Monday, January 14, 2008

The Weekly Wrangle

Once again the TPA's finest postings from the past seven days are collected (thanks to Vince at Capitol Annex).

Muse found the potties at the Harris County D.A.’s office -- thereby making her qualified to be District Attorney (according to Kelly Siegler). "Muse 2012: Qualified and Potty Location Trained."

Hide the silver! Off the Kuff says Tom DeLay is back in town.

CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme notes that Kay 'Bye Bye' Bailey Hutchison is getting grief from the knuckle-draggers in her own party for the recently passed border fence amendment. Apparently even a little bit of sanity must be stamped out by the Republican base.

Early voting, Hal at Half Empty says, may just be something ALL Democrats need to consider in order to avoid confusion at the polls when locations at schools are moved (due to TAKS schedules) this coming March.

The FairTax (Mike Huckabee's 30% national sales tax scheme), Texans for (Tort) Reform, and Houstonians for (Ir)Responsible Growth all have one billionaire in common: Leo Linbeck Jr. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs provides the 411 on Linbeck's various conservative-populist-activist shell companies.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson points to an inane AAS editorial on the AG's health care gambit.

Harry Balczak at McBlogger found an interesting take on the candidates in the presidential election.

Jaye at Winding Road notes that these are the times that try Democratic souls.

Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News wants Obama or Clinton to pay the $2,000 and establish a precedent of auditing and hand-counting electronic ballots. The complete series of the New Hampshire results and the reasons why it may be a good idea to audit is here.

Vince at Capitol Annex notes that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is testing the waters for his 2010 run for lieutenant governor with his asinine child insurance program.

BossKitty at BlueBloggin reviews the history Of US-backed dictators - redux.

Stace at DosCentavos bids a fond farewell to the history-making candidacy of Bill Richardson and shares his thoughts and feelings on supporting the first Latino presidential candidate.

John Coby at Bay Area Houston wonders why state representative John Davis was a no-show in the local paper's write-up concerning the race for HD-129.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Borris Miles disappoints me, again

I didn't particularly like it when he played art censor, and I don't think too highly of his gunslinger mentality, but both incidents were surprisingly quite popular with the majority of his constituency.

But this -- if the police report is accurate, if these accusations are not the politically motivated exaggerations of a group of people associated with former HD-146 Rep. Al Edwards -- is almost too much:

The Harris County District Attorney's Office is investigating a complaint that state Rep. Borris Miles, D-Houston, made threats and brandished a gun at a holiday party last month.

According to witnesses, Miles entered a St. Regis Hotel ballroom uninvited, confronting guests, displaying a pistol and forcibly kissing another man's wife.


There's more, and it gets worse for Miles. He's going to have to do some damage control, if there's any that can be done.

I have blogged extensively about Miles, my support of him as a former precinct chair in his district, attending his swearing-in ceremony in Austin, and the ridiculousness of his predecessor, confirmed Craddick acolyte Edwards. Remember one of the things he's famous for, the too-sexy high school cheerleaders in the state? Jon Stewart is here to remind you:



There will be more of this story to be told and re-told between now and March 4th, when Democratic voters will determine which of the two men gets to represent the 146th in Austin (the district is about 90% blue, so it's all about the primary). For now, and provided there isn't further embarrassment to be endured from Miles, I believe he's still the right choice for the Texas House.

But it's getting a little shaky for me, and certainly many others.