“What would probably get the economy recovering fastest and most completely would be for the President of the United States and Congressional leaders to shut up and stop meddling with the economy. But it is virtually impossible that they will do that. … If the stimulus isn’t working, the true believers have to believe that it is only because it hasn’t been tried long enough, or with enough money being spent. There are always calls for the government to ‘do something’ when things are going bad. Those who make such calls have almost never bothered to check out what actually happens when the government does something, as compared to what happens when the government does nothing. It is not just free market economists who think the government can make a mess bigger with its interventions. … The history of the United States is full of evidence on the negative effects of government intervention. For the first 150 years of this country’s existence, the federal government did not think it was its business to intervene when the economy turned down. All of those downturns ended faster than the first downturn where the federal government intervened big time — the Great Depression of the 1930s. … There is another set of facts: The record that was set in 1929 for the biggest stock market decline in one day was broken in 1987. But Ronald Reagan did nothing — and the media clobbered him for it. Then the economy rebounded and there were 20 years of sustained economic growth with low inflation and low unemployment. Can you imagine Barack Obama doing another Ronald Reagan? I certainly wouldn’t predict that.” –economist Thomas Sowell
Archive for September, 2010
The economy is better: More epic fail obama
September 17, 2010Constitution Day and a few other things
September 17, 2010“Even America’s bitterest enemies understand why we mark July 4th with parades, speeches and fireworks: to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We’re proud of our nation, and justifiably so. So why do we virtually ignore September 17th? That’s the date, in 1787, when our Founding Fathers signed the Constitution. … Yet today, on many issues, this vital document is frequently ignored, even undermined, by some of the very people who have taken a public oath to uphold it.” –Heritage Foundation president Ed Feulner
“While America’s liberal elite have not reached the depths of tyrants such as Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Hitler, they share a common vision and, as such, differ only in degree but not kind. Both denounce free markets and voluntary exchange. They are for control and coercion by the state. They believe they have superior wisdom to the masses and they have been ordained to forcibly impose that wisdom on the rest of us. They, like any other tyrant, have what they see as good reasons for restricting the freedom of others.” –economist Walter E. Williams
“Why has the left directed so much time and effort into demonizing ordinary Americans? Because the Tea Party’s three primary planks — limited government, fiscal responsibility and Constitutional fealty — represent the greatest threat to liberalism since its flowering in the 1960s. A smaller, fiscally responsible government dedicated to a Constitution expressly designed to limit the power of the state is the death knell for those dedicated to the idea their worldview must be imposed on Americans by an ever-expanding state. The left’s worst nightmare is an America comprised of largely self-sufficient, clear-thinking individuals left to their own devices.” –columnist Arnold Ahlert
“Nearly all of the tax cuts Americans have seen the past year and a half advance some liberal moral or social good. The overriding goal of the stimuli and tax breaks — from the things we build to the jobs we save to the tax credits we get — is to pick economic winners, steer us in the right direction and wheedle citizens to be good boys and girls. To offer comprehensive, amoral cuts would be to admit ideological defeat. … This president would never surrender to such indignity.” –columnist David Harsanyi
“If you read this weekend’s New York Times’ hit job on would-be Speaker John Boehner and his ‘lobbyist friends,’ you might think, as the reporter clearly thinks, that John Boehner is cozier with lobbyists than most powerful politicians are. But did you know: · Nancy Pelosi has raised almost twice as much money from lobbyists this election as Boehner has? · At least 18 House Democrats have raised more lobbyist cash this election than Boehner has. · Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid have pocketed more lobbyist cash in the past 18 months than Boehner has raised in the past 6 elections, combined?” –columnist Timothy Carney
Election Round up
September 17, 2010— Christine O’Donnell Adds to String of GOA Victories
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://gunowners.org
Gun Owners of America-backed candidate Christine O’Donnell completed a dramatic come-from-behind victory in Tuesday’s Delaware Senate primary.
O’Donnell was up against a member of Congress who earned the notorious distinction as the most anti-gun Republican in the House. But despite the backing of the Republican establishment in Washington, Mike Castle was handily defeated by pro-gunner O’Donnell.
The implications of this win are huge, not only for the next session of Congress, but also in a potential lame-duck session later this year. Because this is a special election to fill the seat of Vice-President Joseph Biden, O’Donnell will take office immediately following the November election if she defeats her Democrat opponent.
Anti-gun congressional Democrat leaders seem intent on a lame duck session, but the addition of just a single constitutionalist to the Senate will go a long way towards stopping any gun control from sneaking through in the waning days of 2010.
Unfortunately, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has already tried to pull the rug out from under Christine O’Donnell by announcing that the Committee will not support her campaign in the general election. It is an outrage that the NRSC would have spent millions of dollars on an anti-gunner, while it is not interested in helping a pro-gun constitutionalist.
But Christine won the primary without their help, and GOA will be sure to work with its grassroots network to drive support to the O’Donnell campaign. You can contact NRSC Chairman John Cornyn at info@nrsc.org to express your outrage at this decision.
Also on Tuesday, Ovide Lamontagne defeated the establishment candidate in the Republican primary in New Hampshire, in a race to replace retiring anti-gun Senator Judd Gregg. Lamontagne also earned the endorsement of GOA.
The O’Donnell and Lamontagne wins add to a string of victories for GOA-backed candidates this year in Senate primaries in Nevada, Kentucky, Utah, Colorado, as well as the non-primary in Florida (where Marco Rubio chased Gov. Charlie Crist out of the primary — and out of the Republican Party).
All of the candidates supported by GOA-PVF were opposed by the Republican establishment in their respective primaries. And all of these candidates agree with Gun Owners of America that it is not enough simply to defeat anti-gunners in elections. They must also be replaced with leaders who will fight to restore Constitutional liberties that have been under attack for decades. (You can visit www.goapvf.org to keep up with GOA candidates.)
It is safe to say that the 2010 elections may be the most important in our lifetimes, with America’s constitutional republic hanging in the balance.
And make no mistake, if establishment Republicans like Mike Castle were victorious in their primaries, it would not matter which party was in control of Congress. Both parties in Washington are guilty of growing the federal government at the expense of the peoples’ liberty.
But candidates supported by GOA — pro-freedom champions like O’Donnell, Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio, to name just a few — have no intention of coming to Washington to blend into the woodwork. If most or all of these candidates win in November, it will go a long way toward slamming the brakes on the anti-gun, socialist Obama agenda.
So we are really in the midst of exciting times, and GOA is looking forward to working with a slew of new members of Congress to protect and restore the right to keep and bears arms as the Founders intended.
Of course, GOA is only effective because of the activism and support of hundreds of thousands of members and supporters.
If you are not yet a member of the organization called “the only no compromise gun lobby in Washington,” please consider joining GOA today for a minimum contribution of only $20 at http://gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm.
In Liberty,
Tim Macy
Vice-Chairman
PS — Please don’t forget to express your outrage at NRSC Chairman John Cornyn’s decision NOT to support pro-gunner Christine O’Donnell in the general election, now that she won the primary. You can email info@nrsc.org to send a message.
Taxed Enough Already: Victory?
September 15, 2010So, we had some success yesterday at the polls. But what does that mean? Certainly we will not take over the entire Senate or Congress. However, if you read the tea leaves, pun intended, the Communist’s /democrats that are in office are running like all hell from what they have done while in power. So are the Republicans in name only.
Never the less we shall hold their feet to the fire, all of them. We will not forget those that have done their very best to destroy freedom and liberty.
Read more about this story HERE.
More on the economic debacle: epic fail obama
September 14, 2010“On Thursday the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced the federal budget deficit for 2010 will exceed $1.3 trillion. This is already on the heels of a 2009 budget deficit of $1.2 trillion and on top of a national debt of some $13.3 trillion. The word ‘trillion’ seems to have, almost overnight, crept into our standard economic parlance and by the looks of it is here to stay. And with the CBO’s forecast of more than $6 trillion in federal budget deficits accruing over the next nine years from 2010 to 2019, many are logically wondering if the United States has effectively crossed, or is fast approaching, a virtual economic point of no return — an economic Rubicon if you will.” –columnist Matt O’Connor
“[P]rogressively over these three decades the Republican party has exempted every material component of the budget from cuts, including middle-class entitlements, defense, veterans, education, housing, farm subsidies, and even Amtrak! Like Casey, the GOP has been in the anti-spending batter’s box for 30 years, and has never stopped whiffing the ball. The final proof is that the one GOP spending cut plan with any integrity — the ‘roadmap’ of Congressman Paul Ryan — has the grand sum of 13 co-sponsors, and I dare say half would call in sick if it ever came to a vote.” –former Reagan budget director David Stockman
“Why isn’t the economy recovering? After previous recessions, unemployment didn’t get stuck at close to 10 percent. If left alone, the economy can and does heal itself, as the mistakes of the previous inflationary boom are corrected. The problem today is that the economy is not being left alone. Instead, it is haunted by uncertainty on a hundred fronts. When rules are unintelligible and unpredictable, when new workers are potential threats because of Labor Department regulations, businesses have little confidence to hire. President Obama’s vaunted legislative record not only left entrepreneurs with the burden of bigger government, it also makes it impossible for them to accurately estimate the new burden. In at least three big areas — health insurance, financial regulation and taxes — no one can know what will happen.” –columnist John Stossel
“[T]he conviction that government no longer works for the majority of Americans is spreading like wildfire. That nearly all of President Obama’s major policies have gone against public will is fueling voter anger across the nation.” –columnist Michael Goodwin
“Most elected officials cling to their ideological biases, despite the real-world facts that disprove their theories time and again. Most have no common sense, and most never acknowledge that they were wrong.” –economist Lawrence Kudlow
Obama Administration Moves to Block the Sale of M1s to Law-abiding Americans
September 14, 2010This is more of an update on the situation from Gun Owners of America.
— State Department intimates that these historic relics may be melted down
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm
Apparently, things are going so well in the Middle East that the State Department now feels it can turn its attention to banning the lawful possession of firearms by American citizens.
In a little-noticed decision in March, the Obama administration reversed an earlier decision and moved to block the importation of 857,470 lawful M1 semi-automatics which were being sold by South Korea in an effort to raise money for its military. According to Hillary Clinton’s State Department, this action was taken because the M1’s “could potentially be exploited… for illicit purposes.”
Even worse, a spokesman for the State Department left the impression that the valuable historic relics could even be melted down, as Clinton’s husband did during his administration. Suffice it to say that this is just another reiteration of the same anti-gun political theatre. And the cheers coming from anti-gunners like Dennis Henigan of the Brady Campaign are ample proof of that.
Possession of these guns by Americans is lawful. They are antiques of historical interest, particularly for those who, unlike Clinton and her husband, served this country honorably in America’s foreign wars. And anyone wishing to acquire one would have to go through an Instant Check.
If any American, going into the November elections, had any doubt that Barack Obama and the Democratic Party leaders hate guns and have contempt for the Second Amendment, this is proof. Reps. John Boozman and Paul Broun are submitting a letter to State Department Secretary Hillary Clinton — demanding that this unlawful decision be reversed.
And we are working with several legislators to offer an amendment on the next available legislative vehicle which would prohibit the administration from blocking the importation — or even the destruction — of these firearms. Please see the ACTION item and pre-written letter below.
Have you recently renewed your GOA membership?
If you haven’t renewed your membership lately, then there’s a lot of information that you could be missing. In our newsletters, GOA takes on recent UN efforts to impose global gun control and has provided its members with postcards to inundate their Senators in opposition to any arms control treaties that would infringe upon our gun rights.
In fact, current members should be expecting another update on UN gun control efforts that will be arriving in their mailboxes soon. We can’t fight all our battles through email and that’s why we need you to be a member of Gun Owners of America.
You can go to http://gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm and join Gun Owners of America for the cost of a box of ammunition. Get your friends and family to sign up as well. You’ll be glad you did!
ACTION: Write your Representative and urge him or her to cosign the Boozman/Broun letter which demands that the unlawful decision against the M1s be reversed. You can go to the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Representative the pre-written e-mail message below.
—– Pre-written letter —–
Dear Representative:
Please stand up for the Second Amendment in opposition to the Obama administration’s anti-gun efforts to block the importation of — or even destroy — over 850,000 legal, historic M1 semi-automatic firearms.
Reps. John Boozman and Paul Broun are submitting a letter to State Department Secretary Hillary Clinton protesting this unlawful action.
I urge you in the strongest terms to cosign that letter with them. You can contact either Boozman’s or Broun’s office to get a copy of the letter and to indicate your desire to add your name to this effort.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Congress is coming back…
September 14, 2010Quote of the Day: “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.” – Thomas Paine, The Crisis, 1776
Congress is coming back for a brief session before the election. At the top of their to-do list is new taxes. They need your guidance . . .
Please send Congress a letter opposing any tax increases.
You can borrow from or copy my sample letter . . .
I understand that Congress will be considering whether or not to extend the tax cuts passed during the Bush administration. Please be clear about this . . .
* The problem with our economy is NOT that we pay too little in taxes, but that we pay too much.
* The cure for our economy is NOT to raise taxes, but to cut government spending and all the meddling you guys do.
* In addition, please don’t think you’ll win praise from me by only raising taxes on the so-called wealthiest Americans. These are precisely the people who finance new products, services, and jobs.
* Yes, the deficit is a concern. Address the concern by CUTTING SPENDING, not by raising taxes.I’m paying attention to what you do.
END LETTER
Send your letter to Congress using DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System.
Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
Remembering: The day the earth stood still 9/11
September 10, 2010Remembering this day… I think that perhaps the best way to honor the thirteen men that I knew, trained, and worked with might be best served by simply not posting. That is why this is an hour and fifteen minutes early. Our attention, rather, should be guided toward remembrance of those that died that day. The professionals that did their duty, and paid the ultimate price, as well as the overt victim’s.
America, as in the United States of America. Is not about bowing, even a head nod, to those that wish the destruction of Freedom and Liberty.
The “American Dream” is not about owning a home. It is not about being overpaid for the work that you do. It is not about gaining personal power. It is about having the ability to actually do those things!
Read the Declaration of Independence.
Read the Constitution.
Read the Bill of Rights.
Think about it… Being an American, philosophically is a Natural Human Right!
Time is up. I’ll post links tomorrow.
Bloomberg Felon News: Just keep on fibbing…
September 10, 2010The Straw Purchase felon just can’t seem to get anything right, and on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on NYC at that!
No one in this country knows better than New Yorkers what “devastation” looks like. On September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center buildings and their surrounding area were reduced to rubble, burying nearly 3,000 Americans. To this day, the images are difficult to comprehend; they show a concentration of man-made destruction unprecedented in the United States and perhaps anywhere on Earth.
New York’s current murder rate pales in comparison to that of 2001, of course. But it also pales in comparison to what it was in other years gone by. Due in part to crime-fighting programs adopted under former mayor Rudolph Giuliani, New York City’s murder rate is only a fifth of what it was 20 years ago.
Presumably, New Yorkers are well aware of the relative safety in which they live today. However, the current mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has a skewed perspective even though the September 11 anniversary is front and center in every news outlet today due to other controversies.
With New York City’s and the nation’s murder rates lower than anytime since the 1960s, Bloomberg sounded the alarm, saying “Illegal guns and their accompanying violence devastate communities across our country.”
Bloomberg revisited his perennial cause célèbre —gun control—because his anti-gun group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), has issued an Issue Brief urging Congress to “close the gun show loophole”—gun control supporters’ Orwellian “doublespeak” for “prohibit private sales of firearms at gun shows and everywhere else.”
Since U.S. crime rates are so low, MAIG invoked Mexico’s war with its drug cartels, repeating the soundbite first heard in 2009, when Attorney General Eric Holder tried to use Mexico’s problem as the excuse for reinstating the federal “assault weapons” ban. “In fact, 90% of guns recovered and traced from Mexican crime scenes originated from gun dealers in the United States,” MAIG says.
Discovering that geography is more than a subject taught in elementary and middle schools, MAIG adds its revelation that “four in ten of the U.S. guns recovered in Mexico between 2006 and 2009 were originally sold by gun dealers in Texas. The three other states that share a border with Mexico – Arizona, California, and New Mexico – were the source for another one-third of the U.S. guns.”
Of course, the operative words in the “90 percent” soundbite are “and traced.” The GAO has already reported that most guns seized in Mexico, from cartels or anyone else, have not originated in the United States. For example, GAO noted, “In 2008, of the almost 30,000 firearms that the Mexican Attorney General’s office said were seized, only around 7,200, or approximately a quarter, were submitted to ATF for tracing.” The others were not submitted for tracing, presumably in many cases because their markings indicated that they were not traceable to the U.S.
For all their effort, Bloomberg and MAIG got scant coverage by the news media. But the debate will likely continue over how many guns are smuggled from the U.S. to Mexico, what percentage of the cartels’ guns originate in the U.S., and from which countries the cartels obtain their machine guns, grenades and other weapons that are unavailable in the United States.
One thing is sure, however: Americans have greater access to U.S. guns than does anyone in Mexico, and our murder rates pale in comparison to those of our southern neighbor. For example, the murder rate of Juarez is nearly 100 times higher than that of El Paso, just across the border. If anything, that’s a criticism of Mexican laws, which prohibit honest people from getting guns with which to protect themselves.
What a mess! Colorado politics…
September 9, 2010Politics for Conservatives in Colorado are in a flux this year. Alright, so the whining and moaning about the Governors race may have some reasoning behind it. At this point there really isn’t much that can be done. Read about that mess HERE.
Outgoing Governor Bill Ritter, played politics with his selection for the Colorado Supreme Court.
Colorado’s Supreme Court is out of control…
Repeated rulings by Colorado’s Supreme Court – called the “most activist, partisan state Supreme Court in the nation” – have demonstrated their contempt for the very Constitution they are sworn to uphold.
DID YOU KNOW that you have the right to vote “NO” on these unjust justices?
It’s true – even Supreme Court justices in Colorado ARE accountable to the people. In 2010, FOUR (er, THREE now – since Chief Justice Mullarkey quit rather than face the voters in the November elections) of the current Colorado Supreme Court justices NEED YOUR APPROVAL to be retained on the bench.
DON’T GIVE IT TO THEM! Ditch the Mullarkey Majority – Vote “NO” on these unjust justices!
(Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey)
WANTED: Off the Supreme Court Bench, for Aiding and Abetting
- Unconstitutional Property Tax Increases (Mill Levy Tax Freeze)
- Unconstitutional elimination of Tax Credits & Exemptions (tobacco tax, “Dirty Dozen” taxes)
- Unconstitutionally re-defining Taxes as Fees (Colorado Car Tax, Ritter Gun Tax)
- Unconstitutional expansion of eminent domain property seizures (Telluride Land Grab)
- Unconstitutional usurpation of legislative power (judicial redistricting, school funding)
Read more about that HERE.
Conservative Libertarian Outpost 