George Herbert Walker BushIn James Risen’s new book, State of War: the Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration, the author discusses a conversation that George Herbert Walker Bush had with his son, the current President, in 2003. According to Risen, George W. Bush "angrily hung up the telephone on his father" who was complaining to the President about the excessive influence wielded by the neoconservatives over American foreign policy. Here is what Risen writes: "George Herbert Walker Bush was disturbed that son was allowing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and a cadre of neoconservative ideologues to exert broad influence over foreign policy, particularly concerning Iraq."

In a review of the Risen book for the New York Times, James Bamford describes how the then head of the CIA, George Tenet, was torn between the views of his mid-level CIA analysts and station chiefs who were reluctant to go to war in Iraq and the neoconservative "hawks" who were pushing hard for military action against Iraq. Tenet in the end sided with the neoconservatives. Here is what Bamford has to say:

"The book also provides a close look at how George J. Tenet, then the tough-talking, cigar-chomping CIA director, had to decide between the counsel of many of his middle-level analysts and station chiefs who advised caution when it came to Iraq, and the Pentagon’s hawks and neoconservatives who were hungry for war. ‘George Tenet liked to talk about how he was a tough Greek from Queens’, Mr. Risen quotes a former Tenet lieutenant as saying. But the former official added that in reality, ‘he just wanted people to like him.’

With regard to Iraq, Mr. Risen writes, it was the hard-line Israelis that Mr. Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul D. Wolfowitz, were listening to, not the cautious CIA. ‘Israeli intelligence officials frequently traveled to Washington to brief top American officials,’ he writes, ‘but CIA analysts were often skeptical of Israeli intelligence reports, knowing that Mossad had very strong – even transparent – biases about the Arab world.’ After their visits, CIA officials would often discount much of what the Israelis had provided. ‘Wolfowitz and other conservatives at the Pentagon became enraged by this practice.’ Mr. Risen writes."

State Rep. Terry KeelDallas Judge Robert Francis had his name taken off the Republican ballot yesterday in the race for Place 8 on the Court of Criminal Appeals by a District Judge in Travis County because of Francis’ failure to get enough signatures on his petition requirement.

His opponent, State Representative Terry Keel, already had succeeded in getting the Texas Republican Party to knock the current Judge, Charles Holcomb, off the ballot since Holcomb failed to get enough signatures in one of the appellate districts. That proved to be the same problem for Judge Francis. At the moment, Terry Keel is running unopposed for the Republican nomination for Place 9 of the Court of Criminal Appeals.

Buck Wood, attorney for Judge Francis, says that he intends to appeal the District Court’s decision, according to the Texas Lawyer. To read the full story link here:

Scott Bennett says the outrage of Mexican politicians at even faltering US steps to control its border is outrageous.  That millions must flee their own country indicates that country is an abject failure that is exporting its own people as an economic policy.  However, Scott says that does not mean the US should not welcome Mexican immigrants.  Nor does it mean we shouldn't build a wall on the border.

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Adam agrees that health care costs are high, often times with good reason.  But he also notes that consumers still have a lot of power.  There are a lot of tools out there for controlling costs if the health care consumer will be a little discerning and willing to spend a little time comparison shopping.

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Wendi is back from the holidays and is missing all of the space that seemed available a short time ago.  Everything is full again.  Her advise:  back off.

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If Mike Zimmer and Sean Payton depart Valley Ranch, who will step up as Bill Parcells' top Cowboys assistants? The Fish has the scoop:

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John Sharp is a good choice to chair the Governor's Tax Reform Commission.

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Greg Abbott and Bill Hill teamed up to secure a guilty plea from David Wayne Rhodes who falsely claimed to be licensed as a registered nurse and who had risen to the position of Director of Clinical Services for Brentwood Healthcare, Ltd. which operates Medicaid-funded facilities.  Rhodes pleaded guilty to felony charges of practicing nursing without a license, aggravated perjury and tampering with a government document.  His plea bargain got him a 10 year probated sentence and a small fine.  It is amazing how folks like Rhodes can fabricate credentials and get away with it for so many years.  He fraudulently claimed to be a nurse to gain employment at Brentwood back in 1994.

The Texas Tax Reform Commission held a public hearing Jan. 9 to take testimony on how to fix the state’s tax system. One of the commission's objectives is to recommend methods that would lower property taxes by one-third.

However, in light of the recent Supreme Court decision that ruled part of the state's school finance system unconstitutional, Solicitor General Ted Cruz cautioned members that efforts to lower the property tax ceiling would do nothing to help remedy the legal claim made by school districts.

Cruz said school districts are constrained by two critical elements: the floor and the ceiling. The floor is the minimum amount of funds that a school district must spend in order to comply with state mandates, and the ceiling is the maximum property tax rate, currently set at $1.50, that school districts can set in order to raise revenue.

The Supreme Court determined that school districts lacked meaningful discretion in setting property tax rates, which in effect constituted a statewide property tax. “In order to respond to this [legal] claim, absent fundamental [tax] reform, the only option for the state is to increase the spread [between the floor and the ceiling] so functionally the districts have a real choice," Cruz said. "The districts, when they are setting their tax rates, have a window of what the court has called 'meaningful discretion'… if they have meaningful discretion, that should resolve this claim.”

Cruz outlined five ways in which the state could remedy the constitutional violation:
1. Pass some form of constitutional amendment to allow a statewide property tax.
2. Pass fundamental reform of the system such shifts away reliance on property taxes all together.
3. Raise the ceiling by increasing the property tax cap. “If the cap were raised enough that it provided meaningful discretion, the [legal] claim would go away," Cruz said. "It could literally be possible to have one sentence legislation that changes $1.50 to a higher number and legally the tax claim would go away."
4. Lower the floor by reducing mandates on school districts.
5. Buy down the floor by giving school districts additional money

“At the end of the day, if you stay within the construct of property taxes, your only way to increase meaningful discretion is to raise the ceiling or lower the floor,” Cruz said.

The Supreme Court gave the legislature a June 1st deadline in which to come up with a solution of school finance reform.