Posts tagged Texas
“ One influential Houston Republican explained to me that the country-club set “thinks Perry is a great guy, but as far as having the intelligence to lead the country, there’s just no way.” That’s why many other Republicans down here find Mitt Romney to be a better bet than another cowboy-booted, g-droppin’ governor. But given Perry’s reputation for vindictiveness, these Republican apostates are still most comfortable criticizing him from the shadows. As the same Houston power broker said of a recent Romney fund-raising event, “I had someone else pay for me to go, because I didn’t want people to know I was there.”
“ Son, it is very rude to ask a man where he is from. If he is from Texas, you will find out, and if he’s not, don’t embarrass him.”
“”In fact, Texas has long been stalked by megadroughts, events that can last 30, even 40 years. The story is told within the trunks of the bald cypress that line the creek and riverbeds of central Texas. Using the science of dendrochronology, researchers from Texas and Arkansas sampled nearly 300 trunk-core samples, creating a record of tree rings stretching back before Columbus landed in the Americas. One tree, still living, was but a sapling in 1426.
The record shows that in the 1700s and early 1800s, before American settlement and even extensive Spanish and Mexican settlement, several dry stretches were longer than the Drought of Record. The driest 10 years were 1716 through 1725, and the worst 20 years were 1697 through 1716. There have been numerous 30- and 40-year droughts. The worst gripped Texas and Mexico for nearly a half-century, from 1450 to 1489.
- As Texas Dries Out, Life Falters And Fades - Richard Parker, NY Times.
So, 49 year drought anyone?
Five Districs, No Representation?
From last weeks Austin Chronicle. As a resident of Austin I already thought that it was ridiculous that I could be represented by the same Congressman as my dad who lives in Tomball, TX a suburb of Houston 2 1/2 hours away from here.
Our state legislature has worked to ensure our counties’ and cities’ interests at the national level are not given the representation they deserve. We are the fourth largest city in the state. We may not be solidly Republican but this drive to ensure Republican super-majorities in this state at all levels is unfair.
I know that whatever party is in power will act to strengthen their position, but I can’t help but be upset when it effects me personally. This map will be in effect next year and then it will get kicked out by the courts because, somehow, there are more white majority districts in this map than the one we have now even though the percentage of whites in this state has dropped in the last decade.
Politically, this is short sighted. The minority voters of this state will soon be a solid majority and I don’t expect them to forget which party actively tried to keep them underrepresented.
Should this man run for president? Josh Harkinson breaks down Rick Perry’s chances.
Should he: A resounding NO.
Will he: Probably.
From the above article:
Perry has emerged as a tea party hero by practicing a form of small-government fundamentalism that makes Bush look like a moderate. Facing a $27 billion budget shortfall, Perry pushed to eviscerate funding for the state’s overburdened schools and social services instead of raising taxes or even tapping the state’s $9.4 billion Rainy Day Fund. He has redefined fiscal conservatism to mean not spending crisis money at a time of crisis.
I love when advertising meets sports trash talking.
It’s like watching a fight between the ugliest girl at the bar and the second ugliest girl at the bar about who’s prettier. Although, I do admit Houston > Dallas.
“ I think we are in a hell of a mess, and I am not sure of the path out of it.”
State Senator John Whitmire (D), vice chair of the Finance Committee.
Reassuring words.
On Representative Republics…
I’m glad that our growing state is making moves to cut our funding to state run programs, and that it is not making allowances for any growth our state might experience in the next two years. Because if we don’t allot the money for programs then people won’t come.
Our state legislature is short-sighted and single-minded. There is a very clear need for our state to generate additional revenue and this is a conversation that is not being had.
In the last two major state wide elections the difference in voting between major Republican & Democrat candidates was 12%. 43% of voters in this state voted for liberal candidates. The idea that our representatives are representing homogeneous constituencies is absurd.
Obviously as an elected official you have won, and it is your right to introduce legislation you want and to vote how you want, but you don’t only represent the people whose views are the same as your own.
What’s more is that thinking of government in terms of right and wrong is limiting. Yes, people will disagree on what is best for the state, but I expect my legislators to be willing to openly consider alternatives to their own views, and the makeup of their districts in their entirety before imposing their views on the entire state.
Considerable harm is being done to our state in the name of fiscal-conservatism. The consequences will not be readily apparent until the next few generations of Texans graduate from our schools, and when we are less educated and unable to compete on the international market. I wonder what solutions will be offered then.
Ok, done ranting.
In Texas, a Brave, New Lethal Injection
A drug so painful that veterinarians aren’t allowed to administer it to animals will soon be used to execute Cleve Foster
In order to minimize pain and suffering of animals being put to sleep, Texas has adopted detailed regulations. Only a licensed veterinarian may administer the drugs, the dosage is determined by the animal’s weight, and even the lighting in the room is regulated by law.
When it comes to carrying out executions of death-row inmates, however, the state does not take the same care. The Texas legislature has given the director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice the absolute power to decide on the drugs used and how they will be administered. The current director is a former corrections officer with no training in anesthesiology, pharmacology, or science.
“Death-row inmates appear to have fewer rights than domesticated animals,” concludes a study released on Sunday, “Regulating Death in the Lone Star State: Texas Law Protects Lizards from Needless Suffering, But Not Human Beings” (PDF). The 10-page report was written by the ACLU of Texas, the ACLU Capital Punishment Project, and the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University School of Law.
The study is part of a last-minute effort to block the execution of Cleve Foster, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection in Texas at midnight Tuesday. Foster, an army veteran who fought in Desert Storm, was convicted for the murder of a woman he and a friend had met in a bar. Foster has said he had passed out from a drug overdose and that the other man killed the woman.
In executing Foster, Texas will use a protocol of three drugs that it has not used before, and this is where the anti-death penalty activists come in. The first drug in the protocol, pentobarbital, is intended to anesthetize the condemned man (or the animal), so that he does not suffer when the next two drugs are administered. They are pancuronium bromide, a paralytic agent, which paralyzes lung muscles and disguises any outward signs of pain before the third drug, potassium chloride, which stops the heart, is injected.
Read more at The Atlantic
This is our state.
Also, I could see The Walls Unit, aka Death Row, from my freshman dorm. Huntsville wasn’t completely lacking for charm.
Raise Taxes, Are You Out Of Your Mind!?!
And in low-tax, low-spending Texas, the kids are not all right. The high school graduation rate, at just 61.3 percent, puts Texas 43rd out of 50 in state rankings. Nationally, the state ranks fifth in child poverty; it leads in the percentage of children without health insurance. And only 78 percent of Texas children are in excellent or very good health, significantly below the national average.
There is some serious cognitive dissonance in both the leaders and voters of our fine state. To further complicate this issue the people who decide what students in our state learn have opted for revisionist history and are no help to the future competitiveness of our graduates (if any one actually will).
Education is good for our state. This is something that we should fund. I would much rather overfund education than underfund. Governor Perry, raise my taxes!
