‘He who has the gold makes the rules’. I don’t believe our Constitution states this, but it IS the way Washington D.C. does things..

Outrageous: Lawmakers negotiating Obamacare exemption for Congress riehl

Rep. West Statement on the United States Supreme Court Healthcare Ruling..

(WASHINGTON)–– Congressman Allen West (R-FL) released this statement today after the United States Supreme Court announced it has ruled to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:

“The United States Supreme Court has ruled to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by extending the power of the United States Congress to tax Americans‘ behavior.  This is a sad day for Americans, as they will be taxed to pay for benefits they may not need or want as part of the insurance they are forced to buy. With this decision, Congress has been granted infinite taxation power, and there are no longer any limits on what the federal government can tax its citizens to do.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will hit the middle class especially hard, as hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost as businesses try to avoid the penalties and costs created by the healthcare law. The healthcare law will cost trillions of dollars, raise costs for employers and create huge incentives for them to drop health insurance.

Benjamin Franklin did indeed state, ‘In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.’However, Dr. Franklin never envisioned the federal government would use its power of taxation to punish people for not purchasing health care.  Today, individual sovereignty in America has been defeated.”

The West Newsletter..

Dear Patriot,

Greetings to our Constituents, fellow Floridians, and all Americans. It is time again for my weekly update report to you all. It has been another whirlwind week and there are some very deep concerns I have on several points.

First of all, the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform voted to bring Contempt of Congress charges against United States Attorney General Eric Holder. When this resolution is brought before the full House of Representatives, I will vote YES to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt.

Operation Fast and Furious has been a dark blight which must be resolved, as United States Border Patrol agents and hundreds of Mexican citizens have lost their lives as a result. This is not something to disregard. The Department of Justice under Eric Holder has not been truthful or forthcoming, not only with the United States Congress, but the American people, and  with the parents of slain Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry.

Operation Fast and Furious is either the result of abject ineptness or complicity, or both.  No matter which, both are egregious and  leadership must be held responsible and accountable.

For President Barack Obama to claim “Executive Privilege” demonstrates that this administration has been misleading Americans about its knowledge and involvement from day one. The invoking of “Executive Privilege” now begs the question, “What part did the administration play in this Operation Fast and Furious?”

Meanwhile, the United States House of Representatives is focusing on its tasks at hand – addressing the issues of economic, energy and national security while ensuring we have an accountable government. We continue to pass job and economic policy legislation that  unfortunately continues to pile even higher on the desk of United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

Which leads me to my second point of concern, the Supreme Court of the United States decision on healthcare which will most likely come next week.

It is not only the individual mandate that must go, there are at least 10 more reasons to support full repeal of this Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (PPACA);

1. Employer mandate
2. 18-20 new and higher taxes
3. The Independent Payment Advisory Board
4. State mandates
5. MEDICARE payment cuts
6. Higher health costs
7. Conscience Mandate forcing religious institutions to pay for contraception and abortion
8. Government control over the doctor-patient relationship
9. A true budget-buster cost of $1.76 trillion over 10 years!
10. More than 150 new boards, agencies, and programs.

This was the “signature” policy of  President Barack Obama, rather than debt and deficit reduction and small business growth.

I will be voting for full repeal, again, as well as promoting development of free market healthcare reforms to protect our American citizens and reduce their healthcare cost burden.

Lastly, the United States Senate is debating and amending the Farm Bill. However, when one considers that 80 percent of this piece of legislation is dedicated to Food Stamps (Electronic Benefit Transfer or EBT), it seems this bill should be re-titled the “Food Stamp Reauthorization Bill.” In the past ten years, (2002-2012), food stamp spending per year has increased from $20.6 billion to $75.6 billion. The United States Senate bill will increase it again to around $80 billion per year.

Since January 2009, food stamp recipients in America have grown from 32 million to 46 million, a 45 percent increase.  While this is happening, we are being asked to slash another $500 to $600 billion from the United States military.

Now, tell me where you think the priority lies in this administration? Clearly, it’s not about America’s economic or national security.

The focus appears to be on creating and expanding a socialist-style bureaucratic nanny-state designed for economic dependence, not economic freedom.

As a final note, for those in the black community who hoped this administration would bring about change for all, please take a few minutes to view our Conservative Black Forum on urban economic empowerment, and answer one simple question, are you better off now?

Steadfast and Loyal,

Legislative Update:

Angry about this, America? You should be. Jumping up and down, screaming, angry!

‘Taxmageddon’ Could Cost You Big

Analysts warn that if Congress doesn’t act, a tax Armageddon is in store at end of year when some $500 billion in tax breaks expire all at once, costing Americans on average a tax increase of $3,800.

With all that facing the economy, wouldn’t Congress act? Ordinarily, yes — but this is a presidential election year.

“It’s my guess that nothing will happen on any of these issues until after the election,” Hodge said. “Here we have a case where many in Congress will be retiring, maybe even a president. How do you fix system with that uncertainty?”

And Capretta adds, “it’d be hard for an old … outgoing Congress to make decisions when a new Congress is about to come in. And I think the public might react a little badly to that as well.”

Nevertheless, one congressional source says the chances of a lame duck session are 100 percent: Congress can’t afford to take the end of the year off.

All this raises the stakes for the economy, because until Congress acts, businesses can’t know what their tax rates are going to be, making it hard to hire more workers or plan for the future and leaving both taxpayers and the economy awash in uncertainty.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/17/taxmageddon-coming-answer-could-cost-americans-500-billion/#ixzz1sOPL5ud4

Ain’t Gonna’ Happen, Mugabe..

THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENT

President Obama has made it his mission to wield the club against the other two branches of government in a manner unprecedented in American history. He wants what Arthur Schlesinger Jr. once called The Imperial Presidency. He wants the Supreme Court to do his bidding, or shut up. He wants Congress to get out of the way. He wants power, in its purest, most unbridled form.

via  http://www.breitbart.com/

Greetings to our constituents, fellow Floridians, and all Americans.  As I sit here writing this, I am recovering from the soreness of running the ING Miami Half-Marathon Sunday.   I finished respectfully around 2 hrs, 7 mins and really hit a wall at 10 miles- photo here. It was great to be out with some 25,000 runners trekking across Biscayne Bay, South Beach and Miami. With my hectic Congressional schedule, it is definitely difficult to get in the long distance training runs like I once was able. I just have to face the truth, getting older and I just do not have the speed I once did!

This past week was certainly highlighted by the President’s State of the Union Address. I can actually sum it up with one simple quote: “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money”– Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America.

As I sat in the chamber of the House of Representatives taking notes on the speech, it came to my attention that President Obama seeks to bribe the American people with more largesse from the public treasury. He obviously will not recognize that these types of fiscal policies will be the detriment of our beloved Republic.  Never was there a mention in the State of the Union of our growing federal debt which for the first time since World War II is greater than our GDP. It is a debt which the President must confess responsibility for increasing under his watch. Americans can more easily accept mistakes and failure, if someone steps up and accepts responsibility. We believe in redemption as a Judeo-Christian Nation.  However, the rhetoric of divisiveness and envy is an indicator of a lack of accepting responsibility of failure.   There wasn’t any talk during his State of the Union of how we can reduce the three straight years of record setting trillion dollar plus deficits. As a basis of comparison, President George W. Bush’s largest annual deficit came in 2008 (Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were the leadership in the United States Congress) and it was $500 billion.

The President’s State of the Union also did not address the almost trillion dollar stimulus which was supposed to keep unemployment under eight percent and according to Obama Administration estimates, would currently be at 6.5 percent.   We heard nothing about the healthcare law which is falling apart, and how  the costs of our small business insurance premiums have risen.

Lastly, I noticed the President avoided the topic of Dodd-Frank in his  State of the Union, probably because one would have to admit it is killing our small financial institutions and precluding them from lending to our small business entrepreneurs.  We must return to the Glass-Steagall Act to restore financial institution responsibility.

As I entered the chamber of the House of Representative that night, I had such expectation and hope, that maybe, just maybe, the President’ sense of being an American would override his personal far left liberal ideology. Somewhere down inside I had hope that we would hear a President that understood that American exceptionalism does not come from Washington D.C., but rather it is a unique trait born into every American, and assimilated into all those who come to our shores.

I hoped that President Obama would come to accept and empower the ideal of an indomitable American will and spirit which makes us the greatest nation the world has ever known.   President Ronald Reagan recognized and embodied that American spirit and that is why a comparative analysis shows he had an average 6.4 percent GDP growth at this time in his Presidency. President Obama has a 2.4 percent GDP growth.

The Republican led House of Representatives has passed 30 pieces of job creating policy legislation. See more here.  Twenty-seven of them sit on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s desk. Most of these pieces of legislation directly address the challenges President Obama articulated in his State of the Union. The fact that the following day President Obama took off to several critical western states for his reelection campaign says it all.

President Obama called this speech, “An Economy Built to Last.”  I also want an economy built to last; however, not based on the foundation that President Obama says he is building on.

In closing,  the Republican Florida Primary will finally be upon us tomorrow and it is my wish that our candidates would view the movie “Gladiator.” In the scene when they first stood in the Coliseum, the character Maximus stated: “Whatever comes out of that gate, if we all fight together we shall survive.” Our Republican candidates must “together” make the moral argument to the American people of the detrimental effect of President Obama’s failed policies.  We need to let the people make the decision as to who is best to be our Gladiator to enter the arena.   Always remember, the contrast of  vision is simple.  Ask yourself,  Is America a country of equality of opportunity (Economic Freedom) or equality of achievement (Economic Dependency)?

Steadfast and Loyal,

Aww..

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/01/26/in-case-you-care-barney-frank-is-engaged/

Engaged: Barney Frank, 71, and longtime partner Jim Ready, 42, the congressman’s office confirmed for us Thursday, following a report by New England Cable News. Where? In Massachusetts, where gay nuptials were made legal in 2004. When? Sorry, that’s all the details they’d give. Frank is set to leave Congress next winter after 32 years, and he’s said the rigors of the job and the desire to devote more time to his relationship were factors. “I have a partner now,” Frank told Charlie Rose in an interview a couple weeks ago. “I’m in love for the first time in my life.”

Then as all know, Hot Air has a section for comments named:

And in this particular case, it’s 100% true, or as Barney may say it, TWUE!

Is this guy good or what?

Obama Administration Plans to Give Nuclear Secrets to Russia

via Moonbattery

Section 1227 of the defense law prohibits spending any funds that would be used to give Russian officials access to sensitive missile-defense technology, as part of a cooperation agreement without first sending Congress a report identifying the specific secrets, how they would be used and steps to protect the data from compromise.

The president also must certify to Congress that Russia will not share the secrets with other states and that it will not help Russia “to develop countermeasures” to U.S. defenses.

However, the Manchurian Moonbat once again sneers at the concept of Congress limiting his power.

Mr. Obama said in the signing statement that he would treat the legal restrictions as “non-binding.”

“While my administration intends to keep the Congress fully informed of the status of U.S. efforts to cooperate with the Russian Federation on ballistic missile defense, my administration will also interpret and implement section 1244 in a manner that does not interfere with the president’s constitutional authority to conduct foreign affairs and avoids the undue disclosure of sensitive diplomatic communications,” Mr. Obama said, incorrectly identifying the section of the law containing the restrictions.