Garden State Patriot

I will be in Washington, D.C. on Thursday to fight against the socialist takeover of our healthcare system. Hope to have video of the events by Friday. This rally may well attract thousands of activists and there should be plenty of press coverage. For those of you reading this, please chip in by calling your member of Congress and telling them to oppose this terrible legislation.

Earlier today I posted about the ‘Congressional House Call’ day being planned by Americans for Prosperity. This event is growing by the minute. I just got off a phone call with Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, AFP’s Tim Phillips and Steve Lonegan. In just a day and a half, Steve Lonegan has 20 buses ready to go from New Jersey area alone to DC. If this is any inkling, we could be on the cusp of witnessing an unprecedented event on Thursday – with thousands of activists prepared to go to Washington, go to the Capitol, and tell their representatives face-to-face that we do not want this!

So, if you haven’t yet joined up and wish to, there is still time. Here is the specific info on buses that will be leaving from the New Jersey area.  

To join the New Jersey Delegation Bus to Washington, DC with Rep. Scott Garrett, Steve Lonegan and your fellow activists, click here.

New Jersey Transportation:
*6:30am- Blue Heron Park and Ride
(located off of Rte 15 at the Blue Heron Exit in Sparta)

*7:00am- Ridgewood Park and Ride
(located on Rte 17 south in Ridgewood)

*7:00am- Shore Mall (behind Value City)
6725 Black Horse Pike, Egg Harbor Twp, NJ 08234-3904

Philadelphia Transportation:
*Rockledge/NE Philadelphia- 8:00am
Huntingdon Valley Mall
Huntingdon Pike and Rockledge Avenues ( Abington, PA)

* Center City ( Philadelphia)- 8:30am
On 3rd Street between Chestnut and Walnut
(outside Independence National Park Living History Museum)

* South Philadelphia-9:00 am
Oregon Diner, 3rd and Oregon Streets

Please email infonj@afphq.org or call 201-487-8844 with any questions.

If you cannot come to DC, I would also suggest that you go to AFP’s web site and see what you can do to do something locally at your representative’s office.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

When you are done voting, it will be no time to rest on your laurels. The healthcare battle will begin in earnest this week, with the House ready to vote on a bill by the end of this week. As I have posted time and again, we the people need to stand up NOW to try to stop this. 

There are a number of things you can do this week to contribute. First and foremost, Mayor Lonegan is organizing bus trips to Washington, D.C. that will leave on Thursday morning. Here is Steve’s message:

This Thursday, I will be joining Congressman Scott Garrett, Congresswoman Michelle Bachman and dozens of other national leaders on the steps of our Nation’s capitol and I need you to join me.

Together, we can stop the Obama-Palosi-Reed attack on our health care, but only if you act now.

We beat them at Town Hall meetings, we outnumbered them in phone calls and letters and every poll in America tells them the vast majority of Americans are opposed to their radical agenda. THEY JUST DON’T CARE! They have a plan for your future and you will have no say, no control, no other opportunity to fight back unless you act now.

To stop this radical attack on our nation’s future and our individual liberty I am sending buses of freedom loving Americans to Washington DC this Thursday morning for the Hands Off our Health Care rally and for meetings with House of Representatives members in the afternoon.
For departures and information go to taxpayerminute.com
We are going to flood the Congressional office building with great Americans like you and I need you there, your children need you there and your country needs you there.

Buses are now leaving from locations in Bergen County, Sussex County and Atlantic County as well as Philadelphia. I need volunteers to help organize buses, get fliers out and help in organizing this historic and challenging effort.

This is crunch time, folks. Now let’s see what we are made of.

If you can help in any way, contact me at 201 487-8844 or email steven.lonegan@afphq.org

If you can not come to D.C., Americans for Prosperity is urging people to go to the local offices of the representatives. This from AFP’s Tim Phillips:

This Thursday join our “Congressional House Call” day. It’s easy. Just go to your closest House or Senate local office at 12 Noon your local time to make sure they hear your voice one last time before the House vote. To find your closest office and to let us know you will take a stand Click Here: http://americansforprosperity.org/cong.php

We’ve got to show them they’re wrong. Join the “Congressional House Call” day this Thursday by going to your member’s district office this Thursday at 12 Noon your time. Take pictures of your visit and send them to me at TimPhillips@afp-mail.com or post them on my Facebook by clicking here http://www.facebook.com/timphillipsafp

If you cannot go in person use the link to call your member of the House and Senate at 12 Noon this Thursday and tell them you’re making a “Congressional House Call” by phone.

We’re at a crucial time in this health care battle. Please take action!

Personally, I would suggest to all of you to start contacting your representatives tomorrow. We need to put as much pressure on as possible. We can not wait around for tomorrow’s election results to pour in. And even if Chris Christie wins, it is no time to become complacent. Tomorrow’s elections are important but the most important thing going on this week is going to be taking place in the halls of Congress – where the freedoms we hold dear are going to be under a full-blown assault. As, Congressman Pence tells us here, ‘Make your voice heard!’

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

I just got off a brief phone call with Tim Phillips of Americans for Prosperity and Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann. I can’t emphasize enough that we are at a tipping point in the healthcare debate. House Democrats led by Nancy Pelousy are primed to pass a 1990 page monstrosity of a bill that, make no mistake, will take over our healthcare system. It is up to us now to stop them.

Rep Bachmann said the House bill will cut $500B from Medicare. On average, people will pay $4000 a year more for health insurance. If you are under 30, 8%-12% of your income will go to health insurance. Ameerican businesses would be made to pay at least 8% more in payroll tax. And 5.5 million jobs could be lost.

On Monday, the House will actually post the final version of the bill. Rep. Bachmann said the bill released today is incomplete and that other items will likely be added to this destructive measure at the last minute with the final version, again, coming out on Monday. Thereafter, the House will have 3 days of *debate* with a vote scheduled for next Friday.

Rep. Bachmann pointed out that if this passes the federal government will ‘own or control’ almost 50% of private sector wealth. Currently, in this bailpout era, 30% of the private sector is in the hands of the federal government. A takeover of the healthcare industry would bring us to an outrageous 48%.

The Congresswoman pleaded for all of us to start calling our Senators and Representatives and to join in the AFP ‘House Call’ scheduled for next Thursday. In fact, she went so far as to say to ‘get here [to Washington] next week,’ go to the offices of our legislators and put as much pressure on possible for them to stop. She believes that they have forgotten the town hall meetings and they think the rest of us have likewise forgotten.

Summing it up, Rep. Bachmann said, ‘This is it. There is no going back.’

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

The Obama Administration apparently is hell bent on controlling the media and stifling dissent at every turn. If it isn’t fighting a war with Fox News – the only war the administration is willing to fight I might add – it is threatening to bring back the ‘Fairness Doctrine’ to, ultimately, kill talk radio. Now, the next target in their crosshairs is the Internet.

On Thursday, the FCC will be voting on so-called ‘Net Neutrality’ rules. As is typical of the left, they couch their anti-freedom, un-American agenda in innocent sounding phrases. But ‘Net Neutrality’ is anything but. It is just another effort by this administration to erode our first amendment rights and attempt to silence opposing voices; in this case, by taking steps that would set the stage for government takeover of the Internet.

Phil Kerpen of Americans for Prosperity explains how this will work – and what you and I can do to try and stop it:

As important as all the fights are that we’re in right now, perhaps the biggest of all is the fight over whether the government will take over the Internet.  That’s because as long as the Internet is free, we can use it to communicate, educate, and organize.  Tea parties, townhalls, and AFP events would be very difficult to organize if government owned and controlled the Internet and chose to interfere with it.  That’s what’s at stake this week as the Federal Communications Commission decides on Thursday whether to move forward with so-called “net neutrality” regulations.

The net neutrality movement is an outgrowth of the larger so-called media reform project of radical left-wing activists like Robert McChesney who seek to destroy private control of the country’s communications systems.

I discussed McChesney and the so-called media reform movement last night on the Glenn Beck show, and you can watch that clip here.  I’ll be on with Glenn again tonight to discuss net neutrality specifically.

As the Internet Freedom Coalition shows on our Net Neutrality Scare Ticket it has now been nearly 7 years since the November 19, 2002 letter that started the net neutrality scare, without a single significant incident of the kind of egregious behavior by evil phone and cable companies we’re told require government intervention.  It’s a solution in search of a problem.

Net neutrality sounds simple–force phone and cable companies to treat every bit of information the same way–until you realize that modern networks are incredibly complex, with millions of lines of code in every router.  Making sure services like VoIP, video conferencing, and telemedicine (not to mention the next great thing that hasn’t been invented yet) get priority may be necessary to make the Internet work. But the government is working to do just the opposite.

These networks cost billions of dollars to build and maintain, and if there is uncertainty whether there will be a good return on that investment, private investment will dry up.  And then government will step in, spending billions of our tax dollars on a government-owned and controlled Internet.

That’s their plan.

The push for a Washington takeover of the Internet is coming from the White House.  It includes Susan Crawford, the so-called Internet Czar, who told The Wall Street Journal in April that the $7.2 billion of stimulus money for broadband she is helping spend is a “down payment on future government investments in the Internet.”  She went on to say: “We should do a better job as a nation of making sure fast, affordable broadband is as ubiquitous as electricity, water, snail mail or any other public utility.”

It comes right from the top.  President Obama himself said on the campaign trail: “I will take a backseat to no one in my commitment to Net Neutrality.”

The FCC will vote Thursday on what it calls a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Net Neutrality.  If it passes, it will start a public comment period and I’ll be emailing you again with instructions on how to file comments.  But for the next couple days, we need to make our case against the FCC even taking that first step down the road to a Washington takeover of the Internet. 

Here’s what you can do to help: The FCC created a website at www.OpenInternet.gov where you can comment on government regulating the Internet under so-called net neutrality rules.  The left has been flooding it with comments.  Please take a moment to head over to www.OpenInternet.gov and click on “Join the Discussion” to make your voice heard for keeping the Internet in private hands.  

Honestly, I don’t know what else is left for this administration to attack. They don’t like the free market. They don’t like the free press. And they don’t like free speech. To wit, it’s hard to conclude anything other than, this administration doesn’t like freedom much at all.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

Americans for Prosperity has posted some invaluable information pertaining to the Open Space ballot question. I would urge you to read the following and vote ’NO’ on this initiative.

The “Green Acres” program, touted by politicians as a way to preserve the natural environment in New Jersey means nothing more than higher taxes and more debt for New Jersey residents.  Ballot Question #1 proposes an additional $400 million for this program—we must Stop Higher Taxes and Stop the Debt — by voting NO on Question One on this November’s ballot.

Here is why Ballot Question #1 is a disaster for New Jersey:

The state’s debt has exploded from $4 billion to $46 billion in only fifteen years. We face a budget deficit next year of almost $10 billion—we cannot afford anymore debt!

New Jersey’s statewide system of preserved open space now amounts to over 1.4 million acres – that’s more than a quarter of all the land in the state! And now, in the midst of the worst economic climate since the Great Depression, this is not the time to spend more money and go deeper into debt.

With the highest property taxes in the nation, Garden State homeowners already put 7 percent of their paychecks toward property taxes. By purchasing more open space, Trenton will diminish the property tax base, and you will pay the difference in higher taxes!

Where will the $400 million go?

$20 million will go to pay off lawyers, bond counsels, consultants and other political hacks. Open space programs have been riddled with corruption.

Millions more will be used to purchase decrepit buildings in urban centers.  What’s that have to do with “open space.”

The state cannot even maintain the parks we already have — the same parks that Governor Corzine who supports this boondoggle — threatened to close last year.

Worst of all, Trenton will be adding to the fiscal ball and chain that follows every child and taxpayer who lives in New Jersey.  What the bureaucrats spend today the children of tomorrow will pay.

Stop Higher Taxes and Stop the Debt — by voting NO on Question One on this November’s ballot.

In addition, AFP’s Steve Lonegan will be holding a teleconference on the open space initiative next Thursday, as well as appearing on NJN for a debate which will air this weekend.

I am scheduling a special teleconference for important individuals like yourself to help provide up-to-date information and ask questions. Please join me on Thursday, October 15 at 8:00 PM. Call in to 1-877-229-8493 enter pin code 13103.

This weekend I am appearing on NJN’s “On the Record” with Michael Aron. I will be opposite the bill’s prime sponsor Assemblyman John McKeon. The program airs Sunday October 11th at 9:00am and 11:00am and again Monday at 6:30am.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

Patients First has designated tomorrow, Tuesday, October 6th, as National Call-Congress Day. The Democrats in Congress are hell-bent on passing some kind of healthcare legislation and, as I have posted about, Harry Reid is in fact pushing to get a bill with a public option to the President. Now is the time for us to re-double our efforts tomorrow and keep the pressure on key legislators.

Patients First has more info on this on their website and here on Facebook.

Also, according to the Organization for Conservative Americans, these are the Senators that we need to focus on:

Sen. Mary Landrieu (LA) 202-224-5834
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (AR) 202-224-4843
Sen. Mark Pryor (AR) 202-224-2353
Sen . Russ Feingold (WI) 202-224-5323
Sen. Joe Lieberman (CN) 202-224-4041…
Sen. Jon Tester (MT) 202-224-2644
Sen.Byron Dorgan (ND)202-224-2551
Sen. Ben Nelson (NE) 202-224-6551
Sen. Bill Nelson (FL) 202-224-5274
Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME) 202-224-5344
Sen. Kent Conrad (ND) 202-224-2043

Steve Lonegan also had an opportunity to address the activists at the AFP Summit this weekend. Steve primarily focused on an initiative that will be on the ballot regarding open space. This measure, as Steve details, would only add to New Jersey’s debt. Check out his address here and I will certainly have more on this as we head towards November’s election.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

AFP’ers were treated to a fantastic speech by Speaker Gingrich yesterday, as Sharon and I described in some detail. Before sharing some of that speech below, here is a short clip of Speaker Gingrich taking a moment to acknowledge AFP for its role and commend the numerous citizen activists who comprise the organization. These are people who epitomize the term ‘grassroots activists.’ 

And here is a portion of Speaker Gingrich’s address. The one thing I have always loved about hearing Newt speak is, along with so ably discussing issues of the day, he also brings a historic perspective that few others can. In this portion of the speech the Speaker does just that in describing how George Washington led the revolutionaries to victory. Enjoy!

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

As I mentioned yesterday, the AFP New Jersey contingent dropped by for a little chat on Friday with Senator Lautenberg. Although the Senator was back in New Jersey, we were able to meet with his spokesperson (I believe his name was Doug). To his credit, Doug was very professional and handled our questions and comments repectfully.

However, I had a chance before the meet-up ended to ask about the report I posted on earlier this week, regarding Harry Reid scheming to get a health care bill to the President’s desk by attaching it to a House bill that has nothing to do with health care.

I expected that I would hear from Doug that the report wasn’t true or that he knew nothing of it. Instead, though, he attempted to duck and dodge my question – for example, by saying 60 votes would still be needed, when that is only true of the vote to end a filibuster and not a vote on the final bill.

Further, when I pressed Doug to see if the Senator would oppose any effort by the Majority Leader in attaching the Senate bill to a non-healthcare House bill, he would not answer and provided no such commitment.

Unfortunately, the only conclusion I can draw from this is that the Senator knows of this effort and would not use his influence in the Senate to oppose it. Yes, I know…hardly shocking. Yet still, as we begin calling our legislators this week – AFP will be promoting a national drive to just that – on top of voicing your opposition to healthcare, be sure to contact Senator Lautenberg’s office and pressure him to put a stop to this underhanded approach to passing their agenda.

By the way, we should all be proud that our tax dollars pay for the Senator’s posh Washington office and LCD TV’s. How else would his staff be able to tune in to MSNBC while at work?

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!