No more robbing from one to pay another!!!

MySA.com: House gives nod to helping needy with their power tab
The Texas House on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would restore funding to assist low-income Texans with their electric bills.
Public interest groups hailed the tentative passage of House Bill 551, by Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston. The bill would restore the […]

Preception and reality don’t meet in Farmers Branch

I have been writing about this for some time now so I just couldn’t let this pass without comment.
Star-Telegram | 02/05/2007 | Public opinion doesn’t follow the numbers

Wow, it sure looks like illegal immigration has increased Farmers Branch’s crime rate and has hurt their property values something awful doesn’t it? That was the reason for […]

Vaccine debate

I have sat back for the last few days and watched all the debate about Texas requiring girls going into 6th grade to be vaccinated against HPV, which causes cervical cancer. Cervical Cancer is the number 2 cancer killer of women. Finding a way to prevent it is a huge breakthrough and will save countless […]

Maybe we could use those cell phone fees for pre-k

MySA.com: Legislative efforts on pre-K far apart
While the rest of the nation is investing more money in early childhood education than ever before, Texas lawmakers are starting their discussion with a proposal to decrease funding for pre-kindergarten programs by $20 million.One lawmaker, however, is using a brick-by-brick strategy to provide pre-kindergarten for as many […]

Go to prison, live longer and other ramblings for today

What an odd little bit of trivia.

State prisoners living longer than people outside | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

WASHINGTON — State prison inmates, particularly blacks, are living
longer on average than people on the outside, the government said
Sunday.
Inmates in state prisons are dying at an average yearly rate of 250
per 100,000, according to the latest figures reported […]

Farmers Branch schools say no to English Only

Yesterday, I was having a Dad day. For those of you with living parents, that is a day that the loss of a parent just really hits home no matter how many years it has been since they died. You can usually predict when they will happen (holidays, birthday’s, anniversary of the deaths) but […]

Wow, this is overstepping just a little

HB 557
Author:
Smith, Wayne

Last Action:
01/11/2007 H Filed

Caption:
Relating to the failure of a parent to attend a public school parent-teacher conference; providing a criminal penalty.

Wow, this is taking things a step or two too far. Criminal penalties if a parent doesn’t attend a parent-teacher conference? How crazy is that? Here is the bill itself, have […]

A couple of quick updates

Some quick updates on some of our past posts…
The Texas House rule to record their votes passed 81-57. I still don’t understand the reason why anyone would have voted against there being a written record but it doesn’t matter now. Now, on an interesting note, it was decided if they have a voice vote […]

Do they not watch national news?

AP Wire | 01/09/2007 | Radio host turned senator loses first legislative fight
AUSTIN - Conservative radio host Dan Patrick didn’t have much luck on his first day as a state senator.
Making good on a campaign pledge, Patrick passionately advocated for the end of the “two-thirds rule” - a Senate tradition that prevents legislation from being […]

Democrats moving right up!

New poll detects a change in the political climate in the Capitol
Then came The Poll.
Texas Democrats have pulled even with Republicans, and the state is now about half red, half blue. At least, that’s according to 1,053 Texans surveyed by an independent Democratic pollster.
The poll’s news announcement focused on one specific response: By 46 percent […]