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

 

 

 

I Believe....

Merry Christmas, all you fowl people, you!  I hope this post finds you surrounded by family and friends and in good health.  I haven't posted in a while and I get these ideas for posts sometimes and then I get all excited and have to write!  I guess you can say I get inspired and then, well, look out!

I have been thinking a lot about myself and where I came from this past week.  I guess you could blame it on the fact that my dad would have had his seventy-sixth birthday on Thursday, December 20.  He passed away in 1995 and I still miss him quite a bit.  He was sweet and kind and gentle.  He thought about others first and he was a hard worker.  He was also simple, and laid back.  Simple in that he didn't need a lot of fancy stuff to be happy.  He didn't talk much, kind of quiet, but in a good way.

He always had steady employment; he died employed by the same company he had worked at for forty years. He and my mom were married for thirty three years when he passed and they were happy together.

Something that we always did as a family was that we listened to country music at the house, in the car and on road trips.  I didn't really know any other genre of music existed until I heard Metallica on the bus ride to school one morning in seventh grade.  I love Metallica, by the way.  That said, I love all kinds of music now, but country music has kind of stuck with me over the years.  One singer that I really love and have loved for a while is Don Williams and he sings some great country songs.  One in particular is called "I Believe in You".

This song to me embodies a simpler, more slower paced lifestyle.  I guess you could say it embodies my dad and the way he was.  I hate to throw politics in the mix, but this IS the Political Chicken talking here.  It may represent even a more conservative lifestyle.  Thankfully you all can't hear me sing the lyrics, but a few of them are worth repeating:

I believe in love

I believe in babies

I believe in mom and dad

I believe in you

Does anybody talk that way anymore?  I think if we did, our country would be a whole lot better off.  He also goes into a few things he doesn't believe and they are:

I don't believe:

that virginity is as common as it used to be

That gasoline is in short supply

The rising cost of getting by

He also says that he doesn't believe that heaven waits for only those who congregate.  I would tend to agree with that statement.  Like the song lyrics, I also believe that God is love and that he's down below and up above.  He knows who does and doesn't care.  I think that my dad believed all of those things, too.  That's what made my dad so great.  If there are any dads of daughters reading this, take note and realize that your relationship with her is going to help her succeed or fail in relationships with men.  No pressure, or anything.

This is a small tribute to my dad and the example he was and the relationship we had.  I was only eighteen when he passed, but I am so thankful for those eighteen years.  Thank you to my dad and my mom.  I am so thankful to have had parents like you growing up.  I only hope that I can have the same affect on my children as you both had on me.  I love you.

Sex, Lies and Politics

Okay, Harris County peeps.  It has been quite a year, hasn't it?  I'm referring to the political events and elections we all had the pleasure or um yeah, something like that of participating in.  We here in Texas started out behind the eight ball as a state with little or no say in choosing the primary presidential candidate.  Houston Tea Party Society along with other tea party groups thought there was something wrong with that, and we held our very first Saddle Up Texas Straw Poll in January, with great success, I might add.

Then came the redistricting fiasco.  Thus, a delayed primary held in May.  As if that wasn't long and drawn out enough, we had a July runoff.  Exhausting for all of those involved; candidates, volunteers and consultants.  Only a few short months after that came the general election.  Whew!  I'm tired just typing it all up again.

Now, why on earth would I be bringing this up again?  Well, lots of times the truth about a candidate or a campaign doesn't come out until AFTER the election is over.  Shocking, I know.  That is the case in the story I'm about to share with you.

Just so happens in the campaign finance reports filed just before the general election it was discovered that some candidates from the 'Grand Old Party' or G.O.P received some contributions from the local strip club, Treasures.  I ask you who in the general voting populous is going to go and research those finance reports?  Right; no one.  There is one individual or entity that should be looking at such contribution records; the Harris County Republican Party.

Now, I'm no prude, but I am seriously concerned about the direction of the Republican party locally.  We have a leader at the helm of the county party who seems to be letting this kind of behavior slide.  As a devoted volunteer of the party, and as a woman, it makes me sick to my stomach to think that I'm working alongside folks who claim to be Christian and conservative all the while they are accepting donations from the adult entertainment industry.  An industry that objectifies women, who often times break up marriages and homes and perpetuate a sinful lifestyle.  Seems kind of hypocritical, don't ya think?

This from the same party who claim to stand for pro-life, pro-family values.  We as Republicans/ conservatives just lost the Presidential election.  As if that weren't bad enough, the Republicans are slowly losing their grip on Harris county and dare I say, Texas.  We wondered why.  I'm starting to understand why; why so many of the general voting populous is so disenchanted with the GOP 'brand'.  Deep down, Republicans may not be any different from Democrats.  You know what they say, if you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything.  Time to stand for something, Jared.

Fair Share, Fiscal Cliff, Debt Ceiling

Fair share.  Fiscal cliff.  Debt ceiling.  What do these words mean to you?  Have you ever heard them before?  I hadn't until about three years ago.  Let's tackle these one at a time in no particular order.

Fair share.  These words are often very ambiguous, as blog author Nathan Wilkinson points out here in his blog What Does Obama Mean by "Fair Share?"  I would tend to agree with his blog.  Mind you, this was written back in July, 2011, but I think it definitely still applies.  Here is a quote from his blog that I found interesting:

"This phrase, "fair share" is being used and accepted as a fact, but no one has looked into what does those words mean to him and to everyone else. In fact, the phase itself implies that there should be an even-handedness between the rich and the taxes they pay. The phrase is also ambiguous because no one knows if the rich are taking more then their "fair share" or taking less."  

"No one has looked into what those words mean to him" (Obama).  I am a small business owner, or the spouse of one.  So I guess that makes me a partial small business owner.  Rest assured, we are paying our 'fair share'.  In fact, if we didn't have to pay such a large share, we might have a little more to throw into the economy and buy a few extra things that we would normally have to pay in taxes; thus stimulating the economy.  Wow, what a concept!  The American worker, gets to keep more of what they earn and they can buy more things and create more jobs for the industry that they are purchasing from.  Kind of reminds me of that PSA in the 1980's, when there was a 'war on drugs'.  The guy was pacing in a circle, repeating the same thing, "So I can work more, so I can earn more, so I can do more coke."  So....I'm not trying to do more 'coke', but you get the idea. 

Fiscal cliff.  We've been hearing a lot about that since before Obama's unfortunate reelection and since then as well.  Call me crazy, but I don't think that going off any kind of a cliff is a good thing.   What lawmakers are referring to is the upcoming tax hike slated for January 2013 to affect the top earners; you know all of those evil rich people who make over $250K per year?  Yeah, them.  Again, I look at this through the eyes of a small business owner.  What happens when you make less money as a business owner, large or small?  You tend to cut back a bit on hiring and wage increases.  Makes sense, right?  You have to, at some point, start looking out for your family because no one else will.  What's the affect of less hiring?  Not as many employed people.  Less people paying taxes and I'm sorry folks, a country cannot tax or spend itself into prosperity.  It's a vicious cycle.  "So I can work more, so I can earn more, so I can do more coke." 

Last but not least, is the infamous debt ceiling.  Remember fighting this during the summer of 2011?  I do.  The debt ceiling is referring to the country's credit limit or its spending limit.  Yes, it's like the credit card for the USA.  What happens when you as a consumer 'max' out your credit card? You can't spend any more money!  What happens when the United States 'maxes' out OUR credit card?  They just print more money!  Yahoo!  *note the sarcasm.  Anyway, it happened again in 2011, Congress agreed to raise the debt ceiling to $16.394 trillion.  Guess what?  We are fast approaching that limit, too.  I can just hear the arguments from 2011 haunting these upcoming 'talks' as well.  The Dems will accuse the Republicans of wanting America to default, and the Republicans will likely give in and raise it again with some wimpy 'demand' that the spending increase not exceed the spending cuts.  Cuts to be made over the next thirty years or something ridiculous.  Then we start all over again.  "So I can work more, so I can earn more, so I can do more coke."

Are we ever going to learn our lesson? 

Are We Gonna Die in Debt?

Hello, out there in cyber world!  It's me, the Political Chicken back for more post election analysis.  You know me, very in depth and hard hitting.  Bwahahahaha!  At any rate, I have (obviously) been thinking or better yet, stewing over the results of the election on Tuesday.  There are lots of things still swimming through my head right now.  Like, for example, where did the election go wrong?   Could I have done more?  How do we recoup the damage that Obama has done and still yet to do?  Last but not least, what would make anybody in their right mind vote for him twice? 

Besides all the talk of free shit and not being able to beat Santa Claus, which I am sure that there is truth to that, I think it goes deeper than that.  At this point, I'm willing to put aside partisan politics for just a moment and say it goes even deeper than Democrat or Republican.  Wow, Political Chicken, what could be deeper than that?  Finances, money if you will.  No, not the spreading of it or the redistribution of it, which does play a role, obviously, but something else that ties into money.  Lines of credit.  Oh, yes, stick with me for a minute and I'll explain.

We live in a society of instant gratification; 3G, 4G and gotta-have-the-latest-and greatest-app or Ipad or Iphone.   Not to mention HDTV, high speed internet and 3D televisions.  How do we acquire these things?  Bingo!  Credit cards, lines of credit.  Gone are the days of saving cash up to pay for things.  Nah, just ring it up and I'll pay it off later...

Later becomes next month, then next month becomes three months, then three months becomes, well you get the idea.  I found some information on Infowars.com that I thought would fit into this blog, so here are a few of the statistics that will 'blow your mind'.

- Incredibly, 43 percent of all American families spend more than they earn each year.  Even while median household income continues to decline (now less than $50,000 a year), median household debt continues to go up.  According to the Federal Reserve, median household debt in America has risen to $75,600.

Large numbers of them never even escape at all and die in debt.

Consumer borrowing rose by another $19.3 billion in December 2011.  Right now it is sitting at a grand total of $2.5 trillion according to the Federal Reserve.

We always criticize the federal government for going into so much debt, but we rarely criticize ourselves for our own addiction to debt. 

So how can we expect our gimme society who doesn't even live to see the day when they pay off their own debt to actually believe that the United States of America, the most prosperous nation in the world, could ever run out of money, or credit?  Now, I might be giving some folks more 'credit' then they deserve because I'm assuming that people CARE if we run out of money.  Or if THEY run out of money, for that matter.  I believe that people don't think twice about where the government money comes from.  I think that they believe that we just print it...out of...thin...air...oh, wait.  Nevermind.  If we could just show people what we are in for, maybe they would take notice.  I know, I'm being supremely optimistic.

We live in a welfare state, and if we didn't before Tuesday, I'd say it's almost inevitable now.  So, as unpleasant as it may be, now it is time for, as Dave Ramsey would say, beans and rice, rice and beans until all of your household debt is paid off.   As the Bible says, "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender." Proverbs 22:7  I, for one, don't want to be anyone's slave.

 

The Morning After x2

Deep breath in...slowly exhale.  Repeat.  Feel better?  Nah, me neither.  Onward!

All of you know me pretty well by now.  I am a stay at home mom; home school mom on top of that and a new (?) political activist of sorts.  I have just recently ventured into my own blog, The Political Chicken.  I was involved heavily over the course of this last presidential election/campaign.  I am extremely disappointed in the loss by Romney/Ryan and that's putting it mildly.  I truly didn't think that Obama would win again.  He did and now we stand at the base of a mile high mountain and we have to decide as conservatives, do we stay at the base of the mountain and set up camp or do we forge ahead with grappling hooks and ropes and climb that bad boy?  I say, climb!

There was A LOT of legislation that we as tea party members and patriot groups postponed and delayed in 2010 and 2011.  The biggest and baddest in my mind is Obamacare.  We did good work but it was shoved through even though it was clearly against the will of the American people by and large.  There will be more of that, unfortunately now that Obama has won his bid for reelection.  Cap and Trade aka Cap and Tax can be one of those, rest assured.  Not to mention a whole host of others that we don't even know about yet, or I for one, can't even fathom.

Most of us, dare I say ALL of us are pretty discouraged today.  I am going to keep fighting.  I am going to keep fighting to keep our freedoms, though as down and sad and frustrated as I feel today.  Why, you may ask.  Why bother?  I have three little reasons to keep going and those are my children.  Not trying to be extreme here, but let's stop a minute and think of some of the freedoms we have now and might take for granted.  One is the right to worship.  Another is the freedom to buy the car of your choice.  How about the reproductive rights we enjoy; to have as many children as you want?  How about capitalism, the best system in the world?  How about the right to choose your own career?  How about the freedom to home school?  I can't say without a doubt, that those freedoms are going to be there for them to enjoy.

I am not expecting all of these rights to be taken away over night or even tomorrow.  The problem is that there is something called tyranny creep.  It has already taken hold and continues to 'creep' its way into our society and personal lives.  This is another reason we must stay vigilant and fight the good fight.  It happens little by little.  In our courts, where religious objects are harshly removed or when war memorials are ordered to be taken down simply because they are symbols of religion or Christianity.  Where the TSA has the 'right' to strip search innocent people just trying to go on vacation with their families.  These freedoms have been eroding for some time now.  So where does it stop?  That's the big question for me, and right now I don't have the answer.  

We are ALL made in God's likeness; in the image of God.  We were made with the desire to perform a task, learn a trade, earn a living and to be self sufficient.  In Ecclesiastes 2:24 it says, "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work.  This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment"?  I wept last night thinking that my children would possibly grow up not knowing those simple freedoms.  To not be able to provide for their families as Godly men are called to do.  To not be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor as many generations that have come before them have been able to do.  To take away the most innate rights from any human being is just beyond wrong.   

All I know to do is to pray and trust God and to pray that His will be done, not ours.