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Dick Armey was part of the "Read the bill!!" crowd in the stimulus debate, and even launched a website and online petition drive called “ReadTheStimulus.org”.

Yesterday, he appeared before the the House Oversight and Government Reform committee. He was there to testify as the Republican's expert witness on the stimulus.

A Democrat asked him if he supported the unemployment compensation provisions of the bill. Armey said he might...but conceded that he had not read that portion of the bill.

The Democrat then pressed on a bit. The result? Armey admitted had not read any of the bill, even though he was appearing as an expert about it, and repeatedly goes before the press to criticize it.

Seriously - you cannot make this stuff up.

And what has Dick been doing since the stimulus bill passed? Well, he divides his time between organizing teabagger rallies and working as a lobbyist to help businesses gain from the stimulus.

According to a report from Ohio today, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has asked the ACORN-tainted Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, to investigation ACORN's voter registration work in the state.

“U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan has formally asked Ohio's secretary of state to look into allegations that ACORN had at least a preliminary plan to back Democrat candidates in key Ohio congressional races in 2008.”

The political plan was described in an October article as “having been scaled back,” and of course, ACORN denied any partisan activity.

“But to some, ACORN's early 13-page plan for the 2008 election reinforces what critics always assumed: The group's goal was never nonpartisan. The political plan and other ACORN documents show that the group was interested not just in helping presidential candidate Barack Obama, whom it urged its members to support, according to post-election Federal Election Commission reports. ACORN also was interested in Congress and the Ohio Statehouse.

"There's no question that ACORN strategized to figure out how its election efforts could maximize the benefit for selected Democratic candidates in the most competitive races," U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa of California told The Plain Dealer. “

An illuminating  fact not mentioned in either article is that ACORN prepared political plans for several key battleground states in 2006 and again during the 2007-08 election cycle. As evidenced by the draft plans developed in the Spring of 2006 by the Strategic Writing and Research Department (SWORD) of ACORN Political Operations, these plans were aimed at electing “progressives” and in some cases broke down the Congressional districts by race for maximum targeting. SWORD, which was staffed by Project Vote staff, including myself, worked with ACORN head organizers in FL, MD, MI, MN, OH, PA, and RI to create local documents for the ACORN field staff to implement and present to funders and/or various partner organizations.

A copy of the Maryland and Colorado draft plans from 2006 are available online. Key parts of the plans are the contact and Congressional district sections at the end. For example, in the Maryland plan, it calls for mailings and face to face contact. A screen shot of the type of mailing Marylanders received is shown below.

ACORN used Project Vote staff and computers to create the PowerPoint “Campaign for a New Congress." This PowerPoint was aimed at swaying the Congressional election in Maryland from Albert Wynn to ACORN ally Donna Edwards. Using the final political plan, ACORN canvassed voters and mailed pieces through its affiliate Communities Voting Together.

Campaign for a New Congress

Communities Voting Together has the same address as the Project Vote office in DC and its address on the screen shot above is the same Elysian Fields address where hundreds of other ACORN entities "reside.

As a 527 group, Communities Voting Together paid over 150,000 to Citizen's Services Inc, and contributed to Wade Rathke's Chief Organizer Fund. Jeff Robinson is listed as the contact for Communities Voting Together and some may remembered Robinson from the 2008 elections (emphasis mine):

"In fact, the Obama campaign paid an ACORN-run organization more than $800,000. In Federal Election Commission required filings, the Obama campaign reported that this money was paid for polling, advance work and event staging. After watchdog scrutiny called this claim into question, the Obama campaign revised its filing and acknowledged that CSI was paid for “get-out-the-vote” projects.

CSI Executive Vice President Jeff Robinson last August told Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reporter David M. Brown that CSI is a 'separate organization entirely' from ACORN. But as Brown reported, CSI has the same office address as ACORN’s national headquarters, ACORN itself described CSI in 2006 as its 'campaign services entity.' Coincidentally, the widely identified “national deputy political director for campaigns and elections” for ACORN is...Jeff Robinson."

ACORN's shell corporations make it easy for a political plan to become a partisan voter registration drive facilitated by thin veiled “partnerships.” The filing reports of Communities Voting Together raise a number of questions, including whether the misspelling of the name on the filing was intentional. The payments to various ACORN entities should give any astute lawmaker pause.

ACORN has been able to claim that it never worked in some recent elections including NY-23, but as this screen shoot illustrates, Communities Voting together was mailing and passing out door knockers in 2006 for Corzine in New Jersey (without a mention of ACORN).

Will ACORN backed officials like Jennifer Brunner (who has her eye on a Senate seat) and officials in Maryland and Colorado take notices of these obvious attempts to elect Democrats, or will they continue to turn a blind eye to ACORN in order to save themselves?

Excerpt:

http://sntjohnny.com/front/christians-should-not-use-the-government-to-d...

About 1700 years ago, a certain Roman emperor by the name of Julian the Apostate reigned.  He was called the ‘Apostate’ because of his fierce rejection of Christianity and his sometimes brutal attempt to repress it.  Julian was smart.  He knew that he could not just eradicate Christianity without dealing with the things that made it attractive.  He complained:

Whilst the pagan priests neglect the poor, the hated Galileans devote themselves to works of charity, and by a display of false compassion have established and given effect to their pernicious errors. See their love-feasts, and their tables spread for the indigent. Such practice is common among them, and causes a contempt for our gods.

In response, Julian The Apostate launched government philanthropic programs in an attempt to render the Christian message impotent.

The astute Christian reader will already see where this is going.  ...

With the help of the Democrats, your long-hoped for bill creating an audit for the Fed was approved by the House Financial Services Committee yesterday.

Florida Democrat and fellow Fed critic Alan Grayson co-sponsored the amendment with Paul and played a leading role drumming up support for it among committee members. The adoption of this amendment is an extraordinary victory for Paul, whose libertarian, anti-Fed leanings have often been dismissed by the political establishment.

How much traction on this issue did you get when the Republicans were in charge?

The first year of Obama is looking like the first year of Clinton.  Now the issue is health care.  Then it was raising taxes.  Here’s how it was then.  Reagan tax cuts and spending increases had given us an unsustainable budget deficit that was smothering the economy.  Clinton knew that he had to raise taxes to avoid a meltdown.  Republicans then as now were unanimous in irresponsible opposition. 

Blue dog Democrats knew that their careers were on the line – that a vote for higher taxes would get them voted out in 1994.  Still, lots of them found the courage to do the right thing. They paid for this piece of patriotism with their careers, but America prospered.

Now we have expensive health care choking our economy.  Unsustainable employer health insurance premium growth is holding down wages and making American goods more expensive than European. 

Now Democrats are asking Blanche Lincoln to sacrifice her career for the good of the country.  Let’s hope she has the same courage that congressional Democrats had in 1993.

How does this impact Republicans?  In the short run, they could pick up a Senate seat.  In the long run, Americans will get another demonstration of what the party of Gingrich and Bush is like -- don't trust it to run the country. 

This is going to be short and sweet today. The four Senators names you see above are the ‘moderates’ that Dingy Harry Reid has to have to pass the Senate version of the health care monstrosity, waiting out there to enslave you and ALL your antecedents, all 2074 pages of it.

Republican Senators intend to force a reading of every word of it in prime time. It’s all according to Senate rules so it doesn’t look like the DeMarxists can stop it. It will take between 34 and 54 hours to accomplish, by which time there will undoubtedly be some squirming going on while various Senators reach for their hemorrhoid pads. Whatever Americans that are out there who are not tar-and-feathers angry about this fraud, WILL BE  by the end of this reading. Either that or they are brain dead. In point of fact, Senate rules call for THREE readings of each new piece of legislation. Look for Republican Senators to insist on it.

This legislation is NOT health reform, it is a criminal enterprise reinforced by the full force of the the US Government. It will lower the living standard of every American and will condemn many to an impossible state of poverty. It will impoverish our children and their children. It will not cost any 849 billion dollars either. According to the Heritage Foundation the ACTUAL cost will be 2.44 TRILLION dollars. Let’s see, between Dingy Harry and the Heritage Foundation…I’ll take the Foundation.

The DeMarxists don’t want you to know about that. In fact, there’s very little in that legislation that they DO want you to know about. This is likely to come up for a vote within the next week. We can influence this thing and possibly stop it by contacting your own Senator and the four Senators shown above. Call and email them and let them know that we will hold them responsible for their vote. Their own constituents are against this bill but there is HUGE pressure on them to vote for it.

Dingy Harry wrote a couple of pages in there especially to entrap Mary Landrieu…about 100 million in pork if I recall correctly. The White House, Rahm Emanuel and the Democrat leadership are in full court press to get these Senators to ignore principle and betray their constituents and YOU, the American people.

So much for short and sweet. Call and email the Senators listed below and let them know we stand WITH them as long as THEY stand on principle. Let them know also that we WILL work to hound them from office if they vote for this travesty.

Senator Evan Bayh, Indiana, 202-224-5623 Senator Mary Landrieu, Louisiana, 202-224-5824 Senator Bill Nelson, Florida, 202-224-5274 Senator Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas, 202-224-4843

Stand up for America!  Encourage them to be strong, to fight for the rights of all Americans and vote NO on this monstrosity.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2009

 So, how in the world did our country get into a mess that it is in today?

I guess we can go back to when Clinton and Gingrich left office. At that time, they left with a yearly surplus. While we still had a debt and other problems, they seem to be manageable at that time. Enter Bush and it was an 8 year disaster. 

Normally to get out of recession, you have tax cuts and have the federal reserve lower interest rates. And this can be done in a span of 2 to 3 years. And when the economy is good, you cut spending.

We are not in a normal recession today. And these are the problems we are up against.

*Under Bush you had tax cuts for 8 years. It was borrowed money, it was spent, and it was for the here and now. Since spending was not cut, we saw deficits and debt. So today, we cannot do the normal tax cuts as it would just be more borrowed money. It is like crying wolf too many times. It was the roaring twenties.

*The fed has had lower interest rates for a long time now, this creates a low dollar and possible inflation. At some point the fed will have to raise interest rates. And the fear is that this could slow the economy down at a time we need to create economic growth. Deflation/inflation anyone? 

*Tax cuts today may not do as good as before if people buy goods. Half the goods sold in this country come from China or some other country.

*Jobs continually go to China and other countries. While this was minimal under Clinton, it certainly gained momentum under Bush. Globalization has not been addressed. All we heard is that "free trade is good" and anything else was ignored.

*We have not invested in our country. You cannot have jobs go overseas, money going to Iraq, and neglect ones country. And yet, that is what we saw for 8 years.

*We had a financial crisis, a housing crisis, and an auto crisis at the same time.

*And I ask. What widgets can be made here and not in China if you want to create jobs?

*Trickle down does not get down to the last 20% to 30% of the population. 

So since we cannot normally reduce taxes and lower interest rates and expect the same kind of recovery as in the past, the only answer is to invest in your country, in your people, and in the future.

1. Invest in your country: That is energy independence. You do everything from drilling to nuclear plants, to alternative energy for security and for jobs. A new air traffic control system would give airlines to fly more direct routes, which means fuel savings. The money saved would go for new aircraft and that would create jobs. 

2. Invest in your people: Mandatory vocational training. Everyone should have a skill by the time he graduates. Or at least have a consoler direct the student to the right direction. You will need an educated society to deal with globalization.

Hudson Institute > Promoting U.S. Worker Competitiveness in a Globalized Economy

3. Invest in the future. That is in all sciences and stop using religion to stop embryonic stem cell research. You do all the innovation you can. You also can maximize federal research grants and invest money into universities and businesses to create new researches and jobs. Right now there is no "new" jobs to go to.

Is America Losing Its Mojo? | Print Article | Newsweek.com

Now, I have heard all this crap about the constitution, trickle down, and cutting spending. Some of it well and good. However, none of that manages the problems of the day. Republicans want to sit on ideology. I am pragmatic. You have to fix the country and recognize problems and not sit on laissez-faire. The republican party sits on a right run by the Limbaughs and Hannitys and they say the same thing over and over again. We see it on this website. That is cut taxes. But that is not enough. Ideology is not enough. You see Palin saying we need tax cuts. DeMint saying the same thing. Does anyone in the party have a brain? I saw jobs lost in my town while we had 8 years of tax cuts. Where was the republican party? Oh, that's right, you were stuck in Iraq and neglected Afghanistan and your own country. 

We know that democrats will go to welfare policies. And at this point, that is the only straws that cities and states can grasp. We cannot compete with 2 to 3 billion cheap laborers in the world. We have seen our jobs lost, and if you keep one or go to another one, then it is for less money and benefits. So now we resort to bailouts of cities and states, extension of unemployment benefits, cash for clunkers, and casinos for every state. Well, this is a fine state of affairs. While you can sight the constitution in not doing anything, you will turn around and spend money in other countries. So you can blame democrats all you want, but you turn your back on the American people. 

We have seen the glorification of ideologies by Bush. "Stay the course" and run the country into the ground. And he got his answers from a "higher authority." Hollywood could not do any better painting a picture like this.  A delusional president caught up in the wrong war, answers to God, has failed ideology, and runs our country into the ground. 

And guess what? Republicans just go on repeating the same o thing. 

So we are caught up with deficits and debt, war, and failed ideologies.

China is investing in Africa. They are buying raw materials. They have made contracts for oil. Their growth is at 8% or more. They are taking our jobs. They have money. They are building whole cities, high speed rail, and has the worlds largest airport. 

Now, guess who is winning? 

As it is now. We will have a jobless recovery. And to do the things I have said will have results 10 to 20 years from now. There is no other choice and little time to succeed.

New FOX News poll out today.

Q18. When the president of the United States is traveling overseas, do you think it is appropriate for him to bow to a foreign leader if that is the country’s custom

• Yes  67%   

• No   26%

The right hast a serious problem. It has no ideas, no solutions to any of the problems of the day, and now its formerly useful propaganda tricks and noise machine stunts aren't working.

Stories and reports continue to break about the stimulus bill that was rushed through congress earlier this year and the fact that it has not succeeded in creating more jobs for Americans.

Still, there doesn't appear to be any leadership or a unified voice raising the tenor of outrage about this massive failure by the Democratic leaders in Congress and the Administration.  The more people scratch the surface of the stimulus reports, the more they discover a government boondoggle - with non-existent congressional districts, counting jobs that were created without stimulus funding, double-counting of jobs, and unclear entities that have been credited with creating new jobs. 

All the while, unemployment has reached an unbelievable 10.2%

This upcoming election cycle is about jobs and the economy - plain and simple. Every poll since September 2008 has shown that the number one concern of voters is jobs and the economy. 

Voters are watching family members, neighbors and friends cope with layoffs, and many have lost their own jobs.  People are surviving on smaller paychecks.  Many Americans know someone who has lost their home to a foreclosure and ever increasing numbers believe the stimulus is having no effect on the economy.  There is a sweeping sentiment among voters that the government is getting too large and is not responsive to the people.

Without mincing words, the trillion dollar stimulus the Washington Democrats shoved down America's throat is a debacle and is the clearest example of how they are fundamentally failing the American people in regards to jobs and the economy. 

In fact, David Obey, Chairman of the Appropriations Committee and father of the stimulus bill, is now placing blame on the Administration for lack of oversight of his own bill. Even he is running scared from the mess that is the stimulus bill.

This can not be emphasized enough.

Health care reform is important and must debated and a government-run plan should be fought aggressively. However, it appears that while we focus on that, the opposition is getting a free pass on this.  In reality, the healthcare legislation is a distraction to what is most important - the Democratic leadership's big government approach to jobs and the economy has failed...and this is the strongest reason why a big government approach to healthcare is wrong.

Republicans need to begin calling for accountability on this failed stimulus bill that is wrought with inconsistencies and bad numbers...and drumbeat the looming question, "Where are the jobs?"

I point you to a piece by Mike Flynn, editor of BigGovernment.com. Mike wrote a post today, Obama Stimulus Numbers: The Return of Enron-Style Accounting, comparing the reporting of the stimulus bill to Enron's reporting of it's financial reports. He's starting to see where this is heading.

I don't know much about Danny Tarkanian other than the fact that his dad coached some exciting basketball teams, but if the rest of his campaign is as funny and on target as this ad, then Harry Reid in a world of trouble: