Our first PinkDome job posting. Thanks LGRL.

Campaign Finance Coordinator-The Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas-Texans for Equality

Job Details after the jump.

Let's say you saw a mugger and a bank robber in a fight. Which one do you root for? That's kind of how we feel about the fight between SBC and the Cable company. Sure, I'm all for more competition to reduce overall prices on my cable bill. (Full disclosure: I don't have cable, it's a total waste of money.) But, if SBC wants in the game they should have to abide by the same rules as the cable company had to in order to provide services on every Farm to Market road in Texas.

No love lost for either of these giants with their bills so hard to read, disregard for customer service or hiring the highest paid lobbyists to 'convince' our legislators.

But the same cannot be said for papers in Washington. The mayor of Spokane, a former state legislator, was 'outed' for soliciting 18 year old men for sex and internships. He was known during his tenure in the legislature for opposing gay rights. He even authored a bill which failed, that would have barred gay men and lesbians from working in schools, day-care centers and some state agencies. It called for screening prospective employees for sexual orientation and firing employees whose homosexuality became known.

Sound like any Texan representative we know? Just sayin' is all.

There was a small rally this morning in case you missed it. But, did you know today was 'No Pants Day' in Austin? I'd like to make a personal plea to every person that works in the capitol to please keep their pants on...just for today. I know that's too much to ask of some of you for any true duration. Here's the first No Pants photo.

See? It's patriotic. Or something.

We received this proposed sign for football stadiums to help inform and enforce the no booty-shaking bill. Take a look after the jump and email us your version of a proposed sign. We'll submit the best ones to Al Edwards in a gift box labeled: "Visual Representations of How Stupid We Think You Are."

Oh, and one more challenge for you: Anyone sending me photos of the Denny wedding will receive a Toblerone bar hand delivered by me.

1965-2005

Travelling back home to his district, Rep. Moreno was killed in a rollover accident. Riding with the Rep. were Dallas Rep. Rafael Anchia and the Chief of Staff for Rep. Pickett.

More at the Quorum Report, In The Pink Texas, and the Houston Chronicle.

Our thoughts and prayers for the Moreno family.

Edited to add: We have closed comments on this post.

200 people responded to our survey and wow, great answers folks. We have tons of things to write about based on what you say. We only wish we knew more about the 'private sex lives' going on in the Dome because y'all really want to hear about them! The full answers after the jump.
Most importantly? Our who's the hottest or most interesting (depending on how you read the question).

There were 49 different write answers to this question with some interesting notes. (We included our favorites after the jump)

Speaker Tom Craddick and Beverly Woolley announce the wedding of Mary Denny to Norman Tolpo on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives tomorrow evening after the House adjourns.

Geannie Morrison sent an email to all the female members of the House requesting that as "bridesmaids" they all wear pink. Her memo after the jump.

We're still accepting responses to our PinkDome Survey. So far we have come to one conclusion about our readers. Y'all are horny little sons-a-bitches! We'll post a full analysis tomorrow.

We learn from Lasso that our lovely state will be one of the focal points of this evening's Daily Show episode. We wait with bated breath to see the mockery that is our Lege being mocked.

Sadly we noticed that the cheerleading bill was actually a top story on our local news outlets last night. Sheesh.

update: Um, it wasn't on tonight. . . we saw a preview/teaser for next week. That'll have to tide us over.

But we thought this video was worth sharing for those of you that might have missed it. Bright Eyes appeared on Jay Leno and sang a protest song about President Bush. The song is Called, "When The President Talks to God." You can watch the Quicktime Video here.

We mention it because it's nice to see a protest song every once in a while in our lay down and take it world. (We bet Jay Leno wasn't too happy, though)

Texas is poised to become the nation's dumping ground for nuclear waste. According to today's Chron, Senator Duncan's measure to require payment to the state and host county for the storage of nuclear waste passed.

Proving once again that we don't care what you do, really, as long as you pay us for it.

TXU is going to see that George "Buddy" West gets the shotgun he wants. How nice. I'm writing my letter to TXU with what I want right now. Y'all should get busy writing yours, I don't know exactly when TXU gift day is but it must be soon!(Source: Karen Brooks, DMN) Read the story in the 'more'

Someone turned us onto a thing called Survey Monkey. Curious we came up with our own highly scientific survey for you. Click here to take the suvey about the 79th Legislative Session and we'll post the results. Results will be posted Friday morning!

Why is PinkDome getting Press Releases from the Brookings Institution?
It's after the jump in case you care. (We don't)

The Internet is a great place to waste time. According to this highly scientific Internet Quiz, PinkDome is 18% Republican. Tell us your results. We'd most like to see Al Edwards and Patrick Rose's results since they seem to be the two Dems that are the furthest to the right this Session.

Rep. Tommy Merritt & Rep. Dan Branch. (courtesy: DMN)
Read more after jump:

Click refresh for our liveblog! Leave your comments to contribute.
PinkDome: burkas! cheerleaders should wear burkas! I think they know this is gonna be on The Daily Show and they are performing and Eiland just played "Shake Your Booty" on a tape recorder at the back mic. This is gonna be fun.

First record vote 64-64, fails to pass. Now we are waiting for the vote verification.

PinkDome: Well that was STUPID
PinkDome: 65-56 is the final vote
Sam: dumb
PinkDome: And there was WHOOPING???
PinkDome: WTF? When did we step through the looking glass?

Free screening of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" tonight in Austin. Details after the jump.

The parliamentary attempt to shut down the House failed. We're glued to the proceedings waiting for the most anticipated bill of the day. In the meantime Hope's bill on bullying FINALLY makes it to the floor. As we watch, click the extended entry and hit refresh for new posts on this entry.

The House stands in Recess until 3 p.m. Represenative Thompson raised a point regarding the supplemental calendar just prior to recess for lunch and brought it again this afternoon. There is a disagreement as to whether the supplemental calendar must be layed out for 2 hours or 36 hours. The 2 hour delay was Craddick's call, so we sit here until 3, eagerly awaiting the sexy cheerleader debate. Oh well, that's enough time to learn a new routine.

You Rules experts explain it to us in the comments, please. Thanks.

This delay gives us some time before cheerleading is on the floor. Could all you staffers meet me in room E2010 so we can work out a routine? Bring the pom-poms and megaphones those folks dropped off so we look like a real squad, ok?

That's right, today the 'Sexy Cheerleader Bill' as it has become known is scheduled for debate on the House Floor. We've done hate, we've done outrageous taxing, we've done disenfranchisement of voters, and today we'll tackle the absurd cherry on the absurd legislative session sundae: sexy cheerleader moves.

I suggest you put on your old uniforms, pull out your pom-poms and give it a serious shake it move.

We totally are. We've also rented "Bring It On" so we can learn some routines today, as well as snappy comebacks.

We are sure we'll be liveblogging this debate. We invite you to join us. You may chat online via AIM with either of us, or just leave your comments to help our liveblog along.

Edited to add: A producer at The Daily Show tells us they are indeed working on a story about the sexy cheerleader bill.

28 Days, the same amount of inpatient short-term substance abuse rehabilitation programs. (Made glamorous and funny by Austin's favorite celebrity resident: Sandra Bullock)

As we approach the close of the session, we've been perusing the sites of substance abuse centers to check ourselves in after sine die. We think we'll need a full 28 days to overcome our addiction of getting drunk and writing about the most ridiculous thing we've ever written about: Texas politics.

If y'all feel the need to join us, we suggest a treatment facility near the capitol city so you can make a prompt return for any special sessions that may or may not happen in June.

HB 1706 was approved by the House today. Everybody keeps saying this is a "poll tax" and will potentially prevent some elderly and poor from voting, or their vote being cast as a "provisional ballot." We love that term, provisional ballot, cause we know what that means: you vote does not count and will most likely never be counted.

The AARP sent letters opposing the measure to all of the members. Rep. Denny says that their is rampant voter fraud in Texas. Gee, remember when we started this session with the Hubert Vo challenge? Remember how their really wasn't any fraud found that amounted to anything? Did you see Denny (the Chairwoman of the Elections Committee) could not come up with any specific cases of voter fraud in Texas?

One question: Where the hell is voter outrage over this measure?

Seeing none, PinkDome endorses disenfranchisement of Texas voters. Adjourned.

The coroner in the Wizard of Oz said something like that. It's our homage to the Technicolor world that is the Texas Lege today. Mary Denny dropped the house on the bill and skips off to who knows where with the other players:

Subcommittee Chair Bryan Hughes--The Scarecrow
Vice Chair Dwayne Bohac--The Cowardly Lion
Rep. "Doc" Anderson--The Tin Man
Speaker Craddick--The Wizard (D'uh)
Clean Up Texas Politics was the casting agent, here are the bios for our cast:
Chairwoman Mary Denny benefited from some $5,000 in corporate-funded mailers promoting her candidacy in her 2002 Republican primary.
Subcommittee Chair Bryan Hughes benefited from nearly $80,000 in corporate-funded sham issue ad mailers in his 2002 general election.
Vice Chair Dwayne Bohac benefited from around $80,000 of corporate-funded mailers in his 2002 election and another $20,000 in corporate money apparently laundered through the RNC.
Rep. "Doc" Anderson accepted corporate checks in his 2004 election and his opponent made it a campaign issue.

Speaker Craddick appointed these committee members despite their conflicts of interest.

Someone alerted us to two bills we hadn't seen. Maybe we should search the Lege's site for 'death' every once in a while. HB1086- Public Health Committee (CSHB1086) & SB385 . These two bills would make it law that consumers must use a funeral director for a cremation. Right now, consumers can do business directly with a crematory for an approximate cost of $400.

If this bill passes, the cost will immediately go to the $600-$4000 at today's prices.

In other words, looks to us like the Funeral Directors in Texas feel like they are getting cut of out of the loop and have put up some legislation that puts more money in their wallet and less in yours.

Confused? Don't Be.

A Florida teenager, in the custody of the Florida Dept. of Children & Families, is being denied the right to terminate her pregnancy by that state agency. The transcript of an NPR report on the case is below. This situation is an example of a minor whose parents abandonded her long ago, and for who the state agency in charge of her failed to properly care, and who now may be forced to becoming a parent against her will.

And in Texas? Under current state law, because the managing conservator of a minor in custody of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, is that agency, once notified, the minor can proceed with her decision to terminate her pregnancy.

However, under the proposed HB 1212 (King R-Weatherford), a girl in a
similar situation who lives in a group home or with a foster family, and who may have no parental figure at all in her life, could easily be forced to become a parent, even at the age of 13. HB 1212, which requires parental consent before a minor can proceed with an abortion, makes absolutely no provision for a girl who has no parents and shifts the decision about whether to continue her pregnancy to a judge. Children in this situation, and there are many in the great state of Texas, are again failed by our state agencies, our laws and the system. And she is the one who will bear another child into a the malfunctioning bureaucracy that did not protect her in the past.

This story illustrates just one of many examples of why HB 1212 punishes abused and abandoned girls who are the least equipped to become parents.