Restore the Two-Thirds; a Freedom Foundation Petition

All hands on deck!  It’s time to get the grassroots, common sense people to let the will of the people be heard.  The Freedom Foundation has posted an online petition demanding our political leaders to “Restore the Two-Thirds,” requirement to raise taxes and make it permanent. 

All it takes to effect change is to raise our voices in unison for a common cause.  Washington State has increased spending above revenue projections far too long and now, due to an activist State Supreme Court (elections do have consequences) the will of the people (64% of them) has been subverted.  Since Initiative 601, the voters have passed the two-thirds requirement five times.  Each time it passes with an even greater majority than the last one.  It’s time to send the message straight to Olympia that We the People have spoken and no less than a State Constitutional Amendment requiring the two-thirds vote of the House and Senate will do.

Please check-out the Freedom Foundation’s petition to restore the two-thirds majority vote as a constitutional amendment.  And, please share this with all of your friends and family.

YiT ~  Shelly

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The State Supreme Court just made it a lot easier for the legislature to raise your taxes—and we know they’re going to try.
Washington voters have repeatedly (6 times) and overwhelmingly (64% in 2012) voted to require a super-majority vote for the legislature to increase taxes or fees. Yet six State Supreme Court justices sided with special interests to strike down this law.
Some politicians claim tax hikes are essential just to support basic services. It’s an outright lie. State revenue for the next budget is projected to be $2 billion more than in the last budget, yet politicians say it’s not enough. In fact, revenue has consistently increased over time. Washington State don’t have a revenue problem—we have a spending problem.
Let’s tell Olympia, loud and clear, that we don’t need more taxes.

LiveJournal Tags: Restore,Freedom Foundation,Taxes,Two-Thirds,Majority,Raise,Increase,Washington,Washington State,State of Washington,Whatcom County,Legislature,Budget,State Constitution

Woodward Questions White House Sanity over Sequester

President Obama mocked politician’s who manufacture crisis's, in his State of the Union address. How many times have I heard the President cry wolf?  Even if the sky were falling, or the big bad wolf were at my door, I do not believe I would believe it to be true.  In truth the sequester agreement is not a cut in the federal budget.  Sequester is a reduction in the growth of federal spending and a very small reduction at that.  If this fact doesn’t bother you, possibly this one will.  POTUS has the ultimate say in what federal program receives less federal revenue for their budget.

Let’s imagine for one minute what that might look like in a real world.  Consider this; you’ve at the grocery store to buy food for the week and you usually spend $100.00 to cover your costs.  You believed you were getting an 8% raise, so you increased your food budget by 8% (that’s an extra $8.00) and you planned for $108.00 in buying power.  But, then your raise was reduced to 6%, you’ve now adjusted your food budget to $106.00.  You now have a few choices to make about your food purchasing choices.  If you’ve already made a grocery list that uses the full $108.00 and you choose what items not to purchase from your list, based on your priorities.  Or, you can buy everything that is on your list, looking for them to be on sale or a find a coupon to reduce the costs.  Or, better yet, you access your preferred media resource to do comparison shopping and learn where, or what other brands, are available at reduced costs.

When faced with difficult choices a leader knows how to make a plan, prioritize and implement it.  The Obama Administration, with the complicit help of the mainstream media, we are bombarded with one crisis to the next and I refuse to be Chicken Little, or Henny Penny screeching, “the sky is falling, the sky is falling!”

Winston Churchill once said; “The difference between a politician and a statesman is; a politician is always thinking about how to get elected and consolidate power.  The statesman is focused on what’s best for the nation.”

It’s time for We the People to start electing statesmen who will speak the truth and make the choices needed to rebuild the publics trust in government.

YiT ~  Shelly

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BOB WOODWARD: A 'Very Senior' White House Person Warned Me I'd 'Regret' What I'm Doing

Brett LoGiurato | Feb. 27, 2013, 6:53 PM | 733,723 | 733

Bob Woodward said this evening on CNN that a "very senior person" at the White House warned him in an email that he would "regret doing this," the same day he has continued to slam President Barack Obama over thelooming forced cuts known as the sequester.

CNN host Wolf Blitzer said that the network invited a White House official to debate Woodward on-air, but the White House declined.

"It makes me very uncomfortable to have the White House telling reporters, 'You're going to regret doing something that you believe in,'" Woodward said. "I think they're confused," Woodward said of the White House's pushback on his reporting.

Wikimedia/Bektour

Earlier today on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Woodward ripped into Obama in what has become an ongoing feud between the veteran Washington Post journalist and the White House. Woodward said Obama was showing a "kind of madness I haven't seen in a long time" for a decision not to deploy an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf because of budget concerns.  Click here to read the full story.

LiveJournal Tags: Sequester,Obama,Woodward,Budget Cuts,Bully,White House,Henny Penny,Chicken Little,Leaders,Churchill

Congressional Corruption or COWS?

I’m short on time, but this article is so well written and relevant to what’s happening today, “right now”, that I am doing a quick posting in hopes that it will reach others, who will share it with their contacts.

YiT,  Shelly

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How Congress Occupied Wall Street

Politicians who arrive in Washington as men and women of modest means leave as millionaires. Why?

By SARAH PALIN (link to article)

Mark Twain famously wrote, "There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress." Peter Schweizer's new book, "Throw Them All Out," reveals this permanent political class in all its arrogant glory. (Full disclosure: Mr. Schweizer is employed by my political action committee as a foreign-policy adviser.)

Mr. Schweizer answers the questions so many of us have asked. I addressed this in a speech in Iowa last Labor Day weekend. How do politicians who arrive in Washington, D.C. as men and women of modest means leave as millionaires? How do they miraculously accumulate wealth at a rate faster than the rest of us? How do politicians' stock portfolios outperform even the best hedge-fund managers'? I answered the question in that speech: Politicians derive power from the authority of their office and their access to our tax dollars, and they use that power to enrich and shield themselves.

Associated Press

The money-making opportunities for politicians are myriad, and Mr. Schweizer details the most lucrative methods: accepting sweetheart gifts of IPO stock from companies seeking to influence legislation, practicing insider trading with nonpublic government information, earmarking projects that benefit personal real estate holdings, and even subtly extorting campaign donations through the threat of legislation unfavorable to an industry. The list goes on and on, and it's sickening.

Click here to read the full article (it’s worth it!).

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LiveJournal Tags: Sarah Palin,Crony Capitalism,Reform,Senate,Congress,Schweizer,Throw them All Out,Legislation,WSJ,Wall Street Journal

Tea Party proposes Budget for US Senate; Schumer & Reid shut them off

Yesterday, FreedomWorks.org had scheduled a hearing for the United States Senate to address the work done by members of FreedomWorks.org.  They requested this hearing to propose cuts for the Federal budget that would receive support from Tea Party supporters, nationwide.  There were $9.7 trillion dollars in cuts proposed, for the U.S. Senate to consider.  This hearing was shut down by Senator Schumer (D-NY)and Senate Speaker Harry Reid (D-NV).  They wouldn’t even allow “the People”, who had traveled from afar, to present their finding to the Senate, at the seat of “the People”.

Senator Lee (R-UT) led the group to a nearby facility at Hillsdale College, where they were then able to speak to the Senators who walked with the FreedomWorks.org group, and listen to the presentation being brought forth by “the People”.

Please enjoy this short video of what happened there and I encourage you to follow the link to their proposed cuts and see for yourself, how easily the Federal government could get our fiscal house in order if they only had the principles to do so.

YiT,  Shelly

FreedomWorks.org to Present US Senate with Tea Party Budget Proposal

LiveJournal Tags: FreedomWorks,United States Senate,Matt Kibbe,Senator Schumer,Senator Reid,Chuck Schumer,Harry Reid,Budget,Budget Cuts,Tea Party,Senate Hearing

2011 Washington State Legislature Wrap-up: Olympia Weekly from “EFF”

The Washington State Legislature has finalized the 2011 budget and “The Evergreen Freedom Foundation” is weighing in with their opinion of the results of the Washington State 2011 legislative budget.  There are no surprise's with increased spending on top of lower revenue projections for the next 2 – 3 years.  Representative Overstreet described this best at his Lynden Town Hall back in February of 2011; “We’ve been given a bucket (mandates) and it’s empty (funds) of which we’ve been asked to create a budget from.”

Enjoy this wrap-up of the EFF’s Olympia Weekly.

Yours In Truth    Shelly

LiveJournal Tags: EFF,Evergreen Freedom Foundation,Olympia Weekly,Washington State Legislature,Budget,Washington State Budget

Washington Senators Make End Run Around I-1053–“No New Taxes w/o Super Majority Vote in WA State”

A bill up for consideration is SB 5944 which would allow State Legislators to remove tax incentives and credits by simple majority.  On its face this sounds appropriate enough if you do not consider the removal of incentives and credits as a tax increase.

Look over the bills and tell your representatives your thoughts on this end run to increase taxes in the State of Washington.

Yours in Truth    Shelly

LiveJournal Tags: Taxes,Washington,State of Washington,Increase Taxes,Legislature,SB 5944

EFF Olympia Weekly: “The Great Budget Debate”

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation discusses the last session of the Washington State Legislature, giving their opinion of the State House and Senate’s approach for the budget and outlook for the economy of the State of Washington.

Enjoy this edition of EFF’s “Olympia Weekly”.

Yours in Truth    Shelly

LiveJournal Tags: EFF,Evergreen Freedom Foundation,Washington State Legislature,Washington,Washington State,Olympia Weekly

Karl Uppiano’s; “Long Train to China”

For the past year or more I have had a link to Karl Uppiano’s blog, “Rage Against the Kakistocracy”.  Karl’s latest blog has hit a nerve in me and I decided to take it to the top of my fold.  Please enjoy Karl’s rage of ‘common sense’, especially as it has immediate relevance to the recent Whatcom County, ‘Progressive’ members call to alarm against the approval of a deep shipping port for coal shipment at Cherry Point.

The members of Futurewise, Re-Sources for a Sustainable Community, and Sustainable Connections, work in tandem and collude to keep Whatcom County as their Kingdom.  Their goal is to rule the serfs and tell us how to live our lives sustainably.

Fear not Whatcom County!  These non-profit organizations have had their eyes on controlling us completely for a long time.  These non-profits use our tax dollars to  work against us.  Once they’ve gained control of; the Bellingham City Council (oops!, they already do control the BCC), Ferndale, Lynden, Blaine, Everson, Custer, Glacier, Kendall, Sumas, Acme, Concrete, (have I missed any?) and all of Whatcom County, through the election process, it shall be a fate accompli!

So, if I have not been clear enough, it’s time to wake-up, get-up and fight to keep your liberty and freedom through the retention of your private citizen’s and property rights.  Their goal is to lock-up and control all private property rights through International treaty recognition and usurpation of your Constitution at the same time.  It is your job to become informed and active to guard against and reclaim those rights!

Enjoy Karl’s rage and let me know what you think.

Yours In Truth    Shelly

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Long Train Running to China Grove

About a year ago, my employer relocated to a new office building. Many of my co-workers have a spectacular view of Bellingham Bay, or the city lights. But being a railroad buff, I chose an office overlooking the main line through Bellingham just across the street. Out my office window, I see passenger trains, freight trains, miscellaneous track maintenance trains and other interesting vehicles.
But the most impressive trains are the coal trains. They usually have five of the largest locomotives, two on one end and three on the other, bracketing about a mile of identical hopper cars, each one heaped to the brim with coal. About five or six of these trains a day (while I'm in the office) head north, fully loaded, and five or six head south, empty. Every day. There may be more while I'm not watching.
I always wondered where that coal was coming from, and where it was going. Intalco? It takes a lot of electricity to smelt aluminum. No, that coal comes from Colorado, is shipped by rail to the lower mainland of British Columbia, where it is loaded onto ships and hauled to China!
Because coal is deemed too "polluting" to be burned in the USA, we use countless gallons of precious liquid petroleum to ship it to China to be burned! I wonder how much coal would be left if they used the energy in the coal itself to haul it to China? This is sheer idiocy! To prevent pollution, we create more pollution to ship it somewhere else to be burned anyway. Doh!
If freedom still rang in this country, we would burn the coal on site, or at least near where it is mined (to generate electricity, or liquefy it for mobile applications). Somehow, we have to get the environmental extremists off our backs and restore some sanity. Our current energy policy is worse than no energy policy.

Posted by Karl Uppiano at 11:06 PM

Labels: Progressivism -- isn't

LiveJournal Tags: Constitution,Environment,FooD,Coal,Free Markets,Green,Orgainzing for America,OFA,Patriotism,Politics,Progressives,Regulations,State,County,City,Whatcom County,Bellingham,Washington,Ferndale,Everson,Custer,Blaine,Sumas,Acme

EFF Olympia Weekly: Budget blues, phony fees, and good ideas ignored

Every week the Evergreen Freedom Foundation puts out a report on what’s been happening in the Washington State Legislature.  The EFF is a jewel for fiscal conservancy and I would like to share their reporting with you.

Yours In Truth    Shelly

If you’d like to go directly to the EFF website, click here.

LiveJournal Tags: Evergreen Freedom Foundation,EFF,Washington State,Washington,State,Legislature,Budget,Finance,Fiscal,Conservancy,Governor,Gregoire,Governor Gregoire,Taxes,Fees