Archive for February, 2009

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Obama: What Constitution?!

February 24, 2009

From Human Events:

State governors — looking down the gun barrel of long-term spending forced on them by the Obama “stimulus” plan — are saying they will refuse to take the money. This is a Constitutional confrontation between the federal government and the states unlike any in our time.

In the first five weeks of his presidency, Barack Obama has acted so rashly that at least 11 states have decided that his brand of “hope” equates to an intolerable expansion of the federal government’s authority over the states. These states — “Washington, New Hampshire, Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, California…Georgia,” South Carolina, and Texas — “have all introduced bills and resolutions” reminding Obama that the 10th Amendment protects the rights of the states, which are the rights of the people, by limting the power of the federal government. These resolutions call on Obama to “cease and desist” from his reckless government expansion and also indicate that federal laws and regulations implemented in violation of the 10th Amendment can be nullified by the states.

Y’all there’s a reason Texas is the best nation in the union.

But really now…following the Constitution and not expanding the federal government?  We KNOW what Obama has to say about that.  Come on…remember?

“[Constitution] ‘reflected fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day’”

I leave you with this:

These eleven states have the right to reject the stimulus plan. And they must.

There is no other option. For this federal expansion will not stop unless we stand in its way with courage in our hearts and the Constitution in our hands.

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RIP Socks the Cat

February 22, 2009

I didn’t get to post this as soon as I wanted to…but rest in peace, Socks the Cat.  He was precious. :(

For those who don’t know:

Socks, the White House cat during the Clinton administration who waged war on Buddy the pup, has died. He was around 18.

Socks had lived with Bill Clinton’s secretary, Betty Currie, in Hollywood, Md., since the Clintons left the White House in early 2001.

Currie confirmed Socks’ death Friday evening and said she was “heartbroken.” She did not give details, referring calls to the Clinton Foundation office.

The foundation released a statement from the Clintons:

“Socks brought much happiness to Chelsea and us over the years, and enjoyment to kids and cat lovers everywhere. We’re grateful for those memories, and we especially want to thank our good friend, Betty Currie, for taking such loving care of Socks for so many years.”

Socks had reached his late teens — an advanced age for a cat — when reports surfaced in late 2008 that he had cancer and Currie had ruled out invasive efforts to prolong his life.

“It’s not a happy prognosis,” presidential historian Barry Landau, a friend of Currie’s, said at the time.

Socks was what feline-lovers call a tuxedo cat — mostly black with white down the front and belly and on his feet, suggesting a fashionable dandy in a black satin evening jacket with a snowy shirt peeping out. He had markings that looked a bit like a mustache and goatee.

Chelsea Clinton’s pet first appeared in the news in November 1992 after then-Gov. Bill Clinton won the presidency and the family was the still in the governor’s mansion in Little Rock, Ark. Socks became an early symbol of privacy-vs.-media in the Clinton era when photographers got a little aggressive as he took a stroll outside.

Life changed for Socks in the White House, when his easy access to the out-of-doors was necessarily curtailed. One official conceded that, yes, Socks was on a leash while outside.

Things took a turn for the worse in late 1997, when then-puppy Buddy, a chocolate retriever, arrived. Relations between Socks and Buddy were cool from the beginning.

“I’m trying to work that out,” Clinton joked at the time. “It’s going to take a while. It’s kind of like peace in Ireland or the Middle East.”

RIP Socks.

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No Taxation Without Representation.

February 22, 2009

We’re not talking in terms of tea anymore but we are talking tea parties.

My dear friend Brendan Steinhauser has more:

The internet is abuzz with chatter about organizing protests around the country to put an end to this madness on Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. But I’ve talked to many people out there who have never organized a protest, and so they don’t have a clue where to begin. Here are 10 simple steps that you can follow to organize a protest in your own community. If you want more help, just send me an email at bsteinhauser @freedomworks.org and I’ll work with you one on one to help make your protest a success.

1. Pick a location, date and time in your town. I’d suggest main street at an intersection with lots of traffic.

2. Tell your friends, family, co-workers and everyone else you know about the protest. Build an rsvp email list so that you can provide quick updates if something changes. You should also create a facebook group so that the group can communicate with one another.

3. Make 5-10 signs with legible slogans that send a clear message to the public and the media. Write in BIG LETTERS.

4. Call your local talk radio hosts and ask them to announce the location, date and time on the air for a few days leading up to the protest. Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper announcing the protest. Email the bloggers in your area and ask them to post a notice about the protest.

5. Write a press release and email, mail and fax copies to the local tv stations, radio stations and newspapers. Call the reporters that cover local events or politics and leave messages on their voice mail.

6. On the day of your protest, show up with your group, be loud, visible, happy and engage the public. Wave your signs, make lots of noise and move around to get attention. If reporters interview you, give them some good sound bytes for their stories. Stay on message and keep your answers short and coherent.

7. Bring sign-in sheets to capture the names, emails and phone numbers of everyone who attends the protest and/or says that they support what you are doing. You will then have a big list of people that can plan the next, much bigger and louder, event. Also bring handouts with one page of quick facts about why you are protesting in the first place.

8. Add your pictures, video and an after-action report to your facebook group, and send this stuff to the bloggers and reporters that you originally contacted. Ask them to post the photos, story and video.

9. Thank everyone who attended via email and phone, and set up a meeting to plan your next event. Now you have a list of people in your community that can help make the next protest huge. Encourage everyone to commit to bring at least one friend to the next protest.

10. Organize a carpool and go find a friend in your neighboring town or county and help them organize a protest there. You and your people are now veterans and should be able to keep the momentum going around your area.

Email me if you have any questions or want some ideas for signs. bsteinhauser @freedomworks.org

If you’re in Texas, leave me a comment and I’ll get the Young Conservatives of Texas to help ‘ya out.

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Michael Williams Wins Social Media Award

February 18, 2009

I’m so glad awesome conservatives like Michael Williams are embracing social media and its fabulosity.

In fact so much so that he picked up an award for it!

Here’s the video:

And don’t forget to follow him on twitter: twitter.com/MichaelWilliams

While you’re at it, check out his website and join our team!

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Texas House Committee Assignments:

February 12, 2009

Thank you Austin American Statesman for the list of chairs:

Speaker Pro Tempore: Rep. Craig Eiland, D-Galveston

Appropriations: Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie

Agriculture and Livestock: Rep. Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles, D-Alice

Border and Intergovernmental Affairs: Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen

House Administration: Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth

State Affairs: Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton

Corrections: Rep. Jim McReynolds, D-Lufkin

County Affairs: Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston

Criminal Jurisprudence: Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine

Culture, Recreation and Tourism: Rep. Mark Homer, D-Paris

Calendars: Rep. Brian McCall, R-Plano

Defense and Veterans’ Affairs: Rep. Frank Corte, R-San Antonio

Elections: Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless

General Investigating and Ethics: Rep. Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville

Higher Education: Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas

Insurance: Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo

Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence: Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi

Land and Resource Management: Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton

Licensing and Administrative Procedures: Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin

Local and Consent Calendars: Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston

Pensions, Investments and Financial Services: Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller

Public Health: Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham

Public Safety: Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview

Redistricting: Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock

Rules and Resolutions: Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio

Public Education: Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands

Natural Resources: Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland

Human Services: Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs

Business and Industry: Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont

Energy Resources: Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland

Transportation: Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso

Environmental Regulation: Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana

Technology, Economic Development and Workforce: Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin

Urban Affairs: Rep. Yvonne Davis, D-Dallas

Ways and Means: Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville

Bolded are the RGV Chairs.

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In Jewish Cowboy News

February 11, 2009

No…..really.

I’m excited to announce the Kinkster is revving up for 2010.  Not because I voted for him or because I’ll vote for him…I didn’t and I won’t.  But he certainly adds a bit of flair to the race.

Humorist and author Kinky Friedman may run for Texas governor again, but if he does, he says he’s serious this time.

First, he’d run with the help of a major party — the Democrats — instead of launching an independent campaign like he did in 2006.

Friedman said Tuesday that he learned some hard lessons from his fourth-place defeat to Republican Rick Perry in a race with three political veterans. He said he found out he couldn’t win as an independent and that he shouldn’t crack so many jokes.

“I’m toning down the one-liners a bit. If I run, it’s going to be a serious run,” said Friedman, peppering the interview with one-liners.

Friedman noted that Democratic comedian Al Franken did well in his U.S. Senate race in Minnesota, though his victory is still being debated in court.

“So this can be done,” Friedman said.

Moral of the story, IF FRANKEN CAN DO IT….ANY IDIOT CAN.

For old times sake…here’s a photo of the Kinkster and I from my sophomore year of college.  Wow.

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Health Care Snuck Into Stimulus

February 10, 2009

Yet some people think voting against the stimulus is just a vote against infrastructure.

Think again, Bloomberg has more:

The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”

Keeping doctors informed of the newest medical findings is important, but enforcing uniformity goes too far.

New Penalties

Hospitals and doctors that are not “meaningful users” of the new system will face penalties. “Meaningful user” isn’t defined in the bill. That will be left to the HHS secretary, who will be empowered to impose “more stringent measures of meaningful use over time” (511, 518, 540-541)

What penalties will deter your doctor from going beyond the electronically delivered protocols when your condition is atypical or you need an experimental treatment? The vagueness is intentional. In his book, Daschle proposed an appointed body with vast powers to make the “tough” decisions elected politicians won’t make.

I can concede tax cuts should be passed and some sort of stimulus bill with ACTUAL bipartisan collaboration could be good, but Betsy McCaughey said it best:

On Friday, President Obama called it “inexcusable and irresponsible” for senators to delay passing the stimulus bill. In truth, this bill needs more scrutiny.

The health-care industry is the largest employer in the U.S. It produces almost 17 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. Yet the bill treats health care the way European governments do: as a cost problem instead of a growth industry. Imagine limiting growth and innovation in the electronics or auto industry during this downturn. This stimulus is dangerous to your health and the economy.

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KBH Votes No on Stimulus

February 9, 2009

And her explanation appeared on Townhall.com.  Thank you, Senator, for representing Texans and voting no on the PORKULUS:

In one of history’s more candid reflections, Henry Morgenthau Jr., Treasury Secretary under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, confessed, “We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before, and it does not work.”

Just six years after crafting the New Deal, Morgenthau declared that efforts to create jobs and restore America’s ravaged economy by expanding the federal government to unprecedented levels had been a failure. By Morgenthau’s own assessment, the New Deal saddled our country with “as much unemployment as when we started … and an enormous debt.”

More than 75 years have passed since FDR signed the New Deal into law, and many noted economists are studying the Great Depression and trying to learn from the experience. In 2004, a team of UCLA economists concluded that the policies of the New Deal, which suppressed competition and kept unemployment in the range of 9 percent to 16 percent, actually prolonged the depression by seven years.

Go to Townhall.com for the full column.

ETA some thoughts from Texas Senator John Cornyn.  Texas in da house.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn says he fully expects President Barack Obama’s stimulus package to pass the Senate, but he warns that it could damage the U.S. economy in the future.

A stark critic of Obama’s approach to righting the badly damaged economy, Cornyn says he believes passage of the $800-plus billion measure with minimal Republican support must be a major disappointment to Obama. The new president has vowed to take the debilitating partisan heat out of Washington politics.

The Texas Republican argues that the Obama stimulus package is loaded down with pet Democratic spending packages and is, in Cornyn’s words, “just spending as far as the eye can see.”

Cornyn spoke on the TV show “Fox News Sunday.”

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Mac Attack on Obama

February 6, 2009

“What do you think a stimulus is? That’s the whole point. No, seriously, that’s the point,” Obama said at the retreat in Williamsburg, Va.

Obama’s hurried frenzy to pass the pork filled “stimulus” bill fueled a rant last night with that highlight of a quote.

But our old friend John McCain was not willing to sit back and let the Democrats launch a spending plan that would further sink the economy and create spending initiatives that cost more in the end.

Yes, it’s true, Mac is back and he’s not happy about Obama’s tax and spend plan to “boost” the economy.

On Friday morning, McCain fought back.

“The whole point, Mr. President, is to enact tax cuts and spending measures that truly stimulate the economy,” McCain said. “There are billions and tens of billions of dollars in this bill which will have no effect within three, four, five or more years, or ever. Or ever.”

By the way…about that retreat in Williamsburg, VA…

The House Democratic Caucus spent more than $500,000 in taxpayer money over the past five years for its annual retreats at resorts in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

On Thursday, Democrats will head to the Kingsmill Resort and Spa in historic Williamsburg, Va., for the three-day planning powwow. The resort boasts multiple championship golf courses, a full-service spa and six restaurants.

It’s easy to talk about how us “little people” are suffering and desperately need a pork filled “stimulus” plan when you’re chillin’ at a resort with a full-service spa and choice of golf course.

Just sayin’.

I leave you with a McCain snippet:

But McCain targeted an array of programs that he said were not needed in an emergency economic recovery package.

“$50 million in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts — all of us are for the arts,” McCain said. “Tell me how that creates any significant number of jobs? After-school snack program is probably a good idea. Do we really want to spend $726 million on it?”

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Stimulus Mania Hits the Nation!

February 5, 2009

Image courtesy of ONTD

And I quote:

Obama rejected calls for more tax cuts and significant slashing of the bill’s more than $800 billion price tag, and said complaints the package was a spending bill rather than a stimulus bill were off base.

“What do you think a stimulus bill is?” he said. “That’s the point.”

To critics who argue that the government shouldn’t be spending billions with a large and growing deficit, Obama said, “I found this national debt doubled, wrapped in a big bow waiting for me as I stepped into the Oval Office.”

The American people called for change in November, he said, “and that’s what we’re going to deliver.”

Uh…I’m pretty sure I voted against “hopenchange” empty rhetoric.  Apparently that empty rhetoric translated to ludicrous spending.

And I’m pretty sure I was against the ludicrous spending when the RINOs were at it.

Hey Obama, just because something is wrong and outrageous doesn’t mean you keep doing something wrong and outrageous.

WHY…THAT’S NOT CHANGE AT ALL!

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