“And [Buffett] has said, and I think a lot of us who have been fortunate are willing to pay a little bit more to make sure that a senior citizen who is struggling to deal with rising property taxes or rising heating bills, that they’ve got the coverage that they need.” Barack Obama, November 11, 2007 (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/11/11/obama-i-deserve-a-tax-increase/)
Barack, just as we said to Warren Buffett – if you really believe what you say about paying more in taxes, why haven’t you been doing so? No one is stopping you. So, why haven’t you paid more for the past 2 or 10 years? Why aren’t you starting to pay more today? The Social (In)Security System would love it. The hypocrisy continues.Just remember that Congress’ retirement does NOT come from Social Security, Senator Obama. What does Congress know that they don’t want the rest of us to know?
With all the grousing about the AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax) and the plans to ?¢‚Ǩ?ìdo something?¢‚Ǩ¬ù about it, the following factors must be considered. Charles Rangel, Democratic Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s plan is to raise taxes (don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t worry, you won?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t be left out) elsewhere to ?¢‚Ǩ?ìpay for?¢‚Ǩ¬ù reducing the AMT. First, Charles, you don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t have to borrow money to ?¢‚Ǩ?ìpay for?¢‚Ǩ¬ù a tax cut. You borrow money to spend. Everything else is just dissembling and an attempt to confuse people. Power-hungry politicians love to use words like that Continue reading AMT, Republicans and Socialist Charles Rangel→
One might call it ironic that the McCain campaign is faltering due to lack of funds. Ironic because he has helped to silence his own speech rights while limiting everyone else?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s. Instead of being free to donate and disclose to a candidate who shares your views, you are greatly limited. McCain suffers from that problem.
It might be that people think he has nothing worthwhile to say and won?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t donate. Or it might be that they don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t know what he has to say since they haven?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t been able to hear it to decide if they wish to donate. Either way McCain loses his chance to influence the political process because he has limited everyone else’s opportunity too. Certainly McCain?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s (theoretical) base knows many of his positions and disagrees with his anti-freedom views, however there could have been more people who agreed with him, but won?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t hear his message. He can thank himself and Senator Feingold for that.
That is the nature of free speech. You are free to speak when you want, but it costs money to get your speech out there in front of many people. That means convincing people you have something worth saying and can express it. McCain has ensured that he can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t do that, and who knows how many other candidates he has shut out of the marketplace of ideas.
The United States Supreme Court today (in a 5-4 ruling) ruled that some restrictions on speech that were contained in the McCain-Feingold Campaign finance act were un-Constitutional.
While the Supreme Court should have tossed out all restrictions on television ads airing close to elections and campaign funding as contrary to the First Amendment (among other things), the Supreme Court today did loosen restrictions on ads airing near an election.
Every small victory for freedom and freedom of speech is welcome.
Chief Justice Roberts said:
Discussion of issues cannot be suppressed simply because the issues also may be pertinent in an election. Where the First Amendment is implicated, the tie goes to the speaker, not the censor.
Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance hosts a Republican presidential debate Saturday, June 30th in Des Moines. Candidates Mitt Romney, Sam Brownback, Jim Gilmore, Mike Huckabee, Tommy Thompson, and Tom Tancredo will participate. Republican Ron Paul was not invited.
The most ardent tax reformer of the Republican hopefuls, the candidate who scored at the top of all online polls after the MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News debates, and one of the most Christian members of the Republican field was excluded here? Insanity. Continue reading Republican Ron Paul Excluded from June Iowa Debate→
“I have recently been made aware of a market practice known as ‘short selling’ and am amazed that it is legal.” Drew Edmondson, Oklahoma Attorney General, Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2003.
Jim Jeffords has shown himself to be the Catiline of America for 2001. Airot Parker, Court.com, 5/25/2001
Catiline was the treacherous and degenerate character whose scheming nearly destroyed the Roman Republic and whose licentious ways inspired, by their very profligacy, Cicero’s eloquent oration on virtue, which was subsequently memorized by generations of American schoolboys. No one in the political leadership of the early American republic needed to be reminded who Catiline was. He was the talented but malevolent destroyer of republican government. Joseph J. Ellis Founding Brothers, The Revolutionary Generation, 2000.
The Florida Supreme Court faces a clear choice: Whether to act in place of the Florida Legislature and re-write a statute, thus ignoring the will of the people who voted for the legislators who enacted the legislation, or whether to follow the expressed will of the people by upholding the law as written. The choice is judicial activism versus constitutional jurisprudence. If the Florida Supreme Court does indeed re-write the statute, there will no longer be any such thing as a “law.” Continue reading The Rule of Law or the Rule of Whim?→