R.G.’s Take: The Budget Session Nobody Enjoyed
As the 82nd Legislature hurtled this weekend toward a crash landing, freshman Republican Representative Lanham Lyne of Wichita Falls stepped up to the front microphone of the Texas House to deliver his first major legislative speech. Lyne was arguing on behalf of the budget, which cuts billions, yet he seemed ambivalent, and in his impassioned soliloquy he managed to sum up the challenges of this session. He argued that his voters didn’t understand what they were doing when they demanded state budget cuts, but since they elected him he was obliged to give them what they want.
This was, above all else, a budget session, and the legislators—both Democrats or Republicans—had bent themselves to the task without enthusiasm. They all knew that even though it would satisfy some voters in the short run, a budget containing massive cuts to state services was likely to make more constituents unhappy in the long run. The rumor was that the school finance plan that passed the House on Sunday by 84-63 already was unraveling with Republican members concerned about casting a vote that would hurt their district twice. Dewhurst gloomily predicted that a special session had the potential of lasting the full thirty days.
So it was with fascination Saturday evening that I watched Lyne plead for passage of the available revenue budget with a speech that sounded like he was against it. He frankly recounted his own ignorance as a candidate—and that of his voters too. He held aloft a copy of the Texas Fact Book, a statistically compendium of how far behind the rest of the nation Texas is in funding services and education
“Everywhere I went, the people said: Cut the budget, cut the budget, cut the budget. I’m not sure they knew Texas was not Washington, D.C., that we don’t spend money like Washington, D.C.,” said Lyne. “I did what the people sent me here to do from my district. But I guarantee you there are a lot of angry, unhappy people in my district because they didn’t want us to cut theirs, and they didn’t want us to raise taxes either. This is what the people who voted for the majority of the people here want to see, but I promise you they don’t know what gets spent in our Texas Legislature.”
Lyne admitted he himself did not understand the public school funding formulas that would come before the House the following day. “We have an education system that I flat out, I’ve looked at the funding deal, I’ve been through it at least a dozen times and I couldn’t tell anybody at home how we figure out how much money they get. And I guarantee you they can’t look and figure out how much money they get.”
I’ll enlighten him. Under Senate Bill 1811 that Lyne voted for on Sunday, here’s how much state money would be lost in some of the school districts he represents in the second year of the budget: Archer City, $492 percent student; Electra, $439; Jacksboro, $607; and Wichita Falls, $148. The statewide average cut to school districts will be $313 per student in the second year of the budget, which is when the big cuts kick in. (To see your school district, click here.)
When the Legislature faced a similar shortfall in 1987, the governor was tight-fisted, “Scrub the Budget” Bill Clements. He’d campaigned against taxes, but in the face of a severe economic downturn, he agreed to the largest tax increase in state history to protect public and higher education and state services to preserve the framework for Texas economic future. Perry, as a Democratic house member, voted for the tax increase back then. Clements died on Sunday. During the press conference after the bill signing on Sunday, in the Governor’s Reception Room, I asked Perry why Clements had been able to raise taxes back then to save state services, but now the emphasis was entirely on cutting. Noting that Democrats dominated the Legislature in 1987, Perry blamed party politics as the force that had dragged Clements into supporting an irresponsible tax hike.
“When you get to the root of it, political parties matter. The Republican Party in the state of Texas is a political party that says we are about efficient government; we’re about government that works,” Perry said. “What you’re seeing today is a reflection of these members of the Legislature expressing what happened on the Second of November 2010. They’re voting their constituents will, which was: ‘We want you to go to Austin; balance the budget; don’t raise our taxes and stay out of the rainy day fund.’ That was a pretty simple message and it was a pretty powerful message.”
But more than a few Republican House members have told me that they believe their voters misunderstood the difference between state government and federal government; or that hard-right, anti-spending groups had proven to have the vastly superior political messaging skills than anyone else. Ways and Means Chairman Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, said he had favored tapping the Rainy Day Fund to mitigate public education cuts, but the spin machine had made that impossible. “There are certain groups that are leaders here in Austin who were not part of the Tea Party, but they co-opted it and became the resource that sent them information and emails. They are framing the perception of the people who are the grassroots. They decided early to unfairly … they equated using the Rainy Day Fund with raising taxes. That influenced the governor. It influenced some of the members. The rainy day fund is already collected revenue. That’s not new taxes.”
Hilderbran said he hopes the economy improves so that legislators in 2013 can restore much of the funding that has been cut this year. House Public Education Chairman Rob Eissler (R-The Woodlands), told the House Sunday that SB 1811 and its funding formulas were a fair cut: “Public education in Texas is not going to die because of this plan.” But Senator Dan Patrick (R-Houston), told me that he believes the cuts to public education are permanent and erase much of the so-called structural deficit in the budget. “Say to school districts, we’re reducing the amount of dollars that you may have thought you were entitled to,” Patrick told me. “That is a true cut to government spending in the long term. This will save us $4 billion forever moving forward and begin to close the structural gap we have in education.”
While overall public education funding has dominated the debate, there was $18 billion cut from the budget. All the cuts may not be clear for months – in part because the Legislature renamed a lot of line items so they cannot be compared. Here are a few I could spot:
• The program that keeps about 27,000 pregnant teens and young mothers in school, appears to be gone.
• Meat and drug safety inspections were cut by about $4 million a year.
• Parks and Wildlife was cut by about $140 million.
• Community mental health services was cut by about almost $52 million. (My former colleague, Alan Bernstein who is director of public information for the Harris County sheriff, told me that many of those who lose services will end up in county jails at a treatment cost of $10-$15 a day compared to $1 a day in the community.)
In his 1859 inaugural speech as governor, Sam Houston urged the Texas Legislature to pass a budget that paid for transportation infrastructure and public education so education could be “disseminated throughout the whole community.” He also urged lawmakers to ignore calls for secession and distinguish “between the wild ravings of fanatics and that public sentiment which truly represents the masses of the people.” When they refused to follow his advice, Houston ended his political career in the name of doing the right thing for the good of the people. “I am ready to be ostracized,” Houston said. “Office has no charm for me, that it must be purchased at the sacrifice of my conscience and the loss of my self-respect.”
Lanham Lyne told his House colleagues Saturday that they need to educate the voters about the real impact of the state budget: “Pick up this book and look at it. Talk to your neighbors.” In the meantime, he was going to vote for the budget. “It is what the people of my district sent me here to do.”
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Tagged: budget, david dewhurst, rick perry
Anonymous says:
Proves the cliche….” Be careful what you wish for”……..
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Anonymous says:
Vastly superior political messaging skills or a vastly easier message to sell? “I’ve got mine. To hell with the rest of you.” plays better during a recession than “I will pay a little more in taxes (though still below national average) in order for a kid I will never meet to be healthy and educated.”
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 10:56 am
“To hell with the rest of you.” plays better during a recession than “I will pay a little more in taxes (though still below national average) in order for a kid from Mexico I will never meet to be healthy and educated.”
there fixed it for you.
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freddymac Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 7:22 pm
I will pay a little more in taxes in order to imprison thousands from Mexico.
I will pay a little more in taxes for free lunches for kids from Mexico.
I will pay a little more in taxes for Mexican kids to be born in our hospitals… on and on it goes.
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forgot one... Reply:
June 2nd, 2011 at 11:43 am
I will pay a little more in taxes (the same taxes that all immigrants pay) in order to pay less for fruits & vegetables, getting my house re-roofed or repainted, eating at a restaurant, highway & street maintenance… on and on it goes.
Governor Toolshed says:
Last November’s election was about not spending the Rainy Day Fund? Who does Perry think he’s kidding?
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Kenneth D. Franks Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 8:44 am
The Rainy day Fund is actually named the “Economic Stabilization Fund” and we need some economic stabilization right now. It was designed for a year like this when we need the money. It could save essential programs without raising taxes locally which will happen if we don’t use the fund. Would you rather use the fund or push costs which equals(higher local taxes)downward. It’s not a false choice. There are still unfunded mandates that will be pushed down if we don’t use more of the fund.
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Jen Reply:
June 5th, 2011 at 2:03 am
Hethinks everyone is as dumb as he is
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goober says:
There are some reasonably significant cuts in this budget, and it clearly uses fiscally questionable mechanisms to maintain spending well in excess of the “advertised” spending levels. When you adjust for the estimated $4.8B IOU for Medicaid and the $2B+ deferred for the Foundation School Program GR spending will increase over the next biennium, not decrease. Despite all the rhetoric over cutting public ed, it increase spending by 2 percent, just not enough to fully fund enrollment. Some smaller HHS programs are cut, but nobody is being thrown off CHIP or Medicaid as occurred in 2003. This is probably the best budget Democrats could hope for in terms of spending, it’s just not financed the way they wanted. Of course they made a huge strategic error in making it all about using the rainy day fund–they gave MQS an easy foil.
Conversely, this budget doesn’t cut deeply as many Republicans have claimed, but it probably won’t become the albatross Ds want it to be for Rs. There are plenty of ways for school districts to absorb the funding levels for 2012-2013–reserve funds, property tax increases, etc. Some kind of effort to reign in school district spending and growth is long overdue, but it won’t undermine education in any meaningful way.
The problem comes with the potential for the “grownup” leadership to be gone next session. I assume Ogden and Pitts are gone. If Duncan and Otto don’t take the chairs, or if Straus gets taken out by the far right, next session could be far worse. A soft landing next session will be difficult under the best leadership.
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Pat Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 1:14 am
Goober, a lot of school districts will likely increase property taxes to make up their funding shortfall. In a twist of irony, the vast majority of ISDs are likely to hit the statutory cap set in the 2005 Special…thus triggering another SCOTX ruling that school finance is unconstitutional. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
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what "rhetoric"? Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 2:44 pm
Goober, please tell us where you saw the 2% increase for public education? The most I can find in the “official” description is 0.2%, and that includes the deferred payment — but not the assumption that local property taxes go up by $800 million (reducing state aid by the same amount). Any more money the schools might get will be local or federal, not state.
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goober Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 4:13 pm
GR funding increased 9 percent according to LBB summary.
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sorry, try again Reply:
June 2nd, 2011 at 10:54 am
You’re looking at the wrong LBB summary info. Look at Table 7. The feds bailed our schools out last time. Factor in the $3.6 billion in federal money used as GR last time, and there is no GR increase either.
sorry, try again Reply:
June 2nd, 2011 at 11:00 am
http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/Bill_82/4_Conference/Summary%20of%20Conference%20Committee%20Report%20on%20House%20Bill%201.pdf p 12
Brazos County Egomaniac says:
Ogden is secretly furious that Perry is the one being courted to be President (can’t people tell that he’s the smart one?)… however, he will kowtow to Perry if it means he can be appointed Ambassador to some oil-rich country, or Secretary of the Navy.
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Jen Reply:
June 5th, 2011 at 2:08 am
If those outside of Texas thought Bush was an idio ( he isn’t) they will be absolutely floored by perry!
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longleaf says:
Why would a SCOTX rule like that? Wouldn’t that make them the odious “activist judges”? GOPers know better than to “legislate from the bench.” Maybe if it were a hot-button social issue, you might have a chance. School finance is not one of those issues.
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Pat Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Longleaf, what reality do you live in? An all-Republican SCOTX struck down school finance in 2005, triggering the 2006 Special Session that gave birth to the poorly-structured business tax and and current school funding formulas. Keep in mind that “judicial activism” is code for “judicial decisions that conservatives don’t like.” The nature of common law is that judges have wide latitude to make law. The alternative is a system like France, where its a felony for judges to set precedent.
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Tellnitlikeitis Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Longleaf…
The court had no choice but to affirm the trial court’s ruling that so many school districts had reached the $1.50 cap on M&O spending that it had become a de facto statewide property tax.
The state Constitution prohibits a statewide property tax.
The new M&O cap is $1.17. Hundreds of school districts have already reached that cap.
Meanwhile, school equity has grown enormously – a point Sen. Deuell made two weeks ago.
And cutting public ed $4 billion at a time standards are increasing will put “adequacy” back into the litigation mix.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
“he was going to vote for the budget. “It is what the people of my district sent me here to do.”
How refreshing, remembering when democrats were telling the voters they were going to vote for the Obama agenda even though voters didn’t want them to.
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Anonymous Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 8:50 am
Kinda like the Congress voting for the Ryan budget that ends medicare as we know it. I don’t think the voters sent them up to turn medicare into a voucher program.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 12:16 pm
I hope they end medicareas we know it. It was a LBJ boondoggle that has cost the taxpayer billions due to waste and fraud. Why would anyone be against ending waste and fraud?
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Anonymous Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Waste and fraud. Kind of like massive voter fraud. Do you ever step out of your fact free paranoid rethuglican world?
Anonymous Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 2:47 pm
So I assume that means your all for getting rid of another well known department that has wasted hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars. The misnamed defense department. You must also be against shrubbies excellent adventure in Iraq and Afghanistan which wasted 2 TRILLION of our money. Lets have some consistency jbb and show the world you aren’t a knee-jerk, no-nothing rethuglican ideologue.
JohnBernardBooks Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 3:56 pm
“The misnamed defense department.”
Why are democrats always against defending America?
Anonymous Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 9:09 pm
Why do wingnuts never answer direct questions?
Jed Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 11:43 am
i don’t recall anything on the ballot last time we voted asking us to indicate “what you are sending them there to do.”
in the absence of district-level exit-polling (at a minimum), that sort of talk is nothing but self-serving and ass-covering.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 3:58 pm
@Jed
thats because on the democrat ballot they print vote for the guy who’ll most likely bring home the pork.
On the republican ballot it plainly says vote for the guy mostly likely to represent you.
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Jed Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 8:08 pm
when you reach 18y.o. you’ll discover that in november we all vote on the same ballot.
Anonymous Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 9:08 pm
He’ll be so full of cheesy-poofs by then he won’t be able to get out of mom’s basement.
Cow Droppings Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 9:11 pm
According to the non-partisan CBO, there is $75 billion in Medicare fraud each year.
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Julie says:
longleaf,
When school districts hit their maximum tax rate, that constitutes an unconstitutional system of funding education, according to the Texas Supreme Court.
The court says school districts are without meaningful discretion to generate additional revenue when they reach their maximum rates. That situation, the court says, makes the system of funding educational illegal.
So when you read that most school districts have reached their maximum tax rate, know this: the Supreme Court will order the Legislature to come up with a new system of funding schools.
That likely will happen within five years.
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Pat Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 12:56 pm
Wrong. It’ll happen within the next two years.
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longleaf Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 1:27 pm
It’s fairly easy to change the Texas Constitution. It’s been done hundreds of times. This will be no more difficult than the one that de facto did away with the right to sue doctors and hopsitals in 2003. We’ll get Bill Gates down here to fund the campaign with his foundation money.
“How many times has the 1876 Texas Constitution been amended?
Answer:
“The Texas Constitution is one of the longest in the nation and is still growing. As of 2007 (80th Legislature), the Texas Legislature has passed a total of 632 amendments. Of these, 456 have been adopted and 176 have been defeated by Texas voters. Thus, the Texas Constitution has been amended 456 times since its adoption in 1876.”
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_times_has_the_1876_Texas_Constitution_been_amended#ixzz1NxK9t8dT
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Ike's lawyer Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 6:38 pm
Most of those amendments were very narrowly drawn.
For example, giving disabled veterans a property tax break might violate the constitutional principle that taxation be equal and uniform. So to make sure there’s not a constitutional problem, the legislature will propose to the voters a narrow amendment to allow the tax break. The voters will generally approve such a narrowly drawn amendment for a clear and worthy purpose.
The voters will also generally approve narrowly drawn housekeeping amendments like an amendment to abolish the office of county treasurer in a particular county.
Many of those 456 amendments were similarly narrow and not particularly controversial. Those sorts of amendments are pretty easy because the politics of the matter is easy.
But if you start tinkering in a broad way with a constitutional provision such as the prohibition on a statewide property tax or “the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools”, you’re going to draw a lot of attention and a lot of opposition. It will be difficult to do because the politics is difficult and also because making the changes work as a practical matter will be difficult.
That 2003 amendment you referenced about suing doctors and hospitals barely passed as I recall, even though there was a well-financed campaign to support it and the state’s conservative leadership supported it and Texas is a pretty conservative state. It’s not so easy to get the voters to pass a constitutional amendment that has significant consequences and might affect a lot of people.
Fiftycal Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 1:22 pm
Gee, my tax bill from the Austin “independent” school district is listed as $1.227. Sounds like they already exceed the “cap”. And of course, they want MORE, MUCH MORE! And the legislators seem to be saying “STUPID VOTERS! It’s all their fault. We should be spending every penny we have now. The future will be rosy and obammanomics will return us to the land of milk and honey.”
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Tellnitlikeitis Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 10:06 pm
50cal..
why do you so freely and frequently expose your wide knowledge gap?
There is a huge difference between the school district’s M&O tax rate and the rate needed to pay off bond debt?
The M&O tax rate is capped at $1.17….the rate to pay down debt is determined by whatever bond issues that voters approve.
Your $1.227 rate represents the combined rates from M&O ….and the sinking fund/debt
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Rog says:
Not a pretty picture when the state of Texas is near the bottom in education funding and all the voters can do is demand more cuts. Uninformed voters and tough economic times created a real crisis, and we’ll all be paying for it for a long time.
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Anonymous Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 10:56 pm
Yes because we all know that places like Washington D.C. that lead the nation in per pupil spending achieve the nation’s best educational outcomes. . . not. See, this is all the Dems got– you have to let us raise your taxes so Texas can pour more money into schools– which additonal vast sums will have zero or negligible effect on educational outcomes but, hey, we feel good about ourselves because we raised your taxes and socked to it “the rich”!!!!!
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Kenneth D. Franks says:
That has already happened once. Our economy will get better and better if we spend more for schools and not less. It’s pay now for schools or later for prisons and we have enough prisons and prisoners already. Compare what it costs to educate a child with what it costs to lock up an adult and education is the biggest bargain in the budget.
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Anonymous Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 10:58 am
Facts are stupid things. Ronald Reagan. Patron saint of mouth-breathing droolers.
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anon-p says:
Ah, yes. The “factbook.”
Does it mention that Iowa, at 7th in the nation in high school attainment as of 2009, spends roughly the same per student than Texas does, at 51st?
Facts are messy.
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Kenneth D. Franks Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 10:17 am
If we didn’t spend so much money and time teaching students to pass a test we could teach them actual skills necessary to make it in the real world.
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respectful dissent Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 11:42 am
Here’s an example from Alpine of the decisions school districts are facing this year.
http://www.alpineavalanche.com/front/article_e7630782-879e-11e0-8729-001cc4c03286.html
Granted, this is a snapshot of one school district. If you read into the article the portion addressing setting the school calendar might answer some questions about where time and money matter in a district’s planning process.
“AMS Principal Panchi Scown presented the 2011-12 calendar, which includes 45 days of testing, up from 25 days.
Earlier this year, Cervantes joined many other school administrators in protesting the extra days of testing, but the Texas Education Agency decided to proceed with implementing the new STAAR tests. Cervantes told the AISD board in January that actual days of teaching in a school year would be only 100; the state allots 178 days for students to be in school.”
For those of you who want to blame the schools, the teachers, the parents and the students, you may want to ask yourself where the mandates for the tests come from? Oh, that’s right: the state of Texas. Before the naysayers march in and start pointing to NCLB, you’d better ask where that bright idea came from. That’s right: the state of Texas via GWB.
And not for nothing, what’s up with signing an anti bullying school law then within days issuing threats against legislators for forcing a special session over school finance? Ironic, isn’t it?
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Jed Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 11:45 am
cherry-picked data points are messy, anon-p.
trends are meaningful.
look at that book again. if you don’t detect any trends, then you deserve your education $$ back.
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Tellnitlikeitis Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Anon-p
You are way off.
Iowa is mostly middle income white.
Texas has 2.5 million students who come from low income families. They are more expensive to educate….especially when thy come to school with less developed vocabularies, etc. 59 percent of Texas’s school enrollment comes from low income families.
Next year, it will be 60 percent
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Dan, TX Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 6:58 pm
So Iowa spends the same and has better outcomes than Texas. That means 1) their schools are better OR 2) Texans are just plain stupid compared to Iowans. I think the second explanation is more likely. Facts are sometimes messy and uncomfortable.
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Anonymous Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 10:57 pm
or that Washington, D.C, which spends the most, is the nation’s worst in educational outcomes?
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Ausowl says:
When the last time you were in Iowa? I was up there last weekend for my nephew’s graduation from Grinnell. HISD or DISD’s student population wasn’t much in evidence as we traveled across the state.
Facts huh?
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anon-p Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 9:44 am
Ausowl> When the last time you were in Iowa? … HISD or DISD’s student population wasn’t much in evidence as we traveled across the state.
So… You’re saying that population characteristics make equivalent comparisons between states dubious?
No way!
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el_longhorn Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 12:13 pm
No, I think what he is trying to say is that everything is more expensive in the big city. You want to compare education costs and results, compare apples to apples. Look at Texas versus California, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, New York. You know…big urban states where people actually live.
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anon-p Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 2:48 pm
el_longhorn> You want to compare education costs and results, compare apples to apples.
Please sir – I’m just a foil. Direct your admonishment toward our legislators using the “Texas Fact Book”, which is rife with these comparisons of Texas to small states.
GovDude says:
Waiting on Burka to put out Best-Worst-Furniture list.
Bohac and Caraway have to be furniture.
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Anonymous says:
This misunderstanding will be reflected at the voting box. Most everyone sends their children to public school. When that child is thrown in with the rest and can’t spell or add, bubba will start voting D (he won’t tell anyone for a while because he doesn’t want to be accused of loving Obama, but he knows the R’s are for the wealthy and he ain’t rich).
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jpt51 says:
Perry, Patrick, Dick Armey, Michael Sullivan, the TPPF and others are all owned by and beholden to the Kotch Brothers and many other powerful wealthy Texans that want to make sure they don’t have to pay their fair share to live in this great state. In the middle of laying off 100,000 teachers, Red McCombs is blatant enough to show his influence by paying $80K for Perry’s BBQ at the inauguration and get the Lege to give him $25 million in tax money for an ill-conceived Formula 1 racetrack. Until we change the law and return to public financing of elections there little hope we will continue to be a democracy.
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Cow Droppings Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 9:15 pm
Who the hell are the Kotch Brothers?
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MonkeyMan says:
I’m getting a kick out of this argument that Wendy Davis or the Democrats are responsible for the Special.
Let’s be honest — the Republican leadership, even with the largest majorities in recent history, was unable to get comfortable with doing the deed — they talked the talk, boasting of cutting government, no new taxes or RDF draw, but when it came to actually punching the button that screwed their local school districts, they couldn’t muster courage until the waning hours of the session.
The other thing they did was play hardball with the minority party. When you play hardball, you can’t be so foolish as to leave yourself exposed. They treated the D’s like crap, gave them no stake in the outcome. Then, on the last day, when they needed some D’s to help them close the deal, they came back begging. Why would any of these folks, treated like crap, come back to help them? The lesson here is that there are 181 members, and they all deserve respect.
The buck stops with the Republican leadership. Their lack of leadership gets us a Special, to rehash the issues they weren’t adult enough to address in Round 1.
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Pat Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 12:59 pm
Wait – the House and Senate have leadership?
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Another Wilco Voter Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 1:27 pm
MonkeyMan says “The buck stops with the Republican leadership. Their lack of leadership gets us a Special, to rehash the issues they weren’t adult enough to address in Round 1.”
Hate to disappoint you but they aren’t adult enough to address the issues in a Special either. Most of the special will be devoted to name-calling and recriminations on why the “Regular” allegedly failed. I’m not generally a conspiracy theorist but I think there is a good chance that the way the regular ended was planned to a certain degree by Perry, Carney & Co. Great set-up for a prez run if one is going to throw red-meat to the base, a talent Perry has in spades. Can’t govern but is a hell of a campaigner. Frankly, I’d love to see Perry in Washington. He’d do less damage in Texas.
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Jed Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 1:57 pm
this is precisely what i thought about governor bush.
man, was i wrong.
Anonymous Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 5:35 pm
My best scenario is that he runs, but gets worked over hard by a national press turned off by his arrogance and who are willing to dig deep into his financial arrangements, his shady relationship with TEF, his revolving door of staff/lobbyists, his pay-to-play connection to policy and appointments, on and on. I hope he gets so bruised and battered that he limps home with no political capital, he and Anita retire to Paint Rock or whereever to spend the rest of their days enjoying his state retirement while trying to avoid indictment.
Kenneth D. Franks Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 1:36 pm
They have leadership positions. Since my state representative wanted to overthrow Strauss I decided that he must have some good qualities. Dewhurst and Perry are bored with just ruining the state and were already looking to their future doing for the country what they have done for Texas.
They were looking ahead instead of working on what Texas needs now. Remember when your high school coach told you to concentrate on this game and not the next one. Now they have to replay the same one. They have the advantages of the majority vote. I just wonder if they will overreach to the point that there is a backlash against Republicans. There are opportunities and risks for Republicans and Democrats in this special session.
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Another Wilco Voter Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 3:24 pm
@Jed, I considered that also before I commented as I did. Carney is no Rove and no matter who Perry might pick as a VEEP, they couldn’t be as evil as Dick Cheney.
Reminder Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 10:47 pm
Did you watch the wheels come off late Sunday night? If you did, how can you shape your mouth to say such a thing?!?
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JohnBernardBooks says:
admit it you knew Straus was the man after all 49 democrats voted lock step for him.
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Anonymous says:
Just out of curiousity, I pulled up the congressional map released today.
My own neighborhood is split — actually split voting precincts. I’m about as central as you can get in Austin, and under the Seliger map, I’ll be represented by Lamar Smith. But two blocks behind me, a little finger of Doggett’s district comes into my neighborhood, less than one block wide. Why, you might ask. Because Sen. Watson lives right on the corner where the finger ends.
That’s right — as icing on the cake, they manipulate the district to negate any opportunity for Watson to make a move, unless he wants to run his friend Doggett or move his family from his long-time home.
This is just punitive, using government to settle scores and furthering personal agendas. It is an abuse of the public trust.
Is there any integrity left?
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Anonymous Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 9:12 pm
Is this a trick question? When have wingnuts EVER had any integrity??? Oh wait, they did have some but I think LBJ stole it from them.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 5:48 am
Democrats believe integrity is in the eye of the beholder. In ’48 LBJ broke a “democrat” rule. Apparently democrats are allowed to give precinct chairs money to “deliver” the vote until the polls closed. LBJ’s man brought in 202 votes 3 days after the polls closed, 200 for LBJ and 2 for Stevenson, making LBJ the “winner”.
How’s that for democrat integrity?
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Another Wilco Voter Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 4:39 pm
So what it boils down to for you is that you’re still pissed about something that may or may not have happened more than 60 years ago? Sorry, dude, but nobody cares about that but you and certainly not the majority minority voters that will be heading to the polls in the next decade.
JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 5:13 pm
of course no one from Travis Cty cares, you’re all liberals.
Pat Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 11:35 pm
1948 was 63 years ago. There were people born after the election that are collecting Social Security today. The parties were even reversed: Texas Republicans were a small, liberal urban party dominated by exorbitantly wealthy businessmen and oil interests. The other 75% of Texans were Democrats.
Bottom line: time to let go.
Cow Droppings says:
A lot of bitter, whining liberals on this blog today. What’s the matter, Obama hasn’t delivered that job or free mortgage he promised?
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anita Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 4:11 am
I’d be very interested in your argument (or any argument, for that matter), that the plan presented is not an abuse of the public trust.
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Mae's Spirit says:
Cow Droppings, you know what? You are…
In the Congressional map, my suburban development is chopped in half, not to mention my small, 60k city (yep, Travis County). So much for the Voting Rights Act and “community of interest.” Oh, but CD and JBB, those things don’t matter to you brainiacs, does it? The Supreme Court and the law of the land doesn’t matter much to you Einsteins (as my Daddy would say), does it? You just want to hate and mouth off. Like those 40 new State Reps. There’s a bunch of effective leaders.
That’s fine. Your preogative. Just remember all this when the Courts (with Shrub appointees)and 2012 happens. Hehe. Who will you blame then? The planets and a bad alignment? Democrats? How is that??
And JBB, you just show your innocence (or some other word that starts with I), since Democrats are famous for not “lock stepping” anywhere. But then your one year in politics (that much?) wouldn’t have taught you that, would it?
You can’t fix stupid. And you can’t cure (or teach) wannabes.
Hide and watch.
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Gusmutschersghost Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 11:04 pm
I remember the D’s ’91 congressional map, which created a Panhandle to Denton district that split six municipalities including three very small towns all to reelect a D incumbent ( a very inept one, actually). The same map split Midland into three Congressional districts (and now all the whining about a county about 12 times the size of Midland being split?). Communities of interest, indeed.
There was not much of an outcry of unfairness in 1991. The only thing anyone heard was, “that is the way it is, majority party makes the rules.”
One thing you might keep your spirits high–the maps completely backfired on the Ds in November of ’94. I suppose certain conditions could cause the same thing to happen to the Rs in the years to come, with these maps.
In the meantime, I assume you will pardon me, if I ignore your faux righteous indignation.
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anita Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 4:07 am
Interesting response to a comment about integrity — that some have not displayed it in the past, so it is not deserved today. Bizarre reasoning.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 5:50 am
I agree you can’t fix stupid. As democrats continue pushing their losing taxNspend message on the stupid will vote for it.
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Fiftycal Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 5:25 pm
Awwwwwww. PO’ librul. You can still vote for a Representative so you havn’t been “disenfranchised”. Of course with VOTER ID, there will be a LOT fewer dimorat votes next election.
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Matt Bramanti says:
What does “$492 percent student” mean?
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fromafar Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 3:49 pm
His word processor filled per to percent and he forgot to put a space after per to cancel the cent.
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obviousman says:
Goober, GR funding increased for public education because the 2009 Legislature chose to use billions in one-time ARRA federal funds to supplant GR. This created a hole this session that had to be filled with GR (or leveraged with more one-time accounting tricks).
Please don’t use Washington DC style distortion tactics.
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goober Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 4:27 pm
Overall funding for the foundation school program increased and the general revenue support increased by 9 percent. Those are facts. It’s true that some of the increased funding was replacement for one time stimulus monies. My point is that every other program is being asked to operate more efficiently, and most are being cut in real terms. Overall public ed funding has grown much faster than enrollment or inflation and more than both combined. School districts are not efficiently run, so it seems fair to ask them to make some forced choices about what’s important and how to operate without the built in increases to which they’ve become accustomed. Instead of engaging in honest discussion of this, districts have made choices to present the worst possible outcomes and ed supporters have made outrageous claims, like the 100,000 layoff claims. Schools can absorb the projected reductions without affecting the quality of education in Texas. Some districts are finally acknowledging this and the staffing reductions are no where near the doomsday projections.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
Democrats are losingground daily. I suggest they take their core value of spinning and join it with the muslim core value of taqiyya and form a new party called “The Jihad on America” party.
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Anonymous says:
JBB,
From your postings, it seems your only goal in life is to make snippy comments.
Try offering constructive comments without criticizing anyone. You must have something constructive to say, or maybe I’m expecting too much from you.
Give it a shot.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 11:11 am
I’m sorry, should I learn to be more constructive like these:
“Texas IS an ignorant backwater” or
“My dog shows more integrity and honor when he licks his balls than anytime Dan Patrick steps onto our State Senate floor.” or
“PERRY IS A DICTATOR OF HATE FOR TEAPARTY AND DOSE NOT LOVE ANYONE SO HE SOULD NOT BE IN POSITION TO BE REPROSENITIVE TO ANYONE. HE IS NOT A CHRISTAINS HE IIS A KOCH BROTHER KOCKSUCKER.”
Hard to be more constructive than those but I’ll take it into consideration.
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anita Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 1:24 pm
JBB,
If everyone acted based upon the examples of the worst among us, what kind of world would we have?
I doubt you have young children, because yours is the type of logic my 4-year old hits me with daily.
Why should I take a bath — Billy doesn’t have to take a bath! Why should I learn to read — Sally didn’t learn how to read! Why can’t I watch TV all day long — everyone else does!
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Anita now thats liberal logic, can I have some of what you’re smoking.
Fiftycal Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 5:32 pm
Now this is a SERIOUS blog. You shouldn’t inject humor or point out the hypocracy of the leftist members. Could cause them to think they went blind when their tinfoil helmets rotate quickly and cover their eyes upon reading something related to “facts”.
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Mae's Spirit says:
JBB, that copy and paste is working well for you, isn’t it? Your spewing of hatred would be concerning, if it wasn’t so funny. Funny, I never said the word ‘tax.’ Do you just have a list of sound bites that you copy and paste into blogs, regardless of whether they apply or not?
Gus (how funny–what a weird choice), the congressional map was passed in the Special, not in the 72nd Regular. Sound famliar?. The court suit and decision was based on Houston area districts, not West Texas. Why don’t you tell the three small communities that were split? Let’s check your facts.
And being from Midland, I’ll tell you that Midland was very used to being split. That split historically gave Midland George Mahon, who was incredibly beneficial to Midland and Midland Co. The City of Midland, in the map you are referring to, was not split. The county was, but the City of Midland is in the NW quadrant (and therefore 90%, + or -, of the county population), and was placed completely in the 19th. An R had that seat in from 1985 forward. So do you wonder why Midland, et al, didn’t complain?
It’s unfortunate that some of the West Texas districts do stretch for hundreds of miles. But that’s what happens when there are huge land areas with low population. Not R’s fault and not D’s fault. Tell you what, why don’t you do your part and move to Loving County?
“…and now all the whining about a county about 12 times the size of Midland being split” Wow, talk about fuzzy math. I might take eight or nine, but not 12. Little hyperbole there…or is it “faux poetic license?” But you miss the point. Travis is large enough for one fully contained and then be split, like Harris, Dallas, etc. Midland wasn’t. And whining? Gee, you haven’t gotten over things that happened 20 years ago.
“Faux righteous?” No, it real enough. My indignation comes from the obvious disregard of any law and the previous court rulings. It’s wrong. We’ll see you in court.
Anita’s point is excellent. Saying the R’s were somehow hurt by a map 20 years ago and that justifies this abomination of the law is bizarre reasoning. It’s either foolish, based on the debacle of the last round(s) of Congressional redistricting maps or the reasoning of power crazed “Gotcha!” egomaniacs. Gee, can anyone say DeLay?
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 11:15 am
@Mae’s spirit
you’re making this far too easy.
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Mae's Spirit Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 12:56 pm
^C ^V
Keyboard short cuts for your list.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 1:32 pm
I know I should be ashamed of myself for making fun of liberals. After all I am the grownup.
Gusmutschersghost Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 8:31 pm
Mae, allow me to apologize for taking so long. But, I work long hours. I also thought seriously about not taking the bait, but this is just too fun.
First the fact check. Travis County 2010 is precisely 11.45 times larger than Midland County of 1990–you got to give me the 12 times larger comparison. You asked for the three small communities split in Texas 13 of 1992 (in addition to Amarillo, Denton and Lubbock). I am not going to do your homework for you, but their names start with A, R and S. I did pull up the map, and there are a couple of other small towns that were “ripped apart” (RIPPED APPART!) by that map.
Most importantly, no one should be upset by these maps. Not Republicans in 1991, and not the Democrats in 2011. The maps are drawn by people elected to the legislature. You should expect them to make every effort to draw lines that meet the VRA, and drop your expectation of drawing lines they way you want them. What makes anyone in Travis County believe they are any more important than people in Midland, Dallas, Harris or Cooke County?
Travis County does not “deserve” it’s own CD. I guess Travis County residents must adapt to the “new normal.”
And, Mae, to make sure you have your facts correct, Midland County was not split until the 1991 map. George Mahon was your man, but in a Midland County made whole by the wise and just legislatures of the past.
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Mae's Spirit Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 9:54 pm
Ah, Gus, you are so wrong on so many levels! Let me get the citations and then respond. But your math is wrong and it’s too bad it hurts your bitty baby boy ego.
Lord, you can le and say it’s the truth and hope folks believe!
Back soon, boyo!
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Gusmutschersghost Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 11:29 pm
Waiting……just pulled the census stats, waiting for your apology, your answer on the three small communities that begin with the letters, A, R and S, which were split in the 1991 CD 13 map, and ultimately your concession, and thanks that you are learning sooooooo much from me…….
AreYouKiddingMe says:
Draw up any map you want. If people will simply VOTE, they can elect the right people. The problem is people don’t vote anymore, then complain about who gets elected. If teacher groups and educators would VOTE, they could control politics in Texas, no matter what party they represented. That is what should happen, but it won’t. We are too friggin lazy to VOTE. Now, THAT is a shame…
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John Johnson says:
People with strong viewpoints from both the far right and far left have a tendency to get on blog sites like this and lob grenades at each other.
On the other hand, a middle-of-the-road Texan, who believes that we don’t need as many school administrators as we’ve got…that combining school districts might work…that permanently removing disruptive students from the classroom is a good idea…that giving poorly performing teachers any form of tenure is not…and that current school funding is not equitable might also believe that cutting school funding is a terrible mistake when one considers that the Gov and his assigns are giving away money to corporations in quid pro quo deals that might create 200 jobs while 200 teachers are going to lose theirs is goofy…that chopping school budgets while extending tax incentives to oil and gas companies is foolish…and that leaving money in a contingency fund that could soften the blow is insane.
Unfortunately, not enough of these people are paying much attention. They don’t rate politics very high on their priority list. They have a job, they are coaching their son’s and daughter’s teams, doing their yardwork and leaving all the stuff in Austin and D.C. to the people they voted for to carry out their wants and desires.
What they don’t realize is that this is not what they are getting. They are getting what the Gov wants, and what Big Business wants.
Until this silent, ignorant group starts paying attention and realizes how their lives are being impacted, it will be business as usual.
A public school system like Louisiana’s ought to be enough to do the trick.
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Anonymous Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 10:11 am
Agreed, John. And to your point, I’d point out that there’s a provision in SB 1 that directly takes state funds for education and diverts them to pay for economic development deals made by local school districts.
For the life of me, I don’t understand why ‘free market’ conservatives would support such a thing. And why would we divert monies for schools in this manner? If it is so important, shouldn’t the money come from another source? Sens. Duncan and Shapiro should be ashamed to have their names on this bill.
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Kenneth D. Franks says:
Teachers, for the most part haven’t been very political in decades. Many do vote but some are just now realizing that they have been voting against their own economic interests. I predict that will change. It was always frustrating to me, those election years, that I would engage in conversations with other teachers who didn’t realize that the whole profession is dependent on the good will of the legislature. There are teachers that voted for their Republican house member last year that didn’t realize that the letter of praise he sent them last year didn’t mean anything.
They probably didn’t realize that he would vote to cut jobs, or to possibly do even more damage in this special session. They have lost much of the influence they had when they all were members of one association. I think they are realizing the political power they could have if they actually became involved and how much it has hurt them by not being. At least that is what I hope.
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Jed Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 11:47 am
keep dreaming. if people were capable of successfully voting their own economic interests, the republican party would have folded in about 1920.
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Anonymous says:
It seems like leadership takes more than cutting and saying no. If any politician cannot stand up to an uninformed constituent and say I know you disagree with me but this is in your best interest or the states’s best interest then they should not seek reelection
I would like for someone to point to 3 examples where this legislature acted on behalf of children, the disabled, mentally ill or elderly. Legalizing noodling does not count
Not sure what school districts give teachers tenure. I thought texas teachers had yearly contracts.
Finally, if LBJ has listened to the majority of texans and southerners where would we have been on the voting rights and civil rights. I also remember a courageous congressman from Houston with last name of Bush who voted in support of civil rights and against his constituents wishes.
Statesmen do what is right. Politicians do what is expedient.
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Kenneth D. Franks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 11:48 am
Teachers in Texas work on contracts that must be renewed annually. Administrators mostly have a contract for two or three years.
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facts Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 10:08 pm
Brand-new teachers are on annual contracts their first few years, most teachers are on a term contract for one or more years, and some teachers are on continuing contracts (tenure).
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not a cartographer says:
I wasn’t around in 1991, but — as I understand it — to act like R’s didn’t have a problem with the redistricting at that point is mere mischaracterization.
I can live with the re-drawing of the Ortiz Sr. district, the “Doggett switcharoo,” and the Parker County district. but the horseshoe district is just ridiculous.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
“Finally, if LBJ has listened to the majority of texans and southerners where would we have been on the voting rights and civil rights?”
LBJ often voted against civil rights during his tenure in the House and Senate.
His 1964 support was essentially continuing what JFK had posed a year earlier.
This is a spin free zone.
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Kenneth D. Franks says:
All that really matters is that he signed the bill into law.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 12:59 pm
as if he could have vetoed it.
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anita Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 1:32 pm
Whoa there — LBJ wasn’t a mere passive participant in the passage of the Civil Rights Act. He declared it his objective to enact a meaningful piece of legislation, stuck to his commitment, and actively used his political capital to make it happen. Stories of him leaning hard on senators to avoid a filibuster are legion. All the while, he recognized that it likely would force a realignment of the political parties, one that would hurt his party especially hard.
You try to portray him as just sitting around in his office and the bill magically appeared on his desk, when then he had no choice but to sign it. You have to know this is not true.
(Why do I even engage with this guy)
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 1:42 pm
“(Why do I even engage with this guy)”
I suspect you enjoy learning something.
Read how he opposed legislation ending lynching.
anita Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 2:10 pm
I’m sure he invented slavery, probably cancer, too. What a dirtbag he was. He was likely in on the Obama birth certificate deal, made sure that a mixed-race kid from Africa was fraudulently made an American citizen so he could win the presidency, even though he was born in Kenya. It was all LBJ’s little joke he wanted to play on us. It was LBJ’s plan all along to stack the government with closet Marxists and czars 30+ years after his death — how brilliant!
You’re right, JBB — LBJ is the root of all evil in the world today, and we should all obsess on him accordingly, as you have shown us. Thank you for all you do.
JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 5:17 pm
Ineed Asweetie
if you don’t want to engage, don’t engage.
LBJ was the most corrupt Texas politician ever.
Liberals admire and worship the fact he never had a real paying job and he still managed to retire a filthy rich millionaire.
phrynosomatx says:
“Lanham Lyne … argued that his voters didn’t understand what they were doing when they demanded state budget cuts, but since they elected him he was obliged to give them what they want.” That argument reminds me of the words of the great English statesman Edmund Burke (regarded by some as a conservative and by others as a liberal when those terms still meant something). Burke said “Certainly, Gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinions high respect; their business unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasure, his satisfactions, to theirs,— and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own.
“But his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure,— no, nor from the law and the Constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
“My worthy colleague says, his will ought to be subservient to yours. If that be all, the thing is innocent. If government were a matter of will upon any side, yours, without question, ought to be superior. But government and legislation are matters of reason and judgment, and not of inclination; and what sort of reason is that in which the determination precedes the discussion, in which one set of men deliberate and another decide, and where those who form the conclusion are perhaps three hundred miles distant from those who hear the arguments?” from Burke’s SPEECH TO THE ELECTORS OF BRISTOL, ON HIS BEING DECLARED BY THE SHERIFFS DULY ELECTED ONE OF THE REPRESENTATIVES IN PARLIAMENT FOR THAT CITY, ON THURSDAY, THE 3D OF NOVEMBER, 1774.
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Alan Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 9:07 pm
You beat me to this quote; it popped into my head about halfway through reading the post.
The last sentence in the second to last paragraph basically sums it up though: “Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”
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JohnBernardBooks says:
that went out the window when Pekosi said “we must pass this bill so we can find out what’s in it.
No one single statement represents more clearly what today’s democrats have become.
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Mae's Spirit Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 7:59 pm
^C^V
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Rog says:
Yes, JBB we all agree the Grand Old Party is the party that keeps on giving.
Hoover gave us the Great Depression.
Nixon gave us a crook in the White House.
Reagan gave us, I forget.
Bush 43 gave us a giant deficit based on tax breaks for the rich, started two wars and told the public to go shopping, and increased Medicare without paying for it.
All of us are so thankful for the GOP.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 1:44 pm
You would thank your lucky stars for the GOP, daily if you were informed.
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Anonymous Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 2:53 pm
apparently informed means “fed copious amounts of bullshit from fox” in wingnut world.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 4:47 pm
What happens when a liberal watches Fox News? Shortness of breath, pupils dialated, ringing in ears? Thats PTSD, or Palin Tramatic Stress Disorder. Be careful if a liberal is exposed to Fox News more than twice a week you can be cured of liberalism.
Anonymous Reply:
June 2nd, 2011 at 12:10 am
And by liberalism I assume you mean “capable of intelligent thought”.
V2 Schneider Reply:
June 2nd, 2011 at 10:39 am
It’s a Grand Old Party and you are not invited.
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Anonymous says:
If you want to take a swipe at LBJ I don’t think you should start with his lobbying and driving through congress the civil rights and voting rights legislation. JFK or any other kennedy could not have done that.
. . .but the analogy to LBJs prior votes on civil rights to those of republicans today on gutting public schools, colleges and care for the elderly is probably a good analogy. Mean spirited and wrong headed is the same whether in 1950s or 2000s.
Great Burke quote!
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Finally the quintessential liberal argument, republicans are mean.
Now we’re getting somewhere!
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Anonymous Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 2:59 pm
Doesn’t jbb remind you of the Leonardo DiCaprio character in the movie “The Quick and the Dead” with all his griping about LBJ? The DiCaprio character runs around telling everyone how much he hates Herod (played by Gene Hackman) but deep down inside he just wants love, respect and acknowledgement from his daddy. awwww, how touching. Maybe a sequel can be made with jbb in the staring role. It can be called “The Slow and the Brain Dead”
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 4:36 pm
only a liberal would psychoanalyze on a blog.
can you write me a script?
BTW whose your daddy?
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vbtexan says:
The GOP tears up Travis just like they tear up the metroplex so they can try to dilute voting influence if the Democratic areas are not already in a VRA district.
Nothing takes the cake like the way the 6th and 30th districts in 1991 were drawn, but the GOP is getting there with their map drawing.
My single family neighborhood in the white rock/lake highlands area is split between Jeb Hensarling and Pete Sessions in the congress, just like it looks like we’ll be split between Bob Deuell and John Carona in the state senate.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
Travis cty the last liberal bastion in the state will suffer this redistricting. Did you liberals think there wouldn’t be payback for the phoney Delay indictment?
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anita says:
You mean the “phony” indictment that, even with the best legal defense team money could buy, ended in a felony conviction?
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 4:38 pm
yep some of that good ol’ LBJ justice.
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Anonymous says:
Dallas went 55% for Bill White and 57% for Obama
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Jeff Crosby says:
JBB, I notice your first post was about 5:45 a.m. today and you’ve continued posting ever since. Do you have a day job? Or are you just screwing off at work?
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JohnBernardBooks says:
I’m a bored state worker.
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Mae's Spirit Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 7:56 pm
No, you are off your lithium. What are you, 15? You obviously missed most of Texas History 101, especially with LBJ. Or maybe your homeschooling didn’t teach you that? The attention just makes you..uh..happy doesn’t it. Doesn’t matter what you spew, as long as someone pays attention. Who’s yo momma?
Bottom line, the CD map will fall on cracking/packing. And JBB might, just might, move on to the 10th. Grade that is.
Now JBB, your turn. What magnificent and relevant comment do you have on your list? ^C ^V.
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Gusmutschersghost Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 8:40 pm
Mae, please see our dialogue above. I have put forth my best effort to provide you with a benevolent lesson in history and an apolitical view of redistricting.
I hope you are both entertained and edified.
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Mae's Spirit says:
Gus, I neither need nor want your “edification” or “entertainment.” Play with yourself. I bet I have more personal knowledge of the history of redistricting than you.
I do find your patronization amusing. Try some more. Just keep it clean, please.
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Gusmutschersghost says:
Quit being so sensitive. You say you do not need or want the education I am providing in both statistics and history, yet you keep coming back for lessons.
But, maybe, you could teach me something from your vast knowledge and insight. Why did the Ds accommodate the CD 13 occupant in 1991? It seems that, if the Ds drew two R districts, instead of packing all the Ds and Rs from Dallas to El Paso into separate districts, the CD 13 occupant might have changed parties. Then, you would not be required to explain, 20 years later, why you protected your dimmest bulb. Heck, he lost in 94, anyway.
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Mae's Spirit Reply:
June 2nd, 2011 at 8:07 am
Wha?
Are you really still hysterical about one district and one Congressman from 20 years ago? And you call me sensitive? Hah! What happened? Did you run against the guy and lose? Get a grip.
“It seems that, if the Ds drew two R districts, instead of packing all the Ds and Rs from Dallas to El Paso into separate districts, the CD 13 occupant might have changed parties.”
That makes no sense whatsoever. Are you saying that there should have been ONLY 2 R districts instead of the 6+ districts that were drawn between Dallas and El Paso (I’m not counting the Tarrant or Dallas urban districts). That would have been stupid.
Frankly, I don’t care. Your babbling about one rural district 20 years ago is not germane to this discussion. That was then, this is now. Move on.
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Americanus says:
JBB:
Please for God’s sake get a life. Your incessant drivel is extremely tiresome.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
So class what did we learn yesterday?
1. Liberals are extremely thin skinned.
2. republicans are mean.
3. Liberals think this blog is for bashing republicans and when you poke fun at them they decide republicans shouldn’t have free speech.
guess what liberals we already knew that.
Again who knows why democrats nicknamed LBJ “Lyin Lyndon”.
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Texian Politico says:
Time for another blog post or at least an open thread.
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JeromeBarry says:
I told my Representative, Burt Solomons, exactly what I cared about and this Legislature did it.
1. Balance the budget, because you have to.
2. Don’t raise taxes, even though you want to.
I didn’t have to tell him
3. Don’t go crying to reporters when liberals scream at you.
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Anonymous says:
What did we learn yesterday from you, JBB? Absolutely nothing since you bring no constructive comments to the table.
Since you apparently think you’ve got all the answers, why not actually give us some, rather than continue to make negative comments, saying that you’re only doing what otherS are doing.
After all, you think your a smart person. Enlighten us.
Give us your plan for addressing the federal deficit. Just keep in mind that neither major party fixed the problem when they each had their chance.
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Gritsforbreakfast says:
All the garbage attributing the budget shortfall to illegal immigrants at the top of this comment string is pure foolishness. The Comptroller has calculated that illegal immigrants pay more in state taxes than they cost the state. Without illegal immigrants’ tax payments, in fact, the budget hole would have been BIGGER.
Also, IMO it’s a complete hoax to claim that Texas didn’t spend the Rainy Day Fund. They a) set the precedent of using the RDF to pay the deficit from the last biennium and then b) budgeted another, perhaps even bigger deficit. Anyone who thinks that won’t be covered out of the Rainy Day Fund is a fool.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
“Give us your plan for addressing the federal deficit.”
quit spending.
“Just keep in mind that neither major party fixed the problem when they each had their chance”
GW’s 2006 budget proposal had cuts totaling 1.4 trillion over 10 years. 1.6 trillion when intrest was added in. Democrats led by Speaker Pelosi blocked it. Instead democrats increased spending “On Wednesday, October 11, the Treasury announced the final deficit figure for fiscal 2006. That figure is $248 billion.”
Rep Ryan’s current budget proposal for 2011-12 has trillions in cuts. The democrats in the Senate just voted it down.
This is a no spin zone.
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Jed Reply:
June 2nd, 2011 at 10:03 am
OK, no spin, JBB.
the annual deficits towards the end of Bush’s term were around $500B, and in his final budget (the one obama inherited) it was closer to $1T.
so, your $1.4-1.6T cuts over TEN YEARS (i notice you don’t link to anything on that claim) still would not have been enough to “fix” that deficit model.
so, with no spin … GFB was right, and you were just spewing bits to no apparent purpose.
and that’s assuming that what you said is correct.
i do, however, appreciate you allying yourself with the ryan plan. it always helps when the dubious types huddle together. easier to spot.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 2nd, 2011 at 11:54 am
@Jed pay attn:
President Bush proposed a budget with cuts in 2006. The Peloshi led democrat House added massive spending in ’07, ’08, ’09, and ’10.
You do know the prez PROPOSES a budget and the House FUNDS it? Democrats led by Speaker Peloshi increased spending which nullified President’s Bush proposed cuts in 2006.
The deficit went up over $5 trillion in 4 years while Peloshi was speaker.
Hence the backlash in Nov of ’10.
Are you against spending cuts? Good it helps to know who the useful idiots are.
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And so it ends... says:
Folks, I know it’s hard to resist responding to every sophomoric thing JBB posts. But the fact is he only does it so people will pay attention to him.
Remember that halfway retarded/hyperactive kid in elementary school who would hit you in the middle of class for no reason? You’d hit him back to make him stop and then you’d both get in trouble. That kid did it then because it was the only way he could get attention. Well, that’s what JBB is doing here.
He can’t get more than one post in six months on his own blog, so he hangs out here all day lobbing hand grenades. Shortly after doing so, smarter people engage him and he absolutely loves it.
Please just ignore him. Believe me I know it’s difficult. But we’re not in grade school anymore. We’re not getting hit and the teacher won’t get us in trouble. Ignore his nonsense. It’s not hurting anybody and no one believes it anyway.
Here, read this about net haters. http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/06/01/digital.haters.netiquette/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
JBB, I’m sorry to call you out like this. I’m sorry your blog isn’t nearly as popular as this one. I’m sorry you don’t know how to get people to pay attention to you any other way.
So this will be the last time I ever respond to or reference JBB in this blog that is generally reserved for knowledgeable and thoughtful discussion. I hope others here will do the same.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
” But the fact is he only does it so people will pay attention to him.”
lemme make I understand, if I respond to a question, I’m only doing it so people will pay attention to me?
Hard to argue with liberal logic.
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RJ says:
I think your title is wrong.
I don’t think Ricky or any of his little minions lost a wink of sleep during this session. They enjoy making people suffer.
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