June 5, 2013

Texas School Districts Are Allowed to Out Gay Kids to Their Parents, Court Rules

The Texas Civil Rights Project hoped that Skye Wyatt's case would set a precedent. Wyatt, the activists claimed, was confronted by her two Kilgore High School softball coaches in the locker room after a team meeting, where they accused her of having a lesbian relationship with another girl. The coaches soon made good on their promise to tell Wyatt's mother that she was gay.

And how did her family respond?

By filing a federal lawsuit, alleging that her constitutional right to privacy had been violated.

"We want to change the way they do business in Kilgore," one of their attorneys told the Houston Press at the time. "They have to learn to respect the rights of students."

-snip-

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans was much less sympathetic to their case. On Friday, in a split decision, a three-judge panel rejected the magistrate judge's decision.

More at http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/06/coaches_are_totally_allowed_to.php .

Cross-posted to LGBT Civil Rights and Activism Group.

June 5, 2013

Texas School Districts Are Allowed to Out Gay Kids to Their Parents, Court Rules

The Texas Civil Rights Project hoped that Skye Wyatt's case would set a precedent. Wyatt, the activists claimed, was confronted by her two Kilgore High School softball coaches in the locker room after a team meeting, where they accused her of having a lesbian relationship with another girl. The coaches soon made good on their promise to tell Wyatt's mother that she was gay.

And how did her family respond?

By filing a federal lawsuit, alleging that her constitutional right to privacy had been violated.

"We want to change the way they do business in Kilgore," one of their attorneys told the Houston Press at the time. "They have to learn to respect the rights of students."

-snip-

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans was much less sympathetic to their case. On Friday, in a split decision, a three-judge panel rejected the magistrate judge's decision.

More at http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/06/coaches_are_totally_allowed_to.php .

Cross-posted to Texas Group.

June 5, 2013

After $100 Million, Exxon Backs Off Algae as Fuel

Once upon a time -- way back in 2009 -- Exxon Mobil announced they were putting a whole bunch of money into algae. Yep, they were going to turn the goopy seaweed-type stuff you find in the ocean and washed up on the shore into a biofuel that would replace fossil fuels.

And it still might happen, but after spending $100 million in research, Exxon folks have decided it won't be happening just now.

The thing about the advent of biofuels is obviously they've been proved to work, but it's kind of hard to justify farmers continuing to get subsidized to grow corn and other crops for fuel when there's a world food shortage. Filling up your tank with ethanol tends to be a less virtuous enterprise when people are starving, and increasing numbers of farmers grow the biofuel stock instead of food. That's where algae comes in.

Hence the Exxon plan. Back in 2009, the company pledged to invest $600 million in algae fuel research, alongside Synthetic Genomics Inc. (run by the guy who is best known for successfully mapping the human genome.)

More at http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2013/06/after_100_million_exxon_backs.php .

June 5, 2013

The Anonymous Pink Flyer Attacking Ron Nirenberg in San Antonio District 8 Runoff

Given the interest in yesterday's report on the anti-gay activities of San Antonio runoff candidate Rolando Briones, this post serves as a follow up. Below is the anonymous pink flyer that was mailed to some voters in San Antonio District 8 (with no disclaimer or reply-address).

If this did come from Briones camp, it certainly would fit a pattern of behavior. It's hard to look at this and not see gay-baiting at work. Of course, that's just one of a multitude of over-the-top associations (Bill Ayers!) and accusations. But those really play a supporting role- all intended to make you wonder if Ron Nirenberg might just be too good looking, you know, because we all know what *that* means... to older voters in northwest San Antonio likely to vote in a June runoff.

More at http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/13610/the-anonymous-pink-flyer-attacking-ron-nirenberg-in-district-8-runoff .

Related thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10789161

[font color=D53BA5]OMG, he is a self proclaimed progressive! [/font]

June 5, 2013

Runner's pain is no pulled muscle; it's a baby

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — An aspiring half-marathon runner in Minnesota attributed her unbearable back pain to a two-hour training session. A day later, she was cradling a newborn.

Trish Staine, 33, says she had no idea she was pregnant before Monday's surprise birth. The Duluth mother of three said she hadn't gained any weight or felt fetal movement in the months before. And besides, her husband had a vasectomy.

"I said 'no, no, that's impossible,' " Staine said Wednesday from her Duluth hospital room.

"I definitely thought I was done having kids," she joked. Staine and her husband, John, have a daughter, 7, and a son, 11. She's also stepmother to John's three boys, ages 17, 19 and 20.

More at http://www.chron.com/news/article/Runner-s-pain-is-no-pulled-muscle-it-s-a-baby-4579829.php .

June 5, 2013

Judge could hear new evidence in school finance lawsuit

The judge who is overseeing Texas’ school finance case said Wednesday he could reopen the case for new evidence in light of the legislative changes made to education funding and testing requirements.

“The consideration is: Was there a material change in the circumstances, a substantial change in the circumstances, by reason of this most recent Legislature?” state District Judge John Dietz said at a hearing Wednesday.

The new evidence could inform the judge’s final written order but would not be enough for Dietz to overturn his decision in February that Texas’ school finance system is unconstitutional.

That decision will be appealed to the Texas Supreme Court and lawyers representing the school districts say they want the trial court record to be as current as possible.

More at http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/judge-could-hear-new-evidence-in-school-finance-la/nYCZs/?icmp=statesman_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_statesmanstubtomystatesman_launch .

June 5, 2013

In trademark dispute, Austin-based Amy’s Ice Creams sues frozen foods company

A new cold war is brewing, this time between a Central Texas ice cream chain and a California-based maker of frozen foods.

Austin-based Amy’s Ice Creams has filed suit in U.S. District Court against Amy’s Kitchen, accusing the company of trademark infringement and unfair competition, among other things, according to court documents.

Amy’s Ice Creams got its start in 1984, founder Amy Simmons told the American-Statesman, and has since grown to 15 locations in Austin, Houston and San Antonio. Amy’s Kitchen, she says, wasn’t founded until about three years later.

The two businesses co-existed peacefully for more than two decades, until Simmons said she learned Amy’s Kitchen – best known for its organic lunch and dinner dishes such as burritos, enchiladas, macaroni and cheese and soups – had plans to roll out a line of frozen treats.

More at http://www.mystatesman.com/news/business/in-trademark-dispute-austin-based-amys-ice-creams-/nYByg/?icmp=statesman_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_statesmanstubtomystatesman_launch

[font color=green]You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream.

Don't mess with f@#$ing Amy! [/font]

June 5, 2013

Federal judge accused of making racial comments

Source: AP

A coalition of civil rights organizations filed a judicial misconduct complaint Tuesday against a conservative federal judge for comments she allegedly made during a speech that are seen as discriminatory.

Judge Edith Jones of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in New Orleans addressed the University of Pennsylvania law school on Feb. 20. Her comments were not recorded, but five students and one attorney who were in attendance signed affidavits on what was said.

Those were used to generate a 12-page complaint filed in New Orleans stating that Jones “has engaged in conduct that is prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts, undermines public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary, and creates a strong appearance of impropriety.”

Jones is accused of saying that certain “racial groups like African-Americans and Hispanics are predisposed to crime,” and are “prone to commit acts of violence” and be involved in more violent and “heinous” crimes than people of other ethnicities.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/federal-judge-accused-of-making-racial-comments/nYB4Y/

June 5, 2013

Baylor Alum Donates $35 Million For Business School, Stadium

WACO (June 4, 2013)—Paul L. Foster of El Paso, a 1979 Baylor graduate, has donated $35 million for the university’s new School of Business and the on-campus football stadium that’s now under construction, the school announced Tuesday.

The donation is the largest from a living graduate in the school’s history, the university said.

The donation will support construction of the $100 million, 275,000-square foot Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation, which will house Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business as well as the $250 million stadium project.

"Like so many other graduates, the education I received at Baylor prepared me for personal and professional success,” said Foster, who’s chairman of the board and executive chairman of Western Refining, Inc.

More at http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/BU-Alum-Donates-35-Million-For-Business-School-Stadium-210100951.html .

June 5, 2013

Reverse the perverse corporate ethic of fat CEO pay

Isn't it interesting that the ethics of corporate pay shift 180 degrees as you take the elevator from the work floor to the executive suites? Interesting… and infuriating.

Down below, corporate morality dictates that it's in the best interest of shareholders to hold costs down by paying as little as possible to employees who produce a company's products and services. At the tippy-top of the hierarchy, however, corporate morality does a complete flip-flop, decreeing that shareholder interests are best served by paying top dollar to executive employees, in order to attract "top talent." And these moral relativists wonder why corporate morale stinks these days.

For a clue, they might check the latest inequality numbers. The annual paycheck for a CEO of a typical large corporation topped $9.7 million last year, meaning they have increased their haul by more than 36 percent since the Great Recession ended in 2009. Meanwhile, in the same three years, median pay for all employees working below the top floor didn't even keep up with inflation.

And, please, spare us any more fairy tales of how this crop of corporate chieftains represents America's top talent. These so-called "job creators" aren't; their self-proclaimed, Ayn-Randian prowess as society's heroic "achievers" has been turned into a sad joke by the constant exposés of their corruption and narcissism; and they've proven more adept at jacking up their platinum paychecks than in improving profits for shareholders or in projecting a positive public image for the corporation. If these guys (and 97 percent of them are guys) were baseball players, they'd be stuck on single-A, bush-league teams.

More at http://www.jimhightower.com/node/8046 .