Slate

... handicaps the Justice horse race Luttig, Roberts, Garza. Of course it may yet be awhile before post time, as Rehnquist continues to hang on by his fingernails.

The most incredible news in that article -- from a dozen disconcerting things to choose -- has to be the news that Al "Abu Ghraib" Gonzales is considered by the Talibaptists too moderate a candidate to be submitted.

*insert head-banging-against-wall emoticon here*

Update (6/29): Kos has more, including speculation on O'Connor, as well as Harry Reid's suggestions on Supreme Court nominees from among his peers.

Update II (6/30): A pretty interesting story here about summer vacations and multi-million-dollar ad campaigns and lives placed on hold, waiting for the eventual Supreme Court vacancy.

Election Assessment Hearing here Weds. 6/29

On Thursday, June 30th, the (James A.) Baker -- (former Pres. Jimmy) Carter Commission on Federal Election Reform will hold their second and final hearing at the campus of Rice University.

The commission has already refused to hear the testimony of Rep. John Conyers, who of course headed a congressional subcommittee investigation into the voting irregularities with regard to the 2004 election in the state of Ohio. David Cobb, the Green Party's 2004 presidential candidate, was also denied the opportunity to testify about the problems he encountered with Ohio's electoral processes during the attempted recount. Other election process researchers, analysts, investigators and atorneys were likewise refused the chance to report their findings of problems with our election processes during the 2004 election.

In response to this apparent lack of interest on the part of the Baker-Carter Commission in surveying problems with election processes evidenced in the last election, and in order to provide state election officials with data which will help them make informed decisions, 51 Capital March, with the endorsement of BradBlog, CAEF, IPPN, J-30 Coalition, USCountVotes, VotersUnite and others, is sponsoring an Election Assessment Hearing to be held in Houston on June 29th, the day before the Baker-Carter Commission is scheduled to meet.

Here's the location and agenda, and this is the list of presenters, which include Cobb and Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting.org .

Update (7/1): DemoDonkey posts her report on the hearing here.

The Toy Cannon in 1972.

There was a jersey retirement ceremony yesterday at Minute Maid Park for Jimmy Wynn, who has been one of my very favorite Astros from the time I sat in the shiny new Dome as a six-year-old (in the center field bleachers, with my glove, anticipating -- in that excitedly hopeful way that kids have -- a home run hit to me).

Wynn was, and still is, one of the humblest stars I ever watched. Even when he was told this past winter during a luncheon with owner Drayton McLane that his number would go into the rafters, he was speechless.

Congratulations to one of the true good guys.

Update: Tom Kirkendall, and via him John Brattain, each discuss in greater detail the Toy Cannon's career.

Liberals in the armed forces

are mad at Karl Rove.

Last notes on Democracy Fest

-- Arriving at the campus of Huston-Tillotson a week ago Friday afternoon, I proceeded to the media room and got credentialed, met Charlie of Pink Dome (he spoke at the Blogger's Caucus) and saw Seth of Radnofsky2006 again, who took and then posted a photo of me. On Saturday there I bumped into Jim Dean -- literally.

-- the socializing at Threadgill's Friday night was excellent. I met several of the DU crew, many I knew before, some I was meeting for the first time. Good times.

-- I've already posted about the workshops we attended; here's a couple of good reports on ones we didn't -- "What it Means to be a Progressive" and the Civic Action Networks. Around 2 on Saturday afternoon we took a late lunch over at Scholz Garten, and who should walk in with twenty of her entourage but Carole Strayhorn, fresh off her announcement rally. She didn't come by our table to say hi, and I didn't run the gauntlet of "Team Tough Grandma" t-shirted minions. So no blood was shed.

-- The big party was of course the Progressive Express event at Stubb's BBQ. Tickets were sold for $20 just for this event (and those folks didn't get the buffet like we did) and it sold out also. I don't know how many people were there, three thousand maybe; whatever the fire marshal's capacity for Stubb's is, I suppose. The fifteen or so evil DUers gathered at a table upstairs where we could enjoy some air-conditioning and still see and hear, and when Howard Dean came on we pushed outside. A white-haired lady brushed right past us; I heard Mrs. Diddie say, "Molly Ivins, you are a fountain of wonder!" and looked around just in time to see my wife getting kissed on the cheek by her.

-- The Sunday blog breakfast was a happening also. Getting to meet Kos was a treat.

-- Here's a great list of links that roses compiled. And here's the Austin Chronicle's take.

-- We departed a little early to meet a delightful A2Ker and her family for brunch, and with a few minutes to spare beforehand, walked through the Texas State Cemetery. In less than a half hour, we saw the graves of Tom Landry, Barbara Jordan, John Connally, Preston Smith (there are seven other governors of Texas buried there), Bob Bullock, Stephen F. Austin, and the Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston (his tomb is on the left in this picture). Jake Pickle, the long-time Austin Congressman who passed away last Saturday, is now interred not far from Connally and Bullock there on Republic Hill.

-- and on the way home we stopped at the Berdoll Pecan Farm and Store for some of their goodies, which included not just the dark chocolate covered pecan halves but also tomatoes and peaches. This place is worth the drive all by itself. It's on Highway 71, just west of Bastrop, and if you find yourself traveling that way, don't miss it.

Let’s dispense with this quickly, shall we?

When Howard Dean speaks, he’s speaking as the chairman of the Democratic Party. The Democrats pay him. If there are Democrats who don’t like what Dean says, then they can stop donating to the party (they ought to have sense enough to keep their disagreements private, but that's tangential).

When Dick Durbin speaks, he’s representing the people of Illinois, to whom he will answer when he’s up for re-election.

When Karl Rove speaks, he speaks as an official with the White House. He is no longer simply an evil-genius-political-operative extraordinaire, he's also responsible for shaping policy and stuff, due to his not-so-recent promotion. The only person he’s accountable to is the President of the United States, who has no intention of asking Rove to apologize.

Karl Rove is paid by each and every American taxpayer. He represents all of us.