Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Ardent anti-tax conservatives represent a clear minority among Republican voters. And yet the most extreme and counterfactual subgroup among them — supply-siders — remain firmly in control of the party.

This week, President George Bush vetoed CHIP. When he ran for President, he promised compassionate conservatism. Here, along the Border, we know too well what that means.

For us, it means ‘besos y buena suerte.'

Today, Fred Thompson is campaigning for president, selling himself as the most devoted conservative in the Republican field, a leader whose vision was shaped by the Republican revolution of 1994.

The near doubling in the cost of a college degree the past decade has produced an explosion in high-priced student loans that could haunt the U.S. economy for years.

The brand-new Texas Border Security Council had a rough time of it this week. From sheriffs to mayors to the Sierra Club, representatives of border residents are demanding that lawmakers pay attention to the damage the planned Rio Grande fence would do and to either change the location — or use alternative technology.

Waiting for George W. Bush to veto the children's health insurance bill made me think about health care in Texas.

Soon, all America will know that Texas is dead last in health.

Although Hillary Clinton’s candidacy insures that her husband’s eight years as President will be central to the 2008 campaign, he also hovered over the two previous primary seasons, in each of which the field narrowed to a Clinton candidate and an anti-Clinton candidate.

The spectacle Tuesday of 151 House Republicans voting in lock step with the White House against expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was one of the more remarkable sights of the year. Rarely do you see so many politicians putting their careers in jeopardy.

The American security contractor Blackwater USA is now the focus of investigations in both Baghdad and Washington over a Sept. 16 shooting in which at least 11 Iraqis were killed.

I applaud the thousands of people, many of them poor, who traveled from around the country to protest in Jena, La., last week. But what I’d really like to see is a million angry protesters marching on the headquarters of the National Republican Party in Washington.

Where will you stand? On Sunday, September 23, thousands of El Pasoans—family, friends and neighbors opposed to the re-opening of Asarco—will gather together in a community photograph to say one word in a single voice: "No!"

Join us for a photo shoot on Sunday, September 23, 2007 at 6pm. We will be at I-10 and Executive Center West. Wear a white shirt.

Most other large cities, and many smaller ones, experienced similar pains, according to the 2007 Annual Urban Mobility Report by the Texas A&M University-based institute. Austin's average annual congestion of 49 hours was the most severe among 30 middle-sized urban areas. San Antonio's 39 hours was 12th among 25 "large average" areas.

All the evidence suggests that it has finally become politically possible to give Americans what citizens of every other advanced nation already have: guaranteed health insurance.

The economics of universal health care are sound, and polls show strong public support for guaranteed care. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

State Rep. Kirk England, R-Grand Prairie, has announced that he's switching to the Democratic Party. The news of Mr. England's departure stunned Republican leaders. Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Kenn George said Wednesday that Mr. England's move caught him by surprise.

In a scene reminiscent of the civil rights era, thousands flooded into Jena, La., to denounce the prosecution of 6 black teens. Racial tensions among Jena High School students intensified last year when white students hung nooses from a schoolyard tree to discourage black classmates from enjoying its shade.

Last Friday’s dismal jobs report showed that the Bush boom, such as it was, has run its course. And working Americans have a right to ask, “Where’s my trickle?”

In the summer of 2002, a little-known Illinois state legislator named Barack Obama thought he saw the political opening he'd been looking for. It was a long shot, a flier -- a race for the U.S. Senate against a sitting Republican. Obama believed he could beat the incumbent, Peter Fitzgerald.

Two months before he was to come home, and a few weeks after he co-authored a somber opinion article about the war in Iraq, Army Sgt. Omar Mora was killed in Baghdad. Six other soldiers also died in the vehicle accident.

As global warming heats the planet, there will be more desperate measures. The climate will be wetter in some places, drier in others. Changing weather patterns will leave millions of people without dependable supplies of water for drinking, irrigation and power, a growing stack of studies conclude.

Privatizing highways or private ownership of toll projects is not a good idea—the rate of return should go to roads, not CINTRA or CINTRA’s banks. Not only do elected officials (and the public) lose control of toll rates, but money goes outside highways and into profits that should be reinvested in roads.