And just like that...

Another pretender to the GOP throne and his budding presidential aspirations explode on the launching pad.

Hoosier daddy now, Governor?

There was this article in the WaPo that said there were well over two dozen other states with similar legislation that nobody was protesting.  And then this other article that said, no, Indiana's isn't like those other state laws at all.

Thanks, Jeff Bezos!

We know these things are incubated here in the Lone Star State and then exported around the country like frozen chicken or beef or even antibiotic-resistant bacteria -- which, come to think, has far too many similarities to extreme conservatism.  But that's a digression.

Texas has no paternity claims to bigotry.  This is simply the latest chapter in America's long, unvarnished, let's-not-talk-about-that history.

We have to get through this stage in order to arrive at a place of greater, more widespread tolerance of others.  History has also shown us that some people are determined to be left behind in terms of evolution and progress.  My brother Neil is at a higher plane of self-actualization than me; I don't believe those folks have much value at all.

Update: And just like *snap* that... Pence backpedals.  Can it happen in Houston -- protests, backlash, and capitulation by the haters -- with the ERO?  We can only hope.

Spring is Springing Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance thinks even Ted Cruz deserves affordable health insurance as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff hears the death rattle of the anti-gay forces.

Harold Cook explains how the "school choice" scam works.

Horwitz at Texpatriate makes an early pick and endorses Sylvester Turner for mayor of Houston.

Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos and contributing to Daily Kos is pleased to see the H-Town's daily newspaper called out Ted Cruz for being all about Ted, in The Houston Chronicle spanks Ted Cruz.

Houston's LyondellBasell refinery's management turned off an advance warning system near the front gates of the plant, where striking USW workers walk the picket line. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs says that if this is how they demonstrate their concerns for worker safety, it's no wonder they won't end a work stoppage despite the national settlement.

Neil at All People Have Value said you should make an effort with the people in your life as part of a complete outlook on life. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

From WCNews at Eye on Williamson: Bad things happen when a bunch of government haters try to run the government like a business. This is what happens when we turn government over to corporations.

Bluedaze logged all the Texas (and Oklahoma) frackquakes this past week.

Dos Centavos attended the Cesar Chavez parade in Houston's East End and posted several pictures from  the rally.

Bay Area Houston offers a guide to the Texas legislators who are stealing campaign donations and taxpayer money.

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

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

Nonsequiteuse analyzes Ted Cruz's font and logo choices.

Paradise in Hell examines the Supreme Court arguments about specialty license plates sporting the Confederate Battle Flag.

Grits for Breakfast hopes the state loses that specialty license plate case, though not for the same reason as the plaintiffs.

Socratic Gadfly updates on the developments surrounding oil prices, and takes another poke at Comptroller Glenn Hegar.

HOUequality provided the latest update on the HERO petitions trial, noting that it comes down to 8,500 signatures that the judge has ruled illegible.

Purple City thinks the legislative attempt to kill the private high speed rail line may not amount to much.

Better Texas Blog gamely stumps for Medicaid expansion.

The Texas Election Law Blog explains what recent SCOTUS decisions on voter ID and redistricting have to do with pending litigation over those issues here.

Raise Your Hand Texas testified against the voucher bills in the Senate.

And Fascist Dyke Motors has the second part of a family mystery, involving a talking tree and Charles Bronson.

Sunday Funnies

Which do they despise more -- the gays or public schools?

It's sometimes hard for me to tell, but events this week did clarify things somewhat.  From Austin yesterday, under the headline "Open Season on Public Schools During Voucher Debate":

Like an obstinate weed that just won’t die, the debate over school vouchers returned to the Capitol for the 11th straight legislative session on Thursday.

With former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm and GOP mega-donor James Leininger on hand to testify in front of dozens of adamant voucher supporters, the hearing took on a carnival-like atmosphere at times.

Some voucher advocates, including Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels), used Thursday’s hearing on a pair of school voucher bills to rail about the state of public schools.

“Today we have a monstrosity, a monopoly,” Campbell said. “It’s called public school.”

Not quite as goofy as Debbie Riddle's "pit of hell" remarks a few years ago, but the supply of conservative shrieking hyperbole is getting used up, after all.  Even Texas Freedom Network gets hate mail from these kinds of Christians.  There's some pushback, thankfully...

Pastor Kyle Henderson of First Baptist Church in Athens testified that voucher proponent’s attacks on public schools and teachers bothered him.

“I am stunned by the disdain expressed to public school teachers in this room,” Henderson said.

Joanna Sanchez, University of Texas education policy researcher and policy fellow for Rep. Mary Gonzalez (D-Clint), says that studies on vouchers and student outcomes don’t suggest they can improve student achievement on a large scale.

“The empirical evidence shows that vouchers lead to increased sorting of students by socioeconomic status, and does not support the claim that vouchers help disadvantaged children” Sanchez told the Observer.

Sen. Sylvia Garcia (D-Houston) voiced perhaps the most vehement opposition to the bills.

“Isn’t this just a money grab by non-public schools?” Garca asked.

Carol Morgan called the proceedings "nine hours of the good, the bad, and the ugly".

But the assault on public education still pales in comparison to the full court press against all things LGBT.  There are some ups and downs as always; Ken Paxton went federal judge shopping and found another bargain, while Rep. Cecil Bell's legislation to penalize local officials for issuing marriage licenses might get gutted by the invisible hand of the free market.  The most significant developments, however, came not from Texas but out of Indiana.  For the summary, Mahablog.

(Yesterday) Indiana governor Mike Pence signed a “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” into law that allows “any individual or corporation to cite its religious beliefs as a defense when sued by a private party.” It’s understood that the purpose of this is to give homophobe business owners license to discriminate against LGBT customers.

The Indianapolis-based Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) had already told Pence that if he signed the bill, the Disciples would cancel their next convention in Indianapolis and find another city.

Indianapolis is hosting the men's college basketball Final Four weekend after this one, and the NCAA did not pump-fake its response.

"The NCAA national office and our members are deeply committed to providing an inclusive environment for all our events," NCAA president Mark Emmert said in a statement issued immediately after Pence signed the law. "We are especially concerned about how this legislation could affect our student-athletes and employees.

"We will work diligently to assure student-athletes competing in, and visitors attending, next week's Men's Final Four in Indianapolis are not impacted negatively by this bill,” the statement continued. “Moving forward, we intend to closely examine the implications of this bill and how it might affect future events as well as our workforce."

Translation: no more Final Fours in Indy after next weekend.  Boom and thud.

Salesforce Marketing Group, Eli Lilly (headquarters in Indianapolis), and the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce also have expressed opposition to the bill.

Yeah.  About Salesforce.

Here’s what their CEO stated: “Today we are canceling all programs that require our customers/employees to travel to Indiana to face discrimination. We are forced to dramatically reduce our investment in IN based on our employee’s & customer’s outrage over the Religious Freedom Bill.”

Salesforce is only a $4bn company, but it is an up-and-coming heavyweight in the tech industry. Having such a high-profile announcement from such a powerful player so quickly was a big surprise. Even if no one else openly joins them, their absence from trade shows, user groups and other activities is going to reverberate, creating pressure on other companies and hurting Indiana businesses.

Flanked by powerhouse Chicago on one side and the booming tech center of Columbus on the other, Indiana is a state that already struggles to compete in this lucrative, well-paid field. It is difficult to develop and retain technical talent and well-paid jobs there in the wake of a collapsed manufacturing base. Becoming a pioneer in discrimination is unlikely to help.

This is a Republican saying these things.

There seems to be a fundamental disconnect in Republican circles over the political value of gay-baiting. The environment changed very fast, and Republicans are not known for their speed of adaptation. Picking on gay people is no longer a winning political tactic. Even Jan Brewer recognizes this. Can we just accept this and move on?

As for the “religious exemptions,” you can’t possibly be serious. We’ve been here before. If the ability to persecute gay people is a central tenet of your religious faith, then your religious faith sucks. We all bear a Constitutional duty to preserve the basic rights of religions that suck, but only up to the point that your religion starts ruining other people’s lives. If you want to hold a job that serves the general public you will be expected not to act like an asshole, even if you think your religion commands it. Be an asshole in private where your right to be an asshole remains sacred.

Once more from the sportswriter Dan Wetzel at Yahoo.

The tide has turned. The young and more enlightened are rising up, which is why laws like this won't last 10 years; maybe not even five. This is the last gasp of open discrimination.

Soon enough everyone supporting these ideals of discrimination will be incredibly humiliated they ever did so, the way old timers hang their heads when asked about how they thought a segregated lunch counter for third graders was a just idea. Most will pretend they didn't agree with it in the first place. Shame will cause everyone to run from it.

 [...]

Mike Pence isn't even a creative, trend-setting bigot. He's just a dense follower. Indiana is the 20th state with some kind of similar law – the kind that would never be allowed against any other group of humans. It's long past time they answer for it too.

This is the era where civil rights victories for gays and lesbians are sweeping the country; next month, the Supreme Court will consider whether to make legalized gay marriage the law of the land.

So use the momentum to right past wrongs. Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, Alabama, wherever else you want to do this, it's true the rest of America may not be able to change the law – time and young people will do that for you.

National organizations such as the NCAA and NFL sure can say that if you're not willing to do business with all of our customers, then we'll go and do business where they will.

After all, the best counter to these religious freedom measures has come from an Oklahoma representative named Emily Virgin.

She introduced an amendment in her state that would require a business that will refuses service to certain individuals to "post notice of such refusal in a manner clearly visible to the public in all places of business, including websites. The notice may refer to the person's religious beliefs, but shall state specifically which couples the business does not serve by referring to a refusal based upon sexual orientation, gender identity or race."

Essentially, it tells everyone your intentions, who you are and what you are about. That way the gay couple looking for a florist knows not to go inside … and the rest of the public who think you're an idiot can go find another florist, too.

Then the religious freedom florist will cling to a dwindling customer base until it goes out of business.

 The invisible hand of the free market just got a little more visible.

Where Ted Cruz (and his logo) really comes from

Seriously though, his icon looks really familiar.

It's most likely just a shoutout to the "world is on fire" religious fundamentalists.  The WaPo noted that it appears to be Pentecostal in origin.

Truth to tell, Ted Cruz isn't a candidate.  He's a strategy.

Whether he (and the entire Republican party, for that matter) is doing so intentionally or not, constantly forcing the political discourse to the farthest right makes a small compromise -- like a Scott Walker or a Jeb Bush -- look moderate by comparison.  Thus Ted Cruz enables his competitors to point at him and say, "See? At least I'm not THAT crazy."

Take the most extreme conservative position on an issue, move over half a step, call your new position 'centrist'.  It might be an accident... but it seems like the plan.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, their world really is on fire.

To paraphrase Def Leppard: Armageddon it yet?

Bicycling between City Hall and the Harris County family court

-- Kuff got ahead of Schleifer's Horseshoe this past week, catching Jack Christie's no-go for mayor and the At-Large ins and outs (Atlas Kerr in 3 throwing down against Kubosh, Jan Clark dropping out of 5).  Click here for more, but you really ought to be subscribing to the weekly e-mail newsletter by now.  Nobody is doing this beat any better than Teddy.  (He's linking to my questions for the Sheriff, so this is a bit of pimping myself out.  No response to those questions as yet.  It's early.)

Update (3/26): And Charles leads this morning with news on two Democrats jumping in to challenge Christie in AL5 and one controller candidate announcing his bid.

Sylvester Turner grand-opens at Minute Maid Park this weekend, Chris Bell has a big fundraiser set for April 1st (hope that's just a coincidence), and Stone Cold Steve Costello speaks to Harris Democrats tomorrow night.  Somebody get me a transcript of the fireworks, please?

-- Big Jolly busted the Republican judge who's Kickstarting her honeymoon.

I was contacted by a family law attorney that does business in Judge Alicia Franklin’s 311th District Court. The attorney complained that she felt pressured to give money to Judge Franklin for her upcoming honeymoon. Say what? Sure enough, Judge Franklin and her fiance', Doug York, have a website asking for contributions to pay for their honeymoon.

[...]

Folks, we aren’t talking about a couple of lovestruck teenagers that are starting a new life together and need a wedding shower or two. We are talking about two very successful attorneys and an elected district judge. Heck, Franklin received over $800,000 from Harris County taxpayers alone for appointed cases. Which reminds me, where again is Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson? It has been over six month since Greg Enos filed a criminal complaint against Judge Franklin (click here to read more about that complaint) and still NOTHING from the DA. NADA, ZIP, ZILCH.

Do you think the DA would have been silent if Judge Franklin had run as a Democrat? I surely don’t.

Franklin and York are obviously classless and tasteless. One attorney I talked to about this said that there is no way he would beg for money for a honeymoon – if he couldn’t take care of his new bride, she shouldn’t have married him.

That’s funny. But the bigger issue is a judge sitting behind a bench pressuring the attorneys in front of her to pay for her pleasure activities. And a DA that sits on her hands when a Republican is involved.

Nothing to add.  The comments at his OP are priceless.  I appreciate what Jolly does as the lone watchdog within his party to call out this sort of thing.  It's one thing for me to point it out, quite another when he does.

-- A La Porte cyclist was severely injured in a yet another hit-and-run between cars and bikers.  It's an epidemic locally.

Investigators say that the cyclist was traveling northbound on 2400 Sens in La Porte and was hit from behind by a Ford F-150 this weekend, as KHOU details. The truck fled the scene shortly after, leaving the biker lying in the street with life-threatening injuries.

[...]

This accident's a reminder of the dangers bike lovers continue to face on the area's streets from hit-and-run drivers. An alarming number of cyclist injuries and deaths led Houston Mayor Annise Parker to take initiative on the issue last May. The mayor donated $2,500 from BikeHouston to Crime Stoppers of Houston in an attempt to reduce the number of biker deaths and draw attention to the problem.

Crime Stoppers tips helped the Houston police solve the case of the infamous hit and run that killed cyclist Chelsea Norman, who was run down pedaling home from work at the Montrose Whole Foods. On the other hand, unresolved accidents remain throughout Harris County.

Houstonians complain about traffic, potholes, the tax money needed to fix both, and then pile into their pickups, run down bicyclists, and flee the scene of the crime.  What's wrong with this picture besides everything?

The only thing these jerks aren't bitching about is gas prices.

Now me personally, I wouldn't ride my bike in La Porte just due to the quality of the air.  But I never ride on a street with moderate traffic because of the likelihood of this sort of thing happening.  And that's the concern of others who might ditch their gas-powered four-wheelers for two and pedal power.

"The key here is that physical separation, which makes cyclists feel more comfortable, that their space is defined," Payne said. "When you're on a bike route you're right out there with the traffic. The whole objective here for Houston is to develop infrastructure that makes people feel comfortable, safe and encourages them to get out of their houses and out of their cars and use their bicycles both for recreation and for transportation."

Yeah, that's the key all right.  It might be a nice place to start if we could stop seeing everyone -- including cyclists -- complain when the city DOES put some bike lanes in.

Houston refinery shuts off emergency alert system in response to striking USW demands for safety

H-Town's LyondellBasell refinery workers remain among the last of the United Steelworkers union members who have been waiting to go back to work following a national settlement of their strike almost two weeks ago.  Negotiations began again yesterday after a week-long "cooling off" period that the company requested.

Representatives from USW District 227 and LyondellBasell were in the middle of negotiating on (March 14) when the company officials got up and left the room, (USW negotiator Joshua) Lege says. At the request of the company a federal mediator has been involved in the local negotiations from the start. Everyone assumed they were taking a break until the federal mediator came back and told the USW local reps that LyondellBasell's people were leaving and said they needed a "cooling off" period, Lege says.

"We're cooled. We've been cooled down for the last 40 or 50 days on strike, and for the first 30 they wouldn't talk to us at all," Lege says. "This is really turning into a pressure cooker because they won't negotiate with us. They honestly want to break us. They aren't a union company and they don't want a union out there and we believe they're afraid some other sites will start organizing if we get a fair contract here."

But the real news is what's been going on inside that plant over the past few weeks.  Here's Remington Alessi's account from The Anti-Media.

“If something goes wrong at the plant, the guy who saved the company a few bucks on safety equipment still goes home in a nice Cadillac, and I go home in a box,” said Joshua Lege, a striking worker when discussing the disconnect between executives and rank and file employees.

Ordinarily, discussing corporate disregard for safety is heavily discouraged by company policy, but the strike has given employees unusual amounts of media attention. As a result, employees have been able to shed light on what really happens behind the gates of oil refineries, and that reality is quite frightening.

The Emergency Notification System, or ENS, at Houston’s 700-acre LyondellBasell refinery is a warning system installed to notify workers of medical emergencies, fires, and vapor releases. In practice, this is meant to put emergency workers on alert and give anyone nearby the opportunity to protect themselves from potentially hazardous chemical vapors.

The ENS is also how strikers were able to keep track of the significantly increased rate of medical incidents when LyondellBasell brought in untrained workers to replace strikers. For example, a neglected compressor failed and necessitated the flaring off of unidentified chemicals on February 16, 2015.

A USW striker watches as Houston's LyondellBasell refinery flares off
dangerous chemicals after a compressor failed at the plant last month

Flaring is the common and unclean practice of burning off flammable chemicals when pipes and equipment are overpressurized, usually the result of hardware failure. According to refinery workers, if you see a large and sustained flare coming from a refinery, it typically means that repair crews are having a rough day and that you may want to avoid breathing in.

Essentially, the refinery has become much more dangerous in the hands of untrained workers.

[...]

In order to reduce the likelihood of striking employees continuing to report incidents, LyondellBasell recently implemented a new policy. ENS speakers near the front gate where picketers stand were disabled. Though they can still be heard far off in the distance, the notifications are too far off for picketers to identify whether or not they indicate the release of dangerous vapors.

In addition to protecting LyondellBasell’s public image, this can seriously endanger strikers and the nearby community, as vapor clouds can travel for miles before dissipating, and often contain hazardous carcinogens. LyondellBasell has managed to find ways to threaten the health and safety of employees even after they’ve left the plant, because if (or more likely when) the plant feels the need to flare dangerous chemicals, picketers can expect to be gassed without warning just like protestors in Ferguson.

Here, demonstrated, is precisely the reason why the USW went on strike in the first place.  It's not as if DuPont La Porte's recent accident that claimed the lives of four workers, or the former BP/now Marathon facility in Texas City a decade ago which killed 15 are aberrations in the nature of petrochemical operations.  No surprise then that Marathon is also a holdout in the national settlement agreement, known as the "pattern".

Meanwhile, Marathon's Texas City plant is nowhere near a local deal, to the point that a federal negotiator has been brought in to help work things out, according to Reuters. USW spokeswoman Lynn Hancock says that she's not sure if Marathon has even presented the national pattern agreement to the local USW group, also District 13-1.

It's not entirely a surprise that things are rough with the Marathon talks. While some local unions, like the Shell Deer Park arm of District 13-1, actually worked out most of the details on local contracts months ago, Marathon and the Texas City union workers were at odds going into the strike, something noted by (USW chief Lee) Medley and every other local union rep we've talked with over the past few weeks. USW is laying the current holdup at the company's door. "The company refuses to offer the pattern unencumbered," W.E. Sanders, sub-director for USW District 13, which covers Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, explained to Reuters. "The company clearly knows its obligations under the pattern."

Kindly note that none of this has anything to do with climate change concerns, low oil and gas prices threatening the so-called Texas Miracle, or wages and benefits for workers at risk every day on their job, as much so as any police officer or fire fighter.  It's about plant safety; nothing more, nothing less.

Neglect and incompetence is one thing; malfeasance bordering on psychopathy is quite another.  Criminal prosecutors understand the distinctions between manslaughter and premeditated murder.  And so do lowly hardhats who gamble with their life and health at their workplace for the enhanced value benefiting fossil fuel profiteers.

Public pressure must be brought to bear on companies who willfully and maliciously threaten not just their employees, but those who simply live near their plant operations.  And not just the people residing in closest proximity, either.  In a just world, businessmen should not have to be compelled by shame, by law, or by threat of punishment to do what is right and proper, but that's not the world we live in today.

We can continue to allow the greed of corporations to threaten our lives, our health, and our safety, or we can fight back.  Make no mistake; it's going to have to be a fight.