Records

TSRA announced that Texas has reached a reciprocity agreement with South Carolina. This is really good news because right now, neither of my Texas CHL or Florida CCW licenses allow me to carry in that state.

We had our mission Sunday today with testimony from one of our very own American of Vietnamese descent C&MA missionary reporting on his witness of our mighty and loving God at work. We had a two and a half hour meeting with associate pastor Bruce, reviewing all we have done the last two months and plan for what we will do in the next one month.

It's a great story by TXCN of Mark Wilson, a CHL credited with saving another's life at the cost of his. Let's see how that will be picked up and reported by the networks.

An ambitious plan for Texas, the Trans-Texas Corridor.

I spent all day at the Hughes Trigg Student Center on the SMU campus for a seminar titled The Political Legacies of the American West. It was organized by the Clements Center for Southwest Studies. Though there was a liberal tinge here and there, nothing was excessive and I pretty much enjoyed it.

At our small group meeting last night, associate pastor Bruce reminded us that sometimes we do have our priorities all wrong, such that we "worship our work, work our play, and play our worship" as Christians.

Did you know that there exists an Armtrak Reform Council. I didn't. I am not sure I should be glad and sad that it is there, because Amtrak continues to lose money year after year, my hard earned tax dollars.

Did you also know that the Federal holiday we celebrated on the third Monday of February is designated as Washington's Birthday and not President's Day, according to US Code title 5, part III, subpart E, chapter 61, subchapter I, section §6103.

Interested in free tuition college education, check out Central Christian College of the Bible and Saint Louis Christian College.

Mark Johnson spoke at our monthly Dallas County North Republican tonight about Social Security. We passed a resolution against the city of Richardson abuse of eminent domain power.

I picked up a little cool looking Five.One.Two magazine at the Hyatt in downtown Austin while I was there last week. Finally I got a chance to flip through it. Looks like it's for the partying and drinking all night crowd, not me. There is a picture of Jenna Bush during the inaugural festivities with a ring on her left hand ring finger and a report by Matthew Barber, stating Jenna was still single per her spokesman and suggesting that perhaps jewelers Anthony Nak are partially responsible for the mix up.

Do journalists have to reveal their sources? Who is a journalist? A great article by Michael McGough on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

It's great that California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is bringing to the attention of Californians in particular and Americans in general all the unsustainable spending by the Democratic legislature.

Betraying someone's trust, especially that of your friends, never pays. Not only in the long term but I bet you that even in the short term, it wouldn't pay in the case of Doug Wead. Let's watch the sale of The Raising of a President: The Mothers and Fathers of Our Nation's Leaders.

Drudge Report broke the story of Doug Wead secretly taping his conversation with Bush back in the days when then governor Bush was considering the run for president. After reading it, if you are as curious as I am about one-party consent taping, check this website, which provides a summary regarding statute of the 50 states regarding phone conversation. For more details and in person conversation, check out this page from The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press instead.

I was out walking this morning for Tony Fleo, who is running for city of Dallas council district 12. Then headed to Arlington and walked for my buddy Bill Burch all afternoon.

The city of San Jose is going to have a special election on June 2nd, 2005 to fill its council district 7 vacancy. There are a couple things of note:
1) There are three candidates of Vietnamese descent running for that one seat.
2) Council member salary is $75,000 per annum compared to city of Carrollton where I live here, council member is paid $200 per month, or $3,600 per annum. Average income is comparable between the two cities about $75,000.

Sarah was busy finishing up a report for her boss before heading out to DC early Thursday morning for the 2005 CPAC but she did tell me about Mike Davidson running for College Republican National Committee. Of all places, Mike is hailing from UC Berkeley, the most liberal campus in America.

The people of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission pulled out a whole bunch of things to show us, from old jail ledger entries to the original design of the Texas flag. One thing I thought was rather interesting: the originally approved design of the capitol dome was square but it was changed to round when it was built.

I spent an entire day yesterday visiting with various senators and representatives in Austin. I was especially impressed with Brian McCall, a really sharp guy who really listened to us and understood what we were telling him about all the issues and honest about what he could and could not get done. Representative Jerry Madden was also really nice and knowledgeable about the issues we presented to him. I found out he's a fellow stamp collector and Karin is working for him down there this legislative session.

My legs didn't hurt during the day but by the end of the day, after driving for about an hour and a half on my way back to Dallas from Austin, they started to hurt badly. Thank God everything was alright when I woke up this morning.

I really like the way the Texas Library Association handles their election. The ballot is both mailed and available online early. The website was well design, backend was solid as far as I can tell. I am giving them great marks if you ask me.

The meeting location for our Northern Dallas Pachyderm this month was Purdy's Hamburger Market. The place was not bad except that it was rather annoying to have the announcement: "order #117 is ready" on loud speakers all over the restaurant instead of just near the kitchen counter without loud speaker like the location in Richardson. Our speaker was Mr. Darryl Blair, editor and columnist of the Elite News.

The great ten cannots from William Boetcker serve as a reminder for us again:
1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
2. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
3. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
4. You cannot lift the age-earner by pulling down the wage-payer.
5. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
6. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
7. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
8. You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
9. You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence.
10. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves."

Our VPS Dallas special project team had a conference call with Ysa today, looking into organizing an Asian or Vietnamese Film Festival like the Vietnamese International Film Festival she has annually in Orange county starting a couple years back.

Our church had the baby shower for Bach and Kelly today, also celebrating the Lunar New Year. VPS Dallas also celebrated Lunar New Year.

Our church had two tables at the Vietnamese New Year celebration today in Arlington. We also gave away hundred of balloons, with our church name, address, phone number and John 3:16 printed on the balloons.

Mr. Robert Rivera, one of the candidates for city of Arlington council district 3 had a table there, right across from our church's. I came over to say hello and talked to him a little bit. I found out that Tom's sister is his campaign treasurer. Tom came out a little later and came by our tables to say hello.

We ran out of balloons so I and my brother took the helium tank back to our church. I went to see Bill and his campaign staffs at the campaign office, which is quite nice and spacious. His Burch for Council website is up. The t-shirts were ready to go, which we put on. I helped him and Jane distributed the brochures he had printed. We then went door-to-door campaigning a little bit more. It was sprinkling the whole time.

I finally got to church for our night of Vietnamese music, the purpose was for evangelism. I had a great time just having food and fun.

John Thomas Flynn is the Republican candidate running for California 5th congressional district seat, which is vacant because of Democratic congressman Robert Matsui recent death. His opponent is the congressman's widow, Doris Matsui.

Paul Weyrich of The Free Congress Foundation wrote a glowing piece about Ken Blackwell, currently serving as Ohio Secretary of State who is running for governor in 2006. Finished reading the piece and I thought, here is one of the remnant who fear God, just like it is mentioned in I King 19:18.

If I were a Democrat, I would listen to what Tim Roemer has to say in this piece.

It is believed, by people on both ends of the political spectrum, liberal and conservative alike, that eminent domain has gone too far in this country. The case Susette Kelo, et al., Petitioners v. City of New London, Connecticut, et al. currently pending before the US Supreme Court will have far reaching consequences in the future of capitalism in this country in particular and the West in general. As pointed out in the February 7th edition of "What We Now Know" by Investors Insight, in his 2000 landmark book The Mystery of Capital, Peruvian economist Hernando De Soto tackles the vexing question posed by his subtitle: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. The answer, De Soto maintains in a carefully constructed argument, lies not with a scarcity of natural resources, nor the legacy of colonialism, nor some innate inferiority, nor even type of government. It is that the entrepreneurial spirit flourishes in places where private property is strongly protected by law, and languishes where it is not.

Democrat Mark Dayton has decided not to run for re-election so Minnesota is now an open seat. I forgot, we should also be able to reclaim Vermont from independent senator Jim Jeffords. Senator Robert Byrd is 89 years young, maybe the people of West Virginia could send a Republican just a bit younger to represent them in the US Senate. That's the 60 filibuster proof majority I have been looking for, hooray.

This WorldQuest challenge would certainly encourage people to have broader knowledge. Too bad I have to be at the Lunar New Year celebration in Arlington.

Ms. Lucie Bellow, president of NDNA was one of the speakers at our Metrocrest monthly meeting today. She is also serving on the Texas Neighborshoods Together board of directors. They will be lobbying in Austin Feb. 28th. No more vacation for me, so sad.

Saw the comments about the 2006 senate races on RealClearPolitics and it's more good news for Republican. I figure if we can pick up two from four Democrat first-termers: Mark Dayton of Minnesota, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Maria Cantwell of Washington, and Bill Nelson of Florida; then just as the way with Tom Dashle, the former minority leader, we can pick up one of the two popular Democratic senators in deep-red states: Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Kent Conrad of North Dakota; and losing none of ours or traded evenly with Democrats, we would have 58 majority. Surely we can find 2 Democrats who will think twice about filibustering a move to abolish the IRS.

City of Dallas Mayor Pro Tem John Loza has made it known that he is against the Blackwood petition and that there is a good chance the proposition will be defeated in the upcoming May election. He also made known of his intention to run for Dallas County Commissioner Court district 4 seat, which is current held by Republican Kenneth Mayfield in 2006 since he is term limited from serving on the Dallas City Council past May of 2005.

It is rather interesting that the Dallas County Young Democrats is circulating a petition calling for Dallas County Democratic Party Chairwoman Susan Hays to resign.

Check out this op-ed piece by Michael Tanner. Very encouraging numbers: "Exit polls this November showed that 56 percent of voters supported individual account proposals, with only 32 percent opposed. Substantial majorities of men (56 percent), women (57 percent), young people (66 percent), African-Americans (62 percent), Hispanics (65 percent), Catholics (63 percent) and Evangelicals (62 percent) all backed individual accounts. As expected majorities of conservatives (71 percent) and Bush voters (69 percent) supported individual accounts, but so did 41 percent of self-described liberals. Indeed, 44 percent of Kerry voters favored the proposal."

Election challenge has come to an end for the District 149 State Representative seat. Democrat Hubert Vo will now join Republican Martha Wong, both of Houston, in the 150 members Texas House.

Only I and Bruce, the associate pastor at our church, were rooting for the New England Patriots tonight while everyone else was rooting for the team that is not Patriots, rather than specifically rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles. We've gotten quite a few who were upset because the Patriots defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers. We've also gotten a few people who were originally from St. Louis and because the Rams lost to the Patriots, they just can't bring themselves to wish the Patriots another SuperBowl. And a few also don't want the Patriots to have a better records than the Dallas Cowboys, winning 3 out of 4 SuperBowls.

I really like the way Deion Branch played. It was also beyond expectation the way Terrell Owens recovered and was able to play. I was a little worry at the beginning of the game and also when the Eagles was attempting their on side kick but it's no where near the excitement or skill of the Dallas Cowboys with their on side kick.

There were a couple guys who sang along with Paul McCartney during his half time performance but most of us either are not big fan or too young to know much about the Beatles.

The Vietnamese-American Community of Greater Dallas had their Lunar New Year celebration today at the community center. VPS Dallas members were there to collect signatures which we will send to the Chinese consulate office and embassy to protest against the shooting dead of at least 8 Vietnamese fishermen last month.

Came in to Toyota of Plano for my routine oil change but they checked and found I need some brakes work on the two front disks so I had to have that done. I guess what I am saying is that I spent more than I expected today there.

Saw George P. Bush and his wife Amanda tonight and asked him about being speaker for the Texas Young Republican Federation leadership conference in San Antonio the weekend of March 11th through 13th.

Check out this story of 25 most influential Evangelicals by Time Magazine.

DFWAACC sponsored one table at tonight's Collin County Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce Lunar New Year celebration. They have it at the Renaissance hotel right across from Nortel Galatyn C building and right by DART Galatyn station. A great program with a lot of entertainments. Wish I could have gone to the Dallas County one last week at the Westin Galaria but I was busy. Met Kathy Ingle, one of the candidates for Dallas city council district 14. I really like the ballroom, except that the capacity is only 500. If it were 1,000, we could have our DFWAACC annual banquet there.

I was mighty happy when I got home and saw my Florida CHL in the mail. I mailed the application on December 17th and didn't expect to receive the license until late March since they said 90 days turn around time. It looks really offcial, thicker than Texas and is valid for five years as oppose to four years for Texas. Once HB 225 passes the Texas House with a corresponding version also passes the Texas Senate and the governor will surely sign it, then when I renew my license next year, it would be for five years also.

Great exercises to strengthen your neck muscles. My brother forwarded me the site a long while back. Make sure you check out common mistakes among various popular exercises.

Have you seen this? Unlimited shipping from Amazon for $79/year?

I was reading HB 449 and came across the mention of affirmative defense and didn't know what it was but thanks to Cornell Law Lexicon, now I know what it means.

About ten years ago was when I first heard that if you can prove you have $25,000 set aside for financial responsibility then you don't have to buy liability insurance to drive a car in Texas. Well, that sum is now $55,000 and it must be deposited with either the office of Comptroller or a county judge, according to section §601.122 and §601.123 of title 7 of the Texas Transportation Code.

We should wake up every day and thank God, among other things, that we live in a constitutional republic and not a pure democracy because as this quote from George Neumayr provides a grim reminder: "As democratically elected savages like Adolf Hitler illustrate, democracy is not an automatic guarantor of civilization. Separated from moral truth contained in a rule of law, democracies can be as tyrannical as the most rapacious undemocratic governments. America should only be on the side of 'democracy' if it produces civilization; otherwise the tyranny America seeks to end will spread through the very rhetoric of democracy it uses, should the bin Ladens and Hitlers be democratically elected to power. The Founding Fathers, it is worth remembering, didn't call King George III a tyrant because he was a monarch; they called him a tyrant because he violated basic human rights. They knew democracy could devour itself through its own tyrannies unless it was subject to a truth higher than democracy itself."

I did not know that a machine gun or a silencer is illegal until reading HB 582 introduced by Republican district 101 state representative Elvira Reyna to include a stun gun in the list of prohibited weapons under Texas Penal Code title 10, chapter 46, section 46.05 as follow:

§ 46.05. PROHIBITED WEAPONS. (a) A person commits an offense if he intentionally or knowingly possesses, manufactures, transports, repairs, or sells:
(1) an explosive weapon;
(2) a machine gun;
(3) a short-barrel firearm;
(4) a firearm silencer;
(5) a switchblade knife;
(6) knuckles;
(7) armor-piercing ammunition;
(8) a chemical dispensing device; or
(9) a zip gun.

I am glad to see that senator Florence Shapiro has introduced SB 254 to repeal title 3, chapter 70, section 70.05 and 70.08 of the Texas Education Code to help my alma mater, the University of Texas at Dallas to be able to expand their academic programs and also the ability to admit as many freshmen as they want to.

A great 2005 State of the Union address by president George W. Bush. I love the mention of the tax code reform, lawsuit reform, and social security reform. It's the year of reform as the great House majority leader Tom DeLay put it. I love the Hammer's characterization of the Democratic Party is the Party of No: no agenda, no solution .... The camera showed associate justice John Paul Stevens nodding his head while the president was addressing the problem of judicial activism, judges legislating from the bench. I guess he must have said to himself, yes, I know Mr. President, you are talking about me and my activist colleagues. The president came out very clear on constitutional amendment to preserve the institution of marriage. Also, not trading one life for another, life is not a commodity, great stuff. I like the part where the president pointed out that he is not the only one saw this problem with social security, his predecessor, president Bill Clinton, the late democratic senator Daniel Patrick Moynehan. FoxNews Brit Hume did a great job pointing out all the paper money that does not exist in the treasury that the Democrats claim to keep Social Security solvent into the 2050s.

City of Carrollton is having this Speakers' Bureau where the city government's employees will come and speak to groups about the city, its services, its vision for the next couple decades. I think it's great.

I am currently listening to an audio book, Edge of Honor by Gilbert Morris and though I have only been through a couple chapters, I already like it.

First was the loss to congressman Pete Sessions, today Martin Frost suffered his second loss in the race for the DNC chairmanship. The two remaining notable candidates are: former Vermont governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean and former Democratic Congressman Tim Roemer of Indiana 3rd congressional district. Tim Roemer is especially interesting because he is pro-life and has been endorsed by House minority leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Harry Reid.