The Next Meeting of Texas County Republicans will be at 7PM Tuesday, July 24 at The Lion’s Den on US 63 north of Houston. The meeting will be preceded by a pot luck supper at 6PM.

 

The Next Meeting of Texas County Republican Women will be at noon, Saturday, July 14, 2007 at the home of Carol Jean Whetstine north of Cabool. Ronny Margason, President of the Missouri Federation of Republican Women, will be the guest speaker. From Cabool take PP 2.5 miles, then right on Burdine 4/10 mile and left on Eagle Drive. Second house on left (earth home green siding).Or from US 63 take Cloverdale Road (south of Simmons) then left on Shady Grove  Go about 1-1/2 miles and turn right on Eagle Drive.

 

Preparing for Disaster Last month Missouri’s emergency management and public safety community held a simulated earthquake of 7.7 magnitude along the New Madrid fault line. More than 215 people worked with 80 county and city jurisdictions in the State Emergency Operations Center to conduct this exercise.  A major earthquake along the New Madrid fault line is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. There were five earthquakes greater than 8.0 magnitude in 1811-1812. That is larger than the one in San Francisco in 1906. Governor Blunt commended Representative JoAnn Emerson for her diligence in emphasizing the need for Missouri to conduct this exercise with federal and state officials. (Governor’s News Release) Presiding Commissioner, Don Shelhammer said Texas County participated in the three day exercise and that it was a valuable experience for our people to establish an Emergency Operations Center in the county.

 

Governor Matt Blunt Announced the opening of a new business incubator at the Southeast Missouri State University Innovation Center. Blunt said we are providing the tools to help small-businesses expand and encourage new star-ups so we can provide more jobs. The SEMO State Innovation Center has helped more than 130 new businesses get started in that area. It offers incubator space, entrepreneurial training, business development services, technical oversight and services needed by a new business. It is estimated that 95 percent of the more than 160,000 businesses in Missouri have less than 50 employees. (Gov’s News Release)

 

Governor Matt Blunt is One of Four American governors who attended the Paris Air Show last month. He went to represent some of Missouri’s top tier companies, such as Boeing, Essex and GKN and attended meetings to advocate Missouri products and Missouri opportunities to an international audience. The show included nearly 2,000 aerospace and defense exhibitors and attracted corporate executives and military officials from the world’s leading nations. (Governor’s News Release)

 

A New Energy Bill passed the U.S. Senate last month. A news release from General Motors states that, “a late amendment increases the CAFÉ (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standard for cars and trucks to be a combined standard of 35 mpg by 2020.” GM said, “the amendment’s failure to maintain separate fuel economy standards for car and trucks is highly problematic for the auto industry. The new standard represents a 40 percent fuel economy increase and will result in an estimated compliance cost that exceeds $100 billion, the greatest regulatory cost ever imposed on a single industry. We are willing to accept fuel economy standards that are technologically achievable, affordable to Americans and recognize that cars and trucks have different functions and need separate standards. This bill does not meet those principles.” The Energy and Commerce Committee of the House will take up the bill after the July 4 recess.

 

The Center for American Progress, a liberal organization, has gone on the attack with a report against what it calls “right-wing talk” radio. The report notes, 91 percent of the weekday talk radio programming on stations owned by the top five commercial station owners is conservative and 9 percent is liberal. They call for an increase in “ownership diversity” hoping it will lead to “more diverse programming.” (NewsMax.com)

 

Will Michael Bloomberg Run for President? According to one Republican analyst, “the Mayor of New York City will run if he thinks the Democratic and Republican candidates are at the extreme ends of the two parties’ spectrum.” As an independent, he will have the luxury of waiting until next March to see who the Republican and Democrat contenders turn out to be for the general election. Bloomberg, who is Jewish, would be expected to attract voters in large cities but would not appeal to the heartland, according to insiders. (Excerpt from an article by Ronald Kessler published by NewsMax.com)

 

A man’s worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he pleases. (T. H. Huxley)

 

Democrats Don’t Want to Fix the Immigration Problem. That’s what Bill O’Reilly said on the Fox News channel June 5th. The 12 million illegal immigrants that are here can assimilate. But, if we have 40 million illegals they won’t assimilate. And they will break 3 to 1 for the Democrats and for all practical purposes make this a one political party nation. He said, “that’s what Ted Kennedy and the Democrats want.”

 

More Than Half of all Americans, 52.6 percent, now receive a substantial part of their income from the government. That number includes people working for the government, or receiving aid such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and welfare benefits. So, a little less than half of the population is subsidizing the other half…and that number is growing. Garry Schilling, an economist for the Institute for Policy Innovation,

released these figures and asks the question, “can we sustain a government where the prevailing wisdom has become it is better to receive than to give?”  For more information go to www.ipi.org.

 

The U.S. Has a Booming Economy, or hadn’t you heard? The deficit is down $120 billion, or 45 percent, from April 2006 through April 2007.  And it has declined by $309 billion, or 68 percent over the last three years. The deficit has now declined for 26 consecutive months and will continue to do so until the end of the fiscal year and will soon be less than one percent of Gross Domestic Product. Even with a modest slow-down in economic growth the deficit could be eliminated over the next two years. But, starting this fall Democrats are expected to start harping on the deficit as a justification for a tax increase. The foregoing appeared on National Review Online and was distributed by the Institute for Policy Innovation

 

We Lost 3,140 Soldiers in Iraq in the four years and two months since the invasion in March 2003. That is a tragic loss but fails to tell the story of our losses over the years. Take a look at the deaths of soldiers while actively serving in the armed forces from 1980 through 2006:

 

1980….2,392   1981….2,380   1982….2,319   1983….2,465    1984….1,999    1985….2,252    1986….1,984

1987….1,983   1988….1,819   1989….1,636   1990….1,507    1991….1,075    1992….1,293    1993….1,213

1994….1,075   1995… 1,040    1996….   974   1997….   817    1998….   827     1999……796    2000……758

2001……891   2002…...999    2002……999   2003…   1,410    2004….1,887    2005……918     2006……920

 

And, for the record the fatalities in the past three years of Iraqi Freedom are also recorded by classification:

Caucasian..74.31%   Hispanic..10.74%   African American..9.67%   Asian..1.81%    Native American  1.09%

And Others…2.33%  So it is obvious that the majority of the casualties are not minorities. More military casualty information is available at http://siadapp.dior.whs.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/castop.htm.0

 

A Recent Gallup Poll finds that most Democrats and Independents believe that Darwin’s theory of evolution is true, but Republicans disbelieve it by more than a 2-to-1 margin. Church attendance plays a role in those findings. The poll also finds that Republicans are more likely than Democrats to attend church. Ken Ham, the president of Answers in Genesis, the creation museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, does not find it surprising that people who are considered more conservative would believe that God created the heavens and earth and its inhabitants. He says, “after all, if there is no God and there’s no absolute authority, who does decide what is right and wrong.” Answers in Genesis is a $27 million, high-tech, 65,000 square foot facility that just opened Memorial Day. Ken Ham points out that, “we’re not just saying ‘Here’s what the Bible says,’ We are also saying we have this evidence to back it up – evidence from geology, and biology and astronomy and so on.” (www.onenewsnow.com)

 

The U.S. Senate has Failed to act on 175 of President Bush’ nominees to various positions, including 24 judicial nominees and 17 for district court judgeships. (Evans-Novak Political report 6/6)

 

Who Will be Remembered as the better president: George W. Bush or Jimmy Carter? Of those who responded to the OneNewsNow.com poll, 89.6% said Bush and 10.4% said Carter.

 

According to insiders Al Gore will enter the 2008 presidential race if he wins the Nobel Peace Prize in October. (Newsmax.com)

 

Newt Gingrich said in May: His running for president is a ‘great possibility.’ In June he gives it 4 to 1 odds against his running for president, saying he  enjoys being a pundit and book author. (NewsMax.com)

 

There’s nothing wrong with teenagers that 30 years won’t fix.

 

 

As I See It

By Jimmy L. Cash, Brigadier General, USAF Retired, 349 Jib Lane, Lakeside, Montana

 

“I think it prudent to be very specific about what I have observed and personally encountered during my 36 years of service to this great country. I will not whine, twist and degrade our country’s leaders on a weekly basis. Instead, this will be a one-time input. These examples are but a few. In real life there were many more, but space and time will not allow.

 

As a young fighter pilot, flying F-4s in Vietnam, I was stopped in my tracks by the decisions made by Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara. Decisions like not allowing us to strike enemy aircraft while still on the ground, keeping real targets off the target list. The big one came for me the day I saw President Johnson on television, forcefully lying to the American people. I’ll never forget the language, “I want to assure the American people that the United States of America has never, and will never, bomb or use force inside the borders of Cambodia.” Guess where I had put several F-4 loads of 750 pound general purpose bombs every day for the past five days. You guessed it, Cambodia!! The only question in my mind was simply, “Was it just Johnson or was it the methodology of a particular political party?”

 

Years passed, then came Jimmy Carter. Our young people don’t remember 18% interest rates and 18% inflation, but I’ll bet someone in your family does. That is one really bad thing Carter did for our country, but it’s not the worst. During this period, I was an F-15 Squadron Commander, located at Langley AFB, Virginia. Jimmy Carter and his Democratic Party stopped spare parts procurement for almost every weapon system in our military and diverted the funds to social programs. The F-15 was brand new at the time with leading edge technology. But guess what? In a two year period from 1979 to 1981, there was not one day when more than one third of my assigned aircraft were flyable. It is amazing the lengths we went to in those days, cannibalizing parts, spending twice the time and energy to fix every little item and still two-thirds of the birds were broken because of no spare parts. But, the really bad part was that our sortie rate was so low that pilot proficiency dropped to dangerous levels. The accident rate tripled. We were losing expensive airplanes and highly trained young pilots at a rate comparable to losses seen in actual combat.

 

Forward to 1986. I am an F-16 Wing Commander at MacDill AFB, Florida, with Ronald Reagan as president. His change in attitude and policy toward the military had time to fix the spare parts problem. We were flying 26,000 flying sorties per year out of MacDill. My aircraft fully mission capable rate (FMC) was above 90%; the aircraft accident rate was below 1.75 per hundred thousand flying hours; fighter pilots were flying and proficiency levels were at an all time high. Look what the Air Force and the military in general, accomplished in Iraq during Desert Storm. At this point I was starting to realize there was a difference in mentality between Democrats and Republicans…or should I say the Left and the Right..

 

Then came everyone’s favorite…Bill Clinton. If there ever was an individual 180 degrees out of sync with the ideals and values of the U.S. military, it was Clinton. He was a known draft dodger, a military hating, self-absorbed, unspeakingly shameless and immoral individual, who the Left managed to elect President of the United States. Clinton’s antics in the White House would have brought court martial conviction and Dishonorable Discharge had he been a member of the military. We still suffer oral sex on school buses because the president told the world it wasn’t real sex and some of our children believed him. There is a big difference in the Right and the Left on all fronts and for the first time I started feeling angry and ashamed that the majority of the American people were willing to vote for such an individual.

 

Sometimes, an abstract such as the following tells the story in simple terms: Jane Fonda, Tom Hayden, Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, Ted Kennedy, Howard Dean, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Michael Moore, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, John Kerry, Benedict Arnold and the list goes on. Giving in to the likes of these people and Abraham Lincoln’s prediction of destruction from within may just come true. There is not a country in the world that can be considered a conventional military threat to the Unites States today. However, this country faces a new kind of threat…one that will not go away. It is a threat even more serious than WWII, because money, industry and technology will not defeat it. (Continued on Page Four)

 

Those who find it hard to get up early find it even harder to go to bed early (Anon)

 

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As I See it continued from Page Three

 

It is the threat of defeat from within. It is the threat created by the people wanting change, and perilously believing that the Left can successfully deliver that change. Have you seen anything that remotely resembles an answer to the Iraq situation? Have you seen anything more than continued Bush-bashing? Is that an answer? If there ever was a need for a strong military, it is now. THE LEFT HAS HISTORICALLY DISMANTLED OUR MILITARY IN THE NAME OF REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH FAVORING SOCIAL PROGRAMS. We cannot afford to let that happen now.

 

Now a final thought meant to upset as many as possible on the far-Left. As you might guess, I don’t believe in political correctness. So let’s look at the facts, not far-Left rhetoric attempting to empower the Democratic Party. Initially, I was not a George Bush fan. I am not even a Republican. I normally vote Republican because I totally despise Communism, Socialism and the far-Left in this country. I am a Conservative. During his watch I feel President Bush just happened to stumble upon the leading edge of the greatest threat this country has ever faced. Overall, the President has done a superb job dealing with the threat, and at the same time held off the constant ranting, raving and deceitful escapades of the far-Left. If there was ever a time when the country needs to come together and back our president, it is now. Without consensus we are empowering the terrorists. But, the far-Left has been totally absorbed in regaining control of Congress. They could not care less about defeating the terrorists.

 

What are the real facts? On the home front this country’s economy is the strongest that it has been in my lifetime. Interest rates are as low as they were when I was in high school forty years ago. Wages are at an all time high. Home ownership is at an all time high. Taxes have been lowered to an almost acceptable level. The deficit is under control and projected to go away ahead of schedule.

 

I remember being part of a USAF War College in 1983 discussing the terrorist threat. One common thought was that the U.S. would be hit within the next five years. It took a little longer than that projection, but the attack occurred. The main point is that it has not happened again. We have suckered the bad guys into entering the fight somewhere other than in our country. And there is zero doubt in my mind that if we pull out of Iraq prematurely, that it will happen within a short time after our departure. I don’t care what you think of President Bush personally. He has done the best he could with what he has, and this country is not smoking because of it.

 

It is Generally Understood that more dollars are leaving the U.S. than coming in (balance of payments)

because so many items we purchase have a tag that says ‘Made in China.’ But, Frederick Smith, president and CEO of Federal Express, speaking to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee June 14 said that 40 percent of our balance of payments problem is from purchasing Middle East oil. He noted that FedEx had been operating in China for the past 23 years. (Seen on C-SPAN)

 

Democrats Complain about “tax-cuts for the rich.” But cuts in tax rates lead to increases in tax revenues. That happened in this administration, Reagan’s administration and Kennedy’s as well. (Thomas Sowell)

 

 

When a man is wrong and won’t admit it, he always gets angry.

 

 

First Principles First

An excerpt from a speech by Fred Thompson to The Council for National Policy, May 12, 2007

 

For Americans, first principles are found in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. They include a recognition of God and the fact that there are certain rights that come from Him and not from the government. They are based on a respect for the wisdom of the ages, and a belief that human beings are prone to error, that too much power must never rest in too few hands. The result is a system of checks and balances and a separation of powers that flow from guiding documents and the rule of law.

 

If we want to change or alter these concepts or any provisions of the Constitution, we have been given a specific method to do that….by Constitutional Amendment.

 

So how are we doing as a nation in upholding these first principles? The answer is we could be doing better….a lot better.

 

First an observation. Our nation is based upon the proposition that statutes, common law and the Constitution will not only be applied fairly between litigants, but will also be observed by the government. People will be able to rely on the rules and their consistent application. This engenders respect for the law. It is a sad irony that a nation that is so dedicated to the rule of law is doing so much to undermine the respect for it.

 

Our founders established an independent federal judiciary to decide cases, not social policy. Yet, more and more that is exactly what it is doing. Roe v Wade is a classic example. And nowhere is it more apparent than with regard to the issue of church and state.

 

Many federal judges seem intent on eliminating God from the public schools and the public square in ways that would astound our founding fathers. We never know when a five to four Supreme Court decision will uphold them. They ignore the fact that the founders were protecting the church from the state and not the other way around. Instead of having the basic rules of society changed in the way clearly set forth in the Constitution by two-thirds votes of both Houses and by three-fourths of the states, the entire process is reversed by the stroke of a pen and supporters of the rule of law have the burden placed upon them, which is usually insurmountable.

 

We have always held our federal judiciary in high esteem, even at a time when most of our institutions are under assault. However, if judges continue to act like politicians they will get the respect currently given to politicians. It is already rapidly headed in that direction. The antidote for this, of course, is good judges…and presidents who know one when they see one….like John Roberts.

 

The Roberts nomination shows us that we can win against those who would use the Constitution for their own ends, even though it is always a fight.

 

All of this reminds us of what Washington has become and why more good people are not coming into public service. Add to that the bitter divisiveness on Capitol Hill with regard to all things large and small, and you can almost see Americans throw up their hands. They’ve got to be wondering, how are today’s leaders going to lead us with regard to all these difficult issues if they can’t even agree on the fundamentals….things that are supposed to bind us together.

 

Some of you may think this is not a very optimistic outlook. I’m reminded of something my Daddy used to say: A man who walks around smiling all the time can’t possibly know what’s going on. However, I am optimistic. I think we all are. But as Americans, our optimism comes not from an analysis of how things are, but our belief that we can change what we see for the better.

 

We have road maps…at least two of them in fact…The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution… to guide us. How can we look at the world without thinking about inalienable rights, and doing everything necessary to protect our country? How can we think of fiscal policy or even health-care policy without remembering the limitations appropriately placed on government and the importance of individual freedom? This is a message that needs to be delivered. We must rededicate ourselves to this commitment and to the magnificent legacy we have been given. I am honored to join in this effort.

 

The feeling that times past were better than times now has existed for ages. (Horace Greeley)

 

 

The Anger of the Left

By Dr.Thomas Sowell, as published by TownHall.com

 

People on the Left have a certain set of opinions, just as people in the other ideological spectrum. That is not surprising. What is surprising, however, is how often the opinions of those on the Left are accompanied by hostility, even hatred. Particular issues can arouse passions here and there for anyone with political views. But for many on the Left, indignation is not a sometime thing. It is a way of life.

 

How often have you seen conservatives or libertarians take to the streets, shouting angry slogans? How often have conservative students on campus shouted down a visiting speaker or rioted to prevent the visitor from speaking at all?

 

The source of the anger of liberals, “progressives” or radicals is by no means readily apparent. The targets of their anger have included people who are non-confrontational or even genial, such as Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. It is hard to think of a time when Karl Rove or Dick Cheney has even raised his voice, but they are hated like the devil incarnate.

 

There doesn’t even have to be any identifiable individual to arouse the ire of the Left. “Tax Cuts for the Rich” is more than a political slogan. It is an incitement to anger.

 

All sorts of people can have all sorts of beliefs about what tax rates are best from various points of view. But, how can people work themselves into a lather over the fact that some taxpayers are able to keep more of the money they earned, instead of turning it over to politicians to dispense in ways calculated to get themselves re-elected? The angry Left has no time to spend even considering the argument that what they call “Tax cuts for the Rich” are in fact tax cuts for the economy.

 

Nor is the idea new that tax cuts can sometimes spur economic growth, resulting in more jobs for workers and higher earnings for business, leading to more tax revenues for the government.

 

A highly regarded economist once observed that “taxation may be so high as to defeat its objective,” so that sometimes “a reduction of taxation will run a better chance than an increase, of balancing the budget.” Who said that? Was it Milton Friedman? Arthur Laffer? No, it was said in 1933 by John Maynard Keynes, a liberal icon.

 

Lower tax rates have led to higher tax revenues many times, both before and since Keynes’ statement…..the Kennedy tax cuts of the 1960s, the Reagan tax cuts of the 1980s and the recent Bush tax cuts that have led to record high tax revenues this April.

 

Budget deficits have often resulted from runaway spending, but seldom from reduced tax rates

 

Those on the other side may have different arguments. However, the question here is not why the Left has different arguments, but why is there such anger?

 

Often it is an exercise in futility to seek to find a principle behind the anger. For example, the Left’s obsession with the high incomes of corporate executives never seems to extend to equally high…or higher…incomes of professional athletes, entertainers, or best selling authors like Danielle Steele.

 

If the reason for the anger is a feeling that corporate CEOs are overpaid for their contributions, then there should be even more anger at people who get even more money for doing absolutely nothing, because they inherited fortunes. Yet, how often has the Left gotten worked up over those who inherited the Rockefeller, Roosevelt or Kennedy fortunes? Even spoiled heirs like Paris Hilton don’t really seem to set them off.

 

The greatest anger by the Left seems to be directed at people and things that thwart or undermine the social vision of the Left, the political melodrama starring the Left as saviors of the poor, the environment and other busybody tasks that they have taken on. It seems to be the threat to their egos that they hate. And nothing is more of a threat to their desire to run other people’s lives than the free market and its defenders.

 
 

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The Texas County y is a publication of the Texas County Republican Committee, Kevin, McGowen, Chairman