TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalKinky Friedman Is Running on Pot
Kinky Friedman hasn't smoked pot in more than 20 years, but that's not keeping him from running for Texas Agriculture Commissioner with legalizing cannabis as his main platform plank. So far, Democratic power brokers seem more willing to French-kiss a horned toad with bad breath than embrace Friedman's candidacy.
The "please, go away" looks are palpable, but no one really wants to debate this guy, look him in the eye or stand next to him in a photo op. You want to "out-Texas" Kinky Friedman? Go ahead on.
So now, if high-profile Alvin fastballer Nolan Ryan enters the fray on the Republican ticket as he has hinted, the race for Texas Agriculture Commissioner just might be Texas's top political circus of 2014 bar none, the stuff CNN and Fox and MSNBC can turn into CarMax ads for weeks and weeks. Even without Ryan, the race has the potential to create interesting ripples in a state that has been solidly red for two decades.
Don't worry about the fact that a recent national Gallup poll indicated 58 percent of Americans now favor full legalization and that most recent polls show the same percentage in Texas. Don't worry that the Agriculture Commissioner can't actually enact a law legalizing pot. Just understand that the Friedman camp plans to frame the race as a statewide referendum on legalization. Period.
More at http://www.houstonpress.com/2013-11-21/news/kinky-friedman/ .
Dallas' Most Tabloid-Worthy Hedge Fund Wants it Known: Its President Owned His Wife in Court
Surely you recall James Dondero, the high-powered Dallas hedge fund manager who spends his leisure time dining on giraffe, jamming to Steve Winwood, and becoming embroiled in ridiculously messy legal feuds.
Last we checked some 17 months ago, Dondero was legal-feuding with two people. One was his wife, whom he accused of infidelity and was in the process of divorcing. The other was a former Highland Capital Management business partner named Patrick Daugherty, who was booted from Highland in September 2011 for being "megalomaniac," and who was "unmanageable, erratic and insubordinate" and went on abusive tirades against employees, according to court filings.
Things got very weird very quickly. Dondero reportedly believed his wife was cheating on him with Daugherty. Daugherty, in turn, accused his former business partner, whose income was $36 million in 2010, of hiding assets to avoid paying his wife spousal support, a claim he first unveiled in a legal filing describing a very weird dinner scene in which Dondero said he had 20,000 emails and texts, obtained from sources in "certain branches of the intelligence community," proving his wife was being unfaithful.
-snip-
Last month, as Dondero's divorce was going to trial, the New York Post entered the fray with a piece rehashing the salacious details and implying that the hedge fund manager was, in fact, hiding assets from his wife, who it said was owed up to $5 million under the terms of the couple's pre-nup.
More at http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/11/highland_capital_dondero_divor.php .
[font color=green]This should attract plenty of new clientele for Highland Capital Management.[/font] 
New Life for Todd Staples (Or, Bad News for David Dewhurst)
Agriculture commissioner Todd Staples is showing new signs of life in his race for lieutenant governor thanks to a late-arriving group of financial backers. These are heavy-hitters who have been engaged in Texas politics for years: Erle Nye, former chairman of TXU; William Beecherl, son of the late oilman Louis Beecherl; Ardon Moore, CEO of Lee Bass Inc.; Bryan Pickens, a ranch broker who has been active in George P. Bush's campaign; and San Antonio developer and former UT Regents chair Gene Powell.
This news scrambles the field in the lite gov race and will blunt the ability of David Dewhurst to self-fund his competition into submission. Obviously, this could not be worse for the incumbent: late-arriving money for an opponent, which is exactly what happened to Dewhurst in his Senate race against Ted Cruz. I have believed that Dewhurst could win the race, but the game has changed. He is in trouble now.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/new-life-todd-staples-or-bad-news-david-dewhurst
Tea Partiers Continue to Disrespect Women and Latinos, Call Senator Van de Putte "Barrio Boopsie"
This is equally offensive and on par with the misogyny directed towards Senator Wendy Davis by calling her "abortion barbie." Now, tea partiers are making sure their nickname for long-time public servant Senator Van de Putte, who has served in the Texas Legislature since 1990, is both misogynist and racist.
Tea Partier Rick Atkinson coined this offensive term under his blog for the McKinney Tea Party. This type of name calling isn't surprising from the hard right- Atkinson blatantly mocks the State Senator's background, and the largely Latino district she represents. Instead of giving Atkinson more hits, you can read the blurb from the blog (screenshot taken by the Austin Chronicle) here.
However, conservatives still seem think even despite this rhetoric, they can appeal to women-identified and Latino voters. As the large outpouring of support for undocumented Longhorns at UT proved yesterday, Texans are tired of the GOP making jokes and playing games with peoples' identities and struggles.
The complete story is at http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/14405/tea-partiers-continue-to-disrespect-women-and-latinos-call-senator-van-de-putte-barrio-boopsie .
Cornyn and Cruz called to nominate fed judges
AUSTIN, Texas —
A progressive group has called on Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz to make nominations to fill nine federal judge vacancies in Texas.
Progress Texas said Thursday that following a vote in the U.S. Senate to limit filibusters, it was time for Cornyn and Cruze to fulfill their duty to make nominations for the federal bench. President Barack Obama could then appointment those nominees to the nine vacancies that have substantially slowed federal trials in Texas.
Neither Cornyn nor Cruz has recommended anyone in 2013, preventing Obama from making any appointments.
Republican senators have also used filibusters to keep Obama's nominees from taking the bench. Frustrated by the blockade on nomination, the Senate's Democratic majority voted to change the rules to allow nominations to move forward.
http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/texas/cornyn-and-cruz-called-to-nominate-fed-judges/nbzj3/
Fort Worth-based Cash America to pay $19 million in consumer refunds and fine
Source: Dallas Morning News
Federal regulators have ordered Fort Worth payday lender Cash America to pay up to $14 million in consumer refunds for violating rules involving debt collection lawsuits and overcharging military members.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also announced today that Cash America will pay a $5 million fine for violating those rules as well as destroying documents prior to the agency’s examination.
CFPB’s enforcement action was its first one against a payday lender.
The agency found that Cash America engaged in robo-signing, a practice where important documents that require careful review and a signature from a knowledgeable individual were instead signed by someone else without following proper procedures or a machine. In Cash America’s case, the agency said robo-signing was used in documents filed in lawsuits under the company’s debt collection subsidiary in Ohio.
Read more: http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2013/11/fort-worth-based-cash-america-to-pay-19-million-in-consumer-refunds-and-fine.html/
DA Craig Watkins’ top assistant seeks to lead Dallas County Democratic Party
Craig Watkins’ top assistant is running for chairman of the Dallas County Democratic Party, a move that would boost the district attorney’s political clout.
Heath Harris, the first assistant DA, says his bid to replace Darlene Ewing has Watkins’ backing. Harris is circulating petitions in order to get enough support from party precinct chairmen to get on the March primary ballot.
“I can do a better job in getting to the base vote of the Democratic Party,” Harris said. “If we can do better in getting our base vote out in primary elections, it’s going to bode well for general elections.”
Ewing, who has been county chairwoman since 2005, is the most accomplished party leader in Dallas County since Henry Wade served as district attorney. Under her leadership, Dallas County Democrats have never lost a contested race. They took control of county politics in 2006, when Watkins was first elected to his post.
More at http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20131119-craig-watkins-top-assistant-seeks-to-lead-dallas-county-democratic-party.ece .
Conservapedia: The Search for the Truth Ends Here
You are surely aware of Wikipedia, the crowd-sourced online encyclopedia. While sometimes comically inaccurate (but rarely nowadays), Wikipedia is actually a fairly reliable resource for basic facts (How many touchdowns has Tom Brady thrown? Which years was Warren Harding president?). It is almost always one of the first few hits on your favorite search engine when looking up a basic fact. In short, it is useful.
But not everyone likes Wikipedia. Some conservatives, for example. So they formed "Conservapedia."
Tell me more, you say? "Conservapedia is a clean and concise resource for those seeking the truth. We do not allow liberal bias to deceive and distort here." Put another way: "We do not allow liberal censorship of conservative facts. Wikipedia editors who are far more liberal than the American public frequently censor factual information." Conservapedia does not give any actual examples of this.
Conservapedia was founded by Andrew Schlafly, son of famous conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly (that's a Wikipedia link to her bio so be on the look out for any bias) to root out the bias he was certain inhered in Wikipedia.
More at http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2013/11/conservapedia_the_search_for_t.php .
Despicable Actions: Unethical and Harmful
By Dr. Brian CarrPresident, Behavioral Health Associates, Lubbock, Texas, 1991-Present
Chairman, City of Lubbock Board of Health, 2013
Submitted on November 19, 2013 - 8:12am
Among my physician colleagues they are led by the first directive of the Hippocratic Oath that instructs them to “First of all, do no harm”.
If the politicians on the Extreme Right were held to this ethical standard they would be stripped of their license and publically censored. The efforts to disrupt the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (aka as Obamacare) is harmful to millions of Americans and the intentional misrepresentation of the law will promise to leave disease and death in its wake.
The AE Marketing group out of Chicago, hired by the Koch brothers, deployed a series of television ads and two Internet sites directing the citizens of Alaska to not sign up for the ACA. Their web site www.knowthefactsalaska.org encourages viewers to “not rush your decision” and suggests that they “wait until 2018”.
On the web site you can take the “quiz” with questions that are sophomoric in their leading to a specific decision. “Do you like having your choice of doctors and hospitals” and “Are you comfortable updating the government on your health and financial status” are what we call “forced choice” questions where the people is not really given a choice of answers. Interestingly, no matter how you answer the questions you get the same advice…don’t do it. A second web site (www.dontenrollalaska.org ) designed by the same company out of Florida is even more directive in asking visitors to take a pledge to refuse to sign up.
I just hope that those taking the pledge don’t get sick as I couldn’t find any place on the site to submit your medical bills for reimbursement in recognition of your standing with Cruz and the Koch brothers.
The Koch brothers are systematically working to ensure that young people do not sign up for the ACA with no regard to what happens if they become sick. This desire to destroy Obamacare no matter the cost to our citizens is a sick achievement that betrays the complete lack of humanity among those on the Extreme Right.
That our own Congressman Neugebauer can support stripping 40 billion from the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) while David Weaver, the CEO of the South Plains Food Bank makes it clear that agencies such as his will be unable to make up the difference is heartlessness of the highest degree.
Christie Herrera, a Koch brothers employee, has been making the rounds of the states as a self-proclaimed “Medicaid expert”. She appears before state and federal panels decrying the impact of the ACA and offering crafted legislation designed to avoid implementation of the ACA and any expansion of Medicaid. Politico.com noted in an article of the close connection between these “think tanks” and the Koch brothers.
This effort to keep people off of Obamacare means that 635,000 people in Georgia will not be able to secure health insurance. In Texas, with the highest number of uninsured citizens, our own Governor Perry has pledged to never accept Obamacare, leaving up to 40% of our citizens without health insurance. These men, women and children will not simply go away and they probably won’t “die quickly”. They will clog the emergency rooms of Covenant and UMC. They will not enroll for prenatal care. They will not get immunized. Care will be provided in the most expensive and less effective manner and the bill will go to the Lubbock County Health District where property owners across the county will foot the cost.
Randy is probably laughing as he toasts his masters the Koch brothers in their effort to contribute to the disability and death of our people. I wonder what the Congressman will be having for Thanksgiving dinner this year?
TAGS:
LubbockOnline Blog
death to the poor
have them pledge to not eat cake
heartless
let them eat cake
Lubbock
Perry doesn't have a soul
Randy lacks basic human decency
rich are well-fed
Texas
the money behind the throne
http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/dr-brian-carr/2013-11-19/despicable-actions-unethical-and-harmful
Cross-posted in Good Reads forum.
Despicable Actions: Unethical and Harmful
By Dr. Brian CarrPresident, Behavioral Health Associates, Lubbock, Texas, 1991-Present
Chairman, City of Lubbock Board of Health, 2013
Submitted on November 19, 2013 - 8:12am
Among my physician colleagues they are led by the first directive of the Hippocratic Oath that instructs them to “First of all, do no harm”.
If the politicians on the Extreme Right were held to this ethical standard they would be stripped of their license and publically censored. The efforts to disrupt the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (aka as Obamacare) is harmful to millions of Americans and the intentional misrepresentation of the law will promise to leave disease and death in its wake.
The AE Marketing group out of Chicago, hired by the Koch brothers, deployed a series of television ads and two Internet sites directing the citizens of Alaska to not sign up for the ACA. Their web site www.knowthefactsalaska.org encourages viewers to “not rush your decision” and suggests that they “wait until 2018”.
On the web site you can take the “quiz” with questions that are sophomoric in their leading to a specific decision. “Do you like having your choice of doctors and hospitals” and “Are you comfortable updating the government on your health and financial status” are what we call “forced choice” questions where the people is not really given a choice of answers. Interestingly, no matter how you answer the questions you get the same advice…don’t do it. A second web site (www.dontenrollalaska.org ) designed by the same company out of Florida is even more directive in asking visitors to take a pledge to refuse to sign up.
I just hope that those taking the pledge don’t get sick as I couldn’t find any place on the site to submit your medical bills for reimbursement in recognition of your standing with Cruz and the Koch brothers.
The Koch brothers are systematically working to ensure that young people do not sign up for the ACA with no regard to what happens if they become sick. This desire to destroy Obamacare no matter the cost to our citizens is a sick achievement that betrays the complete lack of humanity among those on the Extreme Right.
That our own Congressman Neugebauer can support stripping 40 billion from the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) while David Weaver, the CEO of the South Plains Food Bank makes it clear that agencies such as his will be unable to make up the difference is heartlessness of the highest degree.
Christie Herrera, a Koch brothers employee, has been making the rounds of the states as a self-proclaimed “Medicaid expert”. She appears before state and federal panels decrying the impact of the ACA and offering crafted legislation designed to avoid implementation of the ACA and any expansion of Medicaid. Politico.com noted in an article of the close connection between these “think tanks” and the Koch brothers.
This effort to keep people off of Obamacare means that 635,000 people in Georgia will not be able to secure health insurance. In Texas, with the highest number of uninsured citizens, our own Governor Perry has pledged to never accept Obamacare, leaving up to 40% of our citizens without health insurance. These men, women and children will not simply go away and they probably won’t “die quickly”. They will clog the emergency rooms of Covenant and UMC. They will not enroll for prenatal care. They will not get immunized. Care will be provided in the most expensive and less effective manner and the bill will go to the Lubbock County Health District where property owners across the county will foot the cost.
Randy is probably laughing as he toasts his masters the Koch brothers in their effort to contribute to the disability and death of our people. I wonder what the Congressman will be having for Thanksgiving dinner this year?
TAGS:
LubbockOnline Blog
death to the poor
have them pledge to not eat cake
heartless
let them eat cake
Lubbock
Perry doesn't have a soul
Randy lacks basic human decency
rich are well-fed
Texas
the money behind the throne
http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/dr-brian-carr/2013-11-19/despicable-actions-unethical-and-harmful
Cross-posted in Texas Group.
Profile Information
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: 112,443
