Giving away your tax money to private corporations got a lot easier recently when the Austin City Council unanimously passed a hollow economic incentive ordinance.  Dismissing the concerns of 123,000 Austin citizens who voted to stop the Domain Mall tax subsidies last year, the Mayor and City Council passed an ordinance which requires no neutral oversight, no third-party review, and no independent analysis when doling out your hard-earned tax dollars.

Check and balance?  “No, thanks! Trust city staff to give away your tax money.  We don’t need no stinkin’ oversight!” 

Rick Perry is the biggest fraud and phony in American politics today.

On April 15, Rick Perry had the nerve to speak at Tea Party rallies in Austin, Arlington, and Ft. Worth, where the public came out to protest high taxes and big government programs draining our economy.   Yet, as governor, Rick Perry strongly promoted a new business margins tax (small-business killer) that came into effect two years ago, and he has done nothing but promote BIG government for nine years.

Before you ever pick up a gun, here are some things to know.

Like any powerful tool, the pistol can be used negligently when one does not have the right training and knowledge of gun safety.  The precautions and admonitions summarized below may “go without saying” for many readers, and are considered “common sense,” like most safety advice.  Before one picks up a gun, you should be prepared and be aware.

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Chief Art Acevedo agrees to talk to public about his controversial plan to train police to take blood samples from drunk-driving suspects.

The Declaration of Independence states that “governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.”  My question is this:  Have we given the City of Austin permission to train our police officers to act as phlebotomists and administer blood withdrawals?  I certainly haven’t.  Have you?

Attention Voters: 2009 is a pivotal municipal election here in the state’s capital.

On Saturday, May 9, Austin voters will be electing a new mayor, and four of the six City Council seats are up for grabs as well.

Two incumbents, Mike Martinez and Sheryl Cole, are hoping to breeze into their second terms with little competition.  Two other seats are now wide open since their current occupants, Lee Leffingwell and Brewster McCracken, have both thrown their hats into the ring to be Austin’s next mayor.

The Race for Mayor

CAMPO officials vote to silence the public before approving new funding mechanism to allow 290-E Tollway plans to move forward.

AUSTIN -- The board of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) convened on December 1st and voted to approve the creation of a financial system linking 183-A toll road and a proposed toll road (known as the Manor Expressway) along the route of U.S. 290E. This ‘financial system’ would allow for funds generated from 183-A to fund the project on U.S. 290, connecting Interstate 35 with Toll Road 130 in eastern Travis County.

A significant number of people, including residents who live in the area where the expressway will be built, showed up to voice their opinion before the item was voted on.  However, it appears that the public is to be seen and not heard, or at least that was the impression given by the CAMPO board through their actions and votes that evening.

Cities and private contractors cash in on red light camera ticketing systems in the name of "public safety."

AUSTIN -- A new boom is taking place across Texas that may improve public safety at busy intersections but is certain to make governments and private contractors loads of money: the "red-light camera." Red light cameras mark the first step toward "photo-enforcement" of traffic laws in the state, and may lead to "speed cameras" and the eventual issuance of fines for various other traffic violations caught on camera.

The Daily Texan reported (April 10, 2007) that Austin’s Department of Public Works will be doing a “red light camera” pilot program for a couple months at two intersections (the corner of Riverside and Pleasant Valley being one of them). They will test the cameras to make sure the technology works according to plan and identifies vehicles correctly so that each fine can be mailed to the appropriate address.

Rising number opposed to Gov. Rick Perry's plan to sell off highways to private companies in order to finance Trans-Texas Corridor.

AUSTIN -- Gov. Rick Perry announced the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) project in 2002. Perry's grand 4,000 mile scheme encompasses 11 separate corridors that will criss-cross the state. The corridors will cost $180 billion to build, will take 50 years to complete and, according to Gov. Perry, will greatly benefit Texans.

Although Gov. Perry says this massive project is being carried out to meet the needs of growth and commerce in Texas, critics say that Texans in fact don't want the Trans-Texas Corridor and see "TTC-35" (the first leg of the corridor running parallel to I-35) instead as the first piece of an international NAFTA-inspired highway, intended to increase trade with Mexico, and speed the importation of goods from Asia into Eastern North America.

The AP's Jim Vertuno reported that the purpose of the Trans-Texas Corridor is to "enable freight haulers to bypass heavily populated urban centers on straightshot highways that cut across the countryside." The corridors will also allow corporations to transport their toxic industrial waste through the state without directly endangering residents in populated urban and suburban areas.

Gov. Perry's plan calls for the Trans-Texas Corridor to be a quarter of a mile wide (about four football fields, in American-speak) with "six lanes for cars, and four for trucks, plus railroad tracks, oil and gas pipelines, water and other utility lines, and broadband transmission cable."