Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Bye-bye Brady

OK now here is the thing. Craig Brady lost his 4-year bid to become the heir apparent for Fort Bend County Sheriff. Lost it big time. Lost it in an embarrassing way.  Here’s the thing. Troy Nehls beat the stuffing out of Craig Brady yesterday, this despite his expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars, including full size billboards that have been up for nearly 4 years.

Annoying things that have only served to remind Fort Bend voters of who they don’t want to be their next county sheriff. Brady listened and listened to a political consultant by the name of Karen, who must have banked tens of thousands of his campaign funds. Karen made a killing off of this guy. This self-important wheeler and dealer in the Republican Party is rich at Brady’s expense because he listened to her advice.
And now he is out of a job come January.
                                        
I am guessing that Brady will be fair and balanced with regard to those that deposed him. Not to be would be unfortunate.
And to Craig Brady I want to wish a happy retirement. You deserve it.

CD-22 Cluster Fart

Yes the early vote gave CD-22 to KP George, but apparently There were over 451 ill-informed Election Day voters in other counties (Fort Bend did its part) who decided that the African-American woman - who is bat-guano tin-foil-hat crazy - was the one to go up against Pete Olson.

You know, the one who thoroughly thrashed her in 2010?

KP got 55% of the early vote district wide, but Rogers received 451 more votes than KP on Election Day, putting her in the lead by a mere 106 votes.

Voting really does matter, but informed voting is even more important.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The Early Vote Is In!!

At 9:15 PM on primary election night 2012 we are already seeing some trends. Some good, some bad.

With just the early vote in, it looks like KP George has finally dialed in an implosion at the LaRouche League. Kesha Rogers is being given her tin foil hat in the early vote by double digits. Early vote has KP George by over 25% with votes for Kesha, at 721 to 1,152 for KP. 

Buh-bye Kesha. Don't let the door hit you on your way out of CD-22.

Paul Sadler is not looking a safe bet for US Senate, though. He is making a weak campaign showing against Grady Yarborough, in his statewide showing of 34% to Yarbrough’s 26%.

In local elections, Ruben Davis appears to be ekeing out an edge over challenger Daryl Smith, this despite Smith’s 20 minute video of Davis threatening Smith with a hand gun at the Chasewood early voting location.

The fun stuff is over at the Republican primary, where winners are chosen based on past performances of the party in statewide elections.

Statewide, despite the projections of some, Mitt Romney is going to be the nominee. In fact, it seems that Texas has the singular honor of putting Romney over the top and he is no longer the presumptive nominee. Congrats Texas GOP. You’ve just nominated the next Republican presidential loser. What an honor.

David Dewhurst has a slim lead over Ted Cruz but the field is so wide and diffuse I wonder if he can be the outright nominee tonight. If so, I wonder if the anyone but Dewhurst vote would be enough to topple him in July (when the entire state is tubing down the Guadalupe River).

Pete Olson appears to be having his way with Barbara Carlson who polls the typical TEA Party vote of 25%.

Locally in Fort Bend, Troy Nehls has outpolled Craig Brady by a 57% to 33% majority. My condolences to my GOP brethren who had to decide between Eeew and Yuck. The Democratic nominee, Michael Ellison, is twice the total of the two of them.

In short, not much new under the sun.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Friday, May 25, 2012

Who Is to Blame for Falling Gasoline Prices?

Last March, when national gasoline prices averaged around $3.80 a gallon, Mitt Romney, who hopes to be the first Mormon president, announced that it was all President Obama’s fault.

He did.

This is what he said as quoted at CBS News:
“The Republican presidential candidate, speaking in an interview with Fox News, said he ‘absolutely’ believes Mr. Obama is responsible for high gas prices, contending that ‘he has not pursued policies that convince the world that America is going to become energy secure, energy independent.’”
Well guess what. The last time that an American president sought to “become energy secure” was on Apri1 18th, 1977 when then-President Jimmy Carter established the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, established the solar power industry and introduced incentives to insulate your home.

Neither Reagan, Bush-41, Bush-43 nor Bill Clinton had a workable energy policy.

John McCain had one: “Drill, baby, drill.” A take-off on the Detroit riots cry of “Burn, baby, burn.”

But hey, now we are all seeing gasoline prices fall precipitously, aren’t we? And on Memorial Day Weekend no less, typically a time when you see gas prices spike.

What does Mitt Romney have to say about this turn of events? Obama is still president and seems to have presided over a 40 cent per gallon drop in just a couple of weeks. 

Well, let me look it up…wait one…wait one…

Ah.

Crickets.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

My Impassioned Plea to Arizona Sec State Bennett

Unless you have been asleep in this very political year, you have not missed the maniacal actions of the Arizona Secretary of State, Ken Bennett, who has pondered over whether he, as a responsible Secretary of State in charge of elections in his state, should allow President Barack Obama’s name on the November ballot considering the fact that he may not be constitutionally qualified to lead this nation because of the constitutional proviso that the president must be a naturally born citizen and not naturalized.

He embarked on his quest to establish President Obama’s true citizenship after receiving over 1,200, count ‘em, 1,200 emails from concerned Arizonans. Now that’s what I call being responsible and proactive.

So I noted today that a new website has sprung up, a website that is alarmed that presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is not exactly human. Although the constitution does not explicitly restrict a president to the zoological classification of Homo sapiens, I think it is implied when they use the word “person” in reference to who can be president.

Now I have it on good authority that Mitt Romney has never denied that he is a unicorn. In fact he has ignored the charge, which is completely callous. 

And now I find that this website has collected more than 17,000 emails that they have forwarded to the office of the Arizona Secretary of State. Emails that demand that Mitt Romney subject himself to an examination of his DNA to prove, at long last, that he is not a unicorn but is a human being as he purports to be.

17,000 emails.

Here’s some math:

Twelve hundred emails demanding that Obama is a US citizen goes into 17,000 emails demanding that Mitt Romney establish his humanity is exactly 14 and 1/6 times.

Over 14 times the number of emails that persuaded him to investigate President Obama’s citizenship.

They got mine today. Here is what I wrote in addition to the generic message generated by the website:

Sec State Bennett, thank you for investigating whether President Barack Obama was indeed born in the state of Hawaii. I wasn't there to witness it and I want answers. On the other hand, presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has time and time again refused to submit to a DNA test to quell persistent rumors that he is, indeed, a unicorn. Join me in demanding that Mitt Romney prove once and for all the falseness of these outrageous, but believable rumors.
This is serious guys. Unicorns carry lethal weapons mounted on their foreheads, and I have heard of no state law that allows the “conceal carry” or even “open carry” of a unicorn horn. Mitt needs to come to terms with these charges.

The very real stiffness of the man, and his lack of any perceivable sense of humor casts doubt on Mitt Romney’s humanity. This is just the icing on the cake.

Come Clean Mitt Romney!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Texas Death Factories Boast Abundant Supplies

It took a court order, but Greg Abbot, the Texas AG had to go on record and reveal how many capital crime prisoners it would be able to execute given their current pharmaceutical supplies.
23.

Texas can execute 23 more people, and then they are going to have to look for another way to knock them out, humanely.

See, it isn’t that the state doesn’t have enough Potassium Chloride. You can get that stuff easily. KCl stops the heart. Nor is it any problem to acquire Pancuronium Bromide, a muscle relaxant that is used to stop breathing.

They use it in Europe for euthanasia.

Nope, the limiting factor is that the state has only on hand enough Nembutol to carry out 23 executions, because Nembutol is becoming increasingly difficult to acquire for the purposes of the “humane” execution of humans.

And really, not even 23. According to state law, the state must keep on hand another dose of this cocktail in case the first dose doesn’t kill the prisoner. But they don’t do that. Apparently they keep only one dose on hand, but then when it doesn’t work they have someone to run to the chemical storage room to get another dose.

So theoretically the state has only enough of the mixture to rub out 11 and half capital crime prisoners.

What will Texas do? What will they do?

My prediction, to maximize the number of citizens that need to be wasted, they will add a cabinet containing a 5 pound mallet in the execution room, with the sign “In Case of Emergency, Break Skull.

Friday, May 18, 2012

It’s Getting Ugly Out There

I’ve been watching the local GOP primary process as it wends its way to May 29th with interest mainly because, outside of the KP/Kesha race, the Democrats have no primary opponents, in my area at least.

And on that race, I was very disappointed today to see that something I spotted yesterday afternoon has been undone today when I had my camera ready to capture the moment. Apparently some Republican joker decided to support Kesha Rogers’ campaign by planting one of her lawn signs in his front yard, right next to a Mike Elliott for Judge sign.

It seems the Republicans have glommed onto the movement in the Fort Bend County Democratic Party to get the word out on bat-guano crazy Kesha Rogers so we don’t have an embarrassing repeat of 2010 when she won the Democratic nomination to oppose Pete Olson for the CD-22 race. Someone in the GOP decided it would be funny to promote her race.

Kesha Rogers has had Republican supporters, only now it seems they have reconsidered their position and took the Rogers sign down.

The fun race to watch in Fort Bend County has been the 4-way race for County Sheriff. And I noted today that the Fort Bend Star, a local newspaper that makes no bones about its disgust for one of the candidates, Craig Brady, has a poll out. They ask readers to register their preferences among the 4 candidates. The publisher has made an endorsement for ABC (Anyone But Craig).

Here is a screenshot of the vote as of 5:30 PM today.



This pretty much jives with the sign wars. Signs for Troy Nehls pretty much dominate the front lawns.

Here’s a bit of mischief that I think we Democrats can visit on the Brady Campaign. It’s kind of fun. If you are a Democrat, you can still vote at the Fort Bend Star for the Sheriff’s candidate of choice. Now who you vote for is strictly up to you. I have only one suggestion. ABC.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

The Trials of Tom DeLay

My former congressman, Tom DeLay, has a problem. Here he has a 3 year prison sentence hanging over his head for conspiracy and money laundering, and now, come to find out, in his appeal to the 3rd Federal Circuit Court of Appeals he  is facing a two to one Democratic to Republican judge panel.

Not because of the luck of the draw, as it turns out.

As it turns out, it is because whenever they asked a Republican justice to sit for the case, they begged off. Republicans have declared the former Congressional majority leader persona non grata and are diving for the weeds.

So Tom is up against a Democrat majority panel.

Not to say that his lawyers aren’t still trying to fight to configure the panel to be more like one to their liking. They continue to badger one Democratic judge for an answer on whether she will recuse herself because she had some fairly negative remarks about DeLay several years ago at a political convention.

My question to the lawyer, though, is whether or not a federal court justice is allowed to exercise their first amendment rights of free speech. This means that 5 of the Supreme Court justices should recuse themselves from any and all cases involving a Democrat.

I wonder how Tom is going to look in those orange overalls.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Stay Classy Houston

Today a 4 (white) man, 2 (white) woman jury found ex-Houston PD officer Andrew Blomberg not guilty of “official” oppression – otherwise known as criminal assault. Who is Andrew Blomberg? He is one of four ex-Houston PD officers who were caught on a security brutalizing a 15 year old African-American boy who was fleeing the scene of a burglary that he had just committed.

The video shows the boy being clipped by a HPD squad car and, and the boy immediately submitting to an arrest. The 4 officers then engaged in repeatedly beating and punching the boy.

The video was, hands down, a verification that the officers clearly overstepped the boundaries of what constitutes an arrest in this country. NAZIs were more lenient than these gentlemen.

And yet today, the all-white jury found the first of these four former officers not guilty.

Now here’s the thing. Protesters to this verdict , Quanell X specifically, made the point that this was not a jury of “our peers,” nor the peers of the beaten child.

Here is the rub. The constitutional right to be tried by a jury of your peers was not violated in this case. Andrew Blomberg is a flaming racist, and he was tried by a jury of equally flaming racists.

His peers.

No, we got justice here in southeast Texas. We got it Texas style. Stay classy Houston.

Monday, May 14, 2012

So I Voted in the Primary Today

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National Teacher Appreciation Day

Last week was National Teacher Appreciation Week, and in the middle of it, on Wednesday, it was National Teacher Appreciation Day. It was a glorious week. A free breakfast on Monday that I forgot about because it was, after all, Monday, a Snickers bar in my mailbox on Tuesday. On Wednesday parents brought in sweets (thank God someone remembered those of us who don’t do sweets, and brought fruit). On Thursday if you stood in line with the kids you could get some shaved ice for free. On Friday there was a rice and bean burrito for lunch along with an embarrassing tote bag that I have to give to a female.

Oh and some kid tripped me in the hall after leaving the lunch as I tried to negotiate a path back to my room in the crowded halls.

I still have bruises.

So yeah, happy National Teacher Week. This Jimmy Kimmel video says it all, I am afraid:



Sunday, May 13, 2012

Fort Bend ISD Has 3 New Faces on the BOT

Well I’ll be the son of a motherless goat. It seems the voters in Fort Bend ISD, or at least a majority of 5.15% of them anyway, want a change on their Board of Trustees. We had three positions that were being sought by eight candidates, two of them were incumbents.

Results just in, both incumbents were given the boot by voters. Cynthia Lenton-Gary, incumbent for Position 7 who was appointed to the board to serve out the term of Jim Babb, the feisty one who saw that he was simply wasting his time trying to change things, was ousted by TEA Partier Dave Rosenthal who received 4171 votes (52.26%) to Lenton-Gary’s 3306 (41.42%). Lenton-Gary, a perennial candidate for one thing or another, was widely considered a “rubber stamp” on the board.

Ironically she is being replaced by another TEA Partier. Ironic in that the TEA Party is famous for its opposition to public education.

The other perennial candidate for this position, Rodrigo Carreon, got his usual 500 votes.

So this is to be viewed as both an anti-status quo vote as well as a TEA Party poll swarming. It seems the TEA Party can get their candidates to win nearly every time in these low turnout elections.

This turned out not to be the case for fellow TEA Partier Patt Snyder. Snyder was edged out by Grayle James with 3536 votes (44.49%) to Snyder’s 3182 (40.04%). James had the endorsement of the Fort Bend Employees Federation (the Teacher’s Union). This was an open seat as the incumbent decided not to run.

Now we know why.

But most surprising was the results for Position 6. Marilyn Glover, the former chair of the Fort Bend County Democratic Party (but currently votes Republican) got her butt kicked by Jenny Bailey who received 4467 votes (55.83%) to Glover’s 3534 (44.17%). Glover had a super-charged, Jesus-blessed rubber stamp on her desk. Glover handily won in her 2009 race for what was an open position.

Bailey is noted for her active engagement in the Ipad controversy, a done deal they say, where thousands of 8th graders will receive expensive Ipads from the district in order to bring education technology to a new level. Glover supported the plan.

Most people hate the idea and view it as just another gimmicky thing like the previously proposed Global Science Center.

Me? I was rather looking forward to purchasing one of these Ipads off of eBay from one of these 8th graders.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Barack Sends Me Email

I don’t know, you could be living in a box or under a rock. If so, you have no idea that yesterday, my President, the first sitting president ever, has announced that he favors gay marriage. He simply believes that NOT to recognize that gay couples have equal rights under the law is just as prejudicial as demanding that people of color sit at the back of the bus. Drink from separate public drinking fountains. Attend separate, and by the way, unequal schools.

It is ironic, I think, that African-Americans are slightly anti-gay under some polling results. Proposition 8 passed in California because of a huge black turnout in California with President Obama on the ballot. They voted for that abomination. They voted for it despite the fact that the rights denied to them and their ancestors are miniscule compared to the rights denied to gays and lesbians.

Minority oppression is minority oppression whether you accept the validity of the minorities. Government cannot, by definition, use the Christian Bible to determine who does, and who does not have rights, including rights to marriage.

That is the purview of churches. If they don’t want to marry gays and lesbians, well God bless them. And may Jesus forgive them for taking on Godlike qualities of judging their fellow man. If the Bible says that being gay is a sin, let God deal with that.

Here is what my President wrote to me yesterday. It is very eloquent. He had no need to do this. Nothing in this will change the outcome of the election. I think, in the end, he must have come to that realization and put an end to the farcical search for an evolved philosophy.
“Hal --

Today, I was asked a direct question and gave a direct answer:

I believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

I hope you'll take a moment to watch the conversation, consider it, and weigh in yourself on behalf of marriage equality:

http://my.barackobama.com/Marriage

I've always believed that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally. I was reluctant to use the term marriage because of the very powerful traditions it evokes. And I thought civil union laws that conferred legal rights upon gay and lesbian couples were a solution.

But over the course of several years I've talked to friends and family about this. I've thought about members of my staff in long-term, committed, same-sex relationships who are raising kids together. Through our efforts to end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, I've gotten to know some of the gay and lesbian troops who are serving our country with honor and distinction.

What I've come to realize is that for loving, same-sex couples, the denial of marriage equality means that, in their eyes and the eyes of their children, they are still considered less than full citizens.

Even at my own dinner table, when I look at Sasha and Malia, who have friends whose parents are same-sex couples, I know it wouldn't dawn on them that their friends' parents should be treated differently.

So I decided it was time to affirm my personal belief that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

I respect the beliefs of others, and the right of religious institutions to act in accordance with their own doctrines. But I believe that in the eyes of the law, all Americans should be treated equally. And where states enact same-sex marriage, no federal act should invalidate them.

If you agree, you can stand up with me here.

Thank you,

Barack”

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Oh, and Gays…

 Here is the North Carolina marriage law that was amended in yesterday’s vote in that fair state.

 51-3. Want of capacity; void and voidable marriages.

All marriages between any two persons nearer of kin than first cousins, or between double first cousins, or between a male person under 16 years of age and any female, or between a female person under 16 years of age and any male, or between persons either of whom has a husband or wife living at the time of such marriage, or between persons either of whom is at the time physically impotent, or between persons either of whom is at the time incapable of contracting from want of will or understanding, shall be void. 

14-178. Incest between certain near relatives. The parties shall be guilty of a felony in all cases of carnal intercourse between (i) grandparent and grandchild, (ii) parent and child or stepchild or legally adopted child, or (iii) brother and sister of the half or whole blood. Every such offense is punishable as a Class F felony. (1879, c. 16, s. 1; Code, s. 1060; Rev., s. 3351; 1911, c. 16; C.S., s. 4337; 1965, c. 132; 1979, c. 760, s. 5; 1979, 2nd Sess., c. 1316, s. 47; 1981, c. 63, s. 1, c. 179, s. 14; 1993, c. 539, s. 1192; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c).)

14-179. Incest between uncle and niece and nephew and aunt. In all cases of carnal intercourse between uncle and niece, and nephew and aunt, the parties shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. (1879, c. 16, s. 2; Code, s. 1061; Rev., s. 3352; C.S., s. 4338; 1993, c. 539, s. 118; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c).)

14-180. Repealed by Session Laws 1975, c. 402.

14-181, 14-182. Repealed by Session Laws 1973, c. 108, s. 4.
To which they added:  "Oh, yeah, and gays, too."

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Tuesday Toonsday

Yep, You guessed it.My other job beckons.Have a gander at these fine cartoons of our times.








Monday, May 07, 2012

Fan Mail From a Flounder

Remember Rocky and Bullwinkle? Moose and squirrel?

Well I sent this message to The Rachel Maddow Show contact address tonight.

I have finally had enough.

Message follows:

"Guys, I have been wincing every time this word has been used. It was used again tonight by Chris Hayes. The word is 'floundering.' Floundering means catching flounders. Fish. Fish that are flounders. The correct word is foundering. Foundering means to be engulfed by water which I what I think was the jist of his statement. A foundering economy is an economy under water. Please... no more flounders."
"Your fan,"

"Hal"

I hope they listen. I will be watching with bated (not baited) breath.

Republicans Are Just Plain Mean, Aren’t They?

Here in Fort Bend County, Texas it is always fun around primary time watching the Republican candidates try and scratch each other’s eyes out. It’s particularly fun when it involves the current tiff between the ultra-right TEA Party leaning ones and the “mainstream Republicans” as they are now being called.

When a blow-up occurs between these two factions, it is popcorn time for we Democrats.

So I was heartened today to see a nasty exchange between two Republican state senators had been made public between TEA Party-crazy Senator Dan Patrick and the more moderate State Senator John Carona.

They are both from safe districts and aren’t even competing in a primary, so it makes this dust up even more fun to watch.

Apparently there is no love lost between these two. They seem to hate each other. They must also hate it when they have to agree on voting for Republican-sponsored bills.

Today we learned
in The Chron that John Carona sent an email to fellow senators suggesting that Patrick and his wife were having marital difficulties and that a divorce seemed to be on the horizon. Here is an excerpt from the email that Patrick sent out in protest for Carona’s attack:
“I was in Dallas last week and learned that Senator Carona has told people outside the Senate that Jan and I are separated and may get divorced. He added in a few other negative comments about me in an obvious attempt by him to discredit me for some reason. … There is no excuse or justification for his actions. He could have easily checked the story out to see if it was true. He didn’t care if it was true.

To which Carona responded:
The email which you blasted to our colleagues and then provided to the media is false and you would have known that had you called or emailed before sending it. …Though I have heard rumors regarding your marital status and sexual preferences for a while now, at no time have I told anyone that you are either separated, divorced, or gay.”
And no, in the original email message Carona did not accuse State Senator Dan Patrick of being gay.

But NOW he has.

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Why Republicans Have It Wrong on the Economy

Guess what? Europe is officially back in a recession. Unemployment is up, profits are down. But not here in America. Not yet anyway. And the reason? While European countries inflicted huge cutbacks in government jobs and services, American government invested in the private sector.

True, government jobs and services are on the downturn in the US, but the difference is that while Europe exercised austerity measures, America had a stimulus package.

Despite the hand wringing and protests from the right, the federal government single-handedly saved the American auto industry. Had the Republicans been in power in 2008 we would no longer have an auto industry in America today. And millions more would be out of work.

What concerns me is that this could have a ripple effect on our economy. Will Europe’s economic woes, based on Republican ideals of economic austerity, translate into a recession here, despite our best efforts to create an economy that is slowly but surely improving?

And Americans need to ask themselves if they are better off now than they were at the end of the Bush regime. A regime that seems to have brought down the world economy in the blink of an eye. They need to ask themselves that question, because the answer is invariably “Uh….yeah.”

Thursday, May 03, 2012

Bachmann Endorses the Mittster…Finally

Well it only took 5 months, but today ultra right wing conservative Michelle Bachmann finally endorsed the candidacy of Mitt Romney – the guy who has sewn up the nomination by accolade, but not numbers.

The TEA Party darling and MILF, finally coughed it up.

This despite the fact that Michelle Bachmann is on video saying these words about the likelihood that Mitt Romney will beat President Obama this November:

No, he cannot beat Obama because his policy is the basis for Obamacare. The signature issue of Obama is Obamacare. You can’t have a candidate who has given the blueprint for Obamacare. It’s too identical. It’s not going to happen. We have to have a candidate, a bold distinct candidate in the likeness of Ronald Reagan.

So, OK, take me through this. People are going to vote for Barack Obama because they oppose the Affordable Healthcare Act that was modeled after Mitt Romney’s state healthcare law.

Huh?

No, what I think she meant to say is that since conservative voters will not be able to discern a difference between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, they will stay away from the polls in droves this year.

One can only hope.

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Wideo Wednesday

Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy.

It has finally started. All those months that passed when Super PAC money enabled GOP candidates to stay in the race well past a time when a sober campaigner would have tested the winds, found them wanting, and dropped out are now coming back to haunt the nominee. Citizens United will be remembered as the Supreme Court decision that became the undoing of presumed presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Witness today’s release of several Obama campaign videos, two of which I have embedded below for your viewing pleasure.
In this first video, we see Mitt Romney trying to turn back the clock to 1954 in the insane attempt, in an election year yet, to take away women’s rights. Rights that have been settled law for decades now.
But here’s my fave. Here is a collage of Newt Gingrich’s commentaries on Mitt Romney while they were in a tooth and claw scramble for the nomination, The Speaker spoke. And spoke large.
Hee hee.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Barbara Carlson For US Congress!!!

Oh. My. God.

Today I received not one, but two identical letters from the Barbara Carlson for TX-22 Congress campaign.

Barbara Carlson, need I remind you, is primarying Congressman Pete Olson this year because he is too darned liberal. Barbara Carlson is Tea Party through and through. I like the fact that her campaign invested useless funds to notify me of her candidacy, something that I was painfully aware of. And notified me not once but twice on the same day.

Telling me that her database is flawed, flawed and flawed.

Oh the exquisite irony.

She has me in there as a possible supporter, which can never happen in the present three dimensions, not once or even twice.

OK, wanna see what she writes?

First she openly advertises that she is a transplant from Minnesota where she served in the state senate. Writing that but failing to include that she moved to Texas as quick as she could. What a gaffe.

Then she lists her personal concerns on Congressman Pete Olson’s voting record. Believe me I have equal concerns but you are not going to believe what concern Barbara Carlson.

She hates it that Pete Olson voted to increase the debt ceiling.

The trouble with that is that the perceived balking to vote in favor of the debt ceiling earned the full faith and credit of the United States a less than AAA credit rating. This woman was willing to sell America’s credit to loan sharks.

Hates it that Pete Olson authorized the continued support of out troops in voting for HR347. Our troops are not a big priority with Carlson.

Blames Pete Olson for rising gasoline prices, despite the fact that gasoline prices are set by futures speculators who have no concerns other than their bottom line.

Tears at Olson for voting against the Small Business Tax Relief and Small Business Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act, even though that act, if passed would have been a feather in the cap of the Obama Administration, because anyone knows, if the Democrats improve anything, makes anything better, that is not good for Republicans.

Some hazy vague claim about “Obamacare.” Really? Olson is for Obamacare? Gimme a break.

Stresses Olson’s refusal to sponsor or co-sponsor a bill on Social Security. Stressing, therefore, Olson’s refusal to place his foot squarely on America’s third rail. Something that even a mental midget like Olson won’t do.

And really, don’t get me wrong, I encourage the Carlson campaign to keep up the good work and get the word out there and win this primary challenge.

This should scare the bejesus out of the Independent voters and Republican moderates and help them to see that perhaps a vote for KP George is not such a bad idea.

Judicial Activism vs. Judicial Restraint

Remember back in the bad old days when Republicans were in power and were oh so quick to lambaste the Judicial Branch of the federal government for their  so-called “judicial activism?” Brown v. Board is an excellent example of conservative hand-wringing of the activist Warren Court. A court that saw that it was inherently unconstitutional to educate African-American children in “separate but equal” schools. Separate is inherently unequal, they wrote.

Then there is Roe v. Wade where “activist judges” ended once and for all (we hope) murder and butchery of women who were not ready to be mothers, or who couldn’t be mothers, or who were raped. Activism writ large.
Oh and there’s the activism of the Supreme Court that put a president in office, a president who did not have a majority vote, but who did subsequently ruin the economy of the country he led, and drove his country into a ditch with two undeclared and unpaid for wars.
The same court, 10 years later voted 5 to 4 that not only were corporations human beings and entitled to equal rights, but also that they were better than human beings because of the effect that hundreds of millions of dollars of super PAC funds has on elections – much to the embarrassment of the Republican Party.
So why the rant? Well right here in the South we have another activist judge on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana, someone who has continued to do harm to the poorest of us and the weakest of us. All because he is a conservative that wears his politics over top of his judge’s robe.
I speak of Appeals Court Justice Jerry Edwin Smith.
In 1991, Justice Smith wrote the majority opinion in Corrosion Proof Fittings v. EPA which found that the EPA must consider cost-benefit analysis when ruling on which poisonous/toxic substance shall or shall not be introduced to the biosphere.
In 1996 Justice Smith wrote the majority opinion in Hopwood v. Texas, a decision that ended affirmative action in admissions policies at the University of Texas. An opinion that was overturned 7 years later in the Supreme Court.
In 2007, Justice Smith wrote the majority opinion in Regents of the University of California v. Credit Suisse First Boston, which barred securities fraud claims against third parties who aided in securities fraud but did not directly mislead investors. Then we had the Great Recession, caused chiefly by securities fraud.
And just last month, Justice Smith ordered the Justice Department to submit a 3-page brief, single-spaced, mind you, explaining President Obama's views on judicial activism. Smith's order was prompted by Obama's recent press conference remarks on a case pending before the Supreme Court in which the Court was considering, among other things, whether to strike down the entire Affordable Healthcare Act as unconstitutional. Obama had said that if the Supreme Court overturned the ACA, it would be "unprecedented, extraordinary" judicial activism and that a law that was passed by Congress on an economic issue had not been overturned by the court "going back to the ’30s, pre New Deal.
In short, Justice Smith is the epitome of Judicial Activism. He is the model. The type species.
So it comes as no surprise that Justice Jerry Smith issued a stay last night that prevented Planned Parenthood from receiving funds from the state of Texas so that they could provide necessary health services to thousands of women.
Compare that to the Judicial Restraint of Federal District Judge Yeakel, a Bush-appointee. Judge Yeakel may just have the same sensibilities as Smith over the issue of abortion. But the difference between Yeakel and Smith is that Yeakel knows that sometimes the best decision is to do the right thing, not promote his own political beliefs, and his religious beliefs.
Something else that is unconstitutional.
Activist Justice. Yep, it exists. But I like my people’s activism better than theirs.