END OF QUARTER THREE BREAK

All posts prior to this post will be counted on quarter three. Posts after this on quarter four.

One quarter left! Where has the time gone? Let's make it a good one.

Outrageous Government Spending

Tom Coburn, MD, a senator from Oklahoma, complied a report called "Wastebook" about government spending and waste.

"As 2010 ends, millions of Americans are still struggling to find work. Even those lucky enough to have jobs have had to tighten their belts. Yet, Congress continues to find new and extravagant ways to waste tax dollars. Our national debt is the greatest threat to our national security according to our own military leaders. I hope this report will give taxpayers and concerned citizens the information they need to hold Washington accountable. As dysfunctional as our politics can seem, our system still works when ordinary citizens get informed and engaged," Dr. Coburn said.

Here is some of the wasteful spending he identified from 2010.

~taxpayers shelled out $615,000 so the University of California at Santa Cruz could digitize Grateful Dead photographs, tickets, backstage passes, fliers, shirts and other memorabilia

~ $175 million a year so the Department of Veterans Affairs can maintain buildings it doesn’t use, including a pink, octagonal monkey house in Dayton, Ohio

~$1 million to zoos to post bits of poetry to plaques on zoo premises

~The National Science Foundation provided more than to $200,000 to study of why political candidates make vague statements

~The National Science Foundation directed nearly a quarter million dollars to a Stanford University professor's study of how Americans use the Internet to find love

~The city of Las Vegas has received a $5.2 million federal grant to build the Neon Boneyard Park and Museum, including $1.8 million in 2010. For over the last decade, Museum supporters have gathered and displayed over 150 old Las Vegas neon signs, such as the Golden Nugget and Silver Slipper casinos

~Medicare paid out over $35 million to a vast network of 118 "phantom" medical clinics, allegedly established by members of a criminal gang to submit phony reimbursement claims

~The Internal Revenue Service paid out $112 million in undeserved tax refunds to prisoners who filed fraudulent returns, according to the Treasury Department's Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA)

~The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent nearly $442,340 million to study the number of male prostitutes in Vietnam and their social setting

Your thoughts?

If you would like to email or send a letter to Dr. Coburn for Government in Action, you may do so. http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactsenatorcoburn?p=ContactForm

Gov in Action Idea

Write a letter/email to your Minnesota Congress people concerning this hot topic~

A bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of gestation is expected to find support in Minnesota's Republican-controlled Legislature despite opposition from Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton. The legislation was introduced Monday.

Dayton's position on the subject is clear. "I can assure you that nothing as extreme that violates that basic fundamental right — and it is a Constitutional right as established by the United States Supreme Court — will be enacted with my signature," he said then. "It will not happen here in Minnesota."

Lawmakers could attempt to override a Dayton veto if Democratic abortion rights opponents joined GOP majorities in both legislative chambers.

The bill's supporters say the 20-week threshold is the point when developing fetuses can feel pain. Studies are divided on that question.

The proposal would make an exception for women who would risk death or serious physical harm by carrying a pregnancy to term, but there would be no exceptions for victims of rape or incest or for psychological or emotional suffering.

State Health Department data shows that fewer than 2 percent of more than 12,000 abortions performed in Minnesota in 2009 involved fetuses older than 20 weeks. Abortion rights groups said those cases often involve fetuses with fatal medical conditions.

You may email the governor, your state representatives and senators with your thoughts about what they should do concerning this bill. WE WILL NOT DEBATE THE TOPIC HERE.

To find email addresses- click on the link below.
http://www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/districts/

Government Shutdown

Much of the federal government could grind to a halt in the coming weeks because Republicans and Democrats in Congress can't agree on spending cuts.

Congress itself wouldn't really shut down. As things stand, lawmakers would still get their paychecks and many of their aides would still come to work.

During the shutdowns in 1995 and 1996, debates raged over which people were considered "essential." Lawmakers kept nearly all of their aides working, whether they were involved in budget negotiations or just answering phones. (The latter employees stayed busy -- Congress was deluged with angry calls during the shutdown.) The huge number of "essential" employees on the Hill reportedly irked officials at the White House, which had to work with a skeleton crew. Not everything for Congress members went on as normal though. Senate eateries closed. Senators even had to (gasp!) operate the elevators themselves. But the House gym stayed open.

If the government does shut down in the next few weeks, many government workers will not be able to work and will not get paid. Congress will need to work to pass a budget, should they get paid and get to keep their staff? A bill passed the Senate last week unanimously that approved a measure that would prohibit members of Congress and President Obama from being paid during a shutdown. The bill has yet to come up in the House.

Young Mayors

How common is it for an 18-19 year old to become mayor? Not as uncommon as you would think. Here are some young mayors elected in the past few years.

In Rice Lake, Wisconsin 19 year old Romaine Robert Quinn defeated the incumbent mayor 53% to 47%. His main goals were the balancing the budget and working on the sidewalk project.

John Tyler Hammons, 19, was elected to be mayor of Muskogee, OK. The city has a population of 38,000 people and Hammons won 70% of the vote.










Kyle Corbin became the mayor of Union, Oregon when he was just 18. He beat out two other candidates, City Councilor Scott Morrison, 59 and a former city councilor, Dick Middleton, 64. Corbin had to run a write in campaign because as a 17-year-old, when he announced his intent to run, he was too young to be a registered voter and qualify for a spot on the ballot.







Colton Morman is a high school senior and barely eligible to vote, but he was elected mayor of Dawson, Iowa. Morman's grandfather stepped down as Dawson's mayor. Morman said he figured that being the next mayor might be good experience for a future career in law. Mostly, he said, he just wants to help people.





Michael Sessions ran as a write-in candidate because he was too young to get on the ballot. The young politician used $700 from a summer job to fund his door-to-door campaign in Hillsdale, Mich., a town of about 9,000. Sessions, 18, beat former Mayor Doug Ingles, 51, 732 votes to 668 votes.





What do you think about these young mayors?

Minnesota Lightbulb Bill

By 2012, incandescent lightbulbs(regular old fashioned) will be no more. As part of the 2007 Federal Energy Act, these bulbs would no longer be manufactured, in favor of a more energy-effcient fluorescent bulb. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has introduced a bill entitled the, " Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act." The bill seeks to repeal the nationwide phase-out of conventional light bulbs.

Bachmann believes that people should have a choice of what kind of lightbulb they want to use. She believes that energy-efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs are harmful due to mercury content and that human created global warming is "voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax."

Electrical and manufacturing companies disagree with Bachmann and say that the mercury content is small and a nonissue. They say the bulbs use so much less energy that mercury emissions are actually reduced.

What do you think? Do you want a choice of lightbulbs? Or should everyone use the fluorescent lightbulb?

Supreme Court Allows Protest at Military Funerals

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protects the rights of groups to protest at military funerals.

Members of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KA. regularly protest military funerals.

The Court decided the protesters has a right to be where they were. Protesters were 1000 feet fromt he funeral, and protested quietly and without violence.

Chief Justice, John Roberts, said that the protesters' speech "cannot be restriced simply because it is upsetting or arouses contempt."

Roberts wrote that "Debate on public issues should be robust, uninhibited, and wide-open because speech on public issues occupies the highest rung of the hierarchy of First Amendment values."

What do you think?

2nd Amendment Issues

Gun control and second amendment freedoms is an on going issue in the US. Find a current article about gun control and tell us abut it. Both Washington DC and Chicago had court cases over gun bans in recent years, that is one area you could look at.