Taxpayer Alert: YOU Are On Their Mind

Legislators are back in Olympia for the next two days and YOU are on their mind.

It is the annual session known as Committee Days, and joining them in Olympia are a motley crew of tax hike advocates vying for their attention...and your money.

SEIU and others plan to pressure lawmakers to raise YOUR taxes rather than cut THEIR spending to fix the rapidly growing 2011-13 budget deficit.

Even Governor Gregoire has stated that raising taxes is on the table. You can count on it!

So YOU NEED TO CALL to call Olympia tomorrow... and Friday. Yes, call them again. Let the know THEY are on your mind too. Legislative Hotline - 1.800.562.6000

Tell them to get a grip on THEIR spending, and to leave you and your paycheck ALONE. To even think of increasing taxes in this economy is insane.

After you call, check out other candidates running for your legislators seat. Get to know them a bit. Ask them if they will pledge to cut government spending and give taxpaying citizens a break. If they agree, get involved in their campaign immediately.

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some change in Washington State. I'm so done with this Democrat dominance and their fixation on what I work to earn.

Time for some serious fiscal restraint, and leaders courageous enough to do it. Let's elect some starting right now!

Take America Back

Eagle Forum, a conservative public policy organization founded by Phyllis Schlafly, will host the national How to Take Back America Conference this weekend in conjunction with its 38th Annual Eagle Council on September 25th and 26th at the Hilton Frontenac Hotel in St. Louis.

Eagle Forum will join forces with some of today’s leading conservative activists and media personalities, including radio talk show host and president of Faith2Action Janet Folger Porter, radio mogul Dick Bott, owner of WorldNetDaily Joseph Farah, founder of Home School Legal Defense Association and chancellor of Patrick Henry College Michael Farris, dean of Liberty University Law School Mat Staver, and founder of American Family Association Don Wildmon.

Featured speakers will include six Members of Congress: Rep. Steve King (IA), Rep. Tom McClintock (CA), Rep. Tom Price, M.D. (GA), Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN), Rep. Trent Franks (AZ) and Rep. Todd Akin (MO). Other national figures will include three-star General Jerry Boykin, “Joe the Plumber,” former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and musical guest Sonicflood.

“President Obama and his radical left-wing policies are uniting conservatives all over the country and are motivating people who have never been politically active to pay attention and to get involved,” said Eagle Forum President Phyllis Schlafly. “So, we decided to expand our annual conference this year to bring together experienced grassroots activists and those who might be newly engaged in politics through the Tea Party movement.”

The How to Take Back America Conference is designed to be a crash course in conservative grassroots activism, featuring nearly forty speakers presenting twenty-four “how-to” workshops, including How to use New Media technology, How to defend America from missile attack, How to deal with voter fraud, the Census, and ACORN, How conservatives can win in 2010, How to stop socialism in health care, and How to bring youth into the conservative movement.

“This Conference is designed to encourage and educate conservative activists through knowledgeable speakers and through ahead-of-the-curve strategy sessions,” said Schlafly. “Those who are new to the movement will learn from those of us who have been laboring for many years, but most importantly, we will teach them that conservatives really can win.”

“I Absolutely Reject that Notion.”

President Obama ran into a problem from an unlikely source yesterday during his television marathon of five Sunday talk shows. ABC host George Stephanopoulos confronted the president on whether the large penalties in the bill ($3,800 per family) for those who refuse to buy health insurance constitute a tax.

The president, understandably, was adamant in denying it was a tax. If it is a tax, then he is violating his pledge not to raise taxes on middle class families – a political disaster.

As Stephanopoulos pressed the point, Obama said, “No. That’s not true, George.” A few minutes later, he objected again, and said, “No, but, but, George, you – you can’t just make up that language and decide that that’s called a tax increase.”

Stephanopoulos then cited a Webster’s dictionary, which defines “tax” as “a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes.”

Obama objected again, and told Stephanopoulos that by looking up tax in the dictionary, he was “stretching a little bit right now.” Stephanopoulos gave up and asked, “But you reject that it’s a tax increase?” President Obama responded, “I absolutely reject that notion.”

The president may reject that notion, but right about now Congressman Joe Wilson might again need to yell “You lie!”

Several news outlets took a look at the Senate bill to see what it called the penalties. There it was in black and white on page 29: “The consequence for not maintaining insurance would be an excise tax.”

According to Politico, the legislation goes on to state that the tax would be collected: “through the tax code and applied as an additional amount of federal tax owed.”

By the way, here is another $1,800 middle class tax increase the administration is pushing and trying its best to deny.

~ Gary Bauer

Millions of Stimulus Dollars For Signs

By Stephen Dinan & Salena Zito

They're spending hundreds of billions of dollars to stimulate the economy, so Senate Democrats said Wednesday they might as well spend millions putting up signs to highlight where the money is being spent.

The road signs, which let motorists know the paving and construction projects they see are being paid for by the $787 billion economic stimulus program, have popped up across the country.

In a 52-45 vote, the Senate decided the signs should stay.

Lori Irving, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Transportation, acknowledged the department strongly encouraged states to use stimulus funding to develop the signs.

"The signs are not required," she said.

Some states, like Virginia, chose not to erect signs.

"Personally I think it is ridiculous that any of the stimulus money is used by government entities to make signs," said Mike Cupp of Morgantown, W.Va.

Another Bizarre Czar

On Thursday, the Senate confirmed, by a vote of 57-40, the nomination of Cass Sunstein to be Director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a.k.a. "Regulatory Czar," overseeing all federal regulations. That makes at least 33 or so of these "czars" currently in the Obama administration, most without facing a Senate confirmation hearing, and all with wide-sweeping powers.

Sunstein has some bizarre and frankly scary ideas. Related to health care, he has written: "I urge that the government should indeed focus on life-years rather than lives. A program that saves young people produces more welfare than one that saves old people."

He also believes that animals should be allowed to sue their owners. Sadly, he is not the only bizarre czar at the White House.

The "Science Czar," John Holdren, believes trees should be allowed to sue, that a born baby "will ultimately develop into a human being," and in a 1977 textbook proposed forced abortion and sterilization as potential government methods for population control.

Recently the "green jobs czar," Van Jones, resigned when his radical views became widely known. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) has called for President Obama's czars to testify before Congress.

While the hearing might need to be held in the House chamber to hold the entire czar army, more people need to know the extremist views of those with whom the President has surrounded himself for counsel.

President Obama's health care plan envisions no less than 53 new federal panels, boards and organizations; if enacted into law, the new Regulatory Czar will have even more to regulate!

Tony Perkins

Five Things the President SHOULD Say on Health Care

By FRC

Tonight, President Barack Obama will address a joint session of Congress to discuss health care. While he and his speechwriters are putting their polishing touches on what he will say, I would like to give him some unsolicited advice by reiterating what FRC has been saying for years about what any health care reform should include.

First is portability and accessibility. The national priority should focus on affordable health insurance for insured and uninsured families; not on creating government-controlled programs to ensure all Americans receive a one-size-fits-all insurance policy.

Second, any such plan should, at the minimum, maintain current public protections from forcing taxpayers to pay for abortion -- this can only be done by specifically excluding it, something none of the current plans being discussed do.

The third priority is there should be no government mandates. Families (and businesses) should not be faced with massive fines if they fail to follow the orders of Washington on health insurance. Enough with the Nanny State!

A fourth concern should focus on choice, which would include real portability that is long term portability. Choice also includes the right of parents to be involved with the health decisions of their children and to have access to their medical records. And choice means being able to select physicians and plans based on those benefits deemed most appropriate for a specific family.

Choice also plays into the final criterion--the right of conscience needs to be protected. This means the conscience of health care providers and medical students must be protected as well as the corporate conscience of health insurers and their subscribers.

These principles are what I hear as I travel the nation and as I attended town hall meetings. Is the President listening?

UN Wants New Global Currency to Replace Dollar

By Edmund Conway
07 Sep 2009

The dollar should be replaced with a global currency, the United Nations has said, proposing the biggest overhaul of the world's monetary system since the Second World War.

In a radical report, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said the system of currencies and capital rules which binds the world economy is not working properly, and was largely responsible for the financial and economic crises.

It added that the present system, under which the dollar acts as the world's reserve currency , should be subject to a wholesale reconsideration.

Although a number of countries, including China and Russia, have suggested replacing the dollar as the world's reserve currency, the UNCTAD report is the first time a major multinational institution has posited such a suggestion.

Lawmakers Seek Political Survival

Political survival will be high on lawmakers' minds when the Democratic-led U.S. Congress returns to work on Tuesday amid widespread voter dissatisfaction with its performance.

While the debates over healthcare reform, global warming and banking legislation and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will dominate the airwaves, many incumbents, both Democrats and Republicans, are beginning to worry about holding on to their seats in November 2010 elections.

Polls show only about one-third of Americans approve of how lawmakers are doing, less than a year after President Barack Obama led Democrats to big gains in Congress.

Surveys find voters have a dim view of both parties, but history suggests Obama's Democrats face greater risks because they control Congress and the White House.

"There's a lot of discontent out there and when that's the case the party in power pretty inevitably gets the blame," said Dean Debnam of Public Policy Polling, a private firm.

A recent survey Public Policy Polling underscored the anti-incumbent mood.

It found that only 47 percent of voters say they would vote to reelect their member of Congress. Incumbents have long received upward of 60 percent of the vote.

The poor poll figures frustrate Democrats who have touted the major legislation they passed with Obama's help.

- Reuters

The Obama Depression - Speaking of Hope & Change...

The Administration’s mismanagement of the economy continues to take a heavy toll.

In August the economy lost 216,000 jobs, roughly equivalent to the population of Reno, NV, just in case Harry Reid is interested. Over 5 million Americans had been out of work for over 6 months. Over 9 million were working at part time jobs because that was all they could get. Another three-quarters of a million were no longer bothering looking work.

If workers who have accepted part time employment and discouraged workers were included with the unemployed, the unemployed rate would now be in Jimmy Carter country at 16.8%.

Speaking of Hope and Change, the Change came through in August with average hourly wages increasing by six cents, or $124.80 a year. Woo hoo, time to party like it was 1979.

by Streiff at RedState

Democrats Plan To Give You A Raise

Raise electricity rates 90 percent after adjusting for inflation

Raise inflation-adjusted gasoline prices by 58 percent

Raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent

Raise an average family’s annual energy bill by $1,241

[numbers from Heritage Foundation Study]

That is the devastating raise Obama and the Democrats have in store for you when they pass their Cap & Trade bill. It has already passed the House [how did your Congressman vote?] and is now in the hands of the Senate.

The stimulus has accomplished nothing, and yet the Democrats in Congress are intent on making a bad situation worse by now passing Cap & Trade legislation that will cripple American businesses and devastate families even further.

According to Kevin Holtsberry "Voters need to understand that this bill won’t help the environment and won’t magically lead to a Utopian world of green jobs and renewable powered energy. This is big government, bad science, and terrible economics.

It is not an easy time. Jobs are scarce and there are battles on multiple fronts. But the only way to dig ourselves out of this hole is to stop digging and start making policies that help not hurt.

Cap and Trade is a dagger aimed at the economy of the heartland and it must be stopped."

Homosexuals, Marriage and Referendum 71

Homosexuals have a right to live as they choose,
they don’t have the right to redefine marriage for all of us

Referendum 71 has successfully exceeded the 120,577 valid signatures needed to qualify, and Secretary of State Sam Reed has certified Referendum 71 to the Nov. 3 statewide ballot in Washington state.

Barring a successful 11th-hour court challenge, voters will decide the fate of a newly adopted state law that gives state-registered domestic partners the full rights and responsibilities that married couples have.

It is described by state Elections Director Nick Handy as possibly the narrowest margin ever for a measure winning a ballot spot.

From here our resolve to protect marriage in Washington State only intensifies as we will work tirelessly to inform and educate every citizens on this important and pivotal vote in November.

Three important reads:

"Spin a globe and pick virtually any place on earth at any previous time in human history; you will find that they do marriage one way — between men and women. There may be other differences, but marriage has always required a husband and a wife.

Why? Marriage teaches that men and women need each other and that children need mothers and fathers. A loving and compassionate society comes to the aid of motherless and fatherless children, but no compassionate society intentionally deprives children of their own mom or dad. But this is what every same-sex home does — and for no other reason but to satisfy adult desire.

Same-sex marriage advocates want to force everyone to dramatically and permanently alter our definition of marriage and family. The great, historic, cross-cultural understanding of marriage as the union of husband and wife will be called bigotry in the public square. The law will teach your children and grandchildren that there is nothing special about mothers and fathers raising children together, and anyone who thinks otherwise is a bigot."

~ National organization For Marriage

"It is often difficult to determine gay activists' true intentions since, from the beginning, most have been less than honest about their goals or the facts. In addition to their co-opting the Civil Rights Movement as an extension of the gay cause, let us examine some of the other falsehoods they have advanced over the past decade.

Ten years ago, gay activists claimed they had no interest in pursuing gay marriage. They asserted that all they wanted was equal protection under the law, hospital visitation rights and the right to transfer property in the event of a death -- all of which I support.

It is now obvious that their goal all along was the advancement of gay marriage. How else can one explain the methodical way in which they have worked to change marriage laws in small, liberal states initially, and later in as many other states as possible."

By Gwen Richardson

"Back in April, homosexual activists in Montpelier, Vermont's state capital, managed to get 100 votes in the state's House--the bare minimum necessary--to legalize counterfeit "marriages" for homosexuals.

That law took effect today, but the number of same-sex couples who had applied for marriage licenses in Montpelier was--zero. The same for Brattleboro and Manchester. In Burlington , the state's largest city, there had been only three.

Again, we see that the push to legally recognize homosexual unions is not based on any need for the "benefits" of marriage, or desire to "marry." Instead, it's about providing affirmation of homosexuality itself."

by Tony Perkins

Obama Celebrates Ramadan Tonight

As it turns out our President has chosen to return from his vacation early in order to celebrate Ramadan at the White House tonight:

“In the evening, the President will host a dinner celebrating Ramadan and highlight the contributions of American Muslims in the State Dining Room."

How nice. It turns out that he is willing to celebrate some form of religion though he didn't find it necessary to participate in our National Day of Prayer activities in May.

From the Washington Times:

"President Obama is distancing himself from the National Day of Prayer by nixing a formal early morning service... For the past eight years, President George W. Bush invited selected Christian and Jewish leaders to the White House East Room, where he typically would give a short speech and several leaders offered prayers..."

Then in July the Pentagon blocked the traditional flyover at the God & Country Family Festival in Nampa as reported by KTVB News:

"More than four decades of tradition were changed this year at the God and Country Family Festival in Nampa. Typically, a military flyover is a highlight of the event, but this year it did not happen."

The group submitted all the usual forms and paperwork, had the approval of the FFA but was shut down by a shocking denial from the Pentagon citing the groups beliefs "which appear to endorse selectivity benefit or favor any special interest group, religious or ideological movement."

Event coordinators assumed an error and "called them immediately and just said, you know hey we've been doing this for 42 years, we've had flyovers, what is the problem? And they said, well we have looked up your Web site and everything on your Web site seemed to focus on Christianity, ministry booths. And he said, in fact, it sounds like it focuses on Christianity.

So I guess the new standard is if it has something to do with Christianity it will not be acknowledged or respectfully observed.

Opportunity of a Century by Phyllis Schlafly

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said one correct thing: health care legislation is our "opportunity, not of a lifetime, but of the century."

Passage of the bill she supports would put us forever on the road to trillions of dollars in debt, bankruptcy, and European mistakes; defeat of the bill will safeguard the unique American recipe for liberty and prosperity.

The Opportunity of a Century

President By The Numbers

President Obama's approval numbers continue to tank.

Rasmussen has compiled the numbers on a full-month basis and the results which are shown in the graphics.

Looking back, after the initial euphoria of inauguration day, the President’s ratings slipped a bit but remained steady and positive from February thru May. In June, the numbers began to move down a bit, still remained generally positive. July and August were less positive months for the President.

Overall, the number who Strongly Approve has fallen from 43% in January to 30% in August. During that same time frame, the number who Strongly Disapprove has grown from 20% to 39%. Those numbers translate to a Presidential Approval Index that has declined from +23 in January to -9 in August.

Also in August, the President’s total approval fell below 50% for the first time.

While opposition to the President’s proposed health care reform is partly responsible for the declining approval ratings, the numbers reflect a broader level of frustration.

Last fall, during the Bush Administration, voters overwhelmingly opposed the bailout plans for banks but the bailout went ahead.

Earlier this year, voters overwhelmingly opposed the federal takeover of General Motors and Chrysler, but they went ahead as well.

In the short-term, resolution of the health care legislation may have a significant impact on the President’s ratings. Looking further ahead, the economy and federal deficit numbers are likely to set the tone heading into the mid-term elections.

~ Rasmussen Reports