Blog 8

In their latest blog entry, Lone Star State: Then and Now references The Dream Act, which is legislation aimed at giving the children of illegal immigrants the chance at an education and an opportunity to gain citizenship through graduating or serving two years in the military.  Now while I agree that something must be done to improve the immigration process in this country, I think that rewarding breaking the law in any way is a dangerous step to take.  I think that first we must secure our borders and then come up with a process to make citizenship a reality.  I don't think it's fair to the people who have spent thousands and hired attorneys to move here legally to give another group legal status just because they've avoided detection.  My great-grandparents came from Europe in the early 20th Century, and they had to go through many challenges but they did it legally and assimilated in a timely manner.  We still hold many of our ancestors traditions dear, but we are Americans first.  I don't think that many of these "undocumented" Americans intend to assimilate or even stay in this country for an extended time.  Much of the money these migrant workers make goes back to their country of origin and not to our economy, not to mention they don't pay taxes.  The children of these illegals are unfortunately caught in the middle of the circumstances.  I wouldn't like to penalize them, but I would probably vote no for the measure until the border is secure and a more efficient immirgation process has been enacted.

The election is over...right?

The first Tuesday night in November was a smashing victory for Republicans statewide and nationwide. The GOP gained seats in all houses of government including governorships.  With that contest behind us, it is now time to conduct the peoples' business, or is it?  There is a strong challenge against presumed Speaker of the Texas House Joe Strauss, and it is coming from an unlikely source:  other Republicans.  The Republican legislator, who served under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, is taking to the Internet to bolster his chances at being selected Speaker.  He is being met with challenges from more conservative lawmakers who think he is not far enough to the right.  The opposition to Strauss also has a Facebook page and website designed to paint Strauss as too moderate and willing to compromise with Democrats.  Now while voters cannot select who will be Speaker, the 150 elected representatives can, and these Internet ads and pages are designed for constituents to lobby their reps to vote for their choice.  It really is a new day in politics when we are still campaigning after a general election.  Just make it stop already!

response to "Topics" blogs about mudslinging

In his blog on October 29, Aaron blogging under the title of Topics About Texas, brings up very good points about the elections on state and local levels and how the advertising and mail outs have gotten ridiculous. The author's main point is that the candidates and voters have been disrespected on some level. Now, I do agree that the mudslinging tactics are antiquated and are sometimes hurtful to the oppositions' character, but there doesn't seem to be away to deter most campaigns from doing so.  The other aspect is that it often works. The best example is the Willie Horton ad by the Bush campaign in 1988. His advisers were able to paint Michael Dukakis as a do-nothing liberal who was soft on crime.  Now while we didn't have anything that dramatic manifest itself this year, it is evident that attack ads are here to stay, and it's up to us as the informed electorate to sniff out the bs.

Thank God! No Bills.....

So I forgot to check my mail on Saturday(it happens) as I was too busy crying in my beer over the Longhorns loss.  Checking the mailbox on Monday after work, I expected to be faced with bills and Valpak coupons.  What I got instead both baffled me and angered me.  Not one, not two, not three, but four paid advertisements by a political candidate, the same political candidate.  Now this guy must think I have the world's shortest attention span or he has the biggest print ad budget in history.  The ads didn't work because I can't remember who he was, but I found myself thinking" do we really need four mailouts in 2 days for a county commissioner's election?"  My response to myself was: "welcome to Texas Politics".  I am a registered voter and consider myself fairly competent when it comes to the issues, but I don't need to see 10 political ads while I'm watching football on the weekend.  The most contentious race in my neck of the woods(Round Rock) is between incumbent Democrat Diana Maldonado and challenger Republican Larry Gonzales.  This race has gotten nasty with Gonzales calling Rep. Maldonado "no show" because of an apparently poor voting attendance rate since her election.  For her part, Diana M. has claimed Gonazles has been untruthful and has shortcomings of his own.  With that being said, can they please duke it out somewhere other than my mailbox and television?  Republicans are expected to do well nationwide, and that includes here in Texas where many of the Democrats that rode Obama's coattails to victory in 2008 will be out of a job come Wednesday next week.  Geez, maybe bills aren't that bad....

Who Will Be Governor in 2012?

Texans are about to go to the polls in November to vote for Governor.  Rick Perry has held the office since 2000 when George W. Bush won the presidency.  Phillip Martin of the Burnt Orange Report, along with others, has speculated that much like his predecessor, Perry will eventually seek the highest office in the land.  Martin recounts that Paula Burka of Texas Monthly was hot on the trail of a story involving the Texas Governor's real ambitions.  It's no secret that governors make up a significant number of past presidents, Barack Obama broke a string of them, but Martin delves further and cities sources that show that members of Perry's inner circle registered the domain rickperry2012.com as early as 2007.  It is not uncommon for a popular governor such as Perry to test the waters officially and unofficially.  Newt Gingrich was all but drafted into the 2008 Presidential Race, but bowed out to head up conservative leaning activist groups.  There was a major push to draft former VP and 2000 loser(winner) Al Gore into the race as well.  Word is he declined because he was working on the successor to the Internet(his invention).  Martin somehow believes that having Perry or anyone on his behalf inquire as to his possible future beyond Texas politics is a bad thing.  Believe me, if you can survive Texas politics, Washington is easy.  Democrats need to do a better job distinguishing themselves between Republicans in the future in this state, otherwise Rick Perry could be governor for awhile.  I just don't see how this is a good reason to elect Bill White(who is believe is a fine man and was a good mayor in Houston).

Change the Rules: Why Not?

On October 19th, the major newspapers in Texas along with KLRU-TV will sponsor the first gubernatorial debate of 2010.  The invites went out to front running incumbent Rick Perry, closest rival former mayor of Houston Bill White, Libertarian Kathie Glass and the Green Party's Deb Shafto.  Not everyone involved is happy with the ground rules that have been hammered out, especially the Austin American Statesman, who's editorial staff argue that the change from 10% threshold of people surveyed to 1% is a waste of time and accused the Perry camp of more stall tactics.  Now while it's true that Perry has been seen as ducking question and seemingly is scared to meet White face to face, the fact that other candidates will be present is not that big of a deal.  We the voters know who the election will come down to and a "progressive" paper like the Statesman usually backs the inclusion of minority parties.  Are we to believe that a third party with any chance of competing wouldn't get their full endorsement?  After all this is the paper that was in favor of the so called "Fairness Doctrine".  These other candidates have no other means to get their message out, they can't raise the funds that the two major parties can, and exposure during the debate, while not ultimately proving the decisive factor, will prevent these others from feeling like the sacrificial lambs that they truly are.  We should hear all points of view.  Isn't that what free speech is all about?

Texas Governor's Race: Too Close to Call

Well the Texas Governor's race is heating up, and it's football season. Time for hard hitting, eye gouging action on and off the field. The Houston Chronicle is all over the action as the new poll numbers show Bill White pulling within the margin of error for the first time since he announced his candidacy.  Both campaigns are dealing with accusations from the other side this week.  Rick Perry has demanded White release his personal income taxes after word came out that White claimed no income for 1995 and received over $24,000 in refunds.  White is charging that Perry's camp is afraid to debate him on substantive issues and continues the "duck and dodge" approach.  Whatever the case, both men are digging in for a brutal finish to the race, with enough hitting and scratching to make the Dallas Cowboys jealous.  Hey, maybe the loser could join the 'Boys as an offensive coordinator, he couldn't be worse than Jason Garrett.