Sunday Funnies, "Stand Your Ground" edition

Parker backs off her ordinance outlawing sharing

Mayor Annise Parker on Tuesday canceled a scheduled vote to regulate the feeding of homeless people in Houston following an outcry from people and groups that the proposed rules would criminalize simple acts of charity.

The rules had caused a fury from the moment they were introduced early this month. On Tuesday, the backlash continued as dozens of speakers criticized the regulations at City Council's public session. A coalition that included clergy, a tea party activist, a longtime property rights advocate, an immigrants rights leader and volunteers who feed the homeless held a news conference behind City Hall to criticize what they said were the rules' infringement on religious and personal liberties.

"To be told when and where and what time we can feed people goes directly against our creator. When the spirit moves us to go ahead and feed people, to check with the city first before we can go ahead and do that (is unacceptable). We're really opposed to this ordinance," said Manuel Sanchez, outreach director at Ecclesia Church in Montrose.

So there's a few Bible verses that address this: "I was hungry and you fed me", etc. I don't want to go all Godly about it though. I just want to note something that I have been considering for awhile about what motivates our mayor to take up all these conservative causes.

From my observation it appears Mayor Parker is imbued with that good old "pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps" mentality. I perceive that she is one of those people who feels as if the fruits of her success are the direct result of her having worked hard for them (no luck, favoritism, or charity was ever involved) and correspondingly those whom she perceives as not working very hard, or hard enough, draw no sympathy from her.

This would explain why she 'nudged' those lazy, filthy Occupants out of Tranquility Park; it's why she would choose to aggressively over-regulate feeding homeless people much like Republicans have passed laws restricting voting because they think there's voting fraud.

In her public attempts to sell the changes to city ordinance, Parker had spoken of the need to protect the homeless against food-borne illness, but had no data to indicate it was a persistent problem. She emphasized that it would promote coordination of charities so that several groups would not converge at a park by chance and have to throw out food for lack of takers.

Just as Republicans would take the route of hyper-regulating women's reproductive choice out of legal existence, so Mayor Parker believes that if you make things harder to get, the people who need them will move along and look elsewhere for them.

It helps us understand why she would rather terminate the employment of park workers and garbage collectors -- and essentially refuse to fund the pensions of firemen -- than raise taxes to address the city's budget deficit.

It reminds me of the time in college when I first heard this band play this song.

Hard times in the land of plenty;
Some got it all and the rest
ain't got any.



The difference these days, of course, is that the "some" don't want "the rest" to have any. And they want to make certain they don't get any.

Really and truly, I am of the mind that Annise Parker is one of the best, most moderate Republican mayors this city could ever hope for.

Yeah, both sides do it

I'm looking forward to whatever false equivalency conservatives can manufacture after yesterday.

At least two fire bombs were thrown at the Fort Worth office of state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) on Tuesday night, according to the Star Telegram. [...]

“It’s unfortunate when things like this happen in the public arena,” she said. “It reminds us of how important it is for us to remain very civil in our discourse and to work not to foment this kind of anger in our community as we discuss things that are challenges that we all face and care about.”

Senator Davis, still on the rise as one of the most powerful progressive women in Texas -- and thus of greatest danger to Texas Republicans -- honorably takes the high ground here. But we all know there aren't any Republican offices getting fire-bombed, or Republican Congresswomen shot in the head at townhalls outside of supermarkets.

Even Republican women refuse to understand the War on Women has become an actual shooting and bombing war.

We're way, waaay past the point of being able to expect a reasonable outcome just by telling people to tone down their rhetoric.

Texas Liberal and TruthHugger each have a similar take from a different POV, but as Off the Kuff noted a couple of weeks ago, it's time to go on offense. These are our wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers under bombardment, and those of us who care about them have to stand up and fight for them.

Update: Whoops, missed. I neglected to anticipate that the most extreme of Republicans, aka HouChron commenters, would rush to construct a frame -- as they did with the assassin Jared Loughner -- that the arsonist was a crazy liberal. I'll try not to make that mistake again. 

'Conservatives preach personal responsibility but never actually take any'.  Check.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance has a spring in its step as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff wrote about the forthcoming end of the Women's Health Program in Texas.

John Coby ay Bay Area Houston finds a press release from Austin: "Texas Governor Rick Perry calls for reforms to men's prostate exams".

The US Department of Justice refused preclearance on the Texas GOP's Voter ID law this week. WCNews at Eye On Williamson calls it a victory for voting rights in Texas.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is Guilty of being a Woman in Republican Theocracy.

The Green Party of Texas fielded 56 candidates for federal, state, and local offices, and because the Texas Democratic Party did not in two statewide races, the Greens are virtually assured of ballot access in 2014. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has the news.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants to know -- amid all the talk of the Republicans' war against women -- why a judge let a man convicted of sexually assaulting a relative for years got probation?

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw explains why Rick Perry is No Mighty Mouse . It seems Texas' contribution to the War on Women does not include Governor Oops playing the hero. Check it out.

The more BlueBloggin listens to Rick Santorum and Grover Norquist, the more they believe that America is at risk of losing its elder generation: Republican Formula, America's Elderly Reap The Whirlwind.

Neil at Texas Liberal wrote about a number of posts this week about how the Texas forced sonogram law is state-mandated rape. In one of these posts Neil discussed the three Texas state Senate Democrats who voted for this law, and about just why this law is state-mandated rape. It is up to each of us to work hard to oppose and repeal this cruel law.

Slightly Funnier Sunday Funnies

(You really should click on this one to read it all.)

Still feeling a little cranky

For a variety of reasons.

-- Texas school districts cut 25,000 jobs after budget cuts:

"I'm hoping the Legislature will see there's hard data showing that, yes, districts are making some good decisions in terms of efficiencies," said Bob Sanborn, president of Children at Risk, a Houston-based nonprofit that analyzed the state figures. "But the Legislature should be very worried that in the haste to be more efficient we are cutting our future out from under us."

In the greater Houston area, districts reduced their workforce by 5 percent - with 7,655 fewer employees overall, including nearly 3,300 fewer teachers.

Democrats' silver lining: There at least won't be a super-majority of Republicans in the Lege come next session. Republicans' silver lining:

"The cuts weren't as bad as they could have been," said Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, who chairs the House Education Committee.

-- Obama to celebrate (part of) Keystone pipeline next week:

Under fire for painfully high gas prices, President Barack Obama next week is scheduled to head to Cushing, Oklahoma, to highlight his support for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline -- well, part of it, anyway.

The Obama administration blocked the overall project, which was to carry oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, on environmental grounds. But it also endorsed plans to build the section of the pipeline that is to stretch from Cushing to the Gulf, which analysts say will help ease a bottleneck and get more oil -- and therefore ultimately more gas -- to market.

This plus the rumors of tapping the strategic oil reserves just reinforces the false narrative that tight supply of feedstock is forcing up the price per gallon. It is not; it IS market speculation and the declining number of refineries in the US that are keeping pump prices on the rise. Gasoline consumption in the United States has fallen off a cliff, and not just recently, either. (There is a case to be made for both austerity and lower economic activity -- also known as 'recession' -- as the causes of the decline in demand, and this author makes it.)

But hey, there's a presidential election coming -- not to mention a war with Iran -- and pandering by Democrats has been in short supply.

All perception and very little reality involved in this equation.

-- But by all means, let's focus on the things that really matter.

A stump speech delivered Friday night by Rick Santorum to a crowd of about 2,000 at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, IL., was interrupted 15 minutes in by shouts of "Mic check! Mr. Santorum! Mr. Santorum!" ("mic check" is a familiar Occupy Wall Street battle cry) -- followed by the sight of two men kissing passionately in the stands. The crowd responded with loud booing and chants of "USA! USA!" as the kissers, identified by The Palatine Patch as Timothy Tross and Ben Clifford, were ejected from the venue.

Asked by the Patch if the kiss was a "public display of affection or merely a symbolic act," Tross replied, "I don’t think the message should be about what my sexuality is. It’s the message that he’s saying about sexuality that matters.”

The crowd chanted "USA, USA". Here again I am reminded of the words of Sinclair Lewis (who, as has often happened in the retelling of history, never actually uttered or wrote those words).

-- Three conservatives tout credentials in GOP race to succeed Ron Paul. "Three right-wing freaks work to out-batshit crazy each other in race to lose to Nick Lampson in November". There, fixed it for ya.

The amazing thing to me is that article doesn't even mention Steve Stockman. He's obviously too old-school kooky to make the cut.

-- The fat guy that broke the explosive story about the atrocities at Apple's Foxconn factory in China fabricated the worst of it out of whole cloth. So he disserved everyone, but particularly Apple, the legitimate concerns of exploited labor, and even journalism.

-- It's not just Goldman Sachs that is corrupt and evil to the core but also Chase. Like any of this is a surprise at this point.

-- Still feeling chipper after all my Debbie Downer? Let me know how you feel after you read this.

As bacteria evolve to evade antibiotics, common infections could become deadly, according to Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization.

Speaking at a conference in Copenhagen, Chan said antibiotic resistance could bring about "the end of modern medicine as we know it."

"We are losing our first-line antimicrobials," she said Wednesday in her keynote address at the conference on combating antimicrobial resistance. "Replacement treatments are more costly, more toxic, need much longer durations of treatment, and may require treatment in intensive care units."

Chan said hospitals have become "hotbeds for highly-resistant pathogens" like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, "increasing the risk that hospitalization kills instead of cures."

Indeed, diseases that were once curable, such as tuberculosis, are becoming harder and more expensive to treat.

Chan said treatment of  multidrug resistant tuberculosis was "extremely complicated, typically requiring two years of medication with toxic and expensive medicines, some of which are in constant short supply. Even with the best of care, only slightly more than 50 percent of these patients will be cured."

Antibiotic-resistant strains of salmonella, E. coli, and gonorrhea have also been discovered.

"Some experts say we are moving back to the pre-antibiotic era. No. This will be a post-antibiotic era. In terms of new replacement antibiotics, the pipeline is virtually dry," said Chan. "A post-antibiotic era means, in effect, an end to modern medicine as we know it. Things as common as strep throat or a child's scratched knee could once again kill."

I had a great-relative (great-grandmother, great grandaunt, I am uncertain) who died about a hundred years ago because she squeezed a pimple on her face and it became infected. We're headed back to those good old days. And it's not even the Republicans' fault this time.

Hey, I'll post some more Funnies later. That ought to make us feel better.

Sunday Funnies, 'War is Hell' edition

Greens likely to remain ballot-qualified in Texas after 2012

Ballot Access News (bold emphasis is mine):

Texas parties remain ballot-qualified in presidential election years if they poll at least 5% for any partisan statewide race. This year in Texas, the following statewide offices are up: President, U.S. Senate, Railroad Commission full term, Railroad Commission short term, Justice of the Supreme Court seat 2, Justice of the Supreme Court seat 4, Justice of the Supreme Court seat 6, Presiding Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals seat 7, Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals seat 8. That is ten offices.

No Democrat filed to run for five of those offices. Whenever there is a partisan election in which only one of the two major parties runs anyone, any minor party nominee on the ballot in that election typically polls at least 5%. Because the Libertarians and Greens do have candidates in some of the statewide offices with no Democrat running, it is quite likely that each of those parties will meet the vote test in 2012.

[...]

Posts for which the Green Party has a candidate, but the Democratic Party does not, are Railroad Commission short term, and Justice of the Supreme Court seat 4. Libertarians have a candidate in all the statewide races.

Let's repeat that for emphasis: no Democrat filed to run against Supreme Court Justice (and once-alleged arsonist) David Medina, the weakest possible candidate on the ballot. Really, how stupid is that? Even the Libertarians manage to have a candidate file for every single office.

And after fielding the most qualified Railroad Commission candidate by far in 2010, only Dale Henry -- who ran in 2008 -- filed for TRC in '12, and he chose to run against a well-funded Rick Perry crony instead of an open seat.

Democrats really don't need to be wondering why they can't win a statewide office when they're not even seriously trying to. And they don't need to be blaming anybody but themselves for that.

Update: Neil has more.

Republican Douchebags of the Week

Too many to limit it just to the Great State.

-- Rick Santorum instructs Puerto Rico to speak English in order to become a state. There is no federal law requiring this. Though 30 states have passed laws declaring such. Including Mississippi and Kansas, but not Texas.

-- Speaking of Mississippi, Kansas, and Puerto Ricans: at the NCAA tournament yesterday, the Southern Miss band chanted "where's your green card" at a Kansas State Puerto Rican player during their first-round game. Puerto Ricans are born US citizens just like the folks in Mississippi. Though if we had to pick between the two, that would be easy and fast. (Two words: J-Lo's booty.)

-- Let me simply say once again that I despise Greg Abbott with the heat of a thousand suns and leave it at that.

-- Arizona's own version of the Blunt Amendment declares that birth control is not a good enough reason for women to be taking contraceptives.

Women in Arizona trying to get reimbursed for birth control drugs through their employer-provided health plan could be required to prove that they are taking it for a medical reason such as acne, rather than to prevent pregnancy.

A bill nearing passage in the Republican-led Legislature allows all employers, not just religious institutions, to opt out of providing contraceptive coverage when doing so would violate their religious or moral beliefs.

Keep on digging that hole, GOP.

-- Not content to condemn only women for what he perceives as their sexual depravity, Rick Santorum declares War on Pornography.

"America is suffering a pandemic of harm from pornography," Santorum's official website reads. "Pornography is toxic to marriages and relationships. It contributes to misogyny and violence against women. It is a contributing factor to prostitution and sex trafficking."

The former Pennsylvania senator states that, "as a parent, I am concerned about the widespread distribution of illegal obscene pornography and its profound effects on our culture."

Santorum criticized the Obama administration for turning "a blind eye ... to the scourge of pornography" and for refusing to enforce obscenity laws.

"If elected President, I will appoint an Attorney General who will do so," Santorum writes. "While the Obama Department of Justice seems to favor pornographers over children and families, that will change under a Santorum Administration."

There goes the middle-aged Republican angry white male vote. What's left for him to lose? Not Texas. He's surging here.

My gay friends have to be right: there is a freak inside this guy just crying to be let out.

Texas Greens post 56 candidates for state and local offices

Update: This list is official and up to date, with a few candidates having withdrawn their names from the ballot.

20 candidates in Bexar, 16 in Harris, 20 more across Texas, from Justice of the Peace and Constable to President of the United States. Here's the full list (.pdf) from the Green Party of Texas website. Following I'll list the statewide candidates and those running for Congress in Harris County, as well as state representatives and county offices. I expect to individually profile each of these leading up to November. Hyperlinks associated with specific candidates provide additional information. The Harris County Green Party site details the timing of county and senate district conventions, where elections for contested offices will occur.

US Senate (no incumbent): David B. Collins and Victoria Ann Zabaras, both of Houston

US Representative, District 2 (Ted Poe, incumbent): Mark A. Roberts
District 7 (John Culberson, incumbent): Lance Findley
District 9 (Al Green, incumbent): Vanessa Foster
District 22 (Pete Olson, incumbent): Don Cook
District 29 (Gene Green, incumbent): Maria Selva

Texas Supreme Court, Place 4 (David Medina, incumbent): Charles E. Waterbury
Place 6: (Nathan Hecht, incumbent): Jim Chisholm

Texas Railroad Commission, Place 1 (no incumbent): Chris Kennedy
Place 2 (Barry Smitherman, incumbent): Josh Wendel

Texas Senate, District 17 (Joan Huffman, incumbent): David Courtney
District 26 (Leticia Van de Putte, incumbent): Chris Christal

Texas State Board of Education, District 5 (Ken Mercer, incumbent): Irene Meyer Scharf
District 6 (Terri Leo, incumbent): G C Molison

Texas House of Representatives, District 130 (Allen Fletcher, incumbent): Art Browning
District 131 (Alma Allen, incumbent): Alfred Molison, Jr.
District 147 (Garnet Coleman, incumbent): Deb Shafto
District 148 (Jessica Farrar, incumbent): Henry Cooper

Harris County Sheriff (Adrian Garcia, incumbent): Remington Alessi
Harris County Constable, Precinct 1 ( incumbent): Carlos Villalobos

Photo ID remains Republicans' Holy Grail

You have likely heard the good news.

(T)he Department of Justice told Texas that its new law to make voting harder cannot stand. The bulk of it is that by requiring voters to show photo ID they never had to show before, Texas could disenfranchise between 603,892 to 795,955 people, a disproportionate number of them Hispanic.

As you know, or can imagine, this has again enraged the conservative hive mind that believes golden chalices and unicorns not only exist but are widespread and rampant across the country. CNN, with the liberally biased facts:

"We note that the state's submission did not include evidence of significant in-person voter impersonation not already addressed by the state's existing laws," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general.

Wayne Slater:

Several years ago, Abbott announced there was an "epidemic" of voter fraud in Texas and he launched an investigation. But his investigation and subsequent prosecutions failed to confirm any such epidemic. Abbott found 26 cases to prosecute -- all against Democrats, all but one against blacks or Hispanics. Of those, two-thirds were technical violations in which voters were eligible, votes were properly cast and no vote was changed. None of the cases would have been affected by the voter ID requirement.

Waist deep in the Big Muddy and the damn fool says 'press on'.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who expected the federal government's rejection, said late last week he plans to forge ahead with the lawsuit he filed last month to have the bill implemented immediately. The Justice Department has until April 9 to respond to the lawsuit.

This will undoubtedly be on the agenda at the next national convention of Vote-Suppressing Thugs -- err, True the Vote Douchebags, to be held next month in Houston.

I'd like to say I'm looking forward to attending, but really I'm not.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is busy building unbustible brackets as it brings you this week's roundup.

Is there finally about to be an uprising against the legislative hostility towards women we've seen so much of lately? Off the Kuff sure hopes so.

BossKitty at TruthHugger discovered with minimal effort that any group using the words God, Christian, or Jesus has a free ride with the right wing media. Why is accountability off the table if you use those specific words? Rush Limbaugh, blinded by hatred for anything Obama, leaped before he looked at the facts ... and casually acted surprised when the truth was revealed, in Limbaugh Endorsed Christian Cannibals.

BlueBloggin was thrilled that the recent solar activity was only a light show. But because scientists warn that 2012 will experience more frequent solar events, why are the 2012 candidates ignoring this science? Updated: What is a CME and Why Should Presidential Candidates Care.

The Republicans opened a new front in the culture wars in Houston last week, when Pastor Steve Riggle of Grace Community Church suddenly opened fire on Mayor Annise Parker's right to have an opinion on gay marriage. PDiddie of Brains and Eggs has a dispatch from the front line.

For too long we've been told by our elected leaders that our government will be better if we sell it to the highest bidder. WCNews at Eye On Williamson reminds us that only the people can make it stop: Outsourcing at A&M, a microcosm.

Neil at Texas Liberal wrote about the Texas forced sonogram law, and about how this law is state-mandated rape. The facts are going to prevail on this issue. People in Texas, across the nation, and across the world are going to see that Texas has passed a law mandating the rape of some its citizens.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes that the Nueces County Republicans are just as dirty as the Republicans in the legislature with regard to their redistricting methods.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw gets up to date with the war on women and on voters in Texas GOP Policies Flog Poor Women, Health Care and Voter's Rights.

At the Lewisville Texan Journal, Ken Judkins points out that Mitt Romney may have won Super Tuesday but he failed a leadership test.

Bay Area Houston wonders about Judge Sharon "Killer" Keller's $100,000 ethics fine.

Sunday Funnies

Three to challenge Culberson in Democratic primary

With her filing today at HCDP headquarters, 2010 write-in Congressional District 7 candidate Lissa Squiers joins Phillip Andrews and James Cargas in a May 29th showdown for the right to face incumbent John Culberson in November (there will also be a Libertarian and a Green on the ballot in this contest).

Squiers is the progressive in this primary battle. She's an officer in TDW and has performed a litany of volunteer activities, including the start-up All Kids Alliance (see more here), and as mentioned before was so irritated that no challenger stepped forward in the last cycle to challenge Culberson that she ultimately did so herself as a write-in. (The Texas Political Almanac on CD-7 has maps and is up to date through 2010). Here's her campaign video from that match:



Andrews had "Blue Dog" in bold at the top of his website until recently and is president and CEO of a company that, to my examination, does the same thing as Blackwater. Cargas (that's Greek, not Latino) is a well-connected -- very well-connected -- oil and gas attorney. Additionally, two of my bloghermanos have declared support in the race: lightseeker at Texas Kaos for Squiers, Stace at Dos Centavos for Cargas. Both Cargas and Squiers have earned the AFL-CIO endorsement for the primary.

Having been drawn -- through the festering Republican redistricting morass -- first into Sheila Jackson Lee's 18th and then Al Green's 9th before being returned to the 7th, this race is, as it has been in the past, of personal interest.

Primaries are for picking your favorite among the challengers in a single party, and if you read here to any degree you know I usually support either the most progressive candidate or the underdog. In Squiers' case that's likely both, especially where campaign funds are concerned. I burned out long ago on evaluating the strength of Democratic candidates based on their fundraising prowess. That only serves to feed a broken model of paid consultants telling Democrats how to win and continually losing, and it's a particularly bad idea if you believe money is corrupting our democracy (see: Citizens United).

So attend her signing this evening at HCDP HQ at 5 p.m and then join her at Tecate on Ella from 5:30 to 7 and see if she fits your profile as grassroots progressive. She certainly fits mine.

Still no Mittmentum

Romney increasingly is nothing more than an indifferent default option for Republicans.

As ABC News' Gary Langer has noted: "In all seven states holding primaries Tuesday night combined, 61 percent of voters picked either electability or experience as the top attribute they were looking for in a candidate - and 51 percent of them supported Romney. His challenge is that a sizable remaining chunk of the GOP electorate, 36 percent across these seven states, picked a different attribute as more important - either the candidate with 'strong moral character' or the 'true conservative.' And among these true believers, Romney's support plummeted to just 17 percent. Forty-six percent instead voted for Santorum, 20 percent Paul, 16 percent Gingrich."

Texas might have gone a long way toward settling this thing -- or not -- had our elections taken place with the others yesterday. Food for thought.

But while Romney desperately wants to close the book on the 2012 GOP primary, his opponents are ready to simply start another chapter.

Santorum may have come up short in Ohio, but he's likely to rack up wins next week in Kansas, Alabama, and Mississippi.

All three states have an electoral make-up that looks much more like Tennessee and Oklahoma - two states Santorum easily carried Tuesday night - than they do Ohio or Massachusetts.

For example, in 2008, evangelical voters made up 77 percent of the vote in Alabama and 69 percent of the vote in Mississippi.

R-money cannot get credit for anything; he spends $8 million in Ohio versus Frothy's $1.8, ekes out a win, and still loses the media spin game. He has a huge delegate lead -- Santorum in fact did not complete the necessary paperwork to be awarded the GOP electors from Ohio at the national convention that he earned -- so the popular vote "win" serves only as narrative that Mitt is weak. That's a lose-lose for Republicans.

The real news came out of northern Ohio: Dennis Kucinich was defeated in the Democratic primary.

Veteran Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur defeated longtime Washington colleague Dennis Kucinich Tuesday in a bruising Ohio showdown made necessary by a newly drawn congressional map.

She will face the winner of the Republican primary -- Samuel "Joe" Wurzelbacher, who became known as "Joe the Plumber" during the 2008 presidential campaign -- in November.

I'll miss Dennis: maybe he'll run again for president on an independent or third-party ticket. What if he went Green, or Justice Party, or even spotted up for the Americans Elect ticket?

Oh what fun it is to ride. jobsanger has more.

GOP opens new front in culture wars in Houston

After Mayor Parker announced her support last week of a resolution (signed by more than 70 other mayors across the USA) supporting same-sex marriage, the pastor of a Houston megachurch was quick to condemn.

Pastor Steve Riggle of Grace Community Church, site of next month's county Republican Party convention, sent a letter to Parker late last month calling for her to resign if she will not stand down on gay marriage. He spent nearly an hour Sunday expounding on his feelings during his 10 a.m. sermon to roughly 3,000 congregants.

"Respectfully, if you cannot uphold the Texas Constitution, then you should do the honorable thing and step down," Riggle told his congregation, who responded with the first of numerous ovations.

"When you speak for us as the mayor of Houston, when the people of Houston have overwhelmingly expressed their will and you speak about this issue without their expressed will, I do have a problem with that," he continued.

Pastor Riggle, with
minority representatives
all behind him in the shot

Let's get caught up here if you're unfamiliar.

Mayor Annise Parker's determination to be known as a competent leader who happens to be lesbian is being challenged by political opponents promulgating the idea that she's becoming a gay activist to the detriment of the city.

In the first two months of her second term, Parker helped deliver a call by mayors nationwide for the legalization of same-sex marriage, proclaimed Valentine's Day as Freedom to Marry Day in Houston and said on cable radio that President Barack Obama needs to "evolve" toward support of marriage equality.

Emboldened by Parker's poor showing in November in which she barely avoided a runoff and by the victories by two opponents of gay marriage who became the first challengers to unseat City Council incumbents in 12 years, social conservatives have gone on the attack. They accuse Parker of reneging on a campaign promise to put the city first and social issues advocacy second, and they charge her with violating the Texas Constitution by advocating for a change to it.

"What they're saying is, 'We smell blood,'" said Rice University political science professor Bob Stein, whose wife previously served as Parker's agenda director.

Let's also refresh our memory about Pastor Riggle's complaint: in 2005 Texas codified wedding discrimination into the state Constitution.

Even the Houston Chronicle's cadre of mostly conservative commenters has gone on the offensive, demanding that Graceless Community Church give up its tax-exempt status. All of them, I presume, from the local drainage assessment to federal taxes on their income. For most of those folks it seems to be less about the US Constitution's First Amendment or DOMA and more about separation of church and state... which, some are quick to point out, isn't actually in the Constitution. I wonder if they will feel more strongly, or less, when they learn that the church is hosting the 2012 Harris County Republican Party convention. (Even though that information is in the lead graf, the CCC* -- or KKK, as I have commonly referred to them -- typically don't read the articles in the paper, they just knee-jerk a reaction to the headline in the comment box.)

Pastor Riggle wants Mayor Parker to either shut up about gay marriage or resign her office. That's an unreasonable demand. As Charles has noted, everybody has the right to voice their opinion, especially when it is both a legal minority and a moral imperative.

Pastor Riggle is just ginning up extra outrage among the TaliBaptists -- as if any more were possible or even needed -- to turn out the vote for Republicans in '12. Like the rest of the ultra-conservative flock, he misses the fact that these Christian jihads against gay marriage, abortion, and more recently contraception have the same mobilizing effect on his opposition.

I have evolved to be no great fan of Mayor Parker's for a variety of reasons, but this sort of thing will always bring me to her defense. Parker's style and policies associated with governing are separate from her support of any cause she chooses; as separate as the one between church and state ought to be. For his part, Riggle is just following the lead of Rick Warren and James Dobson and Richard Land and Tony Perkins, who followed Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell before them, in a long-con game. Keep the sheep nervous, before and after the shearing.

Remarkably, many non-social conservatives are jumping that fence now.

*Chronically Conservative Commenters.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance would never have made the mistake of advertising on the Rush Limbaugh show in the first place as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff connects the Republican war on women's health to the 2012 legislative elections in Texas.

BossKitty at TruthHugger has decided that the Devil is in the words spewing from the mouth of GOP wannabe Rick Santorum, who says that "suffering is good".

BlueBloggin thinks that Planet of the Apes escapee Rush "Rusty" Hudson Limbaugh III should be handed over to the Amazon Women on the Moon and hits him below the belt.

The truce in the redistricting skirmishes last week produced lots of controversial results, and also one which cheered the hearts of non-Democrats and Republicans relating to third-party and independent candidates. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has elaboration.

Let there be no doubt; the health care system in Texas is a mess. WCNews at Eye On Williamson has the details in this post: By almost any measure, Texas has one of the worst health care systems in the nation.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes another Texas university raises tuition and the Santorum Republicans smile. Why not? Only the rich should go to college in GOPland.

Neil at Texas Liberal was in Cincinnati this week. Neil's blog has a number of photos and observations from his trip.

Sunday Funnies

"Gas prices are so high that Mitt Romney's wife can only afford to drive one Cadillac."
-- Jay Leno

“Rick, I'm sorry that hearing that JFK speech on religion makes you throw up. But if it makes you feel any better, if JFK were alive today, knowing you were running for President would make him shit his pants.” -- Jon Stewart

"Newt Gingrich said we should use covert operations to assassinate Iran's nuclear scientists. Gingrich also said the key to covert operations is announcing them on the campaign trail." -- Conan O'Brien

As Friday Filing Week begins...

... here's a summary of things I'm reading that have nothing to do with Texas politics.

-- Obama to Israel, Iran: "As president of the United States, I don't bluff".

At the White House on Monday, President Obama will seek to persuade the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to postpone whatever plans he may have to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities in the coming months. Obama will argue that under his leadership, the United States "has Israel's back," and that he will order the U.S. military to destroy Iran's nuclear program if economic sanctions fail to compel Tehran to shelve its nuclear ambitions.

-- 'Man sues Google over Street View urination photo, says it has made him a laughingstock.' And if you haven't seen the compilations of some of these street-view photos, here's a good one. Just don't be eating or drinking anything when you click over or else you'll need a new computer.

-- Obama waives rule allowing indefinite military detention of Americans. This would be in regard to the fairly nefarious NDAA legislation he signed last year. Money graf:

Advocates for liberties will likely find the new rules for implementing reassuring, at least while President Obama is in office. But one of their big complaints with his signing of the law is that his policies only last so long as he is in office, and they will likely step up attempts to repeal it.

-- 25 people who Tweeted that Obama had Breitbart assassinated. This is pretty much all I will have to say on this topic.

-- 'Silence Gun: Strange weapon of the future immediately quiets you, whether you like it or not'. Between this thing and this law, the era of the public protest is drawing to a close.

The gun operates based on the concept of delayed auditory feedback. An attached microphone picks up the sound being made by the target and plays it back 0.2 seconds later. The effect is incredibly confusing to the human brain, making it all but impossible to talk or hold a conversation. The device doesn't cause the person it's being used on any physical harm — it simply messes with their head.

When the human brain hears its own speech perfectly in sync during normal speech, it easily processes the input and allows you to largely ignore the sound of your own voice. However, by offsetting the response just a bit, the brain hears your mouth speaking as well as the strange echo effect produced by the gun. This unusual combination is confusing enough to effectively shut down the part of your brain responsible for managing speech, and you fall immediately silent.

-- Speaking of guns, the Texas Department of Public Safety now has its own navy: six speedboats with multiple machine guns each patrolling the Rio Grande.

The 34-foot-long boats, each powered by three, 300-horsepower outboard engines, will have bulletproof plating and six machine guns apiece, not unlike the river patrol boats the U.S. Navy used during the Vietnam War.

The Lewsiville Texan Journal has video. The Texas Observer observes...

So is DPS going to start blazing away at women and children crossing illegally on inner tubes? Do they need six machine guns to nail some dope smugglers crossing kilos of marijuana? Also, the area of Falcon Lake where (DPS trooper) David Hartley was allegedly killed was on the Mexican side of the lake. DPS can't patrol in Mexico.

Ah, but who cares -- have you seen the bad-ass machine guns?

-- Our oceans are acidifying rapidly.

The world's oceans are turning acidic at what could be the fastest pace of any time in the past 300 million years, even more rapidly than during a monster emission of planet-warming carbon 56 million years ago, scientists said on Thursday.

[...]

Quickly acidifying seawater eats away at coral reefs, which provide habitat for other animals and plants, and makes it harder for mussels and oysters to form protective shells. It can also interfere with small organisms that feed commercial fish like salmon.

The phenomenon has been a top concern of Jane Lubchenco, the head of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who has conducted demonstrations about acidification during hearings in the U.S. Congress.

Oceans get more acidic when more carbon gets into the atmosphere. In pre-industrial times, that occurred periodically in natural pulses of carbon that also pushed up global temperatures, the scientists wrote.

Damn those elitist snob scientists and their gloom-and-doom. Let's just pretend it's not happening.

-- Speaking of oceans, seventy years ago the USS Houston went to a watery grave in the Pacific after being shelled by a Japanese fleet near Jakarta, Indonesia. Two of its surviving sailors, now in their 90's, were in Houston yesterday to commemorate the anniversary. Both men survived not only the sinking but also three years in Japanese internment, where they participated in constructing the actual "Bridge on the River Kwai".

-- OK, OK. One Houston political mention. "Montrose, here's your new Congressman: Ted Poe."

Redistricting settlements change ballot access for minor parties, indy candidates

With the maps settled, there are numerous developments regarding the timing of Texas primary elections, who is eligible to run, and what requirements and stipulations are changing. But to me, this is the most remarkable development, if these interpretations are clear (and yes, legal translations are still to come).

On February 29, the Texas Republican Party and Texas Democratic Party submitted a joint proposal to the 3-judge U.S. District Court that is hearing the redistricting case. The two parties advocate these policies for minor party and independent candidate ballot access for 2012:

1. Petitions for newly-qualifying parties, and for independent candidates for President, and independent candidates for all other office, will be due June 29.

2. No primary screen-out will exist in 2012 for these petitions.

These ideas represent a huge improvement for ballot access compared to the statutory law.

Michael Li with more:

The order also addressed independent candidates by changing the deadline for such candidates to file applications for a spot on the ballot to June 29, 2012 and waiving provisions of the Texas Election Code that invalidated signatures collected for independent candidates if they were collected before the date of the Texas primary.

Here is a copy of the order. Jim Riley's comment has elaboration.

This opens a new world of possibility for third parties, their candidates, and independents (which, if you have been following me lately, is my new cause). More parties, more choices, more democracy. Anything that threatens the old way of doing things is something I am all in favor of.

Romney gets his groove back

Just the mental image of R-money getting his groove on is enough to make a person shudder, isn't it?

"We didn't win by a lot, but we won by enough, and that's all that counts," Romney told a crowd gathered at his victory party in Novi, Mich.

In Michigan, Romney held a 3 percent lead -- 41 percent to 38 percent over Rick Santorum -- with 99 percent of precincts reporting. Ron Paul received 12 percent of the vote and Newt Gingrich received 7 percent. In Arizona, with 90 percent of precincts reporting, Romney led with 47 percent, Santorum was in second with 27 percent, Gingrich third with 16 percent and Paul fourth with 8 percent.

Someone else also declared victory.

In an optimistic speech during which several news networks declared Romney the winner of Michigan, Santorum said, "A month ago they didn't know who we are, but they do now."

Oh, we've all known what you are for quite a long time now.

Though Arizona and Michigan have almost the same number of delegates, AZ was winner-take-all while MI awards proportionately. Thus R-money was going to have a good night even if he had lost the Wolverines. But the media spin has been all about him not surging, so last night's results are gold-star worthy.

Santorum, for his part, seems to recognize now where he went off the rails.

"We came to the backyard of one of my opponents, in a race where people said, 'You know, just ignore it, you're going to have no chance here.' And the people of Michigan looked into the hearts of the candidates, and all I have to say is, 'I love you back.'"

The crowd was enthusiastic, with one man shouting, "I love you," but there was a sad tone in the air that began even before they took the stage, as the theme song to the "The Natural" played.

Santorum mentioned his 93-year-old mother, something he hasn't in previous speeches, and he told the audience in what seemed to be a pitch to female voters who might feel put off by some of his previous comments about women in the workplace, that his mother made more money than his father.

So... his parents both went to "indoctrination mills". And then they went to work for the gubmint. Damned liberals. It gets worse, though; so did his wife, that horrible woman who had a partial birth abortion.

The former Pennsylvania senator also touted his wife's work experience, saying she was a "professional" as well, and thanked his daughter, Elizabeth, who has been on the campaign trail with him since the early days in Iowa.

"[Karen] worked as a nurse, but after we got married, she decided to walk away, yet didn't quit working. She was a mother, and also wrote two books," Santorum said, in what also seemed to be an appeal to female voters.

He spent most of his speech repeating the themes he does on the stump, including his mention of the Declaration of Independence, but this evening there was a twist on that, too.

"The men and women who signed that declaration wrote the final phrase, 'We pledge to each other our lives, our fortune, and our sacred honor," Santorum said.

There were no women who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Note to Santorum: work in some praise of Martha Washington and Abigail Adams. Try to avoid talking about Sally Hemings or Benjamin Franklin's various indiscretions.

By the way, Ron Paul isn't giving up either. Newt Gingrich just has Georgia on his mind at this point. All this, as you can imagine, is a bit tiring for some people.

"Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief and Romney gets a little momentum heading into next week, but it doesn't change much," Republican strategist Ron Bonjean said. "This is going to be a long, drawn-out marathon. It feels like a political death march."

That's not a sad trombone, that's a dirge.

Update: More "experts" -- in this case unemployed Republican political consultants -- rain on R-money's parade.

“A loss to Rick Santorum [in Michigan] would have been a shock to his heart, but he’s going into Super Tuesday with some blood on him,” said GOP strategist Dan Schnur, who is not aligned with any of the candidates.

“In order for Romney to get some kudos, he needs to win a state where there aren’t a lot of Mormons [Arizona] or Romneys [Michigan],” Schnur added.

That prize is Ohio, the key blue-collar battleground on the 10-state Super Tuesday slate — but it’s a state where Romney’s corporate raider background and elitist-sounding verbal stumbles will undoubtedly be used against him by his rivals.

“Has he regained that aura of inevitability? That’s an open question,” said GOP strategist Keith Appell of the bipartisan firm CRC Public Relations.

“He spent $4 million on attack ads in Michigan against a guy who didn't have the money to fight back,” added Appell, who is also not working for any of the candidates.

“This was supposed to be over after Romney won New Hampshire, then Nevada and Florida. But it isn't over. Maybe Super Tuesday voters won't be impressed by Romney winning his home state.”

That reads like hideously sour grapes considering the sources. Look at the total delegate counts after last night, and the number of delegates at stake next Tuesday, and note that all the Not-Romneys put together add up several delegates shy of Romney's current total. Even with many states selecting proportionately through the end of March (as well as several non-binding caucuses), at this point the Not-Romneys are contending for ego status, prime time speaking slots at the convention, and 2016.

ThenewmapsarehereThenewmapsarehere!

Said in my best Steve Martin "The Jerk" imitation.

After a months-long set of legal battles spanning three courtrooms in two cities, Texas may finally have a set of interim redistricting maps that could keep the primary election on May 29.

The new maps, released by the San Antonio federal court today, appear to be nearly identical to the compromise maps negotiated between Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and the Latino Redistricting Task Force, which were rejected by other minority and Democratic groups.

Like that compromise, the court's congressional map would create two new minority congressional seats and preserves the Republican-dominated Legislature's decision to split Austin into five districts, likely forcing U.S. Rep Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, to run in a new, heavily Hispanic district that stretches from San Antonio to Austin.

Harvey K has links to the maps viewer and this "first blush":

(T)he blobs on the map would seem to show that the AG's compromise maps held up pretty well. On the Congressional plans, the fracturing of Travis County from the state's enacted map has been restored. That means for the interim map at least Lloyd Doggett is being forced to run against a San Antonio Democrat in the new CD 35. Also, the CD 33 in the DFW Metroplex that was drawn into the Abbott compromise map to favor a minority candidate remains in place.

On the House map, Ken Legler's HD 144 (Pasadena area) remains unchanged from Abbott's compromise map but the court made some changes to HD 137 (inc. Scott Hocheberg, retiring) and HD 149 (inc. Hubert Vo) in Harris County. Judges had warned in the status conference that Abbott's treatment of HD 137 had minority retrogression issues. Finally, it looks like the court made some adjustment to John Garza's HD 117 in Bexar County, another flashpoint from the status conference.

I'm back in Culberson's 7th Congressional, but still in Borris Miles' HD 146 and Rodney Ellis' Senate District 13. The Startlegram's Aman Batheja, on Twitter:

Joe Barton won't represent Cowboys Stadium under court-drawn cong. map. Ends up in new Dem-leaning Dist. 33.

Batheja also notes that Tarrant County remains as the Legislature drew it, with a minority district in which two Democratic statehouse incumbents are forced to contend.

With the exception of the hosing of Smokey Joe, these maps are the suck -- unless you're Greg Abbott. They were pushed out early by the judges in order to save a May election day, but as Nolan Hicks at the SAEN observes...

The May 29 primary could still be in jeopardy if any of the groups that sued appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to block the new maps.

More updates as they roll in.

Update I: Burnt Orange laments Travis County's 5-way split.

The 10th remains largely unchanged, the 21st narrows to a skinny swath of Central Austin, and the 17th (the green area on the map) reaches down from Burleson County to stick a finger into north Austin and Pflugerville, just below the Williamson County border. The bad news is that CD-25 now runs from East Austin to Western Travis County, and then all the way up to Tarrant, while the 35th encompasses eastern Travis County and skips alongside I-35 down to San Antonio.

Sorry, y'all, we Austinites are apparently incapable of handling the rigors of selecting a Congressman whose constituents are primarily in Austin. We need the rest of the surrounding region to do it for us. But good news, Austinites and Pflugervillans, because some of you are about to be represented by Republican Bill Flores! He will care a lot about your concerns. Not really. #sadtrombone

Update II: Matt Angle, Lone Star Project.

Most of the plaintiff groups who challenged the Republican congressional plan hoped for a better interim map. These hopes were undermined, however, when Congressman Henry Cuellar and one of the Latino plaintiff groups – the Latino Task Force – agreed to a compromise proposal that gave up at least three, and perhaps all four, of the additional Texas seats to the Republicans.

Next month, the Federal District Court in Washington, DC is expected to release its decision detailing all of the violations in the State’s originally enacted redistricting plan. Ultimately, the DC Court’s decision will guide the redrawing of new maps when the Legislature meets again in 2013.

Update III: Michael Li.

Buzz that the proposed reopened filing period will be Friday, March 2, through Tuesday, March 6 (which would be somewhat fitting since then the filing period would end on Super Tuesday - the date of the original Texas primary).

For now, everything appears to be on track for a May 29 primary and July 31 (or early August) runoff.

Last update: This DK diary has "full analysis", some of which is even accurate. BOR asks and then answers: "Who likes the way redistricting went? Almost no one, apparently."

Michigan today

A day of reckoning for the so-called front-runner.

On the eve of the unlikeliest showdown of a dumbfounding campaign year, the bitter Republican primary battle in Michigan has turned into an all-out class war.

Rick Santorum, flaunting the fieriest populism in years by a Republican presidential contender, is waging a determined challenge against Mitt Romney, heir to a Michigan political dynasty. Romney had once been expected to cruise to victory in the state his father governed, and that he won four years ago.

But Santorum was aiming for an upset that, as he says, would “shock” the Republican world. In the first industrial-state primary of 2012, he has cast himself as a fighter for working men and women against the “elites in society who think that they can manage your life better than you can.”

Ah, fiery is a good word to describe how things might end for Rmoney.

The class competition played out visibly Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, which was to have opened NASCAR’s season until rain forced a postponement.

Romney flew to Florida from Michigan and put on a public display of affinity, strolling the NASCAR pits in a bright red Daytona 500 jacket and blue jeans. At one point, he walked past a car emblazoned with Santorum’s campaign logo. (Out of public view, Romney also had a private breakfast with the billionaire founders of the auto racing operation and was introduced at a meeting of racing teams, corporate sponsors and celebrities.)

Yeah, the NASCAR thing turned out well.

And with Operation Hilarity adopted by the Frothy Mixture campaign and put into full effect, tonight's results will make for lively discussion among the talking heads.

As the GOP primary race comes down to the wire in Michigan, Rick Santorum’s campaign has a last trick up its sleeve.

The campaign has launched telephone robocalls throughout the state slamming rival Mitt Romney for opposing the auto industry bailout in late 2008 and early 2009, and urging Democrats to show up for Tuesday’s Republican primary and cast ballots for Santorum.

“Michigan Democrats can vote in the Republican primary on Tuesday. Why is it so important?” the voice on the call says. “Romney supported the bailouts for his Wall Street, billionaire buddies, but opposed the auto bailouts. That was a slap in the face to every Michigan worker, and we’re not going to let Romney get away with it.”

The call urges listeners to “send a loud message” to Romney by voting for Santorum, even though Santorum, too, opposed the auto industry bailout. It ends with the line: “This call is supported by hard-working Democratic men and women and paid for by Rick Santorum for president.”

Tune in to your favorite news channel this evening for all the fiery details.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance dressed in its finest evening attire, strolled down the red carpet as flashes blinked, and carried home the golden statue with this week's blog roundup.

Off the Kuff conducted interviews with Democratic Senate hopefuls Paul Sadler and Sean Hubbard.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is appalled at the disinformation and outright lies that the oil and gas industry pays advertisers and politicians to say in order to mislead voters. While some voters depend on mainstream media to be objective when reporting about drilling and injection consequences, others rely on their religious leaders to put a theological spin on their vote. So the result is The Earth is Flat and Fracking is Safe. BossKitty is also really alarmed at the infiltration of the US military by religious extremists: US Military Infiltrated By Christian Crusaders Desecrate Toward Apocalypse.

BlueBloggin is disgusted that Newt Gingrich has gotten away with condemning the president for not making excuses for the childish vandalism of Holy Books. Gingrich and other GOP candidates are pandering to the most extreme Dominionist element of people who call themselves Christian. Read more in GOP Presidential Candidate nut case, encourages Holy War.

As we wait for the Texas primary to be set, WCNews at Eye On Williamson reminds us that there's still time for candidates to enter races.

The long delay in determining the new redistricted parameters affects not only Democrats and Republicans but also the other political parties, who can't begin to collect petition signatures until after the primary elections. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has that and more third-party news in this update.

Bay Area Houston updates the saga of Michael Berry, the right wing talk show hypocrite caught in a gay bar.

Neil at Texas Liberal took a look at some homemade fliers for shows from back in his punk rock days, and was reminded yet again that taking action is up to each of us.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw warns us that if you are upset about rising gasoline prices, "whatever you do, don't ask a Republican politician to tell you the truth about why prices are increasing. For the party of right wing mullahs has socio-pathological issues with women's rights. The pre-historic neanderthal cave dwellers will just lie to you and blame the rising prices on Obama." Read the rest: GOP Scamming People on High Gas Prices.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme joins the chorus pf people pointing out that Texas Republicans really, really hate women.

Sunday Funnies