Columns

    Do you ever wonder how it could be that most Americans are so unconcerned, so blasé, about a U.S. war in a strange, foreign country where we have now been embroiled for nearly 10 years?

    How many of us, in our daily routines, ever even hear people talking about this war, one way or the other? Either for it or against it? While the Iraq war was raging, during Bush’s last term, Afghanistan was occasionally mentioned as “the forgotten war.”

The President’s willingness to reach an agreement with Republicans on controversial tax issues is the right step to take. The real question now becomes whether the Democrats in Congress will follow suit and actually pass the proposal.
    That’s a lot less likely.

Next week the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to return to Washington. At that time we are expected to consider how the government will continue to operate into the new year.  This is the direct result of the fact the Democrat controlled Congress failed to pass a budget or enact any of the twelve annual spending bills that fund all government operations. Recent reports indicate that the Democrats hope to consider a $1.11 trillion omnibus spending bill that would increase expenditures by hundreds of billions of dollars.  

The federal government just can’t help itself.

    Facing tight budgets, local governments will soon be facing an additional unfunded mandate that will strain those budgets even further.
    The Federal Highway Administration believes the street signs we look at every day just aren’t cutting it. And so, they will have to be changed. In some cases, at great cost.