The Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart

If you can't be downtown at noon today but you're able to tune in KTRK, they will be pre-empting the soaps and televising the dedication of Houston's new temple:

Roman Catholic leaders from across the country and the Vatican, including six cardinals, will gather today for a pageant of color, music and ritual to dedicate the new Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in downtown Houston.

The ceremony will begin with a 30-minute procession of more than 200 deacons and 300 priests and bishops.

It's precisely the kind of event the $49 million co-cathedral was constructed to accommodate.

"In sign and symbol, the whole church is here," said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. "We can boast in Houston ... people of every nation here. I think we will see a multiplicity of ethnic groups and nations in the people who come."

Though the official opening is today, the pews of the co-cathedral were nearly filled Tuesday for an evening prayer service led by retired Auxiliary Bishop Vincent M. Rizzotto.

For some in the crowd, the vespers service was a first look at the inside of the co-cathedral after more than a decade of planning, fundraising, designing and building.

"There really are no words to describe it," said Elizabeth Gonzalez of Houston, who came with her husband, René. "It is peaceful. It is just beautiful. The pictures online don't do it justice."

That's saying a lot, because the pictures online (scroll down, on the left) nearly popped my eyeballs out of my skull. Make sure you go all the way to the end for the history of the Catholic church in Houston dating back to 1876.

Update (4/3): Here's the schedule for services and tours.

The final season for Yankee Stadium

Tradition is in transition, and maybe it’s maudlin to suggest tears. From Babe Ruth, thick and salty. From Joe DiMaggio, discreet and pure. From Mickey Mantle, carrying the heady stench of the night before.

Rain splattered onto Yankee Stadium for a second day, and again the 39th and last season opener here since 1923 was in jeopardy. OK, it’s sappy to suggest the guys in pinstriped paradise might have been responsible.

Yet even as the sellout crowd of 55,112 cheered the clouds away and the Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 Tuesday night, memories were inescapable. Even as construction crews finished up a day’s work next door on the nearly completed $1.3 billion new Yankee Stadium, melancholy was the pervasive theme.

“It’s what, 100 yards away? It’s not too far for the ghosts to go,” shortstop Derek Jeter said. “It will be up to us as players to start a new tradition at the next place.”

My wife wants to get me up there for a game this season for my 5oth birthday, but I made sure to emphasize that I would be fine just taking a tour of the old ballpark. I'm not as big a fan of the Bombers as Kuffner, but I've been to their spring training home in Tampa, which is a carbon copy of Yankee Stadium field-wise (right down to the sprinkler heads in the outfield). Billy Crystal's "61*" gave me a real sense of that '60's-era team, and when the comedian got an at-bat this spring I'm sure it completed the circle for him.

The Mets are getting a new playpen next season also, leaving Shea behind. Haven't heard if my fried Lyn, a fanatic of the Metropolitans, is going to go once more or not.

The "quandary" of Hillary's supporters voting for Obama

Unlike Merle in the toon above, there sadly remain far too many Reagan Democrats who haven't learned after 8 years of Bush that dancing with the GOP is hazardous to their economic and physical health. The problem is that the world can't wait any longer for them to figure it out.

It took a Depression to wise up their ancestors; maybe that's what it will take to do so again. In 2008 the presidential election quite obviously has more of a racial component than ever before, but that still isn't quite at the heart of the matter.

Here it is: Suburban and rural white people (and Latinos, especially in Texas and the Southwest) had better bury whatever resentment they may harbor about a young black man running for President long enough to vote Democratic in November, or we will all continue to suffer at the hand of the Republicans.

And that's because conservatives -- neo- and paleo- and all epochs in-between -- despise poor and middle-class people equally, irrespective of skin color.

Post-County Conventions Wrangle

(The weekly Texas Progressive Alliance Blog Round-Up is compiled from submissions by member blogs.)

This past Saturday TXsharon of Bluedaze attended the Barnett Shale Expo and heard the lies told by John Tinterra of the Texas Railroad Commission in front of citizens who pay his salary and in front of his boss, Victor Carrillo. That reminded TXs of a quote from Cold Mountain: "That man is so full of manure we could plant him and grow another one!"

McBlogger's never been a big fan of tax abatements to lure new companies to Austin. He's even less thrilled with them when they are being used to entice developers, especially developers who can't seem to make their finances work without the abatements.

Off the Kuff takes one last look at primary voting in Harris County, this time examining Democratic turnout by state rep district.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson previews the GOP runoff in HD-52 in The Same Only Different.

Over a thousand Harris County voters took "vote twice" too seriously, writes PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

Hal at Half Empty will vote in the Democratic primary runoff, to be sure, despite the fact that only one race will appear on his ballot. The tables are turned and the Republicans in CD 22 have a much more juicy decision to make. Oh, to be a Republican.

Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News turned it over to his brother Jim for a few odd links as he was getting ready to be tired out at the third step of the Texas Two-Step. Earlier in the week, Gary got his dander riled at racist media conservatives.

nytexan at BlueBloggin tells us that keeping 378 delegates and 275 alternates under control is like herding cats in It’s Great To Be A Democrat In Texas at the Senatorial District 18 Bastrop County Convention.

Sunday Evening Funnies

Taking the high road

"My attitude is that Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants," Obama told reporters in Johnstown, Pa. "Her name's on the ballot, and she is a fierce and formidable competitor, and she obviously believes that she would make the best nominee and the best president."

So who am I to argue against that?*

He added, "I think that, you know, she should be able to compete and her supporters should be able to support her, for as long as they are willing or able." And that could be into early June, through all 10 remaining primaries, Obama said. "We will have had contests in all 50 states plus several territories. We will have tallied up the pledged delegate vote, we will have tallied up the popular vote, we will have tallied up how many states were won by who, and then at that point I think people should have more than enough information to make a decision. "

Yes, they will. Now the pivot:

He downplayed the notion that an extended contest could bruise the eventual winner, to Republican Sen. John McCain's advantage. "I think that the notion that the party's been divided by this contest is somewhat overstated," Obama said. "There's no doubt that, among some of my supporters or some of her supporters, there's probably been some irritation created. But I also think, every contest you've seen, in every state -- huge jumps in Democratic registration, including independents and Republicans who are changing registration to vote in the Democratic primaries. You know, those are people who are now invested in what happens. And I think that bodes very well for us in November."

Pretty smart thing for Obama to do. Dismiss his competitor as quixotic while at the same time turning his attention to John McSame.

If he spends more time disregarding the politics of personal destruction Mrs. Clinton and her surrogates continue to practice while sharpening his attacks against his eventual fall opponent, he automatically rises in stature.

* I probably still will, just for the record.