For Boston

First, the Dropkick Murphys...



Beantown will be just fine. It's America I'm worried about.

Our United States always seems to screw these things up. I'm talking about the present and future overreaction, no matter who the perpetrators turn out to be. Our wonderful social media, the driver now of all things buzzworthy, opened the bidding yesterday afternoon.

"When tragedy strikes America, Twitter remembers bad reporting." Yes it does. There was Ari Fleischer, Bush's Baghdad Bob, reminding everyone how to conduct themselves during these moments. Gratefully, there also was TBogg of firedoglake...

.‏@arifleischer is advising people to NOT report rumors as fact.Unless, of course, they are about WMDs in Iraq ...in which case it's cool
— TBogg (@tbogg) April 15, 2013

If you click on the Slate link above, you'll see that one of the morons continuing to Tweet out their auto-propaganda was our very own Rick Perry...

You don’t want to be tweeting about the tax benefits of the state of Texas while limbs are being amputated in Boston if you’re @GovPerry ...

Eh, he's too stupid to know and too obnoxious to give a shit anyway.

And wading through the bramble of prayers, statements of solidarity, updates from friends who had family members at or near the scene and the like, the casual observer struggled to find a kernel of wheat amidst all that chaff. One did not turn out to be the Murdoch-owned New York Post, which is still reporting the death toll as "12" and said that initially there was a "Saudi national" in custody, and then "a person of interest under guard at the hospital" after the Boston PD knocked that down.

Update: The Onion skewered the NYP over their "reporting". And Media Matters wonders if this is the end of the line for the ailing paper.

And let's ignore -- well, let's try to, anyway - the conspiracy theories blooming like 'shrooms in bullshit.

Fox News contributor Erik Rush tweeted, then deleted: “Everybody do the National Security Ankle Grab! Let’s bring more Saudis in without screening them! C’mon! #bostonmarathon,” then responded to a tweet asking if he was “already blaming Muslims”: “Yes, they’re evil. Kill them all.”

You can see screenshots of his tweets here.

It got worse than that. Hard to believe, right? Then there were the local news outlets left to trolling Twitter for news.

(I)nstead of doing the traditional leg-work that, you know, delineates the media's responsibilities and activities, a handful of local news outlets have outsourced their work to the readership that is attempting to turn to them for a fuller perspective on the story. Over a half-dozen outlets across the state have decided that now was the right time to turn over their reportage to their reader- and viewership, instead of, or at least in addition to, attempting to flesh out something carrying the dimensions of a terrorist attack.

It's one thing to crowd-source, guys. It's one thing to ask what your audience's "worst pet peeves!" or "favorite kind of ice cream!" or "all-time best Astrodome memories!" are. There's a time and place for all of that. But this -- with the dead, and the wounded, and the blood and viscera and video still redounding on each and every channel and feed across the nation -- this isn't the time. This is the time to do some damn work on your own.

"Tweet us your details because we just don't know how to do journalism any more". There, fixed it for ya, Chron.

This ought to be completely embarrassing, but it won't be. Our media's disgraceful conduct at times like these is nothing short of atrocious. I won't even go into what was talked about on the teevee, because I never turned it on. Teevee news accounts during these events are even worse, as you already know. Oh wait; yes, I will, because somebody else watched it for me.

(This is) cable news (doing) what it does best: Shift the narrative from straight news (what happened, how many were killed and injured, possible suspects, etc) to shameless, unfounded, ludicrous blame (President Obama, Congress, sequester cuts, the NRA, the Tea Party, foreign policy…you name it).

In fact, New York Times columnist Nicolas Kristof is already leader of the idiot pack, blaming the attack on Senate Republicans on blocking the appointment of an ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) Director in the tweet below.

All class… and, of course, having an ATF director in place absolutely would have prevented these attacks in Boston — right, Nicolas? (He has since walked back that Tweet, but some myopic ideologues just can’t seem to put their hatred aside even for five minutes during a time we should be unified as a nation). And winners like Kristof won’t be the last. On cue, CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen told host Jake Tapper that the attack was either the work of al Qaeda or “right-wing extremists,” while sitting in a studio 1,000 miles away just hours after the attack. And NBC’s Luke Russert took to Twitter to speculate about a “possible” connection to the ATF deadly siege on Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas…which happened 20 years ago and 2,000 miles away. FOX and CNN also wondered about that possible (flimsy) connection. 

Bombs in Boston on Tax Day, April 15, Patriots Day -- which used to be celebrated on April 19 but is now the third Monday in April -- the same day the Oklahoma City federal building was destroyed by a fertilizer bomb, because Timothy McVeigh was angered by the fed's involvement in the Waco/Branch Davidian compound invasion which ended in flames on April 19. Oh, and also Columbine, which happened the day after...

Yes, a thick juicy stew for the conspiracy theorists. My advice? Keep calm and carry on.

Update: Cong. Michael McCaul's ignorance is not helping. 

Bob Perry dead

It's just a slow Swift Boat ride down the River Styx, made faster by the fact that there will be no pause in Purgatory.

Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, a major Republican campaign contributor and a leader of the successful drive to limit lawsuit awards in Texas, has died, a spokesman confirmed late Sunday.

He was 80.

There really isn't a single solitary thing about Republican politics in Texas over the past ten or twenty years -- and for a while there, the entire country -- that Perry did not have a hand (read: his money) in. The TXGOP, several sessions' worth of conservative legislators, and even the US presidency bear the mark of his financial legacy: $32 million to candidates and causes since 2000.

Update: I thought that sounded low. "Since 2004, Perry has given a total of at least $45 million in federal contributions — excluding direct donations to candidates, according to Federal Elections Commission records, a 2012 AP analysis and figures tabulated by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics."

The Center for Public Integrity ranked Perry third in its list of super donors, noting he contributed $23.5 million to Super PACs in 2011 and 2012. In the 2004 presidential campaign, he was a top donor to the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, which fervently questioned the accuracy of John Kerry's description of his military service in Vietnam.

Perry was a pragmatic Republican who became a kingmaker as "the most prolific political donor in the state of Texas," said Rice University political scientist Mark Jones, who predicted Perry's death "is going to have a profound impact on Texas politics."

"Pragmatic" is definitely not the word I would choose. But Jones is, after all, a big fan of the man. (Jones is also credited with the underestimate of Perry's spending; the $32 million figure above is now attributed to Perry's donations statewide.)

He did sometimes donate to Democrats - like state representatives Eddie Lucio of Brownsville and Mike Villarreal of San Antonio - so long as they championed "education, economic liberty and tort reform," (spokesman Anthony) Holm told the Dallas Morning News last fall.

[...]

For example, he bankrolled the successful 2005 effort to pass a state constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage but stunted a 2011 effort to expand the authority of police inquiring about the immigration status of people they detain.

Yeah, Swift Boat Bob earned the enmity from the Xenophobe Caucus for his lasting support of cheap labor, but not for the same reasons others would (like refusing to raise the minimum wage, for example).

I think there is something serendipitous about the timing: Perry, and the generation of Texas Republicans who rose to power in the Reagan years, are being carried now to the cemetery just as the children of all those day laborers come of voting age, and the Democrats in Texas poise themselves for a renaissance. The locals sure are scared; there are at least two different reports of Battleground Texas meetings in Houston that Republicans have attended and reported on. And in reading that, the sheep seem real nervous.

Rest without peace, Bob.  Your epitaph is what it is. Nobody will actually miss you that wasn't depositing your checks.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is settling in for another long hurricane season as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff offered his thoughts on the Battleground Texas kickoff meeting in Houston.  

WCNews at Eye on Williamson says the cheaters are winning: Wage theft in Texas.

Republicans have kind of a fetish thing going on with hangman's nooses, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has noticed.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw explains the 24/7 embrassment that Ted Carnival Cruz is by exploring his latest foray into the "outer limits" of sanity. Check it out: TX U.S. Senator Carnival Cruz Gets FiliBusted.

This week at McBlogger, we take a look at the state of transportation funding in the Legislature (with the help of the Texas Tribune) as well as a stunning turnaround for Governor Perry.

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And here are some blog posts of interest from elsewhere in Texas.

Empower The Vote warns that the RNC is seeking to get out from under the consent decree that has limited their ability to engage in voter suppression.

Texas Clean Air Matters explains what ozone action days are all about.

Texas Watch reports on a poll that says Texas voters – across all geographic, partisan, and political lines – want stronger legal protections from rogue insurance companies.

Lone Star Ma reminds us that April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Jeff Balke clues you in on how to be a journalist.

Jason Stanford mocks the idea that Big John Cornyn has been nudged even farther to the right by his junior Senate colleague.

Nonsequiteuse recaps the most gruesome moments from the testimony on the so-called "fetal pain" bill.

Equality Texas has some tips for homophobic lobbyists.

Juanita Jean wonders what Smokey Joe Barton is smoking.

Texpatriate is perplexed by the state Senate's passage of the drug testing for unemployment benefits bill.

And finally, BeyondBones sings the praises of the iguana that came to them after hitching a ride to the United States.

Sunday Funnies

Republicans and hangman's nooses

Your first question might be "Why does the head of the Texas Railroad Commission -- the state agency responsible for monitoring the oil and gas industry -- have an opinion on a gun bill in the US Senate?", or "Why would it be treasonous and lynch-worthy to vote in favor of allowing debate on gun safety legislation?", but neither of those would be my first question.

My first and everlasting question remains: "WTF is it with Republicans and their noose fetish?", and my second question would be: Are they erotic asphyxiation freaks or what?

Here's the TexTrib.

Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman weighed in on the gun-control developments in Washington on Thursday, retweeting an image that showed a noose beside the names of Republican U.S. senators who had voted down a filibuster.

On Twitter, Smitherman re-posted an image and message from a user with the handle @PsychScriv, who had posted: “Make sure none of these people have seats in 2014.” The accompanying image showed a list of the 16 Republican senators whose vote had broken the filibuster that would have kept the gun-control bill off the U.S. Senate floor. A noose dangled beside the names, topped by a single word: “Treason.”

Smitherman added his own commentary, tweeting: "We are in trouble when these Rs side w/ Sen Reid." The list included Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the Republican party's 2008 presidential nominee.

Texas Sharon at BlueDaze had it first (see the screen capture of the Tweet there), followed closely by Progress Texas.

"Barry Smitherman's reprehensible action is disturbing, disgusting, and has absolutely no place in our political discourse," said Matt Glazer, Executive Director of Progress Texas.

"To suggest that any American, let alone a U.S. Senator, deserves to be hung for a democratically cast vote is absolutely unacceptable." "A Senator's job is to debate, discuss and vote on issues of importance to our country. Obstructionism shouldn't be upheld as a priority option for doing the people's work, and when violent rhetoric and imagery is used as a tool of obstructionism, it has gone too far. Smitherman's actions call into question whether or not his job can and should be terminated.

"Progress Texas calls on Smitherman to immediately apologize, and for Governor Perry and all of Texas' Congressional delegation to admonish Smitherman for his deplorable action." 

It's fairly easy to muster the outrage on this one.

Long ago this blog broke the story of hangman's nooses in bosses' offices. A cursory Google search turns up all kinds of repetitive instances, including the prevalence of this sort of thing across the country.

Now before Matt and Greg stumble in to the comments and bluster that private and public supervisors aren't necessarily Republicans, let's establish that at least since Robert Byrd dropped out of the Klan (this shibboleth is a favorite of race-sensitive TeaBaggers, and by 'race-sensitive' I mean TeaBaggers who don't like being called out on their racism) and up through the David Duke-for-whatever years, one cannot intelligently call Klansmen Democrats. See Thurmond, Strom. And there was also this whole Southern Strategy thing that Richard Nixon developed as a result of LBJ's civil rights advances...

Anyway, Barry Smitherman. He's a Rick Perry crony from way back. But in terms of any state position for which the governor can make an appointment, though, who isn't? The sad part is that Smitherman won his election in 2012 with plenty of donations from oil and gas companies and without a Democratic opponent. You may also recall that Smitherman's middle-school-aged daughter -- and her junior-high-aged brother -- maxed out their federal contributions to Rick Perry's presidential campaign in 2011.

Barry Smitherman, among his many other faults, probably pays his children too much in allowance. Or something. But there's no doubt that he needs to find a real job, as the TRC simply doesn't execute the one job it has to any significant degree. From the Texas Observer...

In a state where property rights are considered to be on par with the right to breathe, pipeline companies can seize private land by invoking the power of eminent domain. ... (C)ommon carrier status, which means the company is carrying competitors’ products as well as its own to serve the public good, grants companies the right to take land without getting landowners’ consent. ...

In Texas, there is currently no process to verify whether a company is actually carrying competitors’ products. All a company has to do is check a box on its permit application to the Texas Railroad Commission.

The commission doesn’t have the authority to ensure the company can claim the status. It does not ask for evidence or otherwise monitor the pipeline. This leaves the door open for companies that want the power of eminent domain free to do so without any oversight. The practice has resulted in a number of lawsuits across the state. Landowners who feel their land was taken unfairly (and sometimes without notice), have sued pipeline companies, and in at least one case the courts have determined that some pipeline companies “game the permitting process” to get eminent domain powers.

Yes, Barry Smitherman is a TeaBagging douchewad... but really, what Texas Republican isn't? It's really just a matter of degree, despite the smackdowns the freshman crop of crazy in the Lege keep taking at the hands of their elders. Ultimately, Republicans exactly like Smitherman are what Texas is, elects, and deserves, at least until Battleground Texas starts making a difference.

Or the Republicans in Texas come out from under the ether. I hope I live long enough to get to see one or the other (or both).

Update: Smitherman has apologized. Aware of both the media attention Smitherman's Tweet received and a desire to out-Gohmert Joe Barton from earlier this week, Steve Stockman has come up with a new bumper sticker slogan. He means 'fetuses' of course, but they don't have fingers. Or central nervous systems, or brains, or eyes.  "Babies", in other words (using Stockman's vocabulary).

A few guns, some butter

The week before the tax deadline is always the busiest for me. Here we go with some snips...

“We want to make sure … (chained CPI) is dead on arrival,” Democracy for American chairman Jim Dean told ABC News.

Dean’s organization is one of the many progressive groups that are part of the coalition to deliver the petition to the White House. Dean said that although he and his organization appreciate the president’s “forceful leadership” on issues like gun violence prevention, the CPI proposal is one that has caused them to be extremely disappointed in him.

“People understand that we are not getting everything out of this person,” Dean said. “This was never our way or the highway — even when he was elected in 2008. He’s crossed a line here.”

That was not unpleasant.

Look, it's time to end this ridiculous charade. The White House is proposing what's in the White House budget because that's what the White House wants. They'll fight just as hard to cut Social Security as they will for any of its other provisions. And that's because the White House, let's just face facts, isn't on the side of the American people. They should simply come out and speak with conviction: They don't give a shit about Social Security or anybody who is on it because they want a balanced budget with low taxes. That's the only explanation for passing another $3.4 trillion round of Bush Tax Cuts while cutting Social Security.

Chain, chain, chained...

They know it’s a loser and yet they persist.  That’s nothing I or most Democrats voted for in 2012.  There is a potential “right” way for chained CPI to be done, but there are so many caveats that it could never be done right in our current political system.

The truly stupid part is that we’re talking about debt when we’re still in a massive unemployment crisis. With the 78th anniversary of the WPA this week, that should remind us that we should be talking about jobs and not the deficit. 

Seriously, WTF?

But as always Obama negotiated against himself, made concessions without corresponding Republican ones, became the only elected official in Washington, D.C., to put Social Security benefits cuts in a formal proposal (thus owning them), and then ... what?

Republicans dismissed everything out of hand, progressive groups went to war against the White House, Congressional Democrats distanced themselves from the proposal save for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (ever the loyal lieutenant), and seniors certainly weren't impressed.

If Obama's goal was to look weak and isolate himself, generating bipartisan scorn and ridicule while giving Republicans a chance to claim Democrats want to cut Social Security during 2014 elections, then sure, mission accomplished.

If he actually thought he was accomplishing something useful, however ... the mind reels.

Maybe Democrats could stop quarreling about whether Obama is a putz or not, and perhaps get Hillary Clinton on the record about where she stands on chained CPI. I'm guessing that she won't hold a presser put up a YouTube coming out in favor.

Okay, enough of that.

-- Look, somebody borrowed my headline. Meh. It's not like I had it trade-marked or anything.

-- Maybe some action on the gun safety bill today or tomorrow.

The U.S. Senate will take up gun control starting on Thursday, with a filibuster from Republicans the first order of business before weeks of debates over background checks and other measures begin.

Majority Leader Harry Reid had asked for a compromise on background checks from two senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, by Tuesday night. Manchin and Toomey will announce the bipartisan deal on Wednesday morning.

The approval of at least eight Republicans is crucial because Reid will need 60 votes in the Senate on Thursday to have a successful cloture vote to avoid a filibuster. So far, eight Republican senators say they will not vote to support a filibuster.

A group of Republican senators including Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Jim Inhofe have said they will filibuster “any legislation that infringe[s] on the American people’s constitutional right to bear arms.” 

Carnival Cruz canceled his presser this morning, whatever that means.

Back to work.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance celebrates bluebonnets, mudbugs, and the first week of the baseball season in bringing you this week's blog post roundup.

Off the Kuff takes a look back at the Democrats in the Legislature who voted for the anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment of 2005 and follows up to see where they stand on it now.  

WCNews at Eye on Williamson posts on the budget debate in the House this week, and the fact that there was little discussion of what Texans really need, in Still trying to find a way in...the budget version.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw explains why Senator Cruz Brings Plenty of Spite But No Bacon. Check it out.

The Republicans in the Texas House passed an amendment that kinda sorta endorsed the spirit of Medicaid expansion, but within a few hours got 'corrected' by their lobbyists and rescinded it. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs kind sorta expected that.  

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes that Rick Perry implies Mexicans shot the Texas DAs. Didn't Perry get the Reince Priebus memo about gratuitous racist eruptions?

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And here are some blog posts of interest from elsewhere in Texas.

The Lunch Tray is a food blogger against hunger.

Bob Cavnar explains some lesser known dangers of fracking.  And Texas Vox says that the pipeline spill in Arkansas calls into question the viability of converting other older pipelines for transporting tar sands, while the Tar Sands Blockade posted a dispatch from ExxonMobil's spill zone, including a WTF picture of a pipeline repair.

Juanita Jean has a question for the queen of True The Vote.

Equality Texas reminds us that it's always a good idea to get to know your legislator.

Jason Stanford has a strategy for coping with the STAAR tests, while Raise Your Hand Texas outlines an agenda for real school reform. 

Austin Contrarian publishes a response from Sen. Kirk Watson to an earlier post about one of his bills.
  
Texas Leftist talks to the city of Houston about plans to overhaul its development and density ordinances.

Harold Cook channels William Travis.

And finally, we wish fellow blogger Katy Anders a peaceful and short sabbatical.