Category Archives: Texas News

Conundrum of the Day – Abortion and Bowling?

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Red was running some errands on Saturday when he happened to drive by several anti-abortion protestors in front of the local bowling alley.  They were holding up the usual gruesome photos of aborted fetuses at various stages of gestation.  Red admits to being rather torn up on the abortion issue.  On a personal level, Red would never encourage any woman to have an abortion absent some extraordinary circumstances and does not think abortion should be used as birth control.  On the other hand, Red supports making abortifacients easily available.  And on his hypothetical third hand, Red doesn’t really see that criminalizing and further restricting abortion would accomplish much of anything except to allow for the wealthy to travel to countries where abortion is legal and force other women to resort to dangerous alternatives if they are desperate to get an abortion.  And Red will never understand why the anti-abortion forces are also typically against easy availability of birth control and against sex education except for the demonstrably ineffective “abstinence only” ruse.  All in all, a real conundrum.

But given all that, Red is still wondering about the connection between an anti-abortion protest and bowling.  Can anyone explain?

Sid Miller – Tool of the Deep Fat Fryer Lobby?

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Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller (TP-Stephenville) likes to take on the important issues facing our state – like making sure Texas students have better access to deep fat fried foods and sodas.  As if our young ones did not have enough opportunity to consume heavily fried treats  and high fructose sugar drinks at McDonalds, Whataburger, KFC and elsewhere, Miller is committed to allowing Texas schools to once again help students become even bigger lard-asses.  Miller claims that this is not about fried food but freedom.  Curiously, Miller had also been busy trying to secure more money for the chronically underfunded Texas Department of Agriculture.  Funny how once he was in charge, the former legislator (and alleged fiscal conservative) found that his department couldn’t do its job.  But in his latest buffoonish move, Miller’s true colors show through.  The Texas Tribune reports:

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, the cowboy-hat-wearing champion of local control, is looking to buck a decade-old statewide ban on deep fat fryers in public schools. Putting decision-making back into the hands of Texas school districts, he says, “isn’t about french fries, it’s about freedom.”

Within the next couple of months, the Texas Department of Agriculture could be poised to repeal a state policy that bans deep fat fryers and soda machines on school campuses and places limits on the time and place that junk food can be sold there. In addition, Miller is proposing an increase in the number of allowed fundraiser days – when cupcakes and other sugary, fatty foods can be sold during the school day – from one to six per school year. 

The deep fat fryer and soda machine ban are the last of strict nutritional policies introduced by former Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs. In 2004, in addition to those bans, Combs introduced the more comprehensive Texas Public School Nutrition Policy, which banned foods with high levels of sugar and fats in public schools. The policy was repealed last year, when Todd Staples was commissioner, and Miller has consistently expressed his support for less regulation of food in schools. 

In January, Miller granted amnesty to cupcakes during his first act as commissioner in an attempt to reassure Texas parents that cupcakes and other treats would be allowed in schools under his administration, which he promised would increase local control of decision-making processes and protect the rights of parents.

“This is coming from when he was on the campaign trail,” said Bryan Black, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Agriculture, referring to the proposed changes. “He heard it repeatedly, when it came to cupcakes and other things. People were asking why local communities shouldn’t have a say.”

But for many parents and nutritionists, that reasoning doesn’t square with reality. In 2013, 16 percent of high school students in Texas were obese, up from 14 percent in 2005. Only Arkansas, Kentucky and Alabama reported higher rates. Nationwide, child obesity rates have jumped from 7 percent in 1980 to 18 percent in 2012. Among minorities, the rates for children and adolescents were significantly higher, with Hispanics at 22 percent and non-Hispanic black youth at 20 percent.

The Tea Party Believes in Freedom – Unless You’re Gay – Then Not So Much

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The Texas Tribune reports that a House committee has approved a bill to further restrict gay marriage – even though it is already illegal in Texas.  The Tea Party bulldozer continues sweep aside any chance that Texas will treat all of its citizens fairly.

Texas House committee on Wednesday passed a bill that seeks to prohibit same-sex marriages, even though the state already bans such unions. 

The measure is one of several proposals at the Texas Capitol targeting same-sex marriage and the first one that has cleared a legislative committee this session, according to the Texas Freedom Network, which describes itself as fighting initiatives backed by the state’s religious right.

The State Affairs Committee passed House Bill 4105, which would forbid the use of state or local funds for issuing same-sex marriage licenses. The 7-3 vote was along party lines, with only Republicans supporting the measure. The proposal now heads to a committee that schedules legislation for debate by the full House.

“The intent is to assert the sovereign rights of Texas and of the citizens of Texas,” said Rep. Cecil Bell [TP-Magnolia], the bill’s author. “I believe it is a bipartisan issue — our social rights and our traditional values.”

You sir, are a bigot.

Fat, Drunk and Stupid is No Way to Go Through College Son

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Cody Nichols, a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity at Texas State University, is reported to have paid over $1,200 for a cab ride from New Orleans to the fraternity house in San Marcos this past weekend.  Nichols reported a story to Total Frat Move  (who knew?) in which he was drinking on Bourbon Street when he got separated from his date and his group, then lost his phone in a fight in front of his hotel, jumped in a cab to avoid arrest and told the driver to take him to his frat house.  The driver balked telling Nichols that it would cost over $700, but Nichols pulled out his credit card and off they went.  Nichols apparently was very confused as he thought he was on 6th Street in Austin.  A $1200 cab ride later, he was back in San Marcos.  But Nichols wasn’t through yet.  He allegedly spent another $400 to fly back to New Orleans to meet back up with his disgusted date and the rest of the group for the bus ride back to San Marcos.

The parents must be very proud.  Red is the first to admit that he did a few things in his younger days that might not look so good on the resume, but nothing like this. Red also has to admit that Nichols is not fat.

What’s Next – the Official State Capital for Lung Disease?

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Texas cities are hankering to get an “Official State Capital” designation for a variety of reasons.  The Legislature is generally eager to hand these out.  myhighplains.com reports on some of the current efforts to achieve immortal fame for some small Texas towns.  For the curious, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission maintains a list of official state capital designations which have been approved by the Legislature.

Jasper wants to be the official Butterfly Capital of Texas; Hico covets the nod for official Steak Capital; and Jim Hogg County wants to be known as the Vaquero Capital.

Hoping to add Hico to that list, state Rep. J.D. Sheffield, R-Gatesville, told the committee the city of 1,300, is home to the annual Texas Steak Cookoff, which draws about 7,000 people one Saturday every year.

“We depend on tourism. It’s a very integral part of us surviving,” said Mike James, executive director of the Hico Economic Development Board.

Several members of the committee grilled Sheffield on his proposal. State Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, asked Sheffield, a physician, if he encouraged patients to consume a lot of red meat. Sheffield said Hico was a “great place to go if you love slices of dead cow in various stages of preparation.”

In the interest of full disclosure, Red fully supports designating Hico as the Official Steak Capital of Texas.  Hico hosts the Texas Steak Cookoff on the third Saturday every May.  Red and family have participated for the last several years – even sporting a 7th Place finish a few years ago.  The Cookoff is a lot of fun and helps boost the Hico economy.

Finally Some Good News from Falling Oil and Gas Prices

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Scientists claim to have established that the spike in earthquakes in the DFW area can be traced to saltwater injection – a byproduct of drilling and fracking operations.  The Associated Press reports that a study has linked the small earthquakes occurring west of Fort Worth to nearby natural gas wells and wastewater injection.

And the good news?  With reduced fracking activity and the resulting injection of wastewater, it is predicted that there will be fewer earthquakes.

In 84 days from November 2013 to January 2014, the area around Azle, Texas, shook with 27 magnitude 2 or greater earthquakes, while scientists at Southern Methodist University and the U.S. Geological Survey monitored the shaking. It’s an area that had no recorded quakes for 150 years on faults that “have been inactive for hundreds of millions of years,” said SMU geophysicist Matthew Hornbach.

When the volume of injections decreased significantly, so did the shaking.

The scientists concluded that removing saltwater from the wells in the gas production process and then injecting that wastewater back underground “represent the most likely cause” for the swarm of quakes, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

The scientists determined this based on where and when the earthquakes happened; computer models that track pressure changes; and company data from nearby wells. Hornbach said the timing and location of the quakes correlates better to the drilling and injection than any other possible reason.

“There appears to be little doubt about the conclusion that the earthquakes were in fact induced,” USGS seismologist Susan Hough, who wasn’t part of the study team, said in an email. “There’s almost an abundance of smoking guns in this case.”

Was Rick Perry’s Texas Miracle Based on Anything Other than High Oil Prices?

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Rick Perry may no longer be able to point to the so-called Texas Miracle if he decides to run for President.  It turns out that the miracle may have been nothing more than the result of an oil boom that boosted the entire State’s economy and had nothing to do with Perry’s misguided policies.  The Wall Street Journal reports that Texas continues to lose jobs in the wake of falling oil prices.  JP Morgan Chase economist Michael Feroli had reported in 2014 in that Texas’s economy was in for serious problems  based on his analysis of the effect of rapidly declining oil prices.  Richard Fisher who was then President of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank likened Feroli’s report to “bull shit.”  But Feroli may be getting the last laugh at Texas’ and Rick Perry’s expense.

Mr. Fisher, who has since retired as Dallas Fed president, argued Texas was no longer tied to the fate of the oil industry. He said the Lone Star State had diversified itself considerably and could withstand the big drop in oil prices and continue to be an engine of growth for the nation.

In a new report, Mr. Feroli was back to say he was right, and Mr. Fisher was wrong. “The only thing dropping in the Texas economy lately is the number of jobs,” he said in a report. The economist said Texas is now seeing the sort of job losses that would normally occur only in a recession.

Mr. Feroli pointed to a report from the Texas Workforce Commission showing the state lost 25,400 jobs in March. He said a proportional loss on the national scale would be if the U.S. lost 304,000 jobs – a recession-like outcome not seen in some time.

Anyone in this state with half a brain (and that would not include most of our politicians) knew that high oil prices were boosting the economy in ways that would not be sustained at say $50 a barrel.  You don’t see 20 new hotels on the loop around Victoria during regular times.  And you don’t pay $269 a night to stay at a Holiday Inn Express in San Angelo just to eat at the Cork and  Pig Tavern.   When Schlumberger and Halliburton are laying off tens of thousands of workers, the ripple effects are just beginning to be felt.  The Texas Miracle was always a bunch of hooey.  Texas leads the nation or is near the top in all the negative categories such as children living in poverty, overall poverty rates, citizens on food stamps, high school dropouts, numbers of uninsured and many other things.  Texas Miracle indeed! Rick Perry can go around the nation touting his right wing, anti-consumer, corporate giveaway nonsense all he wants – but nobody is likely to be listening now.

Blue Bell Expands Recall to All Products

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Texas iconic ice cream maker Blue Bell has recalled all of its products after discovering Listeria in yet another product.  The Brenham-based company had already recalled all products from its Broken Arrow, Oklahoma plant, but now is stripping the shelves of all of its products.  The Dallas Morning News reports that the recall sent grocers scrambling to remove the delicious treats before customers could purchase more.  The recall raises questions about what could have been done to prevent the outbreak.

Kroger spokesman Gary Huddleston said Blue Bell notified the grocer about the recall shortly before 5 p.m. Monday.

“We’ve pulled everything, and now we wait for Blue Bell to tell us what to do with it,” he said. The grocer is calling all its customers who purchased Blue Bell products, asking them to bring the items back to the store for a refund.

The company faces the prospect of trying to get its production on track by Memorial Day, when the peak season for ice cream sales begins. “They say they’re making this right, before then,” Huddleston said.

Food safety attorney Bill Marler said he was “not particularly surprised” by the announcement.

Once tests show Listeria is in a finished product it is likely it is in the manufacturing facility, which is tough to combat, he said.

“Now that it’s expanded, it shows that Listeria is endemic in their plants,” he said.

“What is sad about the Blue Bell situation, had it had more thorough testing of product and more thorough cleaning of its plant and equipment beforehand, an outbreak could have been avoided. The devastation to Blue Bell’s customers and its reputation could have been avoided,” he said.

Image from cookingforengineers.com

Packing Heat

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PBS News reports that Texas is on the verge of passing an open carry law that will allow Texans to pack heat in public.

On Friday, the Texas House of Representatives voted 96-35 in favor of House Bill 910, which extends the rights of citizens who have a concealed handgun license to allow them to openly carry a holstered handgun. A similar bill passed the Texas Senate last month; the two versions must be reconciled before heading to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for signing.

Abbot is likely to give the measure his approval. During a February press conference, he said, “I will sign whatever legislation reaches my desk that expands Second Amendment rights in Texas.

Red favors sporting a Smith & Wesson 357 Magnum in a custom leather holster worn Matt Dillon style on the right thigh.  Red also favors telling anyone foolish enough to walk around with a pistol openly strapped on to any appendage that they must be suffering from a deep inadequacy complex that packing heat probably isn’t going to cure.