From concentrate

When asked before if there is one good thing George W. Bush has accomplished I have always laughed and said no. “We are in multiple wars, we are less safe, our economy is tanking, we have major issues with immigration, health care, rising tuition costs, failing schools, more inner city violence, increased global warming, et cetera,” I would say. However, there was one issue I always thought was smart. I always liked Bush’s plan of Faith Based Programs. America has billions of dollars that they give away each year to help the less fortunate. Some of it goes to third world countries, or those who have just been hit with a natural disaster. But other monies are to be spent in America. For the ease of this blog post, let’s say we have $100 to spend on America’s poor. With all of the red tape, and other costs, only $60 of the original $100 might be able to be used to help the less fortunate, the rest is wasted. In addition, because the government has so many different agencies, and so many people have to approve things, the needy might not get the money until too late. What Bush did was create an agency that will instead just give the money to religious groups to distribute the money instead. Did this help him with the evangelical vote? Of course, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. Religious organizations and churches already have a system in place to efficiently and effectively spend the money to help the less fortunate without all the red tape. In addition, Faith Based Programs like churches already have ground troops on the war on poverty in place that are usually properly trained and have a clear goal in mind. I was reading the Star Tribune this morning and I saw that Barack Obama agrees with me and would like to continue FBR and even expand funding. Naturally, the liberals are not happy as the comments below are less then positive. I would argue that liberals don’t dislike the idea of FBR, they just hate any idea that came from the Bush White House so clearly it must be a bad idea. I congratulate Obama for reaching across the aisle. On that same issue, I congratulate him for putting down www.moveon.org ‘s (a very liberal website) advertisement that badmouths General Petraus, the general in charge of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The ad hinted that Petraus betrayed his country and Obama had every right to condemn the ad.

1. Speaking of politics, the Star Tribune publishes what McCain and Obama have raised so far. McCain has raised a respectable $81,000,000. Obama, however, has raised an astonishing $240,000,000 so far. This raises speculation that Mitt Romney will be picked as VP for McCain. Besides being a phenomenal fund raiser, Mitt Romney would be an asset in several ways to McCain. He’s from the North (McCain’s from the South), he’s a governor (McCain’s a senator), he’s younger (McCain’s older), his strength is the economy (McCain said his weakness is the economy), and there are other reasons too. In addition, he would be able to campaign well in close battle ground states like Virginia, New Hampshire, Connecticut, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. In addition, Romney’s father was a very popular governor of Michigan, another battleground state. Romney won the Republican primary in Michigan by a lot! Right now, I have to think he is the favorite.

2. Elton Brand opted out of his contract today. Please listen Chicago Bulls. He is exactly the type of player you need! I know money will be tight so you will have to find a way to dump some of these salaries.