a big feather in his cap. GO HOLDER!!

It was one of Obama's SOTU goals that will be carried out, without any credit, of course, just like the other ones. The sputtering and howls of rage from the GOP have only begun. The real We The People, not the faux Koch patriots, are going to take our government back, haha!

Close every military base in Texas, and we win. The state will shrivel up and blow away without the federal government teat. Anyone who thinks differently is Rick Perry, Louie Gohmert, Ted Cruz, or any of the other cast of characters Texas has foisted on the rest of us.

State Department allowed foreign oil refineries in Texas and oil filled pipelines from all over America, Canada and Mexico to come in to Texas.

Not to mention all the new duties of a soveriegn state they'd have to take on.

Which doesn't mean I wouldn't be happy to see the ass-end of Texas' spavined horse as it rode off out of the Union.

Texas leaving the Union would not harm those who live abroad and draw federal benefits, Social Security and Medicare and VA.

The harm on the people of Texas come from the GOP goons. State run programs are being slashed there. Medicaid, education and anything else the GOP goes after happens in every state.

Technically this is part of the American aeronautics program, it's some of the federal spending that you mention here:


A 1989 aerial view of the Johnson Space Center, located in Houston.

I attended public school with the children of the engineers who came from around the world to work at NASA in the days before the first Moon shots. Clear Lake is a nice area, and when I lived there it had a seemingly liberal in tone as many areas of Texas that have well-educated people. Defense and contracting is a big part of the Texas economy:

The defense/military industry is the second largest sector of the Texas economy, trailing behind the petroleum and gas industry.

A little information on the Texas Economy:


The ship channel at the Port of Houston—the largest in the U.S. in international commerce and the sixth-largest port in the world.

I'm having trouble believing it's still #1, as I expect the Chinese would have bigger ports. But I grew up within hearing distance of this Port, which was created by man, not nature.

A little bit of data:

The economy of Texas is one of the largest and most rapidly growing economies in the United States. As of 2013, Texas is home to six of the top 50 companies on the Fortune 500 list and 51 overall, (third most after New York and California).[9]

As the largest exporter of goods in the United States, Texas currently[when?] grosses more than $100 billion a year in trade with other nations. As a sovereign country (in 2012), Texas would be the 14th largest economy in the world by GDP (ahead of South Korea and the Netherlands).[10] Despite Texas's growing economy, it is also one of the impoverished states in the United States.

In 2011,Texas had a gross state product of $1.332 trillion,[11] the second highest in the U.S.[12][13] Texas's household income was $48,259 in 2010 ranking 25th in the nation, below the national average, though the ranking does not factor in the state's lower-than-average cost of living.



Well, we all know what that is, they are in every state with oil.

Texans consume the most energy in the nation both in per capita and as a whole.[32] Since 2002, Texas has operated under a mostly deregulated electricity market (however, areas where electricity is provided by either a municipality or a utility cooperative are not always subject to deregulation).

The known petroleum deposits of Texas are about 8 billion barrels (1.3×109 m3), which makes up approximately one-third of the known U.S. supply. Texas has 4.6 billion barrels (730,000,000 m3) of proven crude oil reserves.[32] As wells are depleted in the eastern portions of the state, drilling in state has moved westward.[27]

Several of the major oil companies have headquarters in Texas, including ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil (Houston), Exxon-Mobil (Irving), Tesoro, and Valero (San Antonio).

Texas is a global leader in the energy industry and Houston is the energy capital of the world. Since 2003, Texas state officials have created various initiatives like the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Texas Emerging Technology Fund to develop the economy of Texas.

Texas is a leader in alternative energy sources, producing the most wind power of any state,[33] as well as small solar powered efforts and the experimental installation of wave-powered generators.

Texas also is home to many of the world's largest oilfield services firms including Halliburton, Schlumberger and Dresser. The state has a number of pipeline operators, such as El Paso and Dynegy, along with diversified energy firms such as TXU and Reliant Energy. The state also provides the most energy for the USA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Texas

I think the page needs updating, as I feel certain that other states would make the claim that they have more wind, solar and wave power geneation than Texas.

Of course, we're talking about something will never happen. Texas isn't going anywhere. We need to put Texas back in the BLUE column where it belongs, and make sure we stay BLUE in other states.

The same strategies used to take over Texas for regressives work well everywhere.

First vector is building up RW religion.

Second one is Libertarianism.

Just sayin'

There were plenty of rednecks around, but Texas was still fairly sane and Democratic. The gov was a Dem when we moved there, but a Republican was elected while I lived there. The great Jim Hightower was the editor of the great "Texas Observer" and won election as Agriculture Commissioner a year or so before I moved. Barbara Jordan, one of my heroes, had long retired.

Of course the state went for Reagan in 1980, and conservatives really started taking hold, except for a brief 4 years when Ann Richards was gov. Religion has taken over Texas, as it has the Republican party. The state is a pure oligarchy and theocracy all at the same time.

When I speak ill of Texas, I know there are good liberals down there working to turn the tide, but, after spending half of last year in Midland/Odessa area caring for my husband's dying father, I know how difficult it will be. Preachers rule, Fox News rules, and idiocracy rules. Texas may have a huge economy on their own, but so many people are poor and unhealthy, at least in the Permian Basin area.
Like any third world country, the gap between rich and poor in Texas is appalling, but, hey, McDonald's is paying $10/hr in Odessa thanks to the new oil boom. Those are most of the jobs Rick Perry has created.

My nephew has a mangled hand thanks to working in a factory where the safety devices had been removed to speed production. No fall out at all for the company. They didn't even cover all his medical bills. It's Texas, we don't need no sissy regulations here cause Jesus will take care of us. My nephew and the whole family are still religious right wing Republicans.

and a little more about my in-laws.. My brother in law told us last year we couldn't really be Christian if we vote for Obama because he's not a Christian. I burst out laughing and asked him how he could vote for Rmoney, who is definitely NOT a Christian. My sister in law shook her head and said she was struggling with that, but felt Jesus would answer her prayers and guide her vote.
They don't like Rick Perry because I think they believe some of the rumors about him; you know, "the preacher said...."
I could go on and on, but you know cause you live there.

Best of luck.. When I moved to Colorado in 1984, it was pretty red. Now we're blue! You can do it too!

I moved over twenty years ago, having grown in a progressive era in Texas as you describe. I won't detail what I've seen in other places or here.

The RWR vote as the Libertarians to privatize everything and defund all the rest. They have their boot on the neck of progressives and want to destroy the liberal bastion of Seattle.

They have the media and church to sell their reality. The suburbs are firmly in either or both of those two camps and are intent on strangling good governance.

It's impossible to discuss policy with those who hate government from propaganda, or those who seek to devour programs by privatizing and becoming rich.

Libertarians have taken over and are destroying what we had with glee, proud of themselves. It is why I warn people to not think Texans are by nature, stupid, gullible or bigoted. Regional or state bashing is a deflection off the uneasy reality building in their own backyards.

I have seen things just as bad happening here as I saw down south, in every venue and policy. Some people have blinders on or are living in the past, thinking they are better. It can happen in any state, and will, if people play the game of division.

Hey, I'd contribute to "HELP TEXAS SECEED", even though I have tons of relatives there.

for 4 more years till I can retire. I Hate this place and vomit in my mouth when I hear some self righteous Texan blow on about how great this shithole is. But I'm stuck like chuck.

I'll have to live in redneck No. FL. as long as my 89 year old mother lives, so I'm really stuck between a rock and a hard place. I love my mom and she's in decent shape for a person her age, so I could be here some time.

Florida and Texas take turns being the most dysfunctional state in the Union and we both have sphincters for Governors.

And have even had to live in the place a couple of times. What a pesthole.

Happily, I've escaped to the other side of the planet . . . but my company has a headquarters in Houston and could send me back on a moment's notice.

Makes me nervous.

and if you're not inside the loop its teabagger hell. I'm outside the beltway and these idiots want to secede.

Try Sugar Land (about which I don't need to tell you anything) where I lived before escaping to Australia.

NC and FL and those are the ones I know about. Why do these states hate democracy?

I can't believe their latest array of voter suppression atrocities.

I think they should make it global, everywhere. It's not enough, but it's a start. We need a lot more regulation of state elections. The states are not private fiefdoms.

States have no sovereignty anyway, that's bullshit, you cannot have two sovereigns.

Voter suppression isn't limited to Southern states with a centuries-old history of disenfranchising minorities. New voter suppression tactics are also targeting more than just minorities for disenfranchisement in purple states.

The most egregious voter suppression tactic that needs to be quashed is the voter ID laws that pick and choose the IDs that are acceptable, depending on whether they're connected with repuke voters. Voter ID laws are illegal devices that target young voters, especially college students (26th Amendment violation); women, most of whom changed their names after they married (19th Amendment violation), and poor whites for disenfranchisment--not just racial, ethnic, and linguistic minorities.

Oh, I can just hear the howls of outrage that this will provoke.

Grab your guns b4 the Feds do y'all!

I say bring it on Eric and shove it right down Gov. Prick Perry's throat. This state is a racist shithole.

Hardball came on. Does this gasbag douche always ask questions and then completely bloviate over his guests....most of whom are trying to agree with him???? What a gasbag. The Bill O the Clown of MSNBC??????

Minority voters were motivated to vote to deny the racist republicans a victory.

we have had worse scandals than Texas,and that says a lot.