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October 8th, 2009
Dear Liberty Activist, I need you to do something special today. As you may know, the Obama Administration has opposed the removal of the former president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, calling it a "coup," when in fact he was removed by the country's legislature and Supreme Court for violating the Constitution. According to Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution: "No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform, as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years." According to a legal background detailing the timeline of events that led to Zelaya's removal, Zelaya was attempting to convene an unlawful constitutional convention that would have enabled him to rewrite portions of the Constitution that defined term limits for the office of President. The Obama Administration has actively sought to isolate Honduras in this episode, and has thrown its support behind Zelaya. Now, Senator John Kerry has attempted to block Senator Jim DeMint and other Congressmen from traveling to Honduras with his power as Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, according to the Washington Post. Fortunately, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell intervened, and he helped to get the Department of Defense to provide an aircraft for DeMint's fact-finding trip. Can you do me a favor? Give Senator DeMint's office a call today and let him know that you support the preservation of the Constitution in Honduras. It's bad enough our leaders ignore and violate it here, that does not mean other republics and democracies should follow that example. Senator Demint's office number is (202) 224-6121. Thanks. He really needs our support. In other news, today ALG President Bill Wilson again called upon the Senate Finance Committee to reject the finalized version of its bill, calling the measure a "$2 trillion health takeover that will limit private options, raise taxes, reduce the quality of health care, and inevitably add to the debt." Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released its cost-estimate of the Baucus-led bill on the Senate side. By 2019, CBO estimates, 29 million more people will be covered with taxpayer-subsidized care. It estimates the final cost will be $829 billion over 10 years. Wilson said the cost is misleading. "But for some reason, CBO estimates that the total cost per individual per year will only be about $2,858," said Wilson, adding that "The trouble with that figure is it is a whole lot less than the average cost for a premium in the United States, which is currently $4,700." "Which can only mean one of two things. Either, under ObamaCare there will be below-average, watered-down care provided, or the cost estimates are wildly understated and this program will not sustain itself. ALG leans toward the latter," Wilson declared. "Either way, why should the American people accept a declining quality of care and spiraling deficits all to provide 'health care for all.'" "What's worse, the CBO estimates that a government program in which 91.5 million people under the age of 65 are technically eligible for will only result in 29 million new enrollees," Wilson said. "That just does not pass the smell test." According to the CBO letter to Senator Max Baucus, taxpayers would subsidize care for those making 400 percent above the poverty level, or individuals who make $43,320 a year or less. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, that includes 91.5 million people under the age of 65, or 125.8 million in total. Currently, 80.5 million now receive their health care from the government. "So, in total, one should reasonably expect that, eventually, government-run health care will expand to cover about 45 million more individuals, or 125.8 million in total," Wilson explained, saying that once fully implemented would cost an additional $2.1 trillion over ten-year intervals. "The apparent cuts to Medicare and Medicaid of approximately $404 billion, and the tax increases of $406 billion, that the bill proposes over ten years will not even come close to paying for it," Wilson said. "Plus, the bill will do nothing to actually contain the costs of medical treatment, equipment, and keeping doctor's offices and hospitals open," said Wilson. "In other words, the average cost of health care per individual in the U.S. will still go up." Wilson concluded, "The Senate Finance Committee must not fool itself with rosy, low-ball estimates. The true cost of expanding coverage to tens of millions of Americans, increasing taxes, and offering substandard care for seniors will be devastating. They must reject this abomination." Let's keep the heat on! Let's get on CapWiz and tell Congress that you're not fooled. You know we can't add 29-45 million, or more, people to the government-run rolls of health care without it costing anything. It's just not possible. And,
here's the
Target 92 list on the House side to all vulnerable and Blue Dog
Democrats. (You can really use this on any issue, whether
ObamaCare, defunding ACORN, removing Rangel, etc.) Blue Dogs are in
blue. Here's the .xls
and .pdf
versions. Of note, the first 40 on the list are the Blue Dogs
that signed the "deficit-neutral" letter mentioned above.
Everything you need to email their staff, write letters, make phone
calls and send faxes, both to their district and Capitol Hill offices. And we can keep calling out to the House and to the Senate in general. Of course, you can also reach them via the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Give em' Hell! In today's Liberty Action Report, was UCMC patient-dumping at the direction of Valerie Jarret and Michelle Obama? Plus, we reprint the popular "How Washington Politicians See the World," and the Barstool Economist returns analyzing how government disincentives work. And, the results for "cash-for-clunkers" is in. Please send your letters to the editor at Robert@getliberty.org. We publish all points of view! Take care, folks! Keep fighting! For Liberty, Robert Romano P.S. Want to help us keep fighting? Help us out with a small donation today! Or mail it to: Americans for Limited Government, 9900 Main Street, Suite 303, Fairfax, VA 22031.
Open Source & Copyright Free Into
the Abyss O-Lympic
Rings The
"Fairness" Police Too
Hot Not To Note: The Cost of Corporate Communism Into the AbyssBy Robert Romano With gold topping a whopping $1049 an ounce this week, and the Independent reporting that the Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Qatar, Japan, France, Brazil, Russia, and China may all planning to stop trading oil in dollars, some are wondering what has changed to bring King Dollar to its knees. The answer is unsettling: nothing. Nothing has changed—particularly in the nation's monetary expansion, which has more than doubled from a year ago. Nothing has changed, either, on the fiscal side of the equation, with the national debt expected pile on another $14.025 trillion between 2010-2019, practically 100 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. What's worse is that the nation appears poised to shut itself down economically—with a ludicrous, ruinous tax on energy, oil, gasoline, natural gas, and coal. And to spend itself into the grave—with "health care for all" and an expansive entitlement regime extended far beyond the nation's means to sustain itself. Throw on bad debt, waves of foreclosures, and ever increasing unemployment (U-6 came in at 17 percent for September), and one starts to get the picture. The dollar is only as good as the economy, the nation's ability to produce, and importantly, our collective ability to pay back our debts. Only problem is: it now appears that it will never happen. The national debt has grown every single year since 1958. And it will equal the entire GDP some time in 2010. Call it a tipping point. Call it decline. Call it whatever one wants. But it is a crisis of epic proportions. Unfortunately, the nation's leaders are either oblivious—in which case they are fools. They are powerless—and cannot even save their own land. Or they do not care—in which case they are not "leaders" at all. Instead, they are charlatans, pretending to embody the national interest but only driving the nation into The Abyss. Neither party has produced a plan to deal with this emergency, although the warning signs have been abundant for over a decade. And without a demonstrable will to boldly act, nations overseas will continue to make their own plans. The dollar is involved with transactions the world over. And when the Fed, Treasury, and Congress inflate the currency and expand our debt obligations the way they are, foreign nations know eventually it means their dollar holdings will be that much less valuable. Combined, this includes trillions of dollars of reserves, treasuries, corporate bonds, and securities. So they want to dump them. Who could blame them? We make bad decisions. And then, in essence, ask foreign powers (who are often hostile) to pay for them. So, what do we do? Do we steer the ship of state out of turbulent waters? No, we have continued to steer it toward the deep beyond. Which means the run on the dollar is close at hand. Perhaps even inevitable. Fear in our ability to pay back our debts will encourage that run—the capability and willingness by the nation's leaders could prevent it. But since nothing has yet changed, the best Americans can do is stock up on gold and, perhaps, canned goods. And hold on tight. Robert Romano is the ALG Senior News Editor. http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1637 O-Lympic Rings
ALG Editor's Note: William Warren's award-winning cartoons published at GetLiberty.org are a free service of ALG News Bureau. They may be reused and redistributed free of charge. http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1636 The "Fairness" PoliceBy Howard Rich Imagine a world in which government-owned newspapers delivered sanitized, pro-bureaucratic talking points approved by government censors for "fairness." Now, imagine a world in which talk radio and the new media – two outlets that Americans have been turning to in record numbers to escape the barrage of sanitized, pro-bureaucratic "news" – were also under Big Brother's "regulatory" thumb. Now, imagine a world in which all of these outlets faced fines and the threat of being shut down if they failed to subscribe to the government's definition of "balanced" coverage. Does that sound like America? Or does it sound more like a fundamentalist Islamic republic? A former Soviet satellite? Or a third-world nation run by a repressive military junta? Citizens at every point along this nation's political spectrum should be horrified by such a scenario – where the information they receive is essentially owned by the government. Accordingly, they should be deeply concerned that supporters of government-run media are now assuming key positions at the Federal Communications Commission and other agencies. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" (emphasis added). That's America's First – and foremost – Amendment. Pretty cut and dried, isn't it? In fact, within those forty-five words lies the fundamental root of all American liberties – the guarantee that our beliefs, our speech and our Fourth Estate are expressly safeguarded from governmental control and interference. Apparently they are not safeguarded enough, though. In fact, of all the overtly socialist notions currently making the rounds in Washington D.C., one of the most diabolical and anti-democratic is an under-the-radar push by the administration of President Barack Obama to dramatically expand government control over the free flow of information. Leading this movement is Federal Communications Commission "diversity czar" Mark Lloyd and several current and former members of an oxymoronically-dubbed organization known as "Free Press." Obsessed with the notion of removing America's capitalist system "brick by brick" and creating a socialist nation, Lloyd and his "Free Press" allies view the leveling of the current media apparatus in America as a critical step in that process. In fact, they have supported Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez in his efforts to limit freedom of the press in that country. "Free Press" advocates aren't even bothering to hide their ideological endgame, either. In an August 2009 interview with The Socialist Project, "Free Press" leader Robert McChesney acknowledges that the group aims to bring about a "marked shift to the political left." In addition to Lloyd, former "Free Press" spokeswoman Jen Howard currently serves as the spokeswoman for new FCC commissioner Julius Genachowski. Also, former Obama "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones – who was forced to resign his post last month after his communist past was exposed – is a "Free Press" board member. Beyond just appointing representatives of these radical, anti-democratic groups to critical positions in government, Obama is also beginning to reverse himself on critical policy positions related to the maintenance of a free press. For example, Obama originally claimed that he opposed the notion of a media bailout – which would dramatically expand governmental influence over the Fourth Estate – but he recently said that he was "happy to look at" a proposal to "rescue" U.S. newspapers. Also, in light of his appointment of individuals who favor government regulation of radio and new media content, there is also legitimate concern that Obama and his supporters will attempt to re-impose the failed "Fairness Doctrine," which gave government the right to fine and censor media outlets that did not present a bureaucratically-established definition of "balanced" coverage. Over the last nine months, politicians in Washington have undertaken a systematic assault on the American marketplace. Sadly, it appears they are now turning their fire on the "marketplace of ideas." The author is Chairman of Americans for Limited Government. http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1635
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