News you can't use

... for much. Because it will just irritate you.

-- Gun store cancels assault rifle sale to Gifford's husband:

An Arizona gun store owner has canceled the sale of an assault rifle to the husband of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, after discovering that he made the purchase to highlight the need for gun control.

[...]

In a posting on Facebook on Monday, (Diamondback Police Supply owner Doug) MacKinlay said: "While I support and respect Mark Kelly's 2nd Amendment rights to purchase, possess, and use firearms in a safe and responsible manner, his recent statements to the media made it clear that his intent in purchasing the ... rifle from us was for reasons other than for his personal use."

"In light of this fact, I determined that it was in my company's best interest to terminate this transaction prior to his returning to my store," he added.

Oh, the sweet irony of Mark Kelly's 2nd Amendment freedoms nullified by a gun nut. (That powerful stupid is for you, Greg.)

-- Much of the focus on equal rights this week is on the Supreme Court cases being argued there. As politicians of all stripes have come out in support (and in opposition), it's valuable to know where one's silent enemies are: here is a list of ten Democratic senators -- not all of whom are up for re-election, at least one of which is retiring -- who have so far declined to endorse marriage equality. Know thy enemy... including those who withhold support, the most cowardly of all positions.

-- North Korea continues to rattle its sabers. On the bright side, Kim Kong-un did declare his support for gay marriage, emphasizing to world observers that he is "not a monster". Too bad for the world that's not quite accurate.

-- Rick Perry wants the president of UT gone, and he's going to get his way even if he has to spread sexual scandal rumors about people.

I see your true colors shining through, Governor.

-- Not to be outdone by the likes of Arkansas, North Dakota's governor signs the most restrictive abortion legislation in the nation into law. But Rick Perry and the Texas Lege are in the on-deck circle.

-- Pity Walmart. They seem to be having a people power brownout.

Margaret Hancock has long considered the local Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) superstore her one- stop shopping destination. No longer. 

During recent visits, the retired accountant from Newark, Delaware, says she failed to find more than a dozen basic items, including certain types of face cream, cold medicine, bandages, mouthwash, hangers, lamps and fabrics.

The cosmetics section “looked like someone raided it,” said Hancock, 63.

Wal-Mart’s loss was a gain for Kohl’s Corp. (KSS), Safeway Inc. (SWY), Target Corp. (TGT) and Walgreen Co. (WAG) -- the chains Hancock hit for the items she couldn’t find at Wal-Mart.

“If it’s not on the shelf, I can’t buy it,” she said. “You hate to see a company self-destruct, but there are other places to go.”

It’s not as though the merchandise isn’t there. It’s piling up in aisles and in the back of stores because Wal-Mart doesn’t have enough bodies to restock the shelves, according to interviews with store workers. In the past five years, the world’s largest retailer added 455 U.S. Wal-Mart stores, a 13 percent increase, according to filings and the company’s website. In the same period, its total U.S. workforce, which includes Sam’s Club employees, dropped by about 20,000, or 1.4 percent.

It seems that the high cost of low prices is just too much for the nation's largest retailer to bear. My heart bleeds.

The NRA is a domestic terrorist network

And should probably also be prosecuted under the RICO predicates.

Some residents of the Connecticut community devastated by December's school shooting said they're outraged over robocalls they've received from the National Rifle Association only three months after a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Newtown residents said the automated calls from the NRA began last week and urge people to tell their state legislators to oppose gun control proposals. Some also said they received postcards from the NRA supporting gun owners' rights.

"It's ridiculous and insensitive," Newtown resident Dan O'Donnell told Hartford-area NBC affiliate WVIT-TV, one of several media organizations to report about the robocalls. "I can't believe an organization would be so focused on the rights of gun owners with no consideration for the losses this town suffered."

A message seeking comment was left Monday at the NRA's headquarters in Fairfax, Va.

And a Happy Easter to you too, Wayne LaPierre.

"I received one of these," Newtown resident Christopher Wenis wrote on Facebook Thursday afternoon. "I was insulted and offended." Wenis told The Huffington Post in an interview Friday night that in the 36 hours since he first posted his response, he received two more robocalls from the NRA, one later on Thursday night and one on Friday evening.

"I've got a 5-year-old son who went to preschool on the Sandy Hook Elementary School campus," Wenis explained. "And this was a really hard week for me on a lot of levels. These calls were the very last thing I needed."

Wenis said that he called the NRA twice to request that his name be placed on a "Do Not Call List" -- first on Tuesday and again Thursday. He said an NRA phone operator assured him he would be removed from NRA call lists. But the calls kept coming. By Friday night, Wenis said, he was desperate to be left in peace. 

These twisted shitstains are laughing out loud about all the publicity they're getting, just as they leered when they concocted the plan.

“As a tactic, I think it’s backfiring on the NRA,” said State Rep. Dan Carter, a Republican who reps Newtown. “Most the of the calls that have come in have been pro gun-control.”

Connecticut’s outraged senators, Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, demanded that the NRA “cease and desist” said the gun group “stooped to a new low.”

“Put yourself in the shoes of a victim’s family member who gets calls at dinnertime asking them to support more assault weapons in our school and on our streets,” the senators wrote in a letter to NRA chief Wayne LaPierre.

“In a community that’s still very much in crisis, to be making these calls opens a wound that these families are still trying hard to heal.”

There is just no sewer too low for LaPierre and the NRA to slither into.

Once again for the record: I fully support both the Second (and the First) Amendment. I am a longtime gun owner but have never been a member of the NRA, and never will be. Among the various legislative proposals under consideration by the few sane members of Congress, I would support legislation registering my guns in a national database without a trace of the Neanderthal paranoia about the government having that data.

And when tools like Ted Carnival Cruz say, "what part of 'shall not be infringed' don't you understand", my response is: What part of "well-regulated militia" don't YOU understand? It should have been Dianne Feinstein's response as well.

There is only one way to deal with bullies, and that's to demonstrate an equivalent amount of resistance to them. They do not, will not ever understand anything else.

No negotiations with terrorists.

Update: I should have mentioned that Jim Carrey nailed these thugs dead to rights, which prompted some goon on Fox to erupt. That was as predictable as the next NRA fundraising appeal featuring 'Cold Dead Hand'.

Tipping and Tooting, Part II

(Part I is here.)

Tipping and Tooting, Part I

In continuance of the theme associated with tipping your server and saving the world...

Next, Part II: What is the proper tipping etiquette when the server involved passes gas... horribly?

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance always roots for the underdog regardless of the bracket effect as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff discusses the latest threat to voting rights at the Supreme Court.

Lightseeker provides some insight in the phenomenon that is Dan Patrick. Check out Education and a Tale of Many Patricks over at TexasKaos.  

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme knows the greedy corporate types want a guest worker immigration deal, not real, humane immigration reform.  

WCNews at Eye on Williamson points out that the "bidness" community in Texas needs some GOP moderates to get Medicaid expanded in Texas: Medicaid expansion showing fault lines in Texas GOP.

A mundane piece of Washington bureaucratic paperwork may have a great deal of influence in future US-Cuba relations, as PDiddie at Brains and Eggs observes.

Neil at Texas Liberal took a picture of a mining pit as he was flying from Los Angeles back to Houston. Neil has not been so active at Texas Liberal of late, but will be offering up a new website within the next few weeks. This website will be called NeilAquino.com.

========================= 

And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Salud Today praises the city of San Antonio's pre-kindergarten initiative.

The Rev. Dr. Cindi Love writes about her experiences at Equality Texas Lobby Day.

Texans for Public Justice reveals who the biggest recipients of campaign contributions from the payday lending industry are.

Offcite describes a project by Rice University students and staff that seeks to reinvent libraries and increase access to knowledge in the developing world.

ProPublica isn't a blog, but its report on the UT anti-affirmative action lawsuit now awaiting a SCOTUS ruling is a must-read.

Better Texas Blog says that more funding is needed for retired teachers to be self-sufficient.

Texas state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon says that if current conditions continue, Texas will experience its second-worst drought ever and worst since the 1950s.

Texpatriate reports on the term limits bill that passed out of the Senate.

Texas Leftist tells the truth on school funding.

Texas Watch says Insurance Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman has to go.

Texas Vox explains the Public Utility Commission sunset bill.

Burnt Orange Report highlights the sad state of reproductive freedom in Texas.

And finally, Doctor Nerdlove shows why the selling of masculinity is a bad deal for all of us.

Sunday Funnies

More inductees into this week's Hall of Shame

So many morons tried to apply after the doors were closed that I finally had to weld the door shut on the previous post and start this one.

-- Let's begin with Dr. and Sen. Donna Campbell of San Antonio (and Wonkette). It's SFW but unsafe for your sanity.

Texas Doctor Senator Idiot Lady Says No Abortions Because Men Bleed From Their Butts

(Campbell) would just, as a doctor and a woman, prefer it if the great state of Texas require that abortion clinics meet the regulatory standards for surgical centers, which would just happen to shut down all the state’s abortion clinics but five. But she has a super-good reason for this: because men bleed from their butts, and if a man is bleeding from his butt, then in the ER “We have a surgeon on call. But we don’t have a surgeon on call for someone who is hemorrhaging from the uterus.” Dr. Sen. Campbell, y’all!
 
Most people watching this stream of consciousness performance art from Dr. Sen. Campbell would think: maybe if a woman shows up at the ER hemorrhaging from her uterus, the ER should be required to get a surgeon on call? That seems like it would be a good law. We think Dr. Sen. Campbell should introduce it.

Yes, there is video of her saying these things.



-- RNC chair Rinse Pubis Reince Preibus believes that the fountain of all wisdom in regard to GOP recruitment efforts and gay marriage -- and even women's reproductive rights -- flows from Fox News commentator Mike Huckabee. Some of The Huckster's musings on the topics are republished at the link.

The Onion and Andy Borowitz meeting together in committee could not come up with anything more hilariously ironic than that.

-- The man who could turn Texas blue: Rick Perry.

Rejecting the federal money (for Medicaid expansion) might not pose an immediate political threat to Texas Republicans, whose coalition revolves around white voters responsive to small-government arguments. But renouncing the money represents an enormous gamble for Republicans with the growing Hispanic community, which is expected to approach one-third of the state’s eligible voters in 2016. Hispanics would benefit most from expansion because they constitute 60 percent of the state’s uninsured. A jaw-dropping 3.6 million Texas Hispanics lack insurance.

Texas Democrats are too weak to much affect the Medicaid debate. But if state Republicans reject federal money that could insure 1 million or more Hispanics, they could provide Democrats with an unprecedented opportunity to energize those voters—the key to the party’s long-term revival. With rejection, says Democratic state Rep. Rafael Anchia of Dallas, Republicans “would dig themselves into an even deeper hole with the Hispanic community.”

In 1994, California Republican Gov. Pete Wilson mobilized his base by promoting Proposition 187, a ballot initiative to deny services to illegal immigrants. He won reelection that year—and then lost the war as Hispanics stampeded from the GOP and helped turn the state lastingly Democratic. Texas Republicans wouldn’t be threatened as quickly, but they may someday judge their impending decision on expanding Medicaid as a similar turning point.

This is absofuckinglutely dead solid accurate. It's also the last shred of logic that might change the governor's mind before the current legislative session expires... or finally flush his presidential aspirations down the toilet and out to the Gulf of Mexico.

I would prefer the former at the terrible price of losing the latter.

-- The only person who comes close to being as violently, arrogantly ignorant as Rick Perry appears to be the new owner of the Houston Astros, Jim Crane.

Larry Dierker will no longer be a part of the Astros organization after April 15, and his departure will be a wrenching moment for anyone who has been a fan of Major League Baseball in this city for the last half-century.

Dierker, the former Astros pitcher, broadcaster and manager who made his Houston debut in 1964 at age 18, said this week he turned down a new contract with the Astros that included personal appearances and studio work on Comcast SportsNet Houston because he did not consider such duties to be “meaningful.”

[...]

Dierker acknowledges he was angry and upset that he did not get the CSN game analyst’s job vacated by Jim Deshaies, and that’s understandable. His booth work was a significant transition between his days as one of the best pitchers in franchise history in the 1960s and ‘70s and his five years (1997-2001) as arguably the most productive manager in the team’s history.

He was, and is, one of the most popular figures associated with the Astros, and he could have spent the next few seasons signing autographs at Larry’s Big Bamboo at Minute Maid Park and chatting about the Astros during CSN’s pre- and postgame shows.

The effronteries just keep piling up: the switch to the AL, the fire-sale destruction of the team that began under Uncle Drayton and has been continued by Crane, the animosity over TV contract negotiations that began months ago with the Rockets and now linger into spring. It might even be appropriate to mention that in a market that worships the Bushes, playing golf with Obama was a bad PR move. (Even the timing of the golf game, not to mention Crane's O&G investments, is not enough to overcome the disgrace of being in a foursome with Tiger Woods, US trade representative Ron Kirk, and the president. Crane's still overcompensating for those ugly racial rumors that surfaced during the due diligence period of his purchase of the team, it appears.)

How could a guy so rich be so stupid? When points of view as disparate as super-agent Scott Boras and fossil/MLB analyst Peter Gammons agree that the Astros will suck for a long, long time, you might be risking your fan base and your current revenue stream and perhaps even the long-range value of your investment. Everybody seems to understand this except Crane and George Postolos and whatever else serves as a brain trust over on Crawford Avenue.

-- Got any more nominees for the HOS? Put them in the comments. But please, no Ted "Carnival" Cruz. I've made it this far ignoring him; I'm going to press on.