Governor finally calls SD-6 special election

For Saturday, January 26, with the filing deadline on December 27 and the early voting period from January 9-22, per Harvey. The Chron reveals another contestant...

A fourth potential candidate, Rodolfo "Rudy" Reyes, said he intends to announce his candidacy on Friday.

That embedded link tells little about Reyes, but a cursory Google search turns up his website and curriculum vitae including a stint on the League City council. Reyes has no obvious political party affiliation that I can find. I suspicion he is a Democrat, which is going to make it even more likely that RW Bray -- who got 30% of the vote against Mario Gallegos a month ago -- and one of Sylvia Garcia, Carol Alvarado, Reyes, and Maria Selva make it to a runoff election. Tea Party Republican Bray may well lead the primary field, but there's no chance he wins a runoff.

Garcia laments in her response to this news that the seat will be vacant for "10% of the session", but I don't understand her math. It seems more like two months, or roughly a third of the 2013 legislative session (a runoff election can't occur, by my calendar, before the end of February or first of March).

That's a legitimate concern with the Senate having one less Democratic vote, giving Republicans a two-thirds majority. So until someone gets sworn in, the Senate can pass whatever it likes -- vouchers, "fetal pain", etc. That one vote (previously regarded as Wendy Davis of Fort Worth) barely kept the 2011 session from being more egregious than it already was.

If you wondered why Rick Perry slow-walked this, that's why.

Susan Rice, John Kerry, and Chuck Hagel

Rice withdraws.

"If nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly—to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities," Rice wrote in a letter to President Barack Obama, NBC News first reported.

Good. The hell with that crony capitalist.

But the new Secretary of State won't be John Kerry, and not because Democrats don't want Scott Brown 2.0. It's probably because Kerry would be unlikely to sign off on Keystone XL.

“No senator since Al Gore knows as much about the science and diplomacy of climate change as Kerry,” said David Goldwyn, an international energy consultant who served as Clinton’s special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs. “He would not only put climate change in the top five issues he raises with every country, but he would probably rethink our entire diplomatic approach to the issue.”

When I saw Kerry speak here in 2007 on his book tour for This Moment on Earth, it was obvious that he gets it with respect to climate change. He and Obama do not agree that "all of the above" is necessary for what is no longer being called energy independence but energy security.

Nope, the FNG is going to be ... another Republican. Because, you know, Democrats are doves and shit.

Former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has emerged as the leading candidate to become Obama’s next Secretary of Defense and may be nominated as soon as this month, according to two people familiar with the matter. 

==========

Update: Yes, I know the difference between Defense and State... and yes, conflated the two here. But since John Kerry is going to get the job, and he's the guy I wanted all along... I still win. But I'll leave the following grafs in so you can read them and and know that I occasionally get something wrong. Hey, you already know not to believe everything you read on the internet, right?

==========

So what if Obama looks like a pussy? No, seriously. I don't care how weak Obama appears, as if he folded to the conservative attacks on Rice or how much the Republicans gloat about it. The bad part is that Hagel is no friend of the environment.

To me, this deal has always been more about KXL and less about who might be best with their diplomatic skills to keep us out of another war. Hagel is a small bone to throw to the rabid-dog GOP who will look like hypocrites if they oppose one of their own.

Oh, wait...

Putting the 'con' in conservative

I thought I was over being fascinated with the blindingly ignorant state that is today's conservative specifically, and conservatism in general. I was mistaken.

For Democrats, the 2012 presidential campaign has produced some delicious ironies. For starters, Mitt Romney's share of the final vote will come in at a memorable 47 percent, the same figure he used to disparage half the electorate as self-described "victims" bought off by "free stuff" and "gifts" from President Obama.

But for pure schadenfreude, nothing approaches the cosmic payback of the Republicans' self-delusion on Election Day. That is, while most polling analysts predicted a comfortable Electoral College triumph for Barack Obama on Nov. 6, by all indications Team Romney and the GOP brain trust truly believed their own cooked-up numbers. That's what makes their subsequent shock and awe at Romney's crushing defeat all the more fitting. Because after years of slandering President Obama and misleading voters with myths about taxes, debt, health care, Iraq and so much else, on Election Day Republicans duped only themselves.

What follows is a not-too-lengthy treatise on the self-delusion, also known as the 'bubble', that burst on the night of November 6, 2012. (Personally, I prefer Reality Derangement Syndrome, because it's quite obvious that they have not learned anything from their beating.)

Yes, we know all this, and we're also aware that the corporate media mostly ignored the story of the lies and the cons and the scams the GOP perpetrated on the nation as well as itself, but that's still a story all its own.

"I can't recall a campaign where I've seen more lying going on -- and it wasn't symmetric," said (Norman) Ornstein, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute who's been tracking Congress with Mann since 1978.

Democrats were hardly innocent, he said, "but it seemed pretty clear to me that the Republican campaign was just far more over the top."

Lies from Republicans generally and standard bearer Mitt Romney in particular weren't limited to the occasional TV ads, either; the party's most central campaign principles -- that federal spending doesn't create jobs, that reducing taxes on the rich could create jobs and lower the deficit -- willfully disregarded the truth.

"It's the great unreported big story of American politics," Ornstein said. "If voters are going to be able to hold accountable political figures, they've got to know what's going on ... And if the story that you're telling repeatedly is that they're all to blame -- they're all equally to blame -- then you're really doing a disservice to voters, and not doing what journalism is supposed to do."

So what's really new here? Why, it's the realization that the Republicans really are only in it for the money, even when the scam is being run on their own. That -- going all the way back to folks like Richard Viguerie and Ralph Reed and especially Pat Robertson -- the conservative movement has never actually been about running government but owning a profitable franchise based on fleecing the gullible. And the most gullible have in recent years trended toward the older, the poorly informed... in other words, the average Fox viewer.

You have to watch the following segment from Rachel Maddow to pull it all together.

 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The only peoples' lives the conservative elite have ever wanted to help improve is their own, even -- perhaps especially -- at the expense of their political base. Disaster capitalism is practiced on their own kind, with efforts likely to intensify in the wake of their November shellacking. Even the industry that is cancer research is not immune to the maximization of profit for one's cronies.

The con jobs are prevalent and rapacious; the coming Texas legislative initiative to privatize public education -- coordinated by Dan Patrick and Michael Williams -- looks like child's play in comparison. Well, almost.

There will simply be no end to the greed and corruption of Republicans and conservatives using government for their own personal financial gain until enough people who vote for them begin to either wise up... or die off.

That, after all, is what's happening with the opponents of gay marriage and marijuana decriminalization, so there's hope for the future.

Update: Eye on Williamson with more, including some historical perspective on the phenomenon of conservative chain email fever dreams, running right up to the present day. Those bizarre conspiracy theories your uncle forwards you? A proud legacy that goes all the way back to the time when it was mostly dirty jokes that filled up your inbox.

No Noriega(s) for SD-6 *updated

The Colonel has opted out.

Rick Noriega, the former East Side state representative and 2008 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator, has announced he will not seek the District 6 state senate seat left vacant by the posthumous reelection of Mario Gallegos.

In a letter dated Saturday, Noriega writes that after discussing the opportunity with his family, “the time is not right to take on this race, and the fundraising needed, for the Noriega family.” His wife, Melissa Noriega, is serving her final term on Houston City Council.

Though Noriega did not join the battle between former Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia and State Rep. Carol Alvarado, he did not refrain from commenting on the tone of the campaign. (Republican R.W. Bray, who took 29 percent of the November vote, also is running again.) 

I'll excerpt a smaller bit of Noriega's letter than the Chron did.

Senate District 6 needs leadership, not a bitter battle for a plum elected office. You, as leaders, need to challenge the candidates to rise above self interest and put forth plans that create real change, real opportunity in SD6. 

That's a most interesting challenge. It could be in response to Marc Campos, who has a poll from Bob Stein at Rice indicating his client, Carol Alvarado, is leading a head-to-head matchup with a certain former Harris County commissioner. I'm hearing that there's a lot of back-channel rumor mongering and sniping, but haven't heard any directly.

Update (Tuesday 12/11): So much for that. Despite Noriega's call for civility, the gloves are off. Garcia fired this salvo and Alvarado promptly threw this counterpunch.

Charles had this letter last Friday Saturday, and Robert Miller weighed in today with his prediction on the date of the special election: Saturday, January 26. We'll see if the governor goes along.

There is also a Green candidate running in the special: Maria Selva, who stood against US Rep. Gene Green of CD-29 in the last cycle and garnered just under 9%.

I lunched Friday before last with Sylvia Garcia and her team and a few other bloggers and will have a post about that later. Big Jolly and Stace have some additional thoughts that include the word 'negative'.

More developments to follow in the next few weeks.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is waiting for Rick Perry to call the special election in SD-6 as it brings you this week's roundup.

Even though the economy in Texas has improved, the next legislative session will be very similar to the last. WCNews at Eye on Williamson has this take: Thoughts on the upcoming session.  

BossKitty at TruthHugger knows Texas is still among the United States of America ... until further notice. The DOHA COP-18 Conference established a legally-binding plan for combating global warming. The big players, the US (including Texas), the EU and China accepted the agreement with varying degrees of reservation. They have stopped short of accepting responsibility for damage caused by climate change: Reluctance and Reality at DOHA Climate Change Conference.

 Off the Kuff notes the next step of the redistricting lawsuit has begun.

The legacy of Jack Brooks, who served southeast Texas in Congress for 42 years, is remembered by PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.  

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants you to know that the oligarchs have brought their propaganda outfit 'Fix the Debt' to Texas.

Neil at Texas Liberal noted that Houston mayor Annise Parker is forwarding possible incidents of misconduct by Houston police officers to the federal government for review. This oversight is welcome, as there have been a number of recent cases of Houston police either shooting or using significant levels of force on unarmed persons.

Sunday Funnies

"A lot of dissension among conservatives. One of the leaders of the Tea Party has resigned after a major split in the movement. The Tea Party is now divided between angry whites and even angrier whites."

-- Conan O'Brien

Chris Cilizza on NBC News: "To vote for anything that is even perceived to be granting the U.N. power [like this United Nations Disabilities Treaty] is a dangerous game for a Republican senator, because the U.N. is so unpopular among the Republican base."

Jon Stewart: "It's official: Republicans hate the United Nations more than they like helping people in wheelchairs."

-- The Daily Show

"You've been warned, Harry Reid! Take away Mitch McConnell's filibuster and he will strike back by obstructing everything you do! Or let him keep the filibuster so he can obstruct everything you do!" 

 -- Stephen Colbert

The fiscal slope and you

First of all, it ain't no cliff.

But it might feel like a brick wall, especially for the working poor. This story by Tom Abrahams at ABC-13 does a good job of explaining things in layman's terms.

It means some Texans could pay as much as 44 percent of their income in taxes, and it could come from the four elements of the fiscal cliff:

• The Medicare tax, which affects mostly wealthier taxpayers
• The payroll tax, which affects everyone
• The AMT, which impacts most taxpayers
• The Bush cuts, which are set to expire

[...]

The Tax Policy Center says the increase ranges from a few hundred dollars for the working poor to thousands for the so-called middle class. The White House estimates here in Texas, 8.7 million middle-income earners will see an average increase of about $2,200.

"It could be your Catholic school tuition's payment for your child, so it's not a small amount of money," said Joe Birkhofer, a partner at Legacy Asset Management.

Birkhofer says the part of the cliff that impacts everyone is the expiring Bush tax cuts. "People in the lowest tax bracket, 10 percent, will go to 15 percent. And people in the highest tax bracket will go from 35 percent to 39.6 percent," Birkhofer said. At just 3 percent a year, that's the equivalent of no less than a tank of gas every two weeks.

"I don't think that's fair to pay 3 percent more. We all can't afford three percent more," Houston taxpayer Judy Madison said.

Then everyone can tack on another 2 percent -- the amount of the payroll tax holiday which, ends this year. It's money that goes to Social Security and Medicare.

"The problem is the money needs to go back into Social Security and Medicare, and there's not a lot of support on either side of Congress to make that tax holiday stay," Birkhofer said. Add that 2 percent to the pile, and you've lost money for your electricity bill every month.

 "And I don't have a lot of confidence that both sides are really eager to fix the problem," Houston taxpayer David Gaw said.

Then there's the alternative minimum tax, or the AMT, which needs adjusting every year or it costs millions of taxpayers millions of dollars. "It strips away deductions so that your tax rate is higher," Birkhofer said. Throw those away, and there go your groceries every week.

"I'm worried not about 3 to 5 percent but more about 10 to 15 percent," Houston taxpayer Christopher Barron said. 

Obama and the Democrats seem content to let the Republicans push the country off the cliff down the hill, as polling indicates the GOP gets most of the blame. Boehner is under pressure again from his right to stand his ground.

Informal polling suggests many Americans still aren't paying much attention, despite Abrahams' man-on-the-street interviews above. That is likely to change suddenly, when the first payday after the New Year takes the hit. People who aren't getting paychecks, of course -- that would be the very rich and the very poor -- won't notice much.

For vastly different reasons.