Proof that Your Parental Rights are Vanishing

Elizabeth Stone once said, "Making the decision to have a child-it is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."  I would tend to agree with that statement.  I am a mother of three children and they are my world; they are my heart.  Most parents would go to the ends of the earth to protect their children if that's what it took.   A man in Tennessee is no different than you or me in that regard.  What happened to him leaves me almost speechless.  Almost.  

I recently wrote about parental rights, and you can read or re-read the article right here on Texas GOP Vote.  I wrote about how the United Nations has decided that they know what's in the best interest for our children and they want to ratify their horrific United Nations Conventions on the Rights of a Child (UNCRC) treaty to the U.S. Constitution.  Well, it looks like we don't need any help from the United Nations to accelerate the loss of our parental rights.

It appears that a man named Jim Howe in Tennessee experienced this first hand when he went to pick up his kids from school.  From the video the family put out, "The school officer wanted us to sign a form to allow our kids to walk (unsupervised) they are 8-14 and we normally pick them up.  But the new pick up arrangement has traffic backed up over a mile on a busy highway.  We elected to walk and pick them up on this day rather than be in the mass confusion.  The officer asked us to come into the office and began his tantrum, because I had called the sheriff about the safety of this new policy."

Where do I begin?  I watched the video several times to write this and each time it got my blood pressure up.  The officer in this situation was a jackwagon from start to finish. The school asked the dad to fill out a form saying it was okay for the children to be released unsupervised.  The dad insisted that since he was there in person to pick up the children there was no need to sign the form.  I concur.  He was informed that the children would be held until after the buses left.  Excuse me?

The officer then refused Jim the right for his children to be released into his custody.  Hold the phone.  Children are NOT school property, last I checked, and school rules do not trump parental rights.  The officer here was way, I mean, way out of line.  The officer then continued to threaten to arrest him and take him to jail, to which the father responded, "Fine, I've been there before."  I cannot say that I would have remained so calm.


Just listen to the officer's reaction when Jim says that the new system is going to be changed.  He asks, "Are you the boss?  Are you the superintendent of the schools?  Are you the legislator in Nashville?"  No, better than that, I'm a tax paying citizen like the other several hundred people that don't like the system. The officer replies by saying, "These are the school rules."  Translation: I'm just doing my job.  Heard that before in oh, I don't know, Nazi Germany?!?

Jim was ultimately arrested and taken to jail.

There are so many things wrong with this, but the main thing is that our parental rights are slipping away.  Thank God this dad had the guts to stand up to the system.  If you were denied access to your children, could you say you'd do the same?
 

What do the United Nations and Parental Rights Have In Common?

Children granted the right to be 'independent' of their parents.  Giving a child the right to take their parents to court over every single decision the parents make that the child disagrees with.  Think it can't happen here in America?  Think again.  The list of egregious examples go on and on and we've all heard of them before, but never actually thought that there was a possibility that we might have to live them.   Losing the ability to parent your child or perhaps losing custody of your child must be difficult and as a parent myself, I can imagine the pain and anguish that any parent and child might go through. 

Parental rights have been challenged over the years and we have all heard of famous child actors 'divorcing' their parents because their parents had no self-control when it came to their child's piggy-bank.  I can just hear Gary Coleman when he found out his parents bled his bank account dry; "Whatchyoutalkin'boutWillis"?  McCauley Culkin as well as Lindsey Lohan have both appeared in court to rid themselves of their parents.  What about the rest of us?  Are we in danger of losing our parental rights?  Short answer: YES.

A little history might be in order here, and I'll try to be brief.  We all know that the United States is part of the United Nations.  Back in 1994, the United Nations introduced the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child treaty or UNCRC for short.  It was introduced as a way to secure individual rights to children 17 and under.  At first glance, that may sound like a good idea.  Look closer though, and you'll see what kind of havoc something of this nature can bring to families all over the world, not just the United States.

From the Department for Education website, it explains in a bit more detail what the treaty would grant to children:

The convention gives children and young people over 40 substantive rights, including the right to:

• special protection measures and assistance
• access to services such as education and healthcare
• develop their personalities, abilities and talents to the fullest potential
• grow up in an environment of happiness, love and understanding
• be informed about and participate in achieving their rights in an accessible and active manner

Let me be clear, all of the bullet points listed are pretty egregious all on their own, but together, they are a recipe for disaster.  I want to go straight to the last one, be informed about and participate in achieving their rights in an accessible and active manner.   Quick, somebody get me Bill Clinton so he can define 'rights' for me!  Also, who is going to inform the children of these 'rights'?  Do they think a two-year-old is going to be able to decide who to live with given the choice between mommy who disciplines out of love or the baby-sitter who is fun and has ice cream and treats.

Not only does this treaty threaten parental rights, it threatens something else almost as sacred; United States sovereignty.   Basically, by ratifying this and other treaties to the US Constitution, we would be allowing a United Nations committee to decide what is in the best interest of the child.  Ugh.  Want to get even more fired up?  Read this list of 20 things you need to know about the UNCRC.  If that doesn't get your 'hackles up', I don't know what will.  

Now, as if this wasn't bad enough, there is yet another treaty out there, looming on the horizon.  The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities.  It's the same as the UNCRC, but worse.  Again, it makes the UN the governing body and shares the same structure as the UNCRC, except this time about persons who are disabled.

The reason I'm sharing this information is because I subscribe to Parental Rights e-blasts and this week, they sent out an email saying that Senate hearings for the UNCRPD were going to be held in the Senate and called to a vote after another hearing, set for November 19, 2013.  Translation: call your Senators and tell them a 'no' vote is in order.

Parental Rights.org and President of Parental Rights, Michael Farris have thankfully gotten out in front of this fight and he has drafted The Parental Rights Amendment; a House version and a Senate version.  They still need cosponsors (Senators and Congressmen to add their signatures) for the bills in both houses, so if you are inclined to help make that happen, visit their website to learn more about what you can do.

Let me say this; parental rights are paramount.  This makes me angry because I can't believe we are even having this conversation.  Take a look around, though.  We have continuously surrendered our freedoms to unelected bureaucrats and state agencies.  Thing is guys, the United Nations has no business coming between me and my children.  I don't know about you, but I say enough is enough.  

Hello, Texas! Let's 'Scare' Up Some Liberty!

Since today is Halloween and it's supposed to be 'scary', I thought I would share something else that some folks find scary; liberty.  Yep, you heard it here.  Liberty is scary, to some folks, not me.

I know you've heard about my own political background; not being involved beyond election day by casting a vote and then going home and praying that the person I voted for won.  A pretty sad existence, if you ask me.  Now, I'm a fully involved voting citizen; building relationships with my representatives and trying my best to educate those around me.  I saw the tea party effect in full-force during the 2010 elections and how the new energy of the tea party injected itself into the Republican party and together we took back the House of Representatives.  Notice I said, 'together'. 

To be quite honest, I thought that the Republicans versus tea party business was over, at least locally, until I had one such encounter just a few weeks ago.  Actually, make that two.  I guess it shouldn't surprise me, since Mitch McConnell was recently calling Freedomworks supporters, traitors.    Amazingly, there are still those in the GOP that thumb their noses at the tea party groups and efforts.  One of the top offenders in the mind some of the GOP is Freedomworks.  Now, I'm not saying we should get caught up in the hyperbole of that, but I guess it still exists.  I personally wanted to see what about Freedomworks was so darn scary.  From Freedomworks' own website under the 'About' section, this is what I found:

What We Do

FreedomWorks recruits, educates, trains and mobilizes millions of volunteer activists to fight for less government, lower taxes, and more freedom.

Why We Do It

FreedomWorks believes individual liberty and the freedom to compete increases consumer choices and provides individuals with the greatest control over what they own and earn.

How We Do It

FreedomWorks' aggressive, real-time campaigns activate a growing and permanent volunteer grassroots army to show up and demand policy change.

Now, honestly, does that sound 'scary' to you?  If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, it is fair to say that I like the group Freedomworks.  Why, you may ask?  They. Are. Effective.  They put their money behind worthwhile candidates and they launch campaigns against legislation that they want to see defeated, and they usually get their man.  Yet, the GOP is still trying to take down Freedomworks.  

The mere fact that the establishment GOPers think that the goals of Freedomworks are a threat to them boggles my mind.  Some also say that since Freedomworks uses the word 'liberty', they immediately linked the group to Ron Paul and libertarians and that is offensive to them.  Alright, let's be honest, every group has some folks that go over the top for their cause, including Ron Paul supporters.  Hey, they have the freedom and the 'liberty' to do so.  However, you could say that Ron Paul knows how to message.  He believes in liberty and freedom and his supporters know it. 

Not only did this individual say that this message of liberty turned them off, they even started to use this information and THEIR opinion to scare other potential supporters from the Freedomworks group because of their own naivety.

I am a mom, if you did not know that prior to reading this and I try as a mom not to pass on my fears to my children.  For example, I am afraid of frogs and lizards, but I do not want my children to be afraid of those same things.  I want to give them the opportunity to decide for themselves.  Unlike the aforementioned parties.  Instead of letting the public decide about liberty for themselves, they started using scare tactics to ward them off.  This has got to stop.

Now, I know what you must be thinking, and no, I don't think that everyone has to agree with me in order to be right.  I also don't think that EVERYONE must support Freedomworks or that Freedomworks is the only way to accomplish things in Washington, D.C.  I still think it takes an involved citizenry of like minded individuals focused on a similar goal, to change things; Freedomworks or no. 

To the GOP, the tea party is NOT trying to start a third party and we are not saying that GOPers have never done anything.  Others would argue that the GOP has done too much and grown government just as much as the Democrats have.  To me, liberty equals freedom.

One more thing.   My good friend, Felicia Cravens is always challenging people to include an action item in blogs that are written, so I am going to do just that. We can all find the time to complain about group 'xyz', but rarely can we find the time to join group 'abc' and actually put our time and talents into it to improve the landscape around us.  So here is what you can do: find a group that you DO mesh with.  If it isn't Freedomworks or your local county party, then how about the county clerk?  Election day is next Tuesday here in the state of Texas and I KNOW that our county clerk here in Harris County, Stan Stanart would love to hear from you.  So call 713-755-6411 and ask if you can help at your polling location or any other polling location, for that matter.

So the next time you desire to scare someone, instead of yelling 'boo', just simply yell, 'liberty'!  That ought to do the trick!  Oh, and by all means, be a #happywarrior.

 

Keynes vs. Hayek: Round Two

Ever been aimlessly perusing the internet and get sucked into watching YouTube videos?  Nah, me neither.  Seriously, you're bored out of your mind, surfing the net and you start watching all kinds of crazy cat videos, dumbest stuff on wheels, or world's dumbest criminals.  Admit it, we have all done that a time or two. So, how does this relate to Texas GOP Vote?  Stay with me, I promise it does. 

Since I've been involved in politics, I have been introduced to a new type of video; educational political videos.  I'm not talking about the black panther voter intimidation ones, although those do exist.  What I'm referring to are videos made by individuals or companies in order to educate the public about our in-debt-up-to-our-eyeballs, over regulated, bloated,
too-big-for-its-britches-government in lay terms.

Personally, I wholeheartedly endorse these types of videos because not only do they cater to our society's attention span which consists of about thirty seconds; oh look, something shiny! These videos are also great at getting their message across. If they are really good at what they do, they will do it in an entertaining way, so that you don't even realize you're being educated.   

Which brings me to one of my all time favorite YouTube videos:  Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek Part II.  It fits the criteria of entertaining, definitely educational, but it's a little longer than thirty seconds.  Yeah, it's about ten minutes long, but it's really well done.  EconStories put it together, and they are awesome.

The video is of Keynes and Hayek facing off in a court room full of reporters and jurists even.  The camera shot cuts away and the two are boxing in a boxing ring, sparring about their different economic theories, each delivering their own opposing viewpoints through 'punches' and 'knock-outs'.  They even have a rapping referee.  Did I mention that I love this video? 

A little back story might be in order here.  Ever heard of the two fellows mentioned in the title of the video?  John Maynard Keynes and F.A. Hayek, both economists with two starkly different ideas of how the economy should work.   The video best describes Keynes in this quote: "My solution is simple and easy to handle.  It's spending that matters, why's that such a scandal?  Money sloshes through the pipes and sluices, revitalizing the economy's juices.  It's just like an engine that's stalled and gone dark.  To bring it to life we need a quick spark.  Spending's the life blood that gets the flow going.  Where it goes doesn't matter, just get spending going." Sound familiar?  This is sadly the economic theory that the vast majority of our federal government embraces and employs.

In contrast, one of my favorite ways and quotes from the video to explain Hayek, "Spending's not free, that's the heart of the matter.  Too much is wasted as cronies get fatter.  The economy's not a car, there's no engine to stall.  No expert can fix it, there's no 'it' at all.  The economy's us, we don't need a mechanic.  Put away the wrenches, the economy's organic."  Translation: let the free markets work!  Stop bailing out losers!  No one is 'too big to fail'.

One other of my favorites which happens to be the chorus: "What situation we choose.  More bottom up or top down?  The fight continues, Keynes and Hayek, second round.  It's time to weigh in, more from the top or from the ground?"  Again, it's the different economic theories, Keynes believed in a more top down approach, one that doesn't trust the private sector and the free market system to work on its own, where Hayek was a firm believer in a bottom up economy; completely trusting the private sector to develop 'organically' without interference from those at the 'top'.

I love this video;  I do!  It's fun, it's catchy and more importantly, I can relate to it.  I think you will, too.  There are other videos out there just like this one.  Hang with me and I'll introduce you to many more.  Until then, kick back, relax and fire up the crazy cat videos on the old tube; YouTube that is.

Congressman John Culberson Hosts Town Hall Meeting: We've Got to Stick Together!

Last night, Republican Congressman John Culberson of CD-7 hosted a town hall meeting for his constituents at Cy-Falls High School.  The crowd was sparse, about fifty or so in attendance.  The mood was relaxed, no crazy video taped confrontations or rude constituents, just concerned citizens waiting for an update from the Congressman.

I was surprised anybody made it out because as we all know, Senator Ted Cruz was in the throes of a filibuster to try and defund Obamacare in the Senate.  As you can imagine the topic of conversation was laser focused on Obamacare.  There were other concerns raised, such as the NSA spying scandal, in which Congressman Culberson denounced Edward Snowden as a traitor.  The Congressman also said that he wouldn't vote to repeal the Patriot Act, which was in large part the reason the government was allowed to spy upon innocent American citizens, although he'll tell you that wasn't the intention of the Patriot Act.

He stated he was in full support of defunding Obamacare and supported the most recent continuing resolution that came out of the House last week, the one that funded the government, but not Obamacare.  He was also fully supportive of what Senator Cruz was doing and even shared a personal text message exchange he and the Senator had. 

Speaking personally here for just a minute, the most frustrating thing to me about Obamacare, besides the fact that it is slowly killing jobs and the economy, is that we have no idea what is going to happen.  The bill is so awful, and the fact that we have unelected bureaucrats surrounding the future of our healthcare, is a recipe for disaster.

The Congressman did get a question from the audience, "What happens when Harry Reid strips out the defunding language from the House bill?"  Culberson's reply: "We'll send it right back."  Okay, Congressman, I'll hold you to that.

If you noticed the title, "We've got to stick together!"  That seemed to be the theme of the evening, an audience member even brought up was the 11th Amendment coined by President Reagan, "Thou shall not speak ill of any fellow Republican."  Not in public, anyway.  I see a lot of that done publicly when we are dealing with John McCain calling out Senator Cruz for being a so called 'whacko bird'.  We've almost come to expect that from McCain and his ilk.  Yes, he has an ilk, and I think it's safe to say that Harry Reid is part of it, especially after their theatrics at the end of Senator Cruz's filibuster.

On the surface, it seems that Congressman Culberson is 'with' Senator Cruz, and he might just be.  However, there was no talk last night of Congress being exempted by Obama from being forced into the Obamacare exchanges.  In a phone call I had with the Congressman, he assured me that Congress and its staff was NOT exempt, but I have found information that proves otherwise.  This link written by Loren Heal at Freedomworks says, "Congress has allowed itself to be exempted from this aspect of Obamacare. While the only insurance the federal government can offer its congressional employees must be in plans that are offered through exchanges, members of Congress and their staffs now have a benefit that the rest of America, by law, cannot have: their employer picks up the tab.  We should as citizen Dave Farrington said, "All have equal protection under the law."  So all of that talk of 'sticking together' just kind of fell flat, if you ask me.

The Freedomworks Obamacare Summit: Yes We Can...Defund It!

I don't know about you, but Obamacare is making me sick.  Yeah, the sweeping piece of legislation that was supposed to be the 'remedy' that was going to single-handedly save all of the people who were uninsured from the evil, capitalist insurance companies is making me and the rest of the country ill.  I'm personally sick of the national conversation being about Obamacare.  I am also sick of begging my Congressman to defund Obamacare.  So, you see, I'm really terminal here.

As if I hadn't had enough talk of the ACA otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act, voted on and passed in 2010, I went to an Obamacare summit put together by FreedomWorks to talk about ways that Republicans in Congress can still defeat this monstrous bill.  While I was there, I was lucky enough to meet up with some great Freedomworks staff.  One Dean Clancy public policy guru also affectionately referred to as Father Freedomworks.  Also on hand to rally the troops was none other than Matt Kibbe to let us all know that yes, there is still hope for the American people, Lord willing and the creek don't rise. Okay, I added the last part, but Kibbe is known for his ability to not only pick fights, but win.  I knew I liked him for a reason.


There were many different ideas and strategies discussed, but one of the things that we have to realize is that the victory or defeat of Obamacare is not about the republicans versus the democrats anymore.  This is about the insiders versus outsiders now and the American people need to be reminded of this.  This is becoming more and more about Chicago style politics as we are seeing personal favors aka 'campaign contributions' being repaid by the president through waivers making those who donated to the president's reelection exempt from Obamacare.  Not to mention the fact that Congress AND  its staffers were one of the latest recipients of those precious waivers.  Hmmm...if Obamacare is good enough for the American people, then why on earth wouldn't it be good enough for the lawmakers who made Obama's dream and our nightmare a reality? 

You could say that when it comes to the American people and the relationships that we have with our representatives, there is a failure to communicate, or better yet, a failure on the part of Congress to listen to us.  They all love to be the smartest person in the room with all of the answers.  The problem is that the answer usually consists of more government regulations meant to keep the people from prospering, not to mention the hefty price tag that the answer will cost the American people in rising taxes.  While reviewing my notes from this past weekend, something jumped out at me and I thought I'd share it with you.  Jackie Bodnar is my new hero, although she probably doesn't know it yet, put this in a handout: "This issue is simple and our position is reasonable: Why would you fund a bill with money we don't have, that nobody in this town thinks works yet including the President?  If you're not ready to implement the law, the American people should not be paying for it.  Period."  #BOOM.

Another point that I'd like to drive home is that not only has Congress continually turned a deaf ear to we the people, they forget who elects them and who pays their salary.  They need to realize that not only do elections have consequences, but the legislation they pass and fund does, too.  Hey, turnabout is always fair play in my book.  A vote to fund Obamacare is now like a vote to pass Obamacare.  To quote Senator Lee, "If you fund it, you're for it." 

Lawmakers have just returned to Washington this week after August recess, and don't think for a minute that those who didn't show for a town hall in their home districts went unnoticed.  There was a cardboard Cornyn town hall held courtesy of FreedomWorks with about 500 people in attendance.  Lindsay Graham was also a victim of a FreedomWorks town hall complete with cardboard Lindsay and the sad thing is, I think that Senator Graham folds easier than the cardboard version of himself.  Heh.

If you didn't already know, there is a lot of emotion when you are involved in politics.  When I say 'involved' I don't mean just watching the news and cursing the screen, although God knows I have done the same thing at times.  Involved means getting off the couch and calling your representative, talking to neighbors and friends about what's going on and really trying to make a difference.  I should know, because I am that 'involved' person and I have had some highs and lows over the past five years.  However, at this point I am on a 'high' because I can see that there is a grassroots tsunami rising up.  Again, from Jackie Bodnar, "The message from grassroots America to establishment Washington is clear: If you're not going to come to us to defend your policy positions, we will come to you."  Hey, Congress, consider yourselves warned!

FreedomWorks Introduces Come And Take It

Come and take it.  What do you think of when you hear those words?  If you’re like me, I immediately conjure up an image of a cannon with a star above it.  What about the story behind the phrase, though?  It has been used numerous times, but the most memorable time was during the Battle of Gonzales when the Texians had been given a cannon by the Mexican authorities to fend off attackers, but when the tide turned and the Mexican government decided to attack the Texians and the authorities wanted the cannon returned, well, you know what the Texians said.  You guessed it, “Come and take it.”


It is almost a dare, if you will, ‘come and take it’, and that’s why I love it so much.  I love to be contrary and if someone doesn’t think I can do something, well, all the more reason to try.  Now enter from the left, ahem, Battleground Texas.  Who?  You know, an arm of Obama’s OFA group of libtards who think that they are going to turn Texas ‘blue’ otherwise known as a democratic led state.
Thankfully, Freedomworks has beat me to the dare.  They’ve launched Come And Take It, their counter to the Battleground Texas folks.  With it they’ve brought their grassroots leader who is originally from Texas, Whitney Neal along with numerous regional directors and a whole army of volunteers itching at the chance to shut the door on BGT’s efforts.


Need a little motivation to get involved?  Think back to the effort we all put into electing Senator Cruz.  Hours, sweat and more sweat (I mean, it was a July runoff, right?) and energy and think of all of that for naught.  Yep, if BGT is successful, that’s what it will be.  No more Republican presidential victories, no more Republican majority in the Texas House of Representatives OR Texas Senate.  Things could get pretty bleak, so please don’t think that because I called them ‘libtards’ doesn’t mean that there isn’t a reason for concern.
All is not lost, though.  There is time to hold the line and the good news is that you can help, too.  Visit http://www.comeandtakeittx.com and sign up to be a volunteer.  We can all link arms and together with our voices loud and clear say, “Hey, BGT, Come and Take It”!

Truth, Justice, and the American Way

Who was famous for saying that there is a "..never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way?"  Was it one of our founding fathers or was it the mysterious man wearing a blue and red cape and a large letter 'S' emblazoned on his chest?  If you guessed Superman, you are correct!

If you haven't been living under a rock you've heard plenty about the three scandals aka 'scandalpalooza'  that have rocked the White House over the last few weeks; the Benghazi hearings, the AP phone tapping scandal and the IRS targeting conservative groups by denying their organizations tax exempt status to stall their efforts during the 2012 presidential election cycle.

I am a new blogger for TexasGOPvote.com and I was lucky enough to be at the IRS hearing conducted by Committee of Oversight and Government Reform which is chaired by Representative Darryl Issa R-CA.  Now, a little background on myself might be helpful here.  I am a tea partier along with being part of the GOP.  I was at the first tea party held here in Houston, Texas in 2009 and all of the subsequent tea party rallies and helped coordinate a few of those as well.  I have personally worked hundreds if not thousands of hours on different projects, strategy meetings and helped block walk for campaigns, as well as run for school board in order to make an impact for the betterment of my community.  I have been shoulder to shoulder with other patriots and felt the sting of the left-wing media when they attempted to mock and marginalize the tea party message.   Don't think it isn't difficult working with others trying to paint you into a corner and trying to shut you down.  Sadly, some of those trying to shout us down have come from within our own party, but that's another story for another day.

So to hear the opening statement from Rep. Issa on Wednesday morning, it brought a little tear to my eye, feeling like someone else had finally taken offense for all of the lies that we had been beaten over the head with since day one.  Here is a quote from his opening statement: "Our democracy was created by people, for the people.  When government power is used to target Americans for exercising their constitutional rights, there is nothing we as representatives should find more important than to take it seriously, get to the bottom of it, and eradicate the behavior.  Since 2010, there appears to have been a targeting of people based on their beliefs.  These people, particularly those who used Tea Party in their name, were mocked by the liberal media, mocked by late night television, and referred to by this administration regularly with disdain..."  I concur.

There has been a number of findings from the Inspector General and lots of evidence to back up the fact that conservative groups were targeted.  I know my own tea party was targeted by asking for personal information about our volunteers and members.  There were requests made for future rally destinations to be reported, copies of handouts that would be distributed, etc. I personally think it's great that this is being investigated, but a lot of my fellow tea partiers want to know, to what end are these investigations taking place?  So, to find out a little more information, I spoke with Congressman Mike Turner the day of the hearings.
TX GOP VOTE: "What are the goals of this committee in the investigation?"
Rep, Turner: "There's the key issue of who, what, when, where, how and to hold those people accountable who were using an investigative arm of our government to persecute  people based on their political beliefs and their political affiliations."

TX GOP VOTE:" How many more hearings do you think there's going to be?"
Rep. Turner: "We're not giving in so there's going to have to be additional hearings.  We're going to get to the bottom of this whether people want us to or not. This goes to the heart of being able to preserve democracy and we're going to ensure that our fellow government isn't persecuting people."

TX GOP VOTE: "How far do you think this is going to go?"
 Rep. Turner: "We are going to take this wherever this leads.  I think that those who know and were complicit should be very worried."

TX GOP VOTE: "Has this investigation uncovered anything that hasn't been revealed yet?"
Rep. Turner: I think the scope and really the abhorrent actions are certainly giving greater fidelity as we go through this.   We just had, Mr. Shulman just said that he's not certain that this violates our democratic principles.  I was aghast.  Of course it does! This goes right to the heart of freedom and the fact that he doesn't see that, certainly shows an environment in which this could happen."

The other sad thing is that the IRS would have you to believe that the reason for all of this targeting that was going on was due to two 'rogue' agents at the Cincinnati, Ohio IRS office.  Yeah, tell that to the four Americans that lost their lives in Benghazi over a You Tube video. So the never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way wages on and it's us versus them.


  

Priorities: Republicans Haz 'Em

Think about the things that Texas is known for.  Oil, trucks, cowboys, cows and big city life.  Also, a gun loving governor and a booming economy.  Oh, yeah and the myth that everything is bigger in Texas, right?  We've got big trucks, big hair and...big government?  Big government, you say?  Sadly, yes.

Back in 1999, the Texas Legislature signed a bill into law that granted a panel of doctors, appointed by the hospital in which they work, to help with end of life directives.  What does that mean, exactly?  Well, if you wanted to go all Sarah Palin, then, I guess you could call these death panels.

As we all know, the 83rd legislative session of the Texas house is coming to a close.  This year proved to be a fairly quiet one, until now.  The current legislative body has apparently being working on drafting what they would have you believe is an improvement to the law already in place.  My state representative, Bill Callegari happens to be one of the co-authors and he is down right proud of his work on this bill, according to his staffer, Steven, Representative Callegari feels it would be 'morally wrong' not to pass this bill.  They are selling this as an upgrade, if you will.  SB 303 and
HB 303 are up for consideration, and from my own personal research, along with others, this bill is just as bad.  Hey, don't take my word for it, take a look for yourself.  Texas Right to Life is an organization that believes that this bill should not be passed in it's current form.  You can even read their own pro-life stance here. I would tend to agree with their philosophy on life.  Life is sacred.  It's so sacred that it's enumerated in our Declaration of Independence, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Also for your viewing pleasure, I have a side-by-side comparison of the current law and the proposed bill and Texas Right to Life's stand on the bill.

There are other groups here in Texas that have raised some legitimate concerns about the passage of this bill and Texas Home School Coalition is one of them.  You can read their own blog about this bill here.  This bill could also prove to hinder the rights of parents to decide their own child's fate when end of life decisions need to be made.  That's a sobering thought.

I called Representative Callegari's office and I started off the conversation with a question that seemed simple enough to answer.  I asked him that since Representative Callegari is a Republican representative, what does he see the role of government in every day citizens lives.  He tried to roll me with an actual story that he thought would sell me on the idea of this bill needing to be passed.  I thanked him for the information, but wondered if he would answer my original question.  He couldn't.  His answer was that Rep. Callegari doesn't feel that this bill creates death panels. 

I also called a few other representatives and they relayed that they had met with and interviewed a number of doctors and talked to groups like Texas Alliance for Life and after that, they were more comfortable with the bill.  My question is, what about the constituents?  Where do they factor in?  They are the folks who got you elected, are they not?  The answer that the staffer seemed hung up on was that Representative Callegari felt that it would be morally wrong not to pass this bill. 

I also asked where this bill had originated; why it was authored in the first place, and he assured me it was his own constituents.  Well, I'd like to meet some of those liberty lovin' folks!  #sarcasm, people!  He also assured me upon my questioning that Rep. Callegari isn't beholden to any lobbyist groups because he doesn't need their money to win elections. 

One of the other things that concerns me is that Steven told me that these 'end of life' situations usually only crop up two times a year.  Yeah, TWO times a year!  So, let's knee jerk legislate this problem away, shall we?

This is why it's so important to stay active and vigilant when it comes to government on all levels, whether it be local school boards and mud districts, our state government, or all the way to the nations capitol.  It's called tyranny 'creep' for a reason, ya'll.

Believe it or not, I have yet to hear from Representative Callegari himself.  Hey, I'm still waiting....

*This article was originally published on the Texas GOP Vote website and you can view it here.

Happy Birthday, Political Chicken!

Hard to believe, isn't it?  The Political Chicken is officially a year old.  Seems like just yesterday it was an idea 'hatching' to become a reality.  Then before you know it, the egg cracked open and the blog was born.

The blog has been through a lot in a year's time.  It lived to tell about a postponed primary and endorsed candidates in said primary.  It has survived the passage of Obamacare by the Supreme Court as 'constitutional' and the reelection of Obama himself.  It also shared insight from a biblical worldview on the war on women as well as some personal, emotional moments.

The Political Chicken blog to date has been viewed a little over 4,000 times.  Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.  The most popular blog post was...drum roll, please...Sex, Lies and Politics with 398 views!  See, I knew I should have started every blog title with the word 'sex'.  Damn!  As Iron Sharpens Iron follows in second place with 256 page views.

One of my personal favorites that I wrote just for fun, is titled I Got Nowhere Else To Go, in which I poke fun at a few of my fellow political activist buddies.  Yeah, that's how I roll.

Someone told me today that I like to throw bombs, and I guess I can't argue with that.  So, as you peruse the site, you'll find some of those as well.  One in particular that I like a lot is A Tale of Two Senators.  Check it out, you might like it, too.

Well, that's all for now.  Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement as I've written and vented and expressed and endorsed.  You've been fabulous, but this is only the beginning!  MUAH!

Why I'm Voting 'No' on the Lone Star College Bond

So, okay.  We're facing an election.  Again.  This time it's not dirty, sexy, national level politics.  It's dirty, sexy local level politics.  Politics is always dirty, ain't it?  This time we're talking bond election for a local community college system, Lone Star College System.

What goes through your mind when you hear the word 'bond'?  I always want to put my hands up in front of my face and shrink back in horror to try to hide from it.  I immediately think, debt, piles of money that the tax payer will owe, bondage and no, not THAT kind of bondage.  Come on, now, this is a family show.  Ahem.

So, in order to avoid such a 'knee jerk' response to this bond, I decided to peel back the layers and find out a little about the bond.  First, let's talk dollars.  How much IS the bond referendum?  It's for $497.7 million dollars.  Second question I usually ask is, WHAT are they going to spend it on?  Here is a broad scope of things to start with:

• New instructional and support buildings – 996,000 sf
• Renovations to existing facilities – 252,000 sf
• Increase parking – 5,630 spaces
• Improve campus safety and security
  
• Expand and upgrade technology infrastructure
• Improve traffic flow and campus access

Okay, so we can go to the next question, WHY?  Here is information taken straight from the Bond Referendum website: The 2013 bond referendum expands capacity to meet unprecedented student population growth. In the five short years since the last bond referendum in 2008, LSCS has added 30,000 students, which is equivalent to adding the combined total enrollment of five medium-sized colleges like Alvin Community College, Lee College, Galveston College, Temple College and Victoria College.  Here are a few videos from a meeting that I helped coordinate in order to find out more information.  Forgive me, they are raw, unedited footage. 

Seems pretty straight forward at this point, right?  Well, not quite.  You see, there are a few more questions I want to have answered, and I haven't heard back from the college in order for me to recommend a 'yes' vote.  The questions I had and still have are:
-What is the graduation rate of students?
-What number of students are transferring to a four year school?
-What has enrollment been?  (I think the current number of students enrolled is 90,000.)
-What is the current debt load of the district?
All of these questions I called and left messages for the head of the accounting department, Diane Novak.  She then passed my information on to Jed Young and he called me and took down my questions and promised to email me the answers to these questions.  I have not heard back from him to date.  Here are the links to the two videos that I recorded the night of the meeting.  Ray Laughter speaking to a group of concerned citizens.

Thankfully, I wasn't the only one with questions.  I found this information posted on Google Plus from a Leslie P.  "Carl Joiner, Treasurer - I'll Google that name, see what I find.  Yeah. Carl Joiner, President of Joiner Partnership, they design buildings. Buildings for school districts, colleges, and fire departments (government buildings, paid by tax dollars). His wife is their VP of Interior Designer. His son is their Director of Construction. So they can design the building inside and out, and build it. How helpful.

And all of the advertising investment he's making to ensure that these bonds get passed. Well, golly, he's just being a good public servant."  She also links to Mr. Joiner's website here. 

There's already another blog out going against the bond and they cite the flagging enrollment rate as a reason to vote 'no'.  Here is a quote from that blog: "However, there is good evidence that recent growth in enrollment may be leveling off. LSCS’s 2011-12 Comprehensive Annual Report is introduced with a letter from Chancellor Richard Carpenter that states, “The next several years will prove challenging with anticipated continued restrictions in state funding and flat enrollments” (Emphasis added).

When I read about the information on Google, I cringed a little because we always seem to find ourselves being pushed to support what I call cronyism.  Also, if there is really a flagging enrollment that's a problem as well.  So I'm saying vote 'no' on the Lone Star College Bond.  The End.

Are You There, God? It's us...the Tea Party.

You know, it just occurred to me that this whole idea of government providing a sense of security isn't a new phenomenon. Remember, there is nothing new under the sun. Think for a second about Moses and the Israelites and how he led them to freedom from the Egyptians.  Talk about 'herding cats'.  I can't even begin to imagine how he must have felt.

 The Israelites grumbled and complained against Moses because of the quality of the food! Manna and quail wasn't good enough for them. They used to say things like, "If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt!  There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death." Think about how frustrated Moses must have been with them.  Seriously; die?  They would have rather DIED than to have been led to freedom. 

Now, let's think for a minute about the party of politics that believes in bigger government, bloated government, if you will.  The one who believes that the government is there to provide safety and security as it pertains to a way of life.  How it manages to perpetuate this idea that the government should provide, well, EVERYTHING for you no matter how much freedom or liberty you must give up to obtain the 'goodies'.  Hey, I could be talking about EITHER party at this moment because they have both shown tendencies to overreach for the greater good, haven't they?  

We have all banged our heads up against the wall over the last few years at this very idea.  Yet, the overreach continues, and slowly it becomes more egregious each time.  We've seen tyranny creep into our lives and have, except for recently, stood idly by while it happened

I always go the TSA as probably the most glaring insult to the freedoms of Americans and travelers from everywhere...well, almost everywhere.  First there was the shoe bomber, so the solution to make us feel safer?  Take off all the shoes!  Next, the underwear bomber.  Thankfully, we don't have to take off our underwear...yet, but I'm sure it has come up in conversation.  Nah, instead they just feel up our private parts on the outside of our underwear.  Oh, yeah, I feel SO much safer now.  Yet, people still walk through the 'nudi-scanners' as I so fondly refer to them, because they honestly believe it will make them safer.  

Tea party and conservative activists bemoan the fact that we can't get the American people to 'wake up' and take a look around at the freedoms being forfeited by us on a daily basis.  I'm guilty of this bemoaning, too.  Now, hang with me for a minute while we walk in Moses' shoes.  Seriously, think about it.  He heard grumbling and complaining all. day. long.  The people were hot.  The people were thirsty.  The people were hungry.  What did he do about it?  He talked with God.  He prayed about it.  Moses prayed to God and asked Him for help.  If Moses did that, can't we all do it, too?  It seems like a very simplistic approach, doesn't it?  How much better off would be be, as a country, as a movement, if we just humbled ourselves and prayed? 

A Tale of Two Senators

Look, I know you are all probably sick of hearing about voting records and continuing resolutions and funding this or that.  Deal with it.  It's going to get worse.

So, I wrote a little blog, titled Versions of the Truth, in which I document the tale of two stories, one in which it was reported that Congressman Culberson had in fact voted to fund Obamacare, and the other, in which he had not.  Guess who told the version that he had not voted to fund Obamacare?  If you guessed his office, you guessed correctly.

Fast forward about a week or so.  The same CR came up for a vote in the Senate.  Now, mind you, the line item for the Health and Human Services is listed in the summary of the bill and the story I got from Culberson's office was that therein was the confusion.  The line item only funded WIC and not Obamacare.  Via Redstate.com, I read that Senator Cornyn had voted FOR the continuing resolution and that Senator Cruz voted AGAINST the continuing resolution.  Wow.

So, I thought a call to Cornyn's office was in order to find out what really happened.  According to Claire, Senator Cornyn does oppose Obamacare.  He just didn't want to see a government shut down, and I told her I thought it might be a good thing to have a shut down.  She didn't agree.  It gets more interesting than that, because unbeknownst to me, Big Jolly was writing a blog the same time I was, he just got his out first.  Ha!  According to Big Jolly aka David Jennings and a press release from Senator Cornyn's office, Cornyn was able to accomplish the following:

• The Continuing Resolution denies President Obama the nearly $1 billion dollars in additional funding he requested for implementing the health insurance exchanges;
• It lowers spending levels, something that has not been done in years; and
• Keeps the sequester cuts in place

Now, I'm becoming more of a skeptic these days and I don't always believe what I'm told.  When it refers to spending cuts, I'll borrow a question from one of my good friends Felicia Cravens and ask, "What government agency is getting less funding this year than last?" I am also not sure where he saw the information about denying the President the $1 billion in additional funding. 

Not being well-versed in policy and how it's written coupled with being a skeptic I decided I wanted to compare notes with Senator Cruz's office.  I called Senator Cruz's office to find out why he didn't vote for the resolution.  Guys, I gotta tell ya, you could have knocked me over with a feather when these words came across my phone and I'm paraphrasing, of course: "Because it had Obamacare funding in it.  The Senator voted on principle.  He came to Washington to represent the will of the people of Texas and he's not going to vote to spend money on Obamacare."  Wow.

The staffer whose name I failed to get, then went on to say that Senator Cruz is not afraid of a government shut down.  That if the government did shut down, it was only the non-essentials that wouldn't get funded.  He also recalled the result of the government shut down of 1995; say it with me, a BALANCED BUDGET!  He went on to say that what's going to cause a shut down is if we keep spending money the way we are because we are borrowing $.40 on every dollar.  Wow.

So who are you going to believe?  I'd put my money on Cruz every time.

But wait, there's more.  Oh, yes, just this morning, I received a post on my Facebook wall about this very vote that still has folks disputing via Redstate, so of course I felt the need to finish up this blog and share my knowledge.  Erick Erickson stands by his original story, that yes, John Cornyn did in fact vote to fund Obamacare, and now by saying he didn't, he's simply lying.  All we want as constituents is the truth.  Is that too much to ask?

What If 'Fine' Isn't Good Enough?

Wow.  Just wow.  Now, I know this could be perceived as beating a dead horse, but I thought since I was sharing the voting records of our elected officials, I figured why not share a bit more, right?  We all have a right to know what's going on with OUR government and OUR money, right?  Okay, now that we all agree, let's proceed.

I find it interesting AND fabulous that ever since Ted Cruz was elected to U.S. Senate how much he and Senator Cornyn's votes have matched identically.  Seems to me that the real junior Senator from Texas would be Senator Cornyn.  Just look at all the attention and headlines Cruz has been getting for standing up for his beliefs and convictions and not backing down even when others are saying he should just sit down and shut up.  You have to wonder if Cruz wasn't there, would Senator Cornyn's votes be as 'conservative' as they are.  Well, let's have us a little look-see.

Checking back with my source on the FreedomWorks Scorecard, when Senator Cornyn had Senator Hutchison to pal around with, they were both voting pretty poorly.  Senator Hutchison was by no means a bastion of conservatism, as her votes scored lower than Senator Cornyn did.  If you look at the 2013 scorecard, Senator Cornyn and Senator Cruz both have grades of 100%.  That's a big improvement from last year.  That to me is a testament to what a great leader Senator Cruz has turned out to be.  I know that Senator Cruz isn't perfect, but he's doing a whole lot better than 'fine'.

I know some folks might say that he's doing better now with the addition of Senator Cruz.  Yeah, but there are other reasons, personal reasons I have for not wanting Senator Cornyn to get reelected.  What are they?  Oh, good, I knew you'd ask!  I am an advocate for ParentalRights.org and have been for about four years.  My first political involvement was a visit to Senator Cornyn's Houston office with about twenty other concerned parents about the UNCRC, or the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of a Child.  We went there in an attempt to see if he wouldn't sign on as a co-sponsor to the Parental Rights bill that would keep the UNCRC from being ratified to the US Constitution; to protect parental rights AND US sovereignty for that matter.  Guess what?  He couldn't be bothered because his plate was too full at the moment.  Really?  Too busy to defend the Constitution and parental rights?  That's too bad.

Another one is during a trip to Washington, D.C. to attend a Freedomworks activist boot camp, we paid a visit to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which Senator Cornyn chaired at the time.  They often use the money that they raise to put behind incumbent candidates during the primary, thus, giving an unfair advantage to the incumbent over any primary challenger.   The person that they were prepared to support was Orrin Hatch in Utah.  The people that were part of the boot camp from Utah felt that this was wrong, as we all did and I still do.  Our protest took place outside their building in which some chanting ensued.  Heh.  "The people choose, NOT the party," we shouted.  Another one of my favorites was, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Orrin Hatch has got to go!"  Yeah, clever, I know.  Our shouts and protests fell on deaf ears.  I hate to say it folks, but once a statist, always a statist.  To me, that's not 'fine'.


Speaking of fine, I also seem to  remember that at the 2012 State Republican Convention Senator Cornyn had an introduction video set to the tune of "Walk The Line" but instead switched it out with "If Cornyn's mine, we'll do just fine."  REALLY?  What if 'fine' isn't good enough for the people of Texas?  I know his definition of 'fine' hasn't been good enough for me.  Next year he's up for reelection.  Wonder if the people of Texas couldn't do better than just 'fine'?

Versions of the Truth

I don't know about you, but I like for people to tell me the truth; the honest truth.  I don't want your version of the truth.  Ever since my last blog post about Representative John Culberson's voting record on some key spending bills called Just The Facts, Chicken!, my attention has been focused on him to see what he's going to do next; if he's going to reign in his spending habits, or continue to push us over the fiscal cliff.  Unfortunately, I don't have good news.

Earlier in the week, on Thursday, to be exact, there was a continuing resolution that was voted on by the House of Representatives called H.R. 933; a resolution that will fully fund Obamacare.  According to Yvonne Larsen, a contributing blogger for Big Jolly Politics, who states in her blog, All But One! that: "With the exception of Representative Louis Gohmert (TX-01), every single Republican from the Texas delegation of the U. S House of Representatives voted to fund Obamacare. They even broke their own rules to do it."  Huh.  Interesting.

So, I go to Representative Culberson's Facebook page and lo and behold there is a blog post by one of their staffers about that very CR, titled The Truth About Obamacare and Continuing Resolution.  They seemed to have been getting phone calls about why Congressman Culberson would have voted to fund Obamacare.  Heck, according to his legislative staffer, he'd already vote to repeal Obamacare something like thirty-four or thirty-five times!  So why not vote to fund it?  He'd kept one part of the promise to REPEAL it.  He never mentioned not funding it.

My next step in investigating this was to call his office directly.  I felt like there was something I was missing and I wanted to get to the bottom of it.  So here is in short the phone conversation I had with their staffer: She said that there were essentially 12 appropriations bills all combined into one bill. One of the agencies that was to be funded was the Labor and HHS which funds things like WIC and is the agency that funds Obamacare. They voted to fund all of these things together, so that's where the confusion comes in. She assured me that every year, these agencies have been funded at lower levels, therefore only leaving enough money to fund WIC and NOT Obamacare.  Okay, that may make sense, but this reason that they voted for it makes my blood boil.  They voted for it in part, from my understanding is  that if they had voted no that the bill wouldn't have gone anywhere in the Senate anyway.  SO WHAT?!?  Take a stand!  Vote 'no'!   

Yvonne Larsen raised another question after I shared this information with her.  Why were they in such a hurry to pass the bill?  They didn't even allow for the seventy-two hour wait time that they promised.  No, they were in such a hurry, they voted after the bill was only posted for forty-seven hours.  Sounds a little fishy to me.

On a side note, while having a conversation with this staffer, who was very helpful, by the way, I told her some things that I thought she needed to hear.  I let her know, nicely that Republicans are bad at messaging; that this information they posted about the CR was done in reaction to the response of the constituents, not as a proactive measure.  Then again, if we had known about it, we probably would have called and told him to vote no.  She assured me that they are very active on social media and do try to get their message out.  Culberson is known for his 'cut spending and reduce government waste' stance, so I asked her what have they eliminated.  She couldn't name any specific program or agency right off the top of her head.  Go figure.

Not to get preachy here, but the Bible says something about a person's word, ya know, when you give someone your 'word' that you are or aren't going to do something.  Above all, my brothers, do not swear--not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned-James 5:12.  Unfortunately, it doesn't say anything about the things you didn't mention that you might do or the things you didn't promise.  We usually just get some version of the truth.

Just the Facts, Chicken!

Sometimes the truth is not a popular thing.  Sometimes exposing the truth can get you into trouble with the person whom you are exposing.  Suppose it has something to do with Congress?  Have I peaked your interest?  Good, now stay with me while I explain.

Would you believe me if I told you that Democratic representative Lloyd Doggett and Republican John Culberson have the same voting record?  Probably not, right?  Then let me follow that with this; would you believe that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is more conservative than Republican John Culberson?  Never, you say!  I can prove otherwise.

I am busy like the rest of us and I don't always check my representatives voting record, but the other day I had a few spare moments and decided to check up on Representative Culberson's voting record on the FreedomWorks Scorecard for the 2013 Congressional Session.  Never in a million years would I have imagined what I would find.  Yes, like a 'good' Republican, he's pro-life, pro-family, but lately, it seems, he's pro-spending.  FreedomWorks scored all of the Congressmen and Congresswomen on three key spending votes that have come down during this session and Congressman Culberson voted yes on every single one, thus earning himself a score of zero.

First, there is : Key Vote 1 On the Amendment: H.Amdt.5 - To add $33.677 billion in additional spending.

This amendment, sponsored by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11), would add another $33 billion to the Disaster Relief Act, bringing the total spending in the bill to over $50 billion. Although the bill is supposedly to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy, the better portion of this amendment funds unrelated programs such as community development block grants. The "emergency" spending is also not offset, meaning that it will add to the federal deficit.

"Nay" votes scored.

Key Vote 2: On Passage: H.R. 152 - Disaster Relief Appropriations Act

This bill is an "emergency" appropriations bill that contains $50.1 billion in spending that is supposed to aid those affected by Hurricane Sandy. In reality, however, most of the spending will not provide acute disaster relief, and much of it is not even scheduled to be spent until 2014 or later. Thus, the bill functions more like a stimulus than true disaster relief and its spending should be appropriated through the budget process instead of as emergency spending that adds to the federal deficit.

"Nay" votes scored.

Key Vote 3: On Passage: H.R. 325 - To Increase the Debt Limit until May 19th, 2013

This bill raises the statutory limit on the public debt (the "debt ceiling") by whatever amount is necessary to reach May 19th, 2013. Although the bill theoretically contains a "no budget, no pay" provision conditional upon the Senate passing a budget resolution, in reality the provision has no teeth. FreedomWorks insists that further increases in the debt ceiling by accompanied by proportional decreases in federal spending in order to address the ever-increasing federal debt, which at the time of this bill stood at $16.4 trillion. Instead, this bill amounts to a "clean" debt ceiling hike, accompanied by the unenforceable promise of spending reforms at a later date.

"Nay" votes scored.

Oh, and FYI, Culberson isn't the only Republican representative who has some 'splaining to do.  Congressman Michael McCaul faired better, voting nay on vote 1 and vote 2, but yes on vote 3.  Pete Olson also voted nay on vote 1 and vote 2 but yes on vote 3.  Check this out, even Alan Grayson, the crazy democratic representative from Florida who accused Republicans of wanting Americans to "die and die quickly" because they opposed Obamacare.  Remember him?  Yeah, he voted no on vote 3.  Pelosi and Wasserman-Schultz BOTH voted nay on vote 3.  So, who are the tax and spend representatives again?

I checked Congressman Culberson's website for his voting record and the link doesn't yet show his votes for this year.  Maybe they haven't linked it up yet since it's still the new session, I'm not sure.  I did find something else interesting on his site, though.  A blog post by one of his staffers about a bill he and a few other representatives have introduced is called A Step Toward Fixing Our Spending Problem.  The last line of the blog post says, "Now is the time to take serious action to reduce our spending and national debt. This bill is a step in the right direction."  How about the other THREE that you voted for that INCREASED SPENDING? #headdesk