Category Archives: National news

Vince has been staying on top of the fight to renew the Voting Rights Act. A group of Republicans, including the three Texans listed in the banner atop Vince’s post, have held up the VRA’s renewal, which was supposed to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Kiss more of those curfew violations goodbye. A Municipal Court judge has dismissed 47 curfew violation cases against students who walked out of class in March to protest federal immigration legislation. Twenty-six of the cases were dismissed Wednesday and three … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You have to hand it to John Culberson. The man knows how to pander. Local officials continued to debate police policy toward illegal immigrants Thursday after the U.S. House passed a Houston lawmaker’s measure that would cut off federal crime-fighting … Continue reading → Continue reading →

From Reuters, via Daily Kos: U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens said on Tuesday he does not yet have the necessary votes to get legislation to overhaul communications laws through the full Senate. . . . Stevens told reporters … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Eye on Williamson has been all over Rep. John Carter’s embarrassing statements regarding the Voting Rights Act. There’s too many posts to link, so go here and take your pick. And also read the editorials by the Statesman, the Chron, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Following up on this story of students arrested in Round Rock for breaking a daytiem curfew law during a protest about immigration, a municipal court judge has dismissed more charges for lack of evidence. Like two cases dismissed earlier this … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Nick Lampson writes a letter to Fort Bend Now. Congress should be ashamed of giving itself a raise at a time when our nation faces the largest debt and deficits in its history. Our country is facing a real mess … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I haven’t been following very closely this story about high school kids in Round Rock who got arrested for skipping school during the immigration rallies back in March, but I’ve got a few thoughts about it now. Of the more … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Net Neutrality will come up in Congress again this week. Here’s the latest email on the subject from MoveOn: Dear Charles, It’s time. Next week, the full House of Representatives votes on whether to protect Internet freedom. Your representative, Sheila … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You may have heard that Fort Hood is having some financial difficulties. A “severe budget crunch” has hit Fort Hood, one of the nation’s largest military posts and home to a U.S. Army division serving in Iraq, officials said Thursday. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You may recall last week that an employee of the Veterans Administration had a laptop that contained a database with more than 26 million personal records in it stolen. This led to Sen. Tom Harkin (D, Iowa) to introduce a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This ought to make a few waverers on Net Neutrality sit up and pay attention. eBay this week unleashed a political machine that should make politicians envious: a national e-mail blast over Net neutrality. Meg Whitman, chief executive of the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Good news: the Sensenbrenner-Conyers bill (HR5417, discussed here), passed out of committee on a bipartisan 20-13 vote. Every Democrat who voted, voted in favor, along with six Republicans. I’m especially pleased to see that my rep, Sheila Jackson Lee, did … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s an email action alert that hit home for me: Dear Charles, This is an urgent action alert. Your House member, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, is one of the key votes who have still not declared whether they will support Net … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Former Senator and Vice Presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen has died at the age of 85. Bentsen, in failing health for more than a decade after a stroke in 1995, died at his home in Houston, said family spokesman Bill Maddox. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Couple of updates here on where Net Neutrality stands, from Art Brodsky and MyDD. It’s nice to see more Congressional candidates make an issue out of this (and kudos to David Harris and Tim Barnwell for being at the front … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Rick Casey writes about State Rep. Rick Noriega, who is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the National Guard and who fully expects to be one of those 6000 troops that President Bush is sending to the US-Mexico border. Greg has … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Have you heard that there may soon be two additional members of Congress? That and a slightly more outrageous proposal over at Kuff’s World. UPDATE: In approving a comment at KW, I just discovered the first spammed comments there. They … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I was at my desk all day yesterday, including for lunch, so I didn’t see any of the immigration rallies that took place. The Chron tells about how some businesses were affected. Businesses from downtown to North Houston closed to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In case you managed to not see it, here’s video and a transcript of Stephen Colbert’s brilliant performance at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner last night. And here’s the press not getting the joke. Continue reading →

The Agonist has bad news and good news on the Net Neutrality front. The Markey Amendment failed in committee 22-34. Democrats Rush, Green, Gonzalez, Towns, and Wynn all voted no on the amendment and betrayed the netroots. The rest of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Just a quick update on the fight over Net neutrality. Sean-Paul has a good roundup of links and other information here. If you want a more technical description of the issues at hand, check out Kevin Drum, Crooked Timber, and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Let me add my voice to those calling out for the preservation of Net Neutrality (I have posted on this in the past). What you need to know is here and here. The players in this drama are described here. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Fascinating LA Times piece by national politics writer Ron Brownstein on how California is aggressively pursuing an energy policy that focuses on reducing oil usage and cutting down carbon dioxide emissions. What makes this stand out is that, incontrast to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s a brief roundup of coverage on yesterday’s National Day of Action for immigration rights. Rally packs downtown Houston Tens of thousands of people skipped work on Monday, scooped up their children and flocked to downtown Houston to demand equal … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Today is the National Day of Action for immigration rights that I mentioned last week. For information on how, when, and where to participate, see Dos Centavos and The Red State. South Texas Chisme has a news roundup of other … Continue reading → Continue reading →

According to LULAC (the League of United Latin American Citizens), there will be a huge multi-city rally for immigrants’ rights across America on April 10. “Comprehensive immigration reform must include an earned adjustment for immigrants currently working in the United … Continue reading → Continue reading →

HISD is taking the tougher stand they said they would with students who continue to skip class to protest immigration policies, while at the same time encouraging the students to find a more productive way to express themselves. Just hours … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There were student walkouts in Dallas and Fort Worth yesterday along with those in Houston and elsewhere around the country. That will probably be the end of that type of activity – as Stace notes, the party line from school … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I haven’t paid enough attention to the fierce debate over immigration that’s currently brewing in the Senate, the streets, and even the schools. Since I don’t think I have any original thoughts to add at this time, let me say … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Apparently, Rep. Ron Paul has decided he no longer needs to try to eliminate the Federal Reserve Board. He’d much rather compel them to keep spending taxpayer money printing a report that no one uses. Kash at Angry Bear has … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I understand the desire on the part of some professors to overturn Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, but it always seemed to me that those law schools which sued the government recently were trying to take the money and run, so … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the news of port security being handed to a company that’s fully owned by a foreign government. As Reed Hunt remarked, the UAE could not own a US television station, but port … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Health Care Savings Accounts will save the world! That’s the message post-State of the Union. But the key problem with these types of health plans is one nobody’s talking about: how do you ensure individuals with less-than-perfect health can get … Continue reading → Continue reading →