Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, the people of Honduras just completed their successful national elections.

In June, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya tried to change his elected office into a dictatorship. He's the guy that's buddies with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. Zelaya organized a mob and tried to nullify his term limits to hold on to power. His actions were illegal under Honduran law. Zelaya was arrested by the army under order of the Honduran Supreme Court. And even though the United States inappropriately tried to interfere, he was removed from office by their Congress for violating their constitution.

On Sunday, the people of Honduras elected Porfirio ``Pepe'' Lobo, a conservative businessman, as their new President. Congratulations to the people of Honduras for sticking to the rule of law despite great odds. They held free and fair elections. This national triumph for the people of Honduras is a victory for all those anywhere in the world who live in freedom and seek freedom over tyranny.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, as we all know there is limited supply of the H1N1 vaccines all over our country. In Texas, there was news that prisoners could receive the swine flu vaccine before children and pregnant women. There are over 45,000 inmates who are evidently in the ``high-risk'' group in Texas. The correctional institutions believe that the convicts deserve to be vaccinated. Due to the limited number of vaccines available for Texas, the inmates may not receive them as soon as they wish.

By what logic do you justify having inmates receive vaccinations as a higher priority than pregnant women and children? These individuals are the most vulnerable among us and should be of great concern; not to mention senior adults, caregivers, and many others that should be high on the list. When these vaccines are provided to the states it should go to our taxpayers before our ``high risk'' convicts. The government needs to step up to the plate and provide the available vaccines to the people who need them the most--the children.

Madam Speaker, a war cannot be won from a podium, but it can be lost. Laying out our entire military strategy in Afghanistan for our enemies is not only unwise, but poses a significant threat to national security. Our enemies have proven to be patient and steadfast in their determination to wage war on democracy and freedom. The President will send more troops, but has shown his entire hand to the world.

Last night's premature announcement by the President of an arbitrary end date for withdrawal contradicts our commitment to winning the war on terror--no matter how long it takes. It reaffirms our enemy's belief that America will lose its will to win. It seems our policy in fighting the war in Afghanistan is the surge-and-retreat plan. Success should be the mission, not ``get out of Dodge'' on a certain date.

Nowhere in history has a nation told its enemy that commitment would be for a set period of time and then the struggle would be abandoned. The President has said he wants to avoid another Vietnam, yet he has reintroduced the Vietnam syndrome of conditional commitment to America's cause.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to have my name removed from H. Res. 648.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

First of all, I want to thank the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Smith) for sponsoring this important legislation, and I rise in support of House Resolution 939. This resolution extends our condolences to the families of Sergeant Mark Renninger, Officer Tina Griswold, Officer Ronald Owens, and Officer Greg Richards. These four police officers were members of the Lakewood, Washington, police department and were ambushed by gunfire in a murderous act of violence on November 29, 2009.

These four officers were in uniform and sitting at a table in a coffee shop near their patrol area. They were preparing for their upcoming shift when a gunman with an extensive criminal record who was out on bond for another criminal offense entered the location and suddenly fired gunshots at these officers. Two of the officers were killed immediately, another was shot when he stood up from the table, and the fourth was shot after struggling with the gunman in attempting to prevent his escape. The gunman fled but not before one of the wounded dying officers had shot him.

The gunman was found 2 days later in Seattle after he challenged yet another police officer who approached him. That police officer was a 7- year veteran of the Seattle police force who noticed a parked, stolen car that was running but unoccupied. The officer approached the suspect outside the car and asked him to show his hands, but the suspect refused and started to run around the car. The officer shot and killed the suspect to prevent his escape. The officer had recognized the gunman from photographs and identified him as the main suspect in the murders of these other officers. The gunman was carrying a service weapon taken from one of the slain officers that he had murdered.

Unfortunately, police officers and law enforcement officials sometimes go unnoticed and unappreciated by communities that they protect. So far in 2009, 111 American police officers have lost their lives in the line of duty, protecting the rest of us. These noble men and women deserve respect and gratitude from our entire Nation. Peace officers, like Sergeant Renninger, Officer Griswold, Officer Owens, and Officer Richards perform their jobs every day with the knowledge that there is a possibility that they may give their lives in service to the communities that they protect. That's an awesome sacrifice, Mr. Speaker.

As a Nation, we are grateful to peace officers who readily accept such a tremendous burden and to their families

who accept that burden as well. In the wake of this vicious tragedy, we come together in support of the law enforcement community and the families of these individuals.

Sergeant Renninger was a 13-year law enforcement veteran. He is survived by his wife and three children. Officer Griswold, a 14-year police veteran, is survived by her husband, a former deputy sheriff, and two children. Officer Owens, a 12-year veteran, is survived by his daughter. Officer Richards, an 8-year veteran, is survived by his wife and three children.

The four officers were original members of the Lakewood Police Department, which was founded just 5 years ago. They are the first officers from this department to be killed in the line of duty. As the resolution so aptly states, Members of Congress stand with the people of Lakewood, Washington, the men and women of the Lakewood Police Department, and members of the law enforcement community as they honor the lives and mourn the loss of these four dedicated public servants and law enforcement heroes.

I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Reichert), who's familiar with this law enforcement agency and, as a sheriff, represented much of this area.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, next year on May 15, right here on the Capitol grounds, we will pay tribute and honor to peace officers that have been killed this year in the line of duty. Until this event in Washington State, there were 111 peace officers killed in this country in the line of duty. Now there are 115, and they will be honored and their families will be honored next year.

Having spent most of my career at the courthouse in Houston as a prosecutor and then a criminal court judge, I saw a lot of police officers come down to the courthouse. And sometimes they didn't return, and the reason was because some criminal had decided to take their life. But that is the occupation that they chose, to risk their lives for the rest of us. And we should always be mindful of the men and women that wear the uniform, those who wear

the uniform at home to protect us from domestic criminals and those who wear the uniform overseas to protect us from international criminals.

Peace officers, Mr. Speaker, are the last strand of wire in the fence between the people and the lawless. Every day they put on their uniform and they put above their heart on their chest a badge, which is really a shield, a shield that's symbolic of protecting the community from the evildoers. It goes back centuries ago. And yet they wear that shield proudly to protect us from people who wish to do us harm. And when individuals make the decision to harm those that protect us, it is an American tragedy, and the whole country mourns with the families who have lost a police officer.

So I urge that we mourn the loss of these officers, that we honor their lives and their bravery, and that we pass this resolution immediately.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, over the past several weeks, evidence has come to light of fraud and corruption in the global warming scientific community. Or, as it is now called, the climate change community.

These shady scientists have made claims of a global warming apocalypse and created fear in the world that we are all doomed because man is the enemy destroyer of planet Earth.

But now thousands of their emails were recently leaked to the public. These emails, written by scientists at the British University of East Anglia exposed fraud and corruption in their global warming claims. Now Climategate is being exposed. These snake oil salesmen have been caught in their lies to the world. These are the very scientists who formed the foundation for world global warming claims. American politicians, the United Nations, everyone claiming that the world is headed toward this global warming catastrophe based their views on this information.

In these emails, these scientists conspired to destroy their own email discussion of data that contradicts their global warming claims. They discussed discrediting members of the scientific community who disagree with them. They even wish some of these dissenting scientists were beaten. Now isn't that lovely when you have an opposition.

Phil Jones, the director of the climate research unit at the University of East Anglia in England wrote in his now-leaked emails of thwarting access to the data by those who doubt global warming. He talked about getting around British Freedom of Information requests. He didn't want other scientists to get his data because they could expose flaws and faults in his global warming claims.

But the bread and butter of these global warming claims comes from what these scientists say is ``consensus'' within the scientific community. Now we learn there is not a consensus about global climate change. The emails show numerous actions taken to silence the dissenting voices and withhold the actual information being used to make their questionable claims.

The British university says they are going to release all of their data now, but the scientists have already admitted that they destroyed much of that data. Obviously, they destroyed the data that shows their theory on climate change is a ruse. It is a fraud on the world. That doesn't look like sound science to me. It sounds like they have cooked the books. It sounds like they have picked out an outcome and are trying to fix the data to make it say what they want it to say. It sounds like a political agenda.

World economies depend on these claims that have clearly been manipulated. The U.N. global warming summit in Copenhagen that starts next Monday, December 7, is using this tainted information. The United Nations wants to exert more control over world energy and emissions, and the sovereignty of nations using information that is apparently now faulty. It is tainted with scandal, and it is deceitful.

How can the American people trust any of these claims when they have clearly been manipulated? Well, the American public can be fooled no longer by these pseudo scientists. One may ask why would these scientists skew the facts? Well, it is obvious. Governments all over the world give climate change individuals in the climate change crowd millions of dollars of money to study climate change. And if manmade climate change is a falsehood, these scientists may fear that their money will dry up.

The jury is still out on the global warming theory and the climate change myth. Before Congress passes any legislation based on this theory regarding manmade climate change, we ought to have an open, honest debate from real scientists who didn't manipulate the evidence to get an outcome-based conclusion. Further, the EPA should halt all carbon emission regulations of the energy community until we learn the facts about climate change. Honesty is a prerequisite for conclusions about climate change legislation. And now we learn that climate change is not a well settled scientific fact at all, whether the mad scientists at the University of Anglia like that fact or not.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, the Big Thicket National Preserve consists of 100,000 acres of dense pines, hardwoods, and swampland. The area occupies seven counties including Liberty County and Jefferson County, bounded by the San Jacinto River and Neches River.

In 1964 the mayor of Liberty, Dempsie Henley, and local naturalist Lance Rosier founded the Big Thicket Association; their efforts to push for national park status gained the attention of U.S. Senator Ralph Yarborough. After many years of fighting to preserve the Big Thicket a bill by U.S. Representative Charles Wilson to establish the Big Thicket National Preserve was passed by Congress in 1974. The creation of the Big Thicket National Preserve was established to protect the numerous and diverse population of plant and animal species; it was the first preserve established in the National Park System.

The communities that border the Big Thicket National Preserve remain passionate about preserving one of Texas' unique land treasures. Like many true Texans, I remember growing up surrounded by the wild, free piney woods. Many summer days were spent wading in the area creeks, fishing for perch, blazing new trails, or quietly watching turtles sunbathe on logs. The Big Thicket National Preserve continues to play an important role in the lives of the people and families of the Second District of Texas.

Madam Speaker, the Second District of Texas pays tribute to the foresight of our early Texas leaders and their commitment to the preservation of the Big Thicket. I love and appreciate this preserve, and will continue to help protect its natural beauty.

Mr. Speaker, the Navy's elite commando unit, the

SEALs, have captured one of the most notorious terrorists in Iraq. This terrorist planned the murder of four Americans in Fallujah. He had their bodies burned and hung from a bridge.

But instead of celebrating and honoring their bold accomplishment, the military has decided to court-martial the three SEALs.

The terrorist they captured says the Navy SEALs punched him in the mouth. And now he's whining about a fat lip. Even if the Navy SEALs punched this murderer in the mouth, the military brass is overreacting. After all, we're in the middle of a war. Punching is allowed. So is shooting. Instead of a court-martial, the SEALs should be getting medals.

It seems the military is more concerned about this captured criminal's bruised lip than they are about the SEALs doing their job.

The job of the American military is to fight wars. They're supposed to defeat the enemy. They break things. That's what they do.

The military needs to be trying this terrorist for the murder of Americans instead of court-martialing the SEALs for successfully accomplishing their mission.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the Navy SEALs are the United States Navy's elite commandos. And last week we learned that they captured one of the most wanted terrorists in all of Iraq. Ahmed Hashim Abed was behind the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in the year 2004. This ringleader of this ambush planned the murder of these four Americans in Fallujah. And these four Blackwater security guards, what they were doing was transporting supplies from one place to another.

So he had planned, Abed had planned an ambush against these individuals. They are ambushed. They are murdered. The bodies of these four murdered Americans were then dragged through the streets, burned and hung from a bridge in Fallujah. Mr. Speaker, I've been to that very bridge in the year 2005, and you still have an eerie feeling knowing that four Americans were hung there in public view. The U.S. military, by the way, has put a plaque on that bridge in honor of those security guards.

And so congratulations are in order to the Navy SEALs who captured the mastermind behind this ambush and the murder of these four Americans. We should be celebrating this achievement, and these Navy SEALs should be getting medals for their work doing what we've asked them to do. But that's not what is happening, Mr. Speaker. The military has decided to court-martial the Navy SEALs. It seems that this terrorist, Abed, claimed that he was punched in the mouth by the Navy SEALs, and he wants justice. He wants American justice.

You know, it's the same mouth that preaches hate in the name of religion, the same mouth that demands death to America, the same big mouth that ordered the murder of the four Americans. So the SEALs must answer to this accusation by a terrorist that they captured. After all, the terrorist must have some of that American justice. Next thing we know, we'll be giving these terrorists on the battlefield their Miranda warnings. Oh, we already do that.

Well, then after that, they're going to want to be tried in civilian courts in the United States. But we're already doing that as well. Have we gone a bit too far with the kid glove treatment that we treat these madmen, these terrorists, these people who kill Americans?

The nation is at war, Mr. Speaker. You know, punching occurs in war. Shooting also occurs in war. Instead of a court-martial, the SEALs should be dispatched to go and capture another terrorist. But that's not happening. They are going to be court-martialed because some terrorist supposedly got a bruised mouth.

The SEALs in question are Matthew McCabe, he's a special operations petty officer second class; Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe; and Petty Officer Julio Huertas. They are going to be court-martialed because some terrorist alleges they got punched in the mouth.

It's ironic, Mr. Speaker, that the SEALs will be arraigned next Monday, December 7. December 7, everybody in the United States Navy remembers that day. See, it's been 68 years since the Navy and America was attacked on December the 7th at Pearl Harbor. And now these individuals, ironically, will be arraigned that day.

Mr. Speaker, can you imagine someone in World War II, a soldier, a marine, somebody in the United States Navy, being tried for punching an enemy combatant in the mouth during World War II? You know, we should be commending the Navy SEALs for doing the job that we've asked them to do. They're the best that we have in this country. We've asked them to do tough assignments, and we should be supporting them. The terrorists ought to be on trial for murdering Americans. And the Navy SEALs ought to be getting medals for doing what we have asked them to do. And I say congratulations to the Navy SEALs for a job well done.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, recently the Texas record for the largest gator killed on state property was broken by 110 pounds. The new state record stands at 800 pounds and 12-foot-6-inches. The remarkable thing is that the shooter, Simon Hughes, had only a year of experience under his belt. Even more remarkable was that the shooter is a five year old from Goodrich Texas, near Lake Livingston.

Simon Hughes is the son of Scott Hughes a sixth generation rancher also from East Texas. Mr. Scott Hughes was reasonably worried that something ``real big was out there'' and driving smaller gators into his stock ponds. He then obtained a state permit to kill the alligators populating his 5,000 acre ranch near the Lake. Mr. Hughes also took his son, a mere first grader, along for a hunt seeing as he already had been taught gun safety since he was ``big enough to walk and stand in a deer blind.'' When the gator came upon Simon, he screamed ``holy moly,'' and shot the beast that was twenty times his size with his new junior-sized .410-gauge shotgun.

Madam Speaker, in true cowboy fashion Simon wants the world to know that he was never afraid for a second. Texas commends Simon for his bravery and outstanding accuracy at such a young age.

Mr. Speaker, The Washington Times recently reported that Mexico's two most deadly drug cartels have more than 100,000 foot soldiers in their criminal cartel armies. That massive firepower does battle with each other and battle with our Border Patrol and our border sheriffs. They fight for control over the drug and human smuggling routes into America.

The killing is rampant in Mexico, with over 7,000 murders this year. Law and order are absent in parts of that nation.

The two biggest and most violent criminal cartels control territory along the border at Laredo, Texas. Now, they are considering combining their criminal enterprises. These two groups, the Zetas and the Federation, if they unite, their 100,000-man army will be almost as big as the entire Mexican Army.

The threat keeps building at our southern border. Mexico is our border neighbor, and we had better be as concerned about the stability of that government and the security of our mutual border as we are about the stability and the borders of Iraq and Afghanistan.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, The Lamar University Cardinals in Beaumont, Texas lost one of it's legends in December 2005 with the passing of former head football Coach Vernon Glass. In an effort to keep Vernon's presence in the football program alive, The University recently renamed it's newly renovated practice field The Coach Vernon Glass Field of Champions.

Glass served as Lamar's head coach from 1963 through 1975. His 1964, 1965, 1966, and 1971 Cardinal teams won Southland Conference Championships and he finished his career with a 63-68-1 record. He was recognized as the NCAA College Division Coach of the year in 1964 and 1965. One of Coach Glass' former students called him `a true champion and a great legend'. Therefore, it is only fitting for the university to recognize him by naming the practice field the ``Field of Champions''.

Madam Speaker, it is truly remarkable when one human being can touch so many lives. Coach Vernon Glass did just that during his years as a football Coach at Lamar University. The Second District of Texas recognizes Coach Glass for his years of dedication and service to the University and to improving the lives of the many players who played on the field under his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, the different ways we get our information in America have changed dramatically over the last few decades. We've gone from rabbit ears on our TV sets to cable satellite dishes and broadband. In the next decades, everything--radio, television, Internet, telephones--everything will use broadband.

``Net neutrality'' is a new legislative scheme cooked up by the government fairness police to ration broadband access. It's not about keeping the Internet ``neutral''--it's about government control. Anybody who's ever downloaded pictures over a slow Internet connection knows that some things use more Internet bandwidth than others. Under net neutrality, a plan disguised to make Internet access fair to everybody, the government actually rations how much bandwidth people can use. No one gets more than anyone else.

If the fairness police control broadband, they limit the amount of information people receive and how they receive it. This is the newest threat to free speech in modern times. It's yet more government control over all communication and information.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the United Nations had an update on the government of the tiny tyrant in the desert of Iran. The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, or the IAEA, has released their new report on Iran's nuclear site. This facility, called Fordo, is being built inside a mountain near the religious city Qom. The IAEA concluded the facility had no relevance to any alleged civilian power program.

Western analysts say Fordo's small size will only allow enrichment of small amounts of uranium enough to make a nuclear bomb, but not enough to fuel a nuclear power station. Are we surprised with this finding.

The IAEA said in its report that Iran was not able to convince them that they weren't hiding other nuclear sites. Well, imagine that.

The Government of Iran sponsors acts of terrorism all over the world. Now this thuggish government seeks to threaten the world with nuclear holocaust. For 30 years, Iran has used terrorism, assassination squads, and hostages as their foreign policy.

And, Mr. Speaker, just look at the way this government treats its own people. The people of Iran live in fear of their own government and their own President. Iranian state television yesterday reported that five Iranian citizens were sentenced to death for peaceably protesting the fraudulent Presidential elections in June. That's right. They got the death penalty for exercising the human right to peaceably assemble. And in this Third World country, the death penalty rules the day.

Further, Mr. Speaker, the world witnessed earlier this year how the government even murdered its own people in the streets who peacefully protested the Presidential elections that were rigged by Ahmadinejad.

The cries of the murdered are from the blood of the Iranian freedom patriots who want freedom in their own country. More than 100 prominent opposition leaders in Iran are now being tried for peacefully protesting. Brave men and women of Iran who refuse to be trampled by the tiny tyrant, Ahmadinejad.

The United States should stand with the people of Iran that oppose this illegitimate reign of terror by their government and by their president. The government of Iran is the threat to world peace, especially peace in the Middle East. The sanctions that have been imposed by the U.N. and other Nations on Iran have failed to get the attention of the desert rat, Ahmadinejad. He continues to build his nuclear weapons. He continues to build intercontinental ballistic missiles so that he can fire those nuclear weapons. He continues to finance terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. He continues to meddle in the lawful affairs of Iraq, including supporting assaults and assassinations against the Iranian people that are in Camp Ashraf.

He sends aid and comfort to al Qaeda and to the Taliban in Afghanistan that war against American troops and NATO troops. The key to world peace and peace in Iran is a regime change sponsored by the freedom-loving citizens of Iran. Those noble citizens who have now become the enemy of their own government deserve our support and our encouragement here in America.

Mr. Speaker, deep down in the soul of every person who ever has been or ever will be born is the spark for freedom. The sons of liberty and the daughters of democracy in Iran have in their hearts that spark for liberty, and they will not be quenched by the tiny tyrant of Iran.

It is imperative that the United States recognize the true threat to world peace, Ahmadinejad, and that we as a Nation and that we as a people stand shoulder to shoulder with the good folks of Iran, the citizens of Iran that want a change in their government.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, congratulations to Baytown's Lee College on entering its 75th academic year. It is one of the fastest growing community colleges in the nation with over 9,000 enrolled students. Furthermore, Lee College offers over 130 degrees and certificates, and is 6th in the nation for degrees awarded in science and technologies.

In 1931, the Board of Trustees of the Goose Creek Independent School District agreed that a local junior college should be established. Three years later, in 1934, Lee Junior College was founded to serve that purpose. Since its creation, Lee College has seen significant expansion. Enrolment for Lee College's opening semester was a mere 177 students, but current enrolment is more than 50 times that initial number, with over 9000 students enrolled in academic, technical education, and non-credit continuing education programs at the college.

With Lee College students going on to contribute in vital areas of our society, this college has become a very valuable institution of education for my district and for Texas.