Annie's List to help Veronica Gonzales

Great news.

Annie’s List, the group started in 2003 to help progressive Democratic women candidates win election in Texas, is ready to pump $100,000 into state Rep. Veronica Gonzales’ re-election campaign.

Robert E. Jones, executive director of Annie’s List, confirmed the contribution in a statement sent to the Guardian on Monday. He said Gonzales will top the group’s incumbent protection program.

Mike Skurka wants to stay on as Nueces County attorney

This is good news. Skurka is a good guy.

Nueces County District Attorney Mark Skurka has filed to seek re-election.

Skurka was one of the few Democrats to survive the Republican tide that swept Nueces County in last year's elections. He defeated Republican Anna Jimenez, who Gov. Rick Perry had appointed in Spring 2010 to fill outgoing District Attorney Carlos Valdez's unexpired term.

Anna Jimenez, as you may recall, was an absolute horror. Now wonder she lost.

Greg Abbott would rather disrupt our elections than allow Democrats a fair shake

By law the justices were required to 'ignore the legislative intent behind the original' map. The map was intended to minimize Latino votes. Greg Abbott is an ass.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court over new redistricting maps could throw state primary elections into disarray, warn Latino voting rights groups.

The Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force was largely responsible for scuttling the Legislature’s 2011 House and congressional redistricting maps. Leaders of the Task Force gathered at the state Capitol on Monday to condemn Abbott’s request for a stay of interim redistricting maps. The group argued that any further delays in redistricting maps could jeopardize the State’s March 6 primaries.

Earlier Monday, Abbott filed an emergency application to the Supreme Court to halt the use of a Texas House map drawn by a federal panel of judges in South Texas. Abbott previously intimated that he would file a similar stay against the use of a Congressional map drawn by the same panel.

In his appeal, Abbott called the House map “both unprecedented and truly extraordinary” in that it “went out of its way” to ignore the legislative intent behind the original. A Washington, D.C., panel of judges has not yet ruled on whether the Texas maps meet the standards for pre-clearance based on the Voting Rights Act.

Starr County investigator should be deeply ashamed

Not only did Javier Peña poach deer, Peña used a county vehicle in the process. He's been suspended.

Cameron County wind farm must have a full environmental study

Why wouldn't any wind farm or coal plant or oil pipeline?

The Baryonyx Corporation’s proposed South Texas offshore wind farm project will be subject to a full Environmental Impact Statement, according to a decision by the Galveston District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The alternative would have been for the USACE to settle for a less stringent Environmental Assessment.

Ha, ha to Aaron Peña

All too often today, greed pays off. But, not for Aaron Peña.

State Rep. Aaron Peña fears the Hispanic Republican Conference he helped set up could be “decimated” following the adoption of a new court-ordered Texas House map.

The HRC was established at the start of this year’s legislative session and comprises Texas House members who are either Hispanic Republicans or Republicans who represent districts with a high number of Hispanic voters. There are currently six members. That number could dwindle to one after the next election.

Peña won't run after his pet district was unraveled to allow for a bit of Democracy. As for the dwindling HRC membership, look no further than the republican party hatred against Hispanics.

Kudos for an educated McAllen

It must be smart to live in McAllen.

According to its most recent one-year estimates from the American Community Survey, 29 percent of McAllen’s general population hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, beating state and national averages of 26 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

In the Valley, Mission hit 24 percent, with Edinburg, Harlingen and Brownsville trailing at 20, 19 and 16 percent, respectively. McAllen even outstrips Fort Worth at 26 percent, San Antonio at 24 percent and El Paso at just 22 percent.

Nic Riley reminds us to watch out for poll watchers

Perhaps the county Democratic Parties across the state will prepare a response to overbearing poll watchers.

While [Matthew] Vadum's views are clearly troubling, even more troubling is that he now has an audience willing to showcase his views for fundraising purposes. The King Street Patriots, and their affiliate organization True the Vote, want to recruit volunteers to act as citizen poll watchers inside voting precincts nationwide on Election Day 2012. While these groups claim that poll watchers are necessary to prevent voter fraud, the truth is that voter fraud is extremely rare in Texas (and the rest of the country). If we're not careful, this supposed cure for voter fraud could do more harm than the disease itself, causing disorder at the polls and, ultimately, undermining the integrity of our elections.

The essential problem is that it is all too easy for poll watchers to politicize the voting environment and create an adversarial atmosphere that can sully voters' experiences on Election Day or deter them from showing up to vote altogether. Although poll watchers are prohibited from interacting or communicating with voters under Texas law, these volunteers are not always trained by election officials in the specifics of state voting laws, which raises the possibility that these volunteers will not understand the limits of their role. Moreover, poll workers may be reluctant to remove these individuals when they disrupt the voting process for a whole host of reasons, including the fear that removing a disruptive poll watcher will exacerbate the polling place disruption.

It's time for the Monday TPA blog roundup

The Texas Progressive Alliance welcomes the opening of candidate filing season (SCOTUS willing) as it brings you this week's roundup.

Noted "redistricting analyst" Off the Kuff analyzed the new court-drawn Congressional map.

Lightseeker takes on the question of where OWL is now and what its future might hold. Check it out: OWS Meets Mass Democracy - The Need for OWS Narrative [updated].

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the recent failure (or was it?) of the so-called "supercommittee", Failure was a success.

Bay Area Houston wonders about Rep Joe Driver's felony and his $57,000/yr pension.

BossKitty at TruthHugger – cannot stomach the ongoing civilian casualty toll in wars America participates in. Money talks, accountability walks. Quit electing politicians who answer to the military-industrial lobby and want to throw the rest of us under the bus. US and NATO Allies too sloppy for war.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is ashamed of the Texas Democratic Party. The only thing going for the party is that they're not Republicans.

Just one year ago, Texas Republicans were laughing all over themselves celebrating their super-majority in the House with the defections of Aaron Pena and Allan Ritter. They're not laughing any longer after two federal judges redrew the maps that erased all of their gains from 2010. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs notes that political fortunes can rise and fall just like the stock market, especially when pigs turn into hogs.

Neil at Texas Liberal noted that Occupy Houston printed a newspaper. Occupy Houston and Occupy efforts across the nation are working hard and staying creative to make certain that the movement is here for the long haul.

WhosPlayin wrote about a Tea Party candidate for City Council in Lewisville who is running on a platform of "rule of law" and "transparency", but who utterly failed at both in his campaign finance reports. But hey, at least this mistake is not as bad as his $56 million overstatement of the City's debt.

Judge Adams suspended with pay

Beat your kid and get a vacay.

The Texas Supreme Court suspended a judge Tuesday whose beating of his then-teenage daughter in 2004 was viewed millions of times on the Internet.

Aransas County court-at-law Judge William Adams was suspended immediately with pay pending the outcome of the inquiry started earlier this month by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, according to an order signed Tuesday by the clerk of the state’s highest court.

Cameron County Attorney videotaped accused meeting with his lawyer

What is wrong with some people?

The videotaping of a prisoner’s conversation with his attorney in an office at the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department spurred a complaint and an investigation to determine why the exchange was recorded.

Attorney Ed Stapleton said the “clandestine videotaping” of a conversation that he had with his client Daniel Flores Lopez on April 7 was a violation of Lopez’s civil rights and of the attorney-client privilege.

Stapleton, who is Lopez’s court-appointed attorney, sent a letter of complaint dated Nov. 8 to Sheriff Omar Lucio, County Judge Carlos Cascos and Commissioners Court Chief Counsel Bruce Hodge.

Aransas Judge in court over restraining order

Would you let Judge Adams near your daughter?

A district judge will rule by Wednesday whether to make permanent a restraining order that prevents Aransas County family law Judge William Adams from unsupervised visits with his 10-year-old daughter.

Requiring drug testing seems like a good idea to me.

Harlingen Commissioner loses seat in conflict of interest case

Ouch! Now, if only we had justice for the banksters.

Kori Marra has forfeited her District 3 City Commission seat after she was sentenced Monday to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine for failing to file a conflict of interest affidavit.

Marra was found guilty Nov. 10 after a four-day jury trial.

Another guilty verdict in the Limas corruption case

Judge Limas has already plead guilty to racketeering.

Jose Manuel Longoria – the alleged middleman in the racketeering case of former 404th state District Judge Abel C. Limas – pleaded guilty Monday to four out of five counts in an indictment levied against him.

jobsanger is too kind to the Texas Democratic Party

jobsanger says 'Texas Democratic Leaders Vote To Have No Beliefs'

The SDEC was considering proposals for party support. Now this would have been a good start in showing voters that the Democrats stood for progressive values and the party was going to give them a real choice in November 2012. But that would have required some political vision and backbone, and the majority of the SDEC doesn't seem to have either one. These political cowards defeated anti-death penalty, pro-gay rights, and pro-marijuana legalization proposals. They said they didn't want to saddle their candidates with these progressive proposals (as if offering the voters a real choice would be a bad thing).

They did not support the opposite views of those progressive ideas -- they just wanted to not support them either. In effect, they want to be the party that is devoid of ideas and values (because ideas and values might upset some voters). So now I guess the Texas voters will have a bad choice to make in 2012. They can vote for the party of bad ideas (Republicans) or the party of no ideas (Democrats). Frankly, that doesn't sound like a choice, but a good reason to just stay home (and that's probably just what too many voters will do).

The Texas Democratic Party's controlling committee, the SDEC, deserves nothing but our contempt. Pure. Simple. Contempt. What souless stupidity. The voters they want to attract will never vote for Democrats. Now, real Democrats are less likely to vote for Democrats, too.

It's time for the Monday blog roundup!

The Texas Progressive Alliance would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff takes a look at the electoral opportunities of the new court-drawn legislative map.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson links to the results of a Texas AFT survey that the Texas GOP's plan to defund public education is working as designed, Survey says....Texas public schools are in trouble.

Bay Area Houston shows that while Rick Perry incorrectly claims Obama calls Americans lazy, his major donors are writing OP-EDs calling Americans lazy.

BossKitty at TruthHugger - Political marketers target the uninformed and dis-interested voter with spicy one lined reasons to vote for their candidate. The season of disinformation is upon us again. National Treasures and American History on eBay - And because the campaign Gun Debate is so twisted that the issue is totally missed. Lock and Load, Twist and Shoot.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants you to know that Rick Perry's success story means food insecurity for you.

The Texas Republican overreach in both redistricting and photo ID got slapped down hard by the feds. And the corresponding whining was louder than any two alleycats fighting over a female. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs celebrated Good Friday twice this year.

nytexan at BlueBloggin is disgusted with the police brutality and right wing lies of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Everyday that Occupy Wall Street continues more and more lobbyist, corporate giants and wrong headed politicians reveal just how in bed they are with each other. It also reveals how para military the police have become. Police Brutality And Corporate Lies Will Not Stop Occupy Wall Street.

Libby Shaw gets us up to date with the onging diaster that is Rick Perry's presidental aspirations this week. Check it out at TexasKaos
Rick Perry's Multiple Train Wrecks.

Neil at Texas Liberal ran his yearly how to thaw a turkey post. The post also offers links to cooking up a veggie Thanksgiving as suggested by PETA. Neil hopes everybody has a nice and safe Thanksgiving.

McBlogger takes a look at some 'conservatives' whose relationship with the truth could best be described as 'flexible'.

Herman Cain proves republican talk radio is all hot air

Racist, sexist, homophobic hot air at that. Politico points out that Herman Cain was a successful right wing talk radio star. Cain talked about stuff and didn't bother to learn any facts or attain any perspective built on reality. That's what being a republican today is all about.

Latinos fair better with judges' redistricting maps

That's no surprise. republicans don't believe in Democracy, just holding onto power. Why else would they disenfranchise voters with repressed voter drivers and the odious voter id laws? Why else slice and dice Democrats out of existence?

The new maps do better than the republicans.

A new Texas House map drawn by federal judges Orlando Garcia and Xavier Rodriguez in San Antonio creates a new, additional, open seat in the Ro Grande Valley.

The new seat, known as District 35, includes the western Hidalgo County cities of La Joya, Penitas and Sullivan City, the rural north of Hidalgo County and the Delta towns of Edcouch and La Villa. It also includes the northwestern part of Cameron County, including half of Harlingen, and all of La Feria, Santa Rosa, Combes and Primera.

What happens when you detain thousands of undocumented people?

Racists in the republican party smile. Crony capitalists making money from prisons grin broadly. Real people suffer.

A former detention officer at a Central Texas facility for immigrants has been sentenced to nearly a year in prison for groping some detained women.

Good news expected about whooping cranes

Hope the 37 chicks did well.

There were 278 birds in the flock when the birds left their winter grounds in the spring. After 37 chicks were hatched in Canada, biologists expect the flock's numbers to swell to more than 300 this year.

Former La Joya judge is going to jail

Sounds like he got off a little easy. Five years to pay back the people he ripped off?

Jurors convicted [Joe Henry] Garza, 57, on one count of theft by a public servant Wednesday afternoon in the 206th state District Court.

Judge Rose Guerra Reyna sentenced Garza to 60 days in jail, 10 years of probation and a $2,000 fine.

Garza will have five years to repay the $9,000 he stole from defendants who thought they were paying traffic tickets and other fines. The thefts involved Garza accepting blank money orders that he signed over to pay credit card bills and his lawyer, Richard Alamia.

Can the Cameron County Sheriff announce his run during working hours?

Lucio is the Sheriff 24/7, that is true.

Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio announced his 2012 re-election bid on Wednesday in his office at the Sheriff’s Department and on county time, but he maintains he did not violate the county policy that restricts political activity.

"If I was an employee, that’s a different situation," Lucio told The Brownsville Herald.

"I’m not an employee," he said. "And this is my office. This is the people’s office."

Just recently, Joe A. Cisneros, who also has announced his candidacy for sheriff, said he was fired from his job as a courthouse security officer because he allegedly acknowledged he was running for office while on the job.

Former La Joya judge on trial for public theft

Bad judge.

Jurors heard testimony Tuesday in the felony theft trial of the 57-year-old former municipal court judge.

[Joe Henry Alaniz] Garza stands accused of taking about $5,000 that was supposed to go to the city’s coffers from traffic fines. But instead, prosecutors allege that he used the money to pay bills from his credit card and his lawyer, Richard Alamia — and that there’s a paper trail that proves it.

republican toady chamber of commerce wants to kill public education

Do you remember thinking that the Chamber of Commerce was an organization for promoting small businesses? That isn't the case anymore. Right wing, batsh*t crazy people run the show. So, here's the Weslaco Chamber of Commerce giving a man of the year award to the CEO of a school meant to take money away from public education. Nice. Private schools without parent control taking taxpayer money to pay CEO salaries.

The batsh*t crazy crowd have quite the infrastructure. From Fox 'News', the republican party, to the Chamber of Commerce.

Target of hate crimes pointedly excludes fellow targets of hate crimes

What is wrong with this picture?

Of the 6,628 hate crime incidents reported for 2010, 47.3 percent were motivated by race, 20 percent by religion, 19.3 percent by sexual orientation, 12.8 percent by ethnicity/national origin bias, and 0.6 percent by physical or mental disability.

...

"The only reaction I have after that, is that this gives us an opportunity in San Antonio for the Hispanic community and Jewish community to work together to put a stop to this," said Judy Lackritz of the Jewish Federation of San Antonio. "This is not how America should be and we can all learn to live together without this type of hate crime."

Hispanics and Jews, but not blacks and LGBT community? Really? Here are links to to the San Antonio NAACP and the Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio.

The Perry success story means food insecurity for Texas families

Good news for Perry and his cronies means bad news for Texas families.

The number of Texans receiving federal food assistance — commonly known as food stamps — has increased by nearly 1.4 million people in the last four years. Nearly 15 percent of Texans now receive food stamps, and many more than that are eligible.

More than 3.7 million Texans — more than half of whom are children — receive food benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a federally funded program administered by the state Health and Human Services Commission.

While more Texans are getting food assistance, experts say food insecurity — the inability to access nutritious food — remains a serious problem. Texas had the second-highest percentage of households suffering from food insecurity in the nation in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Yet, the batsh*t crazy darling, Michele Bachmann, says do away with food stamps.

Public infrastructure should not be privatized

Private funding, other than donations, of public infrastructure means that the private funder takes a profit and calls the tune. Infrastructure is then used to provide private benefit, not pubic benefit.

The spat between Customs and Border Protection and the City of Mission over developing Anzalduas International Bridge is a good example of why the private sector should be allowed to play a bigger role in bridge projects.

This is the view of Monica Weisberg-Stewart, a McAllen business leader and chair of the Texas Border Coalition’s border security and immigration committee.

F* Y*, Monica Weisberg-Stewart.

Aransas judge who beat his daughter is still in denial

Hope the 10 year has fared better than her sister did.

An attorney for Aransas County family law Judge William Adams Monday filed a motion to block a temporary court order that keeps him from sharing custody of his 10-year-old daughter.

The order came Thursday at the request of his ex-wife, Hallie Adams, who is also the girl's mother. She wants to terminate her ex-husband's access to the child following the release of a video showing him beating their older daughter, Hillary Adams, with a belt.

Gas leak at Port of Brownsville leaks 5.7K gallons of propane

Bad news.

Emergency personnel, including Brownsville Fire, Police, Cameron County Emergency Management and a HazMat team, responded around 9 a.m. and worked to fix a valve leak in a propane storage tank at TransMontaigne, a company that transports and stores petroleum and chemical products.

It's Monday TPA blogger time!

The Texas Progrogressive Alliance is beginning to think fond thoughts of cranberry dressing, pumpkin pie, and, um, something else it can't quite recall - oops! - as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

Off the Kuff took a tour of Houston elections from the 1990s to see how they compared to more modern matchups.

Following Rick Perry's latest gaffes, Letters From Texas explains why Perry has become such a hopeless band nerd that the crazy girl who can't get a prom date pities him.

Darth Politico commemorates Veterans Day with a discussion about the history of Red Tape and veterans benefits. Emphasis on Red.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson points out that Republicans in Texas are boxed-in. They know know taxes must be raised to run our state's government, but can't bring themselves to say it, Texas GOP's cowardice.

On the same night Houston Mayor Annise Parker celebrated barely being re-elected, a few blocks away the HPD arrested seven Occupy Houstonians for refusing to move a tarp which the police called a tent. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs doesn't think that's a great way to start a second term ... unless she plans on again representing the 1%, that is.

BossKitty at TruthHugger sees another disappointing campaign season. Inundated with Republican this and Tea Party that, BossKitty is embarrassed by what we are hearing. Republican Whack A Mole Misses the Point. Some economic guru is writing the script for each candidate to spout as the Only way to get back on track, because it is always Obama's fault. We all know it was Obama's fault even before he was born. But some of the solutions totally miss the big picture.

Bay Area Houston is remembering on Veterans Day on how we have continue to screw our Veterans.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes that BP wants the government to hide data while celebrating the end of its cleanup responsibility. This week: crony capitalists 2; regular citizens 0.

Lightseeker at TexasKaos gives a brief summary of the GOP voter suppression campaign gearing up for 2012. Check it out: Voter Suppression Update 2011.

Neil at Texas Liberal attended an Occupy Houston press conference about OH participants arrested by Houston police for covering up electrical equipment with a tarp during a rainstorm. If only Occupy efforts across the nation had the same First Amendment protections as large anonymous corporate political donations enjoy under the Citizens United case.

Pharr Police Chief gets award for mental heath awareness

Good job!

With law enforcement officers often the first summoned to mental health crises, Pharr police Chief Ruben Villescas has always believed in ensuring his officers are trained to handle the mentally ill.

All Pharr police officers are mandated to undergo crisis intervention training that can help them handle people with behavioral issues. But Villescas also urges his officers to carefully evaluate the difference on scene between those with criminal intent and a medical problem.

Our political environment as a giant control loop

I recently watched a TED talk about why we evolved brains (to learn how to move). The talk got me thinking about applying a server control system to our environment. This seemed like an interesting way to evaluate the effects of FOX news, Occupy Wall Street and more.

How is system working?---->Data Input---->Human Evaluator
/\                                                                     |
|________________________________________|
                             Feedback/Control

Human Evaluator
Each of us as human beings has a set of values and experiences we used to evaluate data. Baser instincts like selfishness, racism, sexism, greed, homophobia and elitism compete with noble instincts like altruism, acceptance, fairness, and equality.  Each of us balances the good with the bad and such balances change from day to day.

How is system working?
The answer to this question depends upon the observer.  What is of value?  A good job, health for you and your loved ones, the basics, and some extras are usual criteria.  Some would add the pervasiveness of their religious beliefs. 

Data Input
We can detect how the system is working at a local, personal level. We rely on other sources for data about the world outside. FOX News, Rush Limbaugh, blogs, tweets, Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, newspapers, friends and others provide outside data and spin for evaluating that data.

Actors, like the Koch brothers, use institutions, like the Heritage Foundation, to package data and spin for consumption.  The spin or the frame of the data impacts the human evaluator.  Oh, the national debt is a problem.  Oh, rampant corporate greed is a problem.  Look at this shiny object over here.

Propaganda actors have made sure that we do not ever receive pure data.  Over the years, these actors have gotten quite good and setting the questions, posing the problems and providing "the" answers.

Feedback/Control
In a democracy, citizens can use their votes to change the elected public problem solvers.  With elected office at the national level either two,  four  or six years, such change is very, very slow.  Email, mail, and phone calls seem to have limited effect except at a tremendously large scale.  Who hasn't received a stupid, snotty reply from their elected representative?

Protests, like the Tea Party's in 2010, and the Occupy Wall Street can have a large effect, if the media and the elected representatives pay attention.  The Tea Party, to me, was more like directed propaganda with a side helping of angry, batsh*t crazy people following along.  Both groups are angry that the normal outlets for feedback and control were not working.

The right has threatened violence with second amendment remedies, and has acted out with bombings of clinics and shootings.  The left has not with OWS being particular about peaceful protest.  Good on them.

What can we do?
All of us has adjusted our sources of data input and reset our evaluators to detect spin.  I still fall for spin and get mad when I realize it.  I learned that you must look at the reporter or the paper or the blogger.   You must not take anything someone says as true, right off the bat.  You have to look and it and decide if it makes sense.  Is it corroborated?

We can make sure that we are looking at the real problems and not focused on whatever shiny thing the right uses to distract or obfuscate.

We must use of levers for feedback and control often and wisely.  Vote.  Protest. Get active.

Perry's board bots to decide whether to celebrate slavery

Remember the good old days when women, children and blacks were automatically considered chattel to the white man.

A Texas Department of Motor Vehicles board is set to vote on a plan for a specialty license plate featuring the Confederate battle flag.

The outcome of the vote will depend, in my opinion, entirely on what seems good for the Perry campaign.

The Gulf is still dirty from the BP spill

Our government is letting BP off the hook. Again.

Word that the government is letting BP end its cleanup of the Gulf Coast left many residents seething and fearful over who would monitor or respond to any lingering effects of the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Some corporations are more important that people or wildlife.

Now the whole world knows Rick Perry is an idiot

And, by whole world, I am including the batsh*t crazy people in the republican party. What did Perry have to say about his latest, mind boggling gaffe?

This morning, he's telling supporters he's walking in the footsteps of the greats, reminding supporters of fumbles by candidates who went on to become presidents — Obama, Reagan, and Ford — and calling the reaction to his gaffe "media froth."

Ever the republican. Up is down. Black is white. Whatever. Texas should be so proud.

Joe Driver to plead guilty to felony charge

Apparently, even a republican can't double charge for travel expenses.

State Rep. Joe Driver, who candidly acknowledged pocketing taxpayer reimbursements for travel paid by his campaign, will enter a guilty plea on abuse-of-office charges, a third-degree felony, a top prosecutor said Tuesday night.

Former Hidalgo Commissioner charged with 8 corruption counts

Bye, bye.

A grand jury has indicted former Hidalgo County Commissioner Sylvia Handy and nine alleged co-conspirators following a sheriff’s office investigation that went public in August.

The county’s first female commissioner already is serving 30-month federal prison sentence after she admitted to harboring illegal immigrants and tax fraud in March 2010.

The most serious charged lodged against Handy in Tuesday’s eight-count indictment — engaging in organized criminal activity — carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

San Benito school board fight spills over to son

Other students say teacher grabbed the boy. What was his offense? Bad hair?

Board member Julian Huerta and his wife, Mary Gonzalez, accused teacher Sandra Tumberlinson, the wife of board member Bob Tumberlinson, of grabbing their 12-year-old son by the arm and pulling him to the principal’s office at Berta Cabaza Middle School on Oct. 11, according to an affidavit released Tuesday.

On Oct. 27, Sandra Tumberlinson pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on a Class C misdemeanor charge after Gonzalez filed a complaint against her.

Garza said a pretrial hearing is expected to be held late this month.

Sandra Tumberlinson strongly denied the allegation.

Herman Cain to set the record straight

This is going to be big fun. How much cognitive dissonance can a batsh*t crazy person endure? We are about to have a test. Can Rush Limbaugh convince the bs people that all charges are just a conspiracy by racist Liberals? Did two women who worked with the National Restaurant Association have an agreement with Gloria Allred to sabotage a Herman Cain presidential campaign in 2011? Does this sound a lot like birtherism?

In light of the graphic detail supplied latest, Cain choose an unfortunate set of words to describe his efforts to 'set the record straight.

'"I'm going to talk about it," Cain said, adding "we are taking this head on" a reversal from just days ago when told reporters he was done answering questions about the matter.

This isn't about Cain. This is about the republican base.

BP doesn't want the public to have access to information gathered by our government

BP sucks big time. Remind me why BP execs aren't in jail.

The companies involved in the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history are trying to prevent government investigations blaming them for the disaster from being used against them by the people and businesses who are suing them.

Billions of dollars are potentially at stake in a trial scheduled for February to determine whether rig owner Transocean can limit what it pays those making claims under maritime law and to assign percentages of fault to Transocean and other companies involved.

Is our government for corporations or for people? Yes, I know that the Roberts' court says corporations are people. I say Roberts has corrupted our justice system.

West Texas doctor loses license, pleads guilty to felony charges

Two nurses who filed anonymous complaints against Arafiles with the Texas Medical Board were subject to retaliation. Arafiles used his connection with the Winkler County Sheriff to have felony charges brought against the nurses. The Sheriff lost his job and was convicted on related charges.

Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles, Jr., who was accused of retaliating against two whistle-blowing nurses, was sentenced Monday to 60 days in jail and five years on deferred adjudication probation after pleading guilty to two felony charges.

He was also fined $5,000 and was sentenced to surrender his medical license.

This is great news. Justice.

The 1% never cease to divide the 99% against itself

Now they're stoking resentment against the elderly. Don't look at the income disparity between the 1% and the 99%. Nope. Attack the elderly and take away their Social Security and their Medicare. Yup. That will solve the problem

.The wealth gap between younger and older Americans has stretched to the widest on record, worsened by a prolonged economic downturn that has wiped out job opportunities for young adults and saddled them with housing and college debt.

The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than a household headed by someone under 35, according to an analysis of census data released Monday.

Sure. Our only choice is to let Grandma and Grandpa die. I call bullshit on that. Pushing the propaganda for the rich.

What will happen to the judge who whipped his daughter?

The police say they would have charged the judge except the statute of limitations had run out on that crime. With a crime of abuse so evident on that tape, isn't that enough cause to remove a judge from family court?

Of the many possible outcomes of the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct's preliminary investigation of Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, the least likely, according to history, is his forcible removal from the bench.

Since September 2001, at least 45 Texas judges have resigned rather than face disciplinary action, according to commission reports, but few have been removed from the bench.

Adams has not indicated he will resign, and though visiting judges temporarily will handle his cases, he has about three years remaining on his term.

If they don't remove him, I have no doubt Adams will be elected again. To anything.

Cameron County attorney kept his house off the tax records

Time to fire this guy. Hard to work from jail.

A man entrusted with collecting delinquent taxes from property owners failed to have his own house in order, public records indicate.

Neither the Cameron Appraisal District nor others involved in tax collection noticed the failure, The Brownsville Herald has learned.

Enrique Peña, of E. Peña & Associates in Brownsville, has never paid property taxes on his current primary residence in Brownsville, according to a review of public documents by The Brownsville Herald. Peña has owned the property since about 2004.

Look at what the TPA bloggers are saying

The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds you that the right to complain about the results of an election are directly connected to having voted in it as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff has a school finance lawsuit update.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme catches Greg Abbott being a blithering hypocrite.

Shocker! Hold the presses: Herman Cain and Rick Perry each discover that running for President is hard! Letters From Texas weighs in.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is awakened from a 2011 blog sleep. Lead up to the 2012 Presidential Campaign is disgusting already. Nothing is as it seems and candidates are fluent in fairy-tales. The distance between the educated voter and the uneducated voter is huge. Guess which group holds the majority ... Campaign Season Op Ed: BossKitty Awakens

There don't appear to be any obvious winners in the wake of Rick Perry's implosion and Herman Cain's Black Walnut meltdown, according to PDiddie at Brains and Eggs. Unless you count Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, that is. And they were winning beforehand.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the insanity of tax talk in Texas. We can't keep doing the same thing and expecting different results, Texas tax facts.

Irritated by road construction? McBlogger says don't blame TXDOT, blame the contractors.

Neil at Texas Liberal noted the unexpected passing of an old friend with a reminder that if you value someone in life, you should contact them now.

When prisons are for profit, people get jailed

Because profit should always trump the promoting the public welfare.

A report released Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union criticizes the private prison industry for profiting at the expense of a growing prison population.

The report, titled “Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration," accuses private prison companies of lobbying for laws that result in higher incarceration rates. Higher incarceration rates result in more government contracts, which, according to the report, is the primary source of funding for these companies.

Don't forget, republicans get to put these prison in districts where they are needed to count for redistricting.

republicans just ooze prejudice

Taylor forgot that he couldn't just speak his mind in public.

State Rep. Larry Taylor, at a legislative oversight hearing Thursday concerning the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, used the slur “Jew them down” when making the point that it needs to pay claims on time.

"Don't nitpick, don't try to Jew them down," he said, according to the Quorum Report. Taylor, a Republican from Friendswood who is running for a state Senate seat, quickly added, "That's probably a bad term."

In a written statement following the hearing, Taylor said, "At a legislative oversight committee hearing today, I inadvertently used a phrase that many people find offensive. I corrected myself immediately when I realized what I had said. I regret my poor choice of words and sincerely apologize for any harm they may have caused."

Greg Abbott thinks we're stupid

The Attorney General's office admits that the maps were drawn to protect Aaron Peña.

The Attorney General’s Office says the State of Texas made a “typographical error” when, in a brief submitted to a federal panel, it claimed state Rep. Aaron Peña had represented House District 41 since 2002.

In fact, Peña has represented neighboring District 40 since 2002. State Rep. Veronica Gonzales has represented District 41 since 2004. Before that, Roberto Gutierrez was the state representative for the McAllen-based seat.

"Under both the benchmark plan and the new plan, Texas House Districts 40 and 41 give Latino voters the ability to elect their candidate of choice,” said Lauren Bean, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office.

“Because the Legislature drew HD 41 to protect an incumbent who represented HD 40 under the old map, the State's pleadings inadvertently transposed the district numbers. But that reflects a relatively minor typographical error--and any claim to the contrary is utterly baseless. Substantively, what matters is the fact that both House districts afford Latino voters in Hidalgo County an opportunity to elect their candidate of choice.”

Nueces County Appraisal District employee fired

He held a high office in the appraisal district AND he had a real estate brokerage firm?

A two-month investigation into allegations of misconduct ended Wednesday with the termination of Nueces County Assistant Chief Appraiser Jay Reynolds.

Reynolds was placed on paid leave Aug. 30 pending an investigation into possible conflicts of interest related to his real estate brokerage business.

In a two-paragraph letter dated Oct. 27, Chief Appraiser Ollie Grant informed Reynolds that his decision to let him go came after "very careful consideration," but does not provide additional information or insight into the contributing factors.

republican family law judge caught on video beating his disabled daughter

Just the kind of guy a republican would want to hear child abuse cases.

Judge Adams strikes Hillary, then 16, in the legs and buttocks with a belt more than dozen times and unleashes an expletive-laden tirade that includes threats to strike her face and promises of future beatings if she raises her voice or “you look at me wrong.”

At three minutes, the parents leave the room and the video appears to be over, but Judge Adams returns, saying, “I never got my lick in on her.”

“I’m going to beat you into submission,” he tells his daughter as he resumes the whippings.

I'm glad the daughter filmed the event and uploaded it to YouTube. She's 23 now. Her father is still an a*hole

."I told him that I had the video, and he acted like he had nothing to worry about," she said. "And I said, I can post the video, of you beating me on the internet, and he said, 'well, you can do that if it makes you feel better.' So I did."

And tonight, Hillary says, in all seriousness, that today really is the first day of the rest of her life.

Hillary talked about what living with her father was like, and she says it was mostly a charade.

"He likes to tell people, look what I did for my wife and daughter," Hillary said.

Hillary Adams says her relationship with her father has been, not surprisingly, rocky over the last few years since this video was shot.

Adams says she communicates with her father only in writing, a request of his. Hillary says what people saw of her father in public was a show.

Why did the restaurant association pay and keep Cain?

A third woman has come forward with allegations. She can talk because she did not file a formal complaint and get a settlement with a gag order. If Cain is guilty of being a pig, and I really think he is, why did the restaurant association not only condone such behavior, but reward it?

Why does the AP make light of these events with the theme 'these women thrived, so it's good for you to get sexually harassed'.

Those two women, now the focus of an intensifying scrutiny after their settlements became public, moved on professionally and personally after their time at the restaurant association. One woman thrived in her pursuit of her communications career and the other moved up in positions focusing on political outreach and public policy.

Would sexual assault been even better for their careers?

Greg Abbott wants US to take action on drug cartel

That's easy. Legalize drugs. Take away the profit motive. Make a drug lord cry.

Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott has penned a letter to President Barack Obama requesting he take action following the recent Mexican drug cartel activity in Texas.

The letter cites some of the incidents that have occurred in the Rio Grande Valley in the past couple of weeks, including the arrest of three Gulf Cartel leaders — two in Cameron County. It also mentions incidents that occurred in El Paso and Fort Hancock.

Abbott writes of the criminal organizations: "Their presence in our country is more evidence that the cartels increasingly view the porous border as no more than a line on a map. And if your administration continues to fail to secure the border against this threat, it is only a matter of time before American lives are lost."

Oh. Abbott isn't a bit sincere about solving the problem. He is a republican, after all. Abbott wants to stir up more violence. Nothing a George Bush republican likes more than an exercise in thuggery.

Texas Speaker of the House calls Perry cronies on 'higher education assault'

You'd think that such a high ranking republican would know that other republicans are trying to kill all forms of public education.

Texas House Speaker Joe Straus said Tuesday that Texas was subjected to "an assault on higher education" this year from critics of how Texas universities finance academic research, an issue that was championed by Gov. Rick Perry.

An intense debate on the future of public higher education erupted this year when Perry appointed a new chairman to the UT System board of regents with a record of dismissing much academic research.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Star-Telegram Editorial Board, Straus said he agreed with many of the goals touted by critics in the debate, such as promoting greater efficiency at the schools, but was concerned about how its tenor affected the state's image.

"One of the real disappointments of the session to me was the assault on higher education, and I'm hoping that that tone of wanting to tear down some of our very fine institutions of the state is over," Straus said.

Did the state of Texas lie in Federal Court over redistricting?

What's a little lying compared to other things republicans have done?

In what appears to be a deliberate attempt to mislead a three-judge federal panel in the District of Columbia, the State of Texas is claiming state Rep. Aaron Peña represents Texas House District 41.

In fact, Peña, an Edinburg Republican, represents District 40, which is very different. Peña has no history with the voters of District 41 in the current “benchmark” House plan, which is the legal map in effect today.

In a brief submitted Monday in reply to the Department of Justice’s motion for summary judgment, redistricting attorneys for the State of Texas claim Peña has represented District 41 since 2002. He has not. He has represented District 40 since 2002. In fact, state Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, has represented District 41 since 2004.

Weslaco gets deal with union

Finally.

The city of Weslaco and the Municipal Police Union on Monday agreed to a one-year extension of the collective bargaining agreement as is with only the dates changing.

But this week's developments don't put an end to contract grievances, one currently under litigation.

Candidate for Cameron County sheriff fired

Not a good start.

Joe Cisneros, who plans to run for sheriff in 2012, is no longer a part of the Cameron County Judicial Building’s “downstairs security force.”

On Tuesday, Cisneros confirmed that he had been dismissed but said that he had no hard feelings against Pct. 2 Constable Pete Avila who fired him Friday.

Although Cisneros said he believes he was fired because of politics, he said he is a “forgiving” man and does not have hard feelings against anyone in the county administration.

Avila said Cisneros was not fired for political reasons and declined to elaborate, noting that it was a personnel issue.

Herman Cain's sexual harassment problem versus the minds of the batsh*t crazy

Whether or not Herman Cain sexually harassed women who worked for him is not the issue. Reality is never important to the batsh*t crazy crowd. Can a batsh*t crazy person believe that the story is just made up by Cain's enemies? They've believed crazier stuff before. Nate Silver shows that the right wing echo chamber can protect Cain.

Politico, a big pusher of right wing propaganda, has come out strongly anti-Cain with their series of stories. Apparently, some on the crazy side have had enough of Herman Cain. Which right wing narrative will win? No one on the right actually cares about women who might have been sexually harassed.

Conflict of interest questions for Weslaco school trustees

Follow the money.

The school board’s messy personal and professional connections to the county’s top two delinquent tax collection law firms have drawn trustees into a spat over potential conflicts of interest.

A split board hastily voted 4-2 last week to terminate the Weslaco school district’s contract with Perdue, Brandon, Fielder, Collins and Mott, which had just replaced Linebarger, Goggan, Blair and Sampson in May.

“Plenty of tax dollars were at stake, considering attorneys banked $340,877.40 in delinquent tax collection fees from Sept. 1, 2010 to Aug. 31, 2011.”

10M crony capitalism deal for Rick Perry crony

Who loses? Texas kids looking for an education and Texas taxpayers looking for a fair deal.

The president of the University of Texas System's flagship campus in Austin says he didn't seek a $10 million dollar deal that was reached between UT System regents and a politically connected company.

Regents voted in August to invest $10 million for a 22.5 percent stake in Austin-based MyEdu Corp. The online company has close ties to the system's former chancellor, his son and associates of Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

"That was a decision of the board. That was not a decision of the campus. We didn't choose to bring this to the campus; it was brought to us," UT Austin President William Powers Jr. told the UT Faculty Council on Monday. "Would I have had different priorities for that $10 million? Yes."

republicans are just that corrupt.

Why would Hispanics want a fake hero?

John Wayne was an actor. The republicans have used the imagery from his movies to create a fake persona that Ronald Reagan took on. Why not look for real heroes? There are many

.In contrast, the Anglo Saxon viewpoint continues to be held as the only method of teaching our nation’s history. The story is well-known to every school child. Because they are used to it, generations of Anglo Saxon students are taught that only their pioneer ancestors’ history matters in the U.S. At the same time, generations of Spanish Mexican-descent U.S. citizens are likewise taught that their ancestor heroes and events are not worthy of pride, robbing them of U.S. history ownership.

Based on the one-sided perspective of U.S. history, numerous popular heroes in film, books, and other media world reenact the roles of Anglo Saxon founding of our country. One individual in particular exemplifies that virtue. For over 50 years, John Wayne’s persona has been molded to embody and defend the Anglo Saxon ideals of freedom, liberty, and patriotism.

The question is how can Mexican-descent Hispanics tell their story? Why don’t they have advocates at local, state, and national levels to speak on their behalf? They are 30 million strong and their numbers are increasing. Where is the Spanish Mexican John Wayne (or Joan of Arc) voice to tell and defend their well-earned place in U.S history?

Bribery and racketeering case snared Austin attorney

Looks like a delay coming for this trial.

The trial of Austin-based attorney Marc G. Rosenthal, who is charged in connection with the racketeering case of former state District Judge Abel C. Limas, is slated to begin Thursday.

...

A federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Texas returned a 13-count indictment against Rosenthal in August. Rosenthal, who has pleaded not guilty, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, tampering with a witness and aiding and abetting, tampering with a proceeding, extortion and fraud.


The indictment against Rosenthal alleges his participation in racketeering activity that prosecutors describe as the manipulation of the federal and state court system.

Some justice coming for 'manipulation of the federal and state court system'. Seems to me that there ought to be many more people on trail for that offense.

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

'Elsa mayor arrested on DWI charge

'Elsa Mayor Al Perez was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated early Sunday after he was stopped on a traffic violation.

Hidalgo County gets spillover

It's time to legalize drugs. Get the profit motive out. Make drug dealers unhappy.

A police shooting that stemmed from a botched drug transaction and kidnapping Sunday afternoon is being labeled the first reported incident of spillover violence in Hidalgo County by Sheriff Lupe Treviño.

While other law enforcement officials, such as Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw, call Hidalgo County the center of spillover violence in Texas, Treviño repeatedly disputes those claims and is quick to dispel talk about cartel-related attacks in the U.S.

But the circumstances surrounding Sunday’s shooting, in which a suspect was killed and a deputy was injured, were enough to make him “say it like it is.”

“I have to say … this is our very first reported spillover-violence event that we have experienced,” he said. “And unfortunately, it got one of our deputies shot.”