Keeping Texas dumb

In Texas if you are a career politician who gets run out of town on rail by the voters, you get appointed to a position by the governor.

Michael Williams, who was appointed by George W. to run the Railroad mafia, um Commission (Which by the way only deals with gas industry, not railroads), then tried to run for office, lost in a landslide, has now been appointed to head up Texas Education by Rick Perry...what could possibly go wrong with that?

We're already at the bottom of the list when it comes to education.  Have YOU ever wondered why that is? 

Read about it in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 
http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/08/27/4209952/perry-appoints-michael-williams.html

Read More

What "news"?

Apparently WFAA "reported" on the protest they caused. 

Here is John Jay Myers response to the report.

Garry Reed reported on the protest yesterday. When WFAA reported on it, they said we had a "handful" of people. Here was my response to WFAA's coverage.

Your latest article about our protest wasn't posted on your facebook page. Could have been oversight. Doubtful.

 Also the original link didn't link to your home page.

You said we had a handful of people, yet at one point we had 22 people (pictures to prove it).

 You added a bullet point to your "standard" bullet points that you use "every time". Which is funny cause your 5 solid criteria are now 6.

 Again, you failed to mention, or actually lied to say that Ted Cruz meets all of your bullet points.

 You also said that I don't meet any of your bullet points. I would argue that is not true.

 Are you guys really going to dump journalistic integrity down the toilet to stop a small third party candidate?

This is your career, you would think you would take it seriously.

Do you realize Rand Paul wouldn't have met most of your criteria?

Have a nice day.
John Jay Myers
 http://www.examiner.com/article/myers-for-us-senate-supporters-protest-wfaa-debate-snub

Read More

It’s all about who you know

As in no bid.  Anyone else get a shot at this?  From the sounds of it, no.

Fort Worth, you gotta LOVE it.

Catering company, Tim Love sign food deal for TCU stadium.

Read More

Be There, Be Heard

Libertarian protest: Myers excluded from WFAA debate.

Read More

All roads lead to Texas

And YOU will pay for it.

Checking email today we noticed two in a row from different ends of the state with eerily similar subjects.

Same $#$# different city.  Always the same story.

The first one was forwarded from 35wcoalition.com.  Whoever they are. They are apparently the genius's who think it's a good idea to go ahead and tear 35 out when 820 and every surrounding street is currently a parking lot due to their current construction.  Don't miss WHO the other email was from below.

Dear 35W Coalition members: We have good news to share!

Federal officials have given environmental clearance to the proposed improvements to Interstate 35W between I-30 and I-820 (also known as Segment 3A of the North Tarrant Express). In issuing its Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) statement, the Federal Highway Administration reviewed the environmental assessment documents, environmental studies and a summary and analysis of the public hearing that was held in June, which many of you attended in support of the project.

You may have read the recent news reports that a section of I-35W north of downtown Fort Worth is now the most congested road in the state of Texas, causing up to 1.2 million hours in annual delays. This underscores the importance of our work and the need for continued advocacy in moving this project forward. In terms of next steps, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) hopes to get expansion of the highway under contract by the end of the year so that construction can begin in 2013. 

Thank you for your support and commitment to improving mobility in our region. We look forward to keeping you updated on the project's status in the coming months.

The next email was from some of our favorite Texans down south.  TURF.  YOU might want to pay attention, seeing how the new 35 is going to cost YOU.

Here it is in ink, finally. Vindication that what we've been saying for years is indeed true. TxDOT is manipulating speed limits for profit, slowing down the free alternatives alongside a privately-run tollway for which the Department gets a greater share of the toll revenues if it increases speeds on the tollway. Even worse, a Spanish company, Cintra, chose the slower speed limit for its competing route, not a TxDOT engineering study. Smells a whole lot like collusion and conflicts of interest than serving the public interest. This is what public private partnerships reap upon the freedom of travel of Texans.

Read More

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

Or rather,

Pipelines and Dams and Blackouts...

Coming soon to a city near you.

Read it in Newsweek Magazine. 

And if that doesn't freak you out a little, watch the History Channel's America's Crumbling Infrastructure.  That'll do it.

This guy gets it. 

Corporate monopolies that own railroad bridges, hydroelectric dams, and high-pressure pipelines have skimped on taking care of this infrastructure, putting lives and property across America at unnecessary risk from blackouts, collisions, and explosions, even the threat of entire towns being washed away by bursting dams.
 
“The industry deluges rule-making processes with their public relations people and lawyers, and most regulators have either come from the industry they now regulate or plan to go to work for that industry once they leave government service.”

Not taking care of equipment may seem like a dumb strategy. It would, for sure, doom any competitive business. But for a monopoly utility, diverting money from inspecting, repairing, and replacing equipment can make economic sense. When lots of poles fall, interrupting the flow of electricity that defines modern life, or a pipeline ruptures, blocking the passage of fuel to heat our homes, the utility company can get an emergency rate increase that the public is sure to back as long as they don’t know about the past diversions from infrastructure repair to executive pay. Best of all for the utility, unless consumers bird-dog a case, any “temporary” rate hike will likely be permanent.
 
There’s also this irony: utility prices are set by the government, which lets the companies include in their rates the cost of insurance to pay damages from, say, a pipeline explosion.
 
As legal monopolies, they get to add the higher insurance costs to the rates they charge. That means we are forced to pay more even as we are put in greater danger.

Adapted from The Fine Print by David Cay Johnston.

Read More

Got Water?

Can you afford it?

Read about it in the FW Weekly. 

Read More