GREAT BEND, Kan. - Democracy, Capitalism. Two very American words. Our forefathers and military men and women have fought to keep Communism at bay. What is shocking is to find it, right here in your very own home town

In a tough economy it might make sense to find a way to lower taxes, quit spending on unnecessary items, but we just can't seem to stop. Are politicians in Great Bend trying to spend their way out of a slumping economy?

GREAT BEND, Kan. - Life can get boring if you are afraid of having character. Raising a little hell can keep your spirit in check with your mind. Experience breeds character.

Wall Street protests have been going on for several weeks. Scanning the pictures and crowds, I see many young people. Could it be the next generation is turning off their Facebook and getting involved? So much for tune in, turn on and drop out.

Many of these young people involved went to College with the expectation of a decent job. After they graduated they found they were taking jobs much below their pay grade with a looming college debt, waiting to fall atop them. Sixty-five percent of college grads have college debt when they graduate. Many of my friends depend on the good pay their parents make to help them make ends meet.

GREAT BEND, Kan. - Spending more money on solving a problem, than the original problem costs? Sounds like politics to me.

Recently, Florida became the first state to require mandatory drug testing of welfare recipients. Any resident who fails a drug test will no longer receive benefits. Wait, that's not true? When recipients fail two drug screens they will still be able to designate someone else in their family to receive their benefits.

So why would Florida pass a bill such as this?

Public opinion is one reason. Critical thinking skills seem to have been traded in for copy and paste statuses on Facebook.

Reason number two, the governor co-founded the drug testing chain the state is using.

GREAT BEND, Kan. - Citizen journalism is as American as the First Amendment. It's the truest 'freedom of speech' since it is not sponsored by corporate donors.

Most commercial news sources today are beholden to their advertisers, be they local or corporate. It is tough to fight corruption when corruption is your main source of income. News channel's or newspapers are not the only way to get news nowadays.

Too often, also, commercial newspapers and other corporate sponsored news sources focus on federal level politics. Local politics are pushed aside. Writers on this and similar sites are providing valuable services as they provide articles that are usually of interest to the Kansas public. Kansas Free Press is a fantastic way for citizens to publish information that otherwise would be shelved by commercial media.

GREAT BEND, Kan. - How do you celebrate the 4th of July? Is being proud of your country an every day occurrence, or is it one day of waving a Chinese-made American flag?

Many of us can "talk the talk" when it comes to patriotism, but how many can "walk the walk"?

If you do walk, you will need comfortable American-made shoes to do it in.

I am getting ready for vacation to Yellowstone and need to purchase various items for the trip. I searched for only American-made items.

It was much easier than I thought to find great deals. Some American made items are much more expensive than the Chinese version. Some aren't. The items I found were more than affordably priced. I thought I would publish my findings for others to read.

GREAT BEND, Kan. - Corruption in Federal politics is all too common. What really surprises me is when we have possible corruption at a local level. Right here in Great Bend.

All of us know that a corporation named Red Barn came into Great Bend. This week, through research, I found a deed to Mayor Mike Allison's home. What most of us don't know is that Kan-Can Holdings LLC, which owns Red Barn, purchased Mayor Mike Allison's home in February of 2010. Actually, his house was first purchased by a Red Barn executive, and then within a year, completely transferred to the corporation.

When Red Barn came into Great Bend, the city gave Red Barn thousands of dollars in cash incentives (which come out of taxes; citizens in Great Bend pay this) and also hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax incentives (taxes that Red Barn would have owed but will not have to pay).

In essence, Mayor Mike Allison took hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the Great Bend current and future budgets to give to this company. Shortly thereafter, his house was sold to the same corporation.

GREAT BEND, Kan. - In April, purposed changes were made to Medicare in the House of Representatives. The outlook is bleak for Western Kansas. A recent report from the United States House of Representatives informs us what those changes will look like in the 1st Congressional District in Kansas. This will directly effect you, your parents, and children. Take a look at the numbers.

Under last year's Affordable Care Act, the donut hole for seniors was closed. Under the NEW Republican Medicare plan, the donut hole will be wide open for individuals 54 and older, a voucher program will be instilled to purchase private health insurance.

Who doesn't love red tape or bureaucracy when it comes to their grandparent's receiving health care or insurance?

GREAT BEND, Kan. - The Holcomb Power Plant has been a source of debate in the State as of late. We already know the basics of this plant, an average of 10 % of the energy would be used in the State of Kansas, with the rest going out of State (Colorado, ect). Which means, we would benefit little and be stuck with the clean up cost.

The Kingston Plant in Tennessee is an example of worst case scenario coming to life. People who live in the area are still suffering complications. Family's are unable to sell their homes because of a toxic sludge that overtook the area when the plant exploded, children are unable to play in their backyards without protective suits because of the complications. View Picture's and Video's here

ABC News also did a special on it about a year ago, the information was overwhelming.

After attending a meeting of the Grassroots Environmental Action Team (GREAT) last week and receiving the following print out from the group, I found it important to share. The information is in depth and to be honest, alarming. Please read on for more information. The following is the letter in its entirety...

GREAT BEND, Kan. - If you get your news from E! Television, you may not want to read any further. What I have to say could upset you: Many Americans of today are focused on trite political issues. Not many people know that President Obama has:

• created Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act,
• given 90 percent of households a tax cut,
• given 12.2 billion dollars to the "American's with Disabilities Act,"
• extended benefits to federal employees in same sex partnerships,
• created a voluntary disclosure of White House visitors for the first time in U.S. history,
• promoted social responsibility through creation of serve.gov,
• created a national database of volunteer opportunities,
• signed new START Treaty - nuclear arms reduction pact with Russia,
• provided travel expenses to families of fallen soldiers to be on hand when the body arrives at Dover AFB,
• launched recovery.gov to track spending from the Recovery Act, provide transparency and allow the public to report fraud, waste, or abuse,
• provided the Department of Veterans Affairs with more than $1.4 billion to improve services to America's Veterans,
• signed the Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act, which provides health care to 11 million kids -- 4 million of whom were previously uninsured,
• signed the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act to stop fraud and wasteful spending in the defense procurement and contracting system,
• established Credit Card Bill of Rights, preventing credit card companies from imposing arbitrary rate increases on customers,
• passed tax cuts for up to 3.5 million small businesses to help pay for employee health care coverage,
• passed tax credits for up to 29 million individuals to help pay for health insurance,
• now requires health insurance plans to disclose how much of the premium actually goes to patient care,
• increased funding for the Violence Against Women Act,
• lifted restrictions granting Cuban Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send remittances to the island,
• eliminated subsidies to private lender middlemen of student loans and protect student borrowers,
• significantly expanded Pell grants, which help low-income students pay for college,
• signed financial reform law allowing shareholders of publicly traded companies to vote on executive pay

I can guarantee every American does know about President Obama's birth certificate conspiracy.

TOPEKA, Kan. - Over the weekend a friend of mine dropped off some strange but comical legislation going through committee in the Kansas Senate. The bill turns into a piece on guns, but begins out as a pretty vague and comical piece of legislation.

Senate Bill No. 149 states, "(Kansas) reserves to the state and people of Kansas certain powers as they were understood at the time that Kansas was admitted to statehood in 1861. The guaranty of those powers is a matter of contract between the state and people fo Kansas and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by Kansas in 1859 and the United States in 1861."

Through my erroneous laughter I fantasized of a world where these state senators outlawed federal legislation since the year 1861.