Truth Is the Most Powerful Weapon: Part 2
on August 3rd, 2011 at 7:29 am
FFVA and courageous state officials. they are all up for election in '11.
Two different takes on the misleading information being spewed by the press in DC and the Roanoke Times on two important topics…
The debt limit deal in DC.
ICLEI and Agenda 21 in Roanoke.
On the debt limit, three key points have become clear to anyone who is paying attention.
- Due to the baseline budget deal that was struck, the debt will soon be well over $20 Trillion. If you voted for the final bill (Goodlatte, Hurt, Warner and Webb all voted yes….Griffith voted no) You have agreed to a bill that does nothing to address the financial issues of the nation, as Rand Paul eloquently describes here.
- We are still going to have our bond rating cut, despite the false cries of “default” that prompted Congress to act.
- Congress has voted to gut their own Constitutional authority again. This special “Super Congress” provision further weakens the power of Congress.
This may ultimately be the most problematic portion of the bill. As Ron Paul blogged yesterday:
“Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this deal is the “Super Congress” provision. This is nothing more than a way to disenfranchise the majority of Congress by denying them the chance for meaningful participation in the crucial areas of entitlement and tax reform. It cedes power to draft legislation to a special commission, hand-picked by the House and Senate leadership. The legislation produced by this commission will be fast-tracked, and Members will not have the opportunity to offer amendments. Approval of the recommendations of the “Super Congress” is tied to yet another debt ceiling increase. This guarantees that Members will face tremendous pressure to vote for whatever comes out of this commission– even if it includes tax increases. This provision is an excellent way to keep spending decisions out of the reach of members who are not on board with the leadership’s agenda.”
Yet most everyone in the press corp are just happy as clams we didn’t default. Is it journalistic laziness or incompetence or compliance with their government masters that leads to the pathetic level of journalism we see today? You decide.
Same is true of our local press….
In yesterday’s blog post. I didn’t directly address property rights and the rule of law that are really the crux of the ICLEI issue.
ICLEI is just one entity pushing for restrictions on your use of your own property. All of the high minded goals of all of these groups are simply this…that your property rights should be subordinate to the goals of sustainable development.
Lets recap a few things. Sustainable Development is the stated goal of:
Roanoke County, the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission, and every major federal agency including HUD and EPA.
What exactly is the goal of sustainable development? According to the Don Knapp from ICLEI, ICLEI supports a “bottom-up movement of local governments like Roanoke County that are working to make their communities healthier and more resilient for current and future generations.”
What does that mean in English? It means exactly what the current comprehensive plan looks like…clustered developments and wide swaths of the county eventually off limits for human interaction. How will the county achieve this vision of a “healthy” community?
The only way they can do this is by forcing, bribing or brainwashing local property owners into cooperating with the central planning concept of the County that they have implemented in their Comprehensive plan. Notice the spokespeople don’t talk about global warming anymore, they talk about economic development and “healthy communities.” They know that global warming line is wearing thin and they have moved on to new and exciting reasons to control the Counties zoning regulations.
But no one seems particularly interested in scrapping the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 30% by 2020 either…
That statement is Pablum for journalists who don’t have the rigor to dig beneath the pretty words of a spokesperson. And our local paper bought that line with nary a whimper or question. Pathetic.
This is why we are fighting this: A few more questions for the Roanoke Times:
What is more important, sustainable development of property rights?
Since this nation was rooted in the inalienable rights of property and this right is enshrined in our state constitution, we may want to think twice about the central planning concepts coming from the Federal government in support of Agenda 21.
I mean, look at the Federal Government and the UN. How could anything coming from them not:
- Destroy Constitutional rights
- Wreck the economy
Counties can set their own path in regards to planning. Roanoke County has had the wisdom to throw off the shackles of the state UDA mandates. Let us hope they have the wisdom to shake off these shackles as well.
Chip Tarbutton
