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OUTRAGEOUS 2Click here for an index of all OUTRAGEOUS Segments Taxpayers' Rights Duane Hughes On June 16, 2003 the San Francisco Chronicle ran a front-page article entitled “Deadline? What Deadline? The content of the article addressed the inability of the California lawmakers to pass the budget for the upcoming year on time. The State Constitution reads, “The Legislature shall pass the budget bill by midnight on June 15 of each year,” and yet, they have only made the deadline four times in the past 25 years. If you are like me, your first reaction is…what’s their problem? Well, this year, as you heard on today’s program, it’s coming up with $38 billion they don’t have. But how did we get here, and what about the many years that California ran a healthy surplus? After all, balancing the state budget should be like any household or company budget right? Wrong! The budgets you and I deal with, at home or in business, are quite different. We have to bite-the-bullet and make the tough decisions that cut back on eating out, shorten or even eliminate a vacation, or in our businesses postpone computer upgrades so we can make the budget. But, many of our state elected “representatives” have much bigger concerns. When they make cuts, it is often at the peril of “goring the sacred cow” of the politically influential group that helped them get elected. Heaven forbid! I remember the first time I saw Frank Capra’s great movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. How I was so moved at the portrayal of what a representative Republic meant. How the good in the freshman Senator stood against the graft and control of the political power machine… and defeated it. Hollywood often does a great job of getting us all stirred up about someone who truly serves the people. It seems that too often we are forced to go to the movies to see what we should be seeing in real life by our elected “representatives”…and that’s OUTRAGEIOUS! Property Rights Duane Hughes A number of years ago I had the opportunity to hear the late Sonny Bono address a gathering at a fundraising event. It was an enlightening and humorous occasion. He told us of how after he retired he became involved politically and ended up becoming the Mayor of Pam Springs, California, and eventually a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. It seems that Mr. Bono bought a restaurant and wanted to erect a new sign. The hassle he endured over the sign with the bureaucrats was motivation number one. When he wanted to make some improvements to his "retirement home" and fix up his yard the hassle he endured was motivation number two. So much so that he declared, "I am going to run for Mayor of this city and when I am elected I am going to fire those bureaucrats!" And he did! Sonny went on to share his experiences with the local environmental laws and in doing so made the hilarious statement that "the largest land owner in Palm Springs is the French-toed lizard...and there are only eight of them!" While this is a truly funny statement, it is also a very serious one. The humor in the land ownership of the French-toed lizard soon fades into the reality that this is not about the well-being of a lizard, rather the control of land and the people who own. it. Helping to preserve the life and habitat of different species can be done without forcing landowners into bankruptcy or worse. The next thing you know, a farmer will be arrested by a dozen agents at gun point, just for accidentally running over a kangaroo rat with his tractor while plowing a field. That's not only frightening, but it actually happened a few years back...and that's OUTRAGEOUS! Children's' Rights Duane Hughes Today’s guest has gone through the ultimate nightmare as a mother. To her we extend our sympathy and at the same time applaud her for her courage and her relentless efforts, not only to get her own children back, but to champion the cause for those who have suffered the same plight. It is mind-boggling to think that in today’s world such a thing as having your children taken away from you could happen and nothing can be done about it. This begs the question…what effect has all the efforts to police human rights had on the world as a collective society? What about the UN sponsored International Rights of the Child? Doesn’t a child have the right to be with his or her mother? We are inundated on a daily basis with international rhetoric about human rights and yet, as we have heard today, we have a long way to go. It is evident that to some the phrase “human rights” is only rhetoric to pacify the pressures of the international community. Additionally it is painfully clear that putting forth an acceptable image on human rights takes precedence over the lives of the individuals they are pretending to protect, and that’s OUTRAGEOUS! Feminist Takeover Duane Hughes Change sometimes comes easy and sometimes hard…and on occasion it’s really hard. Take for instance, the YWCA, the Young Women’s Christian Association. An organization founded in the United States in 1858 based on Christian teaching for growth of mind, body and spirit, dedicated to helping women who had moved to cities for jobs in the factories. According to the Encyclopedia Americana, the YWCA’s activities “have been motivated by its deeply rooted Christian purpose”. Additional reference is made to its moral roots in reserving leadership to those who subscribe to the moral principles upon which the institution was founded, while making membership open to all girls. As you may have already heard, on May 15, 2003 Patricia Ireland was appointed to head the YWCA of the United States as its chief executive. That’s right, the same Patricia Ireland that was the president of NOW, the National Organization for Women, for 10 years…the same Patricia Ireland that admits having a lesbian relationship outside her traditional marriage…the same Patricia Ireland that promotes abortion on demand, and has supported just about every gay and lesbian organization in the country. But we shouldn’t be surprised, the YWCA has been sliding down the slippery slope for quite some time now. In 1964 it called for “frank facing of current sex practices in our culture as they affect young women.” The YWCA openly boasts of hiring Ireland because of her “wonderful connections in Washington,” and Ireland says she wants to return the YWCA to its original mission of… women’s empowerment? What??...Is there a disconnect here? The founders of the YWCA dedicated the organization to operate under Christian moral guidelines. To appoint someone who publicly supports non-Christian practices is an insult to the organization’s founders and is tantamount to interpreting or even changing someone’s Last Will and Testament to prosper those to whom the Will was never intended to benefit…and that’s OUTRAGEOUS. Permission is granted to print or copy the OUTRAGEOUS Segment only if used in its entirety and credit is given to the author, listing Changing Worldviews' name, address, email and website.
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