Weekend Roundup - Super Bowl Sunday

While it is not political news, I thought Prince's pre-Super Bowl press conference on Thursday was pretty excellent: he announced the conference to the collected media, and when they all showed up, he and his band wailed on three songs for about ten minutes and then took off. Prince should consider hiring himself to do a similar service to federal government press briefings.

In a time when the state government at least has something of a surplus and legislators are talking about making significant cuts in pre-K funding, this story about how fees are still going to pay for a program that doesn't actually exist anymore is troublesome. The Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund fee went to pay for broadband and land lines to rural public services, like schools and hospitals, and Governor Perry repealed it in 2003 after determining it had accomplished its goal. However, the fee keeps getting extended by the Lege and the $210 million in revenues keeps getting spent. But hey, at least it's not a tax!

In light of Governor Perry's recent expansion of Operation Wrangler and troubles near Nuevo Laredo, this story about how National Guard troops stationed on the US-Mexico border in Arizona recently got in a showdown with borderline paramilitaries is relevant. The Guard is going to undertake a new combat-oriented training regimen to better prepare them for hostage situations, but I think the current rules of engagement - in which Guard forces cannot fire unless fired upon - will come under review and possibly change.

Governor Perry has been busy writing his state of the state address, in which he will reveal a plan to wholly privatize the state lottery. This will be a mess, but he says it will bring in a onetime revenue bump. Opponents of the idea are already hollering about how government shouldn't engage in firesales to meet budgetary needs, which is a situation familiar to anyone who's ever had to put themselves through college. It isn't fun and it isn't sustainable. I think a bigger, more relevant question would be whether the lottery is working. But hey, at least it's not a tax!

It seems like the good editorials come out on the weekends, and I enjoy the thrust of this argument about what the Republican-led state government has been up to since they took over in 2002. Business has been doing well, but the report card on government, quality of life, and privatization drives is not as glowing.

Lastly, Bush and House Democrats got together during the annual caucus retreat, had a few laughs, and pledged to work together on all the big ticket issues like immigration and gas, and some lower-priority ones like Social Security. It may have been all high fives during the public meeting and reasonable discussion during the private question, but the last paragraph of this story about the meeting shows that Speaker Pelosi is drawing a line in the sand, so to speak, about Iran and War Powers.

Stay tuned this week for a new feature by Chris Bell, an article by staff writer Josh Davis on casinos in Texas, and five part Bill Tracker symposium by Karl Lynch.