We welcome Congressman Frank Lucas who represents the third district of Oklahoma as the newest co-sponsor of the FairTax legislation! Big congratulations go to the State Director, Billy Harrington, OK-03, District Director Brian Webb and the whole volunteer team.
Email your Representative now if they haven’t joined the 55 co-sponsors of HR 25.
Only president I know that toppled a dictator recently was George Bush taking down Saddam Hussein. At that time, the same protesters that took to the streets in Egypt these last two weeks were the same ones that protested the taking down of Saddam Hussein in favor of a democracy. And they were joined by most Democrats and the media.
Today, however, it’s a totally different picture. Today some of the media, like a University of West Florida professor (I’m still trying to find out her name) that was interviewed by the Florida News Network as an ‘expert’ on Egypt and the Middle East, are trying to attach the overthrow of Mubarak to President Obama. Giving him ‘credit’ for Mubarak’s ouster. As if Obama had anything to do with it. She said it regains America’s trust in President Obama. Well isn’t this rich? Obviously, Obama has lost whatever trust and respect he may have had, as evidenced by this so-called expert, and as confirmed by Oprah yesterday. And for any number of reasons, not the least of which was his and his advisors’ handling of the uprising in Egypt.
And while we’re on the topic of toppling dictators, lets see what side Obama supports this time in Iran. Young people (same as in Egypt) there want to demonstrate in Iran again, this time to support the democracy push in Egypt, but the Mullahs and Ahmadinejad are warning them not do take to the streets. Will President Obama come down on the side of the youths wanting democracy, or on the dictator’s side like he did in 2009?
“I have made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not interfering in Iran’s affairs,” Mr Obama said.
Since yesterday’s embarrassment, apparently numb to his impish behavior on the world stage, President Obama felt it necessary to amp it up even more. Too bad he doesn’t treat America’s enemies with the same audacity as our allies.
On this audition for Saturday Night Live, here is AP’s account of what President Obama said . . .
Without naming Mubarak directly, Obama issued a written statement on Thursday night in which he criticized the leader for a lack of clarity and direction. That assessment came after Mubarak surprised those protesting in Egypt’s streets by saying, in a broadly watched speech, that he would shift powers to his vice president but remain in charge of the country. {emphasis added}
Isn’t it odd (not really) that the AP doesn’t see the irony? Here is what he said . . .
Too many Egyptians remain unconvinced that the government is serious about a genuine transition to democracy, and it is the responsibility of the government to speak clearly to the Egyptian people and the world.
If our president is going to criticize Egypt’s president for not putting out a clear message, and for not listening to his citizens, lets at least recognize that in that respect they are twins with one difference. One of them knows what he’s doing.
While searching for the transcript of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s statement today, which turned out not to be his resignation, I came upon one of the Obama administration’s targeted Google ads in the story of Mubarak’s statement. Which does show perfectly well where our president’s priorities are. Instead of Egypt, they seem to be more in salvaging his radical agenda and poll numbers.
How does the Obama administration buy ad space on Google to undermine the will of the people? Look at this screensave on the Times of India website.
Official Obama Website : www.BarackObama.com – Barack Obama needs your help to change Washington. Sign up today!
Just another crisis that he is not letting go to waste.
Responding to Obama’s several statements about Egypt, without naming him, Mubarak said . . .
“I am not embarrassed to listen to the youth of my country and respond to them,” he said. But he added that he would never “accept diktats from abroad” – referring to increasing international pressure for him to quit.
Which makes this post even more relevant: Should The President Resign?
If anyone thought that President Obama had his finger on the pulse on the happenings in Egypt, his performance today should put that notion to rest.
I just saw the media waiting for over six hours for Egypt’s President Mubarak to announce that he is ‘stepping down’ today. While this was going on, people at The White House were saying that President Obama was going to have a statement on Egypt. The presumption was that it would be a response to President Mubarak’s stepping down.
Well, I guess the President must have had something better to do than to wait and see what Mubarak had to say, because Obama beat Mubarak to the cameras. Boy, talk about a diplomatic blunder. Obama showed, in case there was any doubt remaining, that the United States, at least under this president, can not be a trusted ally to anyone.
It’s bad enough that, to this date, Washington is still sending out mixed messages on Egypt’s troubles. It is painfully obvious that voting ‘present’ on Egypt has not worked. And now President Obama again sticks his nose into Egypt’s business before he even knows what Egypt’s business is. One can only speculate whether Mubarak set up the whole drama which Obama fell for, hook, line, and sinker.
In his statement, which came after Obama’s, Mubarak chastised countries ‘abroad’ for not being helpful in the matter. Saying that he would never “accept diktats from abroad.”
Yesterday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu Al-Gheit said in an interview with Al-Arabiya TV . . .
“The question is not whether or not the latest American position pleases me. Ultimately, they have realized the need to conduct these major transformations gradually and on the basis of a roadmap with clear goals, guarantees, and phases. They were using the word ‘now.’ They said: You must do it now! But they changed their position… When someone says to me ‘now,’ ‘immediately,’ and whatever, I say to him: ‘Boy, go play somewhere else.’ We will do everything according to the interests of our people and country.”
So how is that whole improving our ‘image around the world’ thing going?
In the pre-super bowl interview with FOX News channel’s Bill O’Reilly, President Obama said . . .
“I didn’t raise taxes once. I lowered taxes over the last two years. I lowered taxes for the last two years.”
If you think Obama told the truth about not raising taxes once, you are correct. He actually raised taxes a couple dozen times. And isn’t the noise from the mainstream media just deafening on this whopper of deception from our president? OK, it was a flat-out lie.
There are two dozen new or higher taxes in Obamacare alone. Including the tax on Indoor Tanning Services. The white people tax. 😆
The Americans for Tax Reform have the details.
Link: Obama Makes Super False Tax Claim: “I didn’t raise taxes once”
Why did tens of thousands of Egyptians take to the streets and demand regime change? High food and energy prices, high unemployment, economic stagnation, and a government un-responsive to the people. That’s why they, and President Obama, are demanding and asking for President Mubarak to resign. So when we see hundreds of thousands, cumulatively millions, of people take to the streets in America for much the same reason, and then some, shouldn’t we (the media included) be asking the same question?
While our nation languishes amidst record food and energy prices, unprecedented underemployment (including those excluded from the workforce) and economic stagnation, crippling regulations, and an administration in contempt of two court decisions, . . . . there is one salient question that we should excogitate from Obama’s handling of the Egyptian insurgency. If Obama is willing to listen to the protesters of a foreign country due to their grievances from high food and energy prices and an unresponsive government, shouldn’t he accede to the similar demands of his own citizens and resign immediately?
I’m just saying.
Testimony of Karen Walby, Ph.D. Chief Economist Americans For Fair Taxation Before the House Committee on Ways and Means Hearing on Fundamental Tax Reform January 20, 2011.
It’s the first baby step towards real tax reform. There’s still a long long way to go for the grass-roots to gain some momentum. Pulling H.R. 25 out for a fair hearing is still a long way off. The politicos in Washington still seem hell-bent on bending the current tax code some more. Even to the extent of having a V.A.T. on top of the current income tax system, which would be doing a Kevorkian on the U.S. economy.
Link: http://bit.ly/hZHeuU
The political climate in Egypt doesn’t look good. But is that because of what we see on the news or because it really doesn’t look good?
I guess it depends on what the definition of ‘good’ is, and which side of the fence you are on. The side of democracy or the side of the Muslim Brotherhood. The latter of which want nothing to do with democracy. Well, unless you call Iran’s government a democracy.
Considering that the population in Cairo, the largest city in Egypt, is 6.8 million, is a riotous group of tens of thousands of people really representative of the other millions of Egyptians?
Not satisfied living in a country with a majority of Muslims where other religions are tolerated, it is apparent that the Muslim Brotherhood is trying to hijack the unrest over the economic disaster that Egyptians find themselves living in, and turn it into some sort of Islamic state like Iran; hostile to the West, Israel, and the rest of the non-Muslim world.
Calling for Mubarak to step down before the scheduled September elections, like President Obama has done, plays into the hands of the radical Islamists. And his calling for all opposition parties to have some representation in the ‘new’ government, including the Muslim Brotherhood, only exacerbates the problem. That irresponsible action just reinforces what we are shown in the media. Pretty presumptuous of our President to tell Egyptians how their government should be assembled. No doubt President Obama is overflowing with audacity.
The only reason for optimism in Egypt now is that the other 6.7 million Egyptians will keep a secular and more democratic government in place. Given the choice in a free and legitimate election, it is hard to imagine that they would choose a government that is anything like Iran.
That’s the bottom line where Judge Roger Vinson’s opinion on the State of Florida v. U.S. Dept. of HHS is concerned. Judge Vinson of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida yesterday became the second federal judge to strike down Obamacare’s individual mandate.
Drawing on the precedent of the original Boston Tea Party was not only valid, but whether intentional or not, was a nice kick in the pants balls to the political Left that non-stop demonized the ‘tea party’ of today. Attaching a vulgar sexual act to them. ? Maybe projecting what really turns them on.
Judge Vinson writes . . .
“It is difficult to imagine that a nation which began, at least in part, as the result of opposition to a British mandate giving the East India Company a monopoly and imposing a nominal tax on all tea sold in America would have set out to create a government with the power to force people to buy tea in the first place. If Congress can penalize a passive individual for failing to engage in commerce, the enumeration of powers in the Constitution would have been in vain for it would be ‘difficult to perceive any limitation on federal power’ and we would have a Constitution in name only.”
Like Judge Henry Hudson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Judge Vinson also found that Section 1501 of the act, which forces all Americans to buy government-approved health insurance policies, “falls outside the boundary of Congress’ Commerce Clause authority and cannot be reconciled with a limited government of enumerated powers.”
But then Judge Vinson went even further, concluding that “the individual mandate and the remaining provisions are all inextricably bound together in purpose and must stand or fall as a single unit.” Accordingly, Vinson concluded: “Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void.” {emphasis added}
Judge Vinson further explained the problem with the mandate part of the bill.
For the reasons stated, I must reluctantly conclude that Congress exceeded the bounds of its authority in passing the Act with the individual mandate. That is not to say, of course, that Congress is without power to address the problems and inequities in our health care system. The health care market is more than one sixth of the national economy, and without doubt Congress has the power to reform and regulate this market. That has not been disputed in this case. The principal dispute has been about how Congress chose to exercise that power here.30
And to that point, Judge Vinson expounded on what is faulty with a federal mandate by using then Senator Barack Obama’s own words. Oh ya gotta love it. {Free cheesesteak for Judge Vinson.} Judge Vinson continues . . .
30 On this point, it should be emphasized that while the individual mandate was clearly “necessary and essential” to the Act as drafted, it is not “necessary and essential” to health care reform in general. It is undisputed that there are various other (Constitutional) ways to accomplish what Congress wanted to do. Indeed, I note that in 2008, then-Senator Obama supported a health care reform proposal that did not include an individual mandate because he was at that time strongly opposed to the idea, stating that “if a mandate was the solution, we can try that to solve homelessness by mandating everybody to buy a house.” See Interview on CNN’s American Morning, Feb. 5, 2008, transcript available at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0802/05/ltm.02.html.
{great research Judge}
Here is Obama’s quote in context. He was responding to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s idea of mandating health insurance . . .
OBAMA: Let’s break down what she really means by a mandate. What’s meant by a mandate is that the government is forcing people to buy health insurance and so she’s suggesting a parent is not going to buy health insurance for themselves if they can afford it. Now, my belief is that most parents will choose to get health care for themselves and we make it affordable.
Here’s the concern. If you haven’t made it affordable, how are you going to enforce a mandate. I mean, if a mandate was the solution, we can try that to solve homelessness by mandating everybody to buy a house. The reason they don’t buy a house is they don’t have the money. And so, our focus has been on reducing costs, making it available. I am confident if people have a chance to buy high-quality health care that is affordable, they will do so. That’s what our plan does and nobody disputes that.
Oh what a difference a couple years make.
Refusing to take NO for an answer the administration intends to ignore the Judges ruling that the legislation is VOID. Because the judge did “not order the government to stop implementing the law, a senior administration source said ‘implementation will proceed at pace.'” Legally speaking, when the legislation is considered VOID by the judiciary, the other branches have nothing to go on to proceed. They have to either appeal it or ask for a stay. Tomorrow, President Obama ought to request the senate to repeal the bill and start over. Don’t hold your breath for that to happen. Ignoring the ruling just highlights how lawless this administration is. It is the Chicago way. It’s what community organizers do.