Planet HPR

Willie Nelson and Family
Grand Rex
Paris, France
May 16, 2008

The Paula Nelson Band is travelling from the hill country of Texas to the Hill Country of New York City, to perform at their Spring Fest tonight.  For information on the show: www.hillcountryny.com.

Paula is a busy girl (wonder where she gets her strong work ethic from?), and you can read all the news about her and her band at her website at www.PaulaNelsonBand.com.

This is from her newsletter:

And they’re off!!!!   Paula and the boys, plus one more special guest have flown the coop.  After an exciting week of tornadic activity, bars run by generators, an interview with the legendary Bill Mack on XM Radio and a surprise phoner to
BBC Radio in the UK where Papa bear is in the middle of his 75th birthday celebration tour of Europe- The band is playing The Big Apple.  Ironically enough- it is at a place that serves Hill Country style BBQ. (We will give the Yanks the benefit of the doubt and assume it is the real thing.  Kind of like making salsa in New York City, you know what comes next, but hey…)

Friday around 1pm est.  Paula will be on Sirius Satellite Radio -channel 147- The Trucker Channel.  Ms. Nelson will be on with Meredith Ochs talking about her show at Hill Country BBQ, bio-fuel and trucker stuff in general.

Friday at 10pm est.- The band will take the stage for three fun filled sets at Hill Country BBQ in NYC.    

Saturday- a little after noon est.- You can hear the Paula Nelson Band live on the radio with Big Kev on WXLV Roots 90.3 FM.  They will be playing a full 75-90 minutes live on the air.  If you can’t be in the Allentown area, you can listen
live on the internet at www.wxlv.org

Spread the word about Paula! 

available at www.paulanelsonband.com and www.WillieNelson.com

If you haven’t picked up your copy of Lucky 13, don’t wait any longer.  This is a great album.  I never really understood Southern rock until I heard this album.  What a song writer! What a voice! What a dad!

The physician in charge of the post-traumatic stress disorder program at a medical facility for veterans in Temple, Texas, told staff members to refrain from diagnosing PTSD because so many veterans were seeking government disability payments for the condition.

The Texas Border Coalition has confirmed it is filing its class action lawsuit against the federal government in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

TBC announced its intention to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection over the construction of $50 billion U.S.-Mexico border wall at a special meeting at the McAllen Convention Center on April 15.

The lawsuit asserts that DHS and CBP have violated:

Poor, stupid, pathetic idiot...

Hava Goodun! Junior John sure as hell won't!

Months of suspicion, mud-slinging and political infighting culminated Thursday when a grand jury hearing testimony against League City elected officials decided there wasn’t enough evidence to charge them with any crime.

District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk spent six months investigating the council’s October vote to switch garbage companies.

Why can't we elect the state chair of the party the same way we elect precinct chairs or county chairs - by putting the election on the primary ballot. If we had done that this year, then millions of people could have voted for the party chair. Instead, the party chair is elected by 7,000 or so delegates to the state convention. Would it not be more democratic to have millions of people choose the party chair, rather than 7,000?

Of course, running for chair if the election is on the primary ballot would be much more expensive for the candidates, but we could also set a limit on campaign donations and expenditures for that one race. The other officer positions, such as First Vice Chair, Vice Chair for Finance, Secretary and Treasurer, could still be chosen at the conventions, but the top position could be elected at the primary.

The current system of electing a chair by limiting participation in the choice to delegates to the state convention has probably resulted in some good chairs, some bad chairs and some mediocre ones. To be honest, I can only recall the names of the last three chairs. I don't remember any of them further back than that at the moment. I don't know what the impact would be of putting the chair elections on the ballot, but I doubt if it would be worse than the current system. It would certainly be more democratic and it could result in more diversity at the top.

I think it is worth discussing.  

In a striking example of douchebagery, Rep. Culberson of Texas decided to speak out on all the horrible earmarks and pork barrel spending in the defense bill. He had his talking points down and was laying them out in his own irritating way. His plan was flawless, save for one critical problem.


THERE WASN'T ANY PORK IN THE BILL


Still, that alone would not have derailed him. What ended up causing his embarrassment was a Democrat who'd had enough. Take a bow, Rep. Obey! You've earned it. Kos has the transcript and the footage.

And make sure, if you have some time, to drop a few dollars to Michael Skelly who's running to rid the Texas delegation of this embarrassment.

(Photo by Carol S., of NY)

When will these people STOP?

Via AAS, Diana Maldonado leaving to pursue campaign for state representative.

“I’m honored to have served on this school board, and some of the things I am proudest of is passage of the $268 million bond issue in 2006 to build schools,” Maldonado said Thursday. “I was also glad to be part of our team who hired Dr. (Jesús) Chávez as our new superintendent early in that year. We’ve also been able to develop a lot of consensus on this board.”

Maldonado said last fall in announcing her candidacy for state representative that legislative support for public schools would be a key issue in her platform.

“I am also looking at ways to make college tuition more affordable for college students,” she said Thursday. “In 2003, deregulation occurred for state colleges and universities to let them decide their own tuition rates, and I think that move needs to be looked at again. Kids have got to be able to afford going to college.”

“I’m also concerned about affordable housing and health care. These are pocketbook issues that affect many families,” she said.

Maldonado was elected to the board in 2003. According to school records that go back to 1965, she was the first Hispanic woman to be elected board president by the fellow trustees for the 2006-07 school year. She currently serves as board vice president.

Diana Maldonado will represent District 52 in the legislature in the same manner.

This picture of Willie and daughter Amy was taken at Willie’s home near Evergreen, Colorado, as part of a photo shoot for Life Magazine published in August 1983.

In an odd twist, the Republican's have inadvertently done more for community college's trying to get Keller elected than they did throughout the entire 80th legislature. Keller's statement outlines, he has decided to withdraw from the runoff election and to donate the balance of his campaign funds to the Austin Community College Foundation."

Ironic given the fact the Republican Party gutted funding to Community College's last session.  

Regardless, congrats to Tim Mahoney and we hope you will take the next few weeks to relax.