" THE SYNTHESIS " 11-3-2011 NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH EDITION #1: THE HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEE PHOENIX REVISITED, 34 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS CALL FOR HOLDER’S RESIGNATION, FOLLOWED BY THE TEA PARTY’S INSISTENCE THAT OBAMA BE CHARGED WITH MISAPPROPRIATION AND FRAUD FOR NOT PRODUCING A BUDGET, WHATSOEVER....
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_Ha8nD2H2eRd8QUeiMhfsQB0ttQaTiSV3ARH_kZ0COA/edit?hl=en_US
RepLankford Rep. James Lankford by RepDennisRoss
98 years ago today, income taxes came into effect. Now, the tax code is 9 times longer than the Bible. We need tax reform
United States
Main article: Income tax in the United StatesIn order to help pay for its war effort in the American Civil War, the United States governmentimposed its first personal income tax, on August 5, 1861, as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800) ($19,490 in 2010 dollars).[9][verification needed] This tax was repealed and replaced by another income tax in 1862.[10][verification needed]
In 1894, Democrats in Congress passed the Wilson-Gorman tariff, which imposed the first peacetime income tax. The rate was 2% on income over $4000 ($101,200 in 2010 dollars), which meant fewer than 10% of households would pay any. The purpose of the income tax was to make up for revenue that would be lost by tariff reductions.[11] Also, the Panic of 1893 is said to have something to do with the passage of Wilson-Gorman.
In 1895 the United States Supreme Court, in its ruling in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., held a tax based on receipts from the use of property to be unconstitutional. The Court held that taxes on rents from real estate, on interest income from personal property and other income from personal property (which includes dividend income) were treated as direct taxes on property, and therefore had to be apportioned. Since apportionment of income taxes is impractical, this had the effect of prohibiting a federal tax on income from property. However, the Court affirmed that the Constitution did not deny Congress the power to impose a tax on real and personal property, and it affirmed that such would be a direct tax.[12] Due to the political difficulties of taxing individual wages without taxing income from property, a federal income tax was impractical from the time of the Pollock decision until the time of ratification of the 16th Amendment in 1913.
In 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution made the income tax a permanent fixture in the U.S. tax system. The United States Supreme Court in its ruling Stanton v. Baltic Mining Co. stated that the amendment conferred no new power of taxation but simply prevented the courts from taking the power of income taxation possessed by Congress from the beginning out of the category of indirect taxation to which it inherently belongs. In fiscal year 1918, annual internal revenue collections for the first time passed the billion-dollar mark, rising to $5.4 billion by 1920. With the advent of World War II, employment increased, as did tax collections—to $7.3 billion. The withholding tax on wages was introduced in 1943 and was instrumental in increasing the number of taxpayers to 60 million and tax collections to $43 billion by 1945.[3]
[edit]Types
[edit]Personal
A personal or individual income tax is levied on the total income of the individual (with some deductions permitted). It is often collected on apay-as-you-earn basis, with small corrections made soon after the end of the tax year. These corrections take one of two forms: payments to the government, for taxpayers who have not paid enough during the tax year; and tax refunds from the government for those who have overpaid. Income tax systems will often have deductions available that lessen the total tax liability by reducing total taxable income. They may allow losses from one type of income to be counted against another. For example, a loss on the stock market may be deducted against taxes paid on wages.[edit]Corporate
Main article: Corporate taxCorporate tax refers to a direct tax levied on the profits made by companies or associations and often includes capital gains of a company. Earnings are generally considered gross revenue minus expenses. Corporate expenses related to capital expenditures are usually deducted in full (for example, trucks are fully deductible in the Canadian tax system, while a corporate sports car is only partly deductible) over their useful lives by using percentage rates based on the class of asset they belong to.
Accounting principles and tax rules about recognition of expenses and revenue will vary at times, giving rise to book-tax differences. If the book-tax difference is carried over more than a year, it is referred to as a deferred tax. Future assets and liabilities created by a deferred tax are reported on the balance sheet.
See also: Excess profits tax, Windfall profits tax
[edit]Payroll
Main article: Payroll taxA payroll tax generally refers to two kinds of taxes: employee and employer payroll taxes. Employee payroll taxes are taxes which employers are required to withhold from employees' pay, also known as withholding, pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) or pay-as-you-go (PAYG) tax. These withholdings contribute to the payment of an employee's personal income tax obligation; if the payments exceed this obligation, the employee may be eligible for a tax refund or carryforward to future periods.
Employer payroll taxes are paid from the employer's own funds, either as a fixed charge per employee or as a percentage of each employee's pay. Payroll taxes often cover government social insurance programs, such as social security, health care, unemployment, and disability. These payments do not count toward the income taxes of employees and employers, but are normally deductible by the employer as a business expense.
[edit]Inheritance
Main article: Inheritance taxThe inheritance tax, estate tax and death duty are the names given to various taxes which arise on the death of an individual. In international tax law, there is a distinction between an estate tax and an inheritance tax: the former taxes the personal representatives of the deceased, while the latter taxes the beneficiaries of the estate. However, this distinction is not universally recognized. For example, the "inheritance tax" in the UK is a tax on personal representatives, and is therefore, strictly speaking, an estate tax.
[edit]Capital gains tax
Main article: Capital gains taxA capital gains tax is the tax levied on profits from the sale of capital assets. In many cases, the amount of a capital gain is treated as income and subject to the marginal rate of income tax.
In an inflationary environment, capital gains may be, to some extent, illusory. If prices in general have doubled over five years, then selling an asset for twice the price it was purchased at five years earlier represents no gain at all. Partly to compensate for such changes in the value of money over time, some jurisdictions, such as the United States, give a favorable capital gains tax rate based on the length of holding. European jurisdictions have a similar rate reduction to nil on certain property transactions that qualify for the participation exemption. In Canada, 20–50% of the gain is taxable income. In India, Short Term Capital Gains Tax (arising before one year) is 10% [15 % from F.Y 2008-09 as per Finance Act 2008] flat rate of the gains and Long Term Capital Gains Tax is nil for stocks and mutual fund units held one year or more, provided the sale of shares involved payment of the Securities Transaction Tax, and 20% for any other assets held three years or more.
[edit]Around the world
Main article: Tax rates around the worldIncome taxes are used in most countries around the world. The tax systems vary greatly and can be progressive, proportional, or regressive, depending on the type of tax. Comparison of tax rates around the world is a difficult and somewhat subjective enterprise. Tax laws in most countries are extremely complex, and tax burden falls differently on different groups in each country and sub-national unit. Of course, services provided by governments in return for taxation also vary, making comparisons all the more difficult.
“Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
on Truth
10thAmendment Elizabeth
by 2011teaparty
“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace” Thomas Paine #tcot #tlot #teaparty #twisters #ocra #tpp
November 03, 2011
DISGRACE: Over 900 Days Since Dems Passed a Budget
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AP Graphic
By Jeff Sessions & Paul RyanAP GraphicAmerica is greatly in need of strong, competent leadership.
Our nation’s total debt is now larger than our entire economy. Unemployment is painfully high and growth is painfully slow. Since taking office, the president has accelerated Washington’s reckless spending spree, has added trillions of dollars to the debt, and has refused to present a credible plan to put Washington’s fiscal house in order.
Meanwhile, Congress is divided. Republicans control the House, Democrats the Senate. As required by law, House Republicans presented a budget in committee, brought it to the floor, and passed it earlier this spring. It was an honest, detailed, concrete plan to put our budget on the path to balance and our economy on the path to prosperity. But Senate Democrats, during this time of national crisis, failed even to present a budget plan — in open defiance of the law and the public they serve. Senate Majority Leader Reid said it would be “foolish” to have a budget. The reason for this evasion is clear: Democrat leaders in Washington think it is politically foolish to commit publicly to the kind of tax increases and health-care rationing that would be required to sustain their vision of ever-expanding federal government.
Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/budget/2011/11/03/disgrace-over-900-days-dems-passed-budget#ixzz1ceQXUOzm
GAY COMMUNITY SILENT NO MORE: BREAKS SILENCE AFTER 10-11 YEARS OF FEAR IN SPEAKING OUT AGAINST OBAMA FOR THE “GAY MURDERS”:
UN-Anonymous Source Says He Gave Obama A Blowjob And Did Cocaine With Him
Wed Nov 02 2011 18:30
100% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.
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And from the astute media.....
....CRICKETS
.............CRICKETS
.....................CRICKETS
.............................CRICKETS
Mom of Murdered Obama Gay Lover Speaks Up
Fellowship of the Minds
In late May, Wash. DC-based investigative journalist Wayne Madsen had a bombshell revelation aboutObama’s membership in a Chicago gay club, Man’s Country. Madsen also reported on Obama’s sexual relationships with other men, including named D.C. politicians and Donald Young, the openly-gay choir-director of the church in Chicago of which Obama was a member for some 20 years — Jeremy Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ black liberation theology. Obama’s relationship with Young was confirmed by Larry Sinclair, who claims to have had two sex-cocaine trysts with Obama.
There were two other openly gay men in Wright’s church: Larry Bland and Nate Spencer. In late 2007, as Obama began his ascent to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, in a span of 1½ months, all three men “conveniently” died:
- Bland was murdered execution-style on November 17, 2007;
- Young was murdered execution-style on December 24, 2007;
- Spencer reportedly died of septicemia, pneumonia, and HIV on December 26, 2007. (Death certificates of Bland and Young, HERE.)
Now, Young’s elderly mother is speaking out about her suspicions that her son was murdered to protect Obama’s reputation and assure his political future as President.
MORE DETAILS HERE: fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/mom-of-murdered-obama-gay-lover-speaks-up
Now if that is too much for you to digest here's something you may be able to handle that the media continues to coverup:
No Paperwork For Obama Grants From 1997 To 2000
National Review Online
From the Chicago Sun-Times article on grants distributed by then-state-legislator Barack Obama.
(Records from 1997 to 2000 weren’t available.)
There’s a shock.
His state legislative office records may have been thrown out, he told us.
He’s never released a specific list of law clients, instead giving a list of all of his firm’s clients, numbering several hundred each year. His campaign will only confirm representation when the media comes to them with a specific case.
He won’t release his application to the state bar. He’s never released any legal or billing records to verify that he only did a few hours of work for a nonprofit tied to Tony Rezko.
He’s never released any medical records, just a one-page letter from his doctor.
Does it bother anyone that a guy with political ambitions for his entire adult life has not left a paper trail?
HERE: www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/9285/no-paperwork-obama-grants-1997-2000
Read more at Birther Report
vmpcott Valentine Cotton
by 2011teaparty
When CBO exposed Johnson's embezzlement in 1995, Johnson attacked the CBO deputy director's sanity. #tcot #twisters #sgp#teaparty #ocra
2011teaparty Tea Party Chief
@vmpcott kind of like the Tea Party exposing Obama's crazy misappropriation, and him dubbing us "extremists" among other things #SOBs
FoxNews Fox News
#BreakingNews: House panel votes to subpoena the White House for documents relating to questionable loan to now-bankrupt solar firm Solyndra
Obama: “We’re Better Off Today Than When I Took Over”
(He Thinks We’re Idiots)
Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, November 2, 2011, 12:19 PM
Yes. He really said this.
Well, maybe we are better off, except for a few things.
The Obama administration tripled the US deficit in a year.
The Obama deficit this year is reach $1.299 trillion. (The Captain’s Comments)
Obama is the worst jobs president since the Great Depression.
Federal non-defense spending soared under Obama.
Obama set records in the long-term unemployment rate.
(EOAD)
Then there’s this by John E. at Ace of Spades:
SCROLL TO SEE SEVERAL CHARTS BELOW:
Oh, and the economy was downgraded for the first time in a century.
Yeah, Barack… we sure are better off than 3 years ago.
Except for just about everything.
UPDATE: Speaker Boehner responded, “Are you kidding me?”
Swiss Police Use Water Cannons to Stop Attack on Pro-Lifers
by Adam Cassandra | Zurich, Switzerland | LifeNews.com | 11/2/11 6:46 PMInternational
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“Although the anti-life protesters were out-numbered by pro-lifers at least ten-to-one, police had to take measures to maintain order, a few times resorting to water cannons and tear gas, because protesters were entering the plaza where pro-lifers gathered, and were behaving in a threatening way,” said Joannes Bucher, the European regional director of Human Life International (HLI), who participated in the march.
“Pro-lifers seemed unconcerned, and were certainly undeterred,” said Bucher.
HLI Switzerland, a co-sponsor of the September 17th march, issued a statement about the protests which read in part, “That a peaceful occasion for life and the protection of life was the scene of such a massive police operation is unthinkable.”
Photos recently obtained by HLI show well over a dozen police officers in riot gear on hand as gas filled the air, and water was shot at protesters from a police truck.
Video of the march posted on the event’s website shows pro-life advocates marching with signs, large crosses, and small white coffins representing lives lost to abortion.
“Over a thousand pro-life supporters calmly and with dignity braved the taunts and insults of vocal and disrespectful protesters to listen to calls to protect life, and to pray for our opponents in this worldwide battle to stop abortion,” said March for Life attendee Mary Longlois, an American, who advocates for pro-life issues on behalf of HLI at the United Nations. “This is truly an international battle, and pro-lifers all speak the same language.”
“Apparently [the protesters] had decided to disband the rally with violence,” according to a statement on the website. “Only a determined and forceful use of the Zurich city police were able to prevent the rally, at which many children, teenagers and seniors participated, from degenerating into chaos.”
“We find it regrettable that the deployment of dozens of expensive police in full gear has become necessary. An occasion that calls for the unconditional right to life should not impose exorbitant costs for personnel, emergency vehicles, water cannons and tear gas on taxpayers,” the statement continued.
“But the blame for these expenses is not to be placed on the organizers, but radical anarchists and selfish party-goers who repeatedly demonstrated their propensity for violence in recent days.”
Despite the actions of the protestors, HLI’s Bucher was enthusiastic about the experience.
“The march was inspiring and exciting,” said Bucher. “Pope Benedict is defending European Catholic heritage, and people of all creeds are fighting back against the culture of death. We are not separated by language or culture. We are united in this cause.”
LifeNews.com Note: Reprinted with permission from Human Life International’s World Watch forum. Adam Cassandra is a Communications Specialist at Human Life International.
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FCC cracks down on religious broadcasters
The churches were granted FCC exemptions from closed captioning in 2006. | ReutersClose
By BROOKS BOLIEK | 10/31/11 3:29 PM EDT
If a church broadcasts the word of God on TV without closed captions, it risks incurring the wrath of the FCC.
Some 300 small- to medium-sized churches can expect letters from the commission within the next few days explaining why their closed captioning exemptions were lifted for TV shows like “Power in the Word” and “Producing Kingdom Citizens.”
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The churches were granted FCC exemptions from the closed captioning requirement under a 2006 commission decision known as the “Anglers Order” for the Anglers for Christ Ministries program that had argued for exemption from the rules.
While the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau used the Anglers Order as the model to grant at least 298 other exemptions, the full commission overturned that decision Oct. 20 after objections were raised from a coalition of organizations for the deaf and hard of hearing.
The churches may still be eligible to win an exemption from the rules if they can prove they can’t afford closed captioning, but they now have to make their case individually.
“This was a process that went awry,” said Craig Parshall, senior vice president of the National Religious Broadcasters, an international association of Christian communicators. “Now, we are going back to Square One.”
Advocacy groups for the deaf contend that the bureau erred when it granted the exemptions en masse because that created a virtual blanket exemption for nonprofit organizations. Under the closed captioning law, programmers can win an exemption if they can prove that the cost of the captioning will cause an undue economic hardship.
The groups wrote to the FCC asking commissioners to overrule the bureau order arguing that the order “improperly and unilaterally established a new class of exempt programming.”
While the commission’s decision has an immediate impact on churches across the country, it isn’t directed at religious organizations in particular, Parshall said. Small- and medium-sized churches just happened to apply for exemptions under the closed captioning law’s exception for TV shows where paying for captioning is an undue economic burden, Parshall explained.
Advocates for the deaf said they were pleased the commission was taking action on the issue, and hoped that it would make more programming accessible to the deaf and hearing impaired.
“Now, we look forward to viewing more TV shows that were not captioned before,” said Jim House, spokesman for Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. “It is our hope that those producers affected by the decision would see the positive benefits of making their shows accessible to more and more viewers and find that it is the right thing to do.”
Religious broadcasters want to reach the deaf community, but requiring churches across the country to close caption their TV programs could force the programming off the air, Parshall said.
“We believe our message needs to get out to the deaf and disabled communities,” Parshall explained. “All we want is a sensible regulatory structure that recognizes the plight of the small Christian broadcaster.”
This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 3:25 p.m. on October 31, 2011.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/67260.html#ixzz1ceOzPI00
Doug Ross’ Chart of the Day: Obama’s Budget Pie
Posted by Robbie Cooper at 10:57 am Add comments
Feb172011
Those ‘draconian’ budget cuts that Obama is threatening to veto? Yeah…not quite as draconian as he would have you believe (it’s almost like he doesn’t understand what that actually means). No…not draconian…rather budget cuts.
Via Doug Ross:
- $3,730,000 million ($3.73 trillion) in total spending, representing 25% of GDP — the highest level since World War II
- $1,600,000 million ($1.6 trillion) in deficits for 2011
- $60,000 million ($60 billion) in proposed cuts
| ALSO HEREBY KNOWN AS “THE TEA PARTY RECORDER” -- ENJOY OUR TEA PARTY JOURNALS http://teapartychief.blogspot.com/ and http://ga-teapartychief.blogspot.com/  http://www.facebook.com/teapartychiefOFFICIAL INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM VOLUNTEER FOR THE BLACK RIBBON OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN AGAINST MEDIA BIAS AND FORMER 2009-2010 GA LOBBYIST FOR “LIFE AND LIBERTY” EDITOR’S NOTE: AFTER 2YRS. OF PUBLICATION, “THE SYNTHESIS” IN SPIRIT OF “THE CHEROKEE PHOENIX” HAS NOW GROWN AND REACHES A REGULAR AUDIENCE OF OVER 41,000 FROM DIRECT EMAILS AND FACEBOOK COMPLETE ARCHIVE AND YOUTUBE CHANNEL: http://www.youtube.com/user/The2011Phoenix |
AfricaKenya and Somalia Who is Kenya fighting?
Nov 2nd 2011, 15:33 by J.L. | NAIROBIACCORDING to Kenya, it is not at war with Somalis but with the al-Qaeda-linked Shabab militia that controls most of south Somalia. Theoretically that may be true. But with several thousand troops on the ground, and with air, special forces and intelligence support from America, Britain, Ethiopia and France, the Kenyan message of peace for all Somalis rings somewhat hollow.
The Shabab are adept at propaganda. They lie about battle statistics. They have been accused of dressing up their own dead fighters to look like civilian casualties. Baobab recently asserted that in Somalia the untested Kenyan military needed to be competent and the jihadists inept. Kenya failed the first test by invading Somalia during the rainy season: its assault has already got stuck in the mud. The Shabab fighters are enured to the mosquitoes, thorniness and dysentry of bush fighting. The Kenyans may fare less well. None of this may matter. Kenya has geography and firepower on its side. Somalia has no Tora Bora in which the Shabab can hide. Even if its fighters scuttle to the mangrove swamps, they are likely to be picked off as they emerge.
Yet the Kenyans seem already to have squandered more of their advantage with their alarmingly muddled reporting of recent fighting. On October 30th, the Kenyan military spokesperson, Major Emmanuel Chirchir, announced that a Kenyan air strike on the Somali town of Jilib had killed 10 Shabab fighters and injured 47. He was adamant that no children or women among the casualties—just militants. The next day a report emerged from Médicins sans Frontières (MSF), a medical charity, stating they had attended five dead in their clinic in Jilib: three children, one woman, and one man. MSF said 45 people had been wounded, 31 of them children, 9 of them women, all with shrapnel injuries.
The Kenyan military explained that they had hit a Shabab lorry filled with ammunition, which had driven towards a crowd where Shabab officials were handing out food rations to displaced people. The Kenyans had no video to back up their claim, but even if true what matters is that the Shabab were handed a propaganda victory by dodgy Kenyan reporting. They will use the images of ruptured children for their ends.
Chastened, Kenya now says it will be in Somalia for as long as it takes to obliterate the jihadists, years, if necessary, say the senior Kenyan brass. Things will escalate further if Kenyans launch their promised assault on Kismayo and the Shabab respond by using weapons allegedly flown in by Eritrea and with threatened major terrorist strikes in Nairobi and beyond.
Hawaii slams door on 'birthers,' who turn to Obama Social Security numberTired of repeated requests for President Obama's birth certificate – often from the same people – Hawaii has adopted a law that allows the state to deny such requests. But 'birthers' are now questioning a different document: the Obama Social Security number.
By Husna Haq, Correspondent / May 13, 2010
The copy of President Obama's birth certificate presented by his campaign to refute rumors that he was not born in the US. 'Birthers' have questioned the validity of the document, and some have written to Hawaii to request the actual certificate. Others are focusing on new rumors about the Obama Social Security number.
Chicago Tribune/MCT/Newscom
Hawaii is saying ‘Aloha’ to the "birthers."
Topics
The state government can legally ignore repeated requests for President Obama’s birth certificate – a blow (or perhaps a publicity boost) to the birther movement, which claims that Mr. Obama was not born the US, and is therefore not eligible to be president.
The birthers are instead turning to another claim against Obama’s legitimacy: an Internet rumor that questions the Obama social security number. Two private investigators claim that the digits indicate that it was issued in Connecticut, not Hawaii. (The digits in a social security number are allocated based on state of residence when issued.) They also say his social security number belongs to someone born in 1890.
In Hawaii, the Republican Gov. Linda Lingle signed the birth certificate bill into law Wednesday.
The Hawaii Department of Health, apparently, has had enough. It receives about 50 requests for Obama’s birth certificate every month, according to the agency’s director, Dr. Chiyome Fukino. And those requests come mostly from the same four to five people, she said in a testimony before the state legislature in February.
“The time and state resources it takes to respond to these often convoluted inquiries are considerable,” she said in the testimony.
Sure, but wasn’t Obama the guy who proclaimed, “Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency,” in welcoming remarks to his cabinet and senior staff just one day after he took the oath of office?
The law, known as Act 100, takes a detour around the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by allowing state agencies a limited exemption from FOIA requirements when repeated requests for information are made by the same person. The law covers all agencies but it specifically targets people who repeatedly request a copy of Obama’s Hawaii birth certificate, the Honolulu Advertiserreported Thursday.
In an interview with WABC Radio in New York, Governor Lingle said the state’s health director personally viewed Obama’s birth record.
“The president was, in fact, born at Kapi’olani Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii,” she said on air. “And that’s just a fact.”
According to the certification of live birth (which is considered the same as a birth certificate, legally), he was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.
That’s been confirmed by factcheck.org.
And thanks to Act 100, that’s all the fact-checking anyone can do, for now.
Related:
Blogosphere goes bonkers over 'birthers'
Birther leader Orly Taitz implodes on MSNBC
Hey it's the president's birthday (wherever he was born)
Joe Arpaio, Arizona Sheriff, Calls On Obama To Release Birth Certificate Microfiche
The Huffington Post Luke Johnson Posted: 11/2/11 04:44 PM ETSHARE THIS STORY
Maricopa County, Ariz. Sheriff Joe Arpaio called on President Barack Obama to release the microfiche of his birth certificate in an interview Tuesday with the Phoenix New Times.
The White House released Obama's long-form birth certificate online in April. Prior to that, the Obama campaign released a copy of his certificate of live birth online.
Despite that evidence, Arpaio wants to see the microfiche of Obama's birth certificate. He claims that the birth of a pair of twins one day after Obama in the same hospital can be seen on microfiche filed with the Hawaii Department of Health. According to Arpaio, if the twins' records are available on microfiche, Obama's should be too, and should put to rest rumors that the White House doctored the copies of Obama's birth certificate it released earlier this year.
"To help the president of the United States, let's go to the microfiche," he said. "All you have to do if you're the president is go to the Department of Health, or whatever, and release the microfiche," he added.
Arpaio created a "Cold Case Posse" to investigate Obama's birth certificate. He added to The New Times that the investigation is a "priority right now."
He talked about his "Posse" last month at a Tea Party meeting where he was a guest speaker. "I can't tell you everything, but there could be a shock there somewhere that my guys came up with. I can't talk too much about it. It's in the process," he said. "Birther queen" Orly Taitz also showed up at the meeting to press Arpaio to investigate the birth certificate issue more vigorously.
Arpaio said in September that his "posse" costs nothing to taxpayers and is made up of "ex-cops and some lawyers."
Prior to the long-form birth certificate being released online, former Atlantic correspondent Josh Green wrote about how to investigate Obama's birth certificate in Hawaii last April. His advice: Go to the state library, find the two contemporaneous birth announcements in local newspapers on microfiche and cross-check the address with the city directory. He said that requesting a copy of the birth certificate was not possible due to federal privacy laws.
Arpaio is better known for his tough stance on immigration enforcement. He has undertaken immigration sweeps in predominately Latino areas seeking out traffic violators and other offenders. He is also under investigation by a federal grand jury for abuse of power allegations.
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House Panel to Subpoena Homeland Security for Information on Illegal Immigrants
Published November 02, 2011
| FoxNews.com
- Reuters
- July 10, 2009: A Guatemalan illegal immigrant prepares to board a plane at the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airport during his deportation process.
The House Judiciary Committee, in a rare move, is planning to subpoena the Department of Homeland Security for information about illegal and criminal immigrants whom the department has declined to deport.
A subcommittee on the panel voted 7-4 on Wednesday to authorize the subpoena, which Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is expected to issue later this week. It would be the first subpoena issued by the committee since it came under GOP control.
Smith and other Republican lawmakers want the department to provide detailed information about the thousands of immigrants who are flagged but not arrested or deported through a program known as Secure Communities. Smith had given the department an Oct. 31 deadline to provide the information voluntarily.
"The administration is obviously not acting in good faith and is wrongfully trying to keep crucial information from the American people," Smith said in a statement. "They are on the verge of obstructing the legitimate role of Congress."
Homeland Security spokesman Matthew Chandler said in response that the department does not need to be subpoenaed in order to comply.
"DHS has stated to the committee it would provide the data requested without being compelled by subpoena to do so. DHS is in the process of gathering the data and will provide it when complete," Chandler said in a statement.
Secure Communities is a program that allows federal immigration officials to check the names and fingerprints of suspects booked at federal, state and local jails against their immigration databases.
Smith raised concerns about those illegal immigrants who were not being pursued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A Congressional Research Service report released in October showed the department had flagged 318,000 people through the program, while arresting 73,000. Smith said in an August letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that between October 2008 and April 2011, ICE had more than 536,000 matches -- but took about 227,000 of them into custody, while deporting about 109,000.
Smith asked for a list of all "low-level criminal immigrants" who were looked over in the course of Secure Communities.
ICE originally wrote back to Smith and said it would take at least two weeks to compile the information. Then in late October, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Nelson Peacock wrote a letter explaining to Smith that many of the immigrants whose names show up in their system through Secure Communities are legal and would simply not count as a "removable alien."
He said naturalized U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents could show up, and that ICE would not take somebody into custody if they are already serving time for a criminal offense.
"In that circumstance, even though the alien will ultimately be removed by ICE, his or her removal would not yet appear in the statistics related to Secure Communities as the removal cannot occur until the individual's criminal sentence is complete," he wrote. Peacock provided statistics similar to those cited by Smith in his August letter, without giving information on individual identities.
But Smith is also inquiring about the program at a time when the Department of Homeland Security is changing the way it approaches deportation cases. ICE has authorized officials to use "prosecutorial discretion" to prioritize violent criminals and other serious offenders for deportation, while potentially giving lower-level illegal immigrant offenders a pass.
Chandler said ICE's approach is "enhancing public safety" across the country, resulting in the total removal of 216,000 criminal aliens in fiscal 2011 -- an increase of 89 percent over 2008.
"DHS has implemented immigration enforcement priorities that focus limited resources on convicted criminals, repeat immigration law violators, fugitives and recent entrants," he said.
CRIP GANG ACTIVITY FUELING
#OCCUPYWHATEVASTREET OPERATIONS:
I think this definition describes OWS fairly well:
Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) - a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers. -Mark Meagher
Kimberly Morin
RT @wdelpilar: @conservativeind OWS doomed frm start. No true message: anti-semitism, hiding rapes & theft showed their true colors. Elite's exposed.#tcotLong post from Deck.ly 15 hours ago View on Twitter
SHOULD EDUCATORS PROMOTE VIOLENCE??!At Least 15% of Oakland Teachers Participate in Violent #Occupy Protests
Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, November 3, 2011, 4:34 AMIt’s for the kids…
At least 15% of public school teachers participated in the violent protests yesterday in California. Several banks had their windows smashed, a Wholefoods store was attacked and the Oakland Port was shut down during the mob attacks.
The San Francisco Chronicle interviewed one teacher.
Elementary School Teachers earn around $60,000 a year in the Oakland area.
That does not include benefits.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported, via The Lede:
At least 15 percent of Oakland teachers took today off to participate in the Occupy Oakland general strike, the school district said. A little more than 300 teachers missed work to join the strike, said Troy Flint, a district spokesman. The district won’t know exactly how many didn’t come to work until later today, Flint said….
Gretchen Bailey, a kindergarten teacher at Global Family School in Oakland for 15 years, said she took the day off without pay to protest both local budget cuts and the national goals of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
“I think we need new tax laws,” she said. “We all need to share more of the burden.”
2011teaparty Tea Party Chief
2011teaparty Tea Party Chief @BarackObama #NiggifyWhatevaStreet providing a strain on state budgets, and we do not want to declare martial law, this is America!!!!!
17 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete
NCTeaParty NC Tea Party
NCTeaParty NC Tea Party by 2011teaparty
Price tag of Occupy Charlotte: $100K and counting bit.ly/uvCBJk #consnc
by 2011teaparty
The majority of Americans are not living in camps, bitching, whining and destroying things. OWS does not speak for us! Wake up, MSM!
Occupy Boston protester charged with selling Xanax to undercover police officers
E-mail| Print | Comments ()11/02/2011 1:33 PM
By Jaime Lutz, Globe Correspondent
In a move that infuriated some Occupy Boston protesters, Boston police on Tuesday arrested an Occupy Boston protester after she allegedly sold $20 worth of prescription drugs to undercover police.
Martina “Mama” Martin was taken into custody near the tent that supplies clothes to the protesters, who have been living in a tent city in Dewey Square since last month. In a report, police said they had seen an increase in illegal drug activity in the downtown area, which they attributed to the arrival of the Occupy Boston encampment.
Acting on a tip that a man and woman inside the group’s clothes tent were selling Xanax illegally, undercover officers successfully bought 10 Xanax pills for $20 from Martin, who shared a group hug with undercover officers after the transaction and told them to call her “Mama.’’
Martin did not struggle with police, but as officers took her into custody, her fellow protesters angrily surrounded the officers while shouting obscenities at them. Police called in reinforcements, but the tensions eventually subsided between protesters and police.
Police tried to recover the marked money they allegedly paid to Martin, but were unable to locate it, according to the report. Martin was scheduled to be arraigned today on charges of distributing Class C drugs and possession with intent to distribute within 100 feet of the Rose Kennedy Fitzgerald Greenway.
Police said in the report that the pills were prescribed to Martin, dispensed by a pharmacist on Oct. 31.
In a separate incident, police arrested Matthew Douglas, 40, for disorderly conduct after he repeatedly shouted threats at the protesters after they threw him out of the encampment for allegedly stealing money and other items from tents.
Douglas, who police said appeared to be under the influence of an illegal drug, challenged the protesters to fight him and repeatedly yelled obscenities at them.
When he ignored multiple orders to leave the scene, he was arrested, police said.
Jaime Lutz can be reached at jaime.lutz@globe.com.
Obama’s $500 Million Green Jobs Program ‘Far Behind’ Projections, Watchdog Says
Published November 02, 2011
| FoxNews.com
- Reuters
- President Barack Obama (C) talks with workers as he tours Solyndra, Inc. , a solar panel manufacturing facility in Fremont, California, in this May 26, 2010 file photo.
President Obama’s highly-touted green jobs program -- born out of his 2009 stimulus package -- has spent more than $111 million to train 18,000 people who still haven't landed a job.
Elliot P. Lewis, the assistant inspector general of the Labor Department, laid out his findings Wednesday at a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing entitled "The Green Energy Debacle: Where Has All the Taxpayer Money Gone?"
The Labor Department awarded $490.1 million of the $500 million it received from the 2009 Recovery Act though 189 competitive grants. As of June 30, recipients reported spending $162.8 million, or 33 percent of the amount awarded. Another $52 million of that spending did result in 8,000 people finding jobs in the eco-friendly industry.
Though the department set a goal of training nearly 97,000 people and placing 80,000 in jobs, the 26,000 people trained represent 21 percent of the goal while only 10 percent had found work.
"The placement numbers are very far behind,” Lewis acknowledged under questioning from Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending.
“Yeah, very bad,” Jordan replied before asking whether the initial targets can ever be reached.
“They could catch up to their targets for serving,” he said. “They would have to make a significant increase to catch up with their placement targets.”
Jordan asked Lewis whether he would recommend the termination of the program.
“I would want to have more information from the department,” Lewis said.
“How much more do you need when you look at these numbers and how bad they are, how much more do you need to say this is just not working?”
Lewis said he didn’t know.
The testimony was a blow to Obama, who is working frantically to show voters he is trying to boost the sluggish economy. Since Labor Day, Obama has been touring the country, pitching his $447 billion jobs plan that failed to advance in the Senate last month. The president is now urging Congress to pass it piece by piece -- the Senate also rejected the first $35 billion provision -- and he's using executive actions to bypass the legislative branch.
Among the others who testified at Wednesday's hearing was Gregory Freidman, the federal watchdog who first raised a red flag about the Energy Department’s$35.2 billion loan program that gave a $528 million loan to the now-bankrupt Solyndra.
Friedman told the committee that the Energy Department was simply overwhelmed by the amount of stimulus money it received and could not overcome challenges in getting the money out the door on a timely basis.
"Not meaning to make a joke out of a very serious subject, it's been equated to attaching a lawn hose to a fire hydrant that the infrastructure, both at the federal, state and local levels, simply was not there to accept the burden," Friedman said.
Friedman said the Energy Department has improved the pace of stimulus spending but noted that as of late last month, about 45 percent of the stimulus funds had not been spent, mostly by state and local governments.
“In summary, a combination of massive funding, high expectations and inadequate infrastructure resulted, at times, in less than optimal performance,” he said.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/02/obamas-500-million-green-jobs-program-far-behind-projections-watchdog-says/#ixzz1cdsQa7ql
RNC RNC by 2011teaparty
Program from the first #stimulus has spent $111M to train 18,000 people. 0 have landed a job: fxn.ws/vAjyob
| Job Creators: Four Bills on House Floor This Week Could Spur “Creation of Millions of Jobs” Posted by Katie Boyd on November 02, 2011 The House will vote on four small business jobs bills this week that could help companies “start immediately hiring people,” according to testimony offered at a House Oversight & Government Reform Subcommittee hearing today. These bills are part of Republicans’ Plan for America’s Job Creators and will help spur private-sector growth by eliminating barriers to small business investment. Here are some of the key points made by job creators at today’s hearing:
President Obama continues to disengage from the legislative process, campaigning for more failed, taxpayer-funded ‘stimulus’ spending instead of working with Republicans to find common ground on removing barriers to job growth. Republican leaders in the House and Senate, however, are urging the Democrat-controlled Senate to take action on at least 15 (and counting) House-passed jobs bills. As House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) put it today, “It’s time for them to act” on these bills to “help put the American people back to work.” |
ANOTHER SOLYNDRA: Beacon Power Files For Bankruptcy, Potentially Leaving Taxpayers On The Hook For Millions
Zeke Miller | Oct. 31, 2011, 8:29 AM | 884 | 9- A A A
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Image: AP Photo/Ben Margot
See Also:
Report: Super Committee Democrats Caving On Medicare Benefits Cuts
DOWNGRADE WATCH: The Super Committee Is (Predictably) Deadlocked Over Taxes
Beacon Power, a Massachusetts-based clean energy company, filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday Reuters reported, potentially leaving taxpayers on the hook for up to $43 million.
The energy storage company, like the California-based Solyndra, received a federally-backed loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, and like that company, went bankrupt just years after receiving the loan.
House Republicans are already investigating the Department of Energy loan program — and Secretary Steven Chu is expected to testify to the House Energy and Commerce Committee next month. Another bankruptcy just pours fuel on the fire.
Taxpayers will be among the first in line to collect among Beacon's creditors — a major difference from the much-derided Solyndra loan — but regardless of how much the federal government recoups, the bankruptcy lends a major blow to the Obama administration.
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Energy Department couldn’t manage stimulus money, watchdog says
@thehill I find seeking $ for diapers contrary to Democrats' clean energy programs & initiatives: what happened to old school cloth diaper?!Paul Chinn/AP - President Obama, center, is given a tour of Solyndra by Executive Vice President Ben Bierman, right, as Chief Executive Officer Chris Gronet, left, walks along at Solyndra Inc. in Fremont, Calif.By Ed O’Keefe, Published: November 2
The government watchdog who first raised concerns about the federal loan program used to finance the now-bankrupt solar company Solyndra said Wednesday that the Energy Department was ill-equipped to quickly distribute billions of dollars in economic stimulus funding.
Making his first appearance on Capitol Hill since the Solyndra scandal broke, the Energy Department’s inspector general, Gregory H. Friedman, told a House subcommittee that Energy’s $35.2 billion in stimulus funding eclipsed its annual budget by $8 billion and placed strains on the federal, state and local officials responsible for distributing the funds.0
More On This Story
Friedman’s testimony was meant to summarize more than 100 investigations conducted by his office into Energy’s stimulus spending. The probes have recovered $2.3 million in fraudulently obtained stimulus money and sparked five criminal prosecutions.
Several of Friedman’s probes have concluded that the political push to quickly create jobs and spur economic development didn’t match economic realities on the ground. And although he credits the department with making significant progress in distributing the federal aid, he said 45 percent of stimulus dollars distributed by Energy had not been allocated by state and local government as of Oct. 22.
Obama administration officials have defended the department’s management of stimulus dollars, noting that 55 percent of the money had been distributed to recipients as of late last month. But the $535 million government-backed loan given to Solyndra, the now-shuttered solar company, has raised questions about the rush to distribute stimulus dollars and the leadership of Energy Secretary Steven Chu and his top aides.
In his testimony, Friedman said the department failed to properly document and could not always demonstrate how it resolved or mitigated risks before granting loan guarantees. Critics have said such steps might have prevented the Solyndra scandal.
Friedman also criticized the administration for touting the existence of “shovel-ready” projects that needed federal funding to be completed quickly. From the start, administration critics were skeptical that such projects existed.
Friedman agreed: “Few actual ‘shovel-ready’ projects existed,” he said. Instead, projects benefiting from Energy Department money “required extensive advance planning, organizational enhancements, and additional staffing and training” that delayed the quick distribution of stimulus dollars.
Stimulus-backed projects to weatherize homes also were often of poor quality, according tochecks conducted by Friedman’s office. In one case, a weatherization subcontractor gave preferential treatment to his employees and their relatives, meaning that eligible elderly and disabled applicants missed out or had to wait for weatherization of their homes.
Members of the House subcommittee on regulatory affairs also heard from Labor Department watchdogs who raised doubts about $490.1 million in stimulus funds distributed by the department to train unemployed workers for “green jobs” in the energy sector. As of June, 8,000 people had found “green jobs” after completing the stimulus-backed training programs, representing 10 percent of the administration’s goal, said Elliot P. Lewis, the assistant inspector general.
“Green jobs have not materialized, and therefore job placements had been much less than expected,” Lewis said.
Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis said last month that the training programs are scheduled to run through 2013 and should help train more than 124,000 people. “These were smart investments that are preparing Americans for the clean energy jobs driving our 21st-century economy, and projects are still underway,” she said.
by 2011teapartyCSPAN: cs.pn/gdgrq1 MT @SenJohnMcCain: Headed to the floor for a colloquy w/ Sen Thune & others to discuss need to repeal CLASS Act
CONGRESSMAN BACHUS SUPPORTS SUPREME COURT REVIEW OF OBAMACARE
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WASHINGTON (October 28) – Congressman Spencer Bachus (AL-6) is seeking a U.S. Supreme Court review of the constitutionality of the federal government’s takeover of health care.
Congressman Bachus and 104 House Members submitted an amicus brief to the high court yesterday challenging a centerpiece of the government health care law, the individual mandate to purchase health insurance. Several lower court rulings have already declared the mandate unconstitutional. The legal brief seeks an expeditious review of the mandate and the law by the Supreme Court.
“My view all along has been that the individual mandate to buy health insurance is unconstitutional and an overreach of congressional authority. Our highest court should take up this matter expeditiously before the law causes further damage to our health care system. Obamacare is not the way to improve health care coverage,” said Congressman Bachus.
Bachus has previously signed legal briefs in support of suits brought in lower courts challenging the individual mandate. He voted against the health care takeover legislation in March 2010 and voted for full repeal of Obamacare this past January.
To view the amicus brief prepared by the American Center for Law and Justice, click here.
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Smoking-Gun Document Ties Policy To Housing CrisisBy PAUL SPERRY, FOR INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted 10/31/2011 08:05 AM ET
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President Obama says the Occupy Wall Street protests show a "broad-based frustration" among Americans with the financial sector, which continues to kick against regulatory reforms three years after the financial crisis.
"You're seeing some of the same folks who acted irresponsibly trying to fight efforts to crack down on the abusive practices that got us into this in the first place," he complained earlier this month.
But what if government encouraged, even invented, those "abusive practices"?
Rewind to 1994. That year, the federal government declared war on an enemy — the racist lender — who officials claimed was to blame for differences in homeownership rate, and launched what would prove the costliest social crusade in U.S. history.
At President Clinton's direction, no fewer than 10 federal agencies issued a chilling ultimatum to banks and mortgage lenders to ease credit for lower-income minorities or face investigations for lending discrimination and suffer the related adverse publicity. They also were threatened with denial of access to the all-important secondary mortgage market and stiff fines, along with other penalties.
Bubble? Regulators Blew It
The threat was codified in a 20-page "Policy Statement on Discrimination in Lending" and entered into the Federal Register on April 15, 1994, by the Interagency Task Force on Fair Lending. Clinton set up the little-known body to coordinate an unprecedented crackdown on alleged bank redlining.
The edict — completely overlooked by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and the mainstream media — was signed by then-HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, Attorney General Janet Reno, Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, along with the heads of six other financial regulatory agencies.
"The agencies will not tolerate lending discrimination in any form," the document warned financial institutions.
Ludwig at the time stated the ruling would be used by the agen cies as a fair-lending enforcement "tool," and would apply to "all lenders" — including banks and thrifts, credit unions, mortgage brokers and finance companies.
The unusual full-court press was predicated on a Boston Fed study showing mortgage lenders rejecting blacks and Hispanics in greater proportion than whites. The author of the 1992 study, hired by the Clinton White House, claimed it was racial "discrimination." But it was simply good underwriting.
It took private analysts, as well as at least one FDIC economist, little time to determine the Boston Fed study was terminally flawed. In addition to finding embarrassing mistakes in the data, they concluded that more relevant measures of a borrower's credit history — such as past delinquencies and whether the borrower met lenders credit standards — explained the gap in lending between whites and blacks, who on average had poorer credit and higher defaults.
The study did not take into account a host of other relevant data factoring into denials, including applicants' net worth, debt burden and employment record. Other variables, such as the size of down payments and the amount of the loans sought to the value of the property being bought, also were left out of the analysis. It also failed to consider whether the borrower submitted information that could not be verified, the presence of a cosigner and even the loan amount.
When these missing data were factored in, it became clear that the rejection rates were based on legitimate business decisions, not racism.
Still, the study was used to support a wholesale abandonment of traditional underwriting standards — the root cause of the mortgage crisis.
For the first time, Washington's bank regulators put racial lending at the top of their checklist. Banks that failed to throw open their lending windows to credit-poor minorities were denied expansion plans by the Fed in an era of frenzied financial mergers and acquisitions. HUD threatened to deny them access to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which it controlled. And the Justice Department sued them for lending discrimination and branded them as racists in the press.
"HUD is authorized to direct Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to undertake various remedial actions, including suspension, probation, reprimand or settlement, against lenders found to have engaged in discriminatory lending practices," the official policy statement warned.
The regulatory missive, which had the effect of law, advised lenders to bend "customary" underwriting standards for minority homebuyers with poor credit.
"Applying different lending standards to applicants who are members of a protected class is permissible," it said. "In addition, providing different treatment to applicants to address past discrimination would be permissible."
To that end, lenders were directed to "make changes in marketing strategy or loan products to better serve minority segments of the market." They were also advised to "change commission structures" to encourage brokers and loan officers to "lend in minority and low-income neighborhoods" — a practice Countrywide Financial, the poster boy of the subprime scandal, perfected. The government now condemns the practice it once encouraged as "predatory."
FDIC warned banks that even unintentional discrimination was against the law, and that they should be proactive in making "multicultural" loans. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," the agency said in a separate advisory.
Confronted with the combined force of 10 federal regulators, lenders naturally toed the line, and were soon aggressively marketing subprime mortgages in urban areas. The marching orders threw such a scare into the industry that the American Bankers Association issued a "fair-lending tool kit" to every member. The Mortgage Bankers Association of America signed a "fair-lending" contract with HUD. So did Countrywide.
HUD also pushed Fannie and Freddie, which in effect set industry underwriting standards, to buy subprime mortgages, freeing lenders to originate even more high-risk loans.
"Lenders should ensure that their loan processors and underwriters are aware of the provisions of the secondary market guidelines that provide various alternative and flexible means by which applicants may demonstrate their ability and willingness to repay their loans," the policy statement decreed.
"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac not infrequently purchase mortgages exceeding the suggested ratios" of monthly housing expense to income (28%) and total obligations to income (36%).
It warned lenders who rejected minority applicants with high debt ratios and low credit scores to "be prepared" to prove to federal regulators and prosecutors they weren't racist. "The Department of Justice is authorized to use the full range of its enforcement authority."
It took a little more than a decade for the negative effects of the assault on prudent lending to be felt. By 2006, the shaky subprime mortgages began to default. In 2008, the bubble exploded.
Clinton's task force survived the Bush administration, during which it produced fair-lending brochures in Spanish for immigrant home-loan applicants.
And it's still alive today. Obama is building on the fair-lending infrastructure Clinton put in place.
As IBD first reported in July, Attorney General Eric Holder has launched a witch hunt vs. "racist" banks.
"It's a more aggressive fair-lending enforcement approach now," said Washington lawyer Andrew Sandler of Buckley Sandler LLP in a recent interview. "It is well beyond anything we saw during the Clinton administration."
Tom Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights, recently testified that his division "continues to participate in the federal Interagency Fair Lending Task Force." And he and the task force are working with the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to "enhance fair-lending enforcement."
The fair-lending task force's original policy paper undercuts the notion the financial crisis was all about banker "greed," though it certainly played a role after the fact. Rather, it offers compelling evidence that the crisis evolved chiefly from government mandates and threats to increase lending to applicants who could not afford them.
32 GOP senators vote to continue spending binge
Don’t stop the spending for my votes seems to be the message on both sides of the isle.
Senate Spares Rural Development Subsidies
by Tad DeHaven at CATO @ Liberty
An amendment to a Senate appropriations bill introduced by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) that would have reduced funding for rural development subsidies at the Department of Agriculture by $1 billion was easily voted down today. Only 13 Republicans voted to cut the program. Thirty-two Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to spare it, including minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), ranking budget committee member Jeff Sessions (R-AL), and tea party favorite Marco Rubio (R-FL).
This was a business-as-usual vote that will receive virtually no media attention. However, it is a vote that symbolizes just how unserious most policymakers are when it comes to making specific spending cuts. That’s to be expected with the Democrats. On the other hand, Republicans generally talk a good game about the need to cut spending and they rarely miss an opportunity to criticize the Obama administration for its reckless profligacy. Republicans instead fall back on their support of a Balanced Budget Amendment and other reforms like biennial budgeting.
I think most Republicans are in favor of a BBA because they believe it gets them off the hook of having to name exactly what they’d cut. There are several reasons why Republican policymakers won’t get specific: 1) they really don’t want to cut spending; 2) they’re afraid of cheesing off special interests and constituents who benefit from government programs; 3) they’re more concerned with being in power and getting reelected; 4) they’re just plain ignorant of, or disinterested in, the particulars of government programs.
As for biennial budgeting, Republicans would have us believe that appropriating money every other year will give policymakers more time to conduct oversight of government programs. I think it’s another cop-out. Coburn’s office put out plenty of information on the problems associated with USDA rural development subsidies (see here). A Cato essay on rural development subsidies provides more information, including findings from the Government Accountability Office that are readily available to policymakers.
(Note: I worked for both Jeff Sessions and Tom Coburn.)
Tad DeHaven is a budget analyst on federal and state budget issues for the Cato Institute. Previously he was a deputy director of the Indiana Office of Management and Budget. DeHaven also worked as a budget policy advisor to Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK). In 2010, he was named to Florida Governor Rick Scott’s Economic Advisory Council.
THE TEA PARTY AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH DECLARE H.R. 4872 “DEAD”, IN LIGHT OF OUR LIVING CONSTITUTION:
Tagged
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RESTRUCTURING ACT OF 2011-2012:
http://www.facebook.com/notes/aja-brooks/the-federal-government-restructuring-act-of-2011-2012/10150370728396225
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RESTRUCTURING ACT OF 2011-2012, also known as “the four umbrellas of original design of Constitutional government” and “implementation of budget cuts”:Effective 11/2/2011:In upholding the Tenth Amendment, states are not required to be taxed or suffer from federal appropriation beyond the measure or design of Constitutional government. The closest thing our nation has seen since the secession of the South preemptive to the Civil War, has now in our time been the financial departure from over half of the individual states to federal obligations to spare remanding of citizens over upholding the unconstitutional H.R. 4872. In conjunction with the Commerce Clause, the majority of states filed injunction to not force citizens to be imprisoned, fined, or taxed for bogus and federally over-reaching legislation, over their own health care policies/provisions, or over the debt/public burden of care for welfare of a state’s individuals.Unfortunately H.R. 4872 is the tip of the iceberg for unwanted and unsequestered appropriation of taxpayer dollars. Government gluttony has been the cause of a $15 trillion dollar deficit, a credit downgrade and near total default, along with a failure to restrict the budget and entitlement spending while being a nation at war for 10 years. For these reasons, we must spare ourselves and our economy the damage of another credit downgrade, charge Obama with misappropriation and fraud, or we stand on the brink of watching our nation burn for the freedom that begot financial enslavement to the government.I wish in writing this my hands had not seen the toil and fruitlessness of these recent years: in raising the debt ceiling twice since 2006, the current government has not remained accountable to the citizens it serves. Instead, our country has begun to function like a flowering Empire or a budding dictatorship. No President in U.S. history has indebted half our credit to China, lowering the value of the dollar to be worth less than 50 cents, and if we are to uphold the Constitution as the law of the land, Obama can not remain President based solely upon fear of retraction of his removal or feigned allegations of racism. In fact, Obama’s misappropriation has been called treacherous and treasonous, being unable to account for responsible use of nearly $10 trillion since 2006, something that goes beyond categorical misappropriation.As Osama bin Laden said it best: “We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah.” The last time I checked, we still trust in God, and while we have lost faith in Obama’s deceit over his birth certificate and subpoena issued on 8-8-11 and evidence that judicial websites were altered to conceal public records search of the matter, even obscuring and corrupting Supreme Court records, the subsequent revelation of Gaddafi dumping $15 million into CAIR, with Muslim Moderates being some of Obama’s biggest donors is a matter of national security and of interest in the preservation of our country’s best interests. Obama’s misrepresentation of his motives for Office is now magnified by this inability and now unwillingness to work with Congress by threatening perpetual veto of any Conservative legislation to create jobs or cut the budget he hasn’t written, albeit the Senate passes it, Obama still says he intends to veto any of it.Additionally, the government must be realigned to its original design of the four umbrellas of government, or the government will inherently fail with or without Obama at the helm, to suffice the purpose for which it was created to do. In accordance with the cuts already petitioned to the Senate and Super Committee, we pray that this model assist in government restructuring, permitting the removal of programs that do not meet the basic funding requirements of government design. Our main problem is that we have deviated from Constitutional priorities on spending, as originally there were only 4 cabinets under President Washington, or 4 umbrellas that government expenditures from tax revenue were to cover:1) Defense2) Patents/intellectual property3) Courts/judiciary4) Diplomacy/international affairsWhat is included now in mandatory spending is really discretionary, outside of these four umbrellas of government. Any program that is not exclusively one of these four umbrellas is subject to budget cuts or being struck through entirely; as this is the basis for zero-based budgeting. With a $15 trillion dollar deficit, we need to cut our way back to funding these four umbrellas of government, until we achieve an overage of projected revenue, which will be applied to paying off the deficit to absorb the interest at an annual rate of reduction of debt.While there are a whole host of programs, it is crucial we consider that with $.42 of every tax dollar spent on defense that with the other $.50 being leveraged as unfunded spending, now in the form of public debt, versus real revenue and actual deficit, this is breaking the American dollar note if half. Going to coins, especially dollar coins, reduces the cost of replacing used notes while moderating inflation with a new monetary control. Primarily, just as much as H.R. 4872 was passed by reconciliation, it may also be declared today as repealed, in that it is outside Constitutional government and budgeting, and thereby dead; in effects of its requirements and punishments, given the fact it is gross misappropriation. Now that we have declared H.R. 4872 dead this day by budgetary control, we may apply this process to other programs acting outside Constitutional law.Here are the programs slated under budgetary control, as identified and agreed for Tea Party cuts and targets that go further to address the lack of any budget the Obama Administration failed to produce:1) Department of Education - how we go about cutting or eliminating this program is crucial, in that it would be absorbed under the courts and judiciary. An uneducated society becomes a burden to the courts; therefore, the courts should share funding with DOE or divide it with the judiciary, to give checks and balances as to where and how money should be spent and to prevent corruption in the judiciary from being a wheel or turn-style mechanism for cranking out corruption and sucking up taxpayer dollars with no results or societal returns.2) Department of Energy - we can split some funding between the Department of Defense or patents. We have a serious issue when global warming has been elevated to a political issue, when it is a factor of environmental science. Based on popular political opinions global warming has become a god requiring exorbitant funding, but if people were educated to taking Physics in high school, they would already know that kinetic energy and over-population are driving destructive weather patterns and trends: this does not require another limb of government to address it.3) Federal Housing Programs - have pandered to race, and the Clinton Administration put us on a path to where we could not sustain the expense of government involvement. The government is to enforce the financial reform legislation; which Obama refuses to do, because of his donor ties and constituencies related to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This falls under no umbrella, except it strains the judiciary and only a small amount should be appropriated from taxpayer dollars to deal with this issue. The government should be amassing penalties for bailouts and fraud against taxpayers for unethical operation. The government must enforce the laws it creates, or it is ineffective.4) Highway and Transit - as we meet the Iraq withdrawal and continue to address defense issues, what is cut from defense can be spent on infrastructure. This way, we can tangibly spend responsibly as we gear toward a peace time economy.5) Department of Agriculture - falls under the patent division. As farming advances, and we must teach self-sufficiency rather than food stamp allotments, we are to regroup this under patent funding appropriation.**Welfare and debt are local issues; the state must be accountable for their use of federal money, not states straining the entire nation as a whole!Anything else that is not covered here may be considered for privatization, and this is extremely important, because it creates jobs and sparks innovation. In order for the government to become a respected, relevant, and lawfully operating entity as it should be, it must be relegated back to its original design and act within the means that taxpayers fund the government that they want to have. Texas, that shining star, has been a micro model for the use of the 10th Amendment principles under Texas Governor Rick Perry. If you want to see a successful model of this in action, look at Texas.We support these methods of cutting the budget, and we suggest that the Super Committee not just pick enough cuts from the Tea Party sanctioned cuts, but continue this process though the end of this year, before likely adopting the Paul Ryan or Coburn budget plans for 2012. The Tea Party has plenty of steam to continue pressing for Conservative government and leadership in all areas of federal government that will produce conducive results for what we want for the future.Christopher P. Babin likes this.
Obama administration considering whether to test anthrax vaccine on children
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