Politics

53% want repeal of healthcare law

Rassmussen’s latest poll is out concerning the Health care law sometimes known as “Obamacare.”

The numbers of those who want the law repealed have not changed much in the last year. While about a third think the law will be good for the country, but 48% believe it will be bad.

People are changing their minds about what they think the healthcare law will do. “Since June of last year, belief that the health care law is likely to force a change in health insurance has ranged from 34% to 51%.”

Historic tax rates: burden increased on top incomes

Never sit still when told that the “rich” pay less in taxes than they should due to the tax cuts in the ’90’s.
A very interesting set of tables showing relative tax rates for households from the ’70’s to 2007.
There’s also a table showing Effective Individual tax rate, social taxes (Medicare and Social Security), and Effective Excise and Corporate taxes. You can view it online, in a pdf or in your Excel files.

This information belies the concerns that the rich don’t pay their fair share or that the burden of taxes falls heavier on the middle class due to “Bush Tax Cuts.”

I Still Hate You, Sarah Palin (a golden oldie)

Do not forget. We must learn and develop our own brand of “Rules for Radicals,” without the obscenities. We must act accordingly.

I Still Hate You, Sarah Palin – David Kahane – National Review Online.

Partisan about partisanship (media bias)

Democrats are “Liberal/moderate” rather than simply “liberal” in this Texas Tribune piece on “partisanship” among Texas House members. And, yet, the Republicans are definitely called “conservative,” without any added qualifier.

How partisan does this make Dr. Mark P. Jones (chair of the political science department at Rice University) and the Texas Tribune?

The Tribune has published an interactive chart placing House members on either side of the “Centrist” line, according to their votes and statistics, with ‘0’ being “centrist.”  The more negative the number, the more liberal (/moderate)the legislator is and the more positive the number, the more conservative he is. The most conservative Democrat, Tracy King D-Batesville, scores a – 0.63, while 31 – 1/3 – of the Republicans are below 0.50. Another 1/2 of the Republicans hover right around 0.50, and 1/3 are greater than 0.61 or demonstrate the same level of partisanship that the least partisan of the Democrats.

Jones carefully states that none of the Republicans are Liberal, only more “moderate” than others.  (more data and charts, here.)

On the other hand, Jones and the Tribune confirm that when politicians are called or urged to be “moderate”by the press and academia, we should understand that  we are really talking about becoming more like the left.

(edited 7/9/11 AM to add more data and the graphic, BBN)

The Debt Overhang and the U.S. Jobs Malaise | Committee On The Budget

The Debt Overhang and the U.S. Jobs Malaise | Committee On The Budget.

New Budget Committee Report: Skyrocketing Debt Hampering Private-Sector Job Growth

Cut spending first. Pass the Balanced Budget Amendment with caps. Then we can talk about true “loop holes,” but leave things that we want to encourage alone – like child and mortgage interest breaks.

New Budget Committee Report: Skyrocketing Debt Hampering Private-Sector Job Growth | Speaker of the House John Boehner | speaker.gov.

Let’s see: Life or Toll Roads?

Every 30 minutes, today, the “news” on the radio claimed that Governor Rick Perry can’t count on Texas Christian Conservatives.

Well, he sure could in November, 2010! (and 2006 and 2002, too!)

The San Antonio radio station, WOAI 1200 AM, is the local talk-show leader, with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and our own Joe “Pags” (I’m not even going to try to spell it – that’s what he calls himself). The Station has played harsh sound bites all day on the news, accusing Governor Perry of having “corporate slush funds.”(Money the Legislature has appropriated specifically for a specific purpose is not a “slush fund.”)

I admire the woman in question and believe that I agree with her on 98% of the issues. Terri Hall is the founder of San Antonio Toll Roads and Texans United for Reform and Freedom. I’ve held her baby while she lobbied, and testified with her against the expansion of toll roads and selling our infrastructure to foreign private interests this year.

I just don’t agree with her way of deciding which politicians to support. Matters of life and traditional marriage and family are enough to make me turn off on a politician – and they will also win my loyalty when there are some issues on which we disagree. (There’s a hierarchy: Life trumps Liberty, Liberty trumps Property and these all trump purely political divisions like how to pay for roads.)

The trouble is that Terri is as close to a one-issue person as I’ve seen, applauding pro-abortion Democrats in the same pages where she condemned those like State Rep Frank Corte. in his Republican Primary  a few years ago because he didn’t vote the way she demanded on toll roads. Never mind that Rep. Corte is one of the most conservative men in Texas and the author of dozens of pro-life and pro-family Bills that became law. Never mind that while in office, he was constantly attacked from the Left (called “Frank ‘the Fetus'”), and that her opposition fed their glee.

And yet, I can still join her in those fights we agree on.

We Conservatives can split hairs finer than Baptists – or the Galatians and Ephesians to whom the Apostle Paul wrote 2000 years ago. Whether you’re a Christian or not, Paul had gave good advice when he admonished us to edify one another and to gently correct our opponents.

Edited for grammar, 18:20, 7-7-11, BBN)

Death Penalty in Texas Internationally Criticized

Is it the concern of President Obama that if Texas executes a murderer, other nations will hold us accountable to their laws concerning murder? In the mean time, we’ll be in more danger from every murderer among us, especially illegal aliens like today’s killer.

(I’m trying to write this article without mentioning the name of the murderer, only the name of his victim. She was a child, and her killer has been in jail more years than she was alive.)

First, few realize that the Governor of Texas cannot pardon people about to be executed. Because Democrat Governor James “Pa” Ferguson, 1915 – 1917, was so corrupt that the Legislature took the power to commute and pardon away from all Governors. The Governor may only approve or reject the recommendation of the Board of Grants and Pardons. If he rejects the recommendation of the Board, he can only grant a 30-day reprieve, and that, only once.

Second, Adria Sauceda was 16 and her killer was 23, when her naked body was found because the accused’s brother had raised the alarm when the man came home saying he had killed a girl.  Her body was found on the side of a road nearby.(See transcript, and/or the excerpt below from Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.)

(And did I mention that she was 16? Adria had gone to  a party where there was beer.  She shouldn’t have.  However, she did not deserve to be gang raped or to have the man who falsely claimed to know her take her away from the party then brutally abuse and kill her. She was 16. A decent 23 year old man would have protected her.)

Third, the killer had been in the US since he was 2 years old. There’s no evidence that he told the police that he was an alien – and asking that question would have been complicated in San Antonio in 1994. (And still would be – notice all the fuss and bother over sanctuary cities in Texas.) He did not seek help during his trial. His lawyers brought up the Mexican Consulate angle on appeal.

Many of my pro-life and Catholic readers may be upset with me about my support of the death penalty. I will admit to being conflicted about the killing of people by my State. However, I do believe in punishment and I do believe that a man like this would be a real danger to the lives of other people unless he could be kept in solitary confinement.

I remember the prison break from maximum security in Kenedy, Texas, back in 2000, which ended in the death of a policeman on Christmas Eve. The seven men were serving anywhere from 5 years sentences for burglary to 50 and even 99-life for rapes and murders. One had been given a life sentence for a capital murder.  This story was probably the main reason that I became less ambivalent about the death sentence: when proven killers have nothing to lose, they have nothing to lose by killing again.

From one of the many appellant decisions filed by Adria’s killer’s lawyers:

The evidence presented at trial shows that on May 20, 1994, the intoxicated sixteen-year-old victim was at a party. The twenty-three-year-old appellant also was at the party. At some point the intoxicated but conscious victim was placed in appellant’s car. Appellant and the victim left together in appellant’s car.

About thirty minutes later, appellant’s brother arrived at the party in a car which came to a screeching halt. Appellant’s brother was very excited or hysterical. Appellant’s brother started yelling to the people left at the party, “What the hell happened!” Appellant’s brother was yelling that appellant came home with blood on him saying he had killed a girl. Witnesses Torres and Ortega were present when appellant’s brother made these statements. Shortly thereafter appellant’s brother left in a rush.

Several of the party members went looking for the victim in the same area where the party was. They found her nude body lying face-up on a dirt road. They noticed the victim’s head had been bashed in and it was bleeding. Her head was flinching or jerking. These party members called the police.

When the police arrived, they saw the nude victim lying on her back. There was a 30 to 40 pound asphalt rock roughly twice the size of the victim’s skull lying partially on the victim’s left arm. Blood was underneath this rock. A smaller rock with blood on it was located near the victim’s right thigh. There was a gaping hole from the corner of the victim’s right eye extending to the center of her head from which blood was oozing. The victim’s head was splattered with blood.

There was a bloody and broken stick approximately 14 to 16 inches long with a screw at the end of it protruding from the victim’s vagina. Another 4 to 5 inch piece of the stick was lying to the left side of the victim’s skull. The police made a videotape of the crime scene[,] portions of which were admitted into evidence.

Later that day, the police questioned appellant. Appellant gave two voluntary statements. In appellant’s first statement he said he was with the victim in his car when she began hitting him and the steering wheel causing him to hit a curb. Appellant attempted to calm her down but the victim leaped from appellant’s car and ran away. Appellant claimed he sat in his car and waited about ten or fifteen minutes to see if the victim would return and when she did not he went home.

After giving this statement, appellant was informed that his brother had also given a statement. Appellant then gave another statement. In this statement, appellant claimed he followed the victim when she got out of his car and ran away. Appellant claimed the victim attacked him. Appellant pushed her and she fell to the ground. When she did not get up appellant attempted to wake her but could not. He then looked at her nose and saw bubbles. Appellant stated he got scared, went home, prayed on the side of his mom’s bed and told family members what had happened, claiming it was just an accident. After giving this statement an officer gave appellant a ride home.

Emotional Noise is Destructive to Learning.

I’ve been searching for a way to express this idea, and here it is, at 6:00 minutes in:

  “The emotional noise is destructive to learning.”  David Horowitz at UCLA – Part 7 – Q & A http://t.co/kC09PIN via @youtube

Just wow!

Federal Court Scheduled to Hear Challenge to Texas Sonogram Law

Can you imagine what would happen if Cardiologists hid the screen while a heart sonogram was being performed?

Federal Court Scheduled to Hear Challenge to Texas Sonogram Law. From Joe Pojman, Executive Director of Texas Alliance for Life:

The Office of Attorney General Greg Abbott is defending the law and filed a response yesterday demonstrating that the law is constitutional. The first hearing will be today. Texas Alliance for Life’s staff will be present.

Texas also has laws mandating informed consent for hysterectomies, radiation therapy and electric-shock therapy – all passed because of the public perception that doctors were patronistically making decisions for their patients, “for their own good.”

The sonogram has become standard of care, much as the sonogram of the heart or a catheterization before bypass surgery. Patients are already being required to pay for the sonogram in addition to or as part of the abortion fee. And yet, patients were not being allowed – in some cases, refused – to see their own medical information and the results of the test they had paid for.

For some reason, the Houston Chronicle, in its July 2 note on the lawsuit, only says that, “The center for Reproductive Right’s class action lawsuits were filed on of a San Antonio abortion provider. ” Planned Parenthood is not identified in today’s HC article, either.

The tma-member-physicians Daily

The TMA daily online newsletter, The tma-member-physicians Daily posted my blurb on the harshness of Republicans toward their own. #Texmed.

Meatheads: MD Anderson grilling scare won’t cure cancer or cover up failure | JunkScience.com

When will our experts  learn to be responsible and careful? Junk Science exposes a silly press release from what should be a careful, reliable source.

Meatheads: MD Anderson grilling scare won’t cure cancer or cover up failure | JunkScience.com.

Republicans: we eat our own

Can you imagine the grief of fighting the Progressives AND the Conservatives from the right, all the time? Do you ever send approval to our elected officials when they do the right thing? Do you ever offer constructive ideas, or do you bounce around like a ping pong ball, from one sound bite presented by the the lame stream media to another, with no control over your own direction?

Case in point:  I’ve been following the blogs and the rants and reactions to what they perceive as compromise on the part of Republicans, according to reports in the New York Times‘ and the Houston Chronicle’s coverage of yesterday’s interview with Senator John Cornyn of Texas on Fox News Sunday.  It seems very few people look for the original video, which is on-line, here,  at Fox News.

Senator Cornyn flatly stated that the Republicans will not support and the American People do not want tax increases. From a more balanced article on the interview at the Wall Street Journal:

Republicans want major spending cuts before they agree to increase the debt cap. Many insist the budget deal can’t include any tax increase. But like Mr. Cornyn, some have opened the window to raising federal revenue. That could pave the way for an agreement.

Mr. Cornyn said Sunday he wanted any broad revamp of the tax code to be revenue neutral, meaning it shouldn’t bring in more cash than the current system. There may not be enough time to strike such a tax deal before Aug. 2, he said.

“But it ought to be the first thing we turn to, to make our tax code more rational. We could bring down rates, eliminate a lot of the tax expenditures and loopholes,” he said.

If the sides don’t reach a long-term budget accord this month, Mr. Cornyn said Congress may have to approve a short-term deal.

“The big problems aren’t going to go away if you cut a mini-deal, all it does is delay the moment of truth. So I’d say better now than then, but if we can’t, we’ll take the savings we can get now and we will re-litigate this as we get closer to the election,” he said.

The Dems WANT the government to shut down. They can’t wait to blame it on the unyielding, “political” Republicans. Worse, they’re floating the idea that Obama can ignore Congress’ will on the debt ceiling. And somehow, the far left always manages to control one another and stay on the same page while revving up the mob that wants to redistribute wealth, secure abortion on demand and declare war on our family values and children’s innocence but not on terrorists from a culture that would kill them in a minute for the very things they support.

The media, the Left, and our own reactionary mob will convince the rest of the country that the Republican leadership’s attempts at solutions are worthless political posturing. Our mob will be worse: making the perfect the enemy of good and dredging up old slights and rivalries.

I’ve been writing about Senator Cornyn and the ceiling debt, but could just as well be discussing Governor Perry or any number of State and Federal politicians and issues. If you’re at all able, look for the original source and/or two reports before making up your mind when you hear or read anything our Republican leaders in the media.

Woman Seated Near Beck at Movie Claims Innocence…But What Does Twitter Tell Us…(With UPDATES!) | Breaking news and opinion on The Blaze

If you tweet it, it exists. I often think that if more people had learned to live under – and write under – the threat of something like medical malpractice, the ‘Net would be a kinder, gentler place.

Woman Seated Near Beck at Movie Claims Innocence…But What Does Twitter Tell Us…(With UPDATES!) | Breaking news and opinion on The Blaze.

S.A. coffee co. starts national brouhaha over tweet – San Antonio Express-News

S.A. coffee co. starts national brouhaha over tweet – San Antonio Express-News.

The “Tweet” in question? “No human law can ever legitimatize what natural law precludes” #SorryFolks #NotEqual #WhyBother #ChasingAfterTheWind #SelfEvident

This very generic statement was interpreted as “intolerant” “homophobic” and “hate speech.” That tacky, foul-mouthed food critic even stuck his nose into the fuss: ” Anthony Bourdain, the host of the Travel Channel‘s “No Reservations,” chimed in Tuesday when he tweeted, “Dear Brown Coffee: God called. He said you suck.””

In other words, nation-wide psychological projection.

House reverses itself, passes the big money bill | Trail Blazers Blog | dallasnews.com

House reverses itself, passes the big money bill | Trail Blazers Blog | dallasnews.com.

Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, moved to reconsider the bill, defeated earlier, 79-64. King said he’s been assured that the House General Investigating and Ethics Committee during the interim will investigate concerns by Eagle Forum and other conservative groups that the Turkish-dominated Cosmos Foundation, which operates Harmony Schools and operates 33 charter schools in Texas, may not be following proper procurement procedures. (See The New York Times story on that subject here.)