Monthly Archives: February 2010
Ron Paul Speech at CPAC 2010
UPDATE: Ron Paul wins 2010 CPAC straw poll and talks about it on FOXNews:
Celebrating the Joys of Adoption
Guest Post by Congressman Bob Goodlatte
Adoption offers a wonderful opportunity to bring children in need and caring supportive parents together. Each year, I have the incredible opportunity to nominate, for special recognition, families from across the Sixth Congressional District who have made a significant difference in the lives of children, particularly those who have chosen to build their families through adoption.
The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to raising awareness about the countless children in this country and the millions around the world in need of permanent, safe, and loving homes, hosts an annual awards event, “Angels in Adoption,” to highlight the joys of adoption, and to encourage families to adopt children in foster care.
This event allows Members of Congress to take an active role in selecting a constituent of their choice as an award recipient. I have been extremely honored to select families from the Sixth Congressional District who have significantly contributed to changing the lives of children in need through adoption and foster care. The “Angels in Adoption” program is a wonderful way to recognize good folks who are doing extraordinary things.
Recently I was proud to nominate Vic and Linda Sisson of Fincastle to represent the Sixth Congressional District as our “Angels in Adoption”. The Sissons, who have 4 children of their own, were empty-nesters on the verge of retirement when a friend mentioned becoming foster parents. They decided to open their home to children in need and went through the process to become foster parents to three siblings. After five years of watching their foster children meet prospective parents, Vic and Linda decided to complete the adoption process themselves. Each year I am touched by the good work of my constituents, like the Sisson Family, who have greatly enriched the lives of children through adoption. Their personal experiences and involvement in adoption and foster care prove that they are more than deserving of this recognition.
In addition, I am pleased to support important bipartisan legislation which extends and expands incentives for families to adopt children. With the average cost of adoption between $20,000 and $25,000, the Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act makes permanent the current tax credit for adoptive families.
As a member of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Adoption, which focuses on adoption policy issues, I will continue working to reduce and remove the barriers that hinder children from realizing their basic need to have a family. We must encourage and promote adoption as a viable solution for the numerous children both domestically and internationally who find themselves without the support of a loving family and we must always commend those who are willing to open their hearts and homes to take in a child.
To contact me about this or any other matter, please visit my website at www.goodlatte.house.gov.
Saturday Tuneage: The Promise Ring
As a senior in high school, I was huge into emo rock and going to rock shows with my closest friends at Ottobar in Baltimore. Ten years later (wow…hard to believe it has really gone by this fast), I still listen to some of it and it brings back the flood of memories.
I want to focus on the very first show I attended at the Ottobar. I remember walking into this smoky old warehouse in West Baltimore and hearing all of these jam bands prep the way for the opening act. The Promise Ring was the main act that night. I remember how cool it was to see them up close and dancing to their music (well…headbanging to some of it). They played one of my favorite songs, “Red and Blue Jeans.” It has a happy beat, and it was just sheer amazing.
Here’s the video and I will let you back to your normal programming.
A View of the Constitution
guest post by Theorist D
The U.S Constitution is a contract between the citizens of the United States and their government. The Citizens of the United States pay taxes to their government, the contractor, so the government may provide security and act as a neutral arbiter in conflict. Payment of taxes by citizens obligates the government to provide national security of both a physical and a financial nature. This security allows citizens to spend their time and resources pursuing their own self interest. Ultimately, this paradigm places U.S. citizens as superior to the government, which naturally places the government in a position of inferiority. Due to a combination of political ambition and public apathy, this paradigm has been inverted over the past 200 years.
We no longer find citizens as the dictators of public policy, but rather government as the micromanager of private life. Government heavily influences individuals through regulations and tax policy by picking who starts businesses, and what business opportunities may be pursued. Opportunities perceived by government as “for the public good” are blessed by government’s removal of inhibitory regulations or by the award of tax credits. On the other hand, opportunities and pursuits to which government is either indifferent, or perceives as “contrary to the public good” are rendered nearly impossible through regulation and taxation. This attack on individualism is diabolically opposed to our founding document’s statement that each citizen “has a right to live, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
The best way to reverse this trend of government intrusion is to teach and advocate the same rigid individualism applauded in our founding documents. Succeeding generations must be taught that the United States Constitution is a contract for security and procedure, providing for the pursuit of their dreams and interests. At the same time, they must also be taught that the United States Constitution is NOT a contract for governmental micromanagement.
Stimulus: One Year Later
One year later, people are still asking about what happened to the promises of new jobs. Unemployment levels are still at an all-time high, meanwhile President Barack Obama has claimed that the Stimulus has been successful. Wow…wasteful government spending has a degree of success…go figure. Considering that Obama has a penchant for the “I’s”, perhaps, we should look at how the stimulus has done, then make the assessment if it is working.
First, let’s take a look at the stimulus timeline. Other than the creation of fake Congressional districts, it is only costing the taxpayers for the long haul. Then, USA Today came out with an article saying that the funds are going to programs that have been eliminated.
With all of this occurring, you may be asking yourselves if you are benefitting from the stimulus funds. Don’t worry, you are paying for something that you will never see.
Aside from Obama and the Democrats in Congress claiming this as a “disaster averted” moment, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Republican challengers to troubled incumbents are using this to their advantage. Keith Fimian, who is challenging freshman Rep. Gerry Connolly, said in a statement that the only thing benefitting from the stimulus is the budget deficits, debt, and the increased likelihood of tax increases.
“Gerry Connolly eagerly advocated this reckless spending binge last year because he is a career politician who doesn’t know how jobs are created or how economies grow. All Gerry Connolly knows how to do is grow government, tax and spend away our hard earned money, and run for re-election. His economic policies have failed.”
I couldn’t have said it any better myself. In fact, we are in trouble if we continue to rely on using stimulus packages as a way for economic recovery.
Transparency is in the House
During the House session yesterday, legislation was passed requiring that voting records of Members of the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate be easily retrieved online with a vote of 86 to 13. Del. Jim LeMunyon (R-Chantilly) introduced this legislation, and it received support from both parties. All 20 first term members of the House signed on as co-patrons.
Currently, the Virginia General Assembly’s website has a feature that allows you to see a legislator’s vote on a particular bill, but it does not have a feature, where you can see how your legislators voted on issues by name. This legislation will require that the General Assembly website will allow people to search by Member name in addition to bill number.
LeMunyon said in his floor speech on Monday, “Many of us often recall the well-known words of Thomas Jefferson, ‘Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.’. House Bill 778 affords us the opportunity to reaffirm our confidence in Mr. Jefferson’s words.”
Feminists Resort to Radical Means for Gender Parity in the Sciences
Women have made gains in most academic areas except the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) fields. The lack of gender parity in these fields continues to confound most social engineers. Now, more radical measures are being employed to overcome the glass ceiling to tenure, a barrier jealously guarded by patriarchal holdouts. ABC news reports:
A woman opened fire today at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, killing three faculty members and injuring three other people, none of them students, officials said.
…
ABC News’ Huntsville, Ala., affiliate WAAY-TV reported that the suspect is a university biology professor whose tenure appeal was denied today, though authorities did not publicly confirm the report.
Who dares say that equating feminists to terrorists is over-the-top?
Cybersecurity is Critical to Our National Security
Guest Post by Congressman Bob Goodlatte
The news reports are startling – multiple congressional offices announcing that their computer systems have been compromised by hackers, including Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Pentagon reporting that their computer system is “scanned or attacked by outsiders more than 300 million times a day”, and the General Accounting Office (GAO) testifying that the U.S. information technology infrastructure is vulnerable to attack.
The GAO has further stated in a recent report that, “cyber attacks continue to pose a potentially devastating threat to the systems and operations of the federal government and the ever-increasing dependence of federal agencies on computerized systems to carry out essential, everyday operations can make them vulnerable to an array of cyber-based risks. Thus it is increasingly important for the federal government to have effective information security controls in place to safeguard its systems and the information they contain.”
In direct response to this GAO report and extensive hearings by the House Science and Technology Committee, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation which aims to enhance cybersecurity. Specifically, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act seeks to improve computer security in the public and private sectors through coordination of federal cybersecurity research and development activities, strengthening of the cybersecurity workforce, and coordination of U.S. representation in international cybersecurity technical standards development.
Cyber security is without a doubt a homeland security threat and the government is taking steps to protect our vulnerable systems, but folks must realize just how important it is for individual Americans to take their cybersecurity seriously, not just as a matter of personal safety, but as a matter of our country’s security as well. Those who take it upon themselves to implement relatively simple security measures are not only protecting themselves and their families, but are in effect contributing to our national efforts to secure critical infrastructures like telecommunications, energy, manufacturing, water, health care, transportation, and emergency and financial services.
While technology has brought tremendous improvement to our quality of life, these advances have also brought significant vulnerability. These recent attacks on government networks have served to increase awareness that cybersecurity is not just about protecting computers, but also has implications for our national security and economic well-being. Just as the federal government heavily relies upon computers to carry out their business, so do our local hospitals, firefighters and police, just to name a few. Computers are vital to the safety of the American people and as Co-Chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus and Chairman of the House Republican High Tech Working Group I will continue working with the Administration and the leadership in Congress to see that our nation’s information networks are protected from future cyber attacks.
To contact me about this or any other matter, please visit my website at www.goodlatte.house.gov.
