Governor Perry, Please stop talking…

Again, the comments are more telling than the article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Those who responded talk about our air, lack of water resources, lack of health care, education, high property taxes and no protection from corporate greed.  Though some agree more Californians should come on down –

Come on down, residents of liberal states. It may seem like a joke at first, but once enough folks come down and realize the back-peddling social mentality of the conservative right, why...there will be enough of you guys around to change things. So, yes....flock here. Come down in droves.

Be careful what you wish for, Perry and Abbott...

And WHO exactly is footing the bill for TexasOne?  Another PPP.  That means YOU are, dear Texans.

Democrats and residents of those states say Perry and Abbott are only embarrassing themselves and Texas with their antics.

Some wonder whether the Texas leaders' moves will create a backlash against a state that's already the butt of occasional jokes on late-night talk shows.

"I have a message for California businesses: Come check out Texas," he said in the $24,000 radio ad buy, paid for by TexasOne, a public-private partnership that markets Texas throughout the world as a prime business destination.

California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, dismissed Perry's radio ads.

"It's not a serious story, guys," Brown told reporters.

"It's not a burp. It's barely a fart.

Perry's encroachment into California -- which continues next week when he meets with business leaders in the high-tech, biotechnology, financial, insurance and film industries -- sparked the Sacramento Bee to write the editorial "Pity Rick Perry; his big state has big needs."

The paper cited a "high dropout rate, lack of health insurance coverage and economic disparities" in saying that Texas isn't exactly the nirvana that Perry might paint it to be.

The editorial said Perry's ad campaign is more of a "cry for help."

"Perry can't create jobs, he can only steal them from other states," according to the editorial

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“Perfect Storm”

Recently we mentioned we have been receiving tons of email on the subject of water, or lack thereof.

The emails keep pouring in.

MSN.com recently posted an article on Tribes in the Southwest that are without water due to the cold snap and the aging infrastructure shattering with dropping temps.  If you think it can’t happen to YOU, here, ask around, find out how old the infrastructure carrying water to your home is.  You might be shocked.  Or terrified.

http://news.msn.com/us/tribes-struggling-without-water-in-southwest-cold-snap

"We are facing an emergency that is putting lives at risk," said Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly, who last month signed a declaration of emergency in the reservation, which extends across parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico and has an estimated 220,000 tribal residents.

"People with health risks don't have running water, some communities have low water pressure that are putting health centers and hospitals at risk of closure," he said.

The freeze, during which temperatures barely rose into the teens during the day, ruptured pipes, some laid in the 1950s, in Window Rock, the nation's capital, as well as the small town of Fort Defiance and in other smaller communities where many tribal members tend livestock, weave handicrafts and make jewelry.

Shelly is seeking $2.8 million in federal and state aid to fix waterlines across the nation, and to cover costs for operating an emergency center.

And the Fort Worth Weekly does another great job at letting you know just how much “blue gold” could end up costing YOU.  YOU better be paying attention.  YOU owe it to YOUR kids.

For those of you playing along at home, the Supreme Court will now here the Tarrant Regional Water District’s case concerning suing Oklahoma to take their water.

“I hate to use the analogy, but we’re looking at the perfect storm,” she said. “It’s kind of hard to calculate what the price of water will be when in some places there just won’t be any.”

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WHERE do we start?

With the Fort Worth Way, where else?

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram article is very telling.  Though it’s like telling the same story over and over again.

A council member who was the only paid member of the nonprofit in 2010.  A board member is the sister of said city council member.  The city repaying over $220,000 to the government.  The city wanting to shut the nonprofit down.  HUD, Jay Chapa, TAD, economic development, floods, missing documents, mineral rights, gas leases…Just another day in Fort Worth.

The nonprofit, United Riverside Rebuilding Corp., would have to shut down and surrender mineral rights.


"We have no problem giving them the property," Phyllis Allen, a board member and sister of Gray, said for the board.

"But how the city can decide we need to cease to exist is beyond me," she said. "We're independent."

The dispute hinges on two homes United Riverside built and sold. In May 2006, United Riverside, with Gray as director, accepted $287,000 in federal Housing and Urban Development money administered by the city's housing department.

United Riverside maintained that it sent the documentation early on but that the originals were later destroyed by a flood in its offices. The city has said it never received the documents.

Through April last year, the city has repaid the government about $700,000 on grants made from 1994 to 2006, Chapa said. During that period, the city made grants to nine organizations under the program and repaid money to the government in cases related to seven, he said.

The total money the city distributed to the organizations involved: likely more than $5 million, Chapa said.

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WHAT is up in Watauga?

The suspended city manager has now resigned.  The mayor has resigned (had you not read the article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, earlier this week, closely, you might have missed the one sentence noting this).  WHY would that not make for its own article?  Isn’t a mayor resigning news worthy?

An online comment compares Watauga to Haltom City.

Maybe they could coin their own phrase…the Watauga Way.  Watch out, Fort Worth might try and take credit for that.

Good luck to the Watauga residents, sounds like the need it.

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Q & A

A letter to the editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram asks a great question. A comment left provides the answer. Even sums it up in one word.  Good work, people....

I have seen many commercials from energy companies promoting the Barnett Shale region and saying how they are protecting the water tables.

How many millions of gallons of water does it take to fracture said shale at each well, and how are they protecting the water table where they are pumping the polluted water back into the ground?

-- Charlie Barnes, Arlington 

There is nothing good that can come from pumping millions upon millions of gallons of chemicals into the ground under our feet. Nothing.

-- Nell Stebbins

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Are you smarter than a 6th grader?

We know the answer.

A group local of sixth graders will be doing the Water District’s job for them.   All we can say is Hallelujah, at least someone is.

Three units of Wied's gifted and talented language arts classes are participating in a year-long project called Operation H {-2}O. The project is intended to bring local, national and global water concerns to the forefront and help craft a plan of action.

The objectives of the Cross Timbers students include educating students and the community about the limited availability of drinking water in Texas and the world.

Their action plan includes promoting water conservation and encouraging lawmakers to put water infrastructure funding in the Texas legislative budget.

They are raising money to purchase equipment for an Indian village to provide its inhabitants with clean water.

"If we run out of water by 2030, I'll only be 30 years old," Buhr said. "It'll be a short life."

Read more here:

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Another one??

Another child nearly drowns in the Trinity River.

What’s it going to take?

The Tarrant Regional Water District previously said, the area is clearly marked with signs.  Some beg to differ.

Remember, these folks want to give you better access to the highly contaminated river.

The mother of the last victim the river claimed speaks out on WFAA.com.

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