Texas Folks versus Big Government

Here's a story about the Tricounty Fire 

in Montgomery, Grimes, and Waller Counties in Texas 

during the week of Patriot Day (9-11 Memorial)  2011. 

My neighbor across the road has a sister named Kenna.   September 11 (Patriot Day), when she saw the huge column of smoke over our homes, she left a birthday party at my neighbor’s house to meet with her friend Tara at the Baseball complex in Magnolia.  She called the owner of the complex and got permission to use the warehouse there as a staging area for donations for the fire fighting effort.

They put a notice out on Facebook that they were going to be taking donations on their Facebook pages.  That night as they were setting up tables and organizing, News 2 Houston came by and saw the activity, investigated and left with the phone numbers and a list of suggested donations.

The Facebook notice propagated faster than the fire.  By dawn they had 20 volunteers, bins, forklifts, and donations were pouring in.  I stopped by with my pitiful little bags of nasal wash and eye wash, and was amazed.  There must have been 20 trucks in the lot, offloading cases of water, pallets of Gatorade , and people lined up out the door with sacks of beef jerky, baby wipes, underwear, socks, and you name it.  School buses and trailers from many counties around were there offloading supplies, students forming living chains to pass stuff into the bins for transport to the command center and staging areas.  If the firefighters had requested it, it was there.  What do you give the guy out there fighting the fire that might engulf your home?  Anything he or she wants - including chewing tobacco and cigarettes.

Kenna moved on to the Unified Command Post at Magnolia West High School.  She looked at what the fire fighters needed, and she made calls and set it up.

Mattress Mac donated 150 beds.  Two class rooms turned into barracks kept quiet and dark for rest.  The CEO  of HEB donated 2 semi trailers full of supplies, and sent a mobile commercial kitchen at no charge to feed all the workers, but especially our firefighters, 3 hot meals a day. An impromptu commissary was set up, anything the firefighters had requested available at no charge.

As exhausted firefighters (most of them from local VFDs with no training or experience battling wildfires) and workers came into the school after long hours of hard labor, dehydrated, hungry, covered with soot and ash, they got what they needed.  They were directed through the commissary, where they got soap, eye wash and nasal spray, candy, clean socks and underwear, and then were sent off to the school locker rooms for a shower.  HEB then fed them a hot meal and they got 8 hours sleep in a barracks, then another hot meal, another pass through the commissary for supplies to carry with them out to lines, including gloves, safety glasses, dust masks and snacks, and back they went.

One of the imported crew from California came into Unified Command and asked where the FEMA Powerbars and water were.  As one was escorted to the commissary and started through the system, he was flabbergasted.  He said FEMA never did it like this.  Kenna replied, ”Well, this is the way we do it in Texas.”

Fire fighting equipment needed repair?  The auto shop at the High School ran 24/7 with local mechanics volunteering, students, and the firefighters fixing the equipment.

Down one side of the school, the water tankers lined up at the fire hydrants and filled with water.  Down the other side there was a steady parade of gasoline tankers filling trucks, dozers, tankers, cans, chain saws, and vehicles.

Mind you, all of this was set up by 2 Moms, Kenna and  Tara, with a staff of 20 simple volunteers (most were women who had sons, daughters, husbands, and friends on the fire lines.)  Someone always knew someone who could get what they needed- beds, mechanics, food, space.  Local people using local connections to mobilize local resources made this happen.  No government aid. No Trained Expert.   

At one point the fire was less than a mile from the school, and everyone but hose volunteers were evacuated.   The fire was turned.

The Red Cross came in, looked at what they were doing, and quietly went away to set up a fire victim relief center nearby.  They said they couldn’t do it any better.

FEMA came in and told those volunteers and Kenna that they had to leave, FEMA was here now.  Kenna told them she worked for the firefighters, not them.  They were obnoxious, bossy, got in the way, and criticized everything. The volunteers refused to back down and kept doing their job, and doing it well.  Next FEMA said the HEB supplies and kitchen had to go, that was blatant commercialism.  Kenna said they stayed.  They stayed. FEMA threw a wall-eyed fit about chewing tobacco and cigarettes being available in the commissary area.  Kenna told them the firefighters had requested it, and it was staying.  It stayed.  FEMA got very nasty and kept asking what organization these volunteers belonged to and all the volunteers told them “Our community”.  FEMA didn’t like that and demanded they make up a name for themselves.  One mother remarked “They got me at my boiling point!”  and suddenly the group was “212 Degrees”.  FEMA’s contribution? They came in the next day with red shirts embroidered with “212  Degrees”,   insisting the volunteers had to be identified, never realizing it was a slap in their face.  Your tax dollars at work - labeling volunteers with useless shirts and getting in the way.

The upshot?  A fire that the experts from California (for whom we are so grateful, there are no words) said would take 2-3 weeks to get under control was 100% contained in 8 days.  There was so much equipment and supplies donated, 3 container trucks are loaded with the excess to go and set up a similar relief center for the fire fighters in Bastrop.  The local relief agencies have asked people to stop bringing in donations of clothing, food, household items, and pretty much everything else because they only have 60 displaced households to care for, and there is enough to supply hundreds.  Again, excess is going to be shipped to Bastrop, where there are 1500 displaced households.  

God bless Texas!

What Love Means to a 4 to 8 Year Old

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, 

'What does love mean?'

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.  See what you think:

  

'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.'

Rebecca- age 8

'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.'

Billy - age 4

'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.'

Karl - age 5

'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.'

Chrissy - age 6

'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'

Terri - age 4

'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him , to make sure the taste is OK.'

Danny - age 7

'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss'

Emily - age 8

  

'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.'

 Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

 'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.'

 Nikka - age 6

(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

 'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.'

 Noelle - age 7

 'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.'

 Tommy - age 6

 'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.'

 Cindy - age 8

 'My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.'

 Clare - age 6

 'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.'

 Elaine-age 5

 'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford .'

 Chris - age 7

 'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.'

 Mary Ann - age 4

 'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.'

 Lauren - age 4

 'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' (what an image)

 Karen - age 7

 'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross..'

 Mark - age 6

 'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.'

 Jessica - age 8

And the final one:

 The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.  Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.  When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, 'Nothing, I just helped him cry.'

 When there is nothing left but God, that is when you find out that God is all you need. Take 60 seconds and give this a shot! All you do is simply say the following small prayer for the person who sent you this.

Heavenly Father, please bless all my friends in whatever it is that You know they may be needing this day! And may their life be full of Your peace, prosperity and power as he/she seeks to have a closer relationship with You. Amen.

God Bless the Children!

Five Things Europeans Must Do To Save Their Nation States

On September 3, Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom, addressed an electrified crowd of hundreds of supporters in Berlin.  Since 2004 he has gone from an underdog one-man-party to leading the 3rd-largest party in the Dutch parliament.  His words are an inspiration to Europeans, Americans, and all free peoples of the West who unapologetically resist Islamization and superstate big government such as the European Union.

Excerpts from his speech:

It is time to act. We must make haste. Time is running out for Germany, for the Netherlands, for all the other great nations of Europe. As Ronald Reagan said: “We need to act today, to preserve tomorrow”.   Here is a short summary of five things which we need to do in order to preserve our freedoms. 

First, we must defend freedom of speech. It is the most important of our liberties.

Second, we must end cultural relativism. Our Western culture is far superior to other cultures.

Third, we must stop Islamization. More Islam means less freedom. There is enough Islam in Europe already. Immigrants must assimilate and adapt to our values.

Fourth, we must restore the right to decide about our own money. We should not pay the debts of others. The survival of the Euro should not be used as an excuse to reward countries which have shown that they were not worthy to belong to the eurozone.

Fifth, we must restore the supremacy and sovereignty of the nation-state. Our nations are the legacy which our fathers bestowed on us and which we want to bestow on our children. We are the free men and women of the West. We are the true men and women of the West. We do not stand for a superstate. We each stand for our own country. 

www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org

The Muslim Brotherhood in America

The Muslim Brotherhood’s growth in America has expanded greatly since the 1990s, with their stated goal “that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands.”   

The Muslim Brotherhood’s plan to impose Shariah and censorship in America reaches into our media, our government, our military and law enforcement, our textbooks and our colleges.  Anyone who openly opposes the Muslim Brotherhood – that would be well over 200 million Americans, according to polls – has been labeled an “islamophobe” by the leftwing media.

Enough is enough.  Americans across the nation have started pushing back against the Muslim Brotherhood’s trademark intimidation and threats.  The Center for Security Policy is tracking these efforts to expose and to eliminate the Muslim Brotherhood’s  influence over  how we talk and think, how we govern ourselves and  enforce our laws, and how we make our own plans for our children’s future of freedom under the Constitution, not enslavement under Shariah law.

www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org

  

The Dutch Push Back Against Islamization

On September 3, 2011, Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom, addressed an electrified crowd of hundreds of supporters in Berlin.  Since 2004 he has gone from an underdog one-man-party to leading the 3rd-largest party in the Dutch parliament and an indispensable partner in the governing coalition of the Netherlands today.   Here are excerpts from that speech:

The Netherlands will soon ban the face-covering Islamic burkas and the niqabs! 

We will restrict immigration from non-Western countries by up to 50% in the next four years! We are going to strip criminals who have a double nationality and who repeatedly commit serious crimes, of their Dutch nationality! 

The Party for Freedom is bringing a message of hope to the Netherlands. The new policies will place more demands on immigrants. Integration will not be tailored to different groups anymore. There will be a tougher approach to immigrants who disobey the law. Those who lower their chances of employment by the way they dress, will see their access to welfare payments diminished. 

We have also achieved that anti-Israeli activities will no longer be funded with Dutch taxes. So-called humanitarian aid organizations that directly or indirectly support anti-Israel boycotts, divestments and sanctions and that deny Israel’s right to exist will no longer get government funding. 

The Dutch government will boycott the United Nation’s Durban III meeting against racial discrimination because it has been transformed into a tribunal for accusations against Israel. The government will strengthen our political and economic relations with Israel. Investment rather than divestment will be our policies towards Israel. 

Last July, the Dutch government even did something which not a single nation has dared to do before. It spoke out firmly against the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. The OIC is an international organization of 57 Islamic countries, most of them barbaric tyrannies. This OIC constitutes the largest voting bloc in the United Nation. 

The Dutch people also learned that they are allowed to speak critically about Islam. They learned that resistance against Islamization is not a crime. They learned that there is hope and that liberation is near. 

Do not let yourselves be intimidated by Islamic or leftist opponents who shriek and yell.

Europe's Welfare State Blues

Research by Nobelist Ed Prescott:

In Europe, governments typically commandeer 50% of GDP.

The burden to pay for all this largess falls on workers in the form of high marginal tax rates, and in particular on married women who might otherwise think of going to work as second earners in their households.

 The welfare state is so expensive, it just breaks the link between work effort and what you get out of it, your living standard.  

And it's really hurting them.

An Independent's View of Obama

I asked an Independent about why he voted for Barack Obama in 2008, supposedly only the second time he had voted for a Democrat for president. "Yeah, I did. My parents are dead for a long time, but my sister says, 'You have to vote for Obama, for what it would have meant for Mom and Dad.' I felt that too. It's a huge thing. This [history of racism] has been the worst blot on this country. All of a sudden this charming, intelligent guy just blows it away. It was great."

A complementary consideration was John McCain's inability to say anything cogent about the financial crisis then engulfing the nation. "He didn't have a clue about the economy.”

I just assumed the guy [Obama] could do it. I thought he was going to be more Clinton-like in his economics and politics. I was caught by surprise by how far left the guy is and how much he's hung onto it and, I would say, at considerable cost to his own standing."