Subject:

U.S. Politics

  • Blogs

    May 9, 2012

    Keith Judd: Texas Prisoner/Presidential Candidate Does Shockingly Well in West Virginia Primary

    Majestically mulleted Texas prisoner-cum-presidential candidate Keith Judd has picked up 41 percent of the vote in West Virginia's Democratic primary. (We examined the Keith Judd phenomenon back before he was just a gleam in West Virginia's eye.) The Associated Press reports that Judd, serving time ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 8, 2012

    GOP State Senator John Carona to Colleague Dan Patrick: I Heard You're Gay, But I Never Said It

    When Republican state senators attack!!!! (Things get extremely passive-aggressive.) Texas state senators Dan Patrick, Tomball's Own, and Dallas's John Carona got in a nasty e-mail fight first discovered by the Quorum Report. QR is behind a paywall, but some subscribers have posted highlights of t ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 23, 2012

    Forget Etch-a-Sketch: Vintage `60s Toys For Newt, Obama & Rick

    A spokesman for Mitt Romney stepped in it this week when he cited the 1960s toy Etch-a-Sketch when discussing how easy it would be for his candidate to pivot, issues-wise, from appealing to the rightwingers of the GOP primary to the more centrist voters in the general election. It was a bad metapho ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 18, 2012

    10 Rock Stars the GOP Should Nominate for President

    As the 2012 presidential race begins to heat up in earnest, Rocks Off can't help but feel that the front-runners for the Republican nomination are lacking a certain je ne sais quoi. Call it star power. Call it sex appeal. Whatever it is, these guys ain't got it. If the GOP is serious about wresti ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 9, 2012

    Rocks Off Picks The GOP Theme Songs

    ​Now that the Iowa Caucus has narrowed down the field a bit, we would like to take this opportunity to offer some advice to the remaining candidates for the Republican nomination to vie with president Obama in the November election. What you guys need is some catchy theme songs, and we have so ... More >>

  • News

    December 15, 2011

    Down the Hatch

    The Texas Attorney General's Office says a drugmaker lied in order to push an antipsychotic on foster children. So why are kids as young as three still taking the drug?

  • Blogs

    December 15, 2011

    Gay Rick Perry: The Rumors Resurface

    Ready for your Kindle.​Kick a man while he's down, why don't you? Rick Perry has effectively taken himself out of the GOP nomination race, it seems, and he did it by his performance on the stump, not by skeletons in the closet coming out. But now that he's seemingly buried, former state rep ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 5, 2011

    Rick Perry's Big Campaign-Cash Haul: Phil Gramm Redux?

    Connally: One very expensive delegate​The political world is abuzz today with word of Rick Perry's impressive fundraising. Right after he entered the GOP presidential primary, Perry hauled in $17.1 million. The cah grab could "counter the perception that his campaign his struggling," the AP s ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 7, 2011

    Texas Cities and Nonprofit Entities to Get About $3.5 Million in National Settlement of JPMorgan Suit

    Settlement helps, a little.​Financial giant JPMorgan has agreed to pay $228 million to settle charges that it manipulated deals involving the government bond market, and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott says the state's portion of it will be about $3.5 million. The money will go to Texas mu ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 1, 2011

    Sarah Palin Sneak Preview: The Agony of The Undefeated

    That word you keep using...​There was an advance screening last night of The Undefeated, the new film by Stephen K. Bannon that traces the rise of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin from her early years as mayor of Wasilla to John McCain's 2008 Vice-Presidential candidate to her new status as ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 16, 2011

    Here's Something: Obama Polls As Well As Perry In Texas; Both Over 50 Percent

    Make his next one a Shiner​Here's something we wouldn't have guessed: Texans give President Obama about as good a job approval rating as they do Governor Rick Perry. More surprising, both are over 50 percent. The Texas Lyceum has a new poll out, and it shows Obama with an approval rating of ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 13, 2011

    Rebecca Forest: Tea Party Leader Tells Austin Rally There's Too Many Hispanics in Legislature

    This weekend saw another thrilling right-wing rally in Austin, and in this one Rebecca Forest, a co-founder of an immigration group called Women on the Wall, offered a unique take on why Texas can't get hard-core legislation passed like Arizona and Alabama. If you want to know why we can't pass leg ... More >>

  • News

    June 2, 2011

    Calling All Sluts

    Time to fight back

  • Blogs

    May 24, 2011

    Payday Lending: Texas Takes Teeny, Tiny Step to (Barely) Regulate

    Gary Elkins: State Rep, payday lender.​Payday lending, where lower-income, lesser-educated, financially strapped people get some instant cash but sometimes end up paying 500 percent interest, is an industry ripe for some regulating, you would think. But that's why you're not a member of the T ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 20, 2011

    Rick Perry Wades into Foreign Policy

    But he can't see Russia from his front porch.​Governor Rick Perry has told reporters he's too busy with the legislative session to think about running for the presidency, but luckily -- news flash!! -- the legislative session is dealing with American foreign policy. Apparently. Perry's office ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 18, 2011

    Five GREAT Things About This Weekend's Rapture

    Music to be playing about 6 a.m. Saturday.​In case you hadn't heard, the Rapture will happen at 5:58 a.m. Saturday. All the good, Christian people will ascend to heaven and everyone else will be left here to suffer through unprecedented natural disasters before the End of Time comes in the fal ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 17, 2011

    Kristi Thibaut: Former State Rep Announces for At-Large Council Seat

    Kristi Thibaut: Running for council.​Kristi Thibaut, the Democrat who rode the 2008 Obama surge into a single term in the state legislature representing Memorial and the west side of town, has announced she is running for the at-large City Council seat being vacated by term-limited Sue Lovell. ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 3, 2011

    Mandatory Abortion Sonograms Bill Passes: Ladies, Get Ready For Your Close-Ups

    Dan Patrick has reason to smile; women, not so much.​Any woman seeking an abortion in Texas will be forced to undergo a sonogram and be asked if they want to view it or listen to the fetal heartbeat, thanks to a bill that passed today and that Governor Rick Perry says he can't wait to sign. P ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 15, 2011

    "Choose Life": Bill to Put Your Religious and Political Views on Texas License Plates Passes Senate

    Holier than thou, person stuck behind me in traffic​State Senator Dan Patrick is proudly reporting that the Texas Senate has passed by a 21-10 vote his bill creating license plates that say "Choose Life," thereby, we guess, breaking off the crippling shackles of all those Texans who have been ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 15, 2011

    Comment of the Day: The Tea Party and Secession

    ​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 14, 2011

    Rhode Island Wants a Medical Center Like Ours

    Rhode Island: Almost as many square miles as Harris County​Lincoln Chafee, the former senator from Rhode Island who is now the (barely a) state's governor, announced today he wants to build a presumably mini-version of the Texas Medical Center. A "knowledge center" would be developed on land ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 20, 2011

    Voter ID Is a Texas Emergency, Rick Perry Declares

    Rick Perry: It's a red-meat special in Austin today​Remember that vast tsunami of voter fraud that swept across Texas, coming close to throwing into chaos the very concept of democracy? Neither do we. Even Karl Rove, using every bit of the federal government he could get his hands on, couldn ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 20, 2010

    Texas Tribune Gets A Hefty New York Times Correction

    The Texas Tribune: Mistakes were made​The Texas Tribune, the semi-new non-profit journalistic outfit, has been partnering with The New York Times. On Sundays, Times readers in the Lone Star State get two pages in their print edition with stories from Tribune writers. The partnership is relati ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 28, 2010

    GOP Is the New Black, Billboard Wrongly Claims

    How much more hip can the GOP get?​Raging Elephants, the cutting-edge black Republican group that gets invited to all the best Tea Party events, and will no doubt be shown on camera often during speech cutaways at the 2012 GOP Convention, is proudly proclaiming conservative hipness on a South Loop ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 27, 2010

    Voter Intimidation Victim and Witness Come Forward, And Nov. 2 Looms Closer

    Voter intimidation: everyone wants to shift the blame.​No one seems to want to play nice at the voting polls this year. And new names and organizations keep getting involved in the already over-crowded, controversial fray.King Street Patriots/The Tea Party. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. The Te ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 21, 2010

    King Street "Patriots": Voter Intimidation Continues At Polling Stations Around Houston

    Photo by Chasen MarshallIf the signs don't sway you, the poll watchers might.​Polling stations around Houston have turned into bastions of controversy this week: Fourteen reported incidents Monday and another that Hair Balls heard about on Wednesday in south Houston near Gulfgate. There are few d ... More >>

  • Blogs

    August 24, 2010

    New Anti-Perry Ad: Can The Return Of The Chicken Suit Be Far Behind?

    Subtle.​Back to Basics, a PAC supporting Texas gubernatorial candidate Bill White, has unleashed a new anti-Rick Perry ad. We're not sure, but we think they're questioning the current governor's manhood. Tell Rick Perry to stop cowering and face Texans like a man. White's supporters are cont ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 21, 2010

    Tea Party Caucus: Rest Easy, Montrose -- Your Congressman Has Joined This Elite Group

    He'd be comfortable in Montrose, apparently​If there's one part of town we think of when we ponder the noisy-old-people phenomenon that is the Tea Party, it's Montrose.The `trose is just packed with factually challenged, self-deluded Obama-haters...isn't it?Not really, of course. The neighborhood ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 13, 2010

    Obama & JFK: Five Ominous Parallels Someone's Aware Of, Right?

    The Secret Service is on the case, we hope​As the dog days descend upon us, the mind starts to wander.It may wander so much that it occasionally turns into Fox News, although this is not recommended. Same with trolling though right-wing blogs.It's a scary world out there, folks. And it brings to m ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 29, 2010

    TCEQ & The Sunset Commission: Texas Environmental Groups Try Working Together

    Coming together vs. TCEQ​The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, made up of 12 state legislators who evaluate state agencies every dozen years, is examining the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and will make a recommendation during the next legislative session whether to renew, tweak, or ab ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 16, 2010

    A Day At Discovery Green With The Tea Partiers

    Photo by Marc Brubaker​The noise leading into the November election is only getting louder, as the dissent on the right side of the nation grows deafening. Yesterday on Discovery Green, a group of at least 1,000 Houston Tea Party supporters and some from other spaces in Texas converged to hold a T ... More >>

  • Music

    February 18, 2010

    Kinky Friedman

    Photo by Marc Brubaker​The noise leading into the November election is only getting louder, as the dissent on the right side of the nation grows deafening. Yesterday on Discovery Green, a group of at least 1,000 Houston Tea Party supporters and some from other spaces in Texas converged to hold a T ... More >>

  • Calendar

    January 15, 2009

    MLK Grande Parade

    Houston salutes the man with a dream

  • Blogs

    December 4, 2008

    A Hold-Out In The Obama-McCain Election

    The morning commute into town left me near a late-model Range Rover, bottle-blonde, soccer-mom Tanglewood type at the wheel.The luxury car featured two bumper stickers: One, a small decal with the McCain logo and a big drawing of kissy lips that said "Read My Lipstick." Sort of clever, if you're the ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 18, 2008

    Ambassador Schechter On Secretary Of State Clinton

    With the world media coming dangerously close to announcing that Hillary Clinton plans to accept the Secretary of State position in Barack Obama’s cabinet, Hair Balls thought we’d reach out to longtime Clinton-family ally and former Ambassador to the Bahamas under President Clinton, Houston ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 3, 2008

    Houston Doomed If Obama Wins

    With the world media coming dangerously close to announcing that Hillary Clinton plans to accept the Secretary of State position in Barack Obama’s cabinet, Hair Balls thought we’d reach out to longtime Clinton-family ally and former Ambassador to the Bahamas under President Clinton, Houston ... More >>

  • Music

    October 23, 2008
  • News

    December 29, 2005

    Dragon Slayer

    A new Republican challenger steps forth to take on Tom DeLay

  • News

    March 20, 2003

    Banana Republicans

    A Hispanic GOP confab leaves delegates yelling foul

  • News

    May 24, 2001

    GOP Mayoral Pipe Dreams

    West U rejected them, so how will they ever win Houston's City Hall?

  • News

    January 13, 2000

    Political Sex Change

    Guess who's embracing GOP family values?

  • News

    January 6, 2000

    The Insider

    The Talented Mr. Stockman. A defeated politician resurrects himself in Seventh District heaven with a stash of campaign cash

  • News

    March 5, 1998

    The Insider

    The Talented Mr. Stockman. A defeated politician resurrects himself in Seventh District heaven with a stash of campaign cash

  • News

    April 17, 1997

    The Insider

    The Talented Mr. Stockman. A defeated politician resurrects himself in Seventh District heaven with a stash of campaign cash

  • News

    February 20, 1997

    What's Driving Miss Shelia?

    With her frenetic grandstanding, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has irritated her staff, her colleagues, and even the president. she says she speaks for her constituents. But will anyone listen?

  • News

    November 14, 1996

    The Insider

    With her frenetic grandstanding, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has irritated her staff, her colleagues, and even the president. she says she speaks for her constituents. But will anyone listen?

  • News

    March 14, 1996

    The Avenging Exterminator

    Why the House majority whip got involved in the Fort Bend sheriff's race

  • News

    November 23, 1995

    The Exterminator

    Tom DeLay, the bug man from Sugar Land, has always despised environmental regulation. Now, as House majority whip, he's in a position to do something about it.

  • News

    October 6, 1994

    Log Cabin Fever

    Gay caucus endorsements draw out profiles in political courage -- and cowardice

  • More >>

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