Texas
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4:49 a.m.
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The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds you that early voting for the 2012 primaries continues through Friday as it brings you this week's roundup. Off the Kuff sincerely hopes there's an uprising among parents and educators over the way public education was treated last session, but he's still waiting for the campaign rhetoric to match the reporting about it. BossKitty at Trut...
Brains and Eggs - 4:27 a.m.
Mayor Parker has recommended nine people be appointed by Council to the governing board for the proposed Houston Forensic Science Local Government Corporation (LGC). “The people I have selected have varied backgrounds in science, law enforcement, public policy, business and defense of the accused,” said Mayor Parker. “Their perspective will be invaluable as we proceed [...]...
Off the Kuff - 3:07 a.m. - 5 clicks 
We knew this was coming. The city of Houston sued the firefighters pension board in state District Court on Wednesday in an effort to pry open the retirement system’s books for a look at supporting data behind the $61 million annual bill it sends to City Hall. “We need access to this very basic information [...]...
Off the Kuff - 3:07 a.m. - 5 clicks
A big loss . Longtime state Rep. Ernestine Glossbrenner, from Alice, died on Sunday morning at Christus Spohn Hospital Shoreline. She was 79. ...
South Texas Chisme - 1:43 a.m. - 5 clicks
It might make it easier to find your kids in the dark . A uranium company must clean more groundwater but will be allowed to resume mining in a certain area of Kleberg County, a judge ruled Friday. The ruling brings a close to a five-month trial. It also is a climax in the decades-long, politically charged debate about the mining of uranium ore, the raw material for nuclear fuel, in a geologic f...
South Texas Chisme - 1:33 a.m. - 7 clicks
The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds everyone that early voting has begun as it brings you this week’s blog roundup. Off the Kuff finished his interview tour of Texas with a conversation with Domingo Garcia in CD33. BossKitty at TruthHugger will … Continue reading → ...
McBlogger - Sun 10:07 p.m. - 9 clicks
Republicans tell lots of lies. That's probably because their economic policies have been disastrous and their social policies hard-hearted and mean-spirited. Telling the truth would expose them to public ridicule. But there is one lie they have been telling for years, and that lie irritates me more than any of the others. It is when they tell Americans that they are the party of fiscal resp...
jobsanger - Sun 10:06 p.m. - 7 clicks
Believe it or not, an end is in sight for the primary season that has been dragging on since last June, when candidates started filing, soliciting support, friending you on Facebook, etc. Our primary candidates got a lot more than they bargained for in the three-month election delay caused by Greg Abbott and the Republicans in the legislature due to their redistricting over-reach. Thanks to all of...
Burnt Orange Report - Sun 1:48 p.m. - 8 clicks
It was October 24, 1985. Staunch conservative Republican Louie Welch, who was running for Houston Mayor against the progressive incumbent Kathy Whitmire, was prepping for an interview with Channel 13, in which he was planning to unveil his four-point plan to fight the AIDS epidemic. AIDS had hit Houston hard, much like other American urban centers, and Welch made an issue out of Whitmire's...
DailyKos (Texas) - Sun 11:50 a.m. - 9 clicks
In its weeklong series, " Louisiana Incarcerated ," the New Orleans Time-Picayune describes how Louisiana has overtaken Texas as the nation's incarceration leader, posting this graphic as evidence: And here's a graphic describing two key reasons Texas' prison population has leveled off: Reduced probation and parole revocations. Grits could offer a litany of other explanations, but th...
Grits for Breakfast - Sun 9:29 a.m. - 9 clicks
Perhaps he has added 'Master of the Putzes' to his many titles and professional distinctions. Then again, maybe it's the customers and shareholders of JPMorgan Chase that are the larger schmucks. It’s official. Just as he was voted in for a second term as Class A New York Fed director in February 2010, Jamie Dimon was reelected chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase yesterday afternoon. He...
Brains and Eggs - Sun 9:07 a.m. - 9 clicks
Former Travis County District Judge Charlie Baird, a past member of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals who is currently competing in a heated primary for District Attorney, wrote an 18-page opinion in the Todd Willingham court of inquiry that was never issued because an appellate court shut the process down, reported Michael McLaughlin at the Huffington Post : A Texas judge who reviewed the ...
Grits for Breakfast - Sun 7:45 a.m. - 7 clicks
As of last week, innocent people falsely convicted but whose cases were overturned on procedural grounds rather than a habeas writ based on actual innocence may still receive state compesation, the Texas Supreme Court told the Comptroller. Reported AP : The Texas Supreme Court ordered the state Friday to pay about $2 million to an ex-inmate who spent 26 years in prison for murder before his ...
Grits for Breakfast - Sun 5:31 a.m. - 9 clicks
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a contender for nastiest primary race of the cycle. On Thursday, incumbent state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, sued challenger Elizabeth Ames Jones, a former railroad commissioner, alleging libel and slander. Emergency room doctor Donna Campbell is also running, but is not a part of this particular squabble. At issue [...]...
Off the Kuff - Sun 3:06 a.m. - 23 clicks
Every time I look at the dorky-looking guy in the picture above, I feel like I owe the American people a huge apology. That's because he is my congressman, Mac Thornberry -- a Republican representing the 13th District of the state of Texas (and Democrats in this area have not even come close to defeating him). Thornberry is not the brightest bulb on the GOP's tree, and the Republican leader...
jobsanger - Sat 10:30 p.m. - 19 clicks
This is not only a thrilling time for a political junkie like myself (with the national election coming up in November), but it's also going to be a busy few months for many of my favorite sports. The Texas Rangers are already playing and hopefully, on their way to another trip to the Major League Baseball play-offs. And at the end of June, the Tour de France will begin its 21-leg journey t...
jobsanger - Sat 10:30 p.m. - 9 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. Every Texan and every American has the ability to attend a public meeting, attend or organize a protest, write or call an elected official, [...] ...
TexasLiberal - Sat 8:49 p.m. - 9 clicks
Aransas County is a little anomoly in this portion of Texas. It is chock full of older, white bigoted fundies. It also has a LGBT community that most of the fundies are unaware exists. The local newspaper is owned by an avowed Republican and its OpEds and LTEs tend towards the Socialist Kenyan side of the spectrum when it come to President Obama. I image tomorrow it is going to hit the fan i...
DailyKos (Texas) - Sat 4:06 p.m. - 11 clicks
"Hello Texas" was Sarah Palin's greeting on a robocall I just received. She has endorsed the Tea Party favorite Rafael Edward (Ted) Cruz . This could be another fail for Sarah and the Tea Party but Kossack TDDVandy gives Cruz a good chance at getting second place in the Primary where he will have a good shot at winning the nomination even though a recent Dewhurst Poll shows Dewhurst at 57...
DailyKos (Texas) - Sat 12:09 p.m. - 16 clicks
In 2012, Memorial Day is Monday, May 28. This post has some history on the origins of Memorial Day and, also, links appropriate for Memorial Day ( We’ve been fighting wars for a long time. Above is an engraving by Amos Doolittle of the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775.) Here is a brief explanation of the origins [...] ...
TexasLiberal - Sat 10:51 a.m. - 11 clicks
We have a stellar crop of Democrats running for Congress here in Texas. From newly created Democratic districts to swing seats that can turn blue this November, we've got strong, progressive advocates for our values on the ballot across the state. Last weekend, we endorsed in 10 of our Congressional primaries here in Texas, urging voters to support the candidates who we feel will best represent...
Burnt Orange Report - Sat 8:04 a.m. - 13 clicks
This is just so lame. A "Pol. adv. paid by Conservative Voters of Texas, Mark McCaig, Treasurer" called Why Larry Why, is popping up across the world wide interwebs and across Senate District 11 with poorly designed campaign signs that looks like an 8 year old designed them. At first I thought that the right wing loons finally figured out that State Insurance Representative Larry Taylor had them...
Bay Area Houston Blog - Sat 7:51 a.m. - 13 clicks
The Chron picks Joe Madden as their preferred candidate to succeed Rep. Scott Hochberg in HD137. In the Democratic primary on May 29, an impressive slate of candidates has come forward to run for Hochberg’s seat representing the 137th District in the Texas House. But one would be hard pressed to find a first-time candidate [...]...
Off the Kuff - Sat 5:01 a.m. - 14 clicks
The way things are going, this could get built before the final pieces of the 2012 Metro Solutions plan. If high-speed rail comes to North Texas by 2020, the bullet trains will initially rely on the area’s road system — not public transportation — to get most of the riders from the end of the [...]...
Off the Kuff - Sat 5:01 a.m. - 11 clicks
The San Antonio Express News did most of its endorsements before the start of Early Voting, but took its time on the Congressional races. In the end, they did all their endorsements in one editorial, and at the end of that one editorial they gave the nod in CD35 to Rep. Lloyd Doggett. We recommend [...]...
Off the Kuff - Sat 5:01 a.m. - 13 clicks
(This image is from the website of The Diplomat .) You may have already heard about the nation of Kuala Lumpur convicting Bush, Cheney, and several of their cohorts of war crimes. I believe the conviction was justified -- they are war criminals. I have been considering writing about this, but Justin Rosario over at Addicting Info has beat me to it, and has probably done a better job t...
jobsanger - Fri 10:24 p.m. - 13 clicks
Good news out of the Texas Supreme Court today, if not all one might hope from them. They ordered a new sentencing hearing for a man who's spent 13 years in prison on a 20 year sentence, granting resentencing not because he's innocent and the victim says the offense never happened (which happens to be the case), but because an expert at his trial based his opinions about future dangerousness on an...
Grits for Breakfast - Fri 8:04 p.m. - 14 clicks
I’ve been watching the local GOP primary process as it wends its way to May 29th with interest mainly because, outside of the KP/Kesha race, the Democrats have no primary opponents, in my area at least. And on that race, I was very disappointed today to see that something I spotted yesterday afternoon has been undone today when I had my camera ready to capture the moment. Apparently some Republ...
Half Empty - Fri 4:27 p.m. - 19 clicks
Occasionally I have to have a chuckle at the hate mongers out there. Take this guy for example , former Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt, who put forth a strange argument on a progressive talk show. His twisted logic goes this way. Gays get that way because they have been persuaded by a "marketing scheme" and are recruited to homosexuality. When asked why there are over 4000 othe...
Dungeon Diary - Fri 3:48 p.m. - 14 clicks
When the Texas Republican Party is not imposing more government regulation on a woman's right to choose or when it is not busy passing Voter ID laws that will make it more difficult for certain segments of the population to vote, or when it is not frantically scheming to shut down Planned Parenthood, it is shamefully redrawing district maps in order to keep this sorry red state a perpetually sor...
Texas Kaos - Fri 3:25 p.m. - 12 clicks
On November 16th of last year, University of Texas College Republicans President Lauren Pierce tweeted about how President Obama deserves to be killed: "Y'all as tempting as it may be, don't shoot Obama. We need him to go down in history as the WORST president we've EVER had! #2012." In doing so, she destroyed her own reputation, deeply injured that of the College Republicans, and shamed the un...
Burnt Orange Report - Fri 2:30 p.m. - 15 clicks
Praise the Lord, the primaries are only 11 days away. In accordance with FEC reporting rules, Congressional candidates all filed 12-day reports with the FEC detailing their raising and spending in the period of April 1 through May 9. Here's the chart. Quick and dirty analysis below the jump. Pithier analysis to come Monday. As always, make sure to check out BOR's preview of all 36 Congressional ...
Burnt Orange Report - Fri 1:46 p.m. - 17 clicks
Bell-Metereau, left, and Jennings, right. In 2010, Judy Jennings and Rebecca Bell-Metereau both ran for seats on the Texas State Board of Education. They lost. In 2011, a well-known Republican political operative sued them for a political ad they ran in the 2010 race. This year, they're running for the SBOE yet again - Jennings for District 10 and Bell-Metereau for Di...
Burnt Orange Report - Fri 12:05 p.m. - 14 clicks
The first bit of publicity for the Pardon O. Henry! campaign at pardonohenry.org is starting to roll in. Jordan Smith at the Austin Chronicle has a short item , and MSNBC's Kari Huus has a longer piece , comparing this campaign to efforts to pardon another great Texan, Jack Johnson, whose posthumous clemency application was rejected by President Obama in 2009: In that effort, spearheaded by S...
Grits for Breakfast - Fri 11:46 a.m. - 14 clicks
I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry. State Insurance Representative (SIR) Larry Taylor, republican from Friendswood, and insurance salesman, claims that TWIA (Texas Windstorm Insurance Association) is in need of reform not rate increases. That is like Osama Bin Laden saying homeland security is in need of reform. Both don't believe in what they are saying, and both are responsible for the ...
Bay Area Houston Blog - Fri 5:53 a.m. - 14 clicks
Sure, why not? State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, an Austin Democrat and admitted foodie, is creating the Farm to Table Caucus of the Texas House. Rodriguez is expected to send letters to all of the House’s 150 members Monday and invite them into the bipartisan group. As it seeks to ride the wave of popularity of [...]...
Off the Kuff - Fri 4:07 a.m. - 15 clicks
I wholeheartedly approve of this. On nice days, a 20-station bicycle rack stays mostly full outside Hay Merchant, a food-and-beer establishment located among a cramped string of restaurants on Westheimer near Montrose. When the rack is full, it means 20 people left vehicles at home and freed up parking outside the popular venue. The Hay [...]...
Off the Kuff - Fri 4:07 a.m. - 12 clicks
Interesting. Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht’s Democratic opponent has filed suit seeking to delay the printing of ballots and other election material to allow time to investigate potential problems with Hecht’s candidacy petitions. Several unfilled blanks in petitions from the Fort Worth area could invalidate signatures, leaving Hecht short of support needed to be [...]...
Off the Kuff - Fri 4:07 a.m. - 14 clicks
The Chron endorses Paul Sadler for the Democratic nomination for Senate. Sadler, 57, a father of five who served in the Texas House from 1991 to 2003, is an East Texas Democrat from the classic mold – a populist with common sense and a keen understanding of budgets, as well as a knack for honest [...]...
Off the Kuff - Fri 4:07 a.m. - 14 clicks
No one likes to hear verdicts that goes against common sense. Rodney King, OJ Simpson, Casey Anthony, and now the Andrew Blomberg case are just some examples of jury trials that just seemed to have gone against everyday thinking and the visual evidence. It certainly surprised me. But the Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland said it right. From KPRC : "I understand that some will disagre...
Bay Area Houston Blog - Fri 3:44 a.m. - 13 clicks
While Election Day for Texas's primary is May 29, early voting started on Monday, so I thought I would throw together a preview of some of the state's primaries. I'm not going to preview every race here: some races aren't interesting at all, either because an incumbent figures to win easily or because the race is ultimately meaningless (i.e. a Republican primary in a safe Democratic seat.) ...
DailyKos (Texas) - Fri 12:40 a.m. - 17 clicks
North Korean leaders have never been known for rational thinking or a reasonable foreign policy. They are a pariah nation, and have been for quite a while. After starving their own people so they can build a huge army, they went and built a nuclear weapon. Now they are trying to develop a missile capable of delivering that weapon (and ignoring the fact that there are several nations that co...
jobsanger - Thu 10:11 p.m. - 10 clicks
…you’ve not been paying attention. This was one of the more recent times (with an assist from Paul Krugman slapping down some asshat on This Week) I’ve mentioned this exact, same, goddamn thing. Bitter? No. Just tired of this argument … Continue reading → ...
McBlogger - Thu 9:05 p.m. - 33 clicks
My former congressman, Tom DeLay, has a problem. Here he has a 3 year prison sentence hanging over his head for conspiracy and money laundering, and now, come to find out, in his appeal to the 3rd Federal Circuit Court of Appeals he is facing a two to one Democratic to Republican judge panel. Not because of the luck of the draw, as it turns out. As it turns out, it is because whenever th...
Half Empty - Thu 4:26 p.m. - 13 clicks
(Blogger’s Note–5/17/12–With the death of Donna Summer today, here is a post I first ran on the blog in 2009 about the history of Disco music. Disco music had substance. Here is an obituary of Ms. Summer from The New York Times. Ms. Summer was a star in her own right. But she was also part [...] ...
TexasLiberal - Thu 11:30 a.m. - 16 clicks
After Barack Obama last November quoted the renowned short story writer O. Henry while pardoning a turkey, even though the writer's own posthumous pardon requests had been denied, Grits just couldn't help myself: Readers may recall I authored a polemic titled, " Eat the turkey, pardon O. Henry! ," and shortly thereafter, unbeknownst to all but a few, I purchased the URL domains for pardonohenry.or...
Grits for Breakfast - Thu 10:05 a.m. - 13 clicks
Proof? Buying 63 newspapers . More proof? (Which I had forgotten.) He still owns 20 percent of the Washington Kaplan Post. That said, this leads to statement No. 2 about him. Warren Buffett is not always an enlightened business owner. Proof? He's been in newspapers for some time, as owner of the Buffalo News. As its owner, he has acted like Mitt Romney, or Chainsaw Al Dunlap. I d...
SocraticGadfly - Thu 9:46 a.m. - 15 clicks
Former Houston police officer Andrew Blomberg was found innocent by an all-white jury of any criminal role for his part in the videotaped police beating of black teen Chad Holley. (Above–A scene from the 2010 Chad Holley beating.) I was not a juror in this case and I did not hear all the evidence. I [...] ...
TexasLiberal - Thu 8:46 a.m. - 13 clicks
On May 14th, Texas District Court Judge, Stephen Yelenosky, released a letter stating his intended ruling in a lawsuit seeking to reverse an air pollution permit which would allow the massive Las Brisas power plant and port addition to be built next to downtown Corpus Christi. The permit, issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), allows the proposed 1,320 megawatt power...
Burnt Orange Report - Thu 8:10 a.m. - 17 clicks
Texas gets another negative #1 . Thanks, republicans. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received more complaints of workplace discrimination from workers in Texas than from any other state last year, with 10 percent of all complaints filed there, according to a report made public by the agency on Monday. During the 2011 fiscal year, nearly 10,000 of the record 99,947 federal char...
South Texas Chisme - Thu 6:48 a.m. - 15 clicks
Texas Democratic Party and Republican Party Primary Election Early Voting started Monday for county and statewide office contests. Early voting will continue through Friday, May 25. Voters can finally pick their party's nominees after a four-month delay caused by extended court battles over redistricting, which, by the way, aren't finally settled yet. The four-month primary election dela...
Democratic Blog of Collin County - Thu 6:28 a.m. - 12 clicks
Bend over . Some property owners in Texas' coastal areas will see a 5 percent increase on their insurance bills next year. The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association's board of directors approved the increase Tuesday. The board also delayed a decision on whether to enact an additional increase that would depend on how far a property is from the shore. That decision will be discussed at an Aug. 7 ...
South Texas Chisme - Thu 6:28 a.m. - 20 clicks
Because bad eyewitness ID procedures can lead to the wrong people being executed. State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, stopped short of claiming Texas wrongfully executed suspect Carlos DeLuna for the February 1983 murder of store clerk Wanda Lopez. Gallego, however, said the way Corpus Christi police handled the suspect’s identification [...]...
Off the Kuff - Thu 3:48 a.m. - 15 clicks
Yesterday, Mike Ward at the Austin Statesman had a story on recently rising parole rates (" Parole rates surge to avoid unsupervised released ," May 16, based on trends reported on Grits in April. His story opens: Texas' parole rate for convicted felons has reached new highs in recent months, with the approval rate topping 40 percent this spring after hovering in the high 20s for several year...
Grits for Breakfast - Thu 3:47 a.m. - 14 clicks
The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds everyone that early voting has begun as it brings you this week’s blog roundup. Off the Kuff finished his interview tour of Texas with a conversation with Domingo Garcia in CD33. BossKitty at TruthHugger will not weigh in, whether or not the truth was actually served in court, when a [...]...
Off the Kuff - Thu 2:46 a.m. - 14 clicks
Today a 4 (white) man, 2 (white) woman jury found ex-Houston PD officer Andrew Blomberg not guilty of “official” oppression – otherwise known as criminal assault. Who is Andrew Blomberg? He is one of four ex-Houston PD officers who were caught on a security brutalizing a 15 year old African-American boy who was fleeing the scene of a burglary that he had just committed. The video shows the boy...
Half Empty - Wed 5:04 p.m. - 16 clicks
From my Goodreads review: @font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } In “Passage of Power,” the fourth volume of his ever-expanding, five-volume-to-b...
SocraticGadfly - Wed 1:10 p.m. - 11 clicks
The youth sent to the Texas Juvenile Justice System are some of the most chronic delinquent offenders in the state. Ninety-three percent are boys, 79 percent have unmarried parents, 78 percent are Hispanic or African-American, 62 percent need alcohol or drug treatment, 56 percent are from low-income families, 42 percent need mental health treatment and 36 percent have been abused or neglec...
Burnt Orange Report - Wed 12:50 p.m. - 13 clicks
An article published in the Columbia University Human Rights Law Review sheds new light on the case of Carlos DeLuna, who was executed by the State of Texas in 1989. Read articles in The Huffington Post and The Guardian for powerful summaries of this shocking case. One of the most thorough investigations of a criminal case in U.S. history, the article "Los Tocayos Carlos: An Anatomy of a Wr...
Burnt Orange Report - Wed 12:50 p.m. - 13 clicks
Judge allows hearing on Villalobos removal from office. Senior Judge J. Manuel Bañales will hold an evidentiary hearing Friday to determine if the petition in the 444th state District Court for the removal of Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos should proceed. Harlingen attorney Juan Angel Guerra filed the petition on behalf of Trinidad Salinas. Bañales, of Corpus Christi an...
South Texas Chisme - Wed 12:12 p.m. - 17 clicks
A deadline is fast approaching for public comments on the proposed Trinity Parkway in Dallas. This "parkway" that Dallas city government leaders and regional transportation entities want to build would be a $1.8 billion, six-lane, limited-access toll road in between the levees of the Trinity River floodway. Yes, that's right, they want to build a road down the length of a space that is des...
DailyKos (Texas) - Wed 11:32 a.m. - 16 clicks
Above is a photo I took recently in Houston of a cigarette machine. You used to see these machines all the time. Now you don’t see them so often. The cigarettes in this machine cost $10. Tobacco is indeed the Devil’s weed. Though the truth is my dad smoked incessantly from the Truman years up [...] ...
TexasLiberal - Wed 8:06 a.m. - 15 clicks
Last week, the federal district court in Washington, D.C. accused the state of Texas of dragging its feet in preparing for the July 9 trial in the Voter ID case. In its order scolding the state and attempting to hasten the progress of the case, the court ordered Texas that by the end of the day on May 9, the lead counsel of record for Texas certify "without equivocation, under oath, and ...
Burnt Orange Report - Wed 8:05 a.m. - 21 clicks
A new e-book published by a law journal argues that Texas probably executed an innocent man in 1989, and predictably the potential cause was reliance on a single, shaky eyewitness to obtain a conviction after police allegedly picked up the wrong "Carlos." According to the Houston Chronicle : Accounts of the crime, the investigation and DeLuna's prosecution were presented in a 400-page article...
Grits for Breakfast - Wed 6:30 a.m. - 12 clicks
I’m not talking total number, I’m talking what share of the vote will be cast early. The professionals think it will be a lot. “The early vote is more important this time than perhaps in any cycle in my lifetime in Texas,” said Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak, 32. Upping its importance this time is what [...]...
Off the Kuff - Wed 4:44 a.m. - 19 clicks
I mentioned some of the candidates that have been endorsed by the Texas Parent PAC in this post, but since then they have released their full slate of endorsees. Texas Senate S.D. 9: Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless www.toddsmithfortexas.com S.D. 11: Dave Norman, R-Seabrook www.davenormanforsenate.com S.D. 25: Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio www.senatorjeffwentworth.com Texas House of Representativ...
Off the Kuff - Wed 3:05 a.m. - 19 clicks
We’re lousy at sex education. In the mid-1990s, California embraced sex education that teaches students the importance of waiting until they’re older to have sex, but also the value of using protection if they don’t wait. Compare this with classrooms in Texas, where messages around contraception — if they’re delivered at all — have sometimes [...]...
Off the Kuff - Wed 2:54 a.m. - 16 clicks
Have you ever wondered why the so called " mega-churches " don't ever speak out against divorce? Why is it that the preachers and their sheep are so readily willing to stand behind the likes of Newt Gingrich, David Dewhurst, Ronald Reagan, and John McCain when it comes to protecting the "sanctity of marriage" when all of them have used their spouses like used cars? John McCain, in particular, mar...
Bay Area Houston Blog - Tue 6:26 p.m. - 18 clicks
I'm late to the game on this one so I'll leave the description of this latest report (pdf) by Michele Deitch and her LBJ School collaborators to Solitary Watch, which discusses the report at some length: A new report produced by researchers at the University of Texas’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs describes conditions faced by children who are “certified” for transfer to ad...
Grits for Breakfast - Tue 4:48 p.m. - 15 clicks
I received this exclusive video, courtesy of Minnesota public radio’s Michael Olson, of Rick Perry’s official audition tape for the role of Magda in the long-awaited sequel of There’s Something About Mary. In the video, Perry endorses Pete Hegseth in the Minnesota GOP Senate primary calling the tea party candidate “exactly the kind of patriot [...]...
In the Pink Texas - Tue 2:31 p.m. - 16 clicks
If you, like Grits, couldn't make it to the Texas Public Policy Foundation 's policy briefing last week on "Right-Sizing Texas Corrections," you'll be glad to learn they've posted an audio file of the event online. Go here to listen . ...
Grits for Breakfast - Tue 12:51 p.m. - 16 clicks
Originally published at Fair and Unbalanced "No one can ever say again with a straight face that America doesn't execute innocent men. No one." -- Andrew Rosenthal, The Atlantic Carlos DeLuna was executed in 1989 for the 1983 stabbing death of a gas station clerk in Corpus Christi, Texas. The Columbia University Human Rights Review has just published its Spring 2012 issue dev...
DailyKos (Texas) - Tue 11:43 a.m. - 15 clicks
From today's Houston Chronicle , Texas Senior Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison endorses Mitt Romney. Not much of a surprise, I know, but it's always worth seeing how these endorsements are phrased. The full endorsement is provided below, annotated with your diarist's toned-down reactions. When it comes to dividing Americans on the basis of their gender, I know a little something about the subj...
DailyKos (Texas) - Tue 10:06 a.m. - 16 clicks
I don't trust the TCEQ . They're crony capitialists, aka republicans, all the way. A letter issued Monday by a district judge could push proponents of the $3 billion Las Brisas Energy Center back to the drawing board. The letter, issued by 345th District Court Judge Stephen Yelenosky of Travis County, details his intent to send back a state-issued air quality permit to the Texas Commission on E...
South Texas Chisme - Tue 6:32 a.m. - 17 clicks
Mike Ward at the Austin Statesman on Sunday offered a worm's-eye view of violence at youth prisons from the perspective of juvenile correctional officers (JCOs), many of whom, as anyone who reads Grits comments knows, blame increased violence on the head of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, Cherie Townsend and lenient security policies on TYC campuses (" Workers trace youth lockup's problems ...
Grits for Breakfast - Tue 6:05 a.m. - 14 clicks
At last week’s Council hearing on the proposed expansion of Hobby Airport, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly made the statement that if the proposal were to be accepted, Southwest would pay for the $100 million project. The Chron looks at what this means. Because the Houston Airport System is an enterprise fund separate from the [...]...
Off the Kuff - Tue 5:48 a.m. - 16 clicks
The Statesman raises a great question about the settlement deal between Amazon and the state of Texas that will get the online retailer to start collecting sales taxes in Texas while forgiving back taxes the state says it owes. But is it legal? Austin lawyer Buck Wood, a tax attorney and a former deputy comptroller [...]...
Off the Kuff - Tue 5:48 a.m. - 17 clicks
I really want to believe that there’s an uprising in the works and that the Lege could be a very different place for the better next year, but I’m reserving judgment on that for now. Deep cuts in school funding approved by the Texas Legislature last summer could energize angry parents in a way similar [...]...
Off the Kuff - Tue 5:48 a.m. - 13 clicks
About time. More than 3½ years after Hurricane Ike, a high-ranking federal housing official and Mayor Annise Parker announced Wednesday that $151 million in federal disaster relief money is on the way to four areas of Houston to rebuild or repair homes and apartments. “It’s about time we get this taken care of,” Parker said. [...]...
Off the Kuff - Tue 5:48 a.m. - 14 clicks
I support Lissa Squiers in the Democratic primary for the 7th Congressional district of Texas. Primary Day is May 29. Early voting is taking place now and runs through May 25. The primary is for the right to challenge incumbent Republican John Culberson. Here is Ms. Squiers’ Facebook page. I asked Ms. Squiers if she [...] ...
TexasLiberal - Mon 5:43 p.m. - 18 clicks
Just don't call it Sweden if it is. Americans, by a good margin, say they want the same relatively low level of economic inequality as Sweden has today. But, to @font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; fo...
SocraticGadfly - Mon 3:29 p.m. - 14 clicks
Check out an extended series from the New Orleans Times-Picayune titled, " Louisiana Incarcerated: How we built the nation's prison capital ," which has its own web portal. A few years ago Texas competed with Louisiana for the highest incarceration rate, but ours has leveled off - even slightly declined - while theirs continues to climb. Here's a graphic from the series suggesting four reasons w...
Grits for Breakfast - Mon 1:08 p.m. - 15 clicks
The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds everyone that early voting has begun as it brings you this week's blog roundup. Off the Kuff finished his interview tour of Texas with a conversation with Domingo Garcia in CD33. BossKitty at TruthHugger will not weigh in, whether or not the truth was actually served in court, when a black woman fired a warning shot into a wall. ...
Brains and Eggs - Mon 11:44 a.m. - 16 clicks
Complications with Villalobos case . The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Texas cannot take part in the federal case against Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos — with one exception, public records state. This, following United States Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis’ approval of an office-wide recusal of the southern district from the Villalobos...
South Texas Chisme - Mon 9:29 a.m. - 20 clicks
The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds everyone that early voting has begun as it brings you this week's blog roundup. Off the Kuff finished his interview tour of Texas with a conversation with Domingo Garcia in CD33. BossKitty at TruthHugger will not weigh in, whether or not the truth was actually served in court, when a black lady fired a warning shot into a wall. Firing a gun in i...
South Texas Chisme - Mon 8:12 a.m. - 19 clicks
The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds everyone that early voting has begun as it brings you this week's blog roundup. ...
TruthHugger - Mon 8:12 a.m. - 16 clicks
Ahh, May. Besides spring heading toward summer, or, in much of Texas, already entering it, it reminds me of one of the more objectionable facets of television: May is one of the four "sweeps" months, in which Nielsen ratings get extra advertising scrutiny. Could you imagine what newspapers would be like with that? In New York, the Post would probably borrow from its Murdoch cousins across the p...
SocraticGadfly - May 14 - 14 clicks
Two ships—One of the Bolivar Ferry boats and the other a big Carnival Cruise ship—passing each other yesterday in the Galveston Ship Channel. Ships can pass in the day as well as in the night. ...
TexasLiberal - May 13 - 18 clicks
Well I’ll be the son of a motherless goat. It seems the voters in Fort Bend ISD, or at least a majority of 5.15% of them anyway, want a change on their Board of Trustees. We had three positions that were being sought by eight candidates, two of them were incumbents. Results just in, both incumbents were given the boot by voters. Cynthia Lenton-Gary, incumbent for Position 7 who was appointed to...
Half Empty - May 13 - 7 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. (Above–A movie I did not see. Here is some background on the phrase Gone To Texas from the excellent Handbook of Texas Online.) Every [...] ...
TexasLiberal - May 13 - 10 clicks
The Texas Progressive Alliance thinks Mrs. Sarkozy would have been the better candidate than her husband as it brings you this week’s roundup. Three more Congressional candidate interviews from Off the Kuff: State Rep. Joaquin Castro, the heir apparent in … Continue reading → ...
McBlogger - May 13 - 12 clicks
It has rained and stormed a lot in Houston over the past two days. Here is a picture of that rain through my car windshield. ...
TexasLiberal - May 12 - 6 clicks
After drawing a map of North Carolina that contained 12 competitive districts, I wanted to see what could be done in other states. Due mainly to south Texas, this map isn't quite as clean as my NC map, but I think it gets the job done. See below. ...
DailyKos (Texas) - May 12 - 4 clicks
As the May 29 Primary Election looms, 2010 U.S. Congressional candidate John Lingenfelder and County Chair incumbent Shawn Stevens are seeking the office of Democratic Party of Collin County Chair. In this presidential election year, the Democratic Party's County Chair contest is about the only county wide primary contest that anyone is talking about in Collin Co. Other than the Collin Co...
Democratic Blog of Collin County - May 12 - 4 clicks
Could/should Texas be spending more federal grant dollars to support indigent defense? And should the Governor's Criminal Justice Division continue to forbid using Texas' deepest well of federal criminal-justice grant funds for that purpose? A press release Grits received via email from the Constitution Project argues that a greater proportion of federal grant money aimed at criminal justice shou...
Grits for Breakfast - May 12 - 3 clicks
As primary season heats up, Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley has been repeatedly forced on the campaign trail to defend his role opposing DNA evidence and the release of exculpatory evidence under open records during habeas proceeding challenging Michael Morton's false conviction. But Bradley's statements have strayed so far from the facts, says Morton's attorney John Raley, that t...
Grits for Breakfast - May 12 - 6 clicks
With the 2012 presidential election now set to pair the incumbent, Barack Obama, aka Dear Leader for Obamiacs, vs. Mitt Romney, aka Etch-a-Sketch, even in the political world, for anybody who knows politics, it led me to wonder what some of the worst presidential campaigns in American history have been. I’m going to break this into a two-parter, and start from 1904, with Teddy Roosevelt be...
SocraticGadfly - May 12 - 6 clicks
State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, on Friday asked the Texas Secretary of State to make clear that the voter photo ID requirement will not be in effect for the May 29 primary. Legislation passed in 2011 ( SB 14 ) requires that voters present one of a select group of government issued photo ID, such as a driver’s license, passport or military ID, before casting a ballot. The U.S. Departmen...
Democratic Blog of Collin County - May 11 - 4 clicks
I had an interesting experience a few weeks ago. I was driving from Houston to Dallas to visit my boyfriend when I saw one of the ugliest displays of racism I'd ever personally seen. I know what you're thinking. "Racism in rural East Texas? You don't say! " Indeed, racists are not in short supply down here. But if you think this is going to be a Texas-hating diary, think again. Foll...
DailyKos (Texas) - May 11 - 4 clicks
Here is the latest newsletter of Occupy Wall Street: Houston. OWSH is an ongoing effort to revitalize the Occupy Wall Street effort in Houston. Please read the newsletter and consider getting involved. Contact information is on the newsletter. It is up to each of us to do the work of freedom. News from the 5/6/12 [...] ...
TexasLiberal - May 11 - 6 clicks
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SocraticGadfly - May 11 - 6 clicks
In Fact Daily is running a story about the effort to green the F1 track coming to Austin mixed in with the city election on Saturday. The bullshit kicked off when Mayoral Candidate Brigid Shea accused Mayor Leffingwell of failing … Continue reading → ...
McBlogger - May 11 - 8 clicks
And, no, it's not James Lovell or Tom Hanks speaking that to a real or fictitious NASA. Rather, it's probably an exec at the Houston Chronicle speaking that to a corporate lawyer. Because, add in a mix of a staff writer who was doing moonlighting as a stripper — and blogging about it, her getting "outed" by Houston's alt-weekly, her getting fired by the Chron, and her now getting represented...
SocraticGadfly - May 11 - 6 clicks
