(Paraphrased from reports on the trip to Iowa City 3/25/10)
President Obama came to our beautiful state last week to sell us on the health care bill already pressed upon us. The Republicans called a rally at the Pentacrest the night before and the Patriot movement called for a protest right in front of Obama. With many state and national speakers, the Republican rally reportedly had 200-250 attend. There were about 1,000 marchers on the streets of Iowa City the next morning before President Obama arrived and about 300 stayed in front of the Field House, where he was speaking until about 2:30.
Parking was difficult for people driving in and although Iowa City is the greatest bastion of liberalism in Iowa, bus loads of people came in from outside the state to fill seats for his speech.
The Patriots outside were focused on the issues and were peaceful. Many reported observing U of I students mingling in the Patriot crowd, trying to provoke confrontations without success.
The northwest Iowa group received many encouragements at their stops on the return trip home where people thanked them for taking the time to go down there and represent Americans in expressing their displeasure over things that have been going on in DC. Some participants had been interviewed several times by the the TV crews and reporters crawling all over Iowa City yet none was shown on the evening news from the Patriots protesting. The articles posted on web sites were negative, lies of racism and invariably referred to us as “teabaggers”.
“As normal, humble, kind and caringn Americans, and Christians of every denomination, we are the best argument aggainst their campaign of misinformation about the Patriot movement. Our friends and neighbors know us, they know we are not monsters, so get out and use every opportunity to witness for your God, your Country, and your brothers and sisters in the Patriot movement. Do not be shy about pointing out the liberal/progressive lies for what they are….We will be heard, our concerns will be addressed, and the Republic will be restored, for we will not quit until it is so! God bless each and every one of you, and may God forever bless this great land!” (Larry)
President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act in 1862. It was “short and beautiful” giving plots of 160 acre land in the west to anyone with the backbone to live and work on it. These plots were given regardless of who they were or who they would vote for in the next election. They were entrusted with freedom to govern themselves as they developed the property and assumed personal responsibility in being productive land owners. This impartial act of legislation built America and the character of the people who spread across it, leading to unprecedented growth.
How different from legislation today. The health care bill recently passed forces us to purchase government mandated insurance and anything different will be considered illegal. This is bullying the American people. We are being seen not as equals to the legislators, capable of caring for ourselves but as something to be shaped and perfected by the experts – by our government who see themselves as knowing better than ourselves. This attitude has been in the schools for about 100 years, based on Woodrow Wilson’s progressivism that the Declaration of Independence is obsolete and we need to be liberated from it. Today we are being governed by a President and Congress that considers the Constitution obsolete, a “living” document requiring constant change depending on our times. They do not believe there is an absolute truth and in the absence of absolute truth, ”good” is subject to the ideas of this President and his party.
(comments based on article in Imprimis, December 2009)
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March 25th, 2010
As the session comes to a close in the next few days, the numbers become clearer about what the States budget will show. Its looks like a pilfered Castle, with nothing left but the structure itself.
2009 spending = $5,959 Billion
2010 spending = $5,300 Billion
2011 spending = $5,296 Billion (Proposed)
When you look at these budgets, you will see no real reductions in spending. This is an actual picture. What’s disappointing is that cuts are made to one program so another program can be created. Don’t be fooled, all these across the board cuts have not actually cut the budget, it simply redistributed the funds.
The problem lies in where the money is coming from this year. No spending reduction, so the money needs to be stolen from somewhere. Below is the pots where the money is coming from for the 2011 budget!
Federal stimulus dollars (one-time money) = $328 million
Emergency State government funds = $258 million
Other one time pots of money = $ 97 million
$683 Million of one time spending
Where do we find the money next year? The Democrats passed a budget that continues to spend without cutting, however, it cuts K-12 education by $167 million, and puts the money in other places in government. This is a clear picture of government priority.
Whoever is in control next session, the one-time money is gone, and the reckless spending will meet reality after the November election.
This is a very sad commentary on government and policy makers!
“One day after Congress approved the Health Care bill, the Senate Banking Committee approved massive regulation bill for the financial world” (”Creating a permanent Tarp” by James Gattuso in the Washington Times 3/25/2010)
The bill is sponsored by Senator Dodd, will:
-create new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau located within the Federal Reserve Board bureaucracy
-establishes Financial Stability Oversight Council
-Treasury and other regulators would have the power to seize and liquidate financial firms they think are in trouble.
-creates $50 billion fund to finance these liquidations.
Bigger government and prefunded bailouts will not fix the system. Yet this 1300 page bill cleared Senate committee in 22 minutes.
President Obama will be in Iowa City, Thursday, March 25. A bus is leaving from Sioux Falls and will be making stops along the way for anyone needing a ride. The bus will arrive by noon in Iowa City before President Obama’s Health bill speech at 1:00. Please let Larry or Joy know as soon as possible if you are interested in joining your voice with others in Iowa City tomorrow.
The freedoms our forefathers fought for are slowly being taken away. This will continue to happen should the people of our great nation remain silent. Legislation such as hate crimes, gun control, increasing taxes, and euthanasia have been passed.
Where is this all going to take our country?
Kitty Werthmann grew up in Austria under the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler. She has seen firsthand the devastating effects when people elect and put unchecked power into the hands of a few. Come hear Kitty’s story on the eerie similarities between the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany and America today. She will be speaking at the Northwest Iowa Community College in Sheldon, Iowa on Friday, April 30 at 7:00 pm.
“NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!” Winston Churchill.
March 22, 2010 12:39 PM EDT by Elizabeth MacDonald
The IRS’s powers are effective immediately, as an estimated $400 billion in new taxes and fees kick in starting in 2013.
The insurance mandate takes effect in 2013, too. New coverage subsidies for small businesses begin immediately; the new long-term care entitlement starts in 2011; and new insurance exchanges start in 2013 as well.
Broader IRS powers also are being enacted despite the news that dozens of states may mount potential court challenges based on the constitutionality of health reform’s insurance mandate, among other things (Click on EMac’s January column: “Is Health Reform Unconstitutional?”). Florida, Alabama, Idaho, Nebraska ,Virginia, Texas, Utah and Washington number among the states planning court challenges.
Some legal experts say this fight may reach the level of the US Supreme Court, as it centers on the US Constitution’s interstate commerce clause. Congressional Democrats say they have the power to mandate that taxpayers must buy health insurance or pay a fine.
Even though legal experts say the US constitution does not force Americans to buy any good or service as a condition of being a citizen, and that the constitution does not let Congress regulate the act of doing nothing, meaning having to pay a fine if you don’t buy insurance.
Also, the insurance exchanges launched in the bill essentially do not let taxpayers buy health insurance across state lines, although the new law says states may merge their exchanges with neighboring states.
The IRS will now have the ability to issue liens, seize tax refunds, assess penalties, and to verify whether taxpayers’ health insurance coverage is “acceptable.”
“One of the most troubling aspects of this new IRS authority is the newly granted power to collect additional taxes from Americans whose health insurance coverage is deemed to be insufficient to meet the definition of minimum coverage, as defined by federal bureaucrats, required to be purchased,” the House Republicans’ analysis says.
The report adds: “Disturbingly, the IRS would be in charge of verifying that every American taxpayer has obtained acceptable health coverage for every month of the year. If the IRS determines that a taxpayer lacks acceptable insurance for even a single month, then the IRS would impose a new tax on that taxpayer, even auditing the taxpayer and could assess interest and penalties on top of the tax.”
The agency might have to hire as many as 16,500 additional staffers, including new auditors and agents, so as to oversee the program, says Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., the ranking Republican on the Ways and Means Committee. That would come at an additional taxpayer cost of $10 billion, estimates show.
“It is a very dangerous expansion of the IRS’ power and reach into the lives of virtually every American,” Rep. Camp said in a statement.
The Ways and Means report says, among other things:
- IRS agents would be tasked with determining whether Americans had obtained the insurance coverage required under the individual mandate.
- Individuals could be fined $2,250 or 2 percent of income, whichever is greater, if you are unable to prove you have “minimum essential coverage.”
- The IRS would be empowered to confiscate tax refunds if necessary.
- Audits probably would increase as a result of the legislation’s new requirements.
- The budget for IRS operations will balloon by $10 billion in the next decade in order to administrate the new program.
- Nearly half of the new individual mandate taxes will be paid “by Americans earning less than 300 percent of poverty, $66150 for a family of four.
http://emac.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/03/22/irs-gains-broader-powers-under-health-reform/
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
At 12:30 PM through 1:00 PM, on the West steps of the Capitol, you are invited to participate in an outdoor rally lead by pastors. And, at 1:00 PM through 3:00 PM, inside the Capitol, near the lower level dining area, Tamar Scott, of Concerned Women of America, will help those who wish to speak to their legislators.