Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Aaron Pena's latest tale of woe

If you're Latino in South Texas and driving without current registration and insurance, wearing a Greg Abbott T-shirt still isn't going to help.

Even a Democrat who switched to the GOP should have been smart enough to see this coming.

Aaron Peña was pulled over in Robstown, outside of Corpus Christi, for expired license plates. After being questioned by local police officers as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Robstown police impounded his vehicle and wrote him a ticket for lacking proof of automobile insurance, a charge Mr. Peña disputes.

“I don’t mind that they pulled me over,” said Peña, a Republican from Edinburg. “I don’t mind that they gave me a ticket. I do mind with great personal offense that they treated me like a drug dealer and accused me of lying.”

Peña was driving a 2001 Dodge pickup he said he had purchased within the previous two weeks. He had planned to drive it home to Edinburg so his son could take it with him when he starts college. Peña had expected to address the vehicle’s expired license plate once he got to South Texas. He had considered the possibility that the plates might get him pulled over but figured he would, if needed, explain to a police officer the situation and risk getting a ticket.

While driving down U.S. Highway 77, Peña was pulled over in Robstown. A Robstown police officer directed him to get out of his pickup. Peña complied. He was wearing dress pants and dress shoes and a campaign T-shirt for Attorney General Greg Abbott, who just kicked off his gubernatorial campaign. Peña had introduced Abbott at a campaign event earlier in the week.

Just had to emphasize that.

Within minutes of Peña getting out of his vehicle, he noticed that the two Robstown officers had been joined by at least two other officers. They were not in uniform, but Peña said he could tell they were with the Department of Homeland Security by the badges they wore on chains around their necks. A police spokesman confirmed that the men were with ICE.

“There was a point where I sensed that I was surrounded,” Peña said. “I asked if this was bigger than a traffic stop. One of them says ‘You tell me.’”

"Ha Ha Ha! Look, it's a Mexican Republican!"

We've talked much about Pena here over the years -- his sneaking down the alley to a strategy meeting with Tom Craddick (wearing a jogging suit, baseball cap pulled low) in 2007, his shenanigans during the 2008 campaign where he showed up at events as a supporter of both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, his flip-flop from D to R in 2010, the eventual demise of his political career. It hasn't all been harsh; I wrote something nice in 2009, when he was still a Dem and introduced some legislation protecting bloggers.

But it strains credibility -- as if Aaron Pena still has any left among people who process thought -- that these words would exit his piehole.

“They assumed I was guilty, and they expected me to prove that I was innocent,” Peña said.

Welcome to South Texas, Rep. Pena. Now you can go home. Hope you learned something from this experience about how your former constituents live their lives every day.

Perhaps you'll be better known among LEOs by posting more Twitpics like this.


No, I think that likely heightens suspicions.

Update: Another Two Cents.

Monday, July 22, 2013

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance sends condolences to the family and friends of legendary White House reporter Helen Thomas as it brings you this week's blog post roundup.

Off the Kuff discusses the status of abortion litigation as pro-choice forces in Texas prepare to file suit over Texas' harmful new law.

Horwitz at Texpatriate covers the current state of municipal elections in Houston.

Can Texas Democrats win in 2014 if they focus on turning out women of all demographics to the polls? PDiddie at Brains and Eggs says 'no, but'...

WCNews at Eye on Williamson makes the case: Why Wendy Davis must run for Governor of Texas in 2014.

Texas Leftist observes that campaign season has swung into high gear for Houston, as city council members debate the true cost of 380 deals.

===============

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

CultureMap Houston was on the scene of the dueling protests of Trayvon Martin supporters and their opponents in River Oaks yesterday.

Half Empty says that the Republican War on Women really isn't about women.

Bluedaze delicately points out that one fracking well test does not indicate that all fracking wells are safe.

The Bayou has the news that Texas judges and district attorneys got a raise from the Lege.

Egberto Willies interviewed one of the supporters of HB-2 (the abortion restrictions bill Rick Perry signed into law last week) and came away a little concerned.

And lastly, Hair Balls reports on the new amusement park going up outside Houston that will have a Giant Texas theme.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Chris Hedges: America is a tinderbox

This 18 minutes is going to upset a few people.



OK, a lot of people. If you happen to be one of those people, you might want to go back to watching Dancing with the Stars or something.

Update
: Transcript.

Justice for Trayvon vigils in 100 cities today

In over one hundred cities across the United States, NAN is organizing “Justice for Trayvon” vigils on Saturday, July 20th to press the federal government to investigate civil rights charges against George Zimmerman. Hundreds of national preachers, led by Rev. Al Sharpton and NAN will hold prayer vigils and rallies in front of federal buildings calling on the Justice Department to investigate the civil rights violations made against Trayvon Martin.

Texas cities include Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and Wichita Falls.

Houston

City Hall, 901 Bagby, 11 a.m.
Austin

Texas State Capitol Building, 1100 Congress Avenue, 12 Noon

San Antonio

Federal Courthouse, 655 E. Cesar E. Chavez Blvd., 11:00 a.m.

Wichita Falls, TX

2003 Collins Ave., 2 p.m.

Friday, July 19, 2013

What happens in Texas when Planned Parenthood clinics get defunded

Dateline March 13, by Mother Jones. Keep in mind that this is data showing up from the funding reductions passed by the state legislature two years ago.

About a year after Texas slashed its family-planning budget by two-thirds, with 50 clinics shutting down as a result, the Texas Policy Evaluation Project surveyed 300 pregnant women seeking an abortion in Texas. Nearly half said they were "unable to access the birth control that they wanted to use" in the three months before they became pregnant. Among the reasons: cost, lack of insurance, inability to find a clinic, and inability get a prescription. The state's health commission says Texas will see nearly 24,000 unplanned births between 2014 and 2015 thanks to these cuts, raising state and federal taxpayer's Medicaid costs by up to $273 million.

In a state where half of all pregnancies were unplanned in 2011, and 1 in 3 women of childbearing age lacks health insurance, this is only going to get worse.



Again, this isn't new information; it was posted last spring in order to influence the recently-concluded abortion restrictions legislation that Rick Perry signed into law yesterday. In that wake, Planned Parenthood announced three clinics would close in East Texas (only one actually provided abortion services). But seemingly unsatisfied with that result, Texas Republicans are going back for more.

Hours after Texas Republican lawmakers finalized some of the toughest abortion restrictions in the country Thursday, a bill to ban abortions as early as six weeks, when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, was filed.

State Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, filed House Bill 59, which would ban abortions “if it has been determined… that the unborn child has a detectable heartbeat.” North Dakota is the only other state to pass ‘fetal heartbeat’ legislation, and it is being challenged as unconstitutional in court.

More at Burnt Orange and Think Progress. This probably means another round of rallies at the Capitol, followed by a few arrests, some authoritarian displays of force conducted by the state police, and a party-line vote by the legislators. Maybe a lawsuit... eventually.

All we can do for the moment, in short, is simply document the atrocities. Oh yeah, and mobilize opposition for 2014.