09.19.13
Posted in Around The State, Commentary, Election 2014 at 12:39 pm by wcnews
You have to love the so-called “librul” media in Texas. Already trying to make the governor’s race about pro-GOP wedge issues and not issues that matter to most Texans, like education, infrastructure, and inequality. From the DMN, Guns, gay rights could be factors in Wendy Davis run for Texas governor.
Enter Wendy Davis. As a member of the Fort Worth City Council, she was responsible for adding sexual orientation to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance. And she promoted a ban on the gun show loophole, which allows sale of firearms without a background check.
Democrats have seized on missteps by Republican front-runner Greg Abbott as evidence of a GOP “war on women.” Abbott thanked a supporter for a Twitter message that called her “retard Barbie,” and his top political adviser sent out a link asserting that Davis is “too stupid to be governor.”
That pretty much does it: guns, gays and girls.
Still, some things have changed. There are five women governors, four of them Republicans. As for gay rights, polls suggest growing support among Texans — especially young Texans. Guns, however, could be a problem.
There’s a sense that if the GOP tries to run on the same tired themes of hating the federal government and making absolutely no effort to help poor, working, and middle class Texans – all the while continuing to coddle the wealthy, big business, and corporations with their cronyism – that it might not work out well for them this time.
Sooner or later the people of Texas will demand change. Let’s hope it’s sooner rather then later. Hopefully the Democrats in Texas will run a campaign to fix what the GOP has been neglecting for two decades now – education, infrastructure, and inequality.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 11:51 am by wcnews
We’re are experiencing some technical difficulties here at Eye on Williamson. Please bear with us and all should be well in a few days. We’re sorry for any inconvenience.
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09.18.13
Posted in Around The State, Election 2014, Good Stuff at 3:55 pm by wcnews
With the email that went out this morning it’s almost a forgone conclusion that on October 3rd Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis will announce that she’s running for Governor of Texas.
There’s one question I’ve gotten quite often in the past few months. I’ve heard it online, while I’m traveling around the state, from the media, and in my Fort Worth neighborhood: What’s next?
On October 3rd, I’ll be answering that question. And as part of my dedicated network of grassroots supporters, you will be among the very first to find out.
But today, I have a question for you — do you have any friends or family who would like to be among the first to know?
Share this on Facebook and tweet it to your followers to let your friends know how they can sign up to receive the news early.
I truly appreciate all the work that you — my grassroots team — have done for me thus far. And I’m excited about what we can do together in the future.
Thank you for all of your support — and thanks for spreading the word!
Your friend, and proudly your state Senator,
Wendy
Find out more and get involved at www.wendydavisforsenate.com. BOR has more, Wendy Davis Will Announce Intentions For Texas Governor October 3rd.
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09.17.13
Posted in Around The State, Bad Government Republicans, Had Enough Yet?, Health Care at 11:36 am by wcnews
Via CPPP, New Census Data Released Today Underscore Texas’ Need for Affordable Health Coverage.
“Today’s release shows that Texas still has the highest rate of uninsured in the United States, at 24.6 percent, or 6.4 million, reaffirming the need for affordable health coverage for all Texans. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, in 2014,uninsured Texans above the poverty line (e.g. $23,550 for a family of four) will finally have options for new, affordable health coverage.
“We know what works to reduce uninsured rates. Fifteen years ago, 1 in 4 Texas kids was uninsured, but today, thanks to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the overall uninsured rate for Texas kids is down to 1 in 6 (16.4 percent). Clearly, making affordable health coverage available for low-income and poverty-level Texans makes a real difference.
“The data released today show nearly 1 in 3 working-age adults in Texas ages 19-64 (32.1 percent) is uninsured and are nearly twice as likely to be uninsured as Texas children. Texans are much less likely to get health coverage through their jobs, or their spouse’s or parent’s job, than the average American, with 51.6 percent of Texans under 65 receiving employer-based health insurance compared to 58.4 percent of Americans.
“These facts show us why the new health insurance marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act is so important. It will give uninsured Texans above the poverty line who don’t have a quality affordable employer-based health plan a new way to get good coverage at prices that fit their budgets.
“However, because our state leaders have refused to accept federal funds from the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid, Texas’ uninsured adults ages 19-64 below the poverty line are left with no help. In other words, the parents in a family of four making $25,000 can apply for a generous subsidy through the health insurance marketplace, but the parents in a family of four making $22,000 won’t be eligible for help. Today’s data show about 1 million US citizen Texas adults below the poverty line were uninsured in 2012, making up 1 in 6 of all uninsured Texans.
“Our state leaders must act to provide more options for our poorest Texans so they can have the opportunity for quality, affordable health coverage like those above the poverty line.”
For more details from the U.S. Census Bureau, click here.
We all know that our current state leadership would much rather hold to their extreme ideology then compromise a little and allow poor, working, and middle class Texans to get health insurance.
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Posted in 2014 Primary, Election 2014 at 10:53 am by wcnews
All of the open seats in 2014 is going to make the GOP Primary in 2014 a wide open, and fun campaign.
The wing nuts were on parade last night in Houston, as the four GOP candidates for Lt. Gov. had a “debate”, Dewhurst on hot seat in Houston debate. While much of it was Dewhurst getting worked over for his 10 years of “service” there was this bit at the end.
The four candidates also offered similar visions of limited government. At one point, Patterson suggested light-heartedly that the federal Endangered Species Act protected “critters that ought to die anyway.”
“I mean — the blind salamander?” Patterson said. “How long are we gonna let that little bugger last?”
Isn’t the blind salamander part of God’s creation Jerry?
Also this from Harold Cook about what Dewhurst said:
Dewhurst responded that Democrats led only five of 17 Senate committees and assured the crowd that none of them was important.
Leticia Van de Putte is a Democrat, and thinking about running for Lt. Gov., this may help her decide.
Most of this is just campaign rhetoric but Greg Abbott has, so far, shown to be a pretty bad candidate with the stadium lights on, Republican Tom Pauken: If Wendy Davis runs for governor, she could beat Greg Abbott.
If Greg Abbott is the Republican nominee for governor next year, GOP challenger Tom Pauken says Democrat Wendy Davis could win. Pauken, the former chairman of the state Republican Party, is a long-shot candidate against Abbott. He says Abbott might look unassailable at the moment, but he’s beatable – especially if Davis decides to run for governor on the other side. At a recent tea party event in Bedford, Pauken told the crowd: “If it’s Wendy Davis vs. Greg Abbott, then she has a 40 percent chance of winning.”
[...]
For example, he says Abbott is part of an entrenched political system in Austin that has been in office too long and is more interested in helping political cronies than average Texans. [Emphasis added] He notes that Abbott has little record on public education. And Abbott and his political team have stumbled recently, personally insulting Davis in a way that critics say is part of a GOP war on women. If Davis runs, she’s likely to make cronyism, public education and women’s health and equality campaign themes.
That sounds about right.
Speaking or entreched cronyism, Abbott has a Koch money problem, When Greg Abbott needs an airplane who does he call? The Koch brothers.
When Greg Abbott needed a little help flying around as his campaign for Texas governor gets underway, who did he call? The Koch brothers. Abbott’s latest campaign report shows that Koch Industries in Washington provided Abbott with the use of an airplane for $7,500 worth of travel.
The hard working people of Texas are unable to fly in such luxury.
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Posted in HD-52, Williamson County at 9:53 am by wcnews
These have been showing up in mail boxes around Texas House District 52.
It would be nice to see a strong Democrat make the decision to run in HD-52. QR had this to say about similar mailers that went out in other House Districts around the state.
This really has to do with how Gonzales has strayed from the tea party, that he was more then happy to use in 2010 to get elected. Democrats wouldn’t give him a passing grade either. In a wing nut county like Williamson that doesn’t leave many people left to vote for him. Another thing that could make Gonzales vulnerable is that his sugar daddy from 2010, Swift Boat Bob Perry, passed away earlier in the year.
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09.16.13
Posted in Around The Nation, Election 2014 at 10:31 am by wcnews
Part of Greg Abbott’s campaign strategy is going to be an attempt to say he’s not the same as Rick Perry. While doing everything he can to show the GOP base that he’s exactly like Rick Perry. And Peggy Fikac is out Greg Abbott for saying one thing and doing another, Abbott’s promise of a ‘new lens’ clouded by red-meat rhetoric and mistakes.
Attorney General Greg Abbott sent some signals early on that he planned to be a different kind of Republican gubernatorial candidate.
As he looked toward his announcement, he agreed with a friend who said he expected Abbott to present “a message which is a bit more balanced” than Gov. Rick Perry’s.
[...]
He regularly slams President Obama’s policies and talks up the state’s lawsuits against the federal government as the ultimate “Don’t Mess with Texas” move.
He says Texas must address challenges in education, transportation and water, speaking largely in generalities while certain of one thing: “We do this not by raising taxes.”
In a campaign video, he described a battle for freedom itself: “It takes warriors to defend freedom, patriots who are willing to step into the fight and secure the freedom that has elevated this nation to unparalleled position in American history.” That led to head-shaking from Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka, who wrote, “This is a version of Greg Abbott I haven’t seen before, one that is tea party all the way.”
And now there’s another eyebrow-raising tweet leaving Abbott’s camp open to Democratic charges of being offensive to women, just as Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, prepares to announce whether she’ll seek the governorship.
His top political adviser, Dave Carney, re-tweeted this headline: “Total Recall in CO (and why Wendy Davis is too Stupid to be Governor).” The article cited the recall of two Colorado Democrats over gun restrictions and attacked Davis on the issue, calling her “even dumber than her fake blonde hair would imply” and “Abortion Barbie,” used by some Republicans because of Davis’ much-noted filibuster against tighter abortion restrictions.
That came after Abbott thanked a Twitter supporter who called Davis “retard Barbie”
And his losing ways regarding redistricting in the courts may cost Texas taxpayers millions, Rights groups seeking millions in fees.
Attorney General Greg Abbott’s defense of a now-defunct 2011 redistricting plan could leave the state on the hook for a roughly $6 million legal tab to pay civil rights groups that sued to block the maps.
That’s the ballpark total for reimbursement requests from plaintiffs waging a years-long legal war with Abbott over redistricting maps passed by the Republican-led Legislature in 2011. Federal judges have deemed those maps discriminatory to minority voters, and they were never used.
Abbott could use an issue like that to actually show he’s moderating his actions, but he won’t. And continuing to stick by these discriminatory will do nothing to moderate his rhetoric or actions. But he’s in a box, the wing nuts and tea party won’t allow him to moderate.
Further Reading:
As the AusChron points out many of Perry’s old campaign hands are involved with Abbott’s campaign, The men behind the “too stupid to be governor” Tweet.
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Posted in Around The State, Commentary at 8:55 am by wcnews
The Texas Progressive Alliance is happy about the non-developments in the Caribbean tropics this past summer — but is still wondering when that first cool snap is going to get here — as it brings you the best of the left of Texas blogs from last week.
Off the Kuff suggests a way to measure the effect of the voter ID law in the November elections.
Horwitz at Texpatriate discusses the renewed efforts to bring a comprehensive non-discrimination ordinance to the City of Houston.
WCNews at Eye on Williamson points out that the ridiculous has become reality in Texas, thanks to ignorance and lies, in Absurd?
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes that the batsh*t crazies on the Texas State Board of Education textbook review board are still pushing creationism in and science out.
Texas is home to two of the top five dirtiest power generation facilities in the United States, and a new report suggests that they are “the elephant in the room” when it comes to climate change. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs thinks he has identified the main culprit, and it’s not what you may have first thought.
Neil at All People Have Value said that with the proper balancing of internal life and external life, the right calculation exists to make sense of life. All People Have Value is part of NeilAquino.com.
Even with a barrage of annoying mailers, emails and kissing babies, elections are very important. Besides being the way we choose new leaders, they are also important to ensure that our currently elected officials listen to the public, and sometimes the only way to hold them accountable for what they do. For all these reasons, Texas Leftist has decided to “take the plunge” with an official candidate questionnaire and endorsement process.
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Here’s some other great posts from around the Texas lefty blogosphere.
Grits for Breakfast observes that there are now Lexus lanes at the airport security checkpoints, and that TSA groping is becoming something that only happens to poor people.
Hal at Half Empty documents the conservative argument that their Fourteenth Amendment rights trump your First Amendment ones.
Prairie Weather thinks that suburban Texas women are finally wising up.
Socratic Gadfly wonders if Wendy Davis might have a Tony Sanchez problem, and updates his extensive post about the prospects of a Blue Texas.
Dos Centavos posts the speaking engagement details of Episcopalian bishop Gene Robinson’s appearance in Houston. Robinson is the first openly gay priest to be consecrated as bishop in a major Christian denomination.
TFN Insider notes that Barbara Cargill, the chair of the Texas SBOE, outed herself again as a creationist, as if the effort to write intelligent design into biology books wasn’t enough of a clue for us.
State Impact Texas reminds that the shale oil boom is a bust for Texas roads.
And finally, Txsharon at BlueDaze points out all the fun they’re having in Colorado that Dallas missed out on when it denied drilling permits in flood plains.
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09.13.13
Posted in Around The State, Bad Government Republicans at 1:48 pm by wcnews
From the Texas Tribune, A New Boom for Oil, but a Bust for State’s Rural Roads.
At a convention center in this city 70 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, Dimmit County Judge Francisco Ponce said this week what many of the 200 people in the room were thinking.
Texas Department of Transportation officials explained why the agency needed to move forward with plans to convert some well-used paved roads around South Texas to gravel. For Ponce, the explanation exposed a long-standing problem in the agency’s perspective.
“TxDOT’s priorities are not in the rural counties,” he told the agency’s leadership, drawing cheers. “I don’t know how they can sit here and say it’s safer to gravel a road than it is to fix a road.”
[...]
At a convention center in this city 70 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, Dimmit County Judge Francisco Ponce said this week what many of the 200 people in the room were thinking.
Texas Department of Transportation officials explained why the agency needed to move forward with plans to convert some well-used paved roads around South Texas to gravel. For Ponce, the explanation exposed a long-standing problem in the agency’s perspective.
“TxDOT’s priorities are not in the rural counties,” he told the agency’s leadership, drawing cheers. “I don’t know how they can sit here and say it’s safer to gravel a road than it is to fix a road.”
There’s billions and billions of dollars just sitting in the Rainy Day Fund and instead of using that to pave roads, we’re going to make taxpayers suffer by turning paved roads to dirt and reduce speed limits. This is what happens when you put people that hate the government in charge of the government.
[UPDATE]: Picture received from state Sen. Judith Zaffinirini’s press release about the meeting in Cotulla.
A LARGE TRUCK carrying heavy equipment takes up both lanes and delays traffic on FM 469 in La Salle County on Tuesday. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has proposed converting FM 469 and other paved highways to gravel.
Full text of press release in the extended entry. Read the rest of this entry �
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Posted in Around The State, Commentary, Right Wing Lies at 10:00 am by wcnews
Paul Burka called this statement, by a tea party candidate for the Texas House, absurd.
“The increase in spending in Texas is just astronomical.”
No matter how absurd – and wrong – it may be, the reality in Texas is much different. The last several election cycles show that the vast majority of those who turnout to vote in Texas don’t see that statement as absurd. They see it as a fact. Not only as fact, but as the main reason to turnout. Why do so many Texans believe a falsehood, (whether it’s absurd or not well leave to Burka)?
That mistaken belief allows elected representatives in our state to legislate as if it is the truth. Here’s what former state Rep. Lanham Lyne (R-Wichita Falls) had to say back in 2011 on why voters believe things that aren’t true (tip to comment @ Burkablog).
Lyne was arguing on behalf of the budget, which cuts billions, yet he seemed ambivalent, and in his impassioned soliloquy he managed to sum up the challenges of this session. He argued that his voters didn’t understand what they were doing when they demanded state budget cuts, but since they elected him he was obliged to give them what they want.
[...]
So it was with fascination Saturday evening that I watched Lyne plead for passage of the available revenue budget with a speech that sounded like he was against it. He frankly recounted his own ignorance as a candidate—and that of his voters too.
“Everywhere I went, the people said: Cut the budget, cut the budget, cut the budget. I’m not sure they knew Texas was not Washington, D.C., that we don’t spend money like Washington, D.C.,” [Emphasis added] said Lyne. “I did what the people sent me here to do from my district. But I guarantee you there are a lot of angry, unhappy people in my district because they didn’t want us to cut theirs, and they didn’t want us to raise taxes either. This is what the people who voted for the majority of the people here want to see, but I promise you they don’t know what gets spent in our Texas Legislature.”
He ran, and was elected, on a falsehood. Figured out he was wrong, but decided to do what’s wrong anyway. Instead of leading and trying to educate his misguided constituents. Unable to continue serving he decided, for whatever reason, not to run for reelection.
Soon to be former state Rep., and now candidate for Comptroller, Harvey Hilderbran (R-Kerrville) had this to say in the same article.
But more than a few Republican House members have told me that they believe their voters misunderstood the difference between state government and federal government; or that hard-right, anti-spending groups had proven to have the vastly superior political messaging skills than anyone else. [Emphasis added] Ways and Means Chairman Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, said he had favored tapping the Rainy Day Fund to mitigate public education cuts, but the spin machine had made that impossible. “There are certain groups that are leaders here in Austin who were not part of the Tea Party, but they co-opted it and became the resource that sent them information and emails. They are framing the perception of the people who are the grassroots. They decided early to unfairly … they equated using the Rainy Day Fund with raising taxes. That influenced the governor. It influenced some of the members. The rainy day fund is already collected revenue. That’s not new taxes.”
So if these two elected GOP members of the Texas House are to be believed this is the current state of things in our state. Voters and our elected representatives have little or no idea how our state government actually works. They don’t understand the difference between the state and federal governments. And there are anti-spending groups telling tall tales to voters, and made them and some elected officials even more ignorant of how the state government works. Golly gee shucks buckaroos, what’s a good ‘ol Texas politician who hates the federal gument s’posed to do?
Yes it’s hard to believe why anyone would think that! It’s not like every member of the Texas GOP in 2010 ran against President Barack Obama, Obamacare, and the evil federal government. Where forever would voters have gotten such an idea? And, of course, if you’ve seen any of the GOP statewide introductory campaign informercials thus far, they’re ginning up the same BS for 2014. Here’s Burka from the same link above on 2014.
I think the upcoming election cycle will be a repeat of 2010, which brought a large contingent of tea party members into the Legislature, few of whom showed any affinity for governing. It is conceivable that the tea party could absorb the Republican Party by the time the 84th Legislature convenes.
He’s already resigned to the fact that the same lies of 2010 will prevail again in 2014. Yep, tall tales of the evil federal government and overspending in Texas will be the GOP strategy again in 2014. Work must be done to make sure the sequel is not as good as the original.
What’s left to see is if the media will hold the candidates to account for what’s going on in Texas, not what’s going with the federal government. Will the media again allow these candidates to run on falsehoods and nonsense? And whether or not Democrats in Texas will finally run candidates, and have a message, that offers a clear alternative to the GOP. One that puts poor, working, and middle class Texans first. One that will tell Texans that we must head in a different direction if we want to fix the problems created in the last 14 or so years.
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