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Tom Pauken criticized Attorney General Greg Abbott for joining with the U.S. Justice Department in a suit challenging the merger of American Airlines and US Airways. Texas, along with five other states, the District of Columbia and the justice department sued to stop ther merger on the grounds that it would diminish competition and potentially shut down air service in some Texas towns.

Australia's conservatives led by Tony Abbott are maintaining an election-winning lead over Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a poll showed Monday, after a first leaders' debate was widely called a draw. As the race to September 7 elections entered its second week, a Newspoll published in The Australian had Abbott's coalition leading Labor 52 percent to 48 percent on a two-party basis, the same as a week ago.

THE second week of the federal campaign is under way, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd facing accusations that he cheated in last night's debate by referring to notes. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott goes into the second week of the campaign in a promising position, with most commentators declaring him the stronger performer in the debate and the latest Newspoll, published in The Australian today, showing he has narrowed Mr Rudd's lead as preferred Prime Minister from 14 points to nine points.

Who's on the Job? COSTELLO: I want to talk about the unemployment rate in America. ABBOTT: Good Subject. Terrible Times. It's 7.8%. COSTELLO: That many people are out of work? ABBOTT: No, that's 14.7%. COSTELLO: You just said 7.8%. ABBOTT: 7.8% unemployed. COSTELLO: Right; 7.8% out of work. ABBOTT: No, that's 14.7%. COSTELLO: Okay, so it's 14.7% unemployed. ABBOTT: No, that's 7.8%. COSTELLO: Wait a minute. Is it 7.8% or 14.7%? ABBOTT: 7.8% are unemployed. 14.7% are out of work. COSTELLO: If you are out of work, you are unemployed. ABBOTT: No, Congress said you can't count the "Out of...

He’s practically an unknown against the big boys, but he’s seeking the top political job in Texas. Tom Pauken, former Chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission, has hard work in front of him, as he chases the Republican nomination for governor. The primary is in March 2014. “There’s too much on auto pilot in Austin,” Pauken told The Llano News, May 28, at the gazebo on the Courthouse Square. He criticized alleged overuse of sound bites, and, “not getting things done.” Pauken, who calls himself a Reagan Conservative, had a campaign stop in Brady, after his mid-afternoon conversation with Llano...

But the delay, which state officials say is unprecedented, has Cuccinelli wondering whether the problem is more about politics than completing paperwork. "For a long time we thought it was glaring incompetence," Cuccinelli said in an interview. "But in light of the last month or two, we're now beginning to wonder whether maybe there are more deliberate motives." It was a reference to the recent scandal and congressional testimony stemming from reports of the IRS targeting conservative non-profit groups for investigation. Cuccinelli, a conservative Republican and Tea Party darling running for governor this year, has been a chief antagonist of...

Yes, there are far more pressing matters in the world than the escapades of the fictional 007, but, hey, if the Vatican's official newspaper can devote five articles to the latest James Bond flick, I don't feel too guilty devoting one measly column to it. I've always had an aversion to the James Bond character, and I suppose it has more to do with the fact that he's a glorified womanizing/fornicating spy who will kill at the drop of a hat versus a chaste spy who will "merely injure" at the drop of a hat. To me, the Bond movies'...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The slogan goes, "Don't Mess With Texas." But with President Barack Obama in the White House a more appropriate cry might be: "Try it and we'll sue." The Texas attorney general's office has filed 24 lawsuits against the federal government since Obama took office — litigation that has cost the state $2.58 million and more than 14,113 hours spent by staff and state lawyers working those cases. ....Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the costs are worth it, calling the litigation "a fight against the unprecedented ideology coming from the Obama administration." In an interview, he...

As the title says, Abbott & Costello explain -- finally -- the inner workings of "Obamanomics"

When Big Guy told the Press Corpse at his Pop Up Presser yesterday that he didn’t call Romney a felon he was technically correct: he didn’t call Romney a felon himself: somebody else did that for him. I guess what he actually said was that “nobody accused Romney of being a felon.” Meet Nobody: Nobody Cutter, deputy campaign manager, Team Obama, on ABC’s This Weekend. “Either Mitt Romney, through his own words and his own signature, was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the SEC, which is a felony,” or he was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the American...

A U.S. Supreme Court justice recounted over cocktails a while ago his travails with his hometown zoning board. He wanted to build an addition onto his house, containing what the plans described as a home office, but he met truculent and lengthy resistance. This is a residential area, a zoning official blustered—no businesses allowed. The judge mildly explained that he would not be running a business from the new room; he would be using it as a study. Well, challenged the suspicious official, what business are you in? I work for the government, the justice replied. Okay, the official finally...

TRENTON — In a widely anticipated decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered the state to spend an additional $500 million on public education in poor districts next year. --- Justices could have ordered up to $1.7 billion in additional statewide education spending. Today's ruling gives Gov. Chris Christie and lawmakers some room to maneuver as they work to balance the state's budget by July 1. --- Because the original lawsuit, filed in 1981, was brought on behalf of only 31 poor school districts, the court narrowed its ruling to affect only the so-called "Abbott districts." --- In another dissenting...

Strips from Abbott Laboratories Can Give Falsely Low Blood Sugar Readings WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that Abbott Laboratories is recalling up to 359 million testing strips used by diabetics because they can give falsely low blood sugar readings. The testing strips are used to help diabetes patients check their blood sugar levels. But the FDA says the products being recalled by Abbott can give inaccurately low measurements. As a result, patients may try to raise their blood sugar levels unnecessarily or fail to detect dangerously high blood sugar levels. The FDA said the problems are...

Catholic blogger and mother Carol McKinley is being threatened by certain male students who attend Sacred Heart School in Kingston, Mass. And they're doing so online. Why? Because Carol is not afraid to criticize the school for not forming its students in authentic Catholic teaching, particularly in regard to homosexuality. I covered the situation in my Sept. 22 column. I'm absolutely appalled by this turn of events, and it seems the offending students have no fear of being disciplined by the school, as evidenced by their vile comments on Carol's blog. One comment, made by student Evan Grande, states (excerpted):...

The following is a selection of (edited) e-mails I've received in recent days. Please note that I do not necessarily agree with every single point of every single e-mail I choose to print."John Doe": Bill Donohue is dead wrong about Late Nite Catechism. I saw it with my wife about ten years ago, we enjoyed it thoroughly, and I would go so far as to say that the abbreviated catechism given by 'Sister' in our performance was better than the watered-down catechism that my oldest daughter got at [school name redacted]. Full disclosure: Not only did I win the plastic...

In a recent blog post on the website of the Jesuit magazine America, Father James Martin, S.J., writes: Pope Benedict XVI's comments last week in Fatima, Portugal, in which he stated that abortion and same-sex marriage were 'some of today's most insidious and dangerous threats' to the common good seemed oddly discordant. The equation of abortion, something that clearly is about a threat to life, with same-sex marriage, which no matter how you look at it, does not mean that anyone is going to die, is bizarre. A good friend of mine, who is gay, recently resigned from a position...

Perhaps the term "bigot" is overused these days, particularly by the libertine left when referring to those of us who oppose the homosexual lobby, which in turn promotes the homosexual lifestyle and same-sex "marriage" and denigrates the traditional family unit. (The homosexual lobby often supports the abortion industry as well.) Yet bigotry does exist — and we orthodox Christians bear the brunt of it. Consider: Abortion and homosexual activists frequently exhibit bigotry toward us. Vicious secular humanists such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins frequently exhibit bigotry toward us. And then there's the bigotry exhibited by some Protestants toward Catholics...

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who's suing the federal government about health care and just about everything else, adopted a new campaign logo that uses the Don't Tread on Me slogan commonly seen at tea party rallies. While Abbott campaign spokesman Jason Johnson stresses that the image of the coiled timber rattlesnake goes way back in American political history, and that even some federal agencies have used the motif, it's pretty clear what the target audience of this logo is: Disgruntled Texans who are in an anti-federal government, anti-incumbent mood.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today said that Texas will join what is now a total of 12 states in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of federal health care reform legislation.The suit will be filed as soon as President Obama signs the bill into law. Abbott said, “"The state has been put into a situation where our liberties are being trampled on in an unprecedented fashion because of swift over-reaching action and the state it being forced to the courthouse.”

exas will join other states in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of federal health care legislation as soon as President Barack Obama signs the bill, Attorney General Greg Abbott said. "To protect all Texans' constitutional rights, preserve the constitutional framework intended by our nation's founders, and defend our state from further infringement by the federal government, the State of Texas and other states will legally challenge the federal health care legislation," Abbott said in a written statement late Sunday night after the U.S. House of Representatives approved the measure. The legislation is headed to Obama to sign, which could happen...