Stay Vigilant!

It is time for a reminder in the State of Florida. In today’s ever changing world, we can get caught up in the actions being taken by our President and his Congress. By all means, we need to stay focused on their attempts to devalue our economy and deplete our rights as U.S. citizens, but let’s not forget what is happening at the state level to curb their actions.

There are some very important pieces of legislation that require you action to see that your friends and relatives are aware of. These can go a long way towards stopping the flow of unconstitutional legislation from Washington across our state border.

One that I have written about before needs your immediate attention. House Memorial HM19 – “Urges Congress to honor provisions of the U.S. Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court case law which limit scope and exercise of federal power”. In other words,” If your federal legislation violated the 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, we in Florida will not let it pass our borders”.

There are 47 cosponsors at this time. Please tell me why all of our state representatives have not signed on to this Memorial? You as citizens need to get on the phone to your representatives and DEMAND your rights be protected from the federal government!

There is also HB21 – The Firearms Freedom Act. This bill provides that “specified firearms, firearm accessories and ammunition for personal use manufactured in state are not subject to federal law or regulation”. This one just makes too much sense. Why should the federal government have a say in how we in Florida protect our 2nd amendment rights from a power grabbing federal government?

The 3rd piece of legislation is House HJR37 – The Health Care Freedom Act. Peter Gemma of the Florida’s Liberty legislation put it perfectly, “The Health Care Freedom Act. This act is a proposed state constitutional amendment that would prevent Florida citizens from being affected by federal health "reform." It provides that any "law or rule shall not compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in any health care system," and specifies people and employers can't be fined for not buying insurance. The bill does not ban federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid in our state; it simply focuses on restricting the federal government from forcing Floridians to participate in an insurance policy, whether public or private. If approved by the state legislature, Florida residents may vote on the amendment in 2010.”

There you have it. Here are 3 pieces of legislation that need your support. Get active, get motivated and send a message to the federal government, to the president and his lackey congress that we will not take it any longer. Don’t forget what the federal government is trying to impose upon us from their level, just remember that we need to fight it on multiple levels.

Congressmen Beware

The town hall meetings are over for now. Mine are about to begin. I can truly say that they were one of the best learning experiences I have ever participated in. I did not go inside as they were his meetings, but I was outside meeting the people as they left the building.

The people of district 2 Florida and around the country just want to be told the truth. They can see through the rhetoric quicker than the time it takes to present it. Why a politician would try and tell people that certain things are not in the proposed health care bill when the people who are attending know differently is beyond me. Many of them actually read it first hand. It is an insult to try and deceive when the truth is so obvious.

The people are waking up to the path they have been led down and are not willing to go any further. You can fool the people when they let their guard down but beware when they engage. The people are engaged and will accept nothing less than returning our country to the country that our founding fathers designed.

Having just returned from a meet up group in Olustee, Florida; I found that the 2 hundred people who attended were very aware of the quality of congressmen we have to deal with and they are also aware of what we have to do to correct the problem.

Let this be a warning to all politicians. Defend our country or prepare to find a different form of employment.

Observation of Town Halls

The past 2 days attending the town hall meetings of my opponent in the upcoming midterm election have been exactly what I thought they would be. Understand, I got into this race for a variety of reasons, the initial one being that I felt like I was being ignored and when responded to, being talked to like I should have better things to do besides bothering with issues beyond my comprehension.

Now seeing the people coming out of the meetings, I see I was correct in my formulated opinions. The people are very tired of being talked down to. If they have a question, they want an answer, not a song and dance. Very few people ask questions in these meetings that they don’t already know the answer to, yet they see the answer evading commentary.

I believe that the representative feels above the people or else a question like, “If 75% of the people tell you to vote a certain way on an issue, how will you vote?” Should be an easy question from a representative, wouldn’t you think? Let’s not let the obvious answer get in the way.

The real humorous thing is that when the people come outside, they were aware of the answer they were going to get before they went inside. Most people actually laughed about the lack of concern about answering simple questions.

Simple solution to the entire problem: Represent the people in the first place and none of this would have been necessary!

Best Read of the Year

If you would like one of the most captivating reads in a long time, I suggest you read the U.S. House of Representatives – Committee on Oversight and Government Reform – Is ACORN Intentionally Structured as a Criminal Enterprise?

Staff Report
U.S. House of Representatives
111th Congress
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
July 23, 2009

It is easily found on the internet and is only 88 pages. Once you start reading you will not be able to put it down.
I will not even try and summarize the document since I could never do it justice. It is very important that all citizens read it in its entirety. You will be amazed at the evidence that is available and has been for a long time and that it is so closely tied to the current administration.
It is also amazing that so much tax payer money has been and still is being dumped into this type of controversial (at best) organization. This has to stop and it has to stop now.
Read it and weep. Then question any representative that still supports this sham.

Finally Drilling

Just saw on Fox News that our tax dollars are now going to the government of Brazil to promote drilling for oil in their country. We just gave them 200 million dollars to do what they won’t let our own citizens and companies do.

Please explain how this President gets away with this kind of hypocrisy. Wouldn’t we be better served by spending our tax dollars on fixing our own infrastructure. WE need the oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear facilities, certainly not Cap and Trade!

It is time to demand consistency from this administration and congress. You either want to drill or you don’t want to drill. Make up your mind, but don’t spend out tax payer money promoting projects in other countries that you won’t promote here. Tax money should be used judiciously. There is not an infinite supply.

cash-for -foreign car sales

I just read an article about the well thought out cash-for-clunkers program. It seems that the program is a real boost for Japanese car sales.
Wouldn’t you think that a plan to boost car sales would be directed towards American car sales since it is the American tax payers that are paying for the scheme.
As usual, the congress has put out another half thought out program. Sure, a sizable chunk of their cars are made in the United States, but Detroit is still not reaping the benefit that it could be getting.
Per the article, the top models bought since the scheme began on July 24 are Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and Ford Focus, all small sedans. Three of the top five are Toyotas.
Sure car sales have increased across the board at the detriment of the American tax payer, but wouldn’t it be better kept on our shores rather than sending more tax payer money abroad.

Taking Bows

Sorry about the absence of recent blogs, but I was in Phoenix doing interviews with the 912 project show.
I am pleased to hear that the economy is roaring back. The recession is over. The president and the Democratic Congress are starting to take bows for their fine work and insight.
What I don’t understand is, in such an incline of the economy, how is it that the countries 6th largest bank in U.S. History just went into receivership? On Friday, Colonial Bank of Montgomery, Alabama was closed by the Alabama State Banking Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named as the receiver. I must have missed the administration and congress bragging about this one. I also didn’t hear them bragging about the other 77 banks that that closed their doors so far this year. Come to think of it, I also didn’t hear them discussing that the FDIC reserves are down to about 10 billion dollars.
Looking at the President and congresses managing of the banking industry, why wouldn’t we want them to impose a National Health Care program that hasn’t worked anywhere else in the world? Why wouldn’t we want them to impose a Cap and Trade System that has been a dismal failure anywhere it has been tried? Why wouldn’t we give them another stimulus package when they haven’t spent more than 10% of the last one?
Does anyone see a spending pattern here? The president and congress need to stop spending on tried and failed programs and turn to our failing infrastructure.
Let’s fix the American economy before we start trying to spread the wealth that we don’t have to spread!

Question Everything

Today, I have to question everything.
Explain to me how our Senate can install a Supreme Court Judge that has expressed her activism in her initial interviews. A judge that has already ruled against the 2nd amendment. Boyd voted in favor of her. Does the Constitution mean nothing to those that we put our trust in anymore?
How can we trust our representatives who pass legislation without reading it? Who are they trying to appease? It certainly isn’t the people who VOTED them into office. They can not get there without your putting them in.
How can the President and House of Representatives vote to approve this Health Care monstrosity? Boyd voted for it. How could they even consider the Cap and Trade Bill that has proven, in every country in which it has been established, to lower nothing but the economy? It raises unemployment and cost for the jobs it creates is measured in hundreds of thousands of dollars per job. Boyd voted for it.
Why are they talking about another stimulus package when they have only spent 10% of the last one?
Why are they still printing money when they don’t know where the money they already printed went to?
Why does our President appoint Czars instead of following the constitution and going through Senate conformation hearings? Why does our President appoint card carrying Communists and Socialists to his high command? Why did the President put the Census Bureau in the White House under his command?
The Health Care Bill and Cap and Trade Bill confuse me; neither of these could our country sustain even if we were in a good economic period, but both? How far away could another attempt be to pass another amnesty bill? Do you think anyone in the President’s secret chamber of Czars is plotting against the 1st and 2nd amendments?
I honestly don’t know! It looks to me like the deck is being stacked for something.
I felt so disgusted about the atrocities in the Health Care Bill (yea, I actually read it), and knew that I would have to speak out against it at every opportunity. Don’t bother turning me in to the President’s Hot Line for dissenters to the Health Care Bill – I already turned myself in.
Today, I have to question everything!

Conflict of Interest

This installment will be short. Who would have thought that I would have found something of value in this farce of a Health Care Plan?
While reading Section: 1191 Telehealth Expansions and Enhancements (Health Care by Phone); for heaven sakes, spell check doesn’t even know what telehealth is., I came across something that made me question another position of our House of Representatives.
Section 1191 (C) reads:

Conflicts of Interest – An advisory committee member may not participate with respect to a particular matter considered in an advisory committee meeting if such member (or an immediate family member of such member) has a financial interest that could be affected by the advice given to the Secretary with respect to such matter.

My question is this: Why don’t we have this same “Conflict of Interest” clause in committee’s congressmen and congresswomen sit on. There are many representatives that send contracts to family members, not withstanding Nancy Pelosi to the tune of 25 million dollars to her husbands company.

I do see that the House now requires the sponsor of earmark spending to certify that they have no vested interest in the earmark. My last question is: Is payback of “special interest” considered a vested interest?

HR 3226

I became aware of a proposed bill in the House of Representatives that is now headed to committee, the first stop in the legislative process. The bill is HR 3226 entitled: The Czar Accountability and Reform (CZAR) Act of 2009.
The abstract reads: H.R. 3226 would provide that appropriated funds may not be used to pay for any salaries or expenses of any task force, council, or similar office which is established by or at the direction of the President and headed by an individual who has been inappropriately appointed to such position (on other than an interim basis), without the advice and consent of the Senate.
This bill has been proposed to attempt to make the President of the United States comply with the provisions of the United States Constitution, that he took an oath to uphold and defend. He has done just the opposite to date by appointing some 40 Czars to high cabinet positions that answer ONLY to him avoiding Senate confirmations as directed by the Constitution.
Some people will say, “You make a big deal about it but George Bush had Czars also.” Yes he did. He had 3 not 40 that comprise ALL existing cabinet positions and the many new ones created by the new president (Czar Master). Talk about a power grab not to mention a total waste of tax payer money.
This bill should be completely unnecessary as the president is abusing an implied power to avoid constitutional dictates.
Another interesting observation arose during my research. Being that this bill is being introduced to bring the president into compliance under the constitution, maybe you could explain the following fact. As of 7/29/09, there are 32 co-sponsors of the bill. Not one of the co-sponsors is a Democrat.
You would think that Constitutional principles would cross party lines but I guess in the House of Representatives, the Constitution takes a back seat to “party power”.

What is the Health Care Bill - REALLY?

I really didn’t want to write about the Health Care Bill again, but I don’t have any choice since the recent developments occurred. What are the developments you ask? Well, I started reading it.

As an American citizen would you tell your representative to support any of the following individual pieces of legislation (not that they would listen anyway):
1.Federal government rationing of your private health care.
2.Giving tax payer paid health care freely to ALL NON U.S citizens – including illegals.
3.Giving the Federal government direct access to your private medical records.
4.Giving the Federal government direct access to your private bank account so they can withdraw funds electronically without your consent.
5.As a business owner, if you choose to self-insure your workers and not subscribe to the government plan, the Federal government mandates auditing of your books.

The answer is obvious. No one would support any of these pieces of legislation to impose upon your freedoms. No where do any of these items appear under constitutional federal jurisdiction. BUT, if your Congressional Representative voted to approve the Health Care Plan, then they voted to establish these pieces of legislation on every citizen in the country.

Please keep in mind; I have listed only a sampling of the problems I found in my reading of the 1017 page health Care Bill. Also keep in mind, so far I have only read up to page 145.

The Health Care Bill is frightening! It is nothing more than an umbrella containing multiple pieces of legislation that no one would stand for if they tried to pass them on their own. Your congressman/congresswoman would never even have the guts to ask for passage, yet here they are ready to take affect if this Obamanation (you won’t find that word in the dictionary) gets passed.

When anyone tells you that the Health Care Bill is for the poor – get this – if you are poor and qualify for Medicaid as you would today, you are AUTOMATICALLY enrolled in Medicaid. You don’t get a choice! NOTHING CHANGES over what we have before passage of this monstrosity.

If they tell you it is for the children, look them in the eye and see if they can keep a straight face. This is a complete lie. Read my blog on July 14th - Universal Health Care - for the answer to this one.

Which brings me to the question – Who or What is this Bill really for?

Campaign funds help.

As most of you may know already, I'm running against incumbent Allen Boyd in Florida's second congressional district. Congressman Boyd has already received 81% of his campaign contributions from PAC's (Political action committees). Early on I made the decision to only take contributions from individual donors and none from PAC's or business's. It is my belief that once you do this the assumption is there that one day you may have to return the favor. In all honesty this will effect my bid to compete on the scale that Congressman Boyd is capable of, with an endless supply of money. I could not in good conscience except money from any other than an individual donor. I believe there is already enough special interest money floating around Washington and believe it has been instrumental in getting us where we are today.

I ask you now to donate what you can. First I ask of you to donate by telling everyone you can about my campaign. Second I would ask, if you have the means right now to go to www.PaulMcKain.com and give what you feel comfortable donating at this time.

I got in this for the purpose of restoring true citizen participation in government. I am a firm believer in "We the people" by the people and I now ask you to be that person. We the people are the people we have been looking for. With your help i can win this. With your help I can guarantee true representation of the people in the House of Representatives.

I thank you all so much for your dedication thus far. I wont let you down.