(Great catch from BOR community member Paul Rhea! - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
Rick Perry's new ad in Iowa mocks Congressional Presidential candidates Santorum (google it!), Bachmann, Paul, and Gingrich for getting an annual salary of $174,000 paid for by American tax payers. However, the Texas Tribune points out that Perry him self is getting a gross annual salary of $240,000 paid for by Texas tax payers.
"We The People" The Citizens of The United States of America residing in the State of Texas, hereby stand in peaceful protest against Rick Perry Governor of Texas who has stripped the citizens of the State of their rights to pursue economic prosperity, participation in the judicial process, the right to due process while establishing overt and covert intelligence operations outside the jurisdiction and powers of the State, and denied the citizens of the State equal protection of the law, creating a Police State of corruption that has endangered the lives of the people of the State and mismanaged State funds outside of budgetary restraints to a degree of course of bankruptcy and dependency on Federal Funds reserved for emergencies other than corruption of positions of Public Trust who have been appointed by the Governor not elected by the people and met in secrecy with the intent to defraud the people and the Federal Government for the sole purpose and intent of personal financial gain and retention of power as the Governor of the State of Texas. We the People, the citizens of the United States of America residing in the State of Texas demand that a vote be put before congress representing all States of the Union and by two thirds vote in the house in favor, remove the Disability- Texas Governor Rick Perry for engaging in insurrection and rebellion against the constitution and the citizens of the United States of America.
This Christmas Give the World The Gift That Keeps On Giving!
Make a Request Which Is Legal And Binding To Your Congressional Representative Of Any State in The Union To Investigate Rick Perry For Treason And by Two Thirds Vote in Congress Remove the Disability - Texas Governor Rick Perry Before Christmas.
(If you have thoughts on whether John Courage should run against Lamar Smith please let him know by responding to his one question survey in the post. John has previously challenged Smith in 2002 and 2006 under three different sets of redistricted lines. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
I'm sure most of you, like me, are fed up with Congress and the stalemate going on there. Money is the big 300 pound gorilla on the backs of just about every member.
Sure the Republicans pledged no new taxes to Norquist. Why wouldn't they break their pledge? Not because of any idealism about being real conservatives, but more about the realism of the money they would lose. They know Norquist and the deep pocket backers of his and the other groups that are aligned with the Conservative/Tea Party'ers would cut off their life blood for reelection campaign funding, or run someone against them.
Many Democrats aren't much better they cow tow to many Wall Street and other Special Interest groups when they serve on committees and water down legislation or behind closed doors in the Democratic caucus and refuse to back the Presidents plans and don't show any backbone.
It's all about the money and getting reelected and not about what is best for 'We The People'!
That's why I am seriously considering making another run for Congress in the 21st Congressional District.I would like you to seriously consider my candidacy and let me know if you really think I should run again or should I step aside and see if anyone else steps up to the plate. Please complete the survey attached.
President Obama faces a polarized and hostile Congress. The once collegial Senate has turned
toward extortion, its coaches standing on the sidelines tripping players on the opposing team.
Bipartisanship appears dead. Heading into the second half of his first term, the President has a
unique opportunity to change the game by implementing the Minivan Doctrine.
Congress will not reform itself. No congressman will cede power. Even when congress, in an
uncommon moment of bipartisanship, passes a law ceding some power, as in campaign finance
reform, the Supreme Court strikes it down. We flail and moan and cry that bipartisanship is dead.
It's not. The Minivan Doctrine will save the Republic.
The Minivan Doctrine is based on a familiar scenario: kids in the back seat fighting over what
they want for lunch. Pizza. Hamburgers. Pizza! Hamburgers! Pizza!! Hamburgers!! They scream.
They flail. They fight and kick. Finally, Mom has had enough. She pulls over, shuts
the engine, looks into the rear view mirror and announces we're not moving until you agree on
what we're having. After much groaning and bickering, hunger overcomes pride; the kids settle
and they're off again.
The President has the ability to do exactly that. He needs no new authority; Article 1 of the
Constitution gives him all power he needs. He need only determine and announce that for the
duration of the 112th Congress he will veto each and every bill. Period. Regardless of whether he
favors the legislation, he will veto it. Regardless of whether the bill is critical, he will veto it.
Even if it is a must pass bill, such as the budget or the military spending bill, he will veto it.
Nothing goes into law except by override.
Under Article 1, Congress can override a presidential veto by a two-thirds majority in both
houses. Since neither party has such a super majority, both parties would be forced to find
common ground. Let's not fool ourselves; they will kick and scream; they will scheme and
threaten; they will hold their breath and predict doom. But the President must hold his ground no
matter what. He must be strong and not capitulate.
People will criticize him. He'll be portrayed by some as a traitor. He'll be decried for destroying
America. He'll be hung in effigy. But the grumbling stomachs will eventually prevail. The people
will turn to Congress and ask, "Why can't you just get along?" Congress will eventually come
together, whether on pizza, or hamburgers, but perhaps on chicken or tacos. And by forcing them
to compromise he will be hailed as the president who saved America. And he might be reelected.
Or he might not be reelected. But if he saves America, that won't much matter.
MoveOn members in Texas's 21st District have voted to endorse Lainey Melnick for Congress. It's up to all of us to stop the corporate takeover of Congress-you can volunteer with the campaign here:
(Some fun for those of you in North Texas in TX-03. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Be among the very first to wish Sam Johnson a happy retirement... and have some fun at his expense. John Lingenfelder for Congress has released a new program to highlight the failures of his opponent Sam Johnson in the Texas 3rd. RetireSam.com is a way to send Sam Johnson your own well wishes that will be hand delivered by the campaign to Sam's Congressional office!
In the last five (5) years, these Organizations wouldn't mind seeing Sam retire. See their ratings of him below the fold.
Congress is heading back home for the August recess this week. Apparently our Senators need to rest after they failed to take up both a clean energy and climate bill and an oil spill bill.
Legislative inaction must be more tiring than I realized.
Still, I don't view this month as a cooling off period. If anything, it's time to turn up the heat.
Over the next few weeks, Senators will be holding "town hall meetings" in their states. Last year, these meetings came to define the health care debate. This year, they could help us reshape America's energy policy.
If you are like me and you are still stunned that the Senate refused to pass a bill that would have created nearly 2 million new American jobs, put our nation at the forefront of the clean energy market and helped end our addiction to oil, then go to a town hall meeting and tell your lawmakers what you think.
Tell them that it is in America's best interest to embrace clean energy now.
And while you are at it, please tell them to block attempts by some Senators to weaken the Clean Air Act-the 40-year-old law that has saved hundreds of thousands of lives-in an effort to further delay reductions in global warming pollution.
Some naysayers claim that voting on visionary legislation is a risky proposition when we are this close to an election. They are wrong, and history proves it.
As I wrote in a recent blog post, 13 of the most powerful environmental laws were passed during the fall of an election year or in the lame duck sessions following elections.
We can pass comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation this fall, but only if we demand it of our lawmakers.
Use this August to make your voices heard. You can find your Senators' schedules by checking their Senate websites, as well as their candidate websites - Republican or Democratic.
We couldn't have chosen a better day to release our first campaign video. Today, many in our district received another one of Lamar Smith's taxpayer funded self-promotion newsletters. This time, he uses a quote from the majority leader, Steny Hoyer, which he claims supports his assertion that the Democratic majority is irresponsible. The quote was lifted completely out of context from an article dated May 11, 2006 and entitled "The American People Are Not the Only Ones Rejecting Republican Policies - So Are the Republicans." The statement was in response to the Republican majority being unable to bring their party together to do the job for America. In this article, he says, "Republicans cannot escape responsibility and accountability for their fiscal failures."
On June 26, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 219-212 in favor of HR 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). Only eight Republicans - we'll call them the "Enlightened Eight" - voted "aye." These Republicans were Mary Bono-Mack (CA-45), Mike Castle (DE-AL), John McHugh (NY-23), Frank LoBiondo (NJ-2), Leonard Lance (NJ-7), Mark Kirk (IL-10), Dave Reichert (WA-8), and Christopher Smith (NJ-4).
Republicans voting for cap and trade in the year of the Tea Party? You'd think that they'd be dumped in the harbor by now. Instead, they're all doing fine. In fact, to date, not a single one of these Republicans has been successfully primaried by the "tea party" (or otherwise). Instead, we have two - Castle and Kirk - running for U.S. Senate, one (McHugh) who was appointed Secretary of the Army by President Obama, and five others - Bono-Mack, LoBiondo, Lance, Reichert, Smith - running for reelection.
Rep. Lance actually was challenged by not one, not two, but three "Tea Party" candidates. One of Lance's opponents, David Larsen, even produced this nifty video, helpfully explaining that "Leonard Lance Loves Cap & Trade Taxes." So, did this work? Did the Tea Partiers overthrow the tyrannical, crypto-liberal Lance? Uh, no. Instead, in the end, Lance received 56% of the vote, easily moving on to November.
Meanwhile, 100 miles or so south on the Jersey Turnpike, Rep. LoBiondo faced two "Tea Party" candidates - Donna Ward and Linda Biamonte - who also attacked on the cap-and-trade issue. According to Biamonte, cap and trade "is insidious and another tax policy... a funneling of money to Goldman Sachs and Al Gore through derivatives creating a carbon bubble like the housing bubble." You'd think that Republican primary voters in the year of the Tea Party would agree with this line of attack. Yet LoBiondo won with 75% of the vote.
Last but not least in New Jersey, Christopher Smith easily turned back a Tea Party challenger - Alan Bateman - by a more than 2:1 margin. Bateman had argued that "Obama knows he can count on Smith to support the United Nations' agenda to redistribute American wealth to foreign countries through international Cap & Trade agreements and other programs that threaten our sovereignty." Apparently, Republican voters in NJ-4 didn't buy that argument.
Across the country in California's 45th District, Mary Bono-Mack won 71% of the vote over Tea Party candidate Clayton Thibodeau on June 8. This, despite Thibodeau attacking Bono-Mack as "the only Republican west of the Mississippi to vote for Cap and Trade." Thibodeau also called cap and trade "frightening," claiming that government could force you to renovate your home or meet requirements before you purchase a home. Thibodeau's scare tactics on cap-and-trade clearly didn't play in CA-45.
Finally, in Washington's 8th Congressional District, incumbent Rep. Dave Reichert has drawn a Tea Party challenger named Ernest Huber, who writes that Cap and Trade "is widely viewed as an attempt at Soviet-style dictatorship using the environmental scam of global warming/climate change... written by the communist Apollo Alliance, which was led by the communist Van Jones, Obama's green jobs czar." We'll see how this argument plays with voters in Washington's 8th Congressional District, but something tells us it's not going to go over any better than in the New Jersey or California primaries.
In sum, it appears that it's quite possible for Republicans to vote for comprehensive, clean energy and climate legislation and live (politically) to tell about it. The proof is in the primaries.
Today marks the 80th day since this crisis began. This disaster is now the largest offshore oil spill in our history. It is estimated that 35,000 to 65,000 barrels of oil are pouring into our Gulf waters everyday, and now we've seen tar balls hit our Texas shores. Our economy, our wildlife, our way of life has been decimated, but BP still finds ways to make even more bad decisions that harm Americans.
