Read more …

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on Tuesday, June 14th on repeal of the disastrous ethanol subsidies that are driving up the price of food and fuel. Unfortunately, some usually free-market senators have not yet committed to support repeal.

Ethanol currently receives triple protection: with a $6 billion per year tax subsidy, an import tariff and a usage mandate. Senators Coburn and DeMint have combined to offer two amendments that will end all three of these bad policies. The DeMint amendment would also repeal the death tax, an unfair double tax that is one of the most anti-growth features of our tax code.

The CBO has concluded that taxpayers are on the hook for $1.78 for every gallon of ethanol that replaces a gallon of gasoline, while even the EPA has concluded that ethanol subsidies have increased corn prices at least 8 percent. Even many green groups now oppose ethanol subsidies because they do nothing to improve the environment.

CLICK HERE to tell your senators to vote YES on Sens. Coburn and DeMint amendments to end ethanol subsidies and the death tax.

Yours truly,

Phil Kerpen
Vice President, Policy
Americans for Prosperity

With the USA already in a mountain of debt, President Obama this week pledged financial support to bail out Greece. So why is the President borrowing money from China so US taxpayers can pay the Chinese interest in order to give money to Greece who have shown the can’t manage their money any better that President Obama manages ours?

Daniel Hannan, British MP, said on Fox and Friends today (June 9, 2011) that “in five years, the interest the US is paying on money we borrowed from them will fully pay for the Chinese defense budget.” Unbelievable!

From the Gateway Pundit:

Protesters from a communist-backed union protest near the Greek Parliament seen in the background during an anti-austerity protest in Athens, that several thousands people took part in on Friday, June 3, 2011. Greece is poised to receive the next installment of its bailout facility, and will likely get further rescue loans to prevent it from defaulting on its massive debts, European officials said Friday. The banner reads ‘general strike.’ (AP/Petros Giannakouris)

After tripling the US deficit and with unemployment at 9.1% President Obama pledged US financial support to bail out Greece yesterday.
CNBC reported:

President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged European countries and bondholders to prevent a “disastrous” default by Greece and pledged U.S. support to help tackle the country’s debt crisis.

Read full article …

By: CNN’s John Couwels

Orlando, Florida (CNN) – Starting on July 1 in Florida, anyone who applies for welfare must first pass a drug test.

Some welfare recipients say it’s a good idea, for the most part.

“I’m for it because I know people who misuse the funds,” said unemployed Kennley Grant outside a central Florida welfare office where he is applying for government assistance.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed the Republican-sponsored bill into law last week, adding Florida to a list of states trying to drug-test welfare recipients.

Michigan passed a similar law that the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals found unconstitutional in 2003 since it violated the U.S. Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against unreasonable search. The court said the law would set a dangerous precedent by allowing the government to conduct drug searches for the safety of the public without prior suspicion.

Like Kennley Grant, most people CNN asked outside the office of the Florida Department of Children and Family agreed with the state’s new law.

“I think it’s good,” said Lissie Bryant, who has an adult son who gets benefits. “There are so many people walking around here that are getting welfare that really don’t deserve it and they’re taking the money and buying drugs.”

Several mothers who would not give their names disagreed with the law. Two women used expletives to describe their displeasure with it.

ACLU of Florida, which opposes the law, says it is not surprised welfare recipients agree with drug testing.

“You do what you have to do get the help,” said Berek Newton with the ACLU.

Scott recently told CNN’s TJ Holmes, “I want to make sure our taxpayers are not subsidizing drug addiction.

“Studies show people who are on welfare are higher users of drugs than people not on welfare,” he said.

On CNN’s request, the governor’s office supplied several studies that showed drug use was higher among welfare recipients.

One document from a public policy brief on substance abuse had statistics from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health: A self-reported survey in 2007 found 20% of women ages 18-49 on welfare reported using illicit drugs compared to 10.3% of women of the same ages not on welfare.

The ACLU of Florida disagrees and cites a 2001 Florida pilot study that looked at drug use among welfare recipients.

Newton said the study was stopped after only a year because it failed. The study found drug use among welfare recipients was equal or less than the general public’s drug use, Newton said.

The ACLU said the study found the drug testing program would cost more to run than the state could possibly save by eliminating drug users on welfare.

Florida’s ACLU executive director Howard Simon said, “”Once again, this governor has demonstrated his dismissal of both the law and the right of Floridians to personal privacy by signing into law a bill that treats those who have lost their jobs like suspected criminals.”

The ACLU has filed suit against the state for requiring all state workers to take a drug and is considering suing the state for drug testing welfare applicants.

Five Florida state Democratic legislatures joined to voice their outrage at the governor for insulting families who have fallen on hard times thanks to the bad economy and for what they called an unconstitutional law.

Welfare recipients who supported the drug test strongly disagreed that welfare applicants should have to pay out of pocket for the test.

The law says those who pass the drug test would be refunded the test cost but those who fail or test positive for drugs would be out the drug tests cost – $10 to $70.

“You can’t have a struggling family pay for something they can’t afford already – they’re asking for your assistance,” Kennley Grant said. He believes the state should pay for the drug test.

James S., who receives benefits and asked that his last name not be used, said, “I would ask the state or the governor to reconsider.” Not everyone can afford it, he said.

Bryant, however, said,” If they got to pay for it out of their own pocket and they really need it, then they will do the right thing.”

The ACLU says that’s irrelevant, it’s illegal.

Newton said, “It’s like the government sending you a bill to violate your rights.”

CNN Political Ticker

By: CNN’s Ashley Killough

Washington (CNN) – Freshman Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul stood firm today on his position against raising the debt ceiling. In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room,” the libertarian-leaning senator said he would only consider voting “yes” if the bill came with a balanced budget amendment.

“If (Democrats) want to spend the money, they need to be honest with the American people and say ‘We’ve got to borrow $2 trillion because that’s what we want to spend,’ ” Paul said. “I don’t want to spend that much money.”

But Paul said he’s not concerned about the potential consequences of keeping the federal debt ceiling at its current limit.

“Our interest payment is about $20 billion a month,” he said. “Our tax revenue is about $200 billion a month, so we’re bringing in (nearly) $200 billion. We’ve got plenty of money to pay our interest.”

Paul said the country could also bring down the debt by bringing back its troops overseas. With growing unrest in Syria tempting the international community to intervene, he warned against any further involvements.

“We’re already involved in three wars, including the latest war in Libya, where we had no congressional vote,” Paul said. “That’s not what our founding fathers wanted.”

Turning to the 2012 GOP field, Paul said his father, Ron Paul, a Republican presidential candidate, has a better chance this time around than his previous White House bid.

“In 2007-2008, most people didn’t know his name,” the senator said, adding that he now believes 70 to 80% of Americans recognize the candidate. “He attracts a lot of people who are disgruntled with both parties, and so I think that would be his main advantage over the entire Republican field.”

CNN Political Ticker

Four Big Lies

(Part 4 of 4)

“The Debt Ceiling is too Difficult for Average People to Comprehend”

This is part 4 of a 4 part series. Click here to read part 1.

Click here to read part 2. Click here to read part 3.

This is the fourth and final installment in a series of articles detailing the 4 big lies that will be used by those in favor of raising the debt ceiling.

Big Lie Number Four

“The intricate financial details of running the entire United States Government are so complicated that the average American just isn’t capable of understanding how it works.  It involves thousands upon thousands of byzantine and interwoven variables that are so delicately balanced they can be easily disrupted by one false move, setting off a cataclysmic chain reaction of economic disasters that will cripple the world’s monetary system. Handcuffing congress by not allowing us to raise the debt ceiling just shows how simplistic, unsophisticated, ill informed, and child-like you Tea Party Patriots are.  Those of us in congress are far better equipped to make these kinds of decisions.  So just go back to your daily lives and let us run the country.“

When you’re standing face-to-face with a member of congress and they tell you how great they are at running the economy, it’s difficult not to laugh so hard that you temporarily lose consciousness.  But many of them manage to say it with a straight face.  It’s almost as if they honestly think they know what they’re doing.

To a Congressman, the thought of taking budgetary advice from average Americans who balance checkbooks, run businesses, live within the limits of their financial means, and stop spending before they run out of money is outrageous and insulting.

They are the rulers after all.

Who are we to question them?

But deep within the subconscious mind of every Congressman is the truth.  They are horribly insecure because they are in way over their heads, they have very little idea what they’re doing, and they are scared to death that someone (especially their other buddies in congress) will discover that they secretly don’t understand the convoluted logic.  So they all pretend.

It’s time to snap them out of it.

Ockham’s Razor is an old, widely used axiom that says when you have two competing ideas

the simplest idea is usually the best.

This is especially true when there’s no evidence to support the more complicated idea.

Let’s look at how Ockham’s Razor applies to the debt ceiling issue.

IDEA 1 (from congress):

It’s so complicated that we can’t explain it to you, but trust us we should raise the debt ceiling.

IDEA 2 (from Americans):

It’s incredibly simple. There’s no more money.

So do not raise the debt ceiling.

Congress has a really, really, really bad track record when it comes to managing money. There are no examples of real life situations in which congress was prudent, frugal, and efficient. There’s also no proof that congress learns from past mistakes and doesn’t repeat them. Their complicated solutions haven’t worked, ever. But they keep trying them.

There simply is no evidence to prove that congress is qualified to make unsupervised decisions about how to handle our money.

On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence that millions of Americans (the ones congressmen think are unsophisticated) successfully operate households and businesses every day and have done so for over 200 years using a very simple financial principle.

When you run out of money,

stop buying stuff.

Ockham’s Razor

Idea 1 = complicated + no proof

Idea 2 = simple + lots of proof

Idea 2 Wins!!

Congress, you’re out of money.

Stop buying stuff.

And don’t raise the debt ceiling.

PERIOD.

From Tea Party Patriots

Four Big Lies

(Part 3 of 4)

“Hey Kid, I’ll Give You a Great Deal on These Magic Beans!”

This is part 3 of a 4 part series. Click here to read part 1. Click here to read part 2. Also look for part 4 coming soon.

Just about every member of congress (republican and democrat) plans to eventually vote in favor of raising the debt ceiling. Their problem is they know you don’t want them to. So they just have to get you to fall for a few little lies and give them the thumbs-up to blow trillions of dollars you don’t have. Only the lies aren’t so little. They’re big. And we’re not the gullible, inattentive voters they’re used to.

This is the third installment of a four part series discussing the Four Big Lies that will be used (in various forms) to convince you that it’s OK to raise the debt ceiling for the federal government.

Big Lie Number Three

Members of the republican “leadership” will tell you this lie.

“Raising the debt ceiling is inevitable; and the democrats want it so badly they’re willing to give us some really great deals in order to get it. We can take advantage of it and get some cool stuff in exchange for our votes. It’ll be great!”

Frighteningly, many of the republicans in congress trust the promises made to them by their fellow members. They haven’t learned that there always turns out to be a loophole, or an “unforeseen” circumstance, or just an outright betrayal that ends up benefiting socialism and thwarting conservatism.

When is the last time anyone can remember the republicans making a “deal” with the democrats that didn’t result in the American people getting shafted?

To some it appears that the democrats repeatedly lure the republicans in with promises of bipartisanship and goodwill. Then when they’ve gotten everything they want, the democrats whack the republicans over the head with a two by four and break their deal, leaving the republicans bewildered and Americans saying, “we told you so.”

To others it appears that both republicans and democrats have neither the desire, the intelligence, nor the will-power to solve the problems with our government. They simply want to stay in office and enjoy life in the ruling class.

In either case, here’s the message we want republicans and democrats to hear from the voters in their districts:

You Raising the Debt Ceiling

EQUALS

Me Voting for Your Opponent in the Primary and in the General Election

Raising the debt ceiling is not good for America, no matter what deal you think you’re getting in exchange for it.

If you want a balanced budget amendment,

pass a balanced budget amendment

AND DON’T raise the debt ceiling.

If you want big spending cuts,

pass big spending cuts

AND DON’T raise the debt ceiling.

If you want the Capitol cafeteria to sell pizza on Friday, just ask the chef

AND DON’T raise the debt ceiling.

Do you see the simple beauty

of this pattern?

The point is, find another way to get the “deals” that you want without selling your vote on the debt ceiling.

PERIOD.

Our team at Tea Party Patriots is working hard every day, and night, and weekend to fight socialism and promote the values of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets.

The liberals and the enemies of freedom are fighting just as hard to shut us down.

Don’t let socialism win.

Fight it! This is urgent!

Donate to Tea Party Patriots.

If you missed them:

Click here to read Big Lie Number One.

Click here to read Big Lie Number Two.

Please share this message with your friends by forwarding this email, or by using the little Facebook link at the very top of this email.

You can also visit our Facebook page

Find us on Facebook

and join the conversation.

CLICK HERE to DONATE ONLINE

or

Mail Your Donation to:

TEA PARTY PATRIOTS
P.O. BOX 220183
CHANTILLY, VA 20153-0183

Your Tea Party Patriots National Coordinator Team,
Debbie Dooley, Jenny Beth Martin, Mark Meckler, Sally Oljar, Diana Reimer, and Dawn Wildman

TPP Support email: support@teapartypatriots.org
TPP Support phone number: 404-593-0877

Jenny Beth Martin (jennybethm@gmail.com, Twitter @jennybethm, Facebook)
Dawn Wildman (dmwlaw1@cox.net)
Mark Meckler (mark@teapartypatriots.org)
Debbie Dooley (debbie0040@yahoo.com)

Tea Party Patriots, Inc. operates as a social welfare organization organized under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to Tea Party Patriots, Inc. are not deductible as charitable contributions for income tax purposes.

1025 Rose Creek Dr, 620-322, Woodstock, GA 30189

Action

From Tea Party Patriots

Four Big Lies

(Part 2 of 4)

“Financial Armageddon”

This is part 2 of a 4 part series. Click here to read part 1. Also look for parts 3 and 4 coming soon.

We’re talking about the Four Big Lies that Republicans, Democrats, Congressmen, Senators, Reporters, and the President will tell you over the next few weeks as they try to convince you to let them raise the debt ceiling. In this issue we address the second lie.

Big Lie Number Two

“There’s no way to cut enough spending. So we must raise the debt ceiling. If we don’t raise it America will not be able to pay back its creditors and the rest of the world will never trust us with money again. It will be a disaster!!!”

Fact

The problem is not that congress can’t cut spending. The problem is that congress

doesn’t want to cut spending.

There’s a big difference.

The United States Government is addicted to spending money. It is a gluttonous, greedy, vulgar addiction that makes drug addicts look stable by comparison.

If you lock a heroin addict in a nice room, provide him with everything he needs to live, but give him no more heroin, what happens? He panics. He will become totally irrational, scream, cry, beg, plead, bargain, lie, steal, and (given the chance) maybe even kill to get more drugs. It would be difficult to watch him go through the painful process of breaking the addiction. But if you care about his future, you know that you cannot trust the words that are coming out of his mouth. It’s the addiction talking. You stand strong and cut off his supply until the addiction is broken.

It’s time to lock the government in a nice room. We will care for it and give it everything it needs to live. And because we love America, we’re going to stand strong and force it to break the addiction.

The truth is that the spending can be cut quickly and in a large enough amount to avoid blowing past the debt ceiling.

At the end of President Clinton’s term in office (just 10 years ago) the government was operating with a budget surplus. Some debate the specifics; but no one can debate that spending was far lower than it is now, and the economy was much better than it is now.

During President Bush’s term in office federal spending climbed and climbed. Government grew faster and bigger than it should ever be allowed to do.

President Obama has had the credit card for only 28 months. And in that time the government has grown more than it did under all previous Presidents added together!

Common sense dictates that if it can be pumped up that quickly, it can be cut back quickly too.

Many of the things that will have to be reduced are popular government programs that politicians fear cutting. But we cannot continue to survive as a country if we fail to properly manage massive government programs because they’re considered “sacred cows”.

The “sacred cows” have run off into the wild and are going to starve to death if we don’t bring them back into the barn.

We’ve also got a few diseased “mad cows” (like Obamacare) that just need to be put down in order to save the herd.

Mr. President, Senate, & Congress;

We are not going to let you

raise the debt ceiling.

So stop asking.

Now move on and deal with the spending problems.

PERIOD.

Help us get this message to a larger audience. Share it with your friends. And support us with a donation to fund advertising and grassroots training.

Click here to read Big Lie Number One.

Thank you!

CLICK HERE to DONATE ONLINE

or

Mail Your Donation to:

TEA PARTY PATRIOTS
P.O. BOX 220183
CHANTILLY, VA 20153-0183

Your Tea Party Patriots National Coordinator Team,
Debbie Dooley, Jenny Beth Martin, Mark Meckler, Sally Oljar, Diana Reimer, and Dawn Wildman

TPP Support email: support@teapartypatriots.org
TPP Support phone number: 404-593-0877

Jenny Beth Martin (jennybethm@gmail.com, Twitter @jennybethm, Facebook)
Dawn Wildman (dmwlaw1@cox.net)
Mark Meckler (mark@teapartypatriots.org)
Debbie Dooley (debbie0040@yahoo.com)

Tea Party Patriots, Inc. operates as a social welfare organization organized under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to Tea Party Patriots, Inc. are not deductible as charitable contributions for income tax purposes.

1025 Rose Creek Dr, 620-322, Woodstock, GA 30189

Action

From Tea Party Patriots

Four Big Lies

(Part 1 of 4)

“Obama Inherited this Mess”

At this very moment members of congress are trying to decide what pieces of America’s future they will trade away as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling. We’ve had the chance to talk with many of them. And even most of those who claim to be on the side of fiscal responsibility are giddy with excitement that they can trade their vote on this debt ceiling “crisis” in exchange for a handful of magic beans offered by the liberals.

Our answer is simple.

It is not acceptable to use the future of America as a bargaining chip.

Do not raise the debt ceiling.

PERIOD.

In the coming weeks, you will be told 4 lies (at a minimum) by those who want to raise the debt ceiling. The lies will be packaged and presented in many different ways, but in general they will all boil down to these 4 (remember them and don’t be fooled):

Big Lie 1

“The current financial crisis was inherited.”

Big Lie 2

“There’s no way to cut enough spending. So we must raise the debt ceiling.”

Big Lie 3

“We can haggle for some really great deals now that we have them over a barrel.”

Big Lie 4

“You just don’t understand all of the complicated details. Let us handle it.

We’re smart.”

In this four part series we will address each lie individually. Look for parts 2, 3, and 4 over the next 3 days. (CLICK HERE to DONATE and help fight the lies.)

Big Lie Number One:

“Bush created all of these problems. We are trying to solve them but it’s much worse than we thought and it will take years for our solutions to have an impact.”

There are numerous facts available to disprove this. But two of the biggest and best are:

Fact 1

President Obama increased spending and the size of government more than all previous presidents (from George Washington through George Bush)

COMBINED.

President Obama created that problem and he should own it.

Fact 2

The number one, most important job of the House of Representatives every year is to create a federal budget. Under Nancy Pelosi (while Obama was in office) the House did not create a federal budget. They didn’t even try. They did, however, write endless blank checks for Obama to use on his wild spending spree.

The liberal congress created that problem and they should own it.

We are hitting the debt ceiling because they went nuts with the country’s credit card for the past 28 months. It’s not someone else’s fault. The problem was created quickly and it can be solved quickly by cutting spending and cutting up the credit card. Raising the debt ceiling will only make it worse. PURE AND SIMPLE. Don’t buy it when they tell you it’s more complicated than that.

Preaching to the choir doesn’t help us solve the problem. In order to have a real impact we need to get this message to a bigger audience.

Tea Party Patriots Plans to Blitz the Media with our Message.

By putting Tea Party Patriots in front of cameras, behind microphones, in advertisements, and in print all over the country we spread the word to millions who will be inspired to act and make their opinion heard in the halls of congress.

We also bring together hundreds of local Tea Party Leaders every Monday night by conference call, and every few months at regional meetings. These local grassroots leaders decide what issues we’re going to tackle, craft our strategies for success, and go back to their local groups to put boots on the ground.

In the past two years we’ve proven that we can very effectively rally millions to our cause when we need them.

And we need them now.

You might be surprised to learn how much money it costs to sustain an effort like this. Liberal groups like MoveOn.org have annual budgets exceeding $31,000,000 (thirty one million dollars) at their disposal. Being conservatives, ours is considerably less.

But our accomplishments on a small budget speak for themselves.

We’re proud of our track record of good stewardship, hard work, and big results.

Your donations to Tea Party Patriots always go a long, long way to promote and preserve fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets in America.

Make a donation now to support hammering home another Tea Party victory and save our country!

Thank you!

CLICK HERE to DONATE ONLINE

or

Mail Your Donation to:

TEA PARTY PATRIOTS
P.O. BOX 220183
CHANTILLY, VA 20153-0183

Your Tea Party Patriots National Coordinator Team,
Debbie Dooley, Jenny Beth Martin, Mark Meckler, Sally Oljar, Diana Reimer, and Dawn Wildman

TPP Support email: support@teapartypatriots.org
TPP Support phone number: 404-593-0877

Jenny Beth Martin (jennybethm@gmail.com, Twitter @jennybethm, Facebook)
Dawn Wildman (dmwlaw1@cox.net)
Mark Meckler (mark@teapartypatriots.org)
Debbie Dooley (debbie0040@yahoo.com)

Tea Party Patriots, Inc. operates as a social welfare organization organized under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to Tea Party Patriots, Inc. are not deductible as charitable contributions for income tax purposes.

1025 Rose Creek Dr, 620-322, Woodstock, GA 30189

Action