I know, I know.  It’s shameless self-promotion.  But Mark Levin is, well, the Great One.  He is a source of great inspiration to me, a truly Great American.  Unafraid, uncowed by the Alinsky-ites and the race-hustlers, Levin speaks truth in the face of Orwellian spin by a shamelessly biased politico-media complex.  Levin’s book Liberty and Tyranny is much more than a Conservative Mainfesto; it is a roadmap to victory over the statists that have insinuated themselves at all levels of our government and our culture.

The thought that Mark Levin actually read something I wrote, and encouraged others to read it, is deeply gratifying and humbling. 

The post at David Horowitz’s NewsRealBlog is here.

//Shameless self-promotion mode OFF

From Austin Tea Party Patriots

Saturday, August 28, 2010, my husband, two daughters, and I attended the Restoring Honor rally in Washington D.C.  It was a wonderful experience for us all.  The crowd was huge (500,000 + people), very peaceful, and individuals were kind and patient.  You might think that the important part of the weekend was the three and a half hours (or more) that we spent together during the rally.  When I was sitting under the bright hot sun with my friends from Texas, I thought so too.  But I was wrong…

During our first leg of our trip from D.C. to Chicago, our two daughters, ages 22 and 16, sat next to an African-American gentleman wearing an Obama inauguration t-shirt.  After take-off he mentioned to them that he had travelled to D.C. to attend Al Sharpton’s Reclaim the Dream rally.  Our older daughter told him that they were in D.C. for the Glenn Beck Restoring Honor rally, and the conversation took off from there.  

The gentlemen told my daughters that he went to the Restoring Honor rally with several friends because Al Sharpton told them that we were holding a negative protest that was against MLK’s message and against those who had gathered for Rev. Sharpton’s rally. He said that when he and his friends arrived that they didn’t see anything that they expected so they stayed a bit to listen.  They realized that Restoring Honor was not anything like what Rev. Sharpton told them to expect.  They then went back to the Sharpton rally to try to tell several people that what Rev. Sharpton was saying about our rally was not true.  He saw that our rally was not a political or hateful rally, and that it was not meant to divide Americans.  He tried to get a message to Rev. Sharpton prior to his speech, but either he didn’t get the message or he ignored the message.  Rev. Sharpton went forward with his original speech as planned.   

This kind gentleman then told my daughter some things that amazed us.  He told them multiple times that he was a Democrat and that the tides had turned since MLK’s day and that the civil rights movement had not changed with it.  He asked the girls to watch Al Sharpton on CNN.  He thought that Sharpton looked ridiculous on CNN because it was the perfect opportunity to say that he was sorry for his criticism of the Restoring Honor rally.  Then they discussed the media.  He and the girls agreed that the lack of truth in the media and the lack of individuals’ willingness to do their own research would be our country’s downfall.  He followed up by saying that Glenn was something special and possibly the modern day MLK.  He said that from now on when Glenn spoke he would take the time to listen, and that Glenn or someone like Glenn would be the next great President.  The girls told him that they felt sure that Glenn would never run. 

The girls asked the fellow if he would come to the rally if we had another one.  He said maybe, it depended on what was going on in his life.  He said that he would be with us in spirit for sure. 
 
During the last few days I talked with folks and I came to understand two things:

First, the event wasn’t for or about 9-12ers, Tea Partiers, or those of us who have become politically active during the last year and a half.  It was for ALL of America — every single person that we hope will be inspired to put God, integrity and honor first in their lives.  It was for the majority of Americans who may even be watching from the sidelines, but who believe that the priorities of Faith, Hope (Trust), and Charity.

Second, there is REAL hope that Americans of all ethnicities and faiths can peacefully unite around our common desire for truth in our lives and in our country.  We cannot give up and we must continue to build relationships, one person at a time through kitchen table conversations.  We must help every American know that they are not alone and that there are many folks who will unite with them around our honorable founding principles.

Pretty strong stuff.  Our 16 year old told me that the weekend experience changed her life.

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I respect Mr. Mishou. Anyone who is willing to suffer the “slings and arrows” of political campaigning gets my respect and admiration. Mr. Mishou, as far as I know, is a decent and honorable man. I wish he had run as a Republican because he might have won the run-off and, with it, my support.

Chris
Ed Mishou’s blog
———————-

By Ed Mishou

I’ve often been asked why I didn’t run Republican.  A year and a half ago when I was considering the request that I enter the race to oust Mr. Ortiz, The Republicans weren’t doing us any favors in Washington.  My objective then, as now and will be, was to preserve the Republic and return the House to WE THE PEOPLE.  When I compared the Republican action to my principles – government with a Constitutional foundation, smaller government, fiscal responsibility, free markets, personal freedom, and more reliance on personal responsibility, I found the tenets of the Libertarian Party to be more in line with my personal perspectives.  Hence, after considerable thought, I opted for the Libertarian request and agreed to be their nominee.  Earlier than that, I had been active in trying to get a grassroots effort started in the 27th District, knowing we had to bring together both geographical extremes of the District if we were to be successful.  This was before the Tea Parties existed and I believe my efforts helped in their origination within the District.  I am extremely proud of all the grassroots groups throughout the country as they have had a major impact.  Within a year the Republican groups, National, State, and Local, saw the light and began to read from the same page – Constitutional foundation, smaller government, fiscal responsibility, free markets, personal freedom, and more reliance on personal responsibility.  Sound familiar?  So they now can talk the talk but can they walk the walk?  As many will attest, I have stated for some time, this will be a year of major test for the Republicans.  Will they hold true, or will they fall back to their previous BIG GOVERNMENT MENTALITY?  If they fall back I fear it will be at their peril as the grassroots folks aren’t going away and they have long memories.  Unfortunately, we are still a couple of months from the election and already there are indications of the latter being reality.  During the rush to gain voter support, John Boehner had the caucus put a clamp on earmarks as that fit the “new” direction.  Last week, the man most likely to become the majority leader should the House flip, said he would reconsider “selected” earmarks  (selected by who? Special Interest dollars?).  Hence, I feel fully vindicated in my decision and with more resolve that I should be in Congress as an Independent, shielded from the pressure of the majority leader, or other Special Interests, and free to continue my original path to fulfill my obligations to the constituents of the 27th District.   Promises or Pandering?  You know where I stand, do you know about the others?  Only you can decide.

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Hugh Hewitt interviewed Senate minority leader John Boehner a few days ago, and could not get Boehner to commit to a rapid legislative agenda to repeal and reverse the democrat’s leftist legislative cramdown after the midterms in November. Boehner hemmed and hawed, sounding every bit like the establishment inside-the-beltway career politicians that got us into the dire economic mess that we’re in now.

To make matters worse, Bill Kristol related to Hewitt on yesterday’s podcast that he asked a “high-ranking GOP leader” what their plans were, what they intended to do should the GOP take control of one or both Houses of Congress, and this unnamed source said that they were trying to get members to sign off on a “No Earmarks” pledge, but said it was very tough going. Kristol was incredulous.

In this election year, with this blatantly obvious tidal wave of resentment and outright anger rushing toward establishment politicians (and quasi-socialist redistributionist Democrats), there are not enough Republican lawmakers with the backbone and moral courage to sign a pledge banning pork barrel spending?

The Beltway elite professional political class is neither Democrat nor Republican. They are, as coined by Mark Levin, STATISTS first and foremost. What’s good for the state is ultimately good for them, the elite professional political ruling class.

Watch for it. Obamacare should be repealed, completely, every single provision, rule, and regulation GONE, stricken from the public record and expunged from public consciousness.

But it won’t happen. Why? Because state control of health care is the ultimate power grab. Boehner and those who comprise the ruling class elite realize that as long as Obamacare exists, they will have a windmill to tilt against, a cause to rally the troops around, an issue to rail against.

Think about it. Imagine the seductive appeal of that kind of power over the lives of others. Think your congressman can resist the urge to use his new authority as one of 435 quasi-health care administrators to ensure his re-election? Doubtful, right?

Stealth statist Republicans will nip at the edges of Obamacare, but will never repeal it because they have as much to lose (and, ironically, as much to gain) as the radical leftist Democrats who crammed it down our throats.

Obamacare is here to stay.

But it could get worse. MUCH worse. I remember Rush talking about how the Democrats actually want the Republicans to regain control of Congress for the next couple of years so they can take the blame for the inevitable hard times ahead. It actually makes a lot of sense.

The national economy doesn’t turn on a dime. It often takes months, even years for government policies, regulations, and legislation to affect the national economy. The full impact of Obamacare will not be felt for at least two years, and woe be to the party in power when the doo-doo hits the fan.

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We hear from some folks that one cannot blame our Socialist Democrat U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz for all the faults found within the Democratic Party or concerning President Obama’s actions or lack of action. Very probably true in one sense. Ortiz is certainly not directing the miserable show in D.C. that brings the congressional approval rating down to 11 percent and the president’s to 30-something.

Ortiz has played the Washington game very carefully in his all-too-long career at fleecing his constituents. He has always kept a low and moving target. In my many years of lobbying for First amendment issues, we called representatives like Ortiz, “tagalongs.” They never initiated any major legislation, never authored any meaningful legislation on their own, but only succeeded in signing onto bills as co-authors if the bills did not rock their boats. In Ortiz’s example, he even misses many major votes altogether with never explaining why to his constituents. He is enabling the socialists to succeed!

It is a wonder that never ends as to why Ortiz keeps winning elections. His real anchor appears to be the Hispanic vote that he woos at the exclusion of any other. And that is nothing but prejudice! He should not be involved in the so-called Hispanic Caucus. That involvement serves to divide the country and show that he prefers to align himself with a certain interest group, rather than with all Americans living in his district.

Voters in the Valley who continually return Ortiz to D.C. do not realize that they are continuing the subjugation of the Hispanic people for whom they have so much concern. If the Democrats, Ortiz and even Obama had so much concern for the Valley, they all would have led the Valley out of its poverty generations ago. But no, there is more power in keeping people down and subject to the masters in Washington who will dole out “rewards” just enough to keep the masses at bay.

In September, we will extend our campaign into “The Parade.”
Read along to defeat our slave-master.

More In Two Weeks

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Last year, we were not able to go to the 9/12 rally in Washington, DC, since Greg’s company held its annual retreat on the same day.  We did not want to miss this year’s 8/28 “Restoring Honor” event, so we dug some airline and hotel points out of mothballs and made a trip of it with our 18-year old son. 

Here’s a short journal of our trip for those of you who might be interested. 

We left Austin very early Friday morning and (after the usual stop in another city that Bergstrom flyers are normally subjected to) arrived in DC around 1 pm.  We met Lily and Jim from the Bastrop Tea Party at Reagan National Airport and then headed over to the Washington Hilton.  When we arrived, our cabbie noted that “This is where Reagan was shot.”  Oh great. 

The hotel is very nice, and we would recommend it to other DC travelers.  It’s near Dupont Circle, with lots of restaurants nearby and only a five to seven minute cab ride from the National Mall (Capitol, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, etc.) without traffic. 

The weather was in the 80s.  Quite a bit better than Austin at this time of year. 

After a mid-afternoon lunch, we went back to the hotel and readied for a short talk that Greg was to give in the evening at the FreedomWorks convention regarding Ryan Hecker’s “Contract from America” project.  Ryan could not make it, so Greg agreed to fill in for him. 

The convention was held at the Daughters of the American Revolution hall, a very nice facility near the White House that holds a couple of thousand folks.  The hall was pretty much full – FreedomWorks said they issued over 1,600 tickets in advance. 

Unlike most tea party rallies, the FreedomWorks presentation had a “green room” for the speakers to gather before they went on stage.  So Greg had a chance to meet some of the early speakers, such as C.L. Bryant, Michele Bachmann and Mike Lee (Senatorial candidate from Utah who is leading in the polls). 

The green room was interesting.  It showed how the speakers prepared to go on stage.  Some, such as C.L. Bryant and Rep. Bachmann, chatted amiably with folks right up until the time they went on stage.  Mike Lee was very nice, and took a little quiet time with his wife, Sharon, right before going on.  Others, including some of the politicos, seemed fairly nervous and prepared quietly off to the side for their presentation.  Finally, the grassroots folks were just happy to have a few minutes to get their message out. 

The schedule began with a great rendition of the National Anthem and was to be followed by an invocation by C.L. Bryant, and talks by Dick Armey, Michele Bachmann and Mike Lee.  Then it was going to be Greg’s turn.  Greg was given 4 minutes to speak, which sounded short to him until he learned that Bachmann was only allotted 5 and Lee was provided 7.  Clearly, a tight schedule. 

When Greg was “on deck” to go onto the stage, the stage manager turned to him and said, “There’s been a change.  Beck is here and would like to say a few words.”  Greg said, Who Beck? meaning it had to be Steve Beck or Fred Beck or someone else.  The manager replied, “I mean Glenn Beck.  If he gets here in the next couple of minutes, he’ll go on first, OK?”  Greg said that would be fine (!). The manager replied it would be pretty tight, that the announcer would either introduce Greg or Beck and to be ready to go out. 

As soon as Mike Lee finished his talk, the crowd erupted in applause and it was obvious Beck was in the house.  Mike Lee and his wife stayed on stage and Greg and a couple of others went out on stage to watch.  Beck was amazing.  He gave a very short talk about the next day and said (paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln) that it was less important to think that God was on our side, and much more important to work towards being on God’s side. 

After Beck, some politico who had spent much of the prior half hour complaining how he was promised to be on by 6:30 (it was now about 7:20) jumped ahead of Greg and gave his little talk.  He was fairly unpleasant about it.  But, as Greg said, “Do you really want to follow Glenn Beck?”  Greg then gave his talk as the first grassroots person to speak (other than Bryant) and was very warmly received.  He made the point that all of our Congressmen should sign the Contract from America because the ideas promote smaller government, fiscal responsibility and adherence to the Constitution and – as importantly – they are ideas that have come from grassroots folks around the nation.   

We left the hall after chatting some more with Mike Lee’s wife.  We had dinner and then visited the Lincoln Memorial.  Folks had been camping out for the next morning’s rally for the prior several hours.  We went back to the hotel to get a few hours sleep. 

Early on Saturday, we talked to Tony Corsaut from the Wichita Falls Tea Party Patriots, who had arrived at the Lincoln Memorial at 2 am and had camped out.  He had saved us some seats!  When we arrived around 8 am,  the whole area was full.  It was glorious.  While we looked for Tony, we walked behind the stage and could see all the way from the Lincoln Memorial, past the reflecting pool and on to the Washington Monument.  Patriots filled the Mall!  We will never forget how that scene looked. 

We’ve been to lots of football games and we know what 100,000 people look like.  There’s no denying that – at minimum – there were 400,000 folks waiting to hear the event and it wouldn’t surprise us to find out there were 600,000.  Our guess would be 500,000.  (There’s a great picture in the Washington Post of the crowd.)  At one point in the event, Beck said, “There must be a huge crowd here. The helicopters (which had gotten pretty close) are violating the assigned airspace to get a photo.” 

It took a little while to find Tony.  As you can imagine, we were swimming upstream to get to seats that were about 90-100 yards from the stage.  Those just arriving were about a half mile away.  Folks were anxious to get to their seats, but everyone was incredibly courteous.  There was a lot of excitement and anticipation.  We finally found Tony and spread a blanket out for our group of tea partiers. 

The morning was cool.  The sun began at our back and was at first shaded by some tall trees.  Some of the women left to go on a potty break, which took over an hour to go through the line.   

The event started a little before 10.  By now it had gotten a little warm – but despite the crowd a little breeze got through occasionally.   

The event sound was great, and there were lots of jumbo-trons around the grounds for people to watch.  (As we left after the event, we heard the post-event entertainment and noted that it was easy to hear as far back as the Washington Monument).  We had a good view of the stage itself and the jumbo-trons from where we were, about 30 degrees to the left of the stage. 

As the morning progressed, it became a little toasty, but nothing like a Texas summer day.  No one wanted to drink too much water, since – although there were many porto-lets – it took a lot of time to get to them.  Some older folks left about halfway through the event due to the heat. 

The substance of the event was exactly as promised by Glenn Beck.  It was not partisan and only lightly political.  The theme and the clear action plan was that to restore honor in our country, we need to “right order” our lives as individuals to put God first.  That we need to pray on our knees to God and let our children see while we pray.  (We might add that it would be good to have them pray with us.)  With God’s guiding hand we can be a people of faith, hope and charity, under a government framework established by our founders that will permit us (without the current government meddling) to do so.  

Even though the event was largely non-political, the biggest cheer from the crowd all day was in response to this line from Sarah Palin:  “We must not fundamentally transform America as some would want, we must restore America and restore her honor!”  We all would have liked more red meat, but we – and the whole crowd – were quite content to hear talks about guiding principles and honor instead. 

The speakers provided some interesting viewpoints.  We heard great talks from a Native American leader, a cancer survivor and former Texas Supreme Court justice Raul Gonzalez.  We heard some stirring words from Alveda King, MLK’s niece, who extolled the need to protect life among the unborn but also called for the continuing transformation of “white privilege” into “human privilege.”

That last comment (if we heard her comment wrong, someone please correct us) took us by surprise – given the otherwise tenor of her address and the huge changes in our society since her Uncle’s amazing 1963 “I Have a Dream” Speech.  We had already applauded it before we looked at each other and asked “What did she just say?”  We’d like to have more discussion on that point rather than just a line or two in a longer speech. 

After the event ended a little after 1 pm, country music stars Jo Dee Messina, John Rich and a new artist who was a combat vet (sorry, we don’t know him) played patriotic songs for the crowd as we filed out.  It did not take very long for the huge crowd to leave the area, amazingly enough, although many stayed in place to listen to the music.  And we left it clean, like we always do.  Some gathered for a Michele Bachmann rally near the Washington Monument.  We never saw anyone from the Al Sharpton-led rally that was reported to be gathering nearby. 

We spent the afternoon with a friend from New York and then met up with the Wichita Falls team and a group of 9-12ers from around Texas and the country in the evening.  Greg met late with Adam Waldeck and Michelle from American Solutions and Kellen Guida from the New York Tea Party while Judy and our son entertained our New York friend. 

On Sunday morning, we had a great topper to the weekend.  We attended Mass at St. Augustine, whose parish was celebrating the feast day of St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica.  Very festive.  St. Augustine is historically significant, in that it was founded in 1858 by emancipated Black Catholics and still considers itself (according to its website) as “the Mother Church of Black Catholics.”  Today, the website continues, “Saint Augustine Church continues in the tradition in which it was founded, as a strong Black Catholic institution which witnesses in faith to the Living God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit.” 

At the end of Mass, since we stood up when visitors were announced, we  were given cards inviting us to join the parish.  It was a great Mass, and the homily centered on how the saints were obsessed with God and their desire to serve Him.  All of us were implored to be obsessive in that way.   
Everyone will remember the weekend and the Beck speech in their own way.  We remember it as a clarion call to freshen our faith in action and to live out the words of our founders from the Declaration of Independence:  “With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

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The second in a series of articles on Saudi Arabia and its place in the Middle East.

As a newly arrived expatriate in Saudi Arabia in 1978, I could not escape a feeling of newness. Owing to the construction that one encountered almost everywhere in Riyadh, the skyline of the city was distinguished by enormous cranes that were utilized in the raising of a modern city in the middle of an oasis surrounded by desert terrain.

Along with the erection of multi-storied office buildings and outsized shopping malls that would rival the dimensions of any in the United States, it seemed that practically overnight an infrastructure was being put into place, with super-highways and high-speed rail transportation taking form. Oil revenues were having a decided impact in a few years time, while previous centuries had tended to bypass the tribal people who inhabited the vast expanse of the Arabian Peninsula that was thought by most Europeans and Americans to be an arid wasteland.

In prior history, most contact with the outside world was through the annual haj or pilgrimage, which saw thousands of the Muslim faithful journeying to Mecca and Medina. But, by the 1970’s, thousands of young Saudis, through the largesse of their government, were studying in leading universities in Europe and America and returning home to take their places as faculty on relatively new campuses, such as King Saud University, where I had recently been employed.

For a society that was just entering the 20th century, the physical progress was fast and furious; however, occasionally, I found myself wondering if the human element would be able to keep pace with such rapid material advancement. Furthermore, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia itself was a relative newcomer to the family of nations, having only assumed its current identity as a monarchical government, presiding over the lion’s share of the Arabian Peninsula, or an area of approximately 860,000 square miles, in 1932.

The name of the country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, literally means the Arabian Kingdom of the Saud Family. As I was to learn, there were fully 5,000 princes of the royal Saudi bloodline, and in large part, government in that land could only function through consensus of the Saud family.

The Sauds had been dominant in the Nadj or central portion of the Arabian Peninsula for generations and, in the 18th century, had allied themselves with a fervent fundamentalist Muslim preacher named Muhammad Abdul-Wahhab. Thus was born the religious-secular alliance with a rigorous fundamentalist branch of Sunni Islam which the Sauds would eventually ride to power.

By the late 19th century, however, the Sauds had fallen on hard times; and, owing to a power struggle with the politically prominent Rashid family, had gone into exile in Kuwait. By the early 20th century, however, the forceful, legendary figure of Abdul-Aziz Ibn-Saud would emerge to triumphantly lead the family back to Riyadh and the Nadj, which would serve as a base of operations from which he would emerge as a King and gradually put together the territories that would comprise his kingdom.

Keeping in mind that divorce and remarriage in Islam were comparatively clear-cut and uncomplicated matters (from the male point of view) and that a man was entitled to take up to four wives, much of Ibn-Saud’s nation building was accomplished through marriage alliances with tribes from which he sought support. In many respects, the king’s marital bed was a revolving door through which passed the daughters of prominent tribal chieftains. And, through the vigor and potency of ibn-Saud, some 70 legitimate sons were produced, the grandfathers of the 5,000 through whose veins course the royal blood today.

What could not be obtained by alliances was conquered. By the time of World War I, Ibn-Saud had broadened his control to include large segments of eastern Arabia; and, availing himself of the fanatical Wahhabi warriors called the Ikhwan, he began a program of conquest, deposing or sending into exile the rulers of various petty Arabian sheikdoms.

In the early 1920’s, Ibn-Saud turned his attention to the Hijaz, or the western portion of Arabia, where the Hashemites had ruled as the protectors of Mecca. At the end of 1925, Mecca, Medina and the important Red Sea Port of Jedda were under the control of the Sauds, and the Hashemite line was in exile. Ibn-Saud ruled as the King of the Hijaz and Sultan of the Najd until 1932, when his kingdom became the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with himself as absolute monarch.

In 1938, oil was discovered in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province. After World War II, ARAMCO, the Arab-American Oil Co., was created. Soon, Saudi Arabia would be recognized as the holder of the largest verifiable reserves of oil in the world, and by the late 20th century the Kingdom would be one of the world’s principal holders of foreign monetary reserves.

Still, in the 21st century, fundamentalist Wahhabi Islam holds sway in Saudi Arabia. By bolstering the monarchy, the religious establishment has received governmental financial support to the tune of billions of dollars. These funds have been used to build mosques and establish Islamist schools and universities in Saudi Arabia and throughout the world. Some of the madrasas which have been founded with Saudi Wahhabi backing in countries such as Pakistan, Egypt and Algeria have served to incubate a new generation of Islamic extremists. And, yet, most Middle East authorities would maintain that the Saud monarchy could not stand without the backing of two seemingly dissimilar props, one being the Wahhabi religious establishment and the other being American military power.

By 1978, owing to working and living in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula, I began to rethink my world view. No longer would I see Saudi Arabia and the Middle East and how they related to my own country and the rest of the world in the simplistic terms that characterized the American news media. No longer would I be able to unthinkingly consume propaganda turned out by various interest groups seeking to influence American foreign policy. And, had I been possessed of sufficient foresight at that point in time, I might have been able to see how limited knowledge of the history, cultures, languages and religions of other lands may lead to disastrous decisions adversely affecting not only the lives of one’s own countrymen but also those of foreign innocents caught in the crossfire generated by the inappropriate policies of inept politicians. Such bungling is readily on view today in President Obama’s Middle East policies, and, in New York, Mayor Bloomberg’s naiveté and disingenuous handling of the mosque controversy is an astounding display of gullibility and cultural ignorance.

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Healthy Communities of Brownsville spearheaded the plastic bag ban locally in Brownsville. They used their own survey to push their ban plastic bag agenda.  The survey was not scientific by any stretch of the imagination. With their documentation in hand, they urged commissioners to support their draconian measure.  

Reasonable people would focus on educating the public. Together with our elected leadership they imposed a forced radical agenda on the apathetic masses of Brownsville. Fortunately, the masses know stupid when they see it.

Slightly more than half (51%) of the respondents in the survey would like to see the ban repealed or postponed, while only 28 percent support the ban.

This was according to a poll conducted in the last couple of weeks by American Directions Group, which is a “political consulting firm specializing in voter engagement, issue advocacy, market research, commercial sales and government outreach.” I would assume this was a scientific poll based on their use a good-sized sample. This is unlike what BHC did when they stood around town asking people to participate in their unscientific survey.

I fully expect HCB to push back hard against this unwelcomed news. The organization will probably spend more money and effort on advertising the perils of plastic bags to keep pressure on the commission to not listen to the majority of voters. They may even call for the city to give out 3 reusable bags to each adult. It will be municipal welfare to protect our environment.

Banning plastic checkout bags is stupid considering the number of uses and reuses for plastic bags. Doesn’t the commission have anything better to do than to target grocery bags? I forgot they may raise our taxes by 7.63% over the effective tax rate?

Here is an information video on plastic bag recycling and reusing:

Phrenology was all the rage in the early 1800′s. It is considered pseudoscience now, but back in the day it was given serious consideration in the scientific community. The Edinburgh Phrenological Society was established in 1820. American phrenologists had their own scientific journal, the American Phrenology Journal. Many important and influential people believed that phrenology was an established science.

Many prominent public figures such as the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher (a college classmate and initial partner of Orson Fowler) promoted phrenology actively as a source of psychological insight and self-knowledge. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George was known to have a keen interest in the subject, once contriving a meeting with C.P. Snow after noticing that the author had “an interestingly shaped head.” (Source)

The idea that you can derive the essential nature of a person simply by feeling the bumps on his head is laughable today, but it was serious and weighty stuff back then. Fast forward 50 years and we will be just as dismissive of contemporary global warming alarmism.

An Investor’s Business Daily editorial entitled “Cool-Down Phase” reports on the results of a review of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) by the Amsterdam-based InterAcademy Council, an association of the world’s top national science academies.

Its criticism of the IPCC, held up as the divine and inerrant voice on climate change, irrevocably tarnishes the panel’s credibility and weakens the case for man-made global warming. While the Inter-Academy Council did not ‘redo the science,’ as its chairman said, it did scrutinize IPCC practices and methodologies and recommended a ‘fundamental reform’ of its management structure.

Harold T. Shapiro, chairman of the InterAcademy Council committee that wrote the report, identified two kinds of errors in the IPCC’s work:

One is the kind where they place high confidence in something where there is very little evidence. The other is the kind where you make a statement … with no substantive value.

Hmm. What do you call it when someone places high confidence in something with no evidence to support it? Isn’t that called GUESSING? And what do you call someone who makes a statement with no substantive value? Isn’t that person considered a LIAR?

The IBD editorial concludes:

Just as fears over Alar toxicity, destruction of the Amazon rain forest, a new ice age and other apocalyptic warnings lost their relevance, the global warming scare is destined to fade entirely from the public mind.

Though still with us, it’s already cracking under the pressure and won’t be able to withstand deeper inquiry or the evidence that’s obvious to anyone who’s paying attention.

I’ll bet there are a lot of climate scientists today who can empathasize with the phrenologists of the early 19th century. It must be a bummer to realize that the sum total of your life’s work is an exercise in how NOT to study nature, test hypotheses, and interpret results.

Congressman Questioned Over Misuse Of Taxpayer Money on Trips Abroad; Farenthold Calls On Ortiz To Release Amounts He Pocketed From Government Funds

U.S Congressman Solomon Ortiz is being investigated in a far-reaching ethics probe involving the misuse of taxpayer money for trips around the world.  The investigation revealed Monday by the Wall Street Journal implicates Ortiz and five other members of Congress.

An independent ethics board referred the charges to the House Ethics Committee after the Journal previously reported that some lawmakers regularly spend government travel funds on gifts, drinks and other personal expenses.  Some Congressman said they kept excess funds, which the Journal noted could add up to more than $1,000 per trip.  Others spent more than $15,000 on business class tickets to Europe.

Ortiz, who has taken numerous taxpayer funded trips to Europe, Libya and China, told the Journal it was a longstanding custom for lawmakers to keep extra money from the trips paid for by taxpayers. “You could never get many members traveling”  if lawmakers weren’t allowed to keep leftover travel funds, Ortiz said.

Republican Congressional Candidate Blake Farenthold, who is challenging Ortiz for the District 27 seat, said in a press conference today that Ortiz’s arrogance is an example of why so many Americans are disillusioned with government.  Farenthold said:

If Mr. Ortiz thinks members of Congress won’t travel abroad if they can’t keep their excess travel funds, then I think all incumbents should do Americans a favor and just stay at home.

Farenthold called on Ortiz to immediately release all information on his travels abroad including the amount of money he kept that belongs to American taxpayers. Farenthold noted that Congressional spending on overseas travel is almost ten times what it was in 1995 and has tripled since 2001.

Tea Party activist and local business leader Kimberly Curtis said this kind of fiscal irresponsibility is one of the reasons Americans are so angry with government.  Curtis said:

The Journal previously revealed that in 2008, hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas at a cost of $13 million to taxpayers.  That was a jump of 50 percent since liberals took over the Congress in 2006.  This kind of wasteful spending has got to stop.

Farenthold and Curtis both called on Ortiz to “come clean” and release the names of other Congressmen that he knows kept taxpayer money from funds designated for government travel.  Farenthold said:

Congressman Ortiz said that is was customary for members of Congress to keep this money.  How many people have been pocketing this cash?  It’s time for Ortiz to ‘fess up’ and divulge the names of the other Congressmen that he is talking about.

Farenthold said that the travel investigation is just one of many examples of how Ortiz continues to abuse government dollars to promote his own political agenda on the taxpayer dime.  Farenthold, a Corpus Christi attorney and businessman who won a four-person primary for the nomination, said:

Solomon Ortiz seems to spend more time chalking up frequent flier miles than he does in his own district.  After 27 years in office, Ortiz has forgotten he is supposed to serve the people, not his own self interests.

The results of the probe won’t be made public until after the November election. House rules bar any announcements of ethics investigations in the months before an election.  Curtis said:

The public has a right to know which of their Congressmen are stealing from taxpayers.  House rules prohibiting disclosure of ethics investigations near elections are another example of incumbents protecting their own interests.

Blake Farenthold is a Corpus Christi attorney, businessman and civic leader who is seeking election to the District 27 Congressional seat in the Nov. 2, 2010 election. His district covers Nueces, Kleberg, Kenedy, Willacy and parts of Cameron and San Patricio counties. For more information on Blake or his campaign go to www.blake.com.