Newest Cell Phone Feature Is So Hot You May Need A Fire Extinguisher
Newest Cell Phone Feature Is So Hot You May Need A Fire Extinguisher
Texans Paying Highest Property Taxes, Home Insurance Proportionately In The Nation!
Texans Paying Highest Property Taxes, We need to ask ourselves, “Why?”
Home Insurance Proportionately In The Nation!
Three years ago with Gov. Perry, then Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) Commissioner Jose Montemayor, and legislators “looking the other way,” lax insurance legislation permitted the industry to double the premiums paid by Texas homeowners.
At that time and during the previous several years the insurance industry had been experiencing a “hard market” and was losing revenue. We were told it was due to excessive claims due to storms, winds, flooding, hail, and mold. It had called upon the state informally to help with correcting the market, but few listened to industry pleas.
As in many previous years of “hard markets” the insurance industry elected to act on the problem without waiting any longer for government interaction on its behalf. Virtually overnight it then “over-corrected” the market by doubling home insurance premiums.
In some instances, the industry decreased the coverage and still increased the premiums significantly.
The reactions by homeowners was disbelief and then anger. They contacted the offices of the Governor, TDI, and various legislators. They were told publicly by Gov. Perry and TDI Comm. Montemayor that by the next year the insurance industry would refund up to 14-percent of the increased premiums.
To date, that has NEVER occurred.
The governor and state officials continue to permit the insurance industry in Texas to maintain the highest home insurance premiums anywhere else in the nation.
Currently, we are nearing the end of the second business quarter of Year 2007 and are in a “softer market.” The industry has been reaping substantial profits for the past several years and still is. Despite high revenues, there is no sign of legislators providing more oversight and/or regulation on the insurance market, nor is the industry on its own considering lowering the premiums of home insurance to a more reasonable amount.
Periodically, and when public opinion and discontent require it, Gov. Perry gives the issue some lip service and leaves it up to the Legislature to consider, but no one seriously acts on behalf of overburdened Texas homeowners. With ever-increasing property values and taxes, home insurance is a close second as the cause of the record number of foreclosures throughout the state.
Apparently, unless Texans pound on the gubernatorial and legislative doors, communicating via phone and letters that home insurance relief is needed NOW, no one will do anything about it and Texas homeowners will continue to pay the highest premium costs anywhere in the nation. We can
Jackson Warns Houston To Watch His Step
Jackson Warns Houston To Watch His Step In a letter dated June 21, 1829, Andrew Jackson warned Sam Houston to watch his step in Texas and to avoid doing anything that would embarrass his homeland or tarnish his good name. Houston
Why Is Everyone So Angry?
Why Is Everyone So Angry? You
Letters To The Editor
To The Editor: Accepted definitions of “genocide” generally involve the mass killings of people belonging to a particular group. Selecting the black people in Africa for misery, disease, and death by deliberately depriving them of life-saving DDT, as described in <http://www.jbs.org/node/1603>, is, therefore, consistent with the ordinary definition. World energy rationing, by preventing the construction of refineries and atomic power plants, affects a much broader socioeconomic group. This group is perhaps best defined by those who are not in it. Al Gore, for example, flies about in expensive personal jet planes, lives in a home that uses 20 times the energy as that of ordinary people, and rides in gas-guzzling limousines. He obviously does not consider himself to be in the group who must submit to energy rationing. World taxation, rationing, and shortages of energy will hurt primarily the poor, lower, and middle classes sufficiently to markedly increase their death rates. The upper classes within which the hysteria for global energy rationing has originated expect to maintain their own lifestyles with only minor inconvenience. While, therefore, the group of people who have been selected for diminished lives, suffering, and death from energy rationing and the resulting technological decline is larger than ordinarily associated with genocide, the number of likely deaths is also much larger than in previous genocides. I think the term “genocide” appropriately describes the outcome of world energy rationing. Sincerely, Frank M. Pelteson, Las Vegas, NV To The Editor: A message to the world, “Please don
The American Military: Are They Bush
The American Military: Are They Bush
Cancer Of Our Nation
Cancer Of Our Nation
Every now and then I
Perry Stripped Of Underwear Secret
Perry Stripped Of Underwear Secret As Uncle Hugh used to say, “The difference between the government and the back end of a chicken is that you only eat half of what comes out of a chicken.” Tricky Ricky Perry, the lying governor Texas didn
Perry Massacres Legislature, Texas Families
Perry Massacres Legislature, Texas Families A gun in the hand of a madman can be a dangerous thing. As can veto power. Texas Gov. Rick Perry proved the point when he vetoed nearly 50 bills at the conclusion of the past session of the Texas Legislature. What he accomplished was effectively taking tax reductions away from working families, keeping alive the Trans-Texas Corridor and the NAFTA Superhighway, spitting in the faces of farmers and ranchers, and denying health advantages to children. And that
House Passes Record Increases In 2008 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs Appropriations — U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards Says Bill ‘Honors Promises To America’s Troops & Veterans’
U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards Says Bill ‘Honors Promises To America’s Troops & Veterans’
WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Representative Chet Edwards (TX17) hailed the record budget increases and strong bipartisan support for H.R 2642, the 2008 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill, which passed the House 409 to 2 Friday. Edwards said the bill respects the service and sacrifice of America’s veterans and their families by increasing the VA budget by $6.7 billion above the 2007 level, the largest single increase in the 77-year history of the Department of Veterans Affairs and $3.8 billion above the President’s request for fiscal year 2008.
“This bill is about respect and honors the promises made to our veterans with historic increases in funding to provide them the health care and benefits they earned when they put on our nation’s uniform,” said Edwards, the Chairman of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee. “For the 400,000 veterans, including combat wounded vets, who are having to wait too long to have their benefits cases reviewed, this bill means over 1100 new VA case workers will reduce the unacceptable delays in receiving earned benefits. This bill also increases the VA’s maintenance and repair budget to prevent a Walter Reed scandal from occurring in the VA system,” said Edwards.
The bill is strongly supported by veterans groups because it exceeds, for the first time, the Independent Budget prepared by veterans’ service organizations by $294 million. Despite the strong support of veterans groups for the bill, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) at the White House initially issued a veto threat on Edwards’ veterans funding bill, but reversed their decision once it was clear that the bill received strong bipartisan support in Congress.
The bill also provides $600 million for five polytrauma centers and three “Centers of Excellence” in mental health care, including the Waco VA hospital. Polytrauma is injury to both the brain and other body parts that results in disability.
“This bill will improve our ability to treat veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and strengthen the mission to make the Waco VA one of the premiere VA Centers of Excellence for mental health research and treatment.”
The bill provides an unprecedented $21.4 billion for military construction, family housing, and base realignment and closing process known as BRAC, which is fully funded with $8.2 billion The total for military construction is an increase of $207 million over the President’s request and $8.2 billion over 2007, which means better barracks, housing and training facilities when troops return from combat. The bill supports the relocation of 70,000 troops from bases in Korea and Europe to the U.S. Provides funds to grow our military forces and begins the process of adding 65,000 Army, 27,000 Marine, and 9,000 National Guard and Reserve troops.
“This bill allows our servicemen and women to have more effective training facilities, which will save lives and help them carry out their missions. It means our military families, who sacrifice so much for our nation, will have better housing, health care and day care facilities.”
Edwards’ bill has been endorsed by several veterans groups such as the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), American Legion, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), American Veterans (AMVETS), and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America among many others.
“I believe the National Commander of the Disabled A
FBI Abused Data Collection Authority: Audit
WASHINGTON, D.C.
CIA Trial Suspended Until October
MILAN, Italy
Edwards Introduces NEED Act To Produce Offshore Domestic Sources Of Natural Gas
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Chet Edwards today joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers and energy industry and labor representatives at a national press conference at the U.S. Capitol to introduce H.R. 2784, the National Environment and Energy Development (NEED) Act. This legislation would lift the current ban on offshore drilling for natural gas along America
New York Assembly Okays Same-Sex Marriage Bill
ALBANY, N.Y.
China Now Top CO2 Emitter
AMSTERDAM
Anti-War Groups Go On Summer Campaign
WASHINGTON, D.C.
FOX, CBS Refuse To Air Condom Ad — Safe Sex Advocate Calls Refusal Hypocritical
Safe Sex Advocate Calls Refusal Hypocritical NEW YORK The FOX and CBS networks recently refused to broadcast a condom advertisement that depicts pigs turning into men when they purchase condoms. In the past, both networks have allowed Trojan condom ads which stress the possibility of HIV infection. Safe sex advocates note, however, that these networks have contradicting themselves since their television shows depict sexual content in prime-time viewing hours. They point to FOX’s Temptation Island, Paradise Hotel, and The O.C., which are directed at teens, and CBS’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called the network’s refusal “the height of hypocrisy.” “For years, FOX and CBS have been taking sex to the bank. They have a responsibility to promote good public health practices, including using condoms to prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections,” said Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. CBS said that the Trojan ad was not “appropriate” to air “even with late-night only restrictions.” FOX said that condom ads “must stress health-related issues rather than the prevention of pregnancy.” Planned Parenthood strongly disagreed, noting that the networks have a responsibility to promote responsible decision-making as well as addressing unintended pregnancy as a major public health issue. About half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended, according to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading reproductive health care advocate and provider. This year, more than 750,000 teens will become pregnant and four million will contract a sexually-transmitted infection, it added. The ad will still see the light of day on the two other Big Three networks, NBC and ABC, as well as nine cable stations, 11 magazines, and seven websites.
