(cross-posted at Blue Dot Blues)<

One of the loudest arguments we're hearing in favor of Proposition 4 is that if the state of Texas has more Tier One research universities, the quality of higher education will improve. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni has been working on a project, the results of which appear to contradict the idea that research universities provide an inherently superior education to students.

I've held back on this because I wanted to give readers a chance to read the initial analysis of Proposition 4. There are a lot of arguments out there in favor of it (the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has their endorsement here). I think you need to know, Prop. 4 is a bad idea.

There are 11 state constitutional amendments on the November 3 ballot. Early voting begins on Monday, October 19. If you are voting by mail (absentee voting), the last day to submit your mail-in ballot is Tuesday, October 27.

Ordinarily, I'd take Harvey Kronberg's theories lightly, but this one has given me a considerable amount of "hmmm"s in the last hour, so I thought I'd post about it. Earlier this evening, HK posited the theory that Gov. Perry could appoint State Senator Dan Patrick to KBH's empty US Senate seat (assuming, of course, it becomes vacant).

Pics in this post were taken by myself and members of my household throughout the legislative session. I think they capture the theme quite well. Please excuse the blurriness in some - cell phone cameras only do so much.

After 2005's Summer of the Special Session(s), I think it's perfectly natural for Texas political junkies to take about a five minute breather when the gavel falls on sine die before they begin wondering if the governor is going to call everyone back to address some major issue.

SB 855 fell victim to the "chubbing" (unofficial filibuster) perpetrated by House Democrats over the course of Memorial Day weekend. A prescient move by Senator Carona has, however, saved the "local option" gas tax - he had it put on to HB 300, the TXDOT (Texas Dept. of Transportation) sunset bill that was debated in the Senate earlier this week.

A lot of bloggers and various pundits have begun talking about "what's next" in terms of the Tea Party movement. As of this morning, I've received four Facebook invites to events planned for July 4 and Sept. 12. Rallies at state capitols, county courthouses, and of course, Washington D.C.

As of right now, there are 61 days left in the 81st legislative session. Not much time to get our act together to defeat bad legislation, and in particular, the monstrous local option tax bill known by it's more apt name in some quarters as the "Transportaxation bill."