Today would be a good day

... to thank your neighborhood socialist for their positive contributions to workers' rights in America.



Music by Utah Phillips.

The only thing we have to fear is smear itself

Another Brick in the Wall

We don't need no education.

We don't need no thought control.

No dark sarcasm in the classroom.

Obama leave them kids alone.

Hey! Obama! Leave them kids alone!

All in all it's just another brick in the wall.

All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

(Muchisimas Gracias to Silly Rabbit -- and Pink Floyd, of course.)

Sunday First-Run Funnies

Felix Alvarado's trouble understanding banking

Dave Montgomery at the Startle-Gram's excellent PoliTex blog (emphasis is mine):

Democratic gubernatorial contender Felix Alvarado of Fort Worth issued a press release today to address questions about a bounced $3,750 filing fee check that forced him to withdraw as a candidate when he attempted an earlier run for governor in 2006.

"I paid the filing fee with a personal check, even though I knew that my checking account did not have that amount," said Alvarado, who lives in Fort Worth and teaches at a Dallas high school. "I honestly and sincerely thought that I could deposit the money the following morning. When I discovered that I could not, I thought of my options, borrow the money or withdraw from the race."

Alvarado said he notified the Democratic Party that he was withdrawing because the check would not clear. He said he later began getting calls from the media "about the 'bounced check' that had caused my name to be removed from the ballot.

"I accepted full responsibility for my action then as I do now," he said. Alvarado noted that he has filed again to run for governor and is prepared to "guarantee" that his name will stay on the ballot.

There's so much that is so wrong with this public statement, but let's just focus on the matter of the complexities associated with maintaining a proper balance in one's checking account: "borrow the money"? Why would you need to "borrow the money" if it was your stated intention to "deposit the money the following morning"?

There's more going on with this explanation than mere garden-variety ignorance, I'm afraid.

And this fellow will probably make the runoff for governor solely because of his surname. On the other hand, this man certainly won't.

The Democratic National Committee is meeting in Austin next weekend, presumably to make some kind of show about Texas "being in play" in 2010. Not at that rate it's going, it's not. And if Steve Bates is any indication, then the national Dems are going to have more to worry about than Texas not "being in play".

But back to our troubles in Deep-In-The-Hearta, which are actually more severe than Mr. Alvarado's issues with his checking account. Now here comes my rant: everyone keeps me telling me that Boyd Richie is doing a bang-up job. He has posted his praise-laden and extensive bio, though not so much for other officers of the party -- a year now after they were elected. Furthermore, every time I ask for examples, I am directed at something pretty nebulous, like "grassroots organizing" or "database management".

Without a full slate of statewide candidates, Texas can be written off not just for another election cycle but for another decade, as 2011 redistricting occurs under the purview of the Legislative Redistriciting Board -- comprised of the speaker of the Texas House, the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, the commissioner of the general land office, and the comptroller of public accounts. There are currently two declared Democrats for those offices: Barbara Radnofsky for Texas attorney general and Bill Burton for GLO commissioner. The only thing currently working in Democrats' favor is that the plan will have to be pre-cleared by a Democratic Department of Justice -- for the first time since 1965. (Dave McNeely has a good explanation here of how all the moving pieces come together.)

Then again, maybe it's Boyd's strategy to keep litigating until 2020. That ought to make Chad Dunn feel comfortable.

Laboring some Postpourri

-- The Billionaires for Wealthcare turned out at a town hall in California.

-- Have you seen the People of Wal-Mart? These are your neighbors; the ones who watch Glenn Beck, want Texas to secede, are holding their kids out of school next week.

-- This is what democratic freedom of speech looks like. Even for the teabaggers, birthers, deathers, and Tenthers. Especially for them.

Oh, and please stop scaring Joe Klein...

Could I just say that the intensity of this getting pretty scary... and dangerous? We are heading toward a cliff and the usual brakes of civil discourse are not working. Indeed, the Republicans have the pedal to the metal -- rushing us toward a tragedy far greater than the California health care forum finger-biting (incident). I'm usually not one to panic or be overly worried about the state of our country -- even when we do awful things like invade Iraq and torture people, we usually right our course before long -- but I have a sinking feeling about where we're headed now. I hope I'm wrong.

-- The race Pete Laney actually needs to be in is for lieutenant governor.

-- Lee Ermey of Full Metal Jacket is not a bug-fuck-crazy conservative:

Troops challenging the legitimacy of President Barack Obama as commander-in-chief -- including at least one who is fighting deployment -- should take heed: Gunnery Sgt. Hartman wants to know your "major malfunction."

R. Lee Ermey, the Marine-turned-actor whose role as drill instructor Gunny Hartman in the late Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" has all but placed the Vietnam veteran in the pantheon of Marine heroes alongside "Chesty" Puller, Smedley Butler and Dan Daly, isn't buying anyone's political objector status.

"I haven't heard about those guys," Ermey told Military.com during an Aug. 21 interview. "If I do run across them though, trust me, I'll square them away."

-- Bill Moyers is absolutely correct.

"The Democratic Party has become like the Republican Party; deeply influenced by corporate money. I think Rahm Emanuel, who's a clever politician, understands that the money for Obama's re-election will come primarily from the health industry, the drug industry and Wall Street. He is a corporate Democrat who is determined that there won't be something in this legislation -- if we get it -- that will turn off those powerful interests..."

"You really have, essentially-- except for the progressives on the left of the Democratic Party-- two corporate parties who, in their own way and in their own time, serving the interests of basically a narrow set of economic interests."

And nowhere is this more true than in Texas.

On the holiday weekend observed originally to honor working men and women, it would be nice to for everybody to acknowledge that most of the brainwashing being accomplished on the poor rubes who continually vote against their own economic self-interest is being practiced by the various denizens of FOX News.

To be fair to FOX, as well as all of the Republicans who have distinguished themselves with their words and actions this week, they do have a principled objection to healthcare reform based largely on the fact that a black man was elected president ten months ago.

If you happen not to be a bug-fuck-crazy conservative, then please stop watching those douchebags. Do it for your country.

Socialism is putting out fires in Los Angeles.

Why do we need socialism to put out wildfires in Los Angeles? Why not let the free market put out the fires? Why not let private companies hire the firefighters and charge the residents for putting out the fires that may destroy their homes?

As the flames race down the hill toward your home, a private firefighting company would be there to charge you a fee for evacuating you and putting out the fires. You would need to provide a credit card for the service.

What about the people who cannot afford firefighters? Well, they should "grow up" and pay up to keep themselves and their homes safe from the fires, and if their homes go up in flames, well, that's just the invisible hand of the free market.

And the corporate firefighters are not allowed to use taxpayer-funded roads to get to the fires or public water systems to put them out. You simply cannot expect private firefighters to compete with a public service. They have to make a profit.

Less government, lower taxes, more freedom.

This has been a public/private service announcement.

The Weekly Wrangle

It's the week before Labor Day, the weather is measurably more pleasant, and the Texas Progressive Alliance is hard at work bringing you the best of the Texas blogosphere. Here are this week's highlights.

The Texas Cloverleaf wonders why only one person showed up to a budget meeting where taxes are being increased in Denton County. No tea bags left?

Neil at Texas Liberal offered the fullest extension of the back of his hand to opponents of Houston's Ashby high-rise.

TXsharon at Bluedaze wonders what Governor Perry is thinking to appoint a global warming denier as the highest environmental official in Texas at a time when polling shows Americans support Obama on reducing greenhouse emissions and when the EPA has just confirmed water contaminated with hydraulic fracture fluid. Maybe the question should be: Does Perry think?

South Texas Chisme wants you to know that Medicare is a PUBLIC heath care option. Ciro, stand up. Henry, wise up.

Bay Area Houston has video of Republican Pete Olson punking himself at his own town hall meeting while trying to use a sick kid for political gain.

Lightseeker over at TexasKaos insists that we not hold health care reform hostage to solving the struggle for reproductive choice. See this and more in his posting: Abortion Wars, Health care and Private Enterprise.

Off the Kuff analyzed some policy papers from Houston's leading mayoral candidates, examining Gene Locke's crimefighting plan, Annise Parker's education plan, and Peter Brown's energy plan.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts about the good news health care reform would bring to TX-31 and Williamson County.

Setting a date for the eventual US Senate special election is all about the MoFo, according to PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

This week, McBlogger asked a very good question... Why do we even care about Joe Lieberman?

At Texas Vox, Citizen Sarah reports on Houston mayor and Senate hopeful Bill White's energy security policy, per his panel at Netroots Nation. Video included.

Teddy at Left of College Station covers the Chet Edwards town hall on health reform live from the Brazos Center, and then shares his thoughts on it, and why a vocal minority is against health care reform. Left of College Station also covers the week in headlines: remembering Senator Ted Kennedy.

Sunday Funnies on Monday

A recurrence of vertigo took me down yesterday (but it can't keep me down). Here are your non-Kennedy comics ...

Setting a date for a special Senate election

It's going to be a real special, and it's going to favor the guy who gets to pick when -- the governor. Harvey Kronberg's got the goods:

The Lege in recent years has chipped away at the number of uniform election dates to the point where only two now exist – in May and in November. That trend could end up playing a factor in when the special election to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison’s Senate seat might occur.

The next two uniform election dates are Nov. 3 and May 8. To meet the earlier deadline, Hutchison would have to resign her seat and Gov. Rick Perry would have to issue an election proclamation by Sept. 28.

Several factors would argue against Hutchison resigning so soon. The first is that her “no” vote is needed by Republicans in Washington on health care and cap and trade legislation. The other consideration is more local. Republicans don’t want a Senate special election to fall on the November election date because it coincides with contested municipal elections in Houston. That would give Houston Mayor Bill White a boost, possibly enough to lift him into a runoff.

It would also seem that May is out as an option as well, if just for Perry to avoid the politics of a multi-candidate Senate election from spilling into his primary war with Hutchison.

Those factors would seem to argue for a later resignation, perhaps in October, and an emergency special election. Perry has almost carte blanche when setting an election date if he deems an emergency justifies holding the election on a non-uniform date.

Hutchison has indicated she will leave in the fall, which to me would preclude both November '09 and certainly May '10. But Harvey suggests ...

Some thinking has it that Perry would call the special election between Thanksgiving and Christmas with a runoff in early January. An early special election would play to the advantage of the best funded candidate -- presumably Lt. Governor David Dewhurst. Plus, conventional wisdom has always held that Republicans enjoy an inherent advantage in turning their voters out in special elections, even if they are not in holiday seasons.

I would have thought January for a February runoff personally, but an election during the holiday season is certainly no oddity. In SD-17's special, held on the traditional November election day last year, the runoff was on December 16. And getting this out of the way by January lets everyone focus on the March party primaries.

Some interesting scuttlebutt regarding other statewide candidates is beginning to bubble up, and our blogger's alliance has a conference call with Hank Gilbert coming Saturday morning. So a regular posting schedule around here is forthcoming.