This is an A/B comparison of taxation between The Fair Tax and President Elect Barack Obama’s Tax Plan.
This is a comparison you probably won’t see anywhere else. Certainly not in the mainstream media. This document also has links to other aspects of the Fair Tax. Such as The Prebate Explained, Americans For Fair Taxation White Paper.
pdf file:FairTax Versus Obama Tax Plan
According to this press release from the NRA, persons with concealed weapons permits will now be permitted to carry in Federal parks and wildlife refuges. Small victory for freedom and the Second Amendment.
The new rule, which takes effect today, allows Right-to-Carry permit holders to carry concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges in states that recognize their permits. The new rule will also put an end to the patchwork of regulations that governed different lands managed by different federal agencies. In the past, Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands allowed the carrying of firearms, while lands managed by DOI did not.
As expected, the Brady bunch has already filed a lawsuit of hysterical proportions against it.
Not surprisingly, the first to jump on the “banned” wagon was the anti-gun Brady Campaign, in a lawsuit filed against the DOI in federal court, seeking to have the new rule struck down. The National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees have also filed a similar suit.
Brady contends that people have a right to visit parks without fear of permit-holders carrying guns. The contention is ludicrous, of course, since to get to a park requires people to travel through places where permit-holders abound, without posing any threat whatsoever.
If there really are people who walk around in fear that some idiot is going to pull out a gun and shoot them, then they should think twice before entering a so-called ‘gun-free’ zone, where only the criminals will be armed. Under extraordinary circumstances, a law abiding citizen lawfully carrying a concealed weapon for self-protection could save your life too. In this case, the fear that the Brady Campaign harbors is misplaced.
link: New Rules On Right-To-Carry In Our National Parks Take Effect Today
related: NW Florida residents can get information about obtaining a concealed weapons permit at one of many gun shows in the state and around the country. They are not the only source, but are the most convenient. The next one in Pensacola is Feb. 7-8, 2009 at the Interstate Fairgrounds. FAQ
By now you’ve probably got the notion that the politicos in Washington have stopped listening to you and have settled in on the idea of keeping the power and status that goes with ‘serving’ our country. You also have learned that Washington believes that they know what is good for you, your family, your business, your livelihood, and your childrens’ education.
Paramount in every one’s mind today is the economy. As never before in our nation’s history and in world history, we no longer have just our economy sandwiched between two oceans living happily ever after. We are part of a global economy that is subject to the give and take, or if you will, the actions and reactions of industrialized nations around the world.
With that in mind, what we are hearing from Washington nowadays is that government spending of apocalyptic proportions is going to bring our economy around to recovery. And that couldn’t be more wrong. To think otherwise, you must assume that the government makes money and it is just spending the money it makes to help us. Fact is, the government only prints money, it doesn’t make a thin dime. The money the government uses is made by you and I. In fact, they have been spending money that we, our children, and our grandchildren haven’t yet made. The government gets it through taxation. They don’t make it, they take it. And they take it in ways that are punitive to those that create it, and in ways that hurt the most vulnerable among us. That would be the poor, and the means is the payroll tax. They take it so they can spend it in ways that will insure not only their re-election but their hold of power for power’s sake. NOT for the improvement of the economy.
As I said in the previous post, a lot of politicians will have to go into a 12-step program to wean themselves from of the old way of ‘control through taxation’ before real progressive change can take place in America. Question is, what will make them do that? Who will make them see the light? There is only one answer to this question. The people that elected them, you and I, are the ones who will proscribe it. First by electing like minded representatives. Second by pushing for a Constitutional Convention.
Georgia’s Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has planted the seed and Neal Boortz, co-author of the Fair Tax book and Fair Tax: The Truth, Answering the Critics, has expanded on it. This is the kind of change that I’m talking about. What follows is from Boortz’s website.
We need a Constitutional Convention called for the sole purpose of adding three specific amendments to the United States Constitution. The convention would consider these three amendments … and nothing further. Two-thirds of the States need to pass a resolution calling for such a convention, and those resolutions need to be specifically worded so as to limit the purpose of the convention to these three amendments. Without that limitation we’re going to have left-wing fools trying to add amendments guarantying such things as a right to a job, a place to live and health care. Not good.
So .. what are the three amendments? (You don’t listen to me all that much, do you?) Very simple …
1. An amendment to the Constitution repealing the 16th Amendment. What is the 16th Amendment? That would be the income tax. By repealing the 16th Amendment the Congress would be forced to come up with a new way of generating the revenue needed for the legitimate functions of our government.
2. An amendment repealing the 17th Amendment. The 17th Amendment calls for the popular election of U.S. Senators. Before the 17th Amendment each state legislature would appoint that state’s two Senators. The congressmen were in Washington to represent the people, and the Senators were there to represent the states. Right now the government of Mexico has an official representative in Washington; the government of New Mexico does not. This enables the federal government to run roughshod over the states with unfounded mandates and other federal demands. Give the state governments a voice in Washington .. repeal the 17th Amendment.
3. An amendment setting term limits for members of the House of Representatives. Give them three terms, then send them home. Yes, I know, there are some people we would truly like to keep up there to pursue some worthy objectives, but in the balance we’re hurt by those who spend taxpayer money to solidify their power than we are would be by sending the few good representatives home at the end of six years.
Now .. here’s the reality here. The Congress would probably never permit this Constitutional Convention to be called. As soon as they saw state legislatures passing the resolutions to bring these things to pass we would see the members of congress trying to beat the citizens to the punch. No … they’re not going to send the choice of Senators back to the states, and they’re unlikely to set term limits for themselves. But we might actually see some movement on the repeal of the 16th Amendment and serious consideration given to the FairTax.
Dreaming? Maybe so, but maybe not. Get the right grassroots organization formed to push this idea for a Constitutional Convention and you just might rattle some cages in Washington. Who knows? Maybe the people might start counting again.
Our Representative in Northwest Florida, Jeff Miller, is a supporter of the Fair Tax as a method of tax reform and economic recovery. We have to work on the others around the country and our Senators as well. For more information about The Fair Tax see the links below. The ‘grassroots’ is you and I. In Pensacola come join us and be part of the solution. Hit the Pensacola Fair Tax Meetup Group link below.
Below is a ‘comment’ that I left to an article Mike Papantonio wrote in the Pensacola News Journal yesterday entitled ‘No choice but to spend our way out.’ Coming from an Air America talk radio host, that is just the sort of ‘fix’ one could expect from him. But it was also an opportunity for me to ad my two cents to promote The Fair Tax as a real solution to our economic problems. And below is my reply:
If the PEOPLE only had more money left to spend, it would help to turn things around. But if the GOVERNMENT spends our (and our children’s and our grand-children’s) money, it will simply make the hole bigger.Two things to remember, when you’re in a hole, quit digging. And, like Winston Churchill said, “We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”
So how do the people come to have more money? Don’t confiscate it via taxes, let them keep more of what they earn. Unfortunately, that won’t happen in today’s current political climate. CHANGE is what is needed. Changing how the government is financed, via the Fair Tax system, will go a long way in bringing us to economic recovery, creating jobs, business, investment, and savings.
But before that will happen, a lot of politicians will have to go into a 12-step program to wean themselves from of the old way of ‘control through taxation.’
It is a shame that today, President Elect Barack Obama is saying that ONLY THE GOVERNMENT can get us out of the current situation, through spending of epic proportions, and on programs that are not going to stimulate the economy, but instead will advance his campaign promises. The solution to the country’s problem is called The Fair Tax, where the people will have their own money to spend. Where the people will then choose, through the free market, who the winners and losers will be, rather than have it taken by THE GOVERNMENT to spend it elsewhere and on their special interests.
You can see where the 12-step program is needed. But don’t hold your breath for Barack and his Cabinet to sign up for it. It is up to you and I to remind the folks in Washington that they are supposed to represent us, not control us, and push us over the economic cliff with trillions and trillions of imaginary dollars, further weakening our economy.
Please share with us any letters to the editor or blog comments that you have written in support of The Fair Tax. See you at the next meetup. Tue. Jan 20, 7pm at Philly’s Cheesesteaks & Hoagies, 3900 Creighton Road.
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Pensacola Fair Tax Advocates
In a curious chain of events, NBC cancelled a segment with conservative author Ann Coulter on the release of her new book, Guilty, because they don’t like what she has to say. Not just cancelled the segment, but may have banned her from NBC forever. Joe Wilson (or pick your liberal author) is just fine though.
From the Drudge Report . . .
The nation’s top selling conservative author has been banned from appearing on NBC, insiders tell the DRUDGE REPORT.
“We are just not going to have her on any more, it’s over,” a top network source explains.
But a second top suit strongly denies there is any “Coulter ban”.
“Look for a re-invite, as soon as Wednesday,” said the news executive, who asked not to be named.
Tonight on Hannity and Colmes, Coulter said if she happened to be re-invited, she may just cancel it herself at the last moment. That would be cool.
One network insider claims it was the book’s theme — a brutal examination of liberal bias in the new era — that got executives to dis-invite the controversialist.
“We are just not interested in anyone so highly critical of President-elect Obama, right now,” a TODAY insider reveals. “It’s such a downer. It’s just not the time, and it’s not what our audience wants, either.”
The audience of NBC news doesn’t really want that kind of news information? Big of them to decide that for you isn’t it?
For her part, Ann comments ‘I guess this ends the “they just want to get ratings” argument about liberal media bias.’
The New York Times has begun selling front-page display ads, a first for
the paper.
The paper has sold small-classified liners on the front page prior to this move, but decided to sell display ads in such a desirable position because of declining advertising revenue.
You’ve seen the media hype all the civilian casualties, women and children, before. In fact, it has become fashionable to report on women and children casualties as a result of war. We see it in our media and everywhere else in the world. We see it in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in Lebanon and the Gaza strip. Not so much in Israel, at the hands of Hamas. Since Israel’s enemy and our enemy choose to use their own families as human shields, women and children casualties are a given. So media, spare me the tears please.
The United States late Saturday blocked approval of a U.N. Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, diplomats said.
With no history nor expectation that Hamas will live at peace and accept the existence of Israel, the US did the right thing at the UN. All the bleeding 
hearts be dammed. That war, as in any war, is not going to end until one side or the other wins it. Or to put it another way, until one side loses it. ‘Cease fires’ where Islamofascists are concerned is Osama-speak for back up, regroup, re-arm, and attack another day. Not surprisingly, the Useless Nations has no memory of this tact, or Tora Bora, or Sadr City, or Fallujah.
Meanwhile, let the terrorist cleansing begin. It’s called peace through strength, not peace through surrender. And why doesn’t Israel have the same right to self-defense as other nations?
At this point, it is beginning to look like PEBO has his first test coming up shortly. Will he support our ally, or the terrorists and Iran?
links: Diplomats say US blocks UN statement on Gaza | The Jews Face a Double Standard
Regarding the ‘just discovered’ parody of a reporter’s idea of PEBO, Frances Rice, chairman of the National Black Republican Association, responds to the new-found ‘controversy’ in this open letter to President-Elect Barack Obama. It’s time to start walking the walk and show us his healing powers, to his own party. Frances Rice is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, a lawyer and she can be contacted at www.NBRA.info
OBAMA THE MAGIC NEGRO
By Frances Rice
Click here to listen to: “Barack the ‘Magic Negro’ (That’s What the LA Times Called Him)”
If it were not so hypocritical, it would be comical how Democrats and their media allies have created a media firestorm over a parody on racism in the Democratic Party. The Democrats’ display of rank hypocrisy on race is a familiar scenario. First, Democrats exhibit vile racism. Then, any Republican who points out the Democrats’ display of vile racism is attacked by Democrats as being racist.
The current target of this Democratic Party racial jujitsu is RNC chairman candidate Chip Saltsman. So, what did Saltsman do to warrant being called a racist? Well, he dared to distribute a music CD with a parody about the fact that black Democrat David Ehrenstein called Sen. Barack Obama a “Magic Negro” in an article published by the left-wing, Democrat-controlled “Los Angeles Times.” Huh?
None of the people now trashing Saltsman uttered one peep of protest when the article entitled “Obama the Magic Negro” was first published in the “Los Angeles Times” on March 19, 2007 with the subtitle: “The Illinois senator lends himself to white America’s idealized, less-than-real black man.” Below is the link to that article.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ehrenstein19mar19,0,5335087.story?coll=la-opinion-center
Sadly, some high-profile Republicans who should know better have joined the Democrats and the mainstream news media in their Republican bashing frenzy.
Lost in the media uproar is the fact that the parody has been broadcast several times on the radio, and the satirical content understood by the more than 20 million listeners of the popular Rush Limbaugh Show. One is left to wonder if the critics have even listened to the parody.
Where was all this outrage over racism when the Democrats used despicable racial stereotypes (just as Democrats did during the days of slavery and Jim Crow) to slur black professionals, such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele?
Brazenly, on the left-wing Internet website called “The News Blog,” Democrats posted a doctored photograph of Steele, depicting him as a “Simple Sambo.”
Cartoonist Jeff Danziger depicted Rice as an ignorant, barefoot “mammy,” reminiscent of the stereotyped black woman in the movie Gone with the Wind who remarked: “I don’t know nothin’ ’bout birthin’ no babies.” Black comedian Harry Belafonte and Rev. Al Sharpton publicly denounced Powell as a “House Negro.” NAACP Chairman Julian Bond equated the Republican Party with the Nazi Party and called Rice and Powell “tokens.”
The liberal media showed not a hint of concern about racial insensitivity when Obama campaigned for white Democrat Benjamin L. Cardin and against Michael Steele during the 2006 Maryland senate race, not long after Obama issued a letter of support for the re-election of white Democrat and former Ku Klux Klansman Robert Byrd.
Not one word of angst was uttered by the liberal press when a black Democrat pundit on national television called black Democrat Juan Williams a “Happy Negro.” What offense did Williams commit that resulted in such a vicious racial slur? He had the temerity to defy the Democratic Party’s “thought police” and wrote a book called “Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-end Movements and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America.” His book exposes how the failed socialist polices of the Democrats who have been running black communities for the past 40 years have turned those communities into economic and social wastelands.
As author Michael Scheuer stated, the Democratic Party is the party of the four S’s: slavery, secession, segregation and now socialism. Visit the website www.NBRA.info on the Internet to see the racist cartoons of Rice and Steele and the details about the Democratic Party’s 150-year history of racism.
The time is long overdue for Republicans to stop cowering over the issue of race. Republicans should cease attacking fellow Republicans for telling the truth about Democrats, recapture the Republican Party’s rich civil rights legacy, and shed the light of truth on the failed socialism and racism in the Democratic Party – past and present.
Frances Rice is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, a lawyer and chairman of the National Black Republican Association. She can be contacted at www.NBRA.info
Note: Two of the leading RNC chairman candidates are black Republicans Ken Blackwell whose website is http://kenblackwell.com/and Michael Steele whose website is http://www.steeleforchairman.com/
Right now, in the heat of the battle, while military jets and attack helicopters are flinging munitions all over Gaza doing surgical strikes, and with foot soldiers about to enter to mop up the last of the enemy, Hamas, journalists are complaining that Israel won’t let them in.
Israel is continuing to bar foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip, despite a Supreme Court decision to allow a limited number of reporters to enter the territory.
The ban has been in place since a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas began to fray on Nov. 5 as militants intensified rocket fire on Israel.
That’s a toughie for me. On the one hand, it is better that they stay alive than to go in there where they could be blown up. On the other hand, they could go there and get blown up.
Economically speaking, times are tough. Just how long it will take to recover from the current financial situation will depend on the solution. So far, I’m not seeing the right solution. Driven by political objectives instead of economic ones, both Bush’s and Obama’s medicine will make matters worse.
Then, there are some people that think we’ve just grown too big for our own britches and maybe we need to reevaluate this whole capitalism thing. Like Timothy Garton Ash, writing in the guardian.co.uk suggesting that ‘a large part of humankind has to be excluded from the happy benefits of growth or our way of life has to change.’
On its face, that represents a false choice. His reasoning behind it is no friend to freedom. It is socialism to one degree or another.
His article about capitalism making hard choices misses the obvious. Ash says . . .
It must be obvious that the planet cannot sustain 6.7 billion people living as does today’s middle class in North America and western Europe – let alone the projected 9 billion world population in mid-century. Either a large part of humankind has to be excluded from the benefits of prosperity or our way of life has to change.
The ‘obvious’ to me means freedom and free-market economies. What the rest of the deprived world needs is freedom. It is not a coincidence that the most desperate parts of the world lack such freedom. Prosperity does not beget prosperity. Freedom does.
Would not the goal be to see them help themselves for once in a few thousand years, like the US has done in these last 230 years, rather than to dismiss what has demonstrably worked by having government run the show? When people have a choice of being free to speak, free to move, free to market, free to keep private property, and free to worship, or not, they will choose freedom. And when they do, they will go a long way in resolving their problems.
link: 2009 brings hard choices over the future of capitalism