11.07.09
Ethics: Discipline for Moral Leadership
Ethic Defined by Moral Principles
People build everything on some foundation: houses, tall buildings, businesses, local churches and so on.
Here in the North Texas area we learn the importance of our homes’ foundations. Over time clay soil around here shrinks and expands as moisture content changes, moving concrete slabs, subsequently cracking walls, ceilings and floors. Uncorrected, the black land clay will eventually destroy a house.
If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Psalm 11:3
A convergence of life-preserving principles, first things, came to American soil in the hearts of persons persecuted for their Christian faith. To be sure, other reasons motivated Europeans to colonize America. We know from history books various peoples came for three essential purposes: religious freedom, economic prosperity and escape from tyrannical government. By the unseen hand of God, they three eventually became inextricably intertwined. However imperfect our genesis, however flawed our progress, the fame of American colonists became known around the world as a refuge from religious persecution and a safe haven from tyranny.
America in Decline
Some hold “the media” culpable for moral decline. Is that reasonable? What is the root cause of moral decline in our beloved country? These questions moved me to clarify my principles, to articulate them.
My four conservative principles:
- An uncompromising belief in the Right to Life
- Acceptance of personal responsibility
- Unwavering respect for the Constitution
- Insistence on small government
I do not hesitate to identify myself as a Christian who believes in the deity of Christ, the only begotten Son of God. Our founding fathers, ordinary men with an extraordinary God-given mission, believed as I do. Individually imperfect and incapable of constituting this nation; collectively anointed to fulfill the mission.
Rockwall Conservative Forum
Rockwall Conservative Forum exists solely to reinforce and restore societal foundations through education and enlightenment.
And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free. John 8:32
What is Truth? Well, I think the simplest answer I ever heard is this: “Truth is the way things really are”. Merriam Webster says, “conformity to reality or actuality”.
Our Journey to Truth
Discussion facilitators will educate us and engage us in conversation across a broad range of topics: the family institution, history, the Constitution, how the insurance industry works, how to insert ‘planks’ into the ‘platform’ of your political party, comparative religions, racial and societal reconciliation.
Along the way, we will discover the role of the four conservative principles in marriage, family, community and government.
Our first forum is a discussion about the state of the American family, divorce and how to strengthen families. Todd and Deven Smith serve full-time in the FamilyLife ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. My wife and I invest into this ministry because we believe strong, healthy families are one of the foundations of American society.
12.17.09
(TEXAS) TAXES HIGHWAYS: PAYING MORE FOR LESS
Texas Transportation Commission – Taxing by the Mile
Desperate Times Require Desperate Measures
Fact: TxDOT has not enough funding to build and repair our highways. For this reason, TxDOT requires local financial commitment before launching new road projects.
All major Rockwall County roads are in fact State highways and, although the smallest county of 254, we desperately need higher-capacity roadways to relieve burgeoning traffic that threatens to harm local commerce and our quality of life.
In2008 Rockwall County citizens voted to approve a 100 million-dollar bond package to widen and improve State Highways 740, 549, 276 and 66. As a member of the 2008 Road Bond Committee, I fully supported it. Our needs are obvious as is TxDOT’s lack of funding.
Show Me the Money!
Back in the sixties gasoline cost roughly 25 cents per gallon and fuel tax was 9 cents per gallon. Here these many years later, practically all prices have inflated ten times: gasoline is $2.50 per gallon, modest homes are $100,000 vs. $10,000 back then.
If all costs followed the same linear increase, fuel taxes would now be 90 cents per gallon. Present fuel tax includes 18 cents Federal tax and 20 cents State tax. Out of the 20 cents, 15 cents goes to TxDOT. A fraction of the 18-cent Federal tax returns to the State of Texas.
So where does all our fuel tax money go? The Feds get their big share, bureaucratic inefficiency gets its pound of flesh, but here is the big one: 25% is siphoned off for school funding. (see diagram below)
Socialistic “re-distribution” of State funds began with the 1993 “Robin Hood” Senate Bill 7.
Roads Scholarship
As gasoline fuel price increases we see a corresponding decline in its purchase, due in part to simple family economics and due in large part to more fuel-efficient vehicles. Therefore, the things we do to reduce our day to day cost of living dramatically affect highway funding.
In light of our current (2009) economic outlook, dampened by multi-trillion dollar national debt, inflation and rising unemployment, TxDOT is quickly running out of money. If so, who will pay for Rockwall County State highways? I suggest we, the citizens of Rockwall County will be stuck with the entire bill. If that happens, our property tax will go sky-high.
Back on Track – Mileage Charge
My simple mind reasons that we already pay by the mile. Where does all that gasoline and diesel go? It powers our vehicles – there is a direct correlation between the miles we drive and the amount of fuels we buy. Does the mileage charge penalize fuel-efficient vehicles? I don’t like it.
Sen. John Carona proposes increasing fuel tax that has not changed since 1991. However, will increasing fuel tax become the object of plunder by our State Legislature?
What Will YOU Do?
Your State Representative and Senator need to hear from you. Do you favor a mileage tax? Do you believe we have a critical need for roads? Is it reasonable to increase the fuel tax while assuring the increase goes 100% to TxDOT?
12.06.09
CARBON DIOXIDE: VITAL TO ALL LIFE
WHAT IS CO2?
- Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is a colorless, odorless gas Read More from Vaisala Corporation …
- Tropospheric concentration runs between 384 to 420 ppm
- Protects by delaying advance of next ice age Read more about When greenhouse gas meets ice age…
- CO2 is heavier than air with specific gravity of 1.56 (air at 1.0 and methane (CH4) at .5537) Read more about the specific gravity of gasses…
WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF ATMOSPHERIC CO2?
- According to Columbia University, the primary source of carbon/CO2 is out gassing from the Earth’s interior at mid-ocean ridges. Hotspot volcanoes and subduction-related volcanic arcs. Read more about the carbon cycle…
- The Himalayas: a powerful CO2 pump Read more from the National Center for Scientific Research…
- Chinese industry – melting the Himalaya ice cap Read more from the
Guardian… - About 3% from human activity Read more … (maybe – skepticism on my part)
WHAT ROLE DOES CO2 PLAY IN HUMAN LIFE?
- Every living thing is made up of carbon Read more about why carbon is important to life …
- Carbon dioxide is the gas that animals (including humans) exhale. It is a food for plants and without it no plant can grow. Read more about Carbon Dioxide and Man…
- Our food sources depend on essential carbon dioxide Read more about photosynthesis…
- Protects life from a global ice cover, if proponents of anthropogenic global warming are right.
- CO2 Essential to production of O2
- Ozone (O3) is a form of Oxygen (O2) that creates a thin layer in the stratosphere where it blocks harmful ultraviolet rays. Read more about The Earth’s Atmosphere …
- A mature leafy tree produces as much oxygen in a season as 10 people breathe. Read Top 10 Reasons Why Trees Are Valuable and Important…
- Russian forests are “oxygen bag” for Europe. Vast Russian forests produce approximately 15%, or more, of
the world’s O2. Read more Climate Ark…
IS CO2 CONCENTRATION A CAUSE OR EFFECT?
- According to geologic record, ever since the Pre-Cambrian, ice ages have occurred at widely spaced intervals of geologic time – approximately 200 million years – lasting for millions. During the present ice age, glaciers have advanced and retreated over 20 times, often blanketing North America with ice. Our climate today is actually a warm interval between these many periods of glaciations. Read more from NPR report The Big Chill…
- Research said to prove that greenhouse gasses cause climate change has been condemned as a sham by scientists. Read more from MailOnline Greenhouse effect is a myth, say scientists…
- The oldest geologic sediments suggest that (before mankind existed) atmospheric concentration may have been one-hundred times that of the present Read more about The Carbon Cycle from NASA…
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?
- Global warming and global cooling cycles have predictable recurrence. What caused global warming the other 19 times when human and domesticated animal population was almost non-existent?
- A growing global population certainly requires a growing supply of oxygen. Trees and plants produce oxygen; carbon-dioxide is food for the trees and plants. Does it make sense that we need CO2 to sustain life on Earth?
- What do you think about anthropogenic (man-caused) global warming?
- If, as many scientists say, we are moving into another ice age when glaciers will again cover the North American continent (20th time), should we produce more “greenhouse gasses” to preserve mankind?
12.04.09
Senator John Cornyn: David Hamilton Unfit For Bench
Dear Mr. and Mrs. White:
Thank you for your recent letter regarding my opposition to Judge David Hamilton’s nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. I appreciate having the benefit of your comments on this important issue.
I voted against Judge David Hamilton’s confirmation to serve on the United States Court of Appeals. After close review, I believe his writings and statements show an unwillingness to serve as a neutral arbiter of the law. In numerous opinions written during his tenure on the District Court, Judge Hamilton has displayed a lack of impartiality, a disregard for precedent, and a willingness to legislate from the bench.
For instance, in striking down Indiana’s popularly enacted informed-consent abortion law, Judge Hamilton radically ruled in A Woman’s Choice v. Newton that the law unconstitutionally
Seal of the United States Court of Appeals
imposed an ‘undue burden’ on the right to an abortion because it allegedly forced ‘women to make two trips to a clinic.’ In making this ruling, Judge Hamilton flaunted the directly applicable precedents of the Supreme Court and the Seventh Circuit. He also, according to Seventh Circuit opinion that reversed his ruling, relied on a ‘faulty study by biased researchers who operated in a vacuum of speculation.’
As a former Texas Supreme Court Justice and Texas Attorney General, I believe Americans are best served by a federal judiciary as the framers of the Constitution intended. Federal judges are appointed for life; thus it is imperative that nominees demonstrate a record of wise judgment and proven legal ability. Additionally, nominees must prove that they will not legislate from the bench or color their rulings with personal ideology. I believe that such requirements will ensure the preservation of our Constitution and safeguard the principles that we hold dear. Accordingly, I voted “no” on the confirmation of Judge David Hamilton.
I appreciate having the opportunity to represent Texans in the United States Senate. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.
Sincerely,
JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator
517 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-2934
Fax: (202) 228-2856
http://www.cornyn.senate.gov
12.02.09
Rockwall Conservative Forum: Worldview shapes the world around you
Our Teacher
Jan Moreland, born and raised in “Motown” (Detroit), graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Michigan State University. She majored in Secondary English Education and minored in Political Science. Later, she earned Master of Arts in Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas where she majored in Comparative Literature and minored in Aesthetic Studies.
Over her teaching career, she served in the Richardson ISD, Plano ISD and Rockwall ISD where she taught Pre-AP English II and in the Gifted and Talented Humanities
program. Over the years, she taught middle-school and high-school students, and college freshman English at El Centro Community College in downtown Dallas.
Charles Colson’s Prison Fellowship Ministry, Breakpoint Ministries division, tapped her for the 2007 Centurion Program, “…designed to equip 100 men and women each year to defend Truth in an age when too many are throwing down their weapons.”
She and her husband Bruce (owner of Carpet Outlets of Texas) are the proud parents of Michael Scott Moreland of Carrollton. Jan and Bruce enjoy international travel that has taken them to Australia, Russia, and the Scandinavian countries. They are frequent visitors to France and Canada. Together they collect antiques.
Jan is a voracious reader of literary classics, Biblical worldview, politics and current events. She is an active member of Delta Kappa Gamma society of women educators. She serves as volunteer after-school tutor at the Lake Rockwall Estates Community Center and leads women’s Bible study classes. (Personal note: my wife and daughter attend her Rockwall class.)
Presentation
Jan will contrast contemporary competing worldviews affecting American society: Biblical, naturalistic and Islamic. The objective is to prepare us to shape, or re-shape, the world around us.
Come prepared for a transformative experience.
Rockwall Conservative Forum
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=168538131440
Location La Madeleine Restaurant – meeting room in rear
987 East I-30, Rockwall, TX 75087
(972) 772-6650
Date Saturday, December 5
Time 9:00 to 10:00 AM
Special instructions Parking is free and abundant. Please arrive early to purchase your favorite breakfast and beverage. The presentation starts promptly at 9 and ends promptly at 10.
Cost There is never a fee. Your only expense is for your personal breakfast and there are never any dues.
Questions? Call John White or Frances White at 972-771-3514
Mirror Site MyFoxDFW.com-Timeonhands
11.30.09
HONDURAS: DEMOCRACY PREVAILS
ELECTION RESULTS – 29 NOV 2009
According to exit polls, opposition party candidate Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo received 55% of ballots cast. His National Party enjoyed a massive voter turnout despite Mel Zelaya’s appeal to Hondurans to boycott elections.
CHAVISTAS CHAPPED
Observers expect Mel Zelaya to seek exile in neighboring Nicaragua after the new president assumes office in January. Honduran voters clearly and definitively rejected the leftist interference by Hugo Chavez.
Chavez conspired with former president Mel Zelaya to hold an illegal referendum on a second term for Zelaya using counterfeit ballots printed in Venezuela.
The Honduran constitution limits presidents to one term in office – what an idea for America!
OBAMA & CO. REBUFFED
Initially, President Obama, along with Castro, Chavez and other leftist South American leaders, demanded reinstatement of Zelaya as president, but the Honduran government resisted such pressure at their own peril as foreign aid and tourism suffered.
For the record, the ruling party that ousted Zelaya was his own political party that worked in agreement with the Supreme Court and the country’s military leaders to rid themselves of a “Chavista” who sought to overturn their democratic government.
11.29.09
OBAMA: NO LAUGHING MATTER
Confession Time
Sure, I have shared around the internet satirical and humorous tidbits that place the president’s shenanigans in the public spotlight. It is true, I laughed along with the rest of you at trite phrases like “change you can believe in”. Perhaps most ubiquitous is the LOL (laugh out loud) logo that mocks the president’s star-spangled ‘O’ public relations campaign.
No Laughing Matter
In light of impending disastrous legislation like the Democrats’ health care bill and the ‘cap and trade’ carbon tax, two constitutional blunders likely to destroy not only the American economy, but also the global economy, reasonable Americans slowly awaken to reality: we rapidly approach the point of no return.
Time for Partisanship
Democrats think they own the black vote. They also believe they own the Hispanic vote. They even believe they own the woman vote. Just to set the record straight – THEY DON’T OWN ANYTHING! But, they have successfully deceived and seduced a lot of gullible Americans. How did this happen?
Well, when Republicans tax and spend like Democrats, the two parties simply seem to be equally inept and corrupt. Although I voted for President George Bush, he greatly disappointed me with his eagerness to run with socialist programs and deficit spending. For the record, I am a Republican.
Third-Party Thumping
Historically third-party candidates have significantly influenced electoral outcomes they have never won the office of president and third-party candidates have not significantly challenged mainline candidates for either the US Senate or the US House of Representatives.
Ross Perot and his exuberant Reform Party garnered the highest ever percentage of the popular vote, but they won no electoral votes, the votes that count in the presidential race. Indeed, I believe Perot ran only to spoil the re-election chances of President George Herbert Walker Bush. At the end of the day we older folk remember trite Perot-isms like “the giant sucking sound as jobs go south” and “war has rules, mud wrestling has rules – politics has no rules”. Perot was a leader, a maverick leader, unfortunately. I say ‘unfortunately’ because he diluted the Republican vote and discredited President Bush whom he resented for denying him access to top-secret information. The outcome? President Bill Clinton. By no means do I impugn his patriotism. Ross Perot loves America. He championed the cause of MIA’s and valiantly rescued EDS employees held hostage by Iranian Islamist captors.
GOP: Natural Home for Conservatives
Agitated, activist conservatives, many who never became involved in political campaigns before, no longer sit idly by while ‘ivory tower’ Republican leadership picks candidates for the top jobs. We coalesced around the theme of Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Party events, demanding new leadership and adherence to conservative principles. They are people like me. Rockwall County conservatives united at two TEA parties that I organized. I quickly point out that I only organized the TEA parties; it was the valuable contributions of speakers, Tom Taylor’s sound system and professional skills, and support from local and state Republican leaders that made the April 15th and July 4th events successful.
I strongly encourage GOP leaders to build their ‘Big Tent’ with room for TEA Party conservatives instead of following the business-as-usual approach of trying to appeal to liberal Democrats.
According to a national Gallup Poll, 40% of Americans interviewed call themselves conservative. We conservatives are the “single-largest ideological group” in America.
I invite Republican club members and Republican leaders to get out of the box and get to know conservatives in their respective communities. I likewise invite my fellow conservatives to join and participate in local Republican Party clubs. The word ‘influence’ derives from Latin: to flow in. You cannot be influential if you do not have a presence among people.
Failure Is Not an Option
If the GOP ignores the conservatives, the party invites disastrous third-party candidacies. We Americans are in crisis. I understand the Chinese symbolic compound meaning for crisis is “danger and opportunity”.
Danger – if we do not reverse our political slide into the abyss of socialism now, we will never recover.
Opportunity – united conservatives can revitalize the Grand Old Party, the Republican Party to restore Constitutional Rule of Law and fiscal sanity.
Action
JOIN your local Republican clubs, VOTE Republican in the March primaries, PARTICIPATE in Post-primary Republican precinct caucuses where you can PROPOSE PLANKS for the Republican Party platform, and COMMUNICATE with your elected representatives.
Rockwall County Republican Party – online community
Contact: RockwallCounty@gopzone.net
Headquarters – 105 South San Jacinto Street, Rockwall, Texas 75087, 972.771.9195
Rockwall County Republican Men’s Club
Tony Hayes, President
Meets every second Saturday, Harry Myers Park Recreation Center
8:00 AM to 9:30 AM
Rockwall County Republican Women’s Club
Brenda Zielke, President
Meets monthly
Contact: rcrwtexas@gmail.com
Rockwall County Young Republicans
Aaron Moore, President
Meets monthly
Contact: amooreyr@yahoo.com
972.489.3648
11.12.09
Squeaky Wheel Training: Power to the People!
If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. Mark Twain
Frustrated?Are you frustrated over current events, as elected representatives apparently misrepresent your values and your wishes? Do you feel powerless to stop the madness destroying America? YOU can make a difference. “Squeaky Wheel” TrainingRockwall County Republican Women’s Club has a solution for you – knowledge. In only a few hours you will acquire vital skills with which you can “turn the world upside down”. PresenterState Republican Executive Committeewoman SD 24 and TFRW 1st Vice President “Empowering the People” Training Content
LocationRockwall County Library Meeting Room 1215 E. Yellowjacket, Rockwall , Texas 75087 DateSaturday, November 21, 2009 Time10:30 AM to 11:00 AM – Coffee 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM – Conference Program CostNo charge for the training. Questions?Contact Lea Carlson, RCRW VP for Programs (214) 507-4482 See you there! Bring your friends! There is no charge for the training. Debra W. Harper RCRW PRESIDENT 2009 |









