
Joan Swirsky
We’re Losing Our Country...But What Can
We Do?
February 23, 200
9
From the moment Barack Obama was inaugurated on January 20th, the
leftists who control Congress have – at his behest – gone on a drunken
binge of runaway spending vis-à-vis an $850-bilion faux "stimulus”
program that rewards failure and punishes success. It is already clear
that The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act should be renamed The
American Relapse-And-Needs-Resuscitation Act, as is evidenced by both
the simultaneous plunge of the Dow and the president’s polling numbers,
as well as an epidemic case of buyer’s remorse. As Oklahoma Republican
Senator Tom Coburn has
written, "the stimulus is a step toward a Soviet
America.”
Or, as Lenin said, "The way to crush the bourgeoisie [the middle class]
is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation."
Or, as Winston Churchill so presciently pronounced: Socialism is a
philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy;
its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”
Writer Randall Hoven has
elaborated upon what the president has "accomplished” in his
first weeks in office. This is the short list.
▪ Rewarded abortionists by freeing federal funds to pay for abortions
both here and overseas.
▪ Rewarded terrorists by not interrogating them too roughly.
▪ Rewarded terrorists by closing Gitmo.
▪ Punished the U.S. military by halting commissions until Gitmo is
"reviewed.”
▪ Rewarded the domestically-held terrorist Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri by
"reviewing” his case.
▪ Rewarded Gitmo detainee Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, an al-Qaida suspect
in USS Cole in 200, that killed 17 US sailors, by dropping charges
against him.
▪ Rewarded terrorists from Hamas by granting them up to $20.3 million
for the "conflict victims in Gaza."
▪ Rewarded terrorists by establishing a redress process if those
suspected of wrongdoing are delayed or prohibited from boarding a
flight.
▪ Rewarded female career "victims” by signing the "Lily Ledbetter Fair
Pay Act" so women can wage equal-pay lawsuits, not for up to 180 days
but for decades in the past.
▪ Rewarded the American-hating president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
by "reaching out” to him – to which the madman demanded that the U.S.
apologize to Iran for its actions for” the past 60 years" and remove all
U.S. forces from the Middle East.
▪ Rewarded labor unions by revoking a former executive order that forced
employers to notify employees of their rights.
▪ Punished faith-based organizations by equating them with "neighborhood
partnerships” like Planned Parenthood and ACORN – treating them "like a
house of God, in the eyes of the federal government.”
▪ Punished fair-hiring employers by requiring federal executives to hire
union-only members.
▪ Punished the American people by issuing numerous draconian
environmental dictates that insure zero energy independence for decades
to come, if ever.
In other words, Hoven says, it was all "pay back Democratic special
interests...spend really, really huge amounts of other people's money,
[and] make terrorism a law-enforcement issue instead of a
national-defense issue and watch terrorists and nuclear proliferators be
released, from Pakistan to Yemen to Gitmo.”
I haven’t even mentioned how much Obama has also:
▪ Punished Americans by appointing chronic tax cheats and craven
lobbyists to his cabinet and as advisors.
▪ Punished Americans by reversing every promise he made about
transparency, bipartisanship, and having an economic-growth bill with no
pork.
▪ Rewarded terrorists by authorizing $20.3 million to aid Palestinian
refugees from Gaza – read Hamas – to "migrate.” But as journalist Judi
McLeod and intelligence analyst Michael Travis
have asked, "Is Obama opening the floodgates to
Hamas” and "What security measures are in place to keep Hamas terrorists
from gaining free access into the U.S.?”
▪ Punished Americans by not firing – or even sanctioning – Attorney
General Eric Holder, who called America a "nation of cowards.”
▪ Punished Americans by moving the once-objective census process into
the White House’s to be overseen by the Chicago-machine flunkie, Rahm
Emanuel.
▪ And then there was the cringe-producing embarrassment he caused by
granting his first interview to the Arab media, Dubai-based al Arabiya
TV, where he proceeded to apologize for America’s "mistakes.”
Vox Clamato en Deserto
On the eve of the "stimulus” bill vote, which took place on February 14,
Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren asked Alaska’s Governor Sarah Palin what
the president should do.
"He should veto it!” Palin exclaimed. "He should send it back to the
lawmakers so they have time to actually read it and understand its
impact.” Hers was a lonely voice of opposition, but it resonated with
millions of Americans who also wondered how their (overwhelmingly
Democrat) elected officials had the gall to vote for a 1,100-page bill
they hadn’t read, when recent spending packages of significantly less
heft had failed so thunderously:
▪ $180 billion stimulus program in the spring of 2008: Failed.
▪ $345 billion housing bailout from the summer of 2008: Failed.
▪ $700 billion Wall Street bailout from the fall of 2008: Failed.
▪ Grand total: $1.2 trillion in spending: Failed.
Just a few days later, on February 17, Louisiana’s Governor Bobby Jindal
suggested that he might not be interested in taking the $4 billion
allotted to his state in the "stimulus” package before reviewing each
program and determining "what are the strings” attached to it were. And
on February 18, according to the Associated Press, a number of other
Republican governors said they were considering turning down at least
some of the money, questioning if it would help the economy at all.
Of course, it was a Democrat, South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn,
who sneaked tucked into the package a proviso that allows state
legislatures to override a governor’s decision. It was also Clyburn who
said that the refusal of governors to accept the funds was "a slap in
the face of African-Americans." To which Kevin Martin, a member of
Project 21 – a leading voice of the African-American
community since 1992 – replied: "Liberals such as Congressman Clyburn
have always employed tactics such as the race card to shame critics into
accepting their heavy-handed demands...to use race as a means of
cramming it down these governors' throats is reprehensible, and people
should take notice as to how far these people are willing to go to get
their way."
Indeed. Americans should be celebrating the courage of the Republican
governors who have questioned the ability of the bloated, pork-laden,
special-interest-favoring bill to create jobs or "save” the economy At
this point, their numbers may be small, but their potential to influence
other Republicans, Conservatives, and Independents is huge.
Let them know – and encourage their efforts!
Governor Mark Sanford (SC): Tel: 1-803-734-2100; Fax: 1-803-734-5167;
E-mail.
Governor Bobby Jindal (LA):
E-mail.
Governor Haley Barbour (MISS): Tel: 1-877-405-0733 or1- 601-359-3150.
Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter (ID): Tel: 1-208-334-2100.
Governor Sarah Palin (AK): Tel: 1-907- 465-3500; Fax: 1-907- 465-3532;
E-mail.
Governor Mitch Daniels (IN): Tel: 1-317-232-4567;
E-mail.
Keep this
Contact Your Governor Guide handy.
Don’t Tread on Me
Afraid that the Obama agenda includes trampling on states’ rights, 22
states are declaring sovereignty or planning to. Sovereignty is not the
same as secession, in which a state or states threaten to leave the
union. Sovereignty is granted under the 10th Amendment of the
Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights. In short, it says
that: "Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence,
and every power, jurisdiction, and right...”
The states now seeking sovereignty are expressing the fear that a new
national government might seek to exercise powers not granted to the
government and that states will lose their autonomy. In stark contrast
are those who believe that Congress can enact – at the will or whim of
the president – just about anything that strikes their socialist
fancies.
The states seeking sovereignty believe that if enough states get on
board, they could press their claims together and prevail. The federal
government, they say, has no physical existence, except for the
machinery that runs it, but that the states are the country!
As one blogger stated, "Whether they’re using a stick or a club, the
states are drawing a line in the sand and placing the Federal Government
on notice.”
To date, the states that are already sovereign, having passed 10th
Amendment resolutions in their legislatures, include:
California (CA): Click
here for more info.
Texas (TX):
Click here.
States claiming sovereignty include:
Arizona (AZ): Click
here.
Georgia (GA): Click
here.
Michigan (MI): Click
here.
Missouri (MO): Click
here and Click
here.
Montana (MT): Click
here.
New Hampshire (NH): Click
here.
Oklahoma (OK): Click
here.
South Carolina (SC): Click
here.
Washington (WA): Click
here.
Hawaii (HI) is actually aiming for total sovereignty, as it claims the
state was never really a state of the U.S.A. Click
here and here.
States that are planning motions toward claiming sovereignty include the
following:
Alabama (AL), Alaska (AK), Arkansas (AR), Colorado (CO, Idaho (ID),
Indiana (IN), Kansas (KS), Maine (ME), Nevada (NV), Pennsylvania (PA),
and Tennessee (TN).
Click here for
Source # 1 for the "pending / planning" states and
Source # 2 for the "pending / planning" states.
That is almost half our country, as you can see by this map:

And more states are joining the Don’t Tread On Me juggernaut, including
Georgia,
Oklahoma, and Ohio!
But there is a rub here. A Resolution carries no weight, but only sends
a "sense of the state legislature” to the federal government. But a Bill
can become a Law. So when you’re contacting your state officials, urge
them to introduce a Bill and not a Resolution about Sovereignty and
States’ Rights!
According to writer Dave Nalle, it now looks "like at least 22 states
have Bills in some stage of development. About half are in the process
of being drafted, several are in committee or out for debate, and the
pack is being led by Arizona, Oklahoma, and New Hampshire, where the
bills have strong support and will likely be voted on within a matter of
weeks. As yet, none have passed into law, but we may see that happen in
some of the most active states fairly quickly.”
Most of the Resolutions, Nalle says, "are originating from inside
legislatures and from established state politicians, specifically in
response to concerns about unfunded mandates and excessive burdens
placed on the states by the federal government. The expense and partisan
character of many of the elements of the stimulus bill is of increasing
concern and helping to motivate legislators to pass these state
resolutions...while the 10th Amendment is central to their
argument, legislators are more concerned about retaining power they see
being gradually eroded by the federal government...”
Yes, Your Honor!
It is not only governors and state legislatures waking up to the shock
of dealing with a far-left-cum-socialist-cum-Marxist president and a
far-left Congress that echoes his contempt for free-market capitalism
and the U.S. Constitution. It is also organizations like
Patriots for America as well as individual activists.
A minister, Christ Otto, started the
Red Envelope Project that has already resulted in
over 100,000 red envelopes being sent to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (zip:
20500), which are marked on the back with the simple sentence: "This
envelope represents one child who died in abortion...it is empty because
that child was unable to offer anything to the world.”
Stephen Pidgeon, a lawyer who has waged one of more than a dozen Supreme
Court lawsuits (Broe
v. Reed) in an attempt to prove that President Obama is
Constitutionally ineligible to hold his office, has launched an effort
to empanel a
National Grand Jury "to serve as ombudsmen for the citizens of the
country in respect to constitutional rights and privileges...and to
conduct criminal investigations of members of the federal government,
and, if the evidence is sufficient, issue criminal indictments.”
The National Grand Jury, Pidgeon says, "is an entirely independent body.
Judges of the Supreme Court, the Courts of Appeal, and the District
Courts of the United States, United States Attorneys, and Congress of
the United States may act only as advisors. They cannot prevent National
Grand Jury action unless that action violates the duly enacted laws as
originally created in the United States.”
He says that a National Grand Jury is empowered to:
▪ Inquire into the condition and management of branches of the federal
government and its agencies.
▪ Investigate and report on the operations, accounts and records of
federal officers, departments, and functions.
▪ Inquire into the willful or corrupt misconduct in office of public
officers.
▪ Submit a final report of its findings and recommendations, no later
than the end of its term, to the Presiding Juror of the National Grand
Jury.
To become a Grand Juror, go to this website:
www.DecaLogosIntl.org.
So to all people who wonder " What can I do?” to reclaim the America
they knew and loved it before Obama, I suggest that you join these
efforts and also start protests of your own, be they e-mail campaigns,
signatures on petitions, letters-to-editors, street demonstrations, and
endless petitions to your elected representatives. If they don’t respond
to your liking, kick the bums out of office in 2010!
But
remember that Obama’s henchmen-and-women "donated” $4-billion dollars to
the corrupt Acorn "community agitator organizer” group in their
"stimulus” bill, the better to swing the midterms to even more corrupt
leftwing legislators. So if you want more of what the president has
"offered” us in only four weeks in office – with more horrifying things
to follow – vote for anyone but a Democrat!