Anyone who has read a newspaper, listened to the radio, gone on the internet or watched the evening news on TV over the last week or so, might believe that there is a real possibility that millions of Americans and hundreds of millions of other people throughout the world could be wiped out by a new deadly swine flu virus that is sweeping across the globe. The worldwide media has been turning out countless numbers of stories and producing hundreds of TV special reports about the possibility of a swine flu pandemic, complete with on-site videos with people wearing face masks, colorful graphics and interviews with scores of medical experts-for-hire. But is all this news coverage based on a genuine concern for the health and safety of the people, or is it just media hype designed to sell newspapers, TV advertising, anti-flu medicines and vaccines?  

On May 1, 2009, The World Health Organization reported only 331 cases of swine flu worldwide (outside of Mexico), but still declared the crisis to be at level 5 alert on a scale of 6, meaning that this strain of flu might be considered an all-out pandemic if the numbers keep rising. On the same date, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that there were 109 cases in the U.S., with several states possibly confirming an additional 22 cases. Do these numbers indicate that a national crisis is at hand?

Let’s put these numbers in perspective: According to the Centers for Disease Control, 36,000 Americans die each year (almost 100 a day) from various forms of the flu virus, yet it is not considered a pandemic or a crisis.  Worldwide, Malaria kills 3,000 people every day, but the World Health Organization only considers it "a health problem" and not a pandemic. Of course, there are no fancy vaccines for malaria that can rake in billions of dollars in a very short time period when governments and individuals order millions of doses of vaccines and medications in response to a threat of a new flu pandemic. 

Back in 1976, when the Swine Flu last hit America, the Ford Administration tried to use the fear of a pandemic to force 220 million Americans to accept the idea of mandatory vaccinations.  In a very short period of time, the pharmaceutical industry made $135 million on their vaccines, which had been given to nearly 40 million Americans before the accumulation of fatalities and crippling side effects caused the program to be stopped. When the questionable “pandemic threat” was over, only one person in America had died from the Swine flu, but 25 other Americans had died from the vaccine. By the way, the pharmaceutical companies managed to protect themselves from lawsuits by pre-arranging for the government to assume any liabilities in case there was a problem with the vaccines.  

More recently, in 2006, there was another worldwide pandemic threat called the Avian flu. The same type of videos and stories appeared throughout the media. ABC News even pushed the possibility of a pending worldwide apocalypse to the public by featuring a doctor-for-hire who predicted “that 50% of the population of the world could die” because of the Avian flu. Of course that never happened. Although the death of any person is a tragedy, only 257 people in the entire world died from the Avian flu. That’s 257 people out of 6.5 billion. It could hardly be considered a pandemic or a worldwide health threat. Because of the Avian Flu scare, the Bush Administration purchased and stockpiled millions of doses of anti-flu drugs in case of a future pandemic. Back then, some people thought that the threat of the Avian flu pandemic was cleverly created, manipulated and designed to frighten the American people, in order to line the pockets of politically connected investors and pharmaceutical companies.  

If the profit motive is not part of the reason for the current hype and the threat to the American people is real, then why has our government not taken the overt actions necessary to protect its own citizens? With almost 2,000 official swine flu cases originating in Mexico, most European and Asian countries, including China, have closed their airports to flights from Mexico in order to protect their citizens. Our government has taken no such steps to protect its citizens against this threat and our borders remain wide open with no restrictions or limitations on Mexicans entering the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security advised that they are on top of the situation and are watching people entering the U.S. for signs of illness. On the surface it sounds like the government is at least doing something, until you read the April 27 Reuters report on what is really happening at the border and that “Mexicans are continuing to (illegally) cross the border by car and foot, seemingly unconcerned by the influenza scare and only a handful are wearing masks.” The failure to secure the border in a time of emergency in order to protect the health and welfare of American citizens is a sign that this administration has chosen political correctness over the safety of its own citizens. It’s sad to say, but I don’t believe a Republican administration would take the necessary steps either.

I am sure that by mid-May the whole Swine Flu scare will be over and the hype will have died down. The American borders will remain wide open for illegal immigrants and terrorists to enter the country; the pharmaceutical companies will have made billions; the media companies will have made hundreds of millions from pharmaceutical company advertising and the administration will take credit for a job well done.  

Thank God it wasn’t a real emergency!

 

Mr. G. Richard Wagoner, the chairman and chief executive officer of General Motors, was recently forced to resign his position because of pressure from the Obama administration. He was told that if he didn’t leave, the Obama administration would not give General Motors any more federal bailout money. President Obama also told General Motors and the Chrysler  Corporation that if they wanted more federal bailout money, they would have to shrink and refocus their businesses according to his (the federal government’s) wishes.

In our country’s history, there have been some limited instances of the federal government exercising some sort of control over private industry, but that was during wartime. The current assault on American capitalism by the Obama administration is unprecedented in both its scope and speed and should raise the red flag of alarm for all freedom-loving Americans.

Some corporatist-style regimes of the 20^th century included those of Benito Mussolini of Italy (1922-1945), Adolph Hitler of Germany (1933 to 1945); Francisco Franco of Spain (1936 to 1973); Juan Peron of Argentina (1943 to 1955) and even our own President Franklin Roosevelt (1933 to 1945) during the ‘New Deal.’ The Mussolini, Hitler, Franco and Peron regimes were brutal, totalitarian, Fascist dictatorships, but not all the regimes that had a corporatist foundation were fascist. The Roosevelt administration, despite its many faults, could not be described as fascist, but the ‘New Deal’ program was definitely corporatist.

Corporatism boils down to this: The government tells industry (and eventually labor unions) what to do and that they must do it for the supposed good of the country, or else their individual leaders will pay a price. Does this sound similar to what is happening to the auto industry today?

Where in the U.S. Constitution does it authorize the President of the United States to fire the head of a major private corporation just because he disagrees with his management policies? Where in the U.S. Constitution does it authorize the President of the United States to decide what kind of cars a private company will build? or what kind of car I will drive?  President Barack ‘Mussolini’ Obama is taking this country down a very dangerous road and a road that America has never taken before.

Confucius said “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Are the ‘corporatist’ policies of President Obama and his administration just the first steps of many in a move towards a government takeover of our major industries? Are these policies much different than those that Mussolini and Hitler initiated in the early stages of their rise to power?  

With the Politburo in our expanding federal government now having the power to hire and fire the leaders of major private corporations and to tell the auto makers what cars they can produce, will they soon be telling Americans what kind of cars they can drive; how much money they can earn;  where they can go to school, what sodas they can drink, what foods they can’t eat, where they can travel, what national ID card they must carry at all times and it will impose any number of other restrictions on them. Look at California, where the state legislature is currently considering banning black cars by 2012, for some bogus global warming reason.  

Thomas Jefferson said: “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.” Americans must remember that we cannot fully enjoy our freedoms and liberties in America unless we keep our government limited. As our government grows and becomes more intrusive, as it is today, it is our freedoms and liberties that are becoming limited.

Welcome to the United Socialist States of America! If we continue on President Obama’s road to "CHANGE" (socialism), the American people will no longer be free. The question is: “Will we learn to accept our captivity at the hands of our new masters or will we be willing to do something about it?”

From Dr Orly Taitz

I Did It. Justice Roberts Agreed to read all of my documentsYesterday I traveled to Idaho. I was able to address Chief Justice Roberts during the question answer session after his lecture. There were numerous cameras recording this event and simultaneous feed broadcast to all the campuses of the University of Idaho. Roughly 5,000 people in all the campuses had an opportunity to hear what I had to say, it is in video archives and now everybody knows the truth and knows that leftist media thugs such as Seattle Washington Observer shamelessly twist the truth to fit their Pro Obama blind idiot agenda.

It was a grueling day, I left home at 3 in the morning after sleeping only 3 hours and drove to San Diego, from there flew to Salt Lake City, from there to Tacoma, Washington, from there I drove for a couple of hours to be in Moscow Idaho, to address Chief Justice Roberts. After the lecture the audience was told, that they can ask questions, give their name and present a shot question. I was the first to run to the microphone and told Roberts." My name is Orly Taitz, I am an attorney from Southern California. I left home at three o'clock in the morning and flew and drove thousands of miles to talk to you and ask you a question".

Roberts seemed to be impressed by that and I continued."Are you aware that there is criminal activity going on in the Supreme Court of the United States. I have submitted my case Lightfoot v Bowen to you. You agreed to hear it in the conference of all 9 Justices on January 23. Your clerk, Danny Bickle, on his own accord refused to forward to you an important supplemental brief, he has hidden it from you and refused to post it on the docket. Additionally, my case was erased from the docket, completely erased one day after the inauguration, only two days before it was supposed to be heard in the conference. Outraged citizens had to call and demand for it to be posted. On Monday I saw Justice Scalia and he had absolutely no knowledge of my case, that was supposedly heard in conference on January 23rd. It is inexplicable, particularly knowing that roughly half a million American citizens have written to him and to you Justice Roberts demanding that you hear this issue of eligibility of Barack Hussein Obama aka Barry Soetoro to be the President of the United States."

At that point I have shown to Roberts a stack of papers, that I held. Those were my pleadings and printouts that I got from WorldNetDaily. It contained your names, names of about 350,000 that signed the petition. (there were others that have written individual letters,) .

Roberts stated "I will read your documents, I will review them. Give them to my Secret Service Agent and I will review them".

His Secret Service Agent approached me and stated " Give me all the documents, I promise you Justice Roberts will get them". I had a full suitcase of documents. The agent went to look for a box, he found a large box to fit all the documents, he showed me his badge, and introduced himself as Gilbert Shaw, secret Service Agent assigned fto the security of Chief Justice Roberts.

I gave him:

1.Motion fo reconsideration of Lightfoot v Bowen with all the supplemental briefs.
2. Quo Warranto Easterling et al v Obama et al
3. 3300 pages of your names, people that signed WorldNetDaily petition, demanding that the Supreme Court hear Obama elligibility case.
4. Copy of a 164 page dossier and all the other documents sent to Eric Holder, Attorney General, describing suspected criminal activity, associated with Obama and his supporters.

It described a whole campaign of cyber crimes, intimidation, harassment, defamation and assassination of character, impersonation of US army officer Scott Easterling and impersonation of me, it showed screen shots of information being erased from the docket of the Supreme Court, it contained information of court cases being created, fabricated in order to commit voter fraud and sway public opinion, it contained a list of a 100 addresses for Barack Obama with numerous different social security numbers, issued all over the country and attached to those addresses. It showed the address Obama used in Somerville Massachusetts, attached to the social security of a man who is 118 years old.

It showed evidence of Obama committing perjury, lying under oath. It had his school registration from Indonesia under the name Barry Soetoro, citizen of Indonesia, religion Muslim. Right after this page there was a page of Obama's registration to become an attorney and officer of the court in Illinois, where he stated under oath that his name is Barack Hussein Obama and he had no other prior names.

It contained a report from a federal agent Steven Coffman, stating that there are numerous signs of forgery in his Selective Service Certificate.It contained a letter from a renown expert Sandra Line, stating that there are signs of forgery in Obama's short version Certification of Live Birth, and original birth certificate needs to be reviewed in order to ascertain his status.

It contained 130 current job positions for Barry Obama, Barack H. Obama and Michelle Obama, that were obtained from Intellius Jobs.com. None of them were reported on Obamas' tax returns. All of these documents suggest possible massive tax fraud, corruption of a public official, bribery and massive campaign contributions fraud, whereby large campaign contributions, over allowed limits were reported as fictitious positions with different companies, not surprisingly involving most mainstream media outlets.

These need to be reviewed in light of a pattern, I've seen previously.

For example, as a State Senator Obama arranged for his friend Robert Blackwell from killerspin to get a grant of $320,000 of our taxpayers money for his ping-pong tournaments. In exchange Blackwell gave Obama back roughly a third, $100,000 in the form of a salary.

Similarly Obama arranged for Chicago university hospital to get 1 million grant of our taxpayer money and they gave him back roughly a third $357,000 in the form of a board salary for his wife Michelle for working 20 hours a week, even though Michelle was totally worthless as a board member since she had zero medical education and her law licence is on a mandatory inactive status (I wonder why).

I am writing this in a hurry, ready to leave my hotel room, finishing yesterday's dinner leftovers and ready to board a plane for a grueling flight back home. I'll add one more detail. As one of the announcers introduced Roberts, he stated that Roberts has his priorities straight. He described an event when Roberts missed most of a reception because he wanted to be there for his young son, at the sports tournament where his son was participating. He described Roberts as a caring and loving father. At that point I was just about ready to cry. I have 3 sons, I love them too and I would love to be there, attending their events. I am a proud parent. My oldest son scored in top one percent in the Nation in PSATs and he is in an IVY league school studying to be a doctor. He is also a gifted comedian, who formed a stand up comedy improve group and I would love to see him perform. My wo younger sons are great students. My middle son has a beautiful low bass Elvis Presley voice, he sings opera and I would love to hear him perform. My youngest son is a top student taking 5AP classes in tenth grade, gifted mathematician and basketball player, I would love to see him get academic awards and play basketball.

I missed time with my children, time that will never come back because a am criss crossing this country talking to Justices of the Supreme court, Representatives, Senators, FBI agents, Attorney Generals, US attorneys, telling all of them, what is wrong with you? Did some evil magician put a spell on the men in this country and they stopped being men? Why are you afraid to speak up, to stand up for you constitution? Why are you afraid to tell this arrogant jerk from Africa and Indonesia- You need to go home, you cannot be a president and commander in chief because you are not a Natural born Citizen.

To be a Natural born Citizen you have to have both parents as citizens. Your father was never a US citizen and you don't qualify and you also spit us in the face by refusing to unseal your vital records. There is no proof that you are even a citizen. For all we know, you need to go back to Kenya and wait for your green card, and that after we try you for all the crimes perpetrated upon American citizens.

I hope Justice Roberts teaches his son that he is a descendant of people that were real men and fought in Alamo and at Valley Forge. Chief Justice Roberts has a right to issue a stay and appoint Joe Biden a president pro-tempore until Obama proves his qualifications or until a new president is chosen. I hope Roberts teaches his son by example and not by empty words.

Today, the American people are at odds with their own government because of its out of control spending policies, its failure to stop illegal immigration and control our borders, its expansion and intrusion into our everyday lives, its support of NAFTA and other multi-country treaties that hurt American workers, its dramatic increases in regulations and taxation, as well as its fraudulent and unconstitutional financial bailout of the big banks, corporations and Wall Street firms that has pushed our country deeper into debt by trillions of dollars.

Ronald Reagan was right on target when he said: "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

Many in the biased American media talk about the current administration as having revolutionary ideas that will solve the nation's economic problems and it looks like they are right. Unfortunately, the revolutionary ideas of the Obama administration appear to be very similar to the revolutionary ideas of Vladimir Lenin in the Russian Revolution of 1917. Lenin brought the Russian people nationalization of the banks, railroads and industry, food rationing, forced labor camps for the "re-education" of the non-believers and he eventually outlawed most private enterprise.

After Lenin's death, Joseph Stalin took over the Soviet Union and among his first acts were the creation of a state-run system of socialized health care and a centralized cultural administration to "re-educate" the masses. There is every reason to believe that our politically correct American government is slowly but surely moving in the same direction.

We have already been told that President Obama, just like Joseph Stalin, intends to impose socialized medicine upon us. If the current administration policies are implemented, the small business owners in this country who drive the economy will be forced to pay crushing taxes to fund the proposed silver-plated healthcare for illegal aliens and those on welfare. Although private enterprise will not be formally outlawed, many small businesses will struggle or perish under this administration's policies, resulting in many of the original communist goals of Lenin and Stalin being implemented in this country.

The loss of our First Amendment Rights and the "re-education of the American people" will come in the form of a Fairness Doctrine, which Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will push through Congress by stressing the need to foster unity and to avoid destabilizing the country's financial markets with unfair, hurtful and unbalanced commentary by conservatives. This is what the future holds unless American citizens stand up and fight for their freedoms and liberties now.

Our country's Founders told us that Governments get their just powers from the consent of the governed and whenever the government becomes destructive of these ends, it is not only the people's Right, but it is their sacred Duty to change the government.

This is not a partisan party issue, because both parties have failed us. It is an American freedom and liberty issue! Now is the time for all Americans to exert their citizen power again. We must put aside any minor differences that have previously separated us and unite as one strong political force withthe major common goals of restoring or freedoms, liberty and sovereignty.

We must speak out now and support those like-minded individuals who carry the Freedom, Liberty and Sovereignty banner for us. We need to actively participate in the process and embrace a platform of having a smaller federal government, less taxation, returning control of our monetary system to congress (not private bankers in the Federal Reserve), preserving our individual freedoms and liberties, preserving the Bill of Rights and protecting our nation's borders and sovereignty. We must demand that candidates for office not accept any special interest money and that they only support policies and legislation that are in the best interests of the American people and not those of big corporations, international banks or other special interest groups.

Together, let us begin the journey that will leave future generations of Americans a legacy of individual freedom and liberty, a first class education system, a clean environment, a strong and sovereign America with an honest, limited government that will offer unlimited opportunities for their future. If we stand together and act now, we can give it to them.

For Freedom, Liberty and Sovereignty,

John Wallace

Once upon a time the government had a vast junk yard located in a barren/desert area of the country.

The government bureaucrats said "Someone might steal from the junk yard at night." So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.

Then the government bureaucrats said, "How will the watchman do his job without someone instructing him how to do it?" So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.

Then the government bureaucrats said, "How will we know the night watchman is going to do the work correctly?" So they created a Quality Control department and hired two more people. One to do the studies and one to write the reports.

Then the government bureaucrats said, "How are these people going to get paid?" So they created the following positions: a timekeeper and a payroll officer and of course, they they hired two more people.

Then the government bureaucrats said, "Who will be responsible for the activities of all of these people?" So they created an administrative section and hired three more people: an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer and a Legal Secretary.

Then the government bureaucrats finally said, "We have had this program in operation for over one year and we are $1,250,000 over budget. Our available funds are low and we must cutback overall cost."

So they laid off the night watchman.

Congress just passed the one thousand plus page $787 billion Stimulus Bill. It is the most expensive piece of legislation in our country's history and it looks like very few if any of the Senators and Representatives even read it before they voted on it. To make matters worse, the people didn't have a chance to look at it, either.

This is not the first time this has happened. It happened with the TARP bailout bill (2008) that was rushed through Congress with few provisions for accountability; the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 which was Congress' Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout and the PATRIOT Act (2001) that was rushed through Congress before the bill was even printed.

Congressional legislation, which can consist of hundreds or even thousands of pages of text, is routinely drafted by congressional staff members, special interest groups and/or lobbyists and oftentimes is not even read by the members of congress themselves. Although the people, via the U.S. Constitution, have exclusively given Congress the power to write our laws, many of our representatives have delegated this power to their staff members, government agency bureaucrats, special interest groups and corporate lobbyists who prepare much of the legislation.

The danger is that these bureaucrats, special interest groups and lobbyists are not necessarily looking out for the best interest of the American people, but rather for the best interest of whoever is paying them. Could they slip in a paragraph here and a sentence there to promote their own objectives? Absolutely! It would be very easy to do because no one is reading the legislation. Because of the sheer volume of material contained in proposed legislation, individual Members of congress simply do not have the time to read all of the legislation they are voting on.

A prime example is the Federal budget that can run hundreds of thousands of pages.The current system has allowed many pieces of legislation to get through both houses of congress without adequate debate or understanding. The longer a piece of legislation is, the less likely it is that our Senators and Representatives will have the time or inclination to read the entire document.

By routinely failing to read what they are voting on, members of congress have given the American people many excessively long, sometimes incomprehensible and burdensome laws.It has allowed unpopular measures, earmarks, pork barrel amendments or hidden provisions for special interests to be attached to very popular legislation that few in Congress would be willing to oppose publicly. This practice is called “log-rolling.”

Additions and deletions to legislation can even be made at the last minute. Votes are sometimes held with little debate or public notice and sometimes printed copies of the legislation are not available for legislators to read before they vote.The sheer length of many of the bills proposed in congress deprives the average American citizen and their elected representatives of the opportunity to thoroughly examine the text of proposed legislation and amendments in detail prior to voting on it.

We need a “READ THE BILLS ACT” as drafted by DownsizeDC.org, that requires elected representatives to do the following before they can bring any legislation to a vote:

1. Read every word of every bill before a vote can be held on that bill.
2. Read every word of every old law that comes up for renewal under the sunset provisions.
3. Publish (including on the internet) every pending bill at least 7 days before a vote is held, to allow time for public comment.
4. Be present at the reading of bills and that all discussions relating to the bills be open, and
5, All legislators must certify that they have read and understood the bill, including any amendments, before voting on it.

A “Read the Bills Act” would not only eliminate a lot of poor legislation, it would also encourage elected representatives to propose legislation that is brief, understandable and to the point. The openness of the process will help reduce or possibly even eliminate the current practice of adding billions of dollars of non-related pork barrel amendments to "must pass" budget measures and other key legislation.

Any proposed legislation should address one specific issue only and any proposed amendments to the bill should only address the specific issue at hand. No pork barrel amendments of any kind and no unrelated riders should be attached to any bill.All votes on bills should be conducted by public roll call vote so that the American public will know who voted for or against a particular piece of legislation.

John Wallace
www.freedommovementusa.com/

The first step in the process is to find a suitable place in the animal’s habitat where you can leave food out in the open. Pretty soon, the animals will find the food, eat it and will return again to see if there is more. Within a short period of time, the animals will come to that same location almost every day to eat the free food.

When the animals get used to coming every day, the rancher, farmer or game warden can install a fence down one side of the location where the animals come to eat. When they get used to seeing the fence, the wild animals will return and eat the food that is left for them. At some point, another side to the fence is installed. The animals will eventually get used to the new section of fence and will continue to return again and again to eat the free food. The process is continued until all four sides of the fence have been installed to form a compound, with an open gate installed in the final side.  The wild animals, having become accustomed to getting free food at the location, will go through the open gate and enter the fenced in area to eat the food. 

When the entire herd has come through the gate to eat in the fenced in area, the gate is then slammed shut and the whole herd is captured in the compound.  They have now lost their freedom. At first, some of the animals run around trying to find an escape route, but eventually they tire and return to eating the free food.  They become so used to eating the free food that is left out for them that they either forget, or lose the desire, to forage or hunt for food in the wild. As time goes by, they learn to accept their captivity. 

This is similar to what is happening in America today. Moving ever so slowly towards socialism, our ever expanding and intrusive government bureaucracy is attracting more and more citizens and illegal aliens to the free food banquet at the federal trough, while at the same time adding sections of fences with increased governmental rules and regulations that will eventually take away their individual freedoms. Our so-called elected leaders keep handing out the free food on a regular basis in the form of federal grants, subsidies, affirmative action, supplemental income, rebates, stimulus packages, tax credits, and thousands of special programs designed to help particular groups of people who now see themselves as victims. Eventually, the recipients of these never ending and expanding social programs will come to rely on the federal government for their very existence.

Just like the wild animals mentioned earlier, it appears that a significant number of American citizens and illegal aliens are gradually becoming accustomed to feasting at the trough of big government and the number of people receiving government handouts on a regular basis is growing by millions every year. Unfortunately, it will not take long before a significant percentage of the American population becomes so used to receiving the federal assistance that is left out for them that they will either forget, or lose the desire, to escape the system and enjoy their freedoms and liberties.

The politburo in the new expanded American government will tell the people how much money they can earn, where they can go to school, what sodas they can drink, what foods they can’t eat, what kind of a car they can drive, where they can travel, what national ID card they must carry and it will impose any number of other restrictions on them. If we continue on this road to socialism, the American people will no longer be free. The question is: “Will they learn to accept their captivity at the hands of their new masters?” 

Thomas Jefferson said:  “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.” Americans must remember that we cannot fully enjoy our freedoms and liberties in America unless we keep our government limited. As our government grows and becomes more intrusive, as it is today, it is our freedoms and liberties that are becoming limited. Americans must remain vigilant in these trying times as there seems to be many traitorous elected officials in this country who would like to close the gate on our individual freedoms and liberties, as well as our nation’s sovereignty.

Our economy has been brought to its knees because of the disastrous fiscal policies of politicians from both major parties as well as their creation of government created private entities  like ‘Fannie Mae’ and ‘Freddie Mac’ that interfered with our country’s economic system. For decades, Republican and Democratic members of congress have insisted on spending more than they can tax or borrow and the Federal Reserve (a group of private bankers) has conspired with them by printing Trillions of dollars in new “Fiat Money,” which is backed up by absolutely nothing, to make up the difference. 

 

The President and Congressional leaders are calling the current proposed stimulus package “an investment in America's infrastructure” but that is simply not the truth. According to the Congressional Budget Office, only 3 percent, or just $30 billion of this entire package, is dedicated to road and highway spending. The stimulus package will, however, provide additional funding for 150 different federal programs, will create 32 new federal programs, will expand government employment and federal agency budgets, but it's still not clear if it will create any measurable number of new private sector jobs.

While the people of America cut back on their spending and struggle to make ends meet, congress’ new stimulus package will insure that government agencies and selected special interest groups will get more money to spend. This proposed legislation provides enough spending to give every man, woman, and child in America $2,700, or over $6,000 to every individual taxpayer. What did the American taxpayer get for the $ Trillion dollar plus bailout of Wall Street Firms and the Banks?  Absolutely Nothing! Unless you consider that the goal was to help some banks and Wall Street firms buy out other banks and Wall Street firms. To make matters worse, it was just reported that Wall Street execs gave themselves over $18 Billion in bonuses in 2008 as a reward for their failure, all with the taxpayers’ bailout money.

John Wallace

Chatham, NY 12037

Email: john@nycampaignforliberty.com

 

 

Robert Reich, one of President Obama’s chief economic advisors, spoke before the House Democrat Steering Committee recently and discussed the administration’s proposed new $850 billion plus stimulus package that would include the creation of new construction jobs to upgrade the nation’s roads and bridges. During the course of making his presentation, Mr. Reich said the following, and I quote: “I am concerned, as I’m sure many of you are, that these jobs not simply go to high-skilled people who are already professionals or to white male construction workers. … I have nothing against white male construction workers.” (I’m sure that some of Mr. Reich’s best friends are white male construction workers too!). He continued: “Criteria can be set so that the money does go to others, the long term unemployed minorities, women, people who are not necessarily construction workers or high-skilled professionals.”

Reich was basically telling the House democrats to create some sort of “criteria” in the new economic stimulus legislation that would insure that “white male construction workers” are somehow excluded or severely limited from receiving any of these funds. It is also interesting to note that not one of the members of this congressional committee objected to such obvious proposed racial and gender discrimination. Just imagine what would happen if a new Republican administration economic advisor told members of a congressional committee that they should develop “criteria” to exclude black male construction workers from receiving federal stimulus funds. It would be on the front page of every major newspaper in the country. Have you read about Reich’s racist remarks in any major newspapers or on your evening TV news?

Ever since the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1965, the white male has become the unofficial target of the federal government. Over the last 40 plus years, congressional legislation and the federal courts have mandated affirmative action programs, hiring quotas and set-aside business quotas that give women and minorities preference over white males. Over the last 40 plus years, congress and the federal courts have manipulated the laws so much that by 2009 just about every person in America has now become a minority except the heterosexual white male.

Mr. Reich also stated that the new economic stimulus package should have “a high social return.” What the heck does that mean? It means that Reich and his accomplices in the new federal Politburo want to establish an official federal government discrimination policy against white males. They now intend to use official federal government “Racial and Gender Criteria” as a form of social engineering to determine which groups will be lucky enough to receive government money in order to achieve some sort of imaginary “high social return.”

Americans from all racial, gender and ethnic groups are being taxed to pay for this economic stimulus package, (yes: including white males). Therefore, every American should have equal access to the jobs created by this plan and none should be excluded because of their race or gender.

Martin Luther King, Jr., inspired a nation when he voiced his dream for a color-blind nation, a nation in which people would be judged by the content of their characters, "not the color of their skin." The answer to Robert Reich's proposed example of legalized government racism is the concept of Liberty with a limited, constitutional government that is devoted to the protection of individual rights rather than the claims of different racial, ethnic and other special interest groups.

Where Freedom and Liberty are present, individual achievement and competence should be rewarded, not the color of a person's skin, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

By John Wallace

www.NYCampaignForLiberty.com

 

At a time when our federal government is reporting record numbers of job losses in all sectors of the economy throughout the United States, I believe it is time for the American government to protect the American citizen workers by slowing the massive importation of foreign workers into the United States.

According to recent government statistics, in November of 2008 alone, 533,000 non-farm jobs were lost in this country, while at the same time, the Department of Homeland Security issued 138,000 new work permits and green cards (not including replacement or renewal documents) to foreign workers.

As millions of American citizens are losing their jobs, their own government keeps importing 138,000 foreign workers a month into the country to compete for jobs with it own citizens. How does this make any sense? If you think the 138,000 monthly figures for foreign workers sounds too high, a recently published Department of Homeland Security report showed that in 2007 alone, the United States government granted 744,531 permanent green cards to working-age adults ages 20-64, and another 912,735 new employment authorization documents to temporary foreign workers. That adds up to an annual rate of 1,657,266 new foreign workers (not counting the millions of illegal workers) added to our economy each year.

Incoming President Obama has proposed a stimulus package that is expected to initially cost anywhere from $700 billion to well over a $1 trillion with a goal of creating 3 million jobs in the next two years. Whether or not you support his plan, if it works, the creation of 3 million new jobs will be a welcome relief to those American citizen families who are now unemployed due to the economy. Unfortunately, there is a major flaw in the overall plan. During the implementation of this two year plan to create three million jobs, our current immigration system is poised to bring in more than 3 million additional foreign workers in the same two year period. This means that the hundreds of billions of American taxpayer dollars spent on new jobs for Americans won’t even create enough jobs to keep pace with the number of foreign workers we will still be importing into our weakened economy. A large portion of the American taxpayers’ money might even be used to keep these foreign workers employed in the USA at the expense of American workers.

Our current immigration system is predicated on the false assumption that there are millions of jobs Americans won’t do at almost every level of the skill ladder. This is not a logical assumption in even the best of economic times. When American citizen workers are already suffering from an economy that is losing jobs at a phenomenal rate, it doesn’t make any sense for our own government to continue a policy of importing large numbers of foreign workers into the country to compete with its own citizens for jobs that are becoming scarcer.

In these tough economic times, when more and more American citizen workers are suffering and losing their jobs, our government needs to take two important steps to protect its own citizens. The first step is to put more emphasis on removing illegal alien workers from our country by actually enforcing our current immigration laws and the second step is to temporarily suspend the importation of millions of foreign workers into the country until the economy can support them.

Definition of a Coup: "noun: a sudden and decisive change of government illegally or by force."

The Supreme Court has been asked again and AGAIN to force Barack Obama to show THE PEOPLE of America his REAL birth certificate which is under lock and key in Hawaii and which will - or will NOT - show THE PEOPLE that he, Barack Obama, is legally and constitutionally qualified, by being a "natural born" citizen, to be President of the United States.

The Supreme Court CONTINOUSLY refuses to force Obama to reveal his real birth certificate. The Governor of Hawaii SAYS that she has seen Barack Obama's birth certificate BUT she refuses to show it to THE PEOPLE of America. Barack Obama has been asked numerous times by THE PEOPLE to show us his true birth certificate and yet, he refuses to do so.

If Barack Obama is a NATURAL BORN citizen of this country then WHAT is he hiding? The only thing that he could be hiding is the fact that he is NOT a "natural born" citizen of this country and as such is NOT ALLOWED to be President.

THUS, what you have is the Supreme Court, the Democrat Party, the Republican Party, the Electoral College, the Federal AND State Judiciaries and others in this country PURPOSELY ignoring the fact that this person, who is going to be sworn in to become the 44th President of these United States MAY NOT BE Constitutionally allowed or Constitutionally qualified to hold this nation's highest office.

What do you call a situation like this? What do you call a situation like this where individuals in government who SHOULD be DEMANDING that this man PROVE his Constitutional qualifications for this nation's highest office remain silent?

The answer is simple, yet no one wants to call it what it is. It's called: A POLITICAL COUP.

When you have different individuals in various branches of government working together to Un-Constitutionally and ILLEGALLY place a person into political office ( the office of The President of The United States ) and all of those individuals and organizations of government KEEP QUIET about what they know to be true then what you have is a Political Coup for all of those who know - or seriously suspect - that Obama is not native born, but who have remained silent, have thus worked together to commit a crime against U.S. Constitution and The People of These United States.

What you are now witnessing in America is THE TAKING OF THE PRESIDENCY, via a Political Coup by a man, Barack Obama, who more than likely is not Constitutionally or Legally allowed to hold that office.

And those who know what is going on but who continue to remain silent?What are they?

TRAITORS TO THIS COUNTRY AND TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION!

This writer wonders just how much more of these traitorous actions the American People are going to swallow quietly and without protest like whipped dogs?

This article was submitted by an anonoymous writer.

 

Most Americans are aware of the fraud case involving Bernard Madoff, a Wall Stret financial advisor who is accused of swindling investors out of an estimated $50 billion in what is commonly called a “Ponzi Scheme.” Named after one of America’s greatest swindlers, Charles Ponzi, a “Ponzi Scheme” is a financial ruse that, for a time, appears to generate great returns from an investment when in fact it produces nothing. As the scheme continues to grow and attract new investors, it can appear to be very financially successful and those investors who get in and out early, oftentimes make a lot of money. Eventually, however, when no new victim investors can be found to put new money into the program, the scheme crashes and everyone who is still in it loses everything, as did most of Bernard Madoff’s investors.

Since the scheme made the news, American political leaders have pointed to the Madoff case as an example of what’s wrong with our country’s financial regulatory and oversight system. The politicians, the press and the investors want Madoff prosecuted and sent to jail for his crimes. Members of congress, both Republicans and Democrats, are outraged and are calling for more oversight of the financial industry. They want to know “who dropped the ball?” and how could such a massive fraud occur under the watchful eyes of federal government regulators?

Unfortunately, for decades many of these same political leaders and members of congress have been ignoring the two biggest “Ponzi Schemes” of all time. Schemes that make the Madoff scheme look like child’s play. The two “Ponzi Schemes” that pose the most danger to Americans are the government’s Social Security and Medicare programs. Congress has been routinely using the excess social security tax money that is collected to fund other programs to a point where the Social Security Trust Fund now consists of nothing more than a box of IOU’s and the unfunded Medicare costs continue to grow dramatically every year.

When the mandatory Social Security system was set up in 1935, there were 45-50 workers paying into the system for each retiree. Now there are only 3.4 workers for each retiree and the ratio continues to shrink. If nothing is done and congress fails to take remedial action, the rapidly expanding and underfunded Social Security and Medicare systems will collapse for lack of money just like the “Ponzi Scheme” of Bernard Madoff. Will members of congress demand that those responsible for the collapse of the Social Security and Medicare system be prosecuted and sent to jail? Will they want to know “who dropped the ball?” Of course not, because they will be the ones responsible.

Barack Hussein Obama has prevailed in the 2008 presidential election. Obama not only carried all the "blue" states that John Kerry won in 2004, he also flipped several "red" states, such as Colorado, Nevada, Florida and Virginia, delivering a crushing electoral defeat to John McCain. And the blame falls squarely on the GOP for allowing this Marxist to become president of the United States.

It has been interesting and amusing to read the numerous "post mortems" from conservative and liberal pundits alike. Yet not one of the post mortems has identified the real reason McCain got clobbered. It was not because of Sarah Palin, as many liberals claimed. Palin was the only thing that kept McCain in the game. It was not because middle America suddenly decided they like leftist solutions as opposed to conservative solutions. McCain offered few such solutions himself.

The reason Obama prevailed was because the GOP allowed a false narrative about Obama to stand — a narrative painting BHO as a moderate, reasonable, and competent legislator.

FIRST THINGS FIRST:

John McCain, for all his problems — deep distrust amongst conservatives, an unpopular Bush occupying the White House, an ill timed "fundamentals of the economy are strong" gaffe, and a less than stellar campaign team — could have put himself in a strong position to win with a single, courageous act: opposing the socialist "bailout." What would have been proof of a genuine free market Maverick, willing to stand and fight big spending socialism, instead turned into a Monty Python skit. McCain first ran with his instincts and stated he did not like the idea of a taxpayer bailout, then swiftly reversed himself — deciding it was his golden opportunity to "lead." He declared a phony "suspension" of his campaign and flew back to Washington to loudly promote this boondoggle. By doing so, not only did he look contrived and silly, McCain ended up on the exact same side of the issue as Nancy Pelosi, George Bush, Harry Reid, the GOP leadership and Barack Obama. And by being on the same side as Obama, his subsequent claims of prudent fiscal stewardship versus Obama's "tax and spend" liberalism rang exceedingly hollow.

This episode cost McCain dearly. After chipping away at Obama's lead all summer, after the negative publicity surrounding Obama and Jeremiah Wright, and then introducing Sarah Palin to America during the Republican National Convention, the wind was at McCain's back. Palin hit a home run in her speech, and McCain appeared quite clever for selecting her. The conservative base was starting to mobilize.

Then President Bush and Treasury Secretary Paulson announced a financial "crisis" to the world; and McCain (and the GOP leaders) crumpled like a cheap suit. Granted, there were other footprints on his John Thomas, such as the Spanish language ads touting his amnesty plan, his foolish call for the feds to usurp individual mortgages, and his cringe producing knocks against "big oil"; all which helped erode conservative enthusiasm. But the "bailout" debacle was the big one. McCain not only missed the opportunity to side with the people (70% strongly opposed), but he tied himself closer to Bush at a time when Bush's approval rating slumped from bad to worse. Within 10 days, the polls dramatically shifted from McCain up from 2 to 8 points, to an Obama lead, which was never relinquished.

That was John McCain's main contribution to his loss (other than being John McCain), but the entire GOP, including the RNC, McCain's advisors, the NRCC, the NRSC, and other various Republican organs failed as well. They not only failed to win, but more importantly, they failed to prevent a dyed in the wool, radical Marxist from ascending to the presidency. How? By not telling America that Barack Hussein Obama IS a dyed in the wool, radical Marxist!!! It is a nearly unforgivable crime to have failed to "put country first" and do everything in their power to keep this slippery and dangerous subversive from winning.

Had they exposed Barack Obama for who he really is, instead of bowing to the winds of political correctness and decorum, Obama and his democrat allies would have been beaten like ugly, red-headed stepchildren. Instead, they allowed Obama to dictate the narrative of his own life, knowing full well that the MSM was going to support him 100%. The ads that the GOP did run mentioning Bill Ayers were sporadic, and mostly ineffectual, because they never followed up on why it mattered. They never explained to the public that Bill Ayers is STILL a radical Marxist in every sense of the word, and was such when Obama "palled" around with him. They never explained that Obama and Ayers pushed anti-American, radical education "reform" together. They never wove it into the larger story line of Obama's entire life — a life full of radical associations, and his own Marxist activities. And they failed to clearly demonstrate how that radicalism is setting Obama's agenda this very day. It was an EPIC FAILURE on the part of the GOP!

THE REAL STORY:

Talk Radio has a massive audience, but it is a self selecting audience. Apolitical and swing voters generally do not tune in, and most liberals don't either. The only way for Obama's real narrative to have reached the masses who don't hang onto Rush's every word, and who don't spend their time reading Red State and Free Republic, was for the GOP hierarchy (including McCain) to raise hell about it. It was the only way the MSM was going to mention it. Instead we witnessed the spectacle of the RNC and McCain campaign scolding those in the Republican Party who tried to run such ads. And when a very brave congressman, Michelle Bachmann (R-MN), appeared on Chris Matthews' program and declared her suspicion that Obama may hold anti-American views, the NRCC pulled her funding and she was treated like a pariah in the party. Not one GOP leader rushed to her defense. It was a prime opportunity for Republicans to tell the world WHY Obama's views should be considered un-American. Instead, they cut and ran, just like they did from every Obama controversy.

No matter how many uppercuts talkers such as Mark Levin, Rush, Hugh Hewitt, and Savage delivered to Obama's chin, and no matter how much dirt the rightwing blogosphere uncovered, the powers that be in the Republican Party refused to join the fray, leaving the MSM to counter and gloss over anything negative about Obama that seeped into the national dialogue.

The Republicans have lost their nerve. Worse, they have lost their revulsion to socialism and Marxism and have devolved into politically correct, overfed capons. No other explanation suffices to illustrate their frightened, AWOL status on the following subjects:

Obama's mentor for roughly 10 years in Hawaii before he moved off to college was a man named Frank Marshall Davis. Obama reveals "Frank" as his respected mentor and adviser in Dreams of My Father, and recalls him fondly — nights of reading poetry together, drinking booze, and learning about the plight of blacks in America. Frank Marshall Davis was a radical Marxist and racist — and a pedophile. (Read all about Frank on Wikipedia here and in more detail from American Thinker here.)

Obama, in his first book Dreams, bluntly stated that once in college he actively sought out radicals as his friends. Quote: "To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists." How many of these radical and Marxist friends did the MSM seek out for interviews? Absolutely ZERO. (Read "Obama's Socialist Roots Run Deep" here.)

Obama was a member of the New Party in the early to mid 1990s. The New Party was a group of radical leftists founded in order to unite the Communists, the Socialist Workers Party, Community Organizers, and other various fringe groups into a more effective political party. There are photographs of Obama proudly standing with its leaders and articles in their publications celebrating his state Senate victory, and his membership in the NP. (More at Newsbusters here and Human Events here.)

Obama's African father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr. was a card carrying Marxist. Though as a child Barack did not know his father, once older he began serious correspondence with him. And he subsequently dedicated his first book to this man in 1995. Obama Sr., amongst other things, advocated the "communal ownership of land and the forced confiscation of privately controlled land," nationalizing foreign owned properties in his native Kenya, and "no limit to taxation if the benefits derived from public services by society measure up to the cost in taxation which they have to pay." Pure Marxism, and a heavy influence on Obama Jr. (PrestoPundit has a good primer on Sr.'s marxism here.)

Obama's very own mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was also a dedicated leftist her entire life. Obama credits her with having the most influence on his young life, saying "the dominant figure in my formative years... The values she taught me continue to be my touchstone when it comes to how I go about the world of politics." She has been described by her friends as a "fellow traveler" — code word for communist. (Townhall.com has more here.)

Obama married Michelle Robinson. While Michelle can certainly be charming, she had to learn on the campaign trail to not portray America as a greatly flawed and depressing country — which of course only her husband could fix. Twice she stated she was "for the first time proud of my country" before such nonsense reached the media and she was forced to backpedal and whitewash. Her admonition for women to reject careers in "corporate America" in favor of "community service" reeks of class warfare. Her Princeton college thesis is pathetic race victim pablum sprinkled with hackneyed socialism. (Slate dissects it brutally here.)

For twenty plus years Obama (later joined by wife and kids) sat in the pews of Trinity United Christian Church, home of his "great friend and mentor," Pastor Jeremiah Wright. Everyone is familiar with Wright's racist and anti-American rants that received some media coverage back in June. However, the larger story is that Rev. Wright and his "church" are devoted adherents to Black Liberation Theology. Black Liberation Theology is a particularly noxious and ardently Marxist worldview. And Barack chose this institution willfully and continues to heap praise on it, despite being forced to finally toss the good Reverend under the bus during his campaign. (Much more on BLT here and here.)

Barack Obama traveled to Kenya in 2006 as a sitting U.S. Senator and campaigned (illegally so) for socialist presidential candidate, Raila Odinga. Odinga was defeated, but due to his post election agitation, riots ensued and more than 1500 Kenyan citizens were murdered. Kofi Annan brokered a power sharing agreement to stop the violence and Odinga was appointed Prime Minister. This is a man who was so enamored with Fidel Castro that he named his first born son Fidel in his honor. (Newsweek's sanitized essay on Odinga here, and the real Obama/Odinga story here from the Washington Times.)

Obama, as we have found out from the unrepentant terrorist himself since the election, was much more than just "neighbors" with Bill Ayers. According to Bill, they are "family friends." That Obama was blatantly lying about the extent of their relationship is inarguable. But even the relationship that was "on record," as political allies in Chicago politics, and allies in getting their education "agenda" realized through the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, was highly exploitable. For starters, Ayers may have quit advocating bombings, but he never once stopped advocating Marxist dogma, especially as it applied to education in America. And Obama was in lockstep, going so far to give a glowing review of Ayers' 1997 book, A Kind and Just Parent, praising the Marxist gibberish as "a searing and timely account of the juvenile court system." It has also been shown that there is a very real possibility that Ayers either edited or co-wrote Obama's Dreams book. (NR's Stanley Kurtz has more on the Obama/Ayers working relationship.)

Obama has an ongoing relationship with Code Pink, the Marxist, anti-war outfit most famous for protesting outside of Walter Reed military hospital and at military recruitment offices. Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans was a principle Obama "bundler" during the campaign, raising tens of thousands of dollars, and arranging events for Obama. Even after Evans stormed the stage at a Palin speech and was arrested, the MSM refused to report on the links and friendship with Barack Hussein Obama. (FreeRepublic covered this topic best, here, here, and here.)

The above close associations are only a partial list, for brevity's sake. But there are many others, including radical islamist and former black panther Khalid al-Mansour, a man identified by civil rights leader (and Obama supporter) Percy Sutton as "sponsoring" Obama during his Harvard days. Obama denies knowing him, yet al-Mansour and Sutton told the media the opposite. Also, "close friend" Rashid al Khalidi, Black Liberation soulmate and anti-semite Louis Farrakhan, his self described "spiritual advisers" such as the Marxist priest Father Pfleger and Reverend James "house niggers" Meeks, official campaign artist and Marxist propagandist Shepard Fairey, and Communist Party USA board member Tim Wheeler, who was honored by Obama with his own blog on the official Obama/Biden campaign website; all remained virtual unknowns. It goes on and on.

So what prevented the GOP and the McCain campaign from exploiting the history of Barack Obama and telling the true story about his politics and worldview? Shouldn't the urge to prevent such a radical from gaining the presidency of this blessed nation have outweighed any fear of being labeled racists and fear mongers by Obama's cheering section in the MSM? Only a fool or a leftist could have been comforted by Obama's attempts to sound notes of moderation during the general election.

There was a reason that Obama received endorsements from North Korea's official news outlet, Cuba's Fidel Castro, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, the Communist Party in the U.S. (CPUSA), France's Socialist Party, The New Black Panther Party, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the radical Palestinian party Hamas, British communist MP George Galloway, Libyan dictator Momar Kadafi, Calyspo Louie's Nation of Islam, Nicaraguan communist Daniel Ortega, and virtually every radical, leftist, socialist, and Marxist organization in existence.

Yet the GOP leaders watched in silence as conservatives in the blogosphere and talk radio documented these endorsements and associations and tied them to his voting record and his current policies. Policies that include radical gun control, giving out welfare and calling it tax cuts, pushing for surrender to the islamists in Iraq, lifting all restrictions on abortion, pushing an education policy right out of Bill Ayers' handbook, using Marxist Saul Alinsky's tactics for polluting the election process, threatening U.S. sovereignty with global UN tax proposals and unfettered illegal immigration, his call for a powerful "Civilian National Defense Force," his promises to gut missile defenses and many other high tech military systems, a radical energy agenda aimed at curbing fictitious "global warming," and his proposal for nationalizing health care.

Fellow conservatives, next time you find yourself enraged about a far reaching, socialist Obama policy which erodes and undermines our military capabilities, our free market economy, our sovereignty, or our Christian heritage, be sure to thank the leaders in the Republican Party. When it was time to stand and fight with us and expose the Marxist candidate to the American people, they chose the poisonous "safety" of political correctness instead; to their eternal shame and to our nation's catastrophic detriment.

by Alexander J. Madison (Originally published Nov. 16, 2008)

http://falconparty.com/?p=16

Governor Paterson’s proposal to balance next year’s budget by adding a whole new group of taxes and fees on individuals, families and small businesses, is outrageous. At the same time, he is also proposing cutting TAP tuition grants for middle class college students and eliminating STAR real estate tax rebates for homeowners.If these proposed increases in taxes and fees are passed, New York’s taxpayers and homeowners will have to cut back on their spending because the new taxes will mean anywhere from $1,500 to $4,000 less money in their pockets.

To make matters worse, while the Governor plans on taking this money out of the pockets of hard working taxpaying New Yorkers, he has proposed giving a raise to welfare recipients so they will have more money in their pockets to spend.

How do these new taxes and fees make economic sense? The average New York State homeowner and taxpayer is paying more and more in taxes and fees every year. In some cases, real estate taxes (even with the STAR program) have been rising at a rate of between 10% and 15% a year, or more. Now the Governor intends to keep expanding state government and spending more money by raising taxes on almost everything, including non-diet soda. The governor’s proposal to eliminate the middle-class STAR rebate without also enacting a tax cap will increase the burden already borne by overtaxed New York homeowners.

I realize that New York State is in financial trouble and that Gov. Paterson is looking for new revenue sources, but looking at selective sources to raise revenues, including a tax on non-diet soft drinks, is not the answer. The Governor is using the possible health connection between non-diet soda and obesity, but I believe he’s just looking for additional revenues in any way he can get it. If that is the case, then why stop at non-diet soda? Why not tax cookies or Big Mac’s? Maybe people should have an annual weigh-in at the DMV office and be taxed if they are over a certain weight. How about taxing people who exercise a lot because they use more oxygen than the rest of us? How about taxing the Governor, State Senators and members of the Assembly when they fail to pass a balanced budget on time?

Less get realistic. In the tough economic times we face, it would make more sense to cut spending, improve accountability measures to ensure our tax dollars are spent wisely. Our elected officials at the federal, state and local levels must be made to understand that the taxpayers’ money is not unlimited. Giving welfare recipients a raise, while taxing the heck out of the rest of us is also not the answer.

I think it’s time for Governor Patterson and State lawmakers to start doing what the rest of us have to do. Live within your means and don’t spend more than you take in.

By John W. Wallace
Chatham, NY