New Website Tracks Lobbyist Registrations & Trends in D.C.

From The Sunlight Foundation --

With the 112th Congress officially convened, a new session of lobbying in Washington has also started. In order to know who is lobbying for whom, the Sunlight Foundation today launched its new “Lobbyist Registration Tracker”. The website is a go-to resource on federal lobbying where users can find information on recent registrations made by lobbyists and lobbying firms, the client who hired them and what issues are being lobbied.

Lobbyists have filed more than 350 new registrations since Election Day. Currently, clients are seeking to influence issues from the federal budget and health care to Kyrgyz government negotiations with the United States. Lobbyists must file registrations with the House and Senate within 45 days of being hired. The Lobbyist Registration Tracker utilizes filings made with the Senate Office of Public Records to provide a snapshot — updated weekly — of who is hiring lobbyists and why.

“This website gives you the earliest insights into what policies and topics are drawing the attention of special interests in Washington,” said Bill Allison, editorial director of the Sunlight Foundation. “While we can't fully track campaign money, this is one arena where we have information on about who is meeting with Congress to influence policy matters and government spending.”

The Lobbyist Registration Tracker can be browsed via a single issue, such as banking or defense; by registrant, an individual lobbyist or firm; or by the client that hired the lobbyist. The issue, registrant and client pages include a listing of all new registrations made since 2009 and a timeline of trends over the past 12 months. These pages are available as a RSS feed or can be downloaded as a .CSV file. The Lobbyist Registration Tracker also connects users to the Sunlight Foundation’s Influence Explorer, which provides political contribution, lobbying activity, earmarks and federal spending information on people, organizations and corporations.

Ballots not Bullets

This weekend has been one of great tragedy and loss. This has been a weekend of heartache and great despair for all Americans. Let's keep in our prayers those who have suffered loss. Let's pray for the speedy and full recovery of Gabrielle Giffords.

I had the opportunity to speak on the air with Dave Ramos on WTAM between 4:30PM and 5:00PM on Sunday afternoon. The conversation was along the lines of the horrific events that transpired over the weekend. More specifically, the conversation was about how the sheriff of Pima county and the media in general were trying to blame talk radio and the Tea Party for these heinous acts. My point was lucid and direct. I said, "The Tea Party is about ballots not bullets! The November election was a very clear indication of that. They (the Left) tried to do the same thing back when McVeigh went off in the mid 1990's They tried to blame Rush Limbaugh" Yes I was a bit fired up. You see, I feel personally insulted when the media points the finger at people like me. My point was that the Left tries to create the public perception that folks who are pro small government, pro limited government, and pro constitutional government are, in fact, anti-government. This is a purposeful ruse which has no basis in fact. I went on to say, "Here's this guy Loughner complaining about illiteracy ... yet he can't put together a coherent logical thought in his own mind. Despite his ability to read, he himself could not put together a literate, cohesive philosophy. It doesn't matter if he's reading Karl Marx, or Hitler's Mein Kampf, or my blog. He is not operating on a core set of values." A few more things were said in the stream of consciousness ...then the conversation ended. Mr. Ramos went on to make a very shrewd point. He wondered if this Loughner guy had some kind of weird  "Jody Foster" like obsession. Maybe he was just one of those loons ... the product of a fatal attraction. Mr. Ramos did indicate that there was some type of prior communication between Miss Giffords and the shooter. I believe he said that the shooter had previously attended one of her functions. So, who knows what is in the mind of the person truly on the edge.

But I wanted to vocally defend the Tea Party and all of the wonderful Americans who have an affinity for its tenets. I want to encourage all of the Tea Party strong to be assured in your stance. Keep in mind the mantra of "Ballots Not Bullets" ... then VOTE! Do not be deterred by the laconic labels of the misinformed. Let us keep growing and sharing the common sense of our wise forefathers. Let us stay vigilant. May we learn how to disagree without being disagreeable. Let us be here and now in this moment vital and strong. Harry Reid said on Sunday that, "as soon as the economy improves, the Tea Party will disappear." Harry Reid continues to be wrong ... his streak remains unbroken. Do not give him the satisfaction of being right for the first time in his life. Long live the Tea Party! Gold bless America!

Jeffrey Jay Moore

Although I have graciously been granted permission to post to this blog for over two months, I have (until now) been content to post to my little blogosphere world at fishyspeech.blogspot.com. I only post this link so you can see what I believe qualifies as a lucid rant. My tongue is sharp and vitriolic. This I cannot deny. But my demeanor in the face to face real world is diplomatic. I am fervent in my beliefs but never disrespectful to those with whom I disagree. This crazed shooter did not have a lucid rant and was very disrespectful to those he disagreed with.

AZ Congresswoman Shot at Speaking Event

Speaking at a public event AZ Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head.  Numerous reports indicated Congresswoman Giffords was fatally wounded. The Congresswoman survived the attack and the operation at the hospital and is repsonding to doctors. Various reports also state 3 of her aides and 12-15 bystanders were also shot.

From Fox News --

Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head at close range by a gunman Saturday morning outside a grocery store in Tucson while holding a public event, Fox News has confirmed.

Eight others were shot, including three of the Arizona Democrat's aides, at Giffords' "Your Corner" event held at a Safeway grocery story. A suspect is in custody.

Our hearts & prayers go out to the family of Congresswoman Giffords for this senseless and tragic murder. 

The Cleveland Tea Party Patriots in no way, shape or form condone this type of senseless killing over political differences.  We can only hope an pray that the gunmen bears the full brunt of the law.

But as expected, and by clicking here you can see the comments, the progessive's and those on the left already have their wide brush out and want to hang this murder on the conservative movement, the 2nd Amendment and of course by nature the Tea Party movement. 

Congressman Bob Latta (OH-5) Introduces Legislation to Permanently Repeal Estate Tax

While a battle still rages in OH to repeal the state version of the Estate Tax, Congressman Bob Latta (OH-5) has introduced a bill that would permanently repeal the federal estate tax.

For more information on repealing OH's Estate Tax please click here.  Below is the press release from Congressman Latta on his introduced legislation for permanent repeal of the federal estate tax...

From Congressman Bob Latta (OH-5) --

Washington, Jan 6 - On the first day of the 112th Congress, Congressman Bob Latta (R- Bowling Green) introduced H.R. 143, a bill that if passed, would permanently repeal the estate tax and ensures that individuals are not taxed on the increased value of an estate by retaining the stepped-up basis at death.  A copy of the legislation can be found here.

The estate tax, also known as the death tax, is a federal tax levied against the assets of a person’s estate when they pass away.  Historically, the estate tax was levied at fifty-five percent of one’s estate over $1 million, but the exemption level was increased over the past ten years after a series of tax cuts were signed into law in 2001 and 2003.   In 2010, individuals were freed from having to pay the estate tax.  On January 1, 2011, the estate tax was reinstated for a two year time period at a 35% rate and a $5 million per person exemption.

“The estate tax is archaic and goes against the grain of hard working American families who strongly believe in a founding principle of our country that with hard work, future generations can be better off than the last. Permanently eliminating the estate tax is an important step in ensuring that our small businesses and farmers, an integral part of our nation’s economy, can grow and prosper into future generations.  While the federal government may have taxed a portion of hard-earned American family dollars in the past, it doesn’t mean they have the right to do the same to future generations,” Congressman Latta stated after introducing the legislation.

H.R. 143 has been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Judicial Watch Sues to Obtain Documents Regarding Cost-Based Rationing of Medicare/Medicaid

Judicial Watch, who just recently filed another suit against the Dept. of Health & Human Services (HHS) to obtain documents about the granting of 'exemptions' from Obama Care for some companies and Unions, has again filed suit against HHS requesting information about the rationing of Medicare/Medicaid services based on cost.

From Judicial Watch --

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it filed a lawsuit on January 3, 2011, against the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding a controversial decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to undertake a one-year review of the prostate cancer treatment Provenge to determine if the treatment is “reasonable and necessary” and should therefore be reimbursed.

Provenge, the first ever therapeutic vaccine cancer treatment approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), was shown to have extended life spans by an average of four months in clinical trials with few side effects. It costs $93,000 to administer the three necessary treatments. Medicare and the FDA are legally prohibited from denying approval of a medical treatment based solely on cost. Yet multiple press reports suggest that cost is the major factor in the unusual decision by CMS to undertake a review of the treatment which could signal a move by the Obama administration to begin implementing healthcare rationing based on the cost of treatments.

Judicial Watch’s original FOIA request, filed on November 9, 2010, seeks the following information: “All records concerning CMS’s national coverage analysis of the vaccine Provenge, including but not limited to the criteria being used to analyze Provenge.”

Health and Human Services was required by law to respond to Judicial Watch’s request by December 15, 2010. However, to date, the agency has failed to provide any documents or indicate why documents should be withheld. Nor has it indicated when a response is forthcoming.

CMS Administrator Donald Berwick is on record supporting the idea of rationing healthcare based on cost. Berwick said the following in a June 2009 interview with Biotechnology Healthcare: “The social budget is limited — we have a limited resource pool. It makes terribly good sense to at least know the price of an added benefit, and at some point we might say nationally, regionally, or locally that we wish we could afford it, but we can’t… The decision is not whether or not we will ration care, the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.”

Owing to the controversy surrounding Berwick’s statements, President Obama bypassed Senate confirmation and made Berwick a “recess appointment,” a decision criticized by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

“The Obama administration claims there is no merit to the charge that the Provenge decision is the first step in implementing healthcare rationing so why not release these records? What does the Obama administration have to hide? Provenge is an FDA approved drug that has a proven track record and the Obama administration has no legal right to deny this treatment based on its cost. But the American people are right to be concerned about this Provenge review, given the fact that a man dubbed ‘Death Panel Donald’ Berwick is in charge of Medicare and Medicaid,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

2011 Statistical Abstract of the United States

The Census Bureau released on online version of the 2011 edition of the Statistical Abstract of the United States, a vast compilation of data and statistics. The 1,407 tables describe the state of the nation's social, political and economic condition.

Constitutionalism

Below is a great column by Charles Krauthammer....

For decades, Democrats and Republicans fought over who owns the American flag. Now they're fighting over who owns the Constitution.

The flag debates began during the Vietnam era when leftist radicals made the fatal error of burning it. For decades since, non-suicidal liberals have tried to undo the damage. Demeaningly, and somewhat unfairly, they are forever having to prove their fealty to the flag.

Amazingly, though, some still couldn't get it quite right. During the last presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama, asked why he was not wearing a flag pin, answered that it represented "a substitute" for "true patriotism." Bad move. Months later, Obama quietly beat a retreat and began wearing the flag on his lapel. He does so still.

Today, the issue is the Constitution. It's a healthier debate because flags are pure symbolism and therefore more likely to evoke pure emotion and ad hominem argument. The Constitution, on the other hand, is a document that speaks. It defines concretely the nature of our social contract. Nothing in our public life is more substantive.

Americans are in the midst of a great national debate over the power, scope and reach of the government established by that document. The debate was sparked by the current administration's bold push for government expansion - a massive fiscal stimulus, Obamacare, financial regulation and various attempts at controlling the energy economy. This engendered a popular reaction, identified with the Tea Party but in reality far more widespread, calling for a more restrictive vision of government more consistent with the Founders' intent.

Call it constitutionalism. In essence, constitutionalism is the intellectual counterpart and spiritual progeny of the "originalism" movement in jurisprudence. Judicial "originalists" (led by Antonin Scalia and other notable conservative jurists) insist that legal interpretation be bound by the text of the Constitution as understood by those who wrote it and their contemporaries. Originalism has grown to become the major challenger to the liberal "living Constitution" school, under which high courts are channelers of the spirit of the age, free to create new constitutional principles accordingly.

What originalism is to jurisprudence, constitutionalism is to governance: a call for restraint rooted in constitutional text. Constitutionalism as a political philosophy represents a reformed, self-regulating conservatism that bases its call for minimalist government - for reining in the willfulness of presidents and legislatures - in the words and meaning of the Constitution.

Hence that highly symbolic moment on Thursday when the 112th House of Representatives opened with a reading of the Constitution. Remarkably, this had never been done before - perhaps because it had never been so needed. The reading reflected the feeling, expressed powerfully in the last election, that we had moved far, especially the past two years, from a government constitutionally limited by its enumerated powers to a government constrained only by its perception of social need.

The most galvanizing example of this expansive shift was, of course, the Democrats' health-care reform, which will revolutionize one-sixth of the economy and impose an individual mandate that levies a fine on anyone who does not enter into a private contract with a health insurance company. Whatever its merits as policy, there is no doubting its seriousness as constitutional precedent: If Congress can impose such a mandate, is there anything that Congress may not impose upon the individual?

The new Republican House will henceforth require, in writing, constitutional grounding for every bill submitted. A fine idea, although I suspect 90 percent of them will simply make a ritual appeal to the "general welfare" clause. Nonetheless, anything that reminds members of Congress that they are not untethered free agents is salutary.

But still mostly symbolic. The real test of the Republicans' newfound constitutionalism will come in legislating. Will they really cut government spending? Will they really roll back regulations? Earmarks are nothing. Do the Republicans have the courage to go after entitlements as well?

In the interim, the cynics had best tread carefully. Some liberals are already disdaining the new constitutionalism, denigrating the document's relevance and sneering at its public recitation. They sneer at their political peril. In choosing to focus on a majestic document that bears both study and recitation, the reformed conservatism of the Obama era has found itself not just a symbol but an anchor.

Constitutionalism as a guiding political tendency will require careful and thoughtful development, as did jurisprudential originalism. But its wide appeal and philosophical depth make it a promising first step to a conservative future.