The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance congratulates the city of New Orleans for its first Super Bowl as it provides an instant replay of its blog highlights for the week.

Something stinks about the recent TCEQ Barnett Shale air quality testing in Fort Worth and in Flower Mound. It's all in Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Off the Kuff looked at a report on the economic impact of dropouts.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme sympathizes with Lamar Smith's constituents who were told they must contact Smith's office if they want him to stop illegally calling their cellphones. Smith's breaking the law and his solution is to make his constituents ask him to stop.

At Texas Vox we're pleased as punch to see that Austin isn't alone in preparing for a clean energy future; Portland General Electric plans to shut down its coal plant by 2020!

WhosPlayin reposted a article from 2007 about the corporation: Don't hate the player, change the game, which is especially apropos considering the news this past week.

A Republican in Democrat's clothing tries to ride into office in Dallas County. SDEC members and precinct chairs say 'no way' to this Eagle Forum darling at The Texas Cloverleaf.

Citizens of Texas say &^%$ Governor Perry! at Bay Area Houston for screwing up the state after ten years. Add your own!

WCNews at Eye On Williamson takes a glass half-full approach in analyzing the muffed election last week. Let's HOPE it's seen as a wake up call.

Right-wing bloggers gathered in Austin to worship Rick Perry's pistol. Seriously. Read the entire revolting display of sycophancy at Brains and Eggs.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is continually amazed at the general ignorance concerning the actual words in the US Constitution. Interpretations abound from the mouths of people who have never read the document, or do not comprehend the words in context. Embellishments and fantasy surrounding the Consitution are spoken every day. What is especially disturbing is how these fantasies infiltrate America's politics. To be elected in some regions, a politician must fertilize the fantasy. Perspective must return to how Americans regard the Law of the Land: American Theocracy divorces US Constitution, promotes terrorism.

Over at TexasKaos, Boadicea offers a little not-so-subtle advice to Democrats who find themselves unmanned by the events of last week. She calls it Dear Democrats: Balls. Trust me, you will like the video she found to illustrate her point!

Neil at Texas Liberal made note of the fact that just two months remain before his tenth wedding anniversary. Neil is damned glad about his marriage. Neil is not certain he could advocate for liberal causes if he did not have such a solid personal relationship in his life to help him manage his frequent anger at the world. The personal and the private are often connected in many ways that we may not often consider.

Caption Kay Bailey and the Quaker Oats Man

Here, I'll get us started:

"Speaking of Haiti ... what color did you re-do your bathroom in?"

"I know what it looks like, but I'm telling you it's an IED."

"I appear to have killed your dog. But really, isn't it better off anyway?"

"Next on the History Channel: 'When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth'"

"Come gaze into our little pond of fathomless corruption, Senator ..."

"How long do you think he will vomit like that?" ...
"I can't say. He went for 67 minutes when we made him buy the Rangers."

========

* Inspired here. Sorry, but comments are F'd up thanks to Haloscan and Blogger. Will continue working on a fix.

Gov. Perry creates jobs for Texas felons

Thanks, Governor Perry:

Gov. Rick Perry's campaign has unknowingly paid convicted felons as part-time workers under its incentive program to turn out voters for the Republican primary.

The campaign lists about 300 part-time workers on the financial disclosure forms it filed with the state, recruits under the "Perry Home Headquarters" program that pays people to get others to sign up as a Perry supporter and pledge to vote. A handful have criminal histories, a Dallas Morning News review shows.

No really, THANKS! I think it's great that he's giving these people opportunities in this economy when they would have few even in a good one.

"People in life make mistakes," said Perry spokesman Mark Miner. "It doesn't mean they can't get a second chance and work hard. That's what these people are doing. They are out there trying to change their lives and make a difference."

Hear, hear! (Spin, spin.)

Beyond that, the program has become a money-making opportunity, especially for those with extensive social networking profiles. Some may be in it more for the cash than the candidate. For instance, one lists herself as a Facebook fan of President Barack Obama, an unlikely political pairing.

Well maybe she's, you know, just another disillusioned Democrat.

...Joshua Furrh of Fort Worth, convicted of possession of a controlled substance and sentence to three years probation in 2007, was paid $480 by the Perry campaign.

He acknowledged that he was on probation but declined to discuss his case any further or to talk about the Perry program.

"He's going to make a great governor, again," Furrh said.

Good on ya, buddy. Don't buy any more dope with it.

Enterprising workers use their Twitter and Facebook accounts to help them recruit. Shaniqua Curry of Denton earned $3,420 for her effort, which included a plaintive Twitter plea: "HELP ME RAISE MONEY FOR MY NEXT CAR!!! COPY, PASTE, AND SIGN UP TO SUPPORT RICK PERRY!" the tweet read.

Maybe Shaniqua can cross-sell with her Avon or Amway network. Yeah, that's the ticket!

"As a reminder, you have the potential to receive an additional $20 for each headquarter that fulfills their commitments of voting early in the primary (Feb. 16-26) and recruiting 11 voters," wrote Elyse Derian, the Houston regional director for Perry's campaign. "Please take these next few weeks to encourage your headquarters to recruit those 11 individuals to commit to vote!"

Needing to focus on getting voters to the polls, the Perry campaign scrapped part of its incentive pay.

"For those of you that are being compensated for your work, the campaign will not compensate you from this point forward for any new" recruiters that are brought in, Derian wrote this month. "However, the bonus for getting your [recruiters] to identify and turn out 11 registered voters is still as is."

Derian also urged the workers to make sure the people they recruited were registered to vote. Many of the names turned in by the part-time workers were either not registered to vote or lived outside of Texas.

Campaign officials remain confident the program will help Perry at the polls.

"It's doing what we said it would do," Miner said. "When you're taking on an unprecedented effort like this, there is always room to grow."

Who wants to be a millionaire? Thanks again, Governor Perry!

(You don't think any of 'em could also be working for ACORN, do you?)

Extra Sunday Funnies

TeaBaggin' bloggers fellate Rick Perry's gun barrel and boots

I couldn't make up shit this crazy if I tried with all my might and smoked heroin too:

Gov. Perry looked over at me and asked if I wanted to squeeze off a few rounds with his personal handgun. I jumped at the chance. So there we are, Gov. Perry and I, squeezed into a 5′ wide alley ... and the next thing I know, Gov. Perry has cocked and loaded his handgun, and hands it to me and says, “It’s live.”

There I am, standing no more than 6-9″ from the Governor of Texas, holding his loaded handgun. ...

-- Robbie "Douchebag" Cooper

During his speech, at one point the Governor hoisted his leg up onto the table, lifted up his pant leg to reveal his specially made leather boots with a cannon and insignia "Come and Take It!." He pointed to Andrew and said this is what the spirit of Texas is all about.

-- Eric Dondero, "Yes, that really is the Governor himself who Tweats"

Don't miss the photos of all the TeaBagging, circle-jerking conservatives shooting their wads.

If you ever really wondered why Texas is so screwed up, you have a small bit of raw, naked evidence at those links.

Thanks, Governor Perry.