The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance congratulates the Baltimore Ravens on their Super Bowl win as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff reports on yet another study that shows the benefits of expanding Medicaid in Texas that will be ignored by our leaders.  

BossKitty at TruthHugger needs a break from writing about neglected matters in Texas, America, and the world, so she will take a sabbatical. Since we elect leaders to represent corporate interests that live on another planet, we must do our best individually and locally.

The roster of progressive blogs in Texas got a little thinner this past week. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs laments the state of the blogosphere but reminds his friends and enemies that they are not likely to see him go away any time soon.

We can't fix what's broke until we know what's wrong. WCNews at Eye on Williamson says Here is what's the matter with Texas.  

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is just disgusted with Ted Cruz and rapist-enabler John Cornyn.

Neil at Texas Liberal says Martin Luther King would have been sad to see young people marching off as if to war at a parade in his name.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw talks about turning a vast crony capitalist red wasteland a nice shade of blue. Is it possible we can transform Rickland into a modern progressive state? Check it out.

Super Sunday Funnies

"Harris County Republicans in trouble in 2014?"

Big Jolly is nervous.

Excessive comma splicing and too many Bill Murray impersonations aside, David is sending an SOS that the local Dems -- meeting this afternoon for a roundtable discussion -- would be well to take note of. Like this...

Sen. John Cornyn is a good conservative senator but at this point, I don’t see anyone rushing out to vote for him. Abbott in the governor slot will draw a few people out but Harris County isn’t his base and remember that the Dem won Harris County in 2010. Who knows with Lt. Gov., but again, I don’t see any excitement.

Cornyn is likely to get primaried, as everyone knows. Because of who votes in GOP primaries, Cornyn is afraid he could be beaten. As a result, the senior senator from Texas is forced to follow the junior senator's lead. Both men were two of three votes total against John Kerry's confirmation for secretary of state, and Cornyn did so simply to deny said challenger some campaign fodder.

So drop down to county races. Once again, it will be up to Harris County Judge Ed Emmett to carry the load and pull a terrible field with him. Problem is, there is a large faction (let’s call them the SD7 bunch for now) that are begging people to run against him in a primary. And frankly, if they get the right candidate, Ed’s in trouble. As we saw this year when Mike Anderson damaged the party by defeating Pat Lykos, it is difficult to recover from a nasty primary at the top of the ticket. If Ed survives the primary, he’ll be fine in November but not able to carry the field with him. If he doesn’t survive the primary, say hello to County Judge Democrat.

Well, that would certainly be nice if it were even close to accurate, but at this point Don Large, former Republican, is the only person apparently running and his Facebook page hasn't a fresh post for seven months that isn't spam. I don't think Hunker Down has much to worry about.

County Clerk Stan Stanart has had problems running the office and the people he’s hired are suspect. I’ve heard rumors that former District Clerk Charles Bacarisse will challenge him in the primary – if so, that would certainly make for a stronger ticket but those are just rumors. Personally, I’d like to see former candidate for State Rep 149 candidate Jack Lee take a crack at it. If Stan is on the ballot again, he’ll go down.

Here I agree with Jennings. Stanart should be the most endangered incumbent on the ballot, primary challenger or no.

District Clerk Chris Daniel has done a good job and is out in the county every day talking up the office. That hasn’t stopped people talking about challenging him in a primary. The most prominent name I’ve heard is former HCRP Executive Director, now some sort of communications guy for Commissioner Steve Radack, and miracle survivor of a plane crash, Court Koenning. Regardless of the candidate, this office will probably switch to the D’s.

Chris Daniel is a joke. He has ridden the coattails of predecessor Loren Jackson's effort and should be turned out, just like Stanart. 

Then, you have a problem with some gosh awful incumbent judges (who will cost some very good incumbent judges their bench). I, and many of us in the party, will not push a “Vote Straight R” message unless these judges are upset via the primary, which is a very difficult thing to do. The Straight R campaign has been the bedrock of the last two campaigns – without it, we’re going to lose a few points and certainly increase the down ballot undervotes. Imagine a Harris County judicial system 75% in the control of Democrats because that is what it will look like after 2014.

This news, again, would be good if it were true. Charles Kuffner has demonstrated the false premise of the straight ticket vote several times, but of course he uses a reality-based system called math, which Republicans don't believe in. It's not in the Bible or the Constitution, you see.

(In fact, Kuffner's take on 2014 is much closer than Jolly's to being accurate, but you once again have to ignore his tendency to place money above all other considerations.)

Another thing BJ seems to overlook is that Democrats have a long and storied history of staying home when elections are held and the president of the United States isn't on the ballot. Or when elections are held at special times on odd days. The fact is that in Harris County, suburban and exurban voters drive by the library or the high school or the church every week and go in to ask if there's an election that they forgot to vote in.

And that base of voters just isn't dying off fast enough to get the kind of progress we need in this county (and this state). But it's also true that when a political party is forcing itself to go through re-indoctrination to avoid extinction, you know there are bigger problems than just a lack of enthusiasm.

So Jolly's wake-up call to the HCRP, while more amusing than revealing, is plenty early enough for them to get out of bed, pop in their dentures, take hydrocodone for their arthritis, and get moving.

It's far too soon to be handicapping the mid-term elections. Four years ago people were just beginning to hear about the Tea Baggers, and nobody but them expected that to account for much, all the way up to November of 2010. Ginning up fear and outrage is the only thing about politics conservatives are really good at. And they can do it at the drop of a hat.

See y'all when ya get back.

John at BAH and Boss Kitty at Truthhugger both announced today that they are taking some time off.

Over the last year I've had a hard time sitting down and blogging. I've lost my wit, my mojo, my mojitos, and the blogging I am doing is lame, so I am going off line for a while. Not long, but long enough to find that energy to write. God knows there are plenty of topics to address, maybe too many.

BossKitty is tired of it all. Politics in Texas is a Consumer issue. Those who Consume the most are in charge. Wealthy Texans CONSUME the political environment. Whoever disagrees with the will of the wealthy will be gerrymandered out of their voice, by a bought and paid for Texas State Congress. I know Texas is not the only state where this problem exists. But, this is MY state and I just live here and have to keep my head low … someone may blow it off because I complain about them on this blog. Texas Corruption is only interesting because most Texans are so proud of it. If you ask a Texan why, they really don’t know, except that’s what they are supposed to say. So, after pissing in the wind, while it blows in the wrong direction, BossKitty is taking a break. Call it a Sabbatical …

Blogging is, to paraphrase our nation's 43rd president, hard work. I realize that it doesn't seem so but trust me, it is. Greg is also taking a pause, but that is semi-imposed upon him by his duties in Austin. And I should mention that my brother Neil has placed himself in a timeout with respect to political posts for the most part.

That's quite a few important voices silenced, and it's still January.

Progressive blogging generally has eased as a medium of criticality in the past year or so, despite the resurgence of the left. Even the Great Orange Satan put out a call for donations at the end of 2012 as they watched their advertising revenue fall 30%. There's still plenty of us at the keyboard, even here in Texas, but the urgency and influence of what we write and do has definitely waned. Facebook and Twitter have replaced many people's blog posts, like Rachel and John. There's still lots of lefties with an opinion, they're just sharing it elsewhere.

As for me, I'm not going anywhere. This shop's traffic doubled last year to around five hundred clicks a day -- far from significant in the grand scheme, but a big step after almost ten years of nearly daily snark. I have often been amused at the number of sites which studiously ignore my efforts here, like the Texas Tribune for example. They have never included a link to 'Brains' despite a handful of conversations with Evan Smith and some email exchange with Ross Ramsey. Meh. I might be a little too coarse for their sensibilities.

You can always count on finding a few progressive outlets in the blogroll in the right hand column, from Texas and elsewhere. And they are folks who don't have the highest of profiles but are worthy of your click. We're the ones who -- for the most part -- aren't being paid to do this, you know.

So click over, please. Some days just knowing that somebody out there is paying attention is all that keeps us going. *sniff*

Then again, it's enough for me if I only make one Republican a day grit their teeth.

Update: The editor of The Agonist also announced he is leaving today, after he was offered a two-thirds cut in salary. Update II: The Agonist is, in fact, in the process of imploding. It might still live on in some fashion, but the meta conversations over there seem to along the lines of how it can go with grace (which might already be too late).

Pouring like an avalanche

Coming down the mountain. And the GOP cannot get out of the way.

“Elections. Elections.”

That’s why Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party’s 2008 presidential nominee, says it is imperative that his fellow Republicans support comprehensive immigration reform this year.

As he unveiled a bipartisan blueprint for comprehensive reform this afternoon, McCain explained that the GOP had a big reason to pursue a deal this year — in addition to his view that it is the right thing to do from a policy perspective.

“The Republican Party is losing the support of our Hispanic citizens,” he said at a Capitol Hill press conference, flanked by three Democratic senators and two Republican colleagues.

Oh my, how elections have consequences. Comprehensive immigration reform has suddenly caught up with gay marriage and marijuana decriminalization as another one of conservative society's taboos crumbles.

Republicans have every right to feel overwhelmed lately. Between reality busting their bubble in November, to the Newtown/NRA/gun control developments in December, the dinosaurs must feel as if they are in tar up to their pits.

This is a lose-lose for GOP electeds who have to answer to a base that still thinks mass deportation is the solution. They can't compromise, and likewise they can't continue to go down with the ship. Texas Republicans in particular are feeling the squeeze.

In the Senate, if Cornyn and Cruz reject the framework, they will be outsiders with limited influence on shaping the final product that is likely to emerge this spring — even though they are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that will consider the measure.

But if they accept the framework — and its explicit call for a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants currently residing in the U.S. — they could face a backlash from within their own party.

Likewise, the Texas Republican House delegation — the largest group of GOP lawmakers in Congress — did not produce a single voice supporting the bipartisan Senate framework. If Texas Republicans are naysayers, they could limit their ability to shape the House version of immigration reform.

It was just one week ago that Cornyn sat grimacing on the dais -- along with Boehner and Cantor and Scalia and a handful of others I observed -- as Obama took the oath of office. The stories since then have been about a 'liberal renaissance'. The dawning of a progressive Enlightened Age. The truth is not so much, but that won't mollify anyone on the right.

The point is that this kind of talk does nothing to help Republicans through their lingering depression. Obama's plan for CIR -- to be announced today in Las Vegas -- is rumored to be to the left of what the senators have worked up, which in many ways is no different than what was agreed to five years ago.

But it is far worse in one significant way: the Senate immigration 'treaty' gives veto power to the likes of Jan Brewer, Rick Perry, and Greg Abbott, which would give the GOP great satisfaction... if they were only capable of understanding it.

In a concession to Republicans, the plan would bar those 11 million unauthorized immigrants from seeking permanent legal status until federal border security efforts won the approval of an appointed commission of Southwestern governors, attorneys general and community leaders.

That clause fairly well dooms the bill to failure whether it gets passed on not, IMHO. Still, this counts for progress, whatever occurs in the Congress. Republicans must either continue to stand with the freaks and hope they can hang on for one more election cycle, or do the right thing and risk being primaried from the right *cough*Cornyn*cough*.

Some Republican strategists say that the GOP must find a way to play a constructive role in the ongoing debate — or suffer the consequences at the polls for years to come.

“Comprehensive immigration reform is going to happen this year and Republicans should embrace it and work to improve it,” said Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak. “At stake is re-branding the Republican Party with Hispanics, an absolutely critical and urgent task, especially so in border states like Texas.”

Key House Republicans to watch in upcoming debates are Reps. Ted Poe of Humble, who angered some on the right by advocating comprehensive reform (without “amnesty”) and Lamar Smith of San Antonio, the former chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and a leading hawk on “amnesty.”

Then there's Steve Stockman.

“The Senate’s proposed plan does not fix our nation’s broken immigration system,” said Rep. Steve Stockman, a Republican from Friendswood. “It rewards law breaking and encourages a new flood of illegals, perpetuating the very problems it claims to solve.  Our nation’s failed experiments with amnesty have proven it only encourages more illegals willing to wait it out for their turn at free citizenship.”

Here's my blogging compadre Harold Cook with the 2x4 across the GOP's nose the next-to-last word.

“The congressional Republicans from Texas sidelined themselves with their anti-immigrant campaign rhetoric, which has no place in a fast-moving debate in which suddenly the debate has shifted to ‘how much citizenship,’” said Democratic consultant Harold Cook of Austin. “The result is a shameful outcome in which these members of Congress, representing a state with tremendous border real estate, have sidelined themselves completely. That’s not leadership, and it’s not even adequate representation. It’s just ideologues telling far-right voters what they want to hear, at the expense of mainstream Texans.”

Yes, that was a boom and a thud that you heard. As solid as that was, Harold, I have to give your neighbors in central Texas, the Butthole Surfers, the last word.

They were all in love with dyin'
They were doing it in Texas

They were all in love with dyin'
They were drinking from a fountain
That was pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain




Update: Related reading...

BuzzFeed reports that before the Senate plan was announced, Chuck Schumer, Richard Durbin, and Bob Menendez, three of the Democratic senators who worked on the proposal, told LGBT advocates on a conference call that same-sex couples weren't mentioned in their plan. According to an advocate on the call, Schumer said this was done to ensure support from Republican senators. He added that they'd try to add the provision as an amendment, but couldn't guarantee it.

Senators plan to hammer out many of these contentious issues in the coming weeks, and aim to introduce legislation by the end of March. If the bill does wind up giving same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual couples when it comes to immigration, the Washington Post notes that it would be "almost certain to draw opposition from Catholic and Baptist groups that have been supportive of comprehensive reform."

Bringing gay rights and religious freedom into the debate sounds like a good way to make sure immigration reform never passes, but there's still reason to be optimistic. The GOP has finally shifted its stance on the immigration, and BuzzFeed reports that they're getting some coaching on how to talk about the issue in the form of a memo from a Hispanic organization connected with the party. ("Don't use the word 'illegals' or 'aliens,'" and "Don't use the term 'anchor baby.'") 

Angela Kelley, an immigration expert at the Center for American Progress, tells the Post that she sees the various proposals as "a healthy competition." The disagreements between Congress and the White House haven't seemed all that healthy recently, but things might be different this time.

Update II: "Illegal immigration foes despair over GOP moves"...

Marty Lich is ready to bolt.

It's been a couple of years since the self-described conservative considered herself a Republican, but she still often votes for GOP candidates. That's partly because of their tough stands against illegal immigration, which the retired teacher's aide blames for ruining her Southern California hometown and fears could threaten the Colorado mountain community where she now lives.

But Lich and voters like her are watching with despair as more and more Republican politicians edge toward a bipartisan plan that includes a pathway to citizenship for many of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. "If the GOP agrees on this amnesty, they're selling out their core values," Lich said. "They'd lose us. They'd lose the votes of people who support them, and they're not going to gain a lot of votes."

There's always the Constitution Party, Marty. Bust a move.

KXL protestors get SLAPPed, plan counterpunch

On Friday, January 25^th, a group of activists agreed to a settlement in TransCanada’s lawsuit against Tar Sands Blockade, Rising Tide North Texas, Rising Tide North America, and nineteen individuals. The SLAPP suit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) alleged that nonviolent direct action against Keystone XL has cost TransCanada $5 million dollars. This contradicts frequent public statements by TransCanada’s spokespeople that blockaders were not impeding construction in any meaningful way.

The eight Texans who came to court to defend themselves on Friday, some of whom had not been actively involved with Tar Sands Blockade since protests in August, were threatened with losing their homes and life’s savings if the lawsuit went forward.

In order to protect the livelihoods and dependents of brave activists like Tammie Carson, who locked herself to a truck carrying Keystone XL pipe, the activists agreed to settle the lawsuit. The corporation will not seek the $5 million in financial damages, and the named defendants and organizations agree to not trespass on Keystone XL property in Texas and Oklahoma or face additional charges.

There is lots going on here that has nothing to with KXL specifically, of course; the inherent unconstitutionality of SLAPPs, the weaponization of them by corporate attorneys despite the infringement of First Amendment exercise, and the broadening of the chilling effects of this sort of action.

Despite this legal setback, members of Tar Sands Blockade are as determined as ever to stop Keystone XL. The sustained direct action campaign will continue. 

Specifics won't be posted here, though, because that gives the authorities the heads-up on how to plan for them.

This is the world we live in now, where corporations do whatever they want without being held liable either in the court of public opinion or in the legal system. When the oil companies own the politicians, there's little chance the public's right to address a concern, have a seat at the table, or even continue breathing clean air is safe.

Civil disobedience is, in fact, the only recourse.

Ramsey Sprague, Tar Sands Blockade spokesperson, and defendant from Fort Worth, TX, said:

“TransCanada is dead wrong if they think a civil lawsuit against a handful of Texans is going to stop a grassroots civil disobedience movement. This is nothing more than another example of TransCanada repressing dissent and bullying Texans who are defending their homes and futures from toxic tar sands.”

So what could a concerned citizen do besides protest?

One small step in the right direction locally would be to get the two candidates in the runoff for SD-6 to talk about Keystone XL, since the pipeline will terminate in the middle of the senate district. TransCanada, the company building the pipeline -- which veered onto the wrong property in Angelina County, we learned this week -- thought enough of the campaign to sponsor a debate among the candidates. But the topic of the pipeline itself really hasn't been discussed in any meaningful way. "Underpass/overpass" seemed to have a higher profile.

Or maybe we could talk about the money instead.

Something in the neighborhood of $1.4 million dollars was spent by the two frontrunners during the open primary, resulting in less than 6% of the district's voters turning out to cast a ballot. That is its own embarrassment, but again, I wouldn't expect the fundamentals of that fact to see much daylight. Greg has an opinion about it that echoes the same "shrug-whaddaya-gonna-do" aspect that the topic of campaign finance reform generates at roundtables full of paid political consultants.

None of the powers that be -- all the way down to the blogosphere -- are apparently intent on making much difference in the way things are. You know, in the real world. That's why it is left to the people who are willing to risk arrest, and then SLAPP suits, to wake everybody else up.

Yesterday's World Action Day had protestors at the Canadian consulate in Houston, the state Capitol in Austin, and elsewhere across America and Canada. But you didn't see or hear much about that in the corporate media, did you?

There will another protest in DC in a few weeks.

Of course we could all continue ignoring the protests and just wait and see what happens.

Update: Related...

San Antonio Current: "Environmentalists and communities await a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, so does Valero"

But as efforts ramped up in the East Texas woods, blockaders also began organizing in the neighborhoods near the Houston Ship Channel, an area long clouded by petrochemical haze. With local environmental justice groups, they started giving tours of the nearby refineries. They particularly took to Manchester, a small Hispanic enclave that lies in the shadow of Valero's Houston refinery.

"We found a community that's been oppressed for decades," Seifert asserts. Blockaders decided they wouldn't just target the pipeline, but the refiners, too. They started filming, photographing, and interviewing families, hearing common fence-line community ailments: headaches, respiratory problems, asthma, rashes, and cancer. Yudith Nieto, 25, a lifelong resident of Manchester who started organizing with the blockaders, says, "Almost everyone I know here has trouble breathing."

On November 29, the blockaders escalated. Diane Wilson, a longtime environmental justice and jail reform activist, locked her neck to an oil tanker truck with a bicycle U-lock. Friend and fellow activist Bob Lindsey Jr. did the same. "Quite frankly, the Gulf Coast is a sacrifice zone," Wilson told the Current once released from the Harris County jail. "I have no time for holding hands, walking around in circles, and demonstrating. There has to be pressure."

Think Progress: Confirmation Of Climate Hawk Kerry As Secretary Of State May Doom Dirty Keystone XL Pipeline

Once again, I do not think that a man who had dedicated his Senate career to fighting catastrophic climate change would start his term as Secretary approving the expansion of one of the dirtiest sources of fossil fuels in the world.

Update (January 31):

Activist interrupts pipeline conference, releases photos of flawed welds on Keystone XL pipeline
 
Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel, The Woodlands, TX – 9 AM this morning, TransCanada executive Tom Hamilton’s presentation of a Keystone XL case study at the Pipe Tech Americas 2013 conference was interrupted when a blockader chained himself to the projector screen and delivered a speech to the nearly 300 attendees. Hamilton, the Manager of Quality and Compliance for the Keystone Pipeline, was supposed to give a forty-minute talk about safety and regulations related to the southern portion of the KXL pipeline. Instead, Tar Sands Blockade organizer Ramsey Sprague gave an impassioned rebuttal highlighting TransCanada’s poor safety record.

Sprague described shoddy welding practices and dangerous corner-cutting throughout TransCanada’s operations as exposed by whistleblowers like Evan Vokes, a metallurgic engineer who came forward in May 2012, leading to an investigation by Canada’s National Energy Board. Sprague reminded attendees that TransCanada’s first Keystone pipeline has already leaked over 30 times and that other industry leaders such as Enbridge are similarly negligent, with over 800 spills since 1999. He derided TransCanada for routing the KXL pipeline through ecologically sensitive areas and through communities like the one in Douglass, TX, where construction crews are actively laying pipe within sight of the Douglass public school.

“TransCanada’s safety record is beyond deplorable,” said Ramsey Sprague, “Their wanton disregard for the health of our communities is demonstrated by their countless toxic tar sands spills. I’m compelled to take action today and shed light on the dangerous material this multinational corporation is pumping through our homes.”

Sprague also described how activists who blockaded themselves inside the actual KXL pipe on December 3rd could see daylight through holes in welds connecting segments of pipe – and how Tar Sands Blockade has the pictures to prove it. That mile-long section of the pipe was laid in the ground on the same day; no additional welding or inspection occurred after the photos were taken.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is ready for the Super Bowl -- and a ruling in the school finance lawsuit -- as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff notes the scandalous failure of the state's replacement Women's Health Program.

Rick Perry and Greg Abbott threatened hugged each other at the big Anti-Woman Rally in Austin this past weekend. There is obviously a lot more on each man's agenda than ending womens' reproductive freedom in Texas. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs thinks they're circling each other like a couple of rabid dogs.

Despite the announcement this week of Battleground Texas, WCNews at Eye on Williamson makes clear that hard work is the only thing that will insure future Democratic success in Texas.

Over at TexasKaos lightseeker spells out what is at stake in Dan Patrick's attack on public education, or as he calls it, his free choice voucher initiative. Check it out: Charter Schools - Making Inequality a Permanent Feature of Texas Education.

The Washington Post endorses the completion of Keystone XL and McBlogger, predictably, gets upset.  

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants everyone to know Texas Republicans are continuing their war on women and their war on sanity. No surprises here.

Neil at Texas Liberal wrote that scientists have discovered that binary star systems would in fact be suitable for life, but would have an odd climate and a strangely shaped habitable zone. This seems not much unlike everyday life here on Earth and in America.