Thursday Morning Update

Romney campaign takes yet another video of President Obama out of context, this time dredging up and clipping a 14 year old video in which Obama was talking about redistributing government aid for the poor to organizations that can innovate and more effectively serve them.

If you fail to pick up after your dog, one Austin homeowners association threatens to use DNA testing to find the per-poo-trater.

DCTA is looking to increase fares.

A Denton-based medical isotopes company left behind a radioactive legacy. Do you still call it "brownfields" if it glows in the dark?

There was an apartment fire in Lewisville Monday. You can listen to the fire department and police radio traffic by downloading this playist, then choosing the MP3 file that begins at 9:23 a.m.

Can this actually be true? NASCAR fans favor Obama!

The Lone Star Water Forum is hosting its 4th annual Texas Water Conference - Science and Politics of Water in Brenham, TX, Saturday October 13th, 2012. There will be a panel discussion with State Senator Craig Estes, Vice Chair of the Texas State Natural Resources Committee

Governor Perry proposed a stricter constitutional spending limit for the State of Texas. I say it's bullshit. Government expenditures tend to need to go up during hard times while revenue is down, but when revenue comes back, you often have things you have neglected that need to be caught up. Perry's scheme is a clever ruse to reduce real government spending over the long run, even below inflation and population growth. The reason is that in lean years, the budget will go down, but the inflation and population growth cap will keep the budget at essentially the austerity level it's at now. It's reprehensible to under-fund education and all of the vital state services that have been slashed. State government services are not a luxury that you can forego; if they weren't vital you wouldn't have been spending them in the first place.

Congressman Michael Burgess (R, Lewisville) is proposing a change in how the Congressional Budget Office scores cost savings for things like preventive medical care.

Welfare spending for poor folks is dwarfed by corporate welfare. But the Republican corporate lackeys know that they can easily get people much more riled up with racially charged rhetoric about people abusing our social safety net. The Repubican meme is that people on welfare live high-on-the-hog at taxpayer expense, but the truth is that being on welfare is a shitty existence, and there is plenty of motivation to move off of it quickly, which most recipients do. In Phoenix, the Mayor was challenged to live for a week on a food-stamp budget of $29 a week. No surprise, it's hard.


Mitt Romney rudely silenced a teacher he invited to a round-table. Apparently when Mitt Romney holds a round-table, it's not a two-way communication thing.





Happy October from the City of Lewisville