TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalTexas attorney general plans to fight new EPA rule
A federal mandate to slash carbon emissions nationwide could result in another lengthy legal battle in Texas after the front-runner to become the state’s next governor said Monday he will fight the effort.
Greg Abbott, the Texas attorney general and Republican nominee for governor, said requirements to cut emissions by 39 percent in Texas would further a federal agenda that has threatened to cut jobs in a booming state energy industry.
The comments put into question how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would force Texas to comply with its new standards if Abbott wins the gubernatorial election in November. The EPA is relying heavily on governors to help develop an emission-cutting strategy within three years but can create its own plan for states that refuse.
Abbott, who has repeatedly sued the EPA as Texas’ longtime top prosecutor, appears ready to follow that route if necessary.
More at http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2014-06-02/texas-attorney-general-plans-fight-new-epa-rule#.U40yjihCz2Q .
Tonight on MoveOn.org: Elizabeth Warren and Thomas Piketty
Tonight at 8:30 (5:30 PT), MoveOn and HuffPo are broadcasting a dialogue between Senator Elizabeth Warren and author Thomas Piketty from Boston's historic Old South Meeting House. I wonder how many other Members of Congress, or how many candidates for Congress, have read Piketty's high acclaimed new book, Capital In The Twenty-First Century. I did an unscientific survey and found that no one had. No one. His critique of the debilitating economic inequality endemic to our current system of irresponsible, unfettered greed-based capitalism, has been under relentless-- and typically dishonest-- attack by conservatives. His proposal to save the planet by imposing a progressive global tax on the super-rich has sent conservatives into a frenzy and they are eagerly attempting to undermine his runaway best-selling book. The attacks have been largely debunked… but when has that ever slowed conservatives and their media mouthpieces down?
In His New York Review of Books essay, Paul Krugman wrote that it was "revelation when Piketty and his colleagues showed that incomes of the now famous 'one percent,' and of even narrower groups, are actually the big story in rising inequality. And this discovery came with a second revelation: talk of a second Gilded Age, which might have seemed like hyperbole, was nothing of the kind. In America in particular the share of national income going to the top one percent has followed a great U-shaped arc. Before World War I the one percent received around a fifth of total income in both Britain and the United States. By 1950 that share had been cut by more than half. But since 1980 the one percent has seen its income share surge again-- and in the United States it’s back to what it was a century ago… The big idea of Capital in the Twenty-First Century is that we haven’t just gone back to nineteenth-century levels of income inequality, we’re also on a path back to 'patrimonial capitalism,' in which the commanding heights of the economy are controlled not by talented individuals but by family dynasties."
With savage conservatives on the prowl, who is defending Piketty's thesis from the smears of the bought-off minions of the super-rich? Anthropologist David Graeber brought a new set of eyes to the debate this weekend with an incisive column for The Guardian, Save Capitalism Is Back-- And It Will Not Tame Itself.
- See more at: http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2014/06/thomas-piketty-on-progressive-taxation.html
Cross-post in General Discussion.
Tonight on MoveOn.org: Elizabeth Warren and Thomas Piketty
Tonight at 8:30 (5:30 PT), MoveOn and HuffPo are broadcasting a dialogue between Senator Elizabeth Warren and author Thomas Piketty from Boston's historic Old South Meeting House. I wonder how many other Members of Congress, or how many candidates for Congress, have read Piketty's high acclaimed new book, Capital In The Twenty-First Century. I did an unscientific survey and found that no one had. No one. His critique of the debilitating economic inequality endemic to our current system of irresponsible, unfettered greed-based capitalism, has been under relentless-- and typically dishonest-- attack by conservatives. His proposal to save the planet by imposing a progressive global tax on the super-rich has sent conservatives into a frenzy and they are eagerly attempting to undermine his runaway best-selling book. The attacks have been largely debunked… but when has that ever slowed conservatives and their media mouthpieces down?
In His New York Review of Books essay, Paul Krugman wrote that it was "revelation when Piketty and his colleagues showed that incomes of the now famous 'one percent,' and of even narrower groups, are actually the big story in rising inequality. And this discovery came with a second revelation: talk of a second Gilded Age, which might have seemed like hyperbole, was nothing of the kind. In America in particular the share of national income going to the top one percent has followed a great U-shaped arc. Before World War I the one percent received around a fifth of total income in both Britain and the United States. By 1950 that share had been cut by more than half. But since 1980 the one percent has seen its income share surge again-- and in the United States it’s back to what it was a century ago… The big idea of Capital in the Twenty-First Century is that we haven’t just gone back to nineteenth-century levels of income inequality, we’re also on a path back to 'patrimonial capitalism,' in which the commanding heights of the economy are controlled not by talented individuals but by family dynasties."
With savage conservatives on the prowl, who is defending Piketty's thesis from the smears of the bought-off minions of the super-rich? Anthropologist David Graeber brought a new set of eyes to the debate this weekend with an incisive column for The Guardian, Save Capitalism Is Back-- And It Will Not Tame Itself.
- See more at: http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2014/06/thomas-piketty-on-progressive-taxation.html
Cross-post in Socialist Progressives group.
NRA: Texas open carry rallies ‘downright weird’ and ‘scary’
AUSTIN — Starbucks, Chipotle, Sonic and other food and drink chains have an unexpected new ally in their recent decisions to discourage the carrying of firearms in their establishments: the NRA.
On Friday, the NRA weighed in on a spate of recent open carry rallies across Texas, calling them “scary” and “shows a lack of consideration and manners” out of character in the Lone Star State.
“Yet while unlicensed open carry of long guns is also typically legal in most places, it is a rare sight to see someone sidle up next to you in line for lunch with a 7.62 rifle slung across his chest, much less a whole gaggle of folks descending on the same public venue with similar arms,” the NRA statement read.
“Let’s not mince words, not only is it rare, it’s downright weird and certainly not a practical way to go normally about your business while being prepared to defend yourself,” it added. “It makes folks who might normally be perfectly open-minded about firearms feel uncomfortable and question the motives of pro-gun advocates.”
-snip-
Grisham’s group issued a statement Monday calling the NRA response “unfortunate.” He then told the Chronicle, “On a personal level I’m extremely disappointed, and I’ll be the first to cut up my NRA membership cards.”
The complete story is at http://blog.chron.com/texaspolitics/2014/06/nra-texas-open-carry-rallies-downright-weird-and-scary/#23911101=0 .
Joel Osteen gets his own SiriusXM channel
NEW YORK (AP) — Texas pastor Joel Osteen is getting his own channel on SiriusXM satellite radio, which will air his sermon at Yankee Stadium this Saturday live nationally.
Osteen, who preaches to 40,000 people each week at Houston's Lakewood megachurch, already shows his messages on the Trinity religious TV network and other television stations across the country. The new SiriusXM channel will feature live call-in shows hosted by Osteen and his wife, fellow Lakewood pastor Victoria Osteen, along with rebroadcasts of Osteen's past sermons.
"It's another way to get our message out," Osteen said.
He said SiriusXM approached him about five years ago with the idea but the time wasn't right.
More at http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Joel-Osteen-gets-his-own-SiriusXM-channel-5522200.php .
Rep. Lloyd Doggett Compares House Republicans' Latest Tax Break to the Junk Food it Subsidizes
This week, the House Ways and Means Committee passed a subsidy for corporations who donate their unsold junk foods to food banks. The tax break is worth $2 billion over a decade, and it allows companies to claim up to twice the cost of the food they donate.
The kinds of foods subsidized by the bill include expired foods like stale potato chips and Twinkies--there's nothing specifying that the foods have to be nutritious.
Ways and Means Committee Member Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) was a vocal opponent of the subsidy, calling it out for its lack of nutritional standards. As he put it, the bill "would do for our economy what Twinkies do for our nutrition."
He also pointed out Republican hypocrisy in passing a bill that subsidizes junk food while denying money for public education and school lunches. Doggett continued, "It's all about choices. Today, Republicans spend $200 million annually on an overbroad tax subsidy, while telling us we cannot afford more for our schools."
http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/15292/rep-lloyd-doggett-compares-house-republicans-latest-tax-break-to-the-junk-food-it-subsidizes
Lone Star Politics: Dan Patrick's warning for Democrats
Video at link. (15 minutes)
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20140601-lone-star-politics-dan-patrick-s-warning-for-democrats.ece
Oil boom pumping cash into UT and Texas A&M
DALLAS —
Texas' oil shale boom is pumping cash into the state's largest universities, giving them a financial windfall they're using for new construction and affordable tuition.
The endowment for the University of Texas and Texas A&M University systems has grown by about 70 percent over the past five years as gushing oil revenue has pumped about $1 billion a year into the Permanent University Fund, The Dallas Morning News reported (http://bit.ly/1oXyLlx ).
Both systems have spent hundreds of millions on projects, such as UT-Dallas' $60 million arts and technology center and a still-developing $108 million lab. Other projects paid for with fund money include a $50 million expansion and clinic renovation at Southwestern Medical Center.
"It's a huge game-changer and is something that no other university system has to this extent," said James Huffines, a Dallas bank executive and former member of the University of Texas System Board of Regents. "Just look around the campuses at all the new construction. A lot of it is supported by oil money, and those royalty payments should keep growing."
More at http://www.statesman.com/news/ap/texas/oil-boom-pumping-cash-into-ut-and-texas-am/ngBhL/ .
Hearne officer fired after 93-year-old's death suspended 2X by Bryan PD (w/ photo of trigger happy)
Hearne police officer Stephen Stem, who shot and killed resident Pearlie Golden, was involved in another deadly shooting in 2012. (Photo courtesy of Robertson County News)
If you see him be scared, very scared.
The fired Hearne police officer who shot and killed a 93-year-old woman last month was suspended twice during his time with the Bryan Police Department.
Employment records obtained by The Eagle show that Stephen Stem, 28, was placed on a 90-day voluntary agreed suspension in July 2011 following an incident in which Stem pointed a gun at an innocent bystander and a suspect while another officer was in his field of fire, according to a departmental memo from Chief of Police Eric Buske.
Stem, a 2008 Texas A&M graduate who listed himself as a member of the Corps of Cadets on his resume, was fired by the Hearne City Council on May 10, four days after shooting Pearlie Golden outside her home in the 1400 block of Pin Oak Street.
Before joining the Hearne Police Department in July 2012, Stem spent almost three years as a Bryan officer before taking a position with the Lott Police Department in Falls County on July 28, 2011 -- 21 days after being suspended from Bryan and almost three months before officially resigning from the department.
More at http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/hearne-officer-fired-after--year-old-s-death-had/article_99089621-240b-5609-a039-2ed65719b9b9.html .
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
Home country: United States
Current location: Bryan, Texas
Member since: Sun Aug 14, 2011, 03:57 AM
Number of posts: 112,456
