Friday Postpourri

-- "This Week in Rick Perry's Lies" may have to become a DAILY feature. Did you know the governor called Texas' 46th-ranked health care system "the best in the United States"?

-- Look for weekend postings on Barbara Radnofsky's efforts to wake up Greg Abbott with SueWallStreet.com, as well as the incompetence and willful negligence associated with the attorney general's signature issue, child support collection.

-- I also attended a luncheon sponsored by Houston Votes, which has ambitious plans again this election cycle to register 100,000 disaffected Houstonians in time for them to vote in November. Long post due on their efforts.

-- No sooner did I call Rick Perry a cartoon character than we learned that the Bill White campaign was putting out a casting call for a "clueless" Perry look-alike for some comical campaign ads. I think Josh Brolin -- he also played W in Oliver Stone's movie -- would have been perfect for the role.

--  BP will take a $10 billion tax credit for costs associated with the Gulf oil disaster. Even Goldman Sachs gasped when they heard the news. (Ten billion dollars was the amount of the taxpayer bailout they received.)

-- Time once again to remind our Washington representation to preserve net neutrality. As Al Franken put it:

If no one stops them, how long do you think it will take before four or five mega-corporations effectively control the flow of information in America, not only on television but online. If we don't protect net neutrality now, how long do you think it will take before Comcast/NBC Universal -- or Verizon/CBS Viacom, or AT&T/ABC/DirectTV, or BP/Halliburton/WalMart/Fox/Domino's Pizza -- start favoring its content over everyone else's? How long do you think it will take before the Fox News Web site loads five times faster than Daily Kos?

Top ten signs Republicans will lose the midterms

Though the GOP can rub their flat hooves with glee over Charlie Rangel's ethical troubles (he's no Duke Cunningham or Tom Foley; certainly no Tom DeLay, but FWIW he should still resign from Congress) their opportunities to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory continue to mount. Let's count the ways ...

1. Former 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is still in the national spotlight, meaning that either there are no Republicans more qualified than her, or that she will follow through with her plans to carve off so-called "Palinistas" from the national Republican Party and form her own ultra-conservative political party.

2. Former vice president Dan Quayle believes that the Republicans will make big wins this fall. Given who is making this prediction, it has a lot of Republicans nervous.

3. A lot of the polls showing Republican candidates in the lead were taken by pollsters who "polled" a variety of zoo animals, the majority of which were elephants.

4. Though George W. Bush appears to have quietly retired to his ranch in Crawford, there are rumblings that his book "Decision Points", which will hit shelves this fall, is full of meaningless ramblings about knowing when to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

5. Though President Obama's approval ratings are "only" hovering around 40%, this is pretty good considering that we are in the middle of Great Depression 2.0 and the worst national natural disaster since Godzilla invaded New York has befallen the Gulf coast. However, vice president Joe Biden -- making a characteristic gaffe -- said that his boss's numbers could "go a whole lot lower."

6. Rumors of an alien spaceship landing this summer in Ohio have lead many to conclude that the 2010 midterm elections will be postponed a year so that Congress and the President can prepare for a Martian invasion.

Rest here. In the spirit of bi-partisanship, the ten reasons why Democrats could still choke, including these gems:

2. Odds in Las Vegas are now only 2 to 1 that Democrats will hold onto the House of Representatives, and 3 to 1 that Levi Johnston's marriage to Bristol Palin won't make it to its one year anniversary.

3. Bo the White House dog has held several press conferences in which he has stated his willingness to work with a Republican majority in the Senate.

4. South Carolina Democratic candidate Alvin Greene, who is facing federal obscenity charges amid rumors he is a Republican plant, plans on switching his party affiliation to the newly formed "Greene Party" should he lose in November.

...

6. Lobbyists trying to bribe public officials are, for the first time in four years, spending a slight majority of their money on Republicans instead of Democrats.

Seriously though, if you cannot comprehend the scenario that a change of leadership hands in the House portends, then please don't watch this. You'll have nightmares.

Hey, Greg Abbott! Here's a case of voter fraud

Your only problem is that he is a Republican state senator.

The newest member of the Texas Senate, Brian Douglas Birdwell, voted in the November 2004 presidential election twice, choosing between George W. Bush and John Kerry in Tarrant County, Texas, and again in Prince William County, Va., according to election records in the two states.

Voting in the same election twice is a third-degree felony in Texas.

What's more, Birdwell's record of voting in Virginia from 2004 through 2006 would seem to place his residency in that state, not in Texas, which could imperil his spot in the Legislature. Birdwell voted a Virginia ballot in November 2006; if that's enough to establish him as a Virginia resident, an issue that can only be settled in court, it means he's not eligible to serve in the Texas Senate until at least November 2011.

Abbott, you may recall, has had his goons peeping into little old ladies' bathroom windows in his quest to find any examples of voter fraud in Texas.

"It's a piece of evidence that's hard to refute and usually fatal," says Randall "Buck" Wood, an Austin lawyer and a Democrat respected across the political spectrum for his mastery of election law. The residency question, as Wood sees it, puts the courts in the position of deciding whether someone did something illegal — voting in an election in a place where they don't reside — or simply is ineligible to run in another place because of that vote. He thinks most judges would choose the second option rather than deciding the candidate in question did something criminal. The crime, if there is one, would be voting in Virginia while residing in Texas. Wood thinks a court would most likely see no crime, saying instead that the voter was a Virginia resident and voter who is simply not eligible to run for Texas Senate.

So will Birdwell resign? Will the Texas Attorney General prosecute him whether he does or doesn't? Or will the judge who eventually hears the case do what Buck Wood thinks they will do?

Inquiring minds and all that. Charles Kuffner has more.

Razing Arizona toons and video

Restricting Arizona

Good.

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona's immigration law from taking effect, delivering a last-minute victory to opponents of the crackdown.

The overall law will still take effect Thursday, but without the provisions that angered opponents — including sections that required officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws.

The judge also put on hold parts of the law that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times, and made it illegal for undocumented workers to solicit employment in public places. In addition, the judge blocked officers from making warrantless arrests of suspected illegal immigrants.

"Requiring Arizona law enforcement officials and agencies to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested burdens lawfully-present aliens because their liberty will be restricted while their status is checked," U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ruled.

While the parts of the law Judge Bolton has restricted probably don't pass constitutional muster (thus the reason for the DOJ lawsuit), I would like to see this entire miserable beast put down for good. So that it would chill the efforts to codify discrimination in other states.

"There is a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens under the new (law)," Bolton ruled. "By enforcing this statute, Arizona would impose a 'distinct, unusual and extraordinary' burden on legal resident aliens that only the federal government has the authority to impose."

Well done, Judge Bolton. Now let's see how the bigots respond.

Update II:

"The other side is going to be claiming victory and doing cartwheels in the street, but the reality is that they have to come down from the euphoria and really look at the law," said Jesse Hernandez, chairman of the Arizona Latino Republican Association, a vocal supporter of the law.

Hernandez, a 49-year-old real estate consultant and first-generation American, said the judge's ruling still gives law enforcement the discretion to help enforce immigration law, it just no longer mandates it. His Blackberry buzzed this afternoon as he made plans with his attorney to file a lawsuit to appeal Bolton's decision.

"This is going to end up at the steps of the Supreme Court," Hernandez said. "There's no question about that. This is not a defeat. If anything, I think it's a victory in that the American public is going to wake up and look at what's going on and say, 'Enough is enough,'" Hernandez said. "This is going to frustrate a lot of Americans."

“I am disappointed by Judge Susan Bolton’s ruling,” Gov. Jan Brewer said in a statement. “This fight is far from over. In fact, it is just the beginning, and at the end of what is certain to be a long legal struggle, Arizona will prevail in its right to protect our citizens.

“I have consulted with my legal counsel about our next steps. We will take a close look at every single element Judge Bolton removed from the law, and we will soon file an expedited appeal at the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.”

"The president of the United States and this judge just took the side of illegal immigrants against the American citizenry," said William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee. "America is going to cry out in anger. Our mission is to channel that anger into political activities designed to rebuke the politicians and business leaders and special interest groups behind this invasion. That includes Obama, John McCain, Republican and Democratic candidates."

More reaction from Texas pols at the TexTrib. Houstonians seem divided ...



ACLU of Texas Executive Director Terri Burke:

“Today’s ruling should serve as a warning that similar legislation in Texas will be met with defeat, either in our Legislature or in the court system. Texas has too many far more pressing issues, including an enormous budget deficit, for the state’s lawmakers to be spending their time and energy debating similar legislation –- not to mention committing millions in taxpayer funds on the inevitable litigation that would follow –- on a law that cannot be enforced.”

Rick Perry is like a cartoon governor.

A drugstore cowboy, with a gaggle of Mr. Burnses all around him. The fact that these land deals uncovered by the DMN surprise exactly nobody -- ho hum, another 20-year public servant (sic) made a millionaire -- tells you all you need to know about the state of Texas politics these days.

Three years after Gov. Rick Perry's biggest real estate score, questions persist about whether the governor benefited from favoritism, backroom dealing and influence-buying.

The Dallas Morning News found evidence that Perry's investment was enhanced by a series of professional courtesies and personal favors from friends, campaign donors and the head of a Texas family with a rich history of political power-brokering.

Together they may have enriched Perry by almost $500,000, according to an independent real estate appraisal commissioned by The News.

Really, if this were submitted as a screenplay, the studio moguls would reject it for being too "obvious". That's why it would only work as an animation.

The 2007 deal involved a half-acre grassy lot at a Texas Hill Country resort on the shore of Lake Lyndon B. Johnson. The Horseshoe Bay development is owned by Doug Jaffe, whose San Antonio family has long and sometimes controversial ties to Texas politics.

Jaffe's company sold the parcel in 2000 to state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, a longtime Perry friend and political ally. Shortly after, Fraser sold the lot to Perry for just more than $300,000.

The newspaper's appraiser determined in a report done this month that the land was worth $450,000 when Perry bought it.

In 2007, Alan Moffatt, a British business partner and close associate of Jaffe's, paid Perry $1.15 million for the land. The newspaper's appraiser found that price to be $350,000 above market value.

Moffatt denied anything improper occurred in the transaction. "It just happened that the governor of Texas owned that lot," he said. "It was a good deal for me."

More about Alan Moffatt here.

Documents and interviews portray Moffatt as an international businessman active in aviation, whose company once faced accusations of arms deliveries in connection with a brutal civil war. He also has ties to controversial Third World leaders, The Dallas Morning News found.

Well, that's not quite so cartoonish. What about this Jaffe fellow?

Doug Jaffe and his late father, Morris, have built widely chronicled reputations as big-money backers of Democratic politicians going back to Lyndon Johnson's days as a U.S. senator. But the Jaffe family also has contributed to Republicans when the GOP was in power, and Doug Jaffe gave to Perry's 2004 campaign.

Doug Jaffe found success in the vending machine business and made a fortune selling "hush kits" that allowed older commercial jets to meet government noise restrictions.

The Jaffes were implicated in a federal investigation in the early 1990s of billionaire rancher Clinton Manges, protege of legendary south Texas political boss George Parr. Manges was convicted of using the mail to file false claims with a state land official to retain an oil lease for the Jaffes.

In 1989, a congressional ethics committee investigating U.S. House Speaker Jim Wright subpoenaed both Jaffes to testify about an East Texas oil exploration venture that, despite producing nothing, earned Wright about $150,000. The Jaffes denied assisting Wright in return for help winning a $3 billion military aircraft contract.

The federal Office of Independent Counsel reported that it also investigated the Jaffes as part of a probe of former San Antonio mayor Henry Cisneros, then U.S. housing secretary. The Jaffes acknowledged they had made thousands of dollars in loans to Linda Medlar Jones, a former Cisneros girlfriend.

Ah, so Doug Jaffe works both sides of the aisle. A bipartisan corrupter. And corruption seems to be a family tradition. That's less of a comedy and more Texas lore.

But back to everybody's favorite governor.

"So I would just have folks take a look at the record, and I think the record pretty much speaks for itself," Perry said.

This will be the most truthful thing this man will ever say.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance wishes Lois the corpse flower a restful and well-earned dormant period as it brings you this week's blog highlights.

WhosPlayin posted a document explaining the link between benzene and natural gas drilling and production operations, and examining a few recent air quality studies in the Barnett Shale.

The Texas State Board of Education helps their cronies out and undermines public education with one swift move to support charter schools with our money. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme sees hedge fund operators racking up the $$$.

Off the Kuff took a look at campaign finance reports for Harris County candidates and State Reps. Along the way, he answered the burning question "What kind of man subscribes to Glamour magazine?"

This week, Hank Gilbert continued to dominate Todd Sleazy Staples. See the latest at McBlogger.

Eagle Ford Shale residents already have water impacts from fracking and now eminent domain is headed your way. TXsharon is trying to warn Eagle Ford Shale residents to learn from mistakes made in the Barnett Shale on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Over at TexasKaos, lightseeker brings together evidence on Rick Perry's governing style in Rick Perry: Death before Bad Image ! Do the Dirt With Bureaucracy! [Updated] .

Neil at Texas Liberal spent the week on vacation in Seattle. While there he took a boat cruise that went through the Ballard Locks on the Lake Washington Ship Canal. These free government-built and operated locks are used by all types of commercial and pleasure craft. As they use this free government service, it's doubtful that any boat owners go on about socialism or insist on paying what a private business would charge to use the locks.

The right wing unleashed a frenzy of race-baiting last week, from the continuing assault on Ill Eagles to the New Black Panther Party contrivance to the Andrew Bretbart/Shirley Sherrod dust-up. They struck gold with the last one, but all parties involved -- from the White House to the NAACP to FOX News -- ended the week with egg on their faces. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs summarized the sordid affair.

On July 21st Three Wise Men celebrated six years on the intertubes. Here's Xanthippas with a retrospective, and some thoughts in general about why they do what they do.

Laugh to keep from cryin'

This Week in Rick Perry Lies

-- Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott -- together with other bureaucrats in the TEA -- falsified test scores through a complex scoring system so that failing students and schools would appear to be 'exemplary'. Governor Rick Perry (the guy who appointed Scott to his job) bragged about one Houston school's "success".

The truth is that the dropout rate in Texas is a "rock-hard disaster".

-- Texas Forensic Science Commissioner John Bradley -- the guy Rick Perry appointed  to whitewash the investigation of whether the state of Texas executed an innocent man -- is proving to be nothing but a barrier to the investigation. Gee, I wonder why. Update: The governor has even lost Paul Burka.

--Slightly older than a week: Rick Perry said on FOX News that he "frankly, never had a call" from the Obama administration. False. As in: "you lie".

From decrying stimulus funds even as he accepted them in order to balance the state's budget, to claiming vast success in enforcing the border with Mexico, to his feverish notion that Houston is "approaching bankruptcy" -- the Texas incumbent governor and the facts have a very tenuous relationship.

Sunday Funnies