Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
National Defense Resources Preparedness: Obama Authorizes Gov to Seize Farms, Food, Processing Plants, Energy Resources, Transportation, Skilled Laborers During National Emergency
This Executive Order itself is nothing more than a restatement of policy that has been in place in decades and grants no authority to the President or the Cabinet that they don’t already have under existing law…
THAT’S THE BIG PROBLEM
There are, perhaps, some issues worth discussing that this EO raises. The fact that the President of the United States is still exercising authority granted during the Korean War and the height of the Cold War is yet another reflection of how power, once assumed by the Imperial Presidency, is never surrendered.
The fact that an Executive Order like this was released on a Friday afternoon and has been largely ignored by the traditional media is an indication of just how easy it is for politicians to manipulate the news cycle. And the idea that the government has authority like that described in this document, even only in theory, and that most Americans aren’t even aware of it, is a reflection of just how little we know about the things that are done in our name. Those are all legitimate issues, but they go far deeper than this one…
As of March 16, 2012, your land, your food, your water and your abilities as a laborer are now a wholly owned subsidiary of the United States government at any time they choose to initiate the provisions of this order, which according to the order itself, can be during an emergency or a non-emergency.
While some reports indicate that the general impact of this new executive order is negligible, when considered with the broader implications including the introduction and passage of laws allowing for the indefinite detention of American citizens without charge or trial, restricting the general assembly of individuals to protest, the establishment of an internet ‘kill switch’ contingency plan and jamming of all non-government communications, the existence of FEMA refugee and detainment camps, coupled with confirmations that the U.S. government is training members of the armed forces for domestic policing duties and preparing for economic collapse and civil unrest, this latest legislation may very well be the final nail in the coffin for American liberty as we have known it under the US Constitution.
When implemented simultaneously with existing laws and Presidential orders, the National Defense Resources Preparedness executive order establishes a clear chain of command and control over all aspects of American life in what can only be described as a police state under martial law.
Monday, March 12, 2012
March 20th 2012 Republican Primary Ballot for Warren County
A couple things;
First: I have attached the March 20th 2012 Republican Primary Ballot for Warren county. Depending where you live it may be a little different than what you see in the ballot box on the 20th but this is what is available ahead of time.
Please look these people up and see what they stand for. Call them and tell them you are in the TEA Party and you want to know what they stand for in regards to Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government, Free Markets (TEA Party core values). Ask them about issues that concern you personally. Be educated about who you vote for.
This is how our government has got out of control. (IF) we go to the polls, most of the people on the ballot we have never heard of and/or have no idea what the stand for. I have been guilty of this but not any more. That is how we end up with people like Obama in office. This is how we end up with representatives that pass things like the NDAA, 66% state tax hikes and the like. Let's be determined not to let this happen this election cycle.
Second: Tonight at 6:30pm at the Eagles Club in Monmouth we are launching a new preparedness group. This will be a group that shares knowledge and skills about being self reliant and prepared of foreseen and unforeseen emergencies. Please be there if you can.
download pdf: March 20th 2012 Republican Primary Ballot for Warren county
Call or email if you have any questions: 309-760-4114
Monday, March 5, 2012
NDAA Nullification Passes Virginia Senate by a Veto-Proof 39-1 Vote – Tenth Amendment Center
Today, the Virginia Senate took a firm stand in support of liberty, the Constitution for the United States, and the Constitution of Virginia by voting in favor of House Bill 1160 (HB1160), the “NDAA Nullification Act.”
The final vote was 39-1.
After a motion to recommit (delay until next year) went down to the wire before being rejected yesterday (report here), groups across the political spectrum activated in support of the legislation, which codifies in law that no agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia – including defense forces and national guard troops, will comply with or assist the federal government in any way under it’s newly claimed powers to arrest and detain without due process.
INTERNMENT: NEVER AGAIN
The bill’s primary sponsor, Delegate Bob Marshall, had this to say in support:
“During World War II, the federal government incarcerated tens of thousands of loyal Japanese Americans in the name of national security. By this bill, Virginia declares that it will not participate in similar modern-day efforts.
Even President Obama had questions about the bill, when he promised the American people that he would not use the unrestrained powers it granted him — but why should we trust any President with such powers?
There are moments in our history when our liberties hang in the balance. This is one of those moments. I urge the Senate…to lead the way in the nation to ensure that Virginia will not cooperate when the Federal Government strays off the reservation with laws that take away the civil liberties of our citizens.”
BRIDGING THE POLITICAL DIVIDE
Last Thursday, the Tenth Amendment Center, in partnership with the Bill of Rights Defense Committee and Demand Progress held a media conference with experts and legislators from across the political spectrum. On hand were a former Al Gore advisor and a former Reagan administration member. (full report here)
The message was resounding, and echoed by the Jr. Senator from Loudoun Virginia on the floor today, “Wherever you fall on the political spectrum, any law that passes congress that has those provisions should be a deep concern, and I hope that we can all agree on this one issue.”
While the bill doesn’t directly block federal agents from carrying out their new NDAA powers, this is part and parcel of a larger NDAA nullification campaign around the country. Currently 7 local governments have passed resolutions ranging from a denouncement of the federal act in three Colorado counties to requiring noncompliance with it in places like Fairfax, CA and Northampton, MA. And, 7 states are currently considering legislation like Virginia’s – all based off the model legislation provided by the Tenth Amendment Center, the Liberty Preservation Act.
THREE STEPS, MAYBE JUST TWO?
Here at the Tenth Amendment Center, we define nullification as “any act or set of acts which has as its end result a particular law being rendered null, void, or unenforceable in a specific area.” With that definition in mind, we see nullification of the new “kidnapping powers” of the NDAA as a multi-step process.
1. Education - awareness. This is where local and state resolutions come into play. When something is passed, even non-binding, it gets press coverage about the idea that the local and state people have a role to play in this.
2. Non-compliance – as just passed by the Virginia House and Senate, and being considered in various other states and local communities. The message? Your unconstitutional federal act is not welcome here!
Gandhi, Rosa Parks and others didn’t take it beyond there. We recognize that in almost every situation, the federal government relies on states being silent or even fully complicit. Information sharing, logistics, and even national guard troops carrying out orders are activities that could be asked of state and local governments. Could the feds still kidnap at that point if the state refuses compliance? Sure, “legally” nothing has changed. But if 10-15 states and a hundred or so counties and cities are making clear they will not comply and that they consider the act unconstitutional, it’s going to be much tougher for them, if not politically impossible, than if everybody just complied and waited for the courts or another election to “save” them.
3. Resistance and physical interposition – Some, of course, believe that the feds can never be stopped without a physical resistance. But this may not be required if enough states and localities take noncompliance seriously in #2 above. But, we also see the value in running the full spectrum of options from the simplest to the strongest in various parts of the country. In Washington State, the bill there is full non-compliance. Matt Shea and Jason Overstreet, the primary sponsors, feel they can get that moving forward, and hope to follow up with criminal penalties in a future bill. Then, potentially another to require arrest of fed agents for kidnapping could be considered. In Missouri, they’re tracking along the same lines.
In Tennessee, though, the bill being considered right now refers to indefinite detention as a “kidnapping” charge and requires the local sheriffs to stop them. (info here)
MORE STEPS IN VIRGINIA
HB1160 received a minor amendment in the Senate before passage and now goes back to the House for Concurrence. The bill previously passed the house by a vote of 96-4 so it’s expected that the amended version will sail through as well. The Amendment reads as follows:
§ 1. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, no agency or political subdivision of the Commonwealth, or employee of same acting in his official capacity, shall aid an agency of the United States in the unlawful detention of any United States citizen pursuant to 50 U.S.C. § 1541 as provided by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (P.L. 112-81, § 1021).
Delegate Marshall previously reported that Governor Bob McDonnell is opposing this legislation. And, even with such large veto-proof votes in both the House and Senate, Virginia residents are encouraged to take action today. Those living in Virginia are encouraged to contact their Senators with words of thanks for passing HB1160 (at this link) AND the Governor’s office (at this link) in support of this legislation now.
LEGISLATIVE TRACKING
CLICK HERE – to view 4 versions of the model bill, the Liberty Preservation Act, for introduction in your state, city, county or town
CLICK HERE – to track the status of the Liberty Preservation Act around the country.
Michael Boldin [send him email] is the founder of the Tenth Amendment Center. He was raised in Milwaukee, WI, and currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. Follow him on twitter - @michaelboldin, on LinkedIn, and on Facebook.
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NDAA Nullification Passes Virginia Senate by a Veto-Proof 39-1 Vote – Tenth Amendment Center
Friday, March 2, 2012
Protect Your Gun Rights
---- This is from Illinois State Rifle Association ----
URGENT ALERT – EMANUAL/OBAMA MACHINE PLANS SNEAK ATTACK ON YOUR GUN RIGHTS
Your Attendance Urgently Needed at Massive Gun Rights Rally on March 7th
As many of you know, the Illinois House Executive Committee sent two extremely anti-gun bills to the floor yesterday:
HB5831 – this bill would tack a $65.00 tax on every hand gun you own and require you to register like a sex offender.HB5167 – this bill would tack a 2% “Sin Tax” on all ammunition sales in the state with the proceeds from the tax going to a fund to help pay for a healthcare program for gang bangers and drug lords.
EACH OF THESE TWO BILLS HAVE ONE PURPOSE AND ONE PURPOSE ONLY – TO PUNISH LAW-ABIDING FIREARM OWNERS
The Emanuel/Obama gun haters aren’t being the least bit bashful about their intent, they have made it clear that they will “screw-over” gun owners by any means possible.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP PRESERVE AND PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS
1. Demonstrate your support for your gun rights – attend IGOLD 2012 - Illinois Gun Owner Lobby Day on March 7th. See http://igold.isra.org for further details.
2. Contact your State Representative and politely inform him/her that you are a law-abiding firearm owner and that you do not support taxing ammunition and you do not support registering firearm owners like sex offenders. Tell him/her that you expect to see them vote AGAINST HB5831 and AGAINST HB5167 when these antigun bills come to the floor. If you do not know who your State Representative is, click this link to go to the Illinois Board of Elections:
http://www.elections.state.il.us/DistrictLocator/DistrictOfficialSearchByAddress.aspx .
3. Contact the sponsor of the ammo tax, State Representative Kelly Cassidy, repcassidy@gmail.com, (217) 782-8088, (773) 784-2002, and tell her that you do not appreciate the idea of being taxed to pay gang bangers’ medical bills.
4. Contact the chief co-sponsor of the ammo tax, State Representative Kimberly du Buclet, rep26district@gmail.com , (217) 782-2023, (773) 285-1110, and tell her that you do not appreciate the idea of being taxed to pay gang bangers’ medical bills.
5. Contact the sponsor of the Emanuel/Obama gun tax, State Representative William Davis, (217) 782-8197, (708) 799-7300, and tell him that you do not appreciate the idea of being registered like a sex offender and having to pay a tax for exercising your constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
6. Pass this alert on to all your gun owning friends and family, tell them to follow the instructions above.
7. Post this alert to any and all Internet bulletin boards or blogs to which you belong.
REMEMBER – GUN CONTROL IS A DISEASE AND YOU’RE THE CURE!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Declaration of Independence – a Must Read
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Statement on the Fed's Continued Euro Bailout
The Fed's latest actions in cooperating with foreign central banks to undertake liquidity swaps of dollars for foreign currencies is another reason why Congress needs enhanced power to oversee and audit the Fed. Under current law Congress cannot examine these types of agreements. Those who would argue that auditing the Fed or these agreements with central banks harms the Fed's independence should reevaluate the Fed's supposed independence when the Fed bails out Europe so soon after President Obama promised US assistance in resolving the Euro crisis.
Rather than calming markets, these arrangements should indicate just how frightened governments around the world are about the European financial crisis. Central banks are grasping at straws, hoping that flooding the world with money created out of thin air will somehow resolve a crisis caused by uncontrolled government spending and irresponsible debt issuance. Congress should not permit this type of open-ended commitment on the part of the Fed, a commitment which could easily run into the trillions of dollars. These dollar swaps are purely inflationary and will harm American consumers as much as any form of quantitative easing.
The Fed is behaving much as it did during the 2008 financial crisis, only this time instead of bailing out politically well-connected too-big-to-fail firms it is bailing out profligate government spending. Citizens the world over deserve better than this. They deserve sound money that cannot be manipulated and created out of thin air by central planners who promise printed prosperity. Fiat money caused this European crisis and the financial crisis before it. More fiat money is not the cure. The global fiat currency system has proven itself a failure, we need real monetary reform. We need sound money.
From Ron Paul - Statement on the Fed's Continued Euro Bailout
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Ron Paul: Blame the Fed for the Financial Crisis - WSJ.com
An OpEd by Ron Paul, the only sane person in Washington, written for the Wall Street Journal
To know what is wrong with the Federal Reserve, one must first understand the nature of money. Money is like any other good in our economy that emerges from the market to satisfy the needs and wants of consumers. Its particular usefulness is that it helps facilitate indirect exchange, making it easier for us to buy and sell goods because there is a common way of measuring their value. Money is not a government phenomenon, and it need not and should not be managed by government. When central banks like the Fed manage money they are engaging in price fixing, which leads not to prosperity but to disaster.
The Federal Reserve has caused every single boom and bust that has occurred in this country since the bank's creation in 1913. It pumps new money into the financial system to lower interest rates and spur the economy. Adding new money increases the supply of money, making the price of money over time—the interest rate—lower than the market would make it. These lower interest rates affect the allocation of resources, causing capital to be malinvested throughout the economy. So certain projects and ventures that appear profitable when funded at artificially low interest rates are not in fact the best use of those resources.
Eventually, the economic boom created by the Fed's actions is found to be unsustainable, and the bust ensues as this malinvested capital manifests itself in a surplus of capital goods, inventory overhangs, etc. Until these misdirected resources are put to a more productive use—the uses the free market actually desires—the economy stagnates.
The great contribution of the Austrian school of economics to economic theory was in its description of this business cycle: the process of booms and busts, and their origins in monetary intervention by the government in cooperation with the banking system. Yet policy makers at the Federal Reserve still fail to understand the causes of our most recent financial crisis. So they find themselves unable to come up with an adequate solution.
In many respects the governors of the Federal Reserve System and the members of the Federal Open Market Committee are like all other high-ranking powerful officials. Because they make decisions that profoundly affect the workings of the economy and because they have hundreds of bright economists working for them doing research and collecting data, they buy into the pretense of knowledge—the illusion that because they have all these resources at their fingertips they therefore have the ability to guide the economy as they see fit.
Nothing could be further from the truth. No attitude could be more destructive. What the Austrian economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek victoriously asserted in the socialist calculation debate of the 1920s and 1930s—the notion that the marketplace, where people freely decide what they need and want to pay for, is the only effective way to allocate resources—may be obvious to many ordinary Americans. But it has not influenced government leaders today, who do not seem to see the importance of prices to the functioning of a market economy.
The manner of thinking of the Federal Reserve now is no different than that of the former Soviet Union, which employed hundreds of thousands of people to perform research and provide calculations in an attempt to mimic the price system of the West's (relatively) free markets. Despite the obvious lesson to be drawn from the Soviet collapse, the U.S. still has not fully absorbed it.
The Fed fails to grasp that an interest rate is a price—the price of time—and that attempting to manipulate that price is as destructive as any other government price control. It fails to see that the price of housing was artificially inflated through the Fed's monetary pumping during the early 2000s, and that the only way to restore soundness to the housing sector is to allow prices to return to sustainable market levels. Instead, the Fed's actions have had one aim—to keep prices elevated at bubble levels—thus ensuring that bad debt remains on the books and failing firms remain in business, albatrosses around the market's neck.
The Fed's quantitative easing programs increased the national debt by trillions of dollars. The debt is now so large that if the central bank begins to move away from its zero interest-rate policy, the rise in interest rates will result in the U.S. government having to pay hundreds of billions of dollars in additional interest on the national debt each year. Thus there is significant political pressure being placed on the Fed to keep interest rates low. The Fed has painted itself so far into a corner now that even if it wanted to raise interest rates, as a practical matter it might not be able to do so. But it will do something, we know, because the pressure to "just do something" often outweighs all other considerations.
What exactly the Fed will do is anyone's guess, and it is no surprise that markets continue to founder as anticipation mounts. If the Fed would stop intervening and distorting the market, and would allow the functioning of a truly free market that deals with profit and loss, our economy could recover. The continued existence of an organization that can create trillions of dollars out of thin air to purchase financial assets and prop up a fundamentally insolvent banking system is a black mark on an economy that professes to be free
Friday, October 14, 2011
Let the Progressives / Liberals Have Their Way - Letter to Editor
Here is a “Letter to the Editor” submitted to the Register Mail by Dick Conklin of the Galesburg TEA Party. I hope we make the right choice!
---
About 6 weeks ago my brother-in-law suggested we let the progressives/liberals have their way. Let them give as much money away to as many people and projects as they wish. Let them tax the wealthy and anyone else however much they desire. In other words let them construct an economic lab test. This should then settle finally the issue whether this thing called Keynesian Economics will work.
Fortunately new don’t have to wait the 2 to 4 years to determine the results of this experiment. We currently have a lab experiment on this issue pretty well near completion. It’s called Greece, and the lab results are pretty well complete. As far as I have read most economists freely admit Greece’s economic collapse is due to its extremely large public employee payroll and consequent legacy costs as well as a huge entitlement class, supported by a too small private sector. In essence the private sector in Greece and the wealth it creates is not sufficient to support Greece’s generous public payrolls, benefits and entitlements. In fact there apparently isn’t enough wealth in the rest of Europe to bailout Greece from its Public Sector Largesse. There are also at least three more of these lab experiments coming close to finishing up and from all signs it’s pretty clear the results in Italy, Spain and Portugal will be the same. There may be other conclusions we will be able to draw from these economic laboratory experiments, but none so strikingly clear as that you can’t have a public sector without a thriving private sector.
The choice now is ours. Do we learn from these laboratory experiments or do we insist that we waste our own time and money re-running this experiment. Do we want Greece here in Galesburg and in every other community across the nation? I am sure our children and grandchildren will hold us accountable for whatever we decide.
Dick Conklin
Galesburg TEA Party
Monday, October 3, 2011
What is the FairTax plan?
The Monmouth TEA Party Group is please to be hosting Glen Ebbing, president of the Quincy Fair Tax Group at our October meeting. He will be giving a presentation on the Fair Tax and answering questions.
TIME AND LOCATION:
Monday, October 10th at 7:00pm
215 S. 1st Street, Monmouth, IL 61462
Here is some information from the FairTax web site:
The FairTax plan is a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal income and payroll based taxes with an integrated approach including a progressive national retail sales tax, a prebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar federal revenue neutrality, and, through companion legislation, the repeal of the 16th Amendment.
The FairTax Act (HR 25, S 13) is nonpartisan legislation. It abolishes all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, and self-employment taxes and replaces them with one simple, visible, federal retail sales tax administered primarily by existing state sales tax authorities.
The FairTax taxes us only on what we choose to spend on new goods or services, not on what we earn. The FairTax is a fair, efficient, transparent, and intelligent solution to the frustration and inequity of our current tax system.
The FairTax:
- Enables workers to keep their entire paychecks
- Enables retirees to keep their entire pensions
- Refunds in advance the tax on purchases of basic necessities
- Allows American products to compete fairly
- Brings transparency and accountability to tax policy
- Ensures Social Security and Medicare funding
- Closes all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation
- Abolishes the IRS
We offer a library of information throughout this Web site about the features and benefits of the FairTax plan. Please explore!
The FairTax Five
The gloves are off as critics try to pick apart the FairTax. Trouble is, it's just a replay of the same five FairTax myths:
- "The 23% rate is misleading. It's actually 30%"
Well, actually...- "It's not enforceable and evasion will be rampant"
Well, actually...- "It will not be revenue neutral at 23%"
Well, actually...- "The FairTax is not politically viable"
Well, actually...- "The FairTax is regressive and shifts the tax burden onto lower and middle income people"
Well, actually...
source: What is the FairTax plan?
Friday, September 30, 2011
Techniques of the Left, by Charlie Gruner
I have to express my gratitude to Christian Schock of Galesburg. His letter in the September 17, 2011 R-M, he gives me an opportunity to show examples of techniques he uses when he runs out of facts for his arguments.
The first technique is to try to marginalize your opponent. Near the beginning of his letter, Schock writes that I am a TEA Party leader,assuming that many people will find that enough to dismiss my opinion. Then he adds that “facts don’t matter very much” to the TEA Party. Trying to marginalize me and/or the TEA Party makes the second technique easier if you succumb to the first.
The second technique is called mis-direction. Here’s how it works: Point out an opponent’s argument and then subtly change the subject. In Schock’s first attempt at this he calls attention to my contention that insurance company officers would be jailed if their companies were run like Social Security. Schock then changes the subject to the relative administrative costs. My observations were on the fraudulent nature of the “product” and Schock focuses on administrative costs rather than the subject of the argument.
The next example of mis-direction is when Schock talks about the amount of income that the Social Security tax was to be levied on. He discusses the effects of inflation (though this was never explained in the promises of the original act) and says that the $3,000 figure is equivalent to$45,000 today. Granting Schock’s numbers, how does he explain that the maximum today is $106,800? That’s over three times the rate of inflation. He also ignores the fact that the rate of tax has also gone up over 600%.
After running out of gas on the subject, Schock then talks about the debt incurred to Social Security and blames Republican administrations. This is another subtle change in subject because I never specified party. In fact you will find that I and most TEA Party folks hold both major parties responsible.
In no part of Schock’s argument is there any factual information refuting the actual comparisons that I made between Social Security and Ponzni Schemes. In fact, at the very end of his letter Schock says that it is not a Ponzi scheme but blames the “Bush administration” because it is one. I’m not sure how that makes any sense.
Charlie Gruner
Galesburg 9/12 Group Member
Thursday, September 29, 2011
A response to: Will Schick, Tea Party book pick a great read
This letter to the editor was recently published in the Galesburg Register Mail
Thanks to Will Schick for pointing out the ant-Christian sentiments of Thomas Paine to us Tea Partiers. Apparently his point is we have no business quoting Mr.Paine as his religious beliefs are opposed to that of the vast majority of Tea Partiers. To this I would like to quote, in Thomas Paine's own words, from a section on religion in his famous treatise Common Sense. "For myself I fully and conscientiously believe it is the will of the Almighty, that there should be diversity of religious opinions among us. It affords a larger field for our Christian kindness. Were we all one way of thinking our religious disputations would want matter for probation..." So it appears religious believers and non believers of all stripes are welcome under Thomas Paine's tent.
In reading Ed Klapp's letter of 9/20 attacking Tea Partiers I really don't see anything to respond to. Much of it was pure ranting. And yes, I am guilty as he charges. I am anti Communist anti socialist, against government intervention in business ala Solyndra and in favor of deregulation. His charge we Tea Partiers are under the influence of the Koch brothers is no different than the charge that Progressives are mere pawns of George Soros and Michael Moore. How do you disprove either charge?
Both his letter and that of Will Schick are really distractions from the real issues and that is what we should be debating or discussing,i.e, how do we live with $14 Trillion and growing debt, when there is not enough wealth, not income, but wealth to appropriate to remove our debt. Further what are the consequences for our children and grandchildren if we continue on the current path of $1 Trillion or more in deficits each year to add to our debt?
So rather than be distracted by name calling, and charges that can be levelled at both sides and questioning the shallowness of one side's reading list, why can't we debate the serious issues that confront us? Here's a good list to start with. Does Social Security really need fixing? If so, how? We know Medicaid and Medicare need fixing. How do we do it? Why does the Department of Justice pay $16.00 per muffin and $52.00 per person for conference coffee breaks? Who was paying for those $16.00 muffins? If Obama Care is so great why will it take 16,000 IRS workers to enforce it? Is the cost of these IRS workers included in the Health Care Reform cost or hidden in the IRS budget? If Obama Care is so good, why, at the latest count that I heard, are there over 1,000 entities asking for and receiving waivers from it including some of Nancy Pelosi's own largest contributors. I recently came across an alternative proposal to health care reform that on the surface looks pretty good. Yet it never saw the light of day because the then Democratically controlled congress allowed no discussion on the issue. So why is an area as important as Health Care, which represents 1/6 of our economy, not open for debate, discussion and input from both parties? Can we not even now bring this very important topic back for open discussion in Congress as well as in the public forum. Maybe Obama care is the best solution but we will never know until it is honestly debated in the public forum.
Theses are questions that should be honestly and openly debated, not which book I have read most recently.
Dick Conklin
Soon to be retired Tea Party Sympathizer
Will’s article: Will Schick: Tea Party book pick a great read
Monday, September 26, 2011
U.S. Government Used Taxpayer Funds To Buy, Sell Weapons During 'Fast And Furious,' Documents Show | Fox News
Buy and give them to Mexican drug runners but restrict the constitutional rights of American citizens to buy, own, and carry our own. Time for a TEA Party!!!!
Not only did U.S. officials approve, allow and assist in the sale of more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa cartel -- the federal government used taxpayer money to buy semi-automatic weapons, sold them to criminals and then watched as the guns disappeared.
full article here: U.S. Government Used Taxpayer Funds To Buy, Sell Weapons During 'Fast And Furious,' Documents Show | Fox News
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Fair Tax Presentation @ Monmouth TEA Party Meeting 10/10/11
click here to see facebook event
The Obama Way: screw the taxpayers, pay off your friends
It's pretty obvious at this point that this POTUS's priorities include making sure his friends get bigger slices of pie than anyone else and making sure the taxpayers get nothing (NO piece of pie) if his friends turn out to be not only greedy but incompetent.full article: Tea Party at Perrysburg: The Obama Way: screw the taxpayers, pay off your friends
This is the Chicago way; this is the Obama way. This is the principle of governing, apparently, that has become the Way of the Weasels in this White House.
Take, for example, the Solyndra mess. The White House was warned that the company was not solvent and could not possibly make any money, but still loaned hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to it. NRO:
Homing in on one of the several shocking aspects of the Solyndra scandal, lawmakers noted that, a few months before the “clean energy” enterprise went belly-up last week, the Obama Energy Department signed off on a sweetheart deal. In the event of bankruptcy — the destination to which it was screamingly obvious Solyndra was headed despite the president’s injection of $535 million in federal loans — the cozily connected private investors would be given priority over American taxpayers. In other words, when the busted company’s assets were sold off, Obama pals would recoup some of their losses, while you would be left holding the half-billion-dollar bag.As Andrew Stiles reported here at NRO, Republicans on the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee say this arrangement ran afoul of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.And who gets paid back first? Why, the Obama friends! Not the taxpayers.
To this date, we do not know (why should we be allowed, after all? This is the Obama way.) if the second loan Solyndra applied for was given by the taxpayers. Why can't we know this? Why isn't this public information? Why the secrecy, White House?
Over the weekend we learn that GM union workers are all getting an outrageous $5000 "signing" bonus with their new contract, which wouldn't be a problem if 1) cars didn't cost so much already 2) they weren't pushing expensive inefficient crap like the Chevy Volt on the public 3) they didn't still OWE THE PUBLIC billions of dollars. Mickey Kaus:
How about paying back the $15 billion first? I’m sure there are sophisticated arguments for why the UAW members shouldn’t pay back the taxpayers who bailed their employer out of bankruptcy before they negotiate a deal that gives them each a $5,000 bonus. I just can’t think of them right now. … Just from a PR standpoint, repaying the debt would seem like a good idea. …So let's get this straight, GM. You still owe the taxpayers billions of dollars but you're giving every employee an extra $5000? And your union boss calls US, the taxpayers and car buyers, SOBs for wanting to reign you in?
Of course, GM workers are not allowed to strike on this new deal as per their government takeover agreement, and that is the only leverage, Kaus points out, that the unions hold over the company, which doesn't seem to be a problem. Obviously these two are in bed.
Then let's take health care. Unions pushed the Obamacare debacle like it was a really good thing. Mmm. Then they all applied for and received exemptions from having to be part of that program themselves. There's some panic as they realize that the structure of Obamacare will eventually force everyone into the same mess.
So now we get the whole class warfare argument about taxes. POTUS is going to make everything better by taxing the hell out of the only people in this country making money. Something like 1/3 of 1% of the population falls into the category POTUS wants to tax. Yeah, that'll dig us out of this mess.
And the unions continue getting away with snookering the taxpayers.
The White House favors its friends and screw the working man. Yeah, that's right. If you're not in a union, you're a WORKING MAN or WOMAN.
So, hey, Day of Rage protesters? You'll get right on this, right?
Monday, September 19, 2011
The Old Man And The Sea - 2011 | ZeroHedge
Winning and losing are not what is important in life, as we all will lose out to death in the end. It is the honor gained during the struggle that matters. It’s the legacy we leave for future generations. Did we fight the good fight, or did we sit idly by while life passed by? Did your life mean something to someone? You can stay safely on the shore or you can jump into your skiff and sail into the deep water and conquer your marlin.
Ron Paul has a clear vision of the America our forefathers imagined. It is a vision of a people free from government control of every aspect of their lives. It’s a vision where the people keep what they earn and don’t pay half to government to be redistributed based upon a politician’s re-election aspirations. It’s a vision where the people are free to make their own choices and free to succeed or fail based on their own merits. It’s a vision where a truly free market exists and private bankers do not control and manipulate the currency. It’s a vision that calls for a strong national defense, not being the policeman to the world. It’s a vision where we follow the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law. It’s a vision where a limited government ensures the liberties and freedoms of the population. It’s a vision that calls for balanced budgets, sound money, and citizens and corporations accepting the consequences of their actions. If Santiago was a fisherman in the U.S. today, he would be required to have a license to fish, a permit for his boat, pay taxes on his catch, and probably have to release the marlin because it was endangered. Some government thug would have met Santiago at the dock and written him a ticket for being at sea too long and illegal feeding of sharks.
full article here: Guest Post: The Old Man And The Sea - 2011 | ZeroHedge
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Area tea party calls out detractors - Galesburg, IL - The Register-Mail
“Tea partiers have the common view that we need less government, less taxes, less spending, less regulation and more personal responsibility,” Block said. “We ought to deal with our debt. The nation cant live the way we are living. We dug the hole for ourselves, and it’s time to fix the problem.
full article: Area tea party calls out detractors - Galesburg, IL - The Register-Mail
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