NEWFLASH: Gov. Perry Vetoes SB 346

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Lawrence Person

That was the prenicious legislation that required groups who took in $25,000 or more for political purposes to register with the state, reveal their donors and exempted unions. It was evidently Speaker Joe Straus’ baby, and it’s unclear to me why Republicans let it pass. Given the burgeoning IRS scandal, the last thing politics needs is more state involvement in determining “acceptable” opinions.

Perry just vetoed it.

Text of the bill.

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LinkSwarm for May 24, 2013

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Lawrence Person

A LinkSwarm for a very wet Friday in Austin:

  • Charles Krauthammer isn’t buying any lame IRS excuses.
  • Adopt a child, get audited by the IRS.
  • “The Obama White House is starting to make the Nixon administration look like Sesame Street.”
  • ObamaCare is only designed to screw small businesses and individuals. Large businesses can still get cheap policies.
  • Really, who among us hasn’t misplaced $80 million of our net worth?
  • Does illegal alien amnesty not have enough votes to beat a Senate filibuster?
  • Perry 2016?
  • Manhattan is incensed that residents can rent out their own condos.
  • Dear Femen: Nothing says “tolerance” quite like burning a cross.
  • Before and after Oklahoma City tornado pics.
    • Posted in Media Watch, Obama Scandals, ObamaCare, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

    Midday Obama Scandal Update for May 23, 2013

    Posted on May 23, 2013 by Lawrence Person

    Mostly IRS scandal material:

  • “What we are witnessing now is not a crisis of democracy but a crisis of authority. The administrative state, in thrall to a decadent cultural elite, has lost the consent of the governed.”
  • Remember how Jay Carney said that the IRS targeting of conservative groups stopped in May 2012? He lied. (I know. Try to contain your shock.) It’s still going on today.
  • The IRS scandal needs a special prosecutor:

    This administration’s management of the Obama Internal Revenue Service scandal so far consists of a slow-walking, rolling disclosure of facts; equal parts equivocation, amnesia and indignation from IRS witnesses; deer-in-the-headlights non-responses by the White House press secretary; parsed, lawyerly statements from the president himself; and now one of the central key players is taking the Fifth. And all this comes from what the president claimed would be the “most transparent administration ever… if the president is innocent, he will end up needing and wanting a special prosecutor sooner rather than later. If he and his White House already have too much to hide, then they must clam up, cry partisanship and hope their allies on the Hill and in the media have the stamina for the long, hard slog ahead.”

  • What do you know, those crazy right wing activists were right, when they claimed the IRS was targeting conservative groups all the way back in February 2012. Though like many of the IRS articles I’ve seen lately suggests that the Tea Party was in decline when the scandal broke. Tell that to Dick Luger. Or Ted Cruz.
  • Goal of the top aides for Presidents Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43? Keep him informed. Goal of Obama’s top aides? Keep him out of the loop. Or should I say “Keep him from being indicted”?
  • Obama demands faith in the federal government…or else. From last week, but still well worth reading.
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    Missed One: Teacher Firearm Training Bill

    Posted on May 22, 2013 by Lawrence Person

    In doing my roundup of gun bills in the Texas legislature, I missed Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas)’s HB 1009 to allow schools to designated one “Marshal” for every 400 students eligible to receive firearm and emergency response training. Existing CHL holders on-staff would be eligible for the training. The measure passed the House and Senate and goes to Governor Perry’s desk for signing.

    Text of the bill. More here.

    Posted in Guns, Texas | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

    Quick Overview of Pro-Second Amendment Bills in the Texas Legislature

    Posted on May 22, 2013 by Lawrence Person

    Dwight was kind enough to provide a quick rundown on a few pro-Second Amendment bills making their way through the Texas legislature. He also linked to the TSRAPAC site, which includes even more bill information. (I’ve also found Texas Firearms Freedom useful, and it includes a few more bills.) Since I’ve been meaning to do a rundown on these, and since I run a full-service blog, here’s an even more brief, high level summary of the state of various bills, with links to the text of the bills themselves:

  • Reduce CHL classes to 4 hours (HB 47/SB 864): Awaiting Governor Perry’s signature.
  • CHL BAC (HB 153): Would set allowable blood alcohol content for a CHL holder carrying at .08 (same as for DWI), up from the current “0.0”: Passed House, appears to be dead in the Senate.
  • Requires advanced notice from hotels that ban guns (HB 333): Awaiting Governor Perry’s signature.
  • Open carry for CHL holders (HB 700): Died in committee.
  • “Come and Take It” (HB 928): Preempts the federal government from using state officials in Texas to enforce unconstitutional firearms restrictions. Passed House, Democrats in Senate threatening to filibuster.
  • Campus Concealed Carry (HB 972): Passed House, passed out of Senate committee (SB 182), needs 21 votes to get Senate floor vote.
  • Clarification of display of firearm (SB 299): Technical bill, basically changes definition from “fails to conceal” to “displays.” Awaiting Governor Perry’s signature.
  • Limiting improper 30.06 signage (HB 508): Prevents cities from improper, unenforceable posting of PC 30.06 sign. Passed House, on the Senate calendar for May 20.
  • Ease in CHL fingerprinting requirements (HB 698): Let’s those living more than 25 miles away from a digital fingerprinting shop self-submit fingerprints. Passed House, on the Senate calendar for May 20. (According to TPPF‘s David Guenthner on Twitter, this has passed the Senate, so it’s awaiting Governor Perry’s signature as well.)
  • Prevent asking for a Social Security number on a CHL application (HB 1349): Passed House, passed Senate committee, pending vote in the Senate.
  • Sell rather than destroy confiscated firearms (HB 1421/SB 343): Awaiting Governor Perry’s signature.
  • Combine revolver/automatic CHLs (HB 3142): Currently, if you pass the CHL practical test with an automatic, you could carry either an automatic or a revolver, but if you passed with a revolver, you could only carry a revolver. This bill eliminates that distinction. Passed House, scheduled for May 20.
  • Eliminate “Gun Free Zones (HB3218): Died in the House.

    • I can’t find any online record for the stuff scheduled for May 20. I’ll let you know if I do.

    Posted in Guns, Texas | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

    The Ten California Cities Most Likely To Declare Bankruptcy

    Posted on May 21, 2013 by Lawrence Person

    Who’s next on the California bankrupt city hit list? Well, USA Today has been kind enough to take a stab at it, and offers up the following likely candidates, listed alphabetically:

  • Atwater
  • Asuza
  • Compton
  • Fresno
  • Hercules
  • Mammoth Lakes
  • Monrovia
  • Oakland
  • San Jose
  • Vernon

    • Wait, Vernon? Vernon hasn’t already declared bankruptcy? The city that would probably win “Most Corrupt City in California” if not for stiff competition from Bell?

    If I had to wager, I’d pick Vernon, though Compton and Mammoth Lake are also good candidates…

    Posted in Budget, Democrats | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

    A Tiny Smidgeon of Random Obama Scandal News

    Posted on May 20, 2013 by Lawrence Person

    Been busy, stuff on my plate, fish to fry, insert polite noise here.

    So, a few links:

  • True The Vote founder harassed by the IRS, OSHA, FBI, and ATF.
  • Three Fox reporters targeted by DOJ. At this point I think it’s far to ask if Obama flipped through All the President’s Men looking for management tips.
  • A bushel of pinocchios for Lois Lerner (via Instapundit).
  • Are all these scandals making it easier for illegal alien amnesty to pass?
    • Posted in Border Control, Obama Scandals | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

    LinkSwarm for May 17, 2013

    Posted on May 17, 2013 by Lawrence Person

    And here’s another Friday LinkSwarm!

  • A reporter comes out and says the IRS harassed him after he did a tough interview with Obama.
  • The IRS knew about the scandal in 2012, but decided to wait until Obama was safely elected.
  • Why was the press so slow to pick up on so many of Obama’s scandals? Part of it is the media watchdogs are sleeping with the wolves.
  • Eurozone shrinks for sixth consecutive quarter and no one knows what to do about it. Well, that’s not true. I know what to do about it: Cut all budgets until they match receipts, reform the welfare state, and abandon the Euro. But I suspect Eurocrats would prefer another six quarters of shrinkage (at a minimum) before they’re willing to contemplate such heresy…
  • Republican in charge of Hispanic outreach in Florida switches to the Democratic Party. That’s some mighty fine staffing you’ve got going on there, Lou…
  • Nurse Bloomberg, putz that he is, is doing his best to ensure that Republicans take the Senate.
  • Those 1967 Israel borders liberals are always harping on sure didn’t do anything to prevent war.
  • Hugo Chavez’s socialist paradise is running out of toilet paper.
  • Dear Depressed People: There’s a tiny chance everything isn’t hopeless bullshit.
    • Posted in Economics, Media Watch, Obama Scandals, Republicans | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

    Obama Scandals Midday Update for May 16, 2013

    Posted on May 16, 2013 by Lawrence Person

    There’s so much information about various Obama scandals that I’m hard-pressed to keep up, but here are a few nuggets of savory scandal goodness (or rather, badness):

  • The IRS scandal is bad, and it’s nationwide, despite attempts to limit it to the Cincinnati office.
  • IRS demands came from the Washington and California offices as well.
  • And they targeted a lot more than just a handful of Tea Party groups.
  • Holly Paz, the Director of the IRS Tax-Exempt Determinations Office is an Obama donor.
  • Nine lies from Lois Lerner.

    Under a Democratic administration, the IRS was under pressure from Democratic elected officials to investigate political enemies of the Democratic party. The agency did so. Its commissioner lied to Congress about its doing so. When the inspector general’s report was about to make these abuses public, the agency staged a classic Washington Friday news rollout at a sleepy American Bar Association tax-law conference, hoping to minimize the bad publicity. Lerner lied to the public about the nature, scope, and extent of the IRS intimidation campaign.

  • Ted Cruz says Obama is lying.
  • All the scandals converge in an attempt to get Obama re-elected.
  • The scandal calls for a special prosecutor.
  • Obama and Hillary Clinton knew Benghazi was a terrorist attack and knew they were lying about it when they lied about it.
  • How Media Matters, the Praetorian Guard of the Democratic Party Media Complex, stays tax exempt through a shell game. Both 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 versions are far more obviously creatures of the Democratic Party than the NRA is for Republicans.
    • Posted in Crime, Media Watch, Obama Scandals | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

    Another Day, Another Obama Scandal

    Posted on May 15, 2013 by Lawrence Person

    I’ve been joking on Twitter that Tea Party membership would count against people during their death panel hearings. Now comes word that the IRS illegally seized some 60 million medical records from over 10 million people in California, and suddenly the joke isn’t so funny anymore. (Hat tip: Ace of Spades.)

    So we have a powerful and feared government agency, the IRS, which has admitted to targeting Obama’s political opponents, now being accused of illegally seizing confidential medical records. I’m sure there’s no way the information in those records (which included “included psychological counseling, gynecological counseling, sexual/drug treatment”) could possibly be used against Obama’s political opponents. (You know, like sealed divorce records.)

    Funny how often supposedly confidential information just magically appears in the hands of Obama Administration bureaucrats. Like those AP phone records. It just happens, like the waxing of a pestilence.

    So what’s next in the hopper of scandal? Or we going to find out the NSA has been monitoring all telephone conversations in America and providing the records directly to the DNC?

    Stay tuned…

    Posted in Obama Scandals, ObamaCare | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment