[StBernard] MyHeritage.org: Tea party talking points

[Westley Annis]

Watch the video!
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=AMoHy5UCrFPp5wgt-iJ31Q..>
FEATURED VIDEO
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=UfxP_5oo7cWfeK8YP5DvNA..> 
Nile Gardiner, Director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at The
Heritage Foundation, speaks about President Obama's troubling speech before
the NATO summit. More videos
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=yo-Z6coax69beTIBeEpACA..> > 	

April 10, 2009 | By Nathaniel Ward


Tea Party Talking Points 


Have you had enough of Congress borrowing, spending, and taxing away your
future? It seems every time we turn around the ever-expanding government
announces a new bailout package, "stimulus" plan or budget increase. 

Next week, frustrated Americans around the country are participating in
local tea parties on April 15, tax day.
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=sOwbvyxbAMlp5uwDqet--A..>  These tea
parties will protest massive overspending and increases in the size and
scope of the federal government. 

Because the government is moving so quickly to pass these costly measures,
the American people are having an increasingly hard time keeping up with the
facts. But awareness of them remains extremely important to this debate.

That's why Heritage Foundation experts have compiled a list of talking
points you can use to help get out the facts
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=_4T3Cp_uEVz7mjoGjucJFg..>  about the
President's budget and tax proposals, as well as viable alternatives to
both. (Click here to download a printable version in .pdf format
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=zLoQ6oBsQ0l6SIGlJCj5pA..> .)

Heritage experts are working every day to get your voices heard in the halls
of Congress. But it's just as important that you speak out in your own
community. As Thomas Jefferson once said, "all tyranny needs to gain a
foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." Your voice is
your weapon - exercise it. 

- Amanda Reinecker


Heritage Board of Trustees elects new chairman


The Heritage Foundation's Board of Trustees has elected Thomas Saunders as
its new chairman.
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=pV14zJ-5NpilWPA7PBTYNw..>  Saunders
succeeds David Brown, who served as chairman since 1992.

"Tom's wide experience in the worlds of high finance and higher education
proved to be perfect for Heritage," Heritage President Ed Feulner said
during the April 2 announcement. "We're run like a business and aim to
increase understanding that conservative policy solutions work. Tom is a
steady leader who won't blink at the mounting challenges of this juncture in
American history."

Saunders, president of a New York-based investment company, has long been a
champion of American history and higher education. For his efforts,
President Bush awarded him the National Humanities Medal in 2008.

- Amanda Reinecker



> Other Heritage work of note



*	For the new Congress, "a top priority will be to refocus on
balancing the budget and ridding taxpayers of the burden the debt places on
them," Heritage government relations expert Michael Franc says
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=7nO9XOZ4lhgqpkvE2YZXXA..> . However,
as Franc points out, even those liberals in Congress who claim to be
fiscally conservative are doing very little to stymie their spending-crazed
colleagues. 

*	Heritage energy expert Jack Spencer
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=RDOT8QvQXlsjivMr-q2sRg..>  dismisses
the draft legislation of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009
as lacking a crucial component of energy security. "If reducing carbon
dioxide and other emissions, creating jobs, and promoting domestic energy
sources were truly the objective," writes Spencer, "then nuclear energy
should be central to the legislation."

*	The Heritage Foundation's Mackenzie Eaglen
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=zFTL3F1HW9kdqmom5H1faQ..>  argues
that "slashing the defense budget without first conducting a thorough
strategic defense review, and without specifying which missions and
commitments can be safely abandoned, would be the height of
irresponsibility." Even though such a review is scheduled to come out next
year, the Obama administration continues to make what she calls "arbitrary"
defense cuts.

*	President Obama's address at the NATO summit "marked a low point in
presidential speechmaking on foreign policy," says Heritage expert Nile
Gardiner <http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=vydl_S01p_jprI7tEmfPBg..> .
Gardiner, the director of Heritage's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom,
says the "embarrassing spectacle" in Europe demonstrated the President's
willingness to verbally bash his own country for the sake of global
popularity.

*	"Americans don't need government in the business of building cars or
telling us what type of cars we can buy," writes Heritage President Ed
Feulner in the Washington Times
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=UIz7vcB39XdYLeBlDjUKCg..> . Yet with
taxpayer funds continuously flowing into the industry, "CEObama, the car
czar" will continue to micromanage and convince the auto experts that
government knows best.



> In other news



*	Vermont lawmakers overrode a gubernatorial veto to join
Massachusetts and Connecticut as states that have passed same-sex "marriage"
bills <http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=SMHc6owumztjrVn48aN9Yg..> . 

*	Chinese and Russian spies have penetrated the computer networks that
coordinate America's electrical grid
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=QLssGXJbHa-QgIBOZ0N4kQ..> , the Wall
Street Journal reports. Both countries deny the charge.

*	Forty percent of all births in 2007 were to unwed mothers
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=lFj3UuNxxZWbWIf7Vl5Mqg..> ,
according to new data. The government should consider whether its policies
are discouraging marriage.

*	For fear of disrupting financial markets, government regulators will
delay releasing their estimates of how 19 large banks will fare if the
economy worsens
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=RTE5kndR3YyMXXyTCIh_4w..> . Perhaps
the regulators should get out the way and stop engaging in activities that
could disrupt markets at all.

*	ABC News summarizes a government panel's alarming findings this way
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=Yo1s-hAuTYhoXQaZiEjtHw..> : "the
government has spent, lent or set aside more than $4 trillion through the
Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation."

*	This week, the Iranian president is expected to announce the
country's completion of the final phase of nuclear production
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=_Rg5eP8HfhW7WZGB6IlXtA..> .

*	A Chinese company has been indicted on 118 counts
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=TkkHtHFaZQAlSvxIJlIg3g..>  for
conducting illegal transactions with Iran and providing the country with
banned materials to make nuclear weapons. 

*	North Korea's parliament unanimously voted Kim Jong-il to another
term as Supreme Leader
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=TJBnoP8FGllVK1yUCzddbg..> . It
remains a mystery why communist dictatorships persist in this sham of
representative government.

*	Brown University has replaced its celebration of Columbus Day with
the politically-correct "Fall Weekend."
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=KwP8RbKrdIlOEOi4x9wU0A..>  The
faculty who voted for the change argued that celebrating the explorer's
achievements also condones the killing of Native Americans.



> Coming up at Heritage



To attend these or any other events at Heritage please RSVP at Heritage's
website <http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=ATNOD1soZK_mlmlh_51SsQ..> .
Or you can view these events live online. All times are Eastern.

*	On Monday, April 13 at noon, author Steven J. Milloy will explain
how "green" rhetoric is used as a cover to advance a command-and-control
agenda <http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=wT2qkTLsCLgjYW-xl6DBug..> .

*	On Wednesday, April 15 at noon, a panel of experts discusses the
strengths and weaknesses of using private health insurance plans within
government-run health care systems
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=2uDe541JdmFHmUP7WK33yA..>  like
Medicare.