Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

1099 provision failed: Partisian Politics, and the epic failure obama

September 21, 2010

Two separate attempts to repeal one terrible provision in the gargantuan ObamaCare law failed in the Senate this week, lighting up a serious issue for small business owners to consider when they vote in November. Anyone who is an independent contractor or owns a small business has likely seen a 1099 form. Pre-ObamaCare, the IRS required 1099s only for services purchased from vendors. In order to make ObamaCare “deficit-neutral,” the legislation requires that small businesses report any business-to-business transaction over $600 with a 1099. The amount of paperwork and accounting needed to maintain compliance with this bureaucratic nightmare will add immensely to operating costs for small businesses. In some cases, it will bury them.

Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) sponsored an amendment to repeal the provision, but even with the help of a handful of Democrats, the amendment failed 46-52. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) crafted a weaker version that would have placed a $5,000 reporting threshold for 1099s and eliminated the requirement altogether for businesses with fewer than 25 employees. That failed to reach cloture, 56-42. This plan was little more than smoke, though, because it still would require businesses to monitor all their transactions for possible filing in case they reach the $5,000 threshold. It would also cause businesses to avoid hiring that 26th employee — it simply wouldn’t pay to grow.

The repeal of the 1099 provision failed this time, but ObamaCare is clearly under attack. The very Congress that passed it is now deliberating changes and repeals to the president’s signature agenda item, just in time for the midterms. On the legal front, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Florida said that on Dec. 16 he would hear arguments on a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of ObamaCare. Twenty state attorneys general claim the health care bill violates states’ rights and will force massive new spending. Unfortunately, they have to wait to state their case until Oct. 14, when Vinson will rule on the federal government’s dismissal motion. Legal analysts say that it’s likely the dismissal will be rejected since Vinson has already set a court date. There is little agreement among these same analysts on the outcome of the case.

With all of the consternation over something Obama lectured we “should be saying ‘thank you'” for, it’s no wonder Democrats “are spending three times more advertising against the health reform law than they are in support of it.”

SOURCE

What does immigration amnesty have to do with defense spending?‏

September 21, 2010

Some years ago we, as in Colorado Libertarians, succeeded in getting a “Single Subject” law passed. After the idea was co-opted by the Republicans. The same thing needs to be done on a Federal level. Read on…

This week the Senate will debate a defense spending bill that will cost your family over $7,000.

The Senators ought to debate how much of this money is really needed to keep you safe, but they will instead focus on distracting and divisive issues like gays in the military and abortions in military hospitals. Even worse . . .

Majority Leader Reid shows signs of wanting to attach an unrelated immigration amnesty bill to the defense measure. This immigration bill is called the DREAM Act, and it has us DREAMing of our proposal for a One Subject at a Time Act.

DREAM’s primary purpose seems good. Undocumented youths who were raised in the United States, and graduated high school, would be eligible for a 6-year path to legal citizenship that requires completion of a college degree, or two years of military service. Other provisions are more controversial, but . . .

Whether you like this bill or not, there is NO PLACE for DREAM in a Defense bill. Reid knows he doesn’t have the votes to pass this as a stand-alone bill, and that’s why he wants it attached to the Defense measure.

This is one reason government keeps growing at such a cancerous rate. Congress constantly inserts unwanted and unneeded legislation into “must-pass” bills. DownsizeDC.org has created The One Subject At A Time Act (OSTA) to end this practice.

OSTA would require each bill to address only one subject. If you support this idea, tell Congress!

Our letter to Congress says, “Please introduce DownsizeDC.org’s “One Subject at a Time Act” (OSTA). You can find the text of the legislation here: http://www.downsizedc.org/osta-legislation.”

Please also add personal comments pointing to the DREAM Act and the defense spending bill as an example of why we need OSTA. You may borrow from or copy the following sample letter . . .

Majority Leader Reid’s attempt to attach the DREAM amnesty bill to the Defense bill shows why we need OSTA:

* DREAM is ten years old, but never won the votes to pass as a stand-alone bill
* Senate debate over DREAM means less time will be spent reviewing the 1000-page, bloated, $700 billion Defense bill

No responsible legislator should ever support the corrupt practice of attaching unrelated bills together. The only CONSTRUCTIVE and PRINCIPLED way to oppose tactics like Reid’s is to introduce OSTA.

END LETTER

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

I’m sure you have friends who would like One Subject At A Time Act, or oppose the DREAM amendment. Forward this to them, and retweet this message!

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Official email newsletter of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation.

SUPPORT the “Educate the Powerful System”.

Witchy Woman: Who gives a damn?

September 20, 2010

Seems like we are entering that insane time of year that always happens just before an election… Christine O’Donnell made some comments years ago, about things that had happened years before that, and now those words are coming back to haunt her. Perhaps it’s because of the upcoming Halloween..?

Karl Rove, disapproves of the lady, of course. Then again, he disapproves of the entire Taxed Enough Already movement. He has power and prestige where he sits with the establishment country club Republicans In Name Only, and is part and parcel of what needs to be cleaned out from in the minds of freedom and liberty loving people.

Democrat light, also known as Republicans, are not what the American people are interested in. Moderation, is no virtue when it comes to core values.

Read the whole thing HERE.

Déjà Vu, All Over Again: “More Guns, Less Crime”

September 19, 2010

Paul Helmke and Dennis Henigan — spokesmen for the beleaguered Brady Campaign these days — are old enough to know what a phonograph record is, so for their benefit we’ll put it this way:  At the risk of sounding like a “broken record,” gun ownership has risen to an all-time high, and violent crime has fallen to a 35-year low.  Coinciding with a surge in gun purchases that began shortly before the 2008 elections, violent crime decreased six percent between 2008 and 2009, according to the FBI. This included an eight percent decrease in murder and a nine percent decrease in robbery.

Since 1991, when total violent crime peaked, it has decreased 43 percent to a 35-year low. The murder rate, less than half what it was in 1980, is now at a 45-year low. Throughout, the number of guns that Americans own has risen by about four million a year, including record numbers of the two types of firearms that the Brady folks would most like to see banned — handguns and the various firearms they call “assault weapons.”

Predictions that increasing the number of guns would cause crime to increase have been proven profoundly lacking in clairvoyance. One of our favorite gems comes from the Brady outfit, when it was known as the National Council to Control Handguns: “There are now 40 million handguns. . . . the number could build to 100 million. . . . the consequences can be terrible to imagine,” the group warned in the mid-1970s.

“Terrible consequences” indeed, for gun control supporters. The number of handguns has reached almost 100 million; waiting periods, purchase permits, and prohibitions on carrying firearms for protection have been dismantled in state after state; gun ownership has soared; and violent crime has plummeted.

SOURCE

Related, same source;

Speaking of Brady Campaign’s Paul Helmke and Dennis Henigan, we wouldn’t want them losing their grip and falling off the far left edge of the planet.  An electronic search reveals that the two of them have submitted over 200 essays to the leftist www.HuffingtonPost.com website since January of 2006.

“It is time for progressives to stand up to the radical right,” Henigan proclaims in a recent item.   “It is time for progressives to stand up to the right’s misappropriation of our Constitution and to claim for themselves the label of ‘constitutionalists.’  After all, proponents of a stronger federal government were the winners of the Founding-era debate.  The radical right of the modern era can trace its lineage only to the losers.”

Henigan may be confused about American history, since no one of his political orientation traces his lineage back to anyone associated with the founding of this country.  But when it comes to losers, Henigan ought to know better than most.  In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court put his two theories about the Second Amendment–that it protected a right of a state to have a militia, or that it protected a right of a person to be armed in a state militia–in the “recycling bin” and clicked on “empty.”

The Taxed Enough Party has already won..? :More on the epic failure obama

September 19, 2010

Seems like the tea leaves are in fact being read. (Pun intended) However, I happen to think that these folks just might be jumping the gun. One should not count their chickens before they hatch!

Even before Christine O’Donnell handily defeated Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) in an epic upset Tuesday night, the Tea Parties, all of them, had already won. No matter what happens in the midterm elections on Nov. 2, the Tea Party has moved the Democrats to the right and the Republicans even more so, and President Obama’s agenda is dead.

Anger from disaffected conservatives who sat quietly through eight years of the surplus-to-deficit presidency of George W. Bush bubbled up immediately after Obama took office. All it took was the unprecedented $787 billion stimulus package, and before Obama could mark his first 100 days in office, a movement was born. Some of the already angry yet newly active were libertarian supporters of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), and almost all of them were fuming over the Troubled Asset Relief Program of 2008, the bipartisan bailout of Wall Street that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) voted for and that his running mate, then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), supported.

FULL STORY

The economy is better: More epic fail obama

September 17, 2010

“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

SOURCE

Constitution 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

SOURCE

Election Round up

September 17, 2010
Huge Win in Delaware!
— 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

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

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, 2010

So, 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

SOURCE