I’m sure you have read the Headlines on Drudge or elsewhere about the Governor of Illinois getting arrested this morning. For a local take on the situation, be sure to check out my brother’s blog here. His site is getting hammered, so if it doesn’t load, try again.’
UPDATE: My brother’s Chicago Sun Times Column on the subject.
Got to love The Nuge:
Make no mistake, conservative values and ideologies are embraced by Americans. The polls all indicate Americans are fed up with the Pelosi-led, do nothing congress, and do not support more government programs and control. Sounds to me like we have a conservative revolution brewing.
Conservative leaders and thinkers such as Newt Gingrich, Jed Babbin, Governor Jindal of Louisiana, Thomas Sowell, Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, Governor Sarah Palin and others need to turn up the heat and bring this less government, more individual freedom and strong national defense revolution to a boil. It is time.
My specialty is making Fedzilla punks squirm and turn into a puddle of sweat and drool. Therefore, in the spirit of famous butt kickers Generals Chesty Puller and George Patton, I say we launch an attack on all fronts. Uncle Ted hereby declares it is open season on RINOs. No bag limits or permits required. Conservative ideas, arguments and votes are the weapons we will use. Hunt them down and shine a blazing light on these RINO turncoat cockroaches. Zero in the “we the people” crosshairs of your voting assault weapon and aim for the RINO pumpstation. Double tap center mass. Whack em and stack em, track em and hack em, pack em and give em no slack. Let’s do to the RINO beasts what we did to the passenger pigeon. Force out of the Republican Party out the subspecies known as RINOs.
We must not make the mistake of keeping the GOP tent so big that there’s room for RINOs. They are in the business of producing conservative defeats. Instead, join me in the new Conservative Revolution. Let’s go out and win another one for the Gipper.
A message I received today:
With the 2008 elections behind us, I have now embarked on a special mission to help Republicans win back a Majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. I am running for Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) – the campaign arm of the elected House leadership.
If chosen by my congressional colleagues for this position, I will lead House Republicans to recruit qualified candidates, strengthen campaign fundraising, establish innovative messaging strategies, and increase get-out-the-vote efforts – all with the single goal of winning at least 218 House seats in 2010 to reclaim a Republican Majority.
Above all, I will continue representing my constituents of the 32nd Congressional District, and I hope to expand my representation of their interests with a seat at the table of House leadership.
Yesterday, I formally announced my candidacy to become Chairman of the NRCC, and I have received the strong support of Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and numerous congressional colleagues.
I look forward to keeping you updated on my race to win a House leadership election, which will be held the week of November 17, 2008.
The original Internet political quiz. Over 11 million have taken this 60 second quiz since 1995. Fun and informative.
I Double Dog Dare you to post your scores!
Here’s mine:
Your PERSONAL issues Score is 60%.
Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 100%.
(Libertarian with some conservative leanings)
I posted this under a different headline, questioning the Texas Open Meetings act, and got it all wrong.
Had lunch today at the new Zaxby’s and ran into Mayor Pat McGrail. He told me there was an article coming out in the Citizen tomorrow detailing how three City Council Members showed up for the 2:00 pm Town Center Vision Meeting on October 16th.
The meeting did not have a posted agenda, therefore it is not allowed to have a quorum show up and discuss items that may come before them at a later point. I know Councilman Mitch Holmes stated on this blog they were asked who wanted to show up for what meeting at their City Council Meeting on October 7th. I know P&Z Members were asked the same question at our meeting.
To be fair, I haven’t read the article nor did I want to interrupt the Mayor’s lunch to discuss this in more detail, so I don’t even know who is in violation. I do know the Mayor told me he stayed away from both meetings to make sure there wasn’t a hint of a violation (two council members and the Mayor do not technically make a quorum, but the law is so widely interpreted by the courts, you go out of your way to make sure you don’t violate it). I am interested to hear the excuse given by the offending council members, and why one didn’t get up and leave when three showed up?
UPDATE: The Mayor called and wanted to clarify things, said that Ray Brown did leave after he realized there were three council members there and that his concern was more on how it would read in the paper rather than the three members being there. He read the blog and wanted to make sure I reported it right. As I said, I didn’t want to interrupt his meal any more than I did, so maybe I jumped the gun. My apologies. We will see the reaction after the paper comes out tomorrow.
UPDATE #2: Councilman Mitch Holmes responds in a comment on this post basically summing up what the Mayor said to me in his voicemail, but with more detail. I’ll repost it here so it will be read by those that just scan the site and don’t read the comments (the juciest part of KCL)
The mayor told me Tuesday night he likes to stick to two council members max at any unposted event to avoid the appearance of a quorum, that appearance being drawn from the fact that three votes can make a majority vote in session. Personally, I disagree… if a quorum is legally defined in the Charter as four, and three appears less than four, then three doesn’t appear to be quorum.
Regardless, respecting the mayor’s preference for the more conservative approach, not to mention Doug’s litany of AG questions, we had a mix-up when three showed up. To keep the mayor’s wishes, Councilman Brown left within just a few minutes… five by my estimate. I sat next to him in the back, and didn’t even know Councilman Baker was in the front of the room until he stood up and walked back to Ray to discuss which of them would leave. Then Ray got up, whispered to me he was leaving, and left.
To explain the mixup, Ray told me Tuesday night that two weeks earlier, when the mayor was confirming attendances, both he and John heard the mayor and me agree that I’d attend the evening session. I don’t doubt they understood that, but I agreed to attend the afternoon session, and put the 2:00 time in my BlackBerry as we spoke. Plus, their understanding would have destined the evening session to the same dilemma, so my case is almost made. The only question, then, is how five of us thought we were attending two events, with no more than two attending either one.
I can’t answer that. But between the letter and intent of the Charter, copied above by Jim… which allows three to attend… and Ray’s leaving within the first few minutes of the 2:00 session… reducing council attendance from three to two… I think there’s only enough substance left in this story for the most conspiring of theorists. In fact I think it’s a non-story and will be interested to read what the Keller Citizen makes of it.
I absolutely agree with Jim that the Texas Open Meeting’s Act hurts cities, particularly when there is a town hall meeting that several elected officials might want to attend out of interest for their community. But I also don’t see why we don’t just post them, and let them come. I feel I missed too much of what was said at the 7:00 session by trying to watch it in a 2 1/2 inch box. And the mike never gets passed around very well during the spirited exchanges, so the viewing audience misses that entirely. Then there’s the absolutely vulgar sound the podium mike makes to the viewing audience when it gets gnarled around.
Update #3: I went to the Keller Citizen office to get an advance copy of the paper. The story mentioned that three council members attended the 2:00 meeting, but said nothing at all about quorums or the Texas Open Meetings Act.
–Jim
Update #4: I renamed the post and apologize to the readers for getting this all wrong. - Doug
But do their residents?
As many as 17,000 homes could have a new address if the U.S. Postal Service goes through with a proposal to split the Keller ZIP code and create a new one for north Fort Worth.
The proposal is fueling much debate about neighborhood identity and raising concerns about emergency response times, property values and insurance rates, said Colleen Demel, executive director of the North Fort Worth Alliance.
Some of the fastest-growing areas in Fort Worth north of Northeast Loop 820 and east of Interstate 35 are in the Keller ZIP code. Children in that area attend Keller schools, but their parents pay Fort Worth taxes.
“Some folks like the Keller address because they think it a status symbol,” Demel said.
The North Fort Worth Alliance is holding an information meeting about the change at 7 p.m. Monday at Heritage Church of Christ, 4201 Heritage Trace Parkway.
You ain’t seen nothing…..
I got this email last night from a concerned citizen in Argyle.
Are the Town of Argyle elected officials looking out for your best interest?Mayor Landrum got the ball rolling for the Town of Argyle to purchase a small portion of his LPS Partners property (the Methodist Church property in old town) and then stepped back from the deal after sowing those seeds with the council members about the availability and viability of his property.Evidently those seeds took root because Bonny Haynes and Joe Phelps are willing to spend nearly One Million Dollars of our taxpayer money, for 2.25 acres and an Old church building. continue reading…
From the Star Telegram:
Carroll schools Superintendent David Faltys will get free housing provided by the school district after other school districts tried to poach him.
School board members want to keep Faltys as the leader of the 7,900-student school district, which holds the highest rating under the state’s four-tier academic accountability system.
Faltys has been approached about open superintendent positions, so the board agreed to modify his current four-year contract at a special meeting Friday.
The school board has not decided whether the plan will mean that the school system will buy a house in the Carroll district, where the average home value is $462,156, according to the Tarrant Appraisal District.
Maybe they can move one of the football players out of the district provided houses and move the Superintendent in. (Sports humor)
What kind of house would KISD provide for Dr. V?
Take a look at the different taxing entities meeting agendas. Some are done very professionally and make it very easy to follow. Tarrant County has RSS feeds for both their videos and agendas.
Tarrant County’s Commissioners Court meeting’s page is very well done and includes both all the supporting documents and links to video of the meeting. The City of Keller has recently put up both streaming and archived video feeds of both City Council and P&Z Meetings. KISD also has streaming and archived video and they include a link to the whole packet (something I wish the City would do).
The hospital district has a professional looking agenda, but they don’t supply any supporting information, video or RSS feeds.
Then you have TCC, they give you very little information, no video or packets and an agenda that looks like one of their students typed it out.
You think things are dirty now, read this article that my dad sent to me on his way to Denver to find out how it used to be.
John Adams lived long enough to see his son become president in 1825, but he died before John Quincy Adams lost the presidency to Andrew Jackson in 1828. Fortunately, that meant he didn’t have to witness what many historians consider the nastiest contest in American history.
The slurs flew back and forth, with John Quincy Adams being labeled a pimp, and Andrew Jackson’s wife getting called a slut.
As the election progressed, editorials in the American newspapers read more like bathroom graffiti than political commentary. One paper reported that “General Jackson’s mother was a common prostitute, brought to this country by the British soldiers! She afterward married a mulatto man, with whom she had several children, of which number General Jackson is one!”
My Dad and his ’63 Caddy Convertable, dubbed the Obamalac, are on thier way to Springfield, IL to be at Obama’s speech announcing his running mate.
From there, he is driving to Denver to the Democratic Convention.
I’ve posted before about his obsession with the messia Obama, but it gives him something to do with his time now that he is retired.
Update: Heard today Julie Tandy is a delegate to the convention.
Update II: Former Mayor Tandy is a delegate for Hillary Clinton
Democratic officials said little-known Texas Rep. Chet Edwards was one of the few Democrats whose background was checked by Obama’s campaign and he was a finalist for the job.
Related post here
