Texas House Approves A Redistricting Plan

House Districts in Denton, Collin, Tarrant, Dallas and Rockwall Co. Click to go to District Viewer map. From the “Select Plans” drop down – select “Base Plans” Scroll down to find and click on “PlanH276”

The GOP-led Texas House approved a redistricting plan early Thursday that would all but guarantee a continued Republican majority — albeit a smaller one than the party has now.

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

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

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

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

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie released the statement on the passage of the State House redistricting map bill, HB 150:

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

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

More details:

• Houston Chronicle: House OKs political map that boosts GOP
• Redistricting: U.S. Census Bureau 2010 County Level Counts - Collin Co.

Trump Leading The GOP In Race-Baiting Fear-Mongering

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Additional:

• NPR: Confronting Trump's Coded Racism
• JackAndJillPolitics: With President Obama’s Birth Certificate, Klansman Trump Reminds Blacks They Will Never Be American - Article and Video by Baratunde Thurston
  

Texas Leads Nation In Households Ditching Their Landline Phones

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

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

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

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

In Texas, 32.5% of all households are wireless only. But the "wireless mostly" number is 20.3% according to the CDC. Combine those numbers and almost 53% of Texas households rely primarily or exclusively on mobile phones. In several states the combined figure approaches or exceeds 50% of the population:

• Texas: 52.8%
• Arkansas: 50.9%
• Mississippi: 49.8%
• Arizona: 48.1%
• Nebraska: 47.3%

Metro areas often have even higher cell-only adoption rates than the state as a whole. In Texas, 43.2% of households in Dallas County are wireless only. But the "wireless mostly" number is 17.7% according to the CDC. Combine those numbers and almost 61% of Dallas County households rely primarily or exclusively on mobile phones. The combined figure approaches or exceeds 50% of the population in most metro areas of Texas:

• Dallas County: Cell-Only (43.2%) + Cell-Mostly (17.7%) = 61.9%
• Bexar County: Cell-Only (29.1%) + Cell-Mostly (17.7%) = 46.8%
• El Paso County: Cell-Only (32.8%) + Cell-Mostly (14.8%) = 47.6%
• Harris County: Cell-Only (32.4%) + Cell-Mostly (22.1%) = 54.5%

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

Plano ISD Council of PTAs Starts Education Funding Petition

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

To The Honorable Members of the Texas House of Representatives:

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

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

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

Sincerely,

The Voters of Texas

Click here to sign the petition.

The GOP Bait And Switch On Social Security And Medicare

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Billionaires' Tea Party

The Billionaires' Tea Party - Trailer

The Tea Party movement has taken American politics by storm.

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

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

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

• facebook.com/​billionairesteaparty
• billionairesteaparty.com (DVD available)
• Koch's web of influence
  

New TDP Ad On The GOP Price Tag

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

President Obama's Deficit Speech

President Obama's speech, as prepared for delivery:

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

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

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

House Considers Accounting Maneuver To Slightly Ease School Funding Crisis

The Texas Democratic Party released new video details on HB 1, the state budget bill passed by the Texas House on Sunday.

HB 1 codifies a draconian $164.5 billion 2011-13 budget that cuts $23 billion from 2009-13 spending levels. HB 1 slashes public school spending by nearly $8 billion and cuts Medicaid spending by more than $4 billion.

The deficit was created when 2006 legislative session lawmakers cut state revenue by giving deep business tax cuts.

Upon passage of the HB 1 Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio released a statement that says in part, "Eighty thousand kids are not going to get their scholarships and grant money because of this bill. Forty-three thousand people are going to get kicked out of nursing homes or denied nursing home entrance because of this bill..."

Lawmakers in the Texas Senate have been working on their own version of the budget, but the Senate version cuts only $13 billion from current spending levels to mitigate the cuts to public education and Medicaid. Senate budget-writers propose adding $10 billion state-related revenue through new and increased fees.

Thursday morning State Rep. Rob Orr, R-Burleson, introduced two bills to the House Appropriations Committee that could add several million dollars to the public schools budget over the next two years. These bills providing for some accounting maneuvers to more easily shift money around a couple of state agencies responsible for public school funding:

HB 2646 proposes allowing the School Land Board to transfer at least half of the net revenue it collects from a land trust it oversees to the Available School Fund (ASF), an endowment that puts money directly into public schools in Texas. Orr said that pot of money has risen to more than $2.5 billion in market value and contains more than $1 billion in cash. If that trend continues, the fund could supply the state with an additional $500 million in the next biennium.

HB 2646 requires companion legislation (HJR 109) to put a constitutional amendment on the November 8, 2011 ballot that would allow the General Land Office to distribute revenue directly to the ASF.

The School Land Board (SLB) was established in 1939 by the 46th Legislature to manage the sale and leasing of public lands that fund the Permanent School Fund. The Permanent School Fund (PSF) was established in the state Constitution of 1876, the current charter of Texas law, to fund public eduction using revenues generated from Texas' land and mineral resources. The SLB’s responsibilities include approving land sales, trades and exchanges, and the purchase of land for the PSF. In addition to this, the SLB issues permits, leases and easements for uses of state-owned submerged land. The SLB is just one of nine boards and councils chaired by the Commissioner of the General Land Office. As chairman of nine boards or councils, the Land Commissioner oversees matters that range from state lands and coastal issues to veterans affairs.

The General Land Office of Texas (GLO) manages state lands and mineral right properties, including oil and gas production leases on more than 20 million acres of state land. State lands and mineral right properties include the beaches, bays, estuaries and other submerged lands out to 10.3 miles in the Gulf of Mexico, institutional acreage, grazing lands in West Texas and timber lands in East Texas. Revenue and royalties are distributed to school districts on a per-pupil basis, helping to offset local school property taxes.

The Available School Fund is made up of the money set aside by the state from current or annual revenues for the support of the public school system. There are two major revenue sources for the fund: earnings from the Permanent School Fund managed by the School Land Board and 25 percent of fuel tax receipts. The fund does not receive annual appropriations by the legislature from other general state revenue sources.

Texas Republicans In Dust-Up Over Redistricting

Politico: A bitter, behind-the-scenes fight has broken out among Texas Republicans over redistricting, pitting Rep. Lamar Smith against longtime colleague Rep. Joe Barton.

The dispute is over the makeup of four new congressional districts for the Lone Star State, and centers on the racial balance — including the controversial issue of “bleaching,” or including more white voters in a district — of the new political map for Texas.

GOP Rep. Lamar Smith has taken the position that Hispanic population growth in Texas means that two of Texas' four new U.S. House districts should be majority-minority. Smith has been working with Dem Rep. Henry Cuellar to create a map that includes the new majority-minority districts. This has infuriated fellow Republican Rep. Joe Barton, who insists that at least three if not all four of the new district be drawn (gerrymandered) to favor non-minority Republicans.

Politico's sources indicate Gov. Perry's alleged plan is to skip Department of Justice pre-clearance and go directly to federal court, perhaps hoping for a friendly conservative panel backed by a conservative-leaning Supreme Court. The piece also reports that proposed maps have been circulated among Republicans, but of course, no one's sharing any copies.

Read more at Politico »

For full details on the 2010 Texas Census and redistricting for Texas and Collin Co. read: Redistricting : U.S. Census Bureau Releases 2010 County Level Counts