39%: "most likely to secede"

I hope he takes all of these people with him:

Behind a hotel ballroom’s closed doors Thursday, some of Texas’ most conservative Christian ministers will have exclusive access to Gov. Rick Perry and other top elected Republican officials so pastors can “engage our leaders on behalf of Texas families and our God.”

The Texas Pastor Council event follows closely on the heels of Perry’s rallying with anti-tax activists to foment states’ rights and to openly talk about the danger of the union dissolving.

The gathering also is reminiscent of Restoration Project convocations of ministers in 2005 that allowed Perry to speak privately to pastors as a prelude to his run for re-election the following year.

“We just historically — in order to keep the climate comfortable and relaxed, have a good dialogue and interaction — decided not to have that extra pressure of having the press there,” said Dave Welch, executive director of the U.S. Pastor Council and an organizer of the event. He added the group has “nothing to hide.”

The meeting is being promoted to ministers as a day of special access to the governor in which state leaders “are convening behind the city walls” to engage in discussion for families and God, according to pamphlets.

“These pastor policy briefings behind closed doors only seem to pop up when Governor Perry is running in a contested election for governor,” said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which advocates separation of church and state.

I'm sure they will all pray for guidance in the coming election season, turn out the faithful, and sweep him to victory once more. Just hope it's as the president of a rogue nation-state (a "whole 'nother country" as the promotional ads once proclaimed) and not any part of the USA in which I live.

Along with Perry, the group also will hear from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Attorney General Greg Abbott, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Texas Supreme Court Justice Dale Wainwright.

Representatives for Perry, Dewhurst and Abbott said the elected officials were honored to be invited, and it was up to the Pastor Council as to whether the meeting was open to observers. ...

The featured luncheon speaker for the meeting is Rick Scarborough, president of Vision America, who has been critical of Hutchison.

Vision America also has put out a pamphlet praising Perry as being against abortion while likening Hutchison’s position to that of President Barack Obama. Hutchison has an anti-abortion voting record but supports the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

You may recall Pastor Scarborough's informative seminars on the "War on Christians" he was 'moderating' way back in 2006. Or his teaching that you can spot an evil homosexual just by the look on their face, and that the 1992 RNC convention in Houston was plagued by violent, rioting faggots.

Yeah, I sure had forgotten about all that. Then again, we were living in Florida in 1992 (which also carried for Herbert Walker). But before this digresssion spins out, let's return to the subject of the Texas Republicans, their hard-right-with-God events, and its prospects for their future -- as in 2010.

Are there still enough of these freaks to keep it all-GOP in Texas next year? Unfortunately, probably so. Why else would Bill White and John Sharp be ducking a fall challenge to Rick Perry? Because it's Kay Bailey they are actually terrified of, you say?

They'd rather compete with each other in an open primary scrum that also pits them against Dewhurst and Abbott and Roger and Michael Williams for the chance to lose to one of those in a run-off?

And is that why Tom Schieffer is running for governor -- because Texas Democrats need a candidate to the right of Sharp and White?

Cheney surges ahead in "Douchebag" competition

All this plaintive whining from the guy who claimed that he had the fourth branch power to unilaterally declassify information. And there he was, sitting on all that proof of the effectiveness of their program all that time! What a humble guy!

He's also directly at odds with all his former neo-con pals, like Michael Hayden who has gone to great lengths to tell the world that any release of this information will surely result in all of us being murdered in our beds. I guess they're not sharing talking points any more.

Who's up to bat tomorrow?

Gingrich takes early lead in "Douchebag of the Week"

More on this constant, incessant, processed conservative poutrage from jobsanger.

"Can they top last week for crazy" Wrangle

No, really. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and even Michele Bachmann were overshadowed in insanity by our very own Governor AMF, who got so lathered at a teabagging party that he threatened to secede from the union. Pirates are making headlines. What century are we in? Need a 21st-century update? Here's this week's Texas Progressive Alliance blog round-up.

BossKitty at TruthHugger finds Texas Agencies 'undersight' totally unacceptable. Texas Agencies that toss 'seemingly viable' programs to the wind and provide no follow up to insure integrity are the fault of Texas legislators. Consolidation of some Agencies, specifically Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation (TDMHMR), eliminated follow up after merging with Department of Aging and Disability Services. Follow the bread crumbs: Texas To Students With Disabilities, Educate Yourself or Become Slave Labor.

The House passed its budget! Somewhat surprisingly, as Off the Kuff notes, it doesn't suck.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes that the Obama administration is doing the hard work to solve problems at our border. The right wingers, on the other hand, see only brown and white.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson points to the most recent nonsense from our member of Congress in TX-31, John Carter and right-wing extremists.

Justin at AAA-Fund Blog explores the possible Rice ­-Baylor College of Medicine merger.

Mayor McSleaze took issue with Governor 39%'s assertion that Texas could secede from the United States. Well, not so much 'took issue with' as 'completely showed to be false'. Check it out at McBlogger.

WhosPlayin attended local "TEA Party" gathering in Lewisville and brought back some videos.

It's "secede", not "suckseed", you morons. What is PDiddie at Brains and Eggs referring to?

Over at TexasKaos, Libby Shaw explains how Governor 39% got confused with a small rodent that decided to tangle with an electric current, and what has happened since. Check it out at Rick Perry, Gerbils and Electric Wires

Neil at Texas Liberal writes a comprehensive overview of the elections in India.

Extra Sunday Funnies (Tea Bag Spelling Bee Edition)

Yankee Stadium is at once both the best and worst of America

Indicative of either the finest demonstration of American capitalism (at an especially difficult time for American capitalism) ... or the most recent demonstration of the excesses of American capitalism. You decide:

=======================

Let’s start with the popcorn. It is unfair to call it a tub of popcorn, as they do at the new Yankee Stadium. Perhaps a trough of popcorn, or a tank of popcorn, and, at 2,473 calories, definitely a gutbuster of popcorn. All around the newest theater of excess are such indulgences, culinary and otherwise, this particular caloric dirty bomb available for $12.

That’s the thing about the new Yankee Stadium: Not only is it the biggest, the newest, the most expensive and the self-described best – the homage to everything that was America – it gets away with it, charm intact, for one simple reason.

The New York Yankees are unapologetic in their embrace of that culture. They are the canyon of popcorn and the 1,410-calorie plate of nachos and the 1,360-calorie bag of peanuts and the 1,341-calorie cup of cheese fries, and their fans are still begging for a heart attack.

Which made the official christening of the $1.5 billion stadium Thursday afternoon an event laden with grins and excitement (and arterial plaque buildup), even as the Cleveland Indians stomped the Yankees, 10-2. More than halfway through April, the Yankees finally had their home opener, and any of the 48,271 present can attest that the team’s new dwelling lived up to its billing, good and bad.

It’s unclear whether Yankee Stadium wants to be a ballpark with killer amenities or a mall with a baseball field in the middle. The inside of the stadium is freakishly loyal to its predecessor, like twins who look identical but are actually fraternal. The differences are ornamental, and because of its classic look, the initial thought is: Really, $1.5 billion? And you didn’t reinvent the baseball stadium like Camden Yards in 1993? The toilet seats are definitely gold-plated, right?

One trip around the concourse, and suddenly the cost makes more sense. It is a sea of goods, the free market through a Yankee kaleidoscope, a study in old-fashioned gluttony. It is a cheesesteak line 50 people deep, and a beer garden serving 14 sudsy favorites, and pink foam fingers next to pink hats with flowers alongside pink hats with glitter-covered NY logos.

Next to the hat wall, where more than 100 styles are available, stood Kelley Rutkowski, a 23-year-old from New Jersey. She already had wrecked her diet for the day with the nachos and was inclined to do similar damage with her credit card, because her seat happened to be in the shade, and she was chilly. She found a hooded sweatshirt adorned with rhinestones. She looked at the price tag: $125. Rutkowski quickly summoned David Sidibe, a young salesman.

“Those are diamonds, right?” she said.

Sidibe’s eyes apologized.

“I literally can’t afford to keep warm at this game,” Rutkowski said. “Can I just tell you, David, this is a sin. I’m freaking freezing, and there’s no way I’m spending $125 on a freaking sweatshirt, because that’s how this country got into this mess.”

Never have $125 hoodies been mentioned alongside credit-default swaps and subprime mortgages. Indeed, a day of firsts, from that to Johnny Damon slicing the first hit into center field and Jorge Posada mashing the first home run into the new Monument Park in center.

“I knew that when I came here,” Rutkowski said, “I was going to spend a bunch of money I don’t have.”

Rutkowski didn’t give in to the hoodie’s 74 rhinestones, principle preventing her from brandishing her MasterCard. Others did, and the Yankees reaped untold millions in merchandise and concession sales. Forget the competitive advantage given them by location and television rights; the Yankees’ revenues from the vendors and the tickets that range up to $2,625 for the front row will do plenty to cover a $200 million payroll.

All because people buy into what the Yankees sell. It’s a lifestyle based around winning, and how doing so demands the biggest, newest and best. Depending on the perspective, either the Yankees are profiteers and the fans suckers, or both are willing participants in a time-honored waltz: pure commercialism.

Otherwise, the Yankees would still be at the old stadium, American sports’ truest cauldron of history. It remains standing next door and over the next few years will be picked apart by the atom and sold. And if the Yankees could split those atoms and peddle each for double, surely they would.

Now, instead of the filth and funk of an 85-year-old stadium, the Yankees offer pears. Three kinds. And three varieties of apples, too. And tangerines and oranges and bananas, all for sale at the farmer’s market, which is near the Legends Suite Club, with its folded napkins, polished silverware and vases housing flowers. And, for Ruth and Mickey and Joe D’s sake, the Lobel’s stand that sells hunks of uncooked meat. In a stadium. Four ribeyes for $120.

It’s one thing to push an island of popcorn. But beef? Raw beef? Deep down, beneath the Yankees’ money-making behemoth, could there exist the slightest sliver of guilt for something as disturbing as seeing dry-aged beef on display in a ballpark?

Nope. Not an iota. And it’s edifying, in a way, that the Yankees stayed true to themselves and their believers, responsibility be damned. It’s the American way, after all.

“This is going to stand the test of time,” Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon said. “The economy will one day get right. So in time, people will look at this and say it’s definitely worth it.”

They’ll look at the Great Hall, ultimately the stadium showpiece, a meeting place festooned with vertical banners of Yankees greats. It’s a long corridor walled with impossibly large pieces of limestone and granite, the sort that recall an opulent style abandoned long ago. Few are willing to spend the necessary money for such quality.

Why do the Yankees? It’s who they are. Another stop in the gift shop spells it out explicitly. A different hooded sweatshirt, one without rhinestones, is available for $70. On the front it reads YANKEES UNIVERSE, a friendly reminder for those who may have forgotten.

Sunday Funnies

Not with either one of them in office, we can't

Can Texas "succeed"? Dewhurst says there's no serious thought about it. Rick Perry thinks it's still an open question. Gardner Selby and the Statesman have the evidence:



And here I thought I was already as embarrassed as I could possibly be of our Republican representatives.

Rick Perry Removed from Office (Depot)

By the legislature, by God:

The Texas House Friday voted to drain most of GOP Gov. Rick Perry’s office budget and instead spend the money on community mental health crisis services and veterans’ services.

The move, which came during House debate on a $178.4 billion proposal for the two-year period starting Sept. 1, immediately drew a reference to Perry’s recent comments about Texas’ ability to secede from the union. The comments have drawn national attention and some lawmakers’ ire.

“Two days after the governor threatens secession, the House zeroes out his budget,” said Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, House Appropriations Committee vice chairman.

Molly Ivins just did a few spins.

The House action came a day after the Senate rebuffed Perry’s wishes on another matter, by voting for legislation that would allow Texas to take more than half a billion dollars in economic stimulus funds for unemployment benefits. Perry opposes program changes that Texas would have to make to get the money.

In the House, the Houston lawmakers who initiated the near-emptying of Perry’s budget said it wasn’t a slap at him. They said they just wanted to fund crucial programs.

“I need the money. I don’t care where I get it,” said Rep. John Davis, R-Houston, who offered the proposal to take $18.5 million from Perry’s office and spend it on mental health services that divert people from jails and emergency rooms. “These people need help.”

John Davis said that?

And here I was wondering what the Republicans were going to do to top the freak week just passed.

39% is not enough to go anywhere

Except to hell.



Christ, even original Republican nutjob Tom Delay just told Chris Matthews a moment ago that Texas cannot secede.

Governor MoFo has just sailed into The Top Five Conservative Idiots of the Week. He's at least number three (behind Michele Bachmann and Glenn Beck) with a bullet.

Kinky gets ready to run

And he's getting some significant progressive assistance this time:

Humorist and author Kinky Friedman is forming a political committee to begin raising money for a possible second run for Texas governor.

Friedman said today he will travel the state for several months talking to Texans about whether to enter the Democratic primary in 2010. He ran unsuccessfully as an independent in 2006, when Texas Gov. Rick Perry was re-elected a second time.

San Antonio attorney and Friedman adviser Abel Dominguez will serve as treasurer of the campaign committee, called “Texans for Kinky.”

Dominguez orchestrated Victor Morales’ victory in the 1996 Democratic U.S. Senate primary. Former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower also is helping Friedman.

TPA blog brethren Charles, Vince, Matt, and K-T quickly weighed in, negatively.

Ted is enthused again.

As previously posted, I'm going to watch how this plays out.

Vasquez staff members offer misleading testimony

Let's start with Alan Bernstein:

Any honeymoon between (Texas) Democrats and the new Harris County voter registrar ended suddenly today.

Democratic state Reps. Garnet Coleman and Ana Hernandez of Houston said Leo Vasquez, who is tax assessor-collector and voter registration chief, is responsible for staffers who allegedly misled state legislators considering whether to require voters to offer more proof of identification before casting ballots.

“It is up to (Vasquez) to clean up his office,” Coleman and Hernandez said in a news media handout. “Otherwise, Leo needs to go.”

What's the issue here?

The Democrats today zeroed in on Hammerlein’s legislative testimony, several hours into hearing that ran past midnight, that thousands of Harris County residents who registered to vote on time were not eligible to participate in early voting two weeks later because they applied relatively late.

Hammerlein acknowledged today that his statement was wrong and said it was due to the strange hour rather than any attempt to mislead the Legislature.

Interesting. Vasquez apparently got reactionary and overly defensive about it:

(Vasquez) said today that testimony in Austin last week on the “voter ID” bill by ... Hammerlein and Ed Johnson was no partisan move. The pair, called to testify by Republican lawmakers, took no position on the bill and provided facts as requested, Vasquez said.

Coleman and Hernandez never have taken their concerns to him, Vasquez said, and they owe his staffers an apology for making baseless allegations.

More interesting. A catfight of sorts has erupted. Google searches for more reporting about this story seem a little thin at the moment. I'd like to know more, and if you do, post a link in the comments.

Update: Courtesy Kuffner, here's the full statement outlining the complaint from Coleman and Hernandez. And Vince has some video of the testimony in question.