In the March 6 edition, Mr. Rod Livdahl presented a lively and articulate apology for the tax/borrow/spend insanity running amok in our country. The presentation lacked only one component of importance—accuracy.

"State and municipal pensions nationwide are underfunded by $3.3 trillion. We're making multi-millionaires out of every retired fireman at taxpayer expense. Isn't it time to reform these unsustainable government pensions?"

Finally some actual facts! That’s what I was hoping to find when I opened Rod Livdahl’s letter about the “tickle up effect”. Alas, it was not so. It was simply more “theory,” not supported by actual facts in an attempt to disparage President Reagan’s implementation of supply side economics. So I took one statistic, the unemployment rate, and did some research. These facts paint an interesting picture:

Perhaps Rod Livdahl (letter of 3/20) should review his Econ 101 textbook before he presents his next lesson on the subject. “Trickle Down” and “Trickle Up” are not economic terms. They are political terms, coined by Liberals to mock and distort serious economic discussion. There is no authentic “Trickle Down” school of thought that proposed the enrichment of the wealthy by government action in order to allow some of that wealth to somehow dribble down to the masses. “Trickle Up” appears to be an advanced term invented by Mr. Livdahl.

Regressive thinkers like Paul Ryan and Harvard economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, who just had their invalid austerity facts exposed by three researchers from UMass, are running scared now. So scared, in fact, that they are talking CRAZY.

"To Warren: You got away with it in Utah. You got away with it in Arizona. But you ‘Don't mess with Texas' and, you don't escape from Huntsville."

I am constantly amazed by how difficult it is for so many Americans to add two-plus-two and come up with four, and who continue to vote against their own economic self-interest. The facts are out there if they would only take a moment to consider the facts!

After seeing two writers disagree with a recent “Letter” I wrote the first week of March, I figured it was time to remind these forgetful conservatives of the simple principles of “Economics 101”

Let’s Talk Tax Reform — reform that actually builds the American economy and creates new jobs.

It is painfully obvious that conservatives and liberals think with completely different sides of their brains! Or more succinctly, one uses it’s brain to think, while the other prefers to let others do their thinking for them. They simply go with the flow because the conservative ‘siren song’ of lower taxes just sounds so pleasant and soothing to the ear!

The bumper sticker reads, “Obama Lied — Freedom Died.”

Can there be any doubt that it has become little more than a game, run by and for the wealthiest 1 percent and corporate CEOs?

Kudos to John McCain! And kudos to the bipartisan group of attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia who recently filed an “unsolicited brief” with the Supreme Court, asking them to “reconsider” it’s decision in the “Citizens United” ruling it handed down in 2010.

It is so tiresome having to read the many letters from Rod Livdahl. You can almost count on his first paragraph denouncing something “the Republicans” have done. His bias is so obvious that it seems to get in the way of good logic. His latest attack is against “the GOP mantra that revenues go up when taxes go down.” There is some truth in this charge, but the tax loopholes which make for lower taxes on “the rich” were just as often created by Democrats as by Republicans. Neither party has a monopoly on crony capitalism!

The Week magazine recently published a very interesting article titled, "Tax dodgers on the federal payroll: By the numbers."

It was refreshing to see a Republican, especially one as prominent as our own Sen. John McCain come out and call the Supreme Court's "Citizens United" decision as, "one of the worst decisions I have ever seen."

While I agree with some of the observations made by Rod Livdahl's in his June 10 letter to the editor, he sadly misses the most significant point completely. The issue has nothing to do with whether some crackpot believes God wants him/her to run for public office. The issue has to do with what the Bible says and what the Constitution says. The Bible says that the church is to help the needy and the Constitution says the government is to govern in a particular manner. The problem is that the government has trampled all over the churches' domain and has created its own Church of Welfare, Church of Unemployment Benefits, Church of Food Stamps, Church of Medicare and the list goes on-and-on. The problem is that these wasteful, inefficient, ineffective and corrupt institutions serve only to prolong poverty and line the pockets of the corrupt officials who implement them. That is the reason they should be eliminated!

"If King Obama could do all the things last Sunday's Venter said he could do (and he can't) I would still complain about him, because he ignores the Constitution, and is also a narcissist and a bald-faced liar."

“Tired of the war between Flake and Cardon. They’re both RINOs anyway. I will not vote for either of them.”

"I have some biblical advice for Rod Livdahl (letter to the editor, June 10), who claims to be a person of faith and daily Bible reader: Stop judging other Christians or you will be judged yourself. Remove the beam from your own eye before plucking the speck from your neighbor's eye. Those are Jesus' words, not mine."

“It sure is sad day in our society when an old man, who can walk, wants to take a disabled parking space from a young boy in a wheelchair, who can’t walk. And no, my son will not have the opportunity to be old some day.”

“I was hit by a red light runner on Aug. 14 at Broadway and Horne. I would like to again thank the three good samaritans who stayed with me to be witnesses, and a fourth good samaritan who brought me a big cup of ice water. Thank you all for your kindness and concern. It is greatly appreciated. God bless you all.”

Raise taxes on the wealthy. Cut spending on the poor and middle class. The battle rages on.

These days it seems as though we are seeing more and more pastors at mainstream Christian churches, preaching a much different ‘gospel’ than I remember from Christ’s teachings throughout the New Testament?