SCREAMING EAGLE-66

Note what you said... the expected (future) increase was rolled back.... not all those that took place after 2003 and 2005.

FLYER-!!! College... Their answer... they had to raise tuition to make up the short-fall. Parks --they bought one truck for the ENTIRE park system in the next two years plus cut staff. Public schools --Local boards had to raise evaluations or tax rates or both. ..ie. more local taxes. I have no personal insight of Perry but common sense tell you he would made an attempt to get something done.. as it was.. teachers recieved less than they would have under the budget he vetoed. THINK. He caused them to be paid less....not because he wanted them paid more as you claim was the reason for the veto. They were poorly funded... as I said.. and as I hope you read...if you read what was happening. Good grief... think about what you hear.. Those three session mentioned were called immediately for redistricting and two years earlier. The education ones were not called until fourteen months after the 2005-regular session ended and then after they were over he announced great tax cuts (yeah right) and before the fall election and --they did little to actually help education. They seemed to be called more to help his re-election efforts. Some people's motto should be: Don't confuse me with facts, my mind is made up..based on what I want to believe"...... of course the Pope during the middle ages declared the world was flat because he wanted it to be..after all what else could the four corners of the earth mean ( in a Bible passage ).

--The is the worst high-jacking I have ever seen.. from Law School to Al-Qaeda and more. Discussing Perry and Law School related because the legislature and governor creates and funds it. ---If you think Perry voted that bill because it did not provide enough for teachers or education you are in a dream world. He had the power to keep calling special sessions to get what he wanted for education [ just as he did on the redistricting .... that too which had never been done before by any state in a year not following a census count ] He did nothing. He finally called a special session 14 months later after the state operated a year without a budget and was forced to comply somewhat to previous budget which greatly underfund about everything, public school, colleges, parks, etc. This had never been done before by any previous governor or legislature. --And where is that $2000 property AVERAGE tax cut he promised in a TV ad. That was absolutely impossible since many people do not even pay that much. It may have sort of happened if you consider the millions of dollars in tax relief that the Roos-Perot types got --because they own apartments, malls, high-rises, commercial buildings, etc. This is like me saying, if Bill Gates walks into my classroom, that the average person in there is now worth over a BILLION..... It is true statement but very misleading. The average guy did not get much if any cut... certain groups likely collected very well. Tough Grandma and Chris Bell was telling the truth, he wasn't but he got elected.

---You no doubt get better coverage than I do but I knew it had been bundled up with a lot of unpopular item at the end so you really can't blame those who vote against it. I am not sure what exactly happend but by removing it from the others may have been an attempt to get it passed alone but with the chaos of the last 2-3 weeks it is a wonder anything got done.. No doubt both she and the leadership are at fault. I do know that Perry and boys are not very supportive of education issues. The leadership can get bills passed or at least brought up to a vote if the really want to do so. They haven't, at least not is a way it stands a chance. --This is no doubt a stretch but it would be possible to call a special session to address funding the Law school... he won't.

---Those two sure did not help the cause any. I don't live in Dallas and now can't even get a Dallas Newspaper anymore [not sold in Abilene or West of there so I am told since April 2006] but from what I have read it seem the Dallas Democrat statement may be correct but not really truthful. It was a part of a lot of other items which she and a lot others opposed.... I remember when the President was complaining a few years ago about Congress not passing the Homeland security act that most really would have voted for it ..EXCEPT there was a "rider" that exempted or limited drug companies from being sued for more than $100,000 even if the drug in question caused blindness, serious disability, or death. Even the author would not vote for his own bill. The Law School Bill was not a "stand alone item" and was not passed with a lot of other spending items I believe, some very bad ones included.. If I am wrong that I have been misinformed. I am not defending her because I know very little about her. Let's at least be accurate about the true reason it did not pass. If they want to pass it then it should be added to the budget alone and not part of a package. I guess you remember the near revolution against Craddick at the end which caused a lot of problems and it is a miracle they got anything passed. I live in Midland, Craddicks home town and know him. ---I will say one thing about this session.. at least they passed a budget.. in the 2005 session Perry vetoed it and the state functioned without one until over a year later. Some school districts had to start without textbooks in some subjects or supplies they needed. This had never happened before.. In the 2003 session they underfunded everything including schools and state parks and became responsible for the rapid increase in tuition that has occurred. These boys are not pro-education despite what they say... their actions demonstrate otherwise.. I work in upper education and pay very close attention education issues, do you? --Bundling items together can get things passed sometime but it is also a "political trick" to force an opponent to vote against a bill so they can then (inaccurately) claim "my opposent doesn't support education or whatever issue" .---Crazy example: Suppose there was a bill establishing a NT law school but the second provision legalized cocaine. You probably would vote against it but your opponent could then claim that you voted against the Law School.... and actually you had....but the statement isn't exactly true either.

----Special Sessions are called for certain purposes only and other items of business can not taken up.. This pretty much dashes Law-School hopes for two years. ---I am not so sure the governor or the legislature has any power to dictate how TRS invests it money... That money was taken out of teacher's salaries (6% of their contract salary) and somewhat matched by the state just as any private retirement program is funded... The money is not owned by the state at all. Most of the money in the fund is the result of investments and not even the original contributions so very little of it was ever state funds. The state does have some power over determining the amount of retirement checks however. Perry has tried forever to get his hands on the teacher's money and even wanted to force them to loan the state money a few years ago when there was a budget shortfall.... which was a bad deal for teachers.... they were making better money on their investments than what he was will to pay in interest (very low) to borrow it. Last year he wanted to force the TRS to buy stock in small Texas start -up companies that had no profits.... Personally I do not trust the man at all. --Having said this... it would be a good idea to try to avoid stock in companies that support the terroristic government of Sudan and even Iran. This can be really tough to completely do with multi-national companies with diverse interests... For example does Coca-Cola count if they sell products in those countries??? TRS a few years ago stopped investing in tobacco companies such as Phillip-Morris because it seemed to send a mixed message. ---Our boy in Austin does not support education with his actions... just his mouth. Community College staffs really took a hit this session when he vetoed a bill that provided most of the health insurance for community college staff members. In 1993 he cut university budgets and then "allowed" them each to set their own tuition (to make up for lost revenue that state had once provided). This is why tuition has climbing so much and has hurt families and students that are struggling to go to school... Some may call this a political statement... I call it the truth... check it out. -- As I posted in March, just because somethings passes, does not mean it will happen... Perry, Craddick, et al. did not fund the North Texas Law School so nothing can be done until the next session unless Perry called a special session to fund it.....That won't happen......Meanwhile they can claim "I supported it"...

-- So You are in Nashville (Tennessee?) not at SMU. My #1 son only had two choices since he is a software engineer by day in Dallas. I gather his SMU experience was similar to your Duke one. He is very glad he made the choice he did although it involves a lot of driving, he is doing very well. Their latest bar exams results are close the others , Baylor is usually one of the two best in Texas, --the rest just bounce around in standings except for a couple of crummy ones.. WTU results are now similar to Tech, SMU, Houston, and some others. ---Been in London about four times.. I can actually remember one really good meal... and a lot of bad ones. Fish and chips in a pub is about as good it gets usually. Always eager to to France, Holland, or Germany to get a great meal. Italy can be good as well.. ---If I am not mistaken the "Texas Embassy" you mentioned may be partially owned by the founder of the "Black-Eyed Pea". I actually knew his brothers in high school and knew him on sight (Brownwood, Tx.). I know he or a family member opened a restaurant in London and that sounds like the name I remember. Seems like it was in the Trafalgar Square area, have not seen it.

--- I can see them used if they were awarded to every team member that suited up or played, after every victory and even if they allowed them to carry over individually year after year but not any other way. Not for individiual achievements, so much of everyone success depends on what those around them do... teams win together or lose together... they are not really about individual glory..

Stang... Interesting.....seems no one want to claim the Hoggie-land (Arkansas) You don't claim them as a Southern State and most of us don't really claim them as Southwest either, especially those of us west of I-35. Your are a law-student?? So is one of my sons, finished second year... He applied to SMU and Tx. Wesleyan but SMU drug their feet accepting him until he had paid fees to TWU. He is a full time software engineer in Dallas and going to TWU. He represented them in a recent law contest last Fall in Houston against a lot of regional law-schools. He did pretty well. Because he works full-time it will take him 3.5 years instead of the usual 3 years to graduate. Food--almost everyplace has some great places...well maybe not England...awful. Different places just have different foods or maybe just prepared differently.

Better yet ...NO STICKERS.... we aren't a high school or elementary school where kids get stickers for brushing their teeth etc. ---- Stickers will make us look high school. Does any I-A college in Texas use them..??.. I don't think so. You win as a team and lose as a team and these "good-go buddy" stickers make the players look different, that I oppose.. I don't think little stickers made Joe Green do what he needed to do nor anyone else. If I were a player I would just stick them on my locker. ---- In fact stickers would make us look more like SLC.

...I don't understand question..!!... PHS ... Why, are you are Permian Coach (PHS) and want them.????

--I agree but will not argue about it but.. Dodge played QB so he may know. He also has won a lot of games as coach with white helmets but one difference is colleges play a lot of day games and high schools usually play at night and white helmets really show up better at night then especially when at home with dark jerseys. Second/third receivers are harder to spot when dressed in all dark colors. Gordon Wood (at Brownwood) always used white helmets for that same reason and I guess he was fairly successful as well... nine state championships. I think, Permain, which wears black, uses white helmets for the same reason. They have made the state finals even more than Brownwood which no longers wears white. ---It may not be as big a deal with colleges since a lot of their games are in day time and/or on very well lit fields.

Southern-Stang--- I never said anything bad about Ol' Miss females... just that I don't really consider us part of the old South. Texas was pretty undeveloped by the time of the American Civil War and the Calvert (small town near A&M) was the end of RR and actually a pretty large and prosperous town in 1860 by Texas standards of the time (4th? behind San Antonio, Nacogdoches, and someone) . Dallas/Ft Worth was pretty much a unknown then. We fit a Western state much better than a southern one. --It just seemed as if you were trying to put us down (again typical of SMU attitude-- which I had never seen in your posts before). ---Those US-News ranking are a joke... most are in the East near New York and Media centers (I'll be their staff have a lot of their grads) plus the nuts even once Princeton listed as a great law school .. the problem was they did not even have one at that time, just a pre-law program. They do now. They even had East Texas (now ET-A&M) rated even with North Texas... they have got to be kidding.

---Their attitude is "fooey on conference championships, they want the entire thing". Besides the money they get for the NBC contract is obscene, gets them on TV EVERY week and they share it with no one. While recruiting this is big deal also because they can claim "You will be on NATIONAL TV EVERY WEEK. They are not about to give this up.

---I hope we don't go to using little stickers all over them.... seems too much like "elementary school" when kids get a sticker for "whatever". College to me is too mature than that non-sense... note: NFL bans them. ---White helmets make sense for a team that passes and is more visible to the QB down the field when he doesn't have a lot of time to look around ...especially at night games. It appears that this is somewhat a continuation of what we have been doing with the name North Texas on the side... just not script.

---North Texas gave him the opportunity to play I-A when the others didn't. It is the type of guy with character that is very appreciative and thankful. We need more people like him... not just at North Texas but everywhere... ---This is what bothered me about DD's black uniforms the most. He was biting the hand that had given him the opportunity to be a head coach at a I-A level... It showed that he was not the least bit grateful for the position (and salery) that he had been given for several years. All coaches should know and realize that any coaching position is not permanent. (exception may be Paterno).

hmmmm---- They could help---- if those girls were in the endzone of where OUR team was trying to get score... Would give the players on our side an incentive to get there (better scenery) and might even mess up the opponent some if he was looking over his shoulder as the play starts. It would mean we need to fill the stands better in order to fill those seat with da frauleins.

--Maybe I should retract some of kind remarks about Southern-Stang. Winning every game?? --- that sure isn't an Ol'Miss problem... their past two years looks similar to our past two. Finest in the South.... ok.... I really don't consider Texas "the South"..... We are in the Southwest with three cities in the largest 10 in America....When my family settled on the WESTERN frontier. they meant Texas... not Mississippi or any other Southern state..All these old WESTERNS (movies) mention Texas often, not southern states.. The Southwest when including Oklahoma and New Mexico is likely larger than "Then South"... Billy the Kid (West Texas/New Mexico), Sam Bass (Denton) and Wes Hardin (shot/killed Brownwood deputy sheriff) and even Cole Younger (lived in Ft. Worth but appeared in Brownwood rather often) are WESTERN outlaws in Texas but in not Mississippi. Texas is not really a Southern State, just south of many states. --I guess you are telling us Ol' Miss is a party school... I had not noticed the state listed near in top in academics anyway or even mentioned as headquarters of major companies including any in the modern Tech-industry as in TI etc... 12,000 ..that is a little over 1/3 the size of North Texas but larger than SMU ..not very large for the leading state-supported school in a state. . Does Oxford have great Mexican food places...?? darn... my favorite food out here in West Texas.... PS: Old ain't necessarily good... if so .. then I am great. If old is good then black/white TVs with vacuum tubes are great.... I'll pass for my hi-def color one with TEXAS-Instrument chips (DLP).

--That is hard to fill... unless there is a university that is already a member of a good basketball conference and is a football independent or playing !-AA football. There are almost no football independents. which leaves a second class football team to pick up. Not too likely... This will cause problems as the football members get tired of the basketball-only people. Eight football teams mean only seven conference games and five games with non-conf. teams which most of them do not really like and... makes scheduling decent teams rather difficult since most teams don't have that many dates available.

---A 9th member, if not already a basketball member of the Big East, would likely mean the Big East would have 17 basketball playing teams....and way too large... This is league headed for self destruction eventually in my opinion. Too many teams and too many that don't play football that will get crossways with those that do. -- If it comes apart that could mean big changes in CUSA and the Sun Belt and maybe even the WAC losing LaTech.

---Agree--- This absolutely means he is aware of us. We are that good on EA sports?? If our players were as good as EA thinks then our coaching staff was underachieving.... which might have been the case. ......LOL....

---Careful... a few of us are even older than Fouts... just barely. I am glad he did did not see me. no telling what he would have said.

---Too bad most SMU students and alums aren't like Southern-Mustang, who has posted on our board many time and always with respect... I have met too many of the other kind and read too many articles and heard too many "reports" during the past few decades on TV/radio that either insulted us or totally ignored our existence. I agree that SMU did not have their best game against us but I still expect us to win this one since we have so much talent returning on defense, a better offense, and I expect the team to have a lot more confidence and determination this year.... and ....surely we will not commit so many stupid errors such as unsportsmanlike penalities as we have in the past.. I expect Dodge to really shut that down. . .

Maybe we should make that The OL' BLUE MARE-- Oh, the old blue mare, she ain't what she used to be, Ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be. The old blue mare, she ain't what she used to be, Many long years ago. Oh, the old blue mare, she ain't what she used to be, Since the death penalty, since the dealth penalty. The old blue mare, she ain't what she used to be, Many long years ago. Many long years ago, many long years ago. The old blue mare, she ain't what she used to be, Many long years ago. Like verse two but would be a bit long to make a point.

--SMU seems to respect no one and therefore no one really respects them....(their actions of the early 80's doesn't help them any) We probably get less respect from them than the rest because we are a local threat to them in the metroplex. You can also add to that that most others in the region were once the same conference as they were, we never were, and therefore "could not possibly be an equal". I guess they think if they put their head in the sand long enough and ignore us that we will just go away.... --I don't think it is a normal rivalry because from their point of view they fear us replacing them as the "team of Eastern Metroplex if not the the entire Metroplex". From our point of view [ at least from those of us who have seen what they have done for several decades..] we just hate what they have done to harm us. This not just all the games that have been played in the past as is mostly the case of OU/UT..... this is much deeper ...it is all about respect and not just games..