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August 3rd, 2009
Dear Liberty Activist, Operation Private Option is in full effect! And in order to defeat ObamaCare when the House and Senate return from their August recess, your efforts now must be to directing enough members of Congress to vote against the bill. They need to feel the summer heat—and I know you can and will help. That means tea party rallies, protests, letter-writing campaigns, phone calls, faxes—everything including the kitchen sink! Click here for a list of 40 Blue Dogs who signed a letter against ObamaCare earlier this month, promising not to support a proposal that was not "deficit-neutral". Critically, I have expanded the list to include a district office address, phone number, and fax number. One of our readers also sent us a useful email list, which is also included. And some of you don't have Microsoft Excel. So, here's a .pdf version of the same list. These are members to target, because ObamaCare will, according to Kaiser Health News cost at least $1.5 trillion. And the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Douglas Elmendorf, has testified the legislation does not include "the fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount." "On the contrary," Elmendorf said, "the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health-care." Elmendorf testified that the cost curve of government spending on health care is being raised above its current levels instead of cut. These Blue Dogs need to put their money where their mouths are. They promised to vote against legislation that would expand the national debt, and yet members Mike Ross, Baron Hill, Zack Space, and Bart Gordon have waffled, voting to move the bill to get out of the Energy and Commerce committee and to the floor of the House for a vote after Labor Day. Who do they represent? The Democrat majority? Or you? Now that Congress is home for the month, it's time to begin meeting with them in person. Click here for members in the House, and here for those in the Senate. You can look up district office information on each member's individual page. Only if there is a constant drumbeat of opposition from you and your neighbors against ObamaCare—which will most assuredly leave the American people with another unsustainable entitlement—will it be defeated. It's up to you. In today's Liberty Action Report, opposition to ObamaCare will find Congressman Mike Ross (AR-CD4) singing the Arkansas Blues as two local tea party leaders vow to make their voices heard, Capitol South returns with the Senator attending a town hall meeting with constituents, Barack Obama and Professor Gates decide what is the fair dispensation of justice, and the Clews-Todd Report returns analyzing ObamaCare. Plus, the Washington Examiner picks up ALG cartoonist William Warren's recent 'toon on the Gates-Crowley affair. Please send your letters to the editor at Robert@getliberty.org. We publish all points of view! Today, Jim and Carol Hall of Newport News, VA write, "We hope our representatives in Congress will look carefully at our Constitution. First of all, they need to read it! Obviously, some of them have not. The Government is not responsible for regulating our health care or any other facet of our private lives. We hope they will listen to their constituents if they want to be elected again. The majority of Americans do not want this intrusion into our lives. Congress, do not pass this health care reform bill. We do not want it!" Thanks for the note, Jim and Carol. There's no question that Congress has virtually no constitutional role to play in regulating the administration of health care in our great nation. And certainly every member of Congress should be wary of what they do and do not have the power to do. They clearly haven't the fuzziest idea. For Liberty, Robert Romano P.S. Want to show your support? Help us out with a small donation today!
Open Source & Copyright Free Operation
Private Option Day 1: The Arkansas Blues Capitol
South President
Obama and the Professor Went Off the Deep End The
Clews - Todd Report ALG
in the News: William Warren in the Critical Eye
Day 1: The Arkansas BluesBy Robert Romano ALG Editor's Note: As even some of the mainstream media are beginning to notice, a grassroots rebellion against the Obama agenda is sweeping the nation. This is the first of a series of articles on the highly vociferous movement that is shaking the politicians to their boots in the roots. Congressman Mike Ross (AR-CD4) may need a vacation after his August recess, which officially begins today. Just ask Glen Gallas and John Wilson, two tea party leaders who intend on giving Representative Ross an earful for voting in favor of ObamaCare on Friday in the Energy and Commerce committee, sending the bill to the floor of the House to be reconciled with two other equally odious versions of the legislation. "We cannot afford this," said Wilson, head of the El Dorado Tea Party outfit. "It's unsustainable. Everybody in Washington knows it. We cannot keep spending this kind of money. Just look at California—the way California is going the U.S. is going to go." Gallas agrees: "If we continue along this path our country will be but a shadow of its former self. We must stop this trend before it is too late." He started his efforts, like hundreds of thousands of other Americans, because he was concerned about the direction his country was going in, and saw a "blurring of party lines. No longer could I tell the difference between the various political parties particularly in the things that mattered to me most. The first being Liberty." Gallas believes liberty "can only be had when a government is restrained and our government has been acting like a bull in a china shop." His choice was clear: "I decided to express my frustration through the tea party movement. It was an incredible experience as so many people came together with one voice to express their dissatisfaction with their government as well as their love for their country. I am a small business owner and own a plumbing and electrical services company." For Wilson's part, he is a disabled veteran who was working as a medical laboratory technician—where, appropriately enough, he drew blood. However, it was getting to be too much for his knees, and he asked for modifications to make it easier for him to complete his work. Two weeks later he was fired, and he is highly motivated to take his former employer to task. He said he was discriminated against on account of his disability, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Unfortunately for Mike Ross, Wilson is taking this same dogged determination to convincing Ross to vote against what Kaiser Health News estimates will be at least a $1.5 trillion government-run socialized medicine program and what the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Douglas Elmendorf, testified would not include "the fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount." "On the contrary," Elmendorf said, "the
legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for
health-care." Elmendorf testified that the cost curve of government
spending on health care is being raised above its current levels
instead of cut. In El Dorado, Wilson's group has been demonstrating in front of the court house for months. They have previously thanked Ross for voting against the controversial energy tax passed in June out of the House, and they expect him to continue to listen to his constituents. Wilson has even galvanized local business leaders: "They're with us, they're behind us, and they'll stand up and speak." Wilson has been very pleased with their enthusiasm, saying the business leaders have "given all the support we can ask for." Gallas was unsurprised that Ross had recently changed his views on the legislation: "Mike Ross is exactly what is wrong with politicians today. They just don't get it." Previously, Ross had been leading a rebellion of some 40 Blue Dog Democrats, promising not to support legislation that was not "deficit-neutral." But after reaching a compromise with Energy and Commerce chairman Henry Waxman, Ross touted that $100 billion had been cut from the bill. Then, more liberal members of the caucus balked, and the cuts were whittled down to $50 billion. Wilson was angry. "Who do you represent? Since you're not representing your constituents?" he asked of Ross. When asked who he thought they were representing, he said, "As far as I'm concerned, they're lap dogs, not Blue Dogs. They'll do whatever Nancy Pelosi tells them to do, regardless of what the folks of Arkansas want." Both citizen leaders intend to meet with Ross. "I would love to meet with Mike and discuss with him why he thinks this is good for our country and why he thinks it is good for Arkansas," said Gallas. "I am going to talk to him, one way or another, and we'll let him know just how displeased the constituents here in southern Arkansas are with him," said Wilson. Gallas said that the strength of his movement is growing, and they intend on having a greater political impact in the region: "Each event we have had has grown. The tea party was 452 the Freedom rally was 696. We have a solid group committed to reducing the size of government, controlling spending, and the restoration of the Constitution as the fundamental legal document strictly interpreted and resolutely followed." Wilson was impressed by the tea party rally he attended on April 15th. "There were some loud folks. They were really fired up," he said. With a $11.4 trillion-and-rising national debt, a $1.8 trillion projected deficit that is expected to exceed expectations, neither of these leaders said they believed the government was reducing in size or scope. Said Gallas, "The Bible says that the borrower is servant to the lender. Who is America's lender? China! Debt is never good and excessive debt is deadly." He doesn't believe members of Congress intend on rolling back that trend: "Our problems are caused by out of controlling spending and the solution is exactly the opposite—controlled spending. And the only want to reduce debt is to make more than you spend and the only way that can happen is for our economy to grow. We must stop the shell game and expand Americas awareness to what is going on. I love my country but I hate the direction it is heading." Wilson agreed. "I am deathly afraid for the future. The way I see things now, we're moving towards a communist regime. We're going to wind up in a place we were never supposed to be." Perhaps after hearing from constituents like Gallas and Wilson, Mike Ross may see things a little differently. Or perhaps he'll consider it a vacation when Congress comes back into session in September, and he can put the summer blues behind him. Robert Romano is the ALG Senior News Editor. http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1429 Capitol South
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=1428 President Obama and the Professor Went Off the Deep EndBy Andy Murcia It was painful watching the story unfold out of Cambridge, MA, last week -- the one about Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. of Harvard University and his confrontation with Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley. And it quickly became excruciating when President Barack Obama decided to get into the thick of it with his ugly accusations about racial profiling. It all began when one of Prof. Gates' neighbors spotted two men trying to pry a door open at his house in the early morning hours. She called 911. The police responded to the possible burglary in progress and found the two men in the house. One of them was the professor, who immediately started yelling at the police, claiming that he was in his own house and that the officer's attempt to question him was nothing more than racial profiling. The officer claims he gave the professor several chances to stop raising hell, but he refused. The cop said he even displayed his handcuffs to the professor, suggesting he might be jailed if he kept it up. But once again the professor refused. The cop and another witness state that the professor walked after the officer and continued to make accusations of racism. Finally, the cop placed him under arrest on a charge of disorderly conduct and cuffed him. Once the story broke, Pres. Obama, who says he's a friend of the professor, was asked about the incident at his press conference last week. Though Obama conceded he didn't know all the facts of the case, he still said it seemed to him the police acted "stupidly," and suggested it was all a matter of racial profiling. Yes, folks, our President, Barack Obama, a former law professor, made this finding -- even though he did not have the facts of the case and was not a witness to any of it. Along the way, the President said a few other things that make it clear he sides with the black professor over the white cop. For instance, he said Sgt. Crowley "pulled" Prof. Gates from his house. I just wonder how many of those seasoned reporters – and experienced officers nationwide -- will pick up on that word "pulled"? The reports I've heard say the professor walked out of his house, following after the cop, while still refusing to stop his disorderly and nasty comments. That's when he was arrested. When I was a cop, "b.s. beefers," the term we used for those folks who would make a false report against a hard-working cop, liked to use words like "he pulled me out of my car" or he "snatched me out of my bed," etc., etc. So you know my antenna went up when I heard the President use that familiar word "pulled" when referring to a police officer's actions. But then, I should remember that before he became president, Obama was a black man walking the streets of Chicago, perhaps feeling in some ways that he was a racial target for the cops there. Perhaps his bad choice of word usage reveals what law professors teach us about the Latin term, res gestae, meaning a "spontaneous exclamation," one that is extemporaneous -- and usually reflects one's true character. If so, all I can say to Barack Obama is this: In the end, as our President, you had better get this economy fixed ASAP, stop these wars like you promised, and stop spending so much of my great-grand kids money -- or you will be going back to Chicago forthwith. My retirement account does not care what color you are, just fix it, man! And lastly, only real "stupid" guys accuse others of acting "stupidly" when they don't know all the facts. Stay presidential and leave that "community organizer" gig behind you now. ALG News contributor Andy Murcia is a former Chicago Police Sergeant, the husband of Ann Jillian, an veteran actress. His column appears regularly at TheColumnists.com. http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1427 The Clews - Todd Report
ALG Editor's Note: The above is the second episode of an ALG News weekly video featuring politicial veterans Executive Editor Carter Clews and Research Director Don Todd. http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1426
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