No Rights to Public Records

The TX White House preceeded the occupied White House in D.C., and seems to have set another rotten example. This time it's our 'Environmental' agency in TX that has declared its records are belong to us.

TCEQ has long operated as more of an obstacle to the public interest than a protector, another echo of the cretin in chief's business oriented services. It declares clean air standards while polluters report on their own emissions, voluntarily as they like to describe it. Now it is working to protect a serious polluter.

In El Paso, the city and Sierra Club among others are suing for records from a copper smelter that is befouling the air, but TCEQ has countersued the AG for ... violating separation of powers. As locals like to say, That Dog Won't Hunt.

We're dumbfounded that TCEQ believes it is not answerable to lawmakers or, apparently, to the public. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's open records division recently found TCEQ's argument to be absurd, ruling that the agency must turn over the documents.

But that hasn't stopped TCEQ, which, in an odd intramural contest, has persuaded another division of the attorney general's office to sue the open records unit. And when we asked about Abbott vs. Abbott, TCEQ officials and the AG's office declined to comment, saying the matter is in litigation.

TCEQ's lawsuit is a misguided assault on the authority of legislators to act in the public interest. The Public Information Act and other statutes authorize lawmakers to receive and protect sensitive information they need to perform their legislative duty. TCEQ's claim that a lawmaker can't seek answers about suspected conflicts at a state agency is preposterous.

The pursuit of private industries' interests that increasingly is substituted for its legitimate role of public protector has trickled down to state level, to the detriment of all of us. The public funds that are used to set up operations that then work against the interests of the public has grown into outright robbery.

The massive replacement of advocates of private industry in our agencies has assumed emergency status. We cannot any longer be deprived of our tax dollars and our rights. Using our votes to get rid of the thieves is overdue.

The 'Legacy' of the war criminals is already visible in these criminals acts against the public, at all levels.

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That really amazingly blatant perpetrator of the worst of the Right Wing, Iowa's Rep. Steven King, has long inspired me with horror. I first took note of him in a floor debate on slaughtering horses, when he supported the slaughter on a ground that it would help our balance of payments with France.

Today he's cited by Crooks & Liars for a few other mouthdropping vulgarities.

Who can forget Rep Steve King’s horrible words about Obama back in Iowa?

King: “And I will tell you that, if he is elected president, then the, the radical Islamists, the, the al-Qaida, and the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11….

Well, he’s baaaack. In one of the most reprehensible lines of questioning today - and Lord knows there were many as Republicans desperately try to outdo each other on who can cover Bush’s ass best - GOP stooge Steve King takes the cake with this gem:

“Couldn’t you have taken this to the grave with you and done this country a favor?”

Are there any Archie Bunker awards around, for the person with the most offensive talking points? I want to know where to send off to nominate this lump of waste matter.