Last Week's Wrangle

Coming a little later than usual here due to offline impositions previously mentioned. Here is this week's roundup of blog highlights.

From TXsharon at Bluedaze, EPA testing has now confirmed wells are contaminated with various substances connected with gas drilling--proof that hydraulic fracturing contaminates our drinking water. Even Motley Fool supports the FRAC Act and says industry is "crying wolf."

Should Texans care about NJ? The Texas Cloverleaf examines why the GOP thinks we should.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme says a 'Wise Latina' kicks Republican butt once again.

For a long time it has been universally agreed upon that people should engage in end-of-life planning, at least until right-wing pundits made such discussions a target of their battle against health care reform. Xanthippas at Three Wise Men takes aim at these critics, and the very real harm they do to people with their dishonest and partisan attacks.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson shows why everyone must call their House representatives and senators because It's time to treat America's health care emergency.

Off the Kuff spent the week following the Sharon Keller trial. He wasn't impressed by her defense.

Over at TexasKaos, jaxpagan gets us the scoop on Ted Poe's town hall meeting in a funeral parlor. Snark , with a wicked point!

At McBlogger, Harry Balczak takes a few moments to tell us what he thinks about Whole Foods and its 'health care for all' hating CEO.

Neil at Texas Liberal is back from a two-week vacation that took him to Chicago, Kenosha, Wisconsin, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Dayton, Ohio and northern Kentucky. This itinerary is consistent with a post he made earlier this summer encouraging folks to visit the industrial midwest. With vacation over, it's time now to think of school and swine flu. It sure would help if more working people had paid sick days to help manage getting sick themselves and having kids sick at home.

John Coby at Bay Area Houston has some questions to ask Congressman Pete Olson at his town hall mtg on Aug 29.

Some of the very worst of Texas was on full display last week, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs documented the atrocities.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is still appalled at the chaos and conflict demonstrated by a Bi-Polar America trying to decide Who is Worthy of a Healthy Life and Who is Not.

Edward Kennedy 1932 - 2009

Our lion sleeps now.


Edward Kennedy leaves Rice University during a visit to local college campuses to campaign for his brother John F. Kennedy, Oct. 1960.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die."


“An important chapter in our history has come to an end. Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States senator of our time.” -- President Barack Obama


"(He) need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved... him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world."

In Miami

...for the funeral service for Mrs. Diddie's mother, Nilda Behar-Ojalvo. Somewhat light and irregular posting ahead without the laptop, but a nice business center at the Hilton Maimi Airport makes this one possible.

(Thanks in advance for your kind wishes.)

More examples of Texas' worst on display

-- Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane, speaking at a "rally" of energy industry employees bussed to the event on company time, attacked climate change legislation pending in Congress, saying "We need to preserve this way of life," apparently referring not to his status as a billionaire but to low-cost fuel.

Among some of the actual activists denied entry were the conservatives associated with Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, who were turned away for carrying American flags.

Watch the video, courtesy TexasVox:



The American Petroleum Institute is "organizing" these Astroturf events across the country.

Update: More must see-video in these two posts from TexasVox.

-- The State Board of Education embarrasses us all once again.

Texas high school students would learn about such significant individuals and milestones of conservative politics as Newt Gingrich and the rise of the Moral Majority — but nothing about liberals — under the first draft of new standards for public school history textbooks. ...

The standards, which the board will decide next spring, will influence new history, civics and geography textbooks.

The first draft for proposed standards in United States History Studies Since Reconstruction says students should be expected “to identify significant conservative advocacy organizations and individuals, such as Newt Gingrich, Phyllis Schlafly and the Moral Majority.”

Remarkably, among those feeling shamed number some Republican members of the SBOE (beware the irony at the end of the excerpt):

“It is hard to believe that a majority of the writing team would approve of such wording,” said Terri Leo, R-Spring. “It's not even a representative selection of the conservative movement, and it is inappropriate.”

Another board conservative, Ken Mercer, R-San Antonio, thinks students should study both sides to “see what the differences are and be able to define those differences.”

He would add James Dobson's Focus on the Family, conservative talk show host Sean Hannity and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to the list of conservatives. Others have proposed adding talk show host Rush Limbaugh and the National Rifle Association.

Earlier this year, as ThinkProgress noted, a panel of right-wing “experts” produced a report urging the committee to remove biographies of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen F. Austin, and César Chávez and replace them with the “motivational role the Bible and the Christian faith played in the settling of the original colonies.”

Earlier this week, Keith Olbermann noted that Christianity is now required curricula in Texas public schools, courtesy the Texas legislature and attorney general Greg Abbott.

And the cries for Texas secession grow louder -- from the rest of the United States.

Friday Health Care Reform Funnies

Killer's defense rests

Hard to characterize this obnoxious aggression as "defense":

“Judge Keller didn't close the court to anybody,” said Chip Babcock, Keller's attorney. “Michael Richard's lawyers never knocked on the right doors and they gave up.”

Screw you, Chip. Right in your Swiss bank account.

See, that's the problem with people who think they're above the law, that favor judicial procedure over actual justice.

If the facts are as reported, Judge Keller should be removed from the bench. It would show monumental callousness, as well as a fundamental misunderstanding of justice, for a judge to think that a brief delay in closing a court office should take precedence over a motion that raises constitutional objections to an execution. If the facts have been misreported, the impeachment process would allow Judge Keller to set the record straight.

Impeaching a judge is not a step a legislature should take lightly. It is important that judges be insulated from political pressures so they have the independence necessary to administer justice fairly. But judges cannot be allowed to use their extraordinary discretion to deny litigants the fundamentals of due process. That is especially true if the stakes are literally life or death.

Really though, to be fair to Keller, she's just following Supreme Court precedent.

The outcome here won't be known for weeks, even months, but to expect anything more than a whitewash by the ethics panel would simply be naive.

This is Texas, after all.

Update: Charlie's got a good take and some excellent linkage.

Lunch with Tom Schieffer

Yesterday our Houston confederation of progressive bloggers -- Charles, Martha, Jaye, Stace, Greg, John, Neil, David and me -- met with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Schieffer and his communications director (and former Chron hand) Clay Robison.

While I posted this earlier regarding my opinion of the current standings in the race for governor, I found Schieffer hard not to like personally in our two-hour conversation. He has this little Bush problem, though, and nothing I have heard him say yet enables him to get past it. He's earnest and sincere and has some good ideas about what Texas needs to focus on -- education, economy, health care -- that need some fleshing out as to specifics. He's also not visibly perturbed about being challenged on his Democratic bona fides; in fact seems bemused by it. One remark that he made stood out to me in terms of casting aspersions against a primary rival, and that was, quote: "If Democrats nominate someone that does not scare people ...". I couldn't really place the person this was aimed at. Kinky, perhaps? I don't think Kinky scares anyone at all. Ronnie Earle? Earle would energize a Democratic base like Schieffer never will (of course, he'll also add a little gas to the Republican fire -- if you'll be able to tell from all the other crap they'll be throwing on the flames). Who have Democrats nominated in recent years that "scared" people?

My question to him was a hypothetical -- assuming it was offered, would he welcome a W endorsement of his candidacy in the general election -- that Schieffer deftly brushed aside with "He's not going to endorse me". Fair enough, but will you take a large donation from him? Will you ask him to call his sizable donor list on your behalf -- especially if Perry is once again the GOP nominee? Bush owes you a favor somewhere along the line, in my book.

Greg has posted his thoughts about it here, and David also has his take. Update: Kuffner sees it the same as the rest of us.