9.9%

Unemployment ROSE to 9.9% this past month, and the media is spinning it as 'good news' because jobs were added... yes, jobs are being added after a long drought of jobs, but we have more workers looking for work, and the broader unemployment measure, by including discouraged workers, hit 17.1% in April.
The 17% number means is that we have a large pool of unemployed and under-employed people who will be seeking opportunities should they arise. If they don't they stay on as the large long-term unemplo. We have 6 million fewer private sector jobs now than in 2006, and many of that 17% were in that group.

The good news on the jobs front is strong enough that it precludes a 'double-dip'. The economy has created a total of 573,000 jobs during this year. But that is just a fraction of the jobs needed to make up for the jobs lost, and the recovery is stunted and sub-par. The underlying reason is the failure of those in power to focus on economic growth, and hostility to those who make our economy work. Instead we have gotten the 'empty calories' of stimulus and Government jobs, while private business have been given more and more burdens.

Deepwater Horizon Response

The Deepwater Horizon Response website is a great source for status and progress by BP and the Coast Guard in dealing with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. They are also giving Twitter updates. In the evening of May 7th (3 hours previous to this blog post), they updated the news on the cofferdam to be used to contain the subsea oil leak:

Cofferdam Update - The cofferdam (containment dome) is currently hovering above the site as the surface is being prepped by ROVs. It will hover there until they are ready. They hope to lower to sea floor today, but they need to finish prepping the surface.

The cofferdam being lowered into the water:



Here is a picture of a controlled oil burn used to reduce the oil:

GULF OF MEXICO - Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Justin Sawyer observes a controlled burn from the deck of Mark and Jace, a contracted shrimping vessel assisting with oil recovery efforts in the Gulf of Mexico, May 5, 2010. The U.S. Coast Guard, working in partnership with BP, community volunteers, and other federal agencies, conducted the controlled burn to aid in preventing the spread of oil following the April 20 explosion on the Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit Deepwater Horizon. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffery Tilghman Williams.

And a video of an ROV capping one of the leaks.

Status of the oil spill itself is here. Should the leak be contained by the planned cofferdam, and the mitigation efforts reduce the spill work, the worst-case scenario will be averted and the impact on the coastline may end up being minimal.

Obama's Katrina?

Something has been seriously amiss with the administration's response to the Oil Rig explosion in the gulf, which has evolved into being the worst offshore U.S. oil spill ever.

Feds knew of potential disaster and yet mitigation efforts have been slow, no burns of oil done, DHS Secretary did not know nor leverage military capabilities for 12 days ... and more than a week passed before President Obama moved to address the disaster despite the clear evidence that BP and the Coast Guard were unable to stop the flow of oil and contain the spill.

Obama manages to not get the heat Bush did when the Federal Government faced challenges.

Understanding Arizona's Immigration Law

Source - Center for Immigration Studies :

The new law recently signed by the governor of Arizona, SB 1070, makes it a state crime to violate some federal immigration statutes. While the law is extremely popular in the state, with 70 percent of Arizona voters approving of it and just 23 percent opposed, it has raised controversy. Below is a brief summary of the relevant information on illegal immigration in Arizona, followed by a short analysis of SB 1070’s major provisions.

Illegal immigration in Arizona:

• The federal government estimated that Arizona had one of the fastest growing illegal immigrant populations in the country, increasing from 330,000 in 2000 to 560,000 by 2008.¹
  
  
• Arizona has adopted other laws to deter the settlement of illegal immigrants in the state in recent years. The federal government estimates that the illegal immigrant population dropped by 18 percent in the state from 2008 to 2009, compared to a 7 percent drop for the nation as a whole.² This may be evidence that the state enforcement efforts are having an impact.
  
  
• The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has found that 22 percent of felonies in the county are committed by illegal immigrants.³ Illegal immigrants are estimated to be 10 percent of the county’s adult population.⁴
  
  
• Analysis of data from State Criminal Alien Assistance Program showed that illegal immigrants were 11 percent of the state’s prison population. Illegal immigrants were estimated to be 8 percent of state’s adult population at the time of the analysis.⁵
  
  
• Approximately 17 percent of those arrested by the Border Patrol in its Tucson Sector have criminal records in the United States.⁶
  
  
• The issue of illegal immigration and crime is very difficult to measure, and while in Arizona there is evidence that illegal immigrants are committing a disproportionate share of crime, it is not clear this is the case nationally.⁷
  
  
• In 2007, the Center for Immigration Studies estimated that 12 percent of workers in the Arizona are illegal immigrants.⁸
  
  
• In 2007, the Center estimated that illegal immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) comprise one-fifth of those in the state living in poverty, one-third of those without health insurance, and one out of six students in the state’s schools.⁹
  
  
• In 2007, the Center estimated that one-third of households headed by illegal immigrants in Arizona used at least one major welfare program, primarily food-assistance programs or Medicaid. Benefits were typically received on behalf of U.S.-born children.¹⁰
  
  
• The new law (SB 1070) is extremely popular among Arizona voters. A Rasmussen poll found that 70 percent of voters approve of the new bill, and just 23 percent oppose it.¹¹

Among the new law’s provisions:

• The new Arizona law mirrors federal law, which already requires aliens (non-citizens) to register and carry their documents with them (8 USC 1304(e) and 8 USC 1306(a)). The new Arizona law simply states that violating federal immigration law is now a state crime as well. Because illegal immigrants are by definition in violation of federal immigration laws, they can now be arrested by local law enforcement in Arizona.
  
  
• The law is designed to avoid the legal pitfall of “pre-emption,” which means a state can’t adopt laws that conflict with federal laws. By making what is a federal violation also a state violation, the Arizona law avoids this problem.
  
  
• The law only allows police to ask about immigration status in the normal course of “lawful contact” with a person, such as a traffic stop or if they have committed a crime.
  
  
• Estimates from the federal government indicate that more than 80 percent of illegal immigrants come from Latin America.¹² Thus, there is concern that police may target only Hispanics for enforcement.
  
  
• Before asking a person about immigration status, law enforcement officials are required by the law to have “reasonable suspicion” that a person is an illegal immigrant. The concept of “reasonable suspicion” is well established by court rulings. Since Arizona does not issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, having a valid license creates a presumption of legal status. Examples of reasonable suspicion include:
  
  • A driver stopped for a traffic violation has no license, or record of a driver's license or other form of federal or state identification.
    
  • A police officer observes someone buying fraudulent identity documents or crossing the border illegally.
    
  • A police officer recognizes a gang member back on the street who he knows has been previously deported by the federal government.
  
  
• The law specifically states that police, “may not solely consider race, color or national origin” when implementing SB 1070.
  
  
• When Arizona’s governor signed the new law, she also issued an executive order requiring the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board to provide local police with additional training on what does and what does not constitute “reasonable suspicion.”¹³

Important U.S. Supreme Court Victory: Salazar v. Buono

Ted Cruz on this important Supreme Court decision:

Yesterday, by a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a 75-year-old veterans’ memorial in California’s vast Mojave Desert can remain standing. The memorial, a seven-foot metal cross, was erected in 1934 by World War I veterans to honor their fallen brethren.

This is an important victory for every veteran and every lover of liberty in America. Nothing in the Constitution supports tearing down this monument to those who gave their lives in World War I, and the Supreme Court has rightly reversed the lower-court decision that, until now, has shamefully required that the monument be covered up in a plywood box.

As Justice Kennedy powerfully observed in yesterday’s lead opinion, the Mojave Desert Memorial “evokes thousands of small crosses in foreign fields marking the graves of Americans who fell in battles, battles whose tragedies are compounded if the fallen are forgotten.”

I was deeply honored to represent over three million veterans in this case. Along with my dear friend Kelly Shackelford, we filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, The American Legion, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, and the American Ex-Prisoners of War. Read our brief here.

Kelly and I also wrote a piece on the case in the Wall Street Journal, which you can read HERE.

There was much at stake in this decision. All across this nation, monuments with religious symbols memorialize fallen veterans.

The ACLU challenged the Mojave Desert Memorial. If they had won this case, veterans memorials throughout the nation would have been in jeopardy, including the crosses in Arlington National Cemetery. That is an extreme and radical view, and it is not consistent with the Constitution of the United States.

The most effective part of our brief, in my opinion, is not the legal arguments, but the appendix, which has pictures of veterans memorials throughout the world that could have been imperiled by this lawsuit. I commend you to review those pictures and reflect on the stakes of this case.

Moving forward, we will certainly face many more challenges to monuments that acknowledge or reflect our religious heritage. But yesterday’s Supreme Court decision is an important step toward protecting freedom of religious expression as intended by our Founding Fathers.

Listen to this interview with NPR in which I explain this very point.

America’s veterans who have died defending our country gave their last measure of devotion to preserve our right to free speech and religious expression. We owe it to them to remain vigilant against those who would dishonor their memory.

And yesterday, the Supreme Court protected them, and remained faithful to the Constitution.

- Ted Cruz, former Texas Solicitor General

New York Times Can't Admit that Obama is Unpopular

The New York Times acknowledged Saturday that there's a no patience out in the hinterland west of the Hudson River for Democrats and the direction they're taking this country, in their story "Democrats’ Long-Held Seats Face G.O.P. Threat."

Of course, the journalists Jeff Zeleny and Adam Nagourney never once mention that President Obama is a major reason for expected losses. Instead, it's Democrat representatives support for big government initiatives. The initiatives aren't linked to Obama.

Zeleny and Nagourney only say there is a 'discontent with Washington' without mentioning why there is such discontent:

Yet the discontent with Washington surging through politics is now threatening not only his [21-term Democrat David Obey] seat but also Democratic control of Congress.

Sean Duffy, who is Obey's challenger, says he's running against Obey because of his leading role in the health care socialization bill and other big government efforts. That's where the discontent originates, according to the Times weak handling of that issue. Never is the 'discontent' assigned to Obama. The only mention of Obama is the fact that his old Senate seat in Illinois (and Biden's by the way) is in play as well.

The Time continues to shill for Obama, once again ignoring his unpopularity and what will be the overriding reason for Democrat losses in November.

The Democrat Jobs record

British politiicians and Obama

A concise American view of British elections:

Brown hasn’t a clue about real life, Cameron seems determined to torpedo his own political fortunes, and Clegg is ashamed of his own country.

It takes three people in the UK to do all that, while we Yanks are much more efficient, with Barack Obama doing all three things himself.

America, meet the challenge, remember in November

HT to Powerline, a powerful video on America's rising in 2010:


Remember November. 11-2, that is.

Democrats Vote For Taxpayer-Funded Viagra To Child Molesters

The above is the headline the Democrats will get to read if they vote against this. Way to go, Sen Coburn!

UPDATE: WELL GUESS WHAT - We can say it now - "Democrats Vote For Taxpayer-Funded Viagra To Child Molesters" - they voted down the Coburn Amendment.

Bill White caught lying about History

No, this is not about Bill White's failure to report all his income.

Bill White last week fired off a bold claim that Perry was 'meddling' in Education with the State Board of Education and had taken Thomas Jefferson out of the history books, saying:

"Last week the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE), led by Rick Perry's appointee, voted to remove Thomas Jefferson from social studies textbook standards."

Well, like a lot of things the Democrats are saying - IT WASN'T TRUE. State Board of Education Chair Gail Lowe has reported that Thomas Jefferson is in the TEKS for many grade levels - elementary, 5th grade, 8th grade, high school history. He's still in there! She says:

"Apart from Thomas Jefferson, the only historical figure with more emphasis in the Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills standards is George Washington."

White's claim was JUST ANOTHER WHITE LIE I GUESS. Maybe his mistake was believing what the liberal press was telling everybody. More on how dreadfully misleading the reporting on the SBOE is, from SBOE Chair Gail Lowe:

Poor Reporting by News Media: Thomas Jefferson vs. Texas Social Studies Standards

by Gail Lowe, Chair of Texas State Board of Education

3.19.10

It did not take long for reverberations from the Texas State Board of Education's preliminary vote on Social Studies requirements to spread across the country.

And predictably, the media coverage was woefully inaccurate and blatantly distorted.

The New York Times probably was not the first to report on the board's deliberations, but it joined a host of prominent Texas news outlets that incorrectly claimed Thomas Jefferson had been dropped from the curriculum framework used in Texas public schools.

Apart from Thomas Jefferson, the only historical figure with more emphasis in the Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills standards is George Washington.

The State Board of Education expects students at the elementary-grade level, in middle school and again in high school to study these Founding Fathers and to be well-versed in their contributions to American history and government.

Thomas Jefferson is included along with John Adams, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Nathan Hale, the Sons of Liberty and George Washington as Founding Fathers and patriot heroes that Texas fifth-graders should study for their notable contributions during the Revolutionary period.

During Grade 8, in which the history of the United States from the early colonial period through Reconstruction is presented, the Social Studies TEKS framework requires students to explain the roles played by the following significant individuals: Abigail Adams, John Adams, Wentworth Cheswell, Samuel Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, James Armistead, Benjamin Franklin, Bernardo de Galvez, Crispus Attucks, King George III, Haym Salomon, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Paine and George Washington.

The U.S. Government course required for high school graduation mandates that students "identify the contributions of the political philosophies of the Founding Fathers, including John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, James Madison, George Mason, Roger Sherman and James Wilson on the development of the U.S. government."

In addition, high school students must "identify significant individuals in the field of government and politics, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan."

To say the State Board of Education has excluded Thomas Jefferson from the curriculum framework is irresponsible and untruthful.

Jefferson not only penned the words of the Declaration of Independence, served as the third President of the United States and was father of the University of Virginia, but his promotion of the ideals of states' rights and a limited federal government have permeated our nation for centuries. No study of American history would be complete without his inclusion.

That is why Thomas Jefferson warrants such strong emphasis in the TEKS standards the State Board of Education has approved.

A critical skill Texas students should develop as part of their education is the ability to analyze information from primary source documents.

This should be a requirement for journalists, too. Many seem to have jumped to erroneous conclusions without even examining the actual curriculum standards.

One can disagree ideologically with the State Board of Education, but the TEKS standards themselves should be the point of reference for objective, thorough reporting.

________________________________

Gail Lowe (R-Lampasas) is chairman of the 15-member Texas State Board of Education.

Texas Responds to the Passage of Democrat Govt Takeover of Healthcare

“Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may.” -Sam Houston

We in Texas are not taking this ObamaCare assault on American freedom and common sense lying down.

For starters, our AG Greg Abbott is joining others in challenging the constitutionality of the Federal mandates that force people to buy a product against their will:

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has announced he will be participating in a lawsuit with several other states to use the courts in an effort to stop ObamaCare.

And well they should, for not only did the Democrats in Congress not read the bill, they didn’t read the Constitution:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”–Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Senator Hutchison has joined Sen DeMint in a call to Repeal Obamacare… Saying:

“In tough economic times, the last thing our nation needs is higher taxes, higher insurance premiums, and an unconstitutional power grab by the federal government.”

For mild-mannered Hutchison to say “unconstitutional power grab” - well, someone been drinking the Good Tea lately.

Brevity is the soul of wit, and here is the Repeal Bill in its beautiful and stunning simplicity:

To repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. REPEAL.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the amendments made by that Act, are repealed.

State Representative Ken Paxton has given his answer:

Following the passage of H.R. 3590, “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” by the U.S. House of Representatives, I am drafting legislation to reject this overreaching bill due to its impact and costs to our State and to Texas taxpayers. I will file this legislation at the first opportunity for consideration next legislative session, which will begin in January 2011. We must be ready to reject federal takeover of our healthcare system.

The legislation I am currently drafting will be titled, “The Texas Health Freedom Act.” This Act will declare that the public policy of the State of Texas is to exercise sovereign power providing for the rights of Texas residents to choose their own health insurance plan freely without imposition or threat of penalties from the federal or state government. Additionally, this Act gives the Attorney General the express duty to protect the rights and property of the residents of Texans with respect to federal mandates. This bill is modeled after the constitutional amendment that passed in Arizona (HCR 2014) in 2009 and the bill that was signed into law in Idaho (HR 391) on March 17, 2010.

….

If anyone thinks the passage of the ObamaCare bill means it is over, they haven’t counted on Texas. Paxton’s bill asserts common sense and defends our healthcare freedom.

The leaders of Texas will be fighting this terrible Government takeover with every tool at their disposal. They will use lawsuits, state law, state administrative action, 10th amendment assertions. They will succeed if the people join them and support this approach and give Republicans a chance to overturn and repeal this through majorities in the Congress and the Statehouse. In short, these will succeed only if we win in November. This includes all the Statehouses across the nation, not just the Congress. (So get to know your State Rep candidate!) Our enemy, more than anything, is the apathy and defeatism that leads to inaction.

Now is the time, more than ever, with an election where the stakes could not be higher and where our freedom and our future is on the line, to stand up and ACT on your beliefs. Help the campaign(s) of your choice, give Republicans the spine to support REPEAL. Don’t Give Up. Be of firm resolve and have confidence that by being right, and doing right, we will prevail. Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, and we are not about to start now.

NEWS ALERT: EDDIE RODRIGUEZ ARRESTED FOR DWI!

Well, well the incumbent in HD 51 (http://bit.ly/cs93sB) has gone and got himself arrested for DWI. Seems he is lacking in good judgment and self control.

Here are links to a couple of stories on the incident:
http://bit.ly/9loSH5
http://bit.ly/9gH3Oc

It is noteworthy that there are so few and such content-less stories on the arrest of Rep. Rodriguez in the Press. Of course, it's only been three days since the incident. But, I almost forgot, Rep. Rodriguez is a Democrat and thus has immunity from negative press coverage during this "innocent until proven guilty" phase of his prosecution. If he were a Republican, the rules would of course be reversed and he would likely be considered by the Press to be guilty until proven innocent.

KXAN-State Representative Arrested for DWI
http://bit.ly/a1t5sS

Rep. Eddie Rodriguez is a died-in-the wool “we need an income tax” liberal who has not represented his constituents well and is the kind of incumbent that deserves to be defeated, even not considering the current DWI charges against him. It's time for Rep. Rodriguez to retire and who best to retire him that someone who actually grew up in HD 51 and thus understands the district. That someone is Eddie's Republican opponent, Marilyn Jackson.

Remember In November!

Today, we saw the last gasp and high-water mark of 20th Century Social Welfare Liberalism.

This radical, partisan bill barely scraped by with a 219 vote for, 212 against.

This vote today is a victory for vote-counting Democrats in only the most tactical sense, but a defeat on so many levels for so many Americans.

For the taxpayers, this huge tax hike is a defeat. For the elderly, a defeat for their care. For the healthy and for the self-employed, a defeat for their healthcare choices and freedom, as they are all now conscripted into force health insurance mandates. For the system, a defeat for common-sense and market-driven efficiency, as we now have Government more involved than ever. For the American people as a whole, it a defeat for democracy, as the will of the people was clearly not listened to.

And for the Democrats themselves, it is a defeat for them, or at best a Pyrric Victory. Many Congressmen who voted for this, will deservedly be defeated in November. The Democrats will be dealt a crushing blow in November. Millions of Americans will heed the call - Remember in November! Repeal! Kill the Bill!

Tomorrow is perhaps the end of the American experiment as it was for 250 years. Or it might be the start of something different: Operation Restore American Freedom begins tomorrow.

This day forward, the Government takeover of healthcare has now made healthcare the central issue politically at the national and state level. It has bankrupted in one fell swoop EVERY ENTITLEMENT PROGRAM and the Federal budget itself.

Newbusters says: "Krauthammer announced upon passage of health care reform legislation in the House of Representatives, we will have a different country and on the road to nationalized health care."

RedState blogger Erick Erickson says 'repeal': "1. Pledge immediate repeal in toto of Obamacare should it pass. No nibbling at the edges — the whole thing and we pledge our lives, fortunes, and honor to crushing any member of Republican leadership who refuses to get on the full repeal bandwagon."

A Fearful Master

None Dare Call it Bribery

Special Deals-for-Votes made for Obamacare
Here are some of the special deals made to get Demonsheep-ocrat Reps sold out to sign up for the $2.5 trillion Obamacare plan.

Demoncrats Poised to Lunge Left, Telling Pro-Life Dems and American Majority: Go to Hell! We're Aborting Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness

As the vote on the latest reincarnation of socialized heath care legislation approaches, it is as if the power hungry (seemingly demon possessed -- 'deem and pass' sounds like?) Democrat majority in the House is poised to lung left, telling Stupak's Pro-Life coalition of Democrat lawmakers and a majority of Americans: Go to Hell! We're aborting Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness and you can't stop us.

In November, I trust that many of these leftists will find their careers in Congress aborted, and a well deserved but much too late term abortion that will be. It's about time these anti-life, anti-liberty, and anti-property legislators felt a bit of the pain they have caused, and will cause, the unborn and born alike across the Republic, which God and the Founding Fathers have entrusted to us to enjoy and preserve. If the Dems are successful in going against the People's will with health care "reform", then after November these leftist will experience how law is aborted. They'll learn how to spell R-E-P-E-A-L.

Please pray for America. Here are some current stories for your prayerful consideration.

Stupak vote key in health care overhaul

Nathan Hurst / Detroit News Washington Bureau

Last Updated: March 21. 2010 12:22PM

Washington -- In the end, the health care debate on Capitol Hill could come down to appeasing the pro-life Democrat from the tiny town of Menominee on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Rep. Bart Stupak.

His firm hold-out for stronger language banning the use of federal funds for abortions has turned the Democrat's race for 216 votes in the House -- the magic number needed to pass the $940 billion legislation -- into a last-minute, nail-biting struggle for majority leaders...read more

Anti-Abortion Groups Counting on 'Pro-Life' Dems

By Lawrence D. Jones|Christian Post Reporter

The pro-life American majority, and hundreds of thousands of unborn children, are counting on the remaining self-labeled “pro-life” Democrats to hold firm for Sunday's historic House vote on health care, said the head of a leading anti-abortion group Saturday.

As a handful of self-labeled "pro-life" Democratic members of Congress announced their support for the current Health Care reform legislation, Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser insisted that any member of Congress who votes for the “pro-abortion” legislation can no longer call themselves “pro-life.”...read more

Democrat bigwig: We have votes for health care reform; GOP chief: No you don't!

BY Katie Nelson AND Helen Kennedy
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Sunday, March 21st 2010, 12:31 PM

Confident Democrats declared themselves on the verge of making history Sunday as they headed into the momentous and long-awaited vote to overhaul the nation's health care system.

But Republicans - and even some Democrats - questioned whether the House leaders had really managed to round up the 216 votes needed to pass the sweeping legislation....read more (participate in a one question online poll)

Congress, Catholics debate health care

The showdown over health care reform among Democrats on Capitol Hill is nothing compared to the showdown among American Catholics. Or is it?...read more

Orange County pro-lifers anxiously await heath care vote

Orange County Roman Catholic ExaminerRichard Sikorski
March 19, 12:06 PM

Passing of the Senate health care bill by the House is in doubt. Language that supports taxpayer funding of abortion is the problem....read more

Democrat State Rep. Rodriguez Arrested for DWI

The incumbent Democrat State Rep in HD 51 has gone and got himself arrested for DWI.

The Statesman reported on it via the State Rep's own press release, so don't expect to see "DWI Eddie" as his new media label. Rep. Rodriguez is a Democrat and thus "innocent until proven guilty". If he were a Republican, the rules would be reversed and he would likely be considered by the Press to be guilty until proven innocent.

Obamacare Predictions

The vote count is close as the bill comes down to the wire. The liberal blog FireDogLake has 209 NO votes as of Saturday night, recent no votes added are Jim Matheson of Utah, Ohio’s Zack Space, Glenn Nye, Jason Altmire, and Lorreta Sanchez. This doesn't count the "Stupak bloc" of 10 votes, leading to the conclusion that the bill will fail without the Stupak bloc.... but since they did NOT buy off Stupak, then the inevitable conclusion is ... the Bill Will Fail.

Can it be real? They actually don't squeeze enough Democrats to get this elephantine pile 'o socialistic tax-and-spend road apples passed? Obama may see a repeat of his Copenhagen performance - putting his cred on the line and his chip on the table and seeing himself get bupkis.

If it succeeds, it won't be the end, nor a capstone. It will be a Democratic millstone in November. And beyond, this bill will be the CENTRAL political issue for years, a political black hole that will suck all matter around it into its vortex. The taxes, spending and bureaucracy are all so huge, there is nothing this bill won't touch. It so corrodes the Federal structure of Government that it will set off a firestorm of reaction across many states, inciting nullifications and repeals and stat-level 'opt-out' pleas and challenges. it will drain the Federal treasury, making a balanced budget impossible and real tax reform a dream.

More Obamacare predictions:
1. The bill will cost more than advertised.
2. Insurance premiums will keep rising.
3. The quality of care will be worse.
4. The Left will keep pushing for more.
5. Republicans won’t really try to repeal it. .. once an entitlement is in place, it becomes virtually impossible to take away.

That last one is a sad prediction. If the bill has all the bad effects noted in 1-4, it may well be repealed in 2013, before all the huge entitlement expansions kick in for good.

But we shall see. The best way to stop all the bad effects of Obamacare is to not pass it in the first place.

Another Former President On a Billboard

The IRS Expansion Act of 2010

Critics have insisted that the Obama-Pelosi healthcare bill in Congress is not about healthcare. This latest news shows the bill is a HUGE expansion of the IRS:

* IRS agents verify if you have “acceptable” health care coverage;
* IRS has the authority to fine you up to $2,250 or 2 percent of your income (whichever is greater) for failure to prove that you have purchased “minimum essential coverage;”
* IRS can confiscate your tax refund;
* IRS audits are likely to increase;
* IRS will need up to $10 billion to administer the new health care program this decade;
* IRS may need to hire as many as 16,500 additional auditors, agents and other employees to investigate and collect billions in new taxes from Americans; and
* Nearly half of all these new individual mandate taxes will be paid by Americans earning less than 300 percent of poverty ($66,150 for a family of four.)

Let's just call Obamacare the IRS Expansion Act of 2010.

Dems Giddy over a trillion-dollar bill

Democrat whip James Clyburn announces the majority is “giddy” over the $940 billion price tag

Houston, We have a light-rail problem

Houston light rail has been a disaster.

This is a recipe for disaster and Austin is sowing the exact same seeds of fiscally reckless pipe-dream driven light-rail dreams.

Good luck, Cap Metro... and hide your wallets, taxpayers - light rail is going to skin us for a lot of money.

Obama's Deficit - TWO TRILLION AND COUNTING

Record-breaker: Obama runs up $2 trillion in debt in 421 days ...

The 2009 congress had a bigger deficit (1.41 trillion) than the 1994-2006 congresses combined (1.25 trillion). One year of Democrats' deficits was larger than the entire 12 years the Republicans were the majority.

but who's counting these days?

Democracy Subverted, The Obama Edition

John Gordon did WHAT?!?

Holly Hansen on SmartGirlPolitics says Gordon Thinks the Texas Ethics Commission is a Joke : "The Sun reported that John Gordon, candidate for the Texas House of Representatives, District 52, intentionally violated the laws for campaign reporting and has refused to pay the associated fines handed down by the Texas Ethics Commission."

It's hard to find a more arrogant and politically destructive act than snubbing your nose at campaign filing requirements. This guy has just poured gasoline on himself and lit a match ... and that's above and beyond his lawsuits against political opponents and other bizarre acts of belligerence. He's unelectable and deservedly so ...

Which means that since he is in a runoff against the much stronger Republican Larry Gonzales, in a race to take on a liberal Democrat incumbent in this Williamson district ... Go Larry, Go!

Obama Administration Cuts School Programs that Work

He cut $170 million in funding for abstinence programs this year that works: "classes that focus on encouraging children to remain abstinent can persuade a significant proportion to delay sexual activity, researchers reported Monday in a landmark study."

A History Lesson in How Democrats Screw Up

Saw on a message board at The Hill:

In 1946 - Dems were hammered for focusing on National HC when prices spiked and wages were stagnant. 1994 - dems were hammered again for Universal HC when jobs slumped. 2010 - the dems are going to be hammered again for wasting 14 months on something no one says is a top priority. We Americans are going to take the nation back in 2010, and moreso in 2012. How many times do these stupid democrats need to be taught this lesson? How many dems are going to fall on their sword, only to see it repealed? Wow, that's quite the legacy you'll have, huh? Wasting 14 months when the nation has said from day 1 that jobs was the top priority. Nice going idiots. You deserve everything that happens to you, democrats.

It is said that those who don't learn from History are condemned to repeat it, and the thought occurs that it is the ignorance of history which allows Democrat majorities to return and make the same mistakes that were made before.

Liberal Media Falls Off Obamacare Bandwagon

who have you left, other than the brass-knuckle Congressional Whips. The Seattle Times:

This is a change of position for us. This page supported Barack Obama for president, enthusiastically. We have supported the health-care effort until now. We still support universal coverage as a social goal.

But the longer the fight goes on, the more it feels that the timing is all wrong. The economy is wounded. Employers are hurting. The time to think about loading employers with new burdens is when they are strong. Not now ...

President Obama has promised that any health-care bill he signs will not add one dime to the deficit, which already has swelled beyond anything since World War II. The president has put himself in a position where he cannot keep that promise. He has let each house of Congress come up with its own health-care bills.

The result has been chaos: The public option is in then out; the Medicare buy-in for 55-year-olds is in, then out. When the congressional dance stops, the Senate may have 60 votes, but for what? It will satisfy neither Obama’s frugal promise nor progressives’ lavish hopes.

K-12 Education Costs more than reported

CATO: Spending On Public Education 44% Higher Than Reported.

Video and written report shows that actual per pupil spending in many school districts is much higher than reported. For Houston:

the average real per-pupil spending figure of over $12,200 is 49 percent higher than the $8,200 the districts claim to spend. Real public school spending is 30 percent higher than the estimated median private school spending average of $9,400 (Figure 6)

The cost of In-state Tuition for Illegal Immigrants in Texas Colleges

Thousands of non-citizens getting in-state Texas tuition:

More than 12,000 illegal immigrants, non-permanent residents or non-U.S. citizens paid in-state tuition or received other such financial aid at public colleges and universities across Texas during late 2009, the Dallas Morning News reported today.

The figures from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board show about 1 percent of all Texas college students, in the fall semester, benefited from a 2001 law granting such in-state tuition.

The law says students who are not U.S. citizens and want to seek the assistance must have attended school in the state for at least three years before they graduate from a Texas high school. Students also must file an affidavit saying they plan to seek permanent residency.

During the fall semester, 12,138 students benefited from the law. Texas awarded about $33.6 million in state and institutional financial aid to those students between fall 2004 and summer 2008, according to the newspaper.

The number for the TRUE cost is likely much higher than $33 million, since beyond direct financial aid, the state subsidizes state colleges to the tune of $10 billion pr biennium.

Healthcare Cramdown Roundup

A roundup of news and views on healthcare:

Democrats will subvert the Constitution in their attempt to avoid political accountability for their vote - "It would be 100 times worse than Watergate."

Stop Pelosi's Slaughter House. The Democrats don't have the votes yet, and links to undecided Democrats are there.

Obama's illusions of cost control debunks many of the phony talking points used to justify the bill.
It won't reduce emergency room use, it won't cut mortality rates, it won't cut costs:

He's telling people what they want to hear, not what they need to know. Whatever their sins, insurers are mainly intermediaries; they pass along the costs of the delivery system. In 2009, the largest 14 insurers had profits of roughly $9 billion; that approached 0.4 percent of total health spending of $2.472 trillion. This hardly explains high health costs. What people need to know is that Obama's plan evades health care's major problems and would worsen the budget outlook.

Obama lies to seniors... Reality check: Medicare would be used to fund nearly half the plan, which means subsidies to Medicare Advantage programs used by seniors will be redirected, and other squeezes will be made. ... or they will blow up the deficit to paper over the gaps. The solvency of the whole nation is imperiled by a bill that adds a trillion dollars to healthcare expenditures.

Obama drops objectios to sweetheart deals. Side deals are IN as they use bribery and threats to buy off votes.

Scott Brown on Healthcare more popular video than Obama.

Polls show Democratic health care bill unpopular in key: By approximately 2-1 margins, voters in these districts oppose the current legislation, oppose a mandate to buy health insurance, believe the government can’t afford the legislation and believe that health care legislation is distracting attention from more important issues.

Catholic Bishops urge No vote on healthcare.

Cramer says Obamacare will topple rickety market.

Obama has just changed the Democrat party - it's the non-triangulating party of tax-and-spend-and-mandate-and-regulate Big Government Liberalism: "Obama has embraced polarization over triangulation. He has chosen Karl Rove’s politics of base mobilization over Dick Morris’s politics of crossover appeal..."

Lowering Higher Education Costs

Popping the higher education bubble speaks of the positive trends that are happening that could lower higher education costs: Credit-by-exam; open education resources; use of online courses and materials; etc. What can policymakers do to accelerate this change?

For example, state colleges and universities should be required to place instructional content and course information online for free, and to offer their registered students the opportunity to take courses online, for credit, at reduced cost. They should also expand credit-by-exam options.

In Texas, we have a significant amount of coursework based around the 'core' - basic academic courses for a core-based distribution requirements. All such courses could or should be made available as 'credit-by-exam' courses in community colleges.

Obama Admin Pushes Race-based Quotas at UT

In a blow to merit-based admissions at UT, Obama Administration Files Brief Supporting Racial Preferences in University Admissions:

On Friday, the Obama administration filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, supporting the use of racial preferences by the University of Texas in its undergraduate admissions. The brief is a full-throated endorsement of such discrimination, and it goes out of its way to say that the administration will support it at the K-12 level, too, as well as throughout university admissions: “In view of the importance of diversity in educational institutions, the United States, through the Departments of Education and Justice, supports the efforts of school systems and post-secondary educational institutions that wish to develop admissions policies that endeavor to achieve the educational benefits of diversity in accordance with [the Supreme Court’s 2003 decision upholding the use of preferences by the University of Michigan law school].”

Democrats, the Non-Working Party

The Democrats have done so many things that kill American jobs one would almost think it was deliberate and not merely stupid. Here's another one:

Stimulating Green Jobs for China: "nearly $2 billion in money from the American Recovery and Investment Act has been spent on wind power ... nearly 80% has gone to foreign manufacturers of wind turbines."

This doesn't even consider the job-killing downside of wind energy subsidies.

Saw on a message board.
"VOTE DEMOCRAT, IT'S EASIER THAN WORKING"

Democrat Attempt to Break Rules In Trouble

Trying to pass a bill without actually following the proper process can be so danged hard:

But Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota and chairman of the Budget Committee, said the reconciliation instructions in last year’s budget resolution seemed to require that Mr. Obama sign the Senate bill into law before it could be changed.

Obama Opposes American Energy Jobs

There he goes again ... Opposing American Energy Jobs.

Texas Versus California

Via Ed Driscoll, saying California Tumbles into the Sea, a quantitative California versus Texas comparison. Other than that "ceded by Mexico" gaffe ("Remember the Alamo!"), a nice comparison.

ObamaCare - The Final Push

Via Redstate, article on Obama applying pressure on Congress to pass ObamaCare:

“They can break my arms. They can do whatever they want to. They’ll never get my vote — ever. They’ll have to walk across my dead body if they want my vote on this issue.”
“there is no chance I am voting for this bill because it raises taxes on businesses, creates job-killing mandates, grows the size of government, and cuts services to seniors.”

“Huffington Post’s Sam Stein reports that Democratic leaders estimate they are short between 6-12 votes in the House, so “To convince these lawmakers, House leadership is preparing a whip operation described as “all hands on deck.” Pelosi and Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) will dispatch loyal lieutenants to help rub elbows and twist arms. Once the party settles on a final set of reconciliation changes, leaders in the labor community are set to launch a major campaign to help with the whipping, officials say."

Don't like it? Let them know.

Letter to Statesman

Pitt’s false implications

Recent Letters to the Editor extolled Leonard Pitts. I admit he does write well. He also cleverly interprets facts by false implications.

In his column ((2/17/10), Pitts accuses Sarah Palin of “shameless hypocrisy” in that she described the president as “a charismatic guy with a teleprompter.” Pitts asserts that she meant that teleprompter use was “the mark of an insubstantial” person while using one herself. That is absurd. Her obvious point was that anyone can read off sentences and appear knowledgeable.

Without a teleprompter, the president makes serious errors. During the campaign he blundered into “spreading our wealth around,” a socialist idea. Then he planned to campaign in “57 states!” Still, even reading a teleprompter can be embarrassing as when Obama pronounced corpsman as “corpse-man.”

However, when Palin spoke to the National Republican Convention, her teleprompter malfunctioned but she continued without a hitch. Pitts is barking up a wrong tree!

Carl Schlaepfer

Culture of Corruption Watch - Massa "railroaded"?

Democrat Congressman Eric Massa, who decided to resign for 'health reasons', then was found to be a subject of sexual harrassment complaint by a male staffer ... now says he was "railroaded":

Massa said he had not been informed of the sexual harassment allegations before they became public. He claimed that Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., spoke falsely when he said he had brought the matter to him previously, Massa said. ...

Massa, who voted against health care reform in November, accused Democratic leaders of driving him out of office in the cause of passing health care reform ... "this administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they’ve gotten rid of me and it will pass. You connect the dots."

Republican Election Results for Travis County

See the County's update posted here for the March 2 primary.

Election Workers Needed in Travis County

The Travis County Republican Party is seeking election workers for the primary election on March 2. These are all-day, paid positions ($8.50/hour). It's down to the wire and the party needs to fill these positions no later than Friday evening.

Email Liz Tait at liztait@austin.rr.com if you're interested. You do need to be registered to vote in Travis County.

Travis County Judicial Races are Sullied by Money Influence

The following note was written by Richard Glasheen, Democrat for JP, Precinct 5, for publication in the Austin American Statesman, but that newspaper can be somewhat selective in what they publish, so we thought it would be of value to readers by posting here.

I think it's important to note that the Republican Party in Travis County worked feverishly to find candidates for all judicial races but the people we approached noted that it would not be a smart move, professionally, on their part, and they declined. Here's Richard's note:

I sent the following e-mail to the Austin American Statesman in response to their Feb 21,2010 story in Section B on page B1 titled "Candidate wrong on pleas for cash to support party". They will surprise me if they print it. So I am sending it to the Travis County Democratic Party, the Travis County Republican Party, the Travis County Libertarian Party,the Austin Chronicle,local TV stations,CNN,MSNBC, and Fox News. Please feel free to forward this to anyone that you choose. And remember to vote for the candidate of your choice.

My e-mail to the Statesman:

My name is Richard Glasheen. I am a candidate for Justice of the Peace, Precinct 5. I am a political newcomer having never before held or run for office.I believe that the general public would be shocked to find out what goes on behind the scenes.

The shakedown of the candidates in the Democratic primary by the Democratic Party is the tip of the iceberg. The Democratic Party primary is a corrupt system.

To begin with, the majority of the candidates on the ballot are running unopposed. Sadly,in some cases, those candidates will not face any challenger in November.

In the nonjudicial "races", the Libertarian Party will field a candidate in every race. Good for them.

As for the Republicans, shame on them for not having candidates in every "contest". Sure, they would likely be the loser here in Austin,Travis County. But the people deserve a choice. Sometimes you have to fight a fight you are probably going to lose. Remember the Alamo?

What a coincidence that there is a strong correlation between those who pay to play and who gets the endorsements. Even more disturbing is the contamination of our courthouse by money flowing from lawyers to judges in the form of "campaign donations."

My opponent,for example,reported in his campaign report filed last month that he purchased a mailing list from the State Bar. He sends letters to lawyers asking them for money. Shameful. We have judges who ask lawyers for money. And my opponent is far from being the only one. It is rampant.

Read the campaign finance reports online at the Travis County Clerk website. They are shocking. Now I understand that this practice is legal. But it is wrong. The only people I've met who think the practice is acceptable are lawyers or judges.

Prior to the civil war, it was legal to own other persons. So if you bought another human being in 1850,a black one, it was legal. But it was wrong. And some chose to not participate in slavery because it was wrong. They didn't wait for a law to come along to tell them the difference between right and wrong.

Throughout history, there are those with integrity and those without. The stream of money that flows from lawyers to judges in Travis County runs fast and deep.

Why don't you reporters analyze the data? Do lawyers who pay judges in Travis County get better results in the courtroom than those who don't? Do candidates who pay a shakedown fee get more endorsements than those who refuse? Isn't it a strange system where a sitting judge asks lawyers for money, then turns around and pledges money to the Democratic Party, gets favorable endorsements, and gets reelected? And then they stay on the government tit for years or decades.

When I walked in to the Democratic Party headquarters in January to file to run against an unopposed candidate in the primary, who also has no Republican opposition in November, I was told "That's Herb's court!" I had to explain to the party hack who said it that the courthouse belongs to all of us.

There is plenty to report on in this primary. Follow the money.

Richard Glasheen

Bike Paths Will Hold Austin Back

Several groups in Austin are fighting new measures to increase bicycle lanes in Austin. This blog should serve as a reference to what is going on and offer some viewpoints of people involved in the fray.

The City's Bicycle Plan is here:

KeepAustinMoving.org is trying to fight one portion of the Plan: the change of Nueces (or possibly Rio Grande) through downtown into a "bicycle boulevard." Here's their concern:

"At a time when the motoring public is demanding relief to traffic congestion and the Greater Austin Community is desirous of greater densities throughout Downtown, it is counter-intuitive, counter- productive, and just a Plain Old Bad Idea to be reducing vehicular mobility on an important commercial collector street that is poised for redevelopment. No matter which road is chosen.

A Bicycle Boulevard may be appropriate for quiet residential neighborhoods, but it is inappropriate for commercial roadways in dense urban areas and its construction will have a chilling effect on future redevelopment, the viability of commercial businesses that line the road, and the ad valorem taxes generated by property values."

Another Travis County activist weighed in on these developments, saying:

I was a board member of A-PADD, Austin Planned and Directed Development, an organization composed of 36 south Austin neighborhood associations, which successfully got MoPac extended from 290-71 west to Hwy 45. We proposed the extension as a parkway (no frontage roads) with hiking-running trails on one side and bike trails on the other. The bike trail was envisioned beginning at Circle-C's Velodrome and eventually connecting to bike trails at Zilker. The MoPac design consultant incorporated that concept into the engineering and construction plans. Austin and the bike lobby have consistently opposed that plan. Recently though it has been adopted though modified to not use the MoPac ROW.

I served on the Transportation Commission for 4 years in the mid 1980's and couldn't agree more with the negative impact of removing lanes from city streets to accommodate bicycles. Doing it on neighborhood streets (not neighborhood collectors) I have no problem with but only if the neighborhood is fully supportive.

However, we all know what the objective is; to reduce auto mobility and force use of the grossly inadequate public transit system. Rather than upgrading our flexible bus system by purchase of smaller buses, more frequent scheduling and cross node routes, Austin (via CapMetro) is spending excessive funds to implement rail, both commuter and light. What a shortsighted waste! Austin can't even run an effective bus system but it can darned sure spend funds as though they were unlimited.

Ultimately someone is going to have to pay the piper and, unfortunately, it will be the citizens these costly systems are supposed to benefit.

And, where was Austin when the freeways were being built or upgraded? Why were no HOV lanes requested of TxDOT so transit services could reduce the bus trip time versus auto to destinations?

Remember, when Mopac from the Colorado to 290/71 West didn't have frontage roads and from Parmer to I-35 wasn't a freeway (now it is a Toll Road)? Austin's leadership had their heads stuck in the sand listening to "environmentalists" and "neighborhood activists" that opposed any mobility improvements. When I was
on the Trans Commission system mobility improvements were proposed by City Staff for Enfield-15th streets, 35th street (35th - 38 1/2) and Northland-Koenig. All were opposed and defeated by those same groups at Council meetings.

If I sound negative it is because I have come to the conclusion that Austin is run by
folks with little or no actual business experience and elected by folks that want to maintain the status quo, or, to actually move us backwards. And, then there are the newbies that want downtown Austin to be like New York City with "street cars" and Zilker becoming their Central Park. For my money, if they want it to be like where they came from, then they should go back there. And as Texans like to say, "Don't let the door hit them in the butt as they leave!"

Credit Card Companies Make Out Swell in Consumer Protection Act

Get ready for consumer credit card shocks, courtesy of President Obama and the Democrat Congress:

So a law hailed as the most sweeping piece of consumer legislation in decades has helped make it more difficult for millions of Americans to get credit, and made that credit more expensive.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. The law that President Barack Obama signed last May shields card users from sudden interest rate hikes, excessive fees and other gimmicks that card companies have used to drive up profits. Consumers will save at least $10 billion a year from curbs on interest rate increases alone, according to the Pew Charitable Trust, which tracks credit card issues.

But there was a catch. Card companies had nine months to prepare while certain rules were clarified by the Federal Reserve. They used that time to take actions that ended up hurting the same customers who were supposed to be helped.

Here are some more results:

Annual fees, common until about 10 years ago, will make a comeback. During the final three months of last year, 43 percent of new offers for credit cards contained annual fees, versus 25 percent in the same period a year earlier

Several banks also added these fees to existing accounts.

-- Created new fees and raised old ones.

These include a $1 processing fee for paper statements for cards issued by stores such as Victoria's Secret and Ann Taylor. Another example is a $19 inactivity fee Fifth Third Bank now charges customers who haven't used their card for six months.

Other banks increased existing fees. JPMorgan Chase, for instance raised the cost of balance transfers from one card to another to 5 percent of the transfer from 3 percent.

-- Raised interest rates.

The average rate offered for a new card climbed to 13.6 percent last week, from 10.7 percent during the same week a year ago -- meaning cardholders had to pay almost 30 percent more in interest, according to Bankrate.com.

For millions of other accounts, variable interest rates that can rise with the market replaced fixed rates. The Fed is expected to start raising its benchmark interest rates later this year, which would likely trigger an increase on those cards.

-- Fewer cards being issued, more being cut off
The number of Visa, MasterCard and American Express cards in circulation dropped 15 percent in 2009, for example. Rarely used cards were among the first cut off. Some cards linked to rewards programs for purchases like gasoline were likewise shut down.

Card companies also slashed credit limits for millions of accounts that remain open. About 40 percent of banks cut credit lines on existing accounts, according to the consultant TowerGroup, which estimated that such moves eliminated about $1 trillion in available credit. Much of that was unused.

Companies are also making fewer solicitations. Mailed offers for new cards increased in the final three months of 2009 for the first time in two years, but there were only about 575 million. That's about a third of the average number of quarterly offers from 2000 through 2008, according to Mintel.

Because the law makes credit cards less profitable, some subprime borrowers may not be able to get cards at all, at least for the next few years. There's no fixed definition, but subprime borrowers generally have a FICO score below 660. For a good portion of this group, options may be limited to alternatives like PayPal and other electronic payment services, prepaid cards and payday lenders.

I'd guess supporters of these moves could say these measures will ultimately reduce the possibility for credit bubbles to reoccur and keep people who can't pay from getting out of control with their credit cards. But the moves will also have the effect of reducing consumer financial flexibility and make it so much more expensive for people who already have outstanding debt. Get ready to start feeling more of a financial squeeze.

The knock out punch will be the inevitable higher taxes that are on their way.

The Central Texas Republican Assembly Endorses Republican Primary Candidates

Austin, Texas — Tuesday night the Central Texas Republican Assembly (CTRA) endorsed several candidates running in the Republican Primary. The CTRA endorses candidates only in contested Republican Primary races for districts solely within or covering portions of Travis, Bastrop and Hays Counties.

The CTRA is one of six chartered chapters of the Texas Republican Assembly (TXRA), which itself is affiliated with the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA). Cast in the mold of President Ronald Reagan, the Assemblies aspire to remain the 'Republican Wing of the Republican Party', meaning they consider themselves to be fiscal and social conservatives and they seek to endorse candidates who they consider are fiscal and social conservatives.

Regarding the endorsement process, CTRA President Timothy Bradberry said, “Many candidates seek our endorsement. To get that endorsement they present themselves to the membership at forums, undergo scrutiny by an endorsement committee and ultimately must garner the votes of two-thirds of the members at an endorsement meeting.”

Bradberry also said, “In the Primary we identify and support conservatives. We wholeheartedly back the candidates we endorse. In the General Election we support the Republicans, meaning that the CTRA will respect the will of the Republicans who vote in the Primary even if our endorsed candidates do not win the primary. After all, we are Republicans.”

The CTRA endorsements for the 2010 Primary are as follows (“I” indicates Incumbent):

• Patrick McGuinness for Texas House of Representatives, District 50
• Ken Mercer for Texas State Board of Education, District 5
• Michael T. McCaul (I) for U.S. House of Representatives, District 10
• Lamar Smith (I) for U.S. House of Representatives, District 21
• Donna Campbell for U.S. House of Representatives, District 25

In addition to making the CTRA endorsements listed above a delegation of the CTRA caucused with a delegation of the Williamson County Republican Assembly (WilcoRA) in Ft. Worth at the Texas Republican Assembly Endorsement Convention on February 6th and made the following joint endorsement:

• Brian Russell for State Board of Education, District 10

The Central Texas Republican Assembly (CTRA) is a Charter member of the Texas Republican Assembly, which is affiliated with the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, “the Republican Wing of the Republican Party.”

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Happy 201st to the Father of Civil Rights, Republican Abraham Lincoln

Here's a press statement that's worth repeating:

WASHINGTON - Today, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele issued the following statement on President Abraham Lincoln’s 201st birthday:

“Today, I am pleased to honor the 201st birthday of President Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln’s remarkable presidency helped pave the way for African Americans to have an opportunity to achieve the American dream. From issuing the two executive orders that made up the Emancipation Proclamation and to his commitment to the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, President Lincoln secured his place in history as a civil rights pioneer. Though the battle for equality continues almost 150 years since his death, it is President Lincoln’s legacy that will always point America in the right direction.”

I think Steele could have added that the election of an African American to the Presidency of the United States is the ultimate legacy of Abraham Lincoln.

Fighting to Win, or Not Fighting to be Nice?

The Obama Administration has been quite frank about its intention to do things different, to reset how America does business, and to extend olive branches to Muslim jihadists dedicated to our death.

We're now seeing from the Wall Street Journal that those policies mean announcing your intended targets by press release:

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan—In a rare break from traditional military secrecy, the U.S. and its allies are announcing the precise target of their first big offensive of the Afghanistan surge in an apparent bid to intimidate the Taliban.

Coalition officers have been hinting aloud for months that they plan to send an overwhelming Afghan, British and U.S. force to clear insurgents from the town of Marjah and surrounding areas in Helmand province, and this week the allies took the unusual step of issuing a press release saying the attack was "due to commence."

I'm not a military tactician by any means, but knowing where and when your opponent is going to attach means the enemy can choose among several options:

1. run, regroup and fight again, another time, another day
2. gather the resources to successfully fight against the U.S. forces at the pre-announced site
3. hit the U.S. forces at a location where its forces have been reduced (as they are in Helmand)
4. surrender because they are scared

The sad fact is that of all the options, number 4 is the least likely and this tactic of broadcasting our moves does nothing to end the ongoing threat from Taliban/Al Queda forces.

Our prayers go out to the men and women in unform under this Pacifist in Chief.