I know many would like to see this liberal remain behind bars, but by helping me you’ll be helping lots of local kids and families who are living with Muscular Dystrophy.  I’ll be arrested on Wednesday, August 26th at about 11a.m. and hauled off to jail where I’ll remain until I raise $2,000 for the North Sound Chapter of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.  Help me help these wonderful area families by donating today at my personal website.

Thank you so very much!  I’ll have some bread and water in your name.

The people taking to the streets to protest “big government” and out-of-control spending are a little late getting into the game. The massive federal budget deficit didn’t just happen when Obama took office, as this article clearly points out. It’s been many years in the making.

A huge reduction in tax receipts, thanks to the tanked economy, is a big factor in the deficit. Also, Bush administration initiatives that have been adopted by Obama (Iraq, Afghanistan, middle class tax cuts, Medicare drug benefits) have for years and continue to push us into the red. Obama’s initiatives, including the stimulus package, account for just 10% of deficit spending.

I know I’ll be lambasted by the right for “blaming it all on Bush” (I know, a two term president who’s now out of office should be free from citicism). But Obama does deserve a knock or two for not confronting the reality of the deficits and how to deal them over the long term.

So my question to the “Tea Partiers” is, what’s taken you so long?

If Boeing and the machinists union negotiate in good faith and reach an agreement on a no-strike clause, fine. But for Boeing to insist on it under a threat to open another 787 production line in a different state is just plain wrong.

Boeing’s CEO has said that the company and the unions must set a new, more cooperative tone - and that makes sense. But basically demanding that the unions completely “disarm” is not a step in that direction.

Business is a two-way street. Management can’t see labor as an enemy and vice versa. And the right should stop blaming workers for the failures of businesses they work for.