Bipartisanship is DOA in Congress

Well it’s official. The only politician acting in a bipartisan way in Washington, D.C. is Barack Obama.

And sometimes 3 Republican senators.

Obama continues to reach his open hand across the aisle, only to have it slapped time and time again. Today, the House voted 244 to 188 to pass the $787 billion stimulus package that was agreed to in House/Senate meetings held to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions of the stimulus bill.

244 to 188.

Guess who made up that 188 minority?

11 Democrats who chose to vote against their party and their President, and every single Republican in the House except for Ginny Brown-Waite, who didn’t vote.

The bipartisanship that the Obama Administration was trying to foster, and going to tremendous lengths to do that at the angst of his own party’s base is DOA in the House. There is no life to breath into the corpse.

And yesterday, Obama’s bipartisan act in choosing a conservative Republican to be his Secretary of Commerce was rewarded by Senator Gregg flip-flopping without warning with an announcement that he was going to pass on Obama’s offer, return to the Senate, and vote against his bill.

And it is becoming very clear why there is very little bipartisanship in Congress. We’ve had two elections now where Democrats have swept Republicans out of office in huge numbers. Congressman in swing districts and Senators in swing states, or in states and districts that have outright flipped from Red to Blue are now largely Democrats. Moderate Republicans are practically nonexistent in Congress.

Apparently, the only other people acting in any kind of bipartisan manner are 3 Republican Senators, Specter, Snowe and Collins. But really, these are holdovers from former Republican states. Specter is from Pennsylvania and Collins and Snowe are from Maine. Both states went for Obama in a big way. If these three senators want to keep their jobs, they will have to be voting with the Democratic majority a great deal of the time. Either that or face the wrath of their voters.

Interestingly, this is exactly the same situation that my ex-congressman, Nick Lampson faced, and it worked out none too well for him, either.

Did it?

So do I think Barack Obama should abandon his attempts to appease the party of the Dark Side? Well, if he wants to stop wasting his time and if he wants to stop receiving the potshots that these uberpartisans want to deliver to him, maybe he should.

But I don’t think that’s his style. Besides, I ask myself, isn’t Barack Obama just acting out what every evangelical Christian Republican demands of their congregations? Isn’t Barack Obama obeying the Lord’s instruction?

“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Luke 6: 27-31

Jesus was bipartisan. But apparently what’s good enough for their Savior isn’t good enough for Republicans in Congress.

Olson Struts and Frets His Hour Upon the Stage

Wow. Pete Olson, my congressman, is certainly turning into a “poor player,” isn’t he?

Today, out comes a story in FortBendNow about how Pete Olson has signed a letter to President Obama, with 19 others of his ilk, the Texas Republican delegation to Congress.

And one US Senator.

It seems that they have an axe to grind with the President.

Their beef?

It seems they are afraid that if Obama closes the illegal prison at Guantanamo and brings the accused terrorists to US soil in general and Texas soil in particular, those prisons will become a terrorist target.

No, really. That’s what they think.

“Any terrorist detention center in the United States will immediately become a target. It is because of these risks that Guantanamo was opened in the first place and that is the way it should stay.”

No wait, it gets better.

“‘Granting such (constitutional) rights to these dangerous enemy combatants could potentially lead to their release into the towns and cities of Texas,’ the congressional members said. ‘We refuse to accept that outcome, which would put innocent Texans in great danger, and we will do everything we can to prevent it from happening’”

And I guess part of “everything we can” is to publish a letter that brings fear and dread to people. Dick Cheney is out of office, so I guess someone has to step in and fill the “fear and dread void” that he left behind. And I guess it takes 20 Republicans to fill that vast void.

But that first one, the thing about making prisons terrorist targets, that’s a little too much to take. The reason I say this is that it is the MO of terrorists to strike at the innocent. To strike at the unarmed.

In prisons, the guards have guns.

Yes they do.

And despite the fact that the guns are usually trained inward, I see no reason why they cannot turn around and shoot outward. I think the terrorists can figure that out, too.

But maybe the real reason that Olson and his compadres are concerned with the possibility of dumping terrorists in Texas prisons is a practical consideration. If Barack Obama does one day close Guantanamo, and he has said he would, do you think he will want to bring the prisoners to a state that helped get him elected or a state that didn’t?

If Obama wants another term, do you think he would deliver these terrorists to the Federal Correction Institution at Terminal Island, California, or to the Federal Correctional Institution at Bastrop, Texas?

Actually, since Texas is about to go purple, and the Obama camp knows this, I think Pete and his fearful friends can probably relax if this is what concerns them. More likely than not, some place like the Federal Correctional Institution at Morgantown, West Virginia would be getting these people.

Or maybe the one in Safford, Arizona.

House and Senate Agree on Stimulus Package: Now, Will It Work?

It has been pared down to a mere $789 billion, but the stimulus plan that has been approved by a bunch of Democrats and three Republicans appears to be on its way to President Obama’s desk for signing, since an agreement was thrashed out in the House/Senate committee.

But we still have to formalize it with a vote, and anything still goes.

Republicans have one last chance to get on board with a plan, rather than look like a bunch of obstructionist zombies.

Now the two questions I have to ask myself are these:

1. When will I know that the stimulus is working?
2. What will Republicans dream up to demonstrate that it isn’t?
   

Here is what I could find to answer the first question.

From Business Week:

“At his first prime-time press conference, President Obama was asked a central question about the $800 billion-plus economic stimulus package: How will Americans know if it's working? ‘My initial measure of success is creating or saving 4 million jobs,’ Obama answered.”

I guess that’s a safe bet, but still . . . what are going to be the early indicators?

But the first thing we should see is that people are getting the support that they need to overcome the immediate effects of unemployment. Receiving extended unemployment benefits and food stamps.

“‘What you'll see [in benefit] and when you see it depends on who you are,’ says Steve Ellis, vice-president at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a taxpayer advocacy group. ‘If you are living hand-to-mouth, you should have greater access to food stamps and other assistance right away.’”

What about interest rates?

“"If interest rates stay extremely low, the plan is definitely working," says [J. Bradford DeLong, an economics professor]. "If Treasury interest rates do start to rise by more than normal levels, then we worry that [the spending] is crowding out private economic activity and discouraging investment.”

But here is the big problem. We aren’t living in a science lab. We don’t have a “control group” or a group being given only a placebo. So whatever effect we see we won’t really know if it is because the stimulus plan is working, because we don’t know what the world would look like in a reality where no stimulus bill was ever passed.

And this, I think, answers my second question.

Ruin-ous, UBS

On the news that Swiss bank giant UBS reports a record loss of SFr20 billion, that’s $17 billion US, my only comment is what goes around most certainly comes around, doesn’t it.

More on that in a minute.

This is the biggest yearly loss in the entire corporate history of the bank, and will result in the layoff of 2000 of its employees, mainly in its investment banking division, the part of the bank responsible for the losses.

From Reuters:

“UBS, the world's biggest banker to the rich, was one of the first to be hit in the credit crisis, as a disastrous expansion into investment banking forced it to write down almost $49 billion and shattered its reputation for Swiss solidity.”

And guess who is Vice Chairman of UBS’ Investment Bank?

None other than former Senator from Texas Phil Gramm.

Those who have read my previous postings on this guy know where I am going with this.

Phil Gramm can be singled out as singularly responsible for the global financial crisis that we find ourselves embroiled in right now. He spearheaded the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Billey Act, an act that repealed much of the Glass-Steagall Act the 1933 act that established, among other things, the FDIC, but also prohibited a bank holding company from owning other financial companies.

It was the repeal of the regulations of the Glass-Steagall Act combined with the 2000 exemption of over-the-counter derivatives such as credit-default swaps from regulation that brought on the eventuality of the credit crisis that we have today.

By the way, Gramm almost completely denies any culpability in his acts being the root cause of this crisis.

From Time:

“…Gramm acknowledged that the credit-default swaps market as it developed was ‘so opaque that nobody knew who was holding the bag.’ But he said he didn't buy that it was a major precipitating cause of the crisis. What was? ‘It was a confluence of two forces,’ he said. ‘Alone, neither would have created a cataclysm’”

Well, whatever.

Now it appears that the “confluence of two forces” has come home to roost in Phil Gramm’s own backyard, and 2000 of his workmates will have to update their resumés.

And what do you think. Do you think Gramm himself will have to get out his interview suit? Do you think in this era of accountability someone who has such convincing forensic evidence that even the OJ defense of “if it doesn’t fit you must acquit” won’t fly, we will finally have a deserving head roll out UBS’ front door?

Will Phil Gramm lose his job at UBS?

Nahhhhh.

Hutchison: I’ll Vote Against the Stimulus But Won’t Turn Down the Money If It Passes

Did you see the news clip at KVUE where Texas Senator Kaye Bailey Hutchison first talked out of one of her two mouths in criticizing the stimulus bill and promises to vote against it “because of so many of the factors that are wrong,” then out of the other one when she admits that the $2.8 billion in transportation funds that would come to Texas as part of the plan is completely appropriate because “we have so many needs for transportation in Texas.”

Is there any consistency here? On the one hand the stimulus bill is wrong, but on the other hand the state needs the transportation funds that it would deliver to Texas?

Clearly Hutchison is trying to play to two audiences, and to neither of them is she very convincing.

Clearly Hutchison is joining her party’s faithful anti-stimulus movement choosing to oppose it not because it won’t bring funds needed here, but because Republicans, led by Rush Limbaugh, want to see the stimulus fail.

Because if it does, the Republicans look good. And like the “success of the surge” arguments, Republican will try to define what failure is, and then call the stimulus a failure. That’s their MO.

On the other hand, Rick Perry, Hutchison’s future gubernatorial opponent in the March 2010 Republican primary, promises to reject any and all funds that come to Texas from the stimulus bill, should it pass. So Hutchison plays to the anti-Perry crowd and criticizes that idea.

And ends up praising the bill because of what it could bring to Texas.

If it passes.

Which she opposes.

Now what is really bad about this whole thing is that Hutchison is a woman. And when I see or hear a woman make such bubble-headed remarks like that, I cringe, knowing that the advances women continue to make in our paternal society are not helped by these utterances.

Congress: Don’t Cut Aid to States

While the dollar totals of the House and Senate versions of the Economic Stimulus bills are just about the same, one big difference is that the Senate version cut the amount of aid to state governments from about $60 billion to about $20 billion.

This is such a very bad idea. If the House does anything to rectify this bill, it must put that state funding back in.

And I will tell you why.

States get the cash to run things in large part from property taxes. Some states more than others. And who pays most of these property taxes? Big corporations.

Big corporations that are, by the way, becoming economically strapped themselves because profits are turning into losses. Some of these businesses will gut it out, some will benefit from the stimulus, but some of them are going to go belly up or file for bankruptcy under Chapter 11.

Businesses and corporations that contribute a good deal towards the funding of state and local services simply aren’t going to be there anymore. And when that happens where are the states going to get their funding to say, run a police department, staff a school, or pay the salaries of early responders?

Case in point. A multinational chemical firm with a huge presence in the Houston area, LyondellBasell has filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. This Dutch-owned company has chemical plants all over the Houston area and suburbs. A big presence in Pasadena, Houston and Galena Park. In total, LyondellBasell pays $113 million in property taxes. Taxes that go toward funding things like school districts and municipal services like police and fire protection.

And on Monday, February 2^nd, those taxes for 2008 were due.

But the only thing that came out of the treasury coffers of LyondellBasell last Monday was . . . crickets.

The sound of crickets and no promises of this critical funding anytime soon.

From the Chronicle:

“Meantime, some local school districts, municipalities and counties where LyondellBasell has operations said they could face holes in their budgets because of the shortfall in collections.”

“Take the Pasadena Independent School District. Closely linked to the company through teachers whose spouses work at a nearby plant and plant workers’ children who attend its schools, the district also relies on $2 million a year in payments from the chemical maker.”

Now there are some states where bankruptcy of big chemical firms won’t affect the bottom line because their taxes don’t go to pay the salaries of teachers and policemen. States like New Hampshire, which funds its schools through taxes on liquor and cigarettes.

But that is of little comfort to those states that rely on corporate property taxes to fund their basic services.

And tragically, the Senate has placed in their stimulus bill a provision to allow fewer upper middle class Americans to have to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax, to the tune of $79 billion. This is “trickle down theory” writ large. A theory that has been totally discredited.

So the last thing, the very last thing you want to do in these times is remove the states from the stimulus bill, especially when you add, in its place something that prevents upper end middle class from having to pay the AMT. These are not the people, after all, who need stimulus.

Barack Obama on the Economic Stimulus Plan

President Obama has a new video on YouTube. In it he further explains the stimulus plan and the urgency to pass it.

This attempt at transparency is truly unprecedented. To have a website at Recovery.gov where we can all watch to see who is getting what for what is a fabulous idea, but I just have to wonder now whether that will be yet another reason for my two senators to vote against it.

Transparency in government is not the strong suit of the party of the Dark Side.

The Senate has just adjourned for the day and will probably pass their version of the bill by a narrow margin on Monday.

Texas in the Top Ten Most Religious States

In a recently released Gallup survey of over 350,000 people, the Gallup Poll has the state of Texas in the top 10 most religious states in the country.

Actually right at the bottom of the list, and tied with Kentucky at 74.

74 per cent, that is. 74 percent of Texans who were asked admitted to the pollsters that religion is an important part of their lives.

The Bible Belt is still very entrenched here in The South, a belt that closely follows the Red Belt trend revealed by the New York Times last November.

Also referred to as The Cracker Belt.

Take a look for yourself and see if you don’t agree.

Here is the New York Times graphic showing in red the counties that voted more Republican than they did in 2004 .

And here is the map of The Bible Belt as seen in the Wikipedia article on same.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think that it is marvelous that people find comfort in being strongly religious. But I live here in the heart of the Bible Belt and am here to tell you that being here in the confluence of those two red-colored belts is no picnic.

Because having a strong religious belief in this area does nothing for having compassion for your fellow man. It’s very much the other way.

Jesus, you see, is still viewed as a white guy with long flowing wavy red hair. But that is just about the extent of it.

Here in the Bible Belt, you see, they want to pass voter id laws to prevent the elderly and the poor from voting.

Here in the Bible Belt they want to pass laws that require illegal immigrants to live in "sanctuary cities." I recall when another government tried that. It was called the Warsaw Ghetto.

Here in the Bible Belt they want to pass a law that would allow refusal to issue birth certificates for children of illegal immigrants, children born legally in the United States.

Here in the Bible Belt we have a US Congressman who likens his party, the GOP that is, to the Taliban. You know, that other party of bigoted religious zealots.

John 11:35

A Modest Proposal: Ebay the Speaker’s Apartment

Today we receive the news that former Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, and his spendthrift wife, Nadine, went on a $169,400 spending spree during the last week he was in office - after announcing he would not stand for re-election - liberating these funds from the State Preservation Fund to put the finishing touches on their $1.3 million remodeling project. A project to remodel the 1804 square foot Speaker’s apartment that lies beyond the Speaker’s private door to the House chamber.

By my reckoning, that comes to about $720 per square foot.

During the last week of his term, the Speaker placed orders for 2 paintings totaling $45,400, a crystal chandelier for $75,000, $26,500 for a piece of furniture, and another chandelier for $22,500.

Leaving a grand total of $18.50 in the remodeling fund.

To what end Craddick did this, I can only guess, but I imagine that since it was Tom Craddick who got his wealthy contributors and lobbyists to pony up the 1.3 million in the first place, the last thing he was going to do was let that horse racing promoter Straus use it.

Well I have a modest proposal.

Let’s send a message to these two people, who will forever be remembered as symbols of gratuitous excess and opulence. Let’s put all of this stuff on Ebay.

Then let’s use the proceeds to buy office supplies for the Texas Legislature for the next 10 years.

Richard Morrison, Trust Buster

Wikipedia defines “Trust Busting” as any government activity that results in the break up of trusts or monopolies.

Newly-elected County Commissioner Richard Morrison now qualifies as a trust buster extraordinaire.

Trust busting the Economic Development Council, a cronies-only “public-private partnership established in 1986 to promote economic vitality and to ensure quality development in Fort Bend County.” Something special to this area. Something that duplicates the duties and responsibilities of your average run-of-the-mill Chamber of Commerce.

People who want to promote the county, to encourage other businesses to move to the county can easily become a member of either of these organizations. But since membership in the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce costs between $225 and $625 depending on the number of employees working at your business, and trustee membership in the EDC will run a cool 6 large, you would think that smart businessmen would opt for the cheaper of the two.

And up until yesterday, you would be wrong.

This is because the county guidelines on granting tax abatements to businesses who are establishing a place of business in the county included, up until yesterday, the following:

“The following factors, among others, shall be considered in determining whether to grant tax abatement.”

… (whether the business) “has agreed to participate in the continuing economic development process…by becoming a trustee member of the Greater Fort Bend Economic Development Council”

Get it? It’s nothing less than a government-sponsored form of tribute. Want a break in your property taxes? Pony up 6 grand a year for as long as you have the abatement in place.

With the request by Morrison, that the “shall” be changed to “may,” and the subsequent 5-0 vote to make it so, the Commissioners Court ended by fiat what was once a pay to play requirement for businesses to get a tax break in this county.

Isn’t it funny how electing just one more Democrat to the Commissioners Court can so radically alter the ethical compass of same court?

All I can hope for is that there is more to come.

BLM Asked Not to Cash Any Checks Just Yet.

As reported in The Chronicle, brand new interior secretary Ken Salazar has asked his subordinates at the Bureau of Land Management to hold off on cashing those bonus checks that energy exploration companies have paid when they were awarded 116 land parcels in scenic Red Rock Country in southern Utah. (The Chron reports 77 parcels, but the Oil and Gas Journal has it at 116).

Red Rock Country is surrounded on all sides by national parks and national forests, and is visited by hundreds of thousands of scenery appreciating tourists every year.

The Bush regime rushed through a lease sale late last year in a desperate attempt to circumvent what the voters all said at the polls loud and clear: Enough!

And now, all of that has come to a screeching halt.

The Oil and Gas Journal reported that Utah's BLM office offered 131 parcels, and 116 were sold, totaling 148,598 acres of federal land in Carbon, Duchesne, Emery, Garfield, Grand, San Juan, and Uintah counties. Revenues from the sale totaled more than $7.4 million, including $7.2 million in bonus bids, $222,951 in rental fees and $16,240 in administrative fees.

The lease sale was heavily protested and suits were filed to stop the sale, and then to halt the finalization of the sale after the bids were opened on December 19^th.

The largest bid was for Parcel 137, in the area near Vernal, Utah (photo below).

Oh, but then, look at this next photo, also taken in the Vernal area. See? the area has already been despoiled by thoughtless graffiti artists who can’t keep their artwork off of these scenic cliff faces.

Shameful.

Where To Begin?

Where do I begin today? Well, obviously the loss of a truly critical person in the Obama cabinet. It looked like Tom Daschle was going to weather the storm of the news of his failure to pay taxes on free transportation that he received for years. $146,000 in taxes over a 3-year period.

But in the end, it just wasn't going to work.

This is a huge loss despite what Republicans are going to say about the seriousness of the offense.

Tom Daschle, a former Senate Majority Leader, would have wielded serious amount of influence in the Senate, and would have been just the right person to spearhead our country’s final trip down the road to the sanity of universal health care.

Daschle, author of the recently published encyclopedia on how America can transition to a system of universal health care, was uniquely qualified to spearhead this effort.

But with the double trouble that came this morning by the New York Times editorial demanding that he step aside, and with the new revelation that Obama nominee for chief performance officer, Nancy Killifer, had failed to pay $946 in unemployment tax, and was stepping down from her nomination, the inertia was too much to overcome.

If Killifer was going to step aside for failure to pay $946, how was Daschle going to survive not stepping aside for failure to pay a sum that was 15,000% higher?

So it’s our loss. Universal health care has suffered a huge setback.

I’m sure the right wingers who were screaming socialized medicine are toasting each other many times today.

Hopefully they won’t contract Cirrhoses of the liver.

Then there’s the news that in the vote to confirm Eric Holder as the first African-American to be appointed United States Attorney General, Texas voted No.

Unanimously.

Yes, both Texas Republican senators voted no with 19 of their colleagues, while 19 Republicans joined the Democratic majority and voted aye.

I continue to be amazed at how polarized the Republican Party has become.

But finally, something came in the email this morning that I simply must share. I have to edit out some of the content to maintain my PG rating, but you’ll get the idea anyway.

Apparently Ben and Jerry have a new flavor of ice cream that they have named honoring Barack Obama’s presidency.

They call it “Yes Pecan.”

The email went on to say that there is a competition to come up with another ice cream flavor, honoring the departure of George Bush. Here is the very slightly edited list of submissions:

1. Grape Depression
2. The Housing Crunch
3. Abu Grape
4. Cluster Fudge
5. Nut'n Accomplished
6. Good Riddance You Lousy Mother%#$*@r... Swirl
7. Iraqi Road
8. Chock 'n Awe
9. WireTapioca
10. Impeach Cobbler
11. Guantanmallow
12. imPeachmint
13. Heck of a Job, Brownie!
14. Neocon Politan
15. RockyRoad to Fascism
16. The Reese's-cession
17. Cookie D'oh!
18. Nougalar Proliferation
19. Death by Chocolate... and Torture
20. Freedom Vanilla Ice Cream
21. Chocolate Chip On My Shoulder
22. Credit Crunch
23. Mission Pecanplished
24. Country Pumpkin
25. Chunky Monkey in Chief
26. WMDelicious
27. Chocolate Chimp
28. Bloody Sundae
29. Caramel Preemptive Stripe
30. I broke the law and am responsible for the deaths of thousands...with nuts

I tried, and I can’t pick a favorite.

Drill Baby, Drill

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation announced the discovery of a 100 million barrel oil equivalent field in the Gulf of Mexico.

That’s right. Not in Alaska and not in a national forest.

Right there in an oil province that has been exploited for over 50 years now.

The well is said to be over 28,000 feet deep in 5000 feet of water, making it very probably a “subsalt” well.

Not too long ago, the going theory was that when you reached salt in the Gulf of Mexico, you were in “basement rocks” and the party was over. Then someone realized that some of these “basements” were in reality lateral extrusions of salt, much like a volcanic sill. This means there was still sedimentary rocks below the salt.

And the beauty of that was that the salt itself could serve as the seal to trap the hydrocarbons below the salt.

The challenge was figuring out ways to “see” through the salt, but with so much at stake, that technology was soon developed.

Why mention all of this on a liberal political blog?

Last year we were lambasted with “Drill Baby, Drill” by the ones who ultimatly lost the election. And by drilling, they meant drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve or ANWR.

Or offshore California.

Barack Obama in his calmly analytical way offered that maybe we should explore for oil on acreage currently under lease before we start ripping up the tundra.

And existing fields that are played out may, in the future, become productive again with development of enhanced oil recovery methods.

Did you know that some oil deposits only give up 5% to 20% of what is there, leaving the bulk of the deposit behind as “unrecoverable?”

Sure the oil is getting harder to find and more expensive to extract. But the point is, we can and do still find additional reserves in existing oil provinces. As we improve our technology, this should continue.

So let’s dial down the rhetoric and let these self-interested corporations do their jobs.

What’s a Thousand Dollars Between Strangers?

Fort Bend County Sheriff Milton Wright had an envelope for each of 220 Sheriff’s Department deputies the other day. Each and every one of them contained a cashier’s check for $1000. In these trying times an extra grand, tax-free to boot, is a welcome surprise.

The person behind the distribution is known only to Wright, and he isn’t telling who it is.

And that should be the end of the story, right?

Oh, please, where have you been? This is Fort Bend County after all.

Fort Bend’s DA John Healey is calling into question the legality of this act. From the Chronicle:

“Fort Bend district attorney John Healey said ‘two sources’ brought the matter to his attention late Thursday. He said he plans to work with the county attorney to review the facts and any relevant laws that might apply.”

“’It would be reckless to point fingers or make claims, but it’s something that has piqued our interest and is worth looking into,’ Healey said.”

At issue is Chapter 36.08 of the Texas Penal Code, which reads

Sec. 36.08. GIFT TO PUBLIC SERVANT BY PERSON SUBJECT TO HIS JURISDICTION. (a) A public servant in an agency performing regulatory functions or conducting inspections or investigations commits an offense if he solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept any benefit from a person the public servant knows to be subject to regulation, inspection, or investigation by the public servant or his agency.

Emphasis is mine.

This should be open and shut unless the identity of the donor is revealed.

Not to be outdone by the DA, Fort Bend County Judge Bob Hebert has some questions all of his own.

“County Judge Bob Hebert also questioned whether the sheriff’s office followed proper procedure in accepting the donation. Any gift to any county employee must be approved by Commissioners’ Court, but Hebert knew nothing about the checks until Friday morning, he said.”

“‘I was sort of caught off guard by this,’ Hebert said. “Obviously we didn’t know this was happening. My opinion is, I’m delighted that the deputies got a little cash recognition from somebody, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do everything and I just want to make sure that we do this the right way.’”

This gives me pause. What is truly the issue here? Healey is concerned about the donation being outside the law, when clearly it is not, and Hebert is concerned about all of that money going to all of those people, is apparently delighted about it, but is annoyed that he was never told about it beforehand.

And it isn’t like this is a brand new piece of news to Sheriff Wright, who knew about this since before Christmas. It seems to me that both Healey and Hebert were intentionally kept in the dark about this whole thing.

Why that is, I can only speculate, but from their reactions someone knew what they were doing by keeping the whole thing under wraps.

SBOE Member Gail Lowe: A Life of Smug Ignorance

Looking back on the recent Texas SBOE foray in their religious war with Darwinian evolution I fell across some audio snippets from the January 19^th hearing where “strengths and weaknesses” was voted out of existence, only to be supplanted later on by “sufficiency or insufficiency.”

These snippets can be found here.

I was particularly taken by a brief exchange between creationist board member Gail Lowe and a retired clergyman, John Yeaman. Yeaman testified to the awakening experience he had while taking a geology course when he was in college, and how knowledge of rocks and fossils had enhanced his and his family’s life experiences while visiting the mountains and canyons across the nation.

Mainly, the exchange conveys a sense of smug snarkiness that creationist members of the state school board possess.

It also conveys their wretched ignorance of science.

I transcribed the exchange which appears below.

Yeaman (concluding his 3 minute remarks)…to compete in the twenty-first century, we must prepare and inspire...

McLeroy: Thank you

Yeaman: …all of our youth to open and inquiring minds,

McLeroy: Thank you. Ah, Miss Lowe?

Lowe: I’m sorry I’ll make it brief. When you studied geology did you study about the theory of graduated accumu. . . gradually accumulated geologic columns … you know … that obviously the strata developed over millions of y... did you also learn about polystrate fossils?

Yeaman: Well fossils are in those layers.

Lowe: Did you learn about polystrate fossils?

Yeaman: Not specifically but . . .

Lowe: That would be a really interesting thing for you to . . . to look into

Yeaman: Good.

Lowe: Polystrate fossils

Yeaman: OK, Thank you

Lowe: See how that fits in with the theory of the gradually accumulated geologic columns.

Yeaman: Good, thank you.

Lowe: Welcome.

For those of you still scratching your heads over this exchange, I will translate.

Lowe was illustrating how science cannot explain certain geologic phenomena, but creationism can. She did this by offering the “theory of gradually accumulated geologic column,” a theory that cannot be found in any geology textbook – by that name, anyway – and the observation of polystrate fossils, fossils that are seen by creationists as proof of the occurrence of Noah’s Flood.

The “theory of gradually accumulated geologic column” is a now-discredited theory that is better-known by its more often used name Uniformitarianism. This was a revolutionary geological theory proposed in the early 19^th century by natural philosopher Charles Lyell. Before Lyell, sedimentary rocks were all thought to have been deposited by Noah’s Flood, and that theory went by the name Catastrophism.

Lyell’s theory was revolutionary because for the first time a scientist was disputing the idea that Earth is young. Lyell held that sedimentary rocks were all deposited under conditions that exist in the present day, slowly, gradually, and continually.

This would make Earth at least in the millions of years in age.

Polystrate fossils are mostly fossilized tree trunks that are found upright in solid rock, usually within sandstone but sometimes in or near coal deposits. Polystrate fossils are creationists’ proof of Catastrophism in that it would appear that they were deposited all at once in a violent event – like a flood – and may extend through two or more distinct sedimentary layers.

I saw one of these once, in a road cut exposure of Cretaceous deltaic sandstone in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.

Lowe was pointing out that we can’t have it both ways, slow sedimentation and upright fossilized tree trunks.

But as our newly elected President would say, Yes We Can.

The linear thinking that goes part and parcel with being a conservative evangelical does not allow for acceptance of the fact that indeed, we can have it any way we want.

And this is because the “theory of gradually accumulated geologic column” or Uniformitarianism is only one in a great spectrum of sedimentary mechanisms that have occurred.

You see, Lyell was only partly right. Some sedimentary rocks are emplaced by present day processes. Some sedimentary rocks are emplaced by catastrophic floods. Some rocks are emplaced by catastrophic submarine landslides. I would say most of the geologic record, in terms of volume, is a record of successive catastrophic events. I would also say that most of geologic time is spent by slow deposition of intervening fine-grained rocks that we call shale.

And some portion of geologic time is taken not depositing any sediment at all.

But these things are unknown and unknowable by Gail Lowe, one of 15 who will be deciding the fate of science education in the state of Texas. Unknowable because in her world of reactionary religious dogma such thoughts are far too complex.

No, Gail Lowe is doomed to a life of smug ignorance. Texans can only hope that this in turn does not doom our school children to a substandard education in the 21^st century – when competition to succeed in life and in careers is becoming truly Darwinian.

More than ever before, Americans are engaged in a global competition for resources, where only the strong – and the educated - will survive.

UPDATE: And now, a little more than 6 months after I put this posting on the blog, Governor Perry has elevated Gail Lowe to chairman of the State Board of Education. Discussed here. God help us all.

You Copy Cat, You Dirty Rat

You stole my mother’s baseball bat.

It makes no sense today, just as it made no sense when I uttered that little ditty when I was a kid.

But it seems completely appropriate to pick up the rock that the RNC hides under and yell it at the top of my lungs.

Not wanting to be outdone, today the RNC elected their own black man to lead them. Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele, an African-American, was one of a 4-man ensemble who sought to oust Chairman Mike Duncan, George Bush’s hand picked political hack, who has presided over the most spectacular drubbing at the polls in decades. As balloting progressed today, it became clear that Duncan was losing support and Steele was gaining it.

So he dropped out.

And ironically, it wasn’t until one of the other four dropped out, Ken Blackwell of “Barack the Magic Negro” compilation CD fame, that Steele became the successful winner on the sixth ballot.

Blackwell, arguably the most conservative of the five, pulled out and endorsed Steele, arguably the least conservative.

But Republicans weren’t done for the day in their panoply of mimicry.

Not enough to go and get their own black man, Mike Duncan argued that he was withdrawing because “…obviously the winds of change are blowing.”

Gee, do you think?

And better yet, in Blackwell’s comments he just had to use the “H” word:

“I believe that the next chairman must inspire hope.”

But seriously, this choice signals a rebellion that has been fermenting in the latest batch of Kool-Aid that the party of the Dark Side has been brewing lately. A rebellion that, for all intents and purposes, today threw the right wing evangelicals under the bus.

Steele, in apparent anticipation of the dismay that is sure to spread from one cracker barrel to another, decided to put on the swagger that W left behind when he got on Air Force None for his last flight home, when he included this in his brief remarks after winning the chairmanship:

“We're going to say to friend and foe alike: We want you to be a part of us, we want you to with be with us, and for those who wish to obstruct, get ready to get knocked over.”

In other words, you’re either with us, or you’re with the terrorists.

This is going to be fun.

“Uh Oh, Lawsuit Time”

The title of this post is the entire text posted by a frequent commenter to FortBendNow. I used it because it is particularly snarky and indicative of the incredibly insensitive nature of those of the far right – of which the commenter is a fine example.

The FortBendNow story, a story that is also making national news, is about the outbreak of Salmonella poisoning over the past 2 years, an outbreak that resulted in over 500 known poisoning cases (known, because who knows how many got sick and simply suffered through it for a day) and directly responsible for eight deaths.

The commenter dryly notes that all of these people, and I assume the surviving relatives of the eight who were killed, will probably want to make some dirty lucre over this by filing big ticket lawsuits against the corporations that caused the outbreak.

Possibly the commenter didn’t get it, or read past the part about how the Georgia-based peanut product food processor detected Salmonella in its own products, but sealed and distributed these tainted products anyway. At least I hope that is the case.

They did this for 2 reasons you know.

They did this because their actuaries probably did a statistical cost analysis and calculated that it would cost the company more to destroy the tainted lots than it would to settle all of the lawsuits that would be filed as a result of becoming sickened – or dying – from consumption of the products.

They did this because the federal agency that is supposed to be watching over these self-interested corporations, the Food and Drug Administration, an agency that is supposed to protecti American citizens from being harmed by their own country’s corporate entities, has been asleep at the wheel for the past eight years.

The pro-business anti-consumer Bush regime had a bad habit of having its watchdog groups simply look the other way when there was a violation of the law.

The end result is just this: there is no accountability any more. There is a complete absence of corporate responsibility today.

The attitude or lack of one, apparently shared by this right wing fanatic.

Should Peanut Corporation of America be sued by any and all persons who were sickened by the corporation’s callous disregard for the health of its customers.

Be sued by the survivors and heirs of the eight souls whose lives were ended with such indifference?

I’ll go this nimrod one better. Should there be state and federal criminal investigations launched to find, try, and punish those who made the decisions to release the tainted food that ended human life? Try them for the crime of murder?

Is the President black?

Republicans: Want Some Mo’?

Well the US House passed the Obama stimulus package – a whopping $819 billion scheme to give our flagging national economy a much-needed shot in the arm.

The idea is to go aggressive and unleash a multi-pronged attack to launch both short-term and long-term projects that will begin to remedy what 8 years of a failed presidency has wreaked on working class Americans.

And in the spirit of bi-partisanship, President Obama met with the House Republicans yesterday to make his case.

And today, in the spirit of political polarization, not one House Republican voted for the stimulus package.

Unbelievable.

Republicans have not learned the lessons that American voters thought were delivered loudly and clearly last November. Their partisan behaviors before the November election brought out Democrats, moderate Republicans and Independents in droves to send two messages to the GOP: 1) knock it off and get serious -stop it with all the political games, and 2) Republican ideas are now out of favor with a majority of voters in a majority of states from coast to coast.

Or in the words of Barack Obama: “I won.”

But they didn’t get that message, did they?

Instead they delivered their own message to American voters: Sit on it.

But actually, it wasn’t completely unanimous among Republicans. All but 6 Republican congressmen voted against the bill. Those dissenting 6 abstained.

These six were Virginia Brown-Waite (R – FL-5), Jack Kingston (R – GA-1), John Linder (R – GA-7), Joseph Pitts (R – PA-16), Patrick Tiberi (R – OH-12), and Donald Young (R - AK).

My guess is that these 6 are from swing districts.

Democrats know how to be bi-partisan, Republicans apparently do not.

Twenty-seven Democrats voted against their party leader. Twenty-seven Nay votes. My assumption is that these are from the so-called Blue Dogs, the center aisle Democrats who vote with Republicans in funding votes.

Meaning, of course, that no matter what the election outcome in TX-22 last year, my congressional representative would have voted against the stimulus package.

So our work is still not done. Republicans still want some more punishing poll results.

No problem. Democrats can get behind that.

As the economy recovers, as it inevitably will, these Republicans will be labeled as partisan obstructionists, and more will find themselves booted out of office in 2010.

Not to be replaced by Democrats, mind you. Not all of them anyway. Republicans are starting a rebellion in their own party, one that rejects the kind of partisanship that finally ended the reigns of the Two Toms - Craddick and DeLay.

To this end, Pete Olson needs to be placed on notice. This TX-22 freshman congressman has launched his dubious career in elected office by siding with the rabid partisans – Culberson, Poe and the like. With the 2008 bluing of Harris County, and the imminent red to blue flip in Fort Bend, Olson could face a primary challenge by moderate Republicans who want their party to hold on to that seat.

And will definitely face a Democratic opponent.