Monthly Archives: October 2007

Who is right about “blowback”?

We at DownsizeDC.org like to complain when Congress is in session . . .

Recruit more Downsizers. Forward this message to others.::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“If you don’t have anything good to say about anyone . . . come sit next to me.”::: – Alice Roosevelt Longworth::::::Subject: Dick Cheney loves Hillary Clinton::::::We make an effort to limit our use of names and labels. The politics of personality, party, and ideology is toxic to critical thinking. But sometimes it is necessary to name names in order to protect the innocent. The innocent, in this case, is you. And the names to be named are the names of the guilty – Bush and Cheney.::::::Last week “Frontline,” on PBS, presented a chilling documentary about Dick Cheney’s long campaign to free the Executive Branch from all constitutional checks and balances. Cheney, after 9-11, is quoted as saying that “it will be necessary for us to be a nation of men, and not laws.” Cheney has been as good as his word.

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Recruit more Downsizers. Share this message with others.::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.” ::: – Thomas Paine, Common Sense, January 1776::::::Special Notice: If you live in Northern Virginia you can meet Jim Babka this evening. Jim is in the Capitol to meet with various organizations about the “Read the Bills Act.” He will also be speaking to a Ron Paul MeetUp group. Look here for details. ::::::Subject: Your questions answered::::::Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, a retired teacher from Cecil County, Maryland, just became the first Baby Boomer to file for Social Security benefits. This marks the start of a demographic tidal wave that will compel current and future taxpayers to somehow pay 65 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare. ::::::Meanwhile, nearly every politician in America continues to talk rot about their great plans for making taxpayers pay for everyone’s medical care too. Where will all the money come from? Money is no object when it isn’t your money, and reality is no problem when you are divorced therefrom.::::::Meanwhile, in the land of those who can add and subtract, we will continue to promote solutions grounded in mathematical reality. We presented one such powerful solution last week — unlimited Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) coupled to tax deductible major medical policies. Needless to say, we received questions, and we will now provide answers . . .

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Recruit more Downsizers. Share this message with others.::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual.” ::: – Frank Herbert, author of “Dune”::::::Subject: Intimidation and hypocrisy::::::President Bush gave a nice speech before the United Nations recently. In it he extolled human rights and democracy. Then, the President of Iran stood up and provided evidence of our own President’s violations of human rights and democracy. ::::::It’s a shame that the Iranian President, criminal that he is, was able to make a case against our President without lying.::::::Sadly, there is now even more evidence that the Iranian president could have used . . .::::::Additional memos have been found indicating that the Bush administration encourages the use of torture. And the Director of the C.I.A. is investigating the C.I.A.’s Inspector General because the Inspector General has been investigating misbehavior by the C.I.A.

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Evangelize the Downsize DC message. Share this with others.::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“War is an evil inasmuch as it produces more wicked men than it takes away.”:::

— attributed to an unknown Greek writer by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) German philosopher, Source: Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch, 1795

::::::MEDIA NOTICE: Jim Babka is on the radio today. Look below the signature for listening information.::::::Subject: Backdoor key to victory::::::There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that we’re very unlikely to get everything we want from the fight to repeal or revise the so-called “Protect America Act” (PAA). ::::::The good news is that we may get a lot of what we want, and President Bush claims he will veto any bill that does not give him everything he wants.::::::If President Bush vetoes Congressional changes to the PAA then Congress could simply allow the PAA to sunset in six months, which is the same as repeal, and we would get everything we want while President Bush would get nothing that he wants.

I understand – not agree with, but understand – calls for a national health care plan. After all, the people get public education for “free,” and most parents would agree that their children’s health is more important than their education.::::::The flaw in this thinking, however, is that our “free” educational system doesn’t work. Over the decades, as formerly private and locally-controlled schools came under increased state direction and control, and then federal control, the quality of education suffered. Moreover, federal aid to higher education (to institutions directly, and aid and loans to students) has led to an explosion in tuition costs combined with a “dumbing down” of the curriculum.::::::The case of health care is slightly different, because with the progress of science and technology, treatment has improved. But in other industries with fewer regulations and subsidies, costs go down, not up.

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .::::::So many bills in so little time. Last week, the Senate passed  14 bills amounting to 1482 pages. The House passed 15 bills totaling 50 pages. How does this happen?
:::
:::Each member of Congress sits on a few committees, (where they are often susceptible to lobbyist influence.) Even if they develop some expertise in a few areas, they haven’t read, and know very little about, most of the bills their party leaders ask them to pass. Many of these bills delegate more money and authority to the President and administrative agencies. The process has its own inertia, and government grows and grows. It doesn’t matter what the people want, and the long-term consequences for the nation are rarely considered. This is why we need the Read the Bills Act.

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Subject: Urgent Action Item!::::::There are several versions of bills designed to replace the hastily passed “Protect America Act,” which legalized warrantless spying on Americans. Congress is debating these replacement bills right now, and could vote on them in the next 24 to 48 hours. ::::::One of the proposed replacement bills is the RESTORE Act, and the other is the FISA Modernization bill. ::::::The latter bill does essentially what our current campaign on this issue asks Congress to do, which is to repeal the so-called “Protect America Act.” Please send a message to Congress right now and add the following to your personal comments . . .

Paul Jacob, of Term Limits fame, was my guest. ::::::This episode was primarily about his recent arrest for the crime of recruiting petitioners. But we also discussed Read the Bills. You can read the full preview from Sunday’s Downsizer-Dispatch. ::::::The Gun Owners update was derived from an article at their site titled, “An Open Letter To The Pro-gun Community.” ::::::An mp3 of this program is “attached” as a link at the end of this blog posting. Most of the commercials have been edited out for your listening pleasure. Happy Listening! :::