Senate to vote on bailout Weds. at 7pm EST

Via Kathryn Lopez at National Review:

The Senate will vote on the economic rescue plan tomorrow night after a series of stacked votes starting at 7:30.

The structure is this:

The Senate will call up H.R. 1424, the text of which will be substituted with the economic rescue plan (a Dodd amendment which must have the consent of both the Majority and Minority Leaders). The only other amendment in order will be a Sanders amendment that will be handled by a voice vote.

The bill will be subject to a 60-vote threshold for passage.

Read more...

Cantor and Blackburn explain different votes

Eric Cantor from Virginia talks about his "aye" vote on the bailout.

Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee talks about her "nay" vote on the bailout.

--

Also, and maybe this is just me, but can we all stop using the word "rescue" when referring to this, and just admit to what the bailout was/is?  Throwing money at a problem, and one of the biggest steps toward socialism in the United States since LBJ was president.  

Read more...

Hensarling: When in doubt, err on the side of freedom

Would that all the House Republicans were as brave and willing to stand on the right as Congressman Hensarling.

Read more...

Sign the Petition - Oppose the Bailout!

Ten Reasons to Oppose the Wall Street Bailout

1. NO REFORM: The plan attempts to mask, rather than reform, imbalances in credit markets and in U.S. economic public policy. The plan props up reckless and failed banks by buying "troubled assets" instead of focusing on real reforms that go after government sponsored culprits Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and sustainable policies that will increase the availability of private capital and expanded economic growth. 

2. TREASURY POWER GRAB: The plan raises Constitutional concerns by dramatically expanding the power of the current and future Treasury Secretaries, giving the government agency power to directly purchase assets from for-profit financial and non-financial firms.

3. STUNNING PRICE TAG: The $700 billion bailout figure is as much money as the combined annual budgets of the Departments of Defense, Education and Health and Human Services. It amounts to $2,300 for every man, woman, and child in America. 

4. INCREASES NATIONAL DEBT: Instead of cutting spending elsewhere, Congress will borrow all $700 billion on global capital markets, and the bill raises the national debt ceiling to a staggering $11.3 trillion.

5. GLOBAL BAILOUT: The plan includes taxpayer purchases of distressed assets from foreign banks.

6. HURTS RESPONSIBLE AMERICAN BANKS: The plan punishes responsible U.S. banks by keeping reckless, insolvent investment banks in business. As BB&T CEO John Allison wrote in a letter to Congress on Sept. 23rd, "....this is primarily a bailout of poorly run financial institutions.... Corrections are not all bad. The market correction process eliminates irrational competitors."

7. FLAWED PROCESS: Members of Congress and the public will have less than 24 hours and no hearings to discuss and understand the impact of this sweeping plan. This rush to pass a wildly unpopular plan without benefit of significant public debate and input will also undermine its legitimacy and effectiveness.

8. BY WALL STREET, FOR WALL STREET: Treasury Secretary Paulson, the architect of the plan, was formerly the head of Goldman Sachs, one of the firms responsible for the mess and a direct beneficiary of the bailout.  Further, the advisers managing the bailout auctions and assets will be Wall Street firms and will likely receive billions of tax dollars in fees.

9. OTHER OPTIONS NOT EXHAUSTED: The idea that taxpayers will make money on the bailout is not credible. There are ready buyers for these "troubled assets" -- Merrill Lynch sold its entire portfolio of mortgage backed securities in July-- provided the price is low enough. If a profit was possible, private speculators would readily buy these troubled assets.

10. MORALLY OFFENSIVE: The plan violates basic principles of American capitalism and honest governance by creating a system of "private profits, socialized losses" that transfers money from taxpayers directly to Wall Street investment banks. Free market capitalism only functions if individuals and firms are held accountable and are allowed to both succeed and profit, and also to sustain losses and even fail.

Read more...

Credit is not a civil right

Mark Krikorian on the mortgage/credit mess.

Read more...

Congressman Pence on why he opposes the bailout

Fascinating.

Our financial markets are in turmoil and the Administration was right to
call for decisive action to prevent further harm to our economy but
nationalizing every bad mortgage in America is not the answer.

The Administration's request amounts to the largest corporate bailout in American
history. Congress should act, but should act in a way that protects the
integrity of our free market and protects the American taxpayer from more debt
and higher taxes.

To have the freedom to succeed, we must preserve the freedom to
fail. Any solution to our present crisis must preserve our essential economic
freedom.Congress should delay consideration of any legislation until the facts
and competing solutions can be fully debated, consider alternatives to massive
government spending and figure out how to pay for the solution through budget
cuts and reform instead of more debt or taxes.

Congress must not hastily embrace a cure that may do more harm to our economy than the disease of bad debt. Before any bailout is enacted, Congress must set itself on an unalterable path to truly overhaul these Government Sponsored Enterprises from the top down and hold those accountable, in and out of government, who drove them, and our financial sector, to the brink of bankruptcy. Some important work is already underway, but additional reforms are needed. Even now, we read that the Treasury Department is using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase many of these bad mortgages while it seeks the authority to purchase them all. Congress should also ensure that these GSEs can no longer pose a systemic risk to the entire economy while placing them on a brisk schedule to be fully private companies with no guarantee of taxpayer support in times of trouble.

And Congress should immediately repeal the Affordable Housing Fund, which will actually siphon off capital from these under-capitalized entities, in order to fund left-wing, third party organizations.

Next, Congress must consider all available options to put our nation's economy back on its feet. There are no easy answers but there are alternatives to massive government spending.Indexing the Capital Gains tax to inflation (which the Treasury Department can do without any help from Congress), or suspending it for one year, would release an enormous amount of capitol into our economy. Passing an energy bill that lessens the price of gasoline at the pump through more domestic drilling, wind, solar, nuclear and conservation would bring relief to family budgets and create American jobs. Establishing an entitlement reform commission to develop bipartisan solutions to the crushing weight of entitlements would strengthen the American dollar.These and other alternatives to a massive federal bailout must be fully considered and debated before Congress acts.

Finally, any new expenditure of taxpayer dollars should be paid for with fiscal discipline and reform. If Congress decides to spend nearly 1 trillion dollars on a corporate bailout, it must find budget savings to prevent that cost from being passed along to the American people. We must address this crisis with forethought, creativity and fiscal discipline.

Protecting the American taxpayer from higher debt and taxes and renewing our
belief in the power of the free market must be our guide.

Read more...

Friday Soapbox - The GOP's Youthful Mistake

The other night, I had the privilege of hearing from two University of Texas College Republicans about their effort to support John McCain for President. They've started a Students for McCain group at UT, and they were asking for support. One of the biggest challenges they face on their ridiculously liberal campus is that the Students for Obama group gets funds from the campaign, and Students for McCain does not. When they called McCain's campaign to ask for funds, they were told there was no Youth for McCain effort and they were on their own.

It is quite apparent that the GOP conceded the "youth" (18-35/40, depending on who you ask) vote long before there was an official nominee. Down here in central Texas, a common refrain you hear from some long-time party activists is the need to engage the youth. We need to get them involved, we need to include them! And we do. Go to a Travis County Republican executive committee and you'll face the realization that better than 50% of party activists are 45 and older. In a county that is made up largely of young singles and couples under the age of 50, this is a sad statement on the future of the TCRP.

This refrain was met with hard resistance from the Republican old guard (who in a lot of ways remind me of Scarlett O'Hara's Aunt Pittypat and her crowd in Gone with the Wind), who largely made the assumption that "young people" was a euphemism for "Ron Paul supporter." In many Republican circles, that in itself was anathema, so young people were all but ostracized regardless of who they actually supported in the primary.

I can't speak to how this played out in the rest of the GOP nationwide. But the fact that there is no "Youth for McCain" coalition speaks volumes. It should be especially alarming when taken in the context of history. In 1960, "Youth for Nixon" was the coalition that eventually helped recruit Barry Goldwater to run in 1964. It was also the remnants of "Youth for Nixon" that started Young Americans for Freedom and who helped spread the Buckley and Rand messages in the '60s. In 1976, "Youth for Reagan" helped carry Texas for Ronald Reagan in the primary against Gerald Ford. That same group would again carry Texas for Reagan in 1980, and it was members of the '76 group that started Young Conservatives of Texas. In 1984, the youth vote was, again, for Ronald Reagan. What we're seeing now is all the people who were involved in those youth efforts making no overtures to today's young people.

Today's "young people" are largely children of the Reagan Revolution. I'm talking the under-30 crowd, who were mostly born under Reagan's presidency (there's a sliver of us who were born under Carter, but we can be forgiven, yes?). Those of us who grew up in the 1980s had our first political impressions formed by Reagan, and there are many of us for whom those impressions stuck. The new voters this year were born after the Berlin Wall fell; in school, they never knew the maps with the Soviet Union or two Germanys. They grew up in a world made possible by the Reagan years.

So why isn't this generation being courted, even a little bit, by John McCain? Or more to the point, by the GOP? Ten years from now, today's "youth" will be the voters the Republicans would traditionally court. But without building some trust today, those voters of tomorrow may decide there is nothing the Republican Party can offer them. We are in the midst of an ideological struggle, and nearly 100 years of big government policies and practices have convinced many Americans that government is the solution to their problems. It will be up to this generation to continue the fight Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater began.

In a year when we're facing someone like Barack Obama, we need to have a youth coalition present - we need to remind the Reagan Generation that the Republican Party isn't just for old people. That sounds harsh, I know, especially if you're among the 45-and-older crowd I mentioned. But since we haven't exactly eliminated the need for blockwalking and phonebanking, and we need to be thinking in terms of how to use the internet and other technologies to get out the vote and spread our message, it seems to me that the worst thing we can do is shut out young people on an arbitrary, "they-probably-voted-for-the-other-guy" basis.

Where is Youth for McCain? With any luck, it's a coalition that didn't need to be formalized after all.

Read more...

Are you registered to vote?

Secretary of State Website Allows Voters to Check Registration Status

Are you registered to vote? If you are like many people, you may not know the answer to that question. The Texas Secretary of State now has a feature on its website that allows you to find out the status of your voter registration. If you discover that you are not registered, you can also fill out an online voter registration form that you can print and mail to your local voter registrar. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 6.

To check your registration and fill out an online voter registration form, see the Secretary of State website.

Read more...

Get Unions OUT of Texas Classrooms!

Read more...

Link Round-Up: More on the current financial crisis

Update:  Treasury is now bailing out the Fed, taxpayers get monumentally screwed.

Biden blames tax cuts.  So, clearly, the solution is higher taxes (TM Ponnuru).

McCain the Regulator (Ponnuru)

Required Reading: About the Situation on Wall Street (The Weekly Standard: The Blog)

Historical revisionism revisionism (Protein Wisdom)

Palin Gets the Financial Crisis, While Obama/Biden are Clueless (The Corner: Mark Hemingway)

Obama goes for the jungular [sic] (The Atlantic: Megan McArdle, Asymmetrical Information)

What, specifically, should the Bush administration have done, Senator [Obama]? Don't tell me they should have beefed up SEC enforcement, since this is not a criminal problem (aside from minor lies by Bear execs after the damage was already done). Perhaps he should not have reappointed Greenspan, or appointed Ben Bernanke? Both moves were widely hailed at the time. Moreover, to believe that a Democrat could have done better is to assert that a Democratic president would have found a Fed chair who would pay less attention to unemployment, or a bank regulator who would have tried harder to prevent low-income people from buying homes. Where is this noble creature? And why didn't Barack Obama push for him at the time?

Read more...

City of Austin Prop 2 - Stop Domain Subsidies

At tonight's Central Texas Republican Assembly meeting, we heard from Brian Rodgers, the activist behind Prop. 2 on the Austin ballot this November. This is the city charter amendment that, if passed, would stop the tax subsidies being given to the developers behind The Domain (that swanky shopping center at Braker and MoPac).

There's a lot to say about this whole issue, but luckily the StopDomainSubsidies.com people have produced some very insightful, educational videos and put them on YouTube for general consumption. Here's the first one below; the second is available on their website, and the third will be available soon.

I should note - the Stop Domain Subsidies campaign has been endorsed by South Austin Democrats, The Republican Club of Austin, Travis County Libertarian Party, Independent Texans, Capital Area Asian American Democrats, Better Austin Today, Travis County Green Party, South Austin [Neighborhood] Coalition, Southwest Austin Democrats, Austin Neighborhoods Council, Save Our Springs Alliance, and over 500 local businesses. This is by every means a true grassroots, non-partisan effort.



Here's more information on the charter amendment and the ballot language for Prop. 2.

Crossposted at RedCounty.

Read more...

More on Democratic complicity in Fannie/Freddie crisis

And this is from the New York Times, if you can believe it.  Five years ago.

Basically, five years ago, the Bush Administration attempted to shore up Fannie/Freddie from financial crisis, because the writing was on the wall.  They did this by creating an agency in the Treasury Dept. specifically to oversee Fannie/Freddie.  But the Democrats were categorically opposed to the idea.  

Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.

”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

”I don’t see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,” Mr. Watt said.

Investor's Business Daily has a great breakdown of how the mortgage crisis came to be in the first place:

The untold story in this whole national crisis is that President Clinton put on steroids the Community Redevelopment Act, a well-intended Carter-era law designed to encourage minority homeownership. And in so doing, he helped create the market for the risky subprime loans that he and Democrats now decry as not only greedy but “predatory.”

Yes, the market was fueled by greed and overleveraging in the secondary market for subprimes, vis-a-vis mortgaged-backed securities traded on Wall Street. But the seed was planted in the ’90s by Clinton and his social engineers. They were the political catalyst behind this slow-motion financial train wreck.

And it was the Clinton administration that mismanaged the quasi-governmental agencies that over the decades have come to manage the real estate market in America.

No one is saying the Bush administration had no part to play in all of this, but it's VERY clear from the evidence that the Democrats were at the root of the problem.  They essentially created a situation in which nothing but government bailout was possible, and that leaves taxpayers holding a very heavy debt load. 

A bit of schadenfreude in all of this comes in Bank of America's buyout of Merrill Lynch.  If deregulation legislation (the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) hadn't been passed, BofA couldn't have bought out Merrill Lynch, and the government likely would have had to pick up the slack - resulting in yet more taxpayer debt load.

Read more...

Cornyn holds to no-campaign pledge

In response to Hurricane Ike, Senator John Cornyn ceased campaign activities and pulled his ads from airing during this terrible time for so many residents of Texas.  Even presidential candidate Barack Obama cancelled his scheduled appearance on Saturday Night Live.  Meanwhile, Democratic candidate for US Senate Rick Noriega didn't even attempt to cease campaign operations or tone down the rhetoric for a few days - his campaign claimed that a scheduled event in Killeen last Saturday was something he couldn't get out of.

(Killeen, incidentally, is 200 miles from Noriega's legislative district - he is still a member of the Texas state House of Representatives)

Some of Senator Cornyn's ads ran by mistake after the campaign asked they be pulled, but some people would have you believe otherwise. Indeed, some would have you believe it was a malicious campaign trick, instead of an honest case of 3 television stations out of 50 being unable to immediately comply with the campaign's request.  

The point?  Cornyn upheld his promise to Texans and his campaign has been participating in aid efforts in Houston.  Noriega, on the other hand, was 200 miles from the people he represents while they were in dire circumstances - and it was so he could campaign.

Read more...

AFP Launches Texas Tour, Kick-off in Round Rock 9/22/08

From Americans for Prosperity:

Texas tour is launched – to Put Taxpayers in Control

We're hosting a public forum in Round Rock on Monday, Sept 22. at the Round Rock Library , Room B, at 216 E. Main Street, Round Rock, TX 78664.

Featured speaker will be Trent Seibert, nationally recognized investigative reporter. Peggy Venable will also present information on property taxes, local government debt and give an update on taxpayer-funded lobbying.

Due to the overwhelming response from our Texas Summit, we will be hosting a series of town hall meetings and blogger training sessions throughout the state to educate individuals about important issues and the tools we can use to be more effective.

This meeting will be an excellent opportunity for you to learn more about issues facing taxpayers today. You'll also learn how to more effectively Defend the American Dream.

RightOnline Texas Tour Townhall meeting
Date: Monday, Sept 22, 2008
Time: 7-9 pm
Location: Round Rock Library, Room B, 216 E. Main Street, Round Rock, 78664.

If you have any questions about this meeting simply reply to this email or call us directly at 5120476-5905 or email us at: info@afptx.org.

The two-hour sessions will provide issue information and online training for activists who want to blog – or know more about blogging and internet activism.

Why Sept. 22? On that date in 1871, a taxpayers' convention convened in Austin to denounce "unconstitutional and repressive" government acts. If you are in the Round Rock/Austin area, sign up now – RSVP to: Eliza@afptx.org

Read more...

The Subprime Mortgage Crisis for Dummies

Or, you know, for the rest of us.

Check it out here.  

Read more...

Fannie/Freddie crisis is a Democratic crisis

Soren Dayton at The Next Right has a great analysis of the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac scandal and how the Democrats are connected to it.

Make no mistake about it, what happened at Fannie and Freddie (and the subsequent government takeover) is very much aligned with prominent Democrats (Chris Dodd, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and yes, The One is involved too) and their principles.  This is a disaster for the Democrats' economic agenda - or it should be. 

When you turned on the evening news in the last week or so (and I'm not talking the cable channels, just plain ol' World News Tonight or the Nightly News), you saw quite a bit about McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden, probably a lot about the hurricanes, that kind of thing.  How much did you see about Fannie/Freddie, and the government takeover?  Very little.  And during ABC's coverage (which I happened to catch), a financial analyst laughed when asked what the takeover means for taxpayers.  He knew full well - this takeover and the scandal that preceded it, are huge liabilities for taxpayers.  

Housing crisis, or Democratic-engineered manuever to further widen the scope of government?  

You decide.

Read more...

Leftist: Palin's hypocrisy is pretending that she's a woman

Jonah Goldberg has a column up at NRO that is really worth your time, talking about feminists' reaction to Sarah Palin.

This is how scared the feminist left is of Sarah Palin:

Gloria Steinem, the grand mufti of feminism, issued a fatwa anathematizing
Palin. A National Organization for Women spokeswoman proclaimed Palin more of a
man than a woman. Wendy Doniger, a feminist academic at the University of
Chicago, writes of Palin in Newsweek: “Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense
that she is a woman.”

Make no mistake - the left's problem with Sarah Palin is not that she's a woman, but that she is a woman who espouses conservative beliefs. The feminists have been exposed for their own hypocrisy: claiming to support and champion all women, while really supporting only women who believe as they do.

Read more...

Please help us in the fight against Lou Gehrig's disease

Earlier this week, my family got some bad news regarding my mom. She has been suffering from a number of symptoms since early this year with no diagnosis; the doctors ran every conceivable test and have now come to the conclusion that she has amytrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease).

My grandmother Jean died from this disease in 1979. The news has shocked us all, but we are aware of what we're dealing with.

In light of the news about my mom earlier this week, my sister Jacie and I have decided to get involved with our local chapter of the ALS Association. To kick off our involvement, Jacie and her husband Brian, as well as my husband Randy and I, will be participating in the Walk to Defeat ALS 2008 in Austin on November 1. If you'd like to sponsor our team, please click here.

Read more...

Commissioner Williams to debate opponent

This should be a lot of fun to watch!

TX Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams is going to debate his Democratic opponent. Date and other information to follow.

I'm intrigued. Williams is a great public speaker and knows the issues facing the Railroad Commission inside and out. I'll be sure to post more information as I get it.

Read more...

PSA: Central Texas school schedule changes for Friday

Straight from KVUE:

05:56 PM CDT on Thursday, September 11, 2008

KVUE News

Several school districts in the eastern part of Central Texas have decided to release students early or cancel classes altogether because of the possible affects from Hurricane Ike, which is forecast to move north into South Central Texas after striking the coastline.

The National Weather Service expects Ike to impact South Central Texas throughout the end of the week and the weekend.

Officials with Elgin and Giddings ISDs Thursday announced school will be canceled in the districts. Classes were expected to resume Monday morning. Giddings ISD officials said ACT testing scheduled for Saturday has been rescheduled for Saturday, September 20.

Bastrop ISD officials have decided to release students early on Friday, with the following release times:

-- Elementary (grades Pre-Kindergarten-4) will release at 11:30 a.m.

-- Secondary (grades 5-12) will release at 12:30 p.m.

-- There will be no afternoon Pre-Kindergarten classes.

Manor ISD also announced school will end two hours early on Friday, and all Pre-Kindergarten and after school events for Friday and the weekend have been cancelled. Buses will run two hours early. Schools will reopen Monday.

Austin ISD will release students early on Friday because of traffic concerns from Hurricane Ike evacuations

“This is a precautionary step to remove students and buses from the roadways as early as possible. We are expecting a great deal of traffic from evacuees on local roads and highways. The safety of students is our first consideration.” said Dr. Pat Forgione, AISD superintendent, said in a news release.

The dismissal schedule for AISD is:

Noon — Elementary Schools. There will be no after-school care for students.

1 p.m. — Middle Schools, including Kealing magnet students who ride Capital Metro buses.

2 p.m. — High Schools (except LBJ and the Liberal Arts & Science Academy)

Because of unique transportation issues, LBJ High School and LASA will dismiss at Noon instead of 2 p.m.

Pflugerville ISD also planned to release students two hours early on Friday because of concerns about traffic.

The schedule is:

-- High schools will be released at 2:15 p.m.

-- Middle schools will be released at 1:35 p.m.

-- Elementary schools will be released at 12:50 p.m.

Buses will run on the early release schedule.

In Del Valle, district officials say elementary schools will dismiss at 12 p.m. and secondary schools will dismiss at 1 p.m. in order to avoid traffic congestion.

All campuses in Round Rock ISD will also be released early on Friday because of traffic concerns.

The dismissal schedule for Round Rock ISD is as follows:

-- 12:45 p.m. -- Elementary schools

-- 1:30 p.m. -- Middle schools

-- 2 p.m. -- High schools

Leander ISD will close two hours early on Friday.

“All of the uncertainty about the weather in connection with Hurricane Ike, anticipated heavy traffic on area roadways, plus the district’s commitment to help those who have evacuated from the Texas coast, combine to make early dismissal from school a sensible choice,” LISD Superintendent Dr. Bret Champion said in a news release.

All school buses will run their regular routes, but at the earlier dismissal time.

A number of Central Texas school districts have also decided to reschedule high school football games. For changes in the schedule, go to HSGametime.com .

Read more...

Never Forget pt 3

I took this picture near my parents' home in Lewisville, TX, on 9/12/2001.

Read more...

Never Forget pt 2

Read more...

9/11: Never Forget

Young Conservatives of Texas at UT have teamed up with the University Democrats for today's 9/11 Never Forget memorial at the UT campus. This same display is happening on many campuses in Texas and nationwide.

Also, the memorial at the Pentagon will be dedicated today.

CNN has a list of names of the victims here.

In remembrance of that horrible morning 7 years ago, I will post nothing political on this blog today. Spend time with your families and be thankful for what God has done in your life.

Read more...

Texas Tuition Promise Fund debuts

Good news for parents looking to lock in tuition prices for their children! The Texas Tuition Promise Fund debuted today, and like the Texas Tomorrow Fund before it, this fund ensures that parents who pay into it now will lock in today's tuition prices for their children.

KVUE is reporting that state officials say tuition prices have risen 9% statewide in the last five years. What KVUE failed to mention is the reason for this - since tuition deregulation passed in 2003, and university boards of regents were given free reign to raise tuition as they pleased, tuition prices have skyrocketed. At some universities in Texas, tuition has gone up more than 9%; some schools, including Texas State University in San Marcos, attempted to or succeeded in raising tuition at least 10% in one year.

The Texas Tuition Promise Fund will take enrollments until February 2009. Every Texas child, regardless of economic background, is eligible. Parents would do well to lock in today's prices; the Texas Tuition Promise Fund is structured so that universities will have to pay for the difference in rates if tuition rises between now and when the students are able to use the money paid in (upon enrollment in any university or community college in Texas). It can even be used for out-of-state schools, so long as the student/parent/etc. pays for the difference between in-state and out-of-state rates.

This program is even more important now that tuition prices at public universities are not held in check by the Legislature or other elected entity.

Read more...

Factcheck.org on Palin

Just in case you need a reality check (and it seems that if you are a member of the mainstream media, or if you feel your blood pressure rise whenever someone says Sarah Palin's name, then you qualify for this reality check).

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/sliming_palin.html

Read more...

Fannie and Freddie bailout harbinger of big gov't

The federal government's bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has even fiscal conservatives arguing about what the gov't's role in the so-called mortgage crisis really should have been. I'll be honest -my opinion is not fully formed, primarily because this is a complex financial issue that I don't have a full grasp on.

However, I do know that when the government says it's taking something over, there's not really any good that can come of it in the long-term. Yes, Wall Street has been giddy all day and mortgage interest rates have already dropped half a percentage point. Predictions abound that we'll see a revitalized housing market by the end of the year. But even the commentator from the Columbia Business School who appeared on ABC's World News Tonight with Charles Gibson couldn't help but laugh mirthlessly when asked, "What does this mean for taxpayers?" He admitted, for taxpayers, this isn't going to be the best deal in the world.

The government is taking on the $14 billion in losses Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have suffered over the last year, and guaranteeing existing loans. Because it's the government, you already know better than to imagine that these lending institutions will one day be fully privatized once again. If anything, the government will gain more control over time.

Taxpayers beware! Any time the government says it will protect your interests, what they actually mean is that they're protecting their own interests, and you'll be sent the bill. I wonder if anyone stopped to think that homeowners ARE taxpayers, and that an increased tax burden, no matter the reason or cause, ultimately harms our ability to own our homes and achieve the American dream.

Read more...

That's my boy!

Newt on Palin:

Read more...

Fred Thompson - so he CAN campaign!

Gee, I wish this guy had run for president.

Anyway, National Review has posted the text of his speech here.

Read more...

Fred Thompson on Palin

This speech is a lot of fun so far. I'm cheering from my living room.

Thompson is reminding us - Sarah Palin has led a municipality and a state. And she's done so while taking on the establishment and reforming where there was corruption within.

Let's not forget that in the MSM's squawking, okay?

Read more...

Texas Delegation on Fox coverage

I'm watching the coverage of the convention on Fox, and can't help but pause it every time they show the Texas delegation to see if I see anyone familiar. During Laura Bush's introduction of President Bush, I caught sight of Holly Hansen, the president of Williamson County Republican Women and first-time national delegate from CD 31.

Seen anyone you know in the crowd at St. Paul?

Read more...

Kossacks hit rock bottom - as usual

A comment over at Daily Kos from your typical poster:

"If health insurance for all, an end to the Iraq War, an end to torture and
illegal wiretapping, and a sane energy policy can be obtained at the price of
destroying one teenage girl, her family, and the surrendering our self-respect I
see that as a cheap trade."

It's amazing, because we conservatives don't believe that stooping to racism is a legitimate way to achieve our goals of smaller government, a smooth transition to a viable and free Iraqi government, smart energy policy and lower gas prices, an end to big spending and high taxes, and an end to activist courts.

If the last few days of the campaign season have proven anything, it is that the Left and the media that trumpet their views are utterly and completely unhinged. Not that we needed this to prove it, but at least right now the whole world can see their mentality.

Read more here.

Read more...

PSA: Don't fall for AARP ads

If you've been watching any of the political convention coverage on cable, you've likely been a captive audience for a series of commercials relating to various "voter" issues like health care and energy. The T. Boone Pickens commercials have been mildly annoying, but what has been driving me to the kitchen for another beer or more popcorn are the ads from the AARP.


The American Association of Retired Persons seems so innocuous, with their clever logo for "Divided We Fail" and their assertions about medical coverage for senior citizens. But I advise you, dear reader, not to fall for it. The AARP is the most powerful and largest lobbying organization in the country, growing every year as more baby boomers pass their middle age years; they are not a harmless advocacy group. That membership card that gets you discounts at Luby's and the movie theater represents your financial support of an organization that is fighting for more centralized, socialized health care, and against any kind of Social Security reform. The AARP has teamed up with Rock the Vote in the past to promote a message to young people that Social Security is not only perfectly solvent, but that more money must be poured into it.


These stances, straight from the Democratic Party's playbook, are by no means non-partisan or even good for America. Too many voters who believe themselves conservative have paid money to the AARP for insurance, for membership discounts, etc., without ever stopping to wonder what that money supports.


The "Divided We Fail" commercials are really a ploy to convince voters to support the candidate in the general election who supports socializing medicine and preventing Social Security reform. You get one guess which candidate that is, and I promise, it ain't John McCain.

Read more...

Obama to media: "Back off" Bristol Palin "story"

Via the Politico:

Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown reports: At a press avail in Monroe, Mich.,
Barack Obama on Palin: "Back off these kinds of stories." "I have said before
and I will repeat again: People's families are off limits," Obama said. "And
people's children are especially off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our
politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as a governor or her
potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to
back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18 and
how a family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn’t be a topic
of our politics."

Good for him. Now, will the liberal media listen to him?

Read more...

Palin sets the bar for conservative women

I have thought of the usual political things attendent to any vice presidential choice. It's been a long time since Republicans have had this kind of opportunity. In 2000, the vetting process was longer, but we didn't have many of the online resources that we have now and we certainly didn't have the same kind of 24/7 scrutiny of individual choices. We also had a far less contentious primary in 2000 - it was just Bush and McCain then - and with 10 Republican candidates as late as February, we had a lot of what-ifs and maybes in the VP process.

Sarah Palin had been talked about some, but it seemed that most of it was coming from the wishful-thinking crowd, the way the J.C. Watts possibility was talked about in 2000. Leading up to the announcement on Friday, we heard three names above the din of speculation. Mitt Romney, Joe Lieberman, and Tim Pawlenty. Lieberman was easy to count out, after the pro-choice test balloon that went out several weeks ago and Obama's choice of a fellow senator. Romney was the obvious choice and Pawlenty less obvious but just as likely. In fact, the campaign seems to have purposely leaked that it was Pawlenty as late as Thursday night after Obama's speech. Most of us went to bed thinking it was Pawlenty.

Personally, I was rooting for Palin, Cantor, and Jindal. Sarah Palin has made a name for herself in fiscal conservative circles, and of course she got some play in conservative media when she had Trig in April. Eric Cantor has been a leader in the House on fiscal issues as well as social, and was very key to the Republican "revolt" in Congress in July. Bobby Jindal, well, he said repeatedly that he wasn't interested, but that didn't make the idea of him as VP any less appealing. A lot of us are hoping he'll run for the top job after some time as Louisiana's governor.

Honestly, I had no faith that McCain would choose someone who could not only give conservatives some red meat (like it or not, that is important in an election on this level, especially when your opponent is practically all red meat), but who also could appeal to undecideds on some level. I figured Palin would be utterly ignored given that she's from Alaska (small state, only 3 electoral votes) and disagrees with McCain on some issues (ANWR, for instance). I knew I could live with Romney, learn to like Pawlenty, and vote for Bob Barr if McCain chose Lieberman.

So on Friday, when I say I was in tears when I heard he chose my first choice, I really wasn't lying. I held it in at work, mostly, but my husband picked me up at noon and I was crying before I was totally out the door. He had Rush Limbaugh's show on in the car, because Rush was doing a "join-in-progress" and broadcasting the Dayton rally - and listening to Gov. Palin's speech, the waterworks really got going.I did think at first that I was just happy and excited and relieved that McCain picked someone I could get behind. I'm a Republican precinct chairman and my job is to get out the vote for Republicans in November. McCain was/is a tough sell, because Republicans view him largely as a traitor to our platform and worse, willing to ignore us when making decisions. Palin proves that McCain is at least willing to listen to us, though he needs fine-tuning on the issues. It's much easier to sell McCain/Palin than it would have been to sell McCain/Romney, etc.

But upon reflection, I believe I'm feeling much more than just relief. I've never had to prove myself as a conservative, Republican woman, to other Republicans or conservatives. I believe very deeply that being a woman is not the only definition for me, and I don't make political decisions based on gender. That being said, yeah, I've wished for a woman to come forward from this side of the ideological divide and prove that the Democrats aren't the only party for women. I was one of those little girls who, at various points, answered that I wanted to be president when I grew up. It was never something I thought might be impossible, and if there is one thing I resent about institutional feminism, it's the assumption that women on my side of the aisle either don't harbor such ambitions or might be kept from them because of our allegiance to the so-called patriarchy.

Hearing Sarah Palin's name called on Friday, hearing her speech, seeing her CNBC interviews earlier....my heart is full to bursting because she just broke through and proved that you don't need to be a moderate on the life issue to make it far in politics as a woman. You don't have to wait until your children are fully grown. You can actually still be raising your kids, in fact! You can fight the establishment in your own party and be elected to the highest office in your state, and you can stand up to the tax-and-spend mentality of those who have been in the legislature far too long - and then you can be tapped to be the vice presidential candidate in your party. You don't need Emily's List to get somewhere; you don't need NARAL or NOW. And best of all, you didn't need to employ Amy Richards' philosophy about the lives of unborn children in order to "have it all."

I am so proud of Sarah Palin, because she is the kind of politician, the kind of woman, I aspire to be. I have never met her, but I've met women like her. Cheryl Johnson, the tax assessor-collector in Galveston County, TX who ran for office after her friends got together to support her in efforts to expose bad practices by her predecessor. Dianna Pharr, a mom who took on the school district when they "leaked" information about her son's condition to the media in retaliation for her public disclosure of the district's budget and tax plans. Suzanna Gratia-Hupp, who ran for and served as state representative in Texas to fight for a concealed-carry law after witnessing her parents' murder in the Killeen massacre, who now continues the fight for gun rights and self-defense rights in the private sector. My friend Mark's mom, who saw her son off to Iraq, where he was badly injured, and who still greets soldiers at the airport every week and sends care packages - because someone else's son may go through the same things hers did. My mom, the mother of three healthy daughters and one son with a disability, who didn't let the odds or even the doctors stand in the way of raising all four of us to be confident and successful. My mom who votes against every bond, every tax increase, and stands in the Life Chain every October to protest abortions; my mom who helps take care baskets to pregnant single women and who took us kids with her to do all those things. Sarah Palin reminds me of all these women and more, the women who work and maintain a marriage and believe in God and bring up their children to understand duty to country as well as duty to family.

There's been a lot of talk about class in this election cycle. A lot of talk about where Michelle Obama came from, where Barack came from. Sarah Palin's story isn't so very different from either of theirs; she's middle-class all the way, and she represents as many similar stories.

Tokenism. Well. I've heard that tossed about a lot since Friday. Was Geraldine Ferraro a token? Was Madeleine Albright? Was Condi Rice? Have we seriously not gotten far enough to finally admit that women have merit apart from their gender?

Would I be as excited about Palin if she were a man? Yes, because I'm excited about her record as a reformer and budget-cutter, as someone who understands the oil and gas industry and the drilling debate. As a Republican, she excites me based on those things. I am excited because she's a woman, but I know I wouldn't be posting this if McCain had chosen Kay Bailey Hutchison (a lifelong politician with questionable conservative credentials). So it's not just that Palin's a woman - it's that she's someone I feel like I understand, whose politics and ideology closely match my own, and whose accomplishments thus far prove (to me) she's got moxie enough to take on the Democratic onslaught and the mainstream media.

Read more...