Next Tea Party Meeting and GREAT Letters to the RT and the Governor
on March 1st, 2010 at 11:07 pm
Do you want to start really getting involved in making a difference? During this next meeting, we will be asking everyone that attends to start helping us build an organization that can start reshaping politics in the Roanoke Valley.
Join us at Parker’s Seafood on Monday, March 8th.
The meeting will start promptly at 6:30 PM. We look forward to seeing you there.
Here are two great letters. This letter is from Tea Party Member Sandy Smith and is a response to a ridiculous article printed in the Roanoke Times comparing Tea Party members to hippies…Her response is perfect.
“Hi Chip,
If you take the Roanoke Times, (I haven’t subscribed in years…because of stuff like this…Chip) I hope you noticed the article this morning, on the Opinion Page ~ “THE TEA PARTIERS ARE AGING HIPPIES”. It was a nasty article, by two Democratic political consultants, Jim Spencer and Curtis Ellis of the McClatchy Tribune. The Roanoke Times will go anywhere to find liberal bias materials. I sent the following letter to the editor. I hope more Tea Party Patriots respond to it as well.
Sandy Smith
Editor,
As Tea Party Patriots, I am a wife, mother and grandmother and my husband is a Korean War Veteran. We are proud “average Americans”.
After years sitting on the couch, listening to the news, we awakened to the realization that our country was going down the tubes at the hands of a bunch of crooked politicians. We have a bunch of Congressional Dukes and Duchesses who think they know better than the citizens they are supposed to represent. The politicians treat we American citizens like morons.
Tea Party folks would NEVER don a Che t-shirt. Idolizing a mass-murderer is something we would never do! Also their comparing us to the likes of Bill Ayers, a confessed militant terrorist, was the last straw!
So to our arrogant political consultants from Boston and New York…we Tea Party folks are about saving our country, for our children, grandchildren and future generations, so they may enjoy the freedoms that so many have fought and died for. We love our country and are patriotic Americans…not aging armed militiant hippies. We do not protest in violence, but we are angry. We are the formerly silent majority bringing our concerns to Washington.
I picked up this letter from our one our partners in the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation. It is a response to the Governor’s jobs bill, which is very Obamaesque. The author takes apart this bill piece by piece. I’ve also attached the original email from Lt. Governor Bolling. Progressive garbage is progressive garbage, no matter what party it comes from…
Dear Lt. Gov. Bolling:
I appreciate the effort that you and the Governor have expended in attempting to create “jobs and economic opportunity,” but I believe you both are making a costly mistake. Specifically:
1. You are engaging in a lot of meddling with economic activity that presumes that you are smarter than market forces in selecting investments. This kind of central planning didn’t work in the Soviet Union or Eastern European countries. Even Japan learned that central planning and “industrial policy” misdirected investments and wasted resources.
2. By granting tax breaks to activities that you consider important, you are shifting tax burden to ordinary taxpayers who don’t have the benefit of tax breaks and subsidies. When you shift tax burden to ordinary taxpayers, you take money out of their pockets and out of the areas where they live, draining economic lifeblood from those areas.
3. You apparently have fallen for the “green jobs” mythology. Even a small bit of research on the part of your staff should have revealed that claims about jobs from “renewable”energy are FALSE. For example, spending on wind energy facilities is the LEAST effective of all energy sources in terms of job creation.
4. Energy from renewable sources is very expensive and, in the case of electricity from wind and solar, is low in quality and value. European countries that have pursued “renewables” have some of the world’s highest electricity prices. Denmark and Germany have the highest in the industrial world. Spain is near the top and would be higher except that large parts of the subsidies it provides for wind energy are hidden in government debt that no one knows how to pay off.
Recent announcements that some groups are planning to pursue offshore “wind farms” are worrisome. European countries and Northeastern US states pursuing this course of action are setting up electric customers for huge costs. The true cost of electricity from offshore “wind farms” is 2 to 3 times the cost of on shore “wind farms” which are much more costly than electricity from traditional sources. The Governor of Rhode Island, in a really unwise move, recently forced a New England electric utility to agree to pay more than $0.23 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity from a proposed “wind farm” off Rhode Island. The Governor of Massachusetts is considering a similar action for the infamous “Cape Wind” project. Both actions demonstrate (a) the “clout” of the wind industry and its lobbyists, (b) the weakness of political leaders, and (c) the sad implications fro electric customers; i.e., escalating electricity prices.
I would hope for better from Virginia’s leaders.
5. Spending state tax dollars for “renewable energy R&D” really makes no sense. The federal government, through the US Department of Energy is spending billions on renewable energy R&D. Much of that money is wasted because there just aren’t that many useful areas for R&D. So, it is being spent on propaganda rather than genuine R&D.
6. If the Legislature approves all your proposals, I’m sure that there will be lots of people and organizations that will be eager to take advantage of the proffered tax breaks and subsidies. Sadly, too many people have come to realize that there is more profit and less risk in pursuing government tax breaks and subsidies than in devoting efforts to innovative and productive activities that result in goods and services that are useful in the private, competitive economy.
7. Has no one in Richmond read the message from Massachusetts, and from the steadily growing “tea party” and similar independent citizen movements? Ordinary citizens are NOT eager to see governments — federal or state — extending their roles, presuming that they are smarter than the private sector, caving in to special interest lobbyists, and taking action in areas they do not understand.
The Obama Administration is making similar mistakes but on a larger scale. Why is it necessary for those of you in Richmond to do the same?
Glenn Schleede
In a message dated 1/30/2010 6:06:58 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, campaign@billbolling.com writes:
Jobs and Opportunity Agenda Good for Virginia
McDonnell/Bolling plan will create 30,000 new jobs and generate $311M in state and local tax revenue
During this year’s statewide campaign, Bob McDonnell and I talked a lot about getting our economy moving again and creating jobs. We said then, and we reaffirm now, that this is the most important issue currently facing our state.
Over the past several months we have worked to put together a comprehensive set of legislative and budget initiatives that will position Virginia to take full advantage of a future economic resurgence. On January 26th we unveiled our Jobs and Opportunity Agenda in a press conference at the State Capitol that was attended by more than 300 legislative and business leaders.
Even though state government is current facing significant budget shortfalls, we have asked the General Assembly to appropriate an additional $50M toward proven economic development and job creation programs. That means more money for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Virginia Tourism Corporation, the Virginia Film Office, the Department of Business Assistance and more.
With this additional funding we will be able to open new economic development offices in China and India and implement an aggressive media campaign to market Virginia as a great place to do business or take a vacation.
We will be able to invest in a number of strategic programs that are designed to improve Virginia’s ability to attract enhanced manufacturing facilities, become the East Coast’s energy leader and assert our position as a great place for biotechnology and life sciences companies.
And we will be able to double the size of the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, which provides incentives to new businesses locating in Virginia; and the Jobs Investment Partnership Program, which provides grants to businesses that need workforce training assistance.
In addition, we have proposed a number of legislative initiatives that will give our economic development professionals the tools they need to recruit new companies to Virginia.
We have proposed a number of new and expanded tax incentives for businesses that create jobs in Virginia, including a doubling of the Major Facilities Business Tax Credit and the implementation of a new Green Energy Jobs Tax Credit.
In addition to doubling the size of the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, we have proposed providing additional flexibility in the fund by allowing grants and loans based on anticipated state and local tax revenue and more latitude for local matching funds for certain projects.
To assist small businesses in gaining access to the capital they need to start a business or expand a business, we have proposed tax credits to financial institutions that invest in a new $100M Small Business Investment Company fund that will make loans to small businesses.
We have proposed reprioritizing how money is invested in Virginia’s Enterprise Zones by requiring that available funds go first to those companies that are creating jobs. Currently, we are only funding 46% of these obligations.
And we have proposed continuing Virginia’s Business One Stop program, which is designed to assist small businesses in understanding state licensing and regulatory requirements, and streamlining these requirements to enable anyone to create a small business in Virginia within 48 hours.
A conservative economic impact analysis estimates that our Jobs and Opportunity Agenda will create nearly 30,000 new jobs in the next two years and generate $311M in additional state and local tax revenue.
I am pleased that our Jobs and Opportunity Agenda has strong bipartisan support in the General Assembly.
Now is the time to invest in these important economic development programs and pass this job creating legislation. These changes will better position Virginia to compete for new business, industry and jobs.
These are challenging economic times, but if we make the right decisions now we can position Virginia to take full advantage of a future economic resurgence.
Please contact your legislator today and encourage them to support the McDonnell/Bolling Jobs and Opportunity Agenda so we can get Virginia’s economy growing again.
