Time for another Texas vs. California roundup. First up: The man who moved from one to the other:
(Hat tip: Willisms, City Journal, others.)
Posts Tagged ‘Texas’
Texas vs. California Roundup: October 2, 2012
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012Team Gallego Lies About Rep. Canseco
Friday, September 28th, 2012As previously reported, the Texas 23rd Congressional District is one of the most closely watched races in the country. As such, it’s no surprise that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is rolling out attack ads against incumbent Republican Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco on behalf of Democratic challenger Pete Gallego.
And, much like the national Democratic attack ads, it’s filled with lies.
But don’t take my word for it. WOAI in San Antonio has done the heavy lifting in debunking team Gallego’s claims:
Dick Armey Aims to Unseat Speaker Joe Straus
Monday, September 24th, 2012Well, this is very interesting:
FreedomWorks, which helped insurgent Ted Cruz snatch the GOP nod for U.S. Senate from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, said Monday it will put its muscle behind toppling Texas House Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio from his leadership post.
Armey’s one sharp cookie, and he plays hardball. Conservatives came up short when they challenged the moderate Straus before last session, but the incoming Texas House looks to be more conservative, and a lot of Straus’s committee chairs lost in the primary. But Straus is no pushover, and I imagine he still sits on a big pile of legislative IOUs, as well as lobbyist juice and gambling money. Will a disgruntled David Dewhurst throw his still-considerably clout behind his counterpart in the House?
This promises to be a very interesting fight…
Update: Here’s the Freedomworks press release, where Brendan Steinhauser says they’re supporting State Rep. Bryan Hughes for Speaker.
Texas vs. California: First Day of Fall Edition
Friday, September 21st, 2012Time for another Texas vs. California round-up of how the Lone Star State is kicking the not-so-Golden State’s ass in just about every measure except signing NBA free-agents.
UT Evacuated Due to Bomb Threat
Friday, September 14th, 2012The University of Texas has evacuated campus due to a possibly Jihad-related bomb threat.
At 8:35 a.m. the university received a call from a male with a middle eastern accent claiming to have placed bombs all over campus. He said he was with Al Qaeda and these bombs would go off in 90 minutes.
Well, it’s two hours later and no boom. There’s a 99% chance this is an empty threat, since it’s always easier to pick up a phone than to actually make a bomb, as severald dead members of the weather underground can attest.
A similar threat was made at North Dakota State at Fargo.
Updated to add: bomb threat also made at Valparaiso University. UT still still under evacuation warning.
Updated to add 2: UT classes cancelled today and all events cancelled until 5 PM. Buildings can be re-entered as of noon.
Updated to add 3: Add Hiram College in Ohio to list of schools receiving bomb threats. Pretty obscure for Jihadests. Maybe just copycats.
Billionaire Wants Ft. Worth Taxpayers to Pay For His Hobbies
Wednesday, September 12th, 2012Ft. Worth has a $49 million budget deficit. So they’re doing the responsible thing that Texas governments do when faced with budget shortfalls: Cutting back on spending. (Maybe someone should tell California (or Europe) about this radical approach, since no one there seems to be able to cut a budget except at the edge of bankruptcy. And frequently not even then.)
The City of Fort Worth is looking to cut the arts program by 25% which would bring the Arts Council budget to just over $537,000.
Businessman Robert Bass and his wife have are against the budget cuts and argued for funding to be restored before the city council.
Robert Bass is a multi-billionaire. He could pay the amount cut out of his own pocket and it would literally be less than how much his personal wealth fluctuates on the ups and downs of the stock market on any given day. But instead of ponying up, Bass believes that Ft. Worth taxpayers should foot the bill.
You might think that a Texas oil billionaire would be a big Republican contributor. You’d be wrong. Beneficiaries of his contributions in this cycle have been Democrats like Dianne Feinstein, Ben Nelson, and Claire McCaskill. (And his wife Anne was equally generous to Democrats.)
Government exists to carry out those tasks that cannot be carried out by non-governmental organizations (defense, courts, etc.). Government should let individuals voluntarily fund the arts out of their own pockets rather than forcing taxpayers to pick up the bill. If Robert Bass wants art organizations in Ft. Worth to be funded, all he has to do is write a check, not demand taxpayers pay for his hobbies.
LinkSwarm for September 7, 2012
Friday, September 7th, 2012Still trying to get back in the swing of things, so here’s a LinkSwarm for a lazy Friday:
Across the paper’s many departments, though, so many share a kind of political and cultural progressivism — for lack of a better term — that this worldview virtually bleeds through the fabric of The Times.
As a result, developments like the Occupy movement and gay marriage seem almost to erupt in The Times, overloved and undermanaged, more like causes than news subjects.
Today’s Award for Most Delusion Democratic Optimism…
Thursday, September 6th, 2012…goes to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee for predicting that Texas will turn into a Democratic blue state “as early as 2014.”
Yeah, right.
Maybe you should, oh, I don’t know, elect a single statewide office-holder before asserting that Texas is turning blue…
Dewhurst Running for Re-Election Again in 2014
Thursday, August 30th, 2012David Dewhurst says he’s running for reelection as Lt. Governor in 2014. This puts him on collision course with Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who also announced he’s running for the office some ten minutes after Dewhurst conceded the Senate race.
Can Patterson take Dewhurst? Hard to say. The Senate race defeat proved he’s vulnerable when faced with the right candidate, but Dewhurst will start off with a considerable fundraising advantage, and big donors may be more fearful of backing Patterson knowing that Dewhurst will control the state legislative agenda for the next two years. But if Dewhurst makes the same mistakes he did in the Senate race, and the Tea Party backs Patterson as strongly as they did Cruz, then yes, Dewhurst could lose. But neither of those is a given.
What made Dewhurst decide to run again? Well, maybe Rick Perry saying he’s he’s likely to run for Governor again had something to do with it…
Ted Cruz’s RNC Speech
Wednesday, August 29th, 2012If you couldn’t catch Ted Cruz’s RNC Speech, here it is: