Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts

Saturday, January 25, 2014

The Council Has Spoken!! This Week’s Watcher’s Council Results - 01.24.14

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/DebateBetweenCatholicsAndOrientalChristiansInThe13thCenturyAcre1290.jpg/800px-DebateBetweenCatholicsAndOrientalChristiansInThe13thCenturyAcre1290.jpg

The Council Has Spoken!, the votes have been cast, and the results are in for this week’s Watcher’s Council match up.

 

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave…when first we practice to deceive.” -Sir Walter Scott, Marmion


“People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt.” ― Otto Von Bismark


“There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means by which to detect lies.” - Walter Lippmann

 

http://righttruth.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451c49a69e20167619b9174970b-800wi

This week’s winner, Joshuapundit’s Senate Intel Committee: Benghazi Was Preventable, Al Qaeda Was Involved, And The White House Knew It is my analysis of the long delayed Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the Benghazi debacle. Here’s a slice:

The bi-partisan Senate Intelligence Committee finally issued its long-delayed report on the Benghazi attack, and based on what it said, it’s pretty understandable why some of the Democrats on the committee strung things out as long as they could and fought over the wording. But some things simply give off too foul a stench for any perfume to make a difference.

The committee’s minority Republicans criticized the White House for obstructing the report, which the committee had wanted to complete much earlier, and openly accused Patrick Kennedy, U.S. undersecretary of State for Management of shielding the Obama administration from Congressional oversight.

Of course, Kennedy was also concentrating on covering his own behind. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) who normally votes with the Democrats an dis the very epitome of bi-partisanship angrily made a point of saying that Kennedy “failed to ensure that a facility he personally approved in December 2011 had the necessary security to match the heightened threat environment.”

The committee’s report said that Benghazi was entirely preventable, and that the State Department failed to increase security at the Benghazi consulate in spite numerous warnings. As I’ve mentioned on these pages before,even the Brits and the International Red Cross had pulled their people out because Benghazi, thanks to President Obama’s timely intervention had become a major headquarters for al-Qaeda and other Islamists. Anyone who knows anything about Ansar al Shariah and its connections to al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM) understood that a long time ago.

The report states, unequivocally: “Individuals affiliated with terrorist groups, including AQIM, Ansar al-Sharia, AQAP, and the Mohammad Jamal Network, participated in the September 11, 2012, attacks.”

The very fact that mortars and other heavy weapons were used points to long time planning. A mortar isn’t like a Kalishnikov. It takes training, and it takes time to scope out ranges and angles of fire.

Georgia Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss summarized the report, saying,

“In spite of the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and ample strategic warnings, the United States Government simply did not do enough to prevent these attacks and ensure the safety of those serving in Benghazi.”

Another thing that came out is that the entire ‘protest over a video’ narrative pushed by the president, Mrs. Clinton, Jay Carney, Susan Rice and goodness knows how many others was an outright lie…and just like ObamaCare, they lied knowingly, although the report doesn’t put it in such blunt terms.

What we were told – conveniently after the 2012 elections- is that the original fairy tales about the video and a spontaneous protest occurred because the situation ‘was developing.’

It wasn’t.

In fact, the FBI interviewed the Benghazi survivors over a three-day period right after the attack, when they were still being prevented from speaking to anyone. None of them reported a protest or a demonstration.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (SC) said that “The FBI confirmed to me that when they interviewed the survivors on the 15th the 16th and the 17th [of September], not one person ever mentioned anything other than a terrorist attack. No one mentioned a protest outside the consulate.”

“So, how could the Obama administration come up with a protest story if everybody on the ground during the attack said it was a terrorist attack and there was no protest?” he asked.

Trust me, the stench increases. Much more at the link.

In our non-Council category, we had a tie between Neo NeoCon with “Wendy Davis: ‘empowerment’ and the poor little woman; “struggle” and the man” submitted by The Glittering Eye,and Kevin Williamson/NRO for  The White Ghetto submitted by Joshuapundit, a beautiful and haunting portrait of Applachia.

I was torn on this one..I honestly like Wiliamson’s piece a lot more personally, but while the totals were the same Neo Neocon got more individual votes among the Council, and it’s a really nice piece, so I’m calling it that way,

Here are this week’s full results.

Council Winners

Non-Council Winners

Honorable Mentions

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day and weigh in…don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that!

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Friday, April 26, 2013

Bush Library Opens As His Approval Rating Is Up

Bush 43 Library opens

5-Living Presidents Gather for 43 Library Opening

Former first lady Laura Bush, U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, former President George W. Bush, former President Bill Clinton and Former first lady Hillary Clinton, former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush and former President Jimmy Carter attend the opening ceremony of the George W. Bush Presidential Center April 25, 2013 in Dallas, Texas. (Former living first ladies Rosalynn Carter and Nancy Reagan did not attend.)

WAPO:  George W. Bush will return to the spotlight this week for the dedication of his presidential library, an event likely to trigger fresh public debate about his eight fateful years in office. But he reemerges with a better public image than when he left Washington more than four years ago.

Since then, Bush has absented himself from both policy disputes and political battles. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll suggests that the passage of time and Bush’s relative invisibility have been beneficial to a chief executive who left office surrounded by controversy.

Days before his second term ended in 2009, Bush’s approval rating among all adults was 33 percent positive and 66 percent negative. The new poll found 47 percent saying they approve and 50 percent saying they disapprove. Among registered voters, his approval rating today is equal to President Obama’s, at 47 percent, according to the latest Post-ABC surveys.

Majorities said they still dis­approve of Bush’s performance on the Iraq war and the economy, but his economic approval numbers nearly doubled between December 2008 and today, from 24 percent to 43 percent, with 53 percent disapproving. Iraq remains the most troublesome part of his legacy. Today, 57 percent say they disapprove of his decision to invade, though that is down from 65 percent in the spring of 2008, the last time the question was asked.

Historians say it will take years, even decades, for any substantial revision of his presidency to take place. Bush has said he is content to let history judge him and told the designers of his presidential museum to present the facts and let visitors decide whether he was right. But some allies see Thursday’s official opening of the library in Dallas as an opportunity to begin to set his presidency into broader perspective.

“Obviously, it’s a big moment for him,” former British prime minister Tony Blair said in a telephone interview from London. “It’s a chance for him to explain that his political philosophy encompasses much more than the decisions he had to take after 9/11. We forget this sometimes. . . . This is a much more rounded person with many more dimensions to him than the caricature often portrays.”

Contemporary judgments of Bush’s presidency have been harsh. The war in Iraq, which he launched on the basis of faulty intelligence in the aftermath of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, left this country deeply divided. His final months in office brought a collapse of the financial system that led to the worst recession since the Great Depression. In between, his administration’s wobbly response to Hurricane Katrina damaged his image.

But Bush will return to public view at a moment when some parts of his record are being viewed more charitably. His advocacy for immigration reform and his relative success at attracting Hispanic votes, for example, are now seen as a model for a Republican Party that has awakened to its glaring deficit in the Latino community.

Thursday’s events are likely to be shorn of partisanship, though commentary around them may not be. The guest list will be topped by Obama and all living former presidents, including Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush. Blair, who stood steadfastly with Bush after the 2001 attacks and his decision to invade Iraq 18 months later, will be among the many dignitaries and Bush administration alumni who will gather on the campus of Southern Methodist University.

Karen Hughes, who served as counselor to Bush, said the former president told her that he considers the day “a joyful opportunity to give thanks” — to the other presidents for being there, to those who served in his administration, to the workers who built the architecturally handsome Bush Center.

Former advisers say no one should expect the opening of the library and museum to bring a notable change in Bush’s generally low-profile post-presidency. “It’s a little too simplistic to say this is some big coming out or that some definitive change will happen that will mark a new approach to things by Bush or his people,” said Karl Rove, who served as Bush’s chief political adviser and White House deputy chief of staff.

Still, members of Bush’s team recognize the significance of the moment and are prepared to take on some of his critics, if necessary, amid the glare of media attention this week. “Clearly some pretty significant distortions have been fostered by the current president and others,” Hughes said. “Those of us who worked for him see it [the dedication ceremony] as an opportunity to set the record straight in some cases.”

Bush advisers believe that over time, more attention will focus on aspects of his presidency that were overshadowed by the controversies of his national security and economic records. They point to his initiative to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa, which has helped save hundreds of thousands of lives; his efforts to bring accountability and higher standards to public education; and his advocacy for comprehensive immigration reform, which was rejected by his party.

Bush’s decision to stay out of the public arena in recent years reflects his humility and his belief that he owed his successor “a decent interval of silence,” as Rove called it. He played no role in the 2012 campaign, neither attending the Republican National Convention last summer nor campaigning for Mitt Romney last fall. But there was no clamor among the Republican candidates for his participation.

Instead, Bush has quietly pursued activities that grew out of his presidential agenda. Much of that work, focusing on global health, the role of women in the Middle East, education and the economy, is carried out through the Bush Institute, which was founded in 2009 and shares the 23-acre site at SMU with the presidential library and museum.

The institute and the new museum are designed to highlight the values and principles that guided Bush in office. “Freedom is really the one central axis around which everything revolves,” said Mark Langdale, president of the George W. Bush Foundation.

Bush and former first lady Laura Bush have spent time in Africa on projects related to the AIDS initiative and other health issues. The former president also spends considerable time with wounded veterans and has participated with them in vigorous mountain-biking expeditions. He has taken up painting. He and his wife recently became grandparents for the first time.

He gave 70 speeches last year and plans 60 or so this year, according to Dan Bartlett, who was counselor to Bush in the White House. The paid speeches are all off the record, but one adviser said Bush is extremely candid in the question-and-answer sessions. He and former president Bill Clinton have done a series of joint appearances.

Last week’s Boston Marathon bombing was a tragic reminder of the episode that changed Bush’s presidency. After 9/11, Bush ­implemented aggressive ­anti-
terrorism policies, many of which were embraced by the Obama administration, though not the controversial interrogation measures authorized under Bush. A recent report by the Constitution Project concluded that those policies resulted in torture of some detainees.

Some Bush allies say Obama has gone out of his way to be critical of his predecessor and often has not acknowledged what they contend were key policies that have been helpful to him. They highlight two decisions by the former president that have proved beneficial to Obama in office: One was the troop surge in Iraq, which was highly controversial at the time but which, they contend, made it possible for Obama to end the war as quickly as he did.

The other was Bush’s decision in the fall of 2008 to press Congress to pass the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) to bail out financial institutions. That was equally controversial, especially among Bush’s fellow Republicans, but his advisers argue that it helped stabilize the financial system before Obama took office.

“Both reflected strong presidential leadership and, as we now see in retrospect, excellent judgment,” said Joshua Bolten, who served as Bush’s White House chief of staff.

Bolten also noted that spending during most years of Bush’s presidency was below 20 percent of gross domestic product, the target now established by House Republicans in their budget blueprint. No president since Richard M. Nixon, other than Clinton, can make such a claim, he said.

But on fiscal issues, Bush draws criticism from both left and right. Tea party Republicans regard him as a reckless spender. Democrats say his tax cuts and two wars that were not paid for helped create larger deficits, though Obama accepted making the bulk of those cuts permanent last December.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said the country would be happy to have the deficit levels of Bush’s presidency, but she declined to praise his overall record. She said that his record on neither tax cuts nor spending “was particularly fiscally responsible.”

Bush has continued to bear much of the culpability for the condition of the economy. On Election Day last November, 53 percent of voters said they blamed Bush for the current economic problems, while 38 percent blamed Obama, according to exit polls.

Iraq looms larger than perhaps any other issue over Bush’s legacy, but Blair said the former president’s attitude toward his decisions has not changed. “There was never any doubt while he was in office, and there’s not any doubt now,” he said.

Blair said Bush continues to believe that the world is safer without Saddam Hussein in power and added: “When you see what is happening in Syria today, the sense of that argument is evident. . . . What it does is just make clear that these decisions are very difficult. If you intervene, it can be very tough. If you don’t intervene, it can also be very tough.”

One section of the Bush museum, known as the Decision Points Theater, focuses on four key decisions: the invasion of Iraq, the troop surge, the financial crisis and the response to Hurricane Katrina. Visitors will hear the information available to the president at the time and then choose what they would do in each case. Bush, on video, will explain his decisions.

Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley of Rice University recently toured the Bush museum; he called it “beautifully designed” but predicted that it would spark controversy. “It’s going to be mocked and trashed by liberal Democrats, and conservative Republicans are going to say what a marvelous place it is,” he said. As for Bush’s potential place in history, he said, “It’s going to be hard for him to rehabilitate fully.”

Stanford University’s David Kennedy predicted that judgments about Bush are not likely to change unless perceptions of Iraq and what triggered the financial crisis change first. Presidents are judged on foreign policy and economic policy, he said, adding: “In neither one of those areas do I see anything on the horizon that will change people’s opinion.”

But H.W. Brands, a professor of history at the University of Texas, said it’s quite possible that Bush’s legacy could undergo a genuine reworking as time passes. “The worse a president’s reputation when he leaves office, the better chance there is for revision,” he said. “Every so often there’s a new generation of historians, and they have to come along and challenge the conventional wisdom.”

BushLibrary-Barney and Mrs Beasley -_2545646b

Busts of presidential pets Barney and Miss Beazley are seen during a tour of the George W. Bush Presidential Center - which will house the George W Bush library.

Related:

Star-Studded Political A-List Gathers for Bush Library Unveiling

George W Bush library to open as former President's popularity soars

Busts of presidential pets Barney and Miss Beazley at George W. Bush Library

U.S. Presidential Libraries

Bush 43 Portraits Hung in White House

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Friday, January 18, 2013

States’ refusal to establish exchanges could undo Obamacare

The Daily Caller:  The Obama administration is waiving the deadline for states to establish a health insurance exchange in accordance with Obamacare, reports The New York Times. But it should not be taken as a sign of deference to the states, or a willingness to be flexible; it should be taken as a sign of desperation.

The announcement is in fact an attempt by the administration to shore up the health care law’s inherent weaknesses and to cajole states into enacting a federal scheme. Contrary to what the feds now claim, the latest and most glaring weakness of Obamacare is that it was crafted to depend on states to establish health insurance exchanges. These exchanges are meant to be the vehicles for the distribution of tax credits and subsidies to buy qualified health insurance plans.

If a state refuses to set up an exchange, and so far 25 have refused,the federal government must step in and create one. However, the law does not authorize tax credits and subsidies to flow through federally created exchanges, only those created by states. An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rule issued in May 2012 attempted to fix this problem — initially dismissed as a “drafting error” — by extending credits and subsidies to federal exchanges and so-called “partnership exchanges,” which a number of states have indicated they will adopt.

But the law’s plain meaning, and Congress’ intent, cannot be swept aside by a rule issued by the IRS. Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is challenging the IRS in federal court over the rule and the case will likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. It has huge implications. If federal exchanges cannot facilitate tax credits and subsidies, they also cannot be used to impose penalties on employers that fail to comply with the law’s “employer mandate” — a fine of $2,000 per employee per year. States that refuse to set up an exchange could therefore shield thousands of their residents and small businesses from onerous federal taxes and penalties.

The Cato Institute’s Michael Cannon has made this argument forcefully and in great detail, and it seems to be gaining ground. Cannon, along with Jonathan Adler, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University, have authored what will likely be the definitive argument against the legality of the IRS rule in a forthcoming Health Matrix article.

They argue that once it became clear that a significant number of states were not going to set up exchanges, the IRS sought to fix the problem by regulatory decree. However, by stipulating that tax credits and subsidies would be available only through state-created exchanges, Congress sought to create an incentive for states to set up their own exchanges — because it could not simply order states to create them without overstepping constitutional boundaries. It seems that it did not occur to Obamacare’s authors that many states would simply refuse, or that offering tax credits and subsidies would not be sufficient inducement for them to comply. It was a gross miscalculation, and could mean the undoing of Obamacare.

Seen in this light, this week’s announcement by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius looks more like a plea to recalcitrant states to cooperate and set up exchanges so the feds won’t have to. Sebelius was supposed to determine by January 1 whether states were prepared to run an exchange, but she knew as far back as Nov. 15 that Texas, at least, would not establish one.

Waiving the deadline isn’t a deferential gesture by HHS to the states; it is the latest attempt by the federal government to deputize states into implementing federal policy, and a desperate attempt at that.

Texas and other states should remain steadfast in their resolve not to become tools for Washington, D.C. If the feds want Obamacare exchanges, let them set up those exchanges themselves. Americans would be much better off with weak federal exchanges than they would with the state-based exchanges Congress first envisioned in the law.

John Davidson is a policy analyst for the Center for Health Care Policy with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin. He may be reached at jdavidson@texaspolicy.com.  -  Cross-Posted at Ask Marion and at True Health Is True Wealth

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Sunday, January 6, 2013

Rally For Texas Independence in Austin!

Texans will gather at the NORTH steps of the Capitol in Austin on Tuesday, January 8th (the opening day of the 2013 Legislative session) at Noon to show their support for the freedom and independence of Texas and to show that all political power is STILL inherent in the people.

art1-sec2Texas Constitution, Article 1 Section 1: "Texas is a free and independent State, subject only to the Constitution of the United States, and the maintenance of our free institutions and the perpetuity of the Union depend upon the preservation of the right of local self-government, unimpaired to all the States."

Texas Constitution, Article 1 Section 2: "All political power is inherent in the PEOPLE..."

Texans will gather at the NORTH steps of the Capitol in Austin on Tuesday, January 8th (the opening day of the 2013 Legislative session) at Noon to show their support for the freedom and independence of Texas and to show that all political power is STILL inherent in the people.

We are calling on every Texan who supports the freedom and independence of Texas to rally up on the north side. Bring signs, Texas flags and flags from the Texas Revolution to show that we want our freedom and independence and we want the Legislature to answer the call of the people.

WE MUST BRING OVERWHELMING NUMBERS!

The TNM has attempted for months to obtain sponsorship for an OFFICIAL rally on the South Steps of the Capitol. However, due to the reluctance and hesitation of the "conservative" members of the Texas Legislature, the TNM and other groups that support Constitutional principles have been blocked out.

Instead, their foot dragging has allowed progressive groups to lock down the official rally space for January 8th. Rather than having Texans in support of Texas independence on the SOUTH steps, visitors to the Capitol will be treated to rallies held by groups that revere Van Jones and support illegal immigration.

We will not be deterred. We will be on the North side of the Capitol, exercising our right to peacefully assemble. We will be there as a visible sign that Texans are ready for freedom and independence and will stand against the destruction of our liberty.

Stay connected for more details as they are worked out.

TNM is fighting hard for you. Show up and support our efforts.

When

January 8th, 2013 12:00 PM

Location

1100 Congress Avenue
Austin, TX 78701
United States2 mi

Show map

Contact

Phone: 800-662-1836
Email: info@texasnationalist.com

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Thursday, December 13, 2012

Join Glenn Beck Tonight for His 2012 Family Christmas Special - 8pm EST

Video: Glenn Beck’s Family Christmas Special on the Blaze

Not a subscriber? Start your 14-day free trial now

On December 13th at 8pm ET, Glenn invites you into his home with family and friends to enjoy holiday music and touching stories. Watch the children in a real-life nativity play and find out how this year Glenn discovers the true meaning of Christmas. It’s a heartwarming Christmas special for the entire family. Then beginning at 9:30pm ET, stay tuned for American Traditions: Christmas — A look at what Christmas has meant to American families over the years, with appearances by Andy Williams, Peter Billingsley, Janine Turner, Ted Nugent and Santa Claus.

And, if you missed it, be sure to watch Glenn Beck’s Emotional Tribute To His Dog, Victor, who is very ill this Christmas season.

And continue joining us here for The War on Christmas verses the Spirit of Christmas Series at AskMarion, were are now on part 13 

I don't want much for Christmas, I just want the person reading this to be happy.
Friends are the fruit cake of life - some nutty, some soaked in alcohol, some sweet - but mix them together and they're my friends.

Merry Christmas and let us all take some time to remember the true Reason for the Season

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Monday, November 19, 2012

Republican governors decide against setting up ObamaCare insurance markets

Fox News  -  True Health Is True Wealth:

Video: Rick Perry on Neil Cavuto… Not Setting up ObamaCare Insurance Markets

Several Republican governors, in what could be their last symbolic stand against ObamaCare, announced Rick PerryFriday that they will not set up a state-based marketplace for selling health insurance.

A total of 20 states have now decided not to implement their own exchanges -- which could also mean increased costs for the federal government.

The governors of Wisconsin and Ohio joined Texas Gov. Rick Perry and others in confirming that they will not establish so-called "health insurance exchanges," which are set to launch in January 2014. Under the federal health care overhaul, these exchanges will act as virtual markets where people and small businesses can shop for private coverage in a regulated environment. Many will also be eligible for government subsidies.

The governors' move does not stop those exchanges from being implemented. Rather, it kicks the project back to the federal government to run with regard to those states. While a number of states, largely those run by Democrats, will establish their own exchanges, Republicans who declined argued that it wasn't worth the cost and resources to set up a marketplace that would be under the thumb of the federal government anyway.

"As long as the federal government has the ability to force unknown mandates and costs upon our citizens, while retaining the sole power in approving what an exchange looks like, the notion of a state exchange is merely an illusion," Perry wrote in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "It would not be fiscally responsible to put hard-working Texans on the financial hook for an unknown amount of money to operate a system under rules that have not even been written."

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said the same, writing in a letter to Sebelius Friday that "no matter which option is chosen, Wisconsin taxpayers will not have meaningful control over the health care policies and services sold to Wisconsin residents." With that in mind, he wrote, the state has decided not to build its own system. Ohio Gov. John Kasich echoed that point of view.

Republican governors have been largely opposed to the health care law anyway. But for months, they were effectively waiting to see if the Supreme Court would overturn it or whether Obama would lose re-election and potentially leave an opening to repeal it. Neither of those things happened.

Walker was among those who stopped implementation last year on the hopes the law would be overturned either by the U.S. Supreme Court or Republicans following the November election.

Thursday evening, the Obama administration responded to a request for more time from Republican governors on the exchange question by granting states a month's extension, until Dec. 14.

A few states have signaled they want to partner with the federal government, as opposed to running it themselves or handing the reins to Washington. Those states would handle consumer issues and oversight of health plans in the exchanges, while the feds do the heavy lifting by enrolling individuals for coverage and determining who's eligible for government assistance. Among these states are Arkansas and North Carolina.

The number of partnership states could grow significantly, since the Obama administration has given states until next February to decide on that option.

Obama's election victory virtually guaranteed the survival of his health care law, which is eventually expected to provide coverage to more than 30 million people through the exchanges and expanded Medicaid programs. It was the final hurdle, after the Supreme Court upheld a legal challenge from 26 states. In the aftermath of the election, some Republican state leaders say it's time to accept the law.

"I don't like it; I would not vote for it; I think it needs to be repealed. But it is the law," said Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, after announcing that his state wants to set up its own exchange. "If you default to the federal government, you forever give the keys to the state's health insurance market to the federal government."

Traditionally, states have regulated the private health insurance market.

But other Republican-led states say they don't have enough information to make a decision at this point and are clamoring for the Obama administration to release major regulations that have been bottled up for months.

"States are struggling with many unanswered questions and are not able to make comprehensive far-reaching decisions prudently," Govs. Bob McDonnell of Virginia and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana wrote Obama earlier this week. They asked for a meeting with the president, as well as a postponement of the original Nov. 16 deadline.

Some of their main concerns are hidden costs of operating the exchanges and the sheer bureaucratic complexity of the new system. The Obama administration has steadfastly maintained it will not postpone the Jan. 1, 2014, launch date for the law's coverage expansion. Open enrollment for exchange plans will begin even sooner, Oct. 1, 2013.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related: 

Rick Perry: 'Another federal power grab'

Perry may not have last say on health care

Medical giant Stryker cuts 1,170 jobs, citing ObamaCare

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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Romney Wins Texas and Clinches GOP Nomination

Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination last night (Tuesday) with a win in the Texas primary, officially garnering the 1,144 delegates needed to claim the Republican presidential nomination.  It was a triumph of endurance for the candidate who came up short four years ago and had to fight hard this year as voters flirted with a carousel of GOP rivals, all slugging it out and scratching to reach the prize.

Romney

According to The Associated Press count, Romney surpassed the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination by winning at least 97 delegates in the Texas primary.

The former Massachusetts governor has reached the nomination milestone with a steady message of concern about the U.S. economy, a campaign organization that dwarfed those of his GOP foes and a fundraising operation second only to that of his Democratic opponent in the general election, President Barack Obama.

Romney is the first Mormon nominated by a major party. His religion has been somewhat less of an issue than it was during his failed bid four years ago; perhaps because the economy is on the forefront of everyone’s mind.  Plus many question President Obama’s honesty about his religion, so believe a Mormon is a definite improvement over a Reverend Wright style Christian or perhaps a closet Muslim.

"We did it!" Romney proclaimed in a message to supporters, noting that "it's only the beginning."

Romney was not in Texas, however, but in Las Vegas at a major fundraiser hosted by supporter Donald Trump.

Romey and Trump

"An honor and a privilege and a great responsibility," Romney told supporters at a fundraiser in Las Vegas. "And I know the road to 1,144 was long and hard, but I also know that the road to 11-06…  Nov. 6th… is also going to be long and it's going to be hard and it's going to be worth it because we're going to take back the White House and get America right again."

Romney with Vets in Craig CO - Memorial Day

Romney thanks troops in new campaign video

Romney must now fire up those conservatives who still doubt him while persuading swing voters that he can do a better job fixing the nation's struggling economy than Obama. In Obama, he faces a well-funded candidate with a proven campaign team, but in his favor, in an election year that will be heavily influenced by the negative economy… Obama’s economy.

Romney's campaign went on the attack Tuesday, releasing a Web video citing the Obama administration's loan-guarantee investments in four renewable-energy firms that lost money and laid off workers.

The message, "President Obama is fundamentally hostile to job creators",  has been a theme of the Romney campaign since he launched his presidential bid. But sensing this as an opportunity to reach a new audience, the campaign planned to highlight Obama's support for the failed renewable energy company Solyndra, among other private ventures the Obama administration helped support.

"We need to have presidents who understand how this economy works," Romney told reporters Tuesday. "Sometimes I just don't think he understands what it takes to help people. I know he wants to help, but he doesn't know what he's got to do."

Romney's message and his big day, however, were somewhat overshadowed by real estate mogul Donald Trump and his discredited suggestions that Obama wasn't born in the United States.  Course others were cheering that Trump had the guts to say it.

Romney spent Tuesday evening at a Las Vegas fundraiser with Trump, who had toyed with the idea of running for president earlier in the election season. Romney says he believes Obama was born in America but has yet to condemn Trump's repeated insinuations to the contrary.

Both Trump and Romney steered clear of the issue at Tuesday's, said to have been successful, fundraiser. (Coincidentally, Romney officially released his birth certificate yesterday.)

When asked Monday about Trump's contentions, Romney said, "I don't agree with all the people who support me. And my guess is they don't all agree with everything I believe in." He added, "But I need to get 50.1 percent or more. And I'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people."

"He's going to turn this country around. He's going to create jobs like you haven't seen for many, many years," Trump declared. "We were a great country. Soon we won't be a great country at all... Mitt Romney will make us a great country again."  Later in the evening Trump told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, “Romney understands what needs to be done with China!”

Republicans won't officially nominate Romney until late August at the GOP national convention in Tampa, Florida. At latest count, Romney now has 1,183 convention delegates.

He won at least 97 delegates in Texas with 33 left to be decided. The 152 delegates in Texas are awarded in proportion to the statewide vote. The other delegates were sprinkled among several candidates.

Texas Republicans also voted in a Senate primary to choose a candidate to run for the seat being vacated by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state Solicitor General Ted Cruz were headed to a runoff in July.

With about three-fourths of precincts reporting, Dewhurst led with 45 percent of the vote compared to 33 percent for Cruz. Dewhurst, however, fell short of the majority he needed to avoid a runoff. The nominee will be strongly favored to win in November in heavily Republican Texas.

Romney, 65, is clinching the presidential nomination later in the calendar than any recent Republican candidate, but not quite as late as Obama in 2008. Obama clinched the Democratic nomination on June 3, 2008, at the end of an epic primary battle with now Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Four years ago, John McCain reached the delegate threshold on March 4, after Romney dropped out of the race about a month earlier.

This year's primary fight was extended by a back-loaded primary calendar because of new GOP rules that generally awarded fewer delegates for winning a state, changes they seemed to regret as the campaign bogged down.  Plus the Republican electorate seemed to enjoy extending the battle before settling on Romney.

Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and yes… Donald Trump all sat at the top the Republican field at some point. Minnesota Rep. And at one point early on, Ron Paul also appeared to have the ability to secure the top spot for a short time.  But Romney outlasted them all, even as some GOP voters and tea party backers questioned his conservative credentials.

The primary race started in January with Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, narrowly edging Romney in the Iowa caucuses. Romney rebounded with a big win in New Hampshire before Gingrich, the former House speaker, won South Carolina.

Romney responded with a barrage of negative ads against Gingrich in Florida and got a much-needed 14-point win. Romney's opponents fought back: Gingrich called him a liar, and Santorum said Romney was "the worst Republican in the country" to run against Obama.

Gingrich and Santorum assailed Romney's work at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he co-founded, saying the firm sometimes made millions at the expense of workers and jobs. It is a line of attack that Obama has promised to carry all the way to November.

On Feb. 7 Santorum swept all three contests in Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota, raising questions about Romney's status as the front-runner. After a 17-day break in the voting, Romney responded with wins in Arizona, Michigan and Washington state before essentially locking up the nomination on March 6, this year's version of Super Tuesday.

Romney has already been in general-election mode for weeks, raising money and focusing on Obama, largely ignoring the primaries since his competitors dropped out or stopped campaigning. Santorum suspended his campaign April 10, and Gingrich left the race a few weeks later.  Texas Rep. Ron Paul said on May 14 he would no longer compete in primaries, though his supporters are still working to gain national delegates at state conventions.

Both Santorum and Gingrich initially offered tepid endorsements of Romney as the left the race but Gingrich is now actively promoting Romney's campaign.

Among those in the crowd in Vegas last night: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who joined his former rival on the trail for the first time since dropping his own bid for the Republican nomination last month.

While Gingrich didn't speak at the fundraiser, he talked to reporters ahead of the event, defending Romney's muted reaction to Trump's birther conspiracies.

"Gov. Romney is not distracted, the Republican Party is not distracted. We believe this is an American-born, job-killing president," Gingrich told reporters, per the Los Angeles Times. "Other people may believe that he was born somewhere else and still kills jobs, but that's an argument over background. The key fact is for any American worried about the economy, Obama is a job-killing president."

Rich Galen, a Republican strategist who has been unaligned in the 2012 race thus far, said the long, sometimes nasty primary fight should have helped Romney fine-tune his campaign organization so it can operate effectively in the general election. Galen doesn't, however, think it was relevant in toughening up Romney for the battle against Obama.  Not quite sure how that follows, but we shall see!

"Romney's been running for president for six years. He is as good a candidate as he's ever going to be," Galen said. "Whatever you say about him, he was better than everybody else in the race."

So the general now officially begins!  Game on….

Romney Meeting and Greeting

Romney’s official announcement sent out to his online supporters:

Friend,

Tonight, we surpassed 1,144 delegates and secured the nomination. I am grateful and humbled by your support through this process. We did it!

This has been an extraordinary journey. And yet it's only the beginning.

Now all Republicans can move forward toward our convention in Tampa. There, we will stand united as a party with a winning ticket for America. Ours will be a campaign to unite every American who knows in his or her heart that we can do better.

There's much to be done by November 6th - but with your help, we will get it done!

Thank you for standing with me.
Mitt Romney

___

h/t to AP writer Steve Peoples contribution to this report, reporting from Las Vegas. Photo credits to: the Arizona Daily Star

Related:

Romney Should Seek a Big Win

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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Ron Paul ends his hunt for votes

Photo by: Robert F. Bukaty - **FILE** Republican presidential candidate and Texas Rep. Ron Paul speaks Feb. 11, 2012, to his supporters following his loss in the Maine caucus to Mitt Romney, in Portland, Maine. (Associated Press)

By Stephen Dinan  -  The Washington Times

Rep. Ron Paul said Monday he will not compete in Republican primaries in any of the states that have not yet voted — essentially ending the 2012 primary season and leaving the path open for Mitt Romney to win the GOP presidential nomination.

Mr. Paul said he will still try to win over delegates in states where the voting is done but where state conventions are still picking representatives to the Republican nominating convention in Tampa, Fla., in August. But the Texas congressman and three-time presidential hopeful said he’s done actively trying to win over voters themselves in the 11 primaries still ahead.

“Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted,” Mr. Paul said in a statement from his campaign. “Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have.”

That move leaves Mr. Romney as the only man actively seeking the Republican nomination, having outlasted a half-dozen opponents over the last four months of voting. The former Massachusetts governor is still shy of the number of delegates needed to win the nomination, but is expected to easily collect those in upcoming votes in Texas, California and nine other states still to hold primaries.

Mr. Romney’s campaign did not return a message seeking comment, but the push to win over Paul supporters is already under way in other circles. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary E. Johnson, the Libertarian Party’s nominee, said he’ll pick up Mr. Paul’s torch heading into the election.

“You can’t suspend liberty,” said Mr. Johnson, who had initially tried to win the Republican nomination before dropping out to join the Libertarians. “The Ron Paul revolution must continue, whether he is actively campaigning or not. His message must be a part of the conversation leading to November.”

Mr. Paul is retiring at the end of this term in the House. But he has already bequeathed his political movement to his son, freshman Sen. Rand Paul, who rode voter dissatisfaction to victory in a Republican primary and then in the general election in Kentucky in 2010.

The 2012 campaign marked Mr. Paul’s third run for the White House, following a 1988 campaign as the Libertarian Party’s nominee and then his 2008 bid for the Republican nomination.

That unorthodox 2008 campaign rewrote the manual on Internet fundraising and attracted Americans who had been alienated by much of the political process but were attracted to Mr. Paul’s message of limited government bound more strictly to original constitutional intent.

His rallies attracted supporters dressed as Colonial soldiers, and “Don’t tread on me” flags became staples of his appearances, well before they would become a part of the anti-Washington tea party movement in the 2010 elections.

“Ron Paul presaged the tea party movement, and many of his supporters fueled the tea party and its 2010 victories, not least that of his own son. That is one major impact. Another is Paul’s ability to attract young people, a feat few in the GOP have been able to duplicate in recent years,” said University of Virginia political scientist Larry J. Sabato.

Still, Mr. Sabato said, Mr. Paul’s stances on foreign policy and on drug legalization were unacceptable to too many Republican voters for him to have gone further within the party.

Mr. Paul briefly surged late last year, topping the polls in Iowa ahead of that state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses. His third-place showing also seemed to leave him poised to make a run.

But that never materialized.

He ends his active campaigning without having won the popular vote in any state — though he did end up with the most bound delegates in Maine, thanks to his delegate-maximizing strategy.

According to the latest tally by the Associated Press, Mr. Romney has 966 delegates of the 1,144 needed to win the nomination. Mr. Paul has 104 delegates.

More than 700 delegates are still available across the 11 states still to hold primaries, and Mr. Romney is now virtually assured of collecting the bulk of them and clinching the nomination.

Throughout the campaign, Mr. Paul has said his lower vote totals would be countered by his supporters’ enthusiasm, particularly in states that hold caucuses.

In many of those states, the initial caucuses amounted to nonbinding straw polls, with the real delegate-selection process for the Tampa convention happening at regional and state meetings. Mr. Paul’s supporters have been more likely to show up at those meetings and win the delegate slots.

Now Mr. Paul will rely on trying to maximize delegates at the few states that have yet to choose their final delegates to the national convention, such as Washington and Missouri. He can also try to win over support of delegates who were bound to Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum — two former candidates who have suspended their campaigns.

“Our campaign will continue to work in the state convention process. We will continue to take leadership positions, win delegates, and carry a strong message to the Republican National Convention that liberty is the way of the future,” Mr. Paul said.

Many of Mr. Paul’s supporters argue he can still win the nomination, pointing to his success in having his supporters elected as delegates to the convention.

But most of those delegates are actually bound by the results of the primaries and conventions to vote for another candidate in the first round of voting. Most delegates’ personal views won’t come into play unless no candidate wins on the first ballot.

Related:

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Via con Dios Ron Paul

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Paul aide: Don’t look for a Romney endorsement  - We shall see!?!

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Thursday, May 10, 2012

Austin Steals Elderly Veteran’s House for Crime of Having Fallout Shelter

Kurt Nimmo - Infowars.com - May 9, 2012 – h/t to MJ

The city of Austin, Texas, was looking for an excuse to steal Joe Del Rio’s modest home. It found one – it insisted he had a “bunker” beneath the house.

Actually, it was a fallout shelter built during the Cold War, something millions of Americans were encouraged to build by the federal government, beginning in 1961 under the Community Fallout Shelter Program.

The city began its theft by sending the code enforcement team to Mr. Del Rio’s home early one Saturday morning in May of 2010. After the retired Air Force reservist, Vietnam veteran, and former state employee put on some clothes and opened the door, he was rushed by an Austin Police SWAT team. He was detained and interrogated over a period of ten hours.

Neighbors were told to evacuate and the home was searched for more than four hours as emergency personnel staged units nearby. Cops found several weapons and 55-gallon drums they considered suspicious. There was nothing sinister about the drums and the legal weapons were returned to Del Rio after the cops examined them.

See Video: Here

Authorities accused Del Rio of having a bunker beneath his house. “The code officers went out to investigate it and the individual was fairly cooperative and showed them what he had been working on, which turned out to be a multi-level underground structure,” Doug Matthews, director of communications for the City of Austin, told the Statesman.

Matthews said the city “had some concerns about the structural integrity of the building and the contents of what was down there,” but this turned out to be a pretext for what would come – not only the wholesale theft of the house, but also socking Del Rio with a bill for $90,000 after the city sued him and then poured 264 tons of concrete into the “bunker” and put up a fence around the perimeter. It yanked the meter off the house, making it uninhabitable.

But this was not the end of Mr. Del Rio’s nightmarish ordeal. The city then condemned the house and took possession of it without paying a single cent in compensation. The elderly Vietnam War veteran was handed over to Adult Protective Services since he is a senior citizen and made homeless, thanks to the government of Austin.

“In my opinion, they wanted my property to start with, and this was a way to take my property away from me,” Del Rio said this week. “The ordeal they put me through was unnecessary. I’ve gotten the runaround. I think they want the property. Condemning it is a cheap way to get it.”

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Friday, January 6, 2012

ICE – Deporting American Citizens and Displaying Massive Incompetence

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Well, ICE surely screwed the pooch on the case of Jakadrien Lorece Turner. Jakadrien ran away from home in 2010 at the age of 14. She’s from Houston, TX where she lived with her mom and her step-father. Her grandmother and mother say that they were a very close family and they cannot figure out why she ran away. Her grades had been slipping and some of her privileges were taken away, so there may be a reason to be found there.

In 2011, Jakadrien was arrested for shoplifting in Houston, TX and at that time claimed to be someone she was not – Tika Lanay Cortez, a Colombian woman born in 1990. As I understand it, she claimed to be this woman who is a 22 year old illegal alien from Colombia. This is where you just can’t wrap your head around all this… ICE says they performed bio-metric tests on the girl matching her iris’, fingerprints and DNA to the illegal alien. Really? Seriously? I understand the girl kept insisting on the identity, but when the bio-metric info. didn’t match, did you just decide to lie to get this case off your desk or in fact, did you never perform the tests? Because it’s one of the two.

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Obviously, you didn’t get any id off the girl, or if you did, you did not do your due diligence and verify the validity of it. She looks like a little girl, not a 22 year old. So what happened? She was deported to Colombia with the assistance of ICE, the State Department and the NSA.The NSA got her documents drawn up (obviously fake), so she could live and work there as a maid and at a call center, among other things.

According to the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the girl was enrolled in the country’s “Welcome Home” program after she arrived there. She was given shelter, psychological assistance and a job at a call center, a statement from the agency said. When the Colombian government discovered she was a U.S. citizen, it put her under the care of a welfare program, the statement said.

And…

The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Jakadrien was issued travel documents at the request of the U.S. National Security Agency and with information submitted by U.S. officials. Colombian officials are investigating what kind of verification was conducted by its Houston consulate to issue the temporary passport.

There was just one Fed here that was incompetent and screwed up, there was a whole chain of them. This girl would have disappeared if her grandmother had not become obsessed and demanded the Dallas Police Department find her. Which they did in conjunction with the Colombian government after looking for her for some time. She may be coming home soon after being down there for a year. She’s pregnant – that should be looked into, seriously. Even if it was consensual, she’s a minor. And the government is making noises of charging the child with claiming a false identity. Kids do stupid things, but evidently, ICE is even dumber and can’t do their job. They are great in letting illegal immigrants run rampant in our country breaking our laws etc., but they are Johnny On The Spot when it comes to deporting American citizens (especially minors).

I read some of the girl’s Facebook postings. Jakadrien seems to live in a fantasy land and may need psychological help. Recently, she has begged to come home. This whole time she has been working menial jobs and has not been in school. She is staying with God-knows-who and has been through the wringer. While ICE is deporting American citizens and displaying massive incompetence, I hope the girl’s family is retaining a great attorney who sues the government for all they are worth. This is one suit I could get behind in a heartbeat.

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton - the NoisyRoom

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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Thousands Rally to Save Nativity Scene

As many as 5,000 attended a rally in a small Texas community to show their support for a Nativity scene under attack by a Wisconsin-based atheist group, according to a minister who organized the event.

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“We are humbled at the turnout of the crowd,” said Nathan Lorick, the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Malakoff and one of the organizers of Saturday’s rally in Athens.

“We believe that God led us to do this and so we knew he was up to something great,” he told Fox News & Commentary in an email message. “This message is resonating in the hearts of people all over the country. This was a real statement to the nation that Christians are tired of the persecution and suppression. We want all to know that we are ready to contend for the faith.”

Video: Henderson County Nativity Rally crowd

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a group based in Wisconsin, sent a letter to Henderson County explaining that a local resident had complained and they wanted the Nativity removed from the courthouse lawn.

The FFRF alleged that the Nativity sent a message of intimidation and exclusion to non-Christians.

But their attack prompted a tremendous outcry not just in Henderson County, but across the nation.

The Texas Attorney General offered to defend the county in the event the atheists sued, arguing that the county has no legal obligation to remove the Nativity scene from the courthouse grounds.

“Our message to the atheists is don’t mess with Texas and our Nativity scenes or the Ten Commandments,” Attorney General Greg Abbott told Fox News & Commentary. “I want the Freedom From Religion Foundation to know that our office has a history of defending religious displays in this state.”

Attorney General Abbott said the organization is trying to “bully local governmental bodies” and he said he wanted to make sure Henderson County knows “there is a person, a lawyer and an organization in this state that has their back, that has the law, that has the muscle and firepower to go toe-to-toe with these organizations that come from out of state trying to bully governmental bodies into tearing down things like Nativity scenes.”

Pastor Lorick said Saturday’s rally was peaceful and included speeches, patriotic music, Christmas carols and prayers. Nevertheless, he said they intended to send a message to the nation.

Video:  Nativity Rally for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Looking down on the rally outside the Henderson County Courthouse in Athens, TX

By Todd Starnes/TWITTER

The Digital Story of Nativity… Very Creative

Digital Story of the Nativity

Video: The Digital Story of Nativity… Very Creative

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZrf0PbAGSk

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Posted at  Just One More Pet or Ask Marion – h/t to Alex Piacenza

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