Concerned Citizen

Jury Veto Power and Nullification

2011-08-03T01:37:00.000-07:00

This is a compilation based on my tweets from the other night. I figured it would be good to put them all in one place for a smoother read.

There is one thing that everyone should know if they want to affect the government right now. Jury Veto Power. Jurors are the final stand the people have against stupid, oppressive and unjust laws. Judges no longer inform juries of these rights and powers. They only give specific instructions telling the jury exactly what they are to do and exactly what they are to base their decision on. The right of a juror to nullify, and the power of juries to veto, is being denied defendants the nation over. A defendant has the right to an informed jury not one that is instructed. Instructed juries are forced to make a decision even if it's against the individual juror's principles. Hardly anyone knows about jury nullification. It is a well kept secret in the court systems.

A jury has the right to come back with a verdict contrary to their instructions from the judge. This is the Jury Veto Power. Juries can rule on law as well as fact. If you find a law to be unjust, and you can get the rest of the jury to understand and see it your way, you can come back with the appropriate ruling. The jury can even change charges and sentencing. If you cannot get the jury to understand your reasoning you can hang the jury so that you are not delivering a decision the compromises your principles. Jurors cannot be retaliated against or their reasoning questioned when they make their decisions. This is what makes nullification possible.

Jurors are excluded from jury duty when it is found that they know their rights as a juror. There are few people that know their rights as jurors and so are not missed by the courts when excluded while making up a jury. If enough people knew their rights going into jury pools, excluding jurors would be much harder. And, if everyone knew their rights going in, exclusion could be impossible. Juries would then truly be the final word on law, as they were intended to be by the founding fathers of this nation. What is passed in Congress would be irrelevant if juries did not convict. The Fugitive Slave Act and Prohibition are examples of bad laws where jurors were not delivering convictions and why judges no longer properly instruct juries.

If you are on a jury, the measure of a just law, and whether a crime was committed, is whether or not there was a victim. A crime is committed when a person or their property is harmed. If there is no victim, there is no crime. Every Crime Needs a Victim. Business licenses, vehicle registrations and parking meters are just a few examples of things and laws that, if broken, do not warrant laws or criminal prosecution. While these are not crimes that would get you a trial by jury they are good examples of what I am talking about. Of course, I do not condone hanging juries where the crime and victims are real and the evidence supports the charges against the defendant.

For more information on Jury Veto Power and Jury Nullification, read some of the following sources on this topic.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Jury+veto
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Jury+veto
http://www.greenmac.com/eagle/ISSUES/ISSUE23-9/07JuryNullification.html
http://floridajail4judges.org/documents/Jury.Veto.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification

S.1261 Pass Act Bill must be stopped!

2009-07-07T00:41:00.000-07:00

This is an email from the local 912 group here in Southern Las Vegas.
That's why you see reference to Ensign in the body of the message. I thought this important enough, though, to share with all of you so that you can take action yourselves as well.

--------begin message--------

9-12 Members, the new S.1261 Pass Act Bill must be stopped. It is the Real ID Act all over again. Please read and make the phone calls listed at the bottom. Note Ensign is on the Pass Act Committee.

Forwarded from http://restoretherepublic.com
*** *** *** *** *** *** ***

We need to keep the heat on all this week, it is time to start the next round of calls. They will be emptying out the voicemail boxes and be back to work this morning, keep burning up the lines!

This is an EMERGENCY ACTION ALERT to stop S.1261, The Pass Act which is worse than Real ID. We need to contact all the members of the Senate Committee for Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to kill this before it gets to the Senate floor.

Tell them:

1. We are opposed to Real ID and the PASS Act
2. We are opposed to being enrolled in a Biometric Identification System
3. We don't want Social Security Numbers in our DMV databases
4. No RFID chips in our Driver's Licences
5. No federal intervention with the issuance of our State driver's licenses
6. We are not willing to trade our freedom for security.

All of these actions are unconstitutional and a direct attack on our civil liberties and our unalienable rights.

This ID is a GLOBAL BIOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM (see this video for more details: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kE8xDMokpM ) and is a direct attack on our national security.

This will take you 16 minutes (one minute for each committee member) see their contact info:

Sen. Joe Leiberman, DC voicemail: 202-224-4040, fax: 202-224-9750, CT: 800-225-5605 Committe Chair

Sen. Susan Collins, DC phone: 202-224-2523, fax 202-224-2693 Maine numbers

Sen. Daniel Akatta, DC phone: 202-224-6361, fax 202-224-2126, HI: 808-522-8970 Bill SPONSOR

Sen. Michael Bennet, DC phone 202-224-5852, fax: 202-224-5036, Colorado numbers

Sen. Roland Burris, DC phone 202-224-2854 , fax: 202-228-3333, Illinois numbers

Sen. Thomas Carper, DC phone: 202-224-2441, fax: 202-228-2190, Delaware numbers

Sen. Thomas Coburn, DC phone: 202-224-5754, fax: 202-224-6008, Oklahoma numbers

Sen. John Ensign, DC phone: 202-224-6244, fax: 202-228-2193, Nevada numbers

Sen. Lindsey Graham, DC phone: 202-224-5972, Fax: none listed, So. Carolina numbers

Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, DC voicemail: 202-224-5824, fax: 202-224-9735, Louisiana numbers

Sen. Carl Levin, DC phone: 202-224-6221, fax: 202-224-1388, Michigan numbers

Sen. John McCain, DC phone: 202-224-2235, fax: 202-228-2862, Arizona numbers

Sen. Claire McCaskill, DC phone: 202-224-6154, fax: 202-228-6326, Missouri numbers

Sen. Mark Pryor, DC phone: 202-224-2353, fax: 202-228-0908, Arkansas numbers

Sen. Jon Tester, DC phone: 202-224-2644, fax: 202-224-8594, Montana numbers

Sen. George Voinovich, DC phone: 202-224-3353, NO fax, Ohio numbers

If we do not do our part to protect freedom, Independence Day will be meaningless.

Thank you Donna for drafting this text. See http://StopRealIDCoalition.com for more information. Visit http://republicmagazine.com/webinar/previous.htm to hear the EMERGENCY Broadcast with Mark Lerner. Watch the short EMERGENCY ALERT Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kE8xDMokpM

Fight for freedom, take action, make the calls again, and please, forward and post this email EVERYWHERE.

Your Friend in Freedom,
Gary Franchi

National Director
Restore the Republic!

Independence Day Promise

2009-07-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

To Congress:

You are our leaders not our rulers.

I will support you as long as you ask us what to do and abide by our answers. When you have legislation to vote on, ask us how you should vote. If you don't ask us, we can't tell you. You can't act if we don't tell you. If you can't act,then you don't represent us. Keep us informed and ask us how to proceed. Thank you and happy Independence Day to you and America

Ticked Off !!

2009-04-28T22:49:00.001-07:00

Honorable ...
Congresswoman Dina Titus,
Senator John Ensign,
Senator Harry Reid,

I am writing you out of frustration and dismay. Frustration in that I feel that our government is out of control and that my voice, as well as others, is not heard. Dismay in that, after having sent multiple emails to all three of you, I find it truly is not or, worse, wont be acknowledged.

I am writing all three of you so I don't have to go through this multiple times. You all represent me here in Nevada so you all need to hear this and deal with it.

Honorable Senator Harry Reid,

I have emailed you several times with my support or lack of support for legislation that you are currently reviewing as well as the President's budget. I have only received one reply and that was to the budget.

Thank you for your reply to my email even though you were explaining to me why you passed it instead of letting me know that it was the wish of a majority of the people you represent here in Nevada, which includes me, that you did. As for the other inquiries I have made, I am still awaiting a response. I realize that you are probably busy, however, I think that it is important for you to respond to the inquiries of those you represent. If any specific replies were sent prior to the mailing of this letter, please disregard it.

Honorable Senator John Ensign,

I have emailed you several times as well on the same issues as those I sent to Senator Harry Reid. You both represent me so I made sure you had received duplicate messages. To date I have also received one email regarding the budget. Your other responses were form letters that only state that “I will keep your concerns, and the concerns of all Nevadans, in mind as I serve our state in the United States Senate.”, with no regard to the content of my original message. I checked the box on your web form for a response because I thought I would get one. If this is the normal repose, don't offer it. I'd feel much better wondering about it than getting this over and over again. The form letter is why you are included in this message. It's impersonal and yet another reason that people don't think they are listened to but rather just patronized while our congress gets what “they” want.

Honorable Congresswoman Dina Titus,

I've saved the best for last. I have emailed you several times. I realize I may have been rough the first few messages, out of anger then, and I apologized. I also emailed you, as well as Senator Reid and Senator Ensign, about my intention to let you know through email how I felt about some of the legislation that was going through the houses. I told you how I was going to do it and where to check what I had seen. I told you that I want to be a part of the solution to what's happening right now.

I had emailed you about [H.R. 45], Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009. You responded back and I was glad to see that and I told you so in my response along with my concerns about your response. I entered in bold the part that concerned me. Here it is...

“Dear Thank, --( I love that my name is now Thank, by the way)--

Thank you for contacting me about your opposition to H.R. 45, Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009.
As you may know, H.R. 45 was introduced in Congress by Rep. Rush Holt on January 6, 2009. This legislation would require gun owners to pass a licensing test and to register their firearms.
Please know that I believe the Second Amendment guaranteeing the right to bear arms is a cornerstone of the Bill of Rights that must be protected for all law-abiding citizens. The United States has a strong tradition of hunting and responsible gun ownership that must be preserved. However, we must do all we can to keep guns out of the hands of convicted criminals and registered offenders.   I believe that it is the responsibility of Congress to strengthen enforcement of existing laws while finding a strong balance between safety and individual rights when enacting new ones. Please know that I will always fight to uphold the Constitution.
H.R. 45 was referred to the House Judiciary Committee. Because I am not a member of that Committee, I will not have an opportunity to vote on this legislation until it reaches the House floor. Please be sure that I will keep your views firmly in mind should I have the opportunity to vote on this legislation.
Thank you again for taking the time to get involved. Please do not hesitate to contact me again if I can ever be of service.
Sincerely,
Dina Titus
Member of Congress “
I responded with....
“Honorable Congresswoman Dina Titus,

Thank you very much for responding. I really appreciate it and it's definitely a reassurance to know that contacting our representatives does help.

I have concerns, though, when I hear something like what you had responded with below.

"I believe that it is the responsibility of Congress to strengthen enforcement of existing laws while finding a strong balance between safety and individual rights when enacting new ones. Please know that I will always fight to uphold the Constitution."

I agree that enforcement of existing laws is necessary. But, Congress does not have a responsibility to do anything that is not agreed to by the people. And, the amendments are immutable except in case of re-amendment (abolishment, new amendments or by constitutional convention). Laws don't balance constitutional rights, they support them and protect the people in the process. As far as safety goes, this legislation only mandates punishment for those who are ignorant of the facts. Education, not legislation, would be the best solution. That's my take on it.

Just needed to point that out. Thank you again, as I said, I really did appreciate hearing back from you. “

In response to this I received the following from you...
“Dear Mr. Little, ---(well you got my name right this time)---
Thank you for contacting me about your support for the Second Amendment.
The Second Amendment guaranteeing the right to bear arms is a cornerstone of the Bill of Rights that must be protected for all law-abiding citizens. The United States has a strong tradition of hunting and responsible gun ownership that must be preserved. However, I also believe that we must do all we can to keep guns out of the hands of convicted criminals and registered offenders.
I believe that it is the responsibility of Congress to strengthen enforcement of existing laws while finding a strong balance between safety and individual rights when enacting new ones. Please know that I will always fight to uphold the Constitution.
Thank you again for taking the time to get involved. Please do not hesitate to contact me again if I can ever be of service.

Sincerely,

Dina Titus
Member of Congress “
Can anyone reading this say “copy and paste?” I bolded the part I am referring to. It's exactly what I was responding to. Does anyone reading this know how angry it makes people when this happens? Does anyone reading this realize that this is why people are angry. This is what makes me think that we're being ignored. No one can seem to even take the time to review questions and comments from the people they represent. Even if only to have someone on your staff that can interact with us. Anything! Anything except a robot that only knows how to copy and paste form emails together with “occasional” commentary and doesn't even read the follow-up responses.
Honorable Congresswoman Dina Titus, You're my direct representative in Congress. You're the most important conduit through which my voice and everyone else's in the 3rd district is heard in the government. You are the one we are supposed to come to with our opinions on legislation, concerns about our rights, what's being done and how you should handle things. You are not there to pass your opinion along. You're there to pass ours. Sorry for the bluntness but that's a fact. We hired you. We hired all three of you. Why is it that it does it not seem important to treat us better, to treat us with respect, to do what we ask of you, to do your jobs and defend our freedom and liberties?
I don't care what parties you belong to. I don't care what your sensibilities are, they really don't matter in this sense. I do care, as do a lot of other people, whether you are passing legislation or not according to the majority of the citizens under your protection and representation. It will show in the next elections I am sure. Whatever you stand for should not trump what the citizens want.
If you really want to be bipartisan, then vote according to those you represent and not your parties at all. Remove the D or R that goes goes with your name. At this point no one cares and it's more of a hindrance than a help. Quit finger-pointing, quit stifling each other, quit pandering to the media, quit claiming to be working “with” the President. You work with each other, you work for us and you're a check and balance on the President. That's how it works.
I apologize for the sternness of this letter but if we can't be frank with you about our what we want from our government and our problems with it what are we supposed to do? And, please, for the sake of all that is good and great about this country, get back to me. Please respond with, something, that lets me know that I'm being heard. Let me know that you even care.

Thank you for your time with this matter.
I look forward to your responses Honorable Sirs and Mame.
David C Little

We're Doomed if You Think That Way.

2009-04-26T15:48:00.000-07:00

A president is supposed to have an agenda he aims to meet while in office....ours. He's supposed to look at what we have to spend for the year, not what we can borrow. He's supposed to prioritize our needs, then our requests and pick what can be afforded to get done. If we have to live within our means so then must our president in his fiscal choices. This should be law.

The president's whim is irrelevant where the people are concerned. In reality he serves us in the same capacity as a CEO serves his shareholders. I believe that one of our biggest problems is coming together to fix our nation. Political parties have only served to split us into rivalry camps only capable of seeing deception in each of the other's actions. As such we can never come up with an overwhelming majority to take back our nation. We need to put aside the issues that split us into these camps and join under the common ones. I'm not saying to ditch those issues that are important to us, only that we need to put them on the back burner for now, no matter how “emotionally” important they are to us as individuals. Emotional topics are always the defining factors in a conflict. Our common interests are the ones that command our day to day activities, those that are vital to our lives continuing so that we may pursue the emotional topics.

Our common interests lie in a corrupt congress that spends and votes without consulting us, and a president that does the same following his agenda instead of ours. They ignore all of us, democrats, republicans, libertarians, independents, etc. None of us matter to them anymore. It's our fault and we need to fix it. We should choose more wisely those who represent us.

They do not deserve what we have given them. We do, however, deserve their loyalty for giving it to them. We need to be annoying to them, noisy and repetitive, like a chronic disorder that only their obedience will cure. They need to be held to their voting record when it sways from the opinion of those that they represent. They treat their government positions as though they have title like royalty or a lord. They think they know better than we what is best for us, when most of them have never worked a single day in the private sector.

I just wish that more people saw this and said that they did. Too many see it and do not utter a sound. Too many see it and believe someone else will handle it for them. If everyone thinks that way we are all truly doomed to a nation we will have killed and buried ourselves.

I think I'm done.....for now anyway.

Political Parties, Be Gone With You!

2009-04-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

Can you think of what it would be like to pick a candidate for office without them belonging to a political party? Now I'm not talking about choosing an independent candidate. I'm talking about choosing from a pool where none of those running are associated with any political party at all. How would you pick who's going to do the job? And, what if the candidates did not make campaign promises other than to do what you the people want to the best of their abilities? Ahhhh... Then you would wake up.

That's what it should be like....without having to wake up and find out it was a dream of course. I don't think we should be hindered by the political party system. not two parties, not three parties, not ANY political parties.

At least, that's how I see it. I know, I know, and yet there is a Libertarian Party logo on my pages. Yes, I'm a member. Under the current system, they are the party whose goals and views most closely match my own. But, that's the most you can hope for with parties...a close match. No matter what, we all have different views on everything. Even if it's just a difference of word usage when we speak. We were all raised by different parents or guardians under different conditions at different times, in different places, under different economic conditions. Just different, different, different, different! Political parties take all possible options and split them up among a few groups. And not all of their agendas are that different, you know, like all of us.

Political parties, with their finite set of standards and goals, will have a few large issues that they differ on and fight for with vigor for, while a majority of what they stand for is the same. They will promise you things that you want, say thing you want to hear and whatever else will get you to vote for them. And, if they win, you can sit back and be happy and trust them as you leave things to them. You hope they're the ones that can do the job and keep the promises they made. But really, that's it. You didn't do any research on them. You follow them cause they make you happy and feel secure. They cater to you demographic (take that however you want). They present themselves to you basically doing your research for you and they get backing from others that give them credibility. But, you are ultimately limited by what they offer you.

I would rather pick starting at the local level and working my way up to the national stage with people I know or are easy to research in my area. As candidates are sifted through by the public the best qualified, through debate and record of experience, advance and gain the backing of those that chose them. Their following grows and grows as they advance through to the final vote. All the while, they have no party affiliation and are backed by people who have been giving them a good once over. People they know and are connected to everyone else through the process of choosing them. And you know what, it doesn't have to be governors, senators, representatives, vice presidents or any other previous holder of a public office. I would like to see managers and CEO's but this area should include anyone that meets the Constitutional standards for the office.

Everyone has a unique view on the world, a style, personal history, a frame of reference or point of view or a work ethic that stands out from others. With a field that wide we could hope to be picking the best fit for our nation rather than just the lesser of two evils.

Tell Them What You Want

2009-04-18T02:19:00.000-07:00

So it is clear by now that our representatives and senators in Congress have no idea what we want. But I'm guessing in part this is because no one tells them. They are isolated on the Hill and don't get out enough or ask to find out what we think.

So, it's time to be a part of the solution everyone. I came across this site www.opencongress.org and I have been tracking bills and putting in my vote on them. It's a great site but I am betting that few if anyone in Congress looks at this site or others like it. This was the best site I have found so far so it is the one that I am trying to popularize.

I recently sent an email to my congresswoman, Dina Titus of the 3rd district here in Las Vegas, and gave her the link and told her that I would be sending her emails to let her know what I think of the various bills and that she could go there to see the popular opinion on them. One by one I am going through my watch list and letting her know. I am going to be doing the same for the Senate whenever a bill is to go through their hands.

Basically, if we tell them what we want and keep track of what we have asked for and what the results are, we will have something to hold them responsible for or remind them of. We will have a real performance record.

I'm posting my emails here You can use my emails as a template for you own if you so choose. If you don't like what I have to say about these bills then make sure you contact your representatives and let them know. You'll have no leg to stand on if you don't.

Again the site for reviewing pending legislation is www.opencongress.org

You can contact your representatives and senators at www.house.gov and www.senate.gov respectively.

Hehe...I'm even going to craig's list this. ;)

Sorry, but, I'm Gonna be a Pest.

2009-04-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

So after thinking on it I decided to send out an apology letter to a congresswoman and a senator I've been emailing as of late (not to Pelosi though, she deserves what I sent to her). I've remade that letter here for others to use in an attempt to make Congress more aware of what is going on and to hold them to their job descriptions. If you want to use this letter or modify it, go for it. The more the merrier as always.

This first one is the apology.

---------------------------------------
"I wish to apologize.
I have sent you a few emails and some of them represent the frustration that I and other people i the US are feeling right now. It feels like we're not being listened to or that we have no choice when we see unwanted spending being passed, public money used for private companies and vindictive taxes levied where they're need is the result of our representatives not reading the bills before they vote.

For that I am sorry. I have decided that I am simply going to do my part at this point and let you know my Aye or Nay on bills as I read them. I don't know how you find out about public opinion from your district on bills but right now I am using, and popularizing, opencongress.org. I will be posting it locally and online. I have found this to be a valuable resource for me to get more involved as a citizen and I believe it would be a great way for legislators to see what the voters think as well.

Again, I am very sorry if any of my previous emails were overly heated or disrespectful. I hope to be part of the solution by making others more aware of what's going on in Congress and by making those in Congress more aware of public opinion.

Thank you again for your time."
---------------------------------------------

And this is the letter I will be sending with each bill I read and make a decision on. This one is just an example. Just swap out the bill number and your reasons.

---------------------------------------------
"Honorable Congressman #####/Congresswoman #####/Senator #####,

I am not in favor of [H.R.45] Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009 on the grounds that

1. such information can be used against a gun owner in the future.
2. that this act would seem to be a usurpation of a state's right to
make such laws.
3. that this act infringes upon the 2nd amendment of the constitution.

Thank you for your time regarding this legislation
Sincerely ...."
----------------------------------------------

It's simple, to the point and gets the job done.
If you have any additions or improvements you can think of for this letter, let me know.

Letter to Speaker Pelosi

2009-04-17T00:11:00.000-07:00

Honorable Speaker Nancy Pelosi,

I am contacting you, respectfully, to let you know that I am quite offended at the way you, and the rest of Congress, trivialize and belittle the beliefs and actions of the right and independents. If you'll remember it is the margin of swing voters from the large parties and independents that determine who gets into office. The hard core party followers will always vote for their own, but, it is this margin, which includes myself, that put you into the position you now hold. We are the ones that will determine if you continue to hold that position in the future.

In your capacity as speaker of the House you need to take better care not to put down the voters. While I am not saying you have no right to speak your mind, I am telling youn that everyone is responsible for their actions. You may have to take responsibility for yours the next time your seat in the House comes up for election. Please, I ask you, show more respect to those that hired you, those that believed you would represent them. Your position is not one of entitlement. We gave it to you in the hopes that you would do us better by it.

I don't care about party lines, I only care about the Constitution and the liberties and freedoms it affords myself and others in this nation. I do, however, expect civility in my civil servants. We the people did what you asked and put you into office. You should likely be stroking the backs of the people by doing what they want. You are, after all, a representative. We should not see you on TV telling us our efforts are as AstroTurf and implying that we don't believe or understand in what we protest and are only herded about like cattle by the rich. We could say the same of you the way Congress collectivity ignores us, votes raises for themselves, passes bills without reading them or paying attention to public opinion on bills before voting. It's because of attitudes and actions such as these that I was there to protest. It's not all about taxes. We're feeling quite disenfranchised.

So please, take better care of us and our country. We hired you believing that you were the one for the job. Don't let us down.

I thank you for you time.
I hope only for the best for our nation.

The Soveriegnty of the States

2009-04-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

Texas, and several other states, have started declaring their sovereignty from the United States. If you were looking for a catalyst for change this would be a good one. Here is the declaration that was filed and sent to the President.

It would be a good thing to see more states do this as it will send a loud and clear message to Washington to back off and rethink what they are doing. There's a similar resolution here in Nevada but it seems to have hit a speed bump. To anyone willing and able, please help out and contact the committee members and support this resolution.

UPDATE: 04/16/2009
I just found out that this resolution was listed (Pursuant to Joint Standing Rule No. 14.3.1, no further action allowed.) or "bill killed. In Nevada it cannot be brought up again for consideration for two years. :(

Thank you if you tried though.

I thought Twitter was too Restrictive to Argue Through!

2009-04-14T22:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it is. So I had to come here to clear the baffles. I had a discussion with someone last night on twitter that ended up being about, well a few things, but mostly on isolationism. Lets see if I can sort all of this out.

ok, I'm not exactly sure where this conversation turned the corner to become the all out duel of 140 character responses that it has, and Twitter seems to have taken my tweets from yesterday and thrown them to the wind. I have here the tweets as far back as I can get them for this conversation. To the best of my ability I have arranged them so they are in order...I hope. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I know the first one here is a response to one of my undirected tweets but I'm not sure which one.

01. HIM - We've irresponsibly cultivated a condition of Energy Dependence. Isolationism NOT an option. Regional nuclear war anyone?
02. HIM - Isolationists ignore the risks of Regional Nuclear War: Iran vs. Israel; India vs. Pakistan; N Korea vs. Japan.

03. ME - I think globalists look for 2 much involvement in others affairs. As things are, our involvement matters not if a btn is pushed.
04. ME - All that you state are the result of our involvement, not the cause. I'm not a total iso. but please, we're in to to many jars.

05. HIM - I didn't parse what you said-Could you clarify? We can try to keep the buttons away from crazies. That precludes isolationism
06. HIM - I was accused of being wordy (in 140 characters a good trick!) but "we're in to to many jars" means what?

07. ME - I didn't have enough room to say cookie jars. The US has it's hands in everyone's, as far as nations go.
08. ME - Just as we value our own sovereignty, who are we to meddle in others?

09. HIM - Did you forget? We owe our independence to the intervention of a foreign power--the French! I for one thank them!
10. HIM - I & my party're as idealistic as you about justice-but helping others gain their liberty while protecting ours is right.
11. HIM - You sir are an Isolationist. You will not lift a finger to help others & flatter yourself that you are thereby righteous.
12. HIM - Yep. How do you justify just letting people be oppressed-even when you've a selfish reason for helping? What's the principle?

13. ME - Good lord man. I'm not talking about mutual alliances. I'm talking about grubby fingers grabbing where ever they think they can.
14. ME - I'm talking about our country interfering with and manipulating other countries. We do it. We shouldn't. Quite simple.
15. ME - Not righteous, it's simply my opinion. Did you know it's possible for people to disagree with each others opinions? ;)
16. ME - It's not a principle. Right now, we need to fix things here. Too often we try to fix everything else.
17. ME - We can't help anyone if were' not healthy enough to do it. That goes for government, economy, etc. We are not heard and divided.
18. ME - How do you justify being so quick to label me before you know my answers?
19. ME - Gov and international policy should not be preached or forced. For liberty to work people have to choose it not swallow it.

20. HIM - Preaching's persuasion or ought to be. Government's force in fallen man's society. So you leave no means foreign or domestic!
21. HIM - Government's legitimate roles're those it's just to force. The anarchist agrees-but says there are none. I favor limited gov!
22. HIM - So are you an anarchist since you deny the use of force or persuasion for domestic and foreign goverment matters?!
23. HIM - Golly Wally. No preaching or force for "Gov or international policy?!" Anarchists are isolationists too.You seem to fit both.
24. HIM - So you admit your effective isolationism (whatever you call it) is selfishly motivated. You just dress it up in moral outrage
25. HIM - We are certainly divided. Anarchists, Libertarians, Neo-Isolationists are not Constitutionalists or Conservatives in my book.
26. HIM - Liberty is the freedom to do just things & to be free of injustice. Government's legitimate role is to further those goals.
27. HIM - I choose to adhere to a Forcible Compact, the United States Government established in the Constitution. Therein lies Liberty.
28. HIM - I call the Constitution a Forcible Contract in that it contemplates the use of force internally & externally.
29. HIM - The Constitution was also established voluntarily by assemblies of the various State conventions-They chose it!

30. ME - I'm going to put a post together with all this just for you. You favor limited gov but think it should use force?

31. HIM - Yes, if it doesn't use force, it isn't a government or a government function. It's a club, a business, a church, etc.
32. HIM - You're clearly an anarchist which's terribly unrealistic-It shows you know nothing of humanity's true character

33. ME - Have I been unduly rude with you as of yet sir? If I were an anarchist I would have.
34. ME - You clearly do not have a full understanding of what the different parties stand for.
35. ME - I don't think you know humanity's true character as well as you think either.

Ok, so there it is. Wow. Maybe tweets should be smaller. ;)

So here's how it is. I have put this post together so that "he", if he chooses to, can comment and elaborate on my detailed response.
I will clarify for myself and respond to his remarks based on what is here. It's the best I can do until I get some comments.

So in 01-04 he lists areas where our intervention, it seems, is needed. My response was based on the US already being; in support of Israel, against the use of nukes (since both India and Pakistan have them) and we clearly have been backing Japan since WWII. Really, we're heavily invested in Israel and Japan. We're not really protecting them out of any moral necessity but, for the most part, an economic one. But these involvements are not out of necessity. We were there to put these states or issues into motion or have been trying to mediate in them for some time. In the case of Israel we were there to help the Hebrew state into existence. In the case of Japan it was felt to be a moral issue of rebuilding that which we destroyed and in the process make better. I argue that we are not necessarily the solution to these issues and others, but, we can very likely be the cause.

In 05 I just like the fact that he used the word parse. Really, I'm not being smart here. I like it any time people find use for often ignored words. On twitter there's a necessity for such usage being limited to so few characters. My statement was simply that we, the United States, have our hands in too many cookie jars, or, other nation's affairs. As a nation, we value our sovereignty, or freedom and liberties and greatly dislike, even the notion, of others infringing upon these. Yet, we seem to find no shortage of places we wish to infringe upon others.

09 is a beauty! I've heard this one before. And it's just not true. Yes, France's involvement made it easier for us to gain our independence. But, they were not doing it for us. Their motives were far more selfish, strategic and clearly had nothing to do with some moral obligation to the colonies. They were a catalyst but in no way were they helping us. The results of their involvement were in their favor as well as ours but their favor was the driving force.

10 That is a personal opinion....at least about what he thinks is "right" and what his party stands for. My opinion is that we should stay out of other country's affairs where their form of government is concerned. I have no problem with free trade, markets and helping nations that "ask" for help or intervention or forming alliances. If you want to see isolationism, check out Japan before Commodore Perry please. That's isolationism. Nothing even close to that exists today. Even North Korea still gets their media time and openly threatens their neighbors. Isolationists don't even get close to that.

11 First part, already negated. Second part...who said anything about being righteous? I'm sure there other ideas out there about this. You were talking to me, so you'll get my slant on things as long as you are. The righteous are not necessarily right you know. They are just unbend-able from their principles in the extreme.

12-16 This is where things are starting to rub me as being more personal. I'm being preached to. It boils right down to "Who are we to step in on antoher nation?" How fast would you step in on China for humanitarian reasons? When did we go into Iraq for the treatment of women? When did we go into Afghanistan for the sake of those under the thumb of an extreme government? Even better, who did we help in fighting communism through funding and weapons? How many time have things been done for righteousness? Now his statement seems more hypocritical. That aside, even when there is a moral reason, who gets hurt more when breaking up a fight or other conflict, the one that steps in the middle. I'm not amoral or unprincipled. We're talking about national policies for a country ruled by itself through popular vote and opinion. This individual's opinion, and my own, are not the only ones. His comments are very self centered and obtuse.

17 This goes back to my original statement that we need to put ourselves into isolation just to heal ourselves. We are no good to a world economy when we are economically weak. That is, if the world even wants us to be economically strong again. They very well may not. Internally we are int he middle of some big changes. The world can wait.

18 That's me getting cranky...it happens.

19 Our government should practice what it preaches in the Constitution. We have separation of church and state. Our government should not be preaching it's ways to other nations. And as for the second part, it's completely fact. No one appreciates what they have unless they chose to work or fight for it. Freedoms and Liberty don't mean nearly as much to those who don't understand what this nation spent (in the way of willing, voluntary, selfless lives) to buy it. It's not a trivial thing.

20 Not sure what he's saying here.

21 First part, what's just? That's subjective. What's just to him may not be to me or others. And, even if it is the right thing to do, we are a nation of laws. Therefore, it has to be legal to do and specifically listed under the federal government's powers to do so. Second part, I don't know what he's talking about. I'm not an anarchist. Third part, Yay! Some light in the tunnel. So do I. It's exactly what the Constitution is supposed to be doing for us. It's limits by restricting the government's powers. At least, it would if our government were playing by its rules right now. I fear they're steering us away from it.

22 No, I am not an anarchist. And I only support government action when it is specifically allowed to enforce laws in that manner by the Constitution.

23 Preaching is not for governments but for religions. Do not mistake national policies for scripture to proselytize the rest of the world with. They know how we operate and they don't want to do it that way. It's not our place to change them. It like the couple that gets married where each thinks they can just change what they don't like about the other over time. In the end the relationship is destroyed. So is it really worth it?

24 No moral outrage here. It has nothing to do with morality. I am arguing for the fate of our nation and it's people. you are mixing up patriotism and practicality with idealistic thought. They don't mix. They are separate, just like church and state. There's a reason for this and it's got a lot more to do with than morals. Morality is a matter of faith. Liberty is a matter of rights and laws and governments and individuals that would infringe upon them.

25 Your book does not have many pages then. The Articles of confederation were not strong enough to hold the states together. So, the Constitution was written just a touch stronger so that it could. So sir, you are a citizen of a nation that is right on the edge of anarchy where the states are concerned. The Constitution is just enough to keep the union together but not infringe upon the states or their people. Maximum freedoms and Liberty without total lawlessness. The federal government is meant to keep this contract with its states and enforce it among the states for the same. I am a constitutionalist, and the libertarian party, of which I am a member, is the one that follows the Constitution the closest. I was a Republican but, honestly, it's not that different anymore from the democratic party and neither of the "big" parties is there for the people any longer. You should go to www.opencongress.org and take a look at just how our reps and senators are NOT doing what we say.

26 Liberty is based on freedom. Just (justice) is what is served in the name of freedom when our liberties are infringed upon.

27 Show me the forcible contract please and what it is forcible to or upon?

28 As a document, the US Constitution does not contemplate anything. It is a strict contract between the government and the people that specifically states what powers the government has. I think I hear and echo.

29 The Constitution was written out of necessity as the Articles of Confederation were not strong enough to maintain the union. And, it was not chosen. When you choose something you have at least two options. The states ratified it as an acceptable contract. There was no alternative. Had it not been ratified, they would have made modifications or the union would have failed. Semantics is everything.

30 Cranky again.

31 Wow, might is right. Yeah! Technically, when we all agree we are the ones "allowing" the government to govern. When we vote, we are agreeing to who and we agree to how. It's done without force. When was the last time a president was put into office by force? The only times our nation has done anything by force has been when the executive branch bypassed the congress.

32 Feh!

So there you are. I encourage comments an discussion on this. I fully realize, realistically ;) that there are many opinions on this matter. While some of my commenting here will seem to be quite pointed and, maybe a touch angry, that's because it is...but only at one person. I look forward to friendly debate on this.

Education in the US

2009-04-13T00:57:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure where to start on this one. It's one of those topics where if you're thinking about it during the day you come up with great arguments and ideas. Then when you finally do get around to putting them down, you've forgotten them of forget the progression of thoughts you went through to get to you point. Feh!

I guess I'll start with the part I hate the most, No Child Left Behind (Public Law 107-110). This was the worst thing I had ever heard of when it came out and has proven so, if not worse, in practice up to today. In theory the schools are supposed to be held to higher standards, set goals that can be measured through testing for review and give parents more of a choice in where their children can go to school. But, in reality, all it has done is to produce a system where teachers cannot teach the students what they need to know because the school districts push teaching for the tests. Test that are used by the government to determine how much funding each school gets for the next academic year.

Add to this the psychology of teaching that is practiced where students are not to be punished in ways that make them feel bad. Or, even better, methods of correction and grading that ensure the student never knows what it's like to fail. Last time I checked, we learn from our mistakes. So, if no one is making any mistakes then they aren't learning. And dealing with failure is just as important as success. If our students never get to experience failure, especially in an environment where it can be explained and students can be guided through it to learn from it, when they actually do fail in the real world they're not going to know what to do and they certainly won't learn from it.

Progressive teaching, where students learn skills and how to understand or empathize with others, is not doing them any good. They're teaching has been shifted away from learning facts, facts that they should know to be able to live once they get out of school, acts that would help them to make decisions for themselves. If knowledge is power the children coming out of the schools now will have none. They're inability to figure things out and make informed decisions will make them weak and helpless. They will likely NEED a fascist government to make their decisions for them because of the failings in the system now. And God help our country when they need the intellectual assets they think they've been investing billions of dollars in for the past decade.

Then there's mainstreaming. Oh people I gotta tell ya. As one who was in both the gifted program and the learning adjustment program in his school in the 1980's, tracking students and segregating them is an absolute necessity. I don't care what anyone thinks about it. I got the attention I needed and made it out of school because of smaller classes with teachers that could, yes, keep an eye on me, and make sure I did my work. I was WAY disruptive, medicated and a loudmouthed ass. Believe me, the school did the other students a huge favor putting me in another room to do my work under stricter supervision and, oh the horror, with discipline and punishment. By mainstreaming, or what really seems more like integration, the teachers have to teach to the lowest common denominators in the classroom. That's right, kids like me. Now I know that no parent want's to ever think, more like be reminded, that their kid either has a problem or is a problem but I also know that no parent wants someone else's kid bringing theirs down, especially when the "dumbing-down" is mandated by legislation.

Now it's one thing to post my complaints but what about a possible solution? Well...

1. Repeal NCLB. It's complete garbage. If there are any redeeming qualities, salvage them otherwise, return teaching back to the methods in use before it was enacted and start from there.

2. Allow schools to discipline students. Teachers have no authority in their classrooms unless they have the school backing them. Troublesome children, like me, have a hay-day without it. And all the other children's education suffers as a result.

3. Students should have to pass ALL classes they take to advance to the next level. I know that schools now have only core classes that students have to pass to move on. The rest are considered supporting or electives. This only teaches kids how to cut corners in their studies. I had to take gym in the summer because I side-stepped the teachers instructions for an entire semester. Learning also has to do with following directions. All classes count.

4. In high school there are classes our students should be taking that are considered elective, if they are even offered. I think that these should be required courses...

a. US Constitution and Government. Immigrants learn this in order to become citizens. While schools cover this information they certainly do not require students to REALLY know it. They should.

b. Economics and Accounting. Most kids have no idea what money is or how it's made. they only know they want or need it to live. These classes ensure they have an understanding of it before they have to go out and get jobs. If they're going to be a part of the economy then they should have a good understanding of how it operates.

c. Geography (2 years, Physical and US Geography for one and World Geography for the second) I'm sick and tired of seeing adults showing up in front of cameras for the world to see how ignorant they are about the world they live in. And, even more importantly, they should know where other nations are and have some idea about what they do in order to make informed decisions when it comes to the laws that our government passes or when they get jobs with international companies. This type of knowledge is not about doing well on Jeopardy. Colleges spend a lot of time making students well rounded in their institutions because it's not occurring in ours.

Check out:
http://www.fairtest.org/

Whoops, Am I Sorry?...Hmmm....maybe

2009-04-05T22:45:00.000-07:00

So it would seem that I might be considered a touch harsh when it comes to asking my congressional representatives and senators questions and when speaking my mind. I found this page at Congress Link and the Dirksen Center. Apparently I'm not really blowing enough sunshine for my requests and inquiries to get answered. Compared to their list of tips and recommendations I'm a ruffian who will likely never get a response of any kind in any event because of my harsh words and lack of respect to those that hold these elected offices. Apparently there is only room in Congress for conversation with happy hind-end kissers who act and think as though the country is always a wonderful place filled with puppies and rainbows. Well, it's not. Those of us who are tired of not seeing results from those we elected, who feel that their voice is not being heard, who feel like we're being ignored, who feel like we're being patronized and pandered to through the media, who see lobbyist's agendas, that are less than helpful to we the people, getting legislated without a hitch, are beginning to..., no wait, ARE angry and are now starting to show it outwardly.

On top of this, I was surprised to see that they probably NEVER see my emails. According to them I have to write letters or make phone calls to get a response. And, as you can see from the form of intro I should include, you gotta do a little bit of licking to get them to read it or be listened to. I don't know about any of you but the "title" of honorable only applies if they are doing their jobs honorably. I gotta tell ya, I'm not feeling that warm and fuzzy about it.

So, am I going to soften up and write some nice letters? May be, only because I want to be heard. They say when in Rome...you know the rest. Only, we're not and we're being forced to express ourselves on their terms. It doesn't really leave them open to see or experience exactly whats going on in the real world. Maybe it is time to flood the Capitol with ourselves and our voices. It costs more than a stamp but face time is so much more effective when it comes to letting someone know how you feel and what you expect out of a relationship.

Read and Know the President's Budget Proposal.

2009-04-03T02:06:00.001-07:00

Read and Know the Constitution

2009-04-03T02:01:00.001-07:00

My Wish List

2009-04-03T01:49:00.000-07:00

1. Abolish the Federal Reserve

2. Repeal the 16th Amendment (it was supposed to be temporary at the most)

3. Flat Consumption tax (less paperwork and less manpower required at the IRS, audits only occur with businesses and institutions that collect the tax through sales) this tax is at the consumer level. People who make more money buy more stuff. Who would have thought? Business taxes can be applied throughout distribution networks based on volume and value of goods. They should be kept competitive when compared to other nations.

4. Term Limits for all positions in Congress.

5. We the people vote on congressional pay raises - performance based of course ;)

6. Amendment that congress must read bills and sign to that effect, under oath and penalty of perjury, before voting on them

7. Make legislation available to the public for review before voting

8. Acts of war must be voted on by we the people and the results "backed" by congress.

9. Only balanced budgets should be submitted by the president.

10. Abolish the ACLU, Affirmative Action and any other institution that supports inequality., "... that all men are created equally" means beginning the race form the same starting line. It does not mean we all get equal results. Our power lies in our unity, not our diversity.

11. Abolish Social Security. Really people, it's truly a black hole.

12. Cease the use of SSN for identification. It's not what they were meant for in the first place. Take a look here to see for yourself.

13. No public money for campaigning

14. Cap on total amount of campaign funds that can be used in a single campaign by any single candidate. Cap would also have a value dependent upon the position being run for as national campaigns would necessarily require more funds than local ones. Political candidates would no longer beat out their opponents simply by out-funding them. This levels the playing field with other parties as well. As we all know too well the two party system we're dealing with now is not so stellar.

15. No corporate or institution campaign funds, profit or non-profit. A candidate's interests are supposed to be based on the will of the people not the markets or business. We don't like it when the government bails out companies, we certainly don't want companies helping out the candidates. The markets are free when there is no involvement at either end of political processes.

16. No lobbyists, see above in number 15. Special interest groups should be treated the same as well. Special means just that, not the majority.

17. No continued pay after service in elected offices is complete.

2010 Budget

2009-04-02T00:13:00.000-07:00

I got a copy of Obama's proposed 2010 budget. Actually, 111 pages is not so bad. Page two of the President's Message caught my eye right of the bat.

"To improve the quality of our health care while
lowering its cost, we will make the immediate investments
needed to computerize all of America’s
medical records within five years while protecting
the privacy of patients. This is a necessary
step to reducing waste, eliminating red tape,
and avoiding the need to repeat expensive medical
tests."

I'm sorry, but, the government should not be involved in the conversion of patient records, at all. Our taxes should not go to this. This is the government stepping in, where they're not being asked to, and dictating, through the use of funding (GM anyone) how the business should be run. He says "while protecting the privacy of patients." but I'm not convinced that this would be just the first step to having control over our records. I mean, really, health care is a business. Even if the government were to socialize medicine, which they should not, they have to look at the bottom line when it comes to funding. At some point they would be making the same decisions that are made now by health care companies. They would be sifting through our records to determine whether we are covered under their plan, or better yet, if we were worth covering under the conditions of our afflictions at the time f diagnosis.
It starts with funding. And, once it starts, you can;t stop it. I don't mind having my records in a harder to transmit form like paper and film. If patients want to have their information digitized and passed around it should be up to the individual patient, not the government.

Page three "We need to put tired
ideologies aside, and ask not whether our Government
is too big or too small, or whether it is the
problem or the solution, but whether it is working
for the American people."

I wonder what "tired ideologies" he speaks of? I wish there was more detail here. Vagueness is never good, especially in contracts. Which is what this budget is. It's not just a list of how much money he wants and what he wants to do with it. It's the ground work for other work not mentioned. Possible plans and laws yet to come as a result of this budget being passed. It's like a grocery list only we don't know what's for dinner. Are these tired ideologies along party lines or are they even older, like say, the constitution? Last time I checked, the Constitution was made so that government would be kept small and out of our business, increasing our liberties, yet just big enough to enforce contracts and protect the union.

The Senate and Congress are not the only ones that should look at this, we should as well. He didn't get his job from a lottery. He didn't win. It wasn't anything he did to get there. He was chosen...by us, not me, but us as a collective after a lengthy review. We have a responsibility to review the work done on the hill. It's actually more OUR responsibility than theirs.

Same page, "In the little more than a month my Administration
has had in office, we have not had the time
to fully execute all the budget reforms that are
needed, and to which I am fully committed."

Again, funny how he does not state that he needs to float these ideas past US first. Referring to his administration rather than the people he represents also bothers me. It may seem trivial on the surface, I mean after all he does work there with "his" people but we're his people too. More often than not, the folks up on the hill tend to think that they know what they're doing and only need to tell us what's happening instead of asking us what we want done....which IS their job. Semantics? yes, but it's a trend that I see more and more of, not just on the hill but in the mainstream media as well. Glorification of the government who is, collectively, our savior who's work should be watched by us in awe and accepted rather than questioned and scrutinized.

"Our problems are rooted in past mistakes, not
our capacity for future greatness."

??? What ??? This is just dumb and someone wasn't paying attention when thy were reviewing it.

Page 5 "Uncertainty about
how far and wide the contagion
has spread has brought our financial system
to a near standstill."

No, uncertainty is from not knowing what's up the government's sleeve. No one wants to invest in things they don't have a clue on. So they sit and wait to see what their next move is. If companies are allowed to fail, a vacuum forms, fast, and it fills just as fast. What's going on now simply puts the brakes on the fall and it costs more in the long run. They dump trillions into companies that are in a free fall and loose that money as they continue down and there is no fast reset. Compare it to a computer. If it gets a nasty virus and starts to go down and you let it, and I mean a real crash, you can take the drive out and put a new one in. Reinstall your system and programs on the new drive and then scan the old one and take what you need, your data (viable assets) off of it. If you try to stop the crash, closing programs as fast as you can, and run utilities to try and keep it alive while trying to hunt down what's wrong, which takes time, and all the while files are continuing to be corrupted, soon you'll have spent more time (or money if you will) on it and, in the end, have nothing to salvage or show for your efforts.....format, reinstall. Same endpoint only one path is far more costly, time consuming and driven by fear and anger. Give it up, let them fail. Pick through the debris and move on. Just two lines later you see this...

"The injection of unprecedented amounts
of funds by the Federal reserve and through
the Troubled Asset relief Program (TArP) attempted
to restore confidence in the financial
markets to get capital flowing
once more and has slowed or perhaps
halted the meltdown—but it
has not been enough to fully restore
confidence and the smooth
operation of credit markets."

Yeah, my point exactly. And, there's further affirmation...

"Because of this lack of trust,
our credit markets are effectively
still frozen. As a result, businesses
are unable to expand, families
are unable to finance a new home,
a new car, or a college education
for their kids; and our economy
suffers."

He's trying to explain why we need to throw more money at it but I believe that this is a better example of why not to.

Ok, that's it for this post. I'll keep reading and be back later with more.

Unconcstitutional Re-Run

2009-03-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

This still amounts to a bill of attainder and is not constitutional by any stretch of the imagination.

These children running our government, cause that's how they're "reacting" to everything, need to learn their role on the hill. We hired them to run the government, not to run the markets or the companies within them. It's their fault this is happening in the first place with all the money they have handed out. And that's what it was, a hand-out. They have no expectation of results after the fact. They did not think before they signed the papers. You don't take money back from a bum when they decide to buy booze with it instead of food. That's known as theft. That's what the government committed with the bailouts (theft from us) and now they're doing it again by trying to take it back. Most of the people they're targeting weren't even the cause or part of the problem to begin with. They were hired after the fact to help with clean-up. Our representatives will learn their lesson over the next few elections as we the people cull them from the Capitol herd. There'll be no more grazing on taxpayer monies.

They think they can legislate equilibrium into the markets but in the end all they do is legislate flat, failing uncertain markets. People don't invest in things when they are uncertain. They applying force to an emotional outcome. It's happened before and they're doing it again. They obviously don't know how to read. They must get into office on some ignoble government form of no child left behind.

Suggested reading boys, The US Constitution, and the New Deal.

UPDATE: I just noticed I'm a little redundant in this post with my previous one. Oh well, chalk it up to stress.

I Almost Crapped My Gutchies...

2009-03-31T00:03:00.000-07:00

I was floored to hear this morning that President Obama asked for the resignation of the CEO of GM. I would like for our president to take some time and re-read the US Constitution....again. Specifically, Article 2, sections 2, 3 and 4. Nowhere in there does it talk about our president, the man who is supposed to uphold the constitution, making decisions for companies in the private sector. I don't care if he authorized the giving of all monies in the US coffers to GM. It is the board of directors and shareholders of that company that make such decisions. He is not to be involved in any way shape or form with how that or any other company does its business. If anyone has any say beyond the board, it's us, you and me, the ones that paid the taxes that supplied GM with the money they received. We're the controlling shareholders. The president has nothing to do with it other than authorizing the distribution of the funds, a distribution he should never have made in the first place. He is a head of state, not a corporate decision maker. He doesn't even have any business experience. I would like everyone to note that GM's stock had been going up over the past month. But, once our president opened his mouth it dropped over 20%. It's a re-run of Geithner single-handedly causing the drop of the US dollar by 25% in one day when he opened his mouth last week saying that he would be open to ideas concerning the dropping of US currency in favor of some other global currency.

When will our state officials learn that they are not here to run the economy of this nation? When will they learn that they only effect it with there actions and NOT in a favorable way? I understand that they think they can do better, but, they can't. They're trying to legislate equilibrium in the markets. But, the markets don't work that way. When there is equilibrium no one gets ahead of anyone else. People don't buy stock when things are either flat or uncertain. As long as the government is trying to rework the markets, nothing is certain.

These boys on Capitol Hill were hired by us to serve us in the government by representing us. They are not there to meddle with the markets or test out their Utopian ideas and economic pet projects. They work for us! They're supposed to do what we say. They are there by our choice only because we though they were going to do what we wanted. I respectfully ask that my president get back into the Oval Office and sit in the chair he was hired to sit in. It's what I want him to do. I want him to do his job.

UPDATE: 03/31/2009
In case you were wondering, gutchies would be pants. ;) A little Pittsburghese to make for a more interesting post title.

But the FDIC can do it....

2009-03-25T00:03:00.000-07:00

That's what the argument sounded like last night. Timothy Geithner's request for full control over deciding whether to close a company or not sounded like a case of, but they can why can't I?

The argument made was that when a bank is failing the FDIC can walk right in and shut them down. They freeze the bank and split it up into units. They figure out which units of the original are salvageable and set them on their way as new companies and they dissolve the remainder by selling them off at fire sale prices. Done. That's for banks. There is no such system for non-financial companies....or is there?

Yes, there is. It's called bankruptcy, which, last time I checked, is handled by the courts. The difference is, he wants to be able to "wind" failed businesses down. Really, is it going to make that much of a difference whether they die in a snap or months? Nope. But, it will increase the size of government and give crazy powers to the people that control our money supply. Does no one else see the insanity in this?

Bills to Consider...

2009-03-24T10:56:00.000-07:00

Here are a few bills you should consider backing. You can do so by joining Downsize DC and adding your name to each of the bills and letting your representatives and senators know it.

The first refers to the end of the inflation tax. It is a combination of three bills that would 1. eliminate the Federal Reserve's exclusive control of the money suply, 2. it would end the US monopoly on creation of coinage and 3. would end federal and state taxes on precious metals.

There is a detailed explanation here at the Downsize DC web site.

Next is the One Subject at a Time Act. Too many bills are passed that carry with them line items that are NOT supported by the majority. They are tagged onto something more desirable so that they're chance of making it to law will go up or become a certainty. Every bill should stand on its own. If we don't want it, then it should not go through like a pet on a leash attached to its owner.

You can read more here about this campaign.

Next is No Bailouts! This is pretty self explanatory.
Read more here on how to add your support.

And, lastly, my favorite....thank or spank. This is one way that you can thank or spank you reps for passing the stimulus bill/s Thank or Spank them here.

Join Downsize DC to get updates when new campaigns are stared or when current ones are on the move. We honestly don't need bigger government. The government is overgrown and needs to be pruned back. Trim it and let Liberty shine through.

Final Note on AIG

2009-03-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

As the AIG debacle ripens a few things should be painfully clear to every one by now.

#1 The United States House and Senate think, despite what the people ask them to do on their behalf, that they know best what is best for us.

#2 AIG, or any other company for that matter, should never be or have been bailed out using taxpayer money. Let me say that again, "ever."

As I was writing this though, I was sent a follow notice from the Independent Institute on twitter. I went to their site and found a blog post that actually explains it better than I was going to so here it is. [AIG Blog Post Here]

Update 03/23/2009
Another article on this topic here.

Update 03/23/2009
Turns out there is another one called the Read The Bill Act which has been put forth by Downsize DC.
An article supporting the passage of the Read The Bill Act is here.

Update 03/23/2009
McCotter Discussing AIG on Fox News

Proof Readers Needed

2009-03-21T01:52:00.000-07:00

Well it would seem that there are a few new positions that need to be filled in Congress. At least one of these is a very important position. It’s the job titled proof reader. It’s disgraceful. That our representatives in the government have wasted so much time and money producing legislation that, in the end, is controversial, punitive and unconstitutional. And why? Because they don't proof their work before they send it out. They don't keep records that are detailed enough to know who worked on it and when. They don't know who came up with language in the work until others do the digging. And worse, the people responsible lie (otherwise known as perjury) about what they did or did not do in the process.

I used to work for a print house. When you started on a job, you punched in the job number into your computer and began working. The system kept track of the fact that it was you working on it, for how long and you had to fill in notes on the job when you were done indicating just what it was you were doing for that amount of time. Then you had to hand your work off to another person to have it CHECKED before it was considered done and ready to go to the printer. What a concept! And I was doing that for a lot less than our representatives are getting to make a lot more errors than I did and do so in front of the media where they make us (that would be you and me, the ones that hired them, remember?) look like asses. No wonder we're not respected by the rest of the world.

Awesome! Utterly awesome job these people are doing hu?
AIG aside, it's our government that's dropping the ball here.

Since we the people are the HR managers who will throw them out of their jobs in upcoming elections, for their less than stellar work performance, we should be overseeing the work our employees are cranking out. We should have access to the work they do before they vote on it. We should be able to guide our employees to produce a better product. They're so adamant about having oversight over various institutions throughout the government, military and police forces, well, we need our own oversight of Congress. I'm not talking about picking yet another person for the job through voting or any other means. I'm talking about us, you and me, taking some responsibility as well. If you're registered to vote, then you should be able to look at the work being done, randomly, at your leisure. Your boss never lets you know he's coming to review your work, why should we? And while we do have CSPAN, it's only good for hearing what they say. We should be able to see what they're cooking up too before they vote on it and make us look like asses again with more numerous and egregious errors.

I was going to ask if anyone knew of a system like this that existed. But, after a little bit of searching I found the read the bill campaign. READ THE BILL and Media Mouse article about the project. I have signed the petition at the first site and to receive news and updates at the second. I would ask that others do this a well. This is one group that seems to need a little micro managing.

Even Better

2009-03-19T01:26:00.000-07:00

Not only did we pick a government that is spending our money as though the Earth were coming to an end soon, but we chose people with short term memories and attention spans. They're like a basket of ADD kittens playing with yarn. Only problem is they're actions are no where even close to being cute.

It turns out that our elected officials made the protection of the AGI bonuses possible and then forgot they did it. Re-reading the bill they drafted, before they signed it, would have refreshed their memories before all of this made it to the media making our government, and therefore "We the people", look like a bunch of mindless asses.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/03/how-congress-pr.html

The Second American Revolution

2009-03-18T23:24:00.000-07:00

I found another one of these videos on YouTube.

It's funny how that phone number is so hard to find. In fact, there are other numbers listed for the switchboard, all toll free.

1-877-851-6437, 1-800-828-0498, or 1-800-614-2803 and of course 1-866-340-9281 as seen in the video.

We The People Stimulus Package

2009-03-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

BANG!

That's how my first post on blogspot is going to be.
I received an email from a friend of mine with a link to a YouTube video.

I implore you to watch the video first and then continue reading after.

I agree entirely with this video. The United States has become far too complacent, lazy and too willing to let the government they chose, take over our lives. I don't know about anyone else, but, when I vote for someone I do so hoping that they are going to do what I want and not what they "think" I need or that which only benefits them. I am sending out teabags to all my state's representatives, senators and to the president. It may seem silly until you look at a few facts.

#1. I have never actually been able to talk to my representative or senators before. I doubt that many but a handful of those reading this ever have either (assuming you're the type to call them in the first place). I get a secretary and have to leave my sentiments with others on a list that they likely never seen. Calling doesn't do anything for the people any more.

#2. I watched this video when it had only had about 4,000 views. I then emailed it out to as many of my friends, family and acquaintances as I could and am posting it wherever I can. It is obvious that others have been doing the same thing. In just one hour and 20 minutes the number of viewers has gone up to over 16,000. At that rate, the video will have been viewed by over 350,000 people in the next 24 hours. Likely more, though, as the address continues to be passed around and the viewing rate increases.

#3. An average ad campaign can get from about a 1 to 7% return in the form of responses. If we take the number of viewers at the time I am writing this post, you would end up with 160-1,120 teabags showing up at the White House and Congress. In 24 more hours that can be 3,840-26,880 teabags on their merry way. It's an odd item that is directly related to this nation's roots and history and it will get their attention.

This is not a partisan argument either. This country is getting bent over royally no mater what party you have an affinity for. So post this video, bitch to your representatives, senators and your president and send your teabags.

www.house.gov

www.senate.gov

President Barak Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500

UPADTE
In the past 24 hours the count is now 160,035 views for this video. That's a rate of increase of 1000% per day for the past two days.