Cook County Board President Charges Racism

November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Cook County, Cook County Board, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, President, State Government, Taxes, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, little Todd Stroger is at it again. With the Cook County Board now having been given more power by the State Legislature to overturn Stroger’s veto, the junior Stroger is now claiming it’s all about racism.

On an upcoming episode of “Connected to Chicago,” WLS radio’s Bill Cameron found Board President Stroger whining that it’s all about racism instead of his wild tax hikes. WLS is advertising its upcoming episode with this following Stroger quote:

If this was a Southern town it would be like an old fashioned lynching.

Stroger goes on to claim that he was told by the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune that they are “out to get me.” Cameron, though, reports that the Chicago Tribune denies that such a conversation ever took place and that they are not out to get him as the paranoid Stroger claims.
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Americans embrace George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, not Chairman Mao Zedong

November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Founders, Free Speech, Free Trade, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Health, House of Representatives, Liberals, Marie Jon, President, Religion, Republicans, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, The Law, Western Civilization | No Comments

-By Marie Jon

America is under siege from within. Our nation has undergone a bloodless coup that required no military action. It occurred one year ago this month, at the hands of liars, cheats, and thieves who — calling themselves “progressives” — deceived the electorate at the polls and defrauded the electoral process.

Our lives have been shaken and turned upside down and inside out as a result. “The Twilight Zone” has become a reality right here in the U.S.A. Fortunately, with the help of the Internet, blogosphere, conservative talk radio, and Fox News, the Utopian facade we’ve unwittingly accepted is being exposed for what it really is. It cannot stand the light of day, and it is crumbling as a result.

Facts and truths are being laid out before us regarding the current Marxist “coup.” Americans are growing more than just a tad concerned about President Barack Obama and his handpicked and unaccountable “Czars.” These elitists hold to un-American ideologies that are certainly not mainstream. One cannot reconcile the radical, leftist philosophies of Obama and his cohorts with the noble goals of our Founding Fathers. We who love the American ideal embrace George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, not Chairman Mao. View: Does it Matter?

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Some Key Points in The Senate Healthcare Bill

November 19, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Smoke and mirrors abound. Reid says we’re “saving” money, that Medicare is “saved” and that taxes aren’t being raised, but the truth argues against Reid’s obfuscations.

Some points according to the CBO and the Senate Republican Policy Committee:

  • Spending: The cost of the bill is $2.5 trillion over 10 years of full implementation (2014-2023).
  • Taxes Increases: Taxes will go up $493.6 billion — nearly half a trillion dollars.
  • Medicare Cuts: Medicare will be cut $464.6 billion — another half a trillion dollars.
  • Government Plan: The bill includes a government run plan and provides states with the possibility of opting out of participating in that plan. According to CBO, the government run plan “would typically have premiums that were somewhat higher than the average premiums for the private plans in the exchanges.”
  • Employer Mandate: The bill will impose $28 billion in new taxes on employers that do not provide government approved health plans.

Additional CBO Background:

  • The bill would bend the federal cost-curve up.
  • 24 million people would be left without insurance.
  • States will have to spend an additional $25 billion in Medicaid expenditures
  • Taxes on uninsured individuals will total $8 billion.
  • Taxes on employers from the “free-rider” penalty would total $28 billion.
  • 5 million Americans would lose their employer coverage.
  • Only 19 million people will get a subsidy to help them buy health insurance. None of the 162 million people with employer-based care will even be eligible for a subsidy.
  • The costs of the subsidies in the exchange would grow at 8 percent a year.
  • The tax on high value plans will quickly be applied to almost all plans. CBO expects the revenues from the Cadillac plan tax to grow at 10-15 percent per year outside the budget window.

(H/T John Goodman)

Harry Reid Wants to Vote on a Phantom Bill (Dem Dirty Tricks Edition)

November 19, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, President, Senate, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Either today or later this week, Senate Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev) wants the Senate to vote on a “motion to proceed” on the Senate’s version of the healthcare bill. That wouldn’t be so bad except for the fact that it has barely been seen by anyone in the Senate. At least not as far as most Senators are concerned. Why is that? Because the bill has not been shown to them with sufficient time to study it, that’s why.

What Reid wants is for the Senate to vote to proceed on a bill that has not been seen, not read, not studied by the very Senators from whom he wants to force a vote. If this bill is so important, why isn’t it imperative that our Senators actually get to see the thing they are expected to vote on?

And that isn’t the worst of the unconscionable dirty tricks that Reid is playing with this “important” legislation. He’s also planning on a bait and switch tactic once he gets his vote to proceed.
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Where is THIS Republican Party?

November 19, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, GOP, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Patriotism, President, Republicans, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

An excerpt of the 1924 Republican Party Platform:

The prosperity of the American nation rests on the vigor of private initiative which has bred a spirit of independence and self-reliance. The republican party stands now, as always, against all attempts to put the government into business.

American industry should not be compelled to struggle against government competition. The right of the government to regulate, supervise and control public utilities and public interests, we believe, should be strengthened, but we are firmly opposed to the nationalization or government ownership of public utilities.

In 1924 the GOP ran Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge for president. And he won on this platform.

Even then Democrats were trying to tun this country into a less powerful version of Europe by emulating its socialist systems. A proud Republican Party repudiated these socialist tendencies and reiterated its pride in the American way. These principles appealed to the true American spirit and also won elections.

Unfortunately, the very next president, himself a Republican, turned toward socialist, collectivist concepts and set the stage for what later became Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal destruction of the American economic system that compounded a market correction and turned it into “The Great Depression.” And save for a brief time under Ronald Reagan, it appears that the GOP has never recovered its principles as espoused in its 1924 platform.
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Say NO to Terrorists in Illinois

November 18, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, President, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Taxes, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a follow up to my earlier post advocating for an actual debate on this issue here in Illinois on this business of bringing terrorists to live in Illinois, a new effort to try and stop this mess has been launched.

Go to Not In Illinois and sign the petition and tell Governor Pat Quinn that we do NOT want terrorists living among us.

We, the undersigned, do not willfully agree with the transfer of terrorists onto American soil. Terrorists must be tried in military courts and not in civilian courts. They are a danger to the citizenry of the United States and should not be brought onto our shores.

We, the undersigned, will work to unseat any politician who agrees with the transfer of terrorists into Illinois or any state in the union.

Those Healthcare Hoops

November 18, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Health, House of Representatives, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Sure the game seems fair and balanced. Why everyone can still play. The government just wants to be fair to everyone. Then the feds bring in the ringers and… well, you can see where THIS is going.

Playing Politics With Terrorists in Illinois

November 18, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Chicago, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, President, Republicans, Taxes, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Republican leader Tom Cross finally said something I can agree with. In an editorial in the Daly Herald Cross is quoted as saying that there needs to be time for a state-wide debate about bringing these terrorists here before it happens. “There ought to be a debate. There ought to be a discussion,” said Cross.

The Herald goes on to lament that both sides have already made up their minds and that “discussion appears to be the last thing” anyone wants. To an extent, the editorial is right. The left with Durbin and Quinn in the lead want to bring murderers here and want to waste millions in the taxpayer’s money to do so… only they call this wild spending “good jobs.” And the right represented by Mark Kirk has already decided that bringing these monsters to our state is a bad idea.

But the problem here is that it doesn’t matter what the two sides have decided because Obama and Quinn seem poised to make all the decisions no matter what anyone else wants to do. Quinn lobbied the president for this transfer before anyone even knew that it was a possibility and the president began sending federal inspectors to check the Thomson facilities out before the idea was fairly realized.

It is plain that Quinn has decided to bypass any debate or discussion. Quinn doesn’t see any reason to allow the people of his own state to have a full and open debate about bringing these murderers among us. It’s obvious that Quinn is just going to force Illinois to become the next home of some 100 members of al Qaeda and other radical Islamist groups.

So much for the Governor that has styled himself a “man of the people.” And so much for the president that claimed he’d have a “transparent” administration.
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Charlie Crist: A Serving of Pork Sounds Good

November 18, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, GOP, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Republicans, Socialism, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

On November 11, I wrote of the statements that Charlie Crist made denying that he ever supported Obama’s $787 billion stimulus bill in his role as Florida’s Governor. Unfortunately for his obfuscation, though, I noted that he and 17 other governors signed a letter in February of this year announcing support for the Stimulus. Apparently Crist forgot that he signed this letter… conveniently. Yes, he was for the porkulus bill before he was against it.

Well now there is even more proof than that mere signature on a piece of paper showing Charlie’s support for the porkulus bill. From Ed Morrissey we find an interview that Rolling Stone hackster Tim Dickinson did with Crist back in the spring. In that piece Dickinson was celebratory that Crist was a stimulus supporter.

Dickinson then noted, “For his part, Crist is weighing a run for the Senate — where, he tells Rolling Stone, he would have given the president a fourth Republican vote on the stimulus bill.”
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Americans for Tax Reform Illinois: Pelosi’s Heinous Helathcare Bill

November 17, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Congress, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, GOP, Government, Corruption, Health, House of Representatives, Liberals, President, Senate, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Dear Illinois Patient,

Last weekend, Representatives Bobby Rush (IL District 1); Jesse Jackson (IL District 2); Daniel Lipinski (IL District 3); Luis Gutierrez (IL District 4); Mike Quigley (IL District 5); Danny Davis (IL District 6); Melissa Bean (Il District 8); Janice Schakowsky (IL District 9); Deborah Halvorson (IL District 11); Jerry Costello (IL District 12); Bill Foster (IL District 13); and Phil Hare (IL District 17), voted in favor of HR 3962, Nancy Pelosi’s national health care bill. There are dozens of heinous elements in this bill, but here is a short sample of the contents:
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Illinois’ Gov And Senator Think Terrorists Bring ‘Good-Paying Jobs’

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Foreign Policy, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, President, Religion, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again we see how clueless Democrats like Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Senator Dick Durbin are on matters of national security. With Barack Hussein Obama’s decision to treat the terrorists at Guantanamo Bay as if they are common American criminals, as the president bestows all American rights upon them, and with his decision to spread these monsters out across the U.S.A, we see Quinn and Durbin idiotically asserting that terrorists equal “good paying jobs.”

These jobs might come from the sale to the federal government of the Thomson correctional facility in west central Illinois where Obama could send some 100 detainees in preparation of closing down the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba facilities. Obama is struggling to figure out what to do with these detainees after his hastily made, ill-informed decision last January to close down the terrorist detainment facility.

After the idea was announced both Quinn and Durbin found themselves all excited to welcome these monsters into their state and both imagined that the occasion means that Illinois gets jobs. Durbin is quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying that this is a dramatic opportunity.
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Why Place Your Bet On The Horse That Always Loses?

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Health, House of Representatives, Liberals, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Thomas Brewton | No Comments

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Why believe that Obamacare will “bend the cost curve,” when government has repeatedly failed to cut costs of existing healthcare entitlements?

The Obama administration and fellow liberal-progressive-socialists in Congress have based much of their rationalization for Obamacare on its purported reductions in healthcare costs. But, for at least two decades, proposals by the Social Security Administration and Congress to cut Medicare costs have come to naught.

This is hardly surprising, since Congress’s modus operandi is spending money, and the more of it the better, from politicians’ viewpoint. Alexis de Tocqueville, celebrated author of Democracy in America, put his finger on the insurmountable problem in mid-19th century. The theory of socialism is “from each according to ability, to each according to need,” but, while the public’s needs may be quantifiable, its wants are unlimited.

Efficiency is a negative criterion in any government project. Remember that the Employment Act of 1946 committed the government to maintaining full employment. From the politicians’ viewpoint, it is better to employ excessive numbers of people, at higher costs, to enhance the image of helping the people. Congress’s $787 billion so-called stimulus extravaganza is a recent example.
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The George W. Bush Institute: Free Markets, Small Government… Since When

November 13, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Capitalism, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, GOP, George W. Bush, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Republicans, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Get ready because I am going to slap George W. Bush around a little bit. Now, don’t get me wrong, it isn’t like I hated him. After all I voted for him twice. There was a lot that Bush did that I supported, mostly on the security and war fronts. But, I really stood against his domestic agenda almost completely. I was against no child’s behind left alone — er, I mean no child left behind — I was against the bailouts and against the drug benefit for seniors program. I disagreed with his “compassionate conservatism” narrative because it really was just an excuse for a little less big government than what the Democrats full-blown socialism would have been. About the only thing he wanted to do that I supported, the privatization of Social Security, he never pushed hard enough to implement.

With that in mind, George W. Bush made his first major appearance before the general public today in a speech announcing the George W. Bush Institute, a new public policy think tank to be housed in the Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Mr. Bush wants his new institute to foster free market policies, small government thinking, education, global health and “human freedom”… to which I have to ask, so where were you for eight years on these things Mr. Bush?

During his speech, Bush said that with the $700 billion bank bailout he implemented in the waning days of his presidency he “went against” his free-market instincts. He said it was one of the “most difficult” decisions of his presidency. I’d say he failed the test. Juxtaposing his bailouts with the free-market, small government policies that he wants his new institute to push causes one to raise an eyebrow, of course. How do past actions jive with his future policy ideals?
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Another Trade Show Dumps Chicago Over Union Ripoffs

November 13, 2009 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Chicago, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Another trade show is leaving Chicago this time for Atlanta, Georgia. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society meeting which has been held in Chicago’s McCormick Convention Center for quite some time is leaving the city due to the high costs that unions force upon its exhibitors.

In October we posted that the Plastics Industry Trade Association is also contemplating fleeing Chicago for southern hospitality for the same reason.

The HIMSS reports that 2009 attendance in Chicago’s McCormick Center was down by 5 percent compared to 2008. Attendance also dropped from 29,100 in 2008 to 27,500 this year. Additionally, HIMSS reports that they lost exhibitors over 2008, as well.
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Why Google Is Not Neutral

November 13, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Cable, Capitalism, Computers, Congress, Economy/Finances, Entertainment, Free Trade, Google, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Liberals, Net Neutrality, Scott Cleland, Society/Culture, Taxes, Technology | 2 Comments

-By Scott Cleland

After discussing whether Google should buy The New York Times, Google decided against it because it “would damage its ‘neutral’ identity,” per Ken Auletta’s just-published book “Googled: The End of The World as We know It.”

Google has long claimed to be neutral. Their corporate philosophy statement claims: “We never manipulate rankings to put our partners higher in our search results and no one can buy better PageRank. Our users trust our objectivity and no short-term gain could ever justify breaching that trust.”

As the world-leading corporate proponent of an industrial policy to mandate net neutrality for all its potential broadband competitors in cloud computing, and as the beneficiary of “The Google Loophole” in the FCC’s proposed open Internet regulations (para 104), it is fair to stress test whether Google’s claim of a “neutral’ identity is true or just cleverly-executed PR.

Is Google Neutral?
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Reason TV Takes on the FedEx/UPS Fight

November 12, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The best one-liner? “It tells us who the real villain is here… a federal government that is big enough and powerful enough that it can absolutely, positively guarantee that it can crush any business over night.”

Of course, we talked about this FedEx/UPS argument last June.

Rev. Hayes Facing Down Jesse Jackson, Jr. in Ill 2

November 12, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Government, Corruption, Health, House of Representatives, Illinois, Liberals, Republicans, State Government, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Republican Congressional candidate Reverend Isaac Hayes wants to be your 2nd District Representative. But to do that he has to defeat Jesse Jackson, Jr. and a gaggle of Greenies first. And he’s taking Jackson head on.

Hayes, for instance, has signed the “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” from Americans for Tax Reform pledging not to vote to raise taxes should he win office. He challenges Jackson to “renounce the unsustainable, statist spending plans of Speaker Pelosi and to pledge to not raise taxes.” But it isn’t just taxes Hayes is slamming Jackson for.

On Jackson’s vote for the Obamacare bill in the House, Hayes points out that on WVON radio, Jesse Jackson’s own sister, Santita Jackson, said she was “wary” of the 2,000 page healthcare bill. To Santita’s wariness Hayes says, “Mr. Jackson should listen to his big sister because it is apparent he is not listening to other hardworking Americans.”
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Kirk Denies He’s Going Right With Palin Request

November 12, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Congress, Conservatives, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Liberals, Senate, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Mark Kirk is denying that he’s trying to angle rightward in the run up to the GOP primary next year with his recent reaching out to Governor Sarah Palin to secure her endorsement for his candidacy.

“I think I am who I am. I am a social moderate, fiscal conservative. But this is a big race and we are building a broad coalition and it will be, for a Republican candidacy, a center-right coalition, but for me, I haven’t changed my views.”

This is, of course, rather interesting. Kirk is reaching out to conservatives by courting one of their idols in Sarah Palin, yet is also claiming he hasn’t changed his views. It makes one wonder just why a conservative would want to vote for him if he isn’t even interested in paying lipservice to their causes?

In essence, Kirk is saying vote for me… and I’ll ignore all you stand for. After all Kirk’s record is more often center left than center right.
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Women Becoming Majority of Union Workers

November 12, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press had an interesting article reporting that women are fast becoming the majority of union members and will be the majority in 10 years if current trends continue.

As it stand now, women make up 45 percent of union members today, up from 35 percent in 1983. Apparently white men now only make up 38 percent of the union workforce, down from almost 52 percent in ‘83.

The AP notes that this preponderance of women is changing the goals of union negotiators.

“When you have a majority of women in the labor movement, issues like work-family balance, paid sick days and paid parental leave become more important,” said John Schmitt, an economist at the left-leaning think tank and one of the authors of the report.

And what has caused this change? The growth of public, government unions. At this point, the AP reports, that 49 percent of all union members are now working for local, state, and federal workers in public employees unions. 61 percent of public employees are female.
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Gov. Crist DID Flip Flop on Stimulus Support

November 11, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, GOP, Government, Corruption, Republicans, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

On November 5 on CNN, Florida Governor Charlie Crist told Wolf Blitzer that he didn’t back the $787 billion Obama stimulus bill. Crist has since said that it isn’t a flip flop when he says he supported the stimulus “in concept” but didn’t support the specific bill.

In essence he’s trying to have it both ways. Claiming he wasn’t a supporter of the actual bill, but hedging by saying he felt something was necessary. It seems to be Crist’s way of straddling the line.

Unfortunately, the facts seem to belie Crist’s delicately balanced tightrope act because in February of 2009 Crist was one of 18 U.S. governors (along with the governor of the Virgin Islands) that signed a letter informing President Obama that they supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). (See pdf of letter here)

Despite being a signatory of the letter Crist is now saying he didn’t support the specific stimulus bill. After speaking at the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Crist told the press, ““I think the question posed to me was, ‘Did you endorse this specific bill?’ And I said, ‘No, I didn’t,’ but the concept I thought, and still believe, was important, necessary and it helped Florida.”
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"Governments are instituted among men,deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776




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