Monthly Archives: April 2013

(Community Matters) while he’s dogged about not saying I support same sex marriage, or marriage equality in any quotable forum (especially refusing to confirm to reporters), I do acknowledge & very much appreciate his posting of the statement below accompanied by the pic on his Facebook page. Thx u, Congressman Doggett.

“Even if the Court gets it wrong, I’ll keep working for this right.”

(Community Matters) WSJ: Deep in the Red of Texas, Republicans Fight the Blues

(Community Matters) So looking forward to this

(Community Matters) This has the potential to explode into a much bigger US scandal. 

(Community Matters) ADL blog on white supremacist activities

It’s true, I am becoming obsessed with this “story.” It feels like the wave of anger and violence I’ve been fearing as a result of the economic and cultural chasms in our country. Threatening storm: a simultaneous wave from disenfranchised, low income minorities who also suffer systemic underemployment and lessening opportunities. We’ve got to address issues which others prefer to ignore. Time to stir the pot – surface the dreg issues and address them.

(Community Matters) ADL: Denver Gunman Suspected to Have Had Links to White Supremacist Prison Gang

Denver, CO, March 22, 2013 … The suspected gunman in the shooting death of the executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections reportedly had ties to a violent racist prison gang whose activities have been monitored by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for many years.

(Community Matters) A Quinnipiac University poll: 56% of voters believe the US Constitution and not state laws should determine the legality of same-sex marriage. This overrides state lawmakers who say states should decide.

(Community Matters) Nice having Mayor Julian & Congressman Joaquin Castro in Austin this week. I didn’t get to see Joaquin but joined a Tuesday luncheon for the Mayor. The rising stars of Texas spent time in Austin to offer a nonradicalized perspective on healthcare for Texans, promote public education funding and to suggest universal background checks don’t threaten Texans’ right to carry concealed weapons. Looking forward to spending Saturday evening with the Mayor, Erica and friends in San Antonio.

(Community Matters) While reading the below Stratfor Report, I couldn’t help but draw the lines between how underemployed, angry men & women become radicalized white supremacists and how disenfranchised European Muslims become Jihadists.  Remembering a line from Kip Keller’s letter triggered discovery of the parallels:

he never, not once . . . . so much as hints that maybe, just maybe, structural, macroeconomic forces might have something to do with the unenviable lives of the “less fortunate.” A venture capital firm shut down your town’s factory and shipped the jobs to Vietnam? Well, you can all work as Walmart greeters instead—enjoy your new, fantastically reduced standard of living.

Stratfor – The Acute Jihadist Threat in Europe

                On March 26, the Belgian federal police’s counterterrorism force, or Special Units, conducted a felony car stop on Hakim Benladghem, a 39-year-old French citizen of Algerian extraction. When Benladghem reacted aggressively, he was shot and killed by the police attempting to arrest him. The Special Units chose to take Benladghem down in a car stop rather than arrest him at his home because it had intelligence indicating that he was heavily armed. The authorities also knew from their French counterparts that Benladghem had been trained as a paratrooper in the French Foreign Legion.

Continue reading →

(Community Matters) New York Times columnist David Brooks cited the LGBT community’s fight for marriage equality as an example of willingness to limit choices and freedom.

Kip Keller, one of our best friends, takes great exception with Mr Brooks, who has a disarming & distracting tendency for oversimplification, pseudo intellectualism and the misleading habit of presenting false choices & erroneous assumptions as facts.

Okay, so this is the last time I waste a single moment reading David Brooks’s asinine drivel or responding to it. I mean it—not even a juicy, Brooks-engorged blog entry on Community Matters will tempt me from now on.

Every time I think that he’s reached absolute nadir, that his mind-bendingly amazing ability to not see what is directly in front of his face, his unswerving proclivity for NOT GETTING IT, has reached some end point, he sets a new personal standard for puffed-up, whining dumb-assery that would be breathtaking if it weren’t so pathetic.

Continue reading →

(Community Matters) This feels completely out of control – Prosecutor Resigns from Prison Gang Case, especially on top of the murders of two Kaufman, TX prosecutors and a wife.

Is the Aryan Brotherhood in Texas becoming as big a threat to the rule of law as cartels in Mexico? There’s speculation that this could represent retaliation for Texas Department of Public Safety & US Justice Department crackdowns and indictments that have enraged the gang.

Hoping no connection to West Virginia sheriff shot to death in car earlier today.

related:

Prison Gangs

San Antonio Express News: God forgives. The Aryan Brotherhood of Texas does not

(Community Matters) Are you frigging kidding me? Republican North Carolina state legislators have proposed allowing an official state religion. 

“The religion bill comes as some Republican-led states seek to separate themselves from the federal government, primarily on the issues of guns and Obamacare.”

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GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Fights To Uphold Anti-Sodomy Law

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Rand Paul: Newtown Could Have Been Prevented If Teachers Had Guns