Sean-Paul, over at agonist,org, has a post up about Congressman Charlie Gonzales.  It appears that Congressman Gonzales - a democrat – has voted AGAINST the Markey Amendment because he is opposed to “regulating the Internet.”

Later that same afternoon, however, Congressman Gonzales offered up an amendment – sponsored by AT&T, no less – to regulate search engines.  Democrats were absolutely dumbfounded, as Gonzales had stated, earlier, publicly, that he was opposed to regulating the Internet.

Oh Charlie…  Have you no shame?

Gonzales represents the San Antonio, TX area – home of AT&T.

Technorati Tags: AT&T, Gonzales Amendment, Markey Amendment, Charlie Gonzales

Meet Congressman Gene Green.  Congressman Green is a Democrat representing the 29th district in Texas.  Congressman green has been representing Texas since 1993.  Congressman Green, as a Democrat, has sworn to uphold the democratic values, and is expected to vote as his liberal constituents expect.  Congressman Green, however, is a sell out.

On April 26th, 2006, the Markey Amendment to the COPE Act went for a vote before the House Energy & Commerce Committee, of which Congressman Green is a member.  The Markey Amendment – if passed – would ensure network neutrality across the Internet – in essence saving the Internet from (telecom/cable) big business.  Congressman Green – directly opposite of Democratic party lines, and values – voted against the Markey Amendment.

I have spent the past several hours attempting to determine why Congressman Green voted to support big business.  I believe I have come up with the answer.  Congressman Green has sold out to the big telecommunications and cable companies.  I do not make these comments lightly, and below I will provide the data, and links, to back it up.

Read the entire entry …

You know, I can remember when the Texas legislature meant something.  The scary thing is, it hasn’t been all that long ago, as I only started paying attention to politics in the last ten years.

I’ve been following this school finance fiasco for a little bit, although I’ve refrained from commenting on it because, well, others are doing such a bang-up job.  Not to mention, I’m still a little uncertain on what a lot of things mean, and the potential ramifications of things.

Here what I do know.  First off, I don’t agree with the bills as they’re written.  Vince Leibowitz has written a post deconstructing each proposed bill, and explaining just what they mean. It’s a pretty telling post.  I especially love the escalating cigarette tax.  Let me dive into that one a bit – just the shallow end…

Read the entire entry …

ATTENTION: Call your STATE representatives and tell them to vote AGAINST this rule!!! (Click here to find out your state representative and their phone number.  Make sure you call the “Texas STATE Representative”)

A procedural rule will be introduced TODAY (04-21-06) in the House as the first frontal assault on teachers, schools, and school districts. The rule will dictate the procedure of the house and will regulate amendments, costs, and most importantly the required focus of the legislation.

The Texas Supreme Court recently ruled that the current property tax is an unconstitutional statewide property tax. Now, Austin is in a frenzy trying to fix the problem and “get out of dodge.”

If legislators vote for the proposed rule TODAY (04-21-06), they will be voting for restricting House Bill 1 (The Highland Park Windfall Proposal) to only taxation issues and will not address school funding.

This will mandate that no amendment can be offered to increase teacher pay, no new textbooks, no funding for school facilities, no teacher health insurance, and no extra funding for transportation during these time of extraordinary gas prices.

It is time to hold the legislature accountable to teachers and students. It is time for our elected officials to focus their attention on school funding and not just creating huge windfalls for Highland Park, Alamo Heights, or Bellaire while forgetting Edgewood, Houston, Dallas, or the thousands of other school districts.

By voting for a rule today, they are saying no to education for potentially the next decade!

This bill is expected to be introduced by Rep. Beverly Wooley, although the rumors are flying that it’s Rep. Craddick’s baby, and has the push and backing of Governor Perry.

In the words of another concerned blogger:

“In other words, no amendments for teacher pay raises or health insurance or new textbooks and other non-essentials. I mean, I guess the real question is, is our legislators learning?”

Call your STATE lege rep, today, and tell them to vote NO for this rule.  Voting yes will jeapordize our children and their education for years to come.

Look at it this way, people….  By removing the statewide property tax – something they HAVE to do – they will be removing a significant amount of funding from our schools.  This whole session was called for education…

Folks, we’re 50 out of 50 for educational spending.  If we can’t afford to pay our teachers, and give them mandatory pay increases (yearly raises), or even cost of living increases, they’ll go somewhere else.  We need our teachers.  We need textbooks.  Kids need to be able to get to school.

Don’t be boneheaded about this and assume that Perry and the conservative lege know what they’re doing.  Make the call, and let them know how pissed off you are that nothing is being done about education.

Technorati Tags: Texas, Education, texas education reform

I found this press release on the Texas House website…  It appears Burt Solomons has proposed a pretty damned equitable solution to our education issues…  I think it merits at least a strong debate:

Austin, TX – On the first day of a special session to fix school finance Representative Burt Solomons (Carrollton) filed legislation that would allow Texans to vote to permanently increase the state’s funding of public schools. “HJR 15 is an opportunity to make public education the state’s number one priority,” said Rep. Solomons. This is the third time since 2003, Rep. Solomons has filed a constitutional amendment to set the minimum state funding of the public school system at 50 percent.

Read the entire entry …

Vince, over at Capitol Annex, has written a lengthy post detailing the pieces of legislation introduced during the current special session.  He details each of the proposed bills, and gives his take (on a 1-10 scale) as to the chances each has of passing.

Thus far, my favorite bill is HB26:

HB 26 (Burnam): Relating to the imposition of an income tax on income that exceeds $100,000 to provide property tax relief and fund public education; providing penalties.

I think this would be the first income tax ever proposed that would only affect the “rich”.  Although technically $100,000/yr isn’t rich (it’s considered upper-middle class), it’s still a high cap for such a piece of legislation.  Essentially what this proposal would do is establish an income tax for any individual whose income exceeded $100,000, with all such money (from tax) dedicated to property tax relief and public education.

Unfortunately, Vince raises a valid point.  He rates this bill as a 1 out of 10 chance of passing.  Why?  “Texas is too tax phobic.”

Technorati Tags: Texas, income tax

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Citizen’s Filibuster, during legislative Special Session from 04-17-2006 through 04-18-2006.

This filibuster is being put on by David Van Os, candidate for Texas Attorney General.  Van Os – and other Democratic candidates – will filibuster about the Texas Educational System, especially the fact that so little money is being put towards education, and how we need to take charge, stand up, and guarantee our children an educational future.  I urge all of you that are frustrated with the Texas educational system to show up on the State Capitol grounds and help make the Citizen’s
voice heard.  The release and information for this, is below…

Read the entire entry …

You know… I had planned on taking one more day off, before coming back to this blog, and then Charles Kuffner (from offthekuff.com) had to throw in the fodder, like it’s going out of style.

Kuffner has solicited many of the candidates in this month’s run off election.  …I suppose I should qualify that, so it doesn’t sound as it he is prostituting himself, shouldn’t I?  What I mean is that he has sent a request to the candidates, asking them to reply with a 500 word, five paragraph themed essay explaining why we should vote for them… and yes, spelling counts.

In reality, Kuffner simply asked for a write-up of their choice.  He received responses from four of the candidates: Radnofsky (US Senate), Alvarado (Lt. Governor), Grant (Lt. Governor), and Ankrum (10th Congressional District).  All candidates are in the Democratic party primaries.

After reading the spiel, I was rather impressed.  It appears that the majority of candidates stayed well away from the “traditional” “you should hire me because my opponent sucks Chef’s chocolate, salty balls” type of campaign.  Just for kicks – and because no one is immune from the snark – let’s take a good look at each candidate’s commentary.

Read the entire entry …

Hot on the tail of the Open Letter to Roger Owen, Vince Leibowitz of Capitol Annex received an anonymous tip that Owen is a convicted felon in the State of Flordia.  Leibowitz quickly did his homework and came up with this article from the St. Petersburg Times, listing Owen’s offenses.

It turns out that Owen made failed runs for office in Florida in 1982 and 1984.  In 2003, Owen tried again, only to find out that he could not run due to a felony conviction for burglary.  The newspaper spells it all out:

Read the entire entry …

The Texas Progressive Alliance, and multiple progressive Texas bloggers, have sponsored an open letter to Mr. Roger Owen (candidate for Congress, TX-1), regarding his recent rhetoric.

The letter is signed by many bloggers from the Texas polisphere, and is availible in a downloadable PDF, here.  Highlights of the letter, are below.

The letter begins,

Congratulations on your victory last Tuesday in the Democratic Primary race in Congressional District 1. All of us in the Texas Blogsphere look forward to a good campaign to unseat Rep. Louie Gohmert.

However, as we issue our congratulations to you, we must confess that we have concerns—about your candidacy, about some of your statements, and about some of your beliefs.

As progressives, we have numerous concerns about some of your recent remarks concerning gays and lesbians, especially some of the remarks you have directed at other Democratic candidates in your area. We are also very concerned about the fact that you have reportedly renounced your affiliation with at least one county Democratic Party in Congressional District 1 and engaged in name-calling with at least one Democrat Leader—all of which has been highly publicized in your district. In addition, it is alarming to us that national political press such as “The Hill” have, as a result of your unconventional actions, reduced your candidacy to that of “oddball” status. Please understand that, in writing you this letter, we are hoping that you will understand our position and consider making some modifications in the way in which you conduct your campaign so that we and other Democrats across the state, in your district, and nationally, will have no reservations about supporting your candidacy.

The letter, sponsored by Capitol Annex, gets straight to the point by letting Mr. Owen know that – as progressives, and (well most of us) as Democrats – we are not at all pleased with his recent rhetoric.

The letter continues:

The Democratic Party is the party of the “big tent.” Perhaps there are none who understand this more than those of us in the Blogsphere. Our party welcomes those who are pro-life, pro-choice, gay, straight, Christian, Jewish, athiest, and people of all other religions and races without reservation. What our party does not stand for is intolerance.

The Democratic party has never stood idly by and let intolerance pass – especially amongst its own members.  I am very surprised that such a letter has taken this long in coming, as I personally feel that Mr. Owen should have been called out, a long time ago.

We are concerned that, though your rhetoric may appeal to some of the conservative climate in your district, it is out of touch with both mainstream Democratic voters and the party in general.

In the hope that your candidacy may be successful and that it will not alienate any progressives or other Democrats, we must respectfully ask that you please reconsider your recent actions. While we do not support your beliefs, including those you have about gay Democrats and gay Democratic candidates, we respect your right to have those beliefs. However all Democrats— gay, straight, black, white and Latino—are working toward one goal: a better Party and a better Texas.

With those goals in mind, rhetoric and behavior such as yours does not have any place in the Party.

With these three paragraphs, we lay it on the line.  We do not believe Mr. Owen’s recent actions and statements are reflective of the Democratic party, or its members.

We close by stating:

We want very much to be able to support your candidacy in the strongest possible way. However, for those of us in the Blogsphere who truly support the ideals of the Party, that is difficult in the present climate.

We do not seek appologies to those you have offended, though that may be appropriate; we do not seek you to change your beliefs, as that is inappropriate. However, we do ask that you consider the thoughts expressed in this letter more carefully and consider a more tolerant and polite approach to your campaign and your fellow Democrats.

We wish you the best of luck this fall against Louie Gohmert. We are united in the belief that he must be defeated.

Sincerely,
Texas Progressive Democratic Webloggers

It is my sincere belief that, while Mr. Owen should have been called out long ago, he should not face complete upheaval and uproar around his actions.  He should, instead, face our gentle nudging and explanation that we find his actions inappropriate for a member of the party, and our urge to change his methods and rhetoric.

At this time, although I sincerely feel that Louie Gohmert  should be defeated this fall, I must express my belief that Mr. Owen may not be the best man for the position.  Provided Mr. Owen makes reperations (or at least changes) for his rhetoric, I will place my support behind his campaign.

The letter is signed by the following bloggers:

John Cobarruvias, Bay Area Houston Blog

Jim Dallas / Karl-Thomas Musselman / R. Kirk McPike, Burnt Orange Report

Perry Dorrell, Brains and Eggs

Matt Glazer, Just Another Blog

Charles Kuffner, Off the Kuff

Vince Leibowitz, Capitol Annex

Kerry Lutz, 100 Monkeys Typing

Nathan Nance, Common Sense

Eric Scalf, MindSpeak

Anna, Annatopia

Technorati Tags: Roger Owen, Open Letter to Roger Owen, Louie Gohmert, Texas Democratic Bloggers, Texas Bloggers, Texas Democrats