No more Texas governors for president
Diane Tran isn’t like most seventeen-year-old girls her age. Sure, there are many honors students taking dual credit U.S. History, dual credit English Literacy, College Algebra, Spanish Language AP. Sure there are some who work part time and full time jobs like Diane does at a dry cleaners and a wedding venue. But Diane does all of this to support herself and her two siblings.
Diane Tran’s parents divorced and abandoned her family, leaving her the responsibility of providing for them. She is a victim of numerous failures and disappointments by the adults around her. A teacher or authority figure should have reached out to her and made sure she didn’t slip through the cracks, but no one did. Somehow she’s not just an extraordinary worker and student, she’s an extraordinary human being with a fighting spirit.
The reason why we should care about her is this: The state of Texas is sentencing a young girl to a night of jail for being too emotionally and physically exhausted to go to school. The institutions that are to provide resources to youth and ensure justice are punishing her with a $100 fine and a criminal record.
Thank you.
YES! :D Ceiling Cat AND Basement Cat approve! :D
The founder of I Can Haz Cheezburger helped pay for a billboard targeting Texas Rep. Lamar Smith for his support of SOPA.
Our verdict: NEEDZ MOAR CATZ.
Why I hate summer (and you should too)
For real. Especially if you’re in Texas during the summer.
(via guardiancomment)
Hey, the McDonald Observatory said that it wouldn’t be visible in Central Texas! :(
Check out this photo our photographer Ricardo Brazziell shot of the solar eclipse over Austin. Did you get a chance to see it Sunday evening?
Sarah Palin has recorded a robocall supporting Texas Republican Senate candidate Ted Cruz in a tight primary at the end of this month. But, as a columnist for the Topeka Capital-Journal writes, some of the calls have been going to voters in Kansas.
“Hello, Texas!” begins the call. “I’m Sarah…
Note: Photo ID is NOT required to vote in the 2012 primary!
Can I vote before Primary Day?
- Yes. Any registered voter can vote before Primary Day by casting a ballot in person at an early voting center. The early voting period begins May 14, 2012 and ends on May 25, 2012. Check your local newspaper or call your county clerk or elections administrator for specific hours and locations.
- You may also be able to vote early by mail if you’re registered to vote and you meet any of the following qualifications: (1) you’ll be away from your county on Primary Day and during early voting; (2) you’re disabled; (3) you’re in jail; or (4) you’ll be 65 years of age or older on Primary Day.
Where do I vote?
- On Primary Day, you have to vote at the polling place to which you’re assigned.
- Your assigned polling place will be listed on the voter certificate that you should have received in the mail when you registered.
- If you don’t have your certificate, you can call your local voter registrar’s office or look up your polling place online.
Do I have to show ID in order to vote?
- You must show some form of ID, but you do NOT have to show a photo ID. State law requires all voters to show their voter registration certificate or some other form of identification before receiving a ballot.
What are the accepted forms of ID?
- You can vote in the primary using whatever form of ID you have used in past elections. Any one of the following is still valid identification for voting:
- Your voter registration certificate
- Your driver’s license or another photo ID card
- Your birth certificate
- U.S. citizenship papers
- U.S. passport
- Official mail addressed to you from a government entity
- A copy of a utility bill, paycheck, bank statement, government check, or other government document with your name and address
What if I don’t have any of the IDs listed on the back of my new voter registration certificate?
- You can still vote, even if you don’t have any of the IDs listed on the back of your new voter registration certificate. The explanation on the back of the new registration certificates lists what forms of ID will be required if the Photo Voter ID law ever does go into effect in the future. Since the law is not yet in effect – and may never be – you won’t need those forms of ID for this election.
What if the election worker insists that I must show a photo ID?
- Remind the poll worker that the new law is not effect. Say: “The Photo Voter ID law has not been approved by the Justice Department and is not yet in effect.”
- Remind the poll worker of existing law. Say: “Under the Texas Election Code, the valid forms of ID include, for example: (1) a voter registration certificate; (2) a driver’s license or photo ID card; (3) a birth certificate; (4) U.S. citizenship papers; (5) a U.S. passport; (6) official mail addressed to you from a government entity; or (7) a copy of a utility bill, paycheck, bank statement, government check, or other government document with your name and address. “
- Ask for help from a different poll worker.
- Tell a poll watcher, call your local voter registrar’s office, make a complaint online, or call one of the election hotlines:
- Texas Secretary of State: (800) 252-8683
- U.S. Department of Justice: (800) 253-3931
- ACLU Voting Rights Project: (877) 523-2792
- www.aclutx.org
What if someone tries to intimidate or harass me?
- Tell a poll worker right away. If the poll worker is the problem, tell a poll watcher, call your local voter registrar’s office, call one of the election hotline numbers listed at the end of this card.
What if I don’t have any ID?
- You can cast a provisional ballot, but that ballot probably won’t be counted. If you have time and have ID at home or work, it’s usually better to get your ID and return to the polls to cast a regular ballot.
In Texas, 7 in 10 children under age 1 are minorities
New census data find that for the first time more than half of the children under age 1 in the U.S. were minorities.
In Texas, nearly 7 in 10 people under age 1 were minorities as of July 2011, a slight increase from 2010.
Check out our map, which breaks down the population by county.
After years of speculation, estimates and projections, the Census Bureau has made it official: White births are no longer a majority in the United States.
Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 percent of all births in the 12-month period that ended last July, according to Census Bureau data made public on Thursday, while minorities — including Hispanics, blacks, Asians and those of mixed race — reached 50.4 percent, representing a majority for the first time in the country’s history.
Such a turn has been long expected, but no one was certain when the moment would arrive — signaling a milestone for a nation whose government was founded by white Europeans and has wrestled mightily with issues of race, from the days of slavery, through a civil war, bitter civil rights battles and, most recently, highly charged debates over efforts to restrict immigration.
While over all, whites will remain a majority for some time, the fact that a younger generation is being born in which minorities are the majority has broad implications for the country’s economy, its political life and its identity. “This is an important tipping point,” said William H. Frey, the senior demographer at the Brookings Institution, describing the shift as a “transformation from a mostly white baby boomer culture to the more globalized multiethnic country that we are becoming.”
Signs that the country is evolving this way start with the Oval Office, and have swept hundreds of counties in recent years, with 348 in which whites are no longer in the majority. That number doubles when it comes to the toddler population, Mr. Frey said. Whites are no longer the majority in four states and the District of Columbia, and have slipped below half in many major metro areas, including New York, Las Vegas and Memphis.
The New York Times, “Whites Account for Under Half of Births in the U.S.”
Somewhere the Republican Party is blaming Obama for this.
(via inothernews)
Incidentally, the LBJ Library and Museum is the only presidential library that offers free admission. Please help keep it that way!
Here is a great example of how records can become strikingly powerful when they are in context. If these documents had been from any other day, would they have the same impact?
As with any presidential trip, domestic or foreign, there are innumerable details to be taken care of: programs printed, invitations sent, speeches written. Now these items are poignant instead of prosaic.
Above is the prepared speech that President Kennedy was to give in Austin, and a ticket and program for the fundraising dinner. All are now in the LBJ Library and Museum, items #1973.10429.2, #1970.15.200, and #1973.10429.4.
Blame us, not I-35, for checkered racial past
This is an interesting ‘Getting There’ column by our reporter Ben Wear, who looks at Austin’s racial segregation as the downtown section of I-35 nears its 50th anniversary this month.
The photos above are an interesting reflection of how the city has changed as well.
COMMENTARY | Jerry Smith, judge of the 5th Circuit Court, overturned a lower court decision and allowed Texas to withdraw funding from Planned Parenthood because the organization provides abortions, according to Reuters. This prompted me to ask: How important are Planned Parenthood’s other services and how severe a transgression against the people of Texas did legislators commit if those services are important?
Planned Parenthood provides cancer screenings for low-income women. Screenings provide early detection of cancer.
Dartmouth College is an elite Ivy League school. Its teaching hospital is Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital. That institution is home to the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, a nationally renowned cancer treatment facility. The Keene, N.H., branch is a vital regional medical resource. Dr. Steven S. Larmonis the facility medical director and a respected oncologist.
“Getting an early diagnosis of cancer, with nearly every type of cancer, improves the response to treatment and the rate of cure. The improving rates of cancer cures we have had in the past few years are directly related to how well and frequently we screen for cancer,” he told me.
Early detection appears to make the difference between life and death. I’ll file that under “important.”
A source at Planned Parenthood sent me materials showing the organization performed over 1.5 million cancer-related screenings for its patients at about 800 centers last year.
That means the loss of screening services will impact a huge number of people, mainly the poor and disenfranchised.
I spoke with attorney Brandon Todd Dillon of The Dillon Law Firm in Coldspring, Texas. He told me the legislators and judges enjoy legal protection from the consequences of their actions. Their actions create a situation of unequal treatment under the law and could form the basis for what he called a 1983 lawsuit, which is like a class action civil rights case. Dillon also said it could be argued their actions were negligent in the legal sense.
Planned Parenthood’s services are life saving. They help many people each year who cannot afford such services. It’s ridiculous and possibly legally actionable to put so many women’s lives in greater peril over a political squabble. Philosophical disagreement cannot justify denying access to health care, particularly if someone claims to be “pro-life.”
Heads-up: Austin’s Springbox made a free ‘Photobomber’ app
It’s simple. Download the app. Cut your head out of a photo. Paste it on to a silly stock photo.
Lolz for days.
Just two hours after a U.S. district judge stopped a Texas law that would have eliminated Planned Parenthood’s participation in the state’s Women’s Health Program, Federal Appeals Judge Jerry E. Smith issued an emergency stay that lifted that order.
In the appeal for the emergency stay, a team of attorneys led by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott compared Planned Parenthood to a terrorist organization.
“Planned Parenthood does not provide any assurance that the tax subsidies it receives from the Women’s Health Program have not been used directly or indirectly to subsidize its advocacy of elective abortion,” Abbott wrote in his motion to stay the injunction. “Nor is it possible for Planned Parenthood to provide this assurance.”
“Money is fungible, and taxpayer subsidies — even if ‘earmarked’ for nonabortion activities — free up other resources for Planned Parenthood to spend on its mission to promote elective abortions … (because ‘[m]oney is fungible,’ First Amendment does not prohibit application of federal material-support statute to individuals who give money to ‘humanitarian’ activities performed by terrorist organizations).”
The “federal material-support statute” that Abbott mentions makes it a felony to give money to a terrorist organization, even if the funds are specified for nonterrorist activities. Abbott makes the argument that giving Medicaid money to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings, pap smears, STD testing and birth control is akin to giving a terrorist organization money for humanitarian activities.
Planned Parenthood responded Tuesday to the terrorist comparison in a statement to the Huffington Post.
“In a state that leads the nation in the number of uninsured — where one in four Texas women lack health insurance, and women face the third highest rate of cervical cancer — I think it is appalling to make such a comparison when Planned Parenthood works every day to keep women healthy,” said Melaney Linton, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.
In fact, none of the eight Planned Parenthood clinics that participate in Texas’ Women’s Health Program offer abortions, and the money Planned Parenthood receives through the program for specific medical visits, treatments, and procedures does not even fully cover the cost of those services. Abortions at Planned Parenthood are entirely paid for with private money in compliance with the Hyde Amendment, which has prohibited taxpayer-funded abortions for decades.
Because the new Texas law violated federal Medicaid rules about provider discrimination, the Department of Health and Human Services cut off all Medicaid funding for family planning to the state of Texas in March, jeopardizing the entire Women’s Health Program. The program serves about 130,000 low-income women; Planned Parenthood serves more than 40 percent of those women, which was an influencing factor in U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel’s Monday decision to halt the law and force the state to continue funding Planned Parenthood.
In appealing that decision, Abbott made the argument that the state of Texas would prefer to shut down the entire Women’s Health Program rather than allow it to fund Planned Parenthood.
“Consequently, the district court’s preliminary injunction effectively forces Texas to choose between contravening state law and shutting down the program,” he told the appeals court.
Smith, who was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, complied with Abbott’s request for an appeal within hours of the decision, temporarily voiding Yeakel’s injunction and immediately blocking the flow of money to Planned Parenthood. Until 5 p.m. on Tuesday Planned Parenthood can respond to the stay, after which the appeals court will make a final decision.
