Indianapolis, IN - School choice and educational reform were at the center of the budget fight, and in the end, the taxpayer and students won. This budget ends the unquestioned support of the failing public education system, and creates a spark for alternative educational choices to be created. The General Assembly passed a pilot program for online virtual schools, and created a $2.5 million a year tax credit for private schools. The destructive caps for charter schoolson charter schools have been removed, which may provide additional future funding through grants.

Robert Stark is a contributor to the Ron Paul Examiner from Los Angeles. You can see Robert's articles on Robert's Home Page.

LOS ANGELES, CA -- The Hate Crimes Prevention Act which has passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming margin is now facing hearings in the Senate. There are already similar hate crime laws in place, however, this bill imposes much stronger federal enforcement, which is a clear violation of the Tenth Amendment. It grants greater power to federal prosecutors to prosecute hate crime laws by prosecuting those who have been found innocent by local or state courts.

The current bill will extend special privileges to gays and transgender individuals that are currently only granted to ethnic and religious minorities. The most dangerous part of the Bill which is a direct assault against the First Amendment is that it allows for the prosecution as accomplices in a hate crime for talk show pundits that the person who commits the alleged crime claims to influence their actions.

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Gene Healy is a vice president at the Cato Institute and the author of The Cult of the Presidency. This article appeared in the DC Examiner on June 30, 2009.

"I am a firm believer in the power of the free market," President Obama told the Wall Street Journal recently. The "irony" surrounding his public image as a collectivist, the president insisted, was that "I actually would like to see a relatively light touch when it comes to the government."

Either Obama is as confused about the definition of irony as pop singer Alanis "rain on your wedding day" Morrisette, or he was being disingenuous. Given the president's ambitious, state-bloating agenda and longtime disdain for free enterprise, the latter is more likely the case.

Reprinted from boortz.com, By Neal Boortz.

I hope that you got the chance to see the exchange yesterday at White House press briefing. Robert Gibbs starts to get really flustered when a CBS reporter continues to hound him over the fact that Obama town hall events are completely staged. There are no "random" questions from the audience. Everything is pre-selected, every question is screened, etc. So this reporter calls him out on it, and then Helen Thomas gets involved. She says that she has never seen this level of control in the White House before. And if anyone should know, Helen Thomas would.

I just LOVE that woman!

Dear Indiana Libertarians,

Please contact your Senators and urge them to vote against the upcoming cap and trade legislation! You may copy and paste the following templates into an email message, or print them out and send a signed hard copy to your senator's address as listed at the bottom. Alternatively, you can call them at their office number and express your concerns.

Forward this on to all your family and friends so we can make a difference!

Sincerely,
Anna Heiselman
Libertarian National Committee Office
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Senator Bayh

senator@bayh.senate.gov
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Dear Senator Bayh:

As one of your constituents, I am writing to strongly urge you not to support cap and trade legislation.

Cap and trade will:
· Cut many existing jobs, raising unemployment
· Cost the consumer (the average American family) for the higher expenses
· Cost the economy billions of dollars, making it worse off than before

Our View: Time is Running Out On Special Legislative Session
By the Muncie Star-Press
JUNE 26, 2009

It's not unusual or rare for the clocks in either the Indiana Senate or House to be stopped as time runs down and final passage is near on a crucial piece of legislation.

Some might say the clock was never started this year in a General Assembly session that should have resulted in a biennial budget. Time didn't seem to be a concern, in the regular session, and based on the conference committee's delaying tactics this week, doesn't seem to be a concern now.

It should be.

Former Chairman Todd Singer is the proud father of his second child today. Myra Campbell Singer was born June 25, 2009 at 2 AM. She weighs 7 lbs, 0 Oz, is 20 inches long, and is healthy.