Musings of a Liberal Texan

Local Musings Deep in DeLay Country, a Backlash Takes Shape In Houston, Texas, a Republican state legislator finds that party discipline has a cost: Are voters turning on the hard-liners? Josh Harkinson October 24 , 2006 Until recently, few people in Houston would have called Martha Wong conservative. She was the first Asian American elected to the city council in this blue-collar town and was a champion of immigrant workers; once in office, she fought for hiring more Chinese-speaking police officers, funding low-income housing, and preserving the bus system. Urban voters sent the Republican to the state Legislature in 2002, believing she was a political moderate. But they were in for a surprise: The next year, Wong voted to ax $1 billion in health funding for the poor—booting 180,000 low-income children off the state’s health insurance rolls—and for a law requiring abortion providers to tell women that the procedure could cause breast cancer, a claim that has been found to have no ba...

Complaints Mount at US Fortress in Iraq by David Phinney WASHINGTON - Several months before a U.S. construction foreman named John Owen would quit in disgust over what he said was blatant abuse of foreign laborers hired to build the sprawling new U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Rory Mayberry would witness similar events when he flew to Kuwait from his home in Myrtle Creek, Oregon. The gravelly-voiced, easygoing U.S. Army veteran had previously worked in Iraq for Halliburton and the private security company, Danubia. Missing the action and the big paychecks U.S. contractors draw there, Mayberry snagged a 10,000-dollar a month job with MSDS consulting company. MSDS is a two-person minority-owned consulting company that assists U.S. State Department managers in Washington with procurement programming. Never before had the firm offered medical services or worked in Iraq, but First Kuwaiti -- Owen's employer -- hired MSDS on the recommendation of Jim Golden, the State Department contract offi...

The Elephant Lady If you have spent any time reading this blog, you will know that I have a soft spot for animals - especially those involved in factory farming and the circus. To the left is a video called "the elephant lady". She documents the lives of elephants in Southeast Asia, where there are now only 500 elephants in the wild. It is here : http://www.current.tv/studio/media/14709077?cpg=vmmA . If it gets enough "greenlights" it will be given the opportunity to be on television. This woman is AMAZING. Take a look. It's hard at times, but as I have said before, if they can endure it, you can at least watch. For the most part it is incrediby uplifting.

I will assume that the readers of this blog got a riotous howl out of the latest Fox News BREAKING REPORT - that wild pigs might have been responsible for the e coli outbreak. Oh my. It is funny...if only so many people didn't actually buy that b.s. And now for something completely different....wanna know where some of our tax dollars have gone? Hint: the same place as thinning hair. Bush Giving Up on Reconstructing Iraq By Sherwood Ross Washington, DC - Four months after US forces rolled into Baghdad, President George Bush declared his goal would be nothing less than to convert Iraq's infrastructure into "the best in the region" - yet US contractors today are readying to depart the country, leaving that goal unattained. Since President Bush's comment of August 8, 2003, some $50 billion has been spent to create what the US Army calls a record of "historic and magnificent accomplishments," rebuilding a nation neglected by Saddam Hussein and ...

Foxy Musings I heard what slush said about Michael J. Fox. This is my perspective. When someone "famous" steps up with an underfunded disease and puts himself out there to help not only raise awareness but funds, that is a HERO. My brother died from ALS, a severely underfunded disease with little to no "celebrity" ties. Famous people afflicted with this terminal illness for the most part, and with every right, decided to guard their privacy. Now, if MJF went off his meds for a commercial what does this mean? Does it say something about the medication? About his character? Well, to me it says - I take medication that controls this disease. I will be on this medication for the rest of my life until I find A CURE. Showing the disease as it is - not repressed or suppressed by medication is not "exploitive" it is HONEST. To say that he is "using" his disease is probably one of the most retarded things I have ever heard in my life. To say that he was ...

A Coupla Things Janitorial Musings There's a janitors' strike going on in the City of Houston. Seems that the janitors are protesting their 5.15/hour pay, no benefits, and part-time status. The building owners say that they cannot possibly change any of this because they have the problems of continuously rising building costs including utilities, property taxes, etc. Does anyone find this a tad bit insane? Are you or are you not making their argument for them? The janitors are saying that their 5.15/hr pay hasn't been raised in years and they are all suffering because of it - due to the RISING COST OF LIVING INCLUDING UTILITIES, PROPERTY TAXES, ETC.!! DOH ! 5.15 an hour. To me that is such an incredible slap in the face. Your time is only worth 5.15 an hour. Which comes out to what about 3.44 per hour after taxes? Golly. That's like 140 buckeroos for a 40 hour week. Huh. Crazy janitors. Presuming Musings Now I recently heard a bit of disdain over the airwaves about ho...

What’s Bad for America, Is Good for Halliburton…Just Ask the Vice President By Steve Young In the same month that we lost a record number of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens lost many more, Vice President Dick Cheney told Rush Limbaugh that "if you look at the overall situation they're doing remarkably well." Now we know that the Darth was speaking about Halliburton. This week the Halliburton's third-quarter net income rose 22 percent with third-quarter revenue rising 19 percent to $5.8 billion. But even more indecent was that the VP's talking point was dittoed by Halliburton officials. "Iraq was better than expected," said Jeff Tillery, analyst (who does research for Halliburton) at Pickering Energy Partners Inc. "Overall, there is nothing really to question or be skeptical about. I think the results are very good." "Overall, there is nothing to question or be skeptical about." Dost that not soar far off the puke-ability chart? M...

Oh hey! This just in. Bush is NOT about "staying the course". That was just some ugly rumor, probably generated by the liberal elite desperate for power. He and Snow categorically deny this rumor...which would also put to bed that ridiculous statement bush allegedly made about staying in Iraq even if Barney and Laura were his only two supporters. Phew! I am so relieved. Ignoring Senate, Bush Taps Mine Exec to be Safety Chief By Justin Rood - October 20, 2006, 6:09 PM Ah, the magic of the presidency. The Senate has refused to confirm former coal company executive Richard Stickler as the head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). So, while they were out, Bush gave him a recess appointment to the post. MSHA exists to protect miners' well-being. Once a miner himself, Stickler spent most of his career above ground, much of it as an executive for companies like coal giant Massey Energy. According to the Charleston Gazette, Stickler's mines had accident rates...

Volunteer Blues Musings Below is an email exchange between me and a parent, as well as the head coach. I am an assistant coach for my son's under fourteen recreational soccer team. The head coach was out of town for the first month of the season, so I lead until he came back. You might ask, why is this here? I guess, because I am still really pissed off about it. It is probably one of the major reasons that people don't step up to volunteer. You do everything you can, you take on responsibility, and then you get sniper fire from someone that doesn't volunteer, someone who points out problems and offers no solution. I have to admit, I kind of knew that he wasn't volunteering to help out, but I wanted to point out that he was asking people who already shouldered the greater weight of responsibility for the team to do more, while offering nothing. He is from Spain, but his tone and message are pretty evident to me. -----Original Message----- From: AV Sent: Saturday, Octob...

Media Biggies shouldn't be allowed to get bigger From the Seattle Times The Federal Communications Commission's hopscotch through the rules that govern the press and media began last week with a hearing in Los Angeles. The commissioners should treat the restrictive rules like a porcelain vase filled with Grandpa's ashes, given the overwhelming response from the public at the hearing to keep the Biggies from owning everything. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin should not be surprised by the lopsided support for his commission to maintain rules that stymie huge media conglomerates from adding to their already massive portfolios (a disgusting term when talking about the press). At least Martin showed up. His predecessor, Commissioner Michael Powell, did not attend any of the hearings set up by Democratic commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein in 2003, when the FCC rewrote the rules so the Biggies could buy anything without regard to readers and communities. A Stanford pro...

Recipe for a Cooked Election by Greg Palast A nasty little secret of American democracy is that, in every national election, ballots cast are simply thrown in the garbage. Most are called "spoiled," supposedly unreadable, damaged, invalid. They just don’t get counted. This “spoilage” has occurred for decades, but it reached unprecedented heights in the last two presidential elections. In the 2004 election, for example, more than three million ballots were never counted. Almost as deep a secret is that people are doing something about it. In New Mexico, citizen activists, disgusted by systematic vote disappearance, demanded change — and got it. In Ohio, during the 2004 Presidential election, 153,237 ballots were simply thrown away — more than the Bush “victory” margin. In New Mexico the uncounted vote was five times the Bush alleged victory margin of 5,988. In Iowa, Bush’s triumph of 13,498 was overwhelmed by 36,811 votes rejected. The official number is bad enough — 1,855,827...

Bush's Family Profits from 'No Child' Act by Walter F. Roche Jr. A company headed by President Bush's brother and partly owned by his parents is benefiting from Republican connections and federal dollars targeted for economically disadvantaged students under the No Child Left Behind Act. With investments from his parents, George H.W. and Barbara Bush, and other backers, Neil Bush's company, Ignite! Learning, has placed its products in 40 U.S. school districts and now plans to market internationally. At least 13 U.S. school districts have used federal funds available through the president's signature education reform, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, to buy Ignite's portable learning centers at $3,800 apiece. The law provides federal funds to help school districts better serve disadvantaged students and improve their performance, especially in reading and math. But Ignite does not offer reading instruction, and its math program will not be available unti...

November First I received this in my Christian Vegetarian Association newsletter. Regardless of your opinion on veganism or vegetarianism, it makes beaucoup sense. November 1st. One day. Try it. Go vegan or vegetarian for one day. Before you do, check out recipes on some of the sites listed at the left or google "vegan recipes" and that should bring some up. The choices are so much better than they used to be! There are products that are competitively priced that you can sub in for your favorite stew, casserole, or dish. Just try it for one day and know that if you become vegetarian you will not only be saving animals but you will be making a global impact while helping yourself at the same time. CVA member Jenny Moxham recently had the following editorial published in her local newspaper: If you could improve your health, help alleviate world hunger, reduce animal abuse, reduce global warming and environmental damage and save hundreds of thousands of litres of water, simply ...

Go Keith Go!! Olbermann Addresses the Military Commissions Act in a Special Comment By Keith Olbermann MSNBC Countdown We have lived as if in a trance. We have lived as people in fear. And now - our rights and our freedoms in peril - we slowly awake to learn that we have been afraid of the wrong thing. Therefore, tonight have we truly become the inheritors of our American legacy. For, on this first full day that the Military Commissions Act is in force, we now face what our ancestors faced, at other times of exaggerated crisis and melodramatic fear-mongering: A government more dangerous to our liberty, than is the enemy it claims to protect us from. We have been here before - and we have been here before led here - by men better and wiser and nobler than George W. Bush. We have been here when President John Adams insisted that the Alien and Sedition Acts were necessary to save American lives, only to watch him use those acts to jail newspaper edit...

Just saw Barney Frank on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. I'll tell you something, it is an awe-inspiring thing to see a democrat actually start speaking up, calling people out. He was dead on, he was relentless, he was unapologetic, he was firm, he was strong, and he was the most solidly logical person I have heard in a long time. Everytime the repub guest would try to insinuate that all the focus on "gay" republicans was some kind of bizarre assault on a group of people that just happen to have a connection with the conservative doctrine - strong defense, smaller government, lower taxes - Frank absolutely impaled him. How can you categorically vote against a group of people giving them rights, try to criminalize them for private behavior, and then go home and be engaged in that kind of behavior? It makes no sense. It is how I like my liberals. Seriously. I like them to be strong and show that you know what? Talking to your enemies takes BALLS. Pulling brave and honorab...

A very interesting article... Greasing the Skids How the Republicans Can Manipulate Oil Prices for Political Gain by Nomi Prins Plummeting gas prices have been good news for the motoring public. They also raise the questions: Why? How? Since their August highs, oil prices dropped from $77 to $60 per barrel. Gas prices have fallen from an average of $3.04 to $2.25 per gallon. In a September USA Today poll 42 percent of Americans thought there was a direct connection between the Republicans wanting to keep control of Congress and gas prices falling. Free-market types went to town. Oil is set by market forces, not Washington, rang the unified voice of analysts. "If only Bush had that kind of control," mused White House spokesman Tony Snow. But subtle manipulation is a form of control. Let's back up. In July, legendary investor Jim Rogers--who got his start with George Soros--and other Wall Street analysts were saying that within the scope of the bull market, oil prices would...