up for American values. That’s what I stand for.”

Michele’s definitely a grassroots candidate who would shake up Washington if she were to be elected President in 2012.

Meet your future President, America

And from Fox News. (H/T Dad)

Excerpt:

When Rep. Michele Bachmann grabbed the microphone and electrified a crowd of Tea Party loyalists in her home state of Minnesota on Thursday, her words — as well as a few other characteristics — bore striking similarities to another galvanizing force within the movement: Sarah Palin.

[…]”They’re both moms so there’s a lot of similarities,” said Annette Bystrom, who traveled from Ellsworth, Wis., to hear Bachmann speak. “They both stand for God, the truth and their families.

[…]”I am the chief coupon-clipper at our house,” she told a cheering crowd of 200 conservative activists outside the Minnesota state capitol. “Whoever balances the checkbook knows we gotta bring in at least a little bit more than what you put out.”

Bachmann went on to say that she and her husband, parents of five biological children (the same number as the Palins) as well as 23 foster children, “always bought used cars” and “clothes in consignment stores.”

“We’ve lived like all of you live because we balance the checkbook,” she boomed.

You can read more about her in World Net Daily, Atlas Shrugs, and World Magazine. These stories really explain why everyone, especially men, like her so much. She’s my favorite Congresswoman, and I would be very happy if she were elected President. A good start would be for her to be selected as House Majority Leader in November, when the Republicans regain control of the House of Representatives.

We need to put a normal person like Michele in charge of the country – someone who knows what it is like to homeschool children, run a business and clip coupons. Rich liberal socialists like Barack Obama have got to lose the next election to ordinary people.

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