What Republicans Have Been Doing While You Were Away

The Texas media finally picks up on Republicans eating their own, Not Republican enough? It's a crappy title because this has nothing to do with being "Republican" this has to do with voting your district/constituency vs. voting the party line. If you're a Republican and you're not on board with vouchers and defunding public education you are a target.

This from the file, If the Dallas Morning News is calling something Republican "foolish" it must be really bad, A Foolish Proposal: Referendum suggests capping local taxes:

Check out the loaded language that Republican leaders are putting on the March ballot for GOP voters to embrace or reject:

"In order to address the inequity of homeowners' property taxes increasing at a rate far above the rate of inflation, the current 10 percent cap on the rate of increase of appraised value for all homesteads shall be reduced to 5 percent or less."
DallasNews.com/Extra

Tax cap: Answers to commonly asked questions

We appreciate what restraint it must have taken to not include language in this nonbinding referendum calling local officials "out-of-control, tax-raising weasels."

Here's another in the long list of articles that leads you to believe they know what's going to happen with school finance. It then ends with well, they gotta do something and we'll have to wait for the spring to find out what that is? On the must-do list

I thought Republicans were for competition? Texas attorney general wrong to strike down a law to protect Texans who purchase drugs from Canada. Not when it'll hurt the big Pharma.

In order for the Republicans to punish Planned Parenthood they also punish Mother and child, Women, children last:

In Dallas, withdrawal of $1.7 million is forcing the closure of three family planning clinics. In Houston, where the Legislature cut more than 50 percent of Planned Parenthood funds, as many as 10,000 women will lose access to well-woman exams, contraception and cancer screenings. Under federal law, none of these Texas clinics could have used these funds to perform abortions. Nevertheless, legislators chose to cripple the clinics.

The pivotal operating funds will go to pregnancy crisis centers or to 19 Federally Qualified Health Centers — some of which never requested the help. These FQHCs are valuable resources, offering primary care to poor neighborhoods. But the clinics are scarce, far-flung, and often lack family planning services such as contraception. They can't replace the multiservice family planning clinics that have treated Texans for decades.

Legislators have every right to push abortion alternatives -— as long as they don't abdicate their other duties. But ravaging working clinics during a health coverage crisis has nothing to do with protecting women or children. It's self-interested strutting, and it's trampling on the health of thousands of Texas wives, mothers and daughters.

They sure haven't been protecting consumer's, Costs on many services, including electric, to rise. This article talks about how you gas, electricity, local phone service, food stamps, are all going up. Not to worry though:

But there were some bright spots.

For instance, state employees are slated to get the second half of a 7 percent pay raise in 2006, and teachers who earn the minimum for their level of experience will get a state-approved pay increase.

In addition, starting Sunday, the first pay raise for Texas jurors in more than 51 years will go into effect.

Under a new state law, pay will go to $40 per day, beginning on their second day of service, compared with the current day rate of $6.

That's all you got for bright spots?