And Filing for US Senator From Texas . . .

Continuing on the theme from yesterday, who thus far has filed to be on the Texas Primary ballot for United States Senator?

For the forces of The Dark Side, a Larry Kilgore, listed as a consultant filed on Day 1 of the filing window 12/3/2007, and then on 12/15/2007 the present junior senator from Texas, John Cornyn has filed.

So far, two Republicans will fight it out for the nomination.

Larry Kilgore, a 42-year old right wing evangelical Christian, is running on a platform of loving God and hating the Nazis who are killing our unborn children (or, at least, that’s how it reads on page one of his campaign website).

Ever the spoiler, Kilgore ran against Rick Perry for the GOP nomination for Texas Governor back in 2006 garnering 50,119 votes or 7.64% of the primary-going Republican voters.

And chances are he will get about the same number of votes again unless someone has passed on to that great voting booth in the sky.

John Cornyn, whose qualifications for candidacy (and draft dodging) has been chronicled here and here, then finds himself in a comfortable place among his voting base, who have been left with little other choice in the primary.

For the Democratic Party we have three filings for United States Senator thus far.

State Rep. LTC Rick Noriega filed on opening day on 12/3/2007 amid fanfare after a friendly sendoff held in his Houston neighborhood. This was followed by the 12/18/2007 filing by Ray McMurrey, who incidentally filed for the entire US Senate. He was closely followed by the ever-present Gene Kelly who filed on 12/21/2007.

Rick Noriega is running on his Story, which is a good one, and on his progressive positions that have been made clear in the legislative record of the Texas State Legislature.

Ray McMurrey is running because apparently he doesn’t like Rick Noriega. For the life of me I can’t find out about a single thing that this social studies teacher from Corpus Christi is for, except that he is for Rick Noriega not getting the nomination. My suspicion is that McMurrey, with his roots in Mikal Watts-land, is sore at Rick for not being entangled in the shadowy dealings of Mauricio Celis, as did the candidate that he formerly supported.

And finally we have the ever-present and ever-popular Gene Kelly. I liked him in “An American in Paris”, didn’t you? Remember “Singing in the Rain”? You do? Well that’s what this Gene Kelly hopes you remember also because he’s not that Gene Kelly, the handsome actor, singer-dancer. He’s 81-year old Gene Kelly, the retired Air Force lawyer. Kelly has some state-wide name recognition since he has run and lost more statewide elections than most candidates of either side of the aisle. And his name is spelled the same as the actor’s.

Do you think that he has gotten votes in the past because voters have mistaken this Gene for THAT Gene?

Does a ?

Just A Few Days Left To File For the March Primary

January 2, 2008. That’s the deadline to file for candidacy for any office that will be on the March 5th Texas Primary ballot. That’s just days away, and that means it is crunch time for all the campaigns who have yet to have filed.

And as one former District Clerk found out, that drop dead date is exactly what it says it is: file or drop dead (and remember to get the address right – actually, I go with hand carrying if you are filing in Fort Bend County).

Bringing us to the list of current filers, as of Friday, December 21st.

In Texas 22nd Congressional District we have Nick Lampson alone on the ballot so far, but 4 of the 9 declared candidates on the Party of the Dark Side have filed:

Pete Olson filed on the first day: 12/3/2007.
John Manlove (Dave Wallace’s guy) filed on 12/17/2007.
Jim “Reverand Jim” Squier filed on 12/19/2007,
And bringing up the rear, former Congresswoman Shelley Sekula Gibbs, congresswoman for a month, filed on 12/20/2007.

And that’s it.

Four out of nine? Well Eight. Apparently Alan “The Kid” Steinberg withdrew, sending all of his supporters over to the camp of Pete “I’ve got a sailor suit” Olson. In his farewell announcement, entitled “So long and thanks for all the fish”, Steinberg writes:

“I feel strongly that Pete Olson would be the best person to serve our district in Congress, and have decided to step aside in order to focus on encouraging a greater public involvement in the system as a whole.”

So Alan stepped aside. I’m sure I just heard the Olson camp breathe a sigh of relief.

By the way, if you are still scratching your head about the title of his piece, it comes from the title of the fourth of five books that make up Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe Trilogy. Hey, at least the guy is well-read.

Whose missing here? Dean Hrbacek? Bob Talton? Where’d ya go, guys? Bob: worried about losing that House seat of yours to a Democrat? Dean, worried about . . . oh, that’s right, David Wallace already DID that.

And then there is Brian and Ryan, Klock and Rowley, respectively. Dark horses that make the campaign of Alan Steinberg credible.

Times a-wastin’ guys. Get those papers in so we can have us a real GOP slug fest. Watch out, though. In my humble opinion, at least one of them may be packing brass knuckles.

TxDOT Suddenly Has Money to Spend

But follow the money.

Not TxDOT’s. That’s your money that TxDOT gets from taxes from wherever.

But suddenly, after crying poverty for so long, justifying that major new commuter highway projects be funded through tolls, TxDOT says that it can come up with $275 million to widen a rural highway in Fort Bend and Brazoria Counties. That’s right. TxDOT wants to widen a presently mostly two-lane State Highway 36 and Spur 10 into four lanes along a corridor stretching from Pleak Village (just south of Rosenberg) at SH 36 and FM 2218 to FM 1495 (aka Pine Street) in Freeport, Texas.

In two recent townhall meetings that TxDOT conducted, one at West Columbia High School in Brazoria County and the one most recently in the gymnasium of Needville High School, in Fort Bend County, TxDOT spokesman Roger Gonzalez, a TxDOT project manager, told the attendees (quoting The Chron):

“that the roads need to be widened to improve existing traffic flow in the area, to compensate for population growth in the region, to help in the event of a hurricane evacuation and to improve access to the Port of Freeport”.

“’The current capacity is not sufficient during an evacuation event,’ Gonzalez said.”

“He said the portion of Spur 10 that may be expanded saw 1,191 vehicles per day in 2005, and projections indicate that same part of the road will see 2,923 vehicles per day in 2025.”

“The part of Texas 36 set to be widened saw 10,283 cars per day in 2005, a number that is projected to increase to 16,453 in 2025.”

Now I am a little confused. I have been up and down SH 36 and I cannot for the life of me get a feel for the projections of increased traffic. There are times, I swear, you can see a Texas Tortoise make it’s way across the entire width of Hwy 36 unscathed.

But then, I guess we’re not just talking about natural growth along a two-lane highway are we? We’re talking cause and effect.

If you build it they will come.

From County Judge Hebert when the Fort Bend County Commissioners approved this project this past August. Quoting from FortBendNow:

“’If the project comes about’, Hebert said earlier this year, ‘it could help spur growth and development in the southern portion of Fort Bend County, and certainly it helps the Port of Freeport.’”

Straight from the horse’s mouth. TxDOT again will spend millions of dollars to improve a state highway in order to enable developers to expand into the rural areas along Highway 36. You know, like Needville.

Needville, Texas, for those of you who have never been there, sports a sign at its city limits that proclaims the city as the place “where thousands live the way millions wish they could”.

If you like rural living, there’s no finer place to live than Needville.

Unless, as Judge Hebert predicts, that ruralness is about to go away forever.

But there was one odd thing that Hebert mentioned toward the end that got me curious, as well as the comment by TxDOT spokesmen Gonzales:

Hebert: “…and certainly it helps the Port of Freeport.”
Gonzales: “…and to improve access to the Port of Freeport”

Freeport? Everyone wants to go to Freeport, as Gonzales suggests?

No, I think it’s pretty much the other way around. The Port of Freeport has just last year broken ground on the largest expansion of their deepwater terminal in 40 years. It’s called the Velasco Terminal, and at its full completion, it is expected to be able to handle between 800,000 and 1,000,000 20-ft-equivalent container units annually.

Where do all those containers go? Why on truck beds, of course. And those trucks will be sent north on a newly widened SH 36 roaring and screaming up and down the highway belching diesel exhaust day and night non-stop.

Turning Needville into a place where millions live where only thousands wish they could.

Why SH 36? What’s so special? Well for one thing it intersects at Rosenberg with the proposed Trans Texas Corridor, Interstate 69. That’s one destination, but not the only one, bringing us to why the H-E double-hockey sticks TxDOT wants to spend $42 million to widen Spur 10.

What is Spur 10?

Spur 10 is a little known road west of Rosenberg (but maybe soon to be included in Rosenberg), that marks the western end of what has become termed the triple forks area, an area of hundreds of undeveloped acres near the junction of Spur 10, FM 529 and the future TTC I 69 highway, where it has been recently proposed to build a major container on/off load site. The site is conveniently situated at the crossroads of I 69 and a major East-West rail line that locally runs along US 90A. More convenient if it were at the end of newly widened Spur 10/SH 36.

Last July 3rd I was present at a Nick Lampson town hall meeting at which Rosenberg officials pointed out the proposed project to Lampson. Lampson, a newly appointed member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, seemed startled at the news, but became acutely interested in the project, and I suppose, its ramifications.

So what is the point of this posting that seemingly jumps from one lily pad to another showing the connections but to what end?

It’s all about the money. Not your money. Their money. The money of Madrid-based Dragados SPL which is funding the construction of Freeport’s Velasco Terminal and will ultimately operate the terminal. Texas appears to be in full partnership with the Bush agenda as they outsource our infrastructure (and in this case our ports) to foreign interests.

And TxDOT is willing to pony up American taxpayer dollars to make this all happen, but not one taxpayer dollar to help Texas citizens get from point A to point B. Instead, TxDOT says, Texans that need to commute to work need to do so by paying exorbitant tolls. Nope, can't afford to pay for commuter transportation needs. Yep, when you see TxDOT loosen it’s purse strings to plunk down some taxpayer dollars, don’t expect it to be in the interests of Texan commuters. But that doesn’t prevent them from telling residents about how the expansion will help them by warning them about crowded hurricane escape routes and the expected increase in traffic. Of course there will be a traffic increase what with an additional 2,200 trucks roaring up and down the highway every day (that’s 1 truck every 40 seconds).

What to conclude? With apologies to JFK:

...and so my fellow Texans ask not what the Texas Department of Transportation can do for you, ask what they can do for foreign moneyed interests.

Bring Him Home Santa

This song is jerking tears all over the country this week. If George Bush won’t bring our troops home, maybe it IS time to ask for someone else’s help.



U.S. out of Iraq. Today.

メリークリスマス

Submitted without further comment.

Do They Know It’s Christmas?

My God. Can it be that it was 23 years ago that they made the song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Twenty. Three. Years. I’ll bet there are people out there who have never heard the story of how and why the song was written and why it was performed by a group with the unlikely name “Band Aid”.

Band Aid?

It was a huge collection of then-popular Irish and British recording artists put together (some say ordered together) by then-recording giant Bob Geldof. Late in 1984 word came to Europe that Ethiopians were suffering from famine (hence all the staving Ethiopian jokes – that’s where they came from). Geldof and Midge Ure co-wrote the song then got on the phone to get “Band Aid” put together.

The idea was to make the single with lots of press coverage and have all the proceeds of the sale go to sending food to Ethiopia. Over three million copies of the single sold that year.

It was such a good idea, and apparently we still have starvation, that the single was remade 2 more times, most recently in 2004.

The Band Aid Charitable Trust continues to supply food and sanitary supplies to several African nations, most recently in Darfur.



I’m not a big fan of the British, but you have to admit their greatness when they show moral courage and charity to do this project, 3 times, while we Americans all sit around at Christmas and stuff our faces.

John Edwards in New Hampshire: America Rises

Wow.

New Hampshire gets all the good stuff. When John Edwards visited Houston, Texas this summer about 350 of his devotees, me included, stood heel to toe in a room whose air conditioning system could not cool it down. These New Hampshire guys get to go and hear John Edwards give a very inspiring speech, AND listen to Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne sing. I hope they all paid something for that. Last time I heard John speak in person it cost me $15. Last time I heard Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne sing together it was at the Santa Barbara Bowl and it cost me $32.

So I got this email on this New Hampshire town hall meeting from Elizabeth Edwards. “Oh,” I thought to myself, “Not another request for a donation.” I watched the video that came with it and something clicked. I don’t know what it is, but Elizabeth Edwards identifies it as capturing “a feeling of warmth and hope”. It sure worked for me. Here is what Elizabeth Edwards wrote:

The holiday season is a time for family, a time to give thanks -- and a time to think back on the year past.

This past week, John was joined by two of my favorite singers, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne, at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire. Take a moment to watch this video clip -- it captures the feeling of warmth and hope that we feel every day on the campaign trail. This is one of my favorite songs.

I hope you will take a couple of minutes to watch it, and share it with your family and friends over the holidays.

-Elizabeth Edwards

Consider it shared. Here is the video. It worked, Elizabeth. I plunked down $50 today. Others can, too.

Fort Bend GOP: Battling Fundraisers

Just when you think things are going to calm down a bit with the Republicans of Fort Bend County, someone fires another cannon into the deck. Here with the holiday season upon us, carolers going door to door, autos packed with children moving slowly through decorated neighborhoods, now we have the Fort Bend “C Club” announcing that they were going to party down after the primary with Tony Snow.

It’s all there at FortBendNow.

If you don’t live around here, you probably don’t know what the “C Club” is. The C Club, “C” is for Conservative, is a new PAC consisting of moderate conservatives where members are strictly by invitation only, and they have to plunk down a hefty $1500 fee just for the honor of being included on the exclusive membership list. Members include former officers of the Fort Bend GOP and others who are disaffected by recent goings on within the local party.

The question is asked at FortBendNow: if you are going to have to decide which event are you going to plunk down your usual $10,000 (yes folks, they are loaded) for, the FBGOP’s Lincoln-Reagan Dinner featuring Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael L. Williams and Lt. Col. (Ret.) Brian Birdwell as guest speakers, or the C Club’s own gala a mere month later that features former Bush press secretary and now Fox News commentator Tony Snow, which would you opt for?

So county Republicans are either going to have to pony up twice the price to attend both, or make a choice between the radical fringe’s Lincoln-Reagan Dinner featuring what’s-their-names, or the moderate’s par-tée with Tony Snow.

And in so-doing, by the way, making your opinion heard on who should be running the show in Fort Bend.

By the way, the C Club is such a copycat. This is a blatant knockoff of the Begala Gala held by the Fort Bend Democrats in October of ’06, where we had former Clinton advisor and present CNN commentator Paul Begala as guest speaker.

Oh well, as they say immitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

How Many Lame Duck Presidents Does It Take To Issue 50 Vetoes?

If the lame duck president is George W. Bush, then you only need one.

In his first six years of office, Bush issued just one veto. He vetoed the bill that had bipartisan support in both houses: to expand federal support of stem cell research. But since the people voted for change in 2006, and voted in a narrow majority in the Senate and a near narrow majority in the House, Bush, ever more the lame duck president, just gets his veto stamp out whenever he wants to be taken seriously.

And now, according to Hearst’s Helen Thomas, he doesn’t even have to apply the stamp in order to cow congress into submission. He just has to wave it around.

“But right now he is on a roll, getting what he wants without a veto pen but merely making the threat.”

“He was able to derail the Democrats yearlong attempt to set a timetable for a troop withdrawal from Iraq. Just before the holiday recess, the Senate approved an additional $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- with no strings attached -- which the president will sign.”

In all, White House aides say that there are 50 separate pieces of legislation that Bush doesn’t like, and now that he is in his last year in office, he apparently feels no restriction to advance his neoconservative agenda.

The Worst President . . . Ever, has now become The Worst Lame Duck President . . . Ever.

Thank Jesus for the Obama Girls, who keep this thing ever in perspective.

Rick Noriega On Daily Kos’ Front Page; Cornyn Has A Story There, Too.

So I was just surfing around looking at the blogs today when I happened onto Daily Kos, and saw that Kos had a huge article on Texas Senatorial candidate Rick Noreiga, right on the front page, but you can find it here, too. I read the whole thing – OK, I skipped the stuff that Richard Morrison wrote on him earlier this year on the original Draft Rick Noriega blog.

Kos wrote a good piece that makes a strong comparison between Rick Noriega's campaign and the races of Tester of Montana and Webb of Virginia. Two states that are very red, but the voters there went with the Democratic challengers rather than the Republican incumbents.

Now what you won’t see on the front page of Daily Kos, at least not yet anyway, is a posting by Libby Shaw. It’s buried back there so just click here for a very interesting read on whether or not John Cornyn pulled a fast one and eluded the draft during the Vietnam Era.

John Cornyn, who is 55, would have been 18 when the Selective Service System’s method of calling up cannon fodder for military service changed to a fair and equitable lottery system. Before that, college age men could escape The Draft by staying in college with their 2-S deferments. In 1971, Cornyn at 19, and all 19 year old men in America, participated in the 1971 lottery. Cornyn’s birthdate of February 2, was drawn with the lottery number 28. That year, 28 was a very low number. The highest lottery number called for service that year was 95.

So John Cornyn, who claims to have applied for and received a student deferment in 1970 did not go to war, even though Libby Shaw pointed out several instances where students who had deferments lost them as the new and fairer system assigned them each lottery numbers.

I am simply beside myself in wonderment.

Beside myself, mainly because of Cornyn’s hawkish stance on Iraq and Iran.

In wonderment because Cornyn, from his own bio on his Senate website, is the son of a career military officer – an army brat no less.

Shaw makes another pointed comment, directed at the mainstream media. There is an inconsistency here in what should have been a cut-and-dried issue. Cornyn should have lost his 2-S deferment, gained his low lottery number, and reported for duty in 1972. That he didn’t, and no one in the mainstream media has been wondering about it tells you something about political power. Shaw even points out an article in the Texas Observer, that while very complementary to Noriega, claims that Cornyn was too young to have to worry about military service. That was very clearly wrong. A little white lie planted out there.

But I think that this little white lie is the thing that started Shaw on her quest for the truth.

A quest that continues . . .

Blue Revolution Continues in HD-97

I wasn’t watching this Texas HD-97 race very closely because of a bad past experience. It was literally an overlay to the special election for the HD-29 seat at exactly this time last year. My list of similarities:

1) HD-29 boundaries in Brazoria and Matagorda Counties are drawn to assure a Republican will be elected to the state house, as is HD-97’s in Tarrant County.

2) Dr. Anthony DiNovo was opposed by a gang of three Republicans all vying for the seat vacated by the passing of longtime State Rep. Glenda Dawson, just as Dan Barrett was opposed by six, count ‘em, six Republican opponents all vying for the seat of retired state Rep Anna Mowry.

3) Rick Perry waited for the last possible moment to call a special election in HD-29: it was held exactly one year ago today. In HD-97 the special election fell on the regular November 6 general election, but the runoff special election, set again by Rick Perry 7 days before Christmas, guaranteed a low turnout just as we saw in HD-29.

Dr. DiNovo came in 3rd place, missing the runoff by a mere 803 votes. Two Republicans vied for the seat in the runoff this past January.

That’s were the similarities end.

Paul Burka called it for the Republicans, saying that HD-97 was a solid Republican district where Dan Barrett was being outspent 3 to 1 by his Republican opponent and Tom Craddick devotee Mark Shelton.

So I didn’t really pay close attention to this race.

And that taught me something that Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie wrote in his news release today:

“To all those critics who were counting Representative-elect Barrett out, it's time to pay attention to the surge in Democratic support all over Texas. Those safe Republican seats aren't quite as safe as one might think, and voters are sick of Republican arrogance and incompetence in Austin.”

Is it really going to be better than all expectations in 2008? Will I have to change the name of my website?

OK, devil’s advocate time.

Was this a fluke? Voter turnout in this runoff election was a dismal 10.75% with about 95,600 total registered voters in HD-97 and a total of 10,278 voters showing up at the polls. But that’s more than double the numbers that showed up for the special election in HD-29, and more than quadruple the numbers that showed up for the runoff.

Yes, there was definite interest in this election, despite the numbers. Interest generated by the fact that the Republican opponent was a Tom Craddick disciple, a fact, I am told, that was hammered home by the Barrett campaign.

And I really have to laugh off the unofficial Republican explanation for this seeming “fluke”. Republicans, they said, actually came out and voted for Barrett so that Shelton would not have the visibility that comes with being the incumbent when this whole thing plays out again in November 2008. They were mad. Mad about some dirty tricks that were being played in the run-up to the special election. They all think that Shelton planted a robo-call to make it look like one of his Republican opponents was attacking the other. So they voted for a Democrat.

That’s pretty flimsy. First, you have to believe that Republicans are that politically canny and acted together to vote for Barrett. Second, all you have to do is look at the numbers. While Dan Barrett had a net loss of 3% of voters between the special and the run-off, Shelton had a whopping 17.6% who didn’t bother to show up at the polls in the run-off.

I think it’s just a matter of who wanted it the most, Democrat or Republican voters. My belief, echoed by others, is that Barrett won because enough Republicans were staying home, or going to the mall instead of the polls. They didn’t want it enough.

Now what happens in November 2008 is anyone’s guess. The numbers in the runoff were a close 52%-48%, and Barrett won’t be doing much of anything in terms of legislating unless Perry calls a special session, something I think he would be crazy to do at this point. So if this result was because of low voter turn out, and would never fly in a regular election, how does Barrett do this?

On the other hand, if this was not a voter turnout fluke, but an actual district turnover, as Chairman Richie says, how many more of these are in the offing? Do we retake the House in 2008 by a landslide?

Could I be that hopeful?

Fort Bend County Commissioner Tom Stavinoha: “I Was For the Grand Parkway Tollway Before I Was Against It”

What a game of flip floppery we have going here in Texas' Fort Bend County. Ever the den of backroom dealings, now we have Precinct 1 Commissioner Tom Stavinoha playing charades in a half-hearted attempt to pass a resolution advising TxDOT that Section C of the Grand Parkway, proposed as a “tollway to nowhere”, not be built.

This is not the Tom Stavinoha who attended a community meeting over this project last November, and stated firmly that he was for the project.

That was before the organized opposition to the project made its existence known to him.

That was before a credible Democratic opponent, Attorney Richard Morrison, announced that he was running for Tom’s seat in the court.

Precinct 2 commissioner, Democrat Grady Prestige, called this move exactly as he saw it: “a half-baked cake”. Translation: Stavinoha wants to make it look like he is really against this project to deflate any organized opposition, so proposes a resolution that, sadly, ever so sadly, would pass with an undecisive split vote. So he just had to withdraw it. Tarnation!

This would be such a slimy manipulation of the truth if it wasn’t so transparent. If it wasn’t so poorly executed. When are Fort Bend County voters going to realize that returning these guys to office time and time again gains them nothing if there is no integrity in the mix? If the guy has an R next to his name on the ballot, why is that person automatically the one to vote for if it does nothing for you and puts a “tollway to nowhere” and a 17 storey garbage heap behind your backyard fence?

On The Phone With Rick Noriega

So I was on the phone with my future US Senator, Rick Noriega, tonight. It was a blogger family affair. Rick talked for about 23 minutes about where the campaign had been, where it was now, and where it was going. Things to look for.

As I sat and listened, it became clear to me that John Cornyn hasn’t the slightest idea what is going to come at him next year.

Not a clue.

It occurred to me that John Cornyn has tried to distance himself from a president who lies and lies and lies, but the die is cast and the story has already been told.

My conclusion? This race will not be so much a race between Noriega and Cornyn. Cornyn and George Dubya Bush are attached at the hip. It will very much be a referendum on George W. Bush.

And Texans, and that includes Republican Texans, are fighting mad at Bush.

It's a Christmas TPA Blog Round-Up

It's beginning to look a lot like Monday, every where you go. Take a look at the blogs and posts glistening once again with threads and comments aglow. It's beginning to look a lot like Monday, Round-ups on ev'ry blog, but the prettiest sight to see is the post that will be from your own favorite blog....enjoy this week's Texas Progressive Alliance Blog Round-Up compiled by Vince from Capitol Annex.

Fred Thompson couldn't make the ballot in Delaware because of FIVE HUNDRED
SIGNATURES. Mayor McSleaze at McBlogger thinks that's pretty pathetic. You will as well.

Eddie at Burnt Orange Report writes about a precedent-setting case in the Sixth District Court of Appeals which gives helps a Paris, Texas blogger preserve his or her anonymity.

How I became a "far-left-radical with a socialist agenda" etc. On Bluedaze by TXsharon

While Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News had a sick mouse the world moved on.

Choo choo!! That is the sound of cleaner air at The Texas Cloverleaf. 98 new more environmentally friendly trains are running in Texas. But did taxpayers really have to front the money?

Bay Area Houston Wonders why NASA Contractors are limiting their employees constitutional rights while receiving billions of dollars of government funding.

Vince at Capitol Annex notes that AG Greg Abbott has handed Speaker Tom Craddick an early Christmas present in the form of an opinion that hands him cart blanche to do whatever he wants--and even emasculates impeachment.

Muse discovers a list of 300+ women political bloggers! Female bloggers are playing a powerful role in this presidential election cycle – and are increasingly recognized for this. Texas bloggers are on the list. Check it out!

In his piece titled John Cornyn Files for Senate, Hal at Half Empty entertains the notion that the junior senator is really looking for an elusive seat on the US Supreme Court.

Stace at DosCentavos tells us about the newest Pew Center poll! It's no wonder many Citizen-Latinos (and especially undocumented folks) are feeling like people without a country.

Eye on Williamson, posts on Brian Ruiz, Rep. John Carter's opponent in TX-31, and two of Carter's recent votes in Brian Ruiz And Rep. John Carter's (R-Exxon Mobil) Circle .

An activist action plan for the FISA-with-telecom immunity bill, coming up on Monday in the Senate, is posted by PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

And, last but not least, don't forget about Dan Barrett in House District 97, who has been endorsed by the Texas Progressive Alliance in his special election runoff. Matt at Burnt Orange Report has a great post about the race here.

John Cornyn Files for Senate

With his numbers further south than Tierra Del Fuego, the junior senator from Texas filed to appear on the Republican primary ballot in March.

He wants to keep his job.

Now wait a minute. I’ve been writing for some time now that the Republicans would find someplace to stick this political embarrassment, this Bushie rubber stamp, and replace him with someone who might win in November. It must be that the Republican machine is broken, they couldn’t find some place to put him, or that they couldn’t find anyone to run in his place. Those are the only explanations that I can come up with. My expectations have always been that Cornyn, whose approval rating stand at an all time low – rare for a senate incumbent, would get a major appointment that he could not turn down leaving Republicans to put up a candidate who might win.

Or maybe that is still in the works.

Those who attended the news conference that followed his filing were treated to another Republican candidate’s clumsy comment that Cornyn now serves as a justice on the US Supreme Court.

I kid you not. Quoting from the Chron, at the bottom of the piece:

“His background served as a lighter moment at his news conference Saturday as he was introduced by Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, who also filed for re-election.”

"'Now I bring you to the podium a man who obviously served us as a member of the Supreme Court of Texas, attorney general and now serves us as a member of the United States Supreme Court.’"

“Williams was momentarily flustered by the laughter. ‘We're going to give him that one, too.’"

So what are we talking here? A brain fart from a hopelessly hung over Texas Railroad Commissioner or a giant slip of the tongue? And were we spared the indignity of another Bush Supreme Court appointment because Justice Souter refuses to retire until after Bush is gone?

Whatever. Now that it appears that he is running for his job, he has to face the biggest challenger he has ever faced. A veteran of Afghanistan, a soldier who has worked on the border. A state representative who has a progressive legislative record that includes support of health care for children in low income families.

That man is Rick Noriega. Rick, by the way, has a great story, and it is told well in the latest issue of The Texas Observer. It’s a good read.

Texas AG Abbott Sides With Craddick

Just hours before the opinion’s deadline, Texas Attorney General issued what amounted to a moral victory for House Speaker Tom Craddick. Moral victory in that in his opinion, the AG found that Craddick, as House Speaker, held a statewide office, and as a statewide office holder, could only be removed by impeachment in the Texas Senate.

Some would say that that is a flat out victory for Craddick, and its effect does amount to victory. Curiously, Abbott refused to cross the line and issue an interpretation on House rules.

“This office will adhere to the Texas Constitution's separation of powers doctrine and long-standing precedent in declining to answer questions requiring an interpretation of Senate and House rules or questions regarding legislative parliamentary decisions.”

Oh please. Are we not full of ourselves? Abbott does not deign to make an opinion on House rules because why? Would his opinion become House rules? Does his opinion carry the force of constitutional law? No, Abbott did not go there because in going there he would be finding all of the statements made on parliamentary procedure in all of the briefs filed to be absolutely valid. Craddick overstepped his authority in claiming that his power was absolute. Craddick cannot refuse to recognize a member. To do so would be to disenfranchise every constituent in the member’s district.

Abbott knew this, so he just left it alone, giving the inviolability of the separation of powers as his reason.

How does that work? How do you issue an opinion that the House Speaker is a statewide office holder, and that’s OK, but on the other hand refuse to render an opinion on House rules, because the Executive Branch can’t meddle in the affairs of the Legislative?

It works because you just say it works, that’s how that works. But AG Abbott is fooling no one here. Keffer and Cook alluded to a football metaphor in saying that AG Abbott punted and fumbled. I’ll go them one better by observing that what AG Abbott really did was take the game ball and hide it somewhere.

Travis County DA Ronnie Earle To Retire

It’s true. The famed district attorney of Travis County announced that he will not seek re-election after the last year of his current term. There has been speculation that he would make this announcement for a couple of months now.

It’s a real change of the guard. Earle has held that job since first being elected to it in 1977.

Ever the progressive Democrat, Earle has doggedly pursued a money laundering case against Tom DeLay, who Earle alleges, transferred $190,000 of TRMPAC money to a Republican run fund, and that fund, coincidentally, donated $190,000 to the campaigns of Republicans running for state house and senate. This enabled them to run a higher visibility campaign, and resulted in the first Republican majority in the Texas legislature since Reconstruction.

That case, continually delayed because of pre-trial motions, may not ever come to trial while Earle is in office.

But this is not the only time Earle has used his office to right the wrongs of Republicans. He accused then State Treasurer Kay Bailey Hutchison of improper use of her office for her campaign. Earle had the evidence, but the judge announced that he would not make rulings on admissibility of the evidence until the trial, telling Earle that he would rule the evidence inadmissible during trial and torpedo his case against Hutchison.

So he dropped the case.

Interestingly, this is widely regarded as the greatest show of weakness in his career, as it prompted someone to challenge him at the polls for the first time since taking office. A challenge that failed miserably.

But make no mistake, Earle has not used his office to prosecute Republican politicians only. Both Democrats and Republicans have been brought to trial by Earle for all kinds of misdeeds, a record that DeLay-Republicans always fail to mention.

Earle, at 65, is still comparatively young, which causes one to pause and speculate about any political plans he has in the future. A statewide race in 2010?

Gore Blames Bush Regime For Impasse at UN Climate Confab; Promises Change

Delegates to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, convened in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, say that they have arrived at an impasse, and the blame has been placed on the Bush-delegation chaired by Paula Dobriansky, a US undersecretary of state.

At the heart of the impasse is Bush’s much-touted plan for climate control that was launched late last September. This plan lacks the milestones that are being urged by most countries, as well as scientists. From the Washington Post:

“Throughout a week of negotiations on the island of Bali, Bush administration officials have steadily resisted a United Nations proposal calling on industrialized countries to accept a goal of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020.”

Bush’s plan is backed by few countries, including Canada and Japan, industrialized countries that don’t want to cede to developing nations the amount of already excessive green house gases that they emit.

And it’s getting bad because countries in the European Union are already talking about boycotting the Bush-sponsored major economies meeting to be held later on in Honolulu.

My, that is getting bad. These guys take their meetings, and the plush sites where they hold them, very seriously. First in Bali, in Nusa Dua nonetheless (very upscale), and then later in Hawaii. Why not, say, Modesto California? They have a Howard Johnsons.

But back to Bush and his plan, do you not just see the hypocrisy? The fact of Global Warming was denied for years by the Bushies. And why, you might ask? It’s all about the money. Bush’s corporate sponsors would be big losers if we embarked on projects to cut down greenhouse gases. And now that they cannot deny what has become painfully obvious to all, they want to settle on a plan that will do two things: 1) save the Bushie cronies their lucre, 2) not solve the problem.

So in the face of this meeting coming apart, much to the delight of the US delegation, one would imagine, up gets Al Gore. He delivers a 48 minute speech to a crowded room. Gore told the audience not to lose heart. If there is an impasse, just ignore it and go on and do the other things that needed to get doing – ignore the 800 pound gorilla in the room as it were. Why? Well, according to Al Gore,

“Over the next two years the United States is going to be somewhere where it is not now. You must anticipate that.”

Clearly he was alluding to the fact that the 2008 elections were going to bring sweeping change in America, and in America’s government’s attitude toward Global Warming.

He got a huge ovation on that one statement.

As side note, what’s all this about Indonesia being a player in the environmental movement? As a developing nation, the Indonesian government supports agricultural practices of clearing their lush rainforests by burning them (emitting greenhouse gases) so that they can replant the acreage to produce palm oil. Right nowpalm oil is just used for cooking, but Indonesia sees palm oil as a big cash cow in our biofuel future. I mean, really, Nusa Dua is practically a paradise, and a nice place to hold a meeting, but I’ve never associated Indonesia with eco-friendly anything.

John Edwards on 10Questions.com: Another Reason I Support This Guy

I made a discovery today. I discovered a website, 10Questions.com, that allowed people to vote for individuals’ questions that they would like to see the presidential candidates answer. This was really under the radar for a lot of people – not too many people knew about it judging from the number of votes that were recorded.

It’s too late to vote for the questions, but it’s now time to get the candidates to respond to the questions. Two candidates have already posted their responses, my guy, John Edwards, and from the Dark Side, Reverand Huckabee, although the site says that Dr. Ron Paul, MD – Ob-Gyn, will also post his answers.

It really says something about the Edwards campaign, and John Edwards himself, when you see that he is among the first to respond to these questions. And THE first Democrat.

I’m going to post a few of the questions, and how John Edwards answered them, here. You can go and watch all of them there, but frankly some of the questions are pretty lame. Mainly because the only questions that appear are the ones that people voted the most for, and I think that there is a problem with that: see paragraph 1.

Case in point, the number one most voted for question on this website has nothing to do with jobs, moral issues, immigration, war, or health care. It has to do with support of net neutrality. It seems that only internet geeks found the site before the voting closed.

Here is my second least favorite question, but I liked Edwards’ answer:

Edwards answered this waaaay beyond this specific issue.



This is a question on Bush’s warrantless wiretaps.



Edwards’ answer is short, direct and to the point.



There were two questions that involved campaign finances. One was a general one about whether the candidate supported publicly financed campaigns, which got an OK answer from Edwards, OK but the answer addressed the question alone and didn’t go deeper. He went deeper in response to the other questioner which I didn’t want to show because, quite frankly, the guy is irritating and a little smug. So if you can get past personality issues here is the so-so question,



and the outstanding answer.



This guy just asked a question about voter turnout. What is the candidate going to do about low voter turnouts? I can’t believe he limited himself in this issue. This issue is huge and has many heads.



Acknowledging the fact that this is a multi-faceted problem, Edwards answered across the board: voter suppression, paper trail, DC resident enfranchisement, and other stuff that I am not so sure about.



And finally this one, a question on reducing government size. This is how I discovered the 10questions website. The guy is probably a straight ticket Dark Side voter because of the odd way he states the question: “How much would you pledge to reduce the size of government?”



Edwards gives this guy more than he asked for, and less at the same time. I think Edwards didn’t directly answer the question because it’s so odd. How much what? How much money? Doesn’t that imply increase in government size? How much time? How much attention? Edwards answered this one just fine.



So there you have it, a Half Empty version of 10Questions: 5Questions.

Half Empty Lite Number 3: What We Look For On The Internets

I just got a very interesting message from one of the search engines out there upon which I have one of my email accounts. They do this every year: publish the top ten searches that are made on their site for the year.

It is startling just what we are interested in. Typically, none of my searches showed up. I thought that as a public service I would lift that list out of the email message so that readers far and wide can see what we are most interested in.

Regarding the first of the four lists posted below, I have come to two conclusions

1. With the exception of the 5th item from the top in the first list, one can reasonably conclude that the average internet searcher is between 15 and 21 years old.

2. Every item in the first list is an item of entertainment. We as a western culture, are amusing ourselves to death (get it, it’s a good read).

The top ten search terms for 2007 are

1. Poker
2. MySpace
3. Britney Spears
4. Paris Hilton
5. Golf
6. YouTube
7. Naruto
8. Disney
9. Pokemon
10. WWE

The top 10 women of 2007:

1. Britney Spears
2. Paris Hilton
3. Pamela Anderson
4. Anna Nicole Smith
5. Vanessa Hudgens
6. Antonella Barba
7. Beyonce
8. Lindsay Lohan
9. Trish Stratus
10. Shakira

The top 10 men of 2007:

1. Clay Aiken
2. Tupac Shakur
3. Nelly
4. Akon
5. 50 Cent
6. Chris Brown
7. Zac Efron
8. Eminem
9. Justin Timberlake
10. Bow Wow

The top 10 films of 2007:

1. Transformers
2. Pirates of the Caribbean 3
3. High School Musical 2
4. Spider-Man 3
5. Borat
6. Superbad
7. Knocked Up
8. Beowulf
9. Ocean's 13
10. 3:10 to Yuma

I feel old.

Al Gore Accepts Nobel Peace Prize

Wow.

I’ll bet you never thought THAT would ever happen. I have been reading his acceptance speech. It’s posted on The Huffington Post.

It’s pretty wordy as Al Gore gets to be, but I liked a couple of things that he did. I like how he went back to the founder of the Nobel Peace Prize, Alfred Nobel, who became shocked when he read his own obituary, a premature mistake, that labeled him “The Merchant of Death”. Years later he established the Peace Prize as a contribution to society’s pursuit of peaceful channels of human intercourse.

Why do I like this? Because my first thought, upon hearing that Gore was nominated for the Peace Prize was this: yes, Al Gore did good work in promoting the notion of global warming, but does this warrant the peace prize? Where is peace and humanity promoted?

I finally settled down on this because I started to think about what would happen if our oceans invaded densely populated coastal areas, if our arable land could no longer support the crops necessary to feed the planet.

War in the face of diminishing land area and resources is inevitable.

But then Gore threw this in for good measure:

“We never intended to cause all this destruction, just as Alfred Nobel never intended that dynamite be used for waging war. He had hoped his invention would promote human progress. We shared that same worthy goal when we began burning massive quantities of coal, then oil and methane.”

So it fits. The very origin of the prize was meant to correct a mistake. Had Nobel not figured out a way to produce stable nitro glycerin, saving thousands of lives in explosion accidents, he would probably have saved millions of lives lost to TNT in war.

The fight to end global warming is also a fight to correct a mistake.

At the end of his speech, Al Gore says that the next generation will ask two questions:

“The future is knocking at our door right now. Make no mistake, the next generation will ask us one of two questions. Either they will ask: 'What were you thinking; why didn't you act?'”

“Or they will ask instead: 'How did you find the moral courage to rise and successfully resolve a crisis that so many said was impossible to solve?'”

The answer to the first question is too unthinkable. The answer is, profits and greed, blind profits and greed. The Bush Regime has been sitting on top of this one because the corporations that have bought him and his cronies will stand to lose if they have to change what they are doing right now.

It’s. All. About. The. Money.

And linear thinking. Republican linear thinking. There will be a paradigm shift and businesses will come to see what others have already seen: fighting Global Warming is going to be a lucrative business.

Especially to those who get in on the ground floor.

Think of it. Think of all the companies that will spring up to, say, capture carbon dioxide emissions and sell the gas to oil companies to be used in carbon dioxide injection projects? Projects that capture methane emissions and then sell the captured gas to fertilizer manufacturers? I keep hearing of new ideas all the time.

What about new environmental laws that change the way we create and use energy? What about passing laws that forbid development of housing projects unless they come with their own wind mill farm?

These are golden opportunities for the corporations, and some of them are coming around to these ideas.

You ju$t have to $peak their language.

E-Poll Market Research On Celebrity Endorsements: A Hillary Campaign Ploy?

A polling of 2237 adults 18 years or older revealed things that are not too startling on their faces, but interesting nonetheless: most people don’t care about which celebrity endorses a presidential candidate.

The other interesting thing to me is that I was one of those who were polled.

The other interesting thing is that while I was taking the poll I had the distinct impression that it was a poll that was commissioned by the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Those who participated in the poll responded to an email message from E-Poll Market Research. The email message came to one of my email addresses that I reserve to communicate with campaigns, so I was reasonably certain that one of the presidential candidates was behind it – and the questions were fairly Hillary-centric.

So that is my reasoning.

That and the fact that the poll results were released quickly on the heels of the Oprah/Obama media blitz, and that Hillary Clinton has stayed away from celebrity endorsements, well, with this one key exception. What else is new?

So yes, (ho-hum) just as many voters are likely to be swayed to vote for a celebrity-endorsed candidate 10% or so, as are there voters who would turn away from a given celebrity-endorsed candidate. And yes (yawn) voters in the 18-24 age bracket are more likely to be influenced by a celebrity endorsement than older age groups.

Probably less well-known, but logical on its face, is that Republican voters are less likely to be influenced by celebrity endorsements of a presidential candidate than Democrats. Democrats, let’s face it, are more touchy feely kind of people who process information that comes in from all directions. Republicans are more linear.

And I really was wondering where they were going with all those celebrity names that they threw out for me to rate. Here’s why: Rosie O’Donnell, Tom Cruise, Madonna, Jane Fonda and Donald Trump have very low polling numbers – candidates need to stay away from these people like the plague. On the other hand, youthful voters would really like to know who the following would support in the Democratic primaries: Jon Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, and Leonardo Di Caprio. Gee, I would, too, but just out of curiosity.

Finally, and this fact is most endearing to me because it is a revelation – again, logical on its face but I never considered it – celebrity endorsements do not faze swing voters. If it is the goal of a presidential campaign to engage swing voters and bring them over to their side, they are barking up the wrong tree. Quoting the press release:

“If a candidate is looking for that narrow margin with swing voters, they shouldn’t look for a celebrity cure. Independents and swing voters are the least likely to be influenced by a celebrity endorsement, with only 13% saying they would be positively persuaded.”

OK, given that figure, a celebrity endorsement in Iowa would affect 13% of the swing voters. That’s actually diabolical if you think about it. In Iowa, they caucus. They are allowed to change their votes. Getting a 13% bump one way or another is significant. Oprah could be just the ticket for Obama in Iowa.

And Iowa alone.

But then there’s that other guy. My guy. John Edwards, who apparently is going to win in Iowa according to Zogby (hope your pop-up blocker is working OK).

Keith Olberman: George Bush Does Not Deserve to be President

On December 6th , Countdown had Keith Olberman on an 8 minute rant at which he concludes that George Bush does not deserve to be President. He begins this way:

“We have either a president who is too dishonest to restrain himself from invoking World War III about Iran at least six weeks after he had to have known that the analogy would be fantastic irresponsible hyperbole, OR, we have a president who is too transcendently stupid not to have asked at what now appears to have been a series of opportunities to do so, whether the fairy tales he either created or was fed, were still even remotely plausible.”

Oh, what the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks, watch for yourself



409 Days to go . . .

How We Do Justice in Fort Bend County

I swear, just when you think it’s safe to go out and play in the traffic you hear yet another story about the wild and woolly goings on in the halls of Fort Bend County’s judicial system.

Bob Dunn fired off yet another amazing report today about how Bud Childers, the newly elected judge who presides in Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1 now wants to ununrecuse himself. That is, to make it perfectly clear, Childers decided to recuse himself from hearing a case to certify a Needville High school student, the one who burned down parts of his school earlier this year, to be tried as an adult. Then for the actual trial, Childers wanted to unrecuse himself and hear the case.

Now, come to find out, Childers has changed his mind again, and wants to ununrecuse himself. That is rerecuse himself. That is recuse himself one more time.

That alone would make for a good story on how Fort Bend County voters continue to witness the fruits of their labors to go out of their way to elect the most unqualified candidate for county judge from either party to this seat.

That would be enough, but there’s more.

More detail has come out on the inundation of emails that Childers received from Fort Benders who wanted blood. Wanted to punish this teenager with an adult’s sentence. Apparently Judge Childers’ email address and phone number were made public to this group bent on vengeance, and they avalanched his office with advice and demands.

Childers became so concerned about this that he contacted Fort Bend DA Healey to inform him about it. Healey asked Childers to forward to his office information on these callers and emailers, which he did.

But get this, instead of using the list to contact these people to tell them that they were playing it fast and loose with the law by attempting to influence a judge, Dunn revealed that Healey used the list of emailers and callers to build a “Witness list”: people who would be called in to testify on whether the boy should be certified an adult for trial.

Is that not genius? Using the very people who were trying to influence Childers as witnesses in the case. I say Bravo, DA Healey, that shows moxie. That shows thinking out of the box.

That shows the state of justice in Fort Bend County.

But I think Healey can do better. Heck, why not use Childers’ caller and emailer list as a list of prospective jurors? What better way to ensure the desired outcome?

See? I can think out of the box, too!

Sekula Gibbs Touts Racist Islamophobic Blog

I usually don’t peruse the candidate websites on “the Dark Side”. So it took a friend to point out to me that Dr. and former Texas CD-22 congresswoman Shelley Sekula Gibbs, MD, is proudly touting a local right wing blog as a news article that posted something concerning her campaign. And not just your run-of-the mill right wing blog. This blog has, in the past, posted virulent and vile racist remarks. Remarks that would make a moderate conservative cringe.

So what do I suppose? If she is touting this blog, is she also supporting these racist remarks?

Well I don’t know whether Sekula Gibbs is a racist or not, but for a congressional candidate to promote a blog that is patently racist does not look right.

OK, the specifics. The blog is called “Rhymes With Right” and it is principally run by a social studies teacher who teaches eager young minds in Clear Creek ISD. [No links here, go to Shelley’s website]

A particularly good distillation of the racist remarks can be found at this progressive Democrat’s website. I will extract a few for your edification below [some remarks are just so over the top that it violates the Half Empty PG-13 rating].

"That's one more dead terrorist in Hell with Allah."

"In return, we will ship the Arab Muslims in the United States -- egardless of their citizenship -- back to the Middle East...They and their relatives back in their homelands have shown their utter inablility (sic) to live at peace with neighbors who are different from themselves....After all, if the Jews are not a good fit in the Middle East, why should the unassimilable Muslims be welcome in America?"

"Sorry, no respect for any ethnicity or religion with this scumbag...Just following the example of Muhammad, I guess. I recall that he liked sex with little girls, too. Would somebody please remind me what is there in Islam that is good and noble?"

"Why are we sending one thin dime to a backwater, Third World hell-hole like New Orleans?"

Yes, sadly enough, this is a blog by a teacher. I can never figure out how a teacher can be a right-wing political conservative. I know that, like slime mold, they exist, but I just can’t explain it.

And I also can’t explain why Shelley Sekula Gibbs’ campaign lists this racist blog alongside articles from more prominent mainstream media as it does. It’s kind of like going to a Mercedes dealsrship and finding an old Yugo on the showroom floor alongside brand new Mercedes-Benzes.

So clearly, things aren’t adding up. Gee, it must be CD-22 gearing up for another election year with politics as usual.

You Practically Have to Rob A Bank to Pay College Tuition

There is some truth to that.

Read on.

There is an interesting statistic that has come out about college tuition summarized in the graph below. These days the rates of tuition rate raises are about double the inflation rate, as this graph of ratio of tuition rate to inflation rate vs. year indicates.

This helped explain to me this current bizarre article seen in the Houston Chronicle. A pair of college students in Reading, Ohio were arrested for robbing a bank last July. They robbed the bank, they said, because they could no longer afford their college’s tuition.

They are due for sentencing for their crime, and face up to 20 years in prison.

So next time you come across a Senator or Congressman who voted against raising the Pell Grant rates, mention the fact that people are being priced right out of higher education, and priced right in to state prison.

George Bush and Hillary Clinton Find Selves In Same Boat

Politics make strange shipmates and today we find that both George Bush and Hillary Clinton have lost credibility now that American intelligence services have released a long-delayed National Intelligence Estimate (or NIE) that states categorically that Iran has not been trying to put a nuclear bomb together as Bush/Cheney have for so long asserted. Has not been trying since 2003, in fact.

This flies in the face of what the Bush Regime has been saying, in whipping up support for some sort of sanctions or another, or maybe even military action. The only thing I can see as different here is maybe that the CIA/NSA weren’t going to be seen holding the bag this time. The “slam dunk” high confidence that the CIA gave Bush on their estimate of WMDs in Iraq, and the subsequent absence of them was not going to be a repeat.

Rumor has it that release of the NIE had been delayed by the Bushies because it didn’t have in it what they wanted. Now that it’s out, however, it’s as if Bush didn’t hear about it or read it:

“I think it is very important for the international community to recognize the fact that if Iran were to develop the knowledge that they were to transfer to a clandestine program, it would create a danger to the world. I view this report as a warning signal . . . They can restart it.”

That’s playing it pretty fast and loose with articles of logic, by the way. Lots of use of the word “if”. Lots of use of the word “would”. and how about the word “can”? This is paranoia writ large, all to get America back on its “fear binge”.

And what do you think this does for the intelligence community? It’s a big slap down, isn’t it? By their best estimate, Iran is not trying to build a nuclear bomb, and Bush responds “yeah, but wouldn’t it be bad if they were?”

And now Hillary Clinton finds herself in a similar position. Among the presidential candidates, she stood alone in voting for the Senate proclamation that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps was a terrorist organization. This gave credence to all of Bush’s rants about Iran, and, her opponents claimed, gave Bush a rationale for going to war in Iran.

My guy John Edwards was on point with this, asserting that her vote for the resolution “amounted to agreement with Bush's worldview on terrorism”.

An interesting charge, one to which Clinton hotly retorted:

“I understand politics, and I understand making outlandish political charges, but this really goes way too far. Having designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, we've actually seen some changes in their behavior.”

A claim that seemed to be thrown out there with no real backup. Kind of like Bush’s paranoia claim.

I am starting to wonder now, is the Iran Resolution Hillary Clinton’s undoing? It is the one issue that separates her from the rest, and I don’t think Americans are willing to go along with that anti-Iranian tripe. Hillary may be standing near the politics of fear, maybe just in case. I don’t think that’s going to work for her.

Americans are sick of being made to be afraid.

Fort Bend County Takes a 33% Increase for Services

I really don’t know what to think about the latest posting to go up on FortBendNow. It seems that the county government has, in the past, enlisted the services of a group called the Fort Bend Economic Development Council to predict and promote growth in the county.

It just seems to be a little bit too much money for something that seems to be inevitable. Granted, the council may have been responsible for the gigantic population growth rate that Fort Bend County has experienced since 1960 (see figure below), but maybe, now just maybe, there is growth that is starting to exceed what has made this area an attractive place to be living in.

Traffic at rush hour has certainly changed in just the last few years. It is just possible that growth has proceeded at a pace that was either not predicted well – and full blame can be placed at the FBEDC for that – or that predicted growth did not keep up with infrastructure – again, who was supposed to predict that?

And is it no wonder that we are getting a poor return for our taxpayer dollars? The arrangement is just too incestuous to believe. Judge Hebert, who was making the case for this monumental increase, sits on the board of directors of the FBEDC. The movers and shakers that represented the “Keep Fort Bend Moving” campaign, the campaign that succeeded in getting voters to approve sale of $153 million worth of “mobility bonds” are all officers or on the board of directors of the FBEDC. The people who stand to gain the most from runaway growth in Fort Bend County are asking for taxpayer money to fund the very organization that will bring the old mazooma rolling in to their businesses.

Don’t you love it? An organization gets taxpayer money to promote growth in Fort Bend County so that it will enrich them and their respective businesses.

And they need an additional 100 large this year to do the job better.

You know, you hear Repbulicans whine and whine about wasting taxpayer dollars. Here we have a Republican dominated county government not only throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars at an organization that promotes county growth (something that is not in the best interests of most county residents), but the organization’s work monetarily benefits the very people who run it.

Hebert says that the 100 grand raise is to make up for the council not raising their fees for a number of years. I have a modest proposal. How about, since all these gentlemen on the FBEDC substantially benefitted from the rampant growth in this county, how about they work next year for free?

Makes perfect sense to me.

That way the county can finally give well-deserved pay raises to the lower tiered county workers.

A win-win.

I am characteristically pessimistic that anyone in this will take my modest proposal seriously.

TPA Round-Up and Stuff

I am sorry to have missed this last Monday but here we are again with another edition of the Texas Progressive Alliance's weekly blog Round-Up. This week's round-up is compiled by Vince from Capitol Annex.

Also, as a special note, the Texas Progressive Alliance would like to announce that the time has come to announce its 2007 Texan of the Year. This year's Texan of the Year process will be a little different than in years past. We've got a full slate of Texas Silver Stars (our Honorable Mentions), and four runner-ups (Texas Gold Stars) and, of course, a Texan of the Year.

We'll start by announcing the Texas Silver Stars on Friday, December 7. Then, each day from December 10 through December 13 we'll announce a Gold Star, followed by our Texan of the Year on Friday, December 14. So be sure to check your favorite TPA blog starting this coming Friday to see who our picks are for our Texan of the Year!

Aren’t you excited? I know I am.

Here’s the Round-Up:

What happens when it rains and containers holding lethal chemicals overflow into creek beds? See How Are Injection Well and Gas Coupling Inspections Alike? for another example of RRC negligence that puts Texans at risk. Brought to you by TXsharon at Bluedaze.

Refinish69 from Doing My Part For The Left shares his memories of loved one lost to AIDS in his World AIDS Day diary and podcast.

Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News observes the devolving of Texas Education.

Jaye at Winding Road asks "What if abortion is outlawed in a Republican administration?"

Xanthippas at Three Wise Men informs you that when it's the National Football League versus Big Cable, the only loser is you.

Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at the Interim Charges for committees of the Texas House in the 80th Legislature in three posts, as well as Tom Craddick's views on the charges. The Texas GOP is gearing up a sophisticated voter suppression effort for the 2008 elections.

PDiddie at Brains and Eggs forwards the Lone Star Project's comprehensive report.

The Texas Cloverleaf tells us that TxDOT can no longer plead poverty! It just received a Christmas gift of $3.197 Billion from NTTA for the rights to build SH 121 Toll.

Hal at Half Empty reports that the Republican Party of Fort Bend County has taken a radical shift to the right as neoconservative evangelicals have taken over their county party leadership.

Lightseeker at Texas Kaos looks at the mess Texas Education Agency has become with TEA: We must remain neutral on junk science theory. This should be enough to make parents either vote or move to get their kids out of the Texas school systems.

Matt Glazer at Burnt Orange Report talks about the Texas Internet Revolution and the good publicity TexBlog PAC has been getting recently. Stunned about the tuition increases at UT Law?

So was Closet Purist at McBlogger who takes a detailed look at how UT Law compares to Harvard and Yale and asks, what do you get for the money?

You may have heard the right-wing echo chamber saying that the surge is working in Iraq, or that things are going better now. Texas Toad at North Texas Liberal gives us the real deal in "Some Perspective on the Surge."

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes that federal rules allow ferry security guards to sleep on the job. Republicans say they care about security, but prove they don't.

Off the Kuff exercises his privilege as a blogger to nitpick an article about the rise of the netroots in Texas.

And lastly but not leastly, Eye On Williamson takes a look at the retirement of Rep. Mike Krusee in Why We Won't Have Mike Krusee To Kick Around Anymore.

Fort Bend County Smackdown On The Internets

In case you have been missing it, we have been having a tempest brewing on the internets that just blew its lid today.

Thankfully for me because I haven’t a clue what to write about today.

Where to begin?

Well, how about this: a new CD-22 blog appeared a few weeks back, one called CD-22 Watcher. It got my attention when I noticed a new blog link to one of my previous posts on the bevy of congressional candidates that the Republican Party wants to decide on in their seemingly fanatic crusade to oust my Democratic congressman, Nick Lampson, from the office that Tom DeLay handed over to him.

It was a blog about Judge James “Reverend Jim” Squier. CD-22 Watcher, it seems, because they say so, is a blog dedicated to the impartial analysis of all the Republican candidates running in the 2008 primary. The link to my posting was placed over the words “hated by the left”.

That’s right. It’s me. I’m “the left”. Bet you thought it was somebody else, didn’t you?

The new blog was noticed by others. Bev Carter in her weekly column (11/28/07) at the Fort Bend Star (Fort Bend County’s largest newspaper) noticed it and claimed that while it purports to be impartial, it was secretly a pro Dean Hrbacek blog.

“How dumb? His campaign staff started a very transparent web site that purports to be a fair look at all candidates running in Congressional District 22, but is very obvious authored by Hrbacek’s campaign staff. The “dumbness factor?” Even though the site is obviously authored by Hrbacek’s paid staff, it lacks the proper disclaimer, which can subject them to a daily fine.”

Dean Hrbacek is one of the Lucky 7 vying for the GOP nomination in CD-22.

Then come to find out, CD-22 Watcher has a “sister website” called CD-22 Rubbernecker. If you click back and forth between them, they look substantially similar although the graphics differ slightly – but you have to look close at some of them.

The authors of the blog postings, as it turns out, are known to me, but they sign all postings with the pseudonym “Miz Litton”. Miz Litton? Is that just lucky or is it a transposition of two letters from the original “Liz Mitton”?

Bringing us to the lid blower posting that appeared on Susan Bankston’s “Kiss My Big Blue Butt” not-a-blog this afternoon. It seems that Susan has been accusing Liz of being the one behind CD-22 Watcher, pointed it out twice by showing her readers how the address LMITTON appeared in two hidden places on her blog, and about how the same RSS feed came from Mitton’s other blogger website, the now defunct Save Our Schools website.

As soon as these things get pointed out, according to Susan, they get deleted, and Mitton follows up with emails to her list of fans saying that Susan is wrong because she is a Democrat.

And now the coup de grace: today’s posting that shows a movie – the proof is, as they say, in the pudding.

There’s way lots more to the story and I suspect it will continue to unfold.

I just want to know this: what the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks is a “Freeholder”?

TEA Clearing a Path For Intelligent Design?

It is fairly unnoticed, but a singular event occurred recently at the Texas Education Agency. In a fairly comprehensive article by Laura Heinauer at the Austin American Statesman, it was revealed that Chris Comer, the TEA’s director of science curriculum, a 9-year veteran of science wars on the TEA, has been fired recently by the TEA on charges that she showed bias toward one point of view with regards to science instruction.

The charges were leveled by one Lizzette Reynolds, a recent TEA hire, who came to the TEA from an appointed position at the Bush Administration’s Department of Education, and was previously a legislative director for then Governor George W. Bush. Reynolds was recently hired at the TEA as a “senior adviser on statewide initiatives”.

The charge? You’re actually not going to believe it. The charge was that Chris Comer was publicly displaying her bias with regard to a Bushie Science Favorite: Intelligent Design. In an email simply titled “FYI”, Ms. Comer informed a short list of people about an upcoming speaking event by Barbara Forrest, author of “Inside Creationism's Trojan Horse” a book that describes how Creationists are behind the political movement to introduce “intelligent design” into schools’ science curriculum.

Comer was given a 30-day paid suspension for that infraction last October, giving her antagonists enough time to dredge up other trivial charges that were eventually listed as causes for termination.

In short, Chris Comer was fired for having an opinion on science instruction. An opinion that she felt free to share with colleagues.

This is what I know about science: when science becomes a political football, science is doomed. When science is doomed, technology is close on its heels. Our society is in large part based on technology. When science becomes all about a political hack’s personal religious agenda, we all begin to suffer.

The names Chris Comer and Galileo Galileii have probably never appeared in the same sentence ever in history, but they have now. And the reason that they have has everything to do with religious persecution, persecution of a person based on their ideas and opinions that don’t agree with another’s religion.

And again, we find a Texas governmental agency in the spotlight, and again, find Texas to be a laughingstock in the world arena.