Europe is facing more than a crisis as Ireland is the next domino to fall in the “cradle to grave” entitlement governments. Greece was first, Portugal is teetering, Belgium is defunct as far as having no government, and Germany is bearing the brunt of the bailouts. Spain easily is facing the same fate with countless billions of Euros needed to keep these nations afloat for an undetermined period of time.

Britain is taking drastic measures in budget cuts, medical care cuts, and raising their retirement age to offset their pension losses. Riots are rampant by students who are protesting the increases in their costs to obtain an education. This all bears the question being asked, “is the United States next?”

Our current debt exceeds $13.7 Trillion. We are facing even more budget shortfalls in 2011 and beyond. Our economy is NOT growing, despite the “government doctored” reporting, and prices are increasing for basic necessities- food, gasoline, utilities, and beyond. These are not calculated into the inflation equation, so the reports that we have “low inflation” is totally bogus. Unemployment is currently at 9.6% and jobs are not being “created” where they count- in the PRIVATE sector. Continuing to fund more government jobs is NOT sustainable by any stretch of the imagination.

The Federal Reserve has begun a “quantitative easing” policy that basically prints money to buy American debt. $600 billion is NOT chump change in spite of a $3.5 trillion budget that makes it seem minuscule. We are basically borrowing roughly $.40 of every dollar government spends and the nations who once bought American debt are beginning to look the other way and saying “no way”. Not only is that borrowed $.40 disturbing, $.45 of every dollar spent is going to paying for our entitlements- Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. By 2015, that number will rise to $.65 for every dollar going to entitlements and our debt level will be at 145% of GDP.

We are facing serious issues and the special interests are already in full bore “action mode” with this lame duck Congress. Spending WILL be increased and more earmarks will be the norm on every single piece of legislation we see out of Progressives. Even some Republicans will be participating in those efforts to “keep the money flowing” back to their Districts and States. 2010 could easily end with even higher budget shortfalls than we saw in 2009. To many if not most Americans, this is unacceptable. After all, that is what this mid-term election was telling Congress- END the spending.

Americans are resilient people. We are smart enough to understand we MUST begin austerity measures to salvage our nation’s sovereignty as this level of debt and deficits is totally unsustainable. The Tea Party movement understands this and sent many new faces to Washington to take action on the necessary measures to turn this ship in the right direction- a balanced budget, a reduction of our debt load, and cuts in spending needed to accomplish that goal. We are telling Washington, we can and will accept far less government in exchange for more personal responsibility, greater liberty, and far less interference in our personal finances by increasing taxes.

Now it is up to Congress to listen and take appropriate action. The old ways of using Federal money to buy votes must end and the re-election of this Congress must depend on taking the actions they were sent to Washington to do- NOT how many dollars they brought home for pet projects. The old ways must end and a new, more accountable Representative must emerge. That accountability MUST be the factor that determines their re-election, NOT how much money they raise for re-election, how much “bacon” they bring home, or what special interest group’s back they scratch.

Now is the time to use Ireland’s woes and learn from them and not let that happen here. Now is time for Congress to do what is right for this nation and ignore the pundits telling them to keep spending to get re-elected. Now is the time to look to 2012 and keep Conservatives who mean what they say and will do what they promise to resolve once and for all that Liberty and Freedom is what makes America great and will keep her great. Now is the time to end the era of Big Government and make the individual reign supreme as our Founders envisioned.

With a recent federal appeals court decision temporarily lifting the ban on embryonic stem cell research, the question of destroying a life to save a life is again thrust back into the realm of public debate. As reported by medical AP writer Lauran Neergaard, the National Institutes of Health will rapidly resume embryonic stem cell research as well as remove holds on grants and contracts allowing the use of embryonic stem cells.

The stance from the White House on this debate has been predictable. Former President George W. Bush’s position against federal funding for embryonic stem cell research was a part of his pro-life stance and heavily based on his religious belief in the sanctity of life. Barack Obama, the president who said in 2008 at a rally in Pennsylvania that if his daughters ever made the mistake of getting pregnant he would not want them “punished with a baby,” has predictably taken the modern liberal stance on this issue in support of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Those that advocate the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research attempt to wrap their argument within the notion of helping society. Who doesn’t want to do that? In fact, if we believe the rhetoric from our recent past, like the bold words of John Edwards, who alluded to the fact that if embryonic stem cells could not make us supermen, they could at least make “Superman” actor Christopher Reeve rise up and walk after being paralyzed, it would almost be cruel to refuse such miracles so close at hand. Of course, if embryonic stem cell cures did not happen, it would not be because the science was not there, or would never be there, but because narrow-minded individuals like George W. Bush lacked the understanding to allow the careful and restrained usage of stem cells in limited situations like embryos discarded by patients of in vitro fertilization clinics. So much was to be gained if we had the will to bring this brave new world to fruition.

Of course those that accept this premise have not only bought into the John Edwards lies of instant embryonic cell miracles but also the much darker lie that comes from prioritizing one life over another. To get a sobering look at the deadly progression that comes from degrading life for societal improvement, two names come to the forefront in modern times: Margaret Sanger and Adolf Hitler. Margaret Sanger wrote the book “The Pivot of Civilization,” which is so full of eugenic madness that even the organization she founded, Planned Parenthood, has to distance itself from its very pages. It is a frightening book to say the least. Sanger wished for society to be free of the feebleminded and their tendencies toward poor economic status and societal violation. Her answer: society would never suffer from the ills of the mentally defective if those individuals never existed. Instead of embryonic stem cell miracles, selective breeding would bring about societal improvement if we were enlightened enough to grasp it. What was the natural progression of these eugenic beliefs? Not just Planned Parenthood, an organization that specializes in death, but a government that forces its citizens to pay for its operation.

Margaret Sanger’s book preceded Adolf Hitler’s racial eugenics piece in “Mein Kampf,” but they are solidly compatible with their focus on eradicating what they believed were out-of-control, undesirable elements in society. We all know from history that the progression of purifying Germany came in the form of the “Final Solution,” which just happens to be not too far from the mentality of Sanger’s modern day Planned Parenthood which teaches, “eradicate what is not desired.”

Sanger and Hitler were truly sister and brother to a common set of eugenic values. Both treated those they designated as defective as less than human, inconsequential and tainted. One focused on intelligence and the other on race, but when it came to the cold calculations, from Sanger’s desire for quarantines and forced sterilizations to Hitler’s usage of intern camps, both embraced their blood trail of progress. This eugenics mentality lives and its natural progression is seen today in the modern abortionists who help female teens fit better into their prom dresses or avoid missing spring break. It is seen in the zero-growth environmentalists who calculate the value of babies as having no more worth than any other natural resource. It is a deadly progression of cruelty in which the most brutal actions are depicted as societal improvements. Sanger’s morons beget Hitler’s troublesome Jews which beget Obama’s idea of punishment, which ultimately beget the embryonic stem cell industry waiting to go full bore.

What common factor has been missing throughout this entire observation? What critical void exists in this debate that allows those that advocate degrees of value for human existence to entertain credibility? The missing piece, the all-important component that has allowed, and continues to allow, such abominations that encapsulate the embryonic stem cell debate is the self-imposed absence of God. When God becomes part of the debate, life becomes sacred and murder becomes sin, not a matter of choice or the restructuring of society. If the current debate on embryonic stem cell usage remains an issue dictated by science alone, its progression may find an ending point worse than past atrocities.

Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and is currently completing his Ph.D. in Sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of the books “Living Under The Patriot Act: Educating A Society” and “Feeding Lions: Sharing The Conservative Philosophy In A Politically Hostile World.” Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008, 2009 and 2010 Entertainment Program of the Year, Conscience of Kansas airing on KSDB Manhattan 91.9 FM, www.ibbetsonusa.com. For interviews or questions, please contact him at ibbetson91.9@gmail.com

Are you hungry, America? Got a rumble in the tummy telling you it’s time to eat? If we are honest about it, Americans have a really big appetite for almost everything. I will admit that to self-loathing liberals, who bemoan this country at every turn, that this is a characteristic requiring praise, not apology. Hunger to excel, achieve, compete and succeed has been an individually engrained American quality for our entire history. While it is very anti-PETA to say it, America doesn’t seek the lettuce of prosperity; we want the big, thick, juicy meat of victory and success in everything we do. I get hungry even thinking about it.

            It’s not the case today that liberals from Barack Obama to the ACLU are trying to cut in line and get the best portions of what America has to offer for their own plates; that would be too straightforward, too capitalistic. Instead, liberals want Americans to consume an ideology counter to our appetite, and to take up policies detrimental to our well-being. This is why as a nation we must be discerning in what we consume. Chew on that.

            If danger and stupidity were foods, liberals would be an all-you-can-eat buffet with endless foreign dishes proffered with the constant mantra that you must always fill your plate. Man-made global warming, downsizing the military, raising taxes, socializing the nation, rewriting the constitution, rejecting traditional values and the utter attack on our Judeo-Christian foundations are just a few of the daily specials that are cooked in the modern liberal kitchen. What makes these offerings most noticeable is that you are not allowed the free-market choice to pass on any of these courses.

            “All-you-can-eat” takes on a new meaning within liberal government as “all-you-must-eat.” Take ObamaCare; if you were against it, you were not just in the majority, you were in the overwhelming majority. Public opposition to this bill that was not in the country’s best interest didn’t slow America’s communistic connoisseurs from whipping it up and jamming it down the people’s throats. We were told to “eat it!” and that we would acquire a taste for it over time. Contrary to this country’s free-market appetite, liberals won’t stop force-feeding us their liberal utopian policies. Restraint seems to be beyond their nature and each morning seems to bring a new dastardly dish without the decency of even a shout of warning, “with forks and spoons here come the loons!” With a tone of arrogance, liberals think we should be gracious because they offer us periodical trips to vomit between force-feedings.

            Here is another bitter dish. The line of economists that will tell you the stimulus package lengthens, not limits, America’s economic struggle to rebound keeps getting longer and longer, but liberals served it up with zeal, despite its funny smell and terrible taste. The country is still ill from this economic E. coli and yet liberals continue to shout, “just relax your throat, you can hold a little more.” Notice how I refrained from mentioning the gay marriage push with the last statement, even though you get the thrust of what liberals are pushing in the country’s face on that issue. This is one more example of the social salmonella that degrades the health of the country. Even though the U.S. military has been receiving rancid dishes from liberals since the war on terror began, Obama made sure to serve them fresh pitiful plates of poor platitudes as the turndown in Iraq begins.   

            Barack Obama’s flaccid and lackluster acknowledgement of the U.S. military’s success in Iraq following the surge that he and other Democrats opposed was noticeable to everyone. Obama supporters try to say that the president is showing signs of job fatigue, but it is more likely that he is just not used to eating crow when it comes to the U.S. military. Bon appetit.

            So don’t be fooled into thinking that America’s woes are based solely on our healthy appetite; it’s what we are eating that is doing us in. Burp if you agree. We have a mess on our hands and it is a mess that only we, the American people, can fix. To do so, we are going to have to step away from the schmuck’s smorgasbord, the buffoon’s buffet, and throw down the utensils of apathy. We need to get our hands dirty in the kitchen and do some cooking of our own and create some dishes for both this country and the liberal opposition. The former being nutritious, the latter being something best served cold.

 Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and is currently completing his Ph.D. in Sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of the books “Living Under The Patriot Act: Educating A Society” and “Feeding Lions: Sharing The Conservative Philosophy In A Politically Hostile World.” Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008, 2009 and 2010 Entertainment Program of the Year, Conscience of Kansas airing on KSDB Manhattan 91.9 FM, www.ibbetsonusa.com. For interviews or questions, please contact him at ibbetson91.9@gmail.com