The Texas Independent has reported that executives from Taxmasters, a company charged by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot in May with illegally defrauding customers seeking help for tax problems has contributed over $160,000 to State and Federal Republican politicians and political organizations. This includes the FEC maximum of $4800 to Michael McCaul, my republican opponent for Texas Congressional District 10 this November. Mr. McCaul is using potentially illegally obtained money to influence the electorate and he should immediately return it.
(This event is this coming Tuesday. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Andy Wilson, Public Citizen and Stewart Snider, Clean Elections Texas, will headline this rally to highlight the dangers of the Supreme Court decision in January and the importance of citizen funded elections and lobbyist reform. Giant puppets will illustrate who is in bed with whom. Musician and singer Daniel Llanes will perform and our People Power Street Theater will debut. Sponsored by MoveOn, Public Citizen, Gray Panthers, Clean Elections Texas, DFA and a number of other local and national organizations this Rally is one of 130 scheduled across United States!
Come spend just one hour, Tuesday, August 10, 2010, High Noon, at the South Gate to the Capitol at 11th and Congress. FREE Parking at the Capitol Visitors Parking Garage at 12th and San Jacinto. To sign up: http://pol.moveon.org/event/pl...
One of the featured corporate sponsors of the Tea Party Express had to pay millions of dollars to settle lawsuits for its role in a bus fire that killed 23 elderly nursing home residents fleeing Hurricane Rita in 2005.
Investigators later found that the bus was: driven by an undocumented migrant without a valid U.S. driver's license, lacking adequate fire extinguishers, and not licensed to operate in Texas. When the bus had mechanical problems before the crash, the driver took it to an unqualified mechanic who failed to notice the critical fault--an unlubricated axle that eventually melted and burst into flame.
BusBank hired Global Limo, even though "the subcontractor had a long record of federal and state safety violations, had entered bankruptcy, and was being sued/" (Source)
Global Limo's owner Jim Mapleslisted Global Charters as his employer when he gave $5000 to the RNC in 2004. (Source)
23 nursing home residents died; jury says fleet poorly maintained
The company that owned a bus that exploded during last year’s Hurricane Rita evacuation, killing 23 nursing home residents, was found guilty Tuesday of conspiring to falsify logs and poorly maintaining its fleet.
The company’s owner, James Maples, was acquitted on the conspiracy charge but convicted of falsifying logs and poorly maintaining the fleet.
The trial stemmed from a federal investigation into a Global Limo Inc. bus that exploded and burned while stuck in traffic on Sept. 23, 2005, killing elderly patients too frail to escape. The patients’ oxygen tanks exploded as the flames engulfed the bus.
BusBank's legal troubles are far from over, according to one report, more lawsuits are getting underway this month. The firm filed for bankruptcy in Delaware in August.
And bringing it all back home, we go back to Beyerstein one more time:
BusBank is also arranging to ferry Tea Baggers to their 9/12 march on Washington to voice their demands for unfettered capitalism.
To recap:
Republicans are fanning the flames of fear and spreading lies for their Pro-Insurance-Company-Secession tour, in an effort to scare senior citizens into opposing Obama's health care plan -- while hiring a bus company that was so irresponsible it led to the death of twenty-three senior citizens.
I’ve heard it said that churches are supposed to make bad men good and good men better. Our campaign finance system seems to do the opposite: make good men bad and bad men worse (ie, Governors Richardson and Blagojevich, respectively). As far back as Socrates, outside observers have noticed the corruptive influence of money on public policy. Our public servants worshiping at the altar of campaign donations is sure path to hell for most of us. But the fact that we force them to do so by not providing a public financing system begs the question: Are we getting what we deserve?
As Richardson withdraws his name for consideration of being Commerce Secretary, more and more details are coming out about his ethical problems. Did he take campaign donations that changed his votes? Possibly, or at least there’s enough of an ethical cloud there that no one can know for sure.
I am totally stunned by the arrest of Gov. Blagojevich in IL regarding the potential corruption involving the Senate seat vacated by Pres-elect Obama. After reading some of the criminal complaint I am shocked by how blatant he was even while having knowledge of a Federal investigation. What is even more disturbing are the possible tentacles that this investigation could develop. This is made worse by the fact that Gov. Blagojevich followed former Gov. Ryan who was convicted on corruption charges himself.
There is already one link into the Obama transition as Gov. Blagojevich bargained for a position in the administration. I only hope the transition team and Pres-elect Obama are above reproach in this situation. Otherwise this will not be a good start for the administration. I can already see similarities of Whitewater in this. The Rs will not let this go if there's even the slightest hint of linkage and possible action.
I think the thing that makes me the most incensed is that this type of thing derails our best intentions and hard work. So many of us bust our butts to accomplish change that is blown away by incompetent or corrupt officials. Some of the ways we can combat these kind of issues are to push for more government transparency. The Obama transition team has started this with their "Your Seat at The Table" initiative. Hopefully this approach will carry forward into the new administration. More and more of these type of transparency approaches will help bring more accountability and reduced corruption within our governments.
Five federal judges are under investigation. Add in the list of Texas judges with legal and ethical difficulties and we see that the judiciary in Texas and the nation are in the midst of an ethical meltdown. Has the crisis been caused by dominant one-party rule across all branches of government?
In Texas, voters elect their judges. This year, three incumbents on the Texas Supreme Court are up for election: Wallace Jefferson, Dale Wainwright and Phil Johnson. Their court has been widely criticized for favoring corporate defendants 87 percent of the time -- leaving the citizens of Texas uprotected in the civil justice system.
As we've reported over the last days and weeks, other judges on the court have their own difficulties. David Medina in connection with the arson of his home and questionable reimbursements for travel. Nathan Hecht for receiving improper contributtions. Paul Green for improper reimbursements.
Now Lise Olsen of the Houston Chronicle is reporting the unprecedented numbers of federal judges under investigation. All are protected by lifetime appointments.
"The dark shadow of corruption of our judicial system hangs over this case," Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle said Monday, referring to the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals opinion that Tom DeLay's money launderers didn't really launder money because they used checks. Drug dealers throughout the state can rejoice. Turn those street dollars into checks and, well, you're safe as a crooked politician.
Despite the fact that turning ill-gotten cash into checks is a favorite laundering tactic of drug dealers and political criminals alike, the court said checks aren't "funds" under Texas law, and so transactions involving them can't be prosecuted.
The case involves indictments against two of DeLay's associates in the notorious 2002 campaign financing scheme that also resulted in DeLay's indictment and forced resignation from Congress. Earle's strong comments came in an appeal of the bizarre, Alice-In-Wonderland 3rd Court opinion.
There is no better example of the sickening corruption that has infected the Texas Courts from top to bottom since they became dominated by special interests who also control the legislative and executive branches. The courts are out of balance, and the corruption so thoroughgoing, so accepted as business as usual, that it can be hard to grasp.
But it is destroying the rule of law here, denying average Texans access to justice as the elite special interests who bought these judges escape accountability and responsibility for the harm they do all of us.
Oil hit $130 a barrel for the first time yesterday, experts say oil could hit $200 a barrel by 2010. That means YOUR gas prices will be even higher in the weeks and months to come. Some experts say gas prices will hit $8.00 a gallon as we look ahead.
These skyrocketing gas prices equal even more bad news for YOUR FAMILY and Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kirk Watson's freeway tolls, which futures are financially fused together. But Perry and Watson could care less.
The San Antonio Express came out with an article last year that tells why high gas-prices negatively effect the prospects of more toll roads. The feasibility of all toll roads are based on traffic and revenue projections, which are tied to gas prices.
The Traffic and Revenue projections for SH 130 toll road is based on the assumption that motor fuel will remain in "adequate supply and motor fuel prices will not exceed $2.50 per gallon".
130 toll failed to meet it's 1st year projection by over $11 million dollars reported the Statesman. Who do you think pays for a failed toll road? Look in the mirror. Who do you think still makes a profit? Yup, the banks that floated the BILLIONS of debt.
Many folks are having a hard time affording $4.00 a gallon, and less folks will be able to afford $8 a gallon. It is time to sell your SUV, and move closer to your work.
Just a couple of months ago the Energy Watch Group put out a report that states that the worlds oil supply peaked in 2006, and production will start to decline at a rate of several percent per year. That means gas prices will only rise, and in the months ahead, you'll be thinking of the good old days when gas only cost $4.00 a gallon.
Hell, when the real shit comes down in the years ahead, Gov. Perry and Sen. Watson will be out of office, sitting on an island somewhere enjoying time with their family and the the security of tons of money in the bank.
Republican Terry Keel-- Craddick's parlimentarian and an integral part of the May 2007 Craddick autocracy-- has made electing Mindy Montford Travis County DA his top priority. Keel "told a group this weekend that the 'number one priority right now is Mindy, not Donna,'" according to the Austin Political Report online.
Keel and Republicans understand that with Craddick's sleazy, questionable campaign finance practices the value in electing Montford, who is inexperienced, ambitious for higher office, and backed by special interests.
Montford has received over $11,000 from identified large Republican donors and $30,000 from over 60 identified Capitol lobbyists, who usually have no interest in a DA race. And employees of ATT, where her Dad is head of Governmental Affairs, have given over $47,000. And Republican consultants have been overhead talking about the need to support Montford.
Republicans and special interests don't want Rosemary Lehmberg to be DA because she has 31 years of prosecutorial experience, has been First Assistant for years, is not backed by special interests, and is not using the DA's race as a stepping stone for higher office. That is why current DA Ronnie Earle endorsed Rosemary.
Republicans know the importance of the Travis DA's Public Integrity Unit and having an inexperienced, malleable, beholden DA like Mindy Montford. Let's hope Travis County Democrats know what is at stake and vote in the Democratic runoff election, which begins today?
Roads and development go hand in hand, and Kirk Watson has placed himself at the helm of the most powerful organization in Central Texas, while he sits at all the other chairs at the same table.
Soon after Sen. Kirk Watson became Chair of CAMPO, an organization that directs billions of road dollars in Central Texas, records showWatson was put on the payroll of developers who profit from important transportation decisions.
Additional conflicts are now revealed for the first time.
Records show Sen. Kirk Watson, as partner of law firm Hughes & Luce, bills the City of Austin at a rate of $450 per hour for representation on land deals with developers.Over $420,000 has been paid to Watson's law firm, by the City of Austin in the last two years.
Watson is being paid an undisclosed amount of money as a lobbyist for developers, and billing taxpayers at $450 an hour to oppose developers, while being chair of CAMPO - an organization that controls the purse strings for developers roads. How can Watson fairly represent the people while having so many conflicts?
Watson is now pushing an unpopular plan to shift our freeways to toll ways using $910 million tax dollars. Developers see the double tax tolls as an eternal slush fund to pay for more roads to their cheap land.
The 2006 Austin Chamber of Commerce annual report, reveals that Sen. Kirk Watson individually, and his law firm both contributed money to the pro toll Chamber. (see page 23 - www.austinchamber.com/WhatsNew/2006OAAnnualReport.pdf)
