Joe Straus: Painting Texas Purple

Empower Texans has a fantastic new website detailing Joe Straus' collaboration with Democrats to grow government in Texan, some highlights:

Red State, Purple Legislation

Texas may be a red state, but legislation passed this session under Speaker Straus’ watch sure doesn’t reflect it.
Mark Jones, Chairman of the Department of Political Science at Rice University, dubbed the phrase “Red State, Purple Legislation” to describe the contrast between the wave of Texas Republican victories at the ballot box in 2012 and the lack of conservative reform in the 2013 legislative session.
According to Jones:
“Texas Democrats exercised considerable influence over the legislative process… House Democrats brokered a tacit alliance with the GOP’s moderate/centrist bloc, led by Speaker Joe Straus… This alliance allowed a relatively cohesive and disciplined Democratic delegation to block the passage of most legislation opposed by its members.”

But it gets worse:

Lack of Conservative Reform

What reforms did Speaker Joe Straus and his lackeys KILL this session? Here’s just a partial list:

• Strict Constitutional Spending Limits
• Zero-based Budgeting
• Franchise Tax (a.k.a. Gross Margins Tax) Elimination
• Property Tax Reform
• Protections from Tax Increases
• Requiring Legislators to Disclose Government Contracts

Ending Gas Tax/Highway Fund Diversions

Eliminating Corporate Welfare Programs

Requiring Transparency Provisions for Local Bond Elections

Eliminating Pensions for Convicted Former Legislators 

Leading to SUCH positive outcomes:

Texas Goes Sacramento

So what did Speaker Straus and his lackeys accomplish while they were busy killing conservative bills? They increased session-to-session spending by 26.9% -- all while increasing their legislator pensions by 12% -- spending down all $8 Billion of surplus general revenue and a portion of the state’s savings account in the process.
State spending jumped so much, it caught the eye of the Wall Street Journal who questioned whether Texas is beginning to make the same fiscal mistakes that California has made repeatedly.

 Kudos to Empower Texans for consolidating this information; read the whole thing here.

Ken Paxton dominates Texas Association of Businesses AG forum

Two hours ago, we crashed the Texas Association of Businesses Attorney General Forum.  It was the first time we've seen all three candidates in the same setting.  Today's discussion re-enforces the decision we reached months ago.

Dan Branch opened by being Dan Branch.  He bragged about decade old votes in the legislature.  We suspect his more recent advocacy of tax increases and water carrying for Bill Powers wouldn't have gone over as well.  Calling himself a "can-do Conservative who gets results," Branch took multiple cheap shots at Jonathan Stickland.  But enough about Dan Branch.

Ken Paxton outlined his strategic vision for the Attorney General's office.  Paxton described how, in the age of Obama, the focus of the Attorney General's office has shifted from state level issues to defending Texas' against Federal assault.  Paxton identified Texas' economic success as an embarrassment to the Obama administration.  They need to shut Texas' economy down because they can't handle the competition.  Paxton was the only candidate to clearly define the problem.

Paxton praised current Attorney General Greg Abbott for recognizing early how the role of the office needed to change.  One point we wish Paxton had made is that General Abbott also sued the federal government three times under George W. Bush.  If there's one lesson we learned from the TARP debacle, it's that Federal overreach comes from both parties.

Barry Smitherman made a cryptic comment about looking at a candidate's personal life: "Whether they've ever sued or been sued."  We have no idea to what Smitherman was referring, but we suspect there's a dirty trick coming.  In fairness, Smitherman also raised good points about lowering operating costs in the AG's office that we hope whoever wins this race will heed.

Each candidate deserves praise for his response on school finance.  Suing the state of Texas over school finance is a cottage industry in Austin.  All three candidates demonstrated a solid understanding of the asinine dual-mandate that guides education funding in Texas.

The Texas Attorney General occupies a unique position.  In addition to being Texas' chief law enforcement officer he leads the growing cadre of state attorneys general pushing back against Federal overreach.  Today, Ken Paxton re-enforced what we already knew about this race.

Katrina Pierson battles princes of Hip-Hop

Just found this video of Katrina Pierson on friggin B.E.T. from a year and a half ago:



Highlights:

• "It's a breakdown in the home, it's a breakdown in Parenting."

• "The ultimate responsibility is on the parent."

• "Unfortunately, we do have a breakdown in the home, which is why I'm participating in the Tea Party movement."

• Different parts of the culture work together and the hip-hop culture undermines black family culture.

• The "N-word" - If you can't use it at work, you probably shouldn't use it at home.

Conservatives often talk about how we need to engage the culture and minority 'outreach.'  Katrina went into the lion's den, on friggin B.E.T., to counter two rappers who (had they sold their souls a little faster in the 1990's) could have been just as big as Jay-Z.  She slayed the twin beasts of Hip-Hop culture and welfare-state Marxism in one blow.  In a month, we have the opportunity to send this same person TO CONGRESS!!!  Or we can RePete the mistakes of the past....

Choose wisely, CD-32, choose wisely.

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Read our endorsement here; donate to Katrina's campaign here.

Greg Abbott Does Glenn Beck

Greg Abbott stopped by GB's studio today. Unlike Abbott's interview with Dana Loesch, this time the Blaze made the video public. Enjoy:



Highlights:

• New campaign slogan: "Texas needs to Roll with Greg!"

• Abbott has sued Obama 33 times; he sued Dubya three times before that.
• 10-5 record with many cases pending.

• "Part of our campaign is about securing the border; the Red River, not the Rio Grande."

• He's campaigning on Open Carry.

• Wendy, like Obama, is getting thousands of shady donations that are too small to trace.

Abbott will be on with GB tonight at 4; we will update this post as needed.

Update: Here's the TV footage



Highlights:

• Texas is different from the rest of the country.

• 1400 people move to Texas every day in search of freedom.

• Elizabeth Warren is helping Wendy.

• Glenn Beck has no idea what he's talking about re: Austin.

• People move from pro-Abortion to pro-Life when they see sonagrams.

• Bringing Gold Back: "I don't know."

• One way you can be self-sufficient is not letting government control life.

Ministry Counters Sexual Misinformation on College Campuses

"I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness."
Romans 6:19

We've been a fan of Dannah Gresh's work since we saw this talk she gave in 2013; the Christian Post profiles her ministry in much greater detail:

Christian researchers say the "Sex Week" events on college campuses are an opportunity for Christians to share their understanding of sex. While some of the advocacy may be harmful, the discussions can also allow Christians to share evidence that the best and safest sex is in marriage.

"While the content and theology is often anti-biblical at sex weeks on university campuses, you will find that the heart of most of the student leaders is responsibility, not promiscuity," best-selling author and speaker Dannah Gresh told The Christian Post in an interview Friday.

Gresh argued that while sex instructors' hearts are often in the right place, as at the University of Tennessee where they teach students to care about sex workers' rights, they still teach falsehoods. She called for Christians to speak out, not in anger, but with biblical truth in solidarity with these students' goals to educate.

Janice Crouse, executive director and senior fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute think tank for Concerned Women for America, agreed that Christians need to speak out in love. "Christians have to be unafraid to say that there are standards, and those standards have stood the test of time," Crouse declared.

....

The Christian Response

"The Christian response has to be biblical," Crouse argued. While many college students reject the idea of standards as "judgmental," she pointed out that "you cannot have a culture without having standards." If there are no rules for "where my rights end and yours begin," there is anarchy and mayhem. Besides, Christians declaring the biblical view of sex is not judgmental, because it is God, not man, who judges.

Gresh agreed on this point. "Christians should not picket, boycott or speak out against them in ways that make them feel judged an unloved," she argued. She praised the actions of award-winning artist Natalie Grant, who walked out of the Grammys early last weekend and refused to condemn anyone. Gresh called this stand "a great example of how we can take a stand without debating."

Gresh also encouraged Christians to enter into conversations on college campuses. She recalled leading a discussion at Penn State to cultivate "healthy relationships," and testified that "a Hindu young woman received Christ as her Savior because we did not criticize faulty sexual messages, but positively entered in to deliver truth-filled messages in love."

Sex in Marriage Is Better

"Poll after poll has found that married couples have the best sex and the most sex," Crouse argued, explaining the virtues of the biblical model of sexuality. She found it ironic that while "so many homosexuals talk about wanting a safe place, the safest place for sexuality is in a married couple where the partners are monogamous, abstinent before marriage, and faithful afterward."

Gresh agreed, citing studies to back up her claims. "As for the assertion that we can/should endorse all 'forms of sexuality,' the brain chemical science and social stat evidence doesn't suggest that this will lead to greater sexual pleasure or freedom," she argued. "It will certainly increase medical risk."

Having more partners in their lifetime is a predictor of less sexual satisfaction for men, Gresh argued, citing a study by Indiana University. As for women, a University of California study revealed that, if they aren't in the context of commitment, sex did not produce oxytocin "in the same magnificent way that those in life-time mutually monogamous relationships do," Gresh said.

Read the whole thing here; learn more about Pure Freedom here.

Rick Perry, Marijuana, and our first conversation

[Author's Note: This picture was taken at the 2010 event described below.]

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8

Last week, in Davos, Rick Perry made a comment about marijuana that ignited a media firestorm:

“As governor, I have begun to implement policies that start us toward a decriminalization” by introducing alternative “drug courts” that provide treatment and softer penalties for minor offenses"

The only noteworthy aspect of that statement is the reaction.  Perry was discussing criminal justice reforms Texas has put into place over the past decade.  Perry said nothing new.

In January 2010, during his last campaign for governor, Perry held an event with Andrew Breitbart.  This event was the first time we met the Governor.  In a private conversation on the side of that event, Perry described his administration's policy towards low level drug offenses using language that was nearly identical to what he said in Davos four years later.

At the time, Perry was fending off a primary challenge from Debra Medina (who, in 2014, is running for comptroller).  A long time Ron Paul acolyte, Medina is a well known critic of the war on drugs.  While Perry differentiated himself from Medina's position on drug legalization, he also made clear his belief that incarcerating people over low-level drug offenses is a counterproductive strategy that wastes a lot of money.

On a similar note, in his 2010 book Fed Up Perry wrote:

But perhaps most interesting is a movement I disagree, while appreciating the desire of Californians to decide for themselves -- and this is the issue of marijuana consumption.  A few years ago, Californians legalized the limited medicinal use of marijuana, but the Supreme Court struck this law down in Gonzales v. Raich, claiming that the federal government has the power to regulate activity that would have a substantial effect on interstate commerce.  Now, I am not sure the people of Texas would want to go down this road, but it sure seems to me that Justice Thomas got this one right when he said in dissent:..."Our federalist system, properly understood, allows California and a growing number of other States to decide for themselves how to safeguard the health and welfare of their citizens.  (164/5)

 Rick Perry's policy towards low-level drug offences has always reflected his commitment to the Tenth Amendment and the fiscal lunacy of mass incarceration.  Rick Perry said nothing in Davos that he didn't say to us in 2010.  The real story is that the media belatedly chose to cover a Perry administration policy that has been in place for at least half-a-decade.

Travis County Republicans exploit Team Wendy's latest train wreck

On Tuesday night, Wendy spoke at a Travis County Democrat Party fundraiser.  One would think a stump speech in front of the county party in the friendliest county in the state would be a slam dunk.  One would also think that you wouldn't alienate a press corps' predisposed to be friendly.  Apparently, that's too much to ask for the comedy of errors that is Team Wendy.  Fortunately, the Travis County Republican Party is filling the void:

The Austin American-Statesman has more here.