This week the Texas State Republican Convention was held in Houston.  One of the our elected officials Senator John Cornyn attended and addressed bloggers row.  Here are some pictures and highlights of that session.

 Senator Cornyn opening remarks addressed gas prices right upfront.

Congress is part of problem and needs to be part of the solution.  Congress starting back in the early 80’s by passing a ban on developing America’s natural resources.  We need to open up exploriation and production in places like the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere so we can depend less on imported oil from dangerous countries like Venezuela, Iran and others.

One month ago, only forty-two senators voted to open up drilling…

“My question to them is you are voting against this when gasoline is $3.75 a gallon,  what’s your vote going to be when its 4.75 a gallon?  or when its $8.00 or $10.00 a gallon?”

The problem we have is supply.  We need conservation and development of alternative sources of energy.  We need the oil we can produce domestically for the near future as we transition to clean energy independence, it has to be our goal. Democrats are opposed to that. I don’t know why.

They have an Alternative bill I call the no energy bill.  It doesn’t produce an additional drop of energy. For example, they want to sue OPEC. What are we going to ask the court to do?  Open the spigot even wider so that we continue to be even more dependent on foreign oil while denying production of our own domestic resources.

Windfall profits tax… it will do what it did in the 80s which pushed down domestic productions. Only 6% of oil reserves are owned by stockholder owned companies. The fact is 80% oil reserves are owned by countries. Windfall profit taxes would only be imposed  on companies owned by stockholders here in United States, It will be a terrible mistake and will increase costs,  including taxes which is always passed down to consumers. 

Q&A from bloggers

Senator Cornyn taking questions

Some issues raised were:

Earmarks – Senator Cornyn believes the current system is broken and voted to impose a moratorium.

Immigration - border security and verification of legal work status

Habeas Corpus for Terrorist- Senator Cornyn agrees with Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Scalia.

“The basic problem is that the court wants to treat terrorism as a crime, not an act of war and the need to prevent attacks before they happen rather than punish perpetrators afterwards.”

Open Government -  Legitimacy of the government is based upon the consent of the governed.

Federal Judges need to be confirmed in a more timely manner. It is essential that John McCain be elected as president because the nominees that Barack Obama nominate would be a disaster.  John McCain would nominate the right kind of judges not those that would substitute their opinions in place of the constitution.

CT’s Ace Reporter on the job at the Convention with Senator Cornyn

And Finally a good humored video for Senator Cornyn entitled “Big John” can be found here…. ENJOY!!!