Bloggers are looking at the first bills submitted by state legislators for the '09 session, discussing the House Speaker race, relaying testimonies, and talking about themselves. Wrapping it up are some miscellaneous posts.
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Bills, Bills, Bills
The University of North Texas wants a law school in downtown Dallas, says Tex Parte Blog. If it happens, the city's already donated a building. Also from Tex Parte, the University of Texas at Brownsville wants a law school, too. And A Capitol Blog's Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, is asking for a medical school in the Valley.
Capitol Annex has the greatest number of entries about pre-filed legislation, including bills related to transportation, election law and redistricting, higher ed, school vouchers, education, criminal justice, the English language, injection wells and more! Meanwhile, Code Red, formerly Joshua's Political Blog, says the sheer number of bills argues for the implementation of annual state Lege sessions.
Thinking outside the region, the Austin Chronicle's newsdesk is interested in legislation written by state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston. And Blue Dot Blues says the worst bills thus far are HB 105 by Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, which would create campaign contribution limits, and HB 100 by Rep. Fred Brown, R-Bryan, lowering requirements for history and civics courses at state colleges.
Grits for Breakfast relays a Texas Department of Criminal Justice fact sheet on an inmate re-entry bill by Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City. Here's a look other legislation related to criminal justice, via Grits.
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Nobody Has The Votes Yet
We're not sure if Travis Monitor had Tom Craddick in mind when posting this Quote of the Day, but we sure thought of the Speaker's race when reading it.
Flashing back to the jockeying for Speaker in January 2007, Burnt Orange relates a tale of daring and woe starring Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas. "Other than the fact that I spoke with [Rep.] Garnet [Coleman, D-Houston], your story is dramatic, but completely fictional," Hartnett comments. Burnt Orange takes umbrage.
In the present tense, Burnt Orange analyzes public statements from each House member, concluding that, on the Craddick question, 75 are opposed; 63 are in favor; and, 13 are unknown. (Here's an update concerning Rep. Al Edwards, D-Houston, who told Burnt Orange that he's a Sylvester Turner kind of guy. But here's some evidence from mcblogger to the contrary.) BurkaBlog's take: "They did a great job. But they're wrong." A discussion ensues in the comments. "Duck and cover!" is the advice from Letters from Texas.
Remember back in August when we told you about the brand-new sensation called ooVoo? Well, the Texas Monthly folks are using it, finally, to post discussions amongst themselves. Follow these links for three videos on the Speaker's race: here, here and here.
After reading the letter wherein a baker's dozen of lawmakers pledge allegiance to Craddick, Trail Blazers, the Dallas Morning News's blog, asks, "Where's the love for tort reform?" Musings calls the Craddick supporters "Toadies," which, depending on your taste in music, might not be an insult. And A Capitol Blog uses a video by the company Ross Perot founded to illustrate the Speaker selection process.
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What'd They Say?
Grits links to five Sunset reports on criminal justice agencies and weighs in on the recommendation to get rid of the Texas Youth Commission. Meanwhile, Mike Falick's Blog provides the testimony he gave in opposition to proposed Pre-K grant rules. And Robert Shapiro, whom you may remember from such presidential administrations as Bill Clinton's, argues on the Houston Chronicle's Texas on the Potomac that 2008 U.S. politics are more like 1980 than 1932.
On Williamson Republic, Americans for Prosperity Director Peggy Venable argues in favor of spending limits for state budgets. And political demographer (and former Austin American-Statesman reporter) Bill Bishop, who's also coeditor of The Daily Yonder , tells Trail Blazers how Barack Obama's performance in Texas compares with John Kerry's.
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Bloggers Are People, Too
The following bloggers admit to suffering from post-election ennui: In the Pink Texas , Refuse the Juice and KVUE's Political Junkie (who also got in a car wreck on Veterans Day, with a veteran). The El Paso Times's Vaqueros & Wonkeros, meanwhile, has been in North Carolina.
In the department of shameless pandering, Burnt Orange's David Mauro is canvassing online votes to win a $10,000 blogging scholarship. With a bit of help from the likes of Daily Kos, Mauro's in the lead (as of Sunday). In second place is a guy named David Cameron (no relation to the British politician), who has a North Carolina-based blog about baseball and the Seattle Mariners. On a related, but more discreet note, Sprittibee tells readers that she's in the running for a "Homeschool Blog Award."
After some deliberation, TexasSparkle says she will no longer write for the Houston Chronicle, because she wants to concentrate on her two other blogs. In nearby news, the HoustonPress is looking to hire a political blogger. (Via blogHOUSTON.)
Given the Democratic Party's momentum, is it time for Half Empty to rename the blog "Half Full" No! says Half Empty, not as long as Americans are willing to take advantage of Nebraska. As we mentioned earlier, Joshua's Political Blog is now Code Red . And Bexar County Justice of the Peace-Elect Steve Walker sends a virtual thank you card to voters on his Walker Report blog.
No word yet on if PatriotWriter is following through on her relocation vow. Meanwhile, Ellis County Observer reminds readers about his other blog called District 22 Blog, wherein Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, is called imaginative things such as "RINO," "Anti-Taxpayer" and "Too Liberal."
Headline of the Week Award goes to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban for a blog maverick entry that could apply to either party, titled "I Hate to Lose." (Just replace "Mavs" with "Harris County Democrats" or "national GOP.")
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Loose Ends
Newsdesk debuts the Strayhorn Mayoral Declaration Alert System. Here are maps of elections results by Eye on Williamson and Greg's Opinion (here and here). Plus non-pictorial analysis by Greg here and here.
If we handed out Lede of the Week awards, mcblogger would get one for this one: "Apparently, UT has decided that it 'can't' offer domestic benefits because of state law. Which is pretty funny since the City of Austin and my employer do."
And, Ellis County Observer predicts that Rep. Ron Paul, R-Lake Jackson, will run for President of the United States in 2012.
This edition of Out There was compiled and written by Patrick Brendel, who hails from Victoria but is semi-settled in Austin. We cherry-pick the state's political blogs each week, looking for news, info, gossip, and new jokes. The opinions here belong (mostly) to the bloggers, and we're including their links so you can hunt them down if you wish. Our blogroll — the list of Texas blogs we watch — is on our links page, and if you know of a Texas political blog that ought to be on it, just shoot us a note. Please send comments, suggestions, gripes or retorts to Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey.