Bay Area Houston

How to lobby elected officials (on home insurance)

November 18, 2024

If there is a guide on “How to lobby elected officials” I have not found it. So I will give you an idea of what we could do just based upon my experience as a consumer activist years ago. I don’t expect to know it all so if you have ideas, I am all ears.

Be focused. Stay on message. For the insurance issue the message should be very clear: We want our premiums to be lowered, our deductibles to return to a fixed amount not more than $1000, and we do NOT want a deduction in coverage.
Develop a relationship to your elected official or their staff. Call your elected official in Austin and ask for the staff member assigned to insurance issues. Ask for an email address. Then keep in touch. Make sure you send them any information you think is important to the issue. For our area contact Greg Bentch at greg.bentch@house.texas.gov with State Representative Dennis Paul and Matt Patterson at matt.patterson@senate.texas.gov with Senator Mayes Middleton’s office.
Contact the members of the specific committee that will hear the bill(s) you are concerned about. The insurance bills in the House will most probably be assigned to the State Affairs Committee. The Chair lives in the Corpus Christi area and has an interest in this issue. I have collected the contact information for the members. I have listed them below. Again, contact each one with your specific information. If you can, call and email them.
Visit your elected officials office. Make an appointment in the district. Talk with someone about your insurance issue. Dennis Paul’s office is at 17225 El Camino Real Blvd Suite 415 (281) 488-8900. Senator Middleton’s office is at 174 Calder Road Suite 900 League City, TX 77573 (281) 332-1000
Spend a day in Austin. What I have done in the past was to make appointments with the staff members of the elected officials on the committee. The State Affairs Committee has 13 members. If you spend 15 minutes with each you might talk to all of them in 1 full day. That is a tough day. When you visit make sure you have a written copy of what you intend to talk about. Keep it to the point. Make sure they hear and understand our message.
Attend a hearing. This will be covered in a later email.

So. You can start now. Here are some important contacts:

State Representative Dennis Paul
Insurance Committee
C/O Greg Bench
greg.bentch@house.texas.gov
(512) 463-0734 Austin phone
17225 El Camino Real Blvd Suite 415
(281) 488-8900.

Senator Mayes Middleton
Business and Commerce Committee
C/O Matt Patterson
(512) 463-0111 Austin Phone
174 Calder Road Suite 900
League City, TX 77573
(281) 332-1000

You can find the contact info for members of the State Affairs Committee here. They will be hearing the bills.

I am working on the Business and Commerce Committee.

Leave a Comment » | Consumer | Tagged: Insurance | Permalink
Posted by johncoby

Experienced Leadership Abandoning Sheriff Elect Jimmy “Full of S***” Fullen.

November 18, 2024

It’s almost funny. Almost.

Kudos to Scott McLendon of the Galveston Daily News for his article concerning the mass exodus of deputies of the Sheriff’s office. From the GDN:

“A retirement exodus of long-time Galveston County Sheriff’s Office deputies that began when an outsider candidate won the Republican primary in March had by Friday reached 19 people who represent about 639 years of experience, Sheriff Henry Trochesset said.” “I don’t blame them. The last thing we need is someone in charge of enforcing the law that is breaking the law.”

Ok. That last part I made up but it is on everyone’s mind except for those who voted for Fullen. Breaking or ignoring the law has become a trademark of the New Republic Party. Republic voters don’t give a shit about someone who falsified government documents (unless their name is Hunter Biden). They don’t care about Fullen having his law license revoked due to falsifying documents. After all they voted for returning a bankrupt bitch to League City Council. They returned an impeached Attorney General back to office. And they returned a twice impeached, convicted felon, who has over 50 felony indictments, including stealing classified documents, looming over his head to lead the most powerful and most pitiful country in the world.

So who really cares about “law and order” or conservative values, or decency, duty, honor, country or any of that shit? Voters don’t but at least 19 deputies do and they are leaving the office before Jimmy Full of Shit Fullen takes office.

LOL. I made some funnies. Bankrupt Bitch. Jimmy Full of Shit Fullen.

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: Ethics, league city | Permalink
Posted by johncoby

Pics from Africa

November 17, 2024

You can find a review of the trip here.

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Posted by johncoby

America is full of suckers.

November 17, 2024

And people are making money off of them. How can we get on this gravy train?

The Tyson/Paul freak show proved there are a lot of suckers in America willing to pay to watch a 58 year old former boxer soil himself for a $20 million payday. Tyson looked great, for a 58 year old boxer, during his training throwing combinations to the body and bobbing and weaving like he did when he was 20. It was a great piece of propaganda to sell the “fight”. It was just a quick 10 second video to con people out of their money. It worked. Go watch it then go watch the “fight”.

Tickets for the 8, 2 minute rounds with oversized boxing gloves were selling for hundreds of dollars, in the cheap seats. They all got what they deserved. Tyson left it all in the ring, the one he trained in. The only thing worse than his display of aqua aerobics was the announcers who claimed this was the sporting event of the century. Paul was Paul. He ran like a scared little bitch refusing to fight Tyson. For those of us who followed boxing it is clear his skills in fleecing the suckers of America are much better than his skills in the ring.

Couple this freak show with the trump freak show developing in front of our eyes and you have a country full of fucking suckers ready and willing to give someone their hard earned money.

All aboard!

Leave a Comment » | Consumer, Political | Permalink
Posted by johncoby

Newly elected Sheriff, Jimmy Fullen is above the law

November 15, 2024

Well for fuck sakes.

A new law taking affect in Jan of 2025 will shield the newly elected Galveston County Sheriff Jimmy Fullen from being removed from office for lying under oath on an official government document. Just like his buddy trump, he is above the law and will never be held accountable. The Galveston County Daily News has more.

For everyone else, including you, if you lie on an official document you could be indicted, convicted, fined, and/or jailed. For Fullen the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement had recommended his law license be revoked making him ineligible for the position of Sheriff. The County DA, Jack Roady, won’t take action because Fullen is a republican and Roady is on his way out anyway. The new DA is Fullen’s buddy so don’t expect anything to come of that. If Fullen was a Democrat the DA would have been all over this like trump on a porn star.

But he is a member of the Republic Party and they are above the law. Fullen’s past is well documented on the website https://therealtruejimmyfullen.com. The owner has the receipts. He has the papers. None of it is pretty including the assault charge with a fucking BASEBALL BAT! Jesus fucking christ people? What does one have to do to make you stop voting for him? Get convicted on 34 felony counts?

Oh. Wait……

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Posted by johncoby

Texas Bill Watch: Jail time for business owners who hire illegal aliens

November 14, 2024

This would solve at least half of all the immigration problems. It won’t solve the problem of illegal workers coming from Germany or Ireland, but it is a start.

Bills are already being filed for the legislation session starting in 2025. The Welfare for the Wealthy School Voucher bill will be considered high priority as well as the bill requiring school districts to post the 10 Catholic Commandments in schools. I’m wondering if a bill to reduce our home insurance will be filed or passed. But the one I like is jail time for any business owner who hires illegal workers.

I’ve always wondered why they just don’t tackle the problem at the root. If businesses would stop hiring illegal workers the problem will go away. Steep fines and jail time would discourage businesses from doing business with illegal workers. The reason this hasn’t happened is because the megadonors to the Republic Party told them not to. Read the OP-ED in the Dallas Morning News by 36 of the biggest companies in Texas to Congress pleading for immigration reform. These owners include Bob Perry of Bob Perry Homes, Red McCombs, Bo Pilgrim, and others listed below.

So. Put one of these rotten fuckers in jail and they will think twice about hiring illegal workers. In the meantime, help your elected officials and report any business you know who are hiring illegal workers.

1 Comment | Political | Tagged: Immigration | Permalink
Posted by johncoby

Millionaires lose in Friendswood ISD elections

November 12, 2024

$50,000 down the drain. Again.

Our Senator, “Money” Mayes Middleton, and another millionaire out of Dallas, donated $50,000 to FISD candidate John Scott. He lost. As noted before, the district has only 6000 students in 6 schools. Why anyone would need $50,000 to run in such a small district is beyond me, but this is Texas where money rules.

What is surprising is that Friendswood is a blood shot red MAGAt city. They probably voted for trump, three times, and yet the $50,000 didn’t sway them from returning the incumbents back to office. That is odd. Maybe the trump voters found a bit of morality and voted against the nasty attack ads. Who knows?

It’s definitely an interesting situation one that CCISD trustees should be looking at very closely. If they align CCISD elections with the November elections they will be inviting unlimited money from every white wing millionaires and billionaires in the country with the sole purpose of taking over school districts. Those running for the right reasons will never get elected and would never be able to compete.

Maybe the Friendswood election is a freak occurrence.

1 Comment | Political | Tagged: Education, Ethics | Permalink
Posted by johncoby

Review: 2022 Chevy Bolt EUV. (EV Car)

November 11, 2024

It’s a pretty cool car!

So I was tired of the hand me down 2013 Subaru. I sold it and looked for another vehicle. I ended up buying a 2022 Chevy Bolt EUV, a small SUV that is fully electric. What I learned was that when you tell your friends that you bought a fully electric car they all become electrical engineers with their diploma from Facebook U. Everyone is an expert in something they know nothing about.

For instance. Everyone claims that it is expensive to replace the battery, which is true, but that is not the entire story. The battery is warranted for 100,000 miles or 8 years which ever comes first. The batteries are lasting well over 200,000 miles. At that mileage most people will end up selling their cars anyway. The cost of the batteries are coming down quickly. If you lost an ICE (internal combustion engine) it will cost about the same amount as a new battery but the cost of new or refurbished batteries are becoming affordable. That is if you intend to drive the damn car over 200,000 miles.

Everyone says you have to charge the car on long trip. And/Or DUH! You have to put gas in your car on long trips also. The fast chargers can give you about 100 miles every 30 minutes of charging. I have a charger that can charge with a common 110 plug or a 220 volt plug. At 110 I can get about 70 miles over night. I have free nights for 10 hours so my charging is free. At 220 I can get a full 300 mile charge over night. I have had the car for 2 months now and I have not needed a fast charge yet. I get free fast charging at the movies so I charge when I am there.

Look, an EV isn’t for everyone. For me, it is perfect. I can drive to my cabin without charging. I can drive to Houston and Galveston and back without charging. I use my car for local travel mostly with a daily trip to the dog park. It’s a perfect size for my dog and it is a nice car with leather seats, sunroof, and kick ass radio! It is a perfect car for me and it is a different way of driving. If you want to carry plywood or building materials you might want a different vehicle.

So far I have driven for over 2 months on free electricity!

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Posted by johncoby

Movie Review: Heretic

November 11, 2024

Watch it? Rent it? Skip it? WATCH IT!

Ok. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but this was a great religious/horror movie. Hugh Grant was particularly creepy. The two young, women, Mormon missionaries spreading the word of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints play their parts very well. From Rotten Tomatoes:

Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

This is a 2 hour movie which means at least 1 restroom break but I didn’t want to break away. It was just that good. The movie discusses religion, not specifically Mormonism. It questions the origin of religion something I find interesting. Along with this discussion they mix an intense horror aspect to it.

This is a great movie. It is being show on Standard Format, not in BIG SCREEN or IMAX. It is just a standard movie format and a great horror flick. Watch it!

Leave a Comment » | Consumer | Tagged: Movie Review | Permalink
Posted by johncoby

Hiring day workers in League City

November 11, 2024

Ever wonder how to hire a day worker in League City? Well I’m here to enlighten!

Have you ever had the need for non salaried labor? Maybe you need a fence built or cars washed or maybe you own a restaurant that needs a couple of extra hands for cooking. Where would you find a place for day labor? You could go to the Texas Workforce Commission but that might require a load of paperwork. Or you can visit the many sites in League City that offer services that you need.

For instance at the corner of Main Street and Texas Avenue, right across the street from Red River Barbecue, you can find day labor. This is on the side of Lone Star Title Loans. I don’t know what the going rate is for day laborers or how you would verify citizenship, but they are there every morning waiting to provide their much needed services to restaurants, homebuilders, and citizens looking for help.

There are a number of places throughout League City that provide access to day laborers. Many workers hang around Home Depot and Lowes as well as other supply stores. (They have in the past) Maybe you know of other placed that business owners can visit to hire labor. If so, email me and I will post!

Leave a Comment » | Consumer | Tagged: Immigration | Permalink
Posted by johncoby

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Bay Area Houston