Monthly Archives: May 2009
New ID Dangers
MEDIA NOTICE: Today (Friday), Jim Babka is scheduled to appear on “Straight Talk w/ Jerry Hughes,” starting at 3:05 PM Eastern. Listening details can be found on the DownsizeDC.org blog.
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Quote of the Day: “I won’t call it Real ID, I’ll call it enhanced or higher security drivers license.” — Robert V. LaPenta, President and CEO of L-1 Identity Solutions, which stands to be a primary beneficiary of any government scheme for a national ID card
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Subject: Tricking Americans Into Real ID
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Jim Harper, at the Cato Institute, alerts us to new dangers on the national ID front.
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The so-called Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and certain politicians, are trying multiple ways to impose a national ID card on us, even though the American people have made it very clear we don’t want it.
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One under-handed scheme started with the passage of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which requires law abiding U.S. citizens to have either a passport or an enhanced drivers license to cross the Mexican or Canadian borders. An “enhanced drivers license”…
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* Is an initiative of the DHS that has NO Congressional mandate
:::* Will require you to undergo a security interview, pay a fee, and get a new federal ID number (in addition to your Social Security number)
:::* Has an RFID chip that can be read at a distance, up to 30 feet away, even while it’s in your wallet!
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Now things are being rigged to move citizens in the direction of the enhanced drivers license.
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The problem starts with the fact that passports are too expensive. The high price gives people an incentive to
American adulthood, fact or fiction?
Quote of the Day: “When a government controls both the economic power of individuals and the coercive power of the state … this violates a fundamental rule of happy living: Never let the people with all the money and the people with all the guns be the same people.” — P. J. O’Rourke
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Subject: When Will Americans Grow Up?
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Three of the very most important issues of the moment are…
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* The planned re-design of the economy through a “cap and trade” system to limit CO2 emissions
:::* The planned re-design of our health care system by increasing government involvement at all levels
:::* The massive expansion of the money supply by the Fed, which threatens hyper-inflation
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But will the media and the American people be able to maintain an adult focus on any of these issues, or will they instead spend the next few weeks obsessing about the merits and de-merits of one person — President Obama’s new nominee for the Supreme Court.
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Sadly, American adulthood is sometimes more fiction than fact. We predict that the national discussion will now focus on the new Supreme Court nominee and that most of the debate will resemble a high school campaign for class president. It will be driven by adolescent partisan tribal loyalties, and will overlook one overwhelming fact…
Should Congress read the bills or pass pointless resolutions?
Quote of the Day: “If I studied all my life, I couldn’t think up half the number of funny things passed in one session of congress.” – Will Rogers
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Subject: Should Congress read the bills or pass pointless resolutions?
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In addition to bills that become law, the House and Senate also pass hundreds of resolutions each year. Many of them are statements of appreciation or recognition of people and events. They may seem harmless, but they waste Congress’s time, time that could be spent reading bills that actually matter.
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Moreover, these resolutions are often handled with comic incompetence . . .
Stunning poll results
Quote of the Day: “Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it.” — Woodrow Wilson
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Editorial comment: He didn’t practice what he preached, but we should
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Subject: Stunning poll results
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The politicians and pundits keep telling us the Era of Big Government has returned. For instance, the Washington Post claims that increased confidence in government is fostering economic recovery.
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But what happens when Americans are given a real choice to accept or reject government growth? California just had that chance when they voted on several Big Government propositions. The results are stunning…
Exporting Corruption
Media Alert: Downsize DC President Jim Babka will appear on the Liberty Roundtable this Friday. See the details below my signature.
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Quote of the Day “The thing that gets me is we don’t learn a thing from history. We want our institutions to be pure and not corrupt, but yet we do the things we know is going to corrupt them.” Chief Jerry Cameron, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
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Subject: Exporting corruption
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Last month, a South Tucson, AZ, cop who ran his department’s asset forfeiture program was convicted of stealing over $560,000 from it.
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This month, the cop who handles asset forfeiture funds in Spring Lake, NC, was arrested for stealing $2,900. Another cop was arrested for having seized the money in a hotel room under false pretenses.
What We Didn’t Tell You Last Week
Quote of the Day: “A political leader must keep looking over his shoulder all the time to see if the boys are still there. If they aren’t still there, he’s no longer a political leader.” — Bernard Baruch
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Editorial comment: What our so-called political leaders need most is leadership from us, their supposed followers.
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Subject: Ask Representative Shadegg and Senator DeMint to reintroduce (and improve!) their health insurance bills
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Last Thursday we started asking Congress to enable Americans to buy health insurance regulated by states other than the one in which they live. Doing this would make health insurance instantly affordable for millions of people. Remember, some states make health insurance vastly more expensive by mandating things like…
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* Maternity care for single males
:::* Infertility treatments for people who don’t want families
:::* Alcoholism therapy for people who don’t drink
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Congress could give millions of people the freedom to sidestep these kinds of state regulations. Now here’s what we didn’t tell you last week…
More good news on the Enumerated Powers Act
Quote of the Day: “The layman’s constitutional view is that what he likes is constitutional and that which he doesn’t like is unconstitutional.” — Justice Hugo L. Black Source: New York Times, 26 February 1971.
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Editorial Comment: Justice Black must have been a layman
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Subject: New co-sponsors!
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DC Downsizers have pounded Congress with 32,067 messages in support of the “Enumerated Powers Act” (EPA). Now there’s more good news. EPA has gained another 3 co-sponsors during the past week! Let’s keep pushing…
Chop Off that Camel’s Nose
Quote of the Day: “Security is mostly superstition.” — Helen Keller (1880-1968)
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Subject: Bailouts for trucking companies?!!!
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When we predict bad results from new government programs some people tell us our fears are exaggerated, or misinformed. It happened when we opposed the Iraq war with our “Truth About War” website, and dared to claim that Hussein had NO weapons of mass destruction.
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But we were right.
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Recently, many said we were wrong to oppose the TARP bailouts. It was a crisis after all. Sadly, our fear that TARP would be the proverbial camel’s nose in the tent, seems also to be coming true. Get this…
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A trucking firm, YRC Worldwide, has applied for a TARP bailout (see the third item in this linked blog post).
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Will they get the $1 billion they’re asking for? Many say no, but we’re not so sure. Here’s why…
Are You Serious?
MEDIA NOTICES: Downsize DC President Jim Babka will appear on two radio shows this weekend, one today (Friday), and one tomorrow (Saturday). Check below his signature to learn how you can tune in.
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Quote of the Day: “Two roads diverged in a wood. I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” — Robert Frost (1874-1963)
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Subject: Are you serious?
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I hear it all the time, in the emails that flood my In-Box and on the radio shows I do. Everyone thinks we need to replace our current Congress with better people. I always have the same reaction — “Are you serious?”
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What would it take to get even ONE “good person” elected? You’d need . . .
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:::* A good candidate
:::* A great campaign
:::* A ton of money
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And you’d still probably lose because incumbents have powerful natural advantages. But even if you did win, one politician can’t pass or repeal laws. You’d need . . .
Jim Babka On Air with Martha Montelongo
Downsize DC President Jim Babka will be joining host Martha Montelongo on KION AM-1460 in Salinas, California on Saturday, at 11:30 AM Pacific Time (2:30 PM Eastern).
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:::Listeners outside of the area can hear the interview on CRN Digital Talk Radio, Channel 5, on the net at www.CRNTalk.com.