It depends on what the meaning of "verified" is

Hell, what are we going to do about this? Call for his resignation? Demand Bush fire him? Impeach him?

Can't prosecute him for lying to Congress because Bush will just give him a pardon:

As he sought to renew the USA Patriot Act two years ago, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales assured lawmakers that the FBI had not abused its potent new terrorism-fighting powers. "There has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse," Gonzales told senators on April 27, 2005.

Six days earlier, the FBI sent Gonzales a copy of a report that said its agents had obtained personal information that they were not entitled to have. It was one of at least half a dozen reports of legal or procedural violations that Gonzales received in the three months before he made his statement to the Senate intelligence committee, according to internal FBI documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

What time does the tea party start?

Yo, Mrs. Vitter: David calls your bluff

and raises you two testicles:

"Vitter, 46, then became Louisiana’s first Republican senator since the end of Reconstruction, and has built a reputation as a solid conservative, opposing abortion rights, same-sex marriage and gun control. Last month, he took a leading role in efforts to kill the comprehensive immigration overhaul bill.

In 2000, Vitter was included in a Newhouse News Service story about the strain of congressional careers on families.

His wife, Wendy, was asked by the Newhouse News reporter: If her husband was as unfaithful as former President Bill Clinton, would she be as forgiving as Hillary Clinton?

“I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary,” Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News. “If he does something like that, I’m walking away with one thing, and it’s not alimony, trust me.”

“I think fear is a very good motivating factor in a marriage,” she added. “Don’t put fear down.”

Oh, my. Alimony or sliced baloney. What a dilemma the Vitters are on the horns of.

Personally speaking, Mrs. Vitter, I never discount fear as a motivator, but apparently you just weren't taken seriously by your whore-mongering husband.

Who's going to take responsibility for hiding the knives in this God-fearing household? Their children?

One may think it apropos at this moment to express brotherly empathy for a fellow man's impending emasculation, yet given that Vitter doesn't give a damn about the private parts of 150 million American women for whom he has repeatedly voted to deny anything resembling reproductive or contraceptive freedom, I would merely take this moment to suggest to the junior Senator from Louisiana how much it must suck to have someone else tell you that they, not you, own your body.

Tired of the "media filter", Bush makes a YouTube

You talkin' ta me?

Tex-Blog Corral (and other great candidate news)

Let's begin with two Galveston-area Democrats who have declared their intentions to run for office in 2008, Joe Jaworski for SD-11 and Judge Susan Criss for the Texas Supreme Court, and wrap up with Glen Maxey for Travis County tax assessor-collector.

I met both Criss and Jaworski through our mutual association with the Van Os campaign in 2006. They were each strong supporters of David's, which naturally means they are both progressive Democrats. They are also the brightest of legal minds and once again are precisely the kind of people we need to get elected to public office.

Criss has served as the judge of the 212th District Court in Galveston since 1999 and has presided over many significant cases, including the semi-sensational Robert Durst murder trial. Judge Criss attended the Juneteenth Filibuster for Freedom last summer in Galveston with her father, SD committeeman Lloyd Criss, and has a great blog herself. She's challenging yet another odious Republican, Phil Johnson.

Joe Jaworski (yes, he's related) will take on Mike "Inaction" Jackson for the right to represent the Eleventh Senate District of Texas in 2008. Jaworski has served most recently as mayor pro-tem of Galveston and practices law in the family firm; Jackson was just named "furniture" in Texas Monthly's annual "Best and Worst Legislators" edition.

Glen Maxey makes a return to electoral politics after being narrowly defeated for Texas Democratic Party chair at last June's state Democratic convention in Fort Worth. He's challenging 16-year incumbent Nelda Wells Spears. Maxey intends to emphasize the "voter registration" responsibility of the TA-C job:

"There are basically four functions in the office," said Maxey -- taxes, fees and fines, vehicle titling and registration, and voters' registration -- and he describes its current operations as "fairly efficient but not being used to its potential," especially concerning voter outreach and registration. "We're not using the power of the office to achieve 100-percent registration of eligible voters," he said.

And here's more from around the Tex-blogosphere:

It's 11:30, do you know where your blogger is?

McBlogger sees "little Patty Rose" at one of his favorite Austin bars.

Taking Texas Back

Texas Kaos continues its podcast series, hosted by Refinish69.

This week features an interview with Mike Engelhart, who is running for 151st District Court judge in Harris County. I first met Mike when we worked on Barbara Radnofsky's US Senate campaign in the last cycle. He's also a blogging judicial candidate.

Going Public

Capitol Annex takes a look at the implications of the IPO of Kolberg Kravis Roberts, which is presently negotiating to purchase utility giant (and coal plant builder) TXU.

Do you want Blackwater types patroling our border?

South Texas Chisme writes about DynCorp International, a Virginia-based military security firm, stating it could train and deploy 1,000 private agents to the US-Mexico border within 13 months, offering a quick surge of law enforcement officers to a region struggling to clamp down on illegal immigration.

And Don't Forget that Senate Race

Burnt Orange Report reminds that John Cornyn reeks and either Mikal Watts or Rick Noriega is a vast improvement (Watts not so much, but that's just my humble O).

Half Empty explores the idea of another draft movement. Why not draft Mikal Watts For Chief Justice of Texas 3rd Court of Appeals?

Border sheriffs ask: "Where's our money?"

Remember all that money that was allocated by the Lege for border security? Border sheriffs want to know why their buddy Rick Perry isn't giving more of it to them. Off the Kuff takes a look.

Sunday Funnies (DiCKO, Subpoenas, and the Supremes edition)

(view this last one full screen; it's a classic)

Es un Domingo de Noriega

Noriega moves closer to run for US Senate:

Fresh off his wife's victory onto the Houston City Council, state Rep. Rick Noriega is poised to launch a race for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate to challenge Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. ...

Noriega, 49, began looking at a challenge during this year's legislative session, but he put off any direct action until after his wife, Melissa, won her City Council runoff election last month. ...

But now Melissa Noriega's race is over, and a dozen of the state's most influential left-leaning blogs have begun an Internet "Draft Rick Noriega" movement. Noriega called it "flattering."

Yes, that would be us.

Reading further in the article we find once again the ubiquitous Matt Angle quoted:

Democratic political consultant Matt Angle said a Democratic victory in the Senate race is possible next year because the mood of the state has turned away from Republicans on national issues, and the one-party administration of state government has turned many people off.

"Nobody's under any illusions: A Republican still goes into a statewide race in Texas with an advantage, but it would be irresponsible for Democrats not to make a sincere effort to win a statewide race, especially when you have some quality candidates," Angle said.

Now I hate to take space in a post that contains such good news and say something negative, but that goddamned Matt Angle just has a special talent for getting my goat. Say this for him: he's a clever wordsmith. He managed to tell the bald-ass truth about himself and work in an insult against the 2006 slate of Democrtaic candidates, all in one sentence.

Unwittingly (perhaps), Angle also points to the most glaring deficiency of Noriega's declared primary opponent, Mikal Watts.

Watts, through a now-defunct PAC operating out of Corpus Christi law offices, donated tens of thousands of dollars to both Greg Abbott and David Dewhurst in the 2006 cycle. He did so -- allegedly -- because the Democratic party bosses in Texas told him that the 2006 statewide candidates didn't have a chance of winning.

Angle demonstrated the defeatist attitude of the Texas Democratic Party's elders not only by telling influential donors like Watts that the Democrats nominated in 2006 -- one of which, you may recall, I labored for -- were a lost cause, he made certain no genuine effort was made on their behalf by sending his operatives to work in the TDP's Austin offices.

I've already bitched quite a bit about this previously (type "Angle" in the 'search this blog' box at the top of the page if you want to re-read it; I just don't feel like linking back to it any more). Angle is sending some folks down to Houston to help us take Harris County blue in 2008, so maybe our paths will cross at some point and we can hash this out privately. For now I want everyone to be clear that I have a difficult time considering Matt Angle, TDP chair Boyd Richie, and the Texas Democratic Trust allies in electing progressives. DINOs, yes. Real Democrats, not so much. I hope I get to blog something more encouraging about this shortly.

Enough of that. Back to the encouraging development, and that's Rick Noriega answering the call to run for the Senate.

His record of service in the National Guard, in the Texas House, and to the city of Houston during the Katrina exodus has been nothing short of exemplary. He's a true progressive Democrat and has demonstrated a from-the-heart populism that stands for the people and against the powerful. In these times of creeping fascism throughout our nation, that position is neither expedient nor popular. It is, however, vital to the health of our republican democracy.

Noriega is precisely the kind of candidate, the kind of leader -- and man, and human being -- that Texas desperately needs after too many years of Bush and his lickspittles destroying our Constitution, our economy, our freedoms, our military, our respect in the world ... our country.

There's no one I will work harder to get elected in 2008 than Rick Noriega. He is the real deal.