10 Myths About The Bush Tax Cuts

I found this interesting research piece on Heritage.org. Don't worry, they don't all defend Bush to the last man. I thought that this piece did a good job explaining the reasoning behind the deficit Bush left behind, and the reasoning behind why most people think it was because of the tax cuts that there was a deficit. This piece doesn't defend Bush, but rather shows that it wasn't the tax cuts that left the $247 billion budget deficit, rather spending increases.

Utah Political Memes

Today has been a big day for Utah politics, no matter which way you lean, if you lean at all. The State Delegates decided to oust Sen. Bob Bennett from office, and sent Tim Bridgewater and Mike Lee into a primary to take place on June 22nd. But of course, if you're reading this you most likely know the convention results. What I want to address are a couple of political memes that I've been seeing crop up in most discussions about politics here in Utah.

HBO's 'The Pacific' is real deal for veterans of World War II

Just read through this article written by a WW II vet who has just seen the first installment of the new HBO mini-series "The Pacific". The author, Bill Gallo, shared a lot of great insight into the mind of a young man fighting a war and doing all he can to keep his friends alive. It's a great little piece.

A History Lesson

As most people, I've been following this whole imagration issue, and there is one thing that makes me more angry than anything else with this issue, and that is claims that the United States stole the land that we have now from Mexico. Not true.

First of all, the land in question was disputed between the U.S., and Spain. Mexico had no legitimate claims on the land. Second of all, to claim that we invaded is also a lie, because any and all were invited into Texas, because the Mexican government could not get anyone to live there.

Texans decided to secede from Mexico after the Mexican government adopted a new constitution that the invited North-American settlers did not want to live under. So, in 1836, Texas became a nation with the signing of their own Declartion of Independence. Thereafter, Texas won it's independence in subsequent battles, most notably the Battle of San Jacinto.

Ten years later, in 1845, Texas was annexed to the U.S., which sent Mexican officials into a furor, claiming that Texas was just a rebel province. According to America's "Manifest Destiny" policy, President Polk sent an ambasader to Mexico to offer $30 million dollars for the land. Mexico refused, and Polk sent an army to the border where they built a fort on the Rio Grande to presure Mexico into taking the deal. They did not take the deal and crossed the Rio Grande and attacked U.S. forces. The rest is history.

I've just proved that 1) America did not attack Mexico and 2) We offered a peaceful means to an end.

All those who repeat the "Americans attacked and stole Mexico" rhetoric is full of it.

Source- WikiPedia