Liberty Maven

Wow, an astounding eighty-six new bills were introduced in Congress on Thursday alone.  I’m starting to get a headache.  How many of these bills are for causes would you voluntarily donate to?  Certainly none of these examples are the bailiwick of the Federal Government:   [As always my sarcastic criticism is offered in red.]

• HR242 – Recognizing the apology offered by the Government of Australia to the aboriginal people and its significance as a gesture of healing for this proud nation.  [Huh?  The Aussie government apologizes to the aborigines.  How is this our business? The arrogance here is nauseating.]
• HR1385 – To extend Federal recognition to the Chickahominy Indian Tribe, the Chickahominy Indian Tribe-Eastern Division, the Upper Mattaponi Tribe, the Rappahannock Tribe, Inc., the Monacan Indian Nation, and the Nansemond Indian Tribe.
• HR1505 – To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide services for birth parents who have placed a child for adoption, and for other purposes.
• HR1504 – To require that, in the questionnaires used in the taking of any decennial census of population, a checkbox or other similar option be included so that respondents may indicate Dominican extraction or descent.  [The Constitution says that one of the jobs of the federal government is enumeration of the U.S. population.  This means they are required to count the number of people living at each address.  I have no problem with that.  But I do have a problem with being asked about my race, income, and other personal and intrusive questions.  If we expect to be a "color-blind" society, we need to disregard race, ethnicity, and skin color in all official capacities.]
• HR1502 – To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for equity in the calculation of Medicare disproportionate share hospital payments for hospitals in Puerto Rico.
• HR1501 – To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to increase inpatient hospital payments under the Medicare Program to Puerto Rico hospitals.
• HR1494 – To ensure that a private for-profit nursing home affected by a major disaster receives the same reimbursement as a public nursing home affected by a major disaster.  [This bill was written by Ron Paul. I don't understand.  Clearly, no nursing home (private,  public or otherwise)  should receive any reimbursement for any major disaster.  Do you think you disagree?  Please read Davy Crockett vs. Welfare.]
• HR1492 – To establish a pilot program to provide assistance for partnerships supporting applied sciences in renewable energy.
• HR1490 – To establish a grant program to assist in the provision of safety measures to protect social workers and other professionals who work with at-risk populations.
• HR1484 – To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Rabbi Arthur Schneier in recognition of his pioneering role in promoting religious freedom and human rights throughout the world, for close to half a century.
• HR1481 – To authorize certain States to prohibit the importation of solid waste from other States, and for other purposes.  [The states should not (do not) require authorization from the Feds to prohibit whatever they wish to prohibit, as long as the rights of the individual are not infringed.]

• HR1479 – To enhance the availability of capital, credit, and other banking and financial services for all citizens and communities, to ensure that community reinvestment requirements are updated to account for changes in the financial industry and that reinvestment requirements keep pace as banks, securities firms, and other financial service providers become affiliates as a result of the enactment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and for other purposes.
• HR1476 – To require automobile manufacturers to ensure that not less that 80 percent of the automobiles manufactured or sold in the United States by each such manufacturer to operate on fuel mixtures containing 85 percent ethanol, 85 percent methanol, or biodiesel.
• HR1474 – To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the enforcement of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, and for other purposes.
• HR1472 – To establish reporting requirements each time funds from Troubled Assets Relief Program or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 are received or redistributed, and to establish a waste, fraud, and abuse hotline for such funds, and for other purposes.  [Yeah, that sounds great at all, but what about the fact that the two laws mentioned are completely unconstitutional?  How about let's move to strike them down, instead of tinkering with them.]
• HR1471 – To expand the boundary of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in the State of Georgia, to redesignate the unit as a National Historical Park, and for other purposes.  [National Parks are a national travesty.  All such federal lands should be sold off to private parties and the proceeds should be used to pay down the national debt.]
• HR1469 – To amend the National Child Protection Act of 1993 to establish a permanent background check system.
• HR1468 – To provide health care liability reform, and for other purposes.
• HR1467 – To extend certain provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 for 10 years.  [Rep. Lamar Smith should not only be thrown out of office onto his face, but he should face criminal charges for supporting these laws, which is a violation of his oath of office.]
• HR1466 – To concentrate Federal resources aimed at the prosecution of drug offenses on those offenses that are major.  [How about concentrating Federal resources on doing the job given to it by the Constitution, namely protecting the rights of the individual (which is diametrically opposed to the tenets of the War on Drugs)???]
• HR1462 – To provide for a study by the National Academy of Engineering regarding improving the accuracy of collection of royalties on production of oil, condensate, and natural gas under leases of Federal lands and Indian lands, and for other purposes.
• HR1461 – To amend the National Labor Relations Act to apply the protections of the Act to teaching and research assistants.
• HR1460 – To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a graduate degree loan repayment program for nurses who become nursing school faculty members.
• HR1459 – To amend the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act regarding penalties for cocaine offenses, and for other purposes.  [Enough tinkering with failed, unconstitutional laws.  Let's just end the disastrous War on Drugs already.]
• HR1458 – To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide continued entitlement to coverage for immunosuppressive drugs furnished to beneficiaries under the Medicare Program that have received a kidney transplant and whose entitlement to coverage would otherwise expire, and for other purposes.
• HR1457 – To amend the Public Health Service Act to deem certain geriatric health training to be obligated service for purposes of the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program, and for other purposes.
• HR1456 – To extend the protections of the Truth in Lending Act to overdraft protection programs and services provided by depository institutions, to require customer consent before a depository institution may initiate overdraft protection services and fees, to enhance the information made available to consumers relating to overdraft protection services and fees, to prohibit systematic manipulation in the posting of checks and other debits to a depository account for the purpose of generating overdraft protection fees, and for other purposes.  [However did we survive up to this point?  Whatever happened to caveat emptor?]
• HR1455 – To amend the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council Act to require the Council to establish a single telephone number that consumers with complaints or inquiries could call and be routed to the appropriate Federal banking agency or State bank supervisor, and for other purposes.  [What section of the Constitution allows for any "Federal Financial Institution"?]
• HR1454 – To provide for the issuance of a Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp.
• S-578 – A bill for the relief of Tim Lowery and Paul Nettleton of Owyhee County, Idaho.
• S-576 – A bill to provide for the liquidation or reliquidation of certain entries of newspaper printing presses and components thereof.
• S-594 – A bill to require a report on invasive agricultural pests and diseases and sanitary and phytosanitary barriers to trade before initiating negotiations to enter into a free trade agreement, and for other purposes.
• S-593 – A bill to ban the use of bisphenol A in food containers, and for other purposes.  [Ahhh, yes.  Manufacturers and the general public have learned much in the past year or so about the potential dangers of BPA in plastics.  As a result, manufacturers have been working hard to make their products out of 'BPA-free' plastics.  As the father of a toddler, I have noticed a tremendous change.  When my baby was born, it was difficult to find BPA-free baby bottles.  Now, less than 2 years later, it's difficult to find bottles made with plastics that contain BPA!  And all without the help and harassment of the federal government.  So, please go mind your own business, Ms. Feinstein.]
• S-592 – A bill to implement the recommendations of the Federal Communications Commission report to the Congress regarding low-power FM service.
• S-590 – A bill to assist local communities with closed and active military bases, and for other purposes.
• S-589 – A bill to establish a Global Service Fellowship Program and to authorize Volunteers for Prosperity, and for other purposes.
• S-588 (also HR1485) – A bill to amend title 46, United States Code, to establish requirements to ensure the security and safety of passengers and crew on cruise vessels, and for other purposes.
• S-587 – A bill to establish a Western Hemisphere Energy Cooperation Forum to establish partnerships with interested countries in the hemisphere to promote energy security through the accelerated development of sustainable biofuels production and energy alternatives, research, and infrastructure, and for other purposes.
• S-586 (also HR1483) – A bill to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to implement a National Neurotechnology Initiative, and for other purposes.
• S-584 – A bill to ensure that all users of the transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, children, older individuals, and individuals with disabilities, are able to travel safely and conveniently on and across federally funded streets and highways.
• S-583 – A bill to provide grants and loan guarantees for the development and construction of science parks to promote the clustering of innovation through high technology activities.
• S-582 – A bill to amend the Truth in Lending Act to protect consumers from usury, and for other purposes.  [Again, whatever happened to caveat emptor?  Zillions of federal laws are on the books  Government interference is clearly not the answer. and we're still not safe?]
• S-581 – A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to require the exclusion of combat pay from income for purposes of determining eligibility for child nutrition programs and the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children.
• S-579 – A bill to establish a comprehensive Federal tobacco product regulatory program, to create a Tobacco Regulatory Agency, to prevent use of tobacco products by youth, and to provide protections for adult tobacco product users through the regulation of the tobacco products manufacturing industry.  [A Tobacco Regulatory Agency?  Wow.  I can see it now: uniformed TRA agents standing behind the counters of every convenience store, making sure the 17-year-old punk with the goatee down the street doesn't buy a pack of smokes.]
• HR1491 – To amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to reauthorize and expand the New Markets Venture Capital Program, and for other purposes.
• HR1489 – To extend Corridor O of the Appalachian Development Highway System from its current southern terminus at I-68 near Cumberland to Corridor H, which stretches from Weston, West Virginia, to Strasburg, Virginia.  [So how is it ethical to force people (on threat of force) in Spokane, Washington to help pay for this?]
• HR1482 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose a windfall profit tax on oil and natural gas (and products thereof) and to appropriate the proceeds for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
• HR243 – Recognizing and promoting awareness of Chiari malformation.
• HR240 – To support the goals and ideals of Professional Social Work Month and World Social Work Day.
• HR239 – Honoring the 125th anniversary of Mississippi University for Women
• HR238 – Recognizing the threat to international security and basic human dignity posed by the catastrophic decline of economic, humanitarian, and human rights conditions in the Republic of Zimbabwe.  [If Ms. Ros-Lehtinen is so worried about such things, then I wonder if she supports Ron Paul's HR1207 which could potentially open up the U.S. Federal Reserve to enough scrutiny to prevent the same disastrous central from planning happening here as well.]

Please, contact your Senators and Representatives today to let them know how you feel about one or more of these bills.  Operators are standing by.

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