Monthly Archives: March 2008

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Change the political environment. Recruit more Downsizers. Share this message with others.::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“As Americans we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government.”:::– Dave Barry::::::Subject: What you’re not being told about the current financial crisis::::::You can watch hours and hours of news, or read columns of print in most newspapers, and come away no wiser about the causes and prospects for the current financial turmoil.::::::Most journalists and TV talking heads don’t really understand the subject, and those that do speak and write using so much jargon that the average person must feel he or she is trying to follow a conversation in ancient Hebrew.::::::We’re going to try to cut through the jargon, and explain the situation as best we can, in plain English. If you find our explanation of value, please forward it to others.::::::The current housing crisis, and all that flows from it, comes from two main sources, both deriving from Washington.

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .::::::President Bush and both houses of Congress have each proposed 5-year budget blue-prints. They are based on wildly optimistic economic projections, and revenues will probably not be as high as they expect. The plans also don’t include funding for the War in Iraq after 2009. We would be delighted if this means we’ve pulled out of Iraq by then, but that likely won’t happen. Today, however, we won’t be overly-critical, because these plans would reduce the federal government’s spending and debt relative to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). We must encourage Congress and the President to continue in this direction.:::
:::Non-defense discretionary spending is one place each plan foresees some fiscal discipline. Currently, this part of the budget consumes 3.7% of GDP. President Bush projects it will fall to 2.8% by 2013 through a four-year spending freeze. While it probably won’t fall that low, we agree that freezing spending is the next best thing to cutting it. Bush’s plan is preferable to House and Senate plans that would increase spending slightly. Nevertheless, their increases fall well below the inflation rate, and they expect non-defense discretionary spending to fall to 3.2 or 3.1% of GDP.

What happened on the primary Presidential campaign trail, especially with candidate Ron Paul?   
::: 
:::On today’s edition of the Downsize DC Conference Call, my Sunday radio show, I’ll be joined by political beat reporter David Weigel of Reason Magazine and Reason.com.
:::
:::David will share the agonizing, exhausting, and up-close story of the Presidential campaign — especially the successes and failure of the Ron Paul campaign.
:::
:::And I’m sure you’ve got some opinions on that! You can call 1-800-259-9231 or you can email me at “CALL at DOWNSIZEDC dot ORG” (just type that out like it sounds).
:::
:::In addition, we’ll talk about the House bill foreign surveillance. On Friday, the House passed their version. It was, frankly, the best deal we could’ve hoped for — short of just leaving well enough alone and letting

Not terrible

Quote of the Day:::::::“The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations … This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.”:::– John Adams, February 13, 1818::::::Subject: The Easy Revolution::::::Last Saturday, in the middle of the night, we crossed the 1-million mark for messages to Congress. ::::::This Wednesday, in a move reminiscent of the kind of self-generated activity sparked by the Ron Paul Revolution, DC Downsizer Tom Leser purchased the url HonestMoney.org, and pointed it at our “End the Inflation Tax” campaign in support of Ron Paul’s honest money bills. He plans to use the URL on signs and flyers. Wonderful! Thank you Tom.::::::Currently, in Congress, because of the intense pressure received from constituents, the Democrats are taking serious steps to make sure that no bill coming out of Congress grants immunity to the telecom companies that helped the government to illegally spy on the American people. This is very good news, and it happened because of people like you, who have given the Democrats reinforcement. We will have more to say about it in the days ahead.::::::Right now, so far in March, we are on track for another good month of recruitment, education, and pressure on Congress. As things stand now we have a decent chance of meeting or exceeding the record setting results we achieved in February.::::::We have a fascination with these kinds of incremental, but relentless, bits of progress. We report them to you on a regular basis because we believe measurement is important, and because we believe such a process of “relentless incrementalism” is the only way to change America.::::::Rome wasn’t built in a day. America wasn’t messed up overnight. Very few things in the world happen quickly. Get-rich-quick schemes rarely work, and neither will schemes to change-America-quick. But there is something even more important about our strategy of relentless incrementalism than these kinds of common-place observations . . .

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .::::::Quote of the Day:
:::
:::“In the republic’s early days the kind of intrusive, detailed rules so prevalent today simply didn’t exist. In the years since, the creep of new regulations has resulted in an unwieldy mass of expensive rules that attempt to control things which would have shocked the Founding Fathers.” – Clyde Wayne Crews, Jr.
:::
:::Subject: The Cost of Everything Else
:::
:::In 2007, over 53% of the federal budget went to mandatory entitlements and welfare spending, and 20% to the Department of Defense. About 9% went to interest payments on the national debt. And just 18% went to Everything Else, from the FDA to Homeland Security to foreign aid. Source: Congressional Budget Office
:::
:::To clean up America’s fiscal mess, we will have to think about entitlement reform and a new, more efficient national security strategy. Steep budget cuts for Everything Else will help, but only a little. There’s a better reason to cut Everything Else: these departments and programs tend to do more harm than good. A lot more.

Whatever became of the Real ID Act?

Subject: Help wanted::::::The team at the Downsize DC Foundation and DownsizeDC.org, Inc. is looking for a talented web designer. This position is PART TIME.::: :::Are you a Web Designer with several years of experience in graphics and web design? You must be very skilled with HTML, graphic design tools (such as Adobe Photoshop, Fireworks, or Illustrator), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), cross-browser compatibility issues, FTP, etc.::::::Required Skills

• Experience with web tools, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver (or other similar software)
• Must be a creative graphic designer with a fine attention to detail
• Ability to troubleshoot errors and work to tight deadlines

Preferred Skills

• Understands Internet design principles and the web development process
• SEO (search engine optimization)
• Familiar with color theory
• Macromedia Flash
• JavaScript

It’s also a plus if you have experience integrating web designs with PHP, MySQL, and PostgreSQL.::::::IMPORTANT: Please include your hourly billing requirements. Messages specifying your hourly rate will be considered first. ::::::Preferably, you have a portfolio with samples of current and previous work, URLs, etc.::::::NOTE: We strongly prefer to hire someone who has been a subscriber to the Downsizer-Dispatch for three months or more. Please do not send referrals (i.e., “My friend So-and-So is a good web designer”) — direct contacts only please.::::::If we’ve described you and this position interests you, please contact us at HelpWanted@DownsizeDC.org ::::::Thank you.::::::Jim Babka:::DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

In today’s Dispatch, we asked you to send a message to Congress thanking the House for letting the Protect America Act expire. You will not be alone. A Coalition of 34 citizen’s groups, including DownsizeDC.org, sent a letter asking the House to stand firm against the fear-mongers. You can read the letter (.pdf) by clicking the attachment to this post.:::

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Change the political environment. Recruit more Downsizers. Share this message with others.::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“The voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum, echoed by the press, and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in and keep step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent.”:::– Charles Eliot Norton::::::Subject: One million messages sent::::::Sometime soon, perhaps today, but almost certainly by Monday, DownsizeDC.org will reach a major milestone — one million messages sent to Congress since our founding!::::::This means that the members of Congress have heard from DC Downsizers an average of 1,869 times each! ::::::Congress have always heard what lobbyists want. Now they’re hearing what taxpayers want, too. But they need to hear from us a lot more, because the latest news from Washington is pretty bad . . .