Category Archives: Limited Federal Government

Run Away Train

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Yet another in an already long and ever lengthening list of affronts and outright subversion to the Constitution of the United States was perpetrated by the berserker regime of the Obama administration last week.

For context, let me quote the First Amendment to the Constitution, the primary protection of freedoms that we as Americans were bequeathed by the Founders:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

Those words are clear. There is no “except” clause there, no room for good intentions, no vacancy for vacillation on this issue. No law “prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

The recent Health & Human Services requirement forcing all Catholic and other religion based employers to provide mandatory coverage for abortions and sterilization on demand for their employees is a direct attempt by this administration to undermine the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment to all Americans; a fundamental transformation of America as promised by our current sitting—or golfing, or vacationing—President.

Technically speaking, this is not a law passed directly by Congress.
But, because our grift-resentatives in that august body have continually abdicated their law-making responsibility and outsourced the details and the implementation to an ever growing list of onerous regulatory agencies, the regulations imposed by those agencies have the force of law. And, this new requirement has a direct correlation to the unconstitutional health care law passed by Congress two years ago.

When government begins to regulate matters of faith and conscience it has overstepped its bounds as established by our Constitution and our history.

If we allow this breach of contract with the American people from this administration, where will such breaches stop? If they can so directly attack the primary foundation of our freedoms, how will they ever be stopped if not now? The usurpation of choice and the concentration of power are the sole achievements of any government throughout the history of mankind. That’s what government does and we cannot allow it to happen here.

Catholic or not, now is the time for all freedom loving Americans to make their voices heard. We cannot compromise on our precious liberties lest we find ourselves on a high-speed railway to tyranny.

The continued freedom of the American people is in jeopardy. The fundamental change promised and embraced by the current occupant of the White House is contrary to the American way of life and in direct violation of the Constitution of the United States. We cannot allow this to continue. If you’ve not read the Constitution or just the Bill of Rights in awhile, may I respectfully suggest you do so. If we do not fiercely guard our liberties we will lose them. We are well on the way with this administration.

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Further Reading
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Obama Scam Paves Way for Abortion Mandate

Political Reality Behind HHS Mandate

Obama’s War Against Catholics

Letter to HHS from concerned Senators

Tea Party defeats jobs bill!!??

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The President’s jobs bill was defeated in the Senate last night. According to some, the Tea Party is to blame.

The vote last night — we were very pleased with it. I was surprised with some newspapers saying ‘setback,’” Schumer said. “This is one more step as part of our plan, which is basically, first to focus on jobs and the economy like a laser — we’re in complete coordination with the White House on that — and to show that we want to change the dynamic on jobs and the economy and Republicans are blocking it.

— Sen. Charles Schumer (D- NY), quote on Roll Call’s website

When Senator Schumer says the word Republican lately, what he really means is Tea Party.

“The republic has a whiff, after the debt ceiling debate, that the Republican Party has become quite extreme because it’s been sort of run by tea party Congressmen and Senators, even though they’re not a majority in either house,” Schumer said. “They’re standing in the way — on every issue. … “

ibid.

So, obviously, the Republicans, I mean, the Tea Party is to blame for the President’s jobs bill not passing.

Ummm… Senator Schumer, by your own admission the Tea Party does not have a majority in either House, and your party currently enjoys the majority in the side of the House that you work in. There were two defectors from your own party on this bill. So just exactly how did the Tea Party defeat it?

Of even more concern than this particular distortion of the truth is the proposed extortion of the intelligence of the American people in Schumer’s words as he continues to discuss what he calls “Tea Party Economics:

“They’re standing in the way — on every issue. … We’ve got to get some money pumped into the economy in the next year or two to avoid the tea party double-dip recession.”

Now we know why the economy is so sluggish. Those damn Tea Partiers, all of which have only been in office less than a year, and at no time comprise a majority of votes in either House are simply standing in the way of growth and progress. And they must want to see the economy fail. We have to blame somebody, right?

Unemployment has been at over 9% for far longer than the Tea Party representatives have been in office, mortgage foreclosures topped 1 million in 2010 for the first time in history due to Fed interference and mishandling of the mortgage industry (under laws all forced on the banking industry by Schumer’s party), the Federal Registry has been appended by 80,000 pages of regulations since the current administration came into power, and new pending legislation (such as Obamacare, passed by … hint: not the Tea Party) cast future viability for businesses in doubt. None of these issues are the result of Tea Party candidates now holding office in the House and Senate. They are all results from the failed “major transformation of America”, to use our current President’s words. They are a result of government over-reach, government over-interference, and government over-regulation.

They are an attempt to divert blame from where it truly belongs. Schumer, the President and others in the Democratic party all appear to want us to believe that the $800B+ of stimulus money that went to crony capitalists and special interest groups wasn’t enough to spur the economy, so we need another $400B + to help push things along. Can you say Solyndra?

Senator Schumer appears to be unconcerned with the ever expanding national debt, as witnessed by his words to, in effect, throw more money at the problem, and he has an odd notion of where blame should fall when his party, in the majority, remember, fails to pass a bill in his section of Our House.

Time for some House cleaning.

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Links

Mouth With Sharp Teeth Bites Taxpayers Again

This man fits in perfectly with the Because You’re Not Smart crowd discussed earlier here at The Unofficial View

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

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18 months ago, the political representatives of the American people passed an odious piece of legislation magnanimously titled The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Prior to its passage, we were told by then Speaker of Our House, Nancy Pelosi that we would have to wait until the bill was passed to see what was in it. This statement alone should be enough to have the bill declared unconstitutional, regardless of its contents. It should cause all freedom loving Americans to rise up and demand that it be repealed. Any politician making such a statement should be immediately subjected to a Congressional investigation for ethics and questioned on their subversive tendencies. One would hope that the constituents of the offending politician’s jurisdiction would arise and call for the resignation and subsequent special election for the replacement of that departing mis-representative.

Unfortunately, thus far, none of this has been the case. We rush ever forward to full implementation of this invasive, intrusive, inquisitorial attempt to legislate every aspect of the lives of Americans.

If this bill, now law, is allowed to stand, the Federal Government’s creep into the private affairs of the lives of every American will be metamorphosed into a headlong rush to cessation of the rights of individuals.

Apart from the individual mandate that requires every American able to do so to purchase health care—a case of Congress grossly misappropriating powers through willing and eager circumvention of the Commerce Clause, and thus unconstitutional—this law will allow the government to control virtually every aspect of our lives.

Take, for instance, the 30 million or more people currently unwilling, or unable to obtain health insurance on their own. Most, if not all of these individuals will be placed into one of the government subsidized medical coverage plans, most likely medicaid. As with all government entitlements, this program is funded by the tax payers which translates to another reduction in personal income.

Most businesses with 50 or more employees will be forced to pay out additional capital to help fund coverage for these people. Or at least to help defer the costs of the additional bureaucracies created to oversee compliance, eligibility, treatment, record keeping, disbursement and favored political standing. Regardless of the final distribution of these funds, the end result is a reduction of operating capital for these affected businesses. Less capital equals less innovation, less expansion, less employment, less business. Basic economics in action.

In the future, as additional efforts to control costs become necessary, those that represent us in government will find it an easy step to pass new laws regarding every aspect of our lives, all conveniently wrapped in justifying reducing health care costs, both real and potential. Cars will need to be safer. Food will need to be healthier. Air will need to be cleaner. Compliance will need to be policed. In short, government interference across the entire spectrum of individual choice.

I for one do not care to have unbridled reform and rampant regulation become the norm. Yet, if the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is allowed to become a permanent fixture in the law of the land, that is exactly where we are headed.

Dark Age (reprise)

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Though the last post I made, Dark Age was a near-term tale of speculative fiction, the following information is straight from the source, presented here for you to draw your own conclusions. Maybe we can put together an anthology of speculative fiction.

The following table is an excerpt from the Social Security Administration’s own website.

The numbers listed here are in thousands, meaning 222 is 222,000, and 43,498 is actually 43,498,000.

Year Employed Beneficiaries Ratio
1996 143,909 43,498 3.3
1997 146,736 43,792 3.3
1998 149,692 44,075 3.4
1999 152,453 44,366 3.4
2000 155,295 45,166 3.4
2001 155,546 45,668 3.4
2002 154,894 46,176 3.3
2003 154,954 46,752 3.3
2004 156,900 47,367 3.3
2005 159,081 48,133 3.3
2006 161,852 48,863 3.3
2007 163,057 49,603 3.3
2008 162,485 50,420 3.2
2009 156,021 51,860 3
2010 156,725 53,398 2.9

As of last year, every two people paying into the system are paying the benefits for 9 other people. For contrast, here are the same numbers from three of the ten years between 1940 and 1950:

Year Employed Beneficiaries Ratio
1940 35,390 222 159.4
1945 46,390 1,106 41.9
1950 48,280 2,930 16.5

Obviously, the ratio of workers to beneficiaries has been in free fall mode since then, hitting 3:3 in 2009. If I remember my junior high school math correctly, a ratio of 3:3 can also be expressed as 1:1, meaning every person currently employed and paying into Social Security is paying to support someone else who is receiving benefits. The 2010 ratio of 2:9 is clear indication that this system is not only broken, but utterly unsustainable.

The trustees of the Social Security Administration have also acknowledged this in their recent report. This acknowledgement is not buried hundreds of pages in, as if expecting it to be missed or glossed over. Rather, it is in the opening paragraphs of the overview, on the first page of text in their report. You can read it for yourself at http://www.ssa.gov/oact/tr/2011/tr2011.pdf. Their recommendation is for an increase of the mandatory withholding taken from every paycheck. Their proposed increase is greater than 2% and is listed as a short term fix. Small band-aid might be a better term.

Dark Age Anthology submissions can be made here at Unofficial View.

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Just for fun, to see how much you could sock away for your retirement, here are two calculators to help. I used the amount mandatorily deducted from my paycheck for my current contribution to Social Security. The numbers were … surprising is probably a mild term.

Compound Interest Calculator

Roth 401k

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Dark Age

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It was bound to happen. Sooner or later, the hammer comes crashing down and even the most stubborn nail is driven into submission, or bent so badly as to be completely marginalized in its purpose. I too, have been marginalized. By my reckoning, I have only a short time to live, but in this brief timespan, I hope to share with you my story, or at least some of the pertinent aspects of it. Hopefully, in a few dozen years, or a few hundred, whenever the gathering winds of freedom have attained hurricane force once again, my story can provide some comfort, some solace or some inspiration to those trying desperately to obliterate the colossal structures of tyranny.

I have been in hiding or on the run for the last twenty years. There have been a few close calls, but an opportunity for escape always presented itself. Not this time. The road has reached its end in a cul-de-sac and there will be no more running possible.

As it turned out, World War III, though devastatingly brutal, was not Armageddon. That came a bit later. After Social Security was finally declared defunct in 2021, massive changes swept the world, paralleling the worst case scenarios of the gloomiest doomsayers of old. Following a third downgrade of its credit rating, the US defaulted on its sovereign debt—an incomprehensible $24T. That number is roughly equivalent to $63,000 per citizen, regardless of age. Needless to say, the dollar collapsed and destroyed most of the rest of the developed world’s currencies in the process. Chaos reigned supreme.

Unemployment, at the time hovering around 14% in the US, soared, doubling and then tripling that within two years. Martial Law was declared early in 2024 as a feeble attempt to regain control of the downward spiraling double-helix of humanity and the economy. Through misapplication of the Commerce Clause in the US Constitution, the Federal Government annexed all of the nation’s business and then virtually erased the Constitution and all the protections it sought to offer the citizens of the country. Individualism and initiative died.

With the government setting prices for goods and services of all descriptions, skyrocketing prices on food and most other necessities of life stabilized, but only briefly. The smoke and mirrors of government control of supply and distribution fell prey quickly to the realities of shortages, cost overruns and bureaucratic morass. The manufacturing sector was the first to go, followed almost immediately by the few remaining entities in the financial sector. The cost of living began its upward surge again. Higher prices generally meant even less business and brought a new round of workforce-wide layoffs. It became a vicious, self-sustaining, perpetual motion machine of slow, all consuming destruction. The lights went out, most of them anyway, in 2026. The world had entered another dark age.

There were pockets of resistance to the revocation of freedom and evisceration of liberties, many at first, but continually dwindling under constant government assault through lengthy prohibitions and increased regulations and when those did not work to circumscribe the behaviors of the offending groups, frequent use of military intervention and deadly force. I sojourned among the inhabitants of these castaway outposts for years, spending as much time as I could with each of them, moving to the next when expedient. Together, we fought the oppressor’s hand, driving him back and gaining a brief respite on occasion. All too often, though, we were driven from our stake, forced again into hiding or retreating just to survive; stragglers running to the next safe haven.

As far as I am aware, this is the last enclave. It is here, today, that we will make our final stand. It has been a long war, but I fear, that this day will be my last battle. I have been their primary target since this war began. The forces arrayed against me and those here that stand with me have become too powerful, all permeating, unrelenting. Though I have been hounded for years and called despicable, scathing names by those that fear me.and branded as evil by those that seek to destroy me, to my friends, I am known as Liberty.

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Notes:

Short-Range Results
The assets of the OASI Trust Fund and of the combined OASI and DI Trust Funds are projected to be adequate over the next 10 years under the intermediate assumptions. However, the assets of the DI Trust Fund are projected to steadily decline under the intermediate assumptions, and would fall below 100 percent of annual cost by the beginning of 2013 and continue to decline until the trust fund is exhausted in 2018. The DI Trust Fund does not satisfy the short-range test of financial adequacy, which requires that the trust fund remain above 100 percent of annual cost throughout the short-range period.

Source: Social Security Trustees Report, Overview Section

Also in the Overview are some interesting recommendations from the Trustees to “fix” the very real issues with the Social Security Ponzi scheme. Such as a greater than 2% increase in withholdings and a reduction in benefits. Sounds to me like “What we’re doing isn’t working, so let’s do it some more and see it that changes anything.”

Crib Notes

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As of yesterday, June 28th, the Federal Government has implemented new laws regarding the manufacture, sale, and resale of baby cribs. These new federal regulations make it illegal to build, sell, or even garage sale a baby crib with drop down sides.

From the Washington Post:
New crib regulations ban cribs with drop down sides

Presumably, under the jurisdiction of providing for the “general welfare” of the people clause (Article 1 Section-8) in the US Constitution, Congress felt the need to intervene in yet another facet of our lives. You would think that such a law encompassing such sweeping changes to an entire industry, would be based on a significant number of reported problems or consumer lawsuits, and could possibly be justified under the general welfare clause if that were the case.

Apparently, that depends upon your definition of “significant number”.

In this case, that number is 30. 30 deaths since 2000, or 3 deaths per year. In the year 2007 alone, there were 4,317,119 babies born in the US. According to: about .com there is a trend of about 4,000.000 babies born in this country every year since 2000. 4 million a year multiplied by 10 years is 40,000,000 babies.

30 deaths over 10 years and 40.000.000 babies. To find out what percentage of baby deaths are caused by these cribs, we divide 40,000,000 (the number of babies born here over 10 years) into 30 (the number of deaths attributed to drop-side cribs) and get .000075%–less than 1/10,000 of a percent! Yep, that’s a significant number if I ever heard one.

In 2007, alone there were 10 children that drowned in swimming pools in the city of Phoenix and its suburbs. See the full report here. This number is about average over the last 29 years that I have lived here. That means that in the same 10 year period between 2000 and 2010, 100 children have drowned in swimming pools in just this county. If we are to follow the logic—and I use the term loosely—of Congress with the baby cribs, the Federal Government should have outlawed swimming pools decades ago. They are simply far too dangerous, ranging to hundreds or thousands of times more so than the now outlawed baby cribs, and through the general welfare provision of the Constitution, and Congress’ latest perversion of it, swimming pools present far too great a hazard to children and no further permits to build them should be issued, ever. Anywhere. All those in existence should be filled in, covered over and converted into organic gardens.

Perhaps we should outlaw bathtubs as well, or better yet, baths for children altogether since there are more drowning deaths in the US in bathtubs each year than there are deaths caused by these cribs.

I am not trying to trivialize the deaths of these children. I know first hand the trauma of a baby’s death. My wife and I lost a son several years ago, just hours after his birth. But, to pass sweeping changes that affect the entire baby products industry, not to mention the convenience factor for parents on less than 1/10,000% of instances smacks of extreme overreach and smells of pandering for votes.

Today’s reading list:

Raise the Debt Limit Vote, Final Tally

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112th Congress

31-May-2011

7:11 PM

To implement the President’s request to increase the statutory limit on the public debt

Party
Yeas
Nays
Present
Not Voting
Republican
0
236
0
3


Democratic
97
82
7
6


Independent
0
0
0
0


Totals
97
318
7
9

Roll Call

Ackerman — Present
Adams — Nay
Aderholt — Nay
Akin — Nay
Alexander — Nay
Altmire — Nay
Amash — Nay
Andrews — Nay
Austria — Nay
Baca — Nay
Bachmann — Nay
Bachus — Nay
Baldwin — Nay
Barletta — Nay
Barrow — Nay
Bartlett — Nay
Barton (TX) — Nay
Bass (CA) — Nay
Bass (NH) — Nay
Becerra — Nay
Benishek — Nay
Berg — Nay
Berkley — Nay
Berman — Yea
Biggert — Nay
Bilbray — Nay
Bilirakis — Nay
Bishop (GA) — Nay
Bishop (NY) — Nay
Bishop (UT) — Nay
Black — Nay
Blackburn — Nay
Blumenauer — Yea
Bonner — Nay
Bono Mack — Nay
Boren — Nay
Boswell — Nay
Boustany — Nay
Brady (PA) — Yea
Brady (TX) — Nay
Braley (IA) — Not Voting
Brooks — Nay
Broun (GA) — Nay
Brown (FL) — Nay
Buchanan — Nay
Bucshon — Nay
Buerkle — Nay
Burgess — Nay
Burton (IN) — Nay
Butterfield — Nay
Calvert — Nay
Camp — Nay
Campbell — Nay
Canseco — Nay
Cantor — Nay
Capito — Nay
Capps — Nay
Capuano — Yea
Cardoza — Nay
Carnahan — Nay
Carney — Nay
Carson (IN) — Yea
Carter — Nay
Cassidy — Nay
Castor (FL) — Nay
Chabot — Nay
Chaffetz — Nay
Chandler — Nay
Chu — Present
Cicilline — Nay
Clarke (MI) — Yea
Clarke (NY) — Yea
Clay — Yea
Cleaver — Yea
Clyburn — Nay
Coble — Nay
Coffman (CO) — Nay
Cohen — Yea
Cole — Nay
Conaway — Nay
Connolly (VA) — Yea
Conyers — Nay
Cooper — Yea
Costa — Nay
Costello — Nay
Courtney — Nay
Cravaack — Nay
Crawford — Nay
Crenshaw — Nay
Critz — Nay
Crowley — Nay
Cuellar — Nay
Culberson — Nay
Cummings — Nay
Davis (CA) — Nay
Davis (IL) — Yea
Davis (KY) — Nay
DeFazio — Nay
DeGette — Yea
DeLauro — Nay
Denham — Nay
Dent — Nay
DesJarlais — Nay
Deutch — Nay
Diaz-Balart — Nay
Dicks — Yea
Dingell — Yea
Doggett — Present
Dold — Nay
Donnelly (IN) — Nay
Doyle — Yea
Dreier — Nay
Duffy — Nay
Duncan (SC) — Not Voting
Duncan (TN) — Nay
Edwards — Yea
Ellison — Yea
Ellmers — Nay
Emerson — Nay
Engel — Yea
Eshoo — Yea
Farenthold — Nay
Farr — Yea
Fattah — Yea
Filner — Yea
Fincher — Nay
Fitzpatrick — Nay
Flake — Nay
Fleischmann — Nay
Fleming — Nay
Flores — Nay
Forbes — Nay
Fortenberry — Nay
Foxx — Nay
Frank (MA) — Yea
Franks (AZ) — Nay
Frelinghuysen — Nay
Fudge — Yea
Gallegly — Nay
Garamendi — Yea
Gardner — Nay
Garrett — Nay
Gerlach — Nay
Gibbs — Nay
Gibson — Nay
Giffords — Not Voting
Gingrey (GA) — Nay
Gohmert — Nay
Gonzalez — Yea
Goodlatte — Nay
Gosar — Nay
Gowdy — Nay
Granger — Nay
Graves (GA) — Nay
Graves (MO) — Nay
Green, Al — Yea
Green, Gene — Nay
Griffin (AR) — Nay
Griffith (VA) — Nay
Grijalva — Yea
Grimm — Nay
Guinta — Nay
Guthrie — Nay
Gutierrez — Yea
Hall — Nay
Hanabusa — Yea
Hanna — Nay
Harper — Nay
Harris — Nay
Hartzler — Nay
Hastings (FL) — Nay
Hastings (WA) — Nay
Hayworth — Nay
Heck — Nay
Heinrich — Yea
Hensarling — Nay
Herger — Nay
Herrera Beutler — Nay
Higgins — Nay
Himes — Yea
Hinchey — Present
Hinojosa — Nay
Hirono — Yea
Holden — Nay
Holt — Yea
Honda — Yea
Hoyer — Nay
Huelskamp — Nay
Huizenga (MI) — Nay
Hultgren — Nay
Hunter — Nay
Hurt — Nay
Inslee — Nay
Israel — Nay
Issa — Nay
Jackson (IL) — Yea
Jackson Lee (TX) — Yea
Jenkins — Nay
Johnson (GA) — Present
Johnson (IL) — Nay
Johnson (OH) — Nay
Johnson, E. B. — Yea
Johnson, Sam — Nay
Jones — Nay
Jordan — Nay
Kaptur — Present
Keating — Nay
Kelly — Nay
Kildee — Yea
Kind — Nay
King (IA) — Nay
King (NY) — Nay
Kingston — Nay
Kinzinger (IL) — Nay
Kissell — Nay
Kline — Nay
Kucinich — Yea
Labrador — Nay
Lamborn — Nay
Lance — Nay
Landry — Nay
Langevin — Nay
Lankford — Nay
Larsen (WA) — Yea
Larson (CT) — Yea
Latham — Nay
LaTourette — Nay
Latta — Nay
Lee (CA) — Yea
Levin — Nay
Lewis (CA) — Nay
Lewis (GA) — Nay
Lipinski — Nay
LoBiondo — Nay
Loebsack — Nay
Lofgren, Zoe — Yea
Long — Nay
Lowey — Yea
Lucas — Not Voting
Luetkemeyer — Nay
Luján — Yea
Lummis — Nay
Lungren, Daniel E. — Nay
Lynch — Yea
Mack — Nay
Maloney — Yea
Manzullo — Nay
Marchant — Nay
Marino — Nay
Markey — Yea
Matheson — Nay
Matsui — Yea
McCarthy (CA) — Nay
McCarthy (NY) — Yea
McCaul — Nay
McClintock — Nay
McCollum — Yea
McCotter — Nay
McDermott — Yea
McGovern — Yea
McHenry — Nay
McIntyre — Nay
McKeon — Nay
McKinley — Nay
McMorris Rodgers — Nay
McNerney — Nay
Meehan — Nay
Meeks — Present
Mica — Nay
Michaud — Nay
Miller (FL) — Nay
Miller (MI) — Nay
Miller (NC) — Yea
Miller, Gary — Nay
Miller, George — Nay
Moore — Yea
Moran — Yea
Mulvaney — Nay
Murphy (CT) — Yea
Murphy (PA) — Nay
Myrick — Not Voting
Nadler — Yea
Napolitano — Nay
Neal — Yea
Neugebauer — Nay
Noem — Nay
Nugent — Nay
Nunes — Nay
Nunnelee — Nay
Olson — Nay
Olver — Yea
Owens — Nay
Palazzo — Nay
Pallone — Nay
Pascrell — Yea
Pastor (AZ) — Yea
Paul — Nay
Paulsen — Nay
Payne — Yea
Pearce — Nay
Pelosi — Nay
Pence — Nay
Perlmutter — Yea
Peters — Nay
Peterson — Nay
Petri — Nay
Pingree (ME) — Yea
Pitts — Nay
Platts — Nay
Poe (TX) — Nay
Polis — Nay
Pompeo — Nay
Posey — Nay
Price (GA) — Nay
Price (NC) — Yea
Quayle — Nay
Quigley — Yea
Rahall — Nay
Rangel — Nay
Reed — Nay
Rehberg — Nay
Reichert — Nay
Renacci — Nay
Reyes — Nay
Ribble — Nay
Richardson — Nay
Richmond — Yea
Rigell — Nay
Rivera — Nay
Roby — Nay
Roe (TN) — Nay
Rogers (AL) — Nay
Rogers (KY) — Nay
Rogers (MI) — Nay
Rohrabacher — Nay
Rokita — Nay
Rooney — Nay
Ros-Lehtinen — Nay
Roskam — Nay
Ross (AR) — Nay
Ross (FL) — Nay
Rothman (NJ) — Yea
Roybal-Allard — Yea
Royce — Nay
Runyan — Nay
Ruppersberger — Yea
Rush — Yea
Ryan (OH) — Nay
Ryan (WI) — Nay
Sánchez, Linda T. — Yea
Sanchez, Loretta — Not Voting
Sarbanes — Yea
Scalise — Nay
Schakowsky — Yea
Schiff — Nay
Schilling — Nay
Schmidt — Nay
Schock — Nay
Schrader — Nay
Schwartz — Not Voting
Schweikert — Nay
Scott (SC) — Nay
Scott (VA) — Yea
Scott, Austin — Nay
Scott, David — Nay
Sensenbrenner — Nay
Serrano — Yea
Sessions — Nay
Sewell — Yea
Sherman — Yea
Shimkus — Nay
Shuler — Nay
Shuster — Nay
Simpson — Nay
Sires — Yea
Slaughter — Nay
Smith (NE) — Nay
Smith (NJ) — Nay
Smith (TX) — Nay
Smith (WA) — Nay
Southerland — Nay
Speier — Yea
Stark — Yea
Stearns — Nay
Stivers — Nay
Stutzman — Nay
Sullivan — Nay
Sutton — Nay
Terry — Nay
Thompson (CA) — Nay
Thompson (MS) — Yea
Thompson (PA) — Nay
Thornberry — Nay
Tiberi — Nay
Tierney — Not Voting
Tipton — Nay
Tonko — Yea
Towns — Nay
Tsongas — Yea
Turner — Nay
Upton — Nay
Van Hollen — Nay
Velázquez — Yea
Visclosky — Nay
Walberg — Nay
Walden — Nay
Walsh (IL) — Nay
Walz (MN) — Not Voting
Wasserman Schultz — Nay
Waters — Yea
Watt — Yea
Waxman — Yea
Webster — Nay
Weiner — Yea
Welch — Yea
West — Nay
Westmoreland — Nay
Whitfield — Nay
Wilson (FL) — Yea
Wilson (SC) — Nay
Wittman — Nay
Wolf — Nay
Womack — Nay
Woodall — Nay
Woolsey — Yea
Wu — Nay
Yarmuth — Yea
Yoder — Nay
Young (AK) — Nay
Young (FL) — Nay
Young (IN) — Nay

Source: Clerk of the House of Representatives

TSA + DOJ = SOL

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Government thuggery rears its ugly head once again. This time in collusion between the TSA and the Obama DOJ.

In Texas, in an effort to protect citizens traveling through airports in that state, the Texas State Legislature attempted to pass a bill outlawing the touching or groping of a person’s private parts without probable cause. In other words, a restatement of the IV Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

But, since the Obama administration cares not a whit about the Constitution, the Department of Justice was quick to the cause for the TSA. Coercion and malfeasance rule the day with this administration and their minions.

A letter threatening to cancel all flights into and out of Texas was issued by the DOJ if TSA agents (or TSO according to the DOJ missive) were not allowed to continue to grope — feel up — fondle — “perform the security screening that he or she is authorized and required by federal law to perform.”

Just to be clear, in the letter referenced in the link above, a US District Attorney who works for the DOJ has just stated publicly that the TSA is authorized by the Federal Government to grope and fondle you as you pass through their screening checkpoints.

The TSA, they of recent child groping video fame, have the full backing of the United States Department of Justice to perform these abusive, invasive, security screenings. So much for no unreasonable searches and seizures. Pun intended.

The 9th and 10th Amendments have been gutted for years and that truth is further reinforced by this blackmail and coercion. Now, the 4th Amendment has been overturned with the blessing of the Obama Justice Department. The First Amendment is under continuous attack and the 2nd Amendment is so wrapped up with red tape, it’s damn near impossible to say it’s still valid.

TSA and the DOJ collaboration means that Texas lawmakers are SOL.

You can read the full story here: http://www.infowars.com/financial-terrorism-tsa-holds-texas-flights-hostage/

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Reason Blog

At Ramparts360

Raising the Debt Ceiling

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A vote regarding raising the debt limit of the United States is pending in Congress in the very near future. My hope is that more “no” than “yes” shows up in the final tally. My expectation is that “yes” will carry the day, regardless of whether or not the Speaker of the House is able to solicit any concessions from the Obama administration on future spending reductions or not.

I want to raise my debt limit, too. Currently, my family spends about 98% of our income servicing our debt. That debt includes such luxury items as groceries, a car payment and cable Internet and TV. Short of a raise, which is not likely, or an unexpected windfall–even less so–the only method I can see to lower our debt to income ratio is to cut out the TV portion of the cable bill, and that is a choice I am fully prepared to make should it come to that. My kids may not be too overjoyed, but making hard choices is part of life. It falls into the category of personal responsibility.

Our caretakers in Washington don’t appear able to comprehend that reality. The current administration seems to think that their words define reality. According to them, the debt limit must be raised to meet the Federal Government’s obligations. To you and I, that would indicate a problem with promising too much, but to this administration it’s a problem of obstructionist politics. Those racist, hateful, greedy Republicans are refusing to appropriate enough money. That teabagger faction within the Republican party just doesn’t understand what good government is all about.

The Republican leadership is not much better. After caving on the budget “line in the sand”–$100B to $60B to maybe $3B they have already set a precedent for speaking tough, but ultimately using only empty threats and meaningless words. This “debate” will most likely be more of the same.

For some straight talk on the debt ceiling issue, see this article by Michael D. Tanner, at The Cato Institute.

To my kids

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Let me start off by apologizing. I apologize that as of right now in this first quarter of 2011, each one of you, from the 20 year old to the 6 year old is already $45,000 in debt. I know that amount means in effect, the first 5-8 years of your working careers will be spent to pay off this debt incurred through no fault of your own. And, if these halcyon days of profligate spending are not curtailed, the burden placed on you will be even greater and you may never get free of it.

Somehow, we lost sight of the future in our mad dash to remake the present into something more palatable for our tired, weary eyes. We allowed those whom we elected to office to run amok, unchecked and unchallenged for far too long. We, through inaction, inattention and inherent trust in our elected representatives permitted them unrestricted access to our property, your livelihoods, and your freedoms. They have rewarded us for our lack of oversight by sacrificing your futures on the altar of social justice–equality of outcomes, regardless of personal talent, ambition or work ethic.

A warning: social justice is not justice–respect for the rule of laws and is wholly incompatible with liberty. You, unlike us, must never forget this. Equality of outcomes can never be achieved in perpetuation by legislation or government fiat. People all have varying levels of talent, determination, knowledge, even luck. Do these always pay off as they should? No. Sorry.

Allow me to provide an illustration or two. Your class has a test scheduled that you choose not to study for. The person sitting next to you spent the night before studying, preparing. At the end of the test, you have answered less than half of the questions, most likely providing several wrong answers. Your classmate answered all of the questions, possibly missing a few. Who gets the better grade? Under an equality of outcome scenario, the grades don’t matter. You are both rewarded, simply because you were present to participate.

Lest you think the above little sidebar is an excuse to skip studying for future tests, let me remind you that in our household, as I believe it should be in life, choices bear consequences both good and bad. I’m certain that most of your teachers feel the same way.

One other example. In 2009, the House of mis-Representatives passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known most notably as ObamaCare. The passage of this bill was a complete rape of the U.S. Constitution. The majority of Americans did not and still do not want this bill passed. A major portion of the bill requires the purchase of health insurance, a mandate not authorized by the Constitution to any of the branches of our government. When asked about the Constitutional authority of the government to impose such a mandate, then Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi responded to the inquiry with “Are you serious? Are you serious?” Justification through arrogance and intimidation. Thug politics at its best.

This bill, if allowed to stand, is another attempt at legislating equality of outcomes. The government bureaucracy, rather than you and your doctor, will decide what care options are best for you. This is only the first step. With the government in the health care business, the intrusiveness will not stop. Every aspect of your life, from what you choose to eat, to what you choose to drive could come under the scrutiny of “public health” interests, and thus further regulation and control. There is much more in this bill and its subsequent beginnings of implementation that bode dire consequences if it is not repealed or declared unconstitutional, but all of that is for another discussion.

In addition to our blind approach to the future, we have also lost sight of the past. We have forgotten that our Constitution sets forth the total extent of powers attributed to each branch of the Federal Government, and that it explicitly confers everything else to the people and the states. The Constitution weighs in heavily on the side of personal governance and the responsibilities that that entails. We have allowed the Federal Government to become leviathan. George Washington said “Government is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” We are witnessing the truth of this statement now because we failed to heed the warnings and for that I apologize as well.

Our current president has no respect for the rule of law. When informed that his ban on oil drilling had no legal grounds to be continued and that said drilling should therefore be allowed to resume, our president ignored the ruling, forcing the judge to issue a “Contempt of Court” against the administration. When another judge declared the mandatory insurance provision unconstitutional, our president ignored him as well. He is on the record as stating “I don’t think the American people want us to waste our time re-legislating something that we have already legislated.” And “I will not compromise on anything that puts the future health care of 30,000,000 people that until recently could not afford health care in jeopardy.”

In other words, “I’m right. The laws don’t matter.”

Allow me another sidebar if you will. Those 30,000,000 people that couldn’t afford health care before still cannot afford health care. But they will have access to it because it will be paid for by others through higher taxes, insurance premiums, and fines for failure to participate.

Again, I apologize for the state of affairs we’ve left this country in for you. We had hoped for better, but hope it seems, is not enough. It requires active participation in the government of this country. It requires voting out the crooks and the elites and the political class and the power hungry individuals and replacing them with citizen representatives who still remember all three portions of government in this country: “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” All too often, our elected officials are more concerned with “of the people” than with the rest of it.