Steve’s Weblog

Well, today was the last day of early voting in Texas, so I stopped off on the way in to work to cast my ballot. I was surprised by the five ballot initiatives on the Republican primary ballot. The party of smaller government is pushing for more government intervention in some places where government doesn’t really belong or where the initiative is so broad as to make it impossible to implement.

• Ballot Proposition 1
  Photo ID

  The Texas Legislature should make it a priority to protect the integrity of our election process by enacting legislation that requires
  voters to provide valid photo identification in order to cast a ballot in any and all elections conducted in the State of Texas.

Unless there’s some compelling example of election fraud going on, this looks like a solution in search of a problem. How exactly are you going to enact a Photo ID requirement that doesn’t violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

• Ballot Proposition 2
  Controlling Government Growth

  Every government body in Texas should be required to limit any annual increase in its budget and spending to the combined increase of population and inflation unless it first gets voter approval to exceed the allowed annual growth or in the case of an official emergency.

Yea, except for everyone’s pet project…

• Ballot Proposition 3
  Cutting Federal Income Taxes

  In addition to aggressively eliminating irresponsible federal spending, Congress should empower American citizens to stimulate the economy by Congress cutting federal income taxes for all federal taxpayers, rather than spending hundreds of billions of dollars on so-called “federal economic stimulus”.

That dog won’t bark.

• Ballot Proposition 4
  Public Acknowledgement of God

  The use of the word “God”, prayers, and the Ten Commandments should be allowed at public gatherings and public educational
  institutions, as well as be permitted on government buildings and property.

Hello, separation of church and state.

• Ballot Proposition 5
  Sonograms

  The Texas Legislature should enact legislation requiring a sonogram to be performed and shown to each mother about to undergo a
  medically unnecessary, elective abortion.

These are the same people saying they don’t want government intervention in health care?

Boehner: How Dare Obama Televise The Health Care Debate After I Demanded He Televise The Health Care Debate!

After slamming the Obama administration for “secret deliberations” and going back on his campaign promise to televise the health care debate, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) criticized the President yesterday for televising the bipartisan health care summit on Feb. 25, asking “is this a political event or is this going to be a real conversation?”

From: TPM

Republicans Who Opposed The Stimulus Line Up To Criticize It Publicly, Request More Money Privately

Rep. John Carter (R-TX) opposed the Recovery Act, and recently called the entire program a failure that should be “repealed.” Regardless, Carter’s public pronouncements did not stop him from requesting $621 million in hospital projects from the stimulus — then calling the funds a victory for the economy in central Texas.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/27/stimulus-double-talk/

The same ACORN gotcha man who was honored by 31 Republicans, including John Carter (R-TX31), for his potential wiretapping violation, was among four arrested for attempting to tamper with Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu’s office phones.

The census is not necessarily the topic you’ve been waiting to hear about, I know, but bear with me for a moment.

It’s coming up in March or April, and while it’s supposed to be an accurate count of everyone in the country, there’s no question that asks if someone is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

This is a huge problem. The data collected has a direct impact on issues that are critical to every American–issues like health care, economic stability, safety. And when LGBT people are not counted, individuals, families, and communities suffer.

The good news is that we can change this. Show your support of a census that counts everyone–say it right on your census envelope with your free Queer the Census sticker! And make sure to sign the petition telling the Census Bureau to make sure everyone is counted.

http://act.credoaction.com/sticker/queerthecensus?r_by=-2551005-fe3f12x&rc=taf.stickers

From the Lone Star Project, comes this tidbit about Republican Congressman John Carter:

Texas Republican leads partisan attack while hiding over a quarter million dollars in personal profits

Texas Republican John Carter (TX31 – Round Rock) is the lead Republican attack dog in a harshly partisan effort to vilify a senior Democratic member for reporting errors on financial disclosure forms. Recent news reports, however, confirm that John Carter himself hid as much as $300,000 in personal profits gained from the sale of Exxon stock. When confronted, Carter’s office denied the profits saying the “disclosure reports are accurate… no capital gain was made.” (Source: Roll Call , October 21, 2009) But, when documents proving the transactions were produced, Carter was forced to change his tune and admit that he had filed false reports and conceded that corrections must be made. Carter’s violations might be seen as inadvertent and even forgivable had they not exposed his utter hypocrisy, especially in light his recent vicious floor attacks against a respected colleague.

Will one of his staffers rise up to defend him again?

I sent an email to KayBee asking her to support the Hate Crimes bill, her response is classic Republican:

Hate Crimes Legislation: I oppose attempts by some in the Senate to attach legislation that is not germane to these defense measures. One such example is the Hate Crimes Amendment that was introduced by Senate Democrats. I have voted against this measure in the past because it has nothing to do with the underlying defense bills. I also oppose hate crimes legislation on its own merits, because I continue to believe that all violent crimes should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, regardless of the underlying motivation.

In reviewing these two defense bills, my priority is to represent the interests of the large military community in Texas, to enhance our bases, and to support service members and their families. I will continue to work to support military and veterans issues, and to enhance funding for military programs, as this legislation moves forward. It is my highest priority to ensure that our troops are paid and that our military is at full operational readiness.

I appreciate hearing from you, and I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me on any issue that is important to you.

Sincerely,
Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senator

She appreciates hearing from me, and I shouldn’t hesitate to contact her on any issue that’s important to me, and she’ll continue to ignore my communication anyway.

Why bother?

Update: Sorry Kay, it passed anyway!

From the Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama Back to School Event:

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Let’s hope your parents don’t keep you home.

I’m kind of amazed at all the chatter about keeping the kids at home for Obama’s televised speech to all school children next week. Where was the feigned outrage when George W Bush or Ronald Reagan spoke to school kids? What’s driving the outrage anyway, could it be that maybe they’re afraid that their children might actually learn something from Obama’s talk that makes them as parents appear just a little less educated themselves?

Check out this cartoon: http://community.thetimes-tribune.com/blogs/johncole/archive/2009/09/05/school-daze.aspx with a satirical look at why it’s so important to get a good education.

I’m certainly not what anyone would refer to as religious, but I was raised Catholic by my parents. I’ve heard this Gospel before, it’s a common choice to be read at Catholic funerals, and as I was watching the funeral mass for Ted Kennedy yesterday, I thought this reading was really appropriate considering what Kennedy did for those in need throughout his political career, and especially in light of his push for health care for everyone.

To the least of my brothers
By Jesus Christ

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

(Matthew 25:31-46)

Hey Representative Carter, didja see this? Autumn over at Pam’s House Blend calls your attention to this New York Times article:

New Impetus for Bill Banning Anti-Gay Bias at Work

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 27, 2009

Filed at 2:59 p.m. ET

Momentum is building for Congress to pass the first major civil rights act protecting gays and transsexuals, supporters say, and one of the stars in the debate is a barrier-breaking transgender staffer on Capitol Hill.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, would prohibit workplace discrimination — including decisions about hiring, firing and wages — based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It would exempt religious organizations, the military and businesses with less than 15 workers.

The driving force behind the bill has been Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the longest-serving of the three openly gay members of Congress. He expects hearings on the measure to be held this fall.

More at NY Times