Mercury, Wednesday

Mercury just passed superior conjunction on April 16, but in the days to come it will bolt out to become easily visible low in the west-northwest at dusk. On Wednesday evening, April 23, Mercury should be visible within about 30 minutes after sunset if your sky is quite clear. Mercury will be shining at magnitude �1.6, slightly brighter than Sirius (the brightest of all stars). In fact, at that particular hour of the day, Mercury will be the brightest object in the sky!

So, if your sky is free of any horizon haze and there are no tall obstructions to your view (like trees or buildings) you should have no trouble in seeing it as a very bright "star" shining with just a trace of a yellowish-orange tinge. By April 30, Mercury will be setting as late as 85 minutes after the Sun. That evening, binoculars may show the Pleiades star cluster 4 degrees directly above it. (Your clenched fist held at arm's length measures about 10 degrees in width.)

In the evenings that follow, Mercury will slowly diminish in brightness, but it will also slowly gain altitude as it gradually moves away from the vicinity of the Sun. This is just the start of Mercury's best apparition of the year for mid-northern viewers. On the evening of May 6, be sure to look for a delicately thin sliver of a 1.5-day old crescent Moon sitting just a couple of degrees above and slightly to Mercury's right.

Much more.

The Weekly Wrangle

Today is San Jacinto Day, and also time for another Texas Progressive Alliance Blog Round-Up. This week's round-up is compiled by The Texas Cloverleaf.

In "honor" of April 15 (the federal income tax deadline), Lightseeker at TexasKaos examines the Republican tax cut claim here in Texas and discover that what it really amounts to is "tax shifting", and we are the ones getting shafted. Tax Shifting With Bohac's Assessment Cap as Our Example.

WhosPlayin notes that John McCain has proposed suspending the federal gasoline tax, and points out that he would do just as well to try to suspend the law of gravity.

The Texas Cloverleaf is helping to save the earth on Earth Day weekend with helpful tips for saving energy and your wallet, as well as picking up trash with Stonewall Democrats. Don't mess with Texas!

CouldBeTrue from South Texas Chisme wonders if all Republicans are Tom Craddicks in training. Listen to Nueces County Republican chair Mike Bertuzzi ignore all the 'Point of Order' calls at the county convention. Sound familiar?

John Coby of Bay Area Houston has the real press release from Rick Perry about his run for governor in 2010.

Here are local activist Jose Orta's impressions Of T. Don Hutto, Williamson County's immigrant detention facility, that were posted at Eye On Williamson after his recent visit.

At McBlogger, barfly analyses what's really important to the American voter in this hour of cultural brouhaha.

Off the Kuff takes an early look at the race for district attorney in Harris county, which is sure to be one of the hottest local races this year.

Today is San Jacinto Day and PDiddie of Brains and Eggs will be at the commemorative ceremonies taking place at the battlefield near Houston.

BossKitty at BlueBloggin points out that Your $300 - $1,200 Economic Stimulus Payment Cost $767 Million.

Hal at Half Empty questions whether a certain person running for president is temperamentally fit to be in that office.

Vince at Capitol Annex thinks it is terrible that Texas teacher salaries are so low that that more than a quarter of all teachers must work a second job to make ends meet.

North Texas Liberal reports on a homophobic journalist's question to White House press secretary Dana Perino, and the smackdown she gave in response.

George Nassar at The Texas Blue takes some time out of Friday's morning news roundup to point out that were the Bush administration to use a logical metric, it would be clear to them that the surge has failed.

Sunday Funnies

The Houston International Festival

Top 10 Can’t Miss Extramusical Attractions at Ifest

(by Jim Austin, President, Houston International Festival)

1. Church of Lalibela: So, European colonists brought Christianity to Africa, right?… Wrong. Very wrong. Emperor Lalibela carved 12 churches out of existing mountains in Ethiopia in the 12th century. Well, maybe he had his folks do the actual carving. Anyway, we’ve created an amazing replica of the most famous of the churches to with the cultural and educational exhibits in the Chevron Living Museum.

2. You do not want to miss the National Dance Theater of Ethiopia. They are known for this reverberating movement in their heads, necks and shoulders that looks physically impossible. I don’t think it is done anywhere outside of the country. And the women are considered by three out of four academic experts to be among the most beautiful in the world. As I say, don’t miss it; it’s their North American debut, four times a day on the WaMu Center Stage at City Hall.

3. The Gullah people were isolated off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia when plantation owners abandoned them because of the malaria-carrying mosquitoes in the area. They preserved their African heritage for centuries. We’re bringing artists and craftsmen from the Gullah region and we’re erecting a Gullah stage. Storytelling, drumming, dance lessons, demonstrations and plays.

4. Have we mentioned that some people say the most beautiful women in the world are Ethiopians? Well, two previous Miss Ethiopias will be featured in a fashion show on the H-E-B Cultural Stage at 2:00 p.m. each weekend day of the Festival.

5. The Rise and Shine Exhibit at the Julia Ideson library: This display of archaeological artifacts from the TSU archives will shed new light on the ways that African Americans in Texas survived the cruelties of enslavement and its aftermath, the tenant farming/sharecropping system. Artifacts and historical documents will examine a variety of sites, including the Levi Jordan Plantation in South Texas. Literary readings will take place both Saturdays from 1-5 p.m.

6. Dr. Z New Artist of the Year: This award, named after the late Houston dentist, adventurer and longtime festival benefactor Dr. Z, is given annually to an up and coming artist or group making its iFest debut. The Carolina Chocolate Drops is a young African American trio that demonstrates the black roots of what is considered among the whitest music forms in America -- Appalachian country and bluegrass music. The group plays twice on day one, on Louisiana Stage at 3:30 and on the Gullah Stage at 6 p.m.

7. Some come to iFest for the music, some come for the culture. And some come for the food. There will be African Food on the steps of City Hall. Taste of Africa presented by Melange Catering will serve delicious specialty items like lamb bobotie, beef sosatie skewers and chicken wings peri peri. Plus a selection of Sundowners, refreshing drinks used in the African ritual that marks the passage from day to night. Yum.

8. The iFest Business Conference, Africa: Opportunities with a Social Conscience will explore sustainable development initiatives on the African continent. Delegates will hear from top experts from the U.S. and Africa on economic development projects and social stability issues that affect Houston businesses interested in this emerging global marketplace. Sponsored by Marathon Oil on the morning of April 18. (For details, visit www.ifest.org)

9. Lunchtime concerts are back on the two Fridays, April 18 and 25. Downtown workers can take in the food, the music (by D.R.U.M. and the Zydeco Dots) and even see the great National Dance Theatre of Ethiopia. Yes, it’s free.

10. Not ready to stop the party? Join us at the official iFest 2008 After Party at Under the Volcano. The New Orleans Hustlers Brass Band -- featuring members of the Soul Rebels -- will perform. Cover charge is $5, with festival staff and volunteers wearing wristbands and/or T-shirts admitted free. Sunday, April 27, 2008, 8:00pm to closing. Under the Volcano, 2349 Bissonnet.

100,000

Due to some heavy hits from linkage at reddit.com and the Chron.com opinion page, today B&E passed the hundred-thousand mark in visits (since adding the Sitemeter tracker about a year after this blog was born), a few days ahead of schedule.

Thanks for the love, everybody.

Four MoFo Years (from 2010)

No MoFo way:

When asked whether the gubernatorial field would include Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and himself, Mr. Perry responded , "I don't know about them, but it will be Perry in 2010."

"I don't know about the other two. You need to ask them."

Oh they're gunning for ya, Govnah.

Sixty-one percent of Texans sent you a message in 2006. It's not surprising that you don't get it even today.

Kay Bailey says publicly:

"I am encouraged by the growing number of Texans asking me to return home to run for Governor to provide leadership for our state. It is too early to make an announcement about the 2010 race. Right now I remain committed to serving the people of Texas in the United States Senate and helping our Republican candidates win crucial elections this fall."

Kay Bailey un-publicly:

Hutchison has spent the last several months privately assuring supporters that she will run for Governor in 2010.

Bring it on, MoFos. And pack plenty of Aqua-Net.

On Miles and Vo

Since it's been so long since Greg "Rhymes With Hate" called me out about this, he may be thinking I wasn't ever going to say something about it.

Truthfully, the sadness that I feel at the self-inflicted destruction of these two men makes me want to give up on offline political activism.

Like John, I walked for Borris, folded letters for Borris, put out signs and worked polls for Borris. I went over to the Capitol to see him (on his dime, twice). I lobbied his office staff for Planned Parenthood ( ...not that I had to. He was a far cry from the once and future state representative on this issue -- as with every other). I was close friends with one of his local community liasons. In turn, I was humbled when he nominated and then presented me publicly with a community leadership award from the Texas Black Legislative Caucus in 2007.

I had no greater hopes for a politician than those I had for Borris Miles. I saw a man who was destined to become a leader in Texas. And I wasn't the only one, either.

Hubert Vo is a classic American success story, an immigrant who worked hard, built a fortune, challenged the most entrenched of powers, and won.

But both men have rapidly unraveled their political careers in infamous and and equally public demonstrations of repetitively bad judgments.

They didn't so much embarrass me as they did themselves. They let me down, sure, but that's far from the greatest damage done. Miles' political career is probably over even if he avoids a guilty verdict; Vo may still remain in the Texas Legislature although I wouldn't make book on it. The electorate has demonstrated no patience and even less forgiveness of ethical trangressions, and rightly so.

I just expect more from our side, and these men deflated those expectations. They failed themselves and their family and friends and thier constituents, and they have left a stain on the Houston Democratic caucus.

Thye failed a crucial test of leadership, which is a great loss for them. Somewhat less so for the rest of us, though still significant. It stings a little.

Personally I expect them to recover. Miles has precarious health, so I would prefer to see him concentrate on his personal life going forward, staying out of the public eye. Both men are comfortable financially and can do more to encourage other leaders in their respective communities to take the torch they have dropped and carry it forward.

And I am forced to be more cautious in whom I invest my expectations. Or hopes, or whatever you choose to call it.

ABC's sham of a 'debate'

Forty-five minutes and I finally turned away. Not a single issue or question of substance asked by cretins Gibson and Snufflelufagus. "Bitter-gate", "Sniper-gate", flag pins, Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, and just before I switched, the potential travesty of raising the capital gains tax.

Nothing about the wars, nothing about the economy, nothing about health care. No mention of the mortgage crisis, or $4.00 a gallon gasoline, or the recession we're currently entering, for the entire first half of last night's debate. Not a word about torture, or the plummeting value of the dollar, or global warming.

It was FOX news at its finest on ABC. I'm not the only one who noticed it, either:

In perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years, ABC News hosts Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous focused mainly on trivial issues as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama faced off in Philadelphia.

It didn't take long for the debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday night to turn to God and guns, small-town values and political opportunism.

A dash of bitterness, too.

Reflecting what seemed to be the main consensus of the night - that ABC botched this debate, big time - Charlie Gibson tells the crowd there will be one more, superfluous commercial break of the night and is subsequently jeered.

"Oh..." he declares, hands raised in defense. "The crowd is turning on me, the crowd is turning on me."

Sorry I missed that. More from Tom Shales, the media critic at the WaPo:

When Barack Obama met Hillary Clinton for another televised Democratic candidates' debate last night, it was more than a step forward in the 2008 presidential election. It was another step downward for network news -- in particular ABC News, which hosted the debate from Philadelphia and whose usually dependable anchors, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, turned in shoddy, despicable performances.

For the first 52 minutes of the two-hour, commercial-crammed show, Gibson and Stephanopoulos dwelled entirely on specious and gossipy trivia that already has been hashed and rehashed, in the hope of getting the candidates to claw at one another over disputes that are no longer news. Some were barely news to begin with.

The fact is, cable networks CNN and MSNBC both did better jobs with earlier candidate debates. Also, neither of those cable networks, if memory serves, rushed to a commercial break just five minutes into the proceedings, after giving each candidate a tiny, token moment to make an opening statement. Cable news is indeed taking over from network news, and merely by being competent.

TIME:

At a time of foreign wars, economic collapse and environmental peril, the cringe-worthy first half of the debate focused on such crucial matters as Senator Obama's comments about rural bitterness, his former pastor, an obscure sixties radical with whom he was allegedly "friendly," and the burning constitutional question of why he doesn't wear an American flag pin on his lapel — with a single detour into Senator Hillary Clinton's yarn about sniper fire in Tuzla. Apparently, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos ran out of time before they could ask Obama why he's such a lousy bowler.

And on and on it goes.

I never want to see another disgraceful display like that ever again. Our corporate media parading around in their finest tabloid/yellow journalism costumes is a disgusting, revolting spectacle.

San Jacinto Day, April 21

I'm taking the day off and going next week.

The Official San Jacinto Day Ceremony, commemorating the 172nd Anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto, will occur on Monday, April 21, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. at the San Jacinto Monument, San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. The principal speaker will be Jesús F. de la Teja, Ph.D., Texas State Historian. The Master of Ceremonies will be Ron Stone, Jr. A musical prelude will be provided by the La Porte High School Wind Ensemble.

* The Daughters of the Republic of Texas will present Scholarships to winners of their essay contest.
* The Sons of the Republic of Texas will present Scholarships to winners of their essay contest.
* Awards will be presented sailors from the U.S.S. SAN JACINTO and the U.S.S. TEXAS
* General Houston's Battle Report.
* Salute by the Texas Army.
* Laying of Commemorative Wreath.

Oh yeah: a re-enactment of the battle as part of the San Jacinto Festival is set for Saturday, April 26.

Hart InterCivic attempts hostile takeover of Sequoia

Brad Friedman:

As if Sequoia Voting Systems doesn't have enough trouble already, the company now needs some $2 million dollars in cash... quickly. Without it, it is likely to be subsumed by one of its nearest competitors, Hart InterCivic of Austin, as soon as next Tuesday, The BRAD BLOG has learned.

In what could well be a major shift on the American election industry landscape --- and certainly on elections themselves in dozens of states across the country --- voting machine company Hart InterCivic informed the current owners of the beleaguered Sequoia of their intention to acquire ownership of the company in a move which could take effect as early as next week. ...

Sequoia is believed by election experts to be this country's third largest voting machine company, followed by Hart. The combined operation, should the takeover be completed, could well create a new powerhouse in the industry, displacing #2 Diebold/Premier, and coming up just behind the country's currently largest election vendor, ES&S.

Last night in a interview on KPFT, Friedman revealed that Sequoia has recently secured a $100 million contract with New York to be the e-voting vendor of record for the Empire State, which is why -- coupled with their current cash crunch -- they are such an attractive takeover target.

But while Sequoia faces a plethora of legal liabilities concerning their oft-failed voting systems, Hart InterCivic faces its own share of challenges with a pending --- and damning --- federal fraud/qui tam suit against the company, as unsealed late last month. Moreover, Hart's acquisition plan could face scrutiny from members of Congress and Treasury Department officials, as well as states across the country who thought they had turned over control of their elections to Sequoia, only to soon learn there will be a new owner, not of their choosing, of the secret software and devices which determine the results of their public elections. ...

The news will likely be of particular interest to SF, NY and a host of jurisdictions around the country who have recently chosen to do business with Sequoia, rather than Hart --- a company which, among other problems, now has a serious federal whistleblower suit hanging over their head, alleging all manner of false claims and other criminal behavior --- but who now may be forced to deal with a new corporate entity whether they originally agreed to that or not.

Ah, yes. Hart's whistleblower: William Singer. From the legal complaint (.pdf, 45 pages, excerpt below from page 2):

Mr. Singer frequently accompanied Hart representatives to perform demonstrations, testing, and support maintenance of the machines in various locations, and thus heard firsthand a number of misstatements made by Hart in its attempts to win voting system contracts, as well as misstatements made to conceal the voting machines’ frailties and vulnerabilities. In January 2004, Mr. Singer resigned from Hart under protest, citing many of the fraudulent acts and misrepresentations giving rise to this action. In July 2004, Mr. Singer wrote the Secretaries of State for the States of Texas and Ohio, to alert them to Hart’s misconduct. He received no substantive response. Mr. Singer provided discrete bits of information to the press in hopes of attracting attention to Hart’s misconduct. Having “accomplished nothing” in Mr. Singer’s words, he decided to seek legal redress.

Money shot:

A computer scientist who is familiar with most of America's e-voting systems recently told us that he has come to understand that, of all of the voting systems out there, ironically enough, Hart's systems, which have gotten far less attention in the media than those made by Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia over the years, may, in fact, "be the most insecure of them all" due to their particular architecture.

Never Forget: our soldiers in Iraq are fighting for our freedom. I read these words often as they appear in the comments section of the Houston Chronicle, conservative blogs, and in other online fora I frequent. They are posted there by allegedly patriotic conservatives who remain in full-throated support of the war and the attendant torture of "foreigners" as well as the wiretapping of Americans in order to keep us safe.

The right to have our vote count as we intended it, and for that to be verifiable, is one of those liberties. Presumably.