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Texas Denied FEMA Assistance for Wildfires

May 9th, 2011

How politics have changed in this country the last few years! Last week the State of Texas was denied federal assistance by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The wildfires in the west have damaged over 2.2 million acres, more than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. There have been more than 9000 fires reported since November and more than 400 homes have been destroyed. Yet FEMA denied the Governor’s request for aid on the basis that the state has already been given twenty “targeted grants” specifically to deal with wildfire threats. The governor’s office responded by stating that the federal money was already specified for particular incidents not for larger more general damages. Governor Perry said “I am dismayed that this administration has denied Texans the much needed assistance they deserve. It is not only the obligation of the federal government, but its responsibility under law to help its citizens in times of emergency. Our state has become a model for the nation in disaster preparedness and response, but Texas is reaching its capacity to respond to these emergencies.” I must confess to having mixed emotions on this issue. On one hand, as a Texan I take great pride in the fact that when disasters come, natural or otherwise, (and we’ve experienced both in my family in recent months and years), we don’t sit on our front porch and wait for the FEMA trucks to arrive! We get out and help our neighbors and ourselves pick up the pieces and put our lives back in order. On the other hand I simply can’t believe that this current administration in Washington has suddenly become so fiscally conservative that they simply can’t find the money to assist those who have lost homes in West Texas wildfires.

This administration has funded every pork barrel, boondoggle project it could find over the last couple year under the guise “economic stimulus,” and now suddenly when a state which happens to be in political opposition to the president, finds itself in dire straits, the money dries up? I find it impossible to believe that there’s not a bit of quid-pro-quo happening here! You can call me a conspiracy hack if you want, I’d rather owe the feds as little as possible anyway, but when I see the administration in Washington investigating the possibility of bailing out blue states like California, and in turn refusing to help a red state like Texas with disaster relief, I can’t help but conclude that political bias is at play! Say what you want about President Bush, but he was much more even handed in helping any state recover from disaster, red or blue.

Rick Perry Returns to Tyler

November 12th, 2010

Fresh from his most recent election victory nearly two weeks ago, Governor Perry visited Tyler again today. He wasn’t stumping this time however. Instead, Mr. Perry held a book signing in coordination with the Grassroots America group. The book is entitled: “Fed Up — Our Fight to Save America from Washington.”The book highlights the importance of state and local authority, and the need for citizen action to oppose a growing Federal government. All proceeds for the book go to “Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Tenth Amendment Studies.”

Over the past couple of years, particularly since the election of President Obama, we’ve seen the governor being politically born again. Tenth amendment or state’s rights issues have been central to Governor Perry’s administration of late and he has spent a great deal of time traveling the state and country making a case for smaller government. While I like him well enough, I’ve been a sort of tacit supporter of Mr. Perry’s over the years; mostly because he has never been considered a rock solid conservative. Indeed it seems that he tends to become more conservative around election time. But In light of our current political situation, Mr. Perry has come to resemble Ronald Reagan… ok not even close, but you get my point. His pro- business and generally low tax policies have kept our state fiscally sound, or more so than many or our sister states, in tough financial times. He has also been an advocate for citizen groups like Grassroots America and the Tea Party since their inception. The governor’s participation in events like the one in Tyler today, have been frequently chalked up to election year politics, but with November second behind us, and the county in a decidedly anti- government mood, he may see an opportunity to move toward the right on a more permanent basis. Of course, only time will tell if he’s actually had something of a political epiphany. In the meantime you’re welcome in Tyler Governor, come back anytime!

For more information on Grassroots America and what they’re doing in our community, go to the following web sites: http://gawtp.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grassroots-America-We-The-People/157828612919.

Governor Rick Perry Lonestar Event Center Book Signing

November 12th, 2010
Rick Perry Book Signing in Tyler Texas

Tyler Texas Governor Perry Book Signing

Governor Rick Perry will be at a Grass Roots of America We the People luncheon. He will also be at a book signing at the Lonestar Event Center in Tyler Texas at 11:30 a.m. this morning.

Rick Perry won the Texas governors race by a very large margin. The race was against Bill White who had never lost an election even while having big ears which he often pointed out in his radio ads.

Many in the Tea Party movement see Rick Perry as the lesser of two evils and someone who has given up on several conservative principals.

You can expect governor Perry to be held accountable this term by the Tea Party if he deviates from fiscal conservatice principles.

Also many understand that it just isn’t good to stay in political office as long as many politicians have. Texans no longer trust “career politicians” but dometimes there is simply no other choice.

So although not everyone is joyous that Rick Perry is once again the Texas governor they understand he has the potential to do many positive things this time around.

You can count on Grass Roots America to be there to hold him accountable if he goes against fiscal conservative principles that has kept Texas safe from economic destruction. This means smaller government, fighting for states rights, and listening to Texas tax payers.

Texas Governor’s Race

October 5th, 2010
Bill White

Bill White

I’m just old enough to remember a Texas Governor named White. He was a soft on crime, liberal tax and spender who was defeated after just four years in office. Well, there’s another White running for Texas Governor, and he shares more than just a last name with the former Governor. Bill White, the one- time Houston Mayor, is making his rounds through Texas this fall. He’s desperately trying to avoid being seen with or generally connected to President Obama, all the while supporting nearly all his initiatives, including Obamacare, Cap and Trade etc. Bill White claims that our state is not leading our nation to the degree that it should. Tell that to out of state Americans who are moving here in huge numbers due to the Obama recession.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I have often disagreed with Governor Perry, however it is his largely pro-business positions that have allowed our state to sit out this depression, relative to the experiences of the other states. Bill White is playing the very same anti- business anti- insurance tune the President has been playing the last few years, hoping against hope we won’t place the melody. The real question however is this, in an election year when the American people are poised to send severance checks to more than half of congress, and having a “D” by one’s name is a political death sentence, how can the most conservative state in the Union even consider voting a liberal trial lawyer turned politician into the governor’s office?

In 1983 Texas elected a Liberal Democrat followed by a not exactly conservative Republican. In 1990 we tried electing another Liberal Democrat, and again after four years we decided it wasn’t for us. Since then we’ve had two middle of the road Republican Governors in the forms of George W. Bush and Rick Perry. And while they’ve not been as conservative as some of us would have preferred, our state does in fact lead the nation in economic stability. The fact is this is not the year to experiment with another one term Liberal Dem. In an election year when Nancy Pelosi’s state of California is on the cusp of electing an actual conservative as governor, voting for White amounts to plucking economic and political defeat from the jaws of victory.  This more liberal socialist road the country is traveling is not where most Texans what to go. So what does this mean for Tylerites and East Texans?

Rick Perry

Rick Perry

It means that as a more conservative bastion, we’re going to have to put our feet down, and continue to wrestle against the more liberal urban centers in our own state. Even Texas cities like Houston and Austin can drag an otherwise conservative state into the blue. And let me assure the reader that I love those cities, and I gladly visit them regularly. I even spend money there. But it’s bad enough that the city of Sam Houston was once led by a man who governed more like Mirabeau Lamar, (at least in terms of fiscal policy). And that’s probably unfair to Lamar. It would be a shame to have Sam’s entire republic governed by him too.