Federal government bypasses state agency, awards Title X grant to Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas.
Carolyn Jones
25 March 2013
Some family-planning funding in Texas will soon be under new management.
The federal government announced today that it would no longer give a
large slice of federal family-planning funds to the state of Texas.
Instead, the feds will award the $6.5 million grant to the Women’s
Health and Family Planning Association of Texas, a coalition of
providers led by Fran Hagerty, to distribute to clinics for birth
control, wellness exams, STD screenings and other family-planning
services.
The Observer reported in November
that the coalition would apply directly to the federal government for
the grant—called Title X (Title 10)—one of three federal funding streams
that pay for family-planning services in the state.
Before today, the sole grantee for Texas’ Title X funds had been the
Texas Department of State Health Services. The health department had in
turn distributed the grant money to family planning providers statewide.
But the 2011 Legislature slashed the $111-million family-planning
budget by two thirds, causing more than 60 clinics to close. The loss of
clinics resulted in the number of Texans receiving services through
Title X to drop by 50 percent, according to an annual review by the
Texas Department of State Health Services.
The
collateral damage wrought by the budget cuts has been widespread. Many
of the providers in Hagerty’s coalition had lost state family-planning
funds and are struggling to stay open.
READ IT ALL:
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
Gov. Perry’s water board still won’t acknowledge climate change as Texas faces dire drought in 2013
Stephen C. Webster | The Raw Story
22 March 2013
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Two top environmental officials in the state of Texas told Raw Story this week that not only is the state ill-prepared to face a summer this year even hotter than the record-breaking drought of 2011, it has largely neglected to begin planning for the unprecedented drought conditions forecast for the next several decades by the U.S. government’s 2013 National Climate Assessment.
The situation is so dire that if fundamental changes are not made to how water is conserved in Texas, the clashing trends of climate change and population growth threaten to utterly strangle the Texas economy over the coming 20-30 years as water costs soar, and activists warn that Gov. Rick Perry (R) is doing nothing but making the problem worse.
“Because the folks on the Texas water board are appointed by Rick Perry, they tend to fall in line with what Rick Perry believes when it comes to climate change,” Alyssa Burgin, executive director of the Texas Drought Project, told Raw Story. “There are many people whose jobs are on the line when it comes to talking about climate change. A mention of it did appear in the most recent state water plan, but any discussion given to it was rudimentary and symbolic, as if they didn’t wish to be accused of being ignorant as scientists… Most of our reservoirs are already in dire need and we’ve not even begun the really hot months. Taken together, it’s going to look like the dust bowl of Oklahoma.”
READ IT ALL:
22 March 2013
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Two top environmental officials in the state of Texas told Raw Story this week that not only is the state ill-prepared to face a summer this year even hotter than the record-breaking drought of 2011, it has largely neglected to begin planning for the unprecedented drought conditions forecast for the next several decades by the U.S. government’s 2013 National Climate Assessment.
The situation is so dire that if fundamental changes are not made to how water is conserved in Texas, the clashing trends of climate change and population growth threaten to utterly strangle the Texas economy over the coming 20-30 years as water costs soar, and activists warn that Gov. Rick Perry (R) is doing nothing but making the problem worse.
“Because the folks on the Texas water board are appointed by Rick Perry, they tend to fall in line with what Rick Perry believes when it comes to climate change,” Alyssa Burgin, executive director of the Texas Drought Project, told Raw Story. “There are many people whose jobs are on the line when it comes to talking about climate change. A mention of it did appear in the most recent state water plan, but any discussion given to it was rudimentary and symbolic, as if they didn’t wish to be accused of being ignorant as scientists… Most of our reservoirs are already in dire need and we’ve not even begun the really hot months. Taken together, it’s going to look like the dust bowl of Oklahoma.”
READ IT ALL:
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Rick Perry's $487 million corporate slush fund doesn't need your stinkin' audit
The Texas governor doesn't agree that his corporate-handout
fund needs an audit—because he and two other GOP pols already monitor
it.
Dana Liebelson | Mother Jones
20 March 2013
snip
Perry maintains that the fund gives Texas a competitive edge and has brought more than 56,000 new jobs to the state and generated more than $14.7 billion in capital investment. But the watchdog group Texans for Public Justice found that by the end of 2010, companies getting cash from the fund were only creating about 37 percent of the number of jobs promised. The administration has lowered standards in the past so that companies could create fewer jobs than they had promised, and it has canceled contracts after criticism over companies such as Bank of America's Countrywide, which continued to be an Enterprise grantee as it collapsed and laid off thousands of workers nationwide.
snip
"Perry's office is basically accommodating a process by which taxpayer money is transferred to corporations, not invested in state infrastructure," says Matt Angle, the director of the Lone Star Project, a political action committee devoted to strategic communications and research for Democrats. He would like to see Enterprise funds start going to education, family planning, and roads. (In 2011, Perry cut $5.4 billion in state funding from public schools, and he is turning down $100 billion to expand Medicaid while also shuttering 53 family planning clinics.)"
READ IT ALL:
Dana Liebelson | Mother Jones
20 March 2013
snip
Perry maintains that the fund gives Texas a competitive edge and has brought more than 56,000 new jobs to the state and generated more than $14.7 billion in capital investment. But the watchdog group Texans for Public Justice found that by the end of 2010, companies getting cash from the fund were only creating about 37 percent of the number of jobs promised. The administration has lowered standards in the past so that companies could create fewer jobs than they had promised, and it has canceled contracts after criticism over companies such as Bank of America's Countrywide, which continued to be an Enterprise grantee as it collapsed and laid off thousands of workers nationwide.
snip
"Perry's office is basically accommodating a process by which taxpayer money is transferred to corporations, not invested in state infrastructure," says Matt Angle, the director of the Lone Star Project, a political action committee devoted to strategic communications and research for Democrats. He would like to see Enterprise funds start going to education, family planning, and roads. (In 2011, Perry cut $5.4 billion in state funding from public schools, and he is turning down $100 billion to expand Medicaid while also shuttering 53 family planning clinics.)"
READ IT ALL:
The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Jamie Dimon
More than just a tawdry tale, Dimon’s demise is a critique of the American Dream.
Lynn Stuart Parramore | Alternet
March 19, 2013
They called him a hero. The most esteemed banker of his time. The captain who could steer the ship while others foundered. The handsome, charismatic CEO of JP Morgan Chase, he of the silver hair and golden tongue, beloved by presidents and praised by pundits.
Now the truth is out, and Wall Street’s golden boy, Jamie Dimon, has fallen to earth with a thud.
Why did it take so long? Why did the American media treat him with kid gloves? In a populist moment, how did he manage to escape the scorn heaped on his colleagues?
To understand this, you have to follow the yellow brick rode all the way back to the beginning, back to when the gold-plated American Dream was forged in the smithy of the Puritan soul.
READ IT ALL: http://www.alternet.org/economy/spectacular-rise-and-fall-jamie-dimon-wall-streets-golden-boy
Lynn Stuart Parramore | Alternet
March 19, 2013
They called him a hero. The most esteemed banker of his time. The captain who could steer the ship while others foundered. The handsome, charismatic CEO of JP Morgan Chase, he of the silver hair and golden tongue, beloved by presidents and praised by pundits.
Now the truth is out, and Wall Street’s golden boy, Jamie Dimon, has fallen to earth with a thud.
Why did it take so long? Why did the American media treat him with kid gloves? In a populist moment, how did he manage to escape the scorn heaped on his colleagues?
To understand this, you have to follow the yellow brick rode all the way back to the beginning, back to when the gold-plated American Dream was forged in the smithy of the Puritan soul.
READ IT ALL: http://www.alternet.org/economy/spectacular-rise-and-fall-jamie-dimon-wall-streets-golden-boy
Saturday, March 09, 2013
Anti-union, pro-fossil fuel forces are the real reason the Post Office is struggling
“As the second -largest employer in the United States, behind Wal-Mart, which is not unionized, they’re the largest union employer in the United States. And ever since 1981, when Ronald Reagan declared war on union workers, the Republican war against unions has been relentless,” Hartmann says.
SOURCE:
Crying won't fix your state, voting will
Vince Yanez | thebigslice.org/
7 March 2013
Every once in a while we post a story on The Pragmatic Progressive Page about a certain state or region, and inevitably, we get people who start stomping their feet or crying or threatening to leave because they were offended. We might point out that Texas voters are idiots, the Deep South is full of morons or that Arizona is a bunch of racists. And the cry will always go up….’But I AM NOT a racists, therefore, you are WRONG!’
So here’s the deal. You and I both know that every type of person lives in every type of region, and anyone with a brain knows that when someone says ‘Texas voters are idiots’ - we are talking about the majority of those voters, because as elections go, majority always wins. When they do documentaries in the Deep South and show toothless, bible-thumping inbred-types spouting off their hatred for ‘that Muslim’ and waving around their Confederate Flag – yes, we realize that isn’t everyone, but as someone who has travelled to the Deep South many times – that isn’t hard to find. In fact, it’s too easy to find; whether it’s the front desk of a Motel 6, the waitress of a Waffle House or any of the half-a-billion Wal-Mart dotting the landscape. Let’s not pretend otherwise.
You see, I’m from Arizona. And when people say, ‘Arizona is a bunch of racists!’ – I don’t cry and scream and defend my state by pointing out that I, in fact, am not a racist. I think about the fact that we put through bills like SB1070, that we vote into office people like Arpaio, Brewer and McCain, or that we have a ton of uneducated Minute-Men on our border with guns strapped to their sides and some misguided vigilantism keeping them peering into the desert day in and day out. I think about the fact that my state will vote in these morons time and time again, so if my state appears racists to everyone else in America, how is my crying helping the fact that actions speak louder than words?
At the end of the day, we can either say that Arizona is full of racists or we can say that the racists in Arizona are the only ones that care enough to vote…while all those lazy, apathetic non-racists are just sitting around crying they are being called racists. We can say that Texas voters are idiots, or we can say that the idiots are who care enough to vote in Texas, and all those lazy, apathetic non-idiots are being given a bad rap. We can make a blanket statement that the Deep South is full of a bunch of freaks, or we can just admit that we were only basing that on every person we met, every time we stopped at any rest stop, gas station or Cracker Barrel…and all the cool people just don’t leave their houses much.
Remember, though all forms of ‘prejudice’ may not be true, they are usually based on something that isn’t exactly a fairy tale, so let’s start being honest with ourselves.
Or…we can try harder. If you don’t like that your state is being seen as a major problem in America, then get out there and vote, and get those who are like you (who you claim there are many) to vote as well. THAT is how you change things. But to just stomp your feet every time someone points out a fact that everyone seems to agree on…that isn’t how you fix things. It never has been.
I come from a racist state, with weirdos AND idiot voters. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. I’m not going to cry and stomp and threaten to leave your page/club/house when you point that out. Instead, I’m going to either decide that is not the state for me and leave, or I’m going to try to fix the problem – but one thing I do know, tears and/or anger have never carried the same weight as a vote at the ballot box. Ever.
And if you are saying I’m trying to change things!!! – good for you, try harder, those of us who don’t have blonde hair and white skin want more places to travel in this damn country of ours without fearing for our lives every time we get a freakin’ flat tire.
SOURCE:
7 March 2013
Every once in a while we post a story on The Pragmatic Progressive Page about a certain state or region, and inevitably, we get people who start stomping their feet or crying or threatening to leave because they were offended. We might point out that Texas voters are idiots, the Deep South is full of morons or that Arizona is a bunch of racists. And the cry will always go up….’But I AM NOT a racists, therefore, you are WRONG!’
So here’s the deal. You and I both know that every type of person lives in every type of region, and anyone with a brain knows that when someone says ‘Texas voters are idiots’ - we are talking about the majority of those voters, because as elections go, majority always wins. When they do documentaries in the Deep South and show toothless, bible-thumping inbred-types spouting off their hatred for ‘that Muslim’ and waving around their Confederate Flag – yes, we realize that isn’t everyone, but as someone who has travelled to the Deep South many times – that isn’t hard to find. In fact, it’s too easy to find; whether it’s the front desk of a Motel 6, the waitress of a Waffle House or any of the half-a-billion Wal-Mart dotting the landscape. Let’s not pretend otherwise.
You see, I’m from Arizona. And when people say, ‘Arizona is a bunch of racists!’ – I don’t cry and scream and defend my state by pointing out that I, in fact, am not a racist. I think about the fact that we put through bills like SB1070, that we vote into office people like Arpaio, Brewer and McCain, or that we have a ton of uneducated Minute-Men on our border with guns strapped to their sides and some misguided vigilantism keeping them peering into the desert day in and day out. I think about the fact that my state will vote in these morons time and time again, so if my state appears racists to everyone else in America, how is my crying helping the fact that actions speak louder than words?
At the end of the day, we can either say that Arizona is full of racists or we can say that the racists in Arizona are the only ones that care enough to vote…while all those lazy, apathetic non-racists are just sitting around crying they are being called racists. We can say that Texas voters are idiots, or we can say that the idiots are who care enough to vote in Texas, and all those lazy, apathetic non-idiots are being given a bad rap. We can make a blanket statement that the Deep South is full of a bunch of freaks, or we can just admit that we were only basing that on every person we met, every time we stopped at any rest stop, gas station or Cracker Barrel…and all the cool people just don’t leave their houses much.
Remember, though all forms of ‘prejudice’ may not be true, they are usually based on something that isn’t exactly a fairy tale, so let’s start being honest with ourselves.
Or…we can try harder. If you don’t like that your state is being seen as a major problem in America, then get out there and vote, and get those who are like you (who you claim there are many) to vote as well. THAT is how you change things. But to just stomp your feet every time someone points out a fact that everyone seems to agree on…that isn’t how you fix things. It never has been.
I come from a racist state, with weirdos AND idiot voters. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. I’m not going to cry and stomp and threaten to leave your page/club/house when you point that out. Instead, I’m going to either decide that is not the state for me and leave, or I’m going to try to fix the problem – but one thing I do know, tears and/or anger have never carried the same weight as a vote at the ballot box. Ever.
And if you are saying I’m trying to change things!!! – good for you, try harder, those of us who don’t have blonde hair and white skin want more places to travel in this damn country of ours without fearing for our lives every time we get a freakin’ flat tire.
SOURCE:
Friday, March 08, 2013
Wealth Inequality in America
Published on Nov 20, 2012
Infographics on the distribution of
wealth in America, highlighting both the inequality and the difference
between our perception of inequality and the actual numbers. The reality
is often not what we think it is.
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