Author Archives: "Archives"

There are a lot of things happening in Congress these days. For one thing, the immigration vote is looming. It is likely to happen this week. 
:::
:::And, on the campaign trail, so-called “fringe” candidates (likely a code word for “anti-war”) like Congressman Ron Paul are being excluded from an important forum this Saturday. So you can say, that event is also looming.
:::
:::But we must pause today. Another important deadline is looming. And it matters to YOU.
:::
:::DownsizeDC.org is in the game for the long term. After the immigration vote is over and the next issue du jour is on our screen, your DownsizeDC.org will be here. After this candidate forum, heck, after the primary season is over, your DownsizeDC.org will be here.
:::
:::And we’ll be bigger — closer to the day when we’ll be so big that Congress cannot afford to ignore us.
:::
:::This week, we crossed the 19,000 level for subscribers to this list. We’re up almost exactly 700 net subscribers since the end of March. And our list has an Intensity Factor of 1,968 for the month of June. And we expect to top two messages to Congress per subscriber (the Intensity Factor) within the next 48 hours.
:::
:::And our monthly pledge level is

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Quote of the day:::::::”Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” — Niels Bohr::::::Subject: Vote coming on immigration bill?::::::It’s hard to predict, but the Senate may vote on the immigration bill this week. If that happens the key to the outcome is likely to be the amendment process. Some proposed amendments are good and some are bad. Some may make passage more likely, some may be poison pills. We must . . .

You can listen to this very hot show! It’s “attached” to this blog post in mp3 format. ::::::This was the hottest episode I’ve ever had for my ONE-HOUR Sunday show (actually 42 minutes!). ::::::* We took 16 calls! And somehow, we lost three others (SORRY Roy in MO, Jim in DC, and Anne, Chicago). :::* We read from 8 additional emails and we received 118 messages by the time I signed-off. ::::::Wow. We’ll get to the results in a moment. But first, thanks to my sponsor Gun Owners of America. ::::::The link for the “GOA Update” about the anti-gun immigration bill today was… :::http://gunowners.org/a062207.htm ::::::And that link contains another important link explaining how an anti-gun administration might use the powers found in the immigration bill to close down gun shops. ::::::OK, here’s the poll. ::::::I scored it in the following fashion…

Today’s Downsize DC Conference Call, a one-hour radio show hosted and owned by our own Jim Babka, but sponsored by DownsizeDC.org and Gun Owners of America, is your chance to “vote” in an informal poll.
:::
:::Who is your first AND _second_ choice for President? (Jim suspects he knows who will win this poll, so to make this more interesting, he wants to know your second choice).
:::
:::AND
:::
:::Which candidate scares you the most?
:::
:::Submit your answers by . . .

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch…::::::Quotes of the Day
:::
:::“There are two things you don’t want to see being made – sausage and legislation.” – Otto von Bismarck
:::
:::”A sausage factory in a third world country with no running water has nothing on today’s U.S. Congress.” – Gun Owners of America
:::
:::IN THIS ISSUE
:::
:::* How to Pass Gun Control
:::* New RTBA Coalition Members
:::
:::How to Pass Gun Control
:::
:::In the week of June 11 – 18, the House passed 8 bills totaling 183 pages. The Senate was preoccupied in an Energy Bill debate and passed just two bills totaling three pages. One bill the House passed is worth special mention, and underscores why we need the Read the Bills Act.
:::
:::On Wednesday, June 13, the House passed the first gun control legislation in nearly a decade, the 29-page H.R. 2640. They had to do it in a rush, in secret, so no one would know about it in advance. They had to do it by a voice vote, not a roll call, so no member of Congress would be held accountable.
:::
:::This new legislation will allow the federal government to acquire, from the states, information about gun owners. It will federalize background checks. It will make it harder for law abiding citizens to acquire guns to protect themselves from criminals, but it will have no affect at all on the criminals themselves, because criminals do not obey the law.
:::
:::This new gun control legislation was passed in a secret, underhanded, unaccountable way. As Gun Owners of America puts it,
:::
:::”At 8:30 in the morning an email went out to House Republicans indicating that a gun control bill, recently introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), was on the Suspension Calendar (normally reserved for “non-controversial” bills). Many Representatives didn’t see that email until it was too late. Less than three hours later, the bill passed by a voice vote. The bill in question, H.R. 2640, is a massive expansion of the Brady Gun Control law, the subject of many previous alerts by Gun Owners of America.” See the GOA’s full release here.

In today’s message, we’re looking for a few good people. We have two volunteer openings and one service we need, and we’d prefer to work with DC Downsizers.
:::
:::1) Web video production coach
:::2) Free market economist
:::3) Brokerage account agent
:::
:::I also have a radio interview this afternoon with Jerry Hughes. Details are below. First, let’s get to those positions . . .

Please share with concerned friends and Digg this. . .
:::
:::Quote of the Day:
:::
:::“The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.” — George Orwell
:::
:::Subject: Include the anti-war candidates in all presidential debates
:::
:::The War in Iraq is the second biggest expansion of the federal government during the Bush administration. It is also the most disastrous. The war in Iraq is also is the biggest issue of the day. But some in the Republican Party want to stick their heads in the sand and pretend the problem doesn’t exist.
:::
:::We want to make them choke on that sand.
:::
:::So far there is only one Republican candidate for President who is daring to oppose the war in Iraq — Congressman Ron Paul. As we saw after the FoxNews debate, the Big Government crowd in the Republican Party wants to silence the anti-war viewpoint by silencing Ron Paul.
:::
:::Ron Paul has been excluded from the June 30th presidential forum in Des Moines, Iowa. Because candidates who will speak against war provide an educational function that must be heard by the public

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Please share with concerned friends . . .::::::Quote of the Day:::::::”All change starts with a distant rumble, a rumble at the grassroots level, and if you stop and listen today, you will hear such a rumble right now.” — Senator Tom Coburn (OK)::::::Subject: Pass Amendment #1236 to the Senate immigration bill::::::The first votes for amendments to the cancerous immigration bill may happen in the Senate as soon as today, so ACTION TODAY is urgently needed.

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Please share with concerned friends . . .::::::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.” — Sam Adams::::::Subject: Biometric Social Security cards::::::Senator Chuck Schumer wants to amend the immigration bill to require you to get a new Social Security card with biometric information imbedded in it. Creating this new card would . . .

Part II with the Director of 9/11: Press for Truth. ::::::The show was previewed in Sunday’s blog post.::::::The show is available for your listening pleasure in mp3 format. Just click on the “attachment” to this blog post. ::::::Sponsors: DownsizeDC.org and Gun Owners of America