Joe Deshotel Posts

On Tuesday Governor Perry and Lt. Governor David Dewhurst announced their support for drug testing applicants of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program. TANF was created to help families in need, particularly children, and already includes a provision that requires applicants to, "Train for a job or look for employment if capable" and, "not abuse drugs or alcohol."

The saga continues in Kountze, Texas over cheerleaders using religious scripture on football banners. Governor Rick Perry and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott say they support freedom of all religion but their actions show their intent is to establish a defacto Christian government claiming there's a "moral basis for the legal code" outlined in the Ten Commandments.

On Sunday the Lampson for Congress campaign received an extra boost just before Early Voting began with the endorsement of all 3 major daily newspapers in TX-14; Houston Chronicle, Beaumont Enterpris...

Recently I reported on the strong fundraising numbers posted by the Lampson for Congress campaign in TX-14. He had 8 times as much cash on hand as his opponent but now its revealed that the Republican Candidate Randy Weber took more than th...

Today the Lampson for Congress campaign reported strong fundraising numbers and building momentum across the district. The campaign currently has $421,518 cash on hand and has raised over $1 million from at least 2 thousands contributors. "When you have popular ideas you get popular support." Lampson said today on a conference call. His campaign manager referred to it as the "Lampson brand", but the former Congressman said of himself, "Voters know I'm an independent voic...

Over the weekend Governor Perry Skyped with Kountze cheerleaders and expressed his support for putting Christian scripture on their high school football team's run-through banners. In the short video the Governor cited scripture and compared the school board to the Sanhedrin that commanded Jesus' disciples not teach or speak in his name. Only a few weeks ago the Governor

Today a Governor Perry appointed District Judge in Hardin County extended a temporary restraining order allowing Kountze cheerleaders to display religious banners in their official capacity during football games, at least until Oct. 14th.
The controversy started a few weeks ago after a complaint was filed with KISD officials about the signs. After consultation with the districts attorney, backed by Texas Association of School Boards, the district ban...

State Representative Craig Eiland is in a tough race for reelection after redistricting moved his seat closer to the "toss up" category. He faces Wayne Faircloth a Dickinson Republican with some experience in local elected government. Eiland's campaign is relying on his 18 year record of crossing party lines on behalf of his Gulf Coas...

Previous Coverage

The Liberty Institute whose mission is to “defend and restore religious liberty across America — in our schools”, provided some high-powered help to cheerleaders and their parents after Kountze ISD officials banned scripture based run-throughs during football games. The evangelical group with close ties to Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council, has now started a petition to demand Texas Attorney Greg Abbott support the cheerleaders’ right to “cheer on their football team without government censorship”.

 This may be our first insight into how Dewhurst plans to posture himself politically next session as he will have a considerably more conservative Senate to work with. The cheerleaders have already received the public support of their State Representative and Tea Party doll James White. Earlier this year White beat out a more moderate but favorited Republican Committee Chair after they were paired in redistricting.  That loss, as well as Cruz’ defeat of Dewhurst, show the achilles heel of the Texas Republican establishment - there is no middle ground. The establishment has been chipped away at from the inside and within its own primary, pushing even state-wide officials to the right. Groups like Texans for Fiscal Accountability that have challenged RINOs and Moderates in the Republican ranks, now have groups like Stop TLR challenging even their conservative credentials. This poses a problem for Republicans who placated to the Tea Party to win their primary but think they can get reelected without taking strong stances on controversial social issues.  

The Liberty Institute and the Family Reseach Council have recently started a new website called ReligiousHostility.org to document what they feel are attacks on religious freedom across America. The groups have been promoting alarmist ideas of Christian victimization stating, “attacks are increasing at an unprecedented rate”. Choosing to exploit people’s faith for political gain could prove disasterous for the Republican Party if moderates, attracted by an economic message, become ostracized.  The cheerleaders, their parents and even members of the football team profess to be the victims of government overreach but they are now facing growing opposition and an active letter writing campaign in support of the district's decision. A secular group of students from nearby Vidor High School spoke out against the official display religious banners. Junior Darren Mattox told KFDM News,  

My initial thought was that I do support it, but when you dig deeper into it, you realize that they are representing the school and that it's not really Constitutionally right for them to represent the school in that manner,

  The national Freedom From Religion Foundation is the organization that sparked the controversy when it sent a letter to Kountze ISD on Sept. 17th calling for an end to the "serious and flagrant violation of the First Amendment." The group said, "No Student should be made to run through a religious banner. The practice offends non-Christians and non-believers alike."  The actions of the students violate the law as interpreted in Sante Fe Independent School District vs. Doe in which the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that speech,

 More below the jump...

on school property, at school-sponsored events, over the school's public address system, by a speaker representing the student body, under the supervision of school faculty, and pursuant to a school policy that explicitly and implicitly encourages public prayer,

  are not private, but public speech. Furthermore it concluded that,  

Regardless of the listener's support for, or objection to, the message, an objective Santa Fe High School student will unquestionably perceive the inevitable pre game prayer as stamped with her school's seal of approval.

 In other words such actions by students in an official capacity violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Despite the letter of the law the Liberty Institute continues to claim,  

This is a quintessential example of students private speech being censored unnecessarily by uninformed school officials. This is a well-established principle of constitutional law that students don’t have to shed their constitutional rights of free speech when they enter the schoolhouse gate.

 For those interested in the facts, students of any creed or religious are free to express their faith on signs from the stands or as a part of non-school sponsored activities. Instead of informing misguided citizens and taxpayers about the Establishment Clause and its purpose of ensuring separation of church and state, conservative politicians are flirting with a powder keg of political clout that could blow up in their face.  Dewhurst will have to decide to stand for the rights of all Texans as the state’s top lawyer or sucumb to the forces pulling his party apart from the right.

Having worked on legislation that helps to end human trafficking is laudable, but it does not excuse a record of proudly cutting funds for and access to woman's healthcare. When fighting to balance the budget means slashing the two-year family planning budget from $111 million to $38 million and cutting the Medicaid Woman's Health Program by $35 million, you earn the title as "bearer of the flag in the war against women." While Weber touts his success in the battle against Planned Parenthood, real Texas woman suffer. In March of this year the New York Times published an article in which a mother of 5 spoke about losing access to breast cancer screenings, birth control pills and other routine health exams after the cuts shutdown low income clinics. The state's non-partisan Legislative Budget Board estimated 284,000 woman would lose access to health care costing Medicaid about $230 million. The board's recommendation was to actually expand the program to save money.

Hardin County District Judge Steve Thomas has granted a Temporary Restraining Order to allow Kountze cheerleaders to script bible verses on signs during football games. The TRO will last for two weeks until their next hearing Oct. 4th. The Judge was appointed by Rick Perry in June 2011 and the Governor made strong statements earlier this week regarding the faithful's role in the "public arena".

The cheerleaders legal aid comes is in part thanks to Liberty Institute. The conservative group has also teamed up with Tony Perkin's Family Research Council to create a new website, religioushostility.org. The site claims, "Hostility against religious liberty has reached an all-time high, and the attacks are increasing at an unprecedented rate." But, once you peel back the thin veil these groups do not have true "religious freedom" as a goal or value. They believe that their "burden [is] to reclaim the culture for Christ". In the Executive Summary of their "Survey of Religious Hostility in America", Christ or Christian is mentioned 9 times, where Judaism or islam is not mentioned once.  They perpetuate the notion that Christians are the victims of oppression in a nation that is 78% Christian. Right-wing blogs are happy to further the narrative with such misleading headlines as, "War on Football: TX School District Bans Christian Banners at Football Games" courtesy of the The Blaze. The fact is religious banners are not being banned - only religious banners held by uniformed students representing the school during an official school sponsored event.

I spoke with a graduate of Kountze High School, who identified herself as an atheist and said, "I'm from Kountze and my life has been taken over by this. I've never seen anything like this take place in town in my 23 plus years."

Read more below the jump.

If one of the cheerleaders made a banner praising Allah...I think you would literally have to fear for your life if you did that...The real victim here is that Hindu, Muslim, or Atheist student who's a cheerleader, or a football player, or on the drill team like I was, or just in the stands, who wouldn't dare say that this banner doesn't represent them or offends them because they now have 30,000 people from across the country in a Facebook group prepared to tell them that majority rules, as some of them have said, and that don't worry, this represents everyone because Jesus said he loves everyone in the Bible.

A letter writing campaign has begun to counter balance the pressure school officials have received from the community and conservative politicians - some of the letters are from self-described Christians. The original person who made the anonymous complaint is believed to be a parent of one of the Football players to which another player said, "If you don't like it don't come to our games. That's how I feel away about it." Now may be a good time to recall that the Constitution's function is to protect the rights of the ultimate minority - the individual - in this case, one too afraid to speak up against the tyranny of the majority.

Hidden behind the pine curtain a small East Texas town has erupted into a frenzy after school officials banned religious banners held by cheerleaders during high school football games. Kountze ISD Superintendent Kevin Weldon told the students to cease the practice after he received advice from his legal council to comply with an anonymous complaint. Texas law allows religious banners and signs at school functions as long as they are made by students and were not encouraged by faculty or school officials. The KISD restriction only applies to the on field display of signs by uniformed representatives of the school, but the cheerleaders, football players, town of 2,100 and 30,000+ Facebook groupies have taken it as a full assault on their religious freedom of speech.

A former UT student pranked Fox News exposing their bias against President Obama. The young man is actually an aspiring comedian - a fact that Fox News would have realized had they bothered to do their homework. But, according to Max Rice producers at the cable news channel, "were so happy that I fit the mold and that I was Caucasian...They were just casting a part in a show." He exchanged as many as 20 emails with Fox News producers noting they were, "telling me what to say...It's so ridiculous."

Rice said that he wanted his story to get told so everyone would know that "Fox News is a fake news organization". Fox scheduled the interview with Rice after producers put out feelers for a recent college graduate who had voted for Obama, could not find work, and was voting for Mitt Romney. "The first thing that shocked me is that they were that desperate to find someone that fit that category," he told The Raw Story. He said had Fox News done the math they would have realized after watching his 2010 high school commencement speech that he wasn't set to graduate college until 2014. "They just couldn't find anyone. They're in New York City, so they had to go find a kid in Chicago."

You can view the cringe inducing video and the original report at The Raw Story.

Today Fox News was forced to report some bad news on Romney but instead of focusing on the story itself the headline read, "Romney calls 'victims' comment 'off the cuff,' as Obama campaign seizes on video". The series of secretly recorded videos feature Romney at a private fundraiser saying Obama supporters don't pay taxes, and it quickly spread across the internet. Romney is quoted saying, "These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax.  My job is not to worry about those people...".

Here's some news for Fox and Romney, recent college graduates who can't find any work don't pay any either.

"We can get so much more done when we work together." That's the message in the first TV ad from the Nick Lampson for Congress campaign. The moderate Democrat reflects on his bi-partisan Congressional accomplishments and suggests by returning to civility, "we are going to have a greater future - for America." According to the campaign, the ad is the first in the race to hit TV and will run in the Beaumont and Houston media markets from now until election day.

Earlier this week the Houston Chronicle highlighted the race as one of the few competitive congressional seats in Texas. The NRCC has named Randy Weber to its "Young Gun" program, a move it hopes will prompt increased fundraising for the Pearland Republican. The national Democrats have targeted this race since January with its Red to Blue campaign and were bolstered by internal polling that showed Lampson with positive name ID and a 4% edge.

You can help by donating through our own Burnt Orange to Blue campaign.

The Nick Lampson for Congress campaign has rolled out several major endorsements this week - American Federation of Teachers, the Beaumont Police Officers Association, the Beaumont Professional Firefighters and the Texas State Teachers Association. Lampson has  his career in public service as a teacher or an elected official and its important to earn the trust of those whom pledge to keep us safe and educate our children. The news follows the narrative certified by this year's Democratic National Convention - Democrats believe that supporting education is a necessary investment to grow our economy and not just another line item expense of government.

It's no surprise to hear a former high school science teacher would be best equipped to understand and meet the challenges of today's schools. In 2001 he helped negotiate the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization. The bill was a bipartisan effort that increased funding while giving school districts more flexibility.

Education is key to our country's economic success in the 21st century. The right and access to a high quality public education goes to the very core of the American values of fairness, opportunity, hard work, and democracy.

Lampson also takes great pride that he represented NASA in Congress. Having recently taken man to Mars, NASA is a shinning example of human achievement when opportunity meets investment. In 2007 USA Today released a "Top 25 Scientific Breakthroughs" of the 25 years and 8 came directly from NASA.

Lampson's opponent Randy Weber on the other hand voted for the state budget that cut $4 billion from Texas Public Education. As Weber puts it, "There is a mindset among Texans that all government is bloated at some level, and they do expect it to be cut back".  Weber is a sitting member of the Public Education Committee and thus should be aware of the plight of Texas' public schools, yet during the budget debate Weber also voted against an amendment by Donna Howard (D-Austin) that would have put an additional $2 billion back into public education. Weber's original position was to support the measure calling it a "great amendment", but after a few phone calls and what was described as an "earful from opponents", he voted against the compromise at the ultimate expense of Texas' growing population of school children.  

If Texas were a Red State you wouldn't have known by the way we dominated the spotlight at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.  It could be that Texas' soil is somehow richer for growing talent or that our pride is so strong we must represent loud and proud, "We're from Texas".  But, whichever the case from Mayor Julian Castro of San Antonio to America's most desperate, er, favorite Desperate Housewife, Eva Longoria of Corpus Christi to University of Texas graduate and President of College Democrats of America Alejandra Salinas, Texans made the case for President Obama.

The spirit was high and the arena standing room only. We could have used our own cell tower, believe me there would have been a lot more tweets and Facebook status updates. There were a couple of charging stations but no ones devices seemed to be able to keep up with the excitement. My non-speech lights had to include walking into the arena to James Taylor sound checking "Carolina in my Mind", the Foo Fighters performing an acoustic version of "My Hero" and video bombing The Daily Show and MTV News.

I don't know if the stadium would have been full for the main event but I suspect so by the number of disappointed travelers and a supposed 19,000 name waiting list. It was no doubt the right decision as it poured down during the entire time crowds would have been entering the stadium. One could also assume that if they'd really planned to have it inside they would've at least had balloons prepared. Most importantly though you don't want to upset the tens of thousands of party activists who were already in town spending money who feel slighted in some way. Keeping your base happy is more important than saving a little face over a sparse section or two of a 70k capacity stadium.

The speakers were amazing and on message, and you can find some of the best at demconvention.com. By cheers the undisputed winner was Jennifer Granholm former Governor of Michigan. Her speech will for ever more be capsulized in this gem of a gif. She focused on the auto bailout and jobs - going into a crescendo of jobs saved by state all culminating to, "The great state of Michigan - 211,000 good paying American jobs!".

There was a theme and for the first time in a long time the Democratic Party started to seem organized, energized and possibly most important - confident. There were no apologies for stances on; marriage equality, climate change, healthcare, immigration, or voting rights. The theme was - were all in this together but education and opportunity are the keys to success and the American dream. And, the DNC version of the American Dream was not limited to those who could, "borrow money from their parents". The convention was diverse, and inclusive but still managed set a clear tone about what it mean to move "Forward".  The DNC came out in complete support of marriage equality. It wasn't one canned speech by a gay or lesbian supporter but several speakers who gave personal accounts and nearly half of all speeches acknowledged the issue. There was a "Dreamer", cancer survivor, firemen, military men and women, former Republicans all speaking with the same goal but from their own perspective.

The President continued down the path laid by prior speakers that education and opportunity will lead to job growth and a better economy. He used his own life experience as proof that with hard work and a fair chance we can accomplish anything. The most powerful part of his speech was when he said, "You're the reason" , which for all purposes could have been replaced with "you built this".  

You're the reason there's a little girl with a heart disorder in Phoenix who'll get the surgery she needs because an insurance company can't limit her coverage. You did that. 

You're the reason a young man in Colorado who never thought he'd be able to afford his dream of earning a medical degree is about to get that chance. You made that possible.

You're the reason a young immigrant who grew up here and went to school here and pledged allegiance to our flag will no longer be deported from the only country she's ever called home; why selfless soldiers won't be kicked out of the military because of who they are or who they love; why thousands of families have finally been able to say to the loved ones who served us so bravely: "Welcome home."

If you turn away now - if you buy into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn't possible...well, change will not happen. If you give up on the idea that your voice can make a difference, then other voices will fill the void: lobbyists and special interests; the people with the $10 million checks who are trying to buy this election and those who are making it harder for you to vote; Washington politicians who want to decide who you can marry, or control health care choices that women should make for themselves.

Only you can make sure that doesn't happen. Only you have the power to move us forward. 

Perhaps it hit home so hard because it reminds me of what I said in 2008 when I introduced the then Senator Obama as "The next President of the United States." I said then as is true now, "Its just the beginning, we have a lot of work to do...We can't expect some one to take our dreams and our hopes to Washington unless we stay right here at home and fight for those very same things."

Then there is Vice President Joe Biden. If there is ever a politician you look at and get the urge to want to share a beer with, its "Uncle Joe". That's what the Obama campaign is banking blue collar working types and Catholic men will be thinking and also why the RNC has recently gone on the attack trying to portray him as a liability. The President called his attack dog in chief, "the best Vice President I could ever hope for."

Democrats are confident, not so confident that they are taking November for granted but confident enough to start speculating about 2016. The talk of whether Joe Biden, a former candidate for President, would try again or if it was Hillary would give it another shot. Hillary is in a great position. No one would ever question if she was ready for the 3am phone call and her approval rating is at an incredible 66%. For Joe's case there seemed to be some consensus that a then 73 year old President Biden would only be running for 1term but that it could open the door to someone else on the ticket. That brings us to Julian Castro - the young mayor of San Antonio. Practically speaking no Mayor in recent memory other than Giuliani was even considered a serious contender. But, there is one office that American's do like to elevate to President and that's Governor. If Texan's are able to harness and build on the enthusiasm, optimism and unity from the DNC in 2014, electing an other Texas Governor as President may not seem like such a crazy idea after all.

There's little doubt that moderates will play a significant role in choosing Ron Paul's successor in Texas' redrawn 14th congressional district - but they won't be hearing much from Randy Weber. The self-described Tea Party candidate told the Houston Chronicle, "We don't knock on a lot of moderate doors, because my message doesn't really resonate." It's no wonder, Weber's website touts the endorsement of "birther" Sheriff Joe Arpaio saying, "I have come to admire the way he sticks to his convictions even in the face of the strong headwinds of political correctness."

The district is 53% Republican but Democratic nominee and former Congressman Nick Lampson has twice the positive name ID as Weber, who for the time being, seems more comfortable running against President Obama and "Obamacare" than his actual opponent. Energized Tea Party conservatives may have helped him win in the low turnout primary (and runoff) but it seems unlikely he can bank on riding Romney's coattails to Washington. The Austin American-Statesman reported Wednesday that many Texas delegates at the RNC are still unenthused and not fully committed to the Romney ticket. "The danger for Romney is that Republican voters simply won't show up to cast ballots," said University of Texas professor James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project.

For his part Lampson knows he will need to gain the support of independents, moderates and even some Republicans, a skill and reputation he developed while in Congress. As a previous member of congress Lampson formed the largest bipartisan issue-based caucus in Washington, the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus. He also participated in the Center Aisle caucus which required each new member to join alongside a member of the opposing party with the purpose of bringing more civility to government. "There must be a relationship between the parties. Our key focus has got to be America," Lampson told the Burnt Orange Report.  

The Obama campaign has released "an epic cinematic preview of Mitt Romney's 'convention re-invention'" titled "Do Over". The tongue in cheek video highlights the Romney campaign's own misgivings about the candidate that faces a 2-1 favorability deficit with the president and who's own advisors refer to him as," stiff, aloof and distant." In an interview today with NPR Romney's new national political director said, "as this convention progresses and America is introduced to Governor Romney and his family I think you are going to see people liking what they see and what they hear." This may be a good time to remind the Governor's new political director (this was his first radio interview) that Mitt has been running for President since February, 13th 2007.

Republican's made a strategic play when choosing Florida as the location for their national convention as their narrow path to victory almost completely disappears if they lose the state. The past few months have worn heavily on the Republican's relationships with two of the state's largest and most prized demographics - hispanics and seniors. For months the state's hispanic Senator Marco Rubio was considered a frontrunner for the VP spot but was passed over for Paul Ryan who's budget plan would privatize Medicare. If Republicans thought throwing a party in Florida would make up for bad public policy they were wrong. The latest poll shows Obama leading Romney in the Sunshine State 50% to 46% and right on cue the Romney camp says they can win without Florida. "Obviously Florida is very important to us but, there are other ways to 270." So even in the midst of a "do-over" the Romney camp finds a way to shake the proverbial etch-a-sketch.

Watch the new video below the jump...

Yesterday Sen. John Cornyn was in my hometown of Beaumont, TX for what was billed as a "roundtable discussion" to "highlight how local business owners in Southeast Texas have achieved success due to their own hard work and personal creativity, contrary to the President’s recent claim." When I saw the participants I couldn't let this assertion go unchallenged. A little research revealed that at least a few of these entrepreneurs did in fact have direct government help in developing their businesses. I know many of these men personally and I'm surprised to see them take part in Sen. Cornyn's political stunt that was framed to embarrass the President. His attempt to bring Washington partisanship to the local level aside, local leaders in Southeast Texas should be well aware that the region receives an enormous amount of benefit from government spending by way of tax breaks, incentives, grants, subsidies and military spending. There were few worse places Cornyn could have used to try and make his point. The Port of Beaumont is the second largest U.S. military port and ships about 48 percent of military cargo to Afghanistan and Iraq. According to the Port of Beaumont's website, "Since its creation as a governmental entity, the port has steadily expanded and improved its facilities in furthering its role as a major partner in worldwide commerce." Recent economic impact statistics show the Port of Beaumont produces more than 1,860 jobs and $129 million in personal income for Southeast Texans generating about $11.6 million in state and local taxes and $23.3 million in federal tax revenue.

Subsidies have also been a boon for Ike Akbari, Board Chairman, Greater Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce. When not discrediting government assistance programs Akbari is President of ITEX a development firm that specializes in among other things,"Development, Construction and Management of Section 42 Low-income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) properties using a variety of financing sources such as LIHTC, HOME funds and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds." In other words federally-subsidized housing projects.

More below the jump... 

These public-private partnership would seem like common knowledge and practice to participants like Robert Turner listed as Board Chairman of the Beaumont Greater Chamber of Commerce. The press advisory said "they built their businesses from the ground up without government assistance," but the Chamber website hosts a page dedicated to the "Revolving Loan Fund", part of the City of Beaumont's Small Business Loan Program. This welfare program "created to promote small business development and job creation in Beaumont" is funded by…(pause for drum roll)…the Federal Economic Development Administration. Robert Turner the first African-American to chair the Beaumont Chamber is also "the first African-American to successfully own and operate a General Motors dealership in Southeast Texas,". If you'll remember GM was bailed out by the federal government in 2009 to the tune of $50 billion. The company has so far only repaid taxpayers about half that while posting the largest profits in its history. Dan Akerson the company's new CEO said, "The Obama Administration did a good job…without the money, without the funding it would have been very problematic." When asked if the Romney strategy of letting "Detroit go bankrupt" would have made the company stronger Akerson said, "It would have been a bankruptcy for years and you could have written off this company and this industry in this country. Ironically, in his speech currently being taken out of context Obama used the example, 

The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

In deed, and in 2008 when Turner's dealership caught fire it was the Nederland Fire Department that tended to the fire while the National Response Team investigated the source of the flames. "The NRT works alongside federal, state, and local officers in reconstructing the scene, identifying the seat of the blast or the origin of the fire, conducting interviews and sifting through debris to obtain evidence related to the explosion/fire, according to the ATF Web site." These government agencies may not have built his dealership but they no doubt helped mitigate loses and speed up recovery.

Probably most disappointing of the bunch is Joe Tortorice of Jason's Deli. I love Jason's model and fresh food but disappointed that the top guy doesn't recognize what government investment can do or has dome the further many of the company's own progressive causes. In 2008 at the unveiling of Jason's solar power installations co-founder Rusty Coco told the Beaumont Enterprise, "it's a small, small portion of what we can really do, you know - baby steps.", but that he would like to see better incentives for businesses to go green. Tom Beck CEO of SHEC Energy a Canadian solar company was looking to relocate manufacturing to Beaumont because of, "good incentives for renewables".

Southeast Texas' largest industry is energy, specifically oil and gas, which seems to have no problem extracting incentives from the government. The Texas State Comptroller's website shows that in 2006 Texas State and local subsidies to the oil and gas industry totaled over $1.4 billion with federal subsides totaling $7.4 Billion. Those same oil companies donated over $1 million to Cornyn's campaign since 2007, who himself a government employee since 1984, receives an annual Congressional salary of $174,000 plus benefits and healthcare.

Here is the impetus for the "I Built This" charade. Obama's original comment with some context.

  Austin Young Democrats, formerly Capital City Young Democrats, is officially relaunching on Tuesday, August 28th 6p at Club Deville (900 Red River). "Work Hard // Play Hard" thats our motto - and we'll be spending the rest of this election season living up to it. We're actively registering voters and organizing phone banks to elect good progressive Democrats and re-elect President Obama.

  Our membership generally consists of young professionals and politicos who enjoy a good happy hour and live music as much as any bunch of Austinites. When it comes down to it, if you fit into 2 of the 3 categories you should join this club - we're open to any combination of progressive young Austinites who can see the choice is clear for moving our county forward.

Obama said, "We are the one's we've been waiting for.", and we still believe that.

Thanks to Club Deville for hosting and La Snacks for rocking!

Special thanks to Austin State Reps Elliott Naishtat and Mark Strama for sponsoring!