Revolutions

Round two. This time in Egypt.

Priority

Regardless of your view on Roe v Wade, this is asinine considering the budget insanity that awaits us.

Gov. Rick Perry announced Saturday the addition of another issue to his list of “emergency items”: legislation requiring women to receive ultrasounds before having an abortion. The Legislature can take up the items immediately instead of waiting until after the first 60 days of the session.

If you’re so concerned with the kids, maybe don’t gut education and CPS. This man and his party will leave this state in ruin. Assuming he ever leaves.

More…

Bloodbath

We knew it was going to be rough, but wow.

The health and human services portion of the proposal would cut Medicaid provider rates — what doctors and hospitals and others are paid — by 10 percent. And it doesn’t include funding for population growth or for increased costs or utilization rates. There’s also a $4.3 billion cut included to account for the federal stimulus money used in the current budget that’s not available for the next budget. The proposal would cut a total of $16.1 billion in health and human services spending. That’s a 24.6 percent cut.

Bullseyes and Crosshairs

Gruber, on the differences and why at the end of the day, intent doesn’t really matter – the consequences do.

Away We Go…

At noon today the Lege session kicks off on the heels of final income estimates from the comptroller (better late than never, unless your Bill White), and a Tea Party protest on the south steps. This is why we only do this once every two years…

Overshare

So, follow wikileaks on twitter and your information – real name, post history, credit card, etc is subject to the DOJ’s subpoena. At some point people are going to have realize that these (fb, twitter) aren’t benevolent public services, but companies looking to make money, specifically off your information. We gladly give it to them because, it’s cool, our friends are doing it, with little or no thought as to the magnitude and potential of what we share. The pendulum is going to start shifting on this soon.