No Majority Needed To Be Elected Governor Of Texas
No Majority Needed To Be Elected Governor Of Texas Dolph Briscoe survived an unusually strong challenge from Republican Henry Grover on Nov. 7, 1972, but the six-percent showing by the Raza Unida candidate made the Democrat the first Texas governor in 78 years elected without a clear majority of the votes. State law can be confusing when it comes to choosing the chief executive. Since 1918 the two main political parties have been required to hold a runoff, if no competitor receives half of the primary vote. Not so in the general election, which has always been a winner-takes-all contest. This curious rule has resulted in 11 “minority” governors, who took Texas
Taking Things for Granted
Taking Things for Granted Ah, the things we take for granted. So typical. You hurt your hand (or arm or leg or foot or back or whatever) and realize how desperately you need it. You have a vision problem and suddenly know how precious are your eyes. When Zack became paralyzed, after the horrible shock of it (and before he started to regain small movements) the first of many deficits was the inability to scratch an itch, rub a nose or eye, to even move a finger toward any kind of independence. He certainly was nowhere near using a phone or TV remote. At that point, such things were of much less concern than whether his diaphragm muscles might fail at any moment and require intubation and breathing assistance. (We heard of numerous cases in which patients remained in ICU up to a year on respirators). I remember those first days when Zack was in ICU. I saw people moving around, going about their lives. I would drive home hurriedly from the hospital to feed animals or pick up things we needed. I remember thinking that all those people I saw
Suppose They Held An Election…
Suppose They Held An Election…
Building Ecotopia: Conclusion
Building Ecotopia: Conclusion In finishing up this series on Building Ecotopia, I
Tears For Obama?
Tears For Obama?
The political cartoon that has probably affected me the most in my life was the Bill Mauldin drawing after the Kennedy assassination. It showed the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln memorial, with his face in his hands, obviously crying. In response to Barack Obama winning the Presidency, maybe an appropriate cartoon today would show Lincoln crying once again, but this time they would be tears of joy or amazement.
I
Not Again!
Not Again! “Where we goin
Property Tax Relief: What are legislators doing?
Property Tax Relief:
Texans need property tax relief NOW!
What are state officials doing about it?
Naturally, the best way to provide property tax relief is to revamp and/or eliminate the current Property Tax & Appraisal System; however, that is NOT the most expedient path towards more immediate relief.
Taxpayers need a legislative “Pepto-Bismol” for immediate relief because every year during May and June, whether or not it is justified, appraisal districts attempt to increase values that continue to skyrocket property taxes.
For the past decade, homeowners have paid dramatic increases in appraisal values, tax rates and/or bond packages that translate into higher property taxes.
While there is an appraisal cap of 10% on residential property, sometimes appraisal districts have no fear or difficulty proposing more than that amount.
Appraisers and Appraisal Review Boards (ARBs) seem to have little compassion or ethics when it comes to dismissing taxpayers
Damn, The Revolution Was Televised…
Damn, The Revolution Was Televised… As Uncle Hugh used to say, “Never sleep late. Stupidity stays up all night.” First, the bad news… Never forget that the favorite pastime of most Texans is still dynamiting fish. We elected a sleazebag chickenhawk rug lawyer to the United States Senate in preference to a serving American veteran soldier who suspended his campaign to help hurricane victims. Down here in the Wild Horse Desert, the oil buffoons (pinball-burnished pickup pilots thinking they
Peace Out Cub Scout: Iraq To U.S.
Peace Out Cub Scout: Iraq To U.S. Iraq is kicking the United States out of its country. Granted, the Iraqi people have been trying to do so for the last seven years, but a new method proposed by Tariq al-Hashemi, Iraq
Real Plumbers Strike Back At
CINCINNATI, Ohio
Texas Students Aim To Cure Cancer With Beer
HOUSTON, Texas
Ninja
PORTLAND, Ore.
Dan Rather Papers Head To Judge
NEW YORK CITY
Obama
HONOLULU, Hawaii
Goldman Robs Tiny Tim To Give Bankers Xmas Bonus
LONDON, England
Baylor Denounces Noose Incident
WACO, Texas
God Anoints Obama President — GOP Call ‘Heavenly Father’ Baby-Eating Commie Terrorist
GOP Call ‘Heavenly Father’ Baby-Eating Commie Terrorist LEWISVILLE, Texas Something funny happened to the United States of America last Tuesday night. No riots took place. No martial law was called. No troops were deployed. No citizens disappeared. No voters were caged. No, instead, around 130 million peace-loving citizens cast their ballots in the 2008 general election, and in doing so, the nation’s first-ever bi-racial president was elected. You may have heard of him. His name is Barack Obama. The junior senator from Illinois ended his historic 21-month campaign for the White House by collecting 63 million votes, eight million more than his chief political rival, Sen. John McCain. Obama became the 44th president-elect in the midst of a vastly unpopular incumbent Republican president, a skatterbrained campaign by his Republican opponent, a national housing crisis, two failed foreign military occupations, and a mulititude of election season superstitions that media pundits refer to as “presidential predictors.” Here’s a quick review of the predictors that The Lone Star Iconoclast found most interesting. One: The popular magazine Weekly Reader found in a national survey that U.S. students aged five to 18 prefered Obama over McCain as president by a double-digit margain (54.7 percent to 42.9 percent). This survey has correctly predicted the outcome in 13 of the last 14 presidential elections. Two: The Pittsburg Steelers defeated Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football. Had the Redskins won on their last home game before the election, the incumbent party would supposedly remain in power. This prediction has been wrong only once in the last 17 presidential elections. Three: The ancient Chinese system of divination, the I Ching*, when cast with coins told The Iconoclast that the effect of an Obama presidency would be “Encouraging” (hexagram 58) changing to “Prospering” (11), whereas a McCain presidency would bring “Conflict” (6) with no changing lines. Yet Obama’s campaign appeared to have made its own luck with regard to the bellweather state of Missouri. The Show-Me State had failed at predicting the winning U.S. president only once in 100 years. This year’s race was close, though. Six-thousand votes separated two candidates. But while Missouri went for McCain, Obama still came out ahead in the national contest. From the sounds of it, some Missourians had enough of their state’s prediction powers anyway. “Well, whatever. There wasn’t a lot of glory in being the bellwether, except that reporters and news crews from places like Washington, London, and Germany came to interview us in election season,” said Barb Shelley, a Kansas City Star columnist. Another bellweather state, Ohio, went overwhelmingly for Obama by double digits, continuing its own unbroken streak of picking presidents not that it mattered since God picked Obama to win the second after He created evolution…. Obama’s campaign strategy paid off as long-time Republican stronghold Indiana turned blue as well as North Carolina and Virginia. Not to be outdone, the baby Jesus also had a hand in the election, pimp-slapping Karl Rove, President Bush’s former deputy chief of staff and political strategist. Rove predicted Obama would win going away with 338 electoral votes. In reality, Obama exceeded 349 projected with two states still undeclared Wednesday afternoo
