The Smithian

May 18th, 2013

…many who would…support more regulations and enforcement in the face of a foreign terrorist threat would suddenly scoff at more regulations and enforcement in the face of unsafe workplaces. Why the double standard? That’s the troubling question raised by the reaction—or, really, lack thereof —to last month’s catastrophic explosion in West, Texas…Texas promotes an “antipathy toward regulations” as “the only state that does not require companies to contribute to workers’ compensation coverage” and a place where many counties “cite the lack of local fire codes as a reason for companies to move there.”

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May 12th, 2013

thesmithian

'Here’s a way to attract companies and create jobs. Eliminate as many regulations as possible. The fewer the regulations, the happier are the corporations. Let’s call it the Texas way. But if it’s that easy, why hasn’t every State done it? It’s because the majority of citizens in most other States know that many if not all regulations enacted by the national government, States, and local communities are to protect workers, consumers, and whole communities. And, as West, Texas, recently proved, there are prices to be paid when regulations are eliminated. Fourteen people, twelve of them emergency responders, died at its unregulated fertilizer plant. Property damage and workplace fatalities from such explosions and fires in Texas have exceeded those of all the other 49 States combined for the past five years.'

April 26th, 2013

thesmithian

If they can’t come up with something that gives…opportunity for immigrants to come from Africa or Haiti yet they can give them to Ireland, I can’t vote for it…

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)

A growing number of members in the Congressional Black Caucus say they will not vote for an immigration reform bill that does not include diversity visas. The Senate’s bipartisan “gang of 8″ eliminated the 55,000 slot diversity visa program in their immigration legislation. There are 43 voting members of the CBC in the House.

April 26th, 2013

thesmithian

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April 25th, 2013

thesmithian

Dallas, Texas today, where they will join former presidents in inaugurating the presidential library and museum of George W. Bush…

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April 24th, 2013

thesmithian

Immigrant women in Texas tell us that accessing birth control, cervical cancer screenings, and other reproductive care is so difficult here in the United States, they’re forced to cross into Mexico in order to get the care they need…One woman told us about how she literally swam across the Rio Grande to get access to reproductive care.

Kimberly Inez McGuire,

Associate Director of Government Relations and Public Affairs at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.

April 20th, 2013

thesmithian

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point well made and well taken.

April 20th, 2013

thesmithian

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[look of the day]

(Source: liberalsarecool)

Reblogged from Politi-gal

April 11th, 2013

thesmithian

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Gearing up for the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in November, museums and auctioneers are bringing out artifacts…

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Gearing up for the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in November, museums and auctioneers are bringing out artifacts…

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April 3rd, 2013

thesmithian

…storefront payday lenders tend to concentrate locations in low-income and communities of color…Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina had the highest number of payday stores per 10,000 residents. Outside of the Deep South, Missouri and Nevada were the only states with comparable density of payday storefronts…[the] five states [that] charged the greatest amount of payday loan interest were California, Texas, Florida, Mississippi and Illinois…“Payday lending is…financial assault on communities of color. By preying on consumers with few resources, this predatory product takes what little they have and winds up leaving borrowers worse off than before..Far from creating opportunity, payday lending creates impoverished households and endangers local economies.”

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…storefront payday lenders tend to concentrate locations in low-income and communities of color…Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina had the highest number of payday stores per 10,000 residents. Outside of the Deep South, Missouri and Nevada were the only states with comparable density of payday storefronts…[the] five states [that] charged the greatest amount of payday loan interest were California, Texas, Florida, Mississippi and Illinois…“Payday lending is…financial assault on communities of color. By preying on consumers with few resources, this predatory product takes what little they have and winds up leaving borrowers worse off than before..Far from creating opportunity, payday lending creates impoverished households and endangers local economies.”

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March 31st, 2013

thesmithian

'A Texas district attorney and his wife were shot to death in their home just outside Dallas last night, the latest instance in a recent spate of suspicious shootings of law enforcement officials. The deaths of Mike and Cynthia McLelland follow the shooting of a Kaufman County assistant district attorney in January, which stoked suspicions of a conspiracy to target law enforcement officials by a white supremacist group.'

March 26th, 2013

thesmithian

‘A recent…report criticizing Texas public universities for imbalanced teaching of American history—by overly emphasizing issues of race, gender and class…’

—should be monitored by anyone who cares about the…mission of journalism in a state where true equality remains achingly elusive. In the report titled “Recasting History: Are Race, Class, and Gender Dominating American History?” The University of Texas-Austin and Texas A&M University are cited as schools where 50 percent or more of history professors are “high assigners” of articles and books on race, gender and class…Missing from most mainstream news of the report is the fact that it was funded, in part, by a member of the Texas media: Wick Allison, who created D Magazine in Dallas and also publishes The American Conservative (founded by Pat Buchanan, among others)…

bold, ours. more.

March 21st, 2013

thesmithian

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Texas Monthly

March 20th, 2013

thesmithian

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+++++

art: photo of Charles Bradley by Jacob Blickenstaff in Austin, Texas, 2013

February 23rd, 2013

thesmithian

…a gripping analytical narrative of U.S. state policing of ethnic Mexicans in the far west Texas and the New Mexico borderlands from 1893 and 1933. While the “when” in the title refers to the critical years of growing U.S. immigration controls and Prohibition, it is more accurate to say that the book examines how border people’s perceived transgressions against Anglo authority linked the Mexican community with criminal activity in the minds of officials in Austin and Washington.

more.

…a gripping analytical narrative of U.S. state policing of ethnic Mexicans in the far west Texas and the New Mexico borderlands from 1893 and 1933. While the “when” in the title refers to the critical years of growing U.S. immigration controls and Prohibition, it is more accurate to say that the book examines how border people’s perceived transgressions against Anglo authority linked the Mexican community with criminal activity in the minds of officials in Austin and Washington.

more.