Posted on 03/03/2007 11:01:33 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
AUSTIN — A protest against toll roads highlighted a rally on the Capitol steps Friday, but the Texas Independence Day holiday put folks in the mood to raise hell about other grievances as well.
Many also complained about a national animal identification tag. Some grumbled about the state's loss of control of its borders. A few warned about the coming "North American Union." And some excoriated the United Nations for wanting "to take your gun," exhorting anyone within earshot to "get us out of the U.N."
The "liberty or death" chant of a thousand or more protesters marching up Congress Avenue to the Capitol conveyed a decidedly serious intent on an otherwise sunny Friday afternoon.
Famed blues guitarist Jimmie Vaughan elevated those feelings midway through the rally when the spotlight fell on him, and both he and audience connected with such lyrics as "I got the blues about tyranny" ... "Don't want no shackles on me" and "Down with Big Brother."
Much of the crowd quickly joined him.
"I want to be free. It's all about liberty," Vaughan said later. "I was born here. I'm going to die here, and I don't want to give it away to somebody else."
Many of the protesters fear that state leaders are going to give away Texas soil to a foreign country via toll roads. The Spanish company Cintra could build some of the state's toll roads under a 50-year contract.
"We feel that if we don't get heard now, we're going to be paying it out for the next 50 or 75 years. We're very upset with our own government supporting these foreign intrusions," said San Antonian Robert Throckmorton, a retired Air Force pilot.
"We just want all this toll madness to stop," San Antonio small-business owner Byron Juen said. "We will work diligently like we have done in the past (to defeat politicians who support such projects). We have a track record of ousting politicians that don't heed our warnings."
He singled out former state Rep. Carter Casteel, R-New Braunfels, who supported the Trans-Texas Corridor project.
Her successor, Rep. Nathan Macias, R-Bulverde, told the audience he agrees Texas faces serious urban transportation congestion but disagrees with the toll road agenda pushed by state leaders.
"Let's work together, public and private, to solve our transportation challenges," he said.
Much of the protesters' wrath was aimed at Gov. Rick Perry, whom they blame for orchestrating the Trans-Texas Corridor project and associated toll roads.
"We all know that the buck stops at the office of Governor Thirty-nine Percent. He refuses to listen," said Hank Gilbert of Troup, referring to the percentage of votes Perry garnered in November to win re-election.
Gilbert made opposition to the TTC a centerpiece of his unsuccessful run as the Democratic candidate for Texas agriculture commissioner last year.
The Perry camp shrugged off the criticism.
"In the '40s, some protested against the farm-to-market road system, in the '50s some protested against the interstate highway system, and today some protesters will leave the rally against the TTC using those very same roads," Perry spokesman Robert Black said. "Ain't progress great!"
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
Wish I could have been there.
BTTT
15 cents a gallon goes to the state highway system and 5 cents a gallon goes to education, per the Texas Constitution. In real life, only about 11 cents a gallon goes to roads. A constitutional amendment to direct the ENTIRE gas tax to roads EXCLUSIVELY would go a long way to getting you out of the hole before you need to increase road-related taxes. Just my 2 cents.
By definition, Texans will be paying for roads, one way or another. Except for truckers that manage to pass entirely through the state without buying fuel (hard to do in Texas) that's how it works).
Roads are natural pure monopolies, and "privatizing" them makes no sense. Private enterprise works *only* when competition exists, and there will be none here. The existing road system is not competition, because it is old, and Cintra has "non-compete" clauses where they can go to court and prevent upgrades that will give the people a real alternative. If there ever were a real alternative to toll roads, then who in their right mind would pay the toll? So you know there will be no real competition.
The only real question is what politician(s) did Cintra pay off?
I wish we had a Recall Procedure here in Texas.
Perry is the worst governor in the United States.
Kinky, Bell, Strayhorn.
Anyone else.
Not Bell. He is the only reason I voted for Perry.
I was scared to death that a split vote could give bell the govornership
Sounds like a conservative Woodstock. I would have loved to been there, too! The most fun since Dan's Bake Sale in Fort Collins years ago.....
We don't need that. I never liked the idea of toll roads.
Robert Black has every right to say what he did...
He, and those he speaks for are an arrogant bunch of bastages!
Those who support can laugh all you want...If this is the type of message from those who support this assinine project want to convey...Fine...
You just threw down a gauntlet I am not at all fearful to pick up...I'm surely not alone either...
hehehe, this is going to be fun now...
Of course he did, he's a friggin idiot of a governor for Texas. He's nothing but a slimeball, and I'm glad I didn't vote for the P.O.S.
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