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Texas Monthly column

APRIL 19, 2013
Here are a few images from a column I've been illustrating the last few months for the good folks over at Texas Monthly. It's called Behind The Lines, has been around since the inception of the mag in '73 and is for the most part written by the same person (Paul Burka).Topically it deals mostly with social and political issues elevant to the state of Texas (and sometimes beyond).
First one's about fracking, and the pros and cons of this type of drilling.
 

After the first one the page received a slight redesign, and the image now needs to accomodate the column header in the upper part, looks like so:
Here's that image again, it's about the Boy Scouts and how their new policy of excluding members and troop leaders based on sexuality is going to tarnish the organization and what they stand for, and the outlook for the future of the organization.

Next one's about the city of Galveston, which has been devastated by a series of hurricanes and the federal government has earmarked funds for public housing to help rebuild the city. The mayor of Galveston is against public housing and he does not want to take federal money.

Below is about the 82nd Legislature session, which surprisingly seems to have plenty of money to distribute, but the question is whether the legislators will actually spend it or if they'll just hoard it.

This one's about how over the past several decades the state has shifted toward a more urban economy, but despite that, most of the population still identifies with Texas's rural past of hardscrabble frontiers, ranching and agriculture.

This one's about a proposed tax swap- or trying to avoid it. With the tax swap, all property taxes would be eliminated and replaced with sales tax. The key idea about the tax swap is that its proponents see it as an issue of liberty, that the government has no right to tax a person's private property.

About the political push to muscle Texas from a Republican state into a Democratic state. Texas has been voting solidly Republican since the mid-90s, but now Democrats—both local and national—are determined to shift the red state blue.

This one's about state funding for Medicaid expansion. The legislature is debating whether or not (most likely not) to extend coverage for children, single mothers, people with low incomes, and the poor elderly.

© 2024 Thomas Fuchs