Harford Property Tax Revolt

Here you go... A news article for you http://www.blnz.com/news/2009/04/02/Obama_picks_survey_expert_lead_4448.html

Also If you go to the Census Department's website you'll see it has Department of Commerce in the bottom right hand corner not Executive Office of the President like it would if the Census was run by Obama. I couldn't find when they switched it back, but then again that's not as sensationalist news as "Obama takes over the census"

Also the Commerce Department website has Census as under its jurisdiction.

The Census has ALWAYS been under the executive branch. All cabinet positions are.

Your friend seemed to be suffering from severe paranoia that everyone was out to get him. I would guess reading websites like this http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/10688 probably are not a good idea. Also in my opinion anything on tv (be it Fox News or MSNBC) is not a decent source of news because what happens is they bring on "guests" who aren't accountable to anyone and will shoot off numbers and hypothesis that are baseless. Try a place like thomas.gov for what the bill will do and the CBO and GAO for how it will effect you. Something some guy forwarded you from some blog is not a reliable source of news (i.e. ACORN is running the census; big black men intimidate bankers... my friend who feels the same way you do hates that because it allows everyone else to generalize as misinformed know-nothings). For the record, YOU didn't do this and even didn't trust wikipedia which is pretty good (although IMO for heavy traffic entries wikipedia is reliable).

For good news on the going ons of Capitol Hill, I'd suggest checking out thehill.com or the wire services (i.e. AP, Reuters etc.). Anything else is out for ratings so one cannot take everything that is said as fact. As far as local media goes it pretty much all sucks but at least you're there and can see it more.

Regarding what you said about the way Congress is run... you're absolutely right. A freshman Congressman can't really do anything. Usually votes are by a big margin so it doesn't even matter how one votes. I think there was a statement by Kratovil somewhere where he said that he only voted for cap and trade because he was allowed to insert an amendment stopping Eastern Shore farms from being penalized even more (He ended up saving his district around a billion whereas no matter how he voted, it was going to cost the nation 22 billion). So ask yourself this, if its inevitable, don't we want someone in there who will at least make the burden less? Ask your friend who vowed to work against him that question. What would have happened if Andy Harris was elected? I'm guessing he would have put on a big show and voted no, but not actually have achieved anything. By adamantly opposing the ones in power, he would not get anything accomplished and people in this district would end up paying even more, not less in taxes. Like I said before, you make a number of good articulate points, but when the question is what can we do about it now I would say its reduce it as much as we can.

The stimulus bill was the same way. It was going to pass because there were enough progressive Democrats in the House that they didn't need any moderate votes. But the moderates (like Kratovil, Parker Griffith, Bobby Bright, Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin etc.) worked with the leadership to take 60 billion out of the stimulus in exchange for their votes (granted not all voted for it but some did). How much were the Republicans able to take out? Nothing. I don't know about you but 60 billion dollars is a lot. Congressman Kratovil will be up in Bel Air for the parade, why don't you ask him about how he thought it went. I'm guessing you'll be surprised about how similar his sentiments are to your own (Judging by his votes I don't think he agrees with a lot of the leadership's positions but like I said is just trying to get as much done as he can).

So its not a perfect situation but a lot of people in government are just doing what they can to alleviate the situation and for me, actions speak louder than words. I'd rather have someone will do something tangibly productive for me than someone who will vote no but do nothing to actually fix the situation.

Nice meeting you today.

The Waxman-Markey bill gives basically totalitarian authority to the federal government. That power is out there regardless of who is in office, so even if you think Obama has beneficent intentions, when someone with evil intent comes into office, the power is there for him/her to abuse. I read the bill. Every aspect of your life and mine will be under scrutiny by the federal government. This is a travesty.