South Bay Tax Day Tea Party

Meeting Nov 12 - NEW Posts

NEW Nathan's Speech at Don't Tell Me It Can't Be Done - Celebrate Freedom America

NEW LA South Bay Tea Party STORE also Books and other New STUFF

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General Meeting El Segundo Library with John Stammreich, Gabriella Holt

Date: November 12, 2009
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Location: El Segundo Public Library
111 W Mariposa Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245   MAP

CAN YOU HEAR US YET? – Pink Slips are coming November 2010

Pictures from Oct 30th Rally

House Health Bill

• (Government Option Included (Public) – this is the worst possible outcome.
•  “1,990 Pages of Bureaucracy”, says John Boehner House Rep. Leader.
•  $894 Billion Bill Released today  CBO says,"1 Trillion ++"
• Stop Socialized Government Healthcare, this battle is NOT over. We want less Government not more. Stop the environmental tax nightmare of Cap and Trade.
• Education in California is Worst we want First.
• We want the California legislature replaced so they will stop chasing businesses out of the state.
• Join us for the one year countdown to firing Congress, and replacing California’s legislature.

Do you need more encouragement to act now, read Thomas Sowell’s article below.  Or ask yourself does it matter that our president has surrounded himself with: Mao supporting Czars; an FCC Czar who endorses Chavez, a communist and wants to shut down conservative talk radio; Acorn, SEIU, and Apollo. And who is leading a radical government takeover of healthcare; and a bill called Cap and Trade, that is a radical redistribution of wealth scheme.   THIS IS THE TIME TO ACT call and email all this week.

WSJ - What the Pelosi Health-Care Bill Really Says

By BETSY MCCAUGHEY

The health bill that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is bringing to a vote (H.R. 3962) is 1,990 pages. Here are some of the details you need to know.

What the government will require you to do:

• Sec. 202 (p. 91-92) of the bill requires you to enroll in a "qualified plan." If you get your insurance at work, your employer will have a "grace period" to switch you to a "qualified plan," meaning a plan designed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. If you buy your own insurance, there's no grace period. You'll have to enroll in a qualified plan as soon as any term in your contract changes, such as the co-pay, deductible or benefit.

• Sec. 224 (p. 118) provides that 18 months after the bill becomes law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will decide what a "qualified plan" covers and how much you'll be legally required to pay for it. That's like a banker telling you to sign the loan agreement now, then filling in the interest rate and repayment terms 18 months later. 

MORE

Kiss Your Freedoms Goodbye If Health Care Passes

Andrew Napolitano   - FOXNews.com  - November 06, 2009
(Judge Andrew Napolitano is Fox News Channel's senior judicial analyst.)

Congress recognizes no limits on its power. It doesn't care about the Constitution, it doesn't care about your inalienable rights. If this health care bill becomes law, America, life as you have known it, freedom as you have exercised it and privacy as you have enjoyed it will cease to be. 

Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote on a 2,000 page bill to give the federal government the power to micromanage the health care of every single American. The bill will no doubt pass. It will raise your taxes, steal your freedom, invade your privacy, and ration your health care. Even the Republicans have introduced their version of Obamacare Lite. It, too, if passed, will compel employers to provide coverage, bribe the states to change their court rules, and tell insurance companies whom to insure.

We do not have two political parties in this country, America. We have one party; called the Big Government Party. The Republican wing likes deficits, war, and assaults on civil liberties. The Democratic wing likes wealth transfer, taxes, and assaults on commercial liberties. Both parties like power; and neither is interested in your freedoms. Think about it. Government is the negation of freedom. Freedom is your power and ability to follow your own free will and your own conscience. The government wants you to follow the will of some faceless bureaucrat.

When I recently asked Congressman James Clyburn, the third ranking Democrat in the House, to tell me "Where in the Constitution the federal government is authorized to regulate everyone's healthcare--, he replied that most of what Congress does is not authorized by the Constitution, but they do it anyway. There you have it. Congress recognizes no limits on its power. It doesn't care about the Constitution, it doesn't care about your inalienable rights, it doesn't care about the liberties protected by the Bill of Rights, it doesn't even read the laws it writes.

America, this is not an academic issue. If this health care bill becomes law, life as you have known it, freedom as you have exercised it, privacy as you have enjoyed it, will cease to be. 

When Congress takes away our freedoms, they will be gone forever. What will you do to prevent this from happening?

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/11/06/judge-andrew-napolitano-health-care-freedom-congress/

Will Rep. Harman’s Healthcare Vote Raise California Taxes?

AMERICANS FOR TAX REFORM
CONTACT:  JOHN KARTCH
202-785-0266; JKARTCH@ATR.ORG
6 NOVEMBER 2009

Nancy Pelosi’s Tax and Government Health Bill to Be Voted on Saturday

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Americans for Tax Reform today alerted the taxpayers of California that Rep. Jane Harman will be voting on a bill tomorrow which would raise their taxes by thousands of dollars per year.  On Saturday, the U.S. House of Representatives will be voting on H.R. 3962, a trillion-dollar government healthcare bill.  This legislation would impose several major new taxes on California families and small businesses

Some of the most damaging tax hikes include:

• A new 5.4 percent “surtax” on income that exceeds $500,000 ($1 million for families).  Even Nancy Pelosi’s own tax scorekeeper, the Joint Tax Committee, says that fully one-third of all the new tax revenue from this provision will come right out of the bank accounts of small businesses.  This tax hike will fall on a majority of mature small business profits.  What Washington doesn’t understand is that small businesses pay taxes on their owners’ 1040 tax forms.  To raise taxes on “the rich” inevitably costs jobs on Main Streets across California

• A new tax penalty for failing to sign up for health insurance designed by Washington.  If taxpayers in California don’t sign up for the type of health insurance Washington politicians want them to buy, they will have to pay a new tax equal to 2.5 percent of their income.  A family earning $60,000 who chooses not to pay for this gold-plated health insurance would see their taxes go up by $1500.

• A new jobs-killing payroll tax on small businesses who can’t afford health insurance.  If a small business in California cannot afford health insurance, they are going to be socked with a new 8 percent payroll tax.  This is on top of existing payroll taxes for Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment.  It’s also on top of federal income taxes, the self-employment tax, property taxes, and taxes paid to California

• New taxes on health savings accounts (HSAs) and flexible spending accounts (FSAs).  There are 8 million Americans with a low-premium health insurance plan and an HSA.  Under this bill, the additional tax for non-medical withdrawals rises from 10 to 20 percent.  It will also be next to impossible to keep a low-premium health insurance plan under a government-controlled healthcare system.  There are 30 million Americans with a use-it-or-lose-it FSA.  These would face a new annual cap of $2500.  Both HSA and FSA users would no longer be allowed to buy over-the-counter medicines with these tax-free accounts.
• New excise tax on medical devices.  There is now going to be a new 2.5 percent excise tax on medical devices like breastpumps and pacemakers.  This will be passed along to California taxpayers in the form of higher taxes
• New “heads I win, tails you lose” rule for the IRS.  Believe it or not, under this new tax increase the IRS will be able to deny perfectly-legal tax deductions just because they think the taxpayer was motivated mostly to reduce his taxes

 “President Obama said again and again that he would not raise “any form” of taxes on families making less than $250,000 per year,” said ATR President Grover Norquist.  “Representative Jane Harman has also made commitments that he would not raise taxes on working families.  This bill clearly raises taxes on these California families.  His chance to ‘put up or shut up’ comes tomorrow.”

 Americans for Tax Reform is a non-partisan coalition of taxpayers and taxpayer groups who oppose all tax increases.  For more information or to arrange an interview please contact John Kartch at (202) 785-0266 or by email at jkartch@atr.org.

Voting Results - November 3, 2009

http://www.dailybreeze.com/elections/ci_13707159  - For all local results

REDONDO MEASURE UU:

By The Daily Breeze

Posted: 11/04/2009 08:54:44 AM PST

The AES power plant has won its battle over a Redondo Beach ballot measure that would have forced the company to pay taxes on the gas it uses to generate electricity. Measure UU, which would have brought an estimated $1 million to $2 million annually to city coffers, fizzled at the polls Tuesday.

 

Fishman, Duclos, Bobko take Hermosa Beach council seats

HERMOSA BEACH CITY COUNCIL

by Andrea Woodhouse Staff Writer

Posted: 11/03/2009 11:58:21 PM PST

» Results: City contests

» South Bay election results

Hermosa Beach voters awarded City Council seats to two frequent candidates and the current mayor Tuesday, but ousted a two-term incumbent.

With all seven precincts reporting in the race for three seats, Howard Fishman led the eight-candidate field with 24.8 percent of the vote, handily snagging the seat he declined after a victorious run four years ago.

Jeff Duclos, a longtime local activist with several council bids under his belt, won a seat with 18.3 percent of the vote, and incumbent Kit Bobko earned a second term with 15.8 percent of the vote.

A third term eluded Councilman Michael Keegan, who he earned just 13.7 percent of the vote.

Councilman J.R. Reviczky did not seek a fifth term.

Keegan was the target of much of this election season's more caustic campaigning, including a prime spot on two negative aerial advertisements over the weekend as well as a large banner on a prominent corner in town.

Misetich, Campbell win Rancho Palos Verdes seats; Measure TOT defeated

RANCHO PALOS VERDES CITY COUNCIL, MEASURE TOT

By Melissa Pamer Staff Writer

Posted: 11/04/2009 12:15:43 AM PST

 Results: City contests

» South Bay election results

In the seven-candidate race for two seats on the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council, voters Tuesday moved to take the city in a slightly different direction.

With all precincts reporting, Anthony Misetich and Brian Campbell had won, with 22.6 percent and 18.7 percent of the vote, respectively.

The two were backed by politically conservative organizations on The Hill, some of which are critical of the current council.

"I walked 30 of 37 precincts and I have two bloody feet to prove it. I think that personal contact with the voters had paid dividends," Misetich said of the preliminary results.

Voters also rejected Measure TOT, which would have raised the city's hotel tax from 10 percent to 12 percent, bringing in an additional $700,000 annually from Terranea Resort.

The results could be interpreted as a rebuke to the existing council, which had largely backed Planning Commissioners Jeff Lewis and Paul Tetreault, who are both attorneys and were near the bottom in returns. Lewis had encouraged voters to support him if they approved of the council's current direction.

"Who I support and who I think can do the best job - the day of the election, that's over," Councilman Doug Stern said.

Doug Hoffman and the Rising Tide of American Conservatism

Dear Patriots,
 
    Revolution is brewing, and we’re happy to be there to help serve it up by the pot full. Perhaps you have heard in the news about the amazing congressional race going on in Upstate NY. In this race, the NY Republican Party selected a phony Republican candidate from their political machine who was pro-card check, pro-Cap and Trade and overall pro-big government, to run for an open congressional seat. The candidate in question, Dede Scozzafava, was so liberal that it was hard to distinguish her views from those of her Democratic opponent Bill Owens. Not wanting the citizens of the NY-23 to be without a real conservative choice, Tea Party Patriot and True Conservative Doug Hoffman through his hat in the race, running on a “Conservative Party” ticket. 
 
  Members of the Political establishment have called Hoffman every name in the book, from “spoiler” to a “bigot”, but they have yet to fully digest his message: that voters are tired of politics being just a team sport and are looking for candidates that truly stick to their conservative principles and promote real American values. In the past week, this strategy has truly paid off for Hoffman, who has enjoyed a meteoric rise from the back of the pack to a 5 point lead in the polls. 
 

    Here in California, Chuck Devore, a conservative who has never compromised on his principles while serving in the state assembly, is facing a similar primary battle for the Senate against Carly Fiorina. The former CEO of Hewlett-Packard is hoping she can trade her name recognition (and ambiguous conservative credentials) for a Senate Seat. Since when did politics become a 2nd career for mediocre CEOs? It's time we send a message that we aren't willing to compromise our principals for the candidate with better name recognition.

  The political climate in America is starting to change: as Obama and Congress’ dwindling approval numbers are indicating, the public is becoming increasingly skeptical of the motives behind the progressive/socialist agenda they are seeing unfold each day in Washington. They are starting to realize that our country is really in trouble and that while the Democrats spend months trying to figure out how to screw up even further a cartelized, vertically integrated health care system they mischaracterize as a free market, we’re slowly watching our liberty and prosperity slip away under the weight of a bloated, flatulent federal government. The Founding Fathers are spinning so fast in their graves right now they probably qualify as an alternative energy source under the Stimulus plan!

    Hopefully, it won’t be long before a tipping point in public sentiment breaks the political will of the socialists in congress and sends the momentum back in our direction.  Until that happens however, we cannot become complacent: we are dealing with a force that will stop at nothing to push through their plans.
 
    I ask each of you to join us as a vocal and public advocate for Liberty’s cause. With your help we can wake up and empower countless more Americans to stand up and take our country back! Doug Hoffman offers a salient example that it is still our country and that by standing by our convictions, we can take our country back!
 
    Nathan Mintz
    Chair, South Bay Tea Party

Dismantling America by Thomas Sowell

  Tuesday October 27, 2009 by Thomas Sowell

Just one year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government official, not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate but simply one of the many "czars" appointed by the President, could arbitrarily cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90 percent?

Did you think that another "czar" would be talking about restricting talk radio? That there would be plans afloat to subsidize newspapers-- that is, to create a situation where some newspapers' survival would depend on the government liking what they publish?

Did you imagine that anyone would even be talking about having a panel of so-called "experts" deciding who could and could not get life-saving medical treatments?

Scary as that is from a medical standpoint, it is also chilling from the standpoint of freedom. If you have a mother who needs a heart operation or a child with some dire medical condition, how free would you feel to speak out against an administration that has the power to make life and death decisions about your loved ones?

Does any of this sound like America?  MORE

John Stossel on ABC

Audit the Fed-- Letter to Senator Kyl

Dear Senator Kyl,

  I am writing to express concerns about your disapproval of S 604, "The Federal Reserve Sunshine Act."

  You refused to support the bill on the basis that "any Fed disclosure could unnecessarily raise concerns about the financial condition of the recipients, cause consumer and investors to lose confidence in them, and worsen their balance sheets." The Fed has created a huge moral hazard by bailing out institutions that should have been allowed to fail. As a consequence of this, we have prolonged the financial crisis, by creating a system of "zombie banks" akin to the Japanese in their "lost decade", the consequences of which they are suffering from today. Auditing the Fed is a key first step in identifying exactly what damage the Fed has done and starting the process of undoing it.

   What you fail to realize is that the cat is already out of the bag: our foreign creditors are slowly waking up to the sad reality that decades of runaway deficits to support an out of control entitlement state has bankrupted us- the true consequences of which have been concealed by the Fed's incessant debauchment of the currency. This perpetual cycle of a constantly growing government is financed through the Fed's capacity to expand the money supply by creating liquidity out of thin air.

      The red herring of the Fed's "monetary independence" is easily debunked by the experience of the past 40 years: since going off the gold standard in 1971, we have seen an 18 fold increase in the size of the federal government financed by more than 500% inflation since (or 83% devaluation of the dollar). The Fed's monetary independence has failed since its inception to prevent it from enabling runaway government growth through money printing.

   As a loyal Republican who wants to win you over to the side of reason on this lynchpin issue, I urge you to join with every Republican in the house in supporting a Federal Reserve audit. To recognize the true role the Fed plays in monetary policy: as the knowing enabler to our social welfare addiction. No progress can be made in stopping the rising tide of big government until we open up the Fed's books and show how the Fed finances it through the hidden tax of inflation.

   Sincerely,

Nathan Mintz
Chairman
Los Angeles South Bay Tea Party

Why We Should Sunset the First Time Homebuyer's Tax Credit

The First Time Home Buyer's Tax Credit is one of the numerous half baked provisions written into the Stimulus that was Rahm-rodded through Congress earlier in the year. It's basic premise is to provide an 8000 dollar tax credit for first time home buyer's (defined as anyone who hasn't owned a house in 3 years or more) in order to stimulate demand for housing.

   Sounds good on paper right? Unfortunately, it follows the same twisted logic as "Cash for Clunkers" - using modest government tax incentives to try to "front-load" future consumption into the present. As we recently saw with "cash for clunkers",this increase in immediate demand generally results in a terrible hangover after the incentive is removed. Further, since the incentive is to buy big ticket items like cars which are purchased on credit, this only further serves to lever up American families that should be paying off debt rather than going further into it.

   Fortunately, this awful provision was expected to be sunsetted at the end of the year...or so we thought. Now, there are signs that Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) may be willing to join with Democrats to extend this awful (and at $45 billion/year, very expensive) tax credit. He declared his support for extending it on ABC's This Week, this morning (October 4th).

   Obviously, extending this disastrous incentive will only prolong the inevitable correction of housing prices that has to occur. Further, it will distort supply/demand unnecessarily in areas that experienced minimal impact from the housing bubble (like Michigan, Vermont or Texas)- creating mini-bubbles everywhere where the bubble didn't burst.

  In the spirit of holding both sides of the aisle accountable to principles of fiscal responsibility, Senator Cornyn's office received the following message this evening. We urge you to contact his office here and do the same:

"Dear Senator Cornyn,

 Let me start out by saying that I am a tea party patriot (and leader of a club with over 1000+ members in South Bay) and I am generally very supportive of your policy stances on numerous issues.

 But I was extremely disturbed to see you on ABC's This Week this morning supporting extending the "frontloading" 8k tax credit for first time homebuyers with Charles Schumer. This costly program, is an analog in housing to the same bad policies that "cash for clunkers" is based on. Namely, you are trying to artificially stimulate demand by moving future consumption forward. The mechanism for making this possible will be through further leveraging of Americans into mortgages they cannot afford that are being enabled through artificially low interest rates. Have we learned nothing from the last two years?

  I urge you to reconsider your position on this critical issue. If we are to see an end to this recession, we must enable market forces to naturally correct distortions in supply and demand without government interference. Since Texas was one of the less effected states by the housing crisis, you have the political safety to urge for doing the right thing on this critical issue.

 As cash for clunkers showed in textbook fashion this past month, the temporary boost in sales volumen you get from an incentive like this is more than offset by the "hangover" you get later. Please take heed to the words of Ronald Reagan in this regard and delegate housing prices to the free market "Government's solution to a problem: if it moves, tax it. If it still moves, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it." Don't fall into this big government trap. We expect better of our conservative Senators than that. 

Sincerely,

Nathan Mintz
Chairman
Los Angeles South Bay Tea Party"

General Meeting

South Bay Tea Party General Meeting

Wednesday Sept 30th, 7-9 PM
 Friends of The Library Room
El Segundo Public Libary
111 W. Mariposa Ave, El Segundo

with Special Guest Speaker Dr. Tom LaGrelius: President, Society for Innovative Medical Practice Design
 

All Attendees Welcome- Please join us as and participate as we roll out our agenda for further promoting liberty, fiscal responsibility and limited government in the South Bay
 
About Dr. Tom LaGrelius, M.D. F.A.A.F.P.: As one of LA counties few practicing Direct Care Doctors, Dr. Tom brings to the table a model for a better and more affordable medical system. In his own words:
 
"Our crisis is not really one of un-insurance. It is instead a crisis of 'medical homelessness'. That “medical homelessness” is the result of insurance perversions destroying the free market in health care necessary to create value sensitive consumers and service oriented doctors. There are too many “third parties” meddling in your basic health care. Doctors and hospitals pay too much attention to those third parties and not enough attention to you."
A board certified specialist in Family Medicine since 1977 and in Geriatric Medicine since 1990, Dr. LaGrelius graduated from the University of Washington Medical School in Seattle and served his internship and residency at the University of Southern California Medical Center.

He is a staff member at two area hospitals, Torrance Memorial Medical Center, where he served for six terms as Chairman of the Department of Family Practice. He is also on staff at Little Company of Mary Hospital.
He is married, has two daughters and a son and lives in Redondo Beach.

Also, Breaking News:

Senate Finance Committee Votes Against Government-Run Health Insurance Plan
"The 15-to-8 vote, which followed several hours of debate, was a defeat for liberal Democrats who view government-sponsored insurance for the middle class as a key component of President Obama's health care overhaul."
 
While this is without a doubt good news, we cannot take this as a sign that the fight is over. Max Baucus and the White House are still hoping for a victory, and they want his disastrous "Massachusetts-style" plan to require all Americans to buy medical insurance, whether they want it or not, to be pushed through. The "public option" and "single-payer" may be in their death throes on the floor of the Finance Committee, but we can't afford to relent until real, free market health care reform is the preferred solution.
 
Cheers and thanks to all of you for your help in achieving this victory.

The Tea Party Reading List

Many people have asked us for book recommendations or websites that we recommend to bone up on the issues and the foundations of liberty. Here’s a short list of books and websites that we think are worth checking out.

Light Reading

1. Peter Schiff & John Downes “Crashproof 2.0: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse.” – Brilliant overview of the dynamics leading into the financial crisis.
2. Ron Paul “End the Fed.”- A brilliant book that lays out the case against central banking and the case for sound money managed by free markets.
3. Mark Levin “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto” – this is one of Gary’s favorites, it’s a brilliant essay on the dangers of statism.
4. Ron Paul “Revolution: A Manifesto”- A great read that articulates how the inseperability of economic and social freedom.
5. Larry Elder “Ten Things You Can’t Say In America”- Somewhat dated now, but worth reading for his dissection of the origins of the modern health insurance industry.
6. Henry Hazlitt “Economics in One Lesson” – If you read just one book on economics, this is it.

Intermediate

1.   Thomas Sowell “Basic Economics”- A complete explanation of free market economic principles, filled with many useful anecdotes, explanations and reading list

2.   F.A. Hayek “The Road To Serfdom”—The classic retort of socialism.

3.   Nassim Nicholas Taleb “The Black Swan: The Impact of The Highly Improbable” – This book lays out how the roots of the financial crisis lie in a mischaracterization of risk, along, mixed with a healthy dose of moral hazard provided by the government.

4.   Milton Friedman “Capitalism and Freedom” – A brilliant treatise against statism which lays out clearly why the free market is a better approach

5.   George Akerlof “Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Markets…”- While we flagrantly disagree with the authors conclusions, we believe its important to understand the opposing argument.

Advanced

1.   Ludwig Von Mises “Human Action”- One of the cornerstones of Austrian Economics.

2.   George Soros “The Alchemy of Finance” – As socialist as he is politically, his understanding of Market Movements is essential to understand his ideology.

3.   Liaquat Ahamed “Lords of Finance” – Long book written by a devout Keynesian which examines the most notable failure of central banking in history.

4.   Russell Kirk “The Roots of American Order”- A brilliant exploration of the political, economic and philosophical underpinnings of America as a nation.

Websites

http://www.europac.net – Euro Pacific Capital (Peter Schiff’s firm) has a great newsfeed

http://www.zerohedge.com -  Great financial blog for hardcore technical types

http://www.campaignforliberty.com – Ron Paul’s website

http://mises.org – Ludwig Von Mises Institute, great source for information on Austrian economics

http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse  - Chris Martenson’s Crash Course. This is about a two hour long video series which makes an irrefutable case for the sustainability of an inflationist, socialist system such as we are living in today.

 

One in six NHS patients 'misdiagnosed' (in UK)

Doctors were making mistakes in up to 15 per cent of cases because they were too quick to judge patients’ symptoms, they said, while others were reluctant to ask more senior colleagues for help.

While in most cases the misdiagnosis did not result in the patient suffering serious harm, a sizeable number of the millions of NHS patients were likely to suffer significant health problems as a result, according to figures. It was said that the number of misdiagnoses was “just the tip of the iceberg”, with many people still reluctant to report mistakes by their doctors.  Article from the UK telegraph.