South Texas Chisme

Bad news for Corpus Christi

2012-01-27T08:49:00.000-06:00

No wonder republicans run the city council and the county.

For the second time in three years, Corpus Christi finished next to last in the Central Connecticut State University's ranking of America's Most Literate Cities with a population 250,000 and above.

Except for Austin, a Democratic island in Texas, Texas cities did poorly.

Brownsville should come clean about the shooting of a student

2012-01-27T08:47:00.000-06:00

What could possibly possess Brownsville? Hiding information about the shooting of a student will only make people think you have something to hide. Now I do.

The Brownsville Police Department has asked Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to rule against releasing files related to the fatal shooting of a Cummings Middle School student on Jan 4.

The material includes a surveillance video, according to the letter to the attorney general, dated Thursday.

Jaime Gonzalez Jr., 15, an eighth-grader at Cummings, was shot at the school by police when he brandished what appeared to be a handgun and refused to put it down when ordered to do so. Later the weapon was found to be a pellet gun.

The Brownsville Herald, along with several other media outlets, requested under public information laws, the police report and investigative file related to the shooting.

It's obvious to anyone that the Texas Supreme Court is crony capitalism central

2012-01-26T09:00:00.001-06:00

No doubt republicans are crony capitalists. No doubt corporations run Texas.

In the last 10 years, the majority of Texas Supreme Court decisions have favored corporate interests over consumers, and the panel of judges has repeatedly overstepped its authority by overturning jury verdicts and interpreting the law to benefit the rich, according to a scathing report set to be released today by consumer advocacy group Texas Watch.

“The Texas Supreme Court has marched in lock-step to consistently and overwhelmingly reward corporate defendants and the government at the expense of Texas families,” the report says.

What happens if there are 2 primaries this year?

2012-01-26T08:57:00.000-06:00

How will counties make up the cost?

There is growing concern that a split primary will cost Hidalgo County so much money that commissioners might have to reduce the number of polling locations in order to stay within budget.

One of those with such concerns is Hidalgo County Elections Administrator Yvonne Ramon, who is hoping to testify about the impact of this year’s elections fiasco at a status conference hearing being held by a federal court in San Antonio on Friday.

The families of the Rio Grande Valley suffer the effects of income inequality

2012-01-26T08:54:00.000-06:00

While fat cats like Mitt Romney become super rich looting company assets like pension and health funds and placing bets with your mortgage money, real people suffer the consequences.

The group says the state of families who live in the Valley “illustrates clearly the inequality that has become a part of our nation's social reality.”

In a statement accompanying the State of the Valley address, Equal Voice says Valley families “work longer hours for less pay, and pay higher tax rates than any other region in the country.”

The group points out that the Valley has invested more people in the nation's Armed Forces than anywhere else in the nation, and yet its veterans “continue to lack the medical care that they have been promised over and again.”

Other injustices are highlighted in the report.

“We have the highest number of uninsured people in the USA, have no public hospital, and yet are charged some of the highest rates for medical care in America. We are the youngest region in the nation and yet our schools are vastly, and, unfairly, underfunded,” the group states.

What to do about in state tuition for undocumented kids when your base is racist?

2012-01-26T08:48:00.001-06:00

The republican party is a joke. An ugly, racist, sexist, homophobic joke.

The Texas law allowing some illegal immigrants to pay in-state college tuition rates, a flashpoint issue that helped doom Republican Gov. Rick Perry's campaign for president, is set to be tweaked Thursday to remind students they promised to seek legal status.

Thursday's vote on a rule change by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is a small step toward putting more pressure on those students to follow up on their pledge.

They could have been much, much worse.

Corpus Christi city council elects Kelley Allen

2012-01-25T10:23:00.001-06:00

All discussion was behind closed doors. No need for that pesky public to know what was said.

Calallen resident and local business owner Kelley Allen is the new City Council representative for District 1.

Council members gave unanimous support Tuesday to appoint Allen to the seat vacated by Kevin Kieschnick this year after he was appointed to Nueces County tax assessor-collector.

Harlingen seniors registered to vote

2012-01-24T10:32:00.000-06:00

Vote, vote!

Hundreds of Harlingen High School seniors pledged Monday to vote as soon as they are 18 and able to do so.

They attended a voter registration drive held in the school canteen that was hosted jointly by Harlingen CISD and the Advocacy Alliance for Texas (AACT) and filled out voter registration forms from Cameron County Election's Department.

“I will be 18 in two months. I plan to vote in the presidential election this year because it is so important we choose the right president,” said Harlingen High School student Jasmine Ruiz. A senior, Ruiz told the Guardian she plans to go to TSTC-Harlingen in order to pursue a career in the medical field. Asked if today’s voter registration drive influenced her decision to vote, Ruiz said: “It helped make up my mind for sure.”

How does a newspaper minimize Romney's low tax rate?

2012-01-24T10:25:00.001-06:00

The Corpus Christi Caller Times shows its greedy corporate bastard roots with this headline 'Romney paid $3M in federal income tax in 2010'

Oh, look here, you stupid reader! Isn't that a lot of money? Then, the Caller Times doubles down by rounding up Mitt Romney's effective tax rate to 14%.

This tax rate is fundamentally unfair when average people pay around 30% of their meager wages. This tax rate is even worse when you realize that the greedy corporate bastards want to gut Social Security and Medicare so that they don't have to pay more than 13% effective tax rate.

When Newt Gingrich says he wants kids to clean toilets, when Newt Gingrich says we need to eliminate food stamps for the working poor and unemployment insurance for those laid off, Newt means he wants to turn the American labor force into the American version of Foxconn. Think about it.

It the weekly blog roundup from your friendly TPA

2012-01-24T10:14:00.000-06:00

The Texas Progressive Alliance thanks the state of South Carolina for all the laughs as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

The big story last week was the SCOTUS ruling on interim redistricting maps. Off the Kuff has an initial look.

It turns out that PDiddie and Paula Deen have more in common than just their initials; there's also a morality tale involved. Read "Paula Deen, diabetes, and Novo Nordisk" at Brains and Eggs.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is tired of the media ignoring grossly untrue, inflammatory, and just plain disgusting things Republicans like Rick Perry make.

Perry's run for the Presidency is over! WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on it here, Good riddance, for now, Perry drops out.

This was a big week of action culminating in the defeat (for now) of SOPA, including Wednesday when many of our sites went dark. Darth Politico refused to go dark, and instead went dork-- with a snark/irony blog supporting SOPA (or "Why Death Stars are a good thing").

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw mourns for Texas in "Poor Texas Forrest Homer Simpson is Coming Back". An eloquent requiem for a candidate who brought untold levels of derision to our state when he revealed how truly shallow and narcissistic he is. Give it a read!

Neil at Texas Liberal wrote this week abour how Houston School Board Member Manuel Rodriguez got away with using anti-gay campaign materials in his recent reelection victory. Everyday citizens, Civil rights groups and the Houston GLBT Political Caucus all gave Mr. Rodriguez a free pass despite his hateful words.

The Corpus Christi Caller Times wishes we had f*cked up our waterfront

2012-01-23T08:19:00.000-06:00

What did you say?

Looking at the acres of undeveloped land surrounding the Shoreline Boulevard site for the new park, Jamie Torres Springer a partner with HR&A Advisors, marveled at the openness of the land. "You don't see waterfront land that is that deep and long that can be dedicated for public space," he said. "Most waterfronts are blocked by billions of dollars of infrastructure that has to be redone."

In other words, our bayfront is clean of any major private investment such as waterside hotels, or major shopping centers, or even nitty-gritty stuff like docks or warehouses. Yes we've done a real good job of keeping our bayfront free of anything that looks like it might make money. It's not as if we haven't tried.

The downtown bayfront is where development ideas go to die. There was the entertainment zone on the marina proposed by Landry's. There was the proposal to convert the now-gone Memorial Coliseum into a shopping center. There was the initiative by the Omni people to create an entertainment area. Remember the "land mass?"

Just WTF, WTF WTF!!

Audit leads to investigation of former Brooks County Sheriff

2012-01-23T08:15:00.003-06:00

More trouble?

An auditor found more than $500,000 in questionable purchases through former Brooks County Sheriff Balde Lozano's criminal asset forfeiture funds, prompting a local prosecutor to refer the matter to the Texas Attorney General's office.

According to the audit, some of the purchases were channeled through funds controlled by Joe Frank Garza, the former 79th District Attorney who pleaded guilty in March to a felony charge for paying himself and his employees more than $2 million from his office's forfeiture fund without county commissioners' approval.

Former Corpus Christi Municipal Court employee indicted

2012-01-23T08:12:00.002-06:00

That's a headline you don't want to see.

Former court analyst Frances Rios was indicted last month on charges of tampering with a government document, a state jail felony.

According to court records, Rios dismissed another person's speeding ticket in February.

A Brownsville story about sustainable living

2012-01-20T09:06:00.000-06:00

There are good things going on in this world.

If you want to see what the future of affordable housing looks like in Brownsville, take a gander at the little blue house at 3132 Westwind Drive in the Inwood II subdivision.

Built by the YouthBuild program of the Community Development Corporation of Brownsville, it’s the first LEED-certified house in the Rio Grande Valley, according to CDCB officials. LEED stands for "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design," an internationally recognized "green" building certification. A public open house on Westwind Drive is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 25, from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

To receive LEED designation, a structure must meet a very high level of energy efficiency. Students in CDCB’s YouthBuild program did the construction on the Westwind Drive house, and are at work on a second LEED-certified home, this one in the California Crossing subdivision in Los Fresnos.

Former state Rep. Sergio Muñoz Sr. business gets raided by Feds

2012-01-20T08:59:00.000-06:00

That doesn't sound good.

Federal and state investigators raided a healthcare agency Thursday belonging to former state Rep. Sergio Muñoz Sr., who serves as president of the Texas Healthcare Advocacy Association.

More than a dozen FBI agents and Texas Attorney General’s investigators executed a search warrant at Hosanna Health Care, 1001 N. Conway Ave., starting about 9 a.m. Thursday.

Sierra Club faults TCEQ for rubber stamp on plant emissions

2012-01-19T07:52:00.000-06:00

republicans only care about their cronies. Air pollution? Climate change? Too bad.

State regulators allowed four coal plants to breeze through a permitting process, skipping time for public comment and closer scrutiny of the plants' emission controls and air-quality impacts, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Sierra Club.

The environmental group is appealing permit amendments approved Dec. 16 by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that allow increased emissions from the plants, in East and Central Texas, during periods of planned startup, shutdown and maintenance.

The issuance of the permits is "invalid, arbitrary and unreasonable," according to the lawsuit filed in state District Court in Travis County.

Promesa Project to have staff at UTB, UTPA

2012-01-19T07:45:00.000-06:00

Dreaming of a large Latino turn out from the Valley.

The Texas Democratic Party is to place paid staff at the University of Texas-Pan American and the University of Texas at Brownsville.

The Fellowship program is part of the Promesa Project. The aim is to engage more Latino students in the Democratic Party and its causes. Under the program, at least 11 paid Fellows will be placed on campuses across Texas, including at UTPA and UTB.

“These campuses have large Latino enrollment and are perfectly located to provide the opportunity to affect several local competitive races,” said TDP Deputy Executive Director Anthony Gutierrez.

“Several races across Texas are decided by a small number of votes every cycle. We believe this project has the potential to have far-reaching electoral ramifications, including potentially at the statewide level.”

republicans have a great head start at killing public education

2012-01-19T07:36:00.001-06:00

Texas schools are suffering. This is by republican design.

Premont ISD has canceled its sports programs to save money and focus on academics as it tries to meet sweeping improvements proposed by the state.

"Our urgent situation requires swift and drastic action," Superintendent Ernest Singleton said.

Today is the day the internet died

2012-01-18T06:22:00.000-06:00

Thanks to assholes like Lamar Smith.

NO SOPA!

Perry gets biased praise from Politico

2012-01-17T09:04:00.001-06:00

Yes, Politico is a propaganda machine. No doubt about that. But, what passes as a 'solid' performance from Rick Perry? Calling the leader of Turkey an “Islamic terrorist” and insulting the memory of Daniel Pearl.

At long last, Sir, do you have no shame?

What if the Valley had a 65% turnout this election?

2012-01-17T08:44:00.000-06:00

Watch out Texas republicans!

The Advocacy Alliance of Texas has adjusted its voter turnout goal for the 2012 presidential election in the Rio Grande Valley.

Instead of looking for a turnout of 60 percent, the non-partisan, non-profit, group is now aiming for 65 percent.

AACT President Eliza Alvarado said the adjustment was made following a meeting in Austin late last year with other Texas groups that are looking to achieve a greater turnout among Hispanic voters. Alvarado, McAllen businessman Alonzo Cantu and other AACT board members met with groups such as the League of United Latin American Citizens. They learned that a 65 percent turnout in the major metropolitan areas across Texas would mean Hispanics would, for the first time, truly influence the outcome of statewide races in the Lone Star State.

I shall dream for a moment.

Abuse judge's daughter says no to custody visit

2012-01-17T08:39:00.000-06:00

I guess it wasn't just the oldest child who felt Adams' abuse.

When Judge William Adams went to pick up his youngest daughter for a custody visit Monday night, she refused to go with him, saying she was sick of being verbally abused.

Corpus Christi Caller Times readers follow the paper's lead in trashing Lencho Rendon

2012-01-16T09:03:00.002-06:00

The paper had to shut down the comments section on a story about Lencho that began with a misleading and biased headline. Shane Fitzgerald continued the trashing in the first paragraph of this story complaining about his readers trashing Lencho.

You don't do the dirty work for someone who has made that many friends and enemies without making a lot of friends and enemies.

Enough said.

It's time for the Monday blog roundup!

2012-01-16T08:48:00.003-06:00

The Texas Progressive Alliance honors the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff takes a look at Democratic primary races as they now stand in Harris County and elsewhere in Texas.

Refinish69 thinks sometimes you just have to say "What the Hell???

Bay Area Houston says it is Time for a Joe Driver law.

CouldBeTrue wants you to know that Vermin Supreme almost beat Rick Perry in Vermont.

The Texas Tea Party had a rally and a straw poll in Houston, a few rich white bigots showed up, and Rick Perry got his ass whipped again. In other words, as PDiddie at Brains and Eggs observes, nothing has really changed for the TeaBaggers.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw gets us up to date on who is calling who a vulture capitialist, or Pot, meet Kettle. See her piece: Vulture Capitalist Supporters Perry, Gingrich Demonize Vulture Capitalism.

It's been a little quiet on the issue of transportation funding lately, but that's changed. WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the latest polling nonsense about how to pay for new roads, Here we go again.

Neil at Texas Liberal offered the 5th annual posting of his Martin Luther King Reading & Reference List. There are 3 new additions for 2012. This list is the best starting point to learn about M.L.K. to be found on the web.

Henry Cuellar says it will be years before the Texas redistricting case is settled

2012-01-13T09:52:00.001-06:00

Greedy republicans care only about their power and not democracy.

[US rep Henry] Cuellar said he expects the enacted maps will be shown to have violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. As a result, he said, the redistricting saga will play out in the courts for a few more years.

“Something tells me will be in court for the next four or five years. Even after they (the Supreme Court) rule up there it is going to go on a while,” Cuellar said.

A member of audience asked Cuellar when he thought the Texas primaries would be held. “I do not think it is going to April 3,” he answered.

Cuellar also said he favors a unified election date for the primaries. To have a split primary, one for the presidential, statewide and local elections, and another, later, for the congressional and statehouse races, would cost taxpayers’ more money and lead to voter fatigue, Cuellar said.

KRIS-TV in Corpus Christi files complaint against Time Warner Cable

2012-01-13T09:46:00.004-06:00

The consumers are the losers no matter what. Get a good TV antennae.

Cordillera Communications' subsidiary has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission charging Time Warner Cable is not negotiating a retransmission agreement in good faith.

Time Warner Cable denies the claim, saying the company is responding to the proposals and keeping communication open with the broadcaster.

republican vulture capitalists don't like to be called vultures

2012-01-12T07:25:00.002-06:00

Who knew? Heartless republicans don't like to be called heartless, either. They're such big babies.

Gov. Rick Perry's new line of attack against Mitt Romney that Romney is a "vulture capitalist" who used to pick apart businesses and leave with huge profits is not sitting well with his usual allies on the right.

Perry's case against Romney and a similar one made by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich have come under attack from Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others who say such criticisms don't belong in a Republican primary.

How dare any republican get anywhere near the truth!

The batsh*t crazy republicans are having a debate for open Texas senate seat

2012-01-12T07:19:00.000-06:00

The odious propaganda think tank, Texas Public Policy Foundation, is sponsoring this debate. This think tank proposed ways to kill Texas public universities.

What bather was the Pope saying about LGBT rights and families?

2012-01-11T09:56:00.001-06:00

This headline says it all 'Catholic Church child safety coordinator jailed for trading in child rape pornography'

Rick Perry beats out Vermin Supreme in New Hampshire

2012-01-11T09:48:00.002-06:00

Too bad republicans have no sense of shame.

Rick Perry’s barely-better-than-insane status was solidified in yesterday’s New Hampshire presidential primary. With 96 percent of precincts reporting this morning, Rick Perry has just 1,711 votes from the entire state. Vermin Supreme isn’t far behind that, at 813 votes.

Sounds like Rick Perry will be on the ballot in Virginia anyway

2012-01-11T09:17:00.002-06:00

But, who cares? Why is it that republicans think that rules are for other people and not them?

A federal judge in Virginia said today that he will issue a decision soon on Rick Perry's challenge to the state's ballot access laws — and that the Texas governor is likely to prevail:

Will this move help Santorum and Gingrich?

Rick Perry's crony slush fund money went to Medicare fiddlers

2012-01-11T09:15:00.000-06:00

Sounds like a republican ploy. Take money from the care of the terminally ill to give to an already rich person.

State leaders awarded $2.1 million in taxpayer funds last year to the parent company of a hospice care firm that, according to allegations made by the Justice Department, misspent millions of Medicare dollars intended for the care of terminally ill patients.

Another arm of the parent company has given more than $600,000 to the Republican Governors Association, which Gov. Rick Perry has chaired twice in the past four years. The association has been one of the biggest donors to Perry's gubernatorial campaigns.

The Justice Department announced last week that it has joined a whistle-blower lawsuit against AseraCare Hospice, which has about 65 hospice providers in 19 states, including Texas. AseraCare officials have said the case lacks merit and could keep some patients with unpredictable diseases from using hospice benefits.

The odious Lamar Smith gets flack for trying to kill the internet

2012-01-11T09:12:00.000-06:00

As well he should. Wouldn't it be nice to see his challenger throw him out of office this fall.

To the ranks of same-sex marriage, tax cuts and illegal immigration, add this to the list of polarizing political issues of Election 2012: the Stop Online Piracy Act.

The hot-button anti-piracy legislation that sparked a revolt online is starting to become a political liability for some of SOPA’s major backers. Fueled by Web activists and online fundraising tools, challengers are using the bill to tag its congressional supporters as backers of Big Government — and raise campaign cash while they’re at it.

Among the fattest targets: SOPA’s lead author, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), and two of its most vocal co-sponsors, Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has also felt the wrath of SOPA opponents.

Check out Smith's opponent: Elaine Henderson More here.

Shake up at the Corpus Christi municipal court

2012-01-11T09:01:00.000-06:00

Bye, bye.

Two top administrators of the city's municipal court system were fired Tuesday following an internal investigation and job performance evaluation.

Director Rene Mendiola, who has worked for the city 16 years, and assistant director Cleo Rodriguez received termination letters.

"At the end of the day, I don't have a great deal of confidence that we can fix what needs to be fixed with the existing leadership," City Manager Ron Olson said about his decision.

Mexican Chamber of Commerce warns against travel to US

2012-01-11T08:57:00.002-06:00

Whaa, you say?

The Matamoros office of the National Chamber of Commerce of Mexico has issued, for the second time, an advisory for travel to South Texas, particularly Brownsville.

They Mexican Chamber does not want to lose people and businesses to the US.

Put down your breakfast drink before you read this

2012-01-11T08:53:00.000-06:00

Euue.

The Food and Drug Administration says it will step up testing for a fungicide that has been found in low levels in orange juice.

Locals must give up emails in Federal racketeering case

2012-01-10T07:59:00.000-06:00

According to the Corpus Christi Caller Times headline, you'd think that Lencho was already locked up and convicted of racketeering or worse. They just asked for emails. Slow down.

A local Democratic Party candidate and the longtime chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz are named in a warrant requesting electronic communications, including emails, in the expanding federal investigation of a former Cameron County judge.

Florencio “Lencho” Rendon, who was chief of staff for longtime U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, and Joseph Ramirez are among 25 individuals whose emails with Austin attorney Marc Rosenthal are of interest to federal investigators.

April 3 unlikely to be primary day in Texas

2012-01-10T07:47:00.002-06:00

One has to wonder why the US Supreme Court decided to f*ck with Texas. Oh, yeah. Partisan republican hacks like Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito. Off the Kuff does a great job explaining (guessing at this point) what might happen.

Don't expect a resolution anytime soon, but hope that the court sends the job back to the San Antonio judges with guidance. Otherwise, we may have to wait for the DC Court.

The partisan republicans on the US Supreme Court want to gut the voting rights act

2012-01-09T09:47:00.001-06:00

If republicans had their way, only rich white men would be allowed to vote. I am not exaggerating.

There are several cases directly related to Section 5 working their way through appeals that election law experts say will most likely be heard by the Supreme Court this year.

In Arizona, for example, officials sued the Justice Department directly over the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. And in South Carolina, officials are preparing to appeal the Justice Department’s decision not to preclear the state’s new voter identification law.

“It’s pretty momentous,” said Michael Li, a Texas-based Democratic election law attorney. “There’s been some big cases over the years, but they’re usually spread out over the years.”

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

2012-01-09T09:38:00.002-06:00

'State Fire Marshal Abruptly Resigns as Major Arson Inquiry Begins'

The Texas state fire marshal who defended the agency’s work in the Cameron Todd Willingham arson investigation quietly and hurriedly resigned in December after seven years on the job.

Paul Maldonado’s one-sentence, hand-written letter of resignation, dated Dec. 12, comes just as the fire marshal’s office, in conjunction with the Innocence Project of Texas, embarks on an unprecedented review of arson cases in the wake of the Texas Forensic Science Commission’s protracted examination of the Willingham case.

Will Corpus Christi miss the super bowl?

2012-01-09T09:31:00.003-06:00

KRIS-NBC, CW-South Texas, KAJA-Telemundo and KDF are still fighting with Time Warner Cable. KRIS will cover the super bowl. I see lots of people switching carriers or getting good TV antennaes.

Alternatively, get a good internet connection and a Boxee Box.

Rick Perry for Vice President?

2012-01-09T09:26:00.001-06:00

Really? It has got to be the Perry camp floating that whopper. The GOP presidential candidate will come to the race with enough baggage without nominating another doufus as VP.

'While Perry deflates in GOP race, talk picks up on vice-presidential chances'

It's time for the weekly roundup!

2012-01-09T09:19:00.001-06:00

The Texas Progressive Alliance thinks watching football was a much better use of your time than watching the 389th Repubican Presidential debate as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff discusses the state's appeal of the injunction granted against the horrible sonogram law.

This week WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the fact that our politics can't be fixed until the money is taken out of our political process, It's the money.

The case against the Texas Republicans' redistricting argument (beginning before the SCOTUS on January 9) rests almost entirely on two generations of legal precedent. And with a Court that has indicated an interest in eviscerating the Voting Rights Act, precedent doesn't mean diddly, either. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs elaborates.

BossKitty at TruthHugger has had enough of the religious bullying by the 2012 Republican Presidential Candidates, specifically Rick Santorum. Why do we need a Jesus candidate?

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw explains why Romney's "job creator" lies are well, lies. Check it out: Mitt Romney: A Job Killer, Not Creator.

From Bay Area Houston The Texas Ethics Commission, Jerry Eversole, and the GOP. Texas sized embarrassments.

BlueBloggin sees the Consequences of Not Paying Attention when corporate funded American politicians make it easy to break environmental rules, ruin natural resources and not be held accountable to the human victims.

Neil at Texas Liberal noted a certificate he received in the mail from the Department of Veteran's Affairs that noted his recently deceased father's military service. Neil's dad, a Korean War combat veteran, would have been glad that the certificate was signed by Barack Obama, and not by a draft-dodging liar like George W. Bush.

Nelda Martinez is running for Mayor of Corpus Christi

2012-01-06T06:28:00.001-06:00

Martinez has 3 terms as city council member under her belt.

A Nueces redistricting map Hispanics don't mind

2012-01-06T06:27:00.001-06:00

This is a change from the purely partisan republican dilute the minority vote approach.

Advocates for Hispanic voting rights praised local redistricting maps, which will decide public representation on the Corpus Christi City Council and Del Mar College board of regents.

A dozen people attended a joint public hearing Thursday at City Hall to listen and provide input about the changes.

The proposed maps have minor boundary changes to redistribute Southside population growth, which occurred mostly in District 5, to other areas of the city. The changes won't affect the minority vote, said attorney David Méndez. Many who attended the meeting said they agree.

Percentage of Iowa republicans caucusing declined form '08

2012-01-05T09:35:00.003-06:00

Interesting data to gauge 2012 republican enthusiasm. Any sane person would be appalled by the current crop of republican presidential candidates.

While the Republican turnout of about 122,000 was a record, it was barely higher than in 2008, suggesting that some party voters may be unenthused about their choices. Mitt Romney, who edged Rick Santorum by eight votes, got the lowest percentage of any winning candidate in the history of the caucuses.

The share of registered Republicans who showed up actually declined to 19.9 percent from 21.1 percent in 2008, according to statistics the Iowa secretary of state’s office posted before the Jan. 3 vote.

What! you say? TCEQ wants STRICTER monitoring?

2012-01-05T09:24:00.000-06:00

This must be a trick. Did somebody forget to pay their cronies a favor? Or, is this just election season where the republicans are trying to do away with any monitoring at all?

State environmental officials and the trustee overseeing demolition at the bankrupt ASARCO/Encycle plant near Dona Park once again are at odds over how to proceed with the multimillion project in light of air quality concerns.

Elevated levels of airborne contaminants have been detected in the Dona Park neighborhood south of the former zinc smelting and commercial waste management plant. Although the levels are not considered high enough to threaten public health, the Texas Commission on Environmental Qualityordered a halt on all demolition activities anytime a north wind blows.

Bank of America in trouble for not paying courthouse fees

2012-01-05T09:18:00.001-06:00

The more you know about B of A, the less there is to like.

Nueces County is a step closer to joining a group of Texas counties suing Bank of America and a related corporation over unpaid courthouse filing fees.

In Nueces County, officials estimate the situation involves $400,000 to $800,000 in uncollected fees from the processing of more than 11,000 documents, County Attorney Laura Jimenez said.

Nationwide, counties are claiming that a mortgage database created by banks is cheating the counties out of billions of dollars in filing fees.

The problem isn't so much the filing fees, as the lack of public record. People buying and selling homes deserve a public, i.e. neutral, record of their transactions for their own protection.

Good news for border schools

2012-01-05T09:12:00.001-06:00

Keep on going!

Texas Education Agency data reveal schools along the U.S.-Mexican border have rapidly increased their graduation rates in the past four years, nearly closing a gap between state and regional averages.

And for the first time in at least a decade, the dropout rate in the Region One education service area – which spans 37 school districts from Laredo to Brownsville – actually fell below the state average for the Class of 2010.

“While graduation rates are not yet where we would like them to be, school districts in the region have done significant work to close the completion rate gap through various recovery programs intended to provide opportunities for those students needed such support to obtain their high school diplomas,” said Jack Damron, executive director of the Region One Education Service Center, which assists districts and charter schools within its area.

The good news is Perry is out of Texas

2012-01-05T09:10:00.000-06:00

The bad news is we're continuing to pay large security bills. And, Rick Perry along with Newtie and Rickie Santorum dilute the absolutely crazy evangelical vote. I was so hoping Rick Santorum would win the GOP nomination. Maybe the authoritarian evangelical leaders will order two of these idiots to drop out while ordering their followers to vote for the third.

Paper reviews prospective employees better than State Hospital

2012-01-04T07:07:00.000-06:00

It would be nice, if the Department of State Health Services cared, but then it's run by republicans.

State health officials fired a hospital psychiatrist last week after learning that he failed to disclose a decade-old legal settlement that banned him from ever working again at a state mental health facility.

Dr. Alejandro Munoz, who had worked for the Terrell State Hospital since June 2006, was terminated Friday, according to a letter from the facility's superintendent. Because Terrell is a state mental health facility, "you failed to abide by the settlement agreement," Joe Finch wrote.

Carrie Williams, spokeswoman for the Department of State Health Services, which oversees state psychiatric hospitals, said the discrepancy was discovered when officials reviewed Munoz's employment records after he was named in a Statesman article as one of several state hospital psychiatrists with a history of sexual improprieties with their patients.

State Bar of Texas is ok with bad behavior

2012-01-04T07:02:00.000-06:00

You might think that the State Bar would care about ethics or at least appearances, but apparently they don't.

Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley today released a letter from the State Bar of Texas informing him that the agency has dismissed a grievance filed against him in the Michael Morton case.

"Today, I received written confirmation that the alleged grievance filed against me did NOT demonstrate any misconduct on my part," Bradley said in an email (the emphasis is his). "As the report from the Innocence Project indicated, the DA's office acted professionally and ethically in handling the Morton claim of innocence, arising from a 25-year old conviction through a different prosecutor."

One wonders how bad a prosecutor has to be.

The good news is Perry lost big in Iowa

2012-01-04T06:47:00.003-06:00

The bad news is Perry is coming back to Texas.

5 reasons to love the 2012 republican presidential primary

2012-01-03T08:48:00.002-06:00

Everyone can see the best and brightest of the republican party amounts to car full of clowns
Everyone, including Texans, sees Rick Perry is a hollow, corrupt doufus
Everyone sees the republican agenda is hate towards people of color, LGBTs and non-evangelicals
Everyone sees republicans have batsh*t crazy ideas and no solutions to real problems
Citizens United money is spent highlighting all of the above

Perry says other candidates are corrupt? WTF?

2012-01-03T08:36:00.001-06:00

Karl Rove pioneered the way to campaign - accuse your opponent of having your weakness. That mitigates charges against your candidate and murkies the water.

“You don’t have to settle for insiders who have been corrupt from the standpoint of Congress and Washington and Wall Street,” Perry said.

Oh, never mind. Perry said corrupt with respect to Washington and Wall Street. No mention of Texas.

Who from Houston gave hidden money to Perry?

2012-01-02T08:37:00.003-06:00

Just wait and see which crony gets extra special favors at taxpayer expense.

A mysterious Houston company with links to a major Rick Perry donor helped kick-start the Texas governor’s presidential campaign this summer by quietly directing $100,000 into a super PAC that aired statewide ads in Iowa touting Perry as “a better option” for president — even before he announced his candidacy.

Donald Trump has supporters?

2012-01-02T08:27:00.002-06:00

Really? Ok, so it's Texas, but still??

Supporters of Donald Trump have filed paperwork with Texas’ secretary of state that would allow the real estate magnate to get on the ballot in the Lone Star State, conservative Internet website The Blaze reported late Sunday.

Take a minute to read this week's roundup

2012-01-02T08:24:00.003-06:00

The Texas Progressive Alliance wishes everyone a happy and prosperous New Year as it brings you the first roundup of 2012.

There were two big redistricting stories last week, and both favored the plaintiffs against Texas and its retrogressive maps. The DC Court issued its decision defining preclearance standards, and the Justice Department filed an amicus brief with SCOTUS arguing it should use the interim maps drawn by the San Antonio court. Off the Kuff has the details on each.

BossKitty at TruthHugger - can only laugh at what the GOP has put in the store window this election season, 2012 GOP Lineup and Songs From The 1960s.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson weighs in on redistricting and the Voting Rights Act, Texas Redistricting Round Up.

More Dallas wastewater is headed for Houston, as a project to route more of the Trinity River toward the Bayou City moves forward. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs says that he can't wait to pour a tall glass of Metroplex toilet water.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme screams to the high heavens that Ron Paul is not a principled man.

Neil at Texas Liberal posted about a longtime musician friend looking to form a new protest band in Cincinnati. It's unlikely that anybody in Texas will be able to join this band. But that is not the point. The point is that we all have talents, and we should work hard to make the best use of our talents in the big political year ahead. Don't just sit around and let somebody else generate content for you to consume.

The Lewisville Texan Journal (formerly WhosPlayin) examined TxDOT right-of-way purchases along the I-35E corridor in Denton County, finding that the state was paying much, much more for properties than the tax roll values. Denton County's Republican County Judge Mary Horn, who is spearheading the effort to expand the road with toll lanes received $993,000 for an investment property she had, which was 19.7 times more than what it was on the tax rolls for.

Who knew you couldn't pay your property taxes with campaign funds?

2011-12-30T08:36:00.001-06:00

If you're a republican, ethics and rules are for other people. You know. Those poor people without connections

.Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Justice Lawrence Meyers, in a tough GOP primary campaign against Presiding Judge Sharon Keller, said Wednesday that he will correct financial statements showing that he used campaign funds to pay property taxes on his Austin home.

The payments, Meyers said, were appropriate reimbursements for campaign-related expenses that were mislabeled as property tax payments of $3,286 this past summer and $2,929 in 2009.

Mean changes by republicans cause suffering for the elderly poor

2011-12-30T08:33:00.003-06:00

Why do republicans call themselves Christians when they are so mean and selfish to the poor?

Dr. Bruce Malone, a partner at the [Austin Bone and Joint] clinic, has been an orthopedic surgeon in Austin since 1977. He also is the president of the Texas Medical Association, which deals with doctors across the state. A top concern in the foreseeable future for that group is doctors soon having to choose between paying for what some patients cannot or turning those patients away altogether.

"No Medicare. No Medicaid. It would be a disaster,” he said, shaking his head, referring to Jan. 1, when the policy change goes into effect.

How many other Texas republicans doubled billed expenses?

2011-12-30T08:29:00.000-06:00

I'll bet a lot of them did. Look at the signs.

Take state Rep. Mike "Tuffy" Hamilton. Over the last three sessions, legislative travel vouchers show the Mauriceville Republican charged the state more than $16,000 for mileage — the equivalent of 60 trips between Austin and his East Texas district. He also used his campaign credit card to buy $5,400 in fuel on trips between those two cities. And at least once, he billed both his campaign and the Legislature for the same conference registration.

State Rep. Wayne Christian’s expense reports include similar duplications. In the last few sessions, Christian, R-Center, charged the state more than $16,000 for mileage between Austin and his district, while using $7,000 from his campaign to buy fuel at gas stations between Center and Austin. He reported at least $2,500 in expenses that appear to have been billed both to his campaign and to the Legislature, including airline tickets and conference stays.

Boo hoo for Rick Perry

2011-12-30T08:21:00.002-06:00

Forgetting Lawrence v. Texas after 'writing' about it in his book and railing about it as governor is strange. Maybe he does have early onset Alzheimers. Or, he could just be that stupid and uncaring.

He ends the year treading water. His boots — “Freedom” and “Liberty” — might as well be named “Oops” and “Dang.” Even if he pulls out of this, it’s been embarrassing for him and for his home state.

He took the family name out into the world and made a hash of it. Texas was still recovering, in some quarters, from George W. Bush’s presidency — the idea that a pair of Tony Lamas and a twang were the first two signs of the apocalypse.

Those outside Texas think our memories are short, that our mental engines are a couple of quarts low. That whenever we see a new problem, we hide our checkbooks and start researching biblical rationalizations.

And, he is going to lose big in Iowa.

Texas schools sue for support

2011-12-29T06:08:00.001-06:00

republicans want to kill public education. They have gotten a great start by underfunding them.

The legal fight over Texas' school finance system is shaping up to become the largest of its kind in state history.

Texas' largest school districts — including Austin, Houston and Dallas — joined the fight Thursday when they and 60 other districts, including Round Rock, filed a lawsuit that claims the method for funding Texas public schools is unconstitutional. It is the fourth such legal challenge filed against the state in recent months.

In all, more than 3 million students go to school in districts that have signed on to one of the four lawsuits. That total exceeds 60 percent of the state's public school population and dwarfs any of the past legal challenges.

republicans want the 1% to pay no taxes while getting as much of everyone else's tax dollars they can sneak by.

Corpus Christi TWC still fighting with local TV stations

2011-12-29T05:54:00.000-06:00

KRIS-TV wants you to lobby the city council. That's strange. Shouldn't you lobby KRIS and Time Warner Cable?

Rick Perry believes in states rights, except when inconvenient for him

2011-12-28T08:16:00.000-06:00

republicans just drip hypocrisy.

Rick Perry's campaign has filed suit in federal court challenging the constitutional validity of Virginia's ballot access rules. The Texas governor was notified last Friday that he had failed to submit the requisite number of valid signatures from registered voters in the Commonwealth and would not appear on the March 6 primary ballot.

I don't think Rick Perry will be elected anything, ever again

2011-12-28T08:13:00.001-06:00

Rick Perry has sunk to the depths of the republican muck. If you're raped and pregnant as a result, Perry will force you to carry your rapist's child. Then, Perry and his republican friends will wash their hands of all responsibility and leave you to feed, clothe and educate the child on your own. Psst. Don't let the kid get sick.

The good news is that Perry has so thoroughly embarrassed Texas, he couldn't get elected dog catcher. The bad news is that Rick Perry has all that pension money he took early with which to sit out his old age.

Ron Paul is not a principled man

2011-12-27T08:34:00.000-06:00

Ron Paul either lied when he printed a series of racist newsletters or he is lying now. Either way he is a liar and most likely a racist. Ron Paul sounds just perfect for the batshit crazy republican base. Selfish libertarian views of the world coupled with authoritarian views on women and minorities. Sounds great. Except, the military industrial complex along with the rest of the greedy corporate world don't like Paul's views on war and business. Ooops, as Perry would say.

The batshit crazies should rally round Paul. Go for it.

The joy of fracking

2011-12-27T08:25:00.001-06:00

Oh, what chemicals can we add to our ground water? Water fracking includes radioactive strontium. Lovely. Is propane fracking better?

Jadela Oil Corp., a Canadian exploration and production company, fractured its El Indio No. 1 horizontal well in Maverick County near Eagle Pass with more than 5,000 barrels of liquid propane and butane, a process known as gas fracking.

Enjoy the TPA blog roundup!

2011-12-27T08:08:00.001-06:00

The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes everyone is enjoying their holiday as it brings you the last roundup of 2011.

Last week's House Republican cave-in on the payroll tax cut extension is intertwined with the Keystone XL pipeline: both have to be decided upon again in 60 days. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has some discussion about the implications.

Bay Area Houston thinks Maybe Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg should resign.

Neil at Texas Liberal posted the Occupy Houston response to felony charges for some Occupy protestors who took part in civil disobedience at the Port of Houston. This is matter that should be of concern to all progressives, political advocacy groups, and civil libertarians.

Federal court judge Sam Sparks gave an early Christmas present to Texas microbreweries and their customers last week. Off the Kuff explains.

At TexasKaos, Lightseeker reports on the end of the year signs that the war on public education is reaching a critical juncture. Read his report : Public Education in the Crosshairs - Is This the End?

Texas Republicans disallow a crony capitalist tax break letting public schools keep money. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme can tell it's election season. You know Republicans love their cronies and hate public education.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson says it's time for the people to be the focus of our politics and government, and we must start doing What's good for the people of this state.

BossKitty at TruthHugger - is very pleased with Congressman Lloyd Doggett. The Texas Republicans are still trying to mess with Lloyd's District. Bosskitty shares an example of how Lloyd responded to an email concerning the HR 10 vote. UPDATE: Response to HR 10 Consequences

Nueces County District clerk having problems implementing system

2011-12-23T08:54:00.000-06:00

A republican fishing expedition?

An audit of accounts in the Nueces County District Clerk's office says organizational problems, accounting weaknesses, questionable hiring practices and other findings could jeopardize the county's ability to administer justice.

But District Clerk Patsy Perez's chief deputy, Gerald Garza, responded that the audit merely bolsters his boss's long-standing, unfulfilled requests for more staff. Garza attributes inefficiencies to problems implementing a new $6 million software system.

The motive of the audit "was not to help our office but to tear it down," Garza wrote in an 18-page response to the 14-page report.

The wayback machine calls Ron Paul liar and a racist

2011-12-22T07:40:00.001-06:00

Those pesky old pieces of information from the past.

Rep. Ron Paul has tried since 2001 to disavow racist and incendiary language published in Texas newsletters that bore his name, denying he wrote them and even walking out of an interview with CNN on Wednesday. But he vouched for the accuracy of the writings and admitted writing at least some of the passages when first asked about them in an interview in 1996.

Some issues of the newsletters included racist, anti-Israel or anti-gay comments, including a 1992 newsletter in which he said 95% of black men in Washington "are semi-criminal or entirely criminal."

Valero gets rejected by TCEQ

2011-12-22T07:30:00.001-06:00

What can a crony count on in this world? Normally, a republican wouldn't hesitate to throw children's education under the bus to support a tax break for a corporation. Though, Rick Perry is running for president.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has rejected Valero Energy Corp.'s request for retroactive tax exemptions at six refineries, a ruling that relieves many municipal and school district officials.

An affirmative decision would have required local governments already crunched by lean budgets to pay back millions of dollars to the company, which officials feared would set a precedent for other industries to file similar requests.

Valero should try again after Perry is crushed. republicans want to kill public education anyway.

Another day, another Texas colleges raises its tuition

2011-12-21T06:21:00.000-06:00

Why? Because republicans are trying to kill public education. Fox News isn't enough to make everybody dumb.

Tuition at the University of Texas-Pan American could rise by more than 5 and 7 percent over the next two years for undergraduate and graduate students, respectively.

If the UT System Board of Regents approves UTPA President Robert Nelsen’s proposed tuition and fee changes in March, undergraduate students who currently pay $3,054.77 for a 15 credit hour course load would shell out $159.67 more by fall 2013.

Nueces County judge won't allow public document as evidence

2011-12-21T06:14:00.000-06:00

WTF?

A contract for the demolition of the Memorial Coliseum won't be allowed as evidence in a legal dispute between the city and preservationists, a judge decided Tuesday.

Without that evidence, the preservationist group known as Friends of the Coliseum can't rely on an argument attorney Abel Cavada has worked to build for months about why his clients shouldn't pay the city a $30,000 bond they agreed to post in a previous lawsuit.

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

2011-12-20T09:26:00.001-06:00

'5 Sheriff's Office employees out after failed drug tests'

Five Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office employees are no longer employed after violating the department’s alcohol and drug policy.

Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño announced the four terminations and one resignation in a news release Monday morning.

The Sheriff's employees should be fired. With that said, it is past time to legalize drugs. Take away the profit motive. Keep firing employees who take drugs, if such action negatively impacts their jobs. Throw DWI or DUI offenders in jail.

RIP to Texas trees

2011-12-20T09:21:00.001-06:00

I didn't know Texas had that many trees.

A preliminary state estimate says as many as a half-billion trees died this year across Texas from the drought persisting across much of the state.

Sinton school district to build wind turbines

2011-12-19T09:32:00.001-06:00

Cool! They plan to save $50K annually.

It's Monday blog roundup

2011-12-19T09:22:00.000-06:00

The Texas Progressive Alliance is all about the wassailing as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

Off the Kuff has a look at candidate filings in Harris County as of what was once the deadline date.

BossKitty at TruthHugger - sees the grim side of a corporate ruled America, is that Climate Change Controversy May Be A Conspiracy and we are the targets.

BlueBloggin - Special interests are really not very special when they represent mindless, dangerous attitudes of corporate extremists, who don’t want to be accountable for their actions. Let Me Sell you A Lie – EPA Consequences of The REINS Act – H.R. 10 shows that corporations really do own America's lawmakers.

Bay Area Houston says Rick Perry is one rotten bastard.

Death sentences and the use of the death penalty are hitting record lows. Mostly because of the corruption and injustice in our criminal justice system. It's led WCNews at Eye On Williamson to wonder, Is the death penalty dying?

Third-party presidential candidates may make some noise and perhaps even some news in 2012, writes PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw gives us the headsup on the latest episode of Rick Perry, fraud and hypocrite. Check out: Double Dipping Rick the Hypocrite.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes Greg Abbott called the US Supreme court to poop on Texas' politicians and voters. That's a republican for you.

Neil at Texas Liberal wrote a post considering the life of the real St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was a foe of the death penalty who was said to have brought back to life children who had been cut up and were going to be pickled.

McBlogger takes on PolitiFact's pathetic attempt to beat up Congressman Lloyd Doggett.

Refinish69 from Doing My Part For The Left wonders Do They Know It's Christmas in Washington or anywhere else in the world.

Galveston Bar Association president resigns after his disbarment

2011-12-16T09:43:00.001-06:00

That's a headline for you. What were they thinking to elect such a guy?

Bruce Mauzy had been resigned Tuesday after the State Bar of Texas made Mauzy's disbarment public.

Is TSTC is trouble?

2011-12-16T09:36:00.000-06:00

Hopefully, not.

Texas State Technical College-Harlingen has been warned that it could lose its accreditation if it does not make changes to its programs.

A college spokesman said errors were made in its report to authorities and its accreditation is not in jeopardy.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges published a list of action items taken at its Dec. 5 meeting, including institutions that received warnings.

"This action by SACSCOC is based on the calculation of faculty-to-student ratios, distance learning program length, and its assessment of student learning outcomes," TSTC Associate Vice President for Student Learning Adam Hutchinson wrote in an email. "Upon review, TSTC has identified errors in its reporting to SACSCOC that resulted in the warning status."

Nueces County feeling the pain for republican commissioners' greed

2011-12-15T03:25:00.000-06:00

What happens when republicans over reach?

Nueces County commissioners on Wednesday questioned how much they're spending on attorney's fees in the county's effort to defend its redistricting maps before the U.S. Department of Justice.

Shame, shame on the republican commissioners.

republicans vote to raise Medicare premiums while holding line on taxes for millionaires

2011-12-15T03:19:00.000-06:00

republicans want to kill Medicare anyway.

Raising taxes on millionaires may be a non-starter for Republicans, but they seem to have no problem hiking Medicare premiums for retirees making a lot less.

The House is expected to vote Tuesday on a year-end economic package that includes a provision raising premiums for "high-income" Medicare beneficiaries, now defined as those making $85,000 and above for individuals, or $170,000 for families.

MALDEF says Texas not properly financing schools

2011-12-14T08:41:00.001-06:00

That's because republicans want to kill public education.

Disparities in education funding in Texas have reached levels not seen in two decades and low-income students who are learning English are particularly affected, according to a school finance lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The lawsuit, brought by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund , is the third in recent months to challenge the constitutionality of Texas' school finance system.

Time Warner Cable is being an ass in Corpus Christi

2011-12-14T08:29:00.001-06:00

I'm glad I can get local stations off the air.

KRIS-TV has given Time Warner Cable consent to continue to carry KRIS-TV, CW South Texas, KDF, and KAJA. But, in an apparent attempt to gain leverage in the negotiations for a new long-term agreement, Time Warner dropped the stations in the early morning hours on December 13, 2011.

"Make no mistake about it," said Tim Noble, President and General Manager of KRIS-TV, "Time Warner has all the legal rights it needs under federal law to continue to carry our stations. Time Warner and Time Warner alone decided to drop our stations."

Another guilty verdict in Abel Limas bribery/racketeering case

2011-12-14T08:26:00.000-06:00

When are we going to see banksters in jail?

Jaime Munivez, a former investigator with the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to two charges of extortion.

The charges stem from an investigation into Jose Manuel Longoria, who served as the middleman in a racketeering scheme involving former 404th state District Judge Abel Limas. Longoria and Limas have pleaded guilty to extortion and racketeering, respectively.

The plea agreement between Munivez and the U.S. Attorney’s Office notes that the FBI’s investigation into Munivez revealed that he continuously received money from Longoria, who ensured that the former investigator would “piso (bribe) payments.”

Is Greg Abbott shitting on us to stop Ron Paul

2011-12-14T08:05:00.001-06:00

From the Burnt Orange Report discussing the recent collusion with the US Supreme Court to screw Texas minorities out of their voting rights:

Moving the GOP Presidential primary election to after April 1 could have an impact on the eventual Republican nominee -- per RNC rules. primaries held before April 1 must award their delegates proportionally. Primaries after April 1 can be winner-take-all.

A Texas republican primary with lots of votes for Ron Paul would count, if the vote is held in March. These votes don't count if held in April with Ron Paul losing by a bit.

Texas universities seek to raise tuition. Again.

2011-12-13T08:01:00.001-06:00

Another advance for the republican goal to kill pubic education.

Texas students planning on attending a state university next year should get ready to dig deeper into their pockets for that education.

Several of the state's universities -- including the University of Texas at El Paso -- are expected to propose tuition hikes for the coming biennium after state lawmakers slashed higher education funding by nearly $1 billion to help close a $27 billion shortfall.

UTEP next week will be among the state institutions that will submit plans to their governing boards asking for permission to raise tuition by up to 2.6 percent for undergraduates and 3.6 percent for out-of-state and graduate students for each of the next two years.

Texas can't exclude Planned Parenthood

2011-12-13T07:57:00.001-06:00

Will Texas screw the poor children instead?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has rejected Texas’ request to run a family-planning program that excludes certain providers, like Planned Parenthood. But federal officials approved the state’s request for a waiver to expand Texas’ Medicaid managed care program statewide.

Nueces County Democratic chair is right to be concerned about US Supreme Court meddling

2011-12-13T07:48:00.000-06:00

The republicans are seeing their prospects for power dwindling what with their clown car candidates and changing demographics. republicans have pushed redistricting to select the voters instead of the voters selecting the candidates to its limits. Now its up to the partisan US Supreme Court to save the republican bacon.

[Nueces County Democratic Party Chair Gerald] Rogen said the long-term consequences, however, may come in the form of eroded support from voters who may feel increasingly pushed to the side in what is a complex, litigious process.

The Nueces republican party chair wants the discriminatory intent of the republican legislature to hold sway.

“We hope the court will either restore the original district lines of the Legislature, or at the very least, make revisions to the district court panel’s maps which are more in tune with the legislative intent,” Munisteri said in a statement issued Friday.

The republican intent couldn't be more clear: screw minorities.

Abbott's real ploy is to gut the Voting Rights Act

2011-12-12T11:19:00.001-06:00

What can you do when the demographics are against you and you want to keep power?

As if the current situation were not complex enough, the state of Texas’s lawyers are pondering the possibility that they will file a new challenge in the D.C. court, claiming that a key section of federal civil rights law — known as Section 5 — is unconstitutional because it interferes too greatly with states’ control over their own election systems. Indeed, much of Texas’s legal complaint about what the courts have been doing up to now with its redistricting efforts is based upon claims that Texas’s sovereignty as a state is being seriously eroded, and that the state is actually threatened with loss to the judiciary of control of its own election processes.

Section 5 figures very prominently in what all three of the courts now involved will be doing as the Texas cases unfold further, and a fresh constitutional challenge to that provision will only add a new layer of uncertainty, at least in the proceedings in the D.C. District Court.

Gutting the Voting Rights Act is the real reason for this current Supreme Court mess.

Greg Abbott will be like the man who murdered his parents then asked for mercy because he is an orphan.

The NY Times sucks on Texas redistricting/Supreme Court saga

2011-12-12T10:26:00.000-06:00

I don't read the New York Times anymore. Judith Miller and her cohorts showed the NY Times for what it is. There are occasionally good stories, I don't doubt. As for editorials, Paul Krugman is the best. But, this Time article by Manny Fernandez just sucks. My problems with the piece?

Manny highlights the fact that the San Antonio judges maps favor Democrats while the legislature's map favors republicans while delaying and softening the fact that 90% of the new population growth is Hispanic. Doesn't mention the 90% figure, for example. Bad, bad Manny.
Manny makes it sound like the Justice Department is a bad guy for delaying approval. WTF? Texas republicans deliberately bypassed the DOJ. Not mentioned. Bad, bad, bad Manny.
Many doesn't note that the Judges in Washington and in San Antonio were majority republican. Bad, Manny.
Manny doesn't mention the partisan aspects of the US supreme court's actions. Gore v Bush anyone? Bad, Manny.
Manny doesn't mention the possibility of the Supreme Court justices using this action to weaken the Voting Rights Act through comments in their ruling. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, Manny.
Many doesn't mention how horribly messed up our Texas election cycle is now - Two primaries or one? Overlapping voting periods? Redrawing precinct maps between elections? Screwed up party convention schedules. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad Manny.

To top off the ugliness of this story, Manny gives a shoutout to Aaron Peña. Manny Fernandez and the NY Times suck. The right wing brought down the gray lady years ago. We are stilling getting the stink from that fall.

It's time for the TPA blog roundup!

2011-12-12T09:57:00.003-06:00

The Texas Progressive Alliance is too busy with last minute Christmas shopping to come up with a clever intro as it brings you this week's roundup.

SCOTUS has issued a stay and scrambled the 2012 elections again. Off the Kuff tries to make sense of it.

BossKitty at TruthHugger - it's business as usual for Texas politicians want to tilt the voter tables in their favor by gerrymandering - US Supreme Court May Like New Texas Gerrymandering.

Occupy went to Washington and comes to Houston on Monday, December 12. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs follows along.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson points out that there's a corporate hand up the back of many GOP legislators in Texas, Texas GOP legislators are corporate puppets.

At TexasKaos Libby Shaw explans how the GOP is killing the U.S. economy and the American Dream.

Neil at Texas Liberal made one post, and then another detailing the trip of recent Green Houston City Council candidate Amy Price to Washington with Occupy Houston.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme calls out the US Supreme Court for the corrupt hijacking of the Texas elections.

The US Supreme Court is totally corrupt

2011-12-10T10:24:00.001-06:00

How else can you read the decision to throw out the recently redrawn Texas House, Senate and Congressional maps. 2/3 republican judges approved in two different court settings. The DOJ said the original maps were discriminatory. The republicans on the Supreme Court are acting as republicans for republican interests. Throwing out a decent map and thereby throwing Texas elections in chaos has no defense. The Supreme Court is preparing to toss out the Voting Rights Act.

Here is my only question: Did the Texas republicans collude with the republicans on the Supreme Court ahead of time with respect to the Texas republicans?

This court is so corrupt, that I think they did collude to rob Texas voters of the basic right to vote for the representatives of their choice.

The Supreme Court will decide Texas redistricting

2011-12-09T21:11:00.001-06:00

Apparently, making George Bush the president wasn't damage enough. Disgusting.

Texas republicans want insurance companies to make a bigger profit

2011-12-09T09:03:00.001-06:00

The Texas Department of Insurance, aka lapdog of the insurance industry, wants bigger profits for its cronies.

Texas Insurance Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman picked up a fight started by former Commissioner Mike Geeslin, who applied to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a waiver from a provision in the law that requires insurers to spend no more than 20 percent of customers' premiums on administrative costs and profits.

Specifically, the Insurance Department is asking that the requirement be phased in for companies that sell policies to individuals and small businesses. So in 2011, those insurers would have to spend 71 percent of premiums on medical care and quality improvement efforts. That would become 74 percent in 2012; and 77 percent in 2013 before hitting 80 percent in 2014.

Employer beware of hiring students from unaccredited religous schools

2011-12-09T08:52:00.001-06:00

If you're an employer, be sure that the people you are hiring come from an accredited school. You know, one that teaches reasoning and science.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which monitors implementation of state policies, currently does not have an official complaint process in place for students who question the value of their institution’s credentials.

In June, the board requested an opinion from Attorney General Greg Abbott on whether it had the authority to put one in effect.

In the same request, the board sought a legal opinion on the requirement to include religious institutions, given the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion. An opinion from the attorney general is expected before the end of the year.

HEB Ministries (the acronym stands for Hurst-Euless-Bedford and has no relation to the Texas supermarket chain) is the church that oversees Tyndale, which has about 200 students enrolled every semester, most of them online.

Tyndale’s run-in with the coordinating board began at the institution’s commencement exercises in June 1998, when graduates received a combined 34 awards with designations like master of arts, doctor of philosophy and “bachelor level diploma in biblical studies." Tyndale was then, and is now, by choice, unaccredited and does not have a certificate of authority from the state to operate.

Will Cameron County Comissioner face assault charges?

2011-12-09T08:34:00.001-06:00

Sounds like she should.

The Cameron County District Attorney’s Office will decide whether assault charges will be filed against District 2 Commissioner Jessica Tetreau Kalifa.

The DA’s office is expected to make a decision in the next two to four weeks considering whether to pursue the matter further, officials said. As of Thursday, the DA’s office was still interviewing witnesses.

Brownsville police arrested Tetreau Kalifa in September on a charge of assault, stemming from family violence, according to public records. She allegedly assaulted her 58-year-old husband after she overheard him say the way he thought about a girl.

The San Antonio Express News frames issue of bigotry wrong

2011-12-08T09:46:00.001-06:00

The headline says 'Firing of Macy's worker pits freedom of religion vs. GLBT rights' WTF? NO! Unless freedom of religion is defined as being allowed to act any way you want under any circumstances as long as you call that practicing your religion. Want to kill your children and puppies in front of a kindergarten class? No problem. As long as you call that the practice of your religion.

A former Macy's employee who said she was fired for refusing to let a transgender woman use the women's dressing room at the Rivercenter mall location is trying to get her job back.

The case, pitting freedom of religion in the workplace vs. corporations' growing acceptance for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, has attracted national attention.

...

Johnson said the manager told her transgender people are free to select which fitting room to use. She replied that the policy was against her religious convictions.

Refugio Sheriff sued over strip search

2011-12-08T09:43:00.001-06:00

Two Refugio women have filed a lawsuit against Refugio County Sheriff Robert Bolcik and two of his deputies over claims that the officers illegally strip searched them on the side of the highway in plain view of oncoming traffic.

Plaintiffs Brittah Williams and Jessica Mascorro claimed Bolcik, who was elected sheriff in November 2008, along with deputies Jeff Raymond and Shelley Haertig, both of whom are named as defendants in the lawsuit along with Bolcik, violated the plaintiffs' Fourth Amendment rights, which guard against unreasonable searches and seizures.

See story.

Karl Rove speaks to Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce

2011-12-08T09:35:00.001-06:00

The corrupt Karl Rove tells the corrupt chamber of commerce members that the corrupt republican party is going to do just fine in November.

After the republican party operatives carefully selected, fluffed up and played to racist, religious fanatics they are now reaping the joy. The entire republican party base is nuts.