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Phil Kerpen newsletter |
Phil Kerpen newsletterPK 2009 HighlightsPhil Kerpen newsletterIn 2009 we saw a continuation of the unprecedented threats to economic freedom that emerged late in 2008--never-ending bailouts, unconstrained growth of government spending, enormous Fed money creation, and a crippling debt burden for our children and grandchildren. We also, however, saw the emergence of a mass-based resistance that promises to restore fiscal sanity to our country, standing up to the big spenders in both political parties and saying that enough is enough. The grassroots uprising at tea parties and town halls and rallies gives me confidence that our democratic system will work and will right the fiscal ship. Come to the AFP Defending the Dream Summit October 2 and 3!Phil Kerpen newsletterThings have been busy. Lots to update you on. Lots of recent TV appearances, including quite a few regarding our now-erstwhile green jobs czar, Van Jones. You can see all my recent TV clips here: http://www.philkerpen.com/?q=taxonomy/term/66 I've also been writing a fair amount, mostly for Fox Forum, and if you haven't been paying attention please do come to www.PhilKerpen.com and take a look. The main purpose of this email is to ask you to register for the 2009 Defending the American Dream Summit, sponsored by Americans for Prosperity Foundation: www.DefendingTheDream.org I'm excited to be speaking to this gathering of free-market activists and especially excited to be speaking on the same program as some incredible world-class leaders in the fight for freedom and prosperity. Speakers like Larry Kudlow, Newt Gingrich, Jim DeMint, and my mentor: Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal. We need to send Congress a strong message that we are paying attention and fighting back against big government power-grabs. This event will keep the momentum from the tea parties, town halls, and 9-12 march going strong into October when it will likely be crunch time on health care and possibly also on cap-and-trade. The early registration price is only available for a few more days. Please register today at www.DefendingTheDream.org. If you do register, please take a moment to reply to this email and let me know that I will see you there! Yours truly, P.S. Please connect with me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/kerpen) and Facebook (http://facebook.com/PhilKerpen) if you haven't already! And listen to my daily 2-minute podcast, available on www.philkerpen.com or through iTunes (search "kerpen"). Thanks! KerpenCast, Tea Parties, and Energy TaxesPhil Kerpen newsletterApologies for once again going months between newsletters. I hope you've been checking out www.philkerpen.com from time to time, and I want to encourage you to stay tuned two other ways. One is my new a daily podcast, just 1-2 minutes in length, that I started yesterday. You can check it out here: The other is Twitter. Please follow me! Also, please do me a favor and forward this email to your friends and encourage them to sign up at PhilKerpen.com and check the site regularly! 1. Now, on to tea parties. I was a speaker at the DC Tea Party, which despite a pouring rain was a great success. I wrote a Fox Forum post about it on my cell phone from the scene, which here: and I was on Fox twice last week talking about it, on Greta the day of the tea party: and on Cavuto (Asman guest-hosting) the day before: I also wrote this piece defending that the tea parties are genuine populism: and was quoted in a variety of newspapers. Several lefty outfits flatteringly accused me of being an evil architext of the whole tea party movement, but of course my real role was much more modest. 2. Energy taxes, a.k.a cap-and-trade Amazingly Obama and Pelosi are pushing forward with this huge new energy tax despite the fact that there is no environmental upside and the costs to ordinary Americans will be huge. Who stands to benefit? The same financial bad actors on Wall Street, like AIG and Goldman Sachs, at the center of the financial meltdown. I wrote about that in Washington Times here: The good news is that we won a huge victory a couple weeks ago when the Senate rejected passing cap-and-trade through the back-door of budget reconciliation with only 50 votes. I helped lead that fight, and wrote about the victory here: Yesterday's podcast was on this topic: 3. Unfortunately there is still a substantial risk of a government takeover of health care (including "cost-cutting" by refusing treatment to people judged too old or sick) being slammed through by the budget reconciliation trick. I wrote about that threat and the other budget gimmicks in the Congressional budget here: 4. Happy baseball season! Let's go Mets! (If you check the Cavuto clip I linked to above, you'll notice I wore a Mets tie.) Off to a slow start but still the time of year when hope springs eternal. Unfortunately, our new ballpark is still called Citi Field, named for a disgraced bailout bank. I wrote about that here: I'll try to send these a little more regularly so they aren't so long. Please check out the podcast (http://kerpen.hipcast.com/rss/kerpencast.xml) and follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/kerpen). Thanks! Yours truly, P.S. I'll be speaking at the following events next week. Please attend if you can! Date: Tuesday, April 28th Date: Wednesday, April 29th Date: Wednesday, April 29th Stimulus Fight Can Be WonPhil Kerpen newsletterFirst some personal good news--we're engaged! Joanna Enstice and I will be married this June. Next some good news for America. The stimulus bill is not inevitable. Ignore what you've been told--it's a ploy to get us to give up the fight. We can win. In fact, the bill's proponents are struggling, and President Obama is starting to distance himself from the unpopular Pelosi/Reid bill. If you haven't signed the petition yet at www.NoStimulus.com, I encourage you to do so. We'll be delivering the signatures soon to get them there in advance of the Senate vote, which will probably be this weekend. On the www.NoStimulus.com site you can also find talking points and easy links to contact your senators in advance of this important vote. I posted a column today answering the idea that this bill is inevitable. It isn't. That column is here: We should also take note of the fact that the federal budget outlook is already the worst in all of U.S. history, with a $2 trillion deficit now within the realm of possibility. I analyzed the current budget outlook here: You also may not have noticed yesterday that we already have the first tax hike of the new administration. I had a soundbite about this on Lou Dobbs last night, and wrote about it here: Sorry for not sending these newsletters more regularly. Please do check out www.NoStimulus.com and get involved in the fight over this bill. The stakes are high and we can win! Yours truly, Bridge to Nowhere, McCain Isn't Bush, Energy Freedom, AFP SummitPhil Kerpen newsletterCongress is back for a mad dash to finish (as little as possible of) their work and get out of town. Expect possible action on the defense bills, extenders package, AMT patch, a highway-fund transfer bill, a continuing resolution, and little else. (Apologies to the handful of people who got this newsletter yesterday. There was a glitch and it didn't go to most people, so I used the opportunity to add a new item.) Four items to note: 1. Palin, Obama, and the Bridge 2. The McBush Smear 3. Energy Freedom Day is just 21 days away and counting. 4. Have you registered for the Americans for Prosperity Defending the American Dream Summit? Yours truly, Special event discount and other updatesPhil Kerpen newsletterDear friends, I have several items to update you on, especially a great deal on our national summit. 1. Register now for an incredible price of $24.50!! For a limited time we are accepting early registration for $49 per person. On top of that and for just the next couple days, you can use the code DREAM08 to get an additional 50% off! This offer only lasts until this Wednesday, July 2nd, so don't miss it! This event was a great success last year and we hope to make it an even bigger and better event this year. Go to www.defendingthedream.org now and register with the promo code DREAM08 to get 50% off our already discounted early registration price! Please remember to type "Phil Kerpen" under "Other" where the registration page asks how you heard about the summit. We're competitive about recruitment! Again the site is: www.defendingthedream.org 2. RightOnline Summit in Austin, Texas, July 18th and 19th, 2008 3. Hot Air Tour and No Climate Tax We also have begun a candidate pledge campaign to ask candidates for federal, state, and local office that they won't hide a net tax hike in a climate bill. Increases in the tax burden should be openly debated on their merits, not buried within feel-good environmental legislation. To learn about the pledge and ask candidates to sign it, check out: www.noclimatetax.com 4. Recent Television Appearances 5. Recent Columns My take on carbon cap-and-trade, Lieberman-Warner-style: That’s all for now. Thanks. Yours truly,  |