Some Positive News

            People critical of my blogs accume me of being too negative.  They are right.  There are many things going on that cry out for opposition, but there are also good happenings to celebrate.  So let's look at some positive news.

            NOVA Women's Healthcare, an abortion clinic in Fairfax, Virginia, was shut down after state and local governments enacted regulations it was unable to meet.  The clinic performed  3,066 abortions in 2011 and 3,567 in 2012.   Are you listening, Planned Parenthood supporters?
            North Carolina enacted sweeping tax reforms that reduced the top marginal personal income tax rate by 25%, and corporate income tax from 6.9% to 6% in 2014 and 5% in 2015.  These tax reductions will put more money in taxpayers' pockets and will make North Carolina more attractive to business investors and job creators.  And these are only the first measures in much needed tax reform promised by Republicans who now control both the legislature and the governorship.
            Halfway around the world, Australians, fed up with Liberal Prime Minister Julia Gilliard's tax and spend policies, elected Tony Abbott, a conservative, to head the new government.  He promises, among other measures, to reduce foreign aid, to curb the number of asylum seekers, and to stop the government from spending any more money on wasteful and unproductive green-energy technologies.  Too bad he's not an American citizen eligible for the presidency.
            In Colorado, State Senate President John Moore and State Senator Angela Giron  were both recalled by voters in their districts for their extreme positions on gun control.  The Moore and Giron campaigns were funded to the tune of $3 million, including $350,000 from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, while opponents had only had $500,000 to fund their effort.  After getting bounced, Giron had the gall to say that this story was all about voter suppression.  
            When Al Gore accepted his Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, he predicted that Arctic sea ice could disappear completely in 30 years because of global warming caused by carbon emissions.  Apparently his computer models were a little off.  In the past year the amount of sea ice has increased in size by an area equal to 19,000 Manhattans.  It is the greatest increase in sea ice on record.   It would appear that forecasts of global warming and imminent doom used to justify fossil fuel taxes and subsidies for renewable energy have been grossly exaggerated.   Battery Park, Florida beaches, and polar bears are safe for now.