Doubting Thomas fundies give Romney another once-over

Reporting from the Values (sic) Voters tent revival summit:

They know they’re not crazy about Mitt Romney. But if the cultural conservatives gathered at a Values Voters Summit this weekend split among Rick Perry and other contenders they do like, it could wind up benefiting the front-running White House hopeful who troubles rather than excites them.

That scenario, playing out on the campaign trail, is on display at the gathering of conservatives who care deeply about abortion, gay marriage and other social issues.

[...]

For the conservative voters at the conference, Romney has a problematic history. He supported abortion rights earlier in his political career and has struggled to explain why he now opposes abortion. He once vowed to be a strong advocate for gays and lesbians – stronger than Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., whom he was then running against. Now, he’s signed a pledge from the National Organization for Marriage to work to pass a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Romney is also a Mormon, a faith that has sparked suspicion among some evangelical conservatives.

“Personally, I know Romney isn’t one of my choices. We saw him four years ago and decided against him,” said Dan Goddu, a software engineer from Nashua, N.H., who attended the Values Voters Summit.

Mittens gets his turn on the podium today. At some point this weekend there will be yet another straw poll. Perry, Santorum, and Cain all took their shots gave their sermons pandered like bears yesterday.

Drawing distinctions from Romney, Texas Gov. Perry told the crowd on Friday, “For some candidates, pro-life is an election-year slogan to follow the prevailing political winds.”

Likewise, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum declared, “You know that I have never put social issues and values voters on the back burner. I have been out there fighting and leading the charge.”

Later, the crowd reacted more strongly to former pizza company CEO Herman Cain’s speech than to any of the other candidates. Attendees stood up repeatedly to cheer.

“You can pursue liberty all you want to as long as you don’t tread on somebody else’s life, and that includes the life of the unborn,” he said. Cain also said he was now being criticized because national polls have showed him joining the top tier of candidates.

His reception, Santorum’s pitch and the other conservative candidates’ appearances underscored the problem for Perry, Romney’s chief challenger on the right. The Texan is not the only GOP candidate who can make a plausible case to evangelical Christian conservatives.

That's accurate: Bachmann and Gingrich are going to get an at-bat at some point. I suspect they will do their best Ryan Howard - A-Rod impersonation.

Thus many Doubting Thomas fundavangelicals, in the wake of Perry's implosion and ahead of the field in confronting the reality of the Republican electoral dilemma, are reluctantly kicking Romney's tires again. The real morons -- the mostly secular, libertarian conservatives usually referred to as the Tea Party -- have flocked to Flavor of the Week "Herb" Cain. And they'll stampede like lemmings away from him soon enough.

Can the TP overlook Mitt's many flip-flops? Republicans of all persuasions seem completely capable of ignoring hypocrisy, so I believe the answer is probably yes. Romney-Rubio 2012. (But he'd put Bachmann on the ticket if he had any stones).

And Ron Paul for President on the Libertarian ticket. And Michele Bachmann for President on the Constitution Party ticket.

We need more "third" parties, and we need more people with the courage and conviction to vote FOR third parties.

It's the only way the two-party duopoly will ever change.

How's that for burying the lede?

Occupy Houston yesterday

Wore my black suit, my white shirt, and picked out a tie that I would be most likely not to be upset about if it got ruined -- you know, mud or blood or something -- and jumped the train downtown early yesterday morning to join the march by 8:30 a.m.

I counted about 200 people at the assembly area, walked over to say hello to Richard Shaw of the AFL-CIO, and gave a lengthy interview to a Bloomberg.com reporter who furiously took notes (no camera). She asked me my age, where I was from, what I did for a living, my tax bracket, my annual income ... and whether that was a Hermes tie I was wearing. I said, "I don't think so," and turned it over to look at the label. Neiman Marcus. *heavy sigh*

The march began at nine and we stopped just a few blocks away in front of the Chase tower, chanted "They got bailed out, we got sold out" and some other things while people in the building came out and took pictures of us. There were about 50 yards of empty plaza between us, with a handful of HPD spaced appropriately between. A good video of that scene from FOX 26:



On to City Hall and the reflecting pool grounds in front, where we scaled the steps and got a little louder at the front door before moving back to the top-step staging area. I estimated the crowd at around 500 by now; several people spoke and more announcements about the continuing occupation were made. Around 10:30 a single conservative disruptor with a sign that said "Blame Yourselves!" waded in to the assembly, was surrounded quickly by maybe six HPD officers, escorted several feet back and  maintained his self-appointed police security while a handful of people exchanged vocal pleasantries with him. I left the protest at 11 a.m. with a gritty slime around my neck that was assembling itself to trickle down my back. By the time I made it to the Main Street light rail station in front of the Foley's/Macy's and boarded the southbound, I was whipped. Sore feet, sore back, sweated all the way through the collar to the afore-mentioned neckwear.

I was interviewed by ABC-13, FOX 26, some radio station whose call letters I didn't catch, and the Bloomberg.com reporter mentioned previously (must have been the suit). But I don't appear to have survived any video edits Pardon me. FOX 26 did give me some airtime here (about 1:05 in). I am however also seen but not heard in this one, giving my radio interview starting about the :50 mark.



As previously linked, the Houston FOX affiliate's reporting was thorough and fair and balanced. Really. No, really; they did a good job. More local coverage:

Chron: Protesters target bank, City Hall as Occupation spreads to Houston. With short video and 14 photos. I'm in #9 (number 9, number 9 ... that's odd. Must be the Herman Cain Effect, who was also in town to pimp his book and bad-mouth the protestors' First Amendment exercise. Speaking of exercise, Herm ...) Update: They have added some photos to the slideshow; I'm now #13 of 18.

KTRK: Occupy Wall Street spin-offs come to Texas, including Houston. Houston's ABC affiliate had the best coverage by far. Excellent video report, tying in with the beatdowns in New York. Two more raw videos, one long from the overhead chopper, one short on the ground. 79 photos.

Houston Community Newspapers: OccupyHouston puts ‘civility’ in civil unrest at downtown protest. Nice touch pointing out the kindler, gentler part. The pre-march announcement from the legal team -- about 6-10 green-hatted volunteers -- coached the crowd, emphasizing the "non-violent, non-disruptive" nature of the protest. Since the organizers didn't have a permit, we would repeat instructions to 'stay out of the street and cross in the crosswalk' at the ten or so intersections we navigated between Market Square Park and City Hall. I did this myself, making sure to stand close to the horse-mounted HPD officer so he could hear me as I cautioned the marchers. More than once, a horse stretched his muzzle over to me and sniffed my arm or nibbled at my shirt.

News 2 Houston: Houstonians Protest Big Business. The NBC affiliate locally provides a weak headline, a dry account, and an antiseptic (3b and 4a) video.

If you see any more reports, video, or audio, please add them in the comments.

Update: More from Neil.

Nobody can predict the moment of revolution

Memo to the Super Rich, your high-paid lobbyists and your no-compromise political puppets whose sole mission is destroying the presidency: Yes, you are succeeding. You’re also killing the economy.

Thanks to your self-destructive ideology, America is now in the second of back-to-back Lost Decades. A new one on the heels of the 2000-2010 Lost Decade where Wall Street lost more than 20% inflation-adjusted. Get it? You guys launched America’s second Lost Decade of 21st century.

Yes, two consecutive job-killing Lost Decades. The first created by Wall Street’s obsessive greed. The new one triggered by the widening wealth gap that’s feeding endless partisan political wars powered by super rich conservatives hellbent on re-establishing the same free-market, trickle-down Reaganomics policies that have been sabotaging America for the last generation.

Unfortunately, the new one gets worse. Why? The coming Lost Decade is a backdrop for a wave of class warfare destined to trigger a historic revolution in American politics, bigger than the ‘29 Crash and Great Depression.

The cavalry has arrived in Lower Manhattan. Representatives from no fewer than 15 of the country's largest labor unions will join the Occupy Wall Street protesters for a mass rally and march today in New York City.

The AFL-CIO, United Auto Workers, and Transit Workers' Union are among the groups expected to stand in solidarity with the hundreds of mostly young men and women who have spent the better part of three weeks sleeping, eating, and organizing from Zuccotti Square.

Their arrival is being touted as a watershed moment for the "Occupy" movement, which has now seen copycat protests spring up across the country. And while the specific demands of the "occupiers" remain wide-ranging, the presence of the unions – implicitly inclined to making more direct demands – may sharpen their focus.

Actually, they have more in common with the tea party movement than the hippie dream, with one key difference: They’re smart enough to recognize the nation’s problems aren’t simply about taxes and the deficit.

They want jobs. They want the generation in power to acknowledge them. They want political change. They want responsibility in a culture that abdicates it. They want a decent future of opportunity.

If that isn’t American, then what is?

Another key difference between today’s kids and their hippie forefathers: They’re willing to gut it out.

The press seems confused. There were signs about Afghanistan, taxes, Wall Street greed, corporate responsibility and just about every pet cause out there. But what some decry as a lack of focus is really about them not getting it: This movement is about money. It’s about wasting money. It’s about greed for money guiding those in power. It’s about the inequitable distribution of money.

Most of all, it’s about process. In a “general assembly” meeting Saturday, Occupy Wall Street came up with its first official document. It is a powerful summation of grievances, not just of the young, but of many Americans: home foreclosures, workers rights, Internet privacy, health care and bailouts.

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one's skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.

Occupy.

Everybody has a piece of advice for the protesters at Occupy Wall Street. They should put their clothes on. They should stop raising their fists. They should fact-check their handwritten signs. They should appoint leaders who can give pithy quotes to reporters. They should get with an electoral program. Nicholas Kristof even offered to help them out with a neat list of demands, in case those holding signs saying “We Are the 99%” just needed to have the unfairness of the carried interest rule explained to them. [...]

It’s not that the demands being suggested by OWS’s volunteer policy advisors in the blogosphere are not worthy ideas. At a time when we desperately need to rein in financial speculation and change the incentives on Wall Street, a financial transactions tax is a terrific policy proposal. Dean Baker has been talking about it for years. The thing is, we on the left don’t have a scarcity of policy ideas. We are positively bursting with them. Create a housing trust fund! A national infrastructure bank! And, yes, sure, eliminate the carried interest loophole so fat cats don’t get a bigger tax break than working people. (Some even have more radical ideas, which are quite sensible too.) But at best, we get a polite hearing for these ideas, which then fade away or are hopelessly watered down. We simply lack the power to put them into practice.

What do the powerless have left to do when the powerful have taken everything else away from them? Protest.

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. -- John F. Kennedy

Yes, the revolution is coming. And as you have long been told, it won't be seen on your television (due primarily to corporate media corruption, greed, and fear). It WILL however be Facebooked, Tweeted, blogged, streamed, uploaded, shared, and experienced live in Houston and many cities across the country and even around the world, in the streets by the other 99%, unfiltered by the powers that be.

No television coverage that makes any sense whatsoever to those who mostly watch Dancing With the Stars and/or Fox News ... unless the police again try to provoke civil disobedience into violent confrontation, like they did in New York and like they have done in Houston previously.

Violence always gets televised. Let's not let that happen.

Niggerhead, Jap Road, Washington Redskins, Ill Eagles ... *update*

The media loves to fan flames like these. And it's burning right now like a Texas wildfire ... or a Waxahachie chemical plant. Conservatives kooks are howling while we liberals are laughing behind our hands.

Cooler heads, however; Wayne Slater said on Hardball earlier today that he was convinced -- after years of covering him in Austin -- Rick Perry wasn't a racist. Michael Steele said it (the lack of tolerance, particularly by conservative writers/talkers) points up the fundamental problem the GOP has in recruiting African-Americans. I believe those are both true and accurate statements.

But Steele's observation couldn't have been helped by Cain's "brainwashing"contention last week.

I don't give a shit how The Rock Affair turns out; I will just note that this is Perry's second week -- almost third, since his poor debate performances -- of daily bad news. He's in quicksand up to his chin. At this point I'm just hoping Christie Creme jumps in the race. And immediately gets into a shouting match with some TeaBaggers over gun control or immigration or something else, and has to be rushed to the hospital with heart palpitations.

Never forget, no matter how much or how little progress we have made in the past few years with respect to tolerance: ageism and fat bias never go out of style.

More context from Balloon Juice:

Back when I was a boy and didn’t know any better and didn’t have any sense and shouldn’t be held responsible for anything I did, said or thought, my daddy procured some land, and we used it for hunting and other manly activities involving guns. On that property, there was a rock that looked an awful lot like a bearded man sodomizing a Irish Setter, and some person from far in the past had painted “Jesus Buttfucking Big Red” on it.

Now, for reasons that are very complicated about the history of the region where I grew up, it was once acceptable to point out that rocks or other objects sometimes looked like our Savior engaging in bestiality with a variety of animals. While I think that’s vile and condemn it, it was also part of the culture of our area, and it’s in the past, and we can all forget about it. Even so, and even though we were just leasing that property and didn’t really own it, which means that rock wasn’t really even ours to change, we definitely painted over that rock as soon as we we got round to it, sometime in the 80’s.

So, I have to dispute the claim by seven different people that it took my family a long time to paint over that rock, written on by others, long ago, that had an “insensitive and offensive” message on it. But, man, you really did have to see that rock to believe how much it looked like the Son of God screwing the pooch.

Update: Rick Perry now has an entire Civil War on his hands, and here's two more responses to the flare-up: one from the conservatives, one from Jon Stewart.

You might have anticipated that Perry would face a firestorm for being associated with the property, but it's Cain whose remarks are drawing the most criticism from the right. At RedState, Erick Erickson concluded, "It also seems to be a slander Herman Cain is picking up and running with as a way to get into second place." Glenn Reynolds remarked that until now, Cain's "big appeal is that he's not just another black race-card-playing politician." Over at the Daily Caller, Matt Lewis called Cain's remarks "a cheap shot, and, perhaps a signal that Cain is willing to play the race card against a fellow Republican when it benefits him."

The key phrase here is "fellow Republican." Because, you see, no one thought Cain was "playing the race card" when he said in the same program that black people are "brainwashed" into voting for Democrats and suggested that black people who vote Republican are "thinking for themselves." Cain wasn't rebuked by conservatives when he previously suggested President Barack Obama was not "a strong black man," implied liberals were out to commit genocide against blacks through support for abortion rights, and said he wouldn't appoint a Muslim to his cabinet.

Stewart began with the first sign that things were amiss for Perry, his unsatisfactory debate performance, in which Stewart joked one could see “a squadron of tiny little men inside his head, trying to find the right paper, one of them drops coffee on the control panel…”

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Amazing Racism
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

He then turned to the controversy at hand, and just the name of the ranch made the audience laugh and applaud. “Let the record show,” Stewart joked, “that our audience will fucking cheer anything at times.” He abstained from making a Republican debate audience, joke, however, and instead turned to Cenac, live from “Nigger Lake,” a real place until New York finally got around to renaming it. He then listed a number of very racist, real places that to him proved “there aren’t no black people making maps,” before indulging in a rendition of the “lost verses” of “America the Beautiful” that reflect these map changes.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Amazing Racism - Geographical Bigotry
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Jon Stewart has the remarkable ability to make me both laugh and feel ashamed at the same time. Richard Pryor used to be able to do that.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance calls your attention to a week full of progressive activism throughout the state, from "Move to Amend" events to "Occupy" demonstrations as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff notes that the federal court in San Antonio has issued an injunction preventing the state from implementing its new redistricting maps, and that until preclearance is granted it will draw its own maps to use for next year.

CitizenAndy has joined the dark side with his new blog Darth Politico. He'd appreciate if you checked out the new site, liked Darth Politico on Facebook, and subscribed to his feed. He's especially proud to have The Ghost of Sam Houston blogging at his site.

Letters From Texas explains why conservative pundits' Perry problems perpetually persist. Perfect.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson points out that while Governor Perry and the Texas GOP think all is well with the Texas economy that's far from reality: 2012 revenue estimate for Texas will be “Flattish", dedicated funds trickery.

The "Move to Amend" Texas tour -- the effort to repeal the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision by constitutional amendment -- has stops scheduled in Bryan-College Station, Houston, San Antonio, Bastrop, Austin, and Corpus this week. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has the details.

Over at TexasKaos, Liberal Texan has his say about Texas' latest assault on women: Family Unplanned: Texas Cuts Funding for Women's Reproductive Health Care. Check it out.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme tries on crazy shoes and rates the main GOP presidential candidates.

Bay Area Houston shows why Perry is weak and wrong on immigration.

Neil at Texas Liberal commented on welding and on the different ways that things are brought together based on a picture he took at the Houston Ship Channel.

McBlogger was a little surprised to learn from Rick Perry that Warren Buffett is clueless about the private sector.

Sunday Funnies

Cleaning up the urine

... from some funny things this morning. First:

Michael Williams @MichaelWilliams is now following you (@PDiddie)

"Catholic, movement conservative, married 23 yrs, elected statewide 3X, inspirational speaker, SC Trojan, wears bowties, jogs" 

If Michael Williams is a jogger than Chris Christie is a triathlete. And this:

Meet the new Republican front-runner: Newtman Caingrich

And this comment there:

In the Gingrich/ Cain Household, which one is " The b!tc#?" I'll bet it aint Herman! ' I GOT PIZZA MONEY FOOL! YOU MAKE DINNER NEWT!"

'Move to Amend" Texas tour next week

Update: The schedule has added Bastrop and Austin; see below.

Me, previously, with Texas Vox detailing the specific sites and times:

David Cobb, a fiery speaker and former Green Party presidential candidate, is touring Texas giving his talk “Creating Democracy & Challenging Corporate Rule”.  His presentation is part history lesson and part heartfelt call to action!

Cobb is an organizer and national spokesman for MoveToAmend.org, a coalition of over 130,000 people and organizations whose goal is to amend the United States Constitution to end corporate rule and legalize democracy.

Sunday, October 2, 2:00-4:00pm – BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION.
Clara Mounce Public Library. 201 E 26th Street, Bryan.

Tuesday, October 4, 7:00pm – HOUSTON. Home of Lee and Hardy Loe.
1844 Kipling, Houston.

Wednesday, October 5, 6:30pm – SAN ANTONIO. The Radius Center (in the gallery).
106 Auditorium Circle, San Antonio.

Thursday, October 6, 7:00pm – BASTROP. First National Bank.
489 Hwy. 71. W, Bastrop.

Sunday, October 9, 6:00pm – AUSTIN. Third Coast Workers for Cooperation.
5604 Manor Road, Austin.

Monday, October 10, 7:00pm – CORPUS CHRISTI. Unitarian Universalist Church.
6901 Holly Road, Corpus Christi.

A Dick Update

The Chron:

Houston Mayor Annise Parker announced a crackdown on so-called bandit signs Wednesday, pledging to issue fines to political candidates and others who illegally post their signs on city land.

The announcement comes less than a month before early voting in her re-election campaign. Parker said election season is when signs proliferate and that the city spent $450,000 in 2009 to take them down. The $200-per-offense fines aim to recover the city's costs.

"This is about quality of life in our city. This is about visual pollution, and this is about someone trampling on the public right of way and intruding in the public space. And it is about tax dollars – $450,000 a year to deal with illegally placed signs," Parker said during a news conference following Wednesday's City Council meeting.

Greg:

(W)hether you’re concerned about those signs that break the law or those that clutter our streets and sightlines, it’s all good if the net effect is to convince candidates to leave signs off the junkier placements that serve no purpose.

The Press, with the street artist Shreddi taking matters into his own hands (really; click over and look at his handiwork):

What is it about Eric Dick that gets to you?

Shreddi: I don't think a lot of people have picked up on the fact that politicians use graffiti tactics for their personal gain. Each election year, without fail, we get this illegal political signage jammed all over empty lots, chain-link fences, telephone poles, etc. The problem is, once elected, these politicians persecute the general public for doing the same fucking thing...It's a double standard. It's funny too, because when I pulled down one of these signs, there was another political sign underneath it. So they're even covering each other's tags. I read last year the city spent a million dollars on graffiti cleanup. Politicians could probably cut that number in half if they'd stop posting their mind-numbing graffiti everywhere. Obviously I have no problem with self-promotion, or art in the streets. I have a problem with politicians holding the public to standards they don't abide to themselves. And I don't have anything specifically against Dick....his ballsy sign campaign just stood out.

Lastly, Dick lover Big Jolly:

I kinda like this guy because he isn't afraid to get out there and fight. Oh, and he's also very creative.

Update: Miya Shay, and the videotape.



Update II: In his sneering press release intended as a response to the mayor's enforcement of the ordinance, Dick discloses an endorsement from "The Log Cabin". I am familiar with the Log Cabin Republicans, but does anyone know what "The Log Cabin" is that Dick refers to here? Certainly it's not the maple syrup; could it be that little house in Emancipation Park? Has Dick nailed his campaign signs to its roof?

Is this the same ringing endorsement as the empty lots and utility poles and overhead crosswalks that have also 'endorsed' him? I must admit that I'm not well-versed with all of the changes passed in the recent legislative session with respect to election law: do inanimate objects get to vote now? Do they have to show photo ID if they do?

And if not, then should we alert the King Street/True the Vote thugs to show up at the polls in order to suppress the possible votes of vacant buildings, cyclone fences, weed-filled lots, city rights-of-way, and the like?

When it comes to our freedoms you can't be too scared careful.

I'm concerned that in our habitually low-turnout municipal elections, the boulevard median near my polling place might be able to sway the election. And these days, it just looks a little too brown to ... you know ... be legal.

Crowd wails "jobs" at Port Arthur hearing on Keystone XL

Absent were the celebrities and environmental protesters seen at the White House over the summer.

Instead, the job hungry came en mass (sic) Monday to the Robert A. "Bob" Bowers Civic Center in Port Arthur, turning the first part of a State Department public hearing on the Keystone XL crude pipeline into a virtual rally for the project.

For about the first two hours, the only critical comments of the proposed 1,700-mile pipeline that would connect tar sands in Alberta, Canada to refineries in Port Arthur came from those expressing concerns that the jobs created would not go to Southeast Texans and that the State Department was moving too slowly in issuing a permit.

It's no surprise to me really. This is where I grew up; the oil (refining) patch. The area is hurting -- though not so bad as they would think, particularly in comparison to many other places in the country. They just cannot break out of the generational paradigm that's been in place since Spindletop.

They've lived with refinery pollution for decades. What's a little more as long as they can get paid?

Republican Texas State Rep. James White, whose district includes Angelina, Trinity and San Jacinto counties, noted that the agency had already assessed the environmental impact and said he wanted to see the permitting process expedited.

"This is why people are frustrated with government," he said to applause from a crowd numbering around 500. "We need jobs!"

Garden variety demagoguery. Port Arthur is nowhere near James White's statehouse district, but redistricting has paired him in a GOP primary with Tuffy Hamilton and he needs to stoke that TeaBagger fear and hate back home if he wants to entertain any notion of going back to Austin. Here's Dustin Matocha, chairman of the UT chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas, writing at Empower Texas with all the background on that race you can possibly stand. Now back to the Golden Triangle ...

Earlier Monday, 200 people attended a meeting in Topeka, Kan., with a drastically different audience than the one seen in Port Arthur. In Kansas, a number of environmentalists spoke against the pipeline, claiming it would move a "dirtier" and "environmentally devastating form of energy" from Canada through six U.S. states before ending up in Port Arthur ...

Well those damned Kansas liberals.

There's another hearing tomorrow in Austin -- none in Houston, where the pipeline's other southern terminus will be located -- and I'm just guessing a different crowd will turn out for that one.

The Texas Tribune sells all the way out

It was fairly obvious before last weekend's Corporate Republican Whorefest, but this post by Sharon pretty much seals the deal.

I was invited to appear on a panel after the showing of the documentary Haynesville: A Nation’s Hunt for an Energy Future.

I knew the film depicted natural gas drilling in the Haynesville Shale as an economic miracle for folks in north Louisiana and East Texas, with barely a mention of environmental health risks. I said yes, received an enthusiastic confirmation letter requesting my bio, which I sent in, a request to sign the “Talent Agreement,” and a list of the panel members.

Here’s the rest of the lineup:

• Gregory Kallenberg, the director of Haynesville, who according to his answers to these five questions, firmly believes natural gas is the way to go. He talks about his documentary in this video.
• Ian Duncan, Bureau of Economic Geology at UT, who does work for industry. Here is a presentation he did on shale gas.
• Justin Furnace, Chief of Staff and Legal Council at Texas Railroad Commission
• David Blackmon, senior advisor for government and external affairs for El Paso Exploration and Production Company.
• And me, Texas Sharon.

I saw I was the token enviro on the panel, but I’ve been a turd in the punchbowl before. I did want to know how the panel would be structured, and if I would have an opportunity to correct their misinformation.

I sent back the following email:

I am quite surprised that your panel is so unbalanced. I would like to get more information on how this panel will work. I don't mind being the token environmental person as long as I have an opportunity to give my vast experiences living in the gas patch and working with people who are suffering from natural gas drilling that is too close to their homes.

The next thing I know: I received a phone call from the festival coordinator notifying me that I was uninvited to participate. Maybe they would find a more suitable panel for me sometime. Ouch! But, on second thought, I reclaimed my weekend and shrugged it off to the influence from T. Boone Pickens, one of the festival’s financial backers.

Then somebody sent me this poster from the event.

Hmmm. So the Texas Tribune Festival was co-sponsored by America’s Natural Gas Alliance. The Tribune’s website says other sponsors included El Paso Natural Gas and Energy Futures Corp., formerly Texas Utilities. I was starting to put two and two together.

The TexTrib does a fine job with hiring a few good journos at above-scale wages, a great job with maps and data, the occasional blog-styled snark and once in a great while even a breaking news update. They've more or less made obsolete poor Harvey Kronberg's modern-Internet-challenged Quorum Report, though the insiders still pay for Harvey's access to the players. (The Trib is busily fondling that crowd for all it's worth, too.)

But their polling of political races has been absolute shit, and sadly now we know that their integrity is as well.

Then Steve Horn of DeSmog Blog published an investigative piece on Alternet exposing Haynesville as a piece of industry propaganda masquerading as an independent documentary. Turns out Gregory Kallenberg “is actually a well-connected oil and natural gas man, with both a direct and familial financial stake in the ongoing domestic natural gas boom.”

Horn learned that Kallenberg is vice president of his family’s company, Caddo Management Inc. of Shreveport. Caddo Management is an oil and gas exploration company with active drilling operations in Arkansas and Louisiana.

So do you think that when Kallenberg takes his supposed independent documentary to international film festivals he’s upfront about his oil and gas connections and the fact that he’s flacking for the industry? (Even though he makes no mention of them on his website under the “about” section or in “film credits.”)

If you believe that, you probably still believe in the independence and integrity of The Texas Tribune’s shale gas coverage.

Maybe there is an explanation of the Tribune’s behavior that isn’t explained by financial influence of the natural gas industry. But if there is, it is past time for them to make their case. And from where I sit, it better be a doozy.

You just have to understand from now on what you're getting when you read the Trib. You're getting the straight story ... as told by the oil and gas companies' PR departments.

Update: Eye on Williamson is nicer than me, and McBlogger is nastier.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance thinks Alec Baldwin's hair does a pretty decent impersonation of our governor as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff discusses the latest Texas polling data and what a Rick Perry candidacy might mean for downballot Democrats.

On a night during which both Georgia and Texas put men to death, Letters From Texas visits the moral and practical implications.

Amy Price, the progressive running for Houston's city council at large #4 seat, had a great week of news coverage. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs collected the stories, audio, and video.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson shows how state Sen. Steve Ogden's retirement announcement this week has shaken up the county's politics: The changing election landscape in Williamson County, creating opportunities.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes that Rick Perry is having a bad week. Boo hoo.

This week on Left of College Station Teddy asks how do you support reproductive rights? LoCS focuses on reproductive rights all this week as the anti-choice '40 Days for Life' protest begins

At McBlogger, we take a sniff around LCRA's decision to privatize some of their assets and don't like the smell.

Neil at Texas Liberal noted a new phone app that will show the amount of forced labor used in many of the everyday things that we buy.

Libby Shaw over at TexasKaos brings us up to date on Rick Perry's limelight moment. Called upon to demonstrate his cool under fire before a national audience at the last Republican debate, he showed his true mettle. He melted down. See all the details here: Rick Perry Bombs Presidential Debate.

Rick Perry clarifies debate snafus, and David Dewhurst as Chupacabra

Via Harold Cook's Letters from  Texas, our governor straightens out some of his mumbling, stumbling statements from last week's debate:



And from the World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Juanita Jean observes some intra-Republican abuse ...

Sunday Funnies, Class Warfare Edition

All about Amy *updates*

Charles Kuffner has posted his audio interview with the Houston City Council candidate of my preference, Amy Price, and she also interviewed this week with Greenwatch TV as well. That video will be linked here as soon as it is posted there. Update: Here it is.



From Kuff's written intro:

Price is a violin teacher and professional musician who has performed with such bands as Gordian Knot, The Buddhacrush, and Orange Is In. She’s also someone I’ve known and been friends with for over 20 years.

I will add that Amy plans on doing some of her LPC-Intern experience toward obtaining her LPC licensure at H.O.P.E. Psychotherapy of Houston, PLLC pending approval of the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors, and is a member of the Houston Professional Musicians Association, Local 65-699 of the American Federation of Musicians.

Amy is, again, running in the At Large #4 contest, challenging incumbent Chief Crime Labford -- err, Councilman CO Bradford, along with Louis Molnar. I have previously documented the distinctions between the two men and Amy here.

If you think that municipal government should NOT be run of, by, for, or like a corporation -- if you think that city services like health inspections at your favorite restaurant and libraries that are open every day, or fixing potholes or collecting garbage or providing safe, clean drinking water should NOT be on a P&L statement -- then you have a very clear choice in AL#4, because Amy will NOT be 'business as usual' at City Hall.

And that's what scares her opponents the most.

Find Amy's website here, her blog here, on Facebook here and on Twitter here, and consider making a contribution to her campaign here.

Update II: From the comments at Kuffner's post ...

I am a fairly conservative Republican, so I attended the Heights area forum tonight to assess the candidates for this position and one other. I have heard hundreds of candidates over the years. This woman was the best informed, best prepared, most thoughtful candidate I have seen in many years.

She had thoughtful answers about job growth, neighborhood concerns, and the City’s dismal crime lab. The organizers of the event allowed Bradford to send a substitute, which is generally unheard of at a candidate forum.

I have never voted for a Green Party candidate for anything. There is no Republican running in this contest, and my thinking is that while I might not want a council dominated by Green Party activists, there should be a place at council table for a thoughtful, well-prepared young leader like this. I plan to recommend her to my neighbors. I am under no delusions about her chances against a well-funded incumbent, but it might do democracy good if he had a closer than normal contest.

Less kooky, more snarky

Whether because of his relative inexperience as a debater or due to a simple lack of serious debate preparation, Perry's attacks seemed to have the unintended affect of making Romney, who clearly has been practicing his debate routine, look good.

But it wasn't even Romney or Perry who had the best debate line of the night. It was newcomer Gary Johnson, who in his first debate appearance, offered a crowd-pleasing zinger about President Obama's handling of the economy.

"My next-door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration," Johnson declared, prompting his GOP rivals and the audience to erupt in laughter. (It later came to light that Johnson had lifted the joke from conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.)

Rick Perry didn't receive a decent applause line until well into Thursday's night's pissing contest, and at times was jeered by the Orlando audience. My perception is that his Ponzi scheme nonesense is turning off voters, particularly the demographic that Florida is full of, and the recent polls seem to be bearing this out.

But my favorite line goes to Crazytown Bachmann, who when asked how much of every dollar should a taxpayer be allowed to keep, said "all of it". Um, then what exactly would you be able to govern, honey? Right. We get it.

Michele Bachmann, who seems to be getting less attention at the debates as her poll numbers fade, did try to gain momentum by repeating two of her previous attacks against Perry: His backing of an executive order in Texas that mandated the vaccination of young girls against HPV and his moderate stance on immigration.

But Bachmann's attacks offered Perry two of his strongest moments in the debate. In response to Bachmann's claims he was influenced on the HPV decision by campaign contributions, Perry looked into the camera and admitted he had been "lobbied" on HPV—by a young woman who had "stage four cervical cancer." ...

On immigration, Perry insisted nobody on the stage understands the subject as he does. Both Bachmann and Romney slammed Perry for backing legislation in Texas that allowed the children of illegal immigrants to attend state colleges and universities at the in-state tuition rates—a criticism Perry slammed as heartless.

"If you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they've been brought there by no fault of their own, I don't think you have a heart," Perry said, as some in the audience erupted in boos. "We need to be educating these children because they will become a drag on our society. I think that's what Texans wanted to do."

Yes, booing. And that was likely before the Floridians in the audience got this news which the TexTrib broke yesterday...

Native-born Texans who were seeking employment likely lost out to competition from immigrants in recent years, according to a conservative think tank that advocates for limited migration to the country.

The data, compiled by the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, may provide some low-hanging fruit for Gov. Rick Perry’s Republican opponents. Perry has been attacked from the right on immigration with his field of challengers alleging he’s been too soft on illegal immigrants in Texas. The study estimates that population benefited from Texas’ job growth the last four years more than citizens.

The center found that of the 279,000 jobs created in Texas since the second quarter of 2007, 225,000 — about 80 percent — went to legal and illegal immigrants. The center says that while “no estimate of illegal immigration is exact,” at least 40 percent of the job recipients were illegal immigrants.

“Of recently arrived working-age immigrants in the state, 113,000 are in the country illegally. The other half of the recently arrived immigrants (112,000) are legally in the country,” the reports says. “This means that in Texas — one of the few states that experienced job growth after 2007 — native-born workers benefited little from this growth.”

It should be noted here -- since the Texas Tribune did not -- that the Center for Immigration Studies is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

FAIR, CIS and NumbersUSA are all part of a network of restrictionist organizations conceived and created by John Tanton, the “puppeteer” of the nativist movement and a man with deep racist roots... CIS was conceived by Tanton and began life as a program of FAIR. CIS presents itself as a scholarly think tank that produces serious immigration studies meant to serve “the broad national interest.” But the reality is that CIS has never found any aspect of immigration that it liked, and it has frequently manipulated data to achieve the results it seeks." (emphasis theirs)

But that won't matter to people who boo gay soldiers.

Not unlike the past debate, the forum included a potentially ugly moment for the party. The presidential hopefuls took a question via YouTube from a openly gay soldier serving Iraq about the possibility of "don't ask, don't tell" being reinstated.

The question was posed to Rick Santorum, but before he answered, there were audible boos in the audience —- something he and other GOP candidates on stage didn't acknowledge.

Video here. The sad thing is that I almost expected it after the cheering of Rick Perry's record-breaking executions and letting uninsured people die, so I wasn't all that surprised to hear it.

The least worst of the three debates this month in terms of exposing the Grand Old Party of Hate, and also the least successful for Rick Perry's career advancement.

Progress?

Update: Related reading ...

FACT CHECK: Slippery assertions in GOP debate

The Not Quite Ready for Primetime Debate

Perry takes lumps for ‘soft’ position on illegal immigration in GOP debate

Perry met cancer victim ‘lobbyist’ after signing HPV order

Huntsman warns conservatives against purity tests

Questions I'd like to see asked in tonight's GOP debate

Via Think Progress.

=============

The Republican presidential contenders are meeting in Orlando, Florida this evening for their third debate of the month.

Here are the questions we’d like to see asked and answered tonight.

• Social Security: There are 3,994,280 Floridians between the ages of 40 and 54. They’ve been paying into Social Security for decades based on the promise that they too will receive benefits later. You all support privatizing Social Security and some of you believe it is unconstitutional and may want to abolish it altogether, so how can you guarantee that these workers will receive the benefits that they’ve been promised?

• Medicare: Republicans said the Affordable Care Act would destroy Medicare Advantage because it achieved $500 BILLION in savings by cutting wasteful overpayments to private insurance companies; however, Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) noted today that Medicare Advantage premiums in Florida have dropped 26% and enrollment has increased 20% since the Affordable Care Act was passed. Isn’t this proof that the Affordable Care Act is working?

• Taxes: In 2009, 1,470 households with incomes above $1 MILLION paid ZERO in federal income taxes and 40,000 millionaires pay a tax rate of 4.2 percent or less. Why should many millionaires pay a lower tax rate than middle class families?

• Let Them Die? Florida has the fifth highest rate of people without health insurance in the country, with 3.8 MILLION Floridians lacking health insurance. Do you agree with the Tea Party audience at your last debate that society should let these people die if they become sick and cannot afford care or do you think they have a right to health care?

• Rebuilding America: President Obama visited a bridge today to highlight his plan to spend $50 BILLION to rebuild our crumbling bridges, roads, and transit systems which will also create hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country. The president’s infrastructure plan would immediately invest more than $1.5 BILLION in Florida and create at least 20,500 local jobs. Why shouldn’t we take the $40 BILLION in wasteful tax giveaways to Big Oil and instead spend that money putting Americans back to work rebuilding America?

• Immigration: Nearly one-quarter of Florida’s population, some 4.2 MILLION people, is Hispanic. Does the GOP’s virulently anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy positions risk alienating this large and growing segment of the electorate in Florida and elsewhere?

• Voting: Florida, like many states under Republican control, has passed a strict new voting law that will make it more difficult for millions of students, elderly, minority, and military voters to vote and actually have their votes counted. Since there is almost no evidence of actual voter fraud, do you support these laws even though they are likely to disenfranchise millions of Americans who have the right to vote?

============

The debate begins at 8 p.m. tonight on FOX.

Rick Perry scores a zero

And so it begins.

The ad opens like a trailer for a zombie movie: empty, desolate streets and shops, a storm siren blaring. Obama's iconic "O" symbol is then replaced with a zero, as various clips of television reporters talking about "zero jobs created" play.

The ad's mood then shifts dramatically. "In 2012 America will discover a new name for leadership," the ad says, while clips of Perry are spliced with shots of galloping horses in the sunlight, American flags, green farms and the Statue of Liberty.

Honestly, I thought I was watching the trailer for the new "Blade Runner".

Perry's new ad seems ripped straight from a sci-fi thriller, complete with labeling Obama "President Zero." And his message hits you on the head with a hammer: "NO JOBS CREATED!" yells the ad. One especially unsettling moment shows Shepard Fairey's iconic Obama poster literally disintegrating on a wall ...

Sure hope the president and his team are getting ready to fight.

The most powerful part of the ad may be the economic statistics, including the new poverty numbers from last week, which don’t need portentous music to sound grim. The “President Zero” line was introduced by the Republican National Committee, a few weeks ago. There’s another Republican debate Thursday night—another opportunity for the candidates to engage in vaccine denialism and cheer the prospective execution, tonight in Georgia, of a man whose guilt has been called into doubt, but also another chance for the G.O.P. to test various angles from which to attack in the general election. Perry’s extremism may ultimately cause his party to turn away from him, but his ad gives an idea of the direction any Republican is likely to take: the dominant sentiment, for all the Americana, is not one of nostalgia, but of fear.

Nader's rationale

Updating the previous post -- it's a little long already and Matt in the comments wants to steer it off topic, as usual -- here is Ralph Nader on Lawrence O'Donnell's The Last Word last night explaining his reasons for holding what I will call a 'topics primary challenge' to Obama.

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

I agree with everything Nader says here. If this is the exclusive premise for his tack (no agenda to turn it into another Quixotic bid for the White House), then I can get firmly behind it. Nader and I would still disagree about working within the Republican-Democratic duopoly for progressive change as opposed to without, but there's certainly no reason why both couldn't happen at the same time.

Here's the letter (.pdf) his group has written to the "slate of potential primary challengers", and here's a sample from the announcement:

The letter points to numerous decisions that have drawn criticism from Obama’s own Democratic Party including his decision to bail out Wall Street’s most profitable firms while failing to push for effective prosecution of the criminal behavior that triggered the recession, escalating the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan while simultaneously engaging in a unilateral war in Libya, his decision to extend the Bush era tax cuts, and his acquiescence to Republican extortion during the recent debt ceiling negotiations.

“Robust debate on the crucial issues facing our nation, including global environmental devastation, should characterize all races for national public office and the Democratic presidential primaries are no exception,” said Brent Blackwelder, President Emeritus of Friends of the Earth. “The public needs to hear whether a second term Obama will be like the first term Obama, or perhaps more like the 2008 presidential candidate Obama or something else altogether.”

I'm in. Let's have that conversation with the president and not just at him. Compel his attendance and participation, and make him listen. That's a very worthwhile objective in our republican democracy.

Otherwise, the 2012 campaign -- the next thirteen and one-half months -- is going to be the same old weekly Republican freak right debate, where TeaBaggers cheer death and corporate takeovers, and the Congress bogs down in another squabble with repetitive conservative talking points and FOX-News-buzzworthy phrases ("class warfare" is this week's poll-tested one).

Otherwise, Obama is reduced to what's he been doing ever since he was elected: forced to defensively respond to some right-wing lunacy. Birth certificates, death panels, job creators, Ponzi scheme, blah blah blah. In other words, losing.

And I'm not in on that.

But hey, don't feel bad if you don't get it; Russ Feingold apparently doesn't either.

Ralph Nader, a Democratic primary against Obama, and better options

With this news, Ralph Nader is once again inserting himself into the process of a presidential election.

Worried the liberal voice is being drowned out in the presidential campaign, progressive leaders said Monday they want to field a slate of candidates against President Obama in the Democratic primaries to make him stake out liberal stances as he seeks re-election.

Ralph Nader warns that without an intraparty challenge the liberal agenda “will be muted and ignored,” the one-man primary will kill voter enthusiasm and voters won’t get a chance to reflect on the real differences that divide the Democratic and Republican parties.

“What we are looking at now is the dullest presidential campaign since Walter Mondale — and that’s saying something, believe me,” Mr. Nader told The Washington Times.

The group’s call has been endorsed by more than 45 other liberal leaders. They want to recruit six candidates who bring expertise ranging from poverty to the military.

I think Nader probably is going to find -- like Dick Cheney twelve years ago --that he is ultimately the best man for the job. And that is bad for progressives and the progressive movement, whether perceptible progressive movement is occurring within the Democratic Party (it is not) or outside of it (barely).

In its recruitment letter, the group faulted the administration’s handling of the Wall Street bailouts, the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the U.S. involvement in the military effort in Libya. They also criticized Mr. Obama’s decision to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and the recent deal he struck with Republicans over cutting spending to raise the debt ceiling.

“We need to put strong Democratic pressure on President Obama in the name of poor and working people” said Cornel West, an author and professor at Princeton University. “His administration has tilted too much toward Wall Street, we need policies that empower Main Street.

I have enormous respect for Dr. West and even agree with him for the most part. Nader is the problem here, however.

To be sure, there are plenty of Democrats who still hold a grudge against Nader for 2000. I believe that blame is misplaced, even when it comes from the most esteemed sources (.pdf). My rebuttal is that Theresa LePore, the Democratic elections administrator for Palm Beach County, Florida, designed a butterfly ballot so confusing that it caused thousands of elderly residents there to punch a chad for Pat Buchanan, thinking they were voting for Al Gore.

That's what most directly caused the defeat of Gore, IMHO, more than anything Nader did or did not do.

But Texas Democrats are also still litigating over the Texas Green Party's ballot access for 2012, secured not only with the generous help of prominent Republicans but also by the Democrats' own ineptitude at failing to field a candidate in 2010 for the state comptroller's contest. The Green in that race, Ed Lindsay, surpassed the 5% threshold to secure ballot listing for the GP in '12. I spoke out loudly against this unholy alliance at the time, but came around to the understanding that the Democrats did it to themselves.

So once more, misdirected outrage. But I digress.

Nader has actually accomplished things of great significance in his life, most notably automobile safety activism, but today is more of an egotistical geriatric -- a crank -- who appears to believe that only he is capable of representing the will of liberal people in the United States. He's sucked all of the oxygen out of the room for decades now, stunting progressive growth in this country in the process. If he spent time recruiting and training people to a/the cause in-between his various presidential bids (a la Wellstone Foundation, for example), I'd have more respect for him.

To Nader's credit, and unlike Jim Hightower -- a progressive who has reduced himself to mere grifter and attention whore ever since he endorsed Kinky Friedman for governor in 2010 -- he's never done anything solely for the money in his life, from what I can tell.

Anyway, I wish Nader wouldn't run at all for anything -- his time has long passed -- and I would really prefer that, rather than an Obama primary opponent, there be a significant and notable presidential challenge from the Green Party ... preferably someone whom Nader has 'blessed' to some degree or another (rather than take potshots at).

Maybe that's going to be David Cobb again. He's making the rounds in Texas next month as part of the "Move to Amend" effort. From the inbox:

The recent U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. FEC opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate spending on elections.

David Cobb, an attorney and organizer for the Move to Amend coalition, will be touring Texas from October 2-10 to help local residents understand the history behind the recent decision and how they can work to abolish "Corporate Personhood" and establish a government of, by, and for the people by joining the Move to Amend campaign.

David Cobb is fiery speaker and former Green Party presidential candidate. His talk "Creating Democracy & Challenging Corporate Rule" is part history lesson and part heart-felt call-to-action!

“Corporate Personhood” is the court-created doctrine that gives corporations constitutional rights intended for human beings. “Corporate personhood is not an inconsequential legal technicality. The Supreme Court ruled that a corporation was a ‘legal person’ with 14th Amendment protections before they granted full personhood to African-Americans, immigrants, natives, or women”, says Cobb.

Move to Amend is a coalition of over 132,000 people and organizations whose goal is to amend the United States Constitution to end corporate rule and legalize democracy.

David is available for events in these places and tentative dates if we can find folks on the ground who will help us out:

• Bryan - College Station (Oct 2)
• Huntsville (Oct 3)
• Houston (Oct 4)
• San Antonio (Oct 5)
• San Marcos (Oct 6)
• Austin (Oct 9)
• Corpus Christi (Oct 10)

And wherever else you may be!

Update: Socratic Gadfly piles on.

Steve Ogden joins a lengthy line headed for the exit

Retiring from politics.

State Senator Steve Ogden (R-Bryan) announced Tuesday he would not seek reelection to the Texas Senate, nor does he plan to run for lieutenant governor.

Ogden, who will serve out his term, told WTAW he did not feel it was right to ask voters to reelect him to the Senate to improve his chances of running for lieutenant governor.

He says his primary reasons for not running again are to finish raising his family and concentrate on his business.

Williamson County state representative Charles Schwertner wasted no time throwing his hat into the ring for Ogden's seat.

Ogden joins FloShap and Inaction Jackson and 26 other statehouse members who voluntarily won't run for return to their currently-assigned seats in the Texas Legislature when it next reconvenes in January, 2013 (barring special session between now and then) according to Harvey Kronberg, who considers that normal turnover for a redistricting year. Update: As Robert Miller specifies, many are running for other positions in the Lege or for statewide promotions, some are running for Congress, the number of those actually quitting is now up to nine.

I have written quite a forceful bit about Ogden so this news comes with a sign of relief ... mixed with the usual trepidation about what TeaBagging asshole might replace him.

One of the biggest rats on the ship of state just leaped into the water, swam over to a yacht, climbed onboard and is eating caviar and truffles. Not much cause for celebration by anybody but the rat.

Update: Eye on Williamson with more.