Thomas Ratliff: A Documented Liar

Today's Austin American-Statesman has dueling Op-Eds on CSCOPE.  Peggy Venable of Americans for Prosperity has a fantastic piece outlining the problems of CSCOPE.  State Board of Education member Thomas Ratliff (R(ino) -- Microsoft) counters with a fraudulent and mendacious defense.

Ratliff asserts:

The allegations are also when extremists claim that CSCOPE is aligned with the Common Core curriculum promoted by the federal government. It’s simply not true. CSCOPE was developed by Texas educators for Texas educators to teach Texas standards to Texas kids. Period. Again, more fear-mongering.

Except for the fact that Linda Darling-Hammond helped design both:

CSCOPE documents also claim connection to Linda Hammond, a proponent of the nationalized Common Core movement that Texas has rejected in favor of its own standards.

 (Sidenote: Back in December, we broke a pretty big story on LDH's background).

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Ratliff also claims:

The allegations are also when extremists talk about parents being denied access to what their children are being taught. If that’s the case, schools are breaking the law and should be held accountable. Chapter 26 of the Texas Education Code provides for “Parental Rights and Responsibilities,” including the right to see what happens in their child’s classroom. The fact is many of these extremists are not parents of public school students. Don’t blame CSCOPE for following Texas law. In fact, CSCOPE lessons are now online for anyone to see. Yet the extremists still want it banned from the classrooms. Transparency obviously isn’t the issue. Censorship and winning a political battle is the issue.

 Cue Peggy Venable:

Last year, it took State Board of Education Chairman Barbara Cargill six months before she was finally granted access to the lesson plans. Parents were denied access to CSCOPE material in violation of state law, which requires lesson plans be available to them. [Emphasis Ours]

 In other words, Ratliff's co-board member experienced what Ratliff claims never happened.

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In another whopper, Ratliff alleges:

The allegations are when the extremists talk about the “Communist” “Marxist” “Socialist” “anti-American” “pro-Muslim” curriculum. First, they need to make up their mind if it’s Communist, Marxist or Socialist. In a state as “red” as Texas, do people really believe kids are being taught to hate America?...These allegations are simply fear-mongering designed to incite a mob.

 Funny, because you can see these lessons here, or here, or here, or here, or here.

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Thomas Ratliff is a smart guy.  He knows that what's he's saying isn't true, but he says it anyway.  That's why Thomas Ratliff is now a documented liar.

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Who is Save the Storks?!?

Save the Storks is a fantastic ministry we learned about a few months back:



Highlights:

• They originally saved three out of five babies.

• "We're saving the mothers and as a result we're saving children."

• In one day, they saved 9 babies!!!

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What the Culture of Promiscuity has Begotten....

Amen:



Highlights:

• Medically, they can't call it 'safe sex' anymore because of HPV

• 49% of sexually active college girls have HPV

• Even if you don't get an STD, you can still get your heart broken.

• Depression often follows pre-marital sex in women.

• The majority of pregnant HS girls were using Birth Control.
• No one actually practices 'perfect use' in the real world.

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Straus Lieutenants Heart Dan Branch

No comment necessary:

Majority of Texas House Republican Caucus Endorses Dan Branch

AUSTIN – A majority of the Republican Caucus in the Texas House of Representatives has endorsed Dan Branch for Texas Attorney General.

The 53 current legislators who stand with Texans for Dan Branch represent not only the majority of the Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives but also the backbone of the Texas House GOP.

These members represent a wide geographic cross-section of Texas, from the Panhandle and West Texas to the Piney Woods of East Texas and the Gulf Coast, as well millions of Texans from rural, suburban, and urban communities throughout the state. Texans for Dan Branch has support from some of the most senior members of the Texas House as well as members in their first and second terms.

“For the past 10 years, the Republican members of the Texas House of Representatives have led the way in passing conservative legislation that has been a model for our nation,” Branch said. “I have been proud to work alongside so many strong conservatives to support an environment that has helped foster the Texas Miracle while protecting limited government and traditional values. I am grateful for and honored by the generous support of my peers, and I look forward to continuing to work with them as the next Attorney General of Texas.”

The current list of Texas House Republicans who have endorsed Dan Branch for Attorney General is included in this release.

1. Representative Jimmie Don Aycock (Killeen)
2. Representative Cecil Bell (Magnolia)
3. Representative Dwayne Bohac (Houston)
4. Representative Greg Bonnen (League City)
5. Representative Cindy Burkett (Garland)
6. Representative Angie Chen Button (Richardson)
7. Representative Bill Callegari (Houston)
8. Representative Travis Clardy (Nacogdoches)
9. Representative Byron Cook (Corsicana)
10. Representative Drew Darby (San Angelo)
11. Representative John Davis (Houston)
12. Representative Sarah Davis (Houston)
13. Representative Gary Elkins (Houston)
14. Representative Marsha Farney (Georgetown)
15. Representative Allen Fletcher (Cypress)
16. Representative John Frullo (Lubbock)
17. Representative Charlie Geren (River Oaks)
18. Representative Lance Gooden (Athens)
19. Representative Patricia Harless (Spring)
20. Representative Linda Harper-Brown (Irving)
21. Representative Dan Huberty (Kingwood)
22. Representative Todd Hunter (Corpus Christi)
23. Representative Jason Isaac (Dripping Springs)
24. Representative Kyle Kacal (Bryan)
25. Representative Jim Keffer (Granbury)
26. Representative Ken King (Canadian)
27. Representative Susan King (Abilene)
28. Representative Tim Kleinschmidt (Lexington)
29. Representative Lois Kolkhorst (Brenham)
30. Representative John Kuempel (Seguin)
31. Representative Lyle Larson (San Antonio)
32. Representative George Lavender (Texarkana)
33. Representative JM Lozano (Kingsville)
34. Representative Doug Miller (New Braunfels)
35. Representative Jim Murphy (Houston)
36. Representative John Otto (Dayton)
37. Representative Chris Paddie (Marshall)
38. Representative Diane Patrick (Arlington)
39. Representative Larry Phillips (Sherman)
40. Representative Jim Pitts (Waxahachie)
41. Representative Four Price (Amarillo)
42. Representative John Raney (College Station)
43. Representative Bennett Ratliff (Coppell)
44. Representative Debbie Riddle (Tomball)
45. Representative Allan Ritter (Nederland)
46. Representative Kenneth Sheets (Dallas)
47. Representative J.D. Sheffield (Gatesville)
48. Representative Ralph Sheffield (Temple)
49. Representative Wayne Smith (Baytown)
50. Representative Phil Stephenson (Wharton)
51. Representative Jason Villalba (Dallas)
52. Representative Paul Workman (Austin)
53. Representative John Zerwas (Simonton)

 If Dan Branch wants to base his AG campaign on the support of Charlie Geren, Bennett Ratliff, and (Mr. Medicaid Expansion himself!) Jason Villalba, he can be our guest; is Tommy Williams next?!?

Captain Renault said it best:



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Update: Agendawise has more:

This self-generated publicity is a good snapshot for primary voters who get to see the liberal Branch’s concept of “conservative” – a Republican endorsement list with a D+ average on the 2011 scorecards of Empower Texans and Young Conservatives of Texas.

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BREAKING NEWS: Dan Patrick to Debate Thomas Ratliff over CSCOPE

With the 83rd Texas Legislature sine done, the time has come for the much anticipated CSCOPE debate between Dan Patrick and Thomas Ratliff:

Patrick to Ratliff: I’m Coming to East Texas, Will You Be There? by DanPatrickTX

Background: Ratliff had been trying to claim that Patrick was afraid to debate him because Patrick had been tied up with Legislative stuff.

Get your popcorn; this'll be fun....

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Will the Texas Ethics Comission Stand for Justice or Joe Straus?!?

The Republican "leadership" of the Texas House's Obamaesque persecution of Michael Quinn Sullivan comes to a head today:

About 15 months ago two of House Speaker Joe Straus’ committee chairs filed unfounded “ethics complaints” against me and my organization, seeking to silence us from keeping you informed about state government. This week we learned that the complaints were actually concocted by a lead lobbyist for the Texas Trial Lawyers Association on behalf of Straus’ lieutenants.

State Rep. Jim Keffer imposed the business tax on Texas

The complaints filed against us by those committee chairs – moderate State Reps. Jim Keffer (R-Eastland) and Vicki Truitt (R-“defeated by Tarrant County voters in May 2012”) – will finally get a preliminary review hearing today in front of the Ethics Commission. That’s a commission to which Speaker Straus makes appointments and for which the legislature sets the budget. How cozy…

....

Depending on how this hearing goes, you can expect moderates to use the Ethics Commission to start prosecuting similarly frivolous against every Republican club president, tea party activist, blogger or social media user whose voice a legislator finds inconvenient. Unethical lawmakers will use Ethics Commission complaints like duct tape over the mouths of anyone who calls out their voting records.

When Jim and Vicki filed their complaints, they swore that these were their complaints. So when the Ethics Commission finally set the hearing – more than a year after I asked for an expedited hearing! – my legal team did the unthinkable: they subpoenaed Jim and Vicki to appear and explain themselves under oath.

Well, Vicki Truitt refused to accept the subpoena. The deposed former legislator told the process server that she wanted to have nothing to do with the complaint! (Funny how getting her hat handed to her by voters can have such an effect.) I say, good for Vicki; I guess she’s admitting her’s was a political stunt trying to mask the odor of an anti-taxpayer voting record.

....

Jim Keffer, meanwhile, wrote a letter to the Commission basically admitting that he knew nothing about the allegations in his own complaint and attached a statement from trial lawyer lobbyist Steve Bresnen saying it was Steve who did it. (The folks at AgendaWise.com have a great write up about Mr. Bresnan’s crusade for bloated government, besides his work shilling for trial lawyers.)

I’m sure attorneys will have other ways to say it, but it looks to me like Mr. Keffer’s admission highlights the abusiveness of his complaint and the process.

Put another way: Straus’ committee chairs were abusing the state’s Ethics process to pursue a political vendetta against us – and doing so with the assistance of (or at the direction of?) a lobbyist for the Trial Lawyers Association!

Read the whole thing here.

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Texas Public Policy Foundation on Local Government Debt and Transparency

This afternoon, we attended the Texas Public Policy Foundation's forum on Local Government Transparency and Debt; the following are from our notes.

James Quintero, director of TPPF's Center for Local Governance, spoke first:

• Texas currently has $192 BILLION in principle and 96 BILLION in interest in local government debt outstanding.

• Living beyond our means only works for a limited period of time.

• 83% of total public debt in Texas is local.

• Local Government debt has risen approximately 40% faster than inflation plus population growth in the last decade.

• Sources of Debt:
• School Districts -- $63.6 BILLION
• Cities -- $62.9 BILLION
• Special Purpose Districts (eg. Hospital Districts or MUD's) -- $48.6 BILLION
• Counties --$13.3 BILLION
• Community Colleges -- $4.3 Billion

• Texas currently has the 14th highest property taxes in the United States; to get a handle on that, we have to get a handle on local government debt.

• Local government debt is a long-term threat to the Texas Model.

• Positive state policy decisions don't filter down to the local level.

• How to fix it:
• Public Awareness
• Ballot Box Transparency
• Online Transparency
• Local Government Debt Limits

Bennet Sandlin, Executive Director of the Texas Municipal League, spoke next:

• Led off by passing the buck to the state government.

• Local governments get the bulk of their money from property taxes; State gets it from sales....

• A big chunk of property taxes go to schools.

• Taxpayers get a "good bang for their buck" from municipal governments
• Keep in mind, school and special purpose districts AREN'T INCLUDED in these numbers; while this is a money-laundering shell game, Sandlin still makes a decent point regarding the expenditures of municipal governments narrowly defined.

• Special Purpose districts are the biggest driver of debt growth.  They grew by 244% from 2007 to 2011.  Unfortunately, in 2011 the clowns in the Republican leadership of the Texas Legislature exempted special purpose taxing districts from tracking.

• Sandlin argued that everything that happens in local governments (except schools) should be handled by cities, not special purpose districts; we tend to agree.

Pam Waggoner, President Leander ISD:

Leander ISD has one of the highest debt loads in the state, which Waggoner's only noted in passing.  Her presentation moved extremely quickly and involved a lot of complicated numbers that made our eyes glaze over.  Personally, we think this was her strategy.

Representative Dan Flynn (R - Canton)

• Local government debt is as big a threat to our economy as debt at the Federal level

• His bill was killed in Calendars.

• The permanent school fund has guaranteed more debt that cash on hand.

• 20 school districts in Texas owe over $2 BILLION

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Kudos to TPPF for taking on this growing economic threat!!!

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Update: TPPF has pictures from the event here; TXTrendyChick was the photographer.

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Truth about Local Government Debt in Texas

Over at City Journal, Steve Malanga has a fantastic primer on local government debt in Texas:

While Texas’s state government debt is relatively modest—just $40 billion, or $1,577 per resident—local government debt is more than four times higher: $192 billion. That’s $7,505 per capita, according to Combs’s report—the second-highest sum in the nation, behind only New York’s municipalities and far ahead of third-place California’s. Over the last decade, moreover, local debt has increased 144 percent, much faster than the rate of population increase plus inflation.

Some of this debt stems from voters’ willingness to spend their prosperity on municipal-finance baubles, bangles, and beads. In Texas, that means huge expenditures by local school districts on athletic facilities. When I attended a legislative conference in Texas last summer, the talk was all about the $60 million high school stadium just opening in Allen, a Dallas suburb of 83,000 residents. The 18,000-seat facility, which boasts a massive, high-definition TV screen, was built with funds from a $119 million bond offering in a state where high school football is a consuming passion.

....

Not surprisingly, debt owed by public school districts constitutes the biggest chunk of the state’s soaring local obligations. Over the last decade, it has increased 155 percent, even as the state’s student population has grown just 21 percent. And the fastest-growing part of Texas school budgets is debt service, which has gone up by 126 percent in ten years, to $5.5 billion. Payments on debt now constitute 10 percent of school spending, up from 7 percent a decade ago.

Debt is also growing rapidly among the state’s 81 retirement systems for local-government workers. Not only are these systems poorly funded; it isn’t even clear how much some owe, since they haven’t disclosed the financial information necessary to verify their financial position, even to state oversight officials. After an extensive survey of municipal pension systems, Combs determined that none of the local plans was fully funded and that only 19 percent had 80 percent of the funds on hand to meet future obligations.

....

Facing this growing debt load, some state officials are urging reform. Combs worries that residents don’t understand how much debt is piling up. She advocates greater transparency and has proposed that ballot initiatives seeking voter approval for new debt include comprehensive information about the obligations that government already owes. She has also pushed for laws limiting government uses of the types of debt that don’t require voter approval. [Emphasis Ours]

 In a separate piece, Malanga details common shenanigans:

As in Cook County, so many different levels of government in Texas can issue debt that taxpayers, bewildered by the complexity of it all, let overlapping districts keep on borrowing. As an example, Combs describes how the residents of a single Houston block must repay debt incurred by the county, the city, the city’s school district, and Houston Community College, among other entities. “I went to dozens of town hall meetings around the state, and when I asked, not a single member of the public knew just how much people in their towns were on the hook for,” she says.

Texas, like New York, amassed all this debt by pushing the limits of the law. Though taxpayers must approve most government borrowing, Texas provides an exception for localities that need to issue debt quickly: a “certificate of obligation,” borrowing that doesn’t require approval unless 5 percent or more of local voters petition to have a say on it (a rare occurrence, since most don’t even know that they have that power). Since 2005, Texas localities have issued nearly $13 billion worth of these certificates, often for dubious ends. In 2010, for instance, Fort Worth borrowed nearly $35 million through certificates of obligation to build a facility for horse shows.

Texas school districts have made use of another controversial financing technique: capital appreciation bonds. Used to finance construction, these bonds defer interest payments, often for decades. The extension saves the borrower from spending on repayment right now, but it burdens a future generation with significantly higher costs. Some capital appreciation bonds wind up costing a municipality ten times what it originally borrowed. From 2007 through 2011 alone, research by the Texas legislature shows, the state’s municipalities and school districts issued 700 of these bonds, raising $2.3 billion—but with a price tag of $23 billion in future interest payments. To build new schools, one fast-growing school district, Leander, has accumulated $773 million in outstanding debt through capital appreciation bonds. [Emphasis Ours]

 Both pieces are worth reading, here and here.

(h/t American Spectator)

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Late-Term Abortion, Latino Voters, and Texas Progressives' Blind Spot

Our former colleague David Freddoso has an insightful piece at Conservative Intel on how the recent debate over late term abortion plays in various communities:

Liberals are so blind to how far out they are on this late-term abortion issue compared to the average American (and importantly, the average Hispanic voter) that they think it’s a plus. They don’t see how it could possibly bite them in the rear. They’ve talked themselves into the idea that their principled opposition to a bill that splinters their own coalition and receives support from 62 percent of the state’s voters is part of their path to victory. They don’t see the analogy they are creating to rightward Republican drift they are constantly decrying.   - See more at: http://conservativeintel.com/2013/07/16/hb2-and-demographic-change-texas-liberals-dont-see-the-danger/#sthash.sXyLSz4i.dpuf

Liberals are so blind to how far out they are on this late-term abortion issue compared to the average American (and importantly, the average Hispanic voter) that they think it’s a plus. They don’t see how it could possibly bite them in the rear. They’ve talked themselves into the idea that their principled opposition to a bill that splinters their own coalition and receives support from 62 percent of the state’s voters is part of their path to victory

....

They seem quite content choosing abortion after five months of pregnancy as the hill they will die on. They don’t seem to understand how this could frustrate their fantasy that demographic change will automatically make them dominant because Hispanics will always vote the way they expect them to vote.

....

Both the Democrats, with their demographic triumphalism, and the Republicans who talk of immigration as their party’s death-knell, are underestimating Hispanic voters’ intelligence and open-mindedness in how they cast their votes.

Read the whole thing here.

Liberals are so blind to how far out they are on this late-term abortion issue compared to the average American (and importantly, the average Hispanic voter) that they think it’s a plus. They don’t see how it could possibly bite them in the rear. They’ve talked themselves into the idea that their principled opposition to a bill that splinters their own coalition and receives support from 62 percent of the state’s voters is part of their path to victory. They don’t see the analogy they are creating to rightward Republican drift they are constantly decrying.   - See more at: http://conservativeintel.com/2013/07/16/hb2-and-demographic-change-texas-liberals-dont-see-the-danger/#sthash.sXyLSz4i.dpuf

Liberals are so blind to how far out they are on this late-term abortion issue compared to the average American (and importantly, the average Hispanic voter) that they think it’s a plus. They don’t see how it could possibly bite them in the rear. They’ve talked themselves into the idea that their principled opposition to a bill that splinters their own coalition and receives support from 62 percent of the state’s voters is part of their path to victory. They don’t see the analogy they are creating to rightward Republican drift they are constantly decrying.   - See more at: http://conservativeintel.com/2013/07/16/hb2-and-demographic-change-texas-liberals-dont-see-the-danger/#sthash.sXyLSz4i.dpuf

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On Abortion Barbie

This afternoon, amidst the discussion that Wendy Davis doesn't "know what happened" about Kermit Gosnell, Erick Erickson of RedState made the following tweet:

It is a bit embarrassing that Abortion Barbie doesn't even have her facts straight on Kermit Gosnell considering abortion is her issue.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) August 6, 2013

This set off the predictable Twitter kerfuffle.

Then Joan Walsh of Salon chimed in:

Erick Erickson is the insecure frat-boy id of the Republican Party. Oh, sure, party leaders wring their hands about their problem with women voters, but deep down, we’re all “Abortion Barbie” to a whole lot of them. Only Erickson is creepy enough to say so.

Followed by ThinkProgress:

Conservative commentator Erick Erickson referred to Texas Sen. Wendy Davis (D) as an “Abortion Barbie” in a tweet on Tuesday afternoon, sparking outrage over the sexist implications of linking the female lawmaker with the famous Mattel product.

According to MediaMatters:

Erickson has a history of inflammatory comments, including directing liberals to a coat hanger sales site after a restrictive Texas abortion bill passed, later responding to criticism by offering his "Sincere Apologies to the Kid Killing caucus." Erickson defended Republican Missouri Rep. Todd Akin after he claimed it was "really rare" for victims of "legitimate rape" to become pregnant and called the opening of the 2012 Democratic National Convention the "First night of the Vagina Monologues."

Cahnman's Musings commends Erickson for developing the perfect nickname for Wendy Davis.

Abortion Barbie comes with Pink Sneakers and Tampon; catheter sold separately....

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Travis County Loots Taxpayers to Protect Rosemary Lehmberg

Sigh, of course they did:



In other words, the progressive mafia that runs Travis county would rather bankrupt productive citizens than demand basic integrity from so-called public servants.

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City of Austin Asks Eric Holder to Help Knife its Police Officers in the Back

NOTHING good can come from this, NOTHING:


This is absurd; Marc Ott claims he wants 'objective eyes' evaluate police conduct, then he turns to ... Eric Holder?!?

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Texas Water Boondoggle would legalize Book Cooking

Another must read piece from Agendawise on the water boondoggle:

[T]he constitutional amendment is designed to keep $2 billion of water funding from counting against the spending cap.

During the 83rd Legislature legislators would not treat as a real priority, by addressing it out of general revenue, the so-called “water crisis”.

Instead, legislators created a replenishing $2 billion water bank that busts the spending cap. They weren’t willing to either spend the money or pass a legalized cooking of the books themselves. Like a hot potato, they passed it on to us.

....

This is more boondoggle than crisis.

This amendment is set up so that the money will only be spent if the cooking the books is legalized. They don’t want to be seen busting the spending cap. That’s how much of a real “crisis” this water crisis is.

....

What’s driving this?

The Texas ruling class wants badly to raise taxes. Under Straus’s watch, every time tax hikes become a conversation, gambling expansion is put up as an alternative, even though the idea that gambling is a net revenue enhancer is going the way of the dodo bird.

Since Texans so strongly demand fiscal responsibility, two things are needed by the ruling class to sanitize talk about a new tax: create a crisis and deplete the Rainy Day Fund so that taxes are the only crisis-fixer.

 Read the whole thing here.

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Travis County Taxpayers Union announces August 13th Moneybomb!!!

The ongoing saga of the Austin ISD lawsuit continues:

If we can take this case to the third Court of Appeal, we can win. The law is on our side. If we win we will, at a minimum, save taxpayers $500 million; this lawsuit, however, could restrict financial shenanigans that local governments can pull across the state of Texas.

Unfortunately, lawyers cost money; we need to raise $6000 to keep our guy out of the poorhouse as the appeal works through the system.

Normally, in politics, you need large sums of money to make things happen. Not this time. This $6000 investment on the front end could save taxpayers in Austin Hundreds of Millions of Dollars and (in a best case scenario) could save BILLIONS across the state.

 Pledge your support here.

Join the Facebook event here.

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Racial Reconciliation, the Church, and Trayvon Martin

How the Church in Sanford, FL promoted racial healing after the Trayon Martin shooting:



"Blessed are the peacemakers,
    For they shall be called sons of God."

Matthew 5:9

Highlights:

• Jackie Robinson wasn't allowed to play in Sanford.

• 100 homicides every two months in Chicago without a peep from the Black community.

• It isn't a Black and White thing, it isn't a race thing; it's a sin thing.

• "God has called you to be radical ambassadors for peace."

• The first thing the Church needs to do is pray.

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Author's note: We discovered this story via this fantastic post at BizPacReview

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History Lesson: The Texas Water Boondoggle of 1968

The more things change, the more they stay the same:

Politicians and engineers have long come up with grandiose plans for moving water from one place to another....[including]...Texas' biggest water boondoggle to date – the 1968 Water Plan.

They were ambitious:

The 1968 plan involved developing an astounding supply of water- enough to submerge Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia to a depth of one foot (with some left over).  The key features of the plan included a canal that would have tapped the Mississippi River below New Orleans, bringing 12 to 13 million acre - feet (one acre - foot is 325,851gallons of water) hundreds of miles to Texas.

Get this:

Once in Texas, the Mississippi River would enter two cement - lined aqueducts called the Coastal Canal and the Trans-Texas Canal. These canals were to snake 1,200 miles across the northern and southern portions of Texas.

 Making matters better:

The second canal, the Trans-Texas, would have transported the Mississippi River water to northeast Texas, then uphill to Lubbock, with one spur veering off to New Mexico and another to the Trans-Pecos and the El Paso. The water would be pumped uphill more than 4,000 feet from the Mississippi River to Lubbock to meet the irrigation needs of the Texas High Plains....To pump the water to its final destination, the project would have required 7 million kilo-watts of electricity – more than a third of the generating capacity in Texas at the time.

 Also, a giant land grab:

In addition to the canals, 62 new reservoirs, mostly in East Texas, would have been constructed to capture another 4 million acre-feet of water for eventual shipment to Lubbock and the Rio Grande Valley.

 What was the price tag?!?

In 1968 the cost to Texas for the plan was projected by the TWDB to be $3.5 billion, with an additional $5.5 billion to come from the federal government. Some estimated that the project would ultimately have cost close to $14 billion in 1968 dollars.

 And, finally, how did things turn out?!?

For the plan to proceed, an amendment to the Texas Constitution was needed for the state to finance its share of

the project. In the end, the plan was defeated at the ballot box – by only 6,000 votes.  Thus it became the plan that never was, and thankfully so.

 Read the whole thing here; may history repeat itself this November!!!

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Keep Standing Strong Barbara Cargill!!!

Donna Garner has an excellent rebuttal to the latest rubbish the Texas "Freedom" Network:

TFN is vilifying Cargill because TFN wants publishers to ignore the new Science curriculum standards (TEKS) adopted by the elected members of the SBOE. Nobody knows those Science TEKS any better than does Barbara Cargill because she poured her sweat equity into them for two years during the time they were under adoption.

Barbara Cargill is a certified science teacher, taught high-school biology in the Texas public schools for years, and conducts a nationally recognized science camp in the summer to which thousands of children come. The camp is so successful that children have to sign up early to get their names on the list.

Just as in the past where SBOE members have had special expertise in various content areas, these Members have tried to make sure that the textbook review teams follow the SBOE-adopted TEKS. That is state law. Instructional materials (IM’s) which pass through the SBOE adoption process must follow Texas’ curriculum standards (TEKS), and all teachers in Texas are to follow the TEKS.

We Texas citizens want Barbara Cargill to be closely involved with the Science IM’s. SBOE members serve the people of Texas without receiving any remuneration. If these members take their valuable personal time to meet with the textbook review teams, we Texans should be grateful. We should thank Barbara Cargill and the other SBOE members for their dedication to making sure that the IM’s are sufficiently aligned with the Science TEKS.

Textbook evaluation teams work in public settings; nothing is done behind closed doors. All SBOE members are invited to attend the meetings and to communicate openly with the evaluation team members. Barbara Cargill is not a vendor nor is she a lobbyist.

 Read the whole thing (and join the Ticked Off Parent and Teacher Association) here.

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Update: In a separate piece, Garner addresses the 'substance' of TFN's claim:

At our reviewers’ meeting on July 31, Barbara Cargill (Chair of the SBOE) was active in making sure that Proclamation 14 was carried out correctly and efficiently. She and the TEA staffers went to almost every reviewer’s table to introduce themselves and to thank them for volunteering their time; all seemed grateful for the kind words. There were 3 tables of biology reviewers while there were only 1 to 2 tables for the other IM products.

The process that was used this time was very different from the one used in the past. Before SB 6, there were two lists – conforming and nonconforming. Conforming IM’s had to cover 100% of the TEKS for the subject and grade level; nonconforming IM’s had to cover at least 50% of the TEKS for the subject and grade level. However, because of SB 6, now IM’s only have to cover 50% of the TEKS.

In light of all of the changes to the process, Cargill had asked panel members what they thought of reviewing the materials virtually (in Phase I) as opposed to face-to-face. Of course most would rather have had face-to-face meetings from the beginning, but the cost was prohibitive.

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Pornography, Fiscal Discipline, and the Texas Legislature

Over at Texas Observer, Olivia Messer publishes an "expose" of alleged "sexism" in the Texas Legislature; the otherwise hysterical article contains one gem:

Some told of senators ogling women on the Senate floor or watching porn on iPads and on state-owned computers. [Emphasis Ours]

This helps explain the budget.

One of our recurring themes at Cahnman's Musings is that discipline in your sexual 'expression' begets discipline in finances, and that lack of discipline in sexual matters begets profligacy.

It should surprise no one that Texas Legislators who lack the discipline to refrain from viewing pornography on the chamber floor also lack the disciple to act as prudent stewards of the people's money....

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Julian Castro's Christian Persecution Ordinance

Texas Values on the shocking new ordinance proposed in San Antonio:

In early August, the City Council will consider an ordinance to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the discrimination ordinances in the city code. The proposal would ban anyone that has ever opposed (“demonstrated bias, by word or deed…”) homosexuality from being involved in city government and/or performing a city contract/subcontract. The proposed ordinance provides no exemptions for religious beliefs on homosexuality, even beliefs expressed in Church. - See more at: http://txvalues.org/2013/07/25/san-antonio-looks-to-ban-christians-from-city-government/#sthash.r9UdVQA2.dpuf

In early August, the City Council will consider an ordinance to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the discrimination ordinances in the city code. The proposal would ban anyone that has ever opposed (“demonstrated bias, by word or deed…”) homosexuality from being involved in city government and/or performing a city contract/subcontract. The proposed ordinance provides no exemptions for religious beliefs on homosexuality, even beliefs expressed in Church.

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This ordinance is filled with serious legal (and moral) problems (see here for more detail).

• The ordinance directly violates the First Amendment freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
• The ordinance violates the Texas Religious Freedom Act by infringing on religious liberty while not proving a compelling need for the law and not using the least intrusive way to address the issue.
• The ordinance further violates the Federal and Texas Constitutions by creating a de facto religious test for involvement in city government.
• The ordinance does not provide any protection for religious organizations, non-profits, or businesses, thus forcing these organizations to provide services that may be in direct violation of their religious beliefs.

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The continued push to accept homosexuality and redefine marriage will continue to put our precious religious freedoms in grave peril. As evidenced by this ordinance, little tolerance will be given to those, particularly Christians, that continue stand for the biblical truth on marriage and homosexuality. And, the successful passage of this ordinance will certainly tempt other cities in Texas to follow suit.

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Jonathan Saenz of Texas Values speaks on the proposal:



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Red Sonja has the background of Castro's adherence to the most radical aspect of the agenda here.

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The Strange Priorities of Chairman Dan Branch (and Joe Straus)

Another fantastic piece from Agendawise:

House leadership is trying to impeach a champion of higher ed reform, but is protecting a State Board of Education member who appears obviously ineligible to serve.

The difference? Wallace Hall wants to bring transparency to a massive government bureaucracy and Thomas Ratliff is a connected member of a huge bureaucracy.

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This is a good representation of House priorities when establishment politicians like Joe Straus and his partner Dan Branch are in positions of power.

 Read all the details here.

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Texas Politics Over the Next Few Months

There are several events in Texas that are either ongoing or coming up quickly; keep them in mind:

• Current Special Session (Until August 28) - The Texas Legislature is currently in session with Transportation funding the only item on the agenda.  Multiple well-informed sources have told us they doubt Governor Perry will add anything to the call, but since we're talking about Rick Perry one never knows.  Since legislators obviously haven't learned their lesson, the objective on Transportation funding remains to deny House Republican leadership the 100 votes they need to pass this boondoggle.

• State Board of Education Meeting (Sept. 17 - 20) - On the one hand, CSCOPE shenanigans continue.  On the other, this will be the only meeting during the ongoing science review.  On both hands, the Texas "Freedom" Network (aka. the mob) will be there; Cahnman's Musings actually found out about this event from their website....

• Voter Ratification of SJR 1 (Nov. 5; Early Voting - Oct. 21 - 31) - The water boondoggle passed during the general session still needs voter approval; just say no.

 This is a partial list, and other events will pop up, but keep these three on your radar screen at all times.

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