Following is a part-time job opening with NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. Hurry and get your CV in quick - applications are due by next Friday.

We got this in the e-mail, basically saying that the Senate is happy with what they had previously agreed on before the end of the regular session. So take that, Perry! Or am I reading too much into it?

See the release after the jump.

From a tipster:

ok so i was being a tourist in the capitol last friday, and i walked up the stairs on the side of the senate chamber. well i looked on the ground and this is what i found.

You know it's a slow day when we get a tip like this, complete with photo!

Was that Senator Troy Fraser seen casually popping a dinner mint into his mouth and aloofly discarding the wrapper onto the grass just outside of the east entrance to our revered Capitol building? Apparently legislators have dropped the "Don't Mess with Texas" campagain and opted instead for "Don't Mess with Texas' Franchise Loopholes". But seriously, littering on the Capitol grounds... What would your mother say?

See the evidence here: View image

PD is off to the airport, so send your tips to Bluebonnet and we'll see you next week!

The House has recessed until Tuesday at noon (I'm so jealous). The Senate is still at work, discussing HB2. Sen. Shapiro actually looks sorta stylish today in her clean-cut light-colored suit. Who ever thought we would condone an outfit she wore? The pages sitting behind her look like they are having too much fun. If I could focus on what she was saying, I'd post on it. I'm still a little blurry this morning.

Yes, we are awake. Just because we drank champagne all night doesn't mean we aren't getting up at the butt-crack hour of 8:00 a.m. Guess we'll go wander around and see what's happening with HB 3. If someone that's all smart has got something to say about it, email it to me and save my hungover ass from having to figure out what it says and why it is so damn LOUD!

Because it's slow, what with the holiday and all, we created an 'ode to school finance' video. It's just over 2 minutes long, so give it a whirl. To play video, click here.

The Austin American-Statesman issues a small correction to yesterday's front page story on the Ten Commandments ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. Seems that the article used Attorney General Abbott's press release as their reference material.

Let's compare the article with the press release:

AAS--In the court's majority opinion, Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote that the Ten Commandments monument is passive and has an "undeniable historical meaning," dismissing the contention by Thomas Van Orden that it is overtly religious and violates the separation of church and state.

Abbot Press Release--Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who wrote the majority opinion in Van Orden v. Perry, said the Ten Commandments have "an undeniable historical meaning."

No big deal. Oh wait...except it was not a majority opinion. It was a plurality decision. Slight difference in words, large difference in legal definitions.

Abbott should have known better, but pandering is a full-time job. The Austin American Statesman hopefully learned a lesson: Don't believe everything you read. (We learned that the first time we picked up a newspaper.)

Remember Abbott's press conference when he said the Capitol had other religious references besides the Ten Commandments so they were just part of the history of Texas? Well, we believe the other religious examples you can find is references to Aztec culture. Aztecs believed in human sacrifice, if memory serves. Sounds good to me. Human sacrifices at the Capitol building would be a helluva lot more entertaining that school finance!

76-69 HB2 passes 11:26 p.m. to scattered applause. Motion to suspend the rules and allow HB2 to pass the House on Third Reading tonight. The motion passed 140-4, and we go straight to the Third Reading. 77-70 HB 2 passes. The House Ways and Means will take up HB 3 and Craddick says we'll be back on Tuesday and vote on the bill on Wednesday.

Update: Read Ray's comment for this post. Well done, Ray.

It's 11:15 p.m. and we're on HB2's 13th hour of debate. The members in the House are tired, voices squeaky and hoarse and they have gone through about 90 amendments so far. (I lost track in between glasses of red wine)

Rep. Grusendorf is trying to persuade the members that he's been right all along and at this late hour he is not very persuasive. Has Grusendorf ever seen a school? He says we have two choices and he wouldn't yield until he let us know that the choices are: Kill the bill and let the Courts decide how Texas schools are financed or pass his bill. Gross, those choices suck ass. Can we get a third option? Oh, that's right the Dem plan was defeated already.

Got this from a tipster today, no email address to apply to though.

Democrat Jeremy Ring is looking for a campaign manager for an open State
Senate seat in Broward County, Florida. Mr. Ring is an early executive at Yahoo and a key contributor to Florida's successful minimum wage referendum. The job includes day-to-day management of fundraising, communications, and field operations. Experience in campaigns is preferred. The area is heavily Democratic. The position is open immediately. Contact information after the jump.

The Dems school finance proposal was defeated by a vote of 75-74 today. As usual, it was Tom Craddick's vote that broke a tie on the measure. Twelve Republicans voted for the Dems plan, showing maybe a sign that there is some 'let's work together' sentiment going on up there during the Special.

Now, we are on to HB 2. It's 6:30 and wouldn't you know it? As soon as we turn on the live feed it's Martha friggin' Wong at the mic.

We are not going to liveblog the HB2 debate because we've got shit to do, but...Rep. Carter Casteel is at the mic. Could someone get her her very own show?

Well, this photo is making the email rounds in the Capitol today.

And UT Baseball Coach Augie Garrido came on the floor with the rest of the UT baseball team, said a lot of nice things about Texas baseball, and said, "I'd just like to add that you can never spend too much on education"

And, according to our tipster, "it was awesome----there was this huge uproar on the House floor, and Craddick just about shit a brick."

I have just been tipped to this article from the Express-News: Madla says he will run for Senate again. Oh boy-eee. Here's the choice quote:

"With my seniority, the breadth of experience from serving over three decades in the Legislature, and the relationships I have forged with Democratic and Republican colleagues, I am perfectly positioned to facilitate resolutions to these and other important issues," he said.

We love this photo so much we want an autographed version. State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn's criticism of Perry's school finance plan and his return fire are covered in today's ASS AAS. If this battle of the back-and-forth is any indication of what's to come, we say advantage, Strayhorn. Here's why.

Strayhorn says the Perry plan doesn't add up. Guess what? The LBB and the House committee agree with her. But, Perry can only respond with this:

"The comptroller refuses to put forward her own plan for fear of criticism, but is quick to criticize others," said Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt. "It's a sad comment on her inability to lead."

Ok...it's not the comptroller's job to put forth a school finance plan you dipshit. It's your job. If the comptroller even attempted to put forth a plan the entire state would attack her with a collective, "What the hell?"

Pitiful, Kathy, Pitiful.

Kinky Friedman took time out from his book signing to speak a little truth.

"My campaign is not the joke," he said, his trademark cigar hanging from his lips. "It's the Texas Legislature that's a joke."

Amazing how if you let that just sit there for a while it sort of resonates, doesn't it? The brutal truth of the matter is that the Emperor has no clothes. Even Perry reminded the Legislature the other day that all the other crap they are busily putting on the calendar is not the reason he called them back.

Still desperately seeking a leader. Anyone? Bueller. Anyone?
[Corpus Christi Caller-Times via QR]

That's Greek for Finance Public Education. Since our brains are pickled from too much gin, Greek makes about as much sense to us as the school finance plans put forth by everybody.

Reading the Quorum Report's coverage of the House Ways & Means Committee today did make us wish we were just a little bit smarter.

The Governor's Budget Director Mike Morrissey said the state has 535,000 filers, of which 150,000 businesses ending up paying a tax. The Governorâ??s office estimates closing the Delaware sub and Geoffrey loophole would bring another 10,000 payers into the system.

Ok, back the truck up a minute. Is that 535,000 "Business" filers? Ok, first..that seems low. Second, How come only 150,000 of them are paying taxes? WTF?

Uhm, I don't want to say nothing...but as someone with a pea-sized brain it seems to me if you have 535,000 filers you'd have a bit higher percentage paying taxes.

And then Rep. Keffer said, "Youâ??re putting the Legislature in a very tough box because now we have to live up to that sound bite, and we have some extremely tough choices to make when we come back."

Well, D'uh. Anyone have sympathy for elected officials having to make tough choices? We bet Texans make tough choices all the time. Maybe those teachers whose pay ranks (what is it? 47th in the nation?) among the lowest in the country make tough choices every day. Like...is it Ramen noodles for dinner or turkey hot dogs.

Keffer, if y'all are looking for sympathy from the voters because the legislature has got a clusterfuck when it comes to school finance, we suggest you keep on lookin' cause you ain't gonna get it here.

Carole Keeton Strayhorn says Perry's school finance proposal falls short and will create a big ass gap come 2008. (Big ass is defined as anything over $2 billion dollars, FYI) and Perry's Pit Bull Kathy Walt wakes up from a nap and says, "Whoa! That is so like totally a lie."

Apparently the Mofo vetoed a lot of stuff that makes it all add up.

Quorum Report has the scoop and we'll let someone that's smarter than us figure out who's lying. We mean, someone's got to be lying, right?

Uhm, apparently 'eop.gov' is some sort of domain that comes from within the White House. Guess that explains the how this search term came to PinkDome: "shrunken testicles"

So, if you have something in particular to say to the White House comment away. But, keep it legal and nothing we'll wind up getting a knock on the door by men in dark glasses for.

Juanita has a post about a flyer that's appeared on cars in the First Colony Mall in Sugar Land. You know, in Tom Delay's home district. Click the image for the .PDF

The Supreme Court has decided that Texas' Ten Commandments display on the lawn of the capitol is A-OK:

(A) 6-foot-granite monument on the grounds of the Texas Capitol - one of 17 historical displays on the 22-acre lot - was determined to be a legitimate tribute to the nation's legal and religious history.

"Of course, the Ten Commandments are religious - they were so viewed at their inception and so remain. The monument therefore has religious significance," Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote for the majority in the case involving the display outside the state capitol of Texas.

"Simply having religious content or promoting a message consistent with a religious doctrine does not run afoul of the Establishment clause," he said. [Myway: AP news]

Be the first person to email us a photo of you wearing a PinkDome 'Adios, Mofo' t-shirt in front of the State Capitol and we'll send you two dozen Tiff's Treats fresh baked cookies! (we'll photoshop out your face)

Senator Van de Putte has been named President-Elect of the National Conference of State Legislators. We guess that rocks, if you're a total political nerd.

Gritsforbreakfast has some great notes on blogs and blogging. Here are few interesting points, but go read it yourself, lazy.
"...blog readership increased 58% in 2004 making it one of the fastest growing media,...Blog readers already constitute the equivalent of 20% of the total newspaper audience and 40% of the talk radio audience"

Here's something we already knew. Blogs do better on search engines than campaign web sites. Check out one of our favorite games, Googlefight, where we kick Rick Perry's ass with Google links.

Just this week, we saw once again what the viral world of the Internet can do with the 'Adios, MoFo' t-shirts. Saturday night the NBC affiliate from El Paso called us for a report and today's FWST breathes new life into the story. The whole 'adios, mofo' thing would have probably petered out just four years ago but with blogs swirling around it has stayed in the news cycle for almost a whole week now.

Houston's Gay Pride Parade saw a big turnout this year and the Houston Democrats Hubert Vo, Garnett Coleman and Senfronia Thompson all made an appearance at the event. (Houston Democrats)Apparently, they remember gay people vote and are part of their constituency and are probably begging for some brave leadership.

Funny, we did not see a photo of Martha Wong? Isn't the Montrose in her district? Maybe she had a big feng shui gig or something.

The DMN has outsmarted my pop-up blocker with annoying new advertising that manages to obscure the entire site. View image Are the stories so embarrassing they'd rather you not read them?

We know advertising is de riguer for websites, hell we've even decided to add blogads, but they aren't intrusive. We want to go to a site, read and navigate easily and move on. We don't want to 'register' and we sure as hell aren't going to pay for content.

What happens when you burn an American Flag? Dangerous particles are released threatening freedom and liberty, explained in this creative essay. [via freakgirl]

Seriously. We have had so much fun and don't think we've said, 'MoFo' so often in such a short period of time in a long while. With that in mind, PinkDome opens up the PinkDome MoFo store. Our new favorite is the Vote MoFo merchandise. Tired of people bitching about politics, easy..tell 'em Vote MoFo.

While PD is recovering from last night, I'm here for you. Sorta. I'm going to pass on this opinion piece from the Waco Tribune-Herald co-written by Rep. Grusendorf and David Russell. It's all about an incentive plan for educators. We think that teachers deserve better pay all around. Let's get these people on or above a living wage already!

Rep. Ken Grusendorf [ERICH SCHLEGEL/DMN]

PinkDome is drunk posting (WOOOHOOO). Meaning while y'all are up at 8:00 a.m. doing political shit, we'll be drooling on our pillow cursing the rising sun. Comment away and when we wake up we'll see what's pissing us off today. Hopefully Bluebonnet is not hungover and will have something interesting in a bit.

. . . but y'all know by now that I am biased where he's concerned.

Texas Freedom Network has released their grades for reps and how they voted on public education. You can see all the ratings here(.pdf).

Andy Brown fires a shot across the bow of Todd Baxter with a press release today condemning Baxter's votes in the Regular Session. (after the jump)

We expect lots of challengers will use the Special as a great opportunity to just beat the incumbents over the head. Lord knows, they'll have plenty of material!

We hear Rep. Anna Mowery just signed onto the Democrats School Finance Plan as a co-author.

While we're on the theme of education this month, we noticed this article from the El Paso Times which reminded us that it's been 10 years since the Lege approved the first charter school.

I have conflicting views on charter schools. It is great that these schools offer an intimate environment for learning through smaller classes. They also allow a bit more freedom in curriculum. However there are some bad examples out there. We know that not every charter school director will bankrupt their school and use our taxes for a non-school-related trip to Africa. Still, if we are going to continue to have charter schools, there needs to be more, and better, regulation. At this point, it seems they are here to stay (like it or not).

For more info:

• TEA Division of Charter Schools
  
• Texas Freedom Network: Charter Schools Fact Sheet
  
• Texas Charter School Legislation and the Evolution of Open-Enrollment Charter Schools(.pdf)

We got some great emails. Here's our top 3 faves:

The cookies go to this tipster:
I would say that SB 12, by Harris, is the one that has the least to do with anything. It asks for us to put new lights, better signs, and better Tulips for our public parks and lands. A valid idea, but one that is more for the local Gardener's Club meeting than the Texas legislature.

Also mentioned:
Why would you need a constitutional amendment to eleminate a county treasurer??

and..
Rep. Keel re-filed his "death penalty cases don't need no stinking lawyers" bill that got roundly rejected in the regular session.

Thanks! And enjoy the cookies!

So far, we see that 63 Bills were introduced for the Special Session. Let's be generous and say 13 of those have to do with school finance (you know, the reason we're all swirling around the pink dome...hahaha, j/k. We're all swirling around because it's a campaign event.)

So, that leaves 50 (pronounced: fid-dee) Bills dealing with some other crap we're too lazy to look up right now. We'll deliver one dozen Tiff's Treats cookies to the first staffer to email us with the most outrageous, nothing to do with school finance Bill introduced so far.

Get to it! Hot fresh cookies on the line!

We'll announce a winner just after noon. (Don't worry, we won't 'announce' as in your name, etc.)

Adios, MoFo has made it out of Texas. Wonkette has it, BOR has a hilarious Adios, MoFo remix. (PD is apparently the only ones that feel the need to capitalize the "F" in MoFo, though...we have a strange affection for the "F" all around you know)

We would like to thank Governor Perry for inspiring a full line of Adios, MoFo merchandise available on Pinkdome.

[Update: Dallas Morning News asks us a question about Adios, MoFo]

Thanks for putting us in the position of having to defend Hillary Clinton, assholes. The book, The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It and How Far She'll Go to Become President, is causing rage throughout the Internet.

I guess we could just laugh and say some conservatives are so friggin' afraid of this lady they have fabricated an entire book full of lies. Including the claim that Bill Clinton, a former president of the United States of America, raped his wife to conceive their child.

When politics gets this nasty we have two words for those that participate: Adios, MoFo.

We get one last sine die story:

What Senator showed up to the senate messenger sine die party at the penthouse of the Doubltree around 2 a.m. with two 'fine ass ladies'?

Your guesses in the comments.

Drumming up support for his school finance plan, on his campaign web site no less. It puts $5 billion back into schools!! Contact your legislators today!! Listen here and vomit on you own time, please.

Tom Tomorrow of the comic strip This Modern World posts on his blog a comparison involving this loverly quote from Tom DeLay:

"You know, if Houston, Texas, was held to the same standard as Iraq is held to, nobody'd go to Houston, because all this reporting coming out of the local press in Houston is violence, murders, robberies, deaths on the highways," DeLay said.

"Everybody that comes from Iraq is amazed at the difference of what they see on the ground and what they see on the television set." [Houston Chronicle]

Senator Van de Putte's new media director, Vanessa Solesbee, starts work today and immediately gets Van de Putte 'on message.'

"If we are going to demand excellence from our students, we shouldn't settle for mediocrity from our Legislators."

Personally, we think mediocrity from the legislature would be a stretch. Excellence? Bless your little pea-pickin' heart for even thinking it.

Full release after the jump.

Whatever the opposite of a policy analyst is, that's us. But we did take a look at the Perry Plan Overview and pulled out these two items: 1.) Increase the sales tax to 6.95% and 2.) Increase the cigarette tax by $1.00. Then we went over to the 2004 data provided by the Tax Foundation's web site and discovered two interesting facts about Perry's plan.[AAS]

His proposed sales tax increase would give Texas the 3rd highest sales tax in the nation. Only Tennessee, Mississippi and Rhode Island have higher sales taxes. The proposed increase in cigarette taxes would put Texas at the top of this again, with only 7 states with a higher tax on cigarettes. Since we don't know anything about taxes or policy analysis, we suggest you verify and confirm.

Lastly, a tax on cosmetic surgery is just wrong.

Sometimes, It's just too good. Buy it online now.

In a rare TV interview, Perry signed off with "Adios, MoFo" to the reporter from KRTK. The question the reporter asked was, "Governor, what do you think the voters will say to you come next election once you fail to fix school finance yet again?" [QR]

KTRK posts:

"Those last words aren't exactly part of the seven dirty words, but it isn't something you want to say to your mother or use in good company. Tuesday morning, Governor Perry called me personally. He apologized and said his comment wasn't directed at us."

If you believe that, I've got a beachfront condo in Oklahoma for sale. Cheap. Speaking of buying, get the t-shirt!

First day of the Special. Representative Kolkhorst took the mic, "Point of Order Mr. Speaker. The level of bitchiness around here is intolerable. I move the House stand in adjournment until Monday, June 27th. I'm supposed to float the river this weekend."

Kinky Freidman's campaign released this statement about the Special. It's amazing how powerful the truth is...oh...and how hilarious it can be. BURN!

We'd like to welcome our Texas legislators back to Austin, and we wish them success in devising a solution to our public school finance crisis. We hope that they will take the issue of educating our kids as seriously as they took cheerleading.

A tipster sends us the brief on what's what in the House:

...there is also a bill, HB 16 that provides a onetime $3600 across the board pay raise for teachers & school admin...I cant access Pena's bill online so I can't really compare the one he filed after...additionally, Hochberg's HB 15 provides a $4000 teachers pay raise, $2000 the first year, $2000 the second. Also, in case you were wondering, Madden brought back those lame ass virtual schools in HB 17.

WTF? This is why it is offensive if you ever refer to PinkDome as a 'journalist' or a media outlet. If Phillip Hamilton were any further up Governor Perry's ass he'd be a hemmorhoid. Click the extended entry for what's pissed me off so much.

Today at noon. In reading the media's stories this morning on the Special there is a theme that just sort of pissed us off every time we read it: "...negotiations over school finance ran out of time just before the regular legislative session ended on Memorial Day." [DMN]

Time did not "run out" on school finance. It was a top priority and was the fourth attempt in four years to fix school finance. It's so bad in this state that a friggin' court has to step in and scream for the Lege to fix it.

Time did not "run out" during the Session. Time was wasted on social issues, intra-party fighting and dick size contests. Everyone was busy jockeying for their next elected office or campaign and how to GOTV of their base. The leadership was busy arm-twisting and putting their paid-for agenda through the legislature.

So, everyone (not just the DMN) would you--for the love of all that is holy--quit saying "time ran out" on school finance so oops we're at it again. Try writing it this way: "The legislature completely failed its main objective in the 79th Regular Session and is for the fourth time in four years back where they started. Political infighting and we guess just plain old stupidity are the reason everyone's back in Austin for 30 days."
[photo: AP]

Today begins the special session on education financing. We know not to get our hopes up too much, but we see that our friend Rep. Pena has already put his nose to the grindstone. We hope this bodes well for the rest of y'all.

National Journal's brand new blog, Beltway Blogroll, is a great read and it is wonderful to see traditional media understand the power of blogs and de-mystify blogging for the rest of us. Well, not us..you.

But so far, it's just a lame announcement. [QR]

Also known as an in your face move, the House Democratic Leadership announced their own school finance solution.

The Democrats that are all whiny and with no agenda seem to be the only ones with an agenda so far, and outlined a comprehensive school finance solution in a press conference this afternoon. There's a copy of the press release here and a copy of the Principles of the program here.

â??This is not the time to embrace just any solution for the sake of politics,â?? Rep. Hochberg said. â??Today, we are again offering a sound starting point to solve this problem once and for all. We cannot afford to let partisanship make things worse for our school children when we can work together to make things better.â??