04/19/10

Our Freedoms Are Slipping Away

By: Nancy Jacques

Why are so many Americans concerned about what this administration and Congress are doing? Those in the Democrat/Progressive Party would have us believe that people are not losing their freedom, and President Obama is not spending us into bankruptcy. If that’s correct, why are so many Americans taking to the streets to voice their concern?

As we know, the purpose of legislation/bills is to create laws which the American people and American businesses are to abide by. More laws = less freedom and less free markets. Also, bills nearly always come with a price tag. Take, for example, HR 1388 (the Volunteer Act)… it’s price tag is about $10.44 BILLION — for “volunteerism”; not to mention recruiting our children for a government National Civilian Community Corps. I digress…

If this administration and Congress are not doing anything to take away our freedom and spend us into oblivion, let’s look at the facts on that.

We’ll take a look at the number of bills from each Congressional Session since 1993 up through our current Congressional Session, listed by year, session and number of bills respectively:

1993 – 1994: 103rd Congress = 1977 Bills
1995 – 1996: 104th Congress = 1817 Bills
1997 – 1998: 105th Congress = 1966 Bills
1999 – 2000: 106th Congress = 2229 Bills
2001 – 2002: 107th Congress = 1513 Bills
2003 – 2004: 108th Congress = 1659 Bills
2005 – 2006: 109th Congress = 1746 Bills
2007 – 2008: 110th Congress = 1922 Bills
2009 – 2010: 111th Congress = 8970 Bills

Eight previous sessions of Congress (103rd – 110th), going all the way back to 1993, averaged about 1853 bills per session.

The 111th Congressional Session under President Obama isn’t even finished yet and they’ve got 8970 bills!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Over 4 times the number of bills of any prior session.

Is it any wonder that clear-thinking Americans see their freedoms being taken away? They understand that this President and Congress are making an enormous power-grab on every aspect of our lives and our free markets. And they understand that this President and Congress are purposely leading our beloved country into bankruptcy with spending that will enslave us and generations to come.

It doesn’t take a mental giant to see this, which is why it is perplexing that the Democrats/Progressives cannot see it.

Update: What we do know right now: of the 8970 bills introduced, 1132 are in play. Here’s the breakdown in just 1 yr 3 mo in office:

Enacted, on his desk, and Passed by Both House & Senate = 193
Already Passed in either the House or Senate = 627
Reported by committee = 312

04/19/10

Links To Visit – 04/19/10

The Daily Mail – The towns where two in three births are outside marriage (Hat Tip: Bookworm Room)

examiner.com – Americans turning against the federal government

The Map Room – Eyjafjallajökull and European Airspace (Hat Tip: The Anchoress)

Liberty Pundits – The Steve Schippert Show #30

NewsBusters – Time’s Klein: Beck, Palin Potentially Committing Sedition against U.S. Government; Heilemann Adds Limbaugh (Hat Tip: Brian B.)

The Strata-Sphere – Our Judicial System & The Obama Administration Just Blinded Us To Terrorist Attacks

Liberty Pundits/Dr. Melissa Clouthier – Obama Administration’s Criminal Negligence On National Security

Bob McCarty Writes – AUDIO: Inside the Mind of a Tea Party Provocateur

The Anchoress – Climate Change; Endlessly Fickle -UPDATED

The New York Times – White House Quietly Courts Muslims in U.S. (Hat Tip: Brian B.)

Continue reading

04/19/10

Financial News Update – 04/19/10

Democrats Seize on Financial Oversight After Goldman Suit

Obama’s health reform isn’t modeled after Heritage Foundation ideas

Wind energy decision carries political impact

Side Effects: The Doctor Is NOT In

The Obama Budget Plan: Taxes and Rationing

House and Senate Cloakroom: April 19 – 23

They’re Clipping Your Dividends (Hat Tip: Jean Stoner)

Exclusive: Beware Greeks Bearing Debts

Rogers: Goldman May Fuel 20 Percent Market Tumble

Buffett Takes $1 Billion Hit as SEC Charges Goldman Sachs

Paulson’s Hedge Fund Made Billions on Subprime Crisis

EPA Contest Seeks Videos Promoting Government Regulations (Hat Tip: Jean Stoner)

New Yorkers Brace for First Doorman Strike in Two Decades

Faith-based Marketing: GOV’T MOTORS goes to church to sell cars

GOP: Hidden Motive in Goldman Case

SurvivalBlog:

George Soros Warns that the EU May Collapse.

14 Pieces of Really Bad News for the U.S. Economy

U.S. shuts eight more banks; 50 total have been closed this year.

Consumer Mood Unexpectedly Worsens in April

US Housing Starts Up

Bill to Restore Jobless Aid Clears Senate Hurdle

Pensions Crisis “Threatens Entire UK Economy”

$4.00 Gas by the End of 2010?

U.S. Military Warns of Oil Shortage by 2015.

04/19/10

My Liberal Friend

By: Nancy Morgan
RightBias.com

My liberal friend Pam and I are a perfect example of the class warfare currently being waged in America between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots.’ Also known as ‘the war against the rich,’ or, in a nutshell, socialism.

Though Pam and I are lifelong friends, we couldn’t be more different. Pam is the quintessential liberal, quick to espouse views that show America in a bad light. Sarah Palin is evil, Bush is bad and anyone (like myself) that doesn’t base their decisions on feelings is, well, just plain uncompassionate. End of story. I, on the other hand, am a traditional, conservative Christian.

Though conservatives have yet to be included under the leftist’s much vaunted ‘tolerance’ and ‘multicultural’ umbrellas, Pam has decided that she will tolerate her renegade friend, as long as that friend doesn’t publicly air any conservative views. Which is becoming a problem for our friendship.

Pam is the product of government schools and a culture that ignores merit in favor of any perceived underdog or victim. She is the proud owner of a Masters Degree, which, according to her, validates all of her leftist views – regardless of any facts to the contrary. And its not her fault that, at the ripe age of 57, she has yet to pay off the student loans that paid for her education.

Both Pam and I are the end result of the decisions we have made over the course of our lives. Pam’s choices have resulted in her absolute refusal to participate in capitalism, or our free market system. Instead, she survives on a government check, feeling it is her due. And like most who receive something for nothing, she hates the one whose largesse she has chosen to accept. Kinda like all those countries who get aid from America and hate us for it. Hey, no one likes to be acknowledged as being subservient.

Fortunately for Pam, her leftists illusions allow her to maintain the moral high ground. Unlike her capitalist friend, who has never asked for or received dime one from the government. I am considered one of the evil ‘rich.’ Pam graciously ignores this fact, at least until she needs another loan.

Pam maintains the romantic illusion of being a struggling, misunderstood artist. She exists on a higher plane than Joe Six pack and Susy Homemaker. She is ‘sensitive’ and totally in tune with Mother Earth, victims of capitalism, and all creature great and small. That my tax dollars allow her this freedom is one of those inconvenient facts that Pam has learned to compartmentalize. Meaning she has chosen to ignore (or demonize) any facts that don’t align with her vision of herself.

Like most leftists, Pam believes that life is a zero sum game. If someone has a big slice of the pie, that automatically means that some poor unfortunate has to do with a smaller slice. And all rich people are only rich because they made their money off the backs of those less fortunate.

This mind set, while comforting, is not conducive to material success. Which is OK with Pam, as she has spent her whole life eschewing the almighty dollar, choosing instead to allow others, like her ‘rich’ friend and financially stable family members the favor of periodically bailing her out financially. Her only concession to reality.

Ever since Obama was elected president, my friendship with Pam has become strained. Though politics was never a part of our friendship in the past, it has now become a factor. Pam apparently feels that Obama’s socialist agenda is the best thing that ever happened to the Oppressive State of America. And since she knows that everyone feels this way, she has no qualms parroting the Dem’s sound bite of the day as fact.

Since I know Obama didn’t really cut taxes by $800 billion, it rankles somewhat that Pam believes it. Pam also believes that the government take over of the private sector is long overdue. And that Obama’s take over of the health care system is the only way to ensure social justice.

I don’t blame Pam for her desire for social justice. After all, she just had both hips replaced, courtesy Uncle Sam. And she sees no reason why other misunderstood victims shouldn’t have access to the same free lunch. But her attitude is starting to rankle.

Though I am aware of the politically viable yet destructive effect of pitting one class of Americans against another class, I find I am becoming an active participant. I’m starting to resent my friend. I resent her cavalier, tax-payer funded attitude. I am starting to take umbrage at her assumption that her liberal views are the only valid views and any dissent or challenge to her world view is either racist and/or lacking in compassion.

I’m starting to resent the fact that people like myself, dirty little capitalists, are required to support deadbeats who have decided to live off the system. All the while, spitting in the eye of those that provide the means. (Sorry, Pam.)

Having been allowed the luxury of basing her life on feelings instead of being forced to make a living, Pam now takes great offense should I dare mention any of these inconvenient realities. She will allow no dissent. Our friendship has become political.

Pam wastes no time analyzing my weekly articles as being motivated solely by hate and ‘lacking in compassion.’ She has adopted the proven tactic of continually forcing me to proving a negative. And I just don’t want to do that anymore, especially since I have lost respect for her.

With great regret, I realize Pam has become like so many of her fellow leftists. Willing to defend to the death leftists opinions (that are formed by others) and dismissing out of hand any facts to the contrary. If I don’t agree with her, why, there must be something wrong with me. This attitude is not conducive to friendship.

Lifelong friendships that have weathered the test of time are rare and should be cherished. That our current political climate has ended this friendship is regrettable. But this case is not unique. Across the nation, friends are pitted against friends, families are dividing along partisan lines and Americans are being encouraged to resent anyone percieved as having more than their (fair)share of the pie.

I fear this will continue and become more pervasive under our current president. Raising the distinct possibility of America’s downfall coming from within. The ‘have nots’ and victims are consolidating their premier position at the public trough, forcing others to pay for their ever evolving version of social justice. And considering that fully half of Americans now pay no federal income taxes yet still vote, the chances of changing this through the ballot box are becoming slimmer.

I already miss Pam. Our friendship was very important to me and I am saddened that today’s political climate makes it impossible for good friends to agree to disagree. But if the choice is between actively enabling her views by keeping silent or fighting to keep America from turning into a nation of useful idiots, I’ll choose the latter. Without regret.

Nancy Morgan is a columnist and news editor for RightBias.com
She lives in South Carolina

04/19/10

Dear Left: I Am NOT A Terrorist

By: Snarky Basterd
Feed Your ADHD

A Photochop by Jamie

Just because, in wild desperation, you link the TEA Party movement to today’s anniversary of the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing does not make it so, or me a terrorist.

I will not blow up a federal building today, or any day. I will not threaten violence upon a politician today, or any day. I will not incite others to break laws to achieve victory in this epic struggle between our desire to return America to its founding principles of limited government and fiscal responsibility and free-market enterprise and your soft tyranny and oppressive seizure of private life and industry so that you can steal from each according to their means and distribute to those according to their need.

I am not a racist. I stand beside people who are white and black and brown and yellow and orange and green and blue, people who don’t want to tell you how to live your lives, people who just want you to stop telling them how to live theirs. I stand beside people of all walks of life, from the professional to the blue collar to the unemployed, people who are young and old and in between, people who know that in being labeled racists they are merely the recipients of the racism projected onto them by those with a long history of great moments in race relations.

I do not belong to a militia, but I do cling bitterly to my guns and Bible, my guns protecting me from you, my bible helping me sleep at night while you lurk in the shadows for opportunity. Were it not for my guns, you would have stormed my home long ago, taking what I have earned to distribute among those who have not, burning my bible for inciting me to think dangerous thoughts that run counter to those you have tried to program into me since I was born.

I am not Wall Street, but I depend on Wall Street to provide me with the opportunity to someday pursue my dream, the dream of being free to deflect your hand from my wallet and your stronghold over my struggle to get ahead in this life and your pernicious and relentless efforts to drag me down into the sewer of despair in which you wallow.

I am not an extremist. I am an American. But if, in these dark times, being extreme means standing in the streets with right-minded people, reminding those in government that they work for us, demanding they be held accountable, then I will continue to be extreme. After all, America was founded by extremists, and I am honored to be mentioned among their company.

I am not crazy if I distrust government, if I put faith in myself and my ability to rise above your pettiness and lift as many boats with me as I can. To place your trust in government is to give up on your own human abilities, one of the craziest, most un-American, things I can think of. If you want to call me crazy for believing what WSB radio talkshow host Herman Cain told thousands in Atlanta last Thursday“I am crazy about the United States of America, I am Crazy about the Constitution, and I’m crazy about the Declaration of Independence” — I will do more than act the part: I will be fervently crazy about such American treasures, too.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, you can try to silence me, but you will fail. I will NOTwatch my words.” Call me a racist, call me crazy, call me a terrorist, but I will continue to speak the truth about the Marxist in Chief, about pResident Barack Obama’s malignant narcissism, about his contempt for the American people, as will millions of others. For to ignore these facts and allow you to continue stripping America down to a shell, like some feeble European nation, would place me on the wrong side of history, would be my only act of treason.

And so I remain, seditiously not yours.