We know a million bucks ain't enough

How much is? How much money would it take for the current Attorney General of Texas, Greg Abbott, to say: "My moral values preclude me from making a ruling in this case":

One thing you have to like about Texas politicians is their resistance to embarrassment.

Take the case of Attorney General Greg Abbott. Last Dec. 15 he received $100,000 in campaign contributions from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and his wife. The next day, he received a letter from Rep. David Swinford of Dumas, chairman of the House Committee on State Affairs.

Swinford wanted Abbott to issue a formal opinion on whether Grandma, a.k.a. state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, had the authority to conduct a review of the performance of the newly created and controversial Texas Residential Construction Commission.

...

But the notion that the attorney general can take $100,000 from someone with a direct interest in his ruling is outrageous. And it's actually worse. Since 2001, Abbott has received $1.1 million from Mr. and Mrs. Perry.

Memo to Rep. Swinford: Don't bother asking the attorney general for an opinion on that. I phoned and e-mailed his press office Friday to discuss the issue but received no response.

Since the Attorney General and his staff likely started their holiday weekend early last Friday and couldn't get back to Casey with a response, we'll just have to answer for him:

"There IS no limit, according to my well-documented Christian principles. There is NO MAXIMUM amount of money I will accept that would prevent me from passing legal judgment in favor of my largest campaign contributors.

"After all, billion-dollar corporations are people, too."

Update: John Cobarruvias of Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings is personally offended. And muse adds more.

A pause in the political action

... to once more tip the cap to the Astros' one certain Hall-of-Famer, who has the Babe in his rearview mirror after yesterday:

Only big names remain. Craig Biggio passed Babe Ruth for 37th on the all-time hit list Sunday with his 2,874th. Next is Mel Ott, a Hall of Famer, and after that Frankie Frisch, a Hall of Famer, too, and following him a list of luminaries leading up to one of the few numbers in baseball with any gravitas.

Health permitting, Biggio, a spindly kid from Long Island whose uniform has seen more dirt than Pigpen, will reach 3,000 hits early next season. He is, remember, 40 years old, and though he has not taken to pounding prune juice, his days no longer resemble June 29, 1988, the one on which Biggio singled off Orel Hershiser, in the midst of a Cy Young season, for his first big-league hit.

"Now," Biggio said, "you wake up and you go to the bathroom more – and you hurt more when you walk to the bathroom."

Brother Biggio, I can relate to that last part. I hope you keep pounding 'em out all the way to Cooperstown.