Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The Battle For Healthcare Reform

LATIMES: The public and employers are staggering under the cost of the present system -- rising at more than twice the rate of inflation and expected to surpass $2.2 trillion this year.

After months of spadework and consultation with the interested parties, lawmakers begin the most sweeping healthcare debate in a generation with broad agreement on the need to control costs, improve the care Americans receive and expand coverage to nearly everyone.

But shadowing the debate, which is expected to dominate Washington's summer and extend into the fall, are the same vexing controversies that have derailed almost all previous efforts to reshape the U.S. healthcare system.

In one of their most controversial proposals, Obama and many, but not all, congressional Democrats want to create an optional government insurance plan that individuals could choose instead of a private plan. Supporters argue that such a plan would curb costs and improve quality by creating competition for the handful of private insurance companies now dominating the market. Few proposals ignite hotter partisan passions. --- Click here for REST OF THIS LATIMES STORY!... ---

LATIMES: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) introduced his version of the nations health care reform legislation on Tuesday [, which would enact Pres. Obama's optional government insurance plan.]

Senator Kennedy's bill to revamp the way Americans are insured would require all Americans to get medical insurance, establish complex new insurance exchanges to facilitate near-universal coverage, and dramatically step up government oversight of the insurance industry. Kennedy's bill was received with furious criticism [from Republicans and even some so-called moderate (blue dog) Democrats.] --- Click here for REST OF THIS LATIMES STORY!... ---

The private insurance industry, supported by congressional Republicans, are complaining that competition from a low cost "single payer" public health care program would cut into their near-monopolistic lock on the health care marketplace and significantly impact industry profits. The insurance industry is lobbying congress to scuttle the so called "single payer" optional government insurance approach to health care reform, and instead pass federal mandate legislation that requires people to purchase private health insurance, enforced with fines. Read more at Insurance Industry Pushing For "Private, For Profit" Health Care Reform.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Talk Back On The Republican's Health Care "Rationing" Talking Point

Mastermind of conservative Republican talking points Frank Luntz authored a 26-page report in April advising Republicans on how best to frame the debate over health care reform TO KILL IT!

The memo is titled “The Language of Health Care 2009″ and it lays out the argument for “stopping the Washington takeover” of health care.” But if fully implemented it may very well stop health care reform:
This document is based on polling results and Instant Response dial sessions conducted in April 2009. It captures not just what Americans want in health care reform, but exactly what they need to hear to accept or reject a national health care plan. The report zeroes in on what worries Americans, like a national health care plan might engender health care rationing, and provides the words Republicans need to say to take advantage of those worries. Luntz say that from today forward, those words should be used by everyone. (Memo PDF HERE)
Listening to cable news tonight every Republican talking about Pres. Obama's universal health care insurance option used the word rationing. It you take the time to read Luntz's memo you will see rationing is a key fear word Republicans plan to use to turn public opinion against Obama's universal health care insurance option. The rationing argument has no basis in fact or reality, it is just a talking point plucked out of the air because a poll said Americans don't like the idea of health care rationing. (Ask a person what they fear most and then use that fear to scare them. )

Be ready to talk back if hear someone say Obama's plan will cause care rationing.

Gov. Perry To Order Special Session Of Legislature

KXAN Austin News in Austin is tweeting that Governor Perry will call a special session to deal with unfinished legislation! Perry is not saying what's on the agenda for special session... nor when it will begin.

My speculation on the unfinished legislation is that the Texas Department of Insurance, the Office of Public Insurance Counsel, the Department of Transportation, the Racing Commission and the Texas State Affordable Housing Corp. were due for "sunset review," during the 2009 legislative session - but the legislature didn't get around to it before adjourning on June 1st.
"Sunset review" is the process by which state agencies are reviewed every 12 years. If lawmakers do not pass bills to renew charters to keep agencies operating over the next 12 year period, they are automatically ordered to close down over the next year.
The Republican controlled legislature did not manage to get to the business of "state agency sunset review," and so, did not renew the charter on these 5 agencies. These agencies are now automatically ordered to close down by Sept. 1, 2010, under the Texas "sunset law."

Some reaction from lawmakers:

State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth: If the special session is to address critical issues such as agency sunset measures, “The sooner the better," he said. "But if this is for his right-wing ideological agenda, then he’s using state money for his campaign purposes and that’s wrong.”

Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth: “The Sunset Commission staff is recommending that we need to do it soon,” he said. “Let’s do it now, rather than later on down the road. Having it after the primary would look like it’s being timed and held for political reasons. I don’t think that would be a good idea.” He said he hoped the session would be devoted just to the issues involving those state agencies now in limbo. “It would be absolutely horrible, bad timing, if we were to go back and do something as divisive as the voter suppression bill. Bringing that bill up would be the worst move he could make.”

Read more. . .

Monday, June 8, 2009

Republicans Say No To Pres. Obama's Universal Health Care Coverage Plan

A debate over creating a single-payer public option insurance plan as part of sweeping health care reform intensified Monday. All but one of the 10 Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee on Monday signed a letter to Obama expressing their opposition to the public option, which Obama strongly supports. In their letter to Obama, the Finance Committee Republicans said a public option would result in “a federal government takeover of our healthcare system, taking decisions out of the hands of doctors and patients and placing them in the hands of a Washington bureaucracy.” [The Hill]

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), has said that getting lasting reform signed into law will require broad bipartisan support, therefore, single-payer public option insurance plan is off the table because Republicans will not support it. Baucus has been a staunch opponent of any health care reform plan in which the government would provide universal coverage.

“The key to a bipartisan bill is to not have a government plan in the bill — no matter what it’s called,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters this month. “When I say no government plan I mean no government plan. Not something described some other way, not something that gets us to the same place by indirection — no government plan.”

Baucus has kept single-payer advocates out of Senate hearings and negotiations and has yet to endorse a compromise proposal by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) that would give Americans the option of buying into a publicly run plan that would compete with private insurers. Baucus furthered his efforts for bipartisanship with Republicans by promoting Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign health care reform proposals to tax employee health care benefits as income.

Sen. Max Baucus got some not-so friendly feedback from his Montana constituents over his efforts to keep a single-payer public option insurance plan off the table. Five separate accounts of public meetings back home in Montana, published in four different local papers, show Montana voters were downright hostile to Baucus' efforts to block a universal health care option. "Majority wants single-payer health care," headlined an account in the Helena Independent Record. At several of the public meetings, Montanans' ire was directed at Baucus chief of staff Jon Selib, who defended Baucus' stance as an attempt for bipartisan support for health care reform. [huffingtonpost.com]

Collin County's U.S. Congressional Representatives Will Oppose Pres. Obama's Health Care Reforms

Collin County's two U.S. Congressmen, both conservative Republicans, will oppose President Obama's Health Care Reform and Public Option Health Care legislation. (However, they will likely support the "individual mandate health care" program, for which, the health insurance industry is lobbying.)

Sam Johnson (TX 3rd Congressional District) and Ralph Hall (TX 4th Congressional District) both score an anti-public health voting record rating from the American Public Health Association, the oldest and largest organization of public health professionals in the world. The ratings are based on votes from the organization's 50,000 members from over 50 health care occupations.

No Support For Pres. Obama From Either Texas' Republican Senators

Both of Texas' conservative Republican U.S. Senators, John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, will oppose President Obama's Health Care Reform and Public Option Health Care legislation. (However, they will likely support the "individual mandate health care" program, for which, the health insurance industry is lobbying.)

The four conservative Republicans now running to fill Kay Bailey Hutchison's U.S. Senate seat - when, and if, she ever decides to resign to run for governor - would also, most likely, oppose Pres. Obama's Health Care Reform and Public Option Health Care.

Candidates now in the starting gate pictured below: (Left to right) Houston Mayor Bill White (D), former State Comptroller John Sharp (D), Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams (R), State Sen. Florence Shapiro (R), former Secretary of State Roger Williams (R) and Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones (R)
Bill white senate John sharp senate 2 Michael williams senate
Florence shapiro
Roger williams senate Elizabeth ames jones senate
Pictures from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

AARP Urges Burgess To Act On Health Care

WhosPlayin.com Blog
By Kathy Aljoe, Lewisville resident and AARP volunteer

As the national conversation on health care reform reaches a tipping point, AARP volunteers in Lewisville are asking to have a conversation with Congressman Michael Burgess (R- 26th District of Texas) and his staff about the need for Congress to pass legislation to reform our health care system this year.

The national debate on health care reform has reached the moment of truth. Unemployment continues to rise, and skyrocketing medical costs are squeezing individuals, families, businesses, government and the nation as a whole. The nation’s broken health care system has finally reached the top of the nation’s agenda, and it’s time to tackle the problem.

In a recent TeleTown-hall meeting, Representative Burgess said that he prefers a consumer directed health plan, where employees contribute a small amount from each paycheck to be used when medical expenses arise. Consumers currently have this option; it’s called a medical savings account. The real problem is that many Americans can’t afford to set aside additional money for health care when they are already grappling with sky high premiums and deductibles.


What the TeleTown-hall failed to address is the needs of the more than 7 million Americans ages 50 to 64 who are uninsured today. Twenty percent of Texans ages 50 to 64 lack health insurance, some of whom work for employers that don’t offer insurance, others lost coverage when they lost their jobs, still others can’t afford the high premiums based on their age and medical history.

Drug costs are soaring, and 28 percent of Texans enrolled in the Part D drug benefit find themselves in the now infamous “doughnut hole,” potentially facing thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs.

Statistics alone fail to adequately capture the human toll suffered by those who can’t afford health care. At AARP, we hear their stories all the time: Cancer patients who cannot afford health insurance; people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and heart disease who cannot fill their costly prescriptions; workers who quit their jobs to care for ailing spouses because they cannot afford to pay for in-home care; people who burn through their life savings, lose their homes and end up in bankruptcy because someone got sick.

The mounting problems in health care breed cynicism, stress and even despair. As a patient who is fast running out of money put it: “So much for the American dream.”

AARP is fighting to make the system work for everyone. We believe that Congress should take the following six steps to guarantee that all Americans have the choice of quality health care plans they can afford:
  • Guarantee affordable coverage for Americans ages 50-64;
  • Close the Medicare Part D coverage gap or “doughnut hole”;
  • Create access to generic versions of costly biologic drugs used to treat cancer and other serious illnesses;
  • Prevent costly hospital readmissions by creating a Medicare follow up care benefit to help people transition home after a hospital stay;
  • Increase federal funding and eligibility for home and community based services through Medicaid so older Americans can remain in their homes as they age and avoid more costly institutional care; and
  • Improve programs that help low income Americans in Medicare afford the health care and prescription drugs they need.
Our health care system costs too much, wastes too much, makes too many mistakes and gives us back too little value for our money. This sad diagnosis is shared by many on both sides of the political aisle.

Yet while members of Congress disagree on details of health reform, the goal of affordable, accessible health care for all commands widespread support. So does the recognition that we all share responsibility to be part of the solution.

With costs rising and coverage shrinking, the need for fair, bipartisan measures to repair the system has never been so urgent. We believe that the costs of doing nothing are simply too high.

We have let our Congressman know that we want him to support these six measures to guarantee affordable, quality health care for all. Congress will be able to vote on health care reform this summer. There is no better time to fix our ailing health care system than now.

(Like Congressman Burgess Collin County's two congressmen, both Republicans,oppose President Obama's push for Health Care Reform and a Public Option Health Care Option. )

Blogging Can Help Candidates Win Elections

South Texas Chisme : Congratulations to Melissa Zamora of Bloggin' All Things Brownsville!
Newcomer Melissa Zamora unseated longtime Brownsville Commissioner Carlos A. Cisneros, capturing the District 3 slot on the City Commission by a strong margin.

As in the May 9 regular city election, Zamora again came in ahead in Saturday's run-off election with 57.67 percent of the vote compared to Cisneros' 42.33 percent.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Public Option "Single-Payer" Health Care


Signup for 'Collin County Health Care
Day of Service' - June 27th




Keeping Them Honest
By PAUL KRUGMAN - NYTimes Op-Ed Columnist
June 5, 2009

“I appreciate your efforts, and look forward to working with you so that the Congress can complete health care reform by October.” So declared President Obama in a letter this week to Senators Max Baucus and Edward Kennedy. The big health care push is officially on.

But the devil is in the details. Health reform will fail unless we get serious cost control — and we won’t get that kind of control unless we fundamentally change the way the insurance industry, in particular, behaves. So let me offer Congress two pieces of advice:

1) Don’t trust the insurance industry.
2) Don’t trust the insurance industry.

The Democratic strategy for health reform is based on a political judgment: the belief that the public will be more willing to accept reform, less easily Harry-and-Louised, if those who already have health coverage from private insurers are allowed to keep it.

But how can we have fundamental reform of what Mr. Obama calls a “broken system” if the current players stay in place? --- Click here for REST OF OP-ED COLUMN!... ---

Single-Payer Health Care
By Nicole Gaudiano - Free Press Washington Writer • June 4, 2009
Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) has sponsored the Senate’s only single-payer health-care bill, a plan that would rely on a single source of funding, rather than multiple private insurers, for health care. During a Wednesday news conference, he called it “incomprehensible” that such a proposal isn’t part of the Senate’s discussion on the issue.

Sanders favors a state-administered system funded by the federal government. He said he would continue to seek a hearing in the Senate on the single-payer approach.

Sanders said there’s no question why the current health care system is “so dysfunctional.”

“We have a system dominated by private health insurance companies whose goal is not to provide health care to people,” he said. “In fact, it is to deny health care to people because every dollar they deny ... is a dollar more in profits that they make.”

Sanders arranged a meeting among several single-payer advocates and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., a leader on the issue. But the physicians and nurses said they left without assurances that their plan would be considered.

“We will therefore need to continue to press him,” said David Himmelstein, co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program. “It’s what our patients desperately need.”

Himmelstein said the group did secure a promise from Baucus to “use the power of his office” to ensure that charges are dropped against 13 health care providers who were arrested for disrupting Finance Committee hearings last month when they protested the lack of single-payer proponents as witnesses.

“There’s a conspiracy of silence within the Congress in terms of single-payer,” said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association. “It’s been kept off of the agenda.”

A spokesman for Baucus did not return a call for comment.

President Barack Obama is seeking a Senate vote on health-care reform by August. Proposals are being drafted in the Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pension committees, of which Sanders is a member.

“It’s going to be a grassroots effort,” Sanders said. “When millions and millions of people say every American is entitled to health care as a right, and it must be comprehensive and it must be cost effective ... we’re going to have a single-payer system.”

Signup for 'Collin County Health Care day of Service' - June 27th

Saturday, June 6, 2009

President Barack Obama Pleads For Action On Health Care

Americans spend more on health care every year than we do educating our children, building roads, even feeding ourselves—an estimated $2.6 trillion in 2009, or around $8,300 per person. According to the National Coalition on Healthcare, nearly 266,000 companies dropped their employees' health care coverage from 2000 to 2005 and for those employees that have not yet lost coverage the average employee health insurance premium is rising nearly eight times faster than income.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that, if Congress does nothing about healthcare, our annual health costs will soar to about $13,000 per person in 2017, while the number of uninsured will climb from 48 million this year to over 54 million by 2019. Already more than half of Americans say they have cut back on health care in the past year due to cost concerns. Roughly one in four of us say we put off care we needed, and one in five of us didn't fill a prescription.

Medical problems caused 62% of all personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. in 2007, according to a study by Harvard researchers. And in a finding that surprised even the researchers, 78% of those filers had medical insurance at the start of their illness, including 60.3% who had private coverage, not Medicare or Medicaid.

Medically related bankruptcies have been rising steadily for decades. In 1981, only 8% of families filing for bankruptcy cited a serious medical problem as the reason, while a 2001 study of bankruptcies in five states by the same researchers found that illness or medical bills contributed to 50% of all filings.

This newest, nationwide study, conducted before the start of the current recession by Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler of Harvard Medical School, Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law School, and Deborah Thorne, a sociology professor at Ohio University, found that the filers were for the most part solidly middle class before medical disaster hit. Two-thirds owned their home and three-fifths had gone to college.

Profits at 10 of the country’s largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007, while consumers paid more for less coverage. One of the major reasons, according to a new study, is the growing lack of competition in the private health insurance industry that has led to near monopoly conditions in many markets.

The report says such conditions warrant a Justice Department investigation and, says Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), provide compelling evidence of the need for a public health insurance plan option as part of the health care reform initiative President Obama and Congress are developing.

Schumer says the report from Health Care for America Now! (HCAN)
the starkest evidence yet that the private health care insurance market is in bad need of some healthy competition. A public health insurance option is critical to ensure the greatest amount of choice possible for consumers.
According to the recently released HCAN report, “Premiums Soaring in Consolidated Health Insurance Market“:
In the past 13 years, more than 400 corporate mergers have involved health insurers, and a small number of companies now dominate local markets but haven’t delivered on promises of increased efficiency. According to the American Medical Association, 94 percent of insurance markets in the United States are now highly concentrated, and insurers are thriving in the anti-competitive marketplace, raking in enormous profits and paying out huge CEO salaries.
These mergers and consolidations have created a marketplace where a small number of larger companies use their power to raise premiums—an average of 87 percent over the past six years—restrict and reduce benefit packages and control and cut provider payments.

These facts are at the heart of the current debate over health care reform.

President Barack Obama pleaded for action on his health care agenda, during his weekly radio and Internet address to focus on his domestic priority even while traveling overseas.

"If we do nothing, everyone's health care will be put in jeopardy," Obama said. "Fixing what's wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve, it's a necessity we cannot postpone any longer," said the president.

Read - How Pharma and the Insurances companies plan to kill the 'public option' in health care reform.

Why Healthcare Needs Reform!

Updated...

The President gives remarks after hosting a
healthcare reform meeting. $2 trillion in
national savings was committed by the
stakeholders in attendance on May 11th.

CrooksAndLiars.com: Insurance Companies Suddenly Change Their Version of What They Told Obama - Remember Obama's announcement last Monday that insurance companies were going to cut the rate of health care spending?

It was all over the news: “These groups are voluntarily coming together to make an unprecedented commitment,” Mr. Obama said. “Over the next 10 years, from 2010 to 2019, they are pledging to cut the rate of growth of national health care spending by 1.5 percentage points each year — an amount that’s equal to over $2 trillion.”

Now they're insisting they never said such a thing! more...

Pro-Family Healthcare Reform

By Glenn Melancon
2008 Democratic candidate
U.S. House of Representatives,
TX 4th Congressional District

Facing falling poll numbers, the Republican political elites are downplaying their anti-gay and anti-abortion rhetoric. Political consultants had told them to use these “wedge issues” to divide America and win elections. More and more voters, however, want to know what their leaders stand for, not what they oppose. For the first time in thirty years we have an opportunity for real pro-family policies.

When Jackie and I took our traditional wedding vows nearly twenty years ago, they included the phrase “for richer, for poorer; in sickness, and in health.” Our ancestors knew the real threats to marriages. Healthcare and financial crises can easily wreck a relationship.

Politicians in Washington and Austin haven’t learned this lesson. The number of uninsured Americans grows every year. As many as 50 million adults and children lack coverage. The number would be even higher if we didn’t have Medicare—a government-run, single-payer health insurance provider.

Families without insurance are one accident away from bankruptcy. A trip to the emergency room can cost thousands of dollars. Once in financial ruin, families tend to argue more and break apart. Reforming health care insurance is essential to improving our financial well-being and making it easier for families to stay together.

Insurance reform should rest on a simple principle—every American has a right to quality, affordable health care from a doctor of their choice. Big insurance corporations have made affordable health care and patient choice relics of the past. It doesn’t have to be that way. Reforming the health insurance market can restore these basic features of quality American health care.

First, we need “Any Willing Provider Legislation.” Patients, not insurance companies, should choose the right doctor. Once an insurance company or HMO announces the terms of a contract, any qualified healthcare provider who agrees to the terms must be allowed to compete for patients.

“Any Willing Provider Legislation” would be particularly useful in rural Texas. Too often small town doctors are frozen out by big insurance companies. Patients are forced to travel into cities to see doctors who will accept their plan.

Congress should also guarantee equal access to healthcare insurance. Insurance companies must offer basic healthcare packages to all Americans. American families and small businesses should have the same choices and bargaining power as large corporations.

Third, Congress must require full coverage for pregnancy, diabetes and hypertension [high blood pressure]. Early intervention is the key to strong patient-doctor relationships. Patients need to see their doctor before their condition gets worse and the cost of treatment goes up. When doctors know their patients, they can help prevent expensive and possibly life-threatening complications.

Finally, we need public-private competition. All Americans should be allowed to purchase Medicare or something like it. For-profit insurers have to pay advertisers or shareholders. Medicare doesn’t. Medicare can offer the same healthcare coverage at lower costs to the consumer. The market will then determine which is a more cost effective and efficient way to sell insurance. We need real choices.

Health insurance reform will do more than anything else to relieve the financial stress that is destroying our families. Washington politicians who have been talking about protecting marriage are simply diverting your attention away from corporate greed. You know the classic con game. You’ve seen it countless times in movies. One person causes a distraction while another picks your pocket. Every time you hear gay marriage, look at your wallet—it’s lighter; look at your pension—it’s vanishing; look at your medical bills—they’re going through the roof. As Americans we deserve better. We deserve real pro-family health care.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Who's Running For KBH's U.S. Senate Seat Now

Six people are now in the starting gate to run for Kay Bailey Hutchison's U.S. Senate seat - when, and if, she ever decides to resign to run for governor. While Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones (R) has long been planning to run, she actually stepped into the starting gate last week when her campaign put up a new campaign website.

Candidates now in the starting gate pictured below: (Left to right) Houston Mayor Bill White (D), former State Comptroller John Sharp (D), Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams (R), State Sen. Florence Shapiro (R), former Secretary of State Roger Williams (R) and Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones (R)
Bill white senate John sharp senate 2 Michael williams senate
Florence shapiro
Roger williams senate Elizabeth ames jones senate
Pictures from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Otherwise, there is only continued speculation and gossip on who else may enter the starting gate for the race to fill KBH's senate seat and when the starting bell will ring to let loose the candidates to run the race. The problem is nobody, with the possible exception of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, knows when, or if, she will vacate her Senate seat to run against incumbent Gov. Rick Perry for the Governor's Mansion.

Tx Sen. John Cornyn, chairperson of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), leaned on Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison through the first half of 2009 to delay her resignation to put off as long as possible, the special senate seat election. But the math changed when Specter defected to the Democrats in April, putting the Senate head count at 59 Democrats, 40 Republicans.

The long-festering Minnesota senate seat legal contest will likely now end in June, when the state's highest court orders the governor to sign the election certificate for Democrat Al Franken over GOP rival and former incumbent Norm Coleman.

That would give Democrats the 60th senate seat, and Hutchison a clear opening to resign without the worry that her gubernatorial oppoent could tar her for handing a 60 seat fillibuster-proof senate to the Democrats.

Even so, Hutchinson may have her own reason for holding her senate resignation until at least late 2009. If Hutchinson resigns by September 2009, then Gov. Perry will schedule a special election for her senate seat in November 2009. Five candidates in that special election race will not win and some of that number would then still have time to file to run for governor in the March 2010 primary election. Houston Mayor Bill White (D) or former State Comptroller John Sharp (D) would make more probable and more formidable gubernatorial opponents in November 2010, than any of the other candidates that have so far declared for the March 2010 Democrat primary ballot, should either or both not win a November 2009 special election to fill KBH's senate seat.

If KBH resigns after September 2009, then Gov. Perry couldn't call a special election to fill her Senate seat until May 2010. That keeps up to four Republican gubernatorial opponents locked up and out of the March 2010 Republican primary and her strongest Democratic opponents out of the November 2010 gubernatorial election all together.

Then again, Hutchison might just wait until after the November 2010 general election to resign her senate seat, assuming she is elected governor. In that case Hutchison could theoretically name her own short term replacement and call a special election for her Senate seat for May 2011. This would deny Gov. Perry any chance of press coverage in naming KBH's short term replacement and calling a special election.

Other that have been rumored potential candidates for either the U.S. Senate race or the gubernatorial race include: (Left to right) Rep. Kay Granger (R), Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R), US Rep. Joe Barton (R), Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R), Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) and TX State Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio)
Kay granger senate
David dewhurst senate Joe barton senate
Jeb hensarling
Greg abbott senate
Pictures from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Research 2000 Texas Poll of 600 likely voters who vote regularly in state elections conducted from April 20 through April 22, 2009 provides a current snapshot of candidates for the U.S. Senate and Texas Governor races:

Favorable / Unfavorable

RACE VERY
FAV
FAV UNFAV VERY
UNFAV
NO
OPINION
PERRY (R) GOV 17 34 24 19 6
HUTCHINSON (R) GOV 27 37 16 13 7
SCHIEFFER (D) GOV 9 17 6 5 63
ABBOTT (R) SEN 21 24 13 13 29
DEWHURST (R) SEN 15 24 17 14 30
WILLIAMS (R) SEN 13 20 13 12 42
SHAPIRO (R) SEN 11 17 14 10 48
SHARP (D) SEN 17 19 14 10 40
WHITE (D) SEN 16 17 12 11 44







Full poll results available here.


Texas Election Code and Special Elections:
If Sen. Hutchison does step down early, Republican Governor Rick Perry will appoint a temporary replacement to U.S. Senate until a special election can be scheduled. Unlike most other states, Texas only allows the Governor to make a temporary appointment to fill the Senate seat until he can order a special election on the next uniform election date after the office vacancy occurs, on the provision that uniform election date falls at least 36 days after the governor orders the special election. If Hutchison resigns by late September, so that Gov. Perry can order a special election on or before September 28, 2009, the special election will occur on the next uniform (odd numbered year) election date in 2009, November 3rd. If Hutchison resigns after September 28, 2009, but before April 2, 2010, Gov. Perry would order a special election for the spring 2010 uniform election date, May 8th. (While Texas election law does allow a special election day to occur on primary election day, which is March 2nd in 2010, certain odd year vs. even year resignation and election scheduling specifications in the law eliminates that possibility in 2010.) And, if Sen. Huchinson resigns after April 2, 2010 and before September 26, 2010, the special election will occur along with the general election on November 2, 2010. [Texas Election Code Sections 2.025, 3.003, 41.001, 41.007, 201.023, 201.051, 203.004, 203.011, 203.003, 204.003 and 204.005]

Alternatively, the vacancy could be filled by a special "emergency election" called by Governor Perry. Under Section 41.0011 of the Election Code, the Governor has authority to schedule an "emergency election" on a "non-uniform election date" to fill a vacated U.S. Senate seat. For example, if Sen. Huchinson resigns any time between September 28, 2009 and the last primary filing date, the Governor could call an emergency election for an earlier date, such as the March 2, 2010 primary date, rather than wait for the spring uniform election date of May 8, 2010. To call a special "emergency election" the Governor must declare that an emergency exists such that warrants the earlier voting date. The Governor has considerable discretion in deciding whether to call an emergency election, and in the last four years Gov. Perry has ordered at least two emergency elections: the emergency election of February 25, 2006 to fill a vacancy in House District 106, and the emergency election of January 17,2006 to fill a vacancy in House District 48.

Since Texas started selecting its U.S. Senators by popular election in 1916, there have been just four temporary senate appointments and special elections fill a vacancy. The temporary appointee has never won a subsequent special election - twice because the appointee didn't run. Of the two appointees that did run, Democrat William A. Blakley lost to Republican John Tower in 1961, and Democrat Robert Krueger lost to Republican K. B. Hutchison in 1993.

Painted Into Another Corner

Political Cartoon is by Jeff Parker in Florida Today.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn hasn’t ruled out a filibuster of President Barack Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee, but he has urged the Senate and public to “calm down” long enough to evaluate whether Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s is capable of meting out colorblind justice.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has pledged that Senate hearings on Judge Sonia Soto­mayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court would focus on her judicial record and not digress into personal attacks.

Cornyn, a member of the Judiciary Committee that will hold hearings on the nomination, met with Sotomayor in his office and told her the proceedings would be civil.

“I promised her that she would have a fair and dignified process,” Cornyn told reporters after the meeting.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has been "lauded" for asking his Republican colleagues to judge Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor on her merits and experience and not her race or ethnicity.

Texas' senior senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison, also a Republican, declined to repudiate the "racist" allegation during a Dallas appearance on Friday. On CNN this morning, she said "it troubles me" that a judge would assert that her ethnicity might provide her superior insight or wisdom.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Liberal Media Bias?

Yesterday, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) launched the Media Fairness Caucus, made up of about a dozen House Republicans, aiming “to fight liberal media bias.” The group will “point out unfair stories, meet with members of the media, and write op-eds and letters to the editor to highlight media bias,” Newsmax reported. Appearing on Fox News today, Smith declared that “liberal media bias” is a bigger threat to the United States than the recession or terrorism.

But, NYTimes columnist E.J. Dionne writes:
A media environment that tilts to the right is obscuring what President Obama stands for and closing off political options that should be part of the public discussion.

Yes, you read that correctly: If you doubt that there is a conservative inclination in the media, consider which arguments you hear regularly and which you don't. When Rush Limbaugh sneezes or Newt Gingrich tweets, their views ricochet from the Internet to cable television and into the traditional media. It is remarkable how successful they are in setting what passes for the news agenda.

The power of the Limbaugh-Gingrich axis means that Obama is regularly cast as somewhere on the far left end of a truncated political spectrum. He's the guy who nominates a "racist" to the Supreme Court (though Gingrich retreated from the word yesterday), wants to weaken America's defenses against terrorism and is proposing a massive government takeover of the private economy. Steve Forbes, writing for his magazine, recently went so far as to compare Obama's economic policies to those of Juan Peron's Argentina.

Democrats are complicit in building up Gingrich and Limbaugh as the main spokesmen for the Republican Party, since Obama polls so much better than either of them. But the media play an independent role by regularly treating far-right views as mainstream positions and by largely ignoring critiques of Obama that come from elected officials on the left.

This was brought home at this week's annual conference of the Campaign for America's Future, a progressive group that supports Obama but worries about how close his economic advisers are to Wall Street, how long our troops will have to stay in Afghanistan and how much he will be willing to compromise to secure health-care reform.
Read the rest of the E.J. Dionne column

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Gov. Rick Perry Names Rush Limbaugh "An Honorary Texan"

Last Friday, Texas Governor Rick Perry bestowed the title of "honorary Texan" on Rush Limbaugh, during an event in Houston. "You said something on your radio station that you thought you ought to pack up and move to Texas," said Perry. "Well when you get here brother you're an honorary Texan... God bless Rush Limbaugh!"

Rush is now officially the titular head of the Texas Republican Party as well as the national Republican party!

Texas Republicans Neglect To Renew Critical State Agencies

Republicans Representing
Collin Co.

Florence Shapiro
State Senator
(TX 8th Senate Dist.)

Craig Estes
State Senator

(TX 30th Senate Dist.)

Brian McCall
State Rep.
(TX 66th House Dist.)

Jerry Madden
State Rep.
(TX 67th House Dist.)

Ken Paxton
Texas State Rep.
(TX 70th House Dist.)

Jodie Laubenberg
State Rep.
(TX 70th House Dist.)
Your Collin Co. Senate and House Dist. numbers can be found on your 2008 Orange Voter's Registration Card
Texas Republicans, who control the Texas legislative calendar, placed Voter Photo ID legislation ahead of critical legislation in a ploy to generate political talking points against Democrats in the 2010 election cycle. So much legislative time was spent on Voter Photo ID legislation that other critical state business did not come up for consideration before the legislature adjourned on June 1st.

Republicans placed "voter impersonation legislation" ahead of other critical legislation even though Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott failed to find a single case of voter fraud in his $1.4 million two year investigation. According to an article in the Dallas Morning News county election officials across Texas say voter fraud is nearly impossible to carry out in Texas because of the voter validation checks already implemented by every Texas county election office.

Given the factual evidence that voter impersonation fraud does not occur in Texas, Republicans frequently justify pushing the voter photo ID legislation by citing a poll that says 90 percent of Texans demand it. The poll, conducted by Austin-based polling firm Baselice & Associates in April 2007 for an anonymous client, indicates 95 percent of Republicans, 91 percent of independents and 87 percent of Democrats support using photo IDs. Baselice & Associates, run by Mike Baselice who is Gov. Rick Perry's pollster, isn't exactly independent given the firm serves Republican clients. [Houston Chronicle]

Rank and file Republicans support voter photo ID legislation as an "article of religious faith that Democratic voter fraud is causing Republicans to lose elections," given their belief America is a "center right" nation and Texas is even further right of center? Reality is that America is already "center left" and Texas is rapidly shifting left.

Royal Masset, the former political director of the Republican Party of Texas, revealed the actual political calculation that requiring photo IDs could suppress enough legitimate Democratic voters, who lack photo ID, that it would add 3 percent to the Republican vote. [Houston Chronicle]

Voter photo ID legislation would be an effective way for Republicans to hold onto Texas, maybe one or two additional election cycles. If Republicans can hold legislative control through the 2010 election cycle, they will control "redistricting" in 2011. This puts the Republican Party in a position to redraw district election maps to advantage Republican candidates as they did in 2003.

“Texans demanded results, and the Republican leadership was unwilling or unable to deliver. Our citizens deserve better than this,” said State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, Senate Democratic Caucus Chair, after the legislature adjourned on June 1st leaving critical legislation to die. [Senator Van de Putte considering a gubernatorial run in 2010]

The Texas Department of Insurance, the Office of Public Insurance Counsel, the Department of Transportation, the Racing Commission and the Texas State Affordable Housing Corp. were due for "sunset review," during the 2009 legislative session.
"Sunset review" is the process by which state agencies are reviewed every 12 years. If lawmakers do not pass bills to renew charters to keep agencies operating over the next 12 year period, they are automatically ordered to close down over the next year.
The Republican controlled legislature did not manage to get to the business of "state agency sunset review," and so, did not renew the charter on these 5 agencies. These agencies are now automatically ordered to close down by Sept. 1, 2010, under the Texas "sunset law."

DMN: Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday that he will work with agency administrators of the to look for some solution, short of calling a special session of the legislature, to keep the 5 agencies from closing. While calling lawmakers to Austin for a special session is always an option, Perry said, there could be other ways to save the agencies, which the House and Senate couldn't agree on before their 2009 regular session ended Monday night.

Other than neglecting to renew the charter of 5 critical state agencies, what else did, and did not, happen during the 140 day 2009 regular legislative session: (Summary of the Legislative Study Group's detailed report - PDF)

BECOMES LAW (with or without the governor Perry's signature)
  • Booster seats — Requires children younger than 8 riding in passenger vehicles to sit secured in a booster seat or car seat.
  • Tejano monument — Allows for construction on the Capitol grounds of a monument honoring Texas' Hispanic history.
  • State Board of Education — Requires that meetings be webcast.
  • Shield law — Protects journalists from having to reveal confidential sources to authorities, with exceptions.
SENT TO GOVERNOR
  • Windstorm insurance plan — Issue declared emergency by Gov. Rick Perry.
  • Teacher raises — Provides an $800 pay increase for teachers.
  • Prison security — Beefs up security at about a dozen state prisons where contraband smuggling has been rampant.
  • Disabled veterans — Provides homestead property tax exemptions for disabled veterans.
  • Top-tier universities — Seeks to lift some of the state's public universities to national stature.
  • State budget — $182.3 billion for 2010-11, including $1.9 billion increase for public education, $1.2 billion increase for higher education, $2 billion in bonds for new roads, $450 million in bonds for cancer research and a $208 million increase to help people with mental disabilities live in community settings rather than in institutions.
  • State workers — The budget and another measure include a 7 percent to 8 percent pay raise for correctional workers and law enforcement officers and a one-time $800 payment for other state employees.
  • Top 10 percent— Scales back the number of students the University of Texas at Austin would have to admit under the law guaranteeing a spot to those graduating in the top 10 percent of their Texas high school class.
  • Small-business tax cut — Exempts more small businesses from the state's business tax.
  • Doctor loan repayment— Repays medical school loans of doctors who agree to practice in under served areas. Pays for this by changing the way the state taxes smokeless tobacco.
  • Governor's Mansion restoration — The budget and another bill include $22 million to fix the arson-damaged mansion.
  • School accountability — Reduces the reliance on high-stakes testing in lower grades.
  • School supplies tax break — Expands the August sales tax holiday on school supplies to include 25 additional items, from backpacks to scissors.
  • Seat belts — Requires that seat belts be worn in the back seats of vehicles.
  • Tanning — Bans children younger than
  • 16½ from using a tanning bed.
  • State schools — More oversight and security for institutions for Texans with mental disabilities and community homes that serve a similar population.
  • Cell phones — Bans use by drivers in active school zones, unless the driver has a hands-free device.
  • Capital murder — Requires that juveniles convicted of the offense be sentenced to life in prison rather than death.
  • Prekindergarten — Expands half-day prekindergarten programs to full day.
  • Laser hair removal—Requires training and certification for laser hair-removal technicians.
  • Employee Retirement System
  • Increases retirement contribution rate for members.
  • Department of Public Safety — Reauthorizes the state's primary law enforcement agency, with provisions to modernize and streamline management and operations that have been criticized as antiquated.
DEAD
  • 'Choose Life' license plates — Gives residents the option of buying a license plate that says 'Choose Life.'
  • Cockfighting — Expands laws to allow prosecution of people who raise roosters to fight or own a cockfighting arena.
  • Unemployment insurance — Expands eligibility for unemployment benefits to qualify for $555 million in federal stimulus money.
  • Voter ID — Expands voter identification requirements at polls.
  • Smoking ban — Prohibits smoking at indoor workplaces, including restaurants and bars.
  • Guns on campus — Allows students with state handgun licenses to carry guns on campus.
  • Children's Medicaid — Expands the program by allowing families to enroll once a year instead of every six months.
  • Tuition controls — Restricts tuition increases at public universities.
  • University of Texas Investment Management Co. oversight — Alters the makeup of its board and puts the Permanent University Fund under the oversight of a pension and investment board.
  • Local-option gas tax— Allows metro voters to decide on levies to pay for roads and other transportation projects.
  • Electric cooperatives— Requires member-owned utilities, such as the Pedernales Electric Cooperative, to abide by new rules on open records and meetings.
  • Abortion ultrasound— Women seeking an abortion must be offered an ultrasound.
  • Stem cells — A budget provision prohibiting the use of state dollars for embryonic stem cell research.
  • Veto override — Asks voters to allow the Legislature to convene for a limited time after the biennial legislative session to override gubernatorial vetoes.
  • Trans fats — Bans trans fats from food served at restaurants.
  • Take-home cars — Requires employees who drive state cars on personal errands to reimburse agencies for that personal use.
  • Incumbents on ballots — Designates incumbents on primary ballots.
  • Strip club fee — Lowers a $5-per-patron strip club fee that's being challenged in court to $3 and directs the money only toward programs helping victims of sexual assault, not to health insurance. Another measure repeals the $5 fee and imposes a new tax on sexually oriented businesses.
  • Mezuzas — Prevents homeowners associations from banning mezuzas and other religious objects from home entrances.
  • State Board of Education — Strips curriculum and textbook authority from state board.
  • Solar panels — Starts loan program to help homeowners pay for installing solar panels.
  • Wine corkage —Allows restaurant patrons to bring their own wine and take home what's left in the bottle.
  • Gambling — Constitutional amendment for casinos and slot machines at horse and dog racetracks.
  • Workplace injuries — Clarifies state law to allow injured contract workers to sue work-site owners.
  • Development — Gives Hill Country counties more development authority.
  • Electricity — Allows cities to negotiate power prices for their residents.
  • Power generators — Puts new market share limits on power generators.
  • Utilities — New restrictions on when utilities may disconnect power service for certain disadvantaged customers./li>

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Dan Dodd, Collin County Democratic Party Chairperson Hospitalized

Daniel Dodd, Chairperson of the Democratic Party of Collin County, was admitted to the hospital Friday to treat a blood clot in his leg.

Often termed "deep venous thrombosis" such blood clots can quickly kill if it moves up to the lungs, where can form a pulmonary embolism. This condition make headlines every few years when seemingly healthy people collapse after long airplane flights or being in similarly cramped quarters. Vice President Cheney suffered one after a long trip in 2006. NBC correspondent David Bloom died of one in 2003 after spending days inside a tank while covering the invasion of Iraq. The surgeon General estimates that every year, between 350,000 and 600,000 Americans get one of these clots — and at least 100,000 of them die.

If the blood clot is caught early and treated properly, patients do very well with a mortality risk of less than 5 percent. A major goal of treatment is to prevent further abnormal clotting in the body and to avoid complications such as the development of a blood clot in the lungs. Blood clots are treated by administering blood thinners, like Heparin, Coumadin or others such as Lovenox injections. Treatment can depend on many factors such as the size of the clot, but most of the time patients must be on a blood thinner for several months. Contrary to popular belief, blood thinners do not dissolve a clot. They keep new clots from forming and from the clot getting any bigger, but the body actually dissolves the clot itself.

Dodd was expect to remain in the hospital for up to three days.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Melting Greenland Ice Sheets May Threaten Northeast United States, Canada

ScienceDaily (May 28, 2009) — Melting of the Greenland ice sheet this century may drive more water than previously thought toward the already threatened coastlines of New York, Boston, Halifax, and other cities in the northeastern United States and Canada, according to new research led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

The study, which is being published May 29 in Geophysical Research Letters, finds that if Greenland's ice melts at moderate to high rates, ocean circulation by 2100 may shift and cause sea levels off the northeast coast of North America to rise by about 12 to 20 inches (about 30 to 50 centimeters) more than in other coastal areas. The research builds on recent reports that have found that sea level rise associated with global warming could adversely affect North America, and its findings suggest that the situation is more threatening than previously believed.

"If the Greenland melt continues to accelerate, we could see significant impacts this century on the northeast U.S. coast from the resulting sea level rise," says NCAR scientist Aixue Hu, the lead author. "Major northeastern cities are directly in the path of the greatest rise."

Read the full story at ScienceDaily.com

Texans for Better Science Education Push For SBOE Chairman McLeroy's Confirmation

Update May 28, 2009 at 5:10PM - Voting strictly along party lines, the Senate refused to confirm McLeroy on a 19 to 11 vote - two less than the two-thirds majority required for confirmation. (With one Democrat not voting)
---------------------------------

Original Post May 28, 2009 at 12:17PM - Senate confirmation of Don McLeroy as chairman of the State Board of Education (SBOE) is expected to come up in the Texas Senate some time Thursday or Friday. McLeroy, a dentist who has no background in science or education, was first appointed SBOE chairman by Republican Governor Rick Perry in the summer of 2007. McLeroy was reappointed as SBOE chairman by Gov. Perry in 2009. Whether he can garner two-thirds approval from senators is an open question. Earlier in the session, many lawmakers believed his nomination wasn't even going to get out of committee.

The right-leaning Texans for Better Science Education, who advocates teaching creationism rather than evolution in Texas science classrooms, has sent "URGENT" messages to its members, asking them to call their senators to support McLeroy's confirmation. The group's argument?
"...He is being attacked NOT for anything done wrong during his two years as chair of the SBOE but primarily because he is Christian!"
Texans for Better Science Education contend that McLeroy is being attacked primarily [just] for being a Christian because;
As chairman of the State Board of Education, McLeroy advocates that Texas public school students should be taught "creation science" rather than biological evolution science. McLeroy is convinced that evolution taught uncritically to Texas students undermines the tenet of Christianity that people were created in the image of God.

McLeroy advocates that the Texas education standard, as set by the SBOE, must require Texas educators to have a "critical discussion" on the “strengths and weaknesses of scientific theories" with public school students.

McLeroy advocates that the science disciplines of physics, geology, biology and the archaeological study of the fossil record, which all provide evidence the earth is 4.5 billion years old and that biological processes first appeared at least 3.9 billion years ago, must be critically challenged by Texas teachers.

McLeroy advocates that teachers must engage Texas students in a "critical discussion" that archaeological evidence in the fossil record does not support the idea of natural selection as an explanation of how organisms evolved on earth over millions of years.

McLeroy wants teachers to lead students to the believe that cells and the DNA code controlling their function is so complex that intelligent design by a creator and not evolution is the only answer that can be accepted. McLeroy further advocates that the alternative "intelligent design scientific theory" should be offered to Texas students by science teachers.
In March, after a year of fierce debate about how evolution should be taught (or not taught) in Texas public schools, the State Board of Education (SBOE) voted on and passed a final version of new science education standards that will guide the content of science discussion and textbooks for the next decade.

In March, the State Board of Education removed the “critical discussion of strengths and weaknesses of scientific theories" language from the official education standard. McLeroy, supported by other creationists on the board, then effectively restored the “strengths and weaknesses of scientific theories" intent with alternative language. The amended phrases ask teachers to prompt students to “examine all sides of scientific evidence and scientific explanations so as to encourage critical thinking.”

The SBOE's decision has a large impact across the U.S. given Texas' ability, because of its size, to influence what is printed in textbooks nationwide. The new standard, with McLeroy's new language, allows him to pressure national textbook publishers to write the “strengths and weaknesses of evolution discussion" into textbooks used nationwide.

The Texans for Better Science Education group has focused their lobbying efforts on three socially-moderate Republican Senators, Sens. Seliger, Wentworth and Averitt, who have not yet voiced support for McLeroy.


KERA: Texas Schools Lag Behind in Bioscience Education (May 19, 2009)








"Only a Theory" 2:19
Barbara Forrest, Professor of Philosophy Southeastern Louisiana University - "When creationists try to dismiss evolution as 'only a theory,' they are misusing the word theory."

Avoiding the Supernatural 1:41
Nick Matzke, Public Information Project Director National Center for Science Education - "A conservative judge isn't going to just redefine science."

Science and Religion 2:29
Ken Miller, Biologist Brown University - "What science isn't very good at is answering questions [on] the meaning and purpose of things."

On Isaac Newton 1:34

A Solid Theory 1:18
Kevin Padian, Paleontologist UC Berkeley - "I don't know where people get the idea that evolution is a theory in crisis."

Natural Explanations 1:33
Robert T. Pennock, Philosopher and Evolutionary Scientist Michigan State University - "You can't have gaps that you fill in by appeal to miracles."

Science Is Not Dogmatic 2:02

Science Tests Its Claims 1:12
Eugenie Scott, Executive Director National Center for Science Education - "If you teach intelligent design as a science, you are confusing students about the nature of science."

The Power of Science 1:23
Neil Shubin, Paleontologist University of Chicago and the Field Museum - "Not every idea, no matter how beautiful, qualifies as science."