Conventional Wisdom v. The Facts On Voter Photo ID Law

Many freshmen Tea Party Republicans making law in Austin this spring owe their election wins last November to senior voters. Twenty percent of those who voted in the November 2, 2010 election were age 65 or older and they voted heavily for Republican candidates. Furthermore, white senior voters were among those who most wanted to send Republican legislators to Austin to enact a photo ID requirement law.

Conventional wisdom goes that voter photo ID legislation will benefit Republican candidates in future elections because poor voters and minority voters, who are most likely to support Democrats, are the voters who are least likely to have required photo identification.

The voter photo ID legislation about to become Texas law will be the most stringent version among all the states requiring dated and unexpired government issued photo ID to vote. The Texas law lists very few types of state government issued photo IDs that may be accepted by Election Judges. Student IDs and non-photo ID alternatives will not be accepted by Election Judges. The more stringent the legislation, the more anti Democratic candidate the bill becomes - That is the conventional wisdom of many Democrats and Republicans.

Well, except when it comes to senior Texans who vote Republican by a significant margin. Elderly voters are among those who likely lack properly dated and unexpired government issued photo identification. Many voters over age 70 no longer drive and so they are less likely to have a valid unexpired driver's license, the most common form of ID. Texas doesn't make it easy for the elderly to keep driving—the elderly must renew their licenses more frequently and take eye exams. Without a driver's license, many would not think to get another type of photo ID. So, not surprisingly, the original version of the Republican written voter photo ID bill exempted voters age 70 and over from the ID requirement. From a partisan perspective, it made sense to exempt the group without ID that votes for Republican candidates by significant margins.

Rep. Bonnen, a hard line conservative who voted against a similar version of the voter photo ID bill in 2009 because it wasn't restrictive enough, offered an amendment to drop the age 70 and over ID exemption. Many of Bonnen's Republican colleagues signed on to his amendment and because the bill's sponsor, Rep. Patricia Harless, R-Spring, didn't object, there was no vote. So, the version of the bill that passed in the House Wednesday night does not include an age 70 and over ID exemption.

The vote so many senior Republicans cast last November to send so many Republicans to Austin to cut corporate taxes, gut their Medicaid, gut public education for their grandchildren and enact a voter photo ID law may have been the last vote they cast in Texas, ever.

Opposition To Nuclear Power Rises Amid Japanese Crisis

Pew Research Center For The People & The Press: Not surprisingly, public support for the increased use of nuclear power has declined amid the ongoing nuclear emergency in Japan. Currently, 39% say they favor promoting the increased use of nuclear power while 52% are opposed. Last October, 47% favored promoting the increased use of nuclear power and the same percentage (47%) was opposed.

Opinion about expanding the use of nuclear power has fluctuated in recent years. However, the current measure matches a previous low in support for increased nuclear power recorded in September 2005 (39% favor, 53% oppose).

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted March 17-20 among 1,004 adults, finds little recent change in opinions about other energy policies -- with one notable exception. With the recent surge in gas prices, support for increased offshore oil and gas drilling continues to rebound.

Currently, 57% say they favor allowing more offshore oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters while 37% are opposed. Last June amid the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, there was more opposition (52%) than support (44%) for allowing more offshore drilling. Support for increased offshore energy drilling is approaching its pre-Gulf spill level; in February 2010, the public backed increased offshore drilling by about two-to-one (63% to 31%).

The survey shows that substantial majorities continue to support increased federal funding for research on wind, solar and hydrogen technology (74%), spending more on subway, rail and bus systems (61%), and providing tax incentives for the purchase of hybrid vehicles (58%). These measures are virtually unchanged from last October, though there is less support for alternative energy research and spending on mass transit than from 2005 to 2009.

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Wall Street Commodity Traders Are Behind Soaring Gas Prices

Unregulated Wall Street commodity traders [speculators] are behind the soaring gas prices.

Here is the straight scoop:

Thank A Teacher For What They Make!

A Tea Party-infused GOP legislature in Austin is calling for $31 billion in cuts to state spending and they claim, as Gov. Perry has stated many times, that Republicans in the legislature are simply doing what the voters sent them there to do. Did the voters really send the GOP to Austin to decimate public education?

On Election Day November, 2, 2010 voters expressed support for GOP Tea Party pledges of yet more rounds of tax cuts and reduced government spending.

Most of the 37% of registered Texas voters who turned out to vote in 2010 expressed support for the GOP Tea Party philosophy that additional rounds of tax cuts and government spending cuts would help rather than hurt the economic environment for job creation in Texas.

Most 2010 voters accepted the GOP Tea Party argument that any tax supported government spending to provide for the common good of the people in areas like health care and public education are socialist big brother government plots of Democrats.

But, did most 2010 voters and the 63% of registered voters who decided not to vote understand that GOP Tea Party candidates want to eliminate government spending for what most believe are basic and critical government services? Did most of the 13,269,233 people registered to vote in Texas truly understand the GOP Tea Party agenda is to eliminate all taxes on business and the wealthy and then eliminate government spending on programs like the public education, public safety, health care for our children and our parents, road construction and maintenance and other such government services? Did the voters understand that the GOP Tea Party call even those most basic government services socialist programs that should be cut ever deeper until they are eliminated altogether?

Up until this month, most voters did not understand the magnitude or the ferocity of the attack the GOP Tea Party has mounted on basic government services, such as public education, that Texans depend on to support our democracy, provide the quality of life our families enjoy and build a better future for our children.

GOP Tea Party rhetoric has hit reality as the Texas House passes a 2011-13 budget that cuts almost $31 billion from spending levels authorized in the 2009-11 budget. "If you want to close this shortfall through cuts alone, you have to either (completely) cut payments to Medicaid providers, cut payments to school districts or lay-off a substantial number of state employees," said state Rep. Jim Pitts, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. "You would have to do these things immediately."