Obama In Texas: He's Moving Up. Will He Catch Clinton?

Obama Dallas Mashup - video powered by Metacafe

Thanks to Kid Oakland

Obama Coming To Mississippi?

There has been a lot of talk about Barack Obama coming to Mississippi recently.

I got e-mails about folks receiving robo-calls telling them he was coming to DeSoto County. I assured those folks that the call was false.

I've had folks call me because they are excited that he's coming to this town or that town when it's just a fundraiser by local supporters.

He's a little tied up right now attempting to win Texas, Ohio, Vermont, and Rhode Island (states where Hillary Clinton is currently ahead.) Those elections are on the 4th of March.

Then there is Wyoming on the 8th.

Our primary is March 11th. It's the last primary for over a month with the next contest being in Pennsylvania on April 22nd.

It will be important as the last chance to show momentum.

Don't worry if he's coming. He will come AFTER March 4th.

So far the only publicly announced date is that he MAY be at the Jefferson Jackson Hamer Dinner on the 6th. I've complained to the party and to the Obama campaign because the cheapest tickets are $50. Obama doesn't charge for events.

I sincerely doubt that his only event in the state would require a contribution. Take a deep breath, he's coming.

Yes We Can.

Tort Reform Doesn't Work (For What They Say It Does)

From the Texas Observer:

Proposition 12, and the far-reaching changes in Texas civil law that it dragged behind it, was built on a foundation of mistruths and sketchy assumptions. The number of doctors in the state was not falling, it was steadily rising, according to Texas Medical Board data. There was little statistical evidence showing that frivolous lawsuits were a significant force driving increases in malpractice premiums.

Perhaps the most insidious sleight of hand employed by Proposition 12 backers was their repeated insistence that medical malpractice insurance rates were somehow responsible for doctor shortages in rural Texas.

“Women in three out of five Texas counties do not have access to obstetricians. Imagine the hardship this creates for many pregnant women in our state,” Gov. Rick Perry told a New York audience in October 2003 at the pro-tort-reform Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. “The problem has not been a lack of compassion among our medical community, but a lack of protection from abusive lawsuits.”

The campaign’s promise, that tort reform would cause doctors to begin returning to the state’s sparsely populated regions, has now been tested for four years. It has not proven to be true.

Big Business and Big Insurance got together to sell us on throwing away our rights to hold them accountable in court. They took a few of their millions and used them to convince us that a jury of our peers couldn't be trusted and that we should fear attorneys more than the multinational corporations that actually harm us. That's what happened and dammit we let it.

The Texas Observer