The 9th Circus Strikes Again

The Boise Rescue continues to try and do well for the Community, while 9th Circuit shows why smart folks in Idaho want to break Idaho out of that circuit:

On Friday, a three-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling, saying the mission’s men-only policy at the shelter is discriminatory and that religious services in the building once owned by the city violate the First Amendment.

At issue is whether the building — which opened in 1994, built in part with federal grants — can be turned over to a religious group that includes prayer and church services as part of its social programs.

The court ruling is at least a partial victory for Community House Inc., the group that had leased and operated the shelter. The group sued in 2005, alleging the city discriminated against shelter tenants and violated the federal Fair Housing Act by selling the shelter without adequate plans to relocate displaced tenants.

The suit also claimed the city failed to repair and maintain Community House as required by the contract with the operators.

While that was being decided, the group asked the court for a short-term intervention to keep Community House residents there and to bar religious activities at the shelter.

What idiocy! First of all, the Community House Inc. folks were, let us be frank, utterly incompetent. That’s why the City needed Boise Rescue Mission to bail them out.

For both policies, Boise Rescue Mission has good reason. They have a program to rehabilitate men and get their lives straightened out. Their plan does not include a hodgepodge of folks, it includes men in a gender-segregated situation. The Boise Rescue Men and other shelters have other places for women and children. There’s even the Booth Shelter for Families. (Oh wait, I forgot. Compassionate North End liberals want to shut that down.)

It’s simple. Boise Rescue Mission bought the building. They paid the city a fair price. Whatever federal money was used to build it: talk to the city. Boise Rescue Mission has a job to do for the poor of the city, while Community House can try and make a buck some other way.

Assessing the Damage

I have to feel for the folks who are getting sticker shock with this year’s tax bill including Boise’s George Minow:

Although I will be calling the Ada assessor’s office, I wanted to let the Ada County commissioners know that my property taxes went from $6,233.10 to $8,084.66, or up about $1,850. That means that I will need to get a raise of approximately $2,500 this year just to pay my taxes. My house value went up 14 percent; however, my land went from $160,000 to $256,000 or 60 percent in one year. Remind you, that last year when I spoke with the assessor, the $160,000 was fair value.

I expect to meet all the commissioners at the board of equalization hearing and I hope they are prepared to answer why they think my land increased in value $94,000 or 60 percent in one year. By the way, any idea how to get a $2,500 raise from my boss?

Good question. I had something odd happen where they dropped the value of my house down to $30,000 and raised the value of my land by about $40,000. Mind you, I live on a small plot in a townhouse complex that may be 450 square feet when the patio’s taken into consideration. There are odd things going on. Even so, Dennis McDowell of Bigfork gives some good advice in his letter:

The increase in property valuations in Boise is cause for concern to many of us as it leads to higher property taxes. Higher taxes are not the fault of the assessor’s office, but the spending habits of the elected officials that approve the budgets for Boise and the surrounding communities.

I was born and raised in Boise but now live in Montana. Our property taxes are at least 50 percent less than in Idaho, and we do not have sales tax. Just because the values increase does not mean that taxes must. Just lower the mill levy and be more frugal with our money.

Good wisdom, Mr. McDowell, I’d still like to know what happened to my property value. It’s no big deal as the net effect was only a $10,000 increase in valuation (and as my house is still within the Home Owner’s exemption of $5,000, it’s not a heck of a lot.)

Further Proof We Need Members of the Senate Who Understand the Constitution

Julie Fanselow writes that the Senate’s 53-38 vote on Cloture (7 shy of what was needed.) to bring up a vote of no confidence in Alberto Gonzales shows why we need more Democrats in Congress.

Actually that this utterly absurd measure got 53 votes shows why we need more constitutionalist in the Senate.

If we don’t like the performance of cabinet secretaries or other officials, the Constitution gives Congress the option of Impeachment. If Democrats really want Gonzalez gone, let them introduce articles of impeachment in the House, vote them out, and send them to the Senate. Why don’t they do this?

Because the case would be scoffed at by any serious Constitutional scholar worth their salt. So we decide to forget about the Constitution and borrow a process from the Europeans. Hey, if the French and Spanish Constitutions are good enough basis for US Law decision, why not the actions of their legislature? It’s entirely unconstitutional.

We have a careful system of checks and balances. If Congressional Democrats think Alberto Gonzalez should be removed, impeach him. If they can’t impeach him, they should shut their yaps and do their jobs.

Imagine passing a no confidence vote and Gonzalez staying in. Congress will have just decided to slam our top law enforcement in the kneecaps for partisan political gain. If you want to punish him, remove him, but don’t try and incapacitate our nation’s Attorney General.

So Where Are the Naive People?

According to Rasmussen, by a 56-16% margin, Americans believe that members of Congress would trade their votes for cash or campaign contributions. So where do these 16% live? Are they interested in buying bridges?

Hat Tip: Club for Growth

Bringing People Together By Calling Them Whiners

That seems to be the novel approach of Utah Republican Christopher Cannon who attempted to do just that on Red State with an attack on border hawks. The simple truth of the matter, Congressman, is we don’t need you to do anything. It’s up to the administration to do its duty and enforce the law, Congress just needs to push.

We cover this and several other powerful stories on the Truth and Hope Report podcast:

Some conservatives in Virginia are leading the way for the rest of us with their challenge to Liberal Republican lawmakers. I don’t know whether they’ll succeed or not, but it’s important that they try and set the example. Liberal Republicans will not go away by becoming Independents, but only by Conservatives challenging them.

Meanwhile, 43rd State Bluen has a banner proclaiming not only their opposition to federal abstinence education, but to sexual abstinence in general, despite the harm that premarital sex does to teenagers according to science. The argument that some abstinence programs haven’t worked and therefore abstinence shouldn’t be taught leads me to question whether they would respond similarly to other areas of education, such as Driver’s ed.

Also, we discuss the link between abortion and premature birth as women who have abortions are twice as likely to give birth to pre-mature children who can have a wide variety of development problems, many of which can cost taxpayer money (Libertarians, are you listening?)

Meanwhile, guess how many adoption referrals Planned Parenthood included in its annual report? And guess who Planned Parenthood’s biggest source of funding is?

All this is and more is featured on tonight’s Truth and Hope Report.

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Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson’s Website, The Virtuous Republic, Committees of Correspondence, DeMediacratic Nation, Maggie’s Notebook, On the Horizon, DragonLady’s World, Webloggin, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, third world county, stikNstein… has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, Dumb Ox Daily News, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Confidence in Coburn not Congress

There are some good guys among the rascals in Congress. Among the good ones, Senator Tom Coburn (R-Ok.)

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Hope for Paris

From ABC News’ Barbara Walters, Paris Hilton says she’s changed:

“I’m not the same person I was. I used to act dumb. It was an act. I am 26 years old, and that act is no longer cute. It is not who I am, nor do I want to be that person for the young girls who looked up to me. I know now that I can make a difference, that I have the power to do that. I have been thinking that I want to do different things when I am out of here. I have become much more spiritual. God has given me this new chance.”

Now, of course there’s reason to be concerned. In addition to the Bible, Hilton is reading “The Power of Now” and “The Secret” both somewhat occultish/new age books as World Mag Blog points out. And one must pray that she doesn’t merely develop the vapid “spirituality” of many celebrities that’s a badge they wear, but really makes no impact on their lives. Still, I’m optomistic and hopeful that there could be something positive come out of what has been an incredibly sordid and sad tale.