GREETINGS FELLOW DEMOCRATS!





Thank you to...

Barry, Linda and Chuck for managing the office next week.





Need Volunteers!

Be thinking about when you can give us 2 hours on a Saturday in January or February to block walk in target precincts.





Remember our Veterans this Veterans Day. It used to be Armistice Day.

1918
World War I, then normally referred to simply as The Great War (no one could imagine any war being greater!), ended with the implementation of an armistice [temporary cessation of hostilities—in this case until the final peace treaty, the infamous Treaty of Versailles, was signed in 1919] between the Allies and Germany at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of November, 1918.

1919
November 11: President Wilson proclaims the first Armistice Day with the following words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…" The original concept for the celebration was for the suspension of business for a two minute period beginning at 11 A.M., with the day also marked by parades and public meetings.

http://www.army.mil/cmh/faq/vetsday/vetshist.htm





VICTOR MORALES CONSIDERING RUN AGAINST BETTY BROWN
Will decide in the next few days

November 8, 2007 5:39 PM

Former U.S. Senate candidate Victor Morales is strongly considering a run for the Texas House and tells QR today that he’ll make a final decision in the next few days.

Morales would run in the Democratic primary for the House seat currently held by Terrell Republican Betty Brown. And, yes, he still has the infamous white pickup. It now has 311,000 miles on it and a new transmission, but it still runs, Morales said.

Morales lives in Crandall and for the past five years has taught social studies at Kaufman ISD’s alternative high school. Although his Senate run occurred more than 10 years ago, people still stop Morales to ask him if he’s running again soon, he said. He last ran in 2006 where he finished third in the Democratic primary to represent CD 28 in South Texas.





Wes Clark Endorses Rick Noriega for Senate

Four-Star General cites national security, civil liberties issues as basis of support

Houston --

Recognizing America’s need for leaders who possess the necessary experience to protect national security while preserving the rights of citizens, one of the most highly-decorated military officers since General Dwight D. Eisenhower today endorsed Rick Noriega for U.S. Senate. General Wesley K. Clark noted State Representative Noriega’s military experience and legislative accomplishments as grounds for his support.

At a time when we are facing increasingly serious foreign policy and national security challenges, while needing to repair this Administration’s assault on the Constitution, Lieutenant Colonel Noriega’s leadership and knowledge will be of paramount importance, Clark said. “I am excited that Rick Noriega has, once again, answered the call to serve.”

Rick Noriega is a state Representative from Houston and a Lieutenant Colonel in the Texas National Guard who served a tour of duty in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He joined the Army in 1979 in response to the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Since 2005, Lt. Col. Noriega served as Laredo Border Sector Commander in Operation Jump Start and as the Incident Commander at the George R. Brown Convention Center for evacuees to Houston in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Veterans Day is next week, and I can think of no greater way to honor those who have served our country abroad than to support a fellow veterans’ bid to serve our country in the United States Senate. Rick Noriega’s background as a military man for nearly three decades will provide a vital perspective and fill a needed gap among our leaders as they work to rebuild international alliances and confront the many obstacles to peace and prosperity here, and around the world,” Clark added.

In his five terms in the Texas Legislature, Representative Noriega has committed himself to education, health care, veterans’ issues, and to ensuring that all Texans have the opportunity to succeed. During the 2007 legislative session, Rep. Noriega helped stop several partisan bills that would have eroded Texans’ voting rights.

General Clark’s support underscores our nation’s need for leaders who have first-hand experience to deal with problems around the world, Noriega said.

Wes Clark is a retired four-star General in the United States Army. He served all over the world, culminating in his role as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander. In that position, General Clark successfully commanded all NATO forces in the Kosovo conflict, sparing 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleansing without a single Allied casualty, as he was responsible for peacekeeping operations in Bosnia.

Since running for the Democratic nomination for President in 2004, Clark became a senior fellow at the Burkle Center for International Relations at UCLA’s International Institute, and currently serves on the boards of a wide range of non-profit public service organizations. A Rhodes Scholar and graduate of the United States Military Academy (West Point), as well as the Ranger and Airborne schools, Clark is the author of Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo and the Future of Combat and Winning Modern War: Iraq, Terrorism and the American Empire.

In 2004, Wes Clark founded WesPAC on the belief that a truly secure America demands sound, wise leadership and a renewed commitment to the values that have made our nation great: service, integrity, and accountability. Among WesPAC’s primary goals is electing Democrats to the White House and Congress in order to implement new policies that will restore our nation's security and prosperity, comprehensively address the threats facing America and our allies while respecting civil liberties, and replace the current unwise policies established by this Republican Administration and Congress.

Rep. Noriega is seeking the seat of Texas one-term junior Senator, John Cornyn. He lives in Houston with his wife, Melissa, who was reelected Tuesday to the Houston City Council, and their two sons.





Dems better learn to say no on illegal immigration

By FROMA HARROP
The Houston Chronicle

Hillary Clinton — and the other Democrats running for president — couldn't possibly have assumed that they would forever skate around the issue of illegal immigration. That notion came to an end in the most recent debate, when the New York senator badly slipped over a question about her state's controversial plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens. Did she think no one would ask?

Democrats had better start dealing with this. Polls show a large majority of Americans, including Democrats, opposed to illegal immigration. They also find that most Americans favor some sort of amnesty for many illegals. Clinton apparently tried to finesse the two, while ignoring what's behind the numbers.

What many Democrats (and Republicans) don't "get" is that the support for amnesty is highly conditional. It rests on trust that any official pardon will be the last one. The "grand bargain" on immigration went down in flames last spring because no one believed the sales pitch — that with the amnesty would come a stop to future illegal immigration.

When will people know that their politicians mean business? When they hear them say "no."

Many Democrats have a terrible time saying "no" to illegal immigrants who are otherwise good people. Trouble is, there will always be nice, hardworking folks who come here without papers. Americans want their politicians to draw lines that they'll defend.

President Bush peddled the grand bargain's amnesty as a recognition that many illegal aliens have been working in this country a long time. But when the bill came out, the cutoff date was set at just four months prior.

Sen. Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat, tried to insert some discipline into the amnesty deadline by requiring a five-year residency. He failed.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin recently lined up some attractive former illegal immigrants — high-school grads who went on to serve in the military or attend college.

The Democrat was pushing the Dream Act, which would have granted legal status to such fine young people. His performance was a blatant manipulation of the public's mixed feelings on amnesty.

Of course, any country would want these great kids. But Americans were not interested in a parade of piecemeal amnesties and no real progress on enforcing the immigration laws. They wouldn't go for a "yes" until they heard a "no."

Cheap-labor Republicans can't say "no" to big business. Their grand- bargain trick was to unveil a vast new guest-worker program that would have simply made millions of would-be illegals legal — though still exploitable. The public did not buy.

And what about New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens? The last thing New York needs is another fishy form of ID, especially one stamped by the state. Even Mike Bloomberg, New York City's open-borders mayor, worried that the feds would not accept these licenses at airports once Real ID goes into effect.

Clinton argues that illegal aliens are coming here anyway, so giving them licenses is just recognizing reality. If that's her stand, why bother with immigration laws at all? People will always be coming here illegally, and so there will always be a new reality to recognize.

The other Democrats, with the exception of Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, saw nothing wrong in issuing driver's licenses to illegal aliens. They're honest but courting political disaster.

Democrats need a serious response to illegal immigration. The only effective approach is also the sensitive one: Enforce sanctions against employers who hire illegal aliens (and that requires a secure ID). This would take some pressure off the border with Mexico.

Can the Democratic candidates learn to say "no" to illegal immigration?

One thing is certain: They can't say nothing.

Harrop is a syndicated columnist based in Providence, R.I. She can be e-mailed at fharrop@projo.com.





Editorial: Veterans Without Health Care

November 9, 2007

Although many Americans believe that the nation’s veterans have ready access to health care, that is far from the case. A new study by researchers at the Harvard Medical School has found that millions of veterans and their dependents have no access to care in veterans’ hospitals and clinics and no health insurance to pay for care elsewhere. Their plight represents yet another failure of our disjointed health care system to provide coverage for all Americans.

The new study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, estimated that in 2004 nearly 1.8 million veterans were uninsured and unable to get care in veterans’ facilities. An additional 3.8 million members of their households faced the same predicament. All told, this group made up roughly 12 percent of the huge population of uninsured Americans.

Most of the uninsured veterans were working-class people who were too poor to afford private insurance but not poor enough to qualify for care under a priority system administered by the Veterans Affairs Department. Some were unable to get care because there was no V.A. facility nearby, or the nearest facility had a long waiting list, or they could not afford the co-payments required of some veterans.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/opinion/09fri2.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print





Op-Ed Columnist: Health Care Excuses

By PAUL KRUGMAN
November 9, 2007

The United States spends far more on health care per person than any other nation. Yet we have lower life expectancy than most other rich countries. Furthermore, every other advanced country provides all its citizens with health insurance; only in America is a large fraction of the population uninsured or underinsured.

You might think that these facts would make the case for major reform of America’s health care system — reform that would involve, among other things, learning from other countries’ experience — irrefutable. Instead, however, apologists for the status quo offer a barrage of excuses for our system’s miserable performance.

So I thought it would be useful to offer a catalog of the most commonly heard apologies for American health care, and the reasons they won’t wash.

Excuse No. 1: No insurance, no problem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/opinion/09krugman.html?ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print





Brazos County Democratic Party
P.O. Box 4568
Bryan Texas 77805
979-779-5600 Fax 979-779-5601

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.
Harry S. Truman, Democrat, President of the United States of America