Glenn Smith of Drive Democray.org applies the smackdown:

The GOP majority in the Texas House of Representatives (Tuesday) fell apart, its party discipline destroyed by the stink of corruption that permeates the Bush era in Texas and across the country.

If Texas had icebergs, this would be the tip of one. I'm not talking about Karl Rove's adulterous behavior.

I'm talking about the stinging defeat suffered by the Texas GOP on the floor of the state House (Tuesday). GOP leadership, helped to election by illegal corporate contributions, watched helplessly as the Democratic minority and a few frightened Republicans voted down bills that 1) raised taxes on the middle class; 2) Cut taxes for Big Insurance and other special interests involved in the scandal; 3) Stiffed school children and teachers under the guise of education reform.

This is no small matter. It should be pointed out that in the early 1970s, a political scandal called Sharpstown surfaced just ahead of a national political scandal called Watergate. By 1976, Jimmy Carter could carry Texas.

The talking points are simple: Texas Republicans are trying to raise taxes on middle class Texans and devastate public education so they can do what they were ordered to do when they accepted the illegal bribes: cut taxes for the people who paid the bribes.

Several corporations have been indicted. So have some staffers who were allegedly involved in the scheme. Tom DeLay, who lives off his aura of power, says he was powerless over a scheme that invoved his committee and its money and its contributors and that advanced his Congressional redistricting scheme. A grand jury, holding all the cards, is still meeting.

Corruption is bad enough. But when corruption is tied to taxes, education and other close-to-home issues, there's going to be trouble.

That's why some Republicans are rebelling. That's why Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, always in over his head with this job, might be losing his head and his job. He's asked his Republican members to cast dozens of career-threatening votes just so he can tell his Bosses at Big Insurance that he was a good little boy who did what he was told.

Chris Bell's announcement today that he will take on Governor MoFo'n Goodhair is the first step in toppling these corrupt oligarchs in charge in Austin (in charge at the moment, that is).
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

Via Daily Kos, from Radar Online:

For years, political insiders in the Lone Star State have whispered about Rove’s close friendship with lobbyist Karen Johnson, a never-married, forty-something GOP loyalist from Austin, Texas. The two first became close when Johnson sat on the board of then-Governor George W. Bush’s Business Council over a decade ago. Their friendship reportedly deepened after Bush appointed Johnson—a little-known spokesperson for the Texas Good Roads Association — to a seat on his Transportation Department transition team in 2000. The plum appointment enabled Johnson’s lobbying firm, Infrastructure Solutions, to snare such high-paying clients as Aetna and the City of Laredo. Sources say Johnson now frequently travels between Washington D.C. and Austin, where she frequently appears at Rove’s side at parties and unofficial functions.

Although there is no evidence that their relationship is anything but professional, the close association between the married White House aide and the comely lobbyist has long raised eyebrows in conservative Texas circles. Asked about the pair, a prominent political journalist who has written extensively about Rove says, “I’ve heard the stories, but I would never write about Karl and Karen. If you want to keep your job as a reporter in Texas, you make believe you don’t see them together.”

In the post-Lewinsky era, Washington’s press corps has mostly avoided reporting on the private lives of public officials. But as the political climate in the capitol grows more poisonous, Rove’s close friendship with the lobbyist has attracted increased scrutiny from opponents eager to prove that Bush’s dirty trickster is sitting on some dirty laundry of his own.

And kos adds:

In a fortuitious coincidence, Jerome and I have just finished interviewing a long-time Texas political writer here in Austin who says that Rove is absolutely having an affair with Karen. Rove is married and has a teenaged son. According to this writer, Rove's wife is a hardcore liberal. "I don't know how he and his wife get along," he said.

Well, quite obviously, they do not.

In a more discreet political era -- say, just a few years ago -- I might have said that a politician's personal life was out of bounds. That sexual affairs between consenting adults was not the public's concern.

But, as we're constantly reminded, 9/11 changed everything.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

Low-Tax Low-government-benefit states are not Globally competitive.

Toyota chose Canada to place their new assembly plant over locations in the U.S. that offered $millions more in incentives than Canada did. It was a dollars-and-cents decision. American workers are not as well educated as Canadian worker, and in Canada Toyota does not have to pay the massive health insurance benefits for workers because the State provides that benefit. (See Paul Krugman as well as my own earlier article Toyota Chooses Canada over Alababma/Mississippi for Auto Plant.)

This is not political rhetoric. It is accounting calculation by experts who are investing their own money.

The battle in our Texas Legislature on how to pay for education in Texas is being lost to the know-nothing, do-nothing Republicans who are penny wise and pound foolish. The No-New_Taxes Republicans are damaging the future competitiveness of Texas in the world economy by not paying for things like shipping the new text books already in the warehouse to the schools that need them.

Our Legislators are failing us badly. Again.

---

See also

Taxes don't slow economy, Norquist!
and
Higher taxes do not slow the economy, Part II.

[Cross posted from Politics Plus Stuff.]
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

As a child, Lubbock was a magnet. Anyone who was smart, ambitious, or just not satisfied with the dead-end jobs of countless one-horse towns hitched, rode, or walked towards Lubbock. In the clear air of the High Plains, its lights shimmered like the promise of opportunity that had been preached into the souls of every God-fearing boy and girl in West Texas.

Like most of Texas, Lubbock is a city that prides itself as both a hub of common sense and a gleaming rhinestone of the buckle of the Bible Belt.

The Lubbock paper - the Avalance-Journal - rightfully editorializes that the future of Texas is in the hands of Republicans. The news writer in an AP piece, however, breaks into the op-ed business by stating rather bluntly that the problem is one Democratic Senator who "talked [school finance reform] to death.

This kind of spin helps no one.

Here are the facts on the issue: (Thanks to Linda Messing)

1) As early as 2001, warnings were given to Republicans to take school finance problems seriously. These warnings came from no less authority than the Acting Lt. Governor Bill Ratcliff. In response, Republicans promised"In 140 days we are going to have to craft a new public school finance plan."

2) By 2003, lawyers for wealthy districts were arguing that the Robin Hook law created a de facto illegal state wide tax.

3) In 2004, Gov. Rick Perry called a special session of the State Lege to deal with school finances. The Lege fails to take any action.

4) In Sept. of 2004, 300 school districts band together to challenge the school funding and win. School funding may stop by October. Instead, a stop-gap measure is passed to keep schools open.

5) Throughout the entire 2005 session, Republicans could not get a school finance plan passed. Instead, they focus on skewing the tax laws more in the favor of rich Texans at the expense of the poor and middle class.

6)Last month, Governor Rick Perry again calls a special session because Republicans cannot get support for any school finance plan.

7)This month, a second special session is called as Democrats protect the rights of the working class through use of the filibuster. Republicans again promise results on school finance and Gov. Rick Perry promises to continue to call special sessions until the mess is settled.

Yet during this time, Texas Republicans found a way to redraw partisan House districts to give themselves a majority in both Houses of the State Lege. By the end of 2002, not only did Republicans hold that double Lege majority, but every single state-wide office.

Now, Texas Republicans claim the State of Texas as their birth-right, yet they show no ability to exert leadership in the single most important issue to Texans.

It's past time to inject a bit of horse-sense into this situation. Here's a hint: If you deal someone all the aces and they continue to fold, maybe you need a new man in the card-game.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

The Austin American Statesman today has a story about the documents that Texas Association for Business has produced under court order. Basically, the identity of many of the corporations that funded the TAB-backed Republican takeover of the legislature can be gleaned from the documents.

But, here's what's interesting to me about the story: The Republicans believe that the First Amendment gives businesses a right to engage in electoral politics in secret. Well, ok, they argue that the TAB wasn't *really* engaging in electoral politics because they didn't use the actual words "support" or "oppose" in their attack ads, but to even suggest that insults the intelligence of Texas voters. When a group runs an add attacking an incumbent, you don't need to say "oppose" candidate X. What's the purpose of the ad? To get voters to oppose candidate X. Otherwise, why raise money at $40,000 or so a pop from secret donors to run the ads. It's just not a credible suggestion.

At any rate, here's what Andy Taylor thinks:

"I think we made it very clear to our donors that we respect their right to anonymity," Taylor said. "We have fought the good fight to protect their right to confidentiality."

"TAB has not and will not voluntarily disclose the name of our donors," he said. "We will continue to protect their identities."

Translation: We promised the companies that bought the Republicans running your legislature that we'd protect their secret identities, and we'll go to the mat to keep their identities secret.

In other words, corporations are entitled to a special right that no one else in Texas has, the right to influence elections without disclosing which elections they are influencing. Not to mention that their illegal actions in influencing said elections should also be kept secret.

What we need is more transparency in electoral politics, but we are clearly not going to get it from Texas Republicans.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

Of course, everyone in Texas knows the Texas Five - the hapless five Democratic House members targeted through redistricting for elimination. Thanks to Tom DeLay and his crookery, such men as Charlie Stenholm, Martin Frost, Max Sandlin, and Nick Lampson were tossed out on their ear. In their stead, Louis Gohmert, Ted Poe, Randy Neugebaur, and Pete Sessions now represent Texas (note: Sessions was actually already in the House, his redistricting pitted him against Martin Frost).

Now that a bit of time has passed, let's see how these honorable men are taking care of Texas:

Louis Gohmert - for the price of $10,000, Tom DeLay bought himself a truly faithful lackey. 98% of the time, Gohmert votes the way DeLay tells him to. Gohmert voted twice to weaken ethics rules to protect his Big Daddy Tom.

Ted Poe - an even better deal for DeLay because it only cost him $5,000. Again, this DeLay Lackey backed his master 98% of the time. Just like his DeLay Brother Gohmert, Poe voted twice to weaken the ethics rules to protect Big Daddy.

Randy Neugebaur - Tom got ripped off here. It cost him $15,000 to bring in only 94% of the votes he wants. While Randy voted to weaken ethics rules to protect Big Daddy, once the issue became a cable TV favorite, he flip-flopped to save face. Too bad it will be his butt on the line for being Big Daddy's least dependable goon.

Pete Sessions - although there was really no need for it, Petey took $26,644 from Tommy-boy . In return for the cash, Petey voted to weaken the ethics rules to protect his pal. Like Neugey, Petey only cares about ethics when the TV is watching. To do penance for his misdeeds, Petey donated $5,000 to DeLay's legal defense fund.

It seems to me that it would be easier, and cheaper, to just pass a law that lets Tom DeLay represent the whole state.

Of course, that would take action by the State Lege - and we all know the likelihood of the Lege doing anything but giving pay raises is non-existant.


Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

As we saw yesterday in the outpouring of support for Paul Hackett in Ohio-2, exponential impact is possible even when we're fighting outnumbered and outgunned.

But it's not going to happen if we tickle out a solo focus strategy. We have to shift from thinking linearly to thinking wholistically. And, no, I'm not talking granola.

The Ballot Amendments worked for the Repubs last year. How about a minimum wage Ballot Amendment? Is somebody working on that? A fair wage for a fair workday ought to have particular resonance in Ohio right now.

Governor's race should be take no prisoners, because the people of Ohio, who work hard for their money, had their hard earned tax dollars looted. Why wasn't anybody in state government looking out for them? It's not like anybody in the Rust Belt has money growing out of trees.

Except maybe at the Noe household, anyway.

Same thing with a smaller footprint in every state legislative district.

And in the Congressional races you link (and you thank the Republicans silently for being so greedy *and* stupid as to give you so many opportunities) the rot in the state government with the rot in Washington.

And the same thing people are hearing about the Feds with RoveGate they hear about the state with CoinGate. Then there's whatever the next scandal du bush turns out to be, and everywhere Ohioan's turn there's more dirty Republicans picking their pockets and controlling their lives.

Time for a change, don't you think?

Now, you've got amplification.

And here's the absolute kicker.

Every Democratic campaign has to be a values campaign.

Justice.
Fairness.
Opportunity
Safety (links crime, environment and healthcare).
.
In every township, every county, it's got to be abundantly clear who stands up for the little guy and that has to be the Democrats. If there are any in Ohio that ain't doing it, it's time for a Come To Jesus meeting and good luck in the private sector if you can't walk the talk.

I'm not talking about a calculated and clever manipulation of the news. I leave that to others.

I'm talking about the power of genuine outrage, heartfelt compassion, and determined action. They don't function as a linear sequence but act on each other in a quantum way to make things like yesterdays historic fundraising and profile raising for Paul Hackett.

Ohio, lead the way.

Xposted from We Are the Resistance
and Grow Ohio.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

Senator John Cornyn will be online chatting with Dallas Morning News readers at 2:45 about immigration, boarder security and citizenship.

Anyone care to ask him what--in his esteemed opinion as the chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee--he thinks of Karl Rove and his betrayal of national security? </snark>

chat@dallasnews.com
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

George Bush has stated in his radio address that his Supreme Court nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Conner will be "mainstream"; specifically, he said, "My nominee will be a fair-minded individual who represents the mainstream of American law and American values".

Texas Republicans can have a peculiar personal definitions of words. For example, Bush stated that he would be bipartisan when he ran for his first term, that he would be a "uniter, not a divider": his first term was anything but.

More recently, Texas Republicans have argued that checks aren't cash so they didn't really engage in money-laundering.

So it's worthwhile to get out the super secret decoder ring to figure out what "mainstream" means to some Texas Republicans.

How about Montgomery County's self-professed mainstream group, the Republican Leadership Council, which attempted to get Robie Harris' books _It's Perfectly Normal_ and _It's So Amazing_ banned from the the Montgomery County Library System by pressuring the commissioners court to ban them by fiat? (At the end of the day, a community panel decided that the books did indeed NOT violate community standards, and restored the books to the shelf.)

The Republican Leadership Council is also, incidentally, an extremely vocal opponent of presenting evolutionary biology in high school science curricula.

The Republican Party in Montgomery County officially dissociated themselves from the "mainstream" RLC.

Or take the Harris County arm of the battle against evolution, the Texans for Better Science Education. They put out voters guides criticizing groups of moderate republicans as "NOT MAINSTREAM CONSERVATIVE!"

So what's the point? Anyone can call himself mainstream. Where the rubber meets the road is what they actually do. George Bush thinks judges like Janice Brown and Pricilla Owens are acceptable ... perhaps ... mainstream?

RNC consultant and Texas Republican Party vice-chair David Barton states in his audio seminar, Thinking Biblically, Speaking Secularly that it's important to use liberals' terms against us. The example he gives is "censorship". The upshot of the discussion is that when we say, don't incorporate intelligent design in the biology curriculum because the ideas don't have currency with the scientific community, call us unfair and call that censorship.

I would submit that "mainstream" is used to the same effect. The label signifies positions held by most people; in this case by most practicing jurists. But just as in anything, pay careful attention to what's actually inside the package.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

In June, Howard Dean came to Texas. As a Texan, it is great to know that our DNC Chair is following through on the 50-state strategy.

However, as an Indian-American, one stop in Houston deeply troubled me. Dr. Dean spoke to the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI). AAPI is NOT a group that is representative of the Indian-American community at large. Basically, AAPI is a group of rich Indian-American doctors that thinks that it should be a political force that represents ALL Indian-Americans. It exists primarily for ego gratification.

Howard Dean may get large donor checks from this event. I imagine that this is the goal of this visit, for this group is most definitely NOT grassroots. Most of the membership is probably Republican. The only reason Dr. Dean was probably invited was for ego and to say, "Look how important we are!" The checks are part of this ego.

A case in point regarding AAPI is the quotation from Joshua Kurlantzick's online article in the New Republic, "Vote Getters" on May 26, 2004. In this article, Sharad Lakhanpal of the Association of American Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) is quoted in Far Eastern Economic Review as saying that Indian-Americans are becoming Republicans due to George W. Bush lack of bashing of outsourcing to India in contrast to John Kerry. With all due respect, why should Lakhanpal's opinion on outsourcing and the supposed move of Indian-Americans to the Republican Party be lent any credence by any credible political observer. Lakhanpal is a member of an association that represents Indian-American doctors, not IT professionals. He should stick to his topic of expertise: medicine. In addition, what makes Lakhanpal the authority on the political desires of the Indian-American community? Perhaps his circle of friends feels this way, but this does not necessarily constitute the viewpoint and trends of the entire Indian-American community. I do not know Lakhanpal's political persuasion, but this may be influencing his grandiose and presumptive statements.

I hope that Dr. Dean does not think that he is getting a pulse of the Indian-American community by visiting with AAPI. Hopefully, the checks are large, because that is all he will get out of this. These are large donors, not small donors.

I like Howard Dean, but if he wants to engage the Indian-American community, there are far better ways of doing it.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

Planned Parenthood held a conference yesterday, Nobody's Fool, which is an abstinence-plus sex education program. Abstinence-plus meaning: "While it encourages teens to postpone sex, it also tells teens to be sensible and use caution if and when they do become sexually active." Teens are given medically accurate, age-appropriate information about birth control.

Naturally,
Pro-life Waco was there to protest.

Texans for Life President Kyleen Wright declined to attend the actual conference, but she spoke at the protest. She opined that Planned Parenthood would withhold vital information about condom failure rates and the dreaded HPV, which causes cervical cancer, and characterized the progrram as "foolish" and "criminal".

Back in the reality-based community, Waco Tribune-Herald staff writer consulted the CDC website:

A more complete picture of HPV infection is available through the Centers for Disease Control, which notes the vast majority of HPV infections do not result in cancer. Scientists are continuing to study condom effectiveness against HPV. Several medical studies so far have found that condom use is associated with lower rates of cervical cancer, the CDC reports.

It should not surprise that the Pro-life lobby uses misleading information to denigrate sex education. What is surprising is how thoroughly the Republican Party of Texas support the pro-life lobby's efforts to quash comprehensive sex ed in this state and why Texans are permitting this to happen.

As Chris Bell commented at the SDEC meeting a couple weeks ago, (Read the whole thing here):

With the highest teen pregnancy rate in the country, Texas Democrats need the moral courage to stand up and protect birth control and give our kids the medically accurate information they need to know so they don’t get pregnant in the first place.


Heck, as the first (only?) rabbi to have graduated from St. John's school commented a few years ago at a Texas Freedom Network workshop "They [anti-sex ed people] have blood on their hands" when they withhold medically accurate information from teenagers - information that can help to reduce sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregancies and yes, abortions, since many abortion procedures result from teen pregnancies.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

Yup, she is at it again. Even though Junior Senator John Cornyn is the most unpopular Senator in America, Kay Bailey seems to have been on a real role lately--from arguing that Durbin "armed America's enemies" to rubber-stamping insufficient funds for veterans, to reluctantly opposing lynching to blubbering about something-or-other on the Senate floor.

Senator Stepford strikes again--this time, she is giving a press conference defending Karl Rove's betrayal of American security during a time of war--a war that its proponents equate with the struggle against German fascism. Click on the link. Give her a call.

And please, Texas, wake up and throw these completely compromised corruptocrats out--before it gets any worse, preferably.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

Austin American-Statesman:

State District Judge Bob Perkins today said he believes two officials with Texans for a Republican Majority should stand trial on felony charges of money laundering.

Wow, the TRMPAC scandal is really starting to get out of Tom DeLay's control.

If his allies in Texas start falling due to money laundering convictions, and other violations of state law, how long before Tom DeLay get hauled in front of a judge to answer for himself?

Hopefully sooner than later.


Cross posted from The Supreme Irony of Life ...
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

Ted Poe, the Republican representing the 2nd Congressional District of Texas, wrote this yesterday at Arianna Huffington's blog under the headline "Has the Supreme Court Lost its Way?". At heart it's just another rambling right-wing screed against the judiciary, but it's also remarkable in its ignorance considering the source:

As a former felony court judge in Houston, Texas for over 20 years, I used the Constitution and made decisions that affected real people – defendants, victims, and the community. I took the same oath as our Supreme Court justices and never rendered a ruling based upon the sentiments of another nation. I determined whether individuals should lose their property, liberty, and freedom. On occasion, my decisions even resulted in those individuals forfeiting their lives. Nonetheless, every ruling was rooted in the United States Constitution, which those who came to my court unquestionably knew constitutes the basis of all American law... not the judge’s personal opinion or the holdings of a foreign nation; not the British way or the European way; but rather the American way. Had I used any other law but that of the Constitution, I would have been removed from the bench and rightfully so.

The overarching thrust of this rant -- decrying the influence of international law on American jurisprudence -- is specious. Surely Poe has knows enough of law history to recall that Franklin, Hamilton, et al drew inspiration -- if not entire passages -- from the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and other foreign sources.

And the portion I emphasized above is just plain foolish. Unless the death penalty appears somewhere in the Constitution, then Poe was just another "activist judge" doing his best to interpret the Framers' intent, and not the strict constructionist he believes himself to be.

Poe was nationally renowned for his creative punishment sentencings while he was a judge locally, and was widely known as a "tough-on-crimer" (even if he let a lot of criminals off the hook after the fact). "Poetic Justice", as it were. I'm not sure where Poe found constitutional authority to order child molesters to put signs on their front doors advertising their convictions, or command drunken drivers to walk at the scene of their crime with sandwich boards publicizing their circumstances, or force people to take out newspaper ads apologizing for their dastardly deeds.

Nor how that ensured the "predictability, consistency, and uniformity of justice".

Then there's this:

Having been down in the mud, blood, and beer with real people, I have witnessed the Constitution’s impact on the lives of Americans. I submit that looking to foreign court decisions is as relevant as using the writings of Reader’s Digest, a Sears and Roebuck catalog, a horoscope, my grandmother’s recipe for the common cold, tea leaves, star gazing, or the local gossip at the barbershop in Cut N’ Shoot, Texas.

I have to wonder here if Poe's father actually named him Sue ...

Maybe while the judge works out his own private personal hypocrisy he can go huntin' with Ag Commissioner Jerry Patterson.

Or sumpin'.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

Carole Strayhorn raised $1.5 million in the first ten days of June (.pdf file) -- that was before she declared -- and has more than $7 million on hand in her race to wrest the GOP gubernatorial nomination away from God's Own MoFo'n Governor, Rick Perry.

But she's going to need every bit of that and more to win:

Texas Republican primary voters would support incumbent Governor Rick Perry over State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn by a two-to-one margin, according to a recent poll.

Since the summer of 2001, Montgomery and Associates, an independent research firm based in Austin, Texas, has been running surveys tracking statewide political issues and elected officials. This survey was conducted from June 27 – July 1, 2005 and tested 905 Texans who had voted in at least one out of the past two Republican primaries. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.3%. Montgomery & Associates conducted the survey independently, and has not been paid by any candidate or party. In partisan political races, the firm works for Democratic candidates.

(From Harvey Kronberg's Quorum Report, 7/11 4:39 pm entry).

Pop more corn, please ...
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

Before Alberto Gonzales became U.S. Attorney General, he was Counsel to the President. As such, in February 2004 he went out to defend the Administration's position on enemy combatants, that they be held indefinitely without charge or hearing:

---

The first, Yaser Hamdi, is a Saudi national who was a part of a Taliban military unit that surrendered to Northern Alliance forces in a battle near Konduz, Afghanistan in late 2001. He was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle when he surrendered. He has admitted that he went to Afghanistan to train with and fight for the Taliban. Following his capture, a U.S. military screening team confirmed that Hamdi indeed met the criteria for enemy combatants over whom the U.S. forces were taking control. Afterwards, military authorities learned of records indicating that Hamdi, although a Saudi national, had been born in Louisiana. He was transferred to a naval brig in the United States where he remains detained.

---

The status of "enemy combatants" was established by U.S. vs Quirin, which accords them the status of spies, not soldiers on the field of battle, and thus not protected as prisoners of war. The combatants in question were German saboteurs who stole upon U.S. shores in uniform, then claiming POW status when arrested as spies. The Supreme Court found against them.

Yaser Hamdi was, by Judge Gonzales's own admission, captured on the field of battle, clearly bearing arms in the defense of Afghanistan. Nothing from U.S. vs. Quirin is applicable. When Afghanistan was defeated, he should have been released as any other prisoner of war would be returned to their home country.

It is unclear whether Judge Gonzales (or anyone else in the Bush Administration) has read U.S. vs. Quirin, as he does not quote it directly. But to neglect fundamental homework on such an important legal point does not bode well in a potential Supreme Court nominee.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

The State Lege is now halfway through its multi-million dollar boondoggle known as a "Special Session".

The good news is that your hard-earned money has not been spent in vain. Rather it has been spent in finding a way to give progressively more tax relief to richer Texans.

How? By approving House Bill 3.

If HB 3 becomes law, the maximum property tax assessed on property will drop from $1.50 per $100 to $1.23 in 2006 and then to $1.10 in 2007.

Whoopee! Tax relief!

Beware the naked man who offers you the shirt off his back.

If you own property that is valued at $50,000, you will save a whole $135 next year. Meanwhile, someone who owns a nice million dollar mansion will save $1,500.

Pretty neat, huh? Who do you think needs the money more? Let's play a game where we assume you buy a house that is valued at 2.5 times your annual income. That means the $50,000 house belongs to someone who makes $20,000 a year - which works out to around $10 an hour. The million dollar home then belongs to someone who makes $400,000 a year - or around $200 per hour. That's not bad work, when you can find it.

So the working guy, grimy with sweat and sand, gets a cut of eleven dollars and a quarter every month. The guy sitting in his office gets more than two and a half times that per week. So, when the hard-hat crew gets off work, they can have a beer and a half every Friday, thanks to the Republican leadership. Meanwhile, the suit gets a night out on the town with his wife - or whoever he decides to spend his money on.

But of course, you don't get something from nothing. The working guy will pay higher sales taxes, a new tax on auto repairs (hey, a new tax break for shade tree mechanics!), and cigarettes. The rich guy will pay all of that, too - potentially. However, he has more money than month - so some of his money doesn't pay sales taxes at all. His new car doesn't need repairs, either. Smoking, of course, everyone CAN do, but in general, the wealthier you are, the less you smoke. Too busy counting your money, I suppose.

Better yet - wait for it - no additional money is going to education! Isn't that a hoot? Oh man, I'm splitting a gut here! An education bill that doesn't address school funding problems. Only a Republican could do it with a straight face.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away, at the only branch of the Republican government that is forced to deal with reality (sometimes)...

329 school districts have banded together to argue that the maximum tax rate on assessments amounts to an illegal state tax. Oh, cool. Now all that hard work for the "special session" (reference to "special olympics" omitted) may be for naught because if the Justices agree with the schools the whole thing has to start over from square one.

The Republican legal defense is predictably thin and antagonistic towards the Court. They claim the matter is a, "political question that the Texas Constitution assigns to the Texas Legislature and not the courts." In other words, our Solicitor General just looked at the Court and said, "This is none of your business."

Apparently wondering if the Republican Lege was thinking about abbrogating its responsibility to provide an education system, Justice Wainwright asked if maybe that meant the Lege could cut off funding after fourth grade. The Republican Party Line: "Yes."

Maybe that's how they plan to get more money to schools and cut the High School dropout rate. Eliminate High School, and you have no drop-outs. Then you take that money and spend it all on fourth graders...
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

Today I was alerted to an editorial by what I will call a concerned citizen of Williamson County. The editorial is entitled, Krusee should protect interests of constituents . To me that is a sad title. I say that not to disparage the writer but because that is the state of our representation in Williamson County. That we have to remind our representatives in an editorial that their duty is to the constituents! I said it before and I'll say it again, this is what happens when there is no accountability in government. This was written by a resident of Coupland which in the recent past, "..has been one of the most extreme rigidly Republican strongholds ever to be encountered". One would think, that being the case, that the Republican leadership in this county would be responsive to the residents of Coupland. If you read the editorial you will see that, sadly, is not the case. Here are a few key parts of the editorial:

Rarely have I heard the words, "I don't know," more often than during the June 27 town hall meeting hosted by the Coupland Civic Organization to discuss proposed rail lines through the Coupland area. The guest speakers, County Commissioner Frankie Limmer and Wendy Reilly and Jason Nelson, chief of staff and legislative aide to Rep. Mike Krusee, were consistently unable - or unwilling, as has been speculated by many in the community - to provide any information about prospective routes or timelines for the proposed rail lines.

[and]

One would think that our elected officials would be doing everything in their power to protect their constituents from such a fearsome local and national climate. Unfortunately, they aren't.

[and]

After sponsoring all of this legislation, one would think that Rep. Krusee would be keeping pretty close tabs on the actions that TxDOT has been taking after being granted so many new powers. Judging by the meeting in Coupland ..., this is not the case either. Staff members from Krusee's office were unsure of where the rail line would go - other than somewhere between two old rail lines located along Mopac Expressway and SH 95 - and unaware of even the most basic timetable for when construction would begin.

[and]

Instead of authoring bills that will help facilitate the destruction of this beautiful and historic area and turn "miles and miles of Texas" into miles and miles of asphalt and railroad ties, he (Rep. Krusee) should be doing things that benefit the communities he serves.

Go read the whole thing it's great. Thank you Margaret Garry for writing this editorial and thanks to that concerned citizen for letting me know of this.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

From Josh Frank at Dissident Voice:

Occasionally I get emails from Washington folks who work on the Hill claiming to possess juicy insider digs on our public servants and their corporate paymasters. I usually delete said emails, as I don't want to be responsible for propagating dirty rumors or false information that can't be corroborated. I'd rather let Judith Miller and the New York Times do that. Nonetheless, in the past 24 hours I have been contacted by three separate congressional Democrats in Washington, by email and later phone, who all say the same thing: Karl Rove is about to be indicted.

All this comes on the heels of events that transpired over the weekend, as two different individuals, journalist Michael Isikoff and political commentator Lawrence O'Donnell, both claimed that Karl Rove was responsible for leaking the identity of an undercover CIA officer's identity to Marc Cooper of Time magazine. As Isikoff of Newsweek wrote on July 3:

“The e-mails surrendered by Time Inc., which are largely between Cooper and his editors, show that one of Cooper's sources was White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to two lawyers who asked not to be identified because they are representing witnesses sympathetic to the White House. Cooper and a Time spokeswoman declined to comment. But in an interview with Newsweek, Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, confirmed that Rove had been interviewed by Cooper for the article.”

If what Isikoff and O'Donnell claim is indeed true, it still does not necessarily mean that Rove was also Robert Novak's inside guy, although it surely raises suspicion. The indictment, as I am told, will most likely be of felony weight. In fact, Karl Rove may be accused of perjury, as Bush's top strategist told a grand jury that he was not responsible for leaking Plame's identity to Time. So the charge may not be for leaking top-secret information to the press, but for perjuring himself.

Sources also all say that this indictment is likely to come down either late this week or early next week. Of course Rove's lawyer denies that his client ever “knowingly” handed over classified information to the media, or is the “target” of any investigation. Perhaps Rove “unknowingly” leaked the information, and he's the “subject” rather than a “target” of an investigation. Time will tell.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who has been leaked this information either. Over at Redstate, a right-wing Internet blog, one member who calls himself “Ohsure”, also claims that “[four] Great sources confirmed” the matter, and later added: “I not only don't do this, I have never done this. But here it is; ‘Karl Rove will be indicted late this, or early next week.’ I'm trusting a source. So either I am made a [sic] into an overzealous horses a**, or..., I have good sources and may be more trusted to get these things right.”

Ditto.

And as my friend PW has surmised, the fact that Bush has apparently counseled with and considered retaining a private criminal defense attorney with a specialty in defending Republican scofflaws suggests there's a pony buried somewhere underneath all this manure.

(cross-posted at Brains and Eggs)
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

On June 23, 2005 I sent the following letter to Senators John Cornyn and Kay Baily Hutchinson - Letter to Sens Cornyn and Hutchinson. On June 30th I got the following reply from Sen. Cornyn:

Dear Mr. Xxxxxxx:

Thank you for contacting me about recent comments by White House advisor Karl Rove. I appreciate having the benefit of your comments on this matter.

As you know, Mr. Rove's speech addressed the disparate approaches to prosecuting the War on Terror. In responding to the events of September 11, 2001, some groups urged restraint and disagreed with the decision to use military force in Afghanistan, preferring instead to rely on international law to indict terrorists. I supported President Bush's approach that America must aggressively marshal all of its available resources—diplomatic, law enforcement, intelligence, economic, mlitary—to wage a War on Terror and the extremist ideology of hatred. And I concur with his recent remarks observing the one-year anniversary of the transfer of Iraqi sovereignty reminding us that “we either will deal with terrorism and extremism abroad, or we deal with it when it comes to us.”

Today, we are striving to replace terrorism, despotism, and oppression with freedom, and we will fight the enemies of freedom wherever necessary. As chairman of the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I am working with the President and my congressional colleagues to secure the safety of our nation and our citizens abroad against the threat of terrorism.

I appreciate having the opportunity to represent the interests of Texans in the United States Senate. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.

Sincerely,


JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator

517 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-2934
Fax: (202) 228-2856
http://www.cornyn.senate.gov

---

In other words, Sen. Cornyn agrees with and supports what Karl Rove stated.

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[Cross-posted from Politics Plus Stuff - an Online Magazine]
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

While most of us this Fourth of July weekend are celebrating independence, our country's remaining freedoms and honoring the service of our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, Tom DeLay's followers are attacking a group of North Texans who have come together to have a voice in state government.

The Free Enterprise Fund, yet another Washington DC-based DeLay front organization, has announced it will air a second national television ad attacking democracy. This time they're specifically attacking Travis County district attorney Ronnie Earle and the Texas Values in Action Coalition. TEXVAC is a political action committee dedicated to returning honest, fair-minded progressives to all levels of state and local government. They are not involved in federal races or national issues and, unlike Tom DeLay, do not accept corporate contributions.

It's interesting to note that on the very day the US House ethics committee announced it will begin meeting to finally begin investigating DeLay’s unethical and illegal behavior, the Free Enterprise Fund launched a second TV ad to deflect the media's attention.

As the battle for the Supreme Court begins, it's important that we not let our famous homegrown right-wing freaks try to fly under the radar, catapulting their propaganda.

Update (7/1): Burnt Orange Report has more.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!