Politics

Texas Tribune Poll and Informed Texas Voters

Texas Tribune is hyping their poll as proof that there will likely be a run off in both the Republican and Democrat primary races for US Senator. But the big news should be how well informed and politically involved Texas voters appear to be.

It’s not just the disapproval of Obama (58% total and 46% “Disapprove strongly”) or the probable vote for Mitt Romney in the graphic above. Take a look at some of the information gathering questions.

Out of 800 registered Texas voters, 48% are “extremely interested in politics and public affairs. 32% vote in every election and another 35% vote in almost every election.

73% were able to identify the majority party in the US House of Representatives. (I wish they’d cross-checked that with the same question about the Senate.) 69% correctly stated that it takes a 2/3 vote to over turn a presidential veto. And 66% correctly identified Greg Abbott as our Texas Attorney General.

Yes, we’re probably in for a couple of run off elections, and yes,it will get even uglier. But the voters are better informed than I was afraid.

New “Dr. Donna Campbell for Texas Senate District 25″ Ad

Saw this on the New Braunfels/San Antonio Time Warner cable, on Fox Sunday

Devore: How California’s budget blunders led to my divorce from the Golden State | Fox News

Chuck DeVore, former California Assemblyman has moved to Texas and sings our praises, while pointing out the pitfalls of statist California:

Texas’ bureaucracy, excluding teachers, is 22 percent smaller as a portion of the population than is California’s, with every Texan paying about $467 a year for government retiree benefits, compared to California’s $1,105 in pension costs. Sky-high benefits for bureaucrats may soon cause the bankruptcy of Stockton, California’s 13th-largest city.

California has more government paper-pushers but Texas has 17 percent more teachers per capita, with educational outcomes favoring the Lone Star State. In fact, Texas K-12 schools perform consistently above the national average across age, racial, and subject matter areas, while California schools perform well below the national average.

To support its bloated government, California asks more of its taxpayers who pay 10.6 percent of their income to state and local government, above the U.S. average of 9.8 percent. Texans pay only 7.9 percent.

via How California’s budget blunders led to my divorce from the Golden State | Fox News.

“I can’t write millions and millions out of my pocket.”

So went Ted Cruz’ lament on the Mark Levin radio show. Perhaps Mr. Cruz should go to work at a real job and build his own successful business and fortune before he runs for office – and begs for our hard-earned dollars – again.

(If you missed it, as I did, you can listen on the Internet, here.  The ten minute segment begins at about 92 minutes into the May 15 program archive.)

You would think that the author of Liberty and Tyranny and Ameritopia would be celebrating David Dewhurst as the living example that free markets and the American work ethic do work, and as the Citizen Legislator that he is.

Sadly, Mr. Levin didn’t do his homework. Without giving any examples or sources for the broad accusations he made during the radio spot, he proved himself clueless about the strong Conservative credentials of Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst. He did note that Lt. Gov. Dewhurst is worth “a quarter of a billion dollars” but falsely claimed that Dewhurst – who first ran for office 13 years ago,  when he was about the same age that Levin is now – is a “pretty much a career politician.”

Neither Cruz nor Levin give Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst credit for being the self-made man that he is. They ignore the fact that Dewhurst served our Nation in the Air Force and CIA before going to work to build that “quarter of a billion dollar” business from the ground up, and only then successfully running for office to serve Texas as Land Commissioner and then Lieutenant Governor.

Cruz has never been in business, made a payroll or held an elected office. After Harvard Law School, where he founded the Harvard Latino Law Review, he held only government jobs until he decided to run for Attorney General of Texas – before he even turned 40 years old. After withdrawing from that race in 2009, rather than face current Attorney General Greg Abbott, Cruz began his run against Governor Dewhurst for Kay Bailey Hutchison’s Senate seat. In the meantime, he’s been working for a large legal firm, once again proving that he’s a successful staffer, but not a policy maker, and certainly not a decision maker.

If spending a career working at government jobs and running for office for the last four years isn’t the definition of “pretty much a career politician,” then what is?

Revised grammar, 5/16/12, BBN.

Governor Perry: “David Dewhurst is a conservative fighter.”

Governor Rick Perry has made a “Straight Talking” radio ad endorsing Lt. Governor David Dewhurst. Of all the people you might be hearing from or reading, Governor Perry should know the facts.

And this is what he has to say:  “You know the DC insiders are scared when they spend millions of dollars attacking Texas Conservatives. . . David Dewhurst is a Conservative fighter. . .  David is the one candidate best prepared to make Conservative change happen in Washington!”

Voter Recommendations for All of Texas

Texas Alliance for Life has its Pro-life Voter Guide up and running. Enter your address program will produce a printable list of State and Federal Candidates that you can print and take with you to the polls or email to your friends. The site doesn’t capture your name or other identifying information, so you won’t end up on some list, somewhere. No annoying phone calls, etc.

(Yes, I’m a Board member of TAL. And yes, the organization is pro-life and pro-family. But have you noticed that the most fiscally and Constitutional Conservative politicians are also pro-life and pro-family?)

Here’s what happens when I put in my address:

The following pro-life candidates will appear on your 2012 Primary Election ballot and are endorsed by Texas Alliance for Life.* (Click on the candidates’ names below for more information at their campaign websites.)

It is your legal right to print and take this page into the booth when you vote.

United States Senator — David Dewhurst (R)
United States Representative, District 21 — Lamar Smith (R)
Railroad Commissioner — Warren Chisum (R)
Railroad Commissioner, Unexpired Term – Barry Smitherman (R)
Justice, Supreme Court, Place 2 — Don Willett (R)
Justice, Supreme Court, Place 4 — David Medina (R)
Justice, Supreme Court, Place 6 — Nathan Hecht (R)
Presiding Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals – Sharon Keller (R)
Member, State Board of Education, District 5 — Ken Mercer (R)
State Senator, District 25 – Donna Campbell (R)
State Representative, District 73 — Doug Miller (R)
Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals, Place 2 — Jeff Rose (R)
Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals, Place 3 — Scott Field (R)
Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals, Place 5 — David Puryear (R)
Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals, Place 6 — Bob Pemberton (R)
County Republican Chairman — Larry Nuckols (R)
For your reference, here is your county and district information:
County: Comal
U.S. Representative District: 21
State Senate District: 25
State Representative District: 73
State Board of Education District: 5

Joe Pags forces Ted Cruz to answer

Joe Pags – WOIA radio afternoon drive time host in San Antonio –  exposes Ted Cruz for his early attack ads and aggressively challenges him when he refuses to answer questions.  Jump to 9 minutes or so in to listen: May 9, 2012 Joe Pags interview with Ted Cruz  He dances all around the question, until Pags gets irritated.

You can read the legal brief that calls Cruz the  “Counsel of Record,” here.  Wouldn’t that make him the “lead” lawyer for the appeal?

And here’s the 2005 Wall Street Journal opinion piece that Cruz claims “proves” his accusations against Dewhurst.  There is no other “proof.”

(The real story on the “wage tax” comments is nowhere in this editorial: there was discussion about the best way to levy the franchise business tax that was being updated to include businesses across the board, some of which were exempted up to that time. Should the tax be on gross receipts before taxes and expenses were deducted or should it be on profit? The question was never whether employees would be taxed, but whether their employers would be given credit for employing them, paying their wages and giving benefits. Dewhurst was in favor of allowing employers to deduct the wages and benefits given, and then only assessing the tax on profits. In other words, he was against any “wage tax.”)

“CPR” for Texas from Dr. Donna Campbell

Donna Campbell for Texas Senate District 25,  has a new TV ad about her campaign, pointing out her plan for CPR for Texas: Conservative Principled Republicans.

There’s also a radio ad playing out there, somewhere, and this interview with Jack Riccardi on KSAT radio, 550 Am. 3464449.mp3

Wentworth and Jones voting records: “virtually indistinguishable” | Texas Politics | a mySA.com blog

Vote Dr. Donna Campbell, the true conservative:

According to Mark P. Jones, chairman of Rice University’s political science department, state Sen. Jeff Wentworth and former Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones’ House voting records are not just “virtually indistinguishable.”

They’re also “in the center (with a modest leftward tilt) of the Texas House Republicans.”

His analysis is in today’s Texas Tribune, you can read all the GOP candidate comparisons here.

This won’t be news to supporters of Dr. Donna Campbell, but it might come as a surprise to those supporting Jones because she’s selling herself as more conservative than Wentworth.

(More trustworthy, too, but that’s a different story…)

via Wentworth and Jones voting records: “virtually indistinguishable” | Texas Politics | a mySA.com blog.

Donna Campbell: pro-life. Jeff Wentworth: not

Not until the 3rd trimester, at 7 months or 24 weeks or so, anyway. And that’s exactly why I was one of the many who asked Dr. Donna Campbell to run for Senator for Senate District 25.

Wentworth on Abortion Feb 1 2012 Comal County

►

This is the man who fought the Choose Life license Plate for 6 years, who voted against the Sonogram Bill. Contrast this man with Dr. Donna Campbell the Conservative candidate for Senator from Senate District 25! Contrast

In fact, Wentworth brought up the subject of abortion up to the 3rd trimester at the Rotary Club meeting last Thursday, when I was either too busy giving Dr. Donna’s credentials  — and definitely too wimpy, compared to this woman. He made the same statement about abortion being illegal in the 3rd trimester.

If my video doesn’t work, you can watch it at the Wentworth on Abortion

Tea Party Rally in San Antonio May 5, 2012

Saturday evening, I drove the 30 miles to San Antonio to attend the Tea Party Express meeting at a parking lot just off the grounds of the San Antonio Zoo.

I hate to say it, but none of the candidates were “my guys.” The music was good and the citizens who spoke were great. Unfortunately, Quico Conseco, the only one I wanted to hear, wasn’t there.

I met a FRiend – another poster on FreeRepublic.com – Synchro. We’ve both been posting on that forum since 1998, but had never met, before. Synchro  (his real life name is Gary) has been traveling around the Nation with the Tea Party Express bus tour.

I also saw lots of Donna Campbell for Senate District 25 stickers and met other supporters of Dr. Donna. The “G” family truck was decorated appropriately.

Representing Dr. Donna Campbell for Texas Senate District 25

I’m to be a substitute for Dr. Donna today at the Rotary Club at Canyon Lake. Pray for me — and Donna!

We are the most Conservative Senate District in Texas and we need the most Conservative State Senator!

(And hope that I don’t take off my shoes and give the talk barefoot, as I did once when talking to a group of nurses about osteoporosis!)

Judge keeps Planned Parenthood out of Women’s Health Program

What happened: Texas passed a law last summer, SB 7, that specifically said that if the State is forced to give money to “entities that affiliate with abortion-promoting entities,” the State would shut down the Women;s Health Program. The Obama Administration tried to force the State to violate this law. Then, a Federal Judge  ruled that the law couldn’t go into effect,

U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel on Monday granted a preliminary injunction to require the state to keep Planned Parenthood in the program until he makes a decision on the merits of the case.

But Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for an emergency stay of the injunction, which was granted by Judge Jerry E. Smith.

via Judge keeps Planned Parenthood out of Women’s Health Program – San Antonio Express-News.

If the injunction had stood, there would be no Women’s Health Program in Texas. Planned Parenthood seems to think that if their corporation can’t have money, no one should. Luckily, Judge Smith understood the emergency.

Planned Parenthood wasn’t hard to replace. WingRight reported on the thousands of other doctors and clinics that participate in the WHP and how to find one in your area, here.

Update, 8 AM May 2:

The attacks are on against Judge Smith.

More at the usual suspects like the Texas Tribune.

Funny, the TT doesn’t take this opportunity to link to its own interactive map showing other providers or to link to Obama’s $61 million dollar grant  to Texas public health clinics.

Health Care spending continues to fall

National Review’s James C. Capretta comments on the attempts by some in the Obama Administration would like to take the credit for the decrease in health care spending in 2009-2010.

The decrease in spending follows the previous curve,according to the data.

In addition, we docs haven’t had a real increase in Medicare pay in years. We waited for Medicare to – and find out how much they would – pay us 3 or 4 times in 2010, thanks to the planned, threatened and repeatedly deferred “Sustainable Growth Rate” doc pay cuts.. Then, there was the planned moratorium at the end of the Federal Fiscal year.

As the Dems ramped up their plans for “reform,” the cuts and deferred payment were reinforced by threats of more if organized medicine didn’t play ball. I reported on the threats at LifeEthics.org in October, 2009.

Obama Administration Overturns Congress, $192M to Palestinian Authority

The US House and Senate specifically denied these funds. I’m assuming that Obama signed the Bill into law. But, what’s law got to do with it?

HotAir.com reported on an article detailing instructions from the White House to Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, on how to report to Congress about the funds.

. . . In signing the waiver, Obama instructed Clinton to inform Congress of the move, on the grounds that “waiving such prohibition is important to the national security interests of the United States.”

The Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2012 contained a provision that said none of the funds “may be obligated or expended with respect to providing funds to the Palestinian Authority.”

In November, the US Congress released $40 million but the State Department had expressed concern about being able to provide the necessary funding to address the dire economic and humanitarian hardship facing Palestinians.

More explanation from the UPI:

 Obama cited his authority under section 7040(b) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2012 section 7040(a) of the Act, to provide appropriated funds to the Palestinian Authority.

. . . House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., had questioned the Obama administration’s request for $147 million for the Palestinian Authority at a time when P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas has demanded preconditions for returning to the negotiations while also pushing a unilateral statehouse plan at the United Nations. She also expressed concern that $26.4 million had been requested for projects in Hamas-run Gaza.

“The administration also says we need to help ‘rebuild the Palestinian economy’ — this at a time when our economy is facing serious challenges and Americans are suffering,” Ros-Lehtinen said.

Romney: A Conservative Wish List

Dear Governor Mitt Romney,

Congratulations, Sir! You have won 3/4 of the 1150 or so delegates you need to win the Republican Party nomination for President.

Republicans, especially Conservative Republicans, haven’t been able to generate much enthusiasm for your campaign. Even with Rick Santorum out of the race, you still barely won a majority of votes in the various State’s Primaries this week. We don’t want Obama to win in November, but there’s still doubts about whether you can win.

Here’s a few things you could do to help win Conservatives’ enthusiasm, in no particular order:

1. Don’t talk “strategy.” Talk vision. The common theme of your Conservative opponents over the last year has been the Conservative theme of small government. Just as with the original Tea Party, the threat of increased taxes made us take action.  But the growth of laws and regulations that interfere in our homes, business, schools and churches made us ready.
2. Study with some hard-core conservatives. Send your “spokespersons” to Conservative 101. Make sure that everyone learns the “code words” that the Left and MSM is always accusing us of using. Learn why we believe what we believe and what those “code words” really mean, so that you can understand and voice our concerns in your own words.Then do it.
3. Speak about your religion. We know you’re Mormon and we don’t want you to proselytize . But we do want to be convinced that you believe and practice what you believe. We’d much rather vote for – and will have more trust in – a believer than an unbeliever.
4. Pick a Conservative for your Vice Presidential running mate. This is a great way to let us know that you’ve been listening to and learning from us.  I know it won’t be easy, because we have so many well-qualified men and women out there. You must not pick a pro-choice, anti-family, big government man or woman.
5. Last, but not least: Change that doggone logo! That “R” is too close to Obama’s “O.” Even the colors are similar!  When I wear my NO OBAMA t-shirt, I don’t want anyone thinking that it’s a “No Romney” T-Shirt.

Jordan Fishman, US Businessman, on Ted Cruz, Appellant Lawyer

What kind of principles does it take to become the lawyer claiming that US laws don’t apply to international patent thieves *after* a jury has found the foreign company liable?

David Dewhurst, running for Texas Senator, has been running an ad about the choice by his opponent Ted Cruz to become the lawyer for a Chinese company that stole intellectual property from a US company owned by septuagenarian Jordan Fishman.

In a new youtube audio post, hear Mr. Fishman tell Matt Patrick, a Houston talk radio host, that witnesses stated under oath that the thieves believed that they would win because the American would either die or go broke before winning the case. (If you’re short on time, go about 6 minutes in for the meat of the story.)

Mr. Fishman is the owner of the company, Alpha Tire Systems, that successfully sued the Chinese-owned Shandong Linglong Tyre Company for copying blueprints and breaking the laws of the US. A Federal jury found in favor of Mr. Fishman and awarded him $26 million. Alpha had lost business, forcing them to cut staff from 25 to 5, and costing an estimated $19 million in lost sales after Linglong copied his blueprints and used the stolen information to manufacture and sell tires identical to the Alpha products.

Listen as Mr. Fishman tells us that he intends to survive, both in life and business, until he makes the thieves pay. He details the facts: that Ted Cruz chose to take on the case as “Attorney at Record” after the jury found the Chinese and Dubai companies liable. The Linglong appeals brief is here. The appeal claims that US patent law doesn’t count, since the theft took part outside of the US borders.

Mr. Cruz claims that he’s not so bad, since he is the “appellant,” not the “trial lawyer”. He also states that “this is what lawyers do,” and asserts that Shandong Linglong is a “private company” in China.Yes, it’s “private,” since no stock is “publicly” held.

What kind of principles does it take to become the lawyer claiming that US laws don’t apply to international patent thieves *after* a jury has found the foreign company liable?

More from a 2010 Sarasota Times news story about the case, here. Politifact calls the story “Mostly true,” the only dispute is between using “guilty” vs. “liable.” And “Tire Business” reports on Mr. Fishman’s happiness two years ago, when he thought his troubles were over.

It ain’t over ’till it’s over, John!

A couple of days ago, my Senator John Cornyn said that the Republican Presidential Primary is over. Well, no, it isn’t in the Senator’s home State of Texas. The man is almost never wrong, but he is this time.

Our Primary is May 29, and my own County’s Republican Convention is tomorrow, April 21. We in Texas are still trying to generate enthusiasm for our candidates “down ballot,” like my own support for Dr. Donna Campbell who’s running for Senate District 25.

It ain’t over ’till it’s over, John!

David Dewhurst, Citizen Legislator for Texas Senator

David Dewhurst is a strong Texas Conservative,a classic “citizen legislator,” who has only been in politics for about dozen years. He ran for office for the first time when he was in his 50′s, winning his race for Land Commissioner in 1998 before his election to Lieutenant Governor in 2002.

Last fall, I wanted Dewhurst to become Governor when Governor Rick Perry went to the White House, so I donated to Ted Cruz. From day one, I hated the way the Cruz team lied about Dewhurst and his record. I complained to the staff and Cruz at the Texas Republican Women convention in November and was in turn attacked by the staffers.

Dewhurst is proven and much more the self-made man than Cruz claims to be:

• Dewhurst  was born in Houston, Texas; Cruz in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Has Cruz denounced any dual citizenship?)
• Dewhurst’s father fought the Nazis for the US and stuck it out for 85 bomber missions; Cruz’ father fought Batista with Castro, somehow leaving Cuba before the end of the revolution to attend the University of Texas. (Dewhurst has donated to the memorial at Utah Beach in honor of his father, who was killed by a drunk driver after he returned to Houston  when David was only 3.)
•  Both grew up in the Houston area, but Dewhurst attended Lamar High School, while Cruz attended private schools in Katy.
• Both joined the debate teams in high school, but Dewhurst did it in an attempt to overcome his stuttering.
• Dewhurst played basketball for Arizona to put himself through college; Cruz went to Princeton and Harvard.
• Dewhurst proved himself in the Air Force and then the CIA; Cruz founded the Latino Law Review at Harvard and went to work for government agencies.
• Dewhurst is a private businessman who built his company from scratch, surviving the slump in the ’80′s, and has succeeded outside of politics; Cruz has always been an employee and never ran a business.
• Dewhurst is 65 years old, and will be naturally “term limited.” Cruz is 42 and could potentially be in the Senate over 30 years.

Other than his abrasive manner and early unwise decision to tear down a good man using poor ethics, Cruz is an unknown. All we know for sure is that he is capable of doing what he’s assigned to do. He defended the laws that Dewhurst managed to pass in a contentious Texas Senate. In his current job, he accepted the assignment to defend a Chinese conglomerate’s patent infringement in lawsuit by an US citizen whose technology was stolen out from under him.

In contrast, as pro-life and medical ethics activist in Texas, I’ve watched Lt. Governor Dewhurst work in Austin. I’ve seen him bring together opposing factions to hammer out Bills – at least once he called us all together in his office the last day a Bill could come up for a vote, ensuring that we left with an agreement.

Every criticism of Dewhurst is based on half-truths and lies. He didn’t make it on “daddy’s money.” He didn’t use illegal or unethical tactics to pass last year’s budget Bill.  He hasn’t increased spending in Texas since 2002. For one thing, the way that Texas measures the debt changed after the 2001 session by a popular vote for a Constitutional amendment. Our State has maintained a strong fiscal position in spite of Federal Courts forcing increased Medicaid spending, “Robin Hood” education spending, and about 1000 new immigrants a day moving in from the rest of the Nation.

Texas’ 82nd Legislature passed the Sonogram Bill, the Voter ID Bill, denied illegal aliens a driver’s license and ensured that Texas law allows deportation of illegal alien criminals after they serve their time. Yes, spending was doubled on border security and maintained at previous spending on K-12 education, but spending was cut in other places. The Rainy Day Fund was protected so that it will be available if needed to cover Medicaid and education spending at the end of this budget cycle.

For a current look at David Dewhurst’s leadership, read the “Interim Charges” to Texas State Senators, available at the Lieutenant Governor’s website.

Dr. Donna Campbell 4 Senate District 25 video

The San Antonio Express News Editorial Board interviewed Donna Campbell and the other candidates. The video is a littel choppy and obviously edited, but shows our Dr. Donna is the star

Senate District 25 candidates meet with SA News editorial board

The video – obviously and choppily edited — is online at the San Antonio Express News. I support Dr. Donna Campbell, the citizen candidate

State-Senate-District-25-29886.php

Pipe-wielding ‘anarchists’ attempt to shatter windows at (NYC) Starbucks

The violence was planned and went on for some time. People showed up in masks with 8 foot long pipes! A couple of policemen were injured.

Three men, all with “Occupy Wall Street,” were arrested.

The three were part of a group of 25 people – some of them masked – carrying 8-feet-long galvanized metal pipes, using them to vandalize commercial properties, cops said.

The group carried on and marched against traffic into the streets near Washington Square Park after leaving the Fifth Annual New York City Anarchist Book Fair at Judson Church on Washington Square South, police said. They began chanting “F— the NYPD”, “All pigs must die,” and “Cops are murderers’, officials said.

via Pipe-wielding ‘anarchists’ attempt to shatter floor-to-ceiling Plexiglas windows at East Village Starbucks – NY Daily News.

Does anyone else remember 1968?

On “Tax Day”

How’s your tax return? A lot of hope, no change?

Did you over-pay and get back money – without interest – you could have been using all year long? Did you underpay and now have to scramble to make a payment — or face fines and interest that the IRS sure won’t pay you if the tables were turned?

Or are you one of the lucky few who had to make “quarterly estimated tax payments” in addition to your tax return? Yes, that’s right: if you look like you might owe more taxes than most people, the IRS forces you to pay up front, every 3 months. Still without any promise of interest if you over-pay.

Vote in the Primaries and in November like your life depended on it!

First Amendment on Life Support

“More sparingly should this praise be allowed to a government, where a man’s religious rights are violated by penalties, or fettered by tests, or taxed by a hierarchy. Conscience is the most sacred of all property.” John Madison, “Property,” National Gazette, March 29, 1792.

“In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.” Hippocratic Oath, approximately 400 BC.

“Refusals based on moral disapprobation, however, are not typical of medical ethics” R. Alta Charo, ”Health Care Provider Refusals to Treat, Prescribe, Refer or Inform: Professionalism and Conscience.” February, 2007.

Fully enjoying the protections of the First Amendment themselves, the New England Journal of Medicine has published yet another editorial, “Warning: Contraceptive Drugs May Cause Political Headaches,”  by Robin Alta Charo, J.D., denouncing conscience and those of us who abide by ours. I suppose that she thought it was the right thing to do.

The Journal does not offer background on Ms. Charo’s previous editorials on the subject, including the notorious 2005 “The Celestial Fire of Conscience.” The editors don’t include any  note – any “warning’ – that she was part of the political Obama transition team. Ms. Charo did not mention any of these possible conflicts of interest in her “disclosure form,” available online.

Charo’s entire argument relies on readers’ agreement that the argument is about “public policy and contraception.” It is vital to her argument since, as she quotes Georgetown University theologian Tom Reese, “If the argument is over religious liberty, the bishops win.” Because, if we understand that the issue relates to “an establishment of religion,” Congress cannot legitimately pass, and the Executive Branch may not enforce, any law that infringes on the free exercise of religion.

Charo would instead have us focus on “public institutions, public places, and public duties.” Although hospitals and universities serve the public by providing healthcare and education, they are still owned by private, religious entities. In addition, the Obama Administration’s “accommodation” – the suggestion that the institution’s insurance company provide contraception free of charge to the ensured who want it – becomes much more complicated in light of the fact that most large religious hospitals and universities privately self-insure rather than enter into the market to buy first dollar coverage from a third party insurance company.

Charo’s essay is political appeal to emotion and half-truths, full of the “partisan sound bites and slogans” she denounces. However, not even the lie about mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds compares with her earlier error of logic in warning that the institutions could withhold “ordinary salary.” I don’t know of any religious organization that considers agreed-upon salary for agreed-upon service as inherently sinful. Keeping a promise, like that in the First Amendment or a contract with an employee is sacred to those of us with a conscience.

The Constitution demands that Congress “shall make no law” limiting religious freedom. The attempt by the Obama Administration to write regulations that require religious institutions to engage in acts that are contrary to long-standing, organized tenets of that religion goes directly against the First Amendment and cannot be justified.

Awkard Cruz, David Dewhurst and 31 debates

I’m not sure that this rises to the level of “rigging” the debate, but it’s not a bright move.

Here’s what happened: James received a text message on his personal phone from Cruz ahead of a televised debate scheduled for April 13. In the message, Cruz asks James to consider bringing up the absence of lieutenant governor David Dewhurst, a fellow Republican Senate candidate, from past debates.

“Craig–hope you’re well. See you Friday. For what it’s worth, since you’re asking me a Q, it might be worth asking me something about Dew skipping 31 debates (or something else related to his record). Just an idea… Ted,” the message read.

James released the text message and a message blasting Cruz. “Today I was put in an awkward position by Ted Cruz, a man I’ve come to know and respect. Ted sent me a text suggesting I ask him a set-up question for Friday’s United States Senate debate. In my mind, this is nothing more than an attempt to rig the system,” James said in an emailed statement.

Well, at least we know that he’s willing to make alliances for the right goal. But this is even lower than saying that Dewhurst is too old to make a difference at 67 years of age or that he supported a State income tax for Texas.

Seriously: 31 debates? Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst has a day job! 31 debates is unreasonable and not helpful.

I’m a huge advocate for meeting and talking to the voters and have attended nearly every “debate” here in Comal County. However, not all of them are debates. At most events, there were too many people speaking, with far too little time for meaty questions — virtually none planned for back and forth between the candidates.

Conservatives, Republicans: Fire, Aim, Ready!

Conservatives are at it again: shooting our own.

When Conservatives decide not to vote for Republican candidates, Republicans lose. Conservatives lose. The Democrats, socialists, and atheists win. Obama wins.

Where Republicans voted in 2008, we won new offices. Where they voted in 2010, we won majorities. Conservatives made the difference in the winning races and in the lost races. Not only did we have fewer Republican victories in those races where Conservatives didn’t vote, the races were decided by the least knowledgeable among us or by the Dems.

More than before, in conservative blogs and forums, I’m reading good men and women declare that they will never vote for Romney if he’s nominated. They remind me that they were the ones who refused to vote for John McCain in 2008, or who (like me) voted for Sarah Palin and McCain just benefited as a side effect.

I certainly wish that Conservatives had found themselves working hard to force McCain to keep his promises for that last three years instead of watching Obama keep his.

And here come the third party rallies!

The problem is certainly the “GOP elite,” and their support for Romney — that’s why Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum couldn’t get a foothold, right? And why Newt Gingrich is still so far behind?

How many votes do you suppose the “elite” have, anyway?

Talk about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, yesterday, Rush Limbaugh warned Conservatives what may happen if the Republican nominee doesn’t win. Yes, he  titled the post of the segment “A Warning to the Republican Establishment,” ending with a prediction that the Republican Party might never recover if “they screw this up.”

The warning to the rest of us is ignored:

If this doesn’t pan out to big-time electoral victory the way the establishment has it figured, then what will their excuse be? And I think I know. I think that if this campaign goes on and if it results in Obama winning, I think what the establishment is going to do is blame us. They’re gonna blame us conservatives for once again being too rigid and too demanding and too narrow and unrealistic and all this, and telling us that we’re the reason that Obama won.

Why not? That’s exactly what happened in ’06 and ’08. (And don’t forget Rush’s own Chaos.) The media and the Left ate it up! The lesson learned was that no one can count on Conservatives. That’s why we repeatedly watch people who should be our champions “pander” (Rush’s word) to the “middle,” the “undecideds,” the independents.

Why not learn instead from successes, like the 2000 election, a victory that the Dems never saw coming? A good friend recommended that I re-read David Horowitz’ “How to Beat the Democrats.” One of the lessons is,

Lesson 3: There Is No Natural Conservative Majority (But You Can Create One through Political Action). The critical role Republican unity played in the election leads to a third lesson: There is no “natural” conservative majority.

. . . Such facts are no cause for conservatives to despair. What they are is a reality-check. If the conservative mission is to restore basic American values, the way conservatives fight the political battle will determine its outcome. There may be no current conservative majority in America, but there is a potential majority, if Republicans have the will and intelligence to create one.

David Horowitz (2002-10-06). How to Beat the Democrats and Other Subversive Ideas (Kindle Locations 842-843, 861-863). Spence. Kindle Edition.

Do we have the will? The intelligence? Can we forget the animosity we have had for each other the last year? Are we willing to say, “Let him who never had a change of heart cast the first stone?”

An estimated 56% – give or take – of the Republican National delegates have been decided, but 44% have not. The numbers aren’t set in stone, yet, depending on what happens to the delegates who went to candidates that dropped out or in States like Iowa, where the actual choice will be made at caucus in June. “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

I’m sure that I won’t see Conservative blogs pulling their anti-Romney posts, but I hope to see a few willing to be positive and work together to ensure Primary victories for the remaining Conservative in the Republican Primary, in order to deny Romney an easy nomination. Is their motto, “Anybody but Romney,” or is it, “Anybody but Obama?”

RPT, Texas GOP County Conventions Saturday April 14 or April 21

From the RPT:

County & District Conventions Begin This Saturday!

Starting this Saturday, April 14th, Texas Republicans will begin assembling in various counties across the state to conduct County & District Republican Conventions. The process will also continue next Saturday, April 21st, for counties which have chosen to hold their conventions on that date.

The Republican Party of Texas has created a website with a full list of county-by-county information, where you can go to learn the date, time and location of your local Republican convention, as well as finding the answers to Frequently Asked Questions and other information about the GOP Convention Process in 2012.

convention.texasgop.org

If you don’t show up, you’ll miss out! (And no telling who WILL show up and take your place!)

The Big Lie, Buffett Version

No matter how often it’s repeated, it’s a lie that the
Buffett rule will cut deficit or increase the money available for
Washington, DC to spend. The highest I’ve seen is $47 Billion dollars
over 10 years in revenue from the Buffett tax increase. That’s less
than one day of current *deficit* Federal spending.

The entire premise is a lie. The capital gains taxes are taxed at the
corporate rate prior to bring dispersed to investors. And they’ve
already been taxed as income from the investors.

Taxes are punishment for achievement and investment. The Buffett rule
- while sparing Buffett’s own tax shelters, the foundations run by his
kids – is a disincentive for investors and punishment for the risk
required to achieve.

For more information – proof of the Big Lie -  on the rates and the amounts that “the rich” pay in taxes, take a look at what the Congressional Budget Office says about taxes and income levels:

• “The overall federal tax system is progressive—that is, average tax rates generally rise with income. Households in the bottom quintile (fifth) of the income distribution paid 4 percent of their income in federal taxes, while the middle quintile paid 14 percent, and the highest quintile paid 25 percent. Average rates continued to rise within the top quintile, with the top 1 percent facing an average rate of close to 30 percent.
• “Higher-income groups earn a disproportionate share of pretax income and pay a disproportionate share of federal taxes.  In 2007, the highest quintile earned 56 percent of pretax income and paid 69 percent of federal taxes, while the top 1 percent of households earned 19 percent of income and paid 28 percent of taxes. In all other quintiles, the share of federal taxes was less than the income share. The bottom quintile earned 4 percent of income and paid less than 1 percent of taxes, while the middle quintile earned 13 percent of income and paid 9 percent of taxes.”

Feral Hogs and “Real Budget Solutions” for Texas

While reviewing budget issues with Dr. Donna Campbell, we discovered “Real Texas Budget Solutions” (a pdf) from the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Besides recommending that Texas’ State agencies begin cutting budgets, now, rather than later, the paper suggests eliminating funding for the following:

Commission on the Arts; Texas Historical Commission; Texas Public Utility Commission: System Benefit Fund, Renewable Portfolio Standard, and Energy Efficiency Program; Fiscal Programs— Comptroller of Public Accounts: Major Events Trust Fund; Trusteed Programs within the Office of the Governor: Texas Music Office, Texas Film Commission, Economic Development and Tourism Division, Texas Enterprise Fund, Emerging Technology Fund, Economic Development Bank, and Texas Tourism program; Texas Workforce Commission: Skills Development Program; Texas Windstorm Insurance Association; Texas Education Agency: Regional Education Service Centers, Student Success Initiative, Steroid Testing, Campus Turnaround Team Support, Best Buddies; Higher Education Coordinating Board: Doctoral Incentive Program, Top Ten Percent Scholarship Program, and Research University Development Fund; Library and Archives Commission: Resource Sharing and Local Aid; Office of Public Insurance Counsel; Office of Public Utility Counsel; Texas Commission on Environmental Quality: Texas Emission Reduction Program; Pollution Prevention Advisory Council; Take Care of Texas Program; Texas Clean School Bus Program; and Recycling Market Development Implementation Program; Texas Department of Agriculture: Seed Quality, Seed Certification, Feral Hog Abatement, Egg Inspection Program, and Agricultural Commodity; Texas Parks and Wildlife Department: Promotion and Outreach Programs; Texas Railroad Commission: Energy Resource Development and Alternative Energy Promotion; Board of Plumbing Examiners; Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists; Funeral Service Commission.

I saw a couple in there that I wonder about (and had to wonder about my own Texas Institute of Health Care Quality and Efficiency) but where *do* we start? Everyone of these agencies and boards is taking money from Texas taxpayers’ own budgets.  Which can be better done privately?

(That photo is one that I took at a macadamia nut farm on  Hawaii, September, 2011).

Secret: CPAC TX Dr Donna Campbell (Senate District 25)

The speech is good, but the story told in the introduction was a huge surprise to me. Not because I don’t believe that Dr. Donna is capable of the good deeds described — but because neither she nor anyone else had told me about them!

It turns out that Dr. Donna “doctored” Apostle Claver T. Kamau-Imani (of Raging Elephants)  “way back in 2010,” when he collapsed in a men’s room at a party function.

According to Apostle Claver, Dr. Donna followed him when he stumbled to the bathroom at a restaurant. Even while he “regurgitated,” she nursed him and prayed for him.  She then had some of the men at the event put him in her car and she took him home, where she and her husband cared for him overnight.

I certainly admire Donna’s “guts” and Apostle Claver’s humility for telling the story to us all.