Yearly Archives: 2007

The good news that Congress passed very few bills last week: the House just four, the Senate none. The bad news is that these four bills total 276 pages, making it unlikely their supporters actually read them. (Tell Congress to read the bills they pass by clicking here.) Moreover, the titles of the bills tell us what is wrong with them

The biggest threat to government, business, and household budgets is waste: money that dribbles away with nothing to show for it. ::::::The biggest threat to the environment is waste: goods disposed of prematurely, and energy consumed with nothing to show for it. ::::::But goods cost money, and energy costs money. Wasted energy is wasted money. We could say, then, that environmental waste is a cause of economic waste.

Comedian and former “Man Show” (final season) co-host Doug Stanhope has abandoned his Libertarian Presidential campaign. His reason?

They say “politics make strange bedfellows.” This is certainly the case when the First Amendment comes under attack. Downsize DC, along with at least 36 other grassroots groups from across the political spectrum, has signed a letter sent to all members of the House of Representatives telling them to oppose grassroots lobbying regulation. (Note: DownsizeDC.org did not write the letter, but we are a signatory.) Here’s an excerpt:::::::

Dear Representative:::::::The undersigned organizations urge you to reject efforts to regulate paid attempts to encourage citizens to contact their elected representatives. The Senate wisely rejected such an effort, and we urge you to do likewise. In a representative democracy, citizens not only have the inviolable right but also should be encouraged to contact their elected representatives. Erecting reporting barriers, particularly when coupled with civil penalties for failure to report, raises the stakes for inadvertent compliance failure and discourages such communication.

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Subject: Will you be the snowflake that starts an avalanche?::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“No snowflake in an avalanche feels itself responsible.”:::– C.P. Snow::::::“Read the Bills Act” makes the grade::::::It’s possible the Republican presidential candidates will be asked about the “Read the Bills Act” in tomorrow night’s nationally televised debate. ::::::Your votes moved the RTBA question from page 7 to page 1. ::::::Jim Forsythe, who posted the question, received an email from Politico.com saying his question may be asked.

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .::::::Please share with concerned friends . . .::::::Subject: Take the revolt against the REAL ID Act to a whole new level::::::There are two urgent action items today . . .::::::* Bombard the Department of Homeland Security with comments opposing the REAL ID Act:::* Bombard the national media with requests to cover the REAL ID Revolt

Congress passed the following bills last week:

You can listen to this episode by downloading the mp3 “attachment” to this blog post. The show’s agenda was described in the previous blog post.::::::Basically, I raced — I mean I talked so fast it was barely coherent — about all the things the federal government, Congress in particular, is going to give us, and upon which we’ll have to act urgently, this month. ::::::For kicks, see if you can guess the secret sound in the background during the final segment. Use comments below to offer your guess. ::::::The Downsize DC Conference Call is sponsored by DownsizeDC.org, Inc. and Gun Owners of America.

Are you ready? This is going to be a busy month. Congress has a lot planned for us.
:::
:::Starting next week, you’ll begin seeing Urgent Action Items. We expect that to be a regular occurrence up until Memorial Day.
:::
:::The last month the miscreants on Capitol Hill had us this busy was September. And we won one of those campaigns! As I sit here writing this to you now, my hunch is that we’ll think September was a “walk in the park,” by comparison.
:::
:::On today’s Downsize DC Conference Call, my Sunday radio show, I’ll tell you what’s coming down the pike.
:::
:::Will we be capable of keeping up the pace necessary to stop Congress from doing so many bad things?

What would it take?