Medical Cartel Trying to Pull Fast One Though State Agency

"They are all adulterers.
Like an oven heated by a baker—
He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough,
Until it is leavened."
Hosea 7:4

Via. JoAnn Fleming:

The Good News: After Texans spoke out last month, the Texas Medical Board (TMB) scrapped plans to impose a minimum 10-business-day wait on patients seeking non-emergency care from an independent (out-of-network) physician at any hospital or surgery center in the state of Texas.

The Bad News: The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) stepped in and imposed a similar rule (applicable to independent physicians at in-network facilities), but without an opportunity for public input. This went into effect on January 1, 2020.

Because the Texas Dept. of Insurance adopted the rule on an emergency basis, there is now a 30-day comment period underway before the rule is adopted as a permanent regulation.

Additional Background: Last year the Texas legislature passed legislation (SB 1264) purporting to address an issue largely caused by insurance companies. The issue has been mislabeled as a problem of “surprise” medical bills. The real “surprise” is that insurance companies deny payment for needed care and add obstacles that prevent and delay patients from obtaining care from the physicians of their choice. Because of your advocacy, and the efforts of Senator Kelly Hancock, the version of SB 1264 that passed contained a good provision preserving the rights of patients and independent physicians to work together without interference from insurance company bureaucrats.

So, what’s the problem?

The TDI is now improperly inserting itself in between patients and independent doctors by implementing a 10 business-day waiting period for non-emergency care for services performed at hospitals and surgery centers. The regulation applies when the facility is in-network according to the patient’s insurance plan, but the physician chosen by the patient is independent (out of network). Currently, there are few facilities that are not run by collaborations between hospital corporations and insurance companies. This rule makes it extremely difficult for a specialist to work at a hospital without being bound to the dictates of an insurance company.

For example: if a patient who is enrolled in a health plan regulated by TDI wishes to contract directly with a surgeon who isn't in the insurer's narrow network, but utilize insurance coverage for hospital or surgery center fees, the patient would have to sign the TDI-approved waiver form, at least 10-business days before the procedure. During this forced waiting period, the patient may suffer in pain or experience worsening disease! That patient’s only other option for care is to agree to be treated by a doctor with whom the insurance company has contracted and who is under the control of the corporate medical system.

Keep in mind that a 10-business-day wait means in most cases at least a 14-day wait and as many as 17 days in situations where holidays add to the delay.

Unelected bureaucrats are attempting to force patients to wait for care from physicians of their choice! Rules like this, if left in place, are yet another step along the path to full corporate and government control of your medical care choices.

Call to Action!

Please take a moment now to speak out against this proposal before the comment period ends. The department will consider any written comments on the proposal that are received no later than 5:00 PM on February 10, 2020.

Your comments can be submitted by email to ChiefClerk@tdi.texas.gov or by mail to the Office of the Chief Clerk, MC 112-2A, Texas Department of Insurance, P.O. Box 149104, Austin, Texas 78714-9104.

The Commissioner will also consider written and oral comments on the proposal in a public hearing under Docket No. 2819 at 1:00 PM on February 4, 2020, in Room 100 of the William P. Hobby Jr. State Office Building, 333 Guadalupe Street, Austin, Texas.

The department requests that parties who plan to speak at the hearing send their written comments (or a summary of their testimony) to ChiefClerk@tdi.texas.gov to facilitate a meaningful discussion.

Attending the hearing? Email Dr. Sheila Page ssheilapage7@gmail.com.

We'd have to re-arrange our schedule to do it, but we're going to try to attend on Tuesday.

Regardless of whether or not you can make it, however, DO e-mail the Department of Insurance.  Obscure government agencies tend to back down when they realize the public is paying attention.  No promises, but the odds are decent.

Bottom Line: Figures they'd try to do something like this while everyone's distracted by the primary.

#TXLEGE: Lobbyists pushing SB 10?!? (Besides the so-called Texas "Medical" Association)

"You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You."
Isaiah 26:3

Action alert this morning from JoAnn Fleming:

Seven reasons we strongly oppose SB 10:

• SB 10 infringes on the principle of limited government by creating an expensive new $100 million program that is outside the core functions of state government. 
• SB 10 will jumpstart exponential growth of unelected bureaucracies. Taxpayer-funded universities and the dysfunctional Health & Human Services Commission will have direct authority over millions more of our tax dollars.  We all know that once they are funded to start looking for a problem, they are going to find one.  Conflicts of interest from pharmaceutical companies, special interests, and the universities themselves will be unavoidable under this structure. 
• SB 10 duplicates what is already being done under existing authority.  Several Texas medical schools already participate in a mental health consortium that meets quarterly.  A new bureaucracy is not necessary to enable further collaboration and coordination of higher education institutions to improve access to mental health care.
• SB 10 has a high risk of evolving into a “Red Flag” monitoring program with respect to gun ownership.  The 2018 Republican Party of Texas (RPT) Platform Plank #73 opposes red flag monitoring programs that seek to deprive someone of their right to keep and bear arms if their child is identified under mental health programs. 
• SB 10 has the potential to make mental illness a cottage industry within our schools.  The sale or sharing of any information collected in research or counseling for any commercial purpose is an affront to the constitutional liberties of Texas children and families.  SB 10 clearly opens Pandora’s Box of unintended consequences.
• SB 10 further endangers privacy of parents and their children.  It will erode parental authority.  Stigma attached to any child misdiagnosed or even inadvertently revealed can severely damage children and their families.  Information gathered through research or treatment should not be included in a student's permanent file, should not be shared in a database, or released without express informed consent of the patient or guardian of the patient.  Such sensitive information should be delivered to the parent(s) or legal guardians only and destroyed after the student leaves the school or graduates.
• SB 10 is ripe for political agendas and abuse.  Indeed, political abuse of psychiatric diagnosis is an important tool in stifling political dissent within socialist countries.  Is there any doubt – given today’s headlines – that the Democratic Left intends to push the United States into socialism?  Mental health issues are becoming the “go to” tool of choice in today’s political circles and are being used to attack gun ownership and threaten the ability of veterans with a PTSD diagnosis to retain their Second Amendment rights.    

We believe that using existing laws and programs to support children with special education conditions, including mental health conditions, can enhance childhood mental health care without creating an expensive new liberty-stealing government bureaucracy.

JoAnn is completely correct. SB 10 is, at best, a hot, poorly thought thorough, mess. At worst, SB 10 could be...a lot worse.

Stranger still, this issue has been fast tracked when no one is asking for it.

Thus we wonder: Who is pushing this?!?

Let's pull the witness list:

In other words, it's the medical cartel working in cahoots with the social services industrial complex.  Nothing good can come from that combination.  One of the safest rules-of-thumb at the Capitol is that everything the so-called Texas "Medical" Association supports is bad.

Beyond that, we know nothing specific about these individuals, though history suggests they're likely getting rich at taxpayer expense.

[Note: If readers know additional details, feel free to e-mail.  Cahnman@hotmail.com.  Confidentiality assured.]

Bottom Line: At a minimum, this legislation need to be vetted for unintended consequences in a way that has yet to occur....

#TXLEGE: Disgraced, soon to be former, state representative desperately grasps for relvance....

"A ruler who lacks understanding is a great oppressor,
But he who hates covetousness will prolong his days."
Proverbs 28:16

LOL:

More than a month after Gov. Greg Abbott directed state agencies to submit proposed new rules to his office before publishing them, a retiring Republican lawmaker has called out the policy as a potentially unconstitutional power grab.

“It is important to underscore that nothing in our state’s constitution or statutes gives the Office of the Governor the power to veto or delay the proposal of a rule, whether by act or omission,” wrote state Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, this week.

....

Abbott’s office defended the move as falling within the governor’s “constitutional authority.”

“As the chief executive of the state, Governor Abbott has a constitutional duty to faithfully execute the law and ensure that all state agencies under his direction approach the regulatory process in adherence with these laws as written and passed by the legislature,” spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said.

For the sake of discussion, let's pretend Cook is making a good faith argument (*): Even if that's the case, all Abbott is doing is taking power out of the bureaucracy and putting it into the hands of an elected official.  At least in theory, those elected officials are accountable to voters.  In other words, Abbott's move is in the direction of more government accountability, not less(**).

Bottom Line: Abbott's move probably won't have much practical impact, but to watch someone with as long of a record of lawlessness as Byron Cook (of all people) shrieking about alleged "power grabs" is cute...

-------

* - Which he, obviously, isn't.

** - Which is, probably, why Cook hates this proposal as much as he does.

#atxcouncil: Principles for the next City Manager

"It is a joy for the just to do justice,
But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity."
Proverbs 21:15

Big announcement yesterday afternoon:



The Statesman has a good round up about the finalists; suffice to say we don't share the Mayor's rosy assessment.

On that note, here are the principles we'd like to see guide the end of this process:

• No Long Term Contracts -- If there's one lesson sports has taught during the past half decade, it's how the back end of long term contracts can bite you in the backside.  Nobody knows how the world will look in 6 or 7 years, and it's important to have the flexibility to respond to changing circumstances.  The same principle applies to local government.
  
  Thus, no commitments longer than three years.
  
  Personally, we'd like to see a one year deal with a council option for a second.

• Avoid Sticker Shock -- There's a difference between a genuinely competitive compensation offer and one that disguises lavish opulence under that label; stick with the former.

• Transparency in Compensation -- If necessary, we intend to file an open records request for "all compensation related documents" whenever a finalist is announced; that being said, it'd sure be nice to have the city release this information on their own before a final decision is made.

• The City Manager works for the Elected Council, NOT VICE VERSA: The City Manager is the hired employee.  The elected city council is the boss.  This chain of command must be explicit.

Bottom Line: This is an opportunity for the city to rebuild trust.  They probably won't.  But they could....

#TXLEGE: Senate hearing bill to restrict LOCAL TAX carve outs tuesday!!!

"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight."
Proverbs 11:1

"Tax increment financing" is a particularly obnoxious form of subsidized 'redevelopment' that we've discussed previously (Note: The 2016 Austin Transportation bond was full of this nonsense).  Essentially, they tax all property owners in a given jurisdiction, then give subsidies to politically favored developers for "blight removal."  On top of that, local governments are essentially allowed to pursue these agreements in secret.

This coming Tuesday, the Senate Natural Resources/Economic Development committee will hear SB 650 (Bettencourt), which would begin to reign-in this practice.

Section 1 of the bill tightens the definition of the type of property that qualifies for this designation.

But the most important part is section 4, which we will let speak for itself:

SECTION 4.  Section 311.015, Tax Code, is amended by adding
	Subsections (m) and (n) to read as follows:
	(m)  Not later than the seventh day before the date of the
	meeting at which the governing body of the municipality will vote on
	an ordinance to issue tax increment bonds or notes, the
	municipality must provide notice of the date, time, and place of the
	meeting by delivering the notice by mail to:
	(1)  each property owner in the municipality;
	(2)  the commissioners court of each county in which a
	portion of the reinvestment zone is located; and
	(3)  each state senator and representative whose
	district includes territory in a county in which a portion of the
	reinvestment zone is located.
	(n)  At the time a municipality submits tax increment bonds
	and the record of proceedings relating to the authorization of the
	bonds to the attorney general under Section 1202.003, Government
	Code, the municipality must deliver notice of the submission by
	mail to:
	(1)  the commissioners court of each county in which a
	portion of the reinvestment zone is located; and
	(2)  each state senator and representative whose
	district includes territory in a county in which a portion of the
	reinvestment zone is located.

Honestly, it's astonishing they didn't already do that.

Bottom Line: Local governments pull this garbage all the time; while "tax increment financing" should be eliminated entirely, Senator Bettencourt's bill represents a significant step in the right direction.

Body Camera FIASCO illustrates #ATXCharter reform necessity....

"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight."
Proverbs 11:1

We've been intermittently watching the APD body camera process; we concur with this statement from TAG in its entirety:

Austin's Public Safety Commission addressed transparency and privacy issues on Tuesday.

APD Body Camera Policy development is a corrupt process. Last night, the Public Safety Commission discussed the APD Body Camera policyand asked our coalition partner, Matt Simpson of the ACLU, to testify.  Below is the email sent to each of the members of the Public Safety Commission. For more information on the continuing conversation around body cameras in Austin, check out the Austin Body Cameras website. To the members of the Public Safety Commission, I wanted to share my experience as a stakeholder participating in the discussions with APD and other community stakeholders to develop a policy on the Austin Police Department Body Camera Policy. I am currently on the Steering Committee for Texans for Accountable Government.  TAG believes  "that power should be rested in the nearest locality.  Our local representatives are much more accountable to us than are those over a thousand miles away in the District of Columbia." -- TAG website.   But that accountability only happens when members of the community get involved. It's clear from the most recent draft of the APD Body Camera Policy that APD does not want accountability. The city council, by approving the TASER contract at the June 23 meeting, gave a stamp of approval for a corrupt process. Here's what should be the process: APD comes to the city council-- our elected and therefore accountable representatives-- with a request to adopt body cameras.  The community stakeholders and APD come together to develop a policy to determine how the cameras will be used and how the footage will be released.  From the policy, the stakeholders and APD agree on a list of hardware and software specifications for the RFP. What happened instead is that the city council had no framework for determining whether or not $17 million was a reasonable price to pay for what TASER was offering. Now we are supposed to craft a policy after the equipment has been purchased.  It is clear from the most recent draft and from comments made during our meetings that APD is free to ignore our requests for drafting the policy.  They haven't blatantly ignored us, but the language in the most recent draft does present a very different tone than what we discussed in our meetings. I ask that the Public Safety Commission keep a close eye on the process for APD to adopt new technology.  I'm sure Matt Simpson of the ACLU laid out the concerns from the community stakeholders-- our elected and appointed officials must insist on due diligence from city employees so that we are not ignored. Thank you, Carly Rose Jackson Steering Committee, Texans for Accountable Government

Bottom Line: It's bad enough that council (with the notable exception of Don Zimmerman) abdicated what little oversight they had over this process; it's even worse that both the contract and the policy were developed in the bowels of the bureaucracy in the first place.

Matt McCall endorses RESTORATION of CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORITY!!!

"The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing;
But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich."
Proverbs 13:4

Back in the day this website focused primarily on national issues, the usurpation of the ELECTED Congresses' authority by the administrative state was one of our major bugaboos; thus, we were pleased to learn about this recent proposal from United States Senator Mike Lee:

First, Congress must reclaim its power of the federal purse. Our formal budget process, which dates to 1974, has fallen apart, and we must restructure it for a post-earmark world. We need to bring entitlement programs back onto the actual budget and bring self-funding federal agencies back under annual appropriation.

Second, we need to reform legislative “cliffs” that loom behind expiring legislation — at the end of the fiscal year and when the federal debt nears its statutory limit — to realign the incentives of the American people and their government. Congress must take back control of actual federal lawmaking. Today, the vast majority of federal laws are unilaterally imposed by executive-branch agencies.

Third, Congress must take back control of actual federal lawmaking. Today, the vast majority of federal laws are unilaterally imposed by executive-branch agencies. The bureaucrats in these agencies then serve as police, prosecutors, and courts in the ensuing cases. All major regulations should be affirmatively prioritized and approved by a vote of Congress.

Finally, we must clarify the law governing executive discretion, which right now allows presidents and federal bureaucrats to ignore or rewrite federal statutes, so long as they have a clever enough reason.

Reform in these four areas would put Congress back in charge of federal lawmaking and put the American people back in charge of Washington — just as the Founders intended.

Learn more about the Article 1 project here.

And guess who endorses the Article 1 project?!?

This is exactly right. I fully support the efforts of Mike Lee and Jeb Hensarling. The career politicians have created...
Posted by Matt McCall on Friday, February 5, 2016

CPS Kidnaps Children in Collin County Texas

"It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones."
Luke 17:2

[Author's Note: Readers can support the Rembis Family's Fundly campaign here.]

Over the past 24 hours, an astonishing case has arisen in a suburb north of Dallas; from a friend's Facebook page:

Details of the Rembis family CPS nightmare. Continue to pray, and please consider donating.

Via Pepper Hepler:
"Tonight I received a distressing FB message from a dear friend I've known for 20 some years informing me that CPS was coming to take her 11 children. I have been blessed with some great friends that were willing to stand with her and support her despite not knowing her. These friends have offered their services, time, homes and an abundance of prayers. Thank y'all for loving my sweet friend.

Claire was in the hospital last week for a couple days suffering from issues with her pancreas. During her brief stay, a woman from the church her son attended youth group at brought the family dinner while Claire's husband was away. This woman took issue with Claire's eldest sons (16, 14, & 12) caring for their siblings (minus the newborn) and contacted CPS. Whether it was this woman or someone in the agency, someone reported that the children had been left alone for 3 days in an unsafe, messy home. The older kids were only left in charge twice while she was in the hospital, once for roughly 8 hours and again for about 6 hours. CPS came to the house yesterday and looked in the windows. They were only able to see in to her twin girls' room, which (as I can attest with only one girl) was messy. (Seriously, can you imagine someone judging the condition of your home based on the cleanliness of your 8 year old's room?)

CPS had visiting Judge Curt Henderson of District Court 417 sign a court order for an emergency exparte without the family's or the family's lawyers' knowledge and without any investigation. They were contacted this evening and informed that they were coming to take the children.

The family spent the time waiting for CPS praying and talking about God's plan for each of them. When CPS arrived, Claire and her husband tried to reassure the children and say their painful goodbyes. While her husband was holding their 7 week old and saying goodbye to his girls, an officer asked to speak with him. An agent took their infant and he was arrested in front of the children for warrant from an expired vehicle registration. No one was allowed to say anything more to him. Claire was left with no one.

She has spoken to the woman who made the report. While hurt and angry, she takes comfort in having forgiven her. Claire's husband was let go of his management job almost two months ago when Claire had their newborn. She was having a lot of health issues and he asked for some time off to care for his family, they refused. Their van is in need of some repairs to get it running. Her husband needs to make bail, which I believe is $1,000. And lawyer expenses are going to be staggering. We have put a Fundly account together for her. Please be praying for provisions for this precious family."

 Donate to the Rembis family here.

Rehydrating Texas: Regulatory Reform to Keep Water Flowing for Texans

"This same Hezekiah also stopped the water outlet of Upper Gihon, and brought the water by tunnel[a] to the west side of the City of David. Hezekiah prospered in all his works."
2 Chronicles 32:30

Texas State Capitol -- Over the last 15 years Texas has made great strides to ensure that the state’s water resources remain flowing and accessible for a growing number of Texans. The financing has been addressed, the plans have been laid out, and the environmental concerns have been considered. The 84th Legislature now has the opportunity to finish the state’s comprehensive water package by removing regulatory impediments to the free development, management, and trade of surface and groundwater. There is light at the end of the tunnel!

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

Highlights:

Toby Baker (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality):

• Water is a major point of contention like air used to be.

• The drought got going in late 2010
• 2011 dryest year in state's history.

• The rain we get now gets instantly soaked into the super dry soil.

• Over 1000 public water systems are in some stage of drought.

Kathleen Hartnett White (TPPF):

• For the market to function, you need clear property rights.

• "Management" is a euphemism for regulation.

• Can't do a lot about complex permitting at the Federal Level.

James Lee Murphy (Guadelupe/Blanco River Authority):

•  Lack of legislative clarity hurts ability to meet water needs.

• The basic question: Do we need new water?!?

• We don't have a commodity market in Water.

Russell Johnson (Austin Water Attorney):

• Groundwater conservation districts (GCD) need to protect the rights of landowners.

• Vast majority of GCD's under 20 years old.  

• GCD's are like teenagers with keys to car, liquor cabinet, and gun cabinet in terms of how they protect property rights.

• The state has created 98 separate TCEQ's with substantial regulatory authority and virtually no oversight.

• Texas has more groundwater to access than any state except Alaska, but unelected boards and commissions restrict access.

• Shouldn't be able to hold up projects 7-8 years.

• GCD's rewards legacy producers.

Texas Ethics Commission confesses lawlessness

"For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life."
Galatians 6:8

That's no good:

In an effort to defend a suit brought by Empower Texans President Michael Quinn Sullivan under the Texas Open Meetings Act, the Texas Ethics Commission has doubled down on their lawless behavior. Late last week, the TEC admitted for the first time that commissioners met in secret to craft an order against Sullivan for his work informing taxpayers about the actions of the legislature.

On Monday, the TEC’s executive director testified in open court that the meetings were not called, were not planned, that no notice was given to the public, that no agenda or minutes for the meetings were kept, and that no recordings of the meetings were made. The commission is stipulating to their complete disregard of the Texas Open Meetings Act, arguing that the law which binds other governmental bodies doesn’t apply to them.

Never before has the TEC disclosed such secret meetings, or publicly claimed a right for commissioners to do so.

When the suit under the Open Meetings Act was filed, it was expected to require extensive discovery to determine how far the commission had gone in disregarding the law. However the TEC is now arguing that it has complete authority to meet in secret, and that orders issued by the commission need not even include the names of the commissioners and how they voted.

The commission has placed its self so far outside of the open meetings law that the case is moving fast for a determination on the legal issues alone. The facts aren’t in dispute, the TEC claims they are not going to be bound by the Open Meetings Act absent a court order to the contrary.

 Read the whole thing here.

Technology Threatens Austin Taxi Cartel

"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight."
Proverbs 11:1

Great news in the fight for affordable alternatives to driving while intoxicated:

The San Francisco based transportation network company Lyft recently announced plans to bring its ridesharing platform to Austin, despite city regulations. Lyft has been widely hailed as the free market’s response to government sanctioned taxi companies.

Using their smartphone, a user can coordinate a ride through the downloadable Lyft app with one of the company's drivers. Drivers do not charge fares, but instead ask for donations from their passengers, which according to reports can be anywhere from 20 to 30 percent cheaper than a normal taxi ride.

While many are celebrating Lyft’s advent in Austin, city officials have warned the company that car sharing programs like Lyft could be “outside the law.” Currently, the Austin City Council is trying to decide whether services like Lyft violate city codes.

....

In Austin, Lyft drivers must have a chauffeur’s permit according to the existing city laws. Drivers who are caught transporting people without one will be charge with a Class C misdemeanor and could have their car impounded.

Despite the legal ambiguity, Lyft has decided to start operations in the city anyway and hope for the best. Lyft officials told Breitbart Texas reporters that they are willing to work with the city. They claimed that as it stands, city code does not account for their innovative and unique business model.

 But, of course, you can't better yourself economically if it threatens the fascists:

Ridesharing service Lyft launched its Austin service at 7 p.m. Thursday.

By Monday, three Lyft drivers were issued tickets and two of their vehicles were impounded, according to city transportation department spokeswoman Samantha Alexander.

....

Under city law, it is illegal to operate a ridesharing service if you pay drivers over the federal gas mileage reimbursement of 56 cents per mile. The Lyft service in Austin is free for passengers in its first few weeks. Drivers are being paid by Lyft itself through “ride credits” determined by passengers.

But who cares about people dying from intoxicated drivers when there's big business/big government collusion to protect, right Lee Leffingwell?!?

Government Kidnapping Children ... in TEXAS?!?

In researching our piece on Texas' 'social services' bureaucracy, we also discovered this astonishing case:



Highlights:

• There was no accusation of wrongdoing; she had removed the children from the unsafe situation.

• "In fear of losing HER job" the CPS worker had to come take the kids.

• No consent, Mom was in rehab, no court order.

• Forcibly Medicating the kids.

• Kids were in CPS custody 11 months.

Texas Homeschool Coalition has more:

On December 4, 2009, a CPS caseworker forced her way into Theresa Allen’s home and removed Theresa’s grandchildren, without accusation and without court order, in order to protect her position after missing the investigation deadline for Theresa’s case. Theresa called the CPS program director in a desperate attempt to discover what was going on. She was informed that “pulling rank” in CPS was not acceptable and that they were about to “show her what happens” when people cross CPS. 

Theresa Allen waded into an 11-month financial nightmare as she fought to regain possession of her grandchildren from the rogue department. CPS battled fiercely to discredit Theresa and threatened that they would adopt her grandchildren out to strangers so that she would “never see them again.” 

After nearly a year of litigation, and not even so much as an allegation of abuse against Theresa, CPS lost the case, and Theresa’s grandchildren were returned to her. THSC has since continued the battle by filing suit against the CPS workers, who not only lied to the court and illegally removed Theresa’s grandchildren from her home but are all still employed by CPS today.

Austin accepts $11 million in Agenda 21 Blood Money from Obama

Holy Boondoggle Batman; from today's Daily Texan:

A federal grant worth $11.3 million will revolutionize transportation in Austin and change the way students connect with their campus, the city and the surrounding areas. 

The project — announced yesterday — will allow Capital Metro to increase bus and train speeds and frequency while doubling the freight service so fewer freight trucks will be on the streets. It will include a Bus Rapid Transit, projected to begin in 2014. Express Lanes, projected for 2015, will be highway lanes that are free for transit vehicles and tolled for other vehicles. 

Another part of the project’s plan is the Urban Rail, a hybrid between a light rail and a streetcar to connect the University to areas like downtown Austin, South Congress and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Austin will contribute $15 million to the project, Cap Metro President Linda Watson said.   

Which fits with Obama's long-term agenda:

“These projects truly have the power to transform communities,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx said. “No one wants to get used to traffic jams and to long wait times.”

Complete with land grabs:

The proposed Regional Rail will connect Austin to surrounding areas, such as Georgetown, San Marcos and San Antonio.

And fuzzy economic predictions:

 Foxx said every dollar invested in public transportation yields $4 in economic returns.

But at least bureaucrats know what's best for the rest of us:

“What people really want is their time back,” Foxx said. “They’re working hard. They’re trying to make it home for dinner [or] make it to a soccer game for their kids. That five or 10 minutes that they save because they [weren’t sitting in traffic], that matters to people right at home.”

 Read the whole article, complete with pandering to students, here.

----

Update: We just took two trips on South Congress in the past two hours; we can only imagine the decade long traffic nightmare attempting to put light rail there would create.

Ted Cruz DEMOLISHES Liberal Obama Judicial Nominee

OUCH:



Highlights:

• "This was just an academic article."
• Personal Note: What a load of crap.

• "I find that to be an extraordinary position and if that's unconstitutional, it is hard to imagine what decisions are beyond the ambit of Federal Courts."

• Cahnman's Musings isn't basing this off of anything except our sixth sense, but we personally think this woman was lying through her teeth.

Who is the most innovative Ammo Maker in Texas?!?

The other night on Facebook, I made this prediction:

Random Thought: We're close to the top of a bubble; before the end of the year, the price of ammo will collapse.

The reason I believe this is because the market for guns and ammunition is an example of what economists call 'perfect competition.'  The product is (relatively) homogenous and barriers to entry are (relatively) modest.  Given this backdrop, with rising demand causing shortages, Economics 101 suggests that new sellers will enter the market.

Obviously, that equation doesn't account for interference in the market by the federal government.  While I understand those concerns, I just don't think the Federal government is competent enough to pull it off.  I have a funny feeling the number of small scale entrepreneurs who will enter the market in the next 12 to 18 months will overwhelm Washington's ability to stop it.

Cahnman's Musings would like to solicit reader feedback.  Who, in your opinion, is the most innovative ammunition manufacturer currently operating in the state of Texas?!?  Why?!?  What have they done in the past 6 to 12 months that makes you confident they can consistently outwit Washington.  Cahnman's Musings would like to help publicize their business.

WatchdogWire: EPA Kills 3900 Texas Jobs

We've previously discussed how Washington D.C. is the greatest threat facing Texas; WatchdogWire has a great example:

The project would have created an estimated 3,900 jobs (1,300 directly and 2,600 indirectly). So why cancel it? According to the CEO of the project’s parent company, Chase Power, the Environmental Protection Agency got in the way.

“The (Las Brisas Energy Center) is a victim of EPA’s concerted effort to stifle solid-fuel energy facilities in the U.S., including EPA’s carbon-permitting requirements and EPA’s New Source Performance Standards for new power plants,” CEO Dave Freysinger told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

....

Environmentalists were opposed to the project, claiming that the plant would make it harder for certain people to breathe. The cancellation of the plant, however, could make it harder for 3,900 people to find jobs.

Sigh.

How Marxists Subvert Western Society

This video from former KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov, who defected towards the end of the Cold War, explains the process by which Moscow undermined the West from within; understanding this process is crucial to understanding the Sexual Revolution:



Highlights:

• 85% of KGB activity was subversive.

• Subversion -- A destructive, aggressive, activity aimed to destroy the target country.

• Sun Tzu -- Subvert your enemy until he no longer sees you as an enemy.

• FOUR STAGES OF SUBVERSION

1. Demoralization
   
   • 15 to 20 years
   • The time it takes to maleducate one generation.
   • Influencing public opinion via various means.
   • Stiring up greivances
   • Textbook Alinsky
   • Destroy and ridicule Biblical Religion and replace it with sects and cults.
   • Distract education away from traditional academics.
   • Exploit a gullible media.
   • Moral relativism
   • A slow watering down of standards.
   • Destroy the relationship between employer and employee.
   • Flood influencers of public opinion with Marxist propaganda about 'equality.'
2. Destabilization
   
   • Economy, Law and Order, Military.
   • Radicalization of the bargaining process.
   • Make Constructive compromise impossible.
   • Raise contempt for traditional sources of authority
   • Media Puts itself opposite society
   • Students spring into action
   • eg. Occupy Wall St
   • Antagonistic Clashes between groups of society.
     
3. Crisis
   
   • Traditional sources of authority collapse.
   • Growth of non-elected committees
   • Population looks for a 'savior'
   • Strongman comes in to stop chaos.
   • Top down, Bottom up, and inside out.
     
4. Normalization

• Self-appointed leaders no longer need revolution.
• Stabilize the situation by force.
• Elimination of agitators from earlier phases.
• At this point, requires military force to reverse.

The easiest way to combat this is to bring a society back to Biblical religion; faith in God prevents subversion.

Senator Ted Cruz' CNBC Debut

Shortly after being sworn in, Ted Cruz appeared on CNBC:



Highlights:

• "This administration has engaged in a troubling pattern of trying to rule by executive fiat."

• Legislative powers are entrusted to Congress, not the Executive Branch.

• "I think we have to be prepared...to shut the government down if we don't get some serious policies to stop the out of control spending."

• If there is no action [on the debt ceiling], the result will be that 40 percent of Federal Government spending will stop.

• Kudlow: The debt ceiling "can be a very important bargaining tool."

The National Interest: The Federal-State Crack-up

Excellent piece on the coercive nature of 'cooperation' between the Feds and State governments; sample quote:

These governance schemes are generally of two kinds: one erodes the separation of powers between Federal and state governments, while the other erodes the separation of powers within the Federal government. In the first category is “cooperative federalism”, whereby the Federal government uses monopoly powers to coerce and subvert the prerogatives of state governments. In the other is Congress’s delegation of vast rule-making authority to administrative agencies.
These two categories of concern are often treated as being entirely distinct, but they share profound similarities. Both are methods for Congress to escape accountability by hiding its power in other institutions of government. Cooperative federalism allows Congress to hide its power within the decision-making of state governments, while its delegation of rule-making authority allows it to hide its power in the far-flung bureaucracy of the Executive Branch.

 Read the whole thing.

Stanley Kurtz: Spreading the Wealth

Again, appropos of CSCOPE, it's worth remembering that a big part of the Marxist agenda moving forward is for greater control of education via unelected bureaucrats:



Highlights:

• Having city governments swallow up and control suburban governments.
• The goal is to control suburban tax $$$

•  Suburban school districts would be 'equalized' with the inner city.
• Race to the top was the foot in the door
• National (far-left) education standards (eg. CSCOPE) followed by 'equalization of funding between cities and suburbs.
• Blood money from Washington is the enforcement mechanism.

•  Sustainable Communities Initiative -- Using transportation funding to encourage suburbanites to move into cities; rerouting Federal transportation dollars from Highways to Mass Transit.

• "The American Dream of moving to the suburbs is based on greed and racism."

• Google: Regional Equity Movement