This Message Is From Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett

Captain Shane Mahaffee embodied the best of America, and from the first moments after his convoy was attacked (when he demanded his weapon so he could keep watch for the enemy while medics tended to the wounded) to his arrival at an Iraqi military hospital (when he insisted that his men be treated first and that his needs could wait), he acted instinctively with selflessness and undaunted courage. Even after suffering grave wounds, Shane’s first priority was making sure his men received treatment.

People certainly have varying and thoughtful views on the war, but there’s universal agreement about honoring those who serve, and as for Shane, he never doubted that his duty was to expand freedom and to help a long-oppressed people live in liberty. He loved his family and his country with a whole heart. Shane Mahaffee was a hero and a patriot, through and through, and it is impossible to overstate his valor. 

Everyone adored Shane, and he seized life with incredible gusto – whether it was in the courtroom, on the golf course, or on the battlefield.  Whatever he did, he did full throttle. And that’s how he died, surrendering his life so that others he didn’t know and would never meet could live in freedom. Shane exhibited the greatest love of all – he laid down his life for others, and he did so instinctively without hesitation or wavering. 

The word “hero” is tossed around too casually these days, but with Shane Mahaffee it fits perfectly. He was the real deal and he embodied the gritty heroism that so often occurs out of view but that is indispensable to the strength of this country and to freedom around the world.

Shane’s tragic death is a profound personal loss. That he died in a noble cause in no way diminishes the sadness of his death, but it illustrates Shane’s valor and his purpose-filled life. He had a rock-solid commitment to his duty and to his country. Our nation owes him an unpayable debt. He died an American hero, and our nation and world are better because of him and his sacrifice.

The Mahaffee family is filled with great sorrow, but also with great pride. They, and our nation, have, in President Lincoln’s words, “laid a costly sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.”  I trust that the God in Whose presence Shane now stands will sustain and strengthen Shane’s family now and in the tough days that lie ahead.

I urge everyone to rally around the Mahaffee family and surround them with love and support and fervent prayer.  Shane’s sacrifice was America’s sacrifice, but it is borne most heavily by his dear wife, Jennifer, and her two precious children – Adelia (age 5) and Ethan (age 2).

Please forward this message to your friends and family members.

Shane Mahaffee Family Benefit Fund

Amcore Bank

1790 Nations Drive, Suite 105

Gurnee, IL  60031

Account No. 9801703619

Message from South Texas Republicans:

We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the Mahafee and the Willett families during these very difficult days. We salute Shane Mahafee, a great American hero for his service to our country. This is yet another reminder of how blessed we are to have thousands and thousands of men and women who valiantly defend this nation throughout the world. God Bless all of you.

South Texas Republicans will be sending $500 to the Shane Mahaffee Family Benefit Fund this week. We encourage you to help the Mahaffee family. 
 

I was in business for thirteen years in Texas and never questioned why I had to pay my franchise tax. Not until I found out several years ago I was one of the few who paid it, did I start questioning.

Over 80% of the businesses in Texas were able to use the Delaware option not to pay. So we are all doing business here and reaping the benefits of living in one of the most productive states in the US, but not paying equally. Why would that bother you that everyone pays? People say that will make prices go up. With a thousand more dollars in property owners pockets like me, we will spend more. Also, when corporations don't have to pay as much school taxes, they too will reap. Some also say this business tax doesn't get rid of the franchise tax. Yes it does!!

God Bless,
John Cook
SREC SD2
 

Thank you for your open letter to Speaker Tom Craddick about the margin tax on small businesses. I agree with what you stated in the letter.
 

Date:  July 10, 2016- New York Business News Story

BREAKING NEWS: AT&T, based in San Antonio, has made it official. Its world headquarters will be moving to Atlanta, Ga., as a result of the unbearable burden of the Texas Margin Tax established in 2006 by hasty legislators in Austin. In 2006, John Montford, director of legislative affairs, stated that the tax would cost AT&T $55,000,000. Ten years after establishing the 1% tax bill, the legislature raised the tax to 10% due to increased demand for school funding. AT&T now has a yearly tax burden of $55,000,000 due to the Margin tax.

AT&T officials have stated that they are simply following the lead of Toyota that left the state in 2012 due to the Margin Tax. The Texas Workforce Commission has stated that 15,000 AT&T workers in Texas will be unemployed as a result of this move. Some of these workers will be moving to Georgia. Efforts made by lawmakers to cut the margin tax were thwarted by Texas Superintendents, who demanded that schools in Texas receive their fair share of funding from corporations. All attempts to cut the Margin Tax have failed in special sessions in Austin. School officials now believe $10,000,000,000 in new funding will help solve the education-funding problem.

The Margin Tax was the tipping point for Conservatives in Texas. In 2010, the principal tax and spend Republicans responsible for the 2006 Margin tax were swept out of office in the Republican primaries. Republican Governor Nathan Macias, former State Representative from the Hill Country, has promised that the elimination of the Margin Tax is his number one priority in office. According to Macias, this unconstitutional tax never should have been established in 2006.

Former Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, who was retired by conservative voters in 2010, still stands behind his belief that the tax was the right thing to do. Mr. Dewhurst now runs a horse farm outside of Houston. Democrat and Lobbyist John Sharp, the principal architect of the Margin Tax, expressed satisfaction that the new tax would yield the desired tax revenue by 2020. His firm, Ryan and Company, is responsible for collecting the Margin Tax from small business owners and taxpayers.  (Ryan & Company is America’s largest independent state & local tax consulting firm. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the firm provides a comprehensive range of state & local tax services on a multi-state basis, including audit defense, tax recovery, tax decision automation, dispute resolution, and strategic planning. Source: http://www.ryanco.com/home.aspx )

Ryan and Company is now the largest employer in Texas due to the large demand for tax collectors who are hunting down small business owners who are now using bankruptcy laws to avoid the margin tax. Mr. Sharp stated recently, “We have contracted with the best bounty hunters in the United States to track down mom and pop business owners who have failed to pay the Margin Tax.” Last week, Ryan and Company announced plans to buy Wal-Mart with all their excess cash. Company officials were too busy to return repeated phone calls.
 

Source:  Ryan And Company Press Release

May 18, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Texas Governor Signs House Bill 3.

Governor Rick Perry of Texas signed House Bill 3 into law today. House Bill 3 (“HB 3”) will replace the current Texas franchise tax with an alternative margins tax, beginning January 1, 2007. While the first alternative margin tax reports will not be due until May 15, 2008, a key provision of HB 3 will affect many Texas taxpayers much sooner.

Pursuant to this provision, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (the “Comptroller”) will notify certain taxpayers that they must complete and submit an information report to the Comptroller by February 15, 2007. The Comptroller will identify and require the following taxpayers to complete the information report:

1. The 1,000 entities that paid or are required to pay the most franchise tax for the reporting period ending December 31, 2005;

2. The 1,000 entities doing business in this state that had the greatest amount of gross receipts in 2005 for franchise tax purposes;

3. The 1,000 entities doing business in this state with the greatest number of employees in this state, according to records maintained by the Texas Workforce Commission, in 2005; and

4. The 1,000 entities doing business in this state with the greatest school maintenance-and-operations property tax levy in this state in 2005.

The practical effect of the information report will be to require these taxpayers to complete and file an alternative margins tax report as if the alternative margins tax had been in effect on January 1, 2006. No tax will be due with the information report and the Comptroller cannot grant any extension of the due date.

The Comptroller will provide the forms and instructions necessary to complete these reports on or after November 15, 2006 but before December 2, 2006. Taxpayers will have, at best, from November 15, 2005 until February 15, 2007 to complete the information report, and these months are often the busiest for corporate tax departments due to year-end tax provisions, Christmas vacations, etc. For more details related to the provisions of House Bill 3, see the prior release dated May 4, 2006.

If you have any questions regarding the above information, or to receive assistance with a tax return, please contact Mr. Eric Stein, Principal, of the Ryan & Company Austin, Texas office at 512.476.0022, Ms. Sarah Stroud, Manager, of the Ryan & Company Dallas, Texas office at 972.934.0022, or Mr. Duane Dobson, Senior Manager, of the Ryan & Company Houston, Texas office at 713.629.0090. Mr. Stein, Ms. Stroud, and Mr. Dobson can also be reached via email.
 

Robert Allen
Steve Bennett      
Phyllis R. Browning       
Stephen Butt     
Berkley V. Dawson    
Jennifer Gibbins Durbin
Stephen R. Foglle
John A. Guerra    
Charles E. Hardy
William W. Hinchey, M.D.    
Julianna Hawn Holt and Peter M. Holt       
R. Wes Johnson      
Murray L. Johnston, Jr.      
Cyndi Taylor Krier       
Red McCombs
J.D. Pauerstein      
J. Marvin Smith, III, M.D.   
Kevin M. Young

Invites you to a Fundraising Reception

HONORING

Judge Richard E. Price

408th District Court

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

5:30 – 7:00

at

FLEMINGS

in the Quarry

255 E. Basse Road

San Antonio, Texas

RSVP to Melynda Gulley at                                                     

210-828-9162 or melynda_gulley@sbcglobal.net
                                                                                    
Business Attire

YES… include my name as host for Judge Price’s fundraising reception.

________________________________________________

Print name as you want it to appear on printed materials

________________________________________________

Print Firm name as you want it to appear on printed materials

*If you have already responded let this serve as a reminder

1.) I will attend

(Includes 4 reception tickets and special recognition)
SPONSOR at $500
                                           
2.) I will attend                                         
(Includes 2 reception tickets and special recognition)
FRIEND at $250                                                          

Guests $100 per person or $175 per couple at the door

I am unable to attend but enclosed $___________ is my contribution in support of Judge Price

* Checks made out to Judge Richard E. Price Campaign

For information call Melynda Gulley 210-828-9162 or email at melynda_gulley@sbcglobal.net
 

Thanks,
Gretchen Roufs
 

Purchase tickets for the Grassroots Training

Don’t forget to pre-register for the upcoming State Republican Convention
 

Wednesday, May 17, 2006; Posted: 11:02 a.m. EDT (15:02 GMT)

Editor's note: Lou Dobbs' commentary appears every Wednesday on CNN.com. See the latest on President Bush's plan to send the U.S. military to America's southern border, "Lou Dobbs Tonight" CNN, 6 p.m. ET.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's address from the Oval Office on border security and illegal immigration failed to satisfy either advocates of amnesty or those demanding that the government secure our borders and ports. Whether by design or not, however, the president did manage to advance public awareness of both crises.

The president finally acknowledged the unsustainable social and economic burdens of permitting millions of illegal aliens to forge documents, pressure our public schools and hospitals, and overtax our local and state budgets.

And the president, in asking for more border patrol officers and sending 6,000 National Guardsmen to our southern border to support the Border Patrol, also acknowledged the federal government's utter failure to protect the American people by securing our borders, across which as many as three million illegal aliens enter this country each year.

President Bush's five-point plan began with the words, "First, the United States must secure its borders." But the president did not assign any urgency to the national task of doing so. Deploying as many as 6,000 members of the National Guard to help secure our broken border with Mexico is positive step.

But the president's proposal to place those National Guardsmen in some sort of adjunct support role is peculiar at best, and without question, woefully inadequate. The president sounded as if he were trying to appease Mexico's President Vicente Fox, assuring him we would not militarize the border. If there is to be appeasement at all, that should fall to the Mexican government rather than President Bush.

Not only are millions of illegal aliens entering the United States each year across that border, but so are illegal drugs. More cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana flood across the Mexican than from any other place, more than three decades into the war on drugs.

President Bush and all the open borders advocates should be held to account for not doing everything in their power to destroy the drug traffic across our borders, as well as illegal immigration.

If it is necessary to send 20,000 -- 30,000 National Guard troops to the border with Mexico to preserve our national sovereignty and protect the American people from rampant drug trafficking, illegal immigration and the threat of terrorists, than I cannot imagine why this president and this Congress would hesitate to do so.

And how can this president and this Congress begin to rationalize placing immigration reform, which has been neglected since the last amnesty 20 years ago, ahead of national security and the safety of all Americans?

President Bush went on to say that in order to secure our borders we must create a temporary guest worker program. What? Come again, Mr. President. The president knows better, and so do the American people. Control of our borders and ports is necessary to our national security and a temporary worker program is an exploitive luxury for corporate America.

The president also said we need to hold employers who hire illegal aliens accountable, but he failed to say how. What should be the penalties for these illegal employers? How large a fine should they receive? How many years in jail for the executives of such companies?

It would have been inspiring to hear the president say that he and his friend Vicente Fox had discussed illegal immigration and drug trafficking and reached an agreement that both our country's militaries would be used to create a joint border security force, one that working together would ensure the integrity of the Untied States/Mexico border.

Wouldn't it have been nice as well for this president to suggest that the U.S. government would also take seriously its responsibilities to create a new and efficient immigration system to accommodate the backlog of millions of people trying to do the right thing? The same agency that would have to oversee Mr. Bush's amnesty program could not begin to do so because the Citizenship and Immigration Services already faces a backlog of millions of people who are trying to enter this country lawfully.

Aside from the fact that both political parties are complicit with corporate America and special interests in placing so-called immigration reform ahead of border and port security speaks volumes about our elected officials' commitment to the national interest and the weight and influence of corporate America over both parties.
 

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

May 9, 2006

The K-12 system’s results are appalling, but not surprising. The longstanding core policies assume that the government should control what children learn, that incentives don’t matter, and that children have identical learning styles and interests, or that such differences won’t affect how much they learn. We know the last two are utterly false – incentives matter and student engagement affects learning – and government control of content is risky with some historical examples of terrible abuse. Academic gains have been poor because a diverse student population needs what politics has never produced; relentless, customized renewal. We need a constantly improving menu of school choices that differ as much as our children.

Decades of experience demonstrates that changing the K-12 system’s central commands or the people empowered to implement them, changes very little. Political control of schooling policies invariably yields unsatisfactory results because of:

1.) Unintended Consequences; 2.) The Lawmaking Process; 3.) Resistance to Change; 4.) Debilitating Uniformity; and 5.) Information and Incentive Deficiencies.

Part 1 discusses the unintended consequences. Mandates like a district curriculum and teacher qualifications aim to prevent shoddy schooling. But those ostensible protections have had the opposite long-run effect. Schools become compliance-driven, rather than performance-driven. Highly prescriptive policies erode teacher professionalism and morale, they discourage parental involvement, they stifle innovation, and they stifle attempts to customize subject content and pedagogy according to students’ diverse learning styles and interests.

The current system addresses student diversity with huge shopping mall, comprehensive schools that alienate many students, create negative peer pressures, severely complicate management, and confuse parental oversight. Uneven quality is hard to police, and the complexity of a huge school masks fraud. The mega-school, something-for-everyone atmosphere complicates parental oversight so that students can more easily opt out of challenging courses.

That schools are too large is one of the few widely agreed-upon problems of the current system. But to seem fair while meeting diverse demands, public school officials keep building them. 

Replacing political accountability with market accountability would produce a system of small, competing, specialized schools of choice. That would simplify management, and empower teachers as specialized autonomous professionals. School choice would engage students in the learning process by matching the strengths of each school’s staff to the students most likely to benefit from them.
 

Here's the latest news:

Leon Valley residents in no mood for an elevated toll way on Bandera Rd!: http://satollparty.com/post/?p=261

Terry Brechtel misleads Mayor of Leon Valley on toll plans: http://satollparty.com/post/?p=263

And some words for Mr. McCombs, you say our transportation needs cannot be funded for 20 years without substantial tax increases, well, the legislature and the Governor just managed to deliver a hefty one on businesses, so it shouldn't be a problem to hike gas taxes for transportation, eh?

 Seriously though, with an $8.2 billion surplus, this argument rings hollow. TxDOT's not out of money any more than our State government is. There's NO EXCUSE to institute a whole new tax on driving, a toll tax, (yes, a toll is a tax) especially on FREEways and rights of way we've already paid for! 

TxDOT's "needs" list is so over the top, it may as well be a wish list for Santa! Look at 281 as an example, they say we need 16 lanes, instead of the 10 or 12 originally planned, at twice the cost to build than the original plan. Just build what's needed as a FREEway that everyone can drive on, and get on with it. 

TxDOT's version of shifting existing freeways into toll ways is nothing more than a money grab! Conservatives are in no mood to hear bureaucrats whine about not having enough money to fund their bloated agencies when the Legislature also just increased state spending on education (with an $8.2 billion surplus) instead of returning the full surplus to taxpayers AND without giving us appraisal caps!
 

A full week has passed and the political dust has settled since the municipal and school board elections finished in a flourish. As expected, most suburbs and school districts didn’t attract the large turnout everyone hoped would materialize.

From the Democratic point of view, some well known and lesser-known Democrats won and lost some races in the suburbs and local school boards.

First, we have the winners.

Former Democratic State Rep. Art Reyna overwhelmingly won a seat on the Leon Valley City Council. Since Council races are supposedly non-partisan, candidates don’t run on a party ticket, although most voters know which candidate is a Democrat or Republican.

Unopposed in her bid for a second term in Leon Valley, Democratic Mayor Chris Riley was re-elected to an additional two-year term.

Olga Hernandez, longtime Democratic activist and staffer for Democratic State Senator Leticia van de Putte, easily swept to victory in her race for District 6 on the San Antonio Independent School District Board. She will join an all-male board of trustees. Go girl!

And now, we have the losers.

In Balcones Heights, Democratic Precinct Chair and Councilman Steve Walker lost his bid for the Mayor’s seat to a Republican.

Former Bexar County Democratic Party Chair and part-time municipal judge, Gabe Quintanilla was upended by a Republican right-wing conservative in his re-election bid for a trustee position on the North East Independent School District.

His opponent, Susan Galindo, a principal of a private Christian school was quoted as saying she didn’t support bond packages. Look for another voucher proponent to attempt to destroy the public schools from within. It would appear that NEISD is in for some tough times ahead.

Then of course there is Democrat and community activist Mario Salas, a former Eastside City Councilman who was ejected from his seat on the Judson ISD board. He received only 23 votes in his race. How sad, especially since his opponent only received 35 votes!

In the Alamo Community College District, newcomer Le Lowery, a new Democratic Precinct Chair, was soundly defeated by incumbent Republican Charlie Conner.

Not a good week for Democrats.

However, in Harlandale ISD, where everyone is a Democrat, two Tejeda’s ran for the board. Michael Tejeda, the brother of Constable Ruben Tejeda was re-elected to his trustee seat, while Ruben’s son, Ruben Jr. lost in his bid to gain a seat. Talk about nepotism and keeping it in the family.

Now let’s move on to more Democratic bad news. Crusty old Liberal Democrat John McConnell is continuing to spit his venom on the yahoo groups. Here is another sample.

"Opined" a word stolen from Bill O'Reilly? I think not.”

 (McConnell responding to last week’s column on the yahoo groups about the word, “Opine.”)

"Opine" has been around since 1575. It is from the Latin opinari, to think--something the Republicrat should do more of. But the Republicrat has got me dead to rights--"a crusty old liberal dinosaur from the past..." I can hardly deny any of that. I rather like that description and will try to live up to it.” 

Not only is he a crackpot, but proud of it!

Try this one.

“My reasons for preferring to save religious observances such as the Pledge of Allegiance and invocations for Sunday or whatever your Sabbath or Holy Day is are these…” (He lists numerous religions, plus atheists)

“Democrats holding many of these points of view will be insulted or dismayed at being asked to recite the Pledge and listen to a Right Wing Fundamentalist Christian invocation…. We ask to represent them all…and can not afford to needlessly commit an affront to anyone.”

We wouldn’t want to insult the extremists and crackpots of either Party, now would we?

On a positive note, The Republicrat is celebrating nearly six months of columns, in the South Texas Republican Newsletter. (1st column, ran December 28th) 

What other staunch card-carrying Republican besides Editor Joe Solis would allow a lifelong Democrat to write columns week after week ridiculing and confronting not only fellow Democrats, but Republicans as well?

While the Republicrat has withstood severe criticism from the left, it has also taken heat from the right as well. That is as it should be.

If both sides are upset at what is written, then the Republicrat is a success.

If both sides are upset that the South Texas Republican newsletter is running a column written by a Democrat, then perhaps Editor Joe Solis is successfully creating opportunity for a much-needed dialogue that seriously addresses the issues of the day.

What was it that criminal Rodney King said after he was beaten half to death by Los Angeles policemen?

“Can’t we all just get along?”

 Maybe there is more wisdom in that statement that we wish to admit.

That’s the moderate viewpoint. I AM the Republicrat.