August 18, 2013

Greg Abbott causes on-line stir by thanking name-calling tweeter

A Twitter poster who called Wendy Davis an “idiot” and “retard Barbie,” and said Greg Abbott would demolish her in the governor’s election, got a thank-you from Abbott’s campaign also via Twitter.

The exchange prompted a flurry of people on Twitter to suggest that Abbott should have refuted the offensive language instead of giving a shout out to the poster.

The poster, @jefflegal, frequently comments on political events and ridicules liberals. He had little patience for those who criticized his name-calling. He said he was using irony and “loved hearing complaints from liberals.”

Both he and Abbott used the hashtag #tgdn, for Twitter Gulag Defense Network — started earlier this year by conservatives who work together to protect their accounts from being taken off the network for offensive content, and also work together to get liberal content suspended.

More at http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/08/greg-abbott-causes-on-line-stir-by-thanking-name-calling-tweeter.html/ .

August 18, 2013

Remember the Battle of Medina! (No, not Funky Cold Medina)

Historians, professors and descendants of Texas' tumultuous birth gathered Saturday in Pleasanton for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Medina, considered the bloodiest in the state's history.

Named the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition by historians, the running battle took place across a six- to eight-mile span on Aug. 18, 1813, about 20 miles south of San Antonio, as the Republican Army of the North fought to free Texas from the Royal Spanish Army of Spain.

Speakers at the Church of Christ on North Main Street discussed the battle's wide-ranging impact.

Robert H. Thonhoff, co-author of a 1985 book, “The Forgotten Battlefield of the first Texan Revolution: The Battle of Medina,” said more than half of the male population in Texas at the time was lost at Medina.

More at http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Remember-the-Battle-of-Medina-4740946.php .

FWIW,

August 18, 2013

Cornyn campaign dips into tea party for another staffer

Sen. John Cornyn’s campaign has hired another alum of FreedomWorks, which helped U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz take the GOP nod for the office he now holds through efforts such as having a national tea party rally just days before his 2012 runoff election against Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and training tea-party groups in voter turnout.

Cornyn’s campaign manager is Brendan Steinhauser, who came to him from the Texas Public Policy Foundation after leaving FreedomWorks.

Now his campaign has hired Amanda Shell, a Weatherford native who after leaving FreedomWorks was legislative aide for Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels.

The campaign said Shell “is an experienced grassroots organizer who has spent years working to train and mobilize thousands of conservative activists across the country.”

More at http://blog.mysanantonio.com/texas-politics/2013/08/cornyn-campaign-dips-into-tea-party-for-another-staffer/ .

[font color=green]
Star light
Star bright
Which teabagger's ass will I kiss tonight?
[/font]

August 18, 2013

More interesting poll results...

From the Corpus Christi Caller-Times:

Poll: Do you agree with Gov. Perry on refusing to accept the Medicaid expansion in its current form?

Response
Percent Votes

[font color=blue]No - We're already paying for it. Let's use the funds

61% 361[/font]

[font color=red]Yes - Texas should set up its own healthcare model

32% 189[/font]

[font color=purple]I don't know - It's too complex to understand

3% 23[/font]

[font color=magenta]Maybe - Let's see how it works in other states

2% 12[/font]

http://www.caller.com/polls/2013/jul/gov-perry-medicare/results/

total votes: 585

August 18, 2013

Poverty's Reality and Red Wagon Fiction

[font color=green]Note: The following column by Carol Morgan provides a response to the town hall meetings that U. S. Representative Randy Neugebauer (Regressive) has held in his district that includes Lubbock, Plainview and Abilene. Neugebauer brought along his little red wagon to Tuesday’s town hall meeting in Plainview to hold questions from the audience as well as to make a point.[/font]

[font color=red]

[/font]

The column by Carol Morgan:

Check the media and internet forums. You’re certain to overdose on a heaping portion of raw, cruel, uninformed and biased attitudes toward poverty and the poor. These quintessential stereotypes have persisted since the early 1980’s, when greed gradually began taking up residence within America. Fast forward to the millennium, and you see the GOP resurrecting the welfare queen trope, but this time, she’s all dressed up in some new rhetoric.

Twisting and condensing complex socio-economic concepts into brief clever memes so they can effectively whip their base into an evangelical frenzy, the Conservatives employ inflammatory phrases like “Welfare is slavery” or worse, they characterize America’s safety net as “Uncle Sam’s Plantation”.

Case in point: This last week, the constituents of District 19 saw our Congressman drag his little red wagon from Lubbock to Plainview to Abilene. His “listening sessions” were a show and tell, dog and pony, snake oil and medicine show full of misinformation and outright lies to a room full of low information voters.

It’s hard to believe that no attendee called him out on his mistakes and blatant fabrications.

Too many freeloaders are filling the wagon, he said, creating a heavy burden for the taxpayers forced to carry them. Did the audience know that only 12% of our budget goes toward safety net programs?

He even referred to our growing deficit. News flash—Congressman! The deficit is shrinking quite nicely! Just this week, it was reported that the Federal deficit is down 37.6%.

How is it that the GOP can continue to spin myths, urban legends, and flaunt outrageous errors in the face of real facts and face-to-face with their constituents?

It’s because of us…

Low-information-uninformed voters continue to elect empathy-challenged individuals to make our policies. Those above the poverty line continue to believe AND perpetuate stereotypes and second-third-fourth-hand fictions about food stamp recipients who drive Cadillacs, carry designer handbags and cell phones.

In the minds of the injudiciously judgmental, there is an unspoken dress code for the poor, in order to be evaluated as legitimately needy.

I’ve heard those stories. I’ll bet you’ve heard them too. They’re filled with dangerous assumptions and judgments. The stories vilify the poor and they elevate us to the role of a hypercritical omnipotent being, who is magically familiar with each individual’s situation.

In truth, we don’t know the individual in the check-out lane in front of us; nor do we know their story. Perhaps the holder of that EBT card at whom we’re scowling has a severely handicapped child or perhaps they’re seriously ill themselves. Maybe they are shopping for an elderly parent.

That nice purse, designer jeans, or expensive shoes they’re wearing? It might have been something they purchased long before they lost their job or got sick. It might have been a gift from someone. And their children? Perhaps they were born before the job loss or debilitating illness? There’s no return policy on children you can no longer afford, you know...

Here’s the real truth: Bad things can happen to good people.

Unfortunately, we never grant the benefit of the doubt to anyone, until it happens to us. The next “toss of the dice” in life’s gamble might be your own sickness, your job loss, or your accident. Empathy is difficult for the lucky. Other people’s hardships should be a gentle reminder that hard work doesn’t guarantee a lifetime free of trouble.

In reality, most regular Joes and Janes are only three paychecks away from sinking into poverty ourselves.

Not many politicians, or even average citizens, know the day-in-day-out miseries of poverty. Few are personally acquainted with even a single individual who suffers from lack. They don’t know senior citizens on SNAP; they’ve yet to meet a single mother utilizing the WIC program for her infant, or a family lucky enough to get a Section 8 Housing Voucher.

I have a surplus of personal stories about the poor in Lubbock County. I worked with them (and FOR them) in my time as a teacher and counselor. Perhaps someday, I’ll write a book about those experiences. Everything I know about life, I learned from Lubbock’s poor and their children. I worked in many schools; all were east of University Avenue. I worked in the downtown areas of O.L. Slaton before it was a magnet school, in deep East Lubbock as a counselor at Alderson, in the barrios of North Lubbock as a counselor at Cavazos and finally, as a career counselor at Lubbock High School.

I was a frequent and welcome visitor in student’s homes; in the neighborhoods known as Little Mexico, the trees of Butler Park, and Chocolate City of East David Ave. I’ve been in homes without electricity in Guadalupe, in glorified sheds with dirt floors near the airport, homes where meals and heat came from the same tiny charcoal grill, and dingy transient motels that were the temporary shelters of the marginally homeless.

I even visited a van in the parking lot of a church in North Overton.

During those years, not a single family I dealt with was complacent. They weren’t content or satisfied to live in those conditions. They wanted out, but they were so far down, they saw no way out of their wretchedness. Many parents worked two and three jobs, along with their measly safety net pittance, and they still couldn’t make it from paycheck to paycheck. There was always some chaotic event (a baby’s illness, a husband’s injury, a car breaks down, a family member in jail, sister got pregnant) that disrupted the thin stability they’d established.

Before our Congressman and our Texas legislators refer to the poor as dead weight in the little red wagon, I challenge them to visit these places of despair in Lubbock. It’s not pleasant or pretty; it’s a daily struggle for survival. If you don’t starve, if you don’t develop a chronic illness from lack of healthcare, you could suffer a permanent disabling injury in a hazardous occupation, or you could be a victim of a drive-by or you might be locked up for a petty charge you didn’t commit. Your only crime might be the lack of funds to hire an adequate defense attorney. The poor learn quickly; there is no such reality as justice for all. It’s only justice for some.

They are so many possible pitfalls and struggles in the life of the poor, one day after another of complications and problems. No wonder Langston Hughes said, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.”

The little red wagon politicians should be deeply ashamed of their uninformed and pejorative metaphor for the poor. They should be more ashamed of their “punish, punish, and punish some more” attitudes, like drug-testing for assistance or unemployment, like Paul Ryan’s idea that if an individual has $2000 in savings or a car worth more than $5000, they should be ineligible for food stamps or Pat Buchanan who claimed you’re not really poor if you have a refrigerator.

In the eyes of the pompous Conservatives, being poor is a character defect; a criminal offense.

It’s no wonder the poor are desensitized to punishment. The generational poor have been castigated with great regularity since the day they were born. Most simply give up and stop trying; just surrender and fulfill other people's expectations.

Congressman Neugebauer was right about one thing in his road show across District 19.

It’s true there are a lot of people in that little red wagon. There are Americans who don’t need to be there and they’re making it hard to pull. But, with regards to the occupants, it’s a case of mistaken identity.

Tell us more, Congressman Neugebauer, tell us again about these makers and takers...

Could the real occupants of the little red wagon be our politicians who’ve enriched themselves to the detriment of their constituents?

Could some of those weighty passengers be the military-industrial complex that makes up one-third of the Federal Budget?

Is there a weight limit in the wagon for the energy corporations who made record profits, while receiving government subsidies at the same time?

Could some of those passengers in the little red wagon be your campaign donors?

Some of us aren’t fooled so easily, Sir.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Carol Morgan is a career counselor, writer, speaker, former Democratic candidate for the Texas House and the award-winning author of Of Tapestry, Time and Tears, a historical fiction about the 1947 Partition of India. Follow her on Twitter @CounselorCarol1, on Facebook: CarolMorgan1 and her writer’s blog at http//:www.carolmorgan.org

http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/carol-morgan/2013-08-17/povertys-reality-and-red-wagon-fiction

[font color=green]Another home run by Carol![/font]

August 18, 2013

It Could Have Been My Next Addiction: Pepsi-Flavored Cheetos Now Exist

Pepsi and Cheetos: a match made in snack-food heaven. But what about Pepsi-flavored Cheetos? If that seems like what you'd expect from a country salivating over breakfast waffles, we have some bad news for you: The Frito-Lay flavor does indeed exist as of last month ... in Japan. And the Los Angeles Times got this Cheetos-crushing reply from a PepsiCo rep about the prospect of the flavor hitting US shelves: "The answer is no."

What are we missing out on? A Cheeto that tastes like Pepsi (the cheese powder has been swapped for cola powder) and, more intriguingly, actually fizzes in your mouth, at least according to a review on the Impulsive Buy blog. "Not like crazy Pop Rocks fizzing, but there is some definite popping and crackling," writes the reviewer, who describes the first taste as "very citrusy, almost sour." USA Today notes that the flavor will only be available for a limited time in Japan. (That country was also the lucky one to see this crazy-decadent Wendy's burger.)

Source: http://www.newser.com/story/172671/pepsi-flavored-cheetos-now-exist.html

[font color=green]Oh well, I guess it's best that they stayed in Japan so I guess I'll have to fall back on my catnip addiction instead.[/font]

August 18, 2013

Obamacare Repeal: Sillier and More Expensive Every Time

Earlier this month, the US House voted for a record 40th time to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Democrats are now simply responding to the repeated wastes of time with zippy one-liners mocking Republicans' obsession with repealing a law that's been approved by Congress, the Supreme Court, and the majority of American voters when they voted for President Obama over that other guy last November. (Our own Rep. Lloyd Doggett delivered this zinger about Republicans' missing alternative to the ACA: "They have one alternative to Obamacare. It's called NothingCare.&quot The Obamacare repeal votes have happened so many times that they seem to have become a running joke in the House. But this time, I think the Republicans must be in on the joke--the 40th repeal bill was creatively called the "Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013." The name is so silly that it sounds better suited to The Onion than a bill from the United States Congress. I doubt I could have come up with a better caricature of the Tea Party if I tried.

As usual, all 24 Texas Republican congressmen voted for the bill. This means they're part of the joke, but it also means we should remind ourselves that each Obamacare repeal vote has serious costs. Instead of spending time working on bills that could actually help Texans, our Republican congressmen are choosing to waste time introducing new versions of a bill that has already failed 40 times. A report from CBS news found that each Obamacare repeal vote costs taxpayers $1.45 million. So all 40 Obamacare repeal votes have cost American taxpayers a grand total of $54 million. Texas's supposedly fiscally conservative congressmen are the epitome of hypocrisy--they claim to support fiscal restraint but eagerly support spending lots of time and money on a bill that will achieve absolutely nothing.

-snip-

That's why one of the ACA's new rules is that health insurance companies are now required to spend at least 80% of premiums on medical care. It's based on the novel idea that when a customer pays an insurance company a premium for medical care, their money shouldn't be spent on giving a CEO a bonus check. But apparently the fact that sick people's money was going to line the pockets of CEOs isn't that important to the Republicans who keep trying to repeal Obamacare. When Texas Republican congressmen vote to repeal the ACA, they're authorizing the use of your hard-earned money to pay the salaries of CEOs. Evidently keeping a healthcare system with the highest costs and lowest outcomes in the developed world is preferable to keeping costs down by regulating how much CEOs get paid.

So, if the fact that Republicans who oppose Obamacare are voting against coverage for poor people, young people, minorities, and women hasn't been enough to make you mad, maybe this will be. Each time there's another Obamacare repeal vote, your GOP representatives are letting you know that to them, your health care just isn't as important as that CEO's bonus check.

The complete article is at http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/13957/obamacare-repeal-sillier-and-more-expensive-every-time .

August 17, 2013

Welcome to Dewfeed--They stole our cat gifs!

Dan Patrick, a Republican state senator from Houston and Tea Party darling, has officially been in the lieutenant governor's race for almost two months now. Patrick, like the other challengers vying for the seat, has positioned himself to the right of incumbent David Dewhurst, attacking him for being too moderate and for a series of procedural missteps that left the door open for Wendy Davis' abortion filibuster.

None of those attacks come close to what Patrick unleashed today. DewFeed, which the paid-for-by-Texans for Dan Patrick banner and the link to his campaign donation website suggests is legit, is brutal. It's the "night that will live in Texas political infamy, as told by cats."

Sure enough, the listicle that follows tells the tale of Davis' filibuster through a series of nine cat GIFs.

Source: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/08/lietenant_governor_candidate_d.php


1. Dewhurst had made a lot of noise about his support for the unborn.


2. But the night of the important pro-life bill debate, he was out having a glass of wine with a political consultant friend.


3. Democrats saw an opportunity to pounce on the lack of leadership.


4. A liberal mob descended upon Dewhurst and he couldn’t keep control of the gallery.


5. Wendy Davis began her filibuster and Dewhurst began chasing his tail.


6. By the time he finally called the vote, it was too late.


7. Pro-lifers across Texas sat and sighed.


8. Texas conservatives deserve a strong Lieutenant Governor.


9. Support Dan Patrick, candidate for Texas Lt. Governor, he’ll never back down from a fight.

August 17, 2013

Report Says Texas Nursing Homes Are the Worst in the Country

Minnie Graham, a 98-year-old great-great-grandmother, kept telling her family that people were hitting her at Garland's Winters Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. When her loved ones found her eyes blackened and her arms bruised, they demanded answers. Graham, they were told, had fallen out of her wheelchair. Her granddaughters didn't buy it.

So, they set set up a clock with a hidden camera in her room and waited. What it documented was horrifying, as you'll see in the CBS News video above. Graham was slapped, pushed, pulled, sprayed in the face with water and gagged with a towel that had just been used on her body. At one point, she's crying out, "Somebody help me." She died not long thereafter. Because of her treatment, her granddaughters think she had simply lost the desire to live.

Her case may be extreme, but it's a symptom of a far larger, just as insidious pattern of neglect and lax oversight in Texas. According to a report from the organization Families for Better Care, which analyzed staffing data, performance measures from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and complaints from the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, Texas nursing homes are the worst in the country.

Fewer than 15 percent of its facilities are staffed at above-average professional nursing levels, while nearly 70 percent hire below the minimum number of caregivers needed to properly meet the needs of its residents.

The video mentioned above and the complete article are at http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/08/report_says_texas_nursing_home.php .

ETA: Watch the video here: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57597944/eleven-states-get-failing-grades-for-nursing-home-care/

August 16, 2013

Largest Federally-Owned Wind Farm to Open Near Amarillo

Texas leads the nation in wind energy production and capacity. Now the federal government is getting in on the action in an effort to clean up its carbon-emitting act.

The Department of Energy announced this week that Texas will be the home of the country’s largest federally-owned wind farm. The farm will be built at the Pantex Plant, which is the nation’s primary site for nuclear weapon maintenance. The plant, located about 20 miles northeast of Amarillo, will have 60 percent of its energy needs met by the farm.

The wind farm will be composed of five turbines spread over 1,500 acres. Its 11.5 megawatt capacity is enough to power 3,500 homes, according to the Department of Energy.

The project is part of an effort to reduce carbon emissions by federal agencies. The Obama administration has set a goal for 20 percent of all federal power consumption to come from clean sources of energy.

More at http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2013/08/16/largest-federally-owned-wind-farm-to-open-near-amarillo/ .