CRAIGforCONGRESS
Missouri's 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives

 

 

 

Bringing LIBERTY to Capitol Hill -- 2008
OZARKS VIRTUAL TOWN HALL
Saturday Morning, April 25th, 2009, 10:30am

A Discussion of The President's Saturday Morning Radio Address

Click here to listen to a replay of the April 25th, 2009 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall

Notes and Summary of the President's Address:
The Myth of "Government Frugality"

The White House Press Office: This week the President reiterates a theme that has been a hallmark of his career, namely that "old habits and stale thinking" will simply not help us solve the new and immense problems our country faces. Listing off several specific changes he intends to bring, he describes his guiding principle: "To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative. That will demand new thinking and a new sense of responsibility for every dollar that is spent."  (continued below)

Obama hasn't been in office for 100 days, and the White House Press Office is talking about his "career," as though he were a senior statesman with decades of leadership behind him.

How the President Differs from the American vision of "Liberty Under God":

  • America was founded on the philosophy of "Liberty Under God."
    • "Liberty" means freedom from government suppression of ideas and confiscation of wealth
    • "Under God" means we have a personal responsibility to love God and neighbor.
  • The original American Dream: Everyone dwelling safely under his own Vine & Fig Tree
    • Human beings are endowed with the right to property by God, not the government.
  • The Constitution created a federal government of very limited power and few functions.
  • The federal government only has the powers granted to it -- "enumerated" -- in the Constitution.
  • The "General Welfare" clause is no exception to this principle.
  • America was founded as a "City upon a Hill," a Christian nation from which the Gospel would be promoted around the world.
  • America's Founders spoke of this as "an Experiment in Liberty" (1787-1887)
    • The "experiment" was a success: a Free Market made America the most prosperous and admired nation in history
  • In the 20th century, the experiment in liberty was replaced with another experiment: an experiment in central planning
  • The original American dream of personal, private ownership, has been replaced with private indebtedness and public control.
  • "No Taxation Without Representation" - a rallying cry of the American Revolution.
  • Taxation is a relatively unimportant federal revenue generator. The fed now creates money out of thin air
  • This money-creation system
  • 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."
  • The Invisible Hand of the Free Market works better than the Visible Fist of Government

President Obama's
Saturday Morning Radio Address

Another Perspective:
"Liberty Under God"
Good morning. Over the last three months, my Administration has taken aggressive action to confront an historic economic crisis. As we do everything that we can to create jobs and get our economy moving, we’re also building a new foundation for lasting prosperity – a foundation that invests in quality education, lowers health care costs, and develops new sources of energy powered by new jobs and industries. Washington D.C. deficits -- under both Democrats and Republicans -- are so chronic that it is breathtakingly immoral and unethical. It is off the charts. It is pathological.
One of the pillars of that foundation must be fiscal discipline. We came into office facing a budget deficit of $1.3 trillion for this year alone, and the cost of confronting our economic crisis is high. But we cannot settle for a future of rising deficits and debts that our children cannot pay.  
All across America, families are tightening their belts and making hard choices. Now, Washington must show that same sense of responsibility. That is why we have identified two trillion dollars in deficit-reductions over the next decade, while taking on the special interest spending that doesn’t advance the peoples’ interests. Neal Boortz has suggested attaching "The Boortz Addendum" to every appropriation bill offered in Congress. This addendum would read something like this:

Every sponsor or co-sponsor of this legislation hereby affirms his or her belief that the need for the federal government of the United States to spend taxpayer funds on the purposes outlined herein is of greater importance and urgency than any spending needs which the party or parties who actually earned these funds may have; such needs being, but not necessarily limited to, spending for medical care, child care, housing, food, clothing, transportation, education, insurance, savings and retirement planning, and religious tithes or conscientious charity. 
But we must also recognize that we cannot meet the challenges of today with old habits and stale thinking. So much of our government was built to deal with different challenges from a different era. Too often, the result is wasteful spending, bloated programs, and inefficient results.  
It’s time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington. To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative. That will demand new thinking and a new sense of responsibility for every dollar that is spent. The first fundamental change should be to stop inflating the money supply to create money for government programs.
Earlier this week, I held my first Cabinet meeting and sent a clear message: cut what doesn’t work. Already, we’ve identified substantial savings. And in the days and weeks ahead, we will continue going through the budget line by line, and we’ll identify more than 100 programs that will be cut or eliminated.  
But we can’t stop there. We need to go further, and we need an all-hands-on-deck approach to reforming government. That’s why I’m announcing several steps that my Administration will take in the weeks ahead to restore fiscal discipline while making our government work better.  
First, we need to adhere to the basic principle that new tax or entitlement policies should be paid for. This principle – known as PAYGO – helped transform large deficits into surpluses in the 1990s. Now, we must restore that sense of fiscal discipline. That’s why I’m calling on Congress to pass PAYGO legislation like a bill that will be introduced by Congressman Baron Hill, so that government acts the same way any responsible family does in setting its budget.  
Second, we’ll create new incentives to reduce wasteful spending and to invest in what works. We don’t want agencies to protect bloated budgets – we want them to promote effective programs. So the idea is simple: agencies that identify savings will get to keep a portion of those savings to invest in programs that work. The result will be a smaller budget, and a more effective government. It became common during the Clinton Administration to speak of government spending as an "investment." Congress might also therefore attach the following to each spending bill:

By voting for this legislation I hereby affirm my belief that the information and knowledge possessed by me and 434 other Congressman-"investors" is greater than the collective knowledge and information possessed by a Free Market of 150 million individual investors, pension fund managers, insurance company executives, mutual fund administrators, and brokers, all of whom do not have the luxury of obtaining investment funds by passing a law, but must earn their investment dollars.
Third, we’ll look for ideas from the bottom up. After all, Americans across the country know that the best ideas often come from workers – not just management. That’s why we’ll establish a process through which every government worker can submit their ideas for how their agency can save money and perform better. We’ll put the suggestions that work into practice. And later this year, I will meet with those who come up with the best ideas to hear firsthand about how they would make your government more efficient and effective.  
And finally, we will reach beyond the halls of government. Many businesses have innovative ways of using technology to save money, and many experts have new ideas to make government work more efficiently. Government can – and must – learn from them. So later this year, we will host a forum on reforming government for the 21st century, so that we’re also guided by voices that come from outside of Washington.  
We cannot sustain deficits that mortgage our children’s future, nor tolerate wasteful inefficiency. Government has a responsibility to spend the peoples’ money wisely, and to serve the people effectively. I will work every single day that I am President to live up to that responsibility, and to transform our government so that is held to a higher standard of performance on behalf of the American people.  
Thank you.  

Kevin Craig's Platform:

  • "Vine & Fig Tree" - the original American Dream - work, profit, save, invest, enjoy - not "easy to borrow," perpetual debt; not "invade other nations" to secure our own wealth.
  • No more Bailouts
  • No more inflation, no more paper money.
  • No more wasteful government spending. (Or do I repeat myself?)

Restoring America's Greatness by
Celebrating Christmas all year long

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.

Christmas

Bush-Clinton-Obama
John 1:1-18 - The Incarnation
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.
 "The State is God walking on Earth"

The 2 parties are cooperating rival sects in the world's most powerful religious cult.
Luke 1:1-4
Eyewitnesses of the Messiah recorded their testimony. Co-Founder of the Harvard Law School says their testimony would prove the resurrection in any court of law in America, at one time a Christian nation.
 No longer a Christian nation, American courts routinely release the guilty and condemn the innocent.
Matthew 1:1-17
Jesus was a descendant of King David.
 Obama is a distant cousin of both Dick Cheney and George Bush

How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power
Luke 3:23-38
Jesus was a descendant of Abraham.
All those who submit to Jesus as the Messiah (the rightful king of the earth) inherit the promises made to Abraham
 Those who reject the Messiah do not inherit the promises made to Abraham, even though Bush defends their right to do so.
Luke 1:5-25
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?
Luke 1:26-38
The Angel Gabriel announces the conception of the Messiah, who will be given the throne of David.
Luke 1:39-45
The unborn John recognizes the mother of the Messiah.
 Bush-Obama would chop the unborn John and the unborn Jesus into stem cells for "medical research."
Luke 1:46-56 - "The Magnificat"
“He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.” Luke 1:51
 The Bush Administration is filled with the power-hungry, who commit adultery in reality or in fantasy.
Luke 1:67-80
Zacharias, John the Baptist's father, prophecies the birth of Jesus the anti-king.
 The expectations of Zacharias are 180° opposite those of the Bush-Obama Administration.
Matthew 1:18-25
Joseph told about the Incarnation.
"Jesus" means "salvation"
"Immanuel" means "God with us"
 The Bush Administration thinks it brings salvation.

Obama thinks he is Immanuel.
Luke 2:1-7
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.
Luke 2:8-14
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."
Luke 2:15-20
“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.”
 Washington D.C. isn't listening.
Luke 2:22-24
Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem to obey Leviticus 12:8, which suggests that they were not rich.
 Washington politicians are among the richest and most financially secure people in America.
Luke 2:25-35
Simeon had been told he would not die before he saw the Lord's Messiah. He says Jesus is "The One."
 

Is Barack Obama the Messiah?
Luke 2:36-38
Anna the Prophetess is another well-known Godly person who acknowledges that Jesus is the Child promised by the prophets.
 Where is the Anna of our day who tells us we can trust Washington D.C. to bring salvation?
Matthew 2:1-8
"Wise men from the East" knew of Micah's prophecy that the King of the Jews would be born in Bethlehem.
 Are there any wise men around the world who place their confidence in George Bush, Henry Paulson, Paul Krugman, or Barack Obama?
Matthew 2:9-12
The kings from the east present the Messiah with "gold, frankincense, and myrrh."
 Rather than bestowing wealth on the King, Obama-Bush confiscates the wealth of others.
Matthew 2:13-18
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.

The Republican Party Radio Address:

Response of the Republican Party
Saturday Morning Radio Address

  

Saturday, April 25, 2009

  
Weekly Republican Radio Address | SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER, R-TENN., CHAIRMAN, SENATE REPUBLICAN CONFERENCE  
Do you remember a few years ago when our Congress got mad at France and banned French fries in the House of Representatives cafeteria?  
We Americans always have had a love-hate relationship with the French. Which was why it was so galling last month when the Democratic Congress passed a budget with such big deficits that it makes the United States literally ineligible to join France in the European Union.  
Now of course we don’t want to be in the European Union. We’re the United States of America. But French deficits are lower than ours, and their president has been running around sounding like a Republican -- lecturing our president about spending so much.  
Now the debate in Congress is shifting to the size of your electric and gasoline bills and to climate change. So guess who has one of the lowest electric rates in Western Europe and the second lowest carbon emissions in the entire European Union.
It’s France again.  
And what’s more, they’re doing it with a technology we invented and have been reluctant to use: nuclear power.
Thirty years ago, the contrary French became reliant on nuclear power when others wouldn’t. Today, nuclear plants provide 80 percent of their electricity. They even sell electricity to Germany, whose politicians built windmills and solar panels and promised not to build nuclear plants.
Which was exactly the attitude in the United States between 1979 and 2008 - when not one new nuclear plant was built. Still, nuclear, which supplies just 20 percent of all U.S. electricity, provides 70 percent of our pollution-free electricity.  
So you’d think that if Democrats want to talk about energy and climate change and clean air, they’d put American-made nuclear power front and center. Instead, their answer is billions in subsidies for renewable energy from the sun, the wind and the earth. And the Republicans have consistently voted against these subsidies??
Well, we Republicans like renewable energy, too.  
We proposed a new Manhattan Project - like the one in World War II - to find ways to make......solar power cost-competitive and to improve advanced biofuels. But today, renewable electricity from the sun, the wind and the earth provides only about 1 1/2 percent of America’s electricity. Double it or triple it, and we still don’t have very much.  
So there is a potentially a dangerous energy gap between the renewable electricity we want and the reliable electricity we must have. To close that gap, Republicans say start with conservation and efficiency. We have so much electricity at night, for example, we could electrify half our cars and trucks and plug them in while we sleep without building one new power plant. Conservation -- using less -- is a dumb place to start, when the lives of 300 million American depend on increasing the amount of energy produced.
On that, Republicans and Democrats agree. This is true. Both parties exhort us to use less energy, when we need to consume more energy to increase our health, safety, and comfort and that of future (larger) generations.
But when it comes to producing more energy, we disagree.  
When Republicans say, build 100 new nuclear power plants during the next twenty years, Democrats say, no place to put the used nuclear fuel.  
We say, recycle the fuel -- the way France does. They say, no we can’t.  
We say, how about another Manhattan Project to remove carbon from coal plant emissions? Imaginary, they say.  
We say, for a bridge to a clean energy future, find more natural gas and oil offshore. Farmers, homeowners and factories must have the natural gas. And more of the oil we’ll still need should be ours, instead of sending billions overseas. Alaska has all the natural gas we need for the next 200 years. Republicans want a socialist pipeline.
They can’t wait to put another ban on offshore drilling.  
We say incentives. They say mandates.  
We say, keep prices down. Democrats say, put a big new national sales tax on electric bills and gasoline.  
We both want a clean energy future, but here’s the real difference: Republicans want to find more American energy, and use less. Why use less if we find more?? This is just political demogoguery.

We need to use more energy.
Democrats want to use less - but they really don’t want to find much more.  
They talk about President Kennedy sending a man to the moon. Their energy proposals wouldn’t get America halfway to the moon.  
We Republicans didn’t like it when Democrats passed a budget that gave the French bragging rights on deficits. So we’re not about to let the French also outdo us on electric and gasoline bills, clean air and climate change.  
We say find more American energy and use less. Energy that’s as clean as possible, as reliable as possible, and at as low a cost as possible. And one place to start is with 100 more nuclear plants.
Who's going to build these nuclear plants? Whose money? Who will be liable in case of an accident? Government, or personal responsibility on the part of the nuclear industry?
• "No Corporate Welfare for Nuclear Power" by Jerry Taylor and Navin Nayak (Cato Institute: Daily Commentary)
• "Nuclear Energy: Risky Business" by Jerry Taylor (Cato Institute)
• Can Nuclear Power Compete?
• "Hooked on Subsidies" by Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren (Cato Institute: Commentary)

What Would America's Founding Fathers Do?

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."

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.

www.GeorgeWashingtonCoaching.com

The Internet Can Speed up the Revolution

Here are ways you can help.

Support This Campaign

Send emails. Find out how this free tool can change everything.

Revenge:

Vote Against Every Politician Who Voted for the Bailout, No Matter What

Communicating with Government and Media

  • Contact Congress -- this is from the JBS website, powered by "CapWiz," from Capitol Advantage. Lots of organizations use capwiz. If you don't want to go through the JBS, search for capwiz on Google and find another organization that uses it.
    Notice that you can also contact media through this webpage.
  • 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. 		Help End the Mexican Civil War

Make Congress Read Their Bills Before Voting

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. 		End the FED

No Bailouts!

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. 		TWIC - A Backdoor Real ID Card
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. 		End Asset Forfeiture

Iraqis Vote

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 the laws it passes!

The 'No Legislation Without Representation' Conference

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

"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 »

Support Ron Paul's “American Freedom Agenda Act”
The politicians have done great harm to this country in response to the 9-11 attack. A bill has been introduced that will undo much of that harm.
Learn More »

 Strike at the Root

Iraq Waste

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

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 here for a replay of this edition of the Ozarks Virtual Town Hall