We should never have gotten involved in Kosovo and now should get out. I'm not sure why we are there, several reasons probably. Good cover for the Clinton China scandal, save face for Clinton and NATO who have been threatening to bomb Milosevic for several months. Hard to argue they are "saving lives", since they pulled out the monitors that were keeping a check on the Serbian forces they have had free reign to do what they want in Kosovo. We pulled out the monitors so we could bomb the Serbians and force them to with draw from Kosovo. It is obvious Clinton and the other fools at NATO thought they could bomb Serbia for a few days and Milosevic would give up. Problem is he didn't..

There is no way there will be peace in the region until everyone there has killed each other off. You may stop them by force from fighting but only as long as you have the force there to do so. This would mean putting in an occupying ground force. Which we keep being told there will be no ground forces. Yet we have ground forces there now, the Apache attack helicopter and it's support forces ARE ground forces, not part of the air campaign. If they keep up mission creep like this we will have what they claim they are trying to prevent, a real regional war that could turn in to a major war. Russia has been an ally with Serbia for a long time and strongly resents NATO intrusion into their area and see this as a possible prelude to occupation of territory right next to them. Worse case this could lead to another world war. There are countries who would love seeing the US and Russia go at it which would leave them free to do what they want. Countries like China, Korea, Libya, Iraq, Iran off the top of my head and I'm sure there are others.

The reason why there is fighting in the region is complex and I'm not sure I understand everything. Basically the Serbs are Christians and the Albanians are Muslims, they have been fighting over territory for Hundreds of years. Kosovo is considered by the Serbs as being holy ground. The "ethnic" Albanians are immigrants to the area. Think if it like this, ethnic Mexicans over the years move into the area around the Alamo. The Texans don't like this but the controlling government prevent them from doing anything. The controlling government collapses and the Texans start trying to force the ethnic Mexicans out. The ethnic Mexicans fight back with the ALA, Alamo Liberation Army. Both sides are very motivated to take or keep possession of the land. Over there we have the USSR as the controlling government and when the USSR broke up there was no one to stop the Serbs and Albanians from going at it. The KLA, Kosovo Liberation Army which is a Moslem terrorist organization has been committing atrocities against the Serbs and the Serbs against the Albanians. They have been at it so long it is hard to say who started what.

All the politicians are telling us we have a budget surplus these days, Clinton says it, the Democrats say it and even the Republicans say it. Wonderful news isn't it? Only trouble is, they all are lying! If we had a real surplus then the National Debt would be going down, but it is not, it is still increasing. Don't believe me? Then go to this site where the Treasury Department reports what the National Debt is: Public Debt to the Penny. Confused? It isn't hard to understand, they are still doing what they always have done. They are counting the so called "Social Security Trust Fund" as part of the revenues. The only difference is now we are not spending more than the combined general revenue and the SSTF. There really is no "Social Security Trust Fund", never has been, it still went in to the general fund but though accounting was treated as a separate account. If it had been set up as a real trust fund that earned interest, there wouldn't be a problem with Social Security. Sometime around 1970 (I'd have to look to find the exact date), congress started raiding money from the SS account to cover how much they were spending on the Democrat's socialist programs, such as welfare, funding for the arts an other such items which are NOT constitutionally mandated or authorized programs.

Yes, they have cut spending some, they have allowed Clinton to cut military spending to the bone, which is where the majority of the spending cuts are. So much so that now Clinton is saying he cut it too much and now wants to increase it. No wonder with all the places he has sent our military. Think of all those million dollar a piece cruise missiles we are attacking other countries with. There is no spending to replace them and they are being depleted. What happens if we do need our military to respond in Asia to China or North Korea? We are already spread thin in so many places playing police man that I can't keep track of them all. Think about it.

Anyway back to taxes and spending, we must get a handle on Federal spending that is unnecessary. There are only a few things the constitution says the Federal Government should do. Off the top of my head that is; protect our borders, military defense, international relations and regulate interstate commerce. I probably left out a couple but the list is not very long what the constitution says the Federal Government can do. What does the constitution say about the things it doesn't say the Federal Government can do? Tenth Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, to the people.". So why is the Federal Government doing a myriad of things it's not suppose to? Because people have asked it too or have allowed it to. Until these powers are returned to the states and people we probably will not get our spending under control. The vast majority of the Fed. is not constitutional and should be eliminated.

I am a strong supporter of a Flat tax. I supported the idea before I heard of Dick Armey's and Steve Forbes' plans. I'd like to see a flat tax that only taxes your income above the poverty level at a fixed rate for everyone. It would take 3/4 majority of both houses of government to increase this rate, but a simple majority to decrease it. I'd eliminate the pay roll deduction and mandate that at the end of the month everyone had to figure their taxes (very easy with a flat tax and no deductions) and send a check into the IRS. This way people would see how much of their money is being extorted by a bloated government. Do you think people would allow the stuff to go on that they do now, if they new exactly how much they were paying in taxes every month? I don't.