Put Up Or Shut Up, Mr. Obama!

President Obama face WH photo SC Put Up Or Shut Up, Mr. Obama!

Barack Obama and his legion of Progressive zombies have adopted a mantra that they repeat mindlessly as they try to distract the American voters from his record of failure. What is that mantra? “Romney has to release his tax returns!”  (the insinuation being that Romney isn’t paying “his fair share, or is hiding something.”) President Obama has made the statement more than once “that a man running for the highest office in the land, has an obligation to reveal personal information (tax returns) in order to allay any questions of impropriety on Romney’s part.” Okay, so then why don’t you, Mr. Obama, as President of the United States, UNSEAL all of your college transcripts (or is there something to hide)?

How about releasing ALL of the “Operation Fast & Furious” documents that Congress has asked for that you hid behind a blanket of “executive privilege”? Is there something that may prove to be criminal or embarrassing to you, sir?  You claim not to know anything about the ad that accuses Mitt Romney of being responsible for the cancer death of a steelworkers wife, yet the ad was run by a “Super PAC” run by Bill Burton, a former staffer of yours. Why do you and your minions continue to hide behind “plausible deniability” when the truth is right out in the open  for the world to see?  The truth is not the truth unless you say so? Really?

Mr. Obama and company: you ridicule Paul Ryan’s budget and his Medicare plan, which he has put in WRITING! You, however, have not been able to get a realistic budget in almost four years through your own Democratic-controlled Senate. How can you and your zombies criticize something that is in writing for the American people to see when you refuse to do the same? You’re not afraid to try and scare senior citizens into thinking that the Republicans are trying to change Medicare “as we know it”! I challenge you to prove that Obamacare is NOT going to collapse under its own financial weight!  Where’s your solution, other than that 2700-page monstrosity of a TAX INCREASE that you, Pelosi, and Reid gave Congress NO time to read BEFORE they passed it?

Oh yeah, tell Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, or whoever else wants Mitt Romney to reveal his tax returns that they should lead by example and be willing to put their returns out there as a goodwill gesture. No, Harry, don’t give me that garbage abut not being the one who’s running for President. Your position in the Senate should oblige you to allay any fears citizens might have that our congressional leadership is INFLUENCE PEDDLING to enrich themselves, wouldn’t you agree?

Mr. Obama, since your “autobiographies” have been proven to be more fairy tale than fact, why don’t you come clean and UNSEAL all your records? Present an authentic birth certificate, which will pass muster with objective experts. Until you decide to give reasonable explainations as to why just about every document issued in your life is under seal (or has ” disappeared”), then maybe you need to get off Mitt Romney’s back. He’s willing to talk about jobs and the economy; are you?  By the way, what happened to your law license? Do you think that story might be of interest to voters this year? I’m telling you, Mr. Obama: put up, or shut up. Yes, you have divided this country like no one since the civil war. Tell me you’re proud.

 

Pre-Occupy America

Occupy SC Pre Occupy America

It’s 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning at 30,000 feet en route from Dallas to California. Hopefully, the view from above will give me some perspective, because I am somewhat depressed and a little jaded as I reflect upon the journey. No, not the flight. I am speaking of past four years. This has been a ridiculous journey for America. It is hard to single out one specific grievance amid all the fodder generated by this White House. Equally disturbing is the death of investigative journalism by most major news organizations as they trip over themselves to become extensions of the White House press office. It is difficult deciding where to begin, so let me offer just a few examples of the hundred or so.

Hope and change was sold to the masses in 2007, but today all we seem to be getting is fear and blame. If there is any change, it’s that the nation’s mood has gotten worse, much worse.

We were told by Team Obama that Democrats would unite and heal this nation, yet we have never been more divided as a people, at least not during my lifetime. We were promised that the deficit would be reduced. Now it has doubled to 15 trillion, 977 billion dollars. 16 trillion is just around the corner. And as if that’s not outrageous enough, our Democratically controlled Senate under this president’s watch and Harry Reid’s leadership has never passed a federal budget. With no budget in four years, it is easy to understand why there’s no spending limit in sight and no strategic path towards solvency. Remember when government transparency was this president’s new mantra? That belief got him elected, but it wasn’t long before we witnessed the exact opposite, with a president who avoided press conferences, forced nationalized health care without debate, sealed his college records, spent millions to obfuscate his background, wrote an autobiography of composite fiction and forced his radical agenda by abuse of executive orders and executive privilege while bypassing Congress. Remember that he said he couldn’t wait for Congress to act. That translates into an imperial presidency, doesn’t it?

And in the course of this ridiculous journey, we slowly have come to realize exactly who we elected to chart our future as a nation. His open proclaimations and closed-door, back-room deals have uncovered the man behind the mask. And it is a very different face from that of the 2008 campaign. Allow me to summarize what I observe to be some of Obama’s core beliefs:

-The Constitution is a flawed, obsolete document. In today’s America, the federal government should not be restricted in it’s power.
-The United States is no greater than any other nation. In fact, we owe an apology to the world for our success.
-True free-market principles do not work. They have never worked.
-We should model our economy after Europe.
-The wealth in our country was not created by the brightest and best among us. No, it was stolen from the poor and middle class.
-The private sector did not build anything. On the contrary, the government is a major, indispensable partner in creating wealth, opportunity and innovation.
-Energy independence can only be achieved with “green” technology, as defined by this White House. Oil, coal and gas are obsolete solutions, so Americans should be squeezed at the pump. This president and his energy secretary believe you deserve to pay $9.00 for a gallon of gasoline, which is in line with European prices.
-Our nation can only achieve fiscal solvency through increased spending. There is no upper limit.
-American business cannot be trusted to make strategic and operational decisions without government intervention in the form of increased regulatory oversight. We must assume, therefore, that the politicians and bureaucrats who write and enforce these regulations are more trustworthy and require little or no oversight, particularly in the executive branch of government.
-Most American citizens cannot succeed without federal assistance. Individualism and self-reliance simply don’t work in today’s complicated world.
-If someone has more money than you, regardless of skill, work ethic and/or talent, it’s just not fair. The concept of equal opportunity has been replaced with a belief in equal outcome, even at the expense of everyone being equally miserable.
-Some companies in our country are simply to big to fail and should not be subjected to bankruptcy laws, implying that there are no adverse consequences to bad management. Just ensure that wrong decisions are rewarded with taxpayer bailout money. The labor force should not be redirected to more efficient, smarter businesses who deliver products and services that consumers actually want.
-Unions should always be given preferential treatment when influencing government policy and receiving government procurement.
-The Justice Department can selectively enforce laws based upon the politics of race, ideology and geography.
-Voters should not be required to identify themselves.
-Our national borders should not be protected.
-Oh, and the private sector is doing just fine.

So it must come as no surprise that this president’s belief system has caused staggering hardship, harming the very people who elected him.

-The labor market has been permanently damaged and will take decades to recover.
-Your kids now owe a national debt so large that it will limit their future.
-American foreign policy has become a joke. Our allies no longer trust this White House.
-Both small and large businesses have difficulty planning more than a few weeks ahead because of irrational Democratic leadership, often characterized as unpredictable, disingenuous, capricious and punitive.
-Our military has been weakened by inadequate funding. It has been further compromised by national security leaks traced directly back to the White House. Just ask a Navy Seal about their thoughts on Obama. Better yet, ask the CIA informant who led us to Ben Laden. He was outed by Obama and now serves a life prison sentence in Pakistan.

I will stop generating bullet points, since this list only scratches the surface. But allow me to add just one last hardship under Obama’s presidency. It can be termed as pre-occupation. Not occupation. We’ve all seen the results of the Occupy Wall street crowd. No, I’m talking about preoccupation. The preoccupation that comes from worrying about the agenda pushed by this man in the Oval Office. It saddens me to realize that so much of my energy during these past four years could have been channeled into things other than politics. More fufilling things. More creative projects. More inspiring endeavors.

But instead, my eyes have been focused on Obama, who sees to it that he is always front and center in the news. He demands our undivided attention, if not adulation. He behaves as if Americans have no other interest than to serve at the pleasure of the President. He lives for the narrow spotlight of soft ball interviews by New Mexico radio stations and People Magazine.

Yes, I admit to being preoccupied with this celebrity-in-chief, but perhaps we should do something about it in November, before preoccupation becomes real occupation… by the government.

Photo credit: Michael Kappel (Creative Commons)

Liberal Stereotyping

Guns SC Liberal Stereotyping

If a picture speaks a 1,000 words, liberal Philadelphia Daily News cartoonist Signe Wilkerson has painted us a lifetime of reading about the liberal worldview when it comes to the Second Amendment.  His cartoon of August 17th, syndicated to newspapers throughout the nation, paints gun owners as hateful racists Aryan Nazis.  Talk about liberal stereotyping.

Wilkerson’s point is simple — if someone walks into a gun store with no history of mental illness or criminal activity, the government should be in a position to bar the sale if the purchaser does not “look right.”  Talk about a subjective standard that would never stand up to Constitutional scrutiny.  Would Mr. Wilkerson suggest that an African-American wearing pants drooped over his waistband be stereotyped as a gang member?  Or would Mr. Wilkerson’s standard only apply to whites?

Whatever Mr. Wilkerson and his ilk believe, it is not that the Constitution provides citizens with the right to bear arms. If they did believe in the Second Amendment, they would know that the burden would be on the government to prove the purchaser is not entitled to his or her rights.  Wilkerson is applying the Harry Reid “Romney has to prove he paid his taxes” standard to our Second Amendment rights.

Likewise, conveying an image of a gun purchaser as a Nazi is also problematic.  Millions of Americans purchase firearms legally and never use the gun to break the law.  But once again, liberals are more than willing to caricature gun owners in the most negative stereotype imaginable.

Recently, a gay activist walked into the Family Research Council intending to shoot the staff. What are the odds that Wilkerson would ever redraw his cartoon with a flamboyant gay man purchasing a gun? Mr. Wilkerson, are you suggesting the gun store owner should deny gays the ability to purchase firearms to defend themselves?  It is the only logical conclusion you can draw from Mr. Wilkerson’s worldview.

 

Harry Reid’s Big Green Lie

Harry Reid Progressive Harry Reids Big Green Lie

Every other sentence spoken at Harry Reid’s National Clean Energy Summit 5.0 in Las Vegas earlier this month was about “green jobs.” The sentences in between were about how it is absolutely imperative current state and federal grants, loan guarantees, tax credits ,and mandates for utilities to buy renewable power must be made permanent or else risk losing “green jobs.”

Granted, there were a few mentions of melting ice caps, droughts, rainstorms, and early cherry blossoms in D.C. — even though the United States is responsible for only 18 percent of the world’s carbon emissions and only 40 percent of that from electric power generation.

“There should be no one in this room who doubts the importance of reducing our reliance on fossil fuels,” Sen. Reid said in introducing his clean energy conference, “not only because it is good for the environment, but because it is good for the economy and good for national security. We’ve already seen how incentives, funding, and public-private partnerships have spurred job creation and innovation in this most critical sector. This has been a ray of sunshine during the Great Recession. So it’s easy to see the logic, the urgency and the opportunity of clean energy revolution.”

That is the Big Green Lie.

The Nevada Journal, a publication of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, recently reviewed 12 renewable energy projects in the state and found they received $1.3 billion in federal subsidies and loan guarantees since 2009. Those projects eventually will produce 288 full-time jobs — a cost of $4.6 million each. NV Energy has 44 such “green” projects, with eight producing power now.

The problem with this stimulus spending, as economist Arthur Laffer pointed out in a recent Wall Street Journal article, is: “For every additional government dollar spent, there is an additional private dollar taken. All the stimulus to the spending recipients is matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis every minute of every day by a depressant placed on the people who pay for these transfers. Or as a student of the dismal science might say, the total income effects of additional government spending always sum to zero.”

Actually, as Laffer later demonstrates, the sum is usually less than zero and reduces GDP.

There are examples already available. The United Kingdom launched an ambitious wind project in Scotland. A study by Verso Economics found that the annual diversion of 330 million British pounds resulted in the destruction of 3.7 jobs for every “green” job created.

Similar results occurred in Germany, Denmark, and Spain. A Spanish economist estimated that for every “green job” created by wind and solar, the rest of the economy lost 2.2 jobs.

The other job-killing aspect of “green” power is in the ongoing cost. The commissars of Carson City have dictated that by 2025, fully 25 percent of the state’s electricity must come from renewable sources. NV Energy is meeting and exceeding its current 15 percent renewable portfolio standard.

The company is signing 20-year contracts with wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal generators at prices double and triple that of fossil fuel generation, with 1 percent annual increases. (Additionally, the power company must shoulder the cost of maintaining rapid-start-up fossil fuel plants or buy power on the open market when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.) This will result in concomitant increases in power bills for residents and businesses, even though Nevada already has the second highest power costs in the West, just behind California.

To use an overly simplified example of what will transpire, as households adjust their budgets to account for higher power bills, choices will have to be made about spending. A family might choose to dine out less often.

For the local restaurant, this will mean a decline in revenue, which would necessitate trimming expenses such as waiters and cooks. Meanwhile, the business too is paying higher power bills, which would necessitate trimming expenses elsewhere such as waiters and cooks.

Feel free to substitute any other business built on discretionary spending, perhaps your job.

A Cato Institute book titled “The False Promise of Green Energy” calls the promise of “green jobs” false. The authors say the quest for “green” promotes inefficient use of labor and capital. “The green energy/jobs literature dooms everyone to live in a shrinking economy. Economic growth cannot be ordered by Congress or the United Nations. Interference in the economy by restricting successful technologies in favor of speculative technologies favored by special interests will generate stagnation.”

That is why it is a Big Green Lie.

Thomas Mitchell is a long-time Nevadan. You may share your views with him by emailing thomasmnv@yahoo.com. Read additional musings on his blog at http://4thst8.wordpress.com/

Photo Credit: Cheryl Biren (Creative Commons)

What We Conservatives Believe In

Tea Party SC What We Conservatives Believe In

The political label most frequently associated with conservatives today is “extreme radical right wingers”.  We are compared to Nazis, but if the name-callers were at all intelligent, they would realize that Nazis are really leftists. Nazi is an abbreviation for National Socialist German Workers Party. Fascists are also leftists because they believe the state is all-powerful and are uncompromising in their ideology.

I like many others in this country believe in the following: God, our spouses (if you have one), country, guns, small government, and personal responsibility. We believe that churches should help take care of the elderly, widows, and the orphans, as commanded by the Word of God. We believe that our rights come from our Creator, NOT  government! We believe in the rule of LAW, not the rule of men. We believe in LIMITED government, not a nanny state. We believe in absolute MINIMAL intrusion into the personal lives of our citizens. We believe in free and FAIR markets and enterprise. We believe in a tax code that is fair and equitable for EVERYONE. We believe that questions of moral conduct are for churches to decide, NOT the government!

We believe that education should be controlled at the STATE level. The control of the curriculum, salaries, and personnel are best handled by the people who are closest to the situation: the parents and taxpayers. We believe that local taxpayers and their representatives (school board members, city,  county commissioners, and county executives) are better equipped to deal with local problems than bureaucrats in faraway Washington D.C. We believe that teachers should be rewarded based on performance, NOT seniority!

We conservatives believe in minimal, necessary regulations for business and industry. We do not believe in “corporate welfare”. We believe in enforcing our immigration laws for EVERYONE. We do not believe in sanctuary cities or harboring law breakers of any kind unless it involves political asylum. We believe in secure and protected borders. We believe in backing up our border patrol agents with all the resources necessary to maintain a safe and secure border.

We conservatives do believe in people running for higher office PROVING their eligibility BEFORE they are allowed to enter elections in which individuals are given high security clearances. We believe in our elected officials following the laws that they enact, such as presenting a budget EVERY year. (Can you hear me, Harry Reid?) We believe in term limits for all elected officials. We believe in the impeachment process to get rid of officials, judges included, who decide to put themselves above the law or exceed the power of their office.

Lastly, we believe that our Creator has a prominent and distinguished place in our country, and those offended by His presence are free to move elsewhere (but should NOT be given the right to decide for the majority in this country.) We demand that our military and the defense of this country and our allies remain a PRIORITY for the government. We demand that our Constitution, and all legally ratified amendments, be respected and adhered to when legislation is proposed.

Conservatives are God fearing, country- and gun-loving citizens who are charitable, rational citizens of the greatest country on earth. Unlike our loudest detractors, we respect our fellow citizens, our rights, and our liberties. We believe in EQUAL opportunities, NOT equal outcomes. We believe in morality, NOT moral relativism! In other words, our ideology is becoming the mainstream of thought. America’s decline is because of “PROGRESSIVE” thinking and ideology. It’s time we went back to what worked for this country, despite what the President says about going backwards. There are a lot of other reasons for a lot of citizens becoming more conservative every day, and I probably missed a whole bunch, but they are just as important as those that I mentioned. I will debate my positions with anyone, anytime, and with an open mind. Being on the “right” side of an argument is always a winning position. Adeiu.

Photo credit: formatted_dad (Creative Commons)

How Did Harry Reid Get Rich?

Harry Reid SC How Did Harry Reid Get Rich?

Try this thought experiment. Imagine that someone grows up in poverty, works his way through law school by holding the night shift as a Capitol Hill policeman, and spends all but two years of his career as a public servant. Now imagine that this person’s current salary — and he’s at the top of his game — is $193,400. You probably wouldn’t expect him to have millions in stocks, bonds, and real estate.

But, surprise, he does, if he’s our Senate majority leader, whose net worth is between 3 and 10 million dollars, according to OpenSecrets.org. When Harry Reid entered the Nevada legislature in 1982, his net worth was listed as between $1 million and $1.5 million “or more,” according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. So, since inquiring minds inquire, let’s try to figure out how Reid’s career in public service ended up being so lucrative. He hasn’t released his tax returns, which makes this an imperfect science, but looking at a few of his investments helps to show how he amassed his wealth.

In 2004, the senator made $700,000 off a land deal that was, to say the least, unorthodox. It started in 1998 when he bought a parcel of land with attorney Jay Brown, a close friend whose name has surfaced multiple times in organized-crime investigations and whom one retired FBI agent described as “always a person of interest.” Three years after the purchase, Reid transferred his portion of the property to Patrick Lane LLC, a holding company Brown controlled. But Reid kept putting the property on his financial disclosures, and when the company sold it in 2004, he profited from the deal — a deal on land that he didn’t technically own and that had nearly tripled in value in six years.

Read More at National Review. By Betsy Woodruff.

An Open Letter To Obama’s IRS

Build It IRS Will Come SC An Open Letter To Obamas IRS

During the recent Republican Presidential nomination race, focus on the 63,000-page tax code and its effect on American families became a hot-button issue. Herman Cain made it a cornerstone of his candidacy, releasing his 9-9-9 Plan for revising the tax structure in America; the eventual introduction of the “Fair Tax” (a ‘National Sales Tax’ based on consumption rather than income); and the eventual elimination of income/payroll taxes, the IRS, and the 16th Amendment (which in reality was NEVER legally ratified as required by the Constitution. But more on that in a minute…).

There was a desperate cry from Democrats claiming the Fair Tax would be discriminatory towards the 47 percent of Americans who pay NO TAXES and the estimated 12 million illegals who pay none as well. But wouldn’t this accomplish Barack Obama’s campaign mantra that “everyone” should pay their fair share? Of course it would… and that in and of itself is the reason Obama is adamantly opposed to it. It cuts right into his base of non-taxpaying constituents.

But what about the 53 percent of us who DO pay taxes and carry the burden for the generational welfare of families and illegal residents? What do we get for our money? And is it truly fair that we carry the entire burden while being asked to pay “a little bit MORE”?

I have decided that I am tired of wasting what little money I have to pay for individuals and families to sit on the sofa and do NOTHING all day except learn new ways to scam the system. Additionally, my frustration encompasses the manner in which my taxes are being squandered, through programs I am vehemently opposed to that have no substantial benefit to Americans as a whole. For example-$600 million to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, $300 million to Pakistan (a country who hid and protected America’s number one enemy for some 5 years), $535 million to a bankrupt solar energy company, and $1.5 TRILLION to a stimulus program that has created NOTHING more than profits to political cronies and tax refunds paid to illegals and their families who don’t even LIVE in the United States anymore, all the while cutting more and more benefits and pay for our active-duty military and veterans. Not to mention the $20+ BILLION for congressional pork-barrel projects in home districts used to buy votes for incumbent Congressmen and Senators, who live a lavish, career lifestyle on the taxpayer dime.

For these and other reasons, I made a conscious decision to STOP paying federal income taxes until an equitable, fair, and logical solution can be established that eliminates the fraud, waste, and abuse so rampant within the IRS and the federal government. I am fully aware of the legal consequences this action may bring, but they ones I am willing to accept head-on. I decided to inform IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman of my decision and await his response, which most likely will come as my front door is being kicked in by fully-armed, paramilitary IRS Agents. But I figured it was only fair to outline my reasons and wrote Doug a letter…

 

Commissioner Douglas H. Shulman
Internal Revenue Service
10th St & Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20004

August 10, 2012

Dear Douglas,

It is with much regret that I must inform you that I no longer feel it necessary to pay income taxes under the current system of government. This has been coming for some time, and I thought I would explain some of the reasons for my decision based on the current political, social, and economic environment within the Obama administration and Congress, as well as the country as a whole.

First, let me say I deeply understand why individuals are required to pay a federal tax for living in America. It’s understood there is an elaborate infrastructure that must be financed. So much so that the United States federal government is the LARGEST employer in the world with our own Defense department employing 3.2 million people, nearly more than McDonalds and Wal-Mart combined. When you add in the remaining departments of the federal government, that number exceeds 20 million people. I mean, come on Douglas, that’s a lot of people for an organization that produces not a single, tangible, consumer good. And you and I both know as well, with the Supreme Court ruling in favor of ObamaCare, that your agency alone is poised to hire an ADDITIONAL 16,000 paramilitary IRS agents to make sure every American has health insurance (but NOT identification to VOTE).

As well, I understand the federal government is tasked with protecting our vital national interests and borders, but with the issuance of Barack Obama’s “Executive Policy” (which is just a ‘kinetic’ term for Executive Order) and amnesty for illegals, I think we’ve fallen gravely short in securing the borders and providing America with internal security. Wouldn’t you agree, Douglas? And then there’s the roads and bridges, postal service, FBI, CIA, NSA, DHS, TSA, DOJ, DHHS, VA, Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, et cetera. I get all that. Infrastructure. But how about we look at the FALLACIES within this taxpayer system and how blatantly corrupt, fraudulent, and wasteful it is. Let’s start with the IRS, shall we?

According to a report by Indianapolis television station WTHR-TV, millions of illegal aliens, many of whom do not even LIVE in the United States, are getting tax refunds totaling more than $4.2 BILLION from the IRS using Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITIN). As you are aware, an ITIN is a nine-digit tax-processing number assigned by the IRS to individuals who are obligated to file a federal tax return but lack or are ineligible for a Social Security Number (SSN) typically required to file taxes, mainly illegal criminals whom the Obama administration refuses to deport from this country. But to see the full scope of this scam, please read the following from FrontPage Magazine, “Illegals Get Billions in Tax Refunds.

But what’s REALLY irritating, Douglas, are the number of people within your OWN parent organization, the Treasury Department (where Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had to pay up $42,000 in BACK TAXES before being confirmed as secretary). To date, 1,181 Treasury employees have been identified as owing $9.3 MILLION in delinquent taxes. That doesn’t look good from my perspective. But your department is not alone.

A report from YOUR AGENCY shows that in ‘Mr. Fair Share”s own administration, 36 members of his executive office staff owe the country $833,970 in back taxes. And that’s truly sad considering previous reports have shown how well-paid Obama’s White House staff is, with 457 aides pulling down more than $37 million last year. That’s up seven workers and nearly $4 million from the Bush administration’s last year. Nearly one-third of Obama’s aides make more than $100,000 with 21 being paid the top White House salary of $172,200 each. You would THINK they’d be civic-minded enough to pay “their” fair share. But then again, this IS the Obama administration we’re talking about! In addition to the IRS and the Obama administration, let’s take a peek at some other federal agencies with problem employees…

The IRS’ report also found that thousands of federal employees owe the country more than $3.4 billion in back taxes. The tax offenders include employees of the U.S. Senate who help write the laws imposed on everyone else. They owe $2.1 million. Workers in the House of Representatives owe $8.5 million, Department of Education employees owe $4.3 million, and over at Homeland Security, 4,697 workers owe about $37 million. Active duty military members owe more than $100 million.

As usual, the Postal Service, with more than 600,000 workers, has the most offenders (25,640) who also owe the most — almost $270 million. Veterans Affairs has 11,659 workers owing the IRS $151 million while the Energy Department that was so quick to dish out more than $500 million to the Solyndra folks has 322 employees owing $5 million. And lastly, the country’s chief law enforcement agency, the Department of Justice, has 2,069 employees who are nearly $17 million behind in taxes. Like Operation Fast and Furious, Attorney General Eric Holder has apparently missed them too.

As a career Marine, I was taught that leadership is by example. Now honestly, Doug, what kind of example is the federal government showing the American taxpayer? That it’s OK to just “forget” to pay your taxes? Or could it be that THEY, just as I do, believe the 16th Amendment was never LEGALLY ratified and is thus an ILLEGAL Amendment and requirement under the U. S Constitution? Let’s take a look at that side of the issue for a moment…

Author and Researcher Bill Benson, in “The Law That Never Was,” makes a convincing case that the 16th amendment was not legally ratified and that Secretary of State Philander Knox was not merely in error but committed fraud when he declared it ratified in February 1913. A review of the process in which many of the states purportedly ratified (or didn’t) shows that their ratifications were not legal and should not have been counted. We’re both aware that in order for the Constitution to be modified, an Amendment must receive ratification by three-fourths of the States, which at the time of the 16th Amendment would have required 36 out of the 48 states. Benson reveals the intricacies of how the ratification process never happened.

When Secretary Knox declared the 16th amendment ratified on February 25, 1913, he had received responses from 42 states and acknowledged that four of those states (Utah, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire) had rejected it, counting 38 states as having approved it. But did they? Let’s take a look…

  • In Kentucky, the legislature acted on the amendment without even having received it from the governor (the governor of each state was to transmit the proposed amendment to the state legislature). The version of the amendment that the Kentucky legislature made up and acted upon omitted the words “on income” from the text, so they weren’t even voting on an income tax. When they straightened that out (with the help of the governor), the Kentucky senate rejected the amendment; yet Philander Knox counted Kentucky as approving it!
  • In Oklahoma, the legislature changed the wording of the amendment so that its meaning was virtually the opposite of what was intended by Congress, and this was the version they sent back to Knox. Yet Knox counted Oklahoma as approving it, despite a memo from his chief legal counsel, Reuben Clark, that states were not allowed to change it in any way.

It should be noted, however, that attorneys who have studied the subject have agreed that Kentucky and Oklahoma should not have been counted as approvals by Knox, and, moreover, if any state could be shown to have violated its own state constitution or laws in its approval process, then that state’s approval would have to be thrown out. That gets us past the “presumptive conclusion” argument, which says that the actions of an executive official cannot be judged by a court and admits that Knox could be wrong. We’re down to the magical THIRTY SIX states approving the Amendment. But there’s more… always is, ya know. If only one more state could be shown to have NOT ratified the Amendment legally, it would have been rejected, but Philander Knox was not about to see that happen!

The state constitution of Tennessee prohibited the state legislature from acting on any proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution sent by Congress until after the next election of state legislators. The intent, of course, is to give the proposed amendment a chance to become an issue in the state legislative elections so that the people can have a voice in determining the outcome. It also provides a cooling off period to reduce the tendency to approve an idea just because it happens to be the moment’s trend. You’ve probably already guessed that the Tennessee legislature did not hold off on voting for the amendment until after the next election, and you’d be right – they didn’t; hence, they acted upon it illegally before they were authorized to do so. They also violated their own state constitution by failing to read the resolution on three different days as prescribed by Article II, Section 18. These state constitutional violations make their approval of the amendment null and void. We’re down to 35 states, which in essence SHOULD mean the Amendment did NOT pass by the three-quarters needed. But let’s “spike the football” and destroy the Amendment even further.

Texas and Louisiana violated provisions in their state constitutions prohibiting the legislatures from empowering the federal government with any additional taxing authority. Now the number is down to 33.

Twelve other states, besides Tennessee, violated provisions in their constitutions requiring that a bill be read on three different days before voting on it. This is not a trivial requirement ~ it allows for a cooling off period. It enables members who may be absent one day to be present on another; it allows for a better familiarity with, and understanding of, the measure under consideration, since some members may not always read a bill or resolution before voting on it. (See, Douglas, things just never change. They don’t read them NOW either!). States violating this procedure were: Mississippi, Ohio, Arkansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, West Virginia, Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Colorado, and Illinois. Now the number is reduced to 21 states legally ratifying the amendment.

Further review would make the list dwindle down much more, but with the number down to 20, sixteen fewer than required, this is a suitable place to rest without getting into the matter of several states whose constitutions limited the taxing authority of their legislatures, which could not give to the federal government authority they did not have.

In closing, Douglas, I hope you see why I feel no obligation to continue sending money to Washington due to the massive amount of fraud, waste, abuse, and outright dereliction of the Constitutional mandate that Congress pass a BUDGET annually, something that has NOT occurred in Harry Reid’s Senate in over 3 years! This is border-line impeachable. And as I have said, leadership by example is what America needs and deserves. And until I begin to see this in all three branches of the federal government, I feel under no obligation to fund their extravagant, lavish lifestyles while nearly 20 percent of Americans remain unemployed and our national debt is at an all-time high. I realize you may say I shouldn’t then take advantage of what America offers in terms of, say, our highway system ~ don’t worry. You didn’t build that… someone else built that for you. Like ME, and 120 million other Americans who slave on a daily basis to pay for our nation’s infrastructure. It’s paid for. Now it’s time for Washington to pay us back through fiscal responsibility and openness. Until then, I bid you a good day, Sir.

Sincerely,

Robert P. Dean
U.S.M.C.
American Taxpayer

(Disclaimer: Statistical information contained in this article are from U. S. government sources and fully available to the public.)

Photo credit: terrellaftermath

The Scandal That Ends The Obama Presidency

Ironically, we can thank in part Harry Reid, Barack Obama’s left-hand man, for all this.

Harry Reid: Obama’s Court Jester, Nevada’s Joker

Harry Reid Donald Trump No Millionaire Job Creators SC Harry Reid: Obamas Court Jester, Nevadas Joker

I was not a primary supporter of Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination to run against Barack Obama.

In fact, I remember telling a friend of mine—who happens to be a Mormon Bishop—that my position wasn’t because Romney’s a Mormon. It’s because he put me to sleep.

That said, I have been rethinking my antipathy towards a Romney nomination and have come around to believing that a Romney presidency may just be the antidote to the place where Obama has navigated this nation today.

In much the same way that Dwight D. Eisenhower gave us eight years of a relatively unexciting but very competent presidency, I have come to believe that is what Romney now offers after four years of foolishness and amateurism.

And if Obama’s hallmark is amateurism, then his court jester has to be our own Harry Reid.

I fully understand how Reid got himself re-elected in 2010. From a political ground game perspective, he did everything right, and his opponent took a lead and squandered it by doing everything—and I mean everything—wrong. (Starting with her belief that she could counter Reid’s ground game with media. In baseball, pitching beats hitting, and in retail politics, ground game beats media. Every time.)

But Reid’s idiot bleating that he has a “confidential” source that told him that Romney has not paid taxes in 10 years while Reid himself refuses to release his own tax returns and has a hard time explaining where his own wealth has come from in view of the fact he has been sucking on the government teat his entire career is in the stunningly stupid category, as Newt Gingrich might say.

In fact, veteran campaign consultant Ed Rollins put it best on Fox News Sunday when he suggested facetiously that Harry Reid got the money for his Washington penthouse from prostitution and gambling. It’s certainly more plausible than Reid’s assertion about Romney.

It all goes to point out two things.

First, two years ago, Nevada re-elected a dolt who is a national embarrassment.

Second, elections clearly have consequences.

In our case, we get to tune in the news and see Harry Reid make a fool of himself—and by extension, us—on the national stage almost every day.

Folks, we’ve gone beyond calling the President of the United States a “loser” to a fourth grade class. We’ve gotten to the point where crazy Uncle Harry escaped from his basement apartment and they made him the third most powerful man in Washington. He’s a caricature of a Stiller and Meara routine. Perhaps writers for the TV show “The King of Queens” had Harry Reid as a model for Stiller’s crazy father.

How can Reid get away with it?

Simple. Nevada is superfluous to his career. He doesn’t live here anymore, and the fact is that Dean Heller is our only Senator.

Reid represents not the interests of Nevada but the interests of a small coterie of people who fancy themselves important in Washington DC.

How did this happen?

Well, Reid was everybody’s waterboy for most of his career. He was an equal opportunity spear carrier. He ran errands for Republicans and Democrats alike.

He was rewarded with jobs. Gaming Commission chair, Congressman, Senator.

One day, he outlasted everyone else, and they made him Senate Minority Leader.

And, at that point, he no longer needed us.

That’s when the idiotic statements started. When he started turning on his state by doing things like crushing the construction of two coal-fired power plants near Ely and starting his own personal recession in White Pine County. When his mean streak and his ignorance combined to expose him as the mean and stupid spawn of Nevada.

But, there he is. (One wonders what those “Republicans for Reid” of 2010 think now.)

Most likely, we cannot get rid of him before his pathetic term comes to an end.

But we can remove him from a position to do much more damage by electing Romney and hoping our brethren in other states can change the composition of the Senate so he is no longer the Majority Leader. Neutering Harry is the best we can accomplish in the short term.

He will not move back to Nevada. He’s crapped on enough people in the state that there’s nothing for him here.

We could live with only having one Senator if only Harry would stop pretending he’s representing our interests.

Photo credit: terrellaftermath

Reid Aide Divulges Details On Source Of Romney Tax Claim — Then Retracts

Harry Reid 4 SC Reid aide divulges details on source of Romney tax claim    then retracts

After days of silence on Harry Reid’s disputed claim that Mitt Romney hasn’t paid taxes for a decade, a top aide finally spilled details on the supposed source of the allegation — only to issue a wholesale retraction of those details by Thursday evening.

Reid aide Jose Parra first made the claims in an interview on Los Angeles’ KTLK radio, defending his boss’ decision to trumpet the tax charge last week on the Senate floor and explaining a bit about the source.

“This person is an investor in Bain Capital, a Republican also, and somebody … who has been dealing with Romney’s company for a long, long time and he has direct knowledge on this,” Parra said.

Parra’s statement comes after Romney, in an interview with Fox News, challenged Reid to identify his source.

However, after some media attention on Parra’s radio interview, Parra issued a statement taking those remarks back.

Read More at Fox News.

Photo Credit: Talk Radio News Service (Creative Commons)