Voter identification bill picking up steam

You know common sense is riding in the back seat when you’re required to present more identification at your local movie theater than at your polling place.

But in light of last years’ Supreme Court decision affirming an Indiana law requiring voters to present a photo ID on Election Day, supporters in Texas have the wind at their back.

Recently, the Texas State Senate voted 18-13, with all but one Republican voting with the majority, to exempt a photo ID bill from the rule mandating a two-thirds majority to bring up legislation. The rule blocked a similar effort in 2007.

The vote ensures that Texas is one step closer to having more peace of mind at the polls. Photo identification is a must for everyday life, but not when Americans take government into their own hands and cast a ballot.

Currently, federal law says that first time voters must present identification if they registered by mail and did not verify their identification in their application.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 24 states have laws that go beyond the federal requirements and ask voters to present an ID before casting a ballot, with seven of these states requiring a photo ID. In most cases, a person without a photo ID is allowed to cast a provisional ballot.

Hopefully, as the current legislative session progresses, voting shall become more secure and common sense may be back in the drivers’ seat. Guarantees that opponents will not kick the back of said seat are less than certain.

When Cities Aggregate, watch your wallets

I always want to hold onto my wallet when I hear cities are gathering to do something to -- uh, that is "for" -- their citizens.

Yesterday, the Cities Aggregation Power Project (CAPP) held a press conference. Seems they want to feather their nest -- or someone's nest -- by getting into the electricity ratepayers' pockets.

Currently, the lowest available retail price for electricity in most parts of Texas is lower than the retail price for electricity before the beginning of competition, without even adjusting for inflation.

Texas is far too dependant on natural gas, the prices of which have been very volatile. Texas needs to diversify its generation mix and is working now to do so.

We lead the nation in wind power and have more wind-generated megawatts in this state than in almost anywhere else in the world. But we need coal and other sources to diversify our generation mix and to get additional generation online in a hurry.

It appears CAPP is interesting in serving cities, not ratepayers. The CAPP material states they want to aggregate citizens and "allow" them to opt-out (rather than opt in) and they also advocate becoming Municipally Owned Utilities. Isn't this the real agenda for CAPP? To allow them to become munis (which are not subject to competition).

Someone on a newspaper blog write:
I think there's a lot not being said by CAPP. Cities already get lower prices by joining together for long-term contracts. I wonder who gets paid for negotiating these contracts. Is CAPP involved? Do they benefit? This story raises a number of questions. Maybe a better study would be to compare all rates in Texas -- municipals, co-ops, and investor-owned utilities -- to see if they all have risen because of natural gas rates.

It’s worth looking into.

But then cities which have municipal utilites "munis" aren't subject to competition and their ratepayers are captive customers. And the muni operations can't be compared to a private sector company. Many of us just think cities don't have any business being in the utility business.

Let's use the yellow book rule -- if it can be done in the provite sector, government doesn't need to be doing it.

Texans lead in saying "no" to so-called stimulus bill

Texans don’t want the so-called stimulus bill

Americans for Prosperity has posted the website www.NoStimulus.com and gathered over 200,000 signatures – with more Texans signing the petition than any other state. Why? Texans have been fiscally responsible. Texas has a balanced budget. Gov. Rick Perry has said we don’t need – or want – a federal bail-out. Nor should Texans bail out the free-wheeled spending in California and the other 40-plus states who have a budget deficit.


Texas leaders have been growing our economy, and know how to keep Texas competitive. Frankly, Texas is wiping up. Texas has grown more jobs than all other states combined, and has more Fortune 500 companies than any other state.

Prosperity in the Lone Star State begins at home – and we aren’t counting on government to keep us prosperous. We know that companies – small and large – create jobs, and workers create wealth.

Please go to: www.NoStimulus.com and sign the pledge. Texans don’t want Washington, D.C., spending money we don’t have on things we don’t want.

We must tell our leaders to stop mortgaging our children’s future. Go to: www.NoStimulus.com now!

Senators need to hear from taxpayers

The congressional swithboard has been jammed - but don't hesitate to call to say we don't want the so-called stimulus package. But keep calling: 202-224-2131 AND go to NoStimulus.com and sign up there - you can send an email to your Senators from there!

AFP President Tim Phillips has said it best in a letter he sent to Congress today:
February 5, 2009

Dear Senator:

On behalf of the members of Americans for Prosperity, I am writing to urge you to vote against the so-called American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Congress should not enact an expensive spending bill under the pretense of stimulus or recovery. No matter which amendments pass, the fundamental approach of dramatically increasing federal debt and spending is a mistake. We therefore urge you to vote NO and will rate a vote against the so-called stimulus as a Key Vote for Prosperity in our Congressional ratings.

As I write this letter, more than 42,000 Americans have signed a petition on our web site, NoStimulus.com, and thousands more will likely sign it before you read this letter. They represent a growing majority of the American public who agree with the petition text:

“Congress should not enact an expensive spending bill under the pretense of stimulus or recovery. We cannot spend our way to prosperity, and such an expansion of the federal government will put a crushing burden on taxpayers in the long-term.”

Central planning and bigger government cannot solve our problems. Excessive borrowing to fund consumption was a major cause of our current economic crisis. The first rule of holes is to stop digging, and more than $1 trillion of additional borrow-and-spend big government will only throw more good money after bad. Instead of trying to pick winners and losers from Washington, Congress should cut spending, strip down burdensome regulations and allow individuals and free enterprise to flourish.

We therefore urge you to vote no on the stimulus, regardless of which amendments pass and regardless of any individual provisions that may look attractive.

Sincerely,

Tim Phillips
President
Americans for Prosperity

From Towhnall.com - AFP's DeMint call

Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Americans For Prosperity gets 11,000 plus activists on call with Sen. DeMint
Posted by: Dwayne Horner at 9:07 PM
Over 11,000 conservative grassroots activists joined a call hosted by Americans For Prosperity for a chance to hear from Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and ask questions. Thanks to AFP for putting this call together, here are some quotes from Sen. DeMint:

"What President Obama wants right now is for the Republicans to own this bill with the Democrats. They don't want to own this because they know it's not going to work, they don't want it hung around their heads. If [the Democrats] can get 15 votes then they'll call it bi-partisan and we'll be stuck with it too."

"I am concerned [the Democrats] will do a little tweaking and a few Republicans might think it's an excuse enough to vote for it. We cannot do that, it would be too big of a comprimise. the last thing we need to right now is have more spending."

"My biggest fear right now is that they make a few changes in this bill, throw a few bones to Republicans, a bone to get them to vote for all this spending."

This was in response to a caller saying don't compromise by offering a smaller spending bill -- a bad idea as Sen. DeMint outlines. This is a bad bill, the House GOP stood firm and it is time for the Senate GOP to do the same. This is a porkpalooza designed to pay back all those who helped get Democrats elected in '06 and Obama in '08. Want evidence, go back to my earlier post today that details the pork that is in this bill!

To help oppose the bill, go to nostimulus.com.

Sen. Hutchison votes for increased federal funding for CHIP

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Texas’ senior Senator, today issued the following statement following Senate passage of H.R. 2, the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009:
“Texas has the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation. I voted to reauthorize SCHIP because it provides critical federal funds for young Texans’ health care needs, which are not currently being met. The 72 cent federal match under SCHIP will also deliver a cost savings to state and local taxpayers, so they aren’t paying the full expense of treatment,” said Sen.


Note to Senator: we all pay for SCHIP – whether it is in the state or on our income taxes. The government has no money – it’s all taxpayer dollars.

Update:
News Alert 5:07 p.m. ET Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Obama Signs Bill Expaning Children's Health Care
Move is a first step toward president's promise of universal coverage.
For more information, visit washingtonpost.com

Doesn't this say it all? CHIP expansion is a step toward President's universal coverage. This is very disturbing and disappointing for those of us who oppose universal health care.

City of Austin spends most lobbying the leg

That's right. City Council members are right here in town - they could walk to the Capitol. But they are spending as much as over $1 MILLION on lobbyists. Elise Hu at KVUE is breaking the story. Here's her blog:

http://www.beloblog.com/KVUE_Blogs/politicaljunkie/2009/02/city-of-austins-lobbyists-8300.html

This is from the article:
"Taxpayer watchdog group Americans Prosperity has long opposed taxpayer-funded lobbying, largely because of instances where the taxpayers are footing the bill for priorities against their own interests (i.e. opposing appraisal caps).

"We believe the whole idea of taxpayer funded lobbying distorts the process. We believe our elected officials should be talking to one another. We elect them to do just that. We don't elect lobbyists and we shouldn't be paying for them," said Peggy Venable, AFP's State Director."

But you need to check out the full blog to see the jaw-dropping facts and figures Elise Hu provided!

The US can eliminate dependence on foreign oil

I received an email that was astounding. Having worked at the US Department of the Interior (DOI), and USGS is under DOI, I checked it out and the information is accurate.

The U.S. Geological Service (USGS) issued a report in April ('08) that only scientists and oilmen knew was coming, but man was it big. It was a revised report (hadn't been updated since '95) on how much oil was in this area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota ; western South Dakota; and extreme eastern Montana ... check THIS out:

The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska's Prudhoe Bay , and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable... at $107 a barrel, we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion.

When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea.' says Terry
Johnson, the Montana Legislature's financial analyst.

This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years,' reports The Pittsburgh Post
Gazette. It's a formation known as the Williston Basin , but is more commonly referred to as the 'Bakken.' And it stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota and into Canada . For years, U.S.oil exploration has been considered a dead end. Even the 'Big Oil' companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago. However, a recent technological break through has opened up the Bakken's massive ? ? ? reserves... and we now have access of up to 500 billion barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL!

That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 41 years straight.

[And if THAT didn't throw you on the floor, then this next one should - because it's from TWO YEARS AGO, people!]

U.S.Oil Discovery- Largest Reserve in the World!

Stansberry Report Online - 4/20/2006 Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world is more than 2 TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction.

They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside our borders, than all the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the official estimates :

-8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia
-18-times as much oil as Iraq
-21-times as much oil as Kuwait
-22-times as much oil as Iran
-500-times as much oil as Yemen- and it's a ll right here in the Western United States .

HOW can this BE? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this!? Because the democrats, environmentalists and left wing republicans have blocked all efforts to help America become independent of foreign oil.

James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we've got more oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle East
-more than 2 TRILLION barrels. Untapped. That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in the world today, reports The Denver Post.


Don't think 'OPEC' will drop its price - even with this find? Think again! It's all about the competitive marketplace, - it has to.
----
[Got your attention up yet? Hope so! Now, while you're thinking about it ... and hopefully P.O'd, do this:

Pass this along..

If you don't take a little time to do this, then you should stifle yourself the next time you want to complain about gas prices .. because by doing NOTHING, you've forfeited your right to complain.
--------


Now I just wonder what would happen in this country if every one of you sent this to every one in your address book.

Google states that the Bakken Discovery was the largest oil discovered in the United States.

GOOGLE it or follow this link.? It will blow your mind.
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911

Dallas Hearbreak Hotel

The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) has written a piece: the Heartbreak Hotel…and we agree with their assessment.

Dallas city leaders are eager for Dallas taxpayers to be funding a hotel that should be built by the private sector, if it is built at all.

I was convention director for the Republican National Committee when the '84 Republican National Convention was held in Dallas. I staffed the convention search committee and was responsible for all the convention logistics, facilities and set-up.

Never once did we want -- or expect -- a hotel to be attached to the convention center. And large conventions require much more housing than the Heartbreak Hotel could accommodate.

We too have fought against taxpayer-funded hotels, convention centers and sports arenas. Thanks for what IPI is doing! Here is their piece below. - Peggy Venable, Americans for Prosperity-Texas


February 2, 2009 – IPI

Heartbreak Hotel

A thousand rooms! A 50,000-square-foot ballroom! A spa! A $525 million price tag! Just the kind of quarters you might want to luxuriate in as a Dallas convention-goer.

That’s the projections for the new city-owned convention hotel. And Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert wants taxpayers to pony up the votes—and the bucks—to put the city in the hotel business.

The mayor and local-convention promoters say 22 other cities already have convention center hotels. And unless Big D follows suit, economic-weather forecasts call for the loss of “$800 million in direct spending and $2.6 billion in annual economic impact.”

But since politicians almost always understate the costs of projects and programs they support and overstate the revenues, we think it’s a break-even deal at best—and most likely a money loser.

Does Dallas, which in 2007 hosted only five citywide conventions, need such a project when major convention business is draining off to fun localities like Las Vegas and Orlando—if they’re having any functions at all?

Consider that in the comparatively sun-splashed economy of 2007, downtown Dallas hotels (offering 6,500 rooms) ran nearly 46 percent empty. And the mayor wants to add another thousand rooms on top of that. The new government-owned hotel would inevitably siphon off customers from the already-existing private hotels—making their efforts to stay afloat even more daunting.

To be clear: We have no objection to a convention center hotel. We just don’t think the city should be in the hotel business. Dallas voters will get to decide in a May referendum whether to ban through a city charter amendment the public ownership of convention center hotels.

While the mayor’s efforts to bring more conventions to Dallas are surely well-intended, we think a city-owned hotel—especially in this economic climate—would lead to heartbreak for everyone … and especially taxpayers.

Two Texas legislators honored with Bell Leadership Awards

I commend the Texas Association of School Administrators for presenting two Texas teachers with an award for excellence in leadership. I worked for Secreatary of Education Terrell Bell in Washington, D.C., and appreciate TASA's honoring two educators with Terrel H. Bell Award.

Carlotta Brown, principal of Lora Peck Elementary in the Houston Independent School District, and Diane Parks, principal of Taylor Ray Elementary in the Lamar CISD, recently received the Terrel H. Bell Leadership Award from the Texas Association of School Administrators.

The award is named for Terrel H. Bell, a Secretary of Education under President Ronald Reagan who worked as a bus driver, teacher, principal and superintendent of schools before being named to the president's cabinet. The award recognizes outstanding educators who overcome difficult circumstances.

Brown followed her mother's footsteps to become a first-grade teacher in Houston and rose to become principal of Peck Elementary, which moved her school from an Academically Acceptable accountability rating to a Recognized rating in less than three years. Parks, who has served as principal at two schools in Lamar CISD, used data to determine which students needed targeted interventions and 100 percent of those students met the standards in math and writing and 99 percent met the standards in reading and science on the 2007 TAKS test.

Congratulations to these dedicated educators! - Peggy M. Venable