A CD 22 GOP Candidates Forum !!!

Guess where I went tonight? Into the deep recesses of "The Dark Side". I attended the Richmond-Rosenberg Chamber of Commerce's Texas Congressional District 22 candidate's forum - a Republican-only event. Republican only in that the sole Democrat running in this race, Nick Lampson, was not there. Well he was there in spirit.

And yes, I have lots to say and lots to tell but I am going to let this one simmer on the stove over night, OK?

OK, let me just say two things:

(1) the forum met all my expectations, and

(2)Dean: suffering succotash!

Monday Blues and TPA News: The Round-up

So since it is another Monday, and Monday means wash day and also that the Texas Progressive Alliance presents its weekly blog Round-Up, we will air our dirty laundry and post our picks of our best efforts of the week. This week's round-up was compiled by Vince from Capitol Annex.

Muse found the potties at the Harris County D.A.’s office – right next to Chuck Rosenthal’s office – thereby making her qualified to be District Attorney (according to D.A. candidate Kelly Siegler). Muse 2012: Qualified and Potty Location Trained.

Hide the silver! Off the Kuff says Tom DeLay is back in town.

CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme notes that Kay 'Bye Bye' Bailey Hutchison is getting grief from the knuckle draggers in her own party for the recently passed fence amendment. Apparently, even a little bit of sanity must be stamped out by the Republican base.

Early Voting, Hal at Half Empty says, may just be something ALL Democrats need to consider this time, in order to avoid confusion at the polls when polling sites at schools are moved this coming March 4th.

The FairTax (Mike Huckabee's 30% national sales tax scheme), Texans for (Tort) Reform, and Houstonians for (Ir)Responsible Growth all have one billionaire in common: Leo Linbeck Jr. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs provides the 411 on his various conservative-populist activist fronts.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson points to an Inane AAS Editorial On AG's Health Care Gambit.

Harry Balczak at McBlogger found and interesting take on the candidates in the Presidential election.

Jaye at Winding Road notes that these are the times that try Democratic souls.

Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News wants Obama or Clinton to pay the $2,000 and and establish a precedent of auditing and hand-counting machine counted ballots. The complete series of the New Hampshire results and reasons it why may be a good idea to audit is here.

Vince at Capitol Annex notes that Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott is testing the waters for his 2010 run for Lt. Governor with his asinine child insurance program.

BossKitty at BlueBloggin reviews the History Of US Backed Dictators - Redux. A historical look at the US setting up and backing corrupt dictators to serve our agenda.

Stace at DosCentavos bids a fond farewell to the history-making candidacy of Bill`Richardson. His thoughts and feelings on supporting the first Latino presidential candidate.

John Coby at Bay Area Houston wonders why State Representative John Davis in HD129 was a no show in the local paper write up concerning the race. State Rep John Davis a no show in Clear Lake news.

Immigration: No Easy Answers for “A Difficult Issue”

To hear them tell it, for all ten candidates for the Texas CD 22 congressional representative nomination, the immigration issues that have been raised in this election year are, first, the most important issue facing Texans and Americans, and second, clear cut and beyond debate. You’ve either heard them at the forum or read about it. At FortBendNow it is pretty clear that many of the ten candidates see illegal immigration (or maybe just immigration in general) as the number one threat to the United States. But really, at some point in time, all of the ten declared congressional candidates have identified immigration (presumably illegal immigration) as a bête noir that needs priority one attention. From FortBendNow:

John Manlove’s first two priotities: (1) illegal immigration and (2) immigration that is illegal. Jim Squier claims that he is “offended” that immigration laws already on the books are not being enforced.” Robert Talton says that an “undocumented worker” is newspeak for “unaccredited crack whore”. Dean Hrbacek says that Texas needs a southern border fence (finally someone is limiting fences to just the southern border, Canadians can relax now). Cynthia Dunbar blames the federal government for attracting illegal aliens over the border. Shelley Sekula Gibbs cites the strain that the illegal alien problem has placed on “the very viability of our democracy” (possibly explaining the upset win of Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire). Jazzy Kevyn Bazzy has trouble with border fences, yes, but seems to have problems with legal immigrants as well citing the “lax process through which immigrant visas are issued”. Ryan Rowley also “saw border and national security issues as being most important to Fort Bend County . . .”. But the immigrant fear-mongering cake gets awarded to our new savior from Islamofascists of the world, Brian Klock, who warns us that “Caucasian Muslims are learning to speak Spanish in hopes of crossing into the U.S. from Mexico”.

OK, that’s everyone but Pete Olson who apparently kept mum about the illegal immigrants at the candidate forum. In his election brochure, however we see Pete saying this:

“If we don’t know who is coming into our country, how will we know they don’t want to harm us?”

So let’s make it an even ten out of ten Republican candidates for CD 22 who want to foment an anti-immigrant frenzy in this district and this state.

Hey, that works. It takes all of our eyes off the ball that remains the Middle East. It distracts us from a looming economic collapse that appears to be coming on the heels of a crisis in the home mortgage industry whose excesses are beginning to pale next to the savings and loan scandals of the 1980’s. It fails to remind us of government sponsored torture, a “health care industry” that has redefined the word “care”, and assaults on our constitutional rights by the federal Department of Justice.

In other words, it keeps us from discussing the substantive issues of the day.

US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican no-less, has a problem with things like border fences. This is because she has been listening to those living on the Rio Grande River, and chose not to ignore them, unlike the junior senator, John Cornyn. Hutchison sees, what would appear to be a very basic issue – to have a fence or not to have a fence – as the Gordian Knot that it is. From The Chron:

“Hutchison, caught between a national demand for border security and Texas constituents fearful that the fence will destroy their way of life, said she is trying to steer a careful course that achieves both objectives. ‘It's a difficult issue,’ she said.”

But it goes well-beyond the building of a fence, it goes to the basis of southwestern United States economy. An economy that led the Dallas Morning News, last Sunday, to name as its “Texan of the Year” the “Illegal Immigrant”.

And this, in the end, is why the “illegal immigration issue” is and will be such a winner among Republicans this coming election cycle. There is no solution that is palatable to anyone. Texas’ agriculture and building industries depend on immigrant labor – would collapse without it. Everyone knows it. By doing what some of them suggest, mass deportation of immigrant workers, they would do to Texas’ economy something that no one wants to talk about: stagnation and eventual recession.

But all of that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter because no one has any intention of fixing the problem – if there actually is a problem.

No, right now “illegal immigration” serves the Republican doctrine writers as a distractor, a red herring, if you will, that keeps Republican voters and others who have become enraptured in the politics of fear, from making clear, rational decisions about their county, district, state and country.

Which is just Okey-dokey in the GOP grand scheme of things.

A Rat, By Any Other Name, Would Smell As Sweet

Now that 2008 is here and Texans are finally coming to the realization that the March 4th primary is just a few short weeks away, 8 to be precise, this news has finally come to those who construct the testing calendar for the Texas Education Agency.

Oh dear. TAKS testing this year is going to fall on March 4th.

So what is the big deal? What does TAKS testing and the March Primary have to do with each other? Surely these children, none of whom are 18 years of age, will have a time conflict.

It’s not the kids, it’s the facilities. Many a voter in Texas knows that if you don’t go to a church or a community center to vote in an election, you go to a public school building. And because these schools are pledged to maintain an “optimum testing situation” that includes forbidding visitors from coming on campus during a TAKS testing day, this is causing some school districts to reconsider their roles as polling sites, as seen in Tarrant County. From The Chron:

“The matter came to a head this week when the Fort Worth school district officially rejected Tarrant County's request to use 34 campuses as polling places.”

The article goes on to say that the district softened its stance by agreeing to help the county find alternative sites.

This addresses the concern of having a polling facility, but it doesn’t address the chief concern that I want to address here: voter confusion.

What is the most confusing thing that happens to a voter on Election Day? A new voting machine to learn about? Whose names are on the ballot? Where is my voter registration card?

No.

The number one source for confusion on Election Day is “Where do I vote?” This is especially true in areas that have had the same voting locations within the same precincts year after year. Voters know where to go to vote, until that location is changed. When voting locations change, voters fail to appear at the polls, especially if there is only a small window for the voter on Election Day: between the end of the work day and 7 PM.

This, by the way, is why it is so very important that every Democrat learns about Early Voting, and exercises their right to vote before Election Day. It certainly saves on confusion.

But back to the rat. It smells so sweet. Can it really be that this was all a machination to suppress the vote? By advancing the school calendar statewide, everything gets moved 2 weeks ahead. TAKS testing, normally taking place in mid-February is moved to March. There was a concerted effort on the part of the Democratic Party to move Texas’ primary day from March to February last year, but this was met with stiff resistance by Republicans backed by Lt. Gov. Dewhurst. At the time, the idea among Democrats was to make Texas’ primary more important in the national context before the presidential nomination had been all but locked up.

And it seemed reasonable that Republicans might want to go along as well, and for the same reasons.

But they didn’t.

Is this the reason why?

Voter suppression has become somewhat of an art form among the Republicans. Can it be that one of them saw this change in the school calendar, and how it would affect the location of polling places? Is this why the Republicans were so steadfast in their refusal to alter the primary calendar? They knew it would conflict with the testing calendar if unchanged?

I know this sounds paranoid, but as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once said, “Even paranoids have enemies.”

They’re Number One!

Tonight in Richmond, Texas we had the candidate drawing for the order of appearance on the March 4th Democratic primary ballot. I was going to attend the drawing myself, but Mexican food called so I wasn’t there. Instead I got a call from Richard Morrison with the news.

Richard Morrison will appear 1st on the list of 5 candidates for Fort Bend County Commissioner for Precinct 1. This, most people tell me, is an advantage. I don’t pretend to understand how that is an advantage because I always vote carefully and well, but I would imagine that there are lots of strategies to voting, and maybe voting for the first one on the list is one.

But wait, there’s more.

Richard says that he also drew for Rick Noriega, this drawing for the race for the US Senate nomination, and his luck held for Rick: Rick Noriega will also appear first among the Democrats who have filed for the chance to chase John Cornyn out of the US Senate.

That’s all he told me.

So are we happy tonight?

So far so good . . .

Do We Trust the Polls Any More or Was That Just New Hampshire?

OK, it seems I cannot get out of the rut of consulting the latest polls when I start to wonder what comes next. What comes next is the Michigan Primary on Tuesday, January 15th. The problem is, in Michigan Hillary Clinton is alone among the top tier candidates on the primary ballot. Again, it was polling done early on that gave the state to Hillary. Opposing her on the Michigan Primary will be Kucinnich, Biden (who has dropped out) and Gravel.

So I don’t think we need to worry about polls for another week or so. But in that, the question still remains, do we want to trust the polls any more or was that just a fluke in flukey New Hampshire? I just cannot believe that Hillary Clinton’s much-publicized emotional moment was the trick that turned over 10% of the New Hampshire voting populace to switch their votes to Clinton when they were going to vote for Obama.

I guess I have a rather conventional view of a New Hampshire voter: gritty, cantankerous, and above all, stubbbborn (with 4 b’s). So that’s why I have settled on my own theory - well I guess some others have it also - on why New Hampshire went to Hillary Clinton despite all the polls: no one likes to be predictable, but I think that is a main trait of the typical New Hampshire voter. So. . . yeah . . . I think it was the pollsters and their crystal balls who gave Hillary New Hampshire.

So rest assured, I think we will be able to play the polling game again.

Kronberg on Ron Reynolds vs. Dora Olivo in Texas HD 27

The other day Harvey Kronberg made some observations with regard to the upcoming HD 27 primary showdown between Ron Reynolds and the incumbent state representative, Dora Olivo. It was on the January 8th issue of the Quorum Report. I thought they were interesting and refreshingly unadorned by the recent mudslinging that has marred the campaign of Olivo, who I had thought up to now ran a clean campaign.

Kronberg compares the current race by young African-American attorney Ron Reynolds with the 2006 primary challenge by another African-American challenger, Steve Brown. Demographically, the district is roughly split into three populations of African-American, Hispanic, and Anglo. African-Americans, outside of the local East Fort Bend communities, have been mostly ignored by Olivo, some who live in the community say. In fact, when Olivo had learned of Reynolds’ interest in running for her seat, her office had just received a phone call from a constituent who informed them that Olivo would have a challenger “because she hadn’t delivered for the blacks in the district”. Looking back at 2006, while the district contains about a one third African-American voting group, it was not enough for Steve Brown to be successful in his primary challenge. According to Kronberg:

“In 2006, though, Steve Brown could not break 40 percent against Olivo. That was despite a fairly impressive resume, which included stints on the staffs of U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and of state Rep. Sylvester Turner. He also interned in the Clinton White House.”

The main problem was that while he was on the staff of these influential legislators, his former bosses could not endorse their protégé in a primary challenge.

This is not the case with Ron Reynolds. Reynolds, once on the internship program of State Senator Rodney Ellis, has benefited from the endorsement of his former mentor, and as well has benefited from the endorsements of State Rep. Jessica Farrar and US Congressman Al Green as well as the endorsement of Fort Bend County Precinct 2 Constable Reuben Davis. Having been to a Reynolds event, I have also observed Fort Bend County Commissioner Grady Prestage and Missouri City Mayor Allen Owen as present in the crowd, and are also apparently supporting Reynolds. Kronberg initially reported that State Rep Senfronia Thompson was also among Reynolds’ supporters, but was told today that because she is running for Speaker of the House, she must refrain from any endorsements.

These endorsements, Kronberg says, will be trouble for the Olivo campaign.

Finally, there is the note of frustration among those who have been waiting for State Rep Olivo to step aside for emergent candidates from the next generation.

“Reynolds said the reason for the erosion of support for Olivo stems from her decision to run for re-election. He claims that Olivo had let it be known that she would not run again after her 2006 election and that some of her backers expected her to step aside for another representative. Ellis said that was his understanding, too.”

Olivo agrees that she had considered the idea of stepping aside, and does admit to reports that her supporters, upon hearing that she was thinking of not running, “and asked her to reconsider”.

Kronberg did not mention any of this, but I thought this was also germane to the discussion. Among the wedge issues that separate the two candidates ideologically are Olivo’s anti-abortion stance as well as her votes to bar embryonic stem cell research from state-funded research projects. While Ron Reynolds is both pro-choice and in favor of embryonic stem cell research, Olivo, a Catholic, has been given a pass by some for taking positions against these as they run against her religious creed. I would wonder, however, if the same people who give State Rep Olivo a pass for her anti-choice/anti-stem cell research votes would do the same for evangelical Christians who who vote their beliefs in this case if they believed with all their hearts and souls that Intelligent Design was a valid subject worthy of discussion in our public schools.

Would they?

Would you?

When is a Supreme Court Justice No Longer a Supreme Court Justice?

When they become political hacks for their party, that’s when.

In their infinite wisdom, the Framers of our constitution saw fit to make the term of Supreme Court Justice for life. That, they reasoned, would prevent Justices from being swayed in their opinion by threats of losing their job. Historically this was a good move as it gave lots of Justices free rein to rule as they saw the rule of law, rather than how it might or might not affect those aligned with their political beliefs.

But like everything else these days, we are now being shown that Supreme Court Justices no longer hold themselves above the political fray. As a matter of fact, now that a political void has opened, with the exit of Karl Rove, Bush’s henchman who brainstormed voter suppression techniques all over the country, someone has risen to fill that void: Supreme Court Justices.

Case in point: the Supreme Court is currently hearing a case brought by the Indiana Democratic Party, a case that challenges the constitutionality of a voter id law recently passed by the Indiana legislature. This law requires that all voters in Indiana present a photo ID of themselves upon entering their polling place. A valid photo ID is necessary in Indiana in order to cast a ballot in that state.

The argument went there, as it went in Texas during this past legislative session, that having a voter photo ID with an expiration date would prevent voter fraud. Never mind the fact that a case of voter fraud had never been documented in Indiana. No, Democratic Party lawyers argued, the law was specifically targeting the poor who had no cars to drive, or the elderly who were no longer driving – both groups likely Democratic voters.

Seems like a one-two punch and down for the count, doesn’t it? And if we had an apolitical Supreme Court, that would be the case. But no. According to this Washington Post article, certain Justices are paying too much attention to some things, and not enough attention to others:

“The state of Indiana said the law, which requires voters to present a government-issued photo ID with an expiration date, was approved to prevent fraud by impersonators. Smith noted that the state has never prosecuted such a fraud case, but Roberts said that is because ‘it is a type of fraud that's hard to detect.’ “

“Roberts seemed more interested in a lower court's finding that those challenging the law had not found ‘a single person’' who had tried to vote but was turned away because of the law.”

There. Chief Justice Roberts is apparently cooking up statistics that don’t exist about a fraud that is “hard to detect” – and because it is hard to detect it is all that more insidious so we must redouble our efforts to prevent this. And then, almost in the same breath, declared that the photo ID law fair because no one who tried to vote was ever turned away because of the law.

And that would be logical on its face if it were not for the fact that the intent of the photo ID law was to discourage voters from ever showing up at the polls. That is the reason the law went into effect, you know. Not to turn away voters, but to preclude them from showing up altogether.

So of course there was no evidence of turning away voters. There was no one to record that evidence.

Reason number seven thousand four hundred and eighty-nine to vote a straight Democratic ticket: now it’s not just the House, the Senate and the entire Executive branch that Americans fear will do away with their rights as citizens. Now, the icon that was, in the past, the last bastion that Americans had to uphold their rights has been compromised by those who crave to hold on to power, even in the face of thundering opposition by a majority of Americans.

Haven’t we all had enough yet?

In the News as Voters Go to the Polls In New Hampshire

We Americans love our news and as some of us go to the polls in New Hampshire to decide who the next Democratic and Republican nominee for President of the United States will be, I thought I would do a brief review of what we find in the news lately.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Posh Spice has made Mr. Blackwell’s worst dressed list. The top of it.

Said Mr. Blackwell of Posh, in a truly poetic review:

“Forget the fashion spice, wearing a skirt would suffice! In one skinny-mini monstrosity after another, pouty Posh can really wreck-em”

Not to be outdone by Posh’s headlines, singer Britney Spears’ car was towed as it was parked on Sunset Boulevard, in Hollywood, California. Two hours later, Ms. Spears became involved in a fracas between a photographer and a security guard while attempting to visit a friend at a nearby upscale Four Seasons Hotel. The two stories are apparently unrelated. However, it was discovered that Ms. Spears abandoned the car, a Mercedes-Benz, that was blocking traffic on Sunset Boulevard after it had become the victim of a flat tire.

On the far side of the country, HBO actor Austin Nichols pleaded guilty to a DUI that he was charged with last August while he was vacationing with a family in Jackson, Michigan. Nichols' most recent television appearance was on HBO's John From Cincinnati,' which was canceled after its last episode a week before Nichols was arrested. His other acting credits include HBO's Deadwood,' and the TV shows Six Feet Under' and Pasadena.' He also appeared in the films Wimbledon' and The Day After Tomorrow.

Then in other fashion news, songstress Christina Aguilera was recently photographed in a rather tight-fitting dress as she made her way around hot spots in Santa Monica, California. Not normally newsy, this sighting comes just short days before she is scheduled to give birth to her reportedly male child by Caesarian Section. Aguilera is said to be deciding between three names for the newborn: Jackson, Jake and Max.

In other news, 1000 Michigan National Guard soldiers shipped out for their first tour of duty in Iraq. Of this episode in his life, 18-year old Private Jim M. Vilk said “I'm not really sure what to expect. It's going to be an experience.”

And lastly, according to a Reuters release “A roadside bomb killed one U.S. soldier and wounded three others when it struck their vehicle during a combat operation in southern Baghdad on Sunday, the U.S. military said. A U.S. soldier died after a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Diyala Province on Saturday.”

To-date, according to various estimates, 3,910 soldiers from the United States have been killed in action in Iraq. From Britain, which has all but pulled out of the war, 174 have been killed, and 134 killed from other countries. Estimates of Iraqi Army killed since hostilities were halted between the US and Saddam’s Iraq are placed somewhere between 4,900 and 6,375. Iraqi civilians killed thus far in the war number between 80,330 and 87,741.

US out of Iraq. Now.

Bush Threatens to Veto NCLB Reauthorization

But not for the reasons given.

George “I’ve Got a Veto Stamp” Bush has threatened to veto a bill being voted upon this week. It is the bill to reauthorize and revamp the 2001 “No Child Left Behind Act” – a little gift that the state of Texas, through its ex-governor, has foisted upon a nation.

Why, oh why would Bush want to refuse to reauthorize his own worthless piece of legislation, one would ask? From the Washington Post:

“’I know No Child Left Behind has worked,’ Bush said as he urged Congress to revise the law to increase flexibility for state and local agencies without watering down the annual testing and enforcement provisions that give it teeth. ‘If Congress passes a bill that weakens the accountability system in the No Child Left Behind Act, I will strongly oppose it and veto it.’”

What Bush isn’t telling you is that where the act has worked it hasn’t been due to any help from the feds. NCLB is, as they say, an unfunded mandate. The feds dictate to the states and school districts what they want and how these established benchmarks are to be evaluated through standardized tests. Bush says that by loosening the accountability system it weakens the entire thing. The accountability system mandated by NCLB, but paid for by the states.

Oh, please.

It couldn’t really be, could it, that the new NCLB act provides federal funding, previously promised federal funding, to support the goals of NCLB, but our friends in the Bush Regime simply can’t see wasting that kind of money, to the tune of up to $50 billion, on a bunch of lazy brats. Not when there is a war to fight. Not when there are bills to pay to Halliburton and Bechtel.

Squealing about a lack of accountability is really just smoke and mirrors, you watch. You watch when congress puts back in the accountability issues Bush is whining about, but keeps the federal funding intact.

Then, I think, they’ll be singing a different tune.

But really, really, this isn’t S-CHIP, where there are children’s health issues and lives in the balance. This is NCLB: the single greatest insult on American Education in decades. So, OK, George, do it. Veto NCLB. Veto it again and again. Veto it until all of a sudden we all wake up, it’s 2009, and we all realize that NCLB is NOT the be-all end-all in education.

It is, in fact, the biggest mess ever foisted on children 18 and under.

So . . . OK, George, veto NCLB . . . make my day.

Rick Noriega Faces Opposition By Three Movie Stars

Who on Earth could possibly survive the fate of being opposed, in his run for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from Texas, by not one, not two, but three movie stars?

I kid you not. Three movie stars have thrown their hats into the ring for Texas’ Democratic voters to decide between. Who of them? Who? Who? Who? Who shall get the nod to run against junior senator John Cornyn, the George “Dubya” Bush Number one Rubber stamp?

Well I tell you, it isn’t going to be easy. Not when Rick Noriega is being opposed by Gene Kelly. I mean, who could be against Gene Kelly? Isn’t he a great guy? A wonderful dancer? I just loved him in American in Paris, didn’t you? What can you be against if you are not for Gene Kelly? Baby food? Blondes? Volkswagens?

Then there’s Fred McMurrey. OK, his real name is not Fred but you get the picture, right? Here we have Walt Disney’s favorite male character actor, you know, “The Absent Minded Professor” (flubber), “Son of Flubber” and “My” (for God’s sake) “Three Sons”. But not the early dark stuff with Barbara Stanwyck, OK? Just let’s concentrate on the Disney years. Texans will love him for those. Mainly, because in the end he always gets the girl.

And lest we forget, Rhett “Frankly Scarlet I don’t give a gosh-darn” Butler. Yes, that loveable Scarlet-jilting, poker-playing, Yankee-hating favorite son of the South has also thrown his (rather well-appointed) hat into the ring. OK, he has another last name, but again, you get the picture, right?

Nope. Rick Noriega has a lot to make up for if he is going to run up against these three powerhouses with beaucoup name-recognition. Why, if you think of it, the only name-recognition Rick has these days is from that old, old TV series he starred in so many years ago. You know, the one where he was the band leader who played the Congo drums at the world-famous Copacabana. Yeah, that one. Married to the ditzy blonde, father to Little Ricky.

Yeah, that guy.

Hillary Clinton: Agent For Change or More of the Same?

I know. There are lots of us out there who like Hillary Clinton because of Bill; that in getting Hillary to the White House we have a two-fer.

And there is something to that.

But when I think of how my guy, John Edwards, has stood up to the lobbyists and told them that their money is no good in his campaign, and I see how he has been attacked, subliminally, but attacked nonetheless, by those same interests, I want to ask myself – do I want more of the same? Do I want my country to advance itself further down the path of government by the corporate interests?

I commented to a friend the other night that Hillary Clinton has the best of both worlds. That she can on the one hand, bill herself as the agent of change in this election, and then for those who are disturbed by change, to bill herself as the person who can hit the ground running on Day One because she has been there before. That is, a candy-coated pill for business as usual. I am not so sure anymore.

I am not so sure that Hillary Clinton can, out of one side of her mouth, express herself as the progressive candidate for change, and out of the other side, tout her experience as the First Lady as enticement back to the good old days. Those old days, as I recall, weren’t all that good.

Here is what I mean. Take a look at this YouTube embed and tell me whether this is the agent of change we are all looking for.



What I see in this video is an allusion to fear. That the presidency in 2008 is the Democrats to lose if we don’t nominate the right person. The person who can fight off the evil Republican juggernaut.

I don’t really care who the Republicans throw up against us in November. I am pretty sure that, even with all of the machinations that they come up with to steal the election, they won’t be able to overcome the sheer numbers who have had enough with Republican autocratic rule.

And that’s me talking: pessimist me.

A Democratic Speaker in the Texas State Legislature?

Let’s take a break from the presidential hustings that have now shifted to New Hampshire. God knows we need it. I want to look back to state politics for a second and make some observations.

In 2008 there will be 26 Democratic challengers to Republican incumbents in the State House. Twenty-six. If this seems like a big number, then you are not wrong. Some of these challenges are in arguably safe Republican districts, but I am certain that if you asked the Republicans who live in Dan Barrett’s HD 97, they would have said the same thing. Granted, some districts are still too red to flip, but consider the odds. All we need are one in five odds in order to turn 5 house districts, and that, means a 75-75 split in the Texas House. One more and the Democrats have a majority. If we win one in four house races, we have a majority.

And then do you know what happens next?

We have a new Texas Speaker of the House.

A Speaker elected by the new majority. A Democratic Speaker.

There are just a whole bunch of Republicans who want to unseat Tom Craddick, the Republican state rep who has exercised what amounts to autocratic rule over the House. Some still side with Craddick, but with a Democratic majority, I think we don’t have to worry any more about which moderate conservative we want to elect.

Now that we have Democrats running for the Speaker’s spot.

These Democrats include State Rep Senfronia Thompson and State Rep. Sylvester Turner. Both have filed in the race for Speaker, the election to be held in the early days of January 2009. Of the two, I am guessing that Sylvester Turner will be garnering whatever votes the Republicans don’t cast for their own party’s nominees. Turner, you see, turned his back on his Democratic colleagues in the waning days of the 80th Legislature, as he stooped to support Tom Craddick in his lust for absolute power. When Tom Craddick wasn’t at the speaker’s desk turning away Democratic calls for removal of the speaker, State Rep and Speaker Pro Tem Sylvester Turner was there, doing likewise.

This leaves only one obvious Democratic candidate for Speaker of the House, and that is State Rep. Senfronia Thompson.

So when we retake Texas, by retaking the State House majority, we will have a new day in Texas, and a new Speaker of the House: Senfronia Thompson.

Iowa Caucus Live Blog at Otto's

Tonight I am sitting among friends and fellow Democrats watching the Iowa Caucuses Live at Otto's Barbecue and Grill in Stafford, Texas. We are taking up one entire corner of the restaurant and make a fine raucus caucus watching group. There are new faces that saw the announcement on the Fort Bend Democrats' website, there are some old faces, and there are familiar faces from campaigns past.

We come together again, like locusts out of the woodwork, to beat the bushes (pun intended) to get Democrats out to actively support Democratic candidates at all levels.

Richard Morrison is here working the room. A new couple from Canyon Gate, one of the communities that will be affected by the Grand Parkway Section C toll road joined the group and Richard made sure that they had his card.

7:57 PM: CNN projects Mike Huckabee to win the Iowa Caucus by some unknown percent. Wow, that was fast. Don said it's because the Republicans have different rules.

8:05 PM: CNN projects that Mitt Romney will take 2nd place in Iowa.

Wow, it must be nice to have it all done by the 1st hour.

things are looking a little more tight on the Democratic side. Edwards, right now, has a slim lead over Obama who in turn has a slim lead over Hillary. We're talking within 1% and change of each other.

8:10 PM: 49% of Democratic caucuses reporting . . . too tight to call.

8;13 PM: Obama surges! 34%. Edwards and Clinton are 0.5% apart.

8:22 PM: This is the last time this year we are going to hear the words "Iowa City is a very important place".

And in the meantime, Susan brought Sharon Wallingford around to meet everyone. Sharon Wallingford is one of 5, count 'em five Democrats running for County Commissioner Precinct 1. That's Sharon sitting next to that big lunk of a guy with the moustache.

8:28 PM: CNN projects Obama to win the Iowa Caucuses. He now stands 4% ahead of the Edwards/Clinton pack, both at 31%.

That was fast. Now all we have to do is wait until it is 100% of the caucuses reporting for us to know who will take second, and by what fraction of a percent that happens.

Now for the Half Empty review of Otto's fare:

The barbecued turkey was fairly dry but a good portion. I think they need to rethink the barbecue sauce portion. Marsha says that the barbecue beef sandwich was pretty good but they were, again, a little stingy with the barbecue sauce. Jeri had the most healthful meal at the table: meatless baked potato topped with broccoli cheese and whatnot. The skin is a little overdone, she says.

That's it. One down, 49 to go.

Finally, just as we were leaving, in comes Ron Reynolds. Ron Reynolds, it will be remembered is running for State Representative, and is challenging Dora Olivo, the Democratic incumbent. We all thought that Ron needed a group hug, and perhaps a warm-up on that chilly night, so before leaving, we made sure we had a group picture. This group represents about half of the total crowd we had at this event.

UPDATE:

With 100% of the caucuses reporting, my guy, John Edwards eked out a win against Hillary Clinton by just over a quarter of a percent (0.28%). Edwards calls that a victory for progressives who want to send a message to the candidate for no change that progressives want change. I suppose so, if you include Obama's 37% (and have bought into the fact that Obama's campaign represents change - for that to happen, I think, the lobbyists have to go). In the end, I think you have to take Iowa Caucus results with a grain of salt, as Howard Dean should have in 2004.

One Little, Two Little . . . Ten Little Republicans for Texas CD 22

I just took a look at the latest and last filings over at the Republican Party of Texas’ website. I was beginning to worry about Dean and Bob. Here it was the last day to file and I haven’t seen either of their names listed among the filers as they promised.

But I can rest now. Both Dean Hrbacek and “Mad Dog” Bob Talton have completed their filing for US Congressional Representative for CD 22, making it an odd nine. But then I counted again . . . and there were ten.

Another Republican has filed for this nomination today, making it an even ten.

We were all treated to the entry of Kevyn Bazzy earlier. He and Ryan Rowley and Mad Dog Bob all filed on the 28th. Bazzy has the jazzy name, though. His website says that he is a communications expert with a deployment to Iraq. But somehow I have the feeling that the closest thing he got to a firefight was on the end of a microphone. As a communications specialist and a military intelligence officer, I think this eminently qualifies him for Congress – that is, if the intent is to further erode the privacy rights of American citizens.

But the tenth name, Cynthia Dunbar, Attorney, out of Richmond, Texas, was like a bolt out of the blue. Who is she and where’d she come from?

Cynthia Noland Dunbar, was elected in 2006 to the State Board of Education, District 10, by a 70% to 30% margin against a Libertarian. She got her law degree from Pat Robertson’s Regent University, the same University that graduated 150 various students who now work in the Bush administration under one Executive Branch department or another (remember Roberto Gonzalez’ own Monica Goodling? Yep, a Regent University alum). So Dunbar now wants to move on up the line and become your next congresswoman representing “The Fighting 22nd” as it is shall be known from here on in.

She’s a Lutheran, though. I don’t know how this is going to sit with the Baptists.

So there you have it: a full baseball team plus a benchwarmer running for one GOP US Congressional nomination. It should make for an interesting candidates’ forum when they get all of them in the same room. And, well, I don’t know, that’s a lot of candidates running for one nomination in a primary.

Ten.

Some kind of record. Looks like they REALLY want Nick’s job.

Gee, I wonder if there will be a runoff.

It Finally Arrived: The Last Full Year of the Bush Regime

You might notice something new on this website. Over on the left, below my list of Campaigns that I support, I have my BUSHGONE countdown. It is set to count down to 11:59 A.M., January 20, 2009. In that last minute we will say a fond farewell to George W. Bush and all that he brought with him to make The United States of America a pariah nation in the worldview. A nation where the gap between rich and poor has steadily widened. A nation where more and more citizens are unable to secure for themselves the most basic in health benefits. A nation that leaves no child behind by failing to provide a quality education for the vast majority of them. A nation with a broken military.

Will we survive a year and 20 days? A leap year at that? At this point I don’t know. I don’t know if we can see this through to the end without some sort of wrong move by one who is arguably The Worst President . . . Ever.

Ronald Reagan comes to mind as he comes in close on to Dubya’s ranking, chiefly due to the now known fact that the man suffered from premature dementia, and is known for such idiotic sayings as

“The United Sates has much to offer the third world war.”

And

“A tree is a tree. How many more do you have to look at?”

But, there IS the one saying that exposes Reagan as a prophet for the Bush years:

“Of the four wars in my lifetime none came about because the U.S. was too strong.”

Fortunately for Reagan, he passed on before he could see those words go crashing down in flames as the Cheney/Bush War in Iraq became foisted on the American people, a war which has tragically weakened our country’s military. Unfortunately for us, we are living the lie that is the War in Iraq every day.

So let’s start off Bush’s last year of running our country into the ground with twelve of his most famous aphorisms or memorable quotes. One for each month left in the Bush Regime:

January: “I believe we are called to do the hard work to make our communities and quality of life a better place”.

February: “We ought to make the pie higher.”

March: “I've got a record, a record that is conservative and a record that is compassionated.”

April: “I’m the decider, and I decide what is best. And what is best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain a the Secretary of Defense.”

May: “See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”

June: “I want to thank my friend Senator Bill Frist, for joining us today . . . He married a Texas girl, I want you to know, Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me.”

July: “There’s an old saying in Tennessee – I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee – that says, fool me once – shame on – shame on you. You fool me twice, you can’t get fooled again.”

August: “We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile.”

September: “America better beware of a candidate who is willing to stretch reality in order to win points.”

October: “This is an impressive crowd – the haves and the have-mores. Some people call you the elites. I call you my base.”

November: “Wow, Brazil is big!”

December: “Make no mistake about it, I understand how tough it is, sir. I talk to families who die.”

OK, a baker’s dozen, one for the 20 days of January: “I hope you leave here and walk out and say ‘what did he say?’”

384 days and counting. May they pass quickly.

Texas Progressive Alliance Presents: Best of 2007

Whoa Pardner. Get ready for the mother of all End of the Year Roundups. I haven't checked against the membership list but this one, I think, represents the best representation of member contributions so far this year. Thanks again to Vince from Capitol Annex for putting this together.

2007 was a great year for the Texas Progressive Alliance and its many member blogs and bloggers.

In recognition of the excellent work done by our many bloggers we're treating you to a special New Year's edition of the TPA round-up. So, without further ado, here is your "Best of 2007" from the many bloggers of the Texas Progressive Alliance.

Eye on Williamson has been one of the state's leading blogs when it comes to covering toll road issues and State Representative Mike Krusee's career. EOW's top posts of 2007 included: Eye on Williamson on toll roads, The "New Way Forward" On Tolls, the coming demise of Mike Krusee in Krusee's Influence And Credibility Are Gone, Time For HD-52 To Start Over and a post on the ongoing battle between the citizens and the county government over a new landfill contract, The Landill, TCEQ Hearing & More Gattis Shenanigans .

The most popular posts from The Texas Blue in our first year included: Our running coverage of the 2008 Senate race. We kicked everything off with one of our inaugural pieces analyzing Cornyn's potential vulnerability in '08, in a piece picked up by the Washington Post. We then broke the code on Kos' "mystery candidate," revealing that it was Rep. Rick Noriega that Kos had in mind with his draft movement, and interviewed the Representative shortly before he declared his official candidacy. And we published some of the first information examining Mikal Watts' candidacy in what became the most read story on the Blue this year; In what also became one of our most-read pieces, we analyzed the role of money in statewide Texas campaigns, looking at the efforts taken by the statewide campaign of David Van Os to illustrate the need for money in politics, the proper role of a nascent state party organization, and the limits on the effectiveness of a political message that come from the inability to effectively spread that message due to the lack of funds to reach large numbers of Texans efficiently. This article led to a dialog with David Van Os, and to an interview with him shortly afterward where he voices his side of the issue; And finally, though two interviews have been mentioned already, our "Who's Blue" audio interview series also includes a number of other fascinating figures in Democratic politics, both statewide and across the nation. Some of the more notable interviews have been with four-star Army General and 2004 presidential candidate Wesley Clark, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, and current presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich.

John Coby of Bay Area Houston documents what a team of anonymous citizens have accomplished to expose the Texas Ethics Commission as incompetent in the series Spending Campaign Cash. Their work uncovered $3million in undisclosed expenditures by Texas Legislators. The Series. KHOU in Houston featured their work in late December with their report Activist: State's campaign finance oversight out-of-focus.

Easter Lemming Liberal News's topics covered this past year include Pasadena politics, the Joe Horn shooting and our national So-Called-Liberal-Media.

News items covered by TXsharon on Bluedaze: An attempt to shame a Texas Granny who received the Peacemaker of the year award. The depletion of and pollution of our water due to the irresponsible and shocking use by the oil and gas industry including an explanation of Groundwater Conservation Districts and how they can help that was published in two Texas newspapers and the attempt by oil and gas to sabotage the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District. The failure of the Texas Railroad Commission to protect Texans. The protection money breakdown paid to Texas Railroad Commissioners by the oil and gas industry.
WhosPlayin's favorite posts of 2007 were all about ideas: Universal Health Care - You're Soaking In It in which he explains that we're already paying for universal health care. Why Democrats Oppose "Voter ID" Bills - an explanation for our conservative friends. Lastly, Fiscal Progressivism - Fiscal Conservatism with a Broader View.

Hal at Half Empty (that's me) hemmed and hawed. How to decide which three of this year's postings merited special recognition? Then it dawned on him to mention the three postings about three singular events that he attended and posted photos about. Priceless! In reverse chronological order: The Fort Bend Democrats Have a Booth at the Fair. Then a summer fundraiser featuring TDP Chairman Boyd Richie. And last February The Fort Bend Democrats held a Love Fest for Rick and Melissa Noriega.

Off the Kuff submits his top posts of 2007: David Dewhurst and Voter ID. Property Tax Cuts Uber Alles, the mantra of the 80th Lege, and Drafting Rick Noriega for Senate.

BlueBloggin', another new blog to the TPA in 2007, submits their best of 2007: nytexan pens an op-ed on The Christian March Against America; BossKitty has a poignant OpEd: All Answers Are Selfish And Shallow; and nytexan discusses how Mexico Get Texas Land Through Border Fence

Refinish69, at Doing My Part For The Left, takes a look back at the year and is still disgusted with Hypocrites, Toe Tapping Senators, and Knee Pad Presidents. While looking back at the year, who can forget Ann Coulter proving what a witch(usually spelled with a capital B) she is. Refinish69 also looks at Gay Pride and World AIDS Day again to explain some history about himself and the continuing need for Gay Voters to speak out.

One of Grand Moff Texan's too rare diaries is always a special delight for us at Texas Kaos. But a standout diary inspired by the ignorance of the beltway punditry really broke down Why We Blog, Or Broderism in my Rear-View Mirror. Read it, and be inspired as we kick off into the 2008 election cycle. As the wilder-than-usual Texas Legislative session came to a close, Boadicea highlighted a few particular items of interest in Personal Courage, Political Vendettas, and an Unexpected Outbreak of Spine. With his usual sharp eye and incisive writing, Krazypuppy noted the REAL importance of the Larry Craig scandal in Why Another GOP Sex Scandal Matters-It's Not the Queers, Either.

It's been a wild year at McBlogger. We've heard about 39%'s trip to meet the Bilderburgers. We've also had exclusive one on one interviews with the Democratic candidates. We've also taken time out to call on some of our friends to be quiet. Because they're being a pain in the ass. This year McBlogger turned two and like all two year olds you can expect tantrums mixed with an even larger dose of mischief. Like all children, though, you'll want to kill us but won't be able to because killing kids is wrong (so, so very wrong). You'll also find us precocious and irresistibly cute.

We at The North Texas Liberal had some trouble deciding on which posts were our absolute favorites of 2007! But we decided on a few standouts that seemed worthy of mentioning for a second time. First, a series on Shaquanda Cotton. Cotton is a fifteen-year-old African American girl from Paris, Texas. She was sentenced to up to seven years at the TYC for pushing a hall monitor at her school (the same judge that sentenced her gave a white girl that was convicted of burning down the family home to probation). Our coverage of Cotton garnered the attention of someone at the Lamar County DA's office who used some recycled talking points to trash Cotton and her mother. Despite all of this, after the mainstream media broke Cotton's story, she became a candidate for early release. By the end of March, it was official that she would be released from the TYC, and in April we showed a video of her reunion with her mother. Cotton has returned to school and wants to study to become a lawyer so she can fight future injustices. We continued our global warming coverage with our Planet Purgatory series, parts One and Two. In May, we heard that the global warming tipping point could be in only ten years' time. NASA scientist James Hansen, a tireless environment advocate who testified about global warming before the Congress back in the 1980s, explains the tipping point theory... the point of no return. But he also believes in prevention rather than adaptation. If you missed this one, check out the post... if you're concerned at all about the environment, you'll want to read it. We continued our global warming coverage with our Planet Purgatory series, parts One and Two. Lastly, we gave Sen. John Cornyn the credit he deserved when he finally stood right side of an issue. Despite a year of flops and fabrications, he said he would support seasonal workers through the H2-B visa program. But despite the efforts of Maryland Democrat Sen. Barbara Mikulski, the fix wasn't finalized before Congress broke for the winter holidays, leaving thousands of small business owners out in the cold this holiday season. When we spoke face-to-face with a legislative expert at Cornyn's DC office, we were told that the Texas senator would like to see comprehensive immigration reform and wouldn't lobby for the H2-B visas, though he supported seasonal workers, because he didn't want to piecemeal a fix for the immigration problem. So even though he stood with his constituents on the right side of the issue, in the end he let them down again.

Edmundo Rocha of Para Justicia y Libertad reports about two protests against the prison industrial complex used here in Texas to detain undocumented immigrants--the Houston
Processing Center in Houston and the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, TX. Prior to those reports, he reported on the suicide of David Ritcheson of Spring, TX, the Latino teen who was brutally beaten, tortured, and sodomized with a plastic pole by two white racist teenagers, David Henry Tuck and Keith Robert Turner.

Marc G., of Marc's Miscellany, analyzed Tom Craddick's preposterous claim that the speaker of the house can only be removed by impeachment. Marc also discussed Gov. Perry's controversial decision to veto the health insurance appropriation for community college employees.

Israel Behar-Ojalvo, PDiddie's father-in-law, passed away in March and Brains and Eggs had a post with photos in tribute. The Texas Youth Commission remains the worst scandal in Texas history, and that was apparent in April of last year. And in the matter of a few hours just before Labor Day, Alberto Gonzales, Phil Garner, and Tim Purpura all lost their jobs. Good riddance to a big bunch of losers. More like this in 2008, sure to come.

2007 was a heck of a year for Capitol Annex. Vince Leibowitz at Capitol Annex is most proud of his ground-breaking coverage of the saga surrounding the insurgency in the Texas House and Speaker Craddick's power grab, including Terry Keel's Troubling Memo (a smoking gun, for sure), and the saga surrounding the resignation of parliamentarian Denise Davis, which earned him a mention in (among other publications), Texas Lawyer. Coverage of the 80th Texas Legislature was also a major event for Capitol Annex, including a mind-numbing Liveblogging of debate on the General Appropriations Act, and a special video: Jodie Laubenberg Is Screaming.

It has been another exciting year at DosCentavos. I've tried to go over some of my better postings of the year and came up with three. DosCentavos wrote about his expectations for the 2007Lege Session. Beyond La Politica, we also know DosCentavos enjoys writing reviews on the latest releases in the Tejano and Mexican American music genre. This year, he received the honor of being asked by Los Lobos to rate their most recent release, The Town and The City. Finally, during the last Lege session, some Senators attempted to take up the debate on legalizing gambling to pay for education. DC tells us a few realities about higher education funding in the process.

Musings started the year concerned about science education in Texas (see: Warren Chisum, R-Dark Ages) and ended the year with some commentary about her friend, Chris Comer, being fired as Director of Science at the Texas Education Agency over her stand on evolution. In between it was all about Melissa and Rick Noriega.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes a church in El Paso falls victim to manipulation by a right wing cadre bent on world domination. CouldBeTrue then wonders what would have happened in a perfect Republican world when the Minnesota bridge collapsed. South Texas Chisme covers the wedge'em and hate'em campaign,, also known as Republican immigration strategy. Hispanics have taken note.

The Texas Cloverleaf, another blog new to the TPA this year, was a submission hold performed by professional wrestler Dean Malenko, which tied up his opponent's legs, much like a clover. We are designed to be one of those lefty progressive Democratic type political blogs. We live in North Texas, so expect a lot of DFW area stuff. But, we like the rest of the state, sometimes. Maybe even America. But don't push us! Politics is like a Texas Cloverleaf. It takes you in different directions, and ultimately will make you tap out! The series we are most proud of since forming in the summer of 2007 was the continued exposure of the outright lies and misleading statements coming from the pro-toll road crowd in Dallas during the Trinity Vote effort. Even though the referendum failed, we feel we did our part to help Dallas voters make an informed decision. Read the series here, here, here, here and here.

Best wishes for a happy and victorious 2008 from the Texas Progressive Alliance.

A Belated Holiday Treat Courtesy of God’s Own Party

And you thought Democrats had all the fun.

People are coming out of screenings of “Charlie Wilson’s War” here in the middle of the Bible Belt clucking and snickering, knowing that all that is unholy must lie with the Democratic Party, given the fact that we saw a Texas Democratic Congressman in flagrante delicto in a hot tub with Las Vegas strippers and showgirls. A scene not denied by former Congressman Wilson.

Cut to the present as we witness revelations of numerous email messages carried over Harris County servers between Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal, a Republican, and his administrative assistant, Ms. Kerry Stevens.

Messages that reveal Rosenthal’s long-ago amour with Ms. Kerry during Rosenthal’s then-doomed first marriage.

Setting a 15-member executive committee of God’s Own Party on its collective ear. Why, they ask, why O God, dost thou allow these revelations 5 days before the end of the primary ballot application period?

Forget the fact that Ms. Stevens, as an administrative assistant, is paid more than twice as much as a starting teacher in HISD, and has in addition, percs that come complete with a “company car” and a gas allowance. Forget that. We have hard evidence that DA Rosenthal was schtüpping the woman 20 years ago.

No, forget all of that. For this breach of the code of ethics of God’s Own Party (thou shalt not schtüp thine secretary and get caught), the 15-member executive committee late yesterday asked for Rosenthal to withdraw his name from the primary ballot.

Something Rosenthal has so far refused to do.

Leaving the GOP what? Leaving them to find a primary challenger to now-tainted Rosenthal? Do they know what the average Republican voter does when they see two names on a primary ballot, one with an “(I)” next to his name? They click on the “(I)”.

But suppose, by some dint of miracle, they don’t and nominate someone unknown and unattached to the DA’s office? What then?

Why that person would be pitted against a very well-known (liked?) Democratic candidate for District Attorney in the name of Chief C. O. “Brad” Bradford. Not only is Bradford the former Chief of Police of HPD, but he is also a partner in the law firm of Kelley and Bradford LLP, and has more legal credentials than the slash marks on his former uniform.

By himself, Bradford presents himself as a formidable foe. How would an under-acknowledged and unknown Republican candidate do in a knock down drag out with Bradford? It would be Bradford’s contest to lose.

On the other hand, what if Rosenthal pulls it off and gets the nomination? With Republican repugnance for anything out of their ordered sexual world, this should prove to be an interesting battle between party loyalty and loyalty to Jesus.

Either way I smell . . . napalm in the morning.

The smell of Victory.

Rick Noriega’s Holiday Greetings

The next US Senator from Texas has a video message for his future constituents. Click on the You Tube video embed to watch, then why not make one last donation to the campaign in 2007? New Years’ Eve marks the last day of the quarterly reporting period and Rick has a goal to meet. One that has been self-set at $30K, but really one that needs to show that Rick has the Right Stuff to win. The right stuff, being green in color.

You know and I know that he can be the right person at the right time for this job, but that will be meaningless to voters if he goes up against Cornyn after the March primary, and Cornyn’s Rove-esque politicos are blazing away unanswered as they are trying to set the stage and define who Rick Noriega is. Rick needs your help to put HIS message in front of the voters in 5 major Texas media markets. It’s going to take more than good intentions to unseat George Bush’s number one ally in the Senate. It is going to take sacrifice and treasure. Rick got my latest 50 bucks today, how about yours?



Contribute HERE.

And The Political Story of the Year Goes to . . .

The United States Senate!

Probably underbilled on the Huffington Post where they report it as one of the least reported stories of the year, the biggest story of the year, as I see it, is our obstructionist Senate, made possible by the Senate cloture rule that places a time limit upon which filibusters may stall a bill from coming to the floor for a vote. In other words, GOP filibusters have failed to be stopped because cloture requires a 3/5th vote, a vote that could never be attained in a Senate with a (sometime) 51-vote Democratic majority.

GOP filibusters have stopped more bills from being passed in one year than in any two-year Senate term. An historical record, making the 2007-2008 Senate the most obstructionist US Senate in American history, and they are well on their way to boosting that record to unbreakable heights in 2008.

The US Senate has:

- Filibustered 62 times in this past year, effectively preventing 62 pieces of legislation favored by 51 or more members of the Senate from going to the floor for an up or down vote.

- Failed to vote for cloture a total of 29 times.

- Failed to end a war of opportunity and excess in Iraq by placing a timeline on withdrawal.

- Failed to bring healthcare benefits to an additional 4 million children whose families cannot afford health insurance.

- Failed to empower Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices

- Failed to make it easier for workers to join unions.

- Failed to repeal what is effectively a ban on embryonic stem cell research

This GOP strategy has undercut the will of a majority of American voters and has been the chief enabler of an imperial presidency that continues to operate its rogue government free of restraint. Free of the will of a majority of Americans.

How can we get beyond this? What do we need to do to get American democracy back on its feet and operational? We need a Democrat in the White House for one thing. Without that we face four more years of impotence. But on top of that, since the GOP has shown how obstructionist they can be, even to the extent of obstructing measures that are beneficial to the people, we need a 60% super majority in the Senate, and we need a 66% majority in the House to make sure that the will of a mere majority of Americans is heard.

Only then will the American people have their county back in safe hands.

Richard Morrison Files For March Primary: Fort Bend County Commissioner, Precinct 1

Richard Morrison has been around a lot lately. You might recall that he ran in 2004 as the Democratic challenger to Tom DeLay in what everyone said was a hopeless tilt at windmills. Only to surprise EVERYone in his impressive showing with a significant 41% of the vote in what was assumed to be a safe Republican gerrymandered district. Richard Morrison was first to prove that DeLay could be unseated [Little did we realize at the time that he could actually be chased out of his state].

You might also recall that Richard Morrison is the leader in opposition to Allied Waste’s plans for expansion of their Blueridge Landfill in southern Fort Bend County. A project to which present Precinct 1 County Commissioner Tom Stavinoha has given his blessing.

Morrison also led the charge to invoke the Netroots community to start a draft movement to urge State Rep. LTC Rick Noriega to challenge Bush rubberstamp junior senator John Cornyn.

And most recently, Richard Morrison has added his voice to the growing community objection to TxDOT’s plans to build Section C of the Grand Parkway as a toll way, a hue and cry that has gotten so loud so as to cause a reversal in Tom Stavinoha’s tacit approval of the project.

So what do you do after all of that? Well the answer is obvious: Invite County Commissioner Stavinoha into an early retirement.

Press release follows:

RICHARD MORRISON DEMOCRAT FOR COMMISSIONER, PRECINCT 1

Residents of Precinct 1 have lost confidence in Tom Stavinoha. His choice to approve a toll way as an extension of the Grand Parkway, his support of I-69 through the middle of Fort Bend County, his conscious decision to ignore flooding and drainage problems in the precinct, and his approval of the location of a 20 story pile of Houston’s garbage in Precinct 1 demonstrates how little he cares about the current families of Precinct 1. Residents of Precinct 1 are tired of leaders who will not stand up to the big moneyed interests and who engage in "pay to play politics" which leaves current residents without effective representation. Stavinoha has lost his focus on the families that live in Precinct 1 and their critical issues of quality of life and an honest ethical government.

That is why today I filed to run for Fort Bend County Commissioner of Precinct 1.
The families of Precinct 1 are demanding a leader; someone with a backbone, willing to fight outside interests that want to pillage our county resources to the detriment of our current residents. I am a seventh generation Texan, whose parents and grandparents taught me to stand up for what you believe in, work hard and play by the rules. I will apply those lessons to the office of Commissioner. I will S.T.O.P the Grand Parkway Toll Road. I will keep I-69 and the Trans Texas Corridor as far away from Fort Bend County as possible. I will fix the flooding and drainage problems that exist in the precinct. I will fight against the location or expansion of any landfills in the county. And I will make sure that Fort Bend County acquires no more debt goes back to operating on a pay-as-you-go basis.

I want to reform the Commissioner’s office, making it a place where leadership, responsibility and ethics prevail. I will mount a strong, issues based campaign to win this most important post in the 2008 General Election. I will campaign as a voice to the families of Precinct 1. I am pro-business and pro-growth, but these issues should not diminish the quality of life of the families that already live in the precinct. I have chosen to raise my family in Precinct 1. My family and I have lived in Fort Bend County for 12 years. We are residents of Greatwood. My law office is in Precinct 1. My church is in Precinct 1. My children attend school in Precinct 1. My wife shops for groceries in Precinct 1. The County Commissioner needs to know how to prioritize the growth of Precinct 1 with the needs of its current residents.

Fort Bend County has a budget of more than $214 million per year, much of it is spent without explanation. No-bid contracts for expensive professional services are awarded primarily to big donors. Hundred million dollar bond issues are passed for roads to nowhere. When elected I will fight to pass ethics reform, so that Commissioner’s Court will not be able to accept donations from entities that have or will have no-bid contracts with the county.

I will restore the words "fair, honest and hardworking" to the office of the Commissioner. The Commissioner’s office will not operate in secrecy. I will make decisions based on facts, not campaign contributions. When elected I will do everything in my power to open up government to the voters. Budgets, appointments, contracts, and campaign contributions will be made available on the web for anyone who wants to see them. Every decision I make will benefit the current families of Precinct 1.

In filing for my candidacy for County Commissioner, I am sending a strong message that it is time to run Precinct 1 on behalf of the current families that live there. I will fight for higher ethical standards, provide stronger oversight to manage future growth, and make quality of life for the current residents a top priority. I hope to have the support of all the families in Precinct 1. I need your time talent and treasure to get to take back seat on Commissioner’s Court.

Fort Bend County Democratic Party Registers Candidates

In the county seat of Fort Bend County, Richmond Texas, space has been set aside for Fort Bend Democratic Party Chair Elaine Bishop to accept applications for the March 5, primary. Last day to register is Wednesday January 2nd, 2008 at 6 PM.

But today, as announced in FortBendNow and at the Fort Bend Democrats website Ms. Bishop made a place to accept applications, and their fees if applicable.

This is a live blog of this event. I am sitting in the anteroom to the conference room where Bishop sits, awaiting applicants.

2:08 PM: In walks Richard Morrison. Richard is applying for Fort Bend County Commissioner, Precinct 1. A few minutes and an exchange of fees, he is in. All in all three individuals besides Richard have filed for this seat, with two more promising to enter. Bishop predicted a runoff for this nomination, Morrison doubts it.

Big issues in Precinct 1 include the proposed Section C of the Grand Parkway, proposed as a tollway, as well as the proposed 17 storey high Blueridge Landfill. Both of these projects have been supported by sitting Pct 1 comissioner Tom Stavinoha, although he was recently seen distancing himself from the Grand Parkway Tollway plan.

2:21 PM: Albert Hollan enters. Albert is running for Judge of the recently created 434th District Court which is currently occupied by a Rick Perry appointee James Shoemake. Shoemake only a few months into his appointed position has already had complaints about his behavior in court among other things.

That's Albert Hollan standing between future County Commissioner Richard Morrison and plaintiff's attorney Donald Bankston, who graciously donated his office space to the Democratic Party to make all of this possible.

3:30 PM: A couple of citizens came in to file applications for precinct chairs, and upon checking for one precinct we found that one of the two would have an opponent. However, there are lots of ways to accomodate that.

TxDOT Suddenly Has Money To Spend: Part 2

I needed to split this story into two parts to clearly indicate, first, that the Texas Department of Transportation cares not a whit about the commuting needs of the average Texas resident, but will kowtow to the interests of foreign port developers who promise lucre. That was the gist of the first piece.

Part 2: TxDOT itself will spend no money on this project, but will agree to what amounts to privatization of SH 36 to a San Antonio-based construction firm, Zachry American Infrastructure.

This was all laid out in January of this year in FortBendNow. In essence, what TxDOT proposes is to let Zachary take charge of the widening project outlined in the first piece, using its own money and resources, and maintain the road afterwards for 35 years. Their revenue from this comes from a shady deal that is given the likely name “shadow toll”.

What is a shadow toll? It is a toll based on the number of vehicles that use the state highway over and above those that used it before the widening project. That is, a per-vehicle charge, amount unspecified, that is paid by TxDOT over the 35 year time interval directly to Zachry. That TxDOT money comes from the taxpayer.

It’s another aspect of the infrastructure sell-off being conducted by the Texas state government. The diabolical thing about this is that we ultimately do not know how much this cost of widening and 35 years of maintenance will be. Because it depends on how much traffic uses the road. But you can bet that Zachry has crunched the numbers and realized that even the added truck traffic alone from Freeport’s Velasco Terminal will just about make them rich as Croesus. The only thing we really know is that TxDOT thinks it will cost $275.2 million. I guess what that means is that every dollar above that and the cost of maintenance is pure profit for Zachry.

That profit is money paid by taxpayers to Zachry. A tax that amounts to a service fee that would not actually be charged if this project were funded by traditional state transportation department budgeting.

In other words, Texans will be charged for private premium services, without being able to vote on whether they actually want that.

And even though State Highway 36 comes under the Texas state highway system, the state actually washes its hands of all maintenance, leaving motorists to deal with a private company if there are road problems that go unrepaired.

I don’t know. I guess I long for the day that Texas’ state government was a government that worked for the people and not a government that sold off bits of the state to the special interests. Whatever happened to “Pay as you go?” Isn’t that a fine conservative value? If Texas dosen’t have enough money to build and maintain its own infrastructure, in the face of a budget surplus, what does that say about priorities in Austin?

What does that say about the Texans that elected this Kleptocracy?