Stimulus Spending by State
The Wall Street Journal
(as of) August 6, 2009

How some of the major spending in the stimulus legislation will be shared among the states. Mouse over a state for details, or sort the rows in the chart below the map.

Map Here

Dem’s S-9 Amnesty Bill, ‘Piece of @#$%!’
The Buckeye Voice
October 9, 2009

House Minoroty Leader John Boehner responded in this fashion to Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid’s unending mission to ram Obama’s Immigration legislation into law. After watching and listening to CNN's Lou Dobbs report, I have to agree that it’s not worth the toilet paper it’s written on.

If, after watching Dobb’s video and reading the bill’s highlights, you aren’t fired up enough to write to your elected officials…you might just be a Socialist.

Read More

Related:
Republican Health Care Proposal
GOP.Gov

What Americans want are common-sense, responsible solutions that address the rising cost of health care and other major problems. In the national Republican address on Saturday, October 31, 2009, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) discussed Republicans’ plan for common-sense health care reform our nation can afford. 

Read More

Bill giving Obama power to shut Web takes on new tone
Computerworld
John Fontana
August 31, 2009

The second draft of a Senate cybersecurity bill appears to tone down language that would grant President Obama the power to shut down the Internet.

The Senate bill, first introduced in April by Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), still includes language that gives Obama the authority to direct responses to cyberattacks and declare a cyber emergency.

The bill also gives the president 180 days, as opposed to one year outlined in the bill's first draft, to implement a cybersecurity strategy from the day the bill is passed, which for now could be a long way off.

But the language in the first draft of the bill, which has yet to make it out of Rockefeller's Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and onto the Senate floor, has been rewritten regarding the President's authority to shut down both public and private networks including Internet traffic coming to and from compromised systems.

Read More

And in seemingly unrelated news (I will connect the dots for you!)
A Real Fairy-Tale Wedding
The New York Times
Peter Baker
September 2, 2009

Here’s a newsflash: Chelsea Clinton did not get married last month in a swank, celebrity-laden wedding on Martha’s Vineyard attended by the president of the United States.

For four months, the Clintons have told anyone who would listen that there was no August wedding in the works, but the rumors raced from Massachusetts to Manhattan to Washington and back again, producing one unsubstantiated headline after another around the world about the nuptials that never were...

...The persistence of the rumor despite the lack of tangible evidence says something about today’s free-for-all Internet media culture, where facts sometimes don’t get in the way of a good story.

Read More

As to the above article and its relation to the Cyber-Security Bill...

"The persistence of the rumor despite the lack of tangible evidence says something about today’s free-for-all Internet media culture, where facts sometimes don’t get in the way of a good story" (emphasis mine)

If you carefully read the article, the news sources mentioned are NOT Internet only, they are mainstream...The Boston Globe, New York magazine, New York Daily News...!  So what are they trying to say, that "internet sources" are totally unreliable, painting a picture of rumors run amuck through the Internet community, hence maybe a hint and support for the Cyber-Security bill???

Shouldn't this be up to each individual state!?!
Measure to Expand Gun Rights Falls Short in Senate
The New York Times
Bernie Becker and David M Herszenhorn
July 22, 2009

The Senate on Wednesday turned aside the latest attempt by gun advocates to expand the rights of gun owners, narrowly voting down a provision that would have allowed gun owners with valid permits from one state to carry concealed weapons in other states as well.

A group comprising mostly Republicans, along with some influential Democrats, had tried to attach the gun amendment to the annual defense authorization bill, a must-pass piece of legislation. But the provision got only 58 votes, two short of the 6o votes needed for passage under Senate rules.

Read More

Anti-abortion congressmen take on health care legislation
CNN 
By Alan Silverleib
July 22, 2009

The contentious health care reform debate intensified Wednesday as a bipartisan group of congressmen opposed to abortion pledged to fight any bill that fails to exclude the procedure from the scope of government-defined benefits.

"This issue is not about party politics. It's not about obstructionism. It is about saving lives and protecting pro-life Americans across the country," Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pennsylvania, said.

"American taxpayers should not be forced to pay for abortion. Nor should they be forced to be unwitting participants as the abortion industry uses [the health care debate] to mainstream the destruction of human life into America's health care industry."

Read More

What does he have to hide!?!
Executive Order 13489—Presidential Records
From January 21, 2009

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to establish policies and procedures governing the assertion of executive privilege by incumbent and former Presidents in connection with the release of Presidential records by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) pursuant to the Presidential Records Act of 1978, it is hereby ordered as follows:

...

Sec. 2. Notice of Intent to Disclose Presidential Records.

Read More

The America Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 hard at work...(makes me sick!)
Leading Healthcare Technology Companies Launch National Physician Education Program on Stimulus and Electronic Healthcare Records
Cisco
May 14, 2009

Allscripts today announced the formation of a coalition of technology innovation leaders who are partnering to educate 500,000 US physicians about opportunities aligned with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The Act details President Obama's plan to improve healthcare quality, safety and efficiency through the secure exchange of electronic health information and the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and associated technologies. By connecting physicians, hospitals, pharmacies, payers, public health organizations and other stakeholders across healthcare, information technologies such as the EHR can improve the management of chronic health conditions that account for about 75 percent of U.S. healthcare costs, and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of U.S. healthcare.

Read More

By-the-mile road tax could replace by-the-gallon federal fuel tax
Kansas City Star
By Steve Everly
July 1, 2009

The year is 2020 and the gasoline tax is history. In its place you get a monthly tax bill based on each mile you drove — tracked by a Global Positioning System device in your car and uploaded to a billing center.

What once was science fiction is being field-tested by the University of Iowa to iron out the wrinkles should a by-the-mile road tax ever be enacted.

Besides the technological advances making such a tax possible, the idea is getting a hard push from a growing number of transportation experts and officials. That is because the traditional by-the-gallon fuel tax, struggling to keep up with road building and maintenance demands, could fall even farther behind as vehicles’ gas mileage rises and more alternative-fuel vehicles come on line.

Read More

Revisit past articles about this subject:

Top lawmaker wants mileage-based tax on vehicles
Associated Press
By Joan Lowy
April 29, 2009
Read More

Transportation agency: Obama will not pursue mileage tax
CNN News
February 20, 2009
Related Read More

Oregon considers subbing mileage tax for gas tax
Los Angeles Times
By Kim Murphy
January 04, 2009
Related Read More

S 1261 The PASS ID Act
Providing for Additional Security in States Identification Act of 2009
To Replace the Real ID Act of 2005

To repeal title II of the REAL ID Act of 2005 and amend title II of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to better protect the security, confidentiality, and integrity of personally identifiable information collected by States when issuing driver’s licenses and identification documents, and for other purposes.

GovTrack's General info on S 1262

Open Congress' General info on S 1262

Text of S 1262

Title II of the Real ID Act of 2005

Title II of the Homeland Security Act of 2002

Senate bill fines people refusing health coverage
Associated Press
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
July 2, 2009

Americans who refuse to buy affordable medical coverage could be hit with fines of more than $1,000 under a health care overhaul bill unveiled Thursday by key Senate Democrats looking to fulfill President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the fines will raise around $36 billion over 10 years. Senate aides said the penalties would be modeled on the approach taken by Massachusetts, which now imposes a fine of about $1,000 a year on individuals who refuse to get coverage. Under the federal legislation, families would pay higher penalties than individuals.

In a revamped health care system envisioned by lawmakers, people would be required to carry health insurance just like motorists must get auto coverage now. The government would provide subsidies for the poor and many middle-class families, but those who still refuse to sign up would face penalties.

Called "shared responsibility payments," the fines would be set at least half the cost of base medical coverage, according to the legislation.

Read More

I think that it could be argued that ALL crime is a hate crime of some sort.  Crime is crime, and it is ALL already illegal...as in, we already have laws on the books with regard to murder, rape, burglary, etc...Do we really need another law to enforce what we already know to be illegal?
Claire McCaskill on Hate Crimes Bill
Show Me Progress
Posted by Clark
June 30, 2009

A friend of mine just got a response from Senator McCaskill regarding her position on hate crimes legislation, which I've copied below (minus my friend's name.)

Thank you for contacting me regarding efforts to protect Americans from hate crimes. I appreciate hearing from you, and I welcome the chance to respond.

Hate crimes are destructive and divisive. Any random act of violence is a tragic event that can devastate the lives of the victim and his or her family, but the intentional beating or murder of an individual based on who they are can terrorize an entire community. Current hate crimes law is limited to investigating and prosecuting certain civil rights offenses when it is determined that the offender was motivated by a bias against race, color, religion, national origin and, in limited instances, disability. In the 110th Congress, Senator Kennedy (D-MA) and Senator Smith (R-OR), introduced the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S. 1105) in an attempt to strengthen current law and expand it to cover sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability.

The Senate voted in favor of attaching the Kennedy-Smith hate crimes bill to the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 1585). I supported this amendment because there is evidence that violent, bias-motivated crimes are widespread and a serious problem within our nation. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) statistics show that since 1991, over 100,000 hate crimes have been reported, with 7,720 in 2006, the FBI's most recent reporting period.

Read More

Based on unfounded science!  (See The Great Global Warming Swindle or The Farmers Almanac to start)
HR 2454 American Clean Energy And Security Act of 2009
Referred to as the Cap and Trade legislation

To create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy.

Info from Open Congress

Vote from GovTrack

All the representatives that voted yes on this are no true representatives.  I am proud to say that my Representative, Blaine Luetkemeyer, voted no.  We will see if my Senator, Claire McCaskill, will do the same.  Keep watching...

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a school's strip search of an Arizona teenage girl accused of having prescription-strength ibuprofen was illegal.

The court ruled 8-1 on Thursday that school officials violated the law with their search of Savana Redding in the rural eastern Arizona town of Safford.

Redding, who now attends college, was 13 when officials at Safford Middle School ordered her to remove her clothes and shake out her underwear because they were looking for pills -- the equivalent of two Advils. The district bans prescription and over-the-counter drugs and the school was acting on a tip from another student.

Read More

Justices Rule Inmates Don’t Have Right to DNA Tests
The New York Times
By David Stout
June 18, 2009

Convicts do not have a right under the Constitution to obtain DNA testing to try to prove their innocence after being found guilty, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

In a 5-to-4 decision, the court found against William G. Osborne, a convicted rapist from Alaska. But the decision does not necessarily mean that many innocent prisoners will languish in their cells without access to DNA testing, since Alaska is one of only a few states without a law granting convicts at least some access to the new technology.

“DNA testing has an unparalleled ability both to exonerate the wrongly convicted and to identify the guilty,” the majority conceded, in an opinion written by Chief Justice John G Roberts, Jr “The availability of new DNA testing, however, cannot mean that every criminal conviction, or even every conviction involving biological evidence, is suddenly in doubt.”

Read More

This is not the first time this type of amendment has been introduced, and chances are it will never make it out of Committee, but we definitely need to keep our eyes on it!!!
H J Res. 5:  Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment
Summary from Open Congress

OpenCongress Summary:
H. J. Res.. 5 is a Constitutional amendment to remove the limit on the number of terms one may serve as President. It effectively would repeal the 22nd Amendment, which was approved by Congress in 1947 and ratified by the states in 1951. Several members of Congress have introduced similar legislation, including Sen. Harry Reid in 1989 (S. J. Res. 36). As is likely the case in the 111th Congress, the resolutions have never proceeded out of committee.

Open Congress Info Here

GovTrack Info Here

As if It Needed to, Virginia Bans Smiles at the DMV
Washington Post
By Nick Miroff
May 28, 2009

Few places in Virginia are as draining to the soul and as numbing to the buttocks as the branch offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles. And yet, until recently, smiling was still permitted there.

No more. As part of the DMV's effort to develop super-secure driver's licenses and foolproof identification cards, the agency has issued a smile ban, directing customers to adopt a "neutral expression" in their portraits, thereby extinguishing whatever happiness comes with finally hearing one's number called.

The driver's license photo, it seems, is destined to look like a mug shot.

DMV officials say the smile ban is for a good cause. The agency would like to develop a facial recognition system that could compare customers' photographs over time to prevent fraud and identity theft. "The technology works best when the images are similar," said DMV spokeswoman Pam Goheen. "To prepare for the possibility of future security enhancements, we're asking customers to maintain a neutral expression."

Read More

Justices Reverse a Rule On Police Questioning
Washington Post/Associated Press
By Jesse J Holland
May 27, 2009

The Supreme Court overturned a long-standing ruling yesterday that barred police from initiating questions unless a suspect's lawyer was present, a move that will make it easier for prosecutors to interrogate suspects.

...

"The police interrogation in this case clearly violated petitioner's Sixth Amendment right to counsel," Stevens said in the dissent. Overruling Jackson, he said, "can only diminish the public's confidence in the reliability and fairness of our system of justice."

The Obama administration had asked the court to overturn Michigan v. Jackson, disappointing civil rights and civil liberties groups.

Read More

FCC’s Warrantless Household Searches Alarm Experts
Wired
By Ryan Singel
May 21, 2009

You may not know it, but if you have a wireless router, a cordless phone, remote car-door opener, baby monitor or cellphone in your house, the FCC claims the right to enter your home without a warrant at any time of the day or night in order to inspect it.

That’s the upshot of the rules the agency has followed for years to monitor licensed television and radio stations, and to crack down on pirate radio broadcasters. And the commission maintains the same policy applies to any licensed or unlicensed radio-frequency device.

“Anything using RF energy — we have the right to inspect it to make sure it is not causing interference,” says FCC spokesman David Fiske. That includes devices like Wi-Fi routers that use unlicensed spectrum, Fiske says.

The FCC claims it derives its warrantless search power from the Communications Act of 1934, though the constitutionality of the claim has gone untested in the courts. That’s largely because the FCC had little to do with average citizens for most of the last 75 years, when home transmitters were largely reserved to ham-radio operators and CB-radio aficionados. But in 2009, nearly every household in the United States has multiple devices that use radio waves and fall under the FCC’s purview, making the commission’s claimed authority ripe for a court challenge.

Read More

H.R. 1966 Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act

Info from Open Congress

From Project Awareness:

To amend title 18, United States Code, with respect to cyberbullying.

(a) In General- Chapter 41 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

‘Sec. 881. Cyberbullying

‘(a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

Read More

Congress Looks To Investigate Wall Street
Open Congress
By Donna Shaw
May 5, 2009

Are we ready to start looking back at the origins of our crisis and ask questions about what went wrong? Congress thinks so. The House on Wednesday is expected to follow the Senate’s lead in approving legislation to establish a bipartisan Financial Markets Commission, made up of lawyers, economists and regulators, to examine the causes, both global and domestic, of the economic crisis.

The commission is being already being referred to as a modern-day Pecora. The Pecora Commission, named after the mettlesome Chief Counsel Ferdinand Pecora, ran an investigation of Wall Street in front the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency during the Great Depression. The investigation lasted several years and became quite a media spectacle as powerful bankers, including J.P. Morgan Jr., were dragged one by one before the committee to be tirelessly grilled by Mr. Pecora. The hearing lead directly to the ousting of several powerful bankers.

Read More

Guest’s anti-Real ID bill passes House
St Joe News
By Alyson Raletz
April 20, 2009

Read More

Top lawmaker wants mileage-based tax on vehicles
Associated Press
By Joan Lowy
April 29, 2009

A House committee chairman said Tuesday that he wants Congress to enact a mileage-based tax on cars and trucks to pay for highway programs now rather than wait years to test the idea.

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., said he believes the technology exists to implement a mileage tax. He said he sees no point in waiting years for the results of pilot programs since such a tax system is inevitable as federal gasoline tax revenues decline.

"Why do we need a pilot program? Why don't we just phase it in?" said Oberstar, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman. Oberstar is drafting a six-year transportation bill to fund highway and transit programs that is expected to total around a half trillion dollars.

A congressionally mandated commission on transportation financing alternatives recommended switching to a vehicle-miles traveled tax, but estimated it would take a decade to put a national system in place.

Read More

Transportation agency: Obama will not pursue mileage tax
CNN News
February 20, 2009
Related Read More

Oregon considers subbing mileage tax for gas tax
Los Angeles Times
By Kim Murphy
January 04, 2009
Related Read More

Obama Passing New Law To Allow Searching of PC's, Laptops, and Media Devices
YouTube via After Downing Street
April 26, 2009

Watch This

The Forgotten Amendment
Intellectual Conservative
By Jack Ward
April 23, 2009

Most of us have a cursory knowledge of the U.S. Constitution and that the Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments to the Constitution. But few know any of the amendments other than the first (freedom of speech) and the second (gun rights). But one amendment has been totally ignored by our political leaders. The forgotten amendment is the tenth amendment which enumerates the rights of states and the people.

The tenth amendment of the U.S. Constitution is quite simple. It states: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." 

Simply stated, it says that the power granted to the federal government is limited and all other powers are bestowed to the states or the people. The powers granted to the federal government are listed in the first three articles of the Constitution. You might be amazed to find out that no where in the U.S. Constitution does it give the federal government the power to regulate the temperature in your house, manage your health care, educate your children, or a myriad of things the federal government wants to control. If our legislators want to expand federal powers to include these things, they can do it through the amendment process. The U.S. Constitution has been amended 27 times, so change is possible.

Read More

HR 1388 The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act
Also known as The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act
Bill Information from Open Congress
Bill Information from GovTrack

President Obama Signs Landmark National Service Legislation
Corporation for National and Community Service
Press Release
April 21, 2009

Washington D.C. – President Obama delivered an early victory for a central cause of his Administration by signing into law a sweeping expansion of national service that will engage millions of Americans in addressing local needs through volunteer service.

The President signed the landmark Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act today at a Washington DC elementary school, joined by Vice President Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama, Dr, Jill Biden, Members of Congress, former President Clinton, former First Lady Rosalyn Carter, and an audience of nonprofit leaders and national service volunteers. The President was introduced by the bill’s namesake and longtime service champion Senator Kennedy, who co-authored the legislation with Senator Orrin Hatch.

After signing the bill, the President, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Dr. Jill Biden, and former President Bill Clinton will plant trees and restore habitat in an environmental service project with AmeriCorps members and high school students at a local park.

The Serve America Act reauthorizes and expands national service programs administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency created in 1993. The Corporation engages four million Americans in result-driven service each year, including 75,000 AmeriCorps members, 492,000 Senior Corps volunteers, 1.1 million Learn and Serve America students, and 2.2 million additional community volunteers mobilized and managed through the agency’s programs.

Read More

House rejects Real ID provisions
Missouri Net
By Brent Martin
April 20, 2009

Missouri wouldn't comply with provisions of the Real ID Act of 2005 under a bill approved by the House and heading to the Senate.

"The Real ID Act violates the United States Constitution and I took an oath on this floor to uphold the Missouri and the US Constitutions," Rep. Jim Guest (R-King City) told colleagues during House floor debate on his bill, HCS HB 361. "I feel compelled to pass legislation to uphold that."

The contention by Guest that the Real ID Act violates the 1st, 4th and 10th Amendment struck Rep. Don Calloway (D-St. Louis) as an overreach.

"I'm kind of concerned when we throw around words like unconstitutional," Calloway said during floor debate.

Calloway claimed the government has a compelling reason to override 1st Amendment freedom of religion rights to protect public safety. He dismissed Guest's assertion that it violates the 4th Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

Read More

HR 45 Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009
Bill Information form Open Congress
Bill Information form GovTrack
Watch This

From Rense.Com
From thebyteshow@zianet.com
April 20, 2009

HR 45 Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sales Act of 2009   Even gun shop owners didn't know about this because it is flying under the radar.

To find out about this - go to any government website and type in HR 45 or Google HR 45 Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sales Act of 2009. You will get all the information.   Basically this would make it illegal to own a firearm - any rifle with a clip or ANY pistol unless:   

* It is registered

* You are fingerprinted

* You supply a current Driver's License

* You supply your Social Security #

Read More

HR 20 The Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act
Bill Information From GovTrack
Bill Information From Open Congress
House Vote

Read Full Summary

HR 875 Food Safety and Modernization Act
Bill Information From GovTrack
Bill Information for Open Congress

Read Full Summary