THSC Endorsement Response photo 319493 740 0 right Texas Home School Coalition Logo photo On December 12th 2013 I received an email from the em Texas Home School Coalition em a href http www thsc org http www thsc org a The email read as follows div style clear both font size 12px font style italic padding left 20px border 1px solid cccccc background color eeeeee To the campaign office of Kevin Ludlow Mr Ludlow My name is Lisa Scott I m an intern with the THSC and I ve been authorized to send you this questionnaire that the THSC might consider an endorsement Please fill out this form as soon as possible and let me know if you have any questions regarding the THSC endorsement process Lisa Scott THSC Intern EMAIL HIDDEN The Texas Home School Coalition Association supports conservative candidates for the Texas legislature and state wide office THSC Association is dedicated to constitutional freedom economic sense and traditional values Tim Lambert President Directions for Answering the Survey Most of the questions in the survey are in a simple Yes and No format A few short answers are requested No trick questions are asked Feel free to call our office at 806 744 4441 if any clarifications are needed div ul li strong Please describe your philosophy of government and what practical steps you would take to implement your philosophy strong br br My philosophy of government is trivial the government is to be restrained and limited its powers Individual freedom and choices are the responsibility of the individual not the government The government can be and should be used an an arbitrator of sorts to address grievances between parties Further legislation need not be created as a result of arbitrated agreements br br Implementation of this philosophy is educational in nature It would be terribly contradictory to force the implementation of the philosophy I described above br nbsp li li strong Which of the following most closely describes your public policy views on social issues strong br br Social Moderate br nbsp li li strong Which of the following most closely describes your public policy views on fiscal issues strong br br Fiscal conservative br nbsp li li strong Please add any additional explanation concerning your public policy views strong br br I think the goal of my public policy views is to shoot for a very hypothetical restrained government ideal but to tactfully go after policies that do individual freedom a great harm on a large scale essentially prioritizing br nbsp li li strong Do you believe taxes are too high strong br br Yes br nbsp li li strong Will you vote under any circumstances to raise taxes strong br br No br nbsp li li strong If yes what circumstances strong br br Never br nbsp li li strong Will you work to lower taxes strong br br Yes br nbsp li li strong Will you support the introduction and passage of an amendment to the Texas Constitution requiring a two thirds majority vote in each house to raise taxes strong br br Yes br nbsp li li strong Do you believe that abortion is the taking of human life strong br br No br nbsp li li strong Do you believe the U S Constitution supports the right to have an abortion strong br br Yes br nbsp li li strong Do you support taxpayer funding of abortions strong br br No br nbsp li li strong Do you believe that an unborn child is a person under the 14th amendment to the U S Constitution strong br br No br nbsp li li strong Would you vote to prohibit abortion strong br br No br nbsp li li strong Would you vote to prohibit abortion in the case of rape strong br br No br nbsp li li strong Would you vote to prohibit abortion in the case of incest strong br br No br nbsp li li strong Would you vote to prohibit abortion to save the life of the mother strong br br No br nbsp li li strong Briefly explain how your view of abortion might impact your public policy votes strong br br I am not in favor of abortions and am interested in promoting REAL educational talking points around the topic rather than pursuing the never ending partisan black white discussion that we re engaged in br br That said I do not believe the government should intervene in this matter in any way at all perhaps other than to provide or at least promote the spread of information on the controversial topic br br I will not cater to any religious belief system I believe that radical left wing individuals on this topic need be more sympathetic to their counter believers and that radical right wing individuals need to be more pragmatic and compassionate to their counter believers br nbsp li li strong Do you favor adding sexual orientation as a protected minority under existing civil rights laws strong br br Yes br nbsp li li strong Do you favor conferring married tax status health care and other benefits to homosexuals through the legal recognition of homosexual marriages strong br br Yes br nbsp li li strong Do you favor allowing homosexuals to adopt children strong br br Yes br nbsp li li strong Do you favor laws that restrict the production sale and distribution of pornography strong br br No br nbsp li li strong Will you work to restore parents fundamental constitutional right to direct the care control and upbringing of their children by amending the Texas Family Code to stop the lawsuit abuse of fit parents under the grandparent access statute as related to HB 2547 in the 83rd Legislative Session strong br br Yes br nbsp li li strong Will you oppose any legislation that would result in the regulation of private and home schools strong br br No br nbsp li li strong Will you oppose legislation which transfers power from the elected State Board of Education to the Commissioner of Education strong br br Yes br nbsp li li strong Will you oppose efforts to change the elected State Board of Education to a board appointed by the Governor strong br br Yes br nbsp li li strong Will you oppose efforts to undermine parental rights in CPS investigations as attempted in SB 1440 in the 81st legislative session strong br br No br nbsp li li strong Will you support legislation allowing home school students to take part in extra curricular activities at public schools strong br br Yes br nbsp li li strong Would you support legislation to end the use of daytime curfews by cities and counties to circumvent state compulsory attendance laws strong br br Yes br nbsp li li strong Will you support the Second Amendment right to own and bear arms strong br br Yes br nbsp li li strong Do you believe gun control laws reduce crime strong br br No br nbsp li li strong Will you support the death penalty in appropriate cases strong br br No br nbsp li li strong Will you support the decriminalization of drugs strong br br Yes br nbsp li li strong Will you support efforts to have Texas judges appointed instead of elected strong br br No br nbsp li li strong Is there anything else you would like to tell us strong br br While some questions in this survey may not be trick questions as suggested by the introduction a number of them are simply not black and white yes vs no questions br br For example with respect to homosexual marriage I do not support any type of government intervention of marriage at all Therefore answering whether I would support homosexual marriage in essence is rather misleading for me I believe all people are given identical rights br br Additionally the question of Do you believe that abortion is the taking of human life is simply NOT a yes no question I answered no as it fits the political spectrum from which I believe Is a 1 day embryo life NO Is a 250 day old fetus life probably yes But this does not change my political stance on the matter br br Please call me with any other questions br nbsp li ul

Roadtrip Day Three After a much needed rest (in a Best Western this time), we woke up and had some breakfast at the local Las Cruces IHOP. It was then only about a 40 minute trip to the northeast towards White Sands, NM.

Headed Back to Austin After spending the afternoon in White Sands, we finally started heading back to Texas. We passed through Alamogordo on our way to the New Mexico Lincoln National Forest where we climbed to an elevation of over 8,000 ft. The drive from the national forest to the Texas border was ungodly boring but once we got to Pecos, TX and had some dinner, it wasn't quite as bad. We stopped in Ft. Stockton to take some quick pictures of the Nutt Ranch before switching seats so that Tracy could drive us all the way back to Austin.

Ron Paul Advertising In an effort to help promote Ron Paul around Austin, I bought some plywood and spray-paint and proceeded to cut out 2-foot tall letters of Ron Paul. After I cut all of the letters out with a jigsaw I attached stakes on the backs of them and staked them into my yard. A little bit of red, white, and blue paint at a diagonal, and voila, a Ron Paul sign was born. Klaus and I went out onto Hwy. 360 where they put all of the Christmas trees magically get put up each year. We staked the letters into the ground in that area only to find them taken down the next day. Needless to say, we got them back, and hiked atop one of the bluffs on 360 instead where as far as I know, they have been proudly standing since.

Red, White, and Blue? Tracy and I were at a stoplight on the corner of Metric and Gracy Farms and happened to see this guy walking on the southeast corner. With the camera handy, who wouldn't have snapped off a shot of this American patriot?

Putt and Jeff Bday at Lambert's For Putt and Jeff's 30th birthday celebrations (which fall about 2 weeks away from each other), Putt rented out Lambert's BBQ in downtown Austin. Everyone was encouraged to dress up and so of course I rented a white tux and showed up looking like a pimp. I also brought Tiffany as my date who was definitely dressed to impress in her stunning blue dress. We partied at Lambert until the wee hours of the morning before retiring to hotels downtown for some after-partying.

T-Bird and Rymo Rymo came in town for the Labor Day weekend and wouldn't you know, TBird and the Breaks (Carly's band) had a show that Saturday night. Perhaps the only slightly more interesting part of the night was going to Third Base for a late night dinner (after her show) only to have the place shut down by a biker gang convention. To say the least, 8 white kids in non-leathers stood out nicely.

Black and White Selfies Just a bunch of random selfies that I took with my phone over the past many months. No real reason for any of them.

Roadtrip to White Sands, NM

The Best Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough There are actually a few pics in here of an amazing blueberry sourdough bread I made, but the focus is on the new cinnamon raisin recipe that I came up with. I've made several of these now and this on is by far the best. For those who know how to make sourdough, here are the portions that I used: 520g white bread flour 385g water 90g starter (mixed in water) 2tsp salt 2.5tbsp cinnamon 40g sugar 110g raisins All of these were mixed together before the proofing stage.