iPad. Mini or maxi?

"Dude, you're NOT gettin' a Dell, you're gettin' a ... feminine hygiene product that resembles a Kindle. Or maybe a giant iPhone."

State of the Union toons

TeaBuggin' *updated*

Anti-ACORN scam artist and 'pimp' James O'Keefe was arrested yesterday doing his best Watergate 'plumber' impersonation:

(O'Keefe and three other men) were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses and attempting to gain access to (Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu)’s office by posing as telephone repairmen, according to a copy of an FBI affidavit unsealed Tuesday.


The complaint said that O’Keefe was waiting in the office when Flanagan and Basel each entered the premises, wearing light green fluorescent vests, denim paints and blue work shirts, tool belts and hard-hats. They informed a member of Landrieu’s staff that they were telephone repairmen and requested access to the main telephone at the reception desk.


At that point, the two men allegedly attempted to manipulate telephones and accessed the telephone closet, saying they needed to work on the entire system. The men, who said they left their credentials in their vehicles, were arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service soon afterward. O’Keefe, who had been filming the two men on his cell phone camera, was allegedly involved with planning, coordination, and preparation of the operation, according to an affidavit signed by Steven Rayes, special agent at the FBI.

O'Keefe has been praised by FOX, lauded by conservative-freak-blogger Andrew Breitbart (who was in Austin over the past weekend with other right-wing bloggers/gun nuts lovingly fondling Rick Perry's pistol) and hailed even by our own Sugar Land Congressman Pete Olson, who introduced a House resolution commending O'Keefe for "setting an example for concerned citizens across America" and was "owed a debt of gratitude by the people of the United States" -- a resolution joined by his fellow Republican goons Joe Barton, John Carter, Michael Conaway, John Culberson, Louie Gohmert, Kay Granger, Ralph Hall, and Kenny Marchant.

All of whom could not comment because they are busy running in the opposite direction at the moment. Except for that criminally insane lunatic Breitbart.

Keep an eye out for their continuing attempts in coming days to spin this scandal away.

Update: Rachel Maddow's segment from her show last night, exposing additional angles ...



Update: More all over the InterTubes, but MOMocrats has a good collection of links, including some dope on the getaway car driver/listening device operator Stan Dai, who probably met O'Keefe at a Leadership Institute get-together, and The Daily Hurricane samples liberally from Governor MoFo's right-wing-blog/gun nut fest in Austin last weekend.

Update II: Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin have begun the recriminations.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance congratulates the city of New Orleans for its first Super Bowl as it provides an instant replay of its blog highlights for the week.

Something stinks about the recent TCEQ Barnett Shale air quality testing in Fort Worth and in Flower Mound. It's all in Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Off the Kuff looked at a report on the economic impact of dropouts.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme sympathizes with Lamar Smith's constituents who were told they must contact Smith's office if they want him to stop illegally calling their cellphones. Smith's breaking the law and his solution is to make his constituents ask him to stop.

At Texas Vox we're pleased as punch to see that Austin isn't alone in preparing for a clean energy future; Portland General Electric plans to shut down its coal plant by 2020!

WhosPlayin reposted a article from 2007 about the corporation: Don't hate the player, change the game, which is especially apropos considering the news this past week.

A Republican in Democrat's clothing tries to ride into office in Dallas County. SDEC members and precinct chairs say 'no way' to this Eagle Forum darling at The Texas Cloverleaf.

Citizens of Texas say &^%$ Governor Perry! at Bay Area Houston for screwing up the state after ten years. Add your own!

WCNews at Eye On Williamson takes a glass half-full approach in analyzing the muffed election last week. Let's HOPE it's seen as a wake up call.

Right-wing bloggers gathered in Austin to worship Rick Perry's pistol. Seriously. Read the entire revolting display of sycophancy at Brains and Eggs.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is continually amazed at the general ignorance concerning the actual words in the US Constitution. Interpretations abound from the mouths of people who have never read the document, or do not comprehend the words in context. Embellishments and fantasy surrounding the Consitution are spoken every day. What is especially disturbing is how these fantasies infiltrate America's politics. To be elected in some regions, a politician must fertilize the fantasy. Perspective must return to how Americans regard the Law of the Land: American Theocracy divorces US Constitution, promotes terrorism.

Over at TexasKaos, Boadicea offers a little not-so-subtle advice to Democrats who find themselves unmanned by the events of last week. She calls it Dear Democrats: Balls. Trust me, you will like the video she found to illustrate her point!

Neil at Texas Liberal made note of the fact that just two months remain before his tenth wedding anniversary. Neil is damned glad about his marriage. Neil is not certain he could advocate for liberal causes if he did not have such a solid personal relationship in his life to help him manage his frequent anger at the world. The personal and the private are often connected in many ways that we may not often consider.

Caption Kay Bailey and the Quaker Oats Man

Here, I'll get us started:

"Speaking of Haiti ... what color did you re-do your bathroom in?"

"I know what it looks like, but I'm telling you it's an IED."

"I appear to have killed your dog. But really, isn't it better off anyway?"

"Next on the History Channel: 'When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth'"

"Come gaze into our little pond of fathomless corruption, Senator ..."

"How long do you think he will vomit like that?" ...
"I can't say. He went for 67 minutes when we made him buy the Rangers."

========

* Inspired here. Sorry, but comments are F'd up thanks to Haloscan and Blogger. Will continue working on a fix.

Gov. Perry creates jobs for Texas felons

Thanks, Governor Perry:

Gov. Rick Perry's campaign has unknowingly paid convicted felons as part-time workers under its incentive program to turn out voters for the Republican primary.

The campaign lists about 300 part-time workers on the financial disclosure forms it filed with the state, recruits under the "Perry Home Headquarters" program that pays people to get others to sign up as a Perry supporter and pledge to vote. A handful have criminal histories, a Dallas Morning News review shows.

No really, THANKS! I think it's great that he's giving these people opportunities in this economy when they would have few even in a good one.

"People in life make mistakes," said Perry spokesman Mark Miner. "It doesn't mean they can't get a second chance and work hard. That's what these people are doing. They are out there trying to change their lives and make a difference."

Hear, hear! (Spin, spin.)

Beyond that, the program has become a money-making opportunity, especially for those with extensive social networking profiles. Some may be in it more for the cash than the candidate. For instance, one lists herself as a Facebook fan of President Barack Obama, an unlikely political pairing.

Well maybe she's, you know, just another disillusioned Democrat.

...Joshua Furrh of Fort Worth, convicted of possession of a controlled substance and sentence to three years probation in 2007, was paid $480 by the Perry campaign.

He acknowledged that he was on probation but declined to discuss his case any further or to talk about the Perry program.

"He's going to make a great governor, again," Furrh said.

Good on ya, buddy. Don't buy any more dope with it.

Enterprising workers use their Twitter and Facebook accounts to help them recruit. Shaniqua Curry of Denton earned $3,420 for her effort, which included a plaintive Twitter plea: "HELP ME RAISE MONEY FOR MY NEXT CAR!!! COPY, PASTE, AND SIGN UP TO SUPPORT RICK PERRY!" the tweet read.

Maybe Shaniqua can cross-sell with her Avon or Amway network. Yeah, that's the ticket!

"As a reminder, you have the potential to receive an additional $20 for each headquarter that fulfills their commitments of voting early in the primary (Feb. 16-26) and recruiting 11 voters," wrote Elyse Derian, the Houston regional director for Perry's campaign. "Please take these next few weeks to encourage your headquarters to recruit those 11 individuals to commit to vote!"

Needing to focus on getting voters to the polls, the Perry campaign scrapped part of its incentive pay.

"For those of you that are being compensated for your work, the campaign will not compensate you from this point forward for any new" recruiters that are brought in, Derian wrote this month. "However, the bonus for getting your [recruiters] to identify and turn out 11 registered voters is still as is."

Derian also urged the workers to make sure the people they recruited were registered to vote. Many of the names turned in by the part-time workers were either not registered to vote or lived outside of Texas.

Campaign officials remain confident the program will help Perry at the polls.

"It's doing what we said it would do," Miner said. "When you're taking on an unprecedented effort like this, there is always room to grow."

Who wants to be a millionaire? Thanks again, Governor Perry!

(You don't think any of 'em could also be working for ACORN, do you?)

Extra Sunday Funnies