TCEQ gives small fines for hazardous waste violations

Polluters just think of it as a very small cost of doing business and not a deterrent. republican regulators just think of it as a game to fool the public and please their cronies. For Valero in Nueces County, $19,344 for hazardous waste violations.

Former Bexar County Democrats treasurer indicted for embezzlement

Better late than never. Although you know that republican DA Susan Reed timed the indictment for the best partisan timing in this election.

Former Bexar County Democratic Party Treasurer Dwayne Eugene Adams was indicted Wednesday on charges that he embezzled and misused about $202,000 of party funds.

Adams, 55, could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of theft between $100,000 and $200,000 and misapplication by a fiduciary between $100,000 and $200,000. Each charge is a second-degree felony.

The grand jury action came as little surprise, Democratic Party officials acknowledged.

Despite use of faulty data, TCEQ approves coal plant in Matagorda

Who cares about your lungs or your health. A crony is a crony. And, the party of drill, baby, drill wants to prove its point by killing us all.

The decision came nearly three months after two state administrative law judges ruled that the permits should not be granted because of problems with the application, saying the developers used faulty data in their air quality analysis and failed to consider the impacts of coal dust.

The judges' findings were not binding on the TCEQ, which has final authority on permits. The commissioners said the project's developers had addressed the concerns.

TCEQ's Public Interest Counsel also recommended denial of the permit, saying the agency did not require the developers to use the lowest-polluting technology for their coal plants.

Jailhouse whistle blower case dismissed in Neuces County

Good.

A judge in Nueces County today dismissed a criminal indictment against Texas Commission on Jail Standards Executive Director Adan Muñoz.

Last month, the Nueces County District Attorney charged Muñoz with two counts of misusing official information. The indictment alleged that Muñoz used his office to illegally release to local reporters confidential information about 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.

Open government advocates called the indictment outrageous, and others said the charges were simply retaliation by Kaelin against Muñoz because the jail standards commission gave the Nueces County Jail — which Kaelin runs — failing grades on state inspections.

The Corpus Christi Caller Times has more:

Two news reporters, Jaime Powell of the Caller-Times and Rudy Treviño of KIII-TV, asked for the form and Muñoz provided it. Sheriff Jim Kaelin took the position that the intake form was part of an ongoing criminal investigation — into the suicide — and therefore was not public. Kaelin complained to Muñoz’s bosses at the commission, who consulted their lawyer, an assistant attorney general, who said the information is public and Muñoz was not at fault. The legal advice of an assistant attorney general is significant because the Texas Attorney General’s Office is the authority on what is public information.

The intake form is public information. It became public the instant it came into existence and can’t become non-public retroactively just because it’s of interest in a criminal investigation. Of course Muñoz’s attorneys agree. They informed District Attorney Anna Jimenez of the many ways the document is public, and how and why Muñoz’s release of it was a matter of duty, not choice, in a letter dated Sept. 21.

If Texas is doing so great, why are more people living in poverty

Perry touts how great we're doing, but check out this chart.

Galveston City employee suspended over joke on former council member

The police department’s fleet service manager has been suspended without pay for giving former Councilman Tarris Woods’ District 1 address as his own before speaking at a city council meeting last month.

College of the Mainland starts fight with lawyer at BP's request

College of the Mainland’s president acknowledged that he tried to find a way to prevent an attorney who is suing BP from renting out a college facility to hold an information meeting. Michael Elam said he looked into his options after some pro-industry residents complained the event was a front for client recruitment.

Attorney Chad Pinkerton is among a dozen lawyers who have filed lawsuits against BP on behalf of clients who claim they suffer from ill health effects because of a 40-day emissions event at BP’s Texas City refinery. During that release that started in April, more than 500,000 pounds of pollutants were released after a subunit on the refinery’s ultracracker malfunctioned.

Crony is as crony does.

Galveston rules city council election was legit

Former city council member Tarris Woods has lost his lawsuit against present incumbent Rusty Legg.

But the matter might not yet be closed.

On being told the judge’s decision by The Daily News, Woods said Tuesday: “I think the ruling is an assault on the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It’s not about me; it’s about all the people who were denied their right to vote.

“So I’m going to discuss this with my attorney in the next few days and see where we stand, but I can say now it’s too early to send carnations to Rusty and play taps for me.”

Hidalgo County is #1

In poverty for Texas.

Hidalgo County is the poorest place in Texas, according to estimates released Tuesday as part of the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

The county had the lowest median household income in 2009 compared to 50 other counties surveyed in the state. The new data also show more residents lived in poverty in Hidalgo County compared to any other Texas county, based on the survey’s one-year estimates.

Corpus Christi is noted for its slow growth.

The Corpus Christi metropolitan area grew slower than all but three of the state’s 25 metropolitan areas between 2008 and 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

ICE Detention centers aren't required to provide medical care 24/7

What?

Immigration officials plan to require detention centers holding the majority of the nation's immigration detainees to provide access to 24-hour, emergency medical and mental health care and expand access to legal resources and visitation.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement's long-awaited, revised national detention standards aim to address vexing, long-term problems within the hodgepodge of detention centers, prisons and jails that house about 400,000 immigration detainees annually.

A draft copy of the nearly 350-page standards obtained by the Houston Chronicle shows ICE officials have taken steps to address some of the most critical problems identified in the agency's internal reports and detention facility inspections, from access to quality medical care to outdoor recreation time.

But immigrant advocates, who had high hopes for the revised standards since ICE announced plans to overhaul its detention system last year, said the changes fell far short of their expectations.

Oversight panel wants to kill BexarMet

A legislative committee overseeing the Bexar Metropolitan Water District will ask the Legislature next year to let ratepayers decide if they want to dissolve the utility and let a new entity take over.

After more than three hours of hearings on the troubled utility, in which BexarMet received no outside support, it was an easy committee vote.

In recent months, the utility had to correct $3 million in falsely recorded impact fees; started an investigation into $25,000 that was stolen from its accounts; saw its bond rating drop; learned its general manager is part of a federal investigation of his previous utility, in Detroit; and struggled with a budget that overestimates revenue by several million dollars.

republican lawmaker can't pry into TWIA settlements

In an issue that's sparked a nasty political fight, attorneys for the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association and attorneys for the homeowners who sued them appeared at a Monday hearing to argue whether the legal fees in a record $189 million Hurricane Ike settlement should be kept private. Judge Susan Criss ultimately sided with homeowners' attorney Steve Mostyn and granted a new temporary restraining order that keeps TWIA from releasing settlement details, at least for now.

Texas Forensics Science Commission to go on trial in a courtroom

Supporters of Cameron Todd Willingham hailed an Austin district judge's decision Monday to open a two-day court of inquiry next month to determine whether Willingham was wrongfully convicted and executed in the deaths of his three daughters, who perished in a Corsicana house fire in 1991.

Former Gov. Mark White, a member of the legal team that petitioned for the rare legal proceeding, said he believes there is "overwhelming scientific evidence" to support fire experts' findings that the arson investigation that led to Willingham's conviction was outdated and unreliable.

"We're prepared to put on witnesses that will be persuasive that the forensic evidence was tantamount to witchcraft," said White, who was a Democratic governor in 1983-1987 and earlier served as state attorney general.

Eddie Bernice Johnson is an a**

U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson said Monday that she should have been more diligent in overseeing the allocation of scholarships that ultimately went to her relatives and the children of an aide. But she refused to apologize or acknowledge doing anything wrong.

"I haven't made a judgment," Johnson told The Dallas Morning News editorial board after being asked who had the "true wrong" in the ordeal. "When this is over, it will be clear that I broke no rules."

Giving scholarships to your grandkids despite pesky rules to the contrary? Giving scholarships to kids outside of your district despite pesky rules to the contrary?

Eddie Bernice Johnson is an arrogant a**hole. Too bad her opponent is a republican who would drive our country further into the ditch.

Why are we beating teachers?

What is the deal about beating up teachers? If you want great teachers, then make the job attractive to the best and brightest. Pay high wages. And, GIVE TEACHERS SOME RESPECT!. Sorry for the shouting. What we're doing now is just the repeated thrashing of an under paid and under appreciated group.

The teaching profession is suffering from a holdover to the days of women's work. Back in the mid twentieth century women had few choices if they wanted or needed to work outside the home. The best and the brightest then were herded into certain fields with teaching being a leader. Low pay? No problem. They're just women, not 'heads of household'. And, all of women's work was low paid. Respect? Well, at least teachers got that. As much as any women's work got respect.

Why would anyone want to be a teacher today? Low pay. No respect. And, constant flogging.  Now, the 'accountability' drive has moved to our college campuses.

For years, as the careers of public educators have increasingly been tied to precise measurements of student performance, the inhabitants of the higher education realm have continued to live in what Kay McClenney, a senior lecturer at the University of Texas, calls “a world of anecdote.”

But recently, she says, a “sea change” seems to be emerging, as public institutions of higher learning increasingly find themselves evaluated less on long-standing reputation and more on what the numbers actually say. Higher ed is abuzz with a push for “accountability” that has taken multiple forms of late. Examples include a document developed by the Texas A&M University System comparing every faculty member’s generated revenue to his or her salary and a recently enacted law requiring that professors post syllabi and curriculum vitae online for student scrutiny. Those relatively small steps likely signal the start of a much more comprehensive effort, especially as Texas catches up with those that have already taken up the mantle — and encountered some of the inherent difficulties — of a data-driven examination of higher education.

Some of the additional scrutiny is good. Like publishing syllabi and curriculum vitae online. Tying a profession to the money generated? How does that measure student development?  What about tying administrator pay to student performance?

It's Monday TPA blog roundup time!

The Texas Progressive Alliance is still looking for that first nip of fall in the air as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

This week on Left of College Station, Teddy writes about why the Tea Party has an expiration date. Also, as the semiannual protest against reproductive rights 40 Days for Life begins, a guest blogger writes about being a pro-choice feminist Christian, and Teddy writes about how the Coalition for Life lies to women. Left of College Station also covers the week in headlines.

Off the Kuff interviewed Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, and Democratic candidate for County Judge Gordon Quan.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme knows that deregulation means more tainted food and more BP disasters like this one.

Bay Area Houston List some alternatives to white-wing wadio in Houston.

Nat-Wu at Three Wise Men examines the situation in Somalia, coverage of which has mostly ceased in the American press.

Jeff Weems, the Democratic candidate for Texas Railroad Commission, earned the endorsement of both the Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle. Keith Hampton, our man for the Court of Appeals, got the DMN endorsement. Bill Moody (Texas Supreme Court),Wally Kronzer (14th Court of Appeals), and Robert Ray (1st Court of Appeals) also got endorsed by the Houston newspaper.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson has a question for you, Did you know Texas' public education finance system is hopelessly broken?

WhosPlayin calls B.S. on GOP Congressman Michael Burgess' taxpayer-funded "survey" over extending the Bush tax cuts. The only options were a dishonest choice of all or nothing, so WhosPlayin posted its own survey with the third option of "extend for the middle class".

This week at McBlogger, we take a look at Sleazy Todd Staples and his johnny-come-lately advocacy for tougher eminent domain restrictions.

Neil at Texas Liberal noted this week that the party holding the White House has lost seats in the U.S. House of Reps. in 33 of 36 midterms since the Civil War. Neil is not pleased that Democrats may lose some seats in the upcoming election, but these things do happen.

Libby Shaw at TexasKaos explains how one of our smirking Republican friends claim that "The American People Wrote the Pledge" when it was actually Written by Lobbyists Check it out.

Why is the Pope trying to change Hitler from a Catholic to an atheist?

Does this Pope think that we are that stupid? Apparently.

The Pope also praised Britain's fight against Hitler's "atheist extremism", saying that "Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews, who were thought unfit to live".

Changing Hitler's religion appears to be coordinated. Just look at this cr*p from the US propaganda arm of the Catholic church.

The pope did not go far enough. Radical atheists like the British Humanist Association should apologize for Hitler. But they should not stop there. They also need to issue an apology for the 67 million innocent men, women and children murdered under Stalin, and the 77 million innocent Chinese killed by Mao. Hitler, Stalin and Mao were all driven by a radical atheism, a militant and fundamentally dogmatic brand of secular extremism. It was this anti-religious impulse that allowed them to become mass murderers. By contrast, a grand total of 1,394 were killed during the 250 years of the Inquisition, most all of whom were murdered by secular authorities.

All mass murders are atheists?  Really?  Even the ones acting during the Inquisition? Really?

Truth Wins Out has some facts for the Pope. Or, like the Tea Party, is the Pope's reality fact free?

“I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews I am fighting for the Lord’s work.”

...

“I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so”

The Vatican denied the Pope's membership in the Hitler Youth in 2009.  Now the story is the Pope was forced.

At the age of 14, he joined the Hitler Youth, as was required of young Germans of the time.

Oh, reality is such a complex thing.

Texas PUC weenies out on fines for businesses

Crony is as crony does.

The agency says it often enters negotiations with companies to avoid lengthy and costly litigation. Consumer advocates, however, say the figures signal companies can settle for pennies on the dollar and consider fines a cost of doing business.

Randy Chapman, executive director of Texas Legal Services Center, compared the situation to a delivery truck double-parking. "It's cheaper to pay a parking violation than to wait for a parking space," he said.

Promote the general welfare? Not in Texas.

When republicans accuse Democrats of something, you know they are doing it

Death panels are envisioned by greedy corporate b*st*rds.  republicans and the media to do their bidding.  How else do you explain the propaganda blitz on expensive cancer drugs that just prolong life for 'months'? Check out this cr*p from the AP:

Cancer patients, brace yourselves. Many new drug treatments cost nearly $100,000 a year, sparking fresh debate about how much a few months more of life is worth.

Hidalgo County is #1!

Hidalgo County has the largest percentage of Hispanic-owned firms in the country, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures released Tuesday.

The data also reveal that the number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the county grew at double the national rate from 2002 to 2007.

Now they decide that a coal plant is a disaster in waiting

...But now, with the White Stallion Energy Center about to receive an air pollution permit from the state, many local officials and residents are having second thoughts - even in the face of 12 percent unemployment in Matagorda County.

The proposed power plant may be a chimera, critics say. It may drain precious water from the Colorado River, foul the air and harm wildlife in an area known for ranches and rice, beaches and birds.

In and around Bay City, the county's hub, opponents are planting roadside signs showing a menacing monster billowing from smokestacks, with the rallying cry: "Stop White Stallion Coal Plant."

"It's a bad thing," Michael Ledwig said as he posted one of the signs on the front gate of his property on FM 2668, about a mile from the site of the proposed plant. "It's a lot of pollution for a small amount of jobs."

BP pipe leaking in Texas City

BP is all about the profits. Health and safety don't appear to enter the equation except as minor business expenses.

BP officials confirmed they are monitoring what the company termed a “minor” leak from a pipe at its Texas City refinery. The leak at one of the refinery’s pipestills started Monday and still was not contained as of Friday afternoon.

...

In the letter to the company that was copied to the Texas attorney general, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and news outlets, Buzbee claims the leak is bigger than BP admits and it puts “lives at risk” because the unidentified hydrocarbon leaking is flammable.

I'll bet the leak is minor to BP.

Galveston Police chief and police association are fighting

Texas Municipal Police Association has demanded Galveston Police Chief Charles Wiley’s immediate termination or resignation in a dispute about a proposed “Unsafe Galveston” billboard.

The association wrote Thursday to City Manager Steve LeBlanc, saying if Wiley is not forced out of office, “swift and certain legal action will be taken to protect the officers’ rights to freedom of association and freedom to speak.”

In the letter, Randy Doubrava, the association’s general counsel, accused the police chief of threats and “grossly unprofessional, unlawful and un-American statements” to its members.

Charge dropped against Corpus Christi officer

A Corpus Christi police officer has been cleared of a felony charge that accused him of tampering with a surveillance system but still faces a misdemeanor charge.

Senior Officer Tommy Cabello, 37, was indicted earlier this month on a charge of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, a third-degree felony.

If there was only ever a live feed to a monitor, why didn't the DA know that in the first place? How incompetent is that! If the officer is accused of tampering with the surveillance system, shouldn't the DA know how the d*mn thing worked? [Yes, it's Perry appointee, Anna Jimenez.]

More here.

You can watch the video of the SBOE trying to outdo Florida Quoran burning pastor

So, the Florida pastor gets all kinds of attention from our media. Why? I can't imagine, but others are jealous. The Westboro crazies cried that they had already burned the Qu'ran, why didn't they get all that exposure? The Texas State Board of Education wants the idiot spotlight.

The State Board of Education today instructed publishers to curtail positive coverage of Islam and include more favorable treatment of Christianity in future world history textbooks.

You can watch it here.

BexarMet leader under investigation in Detroit

Oh, great.

A federal investigation into city hall corruption in Detroit has brought Bexar Metropolitan Water District General Manager Victor Mercado under scrutiny, according to a report by the Detroit News.

Mercado was director of Detroit's Water and Sewerage Department for six years until resigning in June 2008 after conflicts with the city council about rate increases. He then briefly worked for a utility in Florida before he was hired to manage BexarMet in December 2009.

According to the News, an ongoing investigation by the FBI and a federal grand jury has often made references to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. Mercado is being investigated over his role in $109 million in work awarded to embattled contractor Bobby Ferguson.

Texas students don't need to know about science

Science often contradicts batsh*t crazy people's view of the world.  For example, the world is 6,000 years old.  Dinosaur's walked with humans.  Evolution is false.  How do you solve the problem of reality for school children?  Eliminate all references to facts and destroy science curriculum where students can learn about critical thinking and the scientific method.

The State Board of Education decided Thursday to scale back the purchase of supplemental science materials for Texas students in the face of a projected state revenue deficit that already has delayed plans to buy hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of new textbooks.

Another example of the media's biased, i.e. stupid, framing of the issue

North Texas Public Radio comes up with this loser 'Board Of Education Tackles Controversial Resolution'

Tackles? Really? You want to go with 'tackles'? The Texas State Board of Education resolution on Christianity versus Islam is picking a fight, not 'tackling' a problem. Can't you tell the difference?

Here's another example of stupid framing: 'In Texas, a fire kindles fears of voter fraud' The fire is very likely to cause voter suppression by decreasing the number of voting machines at the polls and thereby creating voter discouraging lines.

Rick Perry afraid to face newspaper editors

No debates. No editorial boards. republicans are afraid to face even the simplest form of accountability. Propaganda and staged shows? check. Made up 'facts'? check. Their own reality? check.

If Gov. Rick Perry's goal in speaking at the National Conference of Editorial Writers luncheon in Dallas was to win the group over, then they say he "utterly failed."

After the incumbent Republican governor's appearance, National Conference of Editorial Writers President Tom Waseleski issued an open letter to Perry saying the group was "stunned and disappointed" that he did not take questions. And they aren't buying any argument about time constraints, because, according to the letter, Perry had "ample time to work the room by shaking hands."

What else can you do when you have no answers and you have only worked for your own benefit?

Valley developers complain about flood maps

This is a problem when one of our major political parties discount reality. Facts are debatable to them. Either a parcel of land is in danger of flooding or the danger is minimal. Declaring it is or isn't has no bearing on the truth of the matter.

A federal effort to ensure that the nation's levees can protect homes from 100-year floods could drastically slow development in the Upper Valley and cost local governments property-tax revenue, say area homeowners and developers.

"People continue to look at this as just a West Side issue," said Pat Woods, a developer who owns an Upper Valley home.

But a drop in the taxes collected would affect the entire city and county, as well as Canutillo, Anthony and the region's school districts, said Woods. He was among about 20 people who attended a meeting at City Hall to discuss the Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood insurance rate maps.

republican Texas Supreme Court says injured patient can't sue for a decent damage award

Because republicans care about their cronies much more than they care about justice

.As a federal judge considers the constitutionality of Texas’ 2003 medical malpractice reform — and Gov. Rick Perry campaigns for more lawsuit restrictions — the Texas Supreme Court has narrowly ruled that hospital injuries seemingly unrelated to doctor error can still fall under the state’s stringent medical malpractice caps.

republicans are all about the selfishness and not a bit about promoting the general welfare.

republicans back off making changes to day care rules

Texas officials say they plan to withdraw their proposal to add stricter staffing requirements for day cares.

Officials with the Department of Family and Protective Services had recommended to a department advisory council earlier this year that the state lower the number of children that each worker at Texas’ 9,300 day care centers may supervise.

But after receiving hundreds of public comments — including from outraged day care owners who said the changes could hurt business and drive up prices — state officials now say that given the struggling economy, it’s not the time to make such changes.

Greg Abbott wants Texas to be the only state with excessive greenhouse gas emissions

Because republicans love their polluting cronies more than they care about the health of the people or the environment.  Because republicans don't give a flip about promoting the general welfare.

Come January, the Environmental Protection Agency will — in theory — begin regulating greenhouse gas emissions around the country for the first time. Large polluters planning expansions must include carbon dioxide and other gases linked to climate change on their permit applications, with broader regulations coming into force over time.

But not if Texas can help it. Attorney General Greg Abbott last week lodged legal challenges in a federal court against EPA actions on multiple fronts, including a reiteration of the state's long-standing argument against the EPA's scientific foundation for determining the dangers of greenhouse gas pollution. EPA regulation, Abbott's document said, "is the most draconian of its kind of any advanced economy in the world" and would damage the Texas economy.

What Digby said

Digby blogged about the very articulate woman [Velma Hart] who took Obama and his administration to task at the town hall.

This woman feels besieged, she's worried that the country she knew is slipping away and deeply concerned that the president and his party don't know how to stop it. And she's not wrong to be worried: they do seem to be paralyzed in the face of this psychotic right wing onslaught. They have a huge majority and the White House and they are left holding kabuki votes like today's DADT show and tell and rather than making the Republicans look like big meanies, they end up making it appear that the crazies have the upper hand again. And when that happens a lot of Dems just tune out, avert their eyes, preferring to look to more personal concerns and withdraw into their own projects and pursuits.

Box Turtle via Pam Spauding tells us the DADT kabuki is just as bad as we thought.

So if Reid had the votes to break the filibuster but squandered them in this procedural maneuver, why did he do this? The answer is simple. This was never a serious attempt to pass legislation in the best interests of the American people. It was nothing but political theater, and everyone on both sides were eager actors in the drama. All the Senators had a role to play, and everyone played to the audience. Even the White House was given a bit part. They issued a statement calling for an end to the filibuster, but according to SLDN’s Trevor Thomas, there was no lobbying behind the scenes.

What does Joe Biden do?

Day After Blanche Lincoln Joins GOP Filibuster, Biden Rewards Her with Fundraising Help

And, Obama has the nerve to have his pants in a twist over support from the left?

2 more worker injuries at a BP facility

Their corporate culture really does think of workers' safety as a cost of doing business. 2 workers got steam burns while working on pipes.

Number of Hispanic businesses in Texas grows

The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in Texas grew by 40 percent between 2002 and 2007, and the City of Austin saw an even bigger percentage increase, at 49 percent, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The increases in Texas mirrored a national trend, as the number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States grew by almost 44 percent to 2.3 million from 2002 to 2007, according to the Census Bureau's Survey of Business Owners: Hispanic-Owned Businesses: 2007. That growth rate far exceeded the national growth rate for all businesses of 18 percent, the survey found.

Hispanic firms nationwide also increased the number of people they employed by 26 percent in that period, a higher rate than businesses overall.

The Dallas Morning News says the public should be 'exasperated' over the head of the Forensics Science Commission

Hey, Bradley was put in there by Rick Perry who didn't want to be embarrassed by the results of the panel's investigation of the Todd Willingham case.  What do you think a Perry-bot would do?

There appears to be little or no dissent among members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission that soon-to-be outdated science was used to build an arson-murder case that led to Cameron Todd Willingham's execution.

The key decision for the commission now is how to formalize that conclusion. It should send the strongest message possible to forensic investigators about their duty to justice.

...

The pushback [to ignoring the duty to justice] exasperated Bradley, who complained the commission would just "waste another meeting." The public should be exasperated with Bradley.

Justice smutice. A Perry-bot's duty is to make Perry look good and to preserve Perry's power.  republicans do not care a twit about being competent.

Texas Ethics (sic) Commission clears SBOE member who took gifts

Ethics officials have cleared a State Board of Education member from San Antonio of allegations that he failed to report gifts from a Boston-based company that sought to manage part of the state's education trust fund last year.

The Texas Ethics Commission said in a report that board member Rick Agosto, D-San Antonio, committed technical violations in his reporting of the gifts. But the agency found no serious legal violations and did not impose any civil penalties.

Here's what Rick said in his own words about these charges.  In any case, Rick is out 100 large.  Rick isn't running again. Hurray! He voted with the far right too much.

The EPA offers companies a way to get their permits

Now the Environmental Protection Agency is offering a solution that officials say will benefit the companies and the community.

Under the voluntary audit program facility operators enter a 90-day audit process so they can be issued a new air permit that meets the federal Clean Air Act.

If they take part, the companies would be protected from civil lawsuits for anything uncovered in the audit.

But they will not be allowed to contest any of the findings and the audit will go all the way back to when the first permit was issued.

SBOE Chair Gail Lowe says her emails are all in favor of promoting Christianity and demoting Islam

I think Gail Lowe needs some more emails and letters.

Leaders of an interfaith group that includes Christians, Jews and Muslims urged the State Board of Education on Monday to abandon what they called an "inflammatory" resolution that purportedly documents an anti-Christian, pro-Islamic bias in world history textbooks.

The resolution, which is expected to come before the board Friday, is threatening to entangle the board in a new controversy after a series of "culture war" debates that has brought national attention to the 15-member panel. Critics have accused social conservatives on the board of trying to inject their philosophy into textbooks and classrooms.

Why was an American girl deported with her abusive father?

With 'papers, please' laws how many legal, brown American citizens will be deported to Mexico?

Ms. Castro later sued the government, saying the agents had no legal authority to detain, much less deport, her daughter. Nor should Border Patrol agents, she said, take the place of family-court judges in making custody decisions.

The last court to rule in the case, the full United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, rejected Ms. Castro’s arguments, over the dissents of three judges.

The brief unsigned majority decision, echoing that of the trial judge, said the appeals court did not “condone the Border Patrol’s actions or the choices it made.” But, the decision went on, Ms. Castro could not sue the government because the agents had been entitled to use their discretion in the matter.

Border Patrol agents have the discretion to deport citizens? Isn't there something in our constitution about due process? I guess if you're a republican, who cares about due process for other people.

It's Monday TPA blog roundup time!

The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes everyone has a pleasant fall equinox as it brings you this week's roundup.

This week on Left of College Station, Teddy analyzes at what positions Chet Edwards and Bill Flores take on American foreign policy, and looks at what the polls look like as the primaries end and the general election begins. Left of College Station also covers the week in headlines.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes that Texas remains 6th in the nation as poverty levels soar. What are republicans doing about it? Defunding education and health care, two of the most important pillars of success for Texans.

It's been a terrible week for Todd Staples. It's rare that the failure of a public official is so glaringly obvious. It's exceedingly rare for the coverup of that failure to be bungled quite so badly. Then again, it's not often that said public official is facing Hank Gilbert.

Off the Kuff commented on the proposal to create an elections administrator in Harris County.

Both Rick Perry and Todd Staples committed their own comedies of errors, preserved forever on video. See PDiddie's Brains and Eggs and LYAO.

Dembones at Eye On Williamson highlights the less than truthful attack of Diana Maldonado's opponents, Maldonado fires back over debate flap.

At TexasKaos, lightseeker takes on the overblown conventional wisdom of a Republican landslide in November. Give a read: Self-fulfilling Prophecy and Midterms.

Neil at Texas Liberal used a picture he took this week of an unattended lifeguard station in Galveston to show how the Tea Party/Republican Party would govern America.

The Corpus Christi Caller Times trying to do better

Since its establishment in 1883, the Caller-Times seemed to be the most despised communication medium in Corpus Christi among Latinos. For 125 years, the newspaper had built a solid reputation of elitism and racism because of its blatantly discriminatory practices — both in print and through its actions.

...

We cannot erase more than a century of blatant racism in just a few years, but because Patrick [Birmingham] and Libby [Averyt] acknowledged the wrongs of the past during our advisory meetings, we were able to begin the healing.

Yesterday's Political Pulse was an improvement. At least the authors used 'Democratic' instead of 'Democrat' as an adjective. Will Democrats see less bias, too?  I can hope.

GOP position on health care? Let 'em die like dogs

But, how do you phrase that in a way that sells with the voter?

One of the first acts of a Republican majority would be a vote to repeal what they dismiss as "Obamacare." But they haven't said much about what would replace it.

Law enforcement groups choose Mark Skurka to be Nueces County DA

Who in their right mind wouldn't pick Skurka? Of course, that lets out the Tea Party republicans.

The Corpus Christi Police Officers Association, the Nueces County Sheriff’s Officers Association and the Corpus Christi Independent School District Police have endorsed Mark Skurka, a Democratic candidate for district attorney, over incumbent Republican Anna Jimenez.

Note: This week's Political Pulse is missing both Jaime Powell as an author and her nasty snark against Democrats.  Good job.

Cameron County DA blows off newspaper's Texas Open Meeting Complaint

The Cameron County District Attorney’s Office has refused to prosecute a case filed by the Valley Morning Star accusing San Benito officials of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act, officials said last week.

The Star filed the complaint in April accusing city commissioners of failing to disclose the nature of a discussion they held in a closed meeting on April 12.

The newspaper also accused the city of illegally posting the meeting’s agenda, which failed to state the nature of the discussion commissioners planned to hold in executive session.

I thought the law states that the nature of the discussion must be stated. It's real easy. Just state something general of no use. That's what everybody else does.

The Texas Medical Board actually disciplines 3 Brownsville docs

Who could have suspected they were capable of that. Dr. James David Key Sr., 70, disciplined 5 times in 5 years. I wouldn't be going to see him. Psst. Why does Key still have a license to practice medicine?

Along with Key, Dr. Jorge R. Guevara, who practices internal medicine, and Dr. Geraldine F. Mullane, who practices emergency medicine, are among the 187 licensed physicians disciplined by the board since early June.

Former Jim Wells DA pleads not guilty in misuse of drug funds

Former Jim Wells County District Attorney Joe Frank Garza has plead not guilty to charges that he used drug forfeiture funds for his personal financial benefit.

Texas Forensics Science Commission rejects an immediate rubber stamp

A rubber stamp may still be in the offing. I would like to be pleasantly surprised.

The Texas Forensic Science Commission rebelled Friday against its head commissioner, refusing to accept his draft report clearing arson investigators of misconduct or negligence in a 1991 fatal fire where flawed science was used to determine the blaze was intentionally set.

Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004 for killing his three children by setting that blaze. Texas may have executed an innocent man on Gov. Rick Perry's watch if the fire was accidental.

"There's a lot of work to be done still," Tarrant County Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani, a member of the commission, said after the meeting. "That's why the commission didn't approve the draft.

Donations to Greg Abbott's campaign sparks questions of conflict

Hey, Abbott is a republican and cronies are their business.  Promoting the general welfare just doesn't enter the picture.

Business and corporate money is omnipresent in politics. But fundraising for attorney general raises unique questions because of the office's role in lawsuits, legal opinions and corporate investigations. The attorney general is, first and foremost, a lawyer representing the state and the public's interest. In Texas, the office sometimes deals directly in court with industries and individuals that donate to election campaigns.

New Sierra Club guy comes to Texas

It seems to be a sad reflection where you have the environmental quality officials who are making a show of their defiance of EPA's authority and interest in regulating polluters. There seems to be almost a certain glee that we're seeing from some officials in Texas who picking a political fight, in this case with the Obama administration, as an opportunity to score some political points. It's been disappointing. Certainly we should be able to count on environmental-quality officials in any state to put public health at the top of their agenda.

Welcome to Texas where republicans rule and cronies do as they please.

The EPA is looking into BP benzene releases

Good. Who trusts the TCEQ? One can only hope that the Bush-bot infiltrators are losing control of the EPA so that we can begin to trust them.

Fire at Citgo refinery in Corpus Christi

Crews with the Refinery Terminal Fire Company spent a good part of Thursday afternoon working a fire at the Citgo East Plant.

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

'Former Alton police chief not guilty on lewdness charge'

A jury took about an hour to vindicate a former Alton police chief and Mission mayoral candidate accused of having sex with a woman behind an auto parts store — an arrest he maintains was politically motivated.

An all-woman jury handed down the acquittal in Baldemar Flores’ public lewdness case late Wednesday morning.

Mission police arrested Flores and his purported mistress, Cynthia Garcia, in September 2009 after a store manager said he saw two people having sex in the front seat of a BMW sedan behind his store.

Texas poverty rate is 6th highest

republicans are well on their way to turning us into a third world country.  Thanks to Ronalda Reagan and his disciples.

The Census Bureau study released Thursday said that Texas' poverty rate last year was 17.3 percent, once again the nation's sixth-highest. The rate among Texas children also has increased since 2008.

Poverty now affects almost 1.8 million Texans younger than 18. That's just more than one of every four.

What will republicans do about school funding in Texas?

republicans like Debbie Riddle don't believe in public schools.  republicans like the current State Board of Education believe schools should be used to indoctrinate children into their mind set. I don't trust a republican farther than I can throw a full grown elephant.

Texas needs to scrap its school funding system and start all over, Senate Public Education Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said Thursday, as other members of a special school finance committee agreed that the current plan is hopelessly broken.

A new plan — whether it evolves into a statewide property tax or higher sales taxes to replace school property taxes or some other idea — could emerge in coming months.

Bill Zedler appalled that people know he accessed private medical records

Zedler said he used the records to find out who was filing complaints against certain doctors and succeeded in getting the board to drop at least one case, according to the Tribune. He told the Tribune that he believed the doctors were unfairly targeted by rival physicians who were "in the pocket" of insurance companies.

Lawmakers have the authority to obtain and review private patient and physician records. It's a misdemeanor under Texas law to use confidential medical board information for nonlegislative purposes.

Sure, Bill. The fact that two doctors were major donors had nothing to do with it. Uh huh.

No accelerants found Houston electronic voting machine fire

Cause is still unknown.

A pre-dawn fire that destroyed nearly all of Harris County's voting machines last month likely erupted in a rear section of the north Houston warehouse that was used as a classroom and storage area, authorities said on Wednesday.

...

Although arson investigators haven't ruled out the fire being intentionally set, Cortez acknowledged that most suspicious cases involve an accelerant.

Texas wants own reality about global warming

Essentially putting global warming science on trial, Texas officials on Thursday expanded their arguments in a lawsuit meant to prevent the federal regulation of greenhouse gases.

In motions submitted Thursday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott accused the federal Environmental Protection Agency of relying on faulty science for its proposals to regulate greenhouse gases.

republicans make up their own reality. Isn't that called insantity?

The Texas Tribune notices that city prisons have no oversight

And you thought county prisons were bad.

While county jails answer to the commission and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is responsible for state prisons, city jails are accountable to no higher authority. For decades, lawmakers have made tried in vain to bring accountability to city jails, and criminal justice advocates have pushed for oversight. Despite continuing deaths, threats of lawsuits over civil rights violations and reports of unseemly living conditions, they remain unmonitored.

This headline captures the true republican ethos

'Senate Republicans rally against Dream Act'

republicans are all about killing the middle class and killing the dream. 1 in 7 Americans now live in poverty. Well done Ronald Reagan. Your legacy lives on in pain and suffering.

Oh, yeah. republicans don't like people of color, either. Or, teh gays.

[John] Cornyn said adding [the Dream Act] to the defense bill, “which already contains an unwarranted repeal of ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' is cynical and transparently political.”

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., chairman of the Senate Border Security Caucus, said he would “not relent in the fight to stop this amnesty measure from passing.”

The Senate is expected to take up the $725 billion defense bill next week. Republicans have already announced their opposition to a provision that would allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military by repealing the “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy.

South Texas cops caught smuggling pot

If we legalize drugs, then law enforcement will not be corrupted to smuggle drugs. Why tempt our public officials anymore than we have to?

Seven people — including two Roma policemen — remain in federal custody on allegations they worked together to move loads of pot through the Rio Grande Valley.

Cornyn reaping the whirlwind of discontent in his party

Are they mad because Cornyn and his fellow male republicans voted to enable rapists?  In a way yes.  It was the crony love of contractors that caused that vote.  Tea Baggers and progressives are both angry about cronyism in government.  Anybody who has lost their job or taken a pay cut should be angry at Blue Dog Democrats and republicans alike.  Our government agents should be promoting the general welfare, not themselves and their cronies.

The Texas Republican had recruited moderate Rep. Mike Castle, a popular two-term governor whose loss to Christine O'Donnell, a deeply flawed perennial candidate, was a major setback in the drive for a GOP Senate majority.

The contest exposed fissures within the party that Cornyn has spent a year contending with. Tuesday's outcome tested his skill at turning lemons into lemonade.

On Wednesday, Cornyn tried several ways to spin what happened at the end of a grueling primary season that handed one defeat after another to him and other GOP leaders who didn't want to bet the future on untested amateurs, or a tea party movement with questionable party loyalty.

Why should the Tea Baggers be loyal to a party that favors cronies?

John Cornyn slams 'teh' gays as he attends a Log Cabin fundraiser

Cornyn, who was one of 39 white male republican senators who voted to enable rapists, has a lot of nerve moralizing about other people.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, dismissed a request Wednesday from an influential social conservative organization to skip a fundraiser for a Republican gay and lesbian advocacy group, saying that even though he does not agree with the group on social issues he shares its views on fiscal discipline and economic policy.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, sent Cornyn a letter on Monday saying that “it is deeply troubling” that the Texas Republican would attend an upcoming Log Cabin Republicans fundraiser, because the organization does not represent the ideals of the Republican Party.

Who would want Cornyn anyway? Apparently, the republicans in the closet have decided their time to have nominal civil rights has come. . I don't understand why gay republicans like being abused by their 'friends' so much. Too bad about Tony Perkins

More reaction to the SBOE establishing Christianity as our official religion

The SBOE wants to ensure that Christianity is positioned favorably compared to Islam in our children's textbooks.

From the San Antonio Express News:

The planned resolution calls on the board to reject sections of textbooks that “offend Texas law with respect to treatment of the world's major religious groups by significant inequalities of coverage ... or by demonizing or lionizing one or more of them over others.

”The Washington Post weighed in (yes, everybody outside of Texas is laughing at us again.)

It can’t, surely, have anything to do with the recent news that has inflamed religious tensions, including the proposed construction of a mosque and Islamic community center near Ground Zero in New York and a Florida pastor who was threatening to burn the Koran.

Ya, think?

More from the Express News:

Tempers already are flaring nationally and internationally with the planned development of a Muslim community center near ground zero in New York and controversy over the threatened burning of the Quran by the pastor of a small Christian congregation in Florida.

Lawrence Allen, Jr., D-Houston, the board's only Muslim member, warns that approval of the resolution will bring more unwelcome national attention to Texas. Earlier this year, the board drew national attention over social curriculum standards that some believe shortchanged minorities' contributions.

From a republican candidate:

An effort by some State Board of Education members to specify how Christianity and Islam should be covered in new world history books is illegal and should be dropped, a candidate who is expected to be an incoming board member and who has clashed with social conservatives said Wednesday.

Thomas Ratliff, a Republican from Mount Pleasant who defeated former board Chairman Don McLeroy of College Station in a hotly contested primary in March, said the board resolution is in direct conflict with a 1995 state law that limits the board's authority over textbooks.

The current Texas State Board of Education wants to be on the forefront of crazy.  Lets hope the new board does its job.

Public Utility Commission changes rules to further hurt poor people

 Why isn't it called the Crony Utility Commission or CUC?

The Public Utility Commission on Wednesday approved a rule that would allow the electricity provider to apply a so-called switch-hold. That means you couldn't switch to another provider until you pay the debt on the payment plan.

The decision left some consumer advocates questioning how and even whether to continue advising people to enter deferred payment plans.

A customer who declines a payment plan can simply switch to a new provider without paying the old bill. This could harm the customer's credit rating, but the lights would stay on.

"AARP has outreach material that educates people about these payment plans that we're now going to have to revise and reconsider, because these payment plans have now been poisoned by the switch-hold," said AARP associate state director Tim Morstad.

The PUC is now requiring electric providers offer a differed payment plan.

Texas regulators voted Wednesday to require retail electric providers to offer deferred payment plans to customers in cases of extreme weather and medical need but allow them to block customers from switching providers if they haven't paid their bills.

Consumer advocates said the provisions will lead to more electricity disconnections for seniors and ill people.

another republican, another abuse of power

Arrogance and crony loving galore. Helping constituents? Not so much.

In the closing days of his last term in the Texas House, former state Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, used his legislative authority to obtain a series of confidential records from the Texas Medical Board, The Texas Tribune has learned. His reason? To defend doctors he believes were wrongly the subjects of misconduct investigations by the board, which licenses the state's physicians. “I intervened on their behalf because you have attempts by the medical board to sanction somebody when there’s clearly no explanation [of] why,” says Zedler, who’s running to reclaim his House District 96 seat this November.

Of the five physicians whose cases Zedler took it upon himself to review, at least two were campaign contributors, campaign finance records show. In a phone interview, Zedler recalled requesting information about Houston anesthesiologist Vladimir Redko and Dallas thoracic surgeon Dr. William Rea, neither of whom were constituents. According to the board's disciplinary orders, both were ultimately sanctioned for “egregious” treatment violations ranging from performing invasive procedures to injecting natural gas and jet fuel into the patients in order to diagnose chemical sensitivities. Records show that the doctors gave Zedler a combined total of $25,000 in the past half-decade and that some contributions were made just weeks before Zedler requested their case files.

Texas State Board of Education about to promote Christianity and slam Islam in our children's textbooks

Excuse me.  Doesn't anyone care about the establishment clause in our constitution?

The board will consider a resolution next week that would warn publishers not to push a pro-Islamic, anti-Christian viewpoint in world history textbooks.

Who thinks a panel appointed by Perry would opt to embarrass Perry?

Dream on.

Two state senators told the Texas Forensic Science Commission that its investigation of the arson case that led to the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham could be damaging public trust in the criminal justice system instead of bolstering it.

Look, my trust is already gone. I believe a republican is fully capable of doing whatever it takes to grab money and power. WHATEVER it takes. Really. I do.

Houston scrambling to get ready for election after fire destroyed voting machines

What a great voter suppression event. Accident? I believe that the Rick Perry operatives and the republicans in general are fully capable of that and more.

Harris County elections officials said Tuesday that they can round up replacements for 80 percent of the electronic voting machines they were planning to use on Nov. 2, before a fire destroyed nearly all the county's balloting equipment.

Which voting districts will be short on machines?

El Paso homophobic attack on DP benefits may go to court

The city's lawyers say a ballot initiative to strip health benefits from partners of unmarried city workers will be ripe for a legal challenge if it passes Nov. 2.

Will the homophobes win? I hope not. The city council is on the side of the angels.

GOP chances diminish in late primaries, Cornyn bactracks on Senate chances

The 'up is down' and 'night is day' party ignores reality at every opportunity. John Cornyn, known in these pages as a rapist enabler, has backtracked on the republican chances for taking the Senate. The batsh*t crazy base wants the US Senate.  So, Cornyn must say they shall have it.

Pssst:  Nate Silver has said that the republican chances went from 30% to 16% last night with wins from the batsh*t crazy O'Donnell in Delaware and the Tea Party favorite Lamontagne in New Hampshire.

The republican base has twisted itself down to the core crazy run by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin.  How does the remaining sane portion of the party regain control? I don't see how that can be done.  Continue on death spiral.

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

'BexarMet fires whistle-blower'

Sounds like retaliation and isn't that illegal? Maybe, not in Texas where republicans rule like they're royalty.

Cameron County Commissioners win another round against DA

A state appeals court has blocked Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos’ attempts to take over the legal division of the county’s Commissioners Court.

The Edinburg-based 13th Court of Appeals ruled earlier this month that it would not rehear the district attorney’s case after previously deciding a lower court had granted Villalobos a temporary restraining order against the county in error.

Boo hoo.

Born in the USA? You can still be deported, if you're brown

Nearly three months after U.S. immigration officials dumped Luis Alberto Delgado in Mexico despite his insistence that he is a U.S. citizen, the 19-year-old was permitted to re-enter the country last weekend with the U.S. government's blessing.

Delgado said U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents cleared him to return to the United States on Friday, roughly 85 days after he was detained by immigration officials and pressured to sign papers that cleared the way for his removal to Mexico.

Lawsuit anyone? The guy lost his job.

Corpus Christi cop gets light sentence for molesting his niece

Aren't children just the property of their male relatives?

A former Corpus Christi police officer pleaded guilty this morning to three counts of indecency with a child.

47-year-old Julian Vasquez was immediately sentenced to 90 days in jail plus probation.

Last November, the District Attorney's office says Vasquez's 15-year-old niece accused her uncle of molestation and Monday morning, Vasquez pleaded guilty to all charges.

"He pled to three counts of indecency; the indecency was by contact," First Assistant District Attorney James Lawrence said.

Larry Taylor rebuffed in attempt to punish Democratic donor

A Galveston judge on Monday blocked the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association from releasing to a Republican lawmaker information about a confidential settlement with homeowners represented by one of the state's biggest Democratic donors, Houston lawyer Steve Mostyn.

Sen. John Carona, a Dallas Republican who co-chairs a legislative panel overseeing windstorm insurance, on Monday said he agreed with the ruling and called a fellow Rep. Larry Taylor's request about some cases "inappropriate."

Hat tip to John Carona.

St. Edwards gets all homophobic on its students

Apparently, Catholic teaching is all about hating 'teh gays'.

St. Edward's University has barred a gay rights group from participating in a campus fair to recruit volunteers because the group's support for same-sex marriage conflicts with Catholic Church teachings.

Chuck Smith, deputy director of Austin-based Equality Texas, said Monday that the organization still hoped it could participate in Wednesday's event. But a statement issued by the Holy Cross institution in South Austin said the matter was closed.

Does St. Edward's get public money? Is it legal to discriminate?

A few Texas state health labs doing some cr*ppy work

The three state health department labs, including one in San Antonio, suffer from a lack of oversight that led to financial, inventory control and computer information problems, the state auditor's office said Monday.

An audit found that the Texas Department of State Health Services failed to bill for tests conducted by its lab in Harlingen since July 2008. Those bills totaled $440,000, almost $100,000 of which can no longer be collected because of the delay.

republicans can't govern. They're all about helping their cronies with tax dollars, not about doing the work that needs to be done.

Texas republican senators fight to let Rick Perry misappropriate funds meant for Texas school children

Last week, the Education Department refused Gov. Rick Perry's application for a waiver from the Doggett amendment to start the money flowing to Texas. Perry contends that complying with the Doggett amendment would cause him to violate a provision in the Texas Constitution that prevents the governor from binding lawmakers to future levels of funding.

Denouncing it as a partisan roadblock that discriminates against Texas, Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn introduced their bill to strip the Doggett amendment from the jobs package as Congress returned from its summer recess. Perry backed the effort, but the Texas senators face stiff odds in getting the Democratic-dominated Congress to go along with their proposal before lawmakers adjourn in about four weeks.

Boo hoo. If republicans hadn't taken the school children's funds before, then we wouldn't be in this situation. All the republicans have to do, really, is just use the money for the school children as Congress said.  Apparently, that is too difficult for a crony republican who hates public education in the first place.

Rick Perry's campaign appropriates a grocery against the owner's will

The owner of a small Austin grocery store isn't happy that her business was featured in a new campaign ad from Gov. Rick Perry.

Peg McCoy said she didn't give the campaign permission to use the logo or the storefront of her Farm to Market Grocery store at 1718 S. Congress Ave.

She said she's asked the campaign to take down the ad, Perry's first television ad of the general election campaign season.

"I certainly don't endorse Rick Perry," McCoy said.

Who would want to shop at a store that endorses Rick Perry? Sounds like a law suit for defamation of character and loss of business might be waiting to happen here.

republican Congress rep fails to report financial data. Ethics smethics

republicans think laws are just for Democrats and the little people.

Rep. Michael McCaul, one of the richest Members of Congress, appears to have failed to fully disclose dozens of stock transactions worth millions of dollars on his annual financial disclosure reports for 2008 and 2009.

McCaul is the ranking member overseeing the ethics trial of Rep. Charlie Rangel, which is set to begin this month on charges that, among other things, the New York Democrat failed to report or misreported numerous assets or income on his financial disclosure forms between 1998 and 2008.

Poll says Texans are racist xenophobes

Nearly half of all Texans would repeal the constitutional promise of citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil, and nearly two-thirds would favor Arizona-style state laws allowing the police to ask about the immigration status of anyone they stop for any reason, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.

Why do we hate our freedoms? Not to mention our constitution.

Brownsville City Attorney neglects to pay annual dues on time

I'd want my attorney to pay better attention to detail.

Brownsville City Attorney Mark E. Sossi’s license to practice law was suspended Sept. 1 by the State Bar of Texas for failing to pay his annual dues — but he paid up Friday and is again eligible to practice law.

How this might or might not impact the work that Sossi did for the city from Sept. 1-10, which included an executive session with the commission on Sept. 7 to discuss possible litigation regarding three matters, could not be gauged.

Here's a strange headline

'Facing Sexual assault charge, ex-ethics panel chief kills self'

How would a suicidal incestuous child rapist get on a ethics panel anyway? The accused was the head of the El Paso County Ethics Commission when he was arrested.

David C. Chavez, 63, an educator and former chairman of the El Paso County Ethics Commission, died Sunday of a gunshot wound in an apparent suicide.

Chavez was arrested in August on suspicion of aggravated sexual assault involving an underage female relative.

The Texas Tribune speculates on Chisum's changes of unseating Joe Straus as speaker

Warren Chisum, as you may recall, is the republican legislator most likely to bring Sharia law theocracy to Texas.  The TT says some Democrats like him.  Yuck.  What kind of Democrat is that? A closet republican? Or, just a guy who hates women?

It's Monday TPA blog roundup time!

The Texas Progressive Alliance brings you this week's blog roundup.

Off the Kuff concluded his legislative interviews with State Reps. Carol Alvarado and Ana Hernandez, and candidates Kendra Yarbrough Camarena and Brad Neal.

Bay Area Houston believes Rick Perry is the Insurance Industries bitch.

John Cornyn, best known as a rapist enabler, is busy throwing cold water on the GOP's senate takeover chances. Just the other day, Cornyn was throwing cold water on Lisa Murkowski's senate race. Cornyn's just a cold, cold guy.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson reminds us that in this election season the GOP candidates don't want to talk about the most serious issues and We can't let the GOP run and hide from the issues that matter most.

The GOP would rather climb a tree to tell a lie than stand on the ground and speak the truth. Leo Vasquez and King Street Patriots: PDiddie at Brains and Eggs is looking at YOU.

Justin at Asian American Action Fund Blog points out that Houston Chronicle reporter Chris Moran is a racist for questioning Harris County Judge candidate Gordon Quan's lifelong residence in Harris County.

McBlogger takes a look at the debate over a Debate and concludes that it's time to stop asking Perry to debate and instead ask him to answer for his failure.

Neil at Texas Liberal "Likes" Republican Senator John Cornyn on Facebook. Here is what people on Senator Cornyn's Facebook page said when the Senator said he would be addressing a group of Hispanic lawyers. Many of the comments were not so encouraging.

Libby Shaw tells the tale of Rick Perry's efforts to "spin" the unspinable - a $19 billion dollar hole in the state budget. Read the details over at TexasKaos . See her take in Watch Rick Perry spin his $18 Billion Budget Deficit.

WhosPlayin encourages voters in Lewisville ISD to vote FOR the two-cent tax increase this Tuesday.

San Antonio elite workers to get pay raise? Regular people, not so much.

Why does San Antonio have to emulate the world of greedy CEOs?

City Manager Sheryl Sculley is proposing a cost-of-living raise plus incentive pay for the city's executives, a request that some council members fear may not sit well with rank-and-file employees.

In August, Sculley suggested the city's 102 executives — mostly department directors, assistant directors and assistant and deputy city managers — receive performance-based incentive pay instead of the standard 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, she was recommending for the vast majority of the city's civilian employees.

Cornyn throws cold water on a republican take over in the Senate

John Cornyn, best known as one of several white male republican rapist enablers, dashes GOP hopes for the Senate.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn is trying to lower expectations. Amid alarming declarations from the national political punditocracy that the GOP is within striking distance of picking up the ten seats needed to win control of the Senate, the chairman of the Senate Republicans' campaign committee isn't going along.

Cornyn says he's "praying for a tsunami" but still anticipates falling a bit short of a majority. He forecasts a "two-cycle effort" for Republicans to take back the Senate.

Several batsh*t crazy candidates like Sharron Angle and Rand Paul could win. How is that possible? What does it take for Americans to wise up?

Indicted school board trustee may not run again

Ya, think?

Linda Chavez, who was elected three times to the Ysleta school board but now has the cloud of an indictment hanging over her, plans to resign during a special meeting Monday.

Chavez, 60, was recently arrested and charged with accepting bribes in exchange for her vote for a multimillion-dollar contract for Access HealthSource, an insurance provider. She has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges and is free on bail, but her time in office appears to be finished.

Perry argues Texas doesn't have to spend Fed education money on education

Is this really a winning argument for Perry?  He's saying that he wants to be able to play a shell game with education funds like he did last time.  Apparently, all you have to do, if you are a republican, is blather something or other and your base is happy as pigs.  Blah, blah states rights.  Blah, blah identity politics.  Yuck.

Was the Houston voting machine fire arson?

Ask yourself this: 'Would a republican do absolutely anything to suppress the vote to win an election?'

Arson investigators have been called in to scrutinize a fire that destroyed the warehouse where all of Harris County’s voting machines were stored. The blaze left county officials scrambling to find enough equipment to hold an election in the nation’s third-most-populous county.

Let the controversy begin for special Val Verde election

One of the attorneys representing a county commissioner candidate in a recent election lawsuit has filed a federal lawsuit against Val Verde County Clerk Janie Ramon, Val Verde County, the state of Texas and Texas Gov. Rick Perry over a court-ordered special primary election.

Luis Roberto Vera Jr., national general counsel for the League of United Latin-American Citizens (LULAC), filed the federal suit Thursday on behalf of LULAC Council 4338 of Del Rio, seven LULAC members who live in Precinct 4, the Val Verde County Democratic Party and Diana Salgado in her capacity as chair of the county Democratic Party.

The local LULAC members included in the suit are identified as Lupita De La Paz, James Fernandez, Rosalinda Perez, Jose L. Perez, Leticia Ortiz, Jesus Ortiz and Robert Clubb.

Meanwhile, the County Clerk is getting ready for the election.

Val Verde County Clerk Janie Ramon says her office will be ready to conduct a court-ordered special Democratic Party primary election on Saturday, Sept. 25 to determine the Democratic Party nominee for County Commissioner Precinct 4.

Texas republican abuses legislative authority to harass big Democratic donor

That's the republican way.  Bush was a master.  Use the power of your office for your own political gain.

Houston trial lawyer Steve Mostyn, arguably the most powerful Democratic donor in the state, has taken offense at a Republican lawmaker's effort to get information about a series of Mostyn's cases.

The lawmaker, state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood , said he is simply seeking information that fits under the purview of a legislative panel he leads.

Sure. And, Fox news is fair and balanced.

John Cornyn threatens Lisa Murkowski

A top Republican senator warned Friday that Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski probably would have to abandon her leadership position if she mounts a third-party bid for her Senate seat.

Ok. So, if Murkowski runs as a Libertarian and wins, she will keep her seat. If she doesn't run, she is guaranteed to lose her seat.   Humm lose seat.  Possibly win seat.  Who cares if she's in the dog house for a few months.  It's not as if republicans are going to be doing anything til the next session starts.  What else have you got, Cornyn?  As a rapist enabler, you can get uglier than that.

Hey, Texas, eat ash from coal plants.

That's what industry advocates would like for you and your children.  Eat their ash.

Hundreds of people showed up at a public hearing to take comments on whether ash from coal-burning power plants should be classified as hazardous waste.

On one side were environmentalists who said the change would protect water supplies; on the other were industry and state officials who insisted that current regulations are enough.

Of course, the republicans in charge of our state government are on the side of polluters, not the citizens. Whatever happened to promote the general welfare?

Since when is it controversial for school kids to see a president speak on education?

Since republicans like Karl Rove made every move about politics and nothing about promoting the general welfare. Since republicans like Newt Gingrich have made America an 'us' vs 'them' nation.   Barack Obama is not only black, he's ... gasp ... a Democrat.

Fort Bend Independent Schools will decide on a campus-basis if they will show President Barack Obama’s “Back to School Speech” on Sept. 14. All principals will be sending home a parent letter with students to let them know about the decision of their child’s campus either today or tomorrow.

Special election called for Val Verde Democrats

Saturday, Sept. 25, has been set as the date for a special election to pick the Val Verde County Democratic Party nominee for County Commissioner Precinct 4, a state district judge has ordered.

Is the republican Nueces County Sheriff's office racial profiling?

An attorney is threatening to sue the Nueces County Sheriff's Department over accusations of civil rights violations.

...

"I said, what is going on here, and he said, well we got a call because the ball went over the fence. I said, "Did you go see if the ball is over the fence. He said, no. And I said, "Well, what crime is that? You're searching everybody, you're checking papers," said Frank Castro. "That's what the players are telling me, you're checking immigration papers."

Corpus Christi police officer indicted on evidence tampering charge

It nice to see that the 'law' isn't above the law.

A Corpus Christi police officer has been indicted on allegations that he tampered with a surveillance system that could’ve been used against him in a criminal investigation.

Senior Officer Tommy Cabello was indicted on a charge of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, a third-degree felony.

Why did the Corpus City Council think it was ok to text during meetings?

City Attorney Carlos Valdez sent the City Council a message last week: Be careful with your text messages.

The 160-character phone messages could be enough to put the city or any other governmental entity in violation of a state law that requires government deliberations to take place in open, public meetings. State law also could require governments to keep old text messages and release them to the public if someone wants to read them.

Bwaa haa Las Brisas

Two judges will not reconsider delaying a hearing on the Las Brisas Energy Center air permit as the company requested.

Judges Tommy Broyles and Craig Bennett delayed the hearing, originally scheduled for this week, after an environmental group’s witness was in a wreck last week. They set new hearing dates for Oct. 18-21. Las Brisas asked the judges to reconsider the delay because it might push their permit process past Jan. 2, when the federal government has mandated that states must consider greenhouse gases in permit applications.

Rick Perry wants to steal our children's school money. Feds say no.

Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott and an emissary for Gov. Rick Perry met with Washington officials late last month in an attempt to bypass the conditions and get the money. But the U.S. Education Department notified Scott in a letter released Thursday that granting the aid "would not be consistent with the statutory requirements."

In other words, Perry want to use the money meant for schools to do other things. Like projects for cronies.

Nut job Christian church wishing to burn Quoran did one thing helpful

Instead of all the Christian hate against the New York Muslim community center, now the country is focused on the hate spewing out of the Gainesville Christian church towards Muslims.  The backlash against Christian hate is a good thing.  Too bad the Christians rallying against freedom of religion don't see what they have sowed.  At least, most of the Christians in the US seem to be appalled at the Gainesville nut job.

San Antonio police department suspends officers for harassment

A San Antonio police officer was indefinitely suspended and another received a 60-day suspension for what was described as a “pattern of inappropriate behavior and harassment” toward a female officer, according to disciplinary documents released by the city.

An indefinite suspension is tantamount to being fired.

In the documents, the male officers were accused of putting trash in the woman’s work mailbox and sending derogatory messages about her — and to her — via computers in the patrol cars.

Why can't they police the Houston Fire Department when fire fighters do even worse things?  At least they acted in Houston over this incident.

Houston's acting fire chief has fired three firefighters, saying they were each culpable in an incident where a racial epithet was entered on an EMS report using an ambulance computer terminal.

Dallas Morning News buys into republican propaganda on Perry's cowardice

Rick Perry is afraid to debate Bill White. Perry made up an issue to cover his a**. The Dallas Morning News buys what Perry is peddling with this headline: 'Standoff over White's tax returns still threatens fate of gubernatorial debate'

Why do reporters and editors eat up the lies so easily?

Bexar County set to hurt the poor, elderly and otherwise disadvantaged

Programs that help the elderly and disadvantaged would be hard hit by proposed across-the-board cuts to the Bexar County budget, advocates for impacted nonprofit groups said Wednesday.

Edmund Keely, who serves on the City-County Joint Commission on Elderly Affairs, said reducing county contributions to outside agencies would hurt the elderly on several levels — “food and nutrition, transportation, advocacy, guardianship, medical equipment repair, facility repair, physical fitness,” he said.

“A 20 percent cut at this time would impair the capability to furnish these very much needed services,” Keely said.

So, Perry lied about creating jobs in Texas

What's new. If a republican's lips are moving, the lies are flying.

The Texas Enterprise Fund, which backs major economic development projects in the state, has fallen short of the job creation targets Gov. Rick Perry claimed for it, according to a report released Wednesday by watchdog group Texans for Public Justice.

The nonprofit policy research group said its analysis of Enterprise Fund projects showed that two-thirds of those projects either failed to meet job targets by the end of 2009 — a year of deep recession — or got the state's permission to reduce the job goals or extend the deadline to meet them. That figure was up from 42 percent of Enterprise Fund-backed projects failed to meet state job goals in 2008.

Most Tomball city council members don't hate

The Tomball City Council late Tuesday defeated a proposal to make English the city's official language and voted down another measure seeking to prohibit illegal immigrants from renting or owning property or owning or operating a business there.

The council also voted to keep the city's day laborer site open and operating, despite vociferous protests from some in the audience.

Texas loses solar 'plant', gains 'clean' coal

No towering solar dishes in Marfa.

In the tiny artists' outpost of Marfa, residents who opposed the build-out of a massive solar power plant can thank the languishing national economy for putting the project on hold.

Some aren't fond of large transmission lines carrying wind power.

Last week, to cheers from a crowded courtroom, commissioners in Denton County unanimously passed a resolution opposing the construction of a big new transmission line through their county — even though it would carry clean, renewable wind power. Later today, the company that wants to build the line will file a stack of paperwork refuting some of the objections and asking Texas regulators for permission to proceed anyway.

The rest of us can gag on coal.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Energy announced more than half a billion dollars in funding for "clean coal" projects across the country. As Nathan Bernier of KUT News reports, a sizable chunk of that federal spending will land right here in Texas.

We are a society that consumes a lot of power. Got some better ideas?

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

"'I knew I was walking into a train wreck,' says new Valley mayor"

Former state representative Miguel ‘Mike’ Wise says he knew what a challenging role he would have when he decided to run for mayor of Weslaco.

“Yes, I knew I was walking into a train wreck. It was no secret that the city did not have a fund balance, that we were using money from the enterprise fund to support the general revenue fund. I went into the race knowing that fiscal responsibility was going to be a big priority,” Wise told the Guardian.

former republican Chief Justice accused of 'routinely letting teenagers drink at their home'

Whaa?

A wrongful death lawsuit has accused Tom Phillips, former chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, and his wife of routinely allowing teenagers to drink at their Bastrop home, leading to a 2 a.m. accident that killed a 17-year-old girl in 2009.

Filed by the parents of Audrey King, who died in a single-car wreck, the lawsuit accuses Tom and Lyn Phillips of allowing son Daniel, then 20, to throw numerous parties at their home, which the lawsuit claims was "well known in the Bastrop community as the location of frequent underage drinking parties."

TCEQ under estimated potential ozone levels

No matter. republicans just make up their own facts. Reality is so malleable to them.

Researchers at the University of Texas analyzed data from satellites to measure the amount of nitrogen oxides in the air for a month in 2006, then compared those measurements to TCEQ models. The satellite measurements showed as much as 20 percent more nitrogen oxides (or NOX) in the air than the agency's model predicted for the same time period.

It's Monday TPA blog roundup time!

The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes everybody had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

This week on Left of College Station, Teddy takes a look at the positions of Chet Edwards and Bill Flores on energy and finds that it is unlikely that leadership on the environment, clean energy, and climate change will come from Texas Congressional District 17. Left of College Station also covers the week in headlines.

WhosPlayin is watching the tax rate election for his local school district, where anonymous mailers are flying and things are not looking good for it to pass.

Libby Shaw is at again over at TexasKaos, exposing Republican puppetry of the rankest order. Who's pulling the strings? Check it out: Meet the GOP/Tea Party Billionaire Puppet Masters, Part 2.

This week at McBlogger, we take a look at Dick Armey and a really stupid fund manager who is pissy about finally being asked to pay the same taxes the rest of us pay.

Off the Kuff turned its attention to the State Senate this week, featuring interviews with State Sens. Rodney Ellis, John Whitmire, and Mario Gallegos.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders if anyone else is wary of the new ERCOT pricing scheme? Does anyone remember the smartest guys in the room?

Bay Area Houston believes that The Harris County Voter Registrar, Leo Vasquez, should resign before being indicted.

The Harris County commissioners approved Clerk Beverly Kaufman's nearly $14 million emergency request for less than 25% of the necessary e-Slates to vote with, and she also included a rather large print order: 1.4 million paper ballots. PDiddie's Brains and Eggs has the details.

As Harris County Democrats focus on Republican attacks on legitimate voter registration drives and concern themselves with how the county will respond to the loss of all our voting machines in a fire, Neil at Texas Liberal had a brief Facebook exchange with Harris County Judge Executive Ed Emmett on issues of election integrity.

Premont ISD taken over by TEA

(You need a paid subscription to read this article.)

In a special meeting that was called for the Premont Independent School district on Thursday, the board received communication from the Texas Education Agency regarding elevation of Monitor Status to Conservator Status with the addition of an additional conservator to govern operations of the district. The two conservators will then direct the school board and superintendent until the district’s deficiencies are corrected.

Rick Perry republicans to cut student aid to the bone

republicans hate public education.

[University of Texas junior Mariano] Pintor is one of about 113,000 students who received a TEXAS grant last year, the state's largest financial aid fund. But the program already has tens of thousands more applicants than it can serve, and with state budget cuts looming next year, about 24,000 more could be left behind.

Texas already has trouble getting high school students into college, ranking 49th among the states. Financial aid is a key component for poor and minority students, particularly as tuition has skyrocketed in recent years. The gap of students who will not be eligible is also projected to grow to include more from the middle class.

To be eligible for the grant a student must demonstrate need, with an expected family contribution less than $4,000 a year, have completed the recommended high school curriculum and be enrolled three-fourths of the year.

Since the program began in 1999, the Legislature has made it progressively harder to get the shrinking pool of grants – raising both the academic and hardship standards.

Latinos aren't warming to republicans

After all of the hate spewing out from the republican base, who could possibly be surprised?

State GOP leaders said they made history by bringing conservative Hispanic leaders together last week, but one who attended the meeting dismissed the gathering as more hat than cattle.

"That meeting was designed to be a meeting so they could say they met with Hispanic leaders. I did not see a plan of action," said Fermín Ortiz, president of the Llano County Republican Club, who emphasized he wasn't speaking on behalf of the group. "I'm not the only person that left that meeting thinking, 'What didn't we do today?'."

The republicans are all about the propaganda ... and what's in it for themselves.

Why do we pay football coaches so much more than math teachers?

Galveston County’s eight largest public high schools paid almost $3 million in athletic stipends and administrative salaries for athletic programs in the 2009-10 school year, according to documents obtained by The Daily News.

Because some adults like watching kids knock the snot out of each other on a Friday night.

Did the Corpus Christi city manager resignation violate the Texas Open Meeting Act?

When City Manager Angel Escobar announced his retirement from the city’s top management job Tuesday, he may have violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.

Be afraid. ERCOT has a new pricing scheme.

After years of cost overruns and delays, Texas is assured of having the most complicated wholesale market for electricity in the country by the end of the year.

It remains to be seen whether it is the most efficient.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, commonly called ERCOT, is planning to launch its new market management system Dec. 1, amid criticism from consumers and second-guessing by the Texas Legislature.

Wouldn't it be nice to think government was run for the people by the people and to promote the general welfare? Yet, I expect nothing less than crony capitalism from republican run government.  ERCOT has not had a stellar recent history.

The TEA didn't want your kids to have seatbelts on buses

The Texas Education Agency must begin distributing $10 million to school districts to buy seat belts for new buses, legislative leaders said Friday.

The directive comes days after a senator and parent group accused the agency of undermining the seat belt effort.

Rick Perry and his cronies don't care about kids.