Sunday post-convention Funnies

Crumbling from internal strife, TXGOP continues to wage jihad

Republican delegates to the state party convention in Fort Worth continued for a second day Friday to tussle among themselves over the direction of their party. Some booed the name of Mitt Romney, their presumptive presidential nominee, and a sizable number of convention-goers walked out on House Speaker Joe Straus.

The moves highlighted tension between traditional conservatives and tea party or movement conservatives, even as the GOP celebrated its Texas dominance, legislative accomplishments and unified front against President Barack Obama.

Nearly 300 miles to the southeast, Democrats at the George R. Brown Convention Center spent Friday attending caucus gatherings and tending to party business, but many kept an ear half-cocked to what was happening in Cow Town. To those of a certain age, it brought back memories of their party struggles during the so-called McGovern era, when true believers worked to purge the party of its moderate elements.

“The problem for Republicans, the challenge for them is that they are losing control over their own folks,” San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro said. “They have no control over their party right now. They have no control over their base.”

Although Castro professed to prefer “level-headedness all around” among elected officials of all stripes, he maintained that Republicans were leaving their constituents behind – to Democrats’ benefit.

“They’re leaving everyone behind,” he said. “They’re leaving the business community behind, that knows you have to invest in brain power to be a competitive 21st-century Texas. … And, of course, they’re leaving women behind and Hispanics behind and everyone else. It’s not a question of wishing them to be more extreme; we wish for the exact opposite. It’s a comment on the consequence of what they’re doing that I don’t believe they fully realize.” 

What's kinda fascinating about this to me is that I feel precisely the polar opposite from Speaker Straus -- who for a Republican surprisingly makes sense on an occasional basis --  with respect to what's going on the TDP (which is why I can't be a MOT any more.) Today Dems will either elect a progressive woman to chair of the state party or a conservative male. Same in CD-07. Same in other races in other places around the state. I advocated for the only progressive running in the US Senate primary; Democrats instead nominated a Blue Dog from East Texas and a 79-year-old man with a familiar last name who had run as a Republican previously.

Even if you take into consideration that the people in the article are talking about George McGovern forty years ago in this context (and recall that gave us Richard Nixon, a RINO by today's standards), no sane person could consider the developments to date in the Texas Democratic Party as 'moving to the left'. That will be the subject of tomorrow's post, however.

Straus had a tougher audience at the convention, where Rep. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, has set up a booth and is handing out stickers touting his plans to challenge Straus for House leadership in 2013. The speaker got applause, but there also were some calls of “oust Straus” during his speech, and there was a walkout by a large number of convention-goers who left the arena individually but gathered outside to chant “Oust Straus.”

“We’re upset that Straus is not a conservative, and he’s not by any means our candidate,” said delegate John R. Marler of Georgetown. “He has granted to Democrats key committee positions that should never have gone to anybody but Republicans.”

Asked about the boos for others before his own speech, Straus said, “I think it’s disappointing when our party’s leaders or even those who are contenders to be party leaders are booed, but there are no flags for unsportsmanlike conduct at political conventions.” 

Straus got elected -- by Democrats and not-extremist Republicans -- because he was the lesser of two evils running for speaker. It will be the same in 2013. He then hands out committee chairmanships to the opposition, just as every single other Speaker has in the history of Texas.

Try as they like, TeaBaggers cannot, will not ever have total control. They have too much as it is.



Yes, November cannot come soon enough so that these RWNJs get their sacs sails trimmed back a good bit.

It works for me that they don't see it, don't get it.

Democrats: what to see, do, eat and drink while you're here

First, let's begin with what's in close proximity to the Hilton Americas/Geore R. Brown Convention Center, where everything convention-related is happening.

The Grove is the closest restaurant and bar to you outside of the hotel. It's part of Discovery Green, where lots of things will be happening also.  I like The Grove because it's both casual and upscale at the same time. It will probably be crowded with Democrats all weekend, so don't expect to have a quiet conversation. Have the shaved prosciutto with almonds and fruit and a glass of cabernet or a mojito (or something drier and more bitter if you prefer). The Lake House has the inexpensive hamburger and hot dog options with the same fabulous views of the park, just a lot more screaming children.

Two blocks away is downtown's vertical mall, Houston Pavilions. You have everything you could want here; shopping, upscale dining, a food court with Mexican, barbecue, Asian and all the rest, and some great clubs -- House of Blues, Scott Gertner's, Pete's Dueling Pianos. You can even go bowling if you want to.

More, you say? Head a few blocks further northwest to Main, where the light rail is. There you'll find Mia Bella Trattorria, one of the best Italian places in the city -- "try the veal". There's one in the Pavilions we haven't been to, and one on the light rail line we have.  Great brunch, great ambiance. And for some alternative entertainment, wander into Dean's Credit Clothing. This a stone's throw from where we're having the Bloggers Caucus. Lots of places in-between the two.

Need some groceries? Go into Georgia's or the Phoenicia. Both are awesome just to sit and have coffee or a light bite.

If that's not enough, jump the southbound train about four or five stops to the Ensemble/HCC station for some country/Cajun chow at Natachee's Supper and Punch, and browse the cool shops between there and the Continental Club. This is about as close to Austin's SoCo as Houston comes these days. Julia's is really the only thing in that two blocks that's upscale, and the food is marvelous. Someone with a lot of Cuban influences works in the kitchen there; they have that whole Latin/Caribbean fusion thing going on.

Keep in mind that if you feel like closing down the Continental -- or anything else -- the light rail may have stopped by then (it usually quits around 1 am) and you'll have to cab it home. If you catch the train but still can't manage the six blocks back to your bed, call Yellow Cab while you're riding the rail back north to Main St. Station so they're waiting for you when you get there. A six-block cab ride will cost you about $5 -- or maybe $6 or $7 with a nice tip for the driver.

Have fun and stay safe.

Stein captures Green presidential nomination

(Ed. note: As you know if you've clicked in here before, there's more to my political involvement this go-round than just being Blue.)

Dr. Jill Stein became the US Green Party's presidential nominee this week, getting enough national delegates to earn the right to challenge Barack Obama and M$tt R-money. Oh, and Gary "Toke" Johnson.

With 182 delegates required to win the nomination, and 194 delegates now in hand, Stein will go into the Green Party convention in Baltimore, July 12-15, with a clear majority of delegates. She has won over 66% of all delegates allocated, and 27 of 29 Green Party primaries, with the next nearest candidate, Roseanne Barr, at 22%.

Stein, a medical doctor who once ran against Mitt Romney for Governor of Massachusetts, is proposing a Green New Deal for America that will create 25 million jobs, end unemployment, and transition our country to a green economy. Her proposals will also guarantee public higher education and Medicare for all, break up the big banks, and end corporate domination of elections.

"Voters will not be forced to choose between two servants of Wall Street in the upcoming election,” said Stein. “Now we know there will be a third candidate on the ballot who is a genuine champion of working people."

See, that's kind of what the Democrats believe in as well, without all of the wars, drone assassinations, corporate sponsorships, and crapping on labor.

Here is Stein's "Green New Deal" speech, and the written version.



For those of you unable or unwilling to watch anything but a movie or read that much text, here is Stein's more informal campaign video "The Revolution in 8 Minutes":



Stein is coming to Texas and will be speaking this weekend at the Texas Green Party's state convention outside San Antonio. There will be a livestream link to that convention's happenings Saturday and Sunday; Stein is scheduled to speak about 1:55 Saturday afternoon.

Honestly, I'd rather be there than here in Houston but my health won't allow it. I'm going to make the best of what I have and can do; there's still a few Democrats I can heartily support.

More from Socratic Gadfly.

Related posts:

Texas Greens post 56 candidates for state and local offices

Greens likely to remain ballot-qualified in Texas after 2012

James Cargas: one-trick pony

It pains me to write this, and not because of the support I've given to the Lissa Squiers for Congress effort: this past week her campaign was infiltrated by a low-level operative of her opponent's campaign.

After the general election results produced a first-place showing for Squiers in the CD-07 primary contest, she sent out a request for volunteer help through the Carl Whitmarsh listserv; much the same as the Cargas campaign has requested, through the same distribution list,  helpers to stuff "gimme" bags today -- this very afternoon -- for Democratic conventioneers coming to Houston this weekend. Of the half-dozen or so people who attended the Squiers meeting last Sunday, only one person was unknown to the others present. This person barely participated in the free-ranging discussion before hurriedly departing... before the work of addressing postcards began.

He left with a written agenda for the Squiers campaign's strategy for the runoff.

Once I Googled this person's name later that evening, I discovered a LinkedIn profile that contained a resume' listing as a volunteer in the CD-07 campaign, with no candidate's name listed. But that wasn't so much the revealing part. It was the contacts listed there as being a "who's who" of declared Cargas supporters. So then I went to Facebook and searched and found on his profile a 'like' for the Cargas campaign on May 31. No mention either place, needless to say, of support for Lissa Squiers.

(Don't bother changing it now, pal; I have screenshots. You're busted.)

Some of the Squiers supporters present even suspected, based on observations of his body language, that this spy surreptitiously recorded the conversation about Squiers' plans for the runoff.

What the Cargas campaign should do at this point -- if they have any ethical standards whatsoever --  is step forward and publicly disavow this person's "reconnaissance". They should suspend this individual's involvement in their campaign, and they should demand that the plant turn over to the Squiers campaign all the documents he left the meeting with and any recording, if in fact there is one.

Personally speaking, if I needed another reason to disavow the politics of Blue Dog Democrats, I just got it.

Political dirty tricks of this kind really should be reserved for the Republicans, not Democrats. But we already know that the Cargas campaign is being managed by quasi-Republicans, if not actual ones that just can't admit it. Or would rather keep it disguised.

We already know that James Cargas is being managed by Hector Carreno and we know that Cargas, Carreno, and Emil Pena have been business partners in a variety of interests for a long time. We know that Carreno was one of the driving forces ten years ago behind PowerSol Energy Marketers, an outfit referred to by Tim Fleck of the Houston Press as "Little Enron". We know that Pena was involved with the actual Enron as one of their lobbyists. (Pena in fact reported "up to $300,000 in income in 1999 from six clients led by Enron".)

And we also remember a time when Hector Carreno drew the attention of our local legal authorities with respect to his involvement in political campaigns. Republican political campaigns, like the one belonging to Orlando Sanchez.

We know that PowerSol changed its name to Illumina Energy in 2007, and we know that Carreno replaced Cargas as the company's lobbyist ("power marketer"), but that the company's address and phone numbers did not change. Cargas meanwhile went to work for the city of Houston, advising city officials on the bulk purchase of electricity and other power sources.

You don't seriously wonder who Cargas advised them to buy power from, do you?

We know that Cargas was the treasurer of the Emil Pena Interests PAC; in fact as late as 2006 was still signing as treasurer even though the name listed for treasurer was Pena's. We know that Pena's self-named PAC has made a fairly consistent habit over the years of working both sides of the political street. We know that prior to Cargas' tenure as treasurer, the so-called "Stealth PAC" (page 7) had a treasurer named Richard Bianchi, the current Aransas County attorney and former district judge in Harris County who notoriously switched parties after getting elected.

We know that Emil Pena created Generation Power in 2000, with Bianchi in charge of regulatory compliance and Cargas as general counsel.

We know that 2450 Louisiana in downtown Houston is the address of all of the following: the James Cargas campaign, the Upper Kirby Coalition PAC, and the Oilpatch Democrats, among others. We know that despite their advanced degrees and professional experience that these men are spectacularly poor with numbers. Fairly simple numbers.

It's a tangled web they weave when their purpose is to deceive, but the facts can easily be fleshed out. It's almost as if these guys don't really understand how the Internet is capable of revealing all of their situational ethics, all their past history, all their dirty tricks.

James Cargas isn't just a shill and a puppet for energy interests, with his puppet masters being Emil Pena and Hector Carreno. He is, in fact, a one-trick pony, and that one trick is always pretty dirty.
If you're like Bethany, and you're all into corrupt, dirty-tricking Republicans pretending to be Democrats, then you've got your man. Cargas is however not just a one-trick pony but a straw man as well; a stooge for the primary players. Look behind the curtain.

And if you would rather have a community Democrat and not a corporate one; if you want someone who has poured herself out working for children and women and equality issues instead of oil and gas and assorted other power interests and the fat consulting fees that come with them; if you want to vote for a progressive Democrat instead of one being completely controlled by pseudo-Republican horse trainers teaching a pony how to do one (dirty) trick really well... then you've got your woman.

Once again, it really is as simple as that.

Bloggers Caucus at TDP Friday June 8

The best party of the entire convention.

As part of a longer entertainment options post -- probably coming on Thursday morning -- let's begin by saying if you aren't brave enough to be driving around H-Town, then you need to be taking the light rail. You don't want to sit around the Hilton or the GRB all day and all night, trust me. This is the nation's fourth largest city and THE most culturally diverse. It's also still just a great big old Texas town with lots of interesting things to see and do. Get out and get around it, for Pete's sake.

Never mind the previous version of this post, and don't go to W. Main like it says on this flyer; Club Curve is 410 Main Street, directly across from the Preston Street train station (southbound). Here's the map:


View Larger Map

From the Hilton Americas and the GRB, walk about six or seven blocks northwest, up Dallas Street, and then turn northeast (right) at Main and ride the train up one stop or just hoof it the remaining seven blocks. Or you can cab it. There might even be a pedi-cab if you're lucky. Parking downtown can be expensive and problematic so I would avoid that, especially if you're an out-of-towner.

Hope to see you there. I'm not a night owl any longer so don't show up at midnight expecting to meet the biggest, baddest asshole in the Texas progressive blogosphere.

Houston progressive activist events ahead of the Dem convention

-- Today at 4 pm: Justice for Janitors continues their civil disobedience for living wages.

Janitors in Houston continue to earn far less than their union counterparts in other cities, and many still have just four hours of work a night, the same as before the union came on the scene. They're hoping to raise their wage and increase their hours in negotiating a new contract to replace the existing one, which expires Thursday.

SEIU spokeswoman Paloma Martinez blames the lack of progress on "anti-worker sentiment" in Houston's business community, especially against low-wage workers.

-- Move to Amend's David Cobb is barnstorming Texas this week, with appearances in Kingwood this evening, in Houston at the AFL-CIO hall Wednesday night, in Corpus on Thursday night, and kicking off the Texas Green Party's state convention near San Antonio on Friday night.

Move to Amend is the movement to nullify Citizens United via constitutional amendment.

-- Conventioneers: Bring your umbrellas.

-- The Democratic convention's best party of the year, the Bloggers Caucus, is set for Friday evening. More details as they are available.

-- But there are some other good parties to go to, beginning Thursday.Two big ones Friday, here and here.

I'll also be compiling a list of restaurants and bars within walking -- or train -- distance of the Hilton Americas and the GRB downtown, along with my personal recommendations, at the TXD2012 Tumblr blog.

The Weekly Pre-Convention Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is ready to get conventional as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff has his and others' reactions to the election results from last week.  

BossKitty at TruthHugger is ashamed that America's leaders find it expedient to hand the reins of public education over to corporate interests. Education is designed to show us what is already known, and guide us to discover what we need to know. But that interferes with the bottom line: Climate Change: America's Leaders Paid To Mislead.

After relocating from early March to late May, the 2012 Texas primary elections finally took place. WCNews at Eye on Williamson posted this statewide primary analysis.

Poor Seamus the dog was NOT the only car-roof victim of Mitt Romney's abuse that terrible day in 1983, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has video from the archives of the New Hampshire State Police that prove it.  

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants you to know John Cornyn is trying to pass off the funding of basic infrastructure from the Feds to the counties. Nice trick, you rapist enabler, you.

At TexasKaos, Lightseeker reports on two "drive me crazy" outcomes now that the primary electoral smoke has cleared. There is A Conversation We Need to Have about the once and future fate of the Texas Democratic Party and by extension all progressive efforts here in the state.  

The Lewisville Texan Journal finds itself agreeing with Republican Congressman Michael Burgess's bipartisan bill to increase healthcare pricing transparency, but warns that the move will only help up to a point; using existing hospital price data from Texas, they show how difficult it can be to comparison shop healthcare facilities.

Neil at Texas Liberal -- who has not forgotten that the Texas forced sonogram law is state-mandated rape --wrote about the multiple meanings of the Houston Ship Channel.

Sunday Funnies (state conventions week edition)

"Mitt Romney won the Texas Republican primary last night, crossing the crucial 1,144 delegate threshold. What a story! He came from never being behind to clinch the Republican nomination. They said it could be done, and against no odds he achieved the possible!"

-- Stephen Colbert

"Mitt Romney has begun vetting his vice presidential candidates. This is a tough thing because they want to appeal to the Republican base. They want a strong conservative there, but someone who will not upstage Mitt Romney. So the search is on for a strong conservative in a coma."

-- Bill Maher

The Democrats are headed to Houston, named for the Texas giant who led his ragged army on a strategic retreat eastward until finally engaging the enemy at San Jacinto and achieving glorious victory. Bereft of a statewide office holder for nearly two decades, the party still is in its Runaway Scrape phase.

The Republicans are convening in Fort Worth, these days a happy blend of traditional cowboy sensibilities and big-city culture that seems mighty comfortable to suit-and-boots-wearing politicians of the GOP persuasion. Fort Worth is thriving, and so is the party.

What Republican 'thriving' really looks like.

Seamus wasn't the only abuse victim on Romney's car roof that day

And this dash cam video from the New Hampshire State Police's 1983 archives proves it.

Range Resources judge loses primary

Here in Harris County, we have seen what happens when the wealthy try to buy themselves a judge: they win. In Parker County, they take care of business the old-fashioned way: the voters turn him out at the polls.

A Parker County judge who, in the midst of an environmental case, bragged in campaign literature that he had forced the EPA to turn tail lost his Republican primary battle Tuesday.

State District Judge Trey Loftin's next challenge will be to stay on the bench as the case involving gas drilling proceeds.

Steven Lipsky and his wife, Shyla, who sued Range Resources, filed a court motion Tuesday to disqualify or recuse Loftin. The motion says Loftin released campaign mailers urging his re-election on the basis of "rulings he had made against the Lipskys."

The motion further argues that Loftin believed that the outcome of the case would affect his re-election and "thus, the campaign mailers show that Judge Loftin believes that he had a direct financial and personal interest in the outcome of the proceeding, which requires his disqualification."

On Tuesday, he lost to Weatherford attorney Craig Towson, who captured 52 percent of the vote, according to unofficial returns. Towson, who could not be reached for comment, previously said a judge shouldn't "ever comment about a case pending in his court."

Yes, you are correct; I did blog about this last week.

I like it when the wheels of justice grind a little faster than usual. Don't you?

Late last night (and more musings about election results)

-- Glitches push final tally into early morning hours:

There were a few problems coming up with a final tally on Tuesday’s election because of a political party oversight and mostly technical difficulties, pushing the night’s last count to at least 2 a.m. Wednesday.

After a few early-evening hiccups that led to the first results posting 90 minutes after polls closed Tuesday, midnight-hour issues emerged.

First, the Republican primary in precinct 256 had its results stored on a corrupt card, which meant workers had to pull results from another database or, as a last resort, from each e-Ballot station.

An unidentified Democratic precinct had a faulty machine, creating the need to merge results from more machines than planned to arrive at a final total.

Then around 11 p.m., Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart revealed that 1,500 to 2,000 mail ballots that had arrived since Friday still had not been processed.

As well, there’s the possibility that some of the tightest races may turn when ballots from active-duty service members arrive since they have an additional five days past the election for their votes to show up and be counted. Provisional ballots also take a few days to process.

So, there’s a huge asterisk on the Harris County results at this point early Wednesday.

It’s been a rough night.

Yes, and Stan Stanart is an incompetent fool. As you will recall, I observed this process a handful of times during Beverly Kaufman's tenure. She always had EV results posted within one minute of 7 p.m., and she always had enough ballots counted for the local network affiliates to call all but the closest races by their 10 p.m. newscasts.

Unless Stanart fired all the people who used to work for Kaufman (doubtful), the real evidence here is that the brand-new Harris County Clerk doesn't know how to run an election that ran on autopilot in the years before he was elected.

We could have had Ann Harris Bennett in that slot, who in November will challenge the guy who knocked off incumbent Don Sumners last night. Ignore the ramblings of Gadfly Bettencourt in that link.

-- It was a good night for the slate mailers and Super PACs last night. And a bad one for some of Joe Straus' henchmen (aka the 'moderates' in the Texas House).

(E)lection night results brought bad news for some key Straus lieutenants in the Texas House, including Rep. Rob Eissler, R-the Woodlands, chairman of the House Education Committee. Eissler, who lost to challenger Steve Toth, may have suffered from complacency as his campaign latest finance reports showed an unspent balance of $650,000.

In North Texas, Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Irving, another Straus chairman, also fell to a tea party challenger, Giovanni Capriglione. And in East Texas, Rep. Mike “Tuffy” Hamilton, another Straus ally paired in a redrawn district with an incumbent, lost to Rep. James White.

All the defeated incumbents were targeted by Empower Texans, a conservative group which spent close to $120,000 trying to defeat Straus by portraying him as too moderate to lead the Texas House. Financed by Midland oilman Tim Dunn, the group was behind the 2011 effort to oust Straus from the Speaker’s office.

There will be more Mucus involved in the Speaker's race in the run-up to January 2013 and the opening day of the Texas Lege, but my early guess is that the Democrats provide Straus enough cover to get re-elected.

-- Ted Cruz wants five debates with David Dewhurst between now and the runoff on July 31. And Paul Sadler wants in on them, too.

First of all, nobody wants to be tortured with a debate every two weeks between these two conservatives. Not even the most hardcore TeaBagger could stand it.

Secondly, Sadler himself only got 35% of the vote in a 4-way race, so his runoff opponent Grady Yarbrough should be included if Sadler gets in. That by itself is a travesty, as the Austin Statesman notes...

Yarbrough is a perennial candidate who has run as a Democrat and a Republican in previous elections.

Yarbrough has barely any online presence, yet he ran second in the Democratic statewide primary for the US Senate. Apparently the Mensas who voted for him thought he was Ralph.

And unless this a one-party red state like Communist China, the debates should include the Green, David Collins, and the Libertarians -- all six of them. (Unless you want to hold off on the debates until they elect one of the six at their state convention, the second week of June.)

-- Lissa Squiers led wire-to-wire, finishing with 40% of the Democratic vote in CD-07. James Cargas trailed with 34, and Phillip Andrews had 24.

The absolute best results of the evening, IMHO.

-- Highs and lows locally: Lane Lewis prevailed but Steven Kirkland did not. Two bright spots in Texas House races: Lon Burnham won, Leo Berman lost.

-- I'm not going to give a damn so hard about the DA race in Harris County it will be profound.

-- These Twitter compilations must stop. If I want to read a Twitter feed, I'll go to Twitter.

More as always from the Godfather.