The Next Meeting of Texas County Republicans will be the annual THE LINCOLN DAY DINNER, on Saturday, April 21 at the Community Building at the Texas County Fairgrounds. Governor Matt Blunt will be the first speaker of the evening.  The dinner will start at 4 PM to allow the governor to attend Lincoln Day Dinners in two other counties. Senator Chuck Purgason, Representative Don Wells and county officials will be there at 3Pm for those who want to talk one on one. Anyone bringing items for the silent auction is requested to arrive by 3:45PM.

 

The Next Meeting of Republican Women WILL BE THE 8^TH DISTRICT SPRING MEETING to be held in Mountain Grove starting at 10 AM April 28, 2007 in the VFW Hall located near the airport. From the traffic light in town take CITY ROUTE 60 West. Go beyond the city limits and look for the Airport sign.

 

Silent Auction Items are needed as part of the Lincoln Day Dinner activities. Although, these items can brought to the Dinner that afternoon, IF POSSIBLE please drop Silent Auction items off at the License Office in Houston any weekday before the event. This will minimize the last minute rush of setting it up.

 

The Senior Tax Justice Act, HB 444 as passed by the Missouri House of Representatives would eliminate state income tax on Social Security benefits. It is now up to the Senate Ways and Means Committee who at press time had taken no action. Missouri is one of only 15 states that tax these benefits. (Missouri Digital News)

 

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Missouri’s economy is strong, showing 80,000 new jobs created since January 2005. Unemployment is down to 4.6 percent from 5.9 percent in 2005 and the lowest since 2001. Missouri set a record of exports with $12.8 billion in sales to 191 countries. International sales by Missouri companies increased by 22.1 percent. (Governor’s News Release)

 

The Missouri Business Portal (www.business.mo.gov) is a new website designed to help Missourians start small businesses and maintain reporting requirements with state government. The website is organized into four categories for users: Research, to assist in writing business plans; Register, to assist in completing all the forms required by the state, Maintain, helps with taxes and employee issues; and Resources, to provide information on raising capital, market development and environmental compliance. (Governor’s News Release)

 

Governor Blunt Has Issued an Executive Order that directs state agencies that administer or sponsor health care programs to support four shared strategies to improve health care quality and affordability. The four strategies are: quality transparency, price transparency, interoperable health information systems and incentives to reward value. The governor directed state agencies to submit a plan for implementing the order by June 30, 2007. (Governor’s News Release)

 

Missouri’s Homeland Security Council has advised the governor about the steps that have been taken to meet Missouri’s homeland security needs. These include: (1) Create a Missouri Information Analysis Center to disseminate information to proper agencies 24 hours a day. (2) Draft a communications plan to ensure that law enforcement and all first responders can communicate with each other during a disaster. (3) Create a formula for local governments to receive homeland security grant funding. (4) Develop regional homeland security committees across the state to match Highway Patrol troop areas. (5) Develop emergency management tools to assist local and county public safety entities in planning, responding and training for an emergency. (6) Update plans to include catastrophic earthquake response action. (7)  Increase training for local and state officials ranging from terrorist attacks to a pandemic. (Governor’s  News Release)

 

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A word to the wise ain’t necessary. It is the stupid ones who need advice. (Bill Cosby)

A Conservative Who Can Win; “Republicans are entering a panic mode over the prospect of another Clinton administration. Social conservatives are voicing concern that the only viable GOP candidates are not trustworthy advocates of their values and the trustworthy advocates of their values are not viable candidates. Translation: Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney could beat Hillary but can’t be trusted. Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo are trustworthy on social issues but probably are unelectable. What about Fred Thompson, the former Senator from Tennessee?  Arguably he is the most viable potential candidate for president since Ronald Reagan and for many of the same reasons.”

 

“Politics is show business for ugly people,” according to Thompson. “He has been in and out of both professions for thirty years. After Watergate, Thompson established a reputation as a tough prosecutor in his home state of Tennessee. In 1977 he took on a state parole board case that ultimately brought down Governor Ray Blanton on charges of selling pardons. The case became a book and in 1985 a movie ‘Marie.’ Unable to find a professional actor who could play the part convincingly, Thompson played himself, and that launched his acting career, starring in such movies as ‘The Hunt for Red October.’” (Quotation by Doug Patton in Human Events) Thompson earned an 86% rating from the American Conservative Union over his eight years in the Senate. Thompson will turn 65 August 19. For more information contact www.draftfredthompson.com. This effort was started by www.grassrootsvoter.com and within ten days they had volunteers in all 50 states.

 

Former Governor Mitt Romney, at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month, asked business leaders, “What is the better course for America? A European model of high taxes and regulations, or low taxes and free trade. That’s the choice the next president is going to make and added the Democrats are already working hard to implement a massive tax increase.” (Townhall.com) Some claim his Mormon ancestors  had more than one wife. So what! Several of this year’s presidential hopefuls have had more than one wife.

 

“Senator Obama is being Hailed as the newest and freshest face on the American political scene. But he is advocating some of the oldest fallacies, just as if it was the 1960’s again. He thinks higher teacher pay is the answer to the abysmal failure of our education system, which is already more expensive than the education provided in countries whose students have for decades outperformed ours on an international basis. Senator Obama is for making college “affordable,” as if he has never considered that government subsidies push up tuition, just as government subsidies push up agricultural prices, the price of medical care and other prices. He is not unique among politicians who want to control prices, as if that is controlling the underlying reality behind the prices. (Comment made by Thomas Sowell, a black, as published by Freedomworks.org)

 

Let’s Pile on. Hillary Sent a mass e-mailing to supporters: “Today I called on Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez to resign. Join me in calling for him to step down.” A second e-mail said: “Let’s keep the pressure on. Albert Gonzales needs to go.” and asked backers to sign a petition ( NewsMax.com)….. And they piled on !

 

General Tommy Franks, the former Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command who led U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq told NewsMax.com in a recent interview that he is squarely behind the controversial “surge” of troops. He says “it is a good idea because that’s what the leaders on the ground are saying.” General Franks set the record straight on a host of subjects, namely that:

• Bush was always a good leader, calm and deliberate, listening to advisors, but always his own man.
• Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is getting a bum rap.
• No administration would have allowed Iraq to continue with business as usual after 9/11.
• There was plenty of planning and preparation for post-invasion operations in Iraq.
• There is a definable limit to what the U.S. will tolerate as to Iran and Syria’s interference in Iraq.

 

Heard on TV  Congress won’t fix the immigration problem because Republicans need cheap illegal labor and Democrats need cheap illegal votes.

 

Heard on TV There is great civil unrest in Iran and President Ahmadinejahd needs a war to provide a common cause and give the people someone else to hate. The seizure of 15 British sailors by Iran is a way of testing the waters. How much can they get away with?

 

 

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. (Bill Cosby)

 

The first of three installments of an article by Herbert E. Meyer

 

The author served during the Reagan administration as special assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council. In these positions he managed production of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimates and other top secret projections for the president and his national security advisers. Meyer is widely credited with being the first senior U.S. government official to forecast the Soviet Union’s collapse, for which he was later awarded the U.S. National Intelligence Distinguished Services Medal, the intelligence community’s highest honor. Additional articles by Herbert E. Meyer can be found at www.americanthinker.com/herbert_e_meyer/

 

FOUR MAJOR TRANSFORMATIONS are currently shaping political, economic and world events. These transformations have profound implications for American businesses, our culture and way of life.

 

1.The War in Iraq  There are three major monotheistic religions in the world: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. In the 16^th century, Judaism and Christianity reconciled with the modern world. The rabbis, priests and scholars found a way to settle up and pave the way forward. Religion remained the center of life, church and state became separate. Rule of law, the idea of economic liberty, individual rights and human rights, all of these are defining points of modern Western civilization. These concepts started with the Greeks. But, they didn’t take off until the 15^th and 16^th century when Judaism and Christianity found a way to reconcile with the modern world. When that happened, it unleashed the scientific revolution and the greatest outpouring of art, literature and music the world has known.

 

Islam, which developed in the 7^th century, counts millions of Moslems around the world who are normal people. However, there is a radical streak within Islam. When the radicals are in charge, Islam attacks Western civilization. Islam first attacked Western civilization in the 7^th century, and later in the 15^th century. By 1683, the Moslems (Turks from the Ottoman Empire) were literally at the gates of Vienna. It was in Vienna that the climactic battle between Islam and Western civilization took place. The West won and went forward. Islam lost and went backward. Interestingly, the date of the battle was September 11. Since then Islam has not found a way to reconcile with the modern world.

 

Today, terrorism is the third attack on Western civilization by radical Islam. To deal with terrorism, the U.S. is doing two things. First, units of our armed forces are in 30 countries around the world hunting down terrorist groups and dealing with them. This gets very little publicity. Second, we are taking military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. These are covered relentlessly by the media. People can argue whether the war in Iraq is right or wrong. However, the underlying strategy behind the war is to use our military to remove the radicals from power and give the moderates a chance. Our hope is that, over time, the moderates will find a way to bring Islam forward into the 21^st century. That’s what our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is all about.

 

The lesson of 9/11 is that we live in a world where a small number of people can kill a large number of people very quickly. They can use airplanes, bombs, anthrax, chemical weapons or dirty bombs. Even with a first-rate intelligence service (which the U.S. does not have), you can’t stop every attack. That means our tolerance “for political horseplay” has dropped to zero. No longer will we play games with terrorists or weapons of mass destruction.

 

Most of the instability and horseplay is coming from the Middle East. That’s why we thought that if we could knock out the radicals and give the moderates a chance to hold power, they might find a way to reconcile Islam with the modern world. So when looking at Afghanistan or Iraq, it’s important to look for any signs that they are modernizing. For example, women being brought into the workforce and colleges in Afghanistan is good. People can argue about what the U.S. is doing, but anything that suggests Islam is finding a way forward is good. (Continued on Page Four)

 

 

The older we get the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for. (Will Rogers)

 

2. The Emergence of China  In the last 20 years, China has moved 250 million people from the farms and villages into the cities. Their plan is to move another 300 million in the next 20 years. When you put that many people into the cities you have to find work for them. That’s why China is addicted to manufacturing; they have to put all the relocated people to work. When we decide to manufacture something in the U.S., it is based on market needs and the opportunity to make a profit. In China, they make the decision because they want the jobs, which is a very different calculation.

 

While China is addicted to manufacturing, Americans are addicted to low prices. As a result, a unique kind of economic codependency has developed between the two countries. If we ever stop buying from China, they will explode politically. If China stops selling to us, our economy will take a huge hit because prices will jump. We are subsidizing their economic development; they are subsidizing our economic growth.

 

Because of their huge growth in manufacturing, China is hungry for raw materials, which drives the prices up world-wide. China is also thirsty for oil, which is one of the reasons oil is now at $60 a barrel. By 2020 China will produce more cars than the U.S. China is also buying its way into the oil infrastructure around the world. They are doing it in the open market and paying fair market prices, but millions of barrels of oil that would have gone to the U.S. are now going to China. China’s quest to assure it has the oil it needs to fuel its economy is a major factor, in world politics and economics. We have our navy fleet protecting the sea lanes, specifically the ability to get the tankers through. It won’t be long before the Chinese have an aircraft carrier sitting in the Persian Gulf as well. The question is, will their carrier be pointing with us or against us?

 

3.  Shifting Demographics of Western Civilization  Most countries in the Western world have stopped breeding. For a civilization obsessed with sex, this is remarkable. Maintaining a steady population requires a birth rate of 2.1. In Western Europe the birth rate currently stands at 1.5, or 30 percent below the replacement level. In 30 years there will be 70 to 80 million fewer Europeans than there are today. The current birth rate in Germany is 1.3. Italy and Spain are even lower at 1.2.  At that rate, the working population declines by 30 percent in 20 years, which has a huge impact on the economy.

 

When you don’t have young workers to replace the older ones, you have to import them. The European countries are currently importing Moslems. Today, the Moslems comprise 10 percent of France and Germany, and the percentage is rising rapidly because they have higher birth rates. However, the Moslem populations are not being integrated into the culture of their host countries, which is a political catastrophe. One reason France and Germany don’t support the Iraq war is they fear their Moslem populations will explode on them. By 2020 more than half of all births in the Netherlands will be non-European.

 

The huge flaw in the post-modern secular state is that you need a traditional religious society birth rate to sustain it. The Europeans simply don’t want to have children, so they are dying.

 

In Japan, the birth rate is 1.3. As a result, Japan will lose up to 60 million people over the next 30 years. Because Japan has a very different society than Europe, they refuse to import workers. Instead, they are just shutting down. Japan has already closed 2000 schools and is closing them at the rate of 300 per year.

Japan is also aging very rapidly. By 2020, one out of every five Japanese will be at least 70 years old. No one knows how to run an economy with those demographics.

 

Europe and Japan, which comprise two of the world’s major economic engines, aren’t merely in recession; they’re shutting down. This will have a huge impact on the world economy and it’s already beginning to happen. (Continued on Page Five)

 

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

 

Why are the birthrates so low? There is a direct correlation between abandonment of traditional religion and a drop in birth rate, and Christianity in Europe is becoming irrelevant. The second reason is economic. When the birth rate drops below the replacement level, the population ages. With fewer working people to support more retired people, it puts a crushing tax burden on the smaller group of working age people. As a result, young people delay marriage and having a family. Once this trend starts, the downward spiral only gets worse. These countries have abandoned all traditions they formerly held in regards to having families and raising children.

 

The U.S. birth rate is 2.0, just below the replacement level. We have an increase in population because of immigration. When broken down by ethnicity, the Anglo birth rate is 1.6 (same as France) while the Hispanic birth rate is 2.7. In the U.S., the baby boomers are starting to retire in massive numbers. This will push the “elder dependency” ratio from 19 to 38 over the next 10 to 15 years. This is not as bad as Europe, but still represents the same kind of trend. Western civilization seems to have forgotten that.  If birth rates of the past 30 years had been the same as post-World War II, there would be no Social Security or Medicare problems.

 

The world’s most effective birth control device is money. As society creates a middle class and women move into the workforce, birth rates drop. Having large families is incompatible with middle class living. The quickest way to drop the birth rate is through rapid economic development. After WWII, the U.S. instituted a $600 tax credit per child. The idea was to enable mom and dad to have four children without being troubled by taxes. This led to a baby boom of 22 million kids, which was a huge consumer market that turned into a huge tax base. To match that incentive in today’s dollars would cost $12,000 per child.

 

China and India do not have declining populations. However, in both countries, there is a preference for boys over girls, and we now have the technology to know which is which before they are born. In China and India many families are aborting the girls. As a result, in each of these countries there are 70 million boys growing up who will never find wives.

 

When left alone, nature produces 103 boys for every 100 girls. But in some provinces it is 128 boys to 100 girls.  In Russia, the birth rate is so low that by 2050 their population will be smaller than that of Yemen. Russia has one sixth of the earth’s land surface and much of its oil. You can’t control that much area with such a small population. Just to the south is China with 70 million unmarried men, a potential nightmare for Russia.  (To be continued in next month’s issue)

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