The Texas Youth Commission scandal is much worse than Sharpstown

And the consequences for all of those involved, from Governor 39% all the way down to the lowliest prison guard, should be at least as severe.

Rick Perry knew about sexual abuse in the TYC system as early as 2001, yet took no action. He appointed cronies and contributors to the TYC board, and when the crimes came to light, named his former chief of staff to oversee a cover-up of his involvement.

He should resign.

Attorney General Greg Abbott ignored the reports from a Texas Ranger, and instead had OAG agents peeking into the bathroom windows of little old ladies in a wild goose chase for evidence of Democratic voter fraud.

He should also quit his post.

Even Alberto Gonzales and the USDOJ refused to heed the warnings, but naturally the Prezdent still has full confidence.

These revelations are months old, and still there is little public outcry and even less effort to bring those responsible to account.

The larger question is how much embarrassment can Republican officials in Austin and Washington endure before they get the message, or at least acquire some shame. We know Bush is ignorant, and we know most of the people he surrounds himself with are as well, but you have to wonder when someone -- some Republican somewhere -- will stand up and say "the Emperor has no clothes". Will it be Medal of Freedom winner George Tenet, on 60 Minutes tonight but also selling his book? Will he be the tipping point?

Really, how much is it going to take? How many lies, how big a scandal, how serious the crimes?

The signs of GOP depression

It's too early to begin celebrating, but it looks like Karl Rove may be succeeding in creating that permanent majority. Thanks, Turdblossom!

President Bush's unpopularity and a string of political setbacks have created a toxic climate for the Republican Party, making it harder to raise money and recruit candidates for its drive to retake control of Congress.

Some of the GOP's top choices to run for the House next year have declined, citing what Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) called a "poisonous" environment. And Republicans' fundraising edge, an important advantage over the last five years, has dwindled.

With GOP clout diminished after November's election losses, the Republicans' national committee and their House and Senate campaign committees together raised the same amount as the Democrats in the first quarter of the year — and Democrats ended the period with more cash in the bank. At this point four years ago, Republicans had more than twice the money Democrats did.

"The reality is the Republican brand right now is just not a good brand," said Tim Hibbitts, an independent Oregon pollster. "For Republicans, the only way things really get better … is if somehow, some way, Iraq turns around."

Jennifer Duffy of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report said the party was "desperately in need of some Prozac."

"Toxic climate". "Poisonous" environment. And we're not talking global warming.

"Not a good brand". And I don't mean General Motors.

"Desperately in need of some Prozac", and we're not referring to Seung Hui Cho.

Save your Republican friends (if you care and if you can). Here are some of the danger signs of severe depressive disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health:

• Persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" mood
• Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism
• Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness
• Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that were once enjoyed, including sex

Well, maybe not the sex part.

Sunday Funnies (Delete All edition)

I could be outdoors, playing with my puppy

But instead I'm blogging live from the afternoon general session of the Texas Democratic Party's quarterly meeting in Austin ...

Susan Bankston and I are holding down the fort here at the end of the ballroom. She gave me a flash report from the grassroots committee meeting this morning that sounds ambitious and enthusiastic: formation of a precinct/county chair support committee, which would share and communicate ideas on minority outreach, a New Democrat package to be given to newly registered voters, an update to the TDP handbook, and local/regional issues which could be synergized by coordination among counties, (such as efforts to block the Trans-Texas Corridor, for example). They also intend to establish a Yahoo group to take input from the real grassroots.

The chair recognized two candidates in attendance who have announced for CD-10, Larry Daughtery and Dan Grant. Various committee reports were offered and accepted.

Some extended discussion and adoption of various rules from Rules occupied the balance of the next half-hour. The focus finally turned to the proposed revisions in the state convention's delegate selection. Rep. Yvonne Davis rose in opposition, indicating that many disincentives arise under the proposed structure. Ken Molberg indicated Dallas County would lose three hundred delegates under the proposal. Another SD member spoke in support of the plan. Fidel Acevedo also spoke against the change, and Bill Brannon pointed out that the percentages stayed the same even if the raw numbers varied widely.

The change was adopted overwhelmingly by the SDEC.

Update (4/28, 2:30 p.m.): Boyd Richie reported on his nine townhall meetings. The good news included fundraising: TDP has raised more money to date than any year since 2000. Boyd recognized Susan and her blog for linking Kelso's column on Voter ID, probably the best take so far on the subject.

Update (2:35 p.m.): The interns from St. Edwards University who worked in the TDP office -- William Rodriguez, Jackie Villanueva, Aira Jimenez, Rachael Pena -- were acknowledged. Worthy young men and women with bright futures in politics sat on the end with Susan and I and received their proclamations from the chairman.

Update (2:45 p.m.): Convention plans for 2008 (to be held at the Hilton in downtown Austin) proceed apace. The committee is open to suggestions for themes and activities for this conclave from the Democratic public.

Update (3 p.m.): Resolutions on matters ranging from global warming to remembering those who have recently passed are adopted.

Update(3:15 p.m.): I'm going to ask Evelyn Burleson, chair of Calhoun County, permission to do a profile here. Susan's favorite quote of hers is "Conservatism is just a political justification for being stingy." She sounds like my kind of lady.

Chairman Richie completes old business and announcements and adjournment wraps it up. We're gathering in our caucuses so more to come (but it may be tomorrow).

Boadecia also posted live.

Conservative hysterics

Via The Agonist, The New York Sun reports that Deadeye Dick Cheney is the GOP's best hope in 2008 ...

For all the talk about potential candidates who haven't entered the 2008 presidential race — from Mayor Bloomberg to Vice President Gore to Senator Thompson and Speaker Gingrich — the one that who would bring the most to the race is Vice President Cheney.

Commenters there declare Dick and running mate Tom DeLay as the unbeatable combination for rogue elephants longin' to keep hangin' in the White House. Here's a sampling of campaign slogans and bumper sticker ideas:

Cheney/Delay Just a Heartbeat Away
Dick & Hammer (I can see the logo, can't you?)
"30% of Americans can't all be wrong"
Cheney 2008: "Pump Action"

In other hilarious news, right-wing blogs discovered the plot to hide WMDs in Iraq. This delusion has been making the right-rounds for quite a few years now. It's almost as ridiculous as Laura Bush saying "no one suffers more than the president and I" and almost as funny as Rudy Giuliani thinking a gallon of milk costs a dollar-fifty. Almost.

And don't watch this video of Michelle Malkin leading cheers until you've peed first. Really.

Much less funny: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher declared to audience members in a subcommittee hearing that he hoped their families would "suffer the consequences" of a terrorist attack.

It's important to note that what I find funny about this demonstrated ignorance is the sheer cluelessness of the Republicans spouting this nonsense and their believers believing it. The popularity of Fox News among this subset is also proof of their stupidity.

Of course it would be much more funny if people and planets weren't dying because of it.

Skilled facility postpourri

Today Mrs. Diddie's mother is moving from the hospital to the nursing home.

Here's a few updates on things that you have probably been able to follow elsewhere ...

-- Republicans are determined to disenfranchise Texas voters (they had help from two House Democrats who failed to show up for the vote), but Rodney Ellis and other Senate Democrats are just as determined to stop them. Kuffner has a good link assembly.

-- Pulitzer author David Halberstam was killed in an auto accident this week. Eye on Williamson has a nice remembrance. And also Boris Yeltsin, whose mighty heart finally gave out. Don't miss mcjoan's eulogy.

-- The Army lied about Pat Tillman's death and Jessica Lynch's ordeal. As I posted at this link:

Why does the Pentagon feel it necessary to concoct these falsehoods? Is this war lacking heroes?

Were the fabrications invented to give the GWOT some measure of credibility that the generals perceive it to be lacking?

And do the military leaders take their cues on lying from their civilian commanders?

-- Bush says "Screw you" to Gonzales critics (which means everybody in the world).

-- The storms are again swirling around the Turdblossom. Paul Wolfowitz takes Abu Gonzales' lead and digs in, refusing to quit the World Bank over his girlfriend scandal. Dennis Kucinich files articles of impeachment against Deadeye Dick. Another Republican congressman resigns his committee seats over his relationship to Jack Abramoff, and DeLay aide Ed Buckham moves deeper into legal jeopardy as well.

More when I can.

More Sunday Funnies

Sunday Funnies

Good Puppy Academy, Class of 2007

The little black puppy (photo here) has given way to a tan adolescent. When Teddi gets her next grooming, her winter coat and baby fuzz will be gone, revealing a lanky dog; a German Shepard's body and a Chow-Chow's head.

She graduated from obedience school yesterday. Good thing it was a pass/fail course, because I would have graded her out C-minus on a curve.

Bush's "soiled and blood-soaked underwear" and additional bloggerrhea

-- Sean Penn defeated pretend-Fascist Stephen Colbert in last night's Metaphor-Off. This classic debate is one of the most hilarious things ever shown on television. No video I can yet find, but will add it here later. Here we go:



-- Freeper responses to yesterday's Gonzo-palooza:

"I am hoping against hope AG Gonzalez slaps these jerks down... Clinton’s firing of over 90 US attorneys... Gonzales needs to check his tongue the door... the AG is rambling... This is bad... AG is stuttering... Yikes... AG has nothing to loose by starting to kick some serious butt... He’s doing a little better now... I take it back. I’ll have a hub cap full of Marguerita’s please... Poor AG is simply not ready for the bigs... Pathetic... the Clintons... I keep wanting to tell Gonzo to stop talking... I’ll take 3 Rum Runners... This is not his best hearing... Gonzales is obviously a boob... Clinton and Reno... Its like watching someone eat themselves to death... I can’t take any more of this. Gonzales is pathetic... wounded deer in the clutches of wild beasts... GONZALES is getting reamed... this is like a tooth extraction without anaesthesia... Sadly, Shumer’s remarks seem to be correct... Make John Bolton the new AG in a recess appointment, or Ann Coulter... this worse than the a Friday the 13th movie. It is a bloodbath... Clinton... Clinton... Clinton... Is this guy retarded?... Gonzales is doing an awful job... Clinton... W needs to cut his loses... can anybody who is watching this really say that this is the guy we want as AG?... It’s embarrassing. Lights are on but nobody’s home... He is like Miers or Brown... After watching this I wouldn’t want him to handle a traffic ticket for me... Janet Reno... Clinton..."

Will Pitt, after watching the hearings:

I am sometimes motivated to distrust my own internal Outrage-O-Meter whenever the needle pins deep in the red zone. Am I just too involved? Too biased? Is my bottle so filled with this nonsense that small pours into it become flooding slop-overs?

I watched every second of those hearings.

I think that was among the most embarrassing things I've ever seen. I'm ashamed for my country after that. This man is in the line of succession? Egads and gad zooks.

Was it really as spoon-bendingly bad as it seemed to me?

-- Jimmie "JJ from Good Times" Walker and Annthrax Coulter draw the paparazzi like they usually draw flies. I'm so old I remember when JJ was as emaciated as Coulter.

-- "Internet Argument" is another great toon from August J. Pollack that couldn't wait for the Sunday Funnies.

-- Tom DeLay compares himself to the Duke lacrosse players who were falsely accused of rape, and repeats his double-negative: "I haven’t been found guilty of nothing."

Must stop here, because I'm still laughing so hard it's difficult to breathe.

Richardson outpolls "Other" and "No F'ing Clue"

Edwards stretches his lead over Obama to 43-25 in April's survey of Kossacks. Hillary finally pulls ahead of Kucinich, 3-2.

Update (4/18): Jerome has more polls and more analysis.

In other non-shooting-rampage related news ...

-- Go see a movie tonight with filmmaker and Houston native Richard Linklater at the MFAH. He's picked Some Came Running, Vincente Minnelli's 1958 film starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and a very young Shirley MacLaine.

-- When the focus shifted from trying to catch drug traffickers to people crossing the border, then sure enough, drug prosecutions went down. Which of these is the real crime? (I realize you libertarians should answer 'neither'...)

-- My old state rep, the art censor, is building a large house in the district. A very large house.

-- Harris County's new judge, Ed Emmett, supports the completion of the Grand Parkway (bad) but sounds like he's opposed to both the TTC -- mostly he thinks it was bad PR -- and rail anywhere except on Richmond (both good, if true). He's not likely to do much about any of this until he faces the voters (and wins).

-- Republican state legislators are playing smoke-and-mirrors with the stem cell bill. Apparently they can only get things like this done when the Democrats aren't paying attention. South Texas Chisme has more on the story, and the Texas Freedom Network has a petition for you to show your support for stem cell research.

Restricting the Vote: HB-626

Tonight the Texas Progressive Alliance conferenced with John Courage and Terri Sperry of True Courage Action Network, Nate Isaacson of PFAW, and other voting rights activists on HB-626, the voter ID bill which would place too onerous a burden on the rights of Texans to cast their ballots.

The bill requires requires voters to provide a certified copy of a passport, birth certificate, or naturalization papers (proving citizenship) at the time of voter registration, and a photo ID at the polling place. Sonia Santana, my friend and the most engaged citizen in the state of Texas on this issue, posted a recent diary detailing the concerns. Vince and Hal posted on the bill's filing in January, and it comes up for a vote this week.

Certified copies -- not the original documents -- are necessary because the copies are retained by the voter registrar, which will no longer be the person you sign up with at the Wal-Mart, or the county fair, or even at the driver's license renewal office. Certified copies aren't inexpensive; costs vary but they're in the range of $20 to $30. That makes this requirement essentially a poll tax, which is precisely what the Republicans sponsoring it want to achieve: suppression of votes by minorities and less-than-wealthy people. But it also will exclude students, seniors, the disabled and many working people by putting too high a price on a person's time and mobility to acquire the proof.

People whose names have changed, through adoption or marriage, will be at an additional disadvantage. People born at home -- a not-so-insignificant number of people in Texas -- don't have a birth certificate, and as such will likewise be inconvenienced at best and disenfranchised at worst.

This is bad legislation with nefarious intent: suppressing the vote under the guise of a concern for a problem which exists only in the imagination of men like Karl Rove.

Contact your state representative and tell them to vote NO. Look up your state rep with this link.

Update (4/17): Paul Burka and I are in complete agreement.