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  1. #1

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    TX Eagle Forum on TTC, Illegals, etc.

    Friends,

    The all-day public hearing before the Senate Transportation Committee in Austin concluded today about 5 p.m. Chairman Carona asked testifiers to address tolls, the Trans Texas Corridor and / or public-private partnerships. Here are points I made in my 3-minute presentation:

    * The legislature should stop bleeding our two highway building funds for other purposes: the State Highway Fund that is filled by our gas taxes and the Texas Mobility fund is filled with money raised by bond sales. Both funds are supposed to be used to build and maintain Texas roads, but have been siphoned-off to pay for state employee pay raises, Medicaid ambulances, etc.

    * The Texas legislature's HB 3588 passed in 2005 allows for the sale of our infrastructure, but the sale is NOT a good investment for taxpayers who currently own that infrastructure.

    * Texas' tradition is to pay-as-you-go and build what we can afford. No one has made a good case for the sale of Texas' taxpayer-owned infrastructure, ie Collin County's State Highway 121 that was just sold this week into a public-private partnership committing tolls collected for the next 50 years to the private investor.

    * A State Audit revealed that the Texas Transportation Commission has done a terrible job presenting financial information about the Trans Texas Corridor.

    * Allowing an appointed politician, the Transportation Commissioner, to negotiate toll rates with a private company, which is given the right to collect tolls is NOT a good idea. Two models of a public-private partnership of infrastructure in Indiana and Illinois reveal runaway toll escalation. It is too easy for the private investors to raise tolls in order to enhance their investment at YOUR expense.

    * I encouraged the committee members to heed the Texas Dept. of Transportation's logo: Don't Mess With Texas. I reminded them that taxpayers will be happier if legislators reclaim our infrastructure assets, rather than sell those assets to the highest bidder who can then bilk us to drive on Texas roads.

    Cathie Adams

    BILL WOULD MAKE IT ILLEGAL TO BE ILLEGAL
    Texas Senator Dan Patrick (R-Houston) introduced Senate Bill 773, which would make it illegal to be illegal in Texas. The bill would give police officers one more tool to detain and arrest persons who are suspected to be in violation of other laws. Upon passage, the penal code would be amended to define being illegal in Texas as criminal trespass, a Class B misdemeanor. The new classification could not be used as a primary offense, but it would be used to enhance an officer’s “reasonable suspicion to believe the person has committed or is committing a violation of another law of this state or federal law.”

    Senator Patrick reports, “I patrolled the Valley with border sheriff deputies. I was outraged to learn law enforcement did not have the tools to detain a person for being in our state illegally even when the officer had reason to believe the person had committed another offense.” In addition to the enhancement opportunities made available through this bill, arresting authorities are required to fingerprint persons who are in violation of this act. Additionally, law enforcement is allowed to transfer, at the agency’s discretion, violators to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for processing.

    Bills Filed to Kill the Trans-Texas Corridor
    Two bills have been filed by Rep. Lois W. Kolkhorst (R-Brenham), which would terminate the state's controversial Trans-Texas Corridor highway proposal. If passed, House Bill 1881 will repeal the Trans-Texas Corridor from the transportation code, effectively killing the proposal by removing the enabling legislation which would have served as the foundation for any future corridor project. "Plenty of people share my concerns about these private toll roads and how they'll threaten communities, violate our property rights, and create an unregulated transportation monopoly,” said Rep. Kolkhorst. “My bill allows Texas to scrap the Trans-Texas Corridor plan and start over."

    Additionally, Kolkhorst filed House Bill 1880, which prohibits any public pension fund from investing in a private toll road project, such as the Trans-Texas Corridor. The bill cuts off billions of dollars of funding that private toll road vendors, both foreign and domestic, would attempt to use in order to raise equity.
    THE POOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT IN MY AVATAR CROSSED OVER THE WRONG BORDER FENCE!!!

  2. #2
    Senior Member redbadger's Avatar
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    YEAH!!!!!!
    I am heading to Austin this morning...with my children...heading straight to the Capitol...
    BTW Happy Independence Day...All you TEXANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Never look at another flag. Remember, that behind Government, there is your country, and that you belong to her as you do belong to your own mother. Stand by her as you would stand by your own mother

  3. #3
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    and Happy Independance Day to you, fellow texan

  4. #4

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    Amen! One of the most important days in US history!!!

    HAPPY TEXAS INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!
    THE POOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT IN MY AVATAR CROSSED OVER THE WRONG BORDER FENCE!!!

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  6. #6
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    Well, I won't be celebrating Texas independence until we are again recognized as independent. Texas currently exists in a state of legal limbo, given that it was never lawfully readmitted to the Union and that it never relinquished its lawful status as an independent republic after its lawful secession (a right reserved during its first admission to the Union). The situation was well-known to politicians and judges and was referred to as the "Texas dilemma" as late as 1896, the last time that the US Supreme Court deliberated (but did not resolve) the legal status of Texas. Many of the Texas governors have been aware of the fact that Texas is not, strictly speaking, one of the states of the Union, as evidenced by the fact that Governor Stevenson made a separate declaration of war before committing Texas troops to the US military during WWII. The fact is also demonstrated in flag protocol, whereby Texas is the only "state" allowed to fly its flag at the same height as the US flag, a distinction reserved for sovereign nations of equal status and denied to political subdivisions.

    BTW - There are those who will tell you that this distinction is "urban legend," but that is not the case as demonstrated by comparing the flag codes of the US and Texas:

    Title IV, Ch. 1 Sec. 7

    (e) The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.
    Texas Title 11, Subtitle A, Section 3100.055

    (b) If the state flag and the flag of the United States are
    displayed on flagpoles or flagstaffs at the same location:
    (1) the flags should be displayed on flagpoles or
    flagstaffs of the same height

  7. #7
    Senior Member SOSADFORUS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CrocketsGhost
    Well, I won't be celebrating Texas independence until we are again recognized as independent. Texas currently exists in a state of legal limbo, given that it was never lawfully readmitted to the Union and that it never relinquished its lawful status as an independent republic after its lawful secession (a right reserved during its first admission to the Union). The situation was well-known to politicians and judges and was referred to as the "Texas dilemma" as late as 1896, the last time that the US Supreme Court deliberated (but did not resolve) the legal status of Texas. Many of the Texas governors have been aware of the fact that Texas is not, strictly speaking, one of the states of the Union, as evidenced by the fact that Governor Stevenson made a separate declaration of war before committing Texas troops to the US military during WWII. The fact is also demonstrated in flag protocol, whereby Texas is the only "state" allowed to fly its flag at the same height as the US flag, a distinction reserved for sovereign nations of equal status and
    denied to political subdivisions.BTW - There are those who will tell you that this distinction is "urban legend," but that is not the case as demonstrated by comparing the flag codes of the US and Texas:
    Title IV, Ch. 1 Sec. 7
    (e) The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.
    Texas Title 11, Subtitle A, Section 3100.055
    [quote:2vfmg3j5](b) If the state flag and the flag of the United States are
    displayed on flagpoles or flagstaffs at the same location:
    (1) the flags should be displayed on flagpoles or
    flagstaffs of the same height
    [/quote:2vfmg3j5]

    Well then shouldn't Texas be able to pass any laws for their borders and illegal immigration regardless of federal laws??
    Please support ALIPAC's fight to save American Jobs & Lives from illegal immigration by joining our free Activists E-Mail Alerts (CLICK HERE)

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS
    Quote Originally Posted by CrocketsGhost
    Well, I won't be celebrating Texas independence until we are again recognized as independent. Texas currently exists in a state of legal limbo, given that it was never lawfully readmitted to the Union and that it never relinquished its lawful status as an independent republic after its lawful secession (a right reserved during its first admission to the Union). The situation was well-known to politicians and judges and was referred to as the "Texas dilemma" as late as 1896, the last time that the US Supreme Court deliberated (but did not resolve) the legal status of Texas. Many of the Texas governors have been aware of the fact that Texas is not, strictly speaking, one of the states of the Union, as evidenced by the fact that Governor Stevenson made a separate declaration of war before committing Texas troops to the US military during WWII. The fact is also demonstrated in flag protocol, whereby Texas is the only "state" allowed to fly its flag at the same height as the US flag, a distinction reserved for sovereign nations of equal status and
    denied to political subdivisions.BTW - There are those who will tell you that this distinction is "urban legend," but that is not the case as demonstrated by comparing the flag codes of the US and Texas:
    Title IV, Ch. 1 Sec. 7
    (e) The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.
    Texas Title 11, Subtitle A, Section 3100.055
    [quote:hxd6t0zi](b) If the state flag and the flag of the United States are
    displayed on flagpoles or flagstaffs at the same location:
    (1) the flags should be displayed on flagpoles or
    flagstaffs of the same height
    Well then shouldn't Texas be able to pass any laws for their borders and illegal immigration regardless of federal laws??[/quote:hxd6t0zi]

    Should be, yes. But the issue is how the de facto government operates. The de facto State operates as though it were a political division of the United States, and so it is bound by the usual preclusions of states treading on federal turf. That has not stopped savvy Texas governors from using the leverage of Texas' true status to get what they want, but that's another story.

  9. #9
    Senior Member SOSADFORUS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CrocketsGhost
    Quote Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS
    Quote Originally Posted by CrocketsGhost
    Well, I won't be celebrating Texas independence until we are again recognized as independent. Texas currently exists in a state of legal limbo, given that it was never lawfully readmitted to the Union and that it never relinquished its lawful status as an independent republic after its lawful secession (a right reserved during its first admission to the Union). The situation was well-known to politicians and judges and was referred to as the "Texas dilemma" as late as 1896, the last time that the US Supreme Court deliberated (but did not resolve) the legal status of Texas. Many of the Texas governors have been aware of the fact that Texas is not, strictly speaking, one of the states of the Union, as evidenced by the fact that Governor Stevenson made a separate declaration of war before committing Texas troops to the US military during WWII. The fact is also demonstrated in flag protocol, whereby Texas is the only "state" allowed to fly its flag at the same height as the US flag, a distinction reserved for sovereign nations of equal status and
    denied to political subdivisions.BTW - There are those who will tell you that this distinction is "urban legend," but that is not the case as demonstrated by comparing the flag codes of the US and Texas:
    Title IV, Ch. 1 Sec. 7
    (e) The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.
    Texas Title 11, Subtitle A, Section 3100.055
    [quote:1xuitu4l](b) If the state flag and the flag of the United States are
    displayed on flagpoles or flagstaffs at the same location:
    (1) the flags should be displayed on flagpoles or
    flagstaffs of the same height
    Well then shouldn't Texas be able to pass any laws for their borders and illegal immigration regardless of federal laws??
    Should be, yes. But the issue is how the de facto government operates. The de facto State operates as though it were a political division of the United States, and so it is bound by the usual preclusions of states treading on federal turf. That has not stopped savvy Texas governors from using the leverage of Texas' true status to get what they want, but that's another story.[/quote:1xuitu4l]

    Seems to me this is a good subject to test the waters on, Texans are usually very good at this. I would think they have a good chance against people like ACLU, etc.
    One of my Barclay grandfathers rode with Sam Houston!!and his brother James Barclay was Indian agent to the Alabama/Coushatta Indians down in Louisiana, kind of interesting
    Please support ALIPAC's fight to save American Jobs & Lives from illegal immigration by joining our free Activists E-Mail Alerts (CLICK HERE)

  10. #10

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    I've always argued this with people that are foreigners to our state, yet they don't believe me. Texas needs to act MORE independently, anyway. It will never happen with GoodHair in there.
    THE POOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT IN MY AVATAR CROSSED OVER THE WRONG BORDER FENCE!!!

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