'Mystery speaker' gives the O-man the Clint squint

Romney's acceptance speech - “I bought it”

He made an emotional appeal to a group he called “the single-issue billionaires,” imploring them, “Let me know what you want. Eliminate the E.P.A.? Bomb Iran? Mitt Romney is open for business.” The audience roared its approval...Ultimately, he ended his speech with a rousing call to arms that brought the Republican audience to its feet: “The road to the White House will be hard, and strewn with challenges. But together, there’s nothing we can’t buy.”

So, they told you it was possible to change the system from a grass-roots level? You went to rallies, and you registered voters, and you were subjected to hours of indoctrination about the party's rules. And then they moved the goal posts. It's for sale, after all. Do you have the price? Is there even any reliable information about how much it costs? - The Legendary

Ryan's remarks at the 'trust me' convention

Tampa - RYAN: "And the biggest, coldest power play of all in Obamacare came at the expense of the elderly. ... So they just took it all away from Medicare. Seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama."

THE FACTS: Ryan's claim ignores the fact that Ryan himself incorporated the same cuts into budgets he steered through the House in the past two years as chairman of its Budget Committee, using the money for deficit reduction. And the cuts do not affect Medicare recipients directly, but rather reduce payments to hospitals, health insurance plans and other service providers.

In addition, Ryan's own plan to remake Medicare would squeeze the program's spending even more than the changes Obama made, shifting future retirees into a system in which they would get a fixed payment to shop for coverage among private insurance plans. Critics charge that would expose the elderly to more out-of-pocket costs.

RYAN: "The stimulus was a case of political patronage, corporate welfare and cronyism at their worst. You, the working men and women of this country, were cut out of the deal."

THE FACTS: Ryan himself asked for stimulus funds shortly after Congress approved the $800 billion plan, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Ryan's pleas to federal agencies included letters to Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis seeking stimulus grant money for two Wisconsin energy conservation companies.

One of them, the nonprofit Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corp., received $20.3 million from the Energy Department to help homes and businesses improve energy efficiency, according to federal records. That company, he said in his letter, would build "sustainable demand for green jobs." Another eventual recipient, the Energy Center of Wisconsin, received about $365,000.

RYAN: Said Obama misled people in Ryan's hometown of Janesville, Wis., by making them think a General Motors plant there threatened with closure could be saved. "A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: `I believe that if our government is there to support you ... this plant will be here for another hundred years.' That's what he said in 2008. Well, as it turned out, that plant didn't last another year."

THE FACTS: The plant halted production in December 2008, weeks before Obama took office and well before he enacted a more robust auto industry bailout that rescued GM and Chrysler and allowed the majority of their plants — though not the Janesville facility — to stay in operation. Ryan himself voted for an auto bailout under President George W. Bush that was designed to help GM, but he was a vocal critic of the one pushed through by Obama that has been widely credited with revitalizing both GM and Chrysler.

RYAN: Obama "created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way and then did exactly nothing."

THE FACTS: It's true that Obama hasn't heeded his commission's recommendations, but Ryan's not the best one to complain. He was a member of the commission and voted against its final report.

Reprinted from an Associated Press Report 

Gas lobby ad campaign targets eastern seaboard

Honcho is Romney's Chief of Staff

A first look at Mr. Gerard's Agenda

The“Daily Caller” is a lucrative on-line shopper tabloid thatattracts readers through the politics of anger and resentment.(click here for a look at the "Caller")

For instance, two stories topping the lead today are bright little numbers. First we have a breezy report about the Department of State's “Chief of Diversity” counseling his staff not to use racist and hateful terms such as “holding down the fort.”

Another regards a Secret Service Agent who left his sidearm in the head on Mitt Romney's chartered jet as it winged its way toward Indianapolis from Tampa for an overnight speaking engagement. A news correspondent had to let someone know about the abandoned firearm, prompting the crew of the aircraft to send the chastened Secret Serviceman back to get his pistol.

Soit's not surprising that the American Petroleum Institute chose toinsert an eighth-page interactive advertisement targeting the 9 mostliberal eastern seaboard states, starting with D.C. in the south andranging to the Canadian border at Vermont and New Hampshire.(click here to see the ad campaign)

After all, King Oil has replaced gold and silver bullion as the unit of worth backing the full faith and credit fiat currency of the lofty Federal Reserve system's puppet, the United States Treasury. Since the early 70's, a dollar is worth some particle of a barrel of crude, no matter where on the globe it may be produced.

The President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, Jack Gerard, a Mormon from Idaho, is said to be the top pick as Chief of Staff in a Romney Administration.

His organization has inserted the interactive internet ads in various on-line publications, and they are a study in the thunderbolts and lightning politics of the energy sector.

One is invited to pick a state – any state on the list, click on it - and the screen opens up to a factoid list about all the leverage an energy-focused White House can bring to bear on the poor denizens of these tiny states.

Take Massachusetts.

Unlike Delaware, which state's page diplomatically fails to mention that Wilmington is the chemical plant capital of the Atlantic coast, the ad boldly reminds the folks from Mass that about 250,000 of their number are unemployed. They are taxed at the rate of $.42 per gallon for gasoline.

And so forth.

The unspoken message, the one that Mr. Gerard is working hard to get across, is that obstructionism in the permit process for fracturing technology in the Marcellus Shale Fields of New England, or EPA hard nosing on giving the green light to refinement plants and offshore platforms will only make the plight of working men and women worse.

Prominently displayed in every page is the gap between the median income level for an energy sector employee and the entire mix of workers lucky enough to be employed in other types of industries.

It's about fifteen to twenty thousand dollars in every state.

An array of YouTube videos hammers home the “comprehensive conversation” Mr. Gerard is seeking with the honchos of both parties.

He told a reporter from the “Globe and Mail” yesterday, “We're going to have the same type of events and conversations in Charlotte to move the debate forward.”

In the reports API made to the platform committees of both the Democrats and the Republicans, he pointed out that the oil and gas industry pays $86 million a day to the U.S. Treasury; that the energy sector's need to produce petroleum and gas from domestic sources will generate 1.4 million new jobs by the year 2030, one million of them within 7 years; and that “persons, party and political philosophy” have not a whole lot to do with the dialogue big oil is looking to establish in a D.C. that has turned largely deaf ears on his colleagues.

“I don't disagree that there is a polarization between the parties on energy issues. We see our role as trying to bring some rationality to the discussion,” Mr. Gerard told the newspaper.

The question no one is asking Mr. Big Oil: Is it really for sale, this Big Enchilada gig on Pennsylvania Avenue?

But, then, I guess you don't have to ask. He's telling. 

Map shows Waco tops list of VA claims backlog

Disability claim dragging on a long time?

You might do better if you moved to S. Dakota or Louisiana, according to an investigative report in "The Bay Citizen."(click here to read the article)

Disabled troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan face an unexpected battle: the Department of Veterans Affairs' growing stack of disability benefit claims, leading to processing delays of six months or more. In the worst cases, some VA offices - like Los Angeles' - are so far behind that even if no new claims were filed, it could take almost three years for the backlog to be cleared. 

VA officials attributed the problem to a flood of wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans coupled with aging Vietnam veterans filing new claims, inundating the system just as the VA is working to improve it. In the fallout, many returning vets find themselves blocked from the services and compensation they need. 

Read TheBay Citizen,a part of the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting, forin-depth coverage. 

This map displays 58 VA regional offices andthe number of backlogged claims by week on a national, regional andlocal level. Select a city by clicking on its circle. Thisapplication will update itself every Monday to show each office'schange in pending claims (Click here to see the interactive map)

I'm just a fool for you stockings, I believe...

Romney mythology demystified by government documents

'Corporations are people - sure they are - where does the money go?' In your pocket!

Republicans talk a mean game of fiscal responsibility and a business world that is wounded on every side by government controls. But their heros don't really play it that way.

Most of GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney's wealth of $250 million he gained as a function of a government bailout.

According to the government records obtained by Rolling Stone, Bain & Company "defaulted on its debt obligations" at nearly the same time that "W. Mitt Romney . . . stepped in as managing director (and later chief executive) in 1990 and led the financial restructuring intended to get the firm back on track."

When a banker from Goldman Sachs urged Bain to consider bankruptcy as the obvious solution to the firm's woes, Romney's desperation began to show. He flatly refused to discuss it – and in the ensuing argument, one witness says, Romney almost ended up in a brawl when the Goldman banker advised him to "go fuck yourself." For the sake of Romney's career and fortune, bankruptcy was simply not an option – no matter who got screwed in the process.

In brief, the Romney mythology holds that Romney took leave of his duties at the private equity firm Bain Capital in 1990 and rode in on a white horse to lead a swift restructuring of Bain & Company, preventing the collapse of the consulting firm where his career began.

But government documents show the reality to be very different from that shining testimony.

“In fact, government documents on the bailout obtained by Rolling Stone show that the legend crafted by Romney is basically a lie. The federal records, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that Romney's initial rescue attempt at Bain & Company was actually a disaster – leaving the firm so financially strapped that it had "no value as a going concern." Even worse, the federal bailout ultimately engineered by Romney screwed the FDIC – the bank insurance system backed by taxpayers – out of at least $10 million. And in an added insult, Romney rewarded top executives at Bain with hefty bonuses at the very moment that he was demanding his handout from the feds.”

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-federal-bailout-that-saved-mitt-romney-20120829#ixzz24z37LVel

Jim Lewis' legacy to McLennan County taxpayers -

Corporate welfare unceasing, aimed at jail

This is a picture of the actual document that authorized the latest round of band-aid financing of the “outside care” of McLennan County's prisoners held in a building financed and paid for by taxpayers of McLennan County.

The bottom line:

$370,735!

Doesn't sound like much when you say it fast. Just trips off the tongue in tones of fluffy souffle du lucre a la law and order, anti-terrorism, and the war on drugs.

Hey, who could oppose a lineup like that, huh? I wonder if it's on the commissary list! Microwaveable? Does it get any better?

More than 40 years ago, Judge Jim Lewis began his long career of public service as a turnkey - a jailer - at the McLennan County Jail. 

Through adroit manipulation of the system, Sheriff Larry Lynch and County Judge Jim Lewis, both of them departing their offices in the near future through retirement, have already managed to exceed the budget for such foolishness by $2 million during fiscal year 2012.

You are looking at the latest “budget amendment” of $370,000 funneled to the “outside care” of McLennan County's prisoners, a function that is mandated by the Texas Constitution, one of five outlined in the document, which are law enforcement, court security, serving process, conducting seizures and forfeitures, and – last and certainly not least in this case – the detention and custody of prisoners.

Administrative Captain Paul Wash called the situation a “perfect storm,” which is partially true if you believe in the fairy tale that perfect storms rain cash on corporate schemes and dreams such as the contract with CEC, Inc., to operate the Jack Harwell Detention Center and the “downtown” jail.

If the downtown jail were not closed in order to supply prisoners to the Jack Harwell Detention Center, the corporation would have no claim of a $370,735 war bill to pay for the “outside care” of prisoners in the custody of McLennan County to answer for offenses in the courts of McLennan County.

If the downtown jail were opened, would there still be a need for paying for "outside care" of prisoners? Probably not. What's the holdup? No one knows. The "best estimate" obtained, not from the responsible entity, CEC., Inc., but from County Building Supervisor Sammy Sykora, is that it will still take "between $100,000 and $200,000 to open the jail after a $1.1 million remodeling job ordered not by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, but by the Commissioners Court, which later was hard pressed to remember why they ordered such an expenditure. Must have come through the "budget amendment" process. 

County Budget Officer Adam Harry has described the budget as a "living document," one in which it's not so much the budgeted items, but the expenditures that dictates day to day exigencies.

Nevertheless, the downtown jail still has an operating permit plan in place. All it would take would be for the officials of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards to do a "walk through" and it would be back in force. CEC would be off welfare, but, hey, like the fella said, the object is to cut spending, not supply corporations with easy money. 

But, wait, there's more!

Sheriff Lynch has lately been seen squiring a television “news crew” around the Highway 6 jail, showing unto the folks in TV-land that there is really no problem with electrical wiring to support the use of microwave ovens in prisoner cells, since there are only seven of them on the premises.

An inside source at the jail said at last count there are 52 such microwave ovens in use by prisoners in their cells, prompting a need for an $85,000 project to upgrade the wiring and circuit breakers to handle the strain.

Either the wiring was substandard when the building was certified for occupancy as a jail, or the policy of allowing microwave ovens in prisoner cells for their use is unwise and never planned.

On the other hand, microwaveable items on the commissary list increases the revenue realized from the sale of items prisoners buy to tide them over from meal to meal provided at the expense of their friends and neighbors, the taxpayers of McLennan County.

I wonder if the "commissary" takes food stamps? Just asking. I mean, like, remain calm, if you can. I'm just saying, that's all. 

Yes, sir, yes, sir, that sack's full. Three bags full, sir. Aye aye.

OTHER SCENES ALONG THE ROADSIDE:

A deputy writes to The Legendary - ...He told me that th co gas cards were maxed out and th transport officers were going to have to use their own money for gas ... went almost to houston, th other transport guy went down past corpus. Lots of gas. They were on th phone all day with ideas. They were told that it would last thru th next week. They asked if they could turn reciepts on friday if they could get a check on monday to keep going. Co comm said no. Later in th day th guys had decided to call in sick because they couldn't afford it. Low n behold it was fixed later that day. REALLY... maxed out gas cards...wow

Bin Laden shot on sight, according to new SEAL book

Former SEAL Mark Bissonnette's description of the 2011 raid in Pakistan that left Osama bin Laden dead contradicts official accounts of how the terrorist leader met his doom.

Writing under the pseudonym Mark Owen in "No Easy Day," to be published next week, the anti-terror specialist says SEALS summarily shot bin Laden when he poked his head out of a door. Previous government statements held that bin Laden had ducked back into his room to retrieve a weapon when the team members shot him in the face.

The account may again raise questions over whether the raid was intended to capture or simply kill bin Laden, though Bissonnette says the SEALs were told to capture him if he surrendered.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor would not comment on the conflicting accounts late Tuesday, according to published reports.

Texas Congressional redistricting again struck down

San Antonio – A three-judge panel on Tuesday unanimously found intentional discrimination in a redistricting plan drawn by a Republican legislature that gave the state 4 new U.S. Representatives.

Though the decision came too late to affect voting in the 2012 general elections, the ruling will require a redistricting review by the Department of Justice prior to the primaries of 2014.

HowTexas redrew its political boundaries was watched particularly closely after the state gained four additional U.S. House seats because of a surge in population driven almost entirely by minorities, who account for more than 87 percent of the population growth in Texas over the last 10 years.(click here for a more extensive report)

Though Texas and eight other predominantly southern states with a history of racial bias were ordered to submit their political maps to the U.S. Justice Department for compliance, State prosecutors instead sought preclearance through the federal court in Washington rather than through the Justice Department.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying Tuesday's ruling "extends the Voting Rights Act beyond the limits intended by Congress and beyond the boundaries imposed by the Constitution."

In the holding, the judges noted that the new districting lines skirted areas of high minority population with surgical precision, excluding such luxury and high income areas as country clubs and gated sports communities. 

County Judge Jim Lewis to retire 9/30, tax hike: $.02

Waco - Moments after the Commissioners Court voted a 2-cent tax hike, County Judge Jim Lewis announced he will retire on Sept. 30, the last day of the fiscal year.

Having served as County Judge for more than 20 years, Judge Lewis said he is looking forward to spending more time with his family. His wife is retiring next month, also.

Forty years ago, the Judge joined the McLennan County Sheriff's Office, was elected to the Commissioners Court, then as County Judge in 1990.

The vote to raise the tax rate came after an agonizing series of hearings, meetings, and frustrating efforts to cut spending. The proposed tax hike was for $.049, but the Court split 3 to 2 on a rise of only 2 cents, which will cost an owner of a median level $100,000 home about $20 more per year. Commissioners Ben Perry and Kelly Snell voted against the measure.

The judge's current term of office expires in the year 2014. According to the Texas Constitution, the Commissioners Court will be obliged to name a replacement to fill the unexpired term.

OUTRAGED TEA PARTY MOUNTS PROTEST  
Prior to the vote setting the increased tax rate, Commissioners Kelly Snell, Ben Perry and Joe Mashek voted "nay" to reject the proposed budget.

The Waco Tea Party sent an e-mail to all subscribers mounting a plan of protest to the increased tax rate on that basis.

"We want to thank Commissioners Kelly Snell, Ben Perry, and Joe Mashek for voting "NO".

"What this means is that if the county does not approve a budget they can not set a tax rate.  If they change the proposed tax rate we are assuming (meaning we could be wrong) that they would have to hold new public hearings on any newly proposed tax rate."

Commissioners earlier in the month published a proposed $.049 cent tax rate. Under the state law, Judge Lewis explained, they could set a new tax rate at that much, or a lower rate, without having to hold any further hearings.

Certificated live birth - widda SS numbers, too, yay'us

Disco dancin' kung fu fightin' foolishness

Breaking bad news gently in the dialect of high glaze

Anyone you know get a raise of $5,000 this year? How about $9,000 - $11,000? Huh? Probably not? We know. Most people got a cut in pay and benefits - few raises were seen.

Well, maybe that's because the people you know all work for private enterprises – maybe, maybe not. 

The point? Some people who work for McLennan County got those kind of raises, and it was paid from the “fluff” pointed out by certain fiscally conservative dudes and dudettes of the Tea (Taxed Enough Already) Party. What is fluff? Good question, especially since the numbers show it's a steady 16.5 percent of the county budget, year to year. 

 Fluff is budgeted Funds Left Unspent Fatuously and Fortuitously. (FLUFF)Anyway, rather than cut the fluff – which would be cutting muscle and not fat, if fluff can be considered muscle – your County Commissioners voted to raise certain salaries in the Information Tecnhology (IT) department by the above named figures. (click here for a good time!)

 County Treasurer Danny Volcik replaced the First Assistant County Treasurer with a newly hired Juvenile Probation Officer at about $50,000 a year, and we're off to the races, but not without Commissioners Mashek and Gibson letting the world know they were on the ball about how the position was advertised. 

 Was it internal, or external? They were assured it had been done in accordance with County policy. 

Finally, Judge Jim Lewis broke up the chatter by saying that approval was more a formality than a necessity. “He (County Treasurer Danny Volcik) can hire anyone he chooses.” 

Onvarts! Troot da fawg... 

 Next question: Now that we've heard from the TEA Party – long, loudly and at great length – what is their intended course of action, as in “Whadda ya' gonna do 'bout it? Huh? Huh? Come on, what'cha gon' do 'bout it?”

GOP dissenters holding firm against rules committee

“No good reason to accept a compromise”

By Dave Nalle - August 27, 2012 at 11:22 PM
Reprinted from RLC Action

On Tuesday the Rules Committee at the Republican National Convention will meet to work out final details of proposed rules changes which were produced over the weekend and widely greeted with outrage by the grassroots of the party.

We have provided extensive coverage of this situation, and between our efforts and those of other groups and activists the media has taken a strong interest in the situation.

As a result a compromise proposal has been offered by party insiders in the Rules Committee, which only partially addresses some of the concerns raised in the Minority Report.

Thissmall compromise is not a sufficient response.It leaves the RNC with the ability to change rules at will betweenelections and still imposes onerous top-down restrictions on stateparties which reduce grassroots participation. It is like a thiefoffering you a slice of the loaf of bread he stole from you andexpecting gratitude.(click here for a report on the revolt by the Texas delegation)

At this point there seems to be no good reason for the delegates to back down and accept a compromise. If they want their media showcase convention then the party elite cannot afford the negative press which would come from prolonging this confrontation.

If we can persuade delegates and committee members to stand firm the opposition will back down.

At this link, you will find a .pdf file with a list of all contacts on the Rules committee, including e-mail and telephone info. (click here for a complete list) Please take a few minutes in the morning to call or email the ones from your state or any others you might wish to reach out to and urge them to vote to withdraw all of the proposed rule changes.

Federales who shot two Embassy staff moved to jail

MEXICO CITY — It's still too early to tell how Mexican judicial officers will come down in a case of twelve federal police who opened fire on a U.S. Embassy vehicle with diplomatic plates last Friday, wounding two Americans.

Mexican and U.S. officials have offered sketchy official accounts of the shooting that left a Mexican Navy captain who was riding in the vehicle unharmed. The three were headed for a Naval base near Cuernevaca.

Detained under a form of house arrest for 40 days on suspicion of abusing their authority, a judge ordered the 12 policemen held in a federal lockup following a hearing Monday.

The charge of abusing their authority can entail both criminal wrongdoing and extreme negligence. It leaves open the possibility of both a deliberate attack on the Americans by corrupt officers and a gross error by well-intentioned but trigger-happy police operating in a dangerous area.

Either way, the ambiguous situation brings little credence to the popular idea that the federales are the last hope of containing the sweeping influence of organized crime on Mexican government.

Secret police recordings in F.E.A.R. militia trial...

Defendants in their sixties, seventies

Corporate slush fund: How to shunt tax dollars

Mechanics of a line item transfer:

 

Unrelated line items transferred to the Economic Development grant fund by the McLennan County Commissioners Court. Take notice of the accounts that were raided to pay a pre-planned grant item.

 "Other purchasing services, travel reimbursement, and County legal counsel were reduced by $5,000 each; Court appointed attorney for County Court at law #1 was reduced by $12,000.

So the taxpayers of McLennan County paid for a grant to a Fortune 500 company out of budgeted but unspent funds - "fluff"

Ron and Rand Paul rumble in Tampa - sounds like this

Dame Shirley Bassey and The Propellerheads

Goldfinger Girl swings with the good news...

Bush-era tax cuts greatest contributor to debt

Claim $1 trillion in deficit reduction if cut

According to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office, the single greatest contributor to the public debt are the Bush tax cuts.

Letting them expire would add $823 billion in revenue and $127 billion in interest – for a cool $1 trillion in ten-year deficit reduction.

The House of Representatives voted in favor of extending the cuts, but President Obama has threatened to veto the measure after the elections, though he supports extending the cuts for the middle class – or those making less than $250,000 per year. The President is on record for returning to the tax rates used during the Clinton Administration, which left office with a budget surplus.

The elephant in the room no one wants to talk about

Jail was $2 million over budget last year

Anatomy of a sweetheart deal

Waco - It's called economic development, and though you can make it sound awfully complicated, it's not really.

A corporate entity is formed to obtain underwriting of tax-free municipal bonds issued to finance building a public project – in this case, a jail.

These are revenue bonds, and they are issued under the authority of the governing body – in this case, the McLennan County Commissioners Court. No general obligation bond election is required for their approval.

The public project in question is a jail built to be operated by a private corporation – CEC, Inc. - to produce a revenue stream that will pay the debt service on the bond issue.

Why would this be necessary?

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards has stringent requirements as to the amount of space each inmate is given in which to live in three dimensions – both square and cubic footage. They must also be separated by gender by sight and sound, their safety guaranteed by automatic smoke and fire detection equipment. There is a minimum staff to inmate ratio, and it's expensive.

If you don't have enough space that comes up to those standards, you are required to send those inmates to another facility that does comply – at a hefty per diem price. The choice: hire more corrections officers, or build a jail for a private corporation to operate.

Problem.

Oncethe jail – The Jack Harwell Detention Center - was built for thecorporation to run, there was a shortage of prisoners for them tohouse - at a profit, or otherwise. Starting in 2008, the numbers ofpeople who require care and feeding in custody began to declinestatewide. Today, there is a hefty surplus of jail beds throughoutthe state.(click here)

But the for-profit jail built to take care of prisoner overflow for other counties, the federal government and other states is nearly empty, and that is even more expensive. Suddenly, the project that would cost taxpayers nothing is very, very expensive.

Taxpayers are still liable to pay for the debt service on the nearly $50 million bond issue.

But CEC, Inc., has a contract to operate the old jail adjacent to the Courthouse. They had a number of federal prisoners, which they boarded there.

What to do?

They moved them to the new Jack Harwell Detention Center and closed their operation at the old jail downtown.

McLennanCounty was left with a space problemm of its own. The Sheriff'sOffice is not always able to cover its obligations to legally houseMcLennan County's prisoners at the Highway 6 County Jail, and withits downtown jail closed, they send them to the Jack HarwellDetention Center – at a price of $45.50 per day.(click here for a previous report)

Everyone who is responsible says that no one knew this would all become so expensive.

Itcost about $2 million more to pay CEC, Inc., for “outside care”of county prisoners during 2012 than the budget office estimated, sothe money had to come from somewhere. They transferred it in – amonth at a time – and now it's time to plan for FY 2013.(click here for a report on the "Perfect Storm" of the jail budget shortfall)

The problem wouldn't be so expensive if only the Commissioners Court knew what it will take to re-open the downtown jail, which is still going through a renovation program that cost $1.1 million.

In fact, this is such a mystery that most members of the Court thought the project had been mandated by an order of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

Asit turns out, that's not true. The state jail commission says theoperating permit and plan is still in place. No sweat. Localofficials just hauled off and ordered the remodeling project becausethe old jail would be shut down, anyway.(click here for a report on the matter)

But it's still shut down, and it's even more mysterious than the reasons for its remodeling.

CEC, Inc., is responsible, and they aren't communicating.

So, how much will it cost to free up more space to cut down on the budget for “outside care?”

There is a “best estimate” from Building Supervisor Sammy Sykora of “between $100,000 and $200,000.”

That's only a $100,000 variable – plus or minus – but which is it?

Here's an audio of the resulting discussion from last week.

Today's budget workshop and tomorrow's Commissioner Court meeting is decision time on what to do.

Raise taxes by 6 percent, or cut spending and find a surplus? Pick one.

Oneexpense that is on the chopping block is the annual contribution tothe Waco-McLennan County Economic Development Commission'sfund of $6.5 million that is used to attract industrial employerssuch as Caterpillar and other multinationals to the local industrial park.(click here for a previous report)

The guiding principle: broaden the employment base to expand the tax base through “investment” of tax dollars.

That's how they put it when the Chamber of Commerce is driving the deal.

When a consumer goes through debt counseling mandated by a bankruptcy judge, the smart money says you can't borrow your way out of debt.

Now, there's one for you.

Here's what the Tea Party is saying:

There is a “fluff” factor in the County budget of 16.5 percent. Those are figures that are budgeted, but not spent. On top of that, property appraisals are up 9.5 percent, and the Court wants to go up on the tax rate by 6 percent.

Said Waco Tea Party co-founder Michael Simon in public comments last week, “Your first obligation is to the taxpayers, not to the Chamber of Commerce.”

Fair share: No one is right if everyone is wrong...

Doing the math in the tax increase debate

Reprinted from “Let's Fix This Country” (click here)

...Republicans or Democrats alike should all recognize this to be a craven tactic to deflect us from the real strategy of protecting wealthy campaign donors from paying an extra $46,000 on each added $1,000,000 of earnings.

So much for calling the tax increase a “job killer”. Yet Republican leaders — McConnell, Boehner, Cantor, etc. — are schooled to insert the “job killer” phrase into every sentence — a standard propaganda technique, of course. The bet is that if people hear it enough, they will think it true. In fairness, the same technique is employed by Democrats and by Obama, with their unceasing appeal that the wealthy pay their “fair share”. Who is to say that 35% is not a fair share or what, precisely, would be a fair share?

How many thousands must that small business owner be taking home for those $30 and then $46 nicks to add up to one such employee’s paycheck? The answer: $371,000 — and that pertains only to earnings above the $250,000 bracket subject to the tax increment. (97% of all small businesses earn $250,000 or less per year)

Here's the math: The $129,150 of income between Obama's $250,000 floor and 2011's top bracket of $371,150 would have an added tax of 3% (the increase from 30% to 33%) or $3875 (rounded). For that tax bill to become the $15,000 needed to claim that a minimum wage employee had to be fired to pay it, one would have to earn an additional $241,850, which, taxed at the 4.6% increment, is $11,125 ($3,875 + $11,125 = $15,000). The added income incurring $15,000 in added taxes is therefore $129,150 plus $241,850, or $371,000.

So a small business owner would have to be taking home $621,000 ($250,000 + the extra-taxed $371,000) to claim that in order to pay the added tax burden he or she would have to fire one minimum wage employee. And, by extension, that owner would have to be taking home almost $1,000,000 to claim it cost two such jobs. And so on, for every additional job to be killed.

Another point: We ask why is the owner allowing so much income to flow into his or her form 1040 where it is subject to personal income taxes? The 4.6% tax applies only to money taken out of the business, so the claim that it is a “job killer” is backward. If the money is instead spent in the business, it isn’t taxable. The 3% of small businesses that Obama cites as yielding more than $250,000 to their owners per year — possibly much more — could avoid his tax if they plowed the money back into the business. One could even say that the proposed tax added to personal income is an incentive to leave the money in the business where it might even be a “job creator”.

All 9 wounded in Empire State shooting hit by cops

POW's disarmed, marched to death in November 1950

Jack Goodwin is one of the last few survivors of the "Tiger Death March," a grueling 120-mile forced hike across Korea in which the wounded and dying who could no longer keep up were shot - executed summarily on the orders of a North Korean commander they knew only as "The Tiger."

Mr. Goodwin watched as a Lieutenant from East Texas stoically submitted to a bullet through his brain because his men were too badly wounded or too sick to continue.

When he was captured, he weighed about 120 pounds; when he was repatriated to the U.S., he had lost half his body weight. He weighed just slightly more than 60 pounds. About two thirds of the men who were captured in those first few days of the war perished from dysentery, lung infections, dehydration and parasites.

When there was no snow with which to rehydrate themselves, they were forced to drink water from rice paddies that were fertilized with human excrement. It took extensive treatment at an Army hospital in San Antonio to rid Mr. Goodwin of tape worms that had infested his body.

He recalls being a nervous wreck after spending 4 of his birthdays in captivity. He was captured on the day before his 20th. Jobs were scarce, and he was just about to re-enlist when he got word that he had been granted a disability pension for his wartime service. He later retired from the Post Office and had opened a tropical fish emporium in West Waco near the old Providence Hospital.

"Tropical fish are a hobby that is very soothing to your nerves," he says.

Does he have any advice for young servicemen and women who come under the command of the United Nations, as he did so long ago when he was serving on occupation duty in Japan?(click here for a previous report)

"When you're in the Army, you do as you're told."

19th Century FEMA Camp recalled in Lakota video

DHS has ordered 1.5 billion rounds of hollow point ammo

What persons do they intend to shoot?

By Major General Jerry Curry, USA (Ret.) 
Reprinted from "The Daily Caller"

The Social Security Administration (SSA) confirms that it is purchasing 174 thousand rounds of hollow point bullets to be delivered to 41 locations in major cities across the U.S.  No one has yet said what the purpose of these purchases is, though we are led to believe that they will be used only in an emergency to counteract and control civil unrest. Those against whom the hollow point bullets are to be used — those causing the civil unrest — must be American citizens; since the SSA has never been used overseas to help foreign countries maintain control of their citizens.

What would be the target of these 174, 000 rounds of hollow point bullets? It can’t simply be to control demonstrators or rioters. Hollow point bullets are so lethal that the Geneva Convention does not allow their use on the battle field in time of war. Hollow point bullets don’t just stop or hurt people, they penetrate the body, spread out, fragment and cause maximum damage to the body’s organs. Death often follows.

Potentially each hollow nose bullet represents a dead American. If so, why would the U.S. government want the SSA to kill 174,000 of our citizens, even during a time of civil unrest? Or is the purpose to kill 174,000 of the nation’s military and replace them with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) special security forces, forces loyal to the Administration, not to the Constitution?

All my life I’ve handled firearms. When a young boy growing up on my father’s farm in Pennsylvania Dad’s first rule of firearms training was, “Never point a gun at someone, in fun or otherwise, unless you intend to shoot them. If you shoot someone, shoot to kill.” I’ve never forgotten his admonition. It stayed with me through my Boy Scout training, when I enlisted in the army as a Private to fight in the Korea War, during my days as a Ranger and Paratrooper and throughout my thirty-four year military career.

If this were only a one time order of ammunition, it could easily be dismissed. But there is a pattern here. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has ordered 46,000 rounds of hollow point ammunition. Notice that all of these purchases are for the lethal hollow nose bullets.  These bullets are not being purchased and stored for squirrel or coyote hunting. This is serious ammunition manufactured to be used for serious purposes.

In the war in Iraq, our military forces expended approximately 70 million rounds per year. In March DHS ordered 750 million rounds of hollow point ammunition. It then turned around and ordered an additional 750 million rounds of miscellaneous bullets including some that are capable of penetrating walls. This is enough ammunition to empty five rounds into the body of every living American citizen.(click) Is this something we and the Congress should be concerned about? What’s the plan that requires so many dead Americans, even during times of civil unrest? Has Congress and the Administration vetted the plan in public.fear that Congress won’t take these ammunition purchases seriously until they are all led from Capitol Hill in handcuffs. Why buy all this ammunition unless you plan to use it. Unknown to Congress, Does DHS plan to declare war on some country? Shouldn’t Congress hold hearings on why the Administration is stockpiling this ammunition all across the nation? How will it be used; what are the Administration’s plans?

Obama is a deadly serious, persistent man. Once he focuses on an object, he pursues it to the end. What is his focus here? All of these rounds of ammunition can only be used to kill American citizens, though there is enough ammunition being ordered to kill, in addition to every American citizen, also every Iranian, Syrian or Mexican. There is simply too much of it. And this much ammunition can’t be just for training, there aren’t that many weapons and “shooters” in the U.S. to fire it. Perhaps it is to be used to arm illegal immigrants?

We have enough military forces to maintain law and order in the U.S. even during times of civil unrest.

We have local police, backed up by each state’s National Guard, backed up by the Department of Defense. So in addition to all these forces why does DHS need its own private army? Why do the SSA, NOAA and other government agencies need to create their own civilian security forces armed with hollow nose bullets?(click)

Were I the JCS, and if I wasn’t already fully briefed on this matter, I’d stop the purchase of hollow point bullets, ask the secretary of Defense why all this ammunition is being purchased and spread around the country? If I got answers like the ones Congress got during the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious – I’d start tracking all ammunition deliveries nationwide to find out what organizations and units are using them, for what purpose and, if it is not constitutional, prepare to counteract whatever it is that they are doing.

This is a deadly serious business. I hope I’m wrong, but something smells rotten. And If the Congress isn’t going to do its duty and investigate this matter fully, the military will have to protect the Constitution, the nation, and our citizens.

Jerry Curry is a decorated combat veteran, Army Aviator, Paratrooper, and Ranger, who for nearly forty years has served his country both in the military and as a Presidential political appointee.

Do you know the value of a dollar? Do you? Really?

Tell whatever hard-headed, rock-ribbed fiscal conservative who signs your paycheck that you want to be paid in DOLLARS - CONSTITUTIONAL DOLLARS - SAY IT LOUD

Pieces of Eight!

The word "dollar" is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. In that context, "dollars" is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U.S. Congress adopted legislation titled An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States. Section 9 of that act authorized the production of various coins, including "DOLLARS OR UNITS—each to be of the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current, and to contain three hundred and seventy-one grains and four sixteenth parts of a grain of pure, or four hundred and sixteen grains of standard silver".Section 20 of the act provided, "That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units... and that all accounts in the public offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation". In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States.(click here for the good news)
IN GOLDEN GATE PARK, THERE IS A PLACE CALLED SPEEDWAY MEADOWS. GO THERE ON THE MORNING OF JULY 4, 2013, OR FIND A PLACE JUST LIKE THAT AND BRING YOUR FRIENDS. WAIT THERE UNTIL THE MAGIC HAPPENS, AND DON'T STOP BELIEVING BECAUSE THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED, AFTER ALL (CLICK)

Lubbock County Judge convinced of civil war if Obama wins

LUBBOCK - UN tanks will roll across the staked plain and into the red sands of the cotton lands if the O-man gets a second term, according to one highly placed local official.

Lubbock County Judge Tom Head is pushing a tax increase for the district attorney’s office and the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office. He says the money is needed to “beef up” its resources in case President Obama wins the November election.

In the event of civil unrest, Judge Head said he’s concerned the President would hand over sovereignty of the United States to the U.N., causing the American public to react violently.

“He’s going to try to hand over the sovereignty of the U.S. to the United Nations. What’s going to happen when that happens?” Judge Head told a local news affiliate in Lubbock.

“I’m thinking worse case scenario,” Judge Head explained. “Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war maybe…we’re not just talking a few riots or demonstrations.”

The West Texas judge’s proposed tax increase is to help the sheriff’s office hire a law enforcement staff large enough to protect the county and to drive away the invaders.

“I don’t want rookies,” Head said flatly. “I want trained, equip and seasoned veteran officers to back me.”

The republican judge said that he himself will meet the enemy, “in front of their armored personnel carriers” to tell them they are not welcome, and has the county sheriff to back him up. “I don’t want U.N. troops in Lubbock County,” he said.

Tom Head, a graduate of Highland Park High School, has been Lubbock County judge since 1999.

Business chimes in for $1.5M budget investment in economic development commission

Waco – Members of the business community – most of them past chairmen of the Waco-McLennan County Economic Development Council – stood up for an annual $1.5 million budgetary contribution to funding the program's roughly $6.5 million fund.

One man, a member of the industrial foundation, pointed out how Caterpillar has located 4 manufacturing divisions in the local industrial park.

One may hear their comments here:

Tea Party advocates of limited government and reduced spending presented hard and fast numbers that belie the necessity for such an expense.

A large accumulation of “fluff” in unspent funds is inflating expenditures while budget totals don't reflect the true dimensions of the problem; they maintain the process lacks transparency, not only for members of the public, but for the Commissioners, as well.

These hard line conservatives may be heard here:

County Commissioners, who are headed for a showdown on the matter next week, are facing hard choices on whether to cut spending or raise taxes by about 6 percent, bumping for the first time the psychological barrier of about a nickel per $100 of assessed valuation. That would represent about $40 more in county ad valorem taxes for an owner of a $100,000 home.

Two members of the Court, Joe Mashek and Kelly Snell, are on record in opposition to the annual investment. They favor a moratorium of one year before coming back to the annual commitment first proposed by first-term member Ben Perry.

Mr.Perry found a way to cut expenses, eliminate the need for a taxincrease, and still have a surplus of about $600,000 in calculationshe presented during a budget workshop last week.
(one may click here for a previous report)

He has been absent due to an emergency surgery for a retinal tear, but he's expected back in time to cast the tie-breaking vote at budget conferences and the weekly meeting next week.