Who Will Speak for the Voiceless?

"We firmly believe that every person has the right to live..."

Both Liberals and Conservatives can surely get behind a statement like that, right? It’s nice to hear something so unifying and inspiring.

It’s great to hear an organization take a stand like that. It’s also great to see organizations get awards for taking stands like that.

This week, that organization won the Lasker Award, one of the nation’s most prestigious prizes in medicine.

Fortunately, the Lasker Award includes a $250,000 prize, because this year’s cash-strapped winner sure could use it. Well, the organization isn’t cash-strapped yet, but it fears it might be soon, with President Trump and a Republican Congress threatening to block it from receiving Medicaid reimbursements and everything.

It’s disgusting that politicians would try to withhold funds from an organization that provides "health services" to millions of people. The Award announcement says, "Although the organization is most famous for aiding women, it helps men as well."

If we’re being honest, that part of the Award announcement is a little misleading, because the organization is actually more famous for disposing of that pesky health issue of having a baby in the womb.

This year’s Lasker Award winner is Planned Parenthood.

But don’t worry --- the Award announcement says abortions are only three percent of the health services Planned Parenthood provides. Last year, that three percent only included 328,348 babies killed.

This week, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards emailed supporters expressing outrage over President Trump’s plan to end DACA. She writes, apparently without any sense of irony:

Here at Planned Parenthood, we firmly believe that every person has the right to live, work, and raise a family freely and without the threat of deportation or separation . . . We will never stop fighting for this vision.

And neither will we, Cecile, on behalf of the unborn. Because at least the DREAMers can speak up for themselves --- the 328,348 babies Planned Parenthood killed last year never had the chance.

Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste

That "principle" was in action this week. Only 17 Senators voted "nay" yesterday on the idea of combining hurricane relief and raising the debt ceiling. 17 senators saw this for what it was: manipulating a crisis.

Did the 80 other Congressmen take no issue at all with using federal aid for Hurricane Harvey victims as leverage? It was ransom money --- bought and paid for --- to ensure the players on Capitol Hill get to play their little games in the months to come.

If you're in Washington and you're using the threat of hurricane relief money to further your agenda, you can keep your damn money --- every last cent.

We don’t need your help to take care of our own.

If there’s one thing Hurricane Harvey has taught us, it’s this: the American spirit is as strong as it’s ever been. We didn’t wait for you to come save us. We saved ourselves.

We didn’t beg for government money. While they were cutting backroom deals, we were opening up our wallets in droves.

JJ Watt took to Twitter and raised over $20 million, and it’s still climbing. Michael Dell gave $36 million of his own money. Over $16 million has been given from sports franchises. Hollywood has stepped up with over $10 million.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported that companies such as Bank of America, Verizon, Coca-Cola, Google, IBM, Shell and JPMorgan Chase have donated over $141 million, and that number is going up every day.

As of last night, Mercury One has raised over $2.1 million.

And these aren’t funds that go directly into some government agency treasury. This is cash going directly to the lives, families, homes and businesses that actually need it.

There's a lot of work to be done, and America has become a country that relies on federal help when disasters of this scale come along. But, that doesn't mean you have to take advantage of those in need. Never let a crisis go to waste?

Let's think differently. Let's think Texas.

To those in Washington playing your little games --- STAND ASIDE. WE GOT THIS.

Art of the Deal, Part 2

Maybe the Art of the Deal needs a sequel.

The chance to make a real positive difference.

It turns out the deal Trump cut with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to increase the debt ceiling for three months wasn’t the only deal he was working on.

Trump and Schumer also discussed developing a plan that would no longer require Congress to routinely raise the debt ceiling, effectively eliminating the federal limit on government borrowing.

First reaction: an irresponsible move of the highest order. And of course, that's completely true.

Second reaction: maybe, kind of, sort of, perhaps a unique opportunity.

Of course, the debt ceiling has become meaningless. It means nothing to these people.

What if a deal included:

• Automatic spending cuts if the budget is upside down? Or maybe, call me crazy, they actually had to have a budget in the first place?
• How about real tax reform?
• Or a two-thirds supermajority to exceed budgeted spending levels?

The principle of this sort of deal would be to force Congress to prioritize its spending. Spend too much, your turtle tunnels are going away.

The only thing we've taken less seriously than our border is our debt ceiling. I like the fact that every so often, Washington has to squirm, feel the weight of their own failure, and figure out another debt ceiling increase.

The only way it should go away is if you can actually pass something meaningful to really restrain spending. Not continue this theater that is the debt ceiling.

If the president can pull that off, he'll sell a lot of copies of the Art of the Deal, Part 2.

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