Author: Campaign For Liberty Blog

By Matt Hawes

From a press release on the Fed’s website:

The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday announced final rules to restrict the fees and expiration dates that may apply to gift cards. The rules protect consumers from certain unexpected costs and require that gift card terms and conditions be clearly stated.

The final rules prohibit dormancy, inactivity, and service fees on gift cards unless: (1) the consumer has not used the certificate or card for at least one year; (2) no more than one such fee is charged per month; and (3) the consumer is given clear and conspicuous disclosures about the fees. Expiration dates for funds underlying gift cards must be at least five years after the date of issuance, or five years after the date when funds were last loaded….

Read the rest.

Good to know that the Fed is requiring transparency about gift cards, because they’ve done such a bang-up job of disclosing their own information to American taxpayers.

By Heather D

Dear Illinois Patriots,

When Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty formed just over a year and a half ago, our founding members recognized that our great country was ailing. Inspired by one of the few Statesmen of our time, people of all stripes have answered the call to action as we endeavor to reintroduce freedom into the political conversation. As with anything worth fighting for, winning requires sacrifice, determination, and action.

As we move toward victory, we will experience highs and lows. In our first year, we saw 13 of our 19 Representatives cosponsor the Audit the Fed bill – an issue Congressman Paul has tried to bring to the forefront for over 30 years. Our work at the state level to stop Governor Pat Quinn’s proposed income tax increase last year was successful, and though the subject is sure to take center stage again, with a concerted effort, it is likely that we can defeat such a proposal once more.

January 2010 saw the formation of the Illinois Legislative Committee. After some research and deliberation, the committee members zoned in on SB 2466, a bill that would make red light cameras in the state illegal, except in construction zones and railroad crossings. Members around the state held rallies, called legislators, and attended committee hearings on the subject; we assisted in bringing awareness to the public on this very important issue. Although it appears that SB 2466 has been kicked to the side this legislative session, it is a bill that we will continue to pursue.

While we have made forward strides in our march toward liberty, we have experienced some setbacks. The U.S. House’s passage of ObamaCare and subsequent signing of the bill into law by the President is an assault on liberty that we cannot ignore. Many of our members and that of other liberty minded groups fought hard to stop this bill from becoming law, and through our efforts, we reignited the spirit of liberty in the hearts of many heretofore apathetic Americans. Despite our efforts, the Congress and President moved forward on this issue, ignoring the Constitution they swore to uphold and the outcry of the people they profess to represent.

Those in D.C. would have you believe that this is a done deal. They would love nothing more than to have patriots like you and I – and the millions of regular Americans who rallied against this issue – return to apathy, feeling that our best efforts will never be enough. To be frank, this is precisely the sort of response that Washington has seen in the past, and it is precisely what they believe they can count on today. In years past, they could count on the populace to hang their heads in defeat – ignore the voting booth and the halls of Congress – allowing them to move us further away from freedom unchecked and unopposed.

Those who claim to serve us are in for a very rude awakening this time around. Resistance is not futile; the Constitution is not just a piece of paper, and the awakened giant will not go back to sleep.

Within moments of the President signing the bill into law, 13 States’ Attorneys General filed suit in court with Virginia Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, filing a separate suit, bringing the number of states fighting this in court to 14. As of now, reports are that 38 states are working on legislation in opposition to this federal power-grab, with Idaho and Virginia leading the way, having already passed such legislation through both Houses and having their bills signed into law.

While citizens in Illinois can take heart knowing that other states are taking up this issue, to rely on others to ensure our freedoms is precisely what got our country into the condition it is in today. With freedom comes responsibility, and in order to secure it, we must work for it.

In the coming days and weeks, the Campaign for Liberty in Illinois will be devising our plan to fight this atrocity. In the meantime, I hope you will take some time to write our Representatives to express disapproval to those who voted against liberty. You can find your Representative by clicking here.

In addition to contacting your representative, please be sure to continue bringing attention to this very important issue by blogging, writing letters to the editor – and perhaps most importantly, locating and recruiting more supporters to our cause. Get to know your neighbors – the need for networking and educating others has never been so great. If you are not yet signed up at the Campaign for Liberty site as a Local Coordinator, please consider doing so now. You can find more information on this very important position by clicking here. Once you have signed up as a Local Coordinator, be sure to complete the training that is supplied through your user dashboard – this training is an invaluable resource in arming us with the tools we need to win.

Be sure to check the Illinois Profile found here, and our Twitter page found here for all the latest updates and breaking news concerning our state. Finally, if you don’t yet have a user account, please consider getting one now. Signing up for a user account ensures that you will receive all of the latest news as it breaks and supplies you with networking tools that will assist you as you work toward reclaiming lost freedoms at the local, state and national levels. To sign up for a user account, please click here.

For Liberty,

Heather Danielowski
Interim Illinois State Co-Coordinator
Campaign for Liberty

P.S. If you would like to contribute financially to our state’s efforts, please consider donating to the Illinois general fund by clicking here. All funds from this account will be used to advance freedom within our state.

By Matt Hawes

Congressman Paul is coming to Idaho!  Dr. Paul will be speaking at Boise State University this Sat. night at 7 pm.  Click here to find out more about Idaho C4L’s full slate of activities for tomorrow.  And click here for more information on obtaining tickets to the Ron Paul event.

By Anthony Gregory

Progressive Jane Hamsher has a wonderful fact sheet, showing that Obamacare is a corporatist scheme and oppressive imposition upon the middle class.

By Matt Hawes

Via The New York Times:

This year, the system will pay out more in benefits than it receives in payroll taxes, an important threshold it was not expected to cross until at least 2016, according to the Congressional Budget Office….

Read the rest.

By Matt Hawes

CNSNews.com reports on the provisions in the new health care bill that violate President Obama’s campaign promise that families making less than $250,000 and individuals earning less than $200,000 a year would not see any tax increases.

At least seven of these taxes directly affect health consumers regardless of income, such as the individual mandate to buy insurance, the employer mandate, the tanning tax, and limits and penalties on health savings accounts. In addition, Republicans argue that the tax impact of the law should include indirect taxes, such as the annual taxes on the health care sector that will be passed on to consumers….

Further, the law increases the tax from 10 percent to 20 percent for non-medical early withdrawals from a health savings account for those under the age of 65. This measure takes effect in 2011 and is estimated to increase revenues by $1.3 billion. This is under Section 9004, “Increase in additional tax on distributions from HSAs and Archer MSAs not used for qualified medical expenses.”…

The law also imposes a 40-percent tax on high-cost insurance plans reaching $10,200, but exempts union members unless the cost of their plan reaches $27,500. This is called the “Cadillac tax.” This tax is actually on the insurer. This goes into effect in 2018 and is estimated to raise $32 billion in revenue….

Read the rest.

By dljholt

Governor Bob McDonnell signs the Virginia Healthcare Freedom Act in a mid-afternoon ceremony in Richmond, VA. He was joined at the bill signing by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Senators Steve Martin, Fred Quayle, and Jill Vogel and Delegate Bob Marshall. Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Dr. Bill Hazel also participated in the event. The signing ceremony was held in the Governor’s Cabinet conference room in the Patrick Henry Building on Capitol Square.

By Matt Holdridge

Two articles have recently appeared criticizing the concept of nullification or state interposition in regard to the health care debate, including comments by a former Reagan official. 

From knoxnews.com:

“The notion that a state can just choose to opt out is just preposterous,” said former Reagan administration Solicitor General Charles Fried on National Public Radio this week. “One is left speechless by the absurdity of it.”

E.J. Dionne, Jr, a darling of Sunday morning political shows and not a fan of nullification, commented in the Washington Post,

Still, at least the quarrel over the mandate is about something relatively new. The old states’ rights argument, if successful, could upend years of federal legislation. Will we have a system where states can pick and choose among federal laws? We want our elderly to get Medicare, and give us more highway money, but forget this health-care expansion.

Dionne’s comment raises an interesting point that is said more bluntly in the knoxnews.com article about the consistency and resolve of state politicians pushing for various types of legislation or lawsuits regarding health care,

And so the play-acting goes. The politicians strut and fret their hour upon the stage, telling tales of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

The fact that this is even being talked about or lightly pursued is a win to a degree. However, whether this resurgence in state sovereignty signifies anything will ultimately fall on our shoulders. Are we up for the task?

By Matt Holdridge

From On Point:

Before health care reform passed last weekend, Virginia and Idaho had already voted to defy the law. Now, dozens more states have movements to pick and choose elements, or reject it outright.

“States’ rights” is suddenly an opposition rallying cry. And not just on health care. On gay marriage and marijuana and gun laws, and more, states have been flexing their own authority.

Maybe it’s a source of creativity and strength. Maybe it’s a not-so-slow-motion rebellion.

This hour, On Point: states’ rights, in the health care debate and beyond.

This is a very interesting discussion that clearly shows the legal, intellectual, and emotional hill any challenge to the recent health care bill has to climb. I cannot emphasize how truly incredible it is. After listening to the last comment made by Neil Siegel, the guest from Duke University, I refer you to my previous blog post, This is Our Test.

By Tim Shoemaker

Thomas Sowell has an excellent opinion piece in the Washington Examiner this morning calling for an “off-budget office.”

Under the headline “Costly Bill Seen as Saving Money,” the San Francisco Chronicle last week began a front-page story with these words: “Many people find it hard to understand how the health care legislation heading for a decisive vote Sunday can cost $940 billion and cut the horrendous federal deficit at the same time.”

It’s not hard to understand at all. It is a lie. [emphasis added]

What makes this particular lie pass muster with many people, who might otherwise use their common sense, is that the Congressional Budget Office vouched for the consistency of the budget numbers that say you can add millions of people to a government-run system and yet save money.

The Congressional Budget Office does honest work. But it can only use the numbers that Congress supplies– and Congress does dishonest work. It is not the CBO’s job to give their opinion as to whether any of the marvelous things that Congress says it will do in the future are either likely or possible.

The Congressional Budget Office is like a computer: Garbage in, garbage out. The numbers in the health care bill are especially smelly garbage.

Sowell argues an independent agency would be able would be able to cut through the smoke screens, set up by the official government budgets, to see the real financial liabilities whether they are on the official budget or not.

By Matt Hawes

Campaign for Liberty showed the strength of the freedom movement at CPAC 2010 and left no doubt as to our dedication to reclaiming our Republic.

Join Ron Paul and C4L at SRLC in New Orleans as we continue the fight!  Thanks to the generous support of a Campaign for Liberty donor, we’re proud to be able to offer heavily-discounted tickets. Click here to obtain your’s today!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZZtS9Am29E

By Matt Hawes

The Boston Herald is reporting today that a new sales tax on medical-devices in the health care legislation has Massachusetts companies already considering moving overseas.  If the reconciliation bill passes, the tax would go from about 2.9% in the original bill to 2.3%, effective Jan. 1, 2013.  While it’s nice to see at least a 0.6% percent drop is possibly coming, the costs will still have to be passed on to the consumers through higher prices, and every bit of time businesses have to spend concerned with complying with the tax is less time and manpower they will have to focus on getting their product to the market.

Get ready to hear a couple years from now that the health care industry is in an even bigger mess because President Obama didn’t get everything he wanted this time around.  Higher prices and less innovation certainly won’t be blamed on further government intervention.

Read the story here.

By Doug Bandow

The new scanners aren’t a big deal, we are told.  No one would think of looking at the images and thinking lewd thoughts, we are promised.

Never mind … .

Reports Reuters:

A security worker at London’s Heathrow Airport has received a police warning and faces disciplinary action over claims he ogled a female colleague using a full-body scanner, officials said on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old worker made lewd comments after his colleague Jo Margetson, 29, mistakenly strayed into the scanner, which can see through clothes to produce an image of the body, the Sun newspaper reported.

The case is believed to be the first of its kind since the full-body scanners were rushed into service at a number of British airports in the wake of an attempt by a suspected Muslim extremist to blow up a plane bound for Detroit on December 25.

They are now being rolled out at airports across the world.

Details of the incident at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 on March 10 emerged on the day MPs said concerns that the scanners were intrusive had been overblown.

Margetson told the Sun she had been “traumatised” by what had happened and had informed police and her bosses at the airport’s operator BAA.

Americans pay a price in lost liberty and privacy every day due to the so-called war on terrorism.  It’s time to stop pursuing a foreign policy of empire which has done so much to encourage terrorism against Americans.

Doug Bandow, American Conservative Defense Alliance

By Gary Howard

Different sort of poll at Politico, about likely GOP presidential nominees. Of course, Romney places first–for some odd reason. But Ron Paul is, as always, lurking nearby as a possible darkhorse.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads his Republican rivals for the party’s 2012 presidential nomination, according a new survey out Friday by Public Policy Polling.

Romney commands 28 percent of the 614 self-identified Republican primary voters polled by PPP.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee places second with 24 percent, followed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at 23 percent and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) at 11 percent. All four leading candidates ran for the party’s nomination in 2008. Read more..

Who would have thought a few years ago, that Ron Paul would be placing regularly in presidential hopeful polls, especially after the way his own party treats him.

By Matt Holdridge

Citizens and legislators in Ohio are exploring three different avenues to block aspects of the recent health care reform bill. 

The first, like other states, is a lawsuit arguing the constitutionality of the bill as it relates to the states. However, an Ohio State University law professor is not optimistic about its chances.

The Examiner is reporting:

Based on arguments put forward Tuesday by two partner attorneys for the law firm Baker Hostetler who are serving as outside counsel on the complaint, the lawsuit will argue that Congress does not have the authority to force people to buy health insurance, penalize them if they don’t buy it and cannot give itself new powers in violation of the 10th Amendment.

Sources say the justice department is ready to vigorously defend the bill, which many pundits declared dead but which rose from that graveyard to now become the law of the land.

Dan Tokaji, Associate Director of Election Law @ Moritz, said in a telephone interview today from New York City that, broadly speaking, the lawsuit is not likely to be successful, based on the broad powers the Constitution gives Congress to regulate commerce.

Tokaji, whose areas of expertise include election law, civil rights, and federal courts, said that while he would not hazard a response to the second argument put forward by plaintiff attorneys — that the penalty for those who don’t buy insurance violates the Constitution’s tax-apportionment clause — his immediate response, given without benefit of thorough study of the lawsuit, was that the case should not be upheld at the federal level.

The second tactic for blocking is an amendment is a ballot initiative that would nullify the affect of the health care reform bill at state level. It’s hard to say whether the voters in the economically depressed state of Ohio would approve such a measure.

…The Ohio Liberty Council (OLC), a statewide coalition of 25 grassroots groups, say they will circulate petitions to collect enough signatures – 402,275 valid ones by June 30 to be precise – to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would block some provisions of the federal health care bill – The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – from becoming effective in Ohio.

In statement released Monday by OLC, its leader Chris Littleton said, “”The Ohio Liberty Council seeks to preserve the freedom of Ohioans to choose their health care and health-care coverage. With the passage of untenable national mandates on health insurance, the federal government is trampling on the direct constitutional authority and responsibility of state legislatures. This constitutional amendment will do what our leaders in the Statehouse have failed to do – protect Ohioans from federal mandates on personal behavior.”

Finally, a more conventional approach is being pursued by two Ohio senators. They’ve introduced a bill to protect Ohioans from the federal mandates.

Ohio State Senators Shannon Jones (R-Springboro) and Tim Grendell (R-Chesterland) announced Tuesday that following passage of federal healthcare legislation that will have a tremendous impact on the state budget and Ohio taxpayers, they will introduce a bill designed to protect Ohioans from federal mandates regarding their health care.

As the Examiner points out: 

So the battlefield to win on may necessarily be moved from Washington to the states, which will only refuel the centuries-old debate regarding the powers invested by the Constitution to the federal government and whether they violate rights given to states.

The question is, who will come out on top. The answer to that may largely depend on us. 

By Matt Hawes

Earlier today, Ron Paul appeared on Fox News’ America Live with Megyn Kelly to discuss the unconstutionality of the executive order on abortion signed by President Obama.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5lRZppiwE8

By Tim Shoemaker

Starting in July, tanning enthusiasts will have to begin paying a 10% tax on the service.  According to CNN,

John Overstreet, the executive director of The Indoor Tanning Association, decried the new tax calling it, “a crummy, crummy way to make tax policy.”

Lawmakers had considered taxing elective cosmetic procedures, but changed the language to tax indoor tanning services instead.

“We’ve been hit by the recession already,” Overstreet said. “A 10 percent tax will be a body blow to the industry.”

But UV-emitting tanning devices have been classified as “carcinogenic to humans” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization.

The last paragraph goes without any comment on the CNN article but it deserves some here.  Lawmakers appear to be taxing tanning because it has been deemed “unhealthy”.  The bad precedent being set by this policy is that any activity or product determined as “unhealthy” by the federal government is fair game to be taxed to pay for health care. 

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait till I have to spend $50 for that X-Large cheese pizza in order to pay my ‘fair share’ of health care costs…(sarcasm intended)

By Matt Holdridge

Young Americans for Liberty member, Elliot Engstrom has an opinion piece on the Daily Caller today and this paragraph is worth sharing. 

Big-government liberals won a big victory yesterday, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t fight back. However, if we are going to win that fight our political ammunition cannot be pragmatically-based double-speak attempting to push the government out of one part of our life while holding onto government intervention in other sectors. If we do not want our government running our lives for us and always doing what they think is “best,” then we need to figure out what place government should take, and keep them within these limits. Government cannot be confined to certain sectors and left out of others—for example, government control of health care involves government control of the insurance sector, which involves control of the financial sector, and so on and so forth.

Elliot is correct. Remember, it’s Congressman Paul’s consistency on the issues that led many of us to respect him and join this movement. 

With Republicans like Senator John Cornyn already wavering on repealing all aspects of ObamaCare, we must stay consistent and determined throughout this battle. 

This fight is long from over and it is going to test our commitment to the principles of liberty, let’s not waver from the task at hand. 

By gintstopgitprr

From this morning’s Politico:

“…The bill requires ‘congressional staff’ to buy insurance from the exchanges – with a stipend from the Office of Personnel Management But page 158 of the bill defines ‘congressional staff’ narrowly, as “employees employed by the official office of a member of congress, whether in the district office or in Washington.”

The Congressional Research Service believes a court could rule that the legislation ‘would exclude professional committee staff, joint committee staff, some shared staff, as well as potentially those staff employed by leadership offices.’

If that’s so, staffers who work for Nancy Pelosi in her capacity as representative from California would go into the exchange program, while staffers who work for her in her capacity as speaker would stay on the government’s plan. Other Capitol employees, like those who work for the Clerk of the House or the House Historian, would be similarly exempted.”

Grassley has offered up an amendment that would apply to previously excluded staff.

“The new health care law creates two double standards. The congressional staff who wrote the new law exempted themselves from the new health care system, while other staff will be in it,” Grassley said today in a statement. “And, President Obama himself will not live under Obama health care. The message to grassroots America is that it’s good enough for you, but not for us.”

Read the rest.

By Matt Hawes

Washington Examiner columnist and author Tim Carney once again expertly exposes the myth that ObamaCare is a victory against the health insurance industry.  Rather, it is one of the biggest moves to strengthen drug lobbyists and empower insurance companies that has ever been pushed through Congress.

“Tonight,” President Obama intoned near midnight Sunday, after the House had passed two health care bills, “we pushed back on the undue influence of special interests. … We proved that this government — a government of the people and by the people — still works for the people.”

But even before the president spoke, the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America — whose $26.1 million lobbying effort in 2009 was the most expensive by any industry lobby in history — hailed the health package as “important and historic.”…

Throughout March, as momentum built for passing the bill, and as Democrats adopted the mantra, “You’re either with the American people, or you’re with the insurance companies,” health insurance stocks climbed in tandem with the bill’s odds of passing. The health sector outperformed every other sector in the S&P 500 over the last month….

First, there’s the unsettling but unavoidable conclusion that our president is willing to deceive us if he thinks he can get away with it. He knew the drug makers were on his side — after all, he cut a private deal with top drug lobbyist Billy Tauzin. He also knew that the media would consider any big government proposal a blow to big business.

Second, showing who benefits most makes clear that this “reform” wasn’t designed to “work for the people,” as Obama claims. It works for the deep-pocketed companies who wrote it. Come January, you will no longer be able to buy over-the-counter medicines with your health savings account money — if you want the tax deduction, you’ll need to get more costly prescription drugs. That hurts customers and taxpayers while driving up health care spending — but it profits Big Pharma….

Read the rest.   (Thanks to N.S.)