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Satan Calls Press Conference To Disassociate Self From Texas Democratic Party

Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, Texas: Today Satan, the Prince of Darkness and ruler of the infernal underworld, held a press conference on the Capitol steps to disassociate himself from the Texas Democratic Party.

“Last night, a bunch of pro-abortion supporters at the state capitol chanted ‘Hail Satan’,” said the Prince of Lies. “And, you know, all well and good. Any publicity is good publicity.”

“But I wanted to make one thing clear,” said the Angel of the Abyss. “In no way, shape or form am I, Hell, its many powers and principalities, or At His Satanic Majesty’s Request Industries Ltd., involved or associated with the Texas Democratic Party.”

“Sure, there’s a lot to like about the Texas Democratic Party,” said the Great Deceiver. “I’m totally down with the baby killing, I’m big on bankrupting future generations through deficit spending, I love breeding despair though intergenerational welfare dependency, and how could I oppose being soft on crime?”

“But, c’mon!” said the Son of the Morning Star. “I’m a man of wealth and taste! I’m hardly going to let myself be seen paling around with those pathetic clowns in the Texas Democratic Party!”

“If I were running the show, don’t you think I’d be able to get at least one Democrat elected statewide since 1994?” asked the Vile Tempter. “They used to own this state, but now these boobs couldn’t find their ass with both hands! I don’t want to be associated with that sort of incompetence.”

“If I’m going to come to Texas, I’m going to go to San Antonio to hang out with my heavy metal homies, because those dudes know how to party,” said The Great Serpent. “Plus I know a place that serves killer breakfast tacos.”

When asked if he was associated with the national Democratic Party, the Devil said “Wow, look at the time! I’ve got to wrap this up, I’m late for a beheading in the Sudan. But before I go, I just want to tell the reporters here that we’re always hiring good PR people for Hell, and we pay a lot better rates than MSNBC.”

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Posted in Texas | No Comments »

Texas vs. California Update for June 27, 2013

Thursday, June 27th, 2013

Time for another update of just how hard Texas is kicking California’s ass:

  • Chuck DeVore has the skinny on California’s recent “growth:”

    The BEA revised California’s real GDP growth downward from 2009 to 2011 in each of three years by a cumulative 2.6 percent, the third-largest negative revision in the nation.

    In other words, California’s economy shrank an additional 2.6 percent before it grew 3.5 percent.

    So, in the past five years California’s real GDP contracted 0.3 percent, one of ten states where economic activity was less in 2012 than it was in 2008.

    By contrast, the BEA revised Texas’ growth upward by 0.5 percent from 2009 to 2011.

    Texas’ newly revised real GDP growth from 2009 to 2012 was 13 percent.

    From 2009 to 2012, California’s share of the U.S. economy shrank from 13.1 percent to 12.9 percent while Texas’ portion of the American economy increased from 8.2 percent to 9 percent.

  • Walter Russell Mead joins in:

    What should be the Federer vs. Nadal of state-level competition has become a lopsided trouncing: Texas has humiliated its opponent in straight sets. The federal Bureau of Economic Analysis is out with its state-by-state economic growth numbers for 2012, and Texas is dancing the two-step all over California’s “recovery.”

  • “Texas and California provide real-world results from the so-called laboratory of democracy — the states. The results aren’t even close. Texas wins and has been winning for years. California, champion of the big government blue state model, is in a death spiral. Texas, champion of the small government red state model, continues to grow and lead the way.”
  • California Democrats lose their supermajority, so they have to get one last “screw you” tax hike in.
  • California’s legislature has the highest salary in the country. (By contrast, Texas legislators make $600 per month, plus a per diem that’s currently $139 for every day the Legislature is in session.)
  • The Nanny State wants to regulate nannies. “Yo dawg, I heard you liked nanny states, so I put the nanny state in charge of your nannies so the nanny state nannies can nanny nannies.”
  • Billionaire Texas Democrat seeks to reform California pensions. Might want to pop some popcorn for this one. (Arnold does indeed give primarily to Democrats, but recently he’s also made contributions to Ted Cruz ($2400 in 2011), Tom Coburn and the RNC, plus a relatively paltry $200 donation to John McCain in 2010.)
  • Remember: If you’re going to kill somebody, it’s far better to do it in California than Texas. “At the pace the state has executed inmates over the last 35 years – roughly one execution every three years – it would take the state about 2,000 years to clear its backlog.” Why is why rail-traveling serial killer Angel Maturino Resendiz was executed after 7 years in a Texas prison, but “Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez spent 23 years living at the expense of California taxpayers before dying of natural causes.
  • California city of Atwater avoids bankruptcy by the skin of its teeth. Naturally, public employee unions are saying that now is the time to get raises…
  • Speaking of unions, even they are having problems with ObamaCare.
  • United Farm Workers picket United Farm Workers. No, that’s not a typo.

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    Posted in Budget, Crime, ObamaCare, Texas, unions, Welfare State | No Comments »

    Supreme Court Voting Rights Act Decision Texas Fallout

    Wednesday, June 26th, 2013

    We’re already seeing some fallout from the Supreme Court’s Shelby County vs. Holder decision (the complete text of which is now online).

    According to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the Voter ID law will take effect immediately.

    “With today’s decision, the State’s voter ID law will take effect immediately. Redistricting maps passed by the Legislature may also take effect without approval from the federal government.”

    What remains unclear is whether the State of Texas can declare the 2011 redistricting maps valid without further court challenge. There’s currently a bill before Gov. Perry to confirm the 2012 interim maps as the official maps. However, that passed the Texas House and Senate before the Supreme Court ruling. Perry may well decide to veto the measure in order to go with the 2011 maps, which would be more favorable to Republicans.

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    Posted in Border Control, Elections, Supreme Court, Texas | No Comments »

    Supreme Court Limits Preclearance Provision of Voting Rights Act

    Tuesday, June 25th, 2013

    The Supreme Court today limited use of the “preclearence” requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

    Hopefully I’ll have more details when the actual text of the decision is up later today.

    I also wonder if Texas might re-institute the 2011 redistricting map, which was struck down by the San Antonio district court largely on the ground the Supreme Court just invalidated.

    SCOTUSblog has more.

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    Posted in Supreme Court, Texas | No Comments »

    LinkSwarm for June 18, 2013

    Tuesday, June 18th, 2013

    Too much going on, so here’s a LinkSwarm to start your day:

  • Why the IRS scandal is worse than the others.
  • Snowden: Obama made all NSA abuses worse. Well, making things worse is Obama’s magic touch…
  • The NSA confirms it can listen to domestic phone calls without a court order. Or so Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) said a few days ago, but now he’s trying to walk his statement back.
  • Even Al Gore is shocked at the NSA’s sweeping domestic surveillance. Hey Al: That’s just what happens when you have no controlling legal authority.
  • Don’t tell the liberals, but conservatives actually won the Arizona voting rights case.
  • Erdogan cracks down in Turkey. (Hat tip: Claire Berlinski’s Twitter feed.)
  • Q: What do Democrats call illegal aliens who have beaten women and children? A: Evidently future Democratic voters, since they refuse to amend the Gang of 8 illegal alien amnesty bill to exclude them.
  • A rundown on Texas gun laws signed into law from the most recent session. (Previously.)
  • Democratic Rep. John Larson (D–Con) whines that it’s so very, very unfair that ObamaCare applies to congress. Hold on, Rep. Larson. When I can get some time on a scanning-tunneling microscope, I’ll see if I can find an appropriately sized violin.
  • Maureen Dowd slams Obama some more: “When the man who polled where to take his summer vacation and whether to tell the truth about his affair with Monica Lewinsky tells you you’re a captive of polls, you’d better listen up.” Bonus: Description of the NSA program as “No Call Left Behind.”
  • A new crime control initiative in Houston: arm the law-abiding. More on the Armed Citizen Project here.
  • Second Amendment activists gather twice the necessary number for signatures to force a recall election for Colorado Senate President John Morse.
  • Animal Rights activists get Obama Administration to end testing on chimps. So much for liberals being part of the “science-based community.”
  • SooperMexican makes brutal fun of the SNAP Challenge. (If you’ve never heard of the SNAP challenge, it’s another variant on the “Any time conservatives cut a dime of government funding, 10 million children starve!” argument.)
  • Scientists invent a robotic cat. Evidently it has the “massive indifference to your presence” and “not coming when you call it” parts of a cat’s personality down pat…

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    Posted in Border Control, Foreign Policy, Guns, Jihad, Supreme Court, Texas | No Comments »

    Texas vs. California Update for 6/17/13

    Monday, June 17th, 2013

    Time for another Texas vs. California roundup!

  • California’s mullet budget: conservative in the front, but with a long greasy, tangled mane of liberal spending and debt in the back.
  • “Public pension costs are increasing simply because liabilities are growing faster than assets….To meet the rate at which pension liabilities were growing in 1999, Calpers needed the Dow to reach 30,000 by now.”
  • “California still has a mammoth long-term pension gap. If it used the same pension accounting standards as private companies must, its total debts would be a terrifying $1 trillion.”
  • What does the future look like in California? Well, take a look at Detroit, another one-party liberal Democrat fiefdom, where decades of chronic overspending and mismanagement are leading to a bankruptcy filing which will screw bond-holders and pensioners alike.
  • Speaking of bankrupt cities that can’t pay their bills, Stockton is paying out $5.1 million in settlements for retirees who are losing their health benefits due to the bankruptcy.
  • Some inside baseball news on maneuverings in the Stockton and San Bernardino bankruptcies.
  • Due the huge looming deficits, California’s public employee unions have had to accept wage cuts. Ha, just kidding! They’re getting raises.
  • California’s highest court rules that privacy rights don’t apply to you if public employee unions want your money.
  • Despite high electric rates, California is shuttering one of its nuclear power plants.
  • Thanks to California’s implementation of ObamaCare, Aetna is exiting the individual insurance market there.
  • Rick Perry travels to Connecticut to woo gun manufacturers to relocate to Texas.
  • Why NBA All-Star Dwight Howard might join the Houston Rockets: Texas’ lack of a state income tax.

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    Posted in Budget, Democrats, Texas, unions, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | No Comments »

    Texas vs. California Update for June 6, 2013

    Thursday, June 6th, 2013

    Yest another busy week, so here’s a very brief Texas vs. California update:

  • Why Houston is a job-creating juggernaut. And why California cities aren’t.
  • Texas now produces one-third of all U.S. crude oil.
  • Midland now has a higher per-capita income than silicon valley.

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    Posted in Economics, Texas | No Comments »

    Ted Cruz Sides with the Dissent in Maryland vs. King

    Tuesday, June 4th, 2013

    Ted Cruz sides with the dissent in the recently decided Maryland vs. King DNA gathering case:

    All of us should be alarmed by this significant step towards government as Big Brother. The excessive concentration of power in government is always inimical to liberty, and a national database of our DNA cannot be reconciled with the Fourth Amendment.

    Accumulating DNA from arrestees—without warrant or probable cause to seize the DNA—is not designed to solve the crime for which the person has (rightly or wrongly) been arrested. Rather, it’s to test the DNA against a national database to potentially implicate them in other unsolved crimes. But the Constitution requires particularized suspicion of a specific crime; indeed, the Fourth Amendment was adopted to prohibit the British practice of “general warrants” targeting individuals absent specific evidence of wrongdoing.

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    Posted in Crime, Supreme Court, Texas | No Comments »

    Texas vs. California: The Fate of Cities

    Thursday, May 30th, 2013

    There’s a lot to digest in this comparison of migration in California urban areas vs. migration in Texas urban areas. Quick take: Despite anti-sprawl laws, the cores of California cities would be emptying due to migration to the suburbs, were it not for net immigration from abroad. Texas cities, by contrast, are see growth in both the core and suburbs.

    California’s political economy is based on high tax rates; rent control and growth controls; inflated housing values, but relatively low property tax rates because of Proposition 13; mandatory inclusionary housing and more jobs for teachers, tax assessors, subsidized solar power technicians, urban planners and environmentalists. Its immigration policies are mostly the symbolic “Dream Act,” anti-deportation laws and “sanctuary cities.”

    Texas’ economy is based on low or no business and income taxes, no rent control, few growth controls, higher property tax rates based on lower housing values, inclusionary old inner cities by markets, and tax incentives for private sector jobs. Only El Paso and Houston have sanctuary city policies. An anti-sanctuary city bill died in the Texas legislature in 2011.

    California has passed anti-sprawl legislation to try to halt the out-migration from its older big cities. The results would have been miserable if international in-migration had not stemmed the outflow of population.

    Texas has accomplished balanced in-migration into its older city centers where California has failed. The Texas incentive model is performing better than the California disincentive model as far as sustaining the center of its older big cities while Texas suburbs are booming at the same time. Texas is accomplishing what 75 years of public housing and lending policies could not in California: an older city core that is attracting a “return to the city” by domestic and international migration and concurrent suburban growth.

    Read the whole thing.

    And while we’re on the subject, this piece on the dynamism of Houston is worth reading as well.

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    Posted in Economics, Texas | No Comments »

    Susan Combs Stepping Down as Texas State Comptroller

    Wednesday, May 29th, 2013

    Texas Comptroller Susan Combs won’t run for reelection in 2014. And that despite having a $7.3 million warchest.

    Naturally lots of Republicans are lining up to run for the spot, though many are probably waiting to see what Rick Perry and Greg Abbott are going to do before jumping in.

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    Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »

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