novatownhall blog

“[The] power to tax involves the power to destroy….” -Chief Justice John Marshall, McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819

In it’s taxing power, the FERAL government has taken to destroying individuals and organizations with which the Administration disagrees. This is not limited to the 0bama Administration. We know that the Nixon administration did it; we know that the Clinton administration did it; and probably every other administration since Nixon has too.

Without the income tax and thus the creation of tax-exempt organizations, no-one would care if pastors were campaigning from the pulpit. No-one would care if this TEA Party group campaigned for a candidate or not. No-one would care if the Sierra Club or Planned Parenthood gave money to candidates (except that Planned Parenthood gets money from the government).

It is not the government’s business what organizations I donate to, and the government should not be de facto supporting organizations though tax deductions. It is not the government’s business how many children we have, how old they are, or where they go to college. It is not the government’s business how much we make or how much we have saved.

It is past time to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed barked at the Senate Chamber that Senator Ted Cruz was a “Schoolyard Bully”, but what you don’t know is this:

•Cruz bumped Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) in the hallway, pointed and said “what’s that on your tie?” When Udall looked down Cruz flipped up his hand, batting him in the face. As Udall arrived at the Senate cafeteria, he noticed his lunch money was gone.
•Ted Cruz regularly sits on the hood of his Camaro in the Senate parking lot, with a toothpick in his mouth, waiting for the Senate Women’s Caucus to let out.
•When Sen. John McCain asked Cruz what he was filibustering against, Cruz replied “whaddya got?”
•Suspect fitting Cruz’s description drove slowly by the White House, clinking three empty beer bottles stuck to his fingers and taunting, “Obaaaamaaa! Come out to play-ee-yay!”
•Spends all Republican caucus meetings slowly rocking his back-row chair, chewing gum and cracking wise.
•Anonymous complaint filed with the Senate Ethics Committee alleged a certain Texas senator “only refers to Hawaii Sen. Schatz by the present-tense version of his name.”
•Gave Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank a swirly. Refused to pay for replacement eyeglass lens.
•His knuckle tattoos read “SINE DIE.” (Cruz lost his left pinkie at a high-stakes Federalist Society moot court.)
•Joined Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) for an extended game of keep-away with Sen. Leahy’s lip balm. The Senate Judiciary Committee meeting had to be rescheduled.
•Every time Sen. Barbara Mikulski enters a room, Cruz slicks back hair and says, “How YOU doin’?”
•Cruz interrupted a long answer by SecDef nominee Chuck Hagel, with “speaking of drones, we gonna wrap this up soon?”

The 0bama Administration is bragging about the April Jobs Report (pdf):

Today’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that private sector businesses added 176,000 jobs last month. Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 165,000 jobs in April. The February and March employment estimates were revised up by a total of 114,000 jobs. The economy has now added private sector jobs every month for 38 straight months, and a total of 6.8 million jobs has been added over that period. Over 800,000 private sector jobs have been added over the last four months.

The household survey showed that the unemployment rate edged down from 7.6 percent in March to 7.5 percent in April, the lowest rate since December 2008. The labor force participation rate was unchanged at 63.3 percent in April.

Isn’t that special. Let’s look more closely and that report (html), shall we?

While the Establishment Survey says that, seasonally adjusted, there were 165,000 new jobs in April, the Household Survey puts that at 293,000. (Such discrepancies are common, so don’t get worked up about it.) Looking deeper into the Household survey, we see that there were 441,000 more people working part-time. That is a LOSS of 148,000 full-time jobs last month.

The Establishment Survey confirms this assessment: While the total number of nonfarm jobs went from 135,309k to 135,474k (Table B1), the average hours worked each week dropped from 34.6 to 34.4. So, total hours worked per week (nonfarm) dropped from 4.68B to 4.66B — over twenty million hours less work in April than in March.

We didn’t create jobs, we just divided up some of the existing ones.

A new report from the House shows more lies from Obama and Clinton. It isn’t earth shattering news since we have known this from the beginning but I am wondering why, if Clinton gave testimony under oathe, she isn’t held for perjury? I’m a bit tired of the government lying, as will picking and choosing what it wants or doesn’t want to enforce. They don’t enforce gun law violations but want more gun restrictions. They don’t enforce illegal immigration but want immigration reform. They don’t enforce DOMA but want homosexual marriage rights.

Lying used to be something you were held culpable for. You could lose your position, your job, and maybe even a lawsuit or jail time. I expect that from the MSM but it can’t be allowed with the government. It sets precedence and is a very dangerous and deteriorating form for the gov’t to allow. Is it any wonder that the rest of the world looks at the US as some kind of bad joke? I wouldn’t care if we had special elections every two weeks for ousting gov’t liars. Sooner or later we would get people with moral values. In the mean time, expect more lies, deceit, and blaming others where personal integrity should preside.

The news this morning on Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s death was not a shock, but it is sad. Many people today are expresssing their deep respect for Thatcher’s courage and abilites, and thankful for her friendship with President Reagan. I feel blessed to have been a part of history where these two freedom fighters were leading the charge against communism and socialism. With the help of Pope John Paul II, the result of their time here on earth was a world that was more prosperous and free.

RIP Iron Lady. America thanks you.

Many here feel that Abraham Lincoln was a great man. A man of and for the people. I’m not one of those. I know his faults and I know his lies. One thing for sure, he was quite the speaker. Maybe that is why Obama idolize’s Lincoln so much. Maybe it’s a slave thing as Obama feels he has “skin in the game” which, he doesn’t. Regardless the reason, a great travesty was done to the Custis-Lee family and wasn’t rectified until 1882. At that time, so much had transpired on the Lee estate that the family decided to sell it rather than live among the “improvements”. Read it here.

Now times have past and the treachery and insults of the Lincoln administration have all but been forgotten by most. I repeat, by most. The grounds of Arlington House have become hallowed and is now Arlington Cemetery. All manner of persons were buried there in the beginning. Later, criteria was established to allow special individuals the honor of internment, including presidents and politicians. Now I understand why presidents would have that right, as they are CIC of the military, but for the politicians, they deserve no right in that standing alone. Hence, of the three Kennedy brothers, 2 should be re interred somewhere else but I won’t focus on that here.

President Kennedy visited the Cemetery just before his assassination and made comment about the view from the veranda and that it would be a lovely place to be buried and he is, just down the hill from that veranda. Well, something has transpired of late. I don’t know if it was a mind fart while golfing or what but, as you can read here, Obama has decided to forego his birth state Hawai’i (if ever he was really born there) and his hometown of Chicago, for burial rights. He has decided to be buried in Arlington Cemetery. There are just a few things that piss me off about this. Although a wife can be buried with a spouse, he tried to have allowance for his 2 girls also. This would be in violation of the cemetery regulations yet Obama got an allowance of having the girls cremated remains interred with him. Then, to add further insult to injury, the site picked for his burial is the front portico of the Lee mansion. The grave will be covered in Italian marble with inscriptions of his most greatest speeches (of which I can’t even think of one). The site is 50 feet in diameter and will be ringed with 10 monitors that will shows aspects of his life–not just his presidency. He will also have a flame BUT his will be holographic (representing “green energy”) powered by solar panels on the roof of the Lee mansion and battery storage racks filling a 20′x25′ room! The man is absolutely insane and this will make sure that the American public continues to pay for his extravagant lifestyle, even after death. I think these shameless and egregious acts need curtailment and reversal. General Lee and those brave souls in Arlington will be rolling over in their graves on this one.

Detroit is bankrupt and has been for years.

Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder has appointed an emergency financial manager to rescue the city of Detroit - Kevyn Orr:

“Orr is resigning from his law firm, Jones Day, to move to Detroit and start on the job March 25. Orr will begin his emergency financial manager job on March 25 and then becomes emergency manager under Public Act 436 on March 28 when the new law takes effect.Orr will be paid $275,000 a year and have an “open-ended” contract.

Orr, 54, a University of Michigan law school graduate, helped lead Chrysler through its 2009 bankruptcy. He specializes in corporate restructuring, bankruptcy, litigation, appeals and legal recruiting and diversity.”

Further:

“Under the new emergency manager law, Orr will be able to cancel or modify labor union and vendor contracts and sell city assets with the governor and state Treasurer Andy Dillon’s permission. His bankruptcy expertise will likely be utilized to negotiate with the city’s creditors to reduce Detroit’s $14.9 billion in long-term debts and liabilities.”

This will be the one reason Orr can and should succeed.

After years of Democrat Party rule and financial mismangement Detroit has another chance. All because the good people of Michigan had the good sense to elect a fiscally conservative Governor. After Snyder’s win in 2010 Michigan gained a majority in the Michigan House and increased the Republican majority held in the Michigan Senate. While I don’t personally agree with his backing of the 2009 Auto Bailout, he did accomplish the following:

- Reduced the state’s $46 billion budget by $1.8 billion in spending,
- Abolish the state’s complex business tax in favor of a flat tax,
- Signed a bill which eliminated tax exemptions for higher income pensions,
- Signed “landmark” legislation in December 2012 making Michigan the 24th “Right to Work” state in the U.S., and
- Signed legislation requiring facilities where at least 120 abortions are performed annually to obtain a state license as freestanding surgical facilities

May Governor Snyder have continued success in saving Detroit.