Thursday, May 31, 2007

What to do in Houston this weekend (and this month)

First, from Houston's least obnoxious conservo-blog (Vikk does a good write-up but I edited some of his dry snark):

Brazos Bookstore (2421 Bissonnet) has a triple-header this weekend for H-Town's Democrats, liberals, and/or progressives and it begins tonight. ...

Thursday, May 31, 6:00 PM
What do you get when you combine California, the Beat Generation, and the 1960s? Apparently something called the "religion of no religion." Jeffrey Kripal explains it all tonight in his book ESALEN: America and the Religion of No Religion.

Friday, June 1, 12:00 -2:00 PM
It would seem that Senator Kerry is still looking for his moment. This time he--and his wife--have cast their eyes on the future and come up with a new book: THIS MOMENT ON EARTH: Today's Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future. This is a 2-hour event, so fans will probably want to get to the store early. ...

Saturday, June 2, 5:30-7:30 PM
Molly Ivins brought much joy and laughter to her audience. Saturday's event has been crafted to bring out the best of Molly and her friends with an open microphone, stories, and readings. "The Celebration of the Life and Work of Molly Ivins" festivities will include the following special guests: Lou Dubose, Molly's co-author; Charlotte McCann, publisher of the Texas Observer; Betsy Moon, Molly's "Chief of Stuff", the Chronicle's Leon Hale; and Andy and Carla Ivins. A "Special Molly Issue" of the Texas Observer will be available. There is a $10 cover charge to help defray the cost of refreshments and the bookstore asks that you bring the correct change. Since the wine and beer will be flowing, I'm sure you can expect the unexpected.


There's also these events ...

Annie's List training for potential political candidates (I can think of several local women I'd like to see run for office):

Are you a Democratic woman who has thought about running for office or would like to get more involved in helping local Democrats win? If so, Annie's List has an exciting opportunity for you to learn more about what it takes to run for office and win campaigns and network with like-minded women in Houston.

We are hosting a free campaign training during the day on Saturday, June 2nd that is available on a first come, first serve basis to all progressive, Democratic women. Topics such as fundraising, press relations, voter targeting, message development, planning to run for office and more will be covered. All meals and training materials are provided at no charge to participants who commit to stay for the entirety of the training (8:30am - 5:00pm).

Reserve your spot by REGISTERING ONLINE today as space is limited!
http://www.annieslist.com/register.php

Democracy for Houston is having a Presidential Debate Watch Party this Sunday evening. If you're tired of watching Grumpy Old Rich White Men arguing over who has the biggest penis, then you have another option, and that's to get a look at the next President -- and likely, Vice-President -- of the United States talk about an America without Bush's War and with health care for everyone. RSVP here.

Next Saturday the 9th the ROADWomen are having their "True Blue Texas Women" luncheon, with author Melinda Henneberger as one of the many keynoters. Look who else will be there:



Henneberger's publicist sent me a copy of If They Had Only Listened To Us and I'll have a review and excerpts next week in advance of this event.

And on Sunday the 10th is the Environmental Summit:

What's happening with the Houston region environment? How bad is it?

The people of Houston suffer the ill effects day in and day out and seem unable to make their voices heard by most elected officials. What can we do?

Come to the Environmental Summit on Sunday, June 10 from 1-5 p.m. at the University of Houston's University Center, 4800 Calhoun, to find out what's happening, who's working for the people of Houston, what you can do, and how we can all work together.

The event, sponsored by the Harris County Democrats progressive organization and the Billie Carr Institute, will feature a keynote by Houston Mayor Bill White and introductory comments by well-known environmental activist Jim Blackburn. In addition, Dr. Stephen Klineberg of Rice University will discuss survey research about environmental opinions and renowned climate change expert Jim Marston will speak, and a variety of environmental and political groups will offer comments about environmental goals, issues and key challenges in the near future.

The event's objectives are to broadly increase knowledge of environmental issues and introduce organizations to political activists of Harris County and surrounding areas. We hope to substantially increase interaction between people active in environmental issues and partisan politics. Ultimately, we'd like to plan future interactions for the coming election season.

Houston Region Sierra Club, GHASP (Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention), Mothers for Clean Air, Houston Audubon Society, Galveston Bay Foundation, Citizen's Environmental Coalition, AND Harris County Democrats, Bay Area New Democrats (BAND), and other Democratic organizations are
expected to participate.

Organizations are encouraged to invite their members and to staff tables with literature throughout the event in the main ballroom of UH's University Center.

No pre-registration required, $10 admission. Check www.harriscountydemocrats.org for more information.


Maybe I'll finally get to meet you at one of these this month?

Alas, there is more

"Separated at Birth":


Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Separated at birth?



We report. You decide.

Eleventh elderly rich white Republican enters race

The co-star of Curly Sue, the one who has Republicans everywhere wet with pleasure, is "testing the waters". His presidential campaign committee, "Friends of Fred Thompson" -- rhymes with 'soft' -- will raise money for him without his actually having to say he's running.

This news naturally has the hearts of Houston conservatives aflutter. Because there's nothing like an unemployed actor that screams "WHITE HOUSE" in their heads.

Let's briefly review the man's career:

2007: Warming up for his turn in the spotlight, Thompson puts on a hairpiece and portrays President Ulysses S. Grant for the HBO docu-drama Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. During his one scene and ten seconds of screen time, he grumbles and smokes a cigar. Obviously a method actor.

Also this year: responding to Michael Moore's challenge to debate him on health care policy, Thompson has a YouTube filmed of him grumbling and chewing a cigar.

Is there a pattern here?

-- Too many years to bother counting: his portrayal of New York district attorney Arthur Branch spanned four different versions of the TV show "Law and Order".

His film roles would make a pretty good resume' for an aspiring politician, if they had not been film roles, of course: CIA director in No Way Out; a Senator (himself) in Albert Brooks' Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World; a major general in Fat Man and Little Boy and a rear admiral in The Hunt for Red October. He played Racehorse Haynes in the "special TV event" Bed of Lies and former AmEx chief and corporate sleaze Jim Robinson in HBO's Barbarians at the Gate (two roles also requiring precious little departure from his everyday life).

I'd say he's eminently qualified to be the GOP nominee. I really hope he can turn back the likes of Sam Brownback and Tom Tancredo, because compared to them he's positively liberal.

Registered users can vote in the poll

here:

As a result of the congressional vote on Iraq funding last week ...

1%61 votes
3%174 votes
22%1169 votes
24%1305 votes
19%1009 votes
8%454 votes
5%260 votes
1%38 votes
1%59 votes
2%101 votes
2%101 votes
7%360 votes
1%56 votes
3%173 votes
2%105 votes
| 5425 votes

I'm in the at-the-moment 24% majority.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Cindy Sheehan's grief and rage

Will hopefully and shortly come to an end:

The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried ever since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.


I went to Camp Casey the weekend before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. It was one of the most seminal experiences of my life. Sheehan organized the anti-war movement when 70% of Americans believed George Bush and his lies. Now, of course, 70% don't, but as Sheehan points out the Democrats in Congress who were elected to stop the war have failed us all in their duty to do so.

And even as she exits, the flying monkeys fling their poo at her.

I hope Cindy Sheehan finds peace.

"Surf's Up" in the San Antonio Current

Ironically this feature is one of the only things that doesn't make it into the online edition, so you'll have to pick a copy of last week's San Antonio Current to verify if this is the truth:

A hundred years from now, history may very well remember Perry Dorrell as one of the founding pillars of the Texas blogosphere, having launched his Brains and Eggs in 2002 after a long career working on the executive side of the Texas print media, including a stint with Hearst, parent of San Antonio's daily. Since then, he's developed Brains and Eggs into a serrated, left-heavy journal covering everything political on the national, state, and local (Houston, where he's based) fronts. Dorrell's also a veteran of Texas politics, having served as statewide coordinator of David Van Os' (failed) 2006 bid for Texas Attorney General. Check out Dorrell's recent posts on George Irish, former publisher of the San Antonio Light, as well as his weekly "Sunday Funnies" posts, a compilation of the week's best leftish cartoons, similar to MSNBC's Daily Political Cartoon Index (cagle.msnbc.com).


*buffs, then admires manicure*

Lampson is not in for the Senate, and more bloggerrhea

Just a week ago I confidently posted that Nick Lampson would declare his challenge to Senator Box Turtle for the US Senate in 2008, but yesterday Lampson, through his local spokesperson Mustafa Tameez, told the Austin American-Statesman he was a no-go:

A Senate bid is “not going to happen,” Tameez said. “It sounds goofy, but he feels like he made a commitment to the people of Congressional District 22.” Tameez said Lampson feels a Senate try would be “disingenuous.”


I am delighted to have misread the tea leaves. Of course I am more inclined to believe that the blogswarm over his dithering forced him to reconsider, but that's only because I have an inflated sense of self-importance. And considering he's at the top of Karl Rove's hitlist, he'd better go to work right now nailing down his seat in the House.

Elsewhere:

-- "Lyndon Johnson's mistress claims LBJ told her that he had JFK killed!"

-- Paul Burka found Tom Craddick in a bald-face contradiction. I'm shockedIsay.

-- The terrorists are NOT going to follow us home (so stop staying that):

The President and his supporters have been repeatedly expressing their concern that if US troops left Iraq before the war is "won" as they define it, Al Qaeda in Iraq would follow us home and carry out their terror campaigns in the streets of America instead of Baghdad. Critics like myself are suggesting the President has chosen once again to engage in fear-mongering to try to manipulate American public opinion on the war. He has done so in a desperate attempt to rationalize our continued occupation in the hope of salvaging his, and his party's, legacy. In the end, his and his supporters' claims will be proven to be just as self-serving, misguided, and delusional as the claims they made leading up to the war in Iraq about Saddam's WMDs, mushroom clouds, and being greeted as liberators.

Ironically, the only way they would have followed us home would have been if George W. Bush had actually succeeded in imposing his will on the people of the Middle East. Then they would have followed us home for revenge, much like they did on 9/11. Otherwise, they are no more or less likely to follow us home any more than we did the British, or the Viet Cong did us.


-- The movie critic at FOX News loves Michael Moore's new movie, SiCKO. There's hope for everything.

-- New sponsors of this blog include the National Cheney Impeachment Poll. Here, have an Impeachmint.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Craddick Coup continues today

There was a revolt last night in the Texas House.

BOR followed the action (several other threads provided play-by-play as well). The House parliamentarians resigned due to the dictatorial will of Speaker Craddick. He replaced them with his stooge, former Rep. Terry Keel, who literally fed the Speaker his lines. (Muse had the quick wit on this comic drama.) Craddick refused to recognize motions -- even from Republicans like Fred Hill -- to consider the vacation of the chair.

Parliamentary procedure denied, the House was in an uproar most of the late evening and early morning, at the end of the legislative session, with numerous bills still to be considered. An historical pandemonium -- not since 1871 has a motion to vacate the chair been advanced -- and Craddick declared that occurrence divined no precedent in this case. He declared that any attempt to remove him would have to be an impeachment proceeding, requiring a two/thirds majority of the House's members to advance.

Update (ten minutes after original post): Via Eye on Williamson, John Kelso applies the, uh, coup de grace:

Mention Craddick’s name and the words “mean,” “small” and “autocratic” come up. I’ve heard him called autocratic so often I’m surprised they haven’t started calling him Otto — as in “Otto” Craddick.

So nevermind being civilized.

Just wait till he’s not there. Then send a moving crew of members into his posh 2,000-square-foot apartment behind the House chamber, and leave his stuff out on the Capitol lawn on bulky trash day.


Today the House reconvenes, at 11 a.m. Quite a few more of us will be watching.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Sparrow makes statement on Bush's statement on Gonzales

ABC's Ann Compton reports: An outdoor news conference in perfect spring weather, with birds chirping loudly in the magnolia trees, is not without its hazards.

As President Bush took a question Thursday in the White House Rose Garden about scandals involving his Attorney General, he remarked, "I've got confidence in Al Gonzales doin' the job."

Simultaneously, a sparrow flew overhead and left a splash on the President's sleeve, which Bush tried several times to wipe off.

No word on whether the on-the-sleeve incident can be successfully cleaned in the White House spin cycle.

Video here: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3209176