Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Real ID Law: Passport Required for US Interstate Travel

Driver’s licenses issued by states not compliant with Real ID will soon not be accepted for people boarding domestic commercial flights, or to get past the front door of your local local Social Security office, or other federal buildings.

Starting in 2016, travelers from the states of New York, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and the American Samoa will not be able to use their driver’s licenses as ID to board domestic flights because those states are “non-compliant” with the security standards outlined in the Real ID Act of 2005, which the U.S. government has been slowly implementing for the past decade.

On May 11, 2005, President Bush signed into law the Emergency Supplemental Appropriation for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005 (H.R. 1268, P.L. 109-13), which included the “Real ID Act of 2005.” The Real ID Act of 2005 mandates that all fifty states must follow specific security, authentication, and issuance regulations, administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in issuing driver's license and personal identification cards. In 2006, DHS estimated the cost of implementation at $23.1 billion over 10 years, of which $14 billion are costs to states.

To be compliant with the Real ID federal law, a state must require applicants for first time driver's license or ID card issuance, and renewal of driver's license and ID issuance for those issued before the state implemented Real ID procedures, to prove five items of fact (full legal name, birth date, citizenship or immigration status, social security number, and proof of permanent residence address of at least 30 days) in person at their state driver's license office. Title II of the Real ID law lists these documents as satisfying the items of fact requirements:

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Biden: Run for President May Not Be “Feasible”


In an exclusive interview with Father Matt Malone, S.J., editor in chief of America, Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. discusses his thoughts on Pope Francis, as well as his Catholic faith, his upbringing, his public life and private sorrow, and his thinking about a possible presidential campaign.

Although Biden stresses he hasn’t yet made a decision, he acknowledges he “may not get there in time to make it feasible.”
"It's just not there yet and it may not get there in time to make it feasible to be able to run and succeed, because there are certain windows that will close," Biden said. "But if that's it, that's it. It's not like I can rush it."
With the first Democratic presidential debate just a few weeks away, Biden is clearly aware his window of opportunity is closing. It’s not clear what he sees as the deadline, though he could be thinking of the October 13th debate in particular or the pressures of organizing to file to have his name placed on prime ballots in 50 states, plus DC and U.S. territories. Those filing windows start in early November and begin to close in early December.

Joe Biden is polling at around twenty percent among Democratic presidential candidates, despite not being a declared candidate, meaning he has some built in support. Nationally, Biden polls behind Hillary Clinton by roughly a two-to-one margin, and he is even with or trails Bernie Sanders, depending on the poll.  But Biden seems to be a person at peace with the idea the end of his political career serving in elected office may have arrived -- as Biden said, “If that’s it, that’s it.”

The America Media interview was conducted on September 17, 2015 in Washington, D.C. The following video highlights parts of Father Malone's interview with Biden. The full half-hour video can be viewed at here.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Taxes, Tests, and Trumpisms


"We need to control the admission of new low-earning workers in order to... help schools and communities falling behind." - Source, Donald J. Trump's Presidential Campaign Website

As I was volunteering at the Collin County Democratic Party booth during this last weekend's Plano Balloon Festival, I was joined in conversation with a fair vendor and Scott Coleman, one of our Democratic candidates for Texas State Representative, District 67.
We discussed a myriad of topics, and at one point touched on public education. We briefly touched on the revolting amount of money ($13 billion) and time (45 days) spent each year on the STAAR test, even though studies have demonstrated its inadequacy as an instructional tool. After that, the vendor mentioned her belief that the failure of our schools is due to the significant number of migrants who do not pay taxes into the system.
Throughout my time as a public education advocate, this idea has been put forth on a normal basis as an "unassailable fact."

But is it really the truth?

To figure that out, it is necessary to understand a few simple facts about public school finance in Texas. First, every district's budget consists of three revenue streams; Federal (via income taxes), State (via sales taxes), and Local (via property taxes). The state and local portion of the budget are approximately 45% each, and the federal portion is 10% or less.

Some immigrants are undocumented and are not currently paying federal income taxes, but all of them pay property taxes (through rent) and sales taxes (on goods and services). Technically, that means they pay about 90% of the same tax as the rest of us.

But what about that other 10%?

As I have stated in prior posts, the STAAR test is an unfunded federal mandate, on which we have wasted upwards of $13 billion per year with no positive results. A simple solution is to eliminate the STAAR test entirely. Yes, the federal government might hold back their measly $6 billion in funding, but we can use the other $7 billion to decrease class sizes. Freeing up 45 days of the school year for actual instruction would sure go a long way to mitigating the effects of the growing poverty on educational attainment.

Without the test, we all pay the same taxes into our school system, eliminating the argument that immigrants are the reason for our schools' failure and refocusing public ire where it belongs, the Texas Legislature. We've allowed them to scapegoat citizens of Hispanic descent for far too long. The fear of migrants is an antiquated tool used most often by charlatans on the right, like Trump, to defund and privatize key social services. The only way to address this fear is through the liberal application of knowledge.

Please join me in calling our representatives in Austin (and any upcoming candidates) to eliminate standardized testing in Texas public schools.


Your friend (and ally),

Michael Messer
Friendly Neighborhood Democrats

Friday, September 18, 2015

JEB!: Bro President Bush Kept Us - Safe?

During the GOP's September presidential debate last week, Jeb Bush said his brother, President George W. Bush, kept us safe:
Jeb said: “You know what? As it relates to my brother, there is one thing I know for sure, he kept us safe.

I don’t know if you remember, Donald. You remember the rubble?

You remember the firefighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism and he did keep us safe.”
News flash for Jeb: The worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor occurred on his brother's watch and he is responsible for the pile of rubble that had been the World Trade Towers.  He is also responsible for the rubble at the Pentagon and the deaths of the courageous passengers and crew of United Flight 93 on 9/11.

If Jeb Bush wants to continue using his brother as an example of why he should be president, the American people need to be reminded of exactly what happened during those years and the resulting consequences that we are continuing to deal with, including the fact that 9/11 happened under Bush’s watch, which is the exact opposite of keeping us safe.

Here are some more news flashes for Jeb:
  • The worst Economic Recession Crash since the 1928 Great Depression Crash, stoked by Republican ideology of unregulated banking and financial markets, occurred on his brother's watch in 2008. 
  • The worst flooding disaster of a great American city, New Orleans, occurred on his brother's watch in 2006.
  • Bush-Cheney administration falsely represented intelligence related to Iraq's supposed WMD program and Saddam's alleged links to Al Qaeda as an excuse to start a 10 year long war in Iraq that claimed the lives of nearly 4,500 service men and women and sent home over 32,000 wounded soldiers - not counting PTSD wounds. 
  • George Bush sped up climate change with an energy policy written in secret by VP Dick Cheney and representatives of the Oil industry. 
President George W. Bush kept us safe on 9/11?

What I Didn't Know About Bernie...

I'm going to start this post off with an admission of guilt. I was watching friends debate back and forth this morning about the possibility of a Republican win next November and the pros and cons of the two leading candidates on the Democratic side. Inevitably, the conversation devolved into ad hominem attacks and bold statements like "the Old Grumpy Guy" cannot possibly win. When one friend mentioned that Senator Sanders has been highly attractive to young voters, another friend asked the following:
"What has he accomplished while in the senate for our country? What bill of his has passed EVER? Why are you such a supporter with no data?"
Upon reading that, I realized that I had really never researched the long-term legislative efficacy of either Senator Clinton or Sanders. My face flushed red with guilt, and my head hung low in shame. He wasn't directing his ire my way, but his words had struck a chord. After a few moments of silent personal admonishment for ignoring this glaringly important piece of information in my candidate research, I decided now was the time.

It was time for me to find out the truth about Senator Sanders.

(Photo courtesy of Congress.gov)
One of the most common critiques of Senator Sanders as a presidential candidate is that his combative nature would severely hinder any hope of him actually passing any legislation based on his ideas. Supporters of Senator Clinton have often stated that while he was fighting with both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, she was busy passing legislation.

(Photo courtesy of Congress.gov)

So I did a little digging in the Congress.gov database to find out more, and what I found was nothing less than astonishing.

Throughout almost a decade in Congress, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton either sponsored or cosponsored over 2,160 bills in policy areas spanning from Health and International Affairs to Housing & Community Development. After a great deal of hard work, negotiation and compromise, 77 of those bills found their way to the president's desk and became law.

Then I looked up Bernie.

As a member of Congress from 1991 all the way through 2014 (over two decades!!!) he only sponsored or cosponsored a measly 5,292 bills. All of that fighting with Democrats and Republicans must have really hurt his efforts, because out of those, only 206 were signed into law.

Wait a second. That can't be right...

If we were to divide the number of bills they successfully turned into laws by the number of years they were in office...

(Mashes Keys on Calculator...)

Senator Clinton                          Senator Sanders
7.7 successful bills/year              8.5 successful bills/year

Well, gee whiz, Wally. Do you mean to tell me that the Independent Senator from Vermont with all of those crazy ideas about income inequality and social justice passed more legislation not only across his entire congressional career but also per year??? Next you'll be telling me that democratic socialism doesn't mean the end of capitalism and that the vast majority of programs that our parents relied on to earn their way into the middle class are quickly being defunded and privatized at the expense of future generations.

Yeah, Beav. That's what we're telling you.


Special thanks today to my friend, George, whose attempt to paint all supporters of Senator Sanders' candidacy as blind supporters led me to finally do the research I should have done so many months ago. I couldn't have done it without you, buddy.

Your friend,

Michael Messer
Friendly Neighborhood Democrats

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Why Bernie's Lack of Superdelegates is a Good Thing

Recent articles have touted Secretary Clinton's endorsements from Super-delegates as another indicator of why she is guaranteed to win the Democratic Party nomination next year.

As stated by Jonathan Bernstein in his August 28th op-ed for BloombergView,
"Super-delegates were added in the 1980s for two reasons. One was practical: It was the only way to ensure that those party leaders could get to the convention, at least as delegates. The other was political: Democrats were concerned that their new system didn’t place enough weight on electability, and believed a larger voice for politicians and formal party leaders would tilt the nomination in that direction."
There is at least one reason why Senator Sanders has not received as many Super-delegate endorsements, which I would like to briefly elaborate upon here.

Super-delegates consist of United States Senators, Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Governors, and national Democratic Party leaders. When making the decision regarding their endorsement for president, their primary consideration is the amount of money a candidate can raise throughout the campaign. It's been noted as the deciding factor in 91% of Congressional elections, and Bernie Sanders has overtly made it his campaign's policy to reject campaign financing from corporations. Overall, for Super-delegates it's a safe bet.

That said, the reason most Super-delegates have endorsed Hillary is the same reason Bernie is gaining in the polls. It's not that Sanders supporters hate Clinton. In fact, the recent "Des Moines Register poll of Iowa Democrats revealed that 96% of Sen. Sanders’ supporters are not anti-Clinton. Only 2% of Sanders supporters are doing so because they are anti-Clinton." They just want to elect a president who actively calls for the end of unregulated campaign financing which has definitively biased the legislative and budgetary outputs of Congress and state legislatures.


Your Friend & Ally,

Michael Messer
Friendly Neighborhood Democrats

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Talking The Talk On Internet Talk Radio

In early June this year I teamed up with cohost Rheana Piegols to broadcast our "Eyes Wide Open" progressive talk program on BlogTalkUSA Radio every Tuesday evening 8:30 PM to 11:30 PM CDT.

We've had a few interesting guests on our program lately who have given us some very interesting views on Texas and national politics. Here are four program podcast recordings we hope you take the time to enjoy.


This week on BlogTalkUSA Radio, "Eyes Wide Open" program cohosts Michael Handley and Rheana Piegols welcome fellow Texan and dedicated public servant, Mike Collier. In 2014 Mike threw his hat into the ring to run for Texas Comptroller.

After the election, Mike embarked on a 2015 Texas "listen tour" talking Democrats across Texas for Texas Democratic Party Chair, Gilberto Hinojosa. Mike shares his experiences with Texas politics and his thoughts on the issues and candidates for the Texas and National Election in 2016!

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Of Professors & Prisons

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)

You might not recognize the name, but it is “the largest private corrections company in the United States.” Have you seen the third season of Orange is the New Black? CCA is the real-life version of the corporation that takes over management at Litchfield Penitentiary and cuts down on cost in overtly stupid ways. It’s a multi-billion dollar behemoth, recognized for its extensive lobbying efforts at the federal level to boost immigrant detention, and in states like Texas to ensure that drug laws remain strict.

Friday, August 14, 2015

Why do #BlackLivesMatter?

I dropped my 7-month old baby son off at daycare this morning. Before I left I watched for a moment as he slowly crawled on the mat toward the only other baby in the room. The other boy was black, with curly hair and inquisitive eyes that followed me for a while as I spoke with the early morning teacher, a wonderful Indian woman who adores my son. After handing off all the bottles, diapers, wipes, and changes of clothes, I turned to find both children locked in a deep gaze. My son was wobbling back and forth on his knees as the other boy lounged in one of the bouncers.

My son's face cracked wide open with a dimpled smile. Babies aren't born racist.

Babies aren't born racists, but over their lives they come to perceive differences and learn biases which will shape the way they interact with the world. Some of those biases will come from their parents. Others might come from their friends or the media they watch.

It's been a little over one year since the death of Michael Brown, and in that time, "nearly 30 unarmed black men were killed in police shootings," including Tamir Rice, a 12-year old boy. We've seen the rise of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, bringing with it an incredibly important conversation. With every death our people grow weary and cynical. We desperately need open dialogue that promotes meaningful and significant action.

Radio and talk-show pundits loudly adulate trigger-happy vigilantes for what they consider to be righteous justice. They tell minorities that if they don't want to be killed, they shouldn't act up.

"Innocent until proven guilty (in a court of law)" is beyond them.

Gnashing their teeth over the music and culture of the recently deceased, they purposefully ignore and marginalize the overt and entrenched injustices faced daily by almost anyone who isn't white. Pointing at the president, they proclaim that racism is dead while scapegoating various minorities for everything from increased drug use to the decline of public schools.

They are paid well to promote these ideas. To tell us that we, as "upstanding, hardworking, and white" citizens, shouldn't care about what happens to people of color.

They are paid to sell that line of thought by billionaires and corporations which gain profits through highly unethical machinations of law in both Congress and our state legislatures. They tell us to focus on the fraud and abuse of the welfare system instead of questioning how "liar's loans" were targeted primarily toward poor ethnic communities before the 2008 crash. They swamp the airwaves with fear over immigrants while promoting the defunding and privatization of our schools, starting with those in predominantly black and Hispanic areas. They attack African American and Hispanic single mothers hoping that we will ignore for-profit prisons full of fathers thanks to officials elected with corporate money. We are told that the poor have chosen to be poor while they are inundated with advertisements on every corner for payday loans with ridiculous interest rates. They tell us that they should just go to college, but unaccredited for-profit universities with huge ad budgets made billions in student loans which often end in default because those degrees are worthless.

They keep us divided with these prejudices and conquer us all by spreading fear and ignorance. Subjugating huge portions of our population to a minimum-wage (aka, "starvation wage") existence, without much hope of betterment, has effectively decimated the American Dream. In 2013, a study found that the United States came in last in economic mobility amongst the 13 rich nations in the OECD. In layman's terms, that means that in America, if you are born poor, you are likely to be poor your entire life. If you are born wealthy...

So why do #BlackLivesMatter?

Black lives matter because they are people, and by ignoring the manner in which they have been treated by our economic and justice systems, we have created a trap for ourselves. With our eyes shut, our government defunded their schools, and we remained blind to the negative effect it had on our own children. As their pleas for justice fall on deaf ears, we subsidize a for-profit prison industry that charges us twice as much for an inmate than what we currently pay for a student. Without speaking up for a living wage and for all workers and gender pay equity, we sacrifice our future earnings to pay for the effects of starvation wages used to bolster profits.

President Lincoln said it best:
"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free... It will become all one thing or all the other."
He was speaking about the states in our union which allowed slavery and those which didn't, and it was a prescient statement about what was to come almost two centuries later. As middle-class and poor children are forced to take on more and more student debt, we have become a nation of indentured servants. Nominal wages have declined for decades, making it harder to pay back that debt, and laws have been passed to prevent them from being dissolved via bankruptcy. Companies now use credit checks in the hiring process, a practice which demonstrably favors the wealthy. Usury has been revived in states like Texas, where loan sharks received Governor Abbott's stamp of approval to charge up to 1,000 percent interest.

We ignore the treatment of black people by the justice system at our own peril, for when finally feel the financial noose tighten around our own necks, our protests will be cut short. When peaceful white members of Occupy Wall Street were maced, tased, beaten, shot with rubber bullets, and killed, some black people could be heard welcoming them to the club. We may never understand how centuries of such treatment has impacted their lives and their families, but some of us are starting to awaken to the shared reality of our future.


Your Friend & Ally,

Michael Messer
Friendly Neighborhood Democrats

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Texas’ Voter I.D. Law Discriminatory, Rules U.S. Fifth Circuit Court


On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans unanimously agreed with U.S. Southern District Court Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos' October 2014 finding that Texas’ SB14 photo voter ID law has a discriminatory effect on black and Latino voters, and therefore violates section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

After a two-week trial on the constitutionality of Texas' photo I.D. law in September 2014, Judge Ramos struck down Texas' voter photo I.D. law with a 147-page finding issued on October 9, 2014.

Judge Ramos found the law had been adopted “with an unconstitutional discriminatory purpose,” created “an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote” and amounted to a poll tax.

The state of Texas petitioned the Fifth Circuit Court to stay Judge Ramos' order, pending the appeal. The stay was granted and the the Fifth Circuit three-judge panel heard the appeal on April 28, 2015.