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June 2007
Vol 11 Number 6
| NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE |
SOME NEWS AND COMMENTS FOR CONSERVATIVE
MISSOURIANS TO THINK ABOUT
Published monthly
since 1996
June 2007
Vol 11 Number 6
The Next
Meeting of Texas County Republicans will be
The Next Meeting of
Texas County Republican Women will be at noon, Saturday, June 9, 2007 at Fratello’s Pizza in Houston (East side of the
intersection where Hwy 17 comes in from Ft. Wood) They will honor
county winners of No Child Left Behind. Ron Reed will be the speaker
and Debbie James, the hostess.
The Missouri Supreme
Court issued
a decision last month that parents must be informed of their children’s
decision to end an innocent life. Planned Parenthood and other abortion
providers will no longer be able to aid or assist minors in obtaining
an abortion without parental consent. (Governor’s
News Release)
Taxes and Economy The Missouri Office of
Administration reports that through April 30 the state had received
$4.48 billion in individual income tax collections. This is an increase
of $300 million or 6.7 percent compared to the same period in 2006. Tax
refunds also increased by $37.4 million or 3.9 percent. The same report
states that recent data demonstrates a marked slow-down in the economy
due to reduced residential construction. Despite this, overall
employment continues to expand and consumers continue to spend although
energy prices are taking their toll. The outlook for the state is a
return to moderate growth.
Work of the State Legislature, in the session just concluded includes passing (1) the Senior Tax Justice Act to stop taxing seniors’ Social Security benefits. Unfortunately, to get Senate approval required phasing the tax cut over six years. (2) The Castle Doctrine of Missouri allows law-abiding citizens to use deadly force to protect their home and family and not punish them; (3) allowing voters to amend the constitution and make English the official language of Missouri; and (4) providing a budget that improves essential services, like schools, without raising taxes or wasting the budget surplus. It even leaves in $200 million unspent setting it aside in case there is a downturn in the economy. (Capitol Report by Speaker Rod Jetton)
The Small Business
Administration has approved Governor Blunt’s
request for low-interest economic impact loans to affected businesses
in 22
AT&T has Announced it will invest $335 million to expand new
television and high-speed internet services in
The Individual Right to
Bear Arms as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights may
finally be confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Six
Fred Thompson (Former Senator and possible
presidential candidate) predicts the immigration reform bill worked out
late last month will fail. “The bill will not win the support of the
American people because they don’t trust the senators’ promises to
block illegal immigrants from crossing the border. It goes to the
bigger issue of the lack of credibility our government has these days.
The military and economic threat that
You will always find time
for that which you place first.
Page Two, June 2007
Muzzling the Critics In a directive issued April 19 the U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop sending personal e-mail messages and posting blogs without first clearing the content with a superior officer. Blogs allow a greater amount of two-way communication between the public and soldiers in the field. The crack-down isn’t about operational security; it’s about preventing Senator Harry Reid from being criticized by soldiers. As the directive is written the soldiers’ commanders would have to review/censor every e-mail they want to send or be subject to military courts martial or disciplinary action. As this is impractical commanders would have to forbid soldiers from using e-mail. (WiredNews.com)
A Republican Congress in 2008? A sixteen seat gain would restore a Republican majority in the House. This is quite possible as 61 Democrats were elected in districts that Bush carried in 2004. Looking at history, we find that in the 1958 mid-term elections the GOP lost 48 seats but two years later they gained 21 seats in 1960 when Kennedy was elected president. (TownHall.com)
The President’s Approval Rating remains high among those who voted for him, with 66 percent approving the way Mr. Bush is doing his job. Only 21 percent disapprove and 13 percent are unsure. (New York Times)
“Gingrich Should Not Enter the Presidential Race because he is doing fine in his present role because there aren’t a lot of thoughtful politicians like him. Gingrich is a great “visionary” but not an effective leader when it comes to managing and directing the whole offense.” (Marvin Olasky, editor in chief, WORLD Magazine)
The
Political Strategists
close to Al Gore have secretly
begin assembling a campaign team to prepare for a new run for the White
House by the former vice president. Two members of Gore’s staff from
his campaign of 2000 have been approached about working for Gore if he
decides to run according to
Quote of the Month (By
Jay Leno) “With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of
control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the
country from one end to the another, and the threat of bird flue and
terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of
the Pledge of Allegiance.”
____________________________________________________________________________________
Fred Thompson, undeclared
candidate?
An Excerpt of his
remarks at the
So we
meet again, and I’m honored, because I know we’re here for the same
reasons: love of our country and concern for our future.
A lot
of Americans have these concerns tonight. They are concerned about the
way things are going in our country right now. Some fear we may be in
the first stages of decline. We’ve heard this malaise talk before.
Of
course,
Even
at home, as we enjoy the benefits from one of the best economies we’ve
ever had, people seem uncertain; they raise concerns about global
competition or a growing economic disparity among our citizens.
(Continued on Page Three)
Whenever you find
yourself on the side of the majority it is time to pause and reflect.
(Mark Twain)
Fred Thompson (Continued from Page Two) Page Three, June 2007
These
are challenges. But how we react to them is more important than the
challenges themselves. Some want us, to the extent possible, to
withdraw from the world that presents us with so many problems, in hope
they will go away. Some would push us toward protectionist trade
policies. Others see a solution in raising taxes and redistributing the
income among our citizens.
Wrong
on all accounts. These are defensive, defeatist policies
that have consistently proven wrong. They are not what
Let’s
talk about the issues here at home first. A lot of folks in
Taxes
are necessary. But they don’t make the country any better off. At best
they simply move money from the private sector to the government. But,
taxes are also a burden on production, because they discourage people
from working, saving, investing, and taking risks. Some economists have
calculated that today each additional dollar collected by the
government, by raising income tax rates, makes the private sector as
much as two dollars worse off.
To me
this means one simple thing: tax rates should be as low as possible.
This isn’t anything ideological, and it isn’t some great insight. It’s
common sense arithmetic.
That’s
why the economy booms when taxes are cut. When the Kennedy tax cuts
were passed in the 1960’s, the economy boomed. When Reagan cut taxes in
1981, we went from economic malaise to a new morning in
The
Democrats, of course, want to raise taxes. They want to target the
rich, they say. A word of advice to anyone in the middle class…don’t
stand anywhere near that target. Wouldn’t it be great if, instead of
worrying so much about how to divide the pie, we could work together on
how to make the pie bigger?
On
globalization….we’re not afraid of it. It works to our benefit. We
innovate more and invest in that innovation better than anywhere else
in the world. Same goes for services, which are increasingly driving
our economy. Free trade and market economies have done more for freedom
and prosperity than a central planner could ever dream and we’re the
world’s best example of that. So why do we want to take investment
dollars out of growth and invest it in government.
I’d
say cash flow to the government is already going quite well. Over the
past year our current tax structure generated record levels of revenue
for
For
many years, several functions of the federal government have been
descending into a sorry state of mis-management
and lack of accountability. I published a 68-page report on government
waste, duplication and inability to carry out some of its basic
responsibilities. That was back on 2001 before 9-11, and it got little
attention. Now government shortcomings are affecting national security
and are getting a lot of attention.
The
growth of government is not solving these problems; it’s causing a lot
of them. Every level of new bureaucracy that is created develops a
level of bureaucracy beneath it, which creates another one. Pretty soon
there is no accountability in the system. A new head of a department or
agency comes in from out of town and after a protracted confirmation
fight, wants to spend his or her few years in
You can balance the
budget by robbing the people, but you’ll find you have torpedoed the
economy (Pres. Reagan,
Page Four, June 2007
Fred
Thompson (Continued from Page Three)
Yet,
people in both parties continue trying to federalize and regulate at
the national level ever more aspects of American society….things that
have traditionally been handled at the state and local level. We must remember that states serve as
laboratories for innovation. That’s how we got welfare reform. Our
system also allows for diversity in our large country. Our attitude
should be, let the federal government do what it is supposed to be
doing…competently. Then maybe we will give it something else to do.
The
government could start by securing our nation’s borders. A sovereign
nation that can’t do that is not a sovereign nation. This is
secondarily an immigration issue. It’s primarily a national security
issue. We were told twenty years ago if we produced a comprehensive
solution, we’d solve the illegal immigration problem. Twelve million illegals later, we’re told that same thing
again. I don’t believe most Americans are as concerned about the 12
million that are here as they are about the next 12 million and the
next 12 million after that. I think they are thinking: “Prove you can
secure the border and then people of good will can sit down and work
out the rest of it, while protecting those folks who play by the rules.”
Speaking
of reforms and our economy, there is nothing more urgent than the fate
that is awaiting the Social Security and Medicare programs. The good
news is that we are living longer. However, we don’t have enough young
people working to finance these programs from their taxes.
People
say the programs are going bankrupt. They won’t go bankrupt. Even as
these programs sap every dime of the government’s revenue, the folks in
transferring wealth from one generation
to another. It will devastate our economy.
Sometimes
I think I am the last guy around who thinks term limits is a good idea.
The professionalization of politics saps
people’s courage. Their desire to keep their job and not upset anybody
overrides all else, even if it hurts the country
So
the entitlement problem gets kicked a little further down the road.
This action is based on the premise that our generation is too greedy
to help the next generation. I believe that just the opposite is true.
If grandmom and granddad think that a
little sacrifice will help the grandchildren when they get married, try
to buy a home or have children, they will respond to a credible call to
make the sacrifice…if they don’t think that the sacrifice is going down
some government black hole.
I am
going to quote my friend, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. I don’t think
he’ll mind, even though it was a private conversation. He said: “People
talk a lot about moral issues, but the greatest moral issue facing our
generation is the fact that we are bankrupting the next generation.
People talk about wanting to make a difference. Here we could make a
difference for generations to come.”
It is
clear, that with close numbers in the House and Senate we need
bipartisanship to have any chance for real reform in any of these
areas. And there are many responsible people who are willing to try to
make it happen. But the level of bipartisanship needed for real
progress can only be achieved when politicians perceive that the
American people are demanding it. That’s why leaders of reform and
hopefully our next President, will have a
mandate to go directly to the American people with truth and clarity.
Today
in
The
message would be simple: “My friends we have entered a new era. We are
going to be tested in many ways, possibly under attack for a long time.
It’s time to take stock and be honest with ourselves. We’re going to
have to do a lot of things better. Here’s what we need to do and here’s
why. And now that you’re being called upon, I know you will do whatever
is necessary for the sake of our country. You always have.”
When
the American people respond to that, as I know they will, you will have
your bipartisanship.
Democracy is good. I say
this because other systems are worse. (Jawharal
Nehru)
Page Five, June 2007
What is Happening in Our World? Part 3
The third and concluding article of the
series by Herbert 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 and was first to predict the USSR’s collapse. Last
month’s article addressed issues in (1)
“4. Restructuring
of American Business The restructuring
of American business means we are coming to the end of the age of the
employer and employee. With all this fracturing of business into
different and smaller units, employers can’t guarantee jobs anymore
because they don’t know what their companies will look like next year.
The new workforce contract will be, “show up at my office five days a
week and do what I want you to do, but handle your own insurance
benefits, health care and everything else.”
Husbands
and wives are becoming economic units. They take different jobs and
work different shifts depending on where they are in their careers and
families. They make tradeoffs to put together a compensation package to
take care of the family. This used to happen only with highly educated
professionals with high income. Now it is happening at the level of the
factory worker. Couples at all levels are designing their compensation
packages based on individual needs. The only way this can work is if
everything is portable and flexible, which requires a huge shift in the
American economy.
The
Plus,
we are the only military getting on-the-ground experience through our
war in
On
the one hand, this makes the
Ultimately,
it’s an issue of culture. The only people who can hurt us are
ourselves, by losing our culture. If we give up the Judeo-Christian
culture, we become just like the Europeans. The culture war is the
whole ball game. If we lose it, there isn’t another American to pull us
out.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________
The following are
quotations from “Why I am
a Reagan Conservative,” by Michael K. Deaver
“The
left desires people to be virtuous. And to be fair, the leftists desire
to be virtuous themselves. Unfortunately,
they covet virtue so much that they take moral shortcuts to achieve it.
In left-wing life, as in left-wing legislation, easy words are given
the credit for difficult deeds. The mere declaration of “War on
Poverty” was enough to give the great society heroes their triumph and
victory parade. When a Reagan conservative
says that someone “means well,” it is hardly a compliment.” P.J. O’Rourke
Conservatism is a direction, not a
destination. It is a constant effort to protect the ideals that make
our nation the greatest on earth. Darrell Issa, (R-CA)
Egotist:
Someone who is usually me-deep in conversation.
Page Six, June 2007
Global Warming Swindle
By
Thomas Sowell, as seen at Townhall.com
“
Distinguished
scientists specializing in climate and climate-related fields talk in
plain English and present readily understood graphs showing what a
crock the current global warming hysteria is. These include scientists
from MIT and top-tier universities in a number of countries. Some of
these scientists whose names were paraded on some of the global warming
publications that are being promoted by the media state plainly that they neither wrote those publications nor
approved them. One scientist threatened to sue unless his name was
removed.
While
the public has been led to believe that “all” the leading scientists
buy the global warming hysteria and the political agenda that goes with
it. In fact, the official reports from the United Nations or the
National Academy of Sciences are written by bureaucrats….and then
garnished with the names of the leading scientists who were
‘consulted,’ but whose contrary conclusions were ignored.
There
is no question that the globe is warming but has warmed and cooled
before, and is not as warm today as it was some centuries ago, before
there were any automobiles and before there was as much burning of
fossil fuels as today. None of the dire things predicted today happened
then.
The
British documentary goes into some of the many factors that have caused
the earth to warm and cool for centuries, including changes in
activities on the sun, 93 million miles away and wholly beyond the
jurisdiction of the
According
to these climate scientists, human activities have very little effect
on the climate, compared to many other factors, from volcanoes to
clouds. These scientists debunk the mathematics that were used to hype global warming hysteria, even
though hard evidence stretching back for centuries contradict them.
What
is even scarier than seeing how easily the public, the media and the
politicians have been manipulated and stampeded, is discovering how
much effort has been put into silencing scientists who dare to say the
emperor has no clothes. Academics who jump on the global warming
bandwagon are far more likely to get big research grants than those who
express doubts….and research is the lifeblood of an academic career at
leading universities.
Environmental
movements around the world are committed to global warming hysteria and
nowhere more so than on college campuses, where they can harass those
who say otherwise. One of the scientists interviewed on the British
documentary reported getting death threats.
In
politics, even conservative Republicans seem to have taken the view
that, if you can’t lick ‘em, join ‘em; so have big corporations which have joined
the stampede. This only enables the green crusaders at every
opportunity to say that ‘everybody’ believes the global warming
scenario, except for a scattered few ‘deniers’ who are likened to
holocaust deniers.
The
difference is that we have the hardest and most painful evidence that
there was a holocaust. But, the global warming scenario that is causing
such hysteria, we have only a movie made by a politician and
mathematical models whose results change drastically when you change a
few of the arbitrarily selected variables.
No
one denies that temperatures are about one degree warmer than they were
a century ago. What the climate scientists in the British documentary
deny is that you can mindlessly extrapolate that we are headed for a
climate catastrophe if we don’t take drastic steps that could cause an
economic catastrophe.”
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