House Republicans unveil Washington Watch

House Republicans’ chief deputy whip Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) unveiled the new website Washington House Republicans' chief deputy whip Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) at far right with Cal Poly president Warren Baker, Dean Noori and Teena Fredeen. [Photo from US gov. House website]Watch during the weekly Republican address. Washington Watch will track misuse of taxpayer dollars and ‘stimulus’ waste. When spending tax money, “[W]e should be guaranteed accountability,” said McCarthy. The congressman called the Democratic budget “fiscally irresponsible.”

Democrats routinely point out the Bush administration and Republicans’ prior spending. But McCarthy said. “It’s irresponsible to borrow more than all previous American presidents combined.”

Republican whip Eric Cantor was featured on CBS Sunday Morning; the engaging interview included his wife.

Washington Watch shined a light on its first ‘misuse’ of tax dollars by citing a skateboard park in Rhode Island. It’s a classic case of federal cluelessness when it comes to the use of funding. The city of Pawtucket has a $5.2 million school budget deficit and about a $4.8 municipal deficit and has eliminated 40 city jobs this year. The city is spending $550,000 in stimulus money to construct the skateboard park at a local school. A local official said stimulus projects had to be “shovel-ready” to receive funding and “this is the one we have that is shovel-ready.”

On offense about charges of being the party of ‘no,’ the Republican whip house website also has a section ‘Economic Solutions.’ Proposals include tax credits for home buyers, relief of federal taxes on unemployment benefits and tax breaks for small businesses.

Click to read more ...

Tancredo’s freedom of speech suppressed by UNC leftwing extremists

In another demonstration that included violence, leftwing extremists shut down a conservative speaker on an American college campus. Tom Tancredo, former Republican congressman from Colorado, was invited to speak at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill on behalf of Youth for Western Civilization. YWC is a conservative effort to restore rights for conservative students. If you think conservative students have full rights on most American campuses, I suggest you spend some time at your nearest university.

As Tancredo tried to speak, audience members openly disrupted the process. Two of the extremists walked in front of Tancredo and held a banner up. When an object was thrown through a window, shattering glass, Tancredo left. His action possibly prevented further injuries. Campus cops were completely useless—they appeared afraid of the leftwing extremists.

Tancredo attempted to speak about the problem of undocumented foreigners in the US. Leftwing extremists call the problem “immigration,” which as anyone with a dictionary knows is completely different than people who slip into the country by ignoring federal law.

Last year during the election I asked for comments from conservative students on a message board. I asked them if they were hesitant to speak up about their views and whether professors had impeded their doing so. I received many responses, and with only one or two exceptions, the students vented about suppression of their beliefs. For one thing, they were worried about grades—a professor might lower their grade if they admitted conservative opinions.

The leftwing extremists at UNC played Democratic Party sympathizers’ best trump card. They called Tancredo a “racist.” I seriously doubt a single one of the extremists could hold an intelligent debate about the costs of illegal foreigners, the crime impact of the same and the drain on educational resources. An example: USA Today reported (Apr. 3, ’09, pg. 7A) the US Dept. of Education coerced the Salt Lake City School District to increase ESL-endorsed teachers from 97 to 900. How much money did that re-direct from assisting American citizens’ students who need remedial help?

Tancredo’s positions include not offering undocumented foreigners in-state tuition, opposition to guest worker programs due to their failures in the past and disallowing Mexican consular cards as legal i.d.—it’s widely reported not even Mexico accepts this as legal i.d. for obtaining loans and other legal matters. More on the impact of those consular cards in a column next week.

Whatever your beliefs on undocumented foreigners—I disagree with Tancredo on the guest worker program for instance—for a high profile university to be unable to control leftwing extremists on its campus is shameful. Every person who came in hopes of hearing Tancredo and the former congressman were denied their constitutional rights. The incident on campus is another in a long line of examples of leftwing extremists crying ‘racism’ as a false cover to shut down views they don’t agree with.

Leftwing extremism, founded on anti-American doctrines and nurtured by leftwing extremist professors adept at brainwashing, once again trumps the Constitution and common sense at the University of North Carolina. Hopefully conservative donors will pay attention to incidents like these and refrain from donating money to universities and colleges with totalitarian views on freedom of speech and assembly.

The Associated Press described Tancredo as a "controversial speaker." The only element that created the controversy came in the form of leftwing extremists who acted like stormtroopers, shredding the Constitution as they marched.

Tancredo's freedom of speech suppressed by UNC leftwing extremists by Kay B. Day

Rightwing extremism report spurs no apology from Obama or administration

Updated on Friday, April 17, 2009 at 10:11AM by Kay B. Day, Editor

Ed. note: DHS has removed the reports from the Web. (4/17/13)

The Dept. of Homeland Security report on rightwing extremism, despite an outpouring of criticism from the public, has elicited no apology from President Barack Obama or members of his administration. ‘Big Sis’, aka DHS secretary Janet Napolitano, did say if she could rewrite the report, she’d rewrite this footnote: “Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.”

Click to read more ...

Tea Party patriot volunteers her proposal to help America

Pomp media and bloggers claim conservatives don’t have any answers. We’re the “Party of No.” I’d say right now ‘no’ isn’t in the federal government dictionary where it really needs to be. But I have quite a few ideas about dealing with government spending. Here are selected suggestions from a patriot and blogger in Jacksonville, Florida who is more than likely tucked away somewhere on a government security list because I’m a conservative!

Drum roll:

•President Barack Obama and Congress should require all federal agencies except Defense, Homeland Security and others tied to national security or law enforcement, to immediately cut budgets across the board by 10 percent. Agency heads will balk, so asking for 10 percent means we might actually get 5 percent which is a good start. We taxpayers have cut our own budgets by more, so asking for 10 as a starting point is fair to the second power.

•Ask Congress to freeze earmarks for the next 5 years. Zero tolerance policy. Earmarks not only usurp taxpayer dollars for questionable projects, they also contribute to corruption.

•Begin the process of dismantling the Dept. of Education. Establish a council for oversight of the states.

•Let open positions at all non-vital agencies go unfilled and set goals for gradual de-funding.

•Dismantle the National Endowment for the Arts. True art is not compatible with government.

This Jacksonville patriot invites you to our fair city where you can take a water taxi to the Jacksonville Landing. Frankly, we need your tourist dollars and it would be patriotic of you to come here and spend some. [photo by Kay B. Day]•On healthcare, redirect entitlement programs to the truly needy. Give those above the needy quintile a tax credit for funds expended on insurance coverage and healthcare and do not tie that credit to income.

•On healthcare, set a zero goal for in-hospital infections.

•On healthcare, set a zero goal for patient deaths due to prescription and other errors.

•On healthcare, permit companies to compete for customers and permit customers to craft their own agreements either as trade, professional or even religious groups to increase purchase power leverage.

•On healthcare cut out the middle man in Medicaid. Processing organizations often simply create problems for hospitals and they obviously cannot control fraud which is at record levels anyway.

•On undocumented foreigners in the country, there are several common-sense approaches. For one, establish a migrant worker program that satisfies unfilled jobs without costing American laborers jobs. Set a rule that if a child is born on American soil, his parents must have documentation in order to obtain welfare and medical services. Deport any foreigner in the country illegally if he or she has a criminal record.

•Secure the borders with a military presence. Nothing else has worked or will work. At present the federal government assumes everyone coming across the border is a well-meaning migrant worker. You’d really have to be delusional to believe that.

•Enact the Fair Tax. This is the only proposal that will capture income that at present is either under the table or otherwise off the books.

•Review every federal agency. Those that are not directly related to vital areas should begin the process of dismantling.

•Get a grip on GSEs like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and on Medicaid fraud. These actions would produce remarkable savings as well.

•Respect the sovereignty of each state. Bow out of social issues and anything else the states have the right to decide and administer for themselves.

•Ask church and spiritual leaders from all faiths to tell followers two things before asking for donations/offerings: (1) Stop killing each other and (2) Take personal responsibility for your choices and your actions.

So there are my patriotic tea party suggestions for Congress and the president. I could write a book of suggestions for the court, but I don’t think there’s any point in spending time trying to reel in that branch of government. And if you’re an elected official, I’ll be glad to volunteer to help you get some of these proposals going—be glad to buy you a cup of tea too.

Oh, and one other thing: have IRS audit returns of every member of Congress and the cabinet. We'll have a small windfall for the federal coffers. I guarantee it.

Tea Party patriot volunteers her proposal to help America by Kay B. Day

Tea parties cause statists to pull the race card and therefore miss the boat

Conservatives took to the streets for tea parties in numerous American cities yesterday and now commenters and statist bloggers are crying racism. A typical response can be found on ‘Crooks and Liars’: “These "revolutionaries" are simply angry, frightened, white people highly frustrated because they have the word n****r on the tip of their racist tongues, but know they can't use it for it will expose the true meaning of their belligerence.” Many commenters agreed, taking the opportunity to bash white people, but it was another response that borders on the hilarious: “I'm less dismayed at the racism than I am at the bobblehead grasp of history these people show.”

Show me a statist who looks at history through an unbiased lens and I’ll show you a two-headed tomato. I’d suggest the hurler of the term ‘bobblehead’ read a little history and start with the insane measures Franklin D. Roosevelt took that burdened the middle and lower middle classes in a manner that until now was historic. Then segue to Jimmy Carter. And take a look at Bill Clinton’s econ team. And academics turned Roosevelt into a hero, even after he had livestock and crops destroyed as a large percentage of the populace almost starved. Go figure. History indeed.

Pop media was astounded, even perplexed, by the turnout. A CNN reporter flipped out and decided to debate with her interviewee rather than simply cover the event in Washington, D.C.

Steve Kira (left) and Will Pitts (right) at the Jacksonville Landing Tea Party. Kira is past Chairman of the St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee. Pitts is chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus, Florida. [Photo by John C. Stevens]

Click to read more ...

Tax protesters gather across U.S.; president promises cuts for some

Updated on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 4:17PM by Kay B. Day, Editor

Please see updates below the main article. I'm trying to publish everything I get in email and by phone about the tea parties.

A pleasant feature of Jacksonville's downtown area: it smells like coffee because of the Maxwell House Plant. [photo by Kay B. Day]Even Jacksonville’s First Coast News TV anchor was surprised at the “jam-packed” Tea Party held at Jacksonville Landing on Tax Day. Organized by a number of grassroots groups, my own Republican Liberty Caucus (NE Florida) fellows participated, working hard to get a good turn out. This wasn’t an easy feat—today’s gathering came on the heels of a Fair Tax Rally that drew thousands to the Landing on Saturday. Neal Boortz and Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.) spoke at the Fair Tax event.

A story by the Associated Press describes thousands gathering in cities across the nation to protest federal spending and of course taxes. The Homeland Security Dept. will be hard-pressed to track all these “right wing” types recently defined as “extremists” by the Obama administration.

Click to read more ...

Tax Day bleaker for Survivor but rosier for some taxpayers

Tax breaker Richard Hatch asked a federal judge for permission to move to Argentina. [Photo from Government of Argentina website.]Tax Day is the day that lives in infamy for many of us, and it’s especially bleak for ‘Survivor’ star Richard Hatch. Hatch will be released in May after drawing a 4 year-3 month prison term for income tax evasion. Hatch wanted to do his supervised release in Argentina where he says his wife lives. The federal judge rejected Hatch’s request. As a taxpayer, I’m astounded my money was applied to locking up Hatch. All he had to do once his tax evasion was discovered was enter politics. Tax dodgers serve in our legislature, write our tax rules and oversee our Treasury Dept. Hatch would be in fine company. If someone pays the taxes he allegedly evaded—Hatch has yet to do so but claimed he did nothing wrong to begin with—why lock the person up? Just give them a cabinet position. Talk about taxing double standards.

Meanwhile, statist bloggers are touting the results of a new Gallup Poll about taxes wherein 48 percent of Americans said the federal income taxes they pay are "about right," while 46 percent say they’re too high. The poll is actually more complicated than truncated figures show—as income decreases, taxes decrease and we all know high earners pay far more in taxes than low earners. You can digest the findings at the Gallup website.

Click to read more ...