United States Budget Made Easy

Here is the United States budget.

•  . U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
•  . Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000
•  . New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
•  . National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
•  . Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000

Remove 8 zeros & pretend it's your household budget.

•  . Annual family income: $21,700
•  . Money the family spent: $38,200
•  . New debt on the credit card: $16,500
•  . Outstanding balance on credit card: $142,710.
•  . Total budget cuts: $385

 Sort of brings the issue "home" doesn't it?

So why can our congressional leaders understand it? We all do!

Welfare State, Has It Changed Any?

How Jerry Lewis Won In Part

Arizona Capitol Times
Grassroots ‘Mormon Fall’ aided Lewis victory
by Evan Wyloge
Published: November 10th, 2011
...
Though Jerry Lewis was cautious about saying exactly how important the Mormon church was to his campaign, the political newcomer’s upset win over Senate President Russell Pearce largely relied on a quiet, grassroots effort among Mesa’s faithful.
As the final results of the Nov. 8 recall election became clear, Tyler Montague, an integral campaign insider for Lewis, revealed how vital early support was among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Yes. I can finally say it. From the beginning, we went to stake presidents and bishops to get their support,” Montague said of high-ranking Mormon members.
“I heard someone call it the ‘Mormon Fall,’ and I think that totally fits,” he said, comparing the recall election to the mass protests in North Africa and the Middle East known as the “Arab Spring.”
Their approach: Offer a simple choice to the most influential Mormons in Mesa. We said, ‘Here’s what the Mormon Church says about immigration, and here’s what Russell Pearce says about it. Where do you come down?’” Montague said.
...Daryl M. Williams, a member of the Paradise Valley Stake High Council and a trial attorney, said he could see the way the Mormon community responded to the church’s stance, and that he believes it played heavily in Lewis’ success.
“It was more than just a useful tool. It was a critical turning point in Mr. Lewis’ campaign,” Williams said.
Although Williams wasn’t officially part of the Lewis campaign, he said he developed the view that Pearce was damaging for the church and that he couldn’t back away from getting involved himself.
So Williams organized meetings where he tried to explain to everyday Mormon voters what the church’s stance meant.
“I held what’s called in the Mormon world a ‘fireside’ in Russell Pearce’s district. There were a lot of Mormons there,” Williams said. “I was not campaigning for Lewis, as much as I was campaigning for what is right and moral.”
Williams said Lewis attended one of the meetings where Williams spoke, and that Lewis took him aside afterward to express his agreement and encourage Williams’ message.
Springing from those initial conversations, the Lewis campaign felt it could build an alliance with the influential members in Mesa’s Mormon community.
“It’s a small community and we knew we needed to target opinion-makers at a neighborhood level,” Montague said.
Lewis said he knew early on that getting the support from leaders in the church and in the community more broadly would be a key to his success. That would happen, Lewis said, by approaching those leaders early in the campaign and on an individual basis.

This will be the last cometary I will make on Jerry Lewis

The Immigration Debate Justice & Mercy

There has been a lot of debate about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints statement on immigration. Those that demand Justice and those the demand Mercy. I think in this debate we need to be mindful of a parable told by Boyd K. Packer

Let me tell you a story--a parable.

There once was a man who wanted something very much. It seemed more important than anything else in his life. In order for him to have his desire, he incurred a great debt.

He had been warned about going into that much debt, and particularly about his creditor. But it seemed so important for him to do what he wanted to do and to have what he wanted right now. He was sure he could pay for it later.

So he signed a contract. He would pay it off some time along the way. He didn't worry too much about it, for the due date seemed such a long time away. He had what he wanted now, and that was what seemed important.

The creditor was always somewhere in the back of his mind, and he made token payments now and again, thinking somehow that the day of reckoning really would never come.

But as it always does, the day came, and the contract fell due. The debt had not been fully paid. His creditor appeared and demanded payment in full.

Only then did he realize that his creditor not only had the power to repossess all that he owned, but the power to cast him into prison as well.

"I cannot pay you, for I have not the power to do so," he confessed.

"Then," said the creditor, "we will exercise the contract, take your possessions, and you shall go to prison. You agreed to that. It was your choice. You signed the contract, and now it must be enforced."

"Can you not extend the time or forgive the debt?" the debtor begged. "Arrange some way for me to keep what I have and not go to prison. Surely you believe in mercy? Will you not show mercy?"

The creditor replied, "Mercy is always so one-sided. It would serve only you. If I show mercy to you, it will leave me unpaid. It is justice I demand. Do you believe in justice?"

"I believed in justice when I signed the contract," the debtor said. "It was on my side then, for I thought it would protect me. I did not need mercy then, nor think I should need it ever. Justice, I thought, would serve both of us equally as well."

"It is justice that demands that you pay the contract or suffer the penalty," the creditor replied. "That is the law. You have agreed to it and that is the way it must be. Mercy cannot rob justice."

There they were: One meting out justice, the other pleading for mercy. Neither could prevail except at the expense of the other.

"If you do not forgive the debt there will be no mercy," the debtor pleaded.

"If I do, there will be no justice," was the reply.

Both laws, it seemed, could not be served. They are two eternal ideals that appear to contradict one another. Is there no way for justice to be fully served, and mercy also?

There is a way! The law of justice can be fully satisfied and mercy can be fully extended--but it takes someone else. And so it happened this time.

The debtor had a friend. He came to help. He knew the debtor well. He knew him to be shortsighted. He thought him foolish to have gotten himself into such a predicament. Nevertheless, he wanted to help because he loved him. He stepped between them, faced the creditor, and made this offer.

"I will pay the debt if you will free the debtor from his contract so that he may keep his possessions and not go to prison."

As the creditor was pondering the offer, the mediator added, "You demanded justice. Though he cannot pay you, I will do so. You will have been justly dealt with and can ask no more. It would not be just."

And so the creditor agreed.

The mediator turned then to the debtor. "If I pay your debt, will you accept me as your creditor?"

"Oh yes, yes," cried the debtor. "You save me from prison and show mercy to me."

"Then," said the benefactor, "you will pay the debt to me and I will set the terms. It will not be easy, but it will be possible. I will provide a way. You need not go to prison."

And so it was that the creditor was paid in full. He had been justly dealt with. No contract had been broken. The debtor, in turn, had been extended mercy. Both laws stood fulfilled. Because there was a mediator, justice had claimed its full share, and mercy was fully satisfied.

Each of us lives on a kind of spiritual credit. One day the account will be closed, a settlement demanded. However casually we may view it now, when that day comes and the foreclosure is imminent, we will look around in restless agony for someone, anyone, to help us.

And, by eternal law, mercy cannot be extended save there be one who is both willing and able to assume our debt and pay the price and arrange the terms for our redemption.

Unless there is a mediator, unless we have a friend, the full weight of justice untempered, unsympathetic, must, positively must fall on us. The full recompense for every transgression, however minor or however deep, will be exacted from us to the uttermost farthing.

But know this: Truth, glorious truth, proclaims there is such a Mediator.

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Tim. 2:5.)

Through Him mercy can be fully extended to each of us without offending the eternal law of justice. (From "The Mediator," Ensign, May 1977, pp. 54-56)

I think that we need to remember that in order for their to be MERCY there must be a mediator or someone to pay the demands of JUSTICE.

In the debate over immigration we know what the demand are for Justice are. What we don't know is who willing pay the demands of Justice in order for their to be Mercy.

Just something to think about.