Link to article here.

We all know TxDOT has been manipulating their budget to make it look like the gas tax will only cover road maintenance and no new road construction so they can push their toll road agenda. Sworn testimony in TURF’s lawsuit to stop TxDOT from using taxpayer money to sell tolls roads and the Trans Texas Corridor shows TxDOT has also moved up when a highway needs to be re-surfaced by 10 years from the industry standard in order to blow through their maintenance money even faster. So with that said, it still makes no sense to shift money from maintenance to building new roads if they claim there isn’t enough money to maintain them!

Panel relents, shifting $5 billion to new roadways
By Patrick Driscoll
Express-News
04/24/2008

The Texas Transportation Commission, buckling to pressure, decided Thursday to let highways decay some during the next decade rather than follow through on a scare to choke off all construction money — including funds for the U.S. 281 toll road.
Commissioners recently drew heat after saying funds were too scarce to cover both maintenance and construction, and that keeping roads in good shape was more important.

But commissioners, apparently feeling that keeping testy state lawmakers off their backs is even more important, voted 4-0 to shift $5 billion from maintenance to construction.

“Philosophically, I don’t think you let your house deteriorate and then go build a new garage,” Commissioner Ted Houghton said before casting his aye. “I think we’re headed down, no pun intended, a very rocky road.”

Among construction projects saved from the chopping block is the 8-mile U.S. 281 tollway north of Loop 1604 in San Antonio, which needs $112 million in public money along with toll-backed bonds for construction to get under way this year.

However, another $213 million public subsidy for toll lanes and interchange ramps along Loop 1604, from Culebra Road to U.S. 281, has been slashed to $104 million, which means some parts could be delayed, said Terry Brechtel of the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority.

“So one of our projects will get delayed if the Legislature doesn’t come up with new funding,” she said.

State lawmakers next year could authorize funds to support $6.5 billion worth of transportation bonds. The Texas Department of Transportation says that would provide about $5.2 billion for roadwork after engineering and land-purchase costs are subtracted.

How much of that could be redirected back into maintenance is unknown. Legislators could attach strings, and transportation commissioners would also have designs on it.

“If things should change, we can restore the money back into maintenance,” commission Chairwoman Hope Andrade said.

The Transportation Commission’s 11-year outlook leaves $12 billion for maintenance, half of what’s needed to meet a goal of getting nine out of 10 roads in good condition.

Officials estimate that just 80 percent of roads will be in good shape by 2019, down 7 percent from today. By then, $9 billion more will be needed to reach the 90 percent goal.

Right to New Judge Asserted in HD 73 Election Contest
Mandamus Requested from Third Court of Appeals
April 24, 2008

Today, State Representative Nathan Macias filed a Writ of Mandamus Petition and a Request for Temporary Relief with the Third Court of Appeals in Austin. Macias is asking the Third Court of Appeals to reverse assigned visiting Judge James Clawson’s decision to remain as the presiding trial judge over the election contest, contrary to Macias’ objection to Clawson’s assignment. Because of the extremely tight schedule for the election contest, Macias is also asking the Third Court of Appeals to expedite their ruling and stay the trial court proceedings until the Third Court rules.

Macias said, “Under the law, Chapter 74 of the Texas Government Code, every civil litigant has the right to one objection of an assigned visiting judge. It is simply a matter of right, not cause, and I trust the panel that hears the appeal will agree with our position.”

Presiding Judge of the region, the Honorable B. B. Schraub assigned Judge Clawson to hear this case because the sitting district judges of Comal County are statutorily disqualified from hearing the election contest.

Former District Judge and Macias’ lead counsel, Rene Diaz said, “We believe the assignment of Judge Clawson was a normal assignment made under the authority of the Government code, and objections to an assigned judge under Chapter 74 of the Government Code are routinely granted every day throughout the Texas civil court system. There simply is no recognized exception under the law for election contests.”

Diaz added, “If our position is correct, then all of Judge Clawson’s rulings at this point are null and void, and the case would automatically have to be tried all over again. Nobody wants that to happen. This trial is too important; therefore, we determined it best to seek a ruling from the Third Court of Appeals on this matter.”

Currently the election contest trial is set for May 19th, with a pre-trial hearing set for May 14th. It is unknown at this time exactly what effect the Third Court of Appeals ruling will have on the timeline of the trial, although Macias asked the Third Court to expedite their ruling on the Mandamus appeal.

Macias concluded, “We are anticipating a positive result both here at the appellate court and in the ultimate outcome of the election contest.”

Link to article here.

Fuel prices have been steadily driving up the cost of food. Read more here.

Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World
By JOSH GERSTEIN, Staff Reporter of the Sun | April 21, 2008

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing.

ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty

Click to enlarge>

Rice is stored at a National Food Authority warehouse at Manila, the Philippines, on April 17.

Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.

At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday, shoppers grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy.

“Where’s the rice?” an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu, said. “You should be able to buy something like rice. This is ridiculous.”

The bustling store in the heart of Silicon Valley usually sells four or five varieties of rice to a clientele largely of Asian immigrants, but only about half a pallet of Indian-grown Basmati rice was left in stock. A 20-pound bag was selling for $15.99.

“You can’t eat this every day. It’s too heavy,” a health care executive from Palo Alto, Sharad Patel, grumbled as his son loaded two sacks of the Basmati into a shopping cart. “We only need one bag but I’m getting two in case a neighbor or a friend needs it,” the elder man said.

The Patels seemed headed for disappointment, as most Costco members were being allowed to buy only one bag. Moments earlier, a clerk dropped two sacks back on the stack after taking them from another customer who tried to exceed the one-bag cap.

“Due to the limited availability of rice, we are limiting rice purchases based on your prior purchasing history,” a sign above the dwindling supply said.

Shoppers said the limits had been in place for a few days, and that rice supplies had been spotty for a few weeks. A store manager referred questions to officials at Costco headquarters near Seattle, who did not return calls or e-mail messages yesterday.

An employee at the Costco store in Queens said there were no restrictions on rice buying, but limits were being imposed on purchases of oil and flour. Internet postings attributed some of the shortage at the retail level to bakery owners who flocked to warehouse stores when the price of flour from commercial suppliers doubled.

The curbs and shortages are being tracked with concern by survivalists who view the phenomenon as a harbinger of more serious trouble to come.

“It’s sporadic. It’s not every store, but it’s becoming more commonplace,” the editor of SurvivalBlog.com, James Rawles, said. “The number of reports I’ve been getting from readers who have seen signs posted with limits has increased almost exponentially, I’d say in the last three to five weeks.”

Spiking food prices have led to riots in recent weeks in Haiti, Indonesia, and several African nations. India recently banned export of all but the highest quality rice, and Vietnam blocked the signing of a new contract for foreign rice sales.

“I’m surprised the Bush administration hasn’t slapped export controls on wheat,” Mr. Rawles said. “The Asian countries are here buying every kind of wheat.”

Mr. Rawles said it is hard to know how much of the shortages are due to lagging supply and how much is caused by consumers hedging against future price hikes or a total lack of product.

“There have been so many stories about worldwide shortages that it encourages people to stock up. What most people don’t realize is that supply chains have changed, so inventories are very short,” Mr. Rawles, a former Army intelligence officer, said. “Even if people increased their purchasing by 20%, all the store shelves would be wiped out.”

At the moment, large chain retailers seem more prone to shortages and limits than do smaller chains and mom-and-pop stores, perhaps because store managers at the larger companies have less discretion to increase prices locally.

Mr. Rawles said the spot shortages seemed to be most frequent in the Northeast and all the way along the West Coast. He said he had heard reports of buying limits at Sam’s Club warehouses, which are owned by Wal-Mart Stores, but a spokesman for the company, Kory Lundberg, said he was not aware of any shortages or limits.

An anonymous high-tech professional writing on an investment Web site, Seeking Alpha, said he recently bought 10 50-pound bags of rice at Costco. “I am concerned that when the news of rice shortage spreads, there will be panic buying and the shelves will be empty in no time. I do not intend to cause a panic, and I am not speculating on rice to make profit. I am just hoarding some for my own consumption,” he wrote.

For now, rice is available at Asian markets in California, though consumers have fewer choices when buying the largest bags. “At our neighborhood store, it’s very expensive, more than $30” for a 25-pound bag, a housewife from Mountain View, Theresa Esquerra, said. “I’m not going to pay $30. Maybe we’ll just eat bread.”

Link to article here.

In case you’re like me and had to rub your eyes and re-focus on the text to make sure I’m reading this right, some of our politicians are clearly drinking the tax-and-spend Kool-Aid that afflicts most politicos when they’ve been wined and dined sufficiently by lobbyists who demand more tax money for their industries.

We have a global economic crisis fueled by high gas prices that are subsequently driving up the cost of necessities like food. We have riots and food rationing around the globe, including in our own country. We have all time high home foreclosures, a mortgage and credit crisis, and these politicians have the unmitigated gall to champion not only gas tax hikes, but also the MOST expensive transportation tax, toll roads! They’ve LOST THEIR MINDS! The best solution: throw the bums out so they can return to the real world and be reminded of what it’s like to EARN a living in these tough economic times.

Toll roads, higher gas taxes predicted
04/21/2008
By Patrick Driscoll
Express-News

AUSTIN — When it comes to the big picture, two ranking members of the U.S. House Transportation Committee, one Republican and the other Democrat, were on the same page in separate speeches Monday.Building toll roads and leasing some to private corporations will be needed to keep traffic moving on the nation’s highways, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, and Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., told more than 1,000 people at the Texas Transportation Forum.

But so will higher gas taxes, though the pair differed on how.

Johnson said the 18.4 cents-a-gallon federal tax needs to go up at least a nickel and that states need to boost rates, too.

“We know there’s got to be an increase in the gas tax eventually,” she said.

Mica said the tax probably should be calibrated to rise with an inflation index and that a per-mile tax then should be phased in within a decade using vehicle-tracking technologies.

“Oh yeah, I think you’re going to have to do that,” he said.

Both talks hit on all cylinders for a crowd made up mostly of government and industry officials hungry to hear how more funds can be poured into transportation.

The Texas Department of Transportation, which held the forum, recently retrenched and targeted nearly all its gas tax and fee collections into maintenance.

“The reality is, we’re in a difficult financial situation,” TxDOT Assistant Director Phil Russell said at an afternoon session. “Right now, across the state, any addition in capacity is probably going to have to be looked at as toll lanes.”

Toll roads and privatization are at least part of the answer, said Johnson, who’s been working with a handful of members of Congress from Texas since last year to come up with a bipartisan list of recommendations.

“We cannot see how it can be done with just tax dollars,” she said.

Mica, who’s calling for a national vision and policy for transportation, said all funding options must be weighed.

Congress should consider taxes and fees, innovative financial packaging and public-private partnerships to harvest $1.5 trillion for the next five-year transportation bill, which is due next year, he said.

Such a bill would be five times larger than the current law.

“Hang in there, baby, you’ll see,” Mica said. “I think we can do it.”

____________________________________

Toll roads, education and wood chips
Toll-road warriors camped out at the Texas Transportation Forum through today spent due time fretting over why toll proposals ignite public uproars, and brainstormed on ways to soothe tempers.

The elusive balm is education, not to be confused with advocacy, they insisted. If people only knew how little funding there is to build and maintain roads for growing traffic, they’d jump on board to help find answers.

“Frankly, we neglected the public education aspect of it from the beginning,” said U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, a forum speaker who’s served on the House transportation committee since 1993.

Her colleague on the committee, and also a speaker at the forum, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., had a different take. He said elected leaders need some lessons in transportation realities, and that will include the next president.

“Members of Congress do not know anything,” he said. “Let’s start with that.”

Mica said the current crop in Washington is too myopic, but nevertheless he’s beaming with hope, in part because this year’s elections will plant some new seeds.

“I’ve got a whole new cast of characters,” he said after his Monday night talk. “Bush will be back here in Crawford chopping wood.”

Speaking at lunch: Bush’s old buddy Gov. Rick Perry.

Link to article here. Read about the tax-and-spend free-for-all saga here.

Tollway agency approves deal with TxDOT on Highway 161
Sunday, April 20, 2008
By MICHAEL LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News
The North Texas Tollway Authority on Sunday unanimously approved a deal with the Texas Department of Transportation that sets the value of the State Highway 161 toll road at about $1.1 billion.

The vote ratifies a compromise reached Friday after leaders from both agencies met behind closed doors with key legislators to end a stalemate that had threatened to stall or even cancel plans to build the approximately 10-mile toll road in western Dallas County.

TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott said Sunday that TxDOT leadership already had ratified the agreement and had been awaiting approval by NTTA’s board, which held an emergency meeting Sunday afternoon to vote on the deal.

Construction contracts for the road already have been awarded, and work is expected to begin Monday.

NTTA has promised to decide by mid-summer whether it will build the toll road itself or step aside and let TxDOT contract with a private firm to build it.

Link to article here.

In case anyone needs reminding, we warned legislators this is EXACTLY what TxDOT would do. Lawmakers convinced themselves the Governor’s counterfeit moratorium bill, SB 792, and it’s horrific market valuation language, was the panacea to give them local control. We tried to tell lawmakers the veto power they were seeking cuts both ways; it still allows TxDOT to KILL a project if the local authorities don’t agree with TxDOT’s quick cash, “market value” figure as determined by Wall Street. “Market value” is code for how much money the government thinks it can make off its highway monopoly, resulting in tolls as high as they can get away with. Notice that the articles opine that if the two sides can’t agree on the maximum level of taxpayer gouging, that Hwy 161 will become a freeway. Heaven forbid, not a FREEway! Well, that’s what we the PEOPLE should demand!
Dewhurst, legislators to meet in Dallas to ease Highway 161 deadlock
Thursday, April 17, 2008
By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News
mlindenberger@dallasnews.com

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and other key legislators are expected to meet behind closed doors in Dallas today to end a deadlock over State Highway 161 that has threatened to derail plans to toll the highway, a development that could cost North Texas more than $1.2 billion in road funds.

Regional leaders have insisted that the 10-mile Highway 161 in western Dallas County be built as a toll road. But negotiations between the North Texas Tollway Authority and the state transportation department over how much the toll contract is worth unexpectedly collapsed late Wednesday night, just hours before construction crews were to begin building the highway.

The Texas Department of Transportation has insisted for weeks that if no agreement was in place by April 16, the road could not be built as a toll road.

That prospect prompted howls of protest from local elected officials. Senate transportation committee chairman John Carona, R-Dallas, stepped in Thursday to initiate the unusual last-minute involvement of some of Texas’ most powerful elected officials.

“I am working hard to facilitate open conversation between all parties involved in the construction of SH 161,” Mr. Dewhurst said in a written statement about his efforts to resolve the impasse.

Gov. Rick Perry’s deputy chief of staff and his top transportation adviser, Kris Heckmann, will also attend. House Speaker Tom Craddick was not invited and will not attend, his spokesman said Thursday.

Today’s high-level meeting is designed to produce an agreement, said state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, a transportation committee member who will also attend

“I think we need to sit around the room and have all the parties look eyeball to eyeball,” Ms. Shapiro said.

Racing to beat the April 16 deadline imposed by TxDOT, NTTA last week offered what it called its best and final offer. Its proposal valued the Highway 161 project at $1.2 billion and, if accepted by state transportation officials, would have let the highway proceed as a toll project. The Regional Transportation Council voted 16-13 on Tuesday to support NTTA’s proposal.

But TxDOT executive director Amadeo Saenz rejected NTTA’s proposal late Wednesday night. Mr. Saenz ordered work on the highway to be delayed and extended his own agency’s deadline through the end of the weekend to provide time for negotiations.

That decision “pulled the rug out from under the region,” Ms. Shapiro said.

But on Thursday, Mr. Saenz said that decision was based on what’s best for the region, and department leaders said Thursday that NTTA’s proposal was for hundreds of millions of dollars less than what the toll contract was really worth. Leaving that money on the table, they said, would only make it harder for North Texas to reduce congestion on its traffic-snarled highways.

Mr. Saenz said he is prepared to continue negotiating with NTTA throughout the weekend, and said he looked forward to the meeting with senior legislators today.

“We have to meet the deadline to build the project, or yes it will have to be a gas-tax road,” Mr. Saenz said. “Maybe it can be resolved over the weekend. We are very close.”

Michael Morris, director of the Regional Transportation Council, said he canceled plans to be in Washington to attend today’s meeting. He said that his discussions with NTTA and TxDOT on Thursday had helped the parties resolve many of their differences and that he expects them to reach an agreement today.

NTTA chairman Paul Wageman said his agency’s offer will remain on the table all weekend, but he said its board will not renegotiate the terms of the proposal. He said TxDOT should unequivocally accept the proposal that has been endorsed by the RTC.

“We are here to do what is best for the region,” Mr. Wageman said. “If TxDOT wants to extend the deadline that it has imposed on this project, which we have said all along is an arbitrary deadline, then of course we will not let our offer lapse during that time. But I also want to be clear: Our proposal is our best and final offer. We made our best effort to get this project moving and to bring value to the region. We’re not going to renegotiate our terms.”

Ms. Shapiro said it’s long past time for the agencies to agree on how the road will be built.

“The three entities have got to come to an understanding,” she said. “Sixty-two meetings were held between TxDOT and NTTA to resolve market valuation, and they still haven’t resolved it. The more time this takes, the more we in this region are the losers. We need this roadway so desperately.”

Mr. Dewhurst and the others at today’s meeting cannot order either party to reach an agreement – as both TxDOT and NTTA are state entities directly answerable only to their governing boards.

Nevertheless, TxDOT finds itself in an unusually vulnerable position, with the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission set to give it a top-to-bottom look, and a Legislature mostly hostile to its push for private toll roads ready to reconvene in January.

Mr. Saenz said today’s meeting will probably determine how quickly his agency and NTTA can come to an agreement on Highway 161.

“It all depends on what happens tomorrow,” he said. “The crux is that the project needs to be completed on a certain time schedule. … If there is no resolution, then I guess [it won’t be a toll road]. But I am hoping that there will be a resolution. If we have to, we can extend our deadline a day or two.”

______________________________________________

Link to article here.

Regional council could weigh in Thursday on Highway 161 toll road project’s next turn
Thursday, April 10, 2008
By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News

The Regional Transportation Council will consider Thursday yet another twist in what has been six solid months of deadlocked negotiations over the State Highway 161 toll road.

Parties on both sides of the dispute – which involves a billion-dollar toll road and the prospect of traffic relief for thousands of drivers on State Highway 360 – say this week’s proposal by the North Texas Tollway Authority could be the breakthrough they’ve been waiting for.

Monday’s proposal by NTTA to value the road contract at about $1.2 billion, if accepted by the state Transportation Department, could clear a key legal hurdle that has stalled negotiations for months.

But despite those hopes – and they could still be dashed – about all anyone involved in the talks can agree on is that the process itself has been deeply flawed.

When negotiations over the toll contract began in earnest last fall, expectations from all sides were sky-high.

Fresh from a bruising but richly rewarding fight over State Highway 121, regional leaders saw the approximately 10-mile toll road as another golden egg. They hoped to see an upfront payment of as much as $1 billion to help build other roads.

State transportation leaders said the Highway 161 negotiations would prove that private-sector competition would create the billions Texas needs to pave its way out of increasingly bad traffic jams.

And for NTTA, the Highway 161 project was the first chance it would have to test-drive the new powers the Legislature had bestowed upon it last year. Those powers essentially have given the authority veto power on any toll road project within its service area.

“Everybody agrees that the process needs to be revamped,” said Dallas City Council member Linda Koop, who is also vice chairwoman of the transportation council. “This is not a process that really works too well.”

No wonder.

The past six months have seen more than 60 meetings between NTTA and state Transportation Department officials, hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal and consulting fees, and a series of firm deadlines set by the Transportation Department that were promptly ignored.

“I have been to I don’t know how many meetings,” said Bill Hale, director of the Dallas district of the Transportation Department. “And I just don’t think we were going to get anywhere.”

At fault, Mr. Hale, NTTA officials and others said this week, is the procedure established by the Legislature last year that means if NTTA or its counterparts don’t agree on hundreds of toll road conditions, then projects simply can’t proceed.

NTTA and its statewide counterparts say the Legislature was wise to give them what it calls primacy over private competitors. But even they said the forced negotiations have been doomed.

“I find it to be cumbersome, bureaucratic, argumentative and frustrating,” said Art Story, director of public infrastructure and tollways for Harris County.

State transportation officials have opposed the new law from the beginning, saying private companies can pay more for toll roads than public agencies. They agree with NTTA and the others that the negotiation process contained in the law has not worked.

Private companies and public entities will always see the value of a proposed toll contract differently because they operate with a very different set of financial assumptions, Mr. Hale said. “There are some inherent differences in the way both sides approach a project like that,” Mr. Hale said. “And if you are trying to negotiate, I think you will always end up with” deadlock.

But after six months of meetings, he said, the Transportation Department may support NTTA’s price tag anyway, or accept its alternative proposal that would lead to NTTA stepping away from the project altogether.

“I am pretty optimistic,” Mr. Hale said. “Sometimes, though, the best deal isn’t the right deal, and you end up with a good deal instead.”

Ms. Koop said the transportation council could vote on a recommendation, or table the matter at today’s meeting.

What’s certain is that all the parties will be back in Austin next year asking for changes.

“We need to have a robust conversation about what works and does not work,” she said. “We need to make some recommendations.”

Link to article here.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry to run for re-election in 2010
Thursday, April 17, 2008
By GROMER JEFFERS JR. and CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News
Gov. Rick Perry told The Dallas Morning News on Thursday that he would seek re-election as governor in 2010.

During a break in a Republican Governors Association forum being held in Grapevine, Mr. Perry said that he would like to return for a third full term as governor.

When asked whether the gubernatorial field would include Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and himself, Mr. Perry responded , “I don’t know about them, but it will be Perry in 2010.”

“I don’t know about the other two. You need to ask them.”

Mrs. Hutchison appeared unaffected by the governor’s statement. She has earlier said that her decision to run for governor would not be swayed this time by other candidates in the race.

“I am encouraged by the growing number of Texans asking me to return home to run for governor to provide leadership for our state,” she said in a statement Thursday.

“It is too early to make an announcement about the 2010 race. Right now I remain committed to serving the people of Texas in the United States Senate and helping our Republican candidates win crucial elections this fall.”

Mr. Dewhurst also said he would weigh his options later.

“My focus is on the 2009 legislative session and continuing to build on our successes over the past five years. Whatever I decide to do after that will be based on what’s best for Texas,” he said.

Since winning re-election with just 39 percent of the vote in a four-way field in 2006, Mr. Perry has held out the possibility of seeking an unprecedented third four-year term. But his statement Thursday is his most definitive yet that he would do so, though much could change in the two-and-a-half years until the next gubernatorial election.

Mr. Perry will soon become the longest-serving governor in Texas history. He took over for George W. Bush when Mr. Bush resigned in late 2000 to become president. The state has no term limits for governor.

Last year, Mr. Perry had expressed doubt as to whether he wanted another term, saying he would look at doing other things.

It has been speculated that Mr. Perry was positioning himself to be a vice presidential candidate, but he said Thursday that he would not accept such an offer from Arizona Sen. John McCain, the party’s all-but-certain nominee.

Longtime Republican consultant Bill Miller said the governor’s remark not only tips his hand, but tips the political balance.

“Most politicians who have been around awhile understand that when you become a lame duck, you really lose leverage and you lose your ability to get some things done, particularly hard things,” Mr. Miller said.

Eight months before a legislative session, it might be wise to strengthen your clout with lawmakers by letting them know you intend to be in the executive office for awhile, Mr. Miller said. “It’s the nature of politics.”

As for Mr. Perry’s election chances, Mr. Miller said he expects the governor will meet formidable competition in the 2010 GOP primary. And being the longest serving governor means you are not just battle-tested, but battle-scarred as well, he said.

“He’s got the most recent election and his polling numbers indicate it will not be an easy task for him to be reelected,” Mr. Miller said.

But it would be foolish to underestimate Rick Perry, he said. “The fact is that he’s never lost a political race and he’s had many, many of them.”

Democratic Party chief Boyd Richie suggested Mr. Perry has a lot to run on, including several school funding crises, the Texas Youth Commission sexual abuse scandal, soaring college tuitions, sprouting toll ways and more than 1 million children lacking health insurance.

“That’s the record of Rick Perry and the Republican politicians who masquerade as our leaders while serving the interests of special interest contributors and cronies. Texas Democrats look forward to 2010,” Mr. Richie said.

Mr. Perry also said Thursday that he thought Tom Craddick would win re-election as House speaker. Mr. Craddick, embattled over his leadership style and his declaration that he had absolute authority in running the House last year, is expected to face several challengers for the job, even if Republicans maintain their thin majority in the House.

Link to article here. Also, read more here.

The article states: “Ethanol production has also diverted corn from dinner tables and into fuel tanks.” Our failure to secure energy independence is literally taking food out of our mouths.

So let me get this straight, while the world goes hungry, our government still pays farmers NOT to produce food, and our farmers are selling/sending U.S. produced food overseas leaving less for their fellow Americans here at home? Something is clearly wrong here. Government has lost its mind or they’re engaging in a sinister scheme to squeeze the poor and middle class into a third world standard of living. Whether by design or by default, the people of this country had better wake-up and DEMAND change before it’s too late!

Food Costs Rising Fastest in 17 Years
Monday April 14, 4:10 pm ET
By Ellen Simon, AP Business Writer
Food Costs Rising at Fast Clip, Squeezing Poor, Forcing Food Vendors to Explain Higher Prices

NEW YORK (AP) — Steve Tarpin can bake a graham cracker crust in his sleep, but explaining why the price for his Key lime pies went from $20 to $25 required mastering a thornier topic: global economics.He recently wrote a letter to his customers and posted it near the cash register listing the factors — dairy prices driven higher by conglomerates buying up milk supplies, heat waves in Europe and California, demand from emerging markets and the weak dollar.

The owner of Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pies in Brooklyn said he didn’t want customers thinking he was “jacking up prices because I have a unique product.”

“I have to justify it,” he said.

The U.S. is wrestling with the worst food inflation in 17 years, and analysts expect new data due on Wednesday to show it’s getting worse. That’s putting the squeeze on poor families and forcing bakeries, bagel shops and delis to explain price increases to their customers.

U.S. food prices rose 4 percent in 2007, compared with an average 2.5 percent annual rise for the last 15 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And the agency says 2008 could be worse, with a rise of as much as 4.5 percent.

Higher prices for food and energy are again expected to play a leading role in pushing the government’s consumer price index higher for March.

Analysts are forecasting that Wednesday’s Department of Labor report will show the Consumer Price Index rose at a 4 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, up from last year’s overall rise of 2.8 percent.

For the U.S. poor, any increase in food costs sets up an either-or equation: Give something up to pay for food.

“I was talking to people who make $9 an hour, talking about how they might save $5 a week,” said Kathleen DiChiara, president and CEO of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. “They really felt they couldn’t. That was before. Now, they have to.”

For some, that means adding an extra cup of water to their soup, watering down their milk, or giving their children soda because it’s cheaper than milk, DiChiara said.

U.S. households still spend a smaller chunk of their expenses for foods than in any other country — 7.2 percent in 2006, according to the USDA. By contrast, the figure was 22 percent in Poland and more than 40 percent in Egypt and Vietnam.

In Bangladesh, economists estimate 30 million of the country’s 150 million people could be going hungry. Haiti’s prime minister was ousted over the weekend following food riots there.

Still, the higher U.S. prices seem eye-popping after years of low inflation. Eggs cost 25 percent more in February than they did a year ago, according to the USDA. Milk and other dairy products jumped 13 percent, chicken and other poultry nearly 7 percent.

USDA economist Ephraim Leibtag explained the jumps in a recent presentation to the Food Marketing Institute, starting with the factors everyone knows about: sharply higher commodity costs for wheat, corn, soybeans and milk, plus higher energy and transportation costs.

The other reasons are more complex. Rapid economic growth in China and India has increased demand for meat there, and exports of U.S. products, such as corn, have set records as the weak dollar has made them cheaper. That’s lowered the supply of corn available for sale in the U.S., raising prices here. Ethanol production has also diverted corn from dinner tables and into fuel tanks.

Soybean prices have gone up as farmers switched more of their acreage to corn. Drought in Australia has even affected the price of bread, as it led to tighter global wheat supplies.

The jump has left people in the food business to do their own explaining. Twin Cafe Caterers in lower Manhattan posted a letter on its deli cooler: “Due to the huge increase of the gas, the electricity, the water and all the other utilities, we had to raise the prices a little bit.” It went on to say that all its food prices have risen, too.

Wonder Bagels, in Jersey City, N.J., posted a letter from its wheat supplier, A. Oliveri & Sons, saying the recent situation was unprecedented.

“The major mills across the country are using words like ‘rationing’ and ‘shortages’ if things continue,” it said. “We will sweat out the summer together, hoping there will be some flour left to purchase at any price.”

The letter called for an immediate halt to exports and a change in farm policy, “stop paying farmers NOT to grow crops.” A new farm bill, stalled in Congress, would expand farm subsidies if it passes, however.

For some Americans, the resulting increases might be barely perceptible. The Cheesecake Factory raised prices by 1.5 percent at the end of February, Applebee’s by 3 percent.

But for the poorest U.S. families, the higher costs may mean going hungry. A family of four is eligible for a maximum $542 a month in food stamps, which never lasted the whole month before, Food Bank of New Jersey’s DiChiara said.

“Now food stamps go fewer and fewer days of the month,” she said.

The Food Bank recently got a letter of its own from a key vendor. Its grim message: Sorry, but the prices they charge the Food Bank would be increasing 20 percent, due to food inflation.

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Link to article here.

Food Crisis: The Maze Behind Maize
By Austin Bay
04-16-08
I enjoy baking, and “scratch” cornbread is my favorite kitchen oeuvre. I use stone-ground corn meal, and the product is gluten-free — nix on the cup of wheat flour you’ll find in many recipes.

My cornbread hobby isn’t the only reason I watch the price of corn. Gauging Mexican political stability is another. Corn (maize, as the Mexicans correctly call it) feeds Mexico. When corn prices rise, Mexico’s poor must spend more to buy their staple.

The Mexican government knows corn’s price is politically sensitive. In January 2007, StrategyPage.com published the following short commentary: “Mexican authorities are concerned that a rise in the price of tortillas will lead to civil unrest. The price of tortillas rose 10 to 14 percent in 2006. The cause: international demand for corn.” Mexico planned to import “duty free” several hundred thousand tons of corn to stabilize prices.

Corn prices continue to climb, this month hitting an all-time high of six dollars a bushel, up 30 percent since then end of 2007. Take the all-time high, however, with a dose of mathematics. The Iowa Corn Growers Association argues that the $3.20 a bushel of 1981 would be around eight bucks today.

Prices have increased for numerous, complex and often opaquely connected reasons, but producing ethanol “biofuel” (an alleged “green” alternative to gasoline) certainly contributes to the rising demand for corn.

Ethanol is, or at least, was, “good for America” and a “renewable fuel” that will help end America’s oil addiction. In 2007, the U.S. Congress mandated a “five-fold increase” in bio-fuel production; the bill touted ethanol but also promoted research and development of non-food crop biofuels. However, corn’s price spike has generated the sound bite, “Stop burning food.”

Ethanol is an easy target for the sensationalists. The pun is more accurate than the accusation: A maze of interrelated factors affect the price of maize and most other foodstuffs.

The growing economies of India and China require energy, and demand from these two Asian giants as well as sustained demand from other advanced economies has spurred a long-term rise in oil prices. Higher oil prices bump food prices; it takes energy to raise and transport food.

“Middle class” Indians and Chinese also buy more foods. Lousy weather (in Australia as well as the United States), crop rotation and, in the case of the world’s No. 1 food producer, the United States, fewer acres under cultivation (likely culprit: suburbs) also factor in higher food prices.

So the “world food crisis” sprouting bold headlines this week isn’t so much sudden as it is vexingly systemic.

Recognizing the problem, however, doesn’t feed empty stomachs. Food riots have erupted in Bangladesh, Egypt, Senegal and Ethiopia. Last week, hungry Haitians, rioting over the price of rice, toppled their prime minister.

America is by far the world’s leading food donor. President George W. Bush has made an additional $200 million in food aid available for “Africa and elsewhere” in order to feed starving people.

Emergency aid is the right short-term response to what U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls a “rapidly escalating crisis of food availability.”

But what about the long term? Beware the calls for “structural changes” if that means mandates from bureaucrats. “Smart guy” mandates brought us subsidized ethanol. Large-scale alternative energy that diminishes reliance on oil? That’s a truly systemic solution, but for three decades environmentalist fear-mongers in the United States have stymied the development of nuclear energy, a proven large-scale alternative energy source.

Applying human creativity is also a “structural change.” “Algal fuel” — algae producing biofuel, or methane — is experimental but promising; it sounds sci-fi, but genetically engineered algae might someday produce first-rate fuel.

Genetically modified crops (they already exist, the gift of genetic research) dramatically increase land yields, but they have been tagged as “Franken-foods.” Their fear-inciting critics forget modern corn is hybridized maize.

Austin Bay Austin Bay is author of three novels. His third novel, The Wrong Side of Brightness, was published by Putnam/Jove in June 2003. He has also co-authored four non-fiction books, to include A Quick and Dirty Guide to War: Third Edition (with James Dunnigan, Morrow, 1996). best buy in san francisco test