Wednesday, July 03, 2013
Thursday, June 06, 2013
America’s unending epidemic of gun tragedy continues to take its toll
Raw Story: A Texas girl died on Tuesday night after being accidentally shot with an AK-47 assault-style rifle while her stepbrother was “making the weapon safe by pulling the trigger,” authorities said.Anyone else sick of this shit yet?
In a press release on Wednesday, Johnson County Sheriff Bob Alford explained that deputies responded to a call Tuesday night about 8 p.m to find 13-year-old Emilee Bates shot in the stomach.
According to KSAX, Lt. Tim Jones told how the girl’s 19-year-old step-brother, Austin McCord, accidentally fired the weapon while cleaning it.
The sheriff’s office said that McCord had ejected two “dummy” rounds from the AK-47, but he had forgotten about other live rounds in the magazine.
“He believed he was making the weapon safe by pulling the trigger to drop the bolt on an empty chamber,” Jones noted in the news release. “However, the chamber wasn’t empty and discharged.”
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Residents near fertilizer plant blast site allowed access to their destroyed homes
Washington Post: Officials in this small Texas town ravaged by a fertilizer company explosion started allowing residents to return to their wrecked homes to collect belongings on Saturday afternoon.I don’t really have much to add here, other than to point out that WaPo deserves some praise for putting this under the heading of “National Security” — where it belongs — rather than under “Business” or the generic “National News.” Unregulated industry is a matter of national security and more people need to start talking about it in that light.
The owners of the West Fertilizer Co. plant, which triggered a massive explosion Wednesday night, issued a statement Friday expressing regret for the 14 deaths and massive structural damage caused by the blast.
Owner Donald Adair said his “heart is broken with grief for the tragic losses,” noting that one of his employees, who was a volunteer firefighter, was among the dead. The toll of the explosion, which damaged 50 homes and wounded roughly 200 people, “will continue to hurt deeply for generations to come,” Adair added.
The explosion has raised troubling questions about the oversight of plants that store highly volatile chemicals such as ammonium nitrate, which has been used to make bombs.
[photo by The Bay Area’s News Station]
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Texas fertilizer plant at heart of disaster ignored disclosure laws
Reuters: The fertilizer plant that exploded on Wednesday, obliterating part of a small Texas town and killing at least 14 people, had last year been storing 1,350 times the amount of ammonium nitrate that would normally trigger safety oversight by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).“It seems this manufacturer was willfully off the grid,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, (D-MS), ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said in a statement. “This facility was known to have chemicals well above the threshold amount to be regulated under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Act (CFATS), yet we understand that DHS did not even know the plant existed until it blew up.”
Yet a person familiar with DHS operations said the company that owns the plant, West Fertilizer, did not tell the agency about the potentially explosive fertilizer as it is required to do, leaving one of the principal regulators of ammonium nitrate - which can also be used in bomb making - unaware of any danger there.
Shockingly, for a business that has the potential to turn into a giant bomb, West Fertilizer was given almost no government oversight. the Dallas Morning News has reported that the company self-reported that it “presented no risk of fire or explosion.” Apparently, there was no follow up inspections to make sure the company’s self-reporting was accurate. The result of this misplaced trust in the management of such a dangerous enterprise may have resulted in a disaster that is — at the very least — nearly five times as deadly as both Boston Marathon bombs put together. The death toll is now at fourteen and is almost certain to rise.
Someone needs to go to prison for this. But we also need to stop pretending that federal oversight is a bad thing. It’s policing and “regulations” is just a PR buzzword used because it sounds more unreasonable than “laws.” Not all policing and every federal law overseeing business is a bad thing. I don’t care what some Republican or Blue Dog tells you. We need government oversight of business, because the honor system just plain isn’t working.
And people are dying as a result.
[photo by The Bay Area’s News Station]
Friday, March 22, 2013
Is Rick Perry turning Texas blue?
Big in all things, Texas leads the nation in failing to provide health insurance. About one in four Texans are uninsured, the highest percentage in any state. That’s some 6 million people, the total population of Missouri.
Yet Gov. Rick Perry, back from his stumbles in the 2012 GOP presidential race, has insisted that Texas will not accept the federal money provided by President Obama’s health care law to expand Medicaid coverage. As Republican governors from Arizona to New Jersey have joined the program, Perry has amplified his opposition. In a bristling speech to conservatives last week, he said governors who accepted the money had “folded in the face of federal bribery.”
[…]
Rejecting the federal money might not pose an immediate political threat to Texas Republicans, whose coalition revolves around white voters responsive to small-government arguments. But renouncing the money represents an enormous gamble for Republicans with the growing Hispanic community, which is expected to approach one-third of the state’s eligible voters in 2016. Hispanics would benefit most from expansion because they constitute 60 percent of the state’s uninsured. A jaw-dropping 3.6 million Texas Hispanics lack insurance.
Texas Democrats are too weak to much affect the Medicaid debate. But if state Republicans reject federal money that could insure 1 million or more Hispanics, they could provide Democrats with an unprecedented opportunity to energize those voters—the key to the party’s long-term revival. With rejection, says Democratic state Rep. Rafael Anchia of Dallas, Republicans “would dig themselves into an even deeper hole with the Hispanic community.”
Keep in mind that Perry’s been very cautious about not alienating Latino voters. After all, this was the man who was practically booed off the stage at a presidential debate for saying that the children of undocumented immigrants deserve higher education and that a border fence was not a realistic option. Perry was not only ready, but eager to toe the very fringiest wingnut notions to win the nomination — except when they might scare off Texas Latinos.
So the danger presented in this article is obviously very real. And Perry’s been able to walk a tightrope between what wingnuts want and what won’t engage Latino voters against himself or his party. But walking a tightrope is hard and sooner or later, you’re going to mess up — especially when people are tugging at you from both sides.
If this turns out not to be the trigger of the big Texas turnover, it could be a contributing factor. That turnover is coming. That rightwing extremists and Latino voters will cross paths is almost inevitable. And that day is the day when Republican dreams of the White House officially die.
Sunday, March 03, 2013
Texas Republicans learn that some spending cuts are just way too expensive
The fight to restore family planning financing that was cut from the Texas budget in the last legislative session has taken a turn toward primary care. Republican state senators have proposed adding $100 million to a state-run primary care program specifically for women’s health services, an effort that would help avoid a political fight over subsidizing specialty family planning clinics.
“It’s a much better way to treat the women because they don’t just have family planning issues,” said Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, a family physician who has advocated for increasing primary care services for women.
Using taxpayer dollars to finance family planning services has become politically thorny in Texas, largely because of Republican lawmakers’ assertions that the women’s health clinics providing that care were affiliated with abortion providers. In the fiscal crunch of 2011, the Legislature cut the state’s family planning budget by two-thirds, with some lawmakers claiming that they were defunding the “abortion industry.” Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin found that more than 50 family planning clinics closed statewide as a result of lost financing.
Now, amid estimates that the cuts could lead to 24,000 additional births in 2014-15 at a cost to taxpayers of $273 million, lawmakers are seeking a bipartisan solution to restore financing without ruffling feathers.
Of course, what’s actually happening here is that they’re looking at restoring family planning funding, but putting it under primary care services in hopes of keeping the anti-family planning religious nutjobs from noticing a retreat from their extremist position. After gutting Planned Parenthood funding, Texas is facing a public reproductive healthcare crisis — in the form of a wave of unplanned pregnancies. You really didn’t need a crystal ball to see that one coming. It’s obvious and it’s exactly what critics of the move predicted would happen.
But, in addition to showing how the GOP War on Women is boneheaded and wrong, it also shows that some spending is cheaper than the consequence of cutting that spending. It may cost a lot to keep a dam in good repair, but it’ll cost a lot more if the dam gives way. This is the same principle. You spend money now to make sure women have access to adequate reproductive health care or you pay later for the increased health spending and poverty that comes with unexpected pregnancies. I don’t care how many times you say, “But the Bible says…” you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
Long story short, when a liberal talks about investing in America’s future, we’re not just spreading horse manure — we really do mean making investments in America’s future. You either deal with problems now or spend one helluva lot more money dealing with them later. And, of course, by dealing with it now, you avoid a whole lot of screwed up lives and futures.
Contrary to the rightwing stereotype, liberals aren’t about spending taxpayer money because of some hippy-dippy “Oooh, we gotta all love each other, baby” stuff. This is hardheaded realism. It’s the people who think we can cut everything and anything who are the head-in-the-clouds dreamers. Don’t want to pay taxes to support family planning? Sucks to be you, but you’re going to do it. Because this is America and in America we try do what’s in America’s best interests. I pay for nuclear weapons I hate, you can at least pay for some birth control. You’re not special.
If the Texas retreat from the extremist position teaches us anything, it’s that Republican claims to fiscal genius aren’t just ridiculous, they’re hilarious.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Stories to Watch: 5/13/12
When will the right stop getting excited about Rasmussen polling? They're complete junk. Of course, Rasmussen always biases right and conservatives only listen to what they want to hear, so I suppose the answer to my question is never.
The rightwing victim card of the day.
Rampant voting fraud in Texas -- and voter ID wouldn't do a damned thing to stop it.
Ed Klein is a hack.
Finally, a glimpse into the possible future for the Republican National Convention.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
News Roundup for 10/19/11
Rick Perry
-Headline of the Day-
"POLL: The Third Most Common Word Used To Describe Rick Perry Is IDIOT."
Noted Josh Brolin impersonator and Texican President Rick Perry got some bad news in a Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll -- people don't think much of him. The poll asked respondents to tell them "the one word that comes to mind" when a top GOP candidate's name was mentioned. For Rick, the top choices were "Texas," "No," and "idiot/idiotic." So things aren't going so well there.
Mitt Romney did a little better with "Mormon," "healthcare/Romneycare," and "flip-flop/flip-flopper." In my opinion, "flip-flopper" may be bad, but "idiot" is worse. It's an unscientific analysis, I'll admit.
Finally, Herman Cain did pretty well. He's "9-9-9," "businessman," and "interesting." Of course, there's no way of knowing whether they associate "9-9-9" with "crazyassed," as I do. Still, if you take the first two as neutral, "interesting" sounds kind of positive.
Of course, this poll was taken on the 13th, before last night's debate where everyone piled on Mittens and the Hermanator looked like an idiot -- so things might've changed by now. You never know.
But one thing's for sure; Rick Perry's probably out for good as the "I'm not Romney, who we all hate!" candidate. Right now, that's Herman. So we should totally get excited about the Cain ticket, until Herman finally explodes and Mittens becomes the nominee -- just like we all know will happen.
That's what you like about this whole GOP nominating process this cycle; the nail-biting suspense. (Business Insider)
-And while we're on that subject-
Click to embiggen
"Interesting," indeed. (McClatchy)
-Bonus HotD-
"GOP debate crowd cheers idea that jobless are to blame for their plight."
Or "Return of the Psychopathic Republican Debate Audience." (Plum Line)
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Stories to Watch: 9/22/11
Rick Perry is caught on film being a secret Muslim terr'ist from Kenya plotting to overthrow the United States though communism. You wonder if that'll hurt him in the big debate tonight.
Bill Clinton speaks about the Troy Davis execution. Encapsulated, if you're in such a hurry to execute that you can't even be bothered to look a DNA evidence, you're doing it wrong. It's kind of important to be absolutely certain you've got the right guy.
John Boehner pretends that people in his caucus listen to him.
More evidence that Rick Perry's "Texas miracle" hurts more than helps; the vast, vast majority of all those jobs created in Texas went to undocumented immigrants.
Letting the conservative victim card cool off for a moment, Republican Rep. Joe Walsh plays the race card instead.
Rick Perry's Florida campaign co-chair thinks gays cause tornadoes. Remember, human-caused global warming is a ridiculous notion, but crazy-assed BS like this is serious thinking.
Deranged hobo Sarah Palin asks people if they have any spare change.
Finally, Mittens takes to twitter to prove he eats sandwiches. You think I'm kidding. I'm not.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Stories to Watch: 9/16/11
Texas schools are quietly abandoning abstinence-only sex ed. Mostly because it's been such a failure. Not good news for Rick Perry, who's currently playing the super-Christian for the fact-free base.
Matt Yglesias points out that the math in Social Security privatization schemes doesn't work.
Krugman weighs in on the "cheers for dead patients" moment at the CNN GOP debate.
The US Supreme Court halts the Texas execution of Duane Buck, who was put on death row after "jurors were told he posed a greater danger to public safety because he is black." Rick Perry refused to intervene, because it's hard to set records for executions when you're all worried about justice and racism.
David Brooks wrote something stupid again. John Boehner was a liar again. Liz Cheney made a ridiculous claim again.
Congressional approvals hit an all time low in a NYT/CBS poll. A Bloomberg poll finds that people blame Republicans.
Finally, a measure of how credible people think Republicans are; the more GOP candidates talk about how much they disbelieve in anthropogenic global warming, the more the public believes in it.
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Stories to Watch: 9/6/11
Boehner and Cantor want a pre-jobs-speech meeting with the president to "discuss potential areas of bipartisan agreement," according to Politico. To translate that from Republican into English, they want to make threats, whine, and throw tantrums.
Is Rick Perry using wildfires in Texas to dodge debates? It sure seems that way. I mean, there's no logistical reason that he has to be in the state, just as there's no reason he has to be at the sites of the fires themselves. It's not like he's out there on the line, pitching in. Although, after what he's done to the fire departments in Texas, they could probably use the help.
One reason Perry might not be eager to debate; he might be forced to answer questions about why his state has the worst numbers for health insurance coverage in the nation.
This is what happens when you give Republicans everything they demand. Knock it off, Mr. President.
David Brooks continues to suck, be ridiculous.
Ezra Klein talks economy, history, Republicans, stimulus, and "motivated skepticism." Long story short, Republicans are freakin' nuts.
Mittens Romney rolls out his own big jobs plan, ahead of President Obama's speech on the same subject. You already know what's in it; it's got "GOP economic mumbo-jumbo" written all over it.
Finally, Dick Cheney is a man who is absolutely flawless in his own mind. In an interview with Wolf Blitzer, Cheney refused to admit to any mistakes at all in his eight years as VP. You know what this means, right? Getting hammered and shooting Harry Whittington in the face? Dick meant to do that.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Stories to Watch: 8/17/11
Rick Perry's "Texas Miracle" is made out of government jobs, making him a commie.
Perry also believes that climate science is a grand conspiracy.
Howard Dean predicts that Bushies will take down Perry.
Obama's job rating on the economy hits a new low. Remember everything I've ever written on the overblown value of compromise and centrism when you think about that. Meanwhile, the Obama campaigners decide it's a good time to attack Paul Krugman and engage in a little hippy-punching.
The Congressional Black Caucus doesn't think much of the president either.
A former TeaPartier spills the beans on what the 'baggers are all about. Long story short, they're the Christian taliban.
Michele Bachmann is palling around with -- and signing paychecks to -- a terrorist.
In other Bachmann news, she promises to drop gas prices below two bucks if elected. Her detailed plan for doing this? There isn't one.
Romney leads in New Hampshire, with Perry a distant second, Ron Paul third, and Michele Bachmann fourth. Everyone else? Yesterday's news.
Finally, who's President Obama's opponent of choice? Looks like it's Rick Perry.
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Stories to Watch: 8/9/11
Wisconsin's having our recalls and the thing that sucks is that there's almost literally nothing to report right now. Turnout seems to be high and that's about the size of it. I'll have more when I know more and will share it here.
A new CNN poll finds the Republican Party taking a nosedive. Only 33% approve of the party, down eight from 41% last month. Democrats are up a bit by two at 47% and the public is evenly divided on them with 47% disapproving. Most interestingly, only 41% believe that their personal House member should be reelected -- the first time in CNN's polling history that number has fallen below 50%. Bad news for the party that holds the majority in that chamber. And, as always, people are more convinced that everyone else's rep is the big problem; "the poll indicates only a quarter of the public says most members of Congress deserve to be reelected." This is one big reason why even crappy incumbents get reelected.
In somewhat related news, Texas Republican Rep. Michael Burgess thinks we ought to impeach Obama. The "High Crime and Misdemeanor" Burgess believes the President is guilty of? "Pushing his agenda." Way to ride that wave of GOP popularity into 2012, guys. Keep up the good work.
A plane buzzed S&P HQ today with a banner that read, "Thanks for the downgrade, you should all be fired." I would've just went with "YOU SUCK!" because it's important to be concise.
A very excellent take on the London riots. Today's must-read.
Shelly Bachmann is way too into institutional slavery.
The Dow is back up to 430 -- still way short of making up for lost ground.
Finally, I've been dying to write this headline for a while now: "Obama says it's gloves off with Mittens." Man, that was fun.
Friday, May 27, 2011
News Roundup for 5/27/11
Gov. Rick Perry
-Headline of the day-
"Texas Gov. Perry hints at possible presidential run."
That's right, Texican president and America's leading secessionist hates the America government so much that he's willing to take the helm -- and, presumably, steer it into the nearest iceberg.
After talking to reporters about the coming 2011 legislative session -- which in Texas lasts about a half hour -- he was asked if he would consider running for president afterward. "Yes Sir," Perry said. "I'm going to think about it."
Well, everyone got their shorts in a bunch, because no one likes the GOP field as it is now, and everyone got to thinking he was definitely going to run. Not so, says Texican Press Minister Mark Miner. Mark says Perry thinks about a lot of things and that those things don't often pan out. Call Rick a dreamer.
"He thinks about a lot of issues," Miner said. "Nothing has changed. The Governor has no intention of running for President."
Still, it might be worth a shot. If Perry can't get Texas to secede from America, maybe he can become President of America and secede from Texas!
That'd work, right? (McClatchy)
-Republicans want us to get naked with Paul Ryan-
Actual quote from Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) on Paul Ryan's Medicare plan: "I said it many times. This is like skinny dipping. Somebody has to be the first one in the pool and it's real lonely when you're the only one in the pool. Paul Ryan is in the pool. We want the rest of the town to come along."
Probably not the best metaphor. (Political Wire)
-Bonus HotD-
"Poll: Americans Don’t Approve Of Ryan's Plan For Medicaid, Either."
For God's sake, put some clothes on! (ThinkProgress)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
News Roundup for 4/19/11
Praise Jesus!
-Headline of the day-
"Texas Kindergartner Exercising 2nd Amendment Rights At School Hurts 3."
An unnamed six year-old Second Amendment Hero exercised his God Given Right all over a Texas lunchroom today. He wounded himself and two other children, although none were seriously injured.
According to the report, the "six-year-old kindergartner's loaded gun fell out of his pocket in the school cafeteria and fired," sending glorious Bullets of Freedom throughout the cafeteria and no doubt scaring the bejeezus out of any hidden terr'ists looking to institute Sharia law there.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is said to be considering the child for a medal. (Wonkette)
-Ask the base-
Igor Volsky of the Center for American Progress asks actual 'baggers in New Hampshire what they think of the satanic gay marriage law in their state. Ooooooh, he's gonna get an earful!
They are just super-fired up about the issue, aren't they? (Wonk Room)
-Bonus HotD-
"House sets $500K, $520-an-hour contract for DOMA defense."
Tell me again how it's Democrats who throw money away... (Politico)
Friday, July 25, 2008
Outages, Flooding Follow Dolly in TX
|
Perry, who flew over the area Thursday with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, cautioned residents not to rest easy just yet.That's the first time in a long time that I've agreed with John Cornyn.
"It appears that we have handled it as well as it can be handled. But it is far from over," Perry said, noting possible flooding over the next five days from runoff as the storm moves northward.
Sen. Cornyn said Dolly should remind the federal government that it needs to fund levee improvements along the Rio Grande.
"We're lucky Mother Nature didn't deal us a harsher blow," Cornyn said.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Hurricane Dolly Bears Down on Texas
|
LiveScience.com:
Flooding, which can result from both torrential rains and the ocean surf a storm can push ashore, is what officials in Texas were most concerned about after Dolly made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane at 9 am EDT on Wednesday. Residents of the Rio Grande Valley have been warned of potential severe flooding and possible levee breaks.
The National Hurricane Center predicted that Dolly could drop a total of 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 centimeters) of rainfall in the next few days, with some isolated spots potentially getting soaked by up to 15 inches.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Griper Blade: A Fine Couple of Sociopaths
Chicago Tribune:
Margaret Chiara, a former U.S. attorney in Grand Rapids, Mich., appealed several times to the Justice Department against having to seek the federal death penalty. In hindsight, for her it was a risky business.
No prisoner has been executed in a Michigan case since 1938, but the Bush administration seemed determined to change that.
Indeed, under Attys. Gen. John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales, far more federal defendants have been dispatched to Death Row than under the previous administration. And any prosecutors wishing to do otherwise often find themselves overruled.
The Bush administration has had a long love affair with the death penalty. George W. Bush served only one complete term as Governor of Texas, but his administration allowed 131 prisoners to be put to death. Guilt or innocence seemed to be unimportant.
New York Times:
In one-third of those cases, [a report by the Chicago Tribune] showed, the lawyer who represented the death penalty defendant at trial or on appeal had been or was later disbarred or otherwise sanctioned. In 40 cases the lawyers presented no evidence at all or only one witness at the sentencing phase of the trial.
In 29 cases, the prosecution used testimony from a psychiatrist who -- based on a hypothetical question about the defendant's past -- predicted he would commit future violence. Most of those psychiatrists testified without having examined the defendant: a practice condemned professionally as unethical.
Other witnesses included one who was temporarily released from a psychiatric ward to testify, a pathologist who had admitted faking autopsies and a judge who had been reprimanded for lying about his credentials.
Asked about the Tribune's reporting of his record as governor, Bush said, according to NYT, "'We've adequately answered innocence or guilt' in every case. The defendants, he said, 'had full access to a fair trial.'"
The best case scenario is that Bush and company found capital punishment popular and exploited it to create a 'tough on crime' reputation. The worse case scenario is that they're all a bunch of freakin' psychopaths. But there's no way you can argue that anyone involved in any of this was overly concerned with justice.
And one of the people involved was then-legal counsel to then governor-Bush -- Alberto Gonzales. In an article reviewing memos between Gonzales and Bush regarding death penalty cases, Alan Berlow wrote in The Atlantic that Gonzales "repeatedly failed to apprise the governor of crucial issues in the cases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence." Clearly, the idea was the more executions, the better -- guilt or innocence be damned...
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