Monday, February 11, 2008

The Weekly Wrangle

Time for this week's Texas Progressive Alliance Blog Round-Up, compiled by TXsharon from Bluedaze.


Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News
urges Texans to NOT give to veterans by mail -- at least not without some investigation. Read about the fake veteran's charities scam supported by Republicans in Cheating Charitable Givers and Veterans.

Mayor McSleaze at McBlogger takes some time out of his busy schedule to ask a few important questions of Michael Moore and our friends at MoveOn.Org.

What is Congress to do?! The Texas Cloverleaf looks at how the Bush administration continues to ignore the US House and hurt Texas, in its blatant disregard of the Congressional order to end the DOT's plan for Mexican trucks in America.

Plastic bags are now extinct in Ireland. TXsharon at Bluedaze wants to know why the U.S. can't do the same.

How much was the Katy Freeway expansion in Houston supposed to cost? Off the Kuff digs through some story archives to show that what TxDOT is saying now about initial cost estimates is not what it was saying then.

Open Source Dem at Brains and Eggs comments on the possibility of brokered conventions in both Austin and Denver this summer, and how the March 4 primary in Texas will clarify -- or muddy -- the outlook.

CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme cautions reasonable people to be wary about arguing over that d*mn fence! Republicans are building a monument to racism and fear, not trying to solve any problems with a coherent policy.

Hal has a a couple of postings this week at Half Empty; this one is a new theory on whether there is a new canary about to sing to the feds about Tom DeLay's past indiscretions, and this one is about some motivation for that.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson has the wrap-up from last week's hearings on TxDOT at the Capitol: Without Williamson, TxDOT Becomes Scapegoat.

Phillip Martin at Burnt Orange Report has done an exhaustingly comprehensive analysis of how the Texas hybrid primary/caucus system works, as well as a look at some of the politics of each of Texas' 31 Senate Districts that will award delegates on March 4. Read the two-part series here: Part 1 (caucus explanation) and Part 2 (delegate analysis).

BossKitty at BlueBloggin posts Customs: “Hand Over That Cell Phone, iPod & Laptop” and takes a look at just how intrusive the government has become, putting travelers and their company's private information at risk.

As we get closer to the most important Texas primary in recent memory, The Texas Blue thinks potential prognosticators should keep five things in mind when it comes to making predictions.

In addition to a ton of Texas presidential race coverage, Vince at Capitol Annex reveals that state rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford) has taken an illegal contribution from an energy lobbyist.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Sunday Funnies (Democratic skewers on the barbie edition)

Disclaimer: I am not nearly as angry and bitter as some of these might suggest. And be sure to click on the image for the largest, most readable view.







Sunday Funnies (GOP quandary edition)






By the time I got to Southmore

yesterday morning, it was a street party:




More anecdotal evidence

that something huge is happening.

Yesterday my wife and I had lunch with her co-worker (born in China, now naturalized citizen) and her husband, of German/Pennsylvania Dutch descent. They have lived in Kingwood for several years (an 80% Republican suburb for those unfamiliar). My wife was uncertain about their level of political interest, much less affiliation, so I just wore my River Oaks Area Democratic Women logo polo shirt, which always manages to be a good conversation starter.

We had dim sum at Kim Son in Stafford and then went to the Lunar (Chinese) New Year Festival on the far west side of Houston. Over lunch -- while the girls were in the powder room -- he started asking me questions like "Well, it's a foregone conclusion that the Republicans will carry Texas ... right?" I replied that while that has certainly been the case in the recent past, the tide was turning and this year that likelihood IMHO depended on whether the Democrats picked Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Obama.

He remarked that his candidate HAD been Ron Paul, but that after researching the white supremacist thing, as well as the claim by Dr. No the constitutional expert that there was no separation of church and state in the document, he was now --with a scowl -- "undecided".

Our conversation continued along this very casual vein until he finally said, "I think that's a good idea; I'll vote in the Democratic primary for Obama and see what happens."

Folks, anything is officially possible. My advice would be to strike up a political conversation with your Republican friends and family in advance of March 4.

And don't forget to invite them to attend the precinct convention.

Sunday Funnies (Stimulant edition)