Yearly Archives: 2009

What you can say to someone who claims they are the same

A new bill promises to repeal the Real ID Act, but does it really get us what we want?

What you and Downsize DC accomplished in August.

It seems Justices Scalia and Kennedy wanted to hear a compelling Free Press argument. The Court appears willing to overturn two of its previous decisions. This could be a huge, pro-liberty development loved by political challengers, and hated by incumbents. Details, and a copy of the brief are available in this brief blog post.  

CORRECTION: The Freddie Mac program we told you about on Friday turns out to be old and defunct, not new and current. We sincerely apologize for the error. Now, some good news . . .

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Subject: Check out the New & Improved DownsizeDC.org website

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It’s the work of many months, and something we wanted to get done BEFORE launching our media outreach campaign. Here’s what you’ll see and experience when you visit our new website . . .

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* It should load a bit faster

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* We make better use of the space on the home page, providing useful things for both new and repeat visitors, such as…

Quote of the Day: “The state of California is committed to assisting educators achieve the dream of homeownership.” — John Schienle, Director of the California Housing Loan Insurance Fund

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Subject: Does Freddie Mac want to blow a new housing bubble?

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Freddie Mac is supporting a California program that allows teachers to buy a home with . . .

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* Only $500 down
:::* Relaxed credit requirements

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This is exactly the kind of thing that inflated the housing bubble in the first place, and got Freddie Mac in so much trouble that it had to be bailed out by the federal government, at YOUR expense.

Quote of the Day: The government called three accountants to testify. The defense asked each one, “What is the proper way to calculate income for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code if you are paid in a gold coin that has a $50 face value on it?” All three of them responded, “I do not know; I’ll have to research that.” — Mike Zigler, reporting on the 2007 case against Robert Kahre that ended in a hung jury

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Subject: How can legal tender be illegal?

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Robert Kahre is facing up to 296 years in prison. His crime? He hired workers on mutually-agreed terms, and paid them in gold and silver dollars rather than in Federal Reserve dollars.

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First, some background . . .

Quote of the Day: “What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall.” — Charley Reese

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Subject: Give the politicians a taste of their own medicine

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Politicians are a persistent bunch. Tell them “No,” and they come knocking again. Shout “No,” and they try to sneak in the back door.

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We must do what they do. We must be persistent. We must constantly insist on what we want, and at an ever growing volume. 

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That’s why the numbers we report are cause for excitement. Rising growth numbers mean that YOUR POWER over the politicians is also rising.

PUBLIC APPEARANCE: Downsize DC President Jim Babka be speaking at a Tea Party in Pennsylvania. If you’re in the area come by and say, “Hi.” Look below the signature for details.

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Quote of the Day: “Never in the history of the world has there been a situation so bad that the government couldn’t make it worse.” — attribution unknown

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Subject: What the numbers can do for you

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Long-time members of the Downsize DC Army will know that we’re obsessed with measuring our progress. We know of no other organization that so rigorously tracks its most important growth statistics and so diligently reports those numbers to its supporters. We do this because . . .

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We actually want to achieve the goal signified by our name. We want to Downsize DC. We desire this because we believe it will foster human progress. And the numbers we report are important to this desire because . . . 

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* As a wise man once said, “God tends to be on the side of the bigger battalions.”
:::* If we constantly grow the size of the Downsize DC Army then YOU will eventually have the biggest “battalion”
:::* You tend to get more of what you measure, so we measure constantly

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This is what the numbers we report can do for you. They can provide the motivation to get what you want. So having said . . .

We’re making some important ease-of-use and marketing changes to our website. With these changes, DownsizeDC.org will be able to go to the next level of media outreach.

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We need volunteers to help us test our changes. The testing needs to be done TODAY — the earlier the better. It’s easy — just normal use of the features on our site.

:::If you can help, send us an email right now (today, Thursday, August 20) at