Gainesville Tea Party - Grassroots tea party movement in Gainesville, FL advancing the values of Fiscal Responsibility, Limited Government and Free Markets

Congress Debates the Federal Reserve: Reform or Abolish?

Rod Gonzalez — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:57:38 +0000

We all know that neither party truly believes there is a problem with the Federal Reserve. Is this just for show?

Click on the link for the article by Alex Newman-

http://thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/11320-congress-debates-the-federal-reserve-reform-or-abolish?

When Risk Is outlawed

Rod Gonzalez — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:40:23 +0000

“We need more regulations to protect the investors” – The news of J.P. Morgan Chase’s recent trading loss has raised the cry of “I told you so” from proponents of the almost 2-year-old Dodd-Frank Act. They say the law’s Volcker rule would have prevented such a loss and that without more regulation, financial institutions will continue to make poor investment decisions.

Click on this link for the Washington Times article by Jeb Hensarling-

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/17/when-risk-is-outlawed/

What’s Wrong With a Little Socialism?

Alan Berkelhammer — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:17:36 +0000

Written on Saturday, May 5, 2012 by Tad Cronn

The world seems split in twain these days.

I wonder if previous generations could have imagined an America where a group like the Tea Party would be vilified by so many of its citizens?

The Tea Party has been very open and clear from the beginning what it’s about, and it has been mercilessly attacked for it. Continue reading at: patriotupdate.com.

Occupier Thanks Former Soviet Citizen for ‘Converting’ Him to Capitalism, Pro-Israel, Pro-USA

Alan Berkelhammer — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:14:31 +0000

I first ran across this video more than 10 days ago (May 5th). I’ve watched it several times since then, sometimes mesmerized, sometimes smiling and sometimes cheering. I’ve wanted to post it since day one, but I’ve been reluctant to do so because it’s long, over 15 ½ minutes long. Well, as you can see below, I couldn’t hold back any longer because it’s a must watch clip. Continue reading at: commonsensepost.com.

Updated Chinese Proverb

Alan Berkelhammer — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:46:04 +0000

Attribution: Ryan Bauer

Updated Chinese Proverb

Original Chinese Proverb – Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.

a
Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.

a2012 Revision/update – Give a man a welfare check, a free cell phone with unlimited free minutes, cash for his clunker, food stamps, section 8 housing, free contraceptives, Medicaid, a hundred weeks of unemployment, a forty ounce malt liquor, free drugs, Air Jordan shoes, and he will vote Democratic for life.

Hat tip: Jack Cutright

American Sovereignty: LOST at Sea?

Rod Gonzalez — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:34:07 +0000

Below is a letter sent from our own Paula Helton, via The Flortida Alliance, to our Senators regarding The Law Of The Sea Treaty (LOST). Following the letter are the emails for our two Senators so you may contact them if you agree with the contenet of the letter. We also have an article further describing LOST by Carrie Donovan, coordinator of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

A Tea Party Coalition, Working for Individual Freedom

May 11, 2012

Senator Marco Rubio
317 Senate Hart Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Senator Bill Nelson
716 Senate Hart Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senators Rubio and Nelson:

There appears to be a renewed interest in the ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty, or LOST.

We the grassroots leaders of Tea Party/912 patriot groups, and your constituents, write to you today to state our firm opposition to the ratification of LOST.

The Law of the Sea Treaty, which originated in the 1970’s, is yet another redistribution scheme of the United Nations, known as the “New International Economic Order”.

This treaty gives the United Nations authority over most of the world’s oceans, including the power to regulate and tax deep sea mining and redistribute the proceeds to Third World governments.

LOST fundamentally threatens U.S. sovereignty as any issues that arise would be adjudicated by a LOST Tribunal, which would contain members hostile to the United States. Tribunal rulings may not be appealed. The treaty is designed to replace national decision making with U.N. decision making.

At the heart of LOST is the “International Seabed Authority”, which supervises a mining subsidiary known as the Enterprise that is in turn ruled by an Assembly, Council, and various commissions and committees. In essence, in order to be allowed to mine companies would be required to pay substantial fees to the “Authority” while being mandated to do surveys for the Enterprise, their government-subsidized competition.

The treaty mandates a transfer of mining technologies to Third World companies by stating, “sponsoring states would have to facilitate such transfers if the “Enterprise” and Third World competitors are unable to obtain necessary equipment commercially”.

This treaty gives the United Nations international taxing authority and amounts to the backdoor implementation of the “Kyoto Protocol”

The United States would be required to provide twenty five percent of the budget for LOST, but have no control over how the money is spent.

LOST applies eminent domain to intellectual property giving the U.N. the power to seize technology and share it with potentially enemy states.

President Ronald Reagan wisely refused to sign the treaty. As the U.S. Attorney General at that time, Edwin Meese, stated, “It was out of step with the concepts of economic liberty and free enterprise”. Those words still ring true today.

You pledged to represent the best interests of the citizens of Florida and today we demand you uphold that pledge and vote a resounding NO on the Law of the Sea Treaty.

Respectfully,

Paula Helton, Gainesville Tea Party
Paula Schaff, Punta Gorda Tea Party
Pete Franco, South Pinellas 912
Alan Berkelhammer, Gainesville Tea Party
Tina Woode, Seminole 912 Project
Tim Curtis, Tampa 912 Project
Carole McManus, First Coast Tea Party
Leanne King, First Coast Tea Party
Don Forward, Titusville Patriots
Elaine Laffey, Tea Party Ft. Lauderdale
Nancy Meinhardt, Miami 912 Project
Marian Rowe, Brevard 912
Stacy Snow Feiler, Tampa Tea Party
Kathy Gibson, East Orlando Tea Party
Jason Hoyt, Liberty Restoration Foundation
RoseAnn Bright, Nature Coast 912
Pat Wayman, Venice 912 Project
Walter Hughes, American Citizens League
Sharon Calvert, Tampa Tea Party
Karin Hoffman, DC Works For Us
Pam Evans, DC Works For Us – Dade
Pam Wohlschlegel, Palm Beach County Tea Party

Email for Senator Rubio: http://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact

Email for Senator Nelson: http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm

The Law of the Sea Treaty (“Treaty”) was conceived in
1982 by the United Nations (U.N.) as a method for governing activities on, over,
and beneath the ocean’s surface. It focuses primarily on navigational and
transit issues. The Treaty also contains provisions on the regulation of
deep-sea mining and the redistribution of wealth to underdeveloped countries–as
well as sections regarding marine trade, pollution, research, and dispute
resolution. The Bush Administration has expressed interest in joining the
International Seabed Authority and has urged the U.S. Senate to ratify the
Treaty. However, many of former President Ronald Reagan’s original objections to
the Treaty–while modified–still hold true today, and many of the possible
national security advantages are already in place.

National Security Issues

Under the Treaty, a 12-mile territorial sea limit and a
200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) are established. This sets a definitive
limit on the oceanic area over which a country may claim jurisdiction. However,
innocent passage–including non-wartime activities of military ships–is
protected. Even without the Treaty, these boundaries, and the precedent of safe
passage, are protected under multiple independent treaties, as well as
traditional international maritime law. Additionally, given the United States’
naval superiority, few countries would attempt to deny safe passage. However,
under the Treaty, intelligenceand submarine maneuvers in territorial waters
would be restricted and regulated.

Environmental and Economic Issues

Former President Reagan refused to sign the Treaty in
1982 due to its innate conflict with basic free-market principles (e.g., private
property, free enterprise, and competition). Twelve years later, the Clinton
Administration submitted to the U.S. Senate a revised version of the Treaty.
This revised version allegedly corrected many of the original objections to the
Treaty, but still failed to receive Senate ratification: Therefore, the United
States’ provisional participation expired in 1998. The Treaty still requires
adherence to policies that regulate deep-sea mining, as well as forcing
participants to adopt laws and regulations to control and prevent marine
pollution. Additionally, under the Treaty, a corporation cannot bring suit, but
must rely upon its country of origin to address the corporation’s concerns
before the U.N. agency.

Reagan’s Objections

Former President Reagan’s first objection to the Treaty
was the Principle of the “Common Heritage of Mankind,” which dictates that
oceanic resources should be shared among all mankind and cannot be claimed by
any one nation or people. In order to achieve this goal, the Treaty creates the
International Seabed Authority (“Authority”) to regulate and exploit mineral
resources. It requires a company to submit an application fee of $500,000 (now
$250,000), as well as a bonus site for the Authority to utilize for its own
mining efforts. Additionally, the corporation must pay an annual fee of $1
million, as well as a percentage of its profits (increasing annually up to 7%),
and must agree to share mining and navigational technology–thereby ensuring
that opportunities aren’t restricted to more technologically advanced countries.
The decision to grant or to withhold mining permits is decided by the Authority,
which consists disproportionately of underdeveloped countries.
Technology-sharing is no longer mandatory, however, there are remaining
“principles” to guide its use and distribution. Additionally, the Council has
been restructured so that the United States has a permanent seat, and developed
countries can create a blocking vote.
Secondly, former President Reagan believed that the
Treaty would restrict the world’s supply of minerals. The Treaty was originally
designed to limit the exploitation of heavy minerals in order to protect the
mineral sales of land-locked, developing nations. This is no longer a severe
limitation, because production limits to preserve land-based mining have been
removed.
The third–and still valid–objection is that mandatory
dispute resolution restricts autonomy. Either a U.N. court or tribunal must
mandate maritime Issues involving fisheries, marine environmental protection,
and preservation, research, and navigation. A country may opt out if the dispute
involves maritime boundaries, military, or limited law enforcement activities.
Submitting to external jurisdiction creates an uncomfortable precedent.
Furthermore, it weakens the U.S. argument of autonomy when it refuses to submit
to the International Criminal Court. Additionally, a country must petition to be
excluded from mandatory jurisdiction requirements.

Carrie E. Donovan is Production and
Operations Coordinator in the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for
International Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

Gov. Walker Up Nine in New Poll

Rod Gonzalez — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:57:31 +0000

Earlier this year, unions in Wisconsin were very confident in their chances to recall first-term Governor Scott Walker. They turned in close to 1 million signatures to spark the recall, trumpeting their signature haul as a clear sign voters were poised to reject Walker. A poll released yesterday however shows Scott Walker holding a robust lead in next month’s June recall election.

Click link for the article in Breitbart.com.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/14/walker-up-nine-in-new-poll

Turtle on a Post

Alan Berkelhammer — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:55:32 +0000

“You know he didn’t get up there by himself, he doesn’t belong up
there, he doesn’t know what to do while he’s up there, he’s elevated
beyond his ability to function, and you just wonder what kind of dumb
ass put him up there to begin with.”

Hat tip: Donald R. Dodge

Message to our Patriots

Laurie Newsom — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:19:01 +0000

Hi,Everyone!

Last week there was some confusion displayed by a local radio talk show host as to whether the Gainesville Tea
Party is endorsing a specific candidate for the Alachua county commission election. The confusion appeared to have been caused by a personal email sent by me urging attendance at a fundraiser for this candidate. This email was not sent to our membership but was sent to selected recipients and was not a public memo. Gainesville Tea Party continues to not endorse candidates but will vet candidates and hold forums for our members and the public. The steering committee does not publicly endorse candidates. We do encourage all of our members to become personally involved with candidates to help those that hold our values get elected.

That being said, to be clear and to hopefully end any possible controversy I am announcing that I personally support John Martin for the District 1 seat. And I urge everyone to get to work to help the candidates of your choice! This election is crucial if we are to ensure limited government and fiscal responsibility are returned to our government.

Thank you all for all that you do!

Laurie Newsom

BREAKING – Governor Rick Scott’s Rogue Chief of Staff Steve MacNamara Has Resigned

Alan Berkelhammer — Sat, 12 May 2012 21:43:51 +0000

Steve MacNamara

Author’s note: The following article from the Miami Herald’s online outlet was published before MacNamara’s resignation was tendered. He has in fact, resigned:

Sources: Gov. Rick Scott’s embattled chief of staff to step down from post

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott’s chief of staff Steve MacNamara will be announcing his resignation, ending what has been a tumultuous week of news reports about his steering no-bid contracts to friends and interfering in staffing decisions throughout state government, sources close to the Scott administration said Saturday afternoon. Continue reading this article at: miamiherald.typepad.com.

MacNamara’s resignation letter to Governor Scott: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/files/skmbt_c45112051215000.pdf

California’s Dreaming (Snowballs Always Roll Downhill)

Alan Berkelhammer — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:45:05 +0000

When governments raise taxes and/or increase regulations, businesses leave. When businesses leave, governments raise taxes and/or increase regulations even more. When governments raise… Snowballs always roll downhill.

****

In early May, we like to visit California. It is spectacular, beautiful, and special. Our hero Ronald Reagan once said that “If the pilgrims had landed in California, we would have never found the rest of the country.” He was right. Today, he would be wrong.

Pilgrims were productive settlers, and today successful and productive citizens are fleeing en masse from California. It is a shame.

First stop on our trip is Oakland. Floyd has a meeting with an innovative medical specialty firm trying to start in California. The owner of the firm has started many companies, all in California. Early on the agenda for discussion was talk of moving out of the Golden State to another less regulated, business friendly state. westernjournalism.com.

Maurice Strong: An Enemy of Our Freedoms

Laurie Newsom — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:55:32 +0000

For 40 years Tom DeWeese has been a businessman, grassroots activist, writer and publisher. As such, he
has always advocated a firm belief in man’s need to keep moving forward while
protecting our Constitutionally-guaranteed rights.

“How many of you know of Maurice Strong – and that he is evil?”

“Maurice Strong has the potential to be the most powerful
and most evil dictator the world has ever known – right now – today – in our day
and age – and yet, most of you have never heard of him.

So let me sound the warning bell – loud and long. Maurice Strong will, in all likely hood
be the next Secretary General of the United Nations.”

“The assault on property rights – in fact the entire radical environmental agenda – is being driven by
the United Nations. And Maurice Strong is the number one force behind UN
environmental policy. Maurice Strong is the leader of a radical contingent of
Environmentalists that believe technology and modern industrialization must be
stopped.”

Full article..http://www.newswithviews.com/DeWeese/tom213.htm

Show Down This Friday- Talk of The Town 99.5

Rod Gonzalez — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:02:34 +0000

Please tune in to Talk of The Town this Friday on the STAR 99.5 at HIGH NOON as your GTP Vice President will inquire why the hosts have continued to state that the GTP is in favor of a sales tax. After a month of listening to them spread misinformation while disparaging the GTP leadership, it’s time to have them lay the cards on the table. I will state our position on the referendum, the voters and some candidates who have helped with the false allegations. It’s time to get the facts out to the voters.

Will the cowboy on the appaloosa ride another day?

Hopefully the hosts will allow me to stay on and talk about a myriad of issues confronting all of us.

So please listen Talk of The Town tomorrow at high noon on The Star 99.5. Do call in as your thoughts and concerns are important.

You can also catch the show live as it streams on line at www.thestar.fm

Thanks,

Rod Gonzalez

US Chamber Ad against Sen Nelson

Alan Berkelhammer — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:27:41 +0000

Published on May 9, 2012 by USCC

Too Funny – Hammer the EPA

Alan Berkelhammer — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:07:55 +0000

This is a real campaign ad for Texas Railroad Commissioner!