Hey, Republicans: Are you willing to sacrifice conservative judges, tax cuts, and every other conservative cause for the president’s big-government, nation-building, utopian dream of democratizing Iraq through occupation? A CNN/Opinion Research poll finds just 30 percent of Americans supporting the war in Iraq. This is the biggest issue facing America today, and Republicans are on the wrong side of it. They were on the wrong side of it when two-thirds of the country supported them, and they’re on the wrong side of it now that two-thirds of the country is against them.
There can be no denying that outmigration is real and it is not getting any better. Ignoring the problem and hoping it will go away as some like to do. Two recent reports quantified in no uncertain economic terms that there is indeed a problem.
First, the State Data Center issued a report detailing how even in Cass County where the population is growing at a quick rate, has been unable to recoup taxable lost because of people leaving. As a whole, the report indicates that the state has lost over a billion dollars in taxable income in the last 14 years.
Secondly, first quarter personal income growth numbers came in with North Dakota dead last. Not only dead last, but the ONLY state with personal income actually on the decline. There’s really no way to spin this.
So let’s review: 1) Personal Income is declining while the Gross State Product is increasing. 2) People who are leaving the state are making more than those entering the state.
What can be done?
1.) Admit there is a problem.
2.) Reduce the amount of lost income to taxation by allowing people to keep more of their money.
3.) Create incentives to entice young people to stay in North Dakota (income tax exemption for those under 30 years old).
4.) Eliminate hurdles and roadblocks to new business creation.
5.) Utilize Bank of North Dakota profits for low interest/high risk business loans specifically targeted towards college graduates with solid business plans.
6.) End the use of student loan profits as a general fund revenue source.
7.) Increase accountability for higher education cost increases; specifically student fees.
8.) Allow “amount paid” on student loans to be “banked” for later use as tax credits against state income tax liability in future years.
If these initiatives are not embraced, then the U.S. Census Bureau may be right when it predicts that North Dakota will lose another 30,000 people - or 5% of the state. Keep in mind they predict that they predict South Dakota (with no state income tax) to gain nearly 50,000 people.
When Argentina invaded the Falklands Islands in April 1982 and ignited the Falklands War with Great Britain, many commentators saw the conflict as something of a quaint historical anomaly, a “throwback” campaign reminiscent of 19th century “petty scrapes” imperial Britain engaged in when the sun never set on its globe-circling empire.
The war ended on June 14, 1982, making this month the 25th anniversary of its conclusion.
[...]
Argentina’s Falklands-Malvinas quest isn’t quite over. In 2006, it began a new diplomatic drive to gain control of the islands. Argentina still bases its claim to the islands on geographic proximity and historical ties, but this time it has enlisted the support of Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. Argentina emphasizes that its current efforts to “reclaim” the islands are political, not military.
Not so for Chavez. Never one to shy from inflammatory rhetoric and violent risks, Chavez has added land claims to his list of grievances with neighboring states — and he rattles sabers.
[...]
What happens if Chavez calculates that a Bolivar-like “liberation” of the islands from the prison of European colonial oppression would galvanize support for him throughout Latin America?
Outlandish, grandiose and delusional? Twenty-five years ago, Argentina’s dictatorship concluded the risks of outlandish action were worth the grand rewards.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A bipartisan immigration bill narrowly survived a potentially fatal challenge on Wednesday when the Senate turned back a Republican bid to limit the illegal immigrants who could gain lawful status. The close vote on a proposal by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, to bar felons—including those court-ordered to be deported—from legalization reflected the delicate position of the contentious immigration bill, which remains under threat from the right and the left.
The vote was 51-46 against the amendment. Democrats succeeded in sucking support from Cornyn’s proposal by winning adoption of a rival version that would bar a more limited set of criminals, including certain gang members and sex offenders, from gaining legalization. The Senate backed that amendment 66-32.
Cornyn had painted his effort as a “defining issue” for any presidential candidate—a sign of the degree to which the contentious debate is bleeding over into the GOP campaign fray.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., alone among his party’s presidential aspirants in backing the immigration measure, opposed Cornyn’s bid and backed the Democratic alternative offered by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Several thousand Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq early Wednesday to chase Kurdish guerrillas who attack Turkey from bases there, two Turkish security officials said. Turkey’s foreign minister denied its troops had entered Iraq. Two senior security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, characterized the action as a “hot pursuit” raid that was limited in scope. They told The Associated Press it did not constitute the kind of large incursion that Turkish leaders have been discussing in recent weeks as Turkish troops built up their force along the border.
In a threat not uttered since the Cold War, Vladimir Putin said that Russia intends to aim its missile systems - potentially nuclear weapons - at targets in Europe in retaliation for the U.S. decision to establish antimissile bases there.
During a lengthy dinner, Russia’s President defended his semi-authoritarian style and insisted he is the world’s only true democrat. In an interview with The Globe and Mail and a small circle of other journalists, he stressed that his country is not moving away from a market economy, refused to consider extraditing a former KGB agent charged with poisoning a dissident in London, and lashed out repeatedly at the United States and NATO for operating in countries previously within Russia’s sphere of influence.
Mr. Putin’s remarks, translated from Russian, virtually guarantee much of the G8 summit, due to begin in northern Germany on Wednesday, will be dominated by the growing confrontation between the West and Russia.
Mr. Putin repeatedly described U.S. antimissile bases, which will be built in the Czech Republic and Poland, both former Warsaw Pact countries, as “an element of the nuclear potential of the United States,” and that the alleged threat from Iranian missiles is a myth. Washington says that the bases are purely defensive and designed to shoot down missiles launched at the United States from Iran or other rogue states.
President Putin has warned the US that its deployment of a new anti-missile network across Eastern Europe would prompt Russia to point its own missiles at European targets and could trigger nuclear war.
In an exclusive interview with The Times, the Russian leader says: “It is obvious that if part of the strategic nuclear potential of the US is located in Europe and will be threatening us, we will have to respond.
“This system of missile defence on one side and the absence of this system on the other . . . increases the possibility of unleashing a nuclear conflict.”
Russia has been alarmed at America’s plans to install a network of defences in Eastern Europe to shoot down incoming missiles it fears that Iran might launch.
Mr Putin expressed scepticism of this motive, arguing that “There are no such missiles – Iran does not have missiles with the range”. The US was insisting, he said, that the defence system was to be “installed for the protection from something that does not exist. Is it not sort of funny? It would be funny if it were not so sad.”
He speculated that the US’s real motive was to provoke Russia’s retaliation and so “to avoid further closeness of Russia and Europe”.
In a June 1 interview with journalists from G8 countries, Putin showed no sign of backing down, saying Russia is being forced to take “retaliatory steps” for the U.S. missile-defense shield planned for deployment in Europe.If the West is going to be aggressive with Russia, Putin made clear, then Russia is going to be aggressive with the West.
“If a new missile-defense system is deployed in Europe, then we need to warn you today that we will come with a response. We have to ensure our security, and we are not the initiators of this process,” Putin said.
Congress “failed you,” McCain said. “We passed a law in 1986 that said we’d give amnesty to some people and now we have 12 million more,” illegal immigrants.
The man wasn’t satisfied with McCain’s answer. He asked McCain why the U.S. couldn’t execute large-scale deportations, as he had heard they did in France and other countries.
The question seemed to pique McCain.
“In case you hadn’t noticed, the thousands of people who have been relegated to ghettos have risen up and burned cars in France,” McCain said. “They’ve got huge problems in France. They have tremendous problems. The police can’t even go into certain areas in the suburbs of Paris. I don’t want that in the suburbs of America.”
Talk about a bullsh*t answer to a serious problem.
They broke the law, so to prevent them from becoming violent all will be forgiven?
And this guy is a serious candidate and strong on defense?
Politicians like to talk about how they are fighting for us, especially when they are looking for votes. Sometimes, those same politicians say things that just reek of elitism. Such was the case with the reactions to the news that North Dakotans are fed up with the over-taxation and over-spending that just occurred in this last legislative session.
In the May 31st Forum, Helmut Schmidt paraphrased a senior Republican Senator as saying “he’d rather have tax issues handled by the Legislature.”
Excuse me? There is a reason that North Dakota has one of the most citizen-friendly initiated measure processes in the nation. This state has a long and proud history of citizen initiated law. A major reason the Non-Partisan League was created, long before it was co-opted by the Democratic Party, was to reform the initiated measure process to make it easier for The People to have a say in how their state is run.
In the same article another senior Republican state representative was quoted as saying “it does tie the hands of the Legislature.”
Tying the hands of the Legislature is the great thing about initiated measures and the way our state Constitution is designed. Our state constitution reserves the right of The People to set the rules in which the legislature operates.
These criticisms are easy for politicians to have; after all, it’s not their money that is being spent. The fact that all Constitutional amendments must pass a vote of The People confirms that in our form of government, The People are trusted to make the really important decisions – even if our elected officials do not trust us.
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