Monthly Archives: November 2007

“You can’t beat a Babka!”
::: – Jerry Seinfeld
:::
:::In this message . . .
:::
:::* Jim Babka to speak in New Hampshire in January
:::* Jim Babka to speak in Cleveland, tonight!
:::* HELP WANTED – Radio Ad Buyer
:::* Jim Babka on Jerry Hughes, today
:::* Jim Babka on air Sunday
:::
:::Now that’s a lot Babka!
:::
:::BABKA IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
:::
:::Jim Babka has been invited back to speak to the Free State Project at their Second Liberty Forum — Thursday January 3 to Sunday January 6, 2008 in Nashua, New Hampshire. Jim was the only “main ballroom speaker” from last year to be invited back this year. He’s proud of that. “They liked me; they really liked me,” said our gleeful President.
:::
:::His presentation will be, “How you can Downsize DC.” Jim will explain how you can overcome all the hurdles and barriers to make your belief in smaller government the winning side in the national debate.
:::
:::”Last year, I spoke to a packed house. The event was very well-attended. The people were positive. Boy, there are so many good things I could say about it,” said Babka. “Sue and I are really looking forward to returning.”
:::
:::Senator John Sununu will speak at the banquet dinner on Saturday night. He’ll be joined by a wide range of other speakers, including . . .
:::
:::* Carla Howell, the co-chair of the Massachusetts Initiative to End the (statewide) Income Tax.
:::* Ethan Nadelmann, founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance
:::* Bernard von NotHaus, creator of the Liberty Dollar
:::* …and many more
:::
:::And Jim also expects Ian and Mark of the nationally syndicated radio show “Free Talk Live” to be set up, doing their broadcasts direct from the site.
:::
:::On top of that, Jim and his wife Sue (two Babkas!) expect to do another installment of “Breakfast with the Babkas.” We’ll have more to say about that in a future Dispatch.

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .::::::Quote of the Day
:::
:::”Demanding that the members of Congress take the time to know exactly what they are doing is NOT, in my opinion, a very outlandish or absurd request. It is a position that I think people of all political views can get behind. After all, who among us actually desires irresponsible government?”
:::- Libertarian Jason, Yearning to Breathe Free Blog
:::
:::Subject: Read the Bills Act
:::
:::If you want a bill passed, one easy way to score debating points is to accuse opponents of not reading it. Over the months, we’ve seen this tactic used on blogs and television. We’ve even seen it in Congress:
:::
:::”Mr. Speaker, to the gentleman from Texas, he obviously didn’t read the bill. I recommend that you read the bills before you get up on the floor and make a fool of yourself.” – Rep. Bill Pascrell, on the House floor speaking on behalf of the Trade and Globalization Assistance Act
:::
:::The first thing that springs to mind is, does Rep. Pascrell actually read all the bills he opposes? Does he even read all the bills he supports? If the answer is no to either question, he shouldn’t cast the first stone on a colleague.

Quotes of the Day:
:::
::: “The disclosure of the reports could have a tendency to encourage the public’s consideration of matters on the basis of misleading impressions.”
:::- An Australian bureaucrat
:::
::: “Yes, because nothing quite distorts public debate like the availability of relevant information.”
:::- Australian citizen Tim Dunlop in sarcastic response
:::
::: Subject: Is the USDA Attempting to Impede Watchdogs?
:::
:::Urgent action needed: the Senate may vote this week on legislation containing a NAIS provision
:::
:::DownsizeDC.org and 27 other groups signed a letter, distributed to every member of the United States Senate, calling for the rejection of a provision in the 2008 farm bill, which recently passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
:::
:::That provision, Section 10305, would criminalize disclosure of information from the USDA’s new proposed program, the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).
:::
:::As readers of the Downsizer-Dispatch know, NAIS is a program administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which, if fully implemented, would require all farmers and livestock owners to individually identify their livestock animals and report each time any one of those animals are moved from one property to another, for any reason. This would impose a huge burden on family farms. 
:::
:::The USDA says it is implementing the program to

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Subject: On Veteran’s Day::::::**This is a national call to action on one the most urgent ethical and legal issues to ever face our nation. We must all spread the word and get our friends involved.** ::::::I love America. I’m guessing you do too. ::::::But for me America is not a place, a piece of land, or a pretty flag. It’s not a military parade or a stirring anthem. For me, America is an idea. ::::::America is the one place where the huddled masses can come to breath free — that is, if they’re not subject to the “water cure.” ::::::Orwellian euphemism reaches its zenith as the war criminals who now run our government call water-boarding an “enhanced interrogation technique.” ::::::Water-boarding is said to simulate drowning. But it really simulates dying. ::::::French journalist Henri Alleg was a victim of water-boarding torture in 1957. His description . . .

Michael Cloud is the guest today on my one-hour radio show, the Downsize DC Conference Call. He and Carla Howell, proprietors of the Committee for Small Government, are leading the charge to end the income tax, via ballot initiative, in Massachusetts.
:::
:::Yes, end the state income tax. Even better, replace it with nothing. I guess you could say, “Downsize Beacon Hill!”
:::
:::How is this possible? What are the benefits? What are the chances?
:::
:::In 2002, Howell and Cloud put this initiative on the ballot and

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .::::::This week, the Senate began debate on H.R. 2419, the “Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007,” which would “provide for the continuation of agricultural programs through fiscal year 2012.” The bill passed the House in July, and was formally received in the Senate in September. In theory, Senators have plenty of time to read it.
:::
:::But why would they bother? The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry has been working on its own farm bill, S. 2302, called “The Food and Energy Security Act.” On Tuesday, Nov 6, the text of this bill was introduced for debate as an amendment/replacement of the House version.
:::
:::Assuming the Senate passes its own version, both bills will go to conference committee, where a few members of the House and Senate will iron out differences in the two bills before offering a final version for both chambers to vote on.
:::
:::None of this is unusual. It’s how a bill becomes a law.
:::
:::Just one thing: the House version is 860 pages long. If that sounds ridiculous, well,the Senate version is 1362 pages.

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Recruit more Downsizers. Forward this to others.::::::Quote of the Day: ::::::“Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”:::- John Belushi as Bluto in the movie “Animal House”::::::Subject: Status of legislation repealing the 4th Amendment::::::The 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights protects Americans against searches and seizures without a warrant. In August 2007 the Democratic Congress repealed the 4th Amendment, in fact if not in name. They did so at the request of a Republican President. The instrument of this repeal was a bill called the “Protect America Act.”::::::In the wake of this crime against the supreme law of the land the Democrats have claimed that they are working to undo the damage they did. They claim to have not fully understood the real impact of what they passed. This could actually be true given that they did not read the “Protect America Act” before they voted on it. ::::::It is less true that the Democrats are really working to undo the damage. It increasingly appears that the Democrats are just going through the motions, making minor changes to impart the impression that they have restored 4th Amendment protections when really they have not.::::::Why the charade?

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Recruit more Downsizers. Forward this message to others.::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“Now let me state the present rules, the lawyer then went on, :::These very simple guidelines, you can rely upon: :::You’re gouging on your prices if you charge more than the rest, :::But it’s unfair competition if you think you can charge less! :::A second point that we would make to help avoid confusion… :::Don’t try to charge the same amount, that would be Collusion!:::- “The Incredible Bread Machine” by R.W. Grant::::::Subject: Prices are magic::::::How many popular beliefs actually correspond to reality? Consider this one from Iran . . . ::::::

“The CIA has overthrown Iranian governments in the past. Therefore, the CIA must have been responsible for the Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution.”

::::::Don’t laugh. The American public is equally susceptible to preposterous beliefs.

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .:::From around the Web:
:::
:::”This year a Democratic majority took power on Capitol Hill. But new leadership has done nothing to address an old problem: Lawmakers racing to pass bills they haven’t actually read.” – Ed Feulner, Washington Times
:::
:::We most certainly agree. Last week, the Senate passed 314 pages of legislation. Not to be outdone, the House passed a whopping 646 pages. If the parties won’t change, we must change the process. And that is why we are pressuring Congress to pass the Read the Bills Act.
:::
:::”[Rep. Bill ]Johnson said the new [SCHIP] bill was a political ploy. It was about 300 pages long and introduced around midnight the night before with ‘zero input’ from moderate Republicans who didn’t even know it was coming, he said.’We had, literally, an hour to look at it, read 300 pages,’ he added. – Debra Pressey, News-Gazette
:::
:::Rep. Johnson, we applaud your conscientious concern about not having time to read the bill before voting on it. Does this mean we can expect you to vote against any bill you haven’t read? Does this mean we can expect you to introduce the Read the Bills Act?