This Week in Texans of Infamy

-- I am still holding out on posting anything at length about this miserable POS. As previously mentioned, I am trying. real. hard, Ringo... to be the shepherd. Or at least to not feed the trolls.

This wad craves the attention he is getting and I just don't want to give him any.

-- And the same goes for this douchebag. Even Ed Emmett has figured out that he's a moron. And yet, he makes an appeal to logic. Which of the two is more stupid, really?

-- I'm not cutting Phil Gramm any slack, though. He is precisely...

... the Forrest Gump of financial calamity. Time and again, his face appears at key moments in history. Unlike Gump, Gramm is usually planting the seeds of future disaster whenever he pops up. 

From Gramm, to Kay Bailey, to the current occupant of that Senate seat. It sure will be a beautiful day when Texas Republican voters wake up and smell the coffee, won't it?

-- This is a fellow we should all get to know better: Edward Blum, the godfather of the legal challenges to the Voting Rights Act. As the Supreme Court begins to decide whether or not to eviscerate it, just remember that if Craig Washington's personal financial difficulties had been publicly disclosed a little sooner, Blum might have made it to Congress for a two-year term... just like Steve Stockman.

Why is the VRA still necessary, you wonder? Because this. And this.

-- I would like to be more encouraged about this development, but until Texas Democrats stop advancing online petitions and start registering Latino voters in their neighborhoods -- and then going back and driving them to the polls during early voting periods and on Election Day -- I will remain skeptimistic. Similar to Socratic Gadfly.

Update: Jeremy Bird understands the scope of the challenge.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Paraphrasing from the interview above: "1.5 million citizen Latinos in Texas, 500,000 African Americans, and 200,000 Asian Americans are not registered to vote. In 2008, 54% of Latinos were registered to vote, but only 35% turned out..."

The Weekly Wrangle, expanded

The Texas Progressive Alliance remains unsequestered and without an Oscar as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff talks about what happens after SCOTUS rules on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

As the special election runoff in Senate District 6 lurched into its final days, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs had a couple more posts on the sordid last-minute developments.

How we get Medicaid expanded in Texas makes no difference as long as it eventually gets done. That's why WCNews at Eye on Williamson says this about the Texas GOP: However they want to rationalize it is fine with me.

Neil at Texas Liberal posted a picture of an old VW van with a bunch of Republican bumper stickers. What kind of a lousy counterculture is that! Also, Neil continues to work on his new website that will feature a variety of creative efforts as well as a blog on the 2013 City of Houston elections.

==========

Snips from other Texas blogs...

Bluedaze previewed the tar sands pipeline presentation to be revealed at the National Summit to Stop the Frack Attack, in Dallas on March 2-3.

Burnt Orange Report covered the development of Beaumont's selection as America's Saddest City. Cue the sad trombone.

Dos Centavos reminded Texas legislators *cough*RickPerry*cough* that it is time to support the expansion of Medicaid.

Grits for Breakfast also had a legislative dispatch; 101 House members endorsed a bill that criminalizes taking or distributing photos taken via drone without a court order.

South Texas Chisme rejoiced in the fact that the Texas DPS can no longer shoot at people from helicopters for any old reason, and called for some respect for the remains of migrants who died while fleeing economic hardship.

Letters from Texas gathered the reactions to Rick Perry's California troll-baiting excursion.

And state Sen. Kelly Hancock got spanked by McBlogger for his craven pandering to State Farm.

Sunday Funnies

The latest SD-6 developments

I updated last Wednesday's post with it, but it needs to lead here; yesterday's email from Sylvia Garcia (well, technically her campaign manager).

Just one week out from the runoff election, Carol Alvarado is caught lying to the voters she is asking to elect her. On multiple mailers and television commercials, Alvarado claims that front runner candidate for Senate District 6, Sylvia Garcia, was connected with deputies being laid off in 2011, the year after Garcia left the Commissioners Court. But contrary to Alvarado’s bogus claim, Sheriff Adrian Garcia is quoted saying, "We have improved operations while saving money, we've passed jail inspections, we haven't laid off any employees and we've reduced in-custody deaths," [Houston Chronicle, February 21, 2013]
 

“While these false attacks are disappointing, it is no surprise based on Carol Alvarado’s failed record and tainted career that has included scandal and embarrassment,” said Terrysa Guerra, Campaign Manager for Sylvia Garcia for Senate. [Houston Chronicle, February 17, 2006] “It is clear Alvarado is so desperate, she will say and do anything to get elected.”

Bold emphasis and links are hers. This broadside becomes more relevant with the disclosure made by political prostitute gun-for-hire Burt Levine on his Facebook page early this morning.

This was an incredibly exciting day and a true Texas Patriotic Privlege to join Republican Senator Larry Taylor and fmr Republican nominee for Rep. Wayne Faircloth in knocking on doors for Carol Alvarado for Texas Senate!

Could someone explain to me why so many Republicans are working so hard to get Carol Alvarado elected? Nemmind; I believe I already know the answer to that. So what conclusions should we draw from this?

-- First of all, Burt Levine is either a moron or just doesn't care what kind of last-minute speculation this 1 a.m. posting will generate. My guess is that it's a double shot of both. Burt never does anything for anybody on either side of the street without getting paid for it. It may just be his early Easter gift if somebody isn't actually writing him a check.

-- Given either scenario -- or both -- I still fail to see the advantage that this news provides Team Alvarado. If the post suddenly disappears at some point today... well, at least that will make sense. (There will still be a screenshot.)

Update, Monday 2/25: After some reflection on the above paragraphs, I decided they make too harsh a judgment on Burt's motivations, who after all is just another soul trying to make a living in this world. So I will retract its meanness without removing its general premise, and restate my conclusion in a more artful way: I still hold doubts as to whether Burt's FB post -- and the very prominent Republican support Alvarado receives overall -- helps her in a 70-plus-percent Democratic district... and 90 percent in this special election. That, however, is a decision SD-6 voters get to make (or have already made).

-- I think I am finally ready for this special election season to be over. Anybody else? And so it soon will be, as early voting ends this Tuesday the 26th, and Election Day a week later on March 2.

Hey! And just in time for the 2013 municipal spring mud-slinging to begin. Have you planted your rotten tomatoes yet?

Update II: Katherine Haenschen at BOR links to this post and provides her own analysis. Essentially she is queasy about it, and for some reason that draws rebuke in the comments from whoever it is among Democrats that approves of Alvarado's overtures to the GOP.

Still don't understand what it is that people mean when they say "both parties are just alike"? This is it.