Category Archives: National news

Don’t be like Arizona

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t have a whole lot of hope for the 2011 legislative session and the budget that it will produce. But at least we won’t do anything quite this stupid. Arizona on Thursday became the first state to eliminate its … Continue reading →

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Counting same-sex couples

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The 2010 Census will provide some long overdue new information. The federal government and the state of Texas won’t recognize Noel Freeman’s eight-year relationship with another man as marriage, but the 2010 U.S. census will. For the first time, the … Continue reading →

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Health care reform passes

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Finally. By a razor thin margin of 219-212, the House of Representatives tonight passed far-reaching legislation that will lead to near-universal health care coverage in the United States — a goal that has eluded Presidents and Congresses for a century. … Continue reading →

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Got Census?

Posted on March 17, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Have you gotten your Census form yet? Forms, asking for your household’s basic demographic data, should begin arriving in mailboxes across Houston this week. Completed questionnaires should be mailed back to the government by April 1. Sound easy? It is, … Continue reading →

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Why the moon?

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I understand the politics of the fight against NASA cutbacks. Jobs are at stake, even if they are being funded by those evil, dirty, not-job-creating federal dollars. But I’m still puzzled by the whole thing. Texans have so little clout … Continue reading →

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Please count everyone

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves was in Laredo on Monday trying to ease some anxiety among residents there about the upcoming Census. Border counties, flush with residents fearful of being turned over to immigration agents, are historically among the … Continue reading →

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Some day our US Attorney will come

Posted on January 11, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

As far as I can tell, if Sens. Cornyn and Hutchison have their way, the US Attorney positions in Texas will remain vacant until after the next Republican President is elected. A classic political stalemate pitting Texas’ Democratic congressional delegation … Continue reading →

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Abbott’s bogus health care claims

Posted on January 9, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

If there’s an opportunity to play politics, you can be sure AG Greg Abbott will take it. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said Tuesday that the push in Washington to force most Americans to buy health insurance may violate the … Continue reading →

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Cash for clunky appliances

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose at some point that “Cash for X” construction will get old, but until then, here come some more eeeeevil federal stimulus dollars, this time for trading in energy-hogging appliances. Many of the details of the plan are still … Continue reading →

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“McCaul Drops The Ball”

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Following up on the reports about BAE Systems and the curious claims by Rep. Mike McCaul that his office had been “in regular contact with BAE Systems” during the bidding process, yet none of that communication was written, the Lone … Continue reading →

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One Voice for Choice

Posted on December 4, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t usually get involved in the national stuff, but I’m totally on board with this idea and hope you will take action as you can. Ever since Stupak hijacked the health care bill, we’ve been watching.  So far, nothing … Continue reading →

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We’re not the only state with food stamp issues

Posted on November 29, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We all know by now that Texas has had many problems with its administration of food stamps. Apparently, so have other states, according to a letter, signed by Kevin Concannon, the department’s undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, sent … Continue reading →

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Veterans Day

Posted on November 11, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I just want to pause for a moment to join Bill White, Stace Medellin, and many others in honoring those who served our country in the armed forces today. A number of members of my family served in World War … Continue reading →

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Please know a little something about Texas before you write about Texas

Posted on November 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

David Broder packs an awful lot of ignorance into these two sentences of his bizarrely hostile column about the Senate’s health care reform bill and the opt-out compromise. If a health care reform with an opt-out provision were to become … Continue reading →

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Who’s ready for the Census?

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The good news is that Houston is in pretty decent shape, at least as far as big cities go, in being ready for the 2010 Census. The bad news is that a lot of other big cities aren’t ready at … Continue reading →

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Doing the liveblogging thing

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’m at the KUHT studios with Mike Reed and Ree-C Murphey for another round of “Houston Have Your Say”. You can follow our thoughts here. If you want to participate more actively, you can do it by voting in their … Continue reading →

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Houston, Have Your Say on health care

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Tuesday night, KUHF channel 8 will broadcast another edition of “Houston, Have Your Say”, with the topic being health care reform. Here’s what to expect: At 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 20th, HoustonPBS, in partnership with The Center for Houston’s Future, … Continue reading →

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From the “I hate you! Now give me some money!” files

Posted on October 7, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Republicans think the stimulus package was bad public policy and an ineffective waste of money, except for the money that comes to their districts, in which case it’s all good. Texas’ top lawmakers in Congress want President Barack Obama to … Continue reading →

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FCC to move forward on Net Neutrality

Posted on September 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Good news. The fight for Net Neutrality took a big step forward on Monday with the chair of the Federal Communications Commission announcing plans to expand the rules to protect a free and open Internet. In a speech at the … Continue reading →

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Polling health care in CD28

Posted on September 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Daily Kos/Research 2000 conducted a series of polls in various Blue Dog Congressional districts, one of which was Rep. Henry Cuellar’s CD28. The results are here. To the question “Do you favor or oppose creating a government-administered health insurance option … Continue reading →

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EPA to tighten air quality standards

Posted on September 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Federal regulators signaled Wednesday that they would abandon Bush-era limits on smog pollution that scientists said didn’t go far enough to protect public health. Amid concerns that the current rules don’t adhere to the federal Clean Air Act, the … Continue reading →

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Up, up, up…

Posted on September 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the direction your health insurance premiums have been going, at an ever-increasing rate. A national report that was released today says family health insurance premiums in Texas increased 91.6 percent since 2000 — 4.6 times faster than earnings. The … Continue reading →

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Justice for Hispanic farmers

Posted on September 16, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I received an email about this and thought it was worth passing on. Hispanic farmers and ranchers deserve justice! Join us in calling on President Obama to end discrimination and bring transparency to USDA-administered farm programs. Sign the petition online here. … Continue reading →

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John Cornyn: For deficits before he was against them

Posted on September 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

There are many ridiculous things about our political discourse these days. Among them is the discussion of long-term federal budget deficit projections, in which the vast majority of Republicans, especially those who have been in office for more than a … Continue reading →

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Pete gets pwned

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

In case you haven’t been reading John Coby‘s coverage of Rep. Pete Olson’s hilariously off-message performance at a recent town hall, you should be. See here: Congressman Olson talks about the free market death panels Congressman Olson’s townhall mtg Update … Continue reading →

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Wyoming and wind

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting story about the boom in the wind energy industry out west and how some of that is bumping up against private property and NIMBYism, but what caught my eye was this bit: Wyoming and the West are home to … Continue reading →

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Corruption on the border

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Very interesting article from the AP about official corruption along the US-Mexico border. An Associated Press investigation has found U.S. law officers who work the border are being charged with criminal corruption in numbers not seen before, as drug and … Continue reading →

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If you can’t beat ’em, shout ’em down

Posted on August 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Ladies and gentlemen, your modern day Republican Party: Angry teabaggers and other opponents of health care reform are heckling members of Congress at their town hall meetings back home in an effort to sway the debate and drown out reform … Continue reading →

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Perrycare

Posted on August 1, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Who says Republicans don’t have any ideas about health care reform, or anything else for that matter? Here’s Rick Perry’s plan to overhaul the system. This afternoon, Rick Perry’s office released a letter the governor has sent to Health and … Continue reading →

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KBH to vote against Sotomayor

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Nobody is surprised by this, right? Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison says she will vote against confirming Sonia Sotomayor to be a Supreme Court justice. She said Tuesday she is concerned about Sotomayor’s views on the Second Amendment on the … Continue reading →

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Maddow on Perry

Posted on July 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I mentioned in passing that Governor Perry has decided that since his battle against the stimulus package was so effective, he needed to turn to health care reform, which he planned to oppose on 10th Amendment grounds. No, I have … Continue reading →

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Cornyn to vote No on Sotomayor

Posted on July 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Nobody should be surprised by this. The senator who runs the GOP’s Senate campaign arm says he’ll vote against Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Texas Republican John Cornyn is siding with his party’s leaders and conservatives against President Barack Obama’s … Continue reading →

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Can we call this a bipartisan agreement?

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

From last week. As Democrats in Congress push harder for a government-run health insurance plan that would compete with private insurers in some reform bills, Sen. John Cornyn said it remains a “deal-breaker” with Republicans. From this week, via Kos. … Continue reading →

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In Congress, July 4, 1776

Posted on July 4, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Some words to remember: IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected … Continue reading →

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