Having a hard time finding your favorite liberal DVD at the local video store? Well, Liberation Video is a new site catering to those that can't get enough of critically acclaimed documentaries and videos. Check out their site to get your fix.

We'd love to see "Bush's Brain" but we can't decide if that would be a comedy or tragedy.

PinkDome is a blog about politics. Texas politics, specifically. We wander around and comment on national stuff and every once in a while we jump completely oustide of that box. It never occured to us to become media watchdogs or critics of the mainstream press. But, like anyone else we turn to the newspapers. Why? Is it out of habit now? This morning we threw out some love to Karen Brooks. Here's why: Karen's honesty and good facts shine through in a world of mainstream media that is usually full of stories directed at someone with the intelligence level of Britney Spears. Story after story of such tripe and we begin to wonder is there anything worth praising.

What set me off on this topic again today? This bullshit is on the friggin front page of the Austin American-Statesman right now. We already got our "Tree Falling Story" this week from the DMN. Now the AAS has to have their own version. And look! The Statesman wants you the reader to guess why the tree fell!

We're not the fucking morons, AAS. You are. Quit treating us as if a good story on the latest Texas City refinery fire and rising oil prices or the decision by a Texas judge in the Vioxx case is not something worthy a front page splash. Tree falling, indeed.

While we here at Pinkdome do not officially endorse any candidate for governor (yet), we do like Chris Bell. Now that he is officially in the race, I wanted to mention a little thing I didn't include in the posted interview: the Bell campaign is looking for a theme song. There is a very in-depth post on his blog about possible song ideas. Unfortunately (as you can tell by the title of the post), most of the songs I know of that mention bells are Christmas songs. You know, "Christmas Bells are Ringing", "Silver Bells", etc.

On a completely different note entirely (but still pertaining to music), why am I the last to know that John Roberts was Peppermint Patty in a prep-school production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"?

Happiness is . . .(fill in the blank)

We read the news so you don't have to. Or rather - we skim articles so you don't have to.

The AAS covers Dewhurst and his "poison pill" obsession. Okay, I paraphrased.

Dave McNeely's most recent op-ed starts out with this illustrious sentence: "Perhaps there is a new chairman for the Carole Keeton Strayhorn Booster Club: Rick Perry." so you know it's going to be good.

The Startlegram focuses on "the reluctant legislator", Rep. Bob Griggs, and his reaction to Grusendorf.

The Waco Tribune-Herald discusses how the special session has made Rep. Dunnam postpone a "major accident liability trial".

Yeah, it's slim pickin's today, folks.

(Austin Chronicle)

It's Friday, let's show some love. First, Karen Brooks latest Chamber Music is up this week. Could the DMN just give her more space, more frequency and well...just more everything. Consistently this is the best political piece in the DMN. Other newspapers in the state...pay attention.

Now to the Austin Chronicle. There's a tiny column about the blogs and we love that in our blurb the word "fuck" appears. So, the Chronicle decides its readers can handle the F word, but the Statesman doesn't think we can handle a Turd. Well, isn't that what most people think the entire Statesman newspaper is anyway?

Our blurb in the extended entry. We think we have a new tagline in the first sentence. Our beloved commenters get a shout out, too!

You know politics in Texas is bad when I can compare it to the dysfunction of my family. This mess up there in the pink dome is actually making my family holidays seem desirable! But, it is Friday morning and the weekend is upon us. Who's got the 'track changes' feature ready to go on Shapiro's new ed. bill? We'll have to compare it to HB2 and see what's what over the weekend. Here's a couple of things we know: The bill will have a new number! Good, it was time to put a new bag over that ugly girl's face anyway. What else do we know...Oh...Shapiro has slipped in the phrase 'Fuck you Tom Craddick' somewhere. It's like a Where's Waldo game. If you find it, you get a prize.

So are we hanging out this weekend? Or do we have to read this stupid new bill?

Not enough votes? Dewhurst lost control of the Senate? SBC flinging themselves around the Capitol today? Yep, such a loud sucking sound coming from over there I can hear it way up here in my ivory tower.

Yesterday morning I gave a speech at the Rotary Club that meets in the bowels of the Capitol (Thanks to Jason Stanford for the invite). I met Representative Bob Hunter and found him to be charming and very statesman-like. By statesman-like, I mean he talked earnestly about how partisanship can get in the way of good policy. I also directed him to Rep. Pena's blog and looks like Rep. Hunter has logged on for the first time. That's awesome.

NARAL Pro-Choice Texas (NPCT) is looking for someone experienced, dedicated, and pro-choice to fill a part-time Field Director position.

Apply info after the jump.

Bell has officially thrown his hat in the ring.

So now I have interviewed an official candidate for Governor. Sweet! Too bad I'm sorta anonymous, because I would totally brag.

Psst, Senator Shapiro we didn't want to yell this out to everybody that's why we are calling on the white phone. Listen...we heard today you're going to bring out SB2 again. We just had a few things to go over with you real quick, ok?

First...you know you usually look great so I hope today you are not wearing that God awful white denim thing again. That's not going to present you as, you know, a leader.

Next, when you're up there and Gallegos starts getting on your nerves...don't yell at him. It makes us cringe when you do that. Limit the eye rolling, too.

Oh and I guess last thing, could you actually defend the bill you're up there talking about? That'd be great. We all know it's the same shit, different day but come on...Act for me baby, ACT!

What else y'all got to say about SB2 and its apparent appearance today?

(Blog Synergy In Progress)
Inspired by Greg Wythe when he bestowed the title of Honorary Texan on Paul Hackett, Texas Bloggers, led by Burnt Orange Report, Off the Kuff, PinkDome, and Greg's Opinion are calling today upon all Texans (and friends of Texas) to join ranks and donate towards the very cause we have been arguing for this past week - Run Everywhere, because it's what our Party and our Democracy needs.

His success is our success, not just as Texas Democrats, but as
Democrats period.

"Paul Hackett is hereby granted "Temporary Texan" status from now and
election day in the Ohio 2nd (August 2). I'm pretty sure I have no
legal standing whatsoever to convey Texan-ship, but who am I to let
that stop me?"

Certainly not us, Greg. So join us today, in a special edition, Texas Thursday, for Honorary Texan Paul Hackett. Let's roll.

If you are, you're reading the wrong blog! But seriously now, on that great Statesman blog "Rich and Fred", Fred explains why they didn't publish yesterday and today's strip of Doonesbury. See, apparently the term "turd" is offensive. The AAS is among about 11 other papers in the nation who didn't publish these strips.

Garry Trudeau, the author of the comic (aka Jane Pauley's hubby), is defending his choice of terminology/topic:

Does Trudeau think many newspaper editors and readers are aware that "Turd Blossom" is a real nickname for Bush's close advisor, not one made up by the cartoonist?

"My assumption was twofold -- that many people already knew it, and that most others would infer it was real from the way I teed it up," said Trudeau. "I also felt that those in the latter group would be as tickled to learn of it as I was."

Just to give you a laugh, we got an email today from a pornographic web site that has listed us in their link page and would like PinkDome to reciprocate the link. We aren't, but I could not resist posting where PinkDome fell in their list.

BOR, ITPT, Off The Kuff, et cetera...how super jealous are you?

Phillip at BOR has posted an open letter to Rep. Grusendorf. If we had more energy, we'd do the same. Oh, here you go:

Dear Rep. Grusendorf,
I am very disappointed in you, but at least I didn't vote for you.
Your pal,
Bluebonnet

First, if it isn't it should be a sign of the Apocolypse that I'm even awake at such an un-Godly hour it should be. Do people really get up at 6:15 a.m. all the time? I'll be in the capitol this morning for little something at 7:30 a.m. (I'll tell you about it later)

While I'm there is there anything I should make a point to see? Like where the House of Representatives imploded yesterday? I wonder if there's scorch marks at the front and back mics.

I've still got the PinkDome Tax Plan here if someone wants to start drafting that up. I think we covered sales taxes and business taxes but we never got around to property tax relief. So, if you're an expert on that and have some ideas shoot them over to craft our proposal. At this point 100 monkeys typing in a room could come up with something so what the hell, we might as well give it a shot. Our readers are probably smarter than monkeys. (And by monkeys we mean the current House leadership)

Gov. Rick Perry said lawmakers need to put aside rancor and partisanship so they can come back on Wednesday and begin again on school finance and property tax relief.

There's more, but let's just look at this part. Republicans love nothing more than to throw out the word 'mandate' at every other opportunity and for once we think it applies. Eight votes FOR is not partisanship, dumbass...it's a mandate.

Back to the drawing board and quit sending around the same old shit.

Comments are now fixed, btw.

"Mr. Speaker, show me voting NO on HB 3" - Chairman Jim Keffer.

Only 8 ayes for HB 3, this one goes down in a blaze even more so than HB 2.

Right now, every jaw in the Capitol has dropped. After some particularly underhanded moves by the leadership, Representative Scott Hochberg passed his own plan for school finance. A collective brick was shit by leadership. Included in the amendment is greater property tax relief for most Texas homeowners than was included in HB 2. It also includes a full restoration of school employee health benefits, a larger teacher pay raise than in House Bill 2, and increases in compensatory education, bilingual funding, and facilities funding. After some debate it passed 76-67, a huge margin of victory.

After some scrambling, HB 2 went down in a blaze, final vote 79-62.

What went down today? People are still shaking their heads trying to figure it out.

To cut off debate on HB2. Carter Casteel was cut off mid-sentence and folks followed with righteous indignation. Eiland threw his amendments on the floor in disgust and spelled Bullshi(t) he left off the 't'.

We received three IM's with the same exact statement:
Keel is a fu*ker.

So, there you go. Another day in the House.

We are willing to wager that whatever tentative deal they had on HB2 it's dead now.

So says Moreno after Keel makes a bold move to cut off debate on HB2. Craddick won't recognize the members opposing the bill and now Moreno gets his only chance to catch a breather...a point of personal privilege. He gets 10 minutes to tell the House Republicans they are disrespecting the debate process. Will there be other points of personal privilege to follow? (That's the only point that Craddick can recognize before the motion to cut off debate and vote on HB2)

Let's watch together.

That's a direct request from a staffer. We just thought we'd pass it along. Staffers feel free to vent in the comments.

Ann Curry interviewed Lance Armstrong and he's not running for governor.
Curry: You do have political aspirations?
Armstrong: No, no ...
Curry: You're saying you have no political aspirations?
Armstrong: I'm not ...
Curry: You're not saying you have no political aspirations?
Armstrong: I don't know what I'm saying. We're going to elect a new [Texas] governor next year - I'm not running next year.

We're electing a new governor next year? First we've heard of it.

Yes, PD gagged when he read this post and does a little (BB: LOTS of) editing.

Google Alerts found this great story for me about Susan Combs' speech to the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers' Association. We're wondering what Combs' position is on Rancher-Goat Love? Does she cover that in the speech?

My favorite Combs quote: "You've got to be aggressive in a 'perky' way. . ." Is this a sexual innuendo?

Bluebonnet says she may have voted for Combs. She's currently being treated for a serious mental disorder.

Pinkdome...never a place where you'll find the word 'cutesy' unless we're talking about someone's ass or rack.

The Dallas Morning News devotes a front page link to this most assuredly riveting story:

We wandered around looking for others. If you find some, send us the link. We would expect more headlines like this to be on the front pages of newspapers across the state.

The House passed the judicial pay raise measure yesterday. As you know, a lot of people criticized the House for A.) dealing with this and not school finance, b.) tying legislative pensions to judicial pay raises and c.) not recording their votes on a pay raise bill.

We think it's just because instead of educating our youth, we need judges to make sure the little uneducated thugs go to jail.

Ok, so judges deserve a pay raise. But, with the way things are going in the House I'm not sure any of them deserve a better pension. Most of them probably deserve 'early retirement'.

Instead of worrying about how your representative voted on this bill, why don't you figure out if they have the first friggin' clue what's going to be in HB2 this time around.

For the love of Christ...someone send us some tips. If we have to write about school finance much more we're going to turn into super-nerd. The ins-and-outs of property tax relief does not get us laid.

Thursday's the day? And we thought Shapiro was going to roll up her sleeves on the conference committee report and go back to work on a few things. You could tell she wasn't too passionate about bringing 2 to the floor last week.

I just realized how cryptic that would sound if you haven't been paying attention. Here's what we mean. HB2 is apparently back on the calendar for Thursday. (Remember the days when we used to actually look shit up before we posted it?) The other part about Shapiro is mainly wishful thinking.

For the life of me, I can't understand why this is going to be the 3rd (or is it 4th) time we're going to see these same pieces of shit that are HB2 and HB3.

Even the cable companies new message to get the Lege off of the SBC kick is to criticize them for working on SBC instead of schools.

Pitiful.

The White House is saying that documents pertaining to Roberts' work in past administrations are "out of bounds". They are so not . . . but we think Sen. Lieberman's facial hair should be. He looks like Gabby Hayes!

(source: Myway/AP)

From Population Connection:

The bill the House considered yesterday (ed. note: Tuesday the 19th, we're a little slow), H.R. 2601, the Foreign Relations Authorization bill, created a new program dedicated to fistula prevention and treatment and contained a provision authored by Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) to ensure the programs funded made birth control available. But, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), one of the most outspoken foes of contraceptives in Congress, offered an amendment, that was adopted 223-205, to strip contraceptives from the list of prevention measures included in new legislation. A change of only nine votes would have changed the outcome of the vote.

How did your rep vote on the Smith amendment?

I see that my great Rep. McCaul voted for the amendment. Thanks, Mike! (/sarcasm)

Our tipster notes: "Dems Henry Cuellar and Solomon Ortiz voted the wrong way (what IS the matter with Cuellar?), as did R woman Kay Granger (we should take her ovum away.)"

Is that what y'all heard? Hell, we're so bored with talking about property tax relief and sales tax increases and blah blah blah that we might come down there and vote for HB2 and HB3. I hope you bitches realize you are ruining our summer. And...by bitches I mean you Perry and Craddick. I'm totally exempting Dewhurst just to piss you off.

If you have heard other fantastic rumors about 79 Version 2.0 let us know.

These are actually from over the weekend.

San Antonio Express-News: "Parents of Texas schoolchildren have reached their boiling point. . . Fed up, the parents are taking a page out of the politicians' playbook and forming a political action committee of their own. The goal: to oust old guard lawmakers they say don't support public education."

Waco Tribune-Herald editorial: "It should not have come as a surprise to anyone that Gov. Rick Perry added telecom deregulation to the special session called to fix the state's broken school finance system."

Houston Chronicle editorial: "Parents, students, teachers and the vast majority of taxpayers would be better off if lawmakers would defy Gov. Rick Perry's latest work order and go home."

So, here we are again. How y'all doin? Bitter yet? Sure you are. But, let's keep our wits about us. Unlike the Republican consultant Ray Sullivan that said this to the DMN:

"If the Legislature can pump billions more into schools, provide some property tax relief and impose academic rigor and put schools on a firmer financial footing, they will be seen as great successes," Mr. Sullivan said.

Really? If monkeys could fly out of my ass I could make a few bucks on the carny circuit.

[Photo: DMN]

Dave McNeely has a great editorial out today, which basically repeats what we've all been saying about the special session(s): "they can't get there from here". It's sad that we've all gotten so fatalistic, but there it is.

Who needs a drink?

"We can solve this problem," said Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco. "But we can't solve it with the same five people in the same back room excluding the people of Texas from the process."

Dunnam has higher hopes than we do. This will be the third time the lege looks at HB2 and HB 3. It stank in March, stunk in June and absolutely reeks in July.

How many times do we look at the same piece of shit legislation before someone says 'Hey, it stinks it here?'

Give us a break!

From Defamer, we learn that Tom Hanks will portray former US Rep. Charlie Wilson (Tx Dist. 2) in the upcoming bio-pic Charlie Wilson's War. Can Tom Hanks do Texan? I guess we'll have to wait and see. I have my doubts.

I'm actually not referring to the Texas legislature in the title of this post; I'm referring to the national Violence Against Women Act which is set to expire in September, unless Congress reauthorizes it. From 700Women.org:

VAWA of 2000 expires at the end of September 2005 and the remarkable gains weâ??ve made in ending domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking could come to a halt if Congress does not act quickly. With the reauthorization of VAWA, Congress has a unique opportunity not only to continue successful and vital programs, but also to expand on 10 years of progress to further the safety and stability of the lives of survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.

It's official: Perry called another special (see the 'call' here) for tomorrow, & Whitmire has officially run out of things to say during his filibuster.

Latest topic he spoke of? "Hey Kenny (Armbrister), isn't it time to tell the people that we went to the same high school? But you ran with a much tougher crowd than me (hehehe)". Meh, I was honestly hoping for political fireworks tonight; the funniest thing tonight has been the fact that the Senate writes "Filibuster in Progress" for the TV caption. Gawd, somebody slap someone around & entertain us. My buzz is wearing off.

*Update*
12:02: My buzz has officially worn off. Filibuster is over. Senfronia, along with a motley crue of D's were at the rail, rallying Whitmire on. Sen. West goes up to the mike to bust Whitmire's balls & end the session. Yes, it is over, & according to the Gov we'll all be back tommorrow. But you know what? We're taking up property tax cuts first, not school finance. Yes, it is more important to put money in the pockets of the higher-ups, as opposed to funding our schools. Oh well, cest la vie.

12:45: According to QR: "Four bills will be referred to committee on the Senate side for a vote. Those bills will include the current House Bill 2 and House Bill 3, as well as the judicial pay raise and the telecommunications reform bill. Once the bills are voted out of committee, the Senate will adjourn until Monday. Speaker of the House Rep. Tom Craddick (R-Midland) is expected to appoint a special committee to address the tax issue." Finally, just as a thought, I wonder what new faces we'll see on the speaker's special committee. hmmm, something for yall to wonder about as the 2nd session nears.

I can't turn the TV from the Senate debate on HB2. I could be watching a newly arrived adult-themed video, but instead I'm riveted to Senator Shapiro admonish everyone that gets up to ask her questions. She's so bitchy!

Today's the last day of the 1st Special of the 79th Legislature. Celebrate the absolute pointless 30 days with your very own PinkDome t-shirt:
"The Governor called a Special and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!"

Clearly goes to Barbara Ann Radnofsky. We received her press release attacking Senator Hutchison for just 'rubber-stamping' the nominee to the SCOTUS. We thought, ok...that's expected from the Radnofsky campaign but then we laughed because all of the sudden there is a huge portion of the press release that reminds us KBH hates veterans.

Radnofsky has been tearing into KBH on this issue for some time now and it's hilarious to see her campaign as a pit-bull and staying on their message. Good for them. Ask Radnofsky a question about what she thinks about campaign finance reform and I'll bet you my liver in a frying pan she'll say KBH isn't taking care of our veterans. (Press release after the jump)

Have y'all been reading the comments suggesting we create our own HB3? Sadly, all the smart folks seem to agree it's time for a state income tax. But, the brilliant minds are working on ways to exempt beer and tacos for taxes. Good work folks, let's get this over to the Governor.

This email message is being passed around the House and someone forwarded it off to us. We're way to lazy to fix the fact that it is in ALL CAPS, so to spare your eyes and emotionally prepare you for it we've posted it in the extended entry.

I hope your favorite shows aren't on network TV at 8pm tonight. Bush will be announcing his choice for the Supreme Court at that time. I post this as a warning, but also as an excuse to post this wonderful picture:



C'mon, it's funny!! From AP.

Overheard from a broken hearted child today at the Capitol when a group of children yelled out to the governor who was at the time giving an impromptu press interview urging the passage of HB2 and HB3.

It's all about the children...unless, you know...they are actually around.

Wave to the kids next time. You're screwing them over, might as well give 'em a wave. Rude.

Lufkin Daily-News interviews Rep. McReynolds who says that unless the Lege does some fancy magic, public education is in a pickle. Okay, I paraphrased a little bit.

San Antonio Express-News wonders which is worse, having no bill or having this current one. And haven't we been saying that for a while now?

AAS covers last night's Senate fun, and includes this lovely picture from AP we had to share:



Why, Leticia, why? The hair looks great, but that outfit has got to go. Kisses!

Oh! School finance, now we remember. So, after we have a fragile deal on HB2 overnight, will HB3 squeak through?

Let's spend our morning doing something else. Let's forget HB2 and HB3 for a minute (dare to dream) and propose our own solutions to a.) school finance in Texas and b.) Taxes to pay for public education.

Our favorite proposals will win a dozen Tiff's Treats by 1:30 p.m. today! You can email us and we'll post your answer in the comment. That way we have your email to notify you win, but we can post your answer on the site anonymously.

We're going to take a little break this morning from the clusterfuck that is the state legislature and look in on Barbara Ann Radnofsky. On our post about the VA, Kuff commented that Radnofsky had been all over KBH about her record of attacking the veterans. We checked out her site and her blog and guess what? Barbara Ann's been busy since we last popped in.

She's running for U.S. Senate against KBH. Maybe you haven't heard. We've been paying a tiny bit of attention and are watching as she works her way throughout the state. There's some money coming in, there's some endorsements happening and best of all she has found a voice to do what we hear no one else doing---criticizing KBH. You can read her blog and get to know the campaign.

And, while we're at it did y'all all read David Van Os' comment on the Eminent Domain post? We enjoyed it, so scroll down and give it a read.

Oh, and Chet Edwards for Congress sent us an update on how much money they are raising. Good for them. But, here's a tip to all candidates: Put your web site address on your press releases, on your emails, on your voicemail and say it in your sleep! If you do not have a web site, get one!

So Bluebonnet had drinks with Chris Bell, and no other candidate for governor wants to take me out for a drink. That sucks. If any of you work for Carole Keeton or Governor Perry tell them we have just 10 questions.

Overheard in the House on Monday re: Hb2

"I was asleep when it came together and I was asleep when it came apart." --Rep. Joe Nixon

We're loving the brown and blue colors right now, so Andy Brown's new donor page is just fine by us.

You can click on that and give him some money, too.

Well, the National Conference of State Legislators is scheduled for August 16-20. We called up their headquarters in Washington, D.C. to ask how many Texas legislators were registered with staff and looks like Craddick's encouragement for folks to go turned out well. About 108 legislators and 41 staff members are slated to attend the conference. We are closing in on those pesky cancellation fees, though. Rumor has it they could be astronomical and would be paid by the state. You know, if for some reason there was a Special and they could not go.

We say let 'em go. Get the hell out of here. We'll accept volunteers to come up there to the pink dome in your place and we'll work out a helluva deal!

Well, for this post, we're talking about Love Field. In a flight of fancy (as I might punnily put it), I subscribed to Southwest Airlines rapid rewards e-mails (I only fly about once a year - if that much). I got one today that asked me to write my congresspeople about the Right to Fly Act (HR 2646) which will remove the Wright Amendment's restrictions from Love Field. Is Southwest seeing a light at the end of the tunnel? I will selfishly admit that any way the airline tickets can get cheaper, I'm for it. Well, within reason.

You can read more about it at Southwest's Set Love Free! site.

And yes, I like Southwest. I have had ill luck with other airlines (except for Northwest, they're okay).

RawHide and PinkDome get the same tip at the same time:
Rawhide: Craddick's probably going to release members from his arm twisting & tell them to vote their districts on HB3
PinkDome: rumors are that craddick is going to release R's on HB3 and let them vote their district.
PinkDome: haha, 123 jinx
Rawhide: Craddick will say he worked w/ the senate & signed off, & then 87 folks vote against the bill
PinkDome: ok, wait got another one
PinkDome: also, they may strip the finance part out of HB 2 (the tax relief), and just do their merit pay, school start date stuff....then leave a bunch of unfunded mandates for the districts to pay
Rawhide: Then another special called for Thursday.

Staffers tired of forwarded phone calls from the Phillip Morris phone campaign? We have an idea on how to make them stop.

Ok, here's our idea: Tell the callers that the sales tax on cigarettes was all Robert Talton's fault and they should immediately call his office. ;)

Let's do an "Ask PinkDome". Ask us questions via email or comments and we'll post answers.

Win a dozen Tiff's treats with your guesses on when we'll hear we have agreement on HB3!

**Update** The deal on HB2 is off. No word from the conferees on HB3. First one to email us or IM us with news a deal has been reached wins the dozen cookies. Keep your ears open for us, we're dozing off over here...plus the beer's getting cold.

Senator Ogden is running late, but the group is finally in the room. The senators in their jackets and the reps in their shirtsleeves. They sit down, make a few jokes about the rumors flying around, votes against HB3, filibuster, who hates whom...then they recess.

Well, that was a great meeting.

That's an understatement Senator Ogden. The back and forth continues today on taxes, taxes, taxes. (Wanted to make sure you all knew what we were talking about)

Two days left and we are still watching the Lege fight over the same old shit. Property tax relief, homestead exemptions, business tax loopholes, and one helluva sales tax increase. All this talk of taxes and you'd think we'd be getting ready to drive around on streets paved with gold.

But nope. Not the case. What is the teacher pay raise? Less than the pension fund increase for judges and legislators? Where is the tax relief for 80% of Texans? Where is a logical and fair revision to business taxes? Where is the new formula to ensure schools are funded adequately in every single district in Texas?

Oops, sorry...hated to bring up all the crap that our legislators can't seem to get their hands around during this Special. If y'alls mom were here she would be shaking a finger in your face and saying, "Shame on you." Don't worry, we'll pick up her slack.

This session you did nothing. Texans ought to be outraged at your incompetence and political fighting. They ought to be outraged that you cannot 'cowboy up' and figure out a fair and equitable tax system to pay for state needs. We've said it a bajillion times before--nobody likes to pay takes, but we suck it up and do our patriotic duty. So, just make sure we're all sucking equally. The poor folks' knees are sore from being down there so long.

Dammit, I knew I should have stayed drunk.

Hey, teachers, leave the kids alone!

Okay, the link is to a Startlegram op-ed piece on the Lege and TRS. Is there any point now? Where has the editorial page outrage been? The session ends this week. Too little, too late. Thanks for playing.

Have you ever been in a VA Hospital? I have. I had heard horror stories about the VA and expected to see wounded soldiers and old veterans lining up for sub-par health care. I was amazed at how wrong I was. The VA hospital was clean and efficiently run and amazingly, more high-tech than other hospitals I had visited.

Except, the VA is facing a budget shortfall now. In March, 2004 thirty congressmen wrote the leadership and pleaded for the additional $2.5 million that the VA would need. The administration and leadership responded by punishing those that spoke up. Some were removed from the committee assignments and some lost their chairmanships for daring to contradict the administration.

Now that the budget year proves what those 30 congressmen warned, DeLay has said "we didn't see any indication that there was going to be a shortfall." He said House leaders will "make sure that every veteran will receive the coverage they need."

Did you read that carefully? First his office says, we didn't see that this would happen. LIE--30 congressmen wrote you about the subject. Then his office says DeLay will make sure ever veteran will receive the coverage they need. For example, DeLay's idea of taking care of the veterans is to approve a budget he knows is $2.5 million short.

New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, as chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee had warned of this shortfall and was rewarded by having his chairmanship yanked. Now, he says, he won't get into any of this "I told you so nonsense."

Not us, I'd be all over the "I told you so nonsense." I'd have my ass up on every Sunday news show my newly hired publicist could wrangle dancing a jig and saying, "I told you so." and "DeLay is a liar." and maybe even "I'm tired of the leadership and this administration pissing on my boots and telling me it's raining."

Because it's Friday and we could not resist this 2004 photo of Karl Rove with Air Force One. (Thanks Wonkette)

Just when you thought your home was safe from the government....turns out it's not. Today QR is offering sneak peaks at a couple Texas Monthly articles from August's issue. Make sure to check it out between 2-11. Yeah, eminent domain has been dealt with in the Lege, but what about this? Remember how the 78th Legislature was completely beholden to people with deep pockets? Well, they made sure to screw over homeowners when they created the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC). Patti Hart makes a point of showing us how damn messed up the government is.

Lt. Gov. Dewhurst has 'vowed' not to take up any other legislation until school finance is worked out. Craddick said he would not 'copy' Dewhurst. What the FW Startlegram did not say was Dewhurst has had his ass handed to him in negotiations with Craddick up to this point and some sort of radical standing on the issue and generating some swell of public support behind him is probably his best bet to come out smelling like a political rose.

If Dewhurst were to completely shut down the Senate until real school finance reform were passed someone could finally give him his balls back that have been on display in Craddick's office.

We say, rock on Dewhurst. But...only if you truly mean it. Only if we come up to the Senate and the staffers are going out of their minds with boredom. There's power to be had in this move. We'd play it to the media hilt if it were us. Here's a free press release for you, consultation fees are waived. (After the jump.)

Andy Brown wants to let us know that Todd Baxter is a sketchy SOB. The race for HD 48 heats up withe firebombs like this one sent out by the Brown campaign.

Baxter took a $35,000 check that top DeLay aides are accused of laundering through the Republican National Committee in September 2002. He also accepted an additional $25,000 from DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority and Americans for a Republican Majority, as well as the Texas Association of Business political action committee -- all of which are at the heart of on ongoing criminal grand jury investigation by the Travis County District Attorney.

So, in case you don't get the point. Andy Brown, champion of the little guy. Todd Baxter, money-grubbing, power-hungry SOB.

We just received the radio ad Rep. Marc Veasey (D-FW) is running in his district. It's the same copy as Rep. Coleman's spot. Looks like we have a little more grassroots action going on and these Dems that aren't so poor are picking up the slack where the State Party can't.

Go on with your bad selves! Anyone else? (Veasey Press Release after the jump. We'll upload the ad later today)

The Statesman reports today on a group of hackers that have compromised the credit card data of a group called, "Protest Warrior."

Politically motivated hacking has become so common that Zone H, a Web site that tracks defacements of other sites, has dedicated a section to documenting the political hacks. In the process, the term "hacktivism" has been wrenched from its original definition, long-time techies say.

My notebook and I met Chris Bell Wednesday afternoon and I tried to take copious notes. Well, here at least are the basic summaries of his answers.

BB: Who the hell is Chris Bell, and why should we consider voting for him?

CB: There is a desperate need for leadership. Our state is last place in every category and it's time to try something new. I've shown reliability in city and federal positions. I'm a public servant who builds consensus and is solution-driven. It helps to have the perspective of a husband and a parent of public school children. The focus shouldn't be just tax reform, but tax reform and quality reform.

Wanna watch two idiots ramble on for 3 minutes? Our governor went on the O'Reilly factor to protest the fact that the esteemed Bill O'Reilly considers Texas soft on child sexual predators. The governor's retort? "We're tough on crime, we're tough on crime, we're tough on crime, we're tough on crime..."

Perry also seems to forget that the legislature is already in session...
"When the legislature comes back in, we'll be more than happy to look at toughening those penalties"....wait, wait, wait...didn't you already call those guys back in? Isn't this session a free-for-all for any issue you deem important?

Rick Perry & Bill O'Reilly debating is like watching a monkey fuck a football.

To watch it go here, scroll down a bit & click on Perry's mug under the title Texas Hold 'em.

An email of the article from the Rio Grande Guardian tells the sad story of the Texas Democratic Party. In the hole financially, letting consultants and fundraisers go and struggling to maintain staff. The Rio Grande Guardian requires registration, so the article is in the extended entry for you to read.

Party Treasurer Miguel Wise tries to valiantly paint a rosier picture than the dollars suggest. We suggest those folks working over there get on the damn phone. And, if you're so inclined get your lazy ass over there and help 'em out...better yet, give 'em a dollar, for Chrissakes.

This is why the Republicans call Democrats whiny. Liberals do bitch and moan, there's a lot to bitch and moan about. But how many have given the TDP one dime to help elect Democrats? Bitches, you only have yourselves to blame. Money makes the world go round, money rules politics...you don't think it's actually good, civic-minded people do you? HA! Silly thing. It's money. So, find some and give it to the TDP, then we'll appreciate your bitching and moaning a lot more.

If the Republicans were this poor, we'd tell y'all to give them money, too. Not with the same tone, but two parties are better than one.

The man who may or may not be running for Governor is having a happy hour fundraiser this afternoon in Austin. I plug this because he is actually letting me interview him beforehand. Keep an eye out later this evening for the results of our meeting. . . and remember, we are bloggers, not journalists. In other words, I am too cheap to own a little recorder, so we'll have to make do with my handwritten notes.

We only thought the telecom legislation was dead, but it's baaaaack! The Waco Tribune-Herald reports that already cities are up in arms over the possible legislation:

The mayors of Austin and six other major Texas cities circulated a strongly worded letter to Fraser saying the legislation, Senate Bill 21, would cost them money by ending local franchise agreements with cable companies and would allow new video providers â?? the phone companies â?? to offer their service only to affluent neighborhoods.

"For the first time in any state in the country, we are considering overriding the prohibitions in the federal cable act against discrimination of low-income areas of a community," the letter said. In the bill, "a new entrant is allowed to serve only the wealthy parts of a city."

So, this will be the next item up for bids on The Price Is Right. Is this a Republican or a Democrat issue? We're not sure. We're also not property rights experts. Here's kind of what we're thinking on the subject, though. Eminent Domain, the power of the government to pay a 'fair price' for your property to then use that property for a purpose to support the overall good of the community. Are we close?

Ok, so no property owner is really ever going to get jazzed about the government taking their property. Even if they pay to do it. (We can think of one example, the Players Restaurant versus University of Texas right here in Austin). But, if the community really needs a road or something...sorry bud, but you're screwed.

A different story is the government using Eminent Domain to then turn around and use your property to build a mall or condominium development. Do we really need more of those? Republicans might say, progress...business growth, etc. That is, until that growth says we need your house.

Seems like this is always controversial. We'll be good little soldiers and suck it up if you need a road or government something or other. But, if you need a new Cracker Barrel and Lowe's Superstore? We're gonna have to kick your ass. Sound fair?

Rise and Shine, it's...Wednesday. While we're off doing God knows what this morning, why don't y'all send us some email tips. Give us something we can all laugh (or cry) about.

The Quorum Report published an anonymous article today on the most obvious of obvious subjects: This Special Session is Dumb. D'er.

We're all for anonymity. We think it's great to see the QR branching out a little and being interesting as well as informative. Here's what we're not for, anonymity to "protect the author from retribution." That's a reality, we know that and we know the truth pisses people off sometimes. (Ok, most of the time) This whole 'fear retribution' thing is so...80's, don't you think?

Rep. Coleman's office just told me they've posted the 'Donate' page back on their web site to keep his radio spot airing and to help them expand it into more markets. You can actually donate online here.

We love a little activism every once in a while between mojitos.

BOR tipped us to this announcement from the LGRL. It appears that a certain liberal former-legislator and recent political head of a local grassroots group is taking on the insanity that is HJR6:

Maxey will lead the effort to defeat the constitutional amendment prohibiting recognition of civil marriage or civil unions between persons of the same gender which the Legislature has placed on the November, 2005 statewide ballot.

"I'm eager to use my experience to bring a broad coalition of fair-minded Texans together to say 'No' to this nonsense in November. With public education, health care access, and rational and fair tax policy languishing, the Legislature spent their time and our tax dollars enacting this divisive, unnecessary amendment. They now are asking Texans to rubber stamp their efforts to deny many Texans the basic civil rights to protect their relationships and their family's property and inheritance rights, hospital visitation, and the hundreds of other rights and responsibilities brought by a civil marriage or civil union," said Maxey.

I swear I think the Statesman took this just for us!

What's a savvy politician to do when he can barely muster enough votes to pass a half-assed, lame attempt at school finance? Well, in the magician's community, it's called misdirection. Yup, Perry added tuition revenue bonds, eminent domain, and judicial pay raises to the ever-growing list of items eligible for consideration during this session. The Supreme Court sure handed the legislature a gimme with that verdict. Quick, politically expedient, and easy.

"This is vital unfinished business from the last session" quoth Perry.

Yeah, umm, wasnt there something else? Uhhh, some emergency piece of legislation?

"Even though school finance is the most important issue confronting this legislature, we have unfinished business from the last session in other areas, and time is running short,â?? Perry added.

Weren't you the dipshit dangling these issues over the heads of legislators in an effort to swing them over towards your plan? Weren't these issues killed at the end of session because you couldn't provide enough leadership to get it done? Oh yeah, it was too hard. Well screw it, we can get some quick headlines now & that's all that matters.

Don't know how this one slipped by me last week, but it looks like Perry's plan for taxing strip clubs was reincarnated into HB 3. Yet one more facet of this bill that lends it that much credibility. Apparently the amendment's author, Rep. Will Hartnett, hates strip clubs. The FW Star Telegram has it:

Hartnett calls strip club owners 'unsavory folks.' He said by phone Friday that he wishes he could close down the bars instead of taxing them...'The power to tax is the power to destroy,' he said.

Woo-hoo. The power to destroy. So that's why they've been shouldering the burden onto all those poor people. Good riddance I say. Destroy them all, strip clubs, poor people...have we figured out a way to tax gay people yet?

Q: What is a sure fire way to get into Hell?
A: Burn down a Church.

Because I have to defend Senator Hillary Clinton. The GOP has lambasted Senator Clinton for comparing President Bush to Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman. The GOP said she was insulting the President and she was part of the "angry and adrift Democratic Party."

Aw shit, it's on now. Where in the hell was the righteous indignation when some asshole wrote a book suggesting that President Clinton raped her to conceive their child?

Angry? Ok, sure I bet the Democrats are angry...because the GOP is pissing them off!

And comparing President Bush to a cartoon character is insulting? We've come up with far more insulting references to President Bush before we've had our morning coffee. Talk about easy target. Jeesh!

I guess what really pisses me off is that CNN considers this shit worthy enough to be on their front page at CNN.com. I guess there was no rich white girl abducted today. Pitiful.

Rep. Garnet Coleman goes on the offensive. Coleman has launched a campaign against the Republican's tax proposal using his own campaign funds for the radio spots that started airing in Houston today. They'll begin in Austin tomorrow. Coleman says he doesn't have the $400,000 warchest to create a massive campaign like the governor has, but he's doing what he thinks he can. Listen to the spot here.

"No matter what the Governor and the Republican leadership say, the plans they are trying to ram through the legislature would amount to a huge tax increase on our families," Coleman said. "Even worse, not a penny of the higher taxes we'll pay will go to our schools, our teachers, or other critical state needs."

Other than Senator Armbrister baking cobbler in the Senate kitchen, HB 3 was a rollercoaster ride. The tax plan comes fairly close to the House version and the Governor's version. All this talk on taxes and blue ribbon commissions makes our head swim. It's very upsetting that even we can see that this tax structure is a frantic and desperate attempt by the legislature to avoid a state income tax.

Thankfully, we make much more than the $140,000 threshold to qualify for the tax break offered by this plan...so, there's that. The rest of you poor people can just piss off.

After 3 a.m. in the morning. Holy Extended Debate, Batman! Dewhurst did not break a tie vote on VLT's around 2 a.m. (Wuss.)

Ok, so we're off for coffee. Tell us what we missed when we passed out last night. Or, we could just go read Quorum Report.

The Senate is taking up HB3 tonight and there about 40 amendments. QR has a scoop on the new proposal that's being circulated tonight that gives it some hope on the Senate floor.

*UPDATE* A skirmish developed over Amendment 1 to HB3 between Sen. Whitmire and Sen. Brimer. The amendment was pulled down after a long and heated debate which included finger pointing, pinched faces and raised voices over a sticking point in raising the licensing fees for 16 professional groups (chiropractors, engineers, interior designers, etc). Senator Whitmire could not believe that Sen. Janek and Brimer were introducing this amendment without letting the groups affected have some committee face time.

The amendment was pulled down until 10:30.

We'll just say you poor staffers. We're watching and it is excruciating. You're sitting in the office ready to gouge your eyes out on a Sunday night and we're sitting here in our underwear sipping a cold beer. (EW..nice visual, huh?) Let's change that to Brooks Brothers pajamas and chilled champagne.

*11 P.M. Update* Chatting with my favorite sexy staffer at 11 p.m. and it's nothing but hot HB3 talk. (sad) The amendment 1 just passed 15-14...Dewhurst broke the tie. As "sexy staffer" put it.."damn! if that amendment had gone down, the whole bill would have sunk."

**11:50 P.M. Update** Ok, I just have to say it. What in the hell is Shapiro wearing? White denim with some chain around her waist? Is white denim ok for the Senate Chamber? Was it casual tax bill day or something and only Flo got the memo?

Senate is 'at ease' until 6:00 p.m. Well, It's 7:33 by our watch and it's a Gucci so we know it's accurate. WTF? Not enough votes wrangled on HB3? If you've got the news, let us know.

*UPDATE* Senator West was apparently in the hospital. Lt. Gov. Dewhurst makes a very lame joke that this delay was not part of his negotiations tactics.

Rep. Dawnna Dukes gives a statement on her missing the vote on HB3 and the dishonored agreement with Pitts. She says:

Dukes said she thinks House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, discouraged Pitts from honoring the pairing agreement because he needed every vote. Pitts and aides to Craddick have denied that Craddick played any role.

Oh, I had to go bitch-slap that Pitts. There used to be a time in Texas when they said "a man is only as good as his word" and "my word is my bond." Well, I think Rep. Pitts showed his real manhood when he gave me the shaft.

The DMN's editorial board writes an 'open letter' to Judith Miller praising her for going to jail and refusing to reveal her source in the Valerie Plame case today. The DMN goes on and on about freedom of the press and all that. I bet you a liquid dollar that every journalist dreams of the opportunity to go to jail to protect their source...it's so dramatic. We've never revealed the names of our tipsters, but we've never gotten a tip so juicy as a CIA operative's name, either.

The point we really wanted to make was about the freedom of the press and how the DMN goes on and on about how it's really the thing that keeps the government in check and from becoming a dictatorial monarchy and blah blah blah. That's the part that made me pretty sad. If the press were really doing the job of keeping the government in check don't you think the coverage of the war in Iraq may be different? Hell, don't you think the coverage of our bumbling Keystone Cops Texas Legislature would be different?

Instead, the front page in the online DMN this morning was a very long feature on the TV show, Cheaters. Oh well, so much for high hopes from the press. *shuffles back to a dark corner and weeps*

Reagan Greer. We just thought we'd let the name settle there for a second to ask you what comes to mind. We love the word "crony" can we say he is one of Perry's cronies? We do know that he had zero experience in running a lottery commission. Strange, don't you think? I couldn't even get a job answering phones for an auto-parts store without two years experience...how do you get to be lottery chief for the state that's "Bigger than France!" without any experience?

I don't know if Mr. Greer was complicit in the inflated jackpot ridiculousness or not, so he could really just be the one that got screwed because of his inexperience here. What I can figure out is that Governor Perry put a friend in a job he couldn't handle. That's no friend at all. When someone sets me up like that, and I lose my job over it I would probably call them an asshole. But, maybe that's just me.

(Note to Mr. Greer: I have Rick's phone number if you want to prank call him later)

I cannot believe that not one of y'all took up for me when someone left a comment and said I was a fucking idiot! Thanks a lot.

The call for the Special Session was expanded. Who wanted to spend their summer anywhere but Austin anyway. Next on the agenda? Eminent Domain. The Texas Association of Realtors was very pleased...or at least that's what their press release says.

KUT has posted recordings of the Supreme Court proceedings regarding school finance. If you have an afternoon to spare, I'm sure it's worth checking out.

It's Friday, let's start off with a little fun. Look at this 'Brain Trust' and write your own caption!

[photo: DMN]

Courtesy of Jerry Patterson. His latest invitation for a fundraiser is either hilarious or frightening. Here's some images of the invite: View image and here View image

The Senate is talking taxes tonight. As the public testimony ended tonight the committee starts to hear committee substitutes and committee amendments. Senator Ogden has a doozy.

We already referred to the agreement between Dukes and Pitts as mentioned in the Austin paper. I decided to pop up the image the AAS had in the article. The point is now moot because HB3 passed today, but it bears repeating over and over again. Bastard.

Bitches.

Hildebrand was pulled out by the governor but filed a no vote w/ the journal clerk, Anchia's machine fucked up & didn't register so he registered a no vote with the journal clerk, McClendon's fucked up real bad & gave her an Aye vote when she meant a no, she also corrected it. That brings the final tally to 70-69, a one vote margin. McCall & Laubenburg flipped from yesterday, voting for the bill today, that's how Craddick got it over. Apparently Edwards was fuming today amidst rumors of his plans to leave & so he stuck around. (Editor Note: Bwahahahaha)

(On a happier note, we have a winner and when you smell the cookies you'll know who's the best handicapper in the pink dome.)

**UPDATE** Truitt (R-Keller) and Hegar (R-Katy) disappeared for the 3rd Reading vote. [via QR]

We've heard the math keeps changing on the HB3 vote. So, we've decided to have a little Vegas style contest. You email us with your prediction before the vote and we'll send you two dozen Tiff's Treats hot delicious cookies.

Unless you're Rep. Jim Pitts. It seems that he and Rep. Dawnna Dukes had agreement on how he would vote on HB3. From the Statesman:

Several lawmakers said Dukes, D-Austin, missed the tax vote Wednesday because she was in France. Before she left, she made an agreement with Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, that Pitts would register "present not voting." Since Dukes would have voted "no" and Pitts would have voted "yes" if both had been present, a decision by Pitts not to vote would have had the same effect â?? the two members would have canceled each other out.

Today the House will give HB 3 the Third Reading. Word is Eiland has been persuaded to glue his ass to his desk for the vote, but Rep. Edwards has been instructed to be far away from the House Chamber.

PinkDome is initiating an "Al Edwards Watch" and call upon our readers in the Capitol to keep your eyes peeled for the elusive representative. If you spot him ducking out of the Chamber, don't tackle him but shame him back to his post. Then, send us an email about it.

You may also call his office directly if you so desire. Would hate for him to miss out on the vote that's, you know, the whole reason for the Special Session. We're keeping this post at the top of the page throughout Thursday, so scroll below for new entries during the day.

The t-shirts are floating around the dome, we don't have them for sale but if you know where they are passing them out we'd love one. Seems like we aren't the only ones desperate for some leadership!

HB3 sucks. You know it, we know it, but the House still passed it. Rep. Pena points us towards the AP synopsis of the effects HB3 will have. As I heard on KUT, those of us who make under $100,000 a year will be paying more taxes, while those who make more than that will pay less. That's logical, right?

I'm seriously hoping that if HB3 passes third reading in the House (which you know it will), that the Senate will indeed see enough sense to oppose it.

Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is refusing a pay raise that was approved for seven statewide elected officials by the Legislature. Perry feels the same way. It's that sense of civic duty that keeps them in office.

We've never turned down a dollar in our life. Politics says that you must, that's why we wouldn't ever run for office. Well, that and those photos on the Internet.

Got this forwarded to me today. Interesting bit, at the very least someone should try to do something about this. The boys over at BOR had a little ditty on a possible breach of Texas election code on Gov. Mofo's part.

Our favorite tough Grandma sent out a word of warning to the legislators today. Here's what she said. Let's throw out a hypothetical. Suppose that this special session fails. I know, I know, none of y'all think that could happen, but still, hear me out.

During the first four months of the year, Texas shells out a crap ton of money to the school districts. Our bank accounts can't cover this cuz we haven't gotten money from the franchise tax yet. The comptroller points out that last year we borrowed $6.6 billion to cover our asses. So we gotta go to bond rating agencies to cover our hot checks. But here's the rub. Those rating agencies think Texas is like a college student with no job & maxed out credit cards. They aren't gonna give us our bonds until there is concrete action on school finance. With no plan in place, there aren't alot of folks willing to lend us money. But no thriller like this session is right without a ticking clock, so here ya go. August 1 is the very last day we can hope to get our info to the bond rating agencies so they can give us our notes by September 1, the beginning of schools' fiscal years. Think we can get our wits about us enough to knock out a plan by then?

Bwahaha, I just made beer come out of my nose. That burns.

The Texas Democratic Party will have an executive committee meeting on July 9 at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Austin.

We didn't see "Open Bar" anywhere on the notice so, of course, we will not be attending.

OK, so PD has made sure to point out the dull, whining noise that hums deep inside your head as you watch the HB 3 debates. To lift the spirits of the staffers still at the capitol, I'd like to point to one of the funnier moments.

Click the 'read more' for a Major Burn!

So HB3 fails right? 73-74. Then they have to 'verify the votes' and as we know, every time they do this there is some goon that must hustle a few reps out of the chamber. Sure enough Rep. Eiland and Martinez-Fisher disappeared and the verification pushes HB3 right on down the road.

WTF? The damn thing was dead! That's some serious bullshit right there people. SERIOUS.

Rep. Pena's blog alerted me to the story covering the opening arguements on the school finance case. No one expects to hear a result for weeks or months. How did Craddick think it would be ok to just wait and see what the Court would say?

Speaking of, the State's arguement that the legislature should decide this is so old it ought to be carbon dated.

That's what the debate on HB 3 is. We're on Amendment number 26 now and the amendements were 600+ pages so it's possible they'll still be at this till 10 or so tonight. So few interesting things. We had a brief foray into Video Lottery Terminals and marveled at Sylvester Turner's ginormous bling. We feel bad for the staffers having to suffer through this. Thank God they have mute buttons for the broadcast!

The Vietnam Veterans of America will award Senator Leticia Van de Putte
their coveted "Legislator of the Year" award tomorrow in the Texas Capitol.

The honor, the organization's most prestigious, is awarded based on the
proven legislative track record of the official receiving it.

Van de Putte was reportedly thrilled with the honor and climbed on the podium in the Senate to shout, "I'm king of the world!"

Senator Ellis and criminal justice reform advocates had a press conference today to push the House and Senate to link any judicial pay raise to an increase in indigent criminal defense funding. Texas currently ranks 43rd in the nation in per capita spending on indigent defense ($6.71/per capita).

Criminal defense for indigents? Personally, we're for more spending on the poor maligned CEO's charged with defrauding investors out of millions of dollars. We think that's really where the state ought to spend money. Indigents are already used to getting the shaft by the government, let's concentrate on helping those that really need our support.

"In a century and a half, Texans have demonstrated that they are willing to do almost anything for public education except pay for it." Bill Hobby, Lite Gov 1999.

Today Texas will use it's one remaining governmental branch to try and tackle the school finance mess. Yes folks, the executive branch and the legislative branch have been knee deep in it for ages, and now that august body known as our judicial branch is cracking their knuckles & rolling up their collective sleeves, preparing to give what will sure to be more punchlines for us and less funding for kids.

Today, Gov. Perry rolled out a set of radio ads, lauding his newest tax bill and urging Texans to contact their legislators in support of his bill.

"This is Governor Rick Perry. Youâ??ve heard me talk about results, resources and reform."

Yup that's it. We've heard you TALK about results, resources and reform, but the only action we've seen is to score cheap political points by burning the legislature & comptroller. Wasn't it your staff that wasn't even in Austin during committee hearings when YOUR bill was being laid out? One more case of things done in the name of public education with no tangible benefits to actual public education. ehhh, did you expect anything better?

We had to do a Google Search to find the Texas Supreme Court's website. First, the site is HIDEOUS. But, we managed to find the bios of the justices so as today as oral arguments begin, here's the link so you can do the same.

Rawhide (our new blogger, see below) posted a great entry this morning on what's going on today, we just wanted to add this quote from today's Statesman:

"Deciding matters of education policy is not the appropriate role for the judiciary," said Ted Cruz, the state's solicitor general, who will argue Abbott's case. "The text of the Texas Constitution expressly assigns that responsibility to the Texas Legislature."

We asked one of our readers if they would join us for some hot blog action and strangely enough, they said yes. Welcome "Rawhide" to PinkDome. "Rawhide's" addition to the PinkDome blogger list makes us the sexy triumvirate. So, enjoy the first post and encourage our newest blogger with a virtual feel up in the corridors of the Internet.

Head 'em up, Move 'em out...Rawhide! So give Rawhide a big welcome, or shoot an email to give the first big tip!

The Austin Chronicle is taking nominations for the Best of Austin 2005. There is a Best Local Political Blog and Local Blogger (under the sub-heading "Politics and Personalities" and Media). We've been called whores before, but now you can prove it by voting for PinkDome. Voting ends July 11.

(Edited by PinkDome. Bluebonnet doesn't say whore.)

A report out today says that the 'high level administration official' that leaked the name of Valerie Plame to the media is Karl Rove. If the report is true, Karl Rove is guilty of treason (punishable by execution).

"[Knowingly revealing Plame's name and undercover status to the media]...is a violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act and is punishable by as much as ten years in prison," notes the Washington Post. Unmasking an intelligent agent during a time of war, however, surely rises to giving aid and comfort to America's enemies--treason. Treason is punishable by execution under the United States Code.

Cloaking yourself as a patriot and undermining those that speak out against you endangering their lives and ruining their careers is something we'd expect out of Soviet Russia or Saddam's Iraq...not from the 'shining city on a hill' in Washington, D.C.

It's Texas...we know a thing or two about getting a posse together. Who's got some horses and pitchforks and torches?

Here's a message just for you:

Here's what Kate had to say about blogs in a recent article in Governing Magazine:

What bothers Kate Linkous is the blogsâ?? incessant negativity. Linkous is a press aide for Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, a Republican whose substantial power in Austin makes him a frequent target for the liberal side of the blog spectrum. â??We live in a cynical age and the blogs are pretty cynical,â?? Linkous says. â??The more critical they are, the more readers they get. There are no lines anymore between whatâ??s fair game and what is not. I personally donâ??t give blogs a lot of credibility.â??[emphasis added]

Funny, we same the same thing about y'all.

And so would the Texas Legislature. Telecomm is back on, judicial pay raises, eminent domain, tulips on the right-of-way...

The Governor says he'd consider these other items if the lege could fix school finance. If that were a true mandate from the Governor, the State of Texas would come to a grinding halt. For over a decade the Texas education funding has been so f'ed up it's finally wound up in the state's Supreme Court. If Perry was seriously trying to fix schools and not 'band-aid' them with something that may or may not work until 2007 we are confident that one-by-one state agencies would be forced to shut down until martial law was finally declared in this state.

The proposals put forth by everyone do not 'fix' education in Texas. They take a swipe at it, the play with it, they pat it on the head like a small retarded child, but fix it? No.

Once again, begging for leadership over here. BEGGING.

What a pleasant break we all had. A chance to celebrate America and what all makes this country great and the patriotism and the fireworks. So lovely. As we struggle to get back into the routine of things this morning, the cold hard reality of the Texas Legislature smacks us in the face.

The DMN gives us an update this morning on school finance. Will the legislature do anything or will they just wait until Wednesday and see what the courts look like they might say.

"Nearly everybody I know has given up on the Legislature and is ready to take our chances with the Supreme Court," said Clayton Downing, director of the Texas School Coalition and former superintendent of Lewisville schools.[DMN]

High hopes. High hopes.

Y'all have a happy July 4th, and be safe! I'll leave you with this to caption:

[Yahoo News: AP]

BOR is reporting that there is very serious talk about John Sharp entering the race for governor. Is this a good idea? When was the last election this guy won? Is he Democratic enough for the Progressives? Very doubtful.

Yesterday evening PD called to tell me of his encounter with Ex-President Carter at the Houston airport. I found out later that Carter was in town for a conference. PD says he had six secret-service guys around him.

On another note, I think we should all be a little glad that at least our state government hasn't shut down. Seems like Minnesota's got some problems this summer besides huge-ass mosquitos.