If you think it’s time to end the two-party doom loop, and to put the partisan uncivil war developing our country on hold, you came to the right place. We’ve been working for years to bring people together who DISAGREE!
We are hearing from more and more people who want out of the “two-party doom loop”. That’s a phrase we take from Lee Drutman’s book, Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop.
Drutman asserts that opening up electoral competition is the peaceful and smart way to resolve our differences in a democratic republic. His argument may seem counterintuitive, but we buy it; we’re convinced that it is the only way out of the political doom loop spiral we’re all in.
Clearly, right now we must all pull together to get past the pandemic – without the blame that will not help us.
We are playing catch up in San Antonio due to San Antonio Water System’s (SAWS) concertedly unethical use of ratepayer dollars to attack a citizen petition to place the SAWS Accountability Act on the May city ballot. Bill Bunch of Save Our Springs and James Murphy of San Antonio are providing pro-bono assistance to some of San Antonio’s finest local civic activists.
It’s all hot of the press right here in this Media Advisory.
Watch the hearing — this Tuesday, January 19th, at 10 am — right here on the Court’s YouTube Channel.
You folks who live east of Austin, don’t miss the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District meeting on Wednesday — more below — as the water war also needs to be put on hold!
Thank you all! We’ll meet soon — we promise!
LIV NEWS!
COVID VACCINES: Visit this site to see how and where you can get a COVID Vaccine. Note there are phone numbers there you can share with your pals without internet: https://www.dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus/immunize/vaccine-hubs.aspx
The 87th Texas Legislative Session began last Tuesday but is not in session currently until January 26th. LIV’s legislative agenda continues — fair ballot access for independents and additional parties and protection of the right to petition in Texas, and groundwater and eminent domain reforms. If you have policy chops in any of these arenas, let us know. We can use your help!
Roger Baker, Austin’s “Road Scholar”, thinks the plan to widen IH-35 is the biggest boondoggle around. But, never to be deterred from massively expensive bad planning, TxDOT has built the easy parts of IH-35 widening and left undone the hard ones smack dab in the middle of Austin. But, guess what? The money ain’t there to pay for it! Way to go TxDOT, NOT. We highly recommend you read this Baker article published in the Rag Blog:
We wish to thank Houston independent Bill King, a respected writer and policy wonk, for posting these very important pieces:
East of Austin Counties: Important Phone Meeting of Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District: On Wednesday night, January 20th, at 7 pm. Get on this call, y’all. Within a short few months of full bore pumping by Vista Ridge (“The Hose”), landowner wells are going dry in Burleson and Lee counties. Meanwhile, privateering water marketers and the Lower Colorado River Authority – a governmental entity, mind you – are continuing their quest for MORE permits on the same aquifers. The Legislature needs to step up for sure, but our local groundwater districts need to hear from those they serve, not to be served up. We support a hold on additional permits (call it a moratorium, if you like) until Lost Pines does due diligence on what exactly is happening to local wells AND the aquifer itself. Call LIV if you need any help getting to this meeting – via phone or computer.
Thanks to those you became dues-paying members of LIV! Keep it going, y’all.
We appreciate all you new people who took our “Independent Survey” on our home page. Keep it up by sharing!
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