Texas
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8:41 p.m.
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Heads need to roll. Yesterday, a spokesman for the Susan B. Komen for The Cure foundation announced that it was not going to continue to support Planned Parenthood with continued funding for breast cancer screening, a popular and necessary function of the group that saves women’s lives on a daily basis. The reason, as found here , is that one of the foundation’s directors, and who knows,...
Half Empty - 3:45 p.m. - 7 clicks 
Or, the greatest example to date of how Gang Green enviromentalism's top dog, the Sierra Club, shows how a jokingly self-referential moniker from the start of the Clinton Administration well earns its deeper meeting. So, Chesapeake, one of the biggies in natural gas fracking, was a biggie in funding Sierra Club's "Beyond Coal" campaign, eh? And, former executive director Carl Pope was fine w...
SocraticGadfly - 2:43 p.m. - 7 clicks
The bad ole boys of Galveston County By Lloyd Criss Special to The Daily News Published February 2, 2012 On the national scene, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are viscously engaged in a no holds barred battle for the GOP … Continue reading → ...
The WAWG Blog - 12:43 p.m. - 11 clicks
The Susan G. Komen Foundation does the right thing after doing the wrong thing. From the Houston Chronicle : The Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast-cancer charity on Friday abandoned plans to eliminate grants to Planned Parenthood. The startling decision came after three days of virulent criticism that resounded across the Internet, jeopardizing Komen’s iconic image. Good for them. Planned Pa...
Bay Area Houston Blog - 12:42 p.m. - 7 clicks
Reader Texas Maverick emails to point out this passage from the board minutes (pdf) of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's August 2011 meeting: Chairman [Oliver] Bell commented that the closure of the Central Unit has been a positive story and stated he was pleased the current trends have allowed the board and the TDCJ to be able to close a unit. The Central Unit has been studied for clo...
Grits for Breakfast - 11:24 a.m. - 9 clicks
» Wash. Monthly: Heath Shuler Retires I think Ed Kilgore (previously noted as one of my favorite bloggers) manages to both find a way to “get” the concept of “Run Everywhere” while at the same time as missing much of the concept. Along the way, Ed cheers the announcement that Heath Shuler won’t run for [...]...
Greg's Opinion - 11:08 a.m. - 14 clicks
Turns out Texas is one of the most regressive states in the nation on the burden of its various state taxes. Surprised? There is no god and I am his prophet. ...
SocraticGadfly - 10:48 a.m. - 10 clicks
A few weeks ago I was behind a video game truck while at a red light. This truck apparently ships big video games all over Houston. Here is some history of trucks and the trucking industry. Last week I saw this representation of a game of Galaga on a metal utility box of some kind [...] ...
TexasLiberal - 9:03 a.m. - 8 clicks
In the debate between the Bexar County Commissioners Court and the Sheriff over whether the jail is adequately staffed, the state Commission on Jail Standards this week came out with an estimate siding with the Sheriff to say current staffing levels are insufficient without using overtime. Reported the SA Express-News (" State says jail needs additional staff ," Feb. 1): A staffing analysis of Be...
Grits for Breakfast - 7:06 a.m. - 9 clicks
At the Galveston Daily News, Heber Taylor reports that , despite months of negotiation between the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the UT Medical Branch (UTMB) over providing inmate health care: there is no agreement. Dr. David L. Callender, president of the medical branch, let the staff know that the transition has begun to transfer the health services to the corrections department....
Grits for Breakfast - 6:48 a.m. - 9 clicks
WTF? Four stations — NBC affiliate KRIS, Telemundo affiliate KAJA, CW South Texas and independent station KDF — went black for Time Warner subscribers Dec. 12 after the company and Cordillera failed to reach a retransmission agreement. ...
South Texas Chisme - 4:49 a.m. - 12 clicks
Again, WTF ? But the negotiators for the other sides need to recognize that the people of Texas elected a Republican supermajority to the Legislature. The final redistricting outcome ought to reflect the authority vested in the Legislature by the people. Hence, the Supreme Court's decision. WTF? WTF?? Such a gross misunderstanding of the concept of one citizen one vote. Congressional districts...
South Texas Chisme - 4:49 a.m. - 10 clicks
At least a month. A panel of federal judges told parties in a Texas redistricting case Wednesday not to expect a ruling within 30 days, throwing the date of the state’s political primaries further in doubt. A ruling by the District of Columbia court in the complex case was expected to provide guidance to another [...]...
Off the Kuff - 3:28 a.m. - 9 clicks
I have three things to say about this. Despite public and private attempts to revive a shopping scene downtown, the retail market has struggled. Some stores like Forever 21 and Books-A-Million have opened, but most of the activity in recent years has come from restaurants and bars. Turnover has been high. Last year, 16 street-level [...]...
Off the Kuff - 3:28 a.m. - 9 clicks
The Statesman has a long story about the state of water in Texas and its outlook for the future. Short summary: We’re going to need more than what we’re capable of getting now, and it’s going to cost a lot of money to bridge the shortfall. “For most of our recent history, we just treated [...]...
Off the Kuff - 3:01 a.m. - 10 clicks
Texas Watch: The Texas Supreme Court has a long history of favoring corporate defendants over families and small businesses, according to a decade-long review of the Court’s decision making by Court Watch, a project of the non-profit Texas Watch Foundation. Court Watch reviewed the 624 cases involving consumers decided by the Court between 2000 and [...]...
Off the Kuff - 2:45 a.m. - 10 clicks
The Republican presidential nomination has been chugging along nicely, with four states having voted and four more scheduled for the next couple of weeks. But this has been happening without the sizable ego of Donald Trump, and for Trump that is inexcusable. He's convinced that he the kingmaker in the Republican Party. So before a decision in the race became obvious, Trump quickly jumped on...
jobsanger - Thu 10:29 p.m. - 9 clicks
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few days, you already know about the mess the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation has created for itself. The Komen Foundation was created to raise funds to fight breast cancer -- a laudable goal since breast cancer claims the lives of far too many women in this country. And to further that goal, they have in the past been giving a gran...
jobsanger - Thu 10:29 p.m. - 12 clicks
The Texas Rangers focused their offseason free-agent moves on the fees and contracts for wunderkind pitcher Yu Darvish , rather than chasing either Albert Pujols , who scared the hell out of Rangers manager Ron Washington in the World Series, or Prince Fielder . And now, Josh Hamilton has reportedly had another relapse with alcohol . And, per Fox , this was getting drunk, not just a "sli...
SocraticGadfly - Thu 8:06 p.m. - 10 clicks
You may recall the case of the blogger/PI who sued two bloggers in Beaumont because they made fun of him, sucking Google (as blogger.com) and others into his vindictive legal wrath. He lost at the Texas Supreme Court , and now he has lost again. First, from the Southeast Texas Record : On Monday a local judge denied Philip Klein's petition to take the depositions of Google and Beaumont attor...
Brains and Eggs - Thu 11:46 a.m. - 12 clicks
Hamburger Wearing An Astros’ Hat—A member of the Texas Liberal Panel of Experts—is reading The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays by Richard Hofstadter. This 1965 book makes it clear that extreme paranoid thinking has long been a feature of American public life. Some may think that today’s conservative movement and Republican Party is some [...] ...
TexasLiberal - Thu 10:03 a.m. - 10 clicks
The Dallas County Jail right now houses roughly 7,800 inmates, according to comments by the Dallas County Sheriff's Office to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards this morning, down from more than 10,000 at its height. That's more than a 22% reduction, but even that may be low-balled. According to the most recent TCJS jail population report (pdf), as of Jan. 1 the Dallas Jail had just 5,741 in...
Grits for Breakfast - Thu 9:45 a.m. - 10 clicks
The cycle of crony money - taxpayer dollars to crony - crony dollars to republican. Eight of nine voting members on the Board of Regents donated to Perry’s gubernatorial campaign fund — Texans for Rick Perry. Perry appoints all of the public university regents, who are influential administrators within a university system. The regents meet quarterly to make budget decisions and set tuition and ...
South Texas Chisme - Thu 7:28 a.m. - 14 clicks
Li has done great work . The crux of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's court argument has been that the only districts protected under the Voting Rights Act are districts where, unlike Senate District 10, a single minority group, by itself, controls outcomes in elections. In other words, in his view, Hispanic and African-American voters only get protected by the Voting Rights Act if they live ...
South Texas Chisme - Thu 7:28 a.m. - 15 clicks
Don't doubt that for a moment . A former Corpus Christi law firm operator convicted of impersonating a lawyer has been granted a review by the state's highest criminal appeals court. Mauricio Celis was convicted in February 2009 of 14 counts of falsely holding himself out as a lawyer. He appealed the conviction on 18 points but was denied by the 13th Court of Appeals. The Texas Court of Crimina...
South Texas Chisme - Thu 7:02 a.m. - 12 clicks
The fun of living in a crony capitalist state is you get to pay much higher insurance premiums . Farmers Insurance will raise homeowner premiums by nearly 10 percent after Texas regulators declined to object to the increase. ...
South Texas Chisme - Thu 7:02 a.m. - 14 clicks
Because Texas is a crony state . A close friend of Gov. Rick Perry's who was fired as a Texas A&M University System executive after brandishing a pocket knife has a new job - assistant director of the Texas Department of Public Safety. WTF? This is disgusting. ...
South Texas Chisme - Thu 7:02 a.m. - 12 clicks
Texas republicans would like to spend no money on educating children. The truth is our school finance system is broken. We are the second largest economy in the Union, however there are 43 states that invest more money per student, when it comes to education spending. If that isn't bad enough, the Texas budget (which I voted against) slashed spending by nearly $500 per student. That means teache...
South Texas Chisme - Thu 7:02 a.m. - 13 clicks
Confession: I've been seeing another local news station behind your back. It's not you, it's me. I'll be talking more about the Komen Foundation's regrettable decision to defund Planned Parenthood this morning at 10:10 am on News 92 FM radio in Houston. If you're not in Houston, you can listen live online here . ...
Letters From Texas - Thu 6:07 a.m. - 10 clicks
USAA sucks. For reasons unknown, USAA has raised my premiums by 16%. It seems like they are continuously raising rates until I give up and leave. Under this contract, which includes wind storm protection, once I leave USAA, I will not be able to return since they are no longer writing policies in the area. Unfortunately, "shopping around" has been unsuccessful and if I can possibly find an alter...
Bay Area Houston Blog - Thu 5:25 a.m. - 12 clicks
The state of Texas is very likely to have to do something about school finance soon, but “soon” is not the same as “right now”. Houston ISD counsel David Thompson was exuding confidence Saturday that Texas school districts will prevail in their four lawsuits challenging state funding — but he warned trustees not to expect [...]...
Off the Kuff - Thu 3:05 a.m. - 15 clicks
The Texas Progressive Alliance is stocking up on unhealthy snacks and adult beverages as it brings you this week’s roundup. BossKitty at TruthHugger is concerned that frivolous issues, wielded by the GOP-Tea Party-Republican Party, is a terrible distraction from serious problems facing America. Character slaughter, in the battle for a Republican Presidential candidate, does not [...]...
Off the Kuff - Thu 3:05 a.m. - 12 clicks
We get a C. Texas public school science courses “pay lip service” to critical content and largely ignore evolution in the middle grades, according to a national education foundation study that gives the state of Texas an overall “C” for science education. The average grade for Texas science curriculum standards by the Thomas B. Fordham [...]...
Off the Kuff - Thu 3:05 a.m. - 14 clicks
(The above cartoon is by Adam Zyglis in The Buffalo News .) Yesterday I remarked in a post that since Romney has been unable to win the hearts of Republican voters, he has decided to try and buy the election. I've also taken to calling him Wall Street Willie, because most of his money is coming from corporations and other denizens of Wall Street. Some of you may think I was joking. I wa...
jobsanger - Wed 10:22 p.m. - 11 clicks
I think we are seeing the writing on the wall this week as final arguments were made in DC yesterday on the Texas redistricting lawsuit. There is no way that the present district maps passed by the Texas state legislature last year will be allowed to stand. That much is certain. I don’t think I have ever seen this before. Well, yeah. I still remember Judge Sam Sparks telling Tom DeLay to ...
Half Empty - Wed 6:26 p.m. - 15 clicks
I almost missed this notice in the Glen Rose Reporter today: "The enclosed application form is an exemption for property taxes which you recieved last year but for which you must reapply before May 1 of this year. In order for this application to be valid, you must furnish the information it requires. If the application is not timely filed, the exemption must be denied. However, upon s...
Somervell County Salon - Wed 5:42 p.m. - 30 clicks
Nuclear energy may be on the ropes post Fukushima’s explosive meltdowns, but 70 years of U.S. bomb and power plant waste doesn’t dissipate so easily. Despite federal promises to the power industry to dispose of their highly toxic, long-lived poisons — and despite utilities collecting more than $25 billion in fees for such from customers [...] ...
harman on earth - Wed 12:03 p.m. - 12 clicks
The SA Express News had an editorial today praising a district court ruling last week requiring state mental hospitals to timely accept defendants for "competency restoration" who've been deemed incompetent to stand trial by the courts. Here's a notable excerpt: In San Antonio, criminal defendants in need of a bed in a state psychiatric facility are routinely spending months in the Bexar Count...
Grits for Breakfast - Wed 7:42 a.m. - 14 clicks
Even though Rick Perry blew more than $17 million from Make Us Great Again , his Super PAC, on a doomed Presidential campaign, he still has $2.5 million in his state campaign coffer. Furthermore, Perry remains the most powerful official in the state of Texas. The Austin-American Statesman reported that: "The top donors to Make Us Great Again included Dallas busine...
Somervell County Salon - Wed 7:08 a.m. - 28 clicks
Perhaps she should invoke the Heisenberg uncertainty principle . Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones appears to have uncovered a mystery in the state's Constitution: Nowhere does it define “the Capital of the State.” The Constitution requires certain state officers to reside there while in office, but since the capital city isn't named, how can that requirement be enforced? Jones se...
South Texas Chisme - Wed 6:29 a.m. - 15 clicks
Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia was elected in 2008 with the highest vote total of any candidate on the ballot. He inherited an office that was tainted by the scandals of his long-term predecessor, a jail system that was overcrowded, understaffed, unsafe, unsanitary, and under the spotlight of federal and state inspectors, a hiring freeze [...]...
Off the Kuff - Wed 4:20 a.m. - 11 clicks
Glad we got that settled. New owner Jim Crane ended a week of speculation and rare attention on a national level and anticipated backlash among Houstonians, saying he would not change the name of the club – a possibility he floated last week. “You asked for change and we added several fan friendly initiatives last [...]...
Off the Kuff - Wed 4:20 a.m. - 13 clicks
Late last week we heard about the possibility of a settlement agreement in the San Antonio redistricting case that would allow for the creation of interim maps in time to keep the April 3 primary date. The court gave this Friday as a drop dead date for getting that done. As of today, it’s looking [...]...
Off the Kuff - Wed 4:20 a.m. - 14 clicks
I’ve been banging the drum lately about encouraging growth inside the city’s boundaries as a long-term financial management strategy, so I’m glad to see this. Eight years ago, city of Houston officials decided to incentivize the conversion of 80 wooded acres off Little York Road into a 375-home community, a place, in some small measure, [...]...
Off the Kuff - Wed 4:20 a.m. - 12 clicks
(The cartoon above is by Jerry Holbert in The Boston Herald .) Most Americans have been shocked to learn in the past couple of years just how small a tax rate is paid by the richest people in this country. The issue recently received a new impetus with the release of Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney's tax return from 2010. Although he made over $20 million for not workin...
jobsanger - Tue 10:27 p.m. - 13 clicks
Politics has always been a rather brutal undertaking, and never more than in a general election or a party primary. The stakes are high and the loser goes home while the winner assumes a lot of power -- or in the case of a primary, the right to run for that power position. Even the tamest of primary campaigns can rightfully be compared to a bare-knuckles brawl, where even the winner comes o...
jobsanger - Tue 10:27 p.m. - 15 clicks
This post starts with three main observations. One is that Social Darwinism, whether under that name or not, has a long history in America. The second is that, in general, this has been more a respected than a disrespected position in American social, political and even religious thought. The third is that, along with increasing income inequality, a renewed focus on Social Darwinism start...
SocraticGadfly - Tue 9:04 p.m. - 12 clicks
Well, well, well. So far, the D.C. Court of Appeals is pretty skeptical of Texas' redistricting maps. Now, with this in mind, we have to turn our eyes back to San Antonio. To me, it sounds like plaintiffs have good reason NOT to sign off on a Feb. 6 settlement deadline if the D.C. Court is likely to make an unfavorable preclearance ruling just days after that. There is no god and I am his prophe...
SocraticGadfly - Tue 7:49 p.m. - 15 clicks
Thus endeth one of the most fascinating local stories in recent memory. A Harris County grand jury ended its session Tuesday, ending a months-long investigation into the district attorney’s office and the Houston Police Department’s DWI testing vehicles with a blistering report, but no indictments. “There was no evidence of a crime,” said grand jury [...]...
Off the Kuff - Tue 6:05 p.m. - 14 clicks
I feel sometimes that I am most at home when on the move, when considering ideas that are interesting, and when I’m with friends. This is why I enjoyed this graffiti that I saw on the Galveston Seawall earlier this week. I was on the road for a day trip, I liked the idea being [...] ...
TexasLiberal - Tue 5:48 p.m. - 16 clicks
In Travis County, a federal jury declared that, although jailers weren't the "proximate" cause of Rachel Jackson's death, but there were areas where the county's operation of its jail needs to improve. Reported Steven Kreytak at the Austin Statesman : A federal jury in Austin ruled [Friday] that neither the actions of Travis County officials nor of a former jail psychiatrist caused the death o...
Grits for Breakfast - Tue 1:04 p.m. - 14 clicks
A grand jury investigating misconduct at the Harris County District Attorney's Office declined to issue indictments , but put out a stinging public statement critical of the DA's Office's handling of the affair. Reports Brian Rogers at the Houston Chronicle : A Harris County grand jury ended its session Tuesday, ending a months-long investigation into the district attorney's office and th...
Grits for Breakfast - Tue 1:04 p.m. - 14 clicks
Yes a community water well has fallen so low that its supplier the Lower Colorado River Authority, is having to truck water to Spicewood Beach. More interestingly yet, the unincorporated community of Spicewood Beach isn't out in the semidesert or desert of Far West Texas. It's in the Hill Country, less than 35 miles from Austin. And, as the LCRA name should indicate, it's near a decent-sized riv...
SocraticGadfly - Tue 12:24 p.m. - 12 clicks
Apparently Gingrich has been using the song “Eye of the Tiger” at his campaign rallies and Survivor is not happy. They’ve even filed a lawsuit for him to cease and desist and for unspecified damages. (Incidentally this was always my favorite Survivor song although “High on You” was a close second.) As someone who’s a [...]...
In the Pink Texas - Tue 10:21 a.m. - 17 clicks
Before this momentous occasion slips too far into the rear view mirror, I do need to publicly celebrate the fact that Ed Kilgore is the new blogger for Washington Monthly. I’ve been a fan of Ed’s ever since I was vaguely aware of the policy work he did for Sen. Sam Nunn as far back [...]...
Greg's Opinion - Tue 8:20 a.m. - 30 clicks
Spicewood, Texas, a small community on Lake Travis, is precariously close to becoming the state’s first community to run out of drinking water during this historic drought. On Monday, under dark clouds and with rain falling, Spicewood got its first delivery of 8,000-gallons of water after it became clear local wells could no longer produce enough [...] ...
TexasVOX: Public Citizen - Tue 7:48 a.m. - 2 clicks
Crony capitalists don't like people to know how they are funneling our money . A member of Gov. Rick Perry's staff testified Monday that the Legislature might have gone too far in requiring technology startups to disclose how many jobs they are creating with taxpayer money. WTF??? If a company takes our money, we deserve to know how THAT company rewarded us. Otherwise, don't take our money. ...
South Texas Chisme - Tue 5:21 a.m. - 15 clicks
republicans hate public education and have gone about destroying science education in particular. Texas public school science courses “pay lip service” to critical content and largely ignore evolution in the middle grades, according to a national education foundation study that gives the state an overall “C” for science education. The average grade for Texas science curriculum standards by the T...
South Texas Chisme - Tue 5:21 a.m. - 16 clicks
From Tim Cole's posthumous exoneration to a failed effort in the Todd Willingham case and now in the aftermath of Michael Morton's exoneration, defense attorneys have sought to use courts of inquiry, not always successfully , to ferret out injustice and police and prosecutor misconduct when official channels have been barred. The military has a much-different process with the same name, but acc...
Grits for Breakfast - Tue 4:08 a.m. - 18 clicks
As you know, the state of Texas has filed a lawsuit in the DC District Federal Court – the same court that is hearing the preclearance lawsuit – to get the odious voter ID law precleared. Michael Li introduces us to the judges that will be hearing this case. Texas’ suit over its voter ID [...]...
Off the Kuff - Tue 3:20 a.m. - 17 clicks
I feel like there are some pieces missing in this discussion. The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to add Matagorda County to the list of Texas’ smog violators because Gulf breezes that blow through the area send air pollution toward the sprawling metropolis. Local leaders are pushing back, saying the dubious distinction would lead to [...]...
Off the Kuff - Tue 3:20 a.m. - 18 clicks
Here’s another long Chron story about disciplinary statistics for Harris County Sheriff’s deputies. Reading through it, I felt like there was some context missing. A Houston Chronicle review of disciplinary records indicates that from 2008 through 2010, more than 200 jail employees were disciplined for various offenses, some serious and others minor. Last year, the [...]...
Off the Kuff - Tue 3:20 a.m. - 14 clicks
The card above is basically what a Texas Voter Registration Card looks like these days. For many years now this is the only thing you needed to have to vote in any election. I'm sure your state has something similar. This system has worked pretty well, and there is really no need to change it, but the Republicans in Texas want to change it anyway. They claim that they need to prevent vot...
jobsanger - Mon 10:06 p.m. - 11 clicks
The struggle to stop the execution of Troy Davis last fall showed the brutal reality of innocent, African-American men on death rows across this country. Now we face yet another urgent case: the time is now to stand with Tim McKinney. Tim McKinney is an innocent man who was on Tennessee's death row for over a decade . ...
Texas Death Penalty - Mon 8:43 p.m. - 14 clicks
Who would have thunk it? A report by the Texas Coalition for Affordable Power says electricity deregulation sucks, but then again, anyone with a lick of sense already knows that. Commissioned by the Texas Coalition for Affordable Power , a non-profit including 163 municipalities and other political subdivisions, the report takes sharp aim at higher retail prices, increased consumer complaint...
Bay Area Houston Blog - Mon 6:47 p.m. - 17 clicks
OK, when I saw this headline at the Austin American-Statesman, “ Perry to address CPAC conference ” I had to ask myself this question: Why? Isn’t he out of the presidential nomination race? Didn’t he prove to the nation that he had no qualifications to be president? That he is an ignorant slob? Hey, I thought so. But not the case. And the reason this is not the case is that the C...
Half Empty - Mon 5:25 p.m. - 13 clicks
Well, crap. Under orders from the Vatican, the Catholic church is telling parishioners that they should oppose the president over contraceptive services. We’ve been here before but this is an ELECTION YEAR. However church leaders have made it very clear that Catholics who vote for Obama might as well be Methodists. The Obama administration is [...]...
In the Pink Texas - Mon 2:43 p.m. - 15 clicks
Via Democratic Blog News , the Austin Chronicle (their emphasis): There were rumors floating around all weekend that there could be a deal struck as early as today, but with all parties heading to DC to catch closing arguments in the preclearance hearing tomorrow, Jan. 31, that seems unlikely. The Mexican American Legislative Caucus told the Chronicle this morning that a deal is not immine...
Brains and Eggs - Mon 2:42 p.m. - 18 clicks
The Texas Progressive Alliance is stocking up on unhealthy snacks and adult beverages as it brings you this week’s roundup. BossKitty at TruthHugger is concerned that frivolous issues, wielded by the GOP-Tea Party-Republican Party, is a terrible distraction from serious problems facing America. Character slaughter, in the battle for a Republican Presidential candidate, does not [...] ...
TruthHugger - Mon 11:48 a.m. - 16 clicks
The Texas Progressive Alliance is stocking up on unhealthy snacks and adult beverages as it brings you this week’s roundup. BossKitty at TruthHugger is concerned that frivolous issues, wielded by the GOP-Tea Party-Republican Party, is a terrible distraction from serious problems facing America. Character slaughter, in the battle for a Republican Presidential candidate, does not [...]...
BlueBloggin - Mon 11:48 a.m. - 15 clicks
Texas Coalition for Affordable Power’s (TCAP) report on electric deregulation in Texas says the industry has failed to deliver, while industry and agency critics find fault with the reports price and reliability comparisons. Texans have paid higher prices for power that is less reliable – as evidenced by two rolling blackouts – during a decade [...] ...
TexasVOX: Public Citizen - Mon 10:41 a.m. - 19 clicks
Law enforcement interests, both through the Texas Police Chiefs Association and individually, are seeking to undermine the new model eyewitness ID policy from Sam Houston State University's Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT), produced under the auspices of a bill, HB 215 , passed last year at the Texas Legislature. LEMIT did a fine job creating the model policy (pdf), by ...
Grits for Breakfast - Mon 9:43 a.m. - 14 clicks
Crossposted at burn after writing Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) is back with a new anti-privacy bill that's been on the radar of civil liberties organizations for several months now, though it hasn't yet received much attention in the mainstream media. He introduced H.R. 1981 , euphemistically the "Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011" back in May 2011 and on July 28, 20...
DailyKos (Texas) - Mon 8:05 a.m. - 11 clicks
I neglected to mention that at the Austin Statesman, Eric Dexheimer last week had a lengthy item in which your correspondent was briefly quoted critiquing Texas' seldom-used hate crimes statute, which has yielded just 10 successful prosecutions since Gov. Perry signed it into law in 2001. "'The law should punish bad actions, not unpopular or ignorant beliefs,' said Scott Henson, who writes the ...
Grits for Breakfast - Mon 7:41 a.m. - 13 clicks
The Texas Progressive Alliance is stocking up on unhealthy snacks and adult beverages -- in preparation to celebrate the almost-ready-to-break news on Texas redistricting as well as Sunday's Super Bowl -- as it brings you this week's roundup. BossKitty at TruthHugger is concerned that the frivolous issues the Tea Party Republicans scream about -- and boo and cheer about at their debates -- ...
Brains and Eggs - Mon 7:20 a.m. - 18 clicks
The Texas Progressive Alliance is stocking up on unhealthy snacks and adult beverages as it brings you this week's roundup. BossKitty at TruthHugger is concerned that frivolous issues, wielded by the GOP-Tea Party-Republican Party, is a terrible distraction from serious problems facing America. Character slaughter, in the battle for a Republican Presidential candidate, does not show wh...
South Texas Chisme - Mon 6:42 a.m. - 14 clicks
At the Houston Chronicle, James Pinkerton has a story today (" Discipline problems persist behind bars ," Jan. 30) describing employee misconduct that spawned disciplinary actions and terminations at the Harris County Jail from 2008 to 2010. The article opens: A female jailer ordered, without authorization, an entire cellblock of women prisoners to strip naked during a July 2010 search. She's st...
Grits for Breakfast - Mon 6:41 a.m. - 12 clicks
The latest GOP poll taken by the American Research Group, Inc. shows Romney first in Florida. The fact that there have been 3 different winners in the last 3 states (1 caucus, 2 primaries) shows that the GOP is not in the best place to make a real bid against President Obama. The party should have learned something from its miserable showing 4 years ago, but obviously, GOP leadersh...
Somervell County Salon - Mon 5:41 a.m. - 31 clicks
I must say, I was a bit flummoxed by this story. The City of Austin might repeal a 2-year-old ordinance requiring some facilities that counsel women with unplanned pregnancies to post signs saying they don’t offer abortions or contraceptive services. The four Austin facilities affected by the ordinance sued the city last fall, saying the [...]...
Off the Kuff - Mon 3:48 a.m. - 24 clicks
» NY Times: In Their Election Drought, Texas Democrats Find Solace in G.O.P.’s Past Struggles » Chron: Gibson plunges into politics in Senate run Two different takes on the Dem side of the US Senate contest: one with a focus on East Texas former State Rep. Paul Sadler and another with a focus on Houston [...]...
Greg's Opinion - Mon 3:48 a.m. - 33 clicks
Here is a photo I took a few hours ago at the water’s edge in Galveston, Texas. Very primordial. You say that this blog and that many things as well began at the water’s edge. At The Water’s Edge is a well-reviewed book by Carl Zimmer about—among other topics—sea creatures first walking on land. Life–A [...] ...
TexasLiberal - Sun 9:47 p.m. - 11 clicks
Here is a home decorated for Valentine’s Day that I saw a few hours ago in Galveston,Texas. I thought this was friendly. Here is a history of Valentine’s Day. With more and more states allowing gay marriage, Valentine’s Day 2012 will be extra happy for folks able to live as they wish in a tough [...] ...
TexasLiberal - Sun 9:21 p.m. - 14 clicks
Last night I saw the movie Contraband. This movie was about people smuggling stuff aboard big ships. Here is my review of this movie— “Contraband was enjoyable. There was plenty of action and many interesting pictures of ships and of Panama City, Panama.” This covers my thoughts about Contraband. Here are some facts on [...] ...
TexasLiberal - Sun 9:21 p.m. - 12 clicks
Ron Paul Signed Off on Racist Newsletters in the 1990s, Associates Say – Ron Paul, well known as a physician, congressman and libertarian , has also been a businessman who pursued a marketing strategy that included publishing provocative, racially charged … Continue reading → ...
The WAWG Blog - Sun 7:44 p.m. - 27 clicks
The end of the road for this particular bit of litigation. The U.S. Supreme Court will not take up the adult entertainment industry’s lawsuit against the state’s $5-per-patron strip club tax, justices decided Monday. “Texas is now one step closer to a sustainable source of funding for rape crisis centers, and most importantly, for supporting [...]...
Off the Kuff - Sun 5:44 p.m. - 13 clicks
More hopeful news for this year. Boosted by gains in energy, manufacturing and retail trade, the Houston area added 75,800 jobs during 2011, a 3 percent increase over the previous year, the Texas Workforce Commission reported Friday. “The numbers are impressive,” said Barton Smith, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Houston. Improvement appeared [...]...
Off the Kuff - Sun 5:44 p.m. - 12 clicks
Me, last month: Meanwhile, two weeks ago there was a story about TxDOT closing the White Oak Bayou Hike and Bike Trail between Ella and 34th streets while there is construction on the service road for 610 North at East TC Jester. The closure was scheduled for two years, without an alternate route that bicyclists thought was [...]...
Off the Kuff - Sun 5:44 p.m. - 11 clicks
Police can lie to suspects to get a confession; that is well established law. But what, exactly is a lie? As it turns out, that was well established law, too, at the time Austin PD officers allegedly crossed the line to hoping Mark Alan Norwood would confess to the murder of Debra Baker. Austin police "doctored" a forensics report to try to get Norwood - now the prime suspect in the Christin...
Grits for Breakfast - Sun 10:46 a.m. - 11 clicks
Here is the weekly posting of the Texas Progressive Alliance round-up. The TPA is a confederation of the best political bloggers in Texas. TPA members are citizen-bloggers working for a better Texas. Often I post some additional Texas related political or historical material with the round-up. However, I’m going to go to Galveston instead later this [...] ...
TexasLiberal - Sun 8:41 a.m. - 10 clicks
I have been wondering why the state of Texas (read: Attorney General Greg Abbott) has been so suddenly willing to abandon its concurrent legal strategies to force discriminatory districts on us all, and reach a settlement that will reportedly favor Democrats, Latino organizations, and others fighting them. Here's the insight I have been seeking to what, by every appearance to me, looked like...
Brains and Eggs - Sun 8:00 a.m. - 14 clicks
A lingering anachronism from a failed social experiment, the Amarillo Globe-News (" Boot camps: Learn new or pay later ," Jan. 26) describes a boot camp facility that barely receives commitments these days (370 out of 400 beds are empty), as well as debates within criminal-justice circles over whether such programs make sense given well-documented evidence that they do not reduce recidivism. Here'...
Grits for Breakfast - Sun 7:42 a.m. - 14 clicks
The Conroe Courier yesterday had the story of a new mental health docket in Montgomery County (using "managed assigned counsel," whatever that means) created with a grant from the Texas Indigent Defense Commission aimed at diverting mentallly ill defendants from the jail: In the past few days, the county launched its managed assigned counsel program for indigent defendants to focus on represent...
Grits for Breakfast - Sun 7:09 a.m. - 18 clicks
In bright sunshine, objects are all under the same light while also standing quite distinctly from one another. Since metaphor gives form to solid things, this may be the case solely to show that we can acknowledge what we hold in common while existing quite clearly on our own. To hell with all that rugged [...] ...
TexasLiberal - Sat 9:44 a.m. - 14 clicks
Late Friday we heard about the possibility of a settlement agreement in the redistricting lawsuit in San Antonio, with the idea of coming up with an interim map in time to keep the primaries on April 6. Here’s an update on that from the Chron. Under the arrangement outlined during the hearing, the parties would [...]...
Off the Kuff - Sat 7:06 a.m. - 18 clicks
Via PBS Frontline and ProPublica , a conviction for the death of a child was overturned this week by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals because the defendant's attorney failed to challenge bogus medical evidence presented in the penalty phase of the case that the infant had been sexually assaulted: The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals [on Wednesday] set aside the conviction of Ernie Lopez, an A...
Grits for Breakfast - Sat 4:04 a.m. - 14 clicks
Pedal to the metal, y’all. The Texas Transportation Commission approved 75 mph speed limits for nearly 1,500 miles of interstate in 60 counties. The action follows a state law approved last year providing for the Texas Department of Transportation to see whether 70 mph speed limits safely can be raised to 75 mph, and to [...]...
Off the Kuff - Sat 3:26 a.m. - 16 clicks
Remember how four coal plants were granted permits to pollute more in December? You probably don’t, because it basically happened under cover of darkness. The Sierra Club found out about it and has filed a lawsuit to call a halt to it. The environmental group is appealing permit amendments approved Dec. 16 by the Texas [...]...
Off the Kuff - Sat 3:02 a.m. - 16 clicks
Just pinch me! I don't know what is happening, but Texans are having a great week. First Perry comes home with his tail between his legs. He has never been this unpopular. Right now, he couldn't get elected dog catcher. http://www.statesman.com/... Then the Feds rode into Texas to deny the request to delay insurance reform. A win for Texans. http://www.texastrib...
DailyKos (Texas) - Jan 27 - 17 clicks
The three federal judges charged with drawing the maps that Texas will use in the 2012 primary elections pushed the date of those primaries later into April, and left uncertainty as to whether that would be final due to continuing questions swirling about the maps themselves. After testimony from various parties -- Chad Dunn of the TDP, David Mattax for the TX OAG, attorneys for Reps. Joe Ba...
Brains and Eggs - Jan 27 - 15 clicks
Maybe. A leading player in the state’s redistricting turmoil said this morning he’s hopeful that both sides are closing in on a settlement that will salvage Texas’ April 3 primary. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has been meeting with representatives of minority groups that sued the state last year to stop new political boundaries from [...]...
Off the Kuff - Jan 27 - 17 clicks
Barring a last-minute court ruling, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul could be the only two GOP candidates in teh Virginia primary. That said, the idea that movement conservatives will unite around Paul to defeat Romnney sounds laughable. But, it could be funny to se the two battle it out. Actually, the "tell" would be how low the GOP turnout is this year. There is no god and I am his prophet. ...
SocraticGadfly - Jan 27 - 14 clicks
As I drove by Northpark Mall last night on my way home I passed a small group of Ron Paul supporters waving signs and generally having a good time showing their support for Mr. Paul. The fact that the Texas primary isn't for a couple of months didn't seem to matter to them. I have seen them there before and I have to wonder what they are hoping to accomplish? Ron Paul, who is more a l...
Dungeon Diary - Jan 27 - 14 clicks
The Most Human Human by Brian Christian My rating: 4 of 5 stars Good, but oh, it could have been better. There's an annual Turing test event in Britain every year. A group of top computer programs compete against a group of human confederates, as the computers try to prove, per Alan Turing, that they're really humans, just as the humans do. So far, no computer has won this test, ...
SocraticGadfly - Jan 27 - 13 clicks
What could possibly possess Brownsville? Hiding information about the shooting of a student will only make people think you have something to hide. Now I do. The Brownsville Police Department has asked Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to rule against releasing files related to the fatal shooting of a Cummings Middle School student on Jan 4. The material includes a surveillance video, accord...
South Texas Chisme - Jan 27 - 14 clicks
No wonder republicans run the city council and the county . For the second time in three years, Corpus Christi finished next to last in the Central Connecticut State University's ranking of America's Most Literate Cities with a population 250,000 and above. Except for Austin, a Democratic island in Texas, Texas cities did poorly . ...
South Texas Chisme - Jan 27 - 20 clicks
I apologize for not updating the blog for some time. Sometimes life gets in the way - but, I. Am. Back. First, to put this in context - we cannot vote without a map. We can't set a date to vote without a map. Folks need to know where to go and when to show up. No map - no vote. So right now, we are waiting. Texas is one of nine states that that is required, pursuant to the Voting Rights A...
The Collin County Observer - Jan 27 - 15 clicks
Big news for mentally ill defendants in Texas declared incompetent to stand trial, not to mention the state agency that is supposed to provide "competency restoration" services, which presently has a months-long waiting list . After a court ruling this week, such long delays have been deemed unconstitutional and state mental hospitals have been ordered to begin taking inmates within 21 days after...
Grits for Breakfast - Jan 27 - 16 clicks
That’s a quote from one of my all-time favorite films “Broadcast News.” It seems that the character that Robert Brooks plays, Aaron Altman, has been left out of a weekend news special when a Libyan air force pilot attacked an American base. He was singularly qualified to be involved in this, having interviewed Moammar Ghadaffi but was stuck at home watching the broadcast on TV. Every once in a...
Half Empty - Jan 26 - 9 clicks
According to a new report (pdf) by the Vera Institute, "Texas taxpayers pay an average 23 percent more for state prisons than the state’s annual corrections budget reflects," reports Mike Ward at the Austin Statesman : "The new report by the Vera Institute of Justice, a New York-based research organization that tracks criminal justice trends, calculates the state’s total costs for its adult c...
Grits for Breakfast - Jan 26 - 10 clicks
