Archive for October 20th, 2009

Abolish the Federal Department of Education!!!

October 20th, 2009 6:58 pm  |  by  |  Published in Big Government, Constitution, Debt, Economics, Education, Election, Liberty, Politics  |  2 Responses

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them.  And it required no very high degree of education to convince them of this. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” – Thomas Jefferson, 1787

Originally published October 20, 2009 at http://towneforcongress.com/economy/abolish-the-federal-department-of-education-1

Last night with the Liberty Bell Center of Constitutional Studies, I was part of a panel answering questions on public education with the Concerned Citizens of Bethlehem Area School District. The BASD has been plagued with financial troubles stemming from OTC derivatives purchases, and previously I gave an educational presentation to this group on financial derivatives.

After the lecture from LBCCS founder Paul Fiske who related how our founding fathers viewed education, Ryan Burgett, chairman of LBCCS and I (as a member of LBCCS) took questions and there was one question I was unable to answer without a projector, which was the breakdown of spending by the federal Department of Education, which is below or can be viewed online here. I also gave a short synopsis of the history and issues I have with this Department.

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Show Congress you’re paying real close attention to REAL ID

October 20th, 2009 10:14 am  |  by  |  Published in Big Government, congress, DownsizeDC.org, Liberty, Politics, privacy, REAL ID  |  0

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h


REAL ID: Congress is cutting the appropriation for the REAL ID national ID card — by $40 million. That’s good! But they’re still planning to spend $60 million on it in 2010. That’s bad!

Please send Congress a letter objecting to any further funding for REAL ID.

You can copy what I said in my letter to Congress . . .

I’m upset that Congress just appropriated $60 million for the REAL ID national identification scheme. I’ve asked you repeatedly to repeal REAL ID, and replace it with nothing. I’m repeating my request today.

I do not want a centralized national ID system. It lays the foundation for a police state, and will do little or nothing to improve security. Instead, it will subject me to increased risk of identity theft, and eventually entangle me in new Congressional schemes to do things like control my health care decisions.

I also object because the REAL ID Act was passed under false pretenses. It was rejected three times by the U.S. Senate, and was only enacted because it was added to a larger bill containing funding for disaster relief and Iraq. REAL ID never could have passed on its own merits, but now that we have it, we can’t seem to get rid of it. But you, as my representative, can do something about this . . .

Please introduce legislation to repeal REAL ID and replace it with nothing. I’m paying close attention to how you represent me.

END OF SAMPLE LETTER

You can send your letter to Congress here.

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Ron Paul talks Economics on CNN American Morning

October 20th, 2009 8:47 am  |  by  |  Published in Bailouts, Banking, Commentary, Debt, Economics, Federal Reserve, government spending, inflation, Money, Ron Paul  |  1

This morning Ron Paul appeared for an interview on the state of the economy and the Goldman Sachs “bailout” on CNN “American Morning”.

As usual Dr. Paul defends the free market even when asked rather convoluted questions about “how much” the government should support the market. I found the interview a bit odd. In that both the host and Paul were trying to find some kind of middle ground between a government managed economy and a free market position. The common point implied that the government shouldn’t be bailing out these big Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs yet they continue to use tax payer money to do so.

Check out the video below. NOTE: The audio/video sync appears to be off as is custom on some videos processed by Youtube.