See you in November 2007.
]]>2000 Honda Civic EX Coupe 2Door
Equipment:
* Air Conditioning
* Power Steering
* Power Windows
* Power Door Locks
* Tilt Wheel
* Cruise Control
* AM/FM Stereo w/ Compact Disc
* Dual Front Air Bags
* Moon Roof
* Remote entry
LUGAR, RICHARD G
VIA FRIENDS OF DICK LUGAR INC
04/11/2000
500.00
RUSTHOVEN, PETER J
VIA PETER RUSTHOVEN FOR SENATOR
12/10/1997
250.00
98020030022
04/15/1998
750.00
98020110071
ROBERTS, JOHN G
BETHESDA, MD 20816
HOGAN & HARTSON
FITZGERALD, PETER G
VIA FITZGERALD FOR SENATE INC
10/29/1997
500.00
98020012348
06/25/1998
500.00
98020131817
ROBERTS, JOHN G JR
BETHESDA, MD 20816
HOGAN & HARTSON
FITZGERALD, PETER G
VIA FITZGERALD FOR SENATE INC
10/23/1998
235.00
98020281402
ROBERTS, JOHN G JR
BETHESDA, MD 20816
HOGAN & HARTSON L L P
HOGAN & HARTSON POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
03/18/1997
925.00
ROBERTS, JOHN G JR
BETHESDA, MD 20816
HOGAN & HARTSON LLP
HOGAN & HARTSON POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
03/11/1998
975.00
03/30/1999
975.00
03/08/2000
1100.00
ROBERTS, JOHN G. MR. JR.
BETHESDA, MD 20816
HOGAN & HARTSON/ATTORNEY
BUSH, GEORGE W
VIA BUSH FOR PRESIDENT INC.
08/03/2000
1000.00
Total Contributions: 7710.00
]]>Rep. Dawnna Dukes, who missed the vote on HB 2 because she took a family trip to France instead, issued a public statement regarding her absence and her deal with Rep.Jim Pitts. If you remember, Dukes had an agreement with Rep. Pitts to pair their votes, an agreement which Pitts broke at the last minute. So, when Dukes finally got a chance to have her say, what does she tell us?
I never attempted to hide that I was traveling for personal family reasons to France. I requested to be excused from the proceedings of that day to not mislead anyone about my presence or vote. As well in extra precaution, I arranged to pair my vote with my dear friend, Chairman Pitts, an honorable man whom I respect and whose friendship I cherish.
Its a sad day when an elected representative places her family vacation and personal friendship with a representative of the opposing party above the interests of her constituents. I agree with Representative Dukes' votes 90 percent of the time but her recent behavior is insulting. Voting is only a small part of a representative's responsibilities, after all. If I was a representative of a low-to-mid income community that stood to take the brunt of the burden for a proposed tax restructuring plan, my priority would be fighting tooth and nail for my constituents' interest, not fretting over the loss of a few thousand dollars in unused airline tickets. Besides, what rock has Dukes been hiding under?
My travel arrangements were made and restricted tickets purchased for this trip in April 2005 after the Education Bill and Appropriations Bill passed both the House and the Senate. There was no reason to believe the Governor would veto those measures triggering a Special Session in July 2005.
Really? The fact that the entire state has been gossiping about a special session since last November didn't give you cause for doubt? Governor Perry's long history of vetoing half the bills that cross his desk didn't provide any clues?
Representative Dukes owes her constituents an apology, not an excuse.
]]>"I'm eager to use my experience to bring a broad coalition of fair-minded Texans together to say 'No' to this nonsense in November. With public education, health care access, and rational and fair tax policy languishing, the Legislature spent their time and our tax dollars enacting this divisive, unnecessary amendment. They now are asking Texans to rubber stamp their efforts to deny many Texans the basic civil rights to protect their relationships and their family's property and inheritance rights, hospital visitation, and the hundreds of other rights and responsibilities brought by a civil marriage or civil union," said Maxey.
If anyone can win this fight in Texas, it's definitely Glen Maxey. Good luck!
]]>The University of Texas at Austin is intending on purchasing Player's and replacing it with a parking garage. Across the street, UT is purchasing the stripmall that includes IT Copy and Radio Shack. Apparently, we really need a hotel there.
IT Copy or Radio Shack- we care not about. The hotel could be a great thing for the campus. However, once they try to take away a Player's Combo with cheese and no tomatoes with a strawberry shake, The University has gone too far.
Agreed. We're talking about the home of the world's greatest veggie burger, folks. Something must be done.
The folks at SavePlayers.com think that HJR 19 maybe a solution. Visit their website for more details.
It's funny, I can think of three different churches that take up some prime real estate around UT, all three of which would make better parking garage locations than Players. And a row of sorority houses. Can't UT eminent domain their properties while they're at it? Or are mom-and-pop businesses less sacred than dormitories for rich girls?
Found via Texas Fight.
]]>Britain and America are secretly preparing to withdraw most of their troops from Iraq - despite warnings of the grave consequences for the region, The Mail on Sunday has learned.
A secret paper written by Defence Secretary John Reid for Tony Blair reveals that many of the 8,500 British troops in Iraq are set to be brought home within three months, with most of the rest returning six months later.
The leaked document, marked Secret: UK Eyes Only, appears to fly in the face of Mr Blair and President Bush's pledges that Allied forces will not quit until Iraq's own forces are strong enough to take control of security...
The good folks at the Moving Ideas network have scheduled an online discussion on this very topic for tomorrow.
]]>One member (Hildebrand) is being pulled out of the House Floor by the governor while the vote is taking place; another member (Menendez) is FORCED by his employer to attend a meeting in Houston today; Anchia's voting machine didn't register his 'no' vote; McClendon's voting machine registered a 'yes' vote when she meant to vote 'no'; Dukes and Martinez-Fisher are both out of the country (no votes), and two republicans switched their no votes to yes. Is there a conspiracy going on? A vote that close, by one frigin' vote, and no one challenged it by verification. Who dropped the ball?]]>
Many people commenting on online photo sharing community site Flickr said it was their first port of call to get news and images.
And here I thought I was the only one. While Google News remains my first choice for information, I too use Flickr when I want to see what's going on through an eye-witness' perspective. For me, it started during the presidential inauguration protests this January and has become an increasing obsession ever since.
All this begs the question: are traditional news media becoming increasingly obsolete?
Yes and no.
On the one hand, yes, the media is fighting a losing battle...when it comes to getting the scoop. The more people are armed with picture and video phones, the less likely it is that the media will be the first folks on the scene. And the less likely it is that the public will turn to the media for these accounts. This, of course, has interesting implications for news aggregate sites like Google News - how will they choose who to accept stories from? How will they determine which stories show up as headlines and which receive little attention?
Which brings me to my second point: the news media is dead/long live the news media. The era of the scoop maybe gone but the media will continue to play a very important role - perhaps even on a larger scale - in terms of agenda setting. Agenda-setting theory - as defined by (my former professor) Maxwell McCombs and his colleague Donald Shaw in the 1970s - holds that the media set the public policy agenda by highlighting certain issues more so than others. In other words, the media doesn't tell the public what to think. Rather, it tells us what to think of.
And so, in a society where virtually every human has the potential to become a news producer, I suspect that we'll increasingly rely on the traditional authorities - NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, the NY Times, WSJ, Washington Post, and perhaps NPR and PBS - to tell us which stories to pay attention to as well as a few newbies like Google News and perhaps even Flickr or Technorati. As such, it remains important that we, as media consumers, are vigilant in demanding the highest standards from these organizations. And I'm not talking about Judith Miller standards either. I'm referring to a journalist ethic that places the public interest above that of the news organization and its corporate owners.
]]>Before she left, she made an agreement with Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, that Pitts would register “present not voting.” Since Dukes would have voted “no” and Pitts would have voted “yes” if both had been present, a decision by Pitts not to vote would have had the same effect — the two members would have canceled each other out.
This would all be fine and good if it weren't for the fact that Representative's Pitts word of honor isn't worth squat:
House Republican who told Rep. Dawnna Dukes before she left for France that he would not vote on a major piece of tax legislation changed his mind and cast the deciding vote anyway.
Thankfully, the folks in Dukes' office able to arrange today to have her vote paired with Rep. Todd Smith instead. Shame on you, Mr. Pitts, for your dishonesty.
]]>Juan Cole, as usual, has a thoughtful discussion on the implications of this morning's events.
]]>What can we do to stop this plan?]]>
1. Try writing to the Mayor of Austin and individual City Council members (here's a link to their addresses):
tell them to reject any flood control plan that would destroy the trees and wildlife habitat in the Broken Bow-Buckskin Pass segment of Williamson creek
tell them there is no history of serious flooding on this segment of the creek
tell them that if upstream development is causing greater runoff and greater flood risk, then those new developments must install appropriate detention ponds
tell them the residents of this neighborhood overwhelmingly opposed all of the flood control plans
tell them to propose another alternative that helps with potential flooding without destroying our back yards
and tell them your own stories, especially if you are property owners along this creek
2. While you're at it, write a similar letter to the project manager for the US Army Corp of Engineers. They will accept written comments through July 31st:
by US mail:
Elston D. Eckhardt, CESWF-PER-PF
P. O. Box 17300
Fort Worth, TX 76102-0300
or by email: Elston.D.Eckhardt@swf02.usace.army.mil
3. And since the project will never fly without federal funds, send a similar letter to your representatives in the U.S. Congress.
House Representative from the 21st district:
Congressman Lamar Smith
House Representative from the 25th district:
Congressman Lloyd Doggett
U.S. Senators from Texas:
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
Senator John Cornyn