President's Message

Keep that Spirit Going - May

April has been a very difficult month for BARW. The loss of our very own Lilian Norman-Keeney and Joyce Roscello (Rae Sinor’s mom) and Anna Claire Rice another Republican stalwart really took the wind out of our sails. However, in true Republican fashion, we soldiered on. In what I believe was an homage to Lilian we produced one of our best Lincoln Day Dinners yet. It was in part a testament to her that every committee brought their “A-Game” to the effort. A special “Thank you” has to go to Rae Sinor, who despite a tremendous personal loss, continued as Chair of the Silent Auction Committee. She and her committee produced a truly outstanding auction. The numbers aren’t in yet but I am confident they will be great. Another “Thank you” has to go to Dianne Troop (friend of Margaret Vail and BARW). She could not attend our event but helped with setup of the auction nonetheless. Another member, Carole Perry called and offered to help me with the seating. This was always Lilian’s domain and I was totally overwhelmed by the prospect. Thank you, Carole. We had several members put together tables and I believe they are glad they did. Senator Cruz was awesome.Yes, April was a very sad month for us, but I have never been more proud to be a member of BARW.

Let’s keep that spirit going!

Tell ‘em what you think!!

I know I’m a little late out of the gate on this one with respect to our Legislature (only 2 weeks left), but not for Washington, DC and local issues. Sometimes we think that once we get our guys elected the fight is over, however this is far from true. Whether it’s the local Water Authority, School Board and City Council or Immigration, Obamacare and the Debt, we must remain engaged and vocal. Our representatives must be cognizant of the fact that we are paying attention to what’s going on and have an opinion on it. This should go both ways—a “Thank You” when they vote the principles that garnered our support and got them elected and a “What are you thinking?” when they don’t. Emails, faxes, snail mail, how you do it is unimportant, that you do it is critical. This week there were a lot of emails most of them asking you to be proactive and call or email a representative. When you get these emails - DO IT! This lets them know we are watching.

Unfortunately, our job is never done - Stay informed! Stay engaged! Tell ‘em what you think!

See you on the 22nd .

Debbie Guitian Roan

Stay Involved, Stay Informed, Stay Active - March

Fellow Members,

On Thursday, March 7th, I had the privilege of having lunch with Republican Women’s Club Presidents from the southeast portion of the Greater Houston Council membership area. There were ladies from Galveston, Beaumont, Pearland and areas in-between. It was great to make new friends and touch base with old ones. The luncheon get together was the brainchild of Sherry Peterson, Greater Houston Council President, and it was a great idea.

It was a very uplifting few hours. Many of the clubs, like ours, have seen attendance at meetings slip while their membership numbers remain high. We all felt it was still the result of the November election. I admit that being president forced me to “get over it” and move forward and that perhaps, if I wasn’t president, I might be AWOL as well. Then I remembered the Rand Paul filibuster and thought NO WAY!

It is truly disturbing to think that the administration could not answer the simple question, “Is it constitutional for the president to kill (by drone strike) an American citizen on American soil while sitting at a café?” In other words, while not actively engaged in a terrorist act (i.e. Trying to blow something up or kill people). REALLY?! How hard is it to answer that question? Who decides? In my previous messages, I have talked about the attacks by this president on our First and Second Amendment rights, but now he is attacking the Fifth Amendment. This is a truly frightening development that this administration couldn’t answer that question immediately with an unequivocal “NO.” In fact, it took Eric Holder almost 24 hours and the Rand Paul 13 hour filibuster to finally say that to kill an American on American soil not actively involved in a terrorist act would be UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Ladies and Gentlemen, Edmund Burke said it best: “Evil flourishes when good men do nothing.” Do not “do nothing,” stay involved, stay informed, stay active! We were gifted with being born in the best country in the world and it is worth fighting for!

See you on the 27th.

Debbie Guitian Roan

Get Involved - February

Fellow Members,

It seems with the dawn of each day comes a new “crisis”. We are whipsawed back and forth from guns to gays to climate change to fiscal cliffs to healthcare, etc. And with each of these “crises,” whether it is real or imagined, the proposed “solutions” are always efforts to chip away at our liberty.

We all know the story of the frog that dropped into a pot of hot water immediately jumps out,---- but put that same frog in tepid water, gradually turn up the heat and he’s cooked before he realizes it. Ladies and gentleman - WE are that frog. We are slowly being robbed of our freedoms at all levels under the guise of safety, fairness, good health etc. We are all very aware of the assault on Second Amendment rights, but I think the First Amendment is the one that has been under attack the longest and the most successfully. The list of phases, words and jokes that are considered “inappropriate” (a word I really dislike) or better yet “hate speech” gets longer and longer by the day. Nothing is “just a joke” or just “in bad taste” any more, it all becomes an act worthy of “official action.”

When I was in grade school one of our favorite retorts to whatever issue was under dispute was “it’s a free country”. Think about it: can we still say that? If you say “yes,” think about Phil Mickelson. All he did was say he would like to keep more of the money he earns by moving out of California and he was attacked. What was wrong with what he said? Nothing -- except the left and the media, who are the keepers of the “list”, didn’t like it. Think about all the self-censorship we exercise every day. Free speech is not about saying what people want to hear, but being able to say freely what they don’t want to hear or that with which they disagree.

Just because we lost an election, we don’t have to lose the country. Think about it. Get involved.

See you on the 27th.

Debbie Guitian Roan