The folks who are trying to amend the Texas constitution to make same-sex marriage permanently illegal (they need to hurry because public opinion is slowly but steadily turning away from their position) have alerted the secretary of state that anti-amendment forces may bus in out of state voteres to influence the referendum in November.

Why are they worried about this? Well... because... you know... it could happen! So reports the Austin American-Stateman, generously calling the suspicions "rumors."

Rumors, my ass. Lies and mudslinging are more like it. The pro-amendment folks have not come up with any rational reason for their amendment. And, as the A-S reports, with business basically taking a pass on this one (it doesn't affect businesses, except in making Texas look like a backward place where no one would want to locate a facility) there's not a lot of money in the campaign, so it's going to come down to grassroots organizing, and scaring people that the world will end if the amendment doesn't pass.

Glenn Maxey, leading the opposition to the amendment, had a simple response: "They're smoking crack."

It's easy to see how the anti-marriage folks are trying to spin it: "Those un-Texan homo liberals are trying to deny us our good old fashioned kill-the-queers values!"

Given the likelihood that the amendment will pass (most people don't care about it or are vaguely uncomfortable, there aren't very many reasons for most voters to even go to the polls this November, and the right is very good at mobilizing voters) it's a little surprising to see them being a bit desparate and starting this crap already. Maybe we should be more hopeful that common sense and fairness will prevail in November.

Meanwhile, you can be a voice against ignorance. Go here to find out how.

(From By the Bayou, Houston)
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

The sponsor of the anti-marriage amendment in Texas, Warren Chisum (a state rep from Pampa), says that we need to ban gay marriage, or else someone will try to make polygamy legal.

If this is supposed to be a good reason for the amendment a really obvious question comes to mind: if that's your concern, why don't you sponsor an amendment making polygamy illegal?

Using Chisum's "logic" we should make driving illegal, because someone might drive drunk. Or perhaps we should make going to church illegal, because someone might decide to have a church that involves human sacrifice.

The paucity of sensible arguments for a ban on gay marriage is the most damning thing about these kinds of amendments. Let's hope that the folks fighting this nonsense call lots of attention to that.

(From By the Bayou in Houston)
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

The President assures a small child that someday he will have a plate of food too.

"I know they're nigras ... but why are there so many of them?!?"

41 and 43 get some bonding time by fishing the 9th Ward.

The President may have to take a "drop" because his ball has become lodged under a corpse.


The President serenades an appreciative crowd - to help take their mind off the food and water that will arrive any day now.

Courtesy The Blue Republic.

Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

I would like to invite all members and readers to get involved now, today, in the fight against the Prop 2, the constitutional amendment which purports to ban same-sex marriage (which is already illegal in the state of Texas).

Please visit the campaign website and download the talking points. You can also print flyers to distribute to your friends and neighbors, co-workers, fellow church members, whoever is in your sphere of influence. You can register for the calendar and register to attend events on the calendar. If you don't live in Texas, send money.

I am personally working to coordinate faith communities in Houston and UU communities state-wide to work against this constitutional amendment. To that end, I have developed an inventory list of helpful material for each individual to carry around and use while talking to people. Each person who is a member of a church or temple should consider working with me or with your regional faith coordinator to organize interested members to fight this amendment. In like fashion, if you are a member of a Humanist group, political club, neighborhood group, please consider doing the same. Contact me if you are interested using some of the resources I have developed or want to serve as a liaison from the campaign to your church, club, or group. Contact me if you are interested in getting involved with the campaign in any capacity, I don't care where you live, I will find the right person to set you to work.

This amendment is the latest in a long run of erosions of our civil liberties and freedoms that we have come to take for granted in the US. This is not solely a gay issue. This affects us all. We are on the verge of writing discrimination against an identifiable minority of our society into our constitution. Are you horrified by the precedent this would be? I certainly am.

What's more, the discrimation against this identifiable minority is already part of the legal system. So what was the point of this amendment again? Seems like a blatant attempt to demonize that identifiable minority to me. So, at the risk of being trite, if we don't stand together, exactly who will stand with you if and when you are an identifiable minority that is the target of discrimination and demonization?

It's time to push back. Yes, there are a lot of terrible things going on right now. I am here to tell you that we can do something about this particular terrible thing. And guess what, we can build a network that we can mobilize when other terrible things are proposed, because there is more like this coming down the pike.

Senfronia Thompson noted regarding this amendment, "I want you to know that this amendment [is] blowing smoke to fuel the hell-fire flames of bigotry". Read her full remarks here.

58 days till election day (November 8).

30 days till the voter registration deadline (October 11).

What have you done to fight this bill today?
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

A. : Getting ready, Mr. DeMille, for his "Mission Accomplished" closeup

B. : Preparing to have some more "kind of fun" with Astrodome child evacuees

c. : Wishing for a pair of manly-looking combat boots instead of his $1300 tasseled Gucci loafers

D. : Praying like hell to Pat Robertson that he doesn't have to trade olive green for bright orange
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

As reported by TXTiger, over at Dkos, Rep. Smith had a town hall meeting today. It didn't go like he expected.

Excerpts below (with emphasis as in the original), but I recommend following the above link for the whole report, and some very interesting Kossakian commentary.

The Response to Hurricane Katrina

Asked how Hurricane Katrina will affect the Congress' legislative priorities, and whether this should require a shift away from tax cuts, Smith said, "Yes, mostly." He said he believes that tax cuts do (or can) spike the economy, but remarked, "Realistically, the estate tax will not be repealed this year."

At this point, a man with silver hair stood up. "Representative Smith," he said firmly, "I have been a Republican since the early 1960's." Oh, no, I thought, here it comes - shill time. This guy had to be part of the crowd called in by the Travis County Republican Party this morning to give Smith some cover.

"I pay a lot for taxes," he continued, "and I consider it a social investment. I am outraged! When this catastrophe hit, the president's response was that we should 'give to private charity.' I am outraged that this party can't support our country. We can't deal with our own self-defense. You need to fire Chertoff and these FEMA clowns. What are you doing with our tax dollars?!"

At this point, the audience broke into applause.

Not an auspicious beginning. Let's move on to a more reliable talking point. How about "support the troops"?

Iraq and Support for the Troops

A young woman stood up and introduced herself as a small business owner and from a family of veterans. "The Republican party claims to support our troops," she said, "but a bill providing medical care for veterans missed by one vote, and you voted 'No' on that bill. How do you defend your vote?"

Smith said that veterans received an 8% increase this past year, and "any more would have broken the budget and the general agreement." This excuse was received with hisses.

She followed up asking about a bill to increase health insurance rates for Guard and Reserve troops to the same level as Tricare which regular troops receive, which missed by 7 votes and for which Smith voted 'No.' She said service people are losing their businesses because they have been called up for so long.

Smith said, "We have to do more and do better, but at some point we have to say that 8% is enough."

But to applause, this young woman said, "I don't think you've done as much for our servicemen as you've done for the top 1% in our country."

I love the way he spoke about the budget as if it hadn't been broken beyond most powers of calculation by this Republican controlled Congress.

There was more lively discussion. On the subject of Tom Delay, TRMPAC and the mugging of Congressional districts in the off cycle redistricting, Rep Smith played dumb. At least I don't think he's that dumb, though I'd not hazard a guess as to how much wattage there actually is under the hood.

Another questioner stood up later and thanked Smith for coming out to meet with his constiuents. Playing off Smith's opening assertion that only 20% of his colleagues hold town meetings, the man said, "The reason they don't go meet their constituents is because they don't have competitive districts due to gerrymandering. When will congress pass laws requiring independently-drawn districts?"

Smith said, "That's up to the states to do."

"Then why was Tom DeLay involved here in Texas?" shouted someone.

"He wasn't, the state legislature - "

"Oh, c'mon, Lamar!"

"The legislature - "

"Everyone knows DeLay was running it!"

The shouting and hisses continued for a few moments. Smith pretended not to understand what redistricting people were talking about (he "thought" they meant Texas house districts, not Congressional). He complained that he had been a victim of redistricting in the Texas House back in 1981. And he denied that Tom DeLay had any hand in the matter at all. "Redistricting is up to the states," he said.

"It was wrong split Austin into three districts," said the original questioner.

There's more, and TxTiger reports it well, but this last excerpt is irresistible.

And when asking about his votes against stem cell research and for extending Terry Schiavo's life, the questioner remarked, "If you spent so much effort on living people as on these issues, New Orleans would never have happened."

May she rest in peace, Terri Schiavo is the gift that keeps backfiring on the Mullahs of Congress.

By the last ten minutes, Smith was looking at the clock pretty regularly.

Well, I would imagine so. This must have been one of the 10 longest hours Rep Smith has ever had in his life.

At least to date.

One thing has become crystal clear about this Republican leadership. They will expend the very minimum of effort to keep embarassment off their backs. Preferrably PR effort, but if pushed they will resort to more substantial efforts.

Our job as constituents is to keep flipping over the rock, and pelting them with enough pebbles to keep them moving in the right direction.

Crossposted at Texas 21 Blog.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

The Travis County grand jury has issued an indictement against the "Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee" created by Congressman Tom DeLay to provide corporate funds to take over the Texas House of Representatives in 2002. There were also four indictments issued against the "Texas Association of Business."

From the Austin-American Statesman:

If convicted, the state's largest business group faces the threat of fines — up to $20,000 for each count. But the indictments also complicate the group's defense against civil lawsuits filed by losing Democratic candidates. Damages in those suits could be double the $1.7 million that the association spent on 4 million mailers to voters in 2002.

The four indictments against the business group — two of which were issued last month and then sealed — break down the counts by different actions the group took. They include:

n 14 counts of prohibited political contributions by a corporation (TAB) for paying Hammond and staffer Jack Campbell to do political work.

•28 additional counts for fraudulently soliciting money from corporations to use in the 2002 election..

•83 additional counts of prohibited political contributions by a corporation for paying for political mailers and TV commercials.

•Three counts of prohibited political expenditures by a corporation for spending money in connection with 23 legislative campaigns.

All the counts are third-degree felonies.

TRMPAC, in the lone indictment against it, is charged with two counts of illegally accepting corporate donations, including $100,000 from the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care.

Texas House speaker candidate Tom Craddick collected that check at a Houston restaurant days before the 2002 election. He has said he didn't know the amount of the check and was just passing it along to the PAC.

Craddick, who became speaker after Republicans took control in the 2002 elections, was not named in the indictments.

At a noon press conference, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle said TAB and Texans for a Republican Majority worked together in a complicated scheme to circumvent the state law banning corporate money being spent on campaign activity.

TAB has refused to identify the 30 or so corporations that underwrote its mail campaign. But TAB unintentionally disclosed 20 corporations, mostly insurance companies, as donors, in documents it was required to release as part of the civil suit. Additional donors are listed in the indictments, including the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care and the American Health Care Association, sister organizations that together gave $300,000, the largest single corporate contribution to TAB.

People who watch the antics of our Texas criminal class, the Legislature, may recall that the two recent special sessions to establish Consitutitonal funding for the Texas school system failed to achieve anything in part because they refused to raise taxes on currently untaxed businesses.

Anyone besides me see a connection?

[Cross-posted from Politics Plus Stuff]
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

This year the pack of holy hyenas that dominates the Texas Lege, led by Republican banker and alpha male-supremacist Sen. Tommy Williams, funneled $5,000,000 of our tax money -- public funds designated for family planning, primary health screening and other legitimate medical care -- into the religiously oriented agencies known as crisis pregnancy centers. Williams and his anti-choice buddies called Planned Parenthood a "special interest" that was "grubbing for money" while maintaining that their own two-year, multimillion-dollar giveaway to faith-based special interests was just a drop in the bucket.

The measure's author, Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, said there are “more than adequate resources to meet the health care needs of women.”
<...>
"There's more than enough money in this strategy for the traditional healthcare things such as pap smears and birth control pills,” Williams said. “I don't count government-funded abortion among those services and I think that's what the difference is.”

OK, just so that we all can be clear on Williams’ wannabe impersonation of Karl Rove: [1] Public funds cannot be and are not used to fund abortion, [2] Williams is a CPA who understands the separation of public and private funding and [3] the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has already kicked his behind on this same non-issue.

Now back to reality.

Tommy Williams’ favorite faith-based initiative already is stripping low income women of vital healthcare services by forcing Planned Parenthood to close its doors in one of the poorest counties of a state that has the highest percentage of women without health insurance in the country – just one more statistic to make us all feel Texas Proud.

Planned Parenthood closed its Pharr clinic Thursday, citing a $200,000 cut in state funding to its Hidalgo County chapter. The closing follows the Texas Legislature’s decision to divert $2.5 million from the Department of State Health Services’ family planning budget to an anti-abortion program, said Margaret Mendez, director for community health services at the state agency.

Planned Parenthood was one of a number of family planning providers, including university health centers and community centers, to lose funding under the deal.
<...>
With the Pharr clinic closing, around 4,000 patients, mostly low income and from the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo area, will have to seek services elsewhere, said Kathryn Hearn, community services director for Hidalgo County Planned Parenthood.
<...>
"There’s not enough money and not enough space for them," Hearn said. "Birth control, STD tests, pre-cancer screenings, these things cost money."

That money will now go to fund "pregnancy counseling clinics," where women are encouraged to give birth and not seek an abortion. While such clinics have been in Texas for some time, they have not been publicly funded until now, said Dade Phelan, spokesman for State Senator Bobby (sic) Williams, R-Woodlands, who authored the budget change and whose district lies north of Houston.

"There has always been plenty of money for family planning, but there’s nothing that addresses alternative to abortion programs," he said. "This is for women who are trying to decide whether or not to have a baby, and this will give an alternative to abortion. It’s giving them more choice."

But Hearn is critical of such clinics, saying they provide little in the way of medical services, and do little to lower the abortion rate.

"We’ve had some of our clients go these places before, and their whole function is discouraging birth control and promoting child-bearing" she said. "We also try to prevent abortions, but we’re letting people make up their own minds.

"If you have a loss of access to birth control, you’re only going to see a rise in abortions."

So are the hundreds of medically unsupervised and unregulated crisis pregnancy centers around the state being christened "clinics" now, just to give the Texas GOP's Compulsory Childbirth Club an excuse to shovel our tax money into them?

Clinics used to be places where a woman could receive health care instead of being subjected to fake-religious propaganda, scare tactics and lies.

But not anymore, not in the world of Tommy Williams -- one far removed from the risk of an untreated STD, the fear of an unwanted pregnancy or the danger of undiagnosed cervical cancer. His is the safe and privileged kind of world that most women in Texas will never know.










Rabid conservatism defeats itself!