Thursday, January 30, 2014

Different day, same crap


Trans Texas Corridor back... AGAIN

TxDOT Study maps look eerily similar to TTC

TxDOT is hosting public meetings along the I-35 corridor to solicit public feedback on its Texas-Oklahoma Passenger Rail Study. Their documents show a map of a passenger rail in the I-35 corridor from Brownsville, McAllen, and Laredo, Texas, up into Oklahoma -- just like the original Trans Texas Corridor!

If you can attend any of the meetings (see remaining schedule below). Please do so. 

30 SECOND ACTION ITEM
Please submit public comments opposing any passenger rail throughout our state. The eminent domain and lack of proven feasibility of any these projects is grounds enough to nix it. But the possibility remains that it could fall into the hands of a foreign corporation. Both China and Japan are possible players in bringing passenger rail to Texas. 

So tell them you want the 'No Build' option!

PUBLIC HEARING SCHEDULE:

Laredo, TX
Thursday, January 30
6 - 8 p.m.
Texas A&M Int'l University
5201 University Blvd.

Arlington, TX
Wednesday, February 5
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
N. Central Texas COG
616 Six Flags Dr.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Breaking News

We're told TRWD Directors called an emergency board meeting then voted to kick Director, Mary Kelleher, out of Executive Session.

Mary Kelleher says, hell no, I won't go.

We don't know that she actually said that, but sources say she's still onsite and isn't going anywhere.

#TEAMKELLEHER #GOMARY#STANDWITHMARYKELLEHER

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

It would be funny if it wasn't so scary

Read about Julie Wilson heading up the Fort Worth Blue Zone project in the FW Weekly.  You can get caught up on Count Dracula too.

They’re confused, astounded, and angry that Julie H. Wilson, the woman who represented Chesapeake Energy, the woman who led public meetings in North Texas to tout the drilling industry (and to downplay environmental problems), the Queen of Misinformation, the head sniper during Chesapeake’s full-scale invasion of Tarrant County, has been hired to lead a citywide health and well-being project

Dear Friends,

This is true Americana !!!!

Of the 84 candidates on the ballot, 77 are committed to attend our Candidate Fair.

Make sure you vote in the Straw Poll because past results have shown that 70% of those winning the Straw Poll actually won in the Primary.

Go to the website below for information on Parking, list of candidates, etc...

www.CandidateFair.com

DATE: Saturday February, 1st 2014
TIME: 10:00am–5:00pm

LOCATION: Hurst Conference Center
1601 Campus Drive Hurst, Texas 76054

The 2010 & 2012 Candidate Fair & Straw Polls were a huge success & the 2014 event will be even bigger.
The upcoming Republican primary is where the Conservative slate of candidates is decided!

It’s YOUR VOTE!
Become an informed and motivated voter!

Get Informed…Stay Involved!

EVENT IS FREE TO VOTERS

75 of the 87 Opposed Republican Candidates on the Ballot are attending.

This is the largest political event of the season, second only to the Republican Party of Texas convention. With more candidates than ever, 2014 is on track to be the Biggest Election Year in Tarrant County History. This event is FREE to the public.  This is not your ordinary candidate forum…NO speeches, NO rhetoric! Candidates will have their own table where they can meet thousands of VOTERS, discuss issues and then see the voters choices in the Straw Poll! This is Grassroots pure and simple!

The 2010 & 2012 Candidate Fairs were great successes with over 3,000 voters attending each event.

The upcoming March 4th primary is where the Conservative candidates are decided.

We will be mailing the 2014 winner list to over 55,000 Tarrant County Voters.

Let those who seek office demonstrate why the people, the voters, should place faith in them. Candidates will meet and directly speak to the people they want to represent!

Food and beverages are available.  Dress is Casual.

See you there!!

Facebook Event Invite

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The records belong to THE PEOPLE

Apparently the Tarrant Regional Water District still doesn't get that.  WHY would a board member's request to see records be denied?

It's YOUR water and YOUR money.

Bless Mary Kelleher.  YOUR local hero.

Tarrant Regional Water District Board Member Mary Kelleher has begun legal action in her continuing effort to obtain documents detailing business operations at the agency.

Kelleher has filed a petition in district court in Tarrant County seeking to depose key TRWD officials and force them to turn over an extensive list of documents.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Colorado gets pissed, Texas, well...get pissed!


Buying Influence: Colorado lawmaker under fire

Calls to investigate Macquarie deal, as road privatization
continues to draw public outrage in TX & around U.S.

NOTE: As public outrage over road privatization continues to grow, the following developments in Colorado raise concerns over Texas lawmakers who are also members of ALEC and that support legislation which benefits ALEC members Cintra and Macquarie.

(Denver, CO) Colorado's High Performance Transportation Enterprise (HPTE) just released its Fiscal Year 2013 report to growing alarm over privatization and tolling of Colorado's public highways.

Colorado's first privatized highway, US 36, running from Denver to Boulder that operates under a 50 year concession to the Plenary Group is already generating controversy after plans to increase the HOV lane requirement from 2+ people in the car to 3+ were published in the just released HPTE annual report. The change, effective as of Jan 1, 2017 or possibly earlier if congestion grows, will help increase highway revenues by leaving more space in the HOV toll lanes on US 36 and I-25 for paying customers.

"The people of Colorado are shocked to find out that our public highways are being leased for 50 years or more to private sector toll road firms. This is happening behind our backs and without public knowledge," explains Advisory Board Chair of the Drive SunShine Institute (DSI), Ken Beitel. "It's a scandal that I-70 heading up into the mountains and in downtown Denver, and the southwest free section of C-470 are being privatized and made into toll roads. Another billion dollar road privatization deal took a large step forward at the monthly Colorado Transportation Commission meeting."

CDOT privatization pipeline map-click here.

The HPTE was created under the leadership of former state representative Glenn Vaad, who worked for 31 years at the Colorado Department of Transportation in various positions, including legislative liaison and secretary to the Colorado Transportation Commission. As a state representative from 2006 to 2012, Vaad was the ranking chair of the Colorado House Transportation Committee.

The High-Performance Transport Enterprise (HPTE) 2013 Annual Report states:
"Under the agreement, Plenary is responsible for risks associated with the level of traffic in the express lanes and the sufficiency of toll revenues to support repayment of loans, as well as the long-term operation and maintenance of the highway. In the concession agreement, HPTE directors approved a provision that after Jan. 1, 2017, will only allow vehicles with three or more occupants to travel toll-free in the U.S. 36 and I-25 express lanes. Until then, vehicles with at least two occupants, so-called HOV 2+ vehicles, can continue free use of the lanes, unless congestion increases..."

Buying influence
Listed in the report, Buying Influence by watch dog group Common Cause, Vaad has recently come under heavy questioning for accepting 'scholarship' money in 2006, 2007 and 2008 from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization dedicated to privatizing public infrastructure and converting state owned highways into toll roads.

ALEC brings together state lawmakers like Vaad, and corporate lobbyists to draft legislation that is later adopted in state houses across the country. Vaad received an ALEC "2012 State Legislator of the Year Award" in part for his work on the ALEC model bill titled: "Establishing a Public-Private Partnership (P3) Authority Act" (click link for bill text).

Co-written by Vaad in New Orleans on Aug 3, 2011 with Geoff Segal, Vice President of Government Relations with Macquarie Capital, the ALEC (P3) bill allows other states to quickly create a privatization authority modeled after Colorado's High Performance Transportation Enterprise (HPTE).

Click here to view leaked ALEC task force agenda - New Orleans August 3, 2011.

"It is time for Coloradans to speak out to stop the theft of our public transportation system - before it is entirely too late," urges Beitel. "People are outraged to find out that I-70 is going to become a toll road."

In 2011 and 2012, while a Colorado state lawmaker, unknown to his constituents, Vaad was also the chair of the ALEC Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development task force. His job was to advance ALEC's insurance, banking, transportation and infrastructure policies.

Whistle blower ALEC task force memos show that Vaad was literally crafting legislation to privatize highways in partnership with lobbyists from toll road firms Cintra, Transurban and Macquarie Capital (click here for New Orleans Aug 3, 2011 ALEC Task Force Agenda). Now on the CDOT website, each of these ALEC task force lobbyists is listed as a bidder for Colorado highway privatization projects. Here is the question: Is Vaad serving the people of Colorado or his colleagues at ALEC?

Colorado's Transportation Commission is now advancing a proposal from Macquarie Capital for a $1.1 billion privatization and expansion of downtown I-70 that will likely be financed by tollway conversion. According to its website, Macquarie's investment bank had $361 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2013.

TURF is a non-partisan, grassroots, all-volunteer group defending citizens' concerns with toll road policy, public private partnerships, and eminent domain abuse. TURF promotes pro-taxpayer, pro-freedom, & non-toll transportation solutions. For more information or to support the work of TURF, please visit www.TexasTURF.org.

That rumbling you hear?



It's the Azle earthquake folks in Austin.


Kudos, Azle!

Speaking of fundraisers...


Saturday night, Jonathan Stickland hosted a fundraiser at the Hurst Convention Center.  It was packed!  Approximately 600 people showed up for the event.  30 State Rep's were in attendance and several big wigs spoke by video conference.

Michael Quinn Sullivan was on hand as well.  He had a busy week too as he emceed the Empower Texans event in Downtown Fort Worth a couple of days before.  That event drew approximately 100 people.  Many movers and shakers in attendance and speaking.  Mary Kelleher from the Tarrant Regional Water District spoke as well as the mother from Dallas whose kids were removed (& returned) because they are home-schooled.  (Say it with us, WHAT?!)


Lots going on out and about lately.  You should get involved.  Pick something.  Then do something.


Saturday, January 18, 2014

Flaming Faucet Fundraising Reception in Weatherford


Flaming Faucet Fundraising Reception
Saturday Feb. 1st
6:00-8:00 p.m.
At the Home of Steve & Shyla Lipsky in Weatherford, Texas.
  Earth~ $2500  Water ~$1000 Air~ $500 Fire~$250
$50.00 suggested individual contribution

or mail your check to
The Lon Burnam Campaign
PO Box 1894, Fort Worth TX 76101


Bring your burning questions about fracking in Parker County to a fundraising reception in honor of Tx. State Representative Lon Burnam. Come and learn about the imminent dangers of fracking in Parker County, where the The Earth Shakes and Faucets Flame.

Pre-register online to RSVP and receive specific location information. For more info contact Valley Reed at mailto:rumireed@gmail.comor or call 817-924-2008.                              

Hope to see you there,

Austin or bust!

It's been a busy week around Lone Star headquarters.  It started Monday with the packed earthquake meeting in Azle.  Several local activists showed up to catch the residents up on HOW you save YOUR town.  Several new local activists joined the ranks on Monday.

They will be on a bus headed to Austin to show down with the Railroad Committee on January 21st.  YOU need to be on that bus. 

Then there was the fiasco with one of the drillers and his so called "credentials".  His spin didn't sit well with the author or anyone else.

There's also a Flaming Faucet Fundraiser for Lon Burnam at the Lipsky house.  Bring your burning questions.

You can also about the updated contaminated Lipsky well happenings in the Houston Chronicle.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Did they just say that?

Did the notoriously weak on all city matters, "news" paper just go after the DA office and the PD?

We had to read it to believe it.

But if there is new evidence, the residents of Fort Worth have a right to know what it is. After all, serious allegations have been made against members of the city’s police department.

If, on the other hand, these charges were unwarranted in the first place, the public and the officers involved have a right to know that.

We need an explanation as to why a case largely based on signed, dated documents by sworn officers, would be severely jeopardized by the unavailability or faulty memory of witnesses. And why it took more than two years to reach this conclusion.

50 years, will be too late

A letter to the editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram makes an excellent point.  WHO is going to answer?

Smoking and ’quakes

Two items on page 11B of Friday’s paper, one about tobacco control programs and the other on gas industry operations and earthquakes, provide a startling juxtaposition.

Fifty years ago death and disease from cigarette smoking was dismissed by defenders claiming no evidence, no scientific link. However, anecdotally we knew better. Fast forward to today and everyone — even the tobacco industry — acknowledges the dangers of using tobacco.

As reported by Mike Norman, Railroad Commissioner David Porter’s “we need facts not speculation” comment could easily be a quote from a tobacco industry defender from 50 years ago. Yet perhaps anecdotally we know better.

So can we just skip to the part where we agree gas operations cause small earthquakes? Why wait fifty years?

— Ross Bannister, Grapevine

It smells bad and it tastes bad

But the Tarrant Regional Water District says it's ok to drink.

Do YOU trust them?

Last week, the Tarrant Regional Water District switched the water supply for two treatment plants to Lake Benbrook because of maintenance work on the pipeline from the Richland-Chambers Reservoir. Also, the water line from Cedar Creek Lake was shut down Friday because of a break on the line, the news release said.

Customers bothered by the taste of the water can try adding a slice of lemon or lime or by refrigerating the water in an open container.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

The Calvary is coming...to Azle

Folks living in Azle need to get caught up on Gas Drilling 101.  The meeting held by the paid politicians didn't help at all.

So in rides some of our favorite activists to the rescue.

North Central Texas Communities Alliance in partnership with Earthworks’ Oil & Gas Accountability Project and Calvin Tillman will host their own meeting in Azle, Monday January 13th @ 6:30 at the Azle Community Center.

 Be there.  YOU can't afford not to be.

More info in the FW Weekly.

“Don’t ask questions, demand answers,” Wilson said. “Learn how. Come to the Azle Community Center on Jan 13th.”

The meeting to “force our ‘regulators’ to do their jobs and protect our property and communities” begins at 6:30 p.m. on Monday at Azle Community Center, 404 W. Main St.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Fort Worth Star-Telegram promises to do better

The heavily biased S-T put out a long apology, after being talked about on a national radio show.

One could only hope they carry this new found sense of duty and promises into the upcoming elections.

Don't hold your breath though, they already left out candidates for many local races.  And we've all seen the drivel they write about the candidates they don't like.

The bright side is, there is something worth reading in the FWST today.

From the S-T's mild editorial mea culpa...

Blogger Maggie Mahar writes for healthinsurance.org, and in a two-part post over this past weekend she criticized the Star-Telegram for doing what she considered a poor job of fact-checking the story before publication.

Specifically, Mahar said her research showed that claims the people made concerning their efforts to get affordable insurance were exaggerated and that a Google search revealed that three of the four people quoted in the story as “losers” under Obamacare were all Tea Party members and more likely to be predisposed to find fault with the Affordable Care Act.

One of the women quoted in the story, Whitney Johnson, told us Monday that, although she is not a member of the Tea Party, her mother is the founder of the Parker County Tea Party chapter. Johnson also wrote a letter to the Concerned Women For America that appeared on the Tea Party website, in which she makes her feelings about the Affordable Care Act pretty clear.

Johnson later found affordable insurance at the healthcare website with the help of a Fort Worth broker. Tea Party members, of course, need insurance just like members of other political parties.

Knowing the background of the person quoted can give readers important clues about someone’s motives, but you didn’t learn that from reading our story, because we neglected to investigate the background of the people we quoted. That’s something you learn to do in Journalism 101. I remember my old professor saying “If your mother says she loves you … check it out.”

Friday, January 3, 2014

Azle, Welcome to Fort Worth

Seems many at the Public Meeting last night in Azle were surprised that it would be a meeting where questions wouldn't be answered.  Even some "news" reporters were baffled and irritated.  Have these "news" reporters never attended a meeting in Tarrant County?  This is how the dog and pony show rolls.

The Railroad Commissioner didn't get off to a good start.  Usually when you open a meeting, you introduce yourself.  And you don't say you're leaving early because you're busy and there is a football game on.

Doesn't sound like Geren made a good impression either.   Of course those in Fort Worth already know this.  Now those in Azle do.  We're thinking voters may remember this meeting when it's time to reelect these paid positions.

The FW Weekly and Fox News links are both interesting.  Clarice Tinsley getting fired up was too.  Never a dull moment in Tarrant County.