Pop quiz: who says the text of the TPP must remain secret?
Under what authority?
Members of Congress are scuttling around like weasels, claiming they can’t disclose what’s in this far-reaching, 12-nation trade treaty.
They can go into a sealed room and read a draft, but they can’t copy pages, and they can’t tell the public what they just read.
Why not?
If there is a US law forbidding disclosure, name the law.
Can you recall anything in the Constitution that establishes secret treaties?
Is there a prior treaty that states the text of all treaties can be hidden from the people?
I see no authority anywhere that justifies withholding the text of the TPP.
Government legislators in the other 11 nations: why can’t you reveal what’s in the TPP?
Mass silence around the world. “Sorry, we can’t say what’s in the treaty. We’ll vote on it, but you the people have no input. You have to take what we do on faith.”
Who says so? By what authority?
If a US Senator held a press conference today and explained everything he read in that sealed room about the TPP, what exactly would happen to him? Would he be arrested?
“Let the facts reveal – the Federal Government of the United States of America, which was instituted to protect the rights of individual citizens, instead – threatens our life, liberty and property through usurpations of the Constitution; and emboldened by our own lack of responsibility and due diligence in these matters, has exceeded its mandate, and abandoned those founding principles which have made our nation exceptional;”
I believe that our individual Freedoms and Liberties, as well as our nation’s sovereignty, are in danger because of the unconstitutional actions of our federal government, both Republicans and Democrats. I was a New York delegate to Continental Congress 2009, held in St. Charles, Illinois from November 11th to November 22nd, 2009 and I am also a signer to the “Articles of Freedom.”
I firmly believe that the time has come to establish a third party, a nationalist party, whose members and elected representatives truly support the United States Constitution. Like millions of my fellow Americans, I have raised my right hand and took an oath “to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
How could anyone who has pledged to support and defend the Constitution, reconcile the following violations of the Constitution that are destroying America?
1. For many, many decades, our Government has been meddling in the internal affairs of other countries, without any Constitutional authority, causing foreign nationals to direct their hostilities towards us, which has given us a War on Terror and a growing Police State at home that is repugnant to the Fourth Amendment and the General Welfare of a Free People; More
The overtaking of several sectors of the federal government by private corporations who routinely use congress and the president to codify their unlawful activity to expand their monopolies has just received a huge gift package from those fine jackasses in the District of Criminals. Monsanto just received a payoff on its massive funding of campaign contributions on both sides of the isle, having the favor returned in the form of a free pass on any kind of control or any kind of judicial penalty on their collective species of invasive seeds.
The Continuing Resolution (CR) which has been pitched as a crisis bill because otherwise the world would come to an end, included a so-called sneak attack by Monsanto that would give it a free pass. The Monsanto Rider avoids USDA controls and eliminates any judicial system interference. Obviously unconstitutional, the rider violates the right to due process by those harmed by this corporation and establishes a clear pattern of collusion against the public at large. No one actually wants Monsanto’s products and the grassroots resistance to these toxic crops has been non-stop. Both houses of congress of course ignored the public backlash as they voted on a full scale corporate hiney hugging love fest.
Through a carefully constructed system of market manipulations, predatory practices, and with the complete cooperation of the USDA and the courts, Monsanto has relentlessly worked to end any farming endeavors that have not been consumed by their market monopoly. It also helped out immensely that Michael Taylor, alleged former attorney for Monsanto was somehow appointed to the newly created and unconstitutional office of “Food Czar” right inside the White House! I cannot help but wonder what input he may have had in this rotten deal.
The actual intent of this rider was to relieve congress, the courts and federal agencies such as the USDA, from having to publicly expose themselves as bought and paid for. This rider actually serves to relieve them of having to expose themselves to any scrutiny or to require them to take any position arbitrary to Monsanto that might cause the money train to run off the rails. More
I believe it is highly indicative of the level of corruption in our government when bills such as this piece of crap are passed with virtually every congressman/woman voting to pass it. This is another of those bills for which their was no need. Our government, now with the complicity and collusion of our local law enforcement domestic military units, routinely violates our rights and commit acts of aggression and violence against the public, without penalty or punishment.
In addition to making it illegal (not unlawful) to supposedly trespass the hallowed grounds of the White House lawn, it also means protesting such events such as the 2012 G8 and NATO summits could be a federal offense.
National Special Security Events
In what has clearly morphed into a full frontal assault on the First Amendment and the right to assemble, National Special Security Events (NSSA’s)created under Clinton, are now the signature for squashing first amendment rights. Anything can be deemed an NSSA. Funerals, weddings, visits from the current dictators of foreign countries that we haven’t decided to blow off the global map yet. This crap even applies to Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum because they have secret service protection (although I have no idea why we should be footing the bill for this). I have no idea why they even need such protection when there are only a handful of people at their big fancy public meetings which is why the cameras are kept close in. That way you won’t know there are only ten people there instead of the huge crowds you are led to believe are in attendance. More
The court jesters on the Potomac have outdone themselves.
In my 52 years as a voting progressive activist, things have never been this embarrassing in the District of Criminals.
The challenge is to convey my disgust without incurring the wrath of the F.C.C., or whatever other alphabet agency is monitoring my communications today. (They take turns.)
What the f*** is the matter with you a**ho**s!!!
In a saying that goes back to my high school days, “You people would screw up a wet dream!”
On your failure to put together a payroll tax holiday and keep some unemployment benefits flowing, I guess you think that $19.25 a week and $450 – $500 a week is not that big a deal.
The unemployment compensation, proceeds from an insurance plan funded by employer and employee alike, helps someone pay the bills until you jerks figure out how to get our country back to work.
$19.25 a week at the grocery store is the difference between hamburger and peanut butter.
I’m not sure I’d even like to meet the nine people out of a hundred that approve what you are up to. I cannot stand the thought of sharing air with that many more idiots in my life.
Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
___________________________________________
Had the intent of the Patriot Act actually been to fight terrorism, the federal government would have had to turn its efforts inward and waged “war” on itself.
______________________________________________
If you haven’t received the memo yet, let me update you on your status as it pertains to the Constitution and your civil liberties; you have neither. Today, 79 Senators who snickered as they swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, voted to render you guilty in advance, with no chance of proving your innocence. The unlawful data mining and collection, the compilation of dossiers on virtually every person in the US, the unwarranted wire-tapping, the rifling through personal records of all kinds for no other reason than to collect information to be used at a later date if the government decides to prosecute you for whatever reasons, was extended. More
The most egregious of their useless proposals revolve around the current the tax debate — whether to include the top 2 percent in reversing the Bush tax cuts. The sanctimonious claim is “this would hurt small business” — and this suggestion is incredibly wrong and even detrimental.
What small business really wants (it’s not what all those senators claim)
By Myles Spicer | Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010
Recently on TV there was a rerun of a popular movie produced in 2000: “What Women Want,” starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. Very briefly, Gibson has “shocking” experience (literally) and is able to get into the “heads” of women and read their thoughts. Not a great move, but high grossing and of interest to me because it involved an advertising agency — my core profession for over 40 years.
It also coincided with the continuing claims by many members of Congress about what needs to be done to assist small business, who will be the drivers of our economy to get us out of this funk. Frankly their comments are inane, fictional, silly and inept. Why? Because virtually none of them really knows the dynamics of small-business challenges, and consequently do not or cannot get “into the heads” of true small-business people. Frankly, their statements are politically based, and have little to do with reality or an intelligent analytical basis of small business needs. More
Please note the correction: It was not Lieberman who made these comments and they were regarding the Coburn Amendments, not the final vote on S.510
Senator Bennett (D) bemoans the fact that it is all rigged! 17 seconds into this clip, Senator Joe Lieberman is heard as he remarks on the vote for S.510 the fake food safety bill…..It’s rigged! It’s rigged! It’s all rigged! Well Senator, we all feel the same way!
Comment: As most of you know, S.510 the fake food safety bill which had nothing to do with food safety, passed the Senate this morning. This bill, which will go down in history as one of the greatest weaponless assaults on the States by the central government, is intended to knock the knees out from under what little is left of our economy.
________________________________________________
Section 404 of the bill, forces the subjugation of the citizens of the States to unlawful trade agreements, international organization demands, and will reduce operating standards across the board for bio-piracy corporations in order to maximize their profits and to end as much competition in those markets as possible. These unlawful agreements and the mandates from such odious organizations as the World trade Organization, Codex Alimentarius committees, and other foreign principals have unlawfully usurped US laws and sovereignty, forfeiting our right to self determination and governance.
The bill, which expands a notoriously dysfunctional and incompetent agency, the FDA, is also intended to abrogate the rights of the citizens. The multiple constitutional violations in the bill went by unnoticed by members of the Senate; probably because the majority of them never even read the bill and had no idea what was in it. These violations of rights also seemed to by pass the mental faculties of several high profile front groups and individuals.
Numerous and so-called “consumer organizations” along with so-called “food experts”, some of them nationally known, sent emails out claiming that a few thousand of their members had email or called in, in support of this attack on independent agriculture. Claiming misinformation and myth was abounding surrounding the bill, it was apparent they had either been bought off or were at some point allowed to be in the presence of some of the District of Criminals’ royalty; this audience obviously put them in a state of compliant awe. No one who actually read the bill could come away thinking or believing this bill had anything to do with making food safe; there was nothing in the bill that could accomplish this. More
Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
___________________________________________
Comment:
Not one Senator stood on the floor and identified even one of the actual threats to our food supply coming from industrialized corporate agricultural operations and contaminated imports. And not one stood up and spoke one word in defense of our family and independent farmers and ranchers who have historically produced the most abundant and safest food in the world. More
Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
_____________________________________________
Ok! We’ve gone from blue to red. What an event! Why! It is positively historic! It’s a mandate! A landslide! A big steaming crock of BS the likes of which we will probably never see again….at least until 2012. What is it all you sheeple out there think you changed? Now we will effectively convert from a full headlong rush into socialism, to a full body tackle of corporate fascism. Yippee! Instead of dirty backroom deals perpetrated by the Democrats, we will now have even bigger dirtier deals perpetrated by the Republicans. The K-Street parasites have a raft of new-found friends and bags of corporate money to pass around and the wholesale sell-off and sell-out of America and her people will go on as if nothing happened; and actually nothing did. We just changed who gets to mug for the camera first; who gets to stare into the camera with all the fake honesty and sincerity they can muster and tell us another big fat lie. I could just cry with joy…..wonder if Glenn Beck has any Vicks left over?
This election has seen Sarah Palin morph from being former governor of Alaska, to “Christian Woman!”; able to leap across tall stacks of bibles as she pretends she knows what words with more than three letters mean! Although she has no idea what is in the Constitution, she can say that great big word! TaDA! She doesn’t know anything but she doesn’t have to. She is really pretty and she is now “Christian woman!” and they pay her big bunches of money to show up at meetings and recite the big words someone told her to say. More
Vote Republican! No! Vote Democrat! …How many times do we have to get taken to the cleaners before we realize its all a joke?
FROM THE RIGHT
Well! Here we go again! The Republican faction of the one party system that has a death grip on the District of Criminals, is poised to take control again. It’s gonna be a bloodbath as the Republicans sweep back into power to save the day!
What does that mean to you and me?
If you believe the phony hype……. We’re gonna take back our government! Pull Obamacare out by the roots! Why! We’re going to reduce the size of government and stop all this spending! We’re gonna have government for the people! Not corporations!
And not one bit of this is about to happen.
We can expect more bible waving, invoking the name of God, quoting scripture to make the evil deeds about to befall us sound like they were sanctioned by God, and faux patriotism all wrapped up in a neat little package called “fascism”!
So desperate is the Republican faction to stand guard for their corporate benefactors that another effort to resurrect Newt (I can’t help it, I’m a philanderer) Gingrich was attempted. Newty, has apparently lost most of his appeal with the voters. Even after his third marriage (or was it fourth? I can’t keep track) and his subsequent book about how he “rediscovered God” (I had no idea he was missing) the resurrection of Newt was met with less enthusiasm than was hoped for. Trot out the bimbo’s and the buffoons.
In consideration of the sanctity of the United States Constitution—the bible of our Republic—my research has gravitated to obtaining an in depth comprehension of the forces from without our national borders to those crouching within, of the seditious threats we are now faced with.
Sedition and treason are often confused terms. Let The “Lectric Law Library[1] define these for us: More
Marti Oakley (c) copyright 2010 All Rights reserved
” That S.510 and its companion bill S.3767 (meant to criminalize the ownership of land and livestock) constitutes an act of terrorism, emanating from our own government against a selected and targeted segment of the nation on behalf of foreign interests, regulations, agreements, corporate interests and most especially Codex Alimentarius.”
______________________________________________
Greetings:
Consider this a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to all members of the Senate, all members of the House, and to President Obama. I am sure you are fully aware of the intent and implications of MOUs, as each of you, in one way or another, uses them to establish the outlining of agreements between yourselves, collectively or individually, concerning the agreements you have made with individuals acting as state’s representatives or agencies, or with corporate stakeholders; generally to avoid Constitutional prohibitions on your intended actions and in avoidance of the Constitution. I am using it in quite another fashion as you will see in the following text.
For you, MOUs are the terms and agreements of what, are in fact the first step in contractual agreements. MOUs are most often accompanied by cooperative agreements and funding (bribes) to implement what generally turns out to be egregious assaults to civil rights and liberties to the benefit of the federal government, linked so inextricably to corporate interests and global agreements.
Consider what follows a Memorandum of Understanding between me, Marti J. Oakley, and all of you, collectively cited in the above paragraph.
To Wit:
We (you and I) agree that each and every one of you holds your office as a result of election. And, that as a result of your victory and subsequent oath of office, you were expected to actually represent the people who put their faith and trust in you. The fact is you have violated this oath at every opportunity regardless of which party you claim allegiance to or which political philosophy you espouse at any given time.
In light of a profound understanding of how you have used and abused this trust and faith, I need you to understand how I (we) perceive you, i.e., your activities, your betrayals of these United States of America, your pandering to corporate interests, your illegal agreements with foreign governments and interests and ultimately what appears to be a very concerted effort to destroy our country and to convert the same into a region in some coveted global plantation.
Because the instances of your acts against the people are so numerous, in this MOU, I will address only these issues: S.510 and S. 3767, (collectively) the so-called food safety bills which have appeared under multiple numbers and names, proposed and submitted by various members of the Senate and House.
Please consider this Memorandum of Understanding No. 5.
Please be advised that no cooperative agreement with the anticipated funding (bribe money) will be forthcoming. You may consider this an “Unfunded Mandate” in the sense that I will never contribute one dime to the re-election efforts of any one of you. “We” in the following text means “WE THE PEOPLE.”
I (We) understand:
A) The consideration of S.510 The Food Safety Modernization Act, or whatever name this assault on the public is currently being submitted as; and its companion bill S.3767— Food Safety Accountability Act of 2010, (a bill which clearly criminalizes independent and family farming and ranching and one which constitutes a direct act of aggression against the people emanating from government), was preceded by the passage in the House of HR 2749 in 2009; a bill euphemistically titled “Food Safety Act,”; an act that was nothing short of an assault on the food production and supply on behalf of: More
It has come to our attention that REID has decided not to shelve S.510, and instead will attempt to invoke cloture to ram the bill through. Reid, on the hook to many corporate food producers who have helped finance him, owes a lot of people……and none of them are you!
If this bill gets shoved through, Nevada needs to take immediate action to remove this man from office; don’t wait for the election. Marti
The momentum has stalled in the U.S. Senate behind a food safety bill that was fueled by the recall of more than half a million tainted eggs over the summer.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said this morning he is shelving the legislation at least temporarily, and blamed Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., for the impasse.
Coburn had served notice he would block the bill on the grounds it is not offset by cuts elsewhere, and so would increase the federal budget deficit.
“If this was a priority for the majority, they would have already paid for it,” Coburn’s spokesman John Hart told Politico. Coburn says the legislation will cost more than $1.6 billion over five years.
The Oklahoma Republican on his website detailed other problems he sees with the legislation.
Reid, the Senate majority leader, said earlier this week he thought the bill was close to being ready and could pass quickly. He backtracked this morning.
“We thought we finally had it worked out, we could come and take care of this,” Reid said in a Senate speech. “But Senator Coburn has said no. We’ve spent a whole Congress on this and of course at the last minute he comes in and likely we will not be able to get this done before we go home for the elections.
“What a sad thing for our country. People are dying as a result of these problems with food. It is just a shame we can’t get this done.”
Food safety advocates have lobbied Congress actively through the year, flying in victims of severe food poisoning, and the family members of those who died from eating tainted food.
Reid said he met with a dozen Nevadans who have eaten foods that made them sick. One of them was Rylee Gustafson of Henderson, who was hospitalized as a 9-year-old in 2006 after eating contaminated spinach.
Pressure for reform mounted over the summer after more than 550 million eggs were recalled following a salmonella outbreak.
The pending bill would strengthen the police powers of the Food and Drug Administration to mandate recalls, enables it to hire more inspectors and requires more frequent inspections of food plants. It also requires food makers and processors to have control plans in place that address known problems.
You might not have seen it reported, but the Senate will vote this morning on whether to repeal part of ObamaCare that it passed only months ago. The White House is opposed, but this fight is likely to be the first of many as Americans discover—as Nancy Pelosi once famously predicted—what’s in the bill….
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents believe overwhelmingly that their agency’s leadership has become so politicized that it compromises the effectiveness of ICE and the safety of American people.
Even as the public continues its fight to prevent this takeover of food production and supply for the benefit of multi-national corporations and to imlement CODEX, congress moves ahead with plans to vote on this corporate takeover of agriculture.
S510 is the greatest threat to the food security of the US all for the benefit of corporations.
We have no voice in congress; they have no intentions of listening to the people. I still maintain, every representative and senator should be called home, relieved of their office, and charged for crimes against the states and the people.
Lawmakers released a bipartisan agreement on the Senate’s food safety bill on Thursday, signaling that it is likely to be debated in the Senate when it reconvenes in September.
The Food Safety Modernization Act has been stalled in the Senate since it was passed unanimously by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee in November, and a companion bill – the Food Safety Enhancement Act – passed the House more than a year ago, last July. Now Senate leaders have collaborated to release a manager’s package and Congressional Budget Office analysis.
The six Senators involved are HELP Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), Ranking Member Mike Enzi (R-WY), authors of the Food Safety Modernization Act Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) and lead cosponsors Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Richard Burr (R-NC).
They said in a joint statement: “Any 100-year-old plus structure – like our nation’s food safety system – needs improvements. With this announcement today, we aim to not just patch and mend our fragmented food safety system, we hope to reinforce the infrastructure, close the gaps and create a systematic, risk-based and balanced approach to food safety in the United States.
“The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act will place more emphasis on prevention of food borne illness and will provide new tools to respond to food safety problems.”
Two major issues remain unresolved in the manager’s package: Senator Jon Tester’s to exempt smaller businesses from some of the bill’s requirements and Senator Dianne Feinstein’s to restrict use of bisphenol A. More
FEB. 6th, 2010, a cold and blustery Saturday in Sheboygan was the latest stop for Rob Taylor’s Campaign for U.S. Senate. That morning lake effect snow was falling and the wind was blowing and the chill in the air was about to be thawed because one thousand brave Patriots were about to rally for the Constitution.
The momentum from his speech at the Racine Tea Party followed Rob to Sheboygan as one couple said they clearly remember it. Rob’s name recognition is now becoming fixture with Tea Party Patriots as many had already had heard of him and wanted to meet Rob in person. Rob then fielded their questions on topics such as the U.N., the Federal Governments role in education, taxes, and can non-Christians hold office. He being a true Constitutional Champion answered them decisively and succinctly and in accordance with the founding principles and intent set forth under the Constitution.
Permission is granted to reprint this article. Please send this all over the web, post it to blogs, and contact journalists and citizen journalists. Ask them for reports. Feel free to email this article widely. Thank you for your help!
A bill HR 3326, The Department of Defense Appropriations Act is currently up for vote on the Senate floor. An amendment in the Act proposes a national debt ceiling hike to $13 trillion dollars, using “entitlement spending” to pay for it. Facts here on the Government Executive website: see also the Senate website at www.senate.gov
“Entitlement spending” to pay for this national debt is Social Security, Medicare, Veteran’s Benefits, and Medicaid, according to an aid in my Senator’s office. Basically, this means that all of the above programs will either be cut back or could possibly disappear entirely as funds are diverted to paying for the monstrous debt. More
Taylor’s campaign has put on the web site a petition that people can fill out, so it can be presented at Max’s and the Monchilovichs’ trials. The petition can be found at:http://www.robtaylorforsenate.com/farmers_need_us.php
________________________
Attending the WICFA coalition meeting on Saturday December 12th for the Constitution Party of Wisconsin (CPoW) will be their US Senate Candidate for WI, Rob Taylor. He will be there to gain information, build support and to spread the word of what is happening to our freedoms and the family farmers. The message that he will be sending is to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States, and the Wisconsin state constitution, to perserve the middle class and support small to mid-size family farms.
Letters of support from his campaign office have been going out to everyone in Wisconsin and surrounding states. So far the message is receiving tremendous support. “We have to let people know what our socialist government is doing and HAS been doing for a long time.” says Taylor
Working with Marti Oakley of the PPJ Gazette and reformers such as Max Kane (Raw Milk Movement) and Mike Krsiean (CPoW candidate for 3rd Congressional District) to overcome the restrictions that the USDA and the DATCP is placing on famers and consumers, Taylor’s message on the PPJ web site is: “This isn’t the work of just one of the parties but of both of them, It’s all about power and greed. Our so called representatives get that by helping the friends in the BIG-FARM industry. We know where the campaign funds come from and we know our leaders are puppets for the industry.” More
Below is a list of known corporate insiders celebrating the passage of HR 2749……the seizure of the food production and supply here in the US, on behalf of corporations intending to further exploit the American public. I suppose after receiving this monumental gift consisting of the preliminary groundwork for ending all competition and driving hundreds of thousands of family and independent farmers and ranchers out of business, a celebration was warranted. In my article ” The Jackasses did it: HR 2749 passes the House“, I sarcastically closed with the thoughts that House members along with corporate donors were probably celebrating; turns out…..they were. Marti
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~GMA Applauds U.S. House for Passage of Landmark Food Safety Bill~Calls on Senate to Follow Suit
Warning: GMA likes the food safety bill – A bill contrary to family farm agriculture and local food alternatives
Contact: Scott Openshaw, Director, Communications, 202-295-3957 Brian Kennedy, Director, Communications, 202-639-5994
July 30, 2009
GMA president and CEO Pamela G. Bailey today commended the members of the United States House of Representatives for passing H.R. 2749, The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. The bill passed the House by a vote of 283-142.
“House passage of The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 marks an important milestone,” said Ms. Bailey. “This legislation will strengthen our nation’s food safety net by placing prevention as the cornerstone of our nation’s food safety strategy and providing FDA with the resources and authorities it needs to adequately fulfill its food safety mission. Combined with increased industry resources and vigilance, this legislation represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to modernize our food safety system and restore the public’s faith in the safety and security of the food supply.
“We applaud the House for its vision and leadership in tackling this tough issue and urge the Senate to swiftly follow suit and pass its food safety bill as quickly as possible.”
GMA supports many of the provisions of S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, authored by lead sponsors U.S. Senators Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) and co-sponsored by Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), Richard Burr (R-NC), Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Roland Burris (D-IL), Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Tom Udall (D-NM), and will be working with HELP Committee Chairman Kennedy, Ranking Member Enzi and the entire committee in the coming weeks to develop and enact sensible, meaningful and timely food safety reform legislation. More
On June 26th, the House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 by a vote of 219 to 212. The bill, also known as “Cap and Trade” legislation, should more appropriately be called “Cap and Tax” legislation because the federal government is trying to “CAP” Americans’ Freedoms and then “TAX” the necessities of living like gas, food and even heating oil.This bill, like so many other pieces of major federal legislation in recent years, was rammed through congress by the Democratic leadership without even giving the members the time to read it, let alone understand it, all in violation of their now worthless promise to create a more transparent legislative process. The Democrats added 300 pages of amendments to the legislation at 3:00AM on the day of the vote, giving the members of congress less than 12 hours to read the whole 1,200 page bill. Rep. Joe Barton asked repeatedly during the debate on Friday afternoon if there was even a copy of the bill anywhere in the House chamber and Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher, who was sitting in the speaker’s chair, repeatedly avoided the question. No full copy of the legislation was ever produced. What was the rush and why were the American people and their elected representatives denied the ability to read the bill before it was voted on? How does this help the American people? More
Over 1000 livestock producer’s businesses die each month in the USA. Many of these family farms and ranches have survived the great depression and weathered the droughts and blizzards. Today a different storm of a political nature is planning to deal the death blows. More
It would be too easy to blame the recent peanut panic on one criminal corporation owner, who KNOWINGLY shipped Salmonella contaminated product. But before that it was millions of pounds of ground beef, and before that tomatoes all over the country, and on and on. And when you ask where is all this horrible filth coming from, with a over a million cases of Salmonella in the U.S. alone every year, the answer is self-evident. It’s the huge factory farms that overflow with seas of untreated animal waste, that then spill into our food supply, including through our agricultural plant crop fields.We have a lot of work to do to clean up this giant mess, but the first thing we have to do is STOP a lunatic boondoggle being pushed by these same corporate interests, to force radio computer chip implanting of literally every farm animal in the country, EXCEPT on their own factory farms. It is absolutely nothing but a further attempt to drive small family farms out of business, who in fact are our safest source of reliably clean food now. More truth points here, with lots more facts to back up your personal comments.
The proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS) would force even the smallest healthy farms to buy expensive new computer tracking equipment, and potentially would subject them to gestapo-like tactics by the USDA if they are in even slight technical non-compliance. And all this just to fatten the pockets of the RFID chip manufacturers, and to make it LOOK like something is being done to make our food safer.
If in addition to submitting this form you want to call members of the House Subcommittee before the March 11th hearing, here are their direct numbers.
The one click form below will send your personal message to all your government representatives selected below, with the subject “Reject NAIS, National Animal Identification System.” At the same time you can send your personal comments only as a letter to the editor of your nearest local daily newspaper if you like.
Use this link to sign on to the NO NAIS petition.
Hundreds of billions more in the last 2 years for a senseless military occupation, the FISA outrage, paralysis on impeachment or even enforcing subpoenas, and now a total surrender of the future of our treasury in an 850 billion dollar bailout of Wall Street fat cats. Congress has done worse than do nothing, they have done categorically the WRONG thing, and the whole rest of the world knows it, and THAT is why the stock market has been dropping like a rock ever since the Senate stampeded through this bailout monstrosity.
And as if all this weren’t galling enough. How do you like how Bush came out in the Rose Garden after signing the “Fox In Charge Of The Hen House Bill” to basically say, “Thanks, chumps.”?
How dare they call themselves “Representatives”? How dare they! With their phones flooded a hundred to one shouting down this massive theft from the American taxpayer, with such an avalanche of emails coming the House email servers almost crashed, how dare they?! And guess what, the people were right. The hundreds of top economists pleading for sanity and a hearing were right.
Pelosi, the queen of the cave-ins must be defeated. There can be no honor in allowing her to remain in office. Shame on us if we don’t do everything we could have done to remove her. Then and only then can all the other things that need to be done to fix this disaster be implemented.
It looks like the U.S. Senate did it the old-fashioned way:
“Besides the tax breaks, senators also made a change that had drawn widespread support in recent days – a temporary increase in the amount of bank deposits covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, to $250,000 from $100,000. And the entire package was attached to legislation requiring insurers to treat mental health conditions more like general health problems, a long-sought goal of many lawmakers who demanded such parity.” (Italics added for emphasis.)
I’ve puzzled over what the impetus is behind all of the scaremongering and running amok that has been going on in our Capitol.
The reason might be simply this:
“There are powerful foreign interests threatening to pull their money out of the market if we don’t pay them back for the bad mortgage securities they were fool enough to buy into.”
Perhaps, if the President and/or Congress had shared this with us, we could have gotten down to the business of reassuring foreign markets and shitcanning the people who drove our economy into this sad state of affairs.
Clause 1.All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other Bills.[13]
Footnote 13.In practice, “appropriation bills,” or bills granting money for government services and actions, also originate in the House.The practice originates from the United Kingdom, where the House of Commons originates all revenue or appropriation bills, and the House of Lords does not, by tradition, even amend them.
Will someone please explain to me what happened yesterday (October 1, 2008) in the U.S. Senate?
By what devious parliamentary maneuvering was the Senate able to grab the ball, thrown completely off the court by the House of Representatives, and run with it?
How can the Senate propose or concur amendments to a bill that has gone down to defeat, pass the amended bill by a margin of 74%, and send it back to the house for “final” consideration?
Or, has the United States Senate joined ranks with the White House in openly ignoring the constitution, acting as though not just the law but also the constitution itself, which is the fundamental law from which all the statutes gain their force and legitimacy, doesn’t apply to them?
In any case, this does not bode well for the continued “rule of law” in our fair land.
The senate just finished a procedural vote on amendments, to the amendments and other amendments.
In what was nothing less than a test run to make sure they had the needed votes to pass this legalized theft of taxpayer funds to bailout the most corrupted corporate banks and securities, the senate voted 72 to 25 against the American people.
One senator introduced an amendment which would have attached a surcharge of 10% on the super wealthy who benefited most from the corruption and of whom, many were directly involved. Only one other senator (names unknown at this time) agreed. The rest of these traitorous jackasses sat silent until it was time to vocalize their “no” votes.
As is their normal method of operation, earmarks, special interests and non-related wish list items were tacked on to the bill as “sweeteners” to get it to pass. As a result, it is estimated that the actual cost of the bailout with all the perks added in, will be 850 BILLION dollars. Thats 850 BILLION that we do not have and will have to borrow….and we still do not know in detail what all got included in this theft of taxpayers funds.
NO MATTER WHO IS ELECTED PRESIDENT, YOUR TAXES WILL BE GOING UP SIGNIFICANTLY TO COVER THE SERVICE DEBT ON THE 850 BILLION DEBT! WE WILL NEVER REACH A POINT WHERE THIS BORROWED MONEY CAN EVER BE REPAYED.
As is their usual method when ramming something we all know is wrong down our nationalized throats, WE were threatened with our retirement savings, our pensions, our 401K’s, our jobs, our paychecks. No legislation was included or allowed to be included that specifically protected retirements, jobs, pensions or 401K’s from obliteration. Hell no! They are worried about protecting these fat cat corporations/
Other than Bernie Sanders (I) Vermont, few of these so-called public servants expressed any concern for the stability of the middle class or its declining quality of life due to the excesses in greed, the corruption of the elite class.
Come November, we all need to be pulling the levers for third party candidates and boot this bunch of career criminal politicians out of office, then move immediately to end all retirement payments to these same deposed kings and queens.
The Senate made it perfectly clear that they have no intention of doing the will of the people. What was apparent was their loyalty to their corporate sponsors. Get rid of em’!
Most Congressmen are lawyers, and many others are businessmen. They know what “fiduciary responsibility” is. For Members of Congress, fiduciary responsibility means reading each word of every bill before they vote.
But Congress has not met this duty for a long time. Instead . . .
To this end we have created the “Read the Bills Act (RTBA).” RTBA requires that . . .
·Each bill, and every amendment, must be read in its entirety before a quorum in both the House and Senate.
·Every member of the House and Senate must sign a sworn affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that he or she has attentively either personally read, or heard read, the complete bill to be voted on.
·Every old law coming up for renewal under the sunset provisions must also be read according to the same rules that apply to new bills.
·Every bill to be voted on must be published on the Internet at least 7 days before a vote, and Congress must give public notice of the date when a vote will be held on that bill.
·Passage of a bill that does not abide by these provisions will render the measure null and void, and establish grounds for the law to be challenged in court.
·Congress cannot waive these requirements.
The effects of these provisions will be profound….
“Never has the need to end “business as usual” been more important than at this time as congress prepares to confiscate the people’s money to bailout corrupt corporations in what is nothing less than economic blackmail.”Marti
By: Gary Rea (c)copyright 2010 
GMA president and CEO Pamela G. Bailey today commended the members of the United States House of Representatives for passing H.R. 2749, The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. The bill passed the House by a vote of 283-142.
The PPJ Gazette 