What is clear about cap and trade is that it is a tax on all of us. If you use energy, you will be taxed.

RailRoad Commissioner Michael Williams has written a multi-part series on the cap and trade legislation that passed the House recently and goes on to the Senate. See the whole series here.

It's not just taxes either. Williams sums it pretty well with this:

From Memoirs of a Young Conservative:

Hispanic Role Model

June 3, 2009

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. The amendment with Carona's language stayed on despite vocal opposition from conservatives. The bill is now in conference committee - where a bill is sent when the Senate and House disagree on some provisions of the bill.

On Tuesday a bill that will allow college students and employees to carry their concealed handguns on campus passed with preliminary approval in the Texas Senate.

From Houston Biz Journal:

To counteract the threat of a growing swine flu epidemic, Gov. Rick Perry on Monday requested 850,000 courses of antiviral medication from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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.

AUSTIN –" Gov. Rick Perry today joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states’ rights under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
 

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."