The cool thing about running one of the most widely read blogs in the entire state of Texas (literally...this is one of the most widely read blogs in Texas) is that anything I publish -- photo, article, opinion, etc. -- drifts up into Google searches frequently. Sometimes the photos we post are so popular that a search on Google Images will lead back to this site.
Reporter Brannon Bridge (b@thepalmerpost.com) took a field trip to Combine, Texas recently...
Permission granted to redistribute photos, print them, use them for scrap books, or enter them into evidence ;)
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Texas. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Texas. Mostrar todas las entradas
sábado, 26 de junio de 2010
lunes, 21 de junio de 2010
Texas Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin Could Stop ObamaCare
Mike Geeslin is from Oak Leaf. He's a Red Oak High School graduate. He's also the Texas insurance commissioner, and a very, very nice guy. In fact, in an interview with him last year I believe it was, you'd be hard pressed to know this guy is a state agency director. He's just real down-to-earth.
But enough of the niceties...this is war. Mike Geeslin could be the key to stopping ObamaCare's mandate in Texas, and wouldn't it be pretty kick ass that Ellis County, Texas had a link in halting it? It's time to bypass the state legislature since they don't want to tackle nullifying this, and bypassing Gov. Rick Perry who doesn't want to reject federal bribe money. And even Attorney General Greg Abbott, we must bypass the courts and implement this stop via the bureaucracy...
And since Obama met recently with state insurance commissioners to talk about implementing the law, and with the advent of the coming HealthCare.gov Web site, the attention squares directly on what we in Texas can do to assist Commissioner Geeslin in his efforts to stop this.
Contact Commissioner Mike Geeslin:
Texas Department of Insurance
Attn: Stop ObamaCare
tdi.state.tx.us/general/org96.html#commissioner
PIO@tdi.state.tx.us
Commissioner's Office
Commissioner of Insurance - Mike Geeslin
Chief of Staff/Senior Associate Commissioner - Karen Phillips
General Counsel & Chief Clerk - Gene Jarmon
Internal Audit - Greg Royal, Director
Associate Commissioner for Government Relations - Carol Cates
Commissioner's Ombudsman - Sylvia Myler
Public Information Office - Ben Gonzalez
Executive Services - Laverne Chase
But enough of the niceties...this is war. Mike Geeslin could be the key to stopping ObamaCare's mandate in Texas, and wouldn't it be pretty kick ass that Ellis County, Texas had a link in halting it? It's time to bypass the state legislature since they don't want to tackle nullifying this, and bypassing Gov. Rick Perry who doesn't want to reject federal bribe money. And even Attorney General Greg Abbott, we must bypass the courts and implement this stop via the bureaucracy...
And since Obama met recently with state insurance commissioners to talk about implementing the law, and with the advent of the coming HealthCare.gov Web site, the attention squares directly on what we in Texas can do to assist Commissioner Geeslin in his efforts to stop this.
Contact Commissioner Mike Geeslin:
Texas Department of Insurance
Attn: Stop ObamaCare
tdi.state.tx.us/general/org96.html#commissioner
PIO@tdi.state.tx.us
Commissioner's Office
Commissioner of Insurance - Mike Geeslin
Chief of Staff/Senior Associate Commissioner - Karen Phillips
General Counsel & Chief Clerk - Gene Jarmon
Internal Audit - Greg Royal, Director
Associate Commissioner for Government Relations - Carol Cates
Commissioner's Ombudsman - Sylvia Myler
Public Information Office - Ben Gonzalez
Executive Services - Laverne Chase
martes, 15 de junio de 2010
Brazos River Authority Scandal | Darren Yancy Provides Details
This came from DarrenYancy.com, but the excerpt sheds light on the Brazos River Authority scandal that I keep pounding everyone publicly about...it's like there's this huge dart board here in Senate District 22 that everyone in the media -- TV, newspapers (other than mine), etc. have totally ignored.
From Darren Yancy's site:
Along the way I uncovered a scandal that involved a whole slew of people mainly from the chief county in SD22 – McLennan. The scandal involved the Brazos River Authority and its closure of a hydroelectric dam system at Possum Kingdom Lake in Palo Pinto, Texas. At the root of the scandal was Averitt, our Senator for the district and the Chair of the Texas Natural Resource Committee that oversees all lakes, rivers, and dams in Texas who sat by while the plant closure started killing off economic life in several SD22 counties. Another individual that kept coming into the scandal was current Brazos River Authority President AND SREC for District 22 Chris DeCluitt. DeCluitt also resides in McLennan County.
When I started to uncover the scandal, Averitt “suspended” his campaign and DeCluitt launched the “Re-Elect Kip” campaign to keep Averitt in so the seat remained in McLennan County. DeCluitt wanted the Senate seat through an Averitt in-session retirement and I screwed it up. The McLennan County Machine went into full swing and chewed me alive. Democrat Chet Edwards team called his rolls to get Dems to crossover vote for Averitt (we have open primaries in Texas). The strategy worked and I lost in spite of 25000 plus votes that would have won most primaries. So you begin to understand the full flavor of this county, former President George W Bush’s Crawford ranch is in McLennan County.
From Darren Yancy's site:
Along the way I uncovered a scandal that involved a whole slew of people mainly from the chief county in SD22 – McLennan. The scandal involved the Brazos River Authority and its closure of a hydroelectric dam system at Possum Kingdom Lake in Palo Pinto, Texas. At the root of the scandal was Averitt, our Senator for the district and the Chair of the Texas Natural Resource Committee that oversees all lakes, rivers, and dams in Texas who sat by while the plant closure started killing off economic life in several SD22 counties. Another individual that kept coming into the scandal was current Brazos River Authority President AND SREC for District 22 Chris DeCluitt. DeCluitt also resides in McLennan County.
When I started to uncover the scandal, Averitt “suspended” his campaign and DeCluitt launched the “Re-Elect Kip” campaign to keep Averitt in so the seat remained in McLennan County. DeCluitt wanted the Senate seat through an Averitt in-session retirement and I screwed it up. The McLennan County Machine went into full swing and chewed me alive. Democrat Chet Edwards team called his rolls to get Dems to crossover vote for Averitt (we have open primaries in Texas). The strategy worked and I lost in spite of 25000 plus votes that would have won most primaries. So you begin to understand the full flavor of this county, former President George W Bush’s Crawford ranch is in McLennan County.
martes, 8 de junio de 2010
Ted Cruz & Scott Brister | The Tenth Amendment Protects Our Liberty
The Tenth Amendment Protects Our Liberty
By Ted Cruz and Scott Brister
This past year, the federal government has marched further and faster than ever toward control of the economy and our everyday lives. This would dismay our Founding Fathers, whose vision of a carefully limited federal government animated the Constitution.
The most explicit statement of limited government in the U.S. Constitution is the Tenth Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Thus, any power that the Constitution does not affirmatively give the federal government, it does not have.
The Tenth Amendment embodied a revolutionary concept. Written just a few years after we had won our independence from Britain, the Constitution fundamentally changed the relationship between people and government.
For millennia, the source of power and authority had always been kings and government, and rights were seen as gifts by grace from the Monarch. The Constitution inverted that understanding, with sovereignty beginning in the American people – beginning with We the People – and power given to government only to a limited degree.
Indeed, that was the genius of the Constitution – limiting government to protect the liberty of the people. Because the Framers recognized that unchecked government can strip the people of their freedoms, they designed a constitution to prevent that from happening.
As James Madison, the Constitution’s primary author, explained:
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
Because men are not angels, the Constitution was designed to create an effective national government while preventing the government from overreaching.
Thus, the Constitution “split the atom of sovereignty,” as the Supreme Court has put it, separating governmental power between the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary, and between the federal government and the 50 states. History had taught the Framers that those in government almost always try to get more power, and the magic of dividing governmental power into many separate parts is that each part fights hard against the others to prevent them from expanding their power. As a result, government power overall is limited and our freedom is protected.
Keeping as much governmental power at the state and local level yields two additional benefits: it makes government more accountable – it is much easier to express your views to your local city councilmember than it is to the U.S. Treasury Secretary – and it allows the states to adopt differing policies reflecting their distinct views. Thus, the states can be laboratories of democracy, reflecting the values and priorities of their individual citizens.
No one would expect California, Texas, New York, and Massachusetts to adopt the identical policies – the views of their citizens are considerably different. And the people can vote with their feet, as reflected in the fact that more than 1,000 people move to Texas every day, no doubt seeking a more hospitable economic climate.
We would not presume to impose the values of Texans on the citizens of Massachusetts. Yet when the federal government forces a single policy on the entire nation, the result is that everyone must live under a one-size-fits-all national plan. Once centralized in Washington, that national program inevitably grows and grows, far removed from citizen control.
That is why we are working with the Texas Public Policy Foundation to establish the Center for Tenth Amendment Studies. Through research, education, and outreach, we intend to build a bulwark for restoring the balance between federal power, the states, and the American people.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans at Tea Parties across the nation are re-reading the Constitution and showing a profound interest in the Tenth Amendment – and with good reason. If the Tenth Amendment is respected – if the Constitution’s limits on the federal government are given force – then government power will be restrained. Governmental leaders will be accountable. And our liberty will be preserved.
The Honorable Ted Cruz and The Honorable Scott Brister are Senior Fellows at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas. Cruz is Texas’ former Solicitor General and has personally presented the most oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court of any attorney in Texas. Brister served six years as a Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, during which time he authored 122 opinions for the Court.
By Ted Cruz and Scott Brister
This past year, the federal government has marched further and faster than ever toward control of the economy and our everyday lives. This would dismay our Founding Fathers, whose vision of a carefully limited federal government animated the Constitution.
The most explicit statement of limited government in the U.S. Constitution is the Tenth Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Thus, any power that the Constitution does not affirmatively give the federal government, it does not have.
The Tenth Amendment embodied a revolutionary concept. Written just a few years after we had won our independence from Britain, the Constitution fundamentally changed the relationship between people and government.
For millennia, the source of power and authority had always been kings and government, and rights were seen as gifts by grace from the Monarch. The Constitution inverted that understanding, with sovereignty beginning in the American people – beginning with We the People – and power given to government only to a limited degree.
Indeed, that was the genius of the Constitution – limiting government to protect the liberty of the people. Because the Framers recognized that unchecked government can strip the people of their freedoms, they designed a constitution to prevent that from happening.
As James Madison, the Constitution’s primary author, explained:
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
Because men are not angels, the Constitution was designed to create an effective national government while preventing the government from overreaching.
Thus, the Constitution “split the atom of sovereignty,” as the Supreme Court has put it, separating governmental power between the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary, and between the federal government and the 50 states. History had taught the Framers that those in government almost always try to get more power, and the magic of dividing governmental power into many separate parts is that each part fights hard against the others to prevent them from expanding their power. As a result, government power overall is limited and our freedom is protected.
Keeping as much governmental power at the state and local level yields two additional benefits: it makes government more accountable – it is much easier to express your views to your local city councilmember than it is to the U.S. Treasury Secretary – and it allows the states to adopt differing policies reflecting their distinct views. Thus, the states can be laboratories of democracy, reflecting the values and priorities of their individual citizens.
No one would expect California, Texas, New York, and Massachusetts to adopt the identical policies – the views of their citizens are considerably different. And the people can vote with their feet, as reflected in the fact that more than 1,000 people move to Texas every day, no doubt seeking a more hospitable economic climate.
We would not presume to impose the values of Texans on the citizens of Massachusetts. Yet when the federal government forces a single policy on the entire nation, the result is that everyone must live under a one-size-fits-all national plan. Once centralized in Washington, that national program inevitably grows and grows, far removed from citizen control.
That is why we are working with the Texas Public Policy Foundation to establish the Center for Tenth Amendment Studies. Through research, education, and outreach, we intend to build a bulwark for restoring the balance between federal power, the states, and the American people.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans at Tea Parties across the nation are re-reading the Constitution and showing a profound interest in the Tenth Amendment – and with good reason. If the Tenth Amendment is respected – if the Constitution’s limits on the federal government are given force – then government power will be restrained. Governmental leaders will be accountable. And our liberty will be preserved.
The Honorable Ted Cruz and The Honorable Scott Brister are Senior Fellows at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas. Cruz is Texas’ former Solicitor General and has personally presented the most oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court of any attorney in Texas. Brister served six years as a Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, during which time he authored 122 opinions for the Court.
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