Archive for July, 2009

Bill Ritter 180 sanity revisited?

July 3, 2009

What does it take to restore fiscal sanity when RINO’s and Democrats get a free hand with tax and spend policy? Colorado has over the past few years been somewhat protected by The Taxpayer Bill of Rights, more commonly known by the acronym TABOR. This past session of the legislature saw TABOR pretty much gutted. It also saw the advent of special interest legislation reaching new heights of recklessness. Not to even bother mentioning the use of “fees” to circumvent TABOR restrictions. Before leaving Colorado I briefly thought of using the initiative process to re-define the word taxation in that any charge by government at any level would be deemed a “tax.” That went nowhere. Now, the Colorado legislature, and the state of Colorado are also going nowhere. I have often had disagreements with Governor Bill Ritter about issues that span the entire realm of politics. Now, in a perfect example of broken clock economics the Governor like a broken clock that exhibits the correct time twice on a daily basis he get’s the correct answer.

Hat tip, and thanks to Senator Ted Harvey for this.

For Immediate Release                                         Contact: Ted Harvey
Ted@tedharvey.com

Bill Ritter 180


The day has come.  The numbers are in.  With only one week remaining in the 08/09 fiscal year, the Colorado budget is $250 million in the red.  Once again Governor Ritter and the Democrat legislative leadership misjudged the depth of our economic downturn.  Despite Republican warnings and objections during the last legislative session, the Democrats chose to approve the largest budget in state history.

At a time when small businesses were cutting budgets, reducing expenses, laying off staff or closing their doors altogether, the Democrat legislature grew the Colorado budget by 4% more than the previous year and hired 250 new employees.
While Colorado families were struggling through these tough economic times, the Democrats increased taxes and fees on all Coloradoans by $1 billion, raided the state’s trust funds and emergency reserves – and even tried unsuccessfully to seize $500 million in assets from the Pinnacol Assurance Company, Colorado’s largest provider of workers compensation insurance.  They also took advantage of their majority to remove the 6% spending cap that has controlled government growth for over three decades – a mechanism that has protected Colorado from the kind of out-of-control spending that has pushed states like California to the brink of bankruptcy.

Adding insult to injury, last month the Democrats handed out $30,000 in staff bonuses and spent nearly $4,000 in public funds on a “team-building” retreat.
The 2009 legislative session was a prime example of unchecked Democrat power on parade.

When actual revenues came in $250 million short of expectations, one would have expected Colorado taxpayers to receive an apology from the Governor and the Democrat leadership for their fiscal mismanagement.  Sadly, there were no apologies. Instead, taxpayers were treated to another serving of the Democrats’ brand of faith-based budgeting.

On the day the actual budget numbers came out, the Governor held a press conference explaining that the state would balance the $250 million shortfall by utilizing federal stimulus funding and pushing off payment of the state’s payroll from June 30 (the last day of 2008-2009 fiscal year), until July 1 (the first day of the new fiscal year).  Of course the only thing this did was add $250 million to the already anticipated $140 million shortfall for the new fiscal year-making the state $390 million in the hole from day one! This was simply Enron bookkeeping to avoid making the tough choices and leaving Colorado taxpayers to pick up the tab.
The Governor then rebuffed any media questions regarding an immediate special legislative session to balance our growing deficit.  He continued to insist that the problem could wait until the legislature reconvened in January.  Unfortunately, the Governor failed to admit that delaying for another six months until the start of the 2010 session would only magnify the impact any impending cuts would have on the state budget.

Sadly, the Democrat legislative response was no better.  The only suggestion from the Chairman of the Joint Budget Committee was to extend a property tax increase on senior citizens for another year, and remove tax credits from business owners.
The truth is, on the Day of Reckoning, when the actual budget numbers came out, our Colorado Democrat leadership revealed their true soul and proved once and for all that they were incapable of cutting even one government service or one state employee.

Predictably, the public was outraged.  The lack of Democrat leadership was undeniable.  Faced with an economic reality and voter rebellion, Governor Ritter quickly realized that it was time for government to tighten its belt.
On Thursday, only two days after his initial response, the Governor held another press conference…one that I have dubbed “Bill Ritter 180.”  Surprisingly, he announced what Republicans had been demanding for over two years, that he was directing each of his department heads to review their budgets and cut 10% across the board.  Hallelujah, the leader of our state finally showed leadership! And may God bless him for it. He may have just saved our great state from following California’s lead…straight off the cliff.
Indeed it has been our Republican legislators who have led the charge for fiscal sanity over the last 24 months while pushing for across-the-board cuts…but this week we must give credit to whom credit is due.  Bill Ritter has finally taken a stand and come out against many members of his own party.  Good for him and good for Colorado!
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For more information on Senator Ted Harvey please visit his website at www.tedharvey.com

Islam, and the Conquest of America

July 2, 2009

From Pamela at Atlas Shrugged (see sidebar) Newsletter we have an interesting bit of military / social strategy. Now, in normal times I would most probably just brush this off. It would seemingly be impossible. But things have changed pretty dramatically here in America. First and foremost the economy is in a shambles. Even the impostor in chief says that America is broke. The administration, along with treasonous elitist are seeking a total disarmament of the American people. Plus there are a growing number of Americans that want to “just say no” to the Federal government. Roll those things together with a profound failure to support liberty in Iran while at the same time refusing to support a democracy that ousted a sitting President for attempting to alter that nations constitution by fiat, and you have a colossal failure in leadership on so many levels that one might think that the United States of America was some bedeviled African nation being ran by thugs…

Now, add this bit into the stew of factors.

Islamic invasion of America: The 20 Point Plan

This sums up the Muslim Brotherhood project in America quite succinctly. On November 7, 2001,  international law enforcement authorities and Western intelligence agencies discovered a twenty-year old document revealing a top-secret plan developed by the oldest Islamist organization with one of the most extensive terror networks in the world to launch a program of “cultural invasion” and eventual conquest of the West that virtually mirrors the tactics used by Islamists for more than two decades.





Since that time information about this document, known in counterterrorism circles as “The Project”, and discussion regarding its content has been limited to the top-secret world of Western intelligence communities. Only through the work of an intrepid Swiss journalist, Sylvain Besson of Le Temps, and his book published in October 2005 in France, La conquête de l’Occident: Le projet secret des Islamistes (The Conquest of the West: The Islamists’ Secret Project), has information regarding The Project finally been made public. One Western official cited by Besson has described The Project as “a totalitarian ideology of infiltration which represents, in the end, the greatest danger for European societies.”

[…]

Included in the documents seized during the raid of Nada’s Swiss villa was a 14-page plan written in Arabic and dated December 1, 1982, which outlines a 12-point strategy to “establish an Islamic government on earth” – identified as The Project. According to testimony given to Swiss authorities by Nada, the unsigned document was prepared by “Islamic researchers” associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

If you want to read more of the Muslim Brotherhood project, go here.

U.S. Arab-American author outlines secret 20-year strategy to undermine country WND

A refugee from the Muslim Middle East thinks he has discovered Islam’s 20-point plan for conquering the United States by 2020

Anis Shorrosh, author of ”Islam Revealed” and ”The True Furqan,” is a Christian Arab-American who emigrated from Arab-controlled Jerusalem in January 1967.

”The following is my analysis of Islamic invasion of America, the agenda of Islamists and visible methods to take over America by the year 2020,” Shorrosh says. ”Will Americans continue to sleep through this invasion as they did when we were attacked on 9/11?”

1. Terminate America’s freedom of speech by replacing it with statewide and nationwide hate-crime bills.

2. Wage a war of words using black leaders like Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Jesse Jackson  and other visible religious personalities who promote Islam as the religion of African-Americans while insisting Christianity is for whites only. What they fail to tell African-Americans is that it was Arab Muslims who captured them and sold them as slaves. In fact, the Arabic word for black and slave is the same, ”Abed.”

3. Engage the American public in dialogues, discussions, debates in colleges, universities, public libraries, radio, TV, churches and mosques on the virtues of Islam. Proclaim how it is historically another religion like Judaism and Christianity with the same monotheistic faith.

4. Nominate Muslim sympathizers to political office to bring about favorable legislation toward Islam and support potential sympathizers by block voting.

5. Take control of as much of Hollywood, the press, TV, radio and the Internet as possible by buying the related corportations or a controlling stock.

6. Yield to the fear of the imminent shut-off of the lifeblood of America – black gold. America’s economy depends on oil and 41 percent of it comes from the Middle East.

7. Yell ”foul, out-of-context, personal interpretation, hate crime, Zionist, un- American, inaccurate interpretation of the Quran” anytime Islam is criticized or the Quran is analyzed in the public arena.

8. Encourage Muslims to penetrate the White House, specifically with Islamists who can articulate a marvelous and peaceful picture of Islam. Acquire government positions and get membership in local school boards. Train Muslims a medical doctors to dominate the medical field, research and pharmaceutical l companies (Ever notice how numerous Muslim doctors in America are, when their countries need them more desperately than America?) Take over the computer industry. Establish Middle Eastern restaurants throughout the U.S. to connect planners of Islamization in a discreet way.

9. Accelerate Islamic demographic growth via:

  • Massive immigration (100,000 annually since 1961).

  • Use no birth control whatsoever – every baby of Muslim parents is automatically a Muslim and cannot choose another religion later.

  • Muslim men must marry American women and Islamize them (10,000 annually). Then divorce them and remarry every five years – since one can’t legally marry four at one time. This is a legal solution in America.

  • Convert angry, alienated black inmates and turn them into militants (so far 2,000 released inmates have joined al-Qaida worldwide). Only a few ”sleeper cells” have been captured in Afghanistan and on American soil.

10. Reading, writing, arithmetic and research through the American educational system, mosques and student centers (now 1,500) should be sprinkled with dislike of Jews, evangelical Christians and democracy. There are currently 300 exclusively Muslim schools in the U.S. which teach loyalty to the Quran, not the U.S. Constitution. In January of 2002, Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in Washington mailed 4,500 packets of the Quran and videos promoting Islam to America’s high schools – free of charge. Saudi Arabia would not allow the U.S. to reciprocate.

11. Provide very sizeable monetary Muslim grants to colleges and universities in America to establish ”Centers for Islamic studies” with Muslim directors to promote Islam in higher-education institutions.

12. Let the entire world know through propaganda, speeches, seminars, local and national media that terrorists have hijacked Islam, when in truth, Islam hijacked the terrorists.

13. Appeal to the historically compassionate and sensitive Americans for sympathy and tolerance towards Muslims in America who are portrayed as mainly immigrants from oppressed countries.

14. Nullify America’s sense of security by manipulating the intelligence community with misinformation. Periodically terrorize Americans with reports of impending attacks on bridges, tunnels, water supplies, airports, apartment buildings and malls.

15. Form riots and demonstrations in the prison system demanding Islamic Sharia as the way of life, not America’s justice system.

16. Open numerous charities throughout the U.S., but use the funds to support Islamic terrorism with American dollars.

17. Raise interest in Islam on America’s campuses by insisting freshman take at least one course on Islam.

18. Unify the numerous Muslim lobbies in Washington, mosques, Islamic student centers, educational organizations, magazines and papers by Internet and an annual convention to coordinate plans, propagate the faith and engender news in the media.

19. Send intimidating messages and messengers  

to the outspoken individuals who are critical of Islam and seek to eliminate them by hook or crook.

20. Applaud Muslims as loyal citizens of the U.S. by spotlighting their voting record as the highest percentage of all minority and ethic groups in America.