Texas Shorts

I couldn't stand reading the phrase "bloggers in their Cheeto-stained underwear" any longer. So I went out and bought some Cheetos.

-- Color me amazed and astounded: the Dallas Morning News endorsed Barbara Radnofsky for Texas Attorney General. Just read this:

Abbott, 52, has joined a legal brief supporting Arizona's fatally flawed immigration law. He has sued the Environmental Protection Agency for daring to expect Texas to abide by the same, much-needed clean-air rules that apply to all 50 states. He is trying to block federal regulation of greenhouse gases. And when the Obama administration made the necessary decision to temporarily halt deepwater offshore drilling, Abbott filed yet another legal challenge – rather than focusing his efforts on how another disaster could be averted off our shores.

Meanwhile, there's plenty of work that needs to be done in the Texas office of the attorney general.

...

(A)fter eight years of Abbott, Texas can go no farther down this path.

Democratic challenger Barbara Ann Radnofsky offers a viable alternative. She's a smart, hard-nosed attorney who rightly suggests that the incumbent has done a poor job of picking battles. ...

... Radnofsky earns our recommendation. She's well prepared for the job and would back off from battles the state can't win – and shouldn't be fighting. Voters should not give Abbott another four years to tilt at Washington's windmills.

-- More endorsements from all over for Jeff Weems: the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Amarillo Globe News, Texas Fred (that's right; he of the Rowlett Tea Party) and the Sierra Club. That's about as broad spectrum as endorsements get.

-- There will be a debate between Hector Uribe and Jerry Patterson, the Land Commissioner candidates, tomorrow in Austin.

-- What Kuffner said about Sharon Keller skating. I'm just too revolted to add any more vitriol to the last chapter in this sordid saga. Grits has a take as well.

-- Sci Guy Eric Berger and the Texas State Climatologist, on climate change:

You may have noticed a recent AP story (picked up by USA Today here) on my announcement that Texas temperatures were rising and that triple-digit temperatures would be the norm within a few decades, as the story put it. I'd like to provide a little context about the story itself and about future Texas climate.

First, here is some helpful context that I received by email from an anonymous email account, here quoted in full with a tiny bit of character substitution: "hey you pathetic lying scumbag everybody is laughing at you and the al gore scam. what a stupid poiece of scum you are. professer mt a**. try dumba** al gore a** kisser."

Maybe you'd like some different context? Good.

And it gets better and more 'sciencey' from there.

Berger writes the best blog at the Chron (no disrespect to Dwight or Kate or J.R., who are almost indispensable themselves). During the hurricane season just passed, I didn't look at teevee once for storm information. Just Eric's posts and Stormpulse.

-- Here is last week's Harris County Clerk candidates' debate, between Ann Harris Bennett, Stan Stanart, and Don Cook.