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The StandDown Texas Project: In Washington State

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:50:35 -0500

The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin has begun a four-day series on the death penalty.

SUNDAY - Series overview, a column by Terry McConn and a timeline of the history of executions from 1904 to the present day.
MONDAY - The cost of trials, appeals and executions.
TUESDAY - Opponents and proponents [...]

Grits for Breakfast: Texas Association of Counties says constables still needed

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:25:00 -0500

Here's a dissenting institutional view on constables, received via email:
Scott Henson
Grits for Breakfast

Sent by e-mail

Dear Scott:

Consider this an old-fashioned letter to the editor, regarding your recent on-line question about the abolition of constables in Texas. You should first understand that Texas’ 254 [...]

Dallas City Hall Blog: Lights shining again on Katy Trail

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:06:36 -0500

Last week, we reported that copper thieves caused light outages along the southern end of the Katy Trail.

Now comes word the lights are back on.

Work Thursday and Friday got the lights shining again after the thieves damaged electric wiring plates on light poles.

City spokesman Frank Librio says [...]

Grits for Breakfast: Hampton challenging Keasler for CCA slot in 2010

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:03:00 -0500

Keith Hampton, a veteran appellate lawyer and chair of the legislative committee for the Texas Criminal Defense Laywers Association, has announced his candidacy for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, lining up to run against Michael Keasler. Here's Hampton's campaign website.

I've had my differences with Keith but' [...]

Somervell County Salon: Agenda for Glen Rose CPAC Meeting November 10 2009

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:01:16 -0500

Courtesy Mygnonne T

[...]

Dog Canyon: Officeholders Flee Bigfoot in East Texas!

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:00:46 -0500

Described as “enormous and black” on the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy web site, Bigfoot is stalking East Texans. And their elected officials are retreating to the Republican Party. Coincidence? I think not.

Back in September, a Big Thicket hunter (buckwild107 on Youtube) took some pictures of a [...]

Somervell County Salon: Agenda for City of Glen Rose Meeting November 9 2009

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:59:59 -0500

Courtesy Mygnonne T

[...]

SocraticGadfly: Did Chrysler lie to government?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:53:00 -0500

With it now rejecting plans to build an electric car, one most wonder whether Chrysler really planned to do that in the first place, or just said that as part of angling for government bailout money.There is no god and I am his prophet. [...]

Dungeon Diary: Far Right Forms New Party In Florida

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:49:00 -0500

Conservatives have circled the wagons in Florida and are engaged in a circular firing squad. Not content with Charlie Crist who many of the right wing-nuts consider too liberal they have formed a new political party. The Tea Party!

This is pretty good news for progressives. If the [...]

Quid Nimis: A Great Day For Freedom

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:34:01 -0500

"90 percent of life is just showing up." - Woody Allen

"Present." -Barack Obama, when it's a vote in the Illinois State Senate, or when there's a prize, or when there's a teleprompter, but not in Berlin the 9th of November, 2009.

[...]

Blog Fabulous: Strollers recalled due to amputation hazard

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:33:54 -0500

Reports of children’s fingertips being amputated by strollers has triggered a massive recall. Maclaren Strollers in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC, issued the voluntary recall today, warning consumers that they should stop using the recalled strollers immediately because the stroller’s hinge mechanism poses a fingertip amputation and [...]

PoliTex: Palin plans book signing in Texas as critics prepare to pounce

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:29:00 -0500

Sarah Palin will be in North Texas on Dec. 4 for a book signing at Legacy Books in Plano, according to the independent bookseller.

The former Alaska Governor's memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life, comes out later this month.

The release of Palin's memoir is [...]

Texas Moratorium Network: Keith Hampton Running for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:25:00 -0500

A few months ago, we wrote a post asking "After Todd Wilingham and Sharon Keller debacles, where are the Democratic candidates challenging members of the Court of Criminal Appeals?" Where are the Democratic candidates challenging the incumbents on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals [...]

TexasFred's: Aerosmith Says Steven Tyler Has Quit

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:14:15 -0500

Number of comments: 2
Aerosmith Says Steven Tyler Has Quit The sweet emotions that the members of Aerosmith once felt towards each other have apparently come to an end. In an interview with The Las Vegas Sun, the group’s lead guitarist, Joe Perry, said that the singer Steven Tyler quit after a concert in Abu [...]

SocraticGadfly: Why? The government doesn’t even have a ...

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:04:00 -0500

Why? The government doesn’t even have a handle on how much imports, whether manufacturing or services, actually contribute to the economy.

Brilliant!

So, the economy could suck even worse, and perhaps has been for some time, while the current neolib occupant of the White House is [...]

Texas Watchdog: Texas autopsy center subject to open records laws?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:03:25 -0500

An autopsy center with offices in Beaumont, Conroe and Tyler has asked the state attorney general to determine whether it is subject to the Texas Public Information Act. The Longview News-Journal has the story: The Southeast Texas Forensic Center … submitted the question to the state Oct. 6 after a Central Texas [...]

La Sanbe: Ah, Women.

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:58:00 -0500

What do Sarah Palin and Britney Spears have in common? Their fans take them too seriously.

Palin is outraged that the words "In God We Trust" on coins should not be meddled with. Her following will surely take it to heart.

Meanwhile, fans at a Spears [...]

The StandDown Texas Project: The Smell Test

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:32:56 -0500

That's the title of an editorial in today's Houston Chronicle. It's subtitled, "Canine witnesses need tighter judicial leashes."

With very little science to back them up, so-called scent lineups have been used extensively to convict defendants in Texas courts.

Dogs sample the odor of a suspect and several other persons and sniff [...]

GregsOpinion.com: If Only They Were All This Fun

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:08:30 -0500

I do not watch enough women's college soccer. And clearly, I need to fix that:

Off to facebook to join the Elizabeth Lambert fan club.

[...]

SocraticGadfly: Murdoch ready to cut Google out of the loop?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:08:00 -0500

Rupert Murdoch says that, as part of putting paywalls up on News Corporation websites, the company will remove its articles from Google searches. Sounds like a smart idea.

And, he claims it’s what the Wall Street Journal already does with the part of its content that is paywalled. [...]

The StandDown Texas Project: Juvenile Cases Being Heard Now - The Argument Previews

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:07:54 -0500

Oral arguments in Sullivan v. Florida will be ending shortly in the U.S. Supreme Court. Graham v. Florida was heard earlier this morning. Transcripts of the oral arguments will be available here, later today.

We have preview from some of the best, most experienced Court watchers. I'd urge [...]

Burnt Orange Report: HD 11: Quorum Report - Potential Challengers to Hopson Already Lining Up

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:07:35 -0500

From Quourm Report (subscription required), we learn that Republican Michael Banks is already considering running against Rep. Chuck Hopson in the Republican primary in House District 11. Via QR:

Jacksonville dentist Michael Banks this afternoon said, “After receiving considerable encouragement from the people in each of [...]

David Ortez: Locke and the Dynamo sitting in a Tree …

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:05:05 -0500

This weekend I enjoyed watching the Houston Dynamo defeat the Seattle Sounders 1-0 as they advanced to the MLS Western Conference finals. The game was great and [...]

The Daily Hurricane: The Chicken or the Egg

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:02:12 -0500

The debate over the chicken or the egg is a common one even if you don't have a chicken or egg handy. It can be spread to just about any discipline you want. Today, it will be used in the field of politics. As an amateur political scientist (with' [...]

McBlogger: Guest Post : Hank Gilbert on LGBT policy

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:53:26 -0500

Last Wednesday night in Houston, I did something that no statewide candidate in Texas history has ever done: I released a comprehensive policy statement on issues of importance to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
Texans.

In front of a packed house at a meeting of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, [...]

The Bayou: 666 reasons not to get inked: East Texas teacher refuses to bear the "mark of the beast"

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:49:00 -0500

From the BAYOU "Devil Made Me Do it" Department:THIS is one of the reasons we LOVE living in Beaumont. For sheer entertainment value, the court cases that come through here are second-to-none. As a matter of fact, they should install stadium seating and sell concessions.Take this fine example of jurisprudence.A [...]

Yellow Doggerel Democrat: Dear President Obama:

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:48:37 -0500

Back in July, you said this: "As you know, I'm pro choice. But I think we also have a tradition of, in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government funded health care. ..." ...' [...]

The Rag Blog: Mexico : Drug Decrim and the 10,000-Ton Monkey

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:41:00 -0500

Pot smoker in Mexico City. Mexicans consume an estimated 342 tons of marijuana a year. Photo by Castillo / AP.Legalization is the only answer...Mexico's massive drug problemAs poet Juan Pablo Garcia posited long ago in his 1985 Pacheco (marijuana user) Manifesto: 'drugs don’t make us criminals but laws against drugs' [...]

Letters from Texas: Defending Glen Beck

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:40:00 -0500

So, Glen Beck just lost a lawsuit against the people who registered s parody web domain to poke fun at Beck. Beck is afraid people might get confused and think he really thinks and does the stuff characterized on the website.

The key quote from the arbiter:

[...]

Pete's Place: New movies to be released tomorrow on DVD

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:39:00 -0500

Ballast (2008) ****½ There isn’t much talk and not a drop of cynicism in this film, Lance Hammer’s austerely elegant, emotionally unadorned riff on life and death in the Mississippi Delta. Shot with a sure hand and a cast of unknowns, the film doesn’t so much tell a story as [...]

The StandDown Texas Project: Juvenile Cases Being Heard Now - The OpEds

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:38:11 -0500

"A 2d chance at freedom for juvenile offenders," is the title of Paul Farmer's OpEd in today's Boston Globe. Farmer, a medical doctor, is a professor of social medicine in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical Schoo. He is the author of Pathologies [...]

The StandDown Texas Project: Juvenile Cases Being Heard Now - The Editorials

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:25:34 -0500

The Court has heard Graham v. Florida earlier this morning, and it is hearing Sullivan v. Florida at this time. I'll break out coverage into three posts. This one will contain editorials, the next post OpEds, and the third post will contain oral argument previews. Transcripts of the [...]

Grits for Breakfast: Death penalty deterrent evanescent, symbolic

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:11:00 -0500

A couple of readers asked my opinion of a column over the weekend in the Houston Chronicle by Rick Casey ("A murder mystery by the numbers," Nov. 7) analyzing estimates of the death penalty's deterrence value. Here's the bottom line regarding the results of the latest, greatest academic study [...]

Dungeon Diary: Joe Leiberman Still In The Pocket Of Health Insurance

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:08:00 -0500

How to put this tactfully? Sen. Joe Lieberman is a dick. yup that just about sums it up as kindly as I can put it. He has sworn to kill the health care bill so long as there is any chance of reasonable and affordable insurance for all Americans. [...]

TexasVox: Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round Up

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:03:12 -0500

The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes everyone had a happy Election Day last week, and is already looking forward to the next one. Here are this week’s highlights. TXsharon continues to report from a backyard in the Barnett Shale. Despite all the local and national press on drilling related toxins, carcinogens and [...]

Dallas City Hall Blog: Dallas council passes ethics reforms

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:35:25 -0500

With a handful of opposing votes, the Dallas City Council has passed its most sweeping package of ethics reforms since 2000.

In four separate votes, the council passed ordinances requiring lobbyists to register, limiting campaign contributions from developers, diluting individual council members' power over zoning and requiring annual disclosure of gifts' [...]

The StandDown Texas Project: ohn Bradley's OpEd

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:29:07 -0500

The OpEd, "Panel on forensic science to establish ground rules," by John Bradley appeared in the Saturday Houston Chronicle.

I am John Bradley, the elected district attorney in Williamson County and the new presiding officer of the nine-member Texas Forensic Science Commission. I am writing to introduce myself, explain the purpose of the [...]

The StandDown Texas Project: More on John Bradley

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:20:46 -0500

"Surprises under Williamson DA's image," is the title of Miguel Liscano's Austin American-Statesman report. It appeared in the Sunday edition.

Through 22 years as a prosecutor, the past eight as Williamson County district attorney, Bradley has amassed convictions and accolades, developing a tough-on-crime reputation.

He also hasn't shied from controversy.

His recent appointment as [...]

UrbanGrounds: Obama: Unfit (and uninterested) in Commanding our Troops

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:17:20 -0500

Cassandra at Villainous Company: “Obama Doesn’t Get the Military he Commands.” But worse than that, he simply doesn’t care about them, either. His actions since becoming Commander-in-Chief have clearly shown that he is a man with a palpable disdain for our military and their mission. She opens with this frank but accurate [...]

Beginning To Wonder: House health care reform vote

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:17:00 -0500

Color me cranky. I guess I'm just a little bit too tired of concessions to rightwingers being touted as "centrism" or, even worse, "bipartisanship". It's bad enough that we have to cope with the loons in the Republican party, but we also have to contend with the backstabbers in our [...]

PrairiePundit: Career decisions for Democrats on health care vote

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:12:00 -0500

Politico:

Within minutes of Saturday’s historic House vote on health care reform, Republicans pronounced the political death of Rep. Thomas Perriello (D-Va.), pointing to the vulnerable freshman congressman’s vote in favor of the bill.

And in the aftermath of the politically charged vote, Perriello wasn’t [...]

UrbanGrounds: Lt. Col. Allen West: Media More Concerned with Nidal Hasan’s Stress Levels Than They are With the Truth

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:03:09 -0500

Number of comments: 1
Leave it to an old Soldier to be frank without concern for the political correctness that blinds our MSM (and our President) from the truth [...]

Lone Star Times: Ft. Hood jihadist’s uncle offers mitigating anecdote

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:00:17 -0500

Number of comments: 1

I have grown numb as, seemingly every few hours, new details emerge that in any sane world would have served as glaring red-flags about the fitness and ideological radicalism of Nidal Malik Hasan.

But I must admit, this still managed to surprise me.

An uncle who lives in Ramallah said [...]

Relaxed Politics: Who Speaks for Islam? by John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:00:08 -0500

Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think by John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed Are we on the verge of an all-out war between the West and 1.3 billion Muslims? When the media searches for an answer to that question, they usually overlook the actual views of the [...]

Texas Watchdog: What does the Texas Watchdog team do to relax on the weekends? Cover more news…

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:56:26 -0500

You may have noticed a familiar name in the many bylines filing from Fort Hood, Texas this weekend. Texas Watchdog’s Steve Miller was tapped by the Washington Times to file stories about the killing rampage there for the Times’ national desk. Steve is back in Houston today, though, sifting through records [...]

PrairiePundit: Hasan gets ready for the virgins with strippers

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:55:00 -0500

Fox News:

The Army psychiatrist authorities say killed 13 people and wounded 29 others at the Fort Hood Army Base Thursday was a recent and frequent customer at a local strip club, employees of the club told FoxNews.com exclusively.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan came into the Starz strip [...]

RIGHTWINGSPARKLE: A Window To the Womb Changes A Heart

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:52:00 -0500

After viewing an abortion ultrasound, Abby Johnson, a Planned Parenthood clinic director in Bryan Texas, has called it quits.

From KBTX.com:

According to Johnson, the non-profit was struggling under the weight of a tough economy, and changing it’s business model from one that pushed prevention, to [...]

UrbanGrounds: Why Won’t the US Media Just Say It: Islamic Jihad

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:51:42 -0500

Oh, that's easy, Michell: Because our media are a bunch of Liberal, Islamic-apologist, politically-correct cowards. [...]

A CAPITOL BLOG: "Tear Down this Wall!"

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:18:00 -0500

The Berlin Wall fell twenty years ago on Nov. 9, 1989, ending almost 30 years of family separation of a singular community. On a day like today it is always fitting to remember President Reagan's speech at the Berlin Wall. Perhaps the most momentous' [...]

PrairiePundit: Hasan tried to contact al Qaeda?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:17:00 -0500

ABC News:

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

It is not known whether the intelligence agencies [...]

blogHOUSTON: Tameez proposes mayoral candidate social-media days

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:07:56 -0500

LOCAL DEM POLITICAL CONSULTANT MUSTAFA TAMEEZ suggests the mayoral candidates devote one day per week to answering social-media questions personally in the leadup to the runoff. I'm all for greater interaction with the public, but I'd honestly pre... [...]

Dog Canyon: Moonshine

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:00:21 -0500

Number of comments: 9

William Tyndale once ridiculed the poor logic of a 16th Century blowhard by writing that, “the proof of his whole conclusion…hangeth by moonshine.” Tyndale of course, ultimately became a victim of moonshine when he was condemned as a heretic and strangled by real rope – and [...]

PrairiePundit: Ida shuts down the Gulf rigs

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:50:00 -0500

Reuters:

U.S. oil companies were shutting production on Sunday as they evacuated workers from the Gulf of Mexico ahead of Hurricane Ida, which is forecast to roar across the offshore oil patch Monday before making landfall on Tuesday.

BP Plc, (BP.L) one the Gulf's largest [...]

PrairiePundit: Commie creeping coups south of border

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:42:00 -0500

Mary Anastasia O'Grady:

Fidel Castro learned a lot from Chilean President Salvador Allende's failed power grab in 1973. And he used the lessons of that bitter defeat to coach Venezuela's Hugo Chávez to dictatorship under the guise of democracy more than 25 years later.

Now Latin America's revolutionaries' [...]

BlueBloggin: Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round Up Nov 9, 2009

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:36:54 -0500

The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes everyone had a happy Election Day last week, and is already looking forward to the next one. Here are this week’s highlights.

TXsharon continues to report from a backyard in the Barnett Shale. Despite all the local and national press on drilling related toxins, carcinogens [...]

Brains and Eggs: The Weekly Wrangle

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:30:00 -0500

The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes everyone had a happy Election Day last week, and is already looking forward to the next one. Here are this week's highlights.

TXsharon continues to report from a backyard in the Barnett Shale. Despite all the local and national press on drilling related toxins, [...]

blogHOUSTON: Chronically lazy

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:29:06 -0500

LAZY CHRON COLUMNIST RICK CASEY summarizes a forthcoming academic journal article on the death penalty and crime deterrence. That's apparently much easier than staying attuned to city news, working sources, making phone calls, requesting public in... [...]

Bay Area Houston: Where there is smoke, someone should get fired.

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:27:00 -0500

When will Leo Vasquez give Paul Bettencourt's "man on the inside" Ed Johnson the finger?

After settling with the Texas Democratic Party for voter suppression, costing the tax payers thousands of dollars in legal fees, requiring more tax dollars to come into compliance with [...]

Politicker TX - Texas Politics News, Reaction, and Analysis: [Bay Area Houston] Where there is smoke, someone should get fired.

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:27:00 -0500

When will Leo Vasquez give Paul Bettencourt's "man on the inside" Ed Johnson the finger?

After settling with the Texas Democratic Party for voter suppression, costing the tax payers thousands of dollars in legal fees, requiring more tax dollars to come into compliance with the settlement, casting a dark [...]

blogHOUSTON: Does anybody edit Chron.com (cont'd)?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:19:59 -0500

HERE IS THE LEDE for the Move It column currently on Chron.com: Or "womyn" or "mneatr" or whatever strikes your fancy. Obviously, something has been omitted. Does anybody edit Chron.com (aside from, you know, removing links to a blog they don't li...' [...]

PrairiePundit: Obama the AWOL Commander in Chief

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:17:00 -0500

Villainous Company:

"What Vice President Cheney calls 'dithering,' President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public," said Gibbs. "I think we've all seen what happens when somebody doesn't take that responsibility seriously."

~White House Press Secretary Robert [...]

PrairiePundit: AARP puts it personal interest ahead of its members

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:06:00 -0500

Boston Herald:

Why would the nation’s largest lobbying organization, sworn to protect the interests of senior citizens, watch silently as Congress plans to cut Medicare spending by $400 billion to pay for its health reform legislation? Could it be that the interests of seniors and AARP are not [...]

South Texas Chisme: North Texas Tollway Authority big on cronies

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:03:00 -0500

The North Texas Tollway Authority spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year to design, build and repair its roads, to market itself, and to solve its legal problems.

But only a fraction of the hundreds of professionals who perform those tasks actually work for the toll authority, whose [...]

musings: Runoff Early Voting Locations, Dates, Times

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0500

Dates and Times for Early Voting (City of Houston, HISD):

Monday, Nov. 30: 8 AM to 5 PM
Tuesday, Dec. 1: 8 AM to 5 PM
Wednesday, Dec. 2: 8 AM to 5 PM
Thursday, Dec. 3: 8 AM to 5 PM
Friday, Dec. 4: 8 AM [...]

PrairiePundit: Discredited left want go away

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:58:00 -0500

Melanie Phillips:

Twenty years ago today, supporters of freedom and human rights cheered and wept for joy as the Berlin Wall was torn down by jubilant young Germans.

To so many, that heady day seemed to herald the emergence of a better world. The spectre of communism [...]

South Texas Chisme: José Rodríguez running for Eliot Shapleigh's seat

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:37:00 -0500

In his fifth term, El Paso County Attorney José Rodríguez announced on Sunday he will run for state senator.

More here. [...]

Bluedaze.: 10 Cows Dead or Deformed After Hydraulic Fracture on Farm

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:36:00 -0500

This happened on a farm in the Marcellus Shale. A previous post about this that links to some pictures is here.Pennsylvania Landowner Blames Energy Drilling for Water PollutionThis report is by Jon Hurdle who is a Reuters reporter.PERFECT BASELINE TESTSBaseline tests on Zimmermann's water a year before drilling began were [...]

GregsOpinion.com: Morning Takes

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:33:31 -0500

A few quick takes this morning. Sunday was a mess of a day for blogging: meetings, to-do lists, maps, work projects, wrap my head around UH winning a last-second game on the foot of a backup kicker, still trying to contemplate the grand meaning of a world with Big [...]

musings: Want to Know More About the Mayoral Runoff Candidates?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:30:00 -0500

I guess I'm a little surprised that anyone would think that Gene Locke and Annise Parker should drop everything once a week and answer social media questions. If you think it's a great idea - or a silly one - let us know in the comments. Below are some' [...]

South Texas Chisme: Why are they still building that d*mn fence?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:28:00 -0500

After months of waiting to learn if the border fence would cut through Alice Wilson Hope Park, city officials managed to work out a compromise with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Instead of cutting through the park, the fence will go around the bottom of the park. Also, [...]

South Texas Chisme: It's time for the Monday blog roundup!

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:24:00 -0500

musings: Gene Locke and the Latino Vote

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0500

We have plenty of evidence from the precinct level data, that Locke's brown-black coalition did not materialize, with only the black portion of the coalition showing up for him at the polls. I did a quick analysis of the total votes in some East End precincts:

' [...]

Bluedaze.: TPA Round-up

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:58:00 -0500

The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes everyone had a happy Election Day last week, and is already looking forward to the next one. Here are this week's highlights.TXsharon continues to report from a backyard in the Barnett Shale. Despite all the local and national press on drilling related toxins, carcinogens and [...]

Dallas City Hall Blog: Ethics reform vote set for today at Dallas City Hall

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:54:53 -0500

The Dallas City Council is set to vote this morning on a series of new ordinances intended to increase transparency at City Hall and diminish individual council members' power over zoning.

The reforms come in the wake' [...]

The Daily Hurricane: They're Coming to Take Them Away

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:36:15 -0500

A final look at the Houston stop of the Tea Party Express with some appropriate music as background:

[...]

Millard Fillmore's Bathtub: New music station fires up in Dallas today

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:26:54 -0500

Number of comments: 1
KXT-FM hits the airwaves at 7 a.m. Central Time, in Dallas today. 91.7 on the FM band. KXT is a sister station to public broadcasting KERA-FM, 90.1. In the past 20 years KERA’s outstanding music programming slowly gave way to talk and news — good talk and great news, but the [...]

Millard Fillmore's Bathtub: 20 years ago, the Berlin Wall fell – reverse domino effect

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:48:28 -0500

Number of comments: 1
High school sophomores in Texas study world history, and juniors study U.S. history. At 16 and 17 years old, they have difficulty figuring out the fuss over the Berlin Wall. It’s just pictures in their textbook. The Wall was already three or four years gone when they were born. They don’t [...]

The Collin County Observer: TexasTeen Courts adopt non-discrimination policy

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:51:45 -0500

Readers of the Collin County Observer will remember that in June of last year, the Collin County commissioners forced Justin Nichols, their Teen Court Coordinator, to resign after it became public knowledge that he was gay.

Mr. Nichols is now in law school, and is now the immediate past president [...]

SocraticGadfly: ‘The G.O.P. has been taken over by the people it used to exploit’

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:40:00 -0500

Krugman nails it, using last week’s tea-party rally sponsored, officially, by the GOP, as his starting point.There is no god and I am his prophet. [...]

SocraticGadfly: You thought the housing bubble was bad?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:18:00 -0500

Commercial real estate prices are already further off their peak than housing values, and pwith a turnaround even further out of sight.

Unlike housing, it wasn’t overbuilding, but too much money sloshing around the system, spiking prices in commercial real estate as investment.

Full recovery could be [...]

The Whited Sepulchre: Pre Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:40:31 -0500

I hate to say this, but the U.S. mainstream media really can't die quickly enough. This is the money quote from the most recent Time magazine essay on the Fort Hood murders:As an army psychiatrist treating soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, Major Nidal Malik Hasan had a front row' [...]

Lone Star Times: Monday Open Comments

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:14:40 -0500

Number of comments: 19

I knew I should have taken that left in Omaha

SKorean woman passes driving test on 950th attempt Yonhap news agency said she had spent more than five million won (4,200 dollars) in the process.

US man charged with drunken driving after [...]

The Bayou: Daybreaker: Lawsuits fly in the even curiouser case of Kevin LaDay

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:09:00 -0500

Does this mean Quanell and his merry band of opportunists will be making another Southeast Texas visit? If so, we'll bring the snacks!A Hardin County grand jury met Thurday and voted to "no bill" the Lumberton PD officers involved in the LaDay debacle. The jurors not only saw the original' [...]

Rhymes With Right: A Joyous Moment In The History Of Human Freedom

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:09:00 -0500

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan spoke these words before the berlin Wall, that great scar across a divided city. And little more than two years later, the joyous moment came when the Berlin Wall was breached and a new birth... [...]

jobsanger: Jesus, Dracula, Frankenstein and Zombies

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:07:00 -0500

From the hilarious blog called Atheist Comics. [...]

jobsanger: TCU Rises To #4 In BCS Standings

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:06:00 -0500

The TCU football team has now accomplished something that no other team not in a BCS conference has ever done. They have risen to the #4 ranking in the BCS standings. Until now, the best ranking for a non-BCS conference school was #6. The [...]

jobsanger: Opposed To What ?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:05:00 -0500

Political Cartoon is by Jim Morin in the Miami Herald. [...]

jobsanger: Could Juice Be Worse Than Soft Drinks ?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:04:00 -0500

A few years ago, the health nazis in this country decided that carbonated soft drinks like Coke and Pepsi were bad for children, and were contributing to obesity and health problems like diabetes and heart problems. They have even suggested that these soft drinks should [...]

jobsanger: Dithering ?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:03:00 -0500

Political Cartoon is by Tim Goheen in McClatchey Newspapers. [...]

jobsanger: Rep. Edwards Lacks Political And Moral Courage

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:02:00 -0500

House Democrats passed their version of health care reform on Saturday night. It was not the bill I wanted since I favor a government-run single-payer system, but it is not a terrible bill. It does accomplish some health care reforms that were badly needed such as [...]

Houston's Clear Thinkers: 2009 Weekly local football review

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0500

(AP Photo/Tom Stratton; previous weekly reviews for this season are here) Colts 20 Texans 17 The Texans (5-4) basically rolled over and playing dead against the Colts (8-0) for the first quarter and a half. By early in the... [...]

jobsanger: The Uncounted

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0500

Political Cartoon is by Joel Pett in the Lexington Herald-Leader. [...]

Texas Kaos: Analyzing the Republican Remnant

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:56:26 -0500

It is easy to dismiss the ragged remnant of what was once the Republican Party as kooks, extremist, proto-racist and plain old opportunist ( yeah I am talking about you Rush and Faux News). The Tea Baggers too lend themselves to ridicule so easy as hicks and yahoos. In fact, [...]

PrairiePundit: Fort Hood shooter used FN Herstal 5.7-millimeter pistol

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:49:00 -0500

The NY Times report on Hasan's time line to mass murder for Allah gives the details on the purchase at Gun Galore outside the base. Gunweek has more details on the weapon. [...]

The Collin County Observer: DMN - More Collin County candidates facing primary challengers

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:44:38 -0500

More Collin County candidates facing primary challengers

Sunday, November 8, 2009
By ED HOUSEWRIGHT / The Dallas Morning News

Collin County Judge Keith Self bucked the political establishment in 2006, defeating longtime incumbent Ron Harris.

Now Self faces a prominent challenger from a well-connected family.

Plano school trustee John [...]

SocraticGadfly: 'Old media' vs. 'new media' and media vs. messages

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:41:00 -0500

"Old media" vs. "new media"? The difference is ultimately in the medium more than the message quality. Yes, blogs have broken news stories before the "MSM" and Twitter has added color to stories, but Twitter has releasd just as much inaccurate info as the MSM outlets at breaking news events, [...]

La Sanbe: It's Late But

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:29:00 -0500

The Cowboys won. Good times. Romo and Co. are for real and they have the sweaty pants to show for it.

Earlier this week we heard of the shooting at Ft. Hood. Question: Couldn't authorities find some other footage of the suspected shooter besides the one of him buying' [...]

RIGHTWINGSPARKLE: Remedial Education for Republicans

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:21:00 -0500

Posted by BigDog

Republicans don't go protesting as a rule. They have jobs and families and their religion, if they have one, involves God, not the State. So Republicans are often not too sophisticated when it comes to organizing or participating in political protests, rallies and events. In contrast' [...]

TexasFred's: Alleged Ft. Hood gunman may have 9/11 mosque link

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:52:24 -0500

Number of comments: 10
Alleged Ft. Hood gunman may have 9/11 mosque link FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) – A key U.S. senator said Sunday he would begin an investigation into whether the Army missed signs that the man accused of opening fire at Fort Hood had embraced an increasingly extremist view of Islamic ideology. Sen. [...]

TexasLiberal: Old Car At Metabolife Booth

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:42:36 -0500

Here is an old car that is pulled up to the Metabolife booth. The booth does not appear to be well-attended. The driver of the car must be out looking for the person who should be in the booth. When you are out driving around, you never know what you will see. I took [...]