Chris Bell and the blogosphere

The Houston part of the galaxy, at least. Since I have struggled with online accessibility and work-related projects since yesterday, I'm too far behind to do much more than point you to Kuffner, Muse, and Stace.

Prog Tex live-blogged it, and in attendance also were Lyn, Matt H., Rob, and Lara Cottingham from the campaign along with Sally and Karen from Nick Lampson's campaign.

Some snips -- not directly quoted but as close as I could -- follow. (If there are errors in the transcription, in either numbers or the interpretation, they are mine.) Regarding Kinky and Gra- err, Carole:

"Kinky's negatives by all measures are extraordinarily high; on the order of 70% or so. Somebody is going to break out of that second-place pack (in the polling) and it's either going to be me or her."

Fundraising "has gotten a lot easier" lately. About $1.2 million will be reported in the quarter just ended, and about $2 million overall.

On immigration: "Why do their issues have to be our issues? (Talking about) building a wall is simply absurd."

How do we address/counter the undercurrent of defeatism among Democrats, liberals and other of our would-be support group? "Win. Winning salves many wounds. A 'Democrats-can't-win' attitude is simply the latest negative reaction for us to overcome. I have overcome the fundraising concerns, I am overcoming the no-name-recognition issue, and I will overcome this."

Bell is confident, assured, has a great sense of humor, is traveling extensively throughout the state and working hard without appearing to be frantic or even tired. He really seems to have the blog-relations thing down pat, also.

Update (7/11): Eye on Williamson County fleshes out the points on immigration, name-recognition, and "Kinky-gets-votes-from -Republicans".

"Kinky", but not "Grandma"

Hotline has it:

Kinky Friedman gets to keep the raunchy nickname of his on the Texas gubernatorial ballot.

A judge ruled that his name will appear as: Richard "Kinky" Friedman.

The other independent, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, will appear as "Carole Keeton Strayhorn." She had wanted "Grandma."

Per Harvey Kronberg: "Secretary of State Roger Williams today notified independent candidates, Richard "Kinky" Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn, on his final determination of how their names will appear on the November ballot. Secretary Williams ruled that both candidates' names will appear in accordance with the election code as it pertains to the form of name on the ballot".

"Your letter does not articulate any facts that would counter my interpretation that the use of 'Grandma,' in the context of Carole Keeton Strayhorn's name appearing on the ballot, is a slogan and as such is prohibited by the Texas Election Code," Williams stated in a letter to Ms. Strayhorn's attorney Roy Minton. "In compliance with Section 52.031 of the Texas Election Code, Carole Keeton Strayhorn's name will be certified for the November 2006 General Election Ballot as Carole Keeton Strayhorn."

Alas, "slogans" mean slogans, Grandmaw.

"PDiddie and the Rev"

From the Year of the Yellow Dog last night:



(Tip o' the cap to Sandra Puente for the sitcom suggestion/ headline.)

Rev. Jackson is in town to call attention to the obnoxious behavior of a certain BP refinery in Texas City, which blows up frequently and poisons the adjoining neighborhoods and produces a significant quantity of the nation's $3.00 a gallon gasoline that working people can barely afford to buy in order to go to work.

My man David, whose billboards warning Big Oil start going up this week, has also addressed the subjects of gasoline prices and refinery pollution in Texas cities. Quite a bit of common ground exists between these two men's concerns, which the next Attorney General of Texas is uniquely qualified to address.

Fort Bend County is no longer the beast's belly

Not when several dozen show up to socialize and counter-protest the "Tribute to Tom DeLay" across town ('town' in this case being the glorious incorporated suburban mecca of Sugar Land).



The next Congressman from CD-22. I understand he may have an opponent.



Mrs. Diddie and DVO. Her shirt reads: "Democrats are sexy. Whoever heard of a great piece of elephant?"



Besides visiting with some of my more esteemed blog brethren and sisteren (Kuff and progeny, Juanita, Lyn, the Muse, and even EOWC) several local candidates came out also: Sherrie Matula, whom I just wrote about yesterday, my man David of course, FB judicial stalwart Albert Hollan, FB treasurer Neeta Sane, district clerk Veronica Torres, and JP Farhan Shamsi.

That was last night; we get to do this again tonight in Houston with about 400 activists and maybe a hundred Democratic candidates from around the city, county, and state at The Year of the Yellow Dog celebration.

Don't tell the red asses, and by all means do not alert the corporate media, but we're on a roll.

Child prostitution

When her father the Giant Cockroach was forced back into the race for the 22nd Congressional District seat this week, Tom DeLay's daughter rapidly spun around in circles and then vomited:

"Tom DeLay looks forward to the correct decision being rendered by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. As a resident of Virginia, he cannot lawfully be on the ballot in November. It is unfortunate that the voters of the 22nd District of Texas are the ones who bear the brunt of Judge Sparks' ill-advised decision, but it is highly likely that it will be overturned and the voters will have a Texas 22 Republican on the ballot who will defeat Nick Lampson."

It might be enlightening now to remind ourselves of little Mrs. Ferro's recent history. She's not just a daughter bravely defending the honor *lmao* of her father.

Dani DeLay Ferro had lobbyists pour champagne on her while in the hot tub in Las Vegas in 2000. (Admittedly, they had a lot to celebrate.)

Dani DeLay Ferro has had her little snout buried in the TRMPAC trough right alongside Mommy and Daddy, right from the jump.

Dani DeLay Ferro recently had to explain away her dad's shaved beaver jokes.

It's probably past time she lost the last shreds of her tattered credibility.

And I think an entirely appropriate question to be asked of Tom DeLay, especially given his forced re-entry into a Congressional race he has withdrawn from (and will continue to litigate to do so), goes something like this:

"Is prostituting his own daughter something Jesus would have done?"

Matula, Trautman, Khan, and Cohen

Tonight's blog-call featured four of the rising Democratic stars running for the Texas Legislature in the Houston/Harris County area:

• Sherrie Matula, a retired teacher, SH-129 - .pdf link (incumbent R Davis)
• Diane Trautman, also a former educator, SH-127, (incumbent R Crabb)
• Chad Khan, a small businessman, SH-126, (incumbent R Hamric)
• Ellen Cohen, CEO of Houston Area Women's Center, SH-134, (incumbent R Wong)

Much of this call focused on public education and specifically CSHB 1, the abominable tax cut/tax increase bill passed in the last special session.

I visited with Matula over breakfast at the TDP convention last month. She has an extraordinary grasp of the issues, in particular of course the vital need for a a thriving public school system in the state. Trautman is also experienced and knowledgeable, having previously been a principal of Tomball JHS and an assistant professor at Stephen F. Austin University.

An excerpt, courtesy of Muse via email:

What is the effect of the special session on local control by both superintendents and school boards? Both in the area of taxes/budget and in the area of policy, this HB stripped more powers away from local school boards than any piece of legislation in memory. Page after page of HB 1 says “the commissioner may adopt rules to implement this section”. Added note: 99% of all school districts have standard policy written by TASB. So….what do local school boards control? Almost nothing.

More there.

Matula and Trautman's expertise as educators, and Kahn and Cohen's business acumen serves as testament to their future success as state representatives. All four would be outstanding legislators, even if they weren't compared to the clowns sitting in office at the moment. What's more, they are indicative of the kind of Texas Democrat nominated for election up and down the ballot and across the state -- people driven to offer themselves for public service because of the distress they have felt at the current climate in the state Capitol. People who come from all walks of life -- immigrant, teacher, non-profit executive -- people who aren't lawyers, weren't selected by the party machine, who aren't indebted to lobbyists or corporate PACS for their existence.

All Texans, and especially those living in these districts simply deserve people of great distinction like these four representing them in Austin.

So we WILL have Tom DeLay to kick around some more.

Judge Sparks says so.

I commented elsewhere earlier today that having a bruised and flat-broke Cockroach on the ballot after all is a best-case scenario for Nick Lampson.

Appeals and certainly a potential reversal of fortune could still occur -- and my favored outcome remains Bible Bob displacing Hot Tub Tom on the November ballot -- but today's end result is a GOP in CD-22 in chaos.

How unfortunate. *roflmao*

Making a killing

In weird news:

Mario Williams, the Houston Texans' much-debated No. 1 draft pick, has purchased a home with its own share of controversy.

The newly rich National Football League rookie bought the spacious, Mediterranean-style house from ousted Texas Southern University President Priscilla Slade for about $1.5 million, according to records filed last week.

Clcik on the names above for some backstory if you haven't been following either person's latest travails.

I once knew a couple when we lived in Midland during the Eighties who had bought a very nice home from someone who had recently been prosecuted as the neighborhood child molester. His name -- by the children whom he had invited to swim in his backyard pool -- was "Tickle Man".

Now it appears as if Williams got a $300,000 discount on his new home, and though I never got them to talk much about it, I'm sure my west Texas friends got an even better deal on theirs (not quite as expensive an abode, but the discount in terms of percentages was huuuuuge).

There's a point here...

At what point does this sort of thing traverse the boundary from predatory purchasing to just plain old creepiness? Does the line get crossed with the two situations I related? Certainly I understand that a significant enough price reduction can overcome nearly any queasiness, but still ...

If a real estate bargain is your primary --- indeed, your solitary interest, then be advised: there's a nice little high-rise condo going on the market in River Oaks very soon that you might want to look into. A recent assessment put it at $6.5 mil, down from $7.9 in 2002, by all appearances.

Its celebrity markup has recently been mitigated. Somewhat.

God didn't want to wait until Oct. 23

And apparently wasn't going to be happy with Kenny Boy spending the rest of his life behind bars. Though Judge Sim Lake is well-known for conducting the business in his courtroom quickly, nothing beats Divine Retribution.

Perhaps Pat Robertson will inform us in the next few days if God told him that Ken Lay died for his many sins against man. That would be one of the only things I would take His (not Pat's) word for.

Indoctrinating the children

The foul stench of conservative fundamentalism is now going to be force-fed to Texas schoolchildren, thanks to the packing of the state school board by the Talibaptists:

The State Board of Education, an elected body with a history of fierce ideological debates about textbook content, now wants to put its stamp on the curriculum that guides the instruction of 4.4 million Texas schoolchildren.

At its meeting Thursday, the 15-member board is expected to scrap a curriculum revision process dominated by teachers and the Texas Education Agency and discuss a new timetable for revising the English reading and writing standards.

Many on the board want to replace a student-centered curriculum that calls on students to use their own attitudes and ethics to interpret texts with teacher-centered instruction that emphasizes the basics of spelling, grammar and punctuation.

It was a fight social conservatives on the board lost in 1997, when moderates and liberals adopted the curriculum for all subjects. Now, with social conservatives expected to have a majority on the board for the first time after the November elections, the plan to rewrite the English standards is viewed by some as the opening shot in an effort to put a conservative imprint on the state's curriculum.

"This is really going to be the big battle in public education over the next few years — what is it our students are going to learn," said Dan Quinn, a spokesman for the Texas Freedom Network, a group that monitors the state board for influence by the religious right. "We could see a lot of textbooks that are based on personal and political beliefs of a majority of the state board rather than on facts that students need to learn."

And as Stephen Colbert has pointed out, the facts have a well-known liberal bias.

There's a lot more to the article linked above, much of the rest presented as mitigating the dangers of allowing the John Birch Society to write public school curricula, but the truth is this process has been well under way for over a decade.

The Republicans will continue to claim, as they did when they gerrymandered Congressional districts into the shape of fajita strips to ensure a GOP takeover, that this is 'the will of the people' -- or at least of those in Texas who can be bothered to vote.

I think there is a different will of the people, ready and impatiently waiting to be expressed at the polls, that may change their thinking.

Or not...

We know a million bucks ain't enough

How much is? How much money would it take for the current Attorney General of Texas, Greg Abbott, to say: "My moral values preclude me from making a ruling in this case":

One thing you have to like about Texas politicians is their resistance to embarrassment.

Take the case of Attorney General Greg Abbott. Last Dec. 15 he received $100,000 in campaign contributions from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and his wife. The next day, he received a letter from Rep. David Swinford of Dumas, chairman of the House Committee on State Affairs.

Swinford wanted Abbott to issue a formal opinion on whether Grandma, a.k.a. state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, had the authority to conduct a review of the performance of the newly created and controversial Texas Residential Construction Commission.

...

But the notion that the attorney general can take $100,000 from someone with a direct interest in his ruling is outrageous. And it's actually worse. Since 2001, Abbott has received $1.1 million from Mr. and Mrs. Perry.

Memo to Rep. Swinford: Don't bother asking the attorney general for an opinion on that. I phoned and e-mailed his press office Friday to discuss the issue but received no response.

Since the Attorney General and his staff likely started their holiday weekend early last Friday and couldn't get back to Casey with a response, we'll just have to answer for him:

"There IS no limit, according to my well-documented Christian principles. There is NO MAXIMUM amount of money I will accept that would prevent me from passing legal judgment in favor of my largest campaign contributors.

"After all, billion-dollar corporations are people, too."

Update: John Cobarruvias of Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings is personally offended. And muse adds more.

A pause in the political action

... to once more tip the cap to the Astros' one certain Hall-of-Famer, who has the Babe in his rearview mirror after yesterday:

Only big names remain. Craig Biggio passed Babe Ruth for 37th on the all-time hit list Sunday with his 2,874th. Next is Mel Ott, a Hall of Famer, and after that Frankie Frisch, a Hall of Famer, too, and following him a list of luminaries leading up to one of the few numbers in baseball with any gravitas.

Health permitting, Biggio, a spindly kid from Long Island whose uniform has seen more dirt than Pigpen, will reach 3,000 hits early next season. He is, remember, 40 years old, and though he has not taken to pounding prune juice, his days no longer resemble June 29, 1988, the one on which Biggio singled off Orel Hershiser, in the midst of a Cy Young season, for his first big-league hit.

"Now," Biggio said, "you wake up and you go to the bathroom more – and you hurt more when you walk to the bathroom."

Brother Biggio, I can relate to that last part. I hope you keep pounding 'em out all the way to Cooperstown.