Rattlesnake Country

Tea Party Express Pre-Election Live Streaming

2010-10-16T12:03:00.002-07:00

This could be a fantastic campaign tool ... if it works!

Another excellent definition of "Statism"

2010-02-15T09:41:00.001-07:00

God Bless Mark Levin for writing his best selling book: "Liberty and Tyranny."

A friend downloaded Levin's book to his Kindle. He searched for "statist/statism" and found some 248 entries.

It is such a communicative term that is woefully under-used and not well understood.

Here is a link to our friends at Taxing Tennessee where another excellent definition of "statism" appears:

Link: http://taxingtennessee.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-grassroots-rebellion-might-grow.html

STATISM: Government that colludes so easily and instinctively with powerful private interests. (That means unions, too!)

Beware of Gonorrhea Lectim

2010-01-26T16:57:00.001-07:00

The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of Sexually Transmitted Disease. The disease is contracted through dangerous and high-risk behavior, especially in areas high in polling places. The disease is called "Gonorrhea Lectim."

Many victims showed symptoms of it in 2008. Yet after having been screwed repeatedly during the past year or so, Naturalists and Epidemiologists are amazed at how destructive this disease has become since it is readily apparent to most of the general public but not reported in the liberal media. However, even though the effects are known, a large portion of the public continue to ignore the signs such as life terms, kickbacks, secret liaisons, broken promises, pain of withering income, public embarrassment at many levels, etc.

Many of these people continually go back for more simply because it is easy and they don't think about it before acting at the polls. Experts say that this terrible disease is very easily cured... by simply voting out all incumbents in the next state and national elections! -- (Unknown Author)

Why Is Capitalism So Unpopular?

2009-09-07T10:01:00.001-07:00

"The academics envision a grand world, where Great Men fight Great Wars, periodically inventing Great Things or developing Great Ideas. Instead, the market provides us with incremental processes, which expend enormous piles of resources, in a quest to make better Triscuits. It is hardly the stuff of high drama, to say nothing of Great History."

Here is the link to the entire article by Art Carden, who is an assistant professor of economics and business at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee and an adjunct fellow with the Oakland, California–based Independent Institute. He was a summer research fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute in 2003 and a visiting research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research in June, 2008.

My fake Kenyan Birth Certificate

2009-08-06T10:07:00.003-07:00

You too can create your own fake Kenyan Birth Certificate

Did Aliens breed leftist politicians in 1947?

2009-07-08T10:40:00.001-07:00

Some of you will recall that on July 8, 1947, a little over 60 years ago, witnesses claim that an unidentified flying object (UFO) with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and mule ranch just outside Roswell , New Mexico .

This is a well known incident that many say has long been covered up by the U.S. Air Force and other federal agencies and organizations.

However, what you may NOT know is that in the month of April 1948, nine months after that historic day, the following people were born: Albert A. Gore, Jr., Hillary Rodham, John F. Kerry, William J. Clinton, Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein, Charles E. Schumer and Barbara Boxer.

See what happens when aliens breed with sheep and jackasses?

I certainly hope this bit of information clears up a lot of things for you. It did for me.

No wonder they support the bill to help illegal aliens!

Now You Know!

Hat Tip: Bits & Pieces

I Love this Doctor (Real Health Care Reform)

2009-06-18T09:01:00.001-07:00

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true? A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables? A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake? A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio? A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program? A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you? A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!! ..... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle? A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me? A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans ! Another vegetable!!! It's the best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure? A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle? A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

And remember: 'Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO, What a Ride'

AND..... For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION

Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

You bes' be listenin' to yo Mises

2009-03-21T09:24:00.001-07:00

Nobel Laureate Ludwig Von Mises, an Austrian School economist, also foresaw all of what we face because he too lived through the Great Depression as well as the rise of Hitler after the Wiemar Republic.

What governments did to create and prolong those fragile economies mirrors what Obama and Bernanke are doing now.

Here is what Mises said about credit expansion:

"There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.

"The credit expansion boom is built on the sands of banknotes and deposits. It must collapse.

"The boom is called good business, prosperity, and upswing. Its unavoidable aftermath, the readjustment of conditions to the real data of the market, is called crisis, slump, bad business, depression.

"The boom squanders through malinvestment scarce factors of production and reduces the stock available through over-consumption; its alleged blessings are paid for by impoverishment.

"The boom produces impoverishment. But still more disastrous are its moral ravages. It makes people despondent and dispirited. The more optimistic they were under the illusory prosperity of the boom, the greater is their despair and their feeling of frustration. The individual is always ready to ascribe his good luck to his own efficiency and to take it as a well-deserved reward for his talent, application, and probity. But reverses of fortune he always charges to other people, and most of all to the absurdity of social and political institutions. He does not blame the authorities for having fostered the boom. He reviles them for the inevitable collapse. In the opinion of the public, more inflation and more credit expansion are the only remedy against the evils which inflation and credit expansion have brought about."

Click here to watch the video titled: "The TARP Song, They're giving money away for free!"

Obama on Leno: Bowling skills like Special Olympics

2009-03-19T19:08:00.001-07:00

Without his trusty Teleprompter of the United States (TOTUS) Obama relates his bowling skills to the Special Olympics.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/c85ow9

And, Keith Olberhole of MSN-BS, asks "What are WE going to do ... er what is HE going to to about it?"

Already the lefty blogs are screeeeeming at Olberhole for mentioning it on the air, because there was still time to edit out Obama's demeaning remark before broadcast.

Outstanding Tea Party Video -- Power to the People

2009-03-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

This is a high quality video production on the recent Tea Party Protests held in over 50 cities against the liberals' Porkulus spending bill.

The creator of this video, Paul Williams requests:

Download a copy of this video at http://tinyurl.com/bgp2q2 and then forward, repost and embed this video everywhere!March 2009 - In these economic/political times more and more Americans are getting mad as hell and are refusing to take it anymore.

It's time to get involved:

http://www.taxdayteaparty.com/
http://tinyurl.com/6y9efg
http://tinyurl.com/c6w3ng http://www.tcotreport.com/
http://newamericanteaparty.com/
http://www.reteaparty.com/
http://michellemalkin.com/category/tea-party/

Test for Dementia

2009-03-11T18:14:00.001-07:00

Test consists of four (4) questions and a bonus question. You have to answer them instantly. You can't take your time, answer all of them immediately.

Click here for test: http://tinyurl.com/amtdrd

Good News: Republicans are Leaderless!

2009-03-11T14:29:00.001-07:00

“Liberals want to change the world. Conservatives want to be left alone. Guess who’ll win?” – Billboard in Caldwell, ID.

There is much talk at this time about the Republican Party being “leaderless”. The Obamabots tried to position the Golden Microphone, Rush Limbaugh, as leader of the GOP.

Many elected GOP’ers are trying, to varying degrees, to become leader(s). Some embrace Limbaugh’s call for socialist-leaning Obama to fail; others middle-of-the-road it; others reject his call.

Limbaugh rightly doesn’t care what positions the politicians take. Nobel Laureate James Buchanan aptly developed the “Public Choice Theory” basically showing politicians act according to their own self-interest (read, preservation) while the ethereal “national or public interest” takes a back seat. Actually, there is no such thing as the public interest or the greater good. Only individual interests or goods are real.

Conservatives are terrible joiners. They tend to be self actualized, not needing to identify with groups. Liberals love community.

Republicans are in the party mostly for ego enhancement and power. Conservatives vote and work for Republicans to hopefully promote their personal values. Most of the time, conservatives are very disappointed at Republican results. The three George Bush’s terms are perfect examples.

Republicans don’t often win elections without energizing conservatives. Many Republicans don’t want conservative leaders or candidates.

Thus, Republicans are now leaderless, which is good, and which will win elections.

Here is why. The old organization model of elected Republican leaders deciding matters from the top-down is thankfully gone; destroyed by the 2006 and 2008 elections.

Emerging is a conservative catallaxy, “[out of chaos] an order without planned ends, characterized by the ‘spontaneous order’ which emerges when individuals pursue their own ends within a framework set by laws and tradition,” as per Nobel Laureate Friedrich A. Hayek. I might add “and technology,” too.

For example, the individuals who started Top Conservatives On Twitter (#tcot) were among many who called for and offered a clearinghouse for the recent Tea Party protests that occurred in over 50 cities, only six days after the now famous “Rant Heard ‘Round the World” by MSNBC’s financial commentator Rick Santelli. One protester, noting her amazement at the 1400+ turnout, said that conservatives rarely participate in events such as these.

Pretty good! The Tea Party Protests were but the beta test for said conservative catallaxy. This wasn’t a Republican National Committee (RNC) designed program. Only a few elected Republicans pitched in to help and they are generally grassroots-styled conservatives who happened to get elected by surviving the GOP “leadership” gauntlet of candidate selection.

The next beta test for #tcot, et. al. will be the upcoming April 15th Tea Party Protest. Will individuals again pursue their own ends spontaneously?

I was unable to attend a Tea Party Protest but I did participate. I spontaneously stapled a NOBAMA tag on a tea bag, placed it in a toilet, took a picture and uploaded the photo for other twitter’ers to use. This was my individual contribution to the protest. Again, I did this with no leadership from the Republicans.

Now, multiply my miniscule spontaneous effort by millions and millions. This is the free-market at work in the marketplace of ideas. Good ideas will be shared (an order without planned ends) then “purchased” by millions and millions using such miniscule efforts as currency.

“The average man is both better informed and less corruptible when buying in the marketplace than when voting in political elections,” said another Nobel Laureate Ludwig Von Mises. Need I mention ACORN?

To his credit, newly minted RNC chairman Michael Steele appears to be dusting out the old top-down model of power seeking.

If he focuses on what the RNC can do to contribute to the millions and millions of energetic individuals who are pursuing their own ends, instead of trying to attract millions and millions to join the RNC to further its ends; Steele may find a fountain of eager supporters helping him.

After all, this is the timeless struggle of the individual vs. the collective. Consider the RNC actually siding and demonstrating in its actions that it favors the individual. The liberals love community and obviously community organizers.

Let’s test it again in the marketplace of ideas. Let’s see who purchases the collective. Have faith in the marketplace, not in politics and especially not in political leaders.

The old RNC paradigm was the Republican collective vs. the Democrat collective. Shift it to the individual who happens to vote Republican.

The liberals will be totally exposed and who is going to buy that? ... Rick Santelli, or now, big-time Democrat supporter “Mad Money” Jim Cramer? Remember the protester with the sign reading: “Your mortgage is not my problem.” It encapsulates the individual vs. the collective. Guess who’ll win?

Judicial Watch Uncovers Documents Detailing Pelosi's Repeated Requests for Military Travel

2009-03-10T11:25:00.001-07:00

[Clip]:

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents from the Department of Defense (DOD) detailing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's multiple requests for military air travel. The documents, obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), include internal DOD email correspondence detailing attempts by DOD staff to accommodate Pelosi's numerous requests for military escorts and military aircraft as well as the speaker's last minute cancellations and changes. The following are a few highlights from the documents, which are linked in full below:

Click here to read the full news release ...

Liberty Spuds comment ... Pelosi = Elite/Snob Diva

Make Mine Freedom over Statism (Video)

2009-03-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

Make Mine Freedom: A new release from the Moving Picture Institute: A 1948 cartoon extolling the virtues of freedom and capitalism over statism.

Obama is both state and religion combined

2009-02-14T10:19:00.001-07:00

Obama books displayed under "Religion" at Texas bookstore

Try the Obama Speech Generator

2009-01-18T09:05:00.001-07:00

Write your own 0bama speech by filling in the blanks at the 0bama Speech Generator: http://tinyurl.com/6tc57d

'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years

2009-01-09T19:45:00.001-07:00

Wall Street Journal editor Stephen Moore wrote an article (1-9-08) drawing parallels of today's massive debt crisis and Ayn Rand's influential book "Atlas Shrugged." Below is an excerpt of his article. Link

One memorable moment in "Atlas" occurs near the very end, when the economy has been rendered comatose by all the great economic minds in Washington. Finally, and out of desperation, the politicians come to the heroic businessman John Galt (who has resisted their assault on capitalism) and beg him to help them get the economy back on track. The discussion sounds much like what would happen today:

Galt: "You want me to be Economic Dictator?"

Mr. Thompson: "Yes!"

"And you'll obey any order I give?"

"Implicitly!"

"Then start by abolishing all income taxes."

"Oh no!" screamed Mr. Thompson, leaping to his feet. "We couldn't do that . . . How would we pay government employees?"

"Fire your government employees."

"Oh, no!"

Blago should rescind Burris and appoint a GOP'er

2009-01-08T15:20:00.001-07:00

Now Blagojevich should rescind the Burris nomination since the US Senate has tainted his appointment and postponed the law by not seating him.

Blago's next move -- to throw the corrupt fish-headed politicians into full flatulence frenzy -- would be then to appoint a REPUBLICAN to take 0bama's old Senate seat.

Frankly, what does Blago have to lose?

More on FDR's depression

2008-12-31T10:17:00.001-07:00

FDR has been widely hailed as a hero. He was no such thing. FDR's policies in fact caused a second wave of depression after the original downdraft that originated in 1929. This is not commonly reported but it is in fact true - there was a second, nearly 20% contraction in GDP that occurred as a direct consequence of FDR's policies. Repeating what FDR did to any material degree will not help, and any apparent "relief" will be false.

Source: Market Ticker

How FDR extended the depression

2008-12-31T09:57:00.001-07:00

Amity Shleas WoPo article on lessons of FDR's depression: http://tinyurl.com/7o2zxd She takes a poke at Greenspan, too!

Blago's Senate pick Burris has already constructed his terrifying death chamber

2008-12-30T17:16:00.001-07:00

See Roland Burris' terrifying death chamber: http://tinyurl.com/9z84g9

Re: New batteries to store windpower juice

2008-12-29T11:54:00.001-07:00

"Right now, they're a little too expensive,"

It might be more economical to build a nuke plant, use the nuke to generate electricity. Use that electricity to run a giant fan sitting right in front of the wind turbine. That way, the turbine can generate consistent wind power cheaply.

Hat tip FreeRepublic Post #4

Obama Parrots FDR

2008-12-29T10:51:00.001-07:00

Obama parrots FDR

With public works both wide and far

By spending us into prosperity

He'll add seven years to our misery.

Merry Christmas from Free Marketers (You Tube)

2008-12-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas from Free Marketers (You Tube)

LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA

2008-12-13T20:34:00.001-07:00

LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA -- Hat Tip: Market Ticker

That's the sound of someone with their fingers in their ears making noise so they don't have to listen to the person talking in front of them.

The list includes:

Congress - warned explicitly in 1991 that repeal of Glass-Steagall was a bad idea and would lead to exactly what we're seeing now. LALALALALA.
Congress (again) - warned repeatedly by the SEC in 2000 that removing caps on leverage (Requested by none other than Henry Paulson!) was demonstrably unsound (by the SEC of the time) - LALALALALALA.
The SEC - warned about Madroff by Harry Markopolos - in writing - that Madroff was the world's largest Ponzi Scheme. LALALALALALALA.
Alan Greenpan's fantasies were ignored by Congress and still are. But he did tell people what he was going to do and was up to in trying to thwart a mathematical long-wave cycle (Kondratieff Winter) and also stated that if he failed, what would occur would make The Depression look like "A Sunday-school picnic." LALALALALALALALA.
The FBI and Congress (again) - there were petitions sent to Congress on behalf of thousands of property appraisers as far back as 2001 noting the pressure to falsify numbers. LALALALALALALA.
Treasury and The Federal Reserve - the debt-to-GDP numbers are right in their face (hell, they report most of the base data!) but they think they can keep taking on debt to "solve" a solvency problem. LALALALALALALALA.
US Consumers - There are only two ways to fix their balance sheets - sell the assets on which the debt is carried and pay it off or spend less than you earn. There is no third choice. LALALALALALALALA.
Congress (again) - Bernanke and Paulson ("Subprime is contained", "We are not and will not go into recession", "The economy is fundamentally sound", etc etc etc.) Accountability for what are now known to be clear lies? LALALALALALALALA.
Regulators in the R/E industry of all stripes - LandAmerica, a big title insurance company, has filed for bankruptcy. Why? Because instead of actually performing title searches title companies have been outsourcing the work to foreigners in places like India, where the so-called "search" has turned into nothing more than a quick dig through electronic records. Of course when there are real claims on the title the company is then on the hook and can't pay; instant boom! Where is the investigation of this obvious misrepresentation of what the purchaser of that policy bought? LALALALALALALALALALA.
Obama still seems to think he can "soften the blow" by spending a trillion more (that we don't have.) He obviously hasn't bothered paying attention to the debt-to-GDP numbers, or to what happened in the 1930s as GDP fell away. This plan, if implemented, will give it to us in both holes as GDP will fall at the precise same time that debt increases. LALALALALALALALALA.
Californicated is running a monster deficit and threatening to implode. Republicans are refusing to raise taxes while Democrats are refusing to cut spending. Neither party pays any attention to the fact that the state has been spending money that doesn't really exist (as a consequence of the housing bubble) on illegal immigrants from various social programs to schooling to jailing illegals instead of shipping them all home. As with the rest of the states, they spent all of the money during the flush years, and are now in serious trouble. LA LA LA LA LA LA.
The Fed, Treasury and Congress all have known for years about the fact that banks were making bad loans that had no chance of being paid. The warnings were copious and unending. LALALALALALALALALA.
Congress (again) still refuses to force financial institutions to state their actual, real, total exposure to bad debt, bring everything back onto balance sheets and stop marking to fantasy. Yes, that would mean we'd all get to see the bankruptcies in front of us. Its easier to stick your head in the sand. LALALALALALALALALA.

There's lots more but I think you get the point. If you still are having trouble figuring it out, here 'ya go - a picture is worth 1000 words.

Political Power: Pay to Play vs. Play then Pay

2008-12-10T08:14:00.003-07:00

PROBLEM: Illinois Gov. Blagojevich's naked use of political power is known as "Pay to Play" whereby a consideration is given, then a government favor is dispersed. The most egregious of such considerations is direct personal enrichment of the individual politician, i.e., "Cold Cash" Jefferson, Sen. Stevens, et. al. Most direct personal enrichments are illegal.

Less egregious Pay to Play are indirect enrichments like political campaign contributions or employing a spouse/crony/relative first, then government favor later. Some of these enrichments are illegal.

However, the "Play then Pay" use of political power is almost never considered illegal. It's use is not "naked," or in legal words "quid pro quo" since the favor is dispersed first.

Sophisticated politicians and government favor recipients further distance themselves from the illegal "quid pro quo" by using the mostly legal "quo pro quid." And, the most practiced politicians use the totally legal "quo pro assumed quid" method to dispense government favor. This method might be described as a "wink-and-a-nod" if such a physical gesture is needed at all.

Another description of "quo pro quid" among politicians themselves could be "vote swapping," a common tactic used within various legislative bodies build working majorities.

I hope this helps explain the difference between the legal and illegal use of political power.

SOLUTION: Minimal government.

For further study Google Nobel Prize winning "Public Choice Theory."

Obama, here's why your FDR CCC 2.0 won't work

2008-12-09T14:09:00.001-07:00

CCC = Civilian Conservation Corps

To Obama's Transition Team

2008-12-09T06:41:00.002-07:00

To Obama's Transition Team

American Solutions For American Problems
And why the "conventional wisdom" won't work
by Karl Denninger (Excerpts)

(...) When one compares the GDP and total US Debt, you find a striking fact – there has been no actual GDP growth at all in the last eight years. In fact, you can go back through President Clinton's second term in office and you will find the same thing – the entirety of so-called "growth" since 1996 was in fact growth in debt, not GDP.

Once we understand the foundation of what has happened, we can then look at the basic facts surrounding our economy. These facts include:

There has been no actual GDP growth for more than ten years; claiming "growth" from increased debt is exactly identical to my going out and borrowing $200,000 on my credit cards, then claiming to be $200,000 richer. I am in fact poorer than when I started since I must not only repay the $200,000 but must also pay interest on it!
We have replaced productive output (building cars, computers, TV sets, washing machines, etc) with non-productive output (shuffling paper, creating "financial innovation", etc)
"Financial innovation" is in fact equity-stripping; if there is 300 basis points of profit available in a bundle of mortgages over the reference rate (e.g. 10 year swaps), that's all there is. You can allocate who gets the 300 basis points but you cannot increase the amount of actual profit available. Financial "innovation" is in fact a fraud as the only means by which you can obtain more than originally existed is through lying; this is typically accomplished through obfuscation and opacity (e.g. CDOs with 100,000 pages of underlying documentation which are flatly impossible to read due to volume before the purchase decision is made.)
The fiscal and monetary policies of the previous ten years and more have been insanely inflationist, causing the prices of necessary goods and services, such as homes, education and health care, to skyrocket, while global wage arbitrage has caused real standards of living to decline for 90% of Americans. We must stop this now if we are to have a working middle class in this nation going forward.

(...) From this we find the foundation for solutions that are driven first by mathematical necessity, and then by maintenance and improvement of the public weal, both directly and indirectly. These are: (Click here to read solutions)

HAT TIP: Excellent blog ... Highly recommended! -- The Market Ticker

Election Success: Don't move from conservative to Republican

2008-12-03T08:57:00.001-07:00

Tennessee State Rep. Stacy Campfield explains election success and how to maintain a majority now that the GOP controls both the Tennessee House and Senate even in the Obama electoral wave.

New level, New Devil

As I said in my last political post I think [Tennessee] Republicans have a very strong shot of not only maintaining the majority but also expanding it. Is that a guarantee? No. While I do not see the Democrats taking majority from us (The issues and idea people are not over there) I do think Republicans can fumble the ball on their own.

How?

To look forward, we must look back. Over the years I have had the opportunity to speak with and listened to several Republicans who were part of the Reagan revolution as well as many people who have worked long and hard to put us in the majority. They all seem to offer similar advice on what to do and what not to do.

I hear a lot of "Don't let happen what happened to us", "Let Tennessee be a leader for the country to see why Republicans should lead again"

These are the top 9 things I gleaned....

1. Don't Compromising values for power, position and money. Campaigns and leadership, if done correctly, are hard work for regular people. In the legislature people don't necessarily offer bribes (As far as I know) but it is well known who gives money and the issues that are important to them. Some fear loosing the money or having that money used against them. They would rather compromise their principles then possibly offend some group and have to do the physical work of a campaign against the big money people. In the long run though, it will disenfranchise people from us and our message.

2. Family values does not means "involvement" with multiple people from different families outside your own. We won on family values. Republicans are held to a higher standard on social issue. When one of us stumbles it pulls down the entire team. Proof can be seen at the national level where one Republican and a male intern or bathroom stall incident pulls down the entire party at election time. Should someone screw up at the wrong time it could hurt us all.

3. Don't move from conservative to Republican. The warnings came from many people that saw it happen in congress. After six or eight years many of the conservatives retired from congress back into private life. What replaced them were not true believers but were more liberal or moderates who ran on the ticket as Republicans but served as liberal Democrats. They lost the strong conservative agenda that swept Republicans into power. It diluted the brand message. It just took time to be exposed and removed.

4. Don't get cocky and lazy. Do not stop doing the things that got us there. Hard work, door to door, going to events having listening tours, doing surveys, etc..

5. Not pushing what we promised. Many groups worked hard to help us get where we are. They expect and deserve to be rewarded for that hard work by our following through with what we promised them. Homeschooling groups, legal gun owners, right to life groups have great expectations.

6. Don't fall for the Bright lights, big city/Don't "Go Nashville".

Big parties and pretty people laughing at all your bad jokes can be very addicting to some people. They like the people so they fear loosing the friendship if they cut their department. It is so addicting that many people forget to go home. They forget that the only people that matter aren't their "Friends" in Nashville. They are the real friends back in their home district. The people in Nashville don't knock on doors, put up signs or stand at the polls for us. The people at home do.

7. Watch out for Personal greed. Some legislators have gotten "rich" from their time and connections in Nashville. Sooner or later it gets exposed and looks terrible. Our goal should not be to get rich or make our immediate friends and family rich because we are suddenly in power. It is to remove barriers to success for everyone. To give all people back more of their money so they they have an equal opportunity to make a living or get rich. As momma said "If you didn't come with it and it wasn't clearly part of the deal then don't leave with it."

8. Compromising for compromise sake. Trying to be everything to everybody is a sure way to sooner or later mean nothing to anybody. When some reasonable compromise can be reached it is fine but don't give away the farm to buy some chickens.

9. Power as a multiplier They say three things can really multiply the negative aspects of people. Money, drugs and power.

Now that we are in power we must guard against letting the negative sides of our personal nature get the best of us. Obviously as conservatives versus Liberals our ideas are going to greatly diverge but if A Democrat comes up with an idea it should get a fair hearing and an honest vote.

Statist Snob Sen. Harry Reid: We won't smell the tourists anymore

2008-12-02T10:45:00.001-07:00

Reid: We won't smell the tourists anymore

By Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin
POSTED December 2, 2008 | 11:00 AM DC Examiner.com

The Capitol Visitors Center, which opened this morning, may have tripled its original budget and fallen years behind schedule, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid found a silver lining for members of Congress: tourists won't offend them with their B.O. anymore.

"My staff tells me not to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway," said Reid in his remarks. "In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. It may be descriptive but it's true."

But it's no longer going to be true, noted Reid, thanks to the air conditioned, indoor space.

And that's not all. "We have many bathrooms here, as you can see," Reid continued. "Souvenirs are available."

$621 million well spent.

"We have many bathrooms here, as you can see," Reid continued.

(Editorial comment inserted below)

Interesting: Hillary Ineligible for Cabinet Post?

2008-11-25T06:37:00.001-07:00

It seems eligibility is in the news today. Via Instapundit, I read two articles, one at DailyKos and one at The Volokh conspiracy, regarding Hillary Clinton's eligibility to serve as Secretary of State for the Obama administration. My reading of the story online indicates the DailyKos blog came first.

The source of the issue is something called the Emoluments Clause, which is a clause in the Constitution that essentially states that, while a person is serving a term of office to which they were elected, he or she may not be appointed to any civil office which was newly created, or for which the compensation was increased in that same term. So because there was a pay raise given to the position of Secretary of State during Senator Clinton's current term, she is ineligible for appointment to this office. The wording: "No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office."

That's not all, either. This is not, apparently, the first time the issue has come up. Multiple examples are available at the sources above, but one in particular would be pertinent in the case of Hillary. When President Nixon wanted Sen. William Saxbe for his Attorney General, he had Congress reduce the wage, which had been increased and triggered the clause, in order to get around the restriction. The maneuver has been dubbed the "Saxbe fix".

SC To Have Sales Tax Free Holiday For Gun Sales

2008-11-24T18:54:00.002-07:00

We should do this in our state!

Link: Columbia, SC—Most people are probably unaware of it, but on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, handguns, rifles and shotguns will be sales tax free in South Carolina. State lawmakers passed a bill in June that includes the sales tax holiday on firearms. They called it the Second Amendment Recognition Act.

Rep. Mike Pitts, R-Greenwood, was the sponsor of the original bill. He said he got the idea after talking to the owners of a hunting outfitters shop in Clinton about the late summer sales tax holiday for back-to-school supplies and clothing. The store owners said they could use the stimulus, too. "It was to help dealers," Rep. Pitts says. "Another point was to bring recognition to the 2nd Amendment."

Kent Parsons, manager of Barron's Outfitters hunting and fishing store in Columbia, says the days after Thanksgiving are typically busy sales days anyway. He's hoping that even more people than usual will be buying shotguns and rifles from his store since they'll be sales tax free. Sales tax will still be charged on ammunition and accessories.

Global Socialists Toast Victory over America

2008-11-24T18:42:00.001-07:00

By Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media (11-16-08)

"...the growing anger over the endless series of taxpayer bailouts is getting louder and louder."

The American people may be losing their jobs and savings, but on Friday night, on the eve of the international financial summit, they provided President Bush and other G20 leaders a lavish banquet that included $300-a-bottle wine, Vermont Brie, eggplant fondue, and rack of lamb. Details of the "culinary delights" and "sumptuous feast" provided to the politicians who departed their black limousines were included in wire service stories. They were toasting the demise of America as a global economic and military superpower and planning to loot another trillion dollars from U.S. taxpayers.

Read the rest of this article ...

Mythical Creatures

2008-11-23T03:48:00.001-07:00

Quote from American Thinker:

I'm still searching for the mythical creature that is the "financially conservative, socially liberal" politician. In virtually every case, the pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage politician is the first to vote against a tax cut, the first to vote for more spending and quick to compromise principles on any issue there is.

Using the National Journal's ratings of Senators in 2007 , the correlation coefficient between "economic" scores and "social" scores is 90%. That means they almost always go together; financial conservatives are social conservatives and vice versa. Every Senator scoring above 60 in economic issues, scored above 50 in social ones. Every Senator scoring below 40 in economic issues, scored below 50 in social ones. If there is such an animal as a "financial conservative, social liberal", it does not exist in the US Senate.

By Randall Hoven

Shopping, Got Deer?

2008-11-17T22:13:00.001-07:00

Fun picture from South Carolina

Prescott, AZ -- Midnight McCain Rally (11/3/08)

2008-11-04T08:37:00.036-07:00

I arrived early to the historic place where Barry Goldwater announced his presidential candidacy -- the Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott, AZ. (The clock shows 6:00)

The advance crews were setting up for the midnight McCain speech. (Note the Boy Scout!)

Security then cleared everyone out the area until 9:00 pm to get the crowd through metal detectors.

I met some new friends and we passed the time at the local brew pub ...

We joined the big line to pass security and get into the rally. Some veterans were walking around the crowd with US and P.O.W. flags. The crowd rewarded them gratefully with cheers of support.

We were treated to one of the local Prescott bands performing in the gazebo.

The rally got going. The state dignitaries arrived. Pictured in the center is Cong. Duncan Hunter, who might become the Sec. of Defense in a McCain administration. Next to him is GOP House candidate Sydney Hays, a great American; Cong. Trent Franks, another great American; Cong. Jeff Flake came a bit later as did Cong. John Shaddag and Sen. Joe Lieberman!

Hank Williams Jr. performed some of his hits. I really howled when he sang his McCain-Palin adaptation of "Family Tradition." The first part of the new lyrics blasts the liberal news media, and those phonies deserve it. Sell all your stock in the liberal media! (Apologies for the picture quality. I was behind a tree and the light was funky for my little digital.)

And, of course, there is the obligatory idiot (with the Nobama T-shirt) yelling "Keep the White House white." Never give this jerk a job. That is my eye in the lower right. Other than the dingbat, the crowd very large and excited to be part of this historic event.

Then around 12:30 a.m. John McCain and his wife, Cindy, spoke to the crowd. The teleprompters were taken down just before he entered the stage. I imagine he has the stump speech down pat by now.

Fortunately, my fellow FReeper SparkyBass posted this photo of McCain, et. al on freerepublic.com. I poached and posted it here since my pictures were not as good as his. Interesting that we both were near and around the same place at the rally and we've never met. Anyway, thanks SparkyBass!

Here is another example of how close-knit our country is ... even with over 300 million people. My new friend pictured here came to the rally in large part because her uncle served with John McCain while they were POW's. Her uncle was one of our soldiers who didn't make it back.

Finally, to complete the story of the Midnight McCain Rally in Prescott, AZ; I asked permission to photograph the local Obamabots. They agreed and we wished each other good luck in the election.

It is rather odd to me that the Obamabots sprinkle skull images on their attire. They appear to be the peaceful culture of death; which, I believe, is reflective of the historic socialists who love you until you individually step out of line.

God Bless the USA!

Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis? (Censored once by YouTube)

2008-09-28T16:07:00.006-07:00

This video explanation is fast paced and powerful.

Share it with all your friends

Liberal Brain Chart

2008-09-13T18:26:00.001-07:00

Tingle, tinkle wittle star

2008-09-07T20:11:00.001-07:00

MSNBC host Chris Mathews on hearing Barack Obama speak:

"I had a tingle run up my leg."

MSNBC host Chris Mathews on hearing Sara Palin speak:

"I had a tinkle run down my leg."

Spanking McCain Ad

2008-08-26T18:25:00.002-07:00

Embarrassing Medical Moments

2008-08-09T07:52:00.001-07:00

Thought you might get a chuckle out of these ditties ... Big Rattler

-------------------------------------

1. A man comes into the ER and yells, 'My wife's going to have her baby in the cab!' I grabbed my stuff, rushed out to the cab, Lifted the lady's dress, and began to take off her underwear. Suddenly I noticed that there were several cabs ---and I was in the wrong one.
Submitted by Dr. Mark MacDonald, San Francisco

2. At the beginning of my shift I placed a stethoscope on an elderly and slightly deaf female patient's anterior chest wall. 'Big breaths,' I instructed. 'Yes, they used to be,' replied the patient.
Submitted by Dr. Richard Byrnes, Seattle , WA

3. One day I had to be the bearer of bad news when I told a wife that her husband had died of a massive myocardial infarct. Not more than five minutes later, I heard her reporting to the rest of the family that he had died of a 'massive internal fart.'
Submitted by Dr. Susan Steinberg, NYC, NY

4. During a patient's two week follow-up appointment with his cardiologist, he informed me, his doctor, that he was having trouble with one of his medications. 'Which one'? I asked. 'The patch, the Nurse told me to put on a new one every six hours and now I'm running out of places to put it!' I had him quickly undress and discovered what I hoped I wouldn't see. Yes, the man had over fifty patches on his body! Now, the instructions include removal of the old patch before applying a new one.
Submitted by Dr. Rebecca St. Clair, Norfolk , VA

5. While acquainting myself with a new elderly patient, I asked, 'How long have you been bedridden?' After a look of complete confusion she answered, "Why, not for about twenty years - when my husband was alive."
Submitted by Dr. Steven Swanson- Corvallis , OR

6. I was performing rounds at the hospital one morning and while checking up on a woman I asked, 'So how's your breakfast this morning?' 'It's very good, except for the Kentucky Jelly. I can't seem to get used to the taste' the patient replied. I then asked to see the jelly and the woman produced a foil packet labeled 'KY Jelly.'
Submitted by Dr. Leonard Kransdorf, Detroit , MI

7. A nurse was on duty in the Emergency Room when a young woman entered with purple hair styled into a punk rocker Mohawk, sporting a variety of tattoos, and wearing strange clothing. It was quickly determined that the patient had acute appendicitis, so she was scheduled for immediate surgery. When she was completely disrobed on the operating table, the staff noticed that her pubic hair had been dyed green, and above it there was a tattoo that read, 'Keep off the grass.' Once the surgery was completed, the surgeon wrote a short note on the patient's dressing, which said, 'Sorry, had to mow the lawn.'
Submitted by RN no name

AND FINALLY!!!................

8. As a new, young MD doing his residency in OB , I was quite embarrassed when performing female pelvic exams. To cover my embarrassment, I had unconsciously formed a habit of whistling softly. The middle-aged lady upon whom I was performing this exam suddenly burst out laughing and further embarrassing me. I looked up from my work and sheepishly said, 'I'm sorry. Was I tickling you?' She replied, 'No doctor, but the song you were whistling was, 'I wish I was an Oscar Meyer Wiener'.
Dr. wouldn't submit his name

Free Health Care -- Brain Surgery

2008-03-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

Hillarycare -- If it's free, its from me

2007-09-17T07:38:00.000-07:00

TANSTAAFL = There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

Our Public School Kids are Awesome

2007-09-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

This is not a homeschooler ...

Politicians vs. Taxpayers

2007-09-04T15:23:00.001-07:00

Politicians from every level prey on taxpayers and their family budgets. Here is a visual from Americans for Prosperity on how this constant pressures looks from the taxpayer's point of view.

What are you looking for in a president?

2007-09-04T06:59:00.000-07:00

Hugh Hewitt's interview with Duncan Hunter at the Texas Straw poll, which Hunter won.

My Dirty Dog

2007-09-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

Optical Illusions via sidewalk art

2007-08-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

I have to be maxed-out impressed by this sidewalk art that creates vivid optical illusions.

Here are a couple pictures and here is the link for more: http://o.pticalillusions.com/3d-sidewalk-art/

Drive-by Media's Hall of Shame

2007-08-17T09:36:00.000-07:00

This from Hugh Hewitt's blog:

Thursday, August 16, 2007

The List Posted by: Hugh Hewitt at 2:01 PM

The American Thinker's Randall Hoven puts together a list of the inductees in the MSM Hall of Shame.

(MSM=Mainstream Media)

THE letter-to-the-editor of the Year, so far ...

2007-08-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

August 8, 2007

Mr. Dean Stone, Editor
The Daily Times
307 E Harper Ave
Maryville, TN 37804

Subject: Pork Barrel vs. Bridge Repair

Dear Editor,

Nearly $7 million in U.S. Highway Transportation funds were secured by Senator Lamar Alexander for the construction of an unpopular funded Civic Arts Center located on the property of Maryville College. Most local taxpayers objected to the use of local tax money for this building which was not owned by the local governments. The Federal portion was just a forgotten background note as most citizens view Federal money as coming from some free source not directly linked to their tax dollars.

Now comes the Minnesota bridge collapse which is linked to a lack of funding (U.S. Highway Transportation) for repairing bridges. There is such a shortfall in available funding we hear that we might have to raise the Federal gasoline tax (which funds bridge repair). I say baloney! The funding to keep our bridges safe was there until numerous pork barrel projects such as the local Civic Arts Center robbed the funds.

Now to be sure, Lamar is not the only Senator to “bring home the bacon” from other Federally earmarked funds to his local friends. I am not trying to single him out. However, should Maryville College erect crosses in the lawn of the new Civic Arts Center in memory of the Minnesota people who died because someone took the funds from their bridge repair budget?

The Civic Arts Center was called a transportation improvement program in order to qualify for Federal funding. Was it given a higher priority than the Minnesota bridge? Pork Barrel projects always cost somebody; and some have paid with their lives. Kind of gives one pause before congratulating a politician for “bringing home the bacon”.

Sincerely,

W.W. (Sunny) Day
Louisville, TN 37777

Where are the weenies from the ACLU!?!

2007-08-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

Holes were drilled into his hands and knees before both legs were broken and acid poured over his face. Finally, the 30-year-old Iraqi was shot in the head. His crime? To work as an interpreter for the British military in Basra. (Source: TimesOnLine)

Well, that wasn't so bad. At least they didn't put a wet rag over his mouth and nose, or put panties on his head. If they'd done that, the ACLU, Amnesty International, etc, would screaming like hyenas and the ultra-liberal news media would be reporting that it is Bush's fault. (Source: Big Rattler)

The Politically Correct Constitution

2007-07-31T09:55:00.001-07:00

Pick your presidential candidate

2007-07-24T13:24:00.000-07:00

This is a good test to see if you are supporting the presidential candidate who closely matches up with your views.

It is also helpful for those studying the candidates.

Click here to take the test.

I matched up with Duncan Hunter ... which is correct for me.

How about you ... post your comments.

Comfort level: Nudist vs. Democrat

2007-07-09T15:40:00.001-07:00

Hat Tip to Red State Rebels:

But a story on the site caught my eye, about the Northwest nudists' convention in Worley. The AP story reported, "Terri Capshaw, an Idaho nudist who built a home next to Sun Meadow, says, 'Your body needs air and sunshine. To me it's just like exercise. I'm more comfortable telling people I'm a nudist than saying I'm a Democrat.'"

People for the Ethical Treatment of Taxpayers

2007-07-02T13:09:00.001-07:00

A new pro-taxpayer protection group has been established in Florida with the fantastic name "People for the Ethical Treatment of Taxpayers."

This is one of those head-slapping names where you say, "Why didn't I think of that."

We wish them the best of results joining the ranks of the many taxpayer groups all across America, struggling to squeeze the juice out of local and state government political machines who, with the help of their private sector cronies, keep pickpocketing the families of American taxpayers.

Give a visit to their web site at: http://www.pettpac.org/.

Better yet, send them a couple bucks for help.

With a name like that ... it has to be good.
Keep rattling,

Big Rattler

Sen. Switchback a.k.a. Brownback, a cultural moment

2007-06-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

This insta-ad was produced by HotAir.com (Michelle Malkin). What is important to note, aside from the ad and its content, is how the old drive-by media, the dinosaur press, the mainstream media is being left in the dust heap of history. The new manner and techniques used by the American public simply by-passed the old relics of news dissemination.

The hard-fought immigration issue could be noted in the eyes of future historians as the "tipping point" when it became obvious that these electronic information transfers surrounding this bill is indeed the symbolic moment when the people who are willfully self-governed by the republic threw away the news filter of the self-anointed elites.

(Note: I did not use the term democracy for good reason. "And to the democracy for which it stands?")

With this in mind, please take a click at this wonderful insta-ad:

We see Sen. Sam Brownback switching his vote. Other bloggers and the like have posted Brownback's news release crowing that he voted against the failed immigration bill. Brownback is mocked.

This ad is prima facia evidence that the political gamesmanship practiced by too many politicians is a big reason why Congress suffers from a 14% approval rating.

Politicians are not stupid people when it comes to getting and remaining elected.

This culture shift will be duly noted. The best news is that they are now held accountable to an extent they never were before, and the drive-by media is in large part to blame for covering up this gamesmanship with their biased reporting.

Make way you biased-old, creaky, phony journalists for the blessings of liberty now create confusion in your wretched ranks. You risk being smited by drowning in your own ink.

Thou shalt not steal, even by majority vote.

2007-06-25T18:39:00.001-07:00

An excellent article by Gary North on the Duke University scandal and its cultural importance.

North's article is titled: What I learned from Duke University

Quick excerpt:

The elite bourgeoisie and the professors are allied together in a struggle to
overcome historic Christianity and the free market. To put this as a slogan,
they stand together against Moses and Mises – against Moses, because they refuse
to answer to God; against Mises, because they refuse to answer to consumers.

Tubular Taxes -- from Government Bytes

2007-06-22T08:42:00.001-07:00

Egad! The stupid and wasteful government spending never stops ... Big Rattler

From the Official Blog of National Taxpayers Union

Posted by Dominic Rupprecht - June 20, 2007

In yet another local government boondoggle, the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority has spent $2 million in renovations on the government pool at Upton Hill Regional Park. The renovations featured "large tubular and open-air water slides," an "aquatic jungle gym," as well as "fountains, water cannons, and hoses."

Of course, to be a boondoggle, a project can't just be expensive and wasteful; it also has to be painfully stupid. And here, the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority comes through with flying colors. The pool was not renovated because of a lack of already-available aquatic play places. Instead, the Park Authority decided to renovate because there were, wait for it, too many private pools available in the area, which meant people didn't want to play at the government pool.

The pool's water cannons and "tubular" water slides were paid for in part by the taxpayers of Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties as well as Alexandria, Fairfax City, and Falls Church. Of course, no local pork project would be complete without a check from the federal government; the feds decided to toss in $75,000 (because it is vital for the federal government to purchase an "aquatic jungle gym" in Northern Virginia). Of course, just because they paid for it, doesn't mean it's free. They'll still have to cough up a few bucks for admission to the water park they paid for.

What's next for the Park Authority? My money's on roller coasters. God forbid anyone goes to Kings Dominion!

Drive-by Media Political Contributions

2007-06-21T10:44:00.001-07:00

Hat tip to Drudge Report for highlighting that the drive-by media contributes 9 to 1 to Democrats over Republicans.

MSNBC compiled an exhaustive list of media personalities and their political donations.

The results speak for themselves.

Here is the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19113455

GAGGLE

2007-06-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

T. Blair on the news media

2007-06-13T08:19:00.001-07:00

Exiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair delivered a speech on how the media has blurred the lines between news and commentary.

Unfortunately, Blair, who has a record of favoring the "big-government" philosophy, concludes that reviewing government imposed news standards may likely be streamlined and put under one authority instead of the various public overseers present in the U.K. today.

It appears that he places little faith with the punishment that the marketplace can deliver to sub-standard reporting even if the marketplace moves slowly but surely over time. If there is a demand for delivering hard-news in an unbiased fashion, the marketplace will reward those who fulfill that what has become a rather niche market, in light of the hard news being who is up or down in the latest offering of American Idol.

Here is an excerpt of Blair's speech:

Fourth, rather than just report news, even if sensational or controversial, the new technique is commentary on the news being as, if not more important than the news itself. So - for example - there will often be as much interpretation of what a politician is saying as there is coverage of them actually saying it. In the interpretation, what matters is not what they mean; but what they could be taken to mean. This leads to the incredibly frustrating pastime of expending a large amount of energy rebutting claims about the significance of things said, that bears little or no relation to what was intended.

In turn, this leads to a fifth point which is the confusion of news and commentary. Comment is a perfectly respectable part of journalism. But it is supposed to be separate. Opinion and fact should be clearly divisible. The truth is a large part of the media today not merely elides the two but does so now as a matter of course. In other words, this is not exceptional. It is routine.

Understanding Taxes

2007-06-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

From the National Taxpayers Union blog Government Bytes

Inside Story about how the Senate Immigration Bill was killed

2007-06-08T10:25:00.000-07:00

From the Right Wing News:

A GOP Aide, who's one of my sources in the Senate, gave me the rundown on what happened to the Senate bill today.

After the 2nd cloture vote failure at noon on Thursday, Harry Reid could not get unanimous consent to call up amendments to the bill because Jim DeMint refused to give his consent. This was extremely problematic for Reid because he wanted to get in votes on 6 more amendments before the last try at a cloture vote.

At that point, all the senators who were participants in the "Grand Compromise" AKA the "Masters of the Universe" by the opponents of the bill, leaned on DeMint to try to get him to give consent for the bill to move forward.

Unfortunately for them, DeMint wouldn't budge. This essentially killed the entire afternoon that the pro-amnesty side hoped to use to shore up support for the bill.

While DeMint was gumming up the works, the opponents of the bill, including most prominently Jim DeMint, Jeff Sessions, and Tom Coburn, huddled and came up with a list of conservative amendments they wanted considered ... [more]

Fence First ... We'll worry about the rest later

2007-06-07T11:23:00.001-07:00

Immigration is not that complicated if you break it into pieces and do things one-by-one.

Granted, the fedgov is very incompetent, so it makes sense to simply complete one project at a time, then move on to the next project.

Build the already authorized and funded fence -- First.

Rudy gets a shocker

2007-06-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems that something is happening in the pro-life debate.

Here is the YouTube link from the GOP debate in NH (6-5-07) that shocked candidate Guiliani: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibqwKb4cCsg

Does Sherriff Allow Illegal Trespass?

2007-05-04T10:31:00.001-07:00

Take a look at this video and tell me what you think.

You'll notice that many times they very people who stand up to defend our rights and who understand the legal protections we are supposed to enjoy are just folks trying to get by on what they have.

Those with the means, rarely lift a finger. God Bless the "Road Scholars" of America

Does Sheriff Allow Illegal Trespass?
http://www.break.com/index/sheriff-allows-illegal-trespass2b.html

Click Here for more great videos and pictures!

Keep Rattling .....

Making Statism Unpopular

2007-04-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

Give a click to this radio ad and let Big Rattler know what you think about making statism unpopular ...

Get your own Flash MP3 Player

Excellent Explanations

2007-04-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

I caught this from the Ludwig Von Mises Institutes' web site. The article is logically outstanding demonstrating the the national Republicans and the Bush Administration -- contrary to popular PR and media spin -- actually has not cut taxes and in fact has raised taxes. (Read, that's one major reason why they lost big in 2006)

What! How can that be!?!

Here are some excerpts that should tempt you to read the full article:

(Link to full article http://www.mises.org/story/2559 )

First, in order to consider how Bush's policies have affected tax burdens, I need to define the term "taxes." Taxes are a revenue source for the state and the state is the entity that has a monopoly, or at least claims the right to a monopoly, over the use of coercion within its political borders. Therefore, Hans Hoppe's explanation of taxation as "a coercive, non-contractual transfer of definite physical assets" ( Economics and Ethics of Private Property, p. 28) provides us with a sound definition of taxation. Taxes are the takings of private property in order to fund the state. They are a form of aggression against private property.

... and ...

In addition to what we normally think of as taxes, the state also has the option of borrowing money by selling government securities in order to finance its spending. This is a significant form of finance as the federal debt, including intragovernmental debt, increased $574 billion in fiscal year 2006. Budget deficits are generally not considered to be a form of taxation and it's oftentimes useful to distinguish between revenues generated by taxing the sale of a good or service and revenues generated by selling securities. However, government debt is a coercive transfer of property from private hands to government coffers.

... therefore ...

Those who lend the government money are purchasing a promise to take someone's property in the future in order to repay the loan. If the securities that are issued are to be repaid, then the state is simply shifting tax burdens away from current taxpayers on to future taxpayers.

I know you easily see the logic and intrinsically know this to be true. But it sure is good to have it said and written down in such a manner that arguing against these facts if futile.

Keep Rattling....

Your Gov't at Work -- Statism

2007-04-23T10:47:00.001-07:00

How does business get done at your local State Capitol?

Certainly, nothing like this could happen in the hallowed halls of Congress!?!

The story below is about a trial of a state Tennessee senator, one of many caught up in an FBI corruption sting operation called Tennesee Waltz.

It's some sad reading:

URL: http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local/article/0,2845,MCA_25340_5500134,00.html

FBI agent summarizes case in Ford trial

By Trevor Aaronson

CommercialAppeal.com, Memphis, TN
Contact
April 23, 2007

Calling FBI agent Mark Jackson to the witness stand this morning, Asst. U.S. Atty. Tim DiScenza used the lawman as a summary witness to present a timeline that summed up the government's case against former state Sen. John Ford:

April 19, 2004 — FBI undercover agent L.C. McNeil introduces himself to state Sen. John Ford at a dinner in Nashville arranged by state Rep. Kathryn Bowers.

July 17, 2004 — In Miami, Ford asks McNeil for $3,000 to $5,000 per month to draft and pass state legislation that would benefit E-Cycle. Ford expresses interest in E-Cycle's initial public offering.

July 28, 2004 — "I'm ready when you get back to get that done," Ford tells McNeil in a phone conversation, referring to the E-Cycle legislation.

Aug. 18, 2004 — Ford tells McNeil he wants to be paid $10,000 upfront and $5,000 each month. Ford then explains which committee the bill will go to and reaffirms that he will sponsor the legislation.

Aug. 19, 2004 — McNeil pays first cash payment made to Ford: $10,000. Ford takes an E-Cycle brochure and company paperwork, drafted by the FBI, describing the legislation E-Cycle wants.

Aug. 23, 2004 — Ford calls McNeil and tells him he met with the General Assembly's legal department to talk about the E-Cycle legislation.

Aug. 26, 2004 — In a telephone conversation, Ford tells McNeil the rough draft of the legislation will be available next week so E-Cycle can review it.

Sept. 7, 2004 — Ford asks McNeil for his fax number to send the draft legislation.

Sept. 17, 2004 — McNeil pays Ford $5,000. Ford reads the draft legislation to McNeil and agrees with the undercover agent that the bill should be amended so public schools will not receive surplus computers.

Sept. 28, 2004 — Ford and McNeil discuss the proposed legislation in a phone call. Ford says he'll fax a new draft of the bill to McNeil.

Oct. 6, 2004 — A summary of the legislation is faxed to E-Cycle's office.

Oct. 15, 2004 — McNeil pays Ford $5,000. Ford discusses making the legislation more exclusive for E-Cycle.

Nov. 9, 2004 — Ford says the E-Cycle bill will be filed in January with "a bunch of bills" so it won't draw attention, he tells McNeil in a phone conversation.

Nov. 11, 2004 — In a phone conversation, Ford asks McNeil to send him more money.

Nov. 17, 2004 — Ford tell McNeil in a phone conversation he will not pre-file the bill since it would allow the news media and others to look at the proposed legislation.

Nov. 19, 2004 — Ford gives McNeil the final draft of the legislation. McNeil pays Ford $5,000 at E-Cycle's Memphis office.

Dec. 16, 2004 — Ford reassures McNeil the legislation will pass.

Dec. 17, 2004 — McNeil pays Ford $5,000 at a Miami hotel.

Jan. 6, 2005 — Ford tells McNeil in a phone conversation he will file "our bill this week, this next week."

Jan. 12, 2005 — Ford pre-files Senate Bill 28. In a phone conversation, he tells McNeil the bill was filed.

Jan. 13, 2005 — Ford tells McNeil in a phone conversation he will put a clause in the bill that will give E-Cycle more exclusivity. "We filed it, and we just pulled the other bill," Ford says of the revised legislation.

Jan. 18, 2005 — The state Department of General Services recommends against passage of E-Cycle's bill.

Jan. 19, 2005 — Ford pre-files Senate Bill 94 with the definition of computer equipment identical to the list of equipment in E-Cycle's brochure.

Jan. 31, 2005 — McNeil pays Ford $5,000 in E-Cycle's Nashville office.

Feb. 1, 2005 — McNeil pays Ford $5,000 in his Senate office in Nashville.

Feb. 3, 2005 — Ford expresses to Willis concerns McNeil might be working with law enforcement and E-Cycle might be an FBI shell company. A fiscal note is filed in the General Assembly, indicating the E-Cycle bill would increase state expenditure.

Sometime after Feb. 3, 2005 — Ford aggressively questions General Services Commissioner Gwendolyn Sims Davis about the fiscal note and tells her she does not know "what the hell" she is doing.

Feb. 14, 2005 — Ford tells McNeil he'll get a new fiscal note.

Feb. 17, 2005 — Ford tells McNeil he talked to Senate staff about changing the fiscal note.

March 9, 2005 — Ford tells James White, executive director of the Fiscal Review Committee of the Tennessee General Assembly, to change the fiscal note.

March 10, 2005 — Ford threatens McNeil, who pays Ford $5,000 in E-Cycle's Memphis office.

March 15, 2005 — Ford presents Senate Bill 94 to the Senate State and Local Government Committee, then chaired by state Sen. Steve Cohen. It passes 9-0. Ford learns McNeil is coming to Nashville. In a phone conversation, Ford asks FBI informant Tim Willis why McNeil is traveling to the capital. "Hell, we passed the bill. What's his concerns?" Ford asks Willis.

March 16, 2005 — At McNeil's request, Ford agrees to delay the bill.

March 17, 2005 — McNeil pays Ford $5,000 at the Sheraton Hotel in Nashville.

March 23, 2005 — Rosemary Bates, Ford's research analyst, e-mails Senate Chief Clerk Russell Humphrey asking him to keep E-Cycle's bill off the legislative calendar.

April 8, 2005 — Ford threatens to kill FBI undercover agents McNeil and Joe Carson. Ford agrees to delay legislation. McNeil pays Ford $5,000 outside The Peabody.

May 26, 2005 — FBI agents arrest Ford in Nashville.

You should really send this to all your friends. It clearly illustrates how business uses government favors to protect them (read, profits) from competition. This is an example of "Statist Businessmen."

Big Rattler

Now that you've paid your taxes ...

2007-04-21T19:52:00.001-07:00

Happy Tax Day

You've paid your taxes, now what's in it for you? What do you get from the government (besides staying on the good side of the Internal Revenue Service)?

Via Heritage's Brian Riedl http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20070415-100128-4378r.htm , here's how your tax bill breaks down:

The federal government collects $21,992 in taxes per household and spends $24,106, leaving a per-household deficit of $2,114. (You might think of that last figure as taxes you haven't paid yet but someday will-or at least somebody will, maybe your kids.)

Per household, the government spends:

* $8,301 for Social Security and Medicare,
* $4,951 for defense,
* $3,550 for antipoverty programs,
* $2,071 for interest on the federal debt,
* $907 for federal employee retirement benefits,
* $664 for health research and regulation, including the Food and Drug Administration,
* $627 for veterans' benefits,
* $584 for education,
* $418 for highways and mass transit,
* $392 for administration of justice,
* $305 for natural resources and environmental protection,
* $304 for foreign aid, contributions to international organizations like the United Nations, and for maintaining U.S. embassies abroad,
* $299 for unemployment benefits,
* $282 for community and regional development, which includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
* and $451 for all other federal programs, including farm subsidies, social services, space exploration, air transportation and energy.

Posted on 04/17/07 10:56 AM http://www.insideronline.org/blogarchive.cfm?month=4&year=2007#000B610D-CE46-40A5-A584E39468C29BE0 by Alex Adrianson | Blog Archive http://www.insideronline.org/#viewArchives#viewArchives

Dubbed "The Stubborn Nail"

2007-04-03T08:19:00.001-07:00

Here is photo of government at work. In this case China. A residence stands alone in the middle of a project.

This photo and its location (China) make the full story a bit perplexing especially as it relates to China's "evolving" property rights as if there are any in said country. May some property rights are indeed on the horizon, given this successful defiance, which would be a huge liberty boost within China. The reporter does little to clear the confusion, but the visual is what led me to forward this on to you.

I've included the photo and caption, with excerpts from the story (below) and the link, in case your interest is peaked.

(CAPTION) Chinese workmen demolished a house, seen here March 2007, that attained almost iconic status because of its owners' refusal to move for a huge property project. However, Wu Ping and her husband's three-year battle may have paid off with a court in Chongqing announcing they would be given a new home nearby valued at about three million yuan (390,000 dollars).(AFP/File/Mark Ralston)

News Story Excerpts:

CHONGQING, China (AFP) - Workmen in China demolished a house that attained almost iconic status because of its owners' refusal to move for a huge property project, but their three-year battle may have paid off. [...]

Their plight -- thrown into the spotlight partly thanks to dramatic photos of the house sitting in the middle of a massive pit excavated around it -- became a symbol of the little man's defiance of China's moneyed interests.

However the couple appeared to have been rewarded handsomely for holding out, with a court in Chongqing announcing Tuesday they would be given a new home nearby valued at about three million yuan (390,000 dollars).

In addition, they were awarded 900,000 yuan in damages because the developer had cut off water and electricity, and blocked traffic to their home during the three-year stand-off. [...]

Wu had incessantly accused the local government of collusion with the developer, while refusing to bow to the strong-arm tactics aimed at getting rid of her home.

Earlier this year, she filed a lawsuit maintaining that she could not be forced to give up her home.

The Stubborn Nail's case hit such a nerve in China because similar disputes are plaguing the country.
While Wu was able to stand up to the powerful and wage a high-profile publicity campaign rarely seen in China, people in countless other cases have lost their property without adequate compensation.
According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Public Security, there were 87,000 protests in 2005, many of them to do with land grabs. Such protests are often crushed by security forces. [...]

The national parliament passed a landmark law last month that solidified private property rights, partly to combat such disputes.
While Wu waged her publicity campaign, her husband had staged a vigil in the home over the past week, at times waving a national flag.
During his vigil, Yang Wu also hung a banner out of the house that read: "The legal private property of citizens cannot be violated," echoing wording in the country's new property law.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070403/wl_afp/chinapropertydispute_070403120212

Hunter Walks the Walk

2007-03-30T10:00:00.001-07:00

Duncan Hunter Purchases Brand New Ford F-150

HUNTER WALKS THE WALK
Puts his money where his mouth and principles are

Detroit, MI – Republican Presidential Candidate Duncan Hunter gave a tangible demonstration of his support for U.S. manufacturers in a campaign stop in Detroit today. On a mid-morning visit to Suburban Ford in Sterling Heights, MI., Hunter made good on his "Buy American" platform. He bought American by driving off with a brand new Ford F-150 pick-up truck. "Some may call this a cheap political stunt," quipped Hunter, "but my wife will call this an expensive gesture."

Hunter said he traveled to Michigan to make it clear that he will follow through on his commitment to American businesses. As President, Hunter said he will restore the strength of this country's manufacturing base.

Hunter has contended, in his campaign swings, that good high-paying manufacturing jobs are being lost to China and other countries. "Our manufacturers are forced to compete against foreign competitors that benefit unfairly from currency manipulation, and from bad trade deals."

Hunter added, "One of the duties of the American President is to make good trade deals. We have a bad [trade] deal and, as President, I will rectify it."

Excellent Links

2007-03-28T13:08:00.001-07:00

Presidential Straw Poll '08

2007-03-27T15:16:00.000-07:00

My Kinda Prez Candidate

2007-03-26T14:51:00.001-07:00

GOP '08 hopeful keeps visit low-key

By KAREN LOVETT
Telegraph Staff

NASHUA – When Republican presidential candidate John McCain toured the state on a recent stormy weekend, he hired a plow to lead his bus full of staffers, supporters and a "60 Minutes" news crew.

When fellow hopeful Mitt Romney swept through New Hampshire in February, he was traveling with a small entourage of cars full of assistants.

But when yet another GOP presidential contender, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif ., rolled into the parking lot of the Broad Street Country Store in Nashua on Sunday, it was in a rented Ford SUV.

Store owner Vahrij Manoukian rushed to the passenger side to greet Hunter.

"I said, 'Congressman, how are you?' " Manoukian recalled. "He said, 'I'm not the congressman. I'm the aide.' "

Hunter, it turns out, did his own driving during his visit to the Granite State, which included stops in Goffstown and Keene.

To a crowd of about 50 gathered at the store, the 14-term House member paid little attention to McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Romney, who are widely recognized as theHunter pointed to two recent straw polls – informal votes used to gauge people's opinions – in which he had strong showings South Carolina and Arizona.

And Hunter stands by his main concerns, which are defense, securing the country's borders and bolstering manufacturing jobs, which he says have been pushed overseas.

China is "cheating on trade" by devaluing its currency, Hunter said. The Chinese government gives subsidies to exporters, which ultimately lowers prices and pushes American goods off the shelves.

If elected, he pledged to review trade agreements and take action with countries that aren't complying.

Hunter touted his border-control record, citing a wall built in the 1990s between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, that he said knocked down drug-smuggling by 90 percent and slashed San Diego's crime rate. He has written legislation to extend that wall by 854 miles, stretching through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

An audience member asked his opinion on Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, two Texas Border Patrol agents who, while on duty, shot a Mexican drug-runner non-fatally.

They were each sentenced to more than 10 years in prison, and the issue has generated controversy because some feel the two men should be pardoned. Hunter agreed and said he would do the same if elected.

"I definitely liked his views on illegal immigration and on pardoning the agents," said Candi Mann of Hudson, adding that she didn't share his concerns about international trade because she's unfamiliar with the policies.

"He's a very detail-oriented guy, which makes an effective congressman," said Mark LeDoux of Hollis. "My suggestion in his campaign is to spare some of the details . . . and stick with the big picture."

Dan Hogan of Nashua said was impressed with Hunter's pro-life stance and said he'd keep an eye on the candidate, no matter what the standings say.

"The media has been saying for some time that the Republican people are not terribly enamored with the top three," Hogan said. "I'd say (Hunter) stands as good a chance as anybody."

Tennessee - You gotta love this legislator

2007-02-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

Big Rattler has friends slithering around the great state of Tennessee. I snapped a blog link to Tennessee Porch, written by a former state legislator named Jim Bryson.

Here is a sample of his work. Pull up a chair and take a quick read:

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Campfield is at it AGAIN
Rep. Stacey Campfield sure is fun to watch.
There is not a PC bone in his body. He loves to put people in a quandry. Last year he attempted to join the Legislative Black Caucus on behalf of the African-American constituents in his district. When he was not allowed to join because he was not black, he had to ask how they could get away with racial discrimination. It seems that double standards are alive and well.
It is early in the session and Stacey has already struck twice. First, he has a proposal to remove the state sales tax on food and place an additional tax on porn. This puts the liberals in a quandry because they don't want to reduce the "stable" sales tax on food and lose all that revenue that government could spend better than people buying food, but they can't come out and say they don't want to tax porn either.
What's a liberal to do? Next Stacey has pro-choice legislators in his sights. He introduced a bill requiring death certificates for aborted babies. Another legislative quagmire if you are a pro-choice legislator. Do you vote for the bill and admit that the unborn babies were alive to begin with and have just been killed? Or, do you for against the bill sending the signal to your generally pro-life constituency that you don't believe unborn babies are alive.
What's a pro-choicer to do?
What they will do is weasel out of both these bills. Speaker Naifeh will send both these bills to a sub-committee he controls of legislators in safe districts who can make tough votes. The bills will be defeated by a handfull of legislators, never to see the light of day.
Thanks Stacey!
Posted by Jim Bryson at 10:22 AM

Too cool, the VetoMatic

2007-02-27T15:43:00.000-07:00

This is from our fine friend from Green Bay Wisconsin, Rep. Frank Lasee. He explains how the state governor has virtual unlimited powers via the veto pen to create any he desires.

I went to the VetoMatic web site and typed in the phrase: "Spending shall exceed state revenues by 175%." Volia! the VetoMatic, using the current spending bill and replicating the awsome veto power of the governor, created just such a law.

Give it a try!

The excerpt is from Rep. Frank Lasee:

The Governor of Wisconsin has, by far, the most powerful partial-veto pen in the nation. Through a series of court decisions, the Governor has gained the power to cut out any word or number from any bill that appropriates money.

The Governor just submitted the biennial budget, which appropriates a whole lot of money ($57.7 billion). The budget bill contains 379,805 words. Through the power of a partial veto, the Governor could theoretically create a law to do just about anything. The Legislature would not be able to override these partial vetoes because of the narrow majorities in each house.

You might be thinking, “Frank, you are talking about a budget bill, how could substantive law be contained in there? Isn’t it just a bunch of numbers?” Instead of just setting the state budget for two years, there is a whole lot of policy packed into the budget on top of the spending. Right or wrong (well, wrong), that is the way it is.

How do we know that the budget bill can be manipulated into nearly any law imaginable? Well, with a hat tip to Dan Akroyd’s Bass-o-matic on Saturday Night Live, we have the VetoMatic.
The VetoMatic was created to “demonstrate just how dangerous the Governor's power is. It will take the text you give it and show you how the Governor could create your new law with absolutely no legislative oversight.” You can try the VetoMatic yourself at http://www.vetomatic.com/.

To prove the point, there was a VetoMatic contest in which people were encouraged to see what “laws” the Governor could pass using the Budget Bill. Here were some of the contest winners: “The Legislature authorizes the department of Revenue to create and implement any tax it deems necessary to fund any expenditure approved by the Secretary of the Department of Administration.” “The City of Milwaukee shall be given to Illinois.”

Try the VetoMatic yourself at http://www.vetomatic.com/.

Keep on rattlin'
Big Rattler

Adam Smith on new pound

2007-02-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

The Wealth of Nations

In March, the Bank of England will issue a new 20 pound note featuring Adam Smith and the pin factory.

(Click to Enlarge)

The Pin Factory is Smith's wonderful passage about the importance of the "division of labor" whereby, you who need a pin, would likely spend the better part of a year mining, smelting and fabricating a simple pin.

Yet by the "division of labor," pins are quite available in wide varieties and at the most modest of costs.

Hooray for the Brits! The 20-pound note is the most common, according to Bank of England.

The Wealth of Nations will indeed be well advertised beginning in March '07.

Also, see http://www.adamsmith.org/ for a look at the new statue of the man who "Discovered the Moral Superiority of Capitalism" to be sited in Edinburgh. (Word has it that the Queen may do the honors of unveiling the statue later this year.)

Finally, Big Rattler is reading P.J. O'Rourke's latest book about Adam Smith's work. I say "his work" because of P.J.'s point that during Smith's time (American Revolution Era), people's work was debated, unlike today where many cackle about Britney Spears and Anna Nicole Smith's latest foibles.

Refresh yourself from mob of chatter'ers ... become a rattler ... and buy P.J.'s book. You will be surprised at how you actually have to focus to understand ... instead of just "feel."

Snapping,
Big Rattler

Transparency In Gov't Task Force

2007-02-23T09:56:00.001-07:00

Hey all you rattlers out there ...

Here are some links to U.S. Senator Tom Coburn's effort to create 300 million volunteer government auditors who carefully watch various portions of bloated federal spending.

The idea (now law, now fact) is that all federal spending should detailed, be easily accessible and understandable and posted on the web. That way, anyone can do some digging about any federal project -- big or small. It should be right at your fingertips.

The result of this idea, is we can audit at will without all the bureaucratic hassle.

Right now it is comment time on how to construct just such a web site. The links below will get you started, especially if you have a knack for knowing what is needed.

Keep snapping,
Big Rattler

Coburn-Obama Site
Posted by Andrew Moylan - February 15, 2007

After the long, drawn-out fight that finally brought it into law, the Coburn-Obama legislation that we fought so hard for now has a preliminary website up. For those of you who don't remember, the Coburn-Obama bill will require all federal grant and contract funding to be on a searchable, publicly available website.

Check out the page at www.federalspending.gov

Write them a comment and let them know how you'd like to see the site develop. Read more

FEDERAL FUNDING ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY TASK FORCE
Have you ever wanted to find more information on government spending? Have you ever wondered where federal contracting dollars and grant awards go? Or perhaps you would just like to know, as a citizen, what the government is really doing with your money.
The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) of 2006 asks the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to lead the development, by January 2008, of a single searchable website, accessible by the public for free that includes for each Federal award:
the name of the entity receiving the award;
the amount of the award;
information on the award including transaction type, funding
agency, etc;
the location of the entity receiving the award;
a unique identifier of the entity receiving the award.
OMB has created a Task Force to implement the requirements of this important Act. Here is where you can have an impact on how the Task Force proceeds. Please use this link to provide feedback on how you, as a citizen, would like to see the FFATA implemented and government award information presented.

Usefulness

2007-02-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

"Unlike the organizations of government, the organizations of free enterprise are self-liquidating at the limit of their usefulness." -- Isabel Paterson

Gov't saps resources from potential advancements

2007-02-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

Friday, February 16, 2007 ~ 1:00 p.m., Dan Mitchell Wrote:Will American politicians repeat past mistakes? Brian Wesbury's Wall Street Journal column explains that America suffered during two periods of big government - the 1930s and the 1970s, and he fears that policy makers have not learned from these mistakes:

...the last two times government seriously tried to control the U.S.
economy -- in the 1930s and in the 1970s -- they made a terrible mess of it. In
the 1930s, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act caused a collapse in global trade, while
the Fed allowed the money supply to shrink by one-third. Government regulation
in the 1920s prevented banks from branching, which caused more than 10,000 to
fail in the 1930s, deepening and prolonging the Great Depression. Herbert
Hoover's tax hikes were icing on the cake, capping off a perfect storm of D.C.
policy mistakes.

It took another 35 years, and a nice run of prosperity, but Washington
finally gathered the courage to try this again. Between 1965 and 1981, Great
Society welfare and health-care programs, wage and price controls, inflationary
Fed policy, 70% marginal tax rates, 50% capital-gains tax rates, and highly
regulated energy, airline, banking and trucking industries created severe
problems. The Misery Index (calculated by adding inflation and unemployment)
rose to 21.9% in 1980 (today it is 7.2%).

...The cost of government intervention is always underestimated in the
midst of political battles, while the benefits are always overestimated.
Impeding the free market alters the course of economic activity in ways that
cannot fully be understood in advance.

For example, tax subsidies for using existing solar technology diminish
incentives for research and development, just like welfare payments undermine
the willingness of many recipients to work or go to school. Why give up a sure
thing for a future that is uncertain?

The U.S. is subsidizing ethanol, which pulls billions of dollars of
investment capital away from other areas of the economy. When government picks
what it thinks should be the winner, it saps resources from other ideas and
potential advancements. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117142605260108183.html?mod=opinion&oj
content=otep (subscription required)

"Root Shock" The Effects of Eminent Domain Abuse on African Americans

2007-02-15T08:39:00.000-07:00

Institute for Justice
901 N. Glebe Road Suite 900 Arlington, VA 22203
(703) 682-9320 FAX (703) 682-9321
Home Page: WWW.IJ.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 14, 2007

New Study Details Devastating Effects of
Eminent Domain Abuse on African Americans

Arlington, Va. - "Eminent domain has become what the founding fathers sought to prevent: a tool that takes from the poor and the politically weak to give to the rich and politically powerful," concludes Dr. Mindy Fullilove in her new report released today titled, " Eminent Domain & African Americans: What is the Price of the Commons?" The report is available at http://www.castlecoalition.org/publications/index.html.

Eminent Domain & African Americans is the first in a new series of independently authored reports published by the Institute for Justice, Perspectives on Eminent Domain Abuse, which will examine the different aspects of eminent domain abuse from the vantage point of noted national experts. The release of this inaugural report is particularly timely this month, as millions around the nation learn about African American history.

In this study, Dr. Fullilove, a research psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and a professor of clinical psychiatry and public health at Columbia University, examines the effects of eminent domain abuse on the African American community. Focusing specifically on the Federal Housing Act (FHA) of 1949, Dr. Fullilove finds that "[b]etween 1949 and 1973 … 2,532 projects were carried out in 992 cities that displaced one million people, two-thirds of them African American," making blacks "five times more likely to be displaced than they should have been given their numbers in the population."

Although urban renewal under the FHA was discontinued in 1973, Dr. Fullilove reported "the tools of urban renewal had been honed through 20 years of projects. Politicians and developers found that they could repackage eminent domain and government subsidies in many new ways, facilitating the taking of land for 'higher uses.'"

Dr. Fullilove shares the story of David Jenkins-who lost his Philadelphia home to urban renewal in the 1950s-to illustrate the devastating impacts of forced displacement. "Within these neighborhoods there existed social, political, cultural, and economic networks that functioned for both individual and common good," explains Dr. Fullilove. "These networks were the 'commons' of the residents, a system of complex relationships, shared activities, and common goals"-the loss of which cannot be replaced or remedied.

"What the government takes from people is not a home, with a small 'h', but Home in the largest sense of the word: a place in the world, a community, neighbors and services, a social and cultural milieu, an economic anchor that provides security during the ups and downs of life, a commons that sustains the group by offering shared goods and services," continues Dr. Fullilove.

"Dr. Fullilove's pioneering research reinforces the need for state and federal legislative reforms of eminent domain laws," said Steven Anderson, director of the Castle Coalition, which helps homeowners nationwide fight eminent domain abuse. The Castle Coalition is a grassroots organization coordinated by the Institute for Justice, which litigated the Kelo eminent domain case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005. Anderson said, "Property owners nationwide-particularly minorities, as evidenced by this paper-will remain vulnerable to seizures by tax-hungry governments for land-hungry developers until the use of eminent domain is reined in and limited to only true public uses."

A recent example of eminent domain targeting African American communities can be found in Riviera Beach, Fla. Despite the state's new restrictions on eminent domain, city officials are pursuing a plan to remove thousands of mostly low-income, African American residents from their waterfront homes and businesses to make way for a luxury housing and yachting complex. The Institute for Justice is representing property owners there who want to protect their rights and save what rightfully belongs to them.

In addition to her clinical and teaching duties, Dr. Fullilove is the author of Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, and What We Can Do About It , which takes a powerful look at the effects of urban renewal on African Americans. She coined the term "root shock" to describe the devastating effects of forced displacement.

# # #

MI -- Taxpayer money used to lobby for tax hike

2007-02-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

Detroit News Editorial

February 9, 2007

Two groups funded with tax dollars lead cheer for higher taxes

A s Michigan debates tax hikes, don't forget that politicians and bureaucrats have a vested interest in squeezing as much as possible from taxpayers.

And they can be more than a little cagey in how they go about it. For example, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy points out that the Michigan Municipal League and the Presidents Council of the State Universities of Michigan are using tax dollars to agitate for higher taxes. They are joined by the Michigan Health and Hospital Association in creating the "Michigan Fiscal Responsibility Project," which has set up a Web site and issues press releases on the dire condition of the state's finances.

Mackinac Center analyst Diane Katz notes that both groups are funded by dues from local governments and the state universities. And they get their money from the taxpayers (and tuition fees and donor gifts for the universities).

In essence, the Mackinac Center contends, they are using tax dollars to lobby for more tax dollars.

David Waymire, a Lansing public relations specialist whose firm represents the so-called fiscal responsibility group, is quick to point out that it isn't lobbying for a specific proposal, merely making information available for the public. Perhaps not, but the group's dire predictions of a decline in public services can easily be taken as attempts to soften the political terrain for a tax hike, since they so neatly mirror the remarks of Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

While Michigan law forbids the use of public funds by state or local government to advocate for candidates or specific ballot issues, it allows them to "provide information" to the public. And if that "information" is sufficiently scary, members of the public might be persuaded to part with more of their money.

Further, if local governments route public money through the Michigan Municipal League, according to a 2001 ruling by then-Attorney General Jennifer Granholm, it is transformed into private money, since the Municipal League is a nonprofit corporation, not a public body, and the league can take positions on ballot issues.

In this case, the public dollars have been sent through both the laundering and spin cycles, since they have gone from local governments to the Municipal League to the "Michigan Fiscal Responsibility Project."

And the taxpayers have been hung out to dry.

We only wish government officials would exert the same mental energy they give to fleecing taxpayers on figuring out creative solutions for delivering services less expensively.

AZ -- School Districts' cash pool beefs up lobbying - East Valley Tribune - MSNBC.com

2007-02-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

Districts' cash pool beefs up lobbying - East Valley Tribune - MSNBC.com

By ANDREA FALKENHAGEN TRIBUNE
East Valley Tribune
Feb. 12, 2007

East Valley school districts are spending tens of thousands of dollars to lobby the Legislature this year, in hope the lawmakers will send more of the state's precious funding their way.

The Mesa Unified School District, the state's largest district, has budgeted up to $45,000 to spend on lobbying by Jaime Molera, a former state superintendent of public instruction. The district hired Molera, in part, to work with lawmakers on issues related to Career Ladder, a performance pay plan that is a large piece of how the district pays its teachers, he said.

State agencies shouldn't be allowed to use taxpayers' money to lobby for more

2007-02-12T10:03:00.001-07:00

http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007701110313

Published January 11, 2007
Spartanburg Herald-Journal (South Carolina)

When a state agency hires a lobbyist, it is turning taxpayers' money
against them.

The State Ports Authority made the correct decision this year when it
declined to hire lobbyists to work on lawmakers in Columbia.

Usually, agencies hire lobbyists to maximize their budgets, but in
this instance, the authority is concerned about a conflict over
construction of a new port in Jasper County.

The authority chairman said the decision not to rehire lobbyists was
made because: "We've heard assurances that the state's interests will
be protected … ."

The Ports Authority should have recognized that the General Assembly's
duty is to make sure the state's interests are protected. Agencies
always speak of their own interests as if they represented the
interests of the state. The truth is that they usually hire lobbyists
to make sure they get the biggest piece of the state budget pie
possible or to make sure that their area of authority in the state is
not compromised. These interests do not necessarily coincide with the
best interests of the state.

Gov. Mark Sanford has introduced plans to merge some state agencies as
part of government restructuring to increase efficiency and save
money. You can expect lobbyists for these agencies to oppose these
plans. And it won't be because of the state's best interests. It will
be because of the bureaucrats' interests.

Agencies also will be pushing for more money in their budgets. This is
an egregious abuse of taxpayers' money. The government takes money
from the people of the state and gives it to an agency to fulfill that
department's work. The agency then uses the money to hire a lobbyist
to convince lawmakers to take more money from taxpayers and give it to
the agency.

When multiple state agencies do this, the sum of their actions is to
lobby for a larger state budget and higher taxes.

It is the job of lawmakers to look at the interests of the state, to
judge which agencies need more money and which do not, to decide which
policies are in the state's best interest. Agencies can advise
lawmakers, but it is not their role to make policy. And they have no
business using taxpayers' money to pay for lobbyists to influence
policy.

Whether the purpose is to influence a port location or a budget
decision, state agencies have no business hiring lobbyists. The
governor recognized this fact when he prohibited agencies under his
control from doing so. Lawmakers should extend this rule to all state
agencies.

The Road to Serfdom (Ch IV)

2007-02-11T07:51:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of nuggets that reveal the "planners" mindset and why they hate the Private Property Rights enacted in Arizona's Prop. 207. This anti-competition, pro-planning monopoly is nothing new.

Many years ago in his most famous book "The Road To Serfdom," Nobel Laureate F.A. Hayek concisely explained the nanny-state planners desire to control and why we should avoid their false seductions.

Hayek's excerpts:

The Road to Serfdom (Ch IV)
The "Inevitability" of Planning
We were the first to assert that the more complicated the forms assumed by civilization, the more restricted the freedom of the individual must become. -- Benito Mussolini
Most (planners) affirm that we can no longer choose but are compelled by circumstances beyond our control to substitute planning for competition. The myth is deliberately cultivated that we are embarking on the new course not out of free will but because competition is spontaneously eliminated by technological changes which we neither can reverse nor should wish to prevent.
The tendency toward monopoly and planning is not the result of any "objective facts" beyond our control but the product of opinions fostered and propagated for half a century until they have come to dominate all our policy.
What planners generally suggest is that the increasing difficulty of obtaining a coherent picture of the complete economic process makes it indispensable that things should be coordinated by some central agency if social life is not to dissolve in chaos. This argument is based on a complete misapprehension of the working competition. Far from being appropriate only to comparatively simple conditions, it is the very complexity of the division of labor under modern conditions which makes competition the only method by which such coordination can be adequately brought about.
It is no exaggeration to say that if we had had to rely on conscious central planning for the growth of our industrial system, it would never have reached the degree of differentiation, complexity, and flexibility it has attained. Compared with this method of solving the economic problem by means of decentralization plus automatic coordination, the more obvious method of central direction is incredibly clumsy, primitive, and limited in scope. That the division of labor has reached the extent which makes modern civilization possible we owe to the fact that it did not have to be consciously created but that man tumbled on a method by which the division of labor could be extended far beyond the limits within which it could have been planned.
Any further growth of its complexity, therefore, far from making central direction more necessary, make it more important than ever that we should us a technique which does not depend on conscious control.
There is yet another theory which connects the growth of monopolies with technological progress. It contends not that modern technique destroys competition but that, on the contrary, it will be impossible to make use of many of the new technological possibilities unless protection against competition is granted, i.e., a monopoly is conferred. No doubt in many cases it is used merely as a form of special pleading by interested parties.
While it is true, of course, that inventions have given us tremendous power, it is absurd to suggest that we must use this power to destroy our most precious inheritance: liberty. It does mean, however, that if we want to preserve it, we must guard it more jealously than ever and that we must be prepared to make sacrifices for it.
While there is nothing in modern technological developments which forces us toward comprehensive economic planning, there is a great deal in them which makes infinitely more dangerous the power a planning authority would possess.
We all think that our personal order of values is not merely personal but that in a free discussion among rational people we would convince the others that ours is the right one. The lover of the countryside who wants above all that its traditional appearance would be preserved and that the blots already made by industry on its fair face should be removed . . . know that (his) aim can be fully achieved only by planning.
The movement for planning owes its present strength largely to the fact that, while planning is in the main still an ambition, it unites almost all the single minded idealists, all the men and women who have devoted their lives to a single task.
It (planning) would make the very men who are most anxious to plan society the most dangerous if they were allowed to do so – and the most intolerant of the planning of others.
From the saintly and single-minded idealist to the fanatic is often but a single step.

Quotes from Chapters I & II can be viewed here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1775089/posts
Chapter III: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1778528/posts
THE ROAD TO SERFDOM in movie form, 5 minute cartoon:
http://www.reference.com/go/http://one.revver.com/watch/10904/format/flv/affiliate/5157

Finally, some good transportation ideas

2007-02-09T15:34:00.001-07:00

Toll Road Trend Hits Arizona
Reason Founder Robert Poole is scheduled to testify before a House committee on toll roads and using public-private partnerships to build new highways on Tuesday.

And next week, Reason's Geoff Segal will be appearing in Phoenix to testify about Arizona's plans to convert carpool lanes into high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes and to partner with the public sector to build new freeways. In a column for the Arizona Republic, Poole and Leonard Gilroy write, "The private sector has committed nearly $2 billion to add high-occupancy toll lanes near Washington, D.C., and $7.2 billion to build toll roads from Dallas to San Antonio.

There are more than $25 billion in public-private partnership highway projects planned or already approved across the United States. Arizona's freeways don't have to resemble parking lots. The Senate bills encouraging toll roads and public-private partnerships are significant steps in the fight against gridlock."

The full column is here.

Reason's Toll Roads Research and Commentary

I'll kill your competition, if you kill mine

2007-02-08T15:25:00.000-07:00

Washington Bureau - bizjournals.com

Banks praised legislation that would keep retail chains like Wal-Mart out of banking, while Realtors applauded a bill that would keep banks out of real estate.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., introduced legislation that would prevent major retailers from owning federally insured banks through an industrial loan corporation. Frank is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

"Commercial firms should not own banks," says Edward Yingling, president and CEO of the American Bankers Association.

The legislation is timely because of recent applications for ILCs from large commercial firms. An FDIC moratorium on new ILCs was scheduled to expire Jan. 31.

"We urge Congress to act now before the wall between banking and commerce is damaged beyond repair," Yingling says.

Allowing big retailers to own banks concentrates economic power, hurts local merchants and threatens the soundness of the nation's financial system, contends the Independent Community Bankers of America.

Realtors make similar arguments in their long-standing effort to keep banks out of the real estate business. They've got a powerful ally as well: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., is sponsor of legislation that would define real estate brokerage and management as commercial activities, not financial activities, and therefore make them off limits to banks.

"Without passage of this legislation we are concerned that national bank conglomerates will continue their attempts to enter into the real estate industry, putting both competition and the nation's economic health at risk," says Pat Vredevoogd Combs, president of the National Association of Realtors.

Realtors failed to win passage of this legislation in the past, but Congress has used spending bills to block attempts by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department to define real estate as a financial activity.

For more information, see http://www.aba.com/ or www.realtor.org

Maybe just tax the ammo and leave property owners alone

2007-02-08T11:58:00.001-07:00

Big authoritairian government squabble in Idaho over this very same issue. At least the NoDaks' respect private property rights.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ Fenced game preserves may spark impassioned debate about hunting ethics, but the Legislature should defend landowners' right to operate them, the state Senate decided in rejecting legislation to ban them.
The bill, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Tim Mathern, sought to prohibit hunters from paying to shoot deer, elk and other big game on a private hunting preserve.
The measure was often called the "high fence" hunting bill, a reference to the fence that game preserve operators are required to have around their land. North Dakota has more than 100 registered deer and elk farms.
North Dakota's Senate voted 44-3 on Wednesday to defeat the legislation.
The proposal's supporters argued that game farms were the equivalent of shooting animals in a cage.

Snapping,
Big Rattler

Bullet tax @ 10 cents a round -- Where do we go to surrender?

2007-02-08T10:35:00.001-07:00

From FreeRepublic.com:

What could be the nation's first tax on bullets is being floated as a way to help balance Cook County's budget.

Commissioner Roberto Maldonado wants to slap a 10-cent-a-bullet tax on those buying ammunition in the county. It's one of dozens of plans offered to close the county's $500 million budget deficit.

The plan comes as the County Board raids the Forest Preserve District for $13 million, demands millions more from state government and considers slapping fees on SUVs, towed cars and other items. It's all being discussed to try to lessen the impact of thousands of job cuts, as proposed by Board President Todd Stroger.

Stroger said he'll listen to any ideas to increase fees but wouldn't change his commitment to a no-tax pledge.

Maldonado said an ammo tax "is as close as possible to a sin tax" and could bring in more than $250,000 a year.

A National Rifle Association official urged the County Board to look elsewhere for funds.
THE BULLET POINTS A look at how much of an effect a fee on bullets would have - from small fries to big shots: 10 cents: Deputy Barney Fife, if he bought his own police-issued bullet and was able to join the Cook County Sheriff's Department.
$50: Terry "Tank" Johnson, if the Bears defensive tackle made the trip across the county line for the 500 rounds of ammunition allegedly found in his Lake County home.
$530,368: If every person in Cook County, 5,303,683 according to 2005 U.S. Census estimates, were to do his or her part and buy one bullet.

Snapping without a silencer,

Big Rattler

The Paradox of the Statist Businessman

2007-02-08T08:37:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder why your local chamber of commerce(rads) seem to always side with big government dreams and schemes? You question what happened to good old fashioned competition, to free-market, to limited government?

Businessmen are just trying to make a living within the "rules of the game," but resist bucking the system to change the rules ... why? Is it because of fear from retaliation from the government commissars? YOU BET!

Is it because some businessmen have secured an advantage over their competition via cronyism with the government commissars? YOU BET!

Are there still businessmen out there who have spent lifetimes struggling up the ladder and are completely disgusted at the "rules of the game?" YOU BET!

Here are some snakebite bits from a classic Theodore J. Forstmann's article.

Biography: Theodore J. Forstmann is a founding general partner of Forstmann Little & Co., a private investment firm, and a member of the Cato Institute's Board of Directors.

The Statist Worldview
One view begins and ends with government. It is of a statist society in which the government regulates and mediates most human relationships--economic and otherwise. The other view begins and ends with the individual. It is of a civil society in which people organize themselves through voluntary association and exchange. Statist society promises you happiness in exchange for the better part of your freedom. Civil society merely guarantees your freedom. Happiness is up to you.

Perhaps we can understand the statist impulse on behalf of the unskilled and unschooled, the disabled and the disenfranchised, the infantile and the infirm. But why would the businessman choose to bargain with his most precious capital--freedom?

It would be easy to dismiss the statist businessman as either a knave or a fool. The sad truth is that he's neither. Remember what Voltaire once said: "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong." The statist businessman is simply doing his job. He's probably just part of a big corporation. He didn't make the rules; he just follows them. He doesn't ask why the government holds all the cards; he simply accepts the hand he's dealt. To play it safe, the bureaucratic businessman plays along.

But by joining rather than fighting the forces of an activist big government, he becomes part of the problem. Indeed, he becomes a significant part of the problem to which he contributes in three ways. Number one, he is a conservator--not a creator. Number two, he is a lobbyist. And number three, he is used as an argument against capitalism even though he is not a capitalist at all.

Businessman as Lobbyist
The statist businessman is, by definition, a lobbyist. Having made his peace with 20th-century collectivism, he is fundamentally concerned with "who gets what" from government's redistributive powers. He seeks subsidies for himself and penalties and regulations for his competitors. He is the miserable figure Ronald Reagan described as the fellow who hoped the crocodile would eat him last.

Take a good read of Forstmann's full article and coil you mind around his pearls of wisdom.

Snap at you later,
Big Rattler

Eat the Rich -- (Nod to PJ O'Rourke)

2007-02-07T15:12:00.001-07:00

New tax proposal combines social engineering and class warfare. Congressional Democrats want to use the tax code to penalize large corporate severance packages. But this should be a matter for stockholders to decide, not headline-seeking politicians. The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, explains that the middle class often feels the brunt of tax schemes designed to punish the so-called rich:

One of the ways the Senate bill does this is to place a cap on the amount of "deferred compensation" that a company can award its top executives in a given year. The cap is equal to $1 million or the executive's average salary for the previous five years, whichever is lower. But rather than simply tax any deferred compensation above that threshold as income, it imposes an additional 20% penalty tax on deferred comp above the limit. The Joint Committee on Taxation predicts this provision will bring in $800 million over the next decade. We'll go out on a limb and predict it brings in an amount closer to $0.

AZ -- Killing us softly with their voyerism

2007-02-07T09:36:00.000-07:00

I've snaked down these roads with the "government photo cash registers" flicking flashes of new found fortunes for fat bureaucrats.

What happens ... free-flowing traffic abruptly slows with tail lights flaring and rear-end collision avoiding maneuvers abound when approaching the government photo cash registers.

Another wreck avoided, almost all the time. At least the government gets more money for our hassle. And, what about "due process" under the law? A photo is a far cry from traffic officer wouldn't you think?

Here are quick snaps from another liberal rag-paper:

Two Scottsdale companies submitted proposals Tuesday to operate the city's
lucrative photo enforcement contract, which could include the speed cameras on
Loop 101. And just hours later, the Scottsdale City Council agreed to oppose a
photo enforcement bill - one of a number introduced at the Legislature - that
would divert a city's profit away from any municipally-run freeway program.

During the [Scottsdale] council's discussion Tuesday on photo enforcement
legislation, members agreed they did not like a bill introduced by Rep. Michele
Reagan, R-Scottsdale, that would require any city that runs a freeway photo
enforcement program - Scottsdale is the only current one - to send any profit to
the Arizona Highway Patrol Fund, Criminal Justice Enhancement Fund and Crime Lab Assessment Fund. Scottsdale has made more than $850,000 to date, and is
projecting a $1.2 million general fund profit by the end of June.

Snap at you later,

Big Rattler

Minimum work for minimum wage

2007-02-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

Sali is right on

Rep. Bill Sali is right on the money in opposing minimum wage laws. The Employment Policies Institute, a nonprofit research organization, recently released a study that revealed some of the unintended consequences of such laws.

The study found that for every 10 percent increase in the minimum wage, unemployment jumped 3.9 percent among minorities overall, 4.9 percent among Hispanics, 6.6 percent among teenagers and 8.4 percent among African-American teens.

Sali was viciously attacked for his position. Logical review of the facts reveal the result of increases in the minimum wage. I would very much like to help the intended target recipients/beneficiaries of an increase in minimum wages.

The problem is, the very people we want to help can be hurt more by our meddling with the market, by meddling with employer's choices to hire, determine pay levels, and reward for merit and for the increases in business income due to employee efforts. Bill Sali took the position that is most likely to promote job growth and allow for a free market to thrive, and is most optimal for minority Americans. Good for him.

Terry Silsby -- Meridian, ID

Arizona Taxpayers Pick Up $10 Million Tab for Government Lobbyists

2007-02-06T17:45:00.001-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

News Release

Arizona Taxpayers Pick Up $10 Million Tab for Government Lobbyists

New report exposes practice of government lobbying

Contact: Ann Seiden
(602) 462-5000 x 223

PHOENIX - A Goldwater Institute study released today reveals that government lobbyists in Arizona outnumber legislators 10-1. The report reveals how much money is spent on taxpayer-funded lobbying, that is, the practice of government agencies hiring lobbyists to promote their agendas. Author and Goldwater Institute constitutional policy analyst Benjamin Barr offers two paths to reform: disclosure and prohibition.

Your Tax Dollars at Work: The Implications of Taxpayer-funded Lobbying tracks Arizona's public lobbying expenditures from 2000-2005, and finds Arizona government bodies spent more than $10 million in taxpayer funds on lobbying activities during that time. The Department of Transportation alone spent more than $1.3 million.

"Government lobbying is toxic to representative democracy," says Goldwater Institute Chairman Tom Patterson. "It distorts the democratic process by pitting government interests against those of citizens." The United States and Arizona constitutions protect the right of citizens to petition their government. Mr. Patterson continued, "Letting government agents lobby with taxpayer funds, however, drowns out the voices of regular citizens, putting private citizens at a distinct disadvantage."

The report includes a list of Arizona state agencies that employ more than 900 registered government lobbyists. Government agencies from the Department of Education to the Board of Barbers hire lobbyists. Cities and counties also use registered lobbyists, with Maricopa County, the city of Tucson, and Phoenix listing 85, 71, and 43, respectively.

Your Tax Dollars at Work also examines the effects of government lobbying on the democratic process. In particular, the report discusses the implications of requiring taxpayers to fund advocacy they might not otherwise support. Mr. Barr uses the Arizona School Boards Association (ASBA) as an example of this conflict. In 2003, the ASBA spent over $200,000 on lobbying expenditures. The association actively lobbies against school choice programs and has even brought suit against tuition scholarship organizations. Meanwhile, public opinion polls show 90 percent of Arizonans support these programs.

More than 10 states have considered reforms to eliminate or reduce taxpayer-funded lobbying. Your Tax Dollars at Work explores two such reforms that have been implemented in other states. Washington State adopted a Public Disclosure Act, which requires detailed financial reporting on all public lobbying activity. Florida, meanwhile, has taken a more aggressive approach by prohibiting state entities from using public funds for lobbying purposes altogether.

Mr. Barr says, "Government officials should be allowed to testify or share information with other branches of government, but they should not be permitted to hire lobbyists to influence and mold public policy. While there are different models to consider, the best way forward is clear. True reform requires the outright prohibition of government bodies lobbying with taxpayer dollars."

Download Your Tax Dollars at Work: The Implications of Taxpayer-funded Lobbying here.

aseiden@goldwaterinstitute.org




Goldwater Institute \| 500 E. Coronado Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85004 Phone (602) 462-5000 \| Fax (602) 256-7045 \| Email info@goldwaterinstitute.org

IDAHO: Ada Courthouse funding mess

2007-02-06T17:36:00.001-07:00

Civic Parners, CCDC and Ada County
Idaho Business Review - Boise,ID,USA
The county couldn't come to an agreement with Civic Partners, so they used eminent domain laws to force the sale. There's a lot of interesting backstory and ...

Starting to Rattle

2007-02-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

I've just been waiting to clear the backlog and get to rattlin' about the ways to make statism unpopular.

For too long, too many folks have been letting themselves get pick-pocketed by power hungry politicians and bureaucrats.

Businessmen are the hardest group to remind them in the merit of what they do.

They let the trough feeders crush their profits and most importantly, their spirit.

Rattlesnake Country is not just about money, it's about liberty.

Snap at you later,

Big Rattler