On this Armed Forces Day, we should not forget the sacrifices of these great patriots and their families. The title of greatest generation of Americans belongs to each generation that stands on the wall in defense of liberty.

RUSH TRANSCRIPT

“Today, President Obama was down in Mexico and said Mexican gun violence was due to US guns. Well, I would suggest a place he could start, is to stop his Department of Justice from selling guns to Mexican drug cartels.

“I don’t know anyone who embodies courage more than Senator Jim DeMint. Jim DeMint has many characteristics. Being utterly fearless is perhaps the most unusual. He reminds me of a Texan: Chuck Norris. Some people wear superman pajamas. Superman wears Chuck Norris pajamas. Chuck Norris wears Jim DeMint pajamas.

“Jim DeMint said the Senate is not going to change unless we change the people who are in the Senate. And he began to get involved in Republican primaries. This was not done. And he began going all over the country saying, ‘I want to find strong, principled leaders who are willing to stand and fight.’

“He was concerned our freedom was in jeopardy and he got behind candidates like Mike Lee, like Rand Paul, like Marco Rubio, like Ron Johnson, like Pat Toomey. In every one of those races the graybeards decided someone else should win, but Jim DeMint stuck his neck on the line and in every one of those races, those leaders won with the support of the grassroots.

“In 2012, three Republicans were elected to the Senate: Jeff Flake, Deb Fischer, and myself. Jim DeMint’s support was critical. I would not be in the U.S. Senate if it were not for Jim DeMint.

“That legacy has transformed the U.S. Senate. Pick any issue, pick any fight and the people who are charging into battle and leading that fight are the Rand Pauls, the Mike Lees and the Marco Rubios. They are there because of Jim DeMint’s leadership and that’s how you turn the country around.

“Right now we are seeing our seeing our freedom under assault every day because our constitutional liberties are threatened. In my view, we should stand for the Constitution and every part of the Constitution…

“As Obamacare is being implemented, it’s getting less and less popular because more and more people are realizing it’s not working. A couple of weeks ago the senior architect of Obamacare said it’s becoming a ‘train wreck.’ I agree with him…

“The unemployment we see in this economy doesn’t fall uniformly over the population. It falls most severely on the most vulnerable among us. If you have a college degree, unemployment right now is 3.8 percent. It’s a pretty robust labor market for high-skilled college graduates. If you don’t have a high school degree unemployment is over 12 percent. Hispanics, it’s nearly 10 percent. African Americans, 14 percent. Young people, aged 16-19 it’s over 25 percent

“You know, one third of young people aged 25-29 are moving back in with their parents. One third. In the Obama economy, the people who are being hit the worst, are young people, are single moms, are African American, are Hispanics, are those who are struggling to climb up the economic ladder…

“Change can happen quickly. Because of the legacy of Jim DeMint and the leaders in the House and the Senate, who are fighting, I am convinced that, with your help, we are going to take back the Senate in 2014.”

###

According to the City of West, Donations of goods pouring into support the citizens of West and are overwhelming and more than sufficient. Although extremely grateful for the willingness of people to help, local authorities ask that donations of unrequested goods stop. Lack of ability to coordinate and store donations taxes the ability of volunteers to assist where needed. Please consider making a cash donation to assist in rebuilding and to meet other needs that cannot be met with donated goods.

Point West Bank

200 W. Oak St.

West, TX 76691

(254) 826-5333

State National Bank

100 North Main

West, TX 76691

254-826-3741

Donate to the American Red Cross in the Waco Area

Donate to the Texas Disaster Relief Fund

Family Phone Lines:

• To check on family members and assistance (254) 826-7550 Hours of Operation 8:00am-8:00pm
• To check on injured residents admitted to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center call (254) 202-1100
• For family inquiries about patients at Scott & White call (888) 394-4947
• Family inquiries about patients at Providence Health Center (254) 761-7200
• Hotline for information on victims and survivors (254) 826-7550 Hours of Operation 8:00am-8:00pm

City of West Website

City Hall

254-826-5351

254-826-5969 fax

110 N. Reagan St.

PO Box 97

West, TX 76691

citysecretary@cityofwest.com

Blood Donations:

Carter Blood Care Center

4332 W. Waco Dr.

Waco, TX 76710

(254) 297-4150

Scott & White Blood Donation Center Scott & White Blood Center

Scott & White Hospital

2401 S. 31st St.Temple, TX 76508- Temple in Room 115 across the McLane Dining Room

Hours:

Mon – Thurs: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Friday: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Contact Us:

254-724-HERO (4376) or 877-724-4376

*Courtesy of the Office of Governor Rick Perry

Three years after the Affordable Care Act passed, it’s proved to be neither affordable nor caring.

Insurance premiums are skyrocketing. Seniors are losing health care choices. Millions of Americans are being pushed into a struggling and ineffective Medicaid system. Americans are grappling with scores of new taxes. Employers are slashing jobs and hours to avoid complying with Obamacare requirements.

This isn’t what was promised. Americans were told if Obamacare was made law, they would be able to keep their health plans, taxes wouldn’t go up, premiums would go down, and more jobs would be created. But the law isn’t living up to its label. And it’s hurting working families, young people, poor minorities and seniors the most.

Before Obamacare was adopted, President Barack Obama pledged that American families would pay $2,500 less for their insurance premiums by the end of his first term. Today, they are paying $3,000 more — a $5,500 swing between what was promised and reality. Young people will be particularly impacted, with the Energy and Commerce Committee estimating that recent college graduates with entry-level jobs who are struggling to pay off student loan debt could see their premiums increase between 145 and 189 percent on average.

As health costs are going up, jobs are becoming harder to obtain — a double dose of economic pain for those worrying about making ends meet. The Federal Reserve recently reported in its annual “beige book,” which analyzed economic data from across the country, that “employers in several districts cite the unknown effects of the Affordable Care Act as reasons for planned layoffs and reluctance to hire more staff.”

This is terrible news for Americans already suffering from disproportionately high unemployment rates. Currently, the unemployment rate for people who didn’t graduate from high school is more than 12 percent. Hispanics have an unemployment rate of nearly 10 percent, and the African-American unemployment rate is over 14 percent.

Small businesses are discouraged from growing and hiring these folks. Indeed, Obamacare is designed to keep small business small. Once an employer has 50 employees on payroll, expensive compliance requirements are triggered. The approximately $1 trillion in new Obamacare taxes Americans will pay over the next 10 years, as scored by the Joint Committee on Taxation, will go to the government instead of private-sector paychecks.

For those who already can’t find jobs, all this will make it even more difficult — especially for those seeking low-skilled work. The Heritage Foundation found that “workers who cannot produce at least $20,000 a year” for a single plan, or “$27,500 per year” for a family plan “of value to their employers will have serious difficulty finding full-time jobs.”

When I read those statistics, I think of my father, who came to America as a Cuban immigrant in 1957. He was penniless, could not speak English and worked for 50 cents an hour washing dishes. At the time, he couldn’t come close to producing $20,000 worth of economic value, but he needed that job to climb up the economic ladder and help pay his way through college. It’s what enabled him to graduate, get a higher paying job and start a small business.

If Obamacare had been in place when he was looking for work back then, he may have never been hired.

More and more employers are dropping health care coverage because of the burdens associated with Obamacare, too. The Congressional Budget Office estimates up to 7 million people will lose their employer-provided health insurance by 2020.

In Texas, one of the largest insurance markets in the country, every single carrier has dropped its child-only health insurance coverage.

According to the Office of Actuary at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Obamacare will reduce enrollment in the Medicare Advantage program from 14.8 million to 7.4 million by 2017.

So much for “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it.”

Americans deserve access to affordable health care that suits their needs and an environment where jobs are plentiful. But Obamacare is standing between them and those opportunities.

Congress can help, and the first step is repealing Obamacare. That is why, fulfilling my promise to Texas voters, the first legislation I filed as a senator will do just that. And it is why I have twice pushed for votes to undo Obamacare, which Senate Republicans unanimously supported.

There’s not a moment to waste. Because the longer Obamacare remains the law of the land, the more damage it is certain to do.

Do you think we should be sending that money to Egypt–without any preconditions–while at the same time threatening to cut vital services at home?

Where do you think that $250 million should go instead?

Please share this poll with your Facebook friends and Twitter followers.

The men who declared Texas Independence knew with every fiber of their being what the price of liberty was, and that same appreciation of liberty still guides the Lone Star State today. We owe it to those who sacrificed it all to fight back whenever freedom is threatened.

I hope you have a happy Texas Independence Day, remember the brave Texians who laid it all on the line, and always stand for liberty.

And once again, the President extolled the virtue and need for America to “invest” more borrowed money in big-government programs with the promised return of new middle-class jobs.

It seems that President Obama only knows how to grow government, not the economy. Under his policies, the economy is entering its fifth year of substandard annual growth – 0.8% – compared to an average of 3.3% for the last 70 years.

Today, unemployment is 3% higher than it was in 2008 and the federal debt is $16.5 trillion.

He doesn’t seem to understand that politicians don’t create jobs – government doesn’t create jobs – no matter how much money we borrow from foreign governments.

I was hopeful, though not optimistic, that the President might reach across the aisle and offer something – anything, other than a liberal wish list of more big government.

I held out “hope” for some “change” because in the last month, I’ve battled liberal action after action from the President and the Washington establishment, including attempts to:

• Erode our 2nd Amendment rights
• Raise the debt ceiling, yet again
• Appoint Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense – a man who claims that radical terrorists in Iran are a “legitimate government”

We won our campaign against all odds because we stood together.

I need you now, more than ever. We’re now engaged in a battle to save our country.

Remind the Washington establishment of your commitment to conservative principles on Facebook and Twitter. And help me defend our values by donating $10, $20, $40, or whatever you can.

We must work together, we must fight, and together we must succeed.

Join me in the fight by donating $10, $20, $40, or whatever you can to ensure that real progress is made over the next four years.

Our country can’t afford more of Obama’s dangerous “investments.”

In the past week alone, Cruz has tangled with veteran Democratic spin-master Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) on Meet the Press, sent a tongue-in-cheek letter to Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, introduced legislation to fully repeal Obamacare, and recorded “no” votes on major items, including Hurricane Sandy relief, raising the debt ceiling, filibuster reform, and the confirmation of John Kerry for secretary of state. He also made headlines with his aggressive interrogation of prospective defense secretary Chuck Hagel.

Additionally, Cruz’s quick rise to prominence appears to have offended the sensibilities of the political press. During Hagel’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, I overheard multiple groans from other journalists covering the event whenever Cruz began a pointed line of questioning. On Twitter, they noted their exasperation in more colorful ways.

If anything, the 41-year-old Texan has made clear he does not intend to abide by the conventional playbook for new members: Keep your head down, keep your mouth shut, and learn the ropes before inserting yourself into the national conversation.

Read more

The Second Amendment exists to ensure that law-abiding Americans can protect their homes and families, and I look forward to helping lead the fight to defeat this bill and to protect our constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Join me by signing this national petition if you agree we must protect our Second Amendment rights and defeat the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013.

I stand with Senator Ted Cruz in defeating the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013