Begun, the filibuster wars have

There's a lot of Star Wars jabbering out there so I'd better throw in my dos centavos before the buzzmoment fades.

I put one of my favorite quotes up there in the header. I also like "Only a Sith Lord deals in absolutes," which is OBK's retort to Anakin/Vader, who gets the Bushesque "If you're not with me, you're my enemy." Of course it might be more appropriate to say "Only the Sith (plural is vital) impose false balance on absolutes". Fair and balanced, someone said.

But the only Darth Vader-IS-The-New-World-Order analogy I'm really comfortable with is that Emperor Palpatine is supposed to be Dick Cheney. On second thought, maybe he's Karl Rove. I have trouble telling those method actors apart sometimes.

One thing's for sure: by this time next week, George Lucas will have deposed Michael Moore as the conservatives' pop culture whipping boy. The Voice of the Left (to be despised).

Which begs the question; whatever happened to Ward Churchill?

This is what I get for paying attention to what's going on with our democracy, I suppose

The Houston Independent Media Center liveblogged multiple arrests and police violence at the Halliburton shareholders' meeting in downtown Houston this morning.

Here are photos.

Here's video (RealPlayer).

I couldn't stand listening to the GOP Senators guillotine the filibuster any longer, so I switched over to the local newscast (ABC-13 "Eyewitless News") to see what they might report.

Their last three stories were -- no kidding -- hurricane season preparation, the new "Star Wars" movie opening, and a family of ducklings washed down a storm drain.

I can't get back to work fast enough.

Going nuclear

I am spending too much time away from work today to do my part to save our democracy.

While on the conference call with Harry Reid just now, I had C-Span on mute as John Cornyn spoke. I managed to catch the last of his comments as we completed. Now KBH is speaking about Saint Priscilla. I think she's about to cry.

I've been appalled at the hubris, the arrogance, the unmitigated gall of this administration so many times I'm sick of acknowledging it to myself. It makes me physically ill.

And at this moment I'm disgusted at what an embarrassment -- an abomination -- my two Senators are.

It is revolting that these two people dare to represent all Texans in this debate.

I'll go ahead and give MP George Galloway

this week's Moneyshot Quote:

“I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims, did not have weapons of mass destruction. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al-Qaeda. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11 2001. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.

"Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong and 100,000 people paid with their lives; 1600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies."

Nuclear option showdown is today

Call Hutchison:

202-224-5922

or one of the District Offices closest to you:

Abilene: 325-676-2839
Austin: 512-916-5834
Dallas: 214-361-3500
Harlingen: 956-425-2253
Houston: 713-653-3456
San Antonio: 210-340-2885

Call Cornyn:

202-224-2934

District Offices
Austin: 512-469-6034
Dallas: 972-239-1310
Harlingen: 956-423-0162
Houston: 713-572-3337
Lubbock: 806-472-7533
San Antonio: 210-224-7485
Tyler: 903-593-0902

Is this the end for Baggy?

Hopefully not.

Tom over at Houston's Clear Thinkers has the definitive take on Bagwell's HOF chances (this is your 'inside baseball' data warning):

In short, Bags should be elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, and it is not even a close call. For his career, Bagwell has an incredible 680 RCAA in 2,135 games (meaning that he has created 680 more runs than an average National League hitter would have created in those games), a .297 batting average, a gaudy .408 on-base percentage (to put that in perspective, an average National League hitter had about a .340 OBP last season), a slugging percentage of .541, and a monstrous .949 career OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) compared to the league average OPS during Bagwell's career of .763 ...

... Just to underscore the foregoing, Mr. (Bill) James -- who knows more about baseball in his pinky than most of us can comprehend -- rates Bags as the fourth best first baseman of all-time in his New Bill James Historical Abstract, behind only Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, and Mark McGwire.

Get well and get back next year, Baggy.

I have a whole bunch to blog about

and a short time to do it. (Hey, just look at the time stamp...)

There were thousands of people at the Art Car Parade and Festival on Saturday. And while the autos were fun, it's always the sideline observation I enjoy best. Some of my fellow parade-watchers didn't look as if they venture outside often during daylight hours, and then mostly just to add another tattoo or watch the band rehearse. Oh yeah, Kinky Freidman's car broke down halfway through, and before he was rescued from walking by a golf cart he blamed the malfunction on a Republican conspiracy.

There were hundreds of people at the "Save America Without DeLay" Family Fun Festival, and while Barbara Radnofsky and Chris Bell and Richard Morrison all had something to say, the most interesting thing was Gordon Quan busting a Tom DeLay pinata (figuratively speaking only; the kids hogged all the real ones). My good friend Lyn specifically asked him to run in the 7th, and he demurred. This leads me to speculate that what Quan really wants is to take on La Cucaracha Grande -- which by extension means Nick Lampson in the Democratic primary. (Aside to Mr. Lampson: why weren't you present at this event?)

And now for something completely different ...

D Magazine asks: who is Joseph T. Farkasdi?

Who is this man? Is he your local Toyota car salesman who wonders, "What do I have to do to earn your business today"? Or is he a conservative blogger, offering "real deep social responsive thought on the most divisive issues of today"? Or is he your ticket to financial freedom, helping you "eliminate all your debts and create new forms of income in less time than you might imagine"? Or is he Joseph with the Sensual Touch, a model, escort, masseur, nude, or semi-nude who offers "special rates for couples, seniors, and groups"?

The answer? He's all those things and more, including motivational speaker and adult filmmaker. Joseph is a real renaissance man. WARNING: search around his sites at your own peril, Joseph likes to be naked--and his enjoyment is a bit too obvious, if you know what I mean.

My observations:

-- anyone with the word "Fark" in their name simply begs ridicule right from the jump; and ...

-- from his candid glamour shots, it appears that Joseph (like his idol Jeff Gannon) is eager to supply his oh, maybe seven column inches -- edited -- of 'top' reporting to anyone who'll take him up on it.

My questions:

-- what Metroplex megachurch does he attend? I'll have a few followups to this question, probably ...

-- how much has he donated to GOP candidates? Yes, yes; data readily available online but I don't have time to look it up, would you mind?

I also saw "The End of Suburbia" over the weekend. 'Troubling' is the best I can do for now. It's a slant on the Peak Oil discussion and how it's affecting us already (with Middle Eastern wars being a byproduct and not the focus). This Houstonian, a member of Cheney's energy task force (you know, the one which we'll never learn what was discussed) was quoted prominently in the documentary. As well as author James Kunstler, who turned up on Salon on Saturday, so that's your primer.

Last night I got in a couple of hours of precinct captain training and then went to the movies again. Again, very upsetting. I'll try to have something serious and coherent to say about them later, but I'm not promising anything.

And just so I don't have to finish this post depressed, here's a letter that Jesus' General wrote to Tom DeLay suggesting a bake sale as fundraiser. Don't forget to click on the 'reports' at the end.

Update: One of our town's conservative bloggers got a little snarky when he couldn't find any posts about the "Without DeLay" Festival, and when I pointed mine out to him, he got even more tetchy. Pretty funny.

Here's another post, Chris. It's got pretty pictures ...

And here's some more photos, and here's some of Kym's pics from the Art Car Parade.

I love a parade!

Today I'm going downtown for the Art Car Parade (here's a pic of a car I like) and I have not one but TWO invitations to march (walk, actually; it's been decades since I marched) -- one is with the Global Awareness puppetistas, who are in town for the Halliburton shareholders protest next week, and also with the local chapter of DFA and "Spanky". Following that we will proceed to the "Save America Without DeLay Family Fun Festival", sponsored by the afore-mentioned Democracy for Houston and featuring not only fun, food, games, and carnival rides but some workshops and speeches by Richard Morrison, Chris Bell, Lou Dubose and others.

But I didn't want to let the weekend pass without commenting on last Thursday's Tom DeLay Benefit Gala/Salute to Imperialism held in Washington. Then I found that northstar had already said it all:

There is a lesson to be learned in the Tom DeLay saga. It’s probably not a lesson that you’re going to want to pass along to your children, but it’s one that the Medicis, were they to be alive today, would be proud of.

What’s the lesson? Clearly, when it comes to crime and ethical lapses, bigger is better. If you’re caught robbing the corner gas station, you’re going to do some hard time. If you’re caught taking bribes, breaking campaign financing laws, and/or shredding the House of Representatives ethics rules, (they) call you “The Hammer” and throw $250-per-plate dinners in your honor. Get caught with your hand in the till, and you’re going to get fired. Buy the loyalty of virtually every Republican member of Congress, and you could get away with buggering Bill Frist’s pet goat.

Yes, Conservatives LOVE Tom DeLay, which, I suppose, only goes to show how craven, self-absorbed, and thoroughly ethically-challenged these folks truly are. If you a Conservative True Believer, the only thing that really matters is the collection and maintenance of political power, because without political power you’re just another cranky dissident whining about how the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

Thursday night’s DeLay tribute dinner may have brought a smile to DeLay’s face and an extra bounce to his step, but those of us who didn’t spend $250 to eat filet mignon and salmon should take heed. These folks care nothing about this country and the greater good. What they care about is staying on top of the political heap and forcing their narrow, fear-based agenda on the rest of us. The rest are mere details.

And DeLay has the cojones and the chutzpah to accuse Democrats of having no class? Good God, man…when’s the last time this demagogue took a good look in the mirror??

*applause*

He did forget to mention the tiny candy hammers served as dessert, though...

Texas political bloggers and Chris Bell

were all on the same phone line tonight.

I've blogged previously here (and linked to this) about Bell and the governor's race, and tonight's call disclosed no blockbusters. Here are the highlights:

-- July is the deadline for his decision to formally enter the gubernatorial tilt; among a few other reasons, that's when his wife Alison will complete her chemotherapy.

-- Bell thinks it will take anywhere from $10 to $20 million to wage the contest.

-- he hears the same names as the rest of us do bandied about as possible competitors in the Democratic primary (Tony Sanchez, John Sharp). Whether they enter the race or not figures to break along the lines of Kay Bailey Hutchison's decision to run against Rick Perry on the GOP side. (Both of those men probably have no appetite for a potential general campaign against her given their track records in elections past, so if she makes up her mind to go, you could expect them not to. That's my opinion, not Chris Bell's.)

-- Bell "will take seriously" a Kinky Friedman candidacy and believes that overall it would be a good thing. The Kinkster "if nothing else will get people laughing at Rick Perry; but it's that sad laughter; the kind you laugh when you know something's broken".

-- the hiring of Joe Trippi (and EchoDitto) reflects Bell's interest in cultivating the netroots, and that includes reaching younger Texans. That's reflected in his website, the podcasts, and tonight's conference call with the Lone Star blogosphere. Continuing in a familiar Trippi trend, Bell has scheduled House Parties for Sunday, June 12 -- the date celebrating the one-year anniversary of Bell's ethics complaint filed against Tom DeLay.

Expect more blogging on future conference calls with Bell and other Democratic candidates.

Update: Sean at The Agonist and Nate at Common Sense have their live postings up.

Pastor Rick Scarborough of Pearland, TX

(Haven't we read about other prominent members of this southern suburb of Houston before?)

A post I made at HoustonDemocrats.com and cross-posted at Come and Take It! has all the details about this "Patriot Pastor" leading the Christian Soldiers Onward (marching as to war) against the godless, evil filibuster.

Go read it, and then gird your loins for battle.