January 2011
64 posts
EPA continues messin' with Texas; has implications...
The EPA is moving to restrict Texas’ ability to continue as the largest production base for natural gas in the nation.
What will be the global impact of reducing Texas’ ability to produce energy? Why is allowing a nation such as Mexico unbridled access to Gulf drilling or other forms of fossil fuel extraction superior to Texas’ approach? If the EPA knows that energy...
In Egypt: it's the economy, stupid!
In the US, we are lamenting the growing retirement-bound population as baby boomers age, leaving the smaller youth demographic to pay for the unfunded Social Security and other benefits for the aging population.
Money Week makes the case that a young population isn’t the answer…it is the economy.
Egypt is the Arab world’s most heavily populated country and one of its youngest: two thirds...
Ronald Reagan's quote of the day...
Freedom allows people to be optimistic. Ronald Reagan’s “morning in America” was a key example of how he saw America as that shining city on the hill…
Jan 31, Monday
Ronald Reagan on Belief in America: “Some may try to tell us that this is the end of an era. But what they overlook is that in America, every day is a new beginning. For this is the land that has never become,...
Ronald Reagan on freedom
Today’s Reagan-quote-a-day:
“Coersion, after all, merely captures man. Freedom captivates him.” — Ronald Reagan
In Egypt, citizens are rioting in the streets. Unemployment is high, inflation is high, citizens are hungry. Perhaps the greater hunger is for freedom.
Reagan's remarks on the loss of the spaceship...
Twenty-five years ago today, President Reagan was scheduled to give his State of the Union address. Instead, he addressed the nation on the loss of the spaceship Challenger.
In his address, he said…
“And perhaps we’ve forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We...
“If you serve a child a rotten hamburger in America, federal, state, and local...”
– Ronald Reagan (Check in each day for a Reagan quote, and follow Peggy Venable on Twitter: @pvenable.)
Legacy of Local Government Debt
Let’s put Texas’ local government debt into perspective.
States with projected budget shortfalls of more than 25% include California, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, and South Carolina. But Illinois has a whopping 52% budget shortfall for 2011. The total state revenue shortfall is well over $100 billion.
Our state’s budget shortfall of $15 billion doesn’t even compare. However, local government...
Education spending can be cut without cutting...
Texas Independent School Districts have been wasting taxpayer dollars for decades and it’s time to get their financial houses in order – and that doesn’t require cutting teachers.
The mindset has been that education is a priority, and though students are not performing well, we must give schools more money to improve student outcomes. We have not carefully evaluated where the dollars are being...
AFP Texas celebrates School Choice Week with a...
The first-ever National School Choice Week just wrapped up, and here in Texas, AFP raised awareness for the need of more spending accountability and more choices in public education.
More than 100 people attended AFP’s screening of “The Cartel” at the Texas Capitol. Grassroots activists and legislative staff members heard about the institutionalized corruption that is depriving New Jersey public...
Do Public Officials get a free pass in Texas?
A lawsuit seeking to remove Williamson County Judge Dan A. Gattis from office for alleged incompetence and official misconduct was dismissed Friday by Bell County District Judge Rick Morris, the Texas Supreme Court-appointed visiting judge assigned to the removal suit. Some are celebrating and rightfully so – if one is a proponent of legal technicalities that subvert laws and other measures...
Weigh in on the Legislative Session!
Americans for Prosperity is going on record with our legislative priorities, which center on adopting a fiscally-responsible budget and ensure a continuing healthy economy for our state. AFP’s 2011 Legislative Agenda is designed to serve as a guide for lawmakers as they vote on key fiscal and procedural issues.
AFP is looking for citizens who are willing to testify before key committee hearings...
Gov. Perry has named emergency bills
Check out what legislation has been put on the “fast track” in Texas: Emergency legislation in Texas.
Health Care Repeal makes its way to the Senate
Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has filed an ObamaCare repeal measure in the Senate. He is supported by 35 other Republican co-sponsors, including Texas Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn. The bill mirrors the one passed in the House of Representatives earlier this month.
The timetable for the vote, which will require a 60-vote threshold to end debate and move to a final vote, is still...
Federal legislation to watch
The new Republican-controlled Congress is moving several important pieces of legislation forward that we’re keeping an eye on here at AFP.
Click Here to read what’s going forward.
RightOnline National Conference set for June 17-18
Join AFP Foundation, thousands of grassroots activists, and the nation’s top conservatives leaders for our national RightOnline conference in Minneapolis June 17-18 and learn how you can use the internet to promote limited government and freedom!
Stay tuned to RightOnline.com for more details as they are released.
True the Vote National Summit: March 25-26
True the Vote is a citizen-led initiative to protect the virtue of our vote and the integrity of our elections.
Join with fellow citizens for a day-and-a-half of education, research, training, messaging and learning about legislation at the True the Vote National Summit, set for March 25-26.
Click Here to read more.
News from around the ‘Net
Below are highlights from some of the top online media we follow here at AFP-Texas:
Peggy Venable will be posting a Reagan quote a day this year to honor Reagan’s 100th birthday year. Follow Peggy on twitter: @pvenable and check posts at www.AFPTX.org.
Listen to Peggy Venable’s “Capitol Update” Sunday at 7 pm on STUDIO TALK with Laurie Horvath on KJCE, 1370 AM in Austin: Studio Talk.
Texas...
Reagan quote today: The most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’ -Ronald Reagan
Now, more than ever before, Americans are feeling like we are working for our government, our government is not working for us.
What can you do?
Get involved - if you are not a member of AFP, join and work with us to take back America! Go...
Reagan quote for the day
“We are the showcase of the future. And it is within our power to mold that future-this year and for decades to come. It can be as grand and as great as we make it. No crisis is beyond the capacity of our people to solve; no challenge too great.”
— Ronald Reagan- January 5, 1974
Our government — local, state and federal — are in debt, and as we tackle the problem...
Ronald Reagan on government spending
Texas joins other states in addressing revenue shortfalls, which across the country are around $100 billion. It is a sign that government has overspent, not that we are underfunding government. It is imperative that all programs be on the table and that cuts be made to stop runaway government growth.
Both the Texas House and Senate have proposed budgets which do not raise taxes and does not...
Commentary by Ben Streusand: Upcoming State &...
AFP-Texas Advisory Board Chairman speaks on possible upcoming state and municipal debt crisis and the prospects of another federal bailout.
Provide a child a rotten education and...
It’s school choice week – and the focus will be on education. As we face budget challenges, it is a great time to revisit providing parents with the opportunity to choose the educational environment where their children have the best opportunity to learn. Ronald Reagan said it best (as usual):
“If you serve a child a rotten hamburger in America, federal, state and local agencies will...
Reagan on Freedom and the Dignity of the...
This week, President Barack Obama pushed China to adopt fundamental freedoms but assured Chinese President Hu Jintao the U.S. considers the communist nation a friend.
Hum…On January 20, 1981, President Reagan said this:
“If we look to the answer as to why, for so many years, we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here, in this land, we unleashed the energy and...
Ronald Reagan on abortion
The 38th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade is a tragic reminder that we must respect life at all stages, especially the innocent unborn.
“Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.”
— Ronald Reagan
During this year, the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth, I am posting a Reagan-quote-a-day. – Peggy Venable, proud Reaganite
Ronald Reagan: Quote-a-day
Continuing my Reagan-quote-a-day project, Saturdays are a greate day for humor, and Ronald Reagan often poked fun at himself.
“I want to say that I don’t mind at all any of the jokes or remarks about my age. Thomas Jefferson made a comment about the presidency and age. He said that one should not worry about one’s exact chronological age in reference to his ability to perform...
News from around the ‘Net
Below are highlights from some of the top online media we follow here at AFP-Texas:
Peggy Venable is posting a Reagan-quote-a-day this year to honor Reagan’s 100th birthday year. Follow on twitter: @pvenable, and check posts at www.AFPTX.org.
AFPF Policy Advisor Lou Ann Anderson discusses the property rights issues at stake in the latest Anna Nicole Smith court case: Stern v. Marshall makes new...
Celebrate National School Choice Week with AFP in...
On Jan. 24, AFP and our co-sponsors, Austin CEO Foundation and New Revolution Now, will be screening the acclaimed documentary “The Cartel” as part of a national effort to honor National School Choice Week. All across the nation, individuals and groups will screen the movie as a way to highlight the need for more education options for taxpayers.
When: Monday, Jan. 24 at 6 pm Where: Texas...
How did your Congressman rate?
AFP has released our scorecard for the 111th Congress, and our Texas leaders continue to hold true to the state’s reputation of fiscal responsibility.
Texas Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn both earned “A” grades for their votes on 25 bills dealing with economic freedom issues.
On the House side, 18 Texas congressmen earned either an “A+” or “A” grade on 19 key-voted bills. Eight...
Congress passes Health Care Repeal Bill
We’ve still got a long road ahead in rolling back this health care takeover. The November elections sent a powerful message to Congress that the American people do not want this health care takeover.
On Wednesday, the new conservative majority in the US House voted to repeal Obamacare – a huge step toward eliminating the job-killing, freedom-stealing law. The final vote was 245 to 89, with...
Texas continues to battle the EPA
President Obama appears to be reaching out to businesses by launching a regulatory rule review, pledging to spur job growth. The President vowed to review rules that “stifle job creation and make our economy less competitive.” We’d say: “Mr. President, please start with the Environmental Protection Agency. And please don’t allow bogus science to be your excuse to regulate us into oblivion.”
The...
Education spending can be cut without touching the...
An article decrying education budget cuts in the Houston Chronicle this week is probably similar to others across the state and country.
The educrats appear to have the same M.O. – they claim they have no fat in their budgets and must cut teachers, hoping the public will get outraged and the spending cuts will be restored.
What is the real story?
Click Here to read more.
YOU can weigh in on the Legislative Session!
Lawmakers convening in Austin for the 82nd Legislative Session will face many challenges. Americans for Prosperity is going on record with our legislative priorities which center on adopting a fiscally-responsible budget and ensure a continuing healthy economy for our state.
AFP’s 2011 Legislative Agenda is designed to serve as a guide for lawmakers as they vote on key fiscal, tax and regulatory...
Gov. Perry: “Opportunity looms large in Texas”,...
Governor Rick Perry, elected to a third term of office, summed up his view of the future of our great state in his inaugural address when he said this: “If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, and will say it a thousand more: There is still a place where opportunity looms large in this country, and that place is called Texas.”
We couldn’t agree more, thanks to the low taxes and...
Budget cuts have big-government advocates...
“Government may protest that it never gets the money it needs, but it always manages to find a need for the money it gets.” – Ronald Reagan, second inaugural address as California Gov, 1971
I hear that if you do anything for 21 days you have developed a habit. This is day #22 of my Reagan-quote-a-day-for-a-year project. It is clear I will have no shortage of material. I am finding that Ronald...
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Ronald Reagan on Regulations
Reagan Quote of the Day:
“Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases:
• If it moves, tax it.
• If it keeps moving, regulate it.
• And if it stops moving,
• subsidize it”
- Ronald Reagan
The Obama Administration appears to have considered this a mandate - tax it, regulate it, subsidize it. But yesterday, President Obama’s editorial in the Wall Street...
Reagan: Look at our country with the eyes of the...
“We in government should learn to look at our country with the eyes of the entrepreneur, seeing possibilities where others see only problems.” - Ronald Reagan, January 26, 1985
The work week starts with President Obama claiming he will consider lifting burdensome regulations in an effort to help create jobs.
In Congress, we hope ObamaCare will be repealed by the House and challenge the...
MKL's Dream Was the American Dream
Martin Luther King’s dream was the American Dream.
Today we celebrate the life and the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King. An assassin cut his life short, but his legacy lives on.
Here are some highlights from Ronald Reagan on signing the proclamation designating the third Monday in January as MLK Day,
“Dr. King had awakened something strong and true, a sense that true justice must be...
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Apathy, not passion, is greatest threat to our...
Bloomberg posted an article by Peter Green which begs perspective.
The lead read: “Heated political rhetoric drives unstable people to commit violence, according to a majority of voters surveyed after the shootings of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others in Tucson, Arizona.”
Give me a break! After the first few days’ of the mindless and unsubstantiated Liberal and media...
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Ronald Reagan: What do you have to say for...
When I began my Reagan quote-a-day-for-a-year project 16 days ago, my plan was to make each quote pertinent to current events and to incorporate the Regan humor on Saturdays and spirituality on Sunday. Clearly, I have determined rules are to be broken, so today I include both the humor and spirituality.
But today’s quote comes from President Reagan’s good-bye speech from the Oval Office on Jan...
Reagan: Reject words and actions of hate embodied...
President Reagans’ radio address on Jan 15, 1983 - before the first commemoration of MLK day - included:
“Let us be grateful for the providence that sends among us men and women with the courage and vision to stand peacefully but unyieldingly for what is right. But let us also make this a time when we rededicate ourselves, young and old, black and white to carry on the work of justice and...
Trust the people
As the Texas legislature gets underway and the 112th US Congress gets back to business next week, I hope they are reminded that the voters called for a radical realignment from a big-government/big-brother approach to embrace free market, limited government policies. I continue my Reagan quote-a-day and am inspired by his clarity: Trust the people:
“We who live in free market societies believe...
Lawmakers must make tough decisions; cut spending
NOTE: This is commentary from Peggy Venable as heard on KJCE Radio on STUDIO TALK with Laurie Horvach. Venable delivers a weekly “CAPITOL UPDATE”. This is from Jan 16, 2011.
As the Texas legislatures convenes this week (TX meets for 140 days every other year), the Lone Star State joins other states in the budgeting challenge to provide spending for essential programs and cut...
Dreams cannot be put to rest
Today in Arizona, a nine-year-old girl will be put to rest. She was ruthlessly murdered by a vicious killer. Christina Taylor Green had dreams of becoming a public servant and was already serving on her student council. Born on 9/11, she was a face of hope for our country’s future. Today, no words can express the sorrow and sympathy the nation extends to the family of this lovely little girl. ...
Reagan quotes Jan 10 & 11
My Reagan quotes for Monday and Tuesday - they inspire me and I hope they insipre you. Stay tuned for a quote-a-day all year long. As a former Reagan staffer, always a Reaganite, I am eager to spread his wisdom and vision…
Jan 11, Tuesday
“It is up to us…to work together for progress and humanity so that our grandchildren, when they look back at us, can truly say that we not...
Timing of DeLay sentencing cannot go unnoticed
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is sentenced to three years in prison for money-laundering conspiracy. The judge converted a separate five-year sentence for money laundering to probation, according to breaking news on the Wall Street Journal.
The sentencing took place in Austin, the Texas capitol, the day before the Texas legislative session opens.
It should not go unnoticed that...
Venable on Studio Talk "Heated Political Rhetoric"...
The following is a transcript from AFP Texas Director Peggy Venable’s “Capitol Update” segment on KJCE Radioi, 1370 AM Austin, for STUDIIO TALK with Laura Horvach:
Yesterday’s senseless shootings in Arizona overshadows any other news or commentary.
We have learned that 18 people were shot by one 22 year-old individual whose attack at a Congressional open house held at a...
We must reject the idea that every time a law’s...
We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions. – Ronald Reagan
Yesterday’s shootings in Arizona were a tragedy of unspeakable proportion.
Our great country is not to blame, nor is our political discourse which is a hallmark of our democracy.
...
Reagan's wit was a velvet hammer and he swung it...
I have wrapped up my first week Reagan-quotes-a day-for-a-year. I plan to attempt to make the quote selection relevant to current events, and on Saturdays to use humor and Sundays a focus of spirituality.
I found this description of Reagan’s humor in the Austin America-Statesman in 1994 and have kept it on file. The article’s lead was this: Introduced to a young Ronald Reagan in the 1930s,...
Chuck Norris weighs in on TX Speaker Race
Just when you think it can’t get any more interesting in Texas politics, it does. A race for Speaker is usually an “insider game” but not in 2011.
Honorary Texas Ranger Chuck Norris just gave his endorsement of Ken Paxton for speaker. A link to the full article follows.
“I endorsed Mike Huckabee a few years ago in the presidential race — because I believed, before...
Plans to Undermine R Caucus in Texas Speakers Race...
It has come to our attention that a move is afoot to disrupt the Republican Caucus meeting slated for Monday, Jan. 10, 2011, at which time the Republican members of the Texas state house are slated to select their candidate for Speaker of the House.
The current speaker, Republican Joe Straus from San Antonio, was selected by a majority of the Democrats and 11 Republicans last session when...