In our continuing series on how Congress is wasting time and money, keep in mind that the U.S. Constitution is the document that founded this nation and our government, and is the Supreme Law of the Land. This founding document spells out 18 “enumerated powers” that are granted to the Federal Government, and according to the 9th and 10th amendments, all else is left up to the states. Therefore, at least 95% of what Congress does these days is unconstitutional.
Congress continues its misdeeds, indeed. Sixty-three new bills introduced on Tuesday, March 17th. Some of the most egregious are:
S-626 – A bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating sites in the Lower Mississippi River Area in the State of Louisiana as a unit of the National Park System, and for other purposes.
S-625 – A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Waco Mammoth National Monument in the State of Texas.
S-624 – A bill to provide 100,000,000 people with first-time access to safe drinking water and sanitation on a sustainable basis by 2015 by improving the capacity of the United States Government to fully implement the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005. [Keep in mind that while we all want everyone to have safe drinking water, such an effort is not authorized to the Federal Government by the Constitution. If Congress is going to tax me and spend my money, I personally would prefer they spend it on something here in the United States. This bill is aimed at helping poor, undeveloped countries.]
S-623 – A bill to amend title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, title XXVII of the Public Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prohibit preexisting condition exclusions in group health plans and in health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets.
S-622 – A bill to ensure parity between the temporary duty imposed on ethanol and tax credits provided on ethanol.
S-621 (also HR1570) – A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to coordinate Federal congenital heart disease research efforts and to improve public education and awareness of congenital heart disease, and for other purposes. [See ensuing "discussion" below. A legion of mothers with children suffering from this terrible disease attempted to overwhelm us with heartfelt pleas to "understand" where they're coming from. What they simply don't understand is that even if a bill has the most noble of intentions, it doesn't necessarily make it legal/constitutional. This country is already in a fine mess because everybody wants to get "theirs" when that's not how it was set up to run in the first place. Once again, please read Davey Crockett Vs. Welfare.]
S-619 – A bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to preserve the effectiveness of medically important antibiotics used in the treatment of human and animal diseases.
S-618 – A bill to improve the calculation of, the reporting of, and the accountability for, secondary graduation rates.
S-617 (also HR1562) – A bill to provide compensation to the Lower Brule and Crow Creek Sioux Tribes of South Dakota for damage to tribal land caused by Pick-Sloan projects along the Missouri River. [We have to pay for unconstitutional projects, and then we have to pay to clean up the mess they make. Anyone see a problem with this pattern? If Congress honored their oaths of office, the Sioux Tribes would not have been harmed in the first place.]
S-616 – A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize medical simulation enhancement programs, and for other purposes.
S-613 – A bill to prohibit the use of Federal funds to approve certain biologics license applications by the Food and Drug Administration. [It's sad that bills like this are deemed necessary. Isn't it already clear that there's no provision in the Constitution for the Federal Government to be involved in this type of thing in the first place?]
S-611 – A bill to provide for the reduction of adolescent pregnancy, HIV rates, and other sexually transmitted diseases, and for other purposes.
S-609 – A bill to amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to establish a Nonprofit Capacity Building Program.
S-608 – A bill to amend the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 to exclude secondary sales, repair services, and certain vehicles from the ban on lead in children’s products, and for other purposes.
S-607 – A bill to amend the National Forest Ski Area Permit Act of 1986 to clarify the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture regarding additional recreational uses of National Forest System land that are subject to ski area permits, and for other purposes.
HR254 – Recognizing the designation of March 2009 as Irish American Heritage Month and honoring the significance of Irish Americans in the history and progress of the United States.
HR255 – Expressing support for designation of the month of September as “National Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month” and supporting efforts to educate the public about atrial fibrillation. [I have to wonder if Congress realizes there are only twelve months in a year.]
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.]
Your Senators and Representatives have continued to be busy little bees, always grinding the sausage. Forty-four new bills introduced yesterday:
HR230 – Recognizing the historical significance of the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo. [You've got to be kidding me. If this weren't displayed on official government sites, I would swear this was a joke.]
HR1388 – Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act: To reauthorize and reform the national service laws.
HR1415 – To provide for a demonstration project regarding Medicaid reimbursements for stabilization of emergency medical conditions by non-publicly owned or operated institutions for mental diseases.
HR1413 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow certain public employees a deduction for distributions from governmental plans for health and long-term care insurance, and for other purposes.
HR1412 – To increase public confidence in the justice system and address any unwarranted racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal process. [Looking at the full text of this bill, it's clear that the authors have the idea that justice is being served out "unfairly" with respect to race and ethnicity, and are under the mistaken impression that "unconscious bias" can be legislated away.]
Ron Paul delivered an excellent speech at CPAC this afternoon. He received a lot of applause and cheering for many of his lines. There were some obvious skeptics and shaking of heads in the audience as well, but overall he was on his game and hit all of his talking points and then some.
He talked about his bill calling for more Federal Reserve transparency. He claims it is getting bipartisan support in the Congress. That would be a great first step. He also spoke about abortion, foreign policy, and individual vs. groups with respect to liberty.
There were a few lines that I loved. It reminded me of the many rallies during his campaign in 2007 and and early 2008.
Ron Paul had a chance to follow up his grilling of Fed Chairman Bernanke earlier this week with another smackdown of Paul Volcker during a Joint Economic Committee hearing on Capitol Hill yesterday.
The video includes Paul’s opening statement followed by his questioning.
Paul again references the move toward creating an international regulatory body to regulate the global economy. He calls it a “Super IMF”. Volcker tip-toes around the question and eventually even admits, perhaps inadvertently, he’s dodging the question.
At the very end Paul attempts to get in the last word after Volcker’s reply with:
“It just may be the death knell of the fiat currency!”
The third installment of Judge Napolitano’s “Freedom Watch” went out over the Internet today. The Judge had his usual guests, Ron Paul, Cody Willard, Peter Schiff, and Tracy Byrnes.
Also joining The Judge today was Glenn Beck and Walter Jones, both discussing Obama’s speech last night and the recent successful efforts of the administration to push through more and more spending legislation.
Ron Paul and Schiff join the second half of the 60 minute show and as usual both speak candidly about what we’re doing and where we may be going once our Keynesian ways play out.
Watch the entire 60 minutes below. The show ran a little long and I had to cut off both the beginning and end to fit within 6 YouTube videos. It starts abruptly and ends abruptly but you didn’t miss anything of note.
(Thanks again to George Szucs, the shows producer for allowing and encouraging us to make the show available online.)
Ron Paul appeared on Glenn Beck’s TV show this afternoon. They discussed the potential collapse of the U.S. (and global) financial system paving the way for a world government. Once again Beck gives Paul a chance to deliver his wise words on the state of what is left of the Republic.
Beck opens with praise for Paul, “You are the one guy that has had this right from the very beginning.”
Paul continues…
“They believe in world government.”
“They’re more out in the open than they were 25 years ago.”
It is refreshing to hear this view on the main stream airwaves. Watch the interview below.
“We are being ripped off!” “There’s going to be a revolt in this country!”
These are the words of Gerald Celente on the latest Lew Rockwell podcast. Celente certainly has a sense for the melodramatic, but the interesting thing is that so many of the predictions found in his Trends Journal newsletter have come true.
He claims that the panic of 2008 will become the collapse of 2009 and there’s going to be “the worst living conditions that we’ve ever faced in this country.” These words are quite scary and almost unthinkable for most of us.
I include myself among those skeptical of such claims, but every time I look at the writing on the wall it becomes more difficult to remain skeptical.
I don’t exactly know how I feel about all this talk of a “New World Order”, or a world government. Typically it’s discussed in the context of a mass conspiracy. Personally, I have a low regard for such theories, mainly because they presuppose that the architects behind these conspiracies are incredibly brilliant and devious. They would have to be, wouldn’t they? If they mastermined economic collapses and planned and/or faked terrorist attacks, they would have to plan very carefully, and make sure that the unlimited amount of variables involved are just right in order to make it all work out. But I think that’s giving these villains way too much credit. I personally think it’s much more likely that the events that occur aren’t part of a mass conspiracy, but that those who do desire such a thing as a “world government” will naturally use such events as opportunities to seize more power, and, since governments are naturally inclined toward grabbing more and more power all the time, such a thing is very much in their comfort zone when opportunities rise.
In The Advocates for Self Government’s most recent Liberator Online, James W. Harris brings up the subject since Gideon Rachman wrote in The Financial Times that “for the first time in my life, I think the formation of some sort of world government is plausible” and then goes on to discuss how the European Union has doing their part to attempt to unify that part of the world, and how he feels it could easily be used as a model for the whole world.
“A ‘world government’ would involve much more than cooperation between nations,” Rachman says. “It would be an entity with state-like characteristics, backed by a body of laws. The European Union [EU] has already set up a continental government for 27 countries, which could be a model. The EU has a supreme court, a currency, thousands of pages of law, a large civil service and the ability to deploy military force.”
A world government, Rachman stresses, could not be created democratically, because we ignorant unwashed masses, lacking the wisdom and foresight of those who rule us, mostly hate the idea.
“Even in the EU — the heartland of law-based international government — the idea remains unpopular. The EU has suffered a series of humiliating defeats in referendums, when plans for ‘ever closer union’ have been referred to the voters.
“In general, the Union has progressed fastest when far-reaching deals have been agreed by technocrats and politicians — and then pushed through without direct reference to the voters.
“International governance tends to be effective, only when it is anti-democratic.”
I find all this talk nauseating, but interesting nonetheless. Read the whole of Harris’ article at The Advocates for Self Government.
This morning Glenn Beck ranted about the demise of the U.S. dollar making sure to claim he is no conspiracy theorist. Yet with each word of warning he sounds not all that different from Alex Jones.
I’m not saying this is a bad thing. I think it is good in fact. It shows there is someone who (at least on the economy) is out there in the main stream press saying what needs to be said. Beck is not ready to latch on to the “elites taking over the world” argument, and neither am I. Though with each passing piece of evidence suggesting we are deliberately devaluing our currency it becomes more difficult not to grab on to that line of thinking. It seems Glenn Beck is fighting the urge latch on.
He goes from talking of the dollar’s demise right into the worry about globalism saying he doesn’t want to “live in a milk toast world”. Finally, he laments that our “Constitution is damn near gone”. On these points I could not agree with him more.
Now if he’d change his neo-con ways a bit on foreign policy we’d have another ally for liberty. However, when people change their ways they aren’t immediately welcomed with red pill induced hugs. One need look no further than Bob Barr for evidence of that.
Listen to his rant here:
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