The Bulletin Online - Letters January 2008

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Letters from our Readers - January 2008

Assassination Of Benazir Bhutto Affects All Who Cherish Democracy
Will December 27, 2007 be the day democracy died in Pakistan? What will be the result of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, that courageous woman who stood up and spoke out to encourage the people of Pakistan to move toward democracy and vote for the person of their choice to lead their nation into the future?
Will the cowardly act of terrorists assassins who blew this courageous woman away be the singular act which precedes the fall of Pakistan into chaos, that al-Qaeda may influence the rule of a nuclear power and eventually obtain power and control over Pakistan, if not access to nuclear bombs? Are we the people of the United States just going to sit back and watch democracy be destroyed in Pakistan and in other nations around the world? Or are we going to stand up and offer our leadership to fight the war against those forces of evil where ever they may exist and by whatever name they come to be known by?
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto, regardless of those who claim responsibility, was an act of terrorism. The response of the free world should be to step up efforts to wipe out terrorism in the Middle East, in southern Asia and throughout the world. Yet when inspirational leaders like Benazir Bhutto are being targeted for assassination by terrorists, we cannot just sit back and watch and say let the votes be counted, because assassination represents is the ultimate form of tampering with the ballots.
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto prior to free elections in Pakistan cannot be allowed to stop the forward march of democracy. We must resist the will and the acts of terrorists around the world, for all nations are united in that great spirit of God which gives life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not only to Americans, but unto humanity.
Whatever we do, however we as Americans respond to such acts of terrorism as the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, our resolve must be firm and known to all as one of justice, to seek out those who would rule by fear, by bloodshed, by brutality and by evil acts done by perverted disciples of Satan in the name of God or Allah, be it Jihadists, al-Qaeda or misguided, lone gunmen and suicide assassins.
We in America have seen our own futures altered by the assassinations of such courageous leaders as Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. We have stood witness to the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi in India and Anwar El Sadat in Egypt. Now with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto we have witnessed another attempt to change the course of history, not by popular vote of the people, but by violence, destruction and terrorism.
Rule by assassination of political, religious or other leaders, be it through bullets or bombs anywhere in the world, cannot be permitted. Civilization itself depends upon rule of law and anytime a sick, perverted or insane ideology inspires acts of terrorism, of assassination, to effect a change in government or leadership, then the freedom of all people anywhere in the world is ultimately effected. Therefore the assassination of Benazir Bhutto demands that we in America who so cherish our freedom and liberty, stand up and denounce those who would rule by assassination, and press for bring those responsible for this atrocious, immoral act against a woman and against a movement for democracy, to justice.
Terry Lynch
terrylynch@aol.com

The Good Samaritan
A metaphor and story that warmly resonates within the hearts and minds of most Americans.
What have I learned this past year about the concept of the Good Samaritan within our present Workman's Compensation system ? That it is almost nonexistent.
After being injured by one of my high school students in February 2007, I have had the unfortunate displeasure of struggling through the morass of WC's litigious barriers, actions and non-actions, preventing me from receiving the expedient and humane return of the good health and active life that I had enjoyed before my injury at work. I have experienced the gradual removal of my constitutional rights to the pursuit of Life, Liberty and Property.
Life and Liberty, as I knew it before my student injured me, as a teacher, artist, singer, Interplay performer, volunteer with troubled and handicapped youth in equine programs, horseback rider, hiker, kayaker and biker, have been striped from me. I am imprisoned with a chronically pain ridden and crippled body. I painfully shuffle through each day like Quasi Modo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, lucky to successfully dress and tie my shoes (much less ring any tower bells). Heaven forbid that I drop something on the ground and have to pick it up. That always sends my family into sympathetic mirth.
Since 1990, my pursuit of Property (and every other injured worker's) has been badly damaged by the Texas legislature's tort reforms regarding the WC system. In general, they have progressively (or is that regressively) whittled away at WC's medical and income benefits for injured workers. The tort reforms also made teachers "seasonal workers". As a result, I have been refused income benefits (while fighting for proper medical care) over the three months of summer (when I usually attended required Continued Education workshops), and the two weeks of Christmas holiday break. I understand that I can also look forward to losing my rent, utility, vehicle, and grocery monies during the week of Spring Break as well.
I don't know about you, but I don't know of many people who can afford to lose four months of income and not be made homeless. I am a single female, which makes my future and its prospects even more daunting and forboding.
All I have ever wanted and needed since my student injured me in February of 2007 is the quick and reasonable return of my health and active life. Instead, I have been thwarted every step of the way by WC's delays, denials, and refusals. It does not matter to WC or the insurance lawyers, lobbyists and Texas legislators that I (and a multitude of others) are continuing to suffer at the Hands of WC's corrupted and dysfunctional system. Insurance companies are more interested in saving money for their wealthy and politically powerful owners and investors. They do not care about the pain, suffering and broken lives born by others who exhaustively struggle with the WC system for proper medical care.
No one can fully pursue the constitutional rights of Life, Liberty, and Property when their health has been taken away from them. No One.
I have also discovered that most doctor's no longer want to deal with WC patients because of the copious amounts of paperwork forced upon them and their medical staff for every prescription, treatment or procedure involved with the healing of their patients. Doctor's also have to worry about being paid for their efforts while struggling through the paperwork trail of systematic insurance refusals, denials, and delays. Doctor's are reticent to champion the best care and best interests of Workman's Comp patients because of the time consumption and exhaustive efforts involved with struggling with the WC system. Insurance companies, in general, have forced clinics and hospitals to hire extra staff members just to handle the insurance companies labyrinth of rules, regulations, laws and paperwork demands and mandates. Where might that money be better spent ? Perhaps toward direct patient care ? Now, that's an original and meaningful idea.
In my experience, the Workman's Comp system is no longer medically or patient based. The needs of the patient have become almost superfluous to the bottom line. The needs of the insurance companies owners and investors are tantamount to proper, just and expedient patient care.
Why do American's continue to allow our corrupted and dysfunctional medical systems to exist ? As thinking, and supposedly enlightened, citizens we need to come together in calm, collective thoughtfulness to humanely and justly deliberate the recreation and restructuring of our nation's medical systems and insurance systems. Free enterprise does not have to become legalized greed. Greed serves no constructive purpose within our medical and healing institutions and practices..
We are what we think and create. Why are we choosing to create and sustain these kinds of systems ? Why are we choosing to create and maintain this kind of national identity ? What has become of our Good Samaritan ?
Leah Sellers

Foreboding Omen
The Halliburton-sanctioned rape of Jamie Leigh Jones and un-punished crimes of Blackwater killers are just two more warning signs of the decline of what was once a respected, conscientious country.
In just a few short years, we have fallen from the world's moral defender of human rights to a moralizing gang of hypocrites. We crow about worshiping God while we torture our enemies. We destroy the evidence of these criminal acts “to protect identities of agents,” yet we out a C.I.A. agent for political reasons.
Trusted ministers preach about the sins of homosexuality until their same-sex partners expose them. Our congressmen molest pages and our senators swear they simply “have a wide stance.” Our politicians thump the Bible for the sanctity of life while they ban stem-cell research and promote capital punishment. We wave “Pro-Life” banners yet we withhold decent health care for children. We hold anti-abortion rallies in the streets while we ignore the shortage of foster homes for the very children, whose lives we profess to have saved.
We place our finest men and women in harm's way to "protect our freedoms" while we disregard suicide rates of returned veterans. Colossal polluters and consumers of oil, we can't pass a sensible anti global-warming energy policy and we won't cooperate with other countries that do. We call ourselves “stewards of the planet” yet with every senseless war we hasten the apocalypse.
The biggest flag-waver sells us the flags.
The most pious patriot sells us the newspapers.
The war advocate sells us the bullets.
The shrillest enemy of illegal immigrants hires them as gardeners and sells us the posts for the fence to keep them out.
Maybe our politicians should take performance-enhancing drugs like our athletes do.
Bill Barnes
wbarnes@consolidated.net

Maybe We Should Feed Steroids to Our Elected Officials?
Baseball may be on to something. Instead of chastising the sport and its players, maybe we need to review it further.
If it would increase their batting averages in making good decisions for the majority of the community, would it be wrong to permit elected officials to take steroids?
Would it be wrong if the legislature used steroids to beef-up and push-back wealthy special interests to hit a few homeruns against poverty or to come-up with some intelligent and creative ideas to finance public education, stop senseless wars and deaths, build and maintain roadways and provide affordable housing, health care, home insurance and cut daily living costs?
Maybe along with the steroids we should build some toll booths at the entranceways of our national and state capitol complexes so that at least our elected officials can contribute something tangible to the community on a daily basis?
If steroids have helped major league baseball players to perform so much better, shouldn't we provide the same opportunity to our lawmakers?
Lord knows, nothing else seems to get our officials on-track. Maybe baseball knows something the rest of us don't know?
Peter Stern
Driftwood, TX

Texas Must Be An Innovation Leader
As Albert Einstein once said, “Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.” This is why our country has for centuries attracted the greatest minds in the world. The free, creative spirit of Texas has always been conducive to scientific research and innovation. During the past few decades, our state has been home to the invention of the computer chip, the buckyball (which is the basis of nanotechnology), and the balloon stent that opens arteries to prevent heart attacks.
But despite individual gains, Texas has not reached its full potential. Our best researchers pursued their work independently from those in other Texas institutions, and sometimes they even competed against each other for federal grants. This lack of synergy was one reason why Texas ranked only sixth in the nation in federal research and development dollars.
I was determined to improve that ranking, so beginning in 2000 I set up a series of summits in Washington between federal agency representatives and the leaders of Texas’s research universities and medical schools. The purpose was to find out what the major federal research priorities were and to encourage the universities with expertise to apply for the peer-reviewed grants. During one of those summits, Dr. Neal Lane, Rice University professor and past director of the National Science Foundation, suggested that Texas researchers could better collaborate if they were more familiar with the research being done outside their own institutions. We soon established an advisory committee headed by two of Texas' Nobel laureates, Dr. Michael Brown and the late Dr. Richard Smalley, to form The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas, better known as TAMEST. The purpose of TAMEST is to bring together the state's leaders in medicine, engineering and science, so they can learn from each other, assist each other, and further opportunities to collaborate on projects.
In just five years, TAMEST has established a major support system for our state’s best minds. Our goal has been to recruit and retain these prestigious researchers. Since the Academy was created, the number of TAMEST members who have been inducted into the prestigious National Academies has grown from 249 to 279. TAMEST also has 10 Nobel Laureates. In another major milestone, Texas has jumped from sixth to third in the nation in federal research and development dollars.
At the national level, there is growing concern about the scientific base that has fueled our economy for the past hundred years. In 2005, the National Academies released an eye-opening report, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” which identified alarming trends and worrisome indicators in science education in America’s public schools. The conclusion of the National Academies report was clear: if we want to remain the undisputed leader of the global economy, we need to improve our science, math, and engineering education, and we need to do it urgently.
In response to "Rising Above the Gathering Storm," TAMEST formed a panel which has been studying ways to improve science and technology education in Texas. Their report is scheduled to be released this September.
Last year, I strongly supported and championed the America Competes Act, a bipartisan bill which is aimed at better positioning American students to compete with their international counterparts and to create a better-educated U.S. workforce. This landmark legislation increases research investment, especially at the National Science Foundation and NASA, and improves teacher education in math, science, engineering and other technical disciplines. President Bush signed the bipartisan legislation into law in August. With an eye toward research, education, and innovation, we can prepare young Americans to compete with the brightest minds from around the world, and lead our country into future prosperity.
But more must be done. The choices we make today will have a powerful impact on our standard of living tomorrow. If we want our state to remain a leader in the global economy, we need to support and strengthen organizations like TAMEST – where bright, talented men and women help create the scientific breakthroughs of the future. We must advance every initiative that strengthens Texas’ identity as a preeminent destination for research and economic opportunity.
Kay Bailey Hutchison

Two For One
This Tuesdays vote was a look at what the voters will have to face. Vote Hillary and get Bill free. Bill Clinton was out campaigning the day before the New Hampshire primary as if he was running for president himself. Iowa was a wake up call to the country and every voter that "hey we could have a black or a woman president", and when in the voting booth asked him or herself do I want a black or a woman for my president. And I guess Tuesday the New Hampshire voters answered that question. To black voters, Clinton vs Obama is like the Houston Texans vs the Dallas Cowboys.
If you live in Houston and be a Dallas Cowboys fan, if Dallas wins good, because you are a Cowoy fan and if Houston wins cool, because you live in Houston. Hillary and Obama running for president is that same scenario. Hillary wins you are a Bill Clinton fan and if Obama wins you are black and could have a black president. For democrats it is a win win situation but I think Hillary has the experience edge going for her and people remember when Clinton was president money was flowing because of the budget surplus. I guess thats why people are in trouble with mortages because credit was so easy to get back then. People really don't know anything about Barack Obama, especially black people. Just because he's black doesn't mean anything look at Clearance Thomas, he's black and he hates black people.
I think the democratic voters should look at which of the two, Clinton or Obama, can get elected president in the general election. Please everyone just go out and vote, I promise you won't get anyone who will steal the election, start unnecessary wars, and hire his unqualified friends. Obama makes cute speeches and a lot of women think he's handsome but can he get the country out of the post George W. Bush mess it will be in? One Clinton has already cleaned up a Bush mess before so maybe it takes another Clinton to clean up another Bush mess.
Kyle Palmer
Willis, Texas

Get Involved with National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans Week
February 10 through 16, 2008 is a special time at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals across the nation. Established as an official VA program in 1978, this week is known as National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans and is an annual event designed to increase awareness of hospitalized veterans and the sacrifices they have made for our nation. Here in Houston, it is an opportunity for the public to visit the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center (MEDVAMC), meet America’s veterans, and explore the various aspects of our facility’s volunteer program.
Columnist Ann Landers initiated a movement several years ago encouraging school children and adults alike to write a special note of thanks to hospitalized veterans in a Valentine’s Day greeting. We take great care in distributing these cards to veterans and displaying them throughout our hospital during this particular week.
In many cases, students deliver their Valentines in person. It is so touching to see how young children brighten the lives of hospitalized veterans with their colorful Valentines. Cards come in every shape and size - and are made with everything from baseball cards, stickers, and colored doilies to crayons, construction paper, and stamps. One thing all of these cards have in common is they are made with love and respect for our nation’s veterans.
In addition to school children, hospitalized veterans and those with outpatient clinic appointments receive visits and enjoy special programs provided by community and area veteran service organizations, ROTC and Junior ROTC members, elected officials, celebrities, and local personalities throughout the week. These visits have traditionally included personal time together sharing stories and interests, playing cards or board games, musical programs, and distribution of U.S. flags.
National Salute also draws awareness to the role of MEDVAMC in the community, as well as the many important volunteer opportunities at the facility.
I encourage you to consider sending a Valentine to a hospitalized veteran or visiting the MEDVAMC in support of the week’s special activities. I know you will enjoy the wonderful atmosphere created by staff and volunteers to honor our nation’s heroes. The cheer and well wishes spread to hospitalized veterans is quite “contagious” and is a “prescription you can fill!”
For more information or to schedule a visit, contact Nikki D. Verbeck, Voluntary Service Specialist at (713) 794-7347 or nikki.verbeck@va.gov.
Edgar L. Tucker
Director, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center

It’s The Economy Stupid
That's what the opinion polls showed.
Apparently, the Republican and Democratic parties and their candidates are "surprised" by that fact.
Personally, I'm not surprised by their surprise. After all, they all do appear to live in a different reality than the rest of us do.
It should not be surprising that after 8 years of irresponsible ever-increasing expenditures most Americans are finding that it is much harder to pay their daily living expenses than ever before.
Government has been wasteful of our lives and tax dollars:
More than 3,000 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the invasion
TRILLIONS of our tax dollars have been spent on the Iraq conflict and that nation's restoration The U.S. has been more concerned with issues and policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas than with our own domestic issues
During the past 8 years the U.S. has accrued more long-term debt that ever in its history
More Americans are in long-term debt than ever before.
The "surprise" of the media and officials that currently voters are most concerned with the economy highlights the fact of how removed they are from the ongoing plight of the majority of Americans. Home foreclosures have skyrocketed to the highest levels ever. U.S. public education is in dire straits and the issues must be resolved if we are to save the system.
It's time for the U.S. and its future leadership to get back to basics:
Yes we must maintain domestic and world security, but we need to be reality-based and re-determine our priorities and needs We must stop our growing debt as a nation and a people. We must create jobs at home to replace those lost to outsourcing
We must become more independent of our need for fossil fuels. Our children must receive a quality education that rivals that of any world nation. While our businesses must be permitted to increase their profit motives, it must NOT be at the expense of the majority of Americans. The American Dream of home ownership must NOT continue to be the nightmare it has become.
We need a reality-based immigration policy and we must enforce properly our current immigration laws. We must reduce our military expenditures gradually and return our astronomical expenditures to a more normal plateau. Sky-high property taxes are killing American homeowners and we need to resolve this issue by finding alternate sources of tax dollars. Alternate sources of tax dollars are needed to build and maintain our roadways; toll roads are NOT the ONLY placebo cure in this direction.
The American voters still are the ones who may actually control the destiny of their future and that of this nation.
As first president George Washington preached a policy of isolation from the rest of the world. In this day and age of high speed internet and fast travel, we no longer have that luxury. The U.S. needs to modify its policies and actions with its world neighbors. We all must "work and play well together" or inevitably we will destroy each other. The Iraq invasion as well as other world situations of unrest should underline that urgent need.
As voters we must redirect our leadership to plan a course that will benefit all Americans, not merely the select few, and we must do everything we can to ensure that the U.S. restores peaceful diplomacy with all nations of the world.
Still, there is a need for the U.S. to step forward in ensuring our own security while being one of the leaders in developing and maintaining world peace, which also includes monitoring and challenging terrorism throughout the world in a joint global effort.
As a people and nation, we have much to do in the next generation of politics to get ourselves on-track to become a nation held up as a model to all other world nations.
It's time to take the first step, to elect the leadership who will be responsible in planning and reaching that objective.
Peter Stern
Driftwood, TX

Simply Bizarre
The Houston DA, Chuck Rosenthal, who has a fondness for racist and sexist jokes and whose staff rejects jurors from Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church as if they were Scientologists, now is rejecting the
Grand Jury indictment of a Texas Supreme Court judge and his wife on arson-related charges. And it turns out that the Grand Jury is mainly Republicans from the DA's party. How strange is that? A runaway Grand
Jury?
Then it is revealed that a candidate for Congress had an ad featuring his head and someone else's (thinner) body. Missing on his list of accomplishments was "3rd Place Winner of Weight Watchers Award." Since
he is running for Tom DeLay's old seat in CD22, I'm sure we can look forward to the highest form of ethics and honest new photos of the candidate's head on top of Laura Bush's body and other amazing
achievements.
All this comes on the heels of revelations that the Texas Attorney General did his best to deny returning veterans out of their benefits while doing a legal review of Texas law that failed to include consideration of the U.S. Constitution.
And--keep counting--the County Sheriff, panicked by the Rosenthal email scandal, and aware that some of Chuck's "funny" jokes might be on his computers, wiped out their system's emails over the weekend.
Preemptive war is now replaced by preemptive deletion of evidence.
The moral of this story is that you can avoid indictment in Houston for burning your house (or worse) as long as your job is a "biggie" like sitting on the Supreme Court and you are member of the same party
as the DA. Otherwise, you'll get the death penalty for being politically unconnected and tossed off the jury panel for going to the
wrong church (e.g. Lakewood), or whatever they come with next.
Imagine the image this gives Houston and Texas to the outside world? How is this going to draw businesses and conventions to our area?
Our new slogan could become: "What Happens Here, Stays Here, Unless We
Delete it From the Computers."
Michael Fjetland
Global American Series
www.InternationalLegalGroup.com

Dog Killers
My name is Rosalyn Frazier, my husband Erik and I are lifetime residents of Montgomery County. On Wednesday, January 16th, Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace Judge Matt Masden ordered our daughter's dog, Lobo, to be euthanized regardless of the fact that the dog has never bitten anyone.
Lobo is a hybrid Husky mix, sweet, good-natured and a loyal family pet. However, there is one particular neighbor on our street who has made it his sole purpose in life to have our dog killed. Over the past year, Matt Calk, his wife Jennifer, and mother Lisa Litrell have repeatedly made claims that our dog was running loose in the neighborhood, even when the dog was out of the state! When Mr. Calk realized that the dog would not be taken away for simply getting out of our yard, he fabricated a story stating that the dog had "growled" at his son.
Lobo has lived on our street for six years and there has never been one complaint regarding our animal before this one individual. We have received signatures from more than half of our neighborhood on a petition to save Lobo, with seventeen of the eighteen houses on our street signing, as well. When presented with this information, Judge Masden simply stated, "There is nothing I can do. It is out of my hands."
Judge Masden is an elected official in Montgomery County and I fear that we have put a heartless, unbending man into office. During our second hearing regarding our dog, Mr. Masden stated, "I am tired of dealing with this" and told Matt Calk, "If you make one more complaint about this animal getting out of his fence, I will have him put down." Of course those statements were music to Mr. Calk's ears and he proceeded to make yet another complaint in order to have our animal killed, regardless of the fact that we have complied with every order from Judge Masden's court.
As a parent and member of this community, I would understand the need to euthanize an animal had it bitten someone, however, to simply put a dog to sleep because of one neighbor's dislike is not only inhumane, but also cruel and unusual punishment to both animal and owner.
We have obtained an attorney and have filed an appeal with a higher court in order to save our animal, but there are no cases such as this on record in which a JP Judge went out on his own and deemed a dog dangerous without record of a bite, so we are unsure of the outcome. Therefore, we are reaching out to our community in an effort to save this member of our family and ask that you please contact Judge Masden's office at 281-356-4470 or 936-539-7806 to express your outrage that an elected official would overstep his jurisdiction by euthanizing our beloved family pet simply because he is "Tired of dealing with this."
Erik, Rosalyn and Reagan Frazier

Time To Impeach
Only two presidents have been impeached by the House of Representatives
in US history - Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. George Bush is not our
president - Dick Cheney is in power. He has committed more "high crimes
and misdemeanors" than both Johnson and Clinton put together.
History demands his impeachment! After he bombs Iran, it will be too
late!
Bill Barnes
Conroe TX.

Excellent Article
Mark, don’t know you or anything like that but I know a good article when I see & read one! Your article on Roy Head was well researched and written, enjoyed it very much.
Mike

There Is A Doctor In The House!
Generously America gave us, the immigrants from the former USSR, not only a place to live, but also, by making us their citizens, the privilege of participating in American political life. However, I have to confess that previously I avoided voting because I did not find substantial differences between the candidates. Sure, there were Democrats and Republicans, but for me they differed only in name, their attitude to the key problems which determine the future of America was basically the same.
This future does not look so bright today. “War on Terror”, war in Iraq, tense relationship with Iran, huge national debt, inflation, falling dollar - these are all symptoms of a serious ailment.
Do I see any candidate who proposes something really effective to resolve these problems? Yes, I do. That’s why I’m not going to stay home on Election Day. My candidate is the Republican Congressman Ron Paul. It is significant that he came to us not from TV, not from newspaper or radio. He was discovered by the Internet community.
What is so appealing about this 72 year old Congressman from Texas? Why did I and tens of thousands of other supporters pour an incredible $6,000,000 into his campaign in a single day, December 16, 2007? (The average donation was around $100. This event set a record of raising money through the Internet for Republicans, and gives Paul the chance to financially compete with other candidates who accept large donations from big corporations).
I have no problem answering this question. Never in my life have I seen a politician who was unfailingly principled, honest, and a man of seamless integrity. The profession of politician and these qualities are very difficult to find in one person in real life. It’s rare for the honest man to go into politics. It’s even rarer for a politician to stay honest after decades in office. I can recall only one man of comparable stature from Russian history academic Andrei Sakharov, an advocate of civil liberties and 1975 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Unfortunately Russia never gave me a chance to vote for him. But now in America I have a chance to vote for a truly great man.
Congressman Paul introduces numerous pieces of substantive legislation each year, probably more than any single member of Congress.
His nickname as a Congressman is Dr. No because he always says NOto lobbyists, NO to bills that increase bureaucracy and NO on bills that decrease freedom.
Russians used to say â Good man is not yet a profession, and I agree. However, when such a man has a really strong program and is ready to lead a great country that is in trouble, every patriot of that country should do whatever they can to ensure his election.
Is America in trouble? David M. Walker who is the current Comptroller General of the United States, in his TV interview said “The most serious threat to United States is not someone hiding in a cave in Afghanistan or Pakistan, but our own fiscal irresponsibility”. When he was asked what to expect in near future, he answered that “ If nothing changes the Federal Government is not going to be able to do much more than pay interest on the mounting debt and some entitlements benefits. It wouldn’t have money left for anything else”.
Ron Paul’s program is the change that is needed to save America from fiscal (and moral) bankruptcy. Here are its three main points:
Restoration of the Constitution, Phasing out the Federal Reserve System and the return to sound monetary policies. Foreign policy based on the principle of nonintervention
It should be noted that all these have been proposed by Ron Paul for years, and I hope this time he will be heard by America so that we can have this doctor in the White House.
Those like me, who studied history of the USSR in our Russian schools, remember how we were told that a “planned economy” was superior to a “free market economy”. Life proved otherwise in every country that tried to follow this system of central government control. Seeing that some Americans advocate for a bigger and stronger Government, I’m concerned that they do not pay attention to this lesson. And I especially worry that they do not understand or honor their US Constitution, a document whose importance was concealed from us in Russia, but which I consider to be the foremost achievement of the American People. This document defines the agreement between the citizens and their elected Government. It’s a law which applies to all - citizens and the Government. It provides a structure which limits the power of the government and therefore secures the liberty of citizens.
To compare, the Constitution of the former USSR looks just like a wish list and completely misses all the substantial elements needed to create the checks and balances necessary to prevent the misuse of power.
Government, using power beyond the limits specifically given to it by the Constitution, breaks the law. A current example is the war in Iraq. The USA is not allowed to go to war without a declaration of war. Only Congress is authorized to declare a war. Congress in this case avoided the responsibility of making the decision to declare war and made the President decide. Now we have a mess. Ron Paul foresaw this and forewarned the Congress in his speech to Congress on Oct 8, 2002.
As a strict Constitutionalist, Ron Paul is an advocate for small government. When he was asked “If you propose to limit the role of the government, does that mean that you are going to be a weak President?” Ron Paul smiled and answered: “We need a strong President, strong enough to resist the temptation of taking power the President shouldn’t have.”
The monetary system of the USA is a topic covered with fog for many people. However, the simple truth is that the so called Federal Reserve Bank is federal only in name. In reality it is a private banking cartel which loans money to the American Government. Does the government need to cover expenses caused by the war in Iraq? No problem, they can print money out of thin air. As result every dollar we have is being devalued. The Fed can drastically affect the economy at the drop of a hat, simply by making decisions about the money supply and interest rates.
The profits of war go to the corporations selling arms and the oil companies with interests in Asia and the Middle East, but the costs are borne by the American people whose savings are being devalued in order to pay for the war.
Such a monetary system makes American Government a bankrupt who is living beyond its means. Before the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, an act pushed through Congress by the big bankers, America had money that was backed by gold and silver. The return to a sound commodity based monetary system is an absolute necessity to heal the economy.
Happily, we do have a doctor in the House who has been prescribing just this remedy for years!
With the huge existing budget deficit where would our candidate get money? And here is the main force of the proposed reforms radical change of foreign policy. To be friends, to trade, but to stay away from the internal affairs of other countries that is what the Founding Fathers of the Constitution have taught us.
American Armed Forces have to defend American borders, not police the world. This will help to save hundreds of billions of needed dollars. That will not only return money, in time that will also return prestige to America, prestige based not on military force, but on example to the rest of the world of what a free and just society should represent.
Today we do not have any candidate whose program to heal the economy could compete with Ron Pauls. He is the Hope for America. But will he get needed popular political support? Today Ron Paul is already the most popular candidate on the Internet. He has received more contributions from military personnel than any other candidate. He is gaining in the polls and may have more money on hand than so-called top-tier candidates such as John McCain. The activity of Ron Pauls supporters gives hope for success. The money they raise will provide him with more visibility in the mass media. I’ve read on the Internet that Larry Lepard, a 50-year old investment manager, Harvard Business School MBA, and a Ron Paul supporter not associated with the official campaign, brought support to a whole new level. Lepard invested approximately $85,000 of his own money to send a message to the voting public: Ron Paul is the best hope America has to restore the Constitution and get our country back on track.The full page ad, published on Nov. 21 in USA Today, is entitled “An Open Letter to the American People” and reads as though it were penned by the Founding Fathers. In an interview Lepard said “I view this expenditure as an investment in the future of this country and of my children.”
Supporters call Ron Pauls program a Revolution and it really is. I feel there is a wind of change everywhere. I’m seeing more support groups on meetup.com created here locally and all over the country. For me support of Ron Paul means making more people aware of his program and voting for him.
Nobody should be put off because Ron Paul is running as a Republican. Today the character of the candidate and his program is much more important than the political Party he belongs to. Look for yourself, choose for yourself. Now that I learned about Dr. Paul I can hardly wait to vote. The Good Doctor has cured my apathy. Google him and he just might cure yours. America needs to move this doctor from the House to the White House. The whole world will benefit.
Vladimir Treskov

Massive Mexican Migration Is Not Immigration
Never in American history has mass migration of a majority of another
country's people group to USA occurred. The word "immigration" does not apply. The reality of mass migration does.
Most Americans favor legal immigration from all countries including Mexico, but more than 90 percent of Americans oppose the massive population migration from Mexico currently under way. 20 percent of Mexico citizens are now in the USA. If CNN is right, 65 percent of Mexicans want to be Americans and are migrating.
Reframing of the Mexico issue is necessary. Changes in immigration make
little common sense; annexation is the common sense answer. If mass migration is allowed to happen, then Annexation can be the only answer.
The real issue is whether annexation is in the best interests of both USA/American citizens and Mexico/Mexican citizens. Why shouldn't the constitutional safeguards used when we annexed Hawaii and Alaska be
followed?
And who decides? Mexicans en mass violating our border? Or should it be
Americans and Mexicans in their respective countries voting in the majority?
Is it in the best interests of USA to form an American Union? USA? Mexico?
Canada?
If the concept of American Union seems far fetched, why does the European
Union now have about 30 member countries? Why does the EU make sense for France? For Poland? For Montenegro?
If we Americans are not ready to annex Mexico as an answer for massive migration, then we should do everything in our power to stop the current Senate "immigration" bill, and seal our borders. We are selling our
country short! Where is the upside for the USA?
Robert J Olson, M.D.
The Woodlands, Texas

A Voice For The Poor
I am a resident of Montgomery County. I have lived in this cop infested place most of my life. I have finally had ENOUGH! Recently I received a terminal diagnosis and have been doing the things many people in my position are forced to do. I lost my job due to my illness and have lost my family, my savings and have at time struggled to hold on to my faith and hope. Just today, I had the most horid experience of all of my experiences combined. I went into the Conroe Department of Human Services building to apply for food stamps. That place is beyond reproach. The employees are sluggish, appathetic and treat the poor like garbage. They, like the cops in this county, treat anyone who is down and out like they are nothing but trash and with the attitude of, "so what, you have no voice and no money, so what are you going to say?"
Well, I'm saying something. I am going to secretly video tape this place and send my videos across the web for all to see. I'm going to document the overpopulation of cops who drive around like power numbed sharks suppressing the poor and young all over this county. This voice is roaring! This entire county is entirely too totolitarian and it's public servants all need to be put on notice that they are found to be in contempt with the people. They can keep their food stamps!
The police state of Conroe, Texas, has made me realize the biggest mistake I ever made in my whole life was calling this place home. I am going to deter by warning, any who would consider making this place their home. It's full of scandal from the school district level to the criminal justice system level to the public welfare system. I am thoroughly disgusted with what has become of a place I once considered worth speaking of with adoration. Now...I pity anyone who has to put up with Conroe Government at ANY level. God bless the poor, because if they are seeking peace and help in Conroe, it is a place designed to only burden them more. Want a good story? Focus on what I have just written of...maybe you can make a difference...many here need it. AMEN AMEN AMEN
Thank you for considering my above article for printing. I hope it makes a difference.....but with all the bubba club thinking of Conroe...I doubt it.
Jeremiah Benjamin Christianson
Conroe Texas

Judge Matt Masden ... Dictator???
Recently, Judge Matt Masden of Montgomery County ordered our dog to be euthanized even though the dog has never bitten anyone, nor shown aggression in any form to any person...ever. Our entire case is based upon one neighbor's effort to make our lives difficult. We have successfully obtained signatures from 17 of the 18 houses located on our street in addition to 50% of the homes in our entire neighborhood in support of our animal, which Mr. Masden simply refused to even acknowledge.
This judge has stepped way beyond his judicial boudaries and it has become our goal to make sure that dictators like this are exposed and not re-elected into office.
Please visit our website www.savelobo.com to read our story and offer any suggestion that you may have in regards to this case.
Friends of Lobo

Unidentified Flying Objects
Maybe that's all you've witnessed in Texas. Maybe, it was only a passing Light in the night sky, a Threshold we've reached in time telling us we better change. Maybe, our Stewardship here is about to be taken out of our hands!
I suggest you vote for a peacemaker, someone who places life above death this election year. The year 2013 has been entered into the equation, what equation you say, look around you, have we been good stewards of this planet, have we really accepted what happens on the other side of the world affects us all. This Tree of Life connects two separate Parallel Universes; one beneath our feet, the other above our Heart's Soul. We can gaze upon the stars all the night long and still be blind to its presence, its Grand Design. In Ursa Major, the Big Dipper stands next to its Small Dipper in Ursa Minor, both the large and small are reminiscent of an anchoring as that of what you might consider a leg to a hip or a trunk, an arm, to a Torso. A Foundational Hinge this the philosophers long ago attempted to rationize in their analogies of the world around them, they were so intrenched with the artifacts upclose they failed to sometimes reflect upon the miracle of birth. We as humans, continue to witness this phenomenon on a daily basis, but have somehow refused to acknowledge it in its many wonderous forms!
Robert T. Griffin
Stanwood, Wa.

Failing Grades
Report card just out from The American Lung Association grading our Federal Government on Tobacco in 2007:
· F: Food and Drug Regulation of Tobacco
· F: Cigarette Tax
· F: Cessation
“Vote for me, I’m going to be an agent of change,” declared pro-life President Bush in a recent interview regarding, if he could run again for president.
Hopefully with Karl Rove gone, Bush continues to change his drawers daily, but his last seven years as U.S. President reflects absolutely no change in protecting his citizens from tobacco that has killed over 3,000,000 tobacco addicts during his leadership.
It’s reported that 6,000,000 plus (unless smoking declines) U.S. kids under the age 18 alive today will ultimately die from smoking. Should these premature deaths be on the hands of GWB?
The many States of the Union Addresses by Bush have omitted tobacco. I’m not anticipating a “change” on his last one about to come up. Would you?
Bonus question, “Do you think I would be writing this letter for publication if I got a Federal paycheck?”
Mike Sawyer
Birmingham, Alabama

How To Fix Our Economy
For a Republican our president sure screws with our economy a lot. Most people in America think a free market economy works the best. You know the laws of supply and demand, put more money in the hands of the people, pay less taxes, reganomics thing.
He will keep his hands off when it comes to providing insurance for kids, but when it comes spending money to help the oil industry, or the military industry he’s the first to crank up the old deficit the country is stuck in under his control.
How do you fix most of the problems we now have. The answer is simple, let the free market system work. Don’t spend 171 billion dollars a year on a war to subsidize cheap oil. Don’t subsidize big oil companies to find oil while making profits of 13 billion dollars each and every quarter. Don’t go skipping around hand and hand with the King of Saudia Arabia after his people flew the planes into our buildings and killed over 3,000 of our people. Don’t subsidize companies like Haliburton with huge no bid contracts for military expansion.
Simply let the free market system work and most of your problems will go away. When gas cost what it actually cost to produce in today’s world the consumption will go down. People will stop driving one ton pick up trucks too and from work. They will also make trips more cost effective. When we burn less oil we also will help clean up our environment.
I guess It’s better for a big oil president and a big military vice president to subsidize and take care of their own
Bob Smith
Conroe Texas

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