From Bryan Fischer, Idaho Values Alliance

As expected, Rep. Bill Sali voted to sustain President Bush’s veto of the bloated SCHIP bill (H.R. 976) while Rep. Mike Simpson voted to override. Fortunately for Idaho’s families, the bill fell 16 votes short of the total needed to reverse the president’s veto.

Under this bill, money could have been extracted from the wallets of Idaho families and sent across the country to subsidize health care for families in New York making $83,000 a year, which is immoral and wrongheaded on its face. It makes much better sense to keep Idaho money in Idaho for Idaho’s children.

By radically expanding eligibility parameters, the bill would have included adults in its coverage and would have been a giant step toward socialized medicine. Further, by reducing identification requirements to simple possession of a Social Security number, it would have created an enormous potential for fraud.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Bill Sali, president of the 14-member House Freshman Republican class, led a meeting of his class in a discussion with President Bush at the White House on Thursday.

“We were honored to be invited by the President to join him at the White House. Mr. Bush spoke about a number of critical issues and is upbeat about our progress in Iraq,” Sali said. “Our meeting lasted more than an hour and covered a wide range of issues. The President is very knowledgeable on a wide range of issues and is friendly and approachable, and it was a pleasure being with him.”

Sali joined other Freshmen in thanking the President for the significant steps he has taken recently to improve border security. Sali also encouraged Mr. Bush to stand firm on the Republican principle of upholding the rule of law as his work continues on immigration reform. Sali said Congress and the President must continue working on immigration reform, and noted that courts are now beginning to stand in the way of the modest immigration enforcement proposals that Bush had agreed to implement earlier this year.

“The residents of my district are worried, and rightfully so, that today our borders are just not secure,” Sali reported that he told the President. “We have as many as 20 million illegal aliens in this country. It’s estimated that hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens are gang members. Others are would-be terrorists or drug cartel operatives. We can reform the immigration system in a way that secures the borders, provides the nation with a dependable temporary worker program and does so without granting amnesty.”

The Freshmen also discussed the war in Iraq, healthcare, international relations with Russia, Syria and Iran, the drought conditions in many states and its impact on endangered species and local economies, subprime mortgages, education policy and the need to cut federal spending. Sali said he plans to continue working with the President and his staff as well as other Members of Congress to find real solutions for these pressing issues.

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In a departure from the tone of previous posts, tonight I wish to publicly thank Mayor Fuhriman.

According to News Channel 8, last week the Mayor informed his former boss, Police Chief Kent Livsey, that he would not be reappointed to the position.

Today, Fuhriman and Livsey each spoke at separate press conferences.

Livsey announced his resignation, and will be on paid administrative leave until official resignation in January. Apparently he began clearing out his office last week. Said Livsey,

During my career, I’ve been shot at, I’ve been stabbed, and I’ve been beat unconscious and I just want to tell you this is much harder than any of that was.

After last week’s discussion with the Mayor, Livsey cited a difference in management styles as a reason for the parting of the ways.

And as a former police detective serving under Livsey, Mayor Fuhriman should know what he’s talking about.

At a separate news conference, Fuhriman announced the Chief’s resignation, claiming there was no wrong doing on the part of Livsey. Then he named Idaho Falls Police Captain Steve Roos as interim Chief of Police until Livsey’s resignation is final, at which time Roos will assume the full title and responsibilities.

First let me say that Livsey’s departure has long been coming. His “management style” has not set well with police officers or some city councilmen. There have been complaints that his decisions have not been sufficiently transparent, that in some cases he has disciplined officers too harshly, and in other cases not responded to accusations of police misconduct.

And let’s be honest – this action by Fuhriman is in agreement with the words and opinions of former city councilman Larry Lyon. You remember Larry – the controversial man with whom Fuhriman never wished to appear to agree. Lyon recently resigned his city council seat in order to run for a different council seat. Perhaps Fuhriman felt he could safely take action against Livsey at this time without appearing to align himself with Lyon. But that is a topic for another post.

And, of course, there was that embarrassing situation with the former city prosecutor, Kimball Mason, who stole a number of fire arms from the police evidence room on Livsey’s watch.

Personally, I have respect for Chief Livsey as a parent, knowing his children to be outstanding young men. However, I have found the Chief himself to be less than forthcoming, and somewhat arrogant. I have also found Livsey a little disrespectful of personal freedoms on some issues. For instance, just last week he announced he would attempt to outlaw using a cell phone while driving in the city. But that also is a topic for another post.

Second, I commend the Mayor for selecting a new chief from among the ranks of the Idaho Falls Police Department. I have always felt “national searches” for local positions are a slap in the face to hardworking employees who are essentially told there is no possibility of advancement in their hometown. Such hiring practices usually result in the selection of individuals who do not know our city or our state, and who often wish to remake their department over in the image of the organization they’ve just left – not always a good idea.

That is not to say that hiring locally is always a good idea. I could cite other city departments where that practice has been a mistake, but this is a topic for yet another post.

From all appearances, Captain Roos has conducted himself in an honorable manner, and earned the respect of his fellow police officers, including the Mayor.

Interim Chief Roos commented that he would be restructuring the police department organization to eliminate some of the upper management positions, calling the department “top heavy”. He also intends to improve the way officers patrol the city.

So, kudos to Mayor Fuhriman for having the intestinal fortitude to let Livsey go. As mentioned earlier, it’s been a long time coming. And kudos for appointing his replacement from within the Police Department itself.

These actions appear to be in keeping with one of the Mayor’s campaign promises, namely to carefully inspect city departments with the goal of increasing efficiency, maximizing the use of city tax dollars, and downsizing where necessary.

Good choices, Mayor. I hope you are just getting warmed up.

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From David Ripley, Idaho Chooses Life

We began a discussion yesterday about the essential linkage between economics and the abortion holocaust. Many in the media perennially argue that abortion is some weird “social issue” without a serious constituency or material impact on the business interests which dominate the Republican Primary. This debate recurs with vigor around presidential politics.

Yesterday also brought news that the first “Baby Boomer” has applied for early Social Security benefits.

If one needed monumental evidence that unbridled abortion carries an overwhelming economic impact, one needs look no further. David Walker, Comptroller General of the Government Accounting Office spells out a harsh economic future:

“We face a tsunami of [government] spending due primarily to the retirement of the baby boom generation and rising health care costs,” Walker told FoxNews. “So what’s happened is we’ve gone from 16 workers paying into Social Security for every person drawing benefits in 1950, to 3.3 today, and we’re going down to two to one by the time the boomers retire in big numbers. That’s where it will stay over the long run.”

Former Democrat Congressman Tim Penny (a pro-Lifer, by the way) explains the impact:
“By 2017, just ten years from now, we will no longer be collecting enough payroll taxes to pay Social Security benefits.”

We’re talking about an annual budget shortfall (in current dollars) of something close to $300 billion. Over the next 75 years, the federal government will be in debt to the tune of $50 trillion – just to cover Social Security and Medicare obligations.

Peter Weisbach, national radio talk show host, did a program last week on the “Pyramid Scheme”. He argued that both national parties are sorely compromised by their understanding of Social Security’s potential to bankrupt the national economy. The system demands greater and greater numbers of contributing workers to keep the cash flowing; given the nation’s high abortion rate – that means a profound dependence on immigrants to fill the gap.

Let’s put the abortion numbers in context. Estimates are that some 50 million American citizens have been legally slaughtered since 1973. Yesterday began the retirement of 75 million “baby boomers” – the same people who have been systematically killing their own future.

Those 50 million babies would, for the most part, be productive workers and middle managers in the American economy. It doesn’t take much imagination to realize the huge, and missing, contribution these folks should now be making to Social Security and the economy as a whole.
So we can see that there are profound national security and economic impacts of the abortion holocaust.

Leaders of the national economy, leaders of the Republican Party, would do well to confront the abortion epidemic for its moral, economic and national security implications.

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From Bryan Fischer, Idaho Values Alliance

To give you a feel for just how tyrannical the ACLU is, it is seeking to use the courts to keep a New Jersey high school coach from even bowing his head while his players – on their own initiative – pray before games. The ACLU and the school say that while students may have the constitutional right to pray, coaches do not.

According to the ACLU, it is “tragic” that this coach “has encouraged student prayer.” Another leftist legal “expert” actually wants the coach to leave the locker room until the players have finished praying.

Worse, since no one has suggested that the coach verbally participates in prayer, the ACLU actually wants to penalize him for his thoughts, for whatever is going on in his mind while his players pray.

However, there is no clause in the Constitution that denies some citizens the right to the free exercise of religion that is guaranteed to others, or the right to penalize anyone for their thoughts.

The ACLU wants not only to prevent this coach from praying, they want to prevent him from even appearing to pray, or even showing respect for others who are praying. That’s about as clear an example of religious repression as you can find.

The First Amendment restrains only “Congress,” and, well, a high school coach is not Congress. Further, it only prevents the passage of a “law”, and, well, voluntary, student-initiated prayer is not a law.

But congruence with the Constitution has never been a barrier for the ACLU in its never-ending quest to stamp out the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the Constitution. It is now even barging into high school locker rooms out of an hysterical fear that God might be acknowledged there in the same way He is acknowledged before every session of Congress and the Supreme Court.

This particular high school’s players have been praying before games for more than 25 years without complaint.

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By Richard Larsen

The Nobel Foundation has proven yet again how disengaged from reality it is when it comes to bestowing the Nobel Peace Prize by granting it to Al Gore this week. While the award has often been granted to clearly deserving recipients like Mother Theresa, Norman Borlaug, Albert Schweitzer and Andrei Sakharov, they have of late stumbled badly, tripping over the political axes they feel compelled to grind. Al Gore thus joins the likes of the terrorist Yasser Arafat, former leader of the PLO, the now disgraced Kofi Annan whose rein at the UN was characterized by numerous scandals and ineptness at handling crises, and Mikhail Gorbachev (instead of Ronald Reagan who famously told him, “Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”) This is to say nothing of failed president turned political gadfly Jimmy Carter, whose spinelessness led to the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran and much of today’s terrorist threats.

Granted, the Nobel organization can award the prizes to whomever they choose, and for whatever purpose. But it’s difficult to see how production of a propagandistic movie filled with errors and proposing that Western Africa should be denied access to the energy that can lift them out of poverty can be even remotely viewed as advancing the international cause of peace.

Just last week the High Court of the United Kingdom declared that if teachers are going to show Al Gore’s movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” that it must be done with the disclosure that it is propagandistic and factually inaccurate. The ruling highlighted 11 factual errors in the movie that when extricated from the movie, make it an empty, inconclusive and unpersuasive polemic. The truth seems to be inconvenient to Al Gore, for his movie contains little of it, while it’s replete with propaganda and hyperbole.

According to the UK Guardian, the following factual errors were cited in the film. The film claims that melting snows on Mount Kilimanjaro evidence global warming. The film suggests that evidence from ice cores proves that rising CO2 causes temperature increases over 650,000 years.

The film uses emotive images of Hurricane Katrina and suggests that this has been caused by global warming. The film shows the drying up of Lake Chad and claims that this was caused by global warming.

The film claims that a study showed that polar bears had drowned due to disappearing arctic ice. The film threatens that global warming could stop the Gulf Stream, throwing Europe into an ice age. The film blames global warming for species losses including coral reef bleaching.

The film suggests that sea levels could rise by 7 meters causing the displacement of millions of people. The film claims that rising sea levels have caused the evacuation of certain Pacific islands to New Zealand. The film suggests that the Greenland ice covering could melt causing sea levels to rise dangerously. And finally, the film suggests that the Antarctic ice shelf is melting.

In each of these instances, factual evidence was provided to the court proving these claims as scientifically untruthful. Judge Michael Burton said in his ruling, “It is now common ground that it is not simply a science film, but that it is a political film.”

Timothy Ball, a climatologist who leads the National Resources Stewardship Project, says he agrees that “An Inconvenient Truth” is a “wonderful piece of propaganda, but that’s all it is.” Calling the film’s scientific errors “huge,” Ball said that the movie “would fail as a grade 10 science project,” because it depends on “visual imagery and gimmickry” to make its point and not scientific fact.

Ball also said it’s a “travesty” that Gore would be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize since “you can spin the lies but you can’t spin the truth. I hope that one day soon, we’ll be able to have a calm and rational debate about climate change.”

Patrick Michaels, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute is also bothered by the fact that the former vice president has refused to debate skeptics of manmade global warming. “If your science is solid, there should be no reluctance to debate with those of opposing views,” he said.

“Deniers” of natural global warming would undoubtedly assert that in spite of the factual errors in the film, that Gore still deserves the accolades because he’s bringing to light a grave concern for the future of mankind, hence, the ends justify the means. I find that a very unsettling and untenable proposition, for if the “evidence” upon which the premise of manmade global warming is based is false, all subsequent conclusions drawn from those claims are likewise going to be fallacious.

When I was growing up on a potato farm west of Blackfoot, my father used to always tell me that the quality of our decisions is directly connected with the quality of the facts upon which the decisions are based. He’d be sorely disappointed in the gullibility of the masses in light of the dearth of factual evidence supporting the claims of manmade global warming proponents.

As I mentioned here a few weeks ago, the global warming alarmists lost two of their strongest arguments for their cause. NASA has correctly revised their global temperature data which erroneously showed the last 9 years as among the hottest on record. And the now infamous “hockey-stick” chart, and the program that generated it, by paleoclimatologist Michael Mann from the University of Massachusetts has been proven fraudulent by statisticians Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick. Couple those scientific failures with the intellectual prostitution of NASA’s James Hansen, one of the most ardent proponents of manmade global warming, with his “grant” from George Soros, an anti-capitalist anti-American billionaire, and you have the proposition of man “causing” this natural climatic cycle crumbling like a deck of cards.

We are stewards of the environment, and as such, should make wise decisions to not pollute, intentionally damage our environment, and manage and utilize our resources prudently. If we are wrong on manmade global warming, it will be proven with science, not by the alarmist hysteria and illogic of the politically and pecuniary driven proselytizers like Al Gore and his fallacious movie, neither of which are deserving of a Nobel Prize, unless they awarded one for acting and works of fiction. Well, at least for works of fiction.

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