Here’s the back story: Two years ago, conservative David Simpson challenged and beat liberal Republican State Representative Tommy Merritt in the 2010 primary. In a desperate attempt to reclaim his seat, Merritt held no punches in a smear campaign against Simpson and legislation he authored during the last legislative session, particularly House Bill 41. You see, Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview) authored HB-41, with the support of 100 something co-authors, to punish screeners who made inappropriate sexual contact with people trying to fly or enter public buildings. The bill was authored on the heels of the young, old and everyone in-between being forced into (and many times unnecessary) invasive full body searches by TSA screeners. This bill wouldn’t prevent further pat-downs or searches, but would prevent federally sponsored groping of someone’s private areas unless there was reasonable suspicion to search there.

Does this sound like a pro-terrorist piece of legislation? I didn’t think so either. However, it seems like Tommy Merritt shamefully wanted us to think it was. Hence, this disgusting mail piece…

Note: You might want hide to all breakable objects before looking at this mail piece.

I could spend my day ripping this mail piece and Tommy Merritt apart, but I think I’m going to just leave that part up to you. I am a little surprised there was no call to action to place David Simpson on the no-fly list for authoring HB-41.

Below is a list of the elected officials (with more that could probably be added) who either co-authored, voted for HB-41 or it’s cohort in the Texas Senate SB-29, or publicly supported David Simpson’s bill. As you can see from the list below, Tommy Merritt once again stood against Texas Republicans (not to mention the 4th Amendment) and did it in one of the most disgusting ways possible.

Gov. Rick Perry
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst

Sen. Birdwell (9/11 Pentagon Survivor)
Sen. Carona
Sen. Deuell
Sen. Duncan
Sen. Eltife
Sen. Estes
Sen. Fraser
Sen. Harris
Sen. Hegar
Sen. Huffman
Sen. Jackson
Sen. Nelson
Sen. Nichols
Sen. Ogden
Sen. Patrick (Author SB-29)
Sen. Seliger
Sen. Shapiro
Sen. Wentworth
Sen. West
Sen. Williams

Rep. Aliseda
Rep. Anderson, C.
Rep. Anderson, R.
Rep. Aycock
Rep. Beck
Rep. Berman
Rep. Bohac
Rep. Bonnen
Rep. Branch
Rep. Brown
Rep. Burkett
Rep. Button
Rep. Cain
Rep. Callegari
Rep. Carter
Rep. Christian
Rep. Cook
Rep. Craddick
Rep. Creighton
Rep. Crownover
Rep. Darby
Rep. Davis, J.
Rep. Davis, S.
Rep. Eissler
Rep. Elkins
Rep. Fletcher
Rep. Flynn
Rep. Frullo
Rep. Gallego
Rep. Garza
Rep. Geren
Rep. Gonzales, L.
Rep. Gooden
Rep. Guillen
Rep. Hamilton
Rep. Hancock
Rep. Hardcastle
Rep. Harless
Rep. Hartnett
Rep. Hilderbran
Rep. Hopson
Rep. Howard, C.
Rep. Huberty
Rep. Hughes
Rep. Hunter
Rep. Isaac
Rep. Jackson
Rep. Keffer
Rep. King, P.
Rep. King, S.
Rep. King, T.
Rep. Kleinschmidt
Rep. Kolkhorst
Rep. Kuempel
Rep. Landtroop
Rep. Larson
Rep. Laubenberg
Rep. Lavender
Rep. Legler
Rep. Lewis
Rep. Lyne
Rep. Madden
Rep. Margo
Rep. Miller, D.
Rep. Miller, S.
Rep. Morrison
Rep. Murphy
Rep. Nash
Rep. Orr
Rep. Otto
Rep. Parker
Rep. Patrick
Rep. Paxton
Rep. Pena
Rep. Perry
Rep. Phillips
Rep. Pickett
Rep. Pitts
Rep. Price
Rep. Raymond
Rep. Riddle
Rep. Ritter
Rep. Schwertner
Rep. Scott
Rep. Sheets
Rep. Sheffield
Rep. Shelton
Rep. Simpson (Author HB-41)
Rep. Smith, T.
Rep. Smith, W.
Rep. Smithee
Rep. Taylor, L.
Rep. Torres
Rep. Truitt
Rep. Weber
Rep. White
Rep. Woolley
Rep. Workman
Rep. Zedler
Rep. Zerwas

No wonder Tommy Merritt was voted out of office 2 years ago.

I was happy to see that David Simpson successfully fought off these attacks and won with over 61% of the vote.

MattSDowling (Cross post)

Now if your feeble little mind doesn’t know what I’m talking about, I will just go ahead and tell you. It’s sitting! Yes, sitting. A new study was released by the American College of Cardiology stating that sitting is just as dangerous as smoking. Sitting has been an epidemic in Texas and was even a leading reason to why Texas revolted against Mexico. Then again, you wouldn’t know that because of the liberal media.

Don’t believe me? Just take a look at the painting below, that depicts General Santa Anna surrendering to the Texas Army, and tell me what you see.

Exactly! Every single Texan is standing except for two, Sam Houston and Erastus “Deaf” Smith. You can see Santa Anna was so addicted to sitting that he was no longer sitting anymore, but had progressed to laying down. Houston is sitting because he was wounded(probably from all the sitting he had been doing all day). “Deaf” wasn’t wounded, but you can see him trying to listen to what was being said with his good right ear. He originally came to Texas for health reasons and fully recovered except for being deaf in his left ear, hence his name. His health problems are most likely linked to secondhand sitting in bars.

Many historians believe he knew better than to go to bars full of sitters, but he just wanted to be liked. You see when he walked into a bar and saw everyone else was sitting, he would feel peer pressured to sit and stay. This is why “Deaf” Smith is the best known victim of secondhand sitting in Texas.

This brings us to an important question: “Why didn’t our founders ban smoking​ sitting when it was such an important ideal to the revolution?” We may never know, but many believe that our founders decided it was better to let individuals and businesses decide if sitting should be allowed. Heh, idiots.

It troubles me that we are in the year 2011 and the people of Texas still have the choice to sit in bars and restaurants. The small minded person that said, “Give me liberty or give me death” obviously doesn’t realize that liberty means death. So I plead with my fellow Texans and the Texas Legislature to support a statewide sitting ban before it’s too late.

The video below was produced by the Birdwalker Company in 2007 during his campaign to become Dallas mayor. Although the video doesn’t have the best quality and is a little odd, I don’t see anything in it that proves this video wasn’t shot and made during Tom Leppert’s visit to an ACORN office.

This still has not stopped the anti-gun crowd from using recycled tatics circa 1995 when then State Senator now Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson passed Texas’ concealed carry law.

They are questioning the mental stability of students, asserting that it would be a distraction in the classroom. Or, my personal favorite, that students and professors are likely to shoot as many people as the actual shooter!

Not only have these failed arguments been disproven, but they only address the concealed handgun law as a whole. None of the arguments specifically address why allowing CHL holders to carry on campus will have a negative impact, except for the weak assertion that “it will be a distraction in the classroom.” But I doubt anyone will be distracted by an unknown concealed handgun.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that if people are not distracted at restaurants, public meetings, or movies by citizens who carry; nor will they be by people who carry on campuses. Honestly, how many movie goers were distracted while watching 40 Year Old Virgin because a CHL holder was in the crowd?

It just goes to show that for the anti-gun crowd, the debate is not about carrying on campus but carry laws and guns in general. They see this as a chance to dig up their 1995 debate notes to brand CHL holders as gun toting, vigilante, wannabe Hawaii 5-0 police officers trolling around looking for trouble. 

Of course, if they continue to spread this perception it has a high probability of backfiring. Concealed carry laws are popular among Texans because they know the opposite has been the truth.

So let’s stop placing colleges campuses in a class of their own and stop pretending they are some how separated from the dangers of the real world.  Citizens should not have their liberties voided because they walk on the property of an institution of higher learning.

I am happy to see the Texas Legislature finally come together to try and pass a law that allows CHL holders to carry on campuses. And I suspect the anti-gun crowd will only act as a bump in the road as this bill moves forward.

Wow, really?

First, in order for this bill to be “disastrous for our country” it conversely would have been a disaster for our country when these publicly funded media outlets didn’t exist. Although I wasn’t alive then, I highly doubt this was the case.

These two media outlets were brought about in the LBJ era as an alternative education and news source for Americans. At the time, there were only a nominal amount of stations and PBS and NPR were created to fill a void in news and education. This appeared to be a noble cause in the 1970′s but they have lost their core argument to be continually funded by the government. The void they were filling has not only been filled by them but countless of other radio and TV stations.

According to my TV guide and radio dial, there are now more channels out there than I care to watch or even know about.

Even when reading remarks made by LBJ on why public media outlets were needed, you can quickly tell that this need is outdated. And we should no longer be funding outdated concepts with our tax dollars.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think these outlets aren’t providing services that the general public needs but it is no longer necessary for the taxpayer to be the sugar daddy to PBS and NPR. They should survive on the free market based on their own merit.

So lets go back to what will really be disastrous for this country… De-funding services that have out lived their need or lacking the will to take the smallest of steps to regain control of our $14 trillion national debt, that has just surpassed our GDP?

I think the answer is simple.

Commandment #1 Thy Bond Rating Shall Not Fallith

We need a healthy Rainy Day Fund  in order to stabilize and increase Texas’ bond rating. In 1987, Texas faced a worse fiscal crisis than what we see today. At the time Texas did not have any significant funds in reserve, which was one of the contributing factors why Texas lost its AAA bond rating. Even after 23 years, we still have not gained back the premier AAA rating. And we certainly will not gain it back if the funds are depleted over the next few sessions.

Commandment #2 Thy Divine Rath Shall Be Funded

These reserve funds are needed in case of catastrophic emergencies that we cannot predict like hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, wildfires, and so on. If we don’t have sufficient funds to handle the fiscal cost of such tragedies, Texas’ budget will be hit twice as hard.

Commandment #3 Thy Funds Shall Not Go To False Idols

The Rainy Day Fund should be used to plug only the most vital areas of the budget that could not otherwise be funded. This should only be done after across the board spending cuts, elimination of waste, and reprioritization of funds have been made. It should not be used to expand or create programs.

Thy will be done.

I think most people would agree that it is “raining,” but it’s raining a lot harder for the legislators that created the rainstorm.

It’s probably true that we would still be facing a budget shortfall this session if we had spent our money more wisely but we would be walking over puddles instead of consumed in a flood.

For years, members in the Texas Legislature have succeeded when they called for more programs and increased spending. From 2003-2009 the Legislature has appropriated $74 billion more, than if the budget was tied to population growth and inflation. The taxpayer’s money has been spent as fast as it has been coming in.

This is a cause and effect of politicians campaigning on the promise to bring more government spending and more government programs to their district. Now those who have spent our money to ensure their own re-election are facing a harsh reality; that their promises have outpaced the economy.

These politicians will now fight tooth and nail to continue to fund their programs, by raiding the Rainy Day Fund. Some legislator need to do this because government programs have become their platform and spending is their voice. In other words, government produces their relevancy.

And since relevancy is the key to re-election, expect the rhetoric to grow louder and the push to raid the Rainy Day Fund to grow stronger as the budget process moves along.

This is the reason we must keep in prospective why the Rainy Day Fund was created and be careful how we use it.