Senator Ted Cruz: #STAND4LIFE

Senator Ted Cruz gives a compelling address at National Right to Life:



Highlights:

•  The Declaration of Independence puts life first for a reason.

• Led the fight to defend Parental notification in front of the Supreme Court and won unanimously.

• Basically, he's kicked Planned Parenthood's butt multiple times in Court.

• Dems Gosnell counter-resolution condemned 'unsanitary health care conditions."

• "The U.S. Senate under Harry Reid has no interest whatsoever in even knowing what's going on."

• "The Obama administration with much fanfare repealed the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, yet sadly that seems to be their policy when it comes to late-term abortions."

• "When Rand Paul stood up to filibuster Barack Obama's drone policy, and when we stood up beside him, we were filibustering to protect the sanctity of unborn life from arbitrary government destruction; when Austin Democrats stood together in their filibuster, they were filibustering the ability to carry out late term abortions, to protect the ability to take unborn lives."

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History Lesson: Joe Straus and Planned Parenthood

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.
Proverbs 29:2

Heading into the second special session of the 83rd Texas Legislature, Cahnman's Musings is thrilled to see how many ideologically sympathetic Christians are paying detailed attention for the first time.  This type of civic stewardship has been missing in America for a long time.  Welcome.

Cahnman's Musings feels led to warn you about the political games that get played in the Texas Legislature.  The Texas Legislature, especially the Republican leadership of the Texas House, loves to talk a big game while working behind the scenes to maintain the status quo.  Behind most of the shenanigans, you find Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R - Lobbyists San Antonio).

And Joe Straus has a long history with Planned Parenthood.

During the 1990's, Straus' wife served on the board for the San Antonio chapter of Planned Parenthood.  In 2007, Straus co-authored sex-ed legislation that was supported by Planned Parenthood.  In 2008, Planned Parenthood donated money to Straus' re-election campaign.  In 2009, Planned Parenthood thanked Straus for his efforts (after he had become speaker).  Just yesterday, Straus sided with Wendy Davis over Governor Perry.

During the first special session, there was speculation that Straus was working to delay the bill.  Who knows?!?  But it does seem strange that a shrewd legislative tactician like Joe Straus would mismanage the calendar by accident.

As a Christian, we believe in grace.  But as a Reaganite, we also believe in 'trust but verify.'  It is time for the Republican leadership in the Texas House to verify.

Babies lives are at stake.  This is no time for political games from the Republican leadership of the Texas House. Cahnman's Musings will be watching.

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Only one quarter of Wendy Davis' online support came from Texas

So says Wired Magazine:

From the Article:

The map above, created by the academic research group Floating Sheep, shows that while the volume of Twitter activity for #StandWithWendy was—naturally—greatest in Texas itself (nearly 29 percent of all tweets), there was also quite a bit of chatter coming out of places like New York state (8 percent), California (12 percent) and even places like Illinois (4 percent). 

That should tell you everything you need to know about the 'emerging groundswell in Texas' narrative.

(h/t Progress Texas' Facebook)

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Austin ISD backs down on 'Domestic Partner' benefits

An interesting development:

Highlights:

• On Thursday, AISD announced to staff home on summer break that it would not offer domestic partnership benefits as promised since March. Open enrollment is set for July first. 

• Domestic partnership doesn't just affect those in the LGBT community, but heterosexual couples who live together.

• In a letter sent to staff, district official sites the Attorney General's opinion issued back on April 29 that "a school district would violate the Texas constitution if the health plan is determined to create or recognize a legal status that is similar to marriage.

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Team Dewhurst's Gift to a Hostile Media

Last night, in an interview with Hot Air, Lt. Governor Dewhurst made the following asinine statement:

“We have reports, and I have my staff taking a look at the video,” Dewhurst explained, “and if I find, as I’ve been told, examples of the media waving and trying to inflame the crowd, incite them in the direction of a riot, I’m going to take action against them.” Dewhurst continued, “We take a democratic policy seriously.” I asked whether Dewhurst could confirm whether members of the media took part in pushing the demonstration forward. “We have reports that members of the media on the floor, on the floor of the Senate, were looking up at the people in the gallery, waving their hands, trying to motivate them to yell more,” he replied. “If I find examples of that, proof certain on our video,” Dewhurst warned, “I’m going to address this firmly.”

 Which, predictably, the media used to portray Dewhurst as some sort of tyrant.

Austin Chronicle: Dewhurst versus the First Amendment:

In the collective mind of the GOP, who were the people who shouted down the backdoor abortion ban in Senate Bill 5? First, it was feminazis. Then it was communists. Then Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst blamed (for a few brief hours) the Texas legislative press corps.

This gem came about yesterday when the Dew called in to the Ed Morrissey Show: He's one of the talking heads on Hot Air, the right wing noise machine founded by Michelle Malkin.

....

This would all seem vaguely farcical, if the right wasn't already trying to target the press. For example, conservative think tank Empower Texans was taking baseless pot shots at Erica Grieder of Texas Monthly for alleged bias when she Tweeted "If asked to choose between decorum and my fellow Texans, I will choose Texans every time, on ANY issue."

 Dallas Morning News: Will Dewhurst have Texas Press Corps arrested?!?

Lt. Gov David Dewhurst says his office is reviewing video of the Senate filibuster and  protest that doomed an abortion bill to see if the media should be arrested. Dewhurst told a conservative web site that he suspects reporters were complicit in inciting a riot. He offered no evidence, but said his staff is looking over the tapes of the final, chaotic night last Tuesday.

 This was a sloppy, unforced error on the part of Team Dewhurst.  It's not a secret that the pro-abortion forces are trying to portray themselves standing against some alleged abuse of power.  Team Dewhurst shouldn't make their job easier.

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JoAnn Fleming: We have forgotten the meaning of Stewardship

Last Saturday, before the chaos erupted at the Capitol, Cahnman's Musings attended the Our Nation Campaign Prayer and Unity event at the Texas Capitol.  JoAnn Fleming was one of the speakers.  This is a message every believer needs to hear:



Highlights:

•  "As Christians, we have forgotten what stewardship means."

• God doesn't care how right you are on an issue if you don't speak the truth in the right way at the right time and in the right spirit.

• "Stewardship is about understanding that everything we have belongs to the Lord; the tax dollars they spend in this building [the Texas Capitol] belong to the Lord.  So when politicians waste money, they're wasting God's money.  Until you understand what stewardship is, you really can't understand the right way to make decisions about spending other people's money."

• We've got to demand more of our elected officials based not on politics, but on stewardship.

• God is greater than any giants that get in the way.

• "I would ask you today to pray for our state.  Out state is not nearly as strong as people would lead you to believe.  We have abandoned the principle of living debt-free in the state of Texas.  We will probably end this special session without the pro-life legislation being passed because of games by the people who put the political games together...God have mercy on us and on those men.

• We are to pray for those in authority over us; there is no fine print that says 'if they agree with you.'

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BOOK REVIEW: "The People, The Preachers, and the Politicans" by Pastor Dan Cummins

'Then she made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.” '

1 Samuel 1:11 

The other day, we read The People, The Preachers, and the Politicians, by Pastor Dan Cummins.  It was a quick and informative read that re-enforces a point we've made recently.  If Americans (or at least Texans) take care of the things God cares about, then He will take care of the things we care about.

The book is a national call to repentance.  It focuses on Ancient Israel at the end of the era of Judges.  At the time, the nation was weak from internal corruption; as Cummins writes:

 The nation was engaged in a war on terror, the moral failure of a politically correct clergy was scandalous, judges were ruling for political and monetary gain, God's presence was absent in the town square and the Ten Commandments...literally gone...SOUND FAMILIAR?!? (18)

In the midst of calamity, one woman's prayer (the prophet Samuel's mother Hannah) helped birth a national revival.  The prophet Samuel anointed King David, a (mostly) godly man who led Israel to her greatest prosperity.

As a national call to repentance, the book is similar to the Harbinger, though the two books focus on different eras in Israel's history.  The similarities between the United States today and Ancient Israel is obvious to anyone who knows the Old Testament.  Cummins details the corruption in the people of both societies, our religious leaders, and our civil government in eye opening form.  Both societies drifted from their spiritual foundation and both suffered similar consequences.  The question is what are going to do about it?!?

The answer is to pray, repent, and get to work doing His business.  If we do that, He'll take care of the rest.  Heading into this next special session, that means we need to focus on passing pro-life legislation and trust Him to take care of the economy.

America is out of what because our vertical relationship with God is out of whack.  Our nation is suffering because we've drifted from God.  If we return to Him, He will take care of the rest.

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Alinsky in Austin

"Present arrangements must be disorganized if they are to be displaced by new patterns that provide the opportunities and means for citizen participation.  All change means disorganization of the old and organization of the new....The organizer dedicated to changing the life of a particular community must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression....An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontent; provide a channel into which the people can angrily pour their frustration."

Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals, p. 116-7.

(Author's note: We were in the Capitol Tuesday night; this piece is based on our observations but should not be taken as any sort of definitive factual statement.)

Tuesday night, Saul Alinsky showed up in Austin wearing pink sneakers.

It was a weird night.  We didn't feel comfortable in that crowd, but neither did we feel in danger.  It was a tragically fascinating event to watch.

There's been a lot of speculation about what Wendy Davis hoped to accomplish with her filibuster.  She knew Governor Perry would call  the legislature back into town to pass the legislation.  That's already happened.

We think the Alinksy quote explains Davis' actions.  It's not secret that the left wants to take over Texas and that they need people to give them their contact info to succeed.  Davis' filibuster was designed to make people angry enough to show up and give their e-mail address to Battleground Texas.

This was an interesting opening gambit from Battleground Texas....

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On Religious Liberty in Texas

“Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Matthew 22:21

Cahnman's Musings wasn't planning to comment on yesterday's Supreme Court rulings related to homosexual 'marriage.'  Spiritual deception runs deep on this topic and it's easy for words to be twisted.  We can get in enough trouble warning about the perils of opposite sex promiscuity.

Then the Governor called another special session.

During the general session, there was talk of amending the Texas constitution to protect Religious freedom.  The bill died in committee.  Now is a good time to bring it back.

Homosexual 'marriage' has nothing to do with freedom or love.  Homosexual 'marriage' is the camel's nose under the tent of government censorship of Churches.  Once homosexual 'marriage' receives legal protection, it gives activist groups a new weapon to bludgeon Churches.  That's what happened in Canada and Denmark.  Something similar has already begun in New Mexico.

Yesterday, the organized homosexual movement spoke openly about where they intend to take Texas:

“The first stop is to pass a statewide fair employment act, and then to move on freedom to marry. More than 90% of businesses already have policies protecting LGBT workers, but Texas’ increasing reputation as a hostile place for certain groups is a threat to economic development.” As for marriage, “It would take 100 votes in the House to repeal the constitutional ban, and 75 to repeal Texas’ statutory marriage ban, both of which must go for marriage equality to be possible in Texas. We need the votes. It will take time and lots of work, but we’ll get there."

We already have a special session called.  We already have the votes.  While we're discussing issues related to God's word vs. the folly of man, we ought to bring back the religious liberty amendment.

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How Perry can call Wendy Davis' Bluff

Last night, during her filibuster, Wendy Davis made all sorts of references to women's health; for example:

This is a war on women's health in this state," Davis said.  "Partisanship and ambition are not unusual in a state capitol...(but) right here, in Texas, right now, it has risen to a level of profound irresponsibility and the raw abuse of power.  The actions intended by our state's leaders hurt Texas.  They hurt Texas women and families.

Blah x3.

With another special session likely, Cahnman's Musings has a proposal to those who want to talk about some so-called war on women.

During the General Session, Rep. Bill Zedler (R - Tarrant County) filed a bill that would ban Sharia law in the state of Texas. If the Democrats want to advance this war on women BS, we ought to highlight their perversity.  Governor Perry can add the Sharia law ban to the call for the next special session.

(Author's Note: Zedler's bill would also protect Texas from various U.N. Shenanigans.)

You want to talk war on Women?!?  Fine, let's talk war on Women.

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On Spiritual Deception at the Texas Capitol

^"You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor^[a] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,^{[b] 45} that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet your brethren^[c] only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors^[d] do so? ⁴⁸ Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."
Matthew 5:43-48

Last night, Cahnman's Musings was on the ground at the Texas State Capitol.  We arrived at 5:45 pm and left shortly before 1 am.  We were right outside the Texas Senate chamber when the closing events took place.

One observation stands out: heartbreaking spiritual deception.

The pro-life movement does a disservice to ourselves if we portray last night's mob as mind-numbed robots; they weren't.  That mob was thousands of individuals acting together out of their own free will.  And that's much, much worse.

The root cause of last night's activities was spiritual deception over sex.  Regular readers know this is a topic we've discussed extensively.  In March 2012, we outlined the problem.  Last November, we identified a solution.  As we wrote:

Free stuff is the symptom, promiscuity is the disease.  People voted to maintain their sex lives.

 Substitute 'abortion' for 'free stuff' and 'showed up at the Capitol' for 'voted' and you've got a fitting description of last night's crowd.

And that's heartbreaking.

There's only one solution, and that's prayer.  A critical mass of (mostly, but not exclusively, younger) Texans believe the United States Constitution endows them with a right to consequence free sex.  They've bought the lie of 'sexual freedom' hook, line, and sinker.  And that's tragic.  But last night's events were a political manifestation of a spiritual problem, and it requires a spiritual solution.

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On Stewardship and the Black Robe Regiment: An Open Letter to Tarrant County Pastors

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
Joshua 1:9 

"But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand."
Ezekiel 33:6 

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."
Hosea 4:6 

Gentlemen,

I'm writing you from deep behind the pro-abortion lines at the Texas State Capitol.  As I write this, Texas State Senator Wendy Davis is an hour and a half away from successfully filibustering the pro-life omnibus bill.  Whatever happens on this legislation, however, one thing is obvious.

We need to have a conversation about stewardship.

While God is sovereign over this world, He also expects us to act as prudent and wise managers of all that He entrusts us with.  That includes our votes.  And Christians in Tarrant County have been terrible stewards of the votes God has given them.

In 2012, Wendy Davis won re-election by barely 6000 votes.

And that's where you come in.  Your flocks allowed Wendy Davis to squeak through last year.  50% of Christians don't vote nationally, and I suspect the numbers are similar for your own congregations.

Fortunately, God is graceful.  He will forgive us for allowing things to get this far.  The question is: what  now?!?  Now that you know that this Texas Senator was elected out of YOUR community by barely 6000 votes, what are you going to do about it?!?  As Christian leaders and men of God, it is your duty to inform your flock.

This revolution begins in the pulpit.

Sincerely,
Adam Cahn
Texas State Capitol
Austin, TX
June 25, 2013
10:33 pm

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Wendy Davis Does Not Speak for Me

From Konni Burton, Wendy Davis's likely 2014 opponent:

Right now on the Senate floor, Wendy Davis is filibustering a bill that, if passed, will protect those among us that cannot speak for themselves. Those that do not have a voice. The innocent. The unborn.

Wendy Davis is holding that bill hostage so that it does not pass. She wants the world to think she's doing this to stand for "women" and "families". That, my friends, is the height of hypocrisy. So typical of a politician - to use something like this for political gain.

I say... enough. Wendy Davis does NOT speak for me.

Pass it on.

#WendyDavisdoesnotspeakforme

 Amen.

You can donate to Konni's campaign here.

-----

In other Tarrant County news related to this filibuster, several conservative members of the Tarrant County House delegation released the following statement this morning:

TARRANT CONSERVATIVE MEMBERS RESPOND TO WENDY DAVIS’S REQUEST

“Delivering 84,610 blank letters representing those letters that will never be written”

(Austin, TX) In response to Senator Wendy Davis’s request for citizens to send in their stories for her to read during her filibuster on the Senate floor, Conservative Representatives from Tarrant County decided to answer her call Tuesday afternoon by delivering 84,610 blank sheets of paper. Each piece represented a child’s life that was ended in 2011, the most recent year of abortion statistics in Texas.

Texas State Representative Jonathan Stickland commented on the letters, saying “It is my hope and prayer  that Senator Davis would recognize all of the letters that will never be written due to the tragedy of abortion today.”

Referring to the ambulatory services center portion of the legislation, Representative Klick said, “Senate Bill 5 raises the standard of health care for Texas women, but Senator Davis claims it is somehow a ‘war on women’.  Tarrant County constituents know better.  This is simply a political stunt aimed at the far left of the Democratic Party.”

Representative Capriglione said, “I will never meet thousands of my potential constituents - men and women who, instead of serving our great state, have been taken by the tragedy of abortion.”

Representative Krause explained the significance of the letters saying, “As a father of three, the thought of how many innocent pre-born children are denied the most basic right to life every year in Texas is both alarming and heartbreaking. It is my sincerest belief that every life is unique and special, and it is our duty as Americans to defend and advocate for the most fragile and helpless of our society."

Representative Zedler called on Senator Davis saying, “Wendy Davis does not represent the voters of Tarrant County by her actions today. She’s playing political games with the lives of Texans who deserve protection.” 

####

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Wendy Davis Actually Said This

Wendy Davis has been filibustering for four hours and she's already saying absurd things; from the Facebook page of Concerned Women for America's Associate State Director Michelle Smith:

"I use to be so proud to be a Texan, but now if you've got a uterus you've got to leave that state?"

 This thing still has eight and a half hours to go; pray for Wendy Davis to have a repentant soul and overflowing bladder.

And Pray it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

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Testing YOUR Leadership: An Open Letter to Lt. Governor David Dewhurst

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
Joshua 1:9

"For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb. 
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;^[a]
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well."
Psalm 139:13-14

"So we may boldly say:

“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?”

Hebrews 13:6 

The Honorable David Dewhurst.

Dear Mr. Lieutenant Governor,

SB 5 is coming back to the Texas Senate.  Obviously, Wendy Davis and the Democrats are going to attempt a filibuster.  This bill must pass, and it's up to you.

 The Texas Legislature loves to pass the buck.  That's not acceptable on this bill.  Babies lives are at stake.

The entrenched power of business-as-usual has been the great frustration of the 83rd Texas Legislature.  While the causes are many, no one in leadership has stood up.  This is true for the Governor and it's true for you as well.

Here's your chance.  The business as usual forces have lined up against this bill.  Will you defend babies or will you make typical Texas Legislature excuses?!?

 SB 5 needs to reach the Governor's desk.  You have the votes.  Make it happen; no excuses.

Sincerely,

Adam Cahn

Austin, TX

June 24, 2013

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Texas House Stalling on Pro-Life Legislation

 

Cahnman's Musings is currently sitting in the gallery of the Texas State House.  The House was allegedly supposed to take up pro-life legislation today.  At the moment, the House has spent the last hour and a half on a point of order for an unrelated bill.  This is an obvious stall tactic designed to kill the pro-life bills.  Keep praying for righteousness and truth to sweep this body.

1 Peter 5:7

Update: House Adjourns until 6:20 pm

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Pastor Stephen Broden: God and Country 2012

Cahnman's Musings got to see Pastor Broden speak earlier today; the video from that event isn't online yet, so, for now, enjoy this speech he gave last year:



Highlights:

• The seeding ground for what we face today took place in the 18th and 19th centuries.

• "America is like a healthy body, it's resistence is three-fold: it's patirotism, its morality, and its spiritual life; if we can undermine these three things, America will collapse from within." Joseph Stalin

• God keeps bringing back 'social' issues; we won't fix the economy until we get 'social' issues right.

• Banhoeffer was speaking to the Church.

• You can't speak of American exceptionalism outside of our Judeo-Christian heritage; American exceptionalism is a result of our Judeo-Christian heritage.

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Progress Texas: Democrat Push Poll Finds Result Democrats Like

Well huzzah:

Bipartisan Poll: Texas Voters Oppose Abortion Legislation

Screams the headline from Progress Texas; reading further, we learn:

“This overwhelming opposition proves that Gov. Perry and the legislature are out of touch and out of control,” said Katrina Mendiola, Executive Director of Engage Texas, a non-partisan organization aimed at increasing civic engagement.

 And who, pray tell, is Engage Texas?!?

Engage Texas is a 501c4 organization that works behind the scenes to coordinate, organize and help seek funding for nonprofits that share progressive goals, but because of campaign finance laws they can not work directly with the Democratic Party. Their communications for partner organizations comes largely through Progress Texas.

 The poll itself was conducted by Stan Greenberg, a.k.a. Bill Clinton's pollster, and contains such gems of questions as:

• Women's access to health care is being threatened in Texas....agree or disagree?!?
• A special session of the legislature should focus on issues like education, jobs, and the economy, instead of bringing up social issues like abortion that were already addressed in the regular session of the legislature
• I trust Governor Perry and the state legislature to make decisions about women's healthcare.

In other words, when you use dishonest language to discuss abortion, you can get results Democrats like; that's not news.

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Senator Ted Cruz: The "Wimpy" Immigration Bill

Agreed:

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The Psychology of Capital Cities

Weston Hicks has a phenomenal piece (*) at Agendawise.  It's about leveraging political inside baseball to drive policy outcomes, but in that process it also contains one of the best analyses of legislative psychology we've ever read.  Money quote:

Notice that when moral/cultural issues are passing, fiscal discipline is always at its highest ebb. Case in point: the 82^nd Legislature.

Why? Because fiscal restraint is moral restraint. Moral thinking puts people in the proper head space to make good, long term fiscal decisions.

Conversely, selfish thinking makes it easy to spend taxpayer money on fattening government fiefdoms.

This is why the best pro-life session  ever in Texas went with one of the best fiscally disciplined sessions ever.

Rice University’s Mark Jones wrote an article about how the 83^rd legislature was a “purple session in a red state”. With a bonanza of funds, the Rainy Day Fund was raided even more heavily than in the 82^nd Legislature, when funds were scarce, giving big spenders much better leverage to go after the RDF.

In fact, the lobby actively tries to create a sinful, self-serving environment in capitol towns because they know this is the most fertile atmosphere for getting crony legislation passed.
This is also why some of the best, most praiseworthy, and most subversive things conservative legislators can do in capitol towns is bible studies, charity activities, and making their families visible often to remind other legislators of their own familial vows.

In truth, there is a battle for atmosphere in capitol towns that the lobby knows about and fights, and that conservatives need to understand and engage with more.

It's human nature; creating "a sinful, self-serving environment" leads people to spend money.  Keeping people focused on service, by contrast, begets far better financial stewardship.  This is true in Austin, and it's even truer in Washington.

On that note, we'd like to invite readers to this prayer event at the Texas State Capitol tomorrow.

Cahnman's Musings strongly recommends you read the whole piece here.

* -- In the piece, Hicks refers to Indiana Governor Mike Pence, but former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels was the one who made the 'truce' comment. [UPDATE: Hicks corrected the original piece]

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Texas Democrats Strange Definition of Women's Health

One of the great frustrations of the ongoing abortion debate in Texas is the callousness with which Democrats throw around the terms like 'women's health':

Senator Wendy Davis (D - Trial Lawyers Ft. Worth):

Senate leaders “chose to push through their red meat, partisan political agendas, sacrificing women’s options and endangering their health in the process.”

Senator Kirk Watson (D - Austin):

Many Texans are “afraid, genuinely afraid, of how this Legislature treats women,” state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, said before the final vote on SB 5. He said the bill would create obstacles to safe, legal abortion services and “creates a back room process to negate women’s constitutional rights over their own bodies.”

 Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D - Austin):

Governor Perry's war on women's health advances, and as I told this reporter, it's not another “oops” moment, but another of many “ugh” moments so typical of Rick Perry’s wrongheadedness.

Cahnman's Musings finds getting your insides scraped out by some abortionist to be a strange definition of 'women's health.'

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/06/19/4949916/texas-senate-passes-tougher-abortion.html#storylink=cpy

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Texas GOP History: When John Cornyn Replaced Phil Gramm

Cahnman's Musings just had an epiphany about when the GOP descended from the (relatively) principles-based party of the 1980's and 90's to the rudderless mess it is today.  We think it came during the midterm election of 2002.  In Texas, that was the year John Cornyn replaced Phil Gramm.

(Author's note: 2002 was also the year Bob Dole's wife replaced Reaganite Jesse Helms in North Carolina.)

First elected to the United States Senate in 1984 (following three colorful (party switching) terms in the U.S. House), Phil Gramm was a key Congressional Lieutenant for President Reagan.  Over his quarter century career, Phil Gramm helped launch and maintain the quarter century Reagan boom.  In 2002, he retired from public service.

John Cornyn, by contrast, was a close confidant of Karl Rove.  Rove helped launch Cornyn's career in the 1990's.  Over his decade in Congress, John Cornyn's record speaks for itself.

The mess in today's Republican party has many origins, but replacing a principled Reganite like Phil Gramm with a Rovian jellyfish like John Cornyn explains a lot.

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On Immigration and Syria: An Open Letter to Congressman Roger Williams

Dear Congressman Williams,

It's been an interesting few months.  We've had our agreements.  We've also had multiple disagreements.

I'm writing today on two topics: Immigration and Syria.

On immigration, I expect you to vote against ANY bill out of the United States' House.  Any bill the House passes will be a Trojan horse for Amnesty in conference committee.  Do not vote for ANY bill related to immigration between now and the end of the 113th Congress.

On Syria, I encourage you oppose any military intervention in Syria that President Obama and Senator McCain might advocate.  Unfortunately, following his record in Libya, I doubt this President will ask Congress for permission.  In that event, I expect you to IMMEDIATELY move to de-fund this action.  Nothing good can come out of military intervention in Syria (at least at this time).  As Sarah Palin said last week, let Allah sort it out.

As I told you during the campaign last year, we're not going to agree on every issue.  That's fine.  If you do the right thing on immigration and Syria, however, I can overlook A LOT of other areas of disagreement.

You'll be in my prayers.

James 4:17

Sincerely,
Adam Cahn
Austin, TX
June, 19 2013

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Konni Burton Dismantles Wendy Davis' Feminist Hysteria

From Konni's Campaign Facebook Page:

Kudos to Governor Perry for vetoing HB 950 on Friday.

And right on cue came the same old "war on women" rhetoric from Wendy Davis. After the veto, she wrote on FB: "In yet another attack on Texas women, Gov. Perry has officially vetoed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act." Please don't be fooled by her rhetoric! That bill was not about preventing wage discrimination. That's already illegal. HB 950 simply extended the statute of limitations on lawsuits. Frivolous lawsuits that would result from that bill becoming law would actually hinder employment for women. Perry's veto was not an attack on women, but if the bill had become law it would have been a gift to trial lawyers! In this case, Governor Perry used his veto pen wisely.

We need lawmakers who are ready to fight for policy which will actually provide more opportunities to anyone who is seeking employment. Eliminating the business margin tax would be a great start. Wendy Davis is playing politics as usual instead of fighting for policy that works!

 You can read our endorsement of Konni here.

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Would Wayne Christian Challenge Senator John Cornyn?!?

It's not a secret that Cahnman's Musings would like to see a primary challenge to Senator John Cornyn; the question is who will do it.  We've proposed having Senator Ted Cruz's father Rafael and Tea Party Superstar Katrina Pierson take this challenge.  Today, we have another idea.

How about former Texas State Rep. Wayne Christian?!?

The most important thing for grassroots Texans to understand about Wayne Christian is that the leadership of the Texas State House hates his guts; in fact, they hate him so much that they redistricted him out of his seat in 2011.

In other words, Wayne Christian already has a long record of confronting clowns on the Republican side of the aisle; willingness to confront Republican 'leadership' is one of the biggest things we need more of in Washington.

Similar to Katrina, Wayne Christian would enter this race with credibility and name recognition.  He's been through the ringer before, so he knows how to run a general election campaign.  If Wayne Christian had skeletons in his closet, Joe Straus would have dug them up by now.

As we wrote back in April:

John Cornyn is a nice guy.  That's the problem.  Nice guys like John Cornyn, who lack the internal fortitude to defeat this President (or any potential 2016 successor), are why the Republican party keeps finishing last.  John Cornyn voted for TARP.  John Cornyn voted for the 2011 Debt Ceiling deal.  John Cornyn voted for the Fiscal Cliff Senators never improve in third terms.

 Someone needs to step up, preferably someone with campaign experience; Wayne Christian would be a darn good choice.

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The Fraudulent Science Behind the Sexual Revolution

One-stop shopping from CatholicCulture.org on the great Kinsey fraud; some highlights:

Before the push to loosen America's sexual mores really got under way in the 1950s, the only widely reported sexually transmitted diseases in the United States were gonorrhea and syphilis. Today we have more than two dozen varieties, from pelvic inflammatory disease (which renders more than 100,000 American women infertile each year) to AIDS (which presently infects 42 million people worldwide and has already killed another 23 million). According to a report by scientists at the National Cancer Institute, a woman who has three or more sex partners in her lifetime increases her risk of cervical cancer by as much as 1,500 percent. In another finding that runs contrary to all that the sex researchers preached, a survey at the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center showed that married men and women, on average, are sexually happier than unwed couples merely living together. And even if live-in couples do marry, they're 40 to 85 percent more likely to divorce than those who go straight to the altar.

So what happened? Was science simply wrong? Well, not exactly — the truth is more complicated than that. 

....  

Alfred C. Kinsey had a secret. The Indiana University zoologist and "father of the sexual revolution" almost single-handedly redefined the sexual mores of everyday Americans. The problem was, he had to lie to do it....The science that launched the sexual revolution has been used for the past 50 years to sway court decisions, pass legislation, introduce sex education into our schools, and even push for a redefinition of marriage. 

 ....

 Many traditionally forbidden sexual practices, Kinsey and his colleagues proclaimed, were surprisingly commonplace; 85 percent of men and 48 percent of women said they'd had premarital sex, and 50 percent of men and 40 percent of women had been unfaithful after marriage. Incredibly, 71 percent of women claimed their affair hadn't hurt their marriage, and a few even said it had helped. What's more, 69 percent of men had been with prostitutes, 10 percent had been homosexual for at least three years, and 17 percent of farm boys had experienced sex with animals. Implicit in Kinsey's report was the notion that these behaviors were biologically "normal" and hurt no one. Therefore, people should act on their impulses with no inhibition or guilt.

The 1948 report on men came out to rave reviews and sold an astonishing 200,000 copies in two months. Kinsey's name was everywhere from the titles of pop songs ("Ooh, Dr. Kinsey") to the pages of Life, Time, Newsweek, and the New Yorker. Kinsey was "presenting facts,"Look magazine proclaimed. He was "revealing not what should be but what is." Dubbed "Dr. Sex" and applauded for his personal courage, the researcher was compared to Darwin, Galileo, and Freud.

But beneath the popular approbation, many astute scientists were warning that Kinsey's research was gravely flawed. The list of critics, Kinsey biographer James H. Jones observes, "read like a Who's Who of American intellectual life." They included anthropologists Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict; Stanford University psychologist Lewis M. Terman; Karl Menninger, M.D. (founder of the famed Menninger Institute); psychiatrists Eric Fromm and Lawrence Kubie; cultural critic Lionel Trilling of Columbia University, and countless others.

By the time Kinsey's volume about women was published, many journalists had abandoned the admiring throngs and joined the critics. Magazine articles appeared with titles like "Is the Kinsey Report a Hoax?" and "Love Is Not a Statistic." Time magazine ran a series of stories exposing Kinsey's dubious science (one was titled "Sex or Snake Oil?") 

....  

Problem #2: Skewed Samples

Kinsey often presented his statistics as if they applied to average moms, dads, sisters, and brothers. In doing so, he claimed 95 percent of American men had violated sex-crime laws that could land them in jail. Thus Americans were told they had to change their sex-offender laws to "fit the facts." But, in reality, Kinsey's reports never applied to average people in the general population. In fact, many of the men Kinsey surveyed were actually prison inmates. Wardell B. Pomeroy, Kinsey co-author and an eyewitness to the research, wrote that by 1946 the team had taken sexual histories from about 1,400 imprisoned sex offenders. Kinsey never revealed how many of these criminals were included in his total sample of "about 5,300" white males. But he did admit including "several hundred" male prostitutes. Additionally, at least 317 of Kinsey's male subjects were not even adults, but sexually abused children.

Piling error on top of error, about 75 percent of Kinsey's adult male subjects volunteered to give their sexual histories. As Stanford University psychologist Lewis M. Terman observed, volunteers for sex studies are two to four times more sexually active than non-volunteers.

Kinsey's work didn't improve in his volume on women. In fact, he interviewed so few average women that he actually had to redefine "married" to include any woman who had lived with a man for more than a year. This change added prostitutes to his sample of "married" women.

In the December 11, 1949, New York Times, W. Allen Wallis, then chairman of the University of Chicago's committee on statistics, dismissed "the entire method of collecting and presenting the statistics which underlie Dr. Kinsey's conclusions:' Wallis noted, "There are six major aspects of any statistical research, and Kinsey fails on four." 

.... 

Problem #3: Faulty Statistics

Given all this, it's hardly surprising that Kinsey's statistics were so seriously flawed that no reputable scientific survey has ever been able to duplicate them.

Kinsey claimed, for instance, that 10 percent of men between the ages of 16 and 55 were homosexual. Yet in one of the most thorough nationwide surveys on male sexual behavior ever conducted, scientists at Battelle Human Affairs Research Centers in Seattle found that men who considered themselves exclusively homosexual accounted for only 1 percent of the population. In 1993, Time magazine reported, "Recent surveys from France, Britain, Canada, Norway and Denmark all point to numbers lower than 10 percent and tend to come out in the 1 to 4 percent range." The incidence of homosexuality among adults is actually "between 1 and 3 percent;" says University of Delaware sociology and criminal justice professor Joel Best, author of Damned Lies and Statistics. Best observes, however, that gay and lesbian activists prefer to use Kinsey's long-discredited one-in-ten figure "because it suggests that homosexuals are a substantial minority group, roughly equal in number to African Americans — too large to be ignored." 

.... 

Kinsey's deceptions do matter today, because we're still living with the Kinsey model of sexuality. It permeates our entire culture. As Best observes, bad statistics are significant for many reasons: "They can be used to stir up public outrage or fear, they can distort our understanding of our world, and they can lead us to make poor policy choices." 

.... 

Influencing Court Decisions 

Kinsey's pseudoscience arguably did the most damage through our court systems. That's where attorneys used the researcher's "facts" to repeal or weaken laws against abortion, pornography, obscenity, divorce, adultery, and sodomy. In the May 1950 issue of Scientific Monthly, New York City attorney Morris Ernst (who represented Kinsey, Margaret Sanger, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Planned Parenthood) outlined his ambitious legal plan for Kinsey's findings. "We must remember that there are two parts to law," Ernst said. One was "the finding of the facts" (Kinsey's job); the other was applying those findings in court (Ernst's job). Noting that the law needed more tools "to aid in its search for the truth," the attorney argued for "new rules," under which "facts" like Kinsey's would be introduced into court cases in the same way judges allowed other scientific tools, such as fingerprints, lie-detector results, and blood tests. The inexhaustible Ernst also urged the courts to revise laws concerning the institution of marriage.

The legal fallout from Kinsey's work continues. The U.S. Supreme Court's historic decision last year striking down sodomy laws was the offshoot of a long string of court cases won largely on the basis of Kinsey's research. And 50 years of precedents set by Kinsey's "false 10 percent" are now being used in states like Massachusetts to redefine marriage.

A Sorry Legacy

Inspired by the first Kinsey report, Hugh Hefner founded Playboy in 1953. A decade later, Helen Gurley Brown turned Cosmopolitan into a sex magazine for women. Even today magazines like Self and Glamour continue to quote Kinsey with respect, never acknowledging the grave errors riddling his research. An estimated 30,000 Web sites offer pornography, and U.S. producers churn out 600 hard-core adult videos each month. Although reliable figures are difficult to come by, the U.S. sex industry pulls in an estimated $2.5 billion to $10 billion a year. Clearly, we're living Kinsey's legacy.

In his book The End of Sex, an obituary of the sexual revolution, Esquire contributor George Leonard accurately observed that "wherever we have split 'sex' from love, creation, and the rest of life . . . we have trivialized and depersonalized the act of love itself." Treasuring others solely for their sexuality strips them of their humanity. When Kinsey tore the mystery of love from human sexuality, he abandoned us all to a sexually broken world. It's time to heal.

 The whole article is worth a read, you can find it here.

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Senator Elizabeth Warren Proves Herself as Stupid as Advertised

This is a bit off topic, but worth discussion.  With certain federal subsides for student loans set to expire in July, Senator Warren has proposed an 'interesting' idea.  From the Huffington Post:

Warren and her co-sponsor John Tierney propose that students be allowed to borrow directly from the government at the same rate that banks get from the Federal Reserve -- 0.75 percent. They argue: 

Some people say that we can't afford low interest rates for students. But the federal government offers far lower rates on loans every single day -- they just don't do it for everyone. Right now, a bank can get a loan through the Federal Reserve discount window at a rate of less than one percent. The same big banks that destroyed millions This is not fair. And it's not necessary, either. 

The federal government makes 36 cents on every dollar it lends to students. Just last week, the Congressional Budget Office announced that the government will make $51 billion on the student loans it issued this year -- more than the annual profit of any Fortune 500 company, and about five times Google's yearly earnings. We should not be profiting from students who are drowning in debt while we are giving great deals to big banks 

..... 

Warren and Tierney assert, "For one year, the Federal Reserve would make funds available to the Department of Education to make these loans to our students." For the Fed, completely different banking rules apply. As "lender of last resort," it can expand its balance sheetby buying all the assets it likes. The Fed bought over $1 trillion in "toxic" mortgage-backed securities in QE 1, and reportedly turned a profit on them.  It could just as easily buy $1 trillion in student debt and refinance it at 0.75 percent.

In other words, instead of joining Rand Paul to make the Federal Reserve less powerful, Senator Warren's proposed solution to Fed malfeasance in the banking sector is to give that same Federal Reserve more power over student loans.

But, of course, what did you expect?!?

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Battleground Texas ILLEGALLY Registers Voters

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSTED:



Highlights:

• We caught Sam, an activist hired by the Democrats & Barack Obama's Battleground Texas at Houston's Emancipation Park during the Juneteenth Parade & Festival illegally registering voters. Texas law states that Deputy Voter Registrars must be a resident of the state of Texas,must be issued a certificate of appointment and given a receipt book, and must be authorized by the county in which they are registering voters. (http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/...) The problem is that Sam is from Oregon, isn't a resident of Texas, doesn't have a certificate of appointment, doesn't have a receipt book issued by the county and IS NOT authorized to do what he's doing. That is the definition of Voter and Election Fraud.

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Contact Attorney General Greg Abbott:

Phone: (512) 463-2050
Twitter: @GregAbbott_TX

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On Perry's Vetoes

Yesterday, Governor Rick Perry let loose some awesome vetoes:

• He vetoed the attempt to make University regents accountable to the permanent University bureaucracy instead of an elected Governor; this had been priority legislation for Cahnman's Musings.

• He vetoed a separate attempt to gut the authority of the elected State Board of Education.

• He followed through on his threat and used his line item power to eliminate funding for the so-called 'Public Integrity Unit' of the Travis County DA's office over the ongoing Rosemary Lehmberg embarrassment.

These vetoes helped restrain the worst excesses of the legislature for which the Governor deserves commendation.

Unfortunately, the Governor let the overwhelming majority of the budget stand.  He also signed the Common Core-style data collection bill.  And those are more important.

Last month, we wrote:

The general session of the 83rd Legislature revealed a Governor who is either unable or unwilling to control the Austin insider crowd in his own party.

 While yesterday's vetoes helped to contain said 'Austin insider crowd,' they don't control them.  The Governor helped stop some bad stuff, but he still let A LOT of crap through.  An appropriate end to a heartbreaking legislative session.

Onward....

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Update: Just spoke with a friend who knows more about Texas politics than anyone we've ever met.   This person believes the odds were "50/50 at best" that Perry would have gotten a better deal out of the budget a second time.  In either case, the solution is to throw out these clowns in 'leadership' of the legislature.

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Don't Tax My Credit Union

This will come as a 'shock,' but the same Obama administration that expanded TARP, re-appointed Bernanke, and gave us the Dodd-Frank big bank protection racket, now wants to tax independent credit unions out of existence:



Highlights:

• 96 million Americans use credit unions.

• 40% of Americans are credit union members.

• Only 6% of all financial assets in the United States are in credit unions.

Take action here.

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Ron Paul Rocks 1983 Congressional Baseball Game

And yes, that is Barney Frank doing color commentary:



Ron Paul goes 2 for 3 with a double, hit by pitch, reach on catcher's interference, and 2 RBI as the starting right fielder in the 1983 Congressional Baseball Game. Dr. Paul is a legendary player in the annual Congressional Baseball Game, being the only person to ever hit a home run over the fence in the game's 50 year history.

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What will Governor Perry Veto?!?

Cahnman's Musings spent some time around the Capitol this afternoon.  A source who was in the room informs us that, during an unrelated bill signing ceremony, the Governor told a reporter "you'll find out when everyone else does" about his plans for the budget.  The Governor seems to be enjoying the suspense.

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Personally, Cahnman's Musings doubts the Governor would be stupid enough to build up this decision unless he plans a veto; but the Governor has disappointed before....

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All we can do at this point is pray, tweet, and call.

On that note, we'd just like to say: Lord, we leave it all to you.  We CAN'T do it on our own.  We pray you convict Governor Perry with a spirit of financial righteousness.  And we pray it in Jesus' name.  Amen.

You can read the full list of bills to veto here.

Phone: (512) 463-2000
Twitter: @GovernorPerry

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FEMA's Politicized Decisionmaking Blesses Texas (in Disguise)

"²⁰ But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."
Genesis 50:20

It's official; the federal government has told West, TX to pound sand:



This is disgraceful, but not surprising.  Given his track record, it's predictable that FEMA under Barack Obama would do something like this.  But there's a bigger lesson.

Texans should take this incident as a parable about Washington.

Federal 'assistance', under either party, is a trap.  Money from Washington ALWAYS comes with strings.  Avoiding those strings is more important than whatever pittance might eventually get through the bureaucracy.

FEMA's decision allows West to rebuild without interference from Washington.  Instead of bureaucrats, our churches and civic organizations will take the lead.  Instead of conforming to some arbitrary standard set 1500 miles away, we can do it right.

Obviously, it sucks that Washington gets to keep our money.  But so what?!?  Does anyone actually think they're going to get anything back once the money goes down the Washington D.C. rathole?!?  This is a great debate point, but it doesn't help rebuild West.  Groveling at the feet of Washington D.C. can only make the problem worse.

Step aside Washington; the private sector will rebuild West, TX.

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Author's Note: Personally, we think the $10 million West needs to rebuild its roads would be an appropriate use of the rainy day fund.

Author's Note II: West says they need $90 million total; I'd bet if we band together and keep the government out of things, we can do it for a fraction of that.

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