Voter ID : the 21st-century poll tax

Despite innuendo, there actually is no proof of any widespread fraud in Texas, at least not the kind that government ID would take care of. In fact, there are far greater possibilities of fraud or malfunction with Texas’ paperless electronic voting machines.

That's the moneyshot from James Harrington, the director of the Texas Civil Rights Project.

This government ID scheme works against older voters who no longer drive or travel (as we saw with the old nuns denied the ballot in the recent Indiana primary), students in college, voters with disabilities, minority and poor people, new voters who recently became citizens, and homeless individuals. No matter whether people have voted in their precinct, are known to election staff, or have other ID, they still must get a driver’s license or specified government ID.

Texas Republicans lead by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state Rep. Leo Berman (Tyler) want to impose the same burden on Texas voters. Surely, although they would deny it, their real agenda is to dilute the electoral strength of individuals, who tend to vote Democratic. There is no other viable explanation.

That's not going to slow them down, though.

Texas originally started out enabling people to vote, rather than impeding them. The delegates to the 1875 convention, which gave us our current constitution, lead by Grangers and progressive Republicans, rejected a variety of electoral impediments: poll taxes, literacy tests, property taxes, and multi-member legislative and judicial districts.

The delegates rejected schemes to limit suffrage because they understood that denying the franchise to African-Americans inevitably would deprive them of the political power they needed to break state government's unholy alliance with big business, railroads, and monopolies.

The 1876 Constitution reflects a populist revolt that gave Texas some of the broadest suffrage rights in the nation. For example, until 1919 non-citizens could vote if they met the residency requirement and declared their intent to become citizens.

Anti-voting laws came into Texas in the early 1900s to disenfranchise African-Americans who voted in significantly higher proportions than did the whites. In fact, African-American voter turn out reached 80 percent in some areas. The poll tax, the white primary, and multi-member districts all became law. Even those tricks didn’t work totally, and the KKK used a violent campaign to suppress black voter turnout. Similar tactics kept down Mexican-American voting. This all lead Texas further down the path of racism and segregation.

The Voting Rights Act and Supreme Court decisions undid much of that history, and minority electoral strength increased dramatically. The Republican Party’s reaction since has been to send “poll watchers” to minority precincts around the state to depress voter turnout through intimidation, even though there was no recent election malfeasance history. Dewhurst and Berman want to add yet another hurdle to people voting.

The Republicans decry voter fraud as a problem akin to illegal immigration; the only difference is that they have failed to figure out how to exploit it for profit as they have the undocumented worker.

Voting is a fundamental right, the cornerstone of our democracy. Our legal system should break down barriers to the polling place, not build them up. Let’s help the Legislature remember this when it meets in 2009.

Yes, let's.

Update: Chris Bell piles on ...

Under the Republican proposal, photo identification would be required. Since there’s no problem, there’s nothing to fix; however, two Hispanic state senators, Mario Gallegos (D-Houston) and Carlos Uresti (D-San Antonio), point out there are a lot of elderly voters in their heavily Hispanic districts who don’t have driver’s licenses because they never drove a car.

And that’s just what the Republicans are counting on. Voters like those would have to get some other form of photo identification. That’s obviously going to be a major inconvenience, and since it’s hard enough just to get people to register to vote in the first place, chances are they might not vote at all. ...

(S)some people might be a little concerned what happens with real problems like public school education and health care if Republicans are spending so much time on non-problems.

That argument overlooks the most recent census data which shows the number of Hispanics in the United States rose by 1.4 million in just the last year alone and every study shows that Hispanics now lean Democratic by an overwhelming margin.

So see, if you’re a Republican, this really isn’t a non-problem at all.

Sunday Funnies (Going, going, ...)

Some cars must be seen AND heard

Houston's Art Car Parade

is today. Mrs. Diddie insists on going this year (and taking the dog).


(The Car of a Thousand Chairs, from last year's parade.)

Corndog is bubbling in the grease

A second poll confirms what the first one earlier this week revealed: Republican voters do not support a second term for John Cornyn as US Senator from Texas.

Even though Texas isn't yet in play for the Democratic nominee for president, a far greater number of Lone Star conservatives would vote for amnesty for illegal aliens, 100 more years in Iraq, more reactionary judges on the Supreme Court and no chance of health care for millions of Americans (aka John W McSame) than would vote again for a Box Turtle for the Senate.

That is a pretty significant and striking disconnect, even for Texas Republicans (never known for their discernment of hypocrisy in voting patterns).

Texas Blue, BOR and Burka have more.

Rural Texas finally collapses from GOP "leadership"

(This sinkhole in Daisetta, which suddenly opened up today, may -- or may not -- be the end result of eight years of Bush administration pillaging of the environment, and the day-to-day mismanagement by their junior partners in Austin.)

Signed, I Have Changed My Middle Name to Hussein

No less an authority than Newt Gingrich says that the GOP is headed for electoral disaster in 2008, from the top of the ballot to the bottom:

The Republican loss in the special election for Louisiana's Sixth Congressional District last Saturday should be a sharp wake up call for Republicans: Either Congressional Republicans are going to chart a bold course of real change or they are going to suffer decisive losses this November.

The facts are clear and compelling.

Saturday's loss was in a district that President Bush carried by 19 percentage points in 2004 and that the Republicans have held since 1975.

This defeat follows on the loss of Speaker Hastert's seat in Illinois. That seat had been held by a Republican for 76 years with the single exception of the 1974 Watergate election when the Democrats held it for one term. That same seat had been carried by President Bush 55-44% in 2004.

But... what about John McLame? There's all those Chaos Agents who have voted for the Hill-debeast in the Democratic primaries, and all of her supporters who claim they can't vote for a black man in November. We'll win by division just like always, right?

Senator McCain is currently running ahead of the Republican congressional ballot by about 16 percentage points. But there are two reasons that this extraordinary personal achievement should not comfort congressional Republicans.

First, McCain's lead is a sign of the gap between the McCain brand of independence and the GOP brand. No regular Republican would be tying or slightly beating the Democratic candidates in this atmosphere. It is a sign of how much McCain is a non-traditional Republican that he is sustaining his personal popularity despite his party's collapse.

Second, there is a grave danger for the McCain campaign that if the generic ballot stays at only 32 % for the GOP it will ultimately outweigh McCain's personal appeal and drag his candidacy into defeat.

Bu-bu-bu ... can't we win by tearing down Barack Obama for being a socialist liberal Muslim who sat listening to his radical lunatic preacher for twenty years without wearing his flag pin?

The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if Republicans try to run an anti-Obama, anti-Reverend Wright, or (if Senator Clinton wins), anti-Clinton campaign, they are simply going to fail.

This model has already been tested with disastrous results.

In 2006, there were six incumbent Republican Senators who had plenty of money, the advantage of incumbency, and traditionally successful consultants.

But the voters in all six states had adopted a simple position: "Not you." No matter what the GOP Senators attacked their opponents with, the voters shrugged off the attacks and returned to, "Not you."

The danger for House and Senate Republicans in 2008 is that the voters will say, "Not the Republicans."

The majority of Chron.com posters -- angry white men (with computers, in the suburbs) -- no longer represent the majority of opinion in America, in Texas ... or even in Houston.

Harris County, and Texas, is going to elect dozens and dozens of Democrats in 2008. And the United States of America will have a black president.

Thank God.

Signed,

I Have Changed My Middle Name to Hussein

Craddick again demonstrates his defiant corruption

It's DeLay-ish in its sinister sociopathy about using government for one's personal gain in every imaginable way. It's almost like the serial killer who dares the police to "stop me before I kill again". Except that -- if you don't count the thousands of poor Texas children who have died due to his arrogant, willful, callous neglect -- Tom Craddick is only raping you, the taxpayer:

Embattled Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick is cynically encouraging critical news reports and investigations about members of the Legislature who compensate some employees by making health care coverage available to them. Last week, Craddick said "If some legislators are paying employees with taxpayer dollars who are performing little or no work, that is an egregious misuse of state money." (Austin American-Statesman, May 02, 2008)

Craddick did not acknowledge, however, that he personally supported and helped pass special legislation providing health care coverage to his adult daughter Christi Craddick, even though Christi makes hundreds of thousands of dollars working for her father’s political operations and provides no service to the State of Texas.

As Speaker, Tom Craddick is ultimately responsible for administering and enforcing the rules of the House. It is his job to appoint competent colleagues to the Committee on House Administration and provide members accurate information on employee health care eligibility. Clearly, the same Speaker who worked to deny health care coverage to hundreds of thousands of children, failed in his responsibility to manage the House properly. (Fort Worth Star Telegram, January 25, 2005) Rather than take responsibility for his failure, he is lashing out at his political enemies.

The only way to get rid of this miserable bastard is to elect a Democratic majority in the Texas House.

The (GOP's) War on Voting Rights

Once again, for emphasis (courtesy clammyc at Booman):

According to The League of Women Voters, close to 11% of Americans (21 million) have no photo identification. They break this down a bit further:

he following statistics reflect those individuals who do not have photo identification:

• 11% or as many as 21 million Americans
• 36% of voters in Georgia over the age of 75;
• 18% of Americans over 65 (6 million);
• 25% of African Americans;
• 10% or 40 million people with disabilities;
• 15% of low income voters

Here are a few more numbers:

• 650,000 registered voters in Georgia have no photo-ID (law recently passed);
• 200,000 Missourians of voting age, including 16% of seniors, have no photo-id;
• 5.5 million African American voting age citizens have no photo-ID;
• 6 million senior citizens have no photo-id

And just for good measure, here are a few other breakdowns:

People with disabilities:

According to disability advocates, nearly ten percent of the 40 million Americans with disabilities do not have any form of state-issued photo identification. Source: Center for Policy Alternatives

Low income people: Citizens earning less than $35,000 per year are more than twice as likely to lack current government-issued photo identification as those earning more than $35,000. Indeed, the survey indicates that at least 15 percent of voting-age American citizens earning less than $35,000 per year do not have a valid government-issued photo ID. Source: NYU and Brennen Center Survey

Forget the e-machine vote hacking (can't be proved beyond a reasonable doubt). In fact, forget about calling them "stolen elections" any more, because of the same "It's always happened/you can't prove it" rebuttal. Dismiss the thousands and thousands of anecdotal instances of vote-flipping, along with exit poll discrepancies for the same reason. In fact ...

It seems like the whole “War On [insert boogyman here]” theme works well, and the fact is, all of the above - not to mention the few other matters that have come to light over the past few years with respect to election-related issues and questionable vote suppression laws and actions.

So let's just forget all that. The real challenge to democracy this go-round is voter suppression and intimidation, like what happened in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, except this time rolled out nationally, as the Republican brand managers might say. clammyc summarizes:

You do it by rigging the system from the inside - by massive voter roll purges that are designed to purge the very demographics that are most likely to hurt the other party, by challenging districting in order to “make it more fair for people’s votes to be reflective of the district”, by implementing laws that are meant to keep millions of people who are likely to vote for the other party from voting and by stacking the deck in the positions where the voting machines are selected and monitored, where the federal and state election laws are “interpreted”, where the decisions are made with respect to voter registration and how the elections are run and even having cousins in the very media outlets who are calling the races for their candidate-cousins.

Make no mistake - this is a more than just a major partisan initiative. This is an all-out assault on the voting rights of millions of potential Democratic voters and therefore, votes. This is a premeditated, long term, wide ranging attack against millions of Americans’ voting rights. But it isn’t just an assault on Democratic voters. It is an assault on the most basic right that a democracy affords.

And it should be referred to accordingly.

The Weekly Wrangle

Time for the Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Blog Round-Up, assembled by member blogs from last week's postings.

CouldBeTrue from South Texas Chisme notes Republican-run government favors crony money over Texans' health. Asarco, a proven polluter, is given a permit to start polluting again and Greg Abbott says lead poisoning landlords have a right to privacy.

John Coby at Bay Area Houston thinks Bob Perry should go to hell.

Doing My Part For The Left's Refinish69 joins Austin high school students in Breaking the Silence.

WhosPlayin writes about the disturbing trend for hospitals to require payment up front for expensive services like chemotherapy. Even "non-profit" hospitals like UT's M.D. Anderson are doing this, even while reducing free care and racking up huge surpluses.

Off the Kuff looks at the race for Harris County Sheriff and foresees immigration issues playing a big role.

The Texas Cloverleaf wonders why Governor 39% appointed a policy nerd to chair the Transportation Commission, rather than someone who knows anything about roads. Cronyism perhaps?

In the wake of the SCOTUS decision approving voter ID legislation last week, PDiddie of Brains and Eggs fact-checks the need for it.

North Texas Liberal's Texas Toad takes a look at the new Republican culture war over something just as useless: allowing guns in national parks. Thank you, John Cornyn.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson has this post on the reaction To Perry's TxDOT appointments.

McBlogger take a moment to talk about the state of the TTC and Gov. 39%'s appointments to the Transportation Commission.

Lightseeker shares his opinion On Trusting Free Market to Regulate Government over at Texas Kaos.

Vince at Capitol Annex shows another example of Voter ID idiocy, this time highlighting an editorial from the Texarkana Gazette's pseudo-ivory-tower-intellectual editorial board and explains why such thinking is typical of suburban newspaper editors.

Cornyn 47, Noriega 43

Rasmussen. Also from Eric at Talking Points ...

Noriega will have his work cut out for him, though -- the latest FEC reports show Noriega with only about $300,000 cash on hand, compared to the incumbent's $8.6 million cash on hand.

God damn right he does. Can you help us get rid of Senator Box Turtle?

Update: Kos has more, including the presidential numbers. Texas is already purple and right on the verge of turning blue. Right now.

Does pastorbation lead to blindness?

Or is it the other way around?

Now that the corporate media has completed another week-long Pastorbation, the question remains: did the people see through it -- or fall for it? Will voters in North Carolina, Indiana, and the other remaining states read the reporters' game of pursuing trivial wedge issues and exacerbating cultural tensions for the sake of ratings? Or will they succumb to the base appeals of fear and prejudice?

We will sure enough get some answers on Tuesday. And so let's discuss ...

-- Why did our presstitutes pastorbate with such enthusiasm again?

Does our media see their children and the future of this country in the same way as the rest of us do, or do they divorce themselves from their patriotism in order to do their jobs (i.e. get paid handsomely)? Do they see the harm that their yellow journalism costs our nation, or do they just not care? Do they rationalize their actions and words to themselves, or do they simply shut their eyes to their handiwork?

We are all guilty of buying into what they sell us time and time again. Hillary supporters loved it when she was "inevitable" for a year, and Obama supporters likewise when the press cherished him during some of that same time. There were those of us who became fans of John Edwards in 2004 when he was held up as being able to talk owls out of a tree -- and encouraged to be selected as vice president to John Kerry. Kucinich, Richardson and Biden supporters, whose candidates never even saw the light of day, know this best of all, as they have rarely if ever been pleased about anything that the media had to report.

In other words, we have all been through "it" to varying degrees.

-- So what's the lesson (for those of us who haven't learned, or have forgotten it) ?

I had pretty much learned this in 2000, 2002, and in 2004, but it appears -- like many others -- that I fell prey again this year. Believe me, these world-class manipulators understand exactly how to push our buttons, line us up one against the other for their own purpose, which has nothing to do with information, fairness, reason-ability or patriotism or any of that.

How else can we explain eight years of George W. Bush?

Allow me a digression. The us v. them, good guys versus bad guys mentality pervades everything in our society. Case in point: last weekend I attended the San Jacinto Festival, where a re-enactment of Sam Houston's famous charge and capture of Gen. Santa Anna in the pivotal battle for Texas independence was reprised. As I stood near the line where the Mexican encampment was recreated -- in order, I correctly guessed -- to watch the charge of the Texicans to victory, I heard someone behind me say: " We're on the wrong side. Let's go stand on the Texas side." I turned and remarked, "If you wait a minute, this will BE the Texas side." A few people around me chuckled in low tones, but the woman and her children moved on down without looking back. I then turned back and said, "This isn't a football game, is it?" to more hearty laughter.

So what can we do? If one POV is always being played against the other, and the corporate media successfully retains the appearance of objectivity to at least enough of the viewers, aren't we really ALL being played?

I try not to watch a lot of cable news these days, because I simply cannot afford to be fooled time and time again. I see how they set off one faction against another, which is why they keep winning the battles and are indeed having a larger voice than they should as they wrestle for control of our democracy.

I believe that it is all of our jobs now to turn off the corporate news, particularly the Sunday Talking Heads. Whether they are on our side This Week versus being on the other side the next, we are enabling them to have power and influence over us when and how they want it. Today it is Barack Obama they are against, but tomorrow it will be Hillary once more. Once the Democratic nominee is finalized and the General Election Smackdown foes are established, it will be Republican v. Democrat with the TV talkers taking someone's message and presenting it as news, alternating weeks depending on the salaciousness it. In other words, we cannot support the traditional media and believe that we are being well-informed; indeed we are only being manipulated, and never for the greater good, but rather for their corporate good.

And as always, certainly at some later date, once it no longer matters, the media will re-examine itself, and matter-of-factly admit what it has done ... in hopes that we will believe that they recognize the error of their ways.

Problem is that they will not pay a price, and they will not stop doing what they are doing in the future.

And so I have decided that they will not again manipulate me. I have decided that I will no longer trust, watch or participate in encouraging the corporate media's "news" programs. They are a danger to our democracy, and to believe otherwise is to successfully be taken for a fool over and over and over again at our own collective detriment. I know, because it has happened to me. Over and over again.

"Bishop of the Poor" elected president of Paraguay

Boosh may want to re-consider that large parcel of land he purchased there as insurance for war criminal proceedings against him in the wake of this news, from Democracy Now! ...

AMY GOODMAN: A former Catholic priest once known as the Bishop of the Poor has been elected president. Fernando Lugo will be the first Paraguayan president since 1946 not to be from the conservative Colorado Party. Lugo won 41 percent of the vote, beating Blanca Ovelar, who received 31 percent. Lugo has pledged to crack down on corruption and channel Paraguay’s wealth into social programs.

PRESIDENT-ELECT FERNANDO LUGO: [translated] May we never again, in the political class of Paraguay, never again base our politics on clientism and enticements, because it has done so much to damage our national politics.

AMY GOODMAN: Lugo’s win ends more than six decades of one-party rule in Paraguay. Election officials said Sunday’s voting had the highest turnout, about 66 percent, of any presidential election since 1993.

Lugo is the first bishop ever to become president of a country. Both Paraguay and the Vatican ban clergy from seeking political office, so Lugo resigned in December 2006. Lugo says he was influenced by the liberation theology of the ’60s. He told the Associated Press he would not move to the presidential palace, remaining instead in his modest house in a middle-class suburb. He said the first lady would be his eldest sister.

Washington has signaled a willingness to work with Lugo and hailed his election as a “step forward” in Paraguay, but a State Department official told the Los Angeles Times his victory had left Washington worried about its waning influence in Latin America.

In a pre-election interview with the Los Angeles Times, Lugo noted Washington’s sometimes-contradictory role in Latin America, saying, “The United States…has sustained the great dictatorships, but afterward lifted the banner of democracy.” He went on to say Washington must acknowledge a new scenario in which Latin American governments “won’t accept any type of intervention from any country, no matter how big it is.”

Rest of the story here.

Sunday Funnies

An Offical Moran

"Excellent Point: In Houston, a Texan protesting amnesty for illegal immigrants argues that anyone who can't master English doesn't deserve to live in America."

This moran replaces her counterpart for biggest public conservative fool not a Talking Head...

I believe the tide IS turning.

In all seriousness. And it makes me nauseous to say so.

And I would not have said it even last week, but I now believe it is apparent that Mrs. Clinton is gathering momentum for a late surge to capture the Democratic nomination.

If she pulls out Indiana and makes it close in NC -- as the recent polling indicates she is doing -- her case for the nomination becomes stronger. Obama is having difficulty shaking the seemingly endless Wright controversy, and every day that is the news it hurts him.

One other statistical observation as evidence in the case for Mrs. Clinton: both retail store figures as well as eyewitness accounts across the country report a collapse in sales of thong underwear and a strong increase in that of 100% cotton granny panties.

(Gotcha.)

Fact-checking Voter ID

"It's especially worrisome that the court has sent a signal making it easier to put up barriers to people voting," said Michael Waldman, executive director of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's law school. "There's a real risk that people will see this as a green light to pass restrictive voter ID laws in other states."

Uh, yeah ...

Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst hailed Monday's Supreme Court ruling that approves states' efforts to pass a voter identification law and said he looks forward to passing such a measure when the legislature meets again next year.

The ruling galvanizes a Republican-inspired effort that Democrats say will keep some poor, older and minority voters from casting ballots.

"With this legal challenge now behind us, I look forward to passing a fair voter ID law in Texas next year that fully protects the voting rights of all U.S. citizens registered to vote in Texas," Dewhurst said.

Except that Voter ID is legislation to fix a problem which only exists in the minds of Republican conspiracy theorists:

Republican Claim: Voter Fraud is an "Epidemic" in Texas

FACT CHECK: Even fiercely partisan Republican Attorney General Abbott has admitted that after spending millions of Texas and federal taxpayer dollars investigating, "there have been few [voter fraud] prosecutions in Texas." The Austin American Statesman editorialized: "Voter fraud is not an issue because Texas is not being flooded with unregistered voters and illegal immigrants flocking to the polls. That just isn't happening." (Source: Austin American-Statesman, April 26, 2007)

Republican Claim: Non-citizens voting is a major problem throughout the U.S.

FACT CHECK: The Department of Justice’s Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Initiative has resulted in just 14 convictions of non-citizens voting in the entire United States between 2002 and 2005. That is less then 5 noncitizens voting a year. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Public Integrity Section, Election Fraud Prosecutions & Convictions, Ballot Access & Voting Integrity Initiative, October 2002 – September 2005; The Politics of Voter Fraud, Minnite, Ph.D. Columbia University)

Republican Claim: Everyone has an ID

FACT CHECK: Even the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute admitted that 37% of Texas residents over the age of 80 did not have a driver's license. (TCCRI Commentary, May 1, 2007)

Republican Claim: Democratic operatives are pushing the opposition to the Voter Suppression Bill

FACT CHECK: The objections to the voter ID legislation are broad and bipartisan. The bill is opposed by non-partisan groups like the AARP and League of Women Voters, as well as every major Texas newspaper and many local newspapers. (Source: Associated Press, April 23, 2007) Former Republican Party Political Director Royal Massett has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the bill saying: "Anyone who says all legal voters under this bill can vote doesn't know what he is talking about." (Source: The Houston Chronicle, April 26, 2007)

http://www.lonestarproject.net/archive/2007-11-30VoteSuppress.pdf

So back to the point ...

Across the country, as many as 20 million people lack such identification, most of them minorities and the elderly who don't have drivers' licenses or passports and are unable to afford the cost of obtaining documentation to apply for such identification, advocacy groups say.

In Indiana, more than 20 percent of black voters do not have access to a valid photo ID, according to an October 2007 study by the University of Washington.

In Marion County, 34 Indiana voters without the proper identification were forced to file provisional ballots in an offseason local election. According to Indiana's photo law, voters have 10 days to return to the county courthouse with the proper identification. They can also file an affidavit claiming poverty.

"Who's going to do that?" asked Bob Brandon, president of Fair Elections Legal Network, a nonpartisan network of election lawyers. "Who's going to show up and sign an affidavit saying 'I'm poor'?"

They just have to make it close enough to steal

Sure, the media is obsessed with trashing Obama or Clinton, depending on the week or sound byte that can be taken out of context and twisted to insinuate that Democrats hate America or love terrorists or whatever other utter horseshit that they can conjure up to distract from the fact that John McCain is dangerous, or contradictory or just a flat out liar.

But the corporate media as well as McSame himself are just two pieces in a larger puzzle: the one to keep “The Base” happy and wealthy. We can hear lie after hyperbole after projection about how the Democrats are weak or that Hamas wants McCain to lose or that Osama secretly cast his ballot in 2004 for Kerry.

We know that is all nonsense -- and that thankfully, many more Americans are waking up to that fact as well. And with a growing number of Americans thinking that the 2000, 2002 and 2004 elections were stolen, not to mention the US Attorney purge, the Justice Department’s gaming the system from the inside, illegal redistricting, illegal phone jamming, voter ID laws that serve to suppress likely Democratic voters and FEC commissioners who have a history of illegal partisan voter suppression, it isn’t like there is ample evidence that Republicans steal elections -- and that is before you even get to the hanging chads, questionable SCOTUS decisions and Diebold hacking.

Need more? Go on.

The Weekly Wrangle

Here's the Texas Progressive Alliance weekly blog round-up, from submissions by member blogs from the week just past.

North Texas Liberal analyzed the arguments from Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Flower Mound, and Newt Gingrich in favor of the flat tax. See their conclusions here.

The Commissioner of the General Land Office of Texas is a monumental ass. PDiddie of Brains and Eggs has the dirty details in "Discussted".

Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News informed his readers about the local elections and other events taking place in a Local Early Voting Edition.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson has this week's Transportation Wrap-Up.

WhosPlayin resumes his watch on Michael Burgess, and joins North Texas Liberal in rejecting his "flat tax" proposal as a tax increase on the middle class.

Hal at Half Empty wonders why Texas' junior senator, John Cornyn, doesn't support our troops.

Over at McBlogger, Captain Kroc has a real problem with some of the concessions the City made to a certain developer looking to build condos on Lake Lady Bird.

The Texas Cloverleaf promotes a story about more shenanigans in the Texas Youth Commission, this time forcing a Denton County superintendent to quit before she is fired.

Last week, KUHT (PBS Channel 8) in Houston ran a special on immigration and public attitudes towards it called Houston Have Your Say, which included public officials, activists, ordinary citizens, and a couple of bloggers. Off the Kuff was one of those bloggers, and he wrote about his impressions here.

Vince at Capitol Annex notes that the Texas Association of Business is calling for education reform and wonders if anyone else sees the hypocrisy in that situation.

BossKitty at BlueBloggin looks at yet another VA screw up and continues to ignore the welfare of our troops in the VA Caught In Suicide Coverup.

Sunday Evening Funnies

"Discussted"

I was a big fan of Rich Hall's Sniglets in the '80s. Lately, in both the e-mail I receive and the various blogs and online fora I visit, I regularly find myself laughing out loud at misspelled words with brand new meanings, such as the one in the title of this posting.

How many times have you found yourself in a conversation meeting the description above, after all?

Judging by this article in Texas Monthly, and this article and the reader comments in the Chron, it must happen to everyone within audio range of the Commissioner of the General Land Office of Texas inside of 15 seconds:

Jerry Patterson is a concealed-weapon-carrying, tobacco-dipping, canvas-death-trap-flying maverick whose management of the Christmas Mountains has ticked off everyone from Rick Perry to the Sierra Club. Not that he cares.

"Proving once again that I grew up weird, when I was a kid I enjoyed it when we were driving behind a Houston bus — loved the smell of diesel fumes," Patterson recently confessed in an e-mail to supporters of a program that helps governmental entities switch their fleets to clean-burning natural gas. "That might explain my thought processes as an adult." ...

"Many would describe me as kooky, but I don't really care," he said. "If the voters disagree with what I'm doing, there's the next election, or there's impeachment. I do what I think is right, and I don't concern myself with public opinion."

Jerry Patterson has been both dipshit and embarrassment for too long now. Let's find someone and send him some public opinion he can't ignore in 2010.

Former GOP White House counsel chokes on sheep balls

Maybe it was just one. Surely he wasn't trying to swallow more than one ...

Former senator Paul Laxalt's all male, annual lamb fry dinner at the Georgetown Club tends not to be an especially raucous affair. The 28th dinner the other night, prepared as always in Basque style in honor of Laxalt's heritage, featured the usual delicacy of the night, lamb's testicles, which are said to have unusual medicinal qualities.

And while some of the tuxedoed and slightly aging pols and pals -- including Vice President Cheney, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), former House Republican leader Bob Michel, retired Marine Gen. P.X. Kelley, former GOP chairman and now lobbyist Frank Fahrenkopf, former Veterans Affairs secretary and former ambassador to the Vatican Jim Nicholson, and legendary lobbyist Bill Timmons -- don't move as fast as they used to, they can still hop to it in an emergency.

And they did when White House counsel Fred Fielding appeared to be choking -- not on the featured delicacy, we are assured. Ron Kaufman of Dutko Worldwide (and a volunteer for Mitt Romney's campaign) and then Ed Rollins (who played a lead role in Mike Huckabee's bid for the White House) took turns trying the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge it. Rollins brought over a chair to stand on for extra leverage, one guest said.

There's some disagreement about what happened next. One attendee said Rollins popped the obstruction out, another said Fielding eventually swallowed it. Well, either way ...

Oh I see now the article says he wasn't gagging on a lamb's testicle. Perhaps it was his conscience, then...

Sunday Funnies

Rush's Riots

Steven D speaks for me:

I guess Chicken Hawk Supreme Limbaugh wants to re-live his youth from 1968 when the "rioting" at the Chicago Convention (caused mostly by the Chicago Police) likely cost Hubert Humphrey the election. An election where the the victory of a Republican, Richard Nixon, guaranteed that an unpopular war would continue for another 7 more years, with an ever-increasing death toll among both Americans and Vietnamese.

Of course, no one should be surprised that Limbaugh would take this tack. He's long been the pilonidal cyst on the American body politic. Almost single-handedly he created the conservative racist, politically incorrect talk show format, where defamation of one's "enemies" is standard operating procedure. He went after Hillary and Bill Clinton mercilessly in the 90's, pushing conspiracy theories that one or both of them had Vince Foster murdered. And more recently he's shown he's an equal opportunity smear merchant by playing racist ditties like "Barack, the Magic Negro" during his radio program.

Nor has he been reluctant to use eliminationist language on his show towards liberals and Democrats, and anyone else he deems worthy of his scorn, from feminazis to AIDS patients. But this is a new low, calling for specific incidents of violence at a major political party's convention. The man who cheered on the mass arrests of peaceful demonstrators (and innocent bystanders) at the 2004 Republican Convention, who gloried in the news that we were torturing the bad guys at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib (even as he cynically refused to call it torture), now wants to see riots. Now encourages riots.

And how many of his flock of wingnut sheep will take the opportunity to become agents provocateur in Denver? How many will attempt to ignite the very violence for which Limbaugh is an advocate? We already know that his listeners have participated Operation Chaos, where he commanded them to vote in Democratic primaries for Hillary Clinton so that the nomination battle between Obama and Clinton would continue, and thus weaken the Democratic Party's chances in the Fall. This is merely the next step in his attempt to influence the elections.

With all the problems facing this country, most if not all of them the result of the Republican party's domination of all three branches of our government, but especially the executive branch, this is what prominent conservatives promote. Chaos, violence, hate, bigotry and eternal war. Our soldiers and Iraqis are dying every day, food shortages are occurring around the globe (even in the United States), energy and food prices are on the rise, unemployment is up as are foreclosures, and our financial system teeters on the brink of a calamitous fall, and this is what Rush Limbaugh spends his time pontificating about.

He's the right wing media's version of Emperor Nero, divorced from reality, fiddling while less fortunate Americans than himself, fat and happy with the millions of dollars generated by his caustic brew of hatred, spite and ill will, slowly burn. Ten percent of Ohioans are on food stamps and he merrily calls for riots at the Democratic convention. What kind of man does such a thing? For there is a word that describes this type of person and I don't mean sociopath, for that gives Rush an out, makes his foul deeds the result of a diminished moral capacity. No, the word is one any right-wing conservative ought to recognize since they use it themselves so often. That word is traitor. Rush Limbaugh is an evil toad and a traitor to democracy, to our Constitution and to our nation. He doesn't participate in the violence he glorifies, but he is its primary advocate on the right, and for Bush's wars as well. So convinced of the righteousness of "his cause" he willingly appeals to the worst sides of our nature, hoping to inspire others to do the deeds he lacks the spine to do himself.

In that way he is not much different than Osama bin Laden. Both have their devoted, fanatical followers, both are extremists, and both believe that violence in pursuit of their cherished ideals is a "right deed" as the Stoics would say. Both promote wars that kill thousands.

The biggest difference? Rush doesn't have to live in hiding. He can live the "good life" of the top .0001 % of the wealthiest Americans, even going on "sex tours" to poverty-stricken countries with bags of Viagra to assist his enjoyment of all the delectable young girls available to perverts like himself. He can illegally obtain and abuse prescription narcotics, yet avoid any prosecution for his crimes. Yes, it's a wonderful life if you are Rush Limbaugh, knowing he is completely free from the consequences of his actions, no matter how heinous they may be.

Too bad for the rest of us we are not so lucky.

Inciting a riot is a felony in nearly every state, including Colorado. Will Limbloat be prosecuted, even if they happen? Don't count on it.

Slogging on

And slugging it out for another month and half, perhaps longer.

Fifty-five -- forty-five is a number that breathes another wisp into Mrs. Clinton's sails, while not helping her in the delegate count enough to make her continuing campaign anything but that of a spoiler.

(The) margin in Pennsylvania was probably not sufficient to alter the basic dynamics of the race, but it made clear that the contest will continue.

The media meme became all about the point spread and the over/under was seven or eight points, even as much as ten. So Clinton met those expectations, and the result is that Obama's inability to land the knockout blow is officially a sign of weakness. Since Iowa, he shows little ability to attract white voters with incomes under $50,000, the so-called blue-collar voter. These are likely the people -- also known by their aged label of Reagan Democrats -- who would abandon him in the fall.

If that's not enough cause for concern ...

“This is exactly what I was afraid was going to happen,” said Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, a Democrat who has not endorsed anyone in the race. “They are going to just keep standing there and pounding each other and bloodying each other, and no one is winning. It underlines the need to find some way to bring this to conclusion.”

And:

“We have problems going both ways, but that is going to get healed,” saiid Joe Trippi, who was a senior adviser to the presidential campaign of John Edwards, who quit the race earlier this year. “If it doesn’t get healed, we have problems.”

Next up: Indiana and North Carolina on May 6. Speaking of both Edwards and NC, Howard Fineman stated (during MSNBC's election coverage) that Elizabeth Edwards would be campaing with Hillary in North Carolina. Take that for what you wish, but my perception is that, if accurate, it changes the game to Clinton's advantage in a state where Obama is expected to make up for the delegate-count and popular-vote losses he suffered last night.

Update (from elsewhere around the 'sphere): Since Greg brought it up, I wonder what the internals are on the Dunder-Mifflin voting bloc. Martha and Bradley are celebrating -- and soliciting; Neil and jobsanger point out the obvious. Hal live-blogged the results. And Jerome has nine suggestions for both campaigns in the post-Pennsylvania wrap-up.

Happy EarthDay

Earth Day -- April 22 -- each year marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

Among other things, 1970 in the United States brought with it the Kent State shootings, the advent of fiber optics, "Bridge Over Troubled Water," Apollo 13, the Beatles' last album, the death of Jimi Hendrix, the birth of Mariah Carey, and the meltdown of fuel rods in the Savannah River nuclear plant near Aiken, South Carolina -- an incident not acknowledged for 18 years.

It was into such a world that the very first Earth Day was born.

Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, proposed the first nationwide environmental protest "to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda. " "It was a gamble," he recalls, "but it worked."

At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. Environment was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news.

Earth Day 1970 turned that all around.

Here's information on Earth Day at the Houston Zoo.

Mercury, Wednesday

Mercury just passed superior conjunction on April 16, but in the days to come it will bolt out to become easily visible low in the west-northwest at dusk. On Wednesday evening, April 23, Mercury should be visible within about 30 minutes after sunset if your sky is quite clear. Mercury will be shining at magnitude �1.6, slightly brighter than Sirius (the brightest of all stars). In fact, at that particular hour of the day, Mercury will be the brightest object in the sky!

So, if your sky is free of any horizon haze and there are no tall obstructions to your view (like trees or buildings) you should have no trouble in seeing it as a very bright "star" shining with just a trace of a yellowish-orange tinge. By April 30, Mercury will be setting as late as 85 minutes after the Sun. That evening, binoculars may show the Pleiades star cluster 4 degrees directly above it. (Your clenched fist held at arm's length measures about 10 degrees in width.)

In the evenings that follow, Mercury will slowly diminish in brightness, but it will also slowly gain altitude as it gradually moves away from the vicinity of the Sun. This is just the start of Mercury's best apparition of the year for mid-northern viewers. On the evening of May 6, be sure to look for a delicately thin sliver of a 1.5-day old crescent Moon sitting just a couple of degrees above and slightly to Mercury's right.

Much more.

The Weekly Wrangle

Today is San Jacinto Day, and also time for another Texas Progressive Alliance Blog Round-Up. This week's round-up is compiled by The Texas Cloverleaf.

In "honor" of April 15 (the federal income tax deadline), Lightseeker at TexasKaos examines the Republican tax cut claim here in Texas and discover that what it really amounts to is "tax shifting", and we are the ones getting shafted. Tax Shifting With Bohac's Assessment Cap as Our Example.

WhosPlayin notes that John McCain has proposed suspending the federal gasoline tax, and points out that he would do just as well to try to suspend the law of gravity.

The Texas Cloverleaf is helping to save the earth on Earth Day weekend with helpful tips for saving energy and your wallet, as well as picking up trash with Stonewall Democrats. Don't mess with Texas!

CouldBeTrue from South Texas Chisme wonders if all Republicans are Tom Craddicks in training. Listen to Nueces County Republican chair Mike Bertuzzi ignore all the 'Point of Order' calls at the county convention. Sound familiar?

John Coby of Bay Area Houston has the real press release from Rick Perry about his run for governor in 2010.

Here are local activist Jose Orta's impressions Of T. Don Hutto, Williamson County's immigrant detention facility, that were posted at Eye On Williamson after his recent visit.

At McBlogger, barfly analyses what's really important to the American voter in this hour of cultural brouhaha.

Off the Kuff takes an early look at the race for district attorney in Harris county, which is sure to be one of the hottest local races this year.

Today is San Jacinto Day and PDiddie of Brains and Eggs will be at the commemorative ceremonies taking place at the battlefield near Houston.

BossKitty at BlueBloggin points out that Your $300 - $1,200 Economic Stimulus Payment Cost $767 Million.

Hal at Half Empty questions whether a certain person running for president is temperamentally fit to be in that office.

Vince at Capitol Annex thinks it is terrible that Texas teacher salaries are so low that that more than a quarter of all teachers must work a second job to make ends meet.

North Texas Liberal reports on a homophobic journalist's question to White House press secretary Dana Perino, and the smackdown she gave in response.

George Nassar at The Texas Blue takes some time out of Friday's morning news roundup to point out that were the Bush administration to use a logical metric, it would be clear to them that the surge has failed.

Sunday Funnies

The Houston International Festival

Top 10 Can’t Miss Extramusical Attractions at Ifest

(by Jim Austin, President, Houston International Festival)

1. Church of Lalibela: So, European colonists brought Christianity to Africa, right?… Wrong. Very wrong. Emperor Lalibela carved 12 churches out of existing mountains in Ethiopia in the 12th century. Well, maybe he had his folks do the actual carving. Anyway, we’ve created an amazing replica of the most famous of the churches to with the cultural and educational exhibits in the Chevron Living Museum.

2. You do not want to miss the National Dance Theater of Ethiopia. They are known for this reverberating movement in their heads, necks and shoulders that looks physically impossible. I don’t think it is done anywhere outside of the country. And the women are considered by three out of four academic experts to be among the most beautiful in the world. As I say, don’t miss it; it’s their North American debut, four times a day on the WaMu Center Stage at City Hall.

3. The Gullah people were isolated off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia when plantation owners abandoned them because of the malaria-carrying mosquitoes in the area. They preserved their African heritage for centuries. We’re bringing artists and craftsmen from the Gullah region and we’re erecting a Gullah stage. Storytelling, drumming, dance lessons, demonstrations and plays.

4. Have we mentioned that some people say the most beautiful women in the world are Ethiopians? Well, two previous Miss Ethiopias will be featured in a fashion show on the H-E-B Cultural Stage at 2:00 p.m. each weekend day of the Festival.

5. The Rise and Shine Exhibit at the Julia Ideson library: This display of archaeological artifacts from the TSU archives will shed new light on the ways that African Americans in Texas survived the cruelties of enslavement and its aftermath, the tenant farming/sharecropping system. Artifacts and historical documents will examine a variety of sites, including the Levi Jordan Plantation in South Texas. Literary readings will take place both Saturdays from 1-5 p.m.

6. Dr. Z New Artist of the Year: This award, named after the late Houston dentist, adventurer and longtime festival benefactor Dr. Z, is given annually to an up and coming artist or group making its iFest debut. The Carolina Chocolate Drops is a young African American trio that demonstrates the black roots of what is considered among the whitest music forms in America -- Appalachian country and bluegrass music. The group plays twice on day one, on Louisiana Stage at 3:30 and on the Gullah Stage at 6 p.m.

7. Some come to iFest for the music, some come for the culture. And some come for the food. There will be African Food on the steps of City Hall. Taste of Africa presented by Melange Catering will serve delicious specialty items like lamb bobotie, beef sosatie skewers and chicken wings peri peri. Plus a selection of Sundowners, refreshing drinks used in the African ritual that marks the passage from day to night. Yum.

8. The iFest Business Conference, Africa: Opportunities with a Social Conscience will explore sustainable development initiatives on the African continent. Delegates will hear from top experts from the U.S. and Africa on economic development projects and social stability issues that affect Houston businesses interested in this emerging global marketplace. Sponsored by Marathon Oil on the morning of April 18. (For details, visit www.ifest.org)

9. Lunchtime concerts are back on the two Fridays, April 18 and 25. Downtown workers can take in the food, the music (by D.R.U.M. and the Zydeco Dots) and even see the great National Dance Theatre of Ethiopia. Yes, it’s free.

10. Not ready to stop the party? Join us at the official iFest 2008 After Party at Under the Volcano. The New Orleans Hustlers Brass Band -- featuring members of the Soul Rebels -- will perform. Cover charge is $5, with festival staff and volunteers wearing wristbands and/or T-shirts admitted free. Sunday, April 27, 2008, 8:00pm to closing. Under the Volcano, 2349 Bissonnet.

100,000

Due to some heavy hits from linkage at reddit.com and the Chron.com opinion page, today B&E passed the hundred-thousand mark in visits (since adding the Sitemeter tracker about a year after this blog was born), a few days ahead of schedule.

Thanks for the love, everybody.

Four MoFo Years (from 2010)

No MoFo way:

When asked whether the gubernatorial field would include Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and himself, Mr. Perry responded , "I don't know about them, but it will be Perry in 2010."

"I don't know about the other two. You need to ask them."

Oh they're gunning for ya, Govnah.

Sixty-one percent of Texans sent you a message in 2006. It's not surprising that you don't get it even today.

Kay Bailey says publicly:

"I am encouraged by the growing number of Texans asking me to return home to run for Governor to provide leadership for our state. It is too early to make an announcement about the 2010 race. Right now I remain committed to serving the people of Texas in the United States Senate and helping our Republican candidates win crucial elections this fall."

Kay Bailey un-publicly:

Hutchison has spent the last several months privately assuring supporters that she will run for Governor in 2010.

Bring it on, MoFos. And pack plenty of Aqua-Net.

On Miles and Vo

Since it's been so long since Greg "Rhymes With Hate" called me out about this, he may be thinking I wasn't ever going to say something about it.

Truthfully, the sadness that I feel at the self-inflicted destruction of these two men makes me want to give up on offline political activism.

Like John, I walked for Borris, folded letters for Borris, put out signs and worked polls for Borris. I went over to the Capitol to see him (on his dime, twice). I lobbied his office staff for Planned Parenthood ( ...not that I had to. He was a far cry from the once and future state representative on this issue -- as with every other). I was close friends with one of his local community liasons. In turn, I was humbled when he nominated and then presented me publicly with a community leadership award from the Texas Black Legislative Caucus in 2007.

I had no greater hopes for a politician than those I had for Borris Miles. I saw a man who was destined to become a leader in Texas. And I wasn't the only one, either.

Hubert Vo is a classic American success story, an immigrant who worked hard, built a fortune, challenged the most entrenched of powers, and won.

But both men have rapidly unraveled their political careers in infamous and and equally public demonstrations of repetitively bad judgments.

They didn't so much embarrass me as they did themselves. They let me down, sure, but that's far from the greatest damage done. Miles' political career is probably over even if he avoids a guilty verdict; Vo may still remain in the Texas Legislature although I wouldn't make book on it. The electorate has demonstrated no patience and even less forgiveness of ethical trangressions, and rightly so.

I just expect more from our side, and these men deflated those expectations. They failed themselves and their family and friends and thier constituents, and they have left a stain on the Houston Democratic caucus.

Thye failed a crucial test of leadership, which is a great loss for them. Somewhat less so for the rest of us, though still significant. It stings a little.

Personally I expect them to recover. Miles has precarious health, so I would prefer to see him concentrate on his personal life going forward, staying out of the public eye. Both men are comfortable financially and can do more to encourage other leaders in their respective communities to take the torch they have dropped and carry it forward.

And I am forced to be more cautious in whom I invest my expectations. Or hopes, or whatever you choose to call it.

ABC's sham of a 'debate'

Forty-five minutes and I finally turned away. Not a single issue or question of substance asked by cretins Gibson and Snufflelufagus. "Bitter-gate", "Sniper-gate", flag pins, Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, and just before I switched, the potential travesty of raising the capital gains tax.

Nothing about the wars, nothing about the economy, nothing about health care. No mention of the mortgage crisis, or $4.00 a gallon gasoline, or the recession we're currently entering, for the entire first half of last night's debate. Not a word about torture, or the plummeting value of the dollar, or global warming.

It was FOX news at its finest on ABC. I'm not the only one who noticed it, either:

In perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years, ABC News hosts Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous focused mainly on trivial issues as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama faced off in Philadelphia.

It didn't take long for the debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday night to turn to God and guns, small-town values and political opportunism.

A dash of bitterness, too.

Reflecting what seemed to be the main consensus of the night - that ABC botched this debate, big time - Charlie Gibson tells the crowd there will be one more, superfluous commercial break of the night and is subsequently jeered.

"Oh..." he declares, hands raised in defense. "The crowd is turning on me, the crowd is turning on me."

Sorry I missed that. More from Tom Shales, the media critic at the WaPo:

When Barack Obama met Hillary Clinton for another televised Democratic candidates' debate last night, it was more than a step forward in the 2008 presidential election. It was another step downward for network news -- in particular ABC News, which hosted the debate from Philadelphia and whose usually dependable anchors, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, turned in shoddy, despicable performances.

For the first 52 minutes of the two-hour, commercial-crammed show, Gibson and Stephanopoulos dwelled entirely on specious and gossipy trivia that already has been hashed and rehashed, in the hope of getting the candidates to claw at one another over disputes that are no longer news. Some were barely news to begin with.

The fact is, cable networks CNN and MSNBC both did better jobs with earlier candidate debates. Also, neither of those cable networks, if memory serves, rushed to a commercial break just five minutes into the proceedings, after giving each candidate a tiny, token moment to make an opening statement. Cable news is indeed taking over from network news, and merely by being competent.

TIME:

At a time of foreign wars, economic collapse and environmental peril, the cringe-worthy first half of the debate focused on such crucial matters as Senator Obama's comments about rural bitterness, his former pastor, an obscure sixties radical with whom he was allegedly "friendly," and the burning constitutional question of why he doesn't wear an American flag pin on his lapel — with a single detour into Senator Hillary Clinton's yarn about sniper fire in Tuzla. Apparently, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos ran out of time before they could ask Obama why he's such a lousy bowler.

And on and on it goes.

I never want to see another disgraceful display like that ever again. Our corporate media parading around in their finest tabloid/yellow journalism costumes is a disgusting, revolting spectacle.

San Jacinto Day, April 21

I'm taking the day off and going next week.

The Official San Jacinto Day Ceremony, commemorating the 172nd Anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto, will occur on Monday, April 21, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. at the San Jacinto Monument, San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. The principal speaker will be Jesús F. de la Teja, Ph.D., Texas State Historian. The Master of Ceremonies will be Ron Stone, Jr. A musical prelude will be provided by the La Porte High School Wind Ensemble.

* The Daughters of the Republic of Texas will present Scholarships to winners of their essay contest.
* The Sons of the Republic of Texas will present Scholarships to winners of their essay contest.
* Awards will be presented sailors from the U.S.S. SAN JACINTO and the U.S.S. TEXAS
* General Houston's Battle Report.
* Salute by the Texas Army.
* Laying of Commemorative Wreath.

Oh yeah: a re-enactment of the battle as part of the San Jacinto Festival is set for Saturday, April 26.

Hart InterCivic attempts hostile takeover of Sequoia

Brad Friedman:

As if Sequoia Voting Systems doesn't have enough trouble already, the company now needs some $2 million dollars in cash... quickly. Without it, it is likely to be subsumed by one of its nearest competitors, Hart InterCivic of Austin, as soon as next Tuesday, The BRAD BLOG has learned.

In what could well be a major shift on the American election industry landscape --- and certainly on elections themselves in dozens of states across the country --- voting machine company Hart InterCivic informed the current owners of the beleaguered Sequoia of their intention to acquire ownership of the company in a move which could take effect as early as next week. ...

Sequoia is believed by election experts to be this country's third largest voting machine company, followed by Hart. The combined operation, should the takeover be completed, could well create a new powerhouse in the industry, displacing #2 Diebold/Premier, and coming up just behind the country's currently largest election vendor, ES&S.

Last night in a interview on KPFT, Friedman revealed that Sequoia has recently secured a $100 million contract with New York to be the e-voting vendor of record for the Empire State, which is why -- coupled with their current cash crunch -- they are such an attractive takeover target.

But while Sequoia faces a plethora of legal liabilities concerning their oft-failed voting systems, Hart InterCivic faces its own share of challenges with a pending --- and damning --- federal fraud/qui tam suit against the company, as unsealed late last month. Moreover, Hart's acquisition plan could face scrutiny from members of Congress and Treasury Department officials, as well as states across the country who thought they had turned over control of their elections to Sequoia, only to soon learn there will be a new owner, not of their choosing, of the secret software and devices which determine the results of their public elections. ...

The news will likely be of particular interest to SF, NY and a host of jurisdictions around the country who have recently chosen to do business with Sequoia, rather than Hart --- a company which, among other problems, now has a serious federal whistleblower suit hanging over their head, alleging all manner of false claims and other criminal behavior --- but who now may be forced to deal with a new corporate entity whether they originally agreed to that or not.

Ah, yes. Hart's whistleblower: William Singer. From the legal complaint (.pdf, 45 pages, excerpt below from page 2):

Mr. Singer frequently accompanied Hart representatives to perform demonstrations, testing, and support maintenance of the machines in various locations, and thus heard firsthand a number of misstatements made by Hart in its attempts to win voting system contracts, as well as misstatements made to conceal the voting machines’ frailties and vulnerabilities. In January 2004, Mr. Singer resigned from Hart under protest, citing many of the fraudulent acts and misrepresentations giving rise to this action. In July 2004, Mr. Singer wrote the Secretaries of State for the States of Texas and Ohio, to alert them to Hart’s misconduct. He received no substantive response. Mr. Singer provided discrete bits of information to the press in hopes of attracting attention to Hart’s misconduct. Having “accomplished nothing” in Mr. Singer’s words, he decided to seek legal redress.

Money shot:

A computer scientist who is familiar with most of America's e-voting systems recently told us that he has come to understand that, of all of the voting systems out there, ironically enough, Hart's systems, which have gotten far less attention in the media than those made by Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia over the years, may, in fact, "be the most insecure of them all" due to their particular architecture.

Never Forget: our soldiers in Iraq are fighting for our freedom. I read these words often as they appear in the comments section of the Houston Chronicle, conservative blogs, and in other online fora I frequent. They are posted there by allegedly patriotic conservatives who remain in full-throated support of the war and the attendant torture of "foreigners" as well as the wiretapping of Americans in order to keep us safe.

The right to have our vote count as we intended it, and for that to be verifiable, is one of those liberties. Presumably.

The Weekly Wrangle

Time once again for the Texas Progressive Alliance Blog Round-Up, compiled by member bloggers from submissions from their blogs over the previous week.

It would seem that the Republican Party of Texas (Republicans first, Texans last!) is looking for a few sweet young thangs! McBlogger has the story on the RPT's efforts to secure a few good young people.

Bradley at North Texas Liberal takes a look into the possible political aspirations of Condoleezza Rice... and tells us why she may be the Democrats' worst nightmare.

The Texas Cloverleaf asks if you're ready to strike over gas prices? Some truck drivers are. They aren't defenders of the Alamo, and are few and far between, but will their message resonate with the rest of America? Some of them say no.

With the resounding defeat of Shelley Sekula Gibbs last Tuesday in the GOP CD 22 runoff, this spells the end of her short-lived political career. Hal at Half Empty has created a video to commemorate the Shelster's last hurrah.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme suspects U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez will be looking for a new job. Soon. Seems that Carlos spoke the truth about that d*mn fence!

Lightseeker over at Texas Kaos marks the upcoming income tax deadline by bringing up a sadly evergreen topic: Tax Lies That Republicans Tell. After all, if the didn't find someone to put money in to the treasury, where would the money to pay for their crony politics come from?

Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News is not catching up on sleep this time but reveals the predictions for four years his brother made the day after Bush was reelected. His brother gets the Cassandra Award and the media pundits don't have to worry about their jobs.

Doing My Part For The Left warns that voter suppression is not just a Texas problem.

Off the Kuff makes the case for investing in transit in Houston.

IVR polled the Skelly-Culberson CD-07 race, as well as Noriega-Cornyn, and came up with some interesting results. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs blogged it.

nytexan at BlueBloggin points out that most Americans are scraping to get by, however some federal employees are having tons of fun with government credit cards, in Your Tax Dollars Purchased iPods, Internet Dating, Women’s Lingerie…