We fight, not because the odds are in our favor, but because we savor freedom

This week, I'm at the State Policy Network Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City, along with a large group of my Texas Public Policy Foundation colleagues. TPPF's Right on Crime initiative sponsored a dinner on Tuesday night, and I thought I'd share some excerpts from the closing remarks delivered by our TPPF President, Brooke Rollins.

Brooke's comments are especially meaningful in light of recent debates and battles we are having in Texas, in Washington, D.C., and in many states around the country.

Looks like Jim DeMint and I have something in common

He's got his eye on us.

...neither one of us should try traveling in Russia any time soon.

Late Wednesday evening, I posted a snarky little tweet in response to Vladimir Putin's New York Times op-ed...

Hey Putin, next time you wanna write a letter to convince America about something, how about you skip saying we're not exceptional? #rude
— Sarah Rumpf (@rumpfshaker) September 12, 2013

L.A. Times stoops to new levels to find racism in Obamacare opposition

The L.A. Times is finding hidden racism in a conservative position? Must be a day ending in "Y."

In an op-ed published on Sunday titled "Obamacare: New fight, old tactics," author Nelson Lichtenstein explicitly states that "[o]pponents of the healthcare law are following in the footsteps of Southern segregationists half a century ago."

Opposition to Syria intervention inspires FreedomWorks to change long-standing policy

Forward? Or For War? Is this the new "red line"?

As POLITICO reported yesterday, conservative organization FreedomWorks had taken the unusual step of publicly opposing the congressional resolution authorizing the use of military force in Syria, and would consider it a "key vote" in its next round of congressional scorecards.

I say "unusual" step because before now, FreedomWorks has maintained a strict policy of staying out of foreign policy issues. It's a risk for political organizations to venture into new philosophical territory, because they build relationships with supporters, stakeholders, and donors based on their areas of expertise and influence, and they may endanger those relationships if the organization takes on new issues and their supporters don't agree with them. 

In Texas, even the Governor's pocket tweets are awesome

Engaging in social media can be a double-edged sword for politicians (Exhibit A: Former Senator Scott Brown's infamous "bqwhatevr" tweets).

Texas Governor Rick Perry sent out a very concise one-character tweet this afternoon...

#Texas Comptroller @SusanCombs at @RightOnline

The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is sponsoring two conferences in Orlando this week, the RightOnline Conference and the Defending the American Dream Summit.

I caught up with Texas Comptroller Susan Combs earlier this morning and we chatted about her efforts to increase transparency in the Texas budget. She has launched a website, TellTheTruthTexas.org, that has a lot of resources for citizens to research their own local government officials, learn more about the debt that your government owes, and ideas for taking action. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter at #TXTransparencyNow.

You can watch our conversation here:

Slate writer who admits she's poorly educated says you're a bad person if you want good schools for your kids

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Dumbest Thing You'll Read Today™...

Slate | If You Send Your Kid to Private School, You Are a Bad Person

Here's the first paragraph:

You are a bad person if you send your children to private school. Not bad like murderer bad—but bad like ruining-one-of-our-nation’s-most-essential-institutions-in-order-to-get-what’s-best-for-your-kid bad. So, pretty bad.

How dare you want what's best for your child! At least the author is nice enough to clarify that pursuing educational opportunities for your kids is not quite as evil as murdering another person. Very generous of her.

EMILY's List Demands Apology from Vogue...Just Kidding!

Elle Woods would approve of
this look, don't you think?

This is cracking me up. Certain voices on the Left whipped themselves into a frenzy of outrage when RedState's Erick Erickson referred to Texas State Senator Wendy Davis as "Abortion Barbie."

Reality check: none of these people seemed to have any problem with similar insults being flung at Sarah Palin, and Davis is a very attractive, slender blonde who is known for wearing stylish clothes. I've heard more than one friend who's worked in the Capitol mention her seemingly endless collection of Louboutin shoes. Forgive me for thinking that this isn't really the Worst Insult Ever™.

Greg Abbott's goal: "A Texas where any child of any background" can succeed

Earlier today, the Greg Abbott campaign sent out an email thanking everyone who attended his campaign kickoff in San Antonio. The email ended with this paragraph:

Together we will build a Texas that attracts jobs, promotes opportunity and rewards ingenuity – a Texas where any child of any background has a chance to smile, to hope, to dream and to succeed.

Texas campaign finance reports show strong launch for Abbott, daunting hurdles for Davis, solid potential for Staples

Few things get a political news junkie's heart racing like a new batch of campaign finance reports. Pavlov's dog has nothing on how we drool over the lists of figures...who raised how much, how much cash on hand, who wrote all those checks, and so on.

For candidates, early campaign finance reports often take on make-it-or-break-it importance, especially for candidates seeking a new, higher office. The latest campaign finance reports here in Texas certainly seem poised to crush the dreams of some, while boosting others.

Matt Mackowiak, proprietor of Must Read Texas, posted a chart on Facebook earlier tonight with the figures for the top races in Texas:

Planned Parenthood resorts to blatant lies to fight #prolife bill; UPDATED with information about violent tactics from #prochoice protesters

The special session debate over Texas' abortion bill (HB2/SB1) continues to attract national attention, with both pro-life and pro-choice organizations weighing in. As expected, Planned Parenthood has been one of the ringleaders on the pro-abortion side.

Facebook ads supporting State Senator Wendy Davis and the pro-choice cause have been a constant presence in my Facebook feed since the evening of Davis' filibuster, and Planned Parenthood has been a sponsor of many of them. 

Senators Cruz and Rubio mount new attack on Obamacare; opposing new continuing resolution [VIDEO]

Today, Texas Senator Ted Cruz introduced legislation, co-sponsored by Senators Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Jim Risch (R-ID), Mike Lee (R-UT), Rand Paul (R-KY), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Barrasso (R-WY), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Paul Isakson (R-GA), and Dean Heller (R-NV), to fully defund Obamacare. The bill is appropriately named the "Defund Obamacare Act of 2013."

Most. Optimistic. Local. News. Station. EVER.

Apparently Central Florida didn't get being the center of a media circus out of its system during the Casey Anthony trial, because here we are again with George Zimmerman.

[Note: I'm not going to comment on the specifics of the trial because 1) I haven't been following it closely enough to feel informed, 2) I'm pretty sure the internet isn't suffering from a lack of people offering commentary; and 3) there's approximately eleventy bazillion things I'd rather write about.]

Anyway! From what I've seen on social media the past few days, the trial has been quite...entertaining. (A witness testified she could hear grass? Huh? Yeah, I'm OK not watching every minute of this.) And then WFTV tweeted this:

Immigration reform poll shows Floridians support secure borders and "registration for undocumented immigrants"

Public Policy Polling conducted a poll of Florida voters earlier this month regarding immigration reform, and there are a number of interesting results. I'd also like to highlight the specific wording used in the poll, because the actual questions asked have a big impact on how people respond to the very complicated issue of immigration reform.

First, immigration reform is definitely a priority for Floridians, with 86% of respondents saying that it's "very" or "somewhat" important to "fix the immigration system" this year. 

The poll also shows that Floridians want immigration reform to include secure borders and a process for people who are here illegally to register for legal status, with a "long list of requirements" to be met for over a decade before they could be eligible for citizenship.

Oops. Maybe Verizon should have revised their privacy policies. [UPDATED]

Another week, another invasion of privacy and violation of rights for regular citizens. It's becoming quite an alarming routine from the Obama administration, isn't it? 

The latest "Are You Kidding Me?!" story is how the NSA has been collecting records from tens of millions of Verizon wireless customers in the U.S. under a top-secret court order, including "the numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls." 

Image by Ben Howe

Even Frankie Muniz gets it - Promoting Susan Rice is an #ObamaFail

Susan Rice has been a disaster as UN Ambassador, so of course Obama is rewarding her with a promotion; she will be Obama's new National Security Adviser.

To Those Who Serve

To those who serve in our nation's armed forces - to those who serve now and to those who have served in the past - and to the families who support them...

Thank you. 

We are free because of your strengths and your sacrifices. We set aside Memorial Day to remember, but every day we are grateful.

To the Creep Who Threatened Me on Facebook Last Night

I knew when I started blogging about politics a few years ago that I would likely ruffle some feathers from time to time. That's fine. Politics ain't beanbag, or however the saying goes.

I've had angry comments left by grammatically-challenged trolls, been threatened with lawsuits a few times, and actually had to defend myself against several complaints  filed against me with the Florida Bar and Florida Division of Elections (all of which were found to be without merit and dismissed entirely, with no finding of any wrongdoing on my part). That was some annoying paperwork and took a few months to clear up, but not too bad.

Then, yesterday, I got a message on Facebook from someone unhappy with an old blog post of mine. Someone who thought it was OK to threaten me. 

Semper Lentum (101 uses for duct tape, brought to you by the Marines)

Here's a little something fun for your Tuesday afternoon.

A friend sent me a link with "101 uses" for duct tape that was posted on the Marine Corps Times website:

101 uses for 100-mph tape 

Why it's a big deal that the White House Counsel knew about the IRS audit findings

2013's best new carnival ride, the Obama White House Scandalpalooza, continues to spit out new shocking headlines on a daily basis, and I wanted to put a spotlight on one detail regarding the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS. 

The administration admitted yesterday that the Office of the White House Counsel was informed about the findings of the IRS audit weeks ago - including specifically informing Kathryn Ruemmler, the Senior White House Counsel and the head of the office. 

President Obama somehow knew nothing about the whole mess until he saw it in the press with the rest of us little people. 

Why is this a big deal? 

Because attorneys have a ethical duty to keep their clients informed.