Archive for March, 2010

Congressional Reform Act of 2010

March 23, 2010

Once in a while someone comes up with some very good ideas what follows was commentary over at Texas Fred’s blog. Enjoy!

Congressional Reform Act of 2010

1. Term Limits: 12 years only, one of the possible options below.

A. Two Six year Senate terms
B. Six Two year House terms
C. One Six year Senate term and three Two Year House terms

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

2. No Tenure / No Pension:

A congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security:

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund moves to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, Congress participates with the American people.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, server your term(s), then go home and back to work.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan just as all Americans.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

6. Congress looses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

7. Congress must equally abide in all laws they impose on the American people.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

8. All contracts with past and present congressmen are void effective 1/1/11 .

BZ

Be of good cheer: What we think about what just happened‏

March 23, 2010

Leave it to Downsize D.C. to be optimistic!

Be of good cheer. There are many silver linings in what may seem to be a completely dark cloud. Let’s think about what just happened . . .

* Statist Democrats have waited three decades to take over healthcare
* Their last attempt, in 1993-94, was a bust
* And aside from those two years, they haven’t controlled Congress and the White House since the Carter years
* Now, it’s already fairly obvious that their current control won’t last long

After all . . .

* The American electorate leans conservative/libertarian and libertarian/liberal, NOT Statist Liberal
* Public dislike for Statism is why the Statist Republicans got fired in 2008, and it will likely cause many Statist Democrats to be fired too, starting this year

We think this explains the Democrats’ suicidal determination to pass their healthcare bill now, at all costs, in spite of the massive public opposition . . .

It was now or never!

Even so, public pressure, including tens of thousands of letters from DC Downsizers, forced the Statist Democrats to make major changes . . .

They had to drop their “deem and pass self-executing rule,” by which they hoped to make the Senate healthcare bill the law of the land, without ever voting for it.

You made the House Democrats do something they didn’t want to do. You made them cast a direct vote for the hated Senate bill.

Tax-funded bribery is also becoming a major issue. Witness the furor over the Cornhusker Kickback and the Louisiana Purchase. Public pressure made the Statist politicians retreat on this issue as well.

You also killed the so-called “public option,” which would have put us on the fast track to fully Socialist healthcare. As it stands now, the bill Congress actually passed more resembles Socialism’s kissing-cousin, Corporate Fascism. This is why . . .

We find it both amusing and a bit nauseating that the Statist Democrats claim they’ve struck a blow against the health insurance industry. In reality, they’ve just forced every American to become a customer of the insurance industry! This bill is . . .

* A bonanza for the big insurance companies, NOT a strike against them
* A system of crony capitalism with government in control but corporations pocketing the profits
*Which is most accurately called Corporate Fascism

Perhaps most important, but little noted, your opposition forced the Statist Democrats to jury-rig their bill, so that various provisions start at different times. They had to do this in order to hide the bill’s true costs, but this has also left their scheme more vulnerable to repeal! In other words . . .

* The bill may be the law now, but . . .
* Its various programs, mandates, fines, taxes, subsidies and regulations don’t all get started now, so . . .
* After the election, just 7 short months away, some or all of these things may be reversed

But that’s not all. Our Constitution’s robust system of checks and balances is also about to swing into action . . .

* Many state governments are rebelling against this corporate fascist healthcare bill
* And many legal challenges are being crafted for the judicial branch to consider

It could be that our country is about to have a major discussion about the proper Constitutional role of the federal government, and that could lead us to win a far larger battle than the one we think we’ve just lost. Remember . . .

* State governments, playing their proper role in our federalist system, have so far saved us from having to carry federally controlled national id cards (under the REAL ID Act)
* And the court system, though far from perfect, has often acted to restrain Congressional over-reach (with our recent campaign-finance victory being just one positive example)

But that’s still not all. There’s one more major force to be considered, before any final verdict can be rendered about the ultimate fate of this Statist healthcare scheme. And that force is the most powerful one of all — the market!

Please take note . . .

* Moody’s has warned that the U.S. credit rating may be downgraded from AAA in response to our government’s orgy of Statist spending and borrowing
* And the bond market is already hinting at this outcome through prices indicating that U.S. government bonds are becoming more risky than many private bonds

Remember what Clinton’s adviser James Carville said back in 1993: “I used to think if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the president, or the pope, or a .400 baseball hitter, but now I want to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.”

Carville’s point was correct then, and it applies now. The bond market can veto this scheme by raising the cost of funding it to an un-payable level. If this happens it won’t be bad news, it will be good news, because then the politicians will have to economize, just like you and I do.

So here’s what we think. We may have lost a battle, but we’re far from losing the war. Indeed, this seeming defeat may sow the seeds of ultimate victory. Be of good cheer, and continue to fight. There are many things we must do. For instance . . .

We need to get more candidates to adopt the Downsize DC Agenda in the coming election. If you’re a candidate running for Congress, endorsing the entire Downsize DC Agenda, we want to hear from you. FRONT-RUNNING U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul, who is having a money bomb today, endorsed four parts of the Downsize DC Agenda, in an interview with me, which you can watch at his website. Just look for the video titled, “Rand Paul and DownsizeDC.org.”

We ALSO need to spank the current Congress for passing the healthcare bill, and pressure all of them, Republican and Democrat alike, to repeal it. Please send Congress a letter for that purpose here: https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/114

You can borrow from or completely copy this sample letter . . .

I’m very angry that the healthcare bill was passed. It costs too much and regulates too much. It will harm healthcare, not improve it. Please introduce legislation to repeal this bill immediately. Those who voted for it may think the issue is now settled. It is not. I will continue to pressure you until you stop COERCING me to live according to your dictates. Please obey your Constitutional oath of office. You can only do this by introducing legislation to repeal the cancerous healthcare bill that Congress just passed.

END LETTER

You can send your letter using DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System.

Repeal Anti-gun ObamaCare!

March 23, 2010
Help GOA Repeal Anti-gun ObamaCare!

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm

Monday, March 22, 2010

Well, it was a long, hard fight.

You spent nearly a year working with GOA to kill the anti-gun ObamaCare bill, even though much of the time, people were saying that its passage was inevitable … that it was going to pass no matter what we did.

But as you know, it wasn’t inevitable, and we almost beat the anti-gun legislation that passed last night.  By 4 pm yesterday, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi still did not have enough votes to pass this monstrosity!

If you were watching the “sausage making” on Sunday — or have been listening to the news today — you know that we narrowly lost the battle over ObamaCare.  [Click here to see how your Representative voted.]

That’s the bad news.  The good news is that we only lost a battle… for the war is not over.  Here’s what your GOA is doing to stall ObamaCare in its tracks:

* Gun Owners of America has been working in Virginia to pass legislation that will exempt citizens from purchasing ObamaCare.  This legislation has passed both houses and is now sitting on Governor Bob McDonnell’s desk.  He is expected to sign this bill tomorrow, making the Old Dominion the first state to take such an action.  Other states are looking to follow Virginia’s example, and you can be sure that GOA will be involved in those states, as well.

* GOA is ready to assist the 38 states which are now planning to file suit against the anti-gun health care law as soon as the President signs it tomorrow.  Over ten years ago, GOA helped Sheriffs Richard Mack and Jay Printz sue the federal government after the Brady Law required law enforcement to run background checks.  You may remember that in Printz v. U.S. (1997), the Supreme Court ruled in our favor.  We will now try to parlay that victory and make the same case here, namely, that the federal government can not force state authorities to act on its behest.

* Finally, GOA is committed to targeting the sell-out congressmen who turned a deaf ear to your letters, phone calls and emails.  For almost a year, Gun Owners of America has been the ONLY gun group at the national level working to kill this legislation.  Some thought this was an impossible battle… but what they don’t realize is that even though we narrowly lost, the fight has been well-worth the effort.

Why?  Because the sleeping giant has been awakened… the American people have been radicalized and they are ready to kick the bums out of office.  This sentiment would not have happened if we had remained silent and had sat on our hands.

So with your help, we will make legislators pay for their arrogance in November!

But to do all of this, we are going to need your help.  Will you stand with us?

We need 100% participation from our members to help make a difference.  We realize that times are tough, so even if you can spare only a few dollars, would you please help us take on the giant Obama-machine?

Please go to the GOA website and tell us you’ll be part of this effort to repeal ObamaCare.  At http://gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm you can contribute to GOA.

Thank you.  Every little bit helps!

DOW Insider

March 23, 2010

GUNNISON BASIN BIG GAME LICENSE ALLOCATIONS MEETING SET

GUNNISON, Colo. – The Colorado Division of Wildlife will be holding its big game license recommendation meetings for the Gunnison Basin game management units on March 31 at the Gunnison DOW office, 300 W. New York.

Deer and elk license numbers for the 2010 seasons for Game Management Units 66 and 67 will be discussed starting at 10 a.m. A second meeting to discuss deer and elk license numbers in GMUs 54, 55 and 551 will start at 1 p.m.

For more information, contact the Gunnison DOW office at (970)641-7060.

ANGLERS ASKED FOR INPUT ON FISHING REGULATIONS

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Colorado Division of Wildlife invites local anglers to participate in “Angler Roundtable” meetings throughout southeastern Colorado.

The DOW re-evaluates state fishing regulations every five years.  These public forums give anglers a chance to provide input to the fishing regulations process and hear the latest information affecting their favorite fishing waters.

“We want to hear from anglers during this process,” said Doug Krieger, senior aquatic biologist for the SE Region. “Colorado’s anglers represent a diverse group who enjoy fishing for everything from catfish to trout. This is a great opportunity for anglers to provide input regarding allowable methods of take, size requirements, and bag limits.”

DOW biologists regularly evaluate fishery management and collect data from state waters. They conduct fish sampling, creel census and angler satisfaction surveys, research studies, review fish stocking strategies, and examine water quality and water quantity. That information will be considered in the decision-making process for setting the new regulations for the five-year period (2011-2015).

Anglers are encouraged to bring suggestions about how DOW can improve the fishing at their favorite lakes and streams.

The forums are in the following locations:

Leadville: April 13, National Mining Museum, 120 W. 9th Street, 6:30 p.m.

Colorado Springs: April 20, Division of Wildlife, 4255 Sinton Rd., 6:30 p.m.

LaJunta: April 21, Thyme Square Soup & Salad, 302 Colorado Ave., 7 p.m.

Lamar: April 22, Division of Wildlife, 2500 S. Main St., 7 p.m.

Trinidad: April 26, Trinidad Jr. College Sullivan Center, 600 Prospect St., 7 p.m.

Westcliffe: April 27, Cliff Lanes Bowling Alley, 25 Main St., 7 p.m.

Pueblo: April 28, Pueblo State Parks Auditorium, 640 Reservoir Rd., 7 p.m.

For more information about Division of Wildlife go to: http://wildlife.state.co.us.

A grave marker for American liberty.

March 22, 2010

“Human beings will generally exercise power when they can get it, and they will exercise it most undoubtedly in popular governments under pretense of public safety.” –Daniel Webster

Toward the Nationalization of Health Care

The Pied Piper

With Senate and House passage of Barack Hussein Obama’s so-called “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” liberals have now sealed the deal to nationalize the American health care system — almost 17 percent of the U.S. economy. Passage of this measure completes the “triple crown” of the Left’s Socialist agenda: Social Security, Medicare and now health care. One may conclude that nationalized health care, like Social Security and Medicare before it, will soon be bankrupt. (See how your Senator and Representative voted.)

There is no provision in the United States Constitution giving the central government the authority to nationalize health care, but liberals have never let the Constitution stand in the way of their incremental efforts to socialize the U.S. economy.

Remarks by the leaders of both House Republicans and Democrats demonstrate that neither Party’s leadership has sufficient regard for First Principles, for Constitutional Rule of Law.

Most Republicans give it scant lip service, while virtually all Democrats reject Rule of Law outright.

In his remarks about the legislation, Republican Leader John Boehner did mention the Constitution, but repeated the same worn refrains about what the American people want.

“Today, this body, this institution, enshrined in the first article of the Constitution by our Founding Fathers as a sign of the importance they placed on this House, should be looking with pride on this legislation and our work. But it is not so. … When we came here, we each swore an oath to uphold and abide by the Constitution as representatives of the people. But the process here is broken. The institution is broken. And as a result, this bill is not what the American people need, nor what our constituents want. … We have failed to listen to America. And we have failed to reflect the will of our constituents.”

No, Mr. Boehner. You did not take an oath to support and defend the “will of our constituents.”

In her remarks about the legislation, Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not, of course, mention the Constitution, but she did offer this adulterated view of First Principles, an outright prevarication: “In [passing this legislation], we will honor the vows of our Founders, who in the Declaration of Independence said that we are ‘endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ This legislation will lead to healthier lives, more liberty to pursue hopes and dreams and happiness for the American people.”

This assertion is an affront to everything our Founders embodied in our national documents of incorporation, and Pelosi, et al., know that.

Pelosi added, “You will be joining those who established Medicare and Social Security… This is an American proposal that honors the tradition of our country.”

Nails in the coffin!

For his part, Obama remarked, “At a time when the pundits said it was no longer possible, we rose above the weight of our politics. We proved that this government, a government of the people and by the people, still works for the people. … This isn’t radical reform, but it is major reform. This is what change looks like. … This represents another stone firmly laid at the foundation of the American Dream.”

That would be a tombstone, a grave marker for American liberty.

SOURCE

What next..?

March 22, 2010

The dog and pony show that has become what the Congress resembles much more than an august body of statesmen displayed the arrogance of Lairds over serfs yesterday. Certainly not all of them, but the majority did. It provided a crystal clear explanation of what happens when mob rule, also known as democracy, over takes and trounce’s a constitutional republic.

What next? Certainly the people will expect that legal challenges to the assault on freedom and liberty will take their course. I myself, having watched the Supreme Court duck and waver in many recent cases, if not flat-out ignore the Constitution have little faith in the third branch to do what is right and moral.

What we are left with then is send the abusers of power packing in November. Then repealing the entire monstrosity with a veto proof majority vote. That will be difficult to say the least. We will have to live with this at least for the time being.

Then, there is the bigger question. What was slipped in while no one was watching? Using what has become known as  “Lautenberging?” More ex post facto law? More sexist mysandry? More back door gun control? More sweetheart deals for those that were willing to sell their honor? Punishments for those that maintained their integrity? The devils are always in the details, and I would not put it past Pelosi, Schumer, Lautenberg and any number of aspiring despots to have slipped in things that are clearly beyond that which Congress is authorized to do.

Make no mistake friends, what happened yesterday was the shattering of the Bill of Rights, and the prelude to dismantling the Constitution in its entirety.

I would like to thank both of my Senators, Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, and our lone Representative Cynthia Lummis for standing firm, and not selling out the people of this nation, and honoring the oath that they took upon taking office.

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

We the People

March 21, 2010

Hat Tip to Texas Fred: Warning, obamanites will be offended, watch this at your own risk.

What’s “Collapsing” Here? AR 15 Ownership or VPC?

March 20, 2010

Oh, those evil black rifles…

The BATFE recently released U.S. firearm manufacturer production data showing that during 2008, AR-15s accounted for eight percent of all firearms and 22 percent of all rifles made in the U.S. and not exported. The number of AR-15s in 2008 — over 337,000 — is staggering, but may have been topped in 2009. And, at the current rate of production, the total number of AR-15s in the U.S. will exceed 2.5 million some time this year, and that doesn’t even count production before 1986, the figures for which are not available.

In other words, the AR-15 market has collapsed, because no one wants AR-15s. At least, that’s what Josh Sugarmann, of the Violence Policy Center, wrote last week on the Huffington Post blog, where the fringe gathers to commiserate about everything it thinks is wrong with America. Sugarmann’s evidence consists of the fact that KBI has discontinued its Charles Daly brand AR-15 line.

We’re not sure what’s happening on Sugarmann’s planet, but on the American portion of Earth the numbers of AR-15 manufacturers and the AR-15s they produce are at all-time highs. AR-15s have been popular for decades and that popularity is growing in leaps and bounds for a variety of reasons. Innovations relating to defensive rifle use now center on AR-15 carbines. Bar none, the AR-15 in its various configurations is the leading marksmanship training and competition rifle in the country, and there are more kinds of training and competition opportunities built around the AR-15 than ever before. And the advent of new cartridges that fit the AR-15 platform, and which are legal for hunting deer-sized game in most states, are rapidly making the AR-15 one of the most popular hunting rifles in the country.

What’s really losing popularity in America are the habitual rants and ruses of groups like VPC, as demonstrated by the fact that Sugarmann and his counterpart at the Brady Campaign, Paul Helmke, can’t get their names into newspapers unless they perform a publicity stunt, and sometimes even the stunts don’t work. Maybe if Josh, Paul, and a couple of their co-workers buy some National Match ARs, they could enter a team Service Rifle competition at this summer’s NRA National Rifle Championships.

We can hear it now. “Team Malcontent, take your positions on the firing line!”

SOURCE

“Team Malcontent?” Who says American Gun Owners don’t have a sense of humor?

Brady Campaign Continues Slide Into Irrelevancy

March 20, 2010

It sure seems as though the hoplophobe’s have degenerated into what we in the medical field call suicidal  ideation. I mean really?

Once many years ago, while down at Denver General Hospital, some high power super Doc proceeded to chew on my butt because I was reading a hunting magazine in the driveway to the Emergency Department and it had, OH MY GOD!, a picture of a gun on the cover!

That friends, is a person that suffers from mental illness. As noted above… Anyways, right about then a D.G. crew brought in a bad guy that had a few well deserved holes in him. Seems a Denver Cop did what Cops do when confronted with deadly force. But like the better than thou Super Doc said; “Guns are only for killing and never do anyone any good!” Yeah… Right Doc!

But I digress, as usual… read on.

The notion that lemmings deliberately hasten their demise by rushing into the sea may be a myth, but the anti-Second Amendment group and its spokesmen really are scurrying through a series of blunders that may hasten their steady march to irrelevancy.

In 2008, in District of Columbia v. Heller, the group’s two theories about the Second Amendment were rejected by the Supreme Court, one of them by five justices and the other by all nine. In 2009, they tried, with no success, to frighten America about tourists carrying guns for protection in national parks.

This year, they’ve insulted their most powerful ally, President Obama, for not setting aside the economy, the war, and his social agenda to push for gun control legislation Congress does not support. They’ve given the states their worst “Brady grades” ever, even though violent crime continues to decrease. And, they’ve badgered the Starbucks coffee company for allowing customers to legally carry firearms in its stores.

This week, though, Brady lawyer Dennis Henigan—the world’s most prolific advocate of the legal theories the Supreme Court sent to the shredder two years ago—further diminished the group’s credibility by claiming “The evidence is overwhelming that the ‘shall-issue’ concealed carry laws have been a disaster for public safety. . . . [T]he scholarly research shows that the laws generally have been ‘associated with uniform increases in crime.'”

If he had just pushed himself away from the computer after his first four words, he would have been much better off. There’s “evidence,” all right, and it’s certainly “overwhelming.” Today, there are 36 states with “shall issue” laws—an all-time high. Sixty-three percent of Americans live in “shall issue” states, five million Americans have carry permits, and two states don’t even require a permit to carry concealed.

“Uniform increases in crime”? The nation’s violent crime rate is at a 35-year low.

Since adopting “shall issue” laws, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia have had decreases in violent crime ranging from 26 to 53 percent.

Henigan also claimed to have 33,000 signatures on his anti-Starbucks online petition, which can be signed by anyone with a computer anywhere in the world. But in a country of five million carry permit holders, up to 80 million gun owners, and 300 million people, Brady’s petition and $1.70 will get you …

SOURCE

Civics 101, The Slaughter Solution, and the Constitution

March 19, 2010

The fiasco that is today’s beltway is much more than a bunch of clowns on parade. Indeed what is going on smacks of real treason, and should be dealt with as such…

Impeach obama, and tar and feather those that have worked to destroy the United States of America! Others are far more eloquent at stating the case for doing so.

Read just one of such essays HERE. Yes, it’s pretty long, but well worth your time.