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.

The thirteen (or so) holdouts on the public option

TPM:

Two crucial questions hang over the Senate. Will it pass Democrat-only health care reforms? And can a public option survive the whims of the so-called budget reconciliation process? If the answer to both questions is yes, then the public option could survive in the stasis-oriented upper chamber. But if the answer to the second question is "no," then the Democrats will a lot of whipping to do.

Go read the article. Here's how I think it goes (today):

The ayes will ultimately include Warner of VA, Tester of MN, Pryor of AR, and Begich of AK for a total of 51. Add Nelson of FL as a likely yes.

The nays will be Landrieu of LA, Lieberman of CT, Bayh of IN, Lincoln of AR, Nelson of NE, and most all of the rest of those assholes, including Baucus and Conrad.

Even with 99 senators the headcount necessary to suspend debate, i.e. end a Republican filibuster, remains 60. Only if the number of Senators "duly chosen and sworn" becomes 98 would the three-fifths majority needed be reduced to 59.

So the real question is whether some of the nays will vote for cloture. This is why the eventual Massachusetts appointee, and how long it takes to get that person 'chosen' and sworn, is important also. And whether there will be public outcry sufficient to force one or two members of the GOP to relent on their blockage of healthcare reform.

In short, the final battle remains in the hands of the people.

Update: Since I prepared most of this post on Wednesday, Chris Bowers of Open Left today has revised his whip count and observes that no Democratic senator has specifically stated opposition to the public option. Since Lieberman isn't a Democrat -- that is not hyperbole; he is both technically and obviously an independent -- he doesn't count. Besides Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, the most confirmed fence-sitters are those Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee: Max Baucus, Tom Carper, Kent Conrad, Bill Nelson, Blanche Lincoln, and Ron Wyden. Because, as Bowers notes ...

(T)hose Senators are still in a position to pass a bill out of that committee without a public option, while Senators not on the Finance Committee are not. If you are in a position to avoid a vote on the public option ever happening, then simply saying you will not vote against a public option isn't good enough(.)

Toons honoring Teddy

Hank Gilbert for Governor

The second highest vote-getting Democrat from the 2006 elections, agriculture commissioner nominee Hank Gilbert, said Wednesday he plans to join the fight for his party's gubernatorial nomination.

Gilbert, 49, a Tyler-area rancher, received 42 percent of the vote in his race against Republican Todd Staples for agriculture commissioner.

In the current governor's race, Gilbert said he can bridge the gap between Democrats and moderate Republicans who are “disgusted” with incumbent Rick Perry's service. Gilbert said he does not believe U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison can defeat Perry in the GOP primary.

He changed his mind about running for agriculture commissioner after hearing Tom Schieffer speak at the East Texas Democratic Summit. (If you have heard both men speak then you know how effin' funny that is.)

Gilbert's entry into the race became another potential stumbling block for Fort Worth businessman Tom Schieffer, who received endorsements Wednesday from some of the top state House Democratic leaders.

They included Reps. Garnet Coleman and Jessica Farrar of Houston, Jim Dunnam of Waco, and Pete Gallego of Alpine. The group said Schieffer will be able to govern the state by bringing Democrats and Republicans together.

Like Rachel, I think that this endorsement announcement was poorly timed -- it came yesterday when the news cycle was devoted to the passing of Ted Kennedy, and it was a lousy attempt to step on Gilbert's announcement (which occurred before Kennedy's death) -- and not particularly well-thought-out. Why exactly would the Texas House leadership feel the need to endorse Schieffer yesterday? It smacks of old-school patronage, something I hoped at least some of those people weren't so susceptible to.

So now Texas Democrats have Schieffer, Gilbert, Mark Thompson, and likely Kinky Friedman and Felix Alvarado running for governor. Barbara Radnofsky has announced for attorney general, and Jeff Weems is running for the Texas Railroad Commission. Who's going to run for lieutenant governor? Comptroller? GLO? Ag commish? State supreme court?

C'mon people; it's a week before Labor Day weekend and we need some brave souls to step up and take on the Republican monolith. I realize that recruiting candidates is the state party chairman's job (and we all know what a fabulous job he's doing). And certainly that massive recruiting effort will translate into significant support once the campaign for 2010 is in full swing ...

Still, if this is another cycle where the so-called insiders focus solely on a couple of Texas House races with the hope of retaking that chamber ... good luck with that. That will really motivate the base.

Update: Take note of Selby's speculation.

Update II: Kinky's getting in. Official announcement next week.

Last Week's Wrangle

Coming a little later than usual here due to offline impositions previously mentioned. Here is this week's roundup of blog highlights.

From TXsharon at Bluedaze, EPA testing has now confirmed wells are contaminated with various substances connected with gas drilling--proof that hydraulic fracturing contaminates our drinking water. Even Motley Fool supports the FRAC Act and says industry is "crying wolf."

Should Texans care about NJ? The Texas Cloverleaf examines why the GOP thinks we should.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme says a 'Wise Latina' kicks Republican butt once again.

For a long time it has been universally agreed upon that people should engage in end-of-life planning, at least until right-wing pundits made such discussions a target of their battle against health care reform. Xanthippas at Three Wise Men takes aim at these critics, and the very real harm they do to people with their dishonest and partisan attacks.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson shows why everyone must call their House representatives and senators because It's time to treat America's health care emergency.

Off the Kuff spent the week following the Sharon Keller trial. He wasn't impressed by her defense.

Over at TexasKaos, jaxpagan gets us the scoop on Ted Poe's town hall meeting in a funeral parlor. Snark , with a wicked point!

At McBlogger, Harry Balczak takes a few moments to tell us what he thinks about Whole Foods and its 'health care for all' hating CEO.

Neil at Texas Liberal is back from a two-week vacation that took him to Chicago, Kenosha, Wisconsin, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Dayton, Ohio and northern Kentucky. This itinerary is consistent with a post he made earlier this summer encouraging folks to visit the industrial midwest. With vacation over, it's time now to think of school and swine flu. It sure would help if more working people had paid sick days to help manage getting sick themselves and having kids sick at home.

John Coby at Bay Area Houston has some questions to ask Congressman Pete Olson at his town hall mtg on Aug 29.

Some of the very worst of Texas was on full display last week, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs documented the atrocities.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is still appalled at the chaos and conflict demonstrated by a Bi-Polar America trying to decide Who is Worthy of a Healthy Life and Who is Not.