I hear you, the problem with the sales tax is that its not on the most common items such as groceries and standard clothing and so it gets artificially raised to cover the spending

The Democrats are dangling increased education spending to force a State income tax relying on the retired and soon to be retired wanting homeowners tax relief (The strategy is they will substitute the Income tax for the property tax)
Also the one million employees and their families that are in education represent a huge turnout block, bribing them is a fundamental of the Democrats strategy.

Its a battle they keep losing, but by less and less

I see it mostly as a way to trick dumbasses into saving for their kids education.

Something Kinky in Texas Another Iranian Teen Needs our Help Denmark Apologizes (Language Warning) Rally Coming to Toronto Clinton Unhinged For the Brave @ Heart (comments section very “revealing”) Leave your links in the comments… but beware the…

I just video-blogged on Kinky Freidman. I knew he was a piece of work. But every day I discover more of his craziness. It’s like a former comedian (which I suppose he is) running for office. You had to know……

I declare HotAir.com to be a MUST VISIT site for the masses!

(of course we all knew that anyway) ;-)

I AM a Texan and I just might vote for him. Hell, he can’t do any worse than Perry, Strayhorn or God-forbid, Chris Bell… Besides, it doesn’t really matter since the Governor of Texas is really just a figure-head. It’s the Lt. Governor who has all the power. Go figure. It’s a Texas thang…

pullingmyhairout on September 22, 2006 at 10:27 AM

That’s painfully obvious.

first, I was disagreeing with you on the chances not on the premise, sorry if I was unclear.

I am definitely against a state income tax and a property tax – I’m for – sales taxes on everything and the current Business tax but I would like to see a little smaller percent maybe a 1/3 of one percent on the business tax.

In other words if you use it you pay for it in Texas, not on your wealth or property but on your activity.

But don’t delude yourself about them trying to do the state income tax and its not a real big secret that ONE party is using that approach

And yes unfortunately some Republicans and most Democrats in the Perry days DID run on that platform you described “for the Children” and too many were successful to ignore or discount the threat.

Also, you are 1000% right on Robin Hood is a bad thing as well, and nothing good ever came out of it.

If we here in Kalifornya can earmark Arnie to Sacramento, then why not Kinky in Austin?! Is there really a true conservative willing to put his principals and reputation on the line and willing to never sell-out to whiners on the left once they get elected?! I think not. So, why not Kinky Friedman?! He’s got a shofar, and he’s not afraid to use it.

As for education mess here, you can thank the Robin Hood plan. My school district sends more than a third of our locally appraised and collected tax money to poorer school districts to use as they see fit; including new stadiums and Astro-turf. It’s a classic case of taxation without representation.

I respectfully disagree, actually, to get any homeowners relief from property taxes, the offsetting revenue has to be generated by the state.

The courts in the most recent case even said that “The school Boards have suffered enough under the current cap of 10% increases a year) that was in reference to the property tax appraisal increase.

A State Income tax will be traded to lower the appraisal cap (but the rate is subject to go up)

But not under a governor that will not spend more money and vetoed every new spending item in his first two years.

But under the other three?

It for the children is the mantra of the other three candidates.

Also, Texans may love to gamble, but the religious community hates the idea (cuts into their bingo take, I guess :)) And the religious community votes in numbers disporportionate to their popular numbers.

In any regard, forget the income tax idea for Texas. It was the guaranteed kiss of death when I was in the thick of it and it hasn’t changed.

How about making Kinky Ambassador to Mexico?

I’m with most of you on Kinky–he sounds like a great guy, impossible to dislike. BUT Governor? I dunno…I just think of two words: Jesse Ventura. Minnesotans looked like idiots after electing that clown (although Kinky’s not Jesse, thank God). I can see how it would be tempting to vote for him, but I just don’t think he’s up to the serious business of running a state like Texas.

I think he’d do better as a spokesman, political commentator, or something where he didn’t actually have to make decisions, just talk.

I totally agree.

He’s hysterical and so would the government be – the problem with Perry is that he doesn’t spend money – Texas is 50th in taxation and 50th in state spending per capita despite being 32nd in spending on education

Perry is boring – most fiscally responsible people are

But when you look at kinky, Strayhorn and Bell they are promising more money to teachers than the budget can generate might get them some votes but it will also usher in a state income tax currently prohibited and vetod by Perry

In other words despite the hilarity, the Grandma whose switched parties, platforms, husbands more than an entire county, The city councilmen who lost his district and tried to get Delay in jail, and Kinky who is self explanatory despite all this – it comes down to three candidates who are tax and spend liberals and a strong conservative.

There will be no run=off, Mike O. With 4-5 candidates in the race, simple majority wins, even if it’s 26%. Kinky is polling extremely well, and his campaign manager ran Jesse Ventura’s. His whole key to winning is to get apathetic voters to actually show up to the polls…and given the state races’ dismal turnouts, there’s plenty of untapped vote potential there. They’ll turn out for Kinky, but not Business As Usual. Perry and Strayhorn will split the Republican vote, and the other two candidates aren’t worth mentioning. That makes Kinky, currently with about 20% of Likely Voters pulling for him, a serious contender.

Most Voter-resonating issue: No *Teacher* Left Behind, and scrapping a lot of the standardized testing in schools.

Gambling: It’s legal in Louisiana, plenty of Indian reservations right across the border in Oklahoma and New Mexico, and cruises on the coast. Most major cities are within an hour or two of casino action–that’s money that could stay (and be taxed) in Texas.

As for Texas politics, we’re all well aware down here that pretty much all of our elected officials (especially the Legislature) are completely worthless.

So Kinky–how bad could he be?

Since Kinky can’t actually enact his liberal ideas without the legislature (and they’re pretty stubborn about their role down here), it just might be worth the entertainment value. Texas government has been a joke for a long time; might as well make it official. (I say this from up-close experience a couple decades ago; was in line for a State Rep slot, but my honesty got in the way.)

I’m with Cathleen McKinley: He might be cool to hang with as a friend, but NOT as the governor of the second largest state in the U.S. He’s for same-sex marriage, legalization of marijuana, and legalized gambling for…supporting schools. Texas has defeated numerous attempts at legalizing these things, and it looks like it’ll have to keep doing it ‘til Kingdom Come.

He wouldn’t take the job seriously. I think he’d do better as a spokesman, political commentator, or something where he didn’t actually have to make decisions, just talk.

thirteen28 is right, however, that Rick Perry seems drunk with power. Dallas, too, is getting hit hard with all the toll roads. Looks like Texas might be headed for trouble after the next election.

That being said, I’m none too happy with Rick Perry’s toll roads, so I’ve got some thinking over to do before I hit the voting booth.