The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is glad to live in an age where political ads on TV can be zapped as it brings you this week's roundup of the best Lone Star lefty blog posts from last week.

Many of his fellow Texans worry Neil -- as he posts at his new "Blog About Our Failing Money Owned American Political System" -- more than do the migrant Central American children coming across the Rio Grande border. BAOFMOAPS is just one of many parts of NeilAquino.com.

Off the Kuff wonders why AG Greg Abbott didn't just have his own lawyers testify in the latest lawsuit against HB2 given how much they coached their witnesses.

Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos is very disturbed to learn that Abbott's rulings and decisions demonstrate a pattern of his support for abusers vs. their victims. Corporate marionette Greg Abbott seems to enjoy punishing victims.

Glenn Hegar, Tea Party candidate for Texas Comptroller, was caught in the act. Bay Area Houston has the video.

After being told all summer that "nobody pays attention until Labor Day", PDiddie at Brains and Eggs had to wonder if we had suddenly jumped ahead a month on the calendar.

What's this about voter fraud? CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants all of the reality-based people to know that voter photo ID does nothing to stop fraudulent absentee ballot procedures.

Texas Leftist shares the truth about Medicaid expansion. Right now, Texas taxpayers are subsidizing healthcare benefits for other states while millions of our people suffer without health insurance. Also make sure to check out Wayne's guest column in CultureMap discussing the Houston equal rights ordinance.

Egberto Willies made the shameful observation that black men holding toy guns -- or no guns at all -- are routinely shot down, while white men flaunt their firearms openly.

In opening this cycle's interviews with all political candidates on the 2014 ballot, Texpatriate began by publishing questionnaires from Whitney Bilyeu, Libertarian for Texas Senate District 7, and Laura Nicol, Democrat for State Representative, District 133.

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

Socratic Gadfly's suggestion this week for a word to text to Greg Abbott -- which the attorney general asks you to do in his movie trailers ads -- is "Kirby".

Hair Balls made note of Harris County's first confirmed case of chickungunya.

Better Texas Blog wants parents to contact their local school districts about opting in for free breakfast and lunches for students.  The deadline is August 31.

State Impact Texas reports that forecasters are lowering their predictions for the number of Atlantic Ocean hurricanes this season.

Juanita Jean finds a bad use of tatas.

Texas Watch points you to a resource to tell how safe your hospital is.

LGBTQ Insider calls the 2014 elections "imperative" for the LGBT community.

TransGriot and HOUEquality have news roundups on the Houston equal rights ordinance and the so-far-failed effort to put an item on the ballot to repeal it.

Lone Star Q lists the 63 Texas legislators that signed on to the Texas Conservative Coalition brief in the same-sex marriage appeal, in which they drag out more insulting and discredited arguments to support those made by AG Greg Abbott.

Grits for Breakfast still thinks the driver responsibility surcharge should be scrapped.

Lone Star Ma celebrated World Breastfeeding Week.

SciGuy showed us what happens when a spaceship gets close to a comet.

The Highwayman and Unfair Park examine the link between poverty and fatal auto/pedestrian accidents.

Last, Fascist Dyke Motors provides a list of nine mistakes everyone should not make if they are going to experience a cerebrovascular insult (i.e., stroke).

Sunday Funnies

Is it Labor Day already?

After my early-morning rant yesterday and then the afternoon's developments, it seems as if we've jumped ahead a month on the calendar.

-- Wendy Davis made a TV advertising purchase across the state -- in English and in Spanish -- for this ad.



Now THAT's how you punch back.

Update: For the record, I put even less faith in Rasmussen polling than I do everybody else's because of their distinct Republican bias.  This poll shows Davis' support among women has decreased while Abbott's has increased, which is almost as laughable as the 40% of those polled saying they support Rick Perry for president in 2016; a number ten times -- more or less -- the size of what other polls have shown.  Charles digs a little deeper but doesn't give me any greater confidence in whatever it is Rasmussen is trying to tell us.  And then there's this, from the Austin Chronic.

Digging down into the questions raises some other issues. The poll only asks about likelihood to vote for Abbott or Davis by name. What happens when Libertarian Kathie Glass or the Green Party's Brandon Parmer is added to the mix?

I would answer 'not much more than their historical 3% and 1% respectively', but again... this is Rasmussen.  Given such severe rightward tilt, you'd almost expect Davis to be leading Abbott in a poll this weird (which is obviously not the case, either).  Any poll we see in the next couple of weeks will be taking into account the effectiveness of this new air war, and if any of them show some tightening, then I'll let myself be encouraged.

-- Greg Abbott also has a Spanish language ad on teevee.  His mother-in-law is singing his praises.  I have to say that I hope he keeps pouring a lot more money down that hole.  I also hope he has a high-dollar internal pollster who's telling him exactly what he wants to hear: that it's working.

-- LVDP busted Dan Patrick, too.

Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Leticia Van de Putte said Thursday that her Republican opponent, Dan Patrick, has yet to respond to a series of debates she has proposed ahead of the Nov. 4 election.

Van de Putte and Patrick spoke separately at the Texas Association of Broadcasters annual convention, in what amounted to a rare opportunity to see the two candidates address the same audience back to back.

[...]

She has challenged Patrick to five in all — part of an aggressive plan to pit the candidates head-to-head in the state’s four largest markets and in the Rio Grande Valley — and has left the door open to three more.

But since she laid out the proposal more than a week ago, Van de Putte said Patrick, a senator from Houston who is a tea party favorite, and his team have yet to get back with a solid answer — or any answer, for that matter.

“He’s not responded to our request for debates,” Van de Putte said, adding that she’s not sure if Patrick is dodging the debate issue or just can’t make up his mind. “This is a race where there’s a big difference in candidates … and the people of the state need to hear the candidates.”

She added: “He knows my phone number. I’m waiting.”

She is such a nice lady.  I just love her.

-- Mike Collier, Comptroller (pronounced "controller") is pounding away as well.  This ad is running right now in the DFW market.

“While Texans enjoy this tax-free weekend, they should know my opponent Glenn Hegar’s plan would triple the state’s sales tax. Hegar refuses to back away from his plan that would hurt the very same people who are benefiting the most from the tax-free weekend. Hegar’s plan is not only wrong for Texas, it’s dumb.

Texas taxpayers need a Watchdog, which is precisely why I’m running for Comptroller. As a Certified Public Accountant I’m committed to getting the numbers right for our Texas students, teachers, and their families.”

If elected, Collier would be the first comptroller in Texas history who is a CPA.  Hegar, as we have recently learned, is the reincarnation of Jethro Bodine.

Update: Collier cracks Hegar again for bragging to some TeaBaggers about how proud he was to vote for cuts in public education.  (Hegar, like Jethro, is planning to be a brain surgeon one day.)



I would swear it feels just like September.