WE NEED TO FILL OUR REPUBLICAN JUDGE & ALTERNATE JUDGE POSITIONS BY THE END OF THIS MONTH!

via Dr. Rosemary Edwards, Chairman | January 31, 2012 | Travis County Republican Party

Soon, any Republican vacancies will be filled by the Travis County Elections Division…with DEMOCRATS!  Please help us by signing up to work the Primary and by forwarding this email to your contacts, posting it on Facebook, and Tweeting about it.  If you have already signed up to be a judge or alternate judge, thank you, and we appreciate your assistance.

NOTE:  Since this is a Primary Election, we need BOTH, an Election Judge and an Alternate Judge, from the Republican Party in each and every precinct.

To sign up to work the Primary, please click the link below to fill out our Election Worker form.  We particularly need Spanish-speaking election workers.  If you speak Spanish, please add “(Spanish)” after your name.  If you have any trouble accessing the link, please email and let us know and we can send you the form as an attachment.  You may also call the office.

If your precinct positions have been filled, please consider working in your general area.

Confirmed Judges/Alternate Judges by Precinct:

http://traviscountygop.org/2012-primary-judges 

Election Worker Form:

http://traviscountygop.org/tcrp-election-judge-alternate-application-form 

Phone: (512) 302-1776  Fax:  (512) 615-4737

Email:  elections.TCRP@gmail.com

Mail:  7901 Cameron Rd, Ste 3-202, Austin, TX  78754

Thank you, and we sincerely appreciate your dedication to the Party.

The Primary Elections Team, Travis County Republican Party

Allen West, that is. Yesterday this:

Florida GOP Tries to Write Out Allen West - RushLimbaugh.com

and this:

Uploaded by MrTimotheus85 on Jan 30, 2012

Mark Levin: “If you wind up losing your seat then I’m going to come down there if you want and do a fund raiser for you. If you wind up losing your seat I’m going to track down who exactly drew up this map and I’m going to make it my business to make their names nationally known and try and defeat them. I don’t give a damn who they are.” 

Today:

Breaking News – Allen West to Run for Re-Election in Different Congressional District

The Shark Tank has learned that Congressman Tom Rooney has announced that he is running for re-election to Congress in one of Florida’s two newly created congressional districts, and that Congressman Allen West will run for re-election in Congressman Rooney’s 16th Congressional District.

The speculation will now begin as to which Republican will run in Allen West’s 22nd Congressional District.  It is possible that either George LeMieux or Adam Hanser could abandon their Senate candidacies and run in the district, as both are from the area.  The possibility exists that other current candidates for Congress in adjoining congressional districts could enter the fray as well.

SW: A succinct description of this baroque chess move is here. Mark Levin explains what happened here in tonight’s first segment.

The City of Austin and Austin Energy seem to be getting rather nervous as they learn that citizens are questioning their proposed rate increases on electricity. After all, being a monopoly they merely assumed that they could follow their predilections and suck more blood – er, I mean increase rates as they saw fit. The opinions and protests of those being sucked dry was never a concern. Indeed, AE made sure to arrange things so that no one really knew about the $100 million slush fund taken from electricity revenues. And people outside the city limits were unable to vote for council members what to speak of influence policy. Can you say, “Taxation without representation”?

Now it seems that citizens are getting ready to put together a petition to – get this – have an independent board review the proposed increases. AE is shaking in their boots. They have already postponed their original date for announcing fee hikes. Do you think if they found out citizens were having talks with other electricity providers that it would have any effect on them?  Just asking.

TAKE ACTION***

Be sure to read the first link to Dick Brown’s Statesman article here, and sign up at www.aerateprotest.com to help sign the petition when the time comes.

We Can Stop the 23% Rate Increase!

via AE Rate Protest  | January 31, 2012 

STATESMAN COLUMN EXPLAINS POSITION OF OUT-OF-CITY AE CUSTOMERS

HURF’s Dick Brown’s statement published on the editorial page of today’s Statesman (1/30), denouncing the excessive—and punitive –rate increase proposed by Austin Energy, and admonishing the City to stop adding a 15% surcharge (taxation-without-representation) to the electric bills of out-of-city ratepayers and using the proceeds to fund services for Austin residents at our expense.

LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER SHARES OUR PERSPECTIVE WITH LAWMAKERS

Dick’s Austin Statesman statement (see above) was carried today by the Quorum Report (www.quorumreport.com, subscription required) in its “News CLIPS” section.  The Quorum Report is a daily journal of events relating to state government.  It is read by thousands of legislators and other state officials, legislative staff, lobbyists and others interested in state and local politics.

For this to be circulated around state legislative circles is a great thing for us and a not-good thing for Austin Energy.

AE TRANSFERS TO THE CITY HIGHLIGHTED IN SUNDAY STATESMAN ARTICLE

This article, in the Sunday (1/29) edition of the Austin American Statesman lays out many of the issues surrounding the $178M annual transfer to the city General Fund, and other non-utility uses. HURF’s Dick Brown is quoted in the article.

Highlights:

Leffingwell has floated the idea of two rate structures: one for customers inside the city and a lower one for customers outside it. He has not proposed specifics.  Brown, the lobbyist opposed to the rate increase, said customers outside the city should get at least a 15 percent discount, which he says is Austin Energy’s markup to pay for activities outside its core business.  Brown said he expects no trouble securing the approximately 2,500 signatures necessary to have a rate increase reviewed by the state.

STATESMAN URGES CONSIDERATIONS FOR OUTSIDE-THE-CITY RATEPAYERS

See the editorial here.  Here’s a highlight:

While we’re on the topic of equity, it’s time to get real about how Austin Energy treats its customers who live outside the city. Certainly, they benefit from services provided by Austin Energy earnings, such as city libraries, parks, street maintenance, arts programs and safety-net services. But those customers don’t enjoy the full range of benefits of residents who live inside the city, including lower taxes because of cash transfers from the utility.

As a group, they make up 55,121 of Austin Energy customers, about 13 percent of the utility’s customer base. But they wield political clout beyond those numbers in a Republican-controlled Legislature. Their understandable dissatisfaction with an arrangement that essentially holds them hostage to Austin’s utility market is strengthening the case for deregulation. There are ways to address that inequity, and we’re glad the mayor is recommending a rate structure in which those customers pay less for power than Austin residents. That is a fair approach.  [emphasis added]. Others are suggesting that those customers be permitted to opt out of Austin Energy’s market.

UPDATED GRAPH COMPARES PROPOSED AE TOTAL RATES TO COMPETITION

The following graph shows how Austin Energy’s proposed new rates stack up against current rates of five competitive retail electric provider (REPs) that serve the Round Rock area. The monthly bills of AE’s customers escalate sharply after 1000 kWh of consumption due to the utility’s “progressive” rate structure. REPs, however, charge the same rate for each kWh over 1000, regardless of consumption.  All rates shown are inclusive, all-in rates.  Austin Energy rates are based on Austin Energy’s online rate calculator.  Click on the image to enlarge.

Keep Spreading the Word

The more emails we have on our list at www.aerateprotest.com, the faster start we will have in gathering petitions when the time comes.  Also, “like” our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/aerateprotest, and you’ll get updates on what’s happening right on your own Facebook news feed page.

With access to previous audio and video footage it has become clear to me that Mitt Romney is lying about an awful lot of things. It also seems obvious that the more he lies, the easier it gets for him. I wonder how many voters are of this opinion. My question is does he know we know he’s lying? And will he get to the Obama stage where he knows we know he knows we know he’s lying?

—–

The inherent virtue of a bureaucracy is that no one is responsible for anything. This was brought home to me again when I received a letter from Paul Workman explaining about his stance on banning sanctuary cities  during the 82nd Texas legislature. After pointing out that he co-authored the bill because he believed the federal government “abdicated its responsibilities relating to immigration enforcement” and that he voted for the bill after hours of debate, he says “Unfortunately, it never passed the House State Affairs Committee and never came to the floor for a vote.” Thank you for contacting me, please stay in touch blah blah blah.

So it’s nobody’s fault, it just happened to turn out that way? No mention of Todd Hunter who was the chairman of the Calendar committee – who scored a whopping 40% conservative rating by Eagle Forum. As an appointee of Speaker Joe Straus Hunter was able to see to it that certain things didn’t get scheduled. No mention whether or not Workman or any of the other 99 house members had a clue that this was going to be the deal so, okay, go ahead and vote for it so your constituents will think you’re a good guy. Workman is on the Business and Industry committee and has a background in the construction industry. Did he really not know that the bill would never get scheduled for a vote and the “undocumented Democrat” worker pool would remain untouched? Just asking. And all I ever heard from Todd “Kill the Bill” Hunter was when he tweeted stuff like this:

Todd Hunter @toddahunter

I’m at Starbucks (7105 N Navarro, Victoria) 4sq.com/wIwJuK

Michael Reagan talks about how Newt Gingrich has worked to uphold his father’s legacy. Both Reagan and Levin were there during the Reagan administration. Interesting perspective to help combat hearsay and half truths promulgated by the self interested.

Uploaded by MrTimotheus85 on Jan 30, 2012

Same as it ever was. First this.

Uploaded by ReasonTV on Oct 28, 2010

Hat tip pookie18.

Media Blackout in Obama Georgia Ballot Eligibility Case

By Cindy Simpson | January 30, 2012 | American Thinker

Last week, I noted that Obama turned his back not just on Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer, but also on the laws of the State of Georgia.  I closed my column, “Georgia Ballot Challenge: Obama Walks on By,” with the observation: “And most of the media has followed along right behind him.”

At the time, I had just witnessed an historic hearing that actually discussed the eligibility of the sitting president of the United States to run for a second term.  The president had been subpoenaed to appear, and instead of his attorney respectfully following protocol to have that subpoena recalled, both Obama and his attorney, Michael Jablonski, simply failed to show up at all or offer any defense whatsoever.

Isn’t there a headline in there somewhere?

The hearing proceeded as planned, even though the table for the defense was empty.  Attorneys Van Irion and J. Mark Hatfield presented their cases first and offered compelling arguments — not regarding Obama’s birthplace, but rather that the non-U.S. citizenship of Obama’s father precluded Obama’s “natural born” eligibility under the Constitution and existing Supreme Court precedent.  Attorney Orly Taitz, however, did present interesting evidence that questioned the validity of Obama’s birth certificate and questions surrounding his Social Security number.

When the hearing ended, the media in attendance almost literally pounced on Taitz.  Irion and Hatfield and their clients had left the premises earlier, while Taitz was still presenting her case; however, Irion asserted to me that not one member of the press stopped them on their way out.  Doubtless the media did not want to discuss the law — they’d rather write their usual stories on the birth certificate and interview the one they’ve dubbed the “birther queen.”

Attorney Taitz handled herself well, even though the press taunted her with rudeness and leading questions she has doubtless experienced many times.

Read it all.

FULL ANALYSIS OF OBAMA ELIGIBILITY HEARING By Craig Andresen on January 26, 2012 at 2:09 pm

For the first time, this morning in Georgia, the question of Obama’s eligibility to serve, became official. No longer the stuff of speculation, no longer dismissible by liberals as something which will never be heard in court, Obama’s eligibility became a matter of an official court record.

What does it mean?

To answer that, one must look at the reason for the hearing to begin with.

For years, Orly Taitz and the Liberty Legal Foundation along with others, have questioned Obama’s legal right to serve. For years, that argument centered on the birth certificate and whether or not Obama was born in the United States.

What made this case and this hearing different, is that it mattered not where Obama was born rather, at the center of the stage, would be the nationality of Obama’s father.

Obama’s father was never a U.S. Citizen and a great deal of evidence to that point was entered  into the official record this morning.

Another linchpin in all of this, is the definition of “Natural Born Citizen” which one must be, by writ of the Constitution, to hold the office of President. According to the plaintiffs in this hearing, that definition can be clearly found in the written opinion of the United States Supreme Court in the case of Minor vs Happersett from 1875.

That opinion, which by the way is backed up by several other Supreme Court opinions, states that for one to be a “Natural Born Citizen” both of one’s parents must be U.S. Citizens.

Read the rest.  If the link doesn’t seem to work, try again. I had trouble accessing it earlier. Coincidence?

In this interview one of the things Kevin Jackson points out is that Newt Gingrich’s candidacy throws a curve ball to the left as far as one of the latter’s favorite tactics is concerned, namely demanding that the opponent live up to his moral principles or shut up. It reminded me of an excerpt from DiscoverTheNetworks entry on Saul Alinsky:

Among the most vital tenets of Alinsky’s method were the following:

• “Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more live up to their own rules than the Christian Church can live up to Christianity.”[75]
• “No organization, including organized religion, can live up to the letter of its own book. You can club them to death with their ‘book’ of rules and regulations.”[76] …

Alinsky taught that in order to most effectively cast themselves as defenders of moral principals and human decency, organizers must react with “shock, horror, and moral outrage” whenever their targeted enemy in any way misspeaks or fails to live up to his “book of rules.”[78]Moreover, said Alinsky, whenever possible the organizer must deride his enemy and dismiss him as someone unworthy of being taken seriously because he is either intellectually deficient or morally bankrupt.

Uploaded by theblacksphere01 on Jan 29, 2012

You’ve got to watch this video. Ladies and gentleman, Rep. Allen West. He speaks for me. Hat tip The Blaze.

Uploaded by PalinGrifter2012 on Jan 28, 2012

Image: Afrocityblog.wordpress.com

What does a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine look like after he has given everything he’s got in him? Ask a Wounded Warrior.

But did you know that there is an important initiative that is helping these men take the pieces, slowly put them back together again and actually get career placement?

“Operation Guardian” is a program that began in October 2011 that has already made an amazing difference in the seven Wounded Warriors who have already been placed. I’ve been told they just brought on a Wounded Warrior this week who is from Lubbock, Texas along with four or five others who are awaiting placement. Many more Wounded Warriors and their families need to know about this.

Here is the story of SGT Andrew Goodrich, USMC from Camp Lejeune. He is currently an intern in “Operation Warfighter Initiative” working in DC with the National Park Service. Listen as he describes what it’s like to return to civilian worklife.

(Audio slideshow produced by Michael O’Connell/Federal News Radio)

Uploaded by FedNewsRadio on Jan 18, 2012

 Anita our embedded Texan in D.C. writes:

He is such an amazing young man who has overcome so much in his 25 young, hard years. He is an inspiration and a true blessing to everyone who has the fortune to have contact with him.

He struggles everyday, but makes amazing progress each day, never complains, just keeps moving forward, one step at time.

Andrew’s official title is  “Operation Guardian Program Manager, Special Assistant to the Chief’s of Law Enforcement, Security, and Emergency Services.” He goes to Walter Reed/Bethesda with his Service Dog -” Charity,” a K-9 ranger – to give those Wounded Warriors the inspiration, and support to move forward with their lives. He is also hard on those Wounded Warriors who need to be told to “Get off your ass! Stop feeling sorry for yourself! So what you are a Wounded Warrior, so am I, Get over it”!

He keeps his Blackberry by his side 24 hours a day, so that he is available to his Wounded Warriors all across the country. They know they can count on him when they need a Marine who has been right where they are now in their lives. He has such a passion with what he is doing, and true empathy for Our Wounded Warriors, and the ‘Need to Give Back’.

Operation Guardian provides Wounded Warriors with a new career path that enables them to move forward in their lives with the dignity and honor they have earned.

What you can do to help

Please share this with your congressman. You can make him aware of what is available for our Wounded Warriors here in Texas, as well as across the United States. Andrew and the others need to have his support and understanding, as this program is in its infancy.

Hat tip Anita Ross, RN, CLNC, Disability Advocate for Wounded Warriors

———————–

Hat tip Swami Bob.

via Lou Ann Anderson | January 25, 2012

Despite no firm date for the Texas primary, the election cycle is underway with anticipation of a politically-charged 2012.  To educate citizens about the process, an activist training session and a candidate training session are scheduled 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, at the Belton La Quinta, I-35 at West Loop 121 (exit 292).  Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.  The event, sponsored by American Majority and Americans for Prosperity- Texas, will equip residents of Bell and surrounding counties with the tools necessary to win elections and promote limited government and free market principles.

“Helping new and experienced activists become more engaged in the public policy process is the morning session’s goal,” Lou Ann Anderson, Americans for Prosperity – Texas policy advisor, said.  “The afternoon session will aid citizens interested in running for office.  Anyone considering a run for public office can learn more about the political process be it for city or school board, county or state level races.”

“The Killeen recall election brought political activism to new heights here in our area,” local event host Jonathan Okray said.  “This event is a next logical step to encourage citizen involvement in the political process through activism or actual elected office candidacy.”

Registration for the activist session is $25 for the morning.  The morning and afternoon (activist and candidate) sessions are $50. This includes training materials and a box lunch. Seating is limited so pre-registration is strongly encouraged.  Click here for registration information and a schedule of events.

American Majority is the leading developer of the nation’s new 21st century grassroots political infrastructure. The organization uses its cutting edge training curriculum to empower individuals and organizations with the most effective tools to promote liberty through limited government. American Majority trains thousands of activists and candidates each year in communities across the country to be catalysts for authentic change in government. As of the end of 2011, American Majority has conducted 551 trainings in 44 different states, training more than 19,000 candidates and activists. Visit www.AmericanMajority.org for access to a suite of free training tools.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. AFP has more than 1.9 million members, including 110,000 Texas Members, and 34 state chapters and affiliates.  More than 90,000 Americans in all 50 states have made a financial investment in AFP or AFP Foundation. For more information, visit www.AmericansForProsperity.org.

-30-

Naway district of Helmand province, southwest Afghanistan in a Friday, April 25, 2008 AP file photo

Here is an excerpt from Sultan Knish’s Friday Afternoon Roundup which I always find illuminating and funny in a satirical kind of way. Sometimes I wonder why the US is still in Afghanistan. If I were queen I would give the generals the okay to bomb the poppy fields till they go up in smoke once and for all, then pull out. But that’s just me. On the other hand it verifies what some are suspecting about the Mexican drug trade and the OtherThanMexicans coming over our southern border.

SMOKING A KORAN 

by Daniel Greenfield | January 27, 2012 | SultanKnish.blogspot.com

Pakistan’s largest real export is its off-the-books heroin trade and its economy runs on heroin. The ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency, which backed the Taliban, also took a cut of Afghanistan’s highly profitable opium trade. Iranian and Pakistani interference in Afghanistan marry their Islamic initiatives with the drug trade as Sunnis and Shiites compete for the lucrative traffic in the world’s leading source of opium which is smuggled through Pakistan and Iran.

Speaking of Iran, the Islamic Republic has the world’s highest percentage of heroin addicts, and the traffic is run by the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution which acts as the religious thugs of the ayatollahs. One of their means of smuggling heroin out of Iran is piggybacking the trade on Shiite Muslim pilgrims visiting holy sites abroad.

The Muslim world doesn’t have much to export besides oil and drugs. Countries that don’t have oil export drugs. Countries that do have oil, export drugs anyway. Terrorist groups with their secret cells, forged documents and covert funding sources make perfect drug smuggling networks until it is impossible to tell whether they are Islamic terrorists who smuggle drugs to fund their operations or drug smugglers who kill people to religiously justify their drug smuggling. When the commanders and the foot soldiers have spent enough time in the drug trade and are sampling their own product then they stop knowing the difference.

See my entire piece on the Islamic drug connection at The Islamic Paradise of the Needle and Powder.

Or Battle of the World Views. First, Thomas Sowell explains how the world of limitations and knowledge requirements works to a caller who likes touchy feely “teaching” techniques because, she says, she is “bright” but doesn’t learn well from books. At one point during his disagreement Sowell points out that “These people have been looking for ways of evading academic work for generations.” In other words you weren’t hallucinating in school all those years; many of the teachers (and administrators) really were just goofing off. Interesting exchange. It gets worse. Listen.

Uploaded by guyjohn59 on Jun 19, 2010

This is the full version from the Gingrich SuperPAC WinningOurFuture. See what YOU think.

Uploaded by WinningOurFuture on Jan 27, 2012