Power Company Politics in Texas...

 Little oversight of power companies is hurting customers, but it's an old story.


The battle re: regulation/deregulation of power companies has been going on for decades; meanwhile, consumers continue to pay top dollar for their energy needs and are powerless [pun intended] in fighting against them.

In addition, cooperatives, e.g., Pedernales Electric, march to the tune of other laws than do other companies. Furthermore, there are monopolies who control providing power in various areas, so customers don't even get to pick and choose their power companies.

There needs to be some intelligent regulation over power companies since they will not regulate themselves in a pro-customer manner. People should be able to select who their power source will be and how much they must pay for it.   Right now that ain't happening.

Since the battle remains stagnant, it's up to  Texans to demand legislators to deal rationally with energy companies by enacting laws that provide minimal yet intelligent oversight.

The Hoopla about the Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the same thing as “Obama-care” but a lot of people still don’t know that.  Polls show that people may like the ACA but don’t like Obamacare.  Go figure.

Systems speaking, there are always glitches and problems with new systems whether in the private sector or in government. As with most new systems, for the most part we have a parallel [health care] system running until the bugs are taken out of the new system.

I was not for the ACA, but I also recognize all the finger-pointing at the new system is yet another political avenue for those against it to rally together to create unnecessary attacks in the hope to somehow eliminate "Obamacare" but it will not happen that way.

The ACA is a major law that must now be continued and fixed along the way, until it is proven to be a bad law that does not help or work for the majority of people. When that happens it will be and should be removed from law by the very people it was supposed to help --- the voters.

Republicans and Democrats need to stop the in-house fighting for every issue under the sun. People need government to work for them and not for the benefits to elected and appointed officials and their special interests. That said, government needs to get out of regulating our daily lives. At the Federal, State and Local levels, government is dictating how we should live much more than it has in the past. It needs to stop.

Extremism at either end of the political and economic spectrums is what is destroying the America we once knew and loved. Once upon a time in America we used to work together, but that was then and this is now. There doesn't seem to be much hope that it will change soon.

Texas AG and candidate for Governor Greg Abbott pushes to transfer water

Republican Greg Abbott, who was the first to lay claim to the 2014 gubernatorial race in Texas, wants to transfer water from one place to another as the best and immediate plan to help ease water shortages throughout the state.

Firstly, why is it okay when Republicans want to propose government gets more involved in our daily lives?  When the Democrats do it, Republicans raise holy hell.

World's largest desalination plant in Saudi Arabia

Secondly, transferring water removes water from where it is needed.

Thirdly, this is no long-term solution.  It may not even be a short term solution.  If it doesn't rain, the problems grow.

Furthermore, if government wants to get involved, which it shouldn't, why aren't we developing rain water catching options along with water desalination plants to turn salt water into fresh water? 

Yes, it costs a lot of money currently, so reward private companies who invent cheaper ways of doing it.  These 2 methods would go a longer and better way towards solving our fresh water issues than simply transferring water from one area to another.


Gregg Abbott continues to show us that he is NOT the best solution for Texas when it comes to choosing a candidate for Governor and neither is his proposal sound that would transfer water from one area of Texas to another.  However, it is a grand plan for wealthy special interests to collect more profits without ensuring a long-term supply of water for Texans.

Texans often seem to settle in their choices for political candidates and it's time to make a more intelligent selection.  Unfortunately, so far there is only a handful of mediocre candidates for Texans to consider for Governor.   Hopefully, other more qualified candidates will emerge.

Texans, please vote 'No' on Proposition 6 in 2013 November election

VERY IMPORTANT VOTING NEWS:

At first the words in Proposition 6 may sound very appealing, but the words do NOT give you the real facts.

"Texans for Public Justice provided a very helpful analysis today of the big money backing Prop 6.  It is another scam by businesses who are trying to buy this election to control the purse for water projects.  The two largest contributors are Associated General Contractors ($375K) and Dow Chemical ($250K).  Do you think they care about affordability or ensuring independent farming doesn’t completely tank in Texas after they move groundwater or flood agricultural land for wasteful reservoirs?"

The helpful organization Independent Texans also is AGAINST Prop. 6 and you can read about what the group and founder Linda Curtis says here.

I just completed early voting and definitely voted against Prop 6 because it's just another special interest ploy that will hurt most Texans.  I recall the last time Rick Perry galloped around Texas pushing for various propositions.  One of them was to ensure that preventing frivolous lawsuits would surely cut down on our medical costs.  Well, look around you folks... have your medical bills and health care premiums gone down???

No, they continue to escalate even without "the dreaded" Obamacare takes effect.

So, please vote a resounding "No!" on Proposition 6...  Thank you.

US politics: The Political Dilemma

The anger in contemporary politics interferes with the well-being of our nation and the American people.

I am an old style Republican, the kind that believes you should be able to put aside politics and work for the good of the community at-large. While I don't agree with the current extremist liberals in charge, I also don't agree with the contemporary Republicans, a.k.a., Tea Partiers who believe their extremism is the way to function.

In short, there is too much extremism in government and in our daily lives and we need to move towards the middle, to work in the best interests of the community. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening any time soon for either party and I believe it is the 2-party system that has failed Americans; that and too much regulation and also extremist corporate zeal for profiteering above all else.

I remain hopeful that it will change, but it just seems to get worse. And people like you with your hatred towards one party just isn't helpful to anyone. I wish you would see that and use your anger as a tool to change things, to work together to form a middle ground of cooperation. - See more at: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/author-commentator-announces-gop-candidacy-for-gov/nbJj4/#sthash.sqhZOvrH.dpuf

I am an old style Republican, the kind that believes you should be able to put aside politics and work for the good of the community at-large. While I don't agree with the current extremist liberals in charge, I also don't agree with the contemporary Republicans, a.k.a., Tea Partiers who believe their extremism is the way to function.

In short, there is too much extremism in government and in our daily lives and we need to move towards the middle, to work in the best interests of the community. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening any time soon for either party and I believe it is the 2-party system that has failed Americans; that and too much regulation and also extremist corporate zeal for profiteering above all else.

I remain hopeful that it will change, but it just seems to get worse. And people like you with your hatred towards one party just isn't helpful to anyone. I wish you would see that and use your anger as a tool to change things, to work together to form a middle ground of cooperation. - See more at: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/author-commentator-announces-gop-candidacy-for-gov/nbJj4/#sthash.TXdqmz0r.dpuf

"Government Shutdown"

The "government shutdown" is a symptom of everything that is wrong with our Congress and government.

Both parties continue to fail Americans.  If you take sides in this absurdity you are part of the problem and not the resolution. Interesting to note that Congress still gets paid, while government employees may lose their jobs. I personally plan to vote in all new blood into the House and Senate, as a small statement that the old ways must go.  We need a new era of intelligent problem solving and not what currently serves Washington.  We need leaders to rise up and plan for the community good and not for their own special interests.  The democrats are wrong, the republicans are wrong and so is President Obama.

A few words on Ted Cruz...

In my opinion, Ted Cruz is the defacto hero of the Tea Party crumpets and NOT the true Republican conservatives who don’t like him, but have taken a backseat to the Tea Baggers.  Cruz does well with extremist voters, especially those in Texas and other red states who are extremist in their view of being conservative republicans.  Rand Paul is an extremist Libertarian, not a Republican.

I think the result of having Cruz and others like him trying to take over the party is that there is a huge split in the Republican Party that most likely will hurt it in 2016, unless the party as a whole can form a cohesive unit around one candidate for President who is not an extremist.

I don’t know if the party will be able to do that, but it will be interesting to watch what happens.  Currently, red states do not have the majority electoral or popular votes as may be seen from the last Presidential election results.  Lucky us!

For a guy who is a double Ivy League college graduate, Cruz seems to be a fairly erratic and stupid man.  Instead of fighting the real battles, he chooses to manipulate people into focusing on what he wants them to.  Some of his disturbed focal points are that:

• Obama bad, Cruz good
• Obama-care bad, but he provides no positive replacement for it
• Cruz wants to be at the top of the party, but he is impatient and doesn’t want to play nice and take the usual steps to get there
• Cruz is loud, antagonistic and aggressive in his style
• Cruz is an attorney who does not want to play by the rules, only his own set of rules
• He attracts unintelligent, self-involved and aggressive people, maybe even grandiose people like himself.

Ted Cruz is a detriment to the Republican Party and to American citizens.  I think the majority of people see that, but that doesn’t make Cruz any less dangerous to our way of life.   He will continue to be a thorn in the side of the Republican Party and in time he may burn himself out of contention.  

If extremism becomes more of the Republican Party instead of true conservatism that the party was originally built on, true conservatives may leave the party or the Tea Party may become a real separate party onto itself.

Government and People...

A quick word about the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a.k.a., Obama-care

The ACA was a rushed plan.  Many legislators could not / did not read the bill in entirety, but it was approved.  There were also some measures tacked onto the bill that had little or nothing to do with the actual bill.

There are more people unemployed, lacking health care than since the Great Depression.  There are more illegals in our nation than ever before.

People who do work can't afford health care because the costs have escalated so much re: premiums, co-pays and out of pocket expenses.  Even if you have health care you can't afford the out of pocket.

And since the health care industry will not deal with all these issues themselves, the government needed to step in.

I don't like the ACA, but I recognize the need for us to do better.  Health care is unaffordable for the majority.  That definitely says something.

It seems like the Republicans continue to bad mouth the ACA and are trying to panic the public with their "information" which is not factual and actually is mis-information.

However, if the majority of our nation does not have health care the rest of us are going to suffer for it.

Extreme Republicans need to stop being idiotic and trying to scare the people.  It's time for both parties to work together.   This hasn't been done in at least 2 decades and it's one of the reasons why Americans have fallen to new lows.

Working together used to be what we did best.   Now we just bickering and disrespect each other.   It's time to change that.

Part of me hopes that the Government does shut down this weekend.  Government may need a vacation so that the rest of us survive a little easier.

My advice to Congress:   Work together you morons!

These days we have to ask, "What is Obama doing right?"

Bush did!

and last, one of my favorites...

Kinda makes you wonder, right?