The many faces of Texas politics

In response to Attorney General Greg Abbott's recent email to constituents that he is fighting for open records...

We all know that AG Abbott has his sights set on running for Governor in 2014. His push for open records is somewhat amusing when we consider that last year Abbott tried to protect Governor Rick Perry from public scrutiny of his tax and spend records. When Perry decided to run for as a GOP Presidential candidate, that fight was mute because Federal Regulations required Perry to make that information public.

In addition, several years ago the Governor's Office tried to hide contract negotiations from the public with private toll road companies, e.g., Spanish concern CINTRA, which gave the state a reported $1 million perk for consideration as the toll road developer. Abbott then also tried to protect the state from opening those records. 

So, let the voters beware of where Abbott's true allegiances lie... to his special interests and not always to the Texans he is supposed to serve. Texans have had a Governor with a similar agenda for the past 10 years. Texans deserve better.

Now Governor Perry Wants to Freeze Higher Education Tuition

Rick Perry is a sham and an enemy of the people. There is no nicer way of saying it.

Several years ago Gov. Perry led the charge to deregulate higher education tuition. Immediately after Texas Legislators approved the bill and after uneducated [about the issue] and/or special interest driven voters voted for the deregulation in a public referendum, the University of Texas raised its tuition at least 6 times and other institutions followed suit.

Now, Perry wants Texans to believe that he really cares about the high tuition at colleges and universities when the damage is already done and most Texas families can't afford tuition costs. He wants to freeze the sky-rocketed costs, now that it's too late.

Perhaps Perry is practicing his various scams because he wants to take another shot at the Presidency in 2016.  After all, the South is trying to rise again via the questionable antics of the Tea Party crumpets.  If they want to return to the Constitution the way they keep saying then why does the GOP try to make amendments to it every few years?  "Tea" is too British sounding anyway.  Why don't they call themselves the Coffee Party like real Americans?

People really need to see Perry for what he is, a self-serving, patronizing and special interest supporting part time governor who now earns more than any other governor in the US. 

Send Perry scurrying off into real retirement. In 2014 Texans must vote in someone for governor who really cares about our community.

Higher taxes for medical school services?

In response to the 9/12 article in the Austin Statesman, "400 doctors say they support a tax increase for medical school services in Austin"

Great! I say, "then let the doctors pay a tax increase."

While no doubt a medical school in Austin would be a wonderful idea, Texans have been taxed enough.

The number of Texans at or near the poverty level has increased dramatically. The cost of living increases weekly. There is no end in sight for Texans facing rough economic times. More people than ever before can't find jobs and are applying for government assistance.

How can counties like Travis continue to raise taxes on what is left of the middle class?

Maybe the county should use some of the "surplus" from State sales taxes to help pay for the medical school services.

Taxpayers need a break from being overtaxed. After all, wasn't “No taxation without [true] representation” a major reason why our forefathers chose to annex from England and King George and why we fought the Revolutionary War?

Maybe it's time for us to practice more of Thoreau's Civil Disobedience against a misguided and overbearing government...

Governor Perry gets taxpayers to finance Italian vacation

Taxpayers are supposed to believe that Rick and Anita Perry are in Italy for one week only to promote the F1 race. Yes, we all know what a boon to the economy Formula 1 racetrack will be for Texas and wealthy entrepreneurs.

 

However, what a con job Perry is performing in front of hardworking and hardly-working Texans to milk more money from taxpayers so Perry and the missus get a free week-long Italian vacation.

 

Isn't it difficult enough to fathom that Texas governor Rick Perry is the highest paid PART TIME governor in the nation? Haven't taxpayers been ravaged enough by their frivolous and uncaring governor? 

 

When will Texans become fed up with the Governor’s ongoing costly shenanigans, see wealthy special interest driven Perry for what he is and then come out in droves to vote in a better candidate for governor?

Voter Photo ID Cards

Thinking people know better than to believe voter photo identification is needed to prevent voter fraud and with good reason. It’s not true.

There is a strong commitment particularly by ‘red’ states to push for voter photo identification. As minority populations, e.g., Hispanic, Black, etc., are significantly increasing in the south they are becoming the new majority and it will change the political structure and status for many years to come.  However, more than half of this population does not vote.

The political climate is changing slowly and the GOP is fearful of losing its tight hold on control.

Consequently, those currently in charge are going to do whatever possible to keep the larger and increasing minority populations [potential Democrats] from voting. Texas is one of the southern states that is trying to keep the political status quo. So, what better way to keep Hispanics, Blacks and other populations from voting than to create and push the platform to curb voter fraud by forcing voters to present voter photo identification cards.

The GOP has the most to lose since the minority-majority are NOT Republican nor potentially Republican voters. For now, “voter fraud” is the battle cry of the GOP in order to maintain its control.

However, if voter fraud was truly a significant platform, the GOP would do well to monitor more closely the integrity of voting machine and also the process of counting mail in votes.

So, the reality is that the GOP will continue to push for voter photo ID’s as a hope to maintain its power and control in an ever increasing minority population especially in the south cities.

While the ploy may work well in the short term, it is only a matter of time before the political status quo will change. Voter Photo ID cards are merely a postponement of inevitable political changes.

All that being said, if you want a photo ID system in place, fine, do it --- but don't make it an issue of Voter Fraud, because it is not.  And if you want to focus on Voter Fraud look at Voting Machine Integrity, the handling of mail-in votes and on those who are in charge of voting machines and the election process itself.

TxDOT is squawking again

In response to Ben Wear's Austin Statesman article "TxDOT says outsourcing highway maintenance could save millions, but previous pilot project fell flat"

 

We have learned during the past 10 years that what TxDOT has to say often means very little regarding the truth on various issues.

 

Mr. Wear makes some good points in the article, e.g., that TxDOT already has used private contractors to perform various highway and road building and maintenance. Unfortunately, more often than not, the work performed is not professional or quality oriented.