Liberty Maven

As Cap and Trade races through Congress, here is a question – Who will benefit? The environment and us or Government Sachs?

by Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution

Originally published Sunday, June 28, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article6573.html

Last week the House voted 219-212 to pass HR 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, whose intent is to “create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy.”  I’ve only had time to browse the 1,092 page bill and sincerely believe it will not achieve a single one of its purposes.

The creation of clean energy jobs is very vague and the parts that are clear center not on industry but on educating people about global warming – this appears to signal the creation of a new class of bureaucrat-teachers, not industrial jobs.

Energy independence?  Transition to a clean energy economy?  Get real, there is nothing of substance in the document that details such a plan, and this is a pipe dream for government to create this.  What will you ask?  Only a free market, driven by the consumer and free from government interventions can do so, in my opinion.

“Reduce global warming pollution?”  Somehow I missed the scientific debate where the global warmers square off against the global coolers and those who believe that ‘the weather just changes, weather you want it to or not’ as I suggested here “Anthropogenic Global Warming or an Ice Age, Which Is It? (PART 2/2)“.  Is carbon dioxide really a pollutant? Don’t plants need it to live and don’t we all respire it? It would be a lot cheaper and a lot more useful than HR 2454!

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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.

John Stossel participated in a “must read” online chat last night via “The Agitator”, Radley Balko’s great site.

If you missed it the chat transcript is available for your reading pleasure.

Stossel is quick-witted and brutally honest. He’s a refreshing libertarian voice in the media wilderness.

Also, check out his new frequently updated blog for more raw Stossel.

It’s Friday again. Here is this week’s installment of “quick hits”.

It has been quite a busy week. The news outlets have had a lot to talk about. At least 4 people died this week, one of them politically, the other 3, physically.

Ed McMahon died earlier this week. There are three things I think of when I hear his name, other than being Johnny Carson’s sidekick on the “Tonight Show”.

The first is the impression of Ed McMahon on the “Carsenio Hall Show“, an SNL skit with Dana Carvey playing Carsenio and the late great Phil Hartman playing McMahon. Next, I recall McMahon hosting the talent show “Star Search“, an 80′s version of “American Idol” with several other talent categories. Finally, and perhaps most of all I remember McMahon as being the guy in the “American Family Sweepstakes” commercials (see one here). RIP Ed.

The next “death” of the week was purely political. I’m talking, of course, about Mark Sanford. There’s not much to say that hasn’t already been said. I realize many people liked Sanford and thought he may be the guy in 2012, but I was never completely sold on the guy for some reason. Now, we all have a reason.

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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: “Being the state means never having to say you’re sorry.” — D.A. Ridgely (Source: Positive Liberty blog, March 23, 2009)

Crops grow in dirt. Animals don’t take showers or use toilets. Food is made from yucky stuff.

This means there’s always a risk of contamination. We can reduce this risk, but not eliminate it. Attempts to make everything perfectly safe are Utopian fantasies that carry a high price in increased costs, reduced variety, diminished supply, and . . . increased risk.

The free market already provides you with multiple ways to balance risks and costs. You can choose between . . .

* Organic and non-organic food
* Locally grown food, or food from far away
* Processed or non-processed food
* Natural or genetically engineered food

The politicians want to reduce this variety, and your choices, in favor of their preferred scheme of top-down, one-size-fits-all regulation. But do such monolithic schemes really make us safer? What if the one-size-fits-all scheme gets something wrong, overlooks something, or has unintended consequences? Then everybody suffers, whereas . . .

The choices provided by the free market tend to limit the harm caused by mistakes. It’s like having a diversified portfolio of investments. Sadly, politicians aren’t fond of diversity. They much prefer their own arrogant dreams for re-engineering the world. Now here comes their latest one . . .

Some politicians want to exploit highly publicized food-borne outbreaks to remake American agriculture, from the top down. These outbreaks were generally the result of industrialized food production, but, as with 9-11 and the housing bubble, politicians like to use crises to grab the power to re-do everything. In this case the most infamous proposal is H.R. 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act. This bill would create . . .

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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, sixty-five 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:

• S-759 – A bill to amend the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century to reauthorize a provision relating to additional contract authority for States with Indian reservations.
• S-760 – A bill to designate the Liberty Memorial at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, as the “National World War I Memorial”.
• S-761 – A bill to establish the World War I Centennial Commission to ensure a suitable observance of the centennial of World War I, and for other purposes.
• S-762 – A bill to promote fire safe communities and for other purposes.
• S-763 – A bill to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, to authorize temporary mortgage and rental payments.
• S-764 – A bill to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, to increase the maximum amount of assistance to individuals and households.
• S-769 – A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to, and increase utilization of, bone mass measurement benefits under the Medicare part B program.

Read More »

Yesterday in Congress, fifty-four 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]:

• S-753 – A bill to prohibit the manufacture, sale, or distribution in commerce of children’s food and beverage containers composed of bisphenol A, and for other purposes.  [What's the purpose of this?  There's already S-593.  See my comments here about this issue.]
• S-754 – A bill to provide for increased Federal oversight of methadone treatment/
• HR308 – Honoring the life, legacy, and memory of Pedro Pablo Zamora y Diaz, an extraordinary educator and activist, and a pioneer in the battle against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
• HR309 – Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that North Korea should immediately stop any hostile rhetoric and activity towards the Republic of Korea and engage in mutual dialogue to enhance inter-Korean relations.
• HR310 – Honoring the life of Coach Kay Yow in remembrance of her passing, and recognizing her dedication to the sport of basketball, her commitment to women and women’s health, and her contributions to the State of North Carolina.

Read More »

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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