Posts Tagged ‘Democrats’

10 Fast Facts on the Administration’s FY 2010 Budget

March 17, 2009

I thought my budgeting skills were poor?

10 Fast Facts on the Administration’s FY 2010 Budget

From House Republican Leader John Boehner:

Washington, Feb 26 – As the Obama Administration released its FY 2010 budget today, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) warned taxpayers that “the era of big government is back, and Democrats want you to pay for it.” In 2009, federal spending will approach $4 trillion, or 28 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) – a one-third increase in the size of government in a single year. The budget released by the White House today is loaded with job-killing tax hikes and a slate of even more government spending. Overall, the blueprint projects a record $1.75 trillion deficit this year while doubling the national debt over the next ten years. Following are just 10 fast facts about the Administration’s budget, which our children and grandchildren will be paying for far into the future:

1. The Administration’s projected budget deficit of $1.75 trillion is higher than the last five years of deficits combined, and under this plan, we will see three consecutive trillion dollar deficits between now and FY 2012.

2. While it was purported to cut the budget deficit in half – from $1.75 trillion in 2009 to $533 billion by 2013 – this budget projects higher deficits in 2014 ($570 billion), 2015 ($583 billion), and 2016 ($637 billion). In 2019, the final year in the budget, the deficit is projected to be $712 billion.

3. Including the recently-enacted trillion-dollar “stimulus” spending bill, discretionary spending will soar by 24 percent this year under this budget.

4. The budget projects that the national debt will increase from $8.4 trillion in 2009 to $15.4 trillion in 2019.

5. The Administration’s budget contains $1.4 trillion in tax increases – tax hikes that will impact everyone, from small businesses, charities, and seniors to everyone who owns a 401(k) and anyone who flips on a light switch.

6. After promising that he will reduce taxes on 95 percent of Americans, the Administration’s budget establishes a $646 billion energy tax hike that will impact anyone who uses electricity, drives a car, or relies on energy in any way.

7. This budget forecasts more than $1.5 trillion in new health care spending, including a 10-year, $634 billion health care “reserve fund.” The budget also calls for seven percent annual growth in Medicare and more than six percent annual growth in Medicaid over the next 10 years.

8. The budget includes a $750 billion placeholder for a second round of spending under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), even though the first round of TARP spending is not yet finished, nor is there a clear explanation of how funds under the initial round was spent.

9. The Administration’s budget claims that reducing the number of troops in Iraq over the next 10 years will cut the deficit by $1.6 trillion; however, that is only because the budget allocates the same amount of funds for the Iraq war each year over the next decade, even though most combat troops may be withdrawn during the next 19 months. The savings are, at best, deceptive.

10. The budget provides a scant 2.9 percent pay raise for military personnel as required by law, less than a week after Democrats in Congress provided the necessary funding to implement District of Columbia locality pay for overseas Foreign Service officers, which would constitute an 18 percent pay increase.

Has free-market capitalism died?

January 27, 2009

Always, and in  all ways  freedom and individual liberty will forever be the favorite whipping boy of those with a socialist bent. Populist’s, such as the new President are in bed with socialist on a number of issues that are directly related. Be that Gun Control, or taxation. However, the economy is currently at the forefront. Below, is an excellent expose of this better than thou attitude by those that are of the collectivist mind set.

Has free-market capitalism died?

Michael Miller

Who would have imagined 20 years ago — when the Berlin Wall fell and we celebrated the death of socialism — that capitalism would be under heavy fire? The cardinal of Westminster, Cormack Murphy O’Connor, reportedly said 2008 was the year when “capitalism died.”

What are we to make of capitalism in light of all the crises, fraud and government intervention, when even some traditional supporters of markets are supporting bailouts?

Before answering this question, it is important to note that “capitalism” is a Marxist term. It gives the impression that the market is a nebulous force. This impersonal understanding can lead us to blame markets when things go wrong instead of exploring reasons that are harder to diagnose.

Pope John Paul II rejected the term, preferring “market economy,” “business economy” or “free economy.” He did so to illustrate that markets are networks of human relationships. This sheds light on the underlying moral nature of markets.

Markets are the combined activities of millions of individuals. They are not composed merely of some guys on Wall Street; they are made up by us. Like anything else run by humans, markets can fail. If we become overly speculative and convinced that prices can go nowhere but up — as happened in the Tulip Bubble in 1637, the dot.com bubble in 2000 and the recent housing bubble — sooner or later reality will set in.

Despite their failures, however, free markets have lifted more people out of poverty and helped create prosperity and peace better than any system.

In these days of financial turmoil, we often hear critics speaking about deregulation or “unbridled capitalism.” But try to think of one country where there are no regulations. For free markets to succeed, they require a framework built on rule of law, contracts and secure property rights.

The real question is what kind of regulation and what level of intervention we should choose.

Many contributing causes of this crisis were an overly invasive government. Federal regulators required banks to provide mortgages to customers who could not pay back the loans; the Federal Reserve manipulated the money supply, exacerbating the housing boom; and politicians promised bailouts that created incentives for irresponsible behavior.

How many of us, out of greed, gluttony or pride, used credit cards to buy things we did not need or could not afford? What about Wall Street bankers who took imprudent risks with clients’ money? Markets cannot succeed without a strong moral fabric among the citizenry.

Yet we again hear calls for increased regulation and government involvement.

If we regulate too much, we concentrate the power of markets in fewer and fewer hands. This has led to all sorts of evil and corruption. Socialist economies, cartels, oligarchies and union-controlled industries produce stagnation and create incentives for corruption. It is a false hope to believe regulation will make everything right.

It is likewise delusional to believe markets alone are enough. Our Founders taught us that without virtue political liberty could not long be sustained. The same holds true for economic liberty. And yet without economic liberty there can be no political liberty. Like liberty, the market must be moral, or it cannot exist.

Michael Miller is director of programs at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty in Grand Rapids. E-mail letters to letters@detnews.com.

SOURCE

The Election is not over yet

December 2, 2008

As much as most of us wish that the election was over it is not. There are still races that could determine whether the forces of freedom will prevail in some small measure. Or if the socialist juggernaut of the Democrats will simply steam roll us all into some reworked version of the Soviet Union.


Gun Rights in Jeopardy
-- All Eyes on Georgia Senate Race

Gun Owners of America Political Victory Fund E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Pl Suite 102
Springfield VA 22151
703-321-8585
http://www.goapvf.org

Monday, November 24, 2008

Your gun rights may be hanging in the balance, depending on the
outcome of elections in Minnesota and Georgia.

The Democrats currently control 58 seats in the Senate. If they get
to 60 (the number needed to overcome a filibuster), it will be nearly
impossible to stop the gun control agenda of incoming President
Barack Obama.

The Minnesota Senate race between radical anti-gunner Al Franken and
pro-gun Sen. Norm Coleman is coming down to the provisional and
absentee ballots. Sen. Coleman's lead of fewer than 200 votes is
slipping away, while Franken and his legal team are busily trying to
steal the election.

With the growing possibility of Democrats getting to 59 Senate seats,
all eyes are now focused on Georgia.

Pro-gun Senator Saxby Chambliss is in a tight December 2nd run-off
election.

Saxby is "A" rated by Gun Owners of America. His opponent, Jim
Martin, refused to respond to the Gun Owners of America candidate
survey, but he has an anti-gun record from his days in the Georgia
State House.

No wonder that Sen. Charles Schumer, the anti-gun extremist from New
York, is so excited about this race. Schumer, who heads the
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is pouring tons of money
into Martin's campaign.

But the stakes are much higher than just getting another anti-gun
Senator. If Democrats can get to the magic number of 60, the minority
Senators will lose their ability to stop any gun control legislation
that is anointed by the leadership. Therefore, a world of
possibilities opens up for anti-gun Senators like Dianne Feinstein,
Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin and Frank Lautenberg.

President-elect Obama and the Senate leadership know what is at stake
in Georgia. That's why they’re descending on the state by the
thousands and pouring in millions of dollars.

Pro-gunners need to do the same. If Saxby loses this seat, there
will be dire ramifications for years to come. Without the ability to
stop the anti-gun leadership, we could see:

* The reauthorization of the Clinton gun ban;
* Legislation to close down gun shows;
* A ban on .50 caliber rifles;
* Massive expansions of the NICS background check system;
* More and more gun stores put out of business;
* Ratification of an anti-gun UN treaty;
* Lock-up-your-safety requirements like personalized handguns, and
more.

Gun owners, sportsmen and anyone concerned about the erosion of
liberty in this country should engage in this battle in Georgia.

If you live in or near Georgia and can volunteer to make calls, knock
on doors, etc, please call or e-mail the Chambliss campaign right
away. Go to http://www.saxby.org for contact information.

Saxby also needs the financial resources to reach as many voters as
possible in the final days before the election. Please go to
http://www.saxby.org/contribute.aspx to contribute to the Chambliss
campaign.

This race is extremely close. Senator Saxby Chambliss has stood with
gun owners in the U.S. Congress. It's time for us to stand with Saxby
now. Please visit http://www.saxby.org to help Sen. Chambliss win
this election.

Sincerely,

Tim Macy
Vice Chairman

A Mandate? With approval ratings like they are?

November 14, 2008

At the bottom of this piece from the Patriot Post is the gist of what really matters in this well written work. Americans are not happy with foggy bottom, not at all. Read on…

News from the Swamp: Committee assignments take shape on Capitol Hill

House and Senate Democrats are currently picking the committee leaders for the 111th Congress — leaders who will wreak havoc on capitalism, liberty and common sense. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) will remain as head of the Senate Banking Committee to maintain continuity during the financial crisis. After all, it only makes sense to keep Dodd there since he was such a large beneficiary of Fannie Mae’s political contributions.

Russ Feingold (D-WI), the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act and an original opponent of the liberation of Iraq, is in line to become the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; the current chairman, Joe Biden, is heading to the White House. If Feingold does get the position, he could force Barack Obama’s hand on withdrawing American troops from Iraq. He is also likely to spill a number of secret programs out into the open via attention-grabbing investigations into our nation’s rendition and surveillance efforts.

In the House, it appears there will be a coup attempt by California Democrat Henry Waxman, who seeks to wrest control of the Energy and Commerce Committee from John Dingell (D-MI). Dingell, who was first elected to Congress in 1955, will become in February the longest-serving member in that body’s history. He is a moderate on climate change, however, and some of his fellow liberals have accused him of being too cozy with Detroit when he should be putting the squeeze on the industry for the sake of the tree huggers. But Dingell’s supporters believe they have the votes to hold off Waxman, an environmental extremist. Many see Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s fingerprints on the effort to oust Dingell. She is close to Waxman, and she is a vocal proponent of all so-called “green” legislation.

It looks as though Joe Lieberman (I-CT) will remain chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee for the time being. He created enemies among his former fellow Democrats with his public support of John McCain. He met privately with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) this week, and both men would say only that they would talk further and weigh options before making final decisions. The Democrats must win all three remaining contested Senate seats to reach a supermajority of 60 votes. Regardless of the outcome, however, they will need Lieberman, whose apostasy can apparently be overlooked if it helps the Democrats tighten their grip on power.

Republicans stand to lose some committee seats as well, thanks to the gains Democrats made last week. Reid is likely to follow the model for committee apportionment used during the 103rd Congress when the Democrats similarly held 57 seats in the Senate. The GOP is likely to incur its biggest losses in Appropriations, Budget, and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Meanwhile, any hopes Hillary Clinton had to lead the renewed effort for health care reform were effectively dashed by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Kennedy considers himself a champion of health care, and he has no intention of ceding the issue to Clinton. She currently ranks eighth in seniority on the committee, and others on the committee are not keen on the idea of her leapfrogging senior colleagues to lead some special subcommittee or task force. Beyond all that, Obama is likely to run any health care reform drive from the White House, meaning that Clinton may be involved in the crafting of legislation, but she will not have the chance to lead, and likely fumble, a plan as she did in 1993. Hillary might take comfort, though, in the current Beltway buzz that Obama is considering her for the secretary of state post.

However Congress shapes up in the coming weeks, the denizens of the Swamp will have a long way to go before earning the respect of the American public. In a Rasmussen Reports survey taken after Election Day, 55 percent of those polled rated the job performance of Congress as poor. Only 11 percent said Congress was doing a good or excellent job. Republicans were more unsatisfied than Democrats — 74 percent to 37 percent. A separate survey indicated an unfavorable rating of 42 for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and another 27 percent didn’t even know who he is. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) earned a 53 percent unfavorable rating.

Ratings like those are well deserved. Those in power, and coming into power should note that there is no mandate. The continuation of failed ideology, by both the President AND Congress … only point out just how disgusted the people that are laird over in fact really are.

Not your usual post-election commentary‏

November 11, 2008

Downsize D.C. keeps their turbulant tradition going with this not so politicaly correct commentary. Enjoy!

Quote of the Day: “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” — William Shakespeare

Subject: Not your usual post-election commentary

The media describes every election as historic, the most important in a generation, etc. When the voting is done they tell us a new era has dawned, that things will change, that nothing will ever be the same, blah, blah, blah.

One aspect of these claims is true, this time. It is both historic and meaningful that the United States has elected its first African-American president. We applaud and celebrate this. We think the significance of this event transcends mere symbolism. Otherwise, the election was what all other elections have been . . .

” . . . a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Can we support this harsh assessment? Consider . . .

The election thoroughly repudiated the Republican Party. They lost the White House in a landslide, and got clobbered in Congressional races. We might assume from this, if elections really produced change, that many Republican policies of the last eight years will be reversed. We predict that almost none of them will be.

The Republicans were responsible for . . .

* Enacting the largest new entitlement in decades — the prescription drug program
* Passing social engineering schemes like “No Child Left Behind”
* Starting an un-provoked war
* Gutting constitutional liberties
* Running-up vast deficits

Will the Democrats reverse any of these actions? Sadly, we think the answer is “No.” What, then, was the point of the election?

Was it merely to punish the Republicans while leaving their sins uncorrected? Was the purpose to give the Democrats permission to pursue all of their own pet projects for social engineering, and to spend, spend, spend to their hearts content?

Undoubtedly this last item is the message Democratic politicians will claim they heard. After all, they received a mandate, and if the mandate was not to pursue their dreams then the word has no meaning.

Of course, some voters can say, “Don’t blame me, I voted Libertarian . . . or for the Constitution Party . . . or the Greens.” Didn’t these voters, at least, send a clear message about what they want?

We think not.

What does the average person assume when he or she sees third party candidates listed in his newspaper with tiny vote percentages next to their names? We think he or she assumes that . . .

“Those are fringe candidates with fringe ideas that no one supports. Therefore, I need not consider what they have to say.”

The system is rigged against third parties. This guarantees low vote totals for those parties. It also guarantees that the ideas those parties represent will always be viewed as marginal.

Third parties don’t promote ideas, they marginalize them!

Oh yes, we know all about the exceptions, like the Socialists and the Progressives, both of whom had ideas adopted by the major parties. But please notice, those ideas made the politicians, and even tax-funded intellectuals in the school system, MORE POWERFUL. That’s the real reason those ideas were adopted; it wasn’t because the Socialists and the Progressives managed to score a few points on Election Day.

So what does voting for partisan candidates actually accomplish? What does it communicate? As far as we can tell the answer is nothing, except that . . .

It gives the victims of the con game — the American people — an illusion of control. But we have no control — no say so.

Voting in the partisan electoral contest merely gives sanction to the con-artists who constantly victimize us. That’s the role of the voter, to sanction what the politicians do. That’s it. It’s like Emma Goldman said, “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.”

Is this the way you want things to be?

The ways of the future do not lie in the ways of the past. The ways of the past involved hoping the new boss would be different than the old boss. But many decades have come and gone, and the new boss has always been the same as the old boss. We should abandon the old ways and adopt new ways.

The way to a better future lies in withdrawing our consent and issuing direct orders to our supposed public servants. Votes send confusing signals. But plain talk is rarely misunderstood.

The new way involves building a new social force with the power to make public servants miserable. Withdraw consent. Issue orders. Make the public servant submit.

The politicians are busy right now convincing themselves that the public wants top-down, centralized, Democratic social engineering. Who can disabuse them of this notion? After all, the votes have been cast. The people have spoken.

Only YOU can disabuse the politicians of their self-serving interpretations of inarticulate votes. The Republicans were repudiated. Therefore, the things the Republicans did must also be repudiated. This should be the mandate for the new Congress. Fortunately, we have a vehicle for doing just that . . .

Ron Paul’s “American Freedom Agenda Act” would repeal a good chunk of the bad things the Republicans did. Use our Educate the Powerful system to ask your elected representatives to pass this bill.

Use your personal comments to tell your elected representatives that the Republicans were repudiated, therefore the things the Republicans did must also be repudiated.

And stay tuned for new steps in a new direction, starting next week.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundati

The Democrats

June 17, 2008

Soon, the Democrats will be coming to town. What with re-create 68, and several other groups that are at least seemingly hell bent on destruction I had to stop and think about the roots of the modern democrat political mind set. Leave it to the Patriot Post to serve up a very well written piece in such a timely manner!

“Ideological descendants of Marx and Rousseau now lead the Democratic Party and they have turned it into a disloyal opposition to an increasingly accommodating GOP. They have molded the Party into a force working stridently and unashamedly against a Commander in Chief during wartime. They have made it a den of treachery devoted to American defeat in Iraq. They preside over an institution advised and influenced by moneyed, non-governmental groups and individuals with unquestionably anti-U.S. agendas who help make the Party a pseudo-intellectual sinkhole filled with perverse, tried-and-failed ideas repulsive to the majority of Americans. Those ideas are shaped into agendas which are then forced on the public by an activist leftwing judiciary and by a major media and arts consortium shot through with utter disrespect, indeed contempt, for traditional American values, religions and institutions. The Democratic Party has devolved into a club for the illegitimately aggrieved, the self-absorbed, the self-hating and the perpetually [angry]. It is a sanctuary where solipsistic malcontents and their disjointed causes find refuge and support. It has long ceased being an earnest gathering of broad minds where man’s timeless problems are examined against the backdrop of the Constitution and solutions to them proposed based on the actual realities of the human condition…[Barack] Obama is in step with that radical element and with that leadership.” —Rocco DiPippo  #top_move_select658918432, #bottom_move_select658918432 { visibility:hidden; }

Name calling and such …

June 15, 2008

All too often I hear the term “Nazi” tossed around. It is most often used about the President, or a conservative commentator. I happened to come across a comment over at Texas Fred’s that got my attention. Thanks to all the fine contributors to that thread  about illegal immigration!

http://texasfred.net/archives/1281

Within that thread there was noted a reference to what the Nazi Party Platform was all about. here is that platform. Guess what current American political party it resembles the most?

The 25 Points of Hitler’s Nazi Party

1. We demand the union of all Germans in a Great Germany on the basis of the principle of self-determination of all peoples.

2. We demand that the German people have rights equal to those of other nations; and that the Peace Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain shall be abrogated.

3. We demand land and territory (colonies) for the maintenance of our people and the settlement of our surplus population.

4. Only those who are our fellow countrymen can become citizens. Only those who have German blood, regardless of creed, can be our countrymen. Hence no Jew can be a countryman.

5. Those who are not citizens must live in Germany as foreigners and must be subject to the law of aliens.

6. The right to choose the government and determine the laws of the State shall belong only to citizens. We therefore demand that no public office, of whatever nature, whether in the central government, the province, or the municipality, shall be held by anyone who is not a citizen.

We wage war against the corrupt parliamentary administration whereby men are appointed to posts by favor of the party without regard to character and fitness.

7. We demand that the State shall above all undertake to ensure that every citizen shall have the possibility of living decently and earning a livelihood. If it should not be possible to feed the whole population, then aliens (non-citizens) must be expelled from the Reich.

8. Any further immigration of non-Germans must be prevented. We demand that all non-Germans who have entered Germany since August 2, 1914, shall be compelled to leave the Reich immediately.

9. All citizens must possess equal rights and duties.

10. The first duty of every citizen must be to work mentally or physically. No individual shall do any work that offends against the interest of the community to the benefit of all.

Therefore we demand:

11. That all unearned income, and all income that does not arise from work, be abolished.

12. Since every war imposes on the people fearful sacrifices in blood and treasure, all personal profit arising from the war must be regarded as treason to the people. We therefore demand the total confiscation of all war profits.

13. We demand the nationalization of all trusts.

14. We demand profit-sharing in large industries.

15. We demand a generous increase in old-age pensions.

16. We demand the creation and maintenance of a sound middle-class, the immediate communalization of large stores which will be rented cheaply to small tradespeople, and the strongest consideration must be given to ensure that small traders shall deliver the supplies needed by the State, the provinces and municipalities.

17. We demand an agrarian reform in accordance with our national requirements, and the enactment of a law to expropriate the owners without compensation of any land needed for the common purpose. The abolition of ground rents, and the prohibition of all speculation in land.

18. We demand that ruthless war be waged against those who work to the injury of the common welfare. Traitors, usurers, profiteers, etc., are to be punished with death, regardless of creed or race.

19. We demand that Roman law, which serves a materialist ordering of the world, be replaced by German common law.

20. In order to make it possible for every capable and industrious German to obtain higher education, and thus the opportunity to reach into positions of leadership, the State must assume the responsibility of organizing thoroughly the entire cultural system of the people. The curricula of all educational establishments shall be adapted to practical life. The conception of the State Idea (science of citizenship) must be taught in the schools from the very beginning. We demand that specially talented children of poor parents, whatever their station or occupation, be educated at the expense of the State.

21. The State has the duty to help raise the standard of national health by providing maternity welfare centers, by prohibiting juvenile labor, by increasing physical fitness through the introduction of compulsory games and gymnastics, and by the greatest possible encouragement of associations concerned with the physical education of the young.

22. We demand the abolition of the regular army and the creation of a national (folk) army.

23. We demand that there be a legal campaign against those who propagate deliberate political lies and disseminate them through the press. In order to make possible the creation of a German press, we demand:

(a) All editors and their assistants on newspapers published in the German language shall be German citizens.

(b) Non-German newspapers shall only be published with the express permission of the State. They must not be published in the German language.

(c) All financial interests in or in any way affecting German newspapers shall be forbidden to non-Germans by law, and we demand that the punishment for transgressing this law be the immediate suppression of the newspaper and the expulsion of the non-Germans from the Reich.

Newspapers transgressing against the common welfare shall be suppressed. We demand legal action against those tendencies in art and literature that have a disruptive influence upon the life of our folk, and that any organizations that offend against the foregoing demands shall be dissolved.

24. We demand freedom for all religious faiths in the state, insofar as they do not endanger its existence or offend the moral and ethical sense of the Germanic race.

The party as such represents the point of view of a positive Christianity without binding itself to any one particular confession. It fights against the Jewish materialist spirit within and without, and is convinced that a lasting recovery of our folk can only come about from within on the pinciple:

COMMON GOOD BEFORE INDIVIDUAL GOOD

25. In order to carry out this program we demand: the creation of a strong central authority in the State, the unconditional authority by the political central parliament of the whole State and all its organizations.

The formation of professional committees and of committees representing the several estates of the realm, to ensure that the laws promulgated by the central authority shall be carried out by the federal states.

The leaders of the party undertake to promote the execution of the foregoing points at all costs, if necessary at the sacrifice of their own lives.

Return to Nazi Party is Formed
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It sure looks a lot like a particular party to me. What’s your guess..?

HILLARY QUOTES « Conservative Libertarian Outpost

November 21, 2007

HILLARY QUOTES « Conservative Libertarian Outpost

Interesting, how a post from last year can suddenly spring to life now that the election is getting so much closer.