BOR: - Rick Perry

Celebrate Passage of Fair Pay For Women, Castigate The Republicans Who Voted Against It

Katherine Haenschen — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:54:34 GMT

Yesterday, the State Senate finally passed the Texas version of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which will give Texas women the right going forward to seek redress for gender-based pay discrimination. The bill's next stop is the desk of Governor Rick Perry.

This is a milestone and a significant achievement for State Representative Senfronia Thompson, who introduced HB 950, and Senator Wendy Davis, who have championed this issue.

Also deserving of thanks are the bill's additional authors in the State House, Democrats Nicole Collier and Carol Alvarado, and Republicans Sarah Davis and Jason Isaac. (Credit where due, y'all.)

This is a major economic issue for Texas: if working women are paid less than men for the same day's labor, then they're being denied the economic opportunity to fully participate in society that they've earned. If working mothers are shortchanged on their paychecks, it hurts the entire family -- and Texas school children have suffered enough at the hands of the Republican Legislature as it is.

However, the bill didn't pass unanimously in either chamber -- far from it. The Senate gave the bill a narrow 16-15 victory, and in the House the margin was 70-65 on second reading, 79-50 on third reading.

Click below the jump to find out which Republicans -- and which Republican women, for crying out loud -- don't think women deserve redress for pay discrimination in Texas.
Lest we forget, there's a need for this bill here in Texas, because there is gender-based pay discrimination here in Texas.

As Emily Cadik has written previously, here in Texas women make 82 cents on the dollar compared to men, which gives Texas the twelfth-lowest wage gap in the country, even with women's work equal to four-fifths of that of men. Nationwide, women still make only 77 cents on the dollar compared to men. Over the course of a woman's career, that amounts to $430,000 in lost wages.The pay gap is even worse for women of color and in female-dominated industries.

But hey, that's no problem for Republicans, who comprised every single no vote against this bill. "What 'War on Women'?" conservatives cry with feigned outrage. The answer in this case is pretty damn clear: "the one y'all tried to wage on our wallets!"

Here's a chart showing the vote to suspend the rules and vote for final passage in the Senate, and a list of who voted against the bill in the House.

Roll Call Votes on HB 950, Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

SENATE

Third Reading, Vote to Suspend The Rules: 21-10
Nays: Birdwell, Estes, Fraser, Hancock, Huffman, Nelson, Nichols, Schwertner, Seliger, Taylor

Third Reading, Record Vote on HB 950: 16-15*
Yeas: Campbell, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Garcia, Hinojosa, Lucio Jr, Rodriguez, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, West, Whitmire, Zaffirini

Nays: Birdwell, Carona, Estes, Fraser, Hancock, Hager, Huffman, Nelson, Nichols, Patrick, Paxton, Schwertner, Seliger, Taylor, Williams

HOUSE

Second Reading (Passes, 70-65)
Nays: Anderson; Ashby; Aycock; Bell; Bonnen, G.; Branch; Burkett; Button; Callegari; Capriglione; Carter; Clardy; Craddick; Crownover; Dale; Darby; Davis, J.; Fallon; Farney; Fletcher; Flynn; Frank; Frullo; Goldman; Hilderbran; Hughes; Kacal; Keffer; King, K.; King, S.; Kleinschmidt; Klick; Kolkhorst; Krause; Larson; Laubenberg; Leach; Lewis; Morrison; Murphy; Orr; Paddie; Parker; Perry; Phillips; Pitts; Price; Raney; Sanford; Schaefer; Sheffield, R.; Simmons; Simpson; Smith; Smithee; Springer; Stephenson; Stickland; Taylor; Thompson, E.; Toth; Turner, E.S.; White; Zedler; Zerwas.

Third Reading (Passes, 79-50
Nays: Aycock; Bell; Bonnen, G.; Button; Capriglione; Carter; Craddick; Davis, J.; Fallon; Fletcher; Flynn; Frank; Frullo; Goldman; Hilderbran; Hughes; King, S.; Kleinschmidt; Klick; Kolkhorst; Krause; Laubenberg; Lavender; Leach; Lewis; Miller, R.; Morrison; Murphy; Orr; Parker; Perry; Phillips; Price; Sanford; Schaefer; Sheffield, J.; Sheffield, R.; Simmons; Simpson; Smith; Smithee; Springer; Stephenson; Stickland; Taylor; Thompson, E.; Toth; Turner, E.S.;
White; Zedler

If your Senator or Representative is among the "Nay" votes, give them a call and ask them why women don't deserve to seek legal redress for gender-based pay discrimination.

What's most appalling to me is the number of Republican women who voted against letting other women address gender-based pay discrimination. Jane Nelson, Joan Huffman, Cindy Burkett, Stefani Carter, Angie Chen Button, Myra Crownover, Marsha Farney, Susan King, Stephanie Klick, Lois Kolkhorst, Jodie Laubenberg, and Geanie Morrison -- what the heck is wrong with you?! Do you really not recognize that women are paid less than men? Have y'all had such rarefied or willfully ignorant experiences that you don't realize the need for this legislation? (I don't understand the pathology of women who vote Republican anyways, but this seems like an extra dose of Stockholm syndrome here.)

When conservative Republican men can vote for this bill -- whether for craven political reasons or out of a genuine concern for economic fairness, on some levels it matters not, seeing as the bill passed -- and a bunch of professional, successful women serving in our Legislature cannot, these women need to reevaluate their decision-making criteria.

The worst part in their votes against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is that when women don't stand up and stand together against sex- and gender-based discrimination, it weakens the cause for all of us.

Much like the Violence Against Women Act or funding rape kit testing or protecting birth control access and reproductive rights, this should not be a partisan issue. Shame on those women who voted against sticking up for other women, and failing to represent the needs of the women who are among their constituents.

Over on the Senate side, typing this may make my laptop implode, but Senator Donna Campbell deserves great praise for voting in favor of allowing women to seek redress for pay discrimination.

If her proverbial stopped clock is going to be right twice a day, at least the hands landed on fair pay for women. Kudos also to Sens. Deuell, Duncan, and Eltife for voting for this as well. Deuell attached an amendment that weakens the bill by preventing retroactive pay discrimination suits, but still, it passed, and a step forward for women's economic justice is a step forward for all Texans.

Now the big question is whether Governor Rick Perry will sign the bill. His misguided presidential aspirations may be a factor here, but let me make one thing clear: voters understand this issue. Women understand this issue, and there's no way any Republican can peel off moderates and sufficient women to win a national general election with a history of standing up for sex-based pay discrimination.

As for the Nay voters, especially those female Republicans, I'm left thinking about a specific quote from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright:

"There is a special place in Hell for women who don't help other women."

* Twitter reported the final passage as 17-14, but when I called the Senate Journal they had a final record vote of 16-15. Record vote was not available online at time of publication. We will update if necessary.

What Will Happen if Texas CISPA-Like Bill Passes?

Ben Sherman — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:10:38 GMT

Hey Texans - hope you like 404 messages.

The Texas CISPA-like bill, SB 1052 - is being debated today and may very well pass the Texas Legislature.

The Texas CISPA bill could soon affect the ability of Texas users to access specific websites -- and every website and Internet provider in the country that serves data to Texans will be forced to comply with the law. Call Governor Rick Perry @ 512-463-1782 and tell him to veto the bill if it makes it to his desk.

Supporters of the legislation have shortsightedly attempted to circumvent the national CISPA law by empowering their own law enforcement agents to use search warrants to seize any electronic data/communications "regardless of whether the customer data, contents of communications, or other information is held at a location in this state or at a location in another state." That is - from any websites or Internet service providers "under a contract or a terms of service agreement with a resident of this state." This is extremely broad and encompasses the endless copyright claims all across the Internet that CISPA targeted.

That means that if you are a company in Iowa, or California, or New York, and you have Texas users who visit your site or have accounts, you could be required to turn over their user data, communications with other users, and any other information about the user that you may be storing - and you could be forced to turn it over in as little as 4 days.

The bill states that the maximum amount of time that a site or Internet service provider can delay turning over records is between 15 and 30 days, depending on the court order. The bill also criminalizes any delay by a website or service provider, and lets the local jurisdiction decide whether to file contempt of court charges against a director/owner of a website or service provider who fails to comply within the short window.

What are websites and Internet service providers going to do, in order to prevent themselves from being at the whim of every court and law enforcement agent in Texas? One simple solution: Texans could be blocked from websites that don't want to comply with an extremely broad definition of "electronic communications".

Read more below the jump.
This bill also sticks its claws deep into the private communication of tens of millions of Americans across the country. Imagine the Facebook conversations of just one person being handed over. Hundreds if not thousands of people could get swept up in the electronic fervor of one local judge. How many people have you tweeted with? How many people have you re-tweeted? What huge data sets will some local judge be sweeping up with this bill?

In short, this bill is dangerous both for all Americans' privacy and Internet access for Texans.

How will this data be managed to prevent data leaks? Will every tiny courthouse in the state have the data stored on some non-encrypted hard drive? Who by name will ensure that data leaks don't occur? Will there be some big defense contractor that swoops in to help organize the data?

One final question remains- will Texas Governor Rick Perry give the rest of the Internet the finger by signing this bill into law? Call Perry's opinion hotline at (512) 463-1782 and ask if Perry will veto the Texas CISPA bill.

We don't know exactly how this bill will affect Internet privacy across the country, but the bill was rushed to vote, and Texas has hastily tried to circumvent laws being debated in Congress.

Come this time next week, will Rick Perry be the Governor who turned off the Internet for Texas?

37 Votes Later, Republican Opposition to the Affordable Care Act is Wearing Thin

Emily Cadik — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:00:00 GMT

Last week, Republicans in the House of Representatives made their 37th attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Despite the fact that 12 percent of Americans think the Affordable Care Act has been repealed and 23 percent don't know, the measure was entirely symbolic to show that Republicans are fighting the law's implementation every step of the way. It's also symbolic of the Republican strategy to reject anything supported by Democrats without offering a better solution.

Underscoring this point, in remarks on the House floor,Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) said, "Together, we could provide more cost-effective care and do something more about spiraling healthcare costs. But really, the only true Republican alternative to Obamacare is Nothingcare."

The same goes for Governor Perry's resistance to expanding Medicaid in Texas. Perry and his allies continue to reject the federal dollars that would allow us to insure potentially 2 million more Texans, but have not offered a proposal that would make anywhere near as much of a dent in Texas' highest uninsured rate in the nation.

Read more after the jump.
One of the main arguments we hear against expanding Medicaid in Texas is that Medicaid costs are too high, thus placing an undue burden on taxpayers. (Never mind that the federal government will be footing over 90 percent of the bill of a Medicaid expansion, and without it we're leaving 100 billion on the table.) But it turns out what's largely responsible for growth in Medicaid costs in Texas is simply that there are more people in poverty, and thus more Texans enrolling in the program.

From the Houston Chronicle:

Texas has become an increasingly poor state. Between 2000 and 2010, census data show that the Texas population grew by 4.3 million people - a 21 percent increase.
During that same period, however, the total number of Texans living in poverty grew by 1.4 million - a 45 percent increase, more than double the rate of overall population growth. And the number of children living in poverty grew by 75 percent, nearly quadruple the overall rate of growth. This large increase in the number of poor people led to a 79 percent increase in Medicaid enrollment from 2000 to 2010.
The increase in enrollment, not the increase in costs per enrollee, is by far the largest driver of rising Medicaid costs. While health care inflation is a major concern for employers and families nationwide, it is not the major factor in Texas' rising Medicaid costs.

In fact, Medicaid costs in Texas are relatively low compared to the rate of rising health care costs outside of the program:

The cost per enrollee for Texas Medicaid has risen minimally over the decade, despite rising health care costs outside of the program. The annual cost per enrollee in Texas Medicaid grew by 18 percent from 2002 to 2008, less than the cumulative inflation rate of 19.7 percent and a fraction of the 52 percent rate of growth in per capita national health expenditures. The annual cost per enrollee in Texas in 2009 was $4,884, less than all but 10 states, and 12 percent below the national average.

So despite the fact that more people are enrolling in Medicaid because poverty in Texas has increased under Perry's leadership, Perry continues to reject a program that would keep more Texans from falling further into debt and poverty. They keep saying 'no,' but have nothing to show for it.

Texas House Decides to Audit Rick Perry's Texas Enterprise Fund

Ben Sherman — Sat, 18 May 2013 17:00:00 GMT

Rick Perry's Texas Enterprise Fund has granted $485 million in grants to private companies, allegedly to create jobs in Texas. Many of those companies are owned by the governor's largest donors. Since the creation of the fund ten years ago, Perry has collected $2 million in campaign donations from its recipients. It is a slush fund and crony capitalism at its worst.

On Friday, using a simple voice vote, the Texas House decided to audit the fund. The report is due no later than January 2015. But though the Senate approved an earlier version of the bill, the audit is not yet official.

"The measure must pass a final, procedural House vote. It then heads to conference committee to reconcile the latest version with what the Senate previously approved," the Associated Press explains.

Godspeed.

PPP Polls: Ted Cruz a Top 6 GOP Contender for 2016

Michael Hurta — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Rick Perry wasn't good enough for their polls, so they inserted another Texan, instead: Ted Cruz. As it turns out, Ted Cruz's many antics have vaulted him into the GOP 2016 conversation in a little bit more than word only.

From PPP Polls' new survey:

PPP's monthly look at the 2016 Republican field for President finds essentially a 4 way tie at the top- Marco Rubio has 16%, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie 15% each, and Rand Paul 14%. Paul Ryan at 9%, Ted Cruz at 7%, Rick Santorum at 5%, Bobby Jindal at 3%, and Susana Martinez at 1% round out the potential candidates we tested.

So 6th place and 7%. On first glance, that's unimpressive, but Ted Cruz has actually put himself in a fantastic position to run for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016 should he choose to do so. Read on for that analysis.
The leader of the pack, Marco Rubio, is only at 16%. No one has a commanding lead, and 7% isn't much lower than 16%. Ted Cruz is new to the scene, so he has plenty of room to grow.

Cruz comes in with a net favorable rating among GOP voters, 27%-13%. What's striking with those numbers is that they're both low. 60% answered "not sure." As a proxy for name recognition, only Susanna Martinez was less known of PPP's suggested GOP candidates.

PPP Polls first started its 2016 surveys six months ago, and only Rand Paul, son of Texan Ron, has received a notable bump in his numbers since then. Rand Paul started at a familiar 7% -- and his name recognition was far higher in December than Cruz's is now. If Ted Cruz continues to embarrass Texas in a way that only endears him to Republicans, he can make up even more ground than Paul.

Yes, if Ted Cruz plays it right (a big if), he can eventually become the GOP front-runner for 2016.

Wow. That would be scary.

Luckily, even if Cruz is able to capture his party's nomination, we aren't likely to see him in the White House. While his embarrassing actions do endear him to Republicans, they are actually embarrassing in the eyes of others. his favorability rating with registered voters nationally is a flipped version of his GOP ratings. Nation-wide, only 15% view him favorably compared to 27% unfavorable.

PPP Polls: Rick Perry Not Worth Including in Presidential Polls Anymore

Katherine Haenschen — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:22:11 GMT

From the fine folks at Public Policy Polling:

Since Rick Perry is consistently at 1-2% in our 2016 polling we're going to replace him with Ted Cruz for now
— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) May 6, 2013

Perry's going to need some ointment for that sick statistical burn.

PPP will have their first national presidential poll out this week that includes Cruz. Will he have a stronger showing than Governor "Oops," who is little more than a rounding error to GOP primary voters at this point?

In the meantime it's just another sign that Perry's reign of terror is drawing to a close. The Republican Legislature has openly pushed back against him on the UT Board of Regents, and even members of his own party are opposing some of his priority agenda items.

The only concern I have with these numbers is that they might convince Perry to stick around for another term as Governor of Texas, since clearly he's got no hope of winning a 2016 Presidential Primary and can't possibly be construed as a "value add" to any national ticket. However, Perry's donors seem to be making their preference for Greg Abbott in 2014 clear, if their contribution trends are any indication.

Rick Perry Wants to Scrap Research at Universities

davidwogan — Sat, 11 May 2013 19:38:43 GMT

Cross-posted from Scientific American

Hey, North Carolina, we're raising the ante on claim to the title of State Most Shamefully Committed to the Stupid Political Ruination of Science - except we're not that shameful about it. Instead, we're putting our boisterous Texas spin on it.

We've been most impressive with your attempt to legislate away sea level rise and stop counting votes and removing scientists from scientific commissions. But, we the Lone Star State, are not giving up without a fight.

You're well aware of Representative Lamar Smith's efforts to introduce the long lost step of the scientific method: passing political muster. But, that's not all. Texas oil man Jeff Sanderfer and our Dear Leader want to do away with the more trivial functions of first-class universities like, you know, research and writing books.

Because, really, what do research and books offer society?

Read more below the jump.
The "reform efforts" (air quotes) would turn universities into what Wade Goodwin of NPR calls "superstar community colleges" that are paid by how much money they bring into the university and how many students they serve. That's a great idea, because that 500-person chemistry class I took freshmen year of college was awesome.

The reform started at Governor Perry's alma mater, Texas A&M, by ranking faculty on how much money they bring in. The torches and pitchforks are now at UT Austin's doorstep, where faculty have again been rated and binned into categories such as "coasters, dodgers, sherpas, pioneers, and stars". It's the higher education equivalent of The Bobs coming into Inetech to clean house and asking: "so what is it exactly that you do here? Research? Umm, yeahhhh."

Nevermind that universities like The University of Texas at Austin are home to some of the biggest innovators of modern times, folks like John Goodenough (inventor of the lithium-ion battery, seen here receiving the National Medal of Science from the President) and Bob Metcalfe (inventor of Ethernet), among many others.

Making higher education more effective and efficient is a noble goal, but doing so at the expense of research is misguided, as Paul Begala (UT Austin alum and Democratic politico) writes for The Daily Beast:

The main cause of rising tuition costs is not research-research was vibrant when I was a student at the University of Texas in the 1980s and tuition was $4 a credit. Rather, tuition has gone up as state support has gone down. Where once the great state of Texas paid for more than half the cost of its children's college educations, today the level of support has dropped to just 13 percent. And even with a state surplus of $8.8 billion, the genius politicians in Austin are calling for another $300 million in cuts to Texas higher education. No wonder tuition has gone up-it's the only way a supposedly state-supported university can continue to keep the doors open.

Anyways, we'll probably continue touting how great our state is because we're attracting businesses left and right. The joke's on us all, though, because at this rate, there won't be an educated and trained workforce in the coming decades.

If you think this is a crappy idea, you can visit WakeUpLonghorns and all of that.

David Wogan is an energy writer for Scientific American's energy and policy blog, Plugged In.

President Obama in Austin, Texas Talking Middle Class Jobs And Education

Joe Deshotel — Thu, 09 May 2013 22:26:02 GMT

President Obama was in Austin Thursday to kick off his nationwide "Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity Tour", where he visited Manor New Tech High School and Applied Materials promoting tech jobs and his plan for a, "one-time $1 billion investment to create a network of 15 manufacturing institutes across the country."

His overall theme was that working together we can reignite the true engine of America's economic growth: a rising, thriving, middle class.

To achieve this he said would require three things: making America a magnet for good jobs; helping people earn the education and develop the skills to do those jobs; and ensuring that people who are working hard are able to achieve a decent living.

As part of his visit he also issued an executive order, "to make government-held data more accessible to the public and to entrepreneurs and others as fuel for innovation and economic growth."

"Corporate profits are at an alltime high, but thats not good enough, we have to make sure that middle-class wages are also going up, because most families haven't seen their take home pay rise for years now...There are a lot of reasons for us to feel optimistic about where we are going as a country, especially after all of the tough times we have been through the last several years. That should encourage us to roll up our sleeves and work even harder, and work together to take on the challenges that are holding back parts of our economy."

Governor Perry and Senator Ted Cruz haven't missed the opportunity to have a field day mocking the President over job creation and promoting their pro-business-at-any-cost "Texas model", in advance of his visit. Perry went as far as "greeting" President Obama at the airport with a letter and said that, "If the president is serious about creating jobs in this country, then Texas is the blueprint."

Close but no cigar Governor, according to the White House the President is here, "Showcasing the Innovative Spirit of Austin as a Model for the Rest of the Country". Our Republican state leaders continue to promote the Texas mirage that low taxes, low services, and low regulation alone are the fuel for our economic success, but the White House sees something very different and so do the facts.

Not only does Texas rank near the bottom on important statistics relating to quality of life, income and savings, but the areas in our state that lead in job creation also happen to be the bluest. Cities like Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas constantly top the growth and job markets for the US and all 4 of their respective counties rejected Rick Perry as Governor in 2010. According to Forbes Texas also has two top 10 cities for green jobs, Houston and Dallas.

More below the jump!
At Manor Tech High School the President opened his remarks by thanking his hosts and reminding all that it is Teacher Appreciation Week and, "they don't do it for the money." He told the cheering crowd, "I chose Austin mostly because I love Austin, but also because there are some terrific things going on in this area."

The President then addressed the Manor Tech student body about the challenges faced by young people who are in increasing need of good primary, high school and secondary education to keep up with a fast developing world. He also spoke about his initiative to bring high quality pre-kindergarten to all children, citing that every dollar spent on early childhood education "equals $7 dollars we save down the road because of increased graduation rates" and rising incomes.

He cited with the creation of 6 million jobs over the last few years that the US has its lowest level of unemployment since 2008, but thats still not enough. "Now we have got to create even more good middle class jobs, and we have got to do it faster so that by the time you guys graduate from college the job market is strong."

The President's next stop was at Applied Materials, a high-tech company that has helped Austin become a nation leader in chip manufacturing and related well-paying jobs. He toured the facility and spoke to workers about the exacting science that goes into all the electronic devices used around the world. According to the CEO almost every tech device on the market uses some technology that was developed by Applied Materials.

The President said, "We want the next revolution in manufacturing to be in America." He reiterated that we should help our workers get the training to compete, and they no job in America should go unfilled because workers don't have the skills they need. He spoke about achieving innovation through targeted investment and expanded educational opportunities including keeping college affordable and not saddling young people with debt. He used StormPulse, a start-up company at Austin's Capital Factory, as an example of how his new executive order making government data more accessible can be used by entrepreneurs to create jobs from good ideas.

"We don't want government to do everything for us but it does have a role to play in infrastructure and basic research", he said, concluding, "That's what I want to keep promoting as President of the United States of America -- thank you, God bless you."

Texas Lunch Links: Water Scarcity, Wiretapping, and Fracking Pollution

Nick Hudson — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:00:00 GMT

Texas Lunch Links is a lunchtime buffet of Texas News and Views with a heavy emphasis on happenings at the Texas Legislature.

WATER: Groundwater in Texas' major aquifers dropped significantly between 2010 and 2011 as a result of drought conditions, and groundwater levels are expected to continue declining.

WIRETAPPING: Scott Henson, the author of the criminal justice blog Grits for Breakfast, calls on lawmakers to reject wiretapping authority for local police in a Houston Chronicle Op-Ed today.

FRACKING: Texas counties are seeking more authority to regulate the location of fracking water disposal wells and searching for ways to mitigate environmental damage that might be caused by the disposal of frack water.

Read more Texas Lunch Links below the fold!
EMINENT DOMAIN: Pipeline companies, the energy industry, and even the Koch brothers are lobbying hard against legislation that would require companies to show additional proof that their pipelines are "common carriers" before using the power of eminent domain to build on private land without a property owners' approval. Common carrier pipelines are pipelines which are available "for hire" by other entities.

TRACKING BILLS: The Texas Tribune launched a neat new application for tracking the status of bills at the Texas Legislature.

AUSTIN SCHOOL BONDS: Proponents of the $892 million bond package for Austin schools are using cuts to education under Governor Rick Perry's reign to motivate Democrats to go vote for propositions 1-4. Early voting ended on Tuesday. Election day is on May 11.

VAN DE PUTTE: Senator Leticia Van de Putte's infant grandson suddenly died of an unknown cause on Tuesday.

MEDICAID EXPANSION: Though Texas Republican Rep. John Zerwas says his "Texas solution" to Medicaid expansion is probably stuck in the House Calendars Committee, proponents of Medicaid expansion are holding a rally at the Capitol today.

PAYDAY LENDING: Senator John Carona, the Republican chairman of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Mike Villarreal, the Democratic chairman of the House Investment and Financial Services Committee, will be promoting a compromise Payday Lending Reform bill at a news conference today.

BUSINESS TAX CUTS: On a 112-27 vote, the Texas House gave tentative approval to a bill that would cut Texas' franchise tax for businesses with less than $1 million in gross annual receipts. The bill would reduce state revenue by $667 million.

Wrong Side of History: Rick Perry Equates Anti-LGBT Bigots With Abolitionist Movement

Katherine Haenschen — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:30:05 GMT

Rick Perry's at it again, attempting to score cheap points with right-wing conservatives by promoting anti-LGBT bigotry. In the video below, Perry speaks to noted hate-monger Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council in support of the Boy Scouts of America's ban on gay scout leaders and apparent "don't ask, don't tell" attitude towards gay scouts.

Describing the push for full LGBT equality as the "flavor of the month," Perry makes a tortured argument in which he equates those advocating for second-class status for gay Americans -- i.e. the bigots who oppose LGBT rights -- with Texas Governor Sam Houston's refusal to leave the union over the issue of slavery.

Watch the video courtesy of Right Wing Watch:

I know, you're all "Wait, what? He's equating opposition to LGBT civil rights with support for abolition?" Yes, he sure is. But what else do you expect from an intellectual heavyweight who got a C in U.S. History and a D in Principles of Economics?