Did Gov. Palin Cut Alaskan Aid to Catholic Charities?

In today's National Catholic Register, Dr. Warren Throckmorton of Grove City College provided the following analysis on Liberal blog reports that Gov. Palin was a hypocrite when it comes to supporting charitable organizations:

Since Gov. Sarah Palin has arrived on the scene, claims have proliferated that she engaged in draconian budget cuts aimed at needy and vulnerable people.

Case in point: Numerous bloggers have claimed that Palin cut funds to Catholic charities. The idea made at least one mainstream source, as well. In a Sept. 11 Bloomberg News op-ed, Margaret Carlson wrote: “Palin, who said parents of special-needs children would have an advocate in the White House, cut funds for the Special Olympics, Catholic Charities and Covenant House. It would be good to know what she favors that parents need.”

I have previously examined the Special Olympics and Covenant House claims and found them to be false. The Catholic Charities claim is a similar kind of accusation, but a bit more complex.

First, I cannot find a line item or listing for Catholic Charities in the fiscal year 2008 or 2009 Alaska budgets. In the 2008 budget (July 1, 2007-June 30, 2008), however, Catholic Community Services was allocated funding for several projects.

By my calculations, the Alaska Legislature proposed $582,925 in four capital projects, and the Palin administration left $62,925 intact. According to the Palin administration’s rationale for vetoes, the $20,000 for the freezer would have been duplicate funding (apparently another source was found), and the $500,000 would have created “new facilities and programs.” Wilda Laughlin, spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services told me that most requests for new facilities were not funded, with the priority given to refurbish existing infrastructure (e.g., the Juneau Adult Day Center parking lot).

Now look at the 2009 funding for Catholic Community Services:

The Angoon folks still didn’t get their freezer and fridge. But the Juneau branch received $50,000 for hospice care, and the Fairbanks branch received $150,000 that they did not have before. Again, the charge regarding a cut relates to a reduced increase — and not a cut. As a legislator, it is relatively easy to ask for money for a constituent’s project knowing that the executive branch must balance the budget. In summary, the Legislature proposed $370,000 in three line items, with the final budget allocating $200,000 to the Catholic charitable organizations.

The Catholic organizations received almost six times as much funding in 2009 as in 2008. I do not see how this can be considered a cut.

In fact, the director of Catholic Community Services was happy to get the funding, according to a May 23, 2008 article in the Fairbanks News-Miner: “Palin also halved funding for counseling and adoption services at Catholic Community Resources. But Camille Connelly-Terhune, the group’s executive director, said the group was ‘thrilled’ with the $150,000 it did get. ‘It gives us the option to continue our services,’ she said.”

If Ms. Connelly-Terhune is happy, then why aren’t Palin’s detractors happy? Ms. Connelly-Terhune knows a raise when she sees one.

The Left's Lie About Uninsured Americans

We have heard it time and again during this campaign from the Libs that 46.6 million Americans are without health insurance. They site this figure from a Census Bureau study several years ago.

What they don't/won't tell you are the underlying figures that account for that total.
Let me list them for you:

• 9.5 million are not U.S. citizens
• 17 million have household incomes for $50,000 or more and could afford to pay for health care premiums but choose not to do so

That gets us to roughly 20 million Americans without health insurance, but there's more...

• 18 million are between the ages of 18-34, the vast majority of whom are in good health and are not in need of health insurance or choose not to purchase insurance
• Only 30 percent of the non-elderly included in the total who become uninsured remain uninsured for more than 12 months; 50 percent regain their insurance within four months

There in not a health insurance crisis in America, but rather a health cost crisis. Thanks to the Libs who want to control more and more of our lives, we can expect these costs to increase dramatically in the next few years. When free markets are not able to thrive, history has proven that costs increase and service/quality decreases.

Possibly Your Next Vice President

Sorry for the lack of posts since Friday. For your entertainment pleasure, I have provided the link below to listen to a portion of Mark Levin's show from last Thursday afternoon on the many, many buffoon-like gaffes of Sen. Joe Biden. This is "laugh out loud" good stuff. Enjoy and be scared....

http://www.ReaganConservatives.us/politics/biden_gaffes.mp3

The Morning After

After a rocky 10 days for the McCain-Palin ticket, the GOP nominees took a step up last night during the Vice Presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis.

VP Nominee Sarah Palin showed America that she is articulate and intelligent, especially when she is not set up by the Katie Courics of the world. Looking at the debate as an impartial observer, I would give Palin the victory for form and Biden the victory for substance.

Palin deserves even that much more credit considering who she is up on the podium defending -- John McCain. That is not an easy thing to do considering his track record.

With just over a month to go until Election Day, I do fear for America that Obama will win by 4-6 points in the popular vote, based on a snapshot of today's environment. McCain had a good shot coming out of Minneapolis, but the economic situation, coupled with his poorly run campaign, brought him back down to pre-convention levels in the polls. He has been ineffective in getting his message out, whereas the Obama team, with a lot of money behind it, has done the job targeting independents in the key states.

To their credit, the Dems are speaking with one voice. All of the usual characters (Obama, Clintons, Pelosi, Reid, et al) blame Bush and the Republicans and no one else for the economic mess. Who does McCain blame during an interview on "60 Minutes"? Bush, the Republians and, oh by the way, the Democrats. This is not a way to win an election.

A few final comment on last night's debate:

(1) Global Warming -- Is Joe Biden actually being serious when he says that global warming / climate change is completely "man made"? Perhaps someone in the area of earth sciences can educate Sen. Biden on the two principal reasons why climate change is occurring -- (a) time and (b) the sun.

(2) The Obama Tax Plan -- So if ALL of us (95 percent of America) are not going to pay a penny more in taxes for all of Obama's spending plans, then who will? Oh, that's right, the big Corporations (how many times did Biden mention Exxon/Mobil during the debate?). Great, so let's tax the big Corporations. Gee, I wonder if those higher taxes will get passed down to the customer? Can anyone say higher gas prices??? Higher costs for Dell computers??? Higher costs for Apple I-Pods??? Actually, Apple will probably be spared since it is a Lib company...

"It's Morning Again in America"

In these days of political tv commercials that only bash the other side, let's take a step back to 1984 and watch the creative work of Hal Riney, who wrote and narrated this masterpiece for President Reagan's re-election campaign. It is generally considered to this day one of the most effective political campaign ads ever, mainly for its simple, optimistic message. The result - a 49-state victory for President Reagan!