911 Pictures.pps

If the slide show doesn't move, go to the top of the screen and click on Slide Show and then From the Beginning. Use the space bar or Returnto move forward and the Backspace to go back.

This issue has nothing to do with religious freedom. The people behind the mosque are friends of terrorists. The name of their project is designed to signal to the Muslim world they have conquered New York, not just by taking down the Twin Towers, but by erecting their mosque towering over the site of their biggest triumph over America.

These elites control the Congress and the White House and they must be turned out. The fight to save America for future generations will be joined on November 2nd and those who believe in America's greatness must win.

The battle of November 2nd is "pivotal" and must be fought in every Congressional District in the country, including in our own 10th Congressional District. That means sending a Republican to Congress and we in Chatham have a job to do.

Listen to Marco Rubio, now the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Florida. The son of Cuban exiles, Rubio passionately believes in America as an unequaled land of opportunity which must be defended against all enemies, foreign and domestic. With leaders like Rubio in the Senate, the destruction of American principles and values can be stopped. Take the nine minutes to hear his heartfelt call to save America.

His message is our message.

Below, see a selected list of the tax increases that could occur on January 1, 2011. These are only the most well known provisions of the Bush tax cuts that, if allowed to expire, would come to the immediate attention of the nation's taxpayers.

•The two "marriage penalty elimination" provisions will expire, so that:
◦The standard deduction for married couples will fall, no longer double what it is for single filers; and
◦The ceiling of the 15% bracket for married couples will fall, no longer double what it is for single filers
•The 10% tax bracket will expire, reverting to 15%
•The child tax credit will fall from $1,000 to $500
•The tax rate on long-term capital gains earned by middle- and upper-income people would rise from 15% to 20%
•The tax rate on qualified dividends earned by middle- and upper-income people would rise from 15% to ordinary wage tax rates
•The 25% tax rate would rise to 28%
•The 28% rate would rise to 31%
•The 33% rate would rise to 36%
•The 35% rate would rise to 39.6%
•The PEP and Pease provisions would be restored, rescinding from high-income people the value of some exemptions and deductions
•The estate tax would be restored with an exemption level of $1 million and rates that top out at 55%
The plan outlined in the Obama administration's budget is to allow only one of those 12 provisions to revert exactly to what it was in early 2001:

•The top tax rate will revert from 35% to 39.6%
Five of those dozen major provisions will change, but they won't go back to exactly what they were in 2001:

•Estate tax law will revert to 2009 instead of 2001: exemption of $3.5 million and top rate of 45%
•Rate on long-term capital gains will revert to 2001 law (rate of 20%) but only for couples with over $250,000 in AGI the year the gain is realized ($200K threshold for singles)
•Dividends will be taxed just like long-term capital gains
•The 33% tax rate will revert to 2001 law (rate of 36%) but the income threshold where that bracket starts will shift up to $250,000 in taxable income (couples) and $200,000 for singles
•The PEP and Pease provisions will be restored, rescinding from high-income people the value of some exemptions and deductions, but the income threshold where they start to pay more will shift up to $250,000 in taxable income (couples) and $200,000 for singles

Read more.

Read it here.

The redoubtable Michelle Bachmann said it: "The sleeping giant is awake."

‘The sleeping giant’: Conservatives gaining force online

By Chris Moody - The Daily Caller With the turn of a phrase, Minnesota Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann seemed to sum up last weekend’s RightOnline conference, an annual gathering of conservative activists.

“The sleeping giant is awake,” she declared, drawing a thunder of applause and cheering that could be heard across the fifth floor of the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, where the two-day event was held.

For years, the progressive Netroots Nation conference had monopolized the discussion about online activism. Republicans held the White House and Congress until November 2006, a reality that sparked a fury on the left and motivated them to dominate the online world.

The election of Barack Obama, however, turned much of that on its head.

For the first time ever, conservative blogs hold the top two slots in Technorati.com’s political blog ranking, pushing The Huffington Post, the long-reigning champion, to the fifth slot. Conservative blogs also make up half of the top ten political blogs on the Web, while the distinctly liberal blogs only claim two spaces.

With the turnover in power in Washington since November 2008, the progressives appear to have fallen into the same trap as the right did while in power. Compared to the noise they were making while former President George W. Bush held the White House, they have quieted down a bit online, opening an opportunity for their opponents to start taking the Web seriously.

Enter Erik Telford, director of membership and online strategy for Americans for Prosperity, a Washington-based conservative activist group. In 2008, Telford organized RightOnline to go head-to-head with Netroots Nation, training conservatives how to use the Web to organize their efforts. Telford coordinated the first conference in Austin, Texas during the same time as Net roots Nation, and the enthusiasm for the event has grown ever since. Only about 500 people showed up for that meeting three years ago. Last weekend, more than a thousand made the trip.

RightOnline organizers even boasted that their conference had more attendees than Netroots Nation this year, which turned out not to be true. Netroots Nation had registered about 2,100 this year, while RightOnline had around 1,100. Netroots Nation attendance has also increased, up from 1,200 their first year.

“Netroots Nation is going down faster than Mel Gibson’s career,” Telford told the crowd during a Friday night line-up of speeches.

But even with a smaller (but growing) crowd, the enthusiasm at RightOnline was on full charge.

While a feeling of frustration with the Democratic Party seemed to float through the air at Netroots Nation, it was all rapture among the conservatives. For a group that has faced such excruciating losses so recently, the activists at RightOnline were literally giddy about their November prospects.

Sharron Angle, who is opposing long-time Nevada Democrat Sen. Harry Reid, received a standing ovation Saturday for urging a change to Social Security, announcing support for Arizona’s new immigration law, and, of course, promising to beat Reid, who is also the Senate’s majority leader.

“Love you Sharon!” shouted an attendee when Angle took the stage. “I love you too” she replied.
But the excitement over the weekend was not strictly in favor of Republicans as much as it was against Democrats.

“Even if she’s not your pick, who cares,” one speaker said of Angle during a speech about winning Congress in November. “We gotta take Harry Reid out.”

The crowd was receptive to RedState.com editor Erick Erickson, who reminded the attendees that Republicans could not be looked upon as saviors of their movement. Erickson has taken to his popular blog to lambaste Republicans who stray from conservative principles.

“It’s time to beat the Democrats,” Erickson said. “And it’s time to beat the Republicans.”

Still, if the level of exhilaration were any indicator, there is little denying that the right has the upcoming election in its sights above all else.

“We are going to take back this country the first Tuesday of November,” Bachmann told the crowd. “It’s going to happen.”

Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Bill Gross said deficit spending by governments that seek to maintain artificial levels of consumption “can be compared to flushing money down an economic toilet.”

The best thing the government can do is to begin rolling back entitlements, cancel Obamacare as a rotten idea and cut spending.

Major oil companies, with BP prominent among them, have spent 20 years trying to demonstrate their social responsibility. For the moment negative images will predominate, particularly in the United States, a country going through a spasm of paranoid hostility to big business, and foreign oil companies in particular, comparable in intensity to the campaign that broke up Standard Oil a hundred years ago. Many companies, not just in the oil industry, are now nervous of doing business in the US. Just as BP has replaced its British CEO with an American, so another major player is reconfiguring its top team to ensure it has a more friendly American accent. Others are reconsidering routing their global profits through US companies, given the risk that a single accident could put such funds in jeopardy. (emphasis added)

This British observer is right: Obams has created a "spasm of paranoid hostility to big business" that is further endangering our economy. The negative attitudes he is projecting on the public will do damage just as surely as will his tax increases, his vastly increased bureaucratic reach and the explosion of national debt he is creating to pay off public unions and bestow increased or new entitlements on grateful recipients who do now or will in the future support his form of totalitarian socialism.

There is no question that the White House almost daily attacks big business in vitriolic terms for divisive, political advantage. Obama was doing so before the Gulf oil spill: blaming "fat cat bankers on Wall Street" rather than his fellow socialists Barney Frank and Chis Dodd who triggered the subprime bubble and collapse. Attacks on the insurance industry. Attacks on businesses of all kinds that he claims are ripping off consumers to justify ever more government regulation and more unionized government employees.

Every Congressional election this fall is vitally important. Obama's destructive attack on our American way of business and life can only be halted if Republicans regain control of Congress.

The era of global oil giants is over
By Nick Butler in the Financial Times
July 28, 2010

Three months on, the consequences of the Deepwater Horizon disaster are becoming clearer. BP has a new leader – a quiet American who, as head of TNK-BP, a joint venture in Russia, has already held one of the world’s toughest jobs. The company is emerging from weeks of crisis conscious that much still needs to be done to clean up the gulf, and its damaged reputation. But the value of its assets, likely to be confirmed by Tuesday’s announcement of $30bn (€23bn, £19bn) of planned disposals, suggests a company worth more than its depressed share price implies.

For the industry the immediate impact will be more regulation, and a requirement for detailed (and perhaps pre-funded) plans to deal with accidents. Costs will rise, but more importantly new deepwater developments – seen as the salvation of international companies squeezed between declining old resources in the North Sea and elsewhere, and inaccessible new resources in much of the Middle East, Russia and Venezuela – will be constrained. Market power will shift back to the Opec states, the only available and relatively low cost source of new oil to meet growing global demand.

The more profound conclusion from the past few months, however, is that the cool long-term rationalism and global mindset of oil company boardrooms is inadequate in the face of the rough and tumble of short-term local politics. Companies such as BP wanted to see the world as a single market, but in reality national interests still predominate. We are entering a new world in which success will go to those who move beyond old visions of monolithic, centralised global enterprises towards new approaches built on partnerships and joint ventures attuned to local needs.

Strategy at this level must start from reality. The industry must face up to renewed public and political hostility. There will be greater scrutiny, not just of its environmental record, but also pay and bonus levels, and its use of influence to win access to developing countries. The immediate focus has been BP’s moves in Libya, but the spotlight could turn to Nigeria, Angola or Kazakhstan. The oil sector is now an easy target for any politician with a microphone.

Major oil companies, with BP prominent among them, have spent 20 years trying to demonstrate their social responsibility. For the moment negative images will predominate, particularly in the United States, a country going through a spasm of paranoid hostility to big business, and foreign oil companies in particular, comparable in intensity to the campaign that broke up Standard Oil a hundred years ago. Many companies, not just in the oil industry, are now nervous of doing business in the US. Just as BP has replaced its British CEO with an American, so another major player is reconfiguring its top team to ensure it has a more friendly American accent. Others are reconsidering routing their global profits through US companies, given the risk that a single accident could put such funds in jeopardy.

]]> http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/-how-does-europe-assess.shtml http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/-how-does-europe-assess.shtml Obama Undermining America OBAMA UNDERMINING AMERICA; OBAMA ANTI-BUSINESS; OBAMA THE DESTROYER; SOCIALISM Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:17:22 -0500 Republican Governor Bobby Jindal is fighting for his people in Louisiana and Republican Governor Chris Christie is doing the same in New Jersey. New Jersey had the biggest budget deficit gap in the nation, some $11 billion, and Governor Christie was able to work with a Democratic legislature to balance the budget and begin laying the groundwork for a stable and growing New Jersey future.

He attributes the success he has had so far to the Republican principles he stands for:

Less spending; Smaller government; Lower taxes; and Common sense regulations that promote economic and job growth in the private sector.

In his first national talk show interview with ABC's Jake Tapper Christie enunciated some of the hard things that have to be done to get spending under control whether it's at the state, national or local levels. In particular, he pointed out the unsustainable insanity of asking voters whose lives have been ravaged by the economy's downturn to support 4% and 5% raises for unionized public employees, who already earn more than comparable workers in the private sector.

This is true in Chatham where for the fiscal year just ended on June 30th public employees, both unionized and non-unionized, enjoyed 6% to 8% increases in compensation plus increased payments to their pensions and health benefits. How many taxpayers in the private sector in Chatham did as well as that?

The key is putting an end to overspending.

There's a lot of learning in this interview, well worth the time to watch.

]]> http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/new-jersey-governor-chris-christie-fight.shtml http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/new-jersey-governor-chris-christie-fight.shtml Economy Overspending Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:17:42 -0500 Is there any governor who has impressed the nation more over the past few months than Bobby Jindal of Lousiana? He has been leading the fight against the dead hand of the Washington bureaucracy blocking the efforts of Louisianians to save their waters, their marshes and their beaches. He has been at the forefront denouncing the irrational Obama shutdown of all drilling in the Gulf, costing coastal states economic growth and jobs. They're not looking for unemployment checks, they want to go back to work.

]]> http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/bobby-jindal-leads-his-people-in-war.shtml http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/bobby-jindal-leads-his-people-in-war.shtml Gulf spill Obama Undermining America JINDAL; OBAMA; GULF SPILL; LOUISIANA; Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:56:41 -0500 John Hinderaker at Power Line notes a recent poll that finds that 62% of the American public believes that the Democratic White House and Congress are operating without the consent of the governed. Hinderaker rightly calls this finding "stunning" and terms it a "dangerous disaffection."

He gives his view on why this is happening:

I think the more significant cause, however, is the general one--a growing conviction that America is governed by a political class that has its own agenda, involving its own enrichment as well as the endless expansion of its own power, and that this political class is contemptuous of the opinions of ordinary Americans and is determined to impose its will regardless of how Americans vote. I think this perception is in fact true.

The strongest evidence is the history of federal spending in the modern era, which began in the 1960s. Here it is, in constant dollars:

There have been several occasions when the American people have voted for smaller government; most notably in 1972, 1980 and 1994. But it really doesn't matter. You can vote for limited government, but you can't get it; the political class won't let you. This is not to assert the silly proposition that there is no major difference between Democrats and Republicans. The fiscal disaster that we have witnessed since the Democrats took control of Congress in 2007 proves the contrary. But still: experience shows that voting for Republicans hasn't been enough to offset the power of the political class.

And when the people rebel, they are ridiuled and abuse, witness the scorn heaped on Tea Party activists by Democratic (and some Republican) political elites and their supporters in the mainstream media.

Hinderaker wonders whether the revolt will succeed:

It remains to be seen whether the American people can finally break the grip of a political class that remains determined to run their lives and misappropriate trillions of dollars of their wealth. It will be, I think, a close-run thing. In the meantime, there is no mystery as to why most Americans do not regard the federal government as legitimate in Jeffersonian terms.

Read it all.

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit posts some suggestions in response to the Codevilla and Hinderaker pieces. Taking back control can start at local government where alienation is a fact of life as well.

Even at the town level in Chatham, one gets the feeling that taxpayers are paying for what the town employees decide they want when the town employees should be working for them and doing with they want. Prime example: A half billion dollar centralized sewer, whether you want it or not, whether you think it's needed or not, and even though we never allowed you to vote for the full sewer plan and tricked you on the one vote we let you have.

]]> http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/john-hinderaker-at-power-line.shtml http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/john-hinderaker-at-power-line.shtml Taking control back from the political class Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:43:37 -0500 Suddenly, there is serious discussion about and reporting on the clash that is coming to the forefront in America between the political, ruling elite class represented by the Democratic Party that is increasingly imposing its will on ordinary Americans. This ruling class is convinced that they know better how citizens should run their lives and that the middle class should contribute itsr wealth to their governments to enable them to shower benefits on those dependents whose votes keep them in power. The more dependents the better. If they ever knew what Margaret Thatcher said, they have forgetten it: "Sooner or later, you run out of other peoples' money."

A revolution is brewing. The spontaneous eruption of the Tea Party movement is the best but not the only evidence. Those Americans appalled by the partisan ramming through of a health care plan they didn't want. Those Americans appalled by more and more rules on what they can or can't do or shouldn't do. Those appalled by the grabs for more power not only in Obamacare, but in a 2000-page financial regulation bill that bestows unprecedented new arbitrary power on government bureaucrats to run peoples' lives. New taxes and controls on energy use to come in a lame duck session even if they lose in November.

A Boston University professor emeritus Angelo Codevilla has conducted an extensive examination of the roots of the present day confrontation extending from Wilson to FDR to Obama. Can the American tradition of individual responsibilty, self-help, entrepreneurship and freedom be regained? The immensity of the challenge cannot be overstated. Can ordinary Americans unite and rise up to take America back? Who will be the leaders of the charge?

This is a long article, but important to read.

As for what's at stake, Professor Codevilla points to these fundamental divides:

At stake are the most important questions: What is the right way for human beings to live? By what standard is anything true or good? Who gets to decide what? Implicit in Wilson's words and explicit in our ruling class's actions is the dismissal, as the ways of outdated "fathers," of the answers that most Americans would give to these questions. This dismissal of the American people's intellectual, spiritual, and moral substance is the very heart of what our ruling class is about. Its principal article of faith, its claim to the right to decide for others, is precisely that it knows things and operates by standards beyond others' comprehension.

While the unenlightened ones believe that man is created in the image and likeness of God and that we are subject to His and to His nature's laws, the enlightened ones know that we are products of evolution, driven by chance, the environment, and the will to primacy. While the un-enlightened are stuck with the antiquated notion that ordinary human minds can reach objective judgments about good and evil, better and worse through reason, the enlightened ones know that all such judgments are subjective and that ordinary people can no more be trusted with reason than they can with guns. Because ordinary people will pervert reason with ideology, religion, or interest, science is "science" only in the "right" hands. Consensus among the right people is the only standard of truth. Facts and logic matter only insofar as proper authority acknowledges them.

]]> http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/whats-at-stake-in-this-falls-election.shtml http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/whats-at-stake-in-this-falls-election.shtml Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:03:55 -0500 You don't have to know who Dennis Prager is to be powerfully moved by his statements about what is at stake in the 2010 elections.

He says better than we can why we ask you to join with us to work for victory for our Republican candidates on November 2nd.

Dennis is a rabbi and a national talk show host who originates from Los Angeles. He is a lover of America.

]]> http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/you-dont-have-to-know.shtml http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/you-dont-have-to-know.shtml Elections 2010 Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:09:35 -0500 Well, we all had a great time at the parade. Democrats apparently were disgruntled that their near monopoly of the parade was broken. But even Tim Wood, editor of the Chronicle, said politicians have a right to be seen and heard, particularly on a day when we WANT to see them all expressing their love and admiration for the country they serve or hope to serve.

As we have mentioned, the Chatham Republican Town Committee is going to have a series of events to make people aware of the excellent Republican candidates we have to vote for this year.

In June the town committee sponsored the first debate between Eric Steinhilber and Jim Crocker, Jr., the two candidates for the Republican nomination for the Cape & Island state senate seat.

This coming Monday we will have a chance to meet two candidates. Ray Kasperowicz is one of the four candidates seeking the Republican nomination for the 10th Congressional House of Representatives seat. Since it’s an open seat, this is a great chance to break the one-party Democratic Massachusetts representation in the House. The Republican who wins the September 14th primary can be to the House what Scott Brown was to the Senate. Kasperowicz is a CPA, a small businessman from Cohasset, who knows what it means to meet a payroll and deal with the overburden of government regulation, direct and indirect taxes.

Sandwich state representative Jeff Perry, former state treasurer Joe Malone and state utility lawyer Bob Hayden are the other three candidates. Jeff and Joe are the best known. Only Jeff is from the Cape.

Ray will be with us Monday, but we are currently negotiating to bring all four back to Chatham for a debate in August. So far, three of the four candidates have agreed to debate in Chatham and we will get Kasperowicz’s answer Monday if not before. The big question is whether we can get a date all will agree to. (Since Joe and Jeff were both in the parade, we had a chance to get their personal commitment at that time to do a Lower Cape debate in Chatham.)

The other candidate Kamal Jain is contesting with Mary Zarilli Connaughton, the candidate for State Auditor endorsed by the Republican State Convention. Mary received just over 85% of the vote and Jain failed to qualify for the primary ballot by not getting 15% of the vote. After some delegates pleaded to give him a chance, a few votes shifted to put him on the September ballot.

Both Connaughton and Jain were in the Chatham parade with us. Mary appeared before our committee a couple of months ago and made a great impression. She is a CPA, has a history of routing out fraud and waste as a Romney appointee to the Turnpike Board. The Globe called her “the thorniest thorn in Governor Patrick’s side.” As usual, the Globe was probably complaining about that, but most of us would take that as praise. Jain is a qualified candidate. He had been a Libertarian, but resigned from that party and became a Republican in February.

Both of these candidates should be interesting to see close up. Both are long shots. Why are they running? What do they think they can offer that the leading candidates do not?

This is your chance to show your support for effecting change in governments at the state and national levels. We are asking that you make a special effort to attend Monday and get a friend or two to come along.

Both these candidates will be in contests on September 14. We will need your help as the elections near. The better informed you are the more help you can be. There are 5,700 voters in Chatham; 1300 Republicans, 100 Democrats and all the rest independents. We need to be able to persuade those independents that the country and the state are headed in the wrong directions and our candidates can help steer the ships of state back on a sane course.

We welcome folks from neighboring towns. The 10th Congressional is the South Shore, all the Cape and the Islands. The state senate seat is most of the Cape and the Islands.

We have the most extensive line-up of Republican candidates in years. Their quality is excellent.

This is a chance to make a dramatic change for the better at the state and national levels. What we do here in Chatham will have an impact.

See you Monday.

]]> http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/why-you-must-come-monday-at-7-to-our-mee.shtml http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/why-you-must-come-monday-at-7-to-our-mee.shtml Elections 2010 Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:58:18 -0500 Chatham Republicans will hold their next meeting Monday, July 12th, at 7 p.m. in the Chatham Community Center. All fiscal conservatives are welcome to attend to discuss the upcoming elections and what we can do to make goverments return to sane spending practices. This will involve electing candidates at national, state and local levels who believe in private enterprise, individual responsibility and taxpayer priorities.

We welcome folks from our surrounding towns such as Harwich, Brewster and Orleans because this fall we have common cause.

Governments at all levels are spending too much, taxing too much and taking on way too much debt.

The national debt is on track to reach $20 trillion in just a few years, which will be more than 100% of GDP. When unfunded liabilities for Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid are taken into account, the national debt is a staggering $130 trillion. And the Obamacare deficits aren't even included.

State debt is growing twice as fast as revenues.

And on Cape Cod county officials are pushing towns with nitrogen problems in their coastal waters to spend billions of dollars on Big City Sewer systems to take care of these problems when there are far less expensive ways to do the job. But county officials disparage such alternatives, refusing to take taxpayer concerns into account. There are county elections this fall, which often get overlooked, but are important.

In Chatham the Town Manager decided Big City Sewer was for him. As a result, he is driving debt up ten-fold, from about $30 million to over $300 million. Debt service on the property tax now is about $2.7 million per year, but it will soar to an estimated $13-$14 million a year to pay for his expensive -- and unnecessary -- Big City Sewer, urged on and applauded by Barnstable County officials. Property tax charges for sewer debt service will crowd out spending for ordinary operations and needed capital projects for decades. It will also crowd out homeowners who won't be able to pay the freight and who won't get value for their homes when they try to sell because of the looming sewer debt.

This can't go on. But it will, if citizens don't act.

Join us Monday next.

]]> http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/chatham-republicans-meet-monday-july-12t.shtml http://www.chathamrepublicans.com/archive/2010/07/chatham-republicans-meet-monday-july-12t.shtml Elections 2010 Overspending OVERSPENDING; 2010 ELECTIONS. Thu, 08 Jul 2010 07:02:22 -0500