"Recount" premiered in Houston this week

We got back into town yesterday in time to attend this but were too pooped to do so:

The Baker Institute for Public Policy is a familiar stop for big names in politics and international relations. ...

But the Rice University think tank moved into People magazine-style celebrity Tuesday when it hosted the premiere of Recount, an HBO movie based on the 2000 presidential election and its ultimate resolution by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Like Band of Brothers and The Sopranos and Entourage and the recent miniseries on the 2nd President of the United States, John Adams, I expect this will be no less excellent television. A teaser, if you don't have HBO (and why don't you, for crissakes):

(A)ctors Kevin Spacey and Laura Dern were there, on a real red carpet, accompanied by writer Danny Strong, director Jay Roach and executive producers Paula Weinstein and Len Amato.

They stepped from black Suburbans onto carpet rented for the occasion, mugging for a small platoon of television cameras. Inside, Spacey and Amato paid homage to former Secretary of State James A. Baker III for hosting the film, especially considering his role in the events upon which it is based.

A discussion on election reform, led by Baker and former President Carter, followed the screening. They worked on the topic when they chaired a bipartisan commission on the topic in 2005.

"I think it's an amazingly positive sign that James Baker is fighting for the reform of laws that ... were in his favor in 2000," said Spacey, who played Baker nemesis Ron Klain. Klain spearheaded the recount effort for Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore, while Baker worked for Republican George W. Bush.

Baker's subsequent work on reform made the Rice campus an obvious place for the screening, Amato said. "What better place to come?"

Well, some of the reactionary 26-percenters who comment at Chron.com would have preferred elsewhere, but like the past seven and one-half years have been for the rest of us, too bad ...

It drew about 250 people, mostly donors to Rice and supporters of Baker's work who offered a few appreciative chuckles at actor Tom Wilkinson's portrayal of — and uncanny resemblance to — Baker as a courtly but tough partisan political operative.

Dern, on the other hand, played Florida's former secretary of state, Katherine Harris, for broad comic relief.

"When someone asks you to play Katherine Harris, you don't say no," Dern said before the screening.

Still, like Spacey, Amato and Strong, she said she also was drawn to the project by the hope that the film will spark public discussion about changing the nation's election laws. That's a topic Baker and Carter have discussed since their 2005 commission recommended dozens of changes, including the use of a national voter photo ID. None have become national law.

In their talk after the movie, the pair said America still faces problems with voter confidence in the way ballots are cast and counted.

"There's still a degree of unfinished business out there when you look at the election system in our country," Baker said.

Carter said the most important change would be requiring the use of a "paper trail" — receipts of a sort, that would help voters verify that their ballots have been cast as they intended on electronic voting machines. Paper trail equipment has been put to use in some states; Texas officials have resisted it.

Baker said the nation most urgently needs unified voter registration lists and the photo ID requirement. Democrats in the Texas Senate shot down a photo ID proposal last year; this year the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the requirement in Indiana.

James Baker, consigliere to the Bush family, still fights for the right no matter how wrong it may be.

Chris Bell for Senate

Run, Chris. Run:

“He would be a formidable candidate in that district because of his length of service in the Houston area,” (state Sen. Kirk) Watson said, referring to Bell’s background as a one-term U.S. House member and before that as a member of the Houston City Council who ran for mayor.

“My guess is he’d start that race with the sort of name ID that an incumbent usually enjoys, maybe even better than an incumbent,” Watson said.

Kuffner had the idea first, and Vince says Scott Hochberg isn't going, so my humble O is that Bell would be a virtual shoe-in in a runoff with the crazy right-wing reactionaries announced or pending...

According to a published report—see the story here—two Republicans are already seeking to fill Janek’s footsteps: Houston lawyer Grant Harpold, a precinct chairman, and Houston money manager Austen Furse.

State Rep. Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land, and Gary Polland, former Harris County Republican Party chair, are two others who reportedly have expressed interest.

Hey, Chris: we need you to do this, dude.

The highlights of our Southwest tour

(Vacation bragpost alert.)

Old Town Albuquerque and Santa Fe's square were as wonderful as always, but the high points this trip included Madrid, on the Turquoise Trail, where Wild Hogs was filmed (you may recall the scene where the rebel shirt-and-tie bikers made their last stand at the Chili Festival). We went to the Old Coal Mine Museum, and inside one of the exhibit "halls" a colony of Mexican freetails had taken up temporary residence in the rafters.

And we took a day trip out to the Acoma reservation and went up to the top of the mesa, where some of the tribe's elders still live, without running water or electricity. It is the oldest continuously occupied city in the United States. Good photos here (several links, including flash panaromas). The Sky City Cultural Center also has more pictures and information. I took the stone steps down (rather than ride the tour bus) and thought about those who had hauled the timbers for the mission up those steep, rocky stairs, from the forest 20 miles away -- careful not to let them touch the ground, lest they be spoiled.

The bed and breakfast where we lodged was two blocks from Old Town, and that was a delightful stroll and dalliance. We had two memorable meals, lunch at La Hacienda (my carnitas asadas -- pork medallions -- were slathered with a deliciously scorching green chile jelly and were simply outstanding. Wife had a chimichanga and two frozen blackberry margaritas that send her to Napland for a couple of hours afterward) and dinner at the St. Clair Bistro, which is connected to the winery. I had the caballero steak salad and thought I was going to get a few pieces of prime rib the size of my thumb for $12. I did get that, as well as five pieces about the size and width of a stick of butter, perfectly grilled medium rare and maybe the best beef I ever put in my mouth. Mrs. Diddie had a Kobe burger that was almost heaven. But it was the wines that catapulted the propaganda over the top: a red Zin and a Meritage by St. Clair were the ones we picked, but the Chardonnay was silky smooth and the others we tasted on our wine flight were just short of stellar.

This was a trip to visit some friends from another online forum where I have been posting for the past ten years, and it was terrific to be able to see some of them again (and some for the first time). A few embedded photos of those fine folk in this thread.

Back to the salt mines, and the political postings forthwith.

Last Sunday's Funnies

(What were you talking about last week, while I was away?)

Our lion

We loved him as a brother, and as a father, and as a son. From his parents, and from his older brothers and sisters -- Joe and Kathleen and Jack -- he received an inspiration which he passed on to all of us. He gave us strength in time of trouble, wisdom in time of uncertainty, and sharing in time of happiness. He will always be by our side.

Love is not an easy feeling to put into words. Nor is loyalty, or trust, or joy. But he was all of these. He loved life completely and he lived it intensely.

A few years back, Robert Kennedy wrote some words about his own father which expresses the way we in his family felt about him. He said of what his father meant to him, and I quote: "What it really all adds up to is love -- not love as it is described with such facility in popular magazines, but the kind of love that is affection and respect, order and encouragement, and support. Our awareness of this was an incalculable source of strength, and because real love is something unselfish and involves sacrifice and giving, we could not help but profit from it." And he continued, "Beneath it all, he has tried to engender a social conscience. There were wrongs which needed attention. There were people who were poor and needed help. And we have a responsibility to them and to this country. Through no virtues and accomplishments of our own, we have been fortunate enough to be born in the United States under the most comfortable conditions. We, therefore, have a responsibility to others who are less well off."

-- Sen. Edward Kennedy, eulogizing his brother in 1968

The Weekly Wrangle

(OK, so I didn't log in for six days. It was glorious, I tell you.)

Check out the best from the blogs of the Texas Progressive Alliance from last week, brought to you this week by refinish69 at Doing My Part For The Left.

WhosPlayin took a look at the Daisetta sinkhole and wonders what part the saltwater disposal well on the site exceeding its licensed capacity might have played.

Boadicea of Texas Kaos has a clue for hapless Congresscritter John Culberson, who had his ass handed to him on the floor of the House this week: Memo to Cubby-Read the Bill BEFORE You Speak.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme joins the chorus criticizing the border patrol's plan to use hurricane evacuation as a means to find undocumented residents.

Refinish69 has a little talk with progressives over at Doing My Part For The Left about how tomorrow never comes.

Not all of the countywide offices up for election in Harris County this year are high profile, but some of them should be more prominent on the public's radar. Off the Kuff takes a look at one such office with his early overview of the County Attorney race.

In response to the Mainstream Media's declaration (or whitewash) that the March 29 county and senate district caucuses were perfect, Vince at Capitol Annex says otherwise in the first of several pieces that looks at individual challenges to the conventions.

$422 Million. That is what most oil companies settle out of court for with Dallas super law firm Baron & Budd this past week. But the Texas Cloverleaf asks why is Exxon the lone holdout to want to go to trial in an election year?

Harry Balczak over at McBlogger takes look at a new website that's really nailed Chris Matthews and Tim 'Gotcha' Russert.

North Texas Liberal's Texas Toad explores the GOP's tarnished brand.[Also, please note that NTL has a new home: northtexasliberal.org.]

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on Speaker Tom Craddick giving up his number one job, protecting members of the Texas House in Lots Of Smoke, Little Fire, But Lots Of Ire.