Last night I spent some time at TCC NE campus speaking with students from their evening government classes. Was reunited with Doris Jones who taught there when I taught there back in the 90s. Several Libertarian Party candidates there including Ken Stanford who is running against Ron Wright for Tarrant County Tax Assessor Collector. For those of you voting straight democratic ticket, I recommend you go back into your ballot and vote for Ken. There is no Democratic challenger and Ron Wright used to be Joe Barton's Chief of Staff. Nuff said! He also used to write godawful columns for the Star Telegram.

Kay Granger as committee chair of the subcommittee on state and foreign operations apparently has the power all by her self to block foreign aid. She put a hold on $450 million that was supposed to go to Egypt as economic aid. She said that she "was not convinced of the urgent need for this assistance." I do not disagree with her decision, but I am concerned that she has the power to stop foreign aid by herself with out consultation with her committee. If she had committee consultation, the Star-Telegram made no mention of it. I think that she is right, that perhaps Egypt may not be our friend right now.

It was great meeting new people and seeing friends at Shane Hardin's fundraiser last night. Fact checker for Star Telegram says Paul Ryan and other GOP speakers lied their butts off this week. One of the big lies was when Paul Ryan said that Pres. Obama funneled 716 billion dollars out of Medicare to pay for Affordable Health Care Act. Outright lie! He also said the President did nothing with the recommendations of the super committee charged with tasked with coming up with spending cuts. Ryan was on the committee and kept the reforms from being passed by voting against it. Let's hope my fellow Dems can be more honest when they address the nation next week.

Rep Todd Akin of Missouri has made some controversial statements about rape. Where is Kay Granger? Shouldn't she be letting everyone know her feelings on Akin's remarks about "legitimate"rape? He also said women can't get pregnant from rape because their bodies have a biological mechanism that prevents it. This man is an neanderthal and needs to be called out by every member of the House of Representatives, including, and especially, Kay Granger.

Kay Granger Sells Fort Worth Down the River, the Trinity River That Is!

Old news? Maybe, but this is an election year and the people of Fort Worth need to be reminded that seven term Congresswoman Kay Granger, the Queen of Pork, spearheaded a project to turn the birth place of the city of Fort Worth into a polluted pond.

Fort Worth was born on the confluence of the West Fork and the Clear Fork of the Trinity River on June 6, 1849. Today the forces of the private sector and government have united to create the Trinity River Vision, a plan to develop 88 miles of the Trinity River and change its course, literally, by redirecting river water via a downtown channel.  The cost of the Central City part of the project is estimated at almost 600 million dollars, much of that billed to the Army Corps of Engineers as flood control. The justification given is the city’s growth since 1965, and a lack of new flood control measures since then.

Fort Worth voters have never voted for this major construction project, and as a matter of fact, have consistently voted against development along the Trinity River throughout the 20^th century.  So far voters have not been asked to pay for these projects. Apparently, the federal government has footed most of the bill, so indirectly, we are all paying for this great boon to the private sector. What interest a taxpayer in Tennessee has in the development of recreational areas along the Trinity eludes me, probably about as much interest as I have in paying for a bridge to nowhere in Alaska. Will we have 3 bridges to nowhere at a cost of 22 million dollars if the federal funds dry up? The private sector is supposed to pay half the costs. So far it is nowhere close to being an equally funded venture, the government paying most of the costs so far. Kay Granger is proud of her pork.

The issue of eminent domain once again rears its ugly head as this non- governmental agency conducts land grabs without adequately compensating the grabees. Headed by JD Granger, son of Pork Queen Kay, he dispenses funds as he sees fit, sometimes without competitive bidding such as the case where chef Tim Love was awarded a contract for a riverbank restaurant called the Woodshed Smokehouse.  According to the TRVA website, “…. massive outreach efforts are targeting North Texas vendors to ensure they have the best shot at winning contracts.” No massive outreach effort was made to open this contract to other restaurants owners or entrepreneurs.

The Trinity River Vision Authority was established as a private corporation by the Tarrant Regional Water District to manage the projects and distribute funds. By creating a private corporation to do this instead of using existing governmental organizations, JD Granger, as Kay’s son, could legally, if not ethically, be hired to manage this project.

The confluence of the West and Clear Forks of the Trinity River should have been declared historical landmark and developed appropriately, not as a recreational area where people can water ski on a polluted pond.

Representative Kay Granger has once again shown her disdain for the middle class. House Republicans evidently passed a tax code that does not contain provisions for mortgage or charitable deductions. When the Democrats tried to put them in, the motion was defeated by the Republicans, Kay Granger voting with the majority. Please help me unseat Granger on Nov 6 by contributing to my campaign. You can contribute by going towww.daverobinsonforcongress.org

Kay has done it again. She voted with the rest of the Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act for the 31st time. I wonder if she has noticed that the insurance companies are basically quiet about the new health care law, probably because they stand to make more money when all provisions go into effect. I mention this only because she is an insurance broker herself. Rep. Granger simply does not care about people like my self employed brother who has a pre existing condition and cannot get health care under current laws and policies. But that's ok with Kay; she has that great government health care that she is so much against for the rest of us.