An 'Office" Party

I'm going to be Marching to Stop Executions in Houston this weekend, but I wish I had time to get to Scranton, PA for this:

As Michael Scott, the clueless boss on NBC's "The Office," would say, "ain't no party like a Scranton party."

With that in mind, the city where the Emmy-winning cubicle comedy is set is hosting a weekend blowout for thousands of fans.

The inaugural "Office Convention" promises to be as quirky as the show itself, with highlights including an Office Olympics (Dunderball, anyone?), a character lookalike contest, appearances by cast and crew and performances by the Scrantones, the band that recorded the show's theme music.

"The Office" is absolutely hands down the best thing on television. I try hard to never miss it.

It starts Friday with the "Today" show's Al Roker broadcasting live from the University of Scranton and wraps up Sunday.

About 2,000 tickets ranging from $25 to $250 have been sold so far — 70 percent of them to out-of-town fans.

A remake of the acclaimed British series of the same name, "The Office" is shot in mock-documentary style, following the exploits of Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and his sad-sack underlings at the fictional Dunder-Mifflin paper-supply company.

In its fourth season on NBC, "The Office" boasts a devoted following.

Fans have been making pilgrimages to Scranton, a small city about 100 miles north of Philadelphia, to check out real-life landmarks referenced on the show, from Poor Richard's pub and Farley's restaurant to Lake Wallenpaupack and the Lackawanna County Coal Mine Tour.

One bummer:

Fourteen cast members, along with the show's writers and executive producer, are scheduled to appear this weekend. None of the actors who play the main characters — Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer — have signed on.

Alas, fame and fortune and movie-making (and a fear of being typecast, I suppose) keeps this weekend from being an all-star event.

Maybe next year I'll go, too.

SCHIP re-vote scheduled today

And also a reminder from the children: no health insurance, no photo ops...



BarbinMD sums it up:

Vote for a bill that has the overwhelming support of the American people or stand with Mr. 24% and endanger your own job security? What's a rubber stamp Republican to do?

The trouble with the newspaper bidness

Banjo and blogH cover the Chronic's latest woes: more staff cutbacks coming.

I posted previously about some of my newspaper experience; for the sake of full disclosure, I worked for a handful of Hearst's Texas newspapers, on the ad side, between 1981 and 1992.

The profit margin of an urban daily like the Chronicle probably averages something around 20-25%. It might have dropped into the teens lately. The general state of affairs in the newspaper industry -- going back twenty-five years to my time -- is that as circulation and subsequently advertising continually erode, expenses have to be reduced in order to sustain that margin. See, most newspapers don't cut staff to stay in business; they cut staff to maintain the highest profits for any business you can think of. Smaller "community" newspapers run higher margins; the Plainview Daily Herald ran 30% in 1987 and Hearst budgeted 33% in 1988. I know this because I prepared the corporate budgets both years. When the Beaumont Enterprise was sold to Hearst in 1984, the publisher at the time -- who was also the president of Jefferson-Pilot Publications, the seller -- bragged to the Hearst guys that he was running that newspaper at a 40% profit margin. Their response: "You're not paying your people enough."

"A position-elimination program" is the only way left to Jack Sweeney and his brethren at newspapers large and small, all across the nation, to preserve their bonuses and ultimately their own jobs. Just as it was a generation ago, they're all hoping to make it to their own cushy retirements before the really bad shit hits the fan.

Every now and then I get the distinct impression that the printed newspaper as we have all known it will be read only in a museum by the next generation. See, I grew up reading the funnies with my dad, sitting on his lap. When I was a teenager he would announce, as I ambled into the kitchen in the morning: "the Astros won last night". That's how I became a newspaper reader, not a newspaper employee. And that just doesn't happen any more. Kids get what little news they care about any place except from the newspaper. They're too busy texting to get ink on their fingers.

I have absolutely no idea who's going to pay to gather the news in the future. Those profit margins provided the hundreds of staffers to work city hall, the courthouse, the football games and so on. Newspapers have been paying that freight -- to go out and get the news and then get it to us -- for well over a hundred years. But they don't want to do it any more. Costs too much.

And that's where the breakdown will be -- make that, 'is'. The one between the truth and the spin. If the business model doesn't make it worthwhile to gather news, and everybody just prints or posts the press release, and something like net neutrality stifles the blogosphere ...

We can all whine about bias and lack of coverage and cutbacks, but when the newspaper business quits (more likely than going under), there's precious little in terms of infrastructure in the news business to fill the void. TV and radio haven't been doing that job for years (decades, in some cases).

Maybe the corporate media is lazy and too heavily influenced by its profit motive and its ultra-Republican managers, but it's the only thing most of us bloggers -- and citizens -- have. We kinda need them to hang in there.

Watts will withdraw

Rio Grande Guardian:

McALLEN, October 23 - San Antonio-based attorney Mikal Watts will announce this morning that he is pulling out of the race for U.S. Senate, the Guardian has learned.

Watts, a Democrat, made calls to close supporters early this morning to explain his decision. He cited family reasons.

One of those Watts called was state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, one of the first lawmakers to endorse him.

“Mikal called this morning, around 7 a.m., and told me he was pulling out of the race. He cited family reasons,” Hinojosa said. “Mikal is very close to his kids and he has never held public office before. It can take a lot out of you."

After he didn't appear at the Harris County Democratic Party's Johnson-Rayburn-Richards dinner this past weekend -- having previously paid $10,000 for the privilege of introducing the keynoter, D-Trip-C head Rahm Emanuel -- rumors began to fly that he was considering ending his exploratory campaign. Apparently those rumors are accurate.

This blog has been harsh on Watts' senatorial bid. In the wake of his announcement today that stops his run for the US Senate, let me say to Mr. Watts: thank you for standing for public office. And I wish you would consider a judicial slot; we need better judges on the Texas Supreme Court and the Court of Criminal Appeals, and you would be a fine candidate for either of those.

Al Franken in Texas tomorrow

Sorry Al, but all my money's staying inside the state, and my US Senate contributions will be solely devoted to Rick Noriega. Best of luck to you, though. Seriously. Love your books, loved the way you busted BillO's chops at the book fair, hope you kick Norm Coleman right out.

Just not going to make any more out-of-state contributions when we've got elections here that we need to win.

Naomi Wolf: One step away

The same language, images, manipulation that would-be despots have used in the past to break down existing democracies are being employed now. ... Mussolini created the blueprint, Hitler followed suit, Stalin studied Hitler and these methods just get passed down to the next generation of dictators throughout the world. NeoFascism in ten easy steps:

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy

2. Create a gulag

3. Develop a thug caste

4. Set up an internal surveillance system

5. Harass citizens' groups

6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release

7. Target key individuals

8. Control the press

9. Dissent equals treason

10. Suspend the rule of law

Can't happen here, you say? You don't think so?

In Boulder, two days ago, a rosy-cheeked thirtysomething mother of two small children, in soft yoga velours, started to tear up when she said to me: "I want to take action but I am so scared. I look at my kids and I am scared. How do you deal with fear? Is it safer for them if I act or stay quiet? I don't want to get on a list." In D.C., before that, a beefy, handsome civil servant, a government department head -- probably a Republican -- confides in a lowered voice that he is scared to sign the new ID requirement for all government employees, that exposes all his most personal information to the State -- but he is scared not to sign it: "If I don't, I lose my job, my house. It's like the German National ID card," he said quietly. This morning in Denver I talked for almost an hour to a brave, much-decorated high-level military man who is not only on the watch list for his criticism of the administration -- his family is now on the list. His elderly mother is on the list. His teenage son is on the list. He has flown many dangerous combat missions over the course of his military career, but his voice cracks when he talks about the possibility that he is exposing his children to harassment.

Jim Spencer, a former columnist for the Denver Post who has been critical of the Bush administration, told me today that I could use his name: he is on the watch list. An attorney contacts me to say that she told her colleagues at the Justice Department not to torture a detainee; she says she then faced a criminal investigation, a professional referral, saw her emails deleted -- and now she is on the watch list. I was told last night that a leader of Code Pink, the anti-war women's action group, was refused entry to Canada. I hear from a tech guy who works for the airlines -- again, probably a Republican -- that once you are on the list you never get off. Someone else says that his friend opened his luggage to find a letter from the TSA saying that they did not appreciate his reading material. Before I go into the security lines, I find myself editing my possessions. In New York's LaGuardia, I reluctantly found myself putting a hardcover copy of Tara McKelvey's excellent Monstering, an expose of CIA interrogation practices, in a garbage can before I get in the security line; it is based on classified information. This morning at my hotel, before going to the sirport, I threw away a very nice black T-shirt that said "We Will Not be Silenced" -- with an Arabic translation -- that someone had given me, along with a copy of poems written by detainees at Guantanamo.

Still don't buy it?

I read the news in a state of something like walking shock: seven soldiers wrote op-eds critical of the war -- in The New York Times; three are dead, one shot in the head. A female soldier who was about to become a whistleblower, possibly about abuses involving taxpayers' money: shot in the head. Pat Tillman, who was contemplating coming forward in a critique of the war: shot in the head. Donald Vance, a contractor himself, who blew the whistle on irregularities involving arms sales in Iraq -- taken hostage FROM the U.S. Embassy BY U.S. soldiers and kept without recourse to a lawyer in a U.S. held-prison, abused and terrified for weeks -- and scared to talk once he got home. Another whistleblower in Iraq, as reported in Vanity Fair: held in a trailer all night by armed contractors before being ejected from the country.

Last week contractors, immune from the rule of law, butchered 17 Iraqi civilians in cold blood. Congress mildly objected -- and contractors today butcher two more innocent civilian Iraqi ladies -- in cold blood.

Is it clear yet that violent retribution, torture or maybe worse, seems to go right up this chain of command? Is it clear yet that these people are capable of anything? Is it obvious yet that criminals are at the helm of the nation and need to be not only ousted but held accountable for their crimes?

Is it treason yet?

The Weekly Wrangle

Time again to show some love for the best posts from the members of the Texas Progressive Alliance from the preceding week, brought to you once again by Vince at Capitol Annex. I get to bat leadoff this week:

PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has an advance of the Max Cleland-Karl Rove debate, coming up this Friday, October 26.

Diarist Scott Cobb at Texas Kaos updates on the growing movement to hold rogue judge Sharon Keller accountable for her callous disregard for the responsibility of the Court of Criminal Appeals, while she displays her intoxication with its power.

State senator Craig Estes, Senate District 30, was given numerous examples of Texas Railroad Commission malpractice, negligence, incompetence and cronyism at his recent town hall meeting in Wise County. TXsharon at Bluedaze asks: Will Senator Estes Investigate the RRC's Malpractice?

Adam at Three Wise Men looks into the future to give us his expert opinion on the 2010 Texas gubernatorial race.

McBlogger has been keeping a watchful eye on what's happening in Congress with FISA expansion.

At Half Empty, Hal ponders the question: which Republican candidate can the evangelicals support for President?

Muse vs. state senator Kevin Eltife. A whole lotta safe sex going on, or should the the state of Texas get involved in adults getting free condoms on campus?

Todd Hill at Burnt Orange Report interviews Dan Barrett, the only Democrat in the special election race for HD 97 in Fort Worth.

WCNews at Eye on Williamson reports on some unbelievable statements made by county commissioner Cynthia Long on the children that are being detained at the T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor, Texas.

Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at a state representative, Fred Brown (R-Bryan), who has scheduled an oversight hearing of an agency that is investigating his business partner.

Bradley at North Texas Liberal celebrates one of the first and only times Sen. John Cornyn has been on the right side of the issue: securing H-2B visas for seasonal workers and joining with Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland to help save small business... at least for another year.

Are government emails covered by open record laws? Off the Kuff takes a look.

CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme wonders if a Dallas minister will lose his church's tax-exempt status by slamming Mitt Romney because "he's not a Christian."

Nytexan at BlueBloggin wonders why the Department of Homeland Security purchases products from China when American industry is disappearing and jobs are declining.

The Texas Cloverleaf looks into the pending libel and slander lawsuit against Dallas Republicans, including State Rep. Tony Goolsby.

Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News updated on political news and gossip in the Pasadena area. Like most gossip, one item was wrong.

Think arbitration is fair? Think again. John Coby at Bay Area Houston notes that the bottom line from the data is clear. In the nearly 20,000 cases where NAF [National Arbitration Forum] reached a decision, First USA prevailed in an astonishing 99.6 percent of cases.

Refinish69 at Doing My Part For The Left thinks state senator Kevin Eltife needs some education.

More Sunday Funnies

Sunday Funnies

A Cuban missle crisis in Dallas

(There's been too much nasty talk around here lately, so here's an NBA post.)

Kenny Smith, the former Houston Rocket, expounds on Association expansion:

While on the NBA Europe Live Tour, which featured NBA teams playing in Turkey, Italy, Spain and England, I pondered this question: Is it possible for the league to have teams that reside in Europe?

I've talked to commissioner David Stern on several occasions about this subject, and he contends that due to scheduling, logistical nightmares and time-zone changes, it is out of the question at this time. He also told me that the All-Star game would be too difficult to have in Europe because of the same reasons at this time. He always ends such statements with "at this time." (There's the hint.)

Do I think it's possible? Yes. There are a lot of variables, but if planned correctly, European expansion could and should happen.

I used to be one of those purists that thought basketball is our game and that European players are inferior. Am I right? Who cares? The real truth came from Bill Russell when I was complaining about foreign players and their inclusion. He said, as an African-American, I never should complain about inclusion. So I'm all for adding teams from overseas.

I agree that scheduling would be a huge problem. For example, if there were a team in Spain, it would have approximately an eight-hour flight to the United States. Then when it got here, it would have to deal with the time zone change, a seven-hour difference if it played on the West Coast. How could you give the team fair time to adjust?

The solution is simple: Add approximately six new franchises at once.

They would make up the new Euro Division, with teams based in Italy, Spain, France, England and Greece. Clubs from North America would have to spend two weeks of the regular season in Europe before the All-Star game and again after the All-Star game. To further accommodate this expansion across the Atlantic Ocean, the NBA would have to shorten the schedule to 70 games. (I feel it's worth shortening the season to add the global market to the league!)

I know the next comment from my former NBA purist brothers is: "The NBA is already watered down in talent. These new teams would dilute the league even more!" Do I really have to bring up the Olympics or world championships? Or the fact that American dominance is over?

We have seen Spain, Greece and other countries fare extremely well against our so-called best. The world has caught up. (OK, there – I said it!)

Growing up in New York City, this reminds me of the time when all of the hot rappers came from New York – Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, Run-D.M.C., etc. Then someone realized that, damn, they're rapping in Cali, too, with N.W.A. and Ice-T. Even Coolio ain't half-bad. (OK, I'm overdoing it.) Then came the Dirty South with Outkast and Dungeon Family. Then the Midwest popped off with Bone Thugs and Common … you get my drift?

There is talent out there, and it's creeping into the NBA instead of making a splash all at once. Don't sleep! Do you really think a team featuring Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Dirk Nowitzki couldn't contend? Hell, the past two MVPs came from Canada and Germany. Yao Ming could be next.

So, come on – expand your mind and be global. The commissioner is. And trust me, you will be wearing that Team Italia fitted and the Greece throwback one day. Count on it.

And in the run-up to the beginning of the NBA regular season, a few choice comments from my Rotisserrie tip sheet, Rotoworld:

The Mavs have their own version of the 'Cuban Missile Crisis' going on as they try to prove that they are not soft. Howard's forearm to the back of Brad Miller's head and the fact that Jerry Stackhouse (who has never walked away from a fight) is starting are good examples of changes the team is making in an effort to send the message. If Mark Cuban was on a deserted island, locked in a house with 12 strangers or trekking across the world in a race with his ex-roommate, he might gain a little more street cred than he's getting with the dance thing.

The New York Post reports "the Knicks are monitoring the Kobe Bryant soap opera, but indications are they will not place Eddy Curry in any trade, making a deal near impossible."

Knicks fans' suffering does not look to be ending any time soon. This report seems merely speculative, but if it is true it belongs in Ripley's Believe-It-or-Not.

Sacramento Kings reserve center Justin Williams has been accused by a Sacramento woman of sexual assault, a source told The Bee on Thursday, and the reserve big man has been given an indefinite leave of absence from the team as the investigation continues. The woman told police last week that she met Williams and another woman at a party and went with the couple to Williams' home. The woman said she did not drink before arriving at Williams' home and felt woozy after having a drink at the house. According to the source, who asked to not be identified because the investigation is ongoing, Williams and the other woman tried to have sex with the alleged victim in Williams' bedroom.

Update: The lawyer for Justin Williams, accused of sexual assault, says the sex his client and girlfriend had with a Sacramento woman was consensual:

"The truth is nothing happened that night that was not consensual, and we have proof of it," William J. Portanova said. "While some people may find it distasteful to think about it, it's a reality of 21st-century life." Police searched Williams' house on Wednesday and discovered evidence, but spokespeople for the police refused to say what was found.

Crap. More sex talk on this blog.

Putin: "Political Eroticism"

Moneyshot Quotes of the Week, first from Vladimir Putin. Excerpted for context:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that the US war in Iraq was a "pointless" battle against the Iraqi people.

"One can wipe off a political map some tyrannical regime . . . but it's absolutely pointless to fight with a people," Mr Putin said on television.

"It is strong enough to protect its interests within the national territory and, by the way, in other regions of the world.

"Thank God Russia is not Iraq," Mr Putin added.

When asked about supposed US intentions to gain control over Russia's huge, resource-rich interior, Mr Putin said: "I know that such ideas are brewing in the heads of some politicians. I think it is a sort of political eroticism which maybe gives someone pleasure but will hardly lead anywhere and the best example of that is Iraq."

More on the theory that war is sexual hell from George Carlin, going back a few decades:

I also look at war itself a little differently from most. I see it largely as an exercise in dick-waving. That's really all it is: a lot of men standing around in a field waving their dicks at one another. Men, insecure about the size of their penises, choose to kill one another.

That's also what all that moron athlete bullshit is all about, and what that macho, male posturing and strutting around in bars and locker rooms represents. It's called 'dick fear.' Men are terrified that their dicks are inadequate, and so they have to 'compete' in order to feel better about themselves. And since war is the ultimate competition, essentially men are killing one another in order to improve their genital self-esteem.

You needn't be a historian or a political scientist to see the Bigger Dick Foreign Policy Theory at work. It goes like this: 'What? They have bigger dicks? Bomb them!' And of course, the bombs, the rockets, and the bullets are all shaped like penises. Phallic weapons. There's an unconscious need to project the national penis into the affairs of others. It's called 'fucking with people'.

Broke Brownback quits

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback is preparing today to abandon his bid for the GOP presidential nomination, after struggling financially and falling flat in a key test among Iowa Republicans.

Brownback was expected to announce his withdrawal Friday in Topeka, Kan., where he announced his long-shot bid in January. He spent part of today calling supporters to share his decision.

The Christian conservatives, lately in the news for their whining, bitching, pissing and moaning about Giuliani and the other front-walking candidates, just lost their best hope. Sen. Bareback was the most virulent homophobe of the whole lousy lot:

The 50-year-old, two-term senator was a favorite among social conservatives, who appreciated Brownback's firm stance against abortion and same-sex marriage. But even admirers gave him little chance against better known rivals, such as former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and candidates with far more money, such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

But it was really all about the Benjamins:

Brownback's biggest problem, however, was a lack of money.

In the most recent campaign finance reports, released earlier this week, Brownback reported a mere $94,000 cash on hand, far less than any of his opponents. In all, he raised just less than $4 million, compared with $62 million for Romney and $47 million for Giuliani.

In a gamble, Brownback spent heavily to compete in an August Republican straw poll, hoping a strong showing would vault him into serious contention in the state that will vote first in 2008. But he finished a disappointing third behind Romney and Huckabee, and his campaign never recovered. A Des Moines Register Poll earlier this month showed Brownback with just 2% support; Romney led the survey with the backing of 29% of likely Republican caucus-goers.

Farewell, Senator Brokeback. Don't let the door hitcha where the Good Lord splitcha.

One Republican's sophistry on SCHIP

Behold the asshattery of Rep. Steve King (R-Douchesack, Iowa).

Everyone knows, of course, that Bush's SCHIP veto was sustained today by King, 150 other Republicans and two Democrats not to stop the nation's inexorable slide toward "socialized medicine" but because that money would pay for almost three whole months of military operations in Iraq.

And that's much more important than a bunch of poor sick kids.

Cleland v. Rove, 10/26

Let the following serve as a lesson to organizers of the current snoozers that somehow pass for presidential debates:

First, take a controversial learning institution. Say, Regents University in Virginia, founded by evangelical politician and broadcaster Pat Robertson.

Pick two pairs of debaters. Put former U.S. senator Max Cleland and retired Army general Barry McCaffery on one side. Set up ex-White House guru Karl Rove and former Florida governor Jeb Bush opposite them.

Toss in a question: “Should America bring democracy to the world?”

Then let the feathers fly, leaving the preservation of civilization to a single moderator, PBS journalist Charlie Rose.

This will happen on Oct. 26. Witnesses will be charged $40. Splatter sheets will be provided to occupants of the first three rows.

So far as we know, this will be the first time Rove and Cleland have met. Many supporters of Cleland believe that Rove — during Cleland’s unsuccessful re-election campaign — was behind the TV ad that paired the triple-amputeed, Vietnam veteran with an image of Osama bin Laden.

Rove was asked about it as he exited the White House last month. “We’ve got better things to do than write television ads in Senate campaigns in Georgia,” President Bush’s brain said.

So ... who will you be rooting for?

Nine-Eleven-MoFo '08

Did you catch it live this morning on FOX and Friends?

I'm now convinced that Rude-y is going to be the nominee. Not because Governor 39% has jumped on his scooter fire engine bandwagon, but because the esteemed Jeffrey Feldman says so. The Right, you see, is a lot like teenagers on a Friday night date: they like to be frightened. And just like Bush before him, they like guys who talk tough with no history of ever backing it up. They especially like men who are a little wimpy, a little soft. They really like men who are gay-friendly-just-not-publicly that talk real, real tough.

The Right likes the fact that Rudy will bomb Iran, so they will overlook his three marriages and his cross-dressing, his mobbed-up pals like Bernie Kerik, and his exceptionally rude, selfish behavior. Rick Perry fits right in, you see.

The Log Cabins will be thrilled with a Giuliani-Perry ticket. One man loves gays, the other man IS gay ...

Not Mitt's money, not Frederick of Hollywood's hard-working ethic, and not poor John McCain's pandering to the Christian conservatives is going to stop Rudy. For the record I'd like to be as wrong about this as I would Hillary killing us in Texas, too. Any of the other GOP front-runners would be much easier to defeat.

On the downside -- and on the horrid thought that the nation would actually send the GOP back to the White House -- Texas will have once again exported its sorriest Republican to Washington. David Dewhurst moves up to first-string. A scrum breaks out for the second chair: Greg Abbott runs to the head of the pack.

Make that 'rolls'.

And Rick Perry would inherit all of the assumed authority that Dick Cheney spent eight years amassing. Ponder THAT.

B.A.D.* for the Environment

In honor of Blog Action Day*, here's the video of Friends of Earth Action and their endorsement of John Edwards for president:

The Weekly Wrangle

Time once again for the Texas Progressive Alliance Blog Round-Up. As always, the posts are wrangled by Vince from Capitol Annex.

Rep. Barney Frank responds to GLBT activists: "Now this is the issue: does a political party say to its most militant, committed, ideologically driven believers in purity that they have a veto over what the party does?" Evan at The Caucus Blog responds.

BossKitty at Bluebloggin asks why are so many Texans still illiterate?

The Texas Cloverleaf endorses Karen Guerra for 16th District Court Judge in Denton County.

Burnt Orange Report highlights the hard work being done across the nation: a broad coalition has launched a campaign to override President Bush's SCHIP veto, and Kay Granger is public enemy number 1 in Texas. Ads, analysis, polls, and outrage... BOR has it all.

North Texas Liberal asks, "Could Congress override Bush's veto?" Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Kennedy seem to think that SCHIP is worth fighting for. So do we.

Vince from Capitol Annex notes that Kay Granger should have known better when it comes to her recent "no" vote on the reauthorization and expansion of SCHIP.

Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News cannot stop writing about conservative bloggers repeatedly attacking a family who were in a terrible automobile accident and received government health care and liked it: Maybe next time your kids are in the hospitable you'll be attacked by right-wing idiots, and more slime in the right-wing noise machine.

McBlogger has a story up about a state representative you should know.

A supervisor for CPS Energy in San Antonio has a hangman's noose displayed in his cubicle. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs posts the details, including a photo. Update: A press conference is scheduled for this morning.

Muse notes that Kay Bailey Hutchinson is trying out harder helmet hair styles so that the words of mean bloggers will bounce right off her in her imaginary (or not) run for governor in 2010.

Warning from TXsharon: Calibrate your outrage meter before visiting Bluedaze to read how Bush policies have weakened the Clean Water Act so much that Texas water is no longer fit for drinking, swimming or fishing.

CouldBeTrue from South Texas Chisme notes that presidential candidate Tom Tancredo wants to build that d*mn fence north of Brownsville. Either you're with the fence or he'll move the boundaries so your town's part of Mexico.

Unsurprised at Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize, nor at his acceptance speech, Hal at Half Empty surprises everyone with the Moonwalking Mannequin Bird.

Rattlebrain Randy prefers a little bit of disaster -- sure, it may hurt his constituents but it helps his friends in the insurance industry, notes Blue 19th.

At Texas Kaos, diarist persiancowboy invites members of the general public to sign on to the complaint against rogue judge Sharon Keller for her callous use of judicial power.

Off the Kuff reports that state Rep. Garnet Coleman is urging AG Greg Abbott to sue to block a recent Center for Medicaid and State Operations directive that will result in the loss of CHIP coverage for thousands of children.

Stop Cornyn is fuming about Cornyn's vote against children. After voting against Texas children twice, now Junior John wants a watered-down version to save face. It is time to fully fund children's health insurance.

Sunday Funnies (final edition)

Sunday Funnies (city edition)

Sunday Funnies (first edition)

A hangman's noose in the boss' office *UPDATED*

(Update, 9:15 a.m. 10/15: Welcome to the many CPS Energy visitors to this blog! Please leave a comment regarding this photograph. Be careful NOT to do so from your workstation, however).


Click for a larger view.

This is a photograph from the cubicle of a supervisor at CPS Energy of San Antonio, "the nation's largest municipally-owned energy company providing both natural gas and electric service", according to their website.

The photo was provided to me by a representative of IBEW, which recently organized eleven employees there in the map support services department. I'll let him tell you the rest:

We set up a meeting with management to discuss the 11 employees that joined the IBEW. I received an e-mail from management telling me that I could not come into their building and represent these employees that exercised their rights to join a labor organization. In the past they had been told by management that salaried employees could not join the union. I sent a letter out to non-members working at CPS Energy and explained to them they had the right to join a union. In the past several months since, a number of salaried employees joined the union. In this department they had a black supervisor that was demoted. He took this picture after his demotion and told another CPS supervisor who was also demoted and showed him the photo (above) of the twelve noose, the old testament and the new version and the split between the bibles so they don’t touch, which is a symbol of white supremacy.

I was showed the picture by several other black employees who were also demoted and asked to find other jobs. We started looking into this and found out that people of color, older employees, Hispanics and white female employees were constructively being moved out of the company. A number of them were forced to take a sum of money to retire and leave the company.

Here is a link to KSAT's video of the story.

Hangman's nooses have been in the news far too frequently of late, as anyone who is familiar with the case of the Jena 6 knows. Another supervisor for a public utility company in Nassau County, New York, was apparently making a similar display at his office about a year ago. Jack and Jill document several noose appearances in just the past two weeks across the country. And it was just last year as well that former Sen. George Allen of Virginia gained infamy for his "macaca" remark and was later revealed to have a ficus tree with a hangman's noose in his law office.

Most interesting to me is that while my source indicates management at CPS was notified about this matter more than once and failed to respond, the CEO of CPS Energy, Milton Lee, is African-American, as is the company's vice president and chief administrative officer, Paula Gold-Williams.

Hangman's nooses shouldn't be on display in the offices of a publicly-owned utility company, or any business, in America in 2007. They shouldn't be displayed anywhere, publicly or privately, but obviously racial tolerance still has a long journey ahead.

Let's take a small step forward by contacting CPS Energy and asking them to instruct this supervisor to remove the noose display from his cubicle. Their e-address is feedback@cpsenergy.com .

Update (10/15): A press conference is scheduled this morning:

An International Union Representative of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), representing employees of CPS Energy, will make a public statement and take questions from the press concerning the recent discovery that a manager at CPS Energy keeps a hangman’s noose with Ku Klux Klan symbolism in his office. The press conference will take place on Monday, October 15, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in front of the CPS Energy office at 145 Navarro Street (San Antonio).

An employee discovered the hangman’s noose, photographed it, and informed representatives of the IBEW. A number of minority employees at CPS Energy have suffered adverse personnel actions in recent months and have complained of discrimination. In addition, Union members throughout the CPS Energy workforce have been complaining for months about management’s disregard of established working conditions and acts of retaliation against employees who assert their rights. On October 10, the IBEW’s International Representative was refused entry to CPS Energy offices to meet with management to discuss the deteriorating working conditions at CPS Energy on behalf of employees.

Ralph Merriweather, IBEW International Representative, stated, “The hangman’s noose is the tip of the iceberg. There is a management culture of repression and vindictiveness toward employees throughout CPS Energy. No community can tolerate this kind of hatefulness in a public agency.” Merriweather will address the issue more fully in the Monday morning press conference.

Update (2:15 p.m.) : KSAT.com has a video link to this morning's press conference and reports that the noose has been removed.

An inconvenient Nobel

Inconvenient particularly for the Climate Deniers but also for those who still have a candle lit for a Gore presidency. Two pieces of advice for both parties:

1. Yes, the polar ice is all melted, the polar bears are drowning, we're never going to drill in the ANWR, and you need to re-think that fourth SUV for your kid and those CFLs.

2. It ain't happenin', dreamer. Free your mind and pick one of the candidates who's running (and be happy with your choice).

Congratulations, Mr. Gore.

Sharon Killer's Justice

"Judge Keller's actions denied Michael Richard two constitutional rights, access to the courts and due process, which led to his execution," the complaint states. "Her actions also brought the integrity of the Texas judiciary and of her court into disrepute ... "

Judge Sharon Killer's interpretation of 'justice for all' closes at 5 p.m.

"Justice should be both fair and competent. Here it was not. The result is a man was killed on a day he should have lived," said Chuck Herring, an Austin lawyer who joined in the complaint and who has written on professional ethics and responsibility.

Judge Sharon Killer, who was narrowly re-elected in 2006 over an opponent who barely fielded a challenge, has a longstanding reputation for sending Texans to their death under questionable circumstances.

Judge Sharon Keller, landlord to a Dallas titty bar which has had more than its share of police calls and neighborhood complaints, disagreed with most of her colleagues that a woman whose children burned to death in a accidental fire wasn't criminally responsible.

Keller's killing has failed to draw any response from Texas attorney general Greg Abbott, and two previous attorneys general -- Mark White and Jim Mattox -- have criticized him for his silence.

Sharon "Killer" Keller is way beyond the cartoon conceptions of hanging-tree, Judge Roy Bean, cinematic Texas justice. She is an abomination and a disgrace to the bench, and should resign or be removed from it.

Potential third party candidates Paul and Tancredo

Yesterday's GOP debate (a good wrap-up is here) produced only one surprise: the emergence of a couple of possible challengers to the eventual Republican nominee. Via MyDD, First Read observes that Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo said they might not go along:

Paul and Tancredo said they would not necessarily support the GOP nominee. That is interesting. Does this feeling persist within the Republican Party? Is that bad news for Giuliani? Maybe. Maybe not. Brownback, the "values candidate" said no matter what he would support the nominee -- however grudgingly.

I heard Ron Paul specifically dismiss the possibility of running as a Libertarian in 2008, just last week on the Ed Schultz Show. My own speculation regarding third party challenges is here. Continuing:

... there was the waffling by Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo at the GOP debate about whether they'd support the eventual GOP nominee. Remember, it wouldn't take more than a percentage or two in some states for a third party candidate like Paul or Tancredo to cost the GOP a whole bunch of Bush '04 states out West.

There's also potential for the Christian conservatives to peel off and find a candidate, possibly *choking back maniacal laughter* Rick Santorum.

It appears that the GOP nationally is in the early stages of a major meltdown. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.

Let's stop Bush's warrantless wiretapping

While I have my outrage on this morning:

I am one of the 73% of Americans who oppose George Bush's warrantless wiretapping of American citizens in violation of the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA).

I am outraged that George Bush admits he broke the FISA law at least 30 times by authorizing activities that were illegal -- and I am outraged Congress has not impeached Bush for doing so.

I am outraged that the Bush Administration has lied about its illegal activities for years, especially former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' perjury before Congress -- and I am outraged Gonzales has not been prosecuted for doing so.

I am outraged that George Bush used a false terrorist threat in August to terrorize Congress into legalizing his illegal wiretapping -- and I am outraged Congress has not impeached Bush for doing so.

I am outraged that nearly every Republican and a few dozen Democrats voted for Bush's wiretapping bill.

I therefore demand the following:

(1) Immediate repeal of the "Protect America Act of 2007" enacted in August, or at bare minimum allowing it to expire in January.

(2) Defeat of any further legislation to legalize warrantless wiretapping or give immunity to telephone companies or Bush Administration officials who participated in the illegal wiretapping of American citizens

(3) Prosecution of Alberto Gonzales for lying to Congress when he testified that there was no "serious disagreement" inside the Justice Department over the illegal program, even though then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and his top aides dramatically threatened to resign over the program.

(4) Impeachment of George Bush for violating the Fourth Amendment and FISA over 30 times and for falsely terrorizing Congress into passing the Protect America Act.

(5) Criminal prosecution of Bush, Gonzales, and everyone else who committed these crimes.

Care to join me?

The terrorists on the Right

Easter Lemming has compiled the data, so I don't have to. Read all of it. One of the excerpts and links there is from Hunter at DKos, who also has the outrage:

It's long past time for people to stop treating Fox-style, Malkin-style, Limbaugh-style conservatism as merely a "political" phenomenon. It may once have been, but it isn't now. As of this millennium, it's nothing but a hate movement with neckties. Protofascism with bright, patriotic logos. Stop treating it with anything but revulsion and disdain. Stop pretending for even a bare moment that they are anything more than thugs.

The bile generally accepted as conservative discourse from people like these, and Coulter, and Hannity, and O'Reilly, isn't something that we can continue to ignore.

The BS over the MoveOn advertisement, the "phony soldiers" remark by Limbaugh, the obsession over contrivances like this will not be allowed to dominate the framing of the debate over who is best qualified to lead this nation out of the moral quagmire that Bush led us into, and from which someone will have to extricate us.

We are going to have a debate over how best to end this war, and not over flag lapel pins. We are going to have a debate over how best to address the concerns of climate change, not whether or not it exists or who's responsible for it.

We will progress on the challenges we face, not refuse to acknowledge them or allow ourselves to be preoccupied by inanities.

As citizens we simply no longer have the luxury of being distracted by Cavemen or American Idol; we are now compelled to look at the circumstances created by the unethical leadership which derived from our earlier apathy and begin making improvements to our republican democracy.

Before it collapses on our heads.

Of, By, and For the Corporations

The Federal Communications Commission is doing a swell job communicating with lobbyists, but with the public? Not so good, according to a government report.

The Government Accountability Office says the agency tips off some people with business before the commission in advance about what items are coming up for a vote, usually before the public is notified.

"Situations where some, but not all, stakeholders know what FCC is considering for an upcoming vote undermine the fairness and transparency of the process and constitute a violation of FCC's rules," the GAO said.

Just SOP for an administration run on cronyism.

A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had it until the al-Qaeda release.

Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company's Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide.

The founder of the company, the SITE Intelligence Group, says this premature disclosure tipped al-Qaeda to a security breach and destroyed a years-long surveillance operation that the company has used to intercept and pass along secret messages, videos and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group's communications network.

Slightly more over the line toward actual recklessness. On par with the outing of Valerie Plame. Of course, when the extent of one's foreign policy expertise is dependent on leaking sensitive, classified information to Fox News sometimes one has to blow valuable intelligence cover in order to do it.

Those who recall the indignity of President Richard Nixon having to declare, in response to a question from the press, “I am not a crook,” must have winced yesterday when President George W. Bush, also talking to the press, was forced to avow, “This government does not torture people.”

That the questions had to be asked speaks volumes in itself. That the answers from both presidents were thoroughly unconvincing says just as much.

Or perhaps Bush was only suggesting that our military and our private contractors may torture people but "this government" does not.

We already knew about the "few bad apples" at Abu Ghraib. But are we still performing extraordinary rendition to countries like Turkey or is "this government" outsourcing torture to firms like Blackwater?

Is this the real reason for having 130,000 soldiers and 180,000 mercenaries? And what is the point of extracting intelligence data by waterboarding if you're going to leak it to the media? To keep the low-grade fear factor going among the general (sheeple) population?

Andrew Sullivan, formerly one of Bush's buddies:

The way in which conservative lawyers, and conservative intellectuals, and conservative journalists aided and abetted these war crimes; the way in which the president of the United States revealed so much contempt for the law that he put a candidate to run the Office of Legal Counsel on probation before he appointed him in order to keep the torture regime in place, the way in which Republicans and Democrats in the Congress pathetically refused to stand up to these violations of American honor and decency in any serious way (and, I'm sorry, Senator McCain, but in the end, you caved, as you always do lately): these will go down in history as some of the most shameful decisions these people ever made. Perhaps a sudden, panicked decision by the president to use torture after 9/11 is understandable if unforgivable. But the relentless, sustained attempt to make torture permanent part of the war-powers of the president, even to the point of abusing the law beyond recognition, removes any benefit of the doubt from these people. And they did it all in secret - and lied about it when Abu Ghraib emerged. They upended two centuries of American humane detention and interrogation practices without even letting us know. And the decision to allow one man - the decider - to pre-empt and knowingly distort the rule of law in order to detain and torture anyone he wants - is a function not of conservatism, but of fascism.

Fascism? I think I've heard that mentioned before. Mussolini: "Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power."

There is no doubt - no doubt at all - that these tactics are torture and subject to prosecution as war crimes. We know this because the law is very clear when you don't have war criminals like AEI's John Yoo rewriting it to give one man unchecked power. We know this because the very same techniques - hypothermia, long-time standing, beating - and even the very same term "enhanced interrogation techniques" - "verschaerfte Vernehmung" in the original German - were once prosecuted by American forces as war crimes. The perpetrators were the Gestapo. The penalty was death. You can verify the history here.

We have war criminals in the White House. What are we going to do about it?

What, indeed.

The Weekly Wrangle

Time once again for the Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Blog Round Up. This week's round-up is compiled by Vince from Capitol Annex.

TXsharon says, "YOU SUCK AT&T" and she can only say that because she doesn't use AT&T. Over at Bluedaze she tells why, if you use AT&T for your Internets, you can't say they suck.

Stace at Dos Centavos reports on racism and bigotry committed by a corporation and a UT fraternity.

What's really going on in Irving? Xanthippas at Three Wise Men notes there's more going on in the immigration crackdown than possible profiling and arrests.

CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme notes that NOW wants to know why U.S. District Judge Judge Samuel Kent was 'punished' with a 4-month vacation after the investigation into sexual harassment charges.

Criticism of Hillary Clinton's laugh is no laughing matter, so says PDiddie at Brains and Eggs in HRC:LOL.

Might be time for a bit of horsetrading on the floor of the Senate, and one of Texas Kaos' regular diarists, Fake Consultant, has a bit of advice on the subject for Majority Leader Harry Reid in On Larry Craig and Filibusters, or Wanna Make a Trade?

Truth, it has been said, is the first casualty of war. The Republican-Media coalition must have declared war on Social Security, and Blue 19th exposes their lies.

Human rights advocates cheered the Williamson County commissioners' vote to sever ties with the operator of the T. Don Hutto holding facility for undocumented immigrants, but Eye On Williamson's wcnews wonders if a battle within the Republican party over the county's share of the profits may have driven their decision.

McBlogger at McBlogger speculates as to the reasons Sharon Keller (chief justice of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals) needed to get out of work at 5 on Sept. 25th.

Vince at Capitol Annex tells us about the Texas Conservative Coalition's new Election Integrity Task Force, its new Chairwoman and its likely recommendations.

Peter at B and B writes about the quixotic attempts by a group of environmentally conscious Republicans to get their chosen political party to care about conservation and stewardship: Republicans for Environmental Protection, all 70 of them, meet in San Antonio.

Off the Kuff looks at the ongoing dispute between the Harris County Appraisal District and the state comptroller over how commercial properties are taxed.

In a Texas Kaos dairy, Dallas and Denton drinking water at risk by TxDOT's route selection choice for FM299, Faith Chatham's shares a letter from Highland Village parents group activist/homeowner Susie Venable to mayor Tom Leppert of Dallas regarding the city water department's failure to monitor possible MTBE contamination issues. Despite cries of running out of money, TxDOT selected the only route (of 8) which would double project costs by requiring bridges to be built across three tributaries to Lake Lewisville (the drinking water source for Denton and Dallas Counties) in the area of the lake already contaminated by MTBE.

Gary at Easter Lemming updates the Pasadena mayor Manlove resignation and his running for Lampson's seat. There are a lot of happy faces at city hall. Easter Lemming broke the story back on September 22nd.

Trinity Trickey strikes again at The Texas Cloverleaf. This time pro-toll road literature features the war on trees and the fight against Angela Hunt by the powers that be. Only in Dallas.

This week's installment of GLBTube at the Houston GLBT Political Caucus Blog is a double feature: first, a sampling of clips related to ENDA; secondly, gay Republicans are running ads in order to sabotage hypocritical presidential candidates!

WhosPlayin hammers away on GOP Congressman Michael Burgess for dissing Muslims and being one of 30 boneheads to vote for giving mercenary firms like Blackwater a license to kill.

The Texas Blue looks at how the evangelical social movement isn't playing nice-nice with the Republican Party any longer, and why that is good for America.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson -- author, syndicated columnist, political analyst and commentator -- is making a virtual book tour stop at Para Justicia y Libertad on Oct 11 to discuss his new book The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation Between African-Americans and Hispanics.

Hal at Half Empty counts a Lucky Seven of candidates that want to run against Nick Lampson in CD-22. He ROFLs and LMAOs.

Sunday Funnies (Really Late Edition)

RNC logo's "wide stance"

So much snark, so little time.

A prison-striped, starry-eyed pachyderm, on his hind legs (they only go two-legged when they're engaging in coitus), gathering behind next year.

Or perhaps ...

(I)t really does look like an elephant that just got ran over by a truck and is now splattered and dazed on the ground, covered in skid marks.

All the good ones have already been taken. But there's plenty of bad ones left, and they're all pretty funny.

TexBlogs on SCHIP

President Bush yesterday vetoed an important and widely supported bi-partisan expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) (H.R. 976). WhosPlayin takes a look at what the blogs of the Texas Progressive Alliance are saying about this terrible move:

Adam at Three Wise Men writes: Bush uses veto pen to strike health care for kids



Blue 19th takes Randy Neugebauer to task for being willing to send billions to Iraq, but not to help children at home.



Blue 19th also uncovered a transcript of a secret press conference featuring the President, the Governor, and Rep. Randy Neugebauer. Put your sensibilities on hold and enjoy.




In examining Bush's veto of the SCHIP reauthorization and expansion, Vince at Capitol Annex notes that this is one of the President's worst actions in office and also points to statements on the veto from a pair of Texas legislators, Mike Villarreal (D-San Antonio) and Ellen Cohen (D-Houston).



Muse interrupts her outrage at the veto to send Bush a Bible verse, and remind him that his approval numbers are half of the percentage of Americans who approve of the legislation. She wonder if what's next is clubbing baby seals and drowning kittens.



Eye On Williamson calls Bush and Rep. John Carter on their votes against children, for private insurance corporations and urges the people to get involved: Bush Vetoes Childrens Health Care & John Carter Is Right By His Side.



Matt Glazer of Burnt Orange Report notes that the non-partisan Center for Public Policy Priorities urges Texans to encourage Senator Cornyn and the 18 Texas Congressmen who voted against it to change their votes to override the veto. Matt also suggests that Bush, Perry, Cornyn, and McCaul hate children and encourages us to show our outrage at a rally for kids health.



Charles Kuffner of Off the Kuff notes that Bush is acting ashamed of this veto and explores the numbers needed for an override.

Arkansas Traveling

As previously referenced, I'll be driving through beautiful East Texas on Thursday with an overnight in Little Rock, spending Friday morning touring the Clinton Library and Friday evening watching the University of Arkansas Razorbacks (or Ladybacks) take on the Georgia Bulldogs (or Lady Bulldogs) in a SEC women's volleyball matchup. #4 is the oldest child of my youngest brother and the team's MVP.

On the weekend our options include attending the Arkansas -- Tennessee-Chattanooga football tilt or the Bikes, Blues, and BBQ rally on Saturday, then watching the Ladybacks on Sunday afternoon versus the Auburn Tigers (or Tigerettes) and returning to Texas Monday.

Once again please don't let any hurricanes come through Houston while we're away. (Y'all didn't do a very good job last month when we learned Humberto was coming while we were at the airport.)

I won't be taking any coats and ties to wear. I will be test-driving the Laptop Connect card I recently acquired for on-the-go-surfing in places that time forgot. So expect to see sporadic but not spasmodic blogging.

(I hate that word "spasmodic". It always makes me envision someone having an epileptic seizure. Or some poor woman who can't stop menstruating.)

Lest We Forget

Rush Pigbaugh failed to serve his country in Vietnam because he had a boil on his ass.

VoteVets.org puts the wood to him:



Who's the phony now?

HRC: LOL

I have previously come clean on my distaste for Madam Clinton as the Democratic nominee, but that's almost purely pragmatic. She's too conservative for my taste, and she's far too beholden to the corporate POV, and yes, she is going to be toxic to every other Democrat on the ballot with her, particularly throughout the South.

I thought The Laugh was fake and forced when I heard it several times last week, as Hillary made the rounds of the Sunday Morning Talking Heads. If it makes other people feel like I do -- a little uncomfortable with the phoniness -- then she may have a real problem.

Emphasis on May.

I think it walks right up to the edge of misogyny, though, to call her laugh a cackle. See, witches cackle. As we move toward Halloween, it's inevitable now that we're going to see some little kids (and some not-so-little ones) dressed up as Hillary the Witch, pointy hat and broom, cackling. That's fine; jocularity and biting humor and all.

But I really don't want to see the Beltway pundits start to pull out words like 'cackle', because words like 'bitch' will shortly follow. And worse. That's not even safe ground for the Faux News pimps.

I'm calling bullshit now on our media trying to make that her meme.

The G.O.D. Party (not the GOP)

I wrote previously about the possibility of third-party challenges in 2008, but I admit I never thought the fundies would get so fed up they would feel like quitting:

Some of the nation's most politically influential conservative Christians, alarmed by the prospect of a Republican presidential nominee who supports abortion rights, are considering backing a third-party candidate.

More than 40 Christian conservatives attended a meeting Saturday in Salt Lake City to discuss the possibility, and planned more gatherings on how they should move forward, according to Richard A. Viguerie, the direct-mail expert and longtime conservative activist.

As if the Republicans didn't have enough problems. On the other hand: Forty folks? As Arlo Guthrie sang in "Alice's Restaurant", ten more and people may think it's a movement.

Since Rudy 9/11 is an abortionist and neither Grandpa Fred nor Mitt the Flip-Flopper are Christians, and with Newt out suddenly, the God Squad is going to have to rely on the appearance of another saviour in 2008. And prayer ain't workin' for them.

I only wish these poor fools had decided to do this in the Eighties. You know, before the Reagan Revolt.

1,153 and $159,041

Our little portal collected 812 of those, and $141,489.16.

Rick thanks you, and we thank you.



"Now with this new dimension in American politics, the netroots allows for regular folks like me who have devoted their lives to public service to step forward and stand for higher office.


No longer do you have to be a celebrity or a self-financed millionaire to offer yourself for public service.


The netroots, in large part, have leveled the playing field.


The netroots component is going to be a critical piece to defeating John Cornyn and getting the state and nation back on track after this administration has so misled us."


Update (6:30 p.m.): Noriega raised a total of $570,000 for the quarter just ended. The netroots contribution was 27.9% of that tally.