Friends,
I have new heroes. The 51 Democrats of the Texas Legislature who walked out
of the House, and out of Texas, rather than allow the Republican majority to
pull yet one more trick to ensure that they can bully the powerless in their
state.

Finally, Democrats with backbone. According to state law the Texas Rangers
could force the Demos to come back to their seats in order to allow a quorum
to exist so that the Republicans could have their way (again). But these 53
Demos skipped across the state line to Oklahoma until the deadline for the
gerrymandering bill expired. The Texas Rangers had to stop at the border
(though Washington Republicans flirted with the idea of coming to the rescue
with Federal agents ... it didn't happen).

Man ... wouldn't it be great if there were a national political party that
had the guts to stand up to the incivility that the Republicans have used to
rise to power by appealing to the lowest instincts of voters (and when the
voters wouldn't cooperate they went further and just plain took office after
losing the presidential race). Maybe these Texas legislators will inspire a
rebirth of courage in the Democratic Party ... there was a time ... we could
use another New Deal (but be sure to cut the deck first).

Holliann


> Here is Molly Ivans reporting on the matter while the Demos were still on
> the lam:
>
> Far too far
> Texas Republicans vote in lockstep to ensure an unhelpful government
> by Molly Ivans
>
> AUSTIN, Texas -- They just went too far, that's all. This session of the
> legislature has been as brutal, callous and indifferent to the welfare of
> the weakest, the most frail, youngest and oldest Texans as it is possible
> to get. The level of pure meanness is stunning. They have just gone too
> damn far. The session was pretty well summed up by Rep. Senfronia Thompson
> when she illustrated what was going on by taking the House rulebook to the
> podium with her and dropping it on the floor. There is no rule of
> procedure, fairness, common sense or decency that has been observed by the
> Republican majority in the Texas House.
>
> This is not about partisan politics -- although that has certainly reared
> its ugly head. In case you hadn't noticed, every major newspaper in this
> state has criticized the plans and performance of the legislature this
> session, often in harsh language. Those wild-eyed radicals at the Dallas
> Morning News and Houston Chronicle are just disgusted with the tacky
> display these people have been putting on.
>
> There is no excuse for this, and blaming it on the deficit will not wash.
> We all knew going in that some terribly hard choices would have to be made,
> but what in the name of heaven was the governor thinking when he had
> handicapped people arrested? These were citizens who came to their capital
> to protest budget cuts affecting them, and they get arrested. Maybe it was
> because they were in wheelchairs -- don't even have to be hauled away, they
> can just be rolled away.
>
> Most of us thought it was pretty funny when Rep. Debbie Riddle popped out
> with her now-classic statement: "Where did this idea come from that
> everybody deserves free education, free medical care, free whatever? It
> comes from Moscow, from Russia. It comes straight out of the pit of hell."
>
> Amusing as that was, the House has been doing its dead-level best to
> destroy both public education and public health. They've taken 250,000 poor
> children off the Children's Health Insurance Program, and the schools are
> in dire straits. As the Austin American-Statesman pointed out in an
> editorial, these same fine thinkers did manage to find $10 million to
> appropriate for cow research and $300 million for Gov. Perry to woo
> companies to Texas.
>
> Of course, there have been some lovely moments we can celebrate, like the
> day Speaker Tom Craddick decided that the new ethics reform law should be
> debated in a backroom, closed-door session. Amazingly enough, the proposed
> ethics law was weakened and watered down behind the closed doors.
>
> I think a special salute for clear thinking should go to the House for its
> amazing decision to cut the program that pays for medications for mentally
> ill people who are out of prison on probation or parole. Is this brilliant?
> Now these people will be wandering around the state without their meds.
>
> The latest flap is over a congressional redistricting map that is so bad
> it's actually funny. Of course, the thing was passed without public
> hearings, because as Rep. Joe Crabb explained, "The rest of us would have a
> very difficult time if we were out in an area -- other than Austin or other
> English-speaking areas -- to be able to have committee hearings or to be
> able to converse with people that did not speak English." Sometimes you
> have to wonder what planet these people are from.
>
> That was the proverbial straw for the Democrats, 53 of whom left the state
> or went into hiding Sunday to break the quorum, thus bringing legislative
> business to a halt. They've already been dubbed the Killer D's, after the
> tradition of the Killer Bees in 1979. Believe me, stopping the legislature
> from functioning at this point is high public service.
>
> Speaker Craddick called it a "stunt." The R's have been pulling stunts
> every day of this session, and don't write it off as payback for
> heavy-handed Democratic rule. Speaker Pete Laney ran a fair House, and
> everyone knew it -- these people are disgracing themselves and the state.
>
> The way things got to such a sorry pass is that the R's have been running
> on rote, lockstep voting. No Democratic amendment gets considered on its
> merits, no matter how sensible it is. Shell bills get introduced, and then
> whole sections are amended on the floor, in a parody of legislative
> process. Much time has been spent on gay-bashing and trying to take away
> abortions rights. I'm starting to think right-wing Republicans all have an
> unhealthy fixation on sexual behavior.
>
> The choices on how to spend money couldn't possibly make Republican
> "values" any clearer. We can spend money on corporate welfare, but not on
> people's welfare. We can't cover health insurance for our teachers, but we
> must have brush control.
>
> The creepy thing about the far-right Republicans, who are definitely in the
> majority in the House, is not that they are dismantling government because
> they won't raise taxes, they're dismantling government because they think
> it shouldn't help people. They really think health and human services
> should not be provided. It's an old line among liberals that anti-choice
> people care more about the unborn than they do about the born, but I'm
> telling you that it's not just some clever line -- these people are writing
> it into the state budget.
>
>    **********************************************
>
> Want to comment to the Democrats who returned to Austin to the cheers of
> Texans who declared them heroes? Here are their email addresses:
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
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> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
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> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
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> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
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