June 28, 2013

The Voice of Reason is Challenging those Hard of Hearing

By Dr. Brian Carr

This week we saw Republicans attempting to gerrymander passage of SB5 with questionable political actions. Expecting Democrats to cave on the issue Lt. Governor Dewhurst and our own State Senator Robert Duncan discovered that an opposing voice was raised in the chamber against them. The Republicans in Austin were called out as 180,000 people watched the live video feed.

It is this Progressive courage and a growing citizen aversion to the insanity of the extreme conservative right that has set the stage for bringing action back into our governing bodies. Challenging back to these pandering corporate owned political figureheads will help bring compromise back into the process and undo the great damage to our country.

The witch hunt crafted by the extreme right is falling apart. The IRS scandal evaporated and the only group that seems to not have been involved is the President and the White House. Immigration reform was written by Republican lawmakers in Washington who were “for it before they were against it”. The Supreme Court overturns DOMA and a strange illogical connection is made that the President is responsible (even though he has only appointed one justice).

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy accused Conservatives of having the intention “to 'disparage,' 'injure,' 'degrade,' 'demean,' and 'humiliate'” those who are homosexuals which is a demonstration that he can still accurately observe. How dare he share in the progressive voice that common sense be employed in establishing justice across our land. With voices such as Pat Robertson decrying the ruling and suggesting that this action may be just the excuse God needs to go on a murderous rampage, ala Sodom and Gomorrah. The voice of reason is growing against such un-Christian ravings.

It has been the silence of the Progressives and their attempts to seek reason with unreasonable people in Austin and Washington that has brought us to the point of gridlock in solving the problems of our day. Senator Davis displayed the voice that is beginning to rally citizens to demand that the extreme right be put on notice that they can stop wrapping themselves in the flag and slapping others with their Bible. The voice of reason…of respect…of action is growing!

TAGS:

LubbockOnline Blog
Austin
Get a hearing aid bud
Go Tech
Gonna be hot again today
I aint paying to feed that baby
If you took your fingers out of your ears you might hear better
If you unclog my ears my brains will leak out
insanity
Jesus doesn't belong to any political party
Lubbock
My siren cranks a cold breeze
politics
Pro-Life till Birth
Rock Perry likes to spend your money
Texas
What did you say sonny?

Source: http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/dr-brian-carr/2013-06-28/voice-reason-challenging-those-hard-hearing

[font color=green]I get a kick out of the tags that Dr. Carr uses![/font]

June 28, 2013

U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey pushing to score Texas Sen. Wendy Davis a speaking role at 2016 DNC

Want to know how deep Wendymania has gotten?

Consider that Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, is pushing to get Sen. Wendy Davis a speaking role at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

“I think she should be the keynote speaker,” Veasey said Friday during a telephone interview. “She deserves a speaking role at our next convention and I’m going to work with the DNC to make sure that happens.”

Wow.

More at http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/06/u-s-rep-marc-veasey-pushing-to-score-texas-sen-wendy-davis-a-speaking-role-at-2016-democratic-national-convention.html/ .

June 28, 2013

Ted Cruz avoids personal criticism of Wendy Davis but says he disagrees with what she stood for

Ted Cruz spoke Friday to the same national anti-abortion group that Gov. Rick Perry did the day before, but took care to avoid anything that might look like a personal attack on Fort Worth Sen. Wendy Davis. Asked about Davis’ session-ending filibuster, Cruz told reporters: “I don’t know Ms. Davis. I assume she’s standing for the principles she believes in. I respect anyone who stands and fights for their principles. But at the end of the say, I think the positions she’s advocating are inconsistent with the views of a majority of Texans.” On Thursday, Perry critiqued Davis by saying she’d failed to learn the lesson of her own life in which being born into difficult circumstances doesn’t mean you can’t go on to a life that has meaning. Davis was born to a single mother and was, herself, a teenage mother living in poor circumstances before she went on to Harvard Law School and the Texas Senate. Critics accused Perry of attacking Davis personally and the Democratic senator called the governor’s remarks “small words that reflect a dark and negative point of view.”

Cruz did criticize the abortion-rights advocates who filled the Texas Senate gallery on Tuesday and staged a rowdy protest that brought the chamber to a halt. “It was unfortunate that a handful of protesters felt they had a right to shut down the legislative process.” The filibuster and the protesters did succeed in killing the bill, which would have banned abortions in Texas after 20 weeks and impose additional restrictions on doctors and clinics. Perry called the Legislature back for another special session beginning Monday to reconsider the measure.

During his address to the National Right to Life convention meeting in Grapevine, Cruz did say that the filibuster by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul against the Obama administration’s use of drones in the U.S. was different than Davis’ 11-hour filibuster in the Texas Senate.”If you contrast that filibuster to the filibuster that Rand Paul, (Utah Sen.) Mike Lee and I had a very active role in, we were filibustering the right to protect the sanctity of life from arbitrary government destruction. When Austin Democrats stood together in their filibuster, they were filibustering the ability to carry out late-term abortions, to protect the ability to to take more lives.”

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/06/ted-cruz-avoids-personal-criticism-of-wendy-davis-but-disagrees-with-the-principles-she-stood-for.html/

June 28, 2013

Advocates Push for Affordable Housing as Austin Booms

With the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Austin coming in at $963, and the apartment occupancy rate at about 95 percent, it’s no secret that finding affordable housing in the city can be difficult. For those Austinites who make $7.25 an hour, also known as minimum wage, it’s almost impossible – that $963 would eat up 3/4 of a month's take-home pay.

“The affordability crisis in Austin hasn’t gone away. We’re still in the Top 5 hottest housing markets and the Top 10 most expensive rental markets in the United States,” said Elliott McFadden, campaign manager for Keep Austin Affordable. “Lower income folks are really getting squeezed.”

In the 2012 election, Proposition 15, which would have set aside almost $80 million in bond money for affordable housing programs, was voted down by about 2 percent. Proponents, like McFadden, say the money would have helped build more housing units and allowed non-profits to raise hundreds of millions of dollars more in grant and federal funding, so this year, they’re not taking any chances and are educating voters on the subject early.

Keep Austin Affordable is a coalition of business, faith and community leaders pushing for an affordable housing bond package this fall. The group is hoping to continue the success Austin saw with the 2006 housing bond package of $55 million that created more than 3,600 affordable housing units and brought in $200 million in additional outside funding. That money ran out at the end of last year, and then Proposition 15 failed, leaving these programs in the lurch.

More at http://www.austinpost.org/boom-town/cost-living-austin-rises-activists-place-more-emphasis-affordable-housing .

June 28, 2013

Dr. Christopher Duntsch, Plano Surgeon Suspended for Killing Patients, Gets Sued for Malpractice

All things considered, Mary Efurd is one of the lucky ones. She walked into Dr. Christopher Duntsch's Texas Neurosurgery Institute in Plano on July 25, 2012 and emerged with her life. The same can't be said at least two of his former patients, who died after Dunstch botched their surgeries, according to the Texas Medical Board.

Still, Efurd doesn't feel particularly lucky. She went in for a posterior lumbar interbody fusion, a rather routine procedure that eases pain caused by stopping the motion between two vertebrae. She came out in a wheelchair and with thousands of dollars in medical bills from surgery to fix Duntsch's mistakes.

There were 38 mistakes to be exact, according to a lawsuit Efurd filed this week in Dallas County court, most significantly when he severed an important spinal nerve with a screw. This left Efurd with bilateral foot drop and quadriceps that were partially paralyzed. She is now mostly confined to a wheelchair, she says in her lawsuit.

Surgeons, just like everyone else, make mistakes, but Efurd, like the Texas Medical Board before her, says Duntsch's negligence was beyond the pale. The lawsuit describes the scene of her surgery:

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

June 28, 2013

Communists! GOP Sees Reds Under the SB 5 Bed

Were you one of the estimated 3,500 people in the Capitol on Tuesday night, shouting down the passage of anti-women's health care measure Senate Bill 5? Did you know that Texas Republicans think you're a Communist?

The new Red Scare began this morning when the Texas Tribune reported that "local chapters of the Occupy movement and the International Socialist Organization, or ISO" were part of organizing effort behind Tuesday night's cheering section in the Senate gallery.

This was more than enough to set the New McCarthyites off. First up was Caleb Troxclair, chief of staff to Rep. Phil King, who tweeted the Trib story with this bon mot: "Socialist organization and Occupy movement organized mob to stop #SB5"



Quickly there was a retort from Travis County Republican Party communications director Andy Hogue (glossing over that communism and socialism are not interchangable terms): "So let me get this straight, @calebtroxclair: if you supported the #sb5 filibuster you support Communism? Literally? #whoknew"



More at http://www.austinchronicle.com/blogs/news/2013-06-28/communists-gop-sees-reds-under-the-sb5-bed/ .

June 28, 2013

Rick Perry Insults Wendy Davis AGAIN

On Laura Ingraham's show Friday morning, Rick Perry put down Wendy Davis again:

What else is there to say? After asserting yesterday that Davis "hasn't learned from her own example," Perry says today that "she does not understand" the value of her own life. It is hard to think of a more insulting remark to make.

Wendy Davis stood up so that Texas women could have full, healthy lives and make their own decisions. She is literally a fighter for life, freedom, and personal happiness. Rick Perry is misogynistic cretin who wants to control women's bodies. The whole country is recoiling at him more than ever, and he's only made that worse today. Wendy's unshakeable stand against Rick Perry and the Texas Republicans' agenda makes her an American hero.

More, including the soundcloud clip at http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/13716/rick-perry-insults-wendy-davis-again .

June 28, 2013

Debbie Riddle, Our Female Gohmert, Compares Pro-Choice Camp to Hitler

It's no stretch to say Debbie Riddle is the female equivalent of Louie Gohmert. Both are the most notable proponents of the Terror Baby Theory, planting pregnant Hezbollah operatives just across the border. Both are aging Christianists with little interest in humility or discussion. Both are low-hanging fruit.

There is one discernible difference, though -- Debbie has a greater penchant for social media than Gohmert. She has no qualms with tossing a quick post on whatever hair-brained idea has just crossed the Tomball representative's mind. In the past, Riddle's gotten in hot water for espousing her views on breast-feeding, and her desire to make sure such heinous act is kept behind closed doors. Now, and as predictably as anything this side of Gohmert's hard-headedness, we have Riddle opining on the abortion bills that have brought forth the greatest the filibuster the state has seen in years. After all, did you think Riddle would stand idly by while other Texas pols claimed that fetuses masturbate and that rape kits cause abortion? Of course not.

Unfortunately, Riddle's taken down the post that shared her most recent and least surprising views. But Texas Freedom Network managed to grab a screencap of Riddle's commentary, so that we can enjoy yet another round of wondering whether those in Tomball have any idea of the woman for whom they've voted:



This one kind of speaks for itself. A bit of fun wordplay -- since they push for abortion rights, they push for slaughtering babies! etc. -- and a bit of righteous judgment from the only side that could possibly have any moral clarity.

The conclusion to this story at http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2013/06/debbie_riddle_abortion_hitler.php .

[font color=green]Debbie Riddle is a horse breeder and Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, serving House District 150, which comprises much of northwest Harris County.

Now for the crappy part that I just discovered--she is an alum of my alma mater, Southwestern University. I apologize to Texas for Pete Sessions and her.[/font]

June 28, 2013

"Revolution" casting call in Austin

As previously reported, NBC’s TV show Revolution has moved production to Austin. According to a casting notice we found, shooting will start on July 5 and extras and stand-ins are needed.

The location is listed as the Austin, TX, area but certain shoots will be in other outlying areas such as Bartlett, Martindale and other various locations.

To submit for work, you can post on their Facebook page and you must include your first and last name as listed on the OLC database.

More info is available on the aforementioned Facebook page.

June 28, 2013

"Erection Connection" Owner Gets 37 Months For Peddling Bogus Viagra, Cialis

Starting an under-the-radar business selling bogus Viagra and calling it "Erection Connection," as 48-year-old Charles Anthony Johnson of Dallas did, kind of sounds like a joke. The federal government, however, isn't laughing.

Johnson was charged last August with a dozen counts of conspiring to traffic in counterfeit goods and peddle misbranded drugs. His indictment was the culmination of a year's worth of investigative work. After Addison police arrested him with a car packed full of fake Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra in 2011, the Food and Drug Administration and local law enforcement agencies set up a sophisticated sting operation.

The operation consisted mostly of undercover cops posing as gentlemen in need of a boost, shall we say, and arranging to buy boner pills from Johnson through his ads on the Internet. They made an arrest last March when he sold 30 pills of fake Cialis to an Irving police officer for $150. That's when they found the business cards in his pocket identifying him as the sole proprietor of "Erection Connection."

In November, Johnson pleaded guilty to a single count of aiding and abetting the trafficking of counterfeit goods, which reduced the length of his possible sentence from six decades to just one.

Still, Jones will serve a considerable amount of time behind bars. Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday afternoon that a judge sentenced Jones to 37 months in prison and forced to pay $633,019 to pharmaceutical giants Pfizer, Bayer, and Eli Lilly, whose patents he ripped off.

Source: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/06/erection_connection_owner_gets.php

Not related, but concerning E. D.:
Will Governor Perry Stand Up for the Men of Texas?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107810059

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!