Potter County Sheriff Indicted On Felony Charges

Last June, I did a couple of post about Potter County Sheriff Michael Shumate being investigated by the FBI. They are here and here. At the time, the Sheriff dismissed the allegations, saying it was just untrue accusations made by his wife because of their rather messy divorce. It looks like a Potter County Grand Jury didn't buy that excuse.

Yesterday, the Grand Jury indictments were made public. They have indicted the Potter County Sheriff on three felony charges -- one 1st degree felony charge of bribery and two 3rd degree felony charges of failing to report campaign donations of $750 and $500.

Robert Austin and his company, Mid-America Services were also indicted on charges of bribery. It seems that Mid-America got the lucrative jail commissary contract by bribing the sheriff. They gave him cash and checks (some of which were the unreported campaign donations), laptop computers, trips, clothing, meals and other items.

The Grand Jury also indicted former Chief Deputy Kenneth Ferren on unrelated charges. He was charged to two class B misdemeanor charges of misusing county employee and inmate labor for his own personal gain. Ferren had resigned last June, when it was learned the sheriff was being investigated, and announced his intention to run for sheriff himself. It doesn't look like that will happen now.

Both Shumate and Ferren turned themselves in to FBI agents yesterday. Channel 7 News in Amarillo reported they had posted bonds and were released.

These indictments are probably a good thing. Maybe now the voters of Potter County can elect an honest outsider who will come in and clean up the mess Shumate leaves. The Potter County Detention Center (Jail) recently failed its state inspection. The jail was cited for overpopulation, inadequate training of employees and failure to properly keep up on jail maintenance.

Maybe a new sheriff can straighten things out at the jail, and bring it up to the level of excellence shown by the neighboring Randall County Jail. There is no reason why Potter County can't have just as well-run a facility as its southern neighbor.

Laura Bush Coming To Amarillo

Is this the best we can do up here in the Panhandle? We just had a visit from Kay Bailey Hutchison, and now we're gonna get Laura Bush. Yesterday, Texas Tech University president Dr. John Baldwin announced that Mrs. Bush would be coming to Amarillo sometime in November to dedicate the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health.

The Institute was actually established here in 1999 as the Women's Health Research Institute. But Texas Tech renamed it in August, so now we get a visit from Mrs. Bush.

It's not known yet exactly when the visit will be. For "security reasons" the specific details won't be released until about a week before she arrives. But it will be sometime in November.

Hillary. Barack. John. Bill. Rick. What are we going to have to do to get at least one of you guys up here! We have some Democrats up here! Really! Honest! I'm not kidding! Please!!!

I realize we're on the edge of known civilization up here, but please -- throw us a bone!

Obama And Cheney Are Cousins ?

It is said that politics makes strange bedfellows. Evidently it also has some strange relatives also. Lynne Cheney, the wife of the Republican Dark Lord a.k.a. Dick Cheney, says she discovered an odd connection while doing research for her book Blue Skies, No Fences.

According to Mrs. Cheney, her husband and presidential candidate Barack Obama are distant cousins. That would make for one hell of a family reunion wouldn't it?

Obama's heritage can be traced back to a French Huguenot named Mareen Duvall. Duvall's son married the granddaughter of a certain Richard Cheney, who arrived in Maryland in the 1650's. According to Cheney, that makes the vice-president the 8th cousin of Barack Obama (although a Chicago newspaper has it figured as 9th cousins once removed).

We do live in a strange world. I'd have thought the recent presidential polls would have been bad enough news for Obama, but this has to be even more disheartening. Looks like he's having a bad week.

But ever the optimist, Obama had the perfect comeback -- "Every family has a black sheep."

89 and Counting

I'm very proud of my guy (Ron Paul) for getting in on this letters, which states that additional funds for Iraq operations will be for redeployment only.

This is the cutting-off of Bush Junior from his inheritence, which he has been squandering. I will be very disappointed if Nancy Pelosi and other Dem leadership do not work to build this bloc.

Land Commissioner Has Lost His Mind !

I think Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson has lost what little mind he had. He seems determined to sell off some state property in the Christmas Mountains, even though our state government had promised not to sell the land to private interests.

In 1991, the 9,269 acres located next to Big Bend National Park was donated to the people of Texas by the Conservation Fund and the Richard King Mellon Foundation. When the land was donated, there was only one condition. The state could not sell the land to private interests. The land could only be sold or given to the state Parks and Wildlife Department, or to the National Park Service.

Gary Mauro was Land Commissioner at the time, and promised that Texas would honor the request of the donors (who have also given several other tracts of land to the state). Evidently, Republican Patterson feels he doesn't have to honor that promise -- probably because it was made by a Democrat.

Patterson is now trying to sell the land that Texas promised not to sell. He says that Texas cannot afford to fence the land to keep poachers out (although that hasn't seemed to be a problem for the last 16 years). He also told Texans that the National Park Service and the Parks and Wildlife Department did not want the land. He wants us to believe he has no choice but to sell the land to private interests.

But that is just NOT TRUE. The National Park Service does want the land. One would think that would give Patterson a way to get rid of the land he says Texas can't afford, and at the same time, allow Texas to keep its word to the donors. But that's not what Patterson wants. He wants to sell the land to private interests.

Why won't he sell to the National Park Service? Because they wouldn't allow hunting on the land. What!!! The same person who says we need to sell the land because we can't protect it from those who would kill the animals there, now says we can't sell the land to the National Park Service because they would protect it from those who would kill the animals there. He's either totally insane, or he's told so many lies he can't keep them straight anymore.

The sad part is that he's not only making Texas look bad by breaking a promise made by our state government, but he's costing the people of Texas any further gifts. The donors have said if Texas sells the land to private interests, they will never make another donation to the state of Texas. I don't blame them. Why would you give anything to people you can't trust?

It makes me wonder what is in this sale for Patterson and his Republican buddies. Perhaps some large campaign donations?

Bush Protecting Big Oil Companies

Since the start, this Republican administration has been all about protecting corporate interests, regardless of how that affects the rest of the country. It looks like Bush will continue to do that as long as he is president.

Democrats are trying to craft a new energy bill. Among the proposals in that bill, are a provision that would cost the big oil companies $16 billion in taxes by exempting them from a scheduled rollback in corporate taxes, and another that would require investor-owned utility companies to generate 15% of their electricity from renewable sources by the year 2020.

Both of these proposals make a lot of sense. All of the big oil companies have reported record windfall profits this year. Why would they need a further rollback of taxes when they are already experiencing record profits? That would seem to be the time to impose new taxes, not rollback the existing ones.

As for using 15% renewable energy sources by 2020, that seems like a very modest demand of utility companies. But Bush is opposed to both proposals. According to National Economic Council director Allan Hubbard, the White House is ready to veto any energy bill that contains either of these proposals.

Come to think of it, why should the taxes on any corporations be rolled back right now? Hasn't the administration been telling us what a wonderful economy we are experiencing? If the economy is so good, why should we make our huge deficit even larger by cutting corporate taxes?

The middle and working classes are the ones who really need a tax cut -- not the corporations. While the common man has been suffering in this "great economy" because of stagnant wages and job outsourcing, the corporations are doing better than they have in decades. Yet Bush wants to give even more money to the corporate fat-cats.

Can there be any remaining doubt that Republicans are in the pocket of wealthy corporate interests? Bush will probably veto the Democrats' energy bill, just like he vetoed healthcare for children. That's because he and his Republican followers only care about the rich.

That is why the next election is so important. Big oil and other corporate fat-cats don't need protection, but ordinary citizens do. And the only party that will help the little man is the Democratic Party.

We need to remember that when we step into the voting booth next year.

Craig Continues To Embarrass Republicans

Sen. Larry Craig continued his efforts to prolong his embarrassment and that of the Republican Party. Instead of resigning his senate seat and quietly retiring to his Idaho home as most Republicans would like him to do, he has now appealed the upholding of his guilty plea.

Of course, the appeal has very little chance of success, since Craig was not just found guilty -- he PLED guilty to propositioning a male police officer for sex in a public restroom. But Craig is taking his embarrassment of Republicans past just appealing his conviction. He is now attacking a Republican presidential candidate.

Before his arrest, Craig was a co-chair of the Romney campaign's efforts on Capitol Hill. When Romney found out about Craig's arrest and conviction on a sex charge, he said, "Disgraceful. It reminds us of the fact that people who are elected to public office continue to disappoint. And we've seen disappointment in the White House, we've seen it in the Senate, we've seen it in Congress and frankly it's disgusting."

Now Craig is lashing out at Romney, saying that Romney threw him under the bus. Craig said, "He not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again."

Fortunately for Democrats, Sen. Craig is a vindictive man. He is determined to strike back at those he perceives as having wronged him, regardless of what is good for his Republican Party. He has already broken his word about resigning, and now it looks like he will continue his campaign to embarrass his fellow Republicans right up to the next election.

For Democrats, Republican Senator Larry Craig is truly the gift that keeps on giving.

It's Time To Jump Off The Oil Bandwagon

If you still don't think we need to be moving toward alternatives to oil, world oil markets are doing their best to change your mind. Yesterday, oil prices set a new record high of over $86 a barrel. The price jumped even though the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided last month to boost their production by 500,000 barrels a day.

This happened because it is expected that in the next year, non-OPEC nations will produce 110,000 barrels a day less than they currently produce. At the same time, demand for oil is expected to increase by 100,000 barrels a day. Oil inventories held by the largest industrialized nations have fallen below their five-year average.

Oil is a finite resource. Whether we like it or not, the supply of oil is going to run out someday -- maybe much sooner than we expect. Estimates of the amount of oil remaining are at best just an educated guess. No one really knows how much is left.

Even if we were to ruin our wilderness and ocean areas by drilling for oil there, with the expanding demand for oil we would only delay the inevitable for a few years. That makes the search for alternate energy sources more important than ever.

Exploring new technologies like electric and hydrogen powered cars are not just a pie-in-the-sky solution to global climactic change. With the rising price and dwindling sources of the world's oil supply, it is an absolute necessity.

We need to stop thinking of alternate energy sources as future technologies. We need to treat this problem like we did our effort to get to the moon. We need to spend whatever is necessary to fund a massive effort to solve the problem of alternate energy sources -- not in the future, but in our own time.

For our own good, it is time to jump off the oil bandwagon.

Governor Hutchison ?

Every day, Kay Bailey Hutchison is sounding more and more like a candidate for the Texas governorship in 2010. She just said in a Texas Monthly interview that she will not run for re-election for the US Senate in 2012. In fact, she told TM that she's considering resigning from the senate in 2010.

Hutchison had strongly considered running for governor in 2006, but backed out. She told TM, "It was not the right time for Texas and it was probably not the right time for the Republican Party to have that kind of challenge." She went on to say that now, "there's not anyone who could really make a case to me that this would be divisive for the Republican Party in a way that would make me step back."

Then she backed off just a bit saying, "It's too early to be gearing up. I don't want to peak in 2007 for a 2010 race. Would I like to do it? Yes. A lot of things have to happen to make it a reality. You can't plan that far ahead with certainty."

I think most Democrats have been hoping that this would not happen -- I know I have. One blogger even told me that she's too old, and won't run. But it now looks like that was all just wishful thinking. She's done everything but make the official announcement.

Folks, Kay Bailey Hutchison is running for governor of Texas in 2010. At this point, I think the only thing that could possibly stop her is if some unforseen medical problems were to pop up unexpectably. Barring that, she is a candidate!

She's also probably the best candidate the Republican Party has. Even though she's done a poor job for Texas in the US Senate, she's still very popular in her home state. She would be a difficult candidate for the Democrats to beat.

And she's making all the right moves. In an effort to stave off a challenge by someone like Dewhurst, she is now waving her own senate seat as a carrot to entice possible opposition to not run against her, saying, "Is it better for Texas for me to leave early and give someone else a chance to start building seniority before the class of 2013? I think it probably is."

There is a real possibility that if she is elected, she would be able to appoint her own successor. That would give the person appointed a two-year head start on all other senate candidates in 2012, and give the Republicans an edge in hanging on to that seat.

Governor Hutchison? Senator Dewhurst? I shudder at the thought.

Younger Voters Trending Democratic

There is a nationwide trend of younger voters moving toward the Democratic Party. Even better, the trend seems to be true in Texas also. This is very good news, because voters tend to settle on their party identification in their twenties and keep that party identification the rest of their lives. This trend could help Democrats for many years to come.

A recent poll shows that about 48% of those between the ages 18-25 now identify themselves with the Democrats. Only 35% identify themselves as Republicans, and the rest call themselves Independents.

Although older voters still vote in greater numbers than younger voters do, even that is changing. Turnout among young voters jumped by 9% in 2004. In the 2006 election, it climbed another 2-4%. Chances are that the number of young voters will be even larger in 2008.

There are several reasons why this is happening:

A) Demographics are changing, and the younger generation has a larger percentage of non-whites than previous generations.

B) Young people have more liberal views on social issues, and these clash with the Republican Party beliefs.

C) Young people are not happy with how the Iraq war is being conducted.

Surprisingly, young evangelicals are also deserting the Republican Party. In 2000, this group was solidly Republican. That is no longer true. Only 40% now identify themselves as Republicans.

This is all very good news for Democrats, but they should not take this for granted. While this demographic is fertile ground for Democratic votes, it is now up to the Democratic Party to see that these young voters actually make it to the polls.

Big Business And Tax Avoidance

We have all heard of the many things that corporations do to try and avoid paying their fair share of federal income taxes. Some corporations are so successful in this that they wind up paying very little or no income taxes at all. What many don't know is that these big businesses are trying the same thing on the state level.

Texas doesn't have a state income tax. Texas raises its funds mainly through a very regressive state sales tax and through property taxes. Although many businesses brag about how much they bring in for the state through the sales tax, the truth is that it is not business that pays the bulk of this tax -- it is the consumer.

The tax that hits business the hardest in Texas is the property tax. After all, most big businesses own the property that their business sits on. It should come as no surprise that this is the tax that business fights the hardest in Texas.

Most corporations (and some home owners) are paying less in property taxes this year. That is because the Republican leadership in this state cut property taxes in the last legislative session to help their corporate buddies. You didn't actually think they did that for home owners, did you? While home owners got a small tax cut, the cut added up to big money for the corporations.

But that was not good enough for the corporate powers that be. A new study shows that most large businesses in Texas challenge their property tax appraisals EVERY YEAR. Take Wal-Mart for example. At least 83% of their stores in Texas challenge their appraisals, compared to 35% of their stores in other states.

These corporations just consider this to be good business practice. Even if they are unable to get their appraisal lowered in a certain year, it serves notice on appraisal districts that they will fight every year and inhibits the willingness of these districts to raise their appraisals for these businesses.

They do this in spite of the fact that most are appraised too low, because the appraisal districts do not have access to the sale price of the property. These districts can easily find the sale price of a home because that is public record, but the sale price is usually excluded in huge corporate deals and there is no state law that requires them to reveal it.

Of course, the corporations will tell you they fight the property taxes because Texas has one of the highest propety taxes in the nation. That is true. But what they don't tell you is that when all taxes are considered, Texas is in the lowest one-quarter of states in terms of total taxes.

Texas could pass a state income tax and lower its property taxes, but most Texans would not support that, and these same businesses would then search for ways to avoid the income tax (as they do on the federal level). The truth is that they just don't want to pay taxes.

No one enjoys paying taxes, but most of us recognize that they are necessary to fund required government functions. Even big business would admit that taxes are necessary -- they just want the burden to fall on the middle and working classes, and not on the rich and the corporations (where it belongs).

Bill Richardson Congratulates Al Gore

This has been a great year for Democrat Al Gore. He won an Oscar for his film An Inconvenient Truth and an Emmy for his new TV channel. Last week, he was named as a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in helping to spread the word about global climactic change (or global warming as it's commonly called).

As other Democrats and world leaders have in the last few days, Gov. Bill Richardson offers Mr. Gore his congratulations on this remarkable achievment. Here is what Richardson had to say (also posted at the Huffington Post):

Today's announcement by the Nobel committee is a well-deserved benchmark in Al Gore's remarkable record of public service. Congratulations to Al and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and a heartfelt thank you for your work.

In fact, I would argue Gore's work on bringing attention to the global warming crisis is the most critical of his distinguished career. He has been on the fore front, and has dragged our attention to the crisis when we still have a little time to change course. His Nobel Prize is fitting.

Today's Peace Prize announcement is noteworthy not only because it recognizes Al Gore's extraordinary achievement. It is noteworthy because it signals a new world recognition that the fight for global climate change and the work to revolutionize our energy production as essential to peaceful co-existence.

We must confront the global warming threat head on and we must act now. The continued battle between and within nations for scarce resources is fueling tragic unrest. Our dependence on foreign oil threatens our national security. Global warming threatens our environment, and its catastrophic effects threaten the basic stability of the world and its people. With Al Gore's win, the Nobel Committee has recognized that the fight against global warming truly is about peace.

We need bold change. We need a new energy revolution, and a renewed commitment to diplomacy as an integral part of fighting the global climate crisis. I have seen first hand in my negotiations in Darfur the consequences when we don't attend these issues before they boil over into tragedy. I have also seen first hand that remarkable progress is possible when we set our minds to it. I know what we can do to revolutionize our energy system, because I've done it in New Mexico.

In New Mexico we follow the Kyoto Protocols, even if Bush won't. We have created incentives for alternative energy technologies to spur innovation. And we've created a regional transmission authority to enable more effective integration of new energy production into our energy grid.

I've made New Mexico the Clean Energy State. And as President, I would make this the Clean Energy Nation. The Sierra Club has called my plan for a new energy revolution the most aggressive of any candidates' plans. Some believe that my proposals go too far - in my plan, we would cut oil demand by 50% and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2050. But I believe we must act boldly and act now. The world is looking to us for bold leadership on climate change, and our next President must be prepared for the challenge.

Al Gore's work on global warming have been a turning point in this battle, and his award today is a fitting recognition. But solving this problem will take more than the heroic efforts of one man. It will require sacrifice from every American. It will require the resolve of the citizens of the world. And it will require bold Presidential leadership.

Pets Taken From Poor And Brutally Killed

This is a sickening story, and shows how the poor of the world are not treated as other people are. They are not respected, and many times governments and individuals treat them as though they were second-class citizens and not worthy of having rights.

In the town of Barceloneta in Puerto Rico, the city government decided the poor should not have the right to own pets. They banned all pets from the town's HUD housing projects. When many did not get rid of their pets, the city hired a private company to recover the animals and take them to a shelter in a suburb of San Juan.

The city contracted to pay the company $60 for each animal recovered, and another $100 for each trip they made to the shelter. Evidently, the company interpreted this contract to mean they could use any means neccessary to make their money.

On Monday and Wednesday of last week, the company conducted massive raids on the housing projects. Animal welfare activist Alma Febus said, "They came as if it were a drug raid. They took away dogs, cats and whatever animal they could find. Some pets were taken away in front of children." The workers then injected the animals with what they said was a sedative "for the drive to the shelter".

But the animals weren't taken to the shelter. They were driven to a bridge in a neighboring town and thrown 50 feet to their death. Manuel Rivera, who lives near the bridge, said, "Many were already dead when they threw them, but others were alive. Some of the animals managed to climb to the highway even though they were all battered, but about 50 animals remained there, dead."

When asked about the pet massacre, HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan said, "This sickens me if true". He went on to say that the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) lets locally owned and operated housing authorities set their own rules regarding pets, but HUD does NOT grant authority for a "blanket ban" or "mass confiscation".

The owner of the private company (Animal Control Solution) was rather callous in his response. Owner Julio Diaz said, "They can't prove they are the same dogs that we picked up", obviously ignoring the fact that there were witnesses to the heinous act.

Now that this incident has received much news coverage, the city is saying they are going to cancel the contract with Animal Control Solution. But the city must accept their share of the blame. They had to know they were in violation of HUD policies.

But then the poor don't have any rights, do they?

No Dissent Accepted At Regent University

Regent University, founded by televangelist Pat Robertson, has had over 150 of its alumni serve in the Bush administration. The right-wing fundamentalist school fits right in with Bush's desire to inject religion into government. But now they have made the national news for a different reason.

The school recently banned one of their law students from their campus. According to the Associated Press:

A Regent University law student...has been banned from campus and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation before he can return to classes.

Adam M. Key, 23, also was ordered to undergo counseling if a mental health provider that is acceptable to the university deems it appropriate, and to provide a report showing that he has completed any treatment plan required. He also must agree to allow the mental health provider to provide regular updates on his treatment to the school.

Those are some pretty serious actions. He must be a dangerous person who has done something pretty bad, for the university to take this kind of action -- right? Wrong! These right-wing fundamentalist schools are not known for accepting criticism or promoting academic freedom, and Regent seems especially sensitive to criticisms of Pat Robertson.

Key's big crime was posting a picture of Pat Robertson on his internet Facebook page. The picture was taken from a video of Robertson scratching his face with his middle finger, and looks as though he was making an obscene gesture. The school thinks any student who would post such a picture on their personal web page must be a dangerous maniac in need of psychiatric care.

Key says, "It's rather entertaining to me that I've been there a year and a half now and only now are they concerned about my mental state...At the time we start labeling people who have dissenting voices as dangerous, we start losing the freedom that makes us Americans".

Pat Robertson spoke out on the controversy, and almost sounded reasonable at first. He said, "...in general, no action should be taken against anyone who exercises their freedom of speech and expression, and that includes criticism or satire of the chancellor (Robertson)", but then he added that changing a TV image to "turn it into something obscene" was not included in that freedom.

But Regent is not any different from any of the other right-wing fundamentalist schools. There is little, if any, academic freedom, and they are unable to take any differing opinion on their policies or politics. There is only one viewpoint that is acceptable for a student to have on these campuses -- the school's viewpoint.

This whole thing was over a funny picture of Robertson posted on a personal web page. Frankly, it's kind of scary to think there are so many graduates of this school in positions of importance in our current administration.