SEAN HANNITY

Outrageous Government Spending One thing that our government does quite well is spend, and often times waste, our tax dollars.  Did you hear that the federal government is on track to collect record revenues this year?  Yet despite this record, we are still running a deficit of over $306 billion.  This means that record high taxation can't even pay for our giant, burdensome government.  And the problem is that our government is only going to continue to grow and spend more!  Either we continue to accumulate debt, which will eventually cripple us, or we raise taxes even more.  Why does our government continue to spend so much money?  Perhaps it is because it comes up with endless, mindless ways to spend your hard-earned tax dollars.  Need An Example? Some are skeptics.  You need an example? How about this one? The Washington Free Beacon reports that the federal government has given a $1.5 million grant to a hospital in Seattle to research how "bicycle trains" and "walking school buses" can help obese children lose weight.  This walking school bus idea was endorsed by Michelle Obama and her "Let's Move" initiative.  A million here, a million there - these grants add up.  And while some of their research may be noble, is it really the role of the government to be doling out our tax dollars for projects such as this? Forget trying to get kids to exercise, let's talk about how much our government pays to educate our children.  A new report from Terry Jeffrey finds that government schools in Washington D.C. spend over $29,000 per student per year.  Yet despite this high price tag, which rivals some of the best private education costs, 83% of eighth graders cannot read proficiently and 81% are not proficient at math.  In fact, compared to the rest of the country, Washington D.C. government school children rank at the very bottom in academic achievement for reading and math.  Yet it ranks #1 in education spending among large cities.  In other words, the government is spending a lot of money but that is not translating into results. We need to be smarter and hold government accountable, because at the end of the day it's our tax dollars on the line. Hillary's Health The personal health of any candidate running for political office is always a concern.  That concern is particularly heightened if that candidate is running, or likely to run, for president.  Such is the case for Hillary Clinton. Karl Rove made headlines this week, which inaccurately quoted him as questioning whether or not potential Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had brain damage.  Rove has since clarified the remarks, but it does call into question the issue of health. Health is an important factor when electing a President, hence the reason why every candidate hands over health records for public review.  The reason is because the office is so demanding and it is bigger than any one person.  The president is a representative, a head of state, and the symbolism of an ailing president speaks volumes.  It is important that the American people and the world are sure that he, or she, is up to the task.  To lose a president to health issues is, no doubt, concerning. Eventually we will come to know exactly what happened to Hillary when she was Secretary of State and disappeared from the public eye for a while with a health-related issue.  Perhaps it's unusual that we are talking about it so early, but that is a product of our evolving, digital news culture more than it is an attempt to undermine her eligibility. At this point, Hillary's ultimate weakness isn't her potential health issues.  Her weakness is her seeming lack of accomplishments.  Becoming Secretary of State is notable, but what exactly did she accomplish?  Her State Department was asked about that a few weeks ago, and do you remember the fumbling, non-response that was given?  They couldn't come up with anything!  Even their second attempt to correct the record was flat.