April 30,2010 – Houston
The Houston Tea Party Society hosted an event at the Crowne Plaza Hotel to allow candidates for the 2010 Congressional Races in the Houston and Southeast Texas to participate and sign the Contract From America.    The event was open to all congressional Candidates in the South East Texas area including incumbents and challengers.

The Contract from America is self described as a grassroots-generated, crowd-sourced, bottom-up call for real economic conservative and good governance reform in Congress.   The initative was developed within the decentralized tea party and 912 movements. Ryan Hecker, a Houston Tea Party Society activist, developed the concept of creating a grassroots-generated call for reform prior to the April 15, 2009 Tax Day Tea Party rallies.

John Culberson (R ) of Texas District 7 was the only incumbent present for the signing.    The candidates in attendance included Libertarians Bruce West of the 8^th district, David Smith of the 2^nd District and Steve Susman of the 22^nd District.   Republican signers for the contract were John Faulk – District 18.

Congressional candidate David Smith, CD 2-TX

John Culberson was the first to sign the contract.   Before signing the contract, he took exception to the 9^th item which was to reduce pork.   The contract states that congress will not pass any earmarks until the budget is balanced and only then with a 2/3 majority vote.    Culberson declined to include that item and used a “Line item veto” with that rule.

All other candidates signed the contract without any exceptions or exemptions.   David Smith who is opposing Ted Poe of the 2^ndCongressional District, used his time to mention “Fiscal Responsibility is vital to our economy and our government.”   He also noted that he had been busy campaigning in a non-stop door to door campaign.

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Rep. Poe, we can’t capture the thousands of people who cross the border on the southern border of the United States because the members of the Committee on the Judiciary, the  Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law Membership, and the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security,  like YOU, keep giving retarded speeches that don’t do a damn thing except expel tons of CO₂, which Mr. Gore is so fond of exploiting.  Except maybe you can inflate your preening ego so you can try to keep attracting those 18-24 yr old females of whom you’re so fond… but I digress.

Rep. Poe Compares Immigrants To Grasshoppers

Besides Rep. Poe, you just voted to let Puerto Rico decide if they want to be annexed by voting YEA on one of the earlier votes for HR 2499, home to approximately 3.6 million people.  In fact, you were a co-sponsor of H.R. 2499.  Never mind the fact that Puerto Rico has had similar proposals on the ballot at least three times in the past 2o yrs and overwhelmingly turned it down EVERY time.

The median income (in 1999 dollars) for “households” is $14,412 and $16,543 for “families”.  Per capita income (in 1999 dollars) is $8,185; of all ages of Puerto Ricans, 48.2% have  income below the poverty level (in 1999 dollars) and an astounding 58.3% of related children under 18 yrs of age are living below the poverty level (in 1999 dollars).  [See U. S. Census Bureau income and poverty statistics in 1999 & 2000 for Puerto Rico.]

Only 46% of Puerto Ricans are employed.  (Ironically, “puerto rico” means “rich port” or “rich harbor.”)  Of the Puerto Ricans who are employed, nearly half of those salaried people work either directly or indirectly for the government.  Welfare payments (transfer payments) paid to individuals have increased drastically, skyrocketing from $69 million in 1968 to well over $8 billion in 2002.  One-fifth of the islanders’ personal income is received in the form of disability, unemployment, and welfare payments. “This massive social spending, which began in the 1970s and continues today, has resulted in severe domestic disinvestment in the economy. Domestic capital investment has declined from 32 percent of GDP in 1970 to 16 percent in 2000. This means that the Puerto Rican government, rather than supporting the creation of jobs and market incentives, relies primarily on tax-induced revenue and foreign investment for any growth in the island’s GDP.”

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HALC and Texas Property Rights Association members Barry Klein and Neal Meyer recently shared a minor, yet important win for Texas taxpayers via a major setback for Houston Metro.

Barry writes:

“Houston’s transit authority has been buying property, removing structures, relocating utilities and doing other kinds of preliminary construction in three corridors in anticipation of $900 million in grants to help fund the North and Southeast lines. It has now been announced by the Federal Transit Administration that it will not be help fund those two corridors until it is confident that Metro can afford to take on the projects and maintain its system. That might be never if the new lower sales tax projections hold true.”

Feds scold Metro and take action to protect taxpayers on rail lines

by Mark Greenblatt / 11 News Defenders
khou.com

HOUSTON — The Federal Transit Administration said it “won’t approve” federal funding right now on two light rail extensions proposed by Metro; until it can become confident the transit authority can afford to finish the jobs while still maintaining current service.

“In the interest of protecting the taxpayer, the FTA will not approve full funding grant agreements for the north and southeast corridor light rail projects until we are confident that Houston Metro can afford to build and operate these two new lines while maintaining its existing system,” said Paul Griffo of the FTA. Read the rest of this entry »

In the midst of economic depression, the for-profit trade-school industry is booming. Enrollment has grown 20% annually over the past two years, and some experts predict that revenue may increase as much as eightfold over the next decade. Entrepreneurs and economists alike would usually commend such a herculean performance and credit the basic laws of supply and demand at work; however, this growth has not been earned by free-market means such as innovation, efficiency, and accurate forecasting.

Instead, the giants of for-profit education have grown fat on a steady diet of government credit by cleverly maneuvering their way through a vast field of regulatory landmines to take advantage of federal-aid programs aimed at helping those they ultimately hurt — students. As expected, many have ignorantly aimed their weaponry at the profit motive, instead of unleashing their fury on the root cause: government interference in the market.

For-profit trade schools have long been marred by controversy stemming from questionable business practices and accusations of sub-par education. For example, only 16% of University of Phoenix students without prior college experience graduate within six years, compared to nearly 50% at traditional schools; moreover, Corinthian Colleges Inc., which owns Everest College, agreed to pay $6.5 million in 2007 to settle a lawsuit that claimed they engaged in false advertising by overstating starting-salary information. Unimpressive outcomes and multimillion dollar lawsuits have become synonymous with the for-profit trade school industry. Read the rest of this entry »

Enjoy the Switzerland of Central Asia

Can you find Kyrgyzstan on a map? Hint - it's in green, just northeast of Afghanistan.

I know many of you are psyched about the big Tea Party Rallies today, and I hope you have a great time and really show everyone the spirit of taking back your country.  I also hope you don’t run into any phony Tea Pary activists.  Hey, maybe you could carry a fold-up sign that says, “Phony Tea Party Activist” with a big arrow pointing to one side.  Than way, when some faker holds up a big sign for the camera with all sorts of swastikas and hate speech all over it to prank all the Tea Partiers, you could sneak up behind him and hold up your sign for the camera, pranking him.  It’d serve him right.

But if she gets there first, she gets to use her whip on him all the way back to the starting line.

But hey, all this organizing for freedom and liberty is hard work.  If it gets you down, you need a break.  You need to go to some nice, pleasant place to relax, unwind, and just get away from it all.

I recommend beautiful, sunny Kyrgyzstan.
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Houston Area Liberty Campaign

Fight property taxes. Be a part of this rally while Debra Medina speaks on the capitol steps. Details as to exact meeting location and more precise goals TBA …. http://www.meetup.com…

Houston, TX 77012 – USA

Thursday, April 15 at 4:00 PM

Details: http://www.meetup.com/Houston-Liberty/calendar/13068251/

Houston Area Liberty Campaign

Like last year, HALC will be involved in this year’s Tax Day rally, to be held at Discovery Green park in Downtown Houston. We will have a booth at the event and Al Jameson, HALC Chairman, will be speaking at the event.

We need 5 volunteers to help set up the event at 1pm on Thursday, April 15 and also to help us man our HALC booth from 4-8pm. We will be selling items such as T-shirts, copies of the Constitution, etc. as a fundraiser and also signing up people for our HALC mailing list, educating them about our organization, and inviting them to future meetings.

Please reply to this email if you can help with this event. Thank you to all the donors who covered the cost of us being at this rally. Let’s rekindle the flame of liberty together in the Houston area this year!

Houston, TX 77010 – USA

Thursday, April 15 at 4:00 PM

Attending: 7

Details: http://www.meetup.com/Houston-Liberty/calendar/13172159/

Houston Area Liberty Campaign

Time: April 15, 2010 from 2pm to 7pm
Location: Sam Houston Race Park
Street: 7575 North Sam Houston Parkway W.
City/Town: Houston, TX
Website or Map:http://www.thewoodlan…
Phone: 281.738.3272
Event Type: rally
Organized By: Suzanne Guggenheim of The Woodlands TEA Party.

The Campaign for David Smith will have a table at the rally. If you can help at the booth, circulating the crowd or holding/waving signs, please call David at 832.329.5313 or Lynda at 281.384.7365.

More details to follow!!

Houston, TX 77012 – USA

Thursday, April 15 at 2:00 PM

Details: http://www.meetup.com/Houston-Liberty/calendar/12918955/

Houston Area Liberty Campaign

Are you concerned about the effects of illegal immigration and amnesty on jobs, taxes, health care, border security, voter fraud and the national debt??

John McManus will reveal how illegal immigration affects you and your family in all of these ways, then presents Constitutional solutions.

Learn the vital role you can play in soliving the problem of illegal immigration and blocking any new amnesty legislation.

For more information, please call 281.391.3630.

Note: HALC does not officially endorse this event, but places it on its calendar as a courtesy to those of its members who may wish to attend.

Houston , TX 77024 – USA

Wednesday, April 14 at 7:30 PM

Attending: 3

Fee: Price: USD 15.00 per person

Details: http://www.meetup.com/Houston-Liberty/calendar/12948505/

FDA Grants Monopoly For Centuries-Old “New” Drug

They say that if you have your health, you have everything, and I’m sure glad that I don’t have a painful disease like gout.  Gout is a painful joint disease caused by buildup of uric acid in the blood.  About 75% of the time, people who come down with gout first find out about it when they get an extremely painful inflammation right at the base of the big toe.  Nowadays, when someone gets the gout, doctors usually treat it with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) like Advil or Aleve.  You can’t take aspirin for the gout…aspirin only makes it worse.

But what did doctors do before nifty drugs like these were invented?  Read the rest of this entry »