The Truth About The XL Pipeline

Texas Primary Results

The state of Texas held its Democratic and Republican primaries last night, and the results were expected, disappointing, and downright scary, with about 85% of the vote counted.

GOVERNOR (DEMOCRATIC)
Wendy Davis...............79%
Ray Madrigal...............21%

GOVERNOR (REPUBLICAN)
Greg Abbott...............91%
Lisa Fritsch...............5%
Miriam Martinez...............3%
SECEDE Kilgore...............1%

This was expected  -- in both parties. Neither Davis nor Abbott faced any real competition, and now they will face off in the general election.

SENATOR (DEMOCRATIC)
David Alameel...............48%
Kesha Rogers...............22%
Maxey Scherr...............17%
Harry Kim...............9%
Michael Fjetland...............5%

SENATOR (REPUBLICAN)
John Cornyn...............59%
Steve Stockman...............19%
Dwayne Stovall...............11%
Linda Vega...............4%
Chris Mapp...............3%
Ken Cope...............3%
Reid Reasor...............2%

The Democratic side here is very disappointing for progressives. It's looking like a run-off between a rich Blue Dog and a LaRouche supporter, neither of which will make a credible choice for Texas voters next November. I can see a lot of progressives just voting Green in this race.

On the Republican side, incumbent Cornyn coasted to an easy victory -- and he will probably do the same in November. Ted Nugent's candidate (Stockman) never stood a chance in this primary race.

LT. GOVERNOR (DEMOCRATIC)
Leticia Van De Putte................100%

LT. GOVERNOR (REPUBLICAN)
Dan Patrick...............42%
David Dewhurst...............28%
Todd Staples...............18%
Jerry Patterson...............12%

Van De Putte had no opposition. What's good about this race is that it looks like she'll be running against a real nut-job right-winger (of the ilk of Gohmert, Stockman, Cruz, etc.).

The scary part is that this race shows the stranglehold the teabaggers have on the Texas Republican Party. Patrick (a truly scary teabagger) easily bested the incumbent Dewhurst. There will probably be a run-off, but I now expect Patrick will win. I just can't see the voters for right-wingers Staples and Patterson opting for Dewhurst at this point.

LAND COMMISSIONER (DEMOCRATIC)
John Cook...............100%

LAND COMMISSIONER (REPUBLICAN)
George P. Bush...............73%
David Watts...............27%

Cook had no opposition, so his win is anything but a surprise. The scary part here is that the Republicans launched the career of another member of the Bush family. Obviously, Texas teabaggers haven't had enough of the infamous Bush incompetence. Cook will have a hard time winning this one.

AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER (DEMOCRATIC)
Jim Hogan...............40%
Kinky Friedman...............38%
Hugh Fitzsimons III...............23%

AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER (REPUBLICAN)
Sid Miller...............35%
Tommy Merritt...............21%
Eric Opiela...............17%
Joe Cotten...............15%
J. Allen Carnes...............12%

For me, this was the most disappointing race of the night (except for the senate race). I was hoping Friedman would win, and bring some new voters to the Democratic ticket. He still might, but it looks like a substantial portion of party regulars are afraid of him because he doesn't toe the party line. Whoever wins will probably face teabagger Miller (almost as scary a guy as Patrick, who's the GOP favorite for Lt. Governor).

RAILROAD COMMISSIONER (DEMOCRATIC)
Steve Brown...............64%
Dale Henry...............36%

RAILROAD COMMISSIONER (REPUBLICAN)
Wayne Christian...............43%
Ryan Sitton...............30%
Becky Berger...............17%
Malachi Boyuls...............10%

I like the outcome of this race. Nothing against perennial candidate Henry on the Democratic side, but Brown is just a better candidate. Looks like Christian will probably win in the group of no-name GOP candidates.

Texas

Political Cartoon is by John Branch in the San Antonio Express-News.

States With The Most And Least Obesity

(The cartoon image above is by Rick McKee in The Augusta Chronicle.)

The Gallup Poll just released its health/well-being results for 2013 about obesity. The results are from the surveys they took between January 1st and December 29th of 2013 of 178,072 nationwide adults. Because of the enormous size of the survey, the margin of error is only about 1 point (and the margin of error for most states is only 1 to 2 points).

It turns out that about 27.1% (more than a quarter) of the American population is obese. But that obesity is not spread evenly among all the states. Some states have more obesity than others. I list below the states with the highest and lowest rates of obesity:

HIGHEST OBESITY RATES
Mississippi..........35.4%
West Virginia..........34.4%
Delaware..........34.3
Louisiana..........32.7%
Arkansas..........32.3%
South Carolina..........31.4%
Tennessee..........31.3%
Ohio..........30.9%
Kentucky..........30.6%
Oklahoma..........30.5%
Indiana..........29.9%
Texas..........29.8%

LOWEST OBESITY STATES
Montana..........19.6%
Colorado..........20.4%
Nevada..........21.1%
Minnesota..........22.0%
Massachusetts..........22.2%
Connecticut..........23.2%
New Mexico..........23.5%
California..........23.6%
Hawaii..........23.7%
New York..........24.0%

I know it probably doesn't mean anything, but I found the distribution of red and blue states very interesting -- especially when you consider that while they have Democratic governors, Arkansas and Kentucky are pretty red states (and that New Mexico is generally a blue state, even though it has a Republican governor).

What do you think? Am I seeing a pattern where none exists?

If you would like to see the obesity percentage in your own state, you can go to the Gallup Poll site.

Medal Count

Political Cartoon is by Joe Heller in the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

The Minimum Wage Is A Poverty Wage

I've posted this map before, but it deserves to be repeated. By comparing the amount of hours a person making minimum wage would have to work to afford a two-bedroom apartment, we can see just what a pitifully small wage the minimum wage really is.

For example, a minimum wage worker would have to work 88 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom apartment here in Texas (and that doesn't even begin to include food, clothing, transportation, and all other living expenses). No one, not even a single person, can live decently on minimum wage -- and that is just wrong, since no one who works hard at a full-time job should have to live in poverty.

To hear the Republicans talk, you would think raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would be some fantastically high wage that no business could afford. The truth is far different. Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would still leave it less than half of the median wage in the United States (only about $21,000 a year). It would still be a very low salary, and far from an unreasonable one.

Zero-Tolerance

Political Cartoon is by Nate Beeler in The Columbus Dispatch.

Thank Goodness For Equal Voting Rights

I shamelessly stole this from the great blog of Juanita Jean (owner of the World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc.). It compares what actually happened to what would have happened if only white men had voted (a horrible thought). I am a white man, but I think it's obvious that if only white men could vote then this country would be in a lot of trouble. Thank goodness for women's rights and civil rights.

Tragic Waste Of Money

It's Primary Day In Texas !

(This image is from the website of the Idaho Secretary of State.)

Early voting ended last Friday here in Texas, and today is the voting day in both of the party primaries. I am the Democratic precinct chair for precinct #122 here in Amarillo -- and I have been appointed the alternate judge for that precinct. It is a heavily Republican precinct, so a Republican has been appointed election judge -- and both parties will be voting at the same place (a combined poll for both Republicans and Democrats of precincts 122 & 124).

I know most of you don't care about that, but I tell you to let you know that I will be away from my computer all day -- and therefore won't be able to moderate comments until about 8:00pm (so if you make a comment, don't think I'm ignoring you -- just be patient). I'm also not sure how much time and energy I'll have to put up some posts for Wednesday.

If you live in Texas, and you didn't vote early, please take the time to go and vote today in whichever party primary you prefer. As you might expect, I'll be voting Democratic. Here are my primary choices:

U.S. SENATE...............Maxey Scherr

GOVERNOR...............Wendy Davis

LT. GOVERNOR...............Leticia Van De Putte

ATTORNEY GENERAL...............Sam Houston

COMPTROLLER...............Mike Collier

LAND COMMISSIONER...............John Cook

AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER..............Kinky Friedman

RAILROAD COMMISSIONER...............Steve Brown

SUPREME COURT, CHIEF JUSTICE...............William Moody

SUPREME COURT, PLACE 6...............Lawrence Edward Meyers

SUPREME COURT, PLACE 7...............Gina Benavides

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS, PLACE 3...............John Granburg

U.S. CONGRESS DISTRICT 13...............Mike Minter

TEXAS HOUSE DISTRICT 87...............Abel Bosquez

Let me leave you with two exhortations -- please vote for the candidates of your choice, and please don't vote for Kesha Rogers (since she is not a Democrat).

The Winter Of Our Discontent

Political Cartoon is by John Darkow in the Columbia Daily Tribune.

Most Americans View Michelle Obama Favorably

Americans like their current First Lady -- or at least 2 out of 3 of them do. Michelle Obama is viewed favorably by 66% of Americans (and that figure has been steady for more than three years now). And what's not to like? She has the best qualities of other great Democratic First Ladies -- the beauty of Jackie Kennedy, the charm of Rosalynn Carter, the intelligence of Hillary Clinton, and the strength & courage of Eleanor Roosevelt.

The chart below shows the current favorable ratings for both Barack and Michelle Obama. And both ratings look pretty good, although Michelle's are much higher. That is no surprise, since the president has to take credit or blame for political decisions he has made.

The charts were made with information contained in a recent Gallup Poll. That survey was done between February 6th and 9th of a random nationwide sample of 1,023 adults, with a margin of error of 4 points.

(This image of First Lady Michelle Obama is from GlobalGrind.com.)

Post-Olympic

Political Cartoon is by Martin Sutovec of Slovakia at cagle.com.

U.S. Public Unsure Of Response To Invasion Of Crimea

The Russians have now poured over 16,000 soldiers into the Crimea (a province of Ukraine). It's starting to look like they are going to use the political crisis in Ukraine as an excuse to expand their own territory. They have told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that they only entered the Crimea as the request of Viktor Yanukovych, saying he had told them the country was in "chaos and anarchy" and "on the brink of civil war".

That's a rather lame excuse. Yanukovych was not overthrown by a civil war, but legally removed by the Unkranian parliament. And if they were really trying to prevent civil war in Ukraine, then why have they only sent troops to the Crimea? Other parts of Ukraine were experiencing more unrest that the Crimea. This is not an attempt to "help" Ukraine, but a territorial grab by Russia. I think U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power put it well when she said:

"Russian military action is not a human rights protection mission. It is a violation of international law."

President Obama has said the United States will take some diplomatic (including economic) measures against Russia, and other Western nations are doing the same. Canada has even withdrawn its ambassador from Moscow. Unfortunately, it looks like the President will have to act without the full support of the American people. And that's a shame, since we cannot allow Russia to resume its old expansionist ways.

The chart above shows this unfortunate view of the American public. It is from a survey taken by the Rasmussen Poll on February 28th and March 1st of 1,000 likely voters nationwide (and has a margin of error of 3 points). Note that only 37% support diplomatic action against Russia, while 36% oppose that. Another 27% don't know what should be done.