Monthly Archives: March 2006

Please forward to anyone you know who cares about free expression on the Internet.::::::Dear friend,::::::The “Online Freedom of Speech Act” would preserve the First Amendment’s “Freedom of the Press” for individuals on the Internet. ::::::It would place bloggers and webpage publishers on the same legal footing as the mainstream media. ::::::The Federal Election Commission is under court order to impose the burdensome incumbent protection laws (otherwise known as campaign finance regulations) on the Internet. Political expression on your blog or web page would be regulated. But political expression on blogs and web pages owned by the mainstream media, such as NYTimes.com, would be exempt. The “Online Freedom of Speech Act” is designed to prevent this from happening. ::::::Only Congressional action can prevent us from having two tiers of citizenship in this country when it comes to the Freedom of the Press. Unless the “Online Freedom of Speech Act” passes only the mainstream media will retain full, unregulated freedom of expression on the Internet. ::::::The first step in passing the “Online Freedom of Speech Act” will come this Thursday, when the House is due to vote on the measure. The situation is more complicated in the Senate, where the “Online Freedom of Speech Act” has been combined with a very bad bill, the so-called Lobbying Reform Bill. There is time to work things out in the Senate, but . . .::::::There is no more time in the House. There the vote is likely to happen this week. Please act now, and tell your Representative to vote for the “Online Freedom of Speech Act.” Do not delay. It’s now or never. You can send your instructions to your Representative:::by clicking here.::::::Thank you for your participation.::::::Jim Babka:::President:::DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

Congratulations and thanks to the New Hampshire House of Representatives who on March 8 voted overwhelmingly, 270-84 for House Bill 1582:::::::Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:::::::1 Prohibition Against Participation in National Identification System. The general court finds that the public policy established by Congress in the Real ID Act of 2005, Public Law 109-13, is contrary and repugnant to Articles 1 through 10 of the New Hampshire constitution as well as Amendments 4 though 10 of the Constitution for the United States of America. Therefore, the state of New Hampshire shall not participate in a national identification card system; nor shall the department of safety amend the procedures for applying for a driver’s license under RSA 263 or an identification card under RSA 260:21.::::::2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.::::::You can listen or watch the 22-minute floor debate here. It is the March 8 afternoon recording and begins at about 4:08:38 into it. It is inspiring to listen to New Hampshire’s elected represenatives speak out for liberty!::::::Thanks to Pat McCotter for sending this news and these links to us.::::::

Jim Babka will be on the Alex Jones show for an hour tomorrow. This is a big show with a big audience, broadcast in 50 cities. You can listen on the Internet. Go to www.GCNLive.com and click on “Listen Live.” Then click on Channel 1 or 2 to get the free feed. ::::::Time:::::::1:00 PM Eastern:::Noon Central:::11:00 AM Mountain:::10:00 AM Pacific:::Recorded RE-PLAY available on-line at 10:00 PM Eastern::::::Stations by State::::

Last month we recruited 242 new DC Downsizers in 28 days. But so far in March, we’ve recruited 365 in just 13 days! Welcome to all the new DC Downsizers!

This morning’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .:::

Please forward this to anyone you know who thinks Congress should serve rather than rule.:::

Dear friend,:::

What would happen if you required your boss to tell you all the people he or she deals with before you would take instructions about how to do your job? You’d be fired on the spot. :::

Well, Congress is doing exactly that. Congress wants reports filed on citizens who use grassroots organizations to communicate with their elected representatives. :::

But doesn’t Congress work for you? Shouldn’t you be able to use grassroots organizations like DownsizeDC.org, Gun Owners of America, AARP, or the Marijuana Policy Project, to communicate your desires to YOUR representatives. Shouldn’t you be able to issue instructions to YOUR public servants without them placing burdens on how you do that?:::

Congress wants every grassroots lobbying organization to file reports with the government. Reports about you! Reports about who you are, what your business interests are, and how much money you contribute. But shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t Congress, and all the people who work for Congress, be the ones who are filing reports (available to YOU) about how they spend their time, who they meet with, who writes the bills they sponsor, and who buys them meals and pays for their travel? :::

The Lobbying Reform Act, currently pending in Congress, has it exactly backwards. Congress wants to exploit the recent Jack Abramoff and Duke Cunningham scandals, involving wrong-doing by people in Congress — not wrong-doing by YOU — to regulate how you communicate with your public servants. :::

This is how Congress operates. Congress does something wrong, and then exploits its own bad behavior to regulate not itself, but the people it is supposed to serve. Congress wants to rule rather than serve. The Lobbying Reform Act would make you, the boss, submit to Congress, rather than the other way around. But it gets worse . . .

Yesterday’s Progress – Sun 3/12/06

Another episode of the Downsize DC Conference Call

This was the final edition of the Harry Browne Show. It was sad and I got weepy. I so much want Harry back on the air. Saturday nights will never be the same. ::::::I want to thank Pamela Browne for the honor of guest-hosting this show. ::::::The tribute was great. You can listen to both hours, which are “attachments” to this blog entry (see below). ::::::In this episode we had David Bergland, Sharon Ayres, Steve Dasbach, David Nolan, and Jack Dean joining us as guests. ::::::On top of that we had recorded comments from the Libertarian Party (Joe Seehusen), Congressman Ron Paul, David Ruprecht, Larry Elder, and Jack Mullen. ::::::I read statements from Jack Williams, Art Matsko, and Pamela Browne. ::::::We had phone calls from Dan Litwin, Manny Klausner, and David Morgan, as well as five other Harry Browne fans. And we read two other emails (we didn’t have time to get to the rest). ::::::Now, the Harry Browne tribute is complete — all five hours. The memorial splash page we erected in Harry’s honor will be archived as a link from his name (located in the list of co-founders) at our website’s homepage.

Check it out here.

Yesterday’s Progress – Sat 3/11/06