Texas Democrats Utilize Heinous GOP Platform

So this is how it normally goes in Texas Politics… Republican candidates will run for office, and throughout the campaign they will do a bunch of stupid, even atrocious things which are virtually ignored by the media, and then finally sail into elected office in November.  Meanwhile the few brave Democrats that were willing to run for office or willing to call out GOP candidates can barely turn any attention their way.  Like trees falling in the forest, those that are not seen and not heard, are also not elected.

But 2014 is proving itself to be a very different ball game. Suddenly, Texas Democrats have new levels of support through networks like Battleground Texas and  the Latino Victory Project. Instead of being totally ignored, Wendy Davis, Leticia Van de Putte, Steve Brown and other statewide candidates have regular press coverage of their ideas and views on state politics. Texas politics ain’t a ‘one-horse town’ anymore.

As a result, when the 2014 platform for the Republican Party of Texas comes out, you can be sure that Democrats have lots to say about the horrendous  document. And this time, people are taking notice. Several prominent Texas Dems lambasted the platform on MSNBC.

Texas Democrats are criticizing a controversial policy platform

The platform calls for the repeal of the Voting Rights Act, endorses sham “conversion therapy” that seeks to change the sexual orientation of gays and lesbians, and puts forth a harsh anti-immigrant policy plank that calls for the repeal of a law signed by Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry granting in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

“The GOP platform isn’t worthy of Texas. It is shameful and disgusting,” the state’s Democratic Party Executive Director Will Hailer said in a statement Wednesday.  “If Republican candidates have even a shred of integrity they will turn their backs on this disgraceful platform and join Texas Democrats in support of true Texas values.”

The beauty of this approach? No one of significant prominence on the Republican side is actually defending their party platform, even though they JUST voted for it at the state convention. Greg Abbott has evaded questions on the document at every turn, and even the Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas Steve Munisteri is saying he doesn’t agree with the endorsement of reparative therapy!! This is par for the course for the Texas GOP… Do one thing in the dark, but then try to change your story when things come to light.

For Democrats, the release of the GOP platform might as well be Christmas in June. It is literally the gift that keeps on giving. We know that any same GOP candidate is going to evade these extremely false and harmful positions. So the next step is to use it against them, and stretch this fight clear into November.

Some in Texas have immediately taken notice. Houston Democrat Lane Lewis, chair of the Harris County Democratic Party, sent out this great mailer in response to the GOP platform’s endorsement of ex-gay quackery…

You have probably heard about the Texas Republican Party’s platform by now.

Among other offensive positions, they have endorsed “reparative therapy” for LGBT people. Rick Perry added insult to injury by comparing being LGBT to being an alcoholic saying, “I may have the genetic coding that I’m inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue that way.”

Yes, they are serious.

While Republicans are pushing junk science and trying to “fix” LGBT people, Democrats continue to embrace equality for the LGBT community.

This year, there are more openly LGBT candidates running on the Democratic ticket than at ANY point in history. And we don’t think those candidates need to be fixed, we think they need to be elected.

In Texas, there is sleeping giant of disengaged, disaffected voters. They are living their everyday lives, working hard and are dissatisfied with the current state of government. But even the most politically inactive people will have a reaction to the falsehoods and terrible ideas in the Republican Party platform. They may even think of themselves as Republicans, but they cannot support all of these “beliefs” of the party. If Democrats can make enough hay about this heinous document, they can ride that hay to surprise victory this November.

Houston City Council Passes Budget

In a marathon meeting that beat out the recent HERO fest (but not by much), Houston City Council passed $5.2 Billion dollar budget for the city’s next fiscal year  It got done, but few would call it an easy process.  Here’s more from Mike Morris of the Houston Chronicle

The budget was approved in a 14-3 vote that followed council members slogging through 63 amendments they and their colleagues had proposed to Parker’s spending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Council members interested in new programs bested those interested in controlling spending, despite ample discussion of the deficits looming in the coming years.

Parker said council’s decisions concern her, given the warnings of trouble ahead, and said some “naivete” exists around the table on budgeting.

“Council members were clearly in a mood to spend rather than save,” she said. “They see the economy, they see things are picking up. They also see a lot of needs and they want to respond to those needs, and it’s very hard to say, ‘But we have a rainy day down the road, you need to put some money aside for that.'”

The coming challenges are driven by soaring pension and debt costs and the impact of a decade-old, voter-imposed cap on city revenues that is expected to force a cut in the property tax rate next year. Houston next summer is expected to face a nearly $150 million gap between revenues and expenses in its general fund, which is fed mainly by property and sales taxes and funds basic services. That exceeds the gap during the economic recession, when Parker laid off 776 workers.

Of particular interest to see will be how District Council Members choose to use their additional $1 million dollar allotments.  The funds won’t go very far if Council Members try to tackle broken streets, but may be better applied through police patrols, better lighting and increased city services.

With everyone so worried about limited funds for next year, it’s unfortunate, but not exactly a surprise that issues like the complete mess over at HPD didn’t get addressed in a substantive manner.  As to whether more funding for HPD could come with a vote on the city’s revenue cap, only time will tell.

Music Musings: Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes

Hundreds of years ago, as European society awoke from the Dark Ages and launched into a period of unprecedented creativity, they formulated an ideal that we carry strongly with us today.  A Renaissance Man was someone who could seemingly do and exceed at anything they tried.  In the style of scientist, painter, sculptor and philosopher Leonardo da Vinci, it was a person that society held up as a supreme achiever in several fields.  Even today, so many of our music and movie stars strive for this legacy, but only a precious few actually reach it to become Renaissance Men and Women.

And then there are those that have been on that path for their whole life.  As this incredible feature article by Dave Ramsey of the Arkansas Times notes, if there was ever a candidate for that title in the 21st Century, it would be musician, park ranger, former NFL player, alligator wrestler, and actor Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes (full disclosure… he’s also my uncle) .  Here’s a snippet from the feature, but it’s definitely worth a read of the whole thing…

When Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes arrived in New Orleans almost 20 years ago, he felt an uncanny recognition when he heard people speaking Creole French.

“I picked it up right away,” Barnes said. “When I was a kid I used to have all these dreams in Creole. I didn’t know what it was, I just knew it was some kind of different language. When I moved to Louisiana, I knew.”

Barnes has always been attuned to dreams. He was born in Benton in 1963 under a prophet sign, according to his grandmother, a Louisiana-born “fix-it lady” who did traditional healings and read stars for people in their community. “She told me I would have dreams and visions, and she taught me how to interpret them,” Barnes said. Laughing, he added, “and she told me not everyone would believe me, or understand.”

Whatever the cause, it’s hard to deny that Barnes has found his path. Nowadays the boy who used to dream in Creole in Benton sings in Creole in New Orleans as one of the most prominent musicians in zydeco, a traditional music form originating in southwest Louisiana. Barnes — a multi-instrumentalist who plays accordion, harmonica, rub board, piano, talking drum and more — fronts Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots. Though Sunpie is a popular mainstay on the zydeco circuit, Barnes’ music isn’t contained by a single genre — he mixes in Delta blues, gospel, boogie woogie, R&B, and West African and Caribbean influences. He calls it “Afro-Louisiana.”

Barnes, in addition to being a musician and composer, is a naturalist, a full-time National Park ranger, a black-and-white portrait photographer, a television and film actor and a former professional football player with the Kansas City Chiefs.

“I’m not interested in being restricted,” Barnes said. “I’m interested in life.”

Interested in life isn’t even the half of it with Barnes.  He’s living life as full and great as possibly anyone on the planet.  After just completing a national tour with musical legends Sting and Paul Simon, Barnes is back home playing capacity crowds in and around the Crescent City.  You also may have caught him on HBO’s tv series Treme.  But wherever the wind takes him, Sunpie definitely knows how to bring the house down.  Be on the lookout for him!!

Texoblogosphere: Week of June 16th

he Texas Progressive Alliance thinks it’s the Republican Party of Texas’ platform writers that need some therapy as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff emphatically reminds us that Greg Abbott owns the RPT platform, no matter how much he may try to avoid the subject.

Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos asks why bother to address issues of substance that matter to most of us when it is easier to scare voters with hate talk? The Texas GOP Unleashes its Hate Genie.

Almost as rare as Haley’s Comet, both houses of Congress actually did some WORK this week, overwhelmingly passing legislation to help our Veterans get better healthcare. But as Texas Leftist shares, helping our nation’s heroes is simply a bridge too far for some over at Fox News.

The latest poll taken of the Texas electorate for the 2014 elections is what it is, just as Texas voters are what they have been for at least twenty years. All it demonstrates is that everybody’s work is still cut out for them. But PDiddie at Brains and Eggs cautions everyone not to buy into the “It is inexorable” conservative spin of those numbers.

In the series “What Idiot Would….” Bay Area Houston adds another about Greg Abbott in “What Idiot would hide explosive chemicals from the public?

WCNews at Eye on Williamson tells us we need candidates that can make undecided voters and non-voting Texas see the Texas GOP as extreme and frightening, In Order To Be A Hero, There Has To Be A Villian.

Neil at All People Have Value posted an updated list of ideas and thoughts for everyday resistance to our violent and money-owned culture. All People Have Value is part of NeilAquino.com.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Fascist Dyke Motors tells her story of observing the opposition to the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance as it was being passed by City Council.

Scott Braddock reports on negative reactions to the Republican Party platform from Latino GOPers.

LGBTQ Insider laments the harsh homophobia of that same platform.

In the Loop reads deeper into the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner exchange.

Nancy Sims ponders the future of the RPT platform.

Grits wonders why we restrict the use of asset forfeiture funds to drug treatment only.

Susan Duty provides some helpful tips to straight people on how to avoid being converted to homosexuality.

Lone Star Q identifies the “ex-gay” man behind the “reparative therapy” plank in the RPT platform.

And finally, the TPA bids a fond and hopefully temporary farewell to In The Pink Texas, whose use of Sleepless in Seattle as a political metaphor remains a classic of the genre.

Texas Couple Denied Adoption Of Their Own Biological Kids?!

Most everyone in the United States of America understands the concept of a blended family… A couple gets married, and each member of the couple already has child.  In order to become a more cohesive family, that couple may cross adopt each other’s children.  Given all the legal complexities associated with raising a child, this makes total sense to do with young children.

But apparently in the state of Texas, the basic rights of parenthood are not so simple for the LGBT community.  As one couple in Fort Worth found out, they can even be denied  rights when they are the BIOLOGICAL parents of the children.  Here’s more from LGBTQnation about the tangled web that one judge has woven for this family…

A judge in Texas has denied a same-sex couple’s petition to adopt their month-old twin boys.

Jason Hannah, 36, and Joe Riggs, 33, are the proud fathers of twins Lucas and Ethan, who were born of the same surrogate mother. Each biologically fathered one of the twins, and the boys — who are half-brothers — share an egg donor. One child is biologically Hanna’s, the other is Riggs.’

But neither Hannah nor Riggs, who were married in Washington D.C. last year, are listed as fathers on either of their sons’ birth certificates. They have petitioned to add each of their names to their biological sons’ birth certificates and to cross-adopt, or second-parent adopt, the boys, reports KDFW-TV.

But the judge, who says she “strictly follows the law,” has denied the couple’s adoption request.

Currently, only the surrogate mother — who has no biological relationship to the boys, since embryos were transferred to her — is named on the twins’ birth certificates.

In case you didn’t catch it above, Jason and Joe are the biological fathers of their children… each man fathered a child separately, found a common donor mom, and had a surrogate mother (unrelated to the children) carry them to term.  There are absolutely no disputing the facts in this either, considering that they had a fantastic profile in the Dallas Morning News before the babies were born!!  Yet the court says that not only can the men not cross-adopt, but the ACTUAL fathers of each child cannot be listed on the child’s birth certificate?  Is this even possible??  What would this judge say if a court ruled that he or she didn’t have custody of their biological children?

Whatever the outcome, this case has “United States Supreme Court” written all over it.  Hopefully Jason and Joe decide to appeal this ridiculous ruling.  Yet another example that proves the unending asininity of Texas’ same-sex marriage ban.

 

In Cantor’s Wake

After the stunning primary defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor last week, there is definitely some “Fear and Loathing in Wash-Vegas” for the Republican Party.  Many great minds around the United States are trying to figure out one central question…

1) Why did Cantor lose?

Pretty basic stuff here, and it comes up after every election with a surprise result.  But what makes this different is because in Washington, Cantor was one of the top dogs of Congress… essentially next in line to be Speaker of the House.  He was a decision maker for the Party, and someone that commanded the attention of not just those on Capitol Hill, but across the nation.  For him to lose in his home district is a huge upset for the national GOP.

Interestingly enough, the reason for Cantor’s loss isn’t the same one that keeps the Texas GOP in power… i.e. low turnout.  In fact, the turnout for the 7th District’s GOP Primary was at an historic high.  With 65,000 Virginians showing up at the polls, they bested the previous 21st century record by almost 20,000!!  People came to vote on June 10th, and they came to vote against Cantor.   Don’t feel too bad for the Majority Leader though, as this is a House of Cards that he helped to build.

VA-7 was gerrymandered to specifically be a Republican stronghold.  They drew in more White, historically Conservative voters, and drew out voters of broader demographics and perspectives.  It’s the same game that the GOP (and to be fair many Democrats in blue states) have played all over the country… make my district so red/ so blue that I simply cannot lose.  Perhaps Mr. Cantor forgot that sometimes a district can become so red that you cannot win.  As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.

The gerrymandering was of great advantage to Brat, as it allowed him to harness the most powerful force in the Republican Party… FEAR.  He took advantage of vague indications that Cantor might be willing to work on Comprehensive Immigration Reform, and lambasted the public with ads and fliers saying that he supports amnesty.  As sad as it sounds, “the minority takeover” is what a large part of today’s GOP voters are most afraid of, and that fear will surge voter turnout every time.  Of course don’t feel sorry for the lame-duck Congressman in this… after all it was he who often sowed the seeds of hatred for his own party.  But like any good Frankenstein story, fear and hatred have a tendency to turn on their master after a while.

But these same seeds have been sown across the Republican Party, and it is why every career politician on the Right is in danger now.  Once you charge too far and embrace the fringe-right, you have to do their bidding, or you risk Cantor-style extinction.  This defeat is a huge indication that the GOP as we know it is over.  There is no Party anymore, but only a loose coalition of voters motivated by animus.  If we as a country have any hope of getting the American People’s business done, it does not lie with the GOP. 

So congratulations to you Mr. Cantor.  The garden has grown, the fruits are ripe, and you’ve been served your just deserts.

 

Obama Poised to Sign LGBT Rights Executive Order

For those engaged in the fight for LGBT protections in the workplace, the White House revealed some very big news today.  Here’s the story from the Washington Post

President Obama will sign an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against gays, lesbians and others on the basis of their sexual orientation – an election-year move that follows years of pressure by gay rights organizations.

Obama’s decision to proceed with the executive order, announced Monday by the White House, immediately delighted gay rights groups, even as it signaled that Obama doesn’t believe broader action by Congress is likely. Obama is set to address a fundraiser hosted by the Democratic National Committee’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender council Tuesday in New York.

“The President has directed his staff to prepare for his signature an Executive Order that prohibits federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity,” a White House official said in a statement. “The action would build upon existing protections, which generally prohibit federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. This is consistent with the President’s views that all Americans, LGBT or not, should be treated with dignity and respect.”

White House officials didn’t detail the timing of the executive order, which Obama originally promised to pursue in his 2008 campaign. For years since, he has declined to issue the order, citing other administration efforts to advance gay rights and a desire to avoid interfering with efforts in Congress to pass the broader Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban discrimination against gays in the workplace. The Senate has passed ENDA, but the House has declined.

This one action from the Obama Administration is estimated to extend protections to approximately 16 million Americans working as Federal employees, or for companies with Federal Contracts.  Equal Rights groups have been working for this Executive Order for a long time, and are simply thrilled at the prospect of the unprecedented move. The Human Rights Campaign had this to say…

“By issuing an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT people, the President will not only create fairer workplaces across the country, he will demonstrate to Congress that adopting federal employment protections for LGBT people is good policy and good for business. The White House statement today is promising, and we look forward to seeing the details of the executive order,” said HRC President Chad Griffin.

As Houston just learned from our own equal rights battle, the devil is definitely in the details.  But given how little is getting done in Congress this year, the President’s actions on this issue will be a welcome move for American workers, and set a new standard by which all companies will have to compete.  Of course when it comes to LGBT issues, President Obama has been quite good at setting new standards.  Under his administration, Congress was able to repeal the discriminatory Don’t Ask Don’t Tell practice of the US military, and with a little prodding from Vice President Biden, came out in support of marriage equality.  Hopefully this bold move on workplace protections will generate some motion from the House and Senate as well.

 

 

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