Tears began swelling in my eyes early as we drove off the Sam Houston toll road onto the feeder road to a complete stop well before the signal light to turn onto Veteran’s Memorial Boulevard.  I felt great pride in knowing so many of my fellow Texans felt as we did and were able to attend this event.  We arrived with plenty of time, but with the turn out of what I’d say was close to 1,000 people, we ended up having to park at the far end of the cemetery and were a teeny bit late to hearing the first couple speakers.  But the hundred-degree heat was going to stop us. We all heard the call and we came.  As we walked up to the event, I heard “pardon the noise, but this is the sound of freedom.”  Cheers roared throughout the crowd. How sweet it is.

Make a note Texans:  All politicians representing the Houston area were invited to this event.  Some attended, many did not.  I’d like to thank those who I heard speak:  Dave Welch, Executive Director, US Pastor Council, Paul Bettencourt, Pastor Willie Davis, Congressman Pete Olson, State Representative Debbie Riddle, Pastor Scot Wall, Gold Star Mom Debora Wallace, my State Representative Allen Fletcher, Jay Guerrero speaking on behalf of Senator John Cornyn, Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart, Pastor Steve Riggle and Congressman Ted Poe.  I will remember these names.

To recap, the Houston National Cemetery Director, Arleen Ocasio, requires grieving families to not use the words “God” or “Jesus” at any personal funeral ceremony without her written approval.  I wrote about this censorship and travesty in a post last week. Ms. Ocasio has stated that she was only trying to make prayers more inclusive of other religions. Hmm. If she truly is trying to make prayers more inclusive of other religions, why has she:

1. … instructed Veterans of Foreign Wars District 4 to remove prayers from its burial rituals and to no longer utter remarks when handing the discharged shell cases from the rifle salute to the family of deceased veterans?
2. … instructed American Legion Post 586 to remove prayers from its burial rituals?
3. … told the National Memorial Ladies that they could no longer include “God Bless” in their condolence cards or speak religious messages to veterans’ families?
4. … shut down the Cemetery chapel and use it now for only a storage and meeting facility?

• Operation Home Front
• Veteran’s of Foreign Wars
• Wounded Warrior Project
• Gary Sinise Foundation
• New Beginnings for Military Families
• The Fisher House
• Remember Their Sacrifice
• And Troop Support – Links to multiple websites on how to help!

If you stand with us, please sign Liberty Institute’s Petition to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs demanding they end these abuses immediately. Thank you in advance for your support of our veterans, their families and freedom.

Nor were these fans disappointed, for, despite running $1.2 trillion in annual deficits, President Obama has once again promised to borrow from the future to fund yet another round of pork and dodgy projects disguised as infrastructure and green investments.

At the same time the President was busy adding more spending programs to our bloated budget, he insisted, once again, that he was committed to fiscal discipline.  Obama said “We’ve combed the budget, cutting waste and excess wherever we could.”  Really?

What programs have been cut and what sorts of excess were eliminated?  For the curious….here goes.  After several months, Obama’s OMB has released a list of the top four programs that have been identified after an exhaustive search and combing of the federal budget.

The Administration reviewed over 38,000 different ideas, to aggressively root out wasteful practices, many of them submitted by government employees.   After much work, synthesis,and review, OMB announced the four cost-cutting idea finalists:

• Let veterans take home unused medications that would otherwise be thrown away upon discharge from Veterans Affairs Department hospitals.
• Allow Forest Service personnel to deposit revenue from park fees or campground passes locally rather than sending it through a unit collections officer.
• Schedule Social Security appointments online.
• Have a single inspection for subsidized housing units, even those with multiple funders.

Wow! These are Obama’s four big ideas that he cites as an example of “combing the government, cutting waste and excess wherever we could”.  This is it.  This is the best the Obama Administration could do.

Of course, these ideas won’t save much. At best, these projects will make a small dent in spending.   At worst, these are four ideas derived from a much-ballyhooed Presidential Initiative that never intended to confront the problem of wasteful spending throughout the government, but was simply a political stunt to divert attention from bloated spending and ballooning deficits, now running in excess of $1,200,000,000,000 per year.

The career government employees who recommended these cost savings idea should not be ridiculed nor should the ideas be rejected (with a $1.2T deficit– we need to encourage innovation and cost-cutting).

But, if this list is the best we can do, the country is in real trouble.

Team Obama seems to have no ability and no desire to make a serious effort to rein in out of control government spending.  Yet, on the spending side, Team Obama can conjure up new, multi-billion dollar government programs with ease. President Obama is accelerating our fiscal and budgetary collapse.   If Americans were not afraid before, they should be.

At issue is a veterans bill that the Senators would like to pass and issue press releases praising themselves for supporting over Congress’ Veterans Day vacation.  Problem is the bill is not paid for and therefore is just another bounced checked to be charged to future generations of Americans who are already inheriting the $12 trillion debt created by Congress’ reckless addiction to borrowing and spending.   In addition to not being paid for, the bill discriminates against many vets who sacrificed for our nation and were injured as a result.

coburn letter –

In the letter, Senator Coburn points out “Our veterans have sacrificed for our nation and now it is time for Congress to make some sacrifices too.  If we expect our brave men and women to put their lives at risk, certainly members of Congress can put their political careers at risk by making tough choices to pay for new spending.”  He further notes “It speaks volumes about the misplaced priorities of the Senate that Congress would increase its own budget by $250 million, earmark billions of dollars in pork projects for campaign contributors, and waste days debating trivial bills like tourism promotion, but not take the time to seriously address the concerns of veterans and taxpayers.”