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The Texas Blue
Advancing Progressive Ideas

The Texas Blue: News

Road Words: Delenda Est Starbucks

It has been barely a year since I've been in Austin, and already there seem to be far more Starbucks than before. I fear that soon, Austinites will drive their Starbucks to the Starbucks in an effort to purchase more Starbucks.

The Sun Should Not Go Down On Common Sense

During the 1980’s, conservatives pledged to abolish the United States Department of Education, arguing that education policy was a job best left to the states. Prior to 1979, there previously only had been a Commissioner of Education in the Health Education and Welfare Department.

Friday Roundup: On The Road Again

Today's roundup will be a bit truncated — the entire Texas Blue crew (plus a bunch of other Denton County Young Democrats) are heading to Austin for the Texas Young Democrats convention. George and I will be updating you from the road as we are able, and maybe even sending a picture or two. If you'll be there and you have time on Saturday, I invite you to attend the workshop I'm running on Coalition Building at 2:45 pm.

Bill Tracker: HB 2683 – State Sponsored Marriage Counseling

HB 2683 made it out of committee and passed in the House. The unofficial record vote was 72 – 68. The bill has five authors and numerous coauthors.

On The Record: Ron Melugin

For this week's installment of On The Record, I spoke with Ron Melugin, Cooke County Democratic Party Chair.

Thursday Roundup: There Is No Why

I usually spend roundups talking about Bad Things That Have Happened Recently. Today, however, I would like to talk about a few good things. For instance, did you know Texas led the nation in alternative fuel vehicles last year?

You Can’t Referee a Civil War

President Bush, Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), and other Republican allies are calling for patience despite four years of failed policy in Iraq. McCain erroneously and irresponsibly claims that Democrats are denying soldiers the means to prevent an American defeat. Yet it was not a Democratic president or Congress that sent our soldiers, ill-equipped to fight and ill-prepared to remain for four years, into the middle of a civil war. No, that was a Republican president and Congress that made perhaps one of the greatest foreign policy blunders in our nation’s history.

Wednesday Roundup: Minor Threat(s)

TXU keeps threatening people. It threatened to shut down coal plants if they got fined earlier this month, and now it comes out that it threatened litigation against another group attempting to make a bid to buy TXU. The Star-Telegram has the story, and I have some advice: PR is something that must be managed, guys. Plant some trees or something.

The ‘Walk for Epilepsy’ failed to shake me up

On the last day of March, the Epilepsy Foundation of America concluded its first annual ‘Walk for Epilepsy’. Theoretically, I should have been one of their biggest supporters; after all, I am a politically conscious person with epilepsy.

Tuesday Roundup: The Late Show

To a source no less than David Letterman and in a venue no smaller than national television, Senator Barack Obama refuted my recent musings as to whether he might be thinking of the Vice Presidency as a contingency. I had pondered the question here, and I am more convinced of my original impression than before Obama's Letterman appearance. Even though it's not an unusual question, I think it signifies trouble on horseback for Letterman to ask it.