JEWELER JAMES AVERY REFLECTS ON HIS 90 YEARS

While most everyone in South Texas is familiar with the work of James Avery, few know much about the man himself. 

  

 

 

Avery, whose 63 eponymous jewelry stores span eight (soon to be nine) states, recently turned 90. And while he no longer runs the family-owned business, having surrendered the reins in 2007 to his son Chris, now the CEO, he remains closely involved in its operations. He still maintains his office at the company's 25-acre compound in Kerrville, coming in almost every day to sketch ideas, attend design review meetings and act as the public face and ambassador for the $156-million-a-year business.
"I don't want to micromanage the boys," he says of Chris and another son, Paul, who serves as executive vice president of sales. "I don't want to say, 'Oh, you're doing it wrong. Here's how to do it better.'"

  

 

 

Then, with typical self-effacement, he laughs and says, "So I spend most of my time just dilly-dallying around, sketching, things like that."

 

To say that Avery is grandfatherly in appearance is unnecessary. Most nonagenarians are. But with a full head of gray hair and a confident, even regal bearing, he could easily pass for being a quarter century younger. He's a natural storyteller and has a lifetime of tales to share, many happy, some sad.

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LACKLAND TRAINER TO FACE TRIAL IN SEX CASES

A trial was ordered Friday for Staff Sgt. Luis A. Walker, a Lackland AFB instructor charged with having sexual contact with 10 recruits.

 

The action punctuated Air Force statements condemning such behavior, but whether the military has taken the problem seriously enough is a matter of some debate. 

  

 

Since 2001, 10 instructors at Lackland, home of Air Force boot camp, have been convicted of having sex with trainees. All were sentenced to 12 months or less in jail.

 

Many details of those cases aren't known, but they generally involved consensual sex between adults, which is inappropriate under Air Force professional conduct rules.

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PRO-LIFE RALLY IN AUSTIN DRAWS THOUSANDS TO TEXAS CAPITAL, INCLUDING MATT BEEBE, TEXAS STATE REP IN DISTRICT 121 

 

Several thousand people flooded the capital Saturday in support of recently passed anti-abortion legislation.  

 

My bride Amy, our son Honor, our newborn daughter Mercy and I joined Matt Beebe, candidate for Texas State Rep. District 121, and his wife Nicole and their children Hannah and Joshua to march and rally for the precious, innocent babies in the womb.  

 

Beebe was endorsed by Carol Everett, speaker at the Texas Rally for Life, along with a slew of San Antonio, Texas and national pro-life leaders in his GOP Primary race against liberal Joe Straus.  Straus has voted for third-trimester abortions, embryonic stem cell research, accepted $1,000 from Planned Parenthood and commendation by Planned Parenthood for his "tireless efforts." 

 

The annual Texas Rally for Life -- held on the Saturday after the anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision affirming a woman's right to an abortion - drew a diverse crowd from across the state. 

  

 

 

Carrying signs and banners, they marched about 15 blocks to the south steps of the state Capitol.

 

There, Attorney General Greg Abbott U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, and former abortion provider Carol Everett spoke to the spirited group.

  

  

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ALLEN WEST TELLS LIBERAL LEADERS TO "GET THE HELL OUT OF THE USA"

"Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America," Rep. Allen West (R-FL) said at the Palm Beach County Republican Party Lincoln Day dinner. West represents the district in the U.S. Congress.  

Rep. Allen West - "Obama, Reid, Pelosi, get the hell out of the USA" - 28 January 2012

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KRAUTHAMMER: WHEN IT COMES TO IDEAS, OBAMA IS SPENT

Charles Krauthammer talks to Sean Hannity about President Obama's State of the Union and Thursday night's debate. Krauthammer calls Obama's SOTU "small ball politics."

 

Krauthammer said Obama has tried everything in his arsenal, including the largest Keynesian stimulus "since the earth cooled." He says if Obama wants to win another term he needs to "give the appearance of motion."

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JOE SCARBOROUGH: THE NEWT I KNOW

Yeah, yeah. I know. Newt Gingrich had a lousy week and will probably lose the Florida primary on Tuesday. But for those tempted to once again predict the speedy collapse of his campaign, consider yourselves forewarned. I've known this guy long enough to realize that the only three species destined to survive a nuclear holocaust will be cockroaches, Cher and Newton Leroy Gingrich.

 

I first met Gingrich 17 years ago at a Destin, Fla., fundraiser held in my honor a few weeks after Newt declared that I was too conservative to win the general election. But after I won the primary against the moderate woman he anointed, there he was in Florida looking supremely bored and a little put out that he was having to sit through another politician's speech.

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SARAH PALIN: CANNIBALS IN GOP ESTABLISHMENT EMPLOY TACTICS OF THE LEFT

"We have witnessed something very disturbing this week. The Republican establishment which fought Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and which continues to fight the grassroots Tea Party movement today has adopted the tactics of the left in using the media and the politics of personal destruction to attack an opponent.

 

 
"We will look back on this week and realize that something changed. I have given numerous interviews wherein I espoused the benefits of thorough vetting during aggressive contested primary elections, but this week's tactics aren't what I meant. Those who claim allegiance to Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment should stop and think about where we are today. Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater, the fathers of the modern conservative movement, would be ashamed of us in this primary. Let me make clear that I have no problem with the routine rough and tumble of a heated campaign.

"As I said at the first Tea Party convention two years ago, I am in favor of contested primaries and healthy, pointed debate. They help focus candidates and the electorate. I have fought in tough and heated contested primaries myself. But what we have seen in Florida this week is beyond the pale. It was unprecedented in GOP primaries. I've seen it before - heck, I lived it before - but not in a GOP primary race."

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ELLIOTT ABRAMS CAUGHT MISLEADING ON NEWT

As Ronald Reagan used to say: Well...

Yesterday we took note of former Reagan State Department official Elliott Abrams' piece over at NRO that went after Newt Gingrich on his relationship with Reagan. While voting regularly with Reagan as a young congressman from Georgia, Gingrich, claimed Abrams, "often spewed insulting rhetoric at Reagan, his top aides and his policies to defeat Communism." Abrams then goes on to cite " a famous floor statement Gingrich made on March 21, 1986."

 

Or sort of cites it.

In fact, I'm sorry to say, what appears to be going on here is that Elliott Abrams, a considerably admirable public servant and a very smart guy, has been swept up in the GOP Establishment's Romney frothings over the rise of Newt Gingrich in the Republican primaries. He is even being accused of trolling for a job in a Romney administration. No way!!!! Really????

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GINGRICH PROFESSES SHOCK AT ROMNEY'S 'DISHONEST' DEBATE PERFORMANCE

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich spent Friday struggling to fend off the perception that his presidential campaign has stalled after a flat debate performance on Thursday and fresh polling data showing his support slipping in Florida.

 

What Kind of Man

 

 

Gingrich began the day with new attacks against Mitt Romney, his top rival for the Republican nomination, launching an ad accusing Romney of distortions and deceptions "just to win an election."   

 

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CAIN BACKS GINGRICH'S PRESIDENTIAL BID

Former presidential hopeful Herman Cain threw his support behind Newt Gingrich Saturday night, providing the former House speaker with a late boost just days before Florida's primary.  

Herman Cain Endorses Newt Gingrich for President at Florida Event - 1/28/12

Cain, a tea party favorite, endorsed his fellow Georgian at a GOP fundraiser Saturday calling him "a patriot."

  

"Speaker Gingrich is not afraid of bold ideas," Cain said.

 

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SARAH PALIN URGES NEWT VOTE IN FLORIDA, SAYS GINGRICH WILL 'CLOBBER' OBAMA

Sarah Palin is urging Florida voters to vote for Newt Gingrich on Tuesday in their state's Republican primary.

"Vote for Newt," Palin told Jeanine Pirro, host of the Fox News weekend program "Justice with Jeanine." 

 

 

 

Palin made a passionate plea for Republican voters to reject Mitt Romney in Florida to keep the primary process going forward.

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GINGRICH VOWS LONG FIGHT AND GETS CAIN'S BACKING

Despite signs that he could lose the important Florida primary on Tuesday, Newt Gingrich, who picked up the endorsement of a former opponent, Herman Cain, pledged Saturday to stay in the nominating race until the very end, telling reporters he would press on until the Republican convention in Tampa in August.

 

 

 

"I will go all the way to the convention," Mr. Gingrich said after a rally at a golf course here. "I expect to win the nomination."

 

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 ROMNEY WAS 'INDEPENDENT,' NOT STRONG REPUBLICAN

  

As the Florida primary looms closer, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has more and more strongly identified himself as a consistent conservative and Republican voter, and in Thursday's GOP debate he implied he always has been.

But a review of the facts paints a different picture and counters Romney's assertions. In the past, Romney has often gone to considerable lengths to distance himself from Republicans and conservatives.

  

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NBC, BROKAW DENOUNCE ROMNEY AD

Via POLITICO's Reid Epstein, NBC News and Tom Brokaw are loudly objecting to the Mitt Romney campaign's use of footage from the 1990s in an ad blasting Newt Gingrich over his House ethics charges.  

History Lesson

Brokaw, whose statement noted he was speaking on his behalf, said, "I am extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in this political ad.  I do no want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign."

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ROMNEY'S DAD: 'YOU OUGHT TO LISTEN TO ALINSKY'

Mitt Romney's father, liberal Republican George Romney, met with and endorsed infamous progressive activist Saul Alinsky; meanwhile, in a defense of Mitt Romney against charges of racism, the National Black Chamber of Commerce points out the significant influence the elder Romney had on son Mitt and credits the Romneys for a long history of progressive activism. Emphasis mine.

  

 

Saul Alinsky (left) inspired Mitt Romney's father George (right)

 

No, Mitt Romney is not a racist. As I researched history, over the years I have come to find that the opposite is the case. The Romney Family has a legacy of pro-civil rights, progressive activism and an understanding of how poverty and inequality can hurt people.

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 HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGES PUT ON ROMNEY'S SHOULDERS

A pro-family activist says that while Mitt Romney was the Massachusetts governor, from 2004 through 2006 the contender for the GOP presidential nomination handed out more than 500 one-day certificates for individuals to perform homosexual marriage ceremonies.

 

 

  

Author and analyst Steve Baldwin says that the numbers are real, even though the records are scarce.

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ROMNEY WIDENS LEAD OVER GINGRICH IN FLORIDA: REUTERS/IPSOS POLL
 
White House hopeful Mitt Romney widened his lead over rival Newt Gingrich to 11 percentage points in Florida, according to Reuters/Ipsos online poll results on Saturday, up from 8 points a day earlier, as he cemented his front-runner status in the Republican nomination race.

 

 

  

With just three days remaining before Florida's Republican primary, Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, led Gingrich, a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, by 43 percent to 32 percent among likely voters in Florida's January 31 primary, the online poll said.  

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PAUL SAYS HE HAS NO INTENTION OF DROPPING OUT

Ron Paul said Saturday the Republican presidential race has "a ways to go" and he doesn't intend to get out or get behind another candidate anytime soon.

 

 

  

The Texas congressman was campaigning Saturday in Maine, which holds caucuses beginning Feb. 4. He spoke to an overflow crowd at the University of Southern Maine and held an outdoor rally outside the famed L.L. Bean store in Freeport. He picked up the endorsement of Linda Bean, the granddaughter of the Bean company founder and a prominent Republican activist in the state.

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