John Cornyn's tenure in the Senate has been one of total support for George Bush's agenda. He's considered a buddy and reliable ally for our tempestuous boy king and whatever Dick's whispering in his majesty's ear it's inevitable Cornyn will be along for the ride -- even when the rodeo is over.

Corny has proven himself to be part and parcel of the ruinous clique that's brought this country to the very brink of disaster. As it stands today he'll be a reliable buddy and ally for McCain or a thorn in Obama's side. Either way he's a impediment to progress... and a wasted vote

This article from today's Houston Chronicle details John Cornyn's political ambitions within the Senate. It paints a picture of a man who cares about his Party more than he cares about his constituency. Here's a line that really jumped out at me:

"Congressional Quarterly studies found Cornyn tied three fellow Republican senators for following the party line on Senate votes in 2006 and 2007. He ranked third among Senate Republicans in his support of President Bush in those years."

Some might find this a negative, some might not. I think this race is an interesting example of that question American voters often ask themselves: am I voting for the person or the party?

Naturally, immigration is an important topic for both Cornyn and Noriega to address in Texas. Noriega's stance is steady: the influx of immigrants, drug smuggling and human trafficking from Mexico to Texas must cease. How? By cracking down on businesses that hire illegal workers and replacing the incompetent "fence" with increased technology that relies on surveillance and increased man-power (18,000 border patrol guards) to keep the border secure. Not only is the influx of cheap labor causing people to scrap by living under minimum wage, but under Cornyn’s previous legislature, illegal immigrants were permitted to stay and work without applying for the guest-worker program as others must do. Employers then see no reason to pay them fairly because, officially, the workers don't exist. In essence, the problem is being fed from both ends.

Noriega doesn’t want immigrants to have to hide, trapped behind minimum wages and cheap labor bosses. His plan is to "release Washington gridlock" by implementing a rigorous but reasonable re-entry program for immigrants eligible for citizenship, and helping to regulate overflow by engaging Mexico in the immigrant organization.

"We must reform our health care system to make certain that every individual has access to quality medical services, regardless of race, age, or medical condition. A government takeover of our health care system is not the answer. Good choices in a health care system built on free market principles ultimately translate into higher quality and better care.” - John Cornyn

This is the same system that's produced the most uninsured citizens in the Nation.

Rick Noriega has a different plan.

In 2003, former PA Senator Rick Santorum became infamous for comparing gay marriage to "man on dog." Today, Santorum's gone, but John Cornyn – who is more concerned with men and box turtles – is still around.

So while this country faces a soaring deficit, a health care crisis, and two difficult wars, John Cornyn is concerning himself with the haunting specter of man-on-box-turtle.

Texans deserve a Senator who will help solve the real issues, not imaginary ones. John Cornyn voted with the Bush Administration 96% of the time. That's compounding our problems, not solving them.

Energy policy has become one of the more pivotal issues in the 2008 elections with more attention focused on the oil vs. alternative energy question that at any time since the Arab oil embargo of the early 1970s. Both Noriega and Cornyn are saying the politically correct things: take a comprehensive approach involving more exploration and drilling here at home while investing in alternative energy technologies. However, rhetoric is one thing and voting record another. Cornyn consistently has come out against measures designed to promote alternative energy technologies and instead clearly demonstrates his Big Oil bias in his Senate voting record. Would Noriega be better? The record speaks for itself; at least he couldn't be worse.

When it comes to health care, Texas has the highest number of uninsured employed adults in the US (26.6%). Obviously, amendments must be made to the current state (and federal) legislation to provide affordable medical coverage to Texans.

Noriega has voted to expand the Children's Health Insurance legislation, co-wrote legislation to provide $3 billion more in funding to the research center for Cancer Prevention and the Research Institute of Texas, and voted "yes" to legislation to give financial assistance to those Medicare and the disabled through prescription price reductions.

Texas needs new leadership and that is why voters should take a chance on Rick Noriega, a former Army veteran and experienced state legislature.

In contrast Senator John Cornyn's embrace of more and more drilling exemplifies the type of old thinking that is leading us into a rut. The future of oil drilling is a great idea 50 years ago, but now we are in an era of high gas prices and shrinking oil resources. Drilling may alleviate some effects. It cannot stop this worsening trend.

On the other hand, investing in a new energy economy will create new America jobs, lower energy costs in the long run, and free us from dependence on Middle Eastern Oil.

Cornyn is the old economy. It's time for him to go.

As a native Texan and current (grateful) resident of Austin, Texas, I am well aware of the massive hurdles that Rick Noriega has to leap over in order to have even the slightest chance of beating Republican candidate Cornyn for the Texas seat in the U. S. Senate.

Yet, I suppose that the one issue that weighs considerably on the minds of the majority of Texas voters is immigration and it will be interesting to see how much immigration policy becomes the resonating focal point of any (if not all) debates between these two candidates.

Noriega holds a significant ace-up-his-sleeve in this issue due to the fact that he serves an active role in border patrol as lieutenant colonel of the National Guard. Just last year he was involved in a six month patrol of the border along the Laredo sector (a hot bed of violence and drug smuggling to rival Miami in the 1970s) during which five tons of marijuana and nearly a half ton of harder drugs were confiscated.

Noriega's stance on immigration is smart, derived from years of experience, and anything but soft (a particular complaint of Texas conservatives against more liberal policies for immigration reform.)

Keep a close eye on Noriega and Cornyn on immigration in Texas. This could be the deciding issue for many Texas voters.

Senator Cornyn went to UTEP to discuss his platform yesterday and was instead given a lesson by law enforcement at UTEP regarding arms trafficking across the US-Mexico border. The University recently put in a Border Control and Immigration Center on campus.

Caught unawares Cornyn publicly admitted that he was aware of the trafficking problem, but as it was, lacked enough information to be able to do anything about it. He did affirm the severity of the issue stating:

Cornyn:"I do know it is an ongoing concern of law enforcement officials in Mexico, and certainly the viciousness and violence of cartels is a something that is a little hard for people on this side to comprehend".

Shouldn't an admittedly large problem such as arms trafficking and cross-border cartels be an issue logged for immediate attention?

According to Chron.com Democratic Senator Candidate and Congressman from Texas District 145 in Eastern Houston Rick Noriega laid out a comprehensive immigration reform plan, which, was very similar to the reforms last year proposed in the House.

''Without question we know as a matter of fact that Mr. Cornyn was an obstructionist on the last debate on comprehensive immigration reform,'' Noriega said. ''He hasn't done anything in six years to help reform immigration.'' While bashing Republican Senator Jim Cornyn, Mr. Noriega had given a couple of details to his project: 1) A path to citizenship and 2) The use of technology instead of a border fence.

In 1979 Mr. Noriega joined the United States military in wake of the Iranian Hostage Crisis and became a Lieutenant Colonel. Recently, he did serve in Afghanistan due to the September 11th attacks.

Of the last ten elections Mr. Noriega has been a part of, seven of them have been unopposed and therefore has received 100% of the vote. His last election that he ran against was in 2000 for the State House #145 in the General Election. The Congressman’s opponent was Republican Michael Bunch and successfully defeated him with a 72% to 28% victory.

The Houston Chronicle on August 13 quoted an out-of-touch John Cornyn claiming that "Texas is a national model for improving access to health care because it limited lawsuits against doctors." The Chronicle noted ironically that Texas is the state with the highest share of population without health insurance.

Cornyn explained his questionable logic by saying that the passage of Proposition 12, limiting damage awards against doctors in malpractice cases, created greater access to quality health care in Texas because it attracted more doctors to the state. After the speech Cornyn did admit that he wasn't proud that 26% of the Texas population has no health insurance but continued to boast saying that he wanted to make the rest of the U.S. like Texas.

Cornyn, according to the Chronicle, was also one of only 18 senators who opposed the expansion the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Noriega's plans for health care reform have, up until recently, been fine ethically, but logistically shady. He is now beginning to draw firmer outlines for his constituents, building a comprehensive list of problems and their matching fixers to give Texans new hope in terms of affordable health care.

Noriega's statement on health care:

"In Texas, over 20 percent of children are not covered by health insurance [the highest number in the country].

My health care plan reflects my long-time advocacy of expanding coverage to children. As a state representative, I helped increase coverage to more than 500,000 children, sponsored legislation that eliminated bureaucratic 90-day waiting lists, and led efforts to allow families to deduct child care costs while the state determined their eligibility status."

To answer this problem, Noriega wishes to introduce a sort of middle man , an "insurance connector" to link Texans with suitable insurance plans. Texans who make too much money to qualify for Medicare but too little to provide their families with ample coverage will be able to receive discounts relative to their pay and household number.

Cornyn recently praised the Texas healthcare program (under Proposition 12) boasting that it should be the national model for how healthcare should be approached by the federal government. The basis of his claim was the fact that it had limited the lawsuits and malpractice suits against doctors and, therefore, more doctors had kept their jobs.

However, even Cornyn had to admit the inexcusable reality that up to 26% of Texas' population is without health insurance. Cornyn was also one of the 18 Senators out of 100 who voted against the expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program last year.

With our current economic downturn and increasing unemployment rates, Texas needs a Senator who views the success of its healthcare system in both the terms of the job security of its doctors as well as the amount of people who have access to medical services.

Upon first appearances, between Rick Noriega and incumbent Texas Senator John Cornyn, my vote would go to Noriega. He is a Democrat, the political party position I commonly lean to. He would be new blood in Washington, something this reporter thinks needs to occur more often. And he is a veteran who served in Afghanistan after 9/11. However, when one looks at the issues, I am reluctant to say – though must, that his opponent, John Cornyn has a better understanding of and conviction toward important issues facing American’s today.

Blah, the above paragraph is how this reporter started this article: But it is taking a turn. Instead of the run of the mill article simply comparing and contrasting the issues widely accepted as those that are important to the American people and the politicians, this reporter is, for once, going to attempt to get to a deeper issue – that issue being that neither candidate is going to be good for this country – this country in its original ideal sense, preceded by the Enlightenment and its thinkers, and the Founding Fathers.

As a Republican, Mr. Cornyn states he is for little government, yet his voting record and conviction about pertinent issues illustrate otherwise. There are many examples, from government bailouts to National Security. As a Democrat, Rick Noriega claims to be ok with more government regulation. This is just one example today shared by each of the candidates of the ubiquity in our nation where both the politician’s and their constituent’s are naïve.

Mr. Noriega will not be discussed in conjunction to the issue of big government, because he does not claim otherwise. Mr. Cornyn is a different matter. He is a Republican. He supposedly stands for small government, yet his voting record, positions on matters and issues of import contradicts his purported conviction.

On his official website, Mr. Cornyn is presented, very effectively, to be a steward of bringing about governmental transparency. The problem is not that he is trying to bring about transparency in the government; the problem is complex in that government transparency has eroded exponentially since 9/11, continues to be eroded, and, despite the Senator’s flight of the imagination spin that he stands for change, such braggadocios legislation/agenda to-tailing will not return affairs of reality of our government to pre - 9/11 transparency.

The most blatant example of how the wool is being pulled over the American citizen’s eyes in the supposed governmental transparency movement is today seen with the Freedom of Information Act, (FOIA). Mr. Cornyn’s motions and support for the New Open FOIA Bill will not offset the obfuscating effects of New Executive Order 13,292, signed by President Bush Jr. on March 25, 3003 – Further Amendment to Executive Order 12958 (most recently amended by Mr. William Clinton, in 1995).

A blaring discomfiture with Executive Order 13,292 is that it is a reversal, so to speak, of governmental privilege in keeping secrets from the American Citizen which is now afforded to corporations.

Executive Order 13,292’s most challenged addendum is the reclassification of classified information on "infrastructure,” renumbered in Section 1.4(g), which affords classification of corporate information deemed valuable for National Security. When one tries to find out what is classified as “critical” information, the ambiguity afforded corporations is palpable.

Critical Infrastructure is defined by 1016(e) 107-56 42 USC 5195c(e), as being virtual or physical property “so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination of those matters.”

It is disturbing that the definition of “Critical Infrastructure” is so vague. It is startling that the definition is so redundant and circular. In plain English, the definition of Critical Infrastructure is something (anything) privately held which is exempted from FIOA for National Security purposes because it is so important to our National Security. The New Open FOIA Bill speaks nothing about the chipping away of information the American Citizen may access with juvenile logic and language that “X” “Y”, and “Z” is justifiably secret because it is secret. Where is the accountability, the transparency, behind this thinking? The Founding Fathers are turning over in their graves.

It seems, according to the Rasmussen Report from September 29th, that Rick Noriega has pulled within 10 percentage points to Sen John Cornyn (R) as we head into the last month before the November 4th election.

The Democratic hopeful trails by 7 points, 43 to Cornyn's 50, and many of the political analysts in the state of Texas are starting to murmur about the possibility of a Republican Senate seat being occupied by a Democrat. It's been over a decade since Bob Krueger (D) sat in the Senate and Noriega's campaign may just have enough steam to heat up the state's Democratic base to send him to Washington, D.C.

Rick Noriega (D) spelled out his education plan to a crowd gathered in front of an elementary school in east Austin.

He is proposing to push congress to lock in the tuition fee for students during their first year and carrying that fee through their four years rather than leaving the rate open to increase every year.

He is also calling for a restructuring of the No Child Left Behind Act that will shift its emphasis away from student testing. In addition, he supports an increase of funding towards Headstart and other pre-school programs as well as federal grant and loan programs at the college level.

Cornyn's rebuttal questioned the total cost of Noriega's education plan (which the Democratic challenger failed to clarify) and attacked the idea that the federal government knows how to educate our children more than parents or teachers.

The Texas coast was ravaged by Hurricane Ike this past weekend and Rick Noriega (D) was in Killeen, Texas on Saturday at the American Legion putting his service as the lieutenant colonel of the National Guard at the forefront of his message in order to remind his voters that he knows the feeling "to have to look into the eyes of a wife and their children's eyes when they come to me and say, 'Please don't take my daddy again."

He continued, "Those are things that my incumbent will never understand, and we need someone in D.C. that understands those kind of issues. I think that having voted with the president and the administration over 96 percent of the time means that your not representing Texans – your representing Washington. And Texans need a Texas senator, not a Washington senator."

Although Sen. Cornyn was invited to the event, he was not able to attend and sent Marine Lt. Col. Scott Shepherd to represent him at the gathering and tout the Senator's support of the Military Voting Protection Act, the G.I. Bill, and transportation spending bills.

Nonetheless, you can't put a price to the value of seeing a politician in his uniform and it's a real smart, noteworthy move (as this is politics) for Noriega to put his service on the front-burner of his campaign, especially on the heels of the RNC and the numerous biopics we all watched about John McCain. In a Texas election, there is a high regard for our armed forces by the winning majority vote in this state and his status and experience in the National Guard is a strong suit for Noriega's chanced in November.

The Texas coast is still reeling after the devastation brought on by Hurricane Ike this past weekend. In the midst of assessing the damages, estimating the costs, and beginning the long process of reconstruction, both Senate candidates, Rick Noriega (D) and John Cornyn (R), scrambled to halt any further campaign advertisements from being broadcast this week for fear of being accused of exploiting the disaster for political gain.

Cornyn, though he tried to cancel his first campaign ad from being released, was unable to do so and it aired on Tuesday in Dallas, Amarillo, and Austin.

Noriega's campaign was quick to pounce on the incumbent Republican as Holly Shulman, a spokeswoman for Noriega, stated, "I'm a little surprised that they chose to run an ad when 3 million people still don't have power."

Cornyn's campaign responded by pointing out the fact that on Saturday Noriega was stumping in Killeen while Houston was being pummeled by Ike.

This bickering battle seems to push politics over the real concerns facing the Texas coastline. Rather than actively and effectively addressing our state's citizen's concerns, the two campaigns are arguing about commercials and where the other guy was while the storm destroyed thousands of homes, businesses, and property.

Nonetheless, it is worth noting here, for the voter's sake, that Noriega reported the next day (Sunday, September 14th) to Austin's Camp Mabry to assist the volunteer relief efforts for evacuees.

Noriega (D) and Sen. Cornyn (R) spoke out today on the failure of Bush's $700 billion bailout of Wall Street to pass the House.

Noriega argued that, while the bipartisan compromise made this weekend was "a good start" in the right direction, he wants to see the bill implement tighter regulations and extend more assistance to American homeowners.

Cornyn, who has been active in the investigative efforts against the allegedly illegal practices of the mortgage giants (such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,) is calling for more protection of taxpayers than what was proposed in the bill.

Both Noriega and Cornyn opposed the $700 billion bailout.

Regardless, the incumbent Republican Senator and his Democratic rival are scraping to use the economic crisis as a point of divergence between their two platforms. Noriega's people are criticizing Cornyn's investigation of Wall Street as too late of a response to a problem that has been festering for some time and are trying to discredit his efforts as politically motivated. Even more, they have pointed out that Cornyn himself has accepted substantial contributions from financial service companies in the past.

In response, Cornyn's campaign has asked Noriega why he doesn't extend the same criticism he's launched against Cornyn's financial past to Democratic senators who have received just as much if not more financial contributions from the same companies as the Texas Senator.

In his latest press release, Democratic Senate candidate Rick Noriega allows Cornyn's own record in relation to President George W. Bush to point out the Republican Senator's inconsistency and hopefully sway undecided voters who may be frustrated by Cornyn's obvious political pandering.

The release includes a Cornyn quote from his 2002 Senate campaign:

"Texans want a senator who is willing and proud to work with our great president, George W. Bush."

This quote is then set alongside a more recent Cornyn quote to the Editorial Board of the Dallas Morning News:

"I have a lot of friends in the Bush administration. The problem is they've been pretty tone deaf trying to explain what they're doing. ... A lot of people have tuned them out."

Personally, I think the quotes carry little effect in accomplishing what Noriega seems to be wanting them to, but when coupled with Cornyn's voting record they make a clear point of the Republican's faults.

Rick Noriega (D) took a step up on the stump today to criticize Cornyn's vote in favor of the bailout bill that passed the Senate late Wednesday night and awaits a decision in the House.

Noriega argued that "Texans should not support a bailout that has insufficient protections for the taxpayers, doesn’t go far enough in reining in out of control executive salaries, has little relief for people in real distress, and doesn’t heal the systemic rot that led to this crisis in the first place."

"The lack of prudence and unfettered wheeling and dealing that allowed abusive and reckless loans, shoddy investments, poorly understood financial instruments, and market excess would still be in place after this bill passed. It’s like spending $700 billion to clean up a flood in your house without fixing the leak in the roof."

Noriega's appeal is targeted towards tighter regulations and more government oversight as a priority over the financial commitment of $700 billion that will allegedly push the economy back into motion. While Cornyn may agree with the need for some regulations (as most Republicans will at this point) his emphasis leans towards the idea that the more regulations the less able our markets will be able to work themselves out of the crisis themselves.