posted on May 15, 2003 04:42:28 PM new
Bucking the Texas Lockstep
By Molly Ivins
AUSTIN -- Legislators on the lam. You can tell how grave this situation is by the news that Texas's
last few remaining elected Democrats have bolted to Ardmore, Okla. If they were doin' this for fun
they'd be in Mexico, drinkin' margaritas. This is serious.
Okay, so it's Texas politics and so naturally it's got this weird hitch in the get-along. But we are
looking at something grave, portentous, weighty and fateful. (I just consulted the thesaurus.) Just
because Texas always has this ridiculous pie-eyed quality of exaggeration (Ann Richards recently
observed that the price of gasoline has gotten so high that Texas women who want to run over their
husbands have to carpool) is no reason to ignore the deeper meaning in this semi-ludicrous caper.
Creepin' fascism. That's what we're lookin' at.
All these years we've been listening to nutty right-wing preachers talking about creepin' socialism,
and it turns out we've fixated on the wrong damn threat. It's a shame that it appears the proximate
cause for the Big Bolt by the Texas legislators was a redistricting map. We must acknowledge,
Republican and Democrat alike, that this map is a work of art. It's got districts that stretch for 300
miles and are two blocks wide.
Too bad redistricting is such an inside-baseball deal: Only wonks and political junkies care. But
redistricting is the proverbial back-breaking straw here: The real reason Democrats are outta here is a
session-long display of meanness and unfairness that finally became unbearable. The session was
summed up by Rep. Senfronia Thompson when she carried the House rulebook up to the podium and
dropped it on the floor. The legislative process has been shredded, rules ignored, points of order
pointless. It's like a parody of the legislative process. Republicans, for the first time ever in the
majority of both houses of our Legislature, have been voting in lockstep. No Democratic amendment,
no matter how obvious or how sensible, is allowed to pollute Republican bills.
Faced with a $10 billion deficit, the Republicans decided to outlaw gay marriage. Then they kicked
250,000 poor children off a health insurance program that is mostly paid for by the feds in the first
place. Picking on the weakest, the frailest, the youngest and oldest Texans has been the sport of
choice this session. When the handicapped came to the capital to protest cuts in their services, the
governor had them arrested. The combination of cruel budget choices and an unfair process made this
the session from hell.
During a committee meeting, Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Houston) demanded earnestly, "Where did this
idea come from that everybody deserves free education? Free medical care? Free whatever? It
comes from Moscow. From Russia. It comes straight out of the pit of hell." Rep. Joe Crabb explained
why no public hearings were held on the now-infamous redistricting bill: "The rest of us would have a
very difficult time if we were out in an area -- other than Austin or other English-speaking areas -- to
be able to have committee hearings to be able to converse with people that did not speak English."
The guy's talking about South Texas.
What planet do these people come from? Carl Parker of Port Arthur used to say, "If you took all
the fools out of the Legislature, it would not be a representative body anymore." When one confronts
such people with facts -- such as that free education was established in the United States long before
there was ever a Communist revolution in Russia, or that people in South Texas speak English quite
fluently (some of them are even college graduates) -- it does no good. These folks are not stupid,
they're like members of some weird cult. You can't dent their worldview with reality. It's like trying to
talk to the people who followed David Koresh.
They are, at long last, the perfect unpoliticians -- they don't compromise, they don't deal, they don't
look for the middle way, they don't give a damn about accommodating anybody else. Because they
believe they're right. And they won't go out for a beer after work. They think it's them against evil.
And everybody who ain't them is evil. These are Shiite Republicans.
Since all of y'all in the North think Texas is eternally screwed up, I'm not going to try to defend this
lunacy (although it has causes), I'm just warning you: This is about to happen everywhere. A good
country song says, "Lubbock on Everythang." Make it bigger, expand that. "Texas on Everythang."
The whole country is being turned into the state whose proudest boast is that sometimes we're ahead
of Mississippi.
When our governor, Rick "Goodhair" Perry (that's a head of hair every Texan can be proud of,
regardless of party), asked New Mexico to arrest any escapees lurking there, the state's attorney
general, Patricia Madrid, said, "I have put out an all-points bulletin for law enforcement to be on the
lookout for politicians in favor of health care and against tax cuts for the wealthy."
posted on May 16, 2003 06:13:02 AM new
Other than a few witty comments, Molly offers nothing to the debate. Although it has nothing to do with Moscow, it is true that there is no such thing as a free education. Someone has to pay for it. Some Dems still think there is a magical free lunch out there.
Her article would be more effective if she went after the lazy democrats and remind them that the republicans have out worked them and put ideas out to the public - and won the elections.
The Dems currently in Congress will not sincerely go after Bush's tax cut because they are nearly all millionaires too, and their donors are also millionaires. If you listen to and watch the Dem leadership, it becomes clear that they don't even believe what they are saying.
After nearly 70 years of running on the New Deal, the Dems have become so lazy intellectually and beholden to wealthy entrenched interests, they offer little resistance or competition to the Republicans.
If they keep running these same old tired ideas and candidtaes, they lose again.
Molly completely misses the revelation that Texas has a Democratic minority for the first time since the Civil War - that speaks volumes.
If the Dems have a better idea, put it in front of the voters and see who wins.
posted on May 16, 2003 06:49:57 AM new "Democrats think there's a magical free lunch."
WHAT???
As usual, you have no basis for your comment. The Bush administration has reduced the surplus available when he was annointed to a mind boggling deficit.
THE DEFICIT NUMBERS grow ever grimmer. The Congressional Budget Office on Friday put out a new estimate for this fiscal year in which the projected deficit is 24 percent higher than the CBO had anticipated two months ago, mostly owing to the faltering economy. Meanwhile, Congress this week will begin outlining a course for federal spending and tax cuts that would push the country further into a deficit hole. So it seems like an opportune moment to pause for a reminder of how we got into this mess, how bad it is and how bad it could be if President Bush's tax wishes come to pass.
First, what happened to the surplus? It was only two years ago that the CBO foresaw a surplus of $5.6 trillion through 2011. Back then, administration officials, insisting that Mr. Bush's $1.3 trillion tax cut was easily affordable, dismissed warnings that the surplus could be illusory. The forecasts could "just as easily be wrong on the low side as the high side," said White House budget director Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. Now, even without new tax cuts, the surplus has evaporated and the administration is airbrushing its previous statements. "We didn't squander a surplus. We never had it," Treasury Secretary John W. Snow told the House Budget Committee. "It wasn't real dollars in hand."
The biggest reason those dollars failed to materialize, particularly in the short term, is the faltering economy. But over 10 years, according to CBO projections, the major drag on the nation's fiscal health will be the cost of the 2001 tax cut and increased spending. A sobering report last week by the Committee for Economic Development (CED), a nonpartisan group of business leaders, spelled this out: "In short, while a substantial portion of the current fiscal deterioration can be blamed on the economy, responsibility for the fiscal set-back in later years lies squarely on the shoulders of policymakers."
Now build in the effect of Mr. Bush's $1.5 trillion in new tax proposals. The part that Congress will take up immediately, projected to cost $726 billion through 2013, includes the immediate implementation of the 2001 tax cuts, much of which was to have been phased in over time, and the elimination of the individual income tax on corporate dividends. But Mr. Bush also wants Congress to make his 2001 tax cuts permanent; currently they're scheduled to expire in 2010. In interest costs alone, the Bush proposals would impose an additional $530 billion. Overall, according to the new CBO figures, the administration's tax and spending proposals would cost $2.7 trillion. The bottom line, according to the CBO: cumulative deficits of $1.8 trillion through 2013 if Mr. Bush gets his way.
But the real fiscal picture is even worse. Remember the Social Security lockbox? It has been broken open. The deficit numbers above are cushioned by including $2.6 trillion from the Social Security trust fund. In other words, if that money were placed out of reach, the deficit would be $4.4 trillion through 2013. Moreover, those numbers don't reflect the cost of fixing the alternative minimum tax, which was designed to prevent the wealthy from wriggling out of taxes but is projected to apply to a third of all taxpayers by 2010. The administration has proposed a short-term fix; extending that fix through 2013 would cost $750 billion. Likewise, these figures don't take into account the likely increases in spending to cover an Iraq war and its aftermath, homeland security or a prescription drug benefit for seniors. Nor do they include the growing demands on Social Security and Medicare that will materialize when baby boomers start to reach retirement age just five years from now.
"The first step in climbing out of a hole is to stop digging," the CED report said. "We cannot afford economic policy decisions today that further raise deficits tomorrow." Congress ought to put down that shovel.
posted on May 16, 2003 07:26:11 AM new
The deficit has nothing to do with a free lunch, in fact it demonstrates aptly that there is no free lunch. If there was a free lunch there would be no deficit.
If the Dems think they can run on the deficit, put it out there and let them try it. The deficit dog won't hunt when we're at war.
The Dems are in full retreat in both the arena of ideas and at the polls. They have nothing to put forward to the majority of voters.
posted on May 16, 2003 07:47:15 AM new
If the Dems wanted a great campaign issue, they need only propose a Manhattan project for an energy supply that will make us oil independent, and doesn't use mass transit.
It would attract the environmentalists and also those against the war, and those who support the war BUT would rather be independent of oil so we could stop pouring petro-dollars into these terrorist countries.
Poor countries can not support terrorists nor effective armies.
posted on May 16, 2003 08:00:14 AM new
the deficit was decreasing when the democrats were in office not increasing as it is now. Nothing will change until people pull thier head out of their ars and stop voting party lines regardless of candidates. But your right about the bottom line. they are mostly all millionaires and take care of thier own. How about congress and senate paying in SSI taxes and drawing the same percentage as all citizens after retirement and not more than they made while serving. that would be a good start in debt reduction.It would amaze most people the amount of waste dollars spent on the hill by both the reps and the dems.
posted on May 16, 2003 08:16:33 AM new
Well we know Homeland Securitys real job.
Home | Newswire | About Us | Donate | Sign-Up | Archives Friday, May 16, 2003
Featured Views
Published on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
Homeland Security Department Used to Track Texas Democrats
by Glenn W. Smith
Republicans in Washington and Austin, Texas apparently used a Homeland Security Department agency to track Texas Democratic legislators who left the state to block passage of a GOP-backed Congressional redistricting bill.
This is the same Homeland Security Department that is supposed to be making America safe from foreign terrorists. It's the agency we were told would never be used for domestic political purposes.
But today's edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that the Air and Marine Interdiction and Coordination Center, in Riverside, California, became involved in the Republican search for 51 Democratic state representatives who went to Ardmore, Oklahoma to break a quorum of the House and block action on the redistricting bill.
Here's what the Star-Telegram reported: "The agency received a call to locate a specific Piper turboprop aircraft. It was determined that the plane belonged to former House Speaker Pete Laney." Laney is one of the Democrats who is fighting against the redistricting bill.
The newspaper said, "Laney's plane proved to be a key piece of information because, (Republican House Speaker) Craddick said, it's how he determined that the Democrats were in Ardmore. 'We called someone, and they said they were going to track it. I have no idea how they tracked it down,' Craddick said. 'That's how we found them.'"
The Interdiction and Coordination center "falls under the auspices of the Homeland Security Department," the Star-Telegram reported.
Republican Craddick, at the request of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, is pushing a redistricting plan that would eliminate five Democrats from the U.S. Congress. Currently, the Texas delegation contains 17 Democrats and 15 Republicans.
While saying they "called someone," Craddick denied making calls to any federal agency, but DeLay confirmed that Republicans sought the assistance of federal law enforcement.
The action by the House Democrats, dubbed the "Heroes of the House" and the "Killer D's" (a reference to a similar quorum-busting action by Texas Senate Democrats in the late 1970s), has gained national attention. Their action has also received a surprising amount of support from Texas newspapers, which have criticized the deeply partisan actions of Texas Republicans.
Republican leaders in Texas and Washington are furious. They have called the Democrats, holed up in a Holiday Inn in Ardmore, "cowards" and "terrorists."
State troopers have followed the Democrats wives, parents and children. Troopers even staked out a hospital where one lawmaker's premature twins are being cared for. Staffers have been harassed. All this has happened after the location of the Democrats was known.
Now, in a chilling revelation, we discover the Homeland Security Department was apparently used to try and track the Democrats' whereabouts.
It was no doubt a ham-fisted, incautious and bungled attempt (like the Watergate burglary) by Republicans to use all the law enforcement they could find to overcome the Democrats' temporary advantage.
But the use of the Homeland Security Department for partisan political purposes should alarm all Americans. It deserves a full, complete and independent investigation.
The warnings of civil libertarians appear to have been justified. Even if it turns out that some half-crazed Republican staffer or independent investigator called the Air and Marine Interdiction and Coordination Center, it raises disturbing questions about the operations of Homeland Security and the lengths Republicans will go enforce their will.
Americans deserve to know the details of this scandal. And they deserve to know them now.
Glenn W. Smith is managing director/consultant to the progressive Rockridge Institute of Oakland, California. Smith lives in Austin, Texas. His email is [email protected].
###
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Common Dreams NewsCenter
A non-profit news service providing breaking news & views for the progressive community.
Home | Newswire | About Us | Donate | Sign-Up | Archives
posted on May 16, 2003 08:38:54 AM new
The sad thing is the Homeland Security team was stymied until they noticed a press release that the Dems were at the Holiday Inn two days after it was released!
posted on May 17, 2003 10:09:52 AM new
tomyou - How about congress and senate paying in SSI taxes and drawing the same percentage as all citizens after retirement and not more than they made while serving. that would be a good start in debt reduction.
Now I'd vote for that.
Plus when others are losing their livelyhood, I'd vote for them not being able to raise their own salaries.
_____________
The Dems are in full retreat in both the arena of ideas and at the polls. They have nothing to put forward to the majority of voters.
Agree with that, at least to this point.
[ edited by Linda_K on May 17, 2003 10:12 AM ]
posted on May 19, 2003 09:33:22 AM new
People are starting to wake up to the realities of the GOP mantra of "borrow, spend on our friends and cut the needy."
In Florida, the state's debt has skyrocketed, tax giveaways to wealthy and powerful interests are proliferating and public schools and health programs for sick kids are hurting badly.
Last week (after the Legislature adjourned, having failed to write a budget), three of the state's largest newspapers released an opinion poll that showed a 4-1 disapproval rating for the Legislature.
"It's eye-popping,'' said Washington-based Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Rob Schroth for The Herald, the St. Petersburg Times and the Palm Beach Post. ``I have never in 15 years of polling seen a legislature graded so poorly.''
I believe this poll is just one indication of the begining of the end of the GOP's "reverse Robin Hood" tactics.
posted on May 19, 2003 04:14:02 PM new
For those unfamiliar with the circumstances that spawned this letter, it is in reponse to the walkout of the Texas House of Representatives by 51 Democrats whose motivation was to prevent a voting quorum which would have resulted in the passing of a redistricting plan put forth by Tom Delay which eliminated 6 democratic districts. Keep in mind that in the past, democrats have redistricted to eliminate republican districts on more than one occasion during the 130 of democratic party domination of Texas politics. When they did it, of course, it was "the will of the people" because "the people had elected them to further the democratic philosophy of governance in Texas." It seems that when the shoe is on the other foot, that it's not the same... or is it? Keep in mind that what the democrats did here was illegal and an arrestable offense. This article appeared on the Op-Ed page of the Houston Chronicle Newspaper this morning and is printed verbatim from their web site. The Chronicle wholeheartedly supported this tactic by the Demo- gogues as it unfolded.. so its publishing must have been a mistake. The most remarkable thing is that it was penned by a Memorial High School Junior. Ms.Childers is obviously possessed of a wisdom far beyond her years. She is a ray of hope for a generation seemingly lost in the Houston Independent School District's morass of failure and drop-outs in record numbers and in the face of the Hollywood onslaught of anti-americanism and the ACLU's attack on God.
=============================
May 15, 2003, 7:44PM
Is this the America I've been taught, hoped it was?
By LAURA CHILDERS
I am not a Republican, and I am not a Democrat. I am a naive 17-year-old girl who has yet to cast her first vote. Maybe looking to the actions of my elders shall help to coach me in the manner that a ballot should be cast. This should be particularly useful in the presidential elections in November, upon which I, along with millions of my fellow young comrades, will have reached the powerful age of 18. So far, I've learned a lot.
It appears that the distinction of party and not of morality is what is supposed to define a politician in American legislatures today; am I correct? Take the recent Democrat walkout from the Texas House of Representatives. What I gather from this incident is that it does not necessarily matter to the defending exiles that Texas citizens voted the Republican majority into office for the explicit reason of passing Republican legislation. In fact, I've heard statements from Democrats and their supporters that going against the American public's will is a very patriotic thing to do.
This leads me to believe that the old, apparently outdated, reasons for government institutions no longer stand. The hopes and dreams of Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln for a voice in the government for every American, regardless of position or belief, have been shattered.
The creation of the democratic experiment of the United States of America was designed to see if it was possible for men to rule themselves. For the first time in modern history, there existed a haven where there were no dictators, no kaisers, no kings and no queens. There were the people -- the voters, the common man. The people were to rule themselves by imposing a type of controlled majority rule in the place of a tiny group of monarchial individuals. Representatives were to be elected by popular vote with the mission to represent and act upon the beliefs and wishes of their electors. Political parties naturally formed between groups of representatives who symbolized common wishes of their voters. In order to further promote these wishes, political parties unified with one another. The legislation proposed by the parties was made in the interest of the voter and was overturned or affirmed depending upon the will of the majority. Thus, bills were passed by population representatives in an effort to advocate for the bulk of all those represented.
When people impede this delicate process, they encumber the right of every American voter to fair representation. By not allowing a majority rule but forcing a type of minority monarchy, the great voice of the American public has been silenced to a sickly whisper. In the place of a free democracy with freedom for all and dishonesty toward none, a type of legal party regime has been set up, and the rights of American individuals have vanished. If one party is allowed to manipulate government institutions on any level, state or national, as the group of Democrat representatives in leisure at an Oklahoma resort have, our rights as Americans have been breached. We have been denied the government power granted to us upon the signing of our Constitution.
If this is the way that the tumultuous ship of today's government, the institutions of
2003, is intended to be steered, then this is not the America that I had thought it was, been taught it was and hoped it was.
If the America I'd dreamed of and prayed for does not, in fact, exist, and Thomas Jefferson's "boisterous sea of liberty" has long since dried to shadowy pit of political regimes and power-hungry rapists of our Mother Freedom, then I will fight for the hopes of Washington and I will battle for the lessons of Lincoln. If America is to be true to herself, if man still be just, then let our Lady Liberty's voice be heard to mend this crack entrenching on our precious, sacred, irreplaceable bell of liberty -- our vote.
posted on May 20, 2003 08:25:50 AM newThis article appeared on the Op-Ed page of the Houston Chronicle Newspaper this morning and is printed verbatim from their web site. The Chronicle wholeheartedly supported this tactic by the Demo- gogues as it unfolded.. so its publishing must have been a mistake.
You don't know much about mainstream newspapers' editorial pages, do you? They often publish dissenting views because (unlike the ultra-conservative rags WND and NewsMax) they believe all views should be heard.
Here's another interesting take by one of the legislators who actually walked out. For those who don't want to click on the link, I'll summarize what he said:
1) The Democrats paid for the costs directly associated with their walkout.
2) The Republicans are just as responsible for the failure of the Legislature to come to agreement on important issues as the Democrats are.
And lastly (though this was not in the article) it is likely that the redistricting plan drawn by the Texas Legislature will be thrown out. We had a few Congressional districts thrown out in Florida, and I can safely say they were nowhere near as bad as the one proposed by U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay (who you will notice is NOT a member of the Texas Legislature.)
posted on May 20, 2003 01:21:19 PM new
I am a native Houstonian & have known all this time the the Houston Chronicle is a Pro Democratic Liberal Newspaper, they publish discenting opinions & views only to appear impartial.
Those that face the facts realize the the demos that Ran & Hid from their Elected duties just presented their Truecolor, YELLOW.
They didn't have the guts to stand and vote against the redisrticting plan, even thought they would have lost the vote.
By walking out, they only delayed the inevitable and have cost the taxpayers of Texas additional funds, as Gov Perry call a special session of the legislature.
posted on May 20, 2003 01:54:50 PM new
The state will spend a heckuva lot more money defending this illegal redistricting plan.
These people are representatives. The map that Tom DeLay drew violates the "one man/one vote" principle that democracy is based on. (I remind you that Tom DeLay is NOT a member of the Texas Legislature.) The "Killer Ds" managed to block it, at least for now. I say yay for them.
As far as "yellow" -- there is absolutely nothing cowardly about what the Democrats did. They put a great deal at risk. The Republicans (illegally) tailed and harassed their wives, children and parents. They even (illegally) diverted resources from Homeland Defense to their own little political vendetta, something that is set to explode in Tom Ridge's face momentarily. New York Times story here.
As far as the Houston Chronicle not being fair, well, I guess fairness is in the eyes of the beholder. But don't you think it's a little far fetched to claim they're trying to fool people into thinking they publish dissenting opinions by sneakily ... publishing dissenting opinions? Isn't that a little like fooling the IRS by actually paying your taxes in full and on time?
[ edited by msincognito on May 20, 2003 02:01 PM ]
