Welcome to Texas News & Commentary

Just click on INDEX to take you to a complete listing of all articles appearing on this page

Spending Limits for Texas (November 17, 2008)

Americans for Prosperity Director Peggy Venable encourages Texas state legislators to enact spending limits when they meet in session on Jan. 13.

Venable spoke to representatives about the importance of spending limits at a Spending Subcommittee of the House Appropriations hearing on Wednesday at the Capitol. She said that with the national economy in turmoil, and state and local governmental entities facing budget shortfalls, AFP recommends spending limits.

Limits require lawmakers to set spending priorities, just like families do, and also provides for voter approval to spend more.  

“We will work with legislators to allow taxpayers the opportunity to determine how much government they want and are willing to pay for, at every level of government,” said Venable.

AFP proposes a spending limit which does several things:

“We have good news in Texas, thanks to legislators’ hard work.  We have a budget surplus and have enjoyed several years of a good economy.  Should taxpayers bemoan a good economy? Certainly not,” Venable said. “Nor should taxpayers fuel government growth during good economic times, only to be faced with tax increases or threatened with cuts in services during economic downturns.”

“Texans deserve to have the opportunity to determine just how much government they want and are willing to pay for. Texans need meaningful tax and expenditure reforms,” she said. “Without taxpayer protections, good economic times simply fuel government growth.”

The testimony is available online at:  www.afptx.org.

In Government We Trust? Part 3 (September 22, 2008)

Texas Straight Talk by Rep. Ron Paul

I’ve discussed just a few benefits of sound money in the last two weeks, and contrasted them to the perils of fiat currency.  Sound money keeps government spending in check, keeps trade fair and honest, which reduces the temptations, and many underlying causes, for governments to wage wars.  It also gives you the peace of mind of knowing that your savings will be able to sustain you in your retirement.

So if sound money is such a good thing, what is stopping people from simply trading with each other in gold and silver?  Why are you still being paid in fiat dollars, and why can’t you pay for gas in gold?  The answer is that the government has enacted policies that provide considerable stumbling blocks to such transactions.

One of the main stumbling blocks is Federal legal tender laws, which state that government-controlled fiat currency MUST be accepted for many kinds of monetary transactions.  In light of this, Gresham’s Law takes effect.  Gresham’s Law states that bad money drives out good money.  Meaning, if someone is forced to accept your bad money, it is to your advantage to pass it off, like a hot potato, in exchange for something of value.  Any good money you have, you will hoard.  Eventually, real money is driven out of circulation and under people’s mattresses, so to speak.  In the absence of legal tender laws, people are free to accept the medium of exchange of their choice, and are likely to insist on payment in something of real value.

Related to legal tender laws, contracts in gold are not enforced.  Meaning if two parties agree to exchange goods or services for gold, and end up in a dispute, the courts will simply settle the dispute in Federal Reserve notes.*  Governments should do very little, in my estimation, but it should enforce contracts and property rights through the courts.  But in this instance it shirks this basic duty, when it comes to gold, as one way to keep control of our economy and the medium of exchange.  One is also expected to pay sales tax on the purchase of gold.  This is as ludicrous as if you paid sales tax at the bank when you converted dollars into quarters!  The IRS also expects you to pay capital gains tax on gold, which is so backwards, since gains on gold really represent decline in the value of the dollar!

Legal tender laws should be repealed at the Federal level.  Congress has the Constitutional duty to protect the integrity of our money.  However, since it has passed this duty off, and the Federal Reserve has only debased our currency, Congress should no longer force Americans to do business in dollars if they would prefer to transact in gold, or silver, or cigarettes or seashells, for that matter.  Free people should be free to associate and do business in ways that benefit them.  Instead they are forced to use the unstable dollar to their own detriment, and the benefit the government.

*Clarification:  Some astute readers took issue with this sentence.  Because of space limitations for the weekly column, I was not able to elaborate on this further.  While gold clauses have been legally enforceable since the late 1970's the fact remains that disputes over gold clauses might well be resolved in court with a dollar figure calculated in terms of Federal Reserve Notes.  In the recently decided case of 216 Jamaica Ave v. S&R Playhouse, which reversed a district court decision, the court upheld the enforceability of a gold clause, but sent the case back to the district court to decide what obligations the gold clause imposed on the defendant.  It is not inconceivable that this will result in a decision that the value of the "gold coin" referred to could be valued by the court in terms of Federal Reserve Notes, not in terms of ounces of gold.  Furthermore, given the federal government's actions against Robert Kahre (the Nevada businessman who paid his employees at the legal tender face value of gold bullion coins) it is obvious that the government is still waging a war on gold.  Whether either of these cases establishes a precedent remains to be seen.  Additionally, because 31 USC 5103 establishes Federal Reserve Notes as legal tender, it would likely take a court challenge to determine whether a gold clause or legal tender law takes precedence.

In Government We Trust? Part 2 (September 15, 2008)

Texas Straight Talk by Rep. Ron Paul

Last week I discussed how sound money contributes to peaceful relationships around the world.  It is not gold, in and of itself that excites me, but the many benefits of sound money.  Another benefit is financial security.

Can sound money give you financial security?  There is something very comforting in knowing that what you earn today will retain its purchasing power in the years to come.  Indeed, the same silver dime that bought a loaf of bread in the 1960's can still buy a loaf of bread with its precious metal content – which is worth about $1.00 today.  An ounce of gold has always been about evenly exchangeable for a finely tailored men's suit, which these days is roughly $800.  And in these days of fluctuating gas prices, when priced in gold, oil has been stable.  Meanwhile, since the creation of the Federal Reserve, the fiat dollar has lost 94 percent of its purchasing power. 

The erosion of purchasing power rapidly accelerated when it was completely uncoupled from gold in 1971.  This sort of fluctuation in the medium of exchange creates a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace and necessitates that you either take extraordinary defensive maneuvers, or face financial ruin.  Trusting in government for financial security in retirement is not a safe option.  Indeed, a recent study by the Consumer Bankruptcy Project shows that bankruptcies among those 75 and older has more than quadrupled since 1991. 

This represents wealth and savings that have been eroded by inflation, and trust in entitlement promises that were more fantasy than reality.  Even with the pittance that social security pays to seniors, it is bankrupt and bringing the economy to its knees.  It is no wonder that many in the younger generations want no part of it, and they should not be forced into a failed system.

On the other hand, holding physical gold can defend against aggressive government monetary policies that threaten to inflate away the value of your life savings.  During the hyperinflation in post WWI Germany, what used to be a comfortable nest egg was suddenly the value of a postage stamp.  If one held just a portion of their savings in precious metals, the crisis was greatly softened.   Gold will never be worth nothing, even if the exact price fluctuates.  There is a famous photograph, however, of a German woman during this time period burning piles of tightly bound banknotes to keep warm.

Imagine if the money you earned had honest, stable value, or even appreciated like an investment!  No such special measures, like converting dollars to gold, would be required to ensure that your savings would sustain you in your golden years.  That is the way it could be and is supposed to be.  However, the government's thirst for power will not be easily, or cheaply, quenched.  Fiat currency is one tool governments have to extract wealth quietly from the working class.  It is time for the people to wake up to this ruse and look to the Constitution to restore sound currency.

In Government We Trust? Part 1 (Posted September 8, 2008)

Texas Straight Talk by Rep. Ron Paul

Many who agree with me on a lot of other issues, do not understand my enthusiasm for gold and sound money or why I spend so much time studying and talking about monetary policy.  It's true that I talk about money differently than most, but the fact is sound money offers many benefits.  For example – peace.

Can sound money really bring about peace?  Actually, it plays a big part in peaceful international relationships.  Money based on commodities, rather than paper, is not subject to government manipulation, and is a key component to free and honest trade.  History shows that if countries engage in trade with each other, their governments tend to find ways to get along for the same reason you do not kill your customers at your place of business, even if they occasionally annoy you.  If someone outright cheats you, however, you may engage in “war” by taking them to court, for example, and the relationship will sour. 

Governments and central banks with unfettered power to manipulate currency also have the ability to cheat their creditors.  One way they do this is to simply create enough currency to pay off debts.  This devalues the currency and “cheats” the recipient out of what they are owed.  It would not be fair if you watered down your product the way our government waters down its currency, so it is not hard to understand, in these simplified terms, why loose monetary policy contributes so much to ill will and war around the world.

Sound money, on the other hand, simply is what it is.  Removing governmental power to manipulate money, removes the temptation for government to spend, print and cheat.  Sound money ensures that our government’s spending priorities would be brought into sharp focus and reduced to only what we can afford.

Sound money also limits the ability to wage wars of aggression.  Imagine how much more careful Washington would have to be about starting a war if they did not have this financial sleight of hand at their disposal!  Fiat currency allows government do expensive things they should not be doing while paying the bills with cheap money.  The Federal Reserve has lately been auctioning off large amounts of treasury bills as a way to finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and our crushing entitlement burden.  The resulting devaluation of the dollar is quickly eroding our image as a good trading partner in the world.  As a consequence, there is therefore more talk of economic isolation and war. 

This vicious cycle of spending, fighting and inflating is not what Americans want.  It is what the government wants, and it has had to deceive the citizens into allowing and supporting it.  Sound money curbs the government’s ability to engage in these shenanigans and reduces the wars we fight to only truly defensive ones, for which Americans are more than willing to stand and fight.  So in these ways, sound money is very conducive to peace.

T. Boone Pickens in Bed with Nancy Pelosi? (Posted September 1, 2008)

My recent article re T. Boone Pickens’ attempt to monopolize wind power in Texas seems to have the backing of House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. See, “Wind Power Just a Lot of Hot Air?” August 4, 2008. It explains why Pelosi has refused to allow a floor discussion and vote on drilling offshore and in ANWR, closed down the House of Representatives and took off on a five-week vacation in her personal 747 Jumbo Jet Airliner paid for by taxpayers. Apparently she’s not bound to conserve energy like the rest of us peons.

According to an article by William R. Collier, Jr. of The American Freedomist http://blog.freedomist.info/, the T. Boone Pickens plan involves the private control of water, which Pickens wants to be able to sell to big cities via giant water pipelines which will be built on land seized under eminent domain.

How did he do this? He did this by pushing through a “water district” which consists of only 8 acres of land and then applying eminent domain to expand that district and seize land from local ranchers which, in the end, puts vital water resources under his private control.

The Sierra Club, which you might think has an opinion that means something to Nancy Pelosi who just wants to “save the world”, had this to say, “We have real concerns about private control of water,” said Ken Kramer, director of the Texas Sierra Club. “Water is a resource, yet in some respects it is a commodity. It’s as essential to human life as air. That puts water in a different class.”

Pickens plans to sell 200,000 acre-feet from parched West Texas Staked Plains annually. His plan is opposed by water policy planners as economically infeasible. This extensive extraction will affect natural spring flows and the rural Texas Panhandle communities that depend on that water. It will also adversely affect family farming and sustainable development from Texas to South Dakota, according to opponents.

Pickens needs money and he has not been able to find investors to pay for a $110 Billion Bond he wants his new “water authority” to issue, therefore he is piggy-backing the windmill plan on to the water infrastructure development plan to use the money obtained for the wind farms in order to pay for the water infrastructure, which was his original goal.

While these plans were in the works as of November 2007, with the creation of this “water district”, the energy company, CLNE, was offered for public investment in an IPO in May of 2007, an IPO that was not advertised, but which resulted in Nancy Pelosi quickly jumping on board. Nancy Pelosi Purchased between $50,000-$100,000 in CLNE stock on May 25, 2007 apparently on its initial public offering.

It is hard to tell if the water scheme is the device being used to seize the land or if the wind turbine scheme is the means by which he will fund the water scheme, but no matter what the case may be, Nancy Pelosi will personally profit from whatever he does as an investor.

Nancy Pelosi is one of the richest members of Congress with a net worth of over US$25 million, which comes primarily from investments a large portfolio of jointly owned San Francisco Bay Area real estate, and, now, of course, stocks in CLNE.

While the stock was initially offered at $14 and is now valued below that amount, the low of $10 in early July of this year is bouncing back, especially in light of ads by Pickens and growing consensus that the Pickens plan will gain support, especially if Pelosi is firmly behind it.

On June 19, 2007, the Company issued a press release announcing that the underwriters of the Company’s initial public offering have elected to exercise in full their option to purchase an additional 1,500,000 shares of the Company’s common stock to cover over-allotments.

This means that Pelosi could have purchased around 20,000 shares at $3.86, or $50,000 to $100,000 worth, which are now worth 300% more than their original value.

Nancy Pelosi says that she is trying to save the planet and prevent global warming, but the reality is that, according to disclosure statements, in May 2007 she invested in T. Boone Picken’s clean energy fuels corp., CLNE, which is the sole sponsor of a proposal in California to funnel $5 billion in state funds and $5 billion in Federal funs to this corporation which will indirectly help them create a giant wind farm in the Texas panhandle.

Under pressure from federal lawmakers concerned about high energy prices, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission proposed a rule prohibiting petroleum-market manipulation, giving the agency authority to levy fines of up to $1 million per violation a day.

Pelosi, who owns stock in CLNE, a company founded by T Boon Pickens and LIBERAL activist WR Hambrecht, stands to make MILLIONS on an $50,000 to $100,000 investment which may include anywhere from 3,000 to 22,000 shares, depending on the price she paid.

During the INITIAL offering, before the stock was offered in public, the stock was sold to a select group of investors for $3.86 per share, and this amounted to around 125,000 shares. Pelosi made her purchase on the day the stock was offered, which makes one suspicious that she was able to get the stock at the lower price. Her close ties to Hambrecht, a liberal activist who gives $80,000 per year to liberal causes, make one suspect that she had to have been in on the offering but we cannot prove this.

Here is what is irrefutable. The company is valued at $632 MILL but if it succeed in its Proposition 10 proposal for California, it would increase its value at least tenfold and if the Pickens Plan, which calls for hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars, goes through its value could be increased a hundredfold! No matter how you slice it, Pelosi would WANT Proposition 10 AND the Pickens plan to succeed seeing as how she stands to gain $1 million to $10 million from the deal and for a woman who is “only” worth $25 million this is nothing to sneeze at.

Pelosi’s manipulation of the market is of a most decisive kind, she is using the excuse of “saving the planet” to refuse to allow the market, and not a central panning committee or government, to determine what kind of energy is produced where. Pelosi is using the power of the Speaker’s chair, using the rhetoric of a green warrior, but by all appearances she is acting as the handmaiden of the Pickens Plan for her own gain.

And remember Klee’s Law: “If you took all the fraud out of politics, there might not be a lot left.” (Thomas Sowell)

Wind Power Just a Lot of Hot Air? (Posted August 4, 2008)

It appears the greatest benefactor of wind power is T. Boone Pickens. He has the most to gain at taxpayers expense should the government go whole hog in favor of such a questionable source of energy. Much of the Texas project will be paid for by government subsidies i.e. taxpayer money. Pickens may be able to pocket the proceeds of energy deals he’s able to negotiate here in Texas but the cost to taxpayers, however, is likely to exceed $7 billion. “Free wind power” isn’t free.

First of all, wind power is reliable only when the wind is blowing and then, only at certain speeds. I remember passing a huge windmill farm in Southern California south of Palm Springs where the wind mills were not turning but sitting there motionless like outcrops in the desert. What a waste, I thought. When they are actually producing power, there’s the problem of how much is actually being produced, where and how to store it and for how long. The power, once created, has to be stored and battery capacity is limited and expensive.

Because of their unreliability as power sources, backup power plants are needed that are “nonrenewable” sources of energy. It’s been reported despite decades of heavy subsidies, solar and wind power provide only about 0.5 percent of current United States electricity and almost none of our transport energy.

And there’s a reason for that. It’s expensive, costing four to ten times as much as fossil and nuclear energy sources. It would also require us to convert hundreds of millions of forest and wild lands into windmill farms and solar panel collections.

Let’s take wind power: Anyone traveling past a windmill farm has seen these huge structures that would bring a tear to the eye of Don Quixote. They only work when the wind is blowing and even then, within certain speed ranges. It would take nearly 2,000 of those 750-kilowatt wind turbines operating at the normal 28 percent capacity factor to produce the equivalent electricity as one 500-megawatt gas-fired combined cycle base-load generating plant.

Even should the wind blow fairly forcefully and steadily, windmills don’t produce enough electricity to justify the cost of building new transmission lines to connect them to electrical grids. The cost is so prohibitive that massive subsidies are necessary for their construction. Not only do they take up a lot of land but they’re unsightly.

Emissions from fossil-fueled electric generating plants such as coal will not be diminished to any significant degree simply because back-up generating plants need to be immediately available when wind speed drops off or disappears. A recent report suggests that actual statistics from wind-turbine farms indicates generating electricity by wind turbines uses more hydrocarbon fuel than is saved.

So why are they being promoted? First, they provide very attractive tax shelters (enter T. Boone Pickens). Next, some states, like Texas, mandate them. Thirdly, electric utilities see a public relations advantage in promoting them. There’s also the desire to appease environmentalists. And of course there’s a buck to be made in the construction, sale and installation of the wind turbines, land leases, transmission system contracts, etc.

T. Boone Pickens isn’t a billionaire four times over for nothing. He has invested $2 billion to build the largest wind farm in Pampa, Texas in the panhandle and plans to pay for the transmission lines to carry the electricity generated into the infrastructure of the Dallas electricity grid. Aside from the tax shelter for such an undertaking, one wonders as to how much of his project will be subsidized by taxpayers’ dollars and the financial gain he will realize by having his own energy source routed directly into the Dallas area. With that kind of investment he’ll be the only game in town and will have a practical monopoly on wind generated power going into Dallas.

The bulk of the power generated through the use of wind turbines will be sent to Dallas/Fort. Worth, Austin/San Antonio and Houston, however, all users of electricity throughout the state will pay for the added cost even though they will not directly benefit from state mandated wind energy.

Solar energy, like wind energy, is another extremely expensive and unreliable power source. It requires a back-up system when the solar panels fail to produce enough needed energy and it has limited application. The electricity generated has the same storage problems as wind generated energy – batteries are expensive and have their limitations as well. The only thing that’s keeping the solar power industry going is government subsidies. As with both wind and solar power, the savings realized is insufficient to pay for its cost making it impossible to amortize the investment in wind and solar power.

A report released in 1992 by the National Academy of Sciences (Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming: Mitigation, Adaptation and the Science Base) stated that replacing all of the U.S. current fossil fuel use with solar energy would require about 50,000 square miles of panels, presumably heavily skewed to the places where sunlight is abundant.

Wind and solar power is not the answer to America’s energy problems. It’s as hard to justify as ethanol for transport fuel.

And remember Klee’s Law: “A clear conscious is usually a sign of a bad memory.” (Steven Wright)

©2008 Harvey H. Klee

Defending the American Dream Summit a Huge Success (Posted July 28, 2008)

The Defending the American Dream Summit sponsored by Americans for Prosperity and RightOnline.com held at the Renaissance Hotel in Austin, Texas July 18-19, 2008 was a huge success with over 500 registrants in attendance.  I enjoyed meeting other conservative bloggers and activists who came out to learn how to better mobilize and communicate using new media technologies by hearing from the foremost experts in the field. Inspired as I was, you can look forward to seeing several changes on the Klee’s Kaleidoscope web site in the near future.

It’s important that we here in Llano know that such organizations exist and are actively engaged in the new media to counter the prevalence of liberal left–wing political propaganda spreading across the blogosphere not only state-wide and nationally but locally here in Llano as well. Klee’s Kaleidoscope is the only blog serving as a government watchdog in Llano County and will continue to report and comment on unreported, underreported and misreported news within the greater community of Llano County.

Here’s a list of the Summit’s featured speakers:

Michelle Malkin – Renowned national syndicated columnist, blogger, author and political commentator.

Robert Novak – Political commentator and journalist.

Hon. Barry Goldwater, Jr. - President of B2 Solutions, a Public Affairs enterprise and former U.S. Congressman.

John Carter – U.S. Congressman, 31^st District of Texas

Erick Erickson – Managing editor of RedState.com

John Fund – Editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal

Elizabeth Ames Jones – Texas Railroad Commissioner

Hon. Steve Lonegan – New Jersey State Director, Americans for Prosperity Foundation

Stephen Moore – Economist and political analyst for the Wall Street Journal

Grover Norquist – President of Americans for Tax Reform

Tim Philips – President of Americans for Prosperity

Merrie Spaeth – Founder and President of Spaeth Communications, Swift Boat Veterans for truth

Hon. Michael Steel – Chairman of GOPAC and Former Governor of Maryland

Michael Williams – Chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission

Peggy Venable – Texas State Director, Americans for Prosperity Foundation

Bob Barr – Presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party

Several training sessions were conducted throughout the two-day Summit put on by the Heritage Foundation, the Sam Adams Alliance, the Leadership Institute, the Media Research Center and Americans for Prosperity. They covered a multitude of topics dealing with the Old Media v the New Media and effective ways of using blogs to further conservative ideas.

Special sessions discussed “How to Protest Your Property Taxes,” “Education Reform,” “Treats to Freedom and Your Pocketbook,” “Global Warming: The Cost of Climate Change Hysteria,” “Putting Taxpayers in Control,” etc.

A multiple of “Defender of the American Dream” awards were handed out to individuals for their outstanding community involvement on behalf of taxpayers:

The Hon. Paul Bettencourt – Taxpayer Advocate of the Year

The Hon. Cheryl E. Johnson – Taxpayer Advocate of the Year

Carol Jones – Lifetime Award

Katy Watchdogs – Watchdog Group of the year

Tracy Lodes – New Citizen Watchdog Award

Will Lutz – The Lone Star Report, Media Award

Donald May – Blogger Award

Dianna Pharr – Watchdog Website Award

Nanci Wilson – KEYE News Austin, Media Award

I would like to network with any other bloggers from this area who attended the Summit this year. Please e-mail me and mention your blog site. Together we can make a difference for freedom and liberty.

One closing thought. If you know of a high school or Jr. High school student interested in writing a regular weekly column for this web site, please let me know. The youth of our community deserve to be heard concerning those matters affecting their future.

And remember Klee’s Law: “A fight is not won by one punch or kick. Either learn to endure or get a bodyguard.” (Bruce Lee)

©2008 Harvey H. Klee

Klee Receives President’s Volunteer Service Award (Posted July 7, 2008)

At the American Legion and American Legion Auxiliary, Department of Texas, Annual Convention held in Corpus Christi June 25 through June 29, 2008 at the Omni Tower Hotel, Harvey H. Klee received The President’s Volunteer Service Award, “In recognition and appreciation of your commitment to strengthening our Nation and for making a difference through volunteer service.”

Mr. Klee is a resident of Llano County. He recently concluded his term as Texas State Chaplain for the American Legion but continues to serve as its 4^th Division and 21^st District Chaplain. He also serves as the Chaplain for the Highland Lakes Honor Guard and is the Texas Assistant Chaplain for the Chapel of Four Chaplains which is home based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Jean Case, Chair, and Michael W. Smith, Vice Chair of the President’s Council on Service & Civic Participation presented the Award to Mr. Klee with congratulations. It reads in part:

“This Award recognizes your dedication to volunteer service and signifies that you have served your community and your country with distinction. Through your volunteer efforts, you are demonstrating values that make our nation strong and you are helping to build a culture of citizenship, service and responsibility in America.

“By volunteering, you have joined a remarkable team that includes millions of Americans whose everyday acts of kindness and decency make our country a better place. Please help that team grow stronger by encouraging your friends and family members to serve. Americans of all ages can get involved and make a difference in their communities.”

Accompanying the Award was personal congratulations from President George W. Bush which reads in part:

“Congratulations on receiving the President’s Volunteer Service Award from the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation. Through service to others, you demonstrate the outstanding character of America and help strengthen our country.

“In January 2002, I called on all Americans to dedicate at least two years, or 4,000 hours, over the course of their lives to serve others at homer or abroad. I congratulate you and all Americans who have answered this call and have earned a bronze Award from the President’s Council…

“May God bless you, and may God continue to bless America.”

Also on the dais with Mr. Klee was Governor Rick Perry who thanked veterans for answering the call of duty to protect America’s freedom and called for continued assistance of veterans’ rehabilitation programs. He praised the efforts of the Legion and Auxiliary for their efforts in assisting veterans returning from active duty, and commended their work promoting the armed forces and recruiting volunteers.

“Throughout our nation’s history, each generation has stepped forward to accept the torch of freedom from those who preceded them and advance the cause of liberty to even greater heights. America is proud of the men and women in uniform who answer the call and uphold the sacred oath to defend freedom no matter the cost.

“I thank you for your ongoing support of our veterans, and I hope you will continue to recruit volunteers from your ranks, neighborhoods, churches and workplaces. The freedoms we enjoy in each of those places were won for us by veterans, and although we can never match their sacrifice, we must continue to give back to them in every way possible.” 

The American Legion, Department of Texas is one of 55 organizations that comprise the national organization of the American Legion, the largest wartime veteran’s organization in the world. The American Legion promotes understanding of the principles of democracy, instills appreciation of the benefits of American citizenship and serves the needs of veterans and their families.

CPS is on the march – Where are your children? (Posted June 9, 2008)

Now that cooler heads are in control, we know what happened in El Dorado, Schleicher County to the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) to be a prime example of government, the media and the general public officiously intermeddling in the private lives of American citizens. Jumping to conclusions as they have, without objective facts to support their bigotry, has caused more irreconcilable heartbreak then anyone can imagine.

It all started when a purported 16-year-old member of the FLDS in El Dorado anonymously phoned an abuse hotline in San Antonio several times making up a story of sexual and physical abuse at the FLDS. She said her name was Sarah, a mother of an eight-month old baby and pregnant for the second time. She further claimed she had been sexually and physically abused by her husband of one year, a man purported to have been about 50-years-old.

Without confirming the veracity of the “facts” alleged in the unwritten, un-sworn to complaint, the identity of the caller or her reliability, and without corroborating evidence of any kind, the local police and Texas Department of Family Protective Services aka Child Protective Services raided the religious community’s home and separated about 416 children from their parents by placing them in foster homes scattered across the country.

It now appears that the caller was Rozita Swinton, a 33-year-old woman who works for a Denver, Colorado insurance company and who has a history of making false reports to the police. She had been previously arrested after she posed as the teen mother of a newborn baby and told an adoption agency and police she was considering suicide and leaving the baby at a fire station. Shortly thereafter, Swinton made another false report concerning a girl purportedly locked in a basement. She was serving a one-year deferred sentence in that case when the anonymous phone call was made concerning the FLDS.

The authorities and most of the population fell for the hoax hook, line and sinker. It would have made great laughs except for the damage it has done to the lives of innocent people, not the least of which are the children who were taken away from their parents and a secure home environment. And they call themselves “Family Protective Service” It’s amazing what bureaucrats will do to justify their existence and increase their budgets.

On May 29, 2008 the Texas Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling and held that the seizures were illegal: “On the record before us, the removal of the children was not warranted.” The lower court’s order returning the children from foster care to their parents was upheld.

Pending the Supreme Court’s decision, the number of children seized increased to roughly 440 due to the additional births, numerous reclassifications and temporary agreements between the parties. While the ruling only directly affects 124 children and 38 mothers (those on whose behalf the suit was filed), its ramifications should affect all those who had their children taken away from them.

Under Texas law, children can be taken from their parents if there’s a danger to their physical safety, an urgent need for protection and if officials made a reasonable effort to keep the children in their homes. The justices said child welfare officials can take numerous actions short of separating them from their parents and placing them in foster homes. The CPS’ over exuberance in removing the children fell far short of the standards applied in such cases.

Although at some point the authorities may uncover evidence of sexual abuse of some children at the compound, to punish an entire community for the crimes of a few is monstrous. Punish the guilty but not the innocent. Sometimes we forget all are innocent until found guilty in a court of competent jurisdiction.

The irony is that while the lawbreaking abuser will ultimately suffer the consequences of his or her acts, government agency personnel who break the law will not. As we learned from the Ron Moore case, they are immune from prosecution regardless of whether their conduct is negligent or illegal as long as it seems they are acting in good faith within their discretionary authority. Apparently what’s good for the goose isn’t good for the gander.

Perhaps the apathy and indifference a community has for the trials and tribulations of others may change when, and only when, it affects them directly i.e. when their own children are taken away from them and placed in foster homes. By then it will be too late.

And remember Klee’s Law: “Over the years, slowly but surely, we have painted ourselves into a corner on a whole range of issue, where we can no longer say or do what makes the most sense to us, but only what is considered to be politically correct.” (Thomas Sowell)

©2008 Harvey H. Klee

Scam E-Mails Seek Donations to Help Chinese Earthquake Victims (Posted June 2, 2008)

The FBI is asking people to beware of e-mails claiming to be raising money to help victims of the recent earthquake in China. Tragic incidents such as 9/11, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Minnesota Bridge collapse, and the Virginia Tech shootings have all prompted individuals with criminal intent to solicit contributions for a charitable organization and/or a good cause. Some of the Chinese earthquake scam messages claim to be offering free vacation trips to the largest donors and even use fake logos of legitimate online pay services to fool people.

Everyone should consider the following:

“Scammers and criminals come forward after many of these tragic events and you should be wary of unsolicited requests for money. People should feel free to make donations, just make sure you know who you are dealing with and where the donations are going. This way you can make sure your money really makes a difference and helps out a needy person, not a greedy criminal," said Special Agent Richard Kolko, Washington, DC.

To receive the latest information about cyber scams please go to the FBI website and sign up for e-mail alerts by clicking on one of the red envelopes. If you have received a scam e-mail please notify the IC3 by filing a complaint at www.ic3.gov. For more information on e-scams, please visit the FBI's New E-Scams and Warnings webpage.

Taxpayers are the Winners in Run-Off Elections (Posted April 14, 2008)

Tuesday’s Republican primary run-off winners Bryan Daniel, Ralph Sheffield, Tryon Lewis, Angie Button, Ken Legler all signed the Americans for Prosperity-Texas taxpayer pledge to limit the growth of government and to end taxpayer-funded lobbying.

“Texas House District 52, 55, 81, 112, and 114 may now become more taxpayer-friendly legislative districts,” said AFP-Texas Director Peggy Venable.

“These candidates signed the pledge to put taxpayers in greater control over how much government we want and are willing to pay for,” said Venable.  “Taxpayers who went to the polls sent a very powerful message yesterday.”

Judge Lewis of Odessa and Ken Legler of Pasadena face no democratic opponent on the November ballot. 

These were very important elections as it demonstrates that taxpayer protections are important to voters.  In the HD 112 Republican primary run-off, both candidates had signed the pledge. 

Some local candidates also signed the pledge.  Matt Shaheen, who signed the AFP pledge, won the Pct 2 Collin County Commissioner seat in Tuesday’s run-off election.

To view the pledge, click here:

http://americansforprosperity.org/tx/2008/TX_AFP_StateCandidatepledge.pdf

To view the complete list of pledge signers, click here: http://www.americansforprosperity.org/index.php?id=4746&state=tx

#  #  #

 Americans For Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits.  Americans for Prosperity educates and mobilizes grassroots citizens. For more information please visit www.afptx.org.

Hate Crimes and Grievance Counseling (Posted December 17, 2007)

According to a Justice Department report, race is the primary factor behind hate crimes. However, blacks are slightly less likely to be victims and far more likely to be perpetrators of hate crimes. The report states that 40 percent of white hate crime victims were attacked by blacks, and adds: “The small percentage of black hate crime victims precludes analysis of the race of persons who victimized them.” Bottom line: whites are more likely to be the victims of race hate crimes than blacks and the vast majority of these crimes against whites are committed by blacks. In fact, based on the percentage of their representation in the country, more crimes in general, not just hate crimes, are committed against whites by blacks than by whites against blacks although most crimes against blacks are committed by blacks. Thanks to the media, race-baiters and other liberal hacks, most of us have been brainwashed into thinking otherwise.

All crimes are hate crimes in one sense or another. Designating one crime as opposed to another as a hate crime is a political anomaly that does more to foster resentment than to curb crime. Regardless, crimes will occur against individuals or groups of individuals and far too often will result in the death of the victim or victims. When that happens, some misguided individual or group will rush in to offer grief counseling of questionable efficacy.

A new study indicates that grievance counseling, specifically bereavement counseling, may be a waste of time. In all likelihood, the one doing the counseling will benefit more from the counseling than the one receiving it.

Since Sigmund Freud came on the scene, psychoanalysts held to the belief that confronting feelings is the healthiest way to cope with bereavement i.e. failure to express grief indicates, or may lead to, deep psychological problems. People are urged to express their sadness in order to release their suppressed emotions ala CSI: SVU.

A group of psychologists from Utrecht University in the Netherlands have carried out their own research and reviewed that of others and found no link between emotional expression of grief and a lessening of subsequent distress. The study assessed 128 recently bereaved people four times over a two year period and found no statistical difference between the continued distress in those who shared their emotions and those who did not.

The authors of the study, Wolfgang Strobe, Hank Schut and Margaret Strobe, had their work published in Clinical Psychology Review. They challenged the view that it is beneficial for those who have suffered loss to “write about their very deepest thoughts and feelings.” They reviewed previous trials in which bereaved people had been asked to write for 15 to 30 minutes about a recent traumatic loss or a trivial topic, and found little evidence that writing about emotions was beneficial.

The authors said: “The findings challenge beliefs about grief work, emotional disclosure and beneficial intervention that were considered as self-evident by bereavement researchers only a decade ago.” They claimed that counseling was more likely to benefit those with “complicated” grief – such as those whose loved ones suffered a particularly traumatic death.

The researchers were asked why bereaved people with “uncomplicated” grief fail to benefit from “grief work.” They concluded that the most common difficulty suffered by bereaved people is emotional loneliness: the feeling of being utterly alone, even when in the company of friends and family. This type of loneliness, they say, only abates with time and nothing can be done to aid recovery.

The findings are supported by Dr. Colin Murray Parkes, a consultant psychiatrist and the president of the charity Cruise Bereavement Care. He said: “There is no evidence that all bereaved people will benefit from counseling, and research has shown no benefit to arise from the routine referral of people to counseling for no other reason then that they have suffered bereavement.”

Grief counseling is becoming a big industry – if not quite as big as the race industry - but in light of the research, it appears those that do the counseling derive the biggest benefit from it. The cost of local schools bringing in grief counselors or making them available to students when a fellow student dies, for example, is hardly justifiable. But in this “touchy, feely” environment, in which we live, it’s unlikely to end – facts be damned, just like the refusal to acknowledge the prevalence of black on white hate crimes.

And remember Klee’s Law: “He who is unaware of his ignorance will be only misled by his knowledge.” (Richard Whately)

©2007 Harvey H. Klee

Index of National News publications available on this page

To read a particular article, simply click on the title below