Believing that it is vital going into the 2012 election for voters to understand how policies impact our economy and our very way of life, Ms. Peggy Venable, Texas director of Americans for Prosperity, is currently on a mission throughout the state to educate Texans on the importance of free-market public policies.

One stop on her pilgrimage was Port Lavaca, on February 14, where she presented information compiled by economic experts to show the relationship between economic freedom and quality of life.

Connie Hunt, President of Calhoun County Conservative Club welcomes Peggy Venable, Texas Director of Americans for Prosperity.

What is Economic Freedom?

Robert Lawson of Auburn University and James Gwartney of Florida State University, authors of Economic Freedom of the World, have defined economic freedom into five categories:
Size of Government: This area includes factors like the top marginal income tax rates and the percentage of GDP that the government consumes.

Regulation: This includes data on hiring and firing regulations, price controls, interest rate controls and other measures of government regulation of private activity.
Sound Money: They also measure the degree to which governments live up to their promise to issue currency that maintains its value. They measure the inflation rate, its volatility and other measures designed to assess whether the government ensures access to sound money.

Free Trade: They measure the degree to which citizens are free to trade internationally. They look at the revenues from trade taxes and the mean tariff rate, among other things.

Rule of Law: Lastly, they assess the legal structure to measure the degree to which the country protects property and respects the rule of law. Are the courts impartial? Are contracts enforced?

Citizens of the most economically free countries earn more than eight times more than citizens in the least-free countries. Economic freedom benefits the poor. In Zimbabwe, the poorest population segment earns just $910 per year. If you live in the U.S., you could expect 900% more than that.

Life expectancy is greatly increased between the least free nations and the most free. In the U.S., you can expect to live 20 years longer than those in the least free countries. Child labor, infant mortality, and unemployment are all significantly higher in the least free nations. Environmental soundness, a lack of political corruption and civil liberties are all tied to economic freedom – the more free a nation, the less corruption, pollution and oppression citizens face.

Where does the United States stand?

You might think that the United States ranks right up there on top of the most free countries in the world, but, according to the Economic Freedom of the World 2011 Annual Report , the U.S. ranks only 10th on the list, coming in behind Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Chile, United Kingdom, and Mauritius.

Keep in mind, this data – the most recent available – was released before we had two stimulus bills, TARP, pay regulations, monetary expansions, increased Federal Reserve oversight, and the health care bill. The U.S. is expected to fall to the 15-20 range when rankings are released again.

While most all of us know that the Federal Government is deep in debt, the status of State and local indebtedness is not as well publicized. Although Texas ranks high among the states (18th) economically, its debt, including interest, stands at over $322 billion.*

Port Lavaca, No Exception:

*Texas Bond Review Board, August 2011 show the City of Port Lavaca with a grand total of $45,914,908 in outstanding bond debt, broken down as follows:

City of Port Lavaca $14,803,273

Calhoun County $14,792,000

Calhoun County ISD $16,319,635**

**For a comparison of Calhoun County ISD, or any other Texas school district, to the state average, go to “The Red Apple” web site: www.RedAppleProject.com

Ms. Venable encouraged those at the meeting to attend local government meetings and work to support economic freedom by opposing local government growth and spending and tax increases or bond proposals. Hold your elected officials accountable for the decisions they make and demand transparency. “By cleaning up the economic mess in our own communities,” she said, “we set a standard that echoes all the way to Washington, D.C.”

Americans for Prosperity is an organization of grassroots leaders who engage citizens in the name of limited government and free markets on the local, state, and federal levels. The grassroots activists of AFP advocate for public policies that champion the principles of entrepreneurship and fiscal and regulatory restraint. For more information: www.americansforprosperity.org

Anyone who would like to view the complete power point presentation “Prosperity and Economic Freedom” may request it by email (dolphin1@tisd.net) and it will be forwarded to you.

419 Scams

Have you ever checked your email and found a letter from a poor refugee who is suffering in another country and needs assistance? Ever received a letter stating that an American soldier serving in the Middle East has a trunk stuffed with cash from a terrorist compound and he needs your help to get it into the United States? Or how about a letter stating that you have won the United Kingdom Lottery drawing, even though you never entered?

Chances are if you have a public email, such as a Gmail or Hotmail account, that the answer is most likely yes. These letters are called 419 scams, named after the part of Nigerian code that governs such criminal activity in that country and they have been around for over twenty years.

When the Nigerian economy started to decline in Africa in the middle of the eighties, it gave some Nigerian university students the idea to scam shady businessmen in the West, offering oil and the riches of deposed government officials. The idea was to tempt the target with riches and then get them to pay a fee or to meet certain requirements, always concerning a payment of some sort, to get their share of the funds.

Although the first letters were by post, the scam artists would soon move on to use fax, Telex and later email services to spread their toxic messages around the world.

Today 419, or advance fee fraud, is almost as diverse as the world we live in.

There could be a scam artist in Nigerian internet cafe right now who has a picture of that house you have up for sale making the rounds on Craig’s List, telling unwitting renters or buyers that your home is available for rent or sale at a very low price. That is as long as they can accept not seeing the interior of the property until the scammer sends the keys in the mail…after they get a down payment of course. Or a scam artist could be chatting to you via an internet services such as Yahoo!, claiming to be a beautiful Russian woman who has finally found her true love , if only she could pay for her sick mother’s medicine or afford to pay for a passport or visa to come and visit you in the states.

If it all seems a bit too ridiculous that an educated or logical person would ever fall for these scams, then you might want to sit down and read the book 419 Scam: Exploits of the Nigerian Con Man, by author Charles Tive. According to the book, the estimated losses to 419 and other forms of advance fee fraud were seven billion dollars between 1985 and 2006, when the book was published.

Doctors, lawyers and people from every walk of life have fallen victim to these scams, sometimes caught in a web of denial that each payment they make to get their big payday is the last fee or processing charge, only to find themselves with empty bank accounts and a large dose of shame that they could have been so easily taken. Some have even been kidnapped or murdered after traveling to Lagos, Nigeria or even Amsterdam, the final stop on a journey that would be their last.

So now that we have established that 419 and other related scams are indeed real and can be very costly or dangerous to you or a loved one, how can you ensure that you never get ‘bit’ by these con men?

• Never open an email from an untrusted source; if your curiosity does get the better of you, never reply, even if the message asks you to ‘unsubscribe’ or ‘cancel’ from any future correspondence.

• The age old saying remains true: If it seems too good to be true, it most likely is. No one is going to send you millions just for cashing a check and no Lottery drawing in the world charges a fee for you to win a prize, especially one you never entered.

• Never send any money to an unknown or untrusted source via Western Union or Money Gram services. This is the scammers preferred method of payment as it is untraceable and once it is gone it is gone for good.

• Never give out any of your personal data, such as name, telephone number or bank account information over the phone or the internet. Likewise, never agree to send copies of your ID, driver’s License or passport to someone you do not know. These could be used to fool someone else involved in a scam or even worse, to steal your identity.

• If your bank or credit card company (or anyone else for that matter) calls you or sends you an email and the conversation seems odd or something seems wrong, hang up or do not respond. Most companies and banks will never ask you for passwords, pin numbers or other personal data over the phone or via email unsolicited. If it seems suspicious, contact your bank or other institution directly from a number or URL you trust and ask them if they have called or contacted you. It might save you thousands of dollars and if they are really contacting you the bank will be more then happy to accommodate your questions regarding the validity of the conversation .

• Never browse, click links or ‘sign in’ to any website that does not look quite right. Even if looks like the Pay Pal or a credit card site at first glance, if you followed it from a link in an email or an untrusted source on the web it may just be part of a scam. If you suspect you are visiting a faked website, try to save the URL in the address bar and send it in to the legitimate company in question so they can have it shut down.

• Also never trust any unknown banking or financial site, especially in other country’s. This may also be fraudulent sites used to dupe scam victims into thinking the scammers stories are legit. Bottom line: If you did not initiate the contact with the website through a trusted source, leave the site and never communicate any sort of personal data on the site, it could be used against you.

But the best protection you can give yourself is your own common sense. These criminals try to prey on the elderly, the poor and lonely individuals. Remind your self that on the internet and over the phone anybody can claim to be anything and anyone. If your gut is telling you that something just is not right about that email, chat message or phone call, trust your feelings and look into it.

Finally, if you do find a potential scam email in your inbox or you come across a suspicious website or text, you can report it to a site such as the one below. This may prevent someone else from falling victim to these criminals: http://www.scamwarners.com/

Remember, the internet is one of the last untamed frontiers in the world, and like the wild west of days gone by, where everybody’s out for your dollar including the new-fangled snake oil salesmen of the digital age.

The most active time for severe weather events in South Texas is between the months of March and June. These events can cause potential loss of  life and property and can also impact your entire community. These weather events include severe thunderstorms, lightning strikes, hail, flooding and tornadoes.

But you can help lessen the toll taken by severe weather by becoming a trained spotter through the National Weather Service’s Skywarn classes.

The local NWS office located in Corpus Christi has announced dates for local residents of Calhoun County and the surrounding areas to attend training sessions that will allow citizens to learn about what signs to watch for during possible severe weather. The courses also allow spotters to report crucial data back to the National Weather Service such as tornado touchdowns and hail size.
Spotter classes are given out free to the general public.

Spotters play a critical role in the warning system used to alert residents of severe weather events that cannot be detected by radar, such as a tornado touchdown or funnel clouds.
The class schedule for the local area is as follows:

Corpus Christi: Wednesday February, 22nd at Texas A& M CC, NRC Building Room 1003 at 9:00 a.m.

Freer: Thursday, February 23rd at Freer VFD, 402 South Main at 7:00 p.m.

Laredo: Monday, Febuary 27th at Texas A&M Intl Student Center Room 236 at 2:00 p.m.

Laredo:  Monday, Febuary 27th at Texas A&M Intl Student Center Room 236 at 6:30 p.m.

Port Lavaca: Wendsday, February 29th at Commissioner’s Court 211 S. Ann Street at 3:00 p.m.

Port Lavaca:  Wendsday, February 29th at Commissioner’s Court 211 S. Ann Street at 7:00 p.m.

Bishop: Tuesday, March 6th at City Hall, 203 E. Main Street at 3:00 p.m.

Kingsville: Wendsday, March 7th at Kleburg County EOC- Courthouse Basement at 2:00 p.m.

Robstown: Thursady, March 8th at Calderon Building, 710 E. Main Street at 6:30 p.m.

Kingsville: Thursday, March 15th at St. Martin’s Church, 715 N. 8th Street at 7:00 p.m.

Corpus Christi: Thursday, March 22nd at Mount Olive Lutheran Church  at 7:00 p.m.

Robstown: Friday, March 23rd at Richard M. Borchard Fairgrounds at 9:00 a.m.

Beeville: Monday, March 26th at 111 N. St. Mary’s Street, Suite 201 at 6:00 p.m.

Don’t have the time or not able to visit these classes?  There is also an online version of the Skywarn training courses that can be taken at the web links below:

https://www.meted.ucar.edu/training_module.php?id=817

https://www.meted.ucar.edu/training_module.php?id=816

For more information please visit the Corpus Christi NWS website or download this free PDF which includes the dates and times of the physical courses as well as contact information for each date/location:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/rtimages/crp/wcm/SkywarnSchedule2012.pdf

Dolores Haverland

Dolores Haverland was honored at the Annual Memorial Medical Volunteers Luncheon on February 15. She received special honors from South Texas Blood and Tissue Center for her service hosting blood drives for her community for the past 23 years.

As chairperson for Memorial Medical Auxiliary Blood Drive in Port Lavaca, she has hosted regular blood drives on the second Wednesday of every month. Her dedication to the community blood supply has helped bring in more than 8,500 units of blood and saved thousands of lives.

“Haverland has been a wonderful person to work with. Her blood drives have been effective for over 20 years because she is passionate about blood donations and communicates that to her donors,” said Michelle Ferguson, donor recruitment consultant at the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center (STBTC).

STBTC encourages all healthy persons to participate in blood drives in their communities. They report that O positive blood is currently in need for patients in our area. The current level is less than a three day supply. Anyone who is 16 years old, weighing 120 pounds, (with parental consent form) or at least 17 years old weighing 110 pounds and in good general health may donate blood. Donors must present photo ID, last four digits of their social security number and their birth date.

Visit southtexasblood.org for more information.