Sam Houston for Texas Attorney General

Matt Angle telegraphed it last week, and the Texas Democrat who earned the most votes statewide in 2008 confirmed it yesterday.  Careful parsing by the folks at First Reading reveals the distinction in the assertion.

This is very artfully done. When I first read this I assumed it meant that Houston ran ahead of President Obama in Texas. In fact, he did get a slightly higher percentage of the vote - 45.88 percent to 43.68 for Obama. But his vote total - 3,525,141, lagged ever-so-slightly behind Obama's 3,528,633. But Angle's statement is perfectly accurate because Houston did win more votes than any other "Texas Democratic candidate," because neither Barack Obama nor Joe Biden is a Texan.

Houston is light years ahead of the three stooges in the GOP primary scrambling to replace Wheelchair Coathanger Ken.  This blog has already pulled the curtain away from Barry Smitherman many times, and yesterday Dan "Curly" Branch stepped up to make his case.

State Rep. Dan Branch announced Thursday his proposal to create a Voter Fraud Task Force if elected as Attorney General.

“I have a clear plan to attack voter fraud in Texas,” Branch, R-Dallas, said in a press release.

Branch said the task force would:

•  ”closely monitor the activities of groups that would seek to subvert ballot integrity

•  appoint a Special Counsel devoted to exposing and prosecuting any instance of voter fraud, and

•  aggressively defend the landmark Texas voter ID law from the Obama Administration’s spurious attempt to invalidate it.”

Well, he has been getting out-kooked, after all.  At least Don Quixote could find a windmill to tilt.

It's now Ken Paxton's turn to do or say something ridiculously ignorant.  We shouldn't have to wait very long.

A pre-EV perspective

-- Charles delivers a good one here. Well worth reading (even with the perpetual underlying premise that more money means 'best chance of getting elected').  Thank goodness he and Texas Leftist and Texpatriate have worked this beat, because I haven't had the heart.  I'll add some predictions, though...

-- Mayor Parker wins without a runoff.  As best as I can tell, Ben Hall has already folded his tent.

-- I'll go out on a limb and say that city controller Ron Green loses a squeaker to the Republican, Bill Frazer.

-- Michael Kubosh and one of either Rogene Calvert or Jenifer Rene Pool in the runoff for AL3.  I can't seem to find many incumbents to vote for in city council races, except for my district representative, Larry Green.  I know I won't be voting for Stephen Costello or C.O. Bradford or Jack Christie.  That much is certain.  Update: Of course I am voting for James Horwitz.

-- I am voting for the Dome.

And I expect it to pass.

This is still the most lackluster election cycle in memory.

The last word on the shutdown

What the shutdown cost:

“The bottom line is the government shutdown has hurt the U.S. economy,” Standard & Poor’s said in a statement. “In September, we expected 3 percent annualized growth in the fourth quarter because we thought politicians would have learned from 2011 and taken steps to avoid things like a government shutdown and the possibility of a sovereign default. Since our forecast didn’t hold, we now have to lower our fourth-quarter growth estimate to closer to 2 percent.”

Moody’s Analytics reported a similar number Wednesday, saying by the end of the day the shutdown will  cause a $23 billion hit to U.S. GDP or $1.4375 billion per day.

-- $3.1 billion in lost government services. Although furloughed workers will get their back pay,  taxpayers won’t see the products.  (Source: I.H.S.)

--  According to the U.S. Travel Association:  There has been $152 million per day in all spending related to travel lost because of the shutdown. As many as 450,000 American workers supported by travel may be affected.

--  According to the National Park Service: They welcome more than 700,000 people per day usually in October and visitors spend an estimated $32 million per day impact in communities near national parks and contribute $76 million each day to the national economy.  Those revenues were lost.

--  According to Destination D.C., the official tourism corporation of D.C.: There is a 9 percent decrease in hotel occupancy from the last week in September before the shutdown to the first week of October during the shutdown. This year, hotel occupancy was down 74.4 percent for the week Sept. 29 to Oct. 5 compared to the 2012 numbers. (Source: Smith Travel Research, Inc.) In 2012, an estimated $6.2 billion of visitor spending supported more than 75,300 jobs.

What the shutdown's lost revenue could have paid for:

• The net cost of to the government from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP): $24 billion
• The Department of Agriculture’s proposed budget: $22.6 billion
• NASA’s approved budget: $16.6 billion
• All air transportation programs, including the Federal Aviation Administration, security, research, and other costs: $21.9 billion
• The Child Tax Credit: $22.1 billion
• The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program (formally known as welfare): $17.7 billion
• The cost of Head Start, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Women Infants and Children (WIC) program combined: $25.2 billion

The topline figure may not take many other costs into account, such as loans that didn’t go out from the Small Business Administration, permits that got held up, and the loss of billions in tax revenue. Plus the government could still get a downgrade on its credit, which could ding business and consumer confidence and bring about more costs.

The shutdown was just the latest budget crisis that has been costly to the economy. A recent report found that the uncertainty created by fights over funding the government and raising the debt ceiling that have cropped up since 2010 has cost the economy nearly a million jobs. 

Ted Cruz:

"It was an incredible victory." 

Truly epic conservative fail

Your linkage for the above:

"An obvious disaster for the GOP"

"House Republicans are the clear losers"

"Humiliating failure"

"Fiasco"

"Disaster ... Debacle"

"This party is going nuts"

"Republicans have to understand that we have lost this battle"

"We really did go too far. We screwed up"

"Speaker Pelosi Part 2: Opening Jan. 5, 2015"

More surrender roundup here if you need it, want it, like it, have to have it.  A few more developments from late last night worth mentioning....

Senate Conservatives Fund hits McConnell for getting 'Kentucky Kickback' in Senate deal

Ten Takeaways from the Great GOP Cave-in

Ted Cruz admits budget standoff was all about building fundraising lists

No Texas Republican votes to reopen US government or avoid default 

Then there's the actual satire.

Cruz: "The Dream of keeping poor people from seeing a doctor must never die"

His eyes welling up with tears, Sen. Cruz said, “I embarked on this crusade with a simple goal: to keep affordable health care out of the reach of ordinary, hard-working Americans. And while this battle was lost, that dream—that precious, cherished dream—will live on.”

Reflecting on the government shutdown and near-default that almost touched off a global financial apocalypse, Sen. Cruz said, “We’ll give it another try in a few weeks.”

Sen. Cruz’s closest ally, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) also spoke reverently of the shutdown, calling it “the most expensive Civil War re-enactment in history.”

“Unfortunately, once again, the wrong side won,” he said.

Over in the House of Representatives, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) congratulated his colleagues on the deal to resolve the shutdown, telling reporters, “This proves that when we work together, we can come up with a totally unsatisfactory solution to a completely unnecessary crisis.”

With fail this epic, it's hilarious (or maybe just pathetic) to find there are Teabaggers this morning -- sober, I must presume -- who still think they are winners.  And still support the Speaker, even as they voted 'no' in perfect lockstep last night.

I have to say that this madness among conservatives leaves me astounded.  They're already talking about shutting it down again in a few months.

Is it possible that the Democrats could screw up such a gold-plated gift?  I suppose so, but on the morning after this capitulation by the seditionists in the House of Representatives, it certainly smells like their goose is cooked.  Burned to a crisp, even.

I'd rather see them snapped back to reality in a little over year, and not much sooner than that.

T'was the day before Defaultmas...

...and all through the House,

not a creature was stirring.

Not even a louse.

This is going to be a busy week for the cartoonists, and there are so many good ones already that I need to get a few posted before Sunday.

A new Gallup poll shows 60 percent of Americans think the Democratic and Republican parties have done a poor job of representing the people during the government shutdown.  They think a third major party is needed.

Blog Action Day: Human Rights

Here's what we're doing today.



The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is where the conversation begins. Here's some history, examples of violations, and some additional dimension and focus.



Among the participating partners of #BlogActionDay, Amnesty International is at the forefront of the consciousness of this topic in the USA and the world. This post on the scourge of human trafficking in Houston is my most recent contribution to the discussion. Also my brother Neil is making a financial contribution to Amnesty Int'l every time the Houston mayoral campaigns of Annise Parker and Ben Hall send out an e-mail attacking one another, a noble if too-active public shaming.

There's lots of places to join the conversation. Feel free to pick one.

#BAD2013 #OCT16 #Humanrights

Steve Stockman is still a dope

When Kinky announced for ag commissioner and highlighted the ganja as his primo issue, I predicted that there wouldn't be any Republicans who would ask him not to bogart.  (This definition, not that one.)  My mistake: I overlooked former homeless person -- I prefer this term over 'vagrant' -- and once-jailed-on-a-drug-charge-himself Congressman Steve Stockman.

But even when blind hogs occasionally find acorns, they're still blind... and they remain swine.

Texas Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Friendswood, has recently backed a bill to require federal officials to comply with state marijuana laws, which was introduced in April and has since garnered support from Congressmen on both sides of the aisle.

The Respect State Marijuana Laws Act of 2013, introduced by California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican, would bar federal drug enforcement agents from penalizing any person abiding by the marijuana laws in their own state.

The law “shall not apply to any person acting in compliance with State laws” — that is, people who are in compliance with their state laws regarding possession, manufacture or use of marijuana will not be subjected to federal penalties.

That's the rub here: Texas is the second worst of these United States in which to get busted for pot.

On an annual basis, no state arrests and criminally prosecutes more of its citizens for pot than does Texas. Marijuana arrests comprise over half of all annual arrests in the Lone Star State. It is easy to see why. In 2009, more than 97 percent of all Texas marijuana arrests — over 77,000 people — were for possession only. Those convicted face up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine, even upon a first conviction.

Despite Texas’ dubious distinction as the #1 pot prosecuting state in America, police and lawmakers have little interest in exploring alternatives. In 2007, Gov. Rick Perry signed legislation (HB 2391) into law granting police the option of issuing a summons in lieu of an arrest in minor marijuana possession cases. Yet aside from police in Austin, long considered to be the state’s lone bastion of liberalism, law enforcement have continued to fervently make arrests in even the most trivial of pot cases.

In 2011, Houston Democrat Harold Dutton introduced House Bill 458, which sought to reduce penalties for the adult possession of one ounce or less of marijuana to a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding $500 and no criminal record. Within weeks, over 2,500 Texans contacted their House members in support of the measure. Nonetheless, House lawmakers refused to even consider bringing the measure to a vote. 

You can guess why, can't you?  One word: it starts with an R and ends with 'douchebags'.

Stockman's signing on to this federal legislation does absolutely nothing to advance the cause of marijuana decriminalization -- not to mention fracturing the prison pipeline -- in Texas.  That's why it's perfect for a duplicitous sack of shit like him to support.

So while it may be perceived in some quarters that grass could be a bipartisan issue, the truth once more is that the only way things like this are ever going to change is if people simply stop voting for Republicans running for statewide office.

And if you're one of those people who likes to get stoned but doesn't like to vote, you might want to be the first on your block to change that habit.

Update: More Grits. And also The Defense Rests.