Yearly Archives: 2006

CoolParty.us joins RTBA Coalition

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

Please forward this to anyone you know who cares about free elections.:::

Dear friend,:::

If General Motors set the rules by which Ford could do business, Ford would soon be bankrupt. Sadly, the incumbents in Congress can do to their competitors what General Motors cannot. If H.R. 4694 passes into law . . .:::

• You will no longer be able to use your own money to support or oppose any candidate for federal office.::: :::
• All campaign funding will come from the government, with winners getting more money in the next election, and losers less.::::::
• The only way third parties and independents can get full funding from the government will be to collect petition signatures equal to 20% of the votes cast in the last election. This is a huge barrier. And it is made even worse by the fact that paid signatures will not be accepted.::::::
• It is a well-established fact that challengers must spend more than incumbents in order to unseat them, but under this law there is no way any challenger could ever outspend an incumbent.::: :::
• Your tax money would be used to fund candidates you oppose. :::
• Candidates unwilling to take government funds would be prohbited from raising any money at all.::::::
• Citizens groups would also be prohibited from spending money to fund communications that discuss electoral campaigns.

:::

Please send a message to Congress opposing H.R. 4694 by clicking here.:::

Jim Babka:::President:::DownsizeDC.org, Inc. ::::::

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .::::::

We are growing so fast, and so many things are happening, that we’re starting to have a log jam of things to report in these email messages. Media interviews are piling up, there are new RTBA Coalition members to report, and there is more and more legislation in Congress that requires immediate action. The result . . .:::

You may receive two emails from us today. The second one, if we can get to it, will be an urgent action item about new legislation designed, once again, to protect incumbents from serious competition. When you get this message, today or tomorrow, please pay attention to it, and forward it to everyone you know who cares about free and open elections. Meanwhile, there are three items to report in this message . . .:::

We are preparing a list of all those who made donations in memory of Harry Browne. If you would like to join the list you can do so here.:::

News of Harry’s passing was mentioned Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” The AP and UPI also carried the story. There were stories in “The Washington Post” and “The Washington Times.” Some local TV stations carried the story, and there were numerous mentions all over the Internet. You can find a compilation of some of the mentions here.:::

We are also scheduling me for more-and-more interviews. Three of them are listed below and you can listen to all of them on the Internet. But we are running low on media contacts. Please help us expand our media list by researching shows in your area. Instructions and a form you can use for providing your local media contacts can be found here.:::

Here are the currently scheduled interviews you can listen to on the Internet::::

Date: Tuesday, March 6, 2006:::

On 3 Stations: WTAN 1340AM & 1350AM Tampa Bay Florida, WZHR 1400AM Tampa Bay, Florida:::

Time: :::9:15 PM Eastern

We continued the tribute of Harry Browne on the Downsize DC Conference Call today . . .

Once again I hosted the Harry Browne Show. With Harry’s passing this week, it was appropriate to remember him and give him a tribute. We plan to do another tribute episode next Saturday night on his show. ::::::On the show we had special guests Perry Willis, Kristin Overn, Michael Cloud, and Steve Willis. We had taped comments from Lew Rockwell and Carla Howell. We had ten callers, including Harry’s former co-host Glenn Klein and good friend Jack Pugsley. We had nine emails as well. It was, in my opinion, both moving and special. ::::::You can listen to the mp3’s, which are “attached” to this message (below), divided into hour one and hour two.

Special notice: Word has it that there may be a mention of Harry Browne’s passing on ABC’s “This Week” tomorrow, and perhaps on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” This cannot be confirmed, but it is a real possibility. Meanwhile . . .:::

You are all invited to participate in a memorial for Harry Browne that will be held on his radio show tonight, and on the Downsize DC Conference call tomorrow. You can listen on the Internet, call-in to share your memories of Harry, and ask questions of those who knew him best. :::

Guests on tonight’s show will include . . .:::

:::
• Perry Willis – co-founder of Downsize DC and former Harry Browne campaign manager:::
• Kristen Overn – producer of Harry’s award-winning “Great Libertarian Offer” video and TV commercials :::
• Ron Paul – Republican Congressman, Texas:::
• Michael Cloud – founder of the Center for Small Government :::
• Steve Willis – Traveling Secretary for the 2000 Browne for President campaign :::
• Steve Dasbach, former National Chair and former Executive Director, Libertarian Party:::
• AND MORE!

:::

Guests on the Downsize DC Conference Call tomorrow will include . . .:::

:::
• Jo Jorgenson – 1996 Vice Presidential nominee, Libertarian Party:::
• Art Olivier – 2000 Vice Presidential nominee, Libertarian Party:::
• Bill Winter – former Communications Director, Libertarian Party:::
• George Getz – former Communications Director, Libertarian Party:::
• AND MORE!

:::

Tonight’s show can be heard by clicking on the “Listen Live” button at GCNLive.com, and then selecting one of the first two channels. The show can be heard at… :::

Eastern: 10pm – Midnight :::Central: 9pm – 11pm :::Mountain: 8pm – 10pm :::Pacific: 7pm – 9pm :::Alaska: 6pm – 8pm :::Hawaii: 5pm – 7pm :::

Tomorrow’s show can be heard by clicking on the “Listen Live” button at GCNLive.com, and then selecting one of the first two channels. The show can be heard at… :::

Eastern: 5pm – 6pm :::Central: 4pm – 5pm :::Mountain: 3pm – 4pm

Date: Thursday, March 2, 2006 (TONIGHT!):::Stations: KTEM 1400-AM Central Texas::: KWBC 1550-AM Central Texas::: KXYL 96.9-FMCentral Texas:::Time: 10:06 PM Eastern ::: 9:06 PM Central ::: 8:06 PM Mountain ::: 7:06 PM Pacific :::Length: 20 minutes :::Guest: Jim Babka, President, DownsizeDC.org :::Host: Lynn Woolley:::Show: The Lynn Woolley Show :::Topic: The Read the Bills Act :::Internet: http://belogical.com/ :::Click on “Listen Live”

Harry Browne, R.I.P.

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .:::

ACTION ITEM::::

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is threatening cherry growers with fines and legal action for daring to publicize peer-reviewed scientific studies demonstrating the health benefits of cherries. According to the FDA’s warped view of the world this makes cherries drugs that must undergo FDA testing before public statements can be made about their benefits. :::

This is stupidity on steroids. Though we must hasten to add that the safety of using steroids to make bureaucratic stupidity even more stupid has not yet been evaluated by the FDA. :::

Fortunatelly, not everyone in government is so idiotic. A bill has been introduced in the House to stop the FDA from taking action against people who publicize peer-reviewed scientific studies about the health benefits of agricultural products. The bill is HR 4282, the Health Freedom Protection Act. We need to support this bill with all our might. To send Congress a message supporting HR 4282 click here.:::

To set a new record in March for messages to Congress we need to send about 1,400 messages per day, so please participate. And to set a new recruitment record we need about 100 new Downsizers per day. This will be a tough goal to reach, so please forward this message to anyone you can think of who cares about health freedom. Or use the “tell a friend” system on the web-page for this campaign. :::

RTBA COALITION GROWS::::

We’d like to congratulate super-blogger Ed Brayton, of “Dispatches from the Culture Wars,” for being the first to join the Read the Bills Act Coalition. Ed’s blog is one of the top 1,000 most-visited on the web. It is published by Seed.com, a major new science magazine. Ed has also been a frequent guest on Jim Babka’s radio show. His blog covers a wide range of topics, but those on this list may be most interested in his highly informed and informative commentary on Constitutional law. We encourage you to check him out and consider adding him to your reading list. Also check out the RTBA Coalition button he’s placed on his site. You can do so here.