McNamara's Band: Time to Vote - on Texas Constitutional Propositions

McNamara's Band: Time to Vote - on Texas Constitutional Propositions

Synopsis of Constitutional Propositions on November 8 Ballot

Proposition 1 – Would allow the surviving spouse of a 100 percent or totally disabled veteran with a property tax exemption on his or her residence homestead.

Proposition 2 – Would allow the Texas Water Development Board to borrow as much as $6 billion.

Proposition 3 – Would allow the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to borrow money in order to provide student loans.

Proposition 4 – Would allow a county to issue bonds or notes to finance the development or redevelopment of an unproductive, underdeveloped, or blighted area within the county, and to pledge increases in tax revenues imposed on property in the area by the county for repayment of such bonds or notes.

Proposition 5 – Would allow cities and counties to enter into interlocal contracts with other cities and counties without having to assess an additional tax or set aside a specified amount of money for the cost under the interlocal contract.

Proposition 6 – Would increase the amount of principal that is available for withdrawal from the permanent school fund each year and would also clarify certain references to that fund in the constitution.

Proposition 7 – Would amend the constitution by adding El Paso County to the list of counties authorized to create conservation and reclamation districts to develop parks and recreational facilities financed by taxes.

Proposition 8 – Would allow for special property tax rules on land devoted to water conservation.

Proposition 9 – Would authorize the governor to grant a pardon, reprieve, or commutation of punishment to a person who successfully completes a term of deferred adjudication community supervision.

Proposition 10 – Would extend the length of the unexpired term that causes the automatic resignation of certain local elected officeholders if they announce candidacy or become candidates for another office from one year to one year and 30 days.

See the following web site for further explanation: www.votexas.org. Here is more information from Empower Texans.

Posted by Denise McNamara at 3:14 PM

Thank you Denise.

West's Weekly Wrap-Up

West's Weekly Wrap-Up

There is a quote I would like to share with all of you from Roger Sherman, one of the original signers of the Declaration of the Independence. Sherman said, “Sad will be the day when the American people forget their traditions and their history, and no longer remember that the country they love, the institutions they cherish, and the freedom they hope to preserve, were born from the throes of armed resistance to tyranny, and nursed in the rugged arms of fearless men.”

Congressman West Weekly Wrap-Up is a must read again.

West's Weekly Wrap-Up

West's Weekly Wrap-Up

As I exited the hearing, one woman decided to follow me and asked me why I don't just "end the wars?” I asked her if she knew "what the only two ways are that end a war?" She replied, "just stop funding them." My response to her was that "you end a war by either winning or losing, those are the only two ways." I expressed to her that I am not about losing....

We must develop a national security strategy that is not budget based but rather requirement based. That means we must conduct a threat analysis across the geographic areas of responsibility and then match a capacity and capability to thwart those threats. We must end the failed process of telling the military... this is what you get, go defend us.

I believe there are inefficiencies we can eradicate in the Department of Defense, mainly we should move from a Cold War era “forward-deployed” force posture to a “power projection” posture. It also means that we must stop the practice of nation-building/occupation style warfare and move towards strike operations…something which we shall discuss later.

Let me share some budgetary facts:
- $1.36 trillion used to prop up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could have funded the entire base budget of the Department of Defense for three years.
- $79.69 billion used to bailout auto makers could have funded Navy shipbuilding for over five years. Since 1990 we have gone from 546 naval vessels to 285 currently.
- $535 million taxpayer dollars dumped on Solyndra, which is not bankrupt, could have completed this year’s backlog of ship maintenance and had nearly $200 million left over.
- $3 billion spent for “Cash for Clunkers,” could have purchased some 125 transport vehicles for ship to shore operations.
- China now has over 60 attack submarines, while we are falling behind our minimum requirement of 48. The taxpayer funds spent to bailout AIG could have purchased 44 attack subs.
- The taxpayer funds we pay in interest to China on our debt could buy almost three F-22 fighter jets a week.

These are just a few examples proving that our federal government just does not understand its most important role is the security and safety of this country. Instead, leaders fall prey to “crony capitalism” and as a result place our nation in serious peril. We cannot solve our national debt/deficit problem on the backs of our military, or our Veterans....

This brings me to a report that was released this week.
Back in August, America lost 33 of its Elite Warriors, US Navy SEALS, and other Special Operations support forces. As well, we lost Afghan partners in the mission that I will hence refer to as Extortion 17. The US Army did an impeccable job in investigating this mission and I want to share with you the investigating Officer’s quote from his report:

“After conducting my investigation, I have determined that this mission, and the tactics and resources employed in its execution, were consistent with previous US Special Operations missions and the strike forces selected to execute the mission were appropriate. I also determined that the CH-47D was shot down with a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fired by a Taliban fighter as the helicopter neared its landing zone.”

The investigation was conducted by a US Army Brigadier General with extensive helicopter flight experience in combat. He is now serving as an Assistant Division Commander in the US Army.
The shot which took down the aircraft hit one of the blades on the aft rotor assembly , resulting in the aft rotor separating from the aircraft, and sending the aircraft into a fatal spin. The Taliban combatant which fired the shot was summarily killed in a subsequent operation.

Last week, I had the distinct honor of speaking to one of the family members, Mr. Billy Vaughn, who lost his son during the operation. Mr. Vaughn wanted to share his insights and perspectives of which he and I concur: The greater issue of what happened that evening comes back to two points of order; Rules of Engagement and airframe availability for strike operations.

First of all, let me discuss the Rules of Engagement issue. The US Navy SEALS were launched as a reaction force due to the identification of 9-10 enemy fighters near the initial Ranger operation. Permission was not granted to the over-watch AH-64D (Apache Attk Helos) to engage…therefore the decision was made to launch the Immediate Reaction Force (IRF). These same AH-64s had already engaged an enemy ground force seen moving away from the Ranger target mission area, killing six.

My concern is that we have implemented severely restrictive Rules of Engagement on our forces operating in hostile territory. If we always wait for hostile intent to be shown, we lose our advantage. I believe it is truly time for the House Armed Services Committee to hold hearings about Rules of Engagement and ascertain if it is allowing our forces to gain and maintain the tactical advantage or are we ceding the initiative to the enemy.

Secondly, on the evening of this mission there were countless other “strike operation” type missions occurring which require rotary wing lift capability. I believe it is time we reexamine the amount of lift capability that is required for our Special Operators as well as our conventional light infantry forces… Airborne, Air Assault or Marine. If we need to increase the fleet of MH-47s, as well as CH-47s, that should be a priority. The House Armed Services Committee must hold hearings in our Readiness Subcommittee to look at this issue. We also need to task out to our defense industry the mission to develop better early warning detection technology for our rotary wing fleet.

There will be many more “Tangi Valley” operations as we fight this enemy which seeks to hide in and amongst civilian populations. We need to ensure that our Warriors have the tools necessary to Find, Fix, Engage, Destroy, and Pursue this enemy.

I want every Member of the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction to know one thing, our Warriors are fighting under tough conditions, in a constrained environment, and a time with reduced resources. There should be no more cuts to our Defense budget, unless any of you wish to look Mr. Vaughn and the many other families in the face and explain how you would jeopardize their loved ones lives.

The Members of the Joint Committee have a job to find the additional $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion cuts in our bloated government spending disease.

In conclusion, talk is cheap, and all Iran hears is talking. Eventually we will have to take action, which is all that country will comprehend. Instead of sending 100 Special Operators into some “nebulous” mission in Africa, we need to stay focused and on task.

It is unbelievable to me that the Obama Administration would venture off into combat operations, Libya as an example, without any consult with the United States Congress, as we depart Capitol Hill for a District Work Period.

Lastly, it has come to my attention that the United States Department of State issued a condolence call to the family of declared Islamic terrorist and traitor, Samir Khan. The State Department should have instead called the family of the young American who fired that Drone’s hellfire missile and congratulated them for raising an American Warrior!

Steadfast and Loyal,

Representative West says it about as clear as it can be said.

Harry Reid Nukes the Senate

Harry Reid Nukes the Senate

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) fundamentally weakened the United States Senate yesterday in a desperate attempt to block a vote on the President's stimulus bill.

Using a simple majority vote, Reid used the "Nuclear Option" to change the rules of the Senate so senators cannot offer amendments. In the future, senators will only be able to modify legislation if Harry Reid agrees to it.

Harry Reid changed the rules of the Senate because Republicans planned to force a vote on President Obama's stimulus plan. The plan is so unpopular that it was going to be defeated by Republicans and Democrats when it came up for a vote. This would have embarrassed the president so Reid and the Democrats just changed the longstanding rules of the Senate to block it. You can learn more at RedState.com.

The Senate is supposed to be the "World's Greatest Deliberative Body". That means debating, amending, and voting on legislation -- all things Harry Reid has sought to avoid during his tenure as Senate Majority Leader.

Folks, we're teetering on tyranny. We must elect a conservative majority in 2012 to stop this madness.

This latest attempt to ignore the rules and force bad legislation on the American people is alarming, but it's not that surprising. Democrats have been ignoring the U.S. Constitution and blowing through its stop signs for years.

Republicans can protect their rights in the Senate but it requires 41 Republican votes to keep the Democrats from cutting off debate. Unfortunately, too many Republicans lack the courage to stand together for the principles of freedom.

The only way to take our country back is to elect true conservatives to the U.S. Senate. We need principled leaders who care more about defending our freedoms than their own political careers.

I want to thank each of you for being members of the Senate Conservatives Fund and for supporting our endorsed candidates. Because of your support, SCF has invested over $500,000 in two outstanding candidates -- Josh Mandel in Ohio and Ted Cruz in Texas.

If you want a name you can trust, it is Senator Jim DeMint.

West's Weekly Wrap-Up

West's Weekly Wrap-Up

Now, my liberal friends are going to say it is all George W. Bush’s fault…however, in eight years, President Bush’s biggest annual deficit was $500 billion in 2008.

In three years under President Barack Obama, we have had deficits of $1.42 trillion, $1.29 trillion, and an estimated $1.5 trillion for 2011- which ended just a couple days ago.

Yes, big government-spending Republicans started us down this road as we offered tax cuts, but grew the federal government. But any reasonable person must confront the truth that a bad situation has been exacerbated to a level of epic proportions, and that makes me sick and should make most Americans sick as well.

Americans are not soft and we are not a “nation of cowards.” Americans are a proud, hard-working, and resilient people who, through our entrepreneurial spirit and determination, have overcome countless obstacles. We are a nation of victors, not victims, and when we have leadership in America that seeks to empower us through encouragement, not enslave us through regulatory obedience,our greatest days lie ahead, not behind.

Next, I want to bid farewell to two traitors who got their proper punishment, Mr. al-Awlaki and Mr. Samir Khan. There are those, to include a couple of GOP Presidential candidates, who believe these dangerous men should have been brought back to the United States for due process. They did get due process- by way of an American Hellfire missile.

Let me be straightforward, any American who decides to become a non-state, non-uniform belligerent on this 21st Century Battlefield and incite insurrection and death upon Americans from a foreign land, deserves a one way ticket to Hell.

We must send a message to radical Islamic terrorists that an attempt to foment homegrown Jihad in America shall not be tolerated. If we need to change laws, then we in the United States Congress should go about doing so.

It must be disgusting for Congressman West to see so many Liberal "Friends" in our government.

I know it is for me.