Half Empty

Diebold Leaks Puppet Masters’ Presidential Choice in 2012

2012-01-29T16:02:00.000-06:00

This is hilarious. You might remember this group released nearly the same You Tube video in 2008. Their story then was John McCain would win the presidential election because he was the choice of the Dark Masters. Now they are back with the story that the puppet masters have picked Mitt Romney to be our next president.

As I mentioned to the one who posted this video on her facebook page, this wouldn’t be nearly as funny if it weren’t for the fact that there is more than a grain of truth to this story.

Hat tip to Betsy.

A Failure of Magnitude

2012-01-29T01:25:00.000-06:00

Poor Mitt. Poor Newt. They haven't a clue, have they?

They argue about millions when most of us still are thinking of assets in the thousands. How out of touch is that?

Poor Newt – (Almost) Nobody Likes Him

2012-01-27T18:44:00.000-06:00

These days the Republican contest for the presidential nomination seems more like high school than a political happening. One after one, the famous, infamous and established have lined up to bash Newt Gingrich to make good and well sure that he is not their candidate in the fall.

First, we hear that 3-time presidential hopeful Bob Dole has nothing good to say about him, this despite the fact that he has been absolutely silent about The Newt.

Up to now that is.

Bob Dole on Newt, courtesy of CBS:

“I have not been critical of Newt Gingrich, but it is now time to take a stand before it is too late. Hardly anyone who served with Newt in Congress has endorsed him and that fact speaks for itself. He was a one-man-band who rarely took advice. It was his way or the highway.”

Then there is Tom DeLay. Now Tom DeLay is a one-man band himself so he must know whereof he speaks when he compared The Newt to the Big Dog, Bill Clinton in a recent radio telephone interview.

From USA Today:

“He'll tell you what you want to hear. He has an uncanny ability, sort of like Clinton, to feel your pain and know his audience and speak to his audience and fire them up. When he was speaker, he was erratic, undisciplined.”

But not all of his former colleagues are dismissing The Newt wanting to just go away. One former colleague, Duke Cunningham, R-The Big House, has Newt’s back:

“Jailed ex-Congressman Duke Cunningham wants Newt Gingrich to know he's got the Republican presidential candidate's back.”

“Cunningham apparently has been watching the Republican presidential primary debates while spending 100 months in a Tucson, Ariz. federal prison. Cunningham, a Republican who represented northern San Diego, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion in 2005 in one of the biggest federal bribery scandals in recent memory.”

“Cunningham tells Gingrich in an electronic message he says he sent to the candidate last month that his fellow prisoners, and their families, support Gingrich.”

With friends like that, how can The Newt ever fail to capture the nomination?

Keeping my fingers crossed, Newt.
So all is not lost. The Newt has some support out there after all. Unfortunately none of them, on the inside anyway, can vote. But that’s OK, they have family members who listen to the political views of their incarcerated relatives all the time.

I Say it Here it Comes Out There

2012-01-26T18:27:00.004-06:00

That’s a quote from one of my all-time favorite films “Broadcast News.” It seems that the character that Robert Brooks plays, Aaron Altman, has been left out of a weekend news special when a Libyan air force pilot attacked an American base. He was singularly qualified to be involved in this, having interviewed Moammar Ghadaffi but was stuck at home watching the broadcast on TV. Every once in awhile he thought of something and called his friend who was producing the show, and tell her something that would be immediately relayed to the news anchor. Then he’d watch in amazement as the news anchor repeated what he just said.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that I just posted the other day that Rick Perry was making noise about running for re-election in 2014 and then maybe back for another try for the presidency in 2016. A statement that made me sit back in my chair in utter disbelief.

Clueless Perry had no idea what he had done to Texas and Texans in his abortive attempt to reach way beyond his qualifications to become president. He made himself, Texas, and Texans a laughingstock of the nation. Of the world. There was no way he would ever be re-elected and probably would not survive a primary challenge, I wrote.

Well the Austin American-Statesman just came out with a new poll and guess what. Perry has a lower approval rating in Texas, in TEXAS mind you, than President Barack Obama.

From the Austin American-Statesman:

“Almost 1 in 3 Texas Republicans said Perry's performance on the national stage dimmed their view of the governor, and 40 percent said he should not seek re-election in 2014, the survey found.”

And I’m not saying that what I wrote influenced thousands to change their minds about Rick Perry. And a little further down:

“‘But probably the greater sin is he made Texas look bad to other Americans,’ she said. ‘There were an awful lot of people who said he made the state look bad, and they were unhappy about that.’”

But it sure good and well feels like it.

Super PAC Polls Democrats for Jim DeMint

2012-01-24T18:12:00.001-06:00

Ha.

Not 5 seconds after hitting "Publish" on my Blogger edit page for the posting that appears below, the phone rang, and Caller ID said it was from Washington DC. It was one of those "smart" robocalls that record "yes" or "no" answers.

From the tone of the voice I assumed it was a Republican political call - sounded a little like an automaton - and I was not disappointed.

So I lied mostly.

Then after confirming that I was a Republican they asked me whether I would support the candidacy of "a true conservative" Senator Jim DeMint. And of course I told them "Yes." Jim DeMint is arguably the most right wing conservative in the Senate. An uberconservative. What better way to scare the moderates and Independents than run this turkey against Barack Obama?

So heads up, the final four isn't necessarily final. If this PAC gets a go from its poll, who knows, DeMint may just enter the four-ring circus and make it five.

State of the Union is Tonight

2012-01-24T17:55:00.000-06:00

President Barack Hussein Obama’s 3^rd State of the Union speech will be delivered tonight to a joint congress, the Justices of the Supreme Court, his cabinet and invited guests. Watch parties have sprung up everywhere but it’s a school night and I rarely venture out on a school night, so I will pop my popcorn, get into my “Snuggie,” and watch the proceedings from my cold dark living room.

I wonder what they are going to pull tonight. Will we get another belligerent shout out from the floor from some sleazoid Republican with no manners at all? Will one of the SCOTUS Justices shake his head to indicate that what the President was saying wasn’t true?

Now we know the truth of President Obama’s remark about Citizens United. We are now witnessing the fruits of the Supreme Court’s worst decision in the history of history. Super PACs are pouring millions into campaigns. Ironically, it is affecting the Republican primaries more than anything else, creating chaos as one of the final four rises to the lead, allowing them to be clawed apart by PAC money ads spreading lie after lie. Or sometimes, the truth which for some of the candidates, is not a good thing.

What else? What other truth will be completely denied by the professional liars of the right?

Guess I’ll take a tally.

Jessica Farrar to Perry: Reimburse the Taxpayers

2012-01-23T17:50:00.000-06:00

Oh isn’t it sweet irony when our governor, who is a self-professed fiscal conservative, gets called out on the carpet by a Democratic state representative, State Rep Jessica Farrar, a true fiscal conservative, about his not so conservative policies with regard to his abortive run for the presidency.

It’s here at the Chron. Today Rep Farrar sent to Rick Perry a letter kindly requesting reimbursement for expenses incurred in having a state-paid security detail while campaigning for the Republican nomination in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. In a separate issue, it seems Ms. Farrar objects to Governor Perry’s double dipping ways, collecting both a governor’s salary and a state pension.

Perry spokesman Lucy Nashed countered that Perry, as governor, rates a security detail at all times, even when traveling out of state.

Yeah, maybe so, but when traveling out of state with a security detail, Perry must be on state business. He wasn’t. He was on the personal business of seeking higher office. That’s not state business. I recall in times past that Perry’s people justified the security detail’s use that Perry was promoting Texas everywhere he went and spoke. Yeah, except that’s not exactly what happened was it? As a matter of fact, Texans have egg on their faces over the fact that they elected this turkey once, and then re-elected him two more times. This dolt is the longest sitting governor in the state’s history.

This makes Texans look like the idiots that they are. And I’m not saying all Texans are idiots, lots and lots of us did not vote for Perry, ever. But we are all painted with the same broad strokes, so we are all tainted.

Perry. Pay us back. You didn’t promote anything but yourself and you did such a bad job at that that you are out of the race and Ron Paul – who can never win – is still in it with money to spend.

It's The Newt in South Carolina

2012-01-22T13:55:00.000-06:00

Newt Gingrich had his way against Mitt Romney last night in the South Carolina primary. Pols were saying yesterday morning that it would be Newt by as much as 6%. Now, as I type this, it’s Newt by 12%. So, Okay, Santorum wins Iowa, Romney wins New Hampshire, and now Newt wins South Carolina. This has not happened in living memory. Republicans are in complete disarray.

Fact: Mitt Romney has something to hide in the way he has paid his taxes or in the way he has hidden his assets in offshore banks. This is doubtless what was going through South Carolinians’ minds in the run up to the election.

Fact: Rick Santorum has ethics problems. While serving in the Senate, he received a mortgage loan at a preferred rate from an exclusive bank run by campaign donors. One requirement for participating in these preferred loans was investment in the bank, something that Santorum has not done. Santorum was also behind a federal earmark for an $8 million to a contractor who also donated to Santorum’s charity.

Fact: Ron Paul is a closet Libertarian who will never, not in a hundred lifetimes, be electable.

And finally, fact: Newt Gingrich is a big-government mainstream conservative. Fact: Newt Gingrich was rejected by his own party and hounded out of office. And fact: Newt Gingrich’s family values should make social conservatives cringe. I am guessing we will be seeing this and similar images on the internet and on TV more than a few times.

You might just now say that this election is Barack Obama’s to lose. Republican candidates can’t have done a better service to the Democratic cause.

Supremes Shaft Texas Primary

2012-01-20T18:29:00.000-06:00

Well it isn’t like I didn’t expect it.

When it was announced early today that the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the district maps drawn up by the San Antonio federal court were not going to be used in 2012, I was not surprised. I am fair-minded from time to time and I can see how completely redrawing all of the districts instead of the areas most affecting Hispanics and African-Americans might be seen as unreasonable.

The court ordered the 3-judge panel to follow the template set up by the state legislature and only tweak the areas that were clearly designed to marginalize minority voting strength.

So it’s still a big mess because none of that can be accomplished until the DC court rules, and that won’t be for another 3 weeks or so.

Talk about a mess. Talk about a huge box of tangled hangers. I guess we all get to thank the Supremes for moving our primary date after our scheduled early June state convention dates.

Perry’s In…Then Perry’s Out…Then He’s In Again…Then He’s Out…And He’ll Be Back

2012-01-19T17:42:00.001-06:00

Did you hear? Rick Perry finally pulled the plug on his presidential campaign, recognizing what was painfully obvious to every election watcher out there. After “Oopsing” on a nationally broadcast debate, this paper tiger nincompoop governor’s numbers went further south than Tierra del Fuego.

And not a single citizen who watches Perry’s antics were surprised when he imploded.

Again, and again and again.

So after coming in 5^th place in Iowa, Perry flip flopped on pulling out, apparently resigned to the fact that 5^th place was no place to be, but reversed himself on a morning run, an endorphin-induced euphoria I would imagine. Then in running behind “Others” in New Hampshire, Perry shouts for on high “On to South Carolina!” Insanity at its best.

Or maybe his war chest wasn’t empty yet and he had more loot to spend with his friends.

See, it was very telling that in announcing his exit from the election that a major factor in making this final decision was the fact that his campaign donations were off and funds were running low. It became obvious that his continued presence was due to the fact that he had campaign cash and needed to spend it on his friends and consultants, because that is what Rick Perry does. With Perry, one hand washes the other.

So…no more money, no Perry. For now.

Later today we get a Terminatoresque statement from Perry’s communications director:

“Running for re-election as Texas governor ‘is certainly a strong option as would be maybe doing this again in four years if the president wins,’ communications director Ray Sullivan said after Perry’s announcement.”

Get that? He’ll be back.

But here’s what I am wondering. I am wondering if Rick Perry can even draw enough votes to survive a primary challenge in 2014. He has made a mockery of himself to the nation and the world, and a mockery of Texans who are apparently too stupid to notice that the man they elected to that office three times is dumber than a bag of hammers.

Perry: Turkey is a Terrorist State

2012-01-18T17:31:00.002-06:00

Oh I love it when my governor, Rick Perry, exposes himself as a complete ignoramus. Actually I hate it. It exposes Texans as even greater ignoramuses for electing him to a third consecutive term – the longest in Texas’ history.

In a recent Republican primary deb ate event in South Carolina, Rick Perry was asked about America’s support of the country of Turkey, mainly in view of the fact that people of the Muslim faith seem to be running it.

Perry wasted no time, characterizing Turkey as a country ruled by “Islamic Terrorists” and not the NATO ally that existed at a time that he was stationed there as a Air Force freight pilot.

An amazingly poorly thought out characterization, as explained by the Turkish Ambassador to the United States.
“Turkey is a secular democracy that has for decades been an essential and trusted partner of the U.S. Our bilateral relations are based on the common values of democracy and respect for human rights, rule of law, and free market economy. Whether in the fight against terrorism or violent extremism, in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria or against the proliferation of WMD, we stand side by side to tackle the many common threats and challenges of our times. Through NATO and bilaterally, Turkey and the U.S. will continue to cooperate day in day out to establish peace, security and prosperity around the world. Contrary to statements during the debate, Turkey receives no significant sums of foreign aid dollars from the U.S. Indeed, Turkey is a strong and growing trading partner with the U.S. in general, and with Texas in particular creating thousands of jobs throughout that state.”
Ouch.

And I have to wonder how Rick Perry ever arrived at the conclusion that Turkey was a terrorist state and all I could find was Rick Perry citing the rate of domestic violence toward Turkish women. Terrorist violence I would guess.

Now, make no mistake, I consider violence toward women like I consider violence toward all people – there is no excuse for it. But equating domestic violence to Islamic Terrorism is just wrong.

And amazingly enough when I googled it to find out what the heck Rick Perry was talking about, using the search terms “Turkey attacks against women” I did come up with an amazing plethora of search results. One of which I embed below for your edification.

Sign the CREW Petition. Clean Up the FEC.

2012-01-16T16:19:00.000-06:00

The Federal Elections Commission is broken. Three commissioners, Republicans all, absolutely refuse to enforce our campaign laws, laws that are meant to keep our elections from turning into auctions, where government offices are sold to the highest bidder.

Six commissioners still serve on this supposed watchdog organization despite the fact that their terms have expired.

And now with Citizens United virtually guaranteeing an election cycle where money does all the talking we cannot afford to let the FEC remain a dysfunctional government entity.

So CREW and other public watchdog organizations have started a petition on the White House’s petition website. They need to have 25,000 signatures by February 10^th in order for the president to respond to the petition. At this writing they are 10 percent of the way there.

Go there and sign the petition. You will have to register at the White House website if you haven’t already. But most importantly, if you haven’t yet registered there why are you even reading this?

Whoa. Waitaminute. A June Primary?

2012-01-15T19:02:00.000-06:00

There is no one who thinks that the Texas Primary will be held on April 3^rd. No one. I was at a Democratic Party meetup yesterday and we heard directly from the director of elections for Fort Bend County exactly what would be the timeline should the Supreme Court of the United States deign to come to a decision before February 1^st 2012. The timeline is nightmarish.

The things that they have to fulfill statutorily will be squeezed into a schedule so tight that no way, no how, will it ever happen.

Taking me back to learning of the discussion of a Texas June primary among the Justices.

That would be bad.

Guess what. The Texas Democratic Party’s state convention is scheduled to convene on June 6^th 2012. Lots of stuff has to happen before a state convention can occur, including the primary, the precinct caucuses to happen on Primary Day, and the Senate District/County caucuses to happen after that.

Delegates to the state convention are picked at the Senate District/County caucuses.

And, OK, on top of that, all of the venues for the state convention have already been contracted to the tune of a half a million dollars in commitments. Commitments that the TDP must fulfill even if it cannot meet those commitments.

SCOTUS, in its infinite wisdom to completely screw up the Texas Primary has also put the Texas Democratic Party between a rock and a hard place financially. This is a story that just does not end, and just does not get better.

Federal Judge Rejects Perry/Gingrich Lawsuit Against Virginia

2012-01-13T18:20:00.001-06:00

In an exquisite stroke of irony, federal district judge John Gibney rejected Rick Perry’s argument that Virginia’s state law governing the requirements for qualification on their presidential primary ballot were unconstitutional. This means that Rick Perry will not appear on the Virginia primary ballot, nor will Newt, Huntsman and Santorum be listed.

In his decision, this is what Judge Gibney had to say about Perry and others’ sense of timing:

Perry, ironically, sought an activist federal judge to overturn a state law, arguably a very restrictive law, so he could game the system and gain a place on the ballot. In his own state, his attorney general, Greg Abbott, is decrying the very same behavior of three federal district judges who redrew district maps to be used in this year’s primary election in Texas.

In Virginia, apparently, it is OK to trample on state laws and local policies, but in Texas it is treasonous.

“They knew the rules in Virginia many months ago. ... In essence, they played the game, lost, and then complained that the rules were unfair.”

Newt Nuking Romney

2012-01-12T18:28:00.000-06:00

Ronald Reagan’s 11^th Commandment, thou shalt not speak ill of any Republican, first uttered when he was running for California’s governor in 1966, seems to be an anachronism these days since Newt Gingrich, the master and commander of the new system of “Cutthroat Politics,” has unleashed a massive media campaign in South Carolina against the leading Republican candidate for the presidential nomination, Mitt Romney.

He is airing a 25 minute documentary on what Romney’s company, that he co-founded, Bain Capital, did to American companies and the jobs of thousands of Americans.

Coming after Romney’s recent comment that he “liked firing people,” this has got to be a blow to the front runner.

And really, no one knows why Newt is doing this. He hasn’t a chance of getting the nomination.

And Rick Perry’s labeling of Romney’s business as “Vulture Capitalism” is even more mysterious. Perry, who received just 1709 votes in the New Hampshire Primary has even less of a chance of getting the nomination than The Newt.

I recall what they did to Jimmy Carter when Ted Kennedy opposed him in the 1980 primaries, and how this made Reagan’s task at beating Carter in November 1980 so much easier.

John McCain handed the presidency over to Barack Obama when he named Sarah Palin as his running mate. Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry may just be doing the same thing this time around.

A June Primary in Texas?

2012-01-11T18:17:00.000-06:00

OK, I know that there was a primary election in New Hampshire yesterday, and I know about the results, but in the scheme of things, the results of the New Hampshire Primary are so expected it just doesn’t warrant comment.

Yes, Barack Obama won.

But more importantly, when, exactly, will the Texas Primary Election be held? On a terribly optimistic note, the primary was moved from March 6^th to April 3^rd. Optimistic in that it was hoped that the wheels of justice would spin expeditiously. An expectation that is sorely lacking in any substance.

The Supreme Court is apparently not willing to decide the case of which Texas district maps are to be used in this year’s elections anytime soon. In court, there was even a discussion of a June primary for Texas.

June.

From Super Tuesday to a ho-hum “the parade has ended” June primary.

Last time the presidential primary in Texas was electric, especially in the Democratic Party where a nominee was yet to become apparent. McCain was all but anointed at that point. But if there is a challenge to the juggernaut that is the Romney Campaign, there is a chance for Texas Repubs to cast a meaningful vote – in March. In June, who cares?

Bad news for the downballot Republican candidates in Texas.

The silver lining is that this news puts Democrats, who also have a non-issue on the presidential primary, on an equal footing – voter turnout-wise – as Republicans. When that happens, only activists and the truly interested/involved show up at the polls. Bad for Republicans. Good for Democrats.

5th Circuit Court Says Sonogram Law is Constitutional

2012-01-10T18:15:00.000-06:00

A 3-judge panel of the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today, only 6 days after hearing arguments, that the Texas Sonogram Law, a personally invasive law with roots in religious doctrine, does not violate a physician’s constitutional right of free speech.

The court, in essence, rubberstamped an out-of-control state legislature that sought to legislate religious doctrine into the doctor’s office.

In truth, most abortions are accompanied by a sonogram simply to help the doctor ensure the safety of the abortion. Look before you leap, in other words. So this law is not a law that encourages proper medical procedures, sonograms are prescribed as a pre-abortion procedure. What this law requires is a state-mandated speech that the physician must perform. A speech that has no medical merit at all. A speech that has, as its one and only purpose, to discourage a woman from going through with the abortion.

Not because of any medical reason. But because of the religious doctrine that life begins at conception. A completely unproved religious doctrine.

Clearly, the Court was influenced by rightist religious dogma that goes far beyond its purview as a secular body.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, an organization that was in the lead to oppose this law, is looking at its options that include asking the entire Court to rule on the case, and also a run at the Supreme Court.

Frankly, I don’t see how this case doesn’t make it all the way to SCOTUS. One way or another, it will end up there.

You know, if everyone would just agree to stop having heterosexual sex with each other, we can have this whole problem licked.

(Just kidding)

Overwhelmed Monday

2012-01-09T19:36:00.000-06:00

It's Monday and I know lots of people tune in on this blog on Monday. But I am a little overwhelmed today so please excuse the shortcut as I include my favorite political cartoon of the day. This one says so much about what I think about the New Hampshire primary.

Huntsman’s Zinger

2012-01-08T12:26:00.000-06:00

Take a look at this exchange between John Huntsman and Mitt Romney at the Meet The Press/Facebook debate this morning.

Did you see the look of surprise on Huntsman’s face right there at the end? Surprise at the enthusiastic audience reaction? Frankly I was a little surprised at the reaction myself. Republicans, and Newt Gingrich practically invented uberpartisanship. It has been the one reason why I’ve always thought that John Huntsman will never be the nominee: he’s too reasonable and your typical Republican primary voter is not.

Believe me, of the six guys on that stage this morning it’s John Huntsman that President Obama should worry most about.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

New Ron Paul Video Hits Santorum

2012-01-07T14:06:00.000-06:00

Ron Paul is doing an invaluable service to the Republican Party in releasing his hit pieces that paints Rick Santorum as a shifty con artist and “serial hypocrite”. Ever below the radar, when Santorum emerged as a front runner in Iowa, the Paul campaign released this video.

Paul is polling around where H. Ross Perot polled back in 1992 when he handed the presidency over to the Democrats in his self-funded race as an independent, and rumors are flying that Paul is still considering the same thing.

One can only hope.

The Perry Spin is In

2012-01-06T17:41:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I opined that the real reason Rick Perry decided to stay in the presidential race was that he had become the dark horse candidate that would dilute the anti-Romney vote. Today we learn from his staffers that he’s really in it to win. That this guy, who finished in 5^th place in Iowa, and is looking to get thrashed in New Hampshire, thinks he can win it all.

Because it’s South Carolina after all. You know, mountain folks that interbreed.

These, Perry’s people are saying, are just the kind of voters that will resuscitate Perry’s flagging campaign and make him look like the genius that he isn’t.

Sorry, not buying it.

Also out today is a statement from an Iowa “family values” evangelical leader, Bob Vander Plaats. Vander Plaats says that Rick Perry ought to reconsider his reconsideration.

Rick Perry should get out because of his performance in the presidential debates has been, shall we say lackluster, and that Rick Santorum would be a Romney nightmare should he become the single conservative evangelical on the ballot.

And so again, I find myself in curious agreement with this evangelical conservative leader. There’s a 4-way tug-o-war going on to capture the evangelical anti-Romney vote and if Romney keeps on winning, especially in winner-take-all states, Romney will get the nomination.

Romney gets the nomination and evangelical conservatives will all stay home in November.

Not a bad idea.

He’s Out…He’s Back In…

2012-01-05T17:53:00.002-06:00

Texas governor Rick Perry pulled in a mere 12,604 votes in the Iowa Caucus last Tuesday, just a little more than 10% of the total votes cast. Double that of Michele Bachmann who had the good sense to withdraw her candidacy and go back to Minnesota.

And it really looked like Rick Perry was going to follow suit and end his tilt at windmills in a race where he is hopelessly outclassed by a small army of dwarves.

But not 12 hours later, Perry tweets that he is in it at least until South Carolina.

Defying all logic. Well that’s our governor.

But wait, I think I agree, for once, with a Fox News analysis that Rick Perry is now an ally of Mitt Romney and wonder whether that explains the rapid reversal. Here’s the theory. If Perry could just stay in the race until South Carolina, where he is back on more familiar Southern turf (next to the Yankee Pennsylvanian Rick Santorum) he might be able to draw votes away from Santorum.

Especially the votes of those who would have voted for Michele Bachmann had she stayed in the race. After all, voters who are that masochistic that they will vote for a bat guano crazy congresswoman will have no problem voting for a mentally challenged former A&M yell leader.

But here’s the thing. As long as Rick Perry stays on the campaign trail we Texas taxpayers are still paying for his security detail. A bill that has been upwards of $400,000 per month. Perry justified this expenditure saying that he was taking the Texas message to the nation.

Well now that seems to be officially over. Perry is not in this for a goodwill tour, nor is he in it to win the presidential nomination. He is in it to help Mitt Romney beat off a new challenge in Rick Santorum.

And Texas taxpayers are left holding the bag, as usual.

25,000 Turn Out for Obama in Iowa

2012-01-04T18:37:00.000-06:00

Even though President Obama was unopposed in the Iowa Caucus, 25,000 Iowa Democrats turned out to vote for the president. While this was about 1/5 of the numbers that turned out in the Republican caucuses, it is significant in light of the sure thing that is President Obama’s re-nomination.

But this is the statistic that I am absolutely amazed at.

While 125,000 Republican Iowans turned out to vote in this highly contested caucus of the 7 Dwarves, this is well-shy of the number of Democrats who caucused in 2008: 239,000.

Almost half the number.

The trend is clear. Republicans are fairly unenthusiastic over the list of choices being offered them this time around. I have even heard this personally from dyed-in-the-wool Republican friends that still speak to me.

Clearly, the challenge to the eventual winner of the Republican nomination isn’t going to be persuading Republicans to vote for them. It will be persuading them even to show up to vote.

Rick Santorum: Presidential Candidate and Blatant Racist

2012-01-03T17:22:00.000-06:00

When I saw the comment on my Facebook page today, that Rick Santorum said that he didn’t want to “make black peoples’ lives better” I assumed that he was being quoted out of context, because no one in the 21^st century says that. Not anymore anyway.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Here is a clip of the statement from CBS News:

Rick Santorum, presidential candidate Rick Santorum is a racist.

But since he’s in Iowa, and since he hasn’t a snowball’s chance in H-E-Double-Hockey sticks of garnering a single African-American vote, and couldn’t care less about the effect of these words in Iowa, a 91% Caucasian state, Rick Santorum is in his comfort zone and can say what he really thinks.

Know which ethnic group collects the most welfare? Whether it is actual welfare or food stamps or Medicaid or Medicare? Taxpayer-supported government benefits?

White people.

African-Americans collect a disproportionate amount of welfare as a percentage of that ethnic group, but in raw numbers their numbers are dwarfed by white people.

A president is a president of all the people. A president doesn’t single out a subset of Americans and accuse them of raw and rapacious laziness for not getting out there and working for a living. A president knows that the ills and, yes, past racist policies of our society have contributed to this trend. A president understands this.

Rick Santorum is no president.

Election 2012 Begins Tomorrow

2012-01-02T17:14:00.002-06:00

The only things you hear on the news, besides the latest gaffe by Rick Perry that is, is who is going to win the Iowa Caucus which officially kicks off tomorrow evening. And with that, Election 2012 is officially here.

The Iowa Caucus is just about the strangest thing there is not only because of the process but because Iowa, apparently, does not represent the cross section of American thoughts and politics. It is a really odd state. Results in Iowa practically never reflect national trends and that seems to be the case this year.

Feature a state caucus that threatens to name Ron Paul as either the winner or the one who comes in 2^nd (a good sign for Iowa, as opposed to practically everywhere else). Still, I expect Dr. Paul’s numbers to go as polled.

Paul’s following, a Libertarian-leaning group, is exceptionally loyal because they are so doctrinaire – as Paul is. They are not persuadable. So don’t count them in as part of the 41% of potential caucus-goers who say that they could change their minds when they are at the caucus.

At that rate, 41% decided, but changeable, and 49% undecided at this point, the Iowa Caucus is truly anyone’s to win.

My best guess is that Mitt Romney will pull it off with 40 plus per cent simply because of the super PAC dollars being poured into Iowa, immersing the media markets with anti-Newt ads. That and enough Iowans will finally be persuaded that Romney has the best chance to put up a fight to challenge the Goliath that will become the Obama campaign.

Paul will get his 22%. The polls are consistent from week to week and, frankly, you either love Ron Paul or hate him (or he scares the bejesus out of you).

Santorum will come in 3^rd with numbers in the high teens. Evangelicals love Rick Santorum and while there is a greater than the 24% (on a national average) proportion of evangelical voters in Iowa, they are going to split their vote. Santorum will get the lion’s share.

Then in the low teens will be Perry and Newt. It still amazes me that there are Iowans who are still considering Rick Perry as a viable candidate.

Spread the rest of the votes out there in the very low sub 10% among the rest. There will be lots of people crossing the room away from the gangs with the low numbers.

So that’s my best guess, but with this caveat – it’s Iowa.

Perry: English is the National Language

2011-12-31T14:07:00.000-06:00

As the curtain comes down on what is inevitably the last few days of Rick Perry’s bid for the highest elected office in America we get treated to yet one more “Perryism.”

English should be declared the national language of the United States of America.

It came up yesterday at an Iowa town hall as Perry opened up the floor to questions. This is when a local brainiac got up and stated that he thought English should be the official national language.

“That’s a statement. That’s not a question,” responded Perry, and then added “and I can agree with it.”

This has come up for a vote on prior occasions. In 2006 the Senate voted to adopt English as the official language, only to have that part stripped out of the immigration bill. In 1795, it is said that German lost by one vote as the official language, but I think that is mostly urban legend.

There is no official language, and it’s for a good reason. We are a nation of immigrants. 47 million Americans speak another language than English. Adopting English as the official language is the ultimate racist message.

But I guess the point to be made, if there is one to be made, is this: what makes Rick Perry think he speaks English?

Federal Oligarch in a Robe (Judge) Says No to Perry

2011-12-30T14:32:00.000-06:00

Yesterday a federal judge rejected Governor Rick Perry’s request for an emergency court order to require the Virginia Board of Elections to place his name on the Virginia primary ballot.

Barring any changes, only Mitch Romney and Ron Paul will appear on that primary ballot, both campaigns being able to produce the 10,000 valid signatures that state law requires.

You know, there are reasons for these “overly burdensome” requirements. It keeps candidates that aren’t really serious about running for president off the ballot. You know, candidates like Perry, Santorum, Gingrich, Bachmann and Huntsman.

And no, we’re not done with this. Not yet

The judge left it open for consideration, setting a January 13^th date to hear arguments.

The deadline for primary ballot printing in Virginia, however, is January 9^th.

So what’s the point? Why schedule a hearing after the ballots have already been printed? You’re going to just love this. If the judge finds that the Perry arguments are sufficiently valid, and declares Virginia’s election law unconstitutional, allowing Perry, and I suppose Newt Gingrich, on the ballot, the judge can order that the state reprint the ballots.

Isn’t that nice? Every county in Virginia gets to reprint enough ballots for every Republican voter. Now in 2008 McCain got 1.7 million votes so it is safe to say that that is a working estimate of the number of voters that will need primary ballots. And having researched it, paper ballots are specialty items to print and run about 30 cents per ballot in printing costs. That adds up to a little over $500,000 to reprint the ballots with Perry’s name on it.

That is, Perry not only is using a federal court to overturn a state law, if he succeeds he is going to cost the state another half a million dollars to get on the ballot.

Virginians should be “Fed Up” with Rick Perry by now.

Perry Gets Gotcha’d

2011-12-29T15:40:00.000-06:00

Watch this Talking Points Memo video showing Rick Perry being quizzed on how he can be in favor of small government in light of his opposition to the very famous 2003 landmark Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas.

It is obvious that Perry had forgotten what that case was all about, yet when the case was decided, Perry, as governor of Texas, railed against the decision.

The decision struck down Texas’ anti-sodomy law that barred homosexuals from this sexual act, but not heterosexuals. Perry decried the decision at the time, calling the Texas law, a heavy-handed intrusion of government into the private bedrooms of Texas “appropriate,” and calling the Supreme Court Justices “nine oligarchs in robes” (even the 3 dissenters apparently).

And more recently in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (no relation) the dissenting opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, penned by Antonin Scalia, was used by Judge Vaughn Walker in his 2010 ruling that California’s Proposition 8, outlawing same-sex marriage in that state, was unconstitutional.

And yes, Perry was perfectly right in labeling the question as a “gotcha question” because he sure was.

Gotcha’d, that is.

Perry Faces First-Ever Election Loss

2011-12-29T11:28:00.001-06:00

CNN and Time have come out with a fresh new poll of likely caucus-goers in Iowa and likely primary voters in New Hampshire. Conducted between December 21 and 27, it clearly shows that Rick Perry has about as much of a chance of placing in the top three of either races as a gnat’s chance in a hailstorm.

And this in and of itself is historically significant because Rick Perry has no experience in losing an election - he never has before. But this time, on the national stage, Rick Perry is not only poised to lose but lose badly.

In Iowa, the poll shows Rick Perry in a consistent 4^th place trailing Romney, Newt, and Ron Paul. In New Hampshire, however, Perry is dead last getting a mere 2% of voter support.

That he is doing so well in Iowa, compared to New Hampshire is not too surprising considering the fact that the Republican political machine in Iowa is led by none other than Jesus Christ Himself.

These people are True Believers, and as such lack facts. Lack analysis. Lack facts.

Take for example the audience reaction to Perry’s claim that “every barrel of oil that comes out of those sands in Canada is a barrel of oil that we don’t have to buy from a foreign source.” This earned him a loud round of enthusiastic applause.

Because these people, these voters, aren’t aware of the fact that buying oil from Canada is exactly the same as buying oil from a foreign source.

Because Canada is a foreign country.

So the only reason Rick Perry is still in 4^th place in Iowa is that Iowa voters are collectively dumber than a bag of hammers and don’t really deserve all the media attention that they get every 4 years.

Perry Files Lawsuit to Get on Virginia Primary Ballot

2011-12-28T11:34:00.000-06:00

Failing to gather the 10,000 signatures that Virginia state law requires of all presidential candidates, Rick Perry has filed a lawsuit in federal district court to force himself on the Virginia primary ballot.

Now there normally would be nothing wrong with the above statement if the name Rick Perry were not used in it. Insert the name Newt Gingrich, a big government Washington insider conservative and you have a winner. But Rick “Tenther” Perry? Rick Perry is apparently not so “fed up” that he doesn’t see the exquisite irony in his running to the feds to force a state to alter the way it runs its own elections. In his own state he decries the justice department meddling in its Voter ID law and redistricting. But Virginia is, apparently, infected with some resident evil that prevents its electorate from being able to choose him.

The campaign released a statement citing the reasons for the lawsuit via the Austin American-Statesman:

“Virginia ballot access rules are among the most onerous and are particularly problematic in a multi-candidate election. We believe that the Virginia provisions unconstitutionally restrict the rights of candidates and voters by severely restricting access to the ballot, and we hope to have those provisions overturned or modified to provide greater ballot access to Virginia voters and the candidates seeking to earn their support.”

Onerous. 10,000 signatures.

Heck, Perry could have given each and every one of his security detail a few petitions each and gotten the job done.

Heck, Perry could have called up one of his political cronies and gotten the job done just as they did in 2010 when they helped the Green Party get on the Texas ballot by gathering 92,000 signatures.

But no. Instead Perry ran to the feds for some relief and filed another frivolous lawsuit.

You know, this just underlines something that I have been saying about Rick Perry for months now. Rick Perry is neither conservative nor liberal. Rick Perry simply has no core principles at all except the ones that help Rick Perry.

Arpaio Stumping for Perry

2011-12-27T13:17:00.001-06:00

Politics make strange bedfellows and there are no stranger bedfellows in the GOP presidential race than Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Arpaio is in Iowa as I write this, along for the ride on Perry’s final bus tour of the state before its Tuesday evening caucuses.

Now one thing that is obvious is that Perry hopes to use Arpaio’s anti-immigrant mojo to cover up the fact that he has gone on record, both in debate and in the press, as being soft on illegal immigration. His support of the DREAM act and his scoffing at the need for a border fence are strikes one and two against Perry in the cold, cold hearts of anti-immigrant Iowans.

But here’s the thing. This is having an opposite effect, at least in the press. The story in the press isn’t about how Arpaio and Perry agree on illegal immigration, it is about how much they disagree.

Arpaio hasn’t weighed in on letting the sons and daughters of illegal immigrants attend college without having to pay put-of-state tuition – a major part of the DREAM Act but my guess is that he would take a dim view of such a thing, especially now, since he has been charged by the feds of using discriminatory tactics in stopping and questioning Hispanics.

But what is clear is that Arpaio and Perry do not see eye-to-eye on a border fence, something Arpaio has made very clear that he wants, but something Rick Perry doesn’t think is necessary.

So while the intent in having Arpaio along for the ride is transparent and clear, the SNAFU in all of this is that the emphasis has become the contrast between Perry and Arpaio’s divergent opinions on illegal immigration.

That is, Perry is making it obvious to anti-immigrant Iowans that he is not their man.

Fractured Logic

2011-12-26T14:12:00.002-06:00

Shaking my head this afternoon after reading an article in the Austin American-Statesman published last Friday. It must be fun being a Texas Republican because you get to operate under a system of logic that is so fractured it looks like a disassembled jigsaw puzzle.

Attorneys from the Texas Attorney General’s office are making arguments before the DC federal district court on why Texas’ new House, Senate and Congressional district maps are not discriminatory toward its minority populations. They argue that it was not the intent of legislators to discriminate against minorities. It was, however, their intent to discriminate against Democrats.

From the Austin American-Statesman:
”In arguments before the court, state lawyers denied any intentional racial bias. They explained that because Republicans control the Legislature, it was only natural that they drew maps that would benefit Republican candidates. The Texas attorney general's office said the reason Hispanics are not the majority in more districts is because most Hispanics vote Democratic, not because of their ethnicity.”
So that makes it OK.

It’s like the guy who recently stole my credit card explained to me that he really didn’t have anything against me and didn’t want to upset me or bring me any trouble, he just needed to get some free stuff.

So that makes stealing, whether it is a credit card or a vote, OK.

‘Tis the Season

2011-12-24T12:44:00.000-06:00

Christmas tree

Chestnut

Lawn light

Wassail

Nutmeg

Holly

Ribbon

Turkey

Shopping

Candy Cane

Poinsettia

Reindeer

Snow

Bell

Yule Log

Caroling

Wreath

Tinsel

Card

Stocking

Mistletoe

Mince Meat Pie

And…

“A Christmas Story” 24 Hour Marathon!!!!

You’ll shoot your eye out.

DOJ Rejects South Carolina’s Voter ID Law

2011-12-23T17:10:00.000-06:00

Now with today’s announcement from the Department of Justice that South Carolina’s recently-passed Voter ID law, a law that requires voters to possess a photo ID, is discriminatory toward minority voters – a violation of the Voting Rights Act – I have to wonder when the other shoe is going to drop.

The other shoe being Texas.

Because if anything, Texas’ voter ID law is even more restrictive than South Carolina’s.

Texas and South Carolina share a common heritage in having Jim Crow laws on the books, laws that were meant to keep minorities off the voter rolls. The Voting Rights Act specifically targets the states that has them, and any changes that they make to their voting procedures must be precleared by the Department of Justice before they can be enforced.

Now here’s the thing. Indiana has a Voter ID law that passed muster in the Supreme Court. Indiana requires its voters to present a valid photo ID in order to vote.

Indiana was on the side of the North in the War of Northern Aggression (as the Civil War is known here in the South). So Indiana isn’t on the list of states whose voting laws need to be reviewed by the DOJ.

Making me wonder when someone here in the South is going to challenge the entire validity of Section 5 of the VRA – the meat of the law really – under the theory that it violates equal protection. That is, what’s OK in Indiana isn’t so OK in Texas, or South Carolina.

Texas Counties Say April 3rd Primary Date is Too Soon

2011-12-23T15:36:00.002-06:00

Will there be enough time to put a primary election together next year? Well in this post a few days back I kind of alluded to the fact the tight schedule that the courts have signed on to could be blown if district courts and the Supreme Court drop the ball and fail to come to their various decisions by the end of January. We would be truly cooked.

And now, as it turns out, according to county governments that have filed objections to the April 3^rd primary date, that date is too soon. Assuming that district maps are in place by February 1^st, there is just not enough time to prepare for the election and this could result in massive confusion as voters try to figure out where they vote.

From the Texas Tribune:

“The court based the April 3 date on having a map in place by Feb. 1. But the counties say that wouldn't leave them enough time. The court would give them only two weeks to prepare voter registration certificates that take six to seven weeks to prepare, the groups said.”

“‘If voter registrars are required to mail inaccurate voter registration certificates in order to meet the deadline set by the Court, there is likely to be much confusion among voters. And voter confusion leads to voter disenfranchisement.’”

And the assumption that maps will be in place by February 1^st is the optimistic scenario.

You know, if there are going to be errors made and votes suppressed because of this fiat by the Supreme Court, maybe June 5^th is a more reasonable primary date. By that time, Rick Perry is certain to have dropped from the race for the nomination, and if a presumed nominee has not emerged by that time, Texas Republicans can all vote for the obvious choice to run against President Obama: Ron Paul.

An Early Christmas: Congress Passes Extension of Payroll Tax Cut

2011-12-23T11:21:00.001-06:00

In a thoroughly stunning reversal, House Republicans, who were taking a public beating for their steadfast refusal to pass a 2-month extension of the Bush payroll tax cuts, caved in to the public pressure and passed the bill by unanimous consent.

This was a mechanism where no one could go on the record opposing the bill. If there was one objection a roll call vote would be in order, and Republicans that oppose the tax cut would have to go on record.

And again, at the heart of the problem in getting this measure passed, we find the TEA Party: perennial opponents of anything that might just help this country pull itself out of a financial crisis. TEA Partiers have become the petulant children in congress who have just received a severe scolding from both sides of the aisle. President Obama summed it up nicely in his speech before a crowd of supporters yesterday:

“I mean, has this place become so dysfunctional that even when people agree to things, we can’t do it? It doesn’t make any sense”

Senate Leader Harry Reid was gloating, I think, when he added these words upon hearing the news that the House had passed the bill:

“I hope this Congress has had a very good learning experience, especially those who are newer to this body. Everything we do around here does not have to wind up in a fight. That isn’t the way things need to be. People wonder why the approval rating of Congress is so low. I don’t wonder. It seems that everything we’ve done this last year has been a knock-down, drag-out fight. There is no reason to do that.”

Now the problem is that this issue is not resolved. The problem is that all we have accomplished is a postponement. But that may just be the silver lining in this very dark cloud. Because we are postponing the argument into next year, next year during primary season when everyone is starting to pay attention. If Republicans and TEA Partiers start making the same sorts of noises they were making between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when most people aren’t paying attention, people are going to start to take notice.

Ron Paul’s Timeline Doesn’t Add Up

2011-12-22T16:47:00.000-06:00

Take a look at this CNN video of CNN’s Gloria Borger’s interview with Ron Paul as she asks them about “incendiary” material that appeared on a newsletter that bore his name.

He not only flat out denies writing the articles but claims that he wasn’t even aware of its existence until 10 years after it was written. But did you catch it? He later says that “…and it’s been going on 20 years that people have pestered me about this.”

So which is it? Ignorant of the very existence of letters written 20 years ago when people were pestering him about them? Not even aware of them until 10 years ago?

How does that add?

Taxpayer Money Supports Rick Perry’s Campaign

2011-12-22T14:25:00.000-06:00

You’ve heard all the stories about how Rick Perry brings his own security with him – Texas State Troopers – on his out of state trips while he is campaigning. The costs are associated with plane fares, accommodations and meals while the governor is stumping in Iowa and Maine. This despite the fact that presidential candidates each rate a security detail from the Secret Service.

Word is that these costs have totaled $397,714 for the month of September alone.

But that’s not the full extent of what Texas taxpayers have been asked to fork over so that Rick Perry can continue to embarrass himself, and the state, in his futile attempt to gain the Republican presidential nomination. Today I read that whenever Perry goes out of state, like now, the Lieutenant Governor, David Dewhurst, becomes the acting governor, and gets an additional $410.96 as compensation for being acting governor. At 78 days so far this year, that amounts to a whopping windfall of $32,054 payable to the lieutenant governor.

Who is a millionaire in his own right by the way.

OK so it’s not double-dipping because Dewhurst is required to reimburse to the state his lt. governor’s pay, but the astounding difference in pay - $142,800 to be exact – means that taxpayers get back $19 of the $410.96. So his net is $30,570.

Still, the party that claims to be fiscally responsible seems to be the same party that continues to feed at the public trough while teachers, policemen and firemen are told to do more with less.

Happy Winter Solstice

2011-12-21T18:23:00.001-06:00

Today is the shortest day of the year: winter solstice.

Here in the middle of North America, winter solstice will arrive tonight at 11:30 PM.

The sun set today, sinking below the horizon the farthest south that it ever does. It then appears not to move for a couple of days. Then on the 3^rd day, December 25^th in some parts of the world, it starts back north, each day successively sinking below the horizon further and further north.

Bringing back longer days and warmer days.

The Romans had a 3-day festival to celebrate this. They called it the Festival of the Invincible Sun.

EPA Releases New Mercury and Air Toxics Standards

2011-12-21T18:10:00.000-06:00

It’s about a month late from its original release date deadline, but today the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled its new rules for emission of mercury and other toxins, rules that were demanded by the 1990 Clean Air Act, but rules that have been delayed from being issued by Congress for over 20 years.

The Republican-led congress even tried to do this again by passing the TRAIN Act last September. Passing along party lines by a vote of 233-180, the act hadn’t a chance of passing in the Senate, nor would it be signed into law by President Obama.

But now for the first time we have rules governing emissions of mercury and arsenic in the air, especially from coal-fired power plants.

Like the one that sits on Smithers Lake in Fort Bend County.

It, like all of the other coal-fired power plants in the nation, which all combined emit up to 48 tons of mercury every year, will soon come under these federal rules which will be enforced in 2016. That amounts to 855 gallons of elemental mercury dumped into our air every year.

And you can bet that there will be a hue and cry about these “job killing” regulations from mercury-breathing Republicans. But suffice it to say, these rules have been much-anticipated by these power plant companies.

But according to this article, there is existing technology that can reduce emissions by 90%, and the local plant in Fort Bend County is already making plans to modify its coal-fired units.

And the best part? The best part is that we can now point to yet another accomplishment of the Obama Administration. An accomplishment that previous administrations (including Bill Clinton’s) were unable to get done.

For Senate: Sanchez is Out Sadler is In

2011-12-20T10:54:00.000-06:00

Politics in Texas is anything but boring. Not only do we have a primary election coming up that is completely fluid, where you may or may not be living in the district that you are filing for, we also have a fluid Senate race.

Fluid in the sense that you never know who is going to hang around for the finish.

Witness the fact that a couple of days ago former Army General Ric Sanchez announced he was not going to be in the primary, and that spurred former State Rep Paul Sadler to toss his hat into the ring.

Sanchez was a big name, they were telling me. And he had the creds as a conservative Democrat, someone that some people in the Democratic Party think might have a fighting chance against a Republican in Red Texas.

And he’s Hispanic.

But the campaign never caught fire, chiefly, I think, because the Democratic base failed to get really excited about the guy.

And then his house burned down.

So he got out.

Seeing his opportunity, Paul Sadler, again not a guy with statewide name recognition, stepped in. From East Texas, Sadler is known for his time chairing the Public Education Committee. He lost in a runoff bid for the Texas Senate in 2004 and has since been working in the field of alternative energy.

Sadler will face two others in the April 3^rd primary, Sean Hubbard and Daniel Boone. Yeah, I know, ol’ Dan’l won’t have a problem with name recognition, being one of the Heroes of the Alamo. I visited both of their campaign websites. Dan’l is a retired Air Force officer who has several businesses in and around Canyon Lake. Sean, who is about 12 years older than he looks, is actually qualified to run for Senate (I think) as the minimum age is 30 years.

So this should be an interesting one to watch, especially because we have a new guy with name recognition much like we had before with the perennial candidate from Universal City, Gene Kelly. You remember Gene Kelly. The candidate that Barbara Ann Radnofsky had to beat in a runoff election in 2006.

Coincidentally, Gene Kelly was also a retired Air Force officer.

Heads Need to Roll in Perry Campaign

2011-12-19T18:00:00.002-06:00

Rick Perry’s handlers are not watching the store it seems. They let the Texas governor release an email statement on the death of Korean dictator Kim Jung-Il, but instead of getting the name right, the governor commented on the passing of Kim Jung, Jr.

That is Kim Jung II.

That’s right, this guy who is running for the office of king of the world doesn’t know the name of the president of a potential nuclear power.

And no one on his staff caught it either.

It’s OK to make gaffes when you are onstage under the hot lights and there is no one to hold your hand. You can have your oops moments in that situation and no one will be to blame. But when you issue a statement on email, maybe it should be proofed, especially given the history of getting things wrong almost all the time.

No, someone needs to lose his or her job over this.

It’s either that, or we Dems seem to have a mole in the Perry camp.

Ron Paul Leads Poll in Iowa

2011-12-19T16:37:00.000-06:00

In a recent survey taken over the weekend Public Policy Polling has found out what a lot of us were beginning to suspect: Iowa caucus goers are bat-guano crazy. Ron Paul, the poll says, is at the top of the polls in Iowa.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

“Paul now has the vote of 23 percent of 597 likely Republican caucus voters, according to Public Policy Polling, in a survey taken from Dec. 16-18. Mitt Romney is close behind at 20 percent, while Gingrich as slipped dramatically to 14 percent. Fourth place is a dead heat between Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry at 10 percent. While Jon Huntsman is gaining traction in New Hampshire, in Iowa he's only got 4 percent of the likely voters. Gary Johnson comes in at 2 percent.”

So The Newt is the latest in a long list of front runners to have the trap door opened under his feet and he gets replaced by perennial presidential candidate – on either the Libertarian or Republican Party ballots – Congressman Ron “Dr. No” Paul.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect for Paul. The average residence time of any given front runner (and there have been 5 now) in Iowa is about 3 weeks, and here it is December 20^th, just 2 weeks shy of the Iowa caucuses.

Know what this means?

It means that if this polling trend holds Iowa caucus-goers will have just voted their state into oblivion. The RNC, I hear, is going to take a very dim view of the importance of Iowa’s continued presence in early primary/caucuses if the winner of their caucus is the much-maligned in his own party, Dr. Ron Paul.

Know what this also means?

It means that the Republican Party has officially fractured into two entities: Mainstream and TEA Party.

When McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running-mate he made the Obama victory an easy one. When voters pick Ron Paul as their nominee they will make the 2012 Presidential election a gift to Democrats.

April 3rd Primary No Help for Perry

2011-12-19T14:42:00.000-06:00

When the Supreme Court torpedoed Texas’ March primary there was all sorts of speculation on what was going to happen. The first thing to come out of the mouths of Republicans, in the person of a State Attorney General, was that there should be two primaries, one for President in March, and one for everyone else later on.

Impossible chime in nearly every County Clerk in the state. Too expensive, they said.

But there remained this enclave of Republicans who insisted that this is the way to go. The Democratic Party was 100% for a later Presidential Primary, and it was roughly 50-50 in the Republican Party.

But reason ruled the day and the primary date was moved back a month to early April.

But I have been puzzling on this for days and I just couldn’t figure out what was behind this lame-brained idea of two primaries? Why make a serious argument for such a bad – and prohibitively expensive – idea.

And I continued to puzzle about it until I uncovered this tiny article from an unlikely source, The Jerusalem Post all of which is pasted below:

“SAN ANTONIO - A panel of three federal judges approved a plan late Friday to delay the Texas primary elections to April 3 from March 6, a move that could be a blow to Republican Governor Rick Perry's presidential hopes.”

“A likely victory in Texas on March 6 could have helped Perry because it's Super Tuesday, when 10 other states are holding primaries or caucuses. Now, Texas' primary will be toward the end of the primary season calendar.”

“The delay came amid a series of legal challenges to the state's legislative and congressional redistricting maps.”

Really? That was what was behind Attorney General Greg Abbott/s plan? That moving the Presidential Primary would negatively affect Rick Perry’s chances at getting into the White House?

Has to be. It was such a stupid – and expensive – idea it has to have come from our self-serving governor’s campaign.

How expensive? At $350,000 per county times 254 of them that’s a whopping $90 million.

That would pay the salaries of nearly 2000 Texas public school teachers.

Primary Colors

2011-12-17T11:38:00.000-06:00

Democrats and Republicans have difficulty agreeing on anything these days so it was with some relief that I read yesterday that the two parties have come to agreement on holding a single primary at a later date, April 3^rd. All other dates are moved back as well.

For instance, these are some new deadline for events before and after the April 3^rd primary:

February 1, 2012 - New residency deadline for candidates seeking election to the Texas House and Texas Senate.
February 1, 2012, 6:00pm - New deadline of court-ordered reopened filing period, in which candidates for all offices have the opportunity to amend, withdraw or file a new application for the ballot.
February 3, 2012 - New deadline for County Executive Committees to conduct drawing for candidate order on ballot.
April 3, 2012 - Date of the 2012 General Primary Election.
April 14 or April 21, 2012 - Date of County and Senatorial District Conventions, as determined by the State Chair of each political party.
June 5, 2012 - Date of the 2012 General Primary Runoff Election.

That last one gives me a little pause. A June runoff date? It’s true enough that when I lived in California, which had a June primary for years, that late of a date didn’t keep me from voting, but this is a primary runoff, a totally different animal.

In a primary runoff a person can get elected if his extended family all show up at the polls. And in the Republican primary next year we have 4 who will vie for Fort Bend County Sheriff as the current sheriff has announced his retirement. That race is bound to go to runoff.

Democrats won’t have that problem as only one candidate has filed (so far).

An actual hero.

Here It Is: The TLC Rogue’s List

2011-12-15T17:09:00.001-06:00

While Lowe’s Home Improvement is getting the most heat in the blowback that has resulted when a TLC network spokesperson announced that the company had withdrawn all of its ads in response to urging from a rightwing religious group from Florida that objects to TLC’s “All-American Muslim” reality show, this is not the only company to bend to the wishes of this intolerant group of fanatics.

According to this website, the main reason Lowe’s has been singled out in the press is the nature of it’s email response to the Islamophobic religious group, the FFA (Florida Family Association, not the Future Farmers of America). It included this:

“While we continue to advertise on various cable networks, including TLC, there are certain programs that do not meet Lowe’s advertising guidelines, including the show you brought to our attention. Lowe’s will no longer be advertising on that program.”

Now is “All-American Muslim” a show about a bunch of IED building, Sharia Law following, Anti-Christian fanatics? If so, I guess Lowe’s was perfectly justified in concluding that it does not meet their advertising guidelines.

Unfortunately for Lowe’s, that is not the case. In fact, the show’s objective is to present Muslims who live in American as no different as other Americans. This, the FFA believes, cannot stand.

So Lowe’s gets to bear the brunt of the backlash from those of us who support religious freedom and tolerance, cornerstones of American traditions and values.

But it is my belief that Lowe’s should spread the wealth, so I went to the FFA website to get the list of companies that have pulled their ads (they claim 75 have done so) so I could inform my 6 (or is it now 7?) readers of where to shop in this holiday season – or more to the point, where not to.

But guess what. The FFA has pulled its list because they don’t want to inform the public anymore about who they need to call or email to chastise them for this obvious trip down the road to perdition. Now they can inflate the list even more.

Because it, as a list, no longer exists.

But then some part of it still exists, at the very website that I cited above (and here).

While DC Court Fiddles, Texas Primaries Burn

2011-12-14T18:19:00.000-06:00

Fly, meet ointment.

Today we learned that the federal court in DC that is engaged in the lawsuit to decide whether the Texas redistricting violates the Voting Rights Act will hear closing arguments on the case on February 3^rd.

That’s six, count ‘em, six days after the deadline date that county clerks across Texas say they need to have in order to reschedule a single Texas primary election to April 3rd.

And guess what? What if the DC court decides that the boundaries that were redrawn by the state legislature earlier this year were, by design, discriminatory toward Hispanics in Texas? And what if the Supreme Court decides that the district boundaries drawn by the San Antonio federal judges are invalid?

We have, friends and neighbors, one 9 on the Richter Scale clusterf… . Clusterf… .

That is, between these three courts, DC, SCOTUS, and San Antonio, we might just see not just Hispanic voters disenfranchised in 2012, that’s just small potatoes. We get to witness the disenfranchisement of the entire population of the state of Texas.

And that’s what you get when you stay away from the polls in 2010 and allow Republicans to enjoy a super majority in the legislature.

A true clusterf… .

The Stars Align

2011-12-13T17:58:00.000-06:00

Well it seems that the stars are aligning for a new, and single, April 3^rd Texas Primary Election. If this happens a condition foreseen in my past musings over this truly foul situation will be averted. That being the nomination of the truly crazy to public office.

The federal judge panel in DC who will decide whether to preclear the recently passed voter ID law, essentially whether or not to agree that it does not violate the Voting Rights Act, have set a trial date. The trial will run between January 17^th and January 26^th 2012.

Meanwhile back in San Antonio, another federal judge panel heard testimony from various elections officials about whether to hold one primary or two. It was just about unanimous among the witnesses that holding two primaries would be unjustifiably costly to the counties and to the state.

Costly at a time when budgets are being slashed.

The Travis County Clerk testified to this effect and offered a solution: move the primary date back. County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir suggested an April 3^rd primary date, a date that depends on everything being settled by January 28^th. And now from the look of it from the DC end, it will be settled by then.

Unless the Supreme Court kicks some dust into the air and re-sabotages the whole process.

Now here is one thing I am hoping. I am hoping that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor does not recuse herself in this hearing on the redrawn district maps scheduled for early January. She did that recently, I think to provide an example for Justice Clarence Thomas about when and where it is appropriate to recuse himself from the lawsuit challenging the Affordable Healthcare Act, an act his wife openly opposes.

I am hoping that Justice Sotomayor looks beyond the fact that she is Latina, and the Voter ID law passed by the Texas legislature is openly anti Hispanic.

There’s a New STAAR on the Horizon

2011-12-12T17:47:00.000-06:00

Yes, two “As” because we’re not talking about a celestial body, nor are we talking about a celebrity. We are talking about the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, the state’s new assessment of knowledge instrument that will replace TAKS over the next 4 years.

STAAR will be administered this spring to 9^th graders for the first time, and passing it just might make or break their walk across the stage 3 years hence.

In short, if before we had 4 TAKS tests that a student needed to pass, now we have 12 STAAR tests that they must pass. Yes, high-stakes testing has just gone to a new level.

Trouble is, according to this article, the state has not yet decided what the passing standard will be. And unfortunately once that standard is decided upon one wonders whether they will stick to that standard throughout a student’s secondary education, or whether it will be adjusted year by year as TAKS standards were.

But most alarming to some is that the STAAR test is more rigorous than TAKS. I think the biggest criticism I have of state mandated tests is that the tests are not necessarily written in the language that the content was taught. Textbooks that are adopted in each district differ from one to another. So the language and the context that the content is taught differs from district to district. In addition, many students attempt to pass courses by rote memorization, but when presented with a STAAR test, all of a sudden they are expected to think at the highest order, something that only the 1^st quartile are capable of doing.

But perhaps the biggest concern I have with implementing a new high-stakes testing regimen just now is also the concern of Gayle Fallon, the American Federation of Teachers president in Houston:

“The biggest problem we've got is it's a significant jump in difficulty in a year to be followed by another year where we're seeing the largest class sizes we've ever seen. We're seeing resources disappear on a daily basis. I'm not saying our teachers can't do it, but it's kind of like saying run this race and we're going to tie both your hands behind your back. Now good luck.”

The sad fact is, the state is requiring students to pass a new high-stakes test at a time when the state failed to deliver the resources to public schools as demanded by the state’s own constitution.

SCOTUS Sabotages the Texas Primary

2011-12-10T14:50:00.000-06:00

It shouldn’t be of any surprise that the Supreme Court of the United States, the court that appointed George W. Bush to a second term as president, has served us up another pile of steaming manure by ruling that all redistricting maps in the state of Texas are null and void until they get a chance to rule on them.

On January 9^th 2012. Yep, that’s three weeks after the December 15 2011 filing deadline for the Texas Primary Election in March 2012.

Chaos ensues. How can one know if one resides in the state house or senate district that he or she is filing for? Or what about the congressional districts, especially when – next year – Texas has an additional 4 congressional seats.

The Supremes give no clue how Texas is to handle this very heavy-handed decision. Do we keep the presidential primary and hold another one for the state and local offices later on?

When is the filing deadline?

What does this all mean?

But if I were to guess, and I guess about stuff all the time, I would have to say that this puts a new look on the Republican Primary. The way things are going, it doesn’t appear to me that a presumptive nominee will emerge before the March primary, so keeping the Texas primary in March is all but certain. But if Texas is forced into having two primaries, the excitement of voting for the Republican nominee will be limited to just that race, state and local races won’t benefit from the higher poll numbers of a presidential year. This means that a later primary for the state and local offices will be as lackluster as a school board election. And we all know what happens when there is a low turnout.

The bat-guano crazies, unelectable any other time, all win in their primaries.

All of this, courtesy of Justice Antonin Scalia.

Obama Haters Still on a Tear Over That "Flag"

2011-12-08T17:19:00.000-06:00

I don’t know whether you remember the moral outrage that the uberright had over reports that in 2008 the Obama campaign leased a campaign jet and promptly removed an American flag painted on the jet’s tail, replacing it with a giant Obama logo.

Oh they were steaming mad over this and the email “chain letters” were viral.

Except it was all blown out of proportion.

And now today I note that they are at it again, this time on Facebook, the new vehicle for dissemination of misinformation to the gullible masses that represent the right.

Snopes has the whole story, with pictures.

The “flag” that was removed? Turns out that North American Airlines, the company that the campaign leased the jet from, has as its company logo a stylized version of the American flag waving in the wind. Here it is:

This is the “flag” that was removed. The company logo.

This, so the campaign could have their own logo painted on the tail.

But imagine the logic and reasoning. Imagine what would happen if all of a sudden it became verboten to remove North American’s logo from a leased plane because it looked like a waving American flag. You lease a plane, you want to have your logo painted on it. If they couldn’t remove North American’s logo, the plane looks like a commercial jet, not a campaign jet.

Who wants that?

Who would ever want to lease another jet from North American? All of a sudden, North American is out of the leasing business, and deprived of the chunk of change that they get from leases.

That is, these rightwing complainers are depriving a company of its commerce.

That’s socialism.

And it is Pearl Harbor Day.

2011-12-07T23:21:00.001-06:00

My father and all of my uncles joined up as best they could after that day. My dad was still at school so he had awhile to wait. His younger brother leaped ahead and joined the merchant marines who didn't have age requirements.His older brother, at school learning to be an architect, had a wait but finally got a shot at a seaman in the US Navy.

They were all affected by that day, 70 years ago.

Anyone have someone to remember who served or was lost in that war? A memory? Leave it here.

Hump Day Humor

2011-12-07T18:49:00.001-06:00

I can't wait for Newt Gingrich to implode in public, giving the TEA Party-led Republican Party no other choice than to adopt Mitt Romney as its standard bearer. The excitement at the polls will be absolutely breath taking.

Literally.

Obama Cares

2011-12-06T18:18:00.001-06:00

I like the President’s latest speech in front of an enthusiastic crowd in Cannon Falls, Minnesota today. He turned the much-hated GOP derogative term “Obamacare” against the opposition today and said this:

“I have no problem with folks saying 'Obamacare,' I do care. If the other side wants to be the folks who don't care, that's fine with me. But, yeah, I do care about families who have been struggling because of crushing health care costs.”

The crowd loved it, and so do I.

Each and every one of the remaining 7 dwarves that constitute the GOP presidential wannabes have promised in the most strident sentences, that the first order of business when they run Barack Obama out of office is to repeal “Obamacare.”

I’d like to see that. I’d like to see that they repeal a law that 50% of American voters like tremendously, and only 39% want to see repealed. And the 39% don’t even suspect a provision of the law that just went into effect on December 1^st. The most beneficial aspect of the law outside of the establishment of the insurance exchanges - a provision that will make health insurance completely subject to the law of supply and demand.

The provision that kicked in just 5 days ago was the one that required health insurance companies to commit at least 80% of their premiums, their income, to actual healthcare payments. Large volume companies must pay 85% of their premiums toward coverage.

Believe it or not, for-profit companies, in the past, have committed less than that toward healthcare coverage, allotting a greater percent toward things like executive bonuses.

Yes, the payments that were previously denied were allocated toward covering payment for some insurance executive’s new yacht.

Now they are going to have to run a leaner and meaner machine. Something that the GOP should be applauding, because they want that so much in government.

But no. These GOP candidates are all against that. They really don’t care that people don’t get adequate healthcare coverage, but they do care that Ritchie Rich, the senior VP of coverage denials gets himself a new 50-foot yacht with a bonus funded by their customers’ premiums.

Obama does care.

Can We Have a Moment of Science, Please?

2011-12-05T17:42:00.000-06:00

Every once in awhile my head gets turned by my first love, science. We humans can do some amazing things, and NASA’s Kepler Mission is one of those things. The Kepler Mission (Named after Johannes Kepler, the father of modern astronomy), this is a mission to send a space telescope into Earth orbit, one with incredible optics that can detect the presence of distant solar systems, suns with orbiting planets.

And, no the telescope is not powerful enough to actually see the planets. It takes advantage of the fact that when the planets come between our line of sight and their star, the star’s brightness diminishes slightly, the bigger the planet, the greater the diminishment.

And thus far, the mission has identified hundreds of solar systems with 2,326 “planet candidates.” That’s not bad. But today they announced the discovery of a “Goldilocks Planet.” This is a planet whose average orbital radius is within the zone that allows water to exist in its liquid form, universally considered to be the primary ingredient for the existence of life.

And they know the average orbital radius because they can measure the orbital period of the planet. If it is close to an Earth year, it is within the “not too hot, not too cold zone.”

And they found one.

They call it Kepler-22. A “planet candidate” that, if it is rocky and not a gas ball, and it has the requisite ingredients of abundant liquid water plus carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur and potassium, etc. could support life.

And this is just one of a little over 2000.

Consider the odds.

And no, I have not surrendered this blog to science. It is still a political blog. Witness the video that this story reminded me of. Eric Idle’s Galaxy Song.

Galaxy Song by Eric Idle

Is Rick Perry Running for President or Despot?

2011-12-04T13:15:00.000-06:00

Rick Perry has been caught on camera again showing his obviously abundant supply of ignorance. It’s either that or he’s not really running for president, but rather would rather have the job of despotic ruler. He was asked the same question four different times about his intention to stop implementation of many parts of the Affordable Healthcare Act by issuing executive orders.

Anyone with an 8^th grade education knows that executive orders cannot be used as a trump card to cancel out the express will of congress.

But this is news to Rick Perry who is not unfamiliar with abuse of power of the executive order as governor of Texas. Recall his executive order ordering the vaccinations of every 11 year old female child in Texas against Human Papilloma Virus. An order so outrageously heavy-handed and overstepping that it was quickly quashed by the state legislature.

So while some may say that this is just another example of the ignorance of the Texas governor, like his earlier remarks about being 21 on November 12th, I am now wondering if this is simply something that Rick Perry intends to make happen.

Why Was Cain Ever in It?

2011-12-03T16:01:00.002-06:00

Upon hearing that Herman Cain was “suspending” his presidential campaign my first thought was “Suspending? Like McCain suspended his campaign?”

Then I figured it all out. This guy, with an ego the size of Jupiter could never bring himself to announce an end to his campaign. It sounds so much better to say it this way, as if to say that he might be back.

But no, stick a fork in him, Herman Cain is done.

Then I asked myself, why was Cain ever in it to begin with? Was it really all about selling his book like the pundits say? A national book tour that also took in campaign contributions?

No, I now honestly think he was in it to win. The stars were all aligned. The Tea Party was slowly eroding any common decency that remained in the GOP. The national conservative mood was perfect for a guy like Herman Cain and he knew it.

And then you ask yourself how can someone with Cain’s reputation of sexually harassing women, and extra-marital affairs (and I don’t think it would have stopped at one revelation) think that there was no chance that no one would find out about them? That was my latest thought on the fact that Cain was in it merely to sell books.

But no. He really was in it to win.

And what leads me to think this now? In his latest denial that he would be ending his campaign today, Cain said this: “I’m on this journey for a reason. I don’t look back.”

That’s probably the only true statement of the facts that Herman Cain uttered in his whole time campaigning.

Keeping a Dirty Little Secret Could Cost County Jobs

2011-12-02T18:08:00.000-06:00

Shaking my head this evening as I read that the Texas Secretary of State, Hope Andrade, is not doing due diligence in getting the word out that if a county official files for another office in the current filing period, they will find themselves unemployed.

It’s a dirty little secret.

You see, the GOP legislature changed the filing dates for those seeking office by a month earlier. It is now December 2, and filing for candidacy for public office began this past Monday, November 28^th. This ran up against a peculiar law that Texas has that says that someone currently holding a county office who files for another office must resign from their current office if they file on a date more than a year from the date they would take the new office, typically January 1^st.

That means that the new filing period, between November 28^th and December 15^th is more than a year before January 1^st 2013, and everyone currently in office, who files for another office, is automatically out of a job.

Oh, but the legislature fixed that with a constitutional amendment, and the voters approved the amendment last month. They increased the period from 12 months to 13.

Whew. All is good in the ‘hood again.

Except for the fact that Rick Perry hasn’t exactly put pen to paper to sign the bill into law. Something he could have done starting 8 days ago. And now we are 5 days into the filing period.

And Hope Andrade has been curiously silent in not warning people about the fact that should they file for another office this week (Perry promises to sign the bill on Monday), they will lose their jobs.

I wonder how many county public office holders are now ineligible to come to work as of the day they filed this week?

And while some may call this a mistake, a mistake due to miscommunication, I am a little suspicious. You see Republicans have used loads of filing date trickery in the past to rid themselves of people they don’t like. I recall the Glory Hopkins affair in Fort Bend County.

Back in 2005, Glory Hopkins, the perennial District Clerk of Fort Bend County, was given an address for her to send in her filing papers. But gosh darn it all, the address she was given had the wrong zip code on it and the mail was deemed undeliverable.

Hopkins was becoming a thorn in the side of other office holders, and this is how the Republican Party dealt with it. She was kept off the ballot, and lost her lawsuit to get back on.

So you see, when the GOP monkeys with anything in and around filing for political office, you know that they have reason to do it.

Monkey business.

Self-Deprecating Humor is Not Perry’s Forte Either

2011-12-01T17:26:00.000-06:00

I have no idea why Rick Perry wants to continually remind the voters of his onstage gaffe last November when he just could not dredge up the name of the federal department that he wanted to abolish.

Perhaps his campaign thinks that the voters will remember this come primary day in their states, but your average voter has no long term memory at all, and one heck of a weak short term memory.

But he keeps doing it. Like today, when he has a one-night only ad that will likely play during his time with Jay Leno tonight.

Here it is:

And so we now see that neither is Rick Perry a “slick debater” (like Slick Mitt) nor can he pull off self-deprecating humor in that stiff moment of comedy.

Cain Isn’t Able

2011-11-30T18:29:00.000-06:00

You want a working definition of a zombie? Herman Cain.

Zombies are the walking dead, and Herman Cain qualifies as a classic example of someone who is dead but doesn’t know it or want to admit it. Today Herman Cain tried to lay off the allegations of his former mistress on (probably) some white guys who want him out of the race.

Now, it’s probably true, in Republican politics, that white guys want Herman Cain to be out of the race to the nomination. He has become an embarrassment, much like Newt, Mitt, Ron, Rick, Rick and Michele, but Cain has the unfortunate reputation, now of making moves at white women. Republicans will forgive a lot. They will, for instance, forgive a man who fooled around while his wife was being treated for cancer, and divorced her when she didn’t have the courtesy to die real soon.

They won’t forgive a black man for making moves on white women who are asking for a little help.

They won’t.

So Herman Cain is about as dead as Marley’s Ghost.

Deader.

He’s as dead as the skunk that I ran over on the way to work today.

And the stench in Cain’s case is even deeper.

But he just doesn’t know it. Or maybe he does, but still hasn’t sold as many books as he wanted to.

Well That’s a Relief, Texas Can Continue to Inadequately Raise Revenue

2011-11-29T18:52:00.000-06:00

Late yesterday justices of the Texas Supreme Court, Republicans all, ruled that the business franchise tax was not unconstitutional as alleged by plaintiff Allcat Claims Service LP.

This was a lawsuit that was filed last year that claimed that the 2005 revamp of the Texas tax collection system, a totally inadequate one given the basic necessities of what it must pay for, was unconstitutional because of the 1993 Bullock Amendment, passed by the legislature and agreed upon by Texas voters, that forbade the establishment of an income tax.

Yes, voters voted not to have state income taxes. Do tell.

The court found that this was not a tax on the income of real flesh and blood people, but a tax on an entity.

So we can all breathe a sigh of relief that one of the state’s major sources of revenue, a totally inadequate source of revenue given the current biennial budget shortfall of $28 billion, will not be squished like a cockroach in a corner.

They can continue to raise revenue from businesses, revenue that doesn’t cover costs.

Frankly, I was routing for an overturn of the business tax, not because I want Texas to face a budget crisis like it has never faced before, but because I wanted the legislature to be forced into a corner and finally pass legislation that would adequately fund public school education and Medicaid.

But that’s our Republican Supreme Court, enabling the cutters of government services one more time.

They Have Womanizing in Common, But Newt’s Up and Cain’s Down?

2011-11-28T18:10:00.000-06:00

OK, now I have to ask this question. Newt Gingrich is well-known for his sexual dalliances with women not his wives, 3 at last count. And wife number two was on death’s door when Newt divorced her so he could marry the woman he was fooling around with at the moment, his present wife.

And Newt, supposedly because of this and other issues, like his flip-floppiness on the issues and his massive spending, is now up in the polls, beating Mitt Romney in a primary election by several percentage points.

Yet Herman Cain, equally a womanizer who has gotten several accusations of sexual harassment, and today, an announcement of a 13-year affair with another woman, who volunteered the information, is way down in the polls, in the low teens.

What’s with that?

Why do Republican voters love them some Newt despite the fact that he cheated on two wives, most recently when he was trying to get Bill Clinton impeached for the same thing, and turn their backs on Hermann Cain for his sexual misbehavior?

A double standard exists, I think.

Gee, I wonder what it is…

No Deference is Exactly the Point

2011-11-26T14:16:00.000-06:00

Now, as part of the presentation of new congressional district maps drawn as a result of a continuing federal trial in Washington, DC, all sides were given the opportunity to submit comments before noon yesterday. In and among the comments filed before the deadline was this choice gem filed by the state:“Showed no deference?” Deference?

Because the Court changed all 36 congressional districts, it is clear that the Court has showed no deference to the congressional redistricting plan enacted by the Texas Legislature.”

Now I know the meaning of that word, but perhaps someone needs reminding what the word deference actually means. Here is one definition: “respectful submission or yielding to the judgment, opinion, will, etc., of another.”

In among those words are these: respectful, judgment and opinion.

That is being respectful of the judgment and opinion of the Texas Legislature. An opinion, and a judgment that because of how they drew these district maps up, is beneath the respect of everyone.

Really and truly? The state is critical of how the 3-judge panel, two of them being Republican appointees, redrew the congressional district maps because they got no respect?

That’s kind of the idea, you know.

But I’m willing to cut the judges some slack and say that probably not all of the district boundaries needed to be redrawn, but because others definitely had problems, when you move a boundary in one district because it is unfairly drawn, that means that this same boundary that is shared by a neighboring district also has to move, even it there is no good reason to move it.

It’s either that, or the congressional district map was so poorly and unfairly drawn that it actually required that all 36 districts’ boundaries to be adjusted. That is, the state just proved the plaintiff’s case.

Redistricting Fallout: Aaron Pena is History

2011-11-25T16:25:00.000-06:00

n India, it’s called karma. I call it justice. Aaron Pena just took a look at the district boundaries that the 3-judge federal panel redrew for him, converting it from a Republican-safe to a Democratic-safe district, and decided that there was no way he was going to win in the next election.

There was no way he could win as a Republican, and there was no way he was going to win by re-ratting, or returning to the Democratic fold.

Pena couldn’t be elected dog catcher and he knows it.

Pena, in deserting the Democratic Party at its darkest hour, enabled the Republicans to have a super majority, and enabled the passage of the worst laws in a long, long time.

And it is obvious to all what enabled the enabling. Pena was wooed into becoming a turncoat by being promised that his Democratic district would be “adjusted” into a district only a Republican could love.

That’s just another indication of how bad the new district maps were going to be for Democrats. Turning a Democratic-safe House district in the Rio Grande Valley into a Republican-safe district is no mean feat. They worked with a definite purpose.

And now Pena’s district has been returned to the Democratic majority.

And now there is dancing in the streets of Edinburgh, Texas.

Because now Aaron Pena is history.

What I am Thankful For

2011-11-24T12:55:00.000-06:00

On this Thanksgiving Day as we begin the 2012 election year, I just want to thank the Republican Party for the most unlikely field of candidates to challenge my president, Barack Hussein Obama.

Thanks for Michele Bachmann. A truly crazed woman with ideas that are nuttier than pecan pie.

Thanks for Herman Cain. A womanizer extraordinaire who is delusional if he didn’t think his past misogynistic behaviors weren’t ever going to come out.

Thanks for Newt Gingrich. A guy who couldn’t just wait until his bed-ridden cancer-stricken wife to pass before getting it on with his present wife, all while serving up Bill Clinton to an impeachment trial for lying about his dalliance. A guy who wants to repeal child labor laws.

Thanks for Mitt Romney. A guy so two faced that it takes him twice as long to shave in the morning as most people.

Thanks for Rick Santorum. Hey, someone has to be in last place, might as well be Rick.

Thanks for Rick Perry. A guy so dumb that he actually makes George W. Bush look like a rocket scientist.

Thanks for John Huntsman. A guy who is most likely to appeal to moderates and independent voters, but hasn’t a snowball’s chance in the infernal region of getting the nomination, not if the Tea Party has anything to say about it.

And thanks for Ron Paul. A perennial presidential candidate whose crazed Libertarian ideas are becoming mainstreamed by the Tea Party.

Yes, there is truly a lot we can be thankful for. This blog may be called Half Empty, but today my cup truly runneth over.

Color Me Thankful

2011-11-23T16:35:00.005-06:00

Color me thankful today, the day before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Eve if you will. Thankful for the 3-judge panel of federal judges who oversaw the drawing up of a new congressional district map that will very probably be used in the 2012 election.

You see, Texas gained nearly 4.3 million additional citizens between 2000 and 2010, with over 60% of them being Hispanic. So you would think that the state legislature would draw up new congressional district maps that would reflect this change in the state’s demographics and give at least 2 or 3 of the new congressional districts coming to Texas from other states to this ethnic group, wouldn’t you? But no, this is Texas, and in Texas you don’t do the right thing if you are on the right, you do what is in your conservative heart’s best interest. You create 4 new Republican congressional districts, and in the meantime you divide Texas’ capitol city into 5 congressional districts where there were two before, and you put one of the most liberal Texas congressmen in an Hispanic-dominated district with an Hispanic primary challenger.

In short, you do the wrong thing.

Fortunately, Texas chose the wrong side in the American Civil War, and then behaved very badly in the years after Reconstruction, passing law after law that discriminated against ethnic minorities. This brings the state under the purview of the Voting Rights Act signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson.

A law that requires that all redistricting maps be reviewed by the federal government before they can be put into use. And the feds are fairly obvious in their view that there has been a gross miscarriage of justice in the maps that the legislature produced.

Another federal judge panel has ruled that “the State of Texas used an improper standard or methodology to determine which districts afford minority voters the ability to elect their preferred candidates of choice.” So we now have some new maps that favor the election of 3 Democratic congressmen representing Hispanic majority/minority districts. New districts in San Antonia and Fort Worth as well as a new district in South Texas.

A zoomable district map can be found here.

But perhaps the nicest thing about this new map, in my own personal case, is what the judges did to my congressional district, Tom DeLay’s old district, CD-22. CD-22 used to look like one of those Indonesian leather shadow puppets called Wayang Kulit. Here is the old map.

See? It was distributed over a broad demographic in parts of 4 counties, twisting through southern Harris County so it could take in NASA and then head south to dilute the Democratic vote in Galveston County. Here is the new map.

The new map unites Fort Bend County and takes in northern parts of Brazoria County. NASA is gone from CD-22 and is now in the new CD-36 dominated by East Texas and the deep red evil that resides there.

Now, in 2008, Fort Bend County voted 49% for Barack Obama. Fort Bend County came within 8000 votes of tipping to the winner of that year’s presidential election. So I am guessing that where we had in CD-22 a safe congressional district for Republicans, today it is less safe.

JFK: May 29th 1917 – November 22nd 1963

2011-11-22T17:17:00.001-06:00

Today is the anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the first president that I was aware of in my then-young life. Oh, I knew about Ike Eisenhower, but Kennedy, I was AWARE of him.

My mother and father were both volunteers on Jack Kennedy’s campaign. Those were amazing times. They threw a party on Inauguration Day and the house was filled with people I had never met before.

They spent more money for that party than I ever thought possible at the time, and the attendees, I remember, were very, very happy.

I often compare that evening to Election Eve 2008 when I partied with a big roomful of Democrats as we witnessed on a big HDTV screen Barack Obama’s historic win over John McCain.

But November 22^nd 1961 was a very somber time at my home. That entire weekend had the television on continuously as we watched the unfolding of events, including a moment on live TV when we saw Jack Ruby fill Lee Harvey Oswald full of .22 caliber lead. And Blackjack, the horse that was lead down Pennsylvania Avenue with a pair of boots reversed in the stirrups. And little John John with his poignant salute with that small, small hand of his.

Today, on the 48^th anniversary of his death, Jack Kennedy is being remembered from coast to coast. Remembered on Facebook. Remembered at his former residence.

Remembered by me, wondering what life would have been like had the bullets missed their mark.

Newt Gingrich on Child Labor Laws: “Stupid”

2011-11-21T18:19:00.000-06:00

I wouldn’t have believed it had it not been for the fact that the former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, a current leader in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination, was caught on video saying that the child labor laws, capstones of the progressive movement in the early 20^th century, were, in his words, “stupid.”

Yes, we have video.

Can you believe it? Tea Party-influenced Republicans are willing to roll back the things that progressives brought to American culture, that is in this case the sanctity of childhood. There seems to be no limit to the regressivism of Tea Party politics.

What’s next? Importing slaves? Bringing back indentured servitude? How about invading the Holy Land to restore Christianity to Jerusalem?

Oh, wait, I think they favor that, too.

It Depends on Which Federal Interference You Prefer

2011-11-21T17:55:00.000-06:00

In reaction to the redrawn State House and Senate district maps revealed by a 3-judge panel of federal district court judges, Texas Attorney General reacted with righteous outrage that the will of the people of Texas to elect themselves the most conservative state legislature in state history has been usurped by these militant judges (two of whom are Bush appointees).

From the Austin American-Statesman:

“In a response filed with the court, Attorney General Greg Abbott challenged the three sets of maps — one for the Senate, two alternatives for the House — as an improper overstepping of authority by ‘unelected federal judges’ over the will of the elected Texas Legislature, which approved its own maps earlier this year.”

That’s right, they weren’t elected. Two were appointed by George W. Bush.

But today we hear that House Speaker Joe Straus has also weighed in, and has issued the threat that if the 3-judge panel doesn’t rule on maps that are more similar to the ones passed by the legislature, that they would file suit and take it to the US Supreme Court.

That’s right, that other panel of unelected federal judges, the one that rules for Republicans far more often than it rules for Democratic causes.

So it’s not so much about the unelected part, and it certainly isn’t about the part about them being federal officials ruling over state matters, another thing intimated by the AG, it’s all about who is on your team.

Proving again that the maps were drawn up with the most heinous of self-interested motives: winning through subversion of the election process.

That is … they are still doing it. If this isn’t completely obvious, justice is truly blind.

Texas AG Has Tantrum Over Redistricting

2011-11-19T16:22:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott pitched a hissy fit over a 3-judge panel’s artwork as they redrew state senate and house district maps, correcting the Republican-dominated state legislature’s ham-handed attempt to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of minority voters.

The federal court judges, two of which are Republican, Abbott claims were trying “to make policy” rather than applying the law.

But I beg to differ.

Since the signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, every redistricting action that took place in Texas has had to be reviewed by federal judges and the Department of Justice in order to verify that the state has not reverted to its bad old days shenanigans of denying minorities of their voting rights. One of these rights is the right to be heard in the halls of state legislatures and congress.

A right that the Republican-dominated state legislature sought to deny them of in this past legislative session.

So the 3-dudge panel drew up interim maps to be used in the 2012 election cycle until the state can come up with district maps that better reflect the demographics and ethnicity of the communities within each district.

Ironic, isn’t it, that here in the 2nd decade of the 21t century we are still fighting over this? And yes there are still pure evil racists out there who want these gerrymandered districts the way they were, but the grand majority, I would argue, these days are not so motivated by racial hatred in drawing the boundaries, although some may argue with me on this. These days it’s not about race, it’s about politics. Fact is, minority voters tend to vote in their own self interests, and that would be to vote Democratic.

The need for the VRA has changed, but enforcement of the VRA continues to evolve as we as a society do.

Florida Drug Test Law Makes It to a Top Five List

2011-11-18T18:03:00.000-06:00

The Center for American Progress is compiling a list of the top five efforts by the ultra-right to deny Americans living below the poverty line any ability to escape poverty. And today I read that the recently passed Tea Party-backed Florida law to require state welfare applicants to take and pass a drug test before they could receive welfare checks is now on that list.

Teabaggers, it seems, all seem to think that people on welfare are all a bunch of low life parasite junkies. So they got a law passed this year requiring all applicants to put out a

$30 expenditure for a drug test to prove they are drug free. Only then will they be able to collect welfare checks. Those that fail will be kept off the welfare rolls for a year. And if they fail in the next year, they stay off for 3 years.

But really, according to the Center for American Progress, all this does is keep people from escaping poverty.

In all, since July, 96% of all those tested passed. These individuals were then reimbursed by the state for the drug test fee. The other 4%? Well the state is enjoying cost savings of tens of thousands of dollars in not giving the junkies money to buy drugs with. At the cost of millions of dollars in expenditures to reimburse the other 96%.

That is, Teabaggers, always on the lookout for a way to cut costs, have added costs to the state’s budget through this law.

But wait, it gets better.

The company that has the exclusive contract to conduct these drug tests was founded by Florida’s current Tea Party governor, Rick Scott, was a co-founder of this company in 2001. A company that got the state contract. A company whose stock Scott sold last April for a cool $63 million.

But wait, it gets even better.

The sale of the stock precedes a ruling late last month by a Bush-appointed federal district judge, Judge Mary Scriven, that the law just might be a violation of the 4^th Amendment which protects Americans from unreasonable search and seizure. In fact, these drug tests, which are actually medical records, are not kept confidential but are made available to law enforcement groups. Judge Scriven halted enforcement of the law pending decisions on whether the law is unconstitutional; a thing that she thinks is highly likely.

DOJ Defers Voter ID Law Decision

2011-11-17T17:11:00.000-06:00

It is a clear signal to me, at least, that the Department of Justice is running out of patience with the people who run elections in Texas: Republicans in charge of state elections.

In a letter issued by the head of the Voting Section of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, the director of elections for the state of Texas was informed that she had not provided the information originally requested by the DOJ to be used to determine whether SB 14, the Voter ID Bill, recently rammed through a Republican-super-dominated state legislature earlier this year, violated the rights of minority voters.

The reason, ostensibly, is that Texas does not require information on race on their voter registration forms, something that they cutely must think demonstrates that Texas is blind to race.

But the Elections Department made it very clear in its reply that this information could be gleaned simply by identifying, say, Hispanic voters by their surnames. Information that has not been forthcoming from the Elections Division. In fact, the date of submission of that information was never specified.

Consequently, the DOJ will not be issuing a ruling in regard to the legality of this law in view of the Voting Rights Act, an act that makes special requirements for voting laws passed by states that previously discriminated against minority voters anytime soon.

Certainly not by the January 1^st deadline, when the Voter ID Law was supposed to be in force.

And one wonders whether it will be in force by the time the Texas primary rolls around in March.

What is clear to anyone with any knowledge of election strategy is that the purpose of this law was to deny minority voters (and for that, read Democratic voters) of their voting rights. Republicans have been working this scheme since the 80’s.

What is very clear to me is that the Elections Department and the DOJ are in a staring contest, and the DOJ has just indicated that it is willing for this to go on for an indefinite amount of time.

Time is, after all on their side.

Hump Day Humor

2011-11-16T18:26:00.000-06:00

Probably the most appropriate political cartoon of the week. Only Rick Perry, a former Aggie with a D- average would want to do away with the Department of Education, the department with probably the most important and necessary government function in existence: the education of the next generation.

Republicans Have Themselves a 3-Way

2011-11-14T17:47:00.006-06:00

The news cannot possibly be better. Likely Republican primary voters have a new darling. The new “Not_Mitt”? Newt Gingrich.

Newt Gingrich is surging in the polls, taking up the slack that Rick Perry’s eternal gaffes and Herman Cain’s poor treatment of the best of us has produced.

That’s what Politico says anyway. From Politico:

“A new Public Policy Polling survey out Monday has him in first place, hitting 28 percent. He’s a close second behind Mitt Romney in both Monday’s CNN/ORC International poll, which showed him at 22 percent, and the McClatchy-Marist poll out Friday, which showed him at 19 percent”

That’s right. The new front runner, or second-front runner depending on which poll you are willing to believe, has former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich back up at the top.

Perry? Stick a fork in him, he’s done.

So let me get this straight. Republican primary voters will choose between an African-American businessman with no real prior experience in government other than trying to figure out how to pay it as little as possible in taxes, and a Teabagger to boot that is so intertwined with the Koch brothers that you don’t know where one ends and the other begins, and Newt a former congressman who resigned from congress in disgrace rather than take ownership over the fact that he was responsible for the 1998 election disaster for his party – while simultaneously cheating on his dying wife in an affair with his present wife.

An affair that he carried out while conducting impeachment procedings against Bill Clinton, who was accused of essentially the same thing.

Oh… and Mitt. Mitt Romney, a man who will not receive 20% of Republican votes because he is a Mormon.

Republican “Values Voters” are finally going to reap what they have sown. They will have to decide between two womanizers and a Mormon.

A friend shared a 1994 quote from Barry Goldwater recently and I think it is totally apropos to repost it here. It is so clear that his prediction has come to fruition.

“Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.”

Amen.

The Campaign Signs are Still Up

2011-11-13T18:14:00.000-06:00

The law enforcement officers who are also politicians here in Fort Bend County have happened upon a loophole in campaign sign posting.

Now it is way too early to post campaign signs for the Fall 2012 campaign season. I believe there is a 90-day limit in the county. Nevertheless we saw signs go up that prominently displayed the names of these officers of the law, and then somewhere in a smaller font size their message on how to vote on the constitutional amendment propositions.

It’s all about messaging, and putting up in a highly visible way your issues.

Not these two

Here is one out by a heavily traveled county road.

Here is another still stuck in someone’s front lawn. I should point out that the big ones are gone.

These photos were taken earlier this afternoon, 5 days after the polls closed in the amendment election.

Time to take them down, gentlemen.

Cain: Obama Cut Space Shuttle Program

2011-11-12T16:28:00.000-06:00

What do Tea Partiers and LaRouchies have in common? Well it seems to be their viral hatred of the fact that President Obama ended the NASA space shuttle program. At least that is what I read today at the Huffington Post.

It has a familiar ring, doesn’t it? That’s because in the 2010 Texas CD 22 congressional race, Pete Olson’s “Democratic” opponent, Kesha Rogers, an adherent to the belief system promoted by Lyndon LaRouche, had it all in for the president for just this same issue.

Had it in for him as in claiming that it was an impeachable offense.

Here is a video of Herman Cain discussing just this issue.

Here is what the Huffington Post records as his statement on the issue:

“‘I can tell you that as president of the United States, we are not going to bum a ride to outer space with Russia,’ Cain said to loud applause. ‘We're going to regain our rightful place in terms of technology, space technology.’"

“Cain was talking about U.S. plans, now that the space shuttle is retired, to use Russian rockets to send astronauts to the International Space Station.”

And normally that would make a good story for local consumption, NASA being a very big deal in southeast Texas. It would certainly be an issue with voters here. All except for the fact that the space shuttle program was signed into extinction in 2004 by former President George W. Bush.

But Tea Partiers and LaRouchies are inflamed over this issue despite the fact that sending an astronaut to the International Space Station costs the government $56 million (with an expected rate hike to $63 million in the future), a net cost savings over sending them up on a space shuttle mission.

But there you have it. Cain, a businessman, seems to be all about doing things on the cheap, a Tea Party favorite, but when he gets specific its not WalMart he wants to do his shopping at, it’s Neimann-Marcus.

Buffalo Soldiers, Aye. Stars and Bars, Nay

2011-11-11T17:34:00.000-06:00

Yesterday at a board meeting of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, before a packed hearing room, the governing board voted unanimously to reject a proposal to produce a vanity plate featuring the most hated symbol of the South – and not hated just by African-Americans – the Confederate Flag.

The board then voted on another proposal for another vanity plate, a plate honoring the “Buffalo Soldiers,” African-American soldiers who served in the army’s 10^th Cavalry after the Civil War (er… excuse me, the War of Northern Agression). That proposal passed.

This is such a strong rebuff of The Sons of Confederate Veterans, the only group to endorse this proposal, that they made no bones about their displeasure and promised to bring the matter up in a lawsuit, which had positive (that is, negative) results other southern states.

So you know what? How about this? How about we get a resolution passed in Congress that spells out who is a veteran and who is not? Because in my humble opinion, those who served in the Confederate Army are not true veterans, and should not be honored on Veterans Day – today by the way. They need to be specifically excluded.

They were not veterans, they were traitors.

Perry Forgetting His Core Issue Explained

2011-11-10T18:01:00.000-06:00

I’ve given up watching the Republican presidential debates not because I don’t want to see these people claw each other into bloody gore, but because I am tired of hearing audience reaction to some of the most hateful ideas voiced on stage.

Like the enthusiastic cheering at the Texas governor’s presiding over the most state-sponsored executions in the nation.

Like the booing of a gay soldier serving in Iraq who had a question for Rick Santorum concerning Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

Like the positive reaction to an observation that someone who is without health insurance, and has gotten fatally ill, should die.

Conservative audiences have become so polarized that it turns my stomach to watch anymore. And I hope that this is also not lost on Independent voters come next year’s election.

So I got to miss Rick Perry’s latest gaffe, as he failed to remember the name of the 3^rd presidential cabinet department that he wanted to eliminate: the Department of Energy.

How can a governor of a state which has such a heavy stake in energy (oil and gas) forget about the Department of Energy and how he wants to eliminate it? He couldn’t do it despite several attempts.

So here is my explanation. As mentioned previously, Rick Perry has no core beliefs other than the fact that he needs to be rich, and accomplishing that while serving in public office involves getting stuff from your donors, and getting stuff for your donors.

One hand washes the other.

So when Rick Perry couldn’t dredge up the 3^rd department he wanted to eliminate, it was just a failure of memory – failure of his rote memorization of his targets - without any conviction for which targets they should be, and why. All of that was just memorized.

It has to be. There can be no other explanation.