Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Obama Nation:  The Petition Against the FOCA Abomination Advances

by Charles W. Fairbanks

Behind the current fiscal crisis there lurks the greatest threat to innocent human life since Roe v. Wade.  The passage of FOCA is a high priority of the Obama-Biden Administration.  Obama has promised that he will sign FOCA immediately after it passes.  Fortunately, there is a nationwide resistance to FOCA.  The Fight FOCA petition now has 280,000-plus signatures.  A President Palin would veto FOCA.  It is a shame that we have a president-elect who does not respect innocent human life.

Economic crises come and economic crises go.  Recessions come and recessions go.  Much like global warming, these things run in cycles.  The chaos of this crisis will calm.  We can not allow the sound and fury of the economic tumult allow us to forget the most defenseless Americans. 

The ironically-named “Freedom of Choice Act” (FOCA) is a top priority of Planned Parenthood and the other pro-abortion forces. And President-elect Barack Obama has promised to sign FOCA immediately after it passes.  FOCA would eliminate years of progress made in the fifty states and in the Congress on behalf of the unborn.  It would in one fell swoop eliminate common-sense laws passed over the past two decades.

FOCA will do away with state laws on parental involvement, on partial birth abortion, and on all other protections.
FOCA will compel taxpayer funding of abortions.
FOCA will force faith-based hospitals and healthcare facilities to perform abortions.

280,000 people have signed the Fight FOCA online petition.  Governor Palin does not need a single person, yet alone a quarter million people to explain to her that life begins at conception.  Unfortunately, President-elect Obama does need an explanation.  You can access Fight FOCA Petition by clicking on the link.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

New Heritage Foundation Piece:  Government Spending Does Not Help US Economy

by Charles W. Fairbanks

The Heritage Foundation has distilled a timeless truth for application to today’s economic distress:  Government spending does not stimulate economic growth.  The crux of the argument is:  “Congress does not have a vault of money waiting to be distributed: Therefore, every dollar Congress “injects” into the economy must first be taxed or borrowed out of the economy. No new spending power is created. It is merely redistributed from one group of people to another.” Since MFP can not do it better than Heritage, we provide a link (see below):

Government Spending

Monday, November 24, 2008

What do the Somali Pirates and Congress have in Common?

by Charles W. Fairbanks

They are raiders of differing backgrounds and tactics.The Somali Pirates use boats, automatic weapons and guerilla tactics; the United States Congress uses legal fictions and elegant language.  The Somali Pirates wear guerilla combat clothing; Congress wears expensive suits.  The Somali Pirates raid oil tankers; Congress raids Social Security funds.  The bottom line is that both groups seize wealth that they did not create to serve their own political ends.  We could stop the Somali pirates if we wanted, but how do we stop the pirates on Capitol Hill?

The Pirates of Somalia are the latest threat to world energy security.  Based in that tumultuous land in East Africa, they seize oil tankers and hold them for ransom.  They are a rag-tag group that is easy to demonize.  They take that which is not theirs and use it to benefit their own purposes.  So, too, does the United States Congress.

Lost in the chaos of the current economic crisis is the looming Social Security crisis.  As Congress spends trillions of non-existent dollars to “save” failed enterprises, it is spending non-existent dollars that will be needed to rescue the Social Security fund when it begins to run a deficit in 2018.  In other words, Pelosi, Reid and Company are using your Social Security dollars to bail out these companies.

SInce its inception the Social Security system has taken in more dollars in Social Security taxes than it has paid in benefits to the tune of over two trillion dollars.  Great!  That means there must be two trillion dollars in the bank somewhere, right?  Or two trillion dollars of gold at Fort Knox, just waiting to be used for retirement benefits?  The Social Security Trust Fund is supposed to store the accumulated surplus, but it doesn’t.  It houses useless paper. 

The Social Security Trust Fund houses useless paper because the surplus is given to the general fund for IOUs backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Taxpayers.  In other words, Congress raids the surplus to fund the bail out of failed enterprises that is taking place right before your eyes.  Yes, our retirement security is being compromised to help bail out these failures.

At this point, it is hard to tell who is the bigger threat.  We could blow the Somali pirates out of the water if we really wanted to.  They aren’t really that formidable.  But what on Earth can we do to stop BailoutPalooza in Washington?