Diane Trautman for Harris County Tax Assessor/Collector

As with being a Texas public school administrator, and as with her 2006 statehouse run in the blood-red suburb of Kingwood, Dr. Trautman likes big challenges:

“My race for Tax Assessor-Collector will be about one thing—improving Harris County government,” Trautman explains. “We can be more efficient. We can be more responsive. We can be more transparent in the way we collect county taxes. And we can have a voter registration system that is fair and inclusive to all the citizens of Harris County."

That last sentence is going to be the most important accomplishment we can make in 2008 locally.

Paul Bettancourt, the incumbent TA/C (the post also serves as voter registrar in each Texas county) is one of the most dangerous Republicans in America. Not the county, not the state. The nation. He runs a sophisticated voter caging operation which is the envy of all who survey it. And only Republicans are allowed to survey it, trust me. It is cloaked in partisan secrecy, so much so that even the Harris County Democratic Party chairman, a wise constitutional lawyer himself, is reticent to challenge it -- or Bettancourt himself, for that matter.

Fortunately I have been able to pull back the shroud a bit, and will promise again a more detailed posting about this in the very near future.

But this is a post to congratulate and welcome his very formidable challenger, so on with her announcement:

I am passionate about providing a quality education in all of our public schools, and I believe that it is everyone’s responsibility to play a role in educating our children–especially our political leaders. That is why, when our current Tax Assessor/Collector publicly campaigns against our schools in the recent school bond elections, I think he needs to be challenged. Instead of an incumbent who has spent the last decade using his county office as a partisan pulpit, we need someone who will focus on getting the job done for all the citizens of Harris County.

Additionally, I think that the public has had enough of recent ethics scandals in county offices, and that they are ready for some accountability and ethical leadership in county government, which will be a primary focus of my campaign. What is more, it is outrageous that Harris County, the third most populous county in the country, has one of the lowest voter registration rates. We must do better if we are to have a truly effective government and democracy. My campaign will be about modeling ethical and appropriate officeholder behavior, building a voter registration system that is fair, inclusive and works for all Harris County citizens, and running an efficient, transparent office for county taxpayers.

Bravo, Dr. Trautman. The battle is joined.

It's beginning to look a lot like the War on Christmas

If there's a "War on Christmas" anywhere but in the minds of conservatives like Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson, then Christmas appears to be winning. But if, as national intelligence estimates sometimes reveal -- up is down, war is peace, and the anti-Christmas forces actually are surging -- then the war in Iraq must be nothing short of total victory at this very moment.

Did you know that the John Birch Society fired the first shot in the War on Christmas in 1959? The enemies, then as now, were American department stores and the "Godless UN". And like their sworn foe Big Retail, the Religious Right doesn't even have the decency to wait until Thanksgiving to open the season -- in the conservatives' case, whining about what words people use to describe the December holidays.

For anyone who is genuinely offended because the newspaper ad from Target fails to include the word "Christmas" and the temporary clerk at Sears dares to say "Happy Holidays," I have some advice: this Christmas, ask Santa Claus to bring you a life.

Iran has no WMD program. That's why they must be bombed.

President Bush has stated that the national intelligence estimate indicating that Iran ceased its bid for nuclear viability in 2003 proves that we need to ratchet up more pressure on Iran.

That's right; because they stopped their weapons program, we must continue to threaten them with sanctions, leave "all options on the table", and so on.

After all, it's nothing but a vast left wing (and intelligence community) conspiracy that denies that World War III, instigated by a nuclear Iran, is imminent.

And naturally this dovetails precisely with the thinking of the saber-rattling, chest-beating, war mongering neoconservatives, Dick Cheney as usual leading the charge. Are you “formidable”, and do you have nuclear weapons? Then we don’t want to mess with you. But if you appear to be formidable and “evil”, but aren’t a threat -- real or imagined, to the US or your neighbors or anyone else -- then it is of the utmost importance to make sure that the weapons that aren’t being developed ... well, aren’t developed. Which is why the NIE confirms the reason why Iran must be attacked. ASAP.

Norman Podhoretz (he advises Rudy G) says so. John Bolton says so.

Update: Even though national security director Stephen Hadley and director of national intelligence Mike McConnell briefed senior administration officials on the NIE "beginning in July", Bush apparently knew nothing about it until Tuesday of this week (as he claimed in his press conference). Yet he mentioned it to Israeli prime minister Ehud Ohmert on Monday, November 26.

Why does anyone believe anything these people say any more? Even the locals, a rather Republican bunch, have stopped drinking the war Kool-Aid.

Larry Craig is still not gay

... no matter what those eight men claim, so stop saying that.

Dan Barrett for HD-97

From our press release: The Texas Progressive Alliance, a confederation of political blogs, bloggers, and online activists from across Texas, today announced its endorsement of Dan Barrett (D-Fort Worth) in the special election runoff in House District 97. "We believe that Dan Barrett will make an excellent addition to the growing numbers of Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives," said Vince Leibowitz, Chair of the Texas Progressive Alliance. "We are pleased to offer him our support," he continued. In early November, Barrett led a field of seven candidates vying for the seat vacated by retiring State Rep. Anna Mowery, a longtime ally of Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick.

"I believe the voters in House District 97 are ready for a change and will realize that Dan Barrett will be no rubber-stamp for Tom Craddick's regime and policies," said Charles Kuffner of Houston, the vice chair of the Alliance. This is the second year for the Alliance, which is made up of more than 50 bloggers representing more than 30 of the state's most widely read progressive political blogs, to endorse candidates through its TexRoots program. The TexRoots program helps bring blog readers and online activists to specific candidates and races where their funds can make an immediate difference. The Alliance endorsed three candidates for its TexRoots 2006 rollout during the mid-term elections including State Rep. Juan Garcia (D-Corpus Christi).

Prot for President

Or is it Keyser Sose'?

















Or perhaps you would prefer Gomer Pyle?











It seems obvious that Kevin Spacey is a raging socialist just to be seen talking with Hugo Chavez, so if it comes down to him or Huckabee, I'm voting red (and that ain't Republican). Chuck Norris can kiss my ass.