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