Renew Houston meets the Harris County Dems

Publisher's note: Renew Houston's petition drive -- previous coverage found here -- was successful and they will appear on November's ballot. Today, Councilmember Stephen Costello attended and presented at the Harris County Democratic Party's Brown Bag Luncheon. Open Source Dem was in attendance.

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I attended the rather bizarre meeting at party HQ today. Evidently, Gerry Birnberg seems to be promoting Renew Houston, even though it will (a) bring out Republican voters and (b) demoralize and confuse Democratic voters this fall.

I am just flabbergasted by that. But Martha Cottingham also announced that the “Breakthrough Breakfast” has been cancelled. Frankly, it looks like the vaunted “coordinated campaign” is flying apart. Obviously Matt Angle has hijacked and cut himself in on the large donors. This will be another banner year for the pimp-consultants, but is not looking good for the Democratic ticket.

There is no telling what Sue Lovell will do. She did not appear as announced. Well good, we did not waste time on her.

Costello was arrogant and dismissive. I found nothing to like about his presentation style. But those are tangential matters compared with the scheme he outlined.

Evidently there is a lot to it. He was rattling off bond-lawyer jargon and financial modeling that has, evidently, been vetted by the City but none of which is available to the public. Costello blabbered about transparency but revealed nothing about Renew Houston. They are keeping the details of this scheme proprietary or privileged or something. He denied bond lawyer involvement, but this reeks of it.

I agreed with him that drainage and transportation infrastructure are and ought to be the city’s, not the county’s, primary concern. That is a fundamental matter that few voters understand: to the GOP, there is just some big, amorphous thing called “government” they claim to hate but actually expand and fight like dogs to control. Most Democrats on Council seem to defer to the GOP on public health, public safety, public works, and above all public finance, but handle anything involving cute puppies with exquisite tenderness.

In this case, Costello gave various rationales for putting a measure on the November ballot but dodged my question on the actual effect of it. That would be allowing the special purpose entity he proposes to set up to issue “double-barrel bonds” (a) that are issued as revenue bonds (without an election) but (b) that become tax bonds in an event of default.

I see no reason this dedicated enterprise fund would not turn into the sort of monster the Airport has become. But, Costello –- from New Jersey –- was clear enough that if he gets this done while on Council he plans to get off Council and run the thing. Well yeah, a Jonathan Day move from a District Council seat, that’s pretty ambitious. It sort of compares with Sue’s dreams of future employment.

I have no objection to a dedicated enterprise fund, but I do have reservations about enterprises that a majority of City Council cannot manage, and there are already a slew of those. The central disagreement I have with Costello, with the GOP, and with the Vichy and Blue Dog Democrats propping them up (and running down the President and the Mayor) is the idea –- Costello made his position clear –- that an elected black Mayor or President is not legitimate and must not be able to act without the permission of a GOP minority.

Well, if a proficient and disciplined Democratic majority on City Council cannot manage this city responsibly, then I cannot imagine why people will turn out to turn county government over to us.

Renew Houston is flim-flam. It is opaque and anti-Democratic -- just another case of moving the goal posts every time Democrats achieve a majority.

So maybe Democrats will mobilize against this. We will surely lose the fall election unless we mobilize over something. The GOP is energized and we are being demoralized by mixed messages from hustlers like Matt Angle and the antics of self-serving office squatters like Sue Lovell. What is she running for? City Secretary?

It will be interesting to see what they do with Renew Houston over at “Radio-Active”. They fancy themselves strategic thinkers. They are not, but compared to cringing liberals and goo-goo moderates, I guess they are.

Update: Related reading suggested by OSD...

Salon's Michael Lind: Can infrastructure-led growth save the economy?

The New Republic: James Galbraith focuses on public finance and control fraud in Tremble, Banks, Tremble

George Steinbrenner 1930 - 2010 and Bob Sheppard 1910 - 2010

Tough week for old Yankees.

George Steinbrenner, whose big wallet and win-at-all-cost attitude whipped the New York Yankees into a billion-dollar sports empire, died Tuesday. He had just celebrated his 80th birthday July 4. ...

In 37-plus seasons as owner, Steinbrenner led the Yankees to seven World Series championships, 11 American League pennants and 16 AL East titles.

"He was and always will be as much of a New York Yankee as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and all of the other Yankee legends," baseball commissioner Bud Selig said. ...

Steinbrenner's death on the day of the All-Star game was the second in three days to rock the Yankees. Bob Sheppard, the team's revered public address announcer from 1951-07, died Sunday at 99.

More from the NYT, the NYDN, and the Chron's Richard Justice. The Times ...

In the frenetic ’70s and ’80s, when general managers, field managers and pitching coaches were sent spinning through Steinbrenner’s revolving personnel door (Billy Martin had five stints as manager), the franchise became known as the Bronx Zoo. In December 2002, Steinbrenner’s enterprise had grown so rich that the president of the Boston Red Sox, Larry Lucchino, frustrated over losing the pitcher Jose Contreras to the Yankees, called them the “evil empire.”

But Steinbrenner — who came to be known as the Boss — and the Yankees thrived through all the arguments, all the turmoil, all the bombast. Having been without a pennant since 1964 when Steinbrenner bought them, enduring sagging attendance while the upstart Mets thrived, the Yankees once again became America’s marquee sporting franchise.

And this:

(Steinbrenner) was lampooned, with his permission, by a caricature in the sitcom “Seinfeld,” portrayed by the actor Lee Bear, who was always photographed from behind at the Boss’s desk, flailing his arms and suitably imperious, while Larry David, the show’s co-creator, provided the voice. George Costanza (Jason Alexander) became the assistant to the team’s traveling secretary, whose duties included fetching calzones for Steinbrenner.

Steinbrenner also appeared in a Visa commercial with Jeter, calling him into his office to admonish him. “You’re our starting shortstop,” Steinbrenner said. “How can you possibly afford to spend two nights dancing, two nights eating out and three nights just carousing with your friends?” Jeter responded by holding up a Visa card. Steinbrenner exclaimed “Oh!” and the scene shifted to Steinbrenner in a dance line with Jeter at a night spot.

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Bob Sheppard, whose elegant intonation as the public-address announcer at Yankee Stadium for more than half a century personified the image of Yankees grandeur, died Sunday at his home in Baldwin, on Long Island. He was 99. ...

From the last days of DiMaggio through the primes of Mantle, Berra, Jackson and Jeter, Sheppard’s precise, resonant, even Olympian elocution — he was sometimes called the Voice of God — greeted Yankees fans with the words, “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Yankee Stadium.” ...

Sheppard did not feel strong enough to attend the ceremony marking the final game at the old Yankee Stadium on Sept. 21, 2008, but he announced the Yankees’ starting lineup that night in a tape recording. His recorded voice still introduces Derek Jeter at the plate, a touch the Yankees’ captain requested to honor Sheppard. ...

He was hired by the baseball Yankees in 1951, and soon fans were hearing Sheppard’s pronunciation of “Joe Di-Mah-ggio.”

“I take great pride in how the names are pronounced,” Sheppard said. He seldom entered the clubhouses, but made certain to check directly with a visiting player if he had any doubt on the correct way to pronounce his name.

“Mick-ey Man-tle” was a favorite of his, but as Sheppard once told The Associated Press: “Anglo-Saxon names are not very euphonious. What can I do with Steve Sax? What can I do with Mickey Klutts?”

He enjoyed announcing the name of the Japanese pitcher Shigetoshi Hasegawa and the names of Latin players, particularly pitcher Salome Barojas and infielder Jose Valdivielso.

Sheppard feared he would trip over his pronunciation of Wayne Terwilliger, an infielder who played at Yankee Stadium with the Washington Senators and Kansas City Athletics in the 1950s. “I worried that I would say ‘Ter-wigg-ler’ but I never did,” he recalled.

But there was at least one flub.

When the football Giants played their first game at the Meadowlands, against the Dallas Cowboys in October 1976, Sheppard told the crowd: “Welcome to Yankee Stadium.” ...

Sheppard had his imitators, most notably the ESPN broadcaster Jon Miller.

“One day when my wife and I were down in St. Thomas, we went into a restaurant,” Sheppard told The Village Voice in 2002. “I told the waitress, ‘I’ll have the No. 1. Scrambled eggs, buttered toast and black coffee. No. 1.’ My wife looked at me and said. ‘You sound like Jon Miller’s imitation.’ I wasn’t conscious of the fact that I was ordering the same way I’d introduce Billy Martin.”

Ciro, the newspaper, and the TeaBagger

I discovered a right-wing blogswarm yesterday. It was amusing.

It seems that Ciro Rodriguez, of Texas' 23rd Congressional district, had a town hall meeting last weekend and while a TeaBagger lady was calling him a liar, he swatted a fly on a chair with a newspaper.

This led to the illustrious David Brietbart's Big Gov posting video of the exchange, where it moved through Red State and Weekly Standard and then on to the dregs of our Texas coterie of wingnut goonbat blogs. The El Paso Times and the Dallas News dutifully followed their lead, covering the story and including the video with reports including grave political overtones for the Congressman.

See for yourself:



Ciro later apologized ...

"Unfortunately political operatives associated with my opponent's campaign tried to turn it into something else -- attempting to hijack a 'congress on your corner' event merely to engage in uncivil, cynical videotape baiting tactics," Rodriguez said in a statement. "The people of Southwest Texas deserve better than that."

"That said, I apologize for losing my temper at an event that should always be a civil and respectful exchange of ideas," he said in the statement. "I look forward to continuing to listen to folks all across southwest Texas, as we work together to create jobs and get this economy back on track."

Honestly ... I wish he had slapped her across the face. At least then he would have something to apologize for.

These town hall-disrupting thugs and morons deserve far more public rebuke than they are currently getting, and so does the network of indignant fools who instigate and then advance tripe like this.

Update: Wonkette, with a much funnier takedown ...

The best part of this stupid thing is the guy eating chips behind Rodriguez who is bemused that these people are forced to yell at each other about politics in this place instead of enjoying chips like him.

Obama's (and Congress') full plate

And the Republicans are spitting in it.

Congress returns this week to an ambitious agenda that includes a Supreme Court confirmation, major financial regulation, potential immigration reform and other significant priorities. Some, like Elena Kagan's nomination, appear likely to pass. Others are less clear. ...

And the closer Democrats get to midterm election season, the more Congress will have to factor in how re-election races will impact their agenda. Democrats in close races may be less willing to take controversial votes as they turn to wooing independent and conservative voters for November.

All of which means this will be a very busy July.

In this session, Democrats in Congress will press on the following key items:

• Elena Kagan: Congress hopes to confirm U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court before the August recess. First, the Senate Judiciary Committee must vote to confirm, then her confirmation will be put to a full Senate vote. Some Republicans have expressed their opposition to Kagan's nomination, but Democrats are still expected to round up the 60 votes required to overcome a Republican filibuster and confirm her.

• Financial Reform: Though Democrats weren't able to pass financial reform legislation in the Senate before July 4th, they did get the good news that Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell plans to support the legislation despite voting against an earlier version in May. Her vote switch gave new life to the bill in the wake of Byrd's death and consequent loss of Byrd's supporting vote. Republican Sen. Susan Collins also said that she is "inclined to support" the bill, further bolstering Democratic efforts. The bill would rein in the power of big banks, try to prevent a future financial collapse, and add oversight to many sectors of the financial industry.

• Unemployment Benefits: An estimated 2 million Americans reached the end of their unemployment benefits during the six weeks the Senate has been debating the issue. The longer the debate continues, the more unemployed Americans join that group. Passing the proposed six month extension is a challenge without Byrd in the Senate, but his temporary successor would provide the key 60th vote.

• Immigration Reform: Immigration has jumped into the forefront of congressional debate as Arizona's controversial state immigration law makes waves across the country. President Obama identified immigration reform as one of his top priorities in the months ahead, yet its prospects in Congress seem dim. The controversial nature of the issues makes it a difficult topic for members involved in difficult re-election races. The Department of Justice has pressed forward with legal opposition to Arizona's law, but the legislation for now remains stalled in Congress.

• Energy Reform: Democrats can likely pass a bill that creates new incentives for alternative energy and limits offshore oil drilling. The question is whether or not they can also use the energy bill to target climate change. Senate Republicans fiercely oppose President Obama's proposed cap on carbon emissions, as do some key centrist lawmakers (especially the ones protecting the coal industry in their districts).

• War Funding: Just before the July 4th recess, the president threatened to veto the latest version of a spending bill which will, in part, fund the president's troop surge in Afghanistan. The president took issue with cuts for education funding included in the bill passed by the House July 1. The legislation now heads to the Senate, where the president hopes allies will restore the funding.

How much of this can be stalled, slow-walked, talked to death and killed depends on the success of the GOP keeping Ben Nebraska Nelson on their side and how quickly WVA Gov. Joe Manchin fills Robert Byrd's empty seat.

In other words, the chances of little progress happening are good.

Update: Nelson says he'll go along, and Manchin will appoint a replacement by the end of the coming weekend. Now that's progress.

Cutting holes in the safety net

The death of Sen. Robert Byrd last month left Democrats with one less sitting member in the Senate, effectively destroying their immediate plan to pass a financial reform bill and to separately extend unemployment benefits prior to the July 4th recess.

An estimated 2 million Americans reached the end of their unemployment benefits during the six weeks the Senate has been debating the issue. The longer the debate continues, the more unemployed Americans join that group. Passing the proposed six-month extension is a challenge without Byrd in the Senate, but his temporary successor would provide the key 60th vote.

In just one week and in just one state -- last week in Missouri -- more than 8,300 people fell through the unemployment insurance safety net.

Actually, their nets were removed.

The result: Those who have lost jobless benefits already are turning in greater numbers to food pantries and other emergency aid programs, both government and nonprofit.

"We're hearing from more people needing assistance," said Ron Howard, spokesman for the United Way of Greater Kansas City. "Our 2-1-1 call center is seeing an increase in calls, especially from first-time callers.

"Without a doubt, the loss of that unemployment check is a contributing factor."

Advocates for continuing unemployment benefits note that the Congressional Budget Office has ranked unemployment insurance as the most effective form of economic stimulus.

“It gets money into the hands of the people who are most likely to spend it,” [Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute] said. “It goes straight into their local economies when they use it to pay for their food and housing.”

One study indicates that $10 billion of unemployment insurance spending creates or saves 100,000 jobs.

“Do the math,” Shierholz said. “Failure to approve the $35.5 billion unemployment program translates into 350,000 jobs that aren’t happening. Whatever your feelings about unemployment insurance, you can’t ignore that there’s a drain on public assistance in other ways.”

Yes, I hope everyone will.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance doesn't need to go to South Beach to form a dream team. We've had one all along, and here are the highlights.

Off the Kuff wrote about the problems of how we deal with the mentally ill in the criminal justice system, and a pilot program in Houston to handle the "chronic consumers" more efficiently and compassionately.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders why the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judges weigh their religious beliefs and superstitions against a defendant's religion?

Bay Area Houston says that conservative politicians in Houston have declared an end to the "Tax and Spend" name calling in Houston.

TXsharon made a statement at the EPA hydraulic fracturing hearing in Ft. Worth and used industry's own studies and statements to prove that hydraulic fracturing needs federal regulation under the SDWA. Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Nat-Wu triumphantly returns to Three Wise Men to write about the possibilty of a double-dip recession and even a third depression on the economic horizon.

Lightseeker ponders Who is killing our Democracy? as he examines the links between the latest numbers scandal from the Texas Education Agency and the larger issues of the death of public understanding and civil conversation.

Campaign season is always a blast, especially watching the Democrats beat the fool out of the Republicans. This week, McBlogger take a look at a nice solid beating Hank Gilbert gave Sleazy Todd Staples.

Neil at Texas Liberal is glad that the Green Party will be on the 2010 Texas ballot. Voters deserve options.

There's a few reasons why Voter ID just won't fly in Texas, and PDiddie has them at Brains and Eggs.

School districts in Texas are facing an extraordinarily tough year, financially, due to state funding formulas and falling property values. As one North Texas school district considers a tax rate increase, WhosPlayin takes a light-hearted look at some of the dire consequences if we don't raise school district tax rates.

This week at Left of College Station, Teddy covers the closed meetings, closed books, and the lack of information between the Bryan city council and BTU. Also, a look at why white America may be in a recession but black America is in a depression. And as always, the week in headlines.

Sunday Brunch wish-they-were-Funnies

LeBron James splits ...

... the baby:


“I’VE DECIDED I’M GOING TO PLAY FOR … MIAMI OF OHIO!”

(Thanks to Satirical Political.)

Why Voter ID won't fly in Texas

John Tanner cuts to the nut.

Let's be clear. The pro-ID requirement crowd has relied on hot air rather than facts. Its case rests on the myth that crowds of people are going to the polls and pretending to be someone else. The fact is that cases of voter impersonation are as rare as hens' teeth. But when neither side has had evidence, the courts have upheld ID laws out of deference to the legislatures.

The Supreme Court has made clear that anti-ID forces can and will prevail if they can produce actual individuals whose right to vote will be denied or abridged by an ID requirement.

Welcome to Texas.

Texas is a unique state with a unique population mix, unique size and unique geography — among other unique characteristics. What might be true in Indianapolis will not be true in the Rio Grande Valley.

Tanner -- former head of the voting division of the USDOJ's Civil Rights department -- led this piece with the recent case law associated with Voter ID wins in the states of Indiana and Georgia, so go to the original article if you need to catch up.

In Indiana and Georgia, county seats are local business, commercial and community hubs. Local residents visit them often in the normal course of their daily lives. Those without cars catch a ride with a friend or relative, as they can in much of East Texas.

But so much of Texas is different. Take Presidio County. Marfa, the county seat, is a tiny town of 2,121 souls notable mainly as an oasis of minimalist art. It sits at the northern end of the county, while most county residents live 89 miles away over rough mountain roads in the town of Presidio.

Minimalist art is not on the front burner in Presidio. More than 40 percent of the residents live in poverty. More than 70 percent of those older than 65 have a disability. More than 94 percent are Hispanic.

Marfa doesn't offer much reason for Presidio residents to visit, at least for those who don't crave some grilled radicchio with gorgonzola or need a giant metal sculpture. For people without cars, it takes a lot to persuade a neighbor to fill the pickup truck with gas and drive you 120 miles from Presidio to Marfa and back.

For those down the road in the 88 percent Hispanic community of Redford, the round trip is more than 150 miles. In a neighbor's old truck, that might be 20 gallons of gas plus wear and tear — more than $100 by current government reimbursement rates — plus a day gone and wages lost for both of you. That is the sort of unreasonable burden on voters that will persuade a court.

If voter ID opponents need victims, citizens who will face unconscionable burdens under a voter ID regime, they can find them in Presidio. And Presidio County is part of a pattern.

Texas counties are big, especially along the Rio Grande. A dozen Texas counties are twice as large as the entire state of Rhode Island. Ten of the 12 are more than 50 percent minority. Of the 32 counties over 55 percent Hispanic, 27 are larger than Rhode Island.

Tanner winds up and hurls the payoff pitch, which David Dewhurst and every single Republican in the state legislature needs to clearly understand.

Voter ID proponents think that when they face the inevitable court challenge to any law they manage to pass, they'll have a slam dunk. They might find that they are the ones who'll get slammed and dunked. And that they have wasted another legislative session chasing wild geese while the real problems of Texas remain unaddressed.

Texas Republicans and their attorneys are happy taking their chances with a 100% GOP state Supreme Court which favors defendants 87% of the time (usually corporations sued by little guys).  And they will keep doing it until we elect some Democrats to the state Supreme Court, and to the appellate court.

But more to Tanner's point here: Texas Republican legislators only waste time with Voter ID because it lathers up their paranoid, racist, TeaBagger base, while the damage associated with an $18 billion dollar budget shortfall keep festering.

The way we stop that is to elect just three more Democrats to the Texas House.

Green means go; Dems drop SCOTX challenge

The right course of action.

The Texas Democratic Party today cleared the way for Green Party candidates to remain on the ballot this year by dropping its state Supreme Court challenge to the legality of the Green's ballot access petition drive.

However, the Democrats indicated the party will continue its lawsuit at a lower court level in an effort to obtain civil penalties in the case.

"Although the motion we filed today means it is almost certain that Green Party candidates will remain on the ballot in 2010, the facts demonstrate that the participants in this petition gathering scam acted improperly and we continue to seek penalties allowed by law," said Democratic Chairman Boyd Richie.

Silencing the whine that Democrats aren't interested in democratic principles was a significant step in the right direction. More from News8Austin, courtesy Half Empty...

Officials with the Democratic Party said they didn't want to be accused of obstructing voters from choosing their candidate of choice, but encourage Green Party candidates to consider their campaigns.

“Green Party leaders should remember that actions speak louder than words. It is up to the Green Party candidates to decide whether they want to continue candidacies that were bought and paid for by Republicans who hold the Green Party in contempt," Richie said.

The truth for this writer is that I am sympathetic to the Green Party issues and efforts. They deserve to be heard  by the voters of Texas. But they were worked like week-old laundry by Rick Perry's henchmen in this regard, and when they learned about it they decided that was all right with them.

If there is any new news here, it is that Rick Perry is quite obviously pursuing another 39% strategy in the 2010 election.

Update: Burnt Orange's comprehensive aggre-post includes video from last Friday's press conference that Green Party coordinator kat swift and others held following the Supreme's decision to set aside the lower court's block of their ballot effort.

Update II: there's a good back-and-forth going on between Democratic activist and my friend Stan Merriman at his blog Torches and Pitchforks and my friend and former Democrat/current Green currently unaligned Kris Graham and Green candidate for Harris County clerk Don Cook.

Michael Steele's greatest hits (and his real problem: the truth)

I'm so old I remember when conservatives would point and laugh at things Howard Dean said. Then he kicked their asses and they had to sit  down and shut up, of course.

GOP chair Michael Steele's words and deeds have been referred to as "screw-ups" and "gaffes" -- and some of them, like the expense report for the nights out at the lesbian bondage club, certainly are -- but the main reason the dude is in hot water is because he's the head of a political party based fundamentally upon hypocrisy. So he gets in trouble every time he lets slip a brutal truth.

For example, "Obama's war of choosing" is blindingly false and even ridiculous.  "Afghanistan is unwinnable", on the other hand, is quite true, yet it obviously contradicts the tough-guy facade the GOP has invested decades constructing, thus cannot be spoken aloud (by a Republican). More truth that penalizes Steele:

In a March 2009 interview with CNN, Steele was asked about the White House’s position that Rush Limbaugh was the leader of the GOP. He strongly denied that claim, insisting that he was the party’s top leader. “Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment,” Steele said. And he trashed Limbaugh’s over-the-top remarks about Obama. “Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly,” Steele said, prompting Limbaugh to declare Steele as unfit to lead the party. Steele later apologized to Limbaugh, insisting he did not want to “diminish his voice.” Later, he strangely suggested the Limbaugh flap had been “strategic” on his part. “It may look like a mistake, a gaffe. (But) there is a rationale, there’s a logic behind it,” he said.

And more, the kind that the hypocrites in the Republican party just cannot tolerate:

In an interview with GQ’s Lisa DePaulo, Steele said abortion is “absolutely … an individual choice” and said the question of legality should be settled by the states. The comments prompted criticism from several top social conservatives, including Gov. Mike Huckabee. Steele, who is pro-life, later said his words had been taken out of context.

And still more:

Perhaps the most important role of a party chairman is to be a cheerleader for candidates and their campaigns, even in the most dire circumstances. But in January, Steele told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that not only was he not sure if the GOP would regain control of Congress, he wasn’t sure if Republicans were ready to govern. “Are we ready? I don’t know,” Steele said. Candidates “looking to run” have to hew to the GOP's core principles, he added. “If they don’t, they’ll get to Washington, and they’ll start drinking that Potomac River water and they’ll get drunk with power.”

Beyond Steele, however, there is the simple cognitive dissonance associated with being an African-American Republican. Or a Hispanic Republican. Or a Log Cabin Republican.  These things exist in nature (as rare as they may be) and, stranger still, these creatures appear comfortable in their environment. They do not thrive, but they do survive.

A more current strain of this cerebral dichotomy can be found in the deficit hawks peacocks that spawned the Tea Party fringe movement of the GOP; "no" to all government spending -- even the extension of jobless benefits -- except for the wars and police actions around the globe.  Olbermann had a segment just last night on our now-unbelievable defense budget, the dawning pragmatism that it must be reduced coming from Ron Paul and a few more TeaBaggers -- and more carping about that, combined with a call to keep increasing it, from no less than the likes of Sarah Palin.

See? More truth larded up and turned rancid with conservative hypocrisy. Michael Steele just makes this mistake more often than the rest of the Republicans. They call that "lack of message discipline".

A beatdown

"Rick Perry will see how many times he can say 'Obama' and 'liberal' in slick T.V. commercials and see if that will get him by with 51 percent of the vote," (Bill) White said. "In prior elections, he attacks his opponents with negative campaigns, takes credit for what's good and accepts no responsibility for a lot of mismanagement."

White said Perry should not be allowed to avoid forums where the questions come from citizens in the audience. "If you don't have the guts to get up here on stage and answer to the taxpayers who pay your salary, then you shouldn't be re-elected governor," White said.

It wasn't just White who got in some shots, either.

(Libertarian Kathie) Glass, who opposes national healthcare and believes the state should block its implementation, was equally hard on Perry. She said Perry has talked a good game in opposing federal policies, but she said talk is all he is.

"Our governor may have said some things that sound comforting, but everyone knows ... he doesn't mean it, and he won't do it," Glass said. "You know you're voting for the man you wish he were."

It was vicious and kind of ugly on the MIA governor. I came close to feeling sorry for him once or twice. But that passed every time one of his minions in the chat sidebar to the video -- "defeattxlibs" or "liberalbill" were two of their handles -- would post some ridiculous Carney-inspired propaganda.

It reminded me of one of those UFC fights where the guy on the mat can't cover up the blows raining down on his head, but has a couple of ringside handlers yelling "You got him, Ace!" and "He's about to give out!"

Barbara Radnofsky and Jon Roland were no less relentless on Greg Abbott, either, in the second round on the card for attorney general candidates.

Burnt Orange has a live blog of the play-by-play.

Fourth on the Fifth Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance wishes America a Happy 234th Birthday as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

TXsharon is not the only one who thinks CHK shareholders are getting drilled by the Shale Gas Shell Game. Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Off the Kuff talks about how to really put the unemployed back to work.

"You knew you were at the Texas Democratic Party Convention when ..." at PDiddie's Brains and Eggs.

The Texas Cloverleaf shows you the difference between good and evil in Texas.

South Texas Chisme sees a clear difference between the Democrats who want to solve problems and republicans who want to visit their idea of the 1700s.

Neil at Texas Liberal spent the week in Cincinnati, and offer a post with a picture of a retaining wall in a Cincinnati park that was built by the New Deal-era Works Progress Administration in 1940. Sarah Palin can't serve a full term as governor, but the work of government-sponsored jobs programs lasts across the decades.

Left of College Station returns after a June hiatus, and Teddy writes about the mainstream media and the culture of underexposure, and also covers the week in headlines.

Gubernatorial debate tonight (without the guber)

The first debate in the Texas governor's race will be between a pair of Houstonians in the Hill Country on Monday, minus Gov. Rick Perry.

Democratic nominee Bill White and Libertarian Kathie Glass, both lawyers, are scheduled to face off in a Kerrville Area League of Women Voters debate at 7 p.m. at the Cailloux Theatre in Kerrville.

The debate will be carried live on Kerrville's KVHC-TV and will be streamed live on the station's website.

Kerrville Area League President Donna Robinson said Perry was invited to attend but turned it down. Robinson said Perry remains invited to show up Monday if he wishes.

The governor still has an unhealthy obsession with his challenger's tax returns.

Perry spokesman Mark Miner said the governor will not debate White until White releases his personal income tax returns for the years he was assistant U.S. secretary of energy and Texas Democratic Party chairman, a period covering the mid-to-late 1990s. White has released his returns for the years he was Houston's mayor.

"We will discuss debates when Bill White comes clean with the people of Texas and releases his tax returns for his years on public service," Miner said.

White spokeswoman Katy Bacon said Perry is just playing games to avoid a debate.

"Next he'll be asking for Bill's tax returns when he was running concession stands as a teenager, or saying he'll only debate if Glenn Beck is the moderator," Bacon said. "If he doesn't want to debate, he should just say so instead of playing games like a typical career politician."

Okay then. Let's turn our attention to the people who will be there.

Glass favors states' rights, nullification of federal laws by the states if they consider them unconstitutional, an elimination of the public school property tax and state payments for Medicaid. Glass said Perry talks about states' rights and less government spending, but "he really doesn't believe in it."

Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson called White's decision to debate Glass a "mixed bag."

The debate gives White the opportunity to promote a candidate who may draw votes from Perry in the general election and highlight the fact that Perry will not debate. But Jillson said it also gives White's campaign an air of desperation.

"It caters to the idea that they are a little frantic and are taking the eye off the ball, which is Rick Perry," Jillson said.

Jillson vastly overstates the governor's only hope to get something out of a no-show. There is lots to be gained for both Glass and White, and it all comes at Perry's expense. He will again serve as a punching bag -- I prefer pinata -- and once the polls show him losing more ground, he'll get his summer attack ads campaign in gear.

I'll be watching to see if the two on stage this evening score much beyond but added name rec and a few style points, though. There's plenty of Debra Messina-ish crazy for the TeaBaggers and less sensible conservatives to like about Glass, and whatever she says tonight will raise her stock a bit. But the Republicans who stuck with Kay Bailey in March can find plenty to like about White as well, so it will be interesting to see if he makes an appeal directly to them.  I want to see if White gets asked about the Greens, and also about the Barnett Shale (scroll to nearly the end of Dave Mann's article in the Texas Observer and begin at the paragraph that starts with "In March" in bold if you need the backstory). Those would be the toughest questions he could get asked IMO, not the Perry-campaign-fed questions about BTEC nor the inevitable and tired "can Democrats win anything this year?" crap.

Update: Kuffner's take, this excerpt...

Perry’s spokesbot claimed (the reason the governor wasn't going to debate) was because White hasn’t yet released a detailed accounting of the allowance he received as a kid, but we all know the real reason.

Fourth Funnies

Greens get to go

As I predicted here, the Texas Green Party's candidates get a green a light from the Supremes...

The Texas Supreme Court today stayed a district judge's order blocking the Green Party of Texas from certifying its candidates for the general election ballot.

The order allows the Green Party to legally establish a list of candidates for the general election. But the court also set a series of deadlines for lawyers for the Texas Democratic Party and the Green Party to argue whether a ballot petition drive illegally used corporate money. The Supreme Court still could knock the party off the ballot.

Democratic Party lawyer Chad Dunn said he does not believe the fight is over.

"The effect of the order is to give the Supreme Court time before they open up an enormous loophole for potential election fraud," Dunn said.

Green Party lawyer David Rogers said, "We get to put our candidates on the ballot today. We don't know if we get to keep them there."

More from Burnt Orange, Texas Kaos, Texas Politics, Trail Blazers, Bay Area Houston, and shortly more, which when posted will be updated here. There's a debate between Bill White and Libertarian Kathie Glass coming up Monday; I wonder if the Green's Deb Shafto will get invited to future ones. Her name should be included in all future polling also in order to get a true reading of the governor's (and other statewide) races going forward.

Update: The TexTrib talks to Jeff Weems, the Democratic railroad commission candidate (my italic emphasis)...

Weems says he isn’t worried about the possibility of facing Art Browning, the Green Party candidate. He says he’s been expecting to face a Green Party candidate all along. Also, while he’s working on the Democratic vote, Weems says he’s more focused on picking up independent and Republican votes, which aren’t likely to break to the Green Party anyway.

“I heard that Art was throwing his hat in early, early on — heck, I think even before David Porter did,” Weems says. “I’m truly not concerned with it because, on the railroad commission race, if you look at past races with Green Party candidates you don’t see a draw down on the Democratic vote total.”

Weems has, without question, the smartest attitude about how to run a statewide race with a Green in it.

How many Libertarians does it take to screw in a light bulb?

None. The darkness will compel the light bulb to change itself.

As we wait for the Texas Supreme Court to weigh in -- or maybe not -- on the Green Party's GOP-financed ballot bid, let's enjoy some humor at the expense of the party which could be the Republicans' Trojan horse, if only conservatives weren't such low-information voters. And if the Libs weren't so ... ah ... self-righteous. Click on the pic (and then "full screen") for a more readable version. Or go to Ampersand.

TexTrib: state mulls more nukes

Are we fixin' to mull them with cider, or wine maybe? 'Cause Imo needa drink if we're fixin' to build more nukular reactors.

Seventeen years ago, Texas turned on its last nuclear reactor, about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth. In another decade, several more reactors could get built here — if events in Washington go the power companies' way.

Nuclear power now accounts for 14 percent of Texas's electricity usage (below the national average, 20 percent). The case for adding more reactors rests on a rising appetite for electricity sparked by a growing population and ever-proliferating gadgetry. And proponents point out that nuclear power, unlike coal or natural gas, is virtually free of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with global warming during its operations, although environmentalists strongly dispute the merits of the plants.

The federal government is moving ahead with a program that provides loan guarantees for the plants — a crucial step to placate financiers nervous about the economic risk of building them. Earlier this month, the Department of Energy agreed to a $3.4 billion guarantee for the expansion of a nuclear facility in Georgia, and the Obama administration recently asked Congress for more funds to help out more plants. Two proposed nuclear projects in Texas are high on the list of potential recipients.

"We're very serious about moving ahead," says Jeff Simmons, who is leading the development efforts to add two new reactors to the Comanche Peak plant in Glen Rose, near Fort Worth. The project is a joint venture between subsidiaries of Luminant, a big Texas power generator, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The companies are hoping to get a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the end of 2012 — a crucial green light for the plant.

Like deepwater oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico, all it takes is one (screw-up) and you're done. And so are the rest of us.

But hey, there's lotsa jobs that need creatin', and more braggin' by Governor KieYoat to be done about the wunnerful Texas economy ...

“Like all Jews, I was probably in a Chinese restaurant.”

You knew you were at the TDP convention when...

You get tagged in photos on Facebook and, in half of them, you look drunk (but weren't) and had your mouth open.

The Democrats with Disabilities Caucus was upstairs.

Boyd Ritchie's hair was so snowy white you know he had to have used some of that rinse old ladies use.

You sweated through your two best suits/dresses.

Some Republican morons were told to move a pickup truck parked at an event for press attention and the funniest thing about that is it was the most attention they got.

Faux coyote meat was served in a mobile home that was later given to charity.

Two political operatives who worked for Farouk Shami had to help some poor lady pick up her weight in coroplast Bill White signs off the ground after she dropped them and they went everywhere.

There were vegetarian sandwiches in the pressroom.

The TDP media advisory on convention parties included almost as many parties as caucuses.

The concession stands at the convention center ran out of everything except blue Gatorade and Frito pie, and you paid $9 for said combo and had immediate regrets.

Everywhere you turned, there was red-business-suited Molly Beth Malcolm (I swear to god, the only place I didn't run into her was in the bathroom, and I checked under the stall doors to make sure all 6' 5" of her wasn't hiding in there to tell me about how Bill White helped pay for conventions when he was party chair, or how you get a two-fer with Boyd and Betty Richie).

Police had to escort some nutjob from the Credentials Committee who was trying to unseat the entire Brazoria County delegation because they didn't pass some resolution he wanted -- and he calls YOU a tool of the party establishment.

Two prostitutes walked into the blogger's caucus and it was totally no big deal.

People laughed about Dick Cheney's heart attack openly and without reservation.

Your bags and purses were searched -- not to make sure you didn't have weapons, but to make sure you didn't bring in a cup of coffee or bottle of water you didn't pay $7 for at a concession stand.

You have that awkward moment where you have to ask one of the Castro brothers: "now which one are you?" (Note: San Antonio mayor Julian is to be on Stephen Colbert's Report tonight -- scroll halfway down. Or maybe it was last night.)

A candidate for justice of the peace from Coryelle County (or some damned place) goes up to everyone in a suit, hands them homemade, hand-lettered campaign literature and asks for a check.

Susan Criss tells you to stand still, snaps your photo unexpectedly, and posts it on Facebook.

The escalator briefly breaks down, someone asks you why, and you tell them it was the scooter someone tried to ride up it, and a crowd of people instantly believes you, and wants to make sure everyone is okay and someone says the legislature should mandate warning signs to prevent that before you have time to say you were joking.

David Van Os was running for something or nominating someone else to run for something, and no one involved in that equation is successful.

There were so many iPhones in one area it ground Corpus Christi's 3G network to a halt so badly you could not email the person standing next to you.

You walk up to a group of people having a conversation and within a minute realize it is two legislators and two transgendered individuals talking about the intricacies of gender reassignment surgery and how it plays into the voter ID debate -- and then stick around because it is one of the better public policy discussions you've heard all day -- and everyone laughs like hell when one of the non-legislators talks about asking John Carona if he wants to debate which bathroom the individual should use.

You walk into a bathroom, someone you don't know recognizes you, and before you have a chance to pee, they want you to blog about something, and you have no recognition of who they are except that you saw them at the previous two conventions.

As someone who is not Carl Whitmarsh walks by, people whisper and ask, "so is THAT Carl Whitmarsh?"

You finally meet Carl Whitmarsh, and mention it to someone in passing and everyone grows more interested than if you were talking about the latest Hollywood scandal -- and you are asked to describe Carl Whitmarsh down to hair color and what he is wearing because no one around you has met him before.

You witness someone who clearly has no business being at a TDP convention ask Leticia Van De Putte where the bathrooms are without realizing who she is. You consider calling security.

You hear Leticia Van De Putte introduce herself on nine separate and distinct occasions as the highest ranking Democrat in Texas.

There are people in your delegation who chastise you for leaving the floor because there might be important things to vote on coming up. Which may have been proper in the days before text messaging.

3 people running for Temporary Secretary of an unnamed ethnic issue caucus all talk about publishing a newsletter to keep members better informed, and a point of order is raised to ask the president to explain to the hapless candidates exactly what a temporary secretary is.

A CHI was raffled off at the meeting of the only caucus to have endorsed Farouk Shami.

Someone in your SD caucus runs for the Rules Committee on a platform of "I think it is important to follow the rules."  And when he loses 138 to 15, everyone feels so bad for him he is named Alternate to the Rules Committee in case the winner doesn't show up.

By the time the last of the statewide candidates speak, there is barely a quorum left to conduct business.

There is a choir of LaRouchites annoying everyone, and the LaRouchites get more mainstream media coverage than most candidates.

A candidate tells the Stonewall Democrats about an organization naming her an "Honorary Lesbian," and she gets massive applause, although you strongly suspect some people in the caucus want this proof in writing
just to make sure.

The most repeated comment is, "thank god there isn't as much confusion as there was in 2008," in nearly every caucus.

Someone refers to the LaKesha Rogers "booth" as the Starship Kesha and you laugh so hard you almost piss yourself. 

You start wondering if the LaRouchites really are different from a doomsday cult.

One lone old guy is protesting killing babies outside the convention center, and you really have to resist the urge to go out  and try to convert him just for fun.

You get buttons with sayings like, "Do I Look Like An Illegal," and "I like pro-choice girls" on them -- for FREE.

Someone mentions Fred Head's bus and you start feeling nauseated, but you aren't sure if it is the bus, the booze, or the $9 Frito pie that is making you sick.

You are at a bar and someone looks at your Obama shirt, uses the N-word, and you realize there is the real potential that person might not actually leave the bar alive whereas, at home, if you wore an Obama shirt into a bar YOU might be the one who doesn't come out alive.

Greens appeal to Texas Supremes

 All lawyered up with no place (yet) to go, the Greens plead for help from the highest (corporate) court in the state. Bold emphasis is not mine but Gary Scharrer's ...

The Green Party is asking the Texas Supreme Court to nullify a district court ruling prohibiting the party from certifying candidates for the November election ballot because of an "unauthorized illegal contribution."

A Republican front group - with help from Texas Republicans - raised the money to help the Green Party get enough signatures to make the ballot. But the money came from a corporation and anonymous donors, which violates Texas election code, claim Texas Democrats, who say Gov. Rick Perry's GOP friends want a Green Party gubernatorial candidate on the ballot to siphon votes from Democrat Bill White.

The court must rule by Friday, which is the deadline for parties to certify their candidates.

"This case matters because voters should have an alternative to entrenched career politicians. Despite the signatures of over 90,000 Texans, entrenched career politicians and their lawyers want to deny voters the right to choose in November," said David Rogers, one of the Green Party lawyers.

A trial has been scheduled for January.

"However the Texas Supreme Court rules, we're going to continue with this lawsuit, and we're going to get to the bottom of what happened," said Chad Dunn, a lawyer for the Texas Democratic Party.

This appeal could work out well for the Greens, since the SCOTX is 100% GOP, they favor defendants 86% of the time, and the Citizens United case decided in the SCOTUS last month in favor of corporate campaign contributions could be cited as precedent. We shall see ...

Update: From Jason Embry, public comments from two attorneys associated with each side ...

Election lawyer Buck Wood, who often helps Democratic candidates, said Monday that the Green Party leaders who certify the ballot could be susceptible to criminal charges if the Supreme Court agrees with (state district judge John) Dietz that the money that got the Greens onto the ballot was an illegal corporate contribution. Or, more to the point, if they do not disagree with Dietz.

They would become vulnerable if they followed through with their plan to certify the candidates on the ballot, Wood said. The key is that they now know that it was a corporate contribution that came in from Take Initiative America, which paid for the petition drive that appeared to make the Greens eligible for the ballot.

“They’ve been told it’s illegal. They’ve got knowledge now,” Wood said. “If I were their lawyer, I’d say, ‘You go ahead and certify those names and hopefully the Travis County district attorney’s office won’t take an interest in you.’”

David Rogers, a lawyer for the Green Party, said, “With all due respect to Mr. Wood, who is a very fine election law attorney, I believe he is misreading the law in an attempt to gain an electoral advantage for the Democratic Party. He is a consultant for the Democrats in this matter, and all his comments regarding the law in this case need to be considered with that in mind. Texas allows corporate contributions for ‘normal operating expenses’ of a political party. If getting on the ballot isn’t a ‘normal’ expense of a political party, what is?”

My convention experience

I'll grade it a B minus. Here are some thoughts I jotted as the weekend went on ...

-- We arrived Friday at the Omni Bayfront at lunchtime in 3 hours and change. Google Maps had left me with the distinct impression that it was a four-hour drive from Houston. Garmin had us getting there an hour early; which I did not believe until we were nearly there. That was a nice surprise.

-- We ate lunch at a table next to David Leibowitz, whom I was meeting for the first time. Afterwards I shuttled over to the convention hall and got my two credentials but missed the one caucus I thought I could make, "Democrats Against the Death Penalty". I heard that it was as good as I thought it would be. Update: The Texas Moratorium Network has an excellent post about the caucus, including video of death row survivor Juan Melendez and a photo slideshow of convention activities.

I had short and sweet visits with Garnet Coleman at the lobby elevators and Richard Raymond at the convention hall, Dinah Weems (wife of Jeff) at his booth, BAR and Katie Floyd as I picked up my creds, and Borris Miles at my senate district caucus.

-- Speaking of that, the SD-17 caucus was contentious; it was a face-off between Harris county and the others (Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Jefferson). The others mostly got their people elected while the Harris county contingent got mostly shut out. There needs to be some intra-party fence mending by my two SDEC committee members Alan Blakley and Carol Wright. We ran right up to and slightly past the 5:00 deadline so I barely had time to change my shirt and catch the shuttle back to the American Bank Center for the opening session at 6 pm.

This is my only serious down-rating for the weekend (though you may remember that I also complained about the media accommodations) : the shuttle buses running between the convention hotels and the convention center weren't a good situation. I boarded the bus at 5:45 but didn't arrive at the ABC until 6:20. It's about six blocks between the Omni Bayfront and the ABC, but the bus runs in the opposite direction and makes two stops. I walked the rest of the time, yes in the blazing humid heat. It was worth the sweating.

This was also, as you might imagine, a tremendous burden on the not-quite-so-ambulatory delegates; the long queues, the slow boarding, and the climate conditions made it tough on everyone but especially those with canes and walkers, in wheelchairs and scooters, and on oxygen. It pointed out to me that Corpus wasn't well-equipped to handle a convention of our size, even as downsized as we were this year.

-- The highlight of the evening session was, of course, Bill White using Rick Perry as a pinata. The convention ran so smoothly that he got onstage 45 minutes early, and we were done before 7:30. So we went to dinner at Blackbeard's (the one on the beach) at 8:30 with Tom and Sylvia Gederberg -- the shrimp and oysters were scrumptious -- and then the Blogger's Caucus around 10:30 until almost 1 am.

-- I slept a little late and dawdled around getting back for the Saturday session which started at 11 am, and when I finally got there at 12:30 pm after the magnificent lunch buffet at the Omni, I had missed Linda Chavez-Thompson's speech and the chair's election. The vote totals were announced a few minutes after I sat down in the SD-17 section, with Boyd Richie of course elected to another term. Then the remaining statewides had their turn on stage: Barbara Radnofsky, Jeff Weems, and Hector Uribe. Senfronia Thompson spoke for Hank Gilbert, who was lost his mother the day before the convention opened and wasn't able to attend. There were the various Democratic legislative delegations appearing as a group onstage: the statehouse reps, the state senators, and the Congressional delegation. Back to business after that and the previously reported Texas Two-Step unpleasantries. Then the judicials spoke: Jim Sharp, Bill Moody, Blake Bailey, and Keith Hampton. Having ground enough sausage for one day, I blew out around 4 pm as the resolution, platform, and other committees were beginning to report.

-- Saturday dinner was at Landry's by the bay -- a magnificent meal as always from one of Tilman's places -- and after ordering dessert we joined Stan and Julie Merriman, Amy Manuel, JR Behrman, the Gederbergs and David and Rachel Van Os, who had come in about an hour behind us. The conversation was lively.

-- Sunday we slept a little late and had breakfast at 10:30, visiting with Bob Slagle (he's fit as a fiddle, by the way, unlike two years ago) and Gene Green and Behrman again. Then it was off to the USS Lexington for a couple of hours touring the magnificent old aircraft carrier, then home via Port Aransas and Port Lavaca.

A great meeting of Democratic minds, united for a common purpose, in a relaxing coastal setting. Hard to beat this past weekend.

The post-convention Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is still a little sunburned and hung over from Corpus Christi's state convention this past weekend, but is fired up and ready to go with its post-convention blog roundup.

Neil at Texas Liberal offered up four reasons Bill White will beat Rick Perry and, in so doing, become the next governor of Texas.

John at Bay Area Houston says: Before you run for Chair of the Texas Democratic Party, get a clue.

As people across the nation react to GASLAND now showing on HBO, TXsharon @ Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS reminds us that the FRAC Act, Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act of 2009, has no Texas co-sponsor.

Musings has a bloggers roundup from the convention.

It's redistricting season again, and Off the Kuff comments on a report from a public hearing on redistricting in San Antonio.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme had a good time at the convention. Corpus Christi was beautiful and the facilities for the convention were great -- except for the lack of food. Too bad the local paper and their political reporter suck.

Over at TexasKaos, Libby Shaw asks what will the GOP do about the energy legislation? Check out Texas GOP and its Blind Obedience to BP.

WhosPlayin reports that the city of Farmers Branch would like to add 200 feet to the height of its municipal landfill, which is actually located in America's 10th fastest growing city --Lewisville, Texas.

Robert Byrd 1917-2010 and Dolph Briscoe 1923-2010

Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, a fiery orator versed in the classics and a hard-charging power broker who steered billions of federal dollars to the state of his Depression-era upbringing, died Monday. He was 92.

Byrd was first elected to the Senate the year I was born, 1958.

In comportment and style, Byrd often seemed a Senate throwback to a courtlier 19th century. He could recite poetry, quote the Bible, discuss the Constitutional Convention and detail the Peloponnesian Wars — and frequently did in Senate debates.

Yet there was nothing particularly courtly about Byrd's pursuit or exercise of power.
Byrd was a master of the Senate's bewildering rules and longtime chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which controls a third of the $3 trillion federal budget. He was willing to use both to reward friends and punish those he viewed as having slighted him.

"Bob is a living encyclopedia, and legislative graveyards are filled with the bones of those who underestimated him," former House Speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas, once said in remarks Byrd later displayed in his office.

Byrd had been a member of the KKK in his early years, and it was a Klucker that first suggested he run for political office.

Byrd's accomplishments followed a childhood of poverty in West Virginia, and his success on the national stage came despite a complicated history on racial matters. As a young man, we was a member of the Ku Klux Klan for a brief period, and he joined Southern Democrats in an unsuccessful filibuster against the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act.

He later apologized for both actions, saying intolerance has no place in America. While supporting later civil rights bills, he opposed busing to integrate schools. 

More here, here, and here. He was a titan of the Senate, and his passing leaves a chasm as great as Kennedy's.

========

Dolph Briscoe Jr., 87, a rancher, banker and businessman from the Texas Brush Country whose promise to restore integrity to a scandal-plagued state government propelled him into the Governor's Mansion in 1973, died Sunday at the family home in Uvalde.

Briscoe was governor precisely during the period of time I was in high school and then college.

The first Texas governor to serve a four-year term, he was re-elected in 1974 and then lost to Attorney General John Hill in the 1978 Democratic primary. In a stunning upset, Hill lost in the general election to Bill Clements, the state's first Republican governor since Reconstruction. Clements won, in part, because conservative Democrats were unhappy over Briscoe's loss and failed to support Hill.

*sigh* Some things just never change, do they?

Running as an outsider and challenging the stewardship of incumbent officeholders, he defeated Gov. Preston Smith and Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes. In the general election, he beat Republican state Sen. Henry "Hank" Grover and Ramsey Muniz, the candidate of the La Raza Unida Party.

Then again ... how different do you think things would be in Texas if there were still an active La Raza Unida Party?

Prima-caucus lives, and the potential fallout

Executive summary first from the R.G. :

Tempers flared today as delegates to the Texas Democratic Convention accused each other of racism and ignoring the needs of the infirm, elderly and soldiers overseas.

But in end they overwhelmingly voted 5,602-1,930 to keep the controversial Texas "Two-Step" system of allocating presidential nominating convention delegates through a hybrid of a primary and election-night caucuses.

Some portrayed the fight as the continuation of the 2008 battle between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. But others said problems in that election showed the shortcomings of the system.

Many Democrats were angered in 2008 because Clinton won the most votes in the primary but Obama out-maneuvered her in the caucuses to win the most nominating delegates: 95-91.

After hours of debate in the convention rules committee and another hour of heated discussion on the Democratic convention floor, the delegates voted to retain the hybrid system rather than go to a system of allocating all presidential nominating delegates based solely on the primary vote.

This is solid as to the synopsis and conclusion, so I'll just fill in some of the on-the-convention-floor color.

Royce West, the state senator from Dallas, was first to speak from the floor during the discussion and almost immediately played the race card, suggesting that eliminating the caucus would "disenfranchise" some activist African-Americans whose communities conduct politics as close-knit, neighborhood affairs.

Some speakers after West picked up the gauntlet, suggesting that shift workers, the disabled, seniors and soldiers serving overseas were in fact the ones being disenfranchised by their inability to participate in the election-day-evening precinct conventions.  And some called bullshit on that. From the Texas Tribune's live-blog (2:29 pm entry):

Leroy Warren Jr., a Democrat from Collin County, got fired up at the mic. He wants to keep the two-step primary election process that allowed Barack Obama to get more delegates to the Democratic National Committee even though Hillary Clinton won the popular primary vote. He says others are using the veil of protecting minorities to try to change a system that allowed the black candidate to win election.

"These shenanigans ought to stop right now, and they ought to take that minority report and go trash it." ... 

A couple more Af-Am delegates followed, echoing and amplifying West's 'disenfranchised' comments. And some others rebutted. It was uncomfortable and unpleasant, to say the least.

I would like to respectfully point out that "disenfranchisement" as defined here is entirely the wrong word to use to describe the caucus participation/effect:

disenfranchise - : to deprive of a franchise, of a legal right, or of some privilege or immunity; especially : to deprive of the right to vote

Nobody is being deprived of their right to vote either by keeping or deleting the caucus portion of the delegate allocation. No one.

The caucus rewards those activists who take responsibility to get off their couch and go participate with their neighbors in the political welfare and future of their 'hood, their state, their nation. It doesn't penalize anybody. It's a valuable component of our democracy, IMHO.

(As Ratcliffe noted above, the caucus itself was not being ended by the proposed changes in the rules committee's minority report; only the math would change. But the math would disembowel the caucus' effect on delegate count; some consequently argued that was a distinction without a difference.)

So despite being a big fan of the prima-caucus -- and voting in favor of it -- what bothered me the most was the misunderstandings associated with the question and the divisions it opened.

I believe that Boyd Richie -- and by proxy, Bill White -- must mend fences with those who favored change (again, in the form of eliminating the mathematical emphasis given to the caucus results) and who lost that battle decisively. Indeed those appear to be RGV Latinos who preferred Clinton in 2008, and are being heavily relied upon to carry Texas Democrats up and down the ballot to victory in November. That same percentage of people (see the 12:24 pm TexTrib live-blog entry) supported Richie's challenger, Mike Barnes, and the endorsement Barnes received yesterday was from the Hispanic caucus ... a significant sign of weakness for Richie, despite the efforts of Democratic establishment Hispanics to downplay it.

I think there will be more unity demonstrated  coming out of Corpus if only because of political necessity.  But if I'm wrong, this could be the harbinger of doom. Latinos aren't going to vote Republican because of stuff like this but they may stay home on Election Day, and they have historically done far too much of that as it is.

See The Texas Blue for another take.

Corpus update (and some Funnies)

Recovering this morning from last night's blogger caucus, which always seems to be the best party in town.

The Texas Tribune has a good live blog, although their last entry at this posting is from yesterday afternoon at 3:18, and features the pathetic Mark Miner and his generator again. This guy is a masochist.

Update: They're up-to-date, with lots of video. Go look.

They also have the sad news about "Sputnik". If you don't know about him then you missed knowing one of the most colorful characters in the entire state of Texas. I observed Austin lawmakers nervously shaking in his presence.

The Corpus Christi Caller-Times has the best coverage of yesterday's events, including photos.

White launched a series of attacks on his Republican opponent ending each point with the refrain “Part-time Perry is in it for himself.”

The former Houston mayor accused Perry of working on state business only seven hours a week, spending $10,000 a month on a rented mansion as the state faces an $18 billion budget crisis and accepting federal stimulus money and using it as a source of state funding.

The media room is too small to accommodate the number of both corporate and alternative media, and blogger row on the convention floor got ten seats instead of the thirty requested, I suppose due to space constraints since we've always had plenty of room in conventions past. So I'll be mostly with my senate district delegation and posting wrap-ups and links like this after the day's events (and dinner and drinks and so on).



TrailBlazers has a few updates on the sidebar issues: the prima-caucus battle, Boyd Richie challenger Michael Barnes' big endorsement, Barbara Radnoksky's SueWallStreet.com gauntlet thrown down to Greg Abbott (he's ignoring the issue and attacking her), and etc.



More later, probably tomorrow. You did recognize the Texas GOP in the cartoons, didn't you?