Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .
IN THIS ISSUE:
* AZ State Senator on RTBA and NAIS
* Action item
* Jim Babka on “Free Talk Live” tonight — you can listen on the Internet
* We stand corrected
AZ STATE SENATOR ON RTBA AND NAIS:
Jim was interviewed on the radio yesterday by Arizona State Senator Ron Gould.
Senator Gould wanted to talk about the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) and the “Read the Bills Act” (RTBA). Turns out Arizona just passed legislation to comply with NAIS. But the legislators were barely aware they were doing so. Their “bill reading” rule, such as it is, only results in titles and summaries being read to them at high speed.
The Arizona legislators were briefed about the contents of a bill that contained a NAIS compliance provision. Senator Gould asked for the NAIS portion to be read. His fellow legislators were shocked by what they heard! But they passed the bill anyway, because of the other stuff that was packaged with it.
Senator Gould likes the “Read the Bills Act.” The Arizona legislature passes 1,500 laws a year. He thinks that’s way too many, and they couldn’t do that if they actually had to read them word-for-word. But packaged bills are also a problem in Arizona, just as they are in Congress. Senator Gould asked Jim if Downsize DC is going to promote a “single subject” law for Congress. Jim told him we want to, but we haven’t figured out the right angle on definitions and enforcement.
This discussion was highly encouraging. There are elected representatives, both in Congress and in the state legislatures, who feel trapped by a bad system. Sooner or later, if we keep pressing, we’re going to find someone who is willing to sponsor RTBA. And sooner or later, if we keep thinking, we’ll devise a good way to handle the “single subject” problem. In the meantime . . .
The NAIS juggernaut is rolling along, threatening to strangle family farms in red tape for the benefit of big corporate agribusiness. The Feds are using all sorts of bribes and threats to force reluctant states like Arizona to comply. This process is being driven by the Executive Branch, by the bureaucrats in the Department of Agriculture, and not by Congress. Congress can stop this juggernaut, but we have to get their attention and spur them to act. So please do the following . . .
ACTION ITEM:
Write Congress today and tell them to take legislative action to stop NAIS. You can do so here.
JIM BABKA ON “FREE TALK LIVE” TONIGHT:
You can listen on the Internet at www.GCNLive.com. Click on Listen Live and choose one of the first two channels to get the free feed. You can also call-in to talk to Jim on the air at 1-800-259-9231
The show is broadcast live at …
Eastern: 7pm
Central: 6m – 5pm
Mountain: 5pm – 4pm
Pacific: 4pm – 3pm
Alaska: 3pm – 2pm
Hawaii: 2pm
WE STAND CORRECTED:
As predicted in our message about $700 gold, our description of the mechanism of monetary inflation was slightly imprecise. We have been informed that nearly all of this is done with bookkeeping entries, and involves no actual printing of currency. But the impact is the same — more circulating purchasing power to drive up prices.
We’re hoping to provide a more detailed explanation of this on our blog. We think it is important to have a good popular explanation of how all this works, because most of what we’ve read on the subject is so loaded with jargon as to be completely useless to the average person. Stay tuned to our blog, which can be found here.
OUR GAS TANK:
We raised $800 yesterday. Still a long way to go for May. If you want to contribute or start a monthly pledge you can do so here.
Thank you for being a DC Downsizer!
Perry Willis
Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.