Libs (both kinds)

Remember what I said a couple of months ago (scroll down) about Libertarians and Greens being closer together on the political spectrum circle, and Ds and Rs grouped on the other side? This latest development with regard to our next war is more about how that is evolving.

As the struggle to secure House votes for or against authorization for military strikes in Syria accelerates, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party has started making plans to team up with isolationist conservatives to stop the resolution, TPM has learned.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) has become the leader of the progressive resistance. He is planning an “ad hoc whip operation,” as he called it in a phone interview with TPM. That includes supplying other aligned members with talking points and giving them the names of undecided colleagues to lobby for a no vote.

Grayson’s office has also been in touch with staffs for Republicans who oppose military action against Syria, such as tea party favorite Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), about crafting an organized strategy for lobbying no votes.

It started with opposition to NSA spying, and has gained strength as Syria comes into focus.

How real are the prospects for a genuine alliance against action in Syria between progressive anti-war Democrats and isolationist Tea Party libertarians?

Dem Rep. Alan Grayson, a leader of the anti-war wing of the House Democratic caucus, tells TPM’s Dylan Scott he is organizing across the aisle to create such an alliance by gearing up an “ad hoc whip organization.” This sort of right-left alliance is often discussed but rarely materializes. But this time there could be something to it.

Here’s a way to look at it. I compared the current whip count of Members of Congress who are firm or leaning No votes on Syria right now, with the Members who voted Yes on the recent amendment to end bulk NSA surveillance that corralled a surprising amount of bipartisan support. The vote on that amendment — which was sponsored by GOP Rep. Justin Amash and Dem Rep. John Conyers — was perhaps the clearest demonstration of such a developing alliance we’ve seen.

The overlap is striking. I count nearly four dozen Representatives — from both parties — that are on both lists. In other words, even though it’s early in the whipping process on Syria, we’re already seeing substantial numbers of Members who voted to end NSA surveillance now coming out or leaning against action in Syria.

Overlook, for the moment, the deep hypocrisy of Republican war hawks turning themselves into doves since it's Obama now in the Oval Office.  (Lies about weapons of mass destruction suddenly concern them ten years after?  Really?!) 

Despite this two-faced duplicitousness, there is more common ground being cultivated among the far right and the far left than there is among partisan Democrats and Republicans.

It's not your father's two-party system any more.  Just be careful where you apply those labels.

Update: Glenn Greenwald agrees...

To say that there is a major sea change underway -- not just in terms of surveillance policy but broader issues of secrecy, trust in national security institutions, and civil liberties -- is to state the obvious. But perhaps the most significant and enduring change will be the erosion of the trite, tired prism of partisan simplicity through which American politics has been understood over the last decade. What one sees in this debate is not Democrat v. Republican or left v. right. One sees authoritarianism v. individualism, fealty to The National Security State v. a belief in the need to constrain and check it, insider Washington loyalty v. outsider independence. 

... and emphasizes the larger point: that establishment Republicans and Democrats in Congress are lined up together to advance the interests of the elite against the hoi polloi.

The latest in the mayor's race (hold your nose)

Ben Hall still wants to make crime an issue in the Houston mayoral tilt.


Hall doesn't seem to understand why nobody shows up for his grandstanding press conferences at a murder scene.  For the mayor's part, her spokesperson is going to respond anyway, and will worsen matters by being hyper-aggressive about every non-thing Hall says.

(Parker's spokesperson Sue) Davis called Hall's appearance at Denny's despicable and a dishonor to victim Greig Placette.

"He was a friend of mine and he died protecting some children at another table and he was a hero and I am personally offended that Mr. Hall would use Greig's death for a political purpose," said Davis.

I don't wish to minimize the fact that minority neighborhoods in Houston have a disproportionate share of Houston's crime statistics.  Hall, just trying to make something stick at this point, is specifically targeting those residents.  He's hoping that he can increase minority turnout enough to make a strong showing in the runoff, wounding the mayor's re-election bid in the first round simply by placing a not-too-weak second.

The facts: Houston's statistics are contradictory as to whether crime is increasing or decreasing, and any increase in 2013 is probably attributable to Houston's exploding population growth as much as it is anything else.  As UH-D CJ prof Clete Snell put it...

"To take advantage of a decline in crime politically or to try to use an increase in crime politically, I think, indicates a lack of knowledge about how the statistics are developed," Snell said. "There's just many, many factors that can impact the rise or decline in crime."

Again... I'd like to feel something more than embarrassment about the state of play in the mayoral contest.  Both candidates are failing to talk about municipal topics of relevance to a real majority of Houstonians.  Hall isn't going to (perhaps he just can't) and Parker won't because Hall won't force her. The other eight candidates in the race are, as usual, on 'ignore' by the legacy media.  Update: If you've noticed the coverage of the New York mayoral race, with its mention of the multiple challengers just in the Dem primary, then you can understand how badly our local media has let us down in this regard.

Charles dissects Hall's "tuff on crime" tactic, while Stace is making the same point as I am with the mayor's acceptance of the SNAP challenge. And Texas Leftist has the rundown on that.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance sends condolences to Sen. Wendy Davis on the loss of her father as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff encourages Sen. Leticia Van de Putte to join Davis on the Democratic ticket as the candidate for lieutenant governor in 2014.

Texpatriate interviews Annise Parker, the mayor of Houston.

Health insurance premiums may go up in Texas. Not because of Obamacare but because Rick Perry and the GOP didn't expand Medicaid. WCNews at Eye on Williamson shows that it's just More of the same from the Texas GOP.

Greg Abbott's appearances on Spanish language media so early in the 2014 gubernatorial campaign reveal he's taking nothing for granted, observes PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme knows that Ted Cruz is just another batsh*t crazy Republican. No more. No less. Cruz doesn't care about anybody but himself. Certainly not other Latinos.

Neil at All People Have Value wrote about asking Houston Mayor Annise Parker if she would consider living wage legislation for Houston. All People Have Value is part of the website NeilAquino.com.

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And here are some other posts of interest from Texas blogs.

Offcite continues its look at new school designs with a review of buildings from the 2007 bond referendum.

Jason Stanford marvels at Big John Cornyn's disappearing act, courtesy of his junior colleague.

Better Texas Blog starts the countdown to coverage with an overview of the health insurance exchange marketplace.

Concerned Citizens decries Bible-based bigotry.

Educate For Texas gives an inside look at the so-called "Texas Miracle" in education.

Lone Star Ma commemorates Women's Equality Day.

Texas Living Waters Project explains recent court decisions on groundwater law.

Egberto Willies had a video interview with an African American representative of the Tea Party at a Kingwood festival.

TXSharon at Bluedaze had the news that Josh Fox will be at free screenings of Gasland Part II in San Antonio, Dallas, and Fort Worth later this month.

Grits for Breakfast asks: If Texas justice reforms were so great, why does the state still have the nation's largest prison population?

jobsanger had the poll results that demonstrated an appalling lack of understanding on the part of Americans describing themselves as Democrats and Republicans, and their knowledge about who controls Congress.

And finally, The Texican says that Houston abides.