Obama: Government Shouldn't Steal From You 
 

President Obama, speaking in Cairo, Egypt, June 4, described his ideal government:
 
"But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere."
 
Sounds good to us, Mr. President!
 
So when will you start working for these ideals at home?
 
Ron Paul's "Audit the Fed" Bill Wins Majority Support in House
 
Ron Paul's bill to audit the evil Federal Reserve (HR 1207) now has a whopping 242 co-sponsors -- well above the 218 needed for a majority. To symbolize the bill's solid bi-partisan support, maverick Ohio Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich became the bill's 218th co-sponsor. Among the most recent signers is Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the highly influential Democrat who chairs the Judiciary Committee.
 
Further, HR 1207's companion bill in the Senate, S 604, is now attracting its first co-sponsors.
 
This is remarkable progress on this truly bold legislation. HR 1207, The Federal Reserve Transparency Act, would, according to Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty, "pull back the curtain from [the] secretive and unaccountable Federal Reserve."
 
Campaign for Liberty notes that the Fed has a monopoly over the flow of our money and credit. Since its inception in 1913, the Federal Reserve has helped to devalue the dollar by a staggering 95%. During the recent economic crisis, the Fed poured trillions of dollars into the economy with no oversight, made secret agreements with foreign banks and governments, and has refused to tell Congress who is getting the money or to give Congress the details of what deals are being made.
 
Yet Congress and the American people have minimal, if any, oversight over the trillions of dollars the Fed controls. Indeed, current law specifically *excludes* the Fed from a thorough audit or real congressional oversight. No government agency has such an utter lack of sunshine.
 
Ron Paul's "Audit the Fed" bill will demand full transparency from the Federal Reserve for the first time in history by removing all restrictions from audits of the Fed by the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) -- and mandating a GAO audit by the end of 2010.
 
"Americans from every walk of life, across the country, are speaking out and demanding transparency at the Federal Reserve," said Campaign for Liberty President John Tate. "Members of Congress, whether they are conservatives, moderates, progressives, business Republicans, libertarians or blue dog Democrats, are listening to their outraged constituents and coming together to support H.R. 1207.
 
"The American people have had enough. Enough of an out of control Fed, enough of run away government spending and enough of the secretive Federal Reserve practices that won't even allow us to know where our money is going," Tate says. "And the message is getting through loud and clear as indicated by the overwhelming support for this legislation across the country and in the halls of Congress."
 
Hearings on Federal Reserve transparency are expected shortly, as part of the Financial Services Committee's series of hearings on regulatory reform.
 
You Paid $3,849 in 2008 -- To Be Regulated

Where did your money go in 2008?
 
A shockingly large amount of it went to pay the costs of federal regulations, according to a new report from the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).
 
According to CEI, in 2008 the cost of federal regulations to American citizens and businesses hit an incredible $1.17 trillion. 
 
That's equal to $3,849 for each man, woman and child in the country -- or $13,396 for every family of four.
 
Further, this enormous burden seriously slowed economic growth in America.
 
CEI documents this outrage in the 2009 edition of their "Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State."
 
More shockers from the report:
 
* This $1.17 trillion in regulatory costs almost equals the entire amount generated by the personal income tax, which is $1.2 trillion.
 
* The $1.17 trillion thus amounts to a gigantic hidden tax on Americans, a secret "second income tax" imposing huge costs on Americans above and beyond the officially budgeted $3 trillion federal budget.
 
* The cost of meeting federal regulations consumed about 10 percent of the country's economic output last year. 
 
* The government issued 3,830 new rules last year, and the Federal Register, which compiles these rules, hit a record 79,435 pages.
 
* The biggest and costliest regulations got bigger and more costly. "Economically significant" regulations -- new rules that cost at least $100 million -- increased by 13 percent between 2007 and 2008.
 
The solution? CEI says Congress should simply eliminate many of these regulations. In addition, they urge reforms to force the government to let the public know the true costs of this gigantic hidden tax, including issuing annual "report cards" on regulatory costs and benefits.
 
Further, CEI argues that regulations imposing a significant cost on the public should be subjected to congressional votes before becoming enforceable. 
 
Congressman Challenges FBI Director on Marijuana
 
Have you noticed that Drug War reform is suddenly in the air? In recent months we've seen a startling rise in the number of politicians and citizens of all political stripes willing to challenge the Drug War statist quo.
 
We've covered some examples in recent issues. Here's another. 
 
At a U.S. House of Representatives hearing in mid-May, FBI Director Robert Mueller was speaking to lawmakers about parents losing their lives to drugs.
 
Suddenly Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) spoke up.
 
"Name me a couple of parents who have lost their lives to *marijuana*," Cohen challenged Mueller.
 
"Can't," was Mueller's lame reply.
 
"Exactly," said Rep. Cohen. "You can't, because that hasn't happened. Is there some time we're going to see that we ought to prioritize meth, crack, cocaine and heroin, and deal with the drugs that the American culture is really being affected by?"

Gov't to Ban... Pocket Knives?

Is the Obama administration about to ban pocket knives?
 
Don't laugh. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency (Customs), overseen by the friendly folks at the Department of Homeland Security, has proposed regulation redefining millions of common pocket knives as illegal "switchblades."
 
This sudden and radical proposal has alarmed such respected groups as the National Rifle Association, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, and the American Knife and Tool Institute. In response, dozens of members of Congress have asked Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano to withdraw the proposed rules change.
 
The federal Switchblade Knife Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. Section 1241) clearly defines a "switchblade" as... "any knife having a blade which opens automatically (1) by hand pressure applied to a button or other device in the handle of the knife, or (2) by operation of inertia, gravity, or both."
 
However, the proposed Customs reclassification redefines "switchblade" to cover all knives using a spring to open -- which includes common Boy Scout knives, multi-tool knives, assisted opener knives, and other ordinary knives which can be opened with one hand.
 
According to the American Knife and Tool Institute, a trade organization, there are over 35 million Americans who carry and use some type of knife which opens with one hand. They are used in countless businesses, and by anglers, gardeners, hunters and others for recreational purposes. In the United States, assisted-opening and one-hand-opening knives are 80 percent of all knives sold.
 
"This classification could render millions of law-abiding knife owners in violation of the law and expose major market retailers, manufacturers, dealers and importers subject to possible federal felony charges, and could drive domestic manufacturers and importers out of business, potentially costing thousands of jobs," says Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus.
 
C.J. Buck, president and CEO of Buck Knives, says that "the language Customs used to cast the net wide enough to capture these assisted-opening knives could be used to capture just about every folding knife made in the country. ... Almost any folding [knives], you can open them part way and then flick them open."
 
"These knives are used not only by sportsmen, but also by police, firemen, skilled trade workers and others," notes the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation President Jeff Crane. "The Office of Customs and Border Patrol proposed revocation does not identify any specific intrinsic health and public safety concerns which it is purportedly trying to protect by this new designation."
 
Knife Rights, a grassroots advocacy organization dedicated to defending Americans' right to own, carry and use knives, has been created to oppose similar attacks on knives in America.
 
Knife Rights notes that in England and Australia, many knives commonly used in America have recently been made illegal.
 
Who says it can't happen here? And what's next -- nail clippers? Bottle openers? 
 

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Quick Shots...

SHOULD CONGRESS DECIDE? "I doubt whether there are many Americans who think Congress has either the right or competency to choose where they live, what clothes they wear or what cars they drive. Yet many Americans stand ready to allow Congress to decide what doctors they go to and what treatments they receive. We forget that once we have government-sponsored health care, it can be used to justify almost any restraint on liberty."
  -- libertarian economist and syndicated columnist Walter Williams. 
 

"SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS" DEP'T:  "Last September Sen. Barack Obama promised that under his health-care proposal 'you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves.' On Monday, President Obama repeated that promise in a speech to the American Medical Association. It's not true.
 
"The president is barnstorming the nation, urging swift approval of legislation that is taking shape in Congress. This legislation -- the Affordable Health Choices Act that's being drafted by Sen. Edward Kennedy's staff and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee -- will push Americans into stingy insurance plans with tight, HMO-style controls. It specifically exempts members of Congress (along with federal employees; the exemptions are in section 3116).
 
"Members of Congress 'enjoy the widest selection of health plans in the country,' according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. They 'can choose from among consumer-driven and high deductible plans that offer catastrophic risk protection with higher deductibles, health saving/reimbursable accounts and lower premiums, or fee-for-service (FFS) plans, and their preferred provider organizations (PPO), or health maintenance organizations (HMO).' These choices would be nice for all of us, but they're not in the offing. Instead, if you don't enroll in a 'qualified' health plan and submit proof of enrollment to the federal government, you'll be tracked down and fined (sections 3101 and 6055)."  -- Betsy McCaughey, Wall Street Journal (6/19/2009).