10.23.09
Friday random stuff
After four day of early voting voting in Williamson County 1528 people have shown up [.pdf].
Hank Gilbert was in Fort Worth yesterday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gilbert vows to restore party, education, transportation.
Gilbert made fun of how Hutchison, Perry and former President George W. Bush were all either cheerleaders or yell leaders in college.
“How many times have you seen leadership from the sidelines?” Gilbert asked. “You need a quarterback leading, and I plan to be that quarterback.”
Gilbert said he planned to announce his transportation platform at an event in Fort Worth on Thursday, and he noted that Hutchison had announced her endorsement by the Texas Farm Bureau in the city.
“Where they had three Farm Bureau reps and her in that photo op, we’re going to try and have a whole backdrop of real farmers,” Gilbert said.
If elected, Gilbert promised to serve no more than two terms and vowed to require all statewide office holders to the same limit.
Gilbert also highlighted his plan to increase vocational training in public schools.
Students today “can show you the molecular structure of a file cabinet but can’t show you how to open or close the door,” Gilbert said.
Public Works Seen as Growing Bright Spot in Economy.
The U.S. construction industry may have long crumbled under the weight of a slumping economy, but a glimmer of hope is seen in the public works sector, helped by a pickup in federally funded projects.
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Growth in public works projects “is important at this juncture because you are really not going to see much expansion from the commercial and residential sectors,” said Robert Murray, vice president at industry research firm McGraw-Hill Construction.
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The $787 billion federal stimulus plan approved early this year has about $130 billion allocated for public construction. The next two years will see more work involving a lot of engineering and design jobs, benefiting firms such as Jacobs, Aecom and URS, said Michael Dudas of Jefferies & Co.
A major portion of this year’s funds is allocated to low-margin projects such as repavement of roads, which will primarily benefit smaller contractors, Macquarie Research analyst Sameer Rathod said.
Companies such as Granite Construction, which gets half its revenue from highway construction, will see a pickup in 2010, when about 60 percent of the construction stimulus is to be released.
“With the second wave of projects next year … there will be larger and more meaningful works that Granite can participate in,” Rathod said.
Yes We Can!! Liberal Groups Take Direct Aim At Rahm, Demand White House Take “Stronger Stand” On Public Option.
In recent weeks, liberal groups have largely refrained from directly pressuring the White House on the public option — even as there’s been lots of grumbling behind the scenes that Rahm Emanuel is the leading force within the White House trying to trade it away in exchange for compromise.
No longer. A coalition of liberal groups is now openly calling out the White House, demanding it take a “stronger stand” in support of a robust public option — and in an unusual move, the letter is specifically targeting Rahm and demanding he make it happen.
A source sends over a letter signed by several dozen leading liberal groups — including MoveOn, the Campaign for America’s Future, the American Federation of Government Employees, the NAACP, the Progressive Congress Action Fund — that will be sent to the White House today.
More of the make him do it style politics.
Wow this is funny. When he said, “But my response is this: He’s just angry because the president doesn’t shoot old men in the face”, I spit coffee on my monitor.