Missouri's 7th District, U.S. House of
Representatives
Bringing LIBERTY to
Capitol Hill -- 2010 OZARKS
VIRTUAL TOWN
HALL
Saturday Morning, August 14th, 2010, 10:30am
A Discussion of The President's Saturday Morning
Radio Address
Click here
to listen to the August 14th, 2010 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall
Notes and Summary of the President's Weekly Radio
Address:
Honoring Social Security, Not Privatizing It
The
White House Press Office: – On the 75th anniversary of
Social Security, President Obama promises to protect it from
Republican leaders in Congress who have made privatization a key part
of their agenda. He makes clear that, especially in light of the
financial crisis, gambling Social Security on Wall Street makes no
sense. (continued below)
The federal government only has the powers granted to it --
"enumerated" -- in the
Constitution.
The "General Welfare" clause is no
exception to this principle.
"States Rights" --
most government should be carried out on a local level.
The Constitution created a federal government with
very limited powers, bound down by
the "chains of the constitution."
The Bush-Obama Regime believes it has vast, unlimited powers to
cure all diseases, fund all causes, and bring salvation.
From this aspect, therefore, the whole of economics can be
reduced to a single lesson, and that lesson can be reduced to
a single sentence. The art of economics consists in
looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects
of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences
of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.
These are the reasons given by Osama bin Laden for declaring a
"fatwah" (holy war) against the U.S.
All of these accusations are true.
All of these government actions are contrary to the
Constitution.
The biggest cause of terrorism --
and the most dangerous threat to the personal safety and
security of ordinary Americans like you and me -- is the Federal
Government of the United States.
America's Founders envisioned the American people, acting as
businessmen, humanitarians, and missionaries, engaging in
commercial and charitable activities around the world, bringing
peace and receiving the admiration of the world.
"The great rule of conduct for us, in
regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial
relations to have with them as little political
connection as possible."
— Washington, Farewell Address (1796) [Washington’s
emphasis]
"I deem [one of] the essential
principles of our government, and consequently [one] which
ought to shape its administration,…peace, commerce, and
honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances
with none."
— Jefferson, First Inaugural Address (1801)
Bush's unconstitutional military invasion
of Iraq has destroyed Christianity in that country.
Under Saddam Hussein's secular government, Christians in
Iraq had greater freedom than in most other Arab nations,
and one of the largest Christian populations in the Muslim
world was in Iraq.
Iraq is now an Islamic theocracy under Sharia law. The
Christian population has been destroyed. Christian Churches
are burned and terrorized with impunity.
Obama is following in Bush's unconstitutional, anti-Christian
footsteps.
This money-creation system is immoral and unconstitutional. It
steals from the poor and elderly.
America's Founding Fathers would conclude that The First
Amendment had been repealed
There is no freedom of religion: the U.S. is officially atheistic.
There is no freedom of the press: the media is the lapdog of
"the Establishment."
Everyone who signed the Constitution, if they were here today,
would urge the repeal of the Constitution and the abolition
of the government created by that document.
Seventy-five years ago today, in
the midst of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt signed
Social Security into law, laying a cornerstone
in the foundation of America’s middle class, and assuring
generations of America’s seniors that after a lifetime of hard
work, they’d have a chance to retire with dignity.
We have an obligation to keep that promise;
to safeguard Social Security for our seniors, people with
disabilities, and all Americans – today, tomorrow, and forever.
Capitalism is the cornerstone
of America's middle class, not Social Security.
Social Security is an unethical ponzi scheme that treats the
elderly with the opposite of "dignity."
It assumes that they are stupid and short-sighted, and cannot take
care of their own future.
It is not a "promise"
to be kept, but a fraud to be abolished.
Now, we’ve been talking for a
long time about how to do that, about how to make sure Social
Security is healthy enough to cover the higher costs that are
kicking in now that baby boomers are retiring. And I’m committed
to working with anyone, Democrat or Republican, who wants to strengthen
Social Security. I’m also encouraged by the reports of serious
bipartisan work being done on this and other issues in the fiscal
commission that I set up several months ago.
Prosperity comes from
saving and investment in the capital structure: factories,
businesses, producers. The Social Security system eliminates
savings and investment. It takes trillions of dollars and gives
them to government bureaucrats. It spends, rather than saves.
Benefits are paid to the elderly out of the paychecks of younger
workers, not out of returns on investments. Our economy would be
stronger if people were allowed to invest their money, rather than
siphoning it off into a BernieMadoff-style ponzi scheme.
One thing we can’t afford to do
though is privatize Social Security -- an ill-conceived idea that would
add trillions of dollars to our budget deficit while tying
your benefits to the whims of Wall Street traders and the ups and
downs of the stock market.
This is an unethical
and deceitful statement. It's true in the sense that if American
workers were allowed to invest their savings rather than have
those savings diverted into government programs, government would
run more deficits. That's because tomorrow's Social Security funds
are hijacked and spent on today's wasteful government boondoggles.
A few years ago, we had a debate
about privatizing Social Security. And I’d have thought that
debate would’ve been put to rest once and for all by the
financial crisis we’ve just experienced. I’d have thought,
after being reminded how quickly the stock market can tumble,
after seeing the wealth people worked a lifetime to earn wiped out
in a matter of days, that no one would want to place bets with
Social Security on Wall Street, that everyone would understand why
we need to be prudent about investing
the retirement money of tens of millions of Americans.
Not much of a debate,
really.
The fact is, that a worker who retires when the stock market
has crashed still gets paid more than Social Security pays. A
worker retiring today would be the beneficiary of investments that
had been accumulating since 1957 or so. Far more wealth than
Social Security promises. All private programs pay better than
government Social Security.
The use of the word "investing" is a lie and a fraud.
Anyone in the private sector using such a word to describe a
similar program would go to prison.
But some Republican leaders in
Congress don’t seem to have learned any lessons from the past
few years. They’re pushing to make privatizing Social Security a
key part of their legislative agenda if they win a majority in
Congress this fall. It’s right up there on their to-do list with
repealing some of the Medicare benefits and reforms that are adding
at least a dozen years to the fiscal health of Medicare –
the single longest extension in history.
There's never any
talk at all about "adding a few years" to a private
investment program -- before the program goes bankrupt. A private
investment portfolio begun in 1776 would still be humming today.
Only government programs teeter on insolvency, needing to be
propped up on life-support for a few more months.
That agenda is wrong for seniors,
it’s wrong for America, and I won’t let it happen. Not while I’m
president. I’ll fight with everything I’ve got to stop those
who would gamble your Social Security on Wall Street. Because you
shouldn’t be worried that a sudden downturn in the stock market
will put all you’ve worked so hard for – all you’ve earned
– at risk. You should have the peace of mind of knowing that
after meeting your responsibilities and paying into the system all
your lives, you’ll get
the benefits you deserve.
Please see the
testimony from Senate Hearings discussed in this blog post:
Nobody "deserves"
to have the government confiscate other people's money for them.
Nobody is "entitled" to other people's money.
Seventy-five years ago today,
Franklin Roosevelt made a promise. He promised that from that day
forward, we’d offer “some measure of protection to the average
citizen and to his family against…poverty-stricken
old age.” That’s a promise each generation of Americans
has kept. And it’s a promise America will continue to keep so
long as I have the honor of serving as president. Thanks for
listening. Thanks for watching. And have a nice
weekend.
The government
caused the Great Depression, and prolonged the poverty. Nobody who
had a private social security portfolio would be in poverty today.
Capitalism has eliminated the poverty that people in the 1930's
experienced.
The government will cause an even greater financial calamity
than the Great Depression by trying to "strengthen"
Social Security, and making sure tomorrow's elderly "get the
benefits you deserve."
“Why
Americans Should
Celebrate Christmas
365 Days
a Year”
The word "Christ" means "King." The Message
of Christmas and the Principles set forth by the Christ (the
Messiah) who came that first Christmas are the real solution to
America's problems. The Federal Government is at war with Christmas
and "The
Way of Peace" announced by the Prince
of Peace. The Government should be on His
shoulders (Isaiah
9:6-7). Abolishing a Messianic State
is the only appropriate way to honor the Messiah. Otherwise
Christmas becomes mass hypocrisy.
The Word became flesh. The Creator of the universe
becomes a human being. He came to His own, but His own did
not receive Him, preferring darkness rather than light.
John the Baptist prepares the way for the Messiah, as
prophesied of Elijah.
As you read the
Gospel accounts, ask yourself how you would react if you knew
these accounts were really true. Not just true in some
"religious" sense, but reported in the New York
Times, proven in a court of law, or acknowledged by your
personal hero. (How do you know something
is true? Do you even have any "heroes?") How should
you change your life if your Creator became a human being? How
should Washington D.C. react if this human being claimed to be
the true Ruler?
The Prophet Micah predicted
that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Jesus'
parents lived in Nazereth. Therefore God predestined
Caesar to issue a decree (probably relating to taxes) that
would bring Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem before Jesus was
born.
Bush claims the same global
power of confiscation and migration as Caesar did. Thousands
of Christians have been forced to move out of Iraq to make way
for Bush's Islamic Theocracy.
An army of angels announces the birth of the Messiah,
saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace
to those with whom He is pleased!”
Man's chief
end is to glorify God and live in
peace. The Bush Administration's chief end is to erect a
"wall of separation"
between God and government so that the State gives no glory to
God, and to wage war, thereby "stimulating the
economy."
“Now when they had seen Him, they made widely
known the saying which was told them concerning this
Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things
which were told them by the shepherds.”
When Herod got word of the birth of a rival king, he
behaved in a perfectly logical way (for someone who wants
to protect his power): he massacred all male babies
the age of Jesus. Herod recognized that Jesus was a threat
to Herod's power.
Every day in America 4,000
unborn babies are murdered. These babies must threaten
something.
Millions of Americans who call themselves Christians, on
the other hand, are no threat to tyranny.
None of them are being killed. Bush has killed a thousand
times more human beings than Herod did, and confiscated a
billion times more wealth than Herod did.
Herod's son Antipas played a small role in the execution
of Jesus Christ. But Jesus rose from the dead, was
enthroned on the throne of David at the right hand of God,
and assumed the rightful role of King over all nations.
"Beginning today and
culminating on Sunday morning, Christians will celebrate with
their families the resurrection of Christ, His victory over
death. We will remember that He gave His body and His blood—washing
clean the faults and the shortcomings of
the world. In our rejoicing we will renew the hope that is
ours through the risenLord." Ronald
Reagan: Statement on the Celebration of Passover and Easter
Every American could be born with a comfortable
inheritance for education, a first home, or medical care; instead,
every American is born in great debt.
Washington D.C. central planning increases debt, does not create
the "Vine &
Fig Tree" life.
Response of the Republican Party
Saturday Morning Radio Address
Saturday, August 14th, 2010
Once again, the Republican
Party leadership has asked Congressman
Ron Paul to deliver . . . wait a minute . . . I'm sorry . .
.
Pennsylvania Senate candidate and ex-Rep. Pat Toomey delivered the
GOP Weekly Address
Hi, I’m Pat Toomey from the
great state of Pennsylvania, and I’m pleased to have this
opportunity to share a few thoughts with you today.
Like a lot of Americans all
around the country, I really believe America is at a crossroads.
I’ll always be optimistic about America. We’re too strong a
people and too good
a country to be held back for long. But I am deeply concerned
about the direction we’re heading in right now. That direction
is being driven by extreme policies that are coming from one-party
domination of government in Washington. And this extreme
ideologically driven agenda is preventing the strong economic
recovery and job creation that we should be having.
It’s time we put some real
checks and balances back in place this November.
Let’s take a minute to review
what’s happened in just the last 18 months. First, there were
the ill-advised taxpayer funded bailouts of Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac and the car companies. Now,
to be fair, the bailouts were begun under the previous
administration; but the crew that’s in charge now
ramped them up when it was perfectly clear that they were not
accomplishing what they were supposed to.
Next, we had the so-called
stimulus bill. Nearly a trillion dollars in new Washington
spending, including some egregiously wasteful spending, like $2
million to study exotic ants and $30 million for a spring
training baseball complex, among hundreds of other ridiculous
items. Now we were told that this monster spending bill would
create jobs and keep unemployment below 8%. Well, since then we’ve
lost nearly 3 million more jobs and the unemployment rate hit
10%, and in some states it’s still well above that. Over 14
1/2 million Americans remain out of work.
But even that was not enough
for the one-party extremists in Washington. After that, they
went ahead and rammed through a $2-trillion healthcare bill,
that even the official budget scorekeepers say will actually
increase the cost of health insurance for individuals and
families. And that’s not to mention the very serious
consequences for healthcare quality of imposing government in
between doctors and patients.
Now where do all these
bailouts, takeovers and spending sprees leave us?
They leave us with a weak
economy without job growth and with a mountain of debt for our
kids.
Washington spending as a
percentage of our country’s economic output has grown by
25%--practically overnight. That extravagant spending has caused
a budget deficit for this year alone of $1 1/2 trillion dollars.
That’s a staggering amount of debt. In fact, this Democratic
administration is projected to create more debt than all the
debt we accumulated in the entire history of our country from
George Washington all the way through 2008, combined.
So where do we go from here?
Well, the first thing we need
to do is eliminate the threats from further harmful legislation.
Some elements of the Democrats’ extreme agenda have not yet
been implemented, and if we want to create jobs, we need to keep
it that way. For example, Democrats have tried unsuccessfully to
impose a massive energy tax on all of us through a cap-and-trade
bill and to take away workers’ rights with a Card Check bill.
Well, first and foremost, Washington needs to stop causing even
more harm.
Second, you know, there’s an
old saying: When you’re in a hole, stop digging.
There are hundreds of billions
of dollars that have not yet been spent in the bailout and
stimulus programs. We should stop spending that now.
There are billions more in
completely unnecessary and wasteful Washington spending that
should stop immediately.
And finally, we need to offer
American families and businesses the kind of tax cuts that will
stimulate genuine private sector job growth, instead of the
billions of tax increases the Democrats have already imposed and
the more that they are threatening. To start, we should make the
current tax rates permanent instead of raising them at the end
of the year. And we should cut capital gains taxes to encourage
business investment. Even prominent Democrats have recently said
the last thing we should be doing in a recession is to raise
taxes.
Now, I have every confidence
that the 21st century can be another great American century. And
I know we can have a booming economy. But to get there, we
have to remember the source of our national strength. Our
strength does not come from bailouts and government
spending.
It comes from a free
enterprise system and the hard-working honest citizens who
make it run—the kind of industrious folks I see every day in
Pennsylvania. When government lets these folks grow their
businesses and work hard without putting obstacles in their way,
that’s when we will achieve the flourishing recovery our
country deserves. I’m Pat Toomey, and I thank you for
listening.
Pension
Tsunami | Free Liberal: Coordinating towards higher
values
Bridging
the Fiscal Gap of Unfunded Liabilities
The last number we saw for the whole
enchilada of unfunded federal financial obligations
was $115 trillion or thereabouts. So we were shocked when
Laurence Kotlikoff, a well-known professor of economics at
Boston University, updated the figure to…are you sitting
down, dear reader?…$202 trillion.
The men who threw tea into the Boston Harbor over a tax of 3 pence
per pound would not be happy with a tax ten times greater on
every gallon of gas. Those who took up muskets over a total tax burden
of less than 3% would not be happy with
the fact that the federal government now takes more
than half of everything you earn.
Today it is illegal for public school teachers to teach their
students that the Declaration of Independence is really true (and not
just an outdated historical document). The federal government is
clearly at war with everything the Founding Fathers stood for.
America's greatest Americans would abolish
today's federal government.
Muskets are Not an Option
There are two reasons why we should not take up arms to pull off
the violent overthrow of the federal
government, even if America's Founders would surely do so. First, the
feds have nukes. Second, violent revolution is unChristian and
unBiblical. We must beat our swords into
plowshares and use persuasion to
abolish tyranny. This is time for a
revolution of ideas.
Revolution Won't Come in a Day
John Adams once wrote that the American
Revolution began in 1761, when Massachusetts attorney James Otis
began legal challenges to the Writs
of Assistance. He lost the case, but "American
independence," Adams wrote, "was
then and there born." Now do the math. That means it took 15
years to convince the rest of America to declare Independence
(1776). Then another seven years of war was required before a
Peace Treaty was signed (1783), and then six years before the
Constitution was finally ratified (1789). That's almost 30 years. (And
Jefferson said we shouldn't go 20
years without another rebellion!) How can we hope to convince
Americans to fight for principles they were never taught in government
schools? We need to be in this battle for the long term. "Eternal
Vigilance is the Price of Liberty."
GeorgeWashingtonCoaching.com
Every great athlete has a coach.
If you want to be a great American you need a coach.
If you want to achieve great things for your country, you need a
coach.
Imagine what you could do if George Washington, "the Father of
his Country,"
could travel through time and be your personal coach.
The results could be extraordinary.
Find out why you need a personal coach, and why GeorgeWashingtonCoaching.com
is the foundation for an extraordinary life.
Contact Congress --
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Action E-List Sign up for the JBS Action E-List and be notified when you can
make a critical difference on important issues.
Help End the Mexican Civil
War
Black-market profits caused by drug prohibition fund a civil
war in Mexico that's threatening to spill over our borders.
Drug profits also fuel the terrorists who are killing U.S.
soldiers in Afghanistan. It's time to dry up the black-market
profits. It's time to end drug prohibition.
Make
Congress Read Their Bills Before Voting
Make Congress read every word of every bill they create before
they vote on it.
Urge your Representative and your Senators to sponsor
DownsizeDC.org's “Read the Bills Act” (RTBA).
End
the FED
The Federal Reserve System constantly inflates and deflates the
supply of money and credit, causing booms and busts. It's time
to get off this roller-coaster. It's time to end the Fed.
No
Bailouts!
No government money, whether borrowed or taxed, should ever be
used to bailout private financial interests. If you agree,
please send Congress a message telling them so.
TWIC
- A Backdoor Real ID Card
Real ID is dying. But the Department of Homeland Security has a
new plan to subject every American to a national ID card anyway.
They plan to pick off one occupational field at a time, starting
with the maritime industry. One man is fighting back. Meet him,
and help stop this backdoor Real ID plan.
Stop
the Killer Horse Hormones
The FDA "outlawed" the use of Estriol, an estrogen
medication that's bio-identical to human estrogen. Doctors must
now prescribe animal-derived estrogen instead. Are bio-identical
hormones dangerous, while animal-derived hormones are safe? No.
The practice of medicine is moving to chemically identical to
human hormones and away from animal hormones. Learn why the FDA
decided to endanger women's health in this way, and take action.
End
Asset Forfeiture
If the government suspects you used your house or car in a
crime, they can take it and sell it at auction. They don't even
have to prove your guilt. They call this practice civil asset
forfeiture, but it's really theft. It violates the 4th, 5th,
6th, 8th, 9th and 14th Amendments. It also encourages law
enforcement to put profits before justice. Tell Congress to end
civil asset forfeiture.
Support
an Iraq Referendum
Americans keep debating when, how, or if to leave Iraq. Maybe
we should ask the Iraqi people what they want. After all, it's
their country. Tell Congress to request that the Iraqi
government hold a public referendum on the U.S. occupation. Learn
more »
Make Congress read every word of
every bill they create before they vote on it.
Urge your Representative and your Senators to sponsor
DownsizeDC.org's “Read the Bills Act” (RTBA).
Unelected bureaucrats create
tens-of-thousands of new dictates each year. Making rules is
the job of Congress, not bureaucrats.
DownsizeDC.org has drafted the “Write the Laws Act” to
end bureaucratic “legislation without representation.”
Click here . . .
"Cap
and Trade" is not the way
The politicians seem to be unifying around "cap and
trade" as a way to cut CO2 emissions. If they take this
step it may be the largest increase in the size, scope, and
intrusiveness of government since the creation of Medicare.
Worse still, it may not even achieve its purpose. Please
tell Congress to oppose "cap and trade." Learn
more »
Iraq
Waste
Big government prospers through failure. Each new failure is
used to justify more spending and new powers. Wasteful spending
in Iraq is the latest example. One way to change this is to hold
government accountable. A new bill in Congress seeks to provide
some of the needed accountability. Please support it. Learn
more »
Stop
the War for Terror U.S. policy has inflamed the Middle East. It has made
terrorism more likely rather than less. We seem to be fighting
a war for terror, rather than on
terror. This policy must stop. The place to start stopping is
with Iran. We must not attack Iran. War with Iran
would devastate our economy, disrupt world oil supplies, and
recruit more terrorists. Click
here to stop this war before it starts.
Click herefor a replay of this edition of the Ozarks
Virtual Town Hall
