Recession-wracked Valley cities - and the state itself - are getting another dose of bad economic news with sales-tax reports that suggest shoppers have all but padlocked their wallets.

The latest sales-tax reports showed June collections down anywhere from 9 percent to 22 percent from a year earlier. The same thing happened to the state. Its disastrous budget gap worsened in June thanks to sales-tax collections that fell $58 million short of the forecast.

Officials in Paterson are considering one for people of all ages in a bid to curb violence after a spate of deadly shootings.

Several experts say they believe it would be the nation's first curfew of its type to include adults. The state ACLU says it would open Paterson to legal action.

You know times are tough when people are getting kicked out of their house when it’s not even for sale.

That’s what happened to Anna Ramirez after she found all of her stuff out on the front lawn of her Homestead home last week and a strange man demanding she get out of his newly purchased house.

The loud and heated health care debate seems to largely have two camps �" those arguing in favor of socialized care, managed by the government; the other stubbornly, even emotionally resisting it, but having little else to add.

 Of those resisting it, it doesn’t seem that many are making productive suggestions that give American families much to noodle on if they rejected the socialized plan.

 That’s why I was so pleased to see Whole Food’s CEO, John Mackey’s Op Ed piece, “The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare”, in the August 11th edition of the Wall Street Journal.

"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out
of other people's money." Margaret Thatcher

With a projected $1.8 trillion deficit for 2009, several trillions more in deficits projected over the next decade, and with both Medicare and Social Security entitlement spending about to ratchet up several notches over the next 15 years as Baby Boomers become eligible for both, we are rapidly running out of other people's money. These deficits are simply not sustainable. They are either going to result in unprecedented new taxes and inflation, or they will bankrupt us.

While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposit

The man packing the AR-15 (a really big gun)--identified only as "Chris B"--was interviewed by libertarian radio show host and publisher of libertarian site Freedoms Phoenix Ernie Hancock (pictured, who was also carrying a gun at the time of the interview). When asked why he was carrying a weapon, Chris B. responded, "Because I can do it. In Arizona, I still have some freedoms."

Chris B. also said that he "always carried a gun," except when showering, of course, when he'd "put it on the sink."

Eeek.

As it turns out, the entire interview was staged by Hancock, a long-time acquaintance of "Chris B," whom he'd met while working on presidential hopeful Ron Paul's campaign.