Mike Huckabee is the true inheritor of the Ronald Reagan mantle

Mike Huckabee balanced the Arkansas state budget every year he was governor. It is a requirement under Arkansas state law that the budget is balanced. He faced a $200 million deficit in 2002, but ended his term with a $844.5 million surplus. That's a billion dollar plus turnaround. It was his desire that this money was returned to the people as a rebate or as a tax cut.


Huckabee is the true inheritor of the Ronald Reagan mantle. He supports the Fair Tax. In the words of Ken Hoagland Americans for fair Taxation spokesman “anyone who advocates for the fair tax is definitely a tax cutter and a tax reformer.'' Mike Huckabee is a true fiscal and social conservative.

Here are his views on the federal deficit:
I believe that our massive deficit is not due to Americans' being under-taxed, but due to the federal government's over-spending. Achieving and maintaining a balanced federal budget is an important and worthy goal necessary to our long-term economic well-being. To achieve a balanced federal budget, I believe the President should have the line-item veto.

Early Show - Huckabee interview 12/3/07

The results of the poll in yesterday's Des Moines Register show Mike Huckabee leading Mitt Romney by 29 % to 24% and provide further evidence that momentum is building behind his campaign. Huckabee’s strong anti abortion stance has attracted powerful Evangelical and Catholic backing. His support for the Fair Tax has won him many new admirers. He is a most accomplished media performer (as this video clearly portrays). He has a clearly defined position on all major policy issues. Mr Giuliani scores just 13% in the Register poll. Mitt Romney holds a small lead over Mike Huckabee in other polls in Iowa. However at this juncture the trend is towards Huckabee.

Mr Romney - has spent $US7million ($7.9m) in the state on campaigning, against just $US324,000 by Mr Huckabee. The Huckabee campaign needs financial backing urgently if it is to succeed nationally.

newfoundland scenery

This video has a beautiful combination of scenery and song. The song refers to happier times when the fishing industry was strong. Newfoundland suffers from the curse of emigration especially since the collapse of the cod fishing industry. The music has Irish influences. Newfie music has undergone a major renaissance. Traditional Irish groups have toured Newfoundland.

Eoghan Harris-an FF/PD apologist

Eoghan Harris is no mean exponent of the pen. Unfortunately his political analysis leaves much to be desired. In his Sunday Independent column he is prepared to defend the indefensible if necessary as he strives to promote the Governments record on Health. He is rapidly developing into a political apologist for the FF/PD Government. Come back Pravda. All is forgiven.

In the Irish context he states that Mary Hanafin, Beverly Flynn and Mary Harney are courageous politicians. Interestingly all three are from the FF gene pool. He mentions Hillary Clinton. Obviously Harris knows very little about "Hillarycare." In the words of Mitt Romney: "She hasn't run a corner store. She hasn't run a state. She hasn't run a city. She has never run anything."

He then denigrates Dr James Reilly (FG). He conveniently omits to state that FG health spokesman, Dr James Reilly put down the question -at the Oireachtas Health Committee meeting- which elicited the response that 97 women who had breast ultrasounds at Portlaoise Hospital were to be recalled for surgical review. Harris should listen to James Reilly. He might actually learn something about the reality of life for women suffering from breast cancer.

He raises the issue of bi-partisanship on the health issue. The Government has a 13 seat majority(including Ned O Keeffe). Is this not sufficient to reform the Health Service? No Harris is concerned to protect the Government from flak ensuing from unpopular decisions in the Health Service. The Harris motto is: Tie in the opposition parties and insulate the Government.

There is now a strong opposition. It is the duty of the opposition to ask the hard questions. This is a sine qua non if our democracy is to flourish.

The last FF /PD Government -with Mary Harney as Minister for Health-established the HSE. It is a bureaucratic monster that is gobbling up valuable financial resources but cutting back on front line services. In the words of Harris : " Harney is fighting the good fight". Unfortunately this is of little benefit to seriously ill patients. Eoghan Harris needs to wake up and smell the coffee.

Newfoundland Scenic Tour -ljp

This video shows some of the stunning scenery of Newfoundland. Newfoundland is the most Irish part of the world outside of Ireland. Approximately 50% of the population is of Irish extraction-mainly from Co. Waterford, Wexford, South Tipperary, South Kilkenny, Carlow and parts of East Cork.

Ireland-Exchequer Deficit Blues

Ireland will have a deficit of €1.62 billion this year, compared with an Oct. 2 forecast of €1 billion, according to the Department of Finance. This contrasts with a budget surplus of €4 billion just a year ago.

The Government must bear much of the responsibility for the deterioration in the public finances. In 2007 there has been a 13% growth in the rate of public expenditure as FF and the PDs wooed the electorate. This paid political dividends as the FF/PD government duly returned to power with the support of the Greens and Independents. Already many of the FF election promises have been binned. Prior to the 2002 General Election the FF/PD government allowed public expenditure to escalate out of control. In the immediate aftermath of the 2002 General Election FF Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy set about reigning in public expenditure and introduced a raft of stealth taxes. He failed to index income tax allowances thereby pushing large numbers of PAYE tax payers onto the higher tax rate. Prior to the 2002 Election FF and PD Ministers denied that there would be public expenditure cuts.

A similar scenario to 2002 has now unfolded in 2007. The Government will once more cut public expenditure and introduce stealth taxes. Over the next 2/3 years it will build up a a financial war chest. As the anticipated 2012 General Election approaches public expenditure will once more mushroom. Brian Cowen and Dermot Ahern -during the 2007 election campaign -strongly berated Richard Bruton(FG) Finance Spokesman when Bruton drew attention to both waste and rocketing government expenditure. He can now claim retrospective vindication. Many in the media have spoken of Cowen in messianic terms.

In less than two years the ECB has raised Euro interest rates by 2%. This has knocked some of the fizz out of the housing market. Stamp Duty receipts have slumped and lay offs in the building industry are increasing rapidly. This crisis has been exacerbated by the failure of the Government to reform stamp duty. House prices are falling and negative equity looms on the horizon. Mortgage debt in Ireland is now €136 billion. There is also an astronomical level of credit card debt.

New house starts may fall to c 55,000 in 2008. The huge slump in property tax receipts looks set to continue in 2008. In addition a tightening up of bank/building society lending policies will further restrict the amount of credit available to house buyers. For too long the government has been over reliant on taxes from the property market to boost public expenditure. One eighth of the workforce is employed in construction. 20% of private sector workforce depends on construction.

Rising energy costs will reduce economic growth.This has implications for unemployment which is already rising. Rising unemployment will further depress tax receipts and damage consumer confidence.

For FG and Labour this was the election to lose.

Believe