The following is an excerpt from our January issue:

By: Jonathan Lindberg

It did not take long for the greatest natural disaster in American history to turn into the greatest political disaster of a lifetime. Even before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, blame was already being handed out by participating factions and fingers were being pointed. Eighteen months and not much has changed.

Hurricane Katrina struck on a Monday. It was not until Saturday that the last of the storm victims were evacuated and the levees were filled. By that time, over thirteen-hundred people were dead, over eighty-percent of New Orleans had been flooded, and countless crimes, murders, and rapes had taken place in the city once referred to as the Big Easy.

The political landscape did not fare much better. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had fled the city by weeks end on the brink of a mental breakdown He chose the drier confines of Dallas to recuperate while the city he led dried itself out.

Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was enduring his own departure. He became the whipping boy for the media, over-anxious for someone, anyone to blame. Brown represented everything wrong with an agency made inept by bureaucratic red-tape.

There was Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco who took on the unfortunate role of a deer-caught-in-the-headlights, completely overwhelmed and under-prepared for the magnitude of Katrina. It was to her office that the White House tried to shift the initial blame. (more…)

The following is an excerpt from our January issue:

By: Chuck Bates

Last month we discussed a little of what one might expect from this new Congress and its new Democrat leadership. We delved into the possible actions on the part of the Democrats taking over the chairmanships of various committees but of course the political pandering in Washington and it’s subsequent looting of the voters crosses party lines every day leaving the citizen scratching his head and more often than not wondering just what happened to all of his hard earned income.

Not all tax increases come to the taxpayer directly. As a matter of fact rarely do those politicians seeking to take more from the individual to spend at the discretion of the bureaucrats do so in a full frontal assault. No, the US has some of the craftiest politicians on the earth who work with such stealth and efficiency at taking from those who produce and giving to the politician’s choice that Machiavelli would be envious. Again this crosses party lines. Unfortunately for Democrats their party seems to be much more adept at stealing from producers and giving to non-producers. As noted by the National Taxpayers Union, Democrats in the House on average score typically less than 13% in favor of the taxpayer in the way they vote and destroy the wealth of citizens. Sadly the Republicans do not fare so well at this either passing all sorts of earmarks and special appropriations giving them only about a 62% pro-taxpayer rating. Where have our “representatives” gone? For crying out loud, we sent them to Washington to represent us the people and to limit the size and scope of government, well at least that is why I voted for the folks I pulled the lever for on Election Day. Why did you choose the candidate you voted for? Was it to keep government lean or were you looking for something from government? If you voted Democrat the answer is likely obvious you expect something from government to solve all the social ills of society. If you voted Republican there is a likelihood you sought to limit Government’s intrusion into your life and your wallet. But still others voted for whomever they thought would help them or their industry financially without a care for the long-term effects of that vote to the nation.

Let’s face it folks our society, in large part, has decided they are simply out there for themselves and their neighbor be damned. Further future generations hold no concern for these self-servers either. I don’t write these things to simply condemn but to make us all think about what we are doing when it comes to elections. I make no bones about it that I am a registered republican. But I have to confess that many in the Republican party who are elected to office do little to differentiate themselves from Democrats in their lust to grow the size and scope of government taking from one and giving it to someone else who will likely put them back in office. In this we have created a new class of welfare not unlike those programs for families with dependent children. We have allowed government to become so encompassing that corporate and special interest welfare recipients have found it easier to legislate themselves a living rather than having to compete for it in the economy or market place of ideas.

As of this writing, the President has noted he might be willing to raise the amount of dollars taken out of our checks for Social Security taxes if the Democrats will go along with some of his goals. Net effect to you and me; less money in our pockets. Does this President honestly believe the other side of the aisle will really leave the tax cuts alone if goes along with them and taxes more from hardworking Americans? The President will come out looking like his father did after the “Read my lips…” pledge and the Democrats will have succeeded in looting from the American people yet again all the while holding none of the blame. This is just an example of the insidious business called politics as usual that is destroying our great nation.

Republicans and Democrats alike must ask themselves a simple question I have posed here before; just how much government are you willing to pay for? How much interference in your life are you willing to subject yourself too? At what point do you become the slave rather than the master?

As for me and my family we have all the government we need and then some. I pray that all of us think about what we are asking for when we call for a “new law” or a “program” for government to “fix” a “problem”. Before you know it you will have given away your finances and your freedom in the process.

The following is an excerpt from our January issue:

By: Jonathan Lindberg

In the lobby of the Peabody Hotel, Mayor Willie Herenton is holding court. Like most conversations about the Mayor, with the Mayor, this Mayor controls the conversation. “See, you have to understand something about me,” he says to the small circle, pointing out a leading local pastor and tapping him on the chest. “I am a man of faith. That is how I think. You have to consider that when I make statements.”

Herenton looks at the pastor, but really he is speaking to Jackson Baker, the omnipresent political reporter for the Memphis Flyer, who just happens to be standing at his side.

“See, I say that God has chosen me to lead this city, and they (the media) want to criticize me, cut me down.” Baker protests this accusation, semantics over the word criticize, but Herenton steps over him, into the circle, and takes the pastor by the shoulder. “Now you understand what I’m saying when I say that God has chosen me, because we are both men of faith. God gave me a vision for this city. God anoints certain people for certain times. That’s in the Bible. Am I right?”

The pastor nods and Herenton lets his shoulder free. Baker finally gets his chance to speak, defending himself to the pastor who has become the vehicle of conversation. While Baker talks, Herenton considers the faces around the lobby, seemingly unconcerned with the critical view of the press. “There will always be naysayers,” Herenton says, interrupting Baker. “I know I have enemies. I know they are out to get me. I just have more important things to consider.”

And then, as if to illustrate his point, Herenton looks back over the circle, taking in the faces that have gathered around the hotel lobby. (more…)