in texas, “gop” stands for “john birch society”.

the texas gop just held their convention on june 11th and 12th.  according to the houston chronicle, immigration was a top priority.  (~surprise~)

also on the platform?

• Calling for repeal of the Real ID Act, which “creates an unconstitutional and privacy-inhibiting national ID card.

• Banning the use of red light cameras.

• Making American English the official language of Texas and the United States.

really?  american english the “official language”?  hrmmm.  TEXAS GOP LAUNCHES YOUTUBE HISPANIC RECRUITING... in spanish. 

• Creating a felony offense for anyone who performs a marriage ceremony for a same-sex couple.

the same people who say the gov’t has no right to tell a church what it can or can’t do, when it comes to performing gay marriages, want the gov’t to tell churches what they can or can’t do, when it comes to performing gay marriages.  got it.

• Passing legislation requiring a sonogram for each pregnant woman seeking an abortion.

• Opposing legislation allowing stem cell research involving the creation of killing of human embryos for medical research.

again, they want the gov’t to be involved in our medical care, while simultaneously decrying the gov’t's involvement in healthcare.  see below.

• Urging Congress to “repeal and reject the national healthcare takeover, also known as ‘ObamaCare.’ ”

the national healthcare TAKEOVER.  which involves no actual taking over.  and very little “national” anything.

• Calling for the immediate transition to a system of private pensions and gradually phasing out the Social Security tax.

because that was so successful for texas teachers: Texas teachers fund losses will reverberate for years

• Calling for the repeal of the state lottery and opposing any further legalization of any type of gambling.

• Protecting the right to access raw milk directly from the farmer.

the raw milk debate is reminiscent of the anti-vaccination debate, among others.  we apparently forget why we start doing certain things.  pasteurization kills off tuberculosis, typhoid, and salmonella, among other pathogens.  the benefits far outweigh any negatives.  i suppose if people want to expose themselves to bacteria-laden milk, it’s their choice, though.

• Opposing automatic college admissions rules, such as the top 10 percent rule.

(too many of those minorities must be getting into the colleges again.  shhhh….  it has nothing to do with race.  why, some of their bestfriends are undereducated minorities.)

• Calling for the repeal of the No Child Left Behind law and the U.S. Department of Education.

• Removing the tenure system for Texas state colleges and universities.

i’m actually with them on repealing NCLB, but mainly, their purpose is just to attack public education and dismantle it in whatever way they can.

• Opposing all bailouts of businesses.

• Recommending a national sales tax to replace all other federal taxes.

• Calling on the Legislature to repeal the revised franchised tax.

unless said businesses have done something terrible, like…oh, say…bp.  then they want the us gov’t to play nicey-nice and quit being mean to those big businesses.  or like… when the economy tanked and the bush admin and congress were all about bailing out big business.  then, IT’S TOTALLY DIFFERENT.

• Urging the Legislature to require Voter ID.

again, it has nothing to do with race - they just want to make sure that those hispanics that are voting aren’t actually “illegal”, because, really, they think they all are. (just listen to the anti-immigration folks.)

• Urging Congress to evict the United Nations from the United States to rescind U.S. membership.

clearly, a large contingent of east texas rednecksjohn birchers showed up to the texas gop convention.  in fact, the entire platform sounds like something straight out of a john birch society pamphlet, which isn’t surprising considering their co-sponsorship of CPAC this year.  as the texas republicans and their tea party compatriots continue to move further and further to the right, it would be rather nice to see a swell of democrat party investment into the state.  something to counter the loonies.  but based on previous experience, i don’t see that happening any time soon.

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Tagged as: texas,politics,txgopareracistneanderthals June 17, 2010 @ 03:56 pm

the disingenuity of the gene locke campaign and others…

honestly, i’ve not been real excited by the mayoral election this year.  i believe either annise parker or gene locke are equally qualified.  either would be fine.  i don’t suspect that either of them will be as good as bill white has been, but that’s okay.  i think bill white was just ~exceptionally good~.  hard to top that.

but now… the houston chronicle has recently reported on anti-gay attacks forthcoming in the houston mayoral election:

A cluster of socially conservative Houstonians is planning a campaign to discourage voters from choosing City Controller Annise Parker in the December mayoral runoff because she is a lesbian, according to multiple ministers and conservatives involved in the effort.

The group is motivated by concerns about a “gay takeover” of City Hall, given that two other candidates in the five remaining City Council races are also openly gay, as well as national interest driven by the possibility that Houston could become the first major U.S. city to elect an openly gay woman.

Another primary concern is that Parker or other elected officials would seek to overturn a 2001 city charter amendment that prohibits the city from providing benefits to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian employees.

i was hoping we’d not see much of this, but that was just wishful thinking on my part, i guess.  what’s troubling is…

Parker’s opponent, former City Attorney Gene Locke, strongly distanced himself from a previous anti-gay attack against her that ultimately proved to have been a hoax. But he has made recent efforts to court some of the staunch social conservatives who are either actively planning on attacking Parker’s sexuality or strongly considering it.

He appeared at the Pastor Council’s annual gala last Friday and was encouraged several times by State Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, a featured speaker, to stand for conservative values.

Locke has also met with and sought the endorsement of Dr. Steven Hotze, a longtime local kingmaker in conservative politics and author of the Straight Slate in 1985, a coterie of eight City Council candidates he recruited who ran on an anti-gay platform.

Continue Reading...

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Tagged as: texas,politics,houston,mayor,elections2009 November 15, 2009 @ 11:59 am

hurricane ike, gone but not forgotten

...it’s only a year since Ike plowed into the upper Texas coast, and the bay is still a mess — one that might take a generation to fix. The damage includes:

• • Tons of debris on land and underwater, including nearly 70 boats pulled out of the bay by contractors for the Texas General Land Office.

• • Swaths of pastures and protective marshland as far as 20 miles inland poisoned by the storm’s surge of salty Gulf water. The readings for some freshwater marshes ran as high as 30 parts of salt for every 1,000 parts of water, almost as salty as natural seawater.

• • Sharp declines in the population of alligators and turtles, among other species, because of the saltier-than-usual waters.

• • Thousands of acres of oyster beds buried by storm-driven sediment that will need 20 to 25 years to recover.

• • Dozens of commercial and recreation facilities that remain unusable, including fishing areas and boat launches on the Texas City dike.

• • As much as 300 feet of beach vanishing in places along the Gulf. Some natural recovery has occurred along the Bolivar Peninsula and the west end of Galveston Island, but not much, said James Gibeaut, a coastal geologist at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

from The state of the bay: Nearly one year after Hurricane Ike wreaked havoc across Galveston Bay, the ecosystem is slowly recovering. But will it ever be the same?

see also:
ONE YEAR LATER: Thousands along Gulf still wait to go home
Images of Ike: Before and After

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Tagged as: texas,hurricanes,houston September 20, 2009 @ 12:10 am

trial for judge sharon “killer” keller can’t be soon enough…

texas monthly has an article on judge sharon keller who goes on trial august 17th for her mishandling of a death penalty case.

As she goes on trial this month, nearly everyone—journalists, lawyers, and even some of her colleagues—is calling for her head, but is the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals the monster she’s been made out to be?

why, yes.  yes, she really is:

in 1996, judge keller ruled that a defendent had received a fair trial, even after it was shown that his confession had been tortured out of him.  her reasoning?  even though the man’s rights were violated, the outcome of the trial would not have changed.

in 1998, judge keller rejected calls for a new trial after dna showed that the man who had been convicted was innocent.  her reasoning?  dna evidence was immaterial.  the defendant had no proof he was innocent.

and that’s just two instances.  there’s plenty more.

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Tagged as: texas,politics,news August 02, 2009 @ 06:11 am

update: centerpoint energy executives, vampires or bastards? or vampire bastards?

in what has to be one of the most asinine things i’ve ever heard, centerpoint energy is asking the houston residents to reimburse it for $677 million in hurricane ike repair costs... INCLUDING $22 million in executive salary pay. 

hurricane ike left over 2 million (estimates range from 2.8 million to 4.5 million) without power for weeks / months and 100,000 without homes.  at the time, the city of houston agreed to support whatever rate hike would be necessary in order to restore the electric grid.  that seems fair.  they brought in people from all over the united states to help get the grid back online.  i don’t mind shouldering that cost.  (well, not all by myself.  i’ll need everyone else to chip in, kthx.)

however, um.  HELLO?  the city was hit by a natural disaster.  we are LUCKY that it was only a category 2 hurricane by the time it got to us.  the sheer number of trees felled by the storm was staggering.  and.  *ahem*  many of those trees had been allowed to grow along the powerlines, because centerpoint never cut them back.  surprise!  those trees took out the powerlines.  *gasp*  *shock*  but that’s okay.  the city was hurt as a whole and, as a whole, we’ve to do what we can to get back on our feet and that includes paying for the restoration done by centerpoint.  (btw, much love and kudos to all the contractors and centerpoint employees who worked their tail ends off to get power back to the city.  it was NOT an easy job.)

the centerpoint fuckwit spokesman, floyd leblanc, says that the $22 million is a necessary addition, because it was money that would have normally been earned through regular billing, but like, see, there was this hurricane, y’know? and like, they weren’t “recovering hardly any revenue for nearly a month”.  like, dude.  the hurricane hit in september.  consider those funds recovered during the january to august and november to december billing periods.

and let me reiterate…

IT WAS A HURRICANE.

businesses all over houston were closed for weeks, either due to damage to the businesses themselves or due to damage to their owners’ / employees’ homes.  the first week, the majority of the city was shutdown.  people had to tighten their belts and try to make do without salaries, without electricity, without running water, without homes!

yet centerpoint, somehow, is above all that.  they shouldn’t have to take a hit when a NATURAL DISASTER lands in their own backyard and due to their LACK OF PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE does them serious damage.  after all, they’re centerpoint ~executives~.  it’s not like they’re peons.  hurricane hits them, they go stay in a nice hotel.  y’know.  really roughin’ it. 

they’re executives, they can pass on the burden of the costs to someone else.  if you’re a worker bee, you’re just screwed.  you’ve no one to help you share that burden and everyone above you on the ladder, including centerpoint energy, is going to try to bleed you just a bit more.

but wait.  mayor bill white to the rescue.  he says he’s not going to let them get away with it.

“There is right, and there’s wrong,” White said. “I don’t see how CenterPoint can explain this with a straight face.”

White made the comments at the start of a public City Council meeting Wednesday, in a clear attempt to pressure CenterPoint to back off its request.

“If we’re going to have to fight CenterPoint about paying the salaries of people who would be going to work anyway, then we can fight that in public,” he said.

go bill :D

update 07/31/09: somewhat good news, the city and centerpoint have reached a tentative agreement…

CenterPoint Energy and the city of Houston have reached a tentative agreement to reduce the proposed monthly fee the local power distribution company hopes to add to customer bills to pay for repairs following Hurricane Ike.

CenterPoint will reduce its $677 million request by $15 million and fund a new position to monitor its implementation of recommendations from the Mayor’s Electric Reliability Task Force, which were released this year. The recommendations include deploying “smart grid” technology throughout the city, creating a centralized database of customers and facilities that should receive priority in power restoration and changing tree trimming practices.

(one does wonder why a business that “owns and operates the wires, poles and other equipment that distribute electricity sold by unregulated retail providers” didn’t already have these recommendations implemented.)

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Tagged as: texas,hurricanes,houston July 31, 2009 @ 03:04 pm