Do you really want to end government waste and inefficiencies? The result of this would be a whole lot of people losing their government jobs and pensions. Are we willing to drop some programs and eliminate some entitlements? What handouts or services are you willing to cut back? The time to do so is right now.

My idea to get the job done is to establish volunteer citizen task forces in every local area. They would have access to all financials, projects, buildings, and government organizational charts. The goal would be to cut government budgets in half. Private businesses and families are familiar with the awful task of cutting things out of their budgets when they don’t have enough money. In over 200 years I doubt the government has ever done this.

We hear of teachers and police officers being laid off. At the same time, I drive around seeing endless unnecessary government projects. Do we really need landscaped medians in our roadways? Seldom do I ride my bike through forest preserves and not see multiple government trucks with employees. In my town there are two school districts, each with 6 elementary schools, 4 junior high schools, and 2 high schools. Each district superintendent makes close to $200,000 per year. Why not combine the two districts into one and lose a bunch of bureaucrats?

On a larger scale, there are 10,000 employees at the Department of Education in Washington. What would change at a local school is this department were eliminated? Ever wondered why we still need a department of agriculture when only 2% of the population now farms?

The examples of waste in government could go on forever. Let’s get these task forces going. They should be made up of volunteers willing to do the work for free. No lobbying would be allowed. Just give a day each week to the cause. The press could record the results and the task force could make recommendations to appropriate government boards.

As an American citizen we have more than a right to vote, we have the right to hold government accountable. This is supposed to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

It should first be said that even the congressmen who passed the 2000 page bill out of committee have confessed they are not really sure how the whole thing will play out. Once passed, the bill will go to the thousands of government employees sitting in cubicles to clarify the rules and develop enough paperwork to destroy all the trees in the Amazon. You wanted big government, you got it baby.

Here is what we know for sure. There will be many more regulations for the lawyers to salivate over. Companies providing financial services will be paying higher taxes and fees. The Federal Reserve already controls the flow of capital to the banks for lending, but the process will now be more limiting.

Basically, the state will run the banking industry. This is great news for Wall Street (they will never be allowed to fail), and as usual, bad news for main street. This will continue the decline of the smaller banks. They will either die or be eaten up by the Wall Street boys. We, the little people, are promised “consumer protection”.

Consumer protection is a misnomer. There are only two reasons we need protection – first we don’t read, and second we make dumb decisions. This bill promises no more “hidden charges”. There were never any hidden charges to begin with, everything is spelled out in financial documents. The small print and the numbers of pages was the problem. America – start reading! It’s ironic that the bill is 2000 pages. The government, just like the banks, know we will never read it and just trust them to take care of us.

Americans love credit. They knowingly signed on to higher rates just to get the cash. It was unwise for many to do so. It was also unwise for the banks to lend to people unable to pay it back. Try to get credit now. The banks have learned their lesson and the people are cutting up their credit cards like mad. This is the free market is working. Do we really need a huge government intrusion to muck up the works?

The bottom line for us is a more complicated credit system and more fees. If you think the fee system at banks is ridiculous now, just wait. Free checking will be a thing of the past and who knows how many more fees will be passed on to us. All this in the name of “reform” and “consumer protection”.

The economy is like the weather. It comes in cycles. We’re all responsible for the recent economic bust. A free market economy will correct itself. These reform initiatives from the government at best will slow the recovery. At worst, will bury us so far in debt that money will never flow for the finer things in life again. As the government takes more of the pie, the people will have less to spend. Welcome to America, Mr Marx.

It is not that women are better gifted, skilled, or qualified to serve as leaders. Generally speaking, men and women are equal in their talents. Some individuals will rise above others and it is our job to choose the right ones.

There are two reasons that I think women would make better leaders right now. It appears that the bulk of men cannot handle their wieners or their wallets.

I voted in my first presidential election for Jimmy Carter. That tells you how old I am. How many times during those decades have we watched men lose their power because they were caught with their pants down? Off the top of my head I could ring off a list of men who lost their jobs or ministries, were impeached, or just took deserved public rebuke. I can’t recall a single woman who lost her public position due to a sex scandal. Can you imagine the amount of public money that has been wasted on sex scandals? It might take care of a good portion of our debt.

The recent primaries across the country had a higher number of women running for office. One thing we know for sure, they will not be making choices based on their wieners! Not having one of those may be the best qualification for office. It would be refreshing that a potential scandal would center around the numbers of shoes in the closet (Imelda Marcos) as opposed to a man trying to find gay sex in an airport bathroom stall.

When an elected man has sex with women or other men outside his marriage, it is cheating on his family and raping the public. Maybe we should devise a new penalty for this crime. Instead of removing them from office how about removing their doodlewacker (my mother’s term)?

The second problem for men is their wallets. They will do anything to pack it with illegal money. Again, how many times have we seen the videos of a sting where a politician is caught with his hand out. Women may have a few issues with how they spend money at the  malls, but I don’t see them betraying the trust of voters just to pad their purses with cash.

To enter Capitol Hill where congress meets you have to be searched. Considering the problems our country is facing, maybe all wieners and wallets should be checked at the door.

Listening to the news, the big lesson from the BP oil spill is that humans hold the life or death of the earth in their hands. If we consume less, use  energy saving light bulbs, and switch from sprays to roll-ons, we could save the planet. Like Al Gore, I am not a scientist, but I believe this whole “save the earth” thing is a joke. It’s not that the believer’s are not sincere, it’s that they are mistaken.

I would compare the impact of humans on the earth to the impact of make-up on the face. We can make it look a little better, but we really don’t have a lot to do with the health and longevity of the earth. Whether you are a believer in a big God or the big bang, there is not much evidence that the destiny of the earth is in our hands.

I cringe when I hear people call the planet “Mother Earth”. If she is our mother then someone needs to charge her with child abuse. She is more destructive to mankind than anything mankind can do to her. Think of the hurricanes, volcanoes, floods, heat, cold, tornados, tsuamis, and the rest.

The oil spill in the gulf is a terrible tragedy to the people of the gulf but it will barely be a burp in the earth’s system. There could be a million oil spills in the gulf and it would still only be like a speck of oil in a glass of water.

If you really want to worry about the earth’s future, get a telescope and watch for a meteorite twice the size of earth heading for us on a collision course. Fear that gravity will fail us and we will fall off the perfect rotation around the sun. Or how about aliens from another world coming to suck out all the earth’s natural resources? Man using up the fossils for energy is just not going to do it.

I am for a cleaner earth. I want to do my share in reducing pollution, having beautiful white beaches, and picking up litter. The government should lead us to conserve and beautify not mandate behavior with laws and taxes. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) should not stand for Environmental Pain in our A_ _.

All hands on deck to stop the BP oil spill and do a total clean-up of the gulf region affected. Let’s use this as a chance to demonstrate once again how great this country is by meeting the emergency needs of it’s citizens. Do not use this as a chance for political posturing and bigger government.

The battle over the land of Israel or Palestine is nothing new. The entire Old Testament in the Bible is mainly about the land. God promised the land to Abraham, called Moses to lead the people to the land, and had King David establish Jerusalem as the capital of the nation and Jewish religion.

Israel’s history turned really sour when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (Iraq today) captured the country and enslaved it’s citizens. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the beautiful Temple of God that King Solomon had built. This all happened over 2,500 years ago! I find it interesting that after the Persians (Iran today) had taken over Babylon, King Cyrus allowed the Jewish people to have their land back and rebuild their temple. the book of Ezra tells this story.

Have you ever heard of Jesus? Yeah, he was a Jew. After that little story of his death, burial, and resurrection the Jewish nation was destroyed and scattered the final time by the Romans. For 2000 years the Jewish race survived without a national home. Throughout their history their enemies have done everything they can to kill them all. Remember Hitler? So Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the current President of Iran, is not the first to call for the complete destruction of Israel.

The Old Testament foretold of the scattering of Israel and the ultimate return to the land in Ezekiel 37-39. On May 14, 1948 this prophecy was fulfilled, with the blessing of the United Nations, Israel declared their independence and ownership of the land. The Palestinians and other Arabs have battled them to this day.

Politically, Israel is our greatest ally. They have a democratic form of government and a free market economy.

The Bible has another prophecy about this area of the world – there will never be peace until Jesus returns. The last battle Armageddon will be fought there. This all  makes Helen Thomas and her comments seem a little small. Feel free to deny all this Bible stuff, but it is all pretty amazing.

George W Bush was the first president to suggest the two state solution for Israel and Palestine. This may happen some day but it will never solve the problem. The Arab world is determined to destroy Israel, regardless of any political solutions.

There are 25 Arab countries with their distinct religion and race. There is one small Jewish country with their own religion and race. Forget the religion thing, it seems logical that American would continue to support Israel.

Both the Christian and Islamic religions were birthed out of the Jewish faith. Christians are instructed to love their enemies and try to save all people. Muslims are instructed to kill their enemies. Makes one wonder why liberals are more supportive of Arab position.

I think I want to stay on Israel’s side.

I can’t begin to describe Chicago politics. It’s funny, insane, mind-boggling, dirty, but never dull. It is corrupt beyond anything you could imagine. It is an enterprise owned entirely by the democrat party. The “Chicago Machine” is historic and the current CEO is Mayor Daley.

Obama’s current little scandal of offering Joe Sestak a position to keep him from running against Arlen Spector is so Chicago. Everything is about controlling the machine and the money. Obama learned well.

The rewards of being a part of the machine are wonderful. It is daily news in Chicago about family or friends of people in the machine getting jobs, contracts, bags of cash, government positions, and even scholarships at the University of Illinois. When Obama became President and vacated his Illinois senate seat, Gov. Blago stood to make a bundle on that seat. According to Illinois law it was his decision alone to name a replacement. Jesse Jackson Jr. was one of many who placed a bid.

Blago’s trial is not about one corrupt man. It is about the machine. Both Obama and Blago were groomed as young men and progressed through the ranks with the help of the machine. Everything stays in the machine family. Another example is Rahm Emanuel. When he left the Clinton White House he made over $25 million in two years. He then took over Blago’s U.S. House seat when Blago left to be governor. It goes on and on.

From the perspective of an outsider, it appears that Blago somehow lost favor with the machine. That’s what makes this trial so juicy to me. Blago is a big talker. Will he spill the beans on the machine? Oh, I hope so! My fear is that, still being a young man, the machine will promise to take care of him and make him rich for the rest of his life if he just takes the fall. Could any of us blame him.

This is happening at a time when the American people are putting more trust in government than ever before. This past month the government hired over 500,000 people and the private sector less than 50,000. Tea Party or not, big government is on us. I hope the Blago trial will remind us that government can be just as greedy and just as corrupt as any Wall Street financier. Worse, government is almost always an empty promise. This is not “change we can believe in.”

The ultimate question is what this trial will  mean for Obama. Will the media protect him? What all was said on those 300 hours of wiretaps? This will be interesting.

BP employs over 80,000 Americans and has already lost $75 billion in value on the stock market. The cost of the clean-up with the inevitable parade of civil lawsuits is going to lead them into financial hell and maybe even bankruptcy. Why does Obama want to prosecute on top of the coming lawsuits?

I think the real issue here is that BP represents what the political left hates the most – a big oil company making big profit. With the ridiculous number of laws on the books, the government can punish whoever they choose. 40% of Americans will enjoy watching BP being punished.

Should their crime be compared to a drunk driver killing a kid on a bicycle, or getting a ticket for rolling through a stop sign? Will the government seek to imprison BP executives or just confiscate their money?

We can certainly expect less drilling and higher oil prices in the future. Other big oil companies should fear the long arm of the law as the government will be coming for them, too. 40% of the drilling in the gulf is done by foreign countries, including China and Cuba. I wonder if Obama will go after them?

The left will brag about how great it will be to run our cars on algae and electricity, while the economy goes the way of BP. Whether we like it or not, our economy is an oil based economy. Giving up oil is tantamount to giving up our way of life. Some even celebrate that possibility.

The government is doing it’s best to outlaw all accidents turning personal tragedy into goldmines for the lawyers. This may all come down to something as small as a 6 inch bolt being used in place of a 3 inch bolt. The bolt broke under unrealized pressure from being under a mile of water. One of the men who died on the rig may have put the bolt there thinking everything was fine.

Do you believe the executives sitting in a boardroom in London are actually agreeing to reduce oil drilling safety and standards to make more money? The government is utterly incompetent in dealing with this. At this point, it would not surprise me to see the government take over BP.

I believe in a free market. BP will have to face customers, shareholders, and lawsuits as part of the capitalist system. This will be the best response to any guilt that BP may have.

It’s time for cooler heads to prevail.

I will never forget how Elian was removed from his relatives house in Miami by gunpoint. The scared to death 6 year old kid was deported back to Cuba by the heavy hand of the United States Government. This was one of Janet Reno’s more famous actions while head of the Justice Department.

To refresh your memory, Elian was traveling with his mother and 13 others by a rickety boat from Cuba trying to get to Miami illegally. The boat sunk drowning 11, including Elian’s mother. The other 3 were rescued and Elian was given to his extended family in Miami. The family was able and desiring to take care of Elian. He was returned to his estranged father in Cuba after causing a huge stir.

Thinking about this and the current immigration crisis raises some questions. Is there a different immigration policy for Cuba and other countries as opposed to Mexico? If it was so important and lawful to return the 6 year old to Cuba, why is it so wrong to quickly deport any illegal from Mexico? Is there any application of the Elian ruling that would apply to our current Arizona mess?

Based on my recent traffic violations it would be easy to deport most illegals quickly. It is obvious that traffic violations is a great source of revenue for the government and they are really coming after us hard. In the last couple of months I have been given a violation for wearing headphones that cover both ears (In Illinois the law says you can have only one ear covered), not coming to a complete stop at a traffic light, and for not wearing a seatbelt. In each instance I was required to produce papers, my drivers license and proof of insurance.

I wonder what is happening when illegals are stopped for traffic violations? They don’t have paperwork and it is obvious that law enforcement in most states do not want to deport them. Do they still have to pay fines or are they free of that too? When I got my seatbelt ticket I was told it was mandatory. How do you give a ticket to a guy that does not have paperwork? Do you really think he is going to show up at court?

It angers me to get these ticky tack tickets and then hear the Officer say, “I’m sorry, but it is the law.” Then I say start enforcing whatever laws are on the books regarding illegal immigrants.

I propose a three step plan to solve the illegal immigration problem.

Step One – When stopped for traffic violations or other laws, arrest them if they cannot produce paperwork.

Step Two – Determine their citizenship status and if they are here illegally do the next step.

Step Three – If they are criminals from their country of origin, send them back right away. If they are law abiding and desirous to stay in the US, register them and provide an easier path to citizenship. Mainly, don’t expect them to come up with so much money.

By the way, I would have left Elian with his family in Miami.

I am a small government, main street kind of guy. Politicians use every  issue to expand the power of government and the press acts like every issue impacts the little guys, like me. I don’t think so.

This Greece thing is the prime example. The country is going bankrupt and the European Union has bailed them out. The problem is simple, Greece has been paying too many government employees too big a pay package. Our stock markets almost crashed over the deal. This issue has nothing to do with most Americans. On top of that, I have a problem with bailing out organizations that are marked by massive waste and corruption.

The financial reform bill is another useless pile of hooey. With a thousand laws already on the books that were not enforced, the only answer for politicians is more regulation. Again, it means very little on main street. I never understood the bank bailout. If the banks “too big too fail” were allowed to go under, all small investors would have been protected by the FDIC. The market can regulate itself better than government and for a lot less money. Letting companies or countries fail because of their wasteful practices will cause temporary pain but will strengthen future prospects.

The oil spill is not a good thing. It’s really bad for the fishes. The ensuing blame game is bad for the rest of us. When did every accident become an evil conspiracy? An investigation is certainly warranted to better the process of oil drilling in deep water. In congress, however, the issue is not a big oil spill but big oil companies and their evil profit. I am confident that BP will do everything they can to fix this spill. It is laughable to see the debate in Washington. I can’t wait to see Barney Frank put on scuba gear, dive to the bottom of the Gulf, and give his engineering solution. He is just another Harvard lawyer hoping to get a lot of mileage from this issue. It won’t be long until we hear about the bonus given to the BP CEO. This does not hurt or help my small business.

As always small business is left out of any discussion. If the press would put their lens on the small companies (none on Wall Street) that can hire people, we might get out of this economic mess. It is time to highlight the guys that change our oil and grease rather than big oil companies and Greece.

Regardless of your view on the new Arizona immigration law, it has put the problem front and center for all of us. The issue is simple – if we are not going to have open borders then how do we deal fairly with the influx of millions of immigrants.

There are two factors surrounding immigration that makes finding a solution almost impossible. One is the Mexican drug trade and the other is poverty. There is a two thousand mile border between the worlds wealthiest country and one of the worlds poorest. If I were a father in Mexico and there was constant threat of violence or I could not make enough money to feed my family, I would not hesitate to walk across a border to find a better life.

6000 people were killed in Juarez (across the border from El Paso, TX) in 2008. In Mexico there is a real drug war. Since most of the drugs in the United States come from Mexico, that’s where the military could be used. They don’t need to be border patrol. If the drug cartels could be destroyed and the Mexican streets be made safer, not as many would be running to the USA.

Changing a nations economic situation will take time. If Mexico had an economy like Canada, there would be no immigration problem. NAFTA and other trade deals have helped the Mexican economy, but it is only a start. Making the challenge even greater is the corruption at all levels of Mexican government.

I do not understand the amnesty crowd. How can giving away citizenship be a solution? I thought we were a nation of laws? The better word is surrender. We don’t want to solve the problem, so just give up. It is a slap in the face to all those who worked so hard to become American citizens. It would also open the door to every Tom, Dick, and Osama.

I have an idea that no one has tried yet. Don’t come up with an immigration reform bill, build a wall, or put our troops on the border. Start with enforcing the current laws. Catch illegals and then do what the law says. I would even agree to making it easier to becoming a citizen, but enforce the laws on the books. The Arizona law is nothing more than a copy of the federal law, it simply puts enforcement responsibilities at the state level.

Once again the big, bloated, federal government fails.