Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Blowing in the Wind

Classical Values says: "If we all work together to build a better future, the environment might be saved."

Too bad the local zoning regulations are in the way...

Monday, September 17, 2007

Don't Tax the Internet

Americans for the Preservation of Liberty has joined a project spearheaded by Americans for Tax Reform to urge Congress to extend the moratorium on taxes on the Internet:
September 17, 2007

Dear Member of Congress:

On behalf of millions of taxpayers, we request that Congress promptly extend the Internet Tax Freedom Act before it expires on November 1, 2007. If the moratorium is allowed to lapse, American taxpayers could be exposed to countless new and onerous taxes from states and municipalities simply for accessing the Internet.

Since 1998, Congress has ensured that Internet access is not subject to either state and local taxes or multiple and discriminatory taxes on Internet commerce, regardless of the technology consumers use to access the Internet. With the moratorium’s expiration rapidly approaching, it is imperative that Congress continue to prohibit Internet access taxes and multiple and discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce.

The Internet prospers today as the result of unshackled innovation and technological growth unfettered by government taxation or regulation. Although policies up to this point have temporarily put a hold on government interference, passing a permanent ban on Internet taxation would send a signal that the Internet is open for further growth and development. Taxing access and Internet activities would not only hinder the expansion of technology that fuels our modern economy, but it would also rebuild communication barriers among families, hamper growing businesses, and negatively impact our lives in countless ways.

The U.S. cannot afford to open the free Internet market to taxation. The time of temporary moratorium has passed. Once again we, the undersigned groups, urge you to co-sponsor and work to pass S. 156 and H.R. 743 which would permanently extend the federal moratorium on Internet access taxes.

Sincerely,

Barbara Anderson,
Executive Director,
Citizens for Limited Taxation

John Berthoud,
President,
National Taxpayers Union

Greg Blankenship,
President,
Illinois Policy Institute

Chris Derry,
President,
Bluegrass Institute

Leon Drolet,
Executive Director,
Michigan Taxpayers Alliance

Ryan Ellis,
Executive Director,
American Shareholders Association

Richard Falknor,
Executive Vice-President,
Maryland Taxpayers Association, Inc.

Colin A. Hanna,
President,
Let Freedom Ring, Inc.

Tom Hoefling,
President,
Idahoans for Tax Reform

Derek Hunter,
Executive Director,
Media Freedom Project

Kimberly Kuo,
Executive Director,
MyWireless.org

David A. Keene,
Chairman,
The American Conservative Union

Matt Kibbe,
President,
FreedomWorks

Thomas P. Kilgannon,
President,
Freedom Alliance

Phil Krinkie,
President,
Taxpayers League of Minnesota

Chris Lilik,
Young Conservatives of Pennsylvania

Jeffrey Mazzella,
President,
Center for Individual Freedom

John McClaughry,
President,
Ethan Allen Institute

Tom McClusky,
Vice President of Government Affairs,
Family Research Council

Chuck Muth,
President,
Citizen Outreach

Grover Norquist,
President,
Americans for Tax Reform

Tim Phillips,
President,
Americans for Prosperity

C. Preston Noell III,
President,
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.

Andrew Quinlan,
President,
Center for Freedom and Prosperity

Amy Ridenour,
Vice Chairman,
Americans for the Preservation of Liberty

Lori Roman,
Executive Director,
American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)

Richard O. Rowland,
President,
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii

Thomas A. Schatz,
President,
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste

Curt Smith,
President,
Indiana Family Institute

Fred L. Smith, Jr.,
President,
Competitive Enterprise Institute

Pat Toomey,
President,
The Club for Growth

Mead Treadwell,
Alaskans for Tax Reform

Steve Voeller,
President,
Arizona Free Enterprise Club

Mark Warden,
President,
Budget Watch Nevada

Paul M. Weyrich,
National Chairman,
Coalitions for America

Jason Wright,
President,
Institute for Liberty Internet Freedom Coalition

Friday, September 14, 2007

The PAC Fairness Act of 2007

It's wrong for the federal government to restrict an American citizen's right to contribute his own funds to the political causes of his choice. The right to contribute to a political cause with which one agrees is akin to the rights of free speech and free association.

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland has introduced H. R. 3492, the PAC Fairness Act of 2007, to raise limits on the amount of contributions that may be made to political committees, and to index such limits to inflation.

This bill makes sense, and deserves support.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

APL Joins Coalition Opposing New National Heritage Areas

The following letter -- signed by a diverse group of more than 110 organizations, elected officials and citizens -- was delivered on September 4 to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader John Boehner, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Pete V. Domenici, House Committee on Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, House Committee on Natural Resources Ranking Member Don Young as well as all the members of the House and Senate Natural Resources Committees.

Dear [Elected Official]:

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. City of New London ignited a national outcry against government abuse of property rights. The "bridge to nowhere" and other wasteful programs triggered angry protests against the practice of earmarking.

National heritage areas are the Kelo decision and earmarks rolled into one.

National heritage areas are preservation zones where land use and property rights can be restricted. They give the National Park Service and preservation interest groups (many with histories of hostility toward property rights) substantial influence by giving them the authority to create land use "management plans" and then the authority to disburse federal money to local governments to promote their plans.

As a March 2004 General Accountability Office report on heritage areas states: "[National heritage areas] encourage local governments to implement land use policies that are consistent with the heritage areas' plans, which may allow the heritage areas to indirectly influence zoning and land use planning in ways that could restrict owners' use of their property."

The proposed "Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area Act" provides a good case study on how heritage areas can be self-perpetuating federal pork and influence projects.

The chief lobbying organization for this heritage area, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership, received a one million-dollar earmark in the 2005 federal transportation bill at the behest of Members of Congress sponsoring legislation to establish this heritage area - an earmark that was granted before the organization was even incorporated. A million-dollar earmark thus was issued to help create a steady stream of future pork, at the expense of the rights of local landowners.

We believe zoning and land use policies are best left to local officials, who are directly accountable to the citizens they represent. National heritage areas corrupt the principle of representative government and this inherently local function by giving unelected, unaccountable special interests the authority to develop land management plans and federal money with which to finance their efforts.

Once established, National heritage areas become permanent units of the National Park Service, and as such, permanent drains on an agency that currently suffers a multibillion-dollar maintenance crisis. According to the GAO, "sunset provisions have not been effective in limiting federal funding [for National Heritage Areas]: since 1984, five areas that reached their sunset dates received funding reauthorization from the Congress."

Supporters of new heritage areas have the public will precisely backward: Americans want stronger property rights protections and less pork-barrel spending - not more earmarks to programs that harm property rights.

Please do not support the creation of additional national heritage areas or federal funding for heritage area management entities, support groups, or groups that lobby for or advocate the creation of new heritage areas.

Sincerely,

David Ridenour
Vice President
National Center for Public Policy Research

J. William Lauderback
Executive Vice President
The American Conservative Union

John Berthoud
President
National Taxpayers Union

Paul Poister
Executive Director
Partnership for the West

Larry Pratt
Executive Director
Gun Owners of America

William Niemeyer
Mayor
City of West Alton, MO

Ryan Ellis
Executive Director
American Shareholders Association

Peter Flaherty
President
National Legal and Policy Center

Steve Snow
Supervisor
Loudoun County, VA

Carol W. LaGrasse
President
Property Rights Foundation of America

Tom DeWeese
President
American Policy Center

Rachel Thomas
Property Rights Advocate
Huachuca City, AZ

Rose Ellen Ray
Treasurer, Citizens for Property Rights
Loudoun County, VA

Paul Driessen
Senior Policy Advisor
Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise

Maxine Korman
Korman Ranch
Hinsdale, Montana

Gerald Hobbs
President
Public Lands for the People

John Grigsby
Vice President
Taxpayers for Accountable Government

Don Parmeter
Executive Director
American Property Coalition

Leo Schwartz
Chairman
Virginia Land Rights Coalition

Pat King
Anvil Ranch
Tucson, AZ

Tom Borelli, Ph.D.
Portfolio Manager
Free Enterprise Action Fund

John and Connie Morris
Members, Tongue River Watershed Alliance, and MT and WY Farm Bureaus

Brad VanDyke
Representative
Rural Utahns for Local Solutions

Jerry Hamilton
Environmental Coordinator
Formation Capital Corporation

F. Patricia Callahan
President and General Counsel
American Assoc. of Small Property Owners

Erich Veyhl
Publisher
Maine Property Rights News

Dane vonBreichenruchardt
President
U.S. Bill of Rights Foundation

Mark Williamson
Founder and President
Federal Intercessors

New Mexico Federal Lands Council

New Mexico Wool Growers, Inc.

Beth Machens
Board of Aldermen
City of West Alton, MO

Janet M. Neustadt
Board of Aldermen
City of West Alton, MO

William J. Richter
Board of Aldermen
City of West Alton, MO

Deborah Anderson
Treasurer
City of West Alton, MO

Susan Silk
City Clerk
City of West Alton, MO

Charlotte Meyers
Assistant Administrator
City of West Alton, MO

Ora B. Anderson, Jr.
Planning and Zoning Commission
City of West Alton, MO

Ray Ponciroli
Board of Aldermen
City of Portage, MO

Paul M. Weyrich
National Chairman
Coalitions for America

Tom McClusky
Vice President of Government Affairs
Family Research Council

Jay Lehr
Science Director
The Heartland Institute

Jim Martin
President
60 Plus Association

Bill Moshofsky
Vice President
Oregonians In Action

Niger Innis
National Spokesman
Congress of Racial Equality

Gregory Cohen
President and CEO
American Highway Users Alliance

Richard Falknor
Executive Vice President
Maryland Taxpayers Association, Inc.

Linda C. Runbeck
President
American Property Coalition

Thomas K. Remington
Managing Editor
U.S. Hunting Today

Lew Uhler
President
National Tax Limitation Committee

Jon Caldara
President
Independence Institute

Dan Byfield
President
American Land Foundation

John Taylor
President
Tertium Quids

Susan Carlson
Chairman and CEO
American Civil Rights Union

Gary Palmer
President
Alabama Policy Institute

Lenore Hardy Barrett
State Representative
Idaho

Jonathan DuHamel
President
People for the West-Tucson

Jack and Patricia Shockey
President and Director
Citizens for Property Rights

Fred Grau
Executive Director
Take Back Pennsylvania

Mike Dail
Chairman
American Land Foundation

Chuck Cushman
President
American Land Rights Association

James Stergios
Executive Director
Pioneer Institute

Deneen Borelli
Fellow
Project 21

Marilyn Hayman
Chairman, Citizens for Responsible Zoning and Landowner Rights

Bruce Colbert
Executive Director, Property Owners Association of Riverside County, CA

Randall and Ruth Lillard
Farmers and Landowners
Madison County, VA

Joyce Morrison
Farmer and Agricultural Environmentalist
Fieldon, IL

Donald Castellucci, Jr.
Councilman, Town of Owego
Tioga County, NY

Milari Madison
Property Owner
Loudoun County, VA

Robert L. Sansom
Farmer and Landowner
Madison County, VA

Mary E. Darling
Sonoita, AZ

James Vadnais
Port Angeles, WA

Floyd Rathbun
Fallon, Nevada

Steven and Peggy Breen
Boise, Idaho

Peggy Bogart
Access Advocate

Dan Goulet
Portland, OR

Susan Freis Falknor
Bluemont, VA

Fred L. Smith
President
Competitive Enterprise Institute

Matt Kibbe
President
FreedomWorks

Mychal Massie
Advisory Council Chairman
Project 21

Steve Baldwin
Executive Director
Council for National Policy Action, Inc.

Caren Cowen
Executive Director
New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association

Randy T. Simmons
Mayor, Providence City, UT
Professor, Utah State University

Donald E. Wildmon
Founder and Chairman
American Family Association

Leroy Watson
Legislative Director
National Grange

Kelsey Zahourek
Executive Director
Property Rights Alliance

Roy Cordato, Ph.D.
VP for Research and Resident Scholar
John Locke Foundation

C.J. Hadley
Publisher/Editor
Range Magazine

Elizabeth Arnold
Grassroots Consultant, Environmental Community Outreach Services, Juneau, AK

Greg Blankenship
President
Illinois Policy Institute

Bill Wilson
President
Americans for Limited Government

Jane Hogan
Secretary
Ontario Hardwood Company, Inc.

Katherine Lehman
President
People for the USA Grange #835

Howard Hutchinson
Executive Director
Coalition of Arizona/New Mexico Counties

C. Preston Noell III
President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.

Dr. William Greene
President
RightMarch.com

Leo T. Bergeron
President
Upper Mid-Klamath Watershed Council

Eugene Delgaudio
President
Public Advocate of the U.S., Inc.

Leri M. Thomas, Ph.D.
Charter Member
Virginians for Property Rights

John McClaughry
President
Ethan Allen Institute

Richard O. Rowland
President
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii

James W. Jarrell, Sr.
Board Member
Virginia Bear Hunters Association

Harold L. Stephens
Member
Citizens to Protect the Confluence

Jerry Fennell
Chairman
Jicarilla Mining District

Bonner R. Cohen, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow
National Center for Public Policy Research

Judy Keeler
Secretary
Bootheel Heritage Assoc. (Animas, NM)

Alexandra H. Mulkern
Mechanicsville, MD

Lee Riddle
Brookings, OR

Stephen L. Ralston
Columbia, PA

Mark Pollot
Boise, ID

Billy Jean Redemeyer-Roney

D.J. McCarthy
Civil Engineer

Clifton McDonald
Needles, CA

Kirk and Jeri Hansen
Clayton, ID

Suzanne Volpe
Sterling, VA

Amy Ridenour
Director
Americans for the Preservation of Liberty

More information about the project can be found at this link.