Archives for May 2011

May 31, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the 4.2 percent decline in home values in the first quarter as measured by the S&P/Case Shiller home price index:

“We are now officially in a double dip in housing. The Obama Administration promised that if trillions of dollars in fiscal and monetary ‘stimulus’ were injected into the economy, that it would turn the housing market around. Yet, despite the tremendous run up in government debt and money printing to prop up the economy, home values are now at their lowest point in this recession — lower than even April 2009.

“That means 3.3 million people who used the $22 billion homebuyer’s tax credit, which temporarily juiced the market, are now likely already in negative equity on their new homes. What sort of ‘recovery’ is this? It’s a failure. We should have just let prices hit the bottom in the first place. Instead of bailing out banks, it would have been better to let investors that bet poorly on housing to fail. If government had just gotten out of the way, we would already be in recovery.

Obama has prolonged the recession he swore to pull us out of, wasting over $2 trillion on a lie. Obama has been given everything he wanted — everything he said would turn the economy around. The ‘stimulus’ has failed. Now is the time for a new direction for America, and that will only come with new leadership on the economy, before we go bankrupt trying to ‘stimulate’ it.”
Attachments:

S&P/Case-Shiller housing price index chart shows double-dip, May 31st, 2011 at http://www.getliberty.org/content_images/Case-Shiller5-31-11.PNG.

“Double Dip in House Threatens Obama Recovery,” by ALG Senior Editor Robert Romano, May10th, 2011 athttp://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?display=3317.

“Double-Dip in Housing, Rising Inflation, and Soaring Debt Disprove ‘Stimulus,’ Threaten Ship of State,” by ALG Senior Editor Robert Romano, April 27th, 2011 at http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?display=3281.

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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May 27th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President (ALG) Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging the Maine legislature to adopt a measure that would give public sector employees the option of whether or not to join a union:

“All employees, whether public or private, ought to have a choice if they wish to join a union. The Maine legislature is simply taking the same step that New Hampshire has in considering passing right-to-work legislation for public sector workers, to bring an end to the dominance that the unions have wielded in making the cost of government unsustainable at a state level.

“This is about fairness to workers, and their freedom to choose, but it is also about reining in the spiraling costs of public sector pension and health care benefits. The Maine legislature is taking the responsible step to help bring its fiscal house into order.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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May 26, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued a statement urging House Speaker John Boehner to use his Article I, Section 5 powers to keep Congress in session to block recess appointments by Barack Obama:

“Barack Obama has demonstrated with the recess appointments of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board and Donald Berwick to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that he is willing to do whatever it takes to get his most radical nominees into the bureaucracy, even when they fail at Senate confirmation.

“There can be no more radical recess appointments allowed. Becker is committed to compulsory unionism, and now is proving that in his actions to block Boeing from setting up shop in South Carolina, a right-to-work state. And Berwick is dedicated to a government-run health care system that rations limited care in place of a private system that innovates and creates new cures and new medicines that everyone depends on.

“Senate Republicans are now urging House Speaker John Boehner to use his constitutional authority to keep Congress in session to prevent any more radical recess appointments from being made. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled the same trick in 2007 and 2008 to keep the Senate in session, effectively blocking Bush Administration recess appointments. Now it is time for Republicans to return the favor.

“The last thing the American people want are extremists like Goodwin Liu, who is dedicated to reading welfare ‘rights’ into the Constitution, put on the federal bench via recess appointment. If recess appointments are the only way Obama can get these radicals appointed, then it is up to Speaker Boehner not to allow Congress to go into recess.”

Attachments:

“Republican Senators call on GOP House to block Obama recess appointments,” By Philip Klein, The Washington Examiner, May 25, 2011 at http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/05/republican-senators-call-gop-house-block-obama-recess-appointment#ixzz1NP5NkMat

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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May 25, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued a statement praising House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Chairman Rep. Phil Roe for holding a hearing on the NLRB’s attempt to block Boeing from opening a new plant in South Carolina on May 26:

“Representative Phil Roe deserves the thanks of the people of South Carolina, and all Americans who oppose a federal agency from trying to tell a company which state it must do business in. The House Subcommittee on Labor hearing will bring the NLRB’s overreach against Boeing under much-needed scrutiny, and ascertain why the NLRB is favoring closed shop union states like Washington over right-to-work states like South Carolina. The NLRB is willing to kill new jobs unless they are union jobs. This out-of-control rogue agency needs to be brought to heel.”

Attachments:

“NLRB to Boeing: Shut up!” By ALG President Bill Wilson, The Daily Caller, May 13, 2011 at http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/13/nlrb-to-boeing-shut-up/

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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May 23rd, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued a statement urging the House to pass legislation by Rep. Jack Kingston that would balance the budget in five years:

“Representative Jack Kingston’s plan to limit spending to 18 percent of GDP spending cap would balance the budget in five years with a surplus. That would position the U.S. to begin paying off the national debt come 2016, faster than any other proposal currently being considered. Coupled with action to cut the deficit in half for 2012 and the Balanced Budget Amendment, the Republican Study Committee is offering a smart approach that will help restore order to the nation’s fiscal house now.

“Proposals like these should be attached to any increase in the $14.294 trillion national debt ceiling, which will give the American people confidence that members of Congress are addressing the debt crisis immediately. We cannot afford to wait.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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May 19, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today praised the U.S. Senate for blocking the confirmation of Berkeley Law Professor Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals:

“Goodwin Liu was the most radical nominee to the federal bench in a generation, who openly wrote of the role of courts in adjudicating and distributing so-called welfare ‘rights.’ His was a philosophy, not of the text and meaning of the Constitution, but of the ever-evolving consensus of ‘how a society understands its obligations of mutual provision.’ It was an ideology that threatens the elected branches of government, whose powers of the purse would have been seized by any court on which Liu was allowed to sit.

“Senate Republicans deserve the thanks of the American people for defeating Goodwin Liu for the Ninth Circuit, and for standing up to this radical, disrespectful nomination by Barack Obama. So far outside the mainstream was he, no other nominee in recent memory has more clearly articulated a judicial philosophy that so thoroughly rejects the tenants of constitutional limited government, the separation of powers, and the rule of law.”

Attachments:

“Goodwin Liu’s Last Stand,” By ALG President Bill Wilson, May 19th, 2011.

Team Obama Spotlight, Goodwin Liu, Video, May 9th, 2011.

Goodwin Liu, Americans for Limited Government Nominee Alert, March 2010.

“Wonderland: The World According to Goodwin Liu,” Bill Wilson, March 24th, 2010.

“Why Goodwin Liu is Important,” ALG News Editorial, April 12th, 2010.

“Liu Guilty by Omission,” Robert Romano, April 8th, 2010.

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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May 18th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged the U.S. Senate to block the confirmation of Berkeley Law Professor Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals:

“There is simply no excuse for any Senator who professes a belief in constitutionally limited government to consider voting in favor of the confirmation of Goodwin Liu to a lifetime appointment on the federal bench. Liu is the embodiment of disregarding the words of the framers and inserting his own political bias, and should be rejected.

“To be absolutely clear, a vote to allow Liu’s nomination to the Senate floor is a vote in favor of putting Liu and his radical agenda on the federal bench. There can be no political doubletalk, a vote to invoke cloture on Liu’s nomination is a vote for judicial extremism.”

Also see the video on Mr. Liu, as well as an Americans for Limited Government article detailing Liu’s writings which reveal his radical views on the Constitution. Liu is up for a cloture vote in the Senate on Thursday, May 19th.

Attachments:

Team Obama Spotlight, Goodwin Liu, Video, May 9th, 2011.

Goodwin Liu, Americans for Limited Government Nominee Alert, March 2010.

“Wonderland: The World According to Goodwin Liu,” Bill Wilson, March 24th, 2010.

“Why Goodwin Liu is Important,” ALG News Editorial, April 12th, 2010.

“Liu Guilty by Omission,” Robert Romano, April 8th, 2010.

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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May 17th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued a statement on the Treasury’s suspension of investments to and taking loans from federal employee pension funds:

“When it came to avoiding the hitting the debt ceiling, the Obama-Geithner Treasury Department’s first choice was to tap federal employee pensions — their very first choice. This should serve as a warning against Obama Administration plans to eliminate 401(k) tax deferred savings accounts, and replace them with government-managed retirement annuities.

“A decade or so from now, when the national debt becomes so large that it cannot be refinanced, let alone be repaid, the Treasury has tipped its hand on whose moneys will be taken first: the American people’s retirement savings. If our spending is not brought under control now, the first victims of the sovereign debt crisis will be Baby Boomer’s retirements.

“As the Treasury tries to avoid hitting the debt ceiling, the American people will learn more about the choices the Treasury will make when the nation really does default down the road. Everyone should be guarding their retirement savings closely against government seizure, and demanding that government cut spending, balance the budget, and restore order to the nation’s fiscal house.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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May 16, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today urged members of the U.S. Senate to block Susan Carney for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Carney’s dishonorable willful disregard for the truth and promotion of a falsehood disqualifies her from consideration to a lifetime appointment to the second highest court in the land,” Wilson wrote in his letter to Senate Republicans.

He cited an ongoing scandal between Yale University and Korean-based Dongguk University that Carney played a role in as Yale’s Deputy General Counsel. Wilson wrote, “In 2007, when it was revealed that a Dongguk University professor, Shin Jeong-ah, had not received a doctorate degree from Yale, Carney allegedly engaged in a cover-up to prevent information from surfacing showing that Yale had indeed confirmed to Dongguk that Shin was a Yale graduate, as revealed by court documents filed by Dongguk.”

The scandal was dubbed “Shin-gate” by the Korean media, and was a public relations disaster for Dongguk University, who is suing Yale for $50 million for damages. Because Yale had told Dongguk the degree was authentic, but then denied it publicly, it initially appeared that Dongguk was at fault. The University wrote to Carney, “if Yale University had revealed the fact in your first reply of July 10, 2007, Dongguk University would not have received a lot of harsh criticism from the public.”

Wilson explained, “At the time, Carney said the confirmation fax verifying Shin’s doctorate sent by Yale was ‘not authentic,’ even though it turned out that it was. She did not even apparently fully investigate Dongguk’s claim until the U.S. Justice Department issued a subpoena in the matter, and failed to even attempt to verify the authenticity of the fax, according to the plaintiffs.”

Carney has been voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but, Wilson said, “The questions surrounding “Shin-gate” and Carney’s conduct were apparently never raised in the Judiciary Committee and warrant further investigation before Carney receives a lifetime appointment.”

“It would be reasonable for Senators to question Carney about why it took a U.S. Attorney enforcing a U.S.-Korean treaty on cooperation in criminal matters to discover that, indeed, Yale University had confirmed that Shin had received the degree,” Wilson noted.

He added, “It would be equally reasonable to question whether Yale University knew all along that it had sent the fax to Dongguk confirming the degree, and whether it was, with Carney’s knowledge, covering this fact up to salvage its own reputation.”

The lawsuit between Dongguk and Yale is ongoing.

Wilson concluded in a statement, “We urge members not to hide behind procedure or niceties, but to block Susan Carney for the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals based on her merits. As John Adams once said, ‘pretenses of politeness, delicacy, or decency… are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery, and cowardice.’ ”

The Senate will consider the nomination Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET and vote on the nomination at noon, according to The Hill.

Attachments:

ALG Letter Urging Senate Republicans to Block Susan Carney, May 11th, 2011 at www.getliberty.org/files/LetterCarney5-11-11.pdf.

Susan Carney Nominee Alert, Americans for Limited Government Research Foundation, March 2011 atwww.getliberty.org/files/SusanCarneyNomineeAlert.pdf.

Chronology of Events at http://washingtonalert.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/files-dongguk-university.pdf.

Dongguk v. Yale, Plaintiff’s Docket Complaint, March 24th, 2008 at http://washingtonalert.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DonggukvYaleDocketcomplaint1.pdf.

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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May 16, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson issued the following statement today responding to the U.S. debt ceiling:

“Today marks a turning point in the national debate over U.S. government spending. Our nation’s debt now surpasses the $14.3 trillion debt limit set by Congress. The President and Congress can no longer avoid dealing with the economic consequences of the runaway spending that has resulted in accumulating more than $4 trillion in debt over the past three years alone. It is time for President Obama to get serious about real spending cuts now, as the clock has run out on economy-wrecking fiscal irresponsibility.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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