Rep. Richard Raymond cordially invites you to a reception this evening.Download file(.pdf file)
Now we aren't sure but we thought you weren't supposed to be raising money during the legislative session. Regardless of what office it may or not be for. (Somebody was pissed off about it--see press release in extended entry) The Texas Ethics Commission tells us that "a fundraiser for a national office or exploratory committee does not violate the moratorium, but as to the question of whether or not it violates the 'spirit' of the moratorium is another matter. That's for you to decide."
Read the Extended Entry for the Press Release and our EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH RAYMOND on his way to the event.
Terry Keel, your cocky pose here is cute and all. Ok, this is an old photo, 1993. In the online dating world, we'd call this a 'bait and switch photo' cause by now you're probably fat and bald!
Austin Chronicle should be ashamed for using such old photos.
It's the first time we've ever been nice. Don't make us regret it.
You House staffers are hilarious:
The Tavern has removed the "reserved status" for Rep Baxter, but the House Members lounge now has a reserved "booth" for Rep Baxter.
Photo after the jump.
Governor Perry is a flip-flopper (I know the Republicans love that phrase),
As we reported on March 22, gambling was gonna be tricky. We refer to the March 20 Chron editorial:
Yet he has taken large campaign contributions from among the $1.4 million that gambling interests have thrown at Texas politicians. He supported it in the past.And his former top aide, Mike Toomey, is a lobbyist for a VLT firm, just one high-paid soldier in a lobbying effort that the Dallas Morning News recently appraised at between $3.4 million and $6.2 million for this legislative session alone.
Perry's remarks three months ago were deft. He didn't promise to oppose gambling. He just resigned as the cheerleader in chief.
More...
Off our aquifer bend (for now), we read a Common Dreams newswire about upcoming Senate and House legislation that will make the permitting process much faster for industries. According to a Public Citizen (no, we didn't vote for Nader) report, Texas already has a very speedy process for air, water and hazardous waste permits.
â??Public Citizenâ??s report shows the process in Texas is working effectively, on average not taking longer than the states we compete with for economic development, and we provide similar public participation opportunities as other states,â?? Oâ??Brien said. â??The changes to the stateâ??s permitting process proposed in the State Legislature would alter the balance of this equation. They set Texas apart, primarily in ways that reduce effective citizen participation. They would not necessarily make a more efficient process.The bills proposing to help polluting industries (well, not in so many words) are HB2758 and SB1542. We here at PinkDome are so glad that Sen. Armbrister is doing his best to help those poor companies. If he doesn't look out for them, who will?â??There are likely ways to improve the permitting process in Texas, but the state should base any process to make changes to permitting procedures on a consensus reached among all stakeholders â?? including the public â?? and not on politically motivated legislation promoted by some industries. Any changes or â??improvementsâ?? should not include reducing the rights of Texans to participate effectively in the permitting process.â??
Just like the old Paul McCartney song, which if you're lucky you won't be singing all day, the Chair of the Texas Dems and the Chair of the Texas Repubs will stand shoulder-to-shoulder today and denounce the gambling bills.
WHA???
Oh yeah, see the Democrats realize that the gambling bills give the Republicans 'political cover' when they come up against the charge of raising our taxes. So, like 7th grade girls they tried to trick the Dems into supporting gambling and casinos! So they could then turn around and say, "Democrats are morally bankrupt..et cetera" (Source: FW Star-Telegram)*Tip: If you don't have a login for these newspapers I send you to, go to them anyway, copy the URL and then go to bugmenot.com and paste the URL. It gives you a login so you don't have to hassle with registering to read news.
The rally at the Capitol today was supposed be Tina Berkinwhatever of the GOP denouncing gambling but now she'll be standing next to the Chairman of the Democratic Party who'll be going yeah, you people suck.
Ah...politics. Great day to be alive! Anybody get any digital photos you can email me of Tina B. and Charles S. anywhwere near a passionate kiss or exchanging furtive glances or hell beating the crap out of each other I'll send a Toblerone bar in the mail!!
UPDATE: Press Releases from Texas Democratic Party and Rep. Gallegos, Rep. Dunnam & Rep. Coleman after the jump.
When did reporters become the subject of masturbatory masters of self-love? We don't give a shit who you are or who your momma is, just write the damn story. Now, when it comes to sexy bloggers and their glamorous drinking exploits and late-night 'after-parties' with hookers...that we want to hear about.
â??Iâ??ve already yielded more than a cheerleader at a drive-in.â?? Senator Keliger
What you do in your personal time is none of our business, Senator.
DriveDemocracy.org alerted us to what they refer to as the definitive article on the Texas 2002 election scandal. Written by Jake Bernstein over at the Texas Observer.
Featuring screen shots of multiple emails, brochures, checks, and memos written by staffers and consultants for the Texans for a Republican Majority PAC, the article makes a damning case that TRMPAC violated Texas election law in 2002. The evidence presented in the article also closely ties House GOP Majority Leader Tom DeLay to the scandal.
A staffer begged us to post a photo of Sen. Kim Brimer and cast aspersions on his mental capacity. But after we heard why, "He wanders in and out of committee hearings with a cigar and yells at people testifying." and "He thinks he covers up for his lack of knowledge with bluster." We thought, eh...that could be anybody in the Lege...really.
But, due to popular demand here he is singing our favorite Frank Sinatra song, "I did it Myyyyy Wayyyyy."
Dang, two "national" category posts in one day. Our self-esteem is low. We couldn't pass up sharing the commercials that are about to start running demanding DeLay's resignation, though. In case you didn't get the action alert. Our favorite are the unflattering photos used in the ads.
PinkDome has added to our links (see 'em on the right, right there). We thought we'd share the link love that has been shown to us so after you finish reading here click your way through some of those to see what else you aren't reading about in the newspapers today.
If you've got a great political blog we aren't reading, leave a comment and we'll check you out!
Dianne (smooches, darling) Delisi's efforts on health care is effectively eliminating the STAR+PLUS Program. What is STAR+PLUS?
STAR+PLUS is currently a pilot program in Houston that integrates acute and long-term care services for aged and disabled Medicaid recipients using a managed care model. The state agency in charge of Medicaid, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), had planned to expand STAR+PLUS to the other urban areas of the state. STAR+PLUS has demonstrated positive outcomes of care, has generated savings for the state, and is a leading model nationally for integrating care for this particularly vulnerable and expensive population.
Go to this blog, read up on this really well written piece and then get your fingers working to call our favorite "Marrying" Legislator!
People For the American Way sent us the link to their new ad campaign being released today. Just as an FYI we thought we'd link to the commercial here. (warning: video/audio)
Attorney General Abbott filed suit last week against Vonage, a Voice Over Internet Protocol phone provider claiming that their service does not provide 911 emergency service to its customers. We ditched SBC and our land line a while ago and have been super pleased with our unlimited calls, no long distance IP Phone.
We did have to register for the 911 service, but it wasn't that hard to do. (I mean, we're drunk all the time...if we can do it so could you). Vonage gives a great new technology service and the attacks on VOIP technology all seem to come from the same source: SBC.
When we had to call customer care one time, we were told by Vonage that they 'buy' blocks of phone numbers from carriers like SBC. Since their technology has become popular, SBC has made it much more difficult for them to buy blocks of numbers for their customers.
Attaway to go, SBC. If you didn't suck so hard maybe people wouldn't be leaving your service in droves.
And to the AG, filing suit? Couldn't you have just called them up and said, "Yo, I think you make it kinda hard to dial 911..you guys need to fix that."
We really do try to follow your tips, so if you know of anything going down that the mainstream media ain't covering, drop us a line - to either Pinky or Bluebonnet.
We have learned (from yet another tipster linked to an aquifer) about the organizing of people in the Kinney County angry about the way their state Senators (Madla and Armbrister, as posted yesterday) are letting their big contributors rule over their constituents. We're just amazed that such a thing would happen in Texas! (/sarcasm)
After the jump.
KVUE is reporting that someone mailed Rep. King a note with a white powdery substance threatening him and his family if his telecom bill passed.
This is an interesting political ploy.
If we had the cash reserves we might send an eight ball to a few of our favorite legislators.
(link courtesy of Quorum Report)
Isn't that right, Sen. Kenneth Armbrister (D-Victoria)? Armbrister has proposed two bills that "effectively would gut the aquifer protection measures approved by the San Antonio City Council in early 1995 and by Austin voters in 1992, said Brad Rockwell, deputy director of the Save Our Springs Alliance in Austin."
Observers say passage of the bills would undo years of efforts by those in San Antonio to pass ordinances striking a balance between development and preservation, to limit the density and types of construction over the area where rainfall and streamflows refill the aquifer.
You may contact Senator Armbrister's office at (512) 463-0118.
(12:30pm update after the jump)
The Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby is looking to you to help prevent the hate legislation that is scheduled for the State Affairs Committee next week. HJR 6 is tentatively scheduled on the calendar for next week. Call the LGRL to find out how you can testify before the committee. HJR 6 sets out to ban same-sex marriage and ban simple legal arrangements between partners, including power of attorney.
Contact the Members of State Affairs today and voice your opposition to the State Legislature legislating hate. While you're at it, ask them if they wouldn't mind taking care of the issues that are killing us over here...School Finance Reform, Teacher Pay Raises, Prison Overcrowding...
Here's the numbers to call:
Chair: Rep. David Swinford, Amarillo 1-512-463-0814
Vice-Chair: Rep. Sid Miller, Stephenville 1-512-463-0628
B&O Chair: Rep. Dan Gattis, Georgetown 1-512-463-0309
Rep. Byron Cook, Corsicana 1-512-463-0730
Rep. Jessica Farrar, Houston 1-512-463-0620
Rep. Jim Keffer, Eastland 1-512-463-0656
Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, San Antonio 1-512-463-0616
Rep. Mike Villarreal, San Antonio 1-512-463-0532
Rep. Martha Wong, Houston 1-512-463-0389
From Lasso, we learn about the national movement for prison reform that is leaving our great state in its dust. While other states are working on changing their prison systems for the better, it seems we are determined to make our situation worse.
The Legislature here is considering bills that would put even more Texans behind bars, and for longer sentences. The American-Statesman reports the Legislature is considering more than 100 bills that would extend sentences. If only a few of those bills pass, the paper reports, â??Texas in two years will probably have full prisons and jails, and no place to house a steadily increasing stream of convicted felonsâ?¦".Grrrrrreat.
PinkDome adds: If you really want to see good coverage and thoughtful commentary on prison reform, you should check out Scott Henson's blog. (attention staffers looking for talking points and good background for your position paper)
We've just found out about Amnesty International (USA)'s Annual General Meeting to be held in Austin in early April. We look forward to seeing all the peace-loving people from Amnesty mixing with our conservative politicians. Won't it be fun?!
We should note that in our early days, we were members of our high school's Amnesty chapter. Those were the good ol' days (before e-mail was so prevalent) when you actually had to write letters to foreign politicians and dictators. We've come a long way, baby!
We've talked about the two proposals in the House regarding underage drinking. There's one to make it illegal to sell alcohol to a 21 year old until 7 a.m. the day of their birthday. (Theory is they won't be able to get drunk at midnight) and the other is to require registration of kegs when purchased. This is to make it easier to prosecute you and sue you should an underage kid get a bit of your beer.
Both of these proposals are ridiculous. Where are the rugged individualists calling this an outrage. One more way the Legislature attempts to regulate something that doesn't need regulating. What if they were trying to get this nosy about guns?
You cannot legislate away stupidity. Twenty-one year olds that get so drunk they die on their birthday...a shame yes, but a reason to legislate...no.
While our attention was on such scary things as HB 2 & 3 and trying to figure out how many ways Phil King could screw us on the telecommunications bill, we didn't pay close attention to HB 3305 by good ol' Carl Isett filed on the last possible day.
3305 also picks on abused, pregnant girls and in a very amaturish way. Who wrote this thing? Some hillbilly high school student from West Virginia? The Texas Alliance for Life claims they support it because it is NOT parental consent bill. Oh, sure.....While it does not require a parent to consent to an abortion, it might as well. And talk about abused girls, Rep. Isett completely removes the existing law that allows kids whose parents beat them up to go through the legal system and terminate their pregnancy without notification to a parent. That's it, we want the kids whose parents teach how to hit REAL hard, to become 16 year old moms.
And just for good measure it removes the necessity of informing pregnant women about contraception and family planning from that ever so complete and inaccurate pile 'o shit list they told us last session must be forced on pregnant women. (Remember HB 15, 78TH Leg. Session)
It's Saturday so we can write about something that is not a Texas Legislative political issue, but we only post it to make a solid point to our Texas elected officials. When you cater to political extremists you are setting yourself up for a fall. First, you alienate mainstream voters. Second, there will come a time (don't doubt it) when they will ask you to slaughter a lamb on the steps of the Capitol and when you balk at such action you will receive their wrath in the next election. (See the ones in Floriday standing outside Jeb Bush's house begging him to not let an already dead woman die.)
Oh, and if you do cave in to these vocal extremists and slaughter that lamb and roll around in its blood on the steps of the Capitol? The eyes of Texas will surely be on you then. Going...idiot!
Be warned folks. Remember constituent is mostly always plural. 15 people standing outside your door with pictures of dead babies is not a majority...it's people that had they day off from greeting people at the Wal-Mart.
Rep. Edwards recently filed a bill to curtail the 'bumping and grinding' going on with cheerleaders. He thinks it is to sexually suggestive.
After reading this story today in the DMN, We plead for the mercy of poor high school football students and the hazing they endure. We know Texas is a football state, but turning a blind eye to hazing is truly not good for kids.
So if we can't get the government to stop filing ridiculous legislation on topics that baffle us, maybe we can get some sort of attention to the fact that high school football players are ass-fucking their teammates as part of hazing rituals.
We never wanted to be on the football team in the first place and certainly wouldn't be willing to be held down by our teammates for the chance to warm the bench. (Buy it on video, maybe....but that's a different story)
We have learned that members of the Travis County Legislative Delegation will be holding bi-weekly breakfasts to let their consituents speak out about what is bothering them/make presentations/discuss important issues. The breakfasts will be held Tuesday, March 29, April 12, April 26, and May 10, 2005. The breakfasts are offered from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. in the Texas Agriculture Museum, Room 1W.14 on the first floor of the State Capitol.
If you'd like to learn more, the contact is Sylvia Brittain (from Senator Barrientos' staff) at 463-0114.
We'd love to attend, but that's pretty damn early. We'll be too hungover to make any sense at that time of morning. So, if you see somebody at the breakfasts with dark eyeglasses sipping something out of brown paper bag please, for the love of God, give us some asprin.
Perhaps we have become de-sensitized to the term 'ass-fucking' after hearing Wonkette say it so often in her interview with Evan Smith. (Disclaimer: She wasn't insinuating anything...she uses the term much like some people use 'you know' as a filler word.)
It does beg the question, though, of what makes good political satire? Does inflammatory language help de-mystify political discourse or is it just appealling to the lowest common denominator?
This clip from "The Daily Show" (Quicktime video & audio link) is probably the best commentary We've seen on the Terri Schiavo subject...and it was hilarious. (Texas Futile Care Law gets a shout out!)
At least that is what the goal always seems to be. Greg Moses over at the Texas Civil Rights Review has a great piece on the frustration with the Secretary of State and the statewide database for voter registration.
We're updating our links list and adding this site.
Or that's what Dewhurst would have you believe.
"At the end of the day this is a compassionate budget," Dewhurst said. "The political realities are the people of Texas and this Legislature don't want to impose a big tax bill on the people of Texas."
Personally, we like our budgets a little rough and sweaty. Grrrr. Rowr!
(courtesy DMN/AP)
We didn't even need to read this opinion column from the Amarillo Globe News to know we liked it:
Editorial: Fussbudgets bad for Texas
We might add mindless sheep in the Lege to that "bad for Texas" statement, but otherwise, perfecto.
Sylvester, Sylvester...we know that our honorable legislators file bills all the time that they've never read, but you shouldn't just come out and say it out loud. The campaign finance bill you filed made our right eye pop out of the socket for a minute.
The sponsor, Speaker Pro Tem Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, said the measure, which he didn't write, is more far-reaching than he intended and said he will scale it back to cover only minor violations of campaign-reporting requirements.
(via Off the Kuff)
Scott plugs female journalists who blog, and we get a mention:
And while nobody's mistaking anybody over at the Pink Dome for Sy Hersh, they just broke an important story (and welcome, Bluebonnet!).(Wherein we note that Bluebonnet has been posting since mid-February -- but thanks for the official welcome!) We prefer to keep our genders (as well as everything else) hidden on this blog, but we appreciate the plug.
And btw, we get confused on the male/female blogger thing, too. PinkDome is a transgendered blogger in a really bad wig.
"Maybe she is playing politics or maybe she and her staff are inept," said House Speaker Tom Craddick, who added he was taken aback by the news.
We called the Comptroller and asked? "Could you provide some sort of documentation on how inept your staff is?"
Their response? Uhm...can we, like, call you back? Never called.
Now, that, is inept. Who knew Craddick could be right on anything!
(link courtesy Off the Kuff)
PinkDome celebrated it's 100,000th visitor this week. Big wet smooches to all our readers. We love you, too. You may have noticed that cute little button down there on the right...see it? Adorable, huh? Well, if you click it you instantly become our john, we mean you help us pay off our gambling debt, buy kegs for underage kids, stay drunk enough to keep writing about the Texas Lege.
Sad, that the last one was most appropriate.
The Austin American Statesmen reports that the video everyone is abuzz about showing Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Sen. Hillary Clinton lightly embracing after Mrs. Clinton said something nice about Ms. Hutchison was actually shot by Perry staffers.
Then somehow has made its way around the internet to conservative voters in Texas.
Shocking.
Statesmanship behavior: Showing a civility to a fellow Senator at a public event.
Unsportsman-like conduct: Videotaping it, editing it to make it look like soft-core lesbian porn and sending it to constituents.
We are liveblogging the fight/spat/fun that is going on during the discussion on Rep. King's telecom bill (HB789). Keep refreshing! Add your comments.
Bluebonnet and PinkDome are like Seacrest..OUT. HB 789 Liveblogged until 5:00p.m. so check it out
There's plenty of criticism to spread on both sides of the aisle this morning as the infamous HB 789 is scheduled for the Floor sometime today.
Inside the Texas Capitol has completed an excellent analysis of the bill and majorly burns the House with these bon mots:
I don't know if they analyzed one of the many committee substitutes that were presented to the committee, but the clerk's an idiot and royally screwed up on this one.The Republicans don't have enough guts to stand up to SBC, and the Democrats don't have a spine...
Yowzer.
When sending emails make sure the recipient(s) are clear before pressing send. We learned this lesson when we hit reply all and accidently let the whole company know we thought our boss must have an undescended testicle. (long story, don't ask)
But, we digress. We bring this up so you don't make the same mistake a certain someone did when they emailed the world saying they thought the Scott McCown editorial "kissed the senate's ass."
See, we aren't the only ones talking ass!
Until Rick Casey of the Chron pointed it out in his scathing editorial.
While the Republicans are busy eating their young, the Dems are being suckered into the promoting gambling legislation. The Republican leadership is setting you up to take the fall on gambling as a way to balance the budget and bail them out of the sicko situation the state has fallen into under their control, without any of them getting dirty in the process.
Come next election cycle, you'll be bragging about how it wasn't you who voted for the biggest backdoor tax bill in history (except you, Al Edwards...you we've already got a strategy for you next election cycle)
Looking for a nice easy-going non-liberal girl - 31
Reply to: anon-63473431@craigslist.org
Date: 2005-03-12, 1:45PM CST
(full post in 'continue reading...')
We read the letter posted by the Quorum Report from Carole Keeton Strayhorn's office. Basically, the letter says what we all knew it would say. HB 3 sucks and so do you Craddick. (OK, we're sort of paraphrasing there.)
Anyway, what struck us most was Carole's big ol' loopy signature. We consulted our resident handwriting analysist and found some interesting things out about ol' Carole.
Yesterday, CNN had an absurd story about a pet store owner that believes he's seen the face of the devil on the shell of a turtle. (Yeah, the mainstream media deserves absolutely no criticism from bloggers.)
Wonkette posts this today. We only post this non-Texas Lege-centric post to show you all that we could be tons bitchier in our posts. We're restraining ourselves every day and we'd appreciate the notice!
According to Inside the Texas Capitol, Rep. King's atrocious Telecom bill is on the Calendar for Wednesday. Funny how those things sneak through at the last minute. While the most offending 'municipal wireless' section was stripped out in committee, we hear King plans to introduce it as an amendment on the Floor.
I am a powerful state business leader, in charge of the state's largest business organization. During the past election cycle our group raised significant campaign funds for elected officials like yourself.
And in no related manner at all I would like to say that my son is graduating college and looking for a job.
Thank you (checks are already in the mail!)
Best,
Bill Hammond
(AAS)
So, the Friends of Hillary is sponsoring a fundraiser here in Austin tonight. Anybody need a date? We don't care what your gender is or what your sexual orientation is we'd go.
We also think it's cute that the invitation says, "In support of her 2006 Senate re-election."
Um, okay, sorry to anybody who doesn't live in Austin, but we just found this on Sarah's roman candles about a film screening on Wednesday evening at the new city hall.
All the info after the jump.
Just a PinkDome shout out to 'A Little Pollyanna' from us. She posted about our Wentworth entry and says it will be her last entry for a while. We certainly hope not a long while, cause we love her. Not just because she gives us gems like this one:
PinkDome...all about ass.
How do you think that would look on a t-shirt? Someone change our tagline...stat.
Postcards from the Lege reports that Senator Ellis' (thanks Eileen, we're still hungover from the wknd) office was closed briefly when a staffer opened an envelope containing a 'powdery white substance.' To paraphrase Margaret Cho, "What's up with mailing anthrax? If I got an envelope with a powdery white substance my first inclination would be to break out the mirror and snort it, but now you have to call in the Feds. I miss the good ol' days." We do, too, Margaret.
During the quarantine, Warren said by telephone: â??Itâ??s the worry in the back of every government stafferâ??s mind that something like what happened (in Sen. Tom Daschleâ??s office in Washington) could happen. Weâ??re just going to try to get through the day as best we can.â??
Warren, don't be a drama queen. It was probably flour. And we are so sure the Texas Capitol is a terrorist target. (eye roll)
The president of the Young Conservatives of Texas sent a letter to Representative Flynn rejecting the idea that the YCT should apologize to Speaker Craddick for their comments. Not only did they not apologize, Griffin (YCT Pres.) further educated Flynn on the absurdity of the request.
We also know that Speaker Craddick has intimidated, threatened, and blackmailed members of the Texas House into supporting these abhorrent ideas against the interests of the members themselves, their constituents, and the people of Texas at large. This is clearly a pattern that the people of Texas cannot afford. This is why we encourage you and your colleagues to stand up for conservative values, even in the face of pressure from the Speaker. Remember, power flows from the people to the House to the Speaker â?? not vice versa.
courtesy of The Quorum Report
The Houston Chronicle editorial about Rep. Edwards brings up a point in which we think we stand wholeheartedly in agreement with here at PinkDome. The Chron says the trend to legislate morality is a slippery slope.
Used to be, we could rely on the Republicans for limited government. But, we see with their HB 2 that's no longer the case. And now, we have Dems jumping on this bandwagon of trying to create legislation to control every aspect of everything going on everywhere.
Meanwhile, could you fix a damn road? Could you do something about prison overcrowding? Could you ensure that public schools work? Huh? Could you?? It is too much to ask, we guess.
Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, has filed a bill that would change the title of the assistant secretary of state to the deputy secretary of state. It sounds like a technicality, but there's a strong moral-values, family-friendly, protect-the-children angle to it. The change is necessary, he says, because the current title's acronym can't be used without offending people. Please don't make us spell it out for you.
Apparently Wentworth is opposed to all things related to the ass. Remember, he is opposed to ass-fucking (winks to Wonkette, yet again) and gay marriage.
We'd just like to say to Jeff. Ain't nothing wrong with a little piece of ass every now and then.
Read the letter in the extended entry re: HB 3. We'd never accuse Mike of putting lipstick on a pig. But, after all is said and done we still think HB 3 is a dressed up pig, Mike. Your role isn't for us to judge. We've got our own pigs to paint this weekend.
Pinky asked me to post on Women's History Month, and how women have been involved in Texas state history. Well, of course the predominant one who comes to my mind is Barbara Jordan. Barbara Jordan was an amazing stateswoman and legislator, and made us proud to be Texan. I know she did that for me, at least.
Where are the Barbara Jordans of today? Are there any? Where are the female legislators who will stand up for their constituents, for other women, for the poor, the minorities? Where are the female legislators who are proud to be female - feminists even? We get so tired of begging for good leadership today.
Let's help find women like this and get them elected to office.
See PinkDome's Women's History Month Award Winner after the jump. And nominate your own Award for Women.
We stumbled across this beat poem put to animation on the web and thought we'd share it with you. Here's our first ever NSFW (Not Safe For Work) audio/video clip. Why is it NSFW? Cause the words 'shit' and 'fuck' will come through your speakers during this beat poem about monkeys ruling the world. Not exactly something Judith Wynn would probably appreciate hearing over there in Chisum's office.
But, it has nothing to do with the Texas Lege (well, other than the fact that the Lege is filled with monkeys) and it's Friday and we're hungover. So. Enjoy. If you can. Here's the Link:
The AAS says, House committee approves slew of tax bills.
That is exactly what we want to hear on a Friday with a hangover. Dammit, it means we'll have to read all this shit. Then we'll have to understand what taxes are (do people have to pay them?), and finally we'll have to find a way to skewer the House. The last one's easy.
That's our favorite cheer. Anyway it's Friday and we see that all the papers are reporting on Edwards proposal to put a stop to 'sexually suggestive cheer routines.' We lamented the banning of young, nubile teenage girls in short skirts getting us all excited about....our team..oh yes, our team! Go Team! Anyway, we were all bummed about that until...
We found this photo of George Bush during his cheerleading days at Andover and have to strongly say that yes, these sexually suggestive cheering has to stop. I mean what in the hell is he trying to do to that megaphone? I feel funny in my funny parts, mommy.
There's a new site promoting Lt. Gov. Dewhurst's School Finance Plan. While the actual site is aesthetically- and ethically-challenged, it also appears that someone doesn't really want us to know it is a site created, authored and hosted by the Senate Media Services Servers. (See pop up screenshots of the Domain Registration View image and site View image). Noticably missing is any 'Paid for by' or link back to Lt. Gov Dewhurst's homepage. The address is also a .com and not a .gov domain. The content is not promoting an official State of Texas position on school reform, yet has the elements of a state sponsored web site. The source identifies the site was created by the Senate Media Services (View image)
While on the Texas Senate News Site, we noticed this reference - View image. The fact that the site appears to be an advocacy site as opposed to an official Senate news site is intriguing and arguably deceptive. While the site does not ask for campaign funds - cause that would be bad - it surely doesn't make itself clear as to the who's, where's and why's of its existence.
Bad form.
UPDATE: The domain registration has changed since we first posted this entry. Here's the latest: View image
We couldn't have said it better, Rep. Strama (aka my House crush). The Austin Chronicle has an extremely focused article on the newly-passed education bill and its impact on charter schools and private companies that want to run "public" schools.
We visited an Edison-run public school in another state a few years ago, and it seemed to be run pretty well (from what little we saw during the short tour). What we have read about other privately-run public schools (oxymoron?), though, leads us to think that setting more of them up in Texas is not that great a plan.
note: the title of this post is from a quote in the Chronicle article. and also - Bluebonnet wrote this. Oops!
We read the following post relating to Perry and just had to share it. We heard that there was a media workshop in the pink dome earlier this week, and that this humble site was mentioned. So possibly the Guv reads this site (even though he doesn't like blogs)?
If he does indeed read this blog, he should probably not read the snarky anecdote after the jump. You should, though.
A Martha Wong constituent tells the tale of visiting the Capitol on Planned Parenthood's Lobby Day. It's nice to see the idealism and adrenaline rush and passion for one's convictions so decidedly smashed by Rep. Wong.
We think that Texas is a great state, and we love films being shot in our state. Well, except when they tie up downtown traffic (we remember "Miss Congeniality"!). We learn from one of our mailing lists that bills are being proposed in the House and Senate that would provide incentives to films that shoot in Texas. Let's keep films that take place in Texas in Texas. We read a few months ago that New Mexico was setting up a killer incentive program, and we can't have them beat us!
Following is the e-mail we were sent.
Wherever there is hate, there will be violence.
Two proposals are before the House to define marriage as between an man and a woman. Some Republican lawmakers say gay marriage is a threat to marriage. (funny, we thought it might be divorce that's a threat to marriage)
These bills are not just to define marriage. They are to exclude a portion of the Texas population that exist and are not going to stop existing because of legislation. These bills are an outright attempt to legislate hate on the last acceptable minority to hate: Gays.
We have been avoiding the Senate for the most part, what with HB 2 and HB 3 and HB 1212 and HB 7 (We hate we know those by their number. For those of you that don't they are Education, Taxes, Parental Consent and Worker's Comp) We're leaving out the whole casino crap for now.
So, over to the Senate. We're going to get acquainted with you and start building shrines to some of you and voodoo dolls of others to take care of this clusterfuck that is HB 3. If you don't fix it, you screw it up for the entire country, not just Texans.
For decades Republicans far and wide have been able to refer to Massachusetts as Tax-achussets (a hilARIous joke that never gets old) and if you let stand the highest sales tax in the country and taxes on snack foods, bottled water, car washes and Botox (DMN)it's going to be a lot easier to say TAXes instead of Texas for pundits around the nation.
So, please...if not for the children, for your own dignity. Fix this.
So, I'm giving you an easy one. Here's Florence Shapiro, courtesy of the Dallas Morning News. It was too good to pass up. It's also appropriate as we turn our attention to the Senate and the fate of HB 3.
...Against House Republicans. Other Republicans, that is. The Quorum Report says that conservative groups are angered over HB 3. Gee? For once, it isn't Republicans attacking Democrats as the "Tax and Spend" group, it's their own party.
The Young Conservatives of Texas:
The Republican-led Texas House of Representatives has taken a big step toward doing what Democrats could not do in over 120 consecutive years in power - enacting a virtual state income tax. For many years, Texas Republicans advocated fiscal restraint, and their opposition to a state income tax was axiomatic. Those days are long over, and Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland) is to blame.
and then this, by Texas Public Policy Foundation:
One has to admit that House Bill 3, which passed 78-70, is indeed historic. The Republican-led Texas House of Representatives accomplished something Democrats have wanted to do for decades, but could not. The state of Texas now has an income tax.
Love this game. Courtesty of DMN and AP. It's Rep. Keffer on HB 3. Write your own caption in the comments section!
To breathe before you start another shitstorm we've got to learn about and criticize you for? I mean already HB 7? Worker's Compensation? Already? Jesus. Guess we'll be playing catch up tonight.
And now there's nothing fun to do today but listen to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee this afternoon. SNORE...oh wait Senator Zaffirini is pretty fun to watch, maybe we'll grab a beer and watch her do a little bit of work. Oh plus...I spy hot staffer with wire rimmed glasses!
SJR 14 Introduced today struck us a important legislation:
Sec. 18A. (a) The commissioners court of a county may call
an election in the county to abolish the office of constable
countywide or in a specified precinct.
We don't even really know what the constable does, so hell abolish it for all we care. But, WTF?
While PinkDome has been cavorting with other bloggers at SxSW, we (the royal we who are Bluebonnet) have been cloistered/spaced out/busy with other stuff/sunning ourselves on the Coast/watching the Weather Channel. So we're a little slow to post about this entry from Inside the Texas Capitol. Apparently, HB2 was not written by legislators, but put together with recommendations from a conservative think tank. How surprised are we? Really, not too much so. Why write a bill when someone else will do it for you?
We got in trouble for doing something like that in high school - it was called plagiarism when we didn't come up with our own thoughts and copied someone else's. We realize this is only slightly the same thing. And it probably happens more often than not.
update: Valley Politics has a great post on the notion of Californians coming up with Texas law.
There are a few entries written after 10:30 p.m. last night to get you through till noon. We'll post again after noon. We've got lots to say, but this hangover...gross.
Annie's List held a fundraiser in Austin tonight at the Bob Bullock Museum. Al Franken was the keynote speaker. (Wow, that sounded just like a newspaper's account of the evening)
Here's what I remember. Annie's List raises money to get more women candidates elected to office to fight for women's issues. Good. Mark Strama wasn't there because he was on the Floor debating HB 3. Bad.
HB 3 passed by 78-70 tonight. We understand Patrick Rose's amendment to include the insurance industry was in the final verson.
Damn! Hochberg's amendment to tax facelifts and botox passed!(.pdf) Did it stay in the final version? Holy shit, looks like we'll have to schedule our Botox before the end of the session. Dammit!
The San Antonio Express-News has the first story we've found, as of 10:38 p.m.
We feel for you. I know you'd rather be drunk at Brown Bar or coming home to take a long shower and wash the grossness off of you that was today. Not all of us are so lucky to work in an environment where someone asks us what kind of panties we're wearing today and our only response is to smile because no one has ever had a 'that's inappropriate' conversation with a legislator.
By now you've finished the crossword, the word jumble, you've read every news story on every state paper, and every blog you can find. Your feet hurt and you're wondering if your dog has peed all over your carpet.
We know. God bless you.
We were flirting with other bloggers all day at the SXSW Interactive Trade Show Days so we have not been paying attention to HB 3 today. What'd we miss? (Comments are open) Liveblogging until 7 p.m., then comments take over.
We're listening to the livestream now and we'll add our two cents in the expanded entry if something comes up, but feel free to post in the comments section anything you find interesting. We are going to get ready for a fundraiser thing tonight, so we'll be back and forth.
The LGRL Lobby is hosting 'Lobby Day' in the Pink Dome today. We see the House Chamber is awfully full, I guess legislators are afraid they might actually run into a homo and see the homosexual agenda right up close and in person. Wonder if Chisum had Texas Rangers posted at his door this year, too.
We'd like to hear from anybody that was up there today with any stories about the effects.
The SXSW Interactive Trade Show days presents Evan Smith interviewing Wonkette and her take on blogging and the media, blogging and politics. Here are a few quotes directly from her:
Blogs that care about the writing are the blogs that are worth reading.
and, of course our favorite;
"I'm for more ass-fucking, not less."
She continues to say that blogging is a non-credentialed profession, as it is not for journalists. We agree. We think the readers are the ones that credential the journalist or the blogger.
We'll add more, hit refresh.
Not really, but the song from the greatest movie ever is running through our brain as we read the DMN's article on gambling in Texas. The article states, in part:
Pro-gaming forces â?? advocates for bingo, casinos, slot machines and expanding the lottery â?? have spent between $3.4 million and $6.2 million on their lobbyists this legislative session, according to state records.
We haven't made up our mind what to think about this. We aren't opposed to gambling from a moral perspective. We tend to be opposed from a tacky perspective. For example: Shreveport, LA is a tacky version of Biloxi, MS, which is itself a tacky version of Atlantic City, NJ, which is the original tacky version of Las Vegas...and we all agree Las Vegas is tacky.
Keep reading after the jump.
Cause they have the staff and the time to put together interesting outlines of things like HB 3 and we can just read it, be appalled...link you to it and say, "HEY! Get off your ass and call your state rep." (link conveniently provided below to find their phone number)
Sunday's Houston Chronicle is on the tax bill to be debated Monday with some great insight. Let's read, shall we?
The past couple of weeks have seen quite a lot of news from the Pink Dome, and it's hard for us to keep up. There's also been a lot of talk about blogs. (I think it's so cute when a newspaper says 'blogs, short for weblogs, are internet journals kept by one or more writers)
What is the evolution of media? Is it going to be good for people? If it is good for some will it be bad for others? Are newspapers in the death throws now, first online job web sites killed classified ad revenue and now blogs give instant news and analysis...what's next? Blogs with tons of Sunday inserts on great furniture deals?
Craigslist Austin: Rants and Raves
Reply to: anon-63169365@craigslist.org Date: 2005-03-10, 12:38PM CST
Whoo hoo thanks craigslist! What a beautiful day for eating free BBQ and watching gorgeous capitol girls! You in the blue... yum!
(You know, 'in the ring' and all)
House District 16 (man, everybody's counting on Hope getting an appointment) from the HCN:
...attorney Brandon Creighton announced his intention Tuesday to file for the District 16 House of Representatives seat currently held by Ruben Hope, if Gov. Rick Perry appoints Hope to a judicial post.
Also tossing the hat, so to speak: (this time from the Quorum Report)
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has opened her campaign 2006 campaign headquarters in Austin. The campaign manager is Terry Sullivan who spearheaded the effort to elect South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint. DeMint had both a bruising primary followed by a tough general election.
The Governor's office attacked bloggers and the Statesman was its handmaiden. We actually think this conservative blog's take on the whole story was just about right on.
Certainly, many conservative bloggers often comment on Texas politics, but I have not seen any that do so in such a consistent, focused, and well-researched way as the left-leaning blogs described above. (If Iâ??m wrong on this, please let me know double quick!)
Sure, the left bloggers attacked the Statesman for the article...attacking the Statesman is easy. But, I also think the Governor's office was idiotic to publicly take on blogs. It is the new media, whether anyone likes it or not, and those politicians that go after blogs are only going to inspire more fervent attacks on them.
Because they both like to spend money they don't have. (Old joke, just for my dad...apologies to mom).
Yesterday the Senate Finance Committee had the bright idea to include a 30% pay raise for the governor. (Perry said he would not accept it, but whatever....at least while it was fresh in the voters' minds he wouldn't)
So, first off we're in a budget crisis. Second off, the governor did not ask for the pay raise.....
And the best part we like so much? They give teachers what? a 4% or $3,000 raise but 30% for Rick Perry? Are you f'ing kidding me?!
Thanks to Karen Brooks over at the DMN for writing this all down in today's paper. (And thanks ITPT, for pointing out it's finance. We're a little hungover this a.m.)
Ok, so we left the gallery and 5:30 and went drinking at the Stephen F. Austin. So much for our ambitious attempt at live-blogging but we see Bluebonnet kept y'all going for a while.
While we were drinking the only gossip we overheard is that Dan Rather just bought a condo at the Nokonah at the corner of 9th and Lamar. So now Ann Richards won't be the only faded glory living next door.
Good attempt to the commenters. We'll do this again sometime. Next time y'all bring beer.
Ok, I'm here now. Hey y'all. Here we go with our interactive live-blog of today's debate. Simply leave a comment (Again, you can do so anonymously) and you are an insta-pundit PinkDome style!
We'll add our two cents in the entry after the 'read more' jump (just hit refresh on your browser to see new posts). Now, if it weren't for the teenage cheerleaders wandering around we could concentrate.
Comments are currently open and unmoderated. However, if we catch you being obscene (more than we are) or speaking Spanish we'll delete. That's just us being arbitrary and bitter because we know later tonight we'll have million 'texas hold'em' spam comments to delete.
Remember the thrill of our live-blog on HB 2 Tuesday? Well, we're sure today's House debates are going to offer some real gems. Unfortunately we've got a few things going on so we won't be sitting in the gallery alternately cruising hot staffers and making meaningful remarks about the high caliber of intellectual debate going on down below.
But, we offer the next best thing. Starting with this post, we invite you to comment on today's debates. (Reminder to staffers reading: You can comment anonymously. Make up a name and enter nospam@nope.com if you don't want your email address published) Feel what it's like to be an anonymous blogger! When we get back from whatever we have to do (you know, things like recycle empty wine bottles) we'll be on AIM as PinkDomeTX so chat us up and we'll post excerpts from the chat (still granting anonymity).
So there are the rules. Up for it? Get to commenting and come back throughout the day to check for new comments and later this afternoon and into the night an additional live-blog posting! (Click here for the link to the live feeds online)
There is a great article in the Houston Chronicle this morning about the Texas Parks system. We didn't realize that there were so many environmentalists in Texas:
A poll of Texas voters conducted this past December by Woodlands-based Hill Research Consultants indicated 69 percent of those polled said they would be willing to pay at least $1 per month in additional state taxes "for new state and local parks, and to protect the state's natural resources, including our land, water and natural habitat."
It seems like so long ago, but before the 2002 election (when Cornyn beat Kirk), Texas Impact held a rally in Austin where people running for certain state offices were invited to speak. Those that came (no Perry, Sanchez, etc.) were asked to pledge that they would work for the poor, for good border relations, and to be dedicated to figuring out a way to keep Texans healthy.
We were surprised that Cornyn was there. We were even more surprised that he pledged all of these things. So although disappointed when he got elected, we thought (naively) that maybe, just maybe, he would keep up with Texas Impact and the promises he made.
Sadly, no. Listening to KUT this morning, we heard a story on how the federal government is going to cut Medicaid, and the states are going to have to make up for the shortfall. Cornyn makes a comment for the story to the effect of, well, things have to be cut for the federal budget.
The story states that Texas has the highest number of uninsured adults and children in the nation. We think Cornyn might need to be reminded of this. Give me your tired, your poor, your yearning to breath free. INDEED! Mr. Cornyn, Indeed Sir! (Like our righteous indignation? We thought it was cute.)
If you voted Republican you are getting screwed. (This should be obvious, but we felt we had to point it out)
The DMN reports on the big tax bill that's coming up today.
Only Texans in households making more than $100,000 would receive a net tax cut under the tax overhaul bill that the House is considering, according to a nonpartisan legislative analysis.
We totally missed the story in the Statesman that was really about HB2. Here it is. (AAS, sub required)
We kid! We kid.
Seriously, here it is. Would hate for someone at the Statesman to think a blog isn't able to correct an oversight. So it gets its very own post.
Republicans move on to the semifinals.
Except Bob Griggs and a few other Republicans who are benched for the rest of the season. Rep. Griggs said of HB 2:
"This bill is just plain old junk food," said Rep. Bob Griggs of North Richland Hills, one of a few Republicans to oppose the bill. "It's junk food for school finance. It provides that sugar rush immediately, but the funding falls apart after a very short period of time."(AAS)
Oppresearch.com sent us this background on Grusendorf in case we didn't know. There's some 10 year old information about his lax dedication to paying taxes and some quotes about his opinions of previous attempts at school finance reform. Good for a chuckle, but not exactly smoking gun material.
We were so hoping it was a photo of him with a donkey in Mexico when we saw an attachment to the email. Oh well, can't have everything.
Read the memo here. (.pdf file) Download file
We spoke to Jake Bernstein this morning at the Texas Observer to follow up on what we'd heard was an interesting Open Records request filed to investigate the travel of certain Senate staff and the defrayed costs of somebody's birthday party.
Jake was pleasant enough, but said he wouldn't characterize this as the lead story he was working on. (YIKES...if this ain't big, y'all better be reading the Observer to find out what is!)
He suggested we file our open records request but after last night we feel dirty walking into the Capitol building today...and so should you Grusendorf. Plus, it'd mean we'd have to do 'actual reporting' and we like to leave that to people like Gardner Selby and the AAS.
Last night was an interesting excercise in the art of making sausage. While we have our own opinions after the dust clears, Lets see what the state's newspapers have to say: After the jump, trying to keep the above the fold clear for our HB 2 news below.
The Senate Finance Committee approved funding for the HIV Medication Program in the amount of $15,027,305 for the biennium.
Somebody give it up for something good that's happening under the pinkdome. Escpecially after last night's freak show on HB 2.
Note: A commenter claims it was Ogden that got this back in. We'll call some Senate offices after we've had another cup of coffee.
Just without the tits and ass.
The Quorum Report (you really should subscribe) has obtained a copy of the scripting for all of the amendments on HB2. Complete with who will rebutt and which amendments will fall. (warning Large .PDF file) but you know you want it.
This is Republican organization here. If you've been watching the debates all day you can actually follow along on who talks about what amendment, what they will say and what the vote should be by the Republicans. So no need for us to liveblog anymore except to make fun of the reps picking their nose on the livestream.
If the Dems are this organized, someone please send that over to us as well. (Not that it would help much)
Note: 7:20 and we're still liveblogging. Been at it since the early afternoon. We'll give up by 8, so until then click refresh and watch the extended entry expand. (Or chat me up at PinkDomeTX (AIM) and we'll discuss the day's events. Watch out, I'm drinking wine.)
Are y'all watching the Hochberg v. Grusendorf debate on HB2? Hochberg is on the offensive and Grusendorf is doing a lot of 'ducking and weaving' during the debate.
Grusendorf is hilARIous, though. "I left my crystal ball at home," and "throwing money down a rathole." are gems!
Griggs was up next and it seems to me there are some pretty good questions, but it is SO hard to blog and sneak our flask out at the same time.
We were a little disappointed not to be mentioned in this angry article from the Statesman(bugmenot) about blogs and their terrible effect on innocent readers. Heaven forbid someone speak against the corporate media! Anyway, we didn't cover the story that Eileen did, so we won't comment on it. All we will say is, bloggers=good, corporate media=one-sided. Thank you.
How come we just saw this from the Feb. 17 DMN?
Mothers and fathers whose parental rights are terminated by a judge should have to pay child support to the state, a key lawmaker said Thursday. Rep. Suzanna Gratia Hupp, R-Lampasas, said parents who lose their parental rights because they abused or neglected their child often have more children. "There seems to be no deterrent to them just turning around and doing it all over again, and there have been many instances where we as a state have to go once again and strip them of their rights of those children as well," she said. Ms. Hupp is chairwoman of the House Human Services Committee, which is reviewing reforms to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
Uhm, could we suggest perhaps sex education that promotes something other than abstinence? Or how about just education? Oh, and Rep. Hussy, as chairwoman of the House Human Services Committee could you tell us the economic status of parents who are having their parental rights stripped from them? Oh, they are all rich white people that can afford to pay the state and won't further marginalize them from society or drive them further into lives of crime and poverty? Oh, ok..thanks for clearing that up. Ass-HAT.
We know what Hupp would say.."Just give them all guns!"
Zaffirini's office would like us to clarify our post on what happened to the funding for HIV meds in the Senate Finance Committee meeting and reassure y'all that it ain't dead yet.
I am writing to clarify a posting on your blog about the Senate Finance Committee's decisions regarding maintaining service levels in the HIV Medication Program that may have left a misconception about Senator Zaffirini's support of the program.Please know that Senator Zaffirini, the chair of the Article II work
group, is a supporter of the program and has tried on three different
occasions to fully fund it. Senator Zaffirini intends to once again
bring up the issue during tomorrow's (Tuesday) Senate Finance Committee hearing as they continue to discuss SB 1.
So, a hearty 'good luck' to Judith tomorrow! We'd call with our support but figured your staff might already have writer's cramp.
It pays to be an "officer" of the House, literally. If you are an employee of the House and hold any two "officer" positions then you qualify for the Elected Official Class Retirement System. That's quite a bit better than just the little old working class stiffs that, you know, actually work.
Apparently the House has added a slew of new officers, some of which are Speaker Craddick's staff. Shocking! (Not really, actually)
Mark Morford of the SFGate writes about the recent spate of cases charging folks with crimes for selling adult-themed toys. When he gets to lambasting Texas, he spares Austin with this:
Austin, which mostly sort of pretends it's just visiting Texas and doesn't actually live there.
The story referenced the landmark Lawrence v. Texas case: the American Civil Liberties Union said the high court's 2003 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, which decriminalized gay sex on privacy grounds, protects sex toy users from unwarranted state intrusion in their homes.
Thank God we can keep our closet full of dildos, we weren't really clear abou that earlier.
We've already written once about how not all votes are recorded in the Legislature. The DMN reports on the progress of the measures up this Session to require all votes be recorded. We particularly loved this:
Opponents argued that their votes could be used against them politically, but proponents of adding Texas to the list of 40 other states that require recorded votes say lawmakers should be held accountable for their actions. Dozens of public interest and media organizations, including The Dallas Morning News, have pushed for the change.
Of course, that's not the purpose...but it's our right to know how our elected officials are voting on things that affect us. How you vote is probably the best way to use something against you politically and not...say....501c groups spending money on falsified information attack ads.
We received this anonymous note today:
"yesterday in Senate Finance, $15 million was "pended" for maintaining service levels in the HIV Medication Program to avoid a projected shortfall in FY 2007. This would be the time to have appropriate people to contact their Senator to urge the inclusion of this money in the appropriations bill as recommended."
'Pended' is political jargon for 'cut that shit out in committee.' I think that's a great idea! Let's cut funding for HIV Meds in Texas. Especially since according to this KVUE news story (sub requ'd or use bugmenot.com)
The HIV infection rate has doubled among blacks in the United States over a decade while holding steady among whites - stark evidence of a widening racial gap in the epidemic, government scientists said Friday.
What do we care if the Lege cuts funding for Meds to a population that is in the most need? Oh wait, they do that all the time. Poor people, children, black people, hispanics...good thing we're white...otherwise we might call the Senate Finance Committee ourselves! Whew...it's good to be whitey!
Click here to get contact information for members of the Senate Finance Committee. Note that our friend Judit Zaffirini is Vice-Chair...and we already know that at the very least her staff will have to log your call.
We don't normally do national, but this is too good to pass up. Have some Friday fun with this one!
At least two weeks ago the blogs were reporting about the bill by Phil King that would elminiate muncipal wireless programs. The Chronicle leads today's coverage with this big scoop:
Wireless networks don't click with some
Telecom bill would ban free Internet access like that in model East End program
Hey, Eric Berger...read the Internets every once in a while you might be able to keep up with what's going on in 1997.
The state's major papers weigh in on HB2 which has passed out of committee now. School finance is gonna be the one to watch and here's some choice quotes about this week's actitions.
Houston Chronicle
"This bill fails students, teachers, parents and our communities because it does not provide a long-term solution to the funding crisis facing Texas public schools," said Dawson Orr, superintendent of Wichita Falls ISD. (Houston Chron)
"The bill apparently is going to be balanced on the backs of the people that are served by our Texas budget: the sexually abused children that we've been trying to assist, the blind, the needy, the sick and all the other people that are served by our budget," said Rep. René Oliveira, D-Brownsville, the vice chairman of the education committee.
"Here we are 50 years after Brown versus Board of Education and the bill that has been laid out to you is still separate but unequal," said Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville. "We're not going to tolerate that." Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick on Thursday reaffirmed his support for the House plan, which will go before the full body for consideration and a vote next week. (Midland Reporter Telegram)
Small pecan farmers in El Paso and Dona Ana County, hampered by wet weather, may be leaving a good part of their crop to birds and squirrels, some worried farmers said. (El Paso Times)
Any roundup we left out? Add your own!
Although at first we thought the title of this Postcards from the Lege post was "Strayhorn gives her take on mangled care plan", we were only partly wrong.
Strayhorn gives her take on manged care plan
And yes, we realize that we here at PD are not immune to post-trigger-finger. But it's still funny when others do it too.
WTF? From the Quorum Report today:
During a break in the TRMPAC civil trial proceedings this morning, attorney Andy Taylor told reporters that he would be spearheading an effort to clean up Texas election law financed by a number of large contributors" First, clarity must be a cornerstone of our campaign finance laws in Texas," he said. "Second, we must protect Texansâ?? rights to criticize and comment on the activities of our elected officials and government policies."
"Finally, crucial decisions about free speech in the political arena must be made by citizens and the lawmakers theyâ??ve elected to represent them, not by any single judge or jury," he said. "Issues of free speech that form the foundation of our democracy should be addressed in the statehouse, not the courthouse."
This is the same ass-hat that handled the Heflin challenge and lost, exposing nothing but posturing for the media as nothing but a blowhard. He's more like Barney Fife than the good Sheriff Taylor
Could it be too good to be true? Thanks to Lasso, we've discovered this article in the WaPo (bugmenot needed) discussing how DeLay may have botched things up for his own seat in the House by forcing the redistricting into motion:
Though the change has received little notice, DeLay's strength in his suburban Houston congressional district of strip malls and housing developments has eroded considerably -- forcing him to renew his focus on protecting his seat.We here at Pinkdome love our irony, especially when it bites Tom DeLay in the ass.DeLay garnered 55 percent of the vote in the November election against a relatively unknown Democrat, an unusually modest showing for a veteran House member who is one of the most powerful politicians in Washington. Some Republican officials and DeLay supporters worry that with President Bush absent from the top of the ticket next year, liberal interest groups might target the conservative majority leader and spend millions of dollars on campaign ads to try to defeat him. . .
. . . DeLay now has to worry about "Texas 22," the congressional district he has represented for the past 21 years in the U.S. House. Ironically, the Texas redistricting plan he engineered over strong Democratic objections drained some vital Republican support and could make it tougher for him to win reelection. In his old district, DeLay took 60 percent of the vote in 2000 and 63 percent in 2002.
We were going to stew here on what occured yesterday at UT regarding the YCT, but we've found others who say it just as well as we could.
Okay, honestly, we're lazy.
(after the jump)
We posted an entry about the the two Houston Dems that have introduced the bill to allow prescription drugs from Canada and we thought this musical cartoon was Hilarious enough to get the point across even better. (caution: sound and video..but worth it)
It's also a great indictment on drug advertising, which really is what we think makes drug prices so high here in the States.
The cutest legislator ever (Hi Patrick..giggle) has introduced a bill requiring insurance companies to cover 60 inpatient days with no lifetime limit for eating disorder treatments.
We can't complain about our premiums going up if the legislature keeps requiring insurance companies to cover so much shit. Texas is already one of the most difficult states to do business in for health care companies. That's why so many pull out of the state, go bankrupt, or lay us off (oops, we said too much).
These benefits are already covered under the required mental health coverage required by the state, and when medically necessary they are covered as well. (Edited to Add: We are talking about GROUP Coverage, not individual coverage. Individual coverage does not cover SMI or IMH or OMH by law) Read the extended entry for more:
We don't want to sound all Republican and shit, but eh...non-plussed.
We think eating disorders are sad. But jeesh, a diet of cocaine and tic tacs worked for us for years, darling! You can never be too rich or too thin!
(We swear Paris Hilton did not write this entry)
*Heathers, starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater
In Austin tonight, Chris Bell announced his plans...for something, maybe...(SORRY GRITS) NEXT November. The .PDF of his speech is here, just right click and Download file. Other than his constant references to the "New Mainstream" which we don't know what that is, we liked a few things he said.
There is a New Mainstream in Texas that shares an optimistic vision of freedom, responsibility and accountability. The New Mainstream includes all of us who believe in rewarding hard work, recognizing new ideas and relying on each other and ourselves. Because â??we are the ones weâ??ve been
waiting for.â?? (We loved that part)
God gave us Texas to teach the rest of the world about freedom. And when John Kennedy asked the nation to do something not because it was easy, but because it was hard, he didnâ??t go to Washington, he came to Texas. This is where we make our stand. And we start by making it our top priority to dispense hope. Youâ??re either dispensing hope, or youâ??re spreading dispair. Youâ??re either for opening democracy, or youâ??re defending a closed political ideology.
Today is Texas Independence Day, which means that some may be celebrating with punch and cookies and some state employees can take the day off.
Lord knows if there wasn't a gynormous billboard on IH35 reminding us about today, we probably would have forgotten.
Feldman also said handwritten notes by state Rep. Dianne White Delisi showed corporate money would be spent to raise legal contributions for candidates with the intent of having the money distributed by state Rep. Craddick, R-Midland.
All those lawyers we make fun of or have sex with only to get us out of our multiple DUI cases should call us and provide running commentary on this case because our pea size brains see one thing....this is f'ed up.
Somebody please tell us this is not the REAL newspaper for the people of El Paso. Please tell us that this is a joke, a city free paper, a tabloid? Anything but the real paper.
Otherwise, WTF?
We asked Lauren at the Young Conservatives about what the deal was as soon as we heard about it. Here's her reply to us. Very nice, very civil and she invited us to attend. We've redacted our previous entry and are posting her statement below. Feel free to stop by for cake and cookies. (We'll only give Lauren one friendly dig..since y'all are Republicans are you going to charge a whole lot for them cakes?)
We're going to have a Texas Independence Day celebration tomorrow, celebrating 169 years. We'll be serving cake and cookies, and you're welcome to stop by if you have some time.
Somebody leaked some bad information all over the country. Looks like
we're going to have a lot of press covering our tea party tomorrow.
Lauren
-----Original Message-----
From: tips@pinkdome.com [mailto:tips@pinkdome.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2005 7:06 PM
To: Lauren [email redacted]
Subject: RE: YCT Immigration Awareness Day March 2
Lauren,
We'd be happy to redact our post. We certainly are not out to attack you personally or the Young Conservatives. We thought the UNT display was a little tacky, and were confident that somebody was up to no good, that's why we emailed you.
Wouldn't you at least like to tell us that the Young Conservatives
oppose existing immigration laws but don't believe in 'publicity stunts' or something of that nature?
and unlike other blogs, I will not post an emotional email reply...I'll post a statement if you care to give one.
Thanks.
No comment.
-----Original Message-----
From: tips@pinkdome.com [mailto:tips@pinkdome.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2005 4:44 PM
To: Lauren [email redacted]
Subject: YCT Immigration Awareness Day March 2
Do you have any comment regarding the Immigration Awareness Day you
have planned for March 2? What are your goals with this demonstration/activity? In light of the harsh criticism from the recent UNT version of this event, how will you differ in your event?
Please reply as we will be writing a story on this event. Thank you.
We heard about the meeting last night in Dallas, too. Click here to listen to the theme song as your read the entry: Download file
The Dallas County meeting started with chaos last night as the dissenters showed up with their own people to credential people to enter the meeting and the DPD had to show up before the meeting even began.
The fact that these dissenters refused to let their newly elected sheriff speak was also amazing.
Wow, but I'm sure Susan Hays conducted herself with the dignity and leadership she's shown to effectively elect dems in Dallas County thoughout the election cycle. Everybody else ought to shut up or raise a million dollars and buy their own Democratic Party.
We guess our own outpost of Young Conservatives here in Austin don't want to be embarrassed like UNT's chapter. We saw reported on a blog (link removed) that there was some similar event planned for Austin.
Turns out there isn't but we've received quite a few emails about it.
We emailed the chairperson and her simple reply so far is 'no comment' but another blog has posted an emotional missive from her. Obviously she's been inundated.
Maybe wiser heads prevailed that protests against policy are cool and all, but offensive ones aren't well received.
We're still waiting on a more thorough reply from her and have offered her this space to provide a comment. (Not an emotional email)
Senator Leticia Van de Putte must have her mind on the suckling of ample bosoms....
SB 113 INFANT FORMULA PROMOTION PROHIBITION. (a) A hospital, birthing center, physician, or other health care provider that provides services to mothers and infants may not promote the use of infant formula, including by:
(1) distributing without charge an infant formula or any item containing the name of an infant formula; and
(2) advertising an infant formula.
Do we really need a law? Everybody knows breast milk is best for a newborn. We get that. And we secretly think it helps grown men become obsessed with breasts...but that's a different topic. But to prohibit the promoting of formula? I'm sure the moneyed lobbyists will shut this down pretty quickly.
Someone that knows about this, comment or email us about it. We grew up in the south and my mom actually hired a 'wet nurse' for us children. (You know, she didn't want to be all saggy just because she had to have kids and all...it goes with her very Republican philosophy: If it's worth doing, it's worth hiring someone to do it for you.)
An anonymous staffer from inside the agency gave us this tip and internal email on this subject.
Texas, to help reduce the unemployment rate in the state we think outsourcing state contracts to companies skirting U.S. tax law is a great idea!
The Texas eligibility call center for TANF, Food Stamps and Medicaid by law - HB 2292 has to be located in Texas but Accenture is a non-U.S. company based in offshore tax haven of Bermuda.The lay-offs will affect as many as 3,000 to 8,000 long-term Texas state employees, their families and local communities, from almost every small Texas town to inner-city elgibility offices.
Outsourcing jobs is a big issue with folks these days, here's what the GAO says about Accenture.
The RFP asks this question:
Question: Do HUBs have to be certified by State? Must they be located in Texas?Answer: Yes, they must be certified by the State of Texas TBPC. All certified HUBS must have their principal place of business in Texas.
We had to laugh when we heard Senator Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) requires her staff to log every incoming and outgoing call from her office. Just for fun, we're thinking of calling her office every day with weather updates or something. Here's her Capitol office number if y'all want to do the same: 512.463.0121
9:00 a.m. Called Sen. Zaffirini's office asked if they could write down that I called.
10:00 a.m. Called to ask what Zaffirini was wearing today
We hate to terrorize staff, but it just appeals to our immaturity, and our love of drunk-dialing.