President's Executive Order to Promote Amnesty.

Since taking office, the President has been an outward
supporter of the Development, Relief, and Education for
Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. Frustrated at Congress'
refusal to pass this legislation, the President took
matters into his own hands. Though I do not, by any
means, agree with amnesty in any form, I am more
disappointed in the President's dismissal of the United
States Constitution. Executive Orders should be only
used when American stability is at risk. I fail to
comprehend how passage of the DREAM Act is a serious
enough matter to completely override how our Founders
desired the Legislative Branch to handle these kinds of
matters.

In a letter to Senator Harry Reid, Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano stated this Executive Order
would eliminate hundreds of thousands of cases that are
clogging up the courts. She said that this will allow
enforcement agencies to focus on "criminal aliens, those
who pose a threat to public safety and national security,
repeat immigration law violators and other individuals
prioritized for removal."

U.S. Representative Jeff Duncan

Next Meeting - 30 August

Our next meeting will be at Jim and Peggy's house, tomorrow night
(August 30th) at 7:00 PM. I look forward to seeing you there.
Thanks!

Prof. Robert George on ABC News 2 Sep @ 1200

Professor Robert George, is a panelist questioning
Presidential Candidates at the Palmetto Freedom Forum on
September 5 in Columbia, South Carolina. Prior to the
forum on Friday, September 2, Professor George will appear
on Top Line, ABC News' live daily politics show, at 12:00pm
EST to preview the forum. Please check your local television
listings or visit ABC News to view the interview.

Palmetto Freedom Forum on SCETV

The Palmetto Freedom Forum will be broadcast live on SCETV
on 5 September at 3PM.
Candidates will be on the stage one-at-a-time and will
participate in a question and answer session with three
panelists: Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Rep. Steve King (R-IA),
and Dr. Robert George, founder of American Principles Project
and McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton
University. The event will be moderated by David Stanton, a
veteran of South Carolina presidential events and respected
former local news anchor.
Hopefully the questions will be what we might ask!

Significantly Higher Energy Costs

New EPA rules dictate that utility companies will be forced
to spend an initial outlay of $800 million dollars to conform
with the regulations that mandate “harmful” emissions be
reduced under the Clean Air Act.

Groups like the Edison Electric Institute warn that the new
rules eventually “cost utilities up to $129 billion and force
them to retire one-fifth of coal capacity,” prompting a wave
of coal plant shutdowns.

The new rules will exacerbate the problem of rolling blackouts,
warns Donna Nelson, head of the Texas Public Utility Commission.

Governor [OH] John Kasich Quote

To create jobs and economic growth, you have to tax less,
spend less, and regulate less.

Mark Steyn Quote

We are looting the future in order to bribe the present!

Ida May Fuller and Social Security

Ida received the first benefit check in 1939. She died at
the age of 99.
She had collected $22,888.92 from Social Security monthly
benefits, compared to her contributions of $24.75 to the
system.
If you must have a Ponzi scheme, then get in early!

$8.5M Obamacare for Migrant Workers

After being blasted by the liberal media and targeted
for removal in the 2010 election, Congressman Joe Wilson
has now been vindicated ... to the tune of $8.5 million.
That's not some lawsuit settlement. That's how much money
health care centers servicing migrant farm workers will be
receiving under a new ObamaCare grant.
The Department of Health and Human Services this week has
awarded $8.5 million to 25 clinic operations to "target
services to migrant and seasonal farm workers." The catch:
they're not required to check immigration status, thus sliding
straight through the illegal alien loophole that lead to
Wilson's September 2009 outburst.
A few weeks after his emphatic "You Lie!" comment, Wilson
shared a more-than-rational explanation for his actions.
Numerous health care town hall forums during the August 2009
Congressional recess had been chocked full of constituents who
were outraged with the President's plans to overhaul and
socialize one-sixth of the American economy. On the very day
leading up to the Presidential address, Wilson attended a
Congressional health care hearing that uncovered the very
loophole that has now awarded $8.5 million in coverage for
illegal aliens.
Wilson has repeatedly said, if he had to do it over again,
he would have kept quiet... out of respect for the office and
the setting. But, if he had not called out to President Obama
that night, no one would have remembered Obama's comment and
the fact that he faced a joint session of Congress and the
American people and lied.
Joe Wilson was right!
The President did lie, and now American taxpayers are
spending millions of dollars we can't afford on health care
programs to service people who've chosen to come into our
country illegally.

Next Meeting - 16 August

There will be a Tea Party meeting on August 16th at
Jim and Peggy's house at 7:00PM. We have booked Bobby's
Barbeque for our rally on September 24th, with Daren Gardener
as our speaker. The next few meetings will be important in
finalizing the details. Thanks!

Are We Terrorists?

New York Times columnist Joe Nocera writes:

You know what they say: Never negotiate with terrorists.
It only encourages them. These last few months, much of the
country has watched in horror as the Tea Party Republicans
have waged jihad on the American people.

Lindsay Graham on Debt Deal

I cannot in good conscience support this deal.

Simply stated, it locks us into more debt, bigger government
and most devastating of all, a weakened Defense infrastructure
at a time when threats to our nation are increasing, not
decreasing.

This agreement still adds over $7 trillion in new debt over the
next decade and only makes small reductions in future spending.
We hardly address the future growth of entitlements, a major
contributor of future budgetary problems.

Instead of our nation running toward bankruptcy we will be
walking toward bankruptcy.

The only part of our nation’s budget which is really exposed to
serious consequences is the Department of Defense. Their budget
could be reduced by nearly $1 trillion under this plan. And if
these proposed cuts ever become reality, the biggest loser will
be our men and women in uniform.

I firmly believe defense spending should be placed under a
microscope and we can find savings. However, this agreement
places Defense on the chopping block and slowly moves the
Republican Party away from the Reagan model of a strong national
defense. I fear it legitimizes the concept that Defense spending
is not only equal to other areas of federal spending, but is of
lesser importance.

The U.S. Constitution's preamble is unequivocal where it states
one of the federal government’s primary responsibilities is to
“provide for the common defence.” I fear this deal could
ultimately weaken that principle.

I always believed we have to raise our nation’s debt-ceiling but
should do so in a responsible manner. I strongly supported Cut,
Cap and Balance and will continue to work for passage of a
Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. I thought we
could have raised the debt-ceiling for a period of nine months,
the historical average since 1940, accompanied by a
dollar-to-dollar spending cut to debt-ceiling increase while we
work to enact these important structural changes to the way the
government operates.

The debt-limit debate offered us a prime opportunity to finally
stop kicking the can down the road and bring discipline to the
way Congress spends.

Because of our $14.5 trillion and growing national debt, we are
in jeopardy of losing the American Dream where children are able
to do better than their parents.

Unfortunately, I fear we will see that this agreement does not
really move the needle when it comes to reducing government
spending.

For these reasons, I vote No.

Jim DeMint on Debt Deal

“This debt deal puts America at risk and does nothing to
solve our spending crisis,” said Senator DeMint, “We
haven’t changed direction in Washington. We’re just tapping
the brakes as we speed toward a fiscal cliff.

“The President will now be responsible for nearly $6 trillion
in new debt in just four years in office, more than any other
president before him. The President’s reckless spending
policies have made things worse, leaving our economy in
shambles and Americans with less hope for the future. To grow
the economy, we must stop growing government.

“This bill doesn’t cut the debt; it will add about $7 trillion
in new debt over the next ten years on the backs of our
children and grandchildren. This bill doesn’t stop deficit
spending; it locks in trillion dollar spending deficits for
years to come. This bill doesn’t stop tax hikes; Republicans
and Democrats are already promising to consider job destroying
tax hikes in this new Super Committee. This bill doesn’t
protect our nation; it puts national security at risk with
unbalanced cuts to funding our troops in the field count on.
This bill doesn’t guarantee our AAA rating; it puts it at
further risk as the world sees Washington as incapable of
cutting wasteful spending.”

U.S. Budget and Family Budget

U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000
Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
New debt: $1,650,000,000,000
National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
Recent budget cut: $38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of
the budget)

Remove 8 zeroes from the above and we have a hypothetical
Jones family budget:

Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200
Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
Amount cut from the budget: $385

Joe Wilson to be our new U.S. Representative

Aiken County will no longer be split between two Congressional
Districts. It will be in the 2nd District, the seat now held
by Rep. Joe Wilson (R). The 2nd District becomes more compact
in this plan and covers all of Aiken, Barnwell, Lexington
counties and parts of Richland and Orangeburg.

Governor Haley will sign the Congressional Reapportionment Bill
into law during a ceremony this Monday in Myrtle Beach, the
heart of the new 7th District. But this will not be the end of
the political drama. SC is under the scrutiny of the Voter
Rights Act, therefore the plan must be approved by the U.S.
Justice Department. It is expected that the SC Democrats will
challenge the plan in court.

Debt Limit Deal

The agreement would cut at least $2.4 trillion from federal
spending over a decade but does not include tax increases
on wealthy Americans to reduce deficits, something the
president had wanted. The deal also raises the country's
debt limit by $2.1 trillion, to about $16.5 trillion, which
will allow borrowing through the end of 2012. The Treasury
Department has said that after Tuesday the U.S. government
won't have enough money to meet all of its financial
obligations if Congress doesn't raise the nation's debt
ceiling.

Under the agreement, a new joint committee of Congress would
recommend deficit reductions by the end of November. Those
would be put to a vote in Congress by year's end. The
committee's recommendations could include changes in tax laws
as a way to raise revenue.

The deal would increase the debt ceiling by $900 billion now,
in exchange for Washington-style cuts. It would also give
tremendous power to a 12-member committee that will pave the
way for tax hikes. Not only that, but if conservatives don’t
agree to the tax hikes, then a so-called trigger would
automatically cut our nation's security by $600 billion.

Note: The joint committee can only recommend - nothing is
binding. It can be ignored just like The National Commission
on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Bowles-Simpson).