Welcome to National Proposition, a blog with a mission.
Our mission is to help give a voice back to the people. Thomas Jefferson wrote, ‘Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.’ We must accept that responsibility willingly by trying to stay informed and aware. It is our responsibility to question our public servants should they stray from the principals we hold so dear and to rise together with a united voice to hold them both responsible and accountable.
It is our hope that citizens can discuss issues here that are important to them and hopefully come up with a Proposition that can help produce the required change. We will gather your Propositions and votes and make sure they are delivered to the requested end point. We will then keep you informed of any correspondence.
This is YOUR country, what do YOU think?
Off The Record
Off The Record is a blog area for informal discussions, not related to any current propositons.
| Author | Date | Time | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B Ross | 2008-01-09 | 14:10:22 | Another Victory for the Terrorists |
| Since 1979 the Paris to Dakar Rally has been an inspiration to sportsmen and spectators alike. It has been something to look forward to during the beginning of the bleak US winter and a source of camaraderie for people from all around the world. Now terrorists have won another victory by causing the cancelling of the yearly event based on their threats against the race. A simple message from an unknown person and we may soon loose other events like the Tour De France or the Olympics. It seems the whole world will soon be held hostage by the people we’ve helped to create and then neglected over the last century.
Even if the United States hunkers down and protects its boarders and ports, even if the US monitors its citizens and banishes its nonconformists, even if the government puts a chip in everyone and takes away all of their guns, the effects of terrorism can never be ended unless terrorism itself is ended. As the world becomes smaller we had better start learning to share with everyone equally or it may wind up being a place not worth having. |
| Author | Date | Time | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B Ross | 2007-06-22 | 20:01:00 | Senate Energy Bill – Long Mileage, Short Vision |
| Last night’s Senate passage of a broad energy bill is a nice step in the right direction but it is still woefully short of being the policy this country needs. A chance was missed to direct some real money from the over compensated oil companies to the fledgling renewable energy companies. Even with the cat out of the bag on global warming and even with the increasing bi-partisan concerns about our future security position with a country that is run on oil, many Senators still felt it was more important to support the oil lobbyists than vote to support the funding to change our countries energy direction.
At long last the changing of fuel mileage standards will certainly help our environment and our dependency on oil but we really need to be encouraging the next generation of transportation technology. Sadly, this bill, should it make it into law, will be only a small step, one that should have been taken decades ago. |
| Author | Date | Time | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B Ross | 2007-05-30 | 19:29:36 | Lawmakers Pushing for Coal Subsidies. |
| Yesterdays’ story that our lawmakers are pushing for huge subsidies for the coal industry seems like a huge step in the wrong direction. Never mind the fact that burning any kind of fossil fuel is not the answer to our future energy needs and global wellbeing, the mining practices that the current administration has embraced are literally destroying the very land we are hoping to preserve. Strip mining and now mountain topping are not only destroying the land but are also killing the people with disease and floods. This is surely not our path to the future. This is a leap into the past. The subsidies need to be directed to cutting edge renewable energy sources that can both help our environment and our economy.
Surprisingly many representatives from both side of the aisle are in favor of the subsidies. This would seem to show who their loyalties are with. That fact that we don’t have a good National Energy Policy is exactly why we are even considering this backwards strategy. We need a plan that will direct our policy in a meaningful way. The direction from K Street is down the wrong path. |
| Author | Date | Time | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B Ross | 2007-04-28 | 21:18:07 | Assault Weapons Ban |
| The shootings at Virginia Tech reaffirm the need for gun control in this country. I believe the willful act of Bush and Delay letting the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban expire had a direct effect on the outcome in this shooting. The high capacity clips that the gunman used would have been banned by the Clinton law. It is hard to believe that a Virginia Tech college student would have any criminal connections to acquire anything other than the weapons that are legally available to him. As weapons become more lethal there needs to be better controls on who is buying these weapons and why. As a gun owner, I respect the right to bare arms but unless your house in going to be attacked by dozens of armed intruders the formally banned weapons just seem to be excessive and inviting disaster. Congress has introduced a new Assault Weapons Ban Resolution (HR 1022). Lets hope they are able to pass it. |
| Author | Date | Time | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B Ross | 2007-01-14 | 12:00:32 | One slim hope for Democrats to be victorious in Iraq. |
| The new Democratic majority in Congress is struggling to find a way to curtail the power of the President as Commander in Chief. The plan to propose a non-binding resolution or to cut off the funding for the war will not have any reasonable affect any time soon. Surprisingly their best hope may lie with a man who helped to bring down a major New York crime figure several years ago.
Attorney Ted Wells, who is defending “Scooter” Libby in the Plame, perjury case, is going to call Dick Cheney to testify under oath. This move could set in motion the series of events, not seen since Nixon, that could give the Democrats their say at last. Now I’m not comparing Dick Cheney to John Gotti, exactly, but their paths will cross in the form of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. With plenary power to investigate the Plame affair as he sees fit, Fitzgerald holds to key to many of the dark secrets of the Bush administration. The question is how far will Fitzgerald go? Many people feel that Mr. Cheney is the force behind the shadows that surround the current White House. Should Mr. Fitzgerald shine some light on anything that is perceived as less than honorable the fact that Mr. Cheney is now under oath could back him into an inescapable corner. The Holy Grail, of course, for Democrats would be a scandal that forces the resignation of the Vice President. The 25th Amendment of the Constitution, Section 2 states “Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress”. Now the power vested in Congress to the Democrats last November is fully recognized. A simple majority will decide who will be Vice President. How long it would take for Mr. Bush to nominate someone who is acceptable is unclear. Eventually the people would have someone in place that reflects their views more closely than Mr. Cheney. If the President is still headstrong in his ideas to escalate this war, with a favorable successor in place to the presidency, the Congress can move forward on any of a dozen articles of impeachment and hopefully start the dawn of a new day. Stranger things have happened before and certainly will happen again. Unfortunately the movement in the Plame case is so slow that the current administration could outlast the proceedings. |
| Author | Date | Time | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B Ross | 2007-01-12 | 22:40:32 | What exactly is the Bush plan? |
| The recent ‘New Way Forward’ speech is leaving more questions than answers. Certainly on the surface the plan seems to be one last thrust of troops into Bagdad to clean up the mess and pave the way for a future exit. Of course, it has been some time since we have been able to take what this administration says at face value. The follow up chorus has not made the story any easier to swallow.
The supposed benchmarks that the Iraqis are to meet are as unclear as the plan that got us into Iraq in the first place. When questioned by Senator Kerry on Iraqi consequences for not meeting these benchmarks, Condoleezza Rice responded “You work with plan A and give it the best possibility of success”. That’s true, especially when you have no plan B. According to Dr. Rice, “We don’t have an option to fail in Iraq.” It seems that if there was a plan B available they would take it, or even a new plan A. Senator John McCain stated “I believe that those who disagree with this new policy should indicate what they would propose to do if we withdraw and Iraq descends into chaos.” According to Sen. Joe Lieberman this message was mentioned by Mr. Bush at an earlier meeting and seems to have become a new talking point for the die-hard hawks. Senator Barack Obama also said that he had questioned Mr. Bush on accountability for the benchmarks and did not receive an answer from the President. So what we end up with is an escalation of troops into an unpopular war with no plan or timeline for withdrawal. We don’t know what the benchmarks are and even if we did, we wouldn’t know what to do if we started to miss them. It must be assumed that this isn’t the best plan for the New Way Forward, it’s the only plan, the best they could do, take it or come up with your own plan. Of course being Commander and Chief has some benefits. We have already seen an escalation in other theaters like the five Iranians seized by U.S. troops from a representative office of the Tehran government in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil on Thursday and the air attack in Somalia. These attacks do make a statement and show how the White House can affect the news cycles and public attention. They may even be able to appear to be making progress in Iraq for a while. Perception is everything no matter what the facts are, again, looking at how we got into this war. Recently Senator Chuck Hagel stated “This speech given last night by this President represents the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam if it’s carried out.” He feared secret operations into Iran while the Iraqi benchmarks are distracting our attention. Surely there are still those in the White House that would like to see us confront Iran on the battlefield and would like to do it without the consent of the American people or the people who represent us. Yes, there certainly is a plan for Iraq and the surrounding region, and maybe someday we will actually get to hear it. |
| Author | Date | Time | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B Ross | 2007-01-07 | 19:57:04 | There is no child in the burning house. |
| It did not take long for any hope, created by the mid-term elections, of an early end to the Iraq war to fade into a distant memory. We are once again hearing the same, “stay the course”, rhetoric from the White House. Apparently there will be no orderly withdraw from the region anytime soon. One has to ask, what difference can be made by staying this course for even one more minute. There is no dishonor to the thousands who have given their lives by admitting this war was a mistake and moving toward ending our involvement. Maybe if we look at the war as a burning house, instead of a war, we can see the insanity of what we are doing. Besides the heroes who are fighting this war in faraway lands, there are firefighter heroes who fight the battles here, everyday, and who gave there lives on 9/11.
If a firefighter was to give his life trying to save a child in a fire, and it was discovered that there really was no child in the burning house, we would certainly not send in anymore firefighters. The fact that we did not send in anymore firefighters certainly would not dishonor the heroic effort of the first firefighter. Yet, somehow we have the notion that by admitting the invasion of Iraq was a mistake and pulling out the troops would somehow dishonor the many soldiers who have given their lives there already. This could not be further from the truth. Indeed, if a fire chief sends in more firefighters, knowing that there are no children in the house, this can become a dishonor, not to the brave men doing their duty, but to the entire fire department as an institution. Imagine now, if the burning house in which the fireman gave his life trying to find a child that didn’t exist, turns out to have been set deliberately in order to make room for a new multi-national corporate center. Now imagine that while the fire is still burning and more firefighters are being sent in to die, the plans for the corporate site are discovered and they were written well before the fire was started. Even still, imagine that by now everyone has admitted that there are no children in the house, but now the fire chief is saying that there is an old man in the house. When that is discovered to be untrue the fire chief says that we must send in more firemen because the house is a very special house and must be protected. Then, when that doesn’t seem to be working, the fire chief says that we will keep sending even more firemen into the house until the owner of the house tells us to stop. Could there really be any justification for sending in any more firefighters? Knowing that there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and still sending over our bravest souls to be killed is dishonoring the very country that these soldiers are sworn to protect. The fact that the motives for the war were suspicious at best, is nothing less than criminal. The plans for the Iraq oil fields to be divvied up were in place well before 9/11. The Project for a New American Century (PNAC) was also in place before 9/11 and was counting on a new ‘Pearl Harbor’ to hasten their goals. Dick Cheney, a signer of the PNAC doctrine, has stated that he would still have invaded Iraq, even if he knew there were no weapons of mass destruction there. Paul Wolfowitz, another PNAC signer, has said that the weapons story was simply one that everyone could agree on. The Downing Street memo describes Washington’s determination to invade Iraq. Even during the invasion, the main sites to be protected were the oil ministry and oil fields, leaving the rest of Iraq’s infrastructure, history and utilities to be looted and destroyed. Shifting the reason for being in Iraq from weapons, to removing a dictator, to spreading freedom, to propping up the government does not solve the problem or absolve those who share the blame. Recently we were told that we will keep our soldiers in Iraq for as long as the Iraqi government wants them to be there. This is the same Iraqi government that had ordered US soldiers to take down their check points, being used to search for a missing US soldier, because we were causing a traffic problem. There is clearly no good reason for continuing to send our soldiers to die in Iraq. The genie is out of the bottle, and nearly 80 percent of the country can see that the emperor has no clothes. Even the Baker report has come to the conclusion that there will be no victory for us in Iraq and we must bring together all of the Iraqi neighbors to help control the problems there. Top generals have said that adding more troops will not help the situation, yet there is much talk of a surge of troops. What will it take for Mr. Bush to wake up and smell the ashes? If this madness continues, the only logical conclusion can be that this madness is exactly what is wanted by this administration. This madness, that is creating huge profits for the large multi-national corporations, who are collecting the billions of dollars that the American taxpayers are spending each week on this war, must be why we are there. This madness, that is creating the largest national debt in history, that will serve to further the gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots”, must be the reason. This madness, that is diverting our attention from the rest of the world that we should really be concerned with, must be the motive. If nothing is done to end our involvement, it can only be concluded that this madness IS the reason, no matter what excuse is to be contrived by the White House. The house IS still burning, the firefighters ARE still being sent in to die. |
| Author | Date | Time | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B Ross | 2006-12-03 | 16:15:57 | Campaign Reform |
| It seems that the kinds of problems we see in Washington today are a direct result of the way these people come to be in Washington. In a country where the escapades of people like Karl Rove are rewarded and the honest observations of a person like Ralph Nader are drowned out, we should not be surprised at the situation we find these days in our capitol. Indeed the person who is most likely to end up in office is the person who best manages to manipulate the election system either with money or coercion. To expect that a person with this background will suddenly take the moral high ground when elected is naive. The very process that a candidate has to navigate to get elected would seem to produce the least desirable winner especially in the presidential election process. The road to the presidency has been carefully mapped out by the campaign consultants. They develop a plan of attack that targets specific electors and delegates and then funnel the all powerful dollar into the areas that they feel will swing the vote their way. The impact of money is unavoidable in our election process and goes to the root of the problem. There may be a Republican majority facing the end of its reign right now but do they really care or was it expected? Is this just the cycle between right and left taking their turn at the top to take all they can and move on? Can it be said that we, the people, really had a choice in who was elected or is it the dollar that really made the choice? Even with the 2002 Campaign Reform Act, in 2004 the top 20 527 groups raised over $440,000,000.00 for their candidates. This money is not just a contribution but an investment. The spoils at the top are many and to be part of those rewards is worth it to those who pour the money in. Democrats are already reaching out to lobbyists preparing for their turn soon to come. So where do we fit in? Why are we apparently so easily manipulated by the money? The best intentions at campaign reform will never be successful until the voters themselves are reformed. To have your vote predetermined because of your economic, military, religious or ethnic background is ridiculous. And to be coerced by manipulative ads is unforgivable. The voters have to take just a few minutes from their busy day at some point and really think about who they want to vote for. There is plenty of information out there that can give a good insight as to who these candidates really are and what they stand for. By seeking information rather than having it force fed will allow us to control how we think. As the current AARP message states, don’t vote until you know where the candidates stand on the issues. If you’re not going to take the time then don’t vote blindly. Even with an educated electorate we still depend on an imperfect presidential primary and electoral college system to choose our president. Chances are many people feel they must choose the lesser of two evils, rather than a person who will do a good job. With the current unchecked powers that are conveyed to our president, that somehow seems extremely disturbing. |
| Author | Date | Time | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B Ross | 2006-12-01 | 18:54:51 | Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining |
| I am considering a proposition to take action on the issue of mountaintop removal by coal mining in this country. There seems to be an excessive amount of commercials being put on by the coal companies recently and that can’t be good. A recent PBS special by Bill Moyers pointed out some disturbing problems with the mining practice. If anyone more qualified to sponsor this proposition, possibly from the Virginia area would like to take up the cause I will gladly step aside. Otherwise I am seeking any information that any of you think will be helpful.
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