Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Pics or it didn't happen, General Abbott


Update: Joe the Pleb at Burnt Orange Report started it.

You want vile?

Texas Republicans have it for you.  I don't think it's convincing anyone to vote for Greg Abbott, and the Davis campaign will use it to focus their efforts in voter registration and fundraising.

More importantly, I don't think the smears will result in Davis losing support, either.  It's just another Swift Boat/birth certificate/"soshulism" screech that is all the opposition can muster any longer.

Here's some assembled reading that is more on target than anything conservatives are saying...

-- Jonathan Tilove at the Austin Statesman spends a little time whining about being scooped by Wayne Slater.  Once you get past that, he has a good aggregate of how the press has reacted to the story this week.  Here's the right question (almost at the very end):

Will all of this have any longterm impact -  positive or negative (because it appears to be energizing both supporters and detractors) - on Davis' chances of becoming governor?

He has a few clues before and after that.

-- Patti Kilday Hart dangit, Lisa Falkenberg at the Chron, also with the right perspective.

A few confessions today.

I'm not a fifth-generation Texan, as I've long claimed. My paternal grandmother informed me awhile back that she believes I'm sixth-generation on her side.

I didn't correct the record because I didn't want dueling claims out there. I regret the error.
When doctors' forms ask the dates of my various surgical procedures, I sometimes just guess. I regret the error.

In a June 2009 column, I wrote that, after my father got laid off when I was a girl, we "lost our house." My mother later explained we sold the house to avoid losing it. Figuratively, the claim was still true from my perspective. One day, we had our own house with a big backyard. Next, we were squeezed into an apartment. Still, I regret the error.

Coming from me, a humble newspaper columnist, you might accept all of the above as innocent inaccuracies that have caused no harm.

Coming from a politician running for, say, governor, they'd be fodder for attack ads and angry blog posts, proof at long last that I was a lying, scheming, spineless climber who would stop at nothing to win higher office. Conflicting genealogical claims would lead some to doubt my Texan heritage altogether. False dates on medical reports would show a plot to deceive voters about my health and physical ability to carry out the job. Wrongly implying that my family had endured foreclosure would be a biographical embellishment shamefully devised to appeal to working-class Texans.

I've had the same thing happen, and so has everybody else, particularly if you have ever done any genealogy.  Turns out my grandmother's favorite breakfast wasn't brains and eggs, like I thought, though she enjoyed it often.  And I grew up believing that my maternal grandfather was a train conductor, when he actually was a fireman on the caboose.

You know, 'lost in translation' stuff.  I guess we're all liars (especially conservatives).

-- It's a good thing Wendy Davis' consultant, Karin Johanson, has a handle on this kind of thing.  No more "oops" moments would be necessary for the next nine months, though.  Davis has to run a perfect campaign from here on out to pull off the upset.  And I do mean perfect.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Updates from Wendy Davis, Jerry Patterson and more

-- I agree with Pall Burka that Wendy Davis' "problems" -- or "resume' issues", as Chris Cilliza at the Washington Post put it -- can be easily fixed.  But she's going to have to fire Matt Angle and a few other people and hire some DC professionals to fix it.  Meanwhile, there is at least one conservative who questions the value of the smearing that is going on.

I signed Davis' letter and gave her more money today.

-- Jerry Patterson is the only Republican LG candidate not running on a "Kill the Ill Eagles" plank.  Strangely enough, in his TV commercial with an appeal to Latino tolerance, he calls them Tejanos.  It should be interesting to see how both this strategy and this particular tactic work out for him. 

-- Better Texas Blog has the day one play-by-play from the school finance lawsuit.

Last year the Texas school finance system was ruled unconstitutional on the grounds that it is inadequate, inequitable, and inefficient. This week, State District Judge John Dietz has reopened evidence in the case to determine if actions made by the 2013 Texas Legislature resulted in any substantial changes to the school finance system.

The primary plaintiffs in the case argued that though the Texas Legislature took a step in the right direction, with a partial restoration of funding, it was too small a step and huge funding disparities still exist between property poor and property wealthy districts. As the Equity Center’s lawyer Rick Gray, who Texas Tribune reporter Morgan Smith quotes in her story, said, “Any and all funding changes are temporary at best. There is absolutely no requirement they be in existence beyond the year 2015…It was an exceedingly small step in the right direction.”

The plaintiffs were also quick to point out that the legislature made a conscious to not study the costs of its education requirements. The House version of the 2014-15 budget contained a rider (provision) that required a re-examination of the cost-of-education index and the weights and allotments within the current school finance formulas. This rider was stripped from the budget before finale passage.

As our post-legislative session analysis of public education funding in the 2014-15 budget explains, the Legislature failed to undo the harm caused by the unprecedented 2011 cuts, which disproportionately affect economically disadvantaged public school students. These cuts, among other inequities, led Judge Dietz to originally rule Texas’ school finance system unconstitutional early last year. (Reread our statement on Judge Dietz’s original ruling here).

The State is sticking by its original argument that the school finance system is and has been constitutional.

As Charles posted this morning, the case will eventually return to the Supremes, and nothing is likely to get resolved before the next legislative session convening in January, 2015.  With a new governor, and perhaps a new lieutenant governor, and more known about how funding public education might occur than we know today.

Update: David Alameel is finally out of the closet on women's reproductive freedom.  From my inbox this afternoon...

As your senator, I’ll wake up every day fighting to restore economic fairness and reform our government by:

Withdrawing our troops from Afghanistan and redirecting the hundreds of billions we are spending there to rebuild America by investing in good jobs, good schools and protecting Social Security and Medicare.

Investing in a quality education for all Texas’ children, not just the privileged few.

Growing our economy by creating good paying jobs in Texas, raising the minimum wage, ensuring equal pay for equal work and protecting the rights of union workers;

Standing up to Wall Street corporations and millionaires by making them pay their fair share, closing unfair tax loopholes and ending offshore tax shelters.

Stopping any attempts to privatize or cut Social Security and Medicare.

Protecting Roe v. Wade from right wing extremists who want government to interfere in women’s health care decisions.

Passing comprehensive immigration reform that is humane, respectful of our laws and provides a responsible roadmap to citizenship.

Fighting for marriage equality.

These policy positions are all good enough for me, but I will still be supporting either Maxey Scherr or Michael Fjetland in the primary.

The non-Wendy Davis Wrangle

I'm confident there will be more conservative poutrage in their full-court press to try and stretch out the not-so-much-a-story for another day.  The rest of us can move on.

-- Dewhurst: Texas teachers are paid "a very fair salary".

"At the end of the day, we're paying our school teachers — when you count in cost of living — a very fair salary," Dewhurst said. "We need to have better results. We need to make sure that we're not just paying more money and we need to look at more choice for parents."

Texas consistently ranks near the bottom nationally in average teacher pay according to many groups that track classroom salaries, including teacher unions. One expert testified in the state's pivotal school finance trial last year that Texas' average teacher pay was about $47,300 in 2009-10 dollars — lower than the national average of nearly $55,000, and less than what 32 other states pay educators.

That trial ended with a state judge determining that the system Texas uses to finance public education is unconstitutional. New testimony is set to resume in Austin on Tuesday.

For a guy who grew up in River Oaks and likely sent his children to private school, this is rich.  It never ceases to amaze me how clueless the 1% can be.  And in a Tea Party stronghold like Texas, this dude is still leading the polling for lite guv.

And guess who's defending the most recent multi-billion dollar cutback of Texas public education in court?  Greg Abbott.  Thank goodness he's such a shitty lawyer.

Update: Charles digs deeper into the public school finance trial.

-- Todd Staples and Dan Patrick have hitched their wagon to the Ill Eagles.

(Patrick) pounded the need for border security by citing "hardened criminals we arrested from 2008 to 2012 -- not illegals who were here for a job, who got four speeding tickets, but hardened criminals -- 141,000 we put in our jails just in four years in Texas."

"They threaten your family. They threaten your life. They threaten your business. They threaten our state," he said, adding that they were charged with 447,000 crimes including 2,000 murders and 5,000 rapes.

(Staples') office in 2010 launched the website ProtectYourTexasBorder.com, which features first-hand accounts of confrontations with violent drug traffickers in videotaped interviews. When a message board on the state-run website quickly filled with postings calling for vigilante justice and killing immigrants entering the country illegally, Staples removed the posts and condemned the remarks, but that episode remains one of the biggest embarrassments of his tenure.

But Staples persisted. He published the book "Broken Borders, Broken Promises" in 2012 and continues to reject federal crime data that show decreasing levels of violent crime and Democrats who accuse Republicans of wildly exaggerating the danger for the sake of politics.

Staples said his office hasn't put a financial number on the losses that encroaching violence has cost Texas crop owners.

"I haven't tried to quantify the cash losses," Staples said. "What we have done though is shown that the violence is real, that we have a failed immigration system that is aiding the drug cartels and giving them cover to come into our nation."

What did I say about fear being a primary motivator of human behavior?  Republican, Democrat, Green, Libertarian, or independent... are you scared yet?

Update: Charles Kuffner calls Patrick a liar.

-- Speaking of the Libs, they lost a gubernatorial candidate over the weekend.

R. Lee Wrights has ended his campaign for the Libertarian Party nomination for governor of Texas. From the former candidate’s website:

We would like to thank the donors who gave when they honestly didn’t have the spare income to justify investing in Lee and his message of Peace and Prosperity. They will always be our beloved friends and family.

[...]

No candidate can persevere unless he has the support of those who wish him/her to run. Unfortunately, I found I had far more broken promises than I had genuine support. Thomas Hill, and Cindi Lewis Maidens before him, are absolutely correct. As nice as they all are I, nor any candidate, can run a campaign on “likes” and “shares” on Facebook. It takes “dollars” and”cents”. Again unfortunately, I had far more of the former than I did the latter.

There are some highly entertaining comments there if you are so inclined. The ones I took note of were those disparaging 2010 nominee and presumptive 2014 front-runner Kathie Glass.

I'll update this post with whatever sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity erupts later today from the mind and mouth of some conservative.  Sure hope they don't keep me busy.

Update: Jerry Patterson, being the least dumb among the four RLGs.

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, one of four contenders for the Republican lieutenant governor nomination, Tuesday reiterated his support for creation of an immigrant guest worker program, allowing students to carry concealed weapons on college campuses and policies to promote "smarter building" on the state's barrier islands.

Patterson, a former state senator who has been land commissioner since 2003, dismissed immigration hardliners' calls to "build fences, no amnesty, deport 12 million people."

While Patterson opposes amnesty for undocumented workers and supports border barriers "where tactically called for," Patterson told the Houston Chronicle editorial board "it's stupid" to implement mass deportations. "I don't want to live in a country with that kind of police power, especially at the federal level," he said.

[...]

Patterson will face incumbent three-term Lt. David Dewhurst, Texas Sen. Dan Patrick and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples in the Republican primary.

"There are three good choices ‑ anyone but Patrick," he said. Asked how he would function as speaker of the House, Patterson replied, "Like (former Democratic) Lt. Bob Bullock without the tantrums."

See?  He's only crazy, not stupid.  (Except for the guns part, of course. That's crazy AND stupid.)

Monday, January 20, 2014

Not quite a molehill

Much less anything bigger.

Wendy Davis has made her personal story of struggle and success a centerpiece of her campaign to become the first Democrat elected governor of Texas in almost a quarter-century.

While her state Senate filibuster last year captured national attention, it is her biography — a divorced teenage mother living in a trailer who earned her way to Harvard and political achievement — that her team is using to attract voters and boost fundraising.

The basic elements of the narrative are true, but the full story of Davis’ life is more complicated, as often happens when public figures aim to define themselves. In the shorthand version that has developed, some facts have been blurred.

Davis was 21, not 19, when she was divorced. She lived only a few months in the family mobile home while separated from her husband before moving into an apartment with her daughter.

A single mother working two jobs, she met Jeff Davis, a lawyer 13 years older than her, married him and had a second daughter. He paid for her last two years at Texas Christian University and her time at Harvard Law School, and kept their two daughters while she was in Boston. When they divorced in 2005, he was granted parental custody, and the girls stayed with him. Wendy Davis was directed to pay child support.
In an extensive interview last week, Davis acknowledged some chronological errors and incomplete details in what she and her aides have said about her life.

“My language should be tighter,” she said. “I’m learning about using broader, looser language. I need to be more focused on the detail.”

There's more at the link, including this.

A former colleague and political supporter who worked closely with Davis when she was on the council said the body’s work was very time-consuming.

“Wendy is tremendously ambitious,” he said, speaking only on condition of anonymity in order to give what he called an honest assessment. “She’s not going to let family or raising children or anything else get in her way.”

He said: “She’s going to find a way, and she’s going to figure out a way to spin herself in a way that grabs at the heart strings. A lot of it isn’t true about her, but that’s just us who knew her. But she’d be a good governor.”

Frankly, that person should have been willing to go on the record, or that quote should have been left out of the story.  I think that back-handed slap is garbage, and just short of a smear.

I first took note of a discussion of the article from RG Ratcliffe's Facebook wall. There are a few good journos weighing in there on the nature of the reporting itself.

Should Wendy Davis have been certain about her age, particularly in her public references to it, with regard to when she was divorced from her first husband?  Yes. This is an (albeit minor) unforced error.  Is her response about using "tighter language" adequate?  No.  She was first in her class at Harvard Law. She's been a successful attorney and politician for some time since then.  I have a bigger problem with this explanation than I do the actual mistake.

But this is still the smallest of potatoes. If this is the best that the media (and Abbott's oppo research folks) can do... Davis has nothing to worry about.

I'm a little more concerned about the investigation into her personal life that isn't prompted by anything even remotely salacious.  Women are judged more critically in this regard, by far, than men.  And that's sexist and wrong.

What I will wait for is the same kind of journalistic scrutiny applied to an attorney general of Texas who collected millions of dollars after a tree fell on him, then advocated for tort reform.  What was the reasoning behind that?  It's sort of like banning the lottery after you hit all six numbers. Or outlawing marriage between Latinas and white men after you married one.  Jay Root at the TexTrib came closest to getting a straight answer about this than anybody else has.

“If there were someone jogging today, got hit by a tree today, suffered the same kind of accident today, they would have access to the very same remedies I had access to,” (Abbott) said.

“Our legal system was abused in this state,” he continued. “There were many invalid claims that were filed in court, that clogged up the courts,  that either denied or delayed access for people who had valid claims.”

Not accurate at best, and a flat-out lie at worst. The very next paragraph...

Tort laws have changed drastically since Abbott’s accident, adding hurdles for people who sue for personal injuries and making it harder for them to win large sums. But there is disagreement about whether Abbott could receive a similar settlement today.

[...]

Not long after Abbott’s accident, sentiment against trial lawyers and large jury verdicts swept through Texas politics, which helped propel Republicans into dominance and laid the groundwork for new lawsuit restrictions.

In 1995, the Legislature capped punitive damages stemming from noneconomic losses at $750,000. Lawmakers also erected hurdles for plaintiffs who try to collect from multiple defendants.

Meanwhile, the conservative Texas Supreme Court, on which Abbott served from 1996 to 2001, began adopting tighter standards for losses that involved pain and suffering and mental anguish.

Too much spinning here from Abbott.  His specific personal motivations for advocating change in a law he richly benefited from -- something that gets at the deep, dark hypocrisy that Greg Abbott lives with every day -- would be an excellent debate question, one more difficult for him to dodge in a public, televised forum.  I just don't think he can answer it without exposing his true nature.

Update: Adding this exchange between the HousChron's  Lisa Falkenberg and Abbott, regarding the circumstance of Herlinda Garcia.

"So," I said, returning to Garcia's case, "if you were this woman, would you feel like justice had been served?"

"Well, having been a victim myself, on the one hand, you never feel that justice is served because you have to live with it the rest of your life, but also as a victim, I realize that victimology or being a victim doesn't get you anywhere in life. You just gotta move on."

"But," I asked, "what if they had told you that - after your accident, after you were paralyzed? 'You've just got to move on. And this is all you're going to get. Your award is limited.' "

"That's the reality that I face," he said. "I'm never walking again, Lisa."

"But what if they had limited your award and said 'move on?' "

This was the only part in the interview when Abbott stumbled.

"Uh, I mean …" he said. "I wasn't given a limitless award. I was given what the insurance policies had. That was the way it worked for me."

Yes, that was the way it worked out for you, General Abbott. You received a multimillion-dollar settlement that helped you support your family while you got your life back on track. You received what seems fair compensation for the harm you suffered.

The question is why Herlinda Garcia isn't entitled to the same.

As regards the piece on Davis, Socratic Gadfly is harsher in his judgment than I am, and Egberto Willies is much kinder (to Davis but not TexTrib publisher Evan Smith, in response to that Today show/Maria Shriver piece last week).  Update: And Carl Lindemann has a few questions about Abbott's own biography.

The pressure is increasing for both gubernatorial candidates, and they will need to get away from their spin and manufactured stories and speak truthfully and accurately about themselves and their vision for Texas as its potential leader.  I'm looking forward to reading those articles.

Developments UpdateAs you may be aware, Republicans have flown into a tizzy trying to make the non-molehill into a mountain.  Senator Davis felt compelled to issue a statement, and it is here, clarifying the timeline of some of the events of her life.

The misogyny so prevalent among the right shifted into overdrive this afternoon, and it's been an ugly thing to see.  But it's their pattern.  They are losing control of everything in their lives, and they have to blame it on a black president, a strong woman running for governor, gays, Ill Eagles, godless liberals and what have you.

Not exactly the party of personal responsibility after all.

I feel confident that the caterwauling hasn't moved the needle in either direction.  Women and minorities will see these vile attacks as something familiar, and everybody else will tut-tut, call it politics, and wait for the next piece of crap from conservatives to float to the surface.

We shouldn't have to wait more than a few days.

The MLK Day Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance pauses to recognize the life of Martin Luther King Jr. today as it brings you this week's roundup.


Off the Kuff interviews Kim Ogg, candidate for Harris County District Attorney, and Steve Brown, candidate for Texas Railroad Commission.

Eye On Williamson observes that keeping immigrants in the shadows, because it's not good politics for the GOP in an election year, shows exactly what the GOP's priorities are: John Carter and the GOP's Misplaced Priorities.

Horwitz at Texpatriate reports on the controversy that has recently erupted in the US Senate Democratic primary between David Alameel and Maxey Scherr.

The civil war in the Harris County Republican Party threatens to disrupt the candidacy of Dan Patrick for lieutenant governor, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has a snapshot of the battlefield.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants you to know that those charter schools are using your money to push the propaganda to your children..

Harold Cook patiently debunks Republican claims about Wendy Davis' fundraising totals.

After reading a story about how China is paying for new shipping ports for Sri Lanka, Neil at All People Have Value wrote that when somebody else builds your port, you lose control of what ships arrive and what goods are received. It is better that we construct our own ports of friendship and imagination. All People Have Value is part of NeilAquino.com.

Texas Leftist welcomes its first ever guest contributor... a remarkable man who has truly lived all sides of the marriage debate. In the span of a few short years, this father of three went from being married to his wife to marrying his husband. Fred-Allen Self has an interesting story to tell.

=============================

And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Better Texas Blog celebrates the 50th anniversary of LBJ's War on Poverty and reminds us that there is still much to be done about it.

Scott Braddock reports on a targeted worker misclassification crackdown going on in Texas.

The Texas Green Report wonders if the earthquakes in Azle will lead to a change in thinking, and in regulation, on fracking.

Juanita Jean notes that Texas is now exporting campaign finance law violators to other states.

The Republic of Austin shares an Austin-based ad campaign that is trying to convince people not to move to Austin.

The Heights Life has some good news about one school that's bucking the trend on library downsizing.

Texas Vox wants you to write a letter about Keystone XL.

Finally, the TPA warmly congratulates Eileen Smith of In The Pink Texas for the beautiful new addition to her family.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

HCRP civil war emperils Dan Patrick, and the real threat to GOP survival

Not surprised and not feeling bad for anybody.

Over the last couple weeks, it has become impossible to deny that a civil war has broken out in the largest county Republican Party in America – and the way this fight plays out in Houston before the March primary could have serious implications for the political aspirations of Sen. Dan Patrick in his bid to preside over the Texas Senate.

Patrick, a Houston radio host and lawmaker who has given up his Senate seat, said in his announcement for higher office that the support he enjoys in the Bayou City is key to his statewide strategy. Simply put: Patrick is banking on Harris County in a way that the other three candidates in the race are not. The problem with that now is that Republicans there will also have to make a fundamental choice about who will lead the local party. This year’s challenge to six-term incumbent and conservative flamethrower Jared Woodfill is objectively the most serious one he’s faced but, at the same time, he’s never one to be counted out until the voting is done.

That's all Scott Braddock and Harvey Kronberg are going to give you.  Update: Republican activist Burt Levine posted the full article to his Facebook timeline; you can read it here Absent a subscription to read their take, I'll provide mine.  And I won't bury the lede.

The local chapter of Republickins just cannot determine whether to shit or go blind.

When you have the county judge and a county commissioner in a proxy duel with $10,000 checks over who is the better conservative, and the election is still two months away... well, you just know there's going to be a gunfight at the Not-OK Corral.

But there's a bigger picture, and while the TXGOP will very probably rise or fall on the backs of the winners and losers of their squabbles, that's small potatoes at this point.  Really.

Forget the flying-colors sideshow that is Judge Denise Pratt, and yes, disregard -- for the moment -- that her scandal is widening to include the fresh new district attorney, Devon Anderson.  Ignore that Judge Pratt has lost the endorsement of Republican Yoda Gary Polland (who has made a lot of money in her court) because she has become a "political liability".  Overlook that nasty little squabble over a gay precinct chair; both sides have kissed and made up for the cameras.

Pass over the most recent lamentations of Big Jolly, even.

If these people are the best that we Harris County Republicans have going for us, perhaps it is time to walk away from the whole mess. Putting the issue of abortion on the same level as that of gay marriage reduces it to nothing more than the political wedge issue that Democrats have been saying it is for us.

Update: Lone Star Q notes the gay/antigay fault line shaking up the HCRP as well as Patrick's reaction to Annise Parker's wedding, which sounds just like some of the vile comments I linked here.

Harris County Republicans are slowly coming to terms with the fact that no matter who wins the fight for their chair, we all lose.  Everybody.  And yet... this is still just a distraction from the main event.  They are certainly the symptoms of a more serious condition, which is the creaking obsolescence and rapidly approaching extinction of the Reagan Republican party.  And it will demonstrate itself most clearly as an electoral liability when the Texas GOP selects its lieutenant governor nominee in March's primary.  That's right; LG, not governor.

Enough has been written about the quartet of conservative morons running for the post, including the spin attached to their fundraisingSocratic Gadfly thinks that this contest will be the one where money makes the most difference, and I am inclined to agree just because of the difficulty in handicapping the race.  Polling suggests it will be Dewhurst and one other who emerges to run off in April, and again, who am I to disagree with polls?  (That's a joke.)

But if I had to bet today, I would put my money on Jerkin' Jerry Patterson, he of the bubble copter and boot pistol.  He's raised the smallest amount of money, but he's got the same statewide ballot name ID without the too-slick persona -- and freakishly large head -- of Todd Staples.  Patterson also has one the sneakiest persons ever managing his campaign, the former Safety for Dummies in Fort Bend County blogger, Chris Elam.

Patrick, for his part, is drawing criticism from the locals I overhear because of his *gasp* massive ego.  Staples is just too weird and incompetent even by the typical GOP standards.  It's still early enough, though, that all their warts could be washed away by the infusion of some of their millions of dollars into ubiquitous television advertisements, coming soon to a screen near you.

The two get reduced to one after the lightning round in late spring, and the lucky winner earns a trip to the fall classic in November, facing Leticia Van de Putte... and Libertarian Brandon de Hoyos, Green Chandra Courtney, and oddest of all, Maria Luisa Alvarado -- the 2006 Democratic nominee for lite guv -- running as an independent.  All those Latino/a surnames are surely going to diminish Sen. VDP's tally to some degree, an unfortunate circumstance for her prospects.

No matter what happens between now and then, the person sworn in on the South Steps in January 2015 gets to decide whether the state Senate will abandon its historical two-thirds rule, the last vestige of decorum in state politics (so says Kirk Watson, who lost the attorney generalship in 2002 to some dude in a wheelchair).  If it goes by the wayside, then the GOP will be poised to ram even more crap down every Texan's throat.

That's what's at stake, and these Harris County popcorn farts are just the undercard.

The real question is whether the sane people in the Lone Star State can toss a few cinder blocks to the dinosaurs in the quicksand, or whether the creatures will live to see one more presidential election cycle before they pass into history.  And that's an open question.

If you would like to see for yourself the four huge reptiles flailing about in the tar pit, the King Street Thugs are hosting them in Houston next week.  Be advised that security might not let you in if you're carrying an anvil.

I'm certain a concealed handgun is A-OK, though.

The end of the TMI era

It's here.  It probably passed us some time ago and we didn't notice.  Via Balloon Juice, this +1.

In the age of social media, when cell phones come with camera lenses optimized for selfies, that last question ("Is there such a thing as TMI on the Web?") gets asked regularly. So I am going to answer it, once and for all: No. There is no such thing as TMI on the Internet. We are living in a post-TMI age, and everyone needs to deal with it. Preferably by using the “unfollow” button.

There is such a thing as too much information for you. There is such a thing as information the speaker will later regret. But if an audience is willingly and pleasurably consuming the information, then by definition, that is the right amount of information for them. Assuming the information in question is yours to share — your life, your ideas, your stories, your pictures, your theories about elf genealogy in Lord of the Rings — you cannot share too much of it. There are no captive audiences on the Internet. Whereas discussing your sex life at the Thanksgiving dinner table may be TMI for Grandma, discussing your sex life online does not necessitate Grandma’s participation. If you follow someone on Twitter and you find that her tweets are too much for you, then you may unfollow her. If you continually recoil at TMI, it's because you lack the willpower to stop consuming (or foresight to avoid) the information in question. That’s your fault.

I spend far too much time reading the "letters to the editor" of the modern age, which include comments to stories in the digital newspaper, e-zine articles, blogs, and Facebook responses to the news of the day.  I want to know what people are thinking, and by 'people' I mean all walks of life and all persuasions.  I have a particular fascination with the conservative mindset, in a monkeys-flinging-their-poo kind of way.  And among the reasons I sample the vast public discourse -- particularly the discourse with which I disagree, not to mention the disagreeable -- is to perform a routine diagnostic on my own points of view.  Because too much agreeable opinion (as everyone who has dealt with someone who only watches Fox News clearly understands) tends to warp one's own beliefs.  That's how truth becomes truism, and in turns devolves into truthiness.  But back to what to do about stuff you see online if you don't like it.

Modern media consumption — particularly digital media consumption — is personalized. This is sometimes to our detriment; it is very easy to surround yourself with the voices of only those who agree with you. As consumers of social media, we are all the programmers of our own personal line-ups, featuring a hand-selected set of soap operas, news sources, and other amusements. If a particular soap opera becomes boring, you click “unfollow” — or maybe you hate it so much that you block it. You can download browser extensions that will turn words you do not want to see into a big black bars, or prevent you from loading web pages that contain material that offends. For instance, if I never want to see or think about Bill or Emma Keller, I could install a content filter like Blocksi and set it to block or limit the amount of time I spend on web pages where the term Keller appears. Or I could set it simply to warn me about incoming Kellers, so that I can summon a third party to preview the material for me.

You can take charge of that which offends you, if you are capable of managing the technology.  Or you can just scroll past it.

Rule 34 of the Internet states, “If something exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions.” Embedded in this joking wisdom is a profound statement about taste. If one person likes something enough to imagine, desire, or create it, then somewhere in this wide world of ours, another person feels the same way. In the age of micro-audience — when everyone is famous not for fifteen minutes, but to fifteen people — there is a consumer for everything. No exceptions. Even if the audience is merely the creator himself, gazing at his own selfies for hours on end like Narcissus falling into a pool of glowing computer screen — if he is @MrPimpGoodGame — that is still an acceptable use of the Internet. Embarrassing, perhaps. Awkward, alienating, depressing, enlightening, inspiring, boring — any emotional reaction is possible. But no self-expression on the Internet can be categorically too much, because to someone, that artifact of human existence is just right.

There was a time, not all that long ago, when this would have been funny, all the way through to #36, but after a decade-and-a half or so of Web-soaked narcissim and exibitionist behavior, now it's just pathetic after about the fourth one.  But the only real problem is that you looked at all of them and then felt bad after doing so.  (Incest has always existed; incest and Instagram is the new wrinkle.)  Next time -- and especially if you think it might bother you -- just don't look.

Back in the day before there was an Internet, we used to have a saying: if you don't like what's on TV, then change the channel or turn it off.  I would extend that today to include: if you object to gay marriage or abortion, then don't have one.

But please stop asking, "why is this news?"  Because that just makes you look ignorant.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Kudos to the happy couple

Annise Parker and Kathy Hubbard are now wife and wife.

(O)n the 23rd anniversary of the start of their lives together, Mayor Annise Parker and Kathy Hubbard got married in Palm Springs, California.

The marriage had been anticipated for several days, but it wasn't known exactly when it would happen.

Wayne had it first.  And let's move on past this also.

The mayor's office also explained that: "Ms. Hubbard has other insurance options available to her and will, therefore, not participate in the new policy granting city health insurance benefits to the spouses of legally-married city employees," which means they've avoided an attack by anyone saying Parker pushed for the change just so she could benefit from it. 

As Josh Marshall observes: when even Utah, Oklahoma, and the Supreme Court have ceded the moral high ground their legal objections... you know that Texas will make every effort to be dead last.  That's right; behind Alabama and Mississippi, despite what the immortal Nate Silver predicted last spring.

So say good night to Phil Robertson and Mike Huckabee and Greg Abbott and all of the losers who commented negatively here with their real names and their fake names, and everybody who lines up with them, and all the rest of the best of the worst conservatives in the world.  Congratulations to you all as well: you're as finished as is this latest chapter in American bigotry.

The proud Texans among your number might inquire of your elected representatives whether they will vote to decriminalize marijuana or pass casino gambling before they legalize marriage in the Great State.  You know, those sins you actually commit that aren't as high up your list.

And please let us know if they give you a straight answer.

Update: Houston Press' Hair Balls, with the six most pathetic objections to Mayor Parker's marriage (and gay marriage generally).

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Davis "on her own two feet", Scherr hits at Alameel

-- This is going to rile up the compassionate conservatives.


Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Did you catch that?  Why, it's almost as offensive as that "Greg Abbott walks into a bar" joke.  The fauxtrage generated by the ilk of the fellow who coined the phrase 'AB' is your Belly Laugh O'Day.

(Special to Greg: Clean up your own house.  And start with that pig Erickson.)

-- After Wendy Davis endorsed the wealthy dentist running for US Senate to begin this week, it was inevitable that this attack would present itself.  This e-mail is signed by Victor Reyes, Scherr's deputy campaign manager, and arrived in my inbox yesterday.

David Alameel, the alleged Democrat running for the US Senate, has bankrolled the anti-choice Republican agenda for years.  I'm not talking about a couple thousand dollars here.  He has given $1.6 million dollars to the Republicans who oppose Roe v. Wade and vote to erode a woman's right to choose at every turn.
Here are a few specifics on Alameel's record on supporting the Republican agenda:
  • Alameel gave $150,000 to Lt. Governor David Dewhurst who led the charge to pass anti choice legislation and called women who went to protest in the Capitol an “unruly mob”;
  • Alameel gave $4,200 to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who voted to allow any employer to refuse to cover contraception or any health service required under the health reform law for virtually any reason;
  • Alameel gave $8,400.00 to Senator Orin Hatch who sponsored an amendment that “would ban any organizations that provide abortions, including hospitals, from receiving Medicaid family planning funds -- even if those abortions are to save a woman's life”;
  • Alameel gave $25,000.00 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee who defended the comment that abortions should not be legal even in the case of rape;
So I have a big question that we Democrats need to resolve before the March 4th primary:
If Texas Democrats care about women’s rights and protecting choice, then how can we possibly nominate a candidate who has a long track record of funding the Republicans who are anti-choice?

An excellent point.  I won't be helping nominate the good doctor in any way, shape, or form.  I'm putting him in the same folder as Kesha Rogers.

Update: Texpate has a more nuanced and critical view of Scherr's broadside, but also thinks there is more to be learned -- perhaps by some enterprising corporate journalist -- about Alameel's stances on reproductive rights.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

It's all about the money.

You can find all the reports you want about fundraising everywhere you look -- on the blogs, on your Facebook wall, in your Twitter feed, and even on your teevee and in the newspaper.

Bu that's really not the news.


Marianne Williamson is a motivational speaker and author running as an independent against one of California's most entrenched Democratic Congressmen.  I'll be checking in with her campaign a lot, because she represents everything I look for in a potential elected official.

In other words, she is the polar opposite of someone like David Alameel.

So while the bloggers and political consultants rave and the media laps it all up -- and then vomits it out for you to lick up -- try to keep in mind that what we are experiencing at the moment is what eventually results in the wonderful set of circumstances our politics has become, in Austin and in Washington DC.  And even at the county courthouse and at city hall.


Somebody ask Ben Hall or or Bill White or David Dewhurst or even Meg Whitman -- she of the $144 million dollar personal campaign budget -- how all that money they spent on their efforts for elective office worked out for them.  And then ask yourself: how much better would things be if the richest man (or woman) had won?

That's how the 'experts' handicap races.  They do it with baseball teams, too.  And the Yankees don't win every year.  How about that.

Wendy Davis is on pace (no matter how one counts it) to amass the fifty million dollars the talking heads said she had to raise in order to have a chance to beat "Wheelchair Ken".  In other words, if she loses then she won't be able to say she couldn't raise enough money as an excuse.

I have contributed to her campaign, and I sincerely hope she doesn't lose.  But I also don't see any deviation from a path we have trod for decades now, which shows not even the smallest sign of changing the kind of government we have.  The one that gets bought and paid for every two years.