Would you consider Washington state a business friendly climate?  What is the biggest burden to your business?  Is it  L & I, B & O Tax…name it?  If you no longer own a business, why did you close or what was the biggest contributing factor to your lack of success?

Thoughts?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703954904575110124037066854.html

Progress moves us forward.  Progressives move us back.  It is that simple.  Two very different ideas which can be used to either; move forward along the path our great nation was founded upon while maintaining its strong core values… or, a bullet train  that jumps the track and moves us away from our Constitution, our rights and  endangers the very foundation which we have built upon for generations… these United States of America.

Up until my first Tea Party event, last April, right here in Bellingham on the Guide Meridian, I was beginning to believe we were on the brink of becoming the “Divided” States of America.  What I experienced changed my mind.  I saw young and old, babies in strollers and grandparents in wheel chairs. I met former Hillary, Obama, McCain and Paul supporters, each representing a very different political platform with diverse promises.  All disenfranchised.  There was no discrimination as black, white, yellow, brown and every beautiful shade in between came together to say, “WE THE PEOPLE”. We share the common threads running through the fabric of our existence; Patriotism, love of liberty, freedom and passion for our Country, and She is worth saving.  These threads, which brought us together on April 15^th and again on September 12^th, at a SMALL gathering in Washington D.C., bring us together tonight.  Our sense of country, our sense of pride, our sense of livelihood… but most of all, WE THE PEOPLE have brought back COMMON SENSE!

I am here to tell you - the tides have changed, the water is churning and there is a passion of the people swelling across this country. WE THE PEOPLE ARE TAKING BACK AMERICA.

Beginning with the first stimulus, over a year and a half ago, I knew of no one, with the exception of a select few, who was in favor of it. Yet, we got it.  PROGRESS or PROGRESSIVE? Remember, Senators McCain, then Senator Obama and President Bush all signed it because the sky was going to fall.  In October of 2008, right after the stimulus was voted on, I was sitting in the audience of a local business group forum.  There, I was able to bear witness, first hand, to the arrogance and discounting of “WE THE PEOPLE”.  I watched and listened as one of our PROGRESSIVE U.S. Representatives was taken to task regarding his firm support of the bill.  A woman in the audience asked, “Sir, I called your office and told them I did not want you to vote for the stimulus bill.  Moments ago, you stood right here and said, “the calls, letters and emails you had received regarding the stimulus bill ran ‘50/50.  50% NO! and 50% HELL NO!’ You say you voted for it anyway because you believe you know what is best for the voters.  Can WE THE PEOPLE continue to count on you for that kind of support if you are re-elected?”  The Representative replied, “I will always do what I think is in the best interest of the voters no matter what they say.”  When did CHANGE mean a politician no longer has to listen to 100% of his constituents?  Again, I pose the question,

PROGRESS or PROGRESSIVE? 

Are there any true leaders making PROGRESS in Washington, D.C. because I cannot find them and there seems to be no difference in parties or politics, left or right.  All have become self-serving, or dare I say, under-serving… and may I add, what is being served to the American people is not on my menu.  It is the same old, same old status quo plated up for the people.  Well, I have had enough thank you and I know I’m not alone.  Stand with me and say NO MORE!  WE THE PEOPLE know best how we should be served…after all…isn’t every sitting politician supposed to be representing THE PEOPLE?   In our nation’s capitol, here in Olympia and right in our own county, we have career politicians who no longer take their oath seriously.  I mean really, when you hold up your right hand and promise to uphold the Constitution of this Country…WE THE PEOPLE mean for you to do just that no matter the level at which you serve.  Instead, we have halls filled with lobbyists full of political prowess; special interest groups looking for a handout and others who never remove the blinders off their PROGRESSIVE agenda to worry about how their ideology will affect the working man, the costs to the people and their families or the long term impacts, impacts which will cost not just you and I, but our children and our children’s children!  Most of all, we have politicians spending our money frivolously instead of frugally.  Their great concern, when they are not spending our money, is advancing those PROGRESSIVE agendas and working on their next re-election bid.  Well, this year we plan a bid of our own.  We plan to bid adieux to lifetime politicians and PROGRESSIVES. So, no matter how they try to step away, or decide on ‘early retirement’…WE WILL REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER!

Here in lie the fundamental differences between PROGRESS and PROGRESSIVES, which has lead us to where we are today:

PROGRESS is taking a disorganized country and giving it civility, accountability and responsibility.  I would say Our Constitution and Bill of Rights have managed to do those three things very well for over 230 years.

PROGRESSIVES want to pitch these documents out the window and give us something better.

The Constitution and Bill of Rights are not broken, so don’t try to fix them.

CAUSE THEY DON’T NEED FIXIN’!

Illegal Immigration

PROGRESS would be taking those who unlawfully enter our country and sending them back from where they came, not housing them in our jails and prison systems and draining our resources of taxpayer dollars.  PROGRESSIVE would be to grant amnesty, put them all on programs with our tax dollars and call it social justice.  PROGRESS is recognizing the pathway to becoming a US citizen and honoring it.   PROGRESSIVE would be reading Miranda Rights to Foreign Nationals, including the ones that try to blow up airplanes and cause us harm.

Lobbyists

PROGRESS is changing legislation so that NO candidate, from any party, can buy our votes and voices. Representatives should be listening and voting for their constituents.  PROGRESSIVE is to hire a couple dozen Czars to work for the White House, line their pockets, and then try and tell us we didn’t notice!

ACORN

My personal favorite.  Last year, September 11^th, during our WE THE PEOPLE event, we returned from an intermission to some great news - government funding for ACORN would be temporarily cut-off.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I call that PROGRESS.  PROGRESSis when ACORN records are found in dumpsters in San Diego & Atlanta, the director of ACORN in Las Vegas turns state’s evidence against them and two ‘twenty-somethings’ expose the truth with hidden videos.  PROGRESSIVES still deny it.

While PROGRESSwas defunding ACORN,  PROGRESSIVE was having our own state Representative be one of only a handful who cast a vote to keep federal funds flowing into their confers.  Of course, we have to give our Representative a break.  He is on record as stating he is not familiar with ACORN.  I guess you would have to live under a rock or in D.C. to be this ignorant.

UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE

PROGRESS is Massachusetts!  No Super Majority to force feed us something we DO NOT want, or to pass a 2,000 page (and climbing) bill WE THE PEOPLE know more about than those doing the voting.  We need reform.  We can agree on that.  PROGRESSIVE is carefully calculating one more government takeover, then parceling out the bill and passing it in small bites instead of one force fed anomaly.

TRANSPARENCY

PROGRESS is having open dialogue and distribution of information so WE THE PEOPLE can make our own decision.  We have not been as dummied down as they would have us believe.  PROGRESSIVEis to say eight times, on tape, that Healthcare hearings will be seen on C-SPAN, only to close the doors in the midnight hour to bully a bill into passage.

Here are a few areas I believe PROGRESS has been halted by PROGRESSIVES:

 I call them the four “E’s”!

ECONOMIC JUSTICE – who ever heard of such a thing?  This is just another word used to drum up support for redistribution of wealth.

EDUCATION – We are spending more money than ever on educating this nation, yet we fail to ensure the money goes straight to the classroom.  Our failure rates are continuing to climb.  Maybe we should get back to teaching the basics, reading, writing and arithmetic.  New math?  There was nothing wrong with the old math.  No matter where you go around the globe, one plus one is still going to equal two! Or how about teaching history, instead of trying to re-write it while leaving out those bothersome little details known as facts?

ENVIRONMENT – No matter how you slice it or dice it, the select few who want to dictate to us how to use our property, where to place our animals and infringe on our rights as property owners, will stand and tell us they know better how to steward our lands than we do.  All the while, knowing they have NO working knowledge of the fruits of our labor or the hardships endured.

ENERGY – PROGRESSIVE would just as soon have us riding bikes and walking for the rest of our days, than admit we are spending 24.5 BILLION dollars a year on the Department of Energy and getting no closer to the department’s intended goal of oil independence.

PROGRESS versus PROGRESSIVE… it is a choice. We can either sit by silently and watch our representatives make poor choices for us, or, as our founding fathers so eloquently demonstrated, we can pull together and put America back on the course they forged for us so long ago. 

We’re taking back America and the people’s seats one by one.  Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts - Yes, the tides have turned, the wave is swelling and ready to crash down upon those in our capitol.  I hope for their sake they’re all wearing their life preservers because this Huntington Beach, California girl is going to be riding the wave, surfboard and all.

“WE THE PEOPLE” have a window opportunity in our lifetime to ensure that liberty, freedom and the pursuit of happiness continue on for future generations.

“WE THE PEOPLE” MUST make our voices known and our votes count.  Now is the time to empower ourselves by standing as one nation.  WE are silent no more and WE are stronger than ever.  Together, brothers and sisters bonded by our patriotism and love of country more than self, “WE THE PEOPLE” will have PROGRESS.

If 2009 is known as the year of taking it to the streets, let 2010 be the year of taking it to the polls!

PROGRESS IS…WE THE PEOPLE WHO WILL REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER!

Washington State may pass a bill banning teens under 18 years of age from using a cell phone or texting.  I personally don’t have a problem with hands-free cell phone use, but I think texting should be banned across the board for all ages.  What do you think?

How do you feel about the US Postal Service considering the suspension of Saturday delivery?

By Sen. Jim DeMint

You’d think the Obama administration is busy enough controlling the banks, insurance companies and automakers, but thanks to whistleblowers at the Department of the Interior, we now learn they’re planning to increase their control over energy-rich land in the West.

A secret administration memo has surfaced revealing plans for the federal government to seize more than 10 million acres from Montana to New Mexico, halting job- creating activities like ranching, forestry, mining and energy development. Worse, this land grab would dry up tax revenue that’s essential for funding schools, firehouses and community centers.

President Obama could enact the plans in this memo with just the stroke of a pen, without any input from the communities affected by it.

At a time when our national unemployment rate is 9.7 percent, it is unbelievable anyone would be looking to stop job-creating energy enterprises, yet that’s exactly what’s happening.

The document lists 14 properties that, according to the document, “might be good candidates” for Mr. Obama to nab through presidential proclamation. Apparently, Washington bureaucrats believe it’s more important to preserve grass and rocks for birdwatchers and backpackers than to keep these local economies thriving.

Administration officials claim the document is merely the product of a brainstorming session, but anyone who reads this memo can see that it is a wish list for the environmentalist left. It discusses, in detail, what kinds of animal populations would benefit from limiting human activity in those areas.

The 21-page document, marked “Internal Draft-NOT FOR RELEASE,” names 14 different lands Mr. Obama could completely close for development by unilaterally designating them as “monuments” under the 1906 Antiquities Act.

It says all kinds of animals would be better off by doing so, like the coyotes, badgers, grouse, chickens and lizards. But giving the chickens more room to roost is no reason for the government to override states’ rights.

Rep. Robert Bishop, Utah Republican, made the memo public because he didn’t want another unilateral land grab by the White House, like what happened under former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Using the Antiquities Act, President Carter locked up more land than any other president had before him, taking more than 50 million acres in Alaska despite strong opposition from the state.

Please note the table on page two…Bellingham is now at $11.20 per household average.  Making us the third highest in the state.

Also, under ‘ The Scientific Record’ section…notice the data claims which have been used to scare the public are incorrect.  You never hear about a retraction or errors in calculation in the media.  We just get the spoon-fed B.S.

http://www.washingtonpolicy.org/Centers/environment/legislativememo/Stormwater.pdf

The U.S. Supreme Court will discuss the 2nd Amendment tomorrow.  Where do you stand?  Do you own a gun?  If we ban guns will crime go down? Is an armed society one with citizens?  Is an unarmed society one of subjects?

Link to the Washington State Legislature ‘Use of State Resources’ WAC 292-110-010.  It is strictly prohibited to have placed the ad on WorkSource’s web page.  There are strict ethics when it comes to a government agency campaigning or politicizing.  The arrogance of WTA is truly disgusting.

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=292-110-010

I still get the occassional letters from those that want to tell me they know the UK and Canada have fantastic health system run by their government.  I know better.  Not only do I have family abroad and have heard of first hand health-mare stories…I read it for myself.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7071660.stm

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/10/15/waittimes-fraser.html (Canada)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7271029.stm  (UK)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1887239/posts  (France)