An Open Letter to the President and Congress: Taxpayers Oppose Hike in the Federal Gas Tax
Signed by ITR Chairman Tom Hoefling and the leaders of more than fifty other organizations

Dear President Bush and Members of Congress:

On behalf of the millions of taxpayers represented by our respective organizations, we write in opposition to proposals that would increase the existing 18.4 cent-per-gallon federal excise tax on gasoline.

One legislative plan promoted by Representative James Oberstar would temporarily increase the federal gas tax by 5 cents per gallon to fund bridge repair around the country. We are extremely concerned that this "temporary" tax increase would turn into a permanent one. After all, President George H.W. Bush's "temporary" gas tax increase of 5 cents per gallon in 1990 never went away as promised, while lawmakers "repurposed President Clinton's 4.3 cent-per-gallon hike when the budget seemed headed toward a surplus.

Proponents of a federal gas tax increase insist that few would even notice the change in their fuel bills. In reality, a 5 cent-per-gallon jump would represent a steep 27 percent tax hike over the current rate and cost American motorists an estimated $25 billion over the next three years. Combined with state gas taxes, many motorists would pay over $7.50 in taxes for the average fill-up. This is a substantial burden on families trying to make ends meet and only makes gas prices harder to stomach. Given high energy costs, now is the time to give taxpayers a lighter – not a heavier – gas tax burden.

We also reject the notion that there isn't enough money available for infrastructure upkeep. Both the federal and state governments have made record levels of transportation money available. The 2005 Highway Bill increased related funding by 42 percent, to a record $286.5 billion. It also contained 6,500 earmarks totaling 9 percent of the bill's cost. The Fiscal Year 2008 Transportation, Housing & Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill contained 1,434 earmarks worth over $2.2 billion. This is money that could have been directed to real need-based priorities determined by transportation experts. Instead, it was handed out to politically connected allies. Congress's bad habit of earmarking has siphoned money away from core repair functions and into questionable projects. This reckless binge should be ended before lawmakers even consider raising gas taxes by a single penny.

Instead of resorting so readily to tax hikes, Congress and the Executive Branch should conduct a review to determine which transportation projects are really worth funding and which are unnecessary. Elected officials should not be feeding more revenues into the gears of an ever-faster spending machine, and we urge you to oppose any federal gas tax hike.

Sincerely,
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GOP sues to force State to close primary
Complainants include dozens of leaders from across the state

By Shawna Gamache - sgamache@idahostatesman.com

A group of 71 Republicans filed a lawsuit Wednesday to force Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa to restrict Idaho's GOP primary elections to Republicans only.
The Republicans allege Idaho's open primaries violate their constitutional rights of association as members of the party, because non-Republicans can influence who is chosen.

They are asking a federal court to find Idaho primaries unconstitutional and force Ysursa to close Republican party primaries to declared party members only.

"It is our intent to ask the court to restore those rights so that Idaho Republicans may stand together and pick their own nominees for political office," said former state Sen. Rod Beck of Meridian in an e-mail announcing the lawsuit's filing. Beck has been a major proponent of the primary restriction effort.

The Idaho Republican Party voted in 2006 and again in 2007 in favor of restricting its primary to Republicans only, but House GOP lawmakers were unable to get a corresponding law change passed in the 2007 legislative session.
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Illegal aliens are self-deporting from Georgia
Passage of tough new law is having an effect

SB529 has illegal aliens leaving for other states or back to Mexico.

Watch video here

Governor Butch Otter reiterates support for higher Idaho highway taxes
Seeks two hundred million dollar tax increase

It could become more expensive to drive a car in Idaho.
Gov. Butch Otter today reiterated his support for increasing state transportation taxes and fees by as much as 200 (M) million annually.

Otter first mentioned the idea in March, and his continued championing of the issue increases its likelihood of becoming a big issue during the 2008 Legislature.

Without a hike, Otter fears a federal funding shortfall could leave Idaho's highways in shambles.

Otter says, "Folks, I'm sorry, but we've got to have it."

Not everybody feels the same way.

Representative JoAn Wood, chairwoman of the House Transportation Committee, says the governor may get this on the agenda, but getting increases passed is another thing.

Sen. John McGee, the chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, says a hike is likely needed.

He says, "All you have to do is drive down the busiest road in Idaho - I-84 - and see that we have to do something about our transportation system."

Senate Amnesty bill DEFEATED again!
Congratulations to the tens of thousands of grassroots activists who made it happen!!

by joanie-f

A cloture vote on the mis-named Bill to Provide for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (a long but must read for every modern American patriot) went down to resounding defeat on the Senate floor this morning.

God bless those Americans who believe that representative government still takes precedence over bread and circuses (Paris Hilton is unveiling a new clothing line, don’tcha know?).

Those modern American patriots who expended the time and effort to let their views be known have succeeded in derailing a bill that would have eventually spelled the death of our beloved republic, and dealt a major blow to the foundations upon which western civilization rests.

Make no mistake about it. One of the countless reasons that this bill was being pushed so feverishly (and sometimes unconstitutionally) through legislative channels is that our fearless ‘leaders’ (our own President among them) believed that the American citizens’ attention span is short – and that, a year and a half from now, when the teeth of this bill had begun to suck the life blood out of our republic, and a third of the senate is up for re-election, the voters would have by then forgotten who supported this travesty.

We cannot forget. Treason is a high crime. And betrayal leaves a deep, permanent, psychologically disfiguring scar.

The U.S. Senatorial oath reads:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Below is a listing of those forty-six American senators who voted for cloture in order to shut off debate on a bill that placed the amassing of political power and the interests of business above the U.S. Constitution, and the safety and sovereignty of the United States. Those names written in bold type represent senators who will be running for re-election in 2008.

Make no mistake. Some version of this bill will be re-introduced – if not during this congressional session, then during the next. Every American voter needs to make it his priority to see to it that those senators written in bold below are no longer occupying seats in the senate when that happens.

Bennett (R-UT)
Craig (R-ID)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)

Akaka (D-HI)
Biden (D-DE)
Boxer (D-CA)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Obama (D-IL)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Schumer (D-NY)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)

Recent polls revealed that as many as eighty percent of the American electorate disapproved of S.1639. November 2008 will tell us how many of those eighty percent were weak in their disapproval or have attention spans calibrated in nano-seconds. But, for the time being, today should be a day of celebration. Although the scoundrels will not rest until our republic is unraveled, they have been at least temporarily corralled.

Between now and November 2008, it has become even more imperative for every informed American to educate those in our families, neighborhoods, and workplaces who are still not aware of what this bill entailed, and its abominable far-reaching anti-liberty, anti-American, anti-representative-government ramifications for us all.
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