In less than 48 hours, the Facebook Group Stop HR 1388 drew more than 2,100 members hoping to block passage of HR 1388, known in the House as the GIVE bill. GIVE is an appropriate title, because that’s exactly what this bloated bill will require of American taxpayers. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wants this bill pushed on to the Senate, asking that a cloture vote occur on Monday, March 23 at 6 p.m.; and  if cloture is invoked, then postcloture time will count as if cloture had been invoked at 3 p.m. that day. Further, Reid asked that the mandatory quorum be waived. Here’s the rub: the bill is being called the National Service Reauthorization Act. Problem is the “reauthorization” contains amendments that vastly increase spending and that also trample on states’ and individual rights.

Section 1201, School-based Allotments, has been amended to expand programs for elementary and secondary school students. “Purpose-based school learning programs” basically will require students to “meet community needs with demonstrable results.” Like all government results, those in this amendment will be subjective. Included are costs for “providing professional development for teachers, supervisors, personnel from community-based agencies (particularly with regard to the recruitment, utilization, and management of participants), and trainers, to be conducted by qualified individuals or organizations that have experience with service-learning…” Maybe they can include a spelling champ in the mix. The bill as written misspells the word ‘development.’

Section 112 covers allotments: “Minimum Amount- For any fiscal year for which amounts appropriated for this subtitle exceed $50,000,000, the minimum allotment to each State (as defined in subsection (b)(2)) under this section shall be $75,000.”

Amendment 38 includes a new activity under the Opportunity Corps focused on a musician and artists corps program that helps meet educational needs in low income communities. Public libraries are full of art for the asking.

Campuses of Service will be designated. Amendment 41 (numbered 4 printed in House Report 110-39) authorizes a new grant program, the Volunteer Generation Fund, to be administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service. When you hear the word ‘grant’ in a federal document, the taxpayer cash register goes bing, bing, bing at high velocity.

Amendment 48 (numbered 10 printed in House Report 111-39) creates a National Service Reserve Corps and requires an annual service requirement of at least 10 hours and/or annual training.

The alleged projected cost for this expanded “volunteerism” program is $3 per American in 2010. If you are a taxpayer as opposed to a tax recipient, be aware you will pick up the tab for those who do not pay. If you read the entire bill and the amendments, it is questionable whether $3 is even slightly realistic as some program costs are pegged to inflation.

As our country teeters on financial collapse, that the Congress is considering a funds-laden bill with a benign title like the National Service Reauthorization Act is astounding. That this act calls for mandatory service by young children is even more troublesome.

Media outlets are apparently (and predictably) unaware this bill is proceeding unchallenged. Taxpayers will be aware when we get the bill for yet another massive social program that delivers far less than desired results if it delivers any at all. Facebook Group Stop HR 1388 is asking everyone to contact their senators and ask them to vote ‘no’ on this bill.

Read further analysis at theusreport.com.

Most of us will say abundant gratitudes on Thursday for family, friends and a roof over our heads, but our elected officials in Washington have some rather unique blessings to offer thanks for. Take Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) Rangel will probably say something like, ‘I’m grateful I’m not going to jail like Wesley Snipes for screwing up my own taxes. Or for helping a major donor get a major tax break. Rangel is one of a number who made serious errors in ethics that did little in the way of political harm.

Read More →

Dear RNC,

RNC donor here—McCain campaign donor too.

I’ve followed news reports about money spent on Gov. Sarah Palin’s large family—clothing, baby goods, what have yous. Gov. Palin is in the news 24/7 it seems; Democratic media just cannot get enough of our vice-presidential candidate. And now we’re talking line items on financial disclosures.

Now I saw Sen. John McCain tonight on the news. He said the items purchased for Gov. Palin and her family will be donated to charity once the campaign ends. But I am a little confused. I mean, money is money, right?

Read More →

(Pearl Harbor)–Al Jazeera, the Middle Eastern news agency, scooped a story about a military meeting between the U.S. and China that hasn’t appeared in a newspaper in either country. The headline said, ‘Military Giants Meet in Hawaii,’ and the story dated Oct. 20, 2008 revealed, “Major-General Zhong Zhiming [Chinese People’s Liberation Army] was leading a delegation of Chinese military officers on one of the first of many planned high-level exchanges, part of a new effort to break down barriers between these two military giants.” The meeting is being held at Pearl Harbor.

Read More →

It was a comical moment many may have missed in the final presidential debate, and for Sen. John McCain it was a slip of the tongue. But it made a telling point because it spoke to Sen. Barack Obama’s core belief—that government is the solution to everything. If you filter through the rhetoric from both candidates, you emerge with a sharp contrast. McCain wants to reduce spending and Obama wants to increase it. Simple as that. And what about the hatchet vs. scalpel back and forth?

Read More →

Sen. John McCain’s campaign protested removal of videos by YouTube because of takedown notices even though the videos did not infringe on copyrights. Via a letter dated Oct. 13 to YouTube, the campaign said the videos contained less than 10 seconds of video with CBS content. CBS refused comment to TV Week. Comments at news websites often complain about the Digital Millenium Copyright Act that allows copyright holders to submit takedown notices.

Really, you’d have to have a hole in your head (the size of the Grand Canyon) to think this has anything to do with copyright.

Read More →

Once again, racism rears its politically profitable head, with Georgia Democrat Rep. John Lewis accusing Sen. John McCain of ‘sowing seeds of hatred.’ Lewis was referring to anger expressed by some who spoke up at recent rallies.

Memo to David Axelrod: these people, like your own constituents, are angry at Washington. And let me assure you it has nothing to do with race. Let me add I also realize race is a valuable card for Democratic Party supporters. And let me make a case for who the real race-baiters are.

Read More →

What’s amazing to me is the amount of information readily available about the presidential candidates’ plans and the complete lack of attention to that information by mainstream media and taxpayers. There’s a must-read article at The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan organization that’s been praised by both major political parties for more than 70 years. Mark Robyn’s article ‘Obama’s income tax cliff for senior citizens’ is a perfect example of branding trumping reality. Obama fans see an engaging speaker who easily could have carved out a career in show business. Realists see a politician reminiscent of Democratic president Lyndon B. Johnson whose ambitious plans edged the country ever closer to socialism.

Read More →

By circumstance, we ran into our favorite tipster whose official cloak is ‘Deep Tote’ and our informant has delivered some amazing news—Sen. Barack Obama has already won the Oct. 15 Presidential Debate to be held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Considering we learned this immediately after the 2nd Presidential Debate in Nashville, well before the final debate occurs, and in light of conservative accusations of media bias, we coerced Deep Tote into answering a few questions. Promising to ply our source with almond biscotti and authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, we got together at a tony coffee shop in Miami. I promised to reveal nothing about Deep Tote’s age, race, sex, gender or alternative religious beliefs and I also agreed to withhold the name of the coffee shop. Just in case we were seen.

Read More →

Sen. Barack Obama delivered his customary rousing speech in Abington, Pennsylvania on Friday, pitching talking points directly to the constituency he calls the “middle class.” The Ambler Gazette reported, “Obama said he wants to end the economic crisis by creating jobs through investing in renewable sources of energy, discouraging companies from *outsourcing jobs to foreign countries *…” Considering the fundraisers his supporters hosted overseas, the senator may want to read up on what the term ‘outsourcing’ means. He probably should take a look at how economists define the term ‘middle class’ as well.

Read More →

Sarah Palin hooked me the first time I saw her speak. Until that moment, I was dedicated to my party’s nominee, but there was little passion. I hadn’t anticipated Sen. John McCain winning the GOP nomination for president. I had foreseen Sen. Barack Obama winning his party’s nomination because I know Democratic Party strategy—a brand based on rhetoric and physical appearance coupled with policy that veers so sharply left it is guaranteed to end up in the Pacific. Al Gore and John Kerry are exhibits A and B in support of my claims.

Shortly after McCain’s announcement about Palin, I went to get a haircut and ended up stumping for her, though not intentionally. A customer overheard me telling my stylist about Palin, and the next thing I knew, the 25 or so other customers and employees—all females—were all ears. The excitement was palpable. The GOP had placed, for the first time ever, a woman on the presidential ticket. And what happened next was entirely predictable for those of us who know media.

Read More →

Courtesy of Drudge, covers for two different issues of US Weekly illustrate the great divide between the RNC brand and the DNC brand when it comes to mainstream media. One cover shows a glowing Sen. Barack Obama and his wife Michelle—“Why Barack Loves Her.” The other shows Gov. Sarah Palin holding her newborn—“Babies, Lies and Scandal.” Fellow women who aren’t enamored of the DNC brand, it’s time for a boycott. I suspect women are the primary purchasers of magazines like US Weekly. It’s one thing to debate politics of each party’s nominees. It’s low down and dirty to assail someone’s character.

I haven’t read Rolling Stone in years, a magazine that has fallen into a state of confusion in my opinion. But let’s add it to our don’t-buy list as well. Also Men’s Journal. Talk to our teens—probably the age group that might buy that magazine. According to The New York Times (8-11-08), “The magazine [Rolling Stone] had 486 ad pages in the first half of 2008, according to the Publishers Information Bureau, down 33 percent from the same period in 2005.”

Read More →

Top prize for today’s media hysteria race goes to The Philadelphia Daily News where one columnist wrote: “If McCain wins, look for a full-fledged race and class war, fueled by a deflated and depressed country, soaring crime, homelessness - and hopelessness!” That column comprises a complete fiction—for instance, poverty is up. It’s not. It’s actually about the same, according to the latest US Census Report. Well, it is and it isn’t. Had newspapers and wire services read the fine print (and had the Philly writer done the same), they’d have noticed some questions were phrased differently by the Census Bureau this time and the answers shed a little light on “poverty.”

Read More →

On the Bill O’Reilly Show tonight, there was a segment on Rep. Robert Wexler (D-[allegedly] 19). Wexler’s Republican opponent Edward Lynch did some research and discovered the Democrat is fulfilling his residency requirement by residing at his mother-in-law’s home, one in what The Palm Beach Post describes as a “55-and-older-community.” His wife and children live in Rockville, MD. where the kids attend a Jewish Day School.

Read More →

Evision this: 20,000 college kids set up a camp—‘Tent State’—in a city park for four nights, strategizing on war protests and educational matters while the Democratic National Convention crowns the party’s presidential monarch in the city of Denver. Envision this: bathrooms, food wrappers and a big fat environmental question mark. The Rocky Mountain News says about 50 neighbors from the community near the park where the Tent Staters want to camp attended a Q&A meeting last week, some with understandable concerns. Many of the newspaper’s readers posted concerns at the discussion forum where the Tent City story was posted. One resident told the paper, “I think people in the neighborhood are freaked about this being Woodstock, but this is the anti-Woodstock.” Another woman complained, “I just think it’s overwhelming.” To say the least, this convention promises more twists and turns than a Harry Potter novel.

Read More →

The headline at The Drudge Report website,”Group Repping 50,000 Physicists Opens Global Warming Debate…” [linked to dailytech.com] says it all. That headline stems from an article posted in the July, 2008, newsletter of the American Physical Society unit known as Physics and Society. Lord Christopher Monckton of Brenchley wrote the explosive article, ‘Climate Sensitivity Reconsidered,’and the abstract alone is guaranteed to make Al Gore’s blood boil.

Read More →

A Quinnipiac University Poll released this week showed Sen. Barack Obama ahead of Sen. John McCain, with Obama’s rank heavily influenced by responses from women and blacks. But the poll also revealed some interesting figures related to the economy. Media outlets are focused on negatives related to the economy, but the poll shows voters may not be too concerned about their personal economies, even if 53 percent of them say the US economy is the single most important issue in their vote. I was startled when I read the responses.

Read More →

Sen. Barack Obama’s healthcare plan cuts a wide path through the current road most Americans take. Besides hoping to expand Medicaid, in a series of recent speeches to Hispanic groups, he moved towards Sen. Hillary Clinton’s plan, hoping to provide a refundable credit of up to 50 percent on premiums paid by small businesses on behalf of their employees. ABC News says, “The Obama campaign estimates that this tax credit would cost $6 billion.” Obama chose to speak about this most recently to the National Council of La Raza, said ABC, telling the audience, “…small businesses are the engines of economic prosperity—especially in Latino communities.” But the senator hasn’t come up with a way to define a small business to determine eligibility for the tax credit. ABC said an Obama spokesman explained those details will be “…worked out with Congress.”

Read More →

TV One plans to cover the Democratic National Convention and even the Wrap Parties, but CEO Johnathan Rodgers has no plans to bring the Republican National Convention to his audience. According to the Associated Press, TV One reaches 43.7 million households—almost one half of homes in the US with TVs. The network targets African-American adults. Rodgers told the AP and other news media, “We are not a news organization.” He said if Sen. Hillary Clinton were the nominee, TV One wouldn’t cover it. Rodgers based his reasoning on the fact Sen. Barack Obama’s nomination is a “historic event.”

A reporter covering the Television Critics Association press tour asked questions about TV One’s decision to only present one political party convention.

Read More →

It’s a touchy point with me, the matter of Sen. John McCain’s age. Media just can’t talk about it enough—the latest is an Associated Press story that (again) explores how voters feel about the matter. Seems like only yesterday the Democratic Party as well as media maintained an obsession with equal rights for all including those who don’t belong to Gen X. The AP story says Democrats have “broached the age issue indirectly…”

Democrats don’t have to broach the issue. Progressive mainstream media does it for them.

I’ve written about this before, but every time I see this (and I have seen it a lot), I get really angry. Here’s why—media’s preoccupation with age only began with John McCain. If we’re going to explore age, let’s be fair and take a look at select Democratic seniors, older than McCain, who exert serious control over our government. Some might call the situation a “chokehold.”

Read More →