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Volume XIII Number 21 - July 15, 2014     RSS Feed   

A Periodic Newsletter for Committed Texas Conservatives

In This Issue

Israel Attacked By Palestinian Government Partner Hamas

The Objective Review Of Obama's Errors, Or Why He's Rated As The Worst President Since WWII

Harris County Republican Party New Leadership Announced

Should Republicans Be Pro-Worker Or In Bed With Big Business? An Interesting Perspective To Consider

Red, White and Blue
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Gary Polland
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Thoughts This Fortnight

Israel Attacked By Palestinian
Government Partner Hamas

Okay, let's see, thousands of missiles have rained down on Israel, forcing much of the county into bomb shelters and disrupting everyday life as the Palestinian Hamas seeks to injure Israeli civilians.

So Israel, after asking for a cease-fire through Egypt last week, finally has had enough and starts responding by bombing terrorist targets. And UNLIKE any other country in the world, actually warns civilians in target areas to evacuate as bombs are coming. Instead, Hamas is using women and children as human shields. They also hide rocket launchers near or at houses, schools, hospitals and mosques, all of which is in violation of international law.

Finally, since no nation would take daily missile attacks without massive retaliation, Israel is no different. All bets should be off and Israel should cut all ties to Gaza, including all utilities currently provided by Israel.

As for the U.S., where is the President in stating our strong support for Israel? What Israel needs to do to defend itself is not do as the misguided John Kerry suggests, exercise restraint.

The goal for Israel should be as described by Ambassador Yoram Ettinger, "The goal... must not be the end to the current cycle of violence, but ending the cyclical pattern of violence, by destroying Hamas' terrorist capabilities." Sounds like a worthy goal and only fair.

The Objective Review Of Obama's Errors, Or Why He's Rated As The Worst President Since WWII

  1. Illegal alien inundation. Direct product of the failure of President Obama to enforce our immigration laws. In recent months, almost 300,000 juveniles crossed the border illegally and were dispersed around the county by the Administration. And the vast majority of our citizens, regardless of party, are fed up.
  2. The virtual fall of Iraq and the coming fall of Afghanistan.
  3. The breached line in the sand, Syria's use of chemical weapons.
  4. Feckless response to the Russian takeover of Crimea.
  5. Iran nuclear weapons acquisition not slowed - for agreement to "talk" and he gave up significant sanctions on Iran.
  6. The horrific V.A. scandal.
  7. NSA invasion of our privacy on cell phones, computers and emails.
  8. IRS scandal, he is using the IRS in a Nixonian way to harass political opponents.
  9. Government by edict, ignoring the Constitution and Congress and wholesale rewriting of legislation, Obamacare is a primary example.
  10. Biggest deficit spending in history.

Harris County Republican Party
New Leadership Announced

Paul Simpson, new HCRP Chair elected on a platform of "restore and rebuild", has appointed his new leadership team, which is all cut from the same cloth - older, white, inside the loop Republicans.

The question TCR is asking is where is the diversity in age, major voting groups, and party factions? This is of concern because as the county grows, the percentage of voters represented by the new leadership gets smaller and smaller.

The reboot and rebuild this party needs requires getting out of our comfort zone and growing new leadership from voters under 35, from leaders in the emerging or important voting blocs like Asian Americans, Hispanics, and African Americans and the Tea Party.

One other thought, the first group Simpson should be reaching out to are the social conservatives who were overwhelmingly with his opponent. It's time to come together. As the leader, Paul Simpson should be making the initial effort.

Should Republicans Be Pro-Worker
Or In Bed With Big Business?
An Interesting Perspective To Consider

Large business interests generally operate in their own best interests. So when they coincide with conservatives they are with us and when not - well they'll be with the other side.

There is no question we are in an economic era when the top 1% has about 20% of the national income. In 1980, it was only 8% of the national income. And while this was happening, the CEO to work pay ratio has gone from 30 to 1 in 1950 to the current 500 to 1!

The discussion that Nick Hanauer, a successful west coast businessman, has started is interesting and worthy of continuing. His answer is to raise wages. He believes that the fundamental law of capitalism should be, "If the workers have more money, businesses have more customers." He argues that if businesses paid workers a higher minimum like $15 per hour, taxpayers wouldn't have to make up the difference in food stamps, Medicaid and rent assistance, and they also would increase payroll and sales taxes, thereby reducing the federal debt.

TCR Comment: Interesting points here, and with the dramatic increase in executive pay we have not seen a reduction in senior manager jobs, in fact there are more than ever. So this may disprove the old adage that higher minimum wages reduce jobs.

It's time for conservatives to have an open discussion about this issue. Remember, our biggest polling deficit in the 2012 election was showing the common man we cared about people like them by our side, as did Rick Santorum. Maybe issues like this are worth a taking a look at.


TCR on the Air

Red, White & Blue featuring TCR Editor Gary Polland, liberal commentator David Jones and moderator Linda Lorelle on Fridays at 7:30 pm on PBS Houston Channel 8.1, replaying Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 8.1, Mondays at 11:30 pm on Channel 8.2 and on the web at www.houstonpbs.org.

Coming Soon:
July 18: Scott Anderson, Author, Lawrence In Arabia: War Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East.
July 25: John Barr, Author, Loathing Lincoln: An American Tradition from the Civil War to the Present.

The current show as well as past shows are available on YouTube.

About Your Editor

Gary Polland is a long-time conservative and Republican spokesman, fund-raiser, and leader who completed three terms as the Harris County Republican Chairman. During his three terms, Gary was described as the most successful county Chairman in America by Human Events - The National Conservative Weekly. He is in his fifteenth year of editing a newsletter dealing with key conservative and Republican issues. The last thirteen years he has edited Texas Conservative Review. As a public service for the last 11 years, Gary has published election guides for the GOP primary, general elections and city elections, all with the purpose of assisting conservative candidates. Gary is also in his 13th year of co-hosting Red, White and Blue on PBS Houston, longest running political talk show in Texas history. Gary is a practicing attorney and strategic consultant. He can be reached at (713) 621-6335.

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