Texas National Guard troops forced to go to food banks for help amid paycheck delays

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Texas National Guard troops forced to go to food banks for help amid paycheck delays
By Reuters
Friday, August 29, 2014 17:49 EDT

By Jim Forsyth

AUSTIN Texas (Reuters) – Some of the Texas National Guard troops dispatched to the Texas-Mexico border have been relying on charities and food banks for their meals due to the way the state is paying the troops, a state representative said on Friday.

“Essentially, the Guard is directing these soldiers to temporarily finance their own deployment,” said Rene Oliveira, a Democratic state representative from the border city of Brownsville.

Oliveira said soldiers are expected to buy their meals while deployed, then submit receipts to the Guard for reimbursement. Since many were deployed rather suddenly, some have run out of the little money they took with them and are relying on food handouts while waiting for their first reimbursement from the state.

The Texas National Guard said in a statement it has “made inquiries to local food banks to help service members who may have existing financial hardships.”


Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/29/texas-national-guard-troops-forced-to-go-to-food-banks-for-help-amid-paycheck-delays/

[951-Riverside]

1. ...

[The Magistrate]

2. Truly Bizarre, Ma'am

The first thing you do is feed the soldiers....

"Gold, bread, steel, and men are the sinews of war. Gold and bread may acquire steel and men. Men and steel can always procure bread and gold."

[freshwest]

19. That's a quote worth thinking a while about.

[freshwest]

3. Governor Goodhair gallivants around the nation, kissing Koch tail, but neglects Texas!

He's worried about ISIS while living it up at the Koch brothers' Americans For Prosperity gala and his own troopers go hungry.

If the people of TX don't kick the GOP out in 2014, I doubt they ever will. Faux Newz has infected the whole state.

[Unknown Beatle]

14. You don't Understand.

The repugs steal elections in Texas.

[freshwest]

15. I do understand. It takes massive turnout to win over spending. It's not a done deal, unless you

really believe there is no hope. I remember the hysteria here in 2012 over the GOP dirty tricks and Romney still lost.

They used the same tactics in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. 2010 was lost by media playing with people's minds. Faux plays with their minds in every red state.

People stayed at the polls the night before, stood for hours, jumped through hoops to vote in 2008 and 2012. They were the people the GOP did noot expect to make it past the stealing.

It's never over until it's over. But Texas has strong GOP roots now. See my other post. BTW, I'm a native.

[Unknown Beatle]

17. I'm a native too.

I voted for White in the 2010 gubernatorial election and my vote flipped to Perry right before my eyes. I called the precinct chairperson to look at the flip. She asked to to erase my vote and start over, which I did, and I cast my vote again for White, but this time she also witnessed the flip. I was livid and demanded that I use a different Diebold machine. She said that I had already been using that machine and that it was against Texas law to use two machines in the same election. She said to once again erase it and to start over again, which I did for the third time and this time it registered for White without flipping the vote.

The point is, since I voted half an hour before voting stopped at 7 PM, how many people voted on the same machine and the vote flipped without them noticing? Hell, how many machines all over Texas flipped the vote without notice.

I raised hell and called the local newspaper, city hall, anybody of importance, I even had a witness, but my complaints fell on deaf ears. I even had the person in charge of the city voting machines tell me that it was "bullshit", that "our voting machines don't steal votes". And to top things off, the person in charge of the machines was a democrat, for fucks sake!

That hasn't stop me from voting, nothing ever will, but I always check my vote after.

[freshwest]

21. You did good. Never had to vote on a Diebold, but know what you say is true. But you beat it!

[CanonRay]

22. The entire modern concept of "dirty tricks" started with Richard Nixon

and his ratfucker squad of USC young Republicans eg Donald Segretti. It's standard playbook for all GOP campaigns since 1972.

[freshwest]

24. Thank you, I've posted on that. You might want to read it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110215862

They've never stopped, it's worked wonderfully for them. If anything, it's more effective than ever. And you might to look over this OP and another thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1017&pid=44227

This is still in state platforms, its goals are pushed by ALEX, FW, AFP and the GOP. Each one in office is working to achieve all on the list. They have nearly accomplished all of the items:

http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/1014833821#post10

[CanonRay]

25. Thanks, that was a good post

I missed it the first time around.

[Dustlawyer]

26. It's about spending too. Other than Howard Dean, who got "It", our state gets nothing but a steady

diet of Republican ads, our state DNC gets no outside help to speak of. How do we turn it around? Devote a little love this way, especially in South Texas a huge Untapped resorvior of potential Democratic voters. The Latino population has been ignored to a large extent. Voter's registration drives and help with I.D. Information.
If we can do this we can make Texas blue. Wendy Davis is helping a lot for us this year, but it will take more. The other side devotes a lot of money here to fight an ever increasingly difficult battle. If we can register these potential voters for the Presidential election and get the word out we can do it. I am sure we made great inroads for the midterms.

[Cha]

4. So Perry's big grandstanding act with TNG to the Border doesn't have the $$$$ to back them

up? Shame on him.

Mahalo Judi Lynn

[freshwest]

6. "I don't know what to do," is what he said taking office when asked about the deficit Bush left.

Molly knew there was nothing underneath the hair. He's incompetent and always has been. He signed up to destroy all vestiges of civil society in Texas with nothing in its place but the worst of the wild west with OC and rampant disrespect for all things democratic. And he's being paid very well for his treachery.

[tea and oranges]

5. Are the people of Texas not sickened by this?

[freshwest]

11. Millions are. Check the numbers who voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012:

3.5 million Texans voted for Obama. More than anywhere besides CA, FL and NY.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4381379

Here is the problem:

Deep in the Red of Texas, Republicans Fight the Blues

By NEIL KING JR.

AUSTIN, Texas—Soon after Texas Republicans notched another round of lopsided wins last November, the state GOP sent notice to its local chapters: Please stop holding party meetings in country clubs. Other advice followed. Please consider hosting Republican recruiting tables at naturalization ceremonies. Word spread among state GOP lawmakers to back off on bills targeting illegal immigrants in the legislative session...

Republicans have won all of Texas' 29 statewide offices since 1994, the longest streak of single-party dominance in the country. Republican Rick Perry is the state's longest-serving governor... But Republicans here are suddenly looking over their shoulder, worried that demographic shifts and a big push by Democrats to capitalize could soon turn the state into the ultimate battleground between the two parties. One of the most important backroom players in President Obama's 2012 campaign has launched a broad effort to pull the state into the Democratic column...

Texas has some of the country's lowest voter-participation rates, especially among groups that typically skew Democratic, That leads some Democrats to compare the state to a vast oil field that has yet to be tapped. The state has 13.6 million registered voters. But Democrats say there are nearly three million eligible but unregistered Hispanics and African Americans, and at least half that many who are registered but don't vote. Mr. Romney won Texas by a margin of 1.2 million votes in November.. Led by former Obama field director Jeremy Bird, the Battleground Texas project plans to marshal much the same manpower and data-mining the Obama campaign used to swing states such as Colorado and Virginia in the past two elections...

Democrats point to a little-noted mobilization drive called the 21 Precinct Project that the Travis County Democratic Party ran in the largely Hispanic and African-American neighborhoods of East Austin. In the fall of 2010, the party combed through data to identify 23,452 households where residents were registered, and likely to be Democrats, but rarely voted. A team of 41 volunteers and paid staff then spent five weeks calling and visiting those homes, urging them to vote. The project cost a little over $40,000. The results were startling: a 54% jump in straight-ticket Democratic voting, and a turnout rate nearly 20% higher than the rest of Travis County. The conclusion, according to county Democratic chairman Andy Brown, who ran the drive: "People respond if you ask for their vote. And in Texas, millions of people have never been asked..."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324883604578397021579876246.html

(if the link does not open, copy and paste the subject line into google)

to question everything:

Texas has suffered almost irreparable damage to the Democratic process since Ann Richards lost to Bush from an orchestrated GOP campaign to undo every aspect of the New Deal which served Texas well for many years. And blatant censorship and patronage.

Texas was an experment of what is being done state by state now. The last vestiges of public unity have been ruined by RW and conspiracy media, privatization and extreme religion.

It is still a good place to live for many and they are not inclined to rock the boat. The coming hispanic majority that many Democrats think are theirs, are not always in their camp. Many I know are conservative about all things but immigration. Others who are immigrants, have never expected anything better than they had in the countries they came from to the Texas. There is also a mixture of many nationalities inTexas who are busy with their lives and don't have time to study politics. They just work around things.

Abbott, who is running against Davis, has ties with hispanic groups that trend to the conservative views. They don't believe in big government, don't want to be bothered by it. Their families are their supports, along with their employers and church. Many do not value voting for that reason. The Castro twins and Davis' partner can reach out to this demographic.

There is fertile ground for Republicans in Texas. And they are also being taught by media to reject ALL criticism of GOP leaders in a cultlike way.

So it's not that millions are not sickened and yelling their heads off. nor is there a lack of well educated opposition to Perry. It's all about who will be moved to vote and be involved in the grassroots organizations.

OFA and the ACA did a lot to get voters registered and the DOJ fought back against voting restrictions. There is not the will in the USA to make the kind of effort that the VRA. It's a work in progress and I hope that TX does this.

Because the GOP is right to be scared of any win by Democrats. If TX turns blue, they have said there will not be another GOP president for twenty years. TX has more influence with the south than CA, FL or NY. This is why we must GOTV.

JMHO.

[C Moon]

16. +1

[tea and oranges]

31. Excellent post, freshwest.

Thanks for the information.

I tend to forget that apathy plays a huge role in the sort of gov't we wind up with.

Apathy is deliberately induced, one ex: the media serving up false equivalencies regularly. It's easier to shrug & walk away, (maybe to find the media that doesn't tell you both sides do it, Fox. )

Certainly we need gotv. What would really help that effort is if we had democratic leaders w/ vision who could fire us up, get us excited about voting.

What does the Democratic Party stand for lately besides, “uh, we’re not as bad as the other guys?”

IOW - Elizabeth Warren, who talks about the actual problems of actual people rather than the 3rd way dems who can't even inspire as much bribe money as their colleagues across the aisle.

[happyslug]

33. look at a County Election map of Texas

Last edited Sat Aug 30, 2014, 07:01 PM - Edit history (1)

The Rio Grande Valley is solidly Democratic. Austin, San Antonio and even Dallas lean Democratic. The old heart bed of Texas, East Texas produced sizable votes for Obama in 2008 (Which is a better map of this purpose ten Obama re-election in 2012), even as they went overwhelmingly for McCain.



http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/a-sense-of-waiting-for-godot-for-texas-democrats/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Thus you have a good base to start with for a Democratic Texas. The areas with almost no Obama Votes are low population Western Counties. Higher population East Texas is solidly GOP, but has a huge base of support for the Democratic Party (Mostly poor whites and rural African Americans). If the poor whites of East Texas ever return to the Democratic Party, the GOP will become a minority party quickly.



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/05/1190360/-Political-Geography-of-the-States-Part-4-the-South#

[azurnoir]

7. FFS they deploy them but won't feed them?

is this what it's come to in Texas? Perhaps the Koch's will donate some cake for the troops so they can eat that

[cstanleytech]

9. Oh they feed them, by taking food from the poor and needy.

Of course I doubt ole Perry will reimburse the food banks.

[freshwest]

18. Perry follows his masters the Koch brothers. They don't even hide it anymore. They have a plan:

“We oppose all government welfare, relief projects, and ‘aid to the poor’ programs. All these government programs are privacy-invading, paternalistic, demeaning, and inefficient. The proper source of help for such persons is the voluntary efforts of private groups and individuals.”

People shouldn't be amazed at what the GOP does. It all comes from those ideas. Read the rest:

http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=833949#10

[Scuba]

20. "They don't even hide it anymore. " Nope. And their arrogance frightens me.

[cstanleytech]

34. My brother has a friend who spews that same BS and I cannot understand how

people can buy into that BS spiel.
After all look back throughout history at how the poor literally starved to death when the idea these idiots are proposing now was the only thing back then.

[jtuck004]

8. I bet the people coming across would share, if they have anything. Most are very nice, just scared.

If you ask, they might show one how to be tough enough to cross miles through a hostile desert without food or water, just for nearly any lousy job they can get, just to try to survive.

Must be tough, what with a job and a home and a regular paycheck and people to support you in protecting us, at least lately, from children, all of which you can most likely return to, with open arms.

As opposed to living in a duplex with 17 other people, not asking where the can of pickles they had for dinner came from, I mean, hoping that every car door slamming isn't a trip to jail just for trying to live.

If they give you food at the food bank, take some extra out there with you. Especially water. The people you are supposedly trying to protect us from would appreciate it. If your humanity is worth anything, I mean.

[davidpdx]

10. I can only hope this will remind people in Texas why they don't need another Republican hack

as governor. The press should be asking Greg Abbott if he supports such a reckless move.

[brewens]

12. Where do I send my yellow ribbon "support the troops" magnets to? They can cash

those in and buy food can't they?

[alp227]

13. Of course this whole National Guard at the border shtick is SECURITY THEATER.

It makes Perry look "tough on crime" and panders to many voters who won't be skeptical enough to check how state national guards work. The national guard can't actually do crap about illegal immigrants since the national guard is not a law enforcement agency, unlike the Border Patrol.

[valerief]

23. So the NGs are working for the rulers who want to cut social services and yet

the NGs are dependent on those social services.

When will soldiers finally realize the irony of their situation?????

[wordpix]

27. keep allowing corpos to "invert" their $ to other nations so they don't pay taxes

Then the poor and middle class will have to pay even more while the 1% get richer and get their private holdings protected by US public.

The repukes should be ripped to shreds over their refusal to change this part of the tax code.

[underpants]

28. (p)Rick Perry forgot to pay them ....... Oops

[Thinkingabout]

29. Texas had one of the worst governors in Bush, here comes Perry following in the same dumb footsteps

as Bush. Perry needs to stay on the borders with the guard until he has to run around and collect food from any source possible. Shameful.

Are we tired of Perry, hell yes, I vote in every election, never voted for Bush and never voted for Perry. In Harris county we have gone Democrat for the past few years, just not enough to turn the state. Who has helped in Harris County to turn our county blue, ethnic voting, we have a large ethnic population, they are coming out to vote, I work in a precinct, in the past few elections I have seen an increase in black female voters, if they come then the men will also start coming. I did not know how the Middle Easterners and Asians was voting when they came in but heard news reports later how they were voting.

I almost believe if the abortion issue was off the table the GOP would fail in many places, ergo, they tease and lie to their voters and keep them in their base. For all of the years this issue has been going I would have thought it would be reversed. The GOP continues their war on women, we have to win the war. Will be out voting for Wendy and gang, encouraging my like voters to get out to vote.

[whereisjustice]

30. pawns in Rick Perry's political games, Perry is a threat, even dumber than Bush

[Lurks Often]

32. While not acceptable, I think I understand WHY it is happening

The National Guard payroll system sucked when I was in it during the mid-90's and the Texas National Guard is being deployed at the platoon level (approximately 25 people) with a Border Patrol agent attached to the platoon. http://www.nationalguard.mil/News/ArticleView/tabid/5563/Article/244/more-texas-national-guard-called-up-to-protect-us-mexico-border.aspx

So because the platoons are operating independently, they don't have the support of the mess kitchens they would normally have operating either at the company or battalion level.

Somewhere along the lines either a major or lt. colonel didn't think things through or it never occurred to their civilian counterpart, with no military experience, that the troops wouldn't have the support of the mess kitchens when operating at the platoon level.

In other words, a typical National Guard deployment where something gets screwed up.

[santamargarita]

35. Red State business as usual.

[awoke_in_2003]

36. Rick Perry is...

[blkmusclmachine]

37. "Pull yourselves up by your bootstraps, boys" says the GOP.