Well, he may know several things we don't, but there's a particular news item I have in mind.

The blogosphere's been pushing for some time to have a complete list of Congressional districts and announced candidates.

Well, the DCCC has finally rolled one out.

And yes, John Courage is listed in TX-21. But either Rahm Emanuel knows something that hasn't yet been announced, or there's a little typo because it's listed as an open seat.

I know Lamar Smith is not the most colorful of congresscritters-he might as well be covered in Delay stamped cellophane-but I haven't seen any announcement that he's retiring from Congress.

Though the idea does tickle me. Perhaps we can generate a little more prickly heat for Bacardi Lamar.

Any ideas?

crossposted from TX-21 Blog
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

I've come to grips with the reality that there are some aspects of my childhood that will simply not be repeated for future generations. Things like: watching a black-and-white TV with a set of rabbit-ears and having the incredible choice of three channels, watching the McDonald's being built and counting the days until Ronald McDonald would whip out his huge scissors and the first Big Mac in town would be sold, and hearing from the pulpit that our faith should be shown, not shouted.

And I'm wondering how long it will be until Thanksgiving disappears. Christmas, despite right wing attempts to portray it as "under attack", will never disappear. The twin American Gods of Football and Shopping (both of which bow down before Gluttony) are simply too powerful. Quite simply, there is too much cultural significance to Christmas for it to be endangered.

Thanksgiving, however, gets a parade, two NFL football games (Dallas and Detroit), and - oh yeah, let's not forget a four day weekend. That four days is about the only thing that keeps Thanksgiving going.

It is odd that a holiday specifically designed to give thanks to God is completely overlooked by both sides in our religiously-based culture wars, yet one that is steeped in the heritage of pagan rituals is staunchly attacked.

Everyone, of course, knows the story of the first Thanksgiving - at least I think they do. It was certainly drilled into our little heads when I was a lad. Of course, the link provides historical details that Charlie Brown and Linus never contemplated as they leaned on their favorite brick wall. At least, I don't think they were running a slave market at the ballpark nor kicking a human head down the streets. Who knows? Maybe that's why they are only on TBS now.

Yet Thanksgiving was quickly observed as a national event. But it was not a holiday. It was simply a day of observation - kind of like Veteran's Day has become. You stop and say, "Oh, yeah. That's nice." Then you hurry on your way.

But here's a snip from the proclamation that I believe really shows why it isn't part and parcel of the culture wars:

they[Congress] do further recommend to all ranks, to testify to their gratitude to GOD for his goodness, by a cheerful obedience of his laws, and by promoting, each in his station, and by his influence, the practice of true and undefiled religion, which is the great foundation of public prosperity and national happiness.

Um, Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time when we show our gratitude to God by being obedient, and the greatest way to show that is to observer YOUR OWN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS! No chanting and protest is allowed. No marches on Washington to bend the evil opposition to your will. Nope. Simply the pursuit in the quiet corners of your heart and soul of that spark of deity that inhabits us all.

Here are the words of George Washington's Thanksgiving proclaimation:

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have show kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Yikes! We should pray to pay our taxes on time? And do it cheerfully? What kind of a Marxist was Washington? To increase science and promote knowledge of religion? Holy crappers, Batman! Washington may not have been a flaming liberal (or maybe he was), but he damn sure wasn't from Kansas!

It wasn't until our country was torn by the Civil War that Abraham Lincoln took steps to make Thanksgiving a national and permanent holiday. Lincoln, as well, had specific reasons for Thanksgiving:

And I recommend to [Americans] that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

Penitence for our perverseness and disobedience, care for the widows and orphans, comfort for the afflicted, and to bind our wounds so that our country might still truly be, in peace, harmony, and tranquility, the UNITED states of america.

That will be my prayer this year at Thanksgiving. If it was needed in Lincoln's time, then it is no less needed today. As it was, so let it be again.

Oh Lord! Let me be an instrument of They peace!

Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

There's a lot of mouth-foaming over Kinky Friedman's run for the Governor's mansion. It looks like Kinky is serious, too. After all, he's hired Dean Barkley and Reid Nelson to get his campaign going.

But he's likely to find out what Ralph Nader and H. Ross Perot already discovered - the parties may be irrelevant, but you need them to win.

So far, Kinky has the support of 21% of likely voters. Statistically, that isn't far from the 37% Jesse Ventura pulled to win the Minnesota governor's race in 1998. However, Texas is not Minnesota - to state the obvious - and Kinky ain't no Jesse.

Jesse had a building block of stardom in that he had made a couple of cheesey movies and paraded around in tights. Kinky is an author of books that most Texans haven't heard of and a singer of songs that you never hear on the radio.

Nor is Texas very well fitting with the types of policy Kinky might dream up. When asked about Prop. 2, Kinky stated that he thought gays should be allowed to marry so they could be miserable, too. Hah, hah. Except you just lost a huge chunk of dedicated voters that are sure to turn out.

The big issues in Texas cannot be laughed away: property taxes and school financing. Basically, the only way to get property taxes down and fund our schools is to amend the Constitution to allow a state income tax. Good luck finding a line that will allow people to laugh at that when they pull the voting lever.

Plus, in case no one noticed, Texas is a HUGE state. How many media markets are there to buy ad time in? You hit Houston, DFW, San Antonio, and El Paso and you've only just begun to contact voters. Don't forget Austin, Lubbock, Amarillo, Waco, Beaumont, Corpus Christi, McAllen, Brownsville, Galveston...

In Texas, to run a campaign, it takes a party. And that is one thing Kinky just doesn't have. He does do one thing for Democrats, though:

He makes Rick Perry look stupid. Of course, Rick does that on his own pretty well, too.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (not know for its antagonism of Republicans) reports:

Former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed claimed in a 2001 e-mail to a lobbyist that he choreographed John Cornyn's efforts as Texas attorney general to shut down an East Texas Indian tribe's casino

That "East Texas Indian tribe" is the Alabama-Coushatta - one of the poorest Native American nations. Look at the facts of life among the Alabama-Coushatta:

46 percent of all eligible members of the Alabama-Coushatta are not employed on a full-time basis.

Only 1 percent of Tribal members on the reservation have a four-year college degree.

Out of a total of 513 on-reservation Tribal members, 147 are diabetic.

Median household income of the Alabama-Coushatta is $10,809.

Don't let anyone sucker you into thinking that they are just too damn lazy to get ahead either:

The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe does not want a handout – it just wants the opportunity to pursue economic development projects. We want to provide long-term economic stability for our members, and economic independence for individual tribal members. We want a better life for ourselves and our children. We want to be self-sufficient.

What does John Cornyn, the darling of the Texas Republicans, think of this group of Indians? Let's look at some of the email on the subject:

"We have also choreographed Cornyn's response. The AG will state that the law is clear, talk about how much he wants to avoid repetition of El Paso and pledge to take swift action to enforce the law," Reed wrote. "He will also personally hand Ed Young a letter that commits him to take action in Livingston."

"Reed" is Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed. He is point-blank bragging - and guaranteeing - that John Cornyn will behave exactly the way he wants. And the way he wants is for two Indian casinos - the sole means most young Native Americans have of getting enough money to go to college - to be closed forever.

Ralph Reed has a long political career. In that career, he has managed to tie himself to Pat Robertson, Jack Abramoff, Mike Scanlon, Tom DeLay, Karl Rove, Enron, Jesse Helms, and Pat Buchanan.

It should be apparent to anyone that the actions of this bunch is not in any way tied to a moral objection to gambling - after all, no one blinked when William Bennett admitted he was a big time gambler. Not one of them has openly opposed the Texas Lotto - or any other lottery, for that matter. Yet they seem to get a bee up their butt when Indians make a few dollars off of people willfully going into a casino and make a wager or two.

It's time to call it what it really is - racism. There's simply no other reason why they would favor certain forms of gambling, yet fight so hard to get two Indian-owned and -operated casinos in Texas shut down.

Perhaps it's as simple as the fact that the Indians didn't fork over enough cash to be treated "fairly".

This might be a good time for Tom DeLay to read up on what happened to another cocksure White Man who hated Indians - George Armstrong Custer.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

I knew at least one of them was gay:

Former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed claimed in a 2001 e-mail to a lobbyist that he choreographed John Cornyn's efforts as Texas attorney general to shut down an East Texas Indian tribe's casino.

The lobbyist was Jack Abramoff, who is under federal investigation along with his partner Michael Scanlon, on allegations of defrauding six Indian tribes of about $80 million between 2001 and 2004. The e-mail, along with about a dozen others, were released last week as part of the investigation. In 2001, Abramoff was working as a lobbyist for the Louisiana Coushatta tribe to prevent rival gaming casinos from siphoning off its Texas customers. He paid Reed as a consultant, and Reed lobbied to get the Alabama-Coushatta and Tigua casinos closed in Texas.

In the Nov. 30, 2001, e-mail, Reed told Abramoff that 50 pastors led by Ed Young, of Second Baptist Church in Houston, would meet with Cornyn to urge him to shut down the Alabama-Coushatta tribe's casino near Livingston, Texas. He said Young would back up the request in writing.

"We have also choreographed Cornyn's response. The AG will state that the law is clear, talk about how much he wants to avoid repetition of El Paso and pledge to take swift action to enforce the law," Reed wrote. "He will also personally hand Ed Young a letter that commits him to take action in Livingston."

Cornyn, now a Republican U.S. senator, had filed a lawsuit in 1999 to shut down a casino operated by the Tigua tribe in El Paso, saying it violated the state's limited gambling laws. In 2002, federal courts shuttered the Tiguas' casino and Cornyn used that ruling to shut down the Alabama-Coushuttas' casino.

The entire article, including the transcripts of the e-mail exchanged between Reed and Abramoff about Cornyn, can be found here.

Here's a question for my local paper, the Houston Chronicle: do you plan on investigating this and/or covering it yourselves or are you just going to rely on the wire reports?

(So far, the Austin American Statesman has an identical wire story. Houston Chronicle, nada. Dallas Morning News, zip. Thanks to Sean Paul at The Agonist for the tip.)

Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

"This is the way the world ends - not with a bang, but a whimper."

Those words were written by T.S. Elliot in his famous poem "The Hollow Men". Recognized as one of the great literary works of the English language, Elliot sought to capture the spirit of loss his generation felt when they realized that all they had sacrificed for "The Great War" was not going to be enough to bring peace to Europe - and the world at large. It's a cry of despair too deep to even be uttered. It is what the Koreans call "han".

How much of an exaggeration would it be to say that Texans must feel this sadness, this despair, this han when they see their state legislature gaveled into recess for the third time this year without being able to deal with either property taxes or school financing? Perhaps it is an exaggeration, but considering the fact that the two issues are tied together, it may not be a large one.

The problem is that all land is not equal in Texas, but all children do have an equal right to be educated. It is a symptom - no, a symbol - of how deeply divided our culture is that this obvious truth has become a political issue with no answer. If the symbol of Texan bravery at the foundation of our state was the Lone Star boldly staring at anyone tempted to cast greedy eyes upon our possessions, then the symbol of Texan foolishness must now be a fallow field and a textbook with no pages. Property taxes are raised to buy books for school, and then those same taxes force poor Texans to lose their livelihoods.

Draw that plow digging into the textbook, driving it deeper underground where its promise of a better life will never be seen. It's better for a poor child to never ben teased with the idea that they can read and write and someday, if they work very hard, eat their vegetables, listen to their parents, and study, study, study; then they will one day be able to care for their own children and honor their parents in their dotage. It's better for the poor farmer, the manual laborer, the mechanic, the plumber, and the hired hand to know from the beginning that their children will never, ever, ever make one penny more than their parents. They will never own a home or look with pride upon a crop struggling to break free from the earth to raise tiny green fingers to the sun. No, it's better that we never give them hope than it is to string them along like we do now - promising them their struggles will be rewarded, but denying them both the means to reach the prize and the ability to hold it once they do.

Let us look at our children honestly and tell them, as Elliot explained:

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow

Tell them, "We could have acted bravely and created a fair and just tax system that rewarded men and women who work by the sweat of their brow, the calluses on their hands, and the aching of their backs. We could have used that system to create a school for you and your friends that liberated you from this living death sentence. We could have taught you how to be better than us. We could have. But we were afraid."

There is another Korean word that described the Texas in which I grew up. Jung. It describes the attraction of man to mankind, an unbreakable bond of brotherhood. It's why your throat catches when you see people you don't even know struggling to get out of New Orleans. It's why your heart aches when you see the sky darkening with another hail storm when your neighbors cotton is barely popping. It's why your eyes sting when a mother cries out for the senseless death of her child. It's why you turn instantly when you hear that certain cry in the park that tells you a child is in danger. We used to have it. It used to be the light of the Lone Star.

I wonder where it is now. I wonder how we got so tightfisted that we forgot how to fund our schools. I wonder how we got so desperate that we have no sympathy for the man who blinks and wipes the sweat from his eyes when we ask him to change our tire.

I wonder how long Texas will remain the Land of the Lone Star, where every man has a chance if he just works for it. I wonder now if the Lone Star isn't a shooting star, and quickly disappearing over the horizon of my childhood.

This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

Prop 1: Yes 53.7% No 46.2%
Prop 2: Yes 76.1% No 23.8%
Prop 3: Yes 51.8% No 48.2%
Prop 4: Yes 84.8% No 15.2%
Prop 5: Yes 43.4% No 56.6%
Prop 6: Yes 62.7% No 37.4%
Prop 7: Yes 59.8% No 40.2%
Prop 8: Yes 61.2% No 38.8%
Prop 9: Yes 46.6% No 53.4%

The two proposals that failed:

Prop 5: "would authorize the Legislature to exempt commercial loans from state usury laws that set maximum interest rates. "Commercial loans" are loans made primarily for business, commercial, investment, agricultural, or similar purposes and not primarily for personal, family, or household purposes."

and

Prop 9: "would authorize the Legislature to provide staggered six year terms of office for board members serving on regional mobility authorities, with no more than one-third of the board positions being appointed every two years."

So, Texans don't want to exempt commercial loans from state usury laws - which is probably a good thing - and don't want to create "regional mobility authorities" (whatever that is) to make a whole new level of government that is unaccountable to the public.

Gotta say, I agree with both outcomes.

Of course, there was nothing but Amendments on the ballot - and Texas inches closer to overtaking Alabama as having the longest (most Amended Constitution) in the country. Voter turnout was extremely low. Of 12.5 million plus voters, barely 2 million decided the fate of the state. Prop 2 (the ban on gay marriage) collected the most votes with 2.24 million people casting votes - or about 18% of all voters.

This will be interpreted as Texas overwhelmingly being against gay marriage. I would point out that Texans are even more overwhelmingly indifferent to gay marriage. What you had here was the most motivated voters on each side voting. Had this been held in a regular election cycle, more voters would have turned out and it still would have been approved - though probably by a closer margin.

The problem is that gay marriage turned into a religious issue. Texans who want to see homosexuals treated as full citizens need to mobilize and re-claim the language of the debate and turn it into a question of government running your life. As Prop 4 and 9 show, Texans really are voting to have less government interferance in the ways things are done.

Yeah, it's gonna be an uphill battle. Way uphill.
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

So far 8.3 percent in Travis County, 1.42 percent in El Paso County for early voters.

This is a low turnout election, with only constitutional amendments on the ballot. If enough come out to vote in opposition to proposition 2, it may fail.

And that would be a Good Thing.





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

Proposition 2 has received the Supreme Being's endorsement.

At least according to Charlie Howard, the Texas House representative from Sugar Land:

"What we're doing, we are saying, here is a law we are going to follow. It happens to be God's law".

You may view the press conference where Rep. Howard announces the Lord's endorsement with thine own eyes by clicking here (link will carry you to TexansFORMarriage.org and their embedded Windows Media Player will begin).

Hallelujah! Now we can all go cast our ballots!

(Wait a minute ... has anyone polled Jesus?)
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

Early September: Tom Delay announced that we have won the battle against government spending and there's no more pork to trim out of the federal budget.

Later that month: Tom Delay says we need to slash billions in wasteful spending out of the federal budget.

Today: Tom Delay says runaway spending must end, and do you know whose fault it is that it hasn't? Now, if you were going to say "that president who submits budgets that spend like a drunken sailor without collecting enough revenue to cover the tab," you are obviously a deluded victim of the liberal conspiracy. No, it's the Democrats, who are cunningly using their lack of votes, lack of control of federal agencies, and lack of key positions in Congress to force Republicans to pass stupid budgets. They are smart, those Democrats, having apparently figured out how to turn minority party status and general lack of influence into an unstoppable force.

Do any of the people who vote for Tom Delay even pay attention to what this joker is saying, or how often he contradicts himself?

(From By the Bayou)
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

"Consider one memo highlighted in a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday that (Michael) Scanlon, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Tx., sent the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana to describe his strategy for protecting the tribe's gambling business. In plain terms, Scanlon confessed the source code of recent Republican electoral victories: target religious conservatives, distract everyone else, and then railroad through complex initiatives.

'The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees,' Scanlon wrote in the memo, which was read into the public record at a hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. 'Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them.'"

This is, of course, the tactic being advanced by the Fright-Wing to pass Proposition 2 next Tuesday. Unfortunately the "strict constructionist" that is our state's attorney general failed to comprehend the precise meaning of the words of that amendment.

From Ed Sills at Harvey Kronberg's Quorum Report (scroll down to November 2, 4:40 p.m.):

"'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'" --Lewis Carroll

As a champion of "strict constructionism" that gives full weight to the "plain text" in legal language, Attorney General Greg Abbott should know better.

Abbott has been insisting in media statements that Proposition 2, which purports to secure the definition of marriage in the Texas Constitution, is crystal clear. He even scheduled a news conference with Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht to denounce the supposedly "deceptive" telephone ads attacking Proposition 2. The news conference was abruptly canceled, perhaps when Hecht realized he might not be able to rule on a marriage case if he stated his views in a public forum or perhaps when Abbott realized that attorneys general walk a dangerous path when they start trying to regulate the content of political speech.

Abbott might well be correct in his assertion that no elected judge would overturn civil or religious marriages in Texas off the language of Proposition 2, but he’s leaving out the rest of the story.

Unless he is following the political axiom, "When you’re wrong, shout it out!" one might wonder why an attorney general would claim credit for vetting the language of Prop. 2 when the erroneous wording is justifiably confusing lawyers and law professors.

The drafting of Proposition 2 was a tribute to the "We’ve got the votes" mentality that chokes off open-minded contemplation of any editing.

Rabid conservatism defeats itself!