I plan to do early voting this week here in Texas. I cannot seem to find anywhere online that displays the Governors issues and state issues we vote on. I did find newspaper articles from the Dallas Morning News and Wikipedia information but I would rather have a chart that summarizes the issues at hand. I remember the last election the judges did not seem to be listed as democrats or republicans which makes a big difference to me.

Kinky Friedman is for good issues like biodiesel while all the underdog candidates the independent grandmother, Kinky, and the democrat are all against the Mega Tollroad in Texas that we need badly. Do I have to vote Republican to get an improved road system? This is nuts! The highways to Austin and Houston are horrible including the interstate 35 to Oklahoma City. Texas is a huge state and needs mega-roads with 4 or 5 lanes on each side. This new Trans-Texas Corridor means you not only get a less congested highway to drive on but you can drive 85mph which is close to the 100mph id rather be driving.

The U.S. should have autobahns like they do in Germany but making it a toll road can be very expensive (relatively) to people making minimum wage or just a little above and who have kids, no health insurance, etc. We really have to think in those terms when we make public policy because a lot of people are adversely affected by expenses that seem minor to us. Then again if you want a decent highway to drive on that is less congested it ends up saving you time, gas, and money. There are also alternative highways to drive on that are free in most cases.

I will vote for the Democrat Chris Bell who plans to put an immediate stop to the project and open it up to public debate which is better than stopping it without a debate like the Grandma and Kinkster running for office might do.

Also on the Texas Elections: When I put out my John Kerry sign a few years ago a democrat-hater stole it from my lawn and I have been scared to put out a sign ever since it could happen again and the money would be wasted. There is now a neighbor who has a sign that says to Vote Democrat. This is a “sign” that the times are finally changing and these former republicans are waking up to the fact the Republicans have been in power too long and are all corrupt. The sign has been there a few weeks and no one has touched it I am glad to say.

The fact that the sign in 2004 vs. 2006 in my neighborhood has changed is not surprising. The whole country’s rethinking the idiocy of Iraq and of letting a very few have enormous privileges while the working majority suffers an economic backslide. It’s time for a change to get rid of the egotistical republicans that have been in office way too long and on with some new minds.