Some postpourri, happy and sad

-- This morning the mayor of the fourth largest US city formally took office. Charles, John, Martha and Neil were all in attendance. Wish I could have been there for the history.

-- Kelly Fero passed away suddenly today. He had consulted many Democratic candidates; John Sharp, Tony Sanchez, Jim Mattox and others. In recent years however he was mostly one of the go-to people when the corporate media needed a quote about some Democratic political development. Ross Ramsey at the Texas Tribune has more.

-- RG Ratcliffe has listed the statewides (including the Republicans) so I don't have to update this.

-- Hector Uribe and Jerry Patterson are already exchanging pleasantries. After Uribe filed to challenge the incumbent Land Commissioner, Patterson responded:

"Hector's a friend and fellow actor. We were both in the recent movie ‘The Alamo’, filmed near Austin, albeit on different sides in the conflict (actually Hector had a real part, I was just an extra). When Hector surrendered at San Jacinto, I should have shot him when I had the chance... "

As an afterthought he added, "I hope folks understand then we were just acting, now it's a real war."

And then Uribe rejoined:

"Jerry is a friend and quite a good actor. I was happy that he and I escaped the fantasy battles without a bruise. However, I am concerned that he seems to be reliving his part. I’m his opponent not his enemy, and he can put his gun away.

When he was reported as saying that he was desperately looking for an opponent I took pity on him and finally decided to make his day. Although I suspect I’m not quite the E-Harmony candy-date that he was dreaming of.

I’m sorry I can’t accept his proposal that we go on a stroll along our eroding beaches on some smog obscured moonlit night to discuss public policy. I think those talks ought to be held at a series of public, televised and internet forums.

Texans, Jerry and I will be the better for it.

SJL catches a primary challenge

...from Houston city councilman Jarvis Johnson. Martha and John did the Q&A at HCDP HQ earlier this afternoon (in fact a few minutes before I arrived to file for my precinct's chairmanship).

Frankly I think this is mostly symbolic; Johnson can't realistically think he can unseat Jackson, but he and his faction apparently want to send a message. Many SD-13 and CD-22 African American Democrats still hold a grudge over Sheila's endorsement of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton two years ago.

It should be fun to watch but I think Sheila is safe.  She will, however,  do well to take the challenge seriously and get to work on mending fences.

Update: More in detail from Texas on the Potomac, including news about Ron Paul's four GOP primary challengers and Michael McCaul's one. Ted Ankrum, who carried the Democratic flag against McCaul in 2006, will re-challenge McCaul as well.

Hector Uribe for Land Commissioner

Harvey Kronberg breaks it:

Former state Senator Hector Uribe filed to be a Democratic candidate for Texas Land Commissioner today. Uribe returns to state politics after a 14 year hiatus, when he was the Democratic nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner.

“The current Republican leadership is short-sighted. For example, I believe that Texans want our state leaders to help address the real threats to our environment, but many of our current state leaders continue to minimize the importance of having clean water to drink and clean air to breathe,” Uribe said.

Though Campos will find something to complain about, there will be no more excuses for low Hispanic turnout in the March primary. More from Burnt Orange.

Chavez-Thompson to file for lt. governor today

Linda Chavez-Thompson, a national leader within the AFL-CIO and the Democratic Party, plans to enter the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, according to a source familiar with her plans.

She is expected to file today at state Democratic Party headquarters.

Former Travis County prosecutor Ronnie Earle and Austin deli owner Marc Katz are also seeking the Democratic nomination. The Republican nominee will probably be incumbent David Dewhurst.

Chavez-Thompson, a former AFL-CIO executive vice president, can tap a national network of organizing and fundraising contacts.

This is now easily the most exciting primary race on the ballot (all apologies to Rick v. Kay and Kinky v. Hank).  With Ronnie Earle collecting the progressive populist bloc, Thompson the Hispanics and labor, and Marc Katz the ... uh ... Jewish deli faction, this contest will shape up as a critical display of Democratic constituent stress testing. My humble O is that with either Thompson or Earle, Democrats don't lose.  Dewhurst has money but no respect among state Senators nor the TeaBag faction, which will dictate terms to the GOP this cycle.

First Wrangle of the New Decade

(...If you happen to be a zero-based indexing sort of person -- thanks to Charles K for the mathematics terminology.) The Texas Progressive Alliance is still somewhat amazed to be living in the year we make contact, and we hope we're all still going strong when Odyssey Three rolls around.

Texas has most drilling and the worst regulation. And the state made national news this week in the ProPublica investigative report and they used pictures provided by TXsharon at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

WhosPlayin reports that the Lewisville city council is once again considering the question of whether to participate in 287(g) and force its vendors to use E-Verify to check for work eligibility.

BossKitty at TruthHugger found a poignant editorial on al-Jazeera: Weary Soldiers At Risk, They Know This. Why do foreign correspondents have more in-depth observations than America's own corporate media which follows the money and toes the line for sponsors' political perks that promise "scoops"?

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme thinks all kids should be given free, nutritious school meals. Just do it.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson discusses another worthless GOP plan for transportation in Texas: Kay's transportation plan is a clunker.

The Texas Cloverleaf questions whether or not a Houston city councilman-elect knows the difference between a campaign website and city resources.

Off the Kuff called out some political gamesmanship over the murder rate in Harris County.

Last week Teddy reviewed the best of the Left of College Station, and looks at the year ahead at Left of College Station. This week LoCS will begin coverage of the 2010 campaign season in the Brazos Valley, and report on human trafficking in Houston.

Candidate filings, including Gordon Quan for Harris County Judge and a list of the statewides, appears in PDiddie's post at Brains and Eggs.

Bay Area Houston hopes the next decade will be better than the last.

Justin at Asian American Action Fund Blog covered Gordon Quan's campaign kickoff, including the full video of Quan's speech.

LibbyShaw puts together the latest throw downs exposing GOP hypocrisy and lies. Check it out at Texas Kaos: Rachel Maddow Busts Republicans for Cowardice, Hypocrisy and Lies.

At McBlogger, Mayor McSleaze noted with some interest that Marc Katz filed for Lt. Governor. Some, but not much. More important to him was a really nasty prairie dog attack.

Neil at Texas Liberal selected his wife as person of the decade and named his blog as blog of the decade.

Sunday Funnies

Blaming Obama for eight years of Bush

When G.W.Bush  took office, we had a balanced budget.  When he left -- we didn’t.
When G.W.Bush took office the unemployment rate was 5%.  When he left -- it was 8.7%
The government bailout of Wall Street that has given us trillions of dollars in debt was supported and signed into law by President G.W. Bush.

With a current approval rating of 51%, more Americans support Obama than did President Bush. Yet there is not the same sense of offense for Bush that there seems to be for Obama.

Bush was initially elected under a cloud of controversy without winning the popular vote. He left office with an approval rating of just 22% - among the lowest in history. His citizenship was never questioned. He was not called a socialist, and no member of congress shouted at him during a Joint Session Address -- calling him a liar ...

The Radical Right has become the Raucous, Ranting Right. Their foaming, deranged grumblings continue to take center stage on the Sunday morning Talking Heads. From Dick Cheney and Glenn Beck all the way to Joe Lieberman (who a week ago seemed to suggest that the United States invade or bomb Yemen), conservatives fan the flames of every single fear they can find: from terrorism to racism to socialism to hoarding gold.

They are emboldened by the ever-louder screams of of the TeaBagging fringe even further to their right; wailing about "taking their country back" translates into carrying loaded guns to town hall meetings, which manifests itself in Congressmen making no secret of stalling or stopping legislation in order to take down the president.

I have my own disagreements with the president's policies, but putting Republicans back in charge of anything would be the worst possible outcome -- for the county, for the state, for the country.