Last week Ms. Clinton came to Houston and spoke at Texas Southern University about voting rights, expanding early voting requirements, and voter identification. Forget that in polling the vast majority favor Voter ID laws and that turnout among minorities goes up with Voter ID. She forgot that most states like Texas have "no reason" early voting or that Election Day allows campaigns to focus. This is all about getting the Democratic base excited. What about the big issues facing America? Forget it. What about the for-sale sign for American policy hung out at the Clinton Foundation? Now what about answering reporters' questions? The Clinton handlers say her speech is her answer to questions. Wow.

Texas has been asked to return $133 million in Medicaid payments because unscrupulous dentists and orthodontists were putting braces on children who didn't need them per Medicaid rules.

The left wing media coverage ignores what the latest scandal proves, until individuals are responsible for making their own health decisions with financial incentives (Health Savings Accounts), fraud, waste and abuse will dog our system, ultimately resulting in a broken budget for Texas and other states. The legacy of modern liberalism.

This week, friend and The Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol opined on the need to sound the alarm for our nation in an editorial entitled, "Where's Paul Revere?"

"We're ready to sound the alarm about the world around us - about ISIS and Iran and Syria, about Putin and Xi Jinping. We're ready to sound the alarm about the fact that Hillary Clinton now leads all the Republican presidential candidates in the polls. We're alarmed for our nation; we're alarmed for our Constitution; we're alarmed for our liberty. We're alarmed for the world."

"We admire many of the Republican presidential contenders. They're mostly inclined to think along the right lines. But we're not certain they share a sense of urgency. If the consultants have their way, it will be business as usual. But it's not as if business as usual has often led to great electoral, or policy, or cultural, victories. In 2016 business as usual probably means losing as usual.

"Without a sense of urgency, we'll have the Romney Campaign with a more attractive and able candidate. But of course at this point in 2011 GOP elites thought Romney was a more attractive and able candidate than he turned out to be."

TCR Comment: The challenge for us is to wake up and tell it like it is with a Reaganite vision for the future to voters, and to turnout everyone who shares our worldview.

When a bill is introduced into the legislative process, the sponsor of the bill is required to complete a "fiscal note," which should alert readers to how much a bill, if passed, will cost the taxpayers. As I discovered in reviewing bills, the fiscal notes are another form of creative writing, not necessarily connected to reality.

For example, a reporting bill, SB 1369, was introduced this past session. The fiscal note reported no significant fiscal impact to either local government or to the state. Funny, when I reviewed the bill with Harris County's budget office, we had no trouble finding a six figure fiscal impact upon Harris County. Other counties will also incur expenses in complying with this new law.

After my discovery of the misleading fiscal note on SB 1369, I checked the fiscal notes for other bills picked at random. The same theme kept appearing and reappearing - no significant fiscal impact!

I found it odd that bills requiring local governmental bodies - particularly counties - to do things were anticipated to have no significant fiscal impact upon local governmental entities. Since counties hire employees and pay them wages, that conclusion is highly suspect.

If someone in the private sector operated this way, he or she might need a good lawyer, since giving out obviously erroneous information is frowned up in business dealings.

Why does the Texas Legislature operate differently? Does everyone in Austin think that counties in Texas operate for free? Perhaps some member of the legislature will be so kind as to enlighten us on how the fiscal notes work. If the practice cannot be defended, it ought to be reformed.

Prolific author Janice Law is at it again with her sixth book, a fascinating book about Lurleen Wallace.

Before Hillary and Bill, there was Lurleen and George, Evita and Juan. In her just-released narrative nonfiction American Evita: Lurleen Wallace, she profiles America's third woman governor, a non-high school graduate George Wallace thought he could use when he successfully ran her for governor as his surrogate, but he was in for an unwelcome surprise.

In 1968 when she passed away during one of America's most violent and turbulent years Reverend Doctor Ralph Abernathy, a top Martin Luther King, Jr. lieutenant, issued a compelling public statement: "A dark shadow has been cast across the horizon of America by the death of the Honorable Governor Lurleen Wallace." Public admiration of a black leader for the wife of an avowed segregationist was unimaginable in 1968 America.

But it did happen, and her story is fascinating.

American Evita: Lurleen Wallace is available for purchase on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and via www.judgejanicelaw.com.

Gary Polland will be a guest on The Amigos on AM 700 on Friday, June 12 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

Red, White & Blue featuring TCR Editor Gary Polland, liberal commentator David Jones and moderator Linda Lorelle on Fridays at 7:30 pm on PBS Houston Channel 8.1, replaying Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 8.1, Mondays at 11:30 pm on Channel 8.2 and on the web at www.houstonpublicmedia.org.

Upcoming shows:
06-19-15 - Senators Paul Bettencourt and Sylvia Garcia on the the recently ended legislative session.
2016 Presidential Primary Preview show.

The current show as well as past shows are available on YouTube.

Gary Polland is a long-time conservative and Republican spokesman, fund-raiser, and leader who completed three terms as the Harris County Republican Chairman. During his three terms, Gary was described as the most successful county Chairman in America by Human Events - The National Conservative Weekly. He is in his sixteenth year of editing a newsletter dealing with key conservative and Republican issues. The last fourteen years he has edited Texas Conservative Review. As a public service for the last 12 years, Gary has published election guides for the GOP primary, general elections and city elections, all with the purpose of assisting conservative candidates. Gary is also in his 13th year of co-hosting Red, White and Blue on PBS Houston, longest running political talk show in Texas history. Gary is a practicing attorney and strategic consultant. He can be reached at (713) 621-6335.