News Roundup: Political Blitz
Thu, 01/11/2007 - 9:15am
Wednesday was relatively quiet in Texas politics - the beginnings and goings-on in Austin seemed muted in comparison to the frenzy of the day of the Speaker's Race. Sure, Dan Patrick filed a trigger law in the Texas Senate that outlaws abortion in case of Roe v. Wade being overturned, but the time for that idea may have already passed.
In other Texas Lege news, those involved in the attempted coup against Craddick and the reporting media are pretty certain there will be some reshuffling of committee appointments. Everyone has a stiff upper lip, saying that titles aren't important to them and that they'd do it all again. In that same story, the ongoing saga of Democratic primary challengers for Craddick Democrats is also mentioned. I'm sure that's something we'll discuss a time or two in the next year or so.
Harvey from the Quorum Report gets some face time in this Statesman article which considers the influence the internet had on the Speaker's Race. It also has further details on the deal Pitts almost pulled off to flip five committee chairs. It seems like, as usual, things were very close until they were not.
Houston Mayor Bill White set a special election for the City Council seat abandoned by Shelley Sekula Gibbs for May 12. There was apparently some sort of scuffle over whether state law or local directive would determine the date of the election, and Mayor White wanted to wait, but he lost on that. This falls along the lines of a larger debate underway in Texas: the struggle between county and municipal self-determination and state control over everything from land use to, now, elections.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison flinched after a cost estimate on the border fence came out to $60 billion. She is shifting and allying herself with the position that the whole deal needs to be rethought, even going so far as to say that, "It doesn't seem like Congress was really in the real world." The border constituency seems to have organized a loud enough complaint against the fence to draw some attention, and Cornyn and Hutchison have organized a summit between Texas border town mayors and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to discuss border security. I am curious as to whether the Insane Vote will have enough pull to get the fence built anyways, even though all signs seem to be pointing to no.
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Build the Fence and Verify Social Security Numbers
By magyart
Sun, 11/25/2007 - 10:16pm
The majority of Americans do not want illegal immigrants to have drivers licenses or jobs. Most Americans want border security and that includes a border fence.
It's time for us to secure our borders and ports. Additionally, we need NOT link any jobs programs with a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
Put a fence on the border, just like many Texans have around their yard. Make it higher and double layered.
I simply don't believe a border fence would cost 60 billion. where's the details, the fine print, the bill of materials. To simply say it costs 60 billion and not back it up with facts, is the argument of a loser.
It's time to stop the subsidies that attact illegal immigrants to this country. Turn off the job magnet and social benefits. Jobs for illegal immigrants is like corporate welfare.
Ask your congressman to vote for the SAVE ACT. It will force all employers to verify all social security numbers and terminate illegal immigrants. Without a job many of them will self-deport.
Call toaday.