Real problems undermining our children’s economic future

Posted on April 15, 2009 by | Leave a comment

By John Mitchel

A while back the Beavercreek (Ohio) mayor was investigated for an alleged conflict of interest regarding a service contract with a private developer. Before the 2008 election, the Ohio Elections Commission investigated a candidate for Greene County recorder for removing an opponent’s yard signs. Recently a former Xenia Assistant Prosecutor appeared in court for allegedly scamming a client during an estate settlement. I suppose covering allegations on ethically challenged elected and appointed officials are warranted, but there are much more serious infractions being ignored by public officials and the press.

Take for example other shenanigans going on in Greene County. For nearly two years this reporter has been investigating the 2003 BRAC Initiative Agreement between Greene County Commissioners and the Dayton Development Coalition. There’s a mountain of evidence that points to bid-rigging, illegal campaign contributions and money laundering, a violation of the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Just follow the $1.9 million that starts with Greene County tax dollars; then through no-bid contracts, goes to the Dayton Development Coalition; then to Greentree Group, a Beavercreek government support contractor and then to Washington lobbying firm, PMA, which is under investigation for illegally bundling campaign contributions to John Murtha, Dave Hobson, Steve Austria and over a hundred other members in the U.S. Congress. From there it turns up as campaign donations from associates and family of these private corporations to Hobson, Austria and other elected officials. Finally, the money is spent on questionable expenditures, including spending by “Dave Hobson for Congress” on pest control, maid service and lawn-care, not to mention over $90,000 in other undisclosed expenditures. (Source: www.opensecrets.org)

If both public officials and the press take the time to address petty squabbles among city councilmen, intra-party bickering involving a two-dollar yard sign and relatively low-dollar abuses by former public officials, you’d think they would be all over a $1.9 million “earmarks-for-campaign-cash” scheme perpetrated in part by former and current U.S. Congressmen. These are the real problem that undermine our children’s economic future and it’s time the media shine a bright light on their abuses.

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Posted in Beavercreek, economy, Greene County, Ohio, politics

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Dayton Tea Party @ 6-8PM Courthouse Square

Posted on April 14, 2009 by | Leave a comment

The Dayton Tea Party has received over 5,000 RSVPs for their April 15 Income Tax Day Rally at Courthouse Square from 6 to 8 p.m. in downtown Dayton (corner of Third & Main).

The Dayton Tea Party Rally seeks to protest runaway spending at all government levels. The Rally will feature dynamic speakers from the Miami Valley. Modeled after the Boston Tea Party tax protest of 1773, the April 15 rally will pressure Congress to repeal the federal stimulus plan and draw attention for needed fiscal restraint, support for the free market and small business, and respect for the Constitution.
“We are all geared up for the rally,” said Perry Reynolds, co-founder of the Dayton Tea Party. “Our supporters are excited and pumped for April 15.”

“We are seeing support everywhere throughout the Miami Valley from all political spectrums,” said Rob Scott, co-founder of the Dayton Tea Party. “This event is not about political labels but standing up for what the Tea Partiers believe in.”

The Dayton Tea Party is a grassroots and nonpartisan group opposed to wasteful government spending. The Tea Party is made up of students, homemakers, working people, professionals who are Democrats, Independents, Republicans, and Libertarians.

For directions, a list of speakers, or other information, go to their website at www.daytonohioteaparty.com. For directions or a list of speakers, For questions, contact info@daytonohioteaparty.com.

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Another attempt by Ohio legislators to legalize casino-style gambling

Posted on April 14, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Apparently, Ohio lawmakers don’t get it. Ohioans are not in favor of padding the pockets of businesses or politicians with family-destroying addition money. For many gamblers, gambling is pathology. This pathology results in the ruin of personal finances, family welfare, and individuals lives. Yet, Ohio politicians seem blind to anything except money, which is evident in the following Dayton Daily News article.

State Reps. Todd Book, D-McDermott, and Louis Blessing, R-Cincinnati, said on Tuesday, April 7, that they’re drafting legislation based largely on an Ohio Racing Commission plan to put 14,000 slot machines at Ohio’s seven racetracks without a vote of the people.

They’re gathering cosponsors and hope to introduce the bill next week, Book and Blessing said.

Separately, Philip Craig, executive director of the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association, said he is gathering legislative support for a plan to permit slot machines at bars and restaurants, also without the vote of the people.

The effort has support from bar owners such as David Grusenmeyer in the Dayton area, who said business at his three bars is the worst he’s seen in 24 years. He owns two bars in Huber Heights and one in Fairborn.

Work on both proposals comes with the Ohio Ballot Board scheduled to meet on Monday, April 13, to consider a petition from backers of a proposal for casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo. The board must give its OK before supporters can begin to gather the 402,275 signatures needed to put the proposal on the Nov. 3 ballot.

As you can see, the proposed bill is intended to benefit only a few businesses. The reason Ohio needs slot machine gambling at racetracks and in bars is to bailout them out of their financial recession.

Even worse is the repeated use of this golden cash cow to save education from its supposed financial woes justification is getting nauseating.

The state’s weak economy combined with money woes at the tracks make it the right time to discuss expanding the Ohio Lottery to include slot machines at the tracks, said Book. The proposal will call for 51 percent of gross revenue to go to education, said Blessing.

If the economy were so bad that people aren’t spending enough of their unemployment or stimulus checks, how would gambling solve this cash flow problem? Maybe, the best thing for voters handing onto to their dollars is for such business to cease to exist. Taxpayers should refuse to allow politicians to use their tax dollars to prop up poorly managed businesses or those whose products and services are no longer in great demand. The larger they are the louder the sound of good riddance should be heard. Such shouting might even stimulate voters to put those politicians who supported this bill and others like it on unemployment, in my humble opinion.

Source: Dayton Daily News, April 8, 2009

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Glory be! Tax Freedom Day arrives on April 13

Posted on April 13, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Tax Freedom Day® will arrive on April 13 this year, the 103rd day of 2009. That means Americans will work about three and a half months of the year, from January 1 to April 13, before they have earned enough money to pay this year’s tax obligations at the federal, state and local levels. Tax Freedom Day falls a full two weeks earlier in 2009 than it did in 2007. In fact, not since 1967 has Tax Freedom Day come earlier than this year’s April 13 date.

This shift has been driven by two factors: the recession has reduced tax collections even faster than it has reduced income; and the stimulus package, a.k.a. HR 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, includes large temporary tax cuts for 2009 and 2010. Nevertheless, in 2009, Americans will pay more in taxes than they will spend on food, clothing and housing combined.

While tax revenues are falling, government expenditures are expected to explode in 2009, also driven in significant part by HR 1. Tax Freedom Day, like almost all tax burden measures, ignores the current year’s deficits. If the projected deficit for 2009 were counted as a tax, Tax Freedom Day would arrive on May 29 instead of April 13-the latest date ever for this deficit-inclusive measure.

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Mr. Obama Manages to Offend Millions of Christians During Holy Week

Posted on April 10, 2009 by | 2 comments

By Chris Long, President of Ohio Christian Alliance

As a Christian first, American citizen second, I found many of President Obama’s actions and words during his recent foreign trip to be troublesome, bordering on appalling. To outline a few of the most egregious:

First, last Friday President Obama bowed to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah. No President of the United States has ever bowed before royalty. If it was a mistake of protocol, it is interesting to note that Mr. Obama did not bow to the royalties of England whom he first met with, but later to an Arab monarch who is Muslim. Many take great umbrage that a standing President representing the people of the United States of America would show obeisance to any royalty.

Second, he stated while on tour in the Islamic nation of Turkey that America is not a Christian nation, contradicting the belief of many of his predecessors and the writings of many founding fathers.

For instance, Harry Truman, in a statement to Pope Pius XII in 1947, stated, “This is a Christian nation.”

Woodrow Wilson at a Denver rally in 1911, stated, “America was born a Christian nation”.

Franklin D. Roosevelt described the United States as “The lasting concord between men and nations, founded on the principles of Christianity” in a mid-Atlantic summit with British Prime Minister Churchill before asking the crew of an American warship to join him in singing the hymn, “Onward, Christian Soldiers.”

Abraham Lincoln, in his March 4, 1861 inaugural address, stated, “Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulties.”

Theodore Roosevelt stated in 1909, “I believe that the next half century will determine if we will advance the cause of Christian civilization or revert to the horrors of brutal paganism.”

Third, President Obama, while at the G20 Summit, was invited by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to visit the graves at the Normandy beaches, which are the final resting place of thousands of U.S. soldiers who died liberating Europe during WWII. President Obama declined the invitation, but took the opportunity to visit a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey during his stay there.

President Obama has yet to find a Christian church to attend in Washington, D.C. even though he promised to do so after leaving the divisive controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church in Chicago.

President Obama needs to be held accountable for his actions. His statements and his actions are offensive to many Christians in this country. The Ohio Christian Alliance is calling upon its members to write and let President Obama know that his actions and words are offensive to the Christian people of this nation.

America is a Christian nation, as attested by many Presidents prior to Mr. Obama. The message that President Obama has managed to send is that Jews and Christians are to move to the back of the Obama bus.

Source: Christian Newswire, April 9, 2009

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5 Simple Easter Baskets for Less Than $5

Posted on April 10, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Lauri Ward, author of the best-selling book, Use What You Have Decorating, shares five of her creative ideas for making inexpensive Easter baskets at home. Simple, yet artistic, Lauri turns milk cartons, small beach pails, straw hats, old lampshades, and even a tennis ball can into beautiful basket. Anyone would impress other parents at the community or church Easter gathering. But, let’s be real, kids only care about the sugar-loaded treats you put inside the basket.

Of the five under $5 baskets, I like the Milk Container Easter Basket. Here is how to make it:

1. Cut a 1/2 gallon milk container in two and discard the top half.

2. Cover the outside of the bottom half with solid, colored paper or brightly colored fabric by gluing or stapling it on.

3. Attach two pieces of wide ribbon on opposite sides and tie in a bow to create a handle.

4. Fill with foil wrapped chocolates.

Now, the second most creative basket is the one made out of tennis ball cans. This one not for the non-artist though. Ward must be into painting flowers. For us non-artists, the skill deficit could be overcome by using colorful stick-on flowers. That is providing you first go to Reader Digest’s website to find out how to make do so. The same is true for the other three Easter baskets: Beach Pail, Straw Hat, and Lampshade.

Lauri Ward’s affordable creations are perfect for these troublesome economic times.

Source: Reader Digest.com, April 6, 2009.

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There is funding for local organizations serving the community

Posted on April 8, 2009 by | Leave a comment

If your organization is needing funding for a project of benefit to Xenia’s below median income residents, you should consider applying for a Community Development Block Grant.

To be considered for funding your project must meet the following criteria:

1.  Benefit 51 percent or greater low and moderate income residents,
2.  Prevent or eliminate slums or blight, and
3.  Address community development needs having a particular urgency      because existing conditions pose a serious and immediate threat
     to the health or welfare of the community for which other funding
     is not available.
 

Some common projects funded by CDBG include the following:

•  acquisition of property for public purposes;
•  construction or reconstruction of streets;
•  water and sewer facilities;
•  neighborhood centers, recreation facilities, and other public works;
•  demolition;
•  rehabilitation of public and private buildings;
•  public services;
•  planning activities;
•  assistance to nonprofit entities for community development activities; and
•  assistance to private, for-profit entities to carry out economic development activities (including assistance to micro-enterprises).
 

Those interested in applying for grant funding should attend a training session which will be held by the Community Development Departments of Greene County and the City of Xenia on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at the Xenia Area Community Theatre (X*ACT), 45 E. Second Street, Xenia, Ohio. Applicants must complete an application, and return it to the City of Xenia, 101 N. Detroit Street, Xenia, Ohio 45385 by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 1, 2009.

For more information, go to Xenia’s CDBG website or contact Mary Crockett at (937) 376-7286.

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Ohio Ranked at 45th on the Happiness Index

Posted on April 7, 2009 by | Leave a comment

On Nov. 6, 2009, the misery index peaked. The cause was attributed to too many Democrats winning elections. Soon after, masses of Ohioans were visiting their doctors asking for tranquilizers or Prozac to numb the cataclysmic consequences of Democratic control of the economy. The misery index didn’t just peak it burst the barometer.

The folks on MainStreet have devised a new barometer to measure our financial misery. Instead of calling a misery index, they have taken a more positive and patriotic approach. They now measure our happiness via our economic misery the supposed lack thereof.

The folks on MainStreet make a reasonable argument for a happiness index.

“We all know that money alone can’t buy happiness, but having a job, home and enough money to cover your basic budgetary needs is a good start.

“The Happiness Index, which looks at household income, debt, employment and foreclosures, is a fresh take on the old and tired Misery Index, made popular in the 1970s. The Misery Index takes into account unemployment and inflation rates and seeks to identify the most financially miserable places to live.

“The Happiness Index, on the other hand, is all about which states are best weathering the current economic storm.”

Who can argue against chucking the Misery Index for one that is not so personal but is rather only about the financial misery or happiness of states. After all, states are only made up of things like individuals and people. Stuff like animals, bugs, plants, stupid buildings, and the like are just colorful ornaments.

Anyway, as the title of this post indicates, the state of Ohio must be feeling pretty unhappy. Out of 50 states–that is those in the U.S.–Ohio’s place in the economic rat race to happiness is almost at the bottom. The folks on MainStreet ranked Ohio at an overwhelmingly depressive 45.

If the trend holds, the government will want to give Ohio doctors and drugs companies a gigantic stimulus package to put Ohioans on Prozac, Ritalin, or some other wonder working drugs to keep Ohioans on-track to happy prosperity.

Lest I become the first patient, let me return to the hard work of the folks on Main Street.com. Their efforts are meant to show us poor Ohioans how a low percent of our portion of the multiple trillions of dollars of debt outside of our loans on home and other property, how a low percentage of unemployed, and how low number of foreclosures per household makes our state a happy one.

Being an analytical ole’ cuss, I see something rather interesting. Most happy state in dis-union is Nebraska. On the “non-mortgage debt as a percent of income” category, the happiest state was at 29.2% while poor miserable Ohio was at 33.9%. That’s a meager difference of only 4.7%. On the “unemployment category, the happy, happy state has an unemployment rate of 4.2% while our depressed state has an unemployment rate of 9.4%. That is a small difference that equates to many thousands times of unhappiness. On the last category called “one foreclosure per number of households,” Nebraska is on a high of about 25,187 while Ohio suffers severe withdrawals of 452. These increasingly troublesome differences can mean only one of three things:
(1) Warren Buffet, a Nebraskan, is paying for these results. (2) The high Nebraskan who sits on a mountain of paper gold is bailing-out his would-be miserable state. Or, (3) Ohio is among the kings of bad mortgage loans to people wanting desperately to participate in the American Dream while still hallucinating on the welfare drug–or something similar.

In my opinion, Ohioans need less stimulants and more real food. Government is not capable of creating or maintaining a healthy diet or a healthy economy for all or even most citizens. That is because too many of state representatives are high on drugs like power, lobby money, and other items of special interest.

Source: MainStreet, April 6, 2009.

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The blessing of faith’s law

Posted on April 5, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Psalm 119 is my favorite Psalm. This Psalm is intimately connected to the beginning of my relationship with God and Jesus Christ. This Psalm is full of precious gems of great value to life in both the present and the eternal future. Our marketing saturated culture should find this Psalm interesting. That is because it begins by extolling those benefits of the product being extolled. For teachers of grammar, this Psalms exemplifies methods of learning still effective today. It gives each letter of the Hebrew alphabet a lesson of moral and social value certain to impact the lives of those choose to live those lessons.

In this post, my observation will be limited to the first alphabet … sales pitch … and life lesson:

1How blessed are those whose way is blameless,
  Who walk in the law of the Lord.
2How blessed are those who observe His testimonies,
  Who seek Him with all of their heart.
3They also do no unrighteousness;
  They walk in His ways.
4You have ordained Your precepts,
  That we should obey them diligently.
5Oh that my ways may be established
  To keep Your statutes!
6Then I shall not be ashamed
  When I look upon Your commandments,
7I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart,
  When I learn Your righteous judgments.
8I shall keep Your statutes;
  Do not forsake me utterly!

If David the Shepherd-King of Bethlehem wrote this Psalm, the last verse makes a lot of sense. His life story was one of being alone, betrayed, and forsaken, but not by God. As a boy, he was often alone in the fields with the family sheep. He learned to conquer his fear though his faith in God. He developed great courage and fighting skills through his trust in God. God revealed His powers as David learned to practice the law by faith. The same was true later in life when King Saul betrayed David’s loyalty with jealous attempts on his life, and when his son Absalom did the same.

Whether David is its author or not, the above verses explicates different angles the benefits of a vital relationship with God. Poetic parallelism is the structural form of the first two verses, which means they present very similar concepts. The blameless are those who observe the testimonies of God. They are blameless because they do no unrighteousness. They do no unrighteousness because they obey all of the God’s word–commandments, precepts, statutes. Thus they live a life exemplifying law of the Lord, which also means to live God’s way.

This is what the author wants more than anything.

The key to understanding the above verses is in the phrase: “who seek Him with all of their heart.” The greatest benefit of all that is implied in these verses is being able to know God. If a genuine relationship is not the end result of whole-hearted seeking, then the rest is meaningless. In a society governed by laws defined as originating from God, obeying them would beneficial to one’s freedom and health. However, God would be merely a synonym for the state, which the reality of secular states. Secular states like Russia and China did exactly that they made the state the god of all people. The politics of evolution seeks to erect a similar society.
To those who seek God with all of their heart, the Bible is a means of making history concrete reality in the present. It is the physical soul’s connection to the divine King who is spirit. Another related benefit is through the same process through which humans begin to learn about themselves, their whole nature, their disconnected purpose, and the empirical support of their eternal future. For such, the shame and baseness of past alienation and moral destitution fades out of existence.

That is why the Bible is a dangerous book in a secular society whose governing authorities have vaunted themselves to the position of everyman’s god. It is a vital threat because while looking into the word of God its creator looks back and speaks into the soul and spirit. The Supreme Judge calls the reader to justice while pointing to His provision of forgiveness and a new start. The desired end is a life blessed and blameless before gaze of God.

The first century writer, John, called Jesus the Word of God (Jo. 1:1-18). This perspective originated in two different experiences. The first was John’s relationship with Jesus. He witnessed Jesus life, his teaching, his works, his death, and his resurrection. (Jo. 18:24-25) More important perhaps was his continued relationship with Jesus as Lord after he ascended to the heavenly throne of God. (1 Jo. 1:1-10; 5:1-5) Jesus is the embodiment of God’s word because he witnessed its literal fulfillment. Moreover, John was given additional treasures when God gave him a cinematic overview of the world’s future. As recorded in Revelation, Jesus is called the word of God coming to destroy the enemies of God. (Rev. 19:11-16)

The significance of Jesus as word of God is this: He is the means to the blessing of a blameless life. God was in him reconciling the world to Himself. (2 Co. 5:19) God thus raised up for us all the way, the truth, and the life to follow into the blessing of blameless living with God. (Jo. 14:6) The law of faith in Jesus is the way. (Ro. 3:21-31)

By Daniel Downs

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Obama Set To Fund More Anti-Christian Bigotry

Posted on April 3, 2009 by | Leave a comment

The latest version of H.R. 1388, the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, is a slush fund for groups like ACORN and Planned Parenthood. It was passed by the House on March 31. This version includes Senate language from S. 277. It will now go to President Obama for his signature.

The massive “volunteerism” legislation pays people, organizations, and educational institutions to “volunteer.” (There were five different versions of H.R. 1388. The language and sections are frequently different.)

However, H.R. 1388, as passed by the Senate, contains language in Section 132A that forbids funds going to any entity that is: Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of proselytization, consistent with section 132.

So, anti-Christian bigotry is embedded in this legislation. It is designed to provide funds for secularists, but not faith-based individuals or organizations.

In addition, the original bill contained language that urged a “study” of ways that young people could be forced into “mandatory” service for the government, but it was quietly removed.

Unfortunately, a new bill has appeared that will accomplish the same objective in forcing young people into service activities. The bill is H.R. 1444 introduced by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA).

Mandatory Volunteerism In H.R. 1444

Under Section 4(b)6, it states: “Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.”

H.R. 1444 would establish a Congressional Commission on Civic Service to “study” ways of improving volunteerism and national service. The plan to encourage “national service” will include children in primary schools.

On Barack Obama’s old “Change.gov” web site, a section called “America Serves” discussed the need for a Classroom Corps, a Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. The site stated: “Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year.” Each student “volunteer” will be bribed with tax credits for their education.

Americans volunteer on their own. They do not need federal legislation or bribes to get them to volunteer. This is just another way to funnel money to liberal’s favorite causes and front groups. In addition, H.R. 1444 will permit the federal government to create a mandatory service program for young people and others who may be targeted for “service” to the government.

Source: Traditional Values Coalition On-line Newsletter, April 1, 2009.

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