Monthly Archives: February 2008

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .::::::Change the political environment. Recruit more Downsizers. Share this message with others.
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:::Quotes of the Day:
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:::Government cripples you, then hands you a crutch and says, ‘See, if it wasn’t for us, you couldn’t walk.’
:::– Harry Browne
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:::”If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when its free.”
:::– P. J. ORourke
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:::Subject: Ron Paul’s health care bill
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:::Yesterday we encouraged you to ask Congress to begin cutting spending. The reason: the federal government owes $53.3 trillion in unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare. We also warned of big spending threats that may contribute to making this crisis even worse . . .
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:::* Continued war as far as the eye can see
:::* New federal “social” spending
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:::With regard to the latter, proposed new federal health care programs threaten to sink America’s financial ship while making health care both greater in expense and lower in quality.

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Change the political environment. Recruit more Downsizers. Share this message with others.::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“I don’t think government can improve the economy. If government intervention can improve economic performance and get us out of recession, is it not stupid to wait for recession in order to capture the benefits of government economic policies? But then, if government intervention can improve economic performance and increase the rate of growth, how come socialist/welfare states consistently perform worse than free-market economies?”:::— Steve Pejovich:::::::::Subject: The Dangers Ahead::::::If John McCain becomes the next president then we face the prospect of 100 years of war in the Middle East. He has said that he wants this. And there is no evidence that the Democrats would do much to stop him, even if they continue to control Congress. Maybe that will change, but again, there is no evidence that it will. The dangers of this are as follows . . .

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .::::::Quote of the day: “It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.” – Samuel Adams
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:::Subject: The Brushfire Approach
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:::Today, we want to encourage you to start a brushfire.
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:::Hardly a day goes by when someone doesn’t send me a message that includes two points — both of which feel emotionally contradictory to me:
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:::1) Congratulate us for the fine work we do at DownsizeDC.org, and then
:::2) Say it all seems so hopeless.
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:::I don’t agree that things are hopeless.
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:::Perhaps that’s because I can clearly see the need for and potential of DownsizeDC.org. My optimism is grounded in the recognition that political campaigns are not the best path to success.
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:::When you elect someone, you need a majority of voters (or, in some cases, the largest plurality).
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:::And electing one person won’t do, you need a majority of both houses of Congress.

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Change the political environment. Recruit more Downsizers. Share this message with others.::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“Inflation has now been institutionalized at a fairly constant 5% per year. This has been determined to be the optimum level for generating the most revenue without causing public alarm. A 5% devaluation applies, not only to the money earned this year, but to all that is left over from previous years. At the end of the first year, a dollar is worth 95 cents. At the end of the second year, the 95 cents is reduced again by 5%, leaving its worth at 90 cents, and so on. By the time a person has worked 20 years, the government will have confiscated 64% of every dollar he saved over those years. By the time he has worked 45 years, the hidden tax will be 90%. The government will take virtually everything a person saves over a lifetime.”:::– G. Edward Griffin::::::Subject: New Ron Paul money bill::::::The above quote may need some explanation. Most people don’t know that the Federal Reserve has the power to create new dollars out of thin air. ::::::It does. ::::::Most people also don’t know that this is one of the ways the government pays its bills. The process is simple . . .

The recent collapse in the housing market, the overall economic downturn, and rising inflation cause people to wonder . . . who is to blame? Heather Johnson identifies a good place to start in her piece 10 Reasons to Be Critical of the Federal Reserve. Some choice quotes:

“[R]ate cuts in the late 90’s made startup capital too easy to come by and helped cause the dot-com bubble. Similarly, failing to raise rates in the past few years encouraged the wave of short-sighted, frenzied borrowing that ended so abruptly in 2007.”

This week there was yet another campus shooting. Why did it happen?
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:::On today’s edition of the Downsize DC Conference Call, my Sunday radio show, I’ll be joined by gun enthusiast Jack Mullen, Board Chairman of the Downsize DC Foundation, who will share the agonizing, personal story of his son, Jackie, who suffered from mental illness. Together, we’ll explain why “WHY?” is not the right question when it comes to school shootings.
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:::And I’m sure you’ll want to get into this conversation. You can call 1-800-259-9231 or you can email me at “CALL at DOWNSIZEDC dot ORG”
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:::In addition, we’ll talk about the Protect America Act sunset. The fight isn’t over. We need to keep the pressure up — keep the Protect America Act “sunsetted” or at least be sure that the Senate version of the bill doesn’t pass the House of Representatives.
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:::And friends, I hate to be so bold and personal about it, but there was a lot of lying going on towards the end of the week. However, there are people who deserve credit for doing the right thing here. Oddly enough, they were politicians! Yes, that is amazing.
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:::Of course, you won’t be amazed to discover that you’ll learn all about it on my TWO HOUR radio show, which starts at 3:06 PM Eastern (2:06 PM Central, 1:06 PM Mountain, 12:06 PM Pacific).
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:::The Downsize DC Conference Call radio show is sponsored by DownsizeDC.org and Gun Owners of America. As usual, we’ll have a Gun Owners Update.
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:::The show is on a couple of stations, but the best way for nearly everyone in America to catch the show is at  gcnlive.com/listenlive.htm
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:::Happy Listening,
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:::Jim Babka
:::Host
:::Downsize DC Conference Call

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Change the political environment. Recruit more Downsizers. Share this message with others.::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“Is it any wonder why the approval ratings of the Congress go up every time we go into recess?”:::– Sen. Robert C. Byrd (Democrat West Virginia)::::::Subject: Victory at sunset::::::Downsizers sent 47,034 messages to Congress about the so-called “Protect America Act” (PAA). Most of these messages asked Congress to repeal PAA or allow it to sunset. ::::::Three days ago, on Wednesday, we wrote to tell you that the Senate had done the exact opposite of what you requested.

They did not repeal PAA.
• They did not allow it to sunset.
• They did not pass the amendments we requested that would have made the replacement for PAA less bad.
• Instead, they passed a bill permitting warrantless spying on Americans, and granting immunity to the telecommunications companies that had previously spied on Americans. But . . .

We asked you to hit Congress once again, specifically asking the House to not do as the Senate had done.

• We got what we wanted.
  

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .::::::Last week, the House passed the “College Opportunity and Affordibility Act of 2007.” It’s a very expensive bill; according to Washington Watch, it would cost the average American family $865. A title like that makes one think the bill is about financial aid to college students. But because federal student aid is popular, ideologues and social engineers in Congress and the Dept. of Education loaded the bill with unrelated programs. The act runs to a whopping 792 pages.
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:::The summary of the bill (H.R. 4137) at thomas.loc.gov lists 35 major provisions. About a dozen have nothing to do with student aid.

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . . ::::::Quote of the Day:::::::. . . there’s a super-special quote today, but it’s in the message, so you’ll have to read what follows . . .::::::Subject: How to get what you want::::::A marketing guru was teaching a room of full of eager entrepreneurs. He said . . .::::::”If you were opening a hamburger stand, what’s the most important thing you’d need to succeed?”::::::Of course, since it was a marketing class, a student replied, “Great marketing.” But the guru merely smiled and said nothing. So the other students chimed in with their answers: “A competitive price.” “A good location.” “A great hamburger.” ::::::The guru said, “Those things are good. But if I can have just one thing, my hamburger stand will beat yours.” ::::::The guru paused for effect. The students listened intently. You could have heard the proverbial pin drop. Finally, a student cried out, “What is it?”

Share this message with others. Digg it too!
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:::Quote of the Day:
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:::“…The Bill of Rights is a literal and absolute document. The First Amendment doesn’t say you have a right to speak out unless the government has a ‘compelling interest’ in censoring the Internet. The Second Amendment doesn’t say you have the right to keep and bear arms until some madman plants a bomb. The Fourth Amendment doesn’t say you have the right to be secure from search and seizure unless some FBI agent thinks you fit the profile of a terrorist. The government has no right to interfere with any of these freedoms under any circumstances.”
:::– Harry Browne (1933-2006) best-selling author, two-time presidential candidate, and co-founder of Downsize DC
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:::Subject: 68 Senators violated their oaths of office yesterday
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:::Do you know the date of the first law ever passed by the United States’ Senate? It was May 5, 1789.
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:::Do you know the subject of that law? It was the “Oath Act.” It’s purpose was to provide specific wording for the oath the Constitution requires Senators to swear upon taking office.
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:::Strangely, the Constitution actually provides the specific wording of the oath the President is supposed to take, but it does not do so for Congress. Instead, the Constitution simply stipulates the following in Article VI, clause 3:
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:::”The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”
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:::The lack of specific wording meant that Congress had to create the wording. The oath they created as their first order of business, was very simple . . .