Rockwall County – Flagpole Controversy Heats Up

February 25, 2012

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County officials recently arrived to work at our new courthouse (“that Masonic looking building along I-30”) to discover an unauthorized modification to a flagpole at the Veterans Memorial and a revised arrangement of the three flags: U.S., Texas and POW-MIA.

Precinct-1 Commissioner Jerry Wimpee took upon himself the self-appointed task of righting what he perceived to be a wrong. Following modification of the center pole, Commissioner Wimpee presented a bill for charges incurred by a contractor to lop off five feet to make it equal in height to the other two poles.

For the record, a select committee, the Design Jury and the Dedication Committee for the Veterans Memorial, invested considerable time in the planning and execution of the most minute of details in our memorial. View the “before and after” pictures below. Find Commissioner Wimpee’s defense in a letter to the editor of the Rockwall Herald Banner at the end of this posting.

Before Alterations - US Flag center and highest

After Alterations - US Flag at left and equal height

Connie Christensen transmitted the following public appeal.

I’m not sure if you have heard about this or not, so I wanted to let you know about it and to ask for your help.

This matter will be brought before the Commissioners Court on Tuesday, February 28, 2012, at 9:00 a.m. at the Old Courthouse on the 2nd floor and we need as many concerned citizens and Veterans to pack that courtroom as we can get.  We need standing room only – to let it be heard and known that this was unacceptable behavior and will not be tolerated by this arrogant, ELECTED official.  Talk about an abuse of power!

On January 28, 2012, a cherry-picker appeared at the new Rockwall County Veterans Memorial and proceeded to cut 5 feet off the center flag pole bearing the American flag, and to rearrange the order in which the three flags flew on the three flag poles.  This is a very serious situation and the vandalism is currently being investigated by the Texas Rangers.  It was recently boldly declared at the County Commissioners Court by Commissioner Jerry Wimpee that he was, in fact, the person who took it upon himself and ordered the flag pole to be CUT OFF and the flags to be rearranged, and he brazenly presented the bill for it being done to the Court for payment (which has not yet been approved for payment – and shouldn’t be)!  Mr. Wimpee was not authorized to do this!  I understand Mr. Wimpee has an email campaign going saying it was done to correct a “mistake” made during major construction – there was no “mistake.”  The flag pole placement was done per US Flag Code (US Flag Code, 4 US, Section 7(e), Position and Manner of Display)!

(e)The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.

You can read the attached letter I wrote to the Court and Sheriff on February 3rd – and that was published in the Rockwall County News – to get some details.   Please make a point to come to the Commissioners Court session on February 28th at 9:00 a.m. – and bring a friend.  You don’t have to speak if you don’t want to – just your presence will speak volumes.  AND feel free to write to these officials or call them and let them hear your thoughts on the matter!  (I have listed their email addresses for you below.)Mr. Wimpee took it upon himself to change the flag pole and placement to suit his personal preference and belief – all of which is incorrect according to US flag protocol.  The design of the Memorial – including the flag poles – was presented to the Court on July 22, 2010 to be approved and voted upon – and it WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED UPON by ALL of the Commissioners – Mr. Wimpee included.

Spread the word – forward this email – call and bring a friend.  I hope to see you on February 28th. 

Thank you.

Connie Christensen

The Honorable Jerry Hogan – jhogan@rockwallcountytexas.com

Lori Grinnan – lgrinnan@rockwallcountytexas.com

Dennis Bailey – dbailey@rockwallcountytexas.com

David Magness – dmagness@rockwallcountytexas.com

Jerry Wimpee – jwimpee@rockwallcountytexas.com

Rockwall Herald Banner Opinion: Wimpee defends flagpole decision

U.S. National Debt – All A Matter of Perspective

February 19, 2012

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How much is a trillion? That’s a number difficult to imagine, isn’t it? Here I make it simple to understand, using a scale factor of $1 to 1 second of time.

Can you readily understand why we must reduce the size of federal government?

Follow the National Debt Clock by clicking on the link below.

Click on image above for real-time numbers.

 

Join us for T.E.A. – Can Government Be Trusted?

February 17, 2012

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Tomorrow, join us for a free-flowing discussion around government – the good, the bad and the ugly.

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." -- George Washington

A special guest from Hood County will relate his astonishing real-life experience of injustice – a case of government gone bad.

Join us Saturday morning, 18 Feb, in the heart of Rockwall County at:

The Well Coffee Lounge [click here for map]

103 East Main Street

Royse City, Texas 75189

(972) 635-6852

We start promptly at 9:00 am and close at 10:00 am. You’re welcome to continue informal one-on-one conversations for as long as you wish after the meeting officially closes.

The Well Coffee Lounge features a welcoming atmosphere, excellent food, beverages and reasonable prices.

As always, admission is free. There are no dues or membership fees and our meetings are always “family friendly”.

See you there,

Rockwall County TEA Party

White House Parade of Czars – Who Needs a Congress?

February 14, 2012

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How does he do it, run ahead of Congress as he does? Ever wonder who is actually dreaming up all those extreme policies that emanate from the Obama White House?

Here’s a quick look at the Parade of  Czars. Click on pictures for more information about these “czars”.

Richard Holbrooke (deceased)- Afghanistan Czar & Ultra liberal anti-gun former Governor Of New Mexico. Pro-Abortion and pro-drug legalization. Wants to dissolve the 2nd Amendment.

Ed Montgomery - Auto recovery, Czar Radical anti-business black activist, Affirmative Action and Job Preference for blacks, University of Maryland Business School Dean who teaches that US business has caused world poverty. ACORN board member. Communist DuBois Club member.

Jeffrey Crowley - AIDS Czar Radical Homosexual. Gay Rights activist. Believes in Gay Marriage and a Special Status for homosexuals only, including complete free health care for gays.

Alan Bersin - Border Czar The former failed superintendent of San Diego. Ultra-Liberal friend of Hillary Clinton. Served as Border Czar under Janet Reno - to keep borders open to illegals without interference from the Federal government.

David J. Hayes - California Water Czar, Senior Fellow of radical environmentalist group "Progress Policy". No training or experience in water management whatsoever.

Ron Bloom - Car Czar Auto Union worker. Anti- business & anti- nuclear. Has worked hard to force US auto makers out of business. Sits on the Board of Chrysler which is now Union-owned. How did this happen?

Dennis Ross - Central Region Czar Believes US policy is the cause of war in the Middle East. Obama apologist to the world. Anti-gun and completely Pro-Abortion.

Lynn Rosenthal - Domestic Violence Czar Director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Vicious anti-male feminist. Supports male castration - imagine?

Gil Kerlikowske - Drug Czar Devoted lobbyist for every restrictive gun law proposal, former Chief of Police in liberal Seattle WA. Believes no American should own a firearm. Supports legalization of all drugs.

Paul Volcker - Economic Czar Former head of the Federal Reserve under Jimmy Carter when US economy nearly failed. Obama-appointed head of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board which engineered the Obama economic disaster to US economy. Member of anti-business "Progressive Policy" organization.

Carol Browner - Energy and Environment Czar Political Radical. Former head of the EPA - known for anti-business activism. Strong anti-gun ownership.

Joshua DuBois - Faith-Based Czar Political Black activist. Degree in Black Nationalism. Anti-gun ownership lobbyist. WHAT THE HELL DOES A FAITH BASED CZAR DO ?

Cameron Davis - Great Lakes Czar Chicago radical anti-business environmentalist. Blames George Bush for "Poisoning the water that minorities have to drink." No experience or training in water management whatsoever. Former ACORN Board member (what does that tell us?)

Van Jones - Green Jobs Czar (since resigned). Black activist with strong anti-white views. Member of American Communist Party and San Francisco Communist Party. Said George Bush caused the 9-11 attacks and wanted Bush investigated by the World Court for war crimes.

Daniel Fried - Guantanamo Closure Czar Human Rights activist for Foreign Terrorists. Believes America has caused the Global War on Terrorism. Believes terrorists have rights above and beyond Americans.

Nancy-Ann DeParle - Health Czar Former head of Medicare / Medicaid. Strong proponent of Healthcare Rationing (i.e. "Death Panels"). She is married to a reporter for The New York Times.

Vivek Kundra - Information Czar Born in New Delhi, India. Controls all public information, including labels and news releases. Monitors all private Internet emails. (HELLO?)

Todd Stern - International Climate Czar Anti-business former White House Chief of Staff. Strong supporter of the Kyoto Accord; pushing hard for Cap and Trade. Blames US business for Global warming. Anti- US business prosperity.

Dennis Blair - Intelligence Czar Retired US Navy. Stopped US guided missile program he described as "provocative". Chair of ultra-Liberal "Council on Foreign Relations" which blames American organizations for regional wars.

George Mitchell - Mideast Peace Czar Fmr. Sen from Maine Left wing radical. Has said Israel should be split up into "2 or 3 " smaller more manageable plots". (God forbid) A true Anti-nuclear anti-gun & pro homosexual "special rights" advocate.

Kenneth Feinberg - Pay Czar Chief of Staff to Ted Kennedy. Lawyer who got rich off the 9-11 victims payoffs (horribly true)

Cass Sunstein - Regulatory Czar Liberal activist judge who believes free speech needs to be limited for the "common good"; essentially against the 1st Amendment. Has ruled against personal freedoms many times on private gun ownership and right to free speech cases. This guy has to be run out of Washington!

John Holdren - Science Czar Fierce ideological environmentalist, Sierra Club anti-business activist. Claims US business has caused world poverty. No Science training.

Earl Devaney - Stimulus Accountability Czar Spent career trying to take guns away from American citizens. Believes in Open Borders to Mexico. Author of statement blaming US gun stores for drug war in Mexico.

J. Scott Gration - Sudan Czar Native of Democratic Republic of Congo . Believes US does little to help Third World countries. Council of foreign relations, asking for higher US taxes to support United Nations.

Herb Allison - TARP Czar Fannie Mae CEO responsible for the US recession by using real estate mortgages to back up the US stock market. Caused millions of people to lose their life savings.

John Brennan - Terrorism Czar Anti CIA activist. No training in diplomatic or gov. affairs. Believes Open Borders to Mexico and a dialog with terrorists and has suggested Obama disband US military .

Aneesh Chopra - Technology Czar No Technology training. Worked for the Advisory Board Company, a health care think tank for hospitals. Anti-doctor activist. Supports Obama Healthcare Rationing (i.e. Death Panels) and salaried doctors working exclusively for the Government Healthcare plan.

Adolfo Carrion Jr. - Urban Affairs Czar Puerto Rico-born Anti-American activist and leftist group member in Latin America. Millionaire "slum lord" of Bronx, NY. Owns many lavish homes and condos which he got from "sweetheart" deals with labor unions. Wants higher taxes on middle class to pay for minority housing and healthcare.

Ashton Carter - Weapons Czar Leftist. Wants all private weapons in US destroyed. Supports UN ban on firearms ownership in America. No Other "policy".

Gary Samore - WMD Policy Czar Former US Communist. Wants US to destroy all WMD unilaterally as a show of good faith. Has no other "policy" .

These “Czars” came aboard for Barack Obama’s first time in office. How many will be added during his second term?

The only way we can rid ourselves of this communist, socialistic menace is to GET OUT THE VOTE! So, how do we do this? Pick up voter registration cards and/or become a sworn registrar (you don’t have to be sworn in, if you simply give unregistered people a card and tell them how to fill it out and mail it in – postage is pre-paid.

In the last presidential election, only 62.1% of eligible voters went to the polls. Because Obama and his ACORN-powered political machine got out the vote, he won. We can win back our government if we GET OUT THE VOTE.

Remember in November and vote Republican.

American Life Under the Watchful Eye of a Police State

February 14, 2012

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Under the guise of “national security” the federal government has essentially nullified Constitutional protection of our natural rights enumerated in the first ten amendments.

Every Citizen a Suspect

Last fall the TSA began testing “TSA Pre√TM”, a pre-screening process that essentially looks deep into the private background of each passenger to asses risk beforehand. TSA says “enables our officers to focus more attention on those passengers we know the least about”. Officers? In no wise do TSA employees fulfill the legal definition of law enforcement officers. Those gropers and molesters who poke your privates are merely uneducated union employees.

Congress recently passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that provides Billion$ for more liberty-robbing checkpoints that will be eventually operative on all American highways. These roadside checkpoints are called VIPR (Virtual Intermodal Protection and Response).

Where is all this “Homeland Security” headed? Look to Cuba for a preview of your future. Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez writes about life under the watchful eye of a police state.

  Will there be microphones here? You ask me while poking your head into every corner of the room. Don’t worry, I say, my life goes on with my guts on display, letting it all hang out. There is no place dark, closed, private… because I live as if walking through a gigantic X-ray machine. Here is the clavicle I broke as a child, the fight we had yesterday over a domestic trifle, the yellowing letter I keep in the back of a drawer. Nothing saves us from scrutiny, my love, nothing saves us. But today — at least for a few hours — don’t think about the police on the other end of the phone, nor the rounded eye of the camera that captures us. Tonight we are going to believe that only we are curious about each other. Turn off the light and for a moment send them to the devil, disarm their eavesdropping strategies.

With so many resources spent on watching us, we have conjured away from them the primordial facet of our lives. They don’t know, for example, even a single word of that language made for twenty years together, that we can use without parting our lips. They would score a zero on any test to decipher the complex code with which we say the trivial or urgent, the everyday or the extraordinary. Surely none of the psychological profiles they’ve done on us tell how you comb my eyebrows and jokingly warn that I’m going to end up looking like Brezhnev. Our watchers, poor guys, have never read the first song you sang me, much less that poem where you said one day we would go to Sydney or Baghdad. Nor will they forgive us every time we escape from them — without a trace — on the diastole of a spasm.

Like Agent Wiesler in the film The Lives of Others, someone will listen to us now, and not understand us. Not understand why, after arguing for an hour, we come together and share a kiss. The astonished police who follow our steps can’t classify our embraces, and they wonder how dangerous to “national security” are those phrases you say only in my ear. So I propose, my love, that tonight we scandalize them or convert them. Let’s take the ear off the wall and in its place oblige them to scribble on a sheet: “1:30 am, the subjects do whatever they want.”

  

 

This is your future, if you do nothing. Ignorance of our history, our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution facilitates the growth of government. Our people, like so many sheep, “feel safer”. For now, yes. In the near future attitudes will change, but it will be too late.

  Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. – Benjamin Franklin  

RCRMC Hosts Candidates 11-Feb-2012 – In Their Own Words

February 13, 2012

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Rockwall County Republican Men’s Club hosted political candidates at second-Saturday breakfast. Candidates spoke to a packed house. If you were not present, or if you wish to review what was said, click on the links below to hear from individual candidates.

Rockwall County is blessed to have all high-quality candidates.

Dr. Bob Deuell - Click on picture for video

Bob Hall - Click on picture for video

Scott Turner - Click on picture for video

Jim Pruitt - Click on picture for video

Randy Stevenson - Click on picture for video

Libertarian Ideas Should Not Be Alien to Republicans

February 13, 2012

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Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC): “If Republicans don’t embrace a lot of the libertarian ideas that Ron Paul’s talking about, like monetary policy, individual liberty, Constitutional limited government – these things should not be alien to any Republican. The new debate in the Republican Party needs to be between conservatives and libertarians.”

On the subject of his retirement after his present term expires: “That’s exactly right. Most people stay here too long. The longer you’re here, the more you’re part of a system, the less you remember about what makes the country great. Term limits would fix most of our problem.”

Listen to the entire interview (28:57) on Reason.TV via link below.

 

A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. – Thomas Jefferson 

America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She well knows that by enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standards of freedom. – John Quincy Adams

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? – Thomas Jefferson

Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. – Daniel Webster

Reagan Day 2012 – A Rockwall Tradition

February 12, 2012

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Inspiring Speakers

Ted Cruz - Conservative Candidate for U.S. Senate and TEA Party Favorite

From 2003-08, Ted Cruz served as the Solicitor General of Texas, the chief lawyer for the State before the U.S. Supreme Court and all the state and federal appellate courts. Cruz was the youngest Solicitor General in the nation, the longest serving Solicitor General in Texas, and the first Hispanic Solicitor General in Texas.

Ted has authored over 80 U.S. Supreme Court briefs and personally argued 40 oral arguments, including 9 before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ted has been described by National Review as “a Republican star rising in Texas,” and as “a great Reaganite hope.”

Ted currently serves as a Partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in Houston, where he leads the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and national Appellate Litigation practice. In addition, from 2004-09, he taught U.S. Supreme Court Litigation as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law.

Ralph M. Hall, representing the Fourth Congressional District in Texas, was first elected to the

Honorable Ralph M. Hall

U.S. House of Representatives in 1980 and has been re-elected to each succeeding Congress.  Congressman Hall was selected as Chairman of the Committee on Science and Technology for the 112th Congress.

Texas Public Service

Between 1950 and 1962, Mr. Hall served as County Judge of Rockwall County, Texas.  In 1958-1959, he served as President of the State Judges and Commissioners Association.  He served in the Texas Senate from 1962 to 1972, where he served as President Pro Tempore in 1968-1969.

Personal Background

Ralph M. Hall was born in Fate (Rockwall County), Texas, on May 3, 1923, attended the public schools in Rockwall and graduated from Rockwall High School.  He joined the U.S. Navy on December 10, 1942, serving as a lieutenant (senior grade) aircraft carrier pilot from 1942 to 1945.  Hall attended Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, in 1943; attended the University of Texas, Austin, 1946-1947, and received his LL.B. from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, in 1951.  He was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1951 and maintained a private law practice in Rockwall for many years.

Steve Munisteri - Chairman, Republican Party of Texas

Purchase tickets at Rockwall County GOP Headquarters, on-line via this link or from any member of the Rockwall County GOP Executive Committee.

GOP Headquarters is just off the City of Rockwall Downtown square at 105 S. San Jacinto, Rockwall, Texas 75087. Telephone (972) 772 9195

In the Tank for Mr. Electable?

February 3, 2012

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2012 GOP Candidates

A reader asked, “Are you in the tank for Newt?” I answer.

Unlike a lot of people who are “in the tank” for their favorite messiah-like candidate, I am “in the tank” for my children, grandchildren, succeeding generations of Americans yet unborn and “in the tank” for someone even more special.

Long ago I learned the principle articulated in Psalm 146:3 and Isaiah 2:22. Don’t trust a man to save you, particularly a high-ranking politician.

Delegates from the thirteen original colonies met at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia with the intent of “fixing” the confederacy. It was a time of national bankruptcy, a time when we as a nation were on a path to dissolution, failure.

Numerous plans came forward: the “Virginia Plan”, the “New Jersey Plan”, but after about five weeks the carnal minds of men had neither resolved their problems nor forged a new contract between the nascent states. It was at this point octogenarian founding father Benjamin Franklin made a speech that turned the convention on its head, so to speak. Here I quote Mr. Franklin:

“The small progress we have made after 4 or five weeks close attendance & continual reasonings with each other-our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many noes as ays, is methinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the Human Understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of Government, and examined the different forms of those Republics which having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all round Europe, but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our circumstances.

In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection.- Our prayers, Sir, were heard, & they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor.

“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?

To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that “except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move-that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that Service.”

In summary, God used Benjamin Franklin, an imperfect man who fathered a child out of wedlock – just imagine the headlines were he a political candidate today – to usher in spiritual revival. Our present-day Constitution was born out of the fires of revival.

From whom do our people seek relief in 2012? They are looking for Mr. Electable, a false messiah. I remind you Bible students that King Saul was the Mr. Electable of his day – tall, dark and handsome, “head and shoulders” above his fellows.

To answer the question posed by a reader regarding my preference for a presidential candidate, I am “in the tank” for Jesus Christ, the true Messiah who is coming again to rule and reign on the earth.

Too many look for Mr. Electable, the fellow who most cleverly speaks, the man with the most money, “the one” who looks like he can save America. As it is written,

“…God selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is foolish to put the wise to shame, and what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame.” – I Corinthians 1:27

I believe God is looking for someone very different from Mr. Electable.

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