Puerto Rico Being Forced Down the Path to Statehood?

Sometimes we receive items from local tea parties around the country that are so well drafted, and so important, that we just forward them as is. Thanks to Patti Weaver of the Pittsburgh Tea Party for the following:

Would you please call the U.S. Representatives today and ask them to vote no on H.R. 2499? This is a trojan horse, middle of the night kind of bill that you may not have heard about yet. The Left is trying to label anyone who votes against this bill as a racist, so all representatives must be called!

TIME TO MELT THE PHONES!

Congress is at it again!

Now they are trying to sneak in a vote that would put Puerto Rico on the path to statehood. The only trouble is, they haven’t exactly told US about it (sound familiar??).

Please take a moment and read the information below, then pick up the phone and CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE! … Then call five friends and ask them to do the same!

Click here to get your Representative’s best phone numbers. Start with the DC offices, then move on the the LOCAL numbers!

Demand your Representative vote NO on HR 2499

Here’s what Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com had to say:
There is a bill to make Puerto Rico a state. Again, they are trying to pull one over on us and on Puerto Ricans, who have consistently said they do not want to become a state. Read below for more information (from Eagle Forum). This was also discussed by Rep Tom Price on a conference call yesterday.

Please consider this:

* The U.S. would transform, overnight, into a bilingual nation. At least half of Puerto Ricans do not speak English, the language of our U.S. Constitution and founding documents. The Washington Times article, “Puerto Rican statehood,” analyzes all the implications of adding a foreign language-speaking state to the Union.

* It would bring immediate demands for massive federal spending. The average income of Puerto Ricans is less than half that of our poorest state, and infrastructure and the environment are far below American standards. Puerto Rico has a population with a median national income of $17,741, nearly a third of that for the U.S.

* Puerto Rico is already a democracy. Despite the bill’s deceptive title, Puerto Rico already has an elected government and exists as a self-governed commonwealth of the U.S.

* Statehood would give Puerto Rico more congressional representation than 25 of our 50 states! It would inevitably give Democrats two additional U.S. Senators and 6 to 8 additional Members of the House.

H.R. 2499 is stealth legislation designed to lead to the admission of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico as the 51st state, thereby making us a de facto bilingual nation, like Canada. The U.S. Congress should not be forcing Puerto Ricans to vote on statehood, especially since the Puerto Rican people have rejected statehood three times since 1991!

No Member of Congress who describes himself as a limited government, fiscal conservative should be casting a YEA vote for H.R. 2499,as Puerto Rican statehood would cause an immediate increase in federal expenditures, particularly for taxpayer-funded welfare state services.

Read the whole thing: click here

The Puerto Rican government is even playing hardball with it own people! Read this by Ann Shibler :

The United States House of Representatives is set to vote on H.R. 2499, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act, as early as this week. This bill would mandate a non-binding expression by the voters of Puerto Rico as to their wishes with regard to retaining their commonwealth status or becoming a state or becoming an independent nation, but in conjunction with other legislation already introduced inside Puerto Rico, the commonwealth status of the island could be eliminated as early as this year.

Three times in the past 43 years Puerto Ricans have voted against becoming the 51st state in the Union, the last time being 11 years ago. But this time the bill is rigged to eliminate the commonwealth option and grant either full statehood, or total independence. Sen. Jose Hernandez-Mayoral of the island’s minority Popular Democratic Party said, “Behind this innocuous bill lies a fully thought out assault on Congress to designate the island the 51st state.” “With the commonwealth option out of the ballot, statehood is finally, albeit crookedly, assured a victory.”

The whole article: click here: HR2499 text: Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009 (Reported in House): click here Thanks for all your hard work.

God bless you.Patti Weaver
Pittsburgh Tea Party Movement

Click on this link for the Tiger Team Briefing presented at the May 16th General Meeting:  Cap_trade

RISING ONCE AGAIN FROM THE BOWELS OF CONGRESS:  LATEST CLIMATE BILL (updated: May 16, 2010)

The bill has been published as of Thursday the 13th.  initial comments from the American Thinker.

Bloomberg reports, “Climate-Change Bill Avoids ‘Cap-and-Trade’ Tag in U.S. Senate.”    

“Now Graham, John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, and independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut are preparing to introduce a compromise bill in the Senate. They have indicated it will include a mandatory, declining limit on carbon emissions in the electric-power industry while giving utilities the right to buy and sell carbon allowances.   “The senators aren’t calling it ‘cap-and-trade,’ though. The legislation is about ‘pricing carbon,’ Graham told reporters in Washington last month.”  (emphasis added)  

 EPA’s definition of cap-and-trade:

“A cap and trade program first sets an aggressive cap, or maximum limit, on emissions. Sources covered by the program then receive authorizations to emit in the form of emissions allowances, with the total amount of allowances limited by the cap. Each source can design its own compliance strategy to meet the overall reduction requirement, including the sale or purchase of allowances, installation of pollution controls, and implementation of efficiency measures, among other options.” (emphasis added)  

The sponsors of the bill can call it a Clean Energy and Security Bill (tried that), the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Bill (tried that), or the Clean American Jobs and Low Energy Prices Bill (guess for the new name) but it won’t change the fact that it is going to cap emissions and require companies  trade emission credits (for at least utilities and manufacturing). 

It is therefore, at root, a cap-and-trade bill.  And as we all know, under President Obama’s cap-and-trade plan, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.   It is still unclear how the bill will reduce emissions from transportation, the source of 33% of energy-related emissions.  A gas tax (whether imposed on consumers or to the companies themselves) would be ineffective.

All the above rate increases and taxing is in response to the false premise of man-caused global warming. 

ACTION PLAN:  To be posted after bill is published, and we have had a chance to review it.  Hang in there!  We want to get it right.  The bill has been published as of Thursday the 13th.  Initial comments from the American Thinker.

Senator Inhoff’s family builds igloo in honor of Al Gore. 

Great photos, graphs, diagrams from U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

The Weatherman, Dexter Wright, Digs Deep into the Climategate   

Climategate Fraud Investigation

Michael Mann’s “Hockey Stick” challenged by Virginia Attorney General.

Global Warming on Trial

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot filing in federal court a challenge to the EPAs’s endangerment finding stating that it was based on the now discredited IPCC report–fraudlent science!

The 9 mm Won’t Save You!

Whoever leaked the incriminating e-mails deserves a medal for saving the U.S. economy from certain ruin.

 Climategate:  Is It Criminal 

The British Parlament has convened hearings to investigate East Anglia University and the Climate Research Unit to uncover “unethical” and ”illegal” activities. 

 Climategate:  Just Sign on the Dotted Line

The Jones Gang, “Forget credentials and just get signatures.”  Opponents speak out and have been speaking out:  Heidelberg Appeal (4000 scientists,72 Nobel Prize winners), Leipzig Declaration (reputable scientists), and the Oregon Petition (31,000 scientists).  And still the Jones Gang persists!

 Climategate: The Truth Hurts When It Hits You in the Head

Evidence that the climate computer models have failed.

Climategate: How to Hide the Sun

An effort to distort and discredit solar impact on climate.  Solar flares track with global warming.  

Climategate and the Migrating Arctic Tree Line

A case “discrediting proxy tree data” in the Mann “hockey stick” graph depicting global warming. 

Climategate’s Stubborn Facts

Distorting facts that are inconvenient to a desired conclusion.