Corny Hearts Watt$

I have a theory that I’d like to unfold for you here. I think that of the two Democratic candidates for US Senator from Texas, the two who have filed papers with the FEC, the junior Republican Senator from Texas, John “Corny” Cornyn would much prefer to run against Mikal Watt$ in November.

The idea started gelling as I watched Karl Rove go on three, count ‘em three Sunday news programs and turn questions about who among the Democrats will be the nominee into a deluxe version of Hillary bashing. He wouldn’t say “Boo” about 2nd in the polls Barack Obama. And it dawned on me why he was doing this: Rove, and nearly every Republican I have talked to about this, very much wants the Democratic nominee to be Hillary Clinton, because he thinks she among the field of 8 candidates, is beatable.

Likewise, Corny thinks that Watt$ is beatable.

The Republican hand that will be played if Watt$ is the nominee is the rich-liberal-trial-lawyer-who-drives-up-insurance-rates hand. Republicans just love that play. They’d rather deflect from the issues and go on personal attacks and assaults on personal integrity.

Mainly because on the issues, Republicans are universally holding the short straw.

But don’t just take my word for it. Republican Party of Texas state chair Tina Benkiser just sent out a letter to the party faithful (I didn’t get one) that was excerpted on the Chron Blog.

Benkiser writes:

"When it comes to trial lawyers, what you don't know will hurt you. Take, for instance, Democrat trial lawyer Mikal Watts, who's recently announced his Campaign to defeat our great friend, United States Senator John Cornyn."

"Mikal Watts may be unfamiliar to you now -- but as a liberal trial lawyer who has already spent more than $4 million of his personal fortune on his campaign -- his record proves he's not afraid to go into attack mode, and do or spend whatever it takes to win."

"Consider this:"

"Watts sued one of the world's largest automakers for millions of dollars, claiming that its product had caused serious injuries to occupants of the vehicle." "But when the facts of the case came to light -- Watts' clients had been driving from California to Texas, taking drugs all along the way -- Watts had to move for a mistrial! (source: http://www.overlawyered.com/)"

"I'm sure you'll agree the last thing Texas and America needs is another liberal trial lawyer -- armed with flimsy facts and skilled in telling half-truths -- in the U.S. Senate."

See what I mean? This is going to be the play and the Republicans are so enthralled with it that they came out months and months before the primary to give Mikal Watt$ lots and lots of press. Didn’t see Rick Noriega mentioned once, did you?

Corny will never mention Rick Noriega, mark my words. He will promote the candidacy of Mikal Watt$ because he has all the right negatives that are super big red buttons that Republicans push to get you to vote for their candidate.

In the months running up to the primary, you are going to see two groups of people putting Mikal Watt$’ name in front of the voters, the Watts Campaign Committee and the Cornyn Campaign Committee.

Cornyn is toast in a run against Rick Noriega. While a progressive Democrat, Rick Noriega has wide bipartisan appeal. I mentioned here that a Republican Hispanics for Noriega group has formed. Even Bob “Swift Boat” Perry is taken with Rick’s many fine qualities despite the fact that they probably disagree on many issues. Cornyn can’t attack Rick in the same terms as he can Watt$. It’s almost sad. His campaign will have to come up with out-and-out falsehoods and truth-stretching on Rick that will make them look very bad in today’s climate.

Want to tell the Repulicans that we Democrats are perfectly able to decide for ourselves who we want to run in our senatorial primary? Go and get your wallet and take out that credit card and drop a few bucks in Rick Noriega’s ActBlue website. They’re trying to get those numbers up to 20 large in two days. As I type this they have a goal to raise just under $8000 on that site in the next two days. You go be one of those that gets this done.

Yawn . . .Kay Bailey Hutchison MAY Run for Texas Guv

Yep, it’s a fact. Or not. Actually, according to Hutchison, who was recently interviewed last week by Peggy Fikac of the Houston Chronicle, the senior senator from Texas has absolutely no idea what she wants to do next.

Because she has spent quite a few years in public office, Hutchison thinks that she has not done as well financially as she could have, and, get this, is thinking about taking a job in “the private sector”.

When I hear about federal legislators taking jobs in the private sector, I see the word “Lobbyist” in my mind’s eye. But that is history because now, as I understand it, according to recently passed Senate ethics rules a former Senator will have to wait two years after leaving office before taking a job as a lobbyist. A congressman needs only wait one year.

So I guess that’s out. Let’s see, what other high dollar job opportunity could Hutchison try for? She has a law degree so there’s lawyering. But at 64 while she has a law degree, she has no actual experience being a lawyer, and not a lot of time to build up that experience that a high dollar lawyer needs. Outside of adding the name of a former senator to the list of law partners, Kay would be hard-pressed to add value to the firm.

So I’m kind of puzzled where she would find a place in the private sector.

But then there’s governor. Kay polls at about the 65% level across Texas. Nearly double the performance of Perry’s dismal 39%. Being a gubernatorial candidate is doable, I think. Doable, except by 2010 the demographic shift that has begun here in Red Texas will have run to completion and a Democrat will win the next gubernatorial election.

Nope, I agree with political scientist Larry Sabato and Royal Masset, a GOP consultant who, together, said this about Kay Bailey Hutchison’s political future:

“Say it's Hillary and Obama. I doubt the Republicans would want to put forward two white males.

“She's probably the most credible female we have in the nation.”

They have valid points. In putting up a mixed gender ticket Democrats are announcing to the world that they don’t anticipate the negativism of the past. Republicans will have to answer to their womenfolk. From what I have been hearing Republican women are attracted to a Hillary Clinton presidency.

So what does Kay Bailey Hutchison have to say about this possibility

“No. Nooooo. I do not want to be on the ticket for vice president ... I'm not interested in it. I don't want to be asked. There was a time when I thought maybe I would be interested in running for president but not now. I could never run for president with two 6-year-olds. I don't like the toughness and meanness of Washington. I'd rather do something different.”

Besides, Kay, a Republican in the White House in 2009 is not going to happen either.

So let’s see, Vice President and Governor are out, taking a high dollar job as a lawyer? Out. Lobbyist? Not until 2014. This doesn’t leave much to our former cheerleader senator from Texas. There’s hand modeling, but at 64 the hands probably have seen their better days.

Actually I have the perfect job for Kay. Want chips and a drink with that?

TEA’s School Ratings Have Come Out

Well actually they have been out for a couple of weeks but I haven’t had much time or inclination to look at them. I look every year to discover how many Texas high schools achieve the much desired “Exemplary” rating. As we gear up for a new school year, it’s time to take a look at what happened last year.

Last year, as I recall an astounding 13 total high school campuses achieved that rating. This was a huge drop from the previous year. That is because the Texas Education Agency decided to change the rules up. Schools are rated by test scores and drop out rates, but on top of that, they are rated on the percentage who pass within certain demographic groups: African-American, Hispanic, Economically Disadvantaged, a couple of others. If a school has 50 students within any of these groups, the group is treated as a sub-population, and if high numbers of students within the sub-population fail to master TAKS tests, the school’s rating is lowered. This new provision caused many schools across Texas to lose their Exemplary rating.

This year, the number of schools in Texas that achieved the Exemplary rating doubled over last year. By my count, 26. This is no doubt due to the fact that the TEA is not basing their ratings on high school drop out ratings this year.

Why, one would ask?

Well, like the sub-populations change, the TEA will be redefining what constitutes a high school drop out, and maybe they didn’t want to alarm the schools with another sudden definition change that can radically affect their ratings like last time. So they’re giving schools a year off so they can prepare for the changes that are in the air.

So who are the Exemplary schools in Texas? I have a list below. It is very disheartening when you read through the list that the grand majority of these schools are magnet schools that cherry pick their students or whose students are economically disadvantaged but motivated and are volunteers. I may have omitted a school or two based on the fact that the name did not readily identify the school as a high school.

Arlington Classics Academy
Carnegie Vanguard High School
Carroll Senior High School
Cornerstone Academy
Debakey High School For Health Prof
Early College High School
Early College High School
East Early College High School
Falls City High School
Health Careers High School
High Frontier High School
Highland Park High School
Idea College Prep
Lindsay High School
Lovejoy High School
Mission Early College High School
Prairie Valley High School
Richland Collegiate Hs Of Math S
Richland Collegiate Hs Of Math Sc
School For The Talented & Gifted
School Of Health Professions
School Of Science & Engineering
Silva Health Magnet
The Science Academy
Yes College Preparatory - East E
Yes College Preparatory School

Bush’s SMU Presidential Library, An Idea Whose Time Has Come

There has been this wild disconnect about SMU’s pitch to Dubya for him to build his presidential library on their campus. When I first heard about it, it was because of the emergence of a group that was opposed to the library on political and philosophical grounds. As seen last year in Texas Monthly about a story in the Dallas Morning News which carried a a quote from faculty, administrators, and staff of SMU’s Perkins School of Theology:

“We count ourselves among those who would regret to see SMU enshrine attitudes and actions widely deemed as ethically egregious: degradation of habeas corpus, outright denial of global warming, flagrant disregard for international treaties, alienation of long-term U.S. allies, environmental predation, shameful disrespect for gay persons and their rights, a pre-emptive war based on false and misleading premises, and a host of other erosions of respect for the global human community and for this good Earth on which our flourishing depends.”

There was that and the controversial alleged bullying that went on with regard to owners of University Gardens condominiums which were standing on land that SMU needed in order to build the library. This continuing controversy appears to be the origin of the release of secret SMU documents, documents that have been read and analyzed by the Dallas Morning News. Documents that finally reveal why SMU ever thought that having the Bush library on its campus was a grand idea at all, especially in light of the thoughts and opinions of those who work on the campus.

These documents are a behind the scenes glimpse of SMU’s early desire for a Bush library, and how it gathered political and social connections to carry out their plan, including using Dallas oil millionaire Ray Hunt of Hunt Oil Company. Hunt is an SMU alumnus as well as a current sitting board member of the SMU Board of Trustees. It was at a private dinner at the White House in early 2001 that the idea of a presidential library at SMU was broached with Bush.

That SMU is continuing its heavy handed effort to attract the Bush library to its campus is astounding considering the apparent widespread opposition to the library by faculty members and the apparent misuse of eminent domain to acquire the land upon which the University Gardens condominiums are built upon.

In retrospect, however, you have to conclude that SMU is the perfect site for the Bush library. What is more appropriate than to carry out a project in spite of the fact that the people so vociferously oppose it? What better place to build it except upon land stolen from private citizens by heavy-handed bullying tactics? What better place to put it than in an urban setting on a postage stamp sized piece of land (10 acres) instead of Baylor University’s proffered 150 sprawling acres on the banks of the Brazos River?

SMU is a perfect place for George W. Bush’s presidential library. It captures the spirit of the Bush Regime like no other place does.

An Open Letter to Mikal Watts

Dear Mikal,

I just wanted to let you know that today the Fort Bend Democrats held a very successful fundraiser in the form of our annual garage sale. We received thousands of donated items from Democrats across the county and spent the previous 3 days furiously sorting, pricing and putting them on display for today’s sale.

Shoppers at first trickled in with the dawn, but as the morning progressed we were truly deluged with customers, and later a midsummer rain shower. But never fear, we Democrats learn from our past mistakes and this time held our garage sale indoors with the A/C a-roaring and fans a-blowing and a roof protecting the whole thing. So we stayed cool and dry.

As I say, Democrats learn from our past mistakes. Can anyone spell T-O-N-Y S-A-N-C-H-E-Z?

Anyway, as much as we raked it in, and as many customers who showed up to throw their money at us, we still have lots and lots of good stuff to sell. There just weren’t enough hours in the day to sell all the stuff we have, and at great prices, I might add.

So we decided to close it up and advertise for a repeat event next Saturday.

But you know, we are dead tired. We’ve been working for 4 days straight to get this thing put together and accomplished, and now we are faced with another day this next weekend (Saturday, August 25th 8 AM (hopefully, this time) to 3 PM). We’re tired and could use a little help. So here is what I am going to propose. How about getting that checkbook of yours out and writing a check to the Fort Bend Democrats, a check for . . . say . . . 10 large? If you do that then what we will do is take the whole kit and caboodle of highly saleable goods down to the Fort Bend Women’s Center, who maintains a thrift store to help fund their Women’s Shelter. It’s a Win-Win-Win situation. You’d be doing us a favor, you’d be doing the battered and abused women of Fort Bend County a favor, and you’d put a feather in the cap of your campaign. It would be worth some ink in the local press, don’t you think?

I’ll bet it would get more notice than buying roast beef lunches for Democrats in Victoria.

By the way, and as an aside. Strong hint for the future, to save cash: Democrats will gladly accept a tepid hot dog on a white bread bun slathered with mustard and relish. You don’t have to go overboard with them. Democrats think a hot roast beef lunch is more appropriate for a wake.

Another Bush Accomplishment: Back To the Bad Old Days

Remember when The Wall came down? It was 1992 and all of a sudden the Cold War was over. We won without very many shots fired.

Well guess what? While the Bush Regime was sleeping at the switch, Russia decided to reinstitute that grand old tradition of launching nuclear missile armed strategic bomber patrols once more.

The first since the program was closed in 1992.

Said Vladimir Putin of the resumption of these patrols:

“We proceed from the notion that our partners will react with understanding to the resumption of flights of the Russian strategic air forces. Our pilots have sat idle for too long. We have had a strategic air force but practically no flights.”

Why now?

What would cause the Russians to resume patrols by nuclear-armed bombers?

Most would laugh this off as a feeble attempt by a second-class nuclear power’s saber rattling. I have other ideas, however. Iran lies on Russia’s southern border, and the Bush Regime has made no bones about the fact that there is a desire to bomb this nation into subservience. Perhaps this is a message, a not-so-subtle message, that carrying out this Iranian attack would be an incredibly bad idea.

Do ya think?

Vultures Flocking To Pick Over GOP’s Texas CD-22 Seat

Oh Thank you, Jesus! Now we truly have a feast on our hands. State Rep. Robert “Crazy Bob” Talton has just filed papers with the FEC informing the world of his intention to run for US Congress next year.

GOPers were really upset that they lost Tom DeLay’s seat to a Democrat last year, so much so that Karl Rove put Texas CD-22 at the top of his list of districts to target in the 2008 elections.

Oh, that’s right, Karl Who? The guy who shared Jack Abramoff’s assistant, I think.

One has to wonder which of the crowded field will CD-22 Republican stalwarts throw in for.

Will it be Crazy Bob? Here is his congressional campaign website. Of the bunch, I’d say he will be the personal and political favorite of the DeLay base here in CD-22.

Will it be Dean Hrbacek (pronounced Her-BAH-check as I found out yesterday). The guy who has established an exploratory committee, but apparently has spent some money on a telephone push poll.

What about Judge James “Reverend Jim” Squier? This Houston judge, I hear, is a real nutcase. A family court judge who counsels divorcing couples to make up and make nice because Jesus wants it.

Then we have Pasadena Mayor John Manlove. Manlove. Can you imagine DeLay’s Blue Hair Patrol matriarchs voting for a guy whose very own surname makes GLBT members smile?

Or how about Pete Olsen? John Cornyn’s former chief of staff? Yep, that’s what I thought. Pete Who?

And finally, what about the campaign fund front runner? Silly Shelley Sekula Dragonc—t Rodriguez Gibbs? What the heck, the woman has 180 large in her campaign coffers and has actually never stopped campaigning for the job that she won for a month before having to give it up to a Democrat.

Six candidates to choose from. Six. What a feast.

Hey, that reminds me of a little show that mother nature put on for me a couple of weeks back in my own neighborhood. There were six of them then, too, as I recall. Half Empty prediction: it’s going to look pretty much like this:

Gretchen Gives to Rick Noriega’s Campaign

I am a mere vessel.

Today Gretchen, a full and faithful member of the Fort Bend Democrats asked how she could contribute to Rick Noriega’s senatorial campaign fund. We were working around a table pricing the goods that we hope to sell this Saturday, see previous posting for time and place, and I gladly took her cash money.

I just took that and turned it into the 279th contribution on the DraftRickNoriega’s ActBlue Account.

You can too.

It’s here.

Or lots of places. One thing you can’t ding the Noriega campaign is a lack of places to donate campaign contributions. They are experts there.

They have to be. They are running against a dollar-charged juggernaut. Mikal Watts, his very undesirable, unwinnable opponent, who is self-funded. Absolutely, he has the money and is attracting all sorts of consultants who want to shove Rick’s candidacy aside. He can’t win, they say, because he hasn’t the funding. Well, I just say, wait awhile Mike. Wait awhile and watch the most amazing grassroots effort that nullifies your millions, Mike.

Dollars don’t win elections, Mike, voters do. Want to buy votes? Run for county commissioner. Don’t waste our time with your roast beef lunches, we can eat. Don’t waste our time with your candidacy. We can see through your disingenuousness. Do you honestly want us to vote so that women have no choice over the disposition of their own bodies? Are you insane?

There is only one solution to a Mikal Watts Democratic senatorial bid and that is a Rick Noriega vote. If you agree, and haven’t given yet, please contribute, as Gretchen has this evening. Please go to the ActBlue site and ACT BLUE.

Let’s get Rick Noriega on the November ballot for US Senator from Texas!

The ONLY candidate who can show John Cornyn the door.

Rick Perry Comes To Sugar Land, Signs Controversial “Religious Freedom” Bill

It was a media circus. Surrounded by young school children, Rick Perry, in the presence of religious rights parents and evangelical neoconservative State Rep Charlie Howard, signed HB 3678, a bill reviewed here earlier this year, that guarantees that school administrators cannot interfere with religious expression of its students.

Of the event, and the bill, Charlie Howard said”

"What it does is create a win-win situation for the schoolchildren, school administrators and the taxpayers of the state of Texas.. Many school districts across the state have been sued by parents after children were prohibited from talking about their faith, saying ‘Merry Christmas’ or handing out religious Valentine's Day cards.”

Actually, what it does is put Texas, again, in the national limelight as the state that will introduce religious doctrine in its public schools. Again, making Texas the laughingstock of the nation.

Way to go, Charlie.

Why choose Clements High School as the venue for this signing? Has the school had any religious rights cases filed against it? No. Is the school known for its religious intolerance? Hardly likely. Is the school within Charlie Howard’s legislative district boundaries? Definitely.

But more to the point, is a public school a viable venue for a political showcase? If so, this should make an interesting precedent. Clements High School Young Democrats, if they exist, need to take note.

A storm is brewing on this issue that will not go away. At FortBendNow, Bob Dunn has revealed the disconnect between what is public law and what is public policy. The Texas Association of School Boards, or TASB, has issued a policy statement on how local school boards should implement the law. That policy, apparently, is at variance with the policy that is written in the bill. However, one needs to ask, as did FBISD Trustee Cynthia Knox last Monday evening, is the legislature empowered to enact policy or to enact laws? Isn’t it the purview of local school boards to formulate and carry out policy and not blindly follow policy enacted in distant Austin? Law is global, but policy should be local. Isn’t that the Texas way?

Much ado over a few bruised egos. Everything in the bill has already been spelled out by Supreme Court decisions. What should have been a 15 minute presentation in every faculty meeting at every campus in Texas has become public law as well as a staring contest between bill sponsors Howard and Wayne Chisum and the school boards across Texas.

Fort Bend Democrats Summer Fundraiser: Gigantic Garage Sale

Do you have a bunch of stuff sitting around that you no longer want or use? Why not turn that into cash to be used when the Fort Bend Democrats come out of the woodwork to support good Democratic candidates next year?

The Fort Bend Democrats 2nd Annual Garage Sale will be held this Saturday, August 18th at the 2006 Combined Campaign Headquarters at 4800 Avenue H, Highway 90A in Rosenberg. The event will last from 9 am until 3 pm.

If you have things that you’d like to donate, do come on in between Wednesday August 15th and Friday August 17th and drop them off between 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm. Someone will be there at the Headquarters to accept your donations, rain or shine.

Or if you have large items that you would like to donate, but can’t fit them in your Honda Civic, give them a call. Call Marsha at 281-701-3007 before Friday and she will send her minions around in a truck to pick up your donations.

All funds they raise will go toward electing Democrats in 2008.

The Fort Bend Democrats – Fighting for YOU.

A Day In Hill Country

Normally I write all my own stuff on this blog, but once in awhile someone goes where I did not go, and writes up a little story. Geri did it for me in the last campaign season. And now I have another guest blogger who wrote an excellent summary of Hillary Clinton’s campaign stop in Houston last Saturday.

Here’s what Sue wrote:

I’ve lived in Fort Bend County long enough to know I shouldn’t be sharing this but…………what the hell, in my youth I visited the edge once or twice………why not now?

So here goes.

Yesterday Karl and I joined some friends on a short trek into the big city (where, thanks to Anthony we had some GREAT Greek food) and were lucky enough, thanks to Karrie, to have tickets to see Hillary (yes THE Hillary) on her Houston stump. We were in a great place, but she moved around a lot so my photos were somewhat blurry. I have attached three that came out okay.

While the pre-show entertainment was somewhat lacking, the room was electric and we joined around 1,000 other people who were, for the most part, responsible for designating Houston, ‘Hill Country’. I actually saw two daring people in the audience wearing Obama t-shirts, but, I’m sure most of the crowd (unlike me) had already decided that the next President of the U.S. will be a woman. A Democrat(ic) woman.

I know, I know. People generally have very strong opinions about her. Here in Fort Bend County, they think she is evil personified, but I have to tell you that she was incredible. She said all the right things. Her timing was on target, as was her sense of humor and her sense of justice. She really moved the crowd.

While I truly believe that Hillary has the best shot at being elected, I am now pumped and ready to hear Obama and Edwards. I’ll keep you posted!

Rick Noriega’s Latest Campaign Ad

It’s just out. Rick Noriega, running for US Senator from Texas, has a new ad that relates what I have called “his story”. It is a story of his public service. A story of a desire to approach issues in a bipartisan manner. It’s a good story and I think it will play well with lots of people across Texas and across party lines. If you like what you hear, spread the word. And if you REALLY like what you hear, help out the campaign at ActBlue with a donation.

Houston Has A Redneck In It

No, I swear it’s true. In the City of Houston there is a guy who doesn’t like peace. Probably doesn’t like people who aren’t white. And apparently has a real bee in his bonnet over Zydeco music. Well, maybe not that last one.

The Chron reports this morning that early this morning, about 1 AM according to the folks there, a bullet was fired into a studio window at the local radio station KPFT. According to KPFT, the bullet was fired from a passing car, hit the plexiglass part of the window, pierced the glass portion of the window and then slammed into the control room door on the far side of the room.

Police are looking for the bullet this morning.

No one was hurt, but the bullet passed within 18 inches of a woman’s head.

As a probable motive for the attack, station general manager Duane Bradley offered that “the sometimes-controversial station airs blues, folk and other types of music as well as ‘alternative’ programming about gay and lesbian issues and a program geared toward Texas prison inmates and their families.”

Bradley continued:

"There was actually a Zydeco music show that was on when this happened. Zydeco, if anything, is kind of happy music."

Most probably, the perpetrator had heard something on the show that he didn’t like, and decided to put redneck thoughts to redneck action.

You just know that unless a miracle happens the crime will go unpunished, but it makes me wonder whether, if caught, the criminal would be charged under the Hate Crimes law.

Karl Rove Bails

According to Reuters and the Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove, George Bush’s longtime political strategist, is resigning at the end of this month.

“I just think it's time. There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family.”

Oh.

Now that you put it that way all of this makes complete sense.

Rove, 56, is still married to his second wife, his former employee, Darby Tara Hickson and they have one son, Andrew, 18.

So what do you do after being a political hack all of your adult life, and rise to the absolute zenith of political hackery, political advisor to the president? I guess we’ll find out someday.

Don’t let the door hit you on your way out Carl baby.

On Reinstituting the Draft: “Makes Sense to Consider It”

I teach older high school students here in Texas – 17 to 18 year olds. So when it gets announced in class that so-and-so has a birthday, I ask “Are you 18?” Getting the affirmative reply, I kindly remind them to register for the draft.

You still have to register, you know, for the Selective Service System’s involuntary military service, even though our Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force are all-volunteer.

Why keep it going?

It’s for, you know, just in case.

Just in case our troops are so exhausted from 2 and 3 tours in Iraq that in order to keep up the pressure there for years and years, we need to reinstitute the draft. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting this . This guy is. Bush’s War Czar, Lt. General Douglas E. Lute said on the 10th that reinstituting the draft has “’always been an option on the table’ and that it ‘makes sense to certainly consider it.’”

Do I smell a rat?

Is Bush’s top advisor on the wars in the Middle East flying something up the flagpole?

The idea is not a new one. Charlie Rangel suggested this very thing last January. Why? To get people of all political stripes off their collective behinds and stand up to oppose this endless war. No one wants their sons and daughters collected up, trained up and sent over to that meat grinder. Especially if the war is, as we all know now, based on lies. Rangel is adamant. Give the rich a chance to show their patriotism. “For those who say the poor fight better, I say give the rich a chance.”

Besides that, if we reinstitute the draft, we can open up yet a third front in the Middle East. We can go after Iran.

Better yet, we can draft millions of our youth into military service and take out the rest of the world. Why not? No one likes us all that much anymore.

Better yet, let’s keep them all home and Drop the Big One.

If Women Were In Charge

I am going to catch a lot of flack about this, but I swear it was a woman who sent me these photographs. I assure you it is all tongue-in-cheek.

What with Hillary Clinton leading the Democratic pack with an unheard of 48% of the vote in a recent Gallup/US News poll, we of the male species need to now start thinking of a world where males don’t call the shots. I am all in favor of bi-gendership in all of this, but I am sure that there are those whose thoughts, views and opinions have been suppressed for so many years will see this as huge payback time. That being the case in some situations, I give you a series of photos of a possible future . . . if women were in charge.

A bowling alley of the future. Who needs those gutters, anyway? The ball keeps falling into them.

Need a new car? Here’s the only criterion that matters.

A new computer peripheral device that is sorely needed.

Special drivers need special parking places.

Numbers are meaningless when you just want to know how fast is fast.

Handy dandy tool kit.

And here are two for bathroom politics. By the way, at Half Empty House, not only does the seat go back down, but so does the lid, too.

Self explanatory.

And finally, this one. I could never find it either. This fixes a long unsolved mystery.

Justicia, Tierra, y Libertad

My friend Mark pointed to a website that I don’t usually look at. The Late Nite Music Club at “Crooks and Liars”. Why’d he do that? Because last night Rick Noriega “hosted” it. It was such a great story that it bears reposting and repeating for others of us who don’t usually go there.

Basically the purpose of the posting was for Rick to suggest a song that the website would feature that evening. Rick’s choice, after ticking through a few, was Mana’s “Justicia, tierra, y libertad”. “Justice, land and freedom“ to us gringos.

Why this particular one?

“Justicia, Tierra y Libertad” was a song Rick and two other Houston area state reps, Joe E. Moreno and Jessica Farrar, always used to listen to while driving from Houston to Austin during the Tom DeLay redistricting fiasco in the Texas redistricting session.

In the Reps’ own words: “While I was in Afghanistan Joe died in an auto accident. It was like losing a best friend and a brother but I was in a combat zone and couldn’t get back to bury him. This was the song we shared.”

As at Crooks and Liars, the YouTube embed follows Rick’s story.



Now, again, for us gringos, here is a (rather poor) translation of the lyrics. My apologies in advance for butchering up the song with AltaVista’s translation, and my “fixing” it.

Justicia, tierra, y libertad
By Mano

Justice, land and freedom… Justice, land and freedom

You hear my song, óyelo, óyelo

You hear my weeping, óyelo, óyelo

“Brothers and sisters of other races…

of another color and a same heart

"you say and you say and nothing you straighten

for that reason we make the revolution, of love.

Oyeeee!

We are demanding all the respect

respect for the Indian and his dignity

Villa already said it, Zapata said it

Justice, land and freedom… Justice, land and freedom

You hear my song, óyelo, óyelo

You hear my weeping, óyelo, óyelo

You hear my song, óyelo, óyelo

You hear my weeping, óyelo, óyelo

How we would have freedom?

How we would have dignity?

How I would wish it

How I would wish the love…

When will we have democracy?

When will we knock down the bureaucracy

How much would I wish ?

Less madness and more love…

Love, pain, love, my song hears you.

Justice, land and freedom… Justice, land and freedom

Justice, land and freedom

Rick’s away at Fort Benning for Commander training for awhile. If you liked Rick’s choice go drop a few pesos at this ActBlue web page.

Truth and Lies

Watch this YouTube embed of then private citizen Dick Cheney being brutally frank about his participation in the first Gulf War. Everything, and I mean EVERYthing that has occurred in the War in Iraq was predicted by Dick Cheney 13 years ago. He also predicted what will occur when we leave: fragmentation of Iraq. A “quagmire”.

This isn’t an administration that went blindly to war without a clue as to what was going to happen. They knew exactly what would happen.



And then here’s this next one again from earlier this year. I thought it would be good to look at it once again in light of what Cheney said in 1994.



If we don’t have grounds for impeachment now, we never will.

Lawyers For Guantanamo Detainees File Suit: New FISA Law Is Unconstitutional

Well, the good news is that about 50 lawsuits have been filed in federal court against Bush’s new warrantless wiretap law. The problem has been one of standing. Suits that are filed need to prove some actual harm or injury. You have to have standing to file such a lawsuit. Well, now we have at least one. And it’s a good one.

The lawsuit filed yesterday in US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker’s court is by the lawyers who are defending Guantanamo Bay detainees. It is in response to a suit filed by government lawyers on Wednesday saying that the new law is now legal ground for the judge to toss out the detainees’ lawsuit. Their lawsuit was filed after learning that the government obtained evidence on the detainees through warrantless wiretapping. Now that it’s the law of the land, the government argues, the detainees’ lawsuit can be tossed.

That gives the detainees standing.

The lawyers will also argue in their lawsuit that the Protect America Act is unconstitutional.

Arguments will be heard next week by a 3 judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

So we have good news on this finally. I have felt very rotten since learning that my rights were handed over to Bush et al. so the political cartoons that I have been seeing in that regard have not been funny to me. Now I can look at them with new eyes and at least smile.

Here they are.

Greg Abbott: “We need to be prepared for a closer, tighter, tougher battle”

It’s in the Galveston County Daily News, and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott isn’t talking about the War in Iraq, either (although it’s related). He’s talking about the looming battle for Texas.

Addressing a packed house on Galveston Island, the Galveston Island Pachyderm Club, Abbott revealed his fears of a growing Democratic presence in Texas, particularly in the cities with large populations, citing in particular, Dallas. Last year, in Dallas and Travis County, Democrats swept Republicans out of every single office where there was a race. Abbott cites white flight as the reason, and claims that it will continue to occur, in particular in Houston.

Ticking off more woes for his failing party, Abbott listed the fact that the Hispanic population in Tejas is growing but that this is “a group that has traditionally voted Democratic”.

Then there’s Iraq.

And Bush.

What did he leave out? What about how royally pissed of the Latino community is over Republican rhetoric on illegal immigrants, especially with regard to the word “Amnesty”.

What about the continued migration of blue state Yankees into Texas?

And finally, what about the top of next year’s ballot? No one currently running for the Republican nomination appeals to Bushites. Republicans may have a Get Out The Vote issue next year.

But it’s the end of the article that is particularly appealing. Here we have Greg Abbott addressing a crowd in what he assumes to be a “rock-solid Republican county”, when what he might have wanted to do was find out who were the current Galveston County office holders. Republicans hold only a third of the countywide offices, and only one Republican is on the Galveston County commissioner’s court.

Compared to Fort Bend County – also known as DeLayville – Galveston County is colored purplish blue.