assembly's blog

TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) - A long-simmering movement by liberal stalwarts in southern Arizona to break away from the rest of the largely conservative state is at a boiling point as secession backers press to bring their longshot ambition to the forefront of Arizona politics.

A group of lawyers from the Democratic stronghold of Tucson and surrounding Pima County have launched a petition drive seeking support for a November 2012 ballot question on whether the 48th state should be divided in two.
The ultimate goal of the newly formed political action committee Start our State is to split Pima County off into what would become the nation's 51st state, tentatively dubbed Baja Arizona.

Backers have until July 5 next year to collect the 48,000 signatures required to qualify for a spot on the ballot. If they succeed, it would mark only the first hurdle in a long, circuitous process that even the most determined of supporters readily acknowledge has little chance of bearing fruit.

An Ordinance to Protect the Health and Integrity of the Local

Food System on Stevens county, State of Washington

(This is the actual document we are working from)

Section 1. Name. This Ordinance shall be known and may be cited as the “Local Food and Community Self-Governance Ordinance.”

Section 2. Definitions. As used in this ordinance:

Many towns, countries, and states across America are reorganizing their economies independently. North Dakota is a shining example of this in that they have not only made excellent use of mineral extraction, but have also reorganized the way they bank. Through the cooperation of communities, businesses and government, they have one of the most solid economies in our country.

There is also another great and needed change moving across the states: The Food Sovereignty Acts. Counties and towns in seven states have enacted this ordinance. Wyoming has passed a bill for the entire state concerning food sovereignty. This is a matter of extreme importance.

The backbone and heritage of our nation is strongly tied to our agriculture to include general farming, fruit orchards, ranching, vegetable growers and others. This way of life is extremely important and it is under attack daily in our nation. Our local farmers are at risk because of over-regulation and out-sourcing of produce and meat to other countries whose standards are much lower than ours.

Read over the Preamble for this ordinance from the state of Vermont.

WHEREAS all people are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and

Over the course of human history, government systems have come and gone. Systems such as anarchism, communism, socialism, democracies and religious rule (which can be a combination of any) have all had their day. But only one system is cherished by people and has been blessed by the God of creation. The Republic or better, said, a Constitutional Republic.

The Republic is not a perfect system, being that mankind is operating it; yet it is the only system that guarantees God-given unalienable freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as long as one does not infringe on another’s very freedoms. Hence, “Do no harm.” (Oppress no one.)

When the power of government is vested properly in the people, having such appropriate law which the body of the people have agreed upon; you have a constitutional republic at hand. Note it is the very substance of the law proposed by the people, authored by God Himself, and agreed upon by all that brought forth our Republic.

We must keep in mind that a Republic does not operate automatically. It cannot be held and maintained by a central government. This is very obvious by the circumstances in our nation today. If a people create such government under God, then those people must maintain such a government.

In our era we have not a sufficient number of people that understand the truths and principles that our nation was founded on. People must understand what’s been lost and that our freedoms and liberties neither begin nor end with the constitution.

One of our major weaknesses today is, as a populous, we, for the most part, have no concept of the principles, circumstances and events that formed the constitution. Many a well-meaning person, to include many of our elected officials, will say they understand, but have really never done an in-depth study of this most important matter. Obviously, when you consider that and events of our day, politically speaking, the qualifications of our present leaders should come into question.

Woodrow Wilson and his fellow founders of the modern liberalism movement argued that we should live in an age of progression and government must be the engine of progress. This idea not only affects the way government operates, but also the freedoms and liberties of people.

Franklin Roosevelt added to natural rights, the idea of economic security. Government grew as a result, especially under Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.

President Obama's signature accomplishment to date, the Obamacare health care reform law that is just a year old, twice has been ruled unconstitutional by federal judges, and it is expected eventually to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

But it's now taken another shot across the bow, in a vote in the North Dakota legislature where lawmakers determined it "likely" is unconstitutional and "may violate its true meaning and intent as given by the founders."

The lawmakers decided that "no provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 may interfere with an individual's choice of a medical or insurance provider except as otherwise provided by the laws of this state."

According to officials with the Tenth Amendment Center, the law adopted by the legislature and signed yesterday by Gov. Jack Dalrymple is a modification of model legislation it has offered a number of states under the title of the Federal Health Care Nullification Act.

As members of Congress and the president haggle over ways to reduce the federal budget deficit, ratings for the bicameral legislature have fallen to the lowest level since late 2008.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that nine percent (9%) now say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Fifty-six percent (56%) rate the Congressional performance as poor.
(To see survey question wording, click here.)

Positive grades for the legislators are down from 13% last month and are the lowest measured since December 2008. The number of voters who give Congress a poor grade is up seven points from last month and is the highest negative review since Republicans took control of the House in January.

From January 2007 through December 2010, with Democrats in control of both the House and Senate, the legislature earned good or excellent marks ranging from 9% to 26%. The high water mark was reached in May 2007. Poor marks for the Democratic tenure ranged from a low of 35% to a high of 71%. That 71% negative rating was reached just before the health care bill became law.

(EXAMINER)
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, released the following statement today after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a “guidance document” which substantially expands the scope of the federal government’s jurisdiction over waters and property rights and will result in confusion, permitting delays, and added costs for farmers and small business owners in Eastern Washington.

“I am strongly opposed to the EPA’s decision, which is just the latest in a series of job-crushing measures by this Agency which will severely harm our local economy,” said Rep. McMorris Rodgers.