Modern Republican Party

Political Cartoon is by Jeff Parker in Florida Today.

Where's The Justice ?

From the great website Seeds of Doubt.

Seliger's Bill Would Protect Ogallala Aquifer

The Ogallala Aquifer stretches from the lower plains of West Texas to parts of Wyoming and Nebraska. The aquifer is huge, and around 90% of the people who live on the aquifer get their drinking water from it. The aquifer is critical to several states for not only drinking water, but also for agricultural irrigation.

But as large as the aquifer is, its supply of water is not endless. In fact, a recent U.S. Geological survey found that in the last sixty years, the level of the aquifer has dropped about a foot. That's 9-10% of the water in the aquifer that is now gone, mainly due to irrigation. That's because the area above it is covered by a clay soil, and the aquifer does not replenish itself as readily as most other aquifers.

It's already apparent that even current usage cannot be maintained indefinitely, and before too long something must be done to limit usage -- especially agricultural usage. That's why I was horrified to learn of T. Boone Pickens plans for his Mesa Water Company.

Mesa formed a water district in the Panhandle of Texas. That district gives them eminent domain powers, and the ability to stretch a pipeline (9 feet in diameter) from the Panhandle to the urban metroplex of Dallas/Ft. Worth. Their plan was to pump millions of gallons of water every day through this huge pipeline for sale to the urban areas.

You can imagine what this would do to the Ogallala Aquifer. With the level of the aquifer already falling, how many years would it take with this pipeline to suck it dry? That pipeline might make Pickens much richer than he already is, but it could turn large parts of several states into a virtual desert. It is a very bad idea that needs to be stopped before it gets started.

Fortunately, it looks like State Senator Kel Seliger is trying to do that. Seliger (pictured) has filed SB1254 in the Texas Legislature this session, and the future of the High Plains may depend on whether he can get the bill passed. The bill would limit the use of imminent domain by water districts to no more than 75 miles. That would stop Mesa's plans to sell the aquifer to other areas of Texas.

Mesa, of course, is whining that the bill singles them out. They are right. It would affect no one else, but that is because no one else is planning to pipe the Ogallala's water hundreds of miles away to an urban area.

I am usually pretty hard on the Republican Senator Seliger, but I think he's doing the right thing with this bill and I hope he can get it passed. I have no problem with T. Boone Pickens selling his natural gas or his wind energy, but he needs to leave the water of the Ogallala Aquifer alone.

The future of the Panhandle and the High Plains may depend on this bill.

Last Words

Political Cartoon is by Mike Lane at cagle.msnbc.com.

Obama As Statesman

Yesterday, President Obama spoke to Latin American and Caribbean leaders at the Summit of the Americas being held in Trinidad and Tobago. It looks like he's repeating the success of his European trip. He's easing tensions and making friends by doing and saying all the right things.

He told the summit participants that he wants an "equal partnership" with all the nations of the Americas. He said, "I am here to launch a new chapter of engagement that will be sustained throughout my administration."

Then Obama backed up his words by warmly shaking hands with Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez. As they shook hands, Chavez told him, "I greeted Bush with this hand eight years ago; I want to be your friend." And there is no reason why the two nations cannot be friends. Bush made Chavez an enemy by continuing to interfere in Venezuela's politics by backing the rich and reactionary opponents of the elected leader, while Chavez was trying to lift up the poor and bring them into the country's mainstream life.

Bush tended to treat the Latin American countries as colonies of the United States, and saw everything in black and white terms. Friends were those who did what the United States told them to do, and everyone else was an enemy. President Obama is changing that with his goal of "equal partnerships" working together for mutual benefit. It is truly a statesmanlike approach.

The President also offered an olive branch to Cuba saying, "The US seeks a new beginning with Cuba. I know there is a longer journey that must be travelled to overcome decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day." He was responding to the overture made yesterday by Cuba. Raul Castro said Cuba stood ready to engage in talks with no limits or preconditions -- including human rights, political prisoners and freedom of the press.

I applaud the courage and statesmanship of both leaders. These talks are long overdue. It will be to the benefit of both countries for these talks to end the failed embargo and result in the normalizing of relations between the two countries.

I hope this is the start of a new future of better relationships with all the countries of the Americas and the Caribbean. There is no reason for us to have any enemies in this hemisphere. But it will require us to treat these countries with respect and allow them to forge their own futures as they think best, without interference from us.

Overture

Political Cartoon is by Cameron (Cam) Cardow in The Ottawa Citizen.

Republican Ideas

From the website What Would Jack Do?

More Tier-One Schools For Texas ?

At the current time, the state of Texas only has two tier-one research universities -- the University of Texas and Texas A-M University. I have no quarrel with either of these schools. They are both great universities, but with the size of the state and the number of students in Texas universities, there should be more than just two tier-one research schools.

There have been efforts in the past to elevate another school to this status, but they have always failed. The supporters of just one or two schools just cannot seem to get enough statewide support to get the job done. But there is a new approach being taken this year that just might work.

Bills introduced to create new tier-one universities in Texas this year have lumped six universities together -- University of North Texas, Texas Tech University (pictured), University of Houston, University of Texas at El Paso, University of Texas at San Antonio and University of Texas at Dallas. These bills would either elevate all six universities, or none at all. It is estimated that it would take about $500 million to get this accomplished.

The two senate bills are still pending in the Higher Education Committee, but that does not mean they are dead. The chairwoman of that committee and author of one of the bills, Sen. Judith Zaffirini, still has high hopes for passage of the bills. That's because there are 21 state senators that either represent the district containing one of the universities, or live in the general area where their constituents would be affected by the elevation. That's over two-thirds of the Texas Senate.

But there is one school that doesn't like this approach -- Texas Tech University. Chancellor Kent Hance is afraid there is not enough money to get all six approved. He wants his school given consideration above the other schools, saying he believes Tech is closer to tier-one status than the others.

I believe Hance is making a mistake. If they try to go it alone, there is a very good chance they will be shot down again. They could easily lose the support of most of the other 20 senators, who could be upset that their local school is being left out.

Since they are not located in or near any major urban area, Tech needs the support and goodwill of all the senators it can get. The way to do that is to stick with the other five schools. All or none may sound drastic to the Texas Tech people, but it is their best shot to climb to tier-one status this year.

A Little Math

Political Cartoon is by Michael Ramirez in Investors Business Daily.

Texas Seccession Is A Myth

Ever since Texas demagogue and current governor Rick Perry put his foot in his mouth the other day, and said Texas might secede from the United States, there has been a big hullabaloo about this all over the country. Could Texas actually do that?

Let me assure those of you in other states. The huge majority of Texans are proud to be a part of the United States, and we have no intention of going anywhere. So, what is causing this ridiculous talk of seccession?

Governor "Good Hair" Perry is in a tough re-election fight against Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, and currently she's leading him in the polls by a significant margin. There is a significant portion of the Texas Republican Party that is composed of ultra-right-wing nuts. They are a small minority of the overall Texas electorate, but if they vote as a bloc, they could be powerful in the Republican primary. "Good Hair" was simply trying to unify and appeal to these nuts, because if he doesn't get all of their votes, he won't survive the primary -- let alone get re-elected.

But these ultra-righties are a loud group and give the impression they are more powerful and larger than they actually are. As an example, the local ABC affiliate here in Amarillo (Channel 7) is running a very non-scientific poll on it's website. The question they're asking is "Do you think Texas should secede from the union?" As of 11pm last night, 650 people had voted and 54% of them had said yes.

Now this could give the impression that the people of Amarillo want to secede, but that is just not true. The truth is that most people in Amarillo (and Texas) think the question is stupid and moot, and they've simply ignored the silly poll. But the ultra-righties are voting, and therefore the results are badly skewed and don't represent the feelings of most Texans.

In addition, Texas doesn't have any more right to secede from the union than any other state does. It is just a myth that Texas retained that right when they were accepted as a state. Just look at what happened the last (and only) time Texas tried to secede -- in the Civil War. That little skirmish seems to have settled the question of whether Texas or any other state has the right to secede.

Talk of Texas seccession may make great headlines, but it would never happen. Not only are Texans proud to be part of the United States, but we did NOT retain and do not currently have the right to secede.

Not Likely

Political Cartoon is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Religion

From the website Atheist Comics.

Teabaggers Throw Their Tantrums

Well, April 15th has come and gone. The teabaggers threw their little political orgy yesterday, and little was truly the operative word. With all the money they had for financing, and with Faux News pushing the events as hard as they could, I really expected more.

Here in Amarillo, the hometown newspaper (and mouthpiece for Republican activities) estimated the noon crowd at "as many as 350 people". I drove by the courthouse at noon, and I have to say I think that estimate was very generous. Another quote from the paper said, "The parking lot on the north side of the old Potter County courthouse was a sea of American flags and protest signs ...". What they don't say is this is not a large parking lot. I doubt that over 25 cars could be parked there.

Frankly, that's not much of a crowd considering the bi-county area has around a quarter of a million people. The organizers were hoping for a cross-section of people to gather in a true grassroots effort, but that turned out to be wishful thinking, too. According to the newspaper, what was supposed to be an outcry against taxes degenerated into the basic right-wing gripes -- socialism, abortion, christian values, guns, illegal immigration, taxes, etc.

This was nothing more than a pity-party for the ultra-right. These are the losers in the last election. They have been fuming for several months, and yesterday was their opportunity to finally throw their tantrum. That's really the only thing the whole teabag party was about.

Now maybe the rest of America can get on with fixing the mess these people and their leaders made of our country.

Meanwhile, down in Austin at another poorly attended teabag party, our idiot governor opened his mouth and proved to the world that he is truly brain-dead. While talking to reporters, Perry told them that Texas might actually secede from the United States if things don't get better. Maybe someone should tell him what happened the last time Texas tried to do that.

Personally, I think he got carried away pandering to his right-wing base. That statement could come back to bite him in the ass in next year's governor's race.

Our New Flag ?

Political Cartoon is by Mike Keefe in The Denver Post.