Idaho Values Alliance: Making Idaho the Friendliest Place in the World to Raise a Family

July 29, 2010

Printer-Friendly Version

Moyle right: use the $45 million for a tax cut

The Idaho Affiliate of the American Family Association

Signup For Updates | Donate Online

Friday, March 13, 2009

Bryan Fischer, Executive Director

MOYLE, BEDKE RIGHT ON TAX CUT

The unseemly and predictable bickering over what to do with Idaho’s “stimulus” money has begun in earnest. I’m guessing the main thing this money will “stimulate” will be some rather intense turf wars between public officials. Already the governor and the legislature are locked in a spitting contest over road construction, and State Superintendent Tom Luna and Governor Otter are at odds over education spending.

Idaho was on the cusp of some significant education reforms before the “stimulus” plan brought those discussions to a screeching halt. Included in the discussions: ending “tenure” for public school teachers and

making overdue cuts in education spending, which swallows up almost 2/3 of the state budget.

I’ll side with the governor’s plan to replenish the state’s rainy day fund for education and to cut teacher’s salaries by five percent, the same cut state workers are taking, which is only fair and has the added benefit of enabling teachers to demonstrate their compassion by sharing the pain the bulk of Idahoans are experiencing in the downturn.

The bias of the Idaho Statesman is evident in its headline today, which screams, “Otter’s plan threatens kids’ time with teachers.” This is what now passes for objective journalism in today’s media, using a loaded word such as “threatens” in a story about the governor’s fiscal responsibility. It’s an opinion piece disguised as news. The headline could just as easily have read, “Otter’s plans for education money both prudent and fair.”

The Boise School District, by the way, is cutting 122 jobs, which simply serves as proof that cuts in education spending are in fact possible, even though the education establishment constantly tells us it can’t be done without dire consequences “for the children.”

Idaho has about $45 million in discretionary funds, which apparently we can “spend” anyway we choose. House Majority Leader Mike Moyle (right) and Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke want to return this $45 million to the taxpayers who are being forced to cough it up in the first place, returning it to them in the form of personal and corporate income tax cuts.

(Idaho’s corporate income tax rate, incidentally, is the highest in the Northwest, which is bad for business.

American companies are fleeing to Switzerland as we speak because of its low corporate tax rate. If Idaho wants to attract business, lowering the corporate tax rate is the place to begin.)

The governor says such a tax cut will not spur job creation, but I’m afraid he is simply wrong about this. There is virtually nothing that can be done with that $45 million tax cut that will not be good for the economy, and this will have the added benefit of letting ordinary Idahoans decide what parts of the economy to stimulate rather than either the state or federal government.

Idahoans will either spend that $45 million or save it. If they spend it, the economy gets an immediate jolt, and those sectors of the economy that are providing services and goods Idahoans want will get the lift first. If they save it or use it to reduce debt, banks will have more money to lend, which opens up the credit pipeline and makes it possible for jobs to be both saved and created.

The governor oddly claims he knows better what to do with our money than we do, saying, “I believe if I were in business today and somebody gave me a tax break, you know what I’d do with that tax break? I’d put it in my pocket. I’d say, ‘I’m a little nervous about this economy, so I’m not going to invest it.’” Can’t have people hanging on to their own money, now can we?

It’s certainly surprising to hear a Republican governor with a reputation for fiscal conservatism say we can’t be trusted to use our own money more wisely than the government can, which is why I’m with Rep. Moyle and Rep. Bedke on this one.

Says Moyle, “Give it back to the people. It’s not very much, but it ought to go back to the people footing the bill.” May his tribe increase.

Gov. Otter rules out using stimulus for tax cuts | Tracking the Economic Stimulus Plan | Idaho Statesman

ONEROUS DAYCARE BILL PASSES SENATE 30-5

A bill which unfortunately will limit daycare choices and raise daycare costs passed the Idaho Senate yesterday 30-5. It faces an uncertain future in the House, which historically has been much more attuned to

the impact of legislation on ordinary Idaho families.

One of our arguments is that state licensing is simply no guarantee of child health or safety. More proof comes from Arkansas, where, in a licensed daycare center, ten kids drank windshield wiper fluid yesterday after a staffer mistook it for Kool-Aid and put in the refrigerator. One of the children remains hospitalized today with measurable levels of methanol in his system, a highly toxic alcohol that can induce comas and cause blindness.

Kudos to Senators Russ Fulcher, Shirley McKague, Dean Mortimer, Monty Pearce and Melinda Smyser for their common-sense, family-friendly “No” vote.

In floor debate, Sen. Pearce (R-New Plymouth) said, “I think the parents are in charge and I think they should make those inspections...somehow we have raised children for thousands of years without this bill.”

Sen. Fulcher (R-Meridian) added, “To me, this adds to the list of extremely well-intentioned bills ... that add to government intrusion in an area where it doesn’t belong.”

Spokesman.com | Blogs | Eye On Boise | Day care licensing bill passes Senate 30-5

CNSNews.com - Day Care Mistakes Windshield Wiper Fluid for Kool-Aid

NEWS FLASH: NO SUCH THING AS NUCLEAR WASTE

Here’s something you won’t hear from the Sierra Club: there is no such thing as nuclear waste. We don’t need Yucca Mountain. According to William Tucker, writing in today’s Wall Street Journal, only a foolish 1976 ban on nuclear reprocessing has created an artificial need for storage of “spent” fuel rods.

William Tucker points out that 12 ounces of U-235 is enough to power San Francisco for five years. There are no chemical transformations in the process and best of all, for our environmentally concerned friends worried about the belching of plant food into the air, no carbon-dioxide emissions.

After powering San Francisco for five years, 95% of a spent fuel rod is old U-238, nonfissionable material that

is found in granite tabletops and stone buildings and could be put right back in the ground whence it came. One percent of the earth’s crust is U-238.

Of the other 5%, one-fifth is fissionable U-235, which can be recycled as fuel. Another one-fifth is plutonium, which again can be recycled as fuel.

Of the remaining three-fifths, much of it can be used as medical and industrial isotopes. Forty percent of all medical procedures involve some form of radioactive isotope, and we have to import all our tracer material from Canada since we’re sending all our stuff into hibernation at Yucca Mountain.

What’s left is all that needs to be stored, until some important use for it can be found. France – and how the left loves all things French! – completely reprocesses its recyclable material and, after generating 75% of its electricity from nuclear energy for the last 30 years, stores all the unused remains under the floor of a single room at La Hague (right, above).

Concludes Tucker, “So shed no tears for Yucca Mountain. Instead of ending the nuclear revival, it gives us the chance to correct a historical mistake and follow France's lead in developing complete reprocessing for nuclear material.”

There Is No Such Thing as Nuclear Waste - WSJ.com

IVA IN THE NEWS

Other Voices | Opinion | Idaho Statesman: Steele stumbles again

The United States Supreme Court Upholds the Public Display of the Ten Commandments in Public Parks

Correction: The K-Mart incident, in which police forced a store to let a transgender male use the women’s dressing room, took place last summer. I gave the wrong time frame in yesterday’s Update. My apologies for any confusion.

If you value the work of the IVA, please consider a donation today. Information on how to donate, including making a secure online donation, may be found here. Thank you!

BONUS BYTES

So much for the university as a marketplace of ideas. Spokane Falls Community College refused to allow students to put up a pro-life display on the 36^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade unless they also handed out pro-abortion literature. They were told they would be expelled from the school if they erected their display. No other groups, the students point out, have been required to hand out material for the opposition, including one featuring local clergymen talking about why the faith community ought to support the radical gay and lesbian political agenda. As an Alliance Defense Fund attorney said, the school is “punish(ing) speech they don’t like. That’s Orwellian.” (Education | Spokane college sued for blocking anti-abortion display | Seattle Times Newspaper)
Wow. Just when you thought things on the abortion front were about as bad as they could get, word comes from England that a British scientist wants aborted babies cannibalized for their organs. In particular, he wants livers yanked out of dead babies because of the “organ donor shortage” in Britain. Soon, women will be paid to get impregnated and carry their babies just long enough for them to grow kidneys and livers, which will be carved out of their bodies while the rest of their bodies are thrown away or run down a disposal. (British Scientist Wants Parts From Babies Killed in Abortion for Organ Donation)
Looks like it’s a good thing Dr. Sanjay Gupta turned down President Obama’s offer for a top health spot in his administration. Yesterday on CNN, Gupta interviewed former President Bill Clinton, who apparently is so ignorant on the subject of pre-natal life that he repeatedly said that embryos are not fertilized, and did so without a peep of correction from Dr. Gupta, CNN’s resident medical wizard. Eggs, of course, can be unfertilized, but an embryo is by definition a fertilized egg. It is astonishing for a former president to have this profound a level of ignorance on such a basic medical issue, and astonishing for the error to go uncorrected by someone who surely knows better and has a responsibility to impart medical truth to his viewing audience. (Bill Clinton Shows His Ignorance on Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Biology)
Kudos to Texas Governor Rick Perry, who wants to turn down $550 million in stimulus money earmarked for unemployment aid. It comes with too many strings attached, says Perry, and will increase insurance premiums for already stressed business owners. And South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is considering turning down up to ¼ of the stimulus money headed his way. (Perry: No thanks on $555 million in U.S. jobless aid | Houston Chronicle; CNSNews.com - SC Governor Set to Reject Stimulus Millions)
Let this be a warning to states who take “free” stimulus money. A number of banks who received government bailout money want to pay it back as soon as possible to get out from under the government meddling attached to it. Wells Fargo, for instance, was virtually forced to take the money, but now is facing government imposed limits on executive pay, government directed loan modifications, and increased criticism from lawmakers over employee recognition events. But the government may not let them: it turns out they have to get permission to pay their loans back ahead of schedule (!), meaning Wells Fargo and other banks may not be able to dig the barbs out of their flesh for three long years. (Debate over banks repaying bailout money early)
Your government at work. The federal government is investigating Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio for “national origin discrimination” because of his aggressive approach to apprehending illegal aliens. In the last 18 months, 16,000 inmates have been determined to be illegal aliens, and about 70% of them were arrested for felony crimes. Sounds like the only people Sheriff Joe is discriminating against are lawbreakers, and that’s his job. (CNSNews.com - Justice Dept. Investigates Arizona Sheriff for Enforcing Immigration Law)
Here you go. Of the 25 worst schools in the United States of America, four are in Chicago and were under the supervision of our new Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. And now he’s in charge of reforming our entire system of public education. Good luck with that. (The Colossus of Rhodey: Chicago ranks “high” in the 25 worst schools in nation) (hat tip: Adam Graham)
The myth that there is a scientific consensus on man-caused global warming is collapsing by the day. Three leading Japanese scientists strongly question the validity of the AGW (anthropogenic global warming) model used by the UN, arguing that it will take another 10 to 20 years of research to prove or disprove the theory and lamenting that in the meantime, “hypothesis has been substituted for truth.” At a Japan Geoscience Union symposium last year, 90% of the participants revealed that they do not accept the UN’s position on AGW, believing that climate change is driven by natural factors such as global cosmic rays and solar activity. Skeptical scientists are hesitant to air their reservations because they do not want to risk government funding or bad publicity from a co-opted media. In a related note, hurricane activity, which Al Gore hyped as a catastrophic consequence of global warming, is now lower than at any time since the 1970s. (Japanese scientists cool on theories | The Australian; coaps.fsu.edu | Ryan Maue's Seasonal Tropical Cyclone Activity Update)