Ask Capitol Annex: Friday, Feb. 22, 2007

Surprisingly, we actually had several emails for our inaugural week of “Ask Capitol Annex.” I’m going to go through the four best below.

A reader from Midlothian writes:

Do you really think Warren Chisum isn’t an anti-semite just because he said so? Would anyone who wasn’t an anti-semite pass out a memo like the one he did? I read where you said you didn’t think he was? Isn’t your last name Jewish? How can you say that?

Capitol Annex says:

Wow. You people don’t pull any punches, do you? How’s that for our first question?

We assume you refer to this post, where we noted that Rep. Chisum (R-Pampa) appologized to Jewish groups for distributing the memo by wingnut Georgia lawmaker Ben Bridges.

To answer your question, though, no, we don’t believe Rep. Chisum is an anti-semite. We think his distribution of the Bridges memo was in poor taste and that he could have handled it better had he prefaced it with  some better language other than simply saying that he “greatly appreciate[s] his information on this important topic.”

And, that former Rep. Steve Wolens (D-Dallas), vouches for him says a lot.

On an interesting note for some readers: Chisum actually was a Democrat until 1996.

So, while we disagree with Rep. Chisum and think his actions were in poor taste, we don’t think he’s an anti-semite.

As for your last question, Capitol Annex’s last name is, in fact of Russian-Jewish origin. Capitol Annex is, himself, a lapsed United Methodist and, for your information, exactly one-quarter each Russian-Jewish, Irish, Polish, and Czech.

A reader calling him/herself “On The Outside Of The Dome Looking In,” from whereabouts unknown asks:

Don’t you ever get tired of writing about the idiots in Austin? I know I would because they are all stupid a** idiots. How do you find the time to put all this on the web?

We reply:

Oh, sure. In fact, the last couple of days, because we spend nearly 8 hours a day at work staring at a computer screen and then end up doing the same thing at home for several hours, Capitol Annex was suffering from some very serious eye-strain. That actually curtailed our blogging this week.

However, as to your contention about all the “idiots” in Austin, we don’t think everyone in the Capitol is an idiot. In fact, we don’t even think most Republicans in the capitol are idiots, even though we may think their philosophies harken back to the 19th Century.

As for how we find the time to do it, I guess it is time to let you know our secret: We have secret, exclusive access to time machine developed by the General Land Office in the 1950s and we use it to stop time so we’ll have enough to blog.

No, seriously: we have no idea where we sometimes find the time to blog all that we do. Sometimes, we sneak a post or five in at work. Other times, since Capitol Annex has never gone to bed before midnight a day in his life, we do it while watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or Shark, or CSI: Miami. We refuse, however, to blog when Scrubs or Boston Legal are on.

And, this gem from a reader who identified himself as “Bill” in Austin:

If there was a list of the most beautiful and handsome people in the Legislature, who would be on it?

We reply:

You are trying to get Capitol Annex into trouble and we simply will not go down this route, as entertaining as it could be. This is not “People Magazine.”

And, finally, this one. An anonomous reader from Dallas writes:

I know you said you would not talk about the budget (HB1), but do you know where the budget is online so I can read it? How do you find other bills online also?

We reply:

Ha ha ha ha ha. You want to actually read the budget? Brew a pot of coffee because it’s not exactly a one-pager.

First off, you can find any bill through a site we love, Texas Legislature Online. Another nifty site is BillHop. TLO is far more comprehensive, however.

As for the budgets, the General Appropriations Bills are SB 1 and HB 1. HB 1 is here, SB 1 is here. God help you if you are on a dial-up internet connection or have a slow computer. You can also find appropriations bills from previous sessions  here.

Capitol Annex is still working on its posts about the appropriations bills. But, trying to read and digest HB 1 in one sitting will make you tired, mean, and nasty. Plus, you could go blind and totally insane. We feel tremendous sympathy for the people who actually have to sit at a computer and write the appropriations bills.

Send your questions for next week to tips-at-capitolannex.com

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