More rumor-endo

Since this blog so rarely traffics in rumor and innuendo, it's time for me to catch up with some of the latest scuttlebutt associated with our National League affiliate.

ESPN's Steve Phillips said tonight that the Rangers have offered Hank Blalock to the Astros for Brad Lidge.

They ought to take that deal. But the two teams might be discussing various trades; Baseball Prospectus' Will Carroll says the Rangers have offered Brad Wilkerson and Rod Barajas for Lidge, Morgan Ensberg and Fernando Nieve, something that seems too lopsided for Texas. If the Astros took Blalock for Lidge, they could then send Ensberg to San Diego for Scott Linebrink, with either Linebrink or Chad Qualls or Dan Wheeler closing.

The Orioles and Astros have also discussed a Miguel Tejada deal that includes Roy Oswalt, according to both BP and the Baltimore Sun. Morgan Ensberg and Adam Everett would complete the package and go to Baltimore.

I don't see how this makes the Astros better. Tejada is a huge offensive upgrade, but that doesn't make up for the loss of Roy O and the defensive downgrade. The Orioles may not be especially interested anyway, since they'd likely only have Oswalt through 2007. And Oswalt appears to have been taken off the table for now.

Next year the 'Stros gain many millions of dollars in the expiring contracts of Jeff Bagwell, Roger Clemens, and Andy Pettitte, money which they could use in pursuing free agents for 2007. I'd rather see them reload for next season rather than try to punch through something costly in order to try to capitalize on Clemens' final season (and possibly Pettitte's as well). That urgency alone suggests Tim Purpura may do something rash.

I hope he doesn't, but we'll know for sure by tomorrow's trading deadline.

The train don't come by here no more

That is, if the Republicans, led by Rick Perry, get their way. From the Houston Chronicle:

The venerable Texas State Railroad may run from here to Palestine, but it's about to get sidetracked in Austin.

The 110-year-old railroad is the most endangered of the 114 properties in the state parks system, which is going on the offensive for increased funding after more than a decade of tight budgets that have led to decaying facilities and reduced services. ...

"Best I can determine, we're either going to become a static display, or (local railroad boosters are) going to find a private operator," said Robert Crossman, the railroad's superintendent. "Nobody has come back to me and said, 'If funding greatly improves, y'all are going to continue to operate.' "Ellen Buchanan, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department regional director, said she's been told her agency will not keep operating the trains even if funding increases in the next legislative session. Crossman is hopeful money can be found to keep it rolling a bit beyond the planned Dec. 31 closure, but he isn't optimistic.

Most of the parks in Texas are in shambles:

More than half the state's parks, historical sites and other preserves have considered or enacted service limitations because of money problems. They include the slowed reconstruction of Sea Rim State Park after Hurricane Rita, and the Sunday-Tuesday closure of the Varner-Hogg State Historic Site in Brazoria County.

Penny-pinching for more than a decade also has affected quality, said Walt Dabney, the state's parks director.

"We're absolutely in the ditch," Dabney said.

Dabney fondly recalls working at the Inks Lake State Park near Burnet as an intern in the late 1960s. And then there's the recent memory of a visit to the rest rooms he once cleaned.

"They are absolutely amazing. Just worn out," Dabney said. "You can see the building is literally collapsing in on itself."

From the Tyler Morning Telegraph:

(Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris) Bell said that the railroad is just one of the state parks suffering to the brink of closure. Texas ranks 49th in state park funding, and per capita, Texans spend $1.20 on state parks annually, compared to the national average of $7.50.

Money problems have been mounting at state parks for years, forcing Texas Parks and Wildlife to cut park hours and staff and limit maintenance.

Bell said that the Battleship Texas is held together with "tape and Silly Putty," and that the elevator at the San Jacinto Monument no longer goes all the way to the top.

"Seriously, sometimes the punch line writes itself," he said.

More at the links.

Somervell County Salon has more of the Democratic candidates' whistlestop in Palestine yesterday, including photos, and will have video of the speakers posted later now; click here.

If you want to save our state parks, then you have no business voting for any Republican.

Rick Perry's A.S.S.

Of course, some of his biggest supporters are huge asses, but this news isn't about them:

A bunch of Texans upset with the governor's support for a new business tax acted on their frustration by giving him campaign checks for 2 cents earlier this summer. Some sent in checks for 3 or 5 cents and a few mailed 1-cent checks.

The Perry campaign coded them as "ASS 06."

Political campaigns routinely code contribution checks to keep track of which event or mailing inspired them. Because the unsolicited protest checks were not tied to any specific event, "they were coded as 'A Small Supporter,' " Perry campaign spokesman Robert Black said Friday.

"In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best choice for an abbreviation," Black said.

Has any governor ever been deserving of greater ridicule than this one?

I say we kick Governor Good-MoFo'n-Hair out on his A.S.S in November. You conservatives have two other former Republicans on the ballot to vote for, so get to work and git 'er done, please.

Over 1500 Texans at a TTC meeting

... in Temple this week, and a grand total of eleven of those present were brave enough to raise their hands in favor of Rick Perry's massive toll road. Yet there are those on the right of Blogistan who don't yet know where they stand on the issue.

Displays of political tone-deafness such as this please me greatly.

Somervell County Salon has links to the video of some of the speakers, including Mary Beth Harrell, who is challenging "Exxon John" Carter in CD-31. Carter not long ago visited Iraq and posed for a photo shaking hands with Harrell's son, a soldier there, without knowing who it was. Carter was also in the news more recently, you may recall, for his opposition to extending the Voting Rights Act because, and I quote the Congressman directly here ...

“I don’t think we have racial bias in Texas any more.”

These are what wedge issues for Democrats look like (but don't tell the Republicans).

My ActBlue page is live, and some linkapalooza

Bad and statewide, to paraphrase a little ol' band from Texas. Kindly give a few clicks, and a few bucks to those with whom you agree are worthy.

On a related fundraising note, my man David is trying to raise $30,000 in thirty days, with an August 15 deadline. That's about how much he raised in the entire last reporting period. No Texas Democrat has been a greater inspiration to others. Please show him a little love.

There will be a debate among the candidates for Texas Governor on Thursday October 5, televised live and all over Deep-In-The-Hearta, in Spanish and English. (Take that, you anti-immigrant assbites.) Incumbent Mofo hasn't committed to attending yet. Yes, I'm sure he'd rather be clipping his toenails or even sharing something plastic with Geoffrey Connor, but he won't dare not show up.

Finally, Judge Susan Criss posted at Grits for Breakfast -- ahead of the Yates verdict -- about the failure of of our state to adequately fund programs that might prevent a similar tragedy:

What frightens me the most is knowing how many other severely mentally ill persons there are in Texas who are not getting treatment. The Texas legislature has consistently cut funding to MHMR resulting in eliminating treatment options for thousands of mentally ill Texans. There are countless other tragedies of the magnitude of this case that could be prevented but will not be.

That's what I think of every time I make the mistake of clicking on this shit. This guy's just about to lose his last marble. One more week of run-of-the-mill frustrations, a few slightly larger upsets, maybe a cat dying or something, and he's going to start shooting people.

Get some real professional help, pal.

The two new Democratic primaries are great news for one 2008 candidate

Actually Nevada is a caucus like Iowa and South Carolina is a primary, as is New Hampshire, but it's still excellent news for John Edwards:

They've got to be celebrating over at Edwards' HQ, because this map is designed to give him a huge boost.

Caucuses, unlike primaries, really are exercises in organization. Witness Kerry's victory in Iowa in 2004. And Nevada is a serious labor state. In fact, labor is essentially the organizing arm of the Nevada Democratic Party, especially UNITE-HERE's Local 226 of the Culinary Union. It's 60,000 strong, and firmly behind John Edward's candidacy.

The serious competition in Nevada will come from Richardson, who pushed hard for a southwestern state that wasn't NM to help his bid. People underestimate Richardson at their peril, and he has huge appeal in a Latino community that is growing like wildfire in Nevada. Can he build an organization to rival Edwards' allies at Local 226? Who knows, but let's hope he makes huge progress. Activating the state's Latino voters, in addition to a motivated an invigorated labor operation could mean trouble for Republicans in Purple Nevada.

Edwards pulled off his surprise 2nd place finish in Iowa in 2004, and he and his organization never left the state. It wouldn't be far fetched to see Edwards 2-0 going into NH. (Though Iowa will be fiercely contested by everyone -- Feingold is local to the region, Hillary has money and organization, Warner will want to make the early splash, Kerry will try to replicate his 2004 success, etc.)

Next is NH, with Kerry, Hillary, and Feingold fighting for supremacy. Edwards makes the required cursory efforts, but instead focuses on South Carolina, which is close to being home-field advantage. And for all Edwards knows, NH may follow suit as in 2004 and rubber-stamp the Iowa decision. The media boost for the winner of Iowa will be HUGE, with the media essentially coronating the winner. It's the problem with the 24-7 media environment.

Who is perceived as the loser in this reconfigured primary/caucus schedule?

Hillary, whose point person at the DNC, Harold Ickes, fought scheduling SC because it would give Edwards too big of a boost. She seems squeezed in this calendar.

There is another possibility -- that everyone except for Edwards and Richardson ignores Nevada to focus on New Hampshire. The political press, which is East Coast-based, won't want to travel to Nevada when New Hampshire, and its wealth of candidates, is just a short flight away.

My take is that HRC would concentrate on a win in NH, though she's got the dough to do everything at once. Where do Clark and Warner, other moderate Southerners, focus their efforts? It might be too late if they pick SC to do so.

Yeah, yeah, it's still too early to speculate, and I prefer to think of the Gregorian calendar as suspended, at least until we get some Democrats elected in about 100 days.

Not guilty, thank God.

Andrea Yates will likely spend the rest of her life in the state facility at Rusk.

Some of us are relieved that the jury reached this verdict, and some are not. Dwight has aggregated the cogent and the not-so (particularly this fellow, whose blog -- nay, his entire worldview -- is so obviously full of shit that he can no longer think clearly).

Click on the Dwight's link to read an excerpt of the insanity of the two that follow, and let's hope they can get some good mental health care just like Mrs. Yates.

One other thing: if anyone should have been found guilty of murder, it should have been Rusty Yates.

"Texas parks are in dire shape, close to disaster"

Following the Texas Progress Council's press conference yesterday calling attention to the problem, the Chronic reports that Rick Perry has suddenly realized he's got a big mess on his hands. Let's turn the newspaper's attention away from the Republican governor's spin, though, and put the focus back where it belongs, on the state of our state parks:

"Texas state parks are in dire shape, close to disaster," Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, said.

Some of the state's 114 parks "are embarrassing," he said. Declining budgets from $253 million in 2004 to $197 million this fiscal year have resulted in staff cuts, reduced operating hours, deferred maintenance, old equipment and a vehicle fleet averaging 10 years old. To raise money, Parks and Wildlife officials nearly sold 46,000 acres of Big Bend Ranch State Park last year until public outrage forced them to back down.

This is the real story.

Governor Adios MoFo -- together with enablers like Tom Craddick and Jerry Patterson and Greg Abbott, and the influence of bagmen like Tom DeLay, James Leininger, and "Swift Boat" Bob Perry -- has created a legislative environment where there will be no money for anything. Not for schools, not for health care, not even for state parks.

Oh wait, there will be money for toll roads.

Do Texans really want to continue being the laboratory for Grover Norquist's experiment of drowning government in the bathtub?

Why is Rick Perry selling off God's Country?

Glenn Smith of the Texas Progress Council asked this question today at a press conference in Austin.

So why is the Governor of Texas -- a man called MoFo -- selling off public lands while at the same time starving our state parks of the most basic maintenance necessary to keep them going?

From the presser:

Recently, Texas Parks & Wildlife warned that budget cutbacks ordered by Perry might require the sale or closure of 18 state parks. Also, Parks & Wildlife transferred 12,000 acres of the Black Gap Wildlife Area in Big Bend to the General Land Office so it can be sold.

This land is some of the most beautiful and important in our state. It includes Rio Grande River canyons considered among the wildest in America. A portion of the Rio Grande that runs through Black Gap has been designated a Wild and Scenic river by the federal government.

And Rick Perry’s going to sell it.

Perry’s spokesman was recently quoted saying the Parks system should consider selling even more land. Belt tightening, they call it. It’s more like strangling the future of Texas.

Watch the video:




And if this bothers you, then send the Governor and the Land Commissioner a message now, and again in November by voting for their two opponents.

Statewide candidates to travel on Texas State Railroad, discuss parks funding

Chris Bell, Maria Luisa Alvarado, David Van Os, Hank Gilbert, and VaLinda Hathcox will hold a press conference in East Texas this weekend to talk about the woeful condition of our state parks due to legislative budget cutting.

Saturday, August 29, at 12:30 pm at the Texas State Railroad train depot in Palestine. Be in Rusk to catch the train to Palestine at 10:00 am (boarding at 10:15, departure at 10:30 11 am. $17/pp roundtrip, call 903-683-2561 or toll-free 800-442-8951. It's a good number; you just have to keep dialing until someone answers. Hey, it's East Texas; no whining.)

I have been hoping that our campaigns wold hold an event like this for some time, and I plan on riding the rails while I'm there.

Care to meet me in East Texas for a train ride?

Update: The Texas State Railroad website. The Fares, Schedules, and FAQ. Note that you must pick up your reserved tickets one hour before departure, or they are released for resale.

Update II: The Democratic Party group is departing from Palestine at 10 am, with a halfway out-and-back trip. According to Kathy at the toll-free number above, climate-controlled seating is not available.

David Van Os calls on Blogland

Blogland responds with overwhelming force. Overwhelming.

I don't revel in the Israeli-Palestinian comparisons, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Greg Abbott suffered a fate comparable to Hezbollah at Texas polls in November.

Figuratively speaking only, of course. No blood shed, but many tears by conservatives.

Abbott's World

The response to the Attorney General's brazen partisan plays reached a crescendo among both the traditional media and the blogosphere last week. Read these reactions:

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott four months ago urged Republicans to give former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay another two years in office. Abbott on Friday urged a federal appeals court to let Republicans replace DeLay on the general election ballot.

R.G. Ratcliffe, Houston Chronicle

Equally misguided is Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's decision to intervene in the case. He has every right to file a friend of the court brief, but his stated reason shows a slight grasp of the particulars of the case.

A spokeswoman for Abbott said Sparks had declared a portion of the Texas election code unconstitutional. In fact, neither the Democratic Party that sued to keep DeLay on the ballot nor the judge made that argument.

The judge actually ruled that the U.S. Constitution sets eligibility for congressional candidates and that a candidate's residency can be determined only on Election Day. GOP officials had declared DeLay ineligible after he won the party primary but moved his official residence to Virginia. DeLay and his wife continue to maintain their house in Sugar Land.

For the Texas attorney general to use the resources of the state to help his party win a favorable court judgment would be an intolerable conflict of interest. If Abbott does file a brief, it should recognize that Texas law prevents parties from replacing unpopular primary winners such as DeLay with stronger candidates — exactly what the state GOP is trying to do.

Houson Chronicle editorial

Yesterday's story that Attorney General Greg Abbott would file a amicus brief in an effort to have the Fifth Circuit reverse Judge Sam Sparks ruling that Tom DeLay could not be replaced on the ballot ignited quite a bit of conversation, especially among outraged Democrats. They argue that the AG's participation is improper because Sparks' decision did not find Texas law unconstitutional -- the predicate for an Attorney General's intervention.

As part of the trial, Secretary of State Roger Williams' office submitted an amicus letter to the federal district court outlining the time line and mandatory election deadlines that were in play. At the conclusion of the letter, SOS General Counsel James Trainor wrote, "As noted above, the Secretary of State does not currently take a position as to how the court rules on the merits of the case before it."

However, today Williams' spokesman Scott Haywood said that Sparks' ruling had the effect of declaring some part of the statute unconstitutional. Although he had not yet seen the amicus brief, he said the intent of the brief was, " to insure that the election code and the statute is not found as being unconstitutional."

But Democrats are insistent that nothing in Sparks' ruling undermines the statute and argue that something else is at play. The ruling simply enjoins Republican Party of Texas chairman Tina Benkiser from declaring DeLay ineligible and prevents the Secretary of State from certifying any other candidate to be on the ballot.

Quorum Report (7/20/06)


The blogs were quite a bit more direct, as usual:

In what can be called the biggest pair of flip flops ever seen, Greg Abbott rolls over for Tom DeLay, first by urging voters to support DeLay in the primary, then supporting DeLay's right to quit on the voters after the primary.

Bay Area Houston

So why is Greg Abbott using his office to help the GOP avoid the mess DeLay made? Why is the AG writing that Tom DeLay should be allowed to manipulate the law and parties should be allowed to switch out an unpopular candidate in the middle of a race? Why is Abbott kow-towing to lawlessness and electoral chaos?

I bet you David Van Os could tell you why....

The View from 22

Why the state has such a vested interest in making sure DeLay can be replaced is pretty unclear. If the state wanted to make sure the people of CD-22 were represented, Governor Perry should have called on DeLay to resign earlier and set a special election. But, they didn’t take that route, and now the state is doing its best not to live with those consequences.

Capitol Annex

Under the "Republicans Have Less Shame Than a Pavement Princess" Department, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who is about as worthless as cornflake recipes, filed an amicus brief in favor of -- hold on, now -- the Texas Republican Party.

There are incest laws in this State, dammit.

Juanita's - The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon

I wonder what will convince Texans we need a new Attorney General. Greg Abbott is not a friend to Texans (to say he is weak on consumer issues is giving him too much credit), but some people will vote against their own interests. His campaign is bankrolled by his corporate cronies who have him in their pockets (the ever ubiquitous Bob Perry, for one). Some people just ignore that. His latest shenanigans make you wonder if he understands even basic legal issues, which you would think would be in the minimum job requirements for becoming attorney general of a whole state.

Muse's musings


What, indeed?

Perhaps most revealing is the criticism that comes not from the blogs or the corporate media but from The Conservative Voice:

So of course I decided to look into this Greg Abbott guy. And what do you think I found? Big Oil connections up the wazoo. It appears that Texans have been pressing for some time for Abbott to lay bare his business dealings with one John Colyandro, a central figure in the Tom DeLay-TRMPAC money-laundering scandal who also served on Greg Abbott’s campaign payroll during the same time frame in 2002. Colyandro is also the spokesman for Koch Holdings, LLC, which owns a group of companies engaged in trading, operations and investment worldwide. According to their profile, these companies “have a presence in nearly 60 countries in core industries such as trading, petroleum, energy…” In short, the company is involved, among its many other interests, in Texas crude oil production. ...

There are few things that raise as much frustration and are a threat to our national economy, as well as personal and business finances, as escalating gasoline prices. It’s bad enough when Big Oil itself engages in practices deserving of prosecution under RICO (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), but it’s even more heinous when Americans like Greg Abbott - who are beholden to uphold the law - conspire to quash commerce and industry’s efforts to give Americans respite from this national economic crisis.

David Van Os could not have said it any better than that. Well, maybe a little bit better...