Joe Barton

Congressman Joe Barton Cites Noah's Flood as Proof People Aren't Causing Climate Change

Joe Barton, the Republican Congressman representing Arlington and its environs, has never been shy about expressing his skepticism about global warming. As chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, he launched an investigation into a pair of studies that documented a dramatic spike in glo ... More >>

The Food Policy Report Card Was Released. Here's How North Texas Congress Scored.

Food Policy Action is a group of "healthy food advocates, animal welfare and anti-hunger champions," who have designed a platform for grading members of congress on their overall food policy record. Today, October 24, the group released their first order of business, a National Food Policy Scorecard ... More >>

Nun Who Broke Into High-Security Nuclear Facility Has Arlington Rep. Joe Barton's Seal of Approval

At the end of July, Sister Megan Rice, an 82-year-old nun of the Society of the Holy Jesus Child, pulled off what The New York Times called "the biggest security breach in the history of the nation's atomic complex." Rice and two others, armed with flashlights and bolt cutters, slipped past the barb ... More >>

How Texas Came Within an Atom's Breadth of Discovering the God Particle

Rockwall's Rep. Ralph Hall Is So Sick of Watching Obama "Bow," "Scrape" and Treat "Enemy" Chinese With Anything But Contempt

At a hearing Wednesday, Chairman Ralph Hall and his Republican colleagues put their powerful U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology to its highest, most noble use: Namely, bringing the election-year hurt to the Obama administration for whatever perceived shortcomings reside in the com ... More >>

Al Armendariz, Ousted EPA Chief, Stood Up Congress Yesterday, But the Show Went On

Former EPA Regional Administrator Al Armendariz was the designated whipping boy at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing this week, though it proceeded in absentia. Armendariz totally blew it off, to the supreme indignation of Chairman Ed Whitfield, a Kentucky Republican, and the assemble ... More >>

Rep. Ralph Hall From Rockwall Is Turning 89, Will Do Keg-Stands with Rick Perry, T. Boone Pickens, Harlan Crow

Congressman Ralph Hall, the near-nonagenarian, oldest serving member of Congress, who was elected to things five years after World War II ended, just turned 89 years old. What do you give the man who has everything -- a powerful committee chair; a devilish sense of humor (he loves Mormons!); and a f ... More >>

The Feds Attack Online Poker

On Black Friday, The Justice Department killed a $2.5 billion industry.

Your Light Bulbs Are Suddenly a Symbol of Freedom in Texas and Beyond

This bulb, currently on the extinction list, has become an ideological symbol in Texas and across the nation.​Earlier this year, state Rep. Marva Beck looked up at the elegant light fixtures above the House floor in Austin and decided they would be ruined by "squiggly" energy-efficient bulbs. ... More >>

Reviewing the Redistricting, So Far

Dallas, Fort Worth and surrounding counties as divvied up in the Solomons-Seliger Congressional Proposal​Yesterday morning, the state House Committee on Redistricting and the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting released what's known as PlanC125 -- or the Solomons-Seliger Congressional Proposa ... More >>

As Commission Begins Redrawing Dallas's Districts, Barton and Smith at War Over State's

Congressman Joe Barton​The Redistricting Commission, charged with redrawing city council district boundaries, meets tomorrow at 6 p.m. at City Hall, at which time commission members Domingo Garcia, Donna Halstead and Gary Griffith and chair Ruth Morgan will present to the public early-look maps an ... More >>

Toxic Avenger: In the War Between the Feds and Texas, EPA Chief Al Armendariz has Science on His Side. Is That Enough?

It's a diary of a mad year as Buzz recalls a P.O.'d 2010.

Joe Barton, EBJ Join Rangel, Bachmann on CREW's "Most Embarrassing Re-elects" List

​Many thanks to the Friend of Unfair Park kind enough to send our way this afternoon Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington's bipartisan list of 2010 Most Embarrassing Re-elects (and a Governor to Watch). The headline kinda says it all: Rep. Joe Barton, a hard R with a thing for BP, ... More >>

Did Joe Barton Have a Point?

Jon Stewart Doesn't Like Joe Barton, and He's Not Impressed With Rex Tillerson Either

​No doubt by now you've heard all about Rep. Joe Barton of Arlington telling BP chief exec Tony Hayward how sorry he is -- how so so so so so sorry he is -- that President Obama shook him down for a $20 billion "slush fund." And by slush fund, he meant dough to be doled out to those in the Gulf Co ... More >>

If Joe Barton Knows Who Shouted "Baby Killer" Last Night, He Ain't About to Say

​[Updated: Below, you'll find an update, from Taking Points Memo, in which Rep. Randy Neugebauer of Lubbock fesses up to being the shouter last night. As TPM also points out, he was also the co-sponsor of the so-called Birther Bill.] Last night, Gawker wondered, "Who Is the American Hero Who Yelle ... More >>

Yesterday's Cry Was But One of Many Great Days in Randy Neugebauer History

McBloggerRep. Randy Neugebauer and some friend of his​First we didn't know who shouted "Baby Killer!" at Rep. Bart Stupak last night, during the health care debate. Joe Barton knew, but he wasn't talking. Then, we found out: It was Lubbock's own Rep. Randy Neugebauer, which, according to Jim anywa ... More >>

If Joe Barton's BCS Bill Is All About Making Lobbyists Some Dough, Then Good Work

​For more than a year, Smokey Joe Barton's been trying to kill the Bowl Championship Series -- most recently, of course, with H.R. 390: College Football Playoff Act of 2009, which would ...... prohibit, as an unfair and deceptive act or practice, the promotion, marketing, and advertising of any po ... More >>

Last Night in Washington, Republicans Needed More than "Candlesticks" from Joe Barton

Patrick MichelsRep. Joe Barton, doing his best La RussaWASHINGTON, D.C. -- With Arlington's own Rep. Joe Barton at the helm last night, the Republicans suffered a tough defeat in Washington, out-fielded and out-hit 15-10 by Democrats in the annual Congressional Baseball Game.Barton, a 22-year vetera ... More >>

Miss Texas Hopes Moving to Arlington From Fort Worth Is a "Booster Shot in the Arm"

Miss Texas 2008, Rebecca RobinsonYesterday, Miss Texas and Miss Teen Texas announced they were relocating from Fort Worth, where they've been for the past 46 years, to Arlington in an overt attempt to pump life into a dying tradition pageant officials insist is as American as apple pie. Jean Magnes ... More >>

Smokey Joe Barton Clearly Doesn't Have Enough to Worry About

Best. House Energy and Commerce Committee Meeting. Ever. From this morning in D.C.: "The Bowl Championship Series: Money and Other Issues of Fairness for Publicly Financed Universities." Smokey Joe Barton of Arlington wants to ditch the BCS and go to a college-football playoff system, and he's got t ... More >>

Who'd Be Mayor If Leppert Left Early? And, Why Would Leppert Do It?

Brian Harkin Is Dwaine Caraway positioning himself as Leppert's replacement? While speaking with one of Mayor Tom Leppert's consultants last month, I asked if Leppert was considering running for Kay Bailey Hutchison's senate seat. At that point, I heard he was contemplating the political leap from ... More >>

From the White House to Your House, Texas Pols' Christmas Tree Balls

A Friend of Unfair Park, who's clearly in the holiday spirit, suggested we head back over to the White House's "A Red, White and Blue Christmas 2008" page, if only to check out local (and regional) pols' choice of ornaments hanging from the White House Christmas Tree. And, sure enough, there were a ... More >>

Esquire Endorses: A Sneak Peek at the Local Races (and Restaurant)

Bully on the Bench

When big-city lawyers appear in the courtroom of Judge Gene Knize, they better be prepared to duck and cover

TXU Says "F.U." To You and You and You

The Wright Flight Flies into D.C.

Unfair Park, Brought to You By AT&T?

Southwest: They Do PR Wright

Running on Fumes

You've got to have balls to sell BioPerformance's hot product--mothballs

Whose Internet? Smokey Joe's, Duh.

Go, Joe, Go

The Lone Ranger

Right, but not quite right, Dallas County Judge Margaret Keliher is reforming county government while infuriating her Republican colleagues

A Day at the Races

Plus: D-Day at the DMN; Dirty Deed

Repressed

Arlington says Hooters threatens its moral fabric. Wait, what year is this again?

The Nerd Behind the Throne

Karl Rove has masterminded all of Bush's political victories. Now he faces his toughest challenge: convincing you that the presidential front-runner owns his own soul

Letters

The (W)right to Fly

How little Legend Airlines beat mammoth American at its own game

Buzz