Political Sense

Death and Taxes

advokate — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:01:18 +0000

The opinions expressed below are not an endorsement by Vision FW or the Fort Worth Chamber.

Whether it was getting your taxes prepared and mailed or attending a Tea Party, everyone had taxes on the brain this week.

Do you think the Tea Parties made their point? What are your thoughts?



Original photo from @PuterPrsn

Fort Worth Tea Party

On Wednesday, an estimated 3,000 protesters attended the Fort Worth Tea Party held at The Cats’ La Grave Field. Texas Governor Rick Perry was there with other featured speakers including Kelly Shackleford, Honorable Bill Zedler, Jim & Vickie Middleton, Mark Christopher Frimmel, Marshall Sherman, Congressman Joe Barton, Adrian Murray, Eric Wey, Brenda Silcox, and Stephanie Klick.

See Governor Rick Perry’s Flickr album of the local TEA parties

Texas Tea Parties

Here’s the estimated turnout for some of our neighbors: Burleson-900; Dallas-7,000; Denton-1,000; Plano-200; Rowlett-200.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/d59j25

Nation-wide Tea Parties

Check out the party break-down of the electoral college map from the 2008 election compared to the recent Tea Party events.



CNN's Electoral College results map for the '08 election



US Tea Parties on GoogleMaps.com

Turning Green

visionfw — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:19:34 +0000

The White House announced they plan to have an eco-friendly Easter egg hunt with green eggs (but no ham) and all.

2009 egg uses 31% less paperboard than the 2008 designs, eliminates the need for the paper shred/filler, features an egg-shaped dye cut instead of a cellophane window and uses renewable, vegetable oil-based inks.

From LATimes.com
Read full story by Johanna Neuman

Also, did you hear Elmo has changed from red to green? He’s not following in the footsteps of the Hulk, but instead is launching a campaign to share tips about the environment and “being green” to youngsters. Don’t worry, Elmo is still his ol’ red self on Sesame Street.

See Green Elmo’s visit to The Today Show.

Hang it up (at least while you drive)

advokate — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:22:35 +0000

So, happy with the checkpoints I wrote about last time? Not invasive enough? Try no cell phones in cars. There are a myriad of bills out there that try to enforce penalties associated with talking/texting and driving. Everything from ticketing you for the act, to ticketing you only if you cause an accident. We’ll see what comes out as the weeks are winding down. And if you haven’t had a hearing on your bill yet, good luck.

POLL RESULTS: President’s Report Card

visionfw — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:06:22 +0000

So interestingly enough, the Political Sense readers that responded to last week’s poll (all 3 of them) graded President Obama’s recent news conference a D.

Original post: POLL: President’s Report Card

Do you agree with this grade?

A slight block in the road

advokate — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:08:51 +0000

The Senate passed a measure today that would allow the 15 largest counties in the state to start setting up road blocks to try and deter drunk drivers. SB298 by John Carona from Dallas would allow for well-publicized DWI checkpoints in the state for a four hour period stopping every 4th vehicle.

Those against it, including the American Beverage Institute, state that we are moving towards a system of guilty before proven innocent. Those for the measure claim that a small stop could save many lives. In counties over 500,000 (yep, that’s Tarrant and Dallas), come September 1, 2009, Texas’ large metropolitan areas will start hittin’ the road with blocks if this measure passes the House.

POLL: President’s Report Card

visionfw — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:00:54 +0000

I’m sure many of you watched the President’s news conference on Tuesday night.

If you watched it, how would you grade Obama on the conference overall?

Click here to submit your grade

If you didn’t watch it, here are some links to check out:

Interested in the “Last Call” post from last week?

advokate — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:00:33 +0000

The Star-Telegram included a story about beer legislation in their business section on Monday. A video of Rahr is included.

The Shifting Lobby

advokate — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 08:00:16 +0000

It used to be that you only had to lobby legislators to get things done at the state and federal levels of government (with a little interim work at the agencies for rulemaking). Not so anymore. Watch the way the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) will shift lobbying practices from the halls of the capitol to the halls of agencies.

You see, a huge amount of the huge amount being spent to re-invigorate our economy will come in the form of grants. Guess who is about to make a ton of money and what kind of jobs you’ll see popping up everywhere? You got it. Grant writers and grant coordinators (the people who read them). From here it will go from grant receipt to the form of contracts - this is where the private sector comes in.

If you’re tired of hearing about the massive Stimulus package, send your thoughts so I can comment on something else.

If you’re a grant writer, may I borrow some money from you?

POLL RESULTS: Top Legislative Issues

visionfw — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 07:01:24 +0000

The results are in and the top 3 issues Political Sense readers are interested in are:

1. Economic Development

2. Local (Fort Worth and Tarrant)

3. Job Creation

Multiple responses were permitted.

The results aren’t too surprising considering the current economic times. What do you think about these results? If you responded to the poll, did the results fall in line with your entry?

Scratching your head?

visionfw — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:02:23 +0000

Getting a little confused with all the stimulus package talk? We’re here to help.

HowCast.com has published a simple video to explain.

(click here for the transcript)

What do you think about it?