Texas is booming, thanks to good fiscal policies

Texas is booming; New York, not so much.

We hate to say "we told you so" (not really) but it's all over the Internet. Texas is outpacing other states in job creation.

In a recent interview with Hot Air and conservative blogger Melissa Clouthier, he said, “States that have good polices … those are going to be the states that people are going to move to,” and pointed out that Texas is among the fastest-growing states for good reason: “That’s the place where there’s more liberty, more freedom, than any other state.”

Read the entire story here on The Hill Pundits Blog:

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/economy-a-budget/105855-texas-is-booming-new-york-not-so-much

And count the ways Texas is #1 thanks to relatively good fiscal policies: www.LoneStrStrong.com

Scrutiny of TexasOne falls short

Texas is No. 1 in job creation. A recent Austin America-Statesman provides half the story on Texas economic development.

Today, the Austin American-Statesman published a story on TexasOne (http://www.texasone.us/about-texasone.html). TexasOne is the privately-funded entity designed for economic development in Texas.

In a cursory read, this is a fair story. They did a lot of research. Readers are told these are not tax dollars, and the companies participating see benefit from it.

(Thanks, AAS, for sending me to the TexasOne website for the first time.)

What fails to be included but needs to be included is the fact that Texas has the most vibrant economy in the country. While the recession has impacted Texas, we have still created more jobs than any other state and we are #1 in business relocation. Texas is the top exporting state in the country. Texas is home to more Fortune 500 companies than any other state – that has happened under Perry’s watch.
The AAS article fails to point out the most important fact -- Texas is the top job-creation state in the country. So while the reporter provides scrutiny, he fails to acknowledge that the program has been wildly successful. The Texas economy and Texas taxpayers benefit from TexasOne.

While the State of Texas is in the black and has money in the bank (the Texas Budget Stabilization “Rainy Day” Fund), while Texas is only one of four states in the black and only one of two large states which is not bankrupt, the Obama Administration and Congress are spending our children’s future and bankrupting America. Isn’t it time we get our priorities straight? Texas is the model the rest of the country should be following.

-- Peggy Venable, Texas Director, Americans for Prosperity

Read the AAS article here:
http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/perry-taps-corporate-fund-to-market-texas-for-770073.html?plckItemsPerPage=25&plckFindCommentKey=CommentKey:5dbd38da-691d-41c5-ab5f-b4fb0516444b#pluck_comments_list

Texas Social Studies Curriculum: check it out for yourself

Today, June 25, 2010, the Texas Education Agency posted the newly adopted Texas Social Studies TEKS (standards for Grades K-12) that were adopted for Second Reading and Final Adoption (with technical edits) by the Texas State Board of Education on May 21, 2010.

Now everyone can see for themselves what was adopted, and the public will no longer have to rely upon the liberal-left media and other such groups who have deliberately misrepresented the work of the Texas State Board of Education members. (And I am referring to the Texas anti-Freedom Network and the American Atheists, Inc.)

Here is the Texas Education Agency link:
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=3643

See commentary on this at: www.texaslegislativeupdate.wordpress.com

See set the record straight at www.juststatethefacts.com

Liberty Institute sets the record straight

TEA should release the text version of the final social studies standards today.

See the Liberty Institute (formerly Free Market Foundation) commentary on this at: www.texaslegislativeupdate.wordpress.com

See them set the record straight at www.juststatethefacts.com

Texas Social Studies Standards are exemplary

This information from Texas Rep. Dan Flynn:

I have spent considerable time working with conservative groups and testifying before the State Board of Education (SBOE) to assure our Texas’ students deserve science education, not political indoctrination as the new reading materials will promote the phonics-based approach and for the first time in thirty years, phonics returns to Texas public schools.

In information provided by SBOE members we are pleased to report that In terms of new science textbooks, experts on both sides agree that Texas will implement world class standards. Some “experts” opposed the right of high school students to ask honest questions about research and theories, especially those that deal with evolution and “global warming.”

The new science materials will allow for careful examination and critical thought.

The new standards by the SBOE agree with 85% of the recommendations of social studies experts. Despite a nationwide campaign of lies, the only person mentioned more that Thomas Jefferson is George Washington; and the Declaration of Independence, authored by Jefferson, is required study in all twelve grades.

The Texas Education Agency agrees that the new standards more than doubles the minority representation of any previous SBOE, including the increased presence of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and civil rights activist, Cesar Chavez.

Another important issue SBOE voted to send the Legislature $1.2 Billion in the next 12 months for purchase of textbooks. Sadly certain Editorial Boards have said that the Texas Legislature refuse to appropriate funds for new reading, science, and social studies textbooks for the children of Texas. For them to make such a claim is simply untrue.

The funding for the books will not be a cost to the Texas taxpayers as the SBOE are stewards of the $22 Billion Permanent School Fund, commonly known as the Children’s Textbook Fund. Funding will come from the Capital appreciation of this endowment will allow the SBOE to provide full funding to pay for new textbooks.

The reason the liberals are incensed is because the SBOE conservatives successfully defeated each one of their radical recommendations. Especially when they wanted to continue their funding of decades-old failed experiments in reading and writing, or deny students the right to ask probing questions in science class or to promote a radical ideological agenda that distorts history and opposes American patriotism.

Birdwell win spells toast for Cong. Edwards

Fasten your seatbelts, folks in TX SD 22 and TX Cong Dist 17. Change is on the horizon. Serving in the US Congress since 1991, Cong. Chet Edwards fate may have been sealed tonight. Let's explain...

Gulf War vet Brian Birdwell has defeated former state senator and fellow Republican David Sibley in a special runoff to fill the state senator Kip Averitt.

This is a special election to serve out the Averitt seat after Averitt steps down due to health concerns. No session is slated until after the NEXT election in November, when Republican county chairmen select who runs on the Republican ticket for the seat.

If that's not strange enough, let's look to Democrat Cong. Edwards who has served in Congress representing two different districts since 1991. He's on House Budget and Appropriations Committees -- powerful committees.

Why does the Birdwell win spell disaster for Edwards? Though a Democrat, Edwards voted against ObamaCare and against Cap and Trade. But did he vote against them with the blessings of Democratic leadership, knowing the measures would pass?

This writer doubts his voters will care.

The Waco tea party was the big winner, and legislator-turned-lobbyist-turned candidate again David Sibley got a spanking tonight. Politics as usual won't cut it in the Waco area. Sibley had once been a powerhouse in the Texas Senate, turned a powerful -- and high paid -- lobbyist. That doesn't sit well with voters today.

With the powerful once-silent voices of voters eager for accountability and change in politics, Edwards would be wise to plan his next career. A career out of politics.

Bill Flores - start shopping D.C. real estate.

Voters to Congress: Stop Bankrupting America

Cumulative sticker shock has set in


One of the reasons the federal budget is chronically in the red is that most people, historically, couldn't care less. The national debt is an unfathomable abstraction that doesn't show up on your 1040 or your monthly bills. Over the last few decades, very few people lost sleep worrying if the budget would ever be in balance. That is, according to one columnist:

http://townhall.com/columnists/SteveChapman/2010/06/20/an_end_to_spending_excess

However, Americans have woken up. Sticker shock has set in.

AFP Foundation has launched a campaign Stop Bankrupting America and AFP is following up with www.NovemberIsComing.com.

What can citizens do? First, sign the November is Coming petition (link above), then circulate that to five friends and encourage them to sign.

If we want to stop bankrupting America, we must each take action to make sure that we have a Congress which will stop overspending. If you want to know your Congressman’s spending record, sign the November is Coming pledge. And pass the word. Together, we CAN take back America!

Environment and the Constitution are both important

Protect the environment AND the Constitution

Was Cong. Joe Barton right in apologizing to BP?

Should the Obama Administration bypass the courts, and Congress, and assume Supreme power and authority over reimbursement of those harmed by the oil spill?

Does Obama believe in separation of powers or is he omnipotent?

So many questions. Yes, Obama fired the president of GM. That was unprecedented action – government officials picking corporate presidents.

Obama has now ordered BP to fund a $20 billion compensation fund.

Nobody wants to go to BP’s defense, particularly if BP is found negligent. But our courts are designed to determine guilt or innocence. Clearly, BP is an enormous international company and should be held responsible for the harm they have caused the environment and businesses/individuals who rely on the Gulf for their livelihood.

Does the Obama recognize any limits to the President’s power? Clearly they do not. Obama appears to think he governs all three arms of government.

So Cong. Barton is half right. He should not be apologizing to BP but to the American people for a Congress which is not able to hold the President’s power in check.

What can we do? Go to www.NovemberIsComing.com

Texas Tramples California - every day, in every way

That's right, “Hat and Cattle” Texas Tramples “politically correct and pathetic” California.

“Texas vs. California”—hardly any phrase more succinctly captures the battle going on today for America’s philosophical soul.

“… the subtext of this post should be clear: the Obama administration is behaving as though California were its model for growth. Increasing unfunded liabilities, proposing $1 trillion in new healthcare spending, responding to the economic crisis with new regulatory agencies but balking on the core causes of the problem—all of this and more betrays a sinister psychology of policy making.

“Like California, the Obama team and their congressional allies seem to think that entrepreneurs and business leaders will simply sit there and take it.”
The article points out:

First, Texans on average believe in laissez-faire markets with an emphasis on individual responsibility.

Second, Californians have largely treated environmentalism as a “religious sacrament” rather than as one component among many in maximizing people’s quality of life.

Third, California has placed “ethnic diversity” above “assimilation,” while Texas has done the opposite..

Fourth, beyond taxes, diversity, and the environment, Texas has focused on streamlining the regulatory and litigation burden on its residents.

Let's be perfectly clear, the Texas record is not an accident. Texas is creating more jobs than the rest of the country and number one in business relocation thanks to fiscally conservative leadership -- Gov. Rick Perry, Lt Gov. David Dewhurst, and the Texas legislature. We tip our Stetson to them!

(this is taken from The American – the Journal of American Enterprise Institute’s “The Enterprise Blog” written by Ryan Streeter is a senior fellow at the London-based Legatum Institute.)

http://blog.american.com/?p=7451#sf403389

For more ways Texas is the beacon of fiscal sanity in the country -- prehaps the world -- go to: www.LoneStarStrong.com - Peggy V.

Hutchison, Cornyn say - let foreign vessels in to help in cleanup

Didn't Obama's press lackey Gibbs say that the Administration had placed no impediments upon foreign ships coming into the Gulf to assist in the clean-up? Mind you, he did not claim the Administration had asked for any help or sought expertise from domestic or foreign experts. Well, folks. it is taking an act of Congress to get help to the Gulf:
Hutchison and LeMieux Introduce Legislation to Provide Assistance to Oil Spill Clean Up Effort

Bill Would Temporarily Allow Foreign Vessels to Help Remove Oil from Gulf



WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Ranking Member on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Committee member Senator George LeMieux (R-Fla.), and Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), today introduced legislation that would temporarily allow foreign marine vessels to assist with the oil cleanup effort in the Gulf of Mexico. The bill, titled the WAIVER (Water Assistance from International Vessels for Emergency Response) Act, would temporarily waive the Jones Act, which requires that all goods and people transported by water between United States ports be carried in American flagged, owned, and crewed ships. The waiver would allow foreign flagged vessels with crucial equipment to travel between U.S. ports to provide needed assistance. The Jones Act was put into place in 1920 to ensure that the United States was able to maintain a fleet of merchant ships.



“The oil leaking from the ocean’s floor is destroying the natural resources of the Gulf and we need every resource at our disposal to prevent further destruction,” said Senator Hutchison. “The Jones Act is currently preventing resources from being used in the monumental cleanup effort, and is hindering the ability of foreign vessels to assist Gulf communities in preventing oil from reaching their shores. In this time of crisis, we need to cut through the red tape and get all available assets on scene as quickly as possible.”



“With still only 20 skimmers off the coast of Florida, we need to expedite additional assistance. Any vessels ready to help should be allowed into the Gulf,” Senator LeMieux said. “This bill will provide for a streamlined waiver process for any foreign vessel willing and able to help mitigate the impacts of the spill. We can no longer wait for the Administration to work through its bureaucracy. We need action now to clean our precious waters and protect our beaches from further intrusion of oil.”



Senator Hutchison noted that the Jones Act was waived as part of disaster response in the past, including to assist with Hurricane Katrina nearly five years ago. She said the legislation will waive the Jones Act only for vessels whose sole intent is to assist in the cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico. This waiver would be applied for a period of time that is necessary to respond to the spill and restore the waters of the Gulf.



“The administration has failed to issue a waiver on the Jones Act, which is blockading foreign vessels from working with their American counterparts to remove the oil from the waters of the Gulf,” Senator Hutchison said. “The federal response to this spill has been unacceptable, and we cannot wait around until the disaster gets worse. I look forward to working with my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to pass this common sense legislation, which will allow foreign vessels responding to the spill to get to work immediately.”



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