Sen. Rockefeller proposes bill that would give government sweeping powers to control, monitor, and regulate the Internet, ACLU demands public schools stop blocking gay web sites on public computers, Rep. Jane Harman calls incriminating NSA wiretap “abuse of power,” National Service legislation signed into law that will cost $6 billion over 5 years by hiring “paid volunteers,” government will need to issue $2.4 trillion in new Treasury securities in 2009 to meet budget shortfalls and bailout program requirements, and U.S. to give another $5.5 billion to automakers…

Government policy drives markets. With trillions of dollars being spent by Congress and doled out by the Federal Reserve in one bailout plan after another, we all need to think about how these programs will affect our financial positions.

Will we experience hyperinflation, the kind that can wipe out our life savings? Or will these targeted bailouts stimulate tremendous growth in certain industries?

In one of my favorite movies, Rounders, Matt Damon relates that in poker “if you can’t spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table…you are the sucker.“  Read my book, Obamanomics: How To Invest Over the Next Administration to make sure government policies don’t make you the sucker!

Senate Proposal Will End Internet Freedom. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced a bill to greatly expand government’s power to regulate, monitor, and control the Internet. The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 will allow the president to shut down portions of the Internet he deems a threat to national security, introduce and force new technical standards and compliance upon industry, and require federal licensing and certification for IT professionals.

You can read more about the Cybersecurity Act, petition against it, and learn how you can support the opposition to this disgusting expansion of government power here.

ACLU Demands Public Schools Stop Blocking Gay Web Sites. The American Civil Liberties Union is threatening to sue Tennessee public schools if they do not stop restricting students’ access to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Web sites on school computers.

Congresswoman Jane Harman Calls Incriminating Wire Tap Abuse of Power. Rep. Jane Harman was alleged overheard by NSA wiretaps trading favors for power, helping Israeli lobbyists accused of espionage evade justice. On Tuesday, Ms. Harman blasted the wiretapping, calling it an “abuse of power.” She denies any wrong-doing and insists that the Obama administration release the transcripts to the public.

National Service Legislation Signed Into Law. The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act was signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday. The bill will expand the AmeriCorps program from 75,000 to 250,000 by 2017 and is expected to cost $6 billion over the next 5 years. Critics say that the idea of paid volunteers is an oxymoron, and that citizens have every opportunity to “serve America” as is-this is just another expansion of government bureaucracy.

Here is a good critique of Kennedy’s Serve America Act.

Soaring Budget Deficit, Unemployment, Mean Billions in Bond Sales. Federal tax receipts are collapsing as 3.7 million jobs have been shed across the country in the six months since the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1st. As government’s income is shrinking, it’s expenses are skyrocketing with a projected budget deficit of $1.85 trillion. The Treasury will need to issue $2.4 trillion in new bills, notes, and bonds in fiscal year 2009, alone, to meet budgetary obligations. This will put serious strain on bond markets and siphon large amounts of capital from the private sector.

Real estate investing is an excellent way to hedge inflation risk. Rents can grow with inflation and fixed rates on mortgages are almost certainly below what inflation will be over the next 15 to 30 years. This is a decent program to learn how to buy your first apartment building. It gives the basics, shows you how to pick a good commercial Realtor, find a ‘diamond in the rough’ property, and structure a deal.

U.S. To Give Another $5.5 Billion to Automakers. The U.S. government plans to give another $5 billion in loans to General Motors, and $500 million to Chrysler. To date the federal government has provided a total of $13.4 billion to GM and $4 billion to Chrysler in what it calls “emergency loans.”

Alternative Investment Idea: With real estate prices still falling, stocks whipping around like crazy, and even U.S. Treasury bonds becoming increasingly risky, it pays to investigate alternative forms of investing. One method I use regularly is selling market insurance.

Every investment involves risk and everyone has their own objectives. Some people want low risk and are OK with low returns. Iron Condor trading strategies turn these people into your clients.

Learn how to use options to start your own insurance business, having the market pay you to insure its risks. Get paid regular premiums every month! This Iron Condor trading system will teach you how to become your own insurance company, managing the market risks you assume. Don’t go into this blindly! Learn how the experts use options to generate steady income.

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Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced a bill in the Senate on April 1st calling for sweeping powers for federal regulators to “secure cyber communications.” The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (S.773) would give government authority over all networks considered part of the nation’s critical infrastructure.

The usual threats and scare tactics are used to justify giving Big Brother greater powers, including giving the President the power to shut down portions of the internet he deems a threat to national security, and access to vast amounts of digital data currently legally off limits.

Industry experts criticize the pervasive intrusion into private business standards and practices that would result from some of the finer points of the legislation, including a section that grants government exclusive licensing rights to IT professionals.

Here are the basics:

1. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards development and compliance.
2. Licensing and certification of IT professionals.
3. Regulation of domain name contracts.
4. Executive authority to “shut down the Internet” when in interests of national security.

The bill is still in its infancy being referred to Committee, so now is the time to stop it! Take the time to write or call each of your Congressional representatives. You can look up your representatives’ name and contact information using this tool.

Here is a sample letter you can cut and paste to use as your own:

Details of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (S.773) have recently come to my attention. I am writing to voice my utter contempt for this proposed legislation and wish to document opposition to what I consider unacceptable expansion of federal authority into the cyber domain.

S.773 would give the federal government excessive power in regulating the Internet. The power to unilaterally shut down private networks, to garnish unprecedented digital data currently outside the realm of legal authority, and intrusion into commercial practices of professional certification are unacceptable.

Please take serious consideration in evaluating this measure. I urge you to support freedom of the Internet, individual privacy in digital information, and continue to let the private sector make certification and employment decisions without federal coercion.

We must actively fight the erosion of liberty and individual freedom, preserving the values that made this country great. Thank you for your time!

Take a moment to leave a comment below to voice your support for this movement!

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Watch Sen. Rockefeller discuss the bill below. It is not at all evident he truly understands what he’s talking about, yet this man wields power to control us all:

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Presidential Determination No. 2009-15 of January 27, 2009, one of Obama’s first edicts, calls for the resettlement of Palestinian refugees in the United States. Obama says that it is “important to the national interest to furnish assistance under the Act in an amount not to exceed $20.3 million.” Since when has transporting Palestinians to our country been part of the “national interest”? The Founders of the Republic would be truly ashamed of what we’ve become.

Immigration has long been the lifeblood of this country, but using tax money to transport people here has not. I do not pay taxes for this nonsense. Americans should stand up to the pervasive political double speak to which we are constantly subjected. “National interest” is not a blanket term you can throw onto every whim of every President. It has meaning. Our collective defense is a “national interest,” for example.

Ironically, opening the doors of immigration and citizenship to Palestinians may be counter to true national interests, at least to security interests. Note the picture associated with this article-Palestinians are burning an American flag. It is not a secret that there is widespread resentment in that culture, particularly within the refugee camps, towards America. It is even understandable why many would dislike us. We have long meddled in their affairs, funding Israel and providing them with state-of-the-art weapons.

Nonetheless, bringing large groups of Palestinians to the United States is absolutely NOT in our national interest. One poll claims that 55% of Palestinians support suicide bombings, and “have displayed their overwhelming support of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.”

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Everyday our liberties and freedom come under fire. The American Republic once protected its citizens from arbitrary abuse, extortion, and deliberate social engineering. Now the very same public servants who were meant to work for us connive daily on how to control our lives. The Republic is gone and we are left to fend for ourselves, to put up resistance to every encroachment on individual self-determination. The Freedom Under Fire Report provides daily coverage of the most important issues, so that you remain informed and ready to defend yourself. Read on and pass this around to everyone you think could benefit:

Stimulus Bill Passes, Obama says it’s only the first step. President obama will sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Tuesday after the Senate approved the bill with the slimmest possible margin, a 60-38 vote. This $787 billion bohemoth will certainly bring about change. It is yet to be determined if wildly spending outside of budget, borrowing and printing to make up the difference, and increasing government control of the economy is a good thing.

Even Europeans Dislike the Economic “Stimulus” Package. In a bit of irony, Italian finance minister, Giulio Tremonti, chastised America for trying to fix a problem caused by more debt by issuing yet more debt. (Italy’s national debt exceeds their GDP). Other ministers, angry over “Buy American” clauses in the spending bill, “emphasize the importance of keeping the American economy free of protectionism.” When European socialists reprimand us for borrowing and spending too much, it’s time to rethink our assumptions.

Obama Schedules “Fiscal Responsibility Summit”. With the 2009 budget deficit climbing sharply towards $2 trillion, and lots of talk about increased government involvement in all aspects of American life, President Obama has called for a “fiscal responsibility summit” on Feb. 23rd. Is this a farce or real effort to curb government spending?

Buying a Judge can be more Profitable than Buying a Politician. The United States Supreme Court is evaluating a case in which a Judge overturned a $50 million verdict against one of his largest campaign contributors. Don Blankenship spent $3 million on an advertising campaign against Justice Brent Benjamin’s opponent in their 2004 judiciary campaign. Subsequently, after securing the election, Benjamin turned around and tipped the scales in a 3-2 reversal of a previous verdict against Blankenship. The Supreme Court is determining whether or not Benjamin should have excluded himself from the case due to the lobbying relationship. The outcome of this case will determine whether or not judges can be bought like politicians.

Obama’s Rhetoric is the Real Catastrophe. President Obama has been spreading non-stop fear about the economy, saying the current recession is the worst since the Great Depression. Economics professor, Bradley Schiller, debunks these claims. Comparing GDP and unemployment, Schiller shows that our current situation is nothing like the Depression; rather, it resembles the 1981-82 recession quite well. “This fearmongering may be good politics, but it is bad history and bad economics.”

Newsweek says: We Are All Socialists Now. In a commentary on how both Republicans and Democrats have converged upon the notion that big government is necessary, Newsweek claims that “the America of 2009 is moving toward a modern European state.” The article reminds us that it was “under a conservative GOP administration that we enacted the largest expansion of the welfare state in 30 years: prescription drugs for the elderly.”

The purpose of the article is to indoctrinate America to accept the concept of Socialism as justifiable and necessary. The author attemps to trick the reader to believe that since both Republicans and Democrats have behaved like Socialists in Congress, we should accept it and jump on the bandwagon. “The sooner we understand where we truly stand, the sooner we can think more clearly about how to use government in today’s world.”

Beware of the media’s indoctrination campaign. Be prepared to be fed unrelenting disinformation in the attempt to garnish public support for growing the central government. Americans should keep their eyes open to this nonsense and stand like a stone wall against the encroachment of the bureuacratic machine. In response to the articles title: No, we are not all Socialists!

Rise in Jobless Poses Threat to Stability. worldwide unemployment could soar to 50 million by the end of 2009, according to the United Nations. Already there are protests and discontent around the world. “High unemployment rates, especially among young workers, have led to protests in countries as varied as Latvia, Chile, Greece, Bulgaria and Iceland and contributed to strikes in Britain and France.” Astonishingly, U.S. director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, told Congress that “instability caused by the global economic crisis had become the biggest security threat facing the United States, outpacing terrorism.”

Global Warming “Underestimated”. Ecologist Chris Field claims that future temperatures “will be beyond anything predicted.” He says that a report he published in 2007, in which he predicted global average temperature increases between 1.1C and 6.4C over the next century, drastically underestimated what he now thinks will be the case. As evidence to support his claim he cites that carbon dioxide emissions increased between 2000 and 2007 more than he initially estimated.

Before writing humanity off just yet, let’s consider a few points:

1. Chris Field is an ecologist and biologist, not a climatologist. He is an expert at flora and fauna, not climatological modeling. There is a big difference.
2. Field merely noted that CO2 emissions increased, not that they have had appreciable affect on the climate. One may not lead to the other, or may at least not have the causal relationship predicted by low fidelity models.
3. Despite emotional arguments by radicals, the debate on human-induced global warming has not been concluded. There are myriad scientists on each side of the argument, so let’s stay calm and refrain from irrational decisions.

Admittedly, I am not a climatologist. I do not have answers to global warming. But one thing that is clear is that radical leftists have hijacked the climate debate, are attempting to silence opposition, and disinform the public. Just note that almost no one with an opinion on global warming is qualified to have one! Isn’t it scary that so many people are so emotionally charged on a subject for which they have little understanding?

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One of the big policy areas in which you can expect to see action is on the environmental front. In a meeting with Al Gore on December 9th, Barack Obama made it clear that he considers combating climate change a “matter of national security.”

He states that “the time for delay is over; the time for denial is over.”

You can watch the press conference here:

What this means is that we can expect to see increasing regulatory pressures throughout America-from individual homes, car fuel standards, business pollution-emission standards, and a carbon-cap-and-trade program. This will have a multi-trillion dollar affect on the economy. Obama also intends to strike a series of international environmental treaties, the details of which are not yet clear.

Let me make a few things clear: Regulations increase costs! There is quite a bit of political talk these days about “creating jobs” and stimulating the economy by going green…this is nonsense. Every program government enacts will cost billions. Every regulatory edict forced down our throats by the Environmental Protection Agency will cost billions.

Further, the scientific community has not come to concensus on “Global Warming.” In fact, there is a big anti Global Warming movement amongst a large number of scientists that has demonstrated significant flaws in “Warming” theory.

“Global Warming” is a belief, not a fact. It is ardently supported by groups of fanatics and taken on faith by far larger groups of people who have no understanding of how to evaluate scientific hypotheses.

The “theory” sounds nice, it’s understandable to most people, and it requires little thought or effort to adopt someone else’s idea.  It even feels great to be part of such a large movement.

The climate is supposed to change. That is how it has always worked and how it will continue to work in the future. There is not nearly enough evidence to conclusively prove that humans have altered prevalent natural climate cycles.

Check out the logic in this rag that passes for journalism:

Mother Nature, of course, is oblivious to the federal government’s machinations. Ironically, 2008 is on pace to be a slightly cooler year in a steadily rising temperature trend line. Experts say it’s thanks to a La Nina weather variation. While skeptics are already using it as evidence of some kind of cooling trend, it actually illustrates how fast the world is warming.

So the “journalist” here, Seth Borenstein, states that cooler temperatures “illustratates how fast the earth is warming.” Are you kidding me, Seth?

How about this…in the same article, Seth quotes Stanford University biologist Terry Root:

We’re out of time, things are going extinct.

Terry, “things” have always gone extinct! This is how nature works.

This is the kind of logic that takes place of “fact” these days, particularly in mainstream media. No wonder why most of America takes this quasi-science “Warming” theory on faith. No one has a clue what’s going on, but the policy implications are dangerous. We are talking about trillions of dollars of economic damage to “fix” something that may not even be a problem.

If nothing else, prudence should play a larger role in politics. Let’s get some real evidence, take our time and evaluate problems before jumping to the rescue.

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