International Wiretapping Upheld

In a decision made last August 22, but not reported until now, what the left calls warrantless wiretapping, and the courts call the National Security Agency’s secret eavesdropping program, has been declared constitutional and within the powers given to the president.

The decision marks the first time since the disclosure of the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping program three years ago that an appellate court has addressed the constitutionality of the federal government’s wiretapping powers. In validating the government’s wide authority to collect foreign intelligence, it may offer legal credence to the Bush administration’s repeated assertions that the president has the power to act without specific court approval in ordering national security eavesdropping that may involve Americans.

Regardless, Obama has dismantling the most effective tools of the Patriot Act in mind for his first term. A testament to his selections for CIA director and DHS secretary.

To take this tool away is like trying to run a marathon blindfolded. What the left calls warrantless wiretapping of American citizens is this: a call originating from a known terrorist region and coming into the US. Who wants to bet their life that this program hasn’t helped save lives and hasn’t helped to get the bad guys? Will the resentment and refutation of the policies of George W. Bush take precedence over the safety and security of our citizens?

link: Intelligence Court Rules Wiretapping Power Legal

Newspapers Cutting Expenses, Hours, Wages

Newspapers around the country are having a tough time raising revenues for a host of reasons, not the least of which is the economy right now. Papers and Publishers are asking their employees, or I mean their ‘workers,’ to volunteer to have your hours cut as well as your salary. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Gannett Announces One-Week, Unpaid Furloughs

Today Gannett is implementing a furlough program across all U.S. divisions and at corporate headquarters. This means that most of our U.S. employees – including myself and all other top executives – will be furloughed for the equivalent of one week in the first quarter. This furlough will be unpaid. Unions also will be asked to participate.

Emphasis added. Why is there no mention about what the union thinks of their cost cutting plans? Put a camera on the CWA’s president. Someone ask him just how the union is expected to participate? That’s where the news is. What’s up with that?

Wouldn’t you like to see the CWA try to hold up newspaper publishers? Watching that would be like an adult reprimanding a child. Only in this case, I’m having trouble determining which is the adult.

You can bet if the news was about organizing a business, we would see it.

CORRECTION 1/17/09: Gannett is not asking their employees to volunteer to take a week off without pay, they are telling them to, and within the first quarter of 2009. Mmm, wonder what’s up for the next quarter?

related link: What to say if your boss calls during your furlough

Alcaniz Street Preserved

At least for now. According to Councilman Sam Hall, the request to change the name of Alcaniz into Martin Luther King has been withdrawn.  Preserving that history was the right thing to do. All you ‘racists’ (according to Boyd) can rest easy now.

This was a big deal a few months ago when community organizer and head of Movement for Change, Leroy Boyd, had petitioned the City to change the remaining blocks of Alcaniz St. to MLK boulevard, from Fairfield Drive to the Main St. on the bay.

Derek Cosson has a good idea.

We’re going to be building a new public library… why don’t we consider naming that for Dr. King instead.

Too bad that Boyd wouldn’t see it that way. He would see it this way, ‘ain’t no white person gonna to tell ME what street I can rename.’

How long before the subject comes up again?

Pelosi, A More Open, Ethical Congress

That is what Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she was bringing to the House over two years ago. Democrats were going to be more ethical, more open, and something about working with republicans. You remember, it was back when Rep. William (Dollar Bill) Jefferson (D-LA) was found with $90,000 in marked bribe money in the freezer of his Washington residence. Jefferson, btw, is still in Pelosi’s House.

Last week, unnoticed ? by the mainstream media, Speaker Pelosi made a rule change that effectively prohibits the minority, Republicans, from offering amendments or input to new legislation.

One change puts new restrictions on motions to “recommit” a bill to the committee that approved it in order to add new amendments.

The new rule allows the full House to reconsider a bill without delay, depriving the minority party of an opportunity to add its input on the proposed legislation.

This must be what she meant when she said that her House would be more open, ethical, and will be working with Republicans. It is good that Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) is still around to see how his foolish, ‘friendly gesture’ of ‘power sharing’ has affected Speaker Pelosi.  Have we learned anything here? Some republicans learn quicker than others.

Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL) had this to say about it . . .

Included in last week’s accomplishments was the passage of the new Democratic Rules Package, which extended the time Democrats can chair committees, reduced the rights of Republicans to represent their constituents and took the House of Representatives one step closer to being the most authoritarian and dictatorial Congress since the early part of the 20th century.

Former Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), recalling PEBO’s campaign rhetoric and comparing that to what Speaker Pelosi has done. Blunt said the changes are an “absolute contradiction to everything Barack Obama said” about nonpartisan politics during the campaign.

This move by Pelosi has got to be the most unreported action by the House of Representatives. Given the political consequences of the rule change, one would think that that would be newsworthy.  Well, then you get into ethics and getting-along stuff so hell, what story? There’s no story there.

related links: Pelosi’s Power Grab: Her Plan to Shackle the GOP | House faces early partisan fight over rules

New Right-To-Carry Rules In Effect

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

Real Change, A Constitutional Convention

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.

Answering Papantonio With The Fair Tax

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.

Pensacola Fair Tax Advocates

NBC Nixes Ann Coulter, Not Joe Wilson

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.’