Tom DeLay: He’s Free at Last!

Former Congressman and DWTS contestant Tom “Twinkle Toes” DeLay, can now say that he is firmly in exactly the same position as the three members of the New Black Panther Party whose offenses were also cleared by the Department of Justice earlier this summer: they’ll not file charges against neither DeLay nor the New Black Panthers.

How appropriate.

You see, like the New Black Panther members that stood in front of a polling place with baseball bats on Election Day, Tom DeLay is as guiltless as a newborn lamb.

Try telling that to Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg. Lehmberg is set to return to court next week to pick up where retired DA Ronnie Earle left off in trying to hang a prison sentence around DeLay and his two henchmen John Colyandro and Jim Ellis for money laundering.

A pre-trial hearing is set for August 24th, the first hearing since this past April when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to throw out the money laundering indictment against Colyandro and Ellis. Had they done that, Ellis, Colyandro and DeLay would have all been off the hook.

The lawyers representing Colyandro and Ellis argued that the money laundering law that they were accused of having broken was “too vague.” The law, they said, didn’t say anything about laundering checks. The $190,000 they were accused of laundering, they said, all came to them in checks.

That is, when you launder money, we’re talking cash. Checks are OK. Here is what the Court said about cash versus checks and vagueness:

“With respect to the appellants’ vagueness claims, the court of appeals concluded that the Election Code provisions, though broad and complex, were not so indefinite as to deprive a person of ordinary intelligence of the ability to understand what was prohibited.”

That’s a compliment, by the way. The Court went out of its way to rate the intelligence of Colyandro and Ellis as at least ordinary.

So Tom DeLay can breathe the sweet air of freedom as the Feds have backed off. Maybe he will share a brewsky with the NBPP members who he now finds himself with some shared experiences.

But given the fact that the 9 appellate court justices were unanimous in this decision last April, DeLay would be well-advised to breathe deeply of those freedom-bearing molecules. The Feds may have decided that things are well in hand in Texas and that it would be too costly as well as redundant to make a federal case out of it.

Poor Rick Perry

Poor Rick Perry. Just when he thinks he has landed on a hot button issue that is going to turn the tide against Bill White, someone reminds him that he is the one who is on the conservative side of the argument.

For months now Perry has been digging at Bill White’s foundations trying to undermine his image by exposing him for being the financial success that he is. Bill White didn’t spend decades in Austin exchanging political favors for shady financial dealings and campaign contributions. White got his fortune the old fashioned way. He earned it.

Or sometimes people threw money at him. What can I say? White is a Democrat, but not the most progressive Democrat I’ve ever seen.

But here’s the thing. This whole thing about how Bill White is tied to BJ Services (I know, it’s hard not to laugh at that name), an oil service company that is famous for, and some say infamous for, its thousands of frack jobs in the Barnett Shale is a lose-lose for Rick Perry.

First he simply used the relationship as a dig at Bill White earning $2.6 million while he was sitting on the board of directors for the oil firm. That didn’t have traction so last month, through this Texans for Rick Perry website Perry attacked Bill White’s affiliation with BJ Services (can’t stop laughing) for its water table polluting ways. From the website:

“‘Bill White is shamefully trying to use the fracturing industry to cover up the fact that the company that paid him more than $2.6 million – while he was mayor of Houston – is one of two companies Congress is investigating for admittedly pumping diesel and other dangerous chemicals into the groundwater,’ said Texans for Rick Perry spokesman Mark Miner. ‘Bill White refuses to be held accountable for the rogue actions of his company, which has already admitted to Congress that it has been polluting.’”

Oops. Who oversees all of these companies doing frack jobs in the Barnett Shale? Rick Perry ultimately, but mainly his three Railroad Commissioners, Republicans all. Rick Perry, in attacking his opponent on an environmental issue, not only shot himself in the foot but also earned him a gentle reminder from the people in the natural gas industry on July 19th:

“‘Inaccurate statements made in the heat of a campaign ill-serve this important objective and the equally important goal of promoting broad public understanding of the extraordinary commitment and care our community takes every day to ensure we do our work in a safe and responsible manner,’ America's Natural Gas Alliance , an industry group, wrote in a July 19 letter to Perry.”

In other words, this is the natural gas industry telling Rick Perry to watch which way he’s shooting. He may be lobbing shells at Bill White, but it is the natural gas industry that is right now under the microscope in Washington, DC.

Prompting, of course, Rick Perry to stop bashing Bill about BJ and re-aiming at his favorite target, the Washington DC interlopers – on the very same day he received the above gentle reminder:

“‘I am a very strong advocate of hydraulic fracking. I've got great concerns that the federal government is trying to regulate that aspect of our drilling industry. It would basically shut down the oil and gas industry for hydraulic fracking to be outlawed or frankly, allow radical environmental interests to come in and have a say on how it should or where it can be used by the federal government.’”

“‘I think the state of Texas is doing an appropriate job and I think we're doing a pretty good job of making sure that companies that have misused the technique are being punished appropriately,’ Perry said.”

Leaving me to wonder whether this appropriate punishment is being meted out to all of the companies that “have misused the technique” or whether that is simply being applied only to companies that his political opponent has been associated with in the past.

Because when you try and find out where and when the Texas Railroad Commission is actively monitoring, catching and punishing frack job abusers, all you hear is the sound of crickets.

Let’s Repeal the Bill of Rights

Why not? Let’s just go and repeal all of those bothersome constitutional amendments that seem to protect people we don’t like.

Like that most bothersome First Amendment. What a hodgepodge. I mean it. I mean in one single amendment we guarantee too many rights. First, the right of anyone to believe in any deity at all, or not believe in any for that matter. Who ever thought it would be used to protect the rights of a religious group we all agree to hate? Then there’s that bothersome right of free speech. Does it mean that someone I don’t like, like a NAZI or a Teabagger has the right to spout their crazy vile ideas? I think not. Free press? Does this mean we allow people to publish their lies and stupid points of view? Get real. The government knows what is right and that’s all that matters.

On the other hand, there’s that pesky 2nd Amendment. The one about the militia. If we all have guns, they thought, no one would be able to replace our government with a tyranny. But who is fooling whom? Can you buy Uranium depleted ammunition for your 50 caliber machine gun? What about an RPG? Heck, anyone have a suitcase nuke? On the other hand, how many tyrannical governments have we overthrown?

(Actually, like Tom Toles, I am serious about this one)

Or that 3rd Amendment. About quartering of troops. This is an issue anymore?

But the 4th Amendment, that whole search and seizure thing. How the heck are we going to be able to find incriminating things to charge the bad people with? Especially the bad people we don’t like? Like, you know, liberals. And what the heck, how will those electronics stores be able to check out the stuff in your shopping bags as you leave the store?

Oh, they do that anyway?

But this is the one I hate the most, that 5th Amendment. Don’t we have torture as a tool to question suspects now? How can we torture people and then NOT use what they tell us against them? That doesn’t make any sense at all.

And that 6th Amendment stuff about speedy trials and witnesses. All it does is protect criminals and people we don’t like. Chuck all of that and throw them all in the slammer where they belong.

The 7th? You want to have a jury trial for all matters over $20? Ever heard of inflation? Back in 1787 you could buy a house for $20.

And about that 8th Amendment. Punishment is supposed to hurt. It is by definition, cruel and unusual. Cruel and unusual punishment is an oxymoron if ever there was one. Keep your oxymorons out of my Constitution.

Then there’s the 9th Amendment. Heck I don’t even know what it means.

Oh and by God there’s the 10th Amendment. That stupid thing about states rights. Who follows that anyway? I mean it. The 10th says that any powers not listed in the Constitution are reserved to the states. When have they followed that one? Is Medicare in the Constitution? Social Security? No, but they take money out of your paycheck for them, don’t they? And not for you, either, but for some other guy. That’s . . . that’s . . . socialism.

And yes, if you were wondering whether I have gone certifiably crazy, the odds are that you would be correct.

Summer is over. School starts next week.

Religious Bigotry in America is Alive and Well

It is disconcerting, although not surprising at all, that a very significant majority of Americans oppose the construction of an Islamic place of worship two blocks from where the World Trade Center (aka Ground Zero) stood.

That this attitude flies in the face of the revolutionary ideas that created this country, that attracted immigrants to this country, and that makes this country the best country on Earth is what is most disconcerting to me.

All of this is based on a poll released on August 11 by CNN.

The poll question was posed in this way:

“As you may know, a group of Muslims in the U.S. plan to build a mosque two blocks from the site in New York City where the World Trade Center used to stand. Do you favor or oppose this plan?”

The question was asked of 1,009 adult Americans, 935 of them being registered voters, between August 6th and August 10th.

Totals: 68% Opposed, 29% Favor

Among Conservatives: 87% Oppose 12% Favor

Among Liberals: 45% Oppose 51% Favor

Over 50 Years of age: 76% Oppose 21% Favor

Under 50 Years of age: 61% Oppose 35% Favor

President Obama, finding himself in a stark minority, said this at a White House dinner commemorating the beginning of Ramadan, Islam’s month-long fasting that makes Lent look like a piker:

“As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country, That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.”

More to the point, and I think the president also made this observation, Americans have systematically exerted religious bias on one religious minority after another over the years, despite the fact that religious freedom is one of the main principles that underlies the basic freedoms that America offers. As each religious group attained “legitimacy” they in turn set themselves against the next unpopular religion to appear on our shores.

As a noncombatant in this field, I can say that I understand why this is such a hot button issue among Americans. The wounds are still not completely healed, apparently.

That is a reason, but it is not an excuse.

There is a reason for public hysteria, but there is never an excuse for it.

Is there anyone out there that still thinks that the forced internment of 110,000 American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II was good and proper? At the time it was deemed necessary and even deserved. People like them had, after all, launched a sneak attack that killed over two thousand soldiers and sailors. Exactly analogous to the 19 Muslim extremists and their sneak attack on 9-11.

Public hysteria allowed “Japanese Relocation” to happen. And that is something that Americans can and will continue to look back on in shame.

The 14th Amendment rights of thousands of American citizens of Japanese descent were trampled on because of some sort of ill-conceived guilt by association, and not just a little racism. Just so, the 1st Amendment rights of Muslims are being trampled on in the very same manner.

I guess the silver lining in this dark cloud that hangs over America is that the issue is opposition to construction of a mosque. At least we’re not restringing the barbed wire fences of Manzanar.

The Politics of Choice

I was mildly amused today to see that a small tempest has erupted in a local school district’s teapot. It’s here at the Chron blog of the Fort Bend, Texas area.

It seems that the school district, Fort Bend ISD, has decided to change its mission statement and its “vision.” These are the things, they say, that define how the district sees itself and what it hopes to achieve. Why that is I cannot fathom. What has changed?

Nevertheless the district appointed a committee to refigure the mission statement and the “vision” and new versions of both were just revealed to the school board this week. For your edification I will place the old and new mission statements adjacent to each other.

Old:

“By teaching every child and learning every day, Fort Bend ISD will provide the best educational opportunities to ensure that all students are successful in a global tomorrow”

New:

“We will prepare our students to succeed in a global tomorrow!”

Not much is new under the sun. The “global tomorrow” language is still there as it has been for decades as far as I know. But perhaps the first part of the old mission statement was too many words, or perhaps there was too much there in terms of how all of this was going to be accomplished.

Maybe it was too much information.

After all, why explain all of that? Just make it a positive affirmation.

Or could it be that the district is rethinking the notion of teaching every student every day?

Who knows?

The change in the district’s “vision” is even more mysterious, and to some school board members, “disturbing.” Again, arranging them adjacently:

Old:

“Fort Bend ISD students will acquire knowledge, develop skills and build character so that they will lead productive, fulfilling and moral lives.”

New:

“Fort Bend ISD – the school system of choice!”

Common theme between the new vision and new mission statement? Fewer words and an exclamation point.

Common theme between the old vision and the new one? None.

The old vision simply rehashes the mission statement saying what it hopes to do and how it hopes to do it. The new vision either says that people choose to send their children to Fort Bend ISD over other districts, or that in Fort Bend ISD there is choice.

I think the vision committee meant the former, but I suspect the school board interprets the latter.

Choice, it seems is a loaded word these days. Republicans, which abound on the Fort Bend school board, don’t really like that word.

But it doesn’t bother me in the least.

Debbie Riddle Slammed By Former FBI Agent

You may have seen on CNN the Anderson Cooper interview of State Reps Debbie Riddle and Raphael Anchia the other day. They say the video is being spread far and wide. I myself received two emails from two different sources urging me to sit through the eleven minute exchange. In his email message, Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie even congratulated State Rep Anchia for not falling out of his chair through the interview.

Anyway, it looks like Cooper was unwilling to just take Debbie Riddle’s word for it that she had the absolute unvarnished truth from a “former FBI agent” that mothers-to-be were crossing the US border illegally so they could give birth to citizens who would grow up to be terrorists.

You know, “real tin foil hat” stuff. Not just crazy, Texas Crazy.

So he went and got his own former FBI agent to interview, one Thomas Fuentes, a former assistant director no less. Fuentes pretty much debunks the whole riddle that is Debbie Riddle.

I like the “No preschool list” idea.

What the Voters Don’t Know Works For Rick Perry

Rick Perry is running a campaign based on ignorance.

As an educator, this runs counter to the very core of my being, but it doesn’t surprise me that the governor of the state that ranks second to last in America’s public school dropout rate, values ignorance over knowledge.

In denying Texans the opportunity to see Rick Perry in a televised debate with Democratic challenger Bill White, Perry, or more precisely, Perry’s handlers are bargaining that it is more beneficial to Perry’s image if Texans remain in ignorance how the two men stack up in a head-to-head debate. White is the better speaker of the two, and comes off very well when speaking extemporaneously. Perry lacks White’s ability to put complex thoughts together in a way that an 8th grader can understand what he means.

In other words, Rick Perry would have no trouble understanding what Bill White was saying, but would have great difficulty not looking like a complete fool responding to him.

So he stays away from debate. It worked for him in the primary against Kay Bailey Hutchison. Perry ran on ignorance and brass and handily defeated Hutchison. He expects to do the same against White.

But now we hear that Rick Perry will not even sit down with editorial review boards of the major newspapers and media outlets for a vetting. For an endorsement. This is slightly riskier because when a newspaper is not given a choice between candidates it has spoken to, it might just opt for the person who was willing to talk to them.

So one would think.

Trouble is, that’s not true either. Perry pulled the same stunt in refusing to be vetted by news media during the primary, but garnered the endorsements of those same media outlets anyway.

So for Rick Perry, Ignorance is Strength. The less people know about him the more likely it is that they will vote for him.

It is as if Perry’s campaign team have adopted the first sentence of the Doctor’s Oath: “First do no harm.” It’s just ironic that in this case harm is done by the spread of knowledge, and good is done by the preservation of ignorance.

Doubting is Uniquely American

It’s appalling, really, to observe the lengths that Americans will go to doubt what they see and hear. To cast doubt on anything that one sees that is unexpected or out of the ordinary.

I’ve always wondered why that is, and now I think I have an answer, thanks to the performance of Jackie Evancho and the stormy internet flame wars that erupted in her wake. And now I also have an answer for this question: why did I post a piece on her performance yesterday, a piece quite out of the ordinary for a political blog.

People make suspects out of extraordinary individuals.

To be extraordinary a person out performs all others in their area of expertise. And people by their very nature feel threatened in the face of excellence. They feel ordinary. They feel inadequate. They become miserable and unhappy with their lives.

So when Jackie Evancho belted out that Puccini aria the other night, the immediate reaction was disbelief. She was lip syncing. The microphone had been altered. To accept those explanations, though, is to also accept the fact that this was a plot hatched by the girl’s parents and the producers of the NBC reality series. The entire thing was an elaborate hoax and gullible viewers and members of the live audience were all fooled.

Isn’t that just so sad?

Imagine the scandal that would ensue should all be revealed that this was all staged. Memory isn’t so short that the folks that produce TV shows have forgotten the public furor that erupted when it was revealed that Xavier Cugat was fed the answers for the 50’s TV game show “$64,000 Question.”

It’s just so sad and such a poor reflection on our society.

It’s just as sad as those who dismiss our president’s glib speeches by emphasizing the presence of Telepromptrs, as if that explained why Barack Obama has such a keen sense of timing and stage presence. His speeches are polished to perfection but because he doesn’t memorize them, that makes him a fake.

Indeed, it is this same behavior that lies behind the “Birther” movement. The very legitimacy of this president is questioned. When has the citizenship of a president ever been questioned? Never. So just as little Jackie isn’t really a child prodigy because she has an altered microphone, Barack Obama isn’t really president because he was born in Kenya.

We Americans are experts at inventing the facts when our sense of adequacy is in danger of being questioned, aren’t we.

Did You Hear About That Little Girl?

I don’t watch “Reality TV” unless it is a news program. That’s about as real as it gets for me. No, when I switch on the tube it is either to watch (or listen to) the news or to escape from what I just watched (or listened to).

So I was probably the last person on the planet to hear about that kid, that little skinny 10 year old girl with the voice of a professional mezzo-soprano (I think) sing a selection from Puccini’s opera Gianni Schicchi, “O Mio Babbino Caro.”

In Italian, naturally.

Well, yes, I heard about it the next day, Wednesday, but it really didn’t come under my radar until today when they kept mentioning it on MSNBC while I was waiting for them to announce whether Judge Walker was going to lift his self-imposed Proposition 8 stay. So there was a lull in the day and I heard the performance was on You Tube, so I took a look.

This is what I saw:

Now the really awful thing about how the media is hyping this girl’s performance is by calling her “America’s Answer to Susan Boyle.” There really isn’t any comparison at all. The surprise in Boyle’s case is how the voice of an angel can come from the mouth of everyone’s maiden aunt. Little Jackie has been singing for only 2 years.

No, if we are to do this little girl any justice at all, perhaps we should all remember another child prodigy who recently passed. In reality, Jackie Evancho is the next Beverly Sills.

Here is Beverly Sills performing – at the tender age of 8 years.

Rick Perry, Racism, and Mirrors

Rick Perry called Bill White a racist the other day.

It was a really odd comment to make, but Governor Rick Perry went ahead and made it anyway.

To answer Bill White’s oft-repeated tagline, that “we need a governor who's a servant, as opposed to Rick Perry, who wants to be treated as master,” Rick Perry’s spokesman played the race card.

From the Austin American-Statesman: 

“Perry campaign manager Rob Johnson said White's comments to an African American audience in Dallas were "insensitive" and "racially motivated.”

Apparently no one checked the BS meter when they decided to put that one out there.

Bill White has been using that tagline for weeks now. He says it to all of his audiences, not just ones that are heavily attended by African-Americans.

He says it to Texans.

But the Perry campaign pounced when White repeated the line to a luncheon attended by mainly African-Americans, and got one of his Railroad Commissioners, Michael Williams to affect moral outrage over this “simply ignorant and offensive” remark.

Williams is African-American.

But it didn’t work. People pretty much saw it for what it was, ginned up moral outrage that itself reflected back on the Perry campaign. It wasn’t insensitive and racially motivated when Bill White delivered the remark to a Corsicana audience of Texans, nor was it so when he laid it out in front of a Palestine audience of Texans. But when Bill White said it to a Dallas audience of Texans it became racially charged and insensitive.

Because Rick Perry noticed that those Texans were special. State Rep Garnet Coleman said it best and also more diplomatically than I want to say: 

“The governor needs to stop trying to use African Americans as a wedge for his divisive and partisan political campaign.”

I’ll say. Rick Perry revealed that if you scratch below the surface you discover the undeniable fact that Rick Perry is, himself, a racist. White spoke the tagline to Texans, Perry saw White say it to African-Americans, and then propped up one of his minions, also African-American, to parrot his remarks.

That is, when Rick Perry leveled his accusatory finger at Bill White and called him a racist, he didn’t realize that everyone else who saw him do that also saw that Perry was staring into a mirror.

Whose Religion Demands the Most Hatred?

In response to my earlier post, I received (and posted) a comment from a reader who has trouble with the 1st Amendment. You know, the part about how we can’t allow the government to establish a national religion.

If you didn’t see it here it is:

“For every opinion or belief someone may hold there will be another party who just as strong opposes that idea. Both sides usually claim to sit with the best arguments, the real facts and the best world view, and, ironically, both sides regard the other as being indoctrinated, blind to the obvious and outright stupid.”

“I also urge you to look further than mainstream media and, if you can find the time for it, read the Qur'an yourself.”

“Based on what I have learned from the Qur'an, I strongly object to a mosque being built near ground zero.”

I guess I have three thoughts in response to this, and I decided rather than bury it in the comments that I would promote the idea to the front page (at least for today).

The reader assumed I had never read al Qu’ran. I have. Especially the parts of it that are exactly transcribed from the Holy Bible. Yes, there are some disturbing things about al Qu’ran, especially the parts about how Jews are bad, bad people. But then you have to take that in context: the Prophet was persecuted by Jews. He was also aided by Jews and he gave them credit where credit was due. Quite frankly I am disturbed by how someone can interpret writings from the 9th century (and earlier) and conclude that a house of worship should not be built a few blocks from where the World Trade Center once stood. It makes no sense and generally speaks to one’s religious bias.

The Founding Fathers did not have a religious bias.

The Founding Fathers, you see, weren’t Christians, they were Deists. They believed in the existence of a Creator. But since America is and was a country of immigrants, and many of these immigrants were there to escape religious persecution from their own home countries (and some of my immigrant forebears were among that number) they saw the wisdom of putting right there in the First Amendment, right at the beginning of the First Amendment, mind you, the first of the first if you will, the idea that favoring one religion over another, or more precisely, disfavoring one religion over another, was not kosher.

Finally, I find that disfavoring a religion because of what one finds in their holy scriptures is probably not a wise tack to take. Imagine if America were a country dominated by followers of Islam and a minority religious group wanted to build a house of worship 5 blocks from a site that was attacked by people of the same religion as that minority group. Let’s say the attackers were a group of fanatics that were perversely affected by an oil-rich guy who was also an outcast of his own family.

Imagine that, and then imagine someone opposing the construction of their worship facility because they had read this in their holy scriptures of that minority religion:

“Then we turned, and went up the road to Bashan; and Og, the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. And the Lord said to me, 'Do not fear him, for I have given him and all his people and his land to your hand. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.' So the Lord our God gave into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people, and we smote him until not one was left to him. And we took all his cities at that time, sixty cities, the whole region of Argob the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were all fortified cities with high and haughty walls, gates and bars; besides a great many unwalled villages. And we utterly destroyed them as we did to Sihon, king of Heshbon. Utterly destroying every city, men, women, and children. But all the cattle and spoil of the cities we took for booty for ourselves.”

That these people have those words in their holy scriptures would even give me pause. It would appear that these people are a rather bloodthirsty lot.

But then I see my country a little differently than the commenter. I see my country as one that allows people of all the world’s religions to come and live here, become citizens maybe, and worship in the religion of their choice without government interference.

And yes, that passage is actually found within the holy scriptures of a religion that has quite a following. I found it in the third chapter, verses 1 through 7 of the Book of Deuteronomy.

Imagine that.

What He Said . . .

I cannot improve on what Washington Post political cartoonist Tom Toles says today about how those whose religion has been protected for 223 years by the 1st Amendment want to deny those same religious rights that they have enjoyed, to our Muslim brothers and sisters.

Going to Mosque is not prima facie evidence of being a terrorist or attending IED classes.

Let’s All Boycott Hilton Hotels

When it comes to the Hilton family of hotels I have had some pretty wild mood swings. In 2008 I was so disgusted with the media attention that Paris Hilton got as she entered, and then left the LA County slammer that I promised never to stay at a Hilton or any of its divisions. Then as things heated up in the ’08 election, and Paris Hilton used her family wealth to produce an internet video that slammed John McCain, I apologized.

But now I am so incensed at what Hilton Worldwide has just done that I am urging anyone that will listen to me not to stay at a Hilton or any of the hotels in the Hilton family. The complete list can be found at the bottom of this post.

Why boycott the Hilton?

Speaking just this past Friday at a small business in the DC area, President Obama emphasized that economic recovery wasn’t going to come until we do something about the unemployment rate, currently at 9.5%. Some of those jobs, unfortunately aren’t ever going to come back because of outsourcing.

One-by-one, companies have outsourced things like their customer service centers overseas where cheap labor abounds. Such a thing, you would think, would not be advisable right now. An American company wouldn’t want to shift its customer services overseas right now, not when there is already a problem in the country’s unemployment rate. First, it is counter-productive for our own economy, and second, it just doesn’t sit well with people.

But none of that seems to matter to Hilton Worldwide, which has just revealed that they are going to close an entire worldwide reservation center in California and shift that caller traffic to the Philippines.

When you visit the Hilton’s website one thing you see is how they have turned the name Hilton into an acronym. The “O” in Hilton, they say, stands for Ownership. As in “We are the owners of our actions and decisions.” To which I say fine. By deciding to lay off Americans at a time when it matters, at a time that our economy demands a little patriotism, and deliberately acting to give those jobs to a foreign labor force, the Hilton must be made to own that decision.

They can be made to own that decision if American patriots refuse to stay at Hilton hotels or any of their brands (a list of which can be found below).

Hilton

Hilton Garden Inn

Hampton Inn and Hampton Inn and Suites

Doubletree and Doubletree Guest Suites

Embassy Suites

Homewood Suites

Home2Suites

Conrad

Waldorf Astoria Collection

Obama in Texas Today

In the news today is President Obama’s arrival in Texas to attend two Democratic fundraisers, one in Austin and one in Dallas, and deliver a speech to University of Texas students.

He managed to fit in a meeting with Governor Perry when he lands at the airport in Austin.

So I have been hearing all of these things in the buildup to today’s trip and I still have one question to ask: Why?

Other than showing up from time to time to make a withdrawal from the giant ATM that is Texas, I wonder why Barack Obama is wasting his time here. Especially now that I have learned this morning what will be the essence of his message while here in Texas.

Education.

Education?

When you are highlighting an area of your agenda, that is, to connect the dots between economic success and educational success, maybe it is a better call to deliver the message from a place where there is educational success. Clearly Texas is not the place to do this.

Not in a state where there is a 30% dropout rate. Not in a state that has opted out of the multi-billion dollar federal education program “Race to the Top.” Not in a state that takes $3.2 billion in federal education stimulus money and uses it to balance its budget and add to its rainy day fund.

Not in a state whose state school board makes it a habit to debate things like whether the “strengths and weaknesses” of evolutionary theories should be evaluated by 8th graders. Not in a state whose school board pays consultants to tell them that Thomas Jefferson was of little importance in founding this country, but Joe McCarthy had some good points.

So yeah, come and make that cash withdrawal, and hopefully some of it will spend in local congressional races, but delivering an education speech in Texas?

Spare me.

Sue-Happy Texas Republicans

Isn’t it funny that when the shoe is on the other foot Republicans who often fault their opponents with being “sue-happy” are now the ones threatening to go to court if Congress passes HR 1586 this Tuesday – something that they are sure to do.

Republicans, you see, take great pride in their accomplishments over people who get their grievances settled in court, even to the extent of passing torte reform legislation that limits the award a person may receive if they win their lawsuit.

They are actually proud of that.

But now, with Lloyd Doggett’s insertion in the bill of a special consideration that applies only to Texas, Rick Perry and now David Dewhurst have cried foul. In a statement released from San Diego, where Perry continued his luxurious vacation, Perry said this:

“Washington is deft at placing targets on the backs of Texans, and this proposal paints a target on our school teachers and school children.”

Explaining this twist of logic, further on down . . .

“Following similar efforts by House Democrats last month, the U.S. Senate has added language to the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act (H.R. 1586) that effectively kills about $800 million in federal funding for Texas schools. This amendment mandates that the governor guarantee the Legislature will provide a certain level of state funding through 2013, a funding scheme prohibited by the Texas Constitution. It will be at least June 1, 2011, before the Legislature passes and the Comptroller certifies the 2012-2013 budget. That means Texas – the only state singled out with this mandate – might not be able to use any of these funds provided to states.”

And yesterday Dewhurst threatened to sue. From the Texas Tribune:

“If ‘the Doggett language’ is passed, Dewhurst says he ‘will be delighted to be a named plaintiff’ in a lawsuit against the federal government.”

So let me get this straight. Texas teachers and schoolchildren are the ones who have standing in this lawsuit, according to Perry. But Dewhurst thinks he should be named as plaintiff.

Oops.

Dewhurst has it right. Yes, he (and Perry) should be plaintiffs because “the Doggett language” is basically a salvo fired right over the bows of the SS Perry and SS Dewhurst. They were singled out for a well-deserved public slap down. You don’t take $3.2 billion in federal stimulus money, money earmarked to improve education spending in Texas, and simply switch it out with state funds that were already allocated for education, taking the whole purpose of stimulation and turning it into a joke. You don’t do that and not expect repercussions.

Perry’s ginned up excuse for how this move harms Texas teachers and schoolchildren is just his attempt to take the target that was affixed firmly to the back of his business suit and place it instead on Texas’s teachers and students.

This is clearly reflected in Lloyd Doggett’s reply to Perry’s disingenuous remarks:

“Compliance is very easy, unless there remains a hidden Republican agenda to avoid accountability and to engage in more of the shenanigans of last year, which replaced state education dollars with federal dollars, leaving our schools no better off than if we had done nothing. Instead of concocting phony legalistic arguments to deny our local schools the funds that they so desperately need, Gov. Perry should join with us in support of public education.”

Whipping up specious arguments and threatening to sue. The shoe is truly on the other foot. But AG Greg Abbott is so busy with his other lawsuits against the feds that maybe they need to look around for a good lawyer who is used to filing lawsuits based on invented facts. They might want to find out who was acting in Lindsay Lohan’s behalf when she sued E-Trade for the use of her given name in its “milkaholic” ad.

But don’t ask Lindsay who it was. She’s still in rehab.

BP “Hasn’t Thought About” What Comes Next

Does lying come so easily to oil company executives that they don’t even blink when they are constructing one whopper after another? Watch the video and see if I’m right.

One thing you can be good and well sure of is that BP has given some thought to what they will do with the oil and gas accumulation that, they say, is worth $4 billion to them. What is surprising to me is the question from the second guy. A question that assumes that BP, or any oil company for that matter, would simply turn their back on proven reserves because they had an accident there that killed people and negatively impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands. Walk away from $4 billion because they as a corporation are sensitive to public opinion that would go negative once they announce their plan of development for the field.

Clearly BP is thinking several moves ahead, including the denial that there is any planning going on for that field specifically because of the above-stated public outrage.

When the A-21 well blew out in 1969, Union Oil Company, which operated the Santa Barbara Channel oilfield at the time, took a lot of negative press, including reporting a quote from the company’s president deriding the public’s concern about “a few birds.” After killing the well, Union Oil Company went on to set 2 additional platforms on that field, platforms fully visible from the beach.

So to me, there has never been a consideration that the field would simply never be developed, and it surprised me as incredibly naïve that someone would think that.

But that doesn’t mean that BP should operate the field. BP has a track record of being grossly negligent, and how negligent they were in drilling the Macondo well awaits the results of all the investigations that are ongoing. And to be fair, we should wait and find out who was responsible for this disaster, but one thing that should be on the table as time passes is that BP either farm out the project to a safer operator, or operatorship should shift to another one of it’s partners in the field.

I really don’t think anyone wants to hear about BP being the company that develops this oil field.

I think they know that.

I just wonder how far it will go. Will BP be allowed to operate any drilling rigs in the Gulf anymore?

Proposition 8 Blowback

I and others are still waiting for the thunder and lightning to start in California. And not the thunder and lightning from an infuriated deity raining death and destruction on a state that says it’s OK for gays and lesbians to get married.

The thunder and lightning from the righteous evangelical rightwing.

I expected something slightly less than a shooting war to break out over this. Instead, this is what you get:

Crickets.

Could it be that the logic and reasoning found in Judge Walker’s 138-page decision, including 80 findings of fact, was just too much for them? I doubt it. When was the last time that a conservative evangelical shied away from an argument simply because they didn’t have any facts on their side?

Crickets.

OK, I lied. I did come across two issues that have been brought up. Issues that are so ridiculous on their face that they’ll soon go away.

Issue Number 1: The judge struck down Proposition 8 because he, himself, is gay. “Gay and out” is the proper term, meaning that he doesn’t hide the fact that he is gay. They say that because he is gay that he failed to be impartial in the case.

So does this mean, by that line of logic, that black judges can’t preside over the trial of an African-American accused of a crime? Because they might be impartial? What about a female judge not being able to rule in a sexual harassment case because one of the litigants is a female?

Right, that piece of logic is absurd on its face. It even lends support to Judge Walker’s conclusion that denial of the right to marry presumes that gays are inferior. The presumption is that gays can’t rule in a gay rights trial but a Catholic judge is perfectly able to rule in an abortion trial.

Issue Number 2: Marriage functions in our society based on (as we see in this Christian Science Monitor piece)  this argument:

“Heterosexual relationships need marriage because of inferiority: the physical inferiority of sexual defenders to sexual attackers and the moral inferiority of male sexual attackers. Marriage is not about couples or lovers – it’s about the physical and moral integrity of women.”

Get it? Without marriage, weak but virtuous women would be subjugated by brutish men with no moral compass. That, and not procreation, is the sole purpose of marriage.

Fine.

If that’s the case then I guess we should outlaw the marriages of the elderly.

Or really, outlaw the marriages of any couple who can demonstrate that the male has trouble decking his bride-to-be, or for that matter, the female can demonstrate her ability to successfully clock her groom.

If marriage is all about who is the victor of a inter-spousal knock-down drag-out, then yeah, you win.

It’s All Those Democrats at the Pentagon

You really have to hand it to Congressman Mike McCaul (R –TX-10). When one of the largest manufacturing plants in his district loses its $3 billion army contract to build trucks for Iraq and Afghanistan, to a plant in Wisconsin (a Blue state), he knows what to do right away.

Blame Obama.

Because that’s exactly what he did.

Never mind that McCaul was asleep in his leather-covered chair in Congress while the Army perfectly appropriately put out for bid a recontinuation contract for FMTV manufacture, FMTVs are trucks built to be used in combat zones. Never mind that when Oshkosh Corp significantly underbid the Sealy, Texas company that had been producing the trucks for 18 years, McCaul wasn’t aware of it.

Never mind that BAE, the company that lost the bid to Oshkosh Corp. is a British-owned conglomerate – like BP. Oshkosh is a US-owned company.

Never mind that when McCaul was finally shaken awake about the fact that one of the largest plants in his district had lost a huge federal government contract, he and others went to the Government Accounting Office and whined, and the GAO actually told the Army to rebid the contract.

Never mind that the brass at the Pentagon sniffed at the GAO’s request, and then went with the low bid – Oshkosh’s – anyway (memories of $100 hammers having something to do with it I’ll bet).

Never mind all of that.

It’s Obama’s fault that BAE Systems lost the bid. It’s Obama’s fault that BAE, a heartless British multinational conglomerate has to lay off up to 1,300 employees at their Sealy plant.

Because Oshkosh, a company that resides in the Blue state of Wisconsin just took advantage of the fact that all politics is local. I kid you not. Here is what McCaul said as quoted in Fort Bend Now:

“When you see jobs being taken out of a red state to a blue state, that’s a concern,” McCaul said. “Policies of (the Obama) administration are impacting Texas in a negative way.”

It’s kind of odd, in a way, seeing Mike McCaul, who was always so full of what can only be called Texas bluster, taking on this new role of victim. Odd, because when you have a huge plant in your district whose sole purpose is to make trucks for use in combat zones, and have no Plan B in case peace breaks out, other than laying off your American workforce that is, it really doesn’t look like he is very believable.

I don’t think he can pull off this new victim role.

The President’s B-Day

Yesterday, August 4th 2010 was the President’s birthday. So I decided to find out what was happening at the new Democratic Party HQ to celebrate Barack Obama’s 49th birthday. And in classic fashion, it was pretty much business as usual.

They were conducting a phone bank.

But they had cake.

And then today I got a “thank you” note from our president. Awhile back I signed an electronic version of his birthday card. I hear it was me and about 1.2 million Americans.

If you didn’t sign the card, you didn’t get the note.

Here is what it said:

Hal --

I want to thank you for signing my birthday card.

Michelle told me that she was planning something a little different this year, and I was overwhelmed by the kind words I received from so many supporters like you.

This job has a way of offering humbling moments. And the support you have shown me, time and time again, has sustained me through any number of difficult days. It is more than any president deserves, and I could not be more grateful.

On my birthday, I spent some time considering what the year ahead will bring -- a new set of challenges and opportunities, some that we can foresee and some that we cannot.

If we continue to stand together, I know we will continue to move America forward and win these fights for change.

Thank you again for taking a moment to sign my card. As far as birthdays go, it is hard to imagine topping this one. But then again, Michelle always has a way of surprising me.

Sincerely,

Barack

Senate Passes Aid to States (Even to Texas)

Today the Senate passed HR 1586, a no-brainer bill to improve and upgrade aviation safety, but containing within it two unrelated but key hot button issues that appropriated $26 billion in federal aid to the states. These two issues that were introduced into the bill in Amendment 4575 by Patty Murray (D - WA)

The real test came yesterday when the bill came up for a motion to end debate, cloture in other words, and it passed by 61 to 49, with the two Republican votes from Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins voting with the majority.

Why this is important should be obvious: the states are really hurting right about now.

The Recession of 2008-09 is now taking its toll on the states which are facing budgetary shortfalls, like the one here in Texas. States will have to make draconian cuts in their expenditures; cuts are most likely in the two areas that states are usually responsible for: health care and education.

$16 billion of the $26 billion will be distributed to the states so they can make their Medicaid payments, that is, upping the federal government’s percent coverage of state Medicaid programs.

The remaining $10 billion will be distributed to the states to prevent an estimated layoff of 300,000 state workers, mostly teachers, but also police and firemen.

The most populous states, obviously, will receive the larger proportions of these funds. Texas, it is projected by the US Department of Education could avoid laying off 10,000 teachers. That is, of course if Texas' governor, Rick Perry, doesn't try to play 'find the pea' as he did earlier when the feds gave him $3 billion to do pretty much the same thing.

And for the most part, these layoffs have already taken place. We are just a few weeks away from the start of the school year, some areas are closer than others, and hirings and firings have already taken place. These funds will allow districts either to recall teachers that have been laid off, or in other cases, to restore days to the school calendar that have been chopped off as a result of budgetary cutbacks.

The Senate heavily amended the house bill, so it will need to be re-voted on in the House before President Obama can sign it. With the House currently in recess until September it would normally look like this is a case of closing the barn door after the horses have bolted.

Normally, except it looks like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will call the House back into session to get this matter taken care of before the opening of schools.

Oh well, guess they’ll have to put off for another day those August Town Hall meetings that we have all come to hate.

California’s Proposition 8 Struck Down

In what is sure to be a blow to the many homophobic religious zealots that populate our country, California’s Proposition 8, the referendum on gay marriage that appeared on the November 2008 ballot, was struck down today by 9th Circuit Court Judge Vaughn Walker.

Walker could find no reason, logical or illogical, to forbid gays and lesbians to have the same rights to form a family as straights.

“Proposition 8 places the force of law behind stigmas against gays and lesbians, including: gays and lesbians do not have intimate relationships similar to heterosexual couples; gays and lesbians are not as good as heterosexuals; and gay and lesbian relationships do not deserve the full recognition of society.”

That is, just because a marriage between same-sex couples, or even intimate relations between them is harshly criticized in a book that was written thousands of years before America was even suspected to exist does not mean that America, or its states have the right or duty to enforce those ancient ideas.

Because to suggest that they do have that right or duty is to suggest that it is perfectly OK to enforce Islamic Sharia Law in America as well.

Rick Perry Visits His California ATM

As a native Californian it comes as no surprise to me that Texas’ governor, Rick Perry this week decided to escape the August heat that Texas is so famous for and spend some quality time in a quality state. Word is he is cooling his jets at The Peninsula, a 5-Star plush hotel nestled in the Hills of Beverly.

Governor, I recommend the Stag’s Leap Estate Bottled 1998 Chardonnay.

The word is that the governor is in California, a state that he derides on his own campaign website, to relieve it of some of the money that he claims Californians don’t have.

Because apparently California is being poorly governed by a fellow-Republican who nonetheless believes in all that claptrap called “Global Warming.” California has record unemployment because of how it has been governed, and people are leaving California in droves.

But apparently, Rick Perry thinks he knows where there is still money in California, so despite the fact that California has a 17% unemployment rate, and despite the fact that it suffered a net loss of 700,000 people between 2005 and 2007, and despite the fact that California is taking on $25 million in debt – per day, despite all of that, California is where you go to get some campaign cash.

So I hope the governor has a great time in his stay in my state. I hope Anita spends some time and money on Rodeo Drive, just short blocks away from The Peninsula, I hear. Spend lots of money in my California. And stay off the Santa Monica Freeway at rush hour.

Now there are other bloggers out there who are bashing the governor for being AWOL in paradise while his own state bakes in 110 degree weather, for being AWOL from his desk while a budget shortfall of between $18 and $21 billion looms on the horizon.

I won’t go there because as I have offered in the past, having Rick Perry NOT do things to Texas is actually a better deal for us. And besides that, I think I have come up with the real reason Rick Perry is in California this week, because obviously going there to get some money can’t be the real reason.

I think that because Rick Perry comes from the Party of No New Ideas, I think that he is in California to get some idea of how to tackle a giant budget shortfall because California already has some experience in that. I think that he is panicked over not having the slightest clue how to solve the problem. So Perry is there to cover his bases. If for some remote reason Texans go completely over the edge and re-elect Perry at least he will have something to say about how to tackle the budget. If on the other hand, Texas actually rids itself of the worst governor since Reconstruction, Perry will have some good contacts and will land himself some nice lakeside property that he can buy for under market value.

I recommend Lake Lucerne. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

Book Burning: Alive and Well in Florida

And not just any book, mind you. There is a group of Christian Floridians who are going to commemorate the 9/11 attacks in 2001, going to honor the memories of 2,976 victims of these attacks, by burning a book considered sacred by 1.5 billion people: al Qu’ran.

I have just one question: why is it always Florida?

What is it about Florida that gives the rest of us huge headaches from time to time?

It was Florida, remember, that gave us a George W. Bush presidency in November-December 2000.

It was Florida, remember that caused a huge blow-up in the Democratic Party in 2008 because they changed the day that they were supposed to hold their primary election.

And now it’s Florida, home to the Dove World Outreach Center, that is playing host to a little Islamophobia in its own backyard. They are going to hold a book burning, just like the Nazis did in the 1930’s, only this is even more insidious because they will be burning many copies of just one book.

And in doing this, in rather spectacular public fashion, it will confirm in the minds of millions of Muslims worldwide something that they have been suspecting for awhile now: that Americans not only hate Muslims, but they hate them in the name of Jesus.

John 11:35

Republicans: Repeal the 14th Amendment?

Just when you think that Washington, DC cannot make itself more dysfunctional someone there goes and proves that being dysfunctional seems to have no ceiling, and certainly no floor.

Now that the Senate has fully engaged itself in a discussion of whether the children of illegal aliens, born in the US, have a right to citizenship, and then someone conducts a civics lesson for them demonstrating that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution says it must be so, it has come full circle. Now we have Republicans openly questioning whether the 14th Amendment, a matter of settled law for 140 years, should be repealed.

I can’t believe these words even as I type them.

But that is what it has come to. Here we have Mitch McConnell, who would be the Senate Majority Leader had Republicans been a little luckier two years ago, broaching that very subject. From the Washington Post:

“We ought to take a look at it -- hold hearings, listen to the experts on it. I haven't made a final decision about it, but that's something that we clearly need to look at. Regardless of how you feel about the various aspects of immigration reform, I don't think anybody thinks that's something they're comfortable with.”

And here we had Rand Paul just a few short weeks ago running for cover over his suggestion that the Civil Rights Act may have gone a tad too far in guaranteeing equal rights to all comers. Who would have ever thought at that point that a sitting senator would go even farther and suggest that we reconsider a Constitution Amendment that their own party pushed through after the Civil War?

Ah, they forgot about that little thorny detail, I’ll bet. They like to call themselves the party of Lincoln but their values certainly don’t mesh with Lincoln’s do they. I think they should rename their annual fundraising dinner, currently the Lincoln/Reagan Dinner to the Reagan/Bush Dinner, don’t you?

Anyway, as suggested at the bottom of the Post article, and I heartily agree, this is much ado about nothing. No one, not a soul, is going to go anywhere with this. But it makes for perfect rhetoric in a mid-term election that is shaping up to be one of the craziest on record.

Anti-Immigrant Fever: WWJD

WWJD: What would Jesus do?

Yesterday we saw at Juanita Jean’s a bible quote that pretty much spells out what Jesus must be thinking about all of the anti-immigrant fever currently raking our country into shreds. I remarked at the time that the only reason this is an issue now is that Republicans need to turn public commentary away from their gross misdeeds in congress recently: voting against 911 first responders, voting against the unemployed, voting against Wall Street reform (and for the very people who delivered the 2008-09 recession to us).

But I kept going back to her citation of Leviticus 19:33-34:

“And if a stranger dwells temporarily with you in your land, you shall not suppress and mistreat him. But the stranger who dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you; and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”

Appropriate, no? That, by the way was God Himself talking to Moses.

Christians have told me that Old Testament quotations don’t count because they all came before Jesus. That’s what they say, anyway and as a noncombatant, I’ll just take their word for it.

So, OK here is the updated version, from the New Testament:

“Do not forget or neglect or refuse to extend hospitality to strangers – being friendly, cordial and gracious, sharing the comforts of your home and doing your part generously – for through it some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

- Hebrews 13:2

But the one quotation I really like is one that is not often used in finding biblical guidance on what to do when you have immigrants in your country. Remarkably, the passage comes right after the most quoted passage in Matthew 25:31-36 which speaks to what Jesus will do on Judgment Day with the righteous people who treat immigrants and strangers with compassion. This part deals with what Jesus will do with those who lack any compassion towards immigrants and strangers, Matthew 25:41-46:

“Then He will say to those at His left hand, Be gone from Me, you cursed, into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me and entertain Me; I was naked and you did not clothe Me; I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me with help and ministering care. Then they also will answer, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to You? And He will reply to them, Solemnly I declare to you, in so far as you failed to do it for the least of these you failed to do it for Me. Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but those who are just and upright in standing with God into eternal life.”

What would Jesus do? I’ll leave that to you to decide. As I said before, I am a noncombatant. But from what I read, if and when Jesus makes good on His promise to come back someday, my guess is that He is going to be One Pissed Off Deity.

Another Big News Weekend

I don’t know where to begin.

So much happened this weekend that the mind just reels.

Bill and Hillary Clinton married off their Chelsea in spectacular fashion in a very posh but private ceremony on an estate in New York’s Hudson Valley. The bride, they say was beautiful, and the wedding cake is estimated to have cost somewhere between $4,000 and $25,000 depending, they say, on the price of one piece.

Lindsay Lohan was released from jail in Los Angeles in the wee hours of Monday morning after spending either 13 or 14 days in the slammer (depending on whether you count Monday as one day). She was immediately whisked away to a court-ordered 90-day stint in rehab at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. No one really knows, though, what the former child star is rehabbing from.

And talk about a turnstile, as Lindsay Lohan leaves jail Charlie Sheen enters the courtroom today to to face felony and assault charges stemming from a much-publicized incident between Sheen, son of Martin Sheen, and his wife, Brooke.

And not to be outdone by the only child of President Clinton and Secretary of State Clinton, Alicia Keys and her newest heartthrob Swizz Beatz tied the knot in a wedding by the Mediterranean Sea. And it seems that Ms. Keys and Chelsea Clinton share a common taste in wedding attire, since both chose a gown designed by Vera Wang.

Making me wonder about what it is about the GOP. Are they completely clueless about what is truly newsworthy in this country? They even made a short video about Obama on "The View" mentioning Snooki, and the ladies on the view chanting “GTL, GTL.” GTL is a "Jersey Shore" theme that translates "Gym, Tanning, Laundry." In their opinion, Obama should be discussing the GDP and not GTL.

Another clear indicator that the Republican Party is completely clueless about what Americans are concerned about.

Sarah Palin and Gonads

So Half-a-Term Former Governor Sarah Palin has pronounced from her new Fox News pulpit (a better-paying gig than being a governor of the 49th state, I’ll bet) that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s male gonads are larger than those of President Obama.

No really, that’s what she said.

Only she didn’t say “male gonads”. Nor did she say “testicles.” Or “balls” for that matter. No, Sarah Palin used the vulgar Spanish, or really, Mexican Spanish slang term for male gonads: “cojones.”

This statement is just wrong on so many levels I don’t know where to start.

Well, OK, how about here.

First, it takes the rather ugly, racist, drivel that has been spewed by newly emboldened Teabaggers to a new level, a new low level, by very rudely speculating on the size of the male anatomy of the President of the United States.

Second, it speculates on the actual existence of male anatomy on the sitting governor of the state of Arizona. Jan Brewer – a female. I don’t know about the school systems in Alaska but I’m pretty sure that by the time they reach 10th grade, school children here in Texas are all pretty much aware that males have testicles and females have ovaries. Hopefully Palin was awake in biology class when that lesson was taught and not asleep as she was during the three weeks that ecology and evolution were covered.

Third, it makes use of a non-English idiom. There are lots of them to choose from in conversational American English, mainly because of our rich history and diversity. Just as we have accepted people from all countries and cultures into our society, we have also assimilated their colorful slang words into our own language. Palin’s choice of an idiom, though, from Mexican Spanish, seems almost completely inappropriate considering who it is that Governor Brewer is purported to have the large cojones to oppress.

Mexicans.

But finally, and this is not just my idea, others have said this, Palin’s “cojones comment” makes absolutely no logical sense in the non-literal meaning of the word. Obviously, Jan Brewer has no testicles. Saying that she has cojones though, doesn’t imply that she has them, but instead speaks to the personality attribute that someone with “a pair of big ones” has, and that is courage. What Sarah Palin is saying is that Jan Brewer has more courage than Barack Obama because she signed into law a bill whose sole purpose is to round up Mexicans and other tanned people.

What takes more courage, though? Signing into law a bill that has been voted on by a majority of state legislators, a bill that is supported by a large majority of Arizonans? Or is it more courageous to oppose the law, see that it gets gutted in federal court, all of this despite the fact that polls show that a majority of Americans also support this law? Who has taken on more political risk, Brewer or Obama?

So again, what appears to be the case, proven over and over, is that we Americans dodged a bullet in spectacular fashion back in 2008 when we turned the McCain/Palin ticket away. This is just not a very smart woman we have here in Sarah Palin.

A real putz, if you will.

It Depends on What the Meaning of the Word “Is” Is

Remember that one? That was The Big Dog’s response to a fairly direct question in his Q&A over the Monica Lewinsky affair, an obfuscation that worked for awhile, until that is, someone produced the blue dress (aka the smoking gun).

I was reminded of that today when I read the end of this Jason Embry article in yesterday’s Austin American-Statesman.

You see, Bill White’s campaign is circling what is looking more and more to be a Rick Perry smoking gun. They have made their case that in two land deals on the same Horseshoe Bay property, deals which had Perry’s BFF involved both times, Rick Perry personally profited to the tune of a half a million dollars.

The plot thickens when we learn that Perry’s BFF is a founding investor in Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corp., and that in 2006 the company applied for a $2.5 million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund, a cash cow that Rick Perry personally controls that is used to attract business to Texas. They wanted to expand by building a plant in the San Antonio area.

Only they fell on hard times and had to lay off workers, so the deal fell through and no grant was given to Perry’s friend’s company.

Bill White’s campaign charged that Perry tried to use the TEF to help his friend, and Perry’s said no, it doesn’t count if the deal falls through.

So if, say, I give a gun to a guy who tells me he wants to use it to shoot his wife, but then he changes his mind and doesn’t shoot her, that makes my gift perfectly OK. No crime, no foul, right?

Wrong. Foul, but no crime.

But wait, it gets better and this is where The Big Dog’s remark comes into play.

Bill White’s campaign has “papered” Rick Perry’s office with public information requests seeking paperwork on the TEF’s vetting of companies who apply for a TEF grant. They are saying that Sino Swearingen wasn’t properly vetted. But while Bill White’s campaign did receive lots and lots of data about companies that received TEF grants, they did not receive information on Sino Swearingen.

Why?

Well, according to a Perry spokesperson, the White request was for information on companies that “received” TEF grants. They didn’t ask, she said, for information on companies that did not receive a TEF grant.

In other words, information on the one company whose investor’s dealings with Perry have come up in the press, that one company, did not get included.

To resume my unlikely analogy, that’s like asking me for the names of all the people whom I have given guns to, and I comply in all but one case, the case of the guy who changed his mind, because he didn’t actually use the gun.