If the House Democratic majority passes Obama's health care proposals, one of two things will happen by Election Day, 2010 — and neither one will be healthy for the Democrats seeking re-election.

Either the Medicare cuts will take effect or they will be postponed by a terrified Congress.

If they take effect, physicians' fees will be slashed 21 percent and hospital reimbursements for Medicare patients will be cut by $1.3 billion. Tens of thousands of doctors and thousands of health care institutions — hospitals, hospices, outpatient clinics and such — will refuse to treat Medicare patients.

AUSTIN – Gov. Perry today announced the deployment of Texas Military Forces OH-58 Kiowa and UH-72 Lakota helicopters as part of the first phase of the state’s spillover violence contingency plan, which he activated on Tuesday. These aviation assets, which will help local law enforcement deter and detect crime along the border, will operate between Brownsville and El Paso, however the number and exact location will not be disclosed for operational security purposes.

“As we continue to increase our resources and personnel along the border to combat the threat of spillover violence, we are deploying multiple Texas Military Forces helicopters to the Texas-Mexico border to increase aerial surveillance,” Gov. Perry said. “These resources, along with Texas Department of Public Safety aviation assets, are vital to gathering information from a bird’s eye view and relaying important intelligence back to local, state and federal law enforcement on the ground to ensure the safety of our citizens.”

I like my hometown, but I must admit that New York has problems: high taxes, noise, traffic. Forbes magazine just ranked my city the 16th most miserable in America. Ouch! Of course, that makes me wonder: What's America's most miserable city?

Cleveland, says Forbes. People call it "the Mistake by the Lake. " Cleveland, once America's sixth-largest city, has been going downhill for decades.

Why do some cities thrive while others decay? One reason is that some politicians smother their cities with the unintended consequences of their grand visions, while others have the good sense to limit government power.

In a state that already taxes its citizens heavily, Cleveland's politicians drown businesses in taxes.

Consider the case of "Jihad Jane." Divorced twice (first marriage at 16), Colleen LaRose was arrested for drunkenness in Texas. She ended up living with a boyfriend in a Philadelphia suburb and taking care of his elderly father. Let's say that LaRose was not one of life's winners under conventional definitions.

But thanks to the Internet, LaRose could transform her drab self into an international woman of mystery: Jihad Jane. With her blond hair, blue eyes and American passport, LaRose became a very useful creature to radical Islamists. They told her to go kill a Swedish cartoonist, and she said OK.

And so who is Jihad Jane? Is she a real terrorist, or is she a disturbed woman who never played the cards of life very well — and perhaps not with a full deck?

Hers is the "changing face of terrorism," security experts tell us. With tight surveillance of travelers from the Mideast, terrorist groups are recruiting Americans and Europeans who are lonely and angry, and can blend in with their societies.

Last-Minute Tax Savings

If you're still working on your taxes and looking for some last minute deductions to reduce your tax bill, here are a few to consider - State taxes: If you paid state taxes for the year 2008 when you filed last year, you can deduct that amount from your Federal return.

Property tax: Until recently, only those taxpayers who itemize deductions (Schedule A) could deduct their property tax. Now, even if you take the standard deduction, you can deduct some or all of the property tax you paid in 2009. There's a limit, however. You can deduct the amount that is lower: the taxes you paid, or up to $500 for single or $1,000 for filing jointly.

How To Stop Washing Money Down the Drain

Consider for a moment how much money you spend to replace clothing, linens and bedding that are serviceable but hopelessly stained. Add up how much you spend at the dry cleaner each month. Shocked? This week's collection of reader-submitted tips just might help you keep a lot of money in your pocket.

COLOR CARE. When my colors get mixed up in the laundry and I accidentally dye a load because the color bled, I reverse it with Rit color remover, available wherever Rit dye is sold. It works every time, even on red! — Lou, Florida

DOWN COMFORT. I finally got my nerve up to wash my feather quilt in the washing machine. It turned out beautifully! I washed it in warm water on the gentle cycle. Then I fluffed it in the dryer with three tennis balls. The balls bounced around and kept the comforter from getting all bunched up. — Eve H., e-mail

An increasingly popular Web site poses a threat to Texas children by giving users – including dangerous sex offenders – an opportunity to conduct live video chats with randomly selected participants.

Armed with only a Web camera and Internet access, www.chatroulette.com users are paired with a random stranger for a video chat. Neither a login nor registration is required before young users can be face-to-face with a total stranger. Worse, users who simply click “next” are shuffled to a new video chat partner.

An undercover investigation by the Cyber Crimes Unit revealed startling results. Nearly half of the randomly selected users encountered by Cyber Crimes investigators immediately exposed themselves and conducted sexually explicit acts on camera.

In light of the serious threat that children will be exposed to graphic sexual conduct, Texas parents should prohibit their children from accessing www.chatroulette.com. Although site users are supposed to be at least 16 years old, the rule is not clearly enforced – which means parents’ preventative role is particularly important.

The Texas Department of Public Safety is urging all Texas Spring Breakers to avoid traveling to border cities in Mexico.

“There is an increase in Mexican drug cartel related violence in the northern Mexican border cities. Parents should not allow their children to visit these Mexican cities because their safety cannot be guaranteed,” said DPS director Steven C. McCraw.

The U.S. State Department web site lists several travel alerts related to violence in Mexico. Travelers should always check that web site for the most up-to-date information related to security issues in Mexico. (See http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_970.html).

"In an act of unabashed judicial activism, a state district judge ignored longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent and improperly granted John Edward Green's request that the court declare the death penalty unconstitutional. The Attorney General's Office has already offered to provide help and legal resources to the Harris County District Attorney's Office--which is handling the Green prosecution--and will take appropriate measures to defend Texas' capital punishment law. We regret that the court's legally baseless order unnecessarily delays justice and closure for the victim's family--including her two children, who witnessed their mother's brutal murder."

Originally a religious holiday to honor St. Patrick, who introduced Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century, St. Patrick’s Day has evolved into a celebration for all things Irish. The world’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade occurred on March 17, 1762, in New York City, featuring Irish soldiers serving in the English military. This parade became an annual event, with President Truman attending in 1948. Congress proclaimed March as Irish-American Heritage Month in 1995, and the President issues a proclamation each year.

AUSTIN – In light of increasing bloodshed in northern Mexico, including the deaths of individuals with U.S. consulate ties, Gov. Perry today called on the federal government to take immediate action to prevent spillover violence on U.S. soil.

“Over the weekend, more innocent people fell victim to the increasingly ruthless Mexican drug cartels, including the murder of a pregnant American woman and her American husband in Juarez,” Gov. Perry said. “How many Americans will have to die before our federal government takes serious action along the Texas-Mexico border? For years, they have failed in their vital duty to secure the border, resulting in escalating violence along the Texas-Mexico border. The federal government must immediately take steps to increase resources along the border to protect American lives.

Why did daylight saving time (DST) start, and why does it still continue? When asking a random sample of people we heard two answers again and again: "To help the farmers" or "Because of World War I ... or was it World War II?"In fact, farmers generally oppose daylight saving time. In Indiana, where part of the state observes DST and part does not, farmers have opposed a move to DST. Farmers, who must wake with the sun no matter what time their clock says, are greatly inconvenienced by having to change their schedule in order to sell their crops to people who observe daylight saving time.

Daylight saving time did indeed begin in the United States during World War I, primarily to save fuel by reducing the need to use artificial lighting. Although some states and communities observed daylight saving time between the wars, it was not observed nationally again until World War II.

If anyone was looking for a self-righteous extreme feminist, they found one in Angie Jackson. This is a woman who was so proud she was aborting her baby that she announced she would "tweet" her chemical-cocktail abortion live, as it happened, on Twitter. The liberal media found this made-for-TV slaughter fascinating, and not at all a controversy worthy of discussing with two sides.

Newsweek's Sarah Kliff proclaimed: "One hundred thousand people have watched Angie Jackson's abortion. Late last month, Jackson posted a video of herself to YouTube, recorded after she took RU-486, a medication used to end pregnancies." Kliff asked only "why shame remains" about the act of killing one's baby. Jackson was honored for her courage in "demystifying" and "destigmatizing" the procedure: "We need 10,000 more of her," proclaimed Peg Johnston, chair of something called the Abortion Care Network.

AUSTIN – Forbes has ranked Austin as the city best surviving the recession. Austin tied with Washington, DC for the number one slot. Four Texas cities made the top 10, including Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. Forbes looked at unemployment, rate of job growth and projections, home prices and cost of goods and services.

“This Forbes ranking highlights the relative economic strength of our state’s major metropolitan cities, which is good news not only for the people who live in Texas, but for those looking to move to a state with a strong economic future,” said Gov. Rick Perry. “Texas continues to be the best state in the nation to live, work and raise a family thanks to our low tax burden, predictable regulatory climate, skilled workforce and principled, disciplined spending.”

President Barack Obama's obsessive, opportunistic demonization of insurance companies in his quest to pass his not-yet-written health care proposal is growing tiresome. Aren't you getting sick of a president attacking American citizens and businesses as if they -- not Obama's beloved government -- were the enemy?

His repeated implication that insurance companies are the primary reason for rising health care costs is politically expedient, but it's still untrue. Government is the main culprit.

Throughout his yearlong push for Obamacare, he has called insurance companies every name in the book. He has blamed them for soaring costs, bludgeoned them for taking profits, condemned their executives' salaries and savaged them for denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.

He even says insurers are the final arbiters of who gets care and who doesn't: "And insurance companies freely ration health care based on who's sick and who's healthy, who can pay and who can't."

Fresh off his resounding Republican primary victory Tuesday, Texas Governor Rick Perry now finds himself in a close general election contest with Democratic nominee Bill White. Voters have mixed feelings, too, whether Perry's top GOP challenger, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, should remain in the Senate.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in Texas finds Perry leading White, the popular former mayor of Houston, by just six points, 49% to 43%. Three percent (3%) opt for some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided.

Late last month, Perry led White 47% to 41%, after leading by nine points earlier in February. Just after White first announced his candidacy in January, he trailed Perry 50% to 40%.