US gets ~90% of its cocaine from Columbia much through Mexico

The finding was contained in the U.S. International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. Authors of the report commended Mexico for unprecedented cooperation with the United States in the battle against drug traffickers. High levels of violence, though, may be part of the cost of the progress.

"The increase in violence may be due to the success of President (Felipe) Calderón's aggressive anti-crime campaign, which has broadly deployed the military in searches and regional security plans, while more effectively using tools such as extraditions," the report said.

"This has led to the arrest of important cartel leaders and narrowed the operating space of criminal gangs, who are now fighting among themselves for now-diminishing profits."

Now that the adults are back in charge of our federal government, maybe we can work with Mexico. Obama is paying attention.

Gregory Mayor sacks all the firefighters

Did somebody get up on the wrong side of the bed Thursday?

Gregory Mayor Victor Lara dismissed the city’s volunteer fire department Thursday evening, leaving the city dependent on neighboring fire departments, the city’s attorney Tamara Cochran May confirmed.

...

“The mayor walked in and told us our services were no longer needed,” [Fire Chief Mike] Kohner said. “He canned all 21 of us and said the old members are taking it back over.”

The old boys wanted their club house back?

Ex Montague County sheriff and 17 others indicted

Bill Keating, who was Montague County sheriff from 2004-08, is charged with official oppression and having sex with inmates in April and in the fall, according to the indictment. Keating was not up for re-election because he lost in the primary last spring.

Gee. I wonder why he lost in the primary. More ...

In all, 17 people were indicted in connection with a scandal surrounding former Sheriff Bill Keating and troubling conditions at the jail he used to control. The suspected offenses date to fall 2006

In addition to the ex-sheriff, who faces at least one state charge of having sex with an inmate, the others indicted Friday are a former jail supervisor and several others accused of providing or using contraband, including two other women and two men who were jailers, three male inmates and two nonemployees who had dealings with the jail.

Fear of spill over violence will be used by nut jobs

President Felipe Calderon on Thursday rejected U.S. concerns that Mexico is losing control of its territory to drug cartels and allowing violence to spiral out of control.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Calderon said Mexico is making progress in its war against the cartels. He said he hopes to withdraw the army and turn the fight over to local police before he leaves office in 2012.

"To say that Mexico is a failed state is absolutely false," Calderon said. "I have not lost any part - any single part- of the Mexican territory."

The "failed state" concern has been a major topic of discussion since the U.S. military raised it in a Nov. 25 report on potential global security risks. The report singled out Mexico and Pakistan as countries whose governments are at risk of a "rapid and sudden collapse."

Ah, a present from Bush. A chance for another war? A chance to use the military? A fear factor for the right wing fringe?

A story making the rounds online Thursday had the Texas National Guard on high alert because of the escalating drug-cartel violence just across the border in Mexico.

Not exactly, Gov. Rick Perry's office said.

Is Rick trying on a flight suit? What about some rational, adult conversation on this issue?

The major reason that it is imperative that the United States take a new look at gun control and how our culture has historically contributed to the level of gun violence we’re seeing today is because of what is happening with Mexico’s drug cartel bloodbath.

If the violence that has already taken the lives of over 6,000 Mexicans was merely an internal problem then those critics who feel Mexico is never doing enough to help its own people would be justified in saying Mexico should suffer the consequences.

Yet, the Mexican government is doing all they can to combat drug cartels armed with weapons that are outlawed in Mexico but purchased and smuggled from the United States.

The right wing is already unhinged. This'll push'em way over.

Let's step back and look at the entire picture. Let's look at the underlying problems and lets solve them. Lets do it without racism and the joy of Bush-like thuggery.

Perry's team doing oppo research in Dallas

A political operative working for Gov. Rick Perry has asked Dallas City Hall for numerous documents concerning Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a signal that the campaign for governor could include personal attacks.

A Perry aide confirmed that the campaign was fishing for information about Hutchison's husband, prominent bond attorney Ray Hutchison.

Healdine you don't want to see

'Dead birds found near landfills'

Federal officials are investigating the deaths of what appear to be several dozen vultures on property near two northeastern Travis County landfills that have drawn opposition from residents.

Although an empty .22-caliber ammunition box was found near a pile of apparently vulture carcasses on private property close to one of the landfills, federal officials said the cause of the deaths has not been determined.

Bird autopsies. You'd think bullet damage would be easy to detect.

Texas public health officials yawn when 4 year old gets salmonella

The peanut story is Republican free markets in actions. Buyer beware. So what if 4 year olds are dying in the street.

Heather Zavadsky of Austin said that after her son was confirmed to have a salmonella infection earlier this month, she struggled to get answers from public health agencies and was bewildered when she was told she should find a private lab to test the food that might have sickened her 4-year-old.

Zavadsky, who has a doctorate and background in research and policy, said that with the ongoing nationwide outbreak of salmonella linked to peanuts, she was surprised there wasn't more interest in testing the peanut butter and peanut butter crackers her son ate before he fell ill Feb. 5. The two brands of peanut butter are not on the list of recalled products, and local and state health officials said they don't think the foods are part of the outbreak.

But Zavadsky said she thought public health authorities would want to be certain, especially since the outbreak may have caused nine deaths since September when the illnesses began.

No. Texas Republicans don't care about you or your son. Now, if you were both fetuses ...

Why is Straus starving the Border and International Affairs Committee?

From the perspective of addressing a hot issue, this makes no sense. From the perspective of playing politics at the cost of doing the people's business, it does.

It is the only Texas House committee to be chaired by a Rio Grande Valley legislator since last month's ouster of Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick.

But two weeks after committee assignments were announced and six weeks into the Legislature's 20-week biennial session, the Border and International Affairs Committee is searching for relevance in Austin.

New House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, has assigned only two real bills to the Democrat-dominated committee to discuss and approve. Its chair may be left asking other committees for castoffs, essentially panhandling for bills on the House floor.

What about all of that hate crap being doled out by the vision and tolerance challenged? Does a racist friendly committee get those?

Judge Kent does NOT deserve a pension

Two women came forward to tell their tales of horror at the hands, yes hands, of Samuel Kent. How many more were too afraid to talk? I doubt Kent just recently started treating women like his very own box of tissue paper.

Judge Samuel Kent is a psychologically broken man who served well on the bench for 18 years and deserves mercy and his pension, his lawyer said Thursday.

...

Rusty Hardin, whose client Cathy McBroom was one of the women Kent made unwanted advances toward, said his client and other women will wait until sentencing to tell their stories.

“But what he put these women through is all that should really be considered,” Hardin said. “During those 18 years he claims to have served, it should also be noted that he made life miserable for a legion of litigants in his court.”

I'll bet he did. Despite reports to the contrary, Kent's lawyer says Kent did not resign. Apparently, they want to use the threat of his continuing to receive a salary as motivation to give him early retirement. Who could possibly think Kent deserves $169,300 a year for life?

Nathan Hecht cleared by 'ethics' commission

Rules are for Democrats. Republicans are above the law.

The Texas Ethics Commission [sic] has dismissed a complaint against Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht, clearing him of allegations that he used campaign cash to pay for personal trips.

Texas Watch, a group that monitors the Texas Supreme Court and civil justice issues, filed an ethics complaint against Hecht a year ago, alleging he illegally used political contributions to pay for repeated trips to his hometown of Carrollton in 2007.

Nueces County Park Chief resigns ahead of his termination

It'd be nice if the commissioners told the public why he was going to be terminated.

Nueces County Parks director Blake Pettis resigned ahead of a meeting Thursday at which parks commissioners were slated to discuss his termination.

Drug cartel violence appearing on everyone's radar

Brian Williams mentioned it during the nightly news. We give them cash and guns. They give us drugs. Kay Bailey Hutchison doesn't want Perry to have a chew toy.

Sen. Hutchison denounces what she calls "very, very troubling situations" along the Texas-Mexico border.

Janet Napolitano has declared the situation a high priority.

La secretaria de seguridad interna, Janet Napolitano, dijo el miércoles a los legisladores estadounidenses que la violencia relacionada con las drogas en México se ha acrecentado de tal manera que se ha llegado a convertir en una de sus prioridades.

Napolitano, looking at Perry's comments about more troops for the border, said 'whaa?

'"We do not want to militarize the border. But what help is he thinking they can provide? I look forward to talking with Governor Perry about that," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the former Arizona governor, told a House committee.

Drug cartel roundup starts.

The Sinaloa drug cartel, at the heart of vicious drug war in Juárez that has claimed more than 1,900 lives, was the target of an extensive law-enforcement operation to disrupt its cells in U.S. cities, including El Paso, officials said Wednesday.

The arrests of 24 people over the past year in El Paso and the seizure of more than 3 tons of marijuana at a local warehouse last month were part of Operation Xcellerator, officials said.

Officials said more than 750 people were arrested nationally on drug charges as part of a 21-month, multi-agency investigation targeting cells of one of Mexico's most powerful criminal organizations.

Mexico responds.

Mexico will deploy extra troops and federal police to this violent city across the border from Texas where the police chief recently bowed to crime gang demands that he resign, the government said Wednesday.

Interior Secretary Fernando Gomez-Mont did not say how many more soldiers and police would be sent to Ciudad Juarez but promised that the reinforcements "would be visible to the residents."

Napolitano appears to be looking at the situation as an adult. The Mexican government wants to solve the problem with us and has asked for our help. The drug cartel violence is our problem, too. Fences and a show of military strength are not solutions. Let the adults use all the tools available to access and address the problem.

Why have the house parliamentarian records disappeared?

I smell a Terry Keel sized rat.

And maybe I came across a big twist: While folks were fussing over Craddick, whose records might be intact, the House parliamentarian reported the disappearance of hundreds of documents she considers vital. Oddly, the parliamentarian's missing files have yet to cause a stir — maybe because few people know about them.

The parliamentarian, Denise Davis, said she used the papers in the 2007 legislative session to review historical and procedural issues; she hopes a House panel somehow tracks them down.

Davis said the papers — enough to fill seven to eight bankers' boxes — were draft rulings, research and original opinions written as long ago as the 1930s.

"There's some serious stuff in there," she said, stressing that they were in a file cabinet in her Capitol office when she abruptly departed in 2007. "Some of it can't be replaced. It's very critical that it be found."

GOP doesn't want low wage workers to get unemployment insurance

How else do you explain the fact that they don't get unemployment insurance today AND that's a show stopper for GOP governors taking stimulus money?

To get that money, Texas would have to implement some key changes to state law — including modifying some eligibility requirements to include tens of thousands of low-wage workers. Such changes have been considered but not enacted in previous sessions.

...

The Center for Public Policy Priorities, which advocates for low-income Texans, estimates that all of the reforms combined would cost $55 million to $75 million a year, so the federal money could cover the costs for seven years or more.

Here's the Republicans think tank response from the odious Talmage Heflin.

"The upside is all short-term," Heflin said. "The downside in future years will greatly outweigh any upside."

Meaning, there is NO upside to helping low wage workers when they lose their jobs. Whaaa? Too bad Heflin's think tank doesn't know how workers' money flows through the economy. Too bgad Heflin's think tank wants low income workers to eat dirt and die.

A medical school for the valley makes sense

Encourage higher education and provide more health care professionals. Win. Win.

The Texas Border Coalition, representing communities from El Paso to Brownsville, has officially endorsed efforts to establish a four-year medical school in the Rio Grande Valley.

The decision to add the issue to its official legislative agenda was made by the TBC executive committee at a recent meeting in Austin. The move will be seen as a great boost for securing legislative support up and down the border by the four Valley legislators who have filed Valley medical school bills.

Texas is a big state and the Valley has been under served for too long.

UTPA punished for discriminating against female professor

Hilda Medrano was demoted from her job as dean of the University of Texas-Pan American's college of education almost four years ago.

Now the university is paying her almost $230,000.

A jury decided Monday that UTPA willfully violated the Equal Pay Act by not paying her as much as her male counterparts and did not pay her for unused vacation time when she was demoted.

Pending a final decision from the judge, Medrano stands to receive almost $350,000 in back pay, benefits, legal fees and damages, including $100,000 for mental anguish.

Psst: If you're female and work in the UT system, you might want to start comparing paychecks.

18 foot concrete wall doesn't stop illegal entry

So much for that d*mn fence!

But most residents say the barrier has done little to stop immigrant traffic. Some people have reported large groups of illegal immigrants simply running around the ends of the levee or climbing over the top.

...

Before construction began, Garza would see a couple of people run by his house at a time. Now they move in groups of as many as 50, he said.

"Up here you don't just see a few. You see bunches."

The fence does not cover the entire border. It leaves large open spaces between. When planning where to build the segments, the government targeted places such as Granjeno, where an illegal immigrant emerging from the Rio Grande could blend into the population.

Texas peanut plant had salmonella

Republicans believing in free markets, i.e. let businesses do what they want and buyer beware, didn't bother to check. Until the publicity made them do it. The contaminated peanut meal found contained the same strain of salmonella as the one that caused sickness and death.

Health officials tested products at the Plainview, Texas plant on Feb. 12 after the plant voluntarily shut down. Texas Department of State Health Services Doug McBride says the strain is the same as the one that sickened hundreds across the country.

Did Texas' lack of oversight kill?

Republican Senator doesn't believe a word John Cornyn says

Who does.

"Just to clear up any potential confusion, the NRSC supports Sen. Bunning," Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), chairman of the NRSC, told Kentucky's Courier-Journal.

The Texan called it a "misunderstanding," though Bunning was much more terse.

"I don’t believe anything John Cornyn says," the senator told the Courier-Journal. "I’ve had miscommunications with John Cornyn from, I guess, the first week of this current session of the Senate. He either doesn’t understand English or he doesn’t understand direct: ‘I’m going to run,’ which I said to him in the cloakroom of our chamber."

Abbott or Dewhurst for Senate?

I can't wait to see a Democrat representing Texas in the Senate. As for Greg Abbott or David Dewhurst? Not so much.

A North Carolina-based polling firm says the race to replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the US Senate will be very close but that Republicans Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Attorney General Greg Abbott currently have the best chances of squeaking out a win.

The poll from Public Policy Polling polled likely Texas voters on Dewhurst, Abbott, Republican State Sen. Florence Shapiro and two Democratic contenders: Houston Mayor Bill White and former Comptroller John Sharp.

Impeach Judge Kent.

A ranking congressional judiciary committee Republican said Tuesday he will call for the impeachment of U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent, who pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice this week.

U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said Tuesday that once Kent has been sentenced he will introduce a resolution to impeach the 59-year-old jurist who is seeking to retire with full pay. Kent is scheduled to be sentenced in May. Prosecutors have asked he serve three years in prison.

“Felons don’t belong on the bench or in Congress,” said Sensenbrenner, a former chairman of the House judiciary committee.

Go get him!

Texas loses VA clinics

A Texas City veterans clinic will soon become a private urgent care facility.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs did not renew a contract with Valor Healthcare, which was operating the Texas City and Galveston veterans clinics.

No May Charter vote for League City

Council members on Tuesday dropped controversial plans to call a May election allowing voters the chance to change League City’s charter.

Council members said they were worried about the tight deadline to call an election — council would have to approve the ballots by March 9 in order for the charter changes to appear on the May 9 ballot.

Corpus Christi municipal judge reprimanded for treatment of women

Another Judge Kent who thinks women are there for his pleasure?

A part-time municipal judge no longer will be assigned to fill in for area judges after failing to report a warning last year related to allegations of inappropriate behavior.

Associate Municipal Judge Hector De Peña Jr. has been removed from a list of retired and former judges who are eligible for assignments in the Fifth Administrative Judicial Region.

Corpus Christi organizations stand up to fight Las Brisas

Some members of the local American Federation of Teachers union have voted to oppose Las Brisas Energy Center, and the League of United Latin American Citizens Council No. 1 is sponsoring a billboard accusing the proposed power plant of environmental discrimination.

Why are the teachers opposed? It's all about the children who live nearby the proposed petroleum power plant.

Perry wants more troops on our border

Mr. Flight suit Jr. has a manly issue to lord over KBH. Republicans love the military as their first and only tool. Ah, the John Wayne movies. Audie Murphy.

Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday he has asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to send resources and "1,000 more troops" to the border in Texas as violence continues to mount in northern Mexico.

...

Nearly 1,900 people have been killed in Juarez in the ongoing drug cartel war since January 2008. As Perry, McCraw and former drug czar and retired Army General Barry McCaffrey spoke to reporters, several El Paso police officers stood guard in the sprawling border park, with assault rifles slung over their shoulders.

There are problems with drug cartel violence and corruption. These problems need to be addressed with a competent hand and a full toolbox.

State Senator Eliot Shapleigh has a little different approach.

Monday, Sen. Eliot Shapleigh expressed his distrust of the methods currently underway, including Perry’s border camera initiative and what he called “failed” policies practiced by border sheriffs.

Instead, Shapleigh said, more resources should be invested in the Texas Department of Public Safety.

“Right now money is being wasted on border cameras that don’t work and on certain sheriff operations that have no proven track record,” he said Monday. “That money can be put to better use by focusing on DPS and these trade corridors.

“International criminal drug cartels are warehousing and distribution businesses (and) the products are marijuana, cocaine, heroin and prostitutes north and cash and weapons south. That’s how they work and they operate along drug corridors to major distribution points.”

Janet Napolitano reinvigorating Gulf Coast recovery

In one of her first moves as Homeland Security secretary, Janet Napolitano has ordered a fresh review of hurricane recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast 3 1/2 years after two killer hurricanes swept ashore.

In testimony prepared for a congressional hearing Wednesday, Napolitano said the Federal Emergency Management Agency will assign a new team of senior staff members to look at ways to improve hurricane recovery operations that have been under way since hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The Associated Press obtained an advance copy of her testimony.

Perry and the webcams

State Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, chairwoman of the Border and International Affairs Committee, had some pointed questions about Gov. Rick Perry's border Web camera program today.

Gonzales referred to reports, first published by the El Paso Times, that the $2 million camera program fell far short of its intended goals. Initially, the state had expected to install some 200 cameras along the border and apprehend 1,200 criminals and 4,500 undocumented immigrants as a result of tips from online viewers.

Using Republican logic,State Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Vann, "said the tiny number of apprehensions actually show the cameras are working". You have to count the number of people who didn't try to illegally cross. That number extends into the billions.

Oil Tanker is freed

Good news.

Divers are set to begin inspecting the hull of a tanker that had been grounded in the Gulf of Mexico before being freed early today after the transfer of more than 80,000 barrels of fuel oil to another vessel, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.

Spill over violence sounds so dainty

There is a problem with drug cartel violence, drug trafficking, homeland security, and immigration policy as a factor in diplomacy, business and labor issues. There is a big picture to look at.

Right now the Mayor of Juarez lives in El Paso. That isn't right. Violence has spilled over.

Violence from Mexican drug cartels has spilled over into Texas, state Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw said Monday.

"Yes, absolutely it has occurred; there's no question about it," McCraw said after a hearing before the House Committee on Border and International Affairs.

The Texas legislature is looking at taking assets from drug cartels to cripple them. Lets hope that law isn't abused to take your assets. What about American drug use that supports cartels?

Nearing the end of his presentation, McCraw was asked by Rep. Richard Peña Raymond, D-Laredo, about the demand for narcotics by the United States, which some lawmakers have said the nation has failed to address. Specifically, Raymond asked McCraw why cartels form alliances and what their motivation was.

“Money,” he stated simply. “They get the money from here, because of the demand for drugs.”

Raymond responded by placing some of the blame on the United States.

“A lot of it is our fault, my friend,” Peña told committee vice chair Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van. “We are the ones that are providing the money. Those dollars aren’t coming from Mexico.”

Joe McComb's Coliseum petition misses mark

Joe McComb, the petition organizer, said he suspected he was short 700 to 800 signatures Monday when he turned in his final set of petitions. During the initial 90 days he was given to gather signatures, he collected 4,099 signatures that City Secretary Armando Chapa was able to verify belonged to registered voters living in Corpus Christi.

San Patricio sues Nueces County over taxing disputed property

Boy, I wouldn't want to be living in the area in dispute. Both counties are taxing them.

San Patricio County asserted in the lawsuit filed Friday in Refugio County that all natural and artificial shoreline modifications belong to San Patricio County, according to the court of appeals judgment, which means Nueces County shouldn’t be taxing $25.7million worth of loading piers and facilities.

Only 55 allowed to speak about Las Brisas

Is that the way a Democracy is supposed to work? I don't think so.

A list of 55 parties to an administrative hearing regarding Las Brisas Energy Center’s air permit includes environmental and physician groups as well as more than three dozen individuals.

That number also includes Las Brisas, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the commission’s Office of Public Interest Counsel.

The other parties oppose the permit and were granted party status at a preliminary hearing Feb. 17 at City Hall. Being granted party status means opponents will have the opportunity to prove whether their concerns are valid at an evidentiary hearing tentatively scheduled for Aug. 3-14 in Corpus Christi. The hearing will be similar to a civil trial in district court and will be overseen by Judge Tommy Broyles of the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

Clean 'petroleum coke'? Who believes in that. The same people who said Republicans were compassionate?

What to do about someone who uses his office to shout racist cr*p?

Censure him. Censure Leo Berman. Just do it. You know it's the right thing to do.

Why is this man in our Texas legislature? He thinks abortion causes immigration problems. He told a Chinese American to 'go home'. He wants to change citizenship rights in our US constitution. He wants children of immigrants to be uneducated.

Nut job from Tyler be gone!

B'bye Judge Kent

U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice today and retired from the bench, avoiding a trial on that charge and five others accusing him of sexually abusing two female employees.

Kent was scheduled to see a jury selected this morning for his trial on all six felony counts.

What about the guilty pleas for sexual assault? Not man enough to own up? Don't let the door hit ya'.

For more see Grits for Breakfast.

More here.

New tactic to free grounded fuel tanker

After several unsuccessful attempts on Saturday to free the tank ship grounded outside the Houston Ship Channel, the U.S. Coast Guard said it will begin transferring the ship’s cargo in order to reduce its weight.

Here's to success. The ship is carrying 621,000 barrels of low sulfur fuel oil.

Tuition freeze isn't the best answer

Tuition should be regulated and adequately funded by the state. Simply freezing tuition strangles higher education.

Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, in November filed Senate Bill 105, that would for two years prevent tuition hikes at public universities. The bill also would require that fee increases be approved after a vote by the majority of the institution’s students.

Fee increases for services that are optional, like athletics, should be up for student vote.

It's the TPA weekly blog roundup!

It's Monday, and that means it is time again for another edition of the Texas Progressive Alliance's Weekly Round-Up compiled by Vince at the Capitol Annex.

Read more »

Rick Perry shouldn't pick a fight with Barack Obama

President Barack Obama singled out Texas today as a state that could lose out under the huge stimulus plan because its governor may reject some funds.

Obama made the comments in a session with dozens of U.S. mayors, among them leaders from Dallas, Houston and Laredo.

Texas gives $25M in 'bonuses' mostly to executives

Workers are like tissue paper to Republicans, but executives are like kings. All treasure to the royals.

State government workers were awarded more than $25 million in bonuses and extra compensation in 2008, with the largest amount of it going to Texas executives and university employees, state payroll records show.

Merit pay is fine. In a year where money is abundant. Paying in a bad year and paying 100 more to some categories than others? That's just not right.

San Antonio State School #1 in reported abuses

The San Antonio State School, home to nearly 300 vulnerable residents with mental disabilities, had the highest rate of confirmed abuse and neglect cases in Texas last year, with investigators confirming 27 cases for every 100 residents.

That’s more than twice as high as the statewide rate of 12 cases for every 100 residents who live in the state’s troubled facilities for people with mental retardation, a San Antonio Express-News investigation has found.

To say it's a disgrace just doesn't begin to covert it.

Napolitano needs to hear from South Texans before she visits with Cornyn

John Cornyn represents the party that put up that d*mn fence as a monument to racism and fear. What kinds of helpful insights will Cornyn whisper in Napolitano's ear?

The new right wing rallying point is the violence in Mexico that has or may spill over into the US.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn says he intends to invite Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to the Texas border region so she can see firsthand the issues facing local and federal law enforcement officials.

There is a problem. But, don't let flight-suit wearing, duty-dodging, racist, fear mongers present the problems and suggest the solutions. You know that fear and racism will be the themes and thuggery the solution.

Mexico has asked for our help. Diplomacy and a wider view, besides hate and Dirty Harry, should prevail. Clinton is busy working on our debt problem in Asia, but as Obama says, you can multitask. Clinton and Napolitano must work together to solve this problem. Henry Cuellar and Rubén Hinojosa have already started.

Another headline you don't want to see

'Families fear school district cover-up of sexual abuse'

The little girl and nine other children say Armando Silvestre Gutierrez, a former computer lab proctor at Clinton Elementary School near Peñitas, fondled them in May 2008.

It was nearly nine months before La Joya school district police arrested Gutierrez, 35, on 10 counts of indecency with a child. Gutierrez has no previous criminal record.

Judge Kent's trail starts Monday

The 59-year-old Kent is accused of fondling two female court employees as he tried to force himself on the women and have them perform sex acts.

Jury selection in his trial was set to begin Monday. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

I know this is Texas, but please let there be justice.

Island United Political Action Committee supports worst candidates

Island United Political Action Committee has 3,500 registered supporters from the Island? They likee theocracy loving, corporate welfare loving Whataburger CEO Tom Dobson's choice for mayor, Joe Adame, and the odious Chris Adler for city council.

Whataburger wanted lots of corporate welfare from Corpus Christi

Whataburger, the place where 'One Country Under God' is written on every store, wanted Mayor Garrett to give them more goodies to stay in Corpus Christi. Now, Whataburger CEO Tom Dobson, is punishing Garret by supporting someone else for Mayor. What a toadstool Tom Dobson is!

Whataburger Chairman and CEO Tom Dobson stood up in support of mayoral candidate Joe Adame at a fundraiser at Gaslight Square on Thursday night and took a shot at incumbent Mayor Henry Garrett.

...

“They just couldn’t do anything, they could not come up with anything,” Dobson said. “He (Garrett) just kept saying, ‘We are doing everything we can.’

Theocracy loving, corporate welfare loving support for Joe Adame. Hmmm.

Peanut company blows off recall of its products

The bankrupt company at the center of a national salmonella outbreak hasn't carried out a recall of its products manufactured in Texas, so the state is notifying customers itself, officials there said Friday.

Texas health officials ordered Peanut Corp. of America on Feb. 12 to recall all products ever shipped from a plant in Plainview after inspectors found dead rodents, feces and bird feathers in a crawl space above a production area.

But the Texas Department of State Health Services said the company hasn't responded to its order, so state workers have begun asking manufacturers, distributors and retailers to keep products from the Plainview plant away from the public.

Why aren't these people in jail? Why?

TxDOT wants to take stimulus money and run

“From what we are hearing, TxDOT wants to obligate all the federal stimulus money at the Texas Transportation Commission hearing in Austin next Thursday. Once that happens, it’s over. What’s the big the rush?” said [state rep Solomon Ortiz Jr.], in an exclusive interview with the Guardian on Thursday.

And, TxDOT has had such a stellar track record of late.

Celis gets slap on wrist

14 counts guilty. 10 years probation. Lots of relieved cronies. (Was I the only one who missed Numbers tonight?)

Mauricio Celis walked out of a Nueces County courtroom wiping tears from his eyes and hugging friends and family members, after a jury sentenced him to 10 years probation and a $10,000 fine.

Who knew pretending to be a lawyer didn't hurt much? I'd say at least he'd lose his law license, but then, he doesn't have one.

Joe Straus wants to join the Mexican American caucus

He has to earn the right to do so.

Asked how MALC would fair this session under new House Speaker Joe Straus, Martinez Fischer said “the honeymoon” stage wasn’t quite over but expressed confidence the two would be able to engage each other positively.

“Speaker Straus, as a member of the Bexar county delegation and as a resident of San Antonio, Joe knows exactly what it means to belong and to work in a melting pot,” he said. “You really can’t do much in San Antonio without involving Latinos.”

He said Straus’ first official visit to any caucus as speaker was to MALC, and with him came an interesting proposition.

“He said ‘I am white and I am a Republican but I want to find a way to become a member of MALC’” Martinez Fischer quoted the speaker as stating.

Here's a headline you don't want to see

At least if you live near Donna. 'More Donna Canal fish being captured to test for toxins'

Federal environmental officials have begun a second round of capturing dangerously contaminated fish from the Donna Canal and Reservoir, which has been named a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site.

BP to pay $180M

That sounds like a bit of money. Probably doesn't sound like a lot to a big petroleum company, but still ...

BP has agreed to pay $180 million to settle a federal lawsuit about pollution at its Texas City refinery, the company and the U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday.

The terms of the settlement call for BP to pay $12 million in penalties and to spend $161 million to reduce emissions at the refinery.

Never mind. The fine is a measly $12M. The rest is to do WHAT THEY SHOULD HAVE ALREADY DONE.

More here.

Meanwhile, BP pollutes in Alaska.

Galveston disputes over police civilian board show general distrust

The Galveston police chief took no chances when he was on the city council's agenda. He lawyered up.

The four council members who asked for the discussion agreed the whole thing was blown out of proportion. What they wanted to talk about was the civilian review board, they said.

Educators march on Austin to improve bilingual education

El Paso bilingual educators were among dozens from across Texas who marched Thursday through downtown Austin and gathered at the Capitol to urge lawmakers to improve bilingual education in public schools.

"We need to have the resources and the support to implement quality programs," said Hector Giron, director for academic language programs in the Yselta Independent School District.

The Texas Association for Bilingual Education called on lawmakers to support several legislative proposals they said would help students whose first language is not English to succeed in school.

With right wing elements having temper tantrums over people who aren't just like them, it will be slow going.

More here and here.

Corpus Christi police protect names of two officers accused of sexual assault

You wouldn't want tender feelings of these police officers hurt by seeing their names in print would you?.

Police would not release the names or ages of the officers, or any information about who reported the sexual assaults.

Should someone be checking the screening process used before officers are hired in Corpus Christi? Just asking.

Celis found guilty 14 times

Mauricio Celis vowed to appeal a jury’s verdict Thursday that found him guilty of 14 of 22 counts of falsely holding himself out as a lawyer.

...

Celis faces two to 10 years in prison on each of the 14 counts, to run concurrently, and as much as $10,000 fines for each count. The jury also can recommend probation. The judge would be required to follow that recommendation but also could sentence Celis to as many as 180 days in jail as a condition of probation.

I guess the jury didn't believe Larry Olivarez either.

Texas ethics commission to try Judge Sharon Keller

Activists complained. Lon Burnam filed a resolution to impeach her. The New York Times wrote a scathing editorial. Now the state judicial ethics (sic) commission is after her.

The state judicial ethics commission on Thursday charged Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the state's highest criminal court, with violating her duty and bringing discredit upon the judiciary when she refused to allow a death row prisoner to file an after-hours appeal in 2007.

The inmate, Michael Richard, was executed that night.

Keller will face a public trial to answer the charges and could be removed from office, reprimanded or exonerated.

Can she get the death penalty? Guess not.

More here, here and here.

Rick Perry says Texas to get stimulus money afterall.

He was only posturing for his right wing base. Hey, he's got a Republican primary to win. Can't be too right wing for that. Can you? Where do the Republicans draw the line?

Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday that Texas will accept the state’s $16 billion share of the new federal stimulus package, but he is leaving the door open to rejecting funds that place an onerous burden on the state and require state taxpayers to put up long-term matching funds.

...

Perry wrote the letter a day after suggesting in a speech to Texas businesspeople that the state might not accept all of the federal money if it comes with "miles of strings attached that we cannot afford."

Rick Noriega turns down Obama's job offer

I wonder which job he wants.

I remain open to a position in President Obama’s administration, one that is aligned with my core competencies. I am most honored to have been called.

Valley vets STILL want a VA hospital!

Rio Grande Valley veterans are planning another 250-mile march from Edinburg to San Antonio to highlight the need for a VA hospital in the region.

America’s Last Patrol staged the last march in November 2005. This time the march is being organized by Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America and is slated for spring break week in the Valley.

Support our troops. For real.

Edcouch-Elsa school board voted to fire superintendent

The Edcouch-Elsa school board voted to fire superintendent Michael Sandroussi on Wednesday, a week after placing him on unpaid leave.

Citing financial mismanagement that prompted staff cuts of more than 20 percent, the trustees announced their decision after a 40-minute closed-door meeting.

B'bye!

Galveston Police Chief and city council member at odds

Police Chief Charles Wiley, recently at odds with a councilman, will discuss his duties with the city council today, but not in the closed-door session listed on the meeting agenda.

Wiley plans to demand the meeting, scheduled by Councilman Tarris Woods, be held in open session, which is his right under state law.

Wiley said he was not sure what to expect and had hired well-known attorney R.A. Apffel to represent him.

Sounds lovely.

Judge Kent's defense? You won't believe it!

The stories are ugly about what Kent is alleged to have done to his workers.

An investigation began in November, six months after his case manager, Cathy McBroom, claimed that the judge lifted her shirt, put his mouth on her breast and made obscene comments to her. The indictment says Kent also attempted to force McBroom to perform oral sex on him.

But, hey. He was just being a 'gentleman' when he denied contact to investigators. That's the definition of a gentleman'? Really?

A federal judge was only being a gentleman when he didn't tell an investigating committee he had a longtime affair with one of two women he is accused of sexually abusing, his attorney said Tuesday.

See previous posts.

Why should a county have to beg for an ozone monitor from TCEQ?

Because Republicans think ignorance is bliss. Don't think the fight over children's education or teaching 'intelligent (sic) design' is an accident.

Fort Bend County, probably the largest in Texas without an ozone pollution monitor, will have one before the start of the 2009 ozone season, County Judge Bob Hebert announced Wednesday.

Texas Republican lawmaker says abortion causes illegal immigration

I kid you not.

If Americans had not aborted 50 million pregnancies since 1973, the country would have no need for low-skilled workers crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, a Republican state lawmaker said Wednesday.

State Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, made the remarks at a debate with fellow state Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, over the role of the state government in immigration policy.

So, women should be forced to have children so that business owners can have cheap labor?

Rep Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas, provided the other side of the debate.

“The issue that we are dealing with today is the transnational labor market place,” offered Anchía. “This is Economics 101; this is not very tough stuff.”

After the discussion, Leo Berman told a Chinese-American to 'go home'.

In a heated exchange over immigration Wednesday, Rep. Leo Berman shouted "go home!" to a Dallas lawyer of Chinese-American descent who had called the lawmaker "despicable" and "evil."

El Paso ISD trustee pleads guilty

Former El Paso Independent School District Trustee Sal Mena Jr. and the Michigan businessman who gave him a $5,000 campaign contribution on behalf of a school district vendor that wanted Mena's help to secure a contract pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal conspiracy and fraud charges.

Mena pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud. Gary William Lange, 56, from Okimos, Mich., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

Corpus Christi city council is fine with Las Brisas

Too bad about the citizens who complained. As for green gas emissions? Las Brisas officials blew that off.

Officials with Las Brisas Energy Center say their proposed power plant will not be affected by the government’s intent to reopen the possibility of regulating carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision, reported Tuesday by The Washington Post, tosses aside a December Bush administration memorandum that declared that the EPA would not limit the emissions.

7-year-old North Padre Island bath house likely to be demolished

Why would a relatively new structure need to go?

A $1 million bathhouse and office complex opened on Padre Island in 2002 has structural problems so severe it likely will be demolished.

The building was damaged about a year ago when an unnoticed leaking pipe rotted office floors until they collapsed.

Taxpayer money literaly down the drain.

A tale of two headlines reveals AP's racism

Scare tactics first: 'New face of offender in federal courts is Hispanic' Are Hispanics suddenly pillaging the US? No. They're talking about an increase in immigration raids.

What about Allen Stanford, Bernie Madoff and Bruce Hammonds and their purported crime sprees?

Panicky depositors were turned away from Stanford International Bank and some of its Latin American affiliates Wednesday, unable to withdraw their money after U.S. regulators accused Texas financier R. Allen Stanford of perpetrating an $8 billion fraud against investors.

If indeed, $50 billion was lost, as apparently Madoff claims, it is the largest such fraud in history, and one that might even shame the conman whose name is attached to this brand of deception.

Bruce E. Hammonds, a former Merrill Lynch & Co. employee in San Antonio, admitted that for more than two years, starting in August 2006, he got Merrill Lynch clients to invest in a partnership he controlled without the knowledge of the investment giant or the investors who thought the money was going into a Merrill Lynch fund.

The new faces of Federal crime? We know what they look like.

Voter suppression is the top issue for Texas GOP today

Is there a economic problem? Too busy for that. Is there a problem with affordable education? Who cares. Are too many Texans going with out healthcare? Let'em drop dead. Are insurance rates too high? Make'em higher.

The controversial voter identification bill that triggered a Senate rules fight last month on Tuesday was referred directly to the full Senate for a vote.

Skip the committees, this bill is THE MOST IMPORTANT BILL IN THE TEXAS LEGISLATURE.

Why? Because Republicans need to suppress the vote to win in the future. Any other problem you may have just pales in significance.

More here and here.

Here's a headline you don't want to see

'Ethics issues hang over firm seeking airport pact' Especially, if the ethics in question deal with campaign and lobby money.

A company favored by the [San Antonio] for an airport concession contract apparently violated local ethics law by not disclosing campaign contributions or its lobbyist for three months after it bid on the contract.

Mexico is asking for our help in dealing with violence

We should give it. Lots of it. Now.

The Mexican government is reaching out to the U.S. for help in its effort against drug cartels in a way that is unprecedented, said Congressman Henry Cuellar.

The Laredo Democrat returned Tuesday from a trip with other legislators to Mexico, where they met with Mexican lawmakers and Cabinet officials.

"I've been to Mexico several times, and this time you really hear the plea from the Mexican officials saying, 'Hey, we really, really need your help here,' " Cuellar said.

"It's a pretty strong plea they're making to the U.S. to help them.

Rick Perry for Rick Perry. Everybody else can go f' themselves

What does it take for Rick Perry to win the Texas GOP governor's primary? Anything and everything Rick Perry can think of. Being a good public servant? What's that?

Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday he’s not sure the state should accept all of its projected share of federal stimulus money — $16.9 billion and counting by preliminary estimates — because of the “mile-long” strings that might be attached.

Rick Perry is the Bush/Rove/Cheney/DeLay brand of Republican. Appeal to the worst in people and expect the best results. For yourself.

John Cornyn, Pete Olson's sugar daddy accused of Madoff like fraud

Robert Stanford, the Texas billionaire accused of what a federal official told the Houston Chronicle is a banking “fraud of shocking magnitude,” was a generous man when it came to political campaign contributions.

And some of Fort Bend County’s congressional representatives benefited from that generosity.

...

Olson’s opponent, then-Democratic incumbent congressman Nick Lampson, didn’t receive any Stanford contributions. But Stanford Group gave heavily to both sides of the aisle, and the largest recipient of the company’s contributions was a Democrat, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, who received $45,900. Second on the list was U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, who received $41,375 from Stanford generosity.

More on Stanford here.

Citizens vocal about opposition to a new Corpus Christi power plant

>50 received clearance to challenge the air permit.

More than 50 people gained the right to challenge an air permit for the Las Brisas Energy Center Tuesday, in a fast-moving, sometimes-chaotic preliminary hearing that drew a crowd that overwhelmed the initial meeting place.

More than 200 people showed up and most who asked for legal standing to fight the permit received it, after answering a few questions from the judge. The questions included how far away they lived from the plant and why they opposed it. Most said they feared health effects ranging from asthma to being unable to exercise outdoors. Being granted party status means they will have the opportunity to prove whether their concerns are valid at a hearing tentatively scheduled for Aug. 3 to Aug. 14 in Corpus Christi.

The noise has gotten city council attention. Except for Dumbo the mayor. Good job!

The overcrowded conditions at a state hearing for a proposed power plant prompted some attendees to take their complaints to the City Council meeting in the same building. Hearing them, Councilman Michael McCutchon asked again to revisit the council’s endorsement of the plant.

Mayor Henry Garrett put him off, but McCutchon appears to have the votes to reopen the discussion.

Judge Keller is a disgrace. Onward with impeachment!

Court of Criminal Appeals judge Sharon Keller been called "Texas' Judge Dread". A self described "pro prosecutor" judge who not only has voted to keep the innocent behind bars, but infamously closed the courthouse denying a death penalty appeal for Michael Richards.

Now Democratic Fort Worth State Rep. Lon Burnam has filed a resolution calling for her impeachment. Good job!

More here and here.

Does the idea of a Bush policy center make you laugh, cringe or hide under your desk?

After laughing and cringing I have to wonder who is funding such a thing and why would anyone do it?

George W. Bush's presidential library is taking shape in early designs, evolving from separate buildings at SMU into a single, multi-story complex with a policy institute nearly two-thirds bigger than first proposed.

The overall structure has grown to an estimated 207,000 square feet – akin to an average Wal-Mart Super Center – making it more than twice as large as his father's, the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum at Texas A&M University.

So, W's is bigger than Daddy Bush's. I'll bet SMU is so proud.

Is police suspension insurance a good idea?

I guess it's like malpractice insurance for doctors. It makes you wonder though. Should punishments be prepaid, shared and discounted? Does that encourage wrong doing?

Several Austin police officers, fearful that a misstep on the street will result in an unpaid suspension, demotion or firing, have begun taking out insurance policies to protect themselves from a potential monetary hit.

Police union representatives are discussing extending such coverage to each of its 1,500 members through a program with locally operated Advocate, MD Insurance of the Southwest Inc.

Mexican tourists spend big bucks in US

[Pauline] Sullivan's team interviewed shoppers from Mexico at the San Marcos outlet malls on Interstate 35 and found that on average, they arrived more than twice a year in travel parties of five people, who together spent an average total of $1,583 a day and $4,700 over the course of the entire trip.

The average travel party spent $768 a day on apparel, $140 for lodging, $115 for meals, $65 at grocery stores, $81 for ground transportation, and $368 for other shopping and purchases, the survey found.

Tom Jenkins, general manager at the Prime Outlet Mall in San Marcos, said 30 percent of the mall's visitors are from Mexico, a total of more than a million Mexican nationals a year.

Cuellar and Hinojosa to talk with Calderón about drug violence

We need to work together to solve this problem.

South Texas lawmakers headed to Mexico Monday to meet President Felipe Calderón and discuss additional U.S. aid, including expanded intelligence sharing, to curb the rising threat of violence from narcotics cartels.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, were part of a U.S. congressional delegation to meet with Calderón and Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina about drug-fueled violence along the border.

“It’s an alarm I’ve been ringing since 2005,” Cuellar said before leaving for Mexico City. “Violence has now spread out to other places.”

Drug cartels are waging a turf war across Mexico.

San Patricio County to sue Nueces County over property taxes

San Patricio County Commissioners authorized filing a lawsuit against Nueces County to stop it from collecting taxes on property that courts have ruled belongs to San Patricio County.

If the courts have ruled, why is Nueces County still collecting? Who dropped the ball?

TPA blog roundup time! Yippee!

It is Monday, and that means it is time for another edition of the Texas Progressive Alliance's Weekly Round-Up.

Off the Kuff takes a look at the early possibilities for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2010.

Vince at Capitol Annex takes a serious look at Speaker Straus' Committee Assignments.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants to know how police officers can mistake a 12-year-old black girl standing in her own yard for 3 white prostitutes?

WCNews at Eye On Williamson has noticed there's been plenty of misinformation about the the New Deal during the stimulus debate. This week was no different, Another misleading GOP talking point on the New Deal.

McBlogger takes a look at the current economic situation in light of renewed attacks on the stimulus plan. His conclusion is that you really shouldn't listen to those on the right since they don't, you know, understand what's going on or have an accurate read on historical analogues.

Are you terrorized by Barnett Shale gas well compressor noise? If so, you aren't the only one. TXsharon knows about a recent court case that might be helpful. Learn about it on Bluedaze then help us get OGAP here so we can rein in out of control drilling.

Possible KBH replacement, TX Sen. Florence Shapiro, does some political posturing with the new "MySpace bill".The Texas Cloverleaf reports.

Neil at Texas Liberal reviewed structural causes of longterm poverty. Also, Neil determined that the song running through his mind for the past 20 years was Bring Me Edelweiss. It's a song from an Austrian techno-dance group. Check out the video.

John Coby at Bay Area Houston thinks the leadership at the University of Texas is a bunch of Rotten Teasip Bastards and the Student Government leaders are a bunch of Teasip wusses.

DosCentavosopines onSenate Bill 320; a bill to require any Justice of the Peace in a county of 200,000+ to be a licensed attorney. And Stace is not happy at all about it.

jobsanger expresses his disappointment in Panhandle legislator Warren Chisum in "Chisum's Law Is Abject Failure" and celebrates Chisum's fall from his powerful chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee in "Chisum And Swinford Are Out".

Xanthippas at Three Wise Men examines the claim that groups on the left are in the pocket for the Obama administration, and have sacrificed their credibility on issues like the stimulus package.

The two front-runners for the Democratic nomination for Texas Governor in 2010 are Kinky Friedman and Tom Schieffer. Seriously. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has the details.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is is angry at the sloppy traffic cops we call the US Strategic Command. They oversee our Space Surveillance Network tracking thousands of pieces of space junk orbiting over our heads every day. So, is this just a movie to them? Shouldn't they sound nsome kind of alarm when a collision is imminent? There is Serious Space Debris - US Command Fails Role As Traffic Cop.

WhosPlayin wonders why roadside puppy sales continue despite a new ordinance banning it in Lewisville.

Rep. Harold Dutton is an ass!

Under the Dome asked if state Rep. Harold Dutton Jr., D-Houston, was joking when he reacted to House committee assignments by saying he plans to make a daily motion to remove Speaker Joe Straus.

He said he wasn't kidding.

Bwaaa haaa. He didn't get the committee assignment he wanted. He liked Craddick better. Bwaaaa whaaa.

More on Dutton.

Violence in Mexico is the new right wing rallying issue

Violence in Mexico that spills over into the US or might spill over into the US is a perfect issue for racist thugs. Think about it. Pump up the Hispanic hating rhetoric about immigrants. Dream about starting another war. Picture US military figures using cool toys to tame Mexico. Ah, Bush in a flight suit.

Obama et al need to stop this avenue of destruction now. Napolitano and Clinton should each devote some resources and announce plans to address violence and immigration issues. Look at the big picture and communicate quickly. Please.

Rick Perry is getting on board with the thugs.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s office is developing a contingency plan aimed at taking action in border communities should the escalating violence in Northern Mexico find its way into Texas.

Google some of the right wing blogs. Listen to Glenn Beck. If you can stand to do it.

Meanwhile, in reality: 'Baby boomers expected to flock to Mexico'

"Many groups in Mexico want to develop these housing projects," said Javier Godínez, president of the Mexican Association of Retirement Communities. "People want to keep the same quality of life they have in the United States but they want it for a fairer price."

About 1.2 million retired Americans and Canadians already live in Mexico, and Godínez said that number will grow as people discover how modern and safe life can be in Mexico.

In fact, Godínez said, despite ghastly headlines of cartel violence and government corruption, many cities in Mexico offer a relaxed lifestyle far removed from danger.

record number of applications for Rice, UT, Texas A&M and SMU

Interesting. Are people going to college instead of looking for a job? Are they reacting to a tough job market by getting a good education?

Hey! Texas legislature. Listen up! Fix the college tuition problem. Give more money. Have more slots for top tier schools. Make college affordable for all. Especially those who want to come up from the bottom.

Mikal Watts slated to testify for Mauricio Celis

This ought to be interesting.

In four days of testimony last week, the jury heard from 17 witnesses, including three lawyers who worked for Celis’ firm, CGT Law Group International; a CGT client who said Celis represented her; Celis’ accountant; former Nueces County Sheriff Larry Olivarez; and police commander and former chief Bryan Smith.

Testimony from prosecution witnesses will continue at 9 a.m. today at the Nueces County Courthouse. Still to come is testimony from trial lawyer Mikal Watts, whose firm took some referrals from CGT.

Some referrals? My impression was more than that.

A call for the US Senate to act on Burris

If Burris perjured himself to be a senator, kick him out. If he lied by omission or by a technicality, censure him. Really.

Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., appointed late last year to replace Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate, has informed Illinois lawmakers that he did not tell them the complete story about his contacts with close associates of Gov. Rod Blagojevich before he got the job.

The admission came in a sworn affidavit filed quietly by Burris last week with the Illinois House, and it raises questions about the new senator’s credibility as he begins to finish the final two years of Obama’s term.

More fallout from KBR in Iraq

Ten contractors and dozens of National Guardsmen — including a dying senior officer — allege that Houston-based KBR knowingly allowed them to be poisoned by cancer-causing chemicals at a Basra water plant where they were making repairs to keep Iraq’s oil fields pumping during the war.

Allegations from the workers, six of whom live in or near Houston, are documented in a federal arbitration complaint pending in Houston and a related federal lawsuit filed in December by the guardsmen in Indiana.

They had to drink contaminated water and go through arbitration? Republicans like their cronies sooooo much. Troops, not so much.

Texas pay too little for doctors taking CHIP or Medicaid patients

Republicans have found so many creative ways to stop children from getting health care. You just have to wonder what would happen if Republicans actually tried to solve problems rather than cause them.

Lawmakers are working to put more children on the state Children's Health Insurance Program and Medicaid, but even if they succeed, those kids may have a tough time finding doctors in El Paso willing to see them.

The problem, according to physicians' groups, is that doctors' pay from state-funded health-care programs is simply not enough to maintain a viable business.

A 2008 survey taken by the Texas Medical Association showed that only 42 percent of the state's doctors said they would take on new Medicaid patients. The numbers were even lower -- 34 percent -- for CHIP patients.

How to get Hispanic women to treat high blood pressure?

Vangie DeLeon received a $5,000 grant from Christus Spohn Health System Foundation’s Nursing Excellence Fund to start a study of 126 Hispanic women 18 and older with high blood pressure to teach them how to monitor their blood pressure and eat healthier.

The study, which begins in March, is for her dissertation for a Ph.D. in nursing research from Texas Woman’s University in Houston.

Are lenders cheating homeowners AND buyers over foreclosures?

The house on the 1200 block of Arnold was appraised at $40,000, and when it was foreclosed in 2004, the minimum bid was $8,029.

On paper, at least, it was the type of property that normally would draw the interest of many a sophisticated buyer.

Yet there were no apparent bidders. Public records show the house sold for the minimum bid — to the lender, Will Brinson of San Antonio, who doubled as the auctioneer.

You have to admit that story sticks to high heaven.

lipstick on a pig: fence beautification project

In an effort to beautify the border fence surrounding the south side of campus, hundreds of students and community activists gathered Saturday at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College to plant flowers.

People plant flowers in cemeteries, too, don't they? Well, at least they're trying.

Here's a headline you DON'T want to see

'South Texas mayor charged with terroristic threat'

Deputies in Starr County on Thursday arrested La Grulla Mayor Oscar Gonzalez, 41, on a charge of making a terroristic threat. He is accused of using a phone to threaten to kill city commissioner Joel Zarate, the McAllen Monitor reported in its online edition Thursday.

Starr County's Sheriff was recently arrested for participating in a drug cartel.

Texas Republicans who grandstanded instead of helping, criticize stimulus bill

Republican policies brought us to this economic crisis. What do Republicans do? Ask for more of the same while refusing to work with Democrats to offer the best solutions. Partisanship over country.

The GOP House members whose districts include Tarrant County — Michael Burgess of Lewisville, Kenny Marchant of Coppell, Joe Barton of Arlington and Kay Granger of Fort Worth — and the state’s two GOP senators, Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, voted against the bill.

"We don’t dispute that we’re in a crisis — we just disagree on what to do about it," Cornyn said. "The tragedy of this trillion-dollar bill is that it ignores a hard lesson learned: We cannot spend our way to prosperity."

Cornyn is a big tool.

Bend over. Farmers to raise insurance rates

Don't ya' just love lax or nonexistent regulation?

Hundreds of thousands of homeowners in North Texas and across the state will see their insurance rates increase by double digits beginning Monday after state regulators decided not to object to the rate hikes by Farmers Insurance.

Stimulus bill means South Texas levee repairs

Good job!

The national economic stimulus package now awaiting President Obama’s signature includes more than enough money to finally fix the Rio Grande Valley’s crumbling levees.

A total of $220 million was allocated to the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for the “repair and rehabilitation in the water quantity program.” The act says the funds are available for obligation through Sept. 30, 2010.

Schools will see money, too.

Texas Republicans let unlicensed, untested peanut plant operate even after recalls started

Republicans really, really don't believe in regulation. Even after the results are disastrous. Think about the damage done to the good guys who followed the rules and now people won't eat their peanut products? As for the dead and the sick? Arguments for their benefit fall on deaf Republican ears. Business, if honest, should be begging for regulation.

Even amid a national salmonella outbreak linked to peanuts, state health officials allowed a Texas peanut plant last month to continue shipping its product though they knew the facility had not been licensed or inspected since its opening nearly four years ago.

The processing plant in Plainview was allowed to remain in business for several more weeks after state health workers learned it was owned by the Peanut Corp. of America, whose Georgia plant was identified last month as the source of the nationwide salmonella outbreak.

Let the people sicken and die. Who cares as long as the product is shipped and the CEO gets profits.

State rep thinks medical insurance payments should go towards medical services

What about high pay for executives? What about fancy digs, limousines, and 2o-course meals in Paris? And, those campaign contributions cost a lot.

[District 28 State Rep. Dr. John] Zerwas, who campaigned on the slogan “Put a Doctor in the House,” filed HB 531 along with state reps Rafael Anchia and Dr. Mark Shelton.

The bill would mandate that 75 cents of every premium dollar collected in the general and small-business insurance market “must go to medical services, limiting non-medical costs (including profits) to 25 cents per dollar.”

For the individual insurance market, only 65 cents per dollar would have to go for medical services under the bill. For large-group insurance, the ratio jumps to 80%.

Who to believe in the Mauricio Celis case?

A Nuecec County ex-sheriff or a Corpus Christi ex-police chief? Larry Olivarez or Bryan Smith? Oddly enough, I believe Bryan Smith.

Police Cmdr. Bryan Smith, who served as chief until late last year, said former Sheriff Larry Olivarez introduced Celis as an attorney on the phone and during a 2007 meeting in Smith’s office.

Olivarez, who was Nueces County sheriff until 2006, had testified earlier that he never introduced Celis as a lawyer to anyone, including Smith.

Celis hired Olivarez after the voters tossed him out of office. Prior to that Celis gave him campaign donations. Still, even without that knowledge, I would have believed Smith over Olivarez. Bryan Smith is a sleaze ball, no doubt. I'm just saying who I'd believe in this case.

Sharp tuition increases mean sharp pay increase for UT execs

What about affordable higher education? Republicans like the haves to have more. You? They don't care about you or your children.

Executives at the University of Texas at Austin saw their take-home pay rise sharply along with steep tuition increases, with some salaries increasing by 30 percent or more in four years, according to an Associated Press analysis.

This is just shameful. I wonder if Kay Bailey will start hammering Rick P on this?

San Benito likes their school superintendent

School board members gave Superintendent Tony Limón high grades in an annual evaluation that found his performance "exceeds expectations," board President Joe G. Gonzalez said Wednesday.

Hidalgo official accused of using taxpayer money for his home

A Hidalgo County Buildings and Grounds supervisor was arrested Thursday and accused of buying hundreds of dollars worth of home improvements using taxpayer money.

Investigators said they believe Javier Carreon, 36, ordered supplies through his job as a general foreman to wire a utility room at his Edinburg home and then billed the county somewhere between $500 and $1,500 for the project.

Sniping, racism, fighting over that d*mn fence in Brownsville

CASA's mad at Brownsville city commissioner Charlie Atkinson's remarks about 'border crossers'.

Border wall opponents say they may "scream" the Pledge of Allegiance at tonight’s City Commission meeting in protest at remarks made by Mayor Pro Tem Charlie Atkinson that questioned their citizenship.

The No Border Wall group is unhappy with the 'new' contract with Homeland Security.

The No Border Wall coalition has put out a Fact Sheet about the City of Brownville’s proposed deal with the Department of Homeland Security.

Janet Napolitano should put a moratorium on further fence construction. Janet, please meet with Hillary Clinton to formulate a sensible plan to meet the challenges of sharing a border with Mexico.

Texas peanut plant as ugly as Georgia peanut plant

This is what deregulation, the Republican dream, looks like. Rat turds, bird feathers, and salmonella in your child's peanut butter.

Texas health officials ordered a recall Thursday of every product ever shipped from a Plainview peanut processing plant since March 2005 after inspectors discovered the food production area had been contaminated.

Inspectors found dead rodents, rodent excrement and bird feathers in a crawl space above a food production area at the Peanut Corp. of America’s Plainview plant, authorities from the Texas Department of State Health Services said Thursday.

The plant’s air handling system was not completely sealed and was pulling debris from the infested crawl space onto exposed food products in production areas. It was unclear whether products may have reached consumers as distributors took steps to pull items from stores shelves before they could be sold.

Sure. Now the Texas health officials checked it out. After the publicity forced them to.

Suspended Brownsville ISD superintendent fights back

Superintendent Hector Gonzales on Tuesday filed a $10 million lawsuit against four members of the BISD Board of Trustees for defamation of character and breach of contract.

The lawsuit was the latest salvo in a controversy that has embroiled the Brownsville Independent School District ever since a new school board was seated after the November general election. Brownsville attorney Ruben R. Peña filed it on Gonzales' behalf in the 107th state District Court against Trustees Rolando Aguilar, Ruben Cortez Jr., Joe Colunga and Richard Zayas.

Moveon goes after John Cornyn

Cornyn is such a tool. Good job. The Texas Democratic Party has more about the Cornyn and Hutchison playing hooky over the stimulus bill.

"In these tough times, Texans expect our Senators to work overtime and get things back on track, like so many of us are doing," said Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie. "But while some Texans are working for the weekend and others are working all weekend, John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison can't be bothered to show up for work at all."



"These two slackers are an embarrassment and not worthy of representing hard-working Texans who go to work every day to provide for their families and contribute to their communities," Richie continued.

Will there be more Texas flagship universities?

On higher education, the [special House committee] panel said the Legislature should consider increasing the number of flagship universities in Texas by at least three and as many as five over the next decade "to substantially bolster the state's economic and educational health." The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University are now the only public flagship schools in the state.

"Unfortunately, Texas is now less competitive because of its limited number of Tier One research universities," the panel said, calling for an initial investment of $300 million from the state's "rainy day" fund to begin recruiting "outstanding research faculty."

Harlingen likes its school superintendent

Harlingen schools Superintendent Steve Flores' contract was renewed with a pay raise early Wednesday for one year with a pay raise after a late-night closed session by school board members.

School board President George McShan said after the meeting that Flores' salary will be raised from $189,500 to $200,000 for the 2009-2010 school year.

Affiliates LLC banned from building houses in Texas for life

What did they do? Donate to Democrats? Not give enough money to Republicans? Compete with Bob Perry? Surely it can't have anything to do with shoddy homes or poor business practices. The Texas Residential Construction Commission never seemed to care about that before.

People have lots to say in Brownsville over that d*mn fence!

The people don't like it.

The Coalition of Amigos in Solidarity and Action cannot in good faith support the proposed deal between the City of Brownsville and the Department of Homeland Security at this time.

Some city officials do like their deal.

In the interview, [City Commissioner Charlie] Atkinson, [City Manager Charlie] Cabler, [City Attorney John] Chosy and [outside attorney Charlie] Willette argue passionately that they have made the right decision under the circumstances to back the deal offered by the Department of Homeland Security. They say a “temporary” fence is better than a “permanent” one and that failure to accept the DHS proposal would lead to the loss of major economic development projects, including the proposed East Loop overweight truck corridor.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton should step up and provide real leadership.

True national security depends on local community’s knowledge and our current administration understands that. With environmental, economical and political threats that are globally linked, the United States must work with every other nation to bring common well-being to our earth’s future generations.

Henry's used disabled men

The Texas company fielding accusations its owners operated an illegal work camp by sending mentally disabled men from Texas to work in the Iowa meat processing industry for little pay is not a stranger to federal and state regulators.

Yet, tiny Henry’s Turkey Service, a labor broker from Goldthwaite, Texas, has survived previous scrutiny and stayed in business since at least 1966 in Iowa.

...

“They appear to be virtual slaves, making $50 or $60 a month, and appeared to have been working 12 hours a day,” Iowa State Sen. Joe Bolkom, D-Iowa City, said.

Although there is nothing barring the mentally disabled from working in meat processing or other industries, it is how the men’s pay was allegedly docked and their disability payments routed directly to the men’s bank accounts, controlled by Henry’s, that is now the subject of at least two federal investigations and one criminal inquiry launched by the state of Iowa.

Employers can pay less than minimum wage to the mentally disabled, but they have to obtain a waiver to do so. Iowa and federal authorities have asked Henry’s for such a document along with evidence that they paid Iowa unemployment taxes, as required by all employers.

Two former Cameron County assistant DAs arrested

One for domestic abuse and the other for pooping at an IHOP. I suspect alcohol was involved in both cases.

Michael Pete Trejo, a former Cameron County assistant district attorney, was arrested about 10 a.m. after officers responded to an emergency call "hang up" from his residence at 3122 Emerald Valley, according to a police report.

...

"According to state law, if an officer sees evidence of family violence, he is compelled to make an arrest," said Sgt. Jimmy Manrrique, a spokesman for the Brownsville Police Department.

Who's the pooper?

Thomas Whitley Teague, 26, was arrested at 3 a.m. Sunday morning after police responded to a call of a man defecating outside the restaurant at 2430 Pablo Kisel Blvd., according to a Brownsville Police report.

Bexar County Commissioners Court goes nutso.

Eliminating a department. Firing the boss. Quick setup of agenda to do it. That's not the way to inspire confidence in your actions.

In a contentious split vote, the Bexar County Commissioners Court on Tuesday decided to disband the Criminal Justice Planning and Coordination Department, fire its executive director and fold its operations and personnel into other departments.

...

[Commissioner Tommy] Adkisson and Commissioner Sergio “Chico” Rodriguez said they were disappointed that they were notified of the agenda item late Friday afternoon, and they called for a work session to discuss the policy change before its implementation.

KBR pleads guilty.

For killing US soldiers with shoddy work? For ripping off US taxpayers? Not this time.

Houston-based KBR pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges alleging it paid millions of dollars in bribes to Nigerian officials to win contracts to build a massive natural gas project in the country.

So, they're willing to pay bribes. And, they've done it before. Hmmmm.

What is it with Asarco and the TCEQ? Shapleigh wants to know.

With a Democratic president, is it going to be illegal to use government agencies to feather your cronies beds?

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh said Tuesday he would continue a legal fight to obtain documents from the state's environmental agency over its dealings with Asarco even after the company announced it plans to demolish its smelter in El Paso.

"We see a pattern of an agency penetrated by polluters," Shapleigh said, "so we want the road map to find out how polluters now control" the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Here's a thought. STOP BUILDING THAT D*MN FENCE!

I know. It's a construction project. How about tearing the bad parts of the fence down?

Several South Texas congressmen are asking President Barack Obama to temporarily suspend the construction of the border fence to give him the chance to evaluate border security operations along the U.S-Mexico border.

How about looking at the whole package? Family interactions. Immigration. Commerce. Labor. Water resources. The environment. Drug cartel violence. Kidnapping. Tourism. Good neighbor diplomacy.

Deregulation means companies can do whatever they want to you. And, they do.

Don't wonder why your electric rates are so high. Wonder why people in Texas elect Republicans who like cronies better than citizens.

Off the Kuff, Bay Area Houston, and McBlogger have more.

Texas branch of errant peanut company is closed

The company [Peanut Corporation of America] at the center of an investigation into a deadly national salmonella outbreak has suspended operations at a second peanut processing plant.

It was unlicensed and unregulated here in Texas. I'll be Perry will be out crying that jobs were lost.

Edcouch-Elsa ISD superintendent suspended

The Edcouch-Elsa school board voted Monday to suspend Superintendent Michael Sandroussi with pay, citing past "mismanagement" of district funds and his month-long absence in the midst of a financial crisis.

...

The embattled school chief has come under heavy criticism in recent months from teachers and parents who say he should shoulder the blame for the $10 million shortfall with which the district started the school year.

Apparently, 12 year old black girls can be mistaken for white prostitutes in their own yards

This story is just disgusting. Galveston police officers responding to a call about three white prostitutes and male drug dealers went after a 12 year old black girl sent outside to flip the circuit breaker on her house. What? So, if that isn't bad enough, they charge her with felony assault for mouthing off to them. What? If that isn't bad enough, the DA takes it to trial. What? Who has any sense in Galveston? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? Didn't somebody along the line say, hey, this is a 12 year old who wasn't doing anything wrong when the police started with her?

There was a mistrial and the prosecutors will not retry the case. Finally. And ounce of sense and perspective. There is a federal suit against the three officers. Maybe justice will finally be done.

Investigation at Beaumont Army Medical Center is a chance to show Democrats are the ones who care about our troops

Top brass gathered at Beaumont Army Medical Center on Monday to provide an update on efforts to contact more than 2,000 diabetes patients who might have been exposed to infectious diseases, and they pledged to find and offer testing to all of those people.

They also said two investigations -- one local and one done by a higher command -- will get to the "root causes" of the problem.

Root causes? How about a Republican administration who had a history of cutting corners when it comes to providing care to veterans and active troops?

Guess who gets to clean up after Asarco? We do.

Corporate welfare and crony town logic. Aren't you glad Republicans run Texas? Not!

While the TCEQ and Asarco propose the cost to clean up the site could be about $50 million, others worry the cost could be five times that. And if a federal court doesn't require Asarco to put enough money aside to clean up the Asarco pollution, Bernstein said, taxpayers will have to make up the difference.

The TCEQ originally gave Asarco permits to startup again. TCEQ only rescinded the permits after it was clear the EPA wouldn't allow Asarco to go forward with the situation. Whose side will the TCEQ be on when evaluating the cost? Cronies or citizens?

Corpus Christi ISD less infatuated with blowhard James Duerr

James Duerr is known for declaring the death of North Padre Island and Flour Bluff when his desire to block access to the beach failed.

[Appraisal board chairman John] Sendejar said Duerr has misrepresented board members and skewed facts when he went on a radio talk show and wrote a letter published in the Caller-Times.

"That's all within his right, but the information he's telling people is non-factual," Sendejar said. "The board members are very upset because he's targeted them. The only thing the board can do is recommend that (the school district) recalls him. It's pretty sad."

Duerr's actions include questioning Sendejar's eligibility to serve on the board, asserting that he should be excluded because he is a city employee. Sendejar, a London school trustee, was appointed by a group of small school districts.

Who thought it was a good idea to put him on the board in the first place?

Why are they continuing to build that d*mn fence?

Psst, Obama. I know you're busy. But, your gal Janet Napolitano is on the job. Right? Why not use some of that pragmatism to stop that d*mn fence!

More than a month after the scheduled completion of 670 miles of security fencing across the country's southwest border, nearly 70 miles remain unfinished - almost all of it in South Texas.

And while plans are moving forward, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says building the fence here has been more challenging, more expensive and more time-consuming than originally thought.

Why is the new contract of that d*mn fence in Brownsville so much like the old one that residents objected to? Why is the location clouded?

It's blog roundup time!

It's Monday, and that means it is time for another edition of the Texas Progressive Alliance's weekly round-up. Enjoy this week's look at the best of the TPA.

TXsharon made another video this week and it's gross! Watch it on Bluedaze then answer this question and this question if you can and know that HELP IS ON THE WAY!

And speaking of Oil and Gas, WhosPlayin analyzed a contract his city of Lewisville made, leasing its mineral rights cheap to purposely bring in oil and gas development to the suburban Texas city of 92,000.

The Texas Cloverleaf brings you the Trinity Toll Road Boondoggle, soon to be funded by your tax dollars.

There are four US Attorneys in Texas. Off the Kuff takes a look at the people who want one of those jobs.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is concerned about the changing mental state in America. Are people becoming meaner? What do you think about our Mean Economy Spotlights Mean Spirits - Op Ed

Violence in Mexico and on the US border can't be ignored any longer. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants Hillary Clinton, not Glenn Beck, to provide solutions.

Adam at Three Wise Men explores the possibility of Howard Dean as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Neil at Texas Liberal writes about President Obama's policies for rural America. Our cities and rural areas have more in common than we realize. It would be good if urban and rural office holders in the Texas Legislature would think about and talk about how they could help each other.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the fireworks over UTIMCO this week in Oh, the outrage!.

Over at Texas Kaos, lightseeker asks How Long Will We Have to Put Up With these Arrogant Tools? What has set him off is deposed Czar Craddick's last corrupt act - destroying potential evidence of big a tool he is and was.

jobsanger tells us A Tale Of Two Coaches. Both are winning high school coaches, but one is a real teacher and the other is an embarrassment.

Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at the fact that State Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stepehenville) is spending campaign cash to buy stocks in companies like AIG, Halliburton, and more.