Republicans Trying to Make Legal Representation Available Only to the Rich – The Republican party’s “Spending Reduction Act of 2011” includes elimination of the Legal Services Corporation. The Congress of the United States authorized the Legal Services Corporation Act, and found that”providing legal assistance to those who face an economic barrier to adequate legal counsel will serve best the ends of justice and assist in improving opportunities for low-income persons. But Republicans feel that legal representation should only be available to the rich.
Prewar U.S. Report Admits Lack of “Hard” Proof on Iraqi WMD – The U.S. intelligence community’s determinations about Iraqi WMD capabilities were based largely on subjective assessment rather than “hard evidence” six months prior to the U.S.-led invasion of the country, the International Business Times yesterday quoted a September 2002 Defense Department report. “We range from 0 percent to about 75 percent knowledge on various aspects of their program,” Shaffer wrote.
The United States lacked knowledge regarding the standing of Iraqi fissile material production sites, uranium enrichment centrifuge activities, or work to acquire a nuclear bomb, the report states. No certainty existed on the placement of any Iraqi site engaged in nuclear-weapon work, it says.
“Our knowledge of the Iraqi nuclear weapons program is based largely — perhaps 90 percent — on analysis of imprecise intelligence,” the document asserts.
Republicans Love Lobbyists – When Democrat Henry Waxman became chair of the House Energy & Commerce committee, his staff was composed of people who had spent many years dedicated to expanding health care coverage, protecting the environment, and crafting an energy policy that would meet the dual challenges of climate change and fossil fuel resource constraints. The new chair of the committee, Republican Fred Upton,brought in in staff composed of lawyers-for-hire who spent their previous years lobbying for the industries that they now will be overseeing.
Rick Perry Gives Another Prize to Another Friend – In 2008, four Republicans and Democrat Chris Bell, a former congressman and Rick Perry’s challenger in the 2006 governor’s race, signed up to run in a special election to succeed Sen. Kyle Janek of Houston. Because it was a special election, the top two finishers would advance to a runoff if no candidate won a majority.
Minutes before the deadline to get into the race, Stephanie Simmons filed to run as a Democrat. Bell and others suspected that she was a Republican plant sent to split the Democratic vote. After all, Simmons is black, Bell is white, and the election was the same day that Barack Obama ran for president against John McCain.
Nearly 75 percent of the money Simmons raised came from Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a business-friendly group that usually supports Republicans, and another 10 percent was in-kind legal services from Ron Wilson, who served in the state House as a Democrat but is famously close to former GOP Speaker Tom Craddick and other Republicans.
If that was the plan, it worked. Bell finished short of a majority win that November and lost to Republican Joan Huffman in a December runoff.
Now, Gov. Rick Perry has appointed Simmons as chairwoman of the state’s Risk Management Board.
Rick says, “Thanks, Steph!”
Medical Care and Education for Children in Texas Ranks Among Worst in Nation – Texas is on track to create a generation of citizens saddled with high health care costs, increasing poverty rates and an inability to compete for jobs on a national level, according to a report released recently.
Compiled by Austin-based Texans Care for Children, the report shows that even at present funding levels, Texas ranks last in several areas it describes as crucial for children. With state funding cuts proposed in every sector including education and medical services as well as the elimination of several prevention programs, staff at the non-partisan child advocacy agency say the Lone Star state is setting itself up for failure.
Timeline of Economic Collapse – Starting from 1987, and going to the present, see what led to the economic collapse and what might be next.
Regards,
Jim
Andy Hailey
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