Liberty Maven

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Our own James Wilson has analyzed this issue on our blog.

The good news is that President Obama isn’t going to Copenhagen to sign a treaty, but he may sign a proposal that could lead to a treaty at a later date. The Copenhagen proposal is designed to create an international scheme to control carbon emissions (and the entire world economy in the bargain).

President Obama wants to have the “cap and trade” (cap and tax) bill passed before he goes to Copenhagen.

Our goal should be to send him to Denmark empty-handed.

Cap and trade should be defeated because . . .

• It hasn’t worked in Europe
• It probably isn’t the best way to control carbon emissions, assuming you believe that’s important
• The climate models that supposedly justify cap and trade have been consistently wrong

Cap and trade needs 60 votes to come to the floor in the Senate. If we can stop that from happening now then there’s no way that 67 Senators will come together later to ratify a treaty for the same purpose, especially if that treaty cedes American sovereignty to international organizations.

We must defeat cap and trade. We must send Obama to Denmark empty-handed.

Please send Congress a letter opposing cap and trade.

You can use my letter to Congress as a guide . . .

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When thinking of unconstitutional federal agencies I’d like to abolish, so many come to mind: IRS, DEA, Dept of Education, etc.

But what about the department of energy? A little snippet from Doug Casey’s Daily Dispatch answer this one quite succinctly:

Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the Department of Energy…. during the Carter Administration? Anybody? No?

Didn’t think so! Ready??It was very simple… and at the time, everybody thought it very appropriate.
The  Department of Energy was instituted on 8-04-1977… to lessen our dependence on foreign oil.

Hey, pretty efficient, huh???

And now it’s 2009 – 32 years later – and the budget for this “necessary” department is at $24.2 billion a year. They have 16,000 federal employees and approximately 100,000 contract employees. And look at the job they have done!

Good ole bureaucracy.

And now we are going to turn the banking system, healthcare, and the auto industry over to the same government? Hellooo! Anybody home?

This week I’m thinking about the 2nd Amendment and gun control. By now everyone has heard about the Heller Supreme Court victory last year that struck down DC’s gun ban. There is another “gun fight” brewing. The Heller case dealt with applying the 2nd Amendment to the federal government. The new case explores whether the 2nd Amendment applies to the states. Perhaps most compelling about this new case is that it is an effort to strike down Chicago’s gun ban and we have a President who would love nothing more than to extend that ban to all the states.

Make no mistake that is what Barack Obama wants to do. Whether he actually can accomplish it is another story. For more details on the new case and its history see this excellent article from Reason. Let’s all hope that the Supreme Court takes the case and does the right thing.

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It’s Friday and that means it’s time for another installment of  “Quick Hits”.

Helen Thomas and Chip Reid berated White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs the other day for pre-selecting questions for Obama’s “town hall” and “controlling” the press. It appears that the honeymoon (I call it the “Obamagasm”) is coming to an end. Gibbs seems to be out of his league as Obama’s Press Secretary. I’ll be surprised if he makes it through Obama’s first and hopefully only term.

There is one particular forbidden health care question for Obama. I would love to hear his answer to the following question:

“Mr. President, you are considered a Constitutional scholar. Could you educate the American people a bit and tell them what section, article, or amendment permits the federal government to provide health care?”

Sure, he would dodge the question, but it is one dodge that I long to hear.

On Monday, Ron Paul’s son Rand Paul held another money bomb campaign fund raiser. The goal was to break $100k. The goal was met. This is huge news and a great sign that the Ron Paul wing of the Republican Party is not going anywhere. Rand Paul raised over $100,000 in about a month without an official fund raiser. Senator Rand Paul has a nice ring to it.

There was high drama last Friday afternoon on the House floor during the debate on the narrowly passed Cap and Trade bill. The Republicans kept pointing out that the legislation will lose more jobs and put a higher tax burden on the American people.

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As I write this right now, Republican Minority Leader John Boehner (who also is a cosponsor of HR1207) has been talking on the House Floor for about 50 minutes. He is stepping through (almost page by page) the 300+ page addition to the Cap and Trade (Climate Bill) that was added around 3am this morning.

He’s actually making many great points about the horrible details in the bill.

What he is doing right now is giving great ammunition for supporting the “Read the Bills” Act in the near future.

“Is there anything that we aren’t regulating in this bill?”, Boehner yells.

At about 20 minutes in, Henry Waxman interrupted and asked how long Boehner would be permitted to speak. The chairwoman stated that it is customary to hear the leadership speak, forcing Waxman to sit down and allow Boehner to continue (to great cheers from the GOP side of the House).

We live in interesting times folks.

Please continue to contact the Reps who are on the fence regarding the bill. For a list see this page from the NTU.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day: “I’ve come to expect that even nobly conceived laws will be manipulated and distorted for private ends. But once in a while I hear a story that gives me the queasy feeling that I’m nowhere near cynical enough.” — Christopher Hayes, The Nation

Prior to Congress deciding it could use tax policy to re-engineer America’s energy use from on-high, the paper industry had been 70% fueled by something called black liquor, a natural by-product of the paper making process. In other words, the paper industry was inherently energy efficient, until Congress got involved.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorized a 50-cent per gallon tax credit for mixing gasoline or diesel with an alternative fuel. To get the credit, paper companies began to mix diesel with their black liquor. In other words . . .

• The government is paying the paper industry to use a less efficient, environmentally-destructive fuel!
• The cost of this scam could reach $8 billion this year. [Source: The Nation]

Congress could mess up a train wreck.

At first glance, this appears to be an example of “unintended consequences,” but this assumes we really know what Congress intended . . .

• The Energy Policy Act of 2005 was 1,273 pages.
• The House passed the bill just one day after it was filed.
• The Senate passed it one day after that.

It’s impossible to believe that any member of Congress had the chance to read and completely understand the bill. This means that those who voted for it didn’t really know what the intention was. Someone could have wanted the paper industry to have a hidden subsidy. But if the Read the Bills Act had been in force, the Energy Policy Act would have been . . .

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Wow, this one is a doozy!  A ton of new bills were introduced in Congress on Friday: 188 in total.  For those who haven’t read this series of articles from the beginning, there are a few things to keep in mind…

When taking a look at the list below, keep in mind that the U.S. Constitution, which created our Federal Government, clearly enumerated 18 specific functions that it is given.  For all other things, the 9th and 10th amendment make it clear that the individual states have the power.  Note that it states in the Constitution that it is the Supreme Law of the Land, which can be usurped by no other.  This means that all opinions to the contrary made by the Supreme Court are technically invalid.  Throughout the past couple of hundred hears the Supreme Court has rule one way or another on some “interpretation” of the Constitution, but in fact no interpretation is necessary, as the intention of the founding fathers are quite clear.  For example, if the “general welfare” clause or the “interstate commerce” clause was intended to be used as a catch-all for any arbitrary piece of legislation, then the 10th amendments which reads:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

would be completely meaningless.  So simple logic, in addition to the writings of Madison and other founding fathers, dictates the notion that the Federal Government was set up to have very little power, and that these United States are intended to be a loose federation of sovereign states.

Only due to politician’s greed and overwhelming desire for power does the Constitution get relegated to the trash heap.

So, despite the  noble intentions of many of these bills, it doesn’t mean they are legal.

No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it.
– 16 Am. Jur. Sec. 177 late 2d, Sec 256

Of the bills introduced yesterday, these are ones that are clearly not legitimate functions of the Federal Government  [as always, my commentary will appear in red]:

• HR1892 – To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 102 North Main Street in Cedarville, Ohio, as the “William ‘Brent” Turner Post Office’.
• HR1929 – To establish the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Investigative Commission to investigate the policies and practices engaged in by officers and directors at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac responsible for making the decisions that led to the enterprises’ financial instability and the subsequent Federal conservatorship of such enterprises.  [Keep in mind that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been basically nationalized, which is, of course, unconstitutional.]
• HR1925 – To designate as wilderness certain Federal portions of the red rock canyons of the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin Deserts in Utah for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans.
• HR1924 – To amend the Indian Law Enforcement Reform Act, the Indian Tribal Justice Act, the Indian Tribal Justice Technical and Legal Assistance Act of 2000, and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to improve the prosecution of, and response to, crimes in Indian country, and for other purposes.
• HR1922 – To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to hold at least 1 public hearing before issuance of a permit affecting public or private land use in a locality.
• HR1921 – To establish an Office of Public Advocate within the Department of Justice to provide services and guidance to citizens in dealing with concerns involving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and for other purposes. [Fantastic!  Create another layer of bureaucracy to help people deal with bureaucracy...]
• HR1978 – To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to improve the ability of State and local governments to prevent the abduction of children by family members, and for other purposes.
• HR1977 – To require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to study drywall imported from China in 2004 through 2007, and for other purposes.
• HR332 – Providing that the House of Representatives will focus on removing barriers to a prosperous economy and therefore renew the dream.  [Reading the full text of the bill it all sounds nice, but it's really nothing more than platitudes.  Nothing will come of this.  It's not recommending anything concrete.]
• HR1971 – To provide for the elimination of duties on certain comforter shells
• HR1970 – To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to exempt unsanctioned State-licensed retail pharmacies from the surety bond requirement under the Medicare Program for suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS).
• HR1969 – To promote freedom and democracy in Vietnam.  [Oh god. Oh god, no! Haven't we gotten ourselves into enough jams with this interventionist crap?]

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Yesterday in Congress, fifty-one new bills were introduced.  Due to recent controversy, and for those who start reading this series of articles in the middle, I will include the following boilerplate information in every article.

When taking a look at the list below, keep in mind that the U.S. Constitution, which created our Federal Government, clearly enumerated 18 specific functions that it is given.  For all other things, the 9th and 10th amendment make it clear that the individual states have the power.  Note that it states in the Constitution that it is the Supreme Law of the Land, which can be usurped by no other.  This means that all opinions to the contrary made by the Supreme Court are technically invalid.  Throughout the past couple of hundred hears the Supreme Court has rule one way or another on some “interpretation” of the Constitution, but in fact no interpretation is necessary, as the intention of the founding fathers are quite clear.  For example, if the “general welfare” clause or the “interstate commerce” clause was intended to be used as a catch-all for any arbitrary piece of legislation, then the 10th amendments which reads:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

would be completely meaningless.  So simple logic, in addition to the writings of Madison and other founding fathers, dictates the notion that the Federal Government was set up to have very little power, and that these United States are intended to be a loose federation of sovereign states.

Only due to politician’s greed and overwhelming desire for power does the Constitution get relegated to the trash heap.

So, despite the  noble intentions of many of these bills, it doesn’t mean they are legal.

Of the bills introduced yesterday, these are ones that are clearly not legitimate functions of the Federal Government  [as always, my commentary will appear in red]:

• HCR89 – Supporting the goals and objectives of the Prague Conference on Holocaust Era Assets.
• HCR86 – Authorizing the use of Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center for the unveiling of a bust of Sojourner Truth.
• HCR87 – Observing the 15th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide and calling on all responsible nations to uphold the principles of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
• HR298 – Congratulating the on-premise sign industry for its contributions to the success of small businesses.
• HR299 – Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that public servants should be commended for their dedication and continued service to the Nation during Public Service Recognition Week, May 4 through 10, 2009, and throughout the year.
• HR300 – Congratulating Camp Dudley YMCA of Westport, New York, on the occasion of its 125th anniversary.
• HR301 – Honoring the life of Dr.John Hope Franklin

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D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day: “The only things that are immortal in this world are government programs and cancer cells in petri dishes.” — Jim Babka, President, DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

Future historians may someday come to identify one day this week as a day of ruin. Here’s why . . .

Congress will pass a budget this week. We believe this budget will create a condition of permanent annual TRILLION dollar deficits. Please follow our logic . . .

* Government programs never die. They live forever, growing constantly larger.
* The Obama-Democrat budget contains a host of new programs covering all aspects of YOUR life — health care, energy, education, housing, charity, EVERYTHING.
* These programs won’t die, instead they’ll just grow larger.
* We think the same thing will hold true even for many of the bailout programs that are supposedly temporary, because very few government programs are ever really temporary.
* Therefore, the trillion dollar deficits these new initiatives are causing today will also live and grow forever.

In the short-term this will cost your family a minimum of $27,800 per year, or $9,200 per person.

In the not-so-short term these trillion dollar annual deficits will crash head-on into the un-funded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare which have risen to $56.4 trillion dollars, your share of which is a whopping $184,000!

And none of these statistics include the associated increases in top-down, one-size-fits-all government regulation. For instance, plans are already well advanced to turn the American health care system into a giant HMO, with federal bureaucrats deciding what medical treatments you can and cannot receive.

We must repeat, once these new programs are launched they’re unlikely to ever shrink again, let alone die. Government programs really are like cancer cells in a petri dish, which live unless the scientist in charge of them forgets to feed them. Something similar may happen in the case of our cancerous government . . .

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The debauchery on Capitol Hill continues unabated, with an amazing ninety-three new bills introduced yesterday in Congress, many of which attempt to do the same thing.  How many of these bills do you think are Constitutional?  (Answer: very few).  Here are some of the worst:

• HR1652 – To require institutions receiving certain assistance from the Troubled Asset Relief Program or the Federal Reserve to have employee bonus payment plans approved in advance of the payments being made.  [Each member of Congress must operate in a bubble, and/or they're all hoping for the "credit" if their bill is passed.  This is at least the fifth bill on this subject in the past three days!]
• HR1656 – To require TARP payments to be conditioned on the top 10 highest wage earners at a company having repaid any bonuses received during the previous 5 fiscal years.  [Six!  Ok, let's review.  We have HR1542 by Rep. Carolyn Maloney [D-NY], HR1572 by Rep. Michael Thompson [D-CA],  HR1582 by Rep. Steven LaTourette [R-OH], HR1603 by Rep. Charles Wilson [D-OH], HR1652 by Rep. Christopher Murphy [D-CT], and now this one from Rep. Dana Rohrabacher [R-CA].  Are these people working in a vacuum?  Could the process be any more inefficient?]
• HR1650 – To enhance the oversight authority of the Comptroller General of the United States with respect to expenditures under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.  [Yet another TARP regulation bill.  The full text of the bill is not currently available, so I couldn't tell if it specifically mentions employee bonuses so I could add it to the list above.  Why don't these people just come out and admit that this TARP garbage is immoral an unconstitutional in the first place?]
• S-651 – A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose an excise tax on excessive bonuses paid by, and received from, companies receiving Federal emergency economic assistance, to limit the amount of nonqualified deferred compensation that employees of such companies may defer from taxation, and for other purposes.  [Number 7, by Sen. Max Baucus [D-MT]…]
• HR1649 – To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to reduce the size of core curriculum classes in public elementary and secondary schools, and for other purposes.
• HR1645 (also S-638) – To provide grants to promote financial and economic literacy.  [While I think it's critical that people become more financially and economically literate, government should certainly not be the teacher, or else we'll end up with more Keynesian nitwits that have destroyed our economy to date.  Rather, people can take Chris Martenson's Crash Course for free, and read books like Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson and Tom Woods' Meltdown.]
• HR1643 (also S-648) – To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a prospective payment system instead of the reasonable cost-based reimbursement method for Medicare-covered services provided by Federally qualified health centers and to expand the scope of such covered services to account for expansions in the scope of services provided by Federally qualified health centers since the inclusion of such services for coverage under the Medicare Program.
• HR1642 – To provide loans and grants for fire sprinkler retrofitting in nursing facilities.
• HR1641 – To amend the National Trails System Act to provide for a study of the Cascadia Marine Trail.
• HR1640 – To amend the Truth in Lending Act to protect consumers from usury, and for other purposes.  [Caveat emptor.  The process of buying a home would be much quicker and hassle-free if not for the myriad of regulations and bureaucratic red-tape imposed by the federal, state, and local governments.]

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