Friday, May 27, 2011

Texas’ Wild Tea Party

The Nation - Villarreal and his Democratic colleagues [in the Texas House of Representatives] protested in vain [in early April] as the House passed perhaps the most radical state budget bill in US history.

[The Texas Legislature — which Molly Ivins aptly called “the national laboratory for bad government” — infused with Tea Party zeal to eliminate government after the 2010 election,] voted to balance the ledger without raising revenues, axing $23 billion from current spending levels—about one-fourth of the state’s current spending, and some of the deepest cuts contemplated anywhere in the country.

Spending cuts to public schools, already among the nation’s most poorly funded, could mean some 100,000 teacher layoffs, pre-K programs decimated and schools closed. Huge cuts to Medicaid could push an estimated 60,000 senior citizens out of their nursing homes. “We’re already as a state fiftieth in per capita spending,” said another young San Antonio Democrat, Representative Joaquin Castro. “So you’ve got to ask yourself…at what point is this budget akin to asking an anorexic person to lose more weight?”

The fiscal crisis caught most Texans unawares. For the better part of a decade, they’d had their collective egos puffed up by BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, The Economist and CNBC proclaiming Texas as the economic miracle of the nation. Governor Rick Perry, a friend and disciple of Grover Norquist, had just won re-election by extolling the wonders wrought by tax-cutting, deregulation and the aggressive courting of jobs from higher-tax states like California, Michigan and Illinois.

[For the last decade] Perry has been the chief mad scientist in Texas’ bad-government lab, seizing every opportunity to gut social spending, pander to the culture-warriors and enrich his high-rolling corporate sponsors. In 2003, with a conservative legislature feloniously purchased by Tom DeLay and associates, Perry led a revolution to deregulate, privatize and tort-reform nearly everything. “Texas is open for business,” his campaign happily proclaimed when the dust had settled.

Three years later, with the lawmakers deadlocked over a school finance plan that would somehow meet State Supreme Court standards, Perry engineered a massive “tax swap,” slashing property taxes and replacing them with a modest business tax that left the state with a $5[-$7] billion annual “structural deficit” going forward—and a handy excuse to keep cutting programs to make budgets balance.

This year, when the massive debt was announced, Perry’s right-wing allies could not contain their glee. “The bottom line is there are no excuses now,” exclaimed Republican Senator Dan Patrick, a talk-radio host and founder of the Tea Party Caucus. “It’s a perfect storm, in a positive way, for conservatism.” In his inaugural speech, David Dewhurst, three-term lieutenant governor, turned it into a cheer: “We pronounce the word C-R-I-S-I-S as ‘opportunity.’”

Dan Patrick and David Dewhurst were referring to the "Starving the beast" strategy. This is a fiscal-political strategy adopted by American conservatives in the 1970's to create or increase existing budget deficits via tax cuts to force future cuts and eventual privatization of Medicare, Social Security, Public Education and every other public service.

Texas has long been as politically and culturally influential as California. If that’s not often recognized, it’s for a valid reason: the influence Texas exercises pulls other states backward. “People used to say that the future happens first in California,” Krugman writes, “but these days what happens in Texas is probably a better omen. And what we’re seeing right now is a future that doesn’t work.”

Read the full story at The Nation.

Voter Photo ID Requirement To Vote in Texas

Click here for current article with current list of links

Update Friday May 27, 2011 @ 11:30am

Governor Rick Perry (R) signed SB14 into law this morning requiring voters to present unexpired government issued photo identification to qualify to vote in Texas elections. Photo IDs must be current or must have expired within the last 60 days. They include:
  • Texas DPS driver’s license or personal identification card,
  • Personal identification card called an “election identification certificate;”
  • US passport;
  • US military ID;
  • Texas concealed weapons license; and
  • US citizenship papers containing a photo.
For those who have none of these unexpired government issued photo IDs the law contains a provision that requires the Texas Driver's License Bureau to issue special "election identification certificates" free of charge to citizens. Of course, a person seeking a free "election identification certificate" at the Driver's License Bureau must present a their birth certificate. The election identification certificates will have an expiration date for people under 70 years of age, suggesting that voters who acquire and use this ID to vote will have to renew the identification certificate just as driver's licenses are renewed. Voters age 70 and older will not have to renew their election identification certificate.

The original version of SB14 passed last January exempted voters age 70 and older from the photo ID requirement, but the House version passed in March stripped the senior photo ID exemption from the bill. The election identification certificate expiration exemption for voters age 70 and older is a compromise reached in joint committee to resolve differences between the Senate and House version of the bill. Voters age 70 and older must present photo identification to election clerks, just like everyone else.

Voters who show up to polls with only their voter registration cards will be allowed to vote a provisional ballot, but then they must present a photo ID in person at the office of their county's election authority within six days, or their provisional ballot will not be counted.


NPR: Voter ID Debate.
Voter education efforts will begin in fall 2011, but photo ID requirements will not take effect until January 1, 2012.

Texas Voter Photo ID Summary

Effective Dates (Pending U.S. Dept. of Justice clearance)
Starting September 1, 2011 the Secretary of State, and the voter registrar of each county shall provide notice of the ID requirements for voting in each language in which voter registration materials are available. Required government issued photo identification must be presented to polling place election clerks for all elections occurring after January 1, 2012.

Photo IDs Permitted

All IDs must be unexpired or expired no earlier than 60 days before the election. Acceptable identification includes:
  • A driver’s license, election ID certificate, or personal ID card issued to the person by the Department of Public Safety (i.e., an election certificate issued to a person 70 years or older does not expire);
  • U.S. military ID card that contains the person's photograph;
  • U.S. citizenship certificate issued to the voter with their photograph;
  • U.S. passport; or
  • A license to carry a concealed handgun.
*Student IDs are not accepted in Texas for purposes of identification for voting.

Exceptions Available

A person may obtain an exemption from the ID requirement on the basis of disability if they produce a statement in a form determined by the SOS that the applicant does not have any of the prescribed forms of identification, and they have an:
  • U.S.S.S.A. determination of disability, or
  • U.S.V.A. disability rating of 50%.
Affidavit Alternative

A voter without a photo ID may cast a provisional ballot, which will count if she signs an affidavit attesting to the fact that she:
  • has a religious objection to being photographed, or
  • does not have an ID as a result of a natural disaster declared by the U.S. President or Texas’ Governor no earlier than 45 days before the election and that disaster caused the inability to access the voter’s ID.
The affidavit may be signed at the time the provisional ballot is cast or at the time the voter appears before the voter registrar within 6 days following the election to have the provisional ballot counted.

Early/Absentee Voting ID Requirements

The photo ID requirement does not apply to absentee voting, including early voting by mail. Photo ID requirements apply to all in-person or curbside early voting.

Free IDs

Texas will issue an Election Identification Certificate (EIC) to persons who do not have another qualifying ID for purposes of voting. The applicant must present a voter registration card or register to vote at the time of applying for an EIC. There is no fee for an initial or duplicate EIC.

Public Education Requirements

The Secretary of State, and the voter registrar of each county that maintains a website, shall provide notice of the ID requirements for voting in each language in which voter registration materials are available. The Secretary of State shall prescribe the wording of the notice to be included on the websites, and shall also conduct a statewide effort to educate voters regarding the identification requirements for voting. The county clerk of each county shall post in a prominent location at the clerk’s office a physical copy of ID information in each language in which voter registration materials are available.

For additional information to "Conventional Wisdom v. The Facts On Voter Photo ID Law" and click "Read more »"

Friday, May 20, 2011

GOP Starting To Duck Spotlight of Citizen Journalists

The premier political story of the past few months has been the Republican plan to dismantle Medicare and the resulting voter backlash. In town halls across the country, voters are expressing their anger at the GOP priorities of ending Medicare, extending tax breaks for the wealthy, and protecting subsidies for oil companies.

Citizen journalists have attended those town halls and recorded video of that voter backlash on smartphones. Those citizen journalists then published their reports, with video, on the Internet, allowing others who couldn’t attend in person to see the event. Those videos have often been picked up and broadcast by national cable news outlets. The GOP does not like the exposure because it puts a lie to their claim that they are doing only what the people elected them to do.

TDP Video Chronicles Headlines From Around Texas

The Texas Democratic Party today released a new video in its continuing "GOP Price Tag" series that chronicles recent headlines from print and broadcast media outlets around Texas. The headlines chronicled in the video include the following:

“The Texas GOP Chose to Decimate Our Educational System” - $9.8 Billion Cut From Public Schools - Texas Tribune


Starving the Government Beast


The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann
"Starving the beast" is a fiscal-political strategy adopted by American conservatives in the 1970's to create or increase existing budget deficits via tax cuts to force future cuts and eventual privatization of Medicare, Social Security, Public Education and every other public service. [see Forbes and the video left.]

Paul Krugman, columnist for The New York Times: For readers who don't know what I'm talking about: Ever since Ronald Reagan, the GOP has been run by people who want a much smaller government.


Thursday, May 19, 2011

Fighting Climate Change Through Innovative Initiatives


Actual Climate Scientists Rap
Huffingtonpost: Floods and droughts may be the "new normal" and sea levels may be rising faster than previously thought, but the younger generation isn’t willing to accept these climate change consequences for their future.

As the grownups duke it out in Washington, kids take action with visible results, proving they may be more capable than adults in fighting man-made climate change.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Plano City Council Place 7 Runoff Election - June 18, 2011

Plano voters reelected two incumbents and elected one newcomer to the Plano City Council in the May 14, 2011 election, while a fourth race for Place 7 will be decided in a runoff election on Saturday June 18th. Early voting starts Monday June 6th. All Plano City residents registered to vote in Collin Co. may vote in this election.

Pat Miner, André Davidson and Jim Duggan were clear winners, but Greg Myer and Pat Gallagher will head into a June 18 runoff election for Council Place 7, since no Place 7 candidate received 50 percent of the votes.

Myer, an information technology project manager, drew 40.3 percent of the vote and Gallagher, a retired executive and Addison police officer, received 36.7 percent. Myer, who ran unsuccessfully for the position in 2008, knocked on thousands of doors and was bolstered by an endorsement from the influential Collin County Association of Realtors. Gallagher, a virtual unknown in Plano politics before this year, did surprisingly well. The third person in the Place 7 race, Mark Greer, a businessman who has been active in civic affairs, ran a distant third with 23 percent of the vote.

Early voting for the Saturday June 18th runoff election between Gallagher and Myer for Council Place 7 is scheduled to run from Monday June 6th through Tuesday June 14th.

Sun Mon 6/6
8am-5pm
Tue 6/7
8am-5pm
Wed 6/8
8am-5pm
Thur 6/9
8am-7pm
Fri 6/10
8am-5pm
Sat 6/11
8am-5pm
Sun Mon 6/13
7am-7pm
Tue 6/14
7am-7pm
Wed Thur Fri Sat 6/18
7am-7pm

The usual early voting locations around the City of Plano will be open. The major exception is that Davis Library rather than Christ United Methodist Church will be the substitute location for Carpenter Rec Center, since the Rec Ctr remains close for renovation until Aug. 2011.

Full location information and sample ballots for the June 18th special election will be posted on the Collin Co. Elections website a few days after Plano holds the "Drawing for Ballot Placement" on Thursday May 19, 2011.

League of Women Voters of Plano/Collin County Voters Guide - Plano City Council

Early Voting Locations for McKinney and Plano City Runoff Elections
Collin County Elections
(Main Early Voting Location)
2010 Redbud Blvd, Suite 102 McKinney
Christopher A. Parr Library 6200 Windhaven Pkwy. Plano
Collin College - Central Park Campus 2200 W University Dr McKinney
Collin College - Spring Creek Campus 2800 East Spring Creek Plano
Haggard Library 2501 Coit Rd Plano
Harrington Library 1501 18th Street Plano
Maribelle M. Davis Library 7501-B Independence Parkway Plano
McKinney Fire Station #5 6600 W. Virginia Parkway McKinney
McKinney Performing Arts Center 111 N. Tennessee St McKinney
Plano ISD Administration Center 2700 West 15th Street Plano

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Collin Co. Election Results - May 14, 2011

May 14, 2011 Combined Election Day & Early Ballots - Accumulated Totals:

Did you know that the 2010 US Census reported a voting age population of 557,664 persons in Collin Co? Did you further know that the Collin County Elections Registrar reported 439,740 Registered Voters in Collin Co for the May 14, 2011 local elections? If every one of those 557,664 voting age persons are US Citizens, which they likely are not, there are 117,924 possible Collin Co voters who are not registered to vote. That makes the county's voter registration rate close to 80 percent. That registration rate may be closer to 90% depending on how may of those non-registered voting age people are not US Citizens and therefore not qualified to vote. The problem in Collin Co is not registering new voters - it is more about figuring out how to get already registered voters out to vote.

Registered Voters 439,740 - Votes Cast 35,917 (8.17%) Num. Precinct Reporting 100%
Mayor - Allen


Steve Terrell
2185 85.52%
Blake Beidleman
370 14.48%

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology

Pew Research Center for the People & the Press Survey Report: With the economy still struggling and the nation involved in multiple military operations overseas, the public's political mood is fractious. In this environment, many political attitudes have become more doctrinaire at both ends of the ideological spectrum, a polarization that reflects the current atmosphere in Washington.

Yet at the same time, a growing number of Americans are choosing not to identify with either political party, and the center of the political spectrum is increasingly diverse. Rather than being moderate, many of these independents hold extremely strong ideological positions on issues such as the role of government, immigration, the environment and social issues. But they combine these views in ways that defy liberal or conservative orthodoxy.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Osama Bin Laden Dead, Pres. Obama Announces

Huffington Post: Osama Bin Laden is dead, President Obama announced Sunday night, in a televised address to the nation. His death was the result of a U.S. operation launched today in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Bin Laden was tracked by U.S. intelligence agencies to a mansion in an affluent neighborhood 35 miles north of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. After a firefight, a small team of American forces killed bin Laden and took possession of his body, the president said.

President Obama announces that Osama bin Laden has been killed.

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON OSAMA BIN LADEN - 11:35 P.M. EDT

President Obama Skewers Trump At The Correspondents' Dinner

President Barack Obama had some fun with would-be Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump Saturday after taking weeks of Trump's birther attacks. "No one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than 'the Donald,'" Obama said, referring to Trump's claims the same day that he was responsible for solving the issue.

With Trump in attendance, Obama used the White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner to mock the reality TV star's presidential ambitions, joking that the billionaire businessman could bring change to the White House, transforming it from a stately mansion into a tacky casino with a whirlpool in the garden. The president said Trump has shown the acumen of a future president, from firing Gary Busey on a recent episode of "Celebrity Apprentice" to focusing so much time on conspiracy theories about Obama's birthplace.

Trump chuckled at some of the earlier jokes, but was seemingly less amused as comedian Seth Meyers picked up where Pres. Obama left off. "Donald Trump often talks about running as a Republican, which is surprising," said the Saturday Night Live actor, entrusted with providing some of the comedy for the evening. "I just assumed he was running as a joke." Trump stared icily at Meyers as he continued to criticize the real estate tycoon.


Pres. Obama Speaking


Seth Meyers Speaking

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Texas House Approves A Redistricting Plan


House Districts in Denton, Collin,
Tarrant, Dallas and Rockwall Co.
Click to go to District Viewer map.
  1. From the “Select Plans” drop
    down – select “Base Plans”
  2. Scroll down to find and click
    on “PlanH276”
The GOP-led Texas House approved a redistricting plan early Thursday that would all but guarantee a continued Republican majority — albeit a smaller one than the party has now.

With so many seats to protect, GOP leaders couldn’t draw enough safe House districts to protect all their incumbents in the next election, in 2012.

The map was approved on a 92-52 vote after a marathon debate that dragged into the wee morning hours Thursday.

Republicans rode a conservative wave in the 2010 elections to a lopsided 101-49 majority in the 150-member House -- a super majority so big that they can conduct business even if Democrats don’t show up.

That didn’t stop Democratic lawmakers from trying to derail the map Wednesday on procedural grounds, to no avail.

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie released the statement on the passage of the State House redistricting map bill, HB 150:
The House redistricting plan is neither fair nor legal because it denies representation for Latinos, African Americans and Asian Americans who were responsible for 89% of Texas population growth in the past decade. This blatantly partisan Republican map actually reduced the number of districts that provide minority voters the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice while shredding communities for partisan gain.

The same Republican majority that insists on a state budget that will cut educational opportunity, force seniors from nursing homes and eliminate over 300,000 Texas jobs drew districts that would deny voters the opportunity to elect representatives who will stand up for our priorities. Texas Democrats and our Democratic elected officials will demand a fair and legal map that provides representation for all Texans, and we will take whatever actions necessary to ensure that any redistricting plan ultimately enacted complies with the Voting Rights Act.
More details:

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Trump Leading The GOP In Race-Baiting Fear-Mongering

Donald Trump, the rich kid turned real estate tycoon turned bankrupt failure turned TV reality show host, spent several weeks trumpeting to anyone who would listen—including a surprising number of corporate media outlets—that President Barack Obama had failed to answer questions about his citizenship.

And when Trump started talking, Fox News was there to amplify him. The network vastly increased its coverage of birther rumors, devoting nearly two and a half hours to the nonsense, in recent weeks. On other networks Trump's "birther" claims, like those made in an interview with "Today" co-host Meredith Vieira, went largely unchallenged. CNN's Anderson Cooper, refuted Trump on-air during a two-day invalidation of the "birther" myth, but CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry asked about Obama's birth certificate during Tuesday's press briefing. Whether giving Trump a pass or disputing his claims, the corporate media willingly kept the story alive by frequently giving Trump their air time and press space.

Today President Obama responded by releasing his long-form birth certificate making a short statement - at left.

Donald Trump answered President Obama's long-form birth certificate release from New Hampshire today by claiming credit for forcing Obama to release his "long form" birth certificate, and declared that the President should "get off his basketball court" and focus on gas prices.

Trump then repeated his new claim that Obama was an underachieving unqualified student who was admitted to the Ivy League universities only through affirmative action. Trump offered no proof for his claim but said he would continue to press the matter as he has the legitimacy of the president's birth certificate.

In GOP politics, attacking racial minorities as the underachieving beneficiaries of affirmative action is a very old move. Sen. Jesse Helms produced the most notorious example, an ad against his black opponent, Harvey Grant, which blasted affirmative action for taking jobs from deserving white people and giving them to minorities.

Let's not pretend for a moment that questioning President Obama's birth certificate or qualifications to attend Ivy League universities isn't steeped in racism. The New Yorker's editor-in-chief and the author of an acclaimed book about Obama's background, published an unusually blunt critique of Trump's "race-baiting" on Wednesday afternoon:

The New Yorker: The one radical thing about Barack Obama is his race, his name. Of course, there is nothing innately radical about being black or having Hussein as middle name; what is radical is that he has those attributes and is sitting in the Oval Office. And even now, more than two years after the fact, this is deeply disturbing to many people, and, at the same time, the easiest way to arouse visceral opposition to him.

Let’s be even plainer: to do what Trump has done (and he is only the latest and loudest and most spectacularly hirsute) is a conscious form of race-baiting, of fear-mongering. And if that makes Donald Trump proud, then what does that say for him?
Additional:

Texas Leads Nation In Households Ditching Their Landline Phones

In a contest between the traditional landline and the cellphone the cellphone is winning nationwide. People in the US are ditching their landlines to save money and/or because those phones are becoming superfluous. By June of 2010 Texas had the third highest rate (32.5%) in the nation of households ditching their landline phones in favor of a mobile-only lifestyle. Texas also leads in the adoption of smart phones and mobile Internet access. In some metro areas of Texas, such as Dallas County, up to 62% of households can be reached only by calling a mobile phone.

The US Center for Disease Control (CDC) last week released its latest state by state breakdown on the "Wireless Substitution" trend. As of June, 2010 26.6% of US households were wireless only, meaning there was no landline in the house. In some states the numbers were higher than the average and some lower.

Rhode Island and New Jersey had the lowest rates of wireless substitution households at 12.8 percent, while Arkansas had the highest at 35.2 percent and Texas had the third highest household rate at 32.5 percent. The data suggest that economics are the primary driver of the decision to abandon the landline - lower income areas are going cell-only faster than more affluent areas.

CDC wireless surveys are also finding increasing percentages of so-called "cellphone-mostly" households. Cellphone-mostly households are households that do have a land line, but that line is used for FAX, security systems or other and it is rarely or never used to receive incoming calls. The January-June 2010 CDC survey found that 16% of households nationwide that do have a landline receive all or nearly all of their calls on a cellphone. This means that in order to reach 43 per cent of U.S. households as of June 2010, the only practical way to call their cellphone. If this additional statistic is added the number of cell-only households jumps dramatically in some states.

In Texas, 32.5% of all households are wireless only. But the "wireless mostly" number is 20.3% according to the CDC. Combine those numbers and almost 53% of Texas households rely primarily or exclusively on mobile phones. In several states the combined figure approaches or exceeds 50% of the population:
  • Texas: 52.8%
  • Arkansas: 50.9%
  • Mississippi: 49.8%
  • Arizona: 48.1%
  • Nebraska: 47.3%
Metro areas often have even higher cell-only adoption rates than the state as a whole. In Texas, 43.2% of households in Dallas County are wireless only. But the "wireless mostly" number is 17.7% according to the CDC. Combine those numbers and almost 61% of Dallas County households rely primarily or exclusively on mobile phones. The combined figure approaches or exceeds 50% of the population in most metro areas of Texas:
  • Dallas County: Cell-Only (43.2%) + Cell-Mostly (17.7%) = 61.9%
  • Bexar County: Cell-Only (29.1%) + Cell-Mostly (17.7%) = 46.8%
  • El Paso County: Cell-Only (32.8%) + Cell-Mostly (14.8%) = 47.6%
  • Harris County: Cell-Only (32.4%) + Cell-Mostly (22.1%) = 54.5%

The increasing prevalence of cell phone coverage in the U.S., and the consequent increase in the number of people who use their cell phone in place of a landline, makes it difficult to reach target populations by phone for pollsters, political organizations or political candidates.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Plano ISD Council of PTAs Starts Education Funding Petition

The Plano ISD Council of PTAs is circulating an education funding petition for signatures. The Council plans to hand deliver the signed petition to the local offices of Representatives Van Taylor, Jerry Madden and Jodie Laubenberg next Thursday. Annette Maule, Legislative Chair for Plano ISD Council of PTAs, says the Council is extending an open invitation to all who would like to join in the hand delivery of the petition. Click here to sign the petition. (Annette Maule can be contacted at legislative@planopta.org)

To The Honorable Members of the Texas House of Representatives:

We, the voters of Texas, strongly believe that the future of our great state depends on the investment we make today in education. We call on our elected officials in the House of Representatives to take the following urgent actions in support of Texas public education:

  1. Support new revenue source dedicated to education spending.
  2. Close business tax loopholes to finance education as promised in Spring 2006 Special Session.
  3. Find permanent solution to education funding.
  4. Use Economic Stabilization Fund to fully fund education at current biennium level.

We urge you to support the efforts Texas Senate has made to finance public education by actively sourcing new revenues. Education is the most important investment the great state of Texas will ever make, now and forever.

Sincerely,

The Voters of Texas

Click here to sign the petition.

Monday, April 25, 2011

The GOP Bait And Switch On Social Security And Medicare

The Republican Party endorsed Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) sharply conservative 2012 budget bill when all but four Republicans in the U.S. House voted for and passed the bill before the Easter recess.

Breaking a promise Republicans made during the 2010 mid-term election to "protect Social Security and Medicare" Ryan's budget bill deeply cuts Medicare funding and replaces with a private insurance premium voucher program.

(DCCC Video - Broken Promises left and Constituents Erupt Over House Republicans Voting to End Medicare)

Ryan's Republican budget eliminates Medicare, as it exists today, and guts Medicaid as well as the rest of the government. The budget also gives additional huge tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires plus further big corporate taxpayer handouts to pharma, insurance and petrochemical industries.

The Republican budget explodes deficit spend in the near term and doesn't actually balance revenues and spending until the year 2040.

Collin County's Republican Congressional representatives Sam Johnson, Tx-3rd and Ralph Hall, Tx-4th voted for Ryan's bill.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

The Billionaires' Tea Party


The Billionaires' Tea Party - Trailer
The Tea Party movement has taken American politics by storm.

But is this truly a populist uprising or one of the greatest feats of propaganda ever seen?

Australian filmmaker Taki Oldham sets out answer this question, finding that behind the movement’s rhetoric of ‘freedom’ versus ‘socialism’ lies a highly co-ordinated network of shadow groups, funded by the likes of billionaire ideologues Charles and David Koch. The video is a NEW DOCUMENTARY tracing how the billionaire Koch brothers are funding the TEA Party movement to create a privatized America.

Are the Tea Party protestors really just pawns in a plan to replace government with a privatized corporate government America? Watch the video and decide for yourself.

Friday, April 15, 2011

New TDP Ad On The GOP Price Tag

The Texas Democratic Party released a new video with the following statement: "When it comes to the state budget, Republican politics are running roughshod over Texans’ priorities. Watch our new video and get the Democratic take on what’s most important."

President Obama's Deficit Speech



President Obama's speech, as prepared for delivery:

"What we've been debating here in Washington for the last few weeks will affect your lives in ways that are potentially profound. This debate over budgets and deficits is about more than just numbers on a page, more than just cutting and spending. Its about the kind of future we want. It's about the kind of country we believe in. And that's what I want to talk about today.

"From our first days as a nation, we have put our faith in free markets and free enterprise as the engine of America's wealth and prosperity. More than citizens of any other country, we are rugged individualists, a self-reliant people with a healthy skepticism of too much government.

"But there has always been another thread running throughout our history – a belief that we are all connected; and that there are some things we can only do together, as a nation. We believe, in the words of our first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, that through government, we should do together what we cannot do as well for ourselves. And so we've built a strong military to keep us secure, and public schools and universities to educate our citizens. We've laid down railroads and highways to facilitate travel and commerce. We've supported the work of scientists and researchers whose discoveries have saved lives, unleashed repeated technological revolutions, and led to countless new jobs and entire industries. Each of us has benefited from these investments, and we are a more prosperous country as a result.