Destroy a neighborhood to help people bypass Brownsville

Double crony time leaving the residents to suffer.

A number of residents in West Brownsville wish the CCRMA [to abandon the idea], since the toll road would run smack through the neighborhood, on the right-of-way currently occupied by the Union Pacific railroad tracks. The tracks are slated for removal under a separate county project.

Martha Marroquin, for one, said she and other West Brownsville residents who oppose the toll road “have not been listened to,” despite repeating themselves many times to authorities. West Brownsville, the city’s first subdivision, is a historic mix of dilapidated properties and well maintained homes, some of them restored. The neighborhood contains households of varying income levels and diverse ethnicities.

Marroquin says she’s open to just about anything — as long as it’s not a toll road.

Writing a check doesn't wipe away crony actions by Eddie Bernice Johnson

Either she cared so little about the scholarships, she paid no attention to who got them and let aides do the crony dealing. Or, she knew full well that money was going to relatives and friends. Neither answer looks good.

U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson awarded eight scholarships last year to her grandsons and a top aide's children – bringing to 23 the number of awards she handed out since 2005 in violation of Congressional Black Caucus Foundation eligibility rules.

The Dallas Morning News says it all. 'Rep. Johnson turns program into personal college fund'

Is it retaliation or just doing government business in the dark?

Nueces County republican DA and Sheriff look really bad.

In an indictment that open government advocates call outrageous and that others believe is nothing more than retaliation, the Nueces County District Attorney charged Adan Muñoz, the executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, with two counts of misusing official information. The indictment alleges that Muñoz used his office to illegally release confidential information related to a suicide in the Nueces County Jail. Release of the information incensed Nueces County Sheriff Jim Kaelin, who told local reporters that the case was still under investigation and that the documents were not Muñoz's to release.

If I had to guess, I'd pick both retaliation and doing government business in the dark. Why just settle for one bad deed.

Will BP executives go to jail?

Wouldn't that be nice.  Holding people accountable for destroying lives and our environment.

There's little doubt that BP and possibly other companies involved will pay billions in criminal fines for the spilled oil and injured or dead wildlife, because the applicable laws don't leave corporations much defense. Generally, if the oil is spilled in the water and it's clear where it came from, that's all that's required for conviction.

Bringing criminal charges against individuals, though, typically has been more difficult. Most legal principles shield corporate officers from direct personal liability for violations by the corporation, in line with the idea that corporations are separate legal entities.

But over the years, courts have developed a "responsible corporate officer doctrine" that exposes individuals to liability for corporate wrongdoing even if those individuals were not involved or even aware of it. It's been used repeatedly in Clean Water Act violations.

La Marque city expenses under scrutiny

That's not a bad thing.

In La Marque, three council members — Mann, Deanie Barrett and Connie Trube — are being subjected to recall, largely because they’ve asked questions about basic accountability.

The more questions they’ve asked, the more it’s become obvious that the city is paying some people to do very little. Some people don’t want that to change and are working overtime to get rid of these three.

McAllen must pay its teachers

The McAllen school district violated state law when it failed to give required pay raises to many of its teachers and other employees last year, a Texas Education Agency judge ruled earlier this week.

Does Brownsville want to pay tolls to some republican crony?

The only way to pay for building a new road along part of Brownsville's Union Pacific rail corridor — once the track is out, that is — is to make it a toll road.

That'€™s according to David Allex, head of the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority, the agency behind the plan to build the proposed West Parkway tollway on an eight-mile stretch of the Union Pacific corridor. The city of Brownsville doesn'€™t have the money, he said, and neither does the Texas Department of Transportation.

Of course, David Allex owns 'Allex International Properties' and is a partner in 'Avanza International Business Consultants, Mexico'.  No potential conflicts there.  What was I saying about taking bread out of babies' mouths to fund bigger yachts?

More on some aspects of the proposed toll road here.

BP to face an ever growing class action suit over emissions

While the world was focused on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico , a BP refinery here released huge amounts of toxic chemicals into the air that went unnoticed by residents until many saw their children develop respiratory problems.

For 40 days after a piece of equipment critical to the refinery's operation broke down, a total of 538,000 pounds of toxic chemicals, including the carcinogen benzene, poured out of the refinery.

Rather than taking the costly step of shutting down the refinery to make repairs, the engineers at the plant diverted gases to a smokestack and tried to burn them off, but tens of thousands of pounds still escaped into the air, according to state environmental officials.

That's BP for you. Children's health loses out when profits are at stake. Thanks to republican 'small government', BP thinks they can get away with it.  Will they?

Defanging extremists

When I saw this Dallas Morning News editorial headline 'Find better ways to defang extremists', I thought ok. I've been wondering that myself. Our political leaders used to keep the real nutcases in check. Not anymore. Any time someone tries to contradict Rush Limbaugh, there's hell to pay.  The republican 'leaders' are now trying to stay ahead of the slobbering mobs.

Too bad the DMN is talking about Pakistani extremists.   What do we do here?  The DMN gives this hint:

"For an ideology to resonate, there has to be some sort of grievance," says Peter Neumann, a radicalization specialist teaching at Georgetown University. "If you take away the grievance, the ideology won't resonate anymore."

What are the slobbering mobs all upset about? The slow demise of the middle class packaged and marketed as the invasion of Muslim Hispanics. They're too full of irrational hate to see the greedy corporate CEOs taking the bread out of their babies mouths to fund a bigger yacht for themselves. C'est la vie.

Why aren't Texas students doing well on standardized tests?

Of the nearly 102,000 students who took the Algebra I test in May, for example, just 57 percent met the passing standard on the 50-question exam. Only 12 percent achieved "commended performance" for correctly answering most of the items.

Results were similar on the six other end-of-course tests administered in hundreds of school districts across the state. Some that were required to give the exams so the state could gauge the early performance, while others voluntarily tested their students to get a leg up on the new requirement.

Maybe some kids live in republican households where public education, logic, and facts are held in low esteem.

It's Monday TPA blog roundup time!

The Texas Progressive Alliance sure hopes that Harris County has a disaster recovery plan for the loss of its voting machines as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

Off the Kuff had three more interviews this week, with State Reps. Armando Walle, Ellen Cohen, and Kristi Thibaut.

Meet Jeff "The Trucker" Evans, an unemployed 49-year-old whose unemployment benefits were restored by Congressional Democrats after a Republican filibuster caused the payments to temporarily cease. Eye On Williamson explains how misdirected Tea Party anger causes Jeff the Trucker to vote against his economic best interest.

John Cornyn, known as a rapist enabler, decides to waffle on 14th amendment to the constitution. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is certain that Cornyn doesn't care about civil rights - just his fat a**.

Over at TexasKaos, lightseeker summaries the latest scandals at TYC. The more things change over there, the more they remain the same, sadly.... Check it out : Texas Youth Commission Abuses Make the News Again.

Neil at Texas Liberal attended press conferences held by both Houston Votes and by a local so-called Tea Party group, as a possible pattern of harassment and intimidation against likely Democratic voters in Harris County may be at work. Also, Neil announced that he will now also be blogging at The Daily Hurricane as well as at Texas Liberal. Neil is also a featured politics reader-blogger at the Houston Chronicle.

WhosPlayin reports that the local school district sent a letter to the Attorney General's office requesting exemption from release on the grounds that some personal expenses on district credit cards were too embarrassing to release.

The warehouse where election machines are stored erupted in flames last Friday morning, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs had the early line on what it means for Houston and the surrounding area, which represent 15% of the statewide vote tally. Coupled with the histrionics of Leo Vasquez vis-a-vis Houston Votes, it's going to be a real lively election season (and that's before a single race gets mentioned).

Eddie Bernice Johnson accused of using scholarship funds for family and friends

If this is true, then shame on Eddie Bernice Johnson.  Nepotism and cronyism should be called out where ever it appears.

Longtime Dallas congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson has awarded thousands of dollars in college scholarships to four relatives and a top aide's two children since 2005, using foundation funds set aside for black lawmakers' causes.

The recipients were ineligible under anti-nepotism rules of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which provided the money. And all of the awards violated a foundation requirement that scholarship winners live or study in a caucus member's district.

Perry would rather Texas school children go without than sign a promise to give them the funds

All Rick Perry has to do is sign a pledge to give school money to the schools. That's it. Last time Perry used the Federal dollars instead of the state dollars promised to schools. What happened to the extra money meant for schools? Perry loves to give taxpayer dollars to his cronies.

Cause of Houston blaze that destroyed all election equipment still uncertain

Bay Area Houston has a suspicion that this blaze is all too convenient for Rick Perry.  The republican partisan Harris County Voter Registrar has already declared his intent to disenfranchise new voters.  Now a Bill White stronghold loses all of its voting machines.

A day after a fire destroyed virtually all of Harris County's electronic voting gear, officials were still determining the cause of the warehouse blaze and furiously exploring ways to accommodate voters come early November.

Was it arson?

Texas Supreme Court slaps down Hidalgo special election

The Texas Supreme Court was the last chance Hidalgo County voters had to be able to choose from more than a single candidate for Precinct 1 commissioner.

That’s according to a brief filed on behalf of A.C. Cuellar, the man currently occupying that seat by virtue of an interim appointment to the position.

But in the end, the state’s highest court did what others had done in hearing the county’s argument for a special election: It dismissed it.

The result: Democratic Party nominee Joel Quintanilla will be the sole Precinct 1 candidate to appear on the ballot in the Nov. 2 general election. Cuellar, who lost an 8-6 vote in May’s candidate forum that played out like so much political theater, will vie for voters’ support as a write-in candidate.

republican dirty dealing for Harris County republican judicial candidates

Crony is as crony does. Why should any republican politician be the least bit surprised?

As one consultant, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, put it, "[Harris County republican party Executive Director Jeff] Yates called for the [direct mail] bids, screened them, presented them to the judges, and bid against them for the work."

All with [Harris County republican chair Jared] Woodfill's blessing and while voicing unsubstantiated slurs against the original winner.

Typical republican activity.

Who knew it was against the law to sexually assault prisoners?

How were prison guards to know.  That kind of stuff might not be covered in their training.  Or, considered a priority.

Three Live Oak County corrections officers were arrested on suspicion of felony sexual assault Friday, nearly a week after two female inmates accused the male guards of sexually assaulting them in jail, authorities said.

The men turned themselves in and were released on bail the same day, Live Oak County Sheriff's officials said.

No problem. They're all out on bail. Yipee.

What caused the fire that destroyed Harris County election equipment?

I am very interested to know.  The result is voter suppression in a Bill White area of the state.

"The important thing here is that the Republicans who control county government and all election administration functions do not reduce the number of polling sites or do anything that would make it harder or less convenient for Harris County voters to participate in this critical election," said Anthony Gutierrez, deputy executive director of the Texas Democratic Party.

John Cornyn checks the way the wind blows, backs off changing 14th amendment

Rapist enabler John Cornyn has demonstrated no respect for the rights of others. Cornyn does value his own ability to stay in power.  What did the polls say John?  Or, did you just remember the latest demographic projections?

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn on Friday backed off his support of Congress taking up birthright citizenship after earlier joining prominent Republicans who have called for a review of the 14th Amendment.

No principled stands for Cornyn.

John Oliver of The Daily Show wondered if a Catholic church should be built near a playground

Apparently, the answer is still no.

A victims-rights group took the Archdiocese of San Antonio to task Thursday, claiming it has not made known that a priest who served stints in the Alamo City area was the subject of a sex-abuse lawsuit settled last year in Dallas for $4.6 million.

Father Thomas Behnke, who died in 2008 in his 80s, was accused of molesting six boys in Dallas and Oklahoma, which he denied in court filings, according to the Dallas Morning News.

In the San Antonio archdiocese, he worked in small towns in and around Pearsall, Moore and Bigfoot and at San Antonio's Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Teresa Parish as late as 1992, according to research by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Why does Corpus Christi have to be reminded to serve citizens as well as visitors?

Isn't government all about promoting the general welfare? Nope. Cronies, i.e. business interests first. Citizens are an after thought.

A few Flour Bluff residents Thursday made one thing clear to Destination Bayfront organizers: The park should benefit those who live across town as much as it does out-of-town visitors.

Destination Bayfront hopes to create a world-class tourist attraction on 27 acres of downtown waterfront property. About 15 people showed up to a town-hall meeting to let organizers know that whatever gets built in the open area near where the Memorial Coliseum once stood needs to be a draw for the whole city.

Did Live Oak correctional officers sexually assault imprisoned women?

Two female inmates from Jim Wells County who were being housed in Live Oak County have accused three jailers of sexual assault, said Live Oak County Sheriff Larry Busby.

For the last two weeks, both female inmates from Jim Wells were placed in segregation cells for discipline problems, Busby said. "On Sunday night (Aug. 22), (a 26-year-old female) of Corpus Christi said she needed to go to see a doctor because she had been assaulted. EMS was called in to check her out and she was subsequently transported to Spohn Hospital in Beeville by a deputy," Busby said.

Nueces County republican Sheriff and DA called out

As a threat to society, Adan Muñoz, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, former sheriff of Kleberg County, indicted on two felony counts of misuse of official information, should cause no sleepless nights.

The action of which Muñoz stands accused — turning a public record over to two journalists in response to a public information request; yep, that’s about the extent of it — threatens no one who would value the public’s right to know. It does, however, threaten Nueces County Sheriff Jim Kaelin enough to press the case, and District Attorney Anna Jimenez enough to bring it to a grand jury.

The allegations are that Muñoz released the jail intake form for Samuel Salazar, who hanged himself in custody Feb. 7. The form for Salazar was among many that a state jail inspector found to be incomplete. The form is supposed to help identify inmates who are known to be or observed to be mentally disabled or possibly suicidal.

republicans think laws are for other people, not them.

Will Robstown give school funds to businesses?

Isn't that backwards?  Aren't businesses supposed to be giving money to schools so that businesses will have educated workers?  Have republicans so manipulated the world that all of us must serve business interests always, all of the time with no reciprocity?

Robstown school board Vice President Osvaldo Romero appears to have the best of intentions in wanting to give $10,000 in school district funds toward the city’s economic development. Robstown certainly could use some economic development. New industry would grow its tax base and generate more money for the schools. So in a way the proposed $10,000 expenditure could be argued as an investment in education.

Harris County republican doesn't like people registering to vote

Voter group is like Acorn.  Does he mean helping the poor to register to vote?  Or, a group being singled out to vilify even though the villain is the accuser?  The Harris County registrar's office has a history of suppressing Democratic voters.

Two Texas activist groups, Houston Votes and Texans Together Education Fund, were accused Tuesday of an organized voter fraud campaign by Harris County Voter Registrar Leo Vasquez, who likened the groups to the now-discredited ACORN.

Leo Vasquez has already shown his partisan colors by having a republican operative in his office 'approving' voter applications.  Lets hope that the DOJ doesn't have too many Bushbots leftover.

Texans Together head Fred Lewis said that he has worked with Vasquez to clear up any discrepancies until recently.

"He is a liar and a political hack," Lewis said. "We are going to the Justice Department to make sure he doesn't make a mockery of the voting process."

Texas republican congressional reps love their DC special interest donations

Want to know why Texas is a forerunner of batsh*t crazy politics?

A Houston Chronicle analysis of campaign contributions to the Texas congressional delegation found that Texas Republicans have received more money from Washington interests than their Democratic colleagues and challengers.

Republican members of the Texas congressional delegation received more than $2.6 million from the nation's capital between Jan. 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010 — more than 90 percent of it from interest-group political action committees. Texas Democrats hauled in about $1.8 million from D.C. PACs in that same time period.

So important is Washington interest group money to Texas politicians of both parties that 31 of the state's 32 House members have netted more PAC proceeds from the banks of the Potomac than from their home state. The only exception: Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock.

Another example of republicans being incapable of getting good stuff done

republicans are only interested in making their lives better. Taking care of business for the people of Texas?  Not a priority.

After newspaper reports of disrepair and neglect in parks statewide, voters in 2007 approved Proposition 4, which allows the state to issue $1 billion in general obligation bonds to state parks. But so far, just 46 bonds have been issued totaling $69 million — less than 7 percent of the total approved. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department staffers are working on dozens of upgrades around the state. But a spokesman says the process to get the bonds approved and use the dollars is slow and cumbersome.

What's the matter? Aren't there any park improvement contractors willing to donate big bucks to Rick Perry?

republican 'small government' means dead puppies

The list of bad things that happen without government regulation is too long for one person to write.   But, you can add the heartbreak of sick and dead puppies to the list.

What's the difference between Rick Perry and Rod Blagojevich?

They both have big hair and seem to be dumb as rocks.  But, there's more.  Want to be a UT regent?

Over the past decade, the men and women chosen by Gov. Rick Perry to govern state universities have given his campaigns at least $5.8 million, according to an analysis by The Texas Tribune. About half of the governor’s appointed regents gave to his campaign; of those who gave, the average total given was about $64,000. The top giver, University of Texas System Regent Paul Foster, gave nearly $400,000.

Why is now the right time to bring whooping cranes to Louisiana?

Psst.  There's this little thing called a massive oil spill.

The whooping crane -- one of the world's most endangered birds and one of the first animals on the U.S. endangered list -- could be back in Louisiana's wetlands as early as February under a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal.

The long-legged birds with the distinctive call haven't lived in the wild in Louisiana since 1950.

Under the plan, young birds would be released into a pen about 125 miles west of New Orleans in Louisiana's bayou country after they are raised by people wearing shapeless white "crane suits."

Bishop says gay bashing priest was speaking for himself

All of the other gay bashing done by the Catholic Church is just irrelevant? Nope. Don't buy it.

More here.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M Catholics are evangelizing with 'Ask a Catholic a Question' days. Here's my question, 'Why is the Pope still covering for pedophiles? For example, why isn't he holding Bishops accountable for abuse cover ups.'  A backup question, 'Why did the church equate pedophilia with ordaining women priests?'

Who thinks Rick Perry spends his days trying to make Texas a better place?

I really doubt anybody on this earth could possibly think that.

The governor who considers himself one of the state's hardest workers has few official records to back up that claim -- especially compared to the detailed schedules kept by his fellow big-state governors, which were obtained by The Texas Tribune through open records requests.

Robstown fire chief arrested for making terroristic threats to daughter-in-law

That's the kind of headline you don't want to see.

TCEQ may soon screw Nueces County taxpayers

Who would a republican choose? A taxpayer or a crony?

A lot of Corpus Christi school tax payers could be looking at a much bigger bill in the future, depending on the outcome of a major decision by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. That decision will depend on the definition of “site.”

The issues in the case before the TCEQ are highly complex, not only in terms of the science of pollution control but also in the arcane world of tax policy. But the bottom line for the Corpus Christi Independent School District is that it stands to lose $1.23 million a year in tax revenue if the TCEQ rules that Valero Energy Corp. can exempt from taxation equipment that reduces sulfur in fuel for vehicles.

Are Google maps part of our important infrastructure?

I think so. The Valley and much of South Texas is lacking.

For all of its artificial intelligence, Google doesn’t know the Rio Grande Valley or South Texas, some area residents say — and neither do Bing, Yahoo, Mapquest or other companies with mapping services. At least they all seem to become less reliable the closer one treks to the southern tip of the state.

New comers need to know how to get to businesses. New businesses need their customers to find them.

Why does Bryan/College Station get the benefit of funds meant to ease base closures?

The Texas Tribune wants to know.

The Texas commission charged with aiding economies hit by military base closures will spend millions for a vaccine plant in Bryan-College Station — even though the region’s military base closed nearly five decades ago.

republicans are all about their cronies. Simple answer.

It's Monday TPA blog roundup time!

The Texas Progressive Alliance welcomes everyone back to school as it brings you the best of the blogs for the week.

This week, Off the Kuff did three interviews with State House candidates - Joe Montemayor, Rick Molina, and Silvia Mintz.

Bay Area Houston wonders why the Texas Federation of Pecker Heads have have endorsed Rick Perry.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme calls out all republicans clamoring for 'small government'. Why do republicans want more tainted food and another BP disaster?

Libby Shaw is fed up with the Party O' No. She gives us chapter and verse as to why in Bereft of Solutions and Ideas, The GOP Gins Up Controversy. Check it out at TexasKaos.

WhosPlayin posted documents obtained by the Hank Gilbert campaign, showing alarming gaps in Texas food safety, and a Department of Agriculture that seems more concerned about appearances than anything else. On the lighter side, local governments are struggling for cash and seeking corporate sponsorships on public facilities. Hopefully someone will pull the plug on this deal.

PDiddie posts about the hysteria and hyperbole surrounding the Manhattan Islamic center in Mosquerade, at Brains and Eggs.

Neil at Texas Liberal offered up a picture of the excellent new wheelchair ramp on the beach in Galveston. This ramp was paid for with our taxpayer dollars and was built by government, for the good of all people of Galveston and for the good of all people who visit Galveston. Without government, we would live like barbarians to an even far greater extent than we do at current.

The Corpus Christi Caller Times has blacked out coverage of Bill White

How do I know? My search for Bill White on the Caller Times website showed the last entry for White was August 9th in Jaimie Powell's gossip column. For the record, Powell is a grossly partisan hack.  Funny thing.  Bill White had an enormously successful fundraiser Friday at the Lexington.

The Caller Times is Fox News lite.

When you hear 'small government' think tainted eggs

'Small government' and 'free market system' are the mantras of the republicans, aka the Tea Party. That means no regulation. No regulation means no rules and no inspectors. Bring on ...

• tainted food
• more environmental disasters
• harmful, ineffective and expensive pharmaceuticals
• health care only for the very rich
• airline disasters and fatal car crashes
• polluted, expensive water
• high rates for gasoline, electricity, insurance
• crime boss type rates and 'service' from the financial industry
• high rates of worker injury and death coupled with meager compensation rates

Yup.  All of the above is what republicans mean when they say 'small government'.  Is that what a sane person would want?

Nueces County Commissioners vote themselves a raise

Yes, the Nueces County Commissioners' Court is run by republicans.

But it just so happens that those with three or more years on the county payroll include all but Commissioner Mike Pusley on the Commissioners Court. And, as is the case with raises based on a percentage, the 2.5 percent that may not sound like much, isn’t small change when it’s applied to the commissioners’ and county judge’s salaries. It works out to $1,800 for commissioners and $2,100 for County Judge Loyd Neal.

Texas must now take a better look at health insurance hikes

Snark.

Texas' long-standing policy of keeping its hands off health insurance rates unless a consumer complained or a health plan's premiums soared 50 percent in a year is about to change.

Under the new federal health law, the Texas Department of Insurance will ask insurers to justify "unreasonable" premium increases, a consumer protection measure that starts this year, after Texas gathers data on insurers' premiums. Texas doesn't need legislation to enforce the law; it has had the authority all along, state officials said.

But that authority wasn't regularly used.

republicans in Texas, kicking and screaming about having to promote the general welfare over cronies' profits.

Austin American Statesman wonders why we should bother with justice in Tom DeLay's case

The AAS case? It's been 8 years, why bother. Yawn. Public corruption? Take over of our government by corporate interests? Manipulation of our election process? Yawn. Who cares. When people look the other way, we get butterfly ballots, substandard paper for punch cards, unwarranted purges of the voter rolls and George Bush as president.

Tom DeLay will return to a Travis County courtroom Tuesday, five years after being charged with laundering corporate money to influence the 2002 legislative elections in Texas.

Perry too busy campaigning to meet with Hidalgo Mayor to solve a pressing problem

How busy could Rick Perry be?  He's a republican.  He doesn't give a sh*t about you.

Hidalgo Mayor John David Franz today explained why he no longer backs Rick Perry for governor.

...

In the spring of 2009, Franz said, the City of Hidalgo made an application for a $5.8 million grant through the Texas Water Development Board. The funds had become available to the state agency thanks to a federal stimulus bill. “Millions of dollars in federal funds had been made available for disadvantaged communities like ours,” Franz said.

The Water Development Board agreed that the City of Hidalgo met the necessary criteria, Franz said. However, he said it lacked one permit that was not really necessary for another 18 months.

Franz told the audience that he tried for five months to reach Perry. He said he just wanted to explain the “serious problem” facing his community. He said he would have met with Perry anywhere. He just needed ten minutes of his time. It was to no avail.

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

'Jail standards director indicted by grand jury '

A Nueces County grand jury on Friday indicted the executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards on two felony counts related to the release of information about an inmate suicide.

Adan Munoz, 62, was indicted on two counts of misuse of official information, according to online court records.

Apparently, sunshine is toxic to the republican DA and the republican sheriff.

DPS advances to the early 1980s and appoints first female director

The Texas Department of Public Safety has promoted Cheryl MacBride to deputy director of services, making her the first woman in the agency to become a deputy director.

I didn't know the DPS even hired women.

Court says a Virginia resident can be on Texas ballot for state senate

Dallas’ 5th Court of Appeals shut the door today on a Democratic effort to remove State Sen. Brian Birdwell from the general election ballot.

A three-judge panel on the court denied the request from Democratic nominee John Cullar, D-Waco, and the Texas Democratic Party to have Birdwell declared ineligible.

Justice in Texas means cronies win. The Democrat running against Birdwell caved completely and withdrew from the race.

5,404 homeless children in Houston

Tax cuts for the rich. Game playing to ruin the economy and make speculators and flim flan artists rich. Yup, that's the republican way to run our country. The result? A destroyed middle class and a small group of ultra, uber wealthy. Here's a look at the collateral damage.

Locally, social service providers have been keeping a tally. So for this year, there are 5,404 homeless children, up from 2,891 last year, according to the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County. These are children 17 and younger who live with a parent in any place that's not fit for habitation. Both counts are considered to be vastly underrepresented, the organizations said.

Psst: 5,404 is a gross under count. Yet the uber rich sleep soundly on their million count thread Egyptian cotton sheets.

Did BP emissions cause Texas boy's death?

A Hitchcock woman is suing BP claiming her son’s death resulted from emissions released at the company’s Texas City refinery earlier this year.

BP faces a state investigation for releasing more than 500,000 pounds of material, including several tons of benzene, into the air. The 40-day incident started April 6 and ended May 16, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and BP.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday morning in the 212th State District Court by attorney Anthony Buzbee, claims 6-month-old Julius Provost was diagnosed with pneumonia and that symptoms got worse in April and May while the infant was being cared for at an aunt’s house and a nearby day care center.

Val Verde County to get a special election for county commissioner

In his first order, Emerson declared the results of the Precinct 4 county commissioner race in the March primary void and ordered a special election. He wrote that “the number of illegal votes counted in the March 2, 2010 Democratic Primary Precinct 4 County Commissioner contest between Gustavo Flores and Jesus Ortiz was equal to or greater than the number of votes necessary to change the outcome of the election.”

Emerson further ordered that special election will be held the same day as the Nov. 2, 2010 general election.

Is Brownsville harassing people who speak out?

City Permitting Director Evaristo Gamez ordered the inspection after the business’ owner, Teri Rendon, spoke out against the city’s proposed regulation of businesses that offer massages. Her comments appeared in an article in The Brownsville Herald that day.

In an interview afterwards with The Herald, Gamez stated that it was a routine procedure to inspect a business that is written about in the newspaper or when the department receives a tip about the business. He said his department needed to verify whether the business had a certificate of occupancy.

What is it with Brownsville. They're already censoring all public comments at city commission meetings.

Wayne Slater explains Perry's crony ways

Using crony favors to make crony money while purportedly working for the taxpayer.

Ray Sullivan became the governor’s chief of staff in June 2009. Before that, he was a lobbyist. And before that, he worked in the governor’s office.

Sullivan’s lobby clients have included energy, beer, financial and highway interests, some of which have found an active ally in the governor.

For example, the toll-road engineering company HNTP Corp. has benefited from the governor’s advocacy of the Trans-Texas Corridor.

Former Jim Wells County DA indicted

A former district attorney of Jim Wells County is accused of taking more than $200,000 in seized money for himself. A grand jury accused Joe Frank Garza, 63, of misapplication of fiduciary property, a first-degree felony. Garza was district attorney for Jim Wells and Brooks Counties in south Texas from 2003 to 2008.

According to the indictment and court records, Garza took "$200,000 or more" in asset forfeitures, and spent it on himself and his employees.

More here.

BP polluted air without letting residents know

For 40 days, flares burned 500,000 pounds of toxic chemicals over BP's Texas City refinery. Yet residents didn't know until weeks later that the flare released 17,000 pounds of cancer-causing benzene.

The reason: State law required BP to report the unauthorized release of chemicals only twice — once when the incident began and once two weeks after it ended.

Texas is run by republicans, therefore, Texas is run for the benefit of cronies, not the people. Can't you tell?

Texas desperately needs Medicaid money from Washington

All those republicans voted against it. All of those republicans will enjoy it, tout it and take credit for it.

The Senate's chief budget writer says that Texas' next two-year budget will be "ugly" if Congress doesn't continue paying states artificially high rates of Medicaid matching money.

A return to the federal government's traditional match rate on Medicaid, the country's main health care program for the poor, would bring $4.4 billion less to Texas in the next budget cycle, Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said Wednesday.

Ogden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he hopes Congress will keep the higher rate as states try to ride out the recession.

Catholics prefer to let women die than 'violate their sanctity of life' principles

Up is down. Black is white.  What the *&?

The Seton Family of Hospitals plans to stop operating a clinic for women with high-risk pregnancies because providing birth control services to new mothers would be in conflict with the Catholic Church.

Seton has asked Central Health, a taxing authority that owns the public University Medical Center Brackenridge, to take over the clinic, which is on the hospital campus and receives 14,000 low-income patient visits a year, according to Christie Garbe, a spokeswoman for Central Health. Seton operates the hospital for Central Health on a long-term lease.

El Paso reps say El Paso was undercounted in the census

The county is in danger of losing one of its state representative seats because of possible inaccuracies with the ongoing U.S. Census population count, several elected officials told a Texas House of Representatives committee on Monday.

The committee came to El Paso to talk about redistricting.

The current U.S. Census population projection for El Paso County is about 754,000. The 2010 Census count will not be made final until December, but if the current estimate holds, El Paso would only be entitled to four state representative seats, said state Rep. Chente Quintanilla, D-El Paso. El Paso County currently has five state representatives.

republican Texas legislator takes money from state to put in his own wallet

State Rep. Joe Driver of Garland, who rails against the evils of runaway government spending, admitted Monday that he has pocketed thousands of dollars in taxpayer money for travel expenses that his campaign had already funded.

Joe Driver saw nothing wrong with that. Yup, he's a republican all right.

Why are Texas public universities growing admin faster than faculty?

The glass offices at the nation's leading universities have filled faster than the classrooms, with new layers of administrators added at twice the rate of faculty and instructors, according to a study being released today.

Researchers who looked at employee categories at the top 196 universities from 1993 to 2007, a period in which college costs skyrocketed, said they found "administrative bloat."

"This is the bureaucracy of the university," said Dr. Jay P. Greene, a University of Arkansas professor who led the study on behalf of the conservative Goldwater Institute.

Texas Supreme Court says yes to Keller reprimand

Even the all republican, crony loving Texas Supreme Court doesn't like Sharon Keller.

Investigation of Tom DeLay/Jack Abramoff connections done at DOJ

The Justice Department has ended its six-year criminal probe of the ties between former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and disgraced ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff without filing any criminal charges against the former congressman.

Who's Tom DeLay? I've forgotten. Wasn't he on Dancing with the Stars (sic)?  CREW is p*ssed!

It’s a sad day for America when one of the most corrupt members to ever walk the halls of Congress gets a free pass.

As we continue the work of building a Washington that is worthy of the American people, the Justice Department’s decision not to prosecute Mr. DeLay for his actions sends exactly the wrong message to current and future members.

The fact that Jack Abramoff and Bob Ney (R-OH) are the only two people who went to prison for one of the worst corruption scandals in congressional history is shocking.

"The Hammer belongs in the slammer," Sloan adds. "Mr. DeLay still has crimes to answer for in Texas – generally not considered the best place to be a criminal defendant."

The Texas Tribune looks at the practical aspects of repealing the 14th Amendment birthright citizenship clause

The Tribune says repeal could mean a National ID and would certainly mean a large, Federal bureaucracy to manage citizenship.

Pierce the fog of rhetoric and you’ll quickly discover that nobody really knows [what happens if the 14th birthright language is repealed], including the state and federal lawmakers yelling loudest for change. Of the dozen congressional offices the Tribune contacted, none could cite any research or give any insight into how the citizenship process might work if birthright citizenship no longer existed, except to say — in the case of a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock — that it would be up to the “federal rule-making process” once the law had passed.

Just more evidence that the republicans are all about stirring up hate and not at all about solving problems.

It's Monday TPA blog roundup time!

The Texas Progressive Alliance is enjoying its last week before school starts as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is amazed at how much republicans like John Cornyn hate our constitution and the freedoms it accords us.

Off the Kuff continued the 2010 interview series with conversations with State Reps. Scott Hochberg, Sylvester Turner, and Jessica Farrar.

Neil at Texas Liberal noted that you can register to vote in three languages in Harris County. No matter what the Republicans and the Tea Party folks hope for, we live in a diverse city, county, state, nation and world.

Bad news for Barnett Shale residents: methane + sunlight + oxygen = formaldehyde. Considering the constant, massive fugitive emissions, it's no wonder we have "astounding" high levels of formaldehyde. Brought to you by TXsharon at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

The latest broadside from the Back to Basics PAC, "Hands OFF our land!" is a wedge issue for Bill White. It's effectively separating Rick Perry from rural (mostly Caucasian) Texans. Read it -- and watch it -- at PDiddie's Brains and Eggs.

Over at TexasKaos, libby shaw chronicles the latest embarrassment from Louie Gohmert in TX GOP Louie Gohmert Has Melt Down on CNN With no evidence to support him, Louie did what he does best - spews and sputters... Check it out....

This week at McBlogger, we start our long awaited transfer to WordPress and a new design. Come by, check it out and see what Sleazy Todd Staples is up to now.

John Cornyn takes a stand against freedom of religion

Why not. Cornyn has already taken a stand for rapists and a stand against the 14th amendment to the constitution. When you have no moral compass, why not attack the 1st amendment?

President Barack Obama stepped forcefully into the debate over the "Ground Zero mosque" Friday with an impassioned defense of freedom of religion. One Republican senator says the president has now made this an election issue.

republicans hate our freedoms.

Another rift between Texas lawmakers and prison management

The controversy [over prisoner housing vouchers] is the latest of a string in which legislators have publicly challenged how the state corrections system is being operated — including lingering questions about lax security and an abrupt, and later canceled, downsizing of a drug treatment program.

That has left some corrections officials insisting privately that they are being unfairly micromanaged, a complaint that highlights simmering tensions between the agency and lawmakers.

Prison officials defend the housing voucher program and seem somewhat surprised at the criticism. They say the parolees who are being assigned to the homes are screened. Most are getting out of prison anyway and could live wherever they choose since they have no restrictions to stay away from schools or children.

Do Texas republicans hate John Boehner?

I don't care for Boehner, but then I have a sense of decency.

House hopeful Bill Flores dodged a question at a meet-and-greet in Hill County on Tuesday about whether he would support the GOP’s leader in the House, according to a recording from the event.

In the audio — first obtained by The Washington Post and attributed to an unnamed Democratic source — a man at the event asked the Bryan Republican how he felt “about (John) Boehner, the minority leader in the House.”

“Next question,” said Flores, who’s facing Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, in one of the most closely watched House races in the country.

Apparently, Bill Flores subscribes to the Sharron Angel theory of the press: "Press should 'ask the questions we want to answer'" Autocrats are like that.

BP claims spewing poison in the air has no deleterious effects

And, my a** is made out of green cheese.

For the first time since it was revealed that more than 500,000 pounds of emissions — including several tons of benzene — were released into the air by the BP Texas City refinery, the refinery’s manager addressed the incident publicly.

...

“First, real time, scientific data monitored during the event indicates that the event did not have a health impact to our workers or the community. Second, we took steps to minimize the event’s environmental impact.

You have got to be kidding. Why aren't these people in jail? Is it not against the law to negligently endanger lives? What about negligent homicide for those workers who have died?

More trouble at a state school

republican slogan of the year 'Nobody cares about you'

A state investigation would later find that in the pre-dawn hours of June 8, [17 year old Corey Baker] had been physically abused by a recently hired direct-care staff member at the institution for Texans with mental disabilities.

Great Dallas Morning News Headline

'Rep. Joe Barton celebrates Waxahachie clinic, which is expanding with stimulus he opposed'

That says it all. Thank you.

Texas republicans in charge of energizing the batsh*t crazy base with a new demographic to hate

What do 'regular' republicans think as their party demonizes babies? From Michael Gerson via Mark McKinnon:

Michael Gerson’s assessment of [SC Senator Linsay] Graham’s thinking is right on target: “He has either taken leave of his senses or of his principles. Neither is unknown in Washington... revoking birthright citizenship would turn hundreds of thousands of infants into ‘criminals’—arriving, not across a border, but crying in a hospital.”

republicans sold their souls to the batsh*t crazy base sometime ago with their Southern Strategy wedge. Texas crazies are now in charge of pushing the 'new ideas', i.e hating a new demographic.

The Texas congressman who first brought up the "terror baby" claims on the U.S. House floor isn't taking too kindly to being challenged about it. U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, spent most of his Thursday night appearance on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 yelling at the host for quizzing him about his sources.

Sources smources. Some old white guys in the back room think these things up.  Apparently, Ron Paul is one of those old white guys.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul proposed changing the 14th Amendment in 2005

...

In April 2009, multiple Texas GOP congressmen helped introduce House Resolution 1868 to take away automatic citizenship for children whose parents are both illegal immigrants. The Texas House Reps. included Jeb Hensarling, Kevin Brady, Randy Neugebauer, Mike Conaway, John Culberson, Louie Gohmert, Sam Johnson and Ted Poe.

US Drug Czar likes the drug war just the way it is

Keeping drugs illegal keeps the drug cartels in business. Great.

Advocates pushing for the legalization of drugs in this country have a long fight ahead of them if current “Drug Czar” Gil Kerlikowske has anything to say about it.

Kerlikowske, known officially as the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, spoke this morning at a border security conference in El Paso, where he tried to debunk the belief that taxing and regulating currently illegal narcotics would somehow put narco-traffickers out of business.

“[Traffickers] would not change their ways and turn to legal pursuits if drugs were legal,” he said. “Legalizing drugs makes them cheaper, makes them more accessible and therefore makes them more widely abused.”

How stupid is that? Legalizing drugs won't make drug dealers nice guys. Who said it would? Legalizing drugs takes the profit motive out of dealing. Lets stop the drug war BEFORE the drug dealers get to rich and powerful to pursue other dastardly deeds.

No special election for Hidalgo County after all

A special election to fill a vacant seat for county commissioner cannot go forward as planned, a judge ruled Thursday.

State District Judge Rudy Delgado granted an order that temporarily stops Hidalgo County from having a special election to replace former Precinct 1 Commissioner Sylvia Handy.

Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra immediately appealed the judge’s order to the state’s 13th Court of Appeals in Edinburg, arguing that the lower court doesn’t have jurisdictional authority to stop the special election.

Oh, the money spent for this ego or that ego.

Was there mail-in ballot fraud in Val Verde County?

Testimony continues today in the trial of an election lawsuit filed by Gustavo Flores, who claims that illegal mail-in ballots cost him the county Democratic Party nomination for a county commissioner position.

State District Judge M. Rex Emerson, of the 198th Judicial District, who is hearing the trial on special assignment, is scheduled to hear testimony today from Dora Gonzalez, the local woman who attorneys for Flores said harvested the ballots in question before the March 2, 2010 Democratic Primary race for the position of Val Verde County Commissioner Precinct 4.

Psst: Voter ID would not have prevented the mail-in ballot fraud alleged to have happened.

US drug policy allows drug cartels to wield control

It's past time to legal drugs. Take away the power the drug cartels have. It's the only way.

No region has felt the devastation caused by the Mexican drug cartel wars more than El Paso and Juárez, and the violence is not about to end, a federal agent said Thursday during a conference on border security.

The cartels now want to dominate society, said Alonzo R. Peña, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deputy assistant secretary for operations.

"We believe it (the violence) is going to continue to climb," said Peña. "What the cartels are doing is no different than what we are seeing in other parts of world. It is barbaric and extreme, and it will continue."

Valero wants to shirk publc school funding

Will the crony loving republicans at the TCEQ let them?

Three education leaders voiced concerns at a public hearing Thursday over an industry's application for tax breaks on pollution control equipment.

Opponents fear that, if approved, Valero Energy Corp.'s application would create a long-term public school funding shortfall and open the door for additional industrial tax exemptions.

About 20 people attended the hearing, the fourth of five being held by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality throughout the state this week.

This is a no-brainer. republicans love their cronies and hate public education.

Cameron County addressing jail over crowding

Here's an idea. Get our lawmakers to legalize drugs. Make drugs as safe as they can. Offer rehab. Treat drug addiction as a medical problem. Take the profit motive away from drug cartels.

The Cameron County Commissioners Court on Thursday discussed possible causes of jail overcrowding, an issue that has garnered attention in the face of the county’s projected $4.7 million budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year.

DA rules Galveston District Clerk did not misuse jur summonses

Galveston County District Clerk Latonia Wilson was cleared by the district attorney of allegations she used her office to harass supporters of her political opponent by calling them to jury duty.

Republican nominee for district clerk Jason Murray filed a criminal complaint last week alleging the Democratic incumbent had set out to call his campaign treasurer and members of his family to jury duty as a means of harassing his supporters.

BP to pay a fine for safety violations

Too little and definitely too late.

BP has agreed to pay a record $50.6 million fine to the federal government for safety violations found by regulators last year at its troubled refinery in Texas City.

In addition to the record fine, BP has agreed to take immediate steps to protect those now working at the refinery and spend at least $500 million by 2016 on that effort, the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Thursday.

Fine, shmine. There are other solutions. I favor jail. Isn't negligent homicide a crime anymore? Loren Steffy has a milder idea.

The cloud has hung over Texas City for far too long.

I'm not talking about the cloud of cancerous benzene and other contaminants that BP released for a month this spring even as the Deepwater Horizon was burning and sinking in the Gulf of Mexico. I'm talking about the cloud of BP's mismanagement, which continues to dog the company's refinery despite its promises to improve.

Given that BP is selling off assets to help fund the oil cleanup in the Gulf, why not put its refineries on the block?

Lets do both. The people running BP have no right to endanger the lives of their workers and neighbors.

The Austin American Statesman wants the Texas State Legislature to define your gender for you

You have got to be kidding.  People don't like government getting into their personal business.  That's why many people are pro-choice for women deciding about what's best for their bodies.  Who in their right mind wants the crazy nuts like Debbie Riddle deciding something so personal as gender?

Something for Texas legislators' 2011 to-do list: Take another stab at defining which government-issued documents can be presented by marriage license applicants.

Seems simple enough, doesn't it? It's not. Buckle up for a bumpy ride through the current confusing situation.

Under current law, revised in 2009, marriage license applicants can have officially recognized forms of identification that offer diametrically opposed declarations of gender. That can be a problem because to get married in Texas, couples have to include one of each.

So, the AAS wants us to spend valuable time defining gender so that marriage discrimination can be more precise, just at the time when the courts are about to make that sort of discrimination against the law? How many times is that a problem anyway?

Texas citizens vulnerable to SLAPP suits

Because even when the cronies own the court system, sometimes they just have to find new ways to cheat. republicans love them their cronies.

SLAPP plaintiffs use the court system to bury opponents in a crush of legal fees and paperwork of Bleak House proportions. They are not about winning damages. They usually don’t expect to be successful, and their targets often don’t have the money to defend the case. For the wealthy like [Dallas developer H. Walker] Royall, and corporations equipped with teams of lawyers and swollen legal budgets, the cost-benefit analysis is easy: Foot the expense of a lawsuit through whatever means available — usually a defamation or libel claim — and enjoy the benefit of intimidating current and future critics into silence.

...

In Texas, a quirk of state legal procedure makes their victims especially vulnerable, according to Austin attorney Laura Prather, the president of the board of directors of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. State law does not include a “motion to dismiss” — which in other states, and at the federal level, allows a judge to toss out a claim before parties undergo the expensive process of discovery. Instead, if a defendant wants a judge in Texas to rule on a case before trial, he must ask for a summary judgment, which happens after all the evidence in the case has come out through discovery. That’s plenty of time for a SLAPP plaintiff to drown a defendant in requests for documents, depositions and pretrial hearings.

Funding for a Texas headstart organization suspended over bookeeping

The suspension is a direct result of a report issued May 28 by the Office of the Inspector General. Advocates for Children and Families raised concerns following a 2009 limited scope review.

The review was conducted as part of the federal Office of Head Start's assessment of programs that have applied for additional grant funds under the Recovery Act of 2009.

In July 2009, Advocates for Children and Families was awarded $333,341 in Recovery Act grant funds.

The report's summary of findings states, "We could not perform a fair assessment of Advocates' financial viability because its financial records were not always accurate." And "advocates did not effectively manage and account for federal funds or operate its Head Start program in accordance with federal regulations."

Silvestre Reyes injects a note of sanity into border discussion

republicans hate people. Every election cycle they have to gin up hate against some group of people to win at the ballot box. During the Nixon and Reagan years it was blacks. Then the republicans focused on gays. Now it is Hispanics.

U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, himself a former Border Patrol sector commander, said Wednesday that the U.S. government may be pouring too much money into border security and not enough into port-of-entry crossings that are vital to the economy.

Reyes, D-Texas, made his comments before the nation's largest Border Security Conference opens today in El Paso.

Instead of Congress consistently pushing for more Border Patrol agents as a means to safety, Reyes would like to see an increase in the number of Customs and Border Protection inspectors responsible for moving goods and people from Juárez to El Paso, he said.

Can people distracted by republican bile take a minute and think?

Corpus Christi Caller Times rails against hiden dealings at the Port

Late last month, Port of Corpus Christi officials used a dry erase board to evaluate the bidders seeking to buy or lease 916 acres of port-owned land, including former Naval Station Ingleside. With property valued at $110 million hanging in the balance, they kept score on what amounts to an Etch A Sketch – maybe not as much fun. But no matter what they put on that board before narrowing their choices to three, they left a slate as blank as the gun-metal gray of the screen on that famed children’s toy.

This, the Caller-Times discovered when it asked for the score sheets the port officials might have been expected to use in its evaluations. These score sheets, had they existed, would have been accessible to the public, unlike the closed July 29 meeting at which the ranking was done.

Brownsville cutting citizen comments from televised city meetings

Oh, the smell of censorship in the morning.

As of Tuesday, residents’ comments made at City Commission meetings are being censored from the televised version of the meeting.

The city attorney said speakers appearing during the public-comment portion of the meetings would no longer be shown on television as a precaution against libelous remarks and grandstanding, and to ensure that policies regarding comments are followed.

And, because somebody is a pompous pr*ck.

The Dallas Morning News wants to chide John Cornyn for stoking up election year racism

You remember John Cornyn as the guy who wanted rapists to avoid court.  Now Cornyn wants to deport Hispanic babies.

It's also worth considering whether this might – just might – be an election-year issue ginned up by some GOP senators, including our own John Cornyn, who see political advantage in stoking the base over illegal immigration.

The next time you hear senators calling for a "birthright citizenship" debate, ask them how likely it is that a constitutional amendment will gain approval in their lifetimes. Remember, it needs two-thirds majorities in both houses and ratification by three-fourths of the states.

Don't be shy, DMN. You know full well what John Cornyn is up to. Just spit it out.

Texas Workforce Commission lawyer told companies how to avoid paying workers

Sounds like your run of the mill republican to me.

The Texas Workforce Commission has reassigned a senior official who was quoted recommending ways companies can avoid paying unemployment benefits to their former employees.

At the time he made the remarks later quoted in the Houston Chronicle, the official, Jonathan Babiak, was overseeing appeals involving decisions to grant or deny unemployment benefits.

Babiak, then deputy director of appellate services for the Workforce Commission, suggested at a June 25 conference in Houston that employers give workers they intend to terminate the option to resign instead. The employees might assume they're not eligible for benefits if they leave their jobs voluntarily, and it's not the employer's obligation to correct that misunderstanding, Babiak told about 800 employers at the meeting.

What a prince. Why didn't they just fire him? Because, they want workers to do without what is owed.

How big is the Gulf dead zone?

Scientists are squabbling over that. Who is paying which scientist is my first question. Oh, for the days when scientists were scientists.

A Texas scientist says claims of a record-sized dead zone off the state's coast may be overblown.

Last week, when a Louisiana-based group of researchers said this summer's dead zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico was among the five largest ever measured, and that they'd never seen a more sizable area off Texas, Steven DiMarco was at sea.

The Texas A&M oceanographer was collecting data of his own along the Louisiana and Texas coasts, searching for areas of low-oxygen water in which most marine life can't survive.

"I wouldn't say this year's dead zone off Texas was the largest ever," DiMarco said Monday, after returning from his survey.

Where does DiMarco's grant money come from? Why are his measurements any better than 'a group of researchers'? These days you have to look at the motivations behind the words.

republican candidate in Galveston says opponent misused jury summonses

The district attorney’s office has called in the Texas Rangers to investigate a complaint Galveston County District Clerk Latonia Wilson used her office to summon supporters of her political opponent to jury duty.

Wilson denied the allegations and said the system the county uses to create jury pool lists doesn’t allow for individuals to be added to a jury summons list.

One of the district clerk’s offices responsibilities is to handle coordination of the jury pool for the district courts.

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

'Corpus Christi mayor in middle of profanity-laced rap video'

Mayor Joe Adame didn’t think a rap group’s four-letter-word filled song “I’m from Corpus” was the right image for the city.

And he said as much: “That’s not how you represent the 361.”

Now, those very words are part of another profanity-laced video about the city.

Rapper Michael White approached the mayor and told him he wanted to make a video of his own because like the mayor, he was upset that the “I’m from Corpus” video from Only a Handful made the city look bad.

Lawsuit stops Brownsville from issuing bonds

The City Commission on Tuesday tabled action on issuing $11.3 million in certificates of obligation in the wake of a lawsuit filed against the city and elected officials.

A group calling itself the “Brownsville 8” filed the lawsuit Monday, challenging commissioners’ authority to issue the debt without voter approval.

The commission unanimously tabled action until its meeting next week to allow the city time to study the lawsuit.

Rick Perry won't meet 'with down level staff'

Gov. Rick Perry wants the White House to make a better offer on talking with Texas about border security.

A National Security Council briefing? Not good enough.

Perry said Tuesday that he declined a border-security briefing from the security council — a high-level panel chaired by President Barack Obama and key Cabinet members — because he "doesn't need to meet with some more down-level staff people.

"When you want your car fixed, do you go to the CEO of Firestone to do the job?  What does the CEO know about the day to day intricacies of Car Area Networks?  Rick Perry has delusions of grandeur.  It's about time Texas voters set him straight.

In Texas, jail regulators run the jails, too

When Harris County officials last week pleaded with the state's Commission on Jail Standards to allow them to keep extra prisoners in their already crowded facilities, they were preaching to a sympathetic choir that included one of their own employees.

One of the commission's nine members is Dr. Michael Seale, the medical director of the Harris County Sheriff's Office; like him, four others work for agencies that are directly affected by rules that the commission is supposed to set to protect inmate safety. The members — including elected county officials or employees of the county jails the commission regulates — oversee 245 county lockups handling about 70,000 inmates across the state. They are appointed by the governor, but state law mandates that at least four of the nine are drawn from a pool of county officials, a situation some advocates liken to the fox guarding the hen house.

Thirty-five years after lawmakers created the commission to regulate county jails, advocates are calling for change in its makeup, worried about potential conflicts of interest and a lack of representation from fields outside of law enforcement. Experts in mental health or drug addiction, for instance, "could bring to bear a larger array of solutions to the many problems jails face,” says Diana Claitor, director of the Texas Jail Project. Commission Executive Director Adan Muñoz — a former sheriff himself — counters that calls for change are unwarranted. The commission, though dominated by law enforcement interests, remains open to alternative perspectives from the public, he says. “There is no way, shape or form that anyone is deterred from speaking to this group,” Muñoz says. But at least one lawmaker says it may be time for a change.

The election for a new Hidalgo Commissioner is in court

Which court will decide how an election will be done?  Who knows.  Everybody is fighting their own way.

The question over what type of election will fill Hidalgo County’s Precinct 1 commissioner’s seat is likely to end up in appellate court, despite a judge’s ruling Monday that he has the authority to decide.

State District Judge Rudy Delgado overruled a government request to let higher courts sort out whether the county should call a special election to replace former Commissioner Sylvia Handy or put the position on the general election’s ballot.

But in objecting to the ruling, District Attorney Rene Guerra made it clear that he will likely appeal if the judge sides against the special election option.

El Paso ethics commission member accused of sexually assaulting a child

Ethics?  How to they get on the commission?

El Paso County Ethics Board member David Charles Chavez allegedly sexually assaulted a family member for five years, according to a complaint affidavit.

The child, whom is is accused of assaulting over a 5 year period, is now pregnant.

TxDOT wants to hide names of property owners who played game to get more tax dollars in El Paso

Don't ya' just love government for the cronies and by the cronies? That's republican rule.

A legal but controversial real estate maneuver could cost taxpayers millions of dollars more to buy land for the new East Side Spaghetti Bowl.

Documents obtained by the El Paso Times using the Texas Public Information Act show that the state Department of Transportation allocated $8.2 million to buy land for construction of up to eight ramps to connect Interstate 10 and Loop 375.

State officials, though, said the subdivision of large plots by about 12 individual owners could raise land acquisition costs by $2 million to $4 million.

In an open-records request, the Times sought identities of the property owners, but TxDOT officials filed an appeal with the Texas attorney general to block release of those records.

Brownsville residents sue over proposed debt

A group of taxpayers dubbed the “Brownsville 8” are challenging the city of Brownsville and City Commission’s intent to incur long term debt without voter approval.

The lawsuit comes in the eve of today’s City Commission meeting at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 1001 E. Elizabeth St. It includes a public hearing after which the commission will consider authorizing the issuance of $11.3 million in debt.

The funds would be used for relocating rail lines; improving the land-fill site; buying patrol vehicles and ambulances; purchasing traffic control equipment; repairing the roof at the library; making street, sidewalk and drainage improvements; and purchasing rights-of-way for highway construction projects.

Sounds like a bunch of good works.

Texas sues BP over Texas refinery release

I don't have any faith in republican crony justice.  Doing the right thing?  No way.  republicans will do what is best for themselves at the time.  Your health?  Not a consideration.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has sued BP, charging that the company illegally emitted nearly 500,000 pounds of air pollutants at its Texas City refinery for more than a month this spring.

The suit charges that BP's poor operation and maintenance for 46 days in April and May were the primary cause of the toxic emissions. BP could be fined up to $25,000 per day for each violation. The Texas City refinery, about 30 miles south of Houston, is the nation's third-largest.

Last week, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality released findings that BP's multiple violations are egregious and the company has a poor compliance history. The state regulatory agency turned those findings over to the attorney general.

Punching bag today - major GOP donor tomorrow. It could easily happen.  Meanwhile, people suffer.

"It is horrible at night, especially when you are sleeping,” said Texas City Resident Sadie Dickey. “You get up in the night choking and you get up fighting trying to figure out, but they keep saying it is nothing."

The AG said BP admitted releasing hundreds of thousands of pounds of material burned off into the air--including more than 17,000 pounds of benzene.

A Texas republican won't talk about transgender marriage in an election year

What?

El Paso County Attorney Jo Anne Bernal said today she was disappointed that Attorney General Greg Abbott declined to answer a question the county posed about transgender marriage.

...

In the end, [Sabrina] Hill and [Therese] Bur found a friendly county clerk's office in San Antonio, and they got married. Bexar County Clerk Gerry Rickhoff says court rulings have made it clear that, in Texas, a person's gender is determined at birth and can't be altered later. So he has issued many marriage licenses to transgender couples like Hill and Bur.

Why are republicans, in general, silent about the Prop 8 decision? Because, the fabulous right wing echo machine says gay marriage distracts from their jobs bashing (has everyone forgotten that Bush trashed the economy?).

Here's another example of how out sourcing government jobs hurts

They don't seem that interested in hot pursuit. It took private sleuths hired by Medicare an average of six months last year to refer fraud cases to law enforcement.

According to congressional investigators, the exact average was 178 days. By that time, many cases go cold, making it difficult to catch perpetrators, much less recover money for taxpayers.

A recent inspector general report also raised questions about the contractors, who play an important role in Medicare's overall effort to combat fraud.

Which of Bush's cronies got this job? Incompetence is a Bush hallmark trait.

republicans want to drop prisioner addiction program

Why?  It works and helps us keep people out of prison.  Prisons have become businesses.  Less addiction is bad for business.  Is that it?

A nationally acclaimed program that has helped even the hardest-core addicts to sober up and stop committing crimes is vulnerable to state budget cuts.

A staggering 70 percent of the 72,000 offenders freed from Texas Department of Criminal Justice lockups last year were chemically dependent. And without treatment, they're potentially a menace – to property and, in some instances, lives.

As a bonus, those republicans with sticks up their butts can feel superior, something they can't achieve on their own.

It's Monday TPA blog roundup time!

The Texas Progressive Alliance is pretty sure its invitation to President Obama's events in Texas were lost in the mail, and we will keep saying that to ourselves as we bring you this week's blog highlights.

Off the Kuff continued his interview series with Congressional candidate Ted Ankrum and State Representatives Senfronia Thompson and Garnet Coleman.

Staggering levels of formaldehyde in Barnett Shale air and the attempted cover up, breaking news by TXsharon on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

This week on Left of College Station, Teddy reports that the Republican electoral strategy is to conceal their policy agenda, and notes that Congress should do nothing because the Bush tax cuts should be allowed to expire. Left of College Station also covers SMUT and the says Texas Dominates the Recession at a price.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders why republicans like John Cornyn want to take us back to pre-Civil War days when blacks were not full citizens of the United States.

What part time governor is also a real estate genius or maybe instead a sleazy grafter? Read Libby Shaw's take over at TexasKaos in Gov Rick Perry Stuffed His Pockets with $500K from Murky Land Deal.

NatWu at Three Wise Men says that however bad that economic news seems these days, things are actually much worse.

WhosPlayin stepped in it this week by pointing out how the local school district is giving an across-the-board raise to all administrative personnel, many of whom are already highly paid, while some highly-experienced teachers could go without raises this year.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has been skewing the child support statistics to his favor, reports PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

On a day trip to Galveston, Neil at Texas Liberal took a picture of a portion of the Seawall mural that showed workers in hazmat suits cleaning up muck from the sea. While Galveston is a great place to spend a day and spend a few dollars, the folks there are long-acquainted with toxic spills.

Perry could decide to throw away millions in dollars for our schools

Why? Because, Perry likes to pander to his batsh*t crazy base and direct public money to his cronies. Perry already siphoned off money meant for schools.

White's war chest bigger than Perry's

With four months before the Nov. 2 election, White had more than $9 million as of June 30, compared with Perry's $5.8 million, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. White has also raised slightly more than Perry -- $7.4 million compared with just over $7 million -- since the March primaries. White trails Perry in overall fundraising for this election cycle, with $16 million compared with $20 million.

The improved fortunes, Democrats say, stem partly from an aggressive comeback plan that they put in motion five years ago after Republicans completed their hold on state government by taking over the House of Representatives in 2003. Over the past few years, a group of relatively young big-money donors has stepped forward to help finance the comeback, including husband-and-wife lawyers Steve Mostyn and Amber Anderson Mostyn of Houston and Dallas civic leader Naomi Aberly, former chairwoman of Planned Parenthood of North Texas.

The Wyly brothers are in real trouble

The latest effort to score on Dallas' elite came July 29, when the Securities and Exchange Commission sued billionaires Sam and Charles Wyly and alleged a host of frauds.

In what could be bad news for the Wylys, securities lawyers and law professors say the latest suit is meatier than the [Mark] Cuban case, which was dismissed by a federal judge and is on appeal. They also note the case will be heard in what would be a friendlier venue for the government than the Dallas court where Cuban's suit fizzled.

Texas republicans say 'f*ck you' to the EPA

Tea Party crazies love to suck polluted air into their lungs while drinking their bourbon with polluted spring water.

In a combative, defiant letter, Texas officials have told the Environmental Protection Agency they will not include climate-altering greenhouse gases in the state’s emission-limiting permits for industrial plants, as federal regulations will start requiring in January.

In the letter [PDF], dated Monday, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Chairman Bryan W. Shaw and Attorney General Greg Abbott said, “Texas has neither the authority nor the intention of interpreting, ignoring, or amending its laws in order to compel the permitting of greenhouse gas emissions.”

Don't ya' just love crony capitalism in a Tea Party nightmare.

Joe Pickett questions the state's cozy deal with vanity plate maker

The head of the House Transportation Committee says he wants to examine Texas’ specialty license plate program to ensure that the state is getting the best deal from a contractor that has promised to deliver $25 million over five years.

Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, said he would rather have the state handle the design, selling and marketing of all vanity tags, instead of giving that job to a private vendor.

“I’m all for capitalistic ideas and private enterprise, but there’s lots of things like this in state government that we probably should’ve kept in-house,” he said.

republicans like to give public service contracts to for-profit entities. In fact, republicans want the government out of the service business altogether. In a republicans 'up is down world', promote profits is better than promote the general welfare and no choice in leadership is better than having an election.

The SCJC stands by its admonition to Sharon Keller

Judge Sharon Keller's challenge of an official sanction should be tossed out, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct has said in filings with the Texas Supreme Court. The agency sanctioned Keller — the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — in the now-infamous death penalty case in which she refused to keep her offices open past 5 p.m. for a last-minute appeal. She promised to challenge that, and last week, she delivered. In filings with the Texas Supreme Court, she questioned the legality of the "public warning" the commission issued — which she claims conflicts with both the Texas Constitution and the government code — and asked the court to intervene.

Mikal Watts gets to run Bexar County Democratic Party afterall

What a stinking shame.

The new group, called the Bexar County United Democrats, is largely funded by the Vote Texas political action committee, a pet project of wealthy trial attorney — and major Democratic donor — Mikal Watts.

You lie with dogs and you are bound to get fleas.

Children forced into prostitution no longer viewed as criminals in Texas

Prostitution, as we all know, is illegal, so the juveniles found out working the streets have also been arrested and charged with crimes.

But one Houston lawyer, who represented a 13-year-old suspect, wondered how that could be.

"The whole point of the case was how is this child supposed to be viewed," attorney Ann Johnson said.

Johnson strongly felt her client couldn’t be charged, because at the age of 13, a person cannot legally consent to sex.

"Is she supposed to be viewed as an offender at the age of 13, or is she supposed to be viewed and recognized as a victim?" Johnson said.

Friday, the Texas Supreme Court did something right.

Texas lawyers are allowed to trade sex for legal services

Cause, you know, Texas lawyers don't have to have ethics.

But more than 15 years after the State Bar's Women in the Profession first proposed it, Texas lawyers may be prohibited from having sex with clients.

The state Supreme Court has proposed a rule crafted by a State Bar committee that would bar sex with a client "unless the lawyer and client are married to each other, or are engaged in an ongoing consensual sexual relationship that began before representation."

The proposed rule also says a "lawyer shall not solicit or accept sexual relations as payment of fees."

Lillian Hardwick, a long-time Houston expert on legal ethics who moved to Austin this week, was on the bar committee, which met many times over a period of years. She said there wasn't strong opposition to the rule.

So, the opposition to the rule was there. It just wasn't 'strong'? You have got to be kidding.

Judge in Prop 8 case has a sexual orientation. Oh, no!

Is Judge Walker gay? Straight? Asexual? Doesn't matter. Apparently, having a sexual orientation biases you. Homobigots want everybody to be biased they way they are - twisted, sexually stunted, intellectually compromised, and totally unethical.

Chief U.S. Judge Vaughn Walker has always been characterized as a conservative with libertarian leanings. But after he struck down California's voter-approved gay marriage ban this week, he was accused by some of being something else entirely: a gay activist.

Rumors have circulated for months that Walker is gay, fueled by the blogosphere and a San Francisco Chronicle column that stated his sexual orientation was an "open secret" in legal and gay activism circles.

Federal auditors check out Robstown school district

Three Federal Communications Commission auditors visited Robstown Independent School District this week to investigate how the district spent federal funds to help low-income districts connect and use the Internet.

The U.S. Department of Justice requested an audit of the district’s use of funds awarded under the federal Universal Service Schools and Libraries Program, commonly called the E-Rate program. Financed by fees on telephone bills, the E-Rate program provides eligible school districts with discounts on hardware and monthly Internet connectivity service fees.

...

Conover, with the FCC, said results of all investigations are made public if auditors discover any wrongdoing. If investigators turn up nothing wrong, they will not release any information about the audit, Conover said.

No news is apparently good news.

republican math says 7 from 10 equals 5 years residency in Texas

republicans make up their own facts.  Why not make up your own math?

Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, who won a special election this spring to replace the retiring Kip Averitt, will have to defend his freshly minted victory against charges he is ineligible to hold the seat.

Birdwell had been living in Virginia and working for the Pentagon and moved to Texas in May 2007. State law says that you must be a resident of Texas for five years before you can run for the Senate.

What about criminal charges for voting twice in the 2004 election?  Oh, that's right.  Laws are for Democrats to follow.  republicans can just do any d*mn thing that they feel like.

Secretary of State challenges Hidalgo's right to hold special election

The Texas Secretary of State’s Office has again opined that Hidalgo County lacks legal authority to order a special election to fill a vacant county commissioner seat.

In a letter submitted to the Texas Attorney General’s Office on Thursday, Secretary of State Hope Andrade writes that former Precinct 1 Commissioner Sylvia Handy’s unexpired term must be placed on the November general election ballot.

Not everybody is impressed with Hidalgo politics.

Instead of allowing the precinct chairs to choose who’s going on the ballot,  [District Attorney Rene] Guerra thinks anyone who wants to run for the commission seat should be able to get their name on the ballot.

And the county judge is going along with it, ordering a special election for the commissioner’s seat during the November elections.

The decision allows [Hidalgo County Commissioner A.C] Cuellar [former County Judge J.D. Salinas' brother-in-law] to throw his name in the ring, giving him a chance to run against [County Judge Ramon Garcia pal and Mercedes Mayor Joel] Quintanilla for the county commission.

Normally we support anything that gives the voters more say in county government.

And part of us actually admires the hubris it takes to declare that an office full of election specialists is wrong about election law.

But instead of inspiring warm, fuzzy feelings about elected officials fighting to keep voters in charge, this maneuvering reeks of the dirty politics and backroom dealings that has made the Valley infamous throughout the state.

Former Hidalgo County Commissioner sent to jail

A former Hidalgo County commissioner and his wife were sentenced Thursday to federal prison for defrauding government-funded health care programs through their ambulance business.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa ordered three years and five months of incarceration for Guadalupe Garces Jr., 52, and two years and nine months for Araceli Garces, 48.

Additionally, the couple will have to pay back nearly $637,000 of the $4.5 million they allegedly bilked from Medicare and Medicaid between 2001 and 2006.

I wonder if he will cross paths with another jailed former Hidalgo County Commissioner, Sylvia Handy.  Is Hidalgo clean now?  It's certainly cleaner.

El Paso to get Texas Tech nursing school

Congratulations.

El Paso's on the path to having another full-fledged nursing school after the Texas Tech board of regents voted Thursday to approve the measure.

This means that El Paso's Texas Tech current satellite nursing school will become a fully-accredited campus similar to what happened with the Texas Tech Paul L. Foster school of medicine.

Crony capitalism at work to make vanity plates for Texas

After two failed attempts, Texas is taking another crack at using an outside contractor to make millions selling vanity license plates.

...

Department of Motor Vehicles board members who oversee the program are pressing for more scrutiny, saying a different agency's rush to make a deal with My Plates last year left them with a weak contract.

Ok. I'll bite. Who exactly in the Transportation Department was in such a hurry?

The US Senate just assumes that Texas will be an ass

Of course, it is.  Look who's running Texas.  Sorry excuses like republican Rick Perry and David Dewhurst.  Imagine life with Bill White and Linda Chavez Thompson. At least Democrats will not balance our state budget on the backs of our school children.

Texas will sue the federal government, yet again, if Texas-specific requirements are not removed from legislation that passed the U.S. Senate today, according to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

The supplemental appropriations bill, H.R. 1586, includes language by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, requiring Gov. Rick Perry — in order to receive $820 million to fund education jobs — to make assurances that the percentage of the Texas budget going to fund education in fiscal years 2011, 2012 and 2013 will be equal to or greater than the percentage spent in 2011. According to Dewhurst, that $820 million would fund about 13,000 teaching positions. No other state is bound by such a requirement in the bill.

I love Lloyd Doggett.

Corpus Christi blighted with new Eric Von Wade show

The silence was nice for awhile. Apparently, there will be some sports talk along with his usual uninformed drivel.

Beginning Aug. 16, Von Wade will host a morning program on KSIX 1230 AM, the local ESPN affiliate, replacing the syndicated Mike and Mike in the Morning sports talk show.

Scott Howe, KSIX's program director, said Wednesday the station had reached a basic agreement with Von Wade, who will add some sports talk to his show.

Texas company gets a teeny tiny slap on the wrist for abusing disabled workers

Go ahead companies.  Take advantage of your employees with poor, unsafe working conditions and pay them below the minimum wage.  If you get caught, no prob.  It's just a tiny, tiny fine.  Really just a cost of doing business.

John Cornyn looks to reinstate the Dred Scott decision

The 14th Amendment was put in place to reverse the Dred Scott decision regarding the humanity of natural born African Americans. Now, the batsh*t crazy republicans want to apply the Dred Scott decision to Hispanics.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn is the latest senior Republican to call for a review of “birthright citizenship,” amid complaints that illegal immigrants have abused that post-Civil War constitutional provision.

“We need to have hearings. We need to consult constitutional scholars and study what the implications are,” Cornyn said Wednesday, noting that about 540,000 people were caught illegally entering the United States last year through Mexico.

The implications are that the republicans have a new racist tool to dangle in front of their batsh*t crazy base - hate for Hispanics.

Will the new Harris County Sheriff clean up the mess his predecessor left?

A group of Houston area lawmakers wants the state commission that oversees local jails to grill Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia about his persistently overcrowded jail facilities.

“The current sheriff inherited a complete mess in terms of an old-fashioned attitude about how to do things, and conditions that were so overcrowded it prompted the feds to come in,” says state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston. “I want to make sure we have measurable progress.”

Repealing the 14th Amendment may be about deporting all Hispanics regardless of birth status

Big Tent Democrat over at Talk Left explains the republican attack on the 14th amendment.

The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in July 1868, by the Reconstruction Congress, and the line quoted above was intended to overturn the infamous Dred Scott decision which addressed this question:

Can a negro, whose ancestors were imported into this country, and sold as slaves, become a member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Constitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to all the rights, and privileges, and immunities, guarantied by that instrument to the citizen?

Mike Lux over at Open Left shows us where the republicans want to take us.

From the wreckage of the civil war, the provisions related to slavery had to be repealed, and something new and more enduring had to be put in its place. The progressives who ran Congress in the 1860s, ironically known as the Radical Republicans (a quite different sort than we have today), put into place 3 new amendments to rebuild those parts of the first constitution that had been so flawed:

-the 13th amendment abolished slavery and allowed the federal government to enforce those provisions

-the 15th amendment established that voting rights would not be limited based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” and again had a provision allowing for the Feds to enforce the law.

As huge as those two amendments were, in many ways the 14th was the centerpiece amendment, the one that was the foundational cornerstone for most of the progress we have made on civil rights, civil liberties, and equality over the last 150 years. Brandeis used the 14th amendment to firmly establish freedom of speech and the press in every state; Warren used it to rule on Brown V. Board of Education. It has been the basis for most of the major civil rights/liberties advances in the last century of this country.

You always knew that the batsh*t crazy republicans are fighting the civil war. Again. The new target for hate? Hispanics.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez says bring it on.

Imagine a United States where every birth initiates an investigation to determine the citizenship and immigration status of each parent. Let's have the hearing so we can take careful notes when the Republican's witness explains how this government intrusion into maternal and child health -- burdening our health care system and discouraging pregnant women from seeking medical care (while perhaps discouraging claims of paternity) -- is justified to secure our borders and protect the core liberties of America. I would love to hear the opening remarks of Judiciary Committee Members Lindsey Graham in the Senate or Lamar Smith in the House broadcast live from coast-to-coast on C-SPAN. I can hear it now. "Mr. Chairman, I would like to express my support for a full federal background check and proof of citizenship for every precious human life."

While we are at it, I think we should subpoena prominent Republicans like Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and former Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico to explain how they have ruined our country with their automatic U.S. citizenship. Under at least some of the legislative proposals supported by the Republicans, neither one would be citizens because one or more of their parents were not permanent legal residents of the U.S. at the time of their birth. Let's get Olympic Gold Medalist Henry Cejudo and NASA Astronaut Jose "Astro Jose" Hernandez on the witness stand to defend all that they have robbed from the United States by usurping U.S. citizenship. At long last, the GOP has come up with the legislative strategy to guarantee that no man or woman can rise from humble origins, with a father who is legally present on a student visa, to sit in the Oval Office as President of the United States.