However, by Sunday August 14, Obama's three day average approval of the president's job performance had dropped to 39 percent, while 54 percent disapprove.
Both figures are the worst numbers of his presidency.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Obama’s Approval Rating Hits Record Low
President Obama’s job approval rating for the first 10 days of August was 4 percentage points lower than it was in the first week of July, significantly less of a drop than the 19-point decline in Gallup's Economic Confidence Index over the same period.
However, by Sunday August 14, Obama's three day average approval of the president's job performance had dropped to 39 percent, while 54 percent disapprove.
Both figures are the worst numbers of his presidency.
However, by Sunday August 14, Obama's three day average approval of the president's job performance had dropped to 39 percent, while 54 percent disapprove.
Both figures are the worst numbers of his presidency.
Austin Chronicle: The Perry Trap
Governor Rick Perry may be new on the national stage, but he's old news in Austin. Over the two decades of his political career, The Austin Chronicle has charted his rise to power.
The Chronicle collected their most insightful stories about Perry's political career – and it hasn't all been secession talk and laser-sighted pistols. The Chronicle's writers have examined his links to big business and big donors, his indiscriminate use of the death penalty, how he's flirted (or bedded down) with every conservative movement from the Religious Right to the Tea Party, and loads more.
Read about Gov. Perry's accomplishments in The Austin Chronicle.
Krugman: The Texas Unmiracle
By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: August 11, 2011 @ The NYTimes
If [Perry] wins the Republican nomination, his campaign will probably center on a more secular theme: the alleged economic miracle in Texas, which, it’s often asserted, sailed through the Great Recession almost unscathed thanks to conservative economic policies. And Mr. Perry will claim that he can restore prosperity to America by applying the same policies at a national level.So what you need to know is that the Texas miracle is a myth, and more broadly that Texan experience offers no useful lessons on how to restore national full employment.
It’s true that Texas entered recession a bit later than the rest of America, mainly because the state’s still energy-heavy economy was buoyed by high oil prices through the first half of 2008.
Also, Texas was spared the worst of the housing crisis, partly because it turns out to have surprisingly strict [state government] regulation of mortgage lending. (emphasis added)
Despite all that, however, from mid-2008 onward unemployment soared in Texas, just as it did almost everywhere else.
In June 2011, the Texas unemployment rate was 8.2 percent. That was less than unemployment in collapsed-bubble states like California and Florida, but it was slightly higher than the unemployment rate in New York, and significantly higher than the rate in Massachusetts. By the way, one in four Texans lacks health insurance, the highest proportion in the nation, thanks largely to the state’s small-government approach. Meanwhile, Massachusetts has near-universal coverage thanks to health reform very similar to the “job-killing” Affordable Care Act.
So where does the notion of a Texas miracle come from? Mainly from widespread misunderstanding of the economic effects of population growth.
Republican's Want To Repeal Health Insurance Reforms
Updated August 15, 2011 @ 12:37amTexas Gov. Rick Perry (R) thinks Texas should be able to opt out of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
In an interview with the Daily Beast’s Andrew Romano, Perry claims that Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional:
The Constitution says that “the Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes… to provide for the… general Welfare of the United States.” But I noticed that when you quoted this section on page 116, you left “general welfare” out and put an ellipsis in its place. Progressives would say that “general welfare” includes things like Social Security or Medicare—that it gives the government the flexibility to tackle more than just the basic responsibilities laid out explicitly in our founding document. What does “general welfare” mean to you?
[PERRY:] I don’t think our founding fathers when they were putting the term “general welfare” in there were thinking about a federally operated program of pensions nor a federally operated program of health care. What they clearly said was that those were issues that the states need to address. Not the federal government. I stand very clear on that. From my perspective, the states could substantially better operate those programs if that’s what those states decided to do.
So in your view those things fall outside of general welfare. But what falls inside of it? What did the Founders mean by “general welfare”?
[PERRY:] I don’t know if I’m going to sit here and parse down to what the Founding Fathers thought general welfare meant.
But you just said what you thought they didn’t mean by general welfare. So isn’t it fair to ask what they did mean? It’s in the Constitution.
[Silence.]
The Constitution gives Congress the power to “to lay and collect taxes” and to “provide for the…general welfare of the United States.” No plausible interpretation of the words “general welfare” does not include programs that ensure that all Americans can live their entire lives secure in the understanding that retirement will not force them into poverty and untreated sickness.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted 245 to 189 Wednesday to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 passed by the last Congress and signed into law by President Obama less than one year ago.
Three blue dog Democrats joined the 242 Republicans in voting to repeal health care reform -- Rep. Boren (Oklahoma), Rep. McIntyre (North Carolina) and Rep. Ross (Arkansas).
Before the final vote, Rep. Rob Andrews (D-New Jersey) proposed that the bill be amended to not go into effect until a majority of Congress gave up their taxpayer paid health insurance ($700 a month of which is paid by American taxpayers). Eight Republicans have already done this, but the other 234 Republicans have decided to keep their taxpayer paid health insurance.
Original Post Tuesday January 18, 2011 @ 9:59am
A government study released today shows that up to 50 percent of Americans under age 65 have some type of preexisting health condition. The study predicts that 30 percent of currently healthy Americans will likely develop a preexisting condition over the next eight years.
Under the Affordable Care Act of 2010 -- the president's signature health care reform legislation -- policies set to be in place by 2014, these 129 million Americans can receive health coverage despite their previous conditions; if the new law is repealed, millions could risk losing health care or being forced to pay more.
An estimated twenty-seven percent of working-age Texans, or more than 6.1 million people living in Texas, were uninsured in 2010. That's the highest rate in the nation and the second-highest number to California's 7 million people. Under Medicaid expansion provisions of the act, an estimated 2.5 million additional Texans would qualify for health insurance.
But Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has been a staunch opponent of health care reform and his administration has indicated a willingness to opt out of the Medicaid expansion. For Texas hospitals, which absorbed $4.6 billion in unpaid bills and charity care in 2010, that's a problem, Hawkins said.
 cagle.com |
The AP today delivered an awkward fact-check that effectively dismantles the GOP's central argument against the the Affordable Care legislation kills jobs.
The Republican repeal bill, if passed by the Sentate and signed by Pres. Obama, would add roughly $230 billion to the deficit by 2021 and leave about 54 million non-elderly Americans uninsured by 2019, according to CBO projections.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Texas Voter Photo ID Law Doesn't Include Veterans' Photo ID
Texas Republicans have made it harder for young, homeless and traumatized veterans to vote.
MySanAntonio: The new Texas voter photo ID law does not list veterans' identification cards as one of the government issued photo IDs allowed to cast a vote in Texas.
Ann McGeehan, director of the Secretary of State's elections division, said last week at a seminar in Austin that photo ID cards issued by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are not acceptable forms of military ID to vote, according to a recording provided by the Texas Democratic Party.
Jordy Keith, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state, backpedaled Friday on that determination.
Veteran Suicide Rate Hits New High
After eight deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and a facing a ninth deployment back to Afghanistan, army ranger Staff Sgt. Jared Hagemann kills himself. 'No way' that God would forgive him for what he'd seen, done, he told wife.
KOMO News:A soldier's widow says a fellow Army Rangers wouldn't do anything to help him before he took his own life - after eight deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Army found Staff Sgt. Jared Hagemann's body at a training area of Joint Base Lewis McChord a few weeks ago.
A spokesman for the base tells KOMO News that the nature of the death is still undetermined. But Staff Sgt. Hagemann's widow says her husband took his own life - and it didn't need to happen. "It was just horrible. And he would just cry," says Ashley Hagemann.
More U.S. soldiers and veterans have died from suicide than from combat wounds over the past two years. The U.S. Army suffered a record 32 suicides in July, the most since it began releasing monthly figures in 2009. That number includes 22 active duty soldiers and 10 reservists. Over the first seven months of 2011, about 160 active-duty and reserve soldiers have committed suicide, which is about on par with the number of troops taking their own lives during the same months in 2009 and 2010.
Since the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, more than 1,100 soldiers have taken their own lives, with the numbers escalating each year for the last six years. Last year alone, 301 soldiers committed suicide -- a new record.
New statistics from the VA show that veterans make up 20 percent of the 30,000 suicides in the United States each year. In 2010, more than 134,000 people made calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Of those callers, 61 percent identified themselves as veterans.
Current TV To Become A 24-Hour Liberal News Network
Current TV president David Bohrman says Current TV owners Al Gore and Joel Hyatt wants to transform his channel into a 24-hour liberal news network.
“Al Gore and Joel Hyatt got the brilliant idea to go and try to hire Keith [Olbermann],” Bohrman told CNN’s Howard Kurtz Sunday. “They did, and discovered lightning.”
“And all of a sudden, they realized that that was going to be the destiny of what the network is,” he added. “And so they hired me to completely transform the network from a bunch of taped documentaries that have been cycling through the day, to a live news analysis, discussion television network that’s going hopefully 24 hours a day, talking about the events of the day and finding other people with something to say like Keith.”
“But with Olbermann not only as the host of Countdown, but the chief news officer of Current, is this going to be an all-liberal network?” Kurtz asked.
“I think it will provide a fair amount of time for liberal viewpoints to be made. It’s not going to be exclusively liberal viewpoints, and we’re going to try not to hide behind the word ‘progressive,’ that I think so many liberals do, and then the people on the right, the conservative world, scoff at,” Bohrman explained.
Gov. Perry's Miracle - All Hat, No Cattle?
Texas Governor Rick Perry is some sort of economic genius, according to Rick Perry, but it’s worth taking a closer examination at his record as governor.
On issues across the board, from Perry’s support for ending Social Security and Medicaid to Texas' pollution record to low tax job creation and his proposal that Texas secede from the United States, the Republican governor has amassed a record of far-right political positions.
Texas, economists note, has long been a low-tax, loose-regulation state, but it hasn’t always thrived—between 2008 and 2010, after the U.S. economy collapsed, the state’s unemployment rose faster than in high-tax Massachusetts.
The Texas’s unemployment rate, remains over 8 percent, ranked twenty-fourth in the country for unemployment, slightly worse than liberal New York’s. What’s more, not all of those vaunted jobs are great jobs: Texas has the highest percentage of minimum-wage workers in the country, and its per-capita income still sits below California’s.What is clear is that Texas’s population has been exploding, leading to disproportionate job growth. In the past decade, the state added more people than anywhere else, partly due to fast-growing Hispanic families, but due also to migration from other states. So why are people flocking to Texas?
It could be the state’s lower taxes, though that probably isn’t a big driver: As Brad DeLong of University of California, Berkeley, has noted, Texans pay, on average, 26 percent of their income in taxes, not much lower than the 28.5 percent average in California.
Krugman: The Hijacked Crisis
By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: August 11, 2011 @ The NYTimes
Has market turmoil left you feeling afraid? Well, it should. Clearly, the economic crisis that began in 2008 is by no means over.
But there’s another emotion you should feel: anger. For what we’re seeing now is what happens when influential people exploit a crisis rather than try to solve it.
For more than a year and a half — ever since President Obama chose to make deficits, not jobs, the central focus of the 2010 State of the Union address — we’ve had a public conversation that has been dominated by budget concerns, while almost ignoring unemployment. The supposedly urgent need to reduce deficits has so dominated the discourse that on Monday, in the midst of a market panic, Mr. Obama devoted most of his remarks to the deficit rather than to the clear and present danger of renewed recession.
What made this so bizarre was the fact that markets were signaling, as clearly as anyone could ask, that unemployment rather than deficits is our biggest problem. Bear in mind that deficit hawks have been warning for years that interest rates on U.S. government debt would soar any day now; the threat from the bond market was supposed to be the reason that we must slash the deficit now now now. But that threat keeps not materializing. And, this week, on the heels of a downgrade that was supposed to scare bond investors, those interest rates actually plunged to record lows.
Consequences Of Republican Priorities
Jackie Calmes offers about the closest a newspaper reporter can come to telling the truth about the consequences of congressional Republican priorities in her NYTimes article:
The boasts of Congressional Republicans about their cost-cutting victories are ringing hollow to some well-known economists, financial analysts and corporate leaders, including some Republicans, who are expressing increasing alarm over Washington’s new austerity and anti-tax orthodoxy. Their critiques have grown sharper since, President Obama signed deficit reduction legislation, in which House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he got "98 percent" of what he wanted in the final deal to raise the debt ceiling, and after Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit rating of the United States.
But even before that, macroeconomists and private sector forecasters were warning that the direction in which the new House Republican majority had pushed the White House and Congress this year — for immediate spending cuts, no further stimulus measures and no tax increases, ever — was wrong for addressing the nation’s two main ills, a weak economy now and projections of unsustainably high federal debt in coming years.
Instead, these critics say, Washington should be focusing on stimulating the economy in the near term to induce people to spend money and create jobs, while settling on a long-term plan for spending cuts and tax increases to take effect only after the economy recovers.
But Republicans in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail refuse to back down.
Read the rest of Calmes article in the the NYTimes.
History's Lessons
Government spending accounts for about 20% of GDP in a given year, so curtailing government spending will detract from GDP growth, other things being equal. This is one reason why financial markets are nervous—much of the developed world is experiencing at best modest economic growth.
And yet, the U.S. and many European countries are launching into spending cuts and austerity programs aimed at reining in their debts. While this is desirable from the point of view of long-term economic health, austerity measures that curtail government spending will, by definition, detract from short-term GDP growth. Investors worry that this hit to growth is occurring at a time when the global economy is already weak and could tip us back into recession.
Indeed, University of California Berkeley economist Christina Romer, who was the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors and a co-author of the Obama stimulus plan, once famously listed six lessons of the Great Depression for policymakers. One of these was “Beware cutting back stimulus too soon.” It is this dictum that the markets fear the government is violating with its newfound focus on austerity measures and fiscal discipline.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, an expert on the Great Depression, once promised that the central bank would never repeat its 1937 mistake of rushing to tighten monetary policy too soon and prolonging an economic slump.
"Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again," Bernanke said back in 2002 at a conference honoring legendary economist Milton Friedman's 90th birthday.
He has been true to his word, keeping interest rates near zero since late 2008, but cuting government spending may end up having a 1937-type chilling effect on the economy, and there is little Bernanke can do to counter that.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Perry Announces Presidential Bid - Bachmann Wins Iowa Straw Poll
Introduced as the "jobs governor," Rick Perry threw his hat into the presidential ring with an economy-focused speech at the RedState convention in South Carolina.
"It is time to get America working again," he said. "That's why, with the support of my family, and an unwavering belief in the goodness of America, I declare to you today my candidacy for President of the United States."
Elsewhere, Michele Bachmann has prevailed in the Ames straw poll, an early though not necessarily determinative assessment of each campaign's organizational abilities. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul came in second place. Here's a breakdown of the results:
Rick Perry Says Social Security And Medicare Are Unconstitutional
He thinks Texas should be able to opt out of Social Security, and he believes that everything from federal public school programs to clean air laws are unconstitutional.
Yet in an interview with the Daily Beast’s Andrew Romano, Perry makes his most outlandish claim to date — Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional:
The Texas Franchise Tax Cost-Recovery Fee Is Not A Tax
With the exception of sole proprietorship businesses, just about all types of companies doing business in Texas must pay a franchise tax. While commonly referred to as the “margin” tax, the formal name of Texas’ business tax is still the Texas Franchise Tax—a tax that Texas has levied in some form since the 1800s. The tax is typically assessed in return for the “privilege” of doing business in a state, similar to a fee (in fact, the U.S. Bureau of the Census in its recap of state finances classifies Texas’ franchise tax as a fee). As a part of its privilege, the owners of the business receive liability protections under state law—the business is a legal entity separate and apart from them.
Throughout most of the 20th Century, the franchise tax was calculated based on each corporation’s net taxable capital—total assets less debt. With the advent of modern accounting principles, the state’s definition of “debt” came under fire in the courts resulting in huge amounts of tax refunds in the 1980s. In 1991, the tax was rewritten to apply to “earned surplus”—essentially defined as corporate profits plus compensation paid to officers and directors. The taxable capital calculation was retained, but for all intents and purposes was relegated to being an alternative minimum tax.
In 2006, lawmakers enacted a sweeping overhaul of the franchise tax as part of their plan to change the way the state funds public school districts. School maintenance and operations property taxes were reduced, while the state’s franchise tax was revamped to replace those direct school property tax revenues. The state also contributed dollars from "excess" general revenues so the overall reforms appeared to be a net property tax cut, but property taxes soon returned to their upward trend. The franchise tax reform was in fact a massive tax cut for corporations doing business in Texas.
In addition to still paying higher property taxes, in the long run, businesses also pass their franchise tax cost on to their Texas customers.
Time Warner Cable is notifying its North Texas customers in monthly statements that a state Cost-Recovery Fee is being added to their monthly billing statements:
Throughout most of the 20th Century, the franchise tax was calculated based on each corporation’s net taxable capital—total assets less debt. With the advent of modern accounting principles, the state’s definition of “debt” came under fire in the courts resulting in huge amounts of tax refunds in the 1980s. In 1991, the tax was rewritten to apply to “earned surplus”—essentially defined as corporate profits plus compensation paid to officers and directors. The taxable capital calculation was retained, but for all intents and purposes was relegated to being an alternative minimum tax.
In 2006, lawmakers enacted a sweeping overhaul of the franchise tax as part of their plan to change the way the state funds public school districts. School maintenance and operations property taxes were reduced, while the state’s franchise tax was revamped to replace those direct school property tax revenues. The state also contributed dollars from "excess" general revenues so the overall reforms appeared to be a net property tax cut, but property taxes soon returned to their upward trend. The franchise tax reform was in fact a massive tax cut for corporations doing business in Texas.
In addition to still paying higher property taxes, in the long run, businesses also pass their franchise tax cost on to their Texas customers.
Time Warner Cable is notifying its North Texas customers in monthly statements that a state Cost-Recovery Fee is being added to their monthly billing statements:
Notice on the TWC website: "Effective Friday, August 19, 2011, Time Warner Cable will begin collecting a new fee called State Cost-Recovery Fee to recover a portion of the costs imposed by the State of Texas on the company.According to a State of Texas Comptroller notice, Texas businesses may charge customers a cost-recovery" fee in order to recoup the Texas franchise tax the State of Texas collects from businesses owners. While businesses who charge customers a Cost-Recovery fee must be careful to use specific "recovery fee" wording, so as to not imply the charge is a direct state tax on consumers, they are, in effect, passing along the Texas franchise tax the state collects from them.
The State Cost-Recovery Fee is not a tax. While TWC is not required to recover these costs by law, we are allowed to recover them as a cost of doing business.
Texas Raids Fund For The Poor To Cut Taxes For The Rich
We have a little break from the heat in north central Texas today, but over the past two months the temperature hit triple-digits 41 times in 42 days. We will likely see some more triple-digit temperature days before this Texas summer ends.
CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reports Texas has a fund to help the poor pay their electricity bills. But somewhere between the fund and the people who need it, the money hit a short circuit.
In scorching Dallas, overheated seniors sought relief at an air conditioned Catholic charities center. Mary Ann Torres was also looking for financial relief. She can't afford to power the two window air conditioners that struggle to keep her house bearable.
"I don't think we've ever had it this hot before," Torres says. On a fixed monthly income of $791 her electric bill can top $200.
Texas utility customers pay a little extra on their bills that is supposed to go into a fund to help the poor cover their own utility payments. But in a year of record heat, less than half the fund is being paid out, forcing people to do without air conditioning in triple-digit temperatures.
CBS News - August 12, 2011.
CBS reports that Texas legislators, eager to avoid a tax increase, approved setting aside the Lite-Up Texas money to balance the state's checkbook during the 2011 legislative session. This isn't the first time.
The legislature has repeatedly approved raiding the fund in order to balance its budget without raising taxes.
By 2013, there will be $900 million sitting unspent, with no plans to ever pay it out.
And not only are the poor being shortchanged, but members of the middle class who pay utility bills are being charged that extra fee which does nothing but subsidize keeping taxes low on the wealthy. It's a crisis with life and death consequences. Last month an 81-year-old man was found dead in his hot home - his air conditioner turned off. Relatives say he couldn't afford his electric bill.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Democrats Not Eager For An Obama Challenger
There has been little change in Democrats’ views about whether Obama should face a nomination challenge since last fall. In November, shortly after the midterm election, 38% of Democrats and Democratic leaners favored a primary challenge to Obama while 59% were opposed.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Texas Ag Commissioner "Pray for Rain"
(TX KERA Bill Zeeble 1 day ago) - 
Agriculture Commissioner Staples says the state's worst single-year drought and hottest July ever, combined with one of the state's worst wildfire seasons in history, has been catastrophic to farmers and ranchers.
Staples: We've had enough acreage burn that it is equivalent to Delaware, Rhode Island, Washington, D.C. and one-third of Connecticut combined. Make no mistake, this drought has driven farming and ranching families out of business. It has decimated some of their livelihoods. With each passing day without rain, it's having a greater toll on Texas farming and ranching communities.
Full Article at KERA
Texas is in its worst-ever one-year drought, according to John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas State Climatologist and professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University.
Central Texas has been in a drought since 1995-1996, with only brief respites in 2007 and 2010 from catastrophic, flooding rains. The 2011 record breaking heat wave and lack of rainfall is baking Texas desert dry, but 2011 is just a taste of Texas’ future.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Al Gore Calls ‘BS’ On ‘Crap’ Peddled By Climate Denial Machine
In a speech last week, Vice President Al Gore passionately excoriated climate skeptic propaganda of the conservative messaging machine, which is willingly forwarded by the American main stream media as, "bull shit!"
A study published in Nature [and ScienceDaily] says a gradual increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) over the last half-century has accelerated the release of methane and nitrous oxide in the soil. These gases are respectively 25 and 300 times more effective at trapping radiation than CO2, the principal greenhouse gas by volume.
"This feedback to our changing atmosphere means that nature is not as efficient in slowing global warming as we previously thought," said Kees Jan van Groenigen, a professor at Trinity College Dublin and the paper's lead author.The soil and the ocean are being weakened as buffers against global warming, in a vicious circle with long-term implications for the climate system, say two new investigations.
In Aspen, Gore calls "BS" on climate skeptics. Former Vice President Al Gore attended a forum on world poverty at the Aspen Institute this week. On Thursday, he dropped by a communications and media seminar, expressing outrage at how the issue of climate change has been manipulated. KDNK's Brent Gardner-Smith reports. Warning: audio contains explicit language.
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore plans to hit the climate crisis hard with a day of organized global action on Sept. 14. Gore announced his “Climate Reality Project” in this video. The day
of action aims to use 24 speakers to broadcast 24 straight hours of climate activism, encouraging others to get up and undertake climate mitigation efforts as well.
But a few professional climate skeptics affiliated with conservative think tanks, partially to largely funded by fossil energy corporation executives such as Charles and David Koch, publish pseudo-science articles and papers refuting the work of the many thousands of worldwide climate scientists like Kees Jan van Groenigen.
Even though those professional climate skeptics are lawyers, political strategists, or people from professional disciplines unrelated to climate science, the mainstream media reports on their pseudo-science articles and papers as legitimate science.
This reporting of junk science has caused Americans to doubt the research findings of legitimate climate scientists. (see Conservative Think Tank Trys Climate Skeptic Damage Control)
Appearing at the Aspen Institute’s Forum on Communications and Society, Gore described the story told in Merchants of Doubt, how corporate interests have manipulated scientific institutions and the news media to defend everything from cigarettes and acid rain to global warming pollution.Texas - Hottest Ever Summer, Drought Worse Than 1930's Dust Bowl
Texas is the second-largest agricultural state in the United States, accounting for about 7 percent of the total U.S. agricultural income, with an economic impact of about $100 billion on the Texas economy.
Agriculture is the second-largest resource-based industry in Texas employing one out of every seven working Texans and producing about 9 percent of the state's gross product.
But in 2011 the record breaking heat wave and lack of rainfall is baking Texas dry, leaving the nation’s second largest agricultural producer with catastrophically reduced crop and livestock yields.
This will further impact the state's already struggling economy, likely increasing unemployment in the coming months and further reducing revenue the state needs to fund government and public education. The drought is also damaging Texas' infrastructure, which could cost billions of dollars the state does not have to repair.
Monday, August 8, 2011
S&P Does Not Believe The Bush Tax Cuts Will Expire In 2012
Rep. Allen West (R-FL), a favorite among tea party Republicans, insisted Monday during an appearance on the conservative Fox News Channel that a refusal to increase government revenues through taxes had "nothing" to do with Standard & Poor's dropping America's credit rating last week. Many other conservatives are making the same claim running from responsibility to for S&P's downgrade and the world wide market turmoil it wrought on Monday.
Those claims are patently false, according to S&P's own press release announcing the ratings drop. A line in S&P's full report, wherein it downgraded the sovereign debt of the US from AAA to AA+, states:
"Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act."
First, it's correct that that the GOP is rigidly anti-revenue, and would resist any measure that would raise revenue. Second, S&P notes, the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts cuts are due to expire, meaning no measure is needed to get rid of them. They'll just go away unless congress votes to renew the cuts. They clearly conclude that Republicans will once again roll Democrats into accepting a continuation of the Bush tax cuts - like the did last December.
This chart comes from Barrie McKenna’s great article on US tax rates, and pretty much speaks for itself. While the rest of the developed world has seen its tax rate rise as it got richer, the US stands out as the one country where tax rates have been going down. In the OECD, only Chile and Mexico have lower tax burdens, and neither of them have been decreasing: both have relied very much on state-owned commodity wealth to stand in for tax revenue.
An Attempt to Increase Election Turnout Could Cut It Instead
Texas Trib: In an effort to make it easier for military and overseas voters to take part in elections, lawmakers may have killed turnout in primary election runoffs in Texas and increased the electoral power of organized groups like the Tea Party.
Next year’s primary elections will be held nine weeks after the first of the year, which is to say that campaigning will start in earnest immediately after the holidays and Texas voters will head to the ballot box two months later.
Nothing new there — it has been that way for years. The change comes in the runoffs. Federal lawmakers stretched the timelines for elections to allow voters overseas and in the military more time to request ballots, to vote and to mail in their selections. Earlier this year, Texas legislators extended the election calendar to meet federal law.
One change is that candidates have to file for office earlier, by Dec. 12 instead of the first week of the new year. Another is that primary election runoffs, which historically come about five weeks after primary elections, will now fall much later. Instead of returning to the polls in April to finish off the remaining candidates, voters will wait until late May. The 2012 primaries will be held on March 6. The runoffs will be held 11 weeks later, on May 22.
Full Story
2012 Election Calendar
Last updated March 29, 2012 - Important 2012 Election Dates and Voter ID Information. Verify all dates at the Texas Secretary of State Website
On March 1, the San Antonio U.S. District Court three-judge panel, which controls the state's interim redistricting maps and 2012 primary election schedule, issued an order that allows the Texas Democratic Party and Republican Party of Texas to hold their respective County/Senatorial District (SD) Conventions in April - before the Texas Primary Election that is now scheduled to occur on May 29.In normal primary election years the state Democratic and Republican Parties conduct their respective SD/County conventions three weeks after primary election day and election precinct conventions, held immediately after the primary election.
Election precinct conventions normally kick off the three stage convention process by electing precinct delegates to attend the SD/County conventions. Delegates are then elected from the SD/County conventions to advance to each party's state conventions, which are held in early June. In presidential election years delegates from each party's state convention are selected to advance to the National Conventions to nominate each party's presidential candidates.
This year, drawn out court battles over the new redistricting maps have pushed Primary Election Day from its usual first Tuesday in March date to Tuesday May 29. Early voting for the May 29th Primary Election will run from Monday, May 14, 2012 to Friday, May 25, 2012 at the usual early polling locations around Collin Co.
Since the Democratic and Republican Parties were already locked into holding their respective state conventions the weekend of June 9 - just over one week after the rescheduled primary date - they asked the San Antonio three-judge panel to issue an order allowing them to hold their respective County/Senatorial District Conventions around the state on Saturday April 21, 2012 - five weeks before the rescheduled Democratic Primary Election Day of Tuesday May 29, 2012.
This year, the Texas Democratic Party convention and delegate selection process will skip preliminary Election Precinct Conventions and begin with County/Senatorial District Conventions on Saturday April 21, 2012.
May 29, 2012 - Primary Election
| Federal Court Order of December 16, 2011 (PDF) | |
| Authority conducting elections | Political Party County Chairs |
| First Day to File for Place on Ballot | First Day of “second time period”: March 2, 2012 (Mar. 1, 2012 court order) |
| Last Day to File for Place on Ballot | Last Day of “second time period”: March 9, 2012, 6:00 p.m. (Mar. 1, 2012 court order, offices other than precinct chair) |
| First Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail (does not apply to FPCA) | March 30, 2012 (Mar. 1, 2012 court order preserves certain previous filings) |
| Last Day to Register to Vote | April 30, 2012 (Monday, which is next business day after statutory deadline) |
| First Day of Early Voting | May 14, 2012 |
| Last Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail (Received, not Postmarked) | May 22, 2012 |
| Last Day of Early Voting | May 25, 2012 |
| Primary Election Date | May 29, 2012 |
July 31, 2012 - Primary Runoff Election
| Federal Court Order of December 16, 2011 (PDF) | |
| Authority conducting elections | Political Party County Chairs |
| First Day to File for Place on Ballot For Precinct Chair | First Day of “second time period”: March 2, 2012 (Mar. 1, 2012 court order, offices other than precinct chair) |
| Last Day to File for Place on Ballot For Precinct Chair Pursuant to US District Court Order Number: case 5:11-cv-00788-OLG-JES-XR filed March 19, 2012, filing will reopen for Precinct Chairs only to file, amend or withdraw for a place on the 2012 Democratic Primary Run-Off Election Ballot to be held on July 31, 2012 and will close at 6 pm on June 1st, 2012. | Last Day of “second time period” for precinct chairs: June 1, 2012, 6:00 p.m. (Mar. 19, 2012 court order) |
| First Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail (does not apply to FPCA) | June 1, 2012 (if did not request runoff ballot on application for primary ballot) |
| Deadline for county chairs to forward to elections administrators a list of candidates in each precinct seeking the office of precinct chair, in order of filing. | June 4, 2012 |
| Last Day to Register to Vote | July 2, 2012 (Monday, which is next business day after statutory deadline) |
| First Day of Early Voting | July 23, 2012 |
| Last Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail (Received, not Postmarked) | July 24, 2012 (Received, not Postmarked) |
| Last Day of Early Voting | July 27, 2012 |
| Primary Runoff Election Date | July 31, 2012 |
May 12, 2012 – Limited Local Election Uniform Election Date
| NEW LAW: Some Jurisdictions Have Revised Their Local Election Schedule To Hold Elections Only On Odd Numbered Years And No Longer Hold A Local Election On Even Numbered Primary Years Because Primary Runoff Elections Were Moved From Early April To The Fourth Tuesday in May. See Election Notes Below. | |
| Authority conducting elections | *Local political subdivisions other than counties |
| (NEW LAW: County-ordered elections may not be held on this date. County Election Officials may but is not required to contract to provide election services to political subdivisions.) | |
| First Day to File for Place on General Election Ballot (for cities and schools ONLY) (filing deadline for other political subdivisions may vary)** | February 4, 2012 (Even though the first day to file falls on a Saturday, this does not require the filing authority to hold weekend office hours to receive candidate applications.) |
| Last Day to File for Place on Ballot, if regular filing deadline** | March 5, 2012 (NEW LAW: 71st day before election day; falls on state holiday March 2, 2012; moves to Monday, next business day) ***March 16, 2012 (see note below relating to four-year terms) |
| Last Day to Order General Election (or Special Election on a Measure)** | March 5, 2012 (NEW LAW: 71st day before election day; falls on state holiday March 2, 2012; moves to Monday, next business day) |
| First Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail | March 13, 2012 |
| Last Day to Register to Vote | April 12, 2012 |
| First Day of Early Voting | April 30, 2012 |
| Last Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail (Received, not Postmarked) | May 4, 2012 (Friday, preceding business day) |
| Last Day of Early Voting | May 8, 2012 |
| Election Date | May 12, 2012 |
County & Precinct Chairs New Term of Office Begins
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| |
| Authority | *Political Party County Chairs |
| County & Precinct Chair New Term of Office Begins (2012-2014) | In 2012, due to redistricting, the normal process has been altered. Some counties have chosen to elect their precinct chairs at the county convention on April 21. Others will elect their precinct chairs on the ballot at the July 31 runoff election. The term of office for a precinct chair is two years, beginning on the 20th day following the July 31, 2012 Primary runoff election. The County Executive Committee fills vacancies for unexpired terms. |
June 8-9, 2012 - TDP State Convention
| Authority | *State Political Party |
| Texas Democratic Party State Convention (Houston-George R. Brown Convention Center) | June 8-9, 2012 |
| How to be a delegate at the 2012 Texas Democratic Party State Convention - click here Texas Democratic Party Delegate Selection Plan - click here |
September 3-6, 2012 - DNC National Convention
| Authority | *National Political Party |
| DNC National Convention (Charlotte, NC) | September 3-6, 2012 |
November 6, 2012 - Uniform Election Date
| Authority conducting elections | County Clerk/Elections Administrator/ *Local political subdivisions |
| County Party Chairs submit list of presiding election and alternate judges to election authority for appointment (Nov. General Election - early voting and election day) | June 29, 2012 County chair may supplement the list of names until the 20th day before a general election - (Secs. 32.002(a)(1), (c); 127.005(e) - Sec. 87.002(c), (d)) |
| First Day to File for Place on General Election Ballot (for cities and schools ONLY) (filing deadline for other political subdivisions may vary)** | July 21, 2012 (Even though the first day to file falls on a Saturday, this does not require the filing authority to hold weekend office hours to receive candidate applications.) |
| Last Day to Order General Election (or Special Election)** | August 20, 2012 |
| Last Day to File for Place on General Election Ballot (for local political subdivisions ONLY)** | August 20, 2012 |
| First Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail (does not apply to FPCA) | September 7, 2012 |
| Last Day to Register to Vote | October 9, 2012 (Tuesday, next business day after Columbus Day) |
| First Day of Early Voting | October 22, 2012 (Monday, next business day) |
| Last Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail (Received, not Postmarked) | October 30, 2012 |
| Last Day of Early Voting | November 2, 2012 |
**Filing deadlines:
- Generally, the filing deadline is the 71st day prior to Election Day (78th day prior to November General Election in even-numbered years); however, the Election Code may provide a different special election filing deadline. See Section 201.054 of the Texas Election Code.
- Local political subdivisions, other than cities or school districts, might not have a "first day" to file. Write-in deadlines for general and special elections also vary, but the deadline is usually on the 5th day after the regular filing deadline for the election.
** If no candidate for a four-year term has filed an application for a place on the ballot for a city office, the filing deadline for that office is extended to 5 p.m. of the 57th day before the election. See Section 143.008 of the Texas Election Code.
| Information Sources and Forms | |
| Texas Secretary of State (SOS) | sos.state.tx.us/elections |
| SOS Candidate Information | sos.state.tx.us/elections/candidates/index.shtml |
| SOS Form: Petition in Lieu of a Filing Fee and/or Petition for Judicial Office (for use in a primary election) | sos.state.tx.us/elections/forms/pol-sub/2-3f.pdf |
| All SOS Election Forms | sos.state.tx.us/elections/forms/index.shtml |
| Texas Ethics Commission Campaign-Related Forms and Filing Requirements | ethics.state.tx.us/main/forms.htm |
| Texas Democratic Party Candidates Resources | txdemocrats.org/resources/candidate-resources/ |
| List of key Texas election dates | txredistricting.org/post/18567224737/list-of-key-texas-election-dates |
Election notes on the 2011 Texas Legislative Session
The 2011 Texas Legislative Session revised the Texas Election Calendar, to comply with the federal Move Act, with the passage of SB100. SB100 requires ballots to be mailed or emailed to military and overseas voters no later than the 45th day before the election. To satisfy this requirement all Primary Election candidate filing dates were move back to start in early November and end in early December. Previously the filing period had been during the calendar month of December to the first business day of January. The "45 day" requirement also shifts the Primary Runoff Election date from early April to the Fourth Tuesday in May -- May 22 for the 2012 election cycle. The "45 day" requirement applies to:
- All elections in which a federal office appears on the ballot;
- Elections to fill a vacancy in the state legislature, unless the election is an emergency or expedited; and
- An election held jointly with an election described in (1) or (2).
The new primary Run off Election date impacts Cities and School Districts, which historically held their elections in May of even numbered years. SB 100 gives cities and school districts the option of moving their non-partisan elections to November of odd or even years, or to May of odd years.
Cities and School districts who chose to continue to hold their elections in May of even numbered years, likely will be forced to find alternate vendors to conduct their election. Many local jurisdictions rely on their County's Election Office to supply voting equipment and staff to run their election. County Election Administrators may no longer able to turn around election equipment quickly enough, if a Primary Runoff Election is scheduled. Cities and school boards are assessing the feasibility of conducting their own elections without contracting with the county election office to supply election equipment and staff verses moving their elections to the November uniform general election date. Counties in Texas already conduct Elections each and every November. Conducting a Joint Election in November could save the taxpayers some money.
Election Advisory No. 2011-09
| To: | All County, City, School District, and Other Political Subdivision Election Officials |
| From: | Ann McGeehan, Director of Elections |
| Date: | June 24, 2011 |
| RE: | Legislative Implementation of the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act and the Impact on the Texas Election Calendar |
To comply with the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE), the Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 100 (SB 100) in the 82nd Regular Session. This Advisory is intended to provide a basic summary and notice of the impact on the 2012 election calendar. SB 100 does not apply to the November 8, 2011 election. Our office will soon provide more detailed information concerning all the new requirements.
As required by MOVE, SB 100 enhances the voting process for military and overseas voters who may encounter obstacles and time delays with the standard vote by mail process. SB 100 requires ballots to be mailed or emailed to military and overseas voters no later than the 45th day before the election. This requirement applies to:
- All elections in which a federal office appears on the ballot;
- Elections to fill a vacancy in the state legislature, unless the election is an emergency or expedited; and
- An election held jointly with an election described in (1) or (2).
In addition, SB 100 provides that a Federal Postcard Application is effective for a single calendar year instead of the previous effective period of two federal general elections.
The mandate to mail ballots 45 days before an election has a significant impact on the entire election calendar. For example, although primary elections will continue to be the first Tuesday in March, runoff primary elections are moved from the second Tuesday in April to the fourth Tuesday in May.
SB 100 also affects the May uniform election date which now falls between the March primary and the May primary runoff. Early voting for the primary runoff begins two days after the May uniform election date. SB 100 limits the May uniform election date in even-numbered years to only non-county elections. The May uniform election date in odd-numbered years is unaffected.
The deadlines to order elections and the deadlines to file an application for place on the ballot are also adjusted. Below is a summary of the new 2012 election dates and deadlines:
| Deadline to file an application for place on the primary ballot | December 12, 2011 |
| Deadline to conduct primary ballot drawing | December 20, 2011 |
| Deadline to mail ballots to MOVE voters for primary | January 21, 2012 |
| Primary Early Voting Period | February 21-March 2, 2012 |
| Deadline to file an application for place on the May ballot | March 5, 2012 |
| PRIMARY ELECTION DAY | March 6, 2012 |
| Deadline to mail ballots to MOVE voters for runoff | April 7, 2012 |
| May uniform election day early voting period | April 30 – May 8, 2012 |
| MAY UNIFORM ELECTION DAY (Limited) | May 12, 2012 |
| Primary Runoff Early Voting Period | May 14 – 18, 2012 |
| PRIMARY Runoff Election Day | May 22, 2012 |
Cities, schools or other political subdivisions that hold a general election in May of even-numbered years are urged to contact their county election officials soon to determine if county election officials will be able to contract to either conduct the election or lease voting equipment in May of even-numbered years. County election officials are not required to contract to conduct elections in May of even-numbered years. Similarly, counties are not required to lease voting equipment if doing so jeopardizes the equipment’s availability for county elections.
SB 100 does not require a political subdivision to change its general election date but it does allow a political subdivision to change to the November uniform election date or to May of an odd-numbered year. Consistent with legislative intent, the Office of the Secretary of State will likely adopt an administrative rule clarifying that a political subdivision may move its general election date from May of an even-numbered year to May of an odd-numbered year.
In addition, SB 100 contains the following provisions to facilitate a change in election date and/or a change to the term of office:
- A home rule city may pass a resolution to change the general election date or to provide for the election of all members of the governing body at the same election. The resolution supersedes any charter provision to the contrary.
- A school board may adopt a resolution no later than December 31, 2011 that changes the length of trustees’ terms. The resolution must provide for staggered terms of either three or four years, and the transition must begin with the first regular election occurring after January 1, 2012.
- A general law municipality whose governing body serves one or three year terms or staggered terms may adopt a resolution no later than December 31, 2012, changing the length of term to two years or providing for the election of all members of the governing body at the same election.
- Any political subdivision that elects the members of its governing body to a term that consists of odd-numbered years may adopt a resolution no later than December 31, 2012, changing the length of the term to an even number of years.
While more detailed information is forthcoming, we wanted to alert you to the election calendar changes so that you can begin to assess the impact on your election calendar. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact the Elections Division at 1-800-252-VOTE (8683).
Texas' new (SB14) Voter Photo ID requirement not yet in effect Pending U.S. Dept. of Justice and U.S. District Court action
| To: | All County, City, School District, and Other Political Subdivision Election Officials |
| From: | Ann McGeehan, Director of Elections |
| Date: | June 24, 2011 |
| RE: | New photo voter identification requirements – SB 14 |
The Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 14, creating a new photo voter identification requirement for voter qualification in all elections in Texas beginning January 1, 2012. This advisory is intended as an overview of the new requirement. Additional information and forms are forthcoming. The new law requires all voters to present one of the following forms of photo identification in order to be eligible to vote:
- Driver’s license, election identification certificate, personal identification card, or concealed handgun license issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety;
- United States Military identification card containing the person’s photograph;
- United States citizenship certificate containing the person’s photograph; or
- United States passport.
With the exception of the U.S. citizenship certificate, the identification must be current or have expired no more than 60 days before being presented for voter qualification at the polling place.
There are several exemptions to the photo voter identification requirement. Voters with a disability may apply with the county voter registrar for an exemption. Pursuant to Senate Bill 14, the exemption application, which our office will prescribe, must contain written documentation from either the U.S. Social Security Administration evidencing the applicant’s disability, or from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs evidencing a disability rating of at least 50 percent. In addition, the applicant must state that he or she has no valid form of photo identification. Those who obtain a disability exemption will be allowed to vote by presenting a voter registration certificate reflecting the exemption.
Other exemptions include voters who have a consistent religious objection to being photographed and voters who do not have any photo identification as a result of certain natural disasters as declared by the President of the United States or the Texas Governor. These voters may cast a provisional ballot at the polls and must sign an affidavit attesting to those facts in the presence of the county voter registrar within six days of the election date.
Finally, the new law creates a “cure period” for voters who cast a provisional ballot without presenting a valid form of photo identification. These voters have up to six days after the election to present to the county voter registrar appropriate photo identification. Once this and all other requirements are met, then the provisional ballot must be accepted.
The photo voter identification requirement of Senate Bill 14 goes into effect January 1, 2012. Beginning September 1, 2011, election officials are required to begin work to implement the new law by enacting the following:
- Voter registration certificates issued by county voter registrars in November 2011 must contain new language prescribed by the Office of the Secretary of State describing the photo identification requirements on the reverse of the certificate.
- Voter registrars of counties that maintain a website must post notice on their websites of the new identification requirements in each language in which voter registration materials are available. The Office of the Secretary of State will prescribe the language. Notice will also be posted on the Secretary of State’s website.
- Each county clerk must post in a prominent location at the clerk’s office a physical copy of the notice of new identification requirements prescribed by the Office of the Secretary of State in each language in which voter registration materials are available.
- The Office of the Secretary of State must develop new training standards on the acceptance and handling of photo voter identification by polling place officials.
- Election clerks must complete a new training program.
- An election official must distribute a written notice describing the new photo identification requirement to each person who votes in the November 8, 2011 election.
The Office of the Secretary of State is also required to conduct a statewide effort to educate voters on the new voter identification requirements.
Lastly, Senate Bill 14 creates a new form of photo identification called an election identification certificate, which the Texas Department of Public Safety issues. Effective January 1, 2012, registered voters or those eligible to register who do not have a required form of photo identification may apply for the election identification certificate. There is no fee for the certificate.
Our office will send you additional information in the near future. We hope this overview is helpful and we look forward to partnering with Texas election officials to ensure voters understand the new requirement. If you have any questions, please contact the Elections Division at 1-800-252-VOTE (8683).
Election Advisory No. 2011-11 - 2011 Legislative Summary
History of Court Orders Changing Election Related Dates
( January 28, 2012)
On January 28, 2012, the United States District Court For The Western District Of Texas San Antonio Division issued and order vacating all primary election deadlines noted in its December 16, 2011 order for a April 3, 2012 primary election and April 21, 2012 Democratic county/senate-district convention.
Dates given in this article below for a April 3, 2012 primary election and April 21, 2012 Democratic county/senate-district convention are no longer valid.
The San Antonio court is expected order a new primary election timeline during the first or second week of February 2012.
( December 21, 2011)
On Friday December 9, 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) delayed the Texas' Democratic and Republican Primary Election and County Convention schedule by at least one month when it granted Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's request to stay the use of redistricting maps drawn by a three judge panel of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio:
It is ordered that the orders issued by the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas on November 23, 2011, in case Nos. 5:11-CV-360, and 5:11-CV-788, and the order of November 26, 2011, in case No. 5:11-CV-360, are hereby stayed pending further order of the Court.
The stay blocks the court-drawn maps for legislative and congressional districts in Texas and tells the lawyers involved to be ready for oral arguments on Monday, January 9, 2012.
Candidates were already filing for office, working against a Thursday, December 15 deadline. Since the SCOTUS stay left no defined districts for which to file, that deadline became meaningless, at least for the congressional and state legislative candidates. The San Antonio court's district maps could be replaced with the original maps drawn during the 2011 Texas legislative session or different maps after the Supreme Court hears oral arguments and issues its ruling. Candidates, whether they filed during the first filing period, or not, will have to their final filing decisions after the Supreme Court issues its ruling after hearing oral arguments on January 9, 2012.
Don't bet that the April 3, 2012 election date and April 21, 2012 Democratic county/senate-district convention date won't change again - and if you do bet, don't give odds.
On December 21, 2011 organizations representing Texas counties told the San Antonio court in a pleading that they have “serious reservations and concerns” about their ability to comply with the April 3rd election schedule negotiated by the Democratic and Republican pa
rties and adopted last Friday by court order.
The organizations said that compliance would be “extremely difficult and expensive” if even physically possible and could “lead to voter confusion and disenfranchisement.”
The court based the April 3rd date on having a map in place by Feb. 1st. But the counties say that wouldn't leave them enough time. The court would give them only two weeks to prepare voter registration certificates that take six to seven weeks to prepare, the groups said.
It's not clear that April 3rd will ultimately work out for the courts, either.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hold oral arguments on a court-drawn map on Jan. 9, and a separate three-judge federal panel in Washington, D.C. will start hearings on the Legislature's versions of the maps on Jan. 17. The panel in San Antonio has Jan. 14 marked as the day to hear from lawyers about the election schedule. If the courts don't finish their work on maps by the end of January, the April 3 date will have to slide again — and all of those questions were in the air before the counties weighed in with their concerns.
The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio on December 16, 2011 issued an entirely new April 3, 2012 primary election and county/senate-district convention calendar.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
S&P Downgrade Caused By Republicans Refusing To Raise Taxes To Pay Debt
Reuters reports: S & P Downgrades U.S. Credit For First Time In History, Repeatedly Cites GOP Intransigence On Taxes. In explaining their decision Standard & Poor’s cites both the decision by Republicans in Congress to turn the debt ceiling into a political football and the Republicans intransigence on tax increases. Some excerpts from the release:
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Social Media Engagement Will Decide Election 2012
Digital Politics Radio: Engagement with online political ads & content more significant than with consumer brands with viewers showing strong desire to share political content on social media and ways to establish an online conversation. Interview with Jay Samit, CEO SocialVibe.
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Digital Politics Radio: Value exchange web ad engagement, insights about targeting, sharing, persuasion, fund raising and turning online social media friends into "digital block captains." Interview with Jay Samit, CEO SocialVibe.
The SocialVibe study (PDF) finds people are more likely to share interesting news articles, videos or online petitions with one-another via Facebook or email than they are to watch the nightly news.
The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor
But this has changed thanks to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), its Prison Industries Act, and a little-known federal program known as PIE (the Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program). While much has been written about prison labor in the past several years, these forces, which have driven its expansion, remain largely unknown.
Somewhat more familiar is ALEC’s instrumental role in the explosion of the US prison population in the past few decades.
Read the entire story @ The Nation
And, read the companion story, "EXPOSED: The Corporations Funding The Right-Wing Front Group ALEC," @ The Nation
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