Special Report By Joe Solis/South Texas Republicans:
May 1st-National Labor Boycott Planned

Friends, it is Thursday night and I just finished watching the news broadcast of AZTECA AMERICA on cable channel 9. This broadcast is out of Los Angeles and the mother company is out of Mexico. They only communicate with their viewers in Spanish. I can understand every broadcast because I am bilingual.

Here are the highlights:

1.) The hosts and the activists interviewed are planning a national labor boycott on May 1st. The recent massive national rallies have motivated these activists to force an economic shutdown of our country. Alejandro Murrieta said the following in an interview, “We want total amnesty!! We will use economic pressure to accomplish this goal. Nothing less. No guest worker program- only full amnesty!” 

2.) Univision, based in Los Angeles, sent an e-mail to its assorted radio and station managers warning them not to incite massive rallies on May 1st. AZTECA and Univision are fierce competitors for the Spanish speaking audience in the United State. What is the point? Azteca America is rallying their viewers for a national labor boycott on May 1st. 

3.) Viewers were encouraged not to go to school or work. Over and over, they claimed if “we do not speak out, we will not advance.”

Commentary and questions to ponder:

How is this debate improved by intentionally inflicting a form of economic terrorism against the citizens of the United States through mass rallies?

We are reaching a point where the extreme elements, on both sides of this issue, could plunge us into a civil war grounded in massive civil disobedience.

The American Labor movement and the Democrats are intentionally turning this into a race issue by inciting the Hispanic immigrant community against “them.”

On border security issues, President George W. Bush has no spine. He has failed us over and over again as this mass exodus from Mexico and South America continues. We are to blame for allowing this immigration problem to continue.

It is our party that has not dealt with border security since 9/11 since we are so divided on this issue. We run the show in Washington. It is that simple.

It is now time for real leadership. Step up and get something accomplished. Protect our borders and enforce our laws. This is the time to act.

President Bush vowed to protect this nation and it is now time to hold him accountable. 
 

For more information contact:
Campaign to Elect George Antuna
Stephanie Hendrickson
210.822.2100 

April 14, 2006

ANTUNA CREDITS SUPPORTERS WITH VICTORY!

George Antuna, Republican nominee for State Representative District 118, credited his supporters with his overwhelming victory in last Tuesday’s Republican runoff election. Antuna scored an impressive win garnering over 81% of the vote.

In a letter to his supporters, Antuna writes:

“Thanks to you we did it.

Thanks to all your hard work, financial as well as moral support and above all your votes (both times!) we’ve won the Republican nomination for State Representative in District 118.

I say ‘we’ because no political contest was ever won through the efforts of just the person whose name is on the ballot.  It took literally hundreds of hours by scores of dedicated individuals to win this victory.

Since I can’t thank you individually, I can only promise each and every one of you that I’ll work just as hard in the upcoming General Election as I did in the primary.”

Antuna went on to say that he needs even more help to be successful in November. To volunteer to help George’s campaign, call Stephanie at (210) 822-2100. Contributions can be mailed to the Antuna Campaign at: PO Box 14099, San Antonio, TX 78214. You can also visit his website at www.georgeantuna.com.

George Antuna is a true conservative who can win the District 118 seat in November. As a long time resident of the district, George knows its concerns and is truly dedicated to making sure those issues are addressed in Austin. Growing-up on the Southside of San Antonio, he has served as Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s former Regional Director for South Texas and as a policy analyst for then Lt. Governor Rick Perry.

George is endorsed by Texas Right to Life and the Texas Home School Coalition. He has also earned the endorsements from the San Antonio Express-News, the Texas Medical Association, the San Antonio Board of Realtors, and Texas Club for Growth. He has received an “A” rating from both the NRA and the TSRA.
 

The ads were telling viewers that they could send $1,000 to a foreign nation for only $9.46. Can you believe that? Wal-Mart shoppers are indirectly subsidizing a news station that is advocating national civil disobedience and wealth transfers out of this nation. 

Our Country is in trouble. Sam Walton is probably turning in his grave.
 

APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION VOLUNTEERS

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City: ____________________ State: ____   Zip: ___________

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PLEASE MARK YOUR PREFERENCE TO VOLUNTEER:

(You may select more than one shift.)

Thursday, June 1, 2006                                    Friday, June 2, 2006    

______ Noon – 3 p.m.                           ______ 8 am – 11 a.m.             

______ 3 pm – 7 p.m.                           ______ 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.                                                                                                            ______ 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Saturday, June 3, 2006

_____ 6:45 a.m. – 10 a.m.

_____ 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Volunteer training will take place at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 1, at the San Antonio Convention Center Room 003 (Volunteer Breakroom).

Please return form to:

Freida Wright, Chairman of Registration Committee

By mail: 15703 Blue Creek St., San Antonio, TX 78232

By email: registrationvolunteers@earthlink.net

 By fax: (512) 480-0709

Registration Volunteer Questions only to (210) 494-6393.
 

We continue to be the dominant source of weekly information provided by the key players in the Toll Road debate. Over the past year, our newsletter has consistently featured essays by Terri Hall of the San Antonio Toll Party. On the pro-Toll side, we have published two articles by TX-DOT Commissioner Hope Andrade and several pieces by the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. No media source is publishing UNEDITED information from these individuals on both sides of this issue.

It has been close to impossible to get pro-toll essays and articles for our newsletter. Why? Many of our leaders have ignored folks like Terri Hall and the anti-government conservatives in the Hill Country. The defeat of State Representative Carter Casteel, partially accomplished with the anti-toll vote, was a real wake-up call. The recent TX-DOT cancellation of a portion of the Highway 281 project was another blow. Yes, the folks advocating transportation solutions, including toll roads, continue to lose the PR battle. Please get out there and tell your story because the other side is demolishing you.

Our goal is to present the two sides of the issue in the most balanced manner.

Transportation will be the MAJOR issue in Bexar County and the Hill Country in the next 15 years. San Antonio continues to grow and we simply need to determine how we are going to fund all these necessary projects. State, county and city officials will soon unveil a series of plans and options that includes 3 toll roads within our city. The proposals will amaze you because they are bold, expensive and necessary to a certain extent. We have to decide how we are going to bankroll these projects - tolls, bonds, etc.

Transportation Issues: Get educated. Learn about this issue. Tell us what you think. Get involved. Thanks for reading. 
 

By John Merrifield,
Professor of Economics
Director, Entrepreneurial Conservatism Institute

April 10, 2006

To paraphrase a recent Fred Thompson (former Republican Senator, now actor) line from the TV Series Law and Order, I’m pro-immigration, but even more pro-law. Indeed, I’m very grateful to be a first generation, legal immigrant.

Make no mistake about it we need immigrants for everything from lower food prices, to high tech competitiveness. At least in the hard sciences, engineering, and business (and probably beyond) it would be very difficult to staff an adequate academic department without immigrants. And since we seem unable to phase out the Ponzi Scheme called Social Security, we need immigrants to swell the number of taxpayers per retiree and thus avoid the huge tax hikes that would otherwise be needed to fund the promised benefits. For all those reasons and more we desperately need them all to be legal. That means that we need to decide how much immigration we want to allow, and then make it very difficult to arrive and stay here except through legal channels.

Respect for the law is an important principle in its own right, and it’s a critical security issue in the post-911 world. And as an economist, I can assure you that the ‘Rule of Law’ is a cornerstone of economic freedom and prosperity. Symbolic laws and selectively enforced laws are on a slippery slope shortcut to poverty, and sometimes tyranny. Mexico, despite its recent big improvements in the law enforcement and lawmaking process, owes much of its continuing relative poverty, and thus the pressure to come here illegally to ‘rule of law’ problems (see the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World Annual Report). Uncertainty about law enforcement severely depresses economic activity. Lax enforcement of prominent, far-reaching laws (like immigration) is especially corrosive of the critical, easy-to-lose trust in the rule of law.

The major problems stemming from illegal immigration result from its perpetrators being outside the law. It’s why they pay only indirect taxes, and live in the shadows, including behavior against many other laws. They earn less because the risk of hiring them reduces what employers are willing to pay them. The risk isn’t just a matter of employer legal sanctions, if any. There is the greater risk that the employees may leave on short notice. It puts some honest businesses at a cost disadvantage against businesses that hire cheaper undocumented immigrants. And illegal employees are at greater risk of ‘exploitation’ because they cannot use the courts to collect damages. That leads to extra-legal enforcement actions like vandalism and organized crime syndicates.

For their own protection, and to enjoy access to services and jobs off-limits to illegal residents, they need to be ‘legal’, and we need them in large numbers with legal, taxpaying, insurance-paying, debt-paying status.
 

Dear Republican Friends in Houston, Dallas, Lubbock, Galveston, and all over South Texas (including my hometown of San Antonio),

It has also been deep in my heart to bring the truth to Conservatives EARLY, so they can help God-fearing candidates of their choice to get elected throughout Texas and the United States. Thanks to David Barton, besides being invited to the "Pastor's Briefing" on the local (San Antonio) and state (Austin) levels, I am truly honored to be invited again on the national level in late April (Washington, D.C.) to help Texas and the United States draw us back to our Spiritual Heritage. 

The purpose of our meeting is to work on strategies to restore our nation by bringing together Ministry Leaders, Pastors and Members of Congress to work toward bringing us back under the values our Forefathers stood firm on.

Event Information: http://www.wallbuilders.com/events/PastorsBriefing/briefing.htm

I would like to go, but I need your financial support toward meeting the $800 needed to allow me to make Divine connections (networking), learn from Speakers, and share our strategies. I have a God -given plan for surveys for Any City, USA, to inform Conservative Voters EARLY so they can chose candidates whom they want to help and to preclude them from no longer voting ignorantly or not voting at all and /or not helping Godly Candidates.

So won't you help me out and be a part of turning this nation around?

Sincerely yours,

Nancy Goettman

Nancy Goettman is the President and Founder of Awake America Ministries in San Antonio, Texas

$10, $20, $50 and $100 DONATIONS may be sent to South Texas Republicans, PAC

at 10004 Wurzbach, Suite 269, San Antonio, Texas 78230. 

(Please include your name. address, occupation, employer and e-mail address.)

We are helping make possible Nancy’s trip to Washington, D.C.  Please help.
 

Contact Alicia Rodriguez at 682-3569, or Jane Briggs at 691-9695 for more information.
 

You are invited to a Town Hall meeting featuring: 

Candidate For State Representative District 117, Ted Kenyon (www.TexansforTed.org)

We will also feature two candidates for judicial positions.

Location: Grady’s Bar-B-Que, 6919 South Zarzamora, San Antonio

Date: April 29th  (Saturday)

Time: Networking Reception and Lunch (on your own): 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon
Program: 12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m. (Time Certain)

Cost: FREE

Date: Friday, April 21

Time: 11:00  a.m.

Location: The Club at Sonterra, 901 Sonterra Blvd. 

Guest will speak between 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. 

Contact: Deana Sommerville (210) 490-7263. 

 Men welcome. Luncheon $17
 

Date: Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Location: Water Street Oyster Bar; 7500 Broadway Street

Luncheon Cost: $20 for members/$25 for nonmembers

Membership Dues: $25 for 2006

Please RSVP: to James Henderson at jamesbexargop@sbcglobal.net or 210-473-8145.
 

Reader #1:

Someone needs to instill some common sense into this debate. If we don't have a guest worker program like the President has recommended, we can say good-bye to the agriculture industry in this country. It will go overseas like a lot of other American industries have, and it’s the American economy that will suffer.

Reader #2:

Great job, Joe!! I especially loved your commentary. Also, congrats on the think tank. 

Reader #3:

I do believe that if one plans to live here, one had better learn English. We have many older folks *say our parents' and/or grandparents' generation and such* that have lived here 30 years or more, however they got here, but yet cannot be bothered to have assimilated to the point of learning the English language. To me that is unacceptable. Every country has a right to set its own morals and standards, including speaking in the generally accepted native tongue. I also take issue with Jaime's characterization of those displaying pride in their heritage is what is turning people off.

THAT is not what is ticking off opponents of outright amnesty. What IS ticking us off in part, is their misuse of either the Mexican or American flags by trying to hide behind them and be self-righteous. Both flags are deserving of more honor than that.

We cannot allow ILLEGAL border crossings for any reason! The rules must be followed in any orderly society. Now, we allegedly have 11-20 million illegal aliens running around in our country. I understand the question about what to do about them. The problems are many. First, we have to find them. Then, we have to find out whether they are actually working for anyone and trying to make a decent living for themselves and their families. Further, we have to have a way to check them out criminally.

If we can find them, and can verify a decent work history *if they are found to be illegal, I would expect they have no problem telling who they work for to try and appear to be otherwise good and honest people*, and potentially could determine if they had committed any other crimes, perhaps we could show some leniency.

My concern is economic for the most part. If they can show a good work history with an employer, and we might be able to get a criminal check on them *fingerprints/DNA through an international agency or some other mechanism*, perhaps a fine would be sufficient or even house arrest/probation period.

Make no mistake; I firmly believe there MUST be punishment for the crime. However, I am concerned with the costs involved in trying to deport 11-20 million people, after all, we cannot even get executions to be done for 20+ years from the date of sentencing. Now perhaps, it would not be such a strain if our courts were not so backlogged. I would rather have otherwise good people working and paying taxes, than having to pay for them to be incarcerated and fed on my tax dollar without ANY return for the investment (maybe paying back taxes would be part of the punishment since illegal aliens cannot in any way pay taxes).

I do not have a problem protecting my country, my home, by any means necessary. If someone is trying to cross illegally (many of whom are drug smugglers, particularly in the Arizona border area and on our own border a la MS 13), and they are adults, I have no problem using force to keep them from coming over. Children can be handled differently, but not those who know better.  

Violating a nation's sovereignty comes with a high price. I believe a Wall is necessary along our border...complete with armed guards. I know to some that smacks of the Berlin Wall, but the purpose is of course totally different. Mexico is a free nation, as is America. Granted, Mexico's El Presidente o Jefe Vicente Fox es muy loco en la cabeza in many respects and a lot of his people suffer for it.

One final point, I have no trouble aiming my 'vitriol' at businesses that break our laws. There is enough justice to be meted out all around.

Sincerely,

Reader #4:

Joe,

Congratulations! Your observations are astute. I agree with the idea that the press is pushing an “American owned by the World”. There are many, even in SA who believe likewise. They adhere to the concept of “Occupied Mexico”. And then, there is another infirmity plaguing our beloved nation. It is the ideal that America is wrong on everything it does. This is a result of the failure in our education systems. American History and Civics are no longer taught. This has to change.
 

(FYI- South Texas Republicans and my name are never mentioned by the political reporters at the San Antonio Express-News. We are proud of the fact that we are unofficially censored. That equals progress because somebody does not like what we are saying.)

Item to be translated: “District 118 voters show political maturity for picking Antuna”

Source: 04/12/2006/ Jaime Castillo: District 118 voters show political maturity for picking Antuna
Amid the unfortunate vitriol being spewed over the nation's attempts at immigration reform, it's easy to forget there's more that binds us than divides us

Translation for Conservatives: Angry white Republicans are not as racists as we thought. Thank God we (the media) were able to convince them not to vote based on the last name only. We succeeded and that shows how smart we are. The unsophisticated barbarians in our community have “matured”. (Where’s my copy of The New Yorker?)
 

I stumbled across this article on DallasBlog.com about school finance and several key issues jumped out at me that relate to a similar bureaucracy…our Department of Transportation!

Here’s the short list of the principles mentioned that need to be applied to TxDOT:

1) The problem isn’t that we’re taxed too little, it’s the out of control spending!
2) Zero based budgeting where every expense is justified before a single new tax is levied upon us.
3) Present true alternatives to taxpayers and let us decide!
4) Restrain the growth of government spending to the increase in population plus inflation.
5) Taxpayers do not have to adopt and fund every project that the TxDOT bureaucracy claims they need. In fact, they need to be held accountable since bureaucracies don’t usually fix themselves!

NOT SO HARD, AFTER ALL
Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 09:38 a.m.
By Tara Ross
DallasBlog.com

Next week, the Texas legislature will meet in special session—yes, again—to discuss Texas’s continuing school finance problems. In particular, the legislature will be asked to review a recent proposal from the Texas Tax Reform Commission, headed by John Sharp.

This author’s views on the Sharp plan are no secret. The proposal does not attempt to address the problem of out-of-control spending in our public schools. Instead, it assumes that all requested spending is necessary, and it goes to great lengths to provide new, sneakier routes by which Texans, who are tired of paying property taxes, can be taxed. The proposal doesn’t even pretend to get rid of the much-hated property tax. It merely reduces the tax by 1/3.

Elected officials often claim that a solution to the school finance problem is difficult to identify. I beg to differ. The solution is not even remotely difficult to find. Indeed, the solution is in plain sight, right in front of our noses.

Problems arise only in finding a critical mass of legislators with enough spine to enact the solution that is plainly warranted.

What is this easy-to-find solution? Controlling spending. Plain and simple. We don’t even have to reduce spending (although I think we should). We simply need to reduce the rate at which we are increasing spending.

I’d be willing to bet that most readers of this blog are unaware of an option that was presented to the Sharp Commission by Tim Dunn, a Board member of the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the Free Market Foundation.

Dunn notes that the Texas sales tax-based system has been collecting revenues at a rate that is two percent higher than the state’s combined rate of growth in population and inflation. If we were to restrain the growth of government spending to the increase in population plus inflation, we could use this extra two percent of revenues to buy down the property tax rate.

According to Dunn, we could eliminate the M&O property tax completely in about 15 years.

Yeah, that’s what I thought. None of you have heard about this presentation. If you had, the Sharp plan wouldn’t stand the smallest chance of passing. What Texan would choose to keep at least 2/3 of this M&O property tax (to say nothing of the expanded franchise and cigarette taxes) if presented with an alternative of eliminating the M&O property tax completely over the course of a little more than a dozen years?

A few cynical readers will tell me, at this point, that spending caps of this sort are a pipe dream. Or they will say that my plan might cause schools to be underfunded, and, as good parents, we can’t do that to our children.

I agree that education is vitally important. I disagree that education will worsen if spending is reduced.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation has performed some calculations that prove my point. Let’s take a zero-based budgeting approach to education spending and determine how much is really needed to adequately provide for schools’ basic needs: Teachers, school administrators, educational aides, special education, facilities, and classroom supplies. Even if you give teachers a generous pay raise to an average of $60,000 per teacher, TPPF has determined that you could finance these basic classroom needs at an annual cost of a little over $4,500 per student.

But wait. Texas currently spends about $10,000 per student. Question: Where, exactly, is the rest of our money going?

I don’t doubt that at least some of the extra expenditures are justifiable. But Texas taxpayers should demand that the education bureaucracy justify this extra $5,500 per student—and we should do so before we expand the type and number of taxes that are levied in our great state. Being good parents does not mean that we have to automatically endorse any budget that the education bureaucracy claims to need. To the contrary, responsible parents have a duty to hold educators accountable for using education funds wisely. This diligence will result in improved education for our children.

Texas taxpayers should urge their state legislators to reject the underlying assumption of the Sharp Plan. Texas’s school finance woes will not be solved if we focus on our “tax problems.” We will solve those problems only if we go to the root of the issue: Our spending problem.

Like I said, identifying the school finance solution is easy. Standing up to education lobbyists? That will take courage. I look forward to seeing which of our elected officials are up to the challenge.

Article originally appeared on DallasBlog.com (http://dallasblog.com). See website for complete article licensing information.

Be sure to read the series in the Express-News on lobbyist influence peddling: http://satollparty.com/post/?p=203. It certainly translates to toll roads and our freeway system that's been hijacked by the highway lobby. 
 

The run-off is finally over and Democratic Senatorial candidate Barbara Radnofsky is now ready to stand head to head, toe to toe, with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. It is an uphill fight, but long shots have been known to win on occasion.

Radnofsky’s strongest issue is, ironically, veteran’s benefits. Since the Bush Administration has seen fit to cut so many benefits for those who have honorably served our country, it is a good issue to promote.

Republican leaders claim their patriotism, yet they have no record of supporting veterans once they are no longer of any use to them. Most Republican senators or congressman haven’t even donned a uniform and served.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is the only one in the Administration who actually served his country. Lip service and crocodile tears are all Republican leaders can muster. What a tragedy.

The daughter of a World War II veteran who nearly died during the war, Radnofsky has been very aggressively outspoken on not only veteran’s issues but on education. She lists the two issues as top priority.

Radnofsky has visited San Antonio many times, spoken to veterans groups and others, and is scheduled to return to the Alamo City many more times before the November election.

A strong but pleasant surprise to many of us in Bexar County, San Antonio native Maria Alvarado whipped old-timer Ben Grant. This gives us one more woman on the ballot to break the glass ceiling. Cheers to another woman candidate.

What a surprise. George Antuna finally beat Steve Salyer like a stepchild. Months ago, the Republicrat predicted that Antuna would win the nod from the Republicans. Now we have a Hispanic vs. Hispanic on the ballot for the 118th State Rep. race. The race ought to be a barnburner. Of course if Antuna openly declares he supports school vouchers, we can rest assured that he will be heavily financed by “you know who.”

Speaking of heavily financed by “you know who,” self-proclaimed arch-conservative Ken Mercer is on his way to the State Board of Education. At least he is out of the legislature. Let’s see what damage he can do to the State Board of Education. 

It appears that the powers that be have decided that the immigration issue is the red-hot push button issue of the day. Amazing how so many so-called law-abiding citizens want to send 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants from Mexico packing to the other side of the border for their green cards.

If the Republican House succeeds in passing laws to make “illegal aliens,” felons, the question arises, “who will fill all the low paying jobs that most American refuse to do? Will the illegal aliens be hired at slave wages to build the fence?

SCENE IN SA MONTHLY is a great way for candidates in the upcoming general election to reach voters who actually vote! A general interest consumer magazine that covers a wide range of subjects from politics and local crime stories, to business and the arts, SCENE MONTHLY appeals to affluent and influential readers. Our editorial approach builds and holds readers, and these readers will see your ad. Our controlled and paid circulation of 14,000 of the highest income households in San Antonio, combined with newsstand sales, which over the last 18 months have gone up 800 percent, guarantee that the right people will see your ad. During this campaign season, consider advertising and subscribing to SCENE MONTHLY. Contact adsales@scenepublications.com or kskaug@scenepublications.com. You may also call 210-828-4209.