2010 In Review

The past year has been pivotal for the future of the nation and the World as a whole. Unemployment rates continue to edge upward nationally as well as locally and in many other parts of the World, especially in Europe. Our national debt now exceeds $ 14 Trillion and every day we learn of another state that is headed toward bankrupcy. The problem in most states focuses on government employee and retirement benefit programs. The costs of those programs have risen out of sight under the weight of union demands and the lack of toughness on the part of elected officials.

2011 Outlook

The economic outlook for the new year is positive only in an expected gradual increase in the nation's GDP and a few new jobs. Nothing to really write home about. Potential Presidential candidates are beginning to stir on the GOP side of the aisle among them Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Newt Gingrich. John Thune is likely to join the fray also before party convention time in 2012. Other possibilities no doubt exist which should make it a real horse race before it's over.

Tucson Tragedy

The shooting rampage on January 8, 2011 that took the lives of a Federal Judge, a 9 year-old girl plus four others and wounded Congresswoman Gabby Giffords plus thirteen others reminds us once again that no one is safe around a mad man. No, it wasn't Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh or Glen Beck or Sean Hannity or any other conservative talk radio host who did the shooting nor was it the mounting criticism of the Obama administration and it's moving of the country steadily down the road to a collectivist state. It was a very sick minded young man whose illness should have been under treatment starting back when he was a child. And he should never have
been allowed to purchase a gun, given his mental state.

Gun Control


The Tucson event has given rise once again to the rants and raves of those who would repeal the 2d Amendment and disallow private gun ownership. Those are the people who think guns fire by themselves. If their reasoning held true, automobiles should be banned because of the deaths that occur on our highways and airplanes ought to be banned because they sometimes crash and passengers get killed when they do.


The Tucson mad man should have been placed in a treatment program for the mentally ill the first time his abnormal behavior became apparent. Records of people in such programs should be open to gun dealers as a checkpoint in the purchase process and the sale should be denied if the would-be buyer is shown to be mentally ill.