Yearly Archives: 2008

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:
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:::“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.
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:::Subject: The Cost of Everything Else
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:::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
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:::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 . . .

Quote of the Day:
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:::”Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”
:::– Aldous Huxley
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:::Subject: Promise or threat
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:::Promises, promises. Threats, threats. When it comes to the words politicians utter, who can tell the difference anymore? Are they making promises, or threats?
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:::Clinton and Obama both want more government involvement in health care. They present it as a promise, but when you consider that . . .
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• Government already inflates health care prices through the hundreds of billions it spends on Medicare

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• The government already has $53 trillion in earlier promises for Medicare and Social Security that it can’t keep

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:::. . . then the Clinton-Obama promises start to sound a lot more like threats.
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:::Clinton and Obama both claim their health care plans will “only” cost about $100 billion. But can you think of any government program that has ever met its cost projections? We can’t. They always cost more. A lot more.

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Change the political environment. Recruit more Downsizers. Share this message with others.::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“Practically all governments of history have used their exclusive power to issue money to defraud and plunder the people.”:::– Friedrich von Hayek (Nobel Prize Winner in Economics)::::::Subject: Stagflation evidence::::::Here’s the latest economic report from the Commerce Department . . .

The economy grew only 6 tenths of one percent in Quarter-4 of 2007, compared to 4.9 percent the prior quarter
• Total 2007 growth was only 2.2%, the lowest in five years
• Home builders have cut operations 25.2%, the largest decrease in 26 years
• Consumer spending rose just 1.9% in Quarter-4, down from 2.8% in Quarter-3
• Business investment in equipment and software grew only 3.3% in Quarter-4, compared to 6.2% in Quarter-3

Meanwhile . . .

• The Labor Department says unemployment applications rose to 373,000 two weeks ago, an increase of 19,000
• The National Association for Business Economics predicts even slower growth for this quarter

Clearly, the economy is sputtering. Normally, if we had a stable money supply, you would expect such economic conditions to result in price cuts to attract consumers. In fact, we wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with if we had stable money. But instead of price cuts we find that, thanks to the Fed Inflation Machine . . .

• Core price inflation, which excludes food and energy, was 2.7% in Quarter-4, up from 2% in Quarter-3
• Food and energy prices are also rising (you don’t need a government report to know this)
• The dollar has reached a record low against the Euro
• Gold is still climbing toward $1,000 an ounce, needing only $15 to $20 more to reach that mark

The Fed thinks it can reverse the economic downturn by creating more money. It started cutting interest rates for this purpose in September, and has gone wild recently, slashing the rate by 1.25% in just eight days in January, the biggest one-month cut in nearly 25 years. Still more cuts are probable at the Fed’s next meeting.::::::Will it work?

Quote of the Day:
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:::It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important . . . You may never know what results come from your action.  But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”
:::– Gandhi
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:::Subject: Hero vs. Army
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:::The stories we love tell us how we think. We love the theme of the single hero triumphing over great evil: David vs. Goliath, Knight vs. Dragon, Superhero vs. Super-villain . . . and the Great Political Leader vs. the Great Social Problem.
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:::Our love of such tales makes it hard to ignore candidates who claim they will save us.
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:::Successful politicians tell us stories that resonate. They claim we are threatened by unique dangers that only they can solve. They depict their struggle in epic terms. The politician becomes a knight, the problem a dragon, and elections a sword.
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:::Will the knight prevail? Or will we live with the menace for four more years?

Quote of the day:
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:::”Brevity is the soul of lingerie.”
:::– Dorothy Parker
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:::Subject: Quick and Brief
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:::This is just a brief message to wrap up February and a quick action item.
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:::We actually exceeded our monthly budget goal for February. And more people donated to us last month than in any single month in 2007. It was exciting to see our vision (of a lot of people doing a little) at work.
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:::Thank you, DC Downsizers!
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:::Congress returns this week. The Administration continues to apply misleading pressure and scare tactics on the House to “do something” about terrorism and pass that anti-Fourth Amendment, warrantless spying bill, combined with Big Telecom immunity.
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:::We must