The World Around You

Kevin Aylward at Wizbang has a comprehensive discussion of how to get a link from Instapundit. Check it out, if that sort of thing interests you.

Hardy Jackson delivers again. This week he has a brilliant idea for how to solve the controversy over Roy’s Rock,

Let’s put the Moore monument on tour!

Right, let’s take Mississippi up on its offer, but do it one better. Let’s send it around to everyone.

First we get a nice truck — a big 18-wheeler (I’m sure Christian Coalition contributors will cover the cost. After defeating Amendment One they’ve got money to burn.) Then we redesign the trailer so people can come in one end, walk through and see the monument — which will be tastefully displayed in an appropriate setting — then walk out the other, inspired.

He points out that it solves all of the problems and should be amenable to both sides. And here’s the kicker,

And since it would only be visiting 48 states, Alabama would still have it four weeks out of the year — which seems fair, since it is ours.

Hey, we could even let Judge Moore drive, if he wanted to. (No “here come de judge” jokes, please.)

Now there’s a cause I would raise money. Send Roy on tour 48 weeks out of the year!

I’ve had just about enough of those who think the solution to the funding crisis is for the state to “tighten its belt” just like American families have to do in tough times. The last straw is an opinion piece by Jan Larson

The fact that the states of Alabama, California and other states are in fiscal crisis should not be surprising. Businesses and families have had to tighten their belts in the past couple of years, but yet they keep operating, the difference being that they can’t simply raise taxes when times get tough. Governments, spending wildly when the money flows and just ask for more from the taxpayers when money gets tight. Taxpayers are realizing that government can’t solve problems by taking more and more from the people, wasting it then crying for more when there isn’t enough to go around. Taxpayers in Alabama have spoken, “Enough!”

Government is not the American family. Government provides services essential to the proper operation of the state. Of course, government cannot solve all problems, but it does have a responsibility to protect the least among us.

It is the children and the elderly of Alabama that are being devastated by the proposed cuts, not because the Governor is being vindictive, but because those are the groups that see the most benefit from government programs! When the government “tightens its belt” as these people suggest, our children and our senior citizens are the ones that get squeezed the most, and that should outrage us all.

As Gen. Clark announces today, James has a good summary of some of the commentators’ thoughts.

The Birmingham News is reporting on the schemes that are starting to develop in the Alabama legislature to keep “non-essential” services funded. The question is what kind of support these proposals really have,

Some lawmakers are ready to throw out Gov. Bob Riley’s suggestion that private schools, museums and other non-government entities get zero dollars next year and instead go with equal, across-the board cuts.

The approach would cut entities like Children’s Hospital, the Sports Hall of Fame, the Music Hall of Fame, Tuskegee University and lawmakers’ discretionary funds by the same percentage as classrooms.

“You can’t just cherry-pick. How do you choose?” said Rep. John Rogers, D-Birmingham.

Rogers, Rep. Demetrius Newton, D-Birmingham, Rep. Johnny Ford, R-Tuskegee, and other lawmakers said the Legislative Black Caucus was supporting an across-the-board approach. “I think we should do it across the board because that’s the only fair way to do it,” Newton said.

The support of the Legislative Black Caucus is no guarantee in this legislature, but it’s certainly an idea that would be more palatable to most legislators. In addition,

A separate battle is brewing over what to do with Community Service Grants, an $11.7 million pot of discretionary funds in the education budget that lawmakers distribute in their districts. Lawmakers get some political mileage out of delivering the funds, typically given to schools.

“The governor isn’t about to zero-out ADECA (Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs), and he controls all those millions of dollars,” Newton said.

I am very familiar with how ADECA works. First of all, almost the entire state budget is used as match for federal dollars. The grants that are awarded out of ADECA are entirely federal dollars. So, if you zeroed out ADECA (about $20 million). You would lose over $250 million in federal money that is sent out all over the state.

Paul Hubbert is also quoted in this article, saying that this could cause the Legislature to “fly apart” and leave a “chaotic situation” on the last night. What else is new?