Capitol grounds...
Wonderful, beautiful oak on the grounds
Southern entrance and grounds
In commemoration of Texas schoolchildren (as if the current repuke dominated congress really cares :eyes:)
The beautiful Tyler Roses in the background
The loving lady on top of the dome
Let's walk in (two Texas' finest future stars are waiting to go in)
Did you know that all the doors in the Capitol Building have these 8 pound hinges?
Hello, Sam Houston (Statue from 1888)
The center of the Capitol Building is very open with a view all the way through the dome.
That little dot you see in the above photo is this star.
This is the original Alamo flag. It is not in the Capitol building but in the Visitor's Center on the grounds of the Capitol. Let's remember that the war with the Mexicans was actually fought with the help of many Mexicans who were tired of the Mexican government's poor handling of basic issues with respect to life in the territory of Texas under Santa Ana.
One of the first Lone Star flags
Back to the Capitol Building...remember the rules.
The Senate Chamber: Have a seat and soak up the history.
Beautifully decorated ceiling and lights
Let's walk over to the House chamber
We can't leave without taking a look at all the portraits of the governors and presidents of Texas in the center dome area. This area takes up four floors.
The floor is beautiful and along the wall you can see some of the portraits.
Looking down through the gorgeous balusters.
As we left, I thought of all the great Democrats that have served Texas. I thought of Ralph Yarborough, of Barbara Jordan, Jim Hightower as Ag Commissioner and as a great political writer, Ann Richards, Jim Wright, Martin Frost, the great columnist Molly Ivins, Sam Rayburn and even the more conservative line of the party in the spirit of Lloyd Bentsen and LBJ. Speaking of LBJ, here is a photo of LBJ and Westmoreland with my grandmother.
I also thought of new Democrats that will hopefully bring the party back to dominance. For example, I so hope that
David Harris can defeat Smokey Joe Barton who is so beholden to Big Oil his blood is black. Of course, our own David Van Os comes to mind. He is definitely the sort of progressive Democrat I want to see in Austin.
However, I really, really, really, want to see a Democrat, namely Chris Bell, living here.
I would like to see ex-governor Goodhair cleaning bat guano here under the Congress Avenue Bridge.
So my fellow Texans, it is time to bring back Texas government to the people and take it out of the hands of the corporate elite. Write every newspaper you can find describing the ills of the repukes. If you can volunteer to make some phone calls, walk with a candidate or just donate a bit of cash, do it! Every little bit helps. Ever since Ann Richards left office, I have seen my awesome state become more polluted, lose control of how to finance schools, break down the separation of church and state and the Texas economy has faltered. Thus my salary, while under Clinton and part of * was rising, has completely stagnated under Goodhair and * the president.
Texas also deregulated the energy industry which in part has caused our energy costs to skyrocket while most other states are seeing only minimal increases in their energy costs.
This guy has a plan. Of course the deregulation plan didn't even start well here and it continues to wreak havoc on energy costs just like California.
Those that supported deregulation should have seen this coming. Of course with Enron pushing for deregulation here, what would one expect. * and Lay were so buddy-buddy, it was a foregone conclusion that deregulation would occur.
Texans have been duped. There is no one fighting for us in Austin. We need to bring back people whose concern are the people of Texas, white, black, brown or purple, English speaking or not, atheist, protestant, catholic, jew or muslim. I'm sick of what I see and it saddens me to see what has happened. I want my children to be proud of their state, their country and, perhaps more than anything else, proud of me. To that end, I will fight. Will you?