Ralph Hall

Congressman Ralph Hall is Almost 90, and Totally Unstoppable

On this Election Day, I pause to consider Representative Ralph Hall, the man from Fate, Texas. Not long after he is re-elected -- and he will be re-elected -- he will turn 90. Why am I so confident? Because Hall is, if nothing else, a survivor after more than 30 years spent inside the cage of howle ... More >>

Report Predicts More Shutdowns of Coal-fired Power Plants, But Not in Texas

Rock-bottom natural gas prices have forced the wonks over at the Brattle Group to revise their national prediction for the number of coal-fired power plants likely to retire in the coming years steeply upward. And when we say steeply, we mean by some 25 gigawatts, or roughly enough electricity to po ... More >>

There's a War on Coal Raging in Rep. Ralph Hall's Head

We haven't checked in on our favorite congressman, Representative Ralph Hall (R-Antediluvian Era) lately. Not since he dove from a functioning aircraft dressed in nothing but a form-fitting American flag. Turns out, he's been rummaging through a dusty, cobwebbed steamer trunk stuffed with contracept ... More >>

U.S. House Gives North Texas Municipal Water District the OK to Import Zebra Mussels Into Texas

The North Texas Municipal Water District, which serves 1.6 million people in Plano and a dozen northern and eastern suburbs, took a major hit in 2009 when zebra mussels were discovered in Lake Texoma. It's a federal crime to transport the highly invasive bivalves across state lines and, because seve ... More >>

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 >>

Rep. Ralph Hall of Rockwall Defeats Super PAC, Tea Party, Old Age and the Sky

All you need to know about U.S. Representative Ralph Hall's decisive win in the 4th Congressional District Tuesday night is that he went skydiving on Memorial Day. He wore a jumpsuit printed with undulating American flags and fell from the plane, plummeting briefly in free-fall, his arms flapping sl ... More >>

Super PAC Makes Big Media Buys To Soften Up Rep. Ralph Hall For Primary Day

Today, the unalloyed, wedge issue-driven, throbbing heart of the Grand Ol' Party will cast their ballots so that the candidates can stop chest-thumping about who's the real conservative and start running against Obama because, let's face it, this is Texas and they don't really have any one else to a ... More >>

Bipartisan Super PAC Targets Rep. Ralph Hall of Rockwall in Republican Primary

Super PAC Campaign for Primary Accountability, a bipartisan political organization that claims to have its barrels loaded for both parties, just fired its opening fusillade. It aims to oust two long-serving congressmen in what would otherwise be shoe-in primaries. The targets: One El Paso Democrat a ... 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 >>

Ralph Hall Demands to Know What NOAA Spends on Magicians, Comedians, Mind Readers

Rep. Ralph Hall finally found his General Services Administration-style confab scandal. No, it doesn't involve EPA employees playing a blindfolded game of Crucify the Energy Executive during a conference at The Venetian. But it's the next best thing: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrati ... More >>

Meet the Race Car-Driving Conservative After Rep. Ralph Hall's Seat

America is in a pissy, irascible, throw-the-bums-out, anti-incumbent kinda mood. Even, apparently, if it means unseating a longtime congressman with some serious seniority and a choice committee chair. According to Charlie Cook over at the National Journal, there are some 22 House Republican primar ... More >>

Texas Lawmakers Bravely Stand For Astronauts' Rights ... To Hawk Space Souvenirs

NASA was perturbed when Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell auctioned his checklist from the ill-fated mission through Dallas-based Heritage Auctions back in December. So perturbed, in fact, that NASA general counsel asked the auctioneer to halt the nearly $400,000 sale so that proof of ownership could b ... More >>

Texas' Biggest Power Supplier Wants to Blame the EPA for Future Blackouts

Rockwall Rep. Ralph Hall Would Really Rather That No One Pays For Your Contraception

If you've been hiding under an especially sturdy and soundproof rock for the past month, perhaps you missed out on the increasingly bitter national debate over contraception coverage. Lucky for you, U.S. Representative Ralph Hall has taken a break from doubting global warming and talking about how i ... More >>

Rockwall's Rep. Ralph Hall Blasts EPA and Science at Fracking Hearing

Allow us to re-introduce you to the octogenarian congressman who's currently perched atop the catbird seat in the oversight hearings every fracker in America is watching with bated breath. His name is Ralph Hall. He's the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. One of its s ... More >>

Reason No. 23,328 Texans Aren't Like New Yorkers: U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall of Rockwall

​U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall of Rockwall says that despite evidence to the contrary, why, sure, he's willing to take a few courses in "climate science." Because as he said during an Energy & Environment subcommittee hearing only last November, "Reasonable people have serious questions about our knowl ... More >>

In the War of Attrition Waged by the Texas Attorney General Against Robert O'Donnell, There Were Unintended Consequences

What's in David Dean's Closet? Oh. A Closet.

The Wright Flight Flies into D.C.

Amateur Hour

Congressional candidate Mike Murphy feels the strong arm of the GOP

Sour Town

Resident dreamer Robert Bledsoe has a plan to keep his hometown of Ladonia from disappearing off the map. His neighbors want him to wake up—and shut up.

This Old House

Historic preservationists sift through the sawdust of the great closet debate

BeloWatch

BeloWatch

BeloWatch

BeloWatch