John Cornyn

Republicans Have an Image Problem Because They Insist on Acting Like Republicans

The op-ed page of our only local daily newspaper is full of talk today about the national Republican Party's big overnight discovery and wake-up call: in a document called the "Growth and Opportunity Report" published by the Republican National Committee, Republicans are being informed that they are ... More >>

Texas Republicans: "Sequester Shmequester!"

The $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts set to go into effect on Friday -- assuming Congress doesn't reach an alternative deficit reduction deal -- was designed to be so stupid and indiscriminately painful that any rational human being would do whatever possible to avoid it. But rationality is ... More >>

Here's Why Neither Texas Senator Voted for the Violence Against Women Act

The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly yesterday to renew the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). It now heads to the House for what will likely be an ugly battle over its renewal; President Obama used part of his State of the Union address last night to urge the House representatives to pass it. Th ... More >>

A Majority of Texans Favor an Assault Weapons Ban, But Their Politicians Don't

Texas, the Second Amendment bastion of sport shooters, concealed carriers and Stand-Your-Grounders, also favors a ban on assault weapons by a surprising margin -- 49 percent to 41 percent, according to Public Policy Polling. Texans oppose arming school teachers (56 percent to 31 percent), but also ... More >>

Will the Trigger Happy Drive the Post-Newtown Gun Debate?

Sometimes it feels like we grab the gun issue by the tail instead of the head. It's always about ultimate constitutional rights and last-ditch defense measures. But the real face of the gun question isn't some kind of semi-reluctant insistence on a necessary evil. It's sheer joy. The real issue is ... 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 >>

Liberty Institute: Assault on Religious Liberty is at All-Time High (and That's Just Counting Christians)

You know the Liberty Institute as the group that has steered Plano's infamous Candy Cane Case through the courts. More recently, it's championed the cause of Angela Hildenbrand, the Texas high school student who wanted to pray during her valedictory speech. As part of its work, in 2004 the nonprofi ... More >>

John Cornyn Seeks to Fend Off Latest Threat to Texas Economy: Salamanders

I suppose it was only a matter of time before Texas politicians, still on a high from their glorious victory over the evil, job-killing dunes sagebrush lizard, turned their attention to similarly insidious threats to our economic well-being. This time, the threat comes from four species of salamand ... More >>

The Morning News and John Cornyn: A Match Made in Fantasyland

An "op-ed" page in a newspaper -- the page opposite the editorials -- is supposed to be a kind of village square for diverse voices, but does that mean it should be a billboard for lies? The case in point today would be the op ed page of The Dallas Morning News, given over to an especially sleazy pi ... More >>

Texas Senators Demand EPA Review of Fracking Endangerment Order in Parker County

Six Republican members of the U.S. Senate -- including Texas' Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn -- have requested an investigation of the EPA's decision to accuse a natural gas producer of contaminating a North Texas water well. In a letter sent last week, the senators asked the EPA inspector ge ... More >>

Collecting Internet Sales Taxes -- What a Great Damn Idea, Mofo

Well, crap. Look, I'm generally pro-government. You know, down with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who said, "I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization." And like any good leftie hippie-type, I just love kitschy Main Street shops that I'd definitely ride my bike to if it weren't so damn ... More >>

Federal Judge Unseals Suit That Asks: Did Dallas Screw HUD Out of Hundreds of Millions?

​On June 10, 2010, I wrote a column for the newspaper about an official complaint brought to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by two Dallas developers alleging a decades-old pattern of racial discrimination and fraud by the city of Dallas, the county and other local entit ... More >>

Village Voice Media asks for your support of Senate Bill 596

Why'd Mayor Tom Really Quit Early?

Photo by Sam Merten​U.S. Senate candidate Tom Leppert posted to his website today a piece titled "Serious Leadership," in which he says he's just the man to take Kay Bailey's place in D.C. because, look, "I'm not a career politician and I didn't expect to be in this position. I'm a businessman." O ... More >>

News & Notes & An Angry Letter & The Calm Before The State Fair of Texas Opens Today

Justin TerveenClick to embiggen Justin's picture of the State Fair-grounds last night​Rick Perry's a disappointment, Craig Watkins is a "demagogue," Jason Roberts is a fixer -- all the name-calling you fit whilst awaiting your first Fletcher's corn dog of the fall season ...Following an outing to ... More >>

Catching Up With Our Favorite George W. Bush Soundalike at the GOP Convention

Sam MertenWe tried to grab Senator Cornyn after this radio interview, but he scampered off to the VIP area before we could snag him.​As Representative Dan Branch told us yesterday afternoon shortly after addressing the delegation from John Carona's senate district, what a difference two years ... More >>

Remember the War on Christmas in Plano? The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Does.

​Speaking of old local cases involving schoolchildren sitting in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ...On Tuesday, the court handed down an opinion in that years-old case involving a Plano Independent School District third-grader and other PISD-off kiddies told by district officials t ... More >>

How a Local Rally For Obama's Health Care Proposal Turned Into a Rally Against It

Kimberly ThorpeQ Coleman, a Dallas Tea Party member and one of those who outnumbered the MoveOn.org'ers at Senator Cornyn's office today Local MoveOn.org members had penciled in on today's schedule a protest in front of Senator John Cornyn's Spring Valley Road office, during which they had hope ... More >>

Pete Sessions Doesn't Know Allen Stanford. Except That One Time, In Antigua ...

Pete SessionsOn Tuesday, just the feds were charging "Sir" Robert Allen Stanford with "massive, ongoing fraud" in Dallas federal court, a Friend of Unfair Park pointed out a report that Stanford had sponsored Senator John Cornyn's November 2004 $7,000 "fact-finding mission" to Antigua. Now, courtesy ... More >>

In Dallas Federal Court, SEC Alleges Allen Stanford's Houston-Based Financial Firm Is Involved in "Massive, Ongoing Fraud"

Robert Allen StanfordVarious news accounts in recent days have portrayed fifth-generation Texan Robert Allen Stanford, whose Stanford Financial Group is based in Houston, as the second coming of Bernie Madoff. Which is why the Securities and Exchange Commission today filed this complaint against Sta ... 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 >>

In Texas, Is Blue the New Red?

Cornyn-Noriega: The Other Debate

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

Bill Clinton Will Be Visiting My Old High School, Thomas Jefferson, On Tuesday

You're a Mean One, Kay Bailey

Cornyn's Using Fred Baron to Raise Dough, And Not in a Good Way

Creationists, Claiming "Viewpoint Discrimination," Are Not Done Fighting With State Education Board

Poll-Axed

John Cornyn doesn't need to sweat over Rick Noriega just yet

Words of Wiz-dumb

Noriega Takes Fight for U.S. Senate to Steps of Dallas City Hall

Two Words You Don't Wanna Hear Together: "Cheney" and "Beretta."

They Might Be Illegal or a Bald Eagle, But Not a Kegle Nor Spread Eagle

One Rockin' Senator

But Look What Happened to Paris Vendome

Marching in Place

I Am Sure Ron Kirk Feels the Same Way

Sacramental Beer

Plus: Backhanded Apology

Riding Coattails

Plus: The Snub; A Dog’s Life

Best Daily Newspaper Columnist

Ruben Navarrette, The Dallas Morning News

Pass the Pablum

Plus: Rose-smelling Time, Usual Suspects, Cornyn's Cakewalk

Deadbeating the System

Eight years ago, Kim Sullivan turned to the state for help collecting overdue child support. She's still waiting.

Over the Line

A GOP state redistricting plan targets a longtime Democrat and others

This Sand is Your Sand

On the Texas coast, the only thing eroding faster than the sand is the state’s Open Beaches Act

Leveling the field

The state attorney general joins forces with a private citizen in his battle with DISD

Pay up?

Dan Morales' pal faces questions over his demand for millions in tobacco-suit fees

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Smoke-filled room

When Dan Morales brokered Texas' $17.3 billion tobacco settlement, he blew away Governor Bush. He also made sure his friends got a few puffs.

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