Free Republic

...In eight of the last ten years, between fiscal years 2002 and 2011, Maryland legislators have increased taxes. These taxes total $3.37 billion – a $587.70 tax hike on each man, woman, and child in the state. These taxes are used to increase state spending programs and do not even include how local governments also increase the tax burden. Future taxes are lined up as commuters and truckers cope with another alcohol tax that began on July 1 and significant state toll increases. State spending continues at unsustainable levels that produce deficits for the state. Thanks to the state’s spending...

Article VII Section 4. Slavery. Memorable Mason Speech. Navigation Acts. Second Grand Committee Report. Bills of Attainder. Ex Post Facto. Judicial Review. Old Engagements & Debt. In Convention. Art VII sect 4. [FN1], [FN2] resumed. Mr. SHERMAN was for leaving the clause as it stands. He disapproved of the slave trade; yet as the States were now possessed of the right to import slaves, as the public good did not require it to be taken from them, & as it was expedient to have as few objections as possible to the proposed scheme of Government, he thought it best to...

Grand Committee Report. State Debt & Militias. Article VII Sections 3 & 4. Reconcile Old Requisitions. Article VI Section 12, Origination of Bills and Money Bills. More Commerce Clause. Taxation of Exports. Necessary and Proper Insight. Slave Import Tax. In Convention. Governour LIVINGSTON from the Committee of Eleven to whom was referred the propositions respecting the debts of the several States and also the Militia entered on the 18th. inst: delivered the following report: "The Legislature of the U. S. shall have power to fulfil the engagements which have been entered into by Congress, and to discharge as well the...

Billionaire Peter Thiel shocks again. Details magazine, reports he’s supporting what could be described as “Fantasy Island” or “Lord of the Flies” – revolutionary manmade floating nation-states, only 200 miles off the coast of San Francisco. It’s a story now receiving both national and international interest. From The Washington Post: The micro-countries Thiel proposes are diesel-powered, moveable, 2,000-ton structures built on oil rig-like platforms, with space for 270 residents to live. Thiel believes these islands may be important in “experimenting with new ideas for government,” such as no welfare, no minimum wage, fewer weapons restrictions, and looser building codes. The...

Article VII Section 1 Clause 18. Article VII Sections 2 & 3. Pinckney and Morris Amendments. Council of Revision. Council of State. Sumptuary Laws. Necessary & Proper. Treason. What is Direct Taxation? In Convention. Mr. PINKNEY submitted to the House, in order to be referred to the Committee of detail, the following propositions- "Each House shall be the Judge of its own privileges, and shall have authority to punish by imprisonment every person violating the same; or who, in the place where the Legislature may be sitting and during the time of its Session, shall threaten any of its members...

The 1980s, according to leftwing columnists and reporters, was sooooo greedy. I mean, didn’t you watch the Hollywood movie, Wall Street? But how greedy was the so-called Decade of Greed? Or in other words, was Republican Ronald Reagan really an evil pro-capitalist monster? One problem with this “Decade of Greed” talk is that it’s based on unsubstantiated views of history. As Robert P. Murphy points out in The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism, during the “Decade of Greed” (p.122): >Total giving grew by 56 percent in real dollars. >Charitable giving grew at a rate 55 percent higher than in the...

Article VII Section 1 Clauses 15-17. More Enumerated Powers. Seat of Government. Forts & Magazines. Regulate the Militia. Perpetual Taxes. Assumption of State Debt. Raise Armies. Maintain a Navy. More Militia. In Convention. Mr. MADISON submitted in order to be referred to the Committee of detail the following powers as proper to be added to those of the General Legislature "To dispose of the unappropriated lands of the U. States" "To institute temporary Governments for New States arising therein" "To regulate affairs with the Indians as well within as without the limits of the U. States "To exercise exclusively Legislative...

Does New Jersey really support redefining marriage? Or are some gay marriage-centric Democrats massaging figures and emailing them to their media cousins? They’re legitimate questions. Patrick Murray explains: “Well, the polling firm — a Democratic leaning outfit — put out a press release under the banner headline ‘New Jersey supports legal same-sex marriage.’ Go figure. But, “if you combine the 40 percent who prefer civil unions with the 17 percent who say that no status should be recognized, you arrive at a majority of 57 percent who oppose gay marriage when civil unions are available. Based on this question, a...

Full disclosure: I don't like Rick Perry for our next president. I have my reasons that aren't worth going into here. However, when I was watching the GOP debate and pro-Perry people started bringing up Rick Perry's job numbers as a cudgel against other candidates, I looked into the BLS data on Texas jobs. Having familiarized myself with the data, I started noticing claims on the Texas jobs data that started popping up that directly contradicted what I was seeing in the data. So I wanted to clear up a couple of these common misconceptions. (see the rest in the...

Article VII Section 1 Clauses 9-14. Enumerated Powers. Inferior Tribunals. Piracy and Punishments. Rebellions. Militia. War. In Convention. Art VII. Sect. 1. [FN1], [FN2] resumed. on the clause "to appoint [FN3] Treasurer by ballot." Mr. GHORUM moved to insert "joint" before ballot, as more convenient as well as reasonable, than to require the separate concurrence of the Senate. Mr. PINKNEY 2ds. the motion. Mr. SHERMAN opposed it as favoring the larger States. Mr. READ moved to strike out the clause, leaving the appointment of the Treasurer as of other officers to the Executive. The Legislature was an improper body for...

...Massachusetts finishes in tenth place for highest Cost of Government Day in 2011. The Cost of Government Day measures the calendar date by which the average American paid off his/her share of spending and regulatory burdens on all levels of governments: federal, state and local. Massachusetts taxpayers must work 227 days out of the year to pay for state, local, and their share of federal of government spending and regulations. Additionally, a heavier tax burden has been laid upon taxpayers in the last decade. From 2002 to 2011, Massachusetts taxpayers were saddled with an additional tax burden of $1,285.40 for...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3OPgDobGO4&feature=related Be sure to download on your hard drive using www.keepvid.com or by pressing prtscr on your key board and pasting these on ms paint and saving them as JPG or BMP images. I got banned from photobucket from posting this stuff! I also might get banned from youtube as well!

Enumerated Powers. Article VII Section 1 Clauses 1-8. Export Taxes. Direct Taxes. Commerce, Coins, Naturalization, Weights & Measures, Post Offices. Paper Money. Mark of the Beast. In Convention. Mr. RANDOLPH having thrown into a new form the motion, putting votes, Resolutions &c. on a footing with Bills, renewed it as follows "Every order resolution or vote, to which the concurrence of the Senate & House of Reps. may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment and in the cases hereinafter mentioned) shall be presented to the President for his revision; and before the same shall have force shall be...

...The Verizon strike has grown particularly ugly in the past few days. In one Pittsburgh suburb, union members from Verizon have tried to block non-union employees from leaving the company’s offices by using chains and locks to close the exit. In many cities along the east coast, union workers intentionally cut fiber-optic lines, impeding phone, television, and Internet services for many Verizon customers. This behavior is not only juvenile, but extremely dangerous for customers trying to reach fire and police services via telephone. In addition to this disturbing behavior, many non-union employees have reported union members spitting at them, throwing...

...Wyoming, however, has an extremely high income per capita of $63,677 (4th highest in 2010), encouraged by some successful state policies such as no income tax and a favorable economic environment with pro-business state laws. This has led to the one of the nation’s lowest average unemployment and fastest growth rates in the last ten years. However, these policies suffer a high burden of federal taxation, increasing the amount of day Wyomingites work to pay off their government burden. Moreover, Wyoming is not without its own state-based problems that drive up the cost of government. Wyoming suffers from some of...

Article VI Sections 11-13. Money Bills Part III. Treaties. Council of Revision. Absolute v. Conditional Executive Veto. In Convention. Art: VI. Sect. 11. [FN1], [FN2] Agreed to nem. con. Art: VI Sect. 12. [FN1], [FN3] taken up. Mr. STRONG moved to amend the article so as to read-"Each House shall possess the right of originating all bills, except bills for raising money for the purposes of revenue, or for appropriating the same and for fixing the salaries of the officers of the Govt. which shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments...

There are many problems with parroting socialist-first studies, as Wilson does, especially from Scandinavia, where Orwellian speech codes prevent free-thinking academics from reaching the “wrong” conclusions. But I digress. You see, scientific truths always find ways of getting out, eventually, so one can detect a pattern. Take gay marriage and marriage-like unions and think about where children are more at risk. From The Ruth Institute: What types of unions have the highest rates of divorce? •Opposite sex married couples: men and women are so different, it is a wonder they ever stay married. •Male unions: men are naturally less committed,...

Over the past couple of months Rick Perry has been considering a run for POTUS. As of Thursday, August 11, it looks like the decision has been made and he’s in. Since he’s been Governor of Texas for over ten years, folks from the other “56 states” are asking Texans what kind of governor he’s been and what we think. I decided that what I “think” isn’t good enough – I could be wrong. So, I decided to do some research on Perry’s record and form a more accurate, fact-based opinion on his qualifications instead of relying on my general...

Article VI Sections 9-10. Office Holders & Corruption. Mercer & Aristocratic Property. A Junta. Confidence is the Road to Tyranny. Military Officers. Janissaries. Congressional Salaries. In Convention. Article VI. Sect. 9. [FN1], [FN2] taken up. Mr. PINCKNEY argued that the making the members ineligible to offices was degrading to them, and the more improper as their election into the Legislature implied that they had the confidence of the people; that it was inconvenient, because the Senate might be supposed to contain the fittest men. He hoped to see that body become a School of public Ministers, a nursery of Statesmen:...

Article IV Sections 2 & 5 Redux. Seven v. Three Years. Privileges & Immunities. Money Bills. Mason Speech. Evils in Republics. More Money. Dickenson Speech. In Convention. Art. IV. Sect. 2 [FN1], [FN2] reconsidered- Mr. WILSON & Mr. RANDOLPH moved to strike out "7 years" and insert "4 years," as the requisite term of Citizenship to qualify for the House of Reps. Mr. Wilson said it was very proper the electors should govern themselves by this consideration; but unnecessary & improper that the Constitution should chain them down to it. Mr. GERRY wished that in future the eligibility might be...