Calling For Dr. DiNovo

What? Yet another blog on the DiNovo campaign?

Hey, guys, it’s the only game in town.

I just finished my call list. I called for 20 minutes every evening around the time people are getting home from work but before dinner. I saw on Texas Kos that muse stopped by the HQ in Pearland today and got a list. Had I known muse was going I would have asked for another list. Now all I have to do is grade papers and type this thing that hardly anyone reads anymore.

Overall, the timing was pretty good. Calling at this time, I talked to maybe 50% more human voices. Response varied, but in general it was positive.

Tonight I was glad that I had only a few more calls to make because one guy wanted to talk. I was actually calling his daughter, but he answered. He said he was 77 years old and couldn’t fathom why ANYone would vote for a Republican.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “It’s insane.” “My great-granddaughter is 4 years old but she already has a $28,000 debt to pay!”

It’s not too late to lend a hand. They have 3 lines at the HQ at 3536 E. Broadway in Pearland. Just down the street at the Family Clinic, they have 6 phone lines and a plush setup for phone banking on the weekends. The clinic is at Pearland Plaza, 3223 E. Broadway Pearland.

They have set up calling shifts at the clinic: 10:00-12:00, 12:00-2:00 and 4:00-6:00

They are also block walking daily out of the HQ.

If Ciro’s win against a well-funded incumbent reveals anything, it’s that this is a winnable election if we can get out the base. Special elections have low voter turnouts (sometimes) and it usually favors an incumbent. Not this time. There is no incumbent. The leading opponent, Michael O’Day, has 5 times the resources as DiNovo, but has already spent his wad on campaign signs which litter the district.

He’s trying to buy the election.

And guys, if you need an additional reason to gas up and go on down to Pearland, here it is. Both Dr. DiNovo and his partner, Dr. Orsak, were resident doctors at (are you ready for this?) Dr. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs’ office. She was their direct supervisor for months.

Isn’t that just a scream?

Number Crunching Time: GOTV Works So Help Out The DiNovo Campaign

The county by county summary of the CD 23 rout by Ciro Rodriguez over his well-funded Republican incumbent opponent (Krishna I love saying that) is to be found at the Texas Secretary of State website.

While the numbers tell you who won, they don't tell the story that special elections need: the turnout. So I thrashed through some sites trying to find the number of registered voters in the CD23 counties and failed miserably. But I finally came up with a method and the results are in the spreadsheet below. I am assuming that all counties but El Paso County are completely within CD23 boundaries. I kept El Paso numbers out of the totals for that reason.


Pretty darned interesting, huh? Here we have a special election, one office is on the ballot, and it draws just shy of 18% of the voters over the district. That's about 10% more than you would expect on a good day.

I tell you, I've been reading all the old blogs about how Rodriguez had an uphill battle against a formidable opponent with name recognition . . . and this happens. One blogger said that in a special election, the incumbent is favored because of the low turnout. How so very true. It's so true that apparently the opposite is true if the turnout is respectable.

I got an email from Boyd Ritchie today (I know, everyone did) saying that we have one more race in the state to win - Anthony DiNovo's race in HD 29. So guys, that is where the last battle of the 2006 election is being waged. They need help down there getting out the vote. I also learned through muse that there is a poll judge in Alvin who was turning away Democrats by saying that this poll was for Republican candidates only.

Tammy, DiNovo's campaign manager, says that winning this is going to be "that much sweeter".

Ciro Rodriguez Ahead in Early Vote!

WOW!

But then I expected that, right?

Ciro Rodriguez is ahead 55% to Bonilla's 45% in early voting.

Bonilla (R) 10,741 45%
Rodriguez (D) 13,193 55%

I mentioned in the previous posting that Hispanics are amenable to going out to vote early. But I never expected them to outdo the Bonilla (rabid white people) voters.

This is huge.

Ah, but now they are starting to report the Election Day results and with 12% of the precincts reporting, the lead slipped to this:

Bonilla (R) 12,624 47%
Rodriguez (D) 14,090 53%

That's still not bad, but as Yogi Berra once said: "It ain't over till it's over."

UPDATE:

With 53% of the Precincts reporting:


Bonilla (R) 19,630 43%
Rodriguez (D) 26,108 57%

Time to call it. . . Ciro's gonna win.


Ciro Wins!


Bonilla (R) 28,398 45%
Rodriguez (D) 35,239 55% a

Rodriguez In A Squeaker - Experts Call It a Toss-Up

I really like this Washington Post article on the Rodriguez-Bonilla smackdown going on in CD-23. I don’t live in CD-23, you know, so I am only aware of the issues of the race in a disorganized way. This article puts the whole package together in a nice tight little story.

I recall months ago trying to make sense of the Tom DeLay mess by trying to put it into a timeline perspective. That worked for me. This article does the same thing.

Election Day in CD-23 is tomorrow, December 12th. This is a singular day among Mexican Catholics: “La Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe”. Another Republican attempt at keeping voters from the polls? They really are good at it by the way. LULAC filed suit, by the way, and got an extension on the early voting dates. That’s good. The Hispanic voters that I have talked to are amenable to going to the polls early.

But a special election is just that . . . special. New rules apply. You’re not going to the polls to vote for a whole slate of candidates, you are going to vote for one. That takes a special kind of voter. And it takes a special GOTV effort.

I myself have witnessed that kind of effort in the Dr. Anthony DiNovo campaign in HD-29. The two races are very similar, though, because both races hinge on getting out the Hispanic vote. Bonilla, while Hispanic himself, garnered only 8% of the Hispanic vote in the ’02 election, and as the article points out, that was BEFORE the district lines were redrawn in ’03 by DeLay’s infamous 2nd in a decade redistricting. The new CD-23 boundaries mandated by the US Supreme Court, include more Hispanics in its new demographics.

The experts are calling this race a toss up. And that’s what it is. If every voter in CD-23 come out and vote along the same party lines that they voted in November, Rodriguez wins by 111 votes.

But that is dreamland. It all comes down to who’s best at getting out the vote, and who’s best at denying voters their right to vote.

I hope they have their ducks in order.

Republican Blood Sport on FortBendNow

John Cobarruvias and I have been passing popcorn back and forth watching a comment war take place over on FortBendNow, a leading internet newspaper in Southeast Texas. You really do need to check it and the commentary in another FBN Op/Ed piece on the Gillen fundraiser heist.

From what I can get, there are two warring factions in the Republican Party: neocons and moderates, and they are in a power struggle.

The neocons are delusional. America has “HAD ENOUGH” of their politics of hate and fear. The moderates, with GOP Chairman Gary Gillen, have seized control of their major fundraiser, and the neocons are crying “Thief !”

The exchange gets down and dirty. Of all things, the allegiance of Bev Carter, columnist and publisher of the Fort Bend Star, got all wrapped up in the discussion. Quite off topic but for some reason the neocons want her head on a platter, too. So I will post pieces of this off topic part of the discussion. But to get the true flavor of the vituperation going on in the other party, you should read through the threads.

Susan: “Prior to his resignation, most of the precinct chairs were yellow dog DeLay supporters. You might recall reading about the censure of Bev Carter who dared to print derogatory things about DeLay in her newspaper opinion piece. Those who are now seeking Gillen’s head on a platter were leading the charge against Carter.”

WOW: “Did Bev Carter endorse mostly Democrats in the fall election? It seems to me the executive committee was pretty smart to detect that she was not a Republican and to call her on it!”

Susan: “I was at the meeting when Bev Carter was censured by the Executive Committee for not supporting DeLay. What I read in her newspaper re the fall election was a prediction that Lampson would win, not an endorsement of him. In hindsight, she seems smarter than many in the county, doesn’t she?”

“Your blind allegiance will make you popular with the crowd that is seeking to wrest control from Gillen.”

WOW: “You need to re read her column. She endorsed Lampson and several democrats. Nothing wrong with voting for different parties or being an independent. BUT, if you are going to be a Republican precinct chair you shouldsupport republicans, otherwise just be an independent.”

Umpire: “This article has nothing to do with Bev Carter. Please stay on topic.”

Anon: “I think Bev sees herself as a moderate republican, but an American first, and the need for checks and balances as important in any system (FBC has none currently and one clique is having a field day with it). Whether or not she is a precinct chair, republican or independent she has a right to vote for whomever she likes (and that includes endorses).”

Susan: “Ump is right. Bev is not the topic. However, she did not run for re-election and was not serving as precinct chair in the fall when she wrote the column WOW excerpted.”

WOW: “I never said Bev did not have the right to support whomever she wants to support. I said, if you are going to carry the party label then you should support republicans. If you feel you can’t do that, then resign.” “Sorry umpire if you take offense to this being off topic!"

Then Bev herself logs in a comment on the second piece.

Comment 8 is mine.

Bev comes on the scene at Comment 16.

Bev: “i believe Billye Bridges was referring to Goldwater Republicans when she commented about the “real” Republican party. You know, those people that thought government was supposed to keep our taxes low and our noses out of the bedroom and Bible.”

Intheknow: “Bev — As ususal, you don’t make much sense. Just who are you talking about as the “small cabal of insiders?” “Has Gary called you yet to become a part of his “Red Ribbon”, secret group of real “insiders” who will provide “oversight” to the PAC? Or is this just sour grapes because a Majority of the Executive committee members nixed Gary’s efforts earlier this year to give your company the printing business for the party newsletter?

“Please take your “holier than thou” attitude back to the sad little pages of the Star.”

John Cobarruvias: “Oh this is like the Titanic movie! It is so
good you dont want it to stop.”

Bev: “An invitation to bid was sent out and my son's printing company had the low bid. However, the fiscally responsible Republicans preferred to pay the higher bidder to punish me for criticizing Tom DeLay. They’ve now turned my rabaidly [rabidly, I think] Republican son into an independent. I’m glad about that. They done somethng that I’ve tried for ten years to do.”

Your last little quote of “sad little pages of the Star” are so petty personal that it detracts from your whole post. If you would stay on topic and keep from annoying personal attacks, you would be a more effective communicator.”

WOW: “So Bev Carter has been trying to turn her son into an independent for 10 years? And when did she serve as a precinct chair? I believe in this instance 1 + 1 = 2!

Bev was NOT a republican when she served as a Republican precinct chair!”

And that was about it for now. Some pretty massive wounds are being opened as Republicans claw each other into bloody masses. Unfortunately when this happens, invariably people with a sense of decency and fair play get pulled into the fray.

That part is not fun, but having your suspicions, that these people are just mean, mean, mean, confirmed in the internet press really is fun. That and watching Republicans try to define just who is and who is not a Republican.

Pass the popcorn, John.

Dr. Anthony DiNovo For Texas HD 29 Representative: Too Good To Be True

I answered the call to help get out the vote in Pearland today. OK, you’re right, I’ve been having post election withdrawal pains and needed a quick fix. I learned a lot today about our fellow Democrats to the south.

Before, I was woefully ignorant.

First, this is just about as one-off a race as Nick Lampson’s.

The incumbent in HD 29 is (was) Glenda Dawson. She passed away this past summer. I imagine her state representative website is still up out of respect. Apparently she was well-liked in the district. So well liked that when it came time to re-elect her on November 7th, she won hands down. It was an issue in the election that her campaign was successful in sending out campaign flyers to households “touting her record” without mentioning the fact that she was indeed deceased.

So since the seat was won by a corpse, a well-liked corpse at that, a special election had to be called by Rick Perry.

Why not replace her on the ballot? They were chomping at the bit to replace Tom DeLay on the ballot until it became clear that in doing so, they would violate the US Constitution. But in this case it was cut and dried. They had a deceased candidate. No problem replacing her on the ballot, right? Chapter 145 of the Texas Election Code was written to cover this specific set of circumstances. Ah, but a re-read of the law reveals the dilemma: the candidate must die at least 74 days before Election Day. Representative Dawson died after a short illness, after the August 25th deadline (sorry, unintentional pun).

This presents a very uncomfortable problem to Republicans. Here we had the Democratic opponent, Dr. Anthony DiNovo, who was expected to poll in the 20% range, actually garner 40% of the vote in November. Perry called a special election to fill the HD 29 seat and not one, and not two, but three Republican opponents signed up to oppose our one Democratic candidate in the special election.

They split the Republican vote. What a colossal error.

So it’s a no-brainer here. The one who gets out the base vote, the voters who voted in November, is the one who wins the election. Dr. DiNovo has an excellent chance. The special election, being held during the holiday season, is expected to draw less than 10% of the voters to the polls. My guess is in the 4 to 5% range, the same as a hotly contested school board election.

So we have a real opportunity here. If you want to help out, they really could use your support. At this point, it’s helping to get out the vote. Calling the base and getting them to the polls. My friend muse has the details here on where you can go to help. I can personally attest that their call lists are first class. You talk to Democrats, and it’s fun to do that, especially if you can let them know that there is a special election – some don’t know – and that there is a Democrat running (and they don’t know that either).

Last and best. muse and I had a chance to talk at length with the DiNovo campaign manager, a singular young woman with very impressive skills. Her anecdotal information on Dr. Anthony Dinovo made both muse and I very happy that we had shown up to help in the campaign. Simply stated, Dr. Anthony DiNovo is a good and decent man whose life’s goal is to help people who would not otherwise be helped. This is the sort we need in Austin. I can think of no better replacement for a good and decent Republican representative, Glenda Dawson, than a good and decent Democratic state representative, Dr. Anthony DiNovo.

District 29 deserves nothing less.

David "Weather Vane" Dewhurst Dumps TAKS

Wow. What a reversal in policy. If only Bush could do to his war policy in Iraq what Lt. Governor David Dewhurst says he will do to the Texas state policy on TAKS. It seems that all of the things that Chris Bell talked about concerning TAKS tests during his campaign have just been adopted by the Republican party. I'm not kidding. Take a look for yourself. Here is an article that appeared in the Austin American Statesman just about 20 months ago.

Here’s what he said in response to endorsement by state House leaders of an education bill that would require students to pass state end of course tests, instead of passing TAKS, in order to graduate:

“Right now we need to focus on raising our performance criteria on the test,” Dewhurst said. “We just started this new test. Let’s not scrap it today.”

And these thoughts were apparently echoed by Florence Shapiro, chairman of the Senate Education committee.

So we have now subjected something like a little less than half a million students over a two year period to the TAKS test, and they have reached the same conclusion that was being recommended lo these 22 months ago.

Here’s what The Chron reported yesterday:

“Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst agreed Wednesday with some lawmakers who want to replace the TAKS test with end-of-course exams for high school students.”

And they said this, too:

“Senate Education Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, recently proposed scrapping the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test for end-of-course exams in the higher grade levels.”

“The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive,” she said.

"I don't know of anybody who thinks it's a bad idea," Shapiro said.

Well I know of two people who DID think it’s a bad idea. Dewhurst and Shapiro. What’s different? I’ll tell you what’s different. A mid-term election that revealed Texans are mad as H-E double hockey sticks about TAKS.

And do you know what is missing from the 2005 education bill recommendation? I had to look twice. There is no onus of a graduation requirement in any of the wording in the Chron article.

None.

So now, instead of being constant assaults on Texas senior high school students being allowed to walk across the stage in late May, the EOCs are there to evaluate what is being taught in Texas schools compared to other states.

But wait, there’s more . . .

Dewhurst wants the state to pay for every senior in Texas to take either the ACT or the SAT. Why go to that extreme? Well, it’s another way to rate how our students align with high school students in the other states. By my estimate, based on a Texas senior graduation population of about 240,000, that’s $12 million per year in state expenditures to find out if our kids are as well-educated as those in the rest of the country.

Does anyone else see the flaw in the reasoning here?

Here in Texas, 100% of our student population will take the SAT or ACT. In 49 other states, only college-bound (and not including community college-bound) high school students will take those tests.

Here’s the result, Dewhurst, and I’ll give it to you for free: Texas will show up as dead last in the country. When you compare 100% of our students with the top 50% of students in the 49 other states, it’s pretty much a no-brainer.

This pretty much goes along with what my friend Ann says about Texas voters:

“When will Texas voters learn not to vote into office the educational failures of Texas schools?”

Flatulence and HB 129

I was getting all set to post a piece on Vickie Truitt’s heinous HB 129 that she filed last month. It resulted in a blogstorm that flooded the Texas blogosphere. I was waiting for it to subside, and looking for a new angle.

And what does she do? She pulls the bill.

And everybody blogged on that (handshakes and back pats all around).

The real reason she submitted the bill? A constituent had concerns that someone would post something that would result in identity theft. Said she:

"We're just trying to keep people from getting mad at somebody and putting their Social Security number and credit card numbers out there."

OK, I’ll buy that - in Gullible Land.

I really was looking forward to the ACLU’s lawsuit.

So what am I left with? Fort Bend County Commissioners Court wrangling over how to decide who will build the county jail annex?

Ennui.

Fort Bend Republican Chair Gary Gillen pissing everyone off again?

What’s new about that?

Then I happened across this article on The Austin American Statesman’s website:

“Flatulence Forces Plane to Land”

Now there’s a piece with gas.

It seems a woman with an undisclosed medical condition decided to light a match aboard an in flight American Airlines jet bound for Dallas in order to cover up the smell of the “body odor” that she had just unleashed.

People were complaining about the smell of sulfur in the cabin and they immediately diverted the plane to Nashville, where they deplaned and the plane was thoroughly searched. Then the FBI questioned the woman who admitted to lighting the matches. And why.

In case you haven’t noticed it, we are living in a new era. 9/11 has such far reaching aftershocks. People can’t even disguise their farts with matches any more.

After awhile, they all got back on the plane and took off for Dallas. All except for the fart lady. They wouldn’t let her back on.

I wonder why.

Republicans Will Try to Pass One More Belief-Based Act

Well, since they were not able to get enough votes to open up the Eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling, they’re going to try and pass a horrendous religious belief-based piece of crap legislation one more time.

Tomorrow they are going to put HR 6099 the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act to a vote. Now, despite the wording, this isn’t a resolution about pain awareness of fetuses, Fetuses, from everything they tell me, aren’t aware of anything. It’s about making prospective abortion patients aware that there is “substantial evidence” that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks.

So when the patient is so-informed, the law would require that she is asked whether she wants her fetus to be anesthetized, too.

This is a blatant attempt to pass a law that requires abortion clinics to counsel their patients, one last time, not to have a abortion, all based on religious beliefs.

Here’s how I make my case.

The act uses the arguments like “at least by 20 weeks after fertilization, an unborn child has the physical structures necessary to experience pain”.

And this:

“There is substantial evidence that by 20 weeks after fertilization, unborn children draw away from certain stimuli in a manner which in an infant or an adult would be interpreted as a response to pain.”

That is, they’re saying “maybe”.

How about this one? Remember this? There is substantial evidence that Iraq is stockpiling weapons of mass destruction”.

Fellas, unless you have it dead-on accurate, you don’t traumatize an abortion patient one more time by offering your opinion that maybe the fetus will feel pain. The truth is, you don’t know for sure. The truth is no one knows for sure.

Oh, no. I had that wrong. Some people know for dead sure that a fetus, at 20 weeks will feel pain. Some people know for dead sure that a fetus, at 20 weeks will not feel pain.

But here’s what I know about “certain knowledge”: it is extremely difficult for people to separate their beliefs from the facts and observations. Especially when their beliefs are strongly held. So strongly held that they want everyone else to have these beliefs, too. Or if not, to behave as if they did.

So here we have HR 6099. A bill specifically meant to put just one more article of stress on a woman who is already stressed to begin with.

Not very gallant. Not very humane. Pretty darned insensitive.

But wait. Read the bottom of the article. Maybe it’s not ALL about harassing a young woman one more time with a government-sponsored religious tract. Maybe it’s about Republicans doing these zingers. It seems that Republicans have spent all their time these past few years scoring political points instead of getting legislation passed.

National Right to Life Committee's Douglas Johnson declared:

"Somebody will object. We want to know who that person is."

Texas Fatcats to Build a PAC to Stop Hillary

The Dallas Morning News had it first.

Senator Hillary Clinton hasn’t even made a formal announcement of her candidacy in the presidential race in ’08 and we already have a Dallas-based Texas conservative organizing an anti-Hillary PAC. He hopes that other Texas fatcat millionaires will pour money into his new PAC that is called “Stop Her Now”.

The PAC is a 527 group that was created with the sole intention of derailing her candidacy in its infancy. I don’t know about you, but the mere formation of this PAC gives her huge credibility with me. If they’re that afraid of her, then I have to be for her.

Says Richard Collins, owner of a chain of newspapers and PAC organizer:

“We're going to define Hillary as an ambitious, calculating, tough political operator who is trying to define herself as a centrist Democrat when, in fact, she's an ultraliberal Democrat."

I really liked that quote because it so very much defines this gynophobe. Is there anyone who doesn’t doubt that here in America, today, a politician running for high office needs these qualities: ambition, calculation, tough operator? These, and more I think. But here we have a guy forming a group to fire gun batteries at her because she has those qualities. Why? Womenfolk shouldn’t display these coarse qualities. It isn’t soft and feminine.

I really do think she is going to run. I found here that she just hired a national fundraiser, here that she is asking for support of New York Democratic officials, and here that she is talking to Democratic leaders and activists in New Hampshire. That last one is a nice website by the way. Real blue.

And the real reason I want Hillary Clinton to run?

I want to put women’s issues back on the front burner where they belong. I want Americans to reengage in the public controversy that we had in the 60’s and 70’s because I see severe erosion of the gains we made back then. I want people to examine their beliefs when they declare “anyone but a woman”.

And I want people to see Britney Spears and Paris Hilton as the laughingstocks that they are.

Outgoing Republicans Try Last Gasp Run to Open Up Eastern Gulf of Mexico to Oil and Gas Exploration

Now Floridians get to share in the joys of having oil and gas exploration take place in their backyard – or so Republicans in a lame duck congress hope. They hope for a vote to enable this on Tuesday. HR 4908 or its already passed Senate version, S 2253, will require that the Secretary of the Interior offer 8.3 million acres in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico - Florida's OCS area.

Labeled as Area 181 (see map), this is not the first time an attempt has been made to open up the area to oil exploration. Florida’s tourist industry has been instrumental in seeing that oil rigs stay off their horizon. Indeed, Pensacola and Panama City Beach (also known as the “Redneck Riviera”), both key players in this effort, won a small victory in that the proposed bill excludes acreage that come within 100 miles of their coastline. That’s just about all of that long narrow strip you see on the map.

But in truth, the real reason that there hasn’t been any oil and gas exploration in the offshore Florida area is that the oil natural gas reserves in that area probably aren’t there in any accumulations that would be considered economic to recover. 1.3 billion BBL of oil and 5.8 TCF of gas? Give me a break. But oil companies, enriched by record petroleum and gasoline prices, have money to burn and have no problem paying hefty lease prices, and no problem sinking wells in marginal areas.

And that’s the thing that really gets my goat. Here’s this sunset industry, richer than Midas and Croesus combined, pouring billions of dollars, that we had to give to them, into short-term energy solutions – all of which contribute pollutants and greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. What they should be doing, in a big, big, way, is taking those ill-gotten gains and investing in alternative energy sources. How about this proposal to place wind turbines on existing offshore platforms?

Yes, I’ve seen the ads, too. How BP is investing in solar energy. But all they really do is pay lip service to this. They may call it BP Solar, but the P in BP still stands for Petroleum.

But no, lame duck Republicans think that they will have one more opportunity to get this legislation through congress before Democrats take over. After January 3rd the Democratic majority will kill all of their hopes of opening up this area for years.

Fortunately, as mentioned by muse and others, legislators in DC are just beat. Yes, beat as in beaten, but also beat as in dead tired. They may not have the will to see this through.

And it really is a wimp of an energy bill compared to ones that have been served up by Republicans in the past. Why would anyone want to get behind this bill and prove again to the nation what it already knows: the Republican Ride is over.

Getting this bill passed, if it’s at all possible, is definitely not the Republicans going out with a roar.

It’s going out with a meow.

Of Refrigerator Magnets and $600 Dollar Boots - Only in Texas

This week's ruling by the Texas Ethics Commission, that elected officials can accept cash and checks from anyone, and not have to disclose the actual amount, was bittersweet for me. These elected officials are employees of the State of Texas. Classroom teachers in public schools are also employees of the State of Texas.

So it was bittersweet to me because I got an email message from an attorney working for my school district, informing me that as an employee of the State of Texas, I could not, by law, accept gifts from students or parents of students that had a value of $50 or more.

OK, well some would say that teachers are paid better than a Texas legislator and they would be correct. They pull down $25,120 (salary and per diem) per year for their jobs. In my district, starting salary of a new teacher is over 50% higher.

Now what’s with this? Why are our elected officials supported at poverty level compensation? In my home state of California, legislators there pull down a whopping $110,880 plus a per diem.

Well, it seems Texas, as my good friend Susan is often heard to say, ain't like other countries. Here in Texas, it is felt that legislators need to be independent citizen-legislators. Here is how Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio) puts it:

“The people of Texas have made it clear that they want low-paid, part-time citizen-legislators representing them in the Texas Legislature by repeatedly voting against constitutional amendments aimed at increasing the $600 per month salary legislators are paid.”

I doubt it.

I doubt that most Texans even know what their legislators make, or if they were taught it in school they have forgotten. How can one believe that Texas legislators are paid so poorly if they are always shown living in the lap of luxury?

Here’s what I think. Texans vote down pay raises for elected officials just like there are some areas that vote down school bond issues – they don’t want to pay more money for this stuff. Besides, voters see their elected officials driving new cars and wearing $600 boots; who would vote for a pay raise for someone like that?

Here’s what I also think. Texas legislators like it as it is.

What better way to justify the system of campaign fund contributions and payments than to point to the low pay and benefits that they get? It presents a true ethical dilemma that legislators are not going to want to solve anytime soon. A system that promotes the image of a citizen-legislator also promotes, as mentioned on this website, “unintended consequences such as the strengthening of well-organized interests who can afford to hire a wide array of lobbyists – including legislators themselves.”

So a “highly paid” teacher in Texas cannot accept a gift that has a value of $50 or greater, but a “poorly paid” legislator in Texas can. Not only that, according to the latest TEC ruling, that has been given news coverage far and wide, Texas legislators can accept any sum as campaign contributions, and not report how much on their campaign fund disclosures.

I love irony. The system was designed to promote citizen-legislators, part-time workers to promote limited government. What the system actually does is promote influence peddling of grotesque proportions that raises the likelihood that legislative ears are tuned to the monied interests, and not to the wants and needs of average citizens. And now it’s OK to keep it all hidden from view. How marvelous.

And, getting back to my secondary theme, I guess that given the current inflation rate, it’s safe for a long, long time for teachers to get just one more apple-shaped refrigerator magnet from an appreciative student.

Hayetna f Iskenderiyya

My daughter took it in mind to move to Egypt last May – yes, at about that time the Hezbollah were lobbing Katyusha rockets into Israel. No one wanted her to go but she was adamant.

I have a strong-willed daughter, can you imagine?

She teaches English to Egyptians. She tells me that anyone who wants to get a better job in Egypt has to learn to speak English. At first she was in Cairo, but then later changed plans and moved to Alexandria. She lives in an apartment with friends she met in America and in Egypt.

Why am I telling you this? This is a political blog, right? Well, it’s getting to be around the holidays and Daddy misses daughter. So I am going to share with all of you my amazing daughter, her life in Alexandria, and her friends.

As it turns out they made a video and posted it on You Tube for all of us to see how they live. It was just enabled to be embedded in a blog, so here you go.

Oh, what does "Hayetna f Iskenderiyya" mean? I have it on good authority that it means "Our Life in Alexandria" but don't quote me on this.

Dubya to Dad's Buddies: "Stick It"

Can’t we get it right?

Out leaks the findings of Dubya’s Dad’s friends, “The Iraq Study Group” headed by Bush-41’s friend and Secretary of State, James Baker, and what have we got in store for us? Nothing. The plan is Dead On Arrival.

Bush repudiated much of it in a speech today in Jordan after his summit with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki .

We can’t even say that the ink wasn’t even dry before he rejected the plan. He was that fast with his reaction.

The group’s findings and plans were not due to be announced until next week, but you know how it is with DC politicians, what’s the good of having a secret if you can’t share it with friends?

So when Dubya heard about what they were going to recommend, he did what he does best. He ignored them.

That’s how we got in this mess, you know. Bush-43 ignoring what he doesn’t want to hear, listening to the two neocon hounds of hell, Cheney and Rove.

The Plan?

Gradual pullback of 15 brigades in Iraq, without a specific timetable.
Increase diplomacy in the region and include Iran and Syria in the dialogue
Shift military operations from combat to training.

Bush rejects the first one absolutely chiding the group about the use of the term “graceful exit”:

“This business about graceful exit just simply has no realism to it at all, whatsoever”

He also rejects the notion of any kind of involvement of Iran and Syria in any diplomatic discussions. This clearly has the markings of Cheney all over it. Cheney is the one who calls Iran a nuclear threat. That’s brilliant. They’re a nuclear threat so you don’t allow them into a regional discourse to promote stability.

That pretty much guarantees nuclear war, Dick.

By the way, when Dick was CEO of Halliburton, he had no trouble doing business in Iran through his foreign subsidiaries. Yeah, they’re terrorists, but their money spends just like everyone else’s.

The last item is just about the only thing Bush could get behind because that’s what his plan, if you can call it a plan, calls for.

But even that item in the plan has critics. US military advisors observe that you can train them all you want, Iraqi soldiers seem to have a national quirk when it comes to soldiering. When a shot is fired at them or near them they respond with what has been termed a “burst reaction”. They empty their weapons of all ammunition – even at a single sniper shot.

It’s hard to bring a civil war under control if you can’t keep ammunition in your guns long enough.

So here it is, 3 weeks from a slam dunk Democratic victory based in large part on the Iraq (Civil) War, and it’s like we weren’t heard. Oh, yeah, Rummy got fired and George agreed to let his Dad’s buddies offer helpful suggestions.

You know, you just have to wonder if he’s playing “Good Cop, Bad Cop.” He’s a lame duck president whose only job is to preserve the office for a Republican. What better way to do it than to strut around shouting down the thronging masses who know that the only way to save Iraq is to leave it? A bone thrown to the mad hugger?

If that’s the game, then our soldiers are spilling their blood not for oil, not for nothing, but for getting a Republican elected president in '08.

The Legislative Study Group Needs the Support of Progressive Texans

You’ll probably see this on lots of blogs so it was a question of do I do this, too and look like someone who is simply adding his voice to the chorus. The flip side, do I not do this because everyone else is, and people point at my blog and say “Not committed?” “Uppity?” “Apathetic?”

Or is it the real reason: each time I make an entry into this blog I want to write about the most important or interesting thing I have encountered recently, and this is it.

A public policy group, called the Legislative Study Group, is getting set for the 80th Legislature. This group is a caucus that generates public policy of benefit to Texans and Texas families.

They are historically active in promoting public policy in areas of “teacher rights and benefits, opposition to school vouchers and opposition to cuts to the Children’s Health Insurance program.

It runs on public donations.

If you think that this is a laudable and worthwhile effort, support their efforts to get accurate information to legislators to help them come to thoughtful informed decisions on key legislation in the upcoming regular session.

Donate Here or Click on their logo.

Big Pile O' Garbage? Commissioners Say Bring It On.

Out here in Southeast Texas we have elected county officials who have embraced the concept of okaying a 17 story by 784 acre pile of garbage within sight and smell of new and established Fort Bend communities.

Wouldn't that make it the tallest manmade (or any other -made) structure in Fort Bend County?

Now that's something to be proud of.

Bob Dunn over at FortBendNow writes that the County Commissioners will not oppose expansion of the Blue Ridge Landfill. This is in advance of a meeting at Quail Run Community Center tonight, and a public hearing to be conducted on December 7th.

Elsewhere I have seen that Nick Lampson will be showing up at that meeting. Dora Olivo D-Richmond, is also supporting anti-expansion efforts.

Commissioners rub their hands over the 4 to 5 hundred large that come in to the county each year in “tipping fees”. 4 to 5 hundred thousand dollars? Are you kidding? That’s chicken feed. That much and we degrade the quality of life in the areas surrounding a 17 story pile of trash? Increase risk of contaminating the water supply?

If they gave back their 18% pay increase we could make up for a nice chunk of that income.

And what is this 18 cents per cubic yard figure anyway? Is that Fort Bend County’s cut? Who made that deal? And what does that mean, on average for a tipping fee based on weight (dollars per ton – which is the more common fee quote)? All of that notwithstanding, why is Fort Bend County selling its residents down the river for 18 cents per cubic yard of garbage?

Aren’t we worth more than that?

And Grady, you can’t be with them on this. You can’t. I know you walk a fine line at the Commissioners’ Court being the only Democratic County Commissioner, but this is a line drawn in the sand. You need to vote with the people on this one.

And leave the balance of the Commissioner’s Court in full public view of just what they comprise:

A “garbage à trois”.

Texas Ethics Commission: No Secrecy Now or Ever

This evening I was sent a Kronberg Report piece (sorry, subscriber stuff) about the Texas Ethics Commission that has a ruling on what shall be reported when a contributor to someone’s election campaign submits a check (or cash or estimated value of a 1993 Rolex).

Or just anything like that.

Just "a check".

From Bob Perry: (in an imagined donation) A check to the Republican Party of Texas. From New Christians Against Coming of Satan: a Wheel Barrow (contents undisclosed) – but some would say it contained bundled paper colored with various shades of green. Resembling US dollars.

You see, this is the flavor of what YOUR TEC is deeming to be a fair and above board contribution. Cash or check with no monetary value reported. No one need be identified, nor their numbers be revealed. An Abramoff Dream, Texas style.

Does this not make your blood boil?

I cannot countenance a single red-blooded American Patriot (capitol A and P) who would not bristle and boil against the notion of secret cash donations to a political party. Republicans, Democrats, not an issue. Is this not the ultimate in promotion of a TOTALITITARIAN INFLUENCE? It needs to be said. Exploration for total power equals totalitarianism.

Texans of any stripe – we cannot allow this to continue. Repudiate the TEC finding that a contribution to a candidate’s campaign need only be reported as “Check”.

Send your opinions to this address:

Texas Ethics Commission
P. O. Box 12070
Austin, TX 78711-2070

Adios to TAKS? Good, But What are the Alternatives?

Well, the good news is that the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills Test, or TAKS Test may be on the mat and getting a 10-Count (Jeez, I have GOT to stop watching “The Cinderella Man”). That’s what is on all the newswires today. My link at the San Antonio Express-News is the best one I could find with the most information about TAKS.

At least for the upper grades.

The widely and often quoted Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, is quoted this way everywhere, that the “Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills ‘has worn out its welcome, especially for high school and middle school grades.”

First, when was there a “welcome” for TAKS? I missed that. TAKS is and always was a monstrosity. It made a lot of people a lot of money, but all it did for teachers, students, parents and administrators was generate paperwork, TAKS tutorials, and degradation of teaching content as it was replaced by “teaching to the test”.

So that’s good. It is going out.

So what’s not so good?

Shapiro has an idea of how to replace TAKS in the upper grade levels, and that is a truly scary idea. End of Course Exams. Every 6 weeks you stop and give a standardized test (I assume, statewide) over the content you just taught.

Guess what this requires? Everyone must be on the same page at the end of every grading cycle. Do you know how hard that is? Try teaching on a strict calendar. Watch your calendar go to H-E double hockeysticks every time someone schedules an assembly, a career information day, a field trip for 1/10th of the school. Additionally, just think: every grading cycle must be the same from one district to another. Otherwise, what’s on the EOC Test can get out to districts on different schedules.

It’s called Test Security which is another TAKS mania.

OK, so the alternative, so we don’t have all of the above conflicts is that every EOC Test is developed within districts. Then where is the level playing field? Districts can make their EOC Tests incredibly simple and get good numbers that go into their AEIS ratings.

So I am assuming that, like the Christmas turkey I had last year, the one that wasn’t completely thawed, Shapiro’s ideas are half baked and we are going to process this one a little better.

I am characteristically pessimistic.

Weapon of Mass Destruction: The AK-47

Want a good read to round out your holiday weekend?

I suggest Larry Kahaner’s Op/Ed piece on today’s Washington Post. It’s about the invention, proliferation and use of the AK-47.

Kahaner makes a point that I find chilling:

The existence of the AK-47 is responsible for making small regional squabbles that would ordinarily burn themselves out in a few weeks and months, into protracted wars.

Sound familiar?

In the chaos that followed the fall of Baghdad, Saddam’s armories were looted and millions of AKs and other small arms were placed in the hands of nearly anyone who wanted one. This and the fact that AKs are durable, do not require repair facilities in a country that could not support them, and everyone seems to know how to work one:

"For better or worse, the AK-47 is the weapon of choice in that part of the world," said Walter Slocombe, senior adviser to the CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority]. "It turns out that every Iraqi male above the age of 12 can take them apart and put them together blindfolded and is a pretty good shot."

And this week, the US will have been fighting the Iraq War for a longer time period than the US was involved in fighting in World War II. There is no end in sight, although an end will surely come now that we have a new political environment in DC.

So why has the Iraq War dragged on? The AK-47 is one reason.

Iraqi righteous fury at the presence of US troops is the other.

Number One Turkey of the Year: Shelly Schulla Gibbs

Just when you think you’ve heard the end of Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, out comes the Houston Press with their Turkeys of the Year Awards.

She’s Number One on the list.

Shelley’s been really good at laying low after kicking up some dust and throwing foeces around the office over her (Tom DeLay’s) staff walking out on her en masse. You’d think that they’d just leave her alone, now.

You’d think.

No, not on your life. We need ever to remember how 76,940 voters in Texas CD-22 voted for the Clear Lake Flake to serve out DeLay’s unexpired term. As you will recall, that’s just shy of Nick’s vote count in the General Election . . .

I know, I know, I know, some of those votes were Democrats who wanted her to win so Houston could spend $2 M to fill her unexpired term with someone of substance, but the rest of them are probably still tending the blister that is on the end of their dial spinning finger in mortification and disgust.

The best part of that article, in my humble opinion, is the first reporting I’ve seen of how voters registered their votes for the write-in candidate with the most complex name in the history of history.

“Voters cast their write-in ballots for, among others: Kelly Segula Gibbs, Snelly Gibbr, Schikulla Gibbs, Sheila Gibbs, Shelly Schulla Gibbs, Shelly Gibkula and, by someone who obviously never wanted the joy of using the machine to end, ShelleySkulaGibbsssss."

"The name ‘Sekula’ was spelled as Sektula, Sukla, Sequila, Sedoko and Sedoka (by puzzle fans?), Meklua, Sekluda and Shecola. One voter couldn't be bothered, just putting in SSG. (It counted.)"

"Another, for some reason, entered Sekula Smith. Another voter entered ‘Shelle Sekula Fibbs,’ which might have been a hidden political message. Not so hidden, but counted as a vote just the same, was ‘Shelly DraculaCunt Gibs.’ (We like to imagine the bipartisan discussion on that entry: ‘Well, they misspelled the first and last name, but that's definitely a Shelley vote.’)”

This harkens back to a previous posting of mine on what Elections Administrator J. R. Perez was going to count as a vote. Can you imagine, with the variance of spellings we have in this short list, what would have developed in a court battle had the Clear Lake Flake’s numbers been around Nick’s?

Voters in CD-22 would have been the collective laughing stock of the country. No small feat when you consider the depth of the field this year.

Oh, what could have been.