Thursday, July 13, 2006
Quote of the Day
Our "Quote of the Day" feature returns today with some blatant Republican racism.
Here's the quote:
"As much as the politically correct crowd would like to talk around it, the market for alternative schools is the direct result of government-forced integration of the public schools. The demise of the public schools has followed on the heels of federal courts mandating integration about as directly as any example of cause-and-effect in social policy in American history."
Here's who said it:
Texas State Rep. Bill Keffer of Dallas, in a Lakewood Advocate column.
Here's the quote:
"As much as the politically correct crowd would like to talk around it, the market for alternative schools is the direct result of government-forced integration of the public schools. The demise of the public schools has followed on the heels of federal courts mandating integration about as directly as any example of cause-and-effect in social policy in American history."
Here's who said it:
Texas State Rep. Bill Keffer of Dallas, in a Lakewood Advocate column.
Dumbass
Normally, I like Tucker Carlson. I hardly ever agree with him, but I find him entertaining and can usually see how he arrives at his opinions (something I can't do with most conservatives).
That said, there is simply no excuse for his most recent blunder.
In a discussion on immigration Monday with Jesse Diaz, Dallas chapter president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, Carlson suggested that some illegal immigrants to the United States come from Puerto Rico.
"...you may be counting Hispanic immigrants from Puerto Rico or Cuba, but those two countries make up less than 1 percent of the Hispanic immigrants in Dallas, Texas."
Unfortunately for Carlson, people from Puerto Rico are already legal citizens of the United States. Puerto Rico is a U.S. Territory, often considered for statehood, and the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 grants Puerto Ricans full American citizenship. Additionally, federal law says that Cuban immigrants who reach American shores receive immediate asylum.
In other words, there aren't many illegal immigrants from Puerto Rico or Cuba...period.
That said, there is simply no excuse for his most recent blunder.
In a discussion on immigration Monday with Jesse Diaz, Dallas chapter president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, Carlson suggested that some illegal immigrants to the United States come from Puerto Rico.
"...you may be counting Hispanic immigrants from Puerto Rico or Cuba, but those two countries make up less than 1 percent of the Hispanic immigrants in Dallas, Texas."
Unfortunately for Carlson, people from Puerto Rico are already legal citizens of the United States. Puerto Rico is a U.S. Territory, often considered for statehood, and the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 grants Puerto Ricans full American citizenship. Additionally, federal law says that Cuban immigrants who reach American shores receive immediate asylum.
In other words, there aren't many illegal immigrants from Puerto Rico or Cuba...period.
His Mysterious Ways
Former Houston mayor Bob Lanier is aided by firefighters after collapsing at Ken Lay's funeral yesterday. (Houston Chronicle photo)
Shortly after learning of Ken Lay's sudden death, I wrote the following words in an e-mail discussion about the then-breaking news:
I think this is a very interesting development when one considers how often, especially during his trial and after his conviction, that Ken Lay referenced his faith in God and a belief that God would make everything work out.
Indeed, I believe God did make things work out...at least to some degree. Ken Lay destroyed the financial lives of thousands of Enron employees, thousands of Enron investors, and thousands of state employees (especially teachers) who were unwitting Enron investors because some fund manager put their retirement money there. That ripple effect probably touches more people than we can count. Arguably, he caused more pain and left more victims in his wake then even the worst serial murderer. How many people committed suicide because of Ken Lay's scheming? We'll probably never know, but I'm sure the number would stagger us.
So, as Ken Lay sat enjoying his ill-gotten Aspen hideaway, plotting how to protect it from the federal courts, and continuing to proclaim his faith, God Almighty exacted divine justice. In one presumably painful instant, it was all over and gone.
I still stand by those words. Yesterday, while Houston's upper crust gathered to mourn the lost of one of their own, I think the hand of God may have descended again.
Former Houston mayor Bob Lanier, who testified as a defense character witness during Lay's trial, collapsed on his way into Lay's funeral yesterday. Lanier was taken by ambulance to a Houston hospital. Doctors there say a pacemaker saved his life.
Could it be the hand of God? I cannot say for sure, but I think it could be.
Expensive Dog Food
NBC's Brian Williams just called him "a heroic figure."
The nation, or at least our media, is holding a collective breath as they watch every change in his condition.
A new war is brewing in the Middle East, yet precious broadcast time is devoted to his medical plight.
We have heard about the medical miracles that are keeping him alive.
We have seen the intimate and sometimes gory details of his treatment.
No one has batted an eye at the tens of thousands of dollars spent to save him from once certain death.
Who is this "heroic figure" that's "fighting tough odds?"
Is it a major political figure?
Is it a major entertainment figure?
No.
It's a Goddamn racehorse named Barbaro.
Our values in this country have reached a new level of crazy. While people only blocks away from where I currently sit will sleep tonight on the sidewalk, hungry and unable to get medical care for their chronic injuries, America is supposed to be worried about an animal. A friend of mine can't afford $100 worth of insulin, but a horse can get upwards of $30,000 of surgery. Elderly people living blocks from where I currently sit can't afford life saving air conditioning, but a damn animal lives in climate-controlled comfort. Countless Americans will not eat a single morsel, but that animal will have only the best food that science has determined he should have.
Could this be a sign of the apocalypse?
Let's just shoot the damn thing and get it over with.
The nation, or at least our media, is holding a collective breath as they watch every change in his condition.
A new war is brewing in the Middle East, yet precious broadcast time is devoted to his medical plight.
We have heard about the medical miracles that are keeping him alive.
We have seen the intimate and sometimes gory details of his treatment.
No one has batted an eye at the tens of thousands of dollars spent to save him from once certain death.
Who is this "heroic figure" that's "fighting tough odds?"
Is it a major political figure?
Is it a major entertainment figure?
No.
It's a Goddamn racehorse named Barbaro.
Our values in this country have reached a new level of crazy. While people only blocks away from where I currently sit will sleep tonight on the sidewalk, hungry and unable to get medical care for their chronic injuries, America is supposed to be worried about an animal. A friend of mine can't afford $100 worth of insulin, but a horse can get upwards of $30,000 of surgery. Elderly people living blocks from where I currently sit can't afford life saving air conditioning, but a damn animal lives in climate-controlled comfort. Countless Americans will not eat a single morsel, but that animal will have only the best food that science has determined he should have.
Could this be a sign of the apocalypse?
Let's just shoot the damn thing and get it over with.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
More Trouble for Abramoff and Reed
With Jack Abramoff's criminal cases being all but resolved, he now faces a new round of civil court trouble. As the Austin-American Statesman reports, "an East Texas American Indian tribe denied the right to run its own casino filed a lawsuit today against disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his associates, including Ralph Reed, formerly of the Christian Coalition and now a candidate for Georgia lieutenant governor."
The lawsuit alleges that Abramoff, Reed, and the other defendants (including an aide to former Congressman Tom DeLay) pitted competing tribes against each other and appealed to religious conservatives on moral grounds to keep casinos from being built in Texas.
This is the latest round of trouble for Reed. Questions about his association with Abramoff continue to hound his campaign for Lieutenant Governor in Georgia. Meanwhile, Reed continues to deny any wrongdoing while claiming to have "stronger values" than his
GOP primary opponent.
All of this makes great fodder for a column by Garrison Keillor.
The lawsuit alleges that Abramoff, Reed, and the other defendants (including an aide to former Congressman Tom DeLay) pitted competing tribes against each other and appealed to religious conservatives on moral grounds to keep casinos from being built in Texas.
This is the latest round of trouble for Reed. Questions about his association with Abramoff continue to hound his campaign for Lieutenant Governor in Georgia. Meanwhile, Reed continues to deny any wrongdoing while claiming to have "stronger values" than his
GOP primary opponent.
All of this makes great fodder for a column by Garrison Keillor.
Novak Notes
Robert Novak has finally revealed a couple of his sources in the Valerie Plame leak. As the Washington Post reports, "in a column to be published today, Novak said he told [Special Prosecutor Patrick] Fitzgerald in early 2004 that White House senior adviser Karl Rove and then-CIA spokesman Bill Harlow had confirmed for him, at his request, information about CIA operative Valerie Plame."
Novak still refuses to reveal the identity of his primary source, because as he says, "my primary source has not come forward to identify himself."
None of this is any great surprise to those who have been following the case, and with the announcement that Karl Rove will not be prosecuted, it's rather anticlimactic.
Meanwhile, Novak has put some fuel in the Democrats' electoral fire. In his Monday column, Novak writes that "a six-seat takeover capturing the Senate is possible."
Novak still refuses to reveal the identity of his primary source, because as he says, "my primary source has not come forward to identify himself."
None of this is any great surprise to those who have been following the case, and with the announcement that Karl Rove will not be prosecuted, it's rather anticlimactic.
Meanwhile, Novak has put some fuel in the Democrats' electoral fire. In his Monday column, Novak writes that "a six-seat takeover capturing the Senate is possible."
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Calling Your Senator
Anyone who's ever tried to call Kay Bailey Hutchison about anything knows that you'll never actually get to talk to the Senior Senator from Texas. To be fair, the same is probably true of most Senators.
With her Democratic opponent, Barbara Ann Radnofsky, however, the opposite is true. As reported by the Agonist, "those that called Radnofsky actually talked to her, as the [e-mail] had accidentally included her personal cell number (oops). But Radnofsky was ecstatic about it. She took over 200 calls from people concerned about net neutrality and how the telco cartel was fighting this in Congress."
The Agonist asks a very good question. "Would Kay Bailey do the same thing? More importantly, will she do the right thing?"
Meanwhile, and as calls to have an exchange mount, Hutchison still refuses to debate Radnofsky.
With her Democratic opponent, Barbara Ann Radnofsky, however, the opposite is true. As reported by the Agonist, "those that called Radnofsky actually talked to her, as the [e-mail] had accidentally included her personal cell number (oops). But Radnofsky was ecstatic about it. She took over 200 calls from people concerned about net neutrality and how the telco cartel was fighting this in Congress."
The Agonist asks a very good question. "Would Kay Bailey do the same thing? More importantly, will she do the right thing?"
Meanwhile, and as calls to have an exchange mount, Hutchison still refuses to debate Radnofsky.
Bell Turns Up Heat On Perry
Today brings news from Democrat Chris Bell's Texas Gubernatorial Campaign.
"Democratic gubernatorial nominee Chris Bell today formally joined a bi-partisan group of consumer advocates in asking the Public Utility Commission to impose an emergency moratorium on utility disconnections for the summer. He also accused Rick Perry and the legislative leadership of blatant cruelty and dishonesty for raiding $427 million from the System Benefit Fund, which was created to subsidize the utility bills for senior citizens and poor Texans...especially galling since the taxpayers subsidize 100% of the electric bill at the Governor's Mansion that was $5,522.86 in May 2006."
Bell "also called on Rick Perry to either cease collecting the System Benefit Fund fee from ratepayers or to start using it for its intended purpose, which is subsidizing the utility bills for low-income or senior Texans. In 2005, Rick Perry and the Legislature raided $427 million from the System Benefit Fund and transferred it into General Revenue to spend on whatever it wanted. This can only be described as fraud and eliminates the very tool designed to prevent the need for the moratorium we are calling for today."
For those not paying attention, let me condense this.
All of this follows a recent examination of electric deregulation here in Texas. Several years into the deregulation, and as the Texas Observer reports, rates continue to skyrocket.
"Democratic gubernatorial nominee Chris Bell today formally joined a bi-partisan group of consumer advocates in asking the Public Utility Commission to impose an emergency moratorium on utility disconnections for the summer. He also accused Rick Perry and the legislative leadership of blatant cruelty and dishonesty for raiding $427 million from the System Benefit Fund, which was created to subsidize the utility bills for senior citizens and poor Texans...especially galling since the taxpayers subsidize 100% of the electric bill at the Governor's Mansion that was $5,522.86 in May 2006."
Bell "also called on Rick Perry to either cease collecting the System Benefit Fund fee from ratepayers or to start using it for its intended purpose, which is subsidizing the utility bills for low-income or senior Texans. In 2005, Rick Perry and the Legislature raided $427 million from the System Benefit Fund and transferred it into General Revenue to spend on whatever it wanted. This can only be described as fraud and eliminates the very tool designed to prevent the need for the moratorium we are calling for today."
For those not paying attention, let me condense this.
- Rick Perry and the Republican legislature scrapped the state program that helps poor folks and old folks pay their electric bills.
- All electric consumers in Texas still pay a monthly surcharge for the program, even though it's been scrapped.
- Texas summers are hot (it's 100 degrees outside my window), long, and often require electricity for survival. Old people that can't pay their bills could die.
- Rick Perry, a very wealthy man, has his electric bill paid by the state.
- The Governor's Mansion, which gets it's power from the City of Austin (and in Texas, municipal utilities are always cheaper), spent over $5,000 on utilities in May. I can only imagine what June and July will cost.
- Chris Bell says Texas electric consumers should get what they pay for, or stop paying for it.
All of this follows a recent examination of electric deregulation here in Texas. Several years into the deregulation, and as the Texas Observer reports, rates continue to skyrocket.
Activist What?
It seems the Judge-Hater-in-Chief has decided to listen to another branch of the government for a change.
Following the recent Supreme Court decision that smacked El Jefe's hands and forced him (God forbid) to follow either established civilian or military criminal procedure (mind you...he still has his pick), and thus the Constitution, the President's Chief Cheerleader announced today that detainees at Guantanamo Bay will now be subject to the Geneva Conventions.
While Tony Snow denies it, this is a direct reversal from earlier White House practice and policy. Republicans have long claimed that the nature of terrorist operatives makes them exempt from such provisions. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales even went so far as to call the Geneva Conventions "quaint."
This comes on the heels of news that El Jefe is scrapping his failed and embarrassing approach to foreign policy.
Let me make my opinion clear here. Allegedly, the so-called "War on Terror" is aimed at protecting our American way of life. That, in my mind, includes our criminal justice system. By subverting it the way "the Decider" has attempted to until today, we are doing exactly what the terrorists want: eliminating the American way of life.
If these men have committed crimes against America, put them on trial. If you can't find the evidence to do it, let them go. Any one of us would expect the same treatment.
Following the recent Supreme Court decision that smacked El Jefe's hands and forced him (God forbid) to follow either established civilian or military criminal procedure (mind you...he still has his pick), and thus the Constitution, the President's Chief Cheerleader announced today that detainees at Guantanamo Bay will now be subject to the Geneva Conventions.
While Tony Snow denies it, this is a direct reversal from earlier White House practice and policy. Republicans have long claimed that the nature of terrorist operatives makes them exempt from such provisions. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales even went so far as to call the Geneva Conventions "quaint."
This comes on the heels of news that El Jefe is scrapping his failed and embarrassing approach to foreign policy.
Let me make my opinion clear here. Allegedly, the so-called "War on Terror" is aimed at protecting our American way of life. That, in my mind, includes our criminal justice system. By subverting it the way "the Decider" has attempted to until today, we are doing exactly what the terrorists want: eliminating the American way of life.
If these men have committed crimes against America, put them on trial. If you can't find the evidence to do it, let them go. Any one of us would expect the same treatment.
Camera Carrying Conservatives
Okay. I abandon any claims to re-establish regular attempts at blogging. That said, let's get back to the blog...at least for now...with a couple of videos.
Let me preface the following items. I'm as patriotic as the next guy, but crap is crap, and Republican lies are still Republican lies.
Today's first item (the crap) comes to us from the good folks at PinkDome. They've found a very patriotic music video that's sure to be the new bump on the Fox News Channel. After all, FNC Boss Roger Ailes is looking to shake things up there.
Our second item (the lies) comes from a U.S. House race in North Carolina, courtesy of YouTube. It's a commercial produced by the campaign of Vernon Robinson, a Republican running for in North Carolina's 13th district. Giving even further proof of how far over the edge he is, MSNBC's Chris Matthews praised the ad during yesterday's edition of Hardball.
Enjoy!
Let me preface the following items. I'm as patriotic as the next guy, but crap is crap, and Republican lies are still Republican lies.
Today's first item (the crap) comes to us from the good folks at PinkDome. They've found a very patriotic music video that's sure to be the new bump on the Fox News Channel. After all, FNC Boss Roger Ailes is looking to shake things up there.
Our second item (the lies) comes from a U.S. House race in North Carolina, courtesy of YouTube. It's a commercial produced by the campaign of Vernon Robinson, a Republican running for in North Carolina's 13th district. Giving even further proof of how far over the edge he is, MSNBC's Chris Matthews praised the ad during yesterday's edition of Hardball.
Enjoy!
